End of the year leftovers...

Here we come towards the end of another year. It has been one definitively filled with great cigars! I really do have to think hard about which one has been the best of 2011 (and perhaps dedicate another post to it), but for now I just wanted to post a few pictures that unfortunately didn't make it to the blog yet...

Hong Kong!

While in Hong Kong last summer I didn't have a chance to visit many cigar stores. However, on my last day, while grabbing afternoon tea at the world-famous Peninsula Hotel, I managed to stop by the resident Davidoff shop.

Here are a few shots documenting the well assorted humidour and accessories windows. There is also a comfortable smoking area. I bought a few Asia-Pacific edition there, none of which to be honest was absolutely outstanding (the Por Larranaga Encantos was probably the best), but you know, it's always good to try something new... 

Sautter's

Sautter's collection of aged cigars is certainly one of the best you can find in Central London. Recently, they discovered somewhere in England an almost complete cabinet of H Upmann cigars believed to be from the late 1800s.

During one of the latest visits, I was shown another outstanding box... a Larra (yes - short for Por Larranaga) which is probably from the 1950s and was produced in Jamaica (though tobacco should also be Cuban)

I just loved the little travel plastic box that was provided to allow to carry around a cigar without ruining it!

New York!

I don't have good pictures from my last visit to NYC but I feel I should spend at least a few words for a very good shop, with a reasonable smoking area which happens to be in the middle of Midtown East and therefore convenient for many office buildings... The name of the shop I'm talking about is Barclay Rex, in 570 Lexington Avenue between 50th and 51st Street (I now learned they also have other two shops, one downtown and another one close to Grand Central).

While there, I smoked in particular a very good Tatuaje Fausto, definitively worth trying for a non-Cuban. Most importantly, after walking in at about 11am on a Sunday morning while waiting for a friend to arrive, I bumped into a cigar lover friend of Ajay's at La Casa del Habano (who had been with him at the Big Smoke in Vegas - by the way, if you haven't checked out his videos about that event you definitively should do so, link on his website)! 

How small can the world of cigars be??? :)

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I would like to think that I'd be able to post again before the Holidays, but as I realise that it may in fact not happen, let me wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Vertical tasting

As I had mentioned here, during the V AMICIgar Day, I had a chance to do a vertical tasting of Ramon Allones Especially Selected. I was just going through my pictures and saw this unpublished photo below and felt the flavour of the cigar again in my mouth

What we had that night with Ajay, was a recent Especially Selected and one from ten years ago. You can notice the difference in the band between the old one on the left and the new cigar on the right hand side of the picture

A great robusto with a fuller flavour, a hint of chocolate and lots of spice and a sweet after taste. I very much enjoyed smoking the vintage one and understanding the development of the cigar. Really a worthwhile experience! Only problem is that one needs to save up for ten years (or more) a cigar already great on day 1!

Cohiba 1966 special

One of the new 2011 Limited Edition issued this year by Habanos is the Cohiba 1966. This is quite a big cigar, measuring 6 1/2 inches long by 52 ring gauge. I was lucky enough to receive as a birthday present one of the original Cohiba 1966 - directly from Cuba - even before the end of the cigar was cut off.

Being a pretty long smoke I had to find the right occasion for such a great smoke, occasion that finally materialised yesterday, after a great meal with red meat and Sangiovese wine...

Here is this beautiful cigar. Dark wrapper as you can see, perfect construction as well.

As you can notice, the top of the cigar shows the end of the leaves not properly cut - this probably added half a centimeter to my smoke!

What was my view of the Cohiba 1966? Well, it's a bit fresh but it's already a fantastic cigar. It has the classic Cohiba flavour with lot of chocolat aroma. It will be a classic, one not to be missed!

For a fuller review, may I recommend Ajay's video on youtube.

Partagas E2

A number of new cigars have finally made it to the UK. Over the last couple of weeks, the Limited Editions for 2011 have finally arrived. These include the Ramon Allones Allones Extra, the Cohiba 1966 and the Hoyo do Monterrey Short Hoyo Piramides (more to come on those cigars in forthcoming posts, for now I can say that I tasted the Ramon Allones enjoying it quite a bit...). More importantly, we finally got delivery of the new regular vitola introuced by Partagas, the E2.

