Originally published at Tiki Bar Online
One of my favorite things to do while smoking cigars is listening to music, so what better way to wed my two passions then to go to The Home Electronics Show. T.H.E. Show as it is know is sponsored by the Los Angles & Orange County Audio Society in an effort to expose more people to the joys of high-end home audio. Spanning over the course of three days and two hotel venues, T.H.E Show is an audiophile extravaganza featuring such brands as Wilson Audio, Zesto Audio, Music Hall, and many others. Hotel rooms were transformed into listening rooms. Attendees can walk around and listen to systems ranging in price from a few thousand to well over a hundred thousand. Though many of the pieces were priced way over the budgets of most mere mortals, there was something for just about everyone. If you are a music lover, this was the place to be. Many of the systems featured turntables and tube amps! Analog is still alive and well, at least in the high-end space anyway. There was even a section dedicated to headphones and related gear.
After an afternoon of listening, I headed down to the Hilton courtyard where there was live music, wine tasting and cigars.The good folks from Havana Cigars in Tustin,Ca hosted a booth of premium smokes including Punch, Cohiba, and EP Carrillo. I smoked a toro from the Carrillo core line. It had sweet tobacco flavors with a surprising nicotine kick. The cigar went well with the wine I paired it with. As I lite up, I met some nice folks from the San Diego area who invited me to join them. We talked audio and cigars (of course) and making the most of the opportunities given you.
With shows like this you can’t see everything, so next year I’m going to make a weekend out of it. A prelude to the Tweet-Up, if you will.
