PHOTOGALLERY
Gallery 1
Big Smoke Party
in Crocus City Mall




Gallery 2
Best of the Best 2003
Presentation with an annual
premium of Cigar Clan magazine at the Big Smoke festival


Gallery 3
Photo portraits






Winners
of Best of the Best
2003 premium

BIG SMOKE FESTIVAL. WINTER. 2004

The IV Big Smoke festival which is held twice a year by the Cigar Clan magazine took place on February 12th in the Crocus City Mall Chess Hall.
The daytime program consisted of seminars and master classes. Willy Alvero, Habanos S.A. General Representative, explained how to recognize fake Cuban cigars. Frank Ramos, the Nicaraguan company Tabaсalera Tropiсal representative, narrated about the peculiarities of Nicaraguan tobaccos of Cuban origin. Simon Glendenning, Alfred Dunhill Pipes Limited Chief Executive, disclosed the secrets of the famous Dunhill pipes production, and Vyacheslav Kirsanov, the head of Gains-2000, told about the Freehand pipes special features.

The night show of the Big Smoke festival was styled as а Chicago party of the past century 20s, saturated with cigars and jazz, romanticism and freedom, luster and luxury of Art Deco. The festival presenter Aleksey Kortnev and the Chicago musical actors helped the “American dream” come true.

About 400 guests attended the show. Glossy magazines paparazzi chased celebrities, among which appeared Yury Kobaladze (Renaissance Capital), Renata Litvinova, the Strizhenovs couple and many others. There was a photo studio among the diamonds of Korloff boutique working all night long for those who wanted to take a photo to remember the winter “Big Smoke Night”.

Cigar-alcoholic menu of the festival included the best sorts of Cuban, Mexican, Nicaraguan and Dominican cigars as well as French cognac, Scotch whisky and traditional rum.

Within the framework of the festival there was the annual award ceremony founded by the Cigar Clan magazine. De luxe brands, whose philosophy, according to the magazine readers, goes with cigar connoisseurs philosophy and mode of life, were nominated for the award. Alexey Kortnev rewarded the winners with the prizes created by famous Elie Bleu craftsmen.

The longest cigar ash and the best dancing couple contests, which have already become traditional, concluded the Big Smoke Festival. The winner of the former was Svetlana Mitrofanova (Carre Blanc restaurant) and of the latter – Yana Piatakova and Sergey Ivanov (Moulin Rouge).

The culmination of the festival was a huge, almost two-meter high cake presented by Gubernatorskiy Restaurant.