A usual sunday with a special cigar

Back from a week off, I can now continue reporting about the cigar I mentioned but that I said deserved a post on its own... It is a Behike 56-equivalent made by La China - one of the top cuban roller (9th grade - the highest achievable which means she is able to roll cigars of any size/vitola). I got that cigar at the Partagas Festival I already raved so much about in previous posts.

The Behike 56-equivalent cigar

A close up to better show the logo

I however wanted to also take the opportunity to introduce you to what it is, in my view, a superb place to smoke cigars in central London. Recently, in fact, I have often been enjoying a coffee (or a whisky/calvados...) together with a cigar at the terrace of the 10 Manchester Street Hotel. Cristiano and his team offer a great service in the heart of Marylebone, with a well assorted choice of cigars and a terrace which is heated and therefore perfect also in the colder months. 

In the picture below I am smoking the Behike 56 made by la China - you can see I'm thoroughly enjoying my Sunday...

As for the cigar... well, light and peppery to start with, also gave a touch of cream. At the end I felt it to be a pretty earthy smoke, possibly not as a strong as a pure Behike 56 I had sampled beforehand but gaining in strength throughout... all in all, another great smoke :)

Why cigarando?

Why cigarando? I started the blog but didn't say why I did it or perhaps even how the name came out... well starting from the latter, the first part of the name is pretty easy to understand, the second one is basically the italian version of -ing suffix... so rather than smoking a cigarette, i will just be... cigarando :)

And why the blog? well, just to be clear, I am not a cigar expert, just somebody who enjoys cigars and likes to find out a little bit more about them - there is a lot of people out there with a lot of knowledge in the space... the aim is therefore to learn more and more and hope you can too by following cigarando... 

I am about to go on holidays for a few days, so will probably touch base with all after that... in the meantime i leave you with a snapshot of a cigar I would have loved to smoke tonight but couldn't..., a picture of my brother Marco, my friend Alessandro and myself at the Cena di Benvenida of the Partagas Festival (I'm proudly showing my badge, got the picture from Marco today, credit to his wife Anna for the picture) and an overview of all the goods available at the La Casa del Habano in Milan - stopped by there quickly this week as was in Milan for work, didn't manage to sample anything but who knows, I might next time... (fyi, they don't allow to smoke inside but there is a nice restaurant around the corner to eat and smoke at the same time) 

A very good cigar... the Behike-sized special cigar of La China given at the Partagas Festival in Matelica (this is worth a post on its own... to follow)

With my brother Marco and Alessandro

An overview of La Casa del Habano in Milan

Before I go, there should be surprises going forward, with a guest blogger making his appearance - stay tuned!

V° Encuentro Amigos De Partagas En Italia - part 3

This is my last post on the Cigar Event in Matelica. The Gala Dinner was full of memorable moments, like prices for various cigars lover (Gino Iannillo, of Amicigar, in the picture below), a video on Don Alejandro Robaina (who passed away on April 17, 2010) and of course special cigars... 





Diadema - the Italian official cigars distributor - offered a H. Upmann Magnum 50... but the real deal came later... with a Behike 56-sized special cigar rolled by La China. I didn't sample that cigar that evening, I instead smoked the new Montecristo Gran Edmundo Limited Edition 2010 - a very good smoke, a vitola in the middle between an Edmundo and a Sublimes of Montecristo, very dark wrapper, with a great draw and a full body flavour.

The Gala dinner was attended by guests from literally all over the world. Amongst them there was a well represented London contingent, included Magali DeLa Cruz. Magali is an institution for London cigar smokers. What I didn't know until that evening was that Magali is an artist, a poem writer, a photographer... Here she's reading a special letter from a Cuban association to all attendees of the Gala Dinner.

What else can I say? The most touching moment was certainly the video of Don Alejandro, a real legend amongst cigar smokers, who named his own brand (Vegas Robaina) and has a cigar named after him (the Don Alejandro, a double-corona full-body smoke). It was great to meet so many "local" cigar smokers, connecting to some people who participated to past events organised in London thanks to the connection made by Ajay (for example Gino in the picture above and his wife Anna - who is below showing a bag who only a true cigar lover could have...). 

In this picture you can see me enjoying the event at my table with Magali and Giancarlo Di Mauro, another cigar lover from Sicily! (courtesy of Magali - this is actually a picture from her camera - taken I think from Alex Iapichino - thank you!)

Many congratulations to the Cigar Club Matelica and its president Francesco Minetti who made the event possible. I have never been to Cuba myself, but listening to what many people who have been were saying, it was like being in Cuba, only 20 minutes away from my hometown - what an amazing experience!

V° Encuentro Amigos De Partagas En Italia - part 2

The second day of the Amigos De Partagas event, on Saturday 26th June, was enriched with an afternoon seminar about "puros magic", ie personal experiences of cigars as described by some major experts in the cigar world, including, amongst others, the torcedores La China and Cueto, Abel Esposito of the Partagas Factory and the President of the Italian Cigar Association, Massimo De Giovanni. A moment of the seminar is in the picture below.


