I'm back... from Dubai...

Apologies for the lack of blogging but it has been a very busy month (and a bit) at work... The good news is that I spent some of this past month in Dubai, which is certainly a very convenient location for a cigar smoker!

You can buy cigars - at prices usually at least 50% cheaper than the UK (probably currently helped by the FX a little) - as soon as you land, at the duty free shop in the airport (not quite sure why you would have a duty free in a country with no VAT, but that's another story :))

There are, of course, many Casa del Habano. Here is the local symbol from la Casa in the shopping mall by the Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel, right next to the DIFC, Dubai International Financial Centre. If you go to Dubai, you are most certainly going to spend some time in the area - even if you have nothing to do with the financial industry, as there are plenty of shops and restaurants (read alcohol...) 

I have to say that some of the cigars I sampled in Dubai were not smoking too well, sometimes they smoked very fast, sometimes they just were too dry. Perhaps the conditions in which they are kept are at times sub-optimal and my suggestion is probably to buy the more famous brands as the turnover would be quicker and therefore they are less likely to have not been stored properly...

The airports has got also its own La Casa del Habano shops - wnhere on my last visit I bought some D Especial. You can see a couple of snapshot of their assortment. Note in the second pictures some Behike (they had BHK 56 the first time I visited in early October but since then I have only seen BHK 52 and BHK 54 if at all). Also note the Partagas P1 jar in the middle on the far right of the second picture. This is a cigar exclusive for travel retail. More about the P1s to come soon.

Quick post... Good to be back! 

A new COSA! and one more Canadian cigar...

Due to the smoking ban in the UK, it is becoming more and more difficult to enjoy a good cigar in a comfy place, which partly explains why there are so many new cigars which are relatively smaller... if you have to enjoy them outside, you may want to be quick, particularly during the colder months. Thankfully, London is seeing a good number of new COSA, or "Comfortable Outdoor Smoking Area", as defined by Hunters and Frankau, the UK leading independent cigar importer. 

The 4-star Montague Hotel, right next to the British Museum, recently opened theirs, which I tested a few weeks ago. I took the occasion to smoke the Bolivar Simones, Canadian Regional Edition, a Hermoses No. 4 in size, firstly issued in 2007 but re-released last year in 1,200 numbered boxes of 25 cigars each (the original release was of 600 boxes but with 50 cigars each)

The cigar terrace has a good number of seats and overlooks the private gardens of the Bedford Estates, a nice change relative to other COSAs which don't really offer any views (e.g. 10 Manchester Street Hotel or Lanesborough).

The seats are overall comfortable, although not as roomy as in others. There are also heaters on the wall, that should allow to exploit the terrace during the winter (at least during the day). An awning contributes to make the area more enclosed, although having been there during one of their recent tastings, I should warn you that it is possible for the occasional drop of water to get through... not a big deal, but something that may impair the use of the terrace when is really cold and rainy.

As you can see from the picture above, some drawings perfectly in line with the overall ("smoking") theme of the hotel hang on the wall. 

As for the cigar? well I found the Simones to be sweet to start with, honey like taste with a very good draw and plenty of smoke. The cigar developed then into a more traditional Bolivar type flavour, like a Belicosos Finos, a very spicy cigar getting of course stronger towards the end.

It is possible to purchase cigars at the Montague Hotel, the selection is not the largest but very interesting. I also understand that during the summer there will be barbecue organised. I think that as the personnel builds knowledge of cigars, the terrace has got full potential to become another regular spot for cigars smokers. If you want to test yourself, the next event is just around the corner, on October 20th. Check the link for full details. 

A casa!

Casa in Soho is where it all started... or at least where my cigar passion started to get real. Right next to Floridita in Wardour Street, at the first London's Casa del Habano. After the smoking ban in the UK, the shop didn't keep the franchise as the area dedicated to cigar smoking is relatively small and I understand there are some sort of minimum size requirements to comply with the franchising... In any event, even if now only "Casa", this remains one of my favorite places to sample cigars in London... 

So I couldn't avoid having a stop by Casa to celebrate my birthday... and what is better than a classic  Montecristo A!

As you can see from the picture, this is not a cigar to be enjoyed in a short timeframe... it measures 23.5cm in length with a 47 ring gage and I enjoyed the smoke for over 2 hours... First released in 1971, it remains one of the most time consuming cigars to this day. It even made it to the Guinness Book of World Records because of its size!

This cigar is not the strongest Montecristo, it exhibits vanilla and spicy flavours all around building out in strengths - it's a great cigar I think as you don't need necessarily need to be a cigar aficionado to fully appreciate it, though most people get scared by its size (and the time required to fully smoke it, admittedly you may not always have 2+ hours for a smoke!)

These pictures give you an overview of what the smoking area of Casa looks like - it has a nice home feeling, with large black leather sofa-chairs and wood shelfs on one side and a big picture of the Cuban island on the other side. What you cannot see is the walk-in humidour, where I also keep a box with some of my precious cigars... 

The luxury of taste

This past summer I visited Sicily for the first time. I had never been in what is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, but all I can say is that a visit is well worth it. Beautiful scenery with great food and weather... what more can you ask for on a vacation?

One of the reason for going to Sicily was to join an event organised by Aleksandar Markovic, founder of the Cigars and Professional Group on Linkedin (see here). The event name was  already very appealing (the Luxury of Taste) and promised good food, drinks but above all, for me at least, cigars. 

The event was organised at the San Domenico Palace Hotel, a former monastery with an amazing view overlooking the sea, a beautiful cloister (perfect for cigar smoking) and impeccable service, thanks to Aleksandar and his team, including Gaetano, Claudia, Enrico, Claudio, Pasquale (I certainly have forgotten somebody but thanks anyways to anybody that made the event possible!) 

