The Bedford Village Inn will host its sixth annual Cigar Dinner at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, with a special menu that includes the pairing of fine cigars and wine.

Compliments go to chef Benjamin Knack for teaming up with BVI general manager Jon Carnavale in creating the special menu for the evening.

“We kind of worked on it together,” Carnavale said. “It was a team effort. Where it’s the end of summer and we have a lot of local produce and other product available, we’re able to do some pretty cool things.”

Carnavale said he and Knack worked together in pairing the wines with the cigars, provided by event sponsor Blowin’ Smoke, but said, “Ben is an incredibly talented chef, and he really gets it and understands what the occasion is and what a good menu would be for that occasion. He’s great to work with.”

Whether you’re a cigar newbie or stogie afficianado, this evening is for you.

“I think we generally get a good mix of both beginners and experienced cigar smokers,” Carnavale said. “A lot of attendees simply enjoy their cigars very much, but it’s just a great event overall.”

Held outside in a lavish, open-air tent, Carnavale is knocking wood that the weather Aug. 30 is as dynamic as it’s been for the past five years that the BVI has held the event.

“Just getting together at the end of summer with a great bunch of people makes for a great party,” he said.

If the cigars for the night’s event aren’t meant to be stuffy, the attire for the evening quickly follows suit.

“We’re going for a Tommy Bahama casual,” Carnavale said. “I can see how people might look at the BVI and think we’re very formal, but we’re an elegant place that’s easy-going, and we like to showcase that along with food and wine and drinks that are really unique and interesting to the area, and do it in a way that people can feel comfortable, especially for the cigar dinner, which is going to be very relaxed and casual.”

Beginning at 6 p.m., guests can expect a quick rendezvous with their partners in crime for the evening – a fine cigar and a taste of scotch, along with a barbecue replete with chef stations, chilled oysters, a whole roasted pig, and grilled shrimp and chorizo skewers.

Highlights of the four-course menu include chilled rubbed shrimp, fried green tomatoes and the cigar pairing of a Rocky Patel Connecticut Rubusto for the first course; a 20-hour brisket and the cigar pairing of a Fuente “Don Carlos” Double Robusto for the second; a main course of BBQ Porchetta, local sweet corn, roasted pig and the cigar pairing of Blowin’ Smoke’s Private Special Launch Cigar; and finally for dessert, smoked vanilla ice cream, tabasco cherries and a cigar pairing of an Ashton VSG Tres Mystique.

“Believe it or not, we used to do the cigar dinners inside,” Carnavale said. “It must have been 10, 12 years ago, that my father originally started the dinners. And we had 100 people in our great hall smoking five cigars apiece, so you do the math, that’s a lot of smoke.”

Carnavale said cigars fell out of flavor for a while, “in terms of what they are now and what they used to be, so we kind of let it sit on the shelf for a few years, and then five years ago we teamed up with the guys at Blowin’ Smoke to do the resurrection of the cigar dinners, and they’ve been a hit ever since.”

The Bedford Village Inn is at 2 Olde Bedford Village Way, Bedford. Tickets for the event are $95 (gratuity not included), and may be purchased by calling the BVI at 472-2001 For a full menu, go to www.bedford
villageinn.com/specialEventsCalendar.