From: ????????????????
Subject: '94 L.A. Pipe & Cigar Expo
L.A.'S THE PLACE!
By Stephen Johnson
October has come and gone, and with it another show here in
Los Angeles. Billed as the West Coast Pipe and Cigar Expo,
the event was held on October 29th and 30th at the LAX
Marriott hotel. It was the third annual L.A. show, and the
second one sponsored by our club, the Southwest Pipe and
Cigar League. After the outstanding success of last year’s
Expo there was one important question running through our
minds as we prepared for ‘94: Was last year just a fluke,
or could we do it again? For the answer to that question
just read on, McDuff!
Preparations for the ‘94 Expo began towards the end of last
year as we cast about for another venue. Our ‘93 show was
held at the LAX Hyatt, and although their facilities were
adequate my experience there told me that we could do better
somewhere else. That somewhere else turned out to be the
Marriott. Aside from being a beautiful hotel, the Marriott
also ended up being very cost-effective since the sales
office made us an offer that was suprisingly reasonable. A
promising start!
Now that we had our venue, it was time to hunker down and
start putting things together. We contacted our exhibitors
from last year, and got in touch with quite a few new people
as well. Although a few of our regular exhibitors were
unable to participate due to schedule conflicts, we easily
made up for it. Some of our regulars actually took more
tables than they did last year, and we also got a fair
number of first-time exhibitors. In fact by showtime we
filled 54 tables, whereas last year we were able to just
barely fill 50. Things are looking up!
While we were busy with all this stuff we also had to
address the other important issue - publicity. Once again
we got a valuable assist from a direct mailing, done by
Nikos Levin who duplicated the mailing his late father did
for us last year. We also made the rounds of all the local
smokeshops, and found to our pleasant surprise that
attitudes towards the shows are starting to improve. What
was new for this year was the high-tech publicity we did for
the Expo. Club member Jerry Lustig and I are both
subscribers to the various online computer services, and
Jerry in particular performed sterling service through his
online efforts. And now it’s showtime!
Our preshow reception, held on Friday, October 28th, was a
repeat of last year where exhibitors were allowed to set up
if they so desired. This thanks to the above-mentioned Mr.
Lustig, who again provided our security on both Friday and
Saturday nights. The reception was a lot of fun, and the
anticipation of the weekend was heightened by the sight of
displays unfolding on tabletops. The reception petered out
at 11 p.m., and we all stumbled off to bed.
Saturday started off bright and early, with more exhibitors
coming in to set up. At 9 a.m. we opened the doors to the
public, wondering what the day had in store for us. The
action actually started pretty quickly and built up
throughout the morning. After a slowdown during lunch time
the traffic picked up again, and was steady throughout the
rest of the afternoon. By the end of the day it appeared
that we had about the same number of walk-ins as we had on
Saturday last year. So far, so good!
After the hectic day it was now time to enjoy the awards
banquet. As with our increase of exhibit tables, we also
enjoyed an increase in banquet ticket sales. We had 40
attendees this year (as opposed to 34 last year), and it was
great to see our banquet room actually filled. This part of
the show also allowed us to experience another major
improvement over the Hyatt - food. I had heard that the
Marriott’s food is top-rate, and after hearing some less-
than complimentary remarks about the food at our banquet at
the Hyatt last year I was wondering how it would be this
time. And how was it? All I can say is that the Marriott
lived up to its reputation for fine dining! We counted some
real gourmets in our number, and even they were impressed.
We were also impressed by the fact that this first class
meal didn’t cost any more than what we’d paid at the Hyatt.
Wow!
After our highly enjoyable meal we moved on to our auction.
To the tobacciana were added some fine spirits (most of
which were kindly donated by S.W.P.C.L. member Gordon
Soladar). The auction went very well, with spirited bidding
and an empty table at the end of it. After the auction came
the awards presentation. The winners of our exhibitor
competition were: Best briar pipe - Poor Richard’s Pipe and
tobacco (for a gorgeous Micoli, one of the few attractive
Micoli’s I’ve seen), best meerschaum - Royal Meerschaum
("Adam and Eve" carved by Sabri. Incredible piece!), best
antique pipe - Poor Richard’s (Louis IVX meerschaum), best
collection - Bert Bruning of Palm Desert Tobacco (for a
great collection of Charatans), best pipemaker - John
Weidemann, best commercial display - Royal Meerschaum, and a
judges’ special merit award to pipemaker (and a very loyal
longtime club member) Paul Perri for his outstanding work in
briar.
Our awards presentation was followed by our guest speaker,
Jack Ehrmantraut. Jack’s no-nonsense, "shoot straight from
the hip" style made for an interesting speech, and what he
had to say about the business and the future of our pursuit
gave all of us something to think about. Our banquet ended
with a repeat performance by our magician from last year,
the very talented Bruce Sinclair. It was a full evening,
and very enjoyable one. Thanks go to Lenny Brick of Brick,
Hanauer for making it even more so with a donation of Santa
Rosa cigars for the banquet.
