Week in Smoke – TGT Edition posted on February 9th, 2012
2009 European Cigar Cult Journal Awards
While Jerry and I were doing our thing at IPCPR (read: wandering around the convention center floor), we bumped into Colin Ganley of the European Cigar Cult Journal. We talked for a bit and he was kind enough to extend us an invitation to the ECCJ Awards.
The awards were being held in the Hilton Hotel, which is in the building next to the Convention Center. With the event so close, we planned on putting a full day in on the convention center floor then heading over to the Hilton, as the floor closed, to arrive a few minutes before things got underway.
As expected, we arrived before the doors opened and bumped into Bob and Dale from Dog Watch Cigar Radio. We got to talking and learned that they were presenting one of the awards for the evening. As we were talking, Colin joined us for a moment of conversation before inviting us in for a cigar and a beverage.
Brian and I took out places at a table off towards the far side of the room where we were shortly joined by Dion Giolito of Illusione Cigars. We were just shooting the breeze with Dion and he made mention of being a little nervous with all of the rock stars of the industry in attendance. While I was a little nervous before, that managed to make me even more aware of the people who were entering the room.
As the room began to fill, the drinks began to flow, cigar smoke began to fill the air, and the band began to play. The mood was casual and made for a very nice end to a long day on the convention center floor. Once everyone was comfortable, the awards got underway.
2009 ECCJ
Award Winners
Best Brand:
- Dominican Republic: Arturo Fuente Hemingway
- Honduras: Rocky Patel Decade
- Nicaragua: Oliva Serie V
Best Cigar:
- Dominican Republic: Don Carlos Edicion de Aniversario Double Robusto
- Honduras: Illusione ~hl~ (Holy Lance)
- Nicaragua: Padron 1926 Serie No. 9 Maduro
Best Value:
- Dominican Republic: Don Diego Anniversario
- Honduras: Don Thomas Classico
- Nicragua: Padron Series
Lifetime Achievement:
- Rolando Reyes Sr.
Photos from the Awards Ceremony
On a side note:
I was asked by a reader if the ECCJ Awards were going to be a permanent addition to the IPCPR Trade show. I passed the question along to Colin and was informed that that decision has not been made as of yet. There will be another Ceremony held in Germany to honer the brands within the European market. Award categories and countries will remain the same with the addition of Cuba.
I thought all the awards were well deserved… and the speeches given by the recipients were excellent… Dion was humbling, the Fuentes were moving (not just because they mentioned TU), and Padron was gracious as always… loved it when Carlos Diez/Reyes remarked how his grandfather would not leave the factory because they already took one from him in Cuba… Nice Job Reporting!!!
dion def deserved the award for best cigar, not really suprised rocky took best brand since he puts out so much variety. Oliva was a well deserved award, but suprised it didnt beat out the padron series on best cigar both ar great for around 5, but i fint the olive offers more IMO
Nice photos. Is there a reason they only give awards to those 3 countries in particular?
I’m sure a lot of thought went into all the choices and I’m sure everyone involved had good reasons for those choices, not sure I would have made the same ones on some of these but these awards do for me is to get me to take a second look at certain cigars and brands sometimes.
Thanks for the great info, Walt!
Very well deserved. Is easy to come to that conclusion when you look who the winners are. Fuente, Oliva, and Patel are three of the best in the business. I have not had the priviledge of having and Illusione, but for I can hear from you and others is an excellent cigar, and for Rolando Reyes all I can say that he is one of the people who represents the old days and the cigar industry with honor and dedication. Need I say more.
Great job guys, I love the photo story of the event.
Many thanks to ECCJ for all they do in promoting the finest cigars & recognizing the talented and hard-working folks who bring us these small slices of heaven! It was an honor to be in attendance.