BIG SMOKE FESTIVAL VI

On February 16 the most extravagant cigar event of the season – the 6th Big Smoke Festival organized by Cigar Clan Magazine – was held at the Renaissance Moscow Hotel.

The 6th Big Smoke Night, which took place under the maxim: “Crazy tie. Crazy bag. Crazy smoke” was a combination of high style and eccentricity, good taste and originality, elegance and flamboyance. The compere for the evening was one of the brightest and most stylish singers on the Russian stage, Valerii Syutkin. Together with his Syutkin Band, Valerii created an unforgettable retro atmosphere for an evening of light music, fun and the aroma of cigars.

More than three hundred people came to the grandiose Big Smoke Party – all of them aficionados knowing a good deal about expensive cigars and elite spirits. Among the guests at the party, mention must be made of Alexander Gafin (Alfa-Bank), Yuri Kobaladze (Renaissance Capital), Sergei Baburin (State Duma Deputy), Helmut Bjorli (Head of Laura Chavin Cigars), Nicarao Didier Huvenagel, Rafael Nodal (Habana Cuba Cigar Company), and William Perdomo (Director of International Sales for the Tabacalera Perdomo Company).

While the guests unhurriedly smoked their first cigar, Valerii Syutkin opened the evening by announcing the beginning of the Big Smoke Festival’s main event – the Best of the Best award ceremony. This honoured decoration is awarded by Cigar Clan magazine to successful companies working in the Russian luxury goods and services market.

A special nomination for 2004 – Pipe-smoker of the Year – was made to the well-known political commentator and presenter of the analytical programme Postscriptum, the economist and public figure, Alexei Pushkov. The prize, which was made for him by the finest craftsmen at Alfred Dunhill Manufacturing Ltd., was presented by a representative of the company, Mr. Hener.

Self-confidence and the ability to show oneself to advantage are without doubt the distinguishing features of people who are successful and have their own style. The guests at the 6th Big Smoke party had a great opportunity to demonstrate these abilities by coming to the party wearing the most unusual ties or carrying the most extravagant bags in order to take part in the Mister Crazy Tie/ Miss Crazy Bag competition.

The number of entrants proved to be very high, and choosing the winners very difficult. So the festival organizers decided to do away with the traditional prize-giving, and instead presented awards to everyone who had shown their originality at the party by choosing for themselves the boldest and most stylish accessories.

And how indeed could you choose between, for example, a unique hand-stitched bag decorated with the nude figures of Adam and Eve (Svetlana Pchelnikova) and an elegant handbag made from a chef’s glove and sown with sequins and Indian bells (Olga Utkina). Or between a long tie reaching almost to the ground and covered with the better part of its owner’s cigar-band collection (Vitalii Lysenko) and a tie made of red silk decorated with metal buttons and coins (Ashot Tumasyan).

The possessors of the most extravagant bags and ties included: Ashot Tumasyan (KrasTyazhMash) who was given a luxurious Bossner travelling humidor, Yelena Mishkina (Douglas Rivoli) who won a Renaissance Moscow Hotel gift certificate, Olga Utkina, Olga Tumasyan, Angela Molch-Laineweber (Nestle Foods), Anna Lakhova (Richemont Luxury Group), Svetlana Pchelnikova (Nostalgie Sommelier School), Yekaterina Ponomaryova (the Gubernatorsky Restaurant), Vitalii Lysenko, and Andrei Ufimtsev.

The prizes for those taking part in the competition were provided by Pernod-Ricard, Habanos S.A., the Bossner Company (which prepared a collection of silk ties especially for the 6th Big Smoke Festival), and Condi 2000.

Prizes were also awarded to the winners of the two other competitions that have become traditional at the Big Smoke Festivals – the competitions for the longest ash and for the best dance to the fiery rhythms of the Projecto Latino combo. This year two winners were selected for the longest ash prizes, presented by the Bossner Company and Condi 2000. These were Sergei Komarov and Olga Lakhina – the latter never having smoked a cigar before in her life!

At the best dance competition, the following stood out: Alexei Shekhovtsov (the St. Petersburg Pipe-Lovers Club) who was presented with an elegant Remy Martin cognac from the Denview Company, Grach Pogosyan (Vallex-M) who won a unique guidebook to rum from Pernod-Ricard, Frank Ramos (Tabacalera Tropical), Maria Zakharova (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Mara Starchik and Snezhana Sarsyan.

But the entertaining show did not prevent the guests from enjoying the very thing for which they had all come. This year, the public were shown more than twenty brands of the finest Cuban, Dominican, Nicaraguan and Honduran cigars and the most sophisticated alcoholic drinks to partner them: Remy Martin French Cognac, Havana Club Cuban Rum, and Label 5 Scotch Whisky.

The guests thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to try out the new cigar brands and their combinations with the spirits. The only problem was that one night was nowhere near long enough to enjoy the whole variety... But ahead there is the summer Big Smoke Festival, where once again there will be more cigars, music and pleasant surprises. And it’s not long to wait.

For more details:
Maria Santos | special projects director | santos@arkmedia.ru
Natali Braslavsky | advertising sales director | braslavsky@arkmedia.ru
Contacts: +7 (095) 931-9196, 430-8423, 430-8438.