The discussion dwelled around sales of cigars around the world (which were clearly impacted by the economic recession in 2009) as well as favorites cigars purchased in the factory by people of various nationalities... There were some interesting debates, in particular around the use of thicker bands and whether that is a necessity of the industry (getting more torcedores - apparently the bigger the band, the easier it is to roll them) or a request from the smokers... During the seminar everybody was smoking a cigar. I decided to enjoy the Hoyo de Monterrey from Ajay's goodie bag - a double corona from a 2001 cabinet of 50. A relatively light but classy smoke.


In this image you can see my brother Marco - who also attended the seminar - with Cueto and La China while rolling cigars during the seminar. My brother had to leave early as he was helping his wife Anna organising her bday party BBQ for the evening... In the evening, I briefly attended my sister in law's party but I couldn't miss the Gala Dinner in Matelica...

Both the Cena di Benvenida and the Cena di Gala were in fact tasting menu with wine to complement each (local) dish. All the wines, except the Champagne and Spumante, were also from the area and amongst the ones I sampled I have to spend some special words for the Ceresi of the Gagliardi winery made with Ciliegiolo grape (or big Sangiovese) - Umberto Gagliardi is now leading the winery and is a member of the Cigar Club Matelica - he was getting married the following week and therefore received a special cigar courtesy of Cueto...


Here is a snapshot of what we ate... the menu included porcini pasta, gnocchi with duck sauce, veal, etc. Note to the left a snapshot of Don Alejandro Robaina. More about the Gala Dinner to come in the next post!

V° Encuentro Amigos De Partagas En Italia - part 1

I have been living in London for over 10 years now (with some break in the middle) so didn't realise until recently that right next to my hometown in central Italy, Fabriano, there was a group of great cigar lovers that founded the Cigar Club Matelica Don Alejandro Robaina (no, Matelica is not a rock band, but just another small town in Central Italy). Between June 25th-27th they organised an amazing cigar event, the Encuentro Amigos De Partagas. I couldn't miss it, being so close to Fabriano...


The first part of the event was a sampling of special cigars from a humidour containing puros hand-rolled by La China, which I learned is one of the best torcedores in the world together with Cueto, another special guest at the event... Both are with me in the below picture





Going back to the first cigar I sampled from the special humidour, the first point to note is the top, which was basically closed with a small "flower" made of tobacco.








To smoke it, full picture above, I just took the flower out of the base. This cigar is a Ideales Flor de La China, and the Honorary President of the Cigar Club Association Luigi Ferri and Angelo Bigi explained how the cigar is basically perfect as a morning smoke, being a relatively small gage which needs to be sampled in meditation, being careful not to draw it too strongly as it could otherwise get burned. I got lot of spice out of this cigar. The sampling was accompanied by two grappa from the Distilleria Segnana.


After the sampling, my brother Marco, his wife Anna, my friend Alessandro and I attended the welcome dinner (Cena di Benvenida). The menu -shown below - included a sample of local cuisine (lasagne - or vincisgrassi - big torterllini - or cappellacci - and pork loin - arista)





The dinner was also the occasion to launch in Italy the Partagas Serie D Especial, the new limited edition which was also included as part of Ajay's cigars goodie bag (see my old post). Well, what can I say. This cigar was a great complement to the evening. Quite similar in taste to the D1, I think, full and peppery but smooth throughout and with a touch of cream. I can see this as being well worth a box purchase...

Cigars BBQ

Everyone who smokes cigars in London knows Ajay. Ajay owns the only La Casa Del Habano in England. He is a true cigar lover and I had the luck of attending his latest event on June 20th, the Summer Cigar BBQ.


Here I'm looking at his store front.

Before the food started (and we had some great suckling pig amongst other delicacies like king prawns and squids) I did sample for the first time the Short Robusto T, the new 2010 Limited Edition of Trinidad, a short punchy smoke - quite earthy on my palate. This cigar represents a good example of the new trend in cigars smoking - or more likely a new need thanks to the smoking bans everywhere... - shorter smokes which immediately can give you a good kick.

I attended the event with my girlfriend Lisa; in the above picture you can see the two of us together with Ajay and his wife, Bhavna; I'm enjoying the short Robusto T; Ajay is having a Double Corona Hoyo de Monterrey 2001. This is the only cigar I smoked then... while it was a cigar event, I also wanted to follow a rather less important football match on the same day... which meant that I couldn't really make the most of the great outdoor space Ajay organised at Shambles, the restaurant in Teddington opposite his shop where the BBQ was being held.

Together with the great food we enjoyed, Ajay's goodie bag for the day included - in the pictures below - the other new Limited Editions of 2010, the Partagas Serie D Especial and the Montecristo Gran Edmundo. Ajay also put - as a surprise - a Hoyo de Monterrey Double Corona 2001 (from a cabinet of 50). More to come on these...