I vividly recall the first time I met Alan Friedman and his lovely wife Marli. We were attending a holiday party at a cigar shop in Atlanta. Alan was very preoccupied, meandering around the humidor, his head tilted to one side, studying all the cigars as if in a hypnotic state. He was also muttering to himself about the accessories being "very sparkly." Fortunately, he failed to notice that I was eyeballing his beautiful Brazilian wife. Trying to avoid getting punched out, I attempted to make conversation with him: "They certainly have a nice selection of cigars in here," I said.  His response floored me, when out of his mouth came "56,786 cigars to be exact! No, make that 56,783 cigars, someone just purchased three. Definitely only 56,783 now." 

 

 

We, eventually, became friends and I soon begain referring to Alan as the "Cigar Savant," in homage to the Rain Man. A "savant" is a condition in which a person demonstrates profound and prodigious abilities far in excess of what would be considered normal. I've come to know Alan well, enough to partner up with him on several business ventures, including our Smooth Draws Radio Show program. He is a reasonablly intelligent man, some would also say personable as well, but his absolute talent in life is his encyclopedia-like knowledge of cigars and cigar related historical information. Cigar facts spew from his mouth like the rapid fire chibberish reminiscent of an auctioneer. For example, it's not enough for Alan to simply know the brand owner of a major cigar company. No, the "Cigar Savant" has to know his three brothers, two cousins and a nephew! So, if there's an obscure cigar fact out there, he's got it tucked away in that noggin' of his somewhere!