The last weekend in September, I had the pleasure of attending a locally organized cigar event hosted by event coordinator Elle Jones and Ana Darby with The Dekorum Experience and Jamal Burkes owner of The Hair Biz in Cocoa Fl. Even though Elle is not a huge cigar enthusiast, she is learning, and understands how to organize an event. She also knows that cigars are a great way to bring people together. As part of the event, she reached out to BAMF Cigars owner Ismael Olivan to set up a rolling table to teach attendees how to roll a wrapper on a cigar which they go to keep after. She also had music entertainment by DJ Frankie Sly – a local central Florida entertainer spinning Smooth R&B and Old School hits.
Event Location
The event was held at a beautiful hidden gem of a venue – Field Manor – located on Merritt Island, FL right on the shore of the Indian River with a beautiful sunset to start the evening after a wicked bad rainy day.
Field Manor is a historic site located at 750 Field Manor Drive in Merritt Island, Florida. It’s one of the oldest standing structures on Merritt Island, dating back to the 1880s. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1997.
The 45-acre property consists of a 19th-century home, an antique citrus packing house, acres of old citrus groves, and 300 feet of shoreline on the Indian River. The Field family, who arrived in 1868 from Macon, GA, built the first house on Merritt Island. The land for Field Manor was formally homesteaded in 1882.
Today, Field Manor operates as a living history museum that includes an 1880s homestead and former orange grove. It aims to show visitors what pioneer living in Florida was like. The site has been open to the public for historic home and grove tours and field trips since late 2014, and regularly offers community events.
The Food
Food makes any event more fun and awesome food makes events that much better. Elle and her team did not disappoint in the food category. The food was catered by The Goat and Block. I was glad I made this a free diet night because I certainly dug into those pastries and then some. There was plenty for everyone and even some left over at the end. The caterer did an amazing job laying out the presentation making it super inviting.
The Bar
What’s an event without cocktails? All general admission ticket holders got 1 free drink of their choice and the VIP got not only a bottle of their choice but additional drink tickets. The team from “Cocktails 2 You” did a great job keeping up with demand for drinks and mixed them just to my liking.
The Deep Conversation
The Master of Ceremonies for the evening was Toby Hearns who set up a podcast of conversation, dubbed “The Man Cave” during DJ break. Check out the provocative discussion here – and oh boy, did it get deep.
Cigar Rolling
During the event they had a Live Cigar Education and Wrapping Presentation by BAMF Cigars! Those that partook in the rolling had a lot of fun and some even were complemented by Ismael, owner of BAMF cigars, as a decent roll. If you ever tried your hand at rolling a wrapper on a cigar you know it is harder than it looks and just think, the skilled rollers in a factory do this 300 – 400 times in an 8 hour day!
The first step to rolling is preparing the wrapper leaf. This is where you cut the leaf to size using a special cutting tool known as a chaveta. Basically, a sharp blade that the roller holds in his palm and trims the edges of the wrapper leaf to cut it to a shape for rolling on the binded and pressed cigar.
The next step is the more difficult process of making sure you hold the leaf taut while you roll in a continuous motion the cigar cross the wrapper. Then with a little vegetable gum you glue the final part around the head of the cigar. Finally, you cap it using a special tool to cut a round circle of leaf to make the cap. The last step is to cut the rough edge off the foot.
A Night of Fun 4 Sure
The night was certainly full of fun with awesome food, drink, music and dancing – not to mention a room full of fellow Brothers and Sisters of the Leaf. Some were experienced cigar enthusiasts and others were learning about this thing we call the Love of the Leaf. I was thoroughly impressed with the event and have to say, Elle is on to something here for sure. I hope to reach out to her and possibly plan some bigger things in the years to come.
There were four ticket classes:
- General Admission – $40
- (1) Drink Ticket
- (1) Cigar Ticket
- Unlimited Food (Appetizers)
- Raffle Entry (3 Raffles valued at $1000 Total)
- Date Night VIP – $125
- Admission for (2) Custom VIP Section
- (1) Bottle of Wine or Champagne
- (1) Flight of Chocolates
- (2) Additional Drink Ticket (
- 2) Cigar Ticket Unlimited Food (Appetizers)
- Raffle Entry (3 Raffles valued at $1000 Total)
- VIP Price – $250
- Admission for (4)
- Custom VIP Section
- (1) Bottle of Alcohol (Captain – Crown – Tito’s – Jack Daniel – Anejo Tequilo – Signature Dekorum)
- (2) Mixers
- (4) Additional Drink Ticket
- (4) Cigar Ticket
- Unlimited Food (Appetizers)
- Raffle Entry (3 Raffles valued at $1000 Total)
- Best Value Class VIP Price – $300
- Admission for (6) Custom VIP Section
- (1) Bottle of Alcohol (Captain – Crown – Tito’s – Jack Daniel – Anejo Tequilo – Signature Dekorum)
- (2) Mixers
- (6) Additional Drink Ticket
- (6) Cigar Ticket Unlimited Food (Appetizers)
- Raffle Entry (3 Raffles valued at $1000 Total)
All VIP received the option to roll their own Cigar. Overall the event drew (32) VIP attendees and (44) General admission Attendees for a total of 76 guests. Not bad for the first time running a cigar event!
In Closing
Once again, I would like to thank Elle and her team for hosting a terrific, intimate, and inclusive event that may very well grow into an annual event on Florida’s Space Coast. And yea, even I took some time to sit back and enjoy myself.
This event was such a success! From the antiquely designed VIP sections and delicious charcuterie table to the strong conversation with our communities men over choice cigars, this was a smooth night out! Cant wait to see what the next one has in store!
It was amazing — I hope to work with Elle on future projects we can do some really big things here on the space coast around cigars