Amongst the great food (courtesy of the resident Michelin-star chef Massimo Mantarro) and drinks (Ferrari spumante, Steinbruck champagne, Diamond vodka). the event was an occasion to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Cig@rome, which I understand is the oldest cigar club in Italy, and introduce in Italy the new Davidoff cigar, the Puro D'oro.

Here I'm... excited to sample the Davidoff Puro D'Oro. The cigar is a new blend whose major characteristic is that all the tobacco is sourced from Dominican Republic, hence the reference to being pure in the name.

The goods... I of course smoked Davidoff Puro D'Oro in Taormina. They come in 4 sizes (Deliciosos, Magnificos, Notables and Sublimes). I smoked the Magnificos and Notables and probably prefer this latter. While the bland is the same, the corona-type size gave me better smoothness and less acidity. I think it's definitely a cigar worth smoking, clearly less strong than a cuban, so perhaps a great alternative for a midday smoke...

Here, are a few cigar smoking buddies that I met at the event... 

I would also like to thank Aleksandar for making me sample the Robaina Marshall Adriatic Edition... separate post will follow on this cigar.

Holidays cigars

As I mentioned, I was recently on holiday and of course, thanks to my travel humidour, I couldn't miss the opportunity to sample some good cigars... I was in Italy and therefore had the occasional Toscano (more about these cigars will need to come in separate posts) and some of my favorites of all the times (for example, a Cohiba Siglo VI, a perfectly elegant cigar, with a hint of chocolate and vanilla and great burn throughout, really a must have).

However, one of the drawbacks of travelling is that you may not always have good locations for cigar smoking available at your fingertips. I therefore had to also sample some short smokes.

Amongst those I can mention a Pleiades Paris cigars which I picked up in France. 

As I understand, the Pleiades is made with a blend of Dominican and Nicaraguan long-leaf tobaccos. The one I smoked was a short piramide 1984-2004 with a light wrapper; the filler tobacco was certainly not abundant and the overall construction not perfect. It was an easy light smoke with an earthy, woody taste. An ok smoke, most importantly, for being a non-cuban, not acidic!

Another day I also sampled a  short Bolivar Petit Libertador, a 2008 French Limited Edition, shown in the picture below.

This was an excellent short smoke, immediately kicking in with a good flavour, mostly vanilla in my view but also very spicy throughout. The burnt was ok, although a bit uneven and I entertained myself with one of those long-ash-gallery-type pictures below... 

Finally, a little curiosity... I was in Verona as well during my holidays and after a good dinner with steak and Pergole Torte (great Italian Tuscan red, a must try!), I lighted up a Partagas D Especial, the recently released Limited Edition. What I didn't realise is that I kept on smoking it while also in the Arena di Verona, before watching the Aida... Luckily, I asked if it was possible to smoke inside before it was too late... while I had to interrupt my very good smoke - see my review at the bottom of this post here - I finished the D Especial after the Opera... 

Canadian limited editions

My girlfriend was recently in Canada and I therefore asked her to kindly stop by the La Casa del Habano in Yorkville, Toronto, to grab some regional editions cigars. I love that store... The first time I went to Toronto I immediately visited the shop, in part as it is run by Andy, a friend that has basically introduced me to the real word of good cigar smoking when he used to run the former La Casa del Habano in Soho, London. I still remember the time he spent with me in the humidour, describing cigars, the various brands, the flavour and how to enjoy them... so much so that I had to buy the bible of cigars to learn more... "An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Post Revolution Havana Cigars"

Andy suggested, amongst others, a newly released Bolivar  B-2, a 2010 Canadian Limited Edition, a piramides in vitola which I'm enjoying in the picture below in the garden of Caldesi in Campagna, a nice Italian restaurant in Bray, an hour drive from London.

The B-2 is crafted with tobacco leaf from Vuelta Abajo in Pinar del Rio. The selection is limited to 1,000 numbered boxes containing 25 habanos each with primary distribution, obviously, restricted to Canada.

The cigar had a very nice wrapper, with really good construction for a Bolivar... It did show some venatures but it smoked really nice. The flavor was a lot of pepper to start with but developing into a spicy blend with a hint of coffee. A very nice compliment to the Grappa Poli di Sassicaia I was also enjoying!

More to come with a Bolivar Simones (a Hermos 4 size), a Ramon Allones Petit Unicos (a short piramide) and a Vegas Robaina Short Robaina (a Gordito), all shown in the picture below.

Travel humidour!

Apologies for the lack of updates over the last couple of weeks... Coming back to daily life from holidays always take a bit longer than you would like to :)

While I do have a few sampling notes on cigars to talk about (including nice Canadian editions as well as a tasting of Davidoff Puro Doro at an event in Taormina), I would like to talk about my travel humidour in this post - and if any of you has got some good tip on how to carry around their cigars when travelling, I'm clearly all open to new suggestions. It can in fact be problematic to carry around good cigars with you. Leather case or other tubes may not be enough if you are out for a little while. It is for this reason that I decided not long ago to invest in a very useful travel humidour, shown in the pictures below.

I bought my cigar caddy at the Publicis Drugstore in Paris (by the way, a very good cigar shop if you are on the look in the Ville Lumiere), but they are relatively easy to find and in my view an excellent tool for any cigar smoker that wants to have cigars in perfect conditions when on the go... My caddy carries about 10 but you can find similar boxes for 5, 15 or even more... It keeps the humidity very well and I actually don't even need to refill the water that often. The only negative I have found is that sometimes it becomes a bit difficult to open if travelling by plane, I think because the plane creates some sort of vacuum sealing effect on it... Other than that, it did keep my cigars in perfect conditions as you can see in this picture.