This is about as close as a cactus could possibly get to a down pillow.  Yes, there are occasionally a few small spines under all that fluff, but in general, mammilaria plumosa (and mammilaria theresae, another feathery favorite) are every bit as soft to handle as they look like they would be.  Just try not to make s'mores with them--I'm not sure how well that would work.

Cereus forbesii var. spiralforme is one of few columnar cacti that naturally grow in a spiral shape as they mature.  Yes, this thing looks pokey--which is part of the reason I don't have one.  They can also be hard to find--which is the other part of the reason.  Still, this would be a very cool addition to any collection.  I'm being totally cereus, folks.  (Har, har.)

Astrophytums are cool.  They're small, generally spineless cacti that sometimes have little tufts of soft down at regular intervals, like the one pictured here.  They also come with lots of different patterns, the flashiest being the super kabuto variety (pictured).  I recommend starting with astrophytum asterias; they're easy to find, relatively inexpensive, and require little or no special care.

I have a soft spot for these because the pictured rebutia albiflora x heliosa was one of my first cacti.  The plant looked so soft that I couldn't resist touching it, and it didn't impale me.  Love at first squeeze!

Unlike some of the other cacti I'm featuring here, these guys will spike you as easily as most other opuntia do.  But don't you think that the amazing violet color makes up for it?  I've been wanting to get my (gloved) hands on this one for a while.  I've also seen a similar (maybe the same?) kind called a "Santa Rita" cactus or an Opuntia Santa Rita.

Also called the "totem pole cactus," lophocereus schottii var. monstrose is one of the most sculptural columnars out there.  They're sometimes bumpy (as seen in this picture) and sometimes less bumpy, but never spiny.  I've seen them up to 5-6 feet tall, but they're equally stunning just hanging out in a pot with other cacti or succulents.  The bright blue-green hue is gorgeous, too.

Ah, another one of the first cacti I ever bought.  Candy of Sweetstuff's Sassy Succulents advises to watch out for mealybugs on these, because once they get 'em, they're hard to get rid of.  So far, my luck has been good, and this gorgeous, bright pink gem of a plant has been happy in both shade and sun.  If you pick it up from the sides, it's not very pokey, either!

The picture doesn't do this thing justice.  Ortegocactus McDougalli features a brilliant lime-green body with black spines, and the contrast between them is breathtaking.  In my experience, a hard plant to find.

Myrtillocactus geometrizans crests are just ridiculous.  Look at this picture.  I mean, seriously.  How can you unilaterally reject cacti when this nearly spineless beauty is one of them?  You can't, right?  These only have two Achilles' heels: some susceptibility to scale, and a high price tag (the asking price for the one pictured was over $200!), though you can find teensy specimens sometimes. 

Epithelantha micromeris (a.k.a. "button cactus") is a deceptively diminutive little species--easily overlooked, but once you notice it, you can't not notice it.  The soft exterior and wonderful purples and greens under the light dusting of cactus fluff make it a great addition to any pot.  I've had mine (pictured) for about six months, and it's done fine indoors and outdoors.

To give you a sense of what the show was like, here's a photo of one of the sale tables, which represents probably about 1/20 of what was for sale.  I was sorely tempted to buy a tacitus bellus (you can see four of them in the bottom half of this picture--they look kind of like echeveria with pointy leaves), but resisted the purchase in my partly-successful effort to stay within the budget I set for myself before going.

The show featured maybe 12-15 vendors, and instead of having each vendor paid separately, you could just choose all the plants you wanted, then pay for everything at the end.  Almost everything was well-labeled, and the whole setup was easy and convenient.  Yay!

To the right, you can see a sulcorebutia arenacea I purchased and planted it in a bonsai pot I had laying around.  My girlfriend doesn't like the arrangement, because she says the pebbles on the right look "messy" and the large rock on the upper left competes with the plant (I agree with the second point, but it's meant to do so and I think it's amusing).  What are your thoughts on this one, dear succ-ers?  Help settle our domestic debate!

Of course, this just meant that there was more money left in my budget for plants, so I can't really complain, can I?  Among the awesome new additions to my collection were a crassula marchandii (yeah, I already have some, but still--you never know when you might want to make some cuttings), a sulcorebutia rauschii special clone with white flowers, a euphorbia symmetrica, an interesting pink-blue echeveria, a small lime-green haworthia truncata, and my favorite find of all: a six-inch agave "Joe Hoak" (pictured left) for only $6!  It made me glad I didn't spend the $13 to pick up the one on eBay I've been contemplating.