1

ISSUE 1 | VOLUME 1

Our Mission:

Our top priority is collecting then dispersing premium cigars and accessories to troops serving in

combat zones. Our second priority is filling request from military personnel on ships, in foreign duty

stations and non-combat zones.

Q & A with Robert Allan

Director of Operations for Operation: Cigars for Warriors

Chance meeting leads to a new passion helping thousands of troops for the Allan family

How did you become involved with Op:CFW? In 2012, by chance, I met Ben Edmundson, (the Treasurer of Op:

CFW) at a Publix in Florida. I have been a cigar smoker for 25

years and currently work at a cigar shop in Ocala, Florida. Ben

walked by with a cigar sticking out of his shirt pocket and we

struck up a conversation about cigars. Ben told me about some of

the online groups that were forming to discuss and trade cigars.

He also told me about a group called Op:CFW that was just in its

infancy. The non-profit existed for the sole purpose of sending

care packages of cigars to U.S. troops stationed overseas. As a veteran myself, I was immediately inter-

ested in helping. Ben and I became friends. Along the way I was able to learn more about his passion for

proper board governance and structure for the newly formed Op:CFW. Sadly, Ben passed away in the

fall of 2015, but his legacy will forever be a part of the organization.

What were the early days of Op:CFW like? At the time I met Ben, he was handling the requests for care packages from the troops, packing the do-

nated sticks, and shipping care packages to the troops overseas. Back then the customs forms had to be

filled out by hand. It was very time consuming. We had about 12-24 requests per month for care packag-

es. Ben was traveling throughout the state for work in addition to his Op:CFW duties. When the organi-

zation started to experience its first growth spurt, my wife Kris and I stepped in to help Ben with his

Q & A CONT. NEXT PAGE...

Robert Allan, Op: CFW

Director of Operations

2

Q & A CONT. FROM COVER...

packing, sorting and shipping duties. Eventually our house became the new operations headquarters, ac-

cepting the donated cigars, sorting, and assembling the care packages.

From an operations standpoint, what role did Ben play in shaping Op: CFW in the

early days?

As a founding member of Op: CFW, Ben was the backbone of the group. He has a reputation amongst all

who knew him as being straight forward and to the point. He had a clear vision for Op: CFW, that it

would operate with extreme transparency and integrity. I feel we have not only achieved that, but exceed-

ed those expectation thanks in part to Ben. Every cigar that is donated and every dollar that is given by

donors is accounted for and tracked among the executive team and the whole board. As it grew, Op: CFW

added the volunteer board positions of a Vice Chair and Chief Financial Officer to assist and assure the

standards Ben and the founders set are being continually met.

Ben and the founding members also saw that in order to have the respect it deserved, Op: CFW had to be

an IRS approved 501(c)3 charity. That was his goal and his focus in the early days. He and Storm Boen,

the Op: CFW Chair, and the whole team made that happen. After that designation, the donations, corpo-

rate sponsorships, and the demand from troops requesting the care packages grew. Through those growing

pains, Ben was critical to the organization. Back in 2013 Op: CFW ran out of donated cigars to send to

troops. We had platoons in Afghanistan waiting for their requested care packages. Ben stepped up and

bought 1,000 cigars himself so that we could fulfill the requested care packages. He did not want troops to

be waiting weeks and weeks for their sticks.

It sounds like things have changed significantly since you took on your role?

When I took over shipments in 2012 we were sending 12-24 cigar care packages with 50 sticks each to the

troops, per month. Today we send out 20,000 cigars per month to troops, about 300-400 care packages.

The volunteer work of managing the Op: CFW donations and packing them has kind of taken over my

house. One of our craziest months ever was last December. In December 2015 we had 110,000 cigars do-

nated that month. Semi-trucks were dropping off pallets of cigars in front of my house.

Despite the donations coming in large quantities, we are still at risk of running out because we have 20-30

new requests from deployed troops each day. To keep things going we really rely on our cigar shop col-

lection points to continue spreading the word to cigar lovers and collecting those sticks. Anyone can al-

ways go through their personal humidor, clean it out and send their extra sticks to us. We will send them

right to the troops. We really need your help to continue to do this.

Has your role as a critical volunteer for Op: CFW become a family affair?

