Scenes From the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival (Slideshow)

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BROOMFIELD, Colo. -- As the tobacco editor for CSP, I’ve had the pleasure of attending Smoker Friendly’s Conference & Tobacco Festival a couple of times; however, this was the first year I stuck around for the culminating event: the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival.

Boy, was I in for a treat. The Saturday after Smoker Friendly wrapped up its conference, the Boulder, Colo.-based retailers opened up the festival to the public. Approximately 1,500 cigar-lovers gathered on the grounds of the Omni Interlocken resort.

Besides a gift bag of 30 premium cigars, attendees got to mingle with the many premium cigar manufacturers in attendance, enjoy samples from some of Colorado’s finest breweries, wineries and distilleries, and choose from a number of tasty food offerings.

Boulder-based Smoker Friendly operates nearly 100 corporate-owned stores in Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Utah and Wyoming. Another approximately 850 stores in 38 states are operated by licensed retailers. Smoker Friendly's parent company also operates the Gasamat chain of gas stations and convenience stores.

For those of you who couldn’t make it, feel free to live vicariously through CSP.

Crowds gather to stroll the booths and enjoy cigars at the Rocky Mountain Cigar festival

Attendees could enter multiple raffles, including one for this massive, autographed humidor

One of the more useful products on display were these portable humidors (Smoker Friendly-branded of course!)

The day wasn’t all about cigars: MST, accessories, pipe tobacco and even hookahs were also on display.

Easily the most unique products I sampled was an iced coffee made with whiskey-roasted beans from Whiskey Barrel Coffee, Commerce City, Colo.

Besides the long row of street fair-like booths, attendees could also gather inside a shaded pavilion (this is where we caught up with Smoker Friendly honcho Terry Gallagher Jr., rightfully enjoying a cigar and a beer).

As a state known for its numerous microbreweries, there was no shortage of tasty craft offerings!

Though there were no cannabis products to sample, there were many references to Colorado’s legal status, including this marijuana leaf-covered smoking jacket.

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