The 13th Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival lights up this weekend in beautiful Broomfield, Colorado! When registration opened in April, the cost to attend never made it out of the early bird rate window. Released on the 4th, every single form of ticket – 5 levels in total ranging from $60 to just under $600 – was sold out by the 12th. RMCF wasn’t included in our recent list of festivals to look out for this Summer because no tickets were available, but even if you won’t be there it’s definitely a gathering deserving of the spotlight.
Since its inception, the festival has brought consumers together with prominent industry experts in celebration of premium cigars. In a setting that simply can’t be duplicated within the confines of a Las Vegas convention hall, many of your favorite traditional and boutique brands will be in attendance. Seriously, check out the list at that link really quick – if these were acts on a music festival lineup it would all be supergroups. Attendees get to spend the day with brands like Foundation, Cavalier, Illusione, Big Sky, Hiram & Solomon, Black Label Trading Company, El Artista, and LFD and the personalities behind them. Sponsors include Espinosa, J.C. Newman, C.L.E., Davidoff, Oliva, H. Upmann, and Rocky Patel.
The appreciation for the craft of making extends far beyond the cigars. The festival has curated a collection of over 35 beer and spirits partners – many of them local. It should be clear by now that this is experience is more than just a sad swag bag and a quick lap around the booths. Those quick enough to have gotten a ticket will get to step into an immersive experience expertly curated to be of benefit for every level of cigar enthusiast. There are many lifestyle partners as well, like CigarMedics, New Air, Boveda and RabbitAir. There are also parties scheduled throughout the weekend as well, hosted by Espinosa, Rocky Patel, and Drew Estate respectively.
Another partner that stand out is Cigar Rights of America, which the event’s organizers emphasize the importance of when they write that “in an effort to gain awareness of the Cigar Rights of America and help in fighting the battle to maintain our rights as cigar smokers, the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival is a large supporter of the Cigar Rights of American. We urge all cigar smokers to consider joining this admirable cause to save the cigar industry! This membership increase to the CRA is invaluable and we thank all current and future members.” The more education, the better – especially like this in such a grassroots, one introduction at a time setting.
A sampling of everyone’s contributions will be given to every attendee in the form of a commemorative drawstring pack that includes a Boveda one-year bag completely full of cigars.
Live music, good food and good company go a long way toward forming, developing and nurturing relationships between brands and smokers and between all cigar enthusiasts. With so much focus on the consumers, the RMCF appears to be an amazing opportunity for well established and rising brands alike to cater to, educate and enjoy the company of over 2,500 premium cigar lovers. When events like this sell out this quickly, the entire industry benefits. Consumers desperately want to be involved and informed, and hopefully the success of gatherings like this will inspire more people to find new and innovative ways to remind us all how exciting cigars and cigar culture are!
Are you attending this weekend’s celebration of majestic mountain views and premium cigars? Looking forward to checking it out next year? I’d love to hear about it all in the comments below!