Yes, we have a walk-in humidor at my house. My wife, Kris, and father-in-law Dennis, help me sort the

donations and pack them for shipment to the troops. Between the three of us we easily put in 100 volun-

teer hours a week. Thankfully, the customs forms no longer need to be filled out by hand, but I do spend a

lot of time fielding questions and requests from the troops. I also check to make sure that we don’t have

duplicate requests from the same deployed unit. We take the hundreds of the boxes of cigars to the post

office in our family truck. The post office drops off the empty boxes we use for shipment and the customs

forms by the hundreds at my house.

Q & A CONT. PAGE 4...

3

Summer 2016

As Operation: Cigars for Warriors celebrates its fourth

birthday, I am extremely proud to present to you the first

edition of our retooled quarterly e-newsletter.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of some of the individuals you

will meet in this issue, the organization has grown and flour-

ished just as we hoped it would when we laid the foundation

years ago, knowing that our troops needed and deserved ci-

gar care packages.

Some of the points of pride worth noting as we turn four are:

Our administrative costs are a low 8 percent.

We have nearly 300 volunteers across the country.

Nationally we work with 250 cigar stores who serve as donation centers,

collecting sticks and donations.

Since May 2012 we have passed out over 610,000 cigars to men and women

overseas.

That’s a lot to be proud of, but there is still work to be done. With the continued gener-

osity of our donors and tireless efforts of our volunteers, I feel confident our fourth year

will be the best yet.

Sadly, Ben Edmundson, one of our founding members, passed away in October. Ben’s

passion and dedication will be sorely missed as we continue the mission he envisioned

with others. We honor Ben’s commitment and service to Op: CFW on page 5 of this is-

sue.

As we move forward in granting our warriors a moment’s respite from their deploy-

ments, Ben will live on in our hearts and minds. I hope you enjoy this edition of the

newsletter and we will be back in the fall.

This newsletter was put together by the all-volunteer Op: CFW Public Relations Team

with Sampson Copywrite. Great job Kelsey, Carrie, and Christina. Con-

tact Carrie@35projects.com for information on future newsletters.

Storm Boen, Chair

Storm Boen, Chairman of

the Board of Directors for

Op: CFW

4

Q & A CONT. FROM PAGE 2...

Do you only need donations of cigars for Op: CFW?

We rely on monetary donations from individuals to ship the cigars. Since 2012 Op: CFW has spent

over $200,000 on shipping thousands of cigars to our troops. This month alone we will spend ap-

proximately $5,000 in shipping costs to send 300-400 care packages to US troops.

What keeps you going in this role? Not too many people would take

on a volunteer role that was tantamount to a second full-time job.

I do what I do as a cigar lover. I was in the Army 1987-1991 where I was stationed in Panama, re-

sponsible for the communications between Panama and Honduras. I am originally from Upstate

New York, so I know what it is like to be a long way from home. Also, at Roz’s Cigar Emporium

where I work, I have had the chance to talk with several service members who have returned state-

side and were in a unit that received a care package from Op: CFW. They get a kick out of it when

they hear that the package they received halfway across the globe was put together in my living

room by myself or a member of my family. Since May 2012, Op: CFW has sent 610,000 cigars to

troops overseas to fulfill care package requests.

What kind of feedback do you receive from troops that you meet who

have received a care package?

The feedback I receive is so positive. I hear time and time again that receiving a care package of ci-

gars from Op: CFW is a real morale booster. The deployed troops are in the middle of nowhere, in a

relentlessly stressful situation and that moment of downtime with the cigar makes a huge difference.

The troops form ad hoc cigar clubs overseas and they really enjoy their cigars. That makes it all

worthwhile.

Our top priority is collecting then dispersing premium cigars and accessories to Ameri-

can Service Men and Women serving in combat zones (air, land and sea).

Our second priority is American Service Men and Women on long term deploy-

ments outside the continental U.S. (OCONUS) in third-world environments and other

appropriate Areas of Operations to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

It is our way to honor, show respect and thank those putting it all on the line for us back

home. We have received requests from many soldiers who have no one here in the U.S.

to send care packages to them, and would otherwise receive nothing.

