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 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...