Let me begin today by saying "what happens at the Drew Estate dinner, stays at the Drew Estate dinner." Actually it was a great evening, thanks to Rich and Drew.

 Our day began with our newest cigar partner, Davidoff. It was a great meeting in which we looked at some great products, including some rebranded Comachos. They had a terrific display that was filled with live scorpions. We also had a chance to visit with Matt Booth of Room 101 fame. If you have ever picked up a cigar magazine then you've seen his iconic "Don't feed the animals" ads.

 After Davidoff we headed over to our good friends and fellow Florida icon JC Newman. After some wonderful Cuban coffee we shared a few cigars and decided on bringing in some very limited and exclusive items from their portfolio. ABC guests can look forward to seeing their Diamond Crown line in some of our top cigar stores. It was also nice just sitting down and talking with Eric Newman, Bobby Newman, and Harry Preston.

After a quick lunch we shuffled over to Gurkha where we met with owner Kaisad Hansotia, Juan Lopez-blender extraordinaire, and chain rep Randy Veeser. As always, Gurkha has some exciting new brands and I am glad to say that we have greatly expanded our Gurkha portfolio. Guests can also look forward to seeing the "Godzilla" packs again for the holidays.

And yes, that is a bottle of single malt Laphroag on the table.

For our fourth stop of the day we met with Drew Estate, and let me say that they didn't disappoint. If you think Drew is just about making flavored or infused cigars, then you don't know Drew. If you read my blog posted the weekend of July 4th, you will recall that I acknowledged that in my opinion, Drew's Liga Privada line of cigars was amongst the finest in the world. Well, two days later the world's largest cigar publication agreed with me and named Liga Privada the top cigar line in the US. A huge honor and
greatly deserved. The only downside is the cigars are so good that they are hard to find. With limited production, only select merchants have the privilege of selling them. ABC Fine Wine & Spirits is one of those select merchants. I don't want to spoil the surprise but we're about to secure larger quantities of these items which means they will be sold in more stores.

 Our final stop of the day was with longtime partner Torano. Charlie Torano was as hospitable as ever and our chain rep Armando was equally friendly. We added a few new Torano lines, including the much anticipated cigars from Sam Leccia. I can't wait to see his black and white cigars on our shelves, which will go to all 113 of our walk-in humidor locations.

 Monday was a long day, ending with a Gurkha after party followed by dinner with Kaisad. If all Mondays were like this one, though I would not dread them as much.

Long Ashes,

Chris Gwaltney

Follow Chris on Twitter @chrisgnole