We were expecting the launch of the E2 a the Hunters & Frankau summer party back in June. However, due to delay with the production, Hunters was unable to present the cigar and promised to send it to all participants in due course. It was September when I finally got a package with the following message via post

The wait was definitively worth it. I almost immediately tried the E2 and I smoked a few more since. This is certainly a different Partagas. It is a fat cigar, being a 54 ring gage x 5.5" (140mm long), same size as the Romeo & Julieta Limited Edition Duke from 2009. More interestingly, it is not a usual Partagas.

Like many others regular cigar smokers, I love my Partagas. Generally full bodied, they consistently offer best value in my view vs. other more well-known brand (like Cohiba, but also Trinidad). However, the E2 is a bit different. It is certainly not as strong, which means that it is easier to enjoy also after a not too heavy meal... It is a very creamy and peppery smoke, getting stronger of course as you get closer to the top; I have no doubt that it will benefit from a bit more aging but in my view it is a great smoke already.

Here it is again in more detail.



Apparently, E2s are already running short in the UK, but hopefully a new batch will be coming soon from Cuba. Don't miss out!

New humidour!

Smoking cigars is a great hobby! No doubts about it! Unfortunately, all cigars require a lot of attention: they need to be kept in proper conditions or it may be difficult to fully enjoy them. Everybody likes cigar in a different way, but clearly they should be kept in humid conditions, generally a good rule of thumb is around 70% humidity and ideally around 20 degree Celsius. It does require a lot of work to keep cigars in good conditions and that is why I often prefer to keep them in stores, where you know that they will be kept properly.

I bought some time ago a humidour which - to be fair - didn't work very well...  I was therefore often keeping my cigars at home in humidified pouch / bags... 

This is all going to change! It was my birthday a few weeks ago and my girlfriend bought me an amazing present! An Ellie Blue humidour - a real luxury object for any cigar smoker! Ellie Bleu is in fact well known for making the best humidours - perfect for keeping cigars in immaculate conditions for years and years to come!

This is the outside box it came with. Inside, there were also information about the particular type of wood used...

And here is the actual humidour! Isn't it beautiful? All Ellie Blue humidours are apparently made with wood which has been open air cured for a minimum of ten years to eliminate the possibility of sapping, cracking or warping.

And finally the personalised interior!

An amazing present! Thanks so much Lisa! 

V AMICIgar day - part 2

With apologies for the delay (too busy sampling cigars during this summer :), here are some final pictures of the V AMICIgar day in Naples. 

The second day of the event first of all included a visit to the city coupled with an opportunity to eat the local pizza! In the evening, the remaining guests had a "closing" dinner by the pool of the Averno Damiani resort - right next to where the previous day event had been held.

Besides the excellent local food, more cigars had to be smoked... Beforehand, the AMICIgar club surprised all of us that had travelled from abroad with a ceramic plate celebrating the event. Here I am getting mine, which is now proudly exposed in my living room! 

Magali and Sautter contributed to the first cigar of the evening with Por Larranaga Regalies de Londres, the UK 2010 Regional Edition. We all massively enjoyed those cigars, and in fact had to buy a box soon after getting back to London... To be fair, I'm sure that the environment had a lot to do with it; as Angelo Bigi, probably the biggest collector of Puros in Italy, was saying the day before, special occasions certainly contribute to making cigars more enjoyable. Having said that, the Regalies de Londres is certainly a great smoke - and to get a full review I suggest you watch this video. 

Gino Iannillo is enjoying his...

... like Robert Fox of JJ Fox is here...

... and I am here with Ajay of the UK La Casa del Habano.

I have to thank Ajay who later that night allowed me to have my first vertical smoke with a Ramon Allones Specially Selected of 1990 and a current one. A real great way to understand the development of cigar tastes with herbs and spices mellowed out very very nicely in the vintage one. An absolutely outstanding smoke to close a fantastic weekend

V AMICIgar day - part 1

Cigars are great - not only to smoke, of course - but also because of the opportunity they give to meet new people and in fact visit new places! That is why I jumped at the opportunity to join Ajay of La Casa del Habano, his family, Magali de la Cruz from Sautters and a few other cigar aficionados from London, including the master Simon Chase of Hunters & Frankau, for the V AMICIgar day!

 

This was an event organised by the AMICIgar club of Naples and Avellino, in Italy. For the non-italians amongst you, the name of the club is a play on the words "amici" (friends") and cigar... The event was in Pozzuoli, by Naples, in Villa Habiba on 17th and 18th June. It was truly an amazing weekend, filled with great cigars, awesome food and fantastic people!

