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!

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! 

Where to smoke in Milan?

Although I'm Italian, I don't really know Milan well. I have never lived there and to be fair, being from the centre of Italy, I much rather prefer Rome. However, I do travel to Milan a few times a year on business and therefore I did need to find out where are the good places to smoke cigars. I reported in the past about the local Casa del Habano, but where else?

The Westin Palace in Piazza della Repubblica used to have a smoking area but I think that since the new law came into force they shut it down (if any of you know whether or not this is the case, please do let me know). Fortunately, I did find another hotel, conveniently located in the city centre, with a small but fairly homely cigar lounge: the Bulgari hotel! 

The pictures below that I took with my blackberry really don't do it justice (and apologies for the bad quality!), but the space is a little heaven for the frantic traveller like me looking for an oasis of calm :) There is a little humidour with an overall acceptable selection of cigars (no surprises, but more famous brands like Cohiba tend to take most of the space), comfy leather chairs and of course a good selection of drinks. Only thing I'd warn you about is that you may hear quite some big mouths while there... but who cares :)

Yesterday night I was in Milan and smoked at the Bulgari's lounge a Partagas Serie D Especial Limited Edition I purchased in Dubai (by the way, I'm not sure if I'm being unlucky but generally find the cigars from Dubai not as well kept and therefore somewhat less enjoyable..). Since the area was full, I sat down at a table with another cigar smoker - the funny thing is that the gentleman I shared the table with is from London and literally lives 10 minutes walk away from my place. What a small world!

In the last picture you can see some images of chocolates on the wall in the background. I will do a little digression on this, as if you are going to be in MIlan this week - up until the 19th of December -  the Bulgari Hotel will be home to a unique event featuring the handmade Bulgari chocolates. From 7 pm to 9 pm it will be possible to admire the Japanese maitre chocolatier Miura Naoki while he creates the exclusive collection of Bulgari chocolates (amongst some of the chocolates available, you can have panettone or truffle!). You can also enjoy a daily chocolate tasting at 5:00 p.m. and a special sunday  brunch menu featuring the chocolates as dessert. The chocolates are not cheap but really delicious and they are also available in a special box combination with a bottle of Dom Pérignon for a luxurious Christmas gift for the real chocolates lovers amongst you!

Romeos and P1s!

One of the (many) beauties of smoking cigars is that you can never get bored. There is always a new cigar to taste, always a new limited or regional edition to try or, to be fair, a moment to smoke one of your old favorites (D4 or Siglo VI anyone?)

Thanks to Ajay at La Casa del Habano in Teddington I can often get my eyes on some special cigars (and really thanks to Ajay - just managed to sample an amazing Partagas Sublime 165th Anniversary - really a very very spicy and full bodied smoke, rich and peppery which will become an absolute outstanding smoke in a year and beyond).  

A few weeks ago we had a get together at 10 Manchester Street to celebrate the birth of my friend Mo's third (I think! he has so many I'm getting confused - sorry!) child. Mo was kindly offering P1s from the travel retail exclusive Jar (and yes! I have managed to get hold of one thanks to the friends of the Cigar Club Alejandro Robaina in Matelica) and beforehand I tasted a Romeo & Julieta Romeos.

R&J, one of the most well-known cuban cigar brands worldwide, brought back this astonishing size, a double figurado, in 2008. This cigar was discontinued in the 70's but for the 125th anniversary of the brand, Romeo & Julieta did a commemorative Humidour which included 25 double-corona and 25 Romeos. Only 250 Humidours were produced worldwide. The cigar is a blend of selected leaves from the Vuelta Abajo region resulting in a classic medium bodied cigar. The one I got was a replica from 2008, from the third release of the Ancient Humidour Series.

Looks good, doesn't it? It's a size 52 x 162 (6.4") - a very solid smoke!

After the Romeos, it was time to spice up the evening with a Partagas P1, a petit piramides, smaller than a P2. This cigar was released in a special collector ceramic jar which is made exclusively for travel retail (although - if you look for it, you can find it in many other shops...) I heard different judgements about this cigar and not everyone seems to be very fond of them at the moment. I think with a little bit of aging, though, these will become incredibly sought after cigars and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the one offered by Mo. Thanks again and congratulations!!!

Here is Mo holding the P1 Jar - it is beautiful, a perfect item for a collector! - below Mo amongst some of our cigar smoking buddies!

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! 

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.

Anibal Delgado Gonzalez at la Casa del Habano

Anibal Delgado Gonzalez has been on a tour of the UK from the La Corona factory in Havana over the last 12 weeks - I think his time in the UK has come to a close as I write this post but we certainly look forward to seeing him again soon to enjoy his rolling skills...

During his time in the UK, Anibal has been visiting various shops and locations (first time I have seen him in action was for example at the Behike cigars launch event at the Goring Hotel in Victoria). 

To have the opportunity to enjoy one last time his cigars, I visited La Casa del Habano in Teddington earlier in the month... Courtesy of Ajay's super assorted humidour (in the picture below), I also smoked a Roman Allones Estupendos - exclusivo Asia Pacifico while taking the pictures.

Anibal has been a torcedor (cigar roller) for over 20 years and as 9th grade roller is able to roll every cigar produced by the Habanos portfolio. He started working as a roller in 1985 at the Romeo y Julieta factory but now works in the heart of Havana in La Corona. In 2000 he was selected to participate in rolling demonstrations around the world and so far has visited Guatemala, Argentina, Uruguay, Bahrain, Greece, Chile and China.

Here is Anibal - rolling makes him happy?

Well, I would certainly be if I could smoke cigars while working like he's doing here :)

I asked Anibal to prepare me a Maravilla extra... this is not an official size but I basically asked for a cigar with the ring gage of a sublime (54) only with additional length. In the picture above I'm posing while Anibal is working on "my" cigar...



This is the result of my request!



And here I'm looking forward to smoke it... Didn't do it just yet as I wanted it to dry it in my humidour at home a little bit (when they are freshly rolled I notice they tend to smoke too quickly, and I want to make sure I will enjoy my unique cigar for the longest possible time... :)

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!

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...