The mental health benefit of a premium cigar is unsurpassed for our troops, especially considering it is the top

requested item by our warriors. Op: Cigars for Warriors is the link between donation and recipient. We hope that

you may be able to assist us in continuing this mission now and in the future. We are in great need of corporate

sponsors that can send us donations on a regular basis along with individuals that want to send what they

can, when they can. Just as every warr ior matters, so does every cigar . Please join us in suppor ting our

endeavor to send love, honor, and respect—one cigar at a time to those whose sacrifices never end.

5

In Memoriam

Op: CFW Founding member Ben Edmundson A few months ago the Op: CFW family lost one

of its most passionate champions and founding

members, Ben Edmundson.

Ben was the beating heart of the organization. He

was a huge part of all of the day-to-day decisions

here.

We strive to

maintain a strong

ethical charity,

and huge portion

of that drive

came from Ben. We are very proud to go forth following

his tradition.

Without Ben, Op: CFW would be a shadow of what it

is today. His passion and ethics were imprinted on all

of us to support our troops in best the possible ways

as volunteers.

Ben will be sorely missed by all, but especially by me. Rare was the day in the last four

years that we did not discuss and/or argue all things related to Op: CFW and/or CATS.

Our CFO, Jaime Gracia, summed up our feelings for Ben when he said, “No matter

where or when, Ben could always be counted on

to complete our mission; his example and dedica-

tion has made Operation: Cigars for Warriors a

501(c)3 charity whose proud tradition I am hon-

ored to serve.”

Storm Boen, Chair, Op: CFW

Ben Edmundson, an OP: CFW found-

ing member, passed away in 2015. His

dedication to our mission will be

missed.

Ben with Op: CFW members Justin

Troncoso and Robert Allan.

6

For Jeff Kay, the love of cigars and service

to country have mixed in interesting ways

for the California native.

At the all-volunteer non-profit, Operation: Cigars for Warri-

ors (Op: CFW), Event Coordinators fulfill a vital role for the

organization. These volunteers are located throughout the

country, and assist cigar shops in collecting cigars and finan-

cial donations from customers. They serve as the go-between

for the organization and the shop owner/ management.

“The time our event coordinators put into cultivating their

relationships and making new connections in their area can

be the difference in whether Op: CFW has enough donated

cigars and shipping money each month,” said Melissa Ford,

the Director of Event Coordinators for the Florida-based

nonprofit. “It is a big job and not one to be taken lightly.”

While the volunteer duties of an Event Coordinator, or EC, are time consuming, no one knows the

benefits of all the hard work quite like Jeff Kay. Jeff, a Marine, was introduced to the work of Op:

CFW thousands of miles away from Ohio while in Afghanistan in 2012. The unit Jeff was assigned

to had a cigar club for the deployed men and women, thanks in part to cigars provided by Op: CFW,

and personal contributions. Jeff thought the fact that there was a non-profit providing cigars to

troops was a great idea and it stuck with him. While home between deployments, Jeff visited his fa-

vorite cigar shop and made official contact with Op: CFW.

It started at Havana House, where Jeff found the shop had an ammunition box on the counter con-

taining cigars and cash, branded with Op: CFW advertising, the same organization which had sent

the cigar packages to his units overseas. The owner of the shop explained to him that Havana House

was a donor site, and set up a meeting between Jeff and the local EC who had originally recruited

the store.

That EC turned out to be Ryan Bloomer, with whom Jeff has since become very good friends. Ryan

asked him if he would be interested in becoming an EC himself. Ryan was the only EC for the

Northeast Ohio/Western Pennsylvania area, and was hoping to get some help in recruiting new do-

nor stores. Jeff decided that he had plenty of time to donate, believed in the program's work, and

wanted to give back to the organization.

Jeff’s work as an EC involves promoting the organization and recruiting cigar shops to become do-

nor stores. Within his first two months as a volunteer, he had signed up four local cigar stores to be-

come

Event Coordinator Spotlight

Jeff Kay

Event Coordinator Jeff Kay

7

ENLIST IN THE OP: CFW MISSION Share a stogie with a solider and donate your favorite cigar to an active-duty soldier overseas.