As you can see, the Villa where the event was held was absolutely beautiful!

Here is Magali - the two of us got a 6am plane on the day to be in Naples on time for the event! what you don't do for cigars! :)

The "cultural" part of the event included a sampling of a "Tacos Imperiales H. Upmann" coupled with Moet & Chandon Magnum Grand Vintage Collection 1990 - see picture below.

Simon Chase and Angelo Bigi provided their views on the cigar - a 2006 release in only 200 humidours. The cigar was good, quite peppery but overall medium bodied, not necessarily my favorite. It was complemented very well by the champagne though!

The sampling was followed by a great dinner on the same evening with drinks and dancing to the tunes of live cuban music! In the pictures you can see Simon Chase, Ajay and Alex Iapichino having a good time - like the rest of us!

The day after was also full of surprises - which I will report on in a following blog post!

 Thanks again to the AMICIgar club for organising such a phenomenal event - thanks in particular to Gino and Antonio - in the picture above! And to their whole team!

Roller!

I stopped by Ajay's La Casa del Habano in Teddington on Saturday and, to my surprise, Yoel Ulacia Diaz was custom rolling cigars in the shop. Yoel has been in the UK for a couple of months already demonstrating the art of cigar rolling around the UK, showcased by Hunters and Frankau.

Yoel is a 9th grade roller - the highest ranking you can achieve - and currently is a Master of Quality Control at the Partagas factory. And of course he definitively knows how to roll good cigars... Some of his goods are shown in the picture below

I tasted a freshly rolled puro while in Teddington and I can say they have a very distinctive taste, with a coffee flavour small to my palate and a hint of mint. 

Here is Yoel at work. If you want to see directly, next week he will be at Sautter's, in Mount Street, Mayfair, London - worth a visit to take a look and sample!

Have been out of touch but have a lot to report on from a trip in Italy, at the V Amicigar Day in Naples, organised by the local club (pictures already available on facebook) and a week holiday in Hong Kong!

Cigar school

Have you ever wondered what's a chaveta? Or what's the name of the different type of tobacco that goes into a cigar? Or even what is right etiquette of smoking cigars (should you take the band out or not, where do you actually cut it, etc. etc.)? Well, if you'd like any of these questions answered and enjoy a nice saturday of cigar smoking you should join Nic Wing and Sautter's Cigars on their "Cigar Day".

Many of you cigar smokers would know Nic - he's a cigar aficionado with encyclopedical knowledge of cigars and their history. Besides the cigars days at Sautters, he also runs the Cuban Cigar Walk, showing some of the most famous cigars shops in central London.

As for the Cigar Day, which I attended a couple of months ago, it all started in No. 10 Manchester Street Hotel with videos and talk covering introduction to cigars, history of Cuba and the Cuban cigar industry, tobacco growing and maturing, cigar manufacture, quality of aged Cuban cigars and aging. Here is Nic training some fellow cigar aficionados

After lunch, we moved to Sautter shop in Mount Street, Mayfair, to talk about the correct way to keep cigars, how to cut them and lighting them, and various other tips.

Here is Sautter's shop. Amongst the regular cigars, they keep a great collection of aged cigars, for example some pre-Castro Henry Clay as well as their own blend - mostly large gage - cigars

Last but not least, Magali DeLa Cruz, in the picture below, has now moved to Sautter. Magali is one of the most knowledgeable person in the world about cigars - she is the third generation in her family to work in the tobacco industry, her family grew tobacco and her mother has been a cigar roller all her life! 

To learn more don't miss out - I think the next Cigar Day is scheduled for July 2nd! 

Cigarando back in Milan

During the Royal Wedding Bank Holiday, my girlfriend and I decided to visit Milan. I'm not a big lover of the city but as my girlfriend had never been there, and my best friend Matteo recently moved to Milan, it was a good opportunity to spend some time visiting the Duomo, the Castle and of course the Quadrilatero d'Oro, an area in the centre of Milan which is supposed to have the highest concentration of fashion boutiques in the world. 

With regard to smoking lounges, I already posted some ideas here. This time, thanks to the nice weather, I smoked at the Bulgari Hotel both inside their internal lounge (picture below while enjoying a nice grappa) and in their garden.

