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