To donate to Operation: Cigars for Warriors go online to www.cigarsforwarriors.org or mail

cigars and monetary donations (used to pay care package shipping costs) to

Better yet, join the unit and become a member. Recruit your favorite cigar shop into Op: CFW,

brief our mission to others, collect donation and meet other cigar enthusiasts.

Kay CONT. FROM PREVIOUS PAGE...

donors, and was able to stop by each

store to check up on any progress and

answer questions from patrons. His

work as an EC did not even stop during

his most recent deployment to Afghani-

stan. Jeff still managed to keep in con-

tact with the stores he recruited through

Facebook and email.

He is also an active member of the cigar

club in his unit, the Tali-Banned Cigar

Aficionado Club where he takes pic-

tures of meetings and the troops with

the cigar donations to share with every-

one. Wherever he goes he is educating

people about the group. Jeff’s favorite

event he attended as an EC was work-

ing the Havana House Cigar Booth at the 2nd Annual Youngstown Beer Festival, in Youngstown,

Ohio, last year. The event turned out to be a wonderful opportunity for promotion of Op:CFW and

ended up being the highest number of donations yet collected by Havana House. He hopes to be able

to attend CATS Fest in San Antonio.

"Op: CFW has been a very rewarding opportunity to volunteer for a very worthwhile organization I

strongly believe in,” Jeff said. “I have met so many wonderful people along the way, I see myself do-

ing this for as long as CFW remains in existence."

Volunteer Jeff Kay as a recipient of an Operation:

Cigars for Warriors care package before he became

a volunteer.

Operation: Cigars For Warriors HQ

1797 S Colonial Ave

Homosassa, FL 34448

8

Vaughn Boyd of Deadwood

Tobacco Co. and Cigar

Bar was proud to present

Op: CFW with a check from

the gun raffle for $4,600.

Thank you to everyone who

bought tickets.

Rick Neas accepted the

Lehigh Valley Cigar Club

check to Op: CFW for

$992.00 which they raised by

hosting a sporting clay shoot

and golf outing last year.

They also have scheduled the

same events this year and

hope to donate even more.

Thank you to the Lehigh Val-

ley Cigar Club.

MISSION SUPPORT

9

Volunteer Spotlight

2015 Admin of

the Year

Tim Morris

Tim Morris received the “Admin of the Year" award last July, earning well-deserved recognition for his work

with Operation: Cigars for Warriors.

Morris first heard about Operation: Cigars for Warriors through the online group CATS (Cigar Aficionado

Trades and Sales), owned by CEO Storm Boen. Morris was a donor to the “Big Raffle” event in 2012, promoted

on the CATS page, during the organization’s inaugural year.

Morris began at CFW as an Event Coordinator in Virginia, a position he still currently holds. It’s an extremely

important position to Morris, who recognizes the amount of work each EC puts in as a volunteer.

In addition to his EC work, Morris also administers the nearly 5,000-member Facebook CFW group forum along

with fellow administrators Boen, Robert Allan, Chuck Morss, Alaine DiBenedetto and Howard Gross.

Not wanting to put all of the spotlight on himself, Morris said about the forum team: "I can assure you that any

success for this group can be attributed to the tireless efforts of all the members. Serving with each and every one

is a privilege."

Morris and the forum team work tirelessly to keep the focus of the social media on supporting the troops and on

the mission statement. Given that each administrator is a volunteer with their own full-time career and lives, it’s

no small task to keep a social group of nearly 4,600 people on topic.

Getting to meet or hear from the troops that receive cigar packages is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling

aspects of CFW for Morris, as it is with most of the organization.

"Cigars have become the number one item requested by those brave men and women,” Morris said. “Being a

member of an organization that provides them with a little 'down time' has been an honor of epic proportion."

Morris said this month alone about 16,000 cigars will be packaged and sent to American troops around the

world, offering that tiny bit of peace.

Our troops put their lives on hold, and at risk, to keep the country safe, and this organization sends them what

little relief they ask for in the form of a cigar. Volunteers like Morris, who contribute in whatever way possible

only accepting a reward of praise and satisfaction of a job well done, are the heart and soul of this organization.

With sincere gratitude, we congratulate Tim Morris on being named the Admin of the Year and congratulate him

on a year's worth of good work. You, and others like you, inspire all of Operation: Cigars for Warriors volunteers

to give a little more each day to our organization.