My first smoke was a Partagas D3, 2006 Limited Edition. This cigar is not easy to find anymore, I think - I got lucky to find a few at a local cigar store in my hometown (when I was actually looking for Toscanos!). The cigar is a re-release of an original 2001 Limited Edition, corona gorda in size (46 ring gage for 5.6" in length). I was not blown away by this cigar which is spicy as you would expect from a Partagas, though a touch light to start with. It certainly improved in strength as the smoke went by and I deserve my final judgment after having smoked at least another one...

In addition, as mentioned, the Bulgari Hotel also has an amazing private garden which is of course a great venue to enjoy a cigar - see pictures below



The cigar in question was a present from my girlfriend from last August. A Petit Unicos (50 x 5.0") by Ramon Allones which was released exclusively for the Canadian market, as a result of a consumer survey. Very much an excellent choice, being an enjoyable smoke with a good draw and leaving
a complex flavour in the mouth!



And here is me! Enjoying the Ramon Allones Petit Unicos! For these sort of experiences, I wouldn't mind going back to Milan!

 

Cigarando in... Berlin

Between Easter and the Royal Wedding, we were able to enjoy a couple of long weekends here in the UK. The first weekend, I took the opportunity to visit Berlin for the first time. Traveling with my girlfriend and an allergy-heavy couple of friends ( :-) ), unfortunately, it wasn't easy to find ways to smoke a good cigar. Nonetheless, what would Easter be without a few good smokes! :)

So, I exploited the terrace at the Hotel de Rome to smoke a Cohiba Piramides, 2006 Limited Edition, a re-release of the 2001 Piramides. As you can see from the pictures below, the terrace boasts a remarkable view!

The 2006 Piramides seems to be still easily available. To be fair I fail to understand why! To me, this is indeed a very good smoke - an incredible Cohiba really, with a good draw and a chocolate, leathery aroma. I managed to find a box at the cigar shop in Selfridges and smoked a few of those during the bank holidays to great satisfaction! Probably worth getting old of another box before they disappear...

Enjoyable - notwistanding the small crack at the end! :)

Although I didn't have a chance to stop by properly, I paid a quick visit to the local La Casa del Habano shop at the Savoy Hotel. 

Next time, I will need to visit this shop properly! As you can see, it has both outside and inside smoking areas...

... and a well equipped walk-in humidour of course!

I cannot document it with a picture, but also smoked a newly released Toscano - a special edition celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Italian Unification - at the Club Der Visionaere. I also heard the Newton Bar is a good place to both smoke and have a drink in Berlin, where, by the way, there are many smoking lounges and/or bars which allow smoking! 

Finally, a visit to Berlin couldn't be complete without a pit stop at the Olympiastadium - this is were Italy won the fourth Wold Cup in 2006! Po po po po po po po! 

Sanctum Hotel and Bolivar Gran Belicoso

Every time I speak to cigar smokers, they always point out how difficult it is to find a good place to smoke cigars in London. That's certainly the case, but thankfully there are many new places - particularly hotels - launching dedicated smoking areas. Amongst the most recent, besides the ones already mentioned here like 10 Manchester Street or the Montagu Hotel or indeed the Lanesborough, the Ritz and the Langham hotels are coming out with smoking lounges. 

Tucked away in Soho, probably unknown to many, the Sanctum Hotel also offers a cozy roof garden which is cigar friendly and gives an opportunity to smoke a puro and enjoy a nice drink at the same time. For hotel guests it is open 24 hours, but as long as it's not too busy anybody can access the roof garden in regular hours (say up to 10pm, though I have never been there in the evening and usually go there in the afternoon).

As you can see from the pictures, comfortable seats are available outside and there are also some small heaters that can help make the space more comfortable these days, when it still gets quite chilly after dusk.

Last time I went there it was arguably a few months ago now - in October to be precise - and I also had the opportunity to enjoy a pretty superb cigar, the Bolivar Gran Belicoso, the 2010 release of the cigar book-shaped collection, the 10th in its series (only 1,000 "books" with 20 cigars have been made but standalone cigars can also be found...). These books - also known as "Habanos books" - are only available at La Casa del Habano stores. Previous cigars in this collection included for example the Cohiba Sublimes. I understand this year they will do a book which will contain 2 cigars of each of the 10 special cigars made so far - it may be a perfect own gift for me so I can taste them all :)

The cigar measures 7 1/8 inches in length for a 54 ring gauge - this is a Rodolfo or double Pyramid size which is not very easy to find (only the San Cristobal de La Habana Murella shares this original size). A perfect example of an earthy Bolivar which is certainly worth trying for the many Bolivar lovers!