In a perfect world, the greatest luxuries of life would come to you. A steak would cook itself perfectly before delivering itself into your hungry mouth, a bottle of wine would uncork itself, and pour itself into your glass, and a cigar, as you echoed words of "here Monte, Monte, Monte," would simply appear cut and lit between your lips. In a perfect world this all would happen, but until the world adopts idealism, there is cigar catering.

Catering, as most of us know it, is often limited to food and drinks: prime rib for a wedding or fried chicken for a company picnic. While food and drink catering remains the most popular type of catering, cigar catering has a claim on the most innovative. Move over mashed potatoes and stick a fork in it glazed ham, there's a Rocky Patel in the house.

Now, cigar catering is surely not for every event: a child's sixth birthday party, for example, could probably do without it. But for every event that cigar catering is not right for, there is an event that's greatness would be ignited by it. Bachelor parties, company events, anniversary parties, wedding receptions, birthday celebrations, retirement parties, charity events, and galas, for example, can all be enhanced by cigar catering.

Depending on the company hired, cigar catering offers a variety of options. From those who merely want cigar rollers at their party to those who just want the cigars provided, from those who want cigar connoisseurs working the room - providing tips, suggestions, cuts, and, of course, lights - to those who want a room specifically for cigar tasting, cigar catering can be a big part of any party.

In addition to the above, this type of catering can offer mementos that other types of catering can't: it's a lot easier to take home a personalized cigar than it is a personalized scoop of cole slaw. These kind of tokens can either be given out as gifts, with guests of the event receiving a cigar custom branded with the date, or made merely as a keepsake item. Perhaps the guests of honor at a wedding would like their favorite cigar to be branded to say, "The Bride and Groom were Smokin' on their Wedding Day."

There are some cigar catering services that only work locally, and aren't able or willing to travel several miles to an event. But, there are also cigar catering services that claim they can cater nearly any event in the US. Some have cigars, will travel.

Before hiring a cigar caterer, find out where they cater and what their catering package offers. You may want something simple, or you may want to go all out. Whichever you choose, cigar catering is a way to enhance your gathering and a way to both bring out Bill Clinton jokes and create great memories.