Sunday morning saw everyone coming back to get their tables
ready for the new day. The doors were once again opened to
the public at 9 a.m., and once again people started coming
in. Foot traffic during the morning was good, with the
usual slowdown during lunch time. Attendance in the
afternoon was decent, although not quite as much as what we
had last year. Sunday’s featured event was the pipe smoking
contest, which began at 2 p.m. Participation in the contest
was another aspect of the Expo which showed growth - 12
contestants vs. the 9 we had last year. Contest veteran
Harry L. Slayen (who usually wins) actually ended up coming
in second this year to S.W.P.C.L. member Rick Newcombe.
Rick’s finishing time was quite respectable - 1 hour, 5
minutes and change. His efforts were rewarded with a
beautiful "Mrs. Hudson" pipe from Peterson’s "Return of
Sherlock Holmes" collector series, generously donated by
Brad Weinfeld of Hollco-Rohr. Way to go, Rick!
Raffle prize drawings were held throughout both days, and we
were grateful to receive a number of door prizes donated by
both exhibitors and by supporters of the Expo who couldn’t
attend. We would like to thank Rick Hacker, Hollco-Rohr, La
Plata Cigars, Mastro de Paja, McClelland Tobacco Co., Las
Vegas Cigar Co., Lane Ltd., Nikos Levin (NML Pipes Direct),
Jack Ehrmantraut (Edwards Pipes & Cigars) and Douwe Egberts
for their generous contributions to our raffle. Also held
throughout both days were an event new to the Expo - cigar
smoking contests!
And just what is a cigar smoking contest? Well, I’ll tell
you. First the contestants are each given a cigar of the
same length and ring guage. Then the contestants light
their cigars. The object is to produce the longest unbroken
ash. After the ash falls off the remainder of the cigar is
measured, then subtracted from the beginning length to
determine the winner. Wires or any other kind of support
are, of course not allowed - just ability and steady nerves.
As you can imagine, these contests are a real hoot, and we
had a great time watching the contestants in action! Our
thanks go to Hollco-Rohr, Bombay Cigar Society, Las Vegas
Cigar Co. and the Briar Rose tobacco shop for sponsoring our
debut cigar smoking contests. They’ll definitely be a
feature of our next Expo!
All in all, we did have another very successful show.
Although attendance was down a little from last year, we did
notice some substantial improvements with this year’s walk-
ins. First, more people were spending money than last year.
We also noticed that people were staying at the Expo longer,
and most important - we saw more younger people this year.
These were important developments, and a sure sign that the
L.A. show is getting better.
What is also significant to the future of the Expo is that
we made two important friends this year. One is Ed Lehmann,
a collector and member of the Chicago club. Ed exhibited
with us for the first time, and was so impressed with the
job we did that he said he wished every other show was as
well-run as ours - a high compliment from a true pipe show
veteran! Ed told me that not only is he giving the Expo a
favorable report to his club, but that he’ll also bring some
other collectors from that group out for the ‘95 show. This
will help the L.A. show develop a national reputation -
something we need to keep building momentum. Ed’s help is
valuable, and we greatly appreciate his support!
Our other important friend is Jack Ehrmantraut. Jack was
with us in ‘92. He somehow got overlooked last year, but we
made up for it this year by impressing another pipe show
veteran (especially so since Jack organizes the annual Pipe
Collectors International conventions). As the owner of
P.C.I., Jack’s support of the L.A. show is quite an asset
since he has the ability to publicize the Expo on a large
scale. The Expo got a very good write-up in his newsletter,
and he has even given us the ‘97 national P.C.I. convention.
The fact that he is willing to do this shows just how far
we’ve come in a relatively short period of time. Mr.
Ehrmantraut’s a good man to have on our side, and with his
involvement, as well as Ed Lehmann’s, our future looks
strong indeed. So, is the West Coast Pipe and Cigar Expo in
a growth mode? You bet!
I also want to mention that the ‘94 Expo was dedicated to
the memory of Barry Levin. Barry was a good man, and left
behind many friends. He was a big supporter of the shows,
and I’ll always be grateful for the help he gave us last
year. I’m very glad that his son Nikos was with us at the
show this year, and it’s only fitting that he was the guest
of honor at our awards banquet. Unfortunately his mother,
Kathy was unable to join us owing to a family matter that
came up at the last minute. We thank both Nikos and Kathy
for their continuing support, and they will always have a
place of honor at our shows.
Preparations for ‘95 are even now getting under way.
There’s a lot of work ahead, but we’re already looking
forward to another excellent show. In closing I want to
thank those members of our club who helped me put the show
together. Without their assistance I couldn’t do it, and
I’m proud to be associated with a fine group of people. I
also want to thank the management and staff of the LAX
Marriott hotel for doing a superb job on every aspect of
their service to us. We couldn’t ask for a better venue -
truly a first-class place in every way.
And to those of you who didn’t come to the 1994 West Coast
Pipe and cigar Expo, all I can say is...
YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!
(Author's note: This article originally appeared in the Holiday, 1994 issue
of the A & M Gazette. It is reproduced here with the permission of the
Gazette's publisher, Neil Murray.)
[ Thanks for the reprint, and also for the reviews, Steve! -S. ]
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