While we go to numerous cigar events around the country both large and small this is one that has always been a blast to attend and participate in the Chattanooga TweetUp. Occurring every summer and held at Burns Tobacconist, primarily at Burns East but they also have a downtown location that you must visit time permitting, and it is a sprawling place that is comfortable and inviting.
Numerous cigar makers or their reps attend every year donating some cigars, swag, sponsorship and best of all their time to just have one-on-one or one-to-many casual conversations with all in attendance and to me that is the best part of the event. Now we do not make cigars, we make a great cigar accessory that allows you to taste more of your cigar sooner and we get asked lots of questions and for the most part we answer them all. The best and most questions seemed to come Saturday morning during our sponsorship of the Bloody Mary bar.

The drink ticket!

My Father Cigars sponsored the Friday night “Disco” bar and we figured Saturday morning would be more fun and casual given the fine line between Friday night and Saturday morning and that a cool Tennessee morning and a good Bloody Mary can be quite rejuvenating. We served just about 100 Bloody Mary cocktails to attendees over a 3 hour period Saturday morning in the outside bar area at Burns and it was a lot of fun.

So what was the best questioned asked of us this year? Well… It must have been being asked why we do what we do “make cedar spills”. This was a bit different from the “how did you get started?”, “what did you do previously?” or “what is a cedar spill?” So “why do we do what we do?”

I would like to think we make cedar spills for the following reasons:
1) We are good at it – Going into year 3 now we have made too many custom cedar spills to count for customers and clients worldwide with plenty of re-orders and new brick and mortar shops joining our retail family every month.
2) We listen – To our customer, our retailers and just about anyone who had any comment, complaint or feedback on our wares. Great conversations about the cigar industry, industry personalities and brands and how to light a cigar properly take place for us online, person-to-person or during interviews/podcasts and that really challenges us to not only be on top of our game but to grow and share our knowledge and passion for this industry
3) We think cedar spills are the best way to light and taste your cigar – When we started this business we just could not find any cedar spills commercially available. We called around, asked around and ultimately determined that there might be something of a business opportunity here. That and the fact that we like cigars and believe that right is a real renaissance in the cigar market of boutique or limited edition cigars coming forth as many new cigar makers enter the industry and established cigar makers are trying non-traditional blends, shapes and sizes.

Bottom-line: The Chattanooga TweetUp continues to be a great event attended by incredible folks that reminds us why we do what we do. The opportunity to sit down on a Saturday morning with a Bloody Mary, a cigar and engage in great conversation with old friends and new was the bonus!