Tim Morris, Op: CFW 2015 Admin of

the Year

10

Stogie Smiles

11

12

Over 1,500 cigar enthusi-

asts attended last year’s

10th annual "Cigarnival"

Cigar Expo, sponsored by Famous Smoke Shop

in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Cigars For Warriors had a booth at the expo

where they collected donations and educated the

public on what our opera-

tion does and what we are.

CFW also shared a video on

the Drew Estate stage and

had a dunk tank. Our pres-

ence at the event was made

possible thanks to Famous

Smoke Shop, a loyal spon-

sor of CFW, who invited

us to this event, as they do

to other events they hold, to

help CFW fundraise and increase awareness of

our operation.

Cigars for Warriors was able to collect an

astounding 1,200 cigar donations and $7,500 in

cash donations thanks to the dunk tank. Raffle

ticket sales also bolstered the donation’s pot.

Prizes included an official CFW humidor and

other items generously donated from cigar

clubs.

Famous Smoke Shop began in 1939 as a Man-

hattan cigar and gift shop. In 2000, the shop

moved to Easton, Pennsylvania, where they now

also own the Leaf Cigar Bar Restaurant and

Lounge, where several of the events of

"Cigarnival" were held. The 2015 two-day festi-

val, held from June 26-27, gives consumers and

enthusiasts a chance to meet the manufacturers

they love.

This year's events included a kickoff party spon-

sored by Drew Estate on June 25 that celebrated

the new Drew Estate Lounge, located within the

Famous Smoke Shop premises. Friday's events

began with the Drew Estate Golf Tournament

and outdoor sales

throughout the day. Sat-

urday's events included

a 10th Anniversary

Opening ceremony, a

meet-and-greet with

vendors, sales and

demonstrations at differ-

ent locations throughout

the day.

Our events were sup-

ported by the lead event coordinator/team leader

Rick Neas, Storm Boen, and three of the local

CFW event coordinators. Neas, became a Cigars

for Warriors volunteer three years ago after

hearing the story of a soldier who received one

of CFW's care packages. The soldier said it

“saved his life.” Neas was surprised at the im-

pact of something as simple as a cigar and de-

cided at that moment to become a CFW volun-

teer. As team leader, he was the primary contact

for staff and vendors concerning the event.

"Cigarnival" 2015 was a major success for both

Famous Smoke Shop and Cigars for Warriors,

and surely just as successful for all the other

vendors present.

EASTON,

PENNSYLVANIA

10th Annual Cigarnival huge success

13

First ever Jungle Jim International Market Cigar Festival

dream come true for Chris Carver

Jungle Jim’s held its first annual Cigar Festival during the weekend of

August 29-30 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The inaugural event started out

strong with an estimated 800 people attending, and most of those on

the first day.

The festival was a dream come true for Chris Carver, who runs both locations’ humidors. He lobbied

for a cigar festival because he sees it as a natural extension of the weekly cigar tastings held at the

store and there were no other cigar festivals in the region. Soon after announcing the event, Cigars

for Warriors team leader Bob Schiller approached Jungle Jim’s about having a table for CFW at the

event. In addition to approving a CFW table, Carver was extremely supportive of CFW’s mission,

even including the CFW logo on all of the festival’s promotional material.

Jungle Jim's also promised to donate all cigars provided by the vendors that were not given out or

sold, a promise that ultimately yielded a donation of 669 cigars and 11 cutters. Other patrons donated

a total of 132 cigars and three cutters, and $528 was raised from a raffle for a CFW humidor. Schiller

was able to present the prize to the winner, Steve Powers, at one of Jungle Jim's weekly tastings. Tre

J Cigars also donated six samplers.

Schiller, who is retired from the Navy, became an EC in March of 2015. He decided to become in-

volved after hearing about CFW at local cigar events in his area. The Jungle Jim’s festival was the

first event he organized on his own. Schiller says he is fortunate to have a number of cigar events in

his area, so it makes his job of collecting donations fairly easy and the event attendees are always

generous.

Thank you to Bob Schiller for setting up this event, and thank you to all who attended! Hope to see

you there next year!

