Monday, March 24 2008
Miami, FL — Russell Cecala, a periodontal surgeon from Chicago clinched the top spot in the sixth annual Super Roll® cigar rolling championship which took place on March 14-16, 2008 in Miami.
For the first time in Super Roll history, the second and third place spots were given to the same person, Jon Liss, a sales representative from Southern Wine and Spirits who resides in Springville, Staten Island.
Cecala's winning cigar beat out those submitted by five other finalists during two days of the cigar rolling competition. In order to make it to the Super Roll, Cecala beat out thousands of other first-time cigar rollers at La Gloria Cubana® Super Roll competitions held across the U.S. in 2007.
When asked if it was his skilled surgeon's hands that gave him a leg up on the competition, Russell commented, "My hands are my life and I take great pride in doing what I do. I work in a field where I am constantly dealing with very fragile anatomy, so when it came to the cigar rolling competition, working on an inanimate object was really very relaxing and enjoyable for me."
In being crowned the ultimate rolero (cigar roller), Russell was inducted by Cigar Master Ernesto Perez-Carrillo into the El Credito Cigar Factory Hall of Fame, and received a custom-made humidor filled with 100 hand-crafted La Gloria Cubana cigars, each boasting its own secondary band emblazoned with the title "Super Roll Champ 2008." Russell also walked away with an authentic El Credito cigar mold from the 1960s which Ernesto autographed during the awards ceremony. For his final prize, Russell was given a commemorative drawing created during the Super Roll by renowned Cuban artist Edin Gutierrez.
Media coverage of the event blanketed South Florida. Russell and his fellow contestants were featured on FOX and Univision television in Miami, and were covered in the Miami New Times, and Sun-Sentinel, as well as two leading radio programs which broadcast in the greater Miami area.
Cecala plans to adorn the Northwest Chicago office of his practice called PerioCare with the Gutierrez original and is still deciding whether to put the cigar mold in his Wrigleyville office or to display it at home.
The 47-year-old father of three was accompanied in Miami by his wife Shaun, who helped to cheer her husband to victory. The family resides in Mount Prospect, IL, a suburb of Chicago. £
