BHK 52 - Best Cigar of 2010 by Cigar Aficionado

I am just back from a tasting at Ten Manchester Street Hotel in honour of the freshly named Best Cigar of the Year 2010 by Cigar Aficionado - the Cohiba Behike 52 (or BHK 52)!

Many amongst the cigar community have been surprised by this choice... Cigar Aficionado is often very kind to non-Cuban (since it caters to mostly American readers for whom habanos are still off-limits, or theoretically are...) and it also tends to favour big sizes/ring gages. The BHK 52 (at 52 ring gage as the name says and 4.7" in length) is not necessarily small but most would have probably expected Cigar Aficionado to at least prefer its bigger brothers BHK 54 (5.7" x 54) and BHK 56 (6.5" x 56).



While these are all incredible smokes for cigars lovers (with still a lot to offer, given that they are still quite young cigars) I overall love the BHK 52 and I have been saying often to my friends that this is probably my favorite amongst the Behike, a reasonably short and incredibly punchy smoke, rich of aroma and coffee flavour.

At No. 10, the tasting was accompanied by an Irish Coffee which I thought was a pretty nice complement to this strong cigar. A great evening thanks to Ten and Hunters & Frankau.

P.S.: If I can give some simple advice - definitely have it on a full stomach! 

Christmas cigars

Like every Christmas, I went home and spent some time with my family, eating and drinking loads, opening presents, etc, etc... but what would Christmas be without good cigars? :)

Thankfully, my parents put together a great area outside their house with a nice and cozy area to enjoy some great puros, a personal "smoking lounge" well protected from the wind and therefore great to smoke (for me - not sure that was the intended use :))!

On Christmas day, after an amazing lunch, I therefore enjoyed a nice Partagas P1 (see my review here) with my brother; I somewhat felt that wasn't enough for such a special day and therefore I doubled-up with a Montecristo Maravilla. While smoking, I got a little bit carried away with the Christmas spirit and therefore I took also a picture of the nativity representation my sister Francesca had prepared in the "lounge" :) 

As you can see, I had with me all you need for a great smoke starting from my inseparable travel cigar caddy, a cutter, some matches and in this case a nice bottle of port - my brother Marco was recently in Portugal and brought back some bottles of this Portuguese internationally famous export...

And here is the Montecristo Maravilla, a limited edition issued in 2005 for the fifth release of the Habanos Collection "Book" series and the 70th anniversary of the Montecristo Brand, an amazing double-robusto size 55 ring gage for 182 mm.

This was definitively an outstanding smoke. A very classic Montecristo flavour, with lots of spice, tons of smoke and a great aroma from pretty much the beginning till the very end, one of those cigars that you wish you could smoke more often but are unfortunately not so easy to find, since they were produced in a somewhat limited number (well, in theory only 500 copies of the book containing 20 cigars each where made, or 10,000 cigars in total; in practice I think a few more of those cigars were made available for my own luck...)

Happy New Year!!!

Dear all - this is just a quick post to wish everybody a very Happy New Year!!! Hope you all had a chance to spend some quality time with your family and friends and, of course, enjoy some great cigars!

I certainly did! To prepare for the holidays, in fact, I paid a much deserved visit before Christmas to Ajay, at La Casa del Habano in Teddington, and bought some outstanding cigars...  More to come on them in future posts.

Instead, let me quickly describe some of the latest aged cigars that Ajay managed to obtain, including in particular some historical Partagas cigars.

For example, some Partagas Special Cabinet Selection for JJ Fox, probably from the 60s, in the picture below...

... as well as the original Lusitanias, again from the 60s, which were then made in a 109 format rather than the standard double-corona (note that the head is smaller - the 109 has since been reproduced in various occasions, at least in terms of format, including recently for the 2010 - 165 Aniversario Humidour which was presented at the Partagas Festival in Cuba last November)

Ajay also managed to put his hands on some aged "traditional" Lusitanias (not sure but at least from the 80s). What can I say... if any of you is wondering what could be a good present for next Christmas, just look at the picture below! :))

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! 

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.