CINCINNATI, OHIO

August 29-30th

The humidor at Jungle Jim’s Eastside location. The first Jungle Jim’s Cigar festival was a

dream come true for Chris Carver, who runs both locations’ Humidors.

14

Op: CFW vols work 12-hour shifts at 75th annual

Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

Last year marked the 75th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota. Already one of the largest rallies in the world for motorcycle enthusiasts (an esti-mated 442,200 visitors attended in 2014, according to their website). The 2015 event, from August 3-9, drew motorcycle enthusiasts from around the world who

gathered in the city for a week of stunts, races and other events. It was one of the largest ever. And, thanks to the generosity of Ms. Vaughn Boyd, proprietor of Dead-wood Tobacco in South Dakota, Operation: Cigars for Warriors was able to get the word out about its mission at the weeklong August event. Boyd allowed Op: CFW to have a table at her Drew Estate event. Con-tinuing what has become an annual tradition, Boyd also contributed a custom, engraved gun for Op: CFW to raffle off. She began selling raf-fle tickets for a gold-plated Colt model 1911 in May. Sean DeVore, team leader for this event, along with other CFW volun-teers Storm Boen, Tim Morris, David and Liz Harris, worked twelve-hour shifts every day of Sturgis to take full advantage of the extraordinary op-portunity. A special thanks to Kris Ford, who was able to volunteer his time while also attending the event. Over the course of the week, our volunteers raise $3,850 in cash dona-tions, along with 131 cigar donations, in addition to $4,600 donated from Boyd's gun raffle. We also increased awareness of the organization and our network by handing out 6,000 Op:CFW buttons and signed up a new do-nation shop in Billings, Montana. With the number of volunteers able to work at the booth, both DeVore and Boen were able to go to other venues during the week and network for next year's event. DeVore decided to volunteer as team leader for Sturgis 2015 the year before. Already an Event Coordinator for CFW and biker, Sturgis was a natural fit for him. After seeing the hard work that volunteers put in during the week, and the toll it took on them, DeVore wanted to do his part and help out. DeVore first got involved with Op:CFW after meeting Storm Boen at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival in Boulder, Colorado. After hearing about the organization, he volunteered to be an Event Coordinator for central Wyoming. He was glad he volunteered and found the entire experience fulfilling. "This was an amazing experience, one that I hope to be able to do again next year,” DeVore said. “I met so many veterans that benefited from our organization, and many, many more, who wished we had been around when they served. Their generosity, and their stories of how grateful they are for doing what we do, is what will drive me to continue as a volunteer for Operation: Cigars for Warriors." Congratulations to Carlos Osuna, winner of the gun raffle! We hope you enjoy it. We would also like to thank Vaughn Boyd for her hospitality, generosity and her continued support of our organization. And of course, we’re thankful to the Swisher family and Drew Estate for their continued support as well. Without sponsors like these, our organization would not be what it is today. Thank you so much to all of our volunteers and everyone who donated. We hope to see you next year!

STURGIS,

SOUTH

DAKOTA

Thanks to Op: CFW volunteers,

Op: CFW garnered $3,850 in

cash donations and 131 cigars.

Another $4,6000 was donated

from Boyd’s gun raffle.

15

CFW raises $13,452 at 2015 Rock & Ride

Event breaks rider attendance record

The 2015 Rock & Ride broke the rider attendance record with 530 people. The annual event, held the

weekend of August 28-29 in Corpus Christi, Texas, was sponsored by the Edwards Law Firm and Clas-

sic Rock 104.5.

This year's ride featured events at the Brewster Street Icehouse, the Corpus Christi Harley Davidson, a

poker run at seven different locations, a car show and a concert at the Concrete Street Amphitheater.

Best of all, Operation: Cigars for Warriors replaced the USO as the sole re-

cipient of registration fee profits. The organizer of the event, Kent Cooper

of KPUS Classic Rock 104.5, handed the event over to his friend and CFW

Team Leader David Harris after discussing the possibilities for CFW as a

recipient for the profits and working as volunteers for the event. It turned

out to be fantastic event for CFW, which raised $13,452 from the event.

“The money raised was the most for one event that didn't involve any corporate donations, and the sec-

ond largest amount raised ever from a single event,” Harris said. “It's a tremendous boost to our financial

situation and will pay for shipping for about 3 months. It was a tremendous honor to do this and, hope-

fully, next year we can raise $20,000 or more!"

One of the conditions of receiving the registration fees was that CFW had

to supply all volunteers at the different locations. These volunteers includ-

ed: David Harris and his wife Liz, Jacob Harris (his son), Soledad Nuñez

(his niece), Julie Olivarez (her friend), and from CFW : Eddie Hale and

his wife Rachel, Daniel McDougall, Dustin Robles, Storm Boen and his

wife Jane, and Jon Aiken and his wife Brytney.

Team leader David Harris worked closely with the supporting organiza-

tions, arranging supplies and volunteers for CFW. Harris has been an

event coordinator for the South Texas area for a little over two years. He

became involved in Cigars for Warriors because he believes in the cause

and wanted to bring his own local tobacco shop, Tobacco World, into the organization.

CORPUS CHRISTI,

TEXAS

August 28-29, 2015

16

17

Your cigar or shop logo

here.

18

America’s MegaHerf just may be the biggest

event around. Smokers converge in the Po-

cono mountains of Pennsylvania each May for

a 5-day smoke-a-thon featuring prizes, cigars

from every manufacturer under the sun, and

a slew of outside events and parties to keep

folks smoking all day and all night.

Cigar Fest is a proud supporter of Operation:

Cigar for Warriors, with attendees being able

to donate directly to the cause on-site. You’ll

see us right in the thick of things at this super

-sized smoking celebration.

Since it’s inaugural event in 2010, the Rocky

Mountain Cigar Festival has quickly become

one of the most high-profile cigar events of the year. Held annually in August in various loca-

tion in the greater Denver, CO area, this event

draws all the industry’s big names to exhibit,

and lures cigar lovers from all over the country

to partake in this celebration of stogies.

The Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival is proud to

support Operation: Cigars for Warriors. You’ll

see our strong presence everywhere you go at

this terrific cigar celebration.

The Cigar Circus is the ultimate celebration of

cigars, focusing on the joy and wonderment

that they bring to our lives everyday! Present-

ed by The Humidor Cigars & Lounge, this one

day cigar festival is full of food, fun, festivities,

and fantastic smokes. At the Cigar Circus, you

will find yourself surrounded by some of the

biggest and brightest names in the cigar indus-

try. You’ll also find a multitude of up-and-

coming, boutique companies that are really

making a name for themselves!

19

CATS Festival is the San Antonio smoking party

thrown by the one and only Storm Boen, the

strongest warrior behind Operation: Cigars for

Warriors and one of the hardest working and nic-

est dudes in the world of cigars. CATS Festival and

Operation: Cigars for Warriors go together like

peanut butter and jelly. CATS Festival doesn’t just

support the cause, it lives it. You won’t find a fest

more dedicated to putting cigars into the hands of

the hard working, brave men and women who fight

daily to defend our freedom.

Commonwealth Cedar Spills creates generic and per-

sonalized (engraved and embellished) Spanish Cedar

Spills for the cigar aficionado. Cedar spills are an his-

toric and traditional method of lighting a cigar that

preserves and protects the taste and/or flavor of a

cigar when compared to lighting a cigar using a chemi-

cal head matchstick or butane lighter; either of which

could scorch or contaminate the tobacco, oils and

water within a cigar upon initial lighting.

Thomas Person is a gracious donor to our cause who

also donates profits from placards, cufflinks, and other

items he produces.

The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers

Association is the oldest, largest and most active

trade association representing and assisting retail

tobacconists. IPCPR members include retail stores

throughout the world selling tobacco products

and accessories (premium cigars, tobacco pipes,

loose tobacco, cigar and pipe accessories and gift

items) as well as manufacturers, distributors and

service providers of high quality merchandise.

Cigarnival is the backyard barbecue herf hosted by

the incomparable Famous Smoke Shop and is one of

the country’s premier cigar events. You won’t find a

more welcoming and relaxing environment or more

bang for your buck than this 2-day bash.

Cigarnival proudly supports Operation: Cigars for

Warriors. You’ll have to watch out walking around

so you don’t trip over all the donation bins. You’ll

see vendors, smokers, and Cigarnival staff all wear-

ing buttons and supporting our cause.

20