James Suckling

I am not sure why over the last three weeks the international press has been full of stories about the decline of the Cuban cigar.  The stories have not been about a drop in quality, but the downturn in the sales and production of the famous smokes.

The drop in sales is an old story that I wrote about earlier this year. I wrote that exports of Cuban cigars last year dropped to $360 million, down 7.7 percent from $390 million in 2008, and down considerably from the $402 million exported in 2007.

My sources in the Cuban cigar industry tell me that the value for exported cigars is slightly up the first six months this year, perhaps as much as London’s Financial Times noted in yesterday’s story of 4.   Read more

The Allure of A Fine Old Cuban Cigar

Posted: 12:16 PM ET, June 23, 2010

Cigar auctions are a cool thing. You sip Champagne, smoke a Cuban cigar and bid on rare and not-so-rare smokes. At least that’s what happened on Monday night at the C. Gars Ltd. Boisdale of Belgravia in London.

Owner Mitchell Orchant put together an impressive selection of more than 170 different lots of cigars from current production to century-old smokes, with plenty of Cuban Davidoffs, Cuban Dunhills, pre-embargo sticks and rare humidors in between. Almost all the cigars were Cuban. The sale totaled close to $318,000 including the 12.5 percent buyer’s and seller’s premium.

About 50 people sat on the small third floor open-air terrace of Boisdale restaurant. It was warm and fresh with the aromas of Cuban cigar smoke intermixing with flowers and the smell of a warm summer’s day in London. About 138 bidders registered for the sale. Most came from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Australia and North America.

The Cuban Davidoff and Dunhill cigars were some of the most sought-after lots, with such boxes as Château Latour and Château Margaux selling for about $2,500 and $1,850 respectively. An almost empty box of six of the legendary Dunhill Cabinetta Robustos from the early 1980s (a cigar I scored 100 points many times for Connoisseur’s Corner) went for about $2,200.   Read more

Staying Warm With Behike

Posted: 02:04 PM ET, May 13, 2010

I smoked a couple of Cohiba Behikes yesterday in London (actually, I smoked one  this morning around 12:30 a.m.), and I was in cigar nirvana.  If you don’t remember, Behikes are the new blockbuster, super-premium smoke from Cuba produced exclusively under its flagship brand. They are just coming out on the market now.

I went to what amounted to the world premiere of these three mind-blowing smokes. Hunters & Frankau, the importer and distributor for Cuban cigars in the United Kingdom, organized the event yesterday evening in the garden of the Goring Hotel. I hadn’t stepped foot in there since the beginning of my honeymoon to my now divorced second wife. But that is another story.

The big story was puffing away on the exclusive Cohibas. Hunters gave out a gift of each of the larger smokes and two of the smaller ones. Attendees had to shell out £150 ($220) to attend, which seemed a relative bargain considering all the Krug Champagne that was flowing and various other drinks, as well as the four cigars. Jemma Freeman, the head of Hunters, said that Krug was the perfect drink to pair with the Behike, and I wasn’t about to complain.

The three Behikes are the following sizes and names:  BHK 52 (4 11/16 inches long by 52 ring gauge), BHK 54 (5 2/3 inches by 54 ring gauge) and BHK 56 (6 1/2 inches by 56 ring).   Read more

Adios Mi Abuelo

Posted: 04:05 PM ET, April 21, 2010

I have been thinking a lot about Alejandro Robaina, the late great tobacco grower of Cuba. It’s hard to think about the 91-year-old no longer being there. He died of cancer last Saturday at home in his bed, and I can’t bear the thought of him not being on his farm,  sitting on his terrace in his rocking chair and holding court with a cigar in his hand.

I don’t exactly remember when I met him, but it has to be close to 20 years ago. I first saw him on a trip to Pinar del Río in the early 1990s at the beginning of Cigar Aficionado magazine. Some representatives of Cubatabaco, the name then for the global distribution company for Cuban cigars, Habanos S.A., took me to his small farm to show me what an independent tobacco grower on the island was like.

I couldn’t believe how welcoming he was with his wife, sister, brother and children all living on the farm. They all lived in a couple of block-like houses of four bedrooms around the perimeter of the building and a simple sitting room and kitchen in the center. There were no glass windows, just shutters. And they had one lone light bulb hanging from the sitting room and one in the kitchen. I remember the bathroom didn’t have warm water and toilet paper and their toothbrushes were frayed like steel wool from years of use. Sometimes there was no soap as well.   Read more

Smoking A Normal Cigar In La Habana

Posted: 10:17 AM ET, March 05, 2010

I can spend a lot of time writing and speaking about mega-cigars, limited edition smokes and vintage sticks. But I like smoking mainline cigars just as much. In fact, most of the time I prefer them. Besides, cigar factories (see yesterday’s blog for a video on Cuba’s biggest) spend most of their time making normal smokes.

I was thinking about this last night when I was out with some friends in one of Havana’s small private restaurants called La Cocina de Lilliam. We had a nice dinner outside on the restaurant's (cold) patio. Food wise, Lilliam is now the best restaurant in Havana, although the cuisine is just good home cooking. The best was La Guarida, but it closed for good late last year.

For example, we shared starters of grilled octopus and fresh tuna with sautéed peppers, and main courses of broiled red snapper with a Cuban dish resembling polenta, and salad. It was good, simple, fresh food. I really enjoyed the 2005 Torres Catalunya Gran Sangre de Toro Reserva. It was made with Grenache, Cariñena and Syrah. I am not sure it sells in the states, but it’s cheap and very cheerful.

I brought along some simple coronas from a cedar box of 25 cigars, called Punch Royal Selection No.   Read more

Cuba's Largest Cigar Factory

Posted: 12:49 PM ET, March 04, 2010

I dig going to the cigar factories in Havana. I don’t go as often as I would like because they don’t open them to the public all that much. The one exception is Partagas, which has regular visits each week for tourists.

It was coolio to visit the La Corona factory last week during the 12 Festival Habano. The workers were obviously on their best behavior. This is now the biggest factory in Cuba, according to one worker from La Corona. More than 900 people work there. Just over 250 are rollers, and they can produce between 40,000 and 50,000 cigars a day. Annual production at La Corona is about 10 million sticks.

The factory is the mother factory for San Cristobal de La Habana, among others. But they make just about everything—all the key brands as well as various sizes, or vitolas. Check out my blog from two days ago that explains Cuba’s top brands and sizes.

Fernando Peraza is now the manager of the factory, after working some time abroad, mostly in Cypress. I met him years ago when he was manager of the Romeo y Julieta factory. He is a real pro. He doesn’t talk much, but he is conscientious and very serious.

It was early in the morning when I arrived, so the lector was reading the daily news to the rollers as they worked. This is a centuries old scene, and traditionally the rollers would give a tiny amount of money each day to the lector to render this service.   Read more

Habanos y Tequila: A Good Marriage

Posted: 02:15 PM ET, March 03, 2010

I must admit that I don’t think very often about Tequila when I am looking for something to drink with my cigar. I usually grab a glass of rum or Port or Champagne, or even red wine or beer. But Tequila?

That’s why I found a blind tasting of two cigars—Montecristo No. 2 and Partagas Serie D No. 4—with two Añejo and two Extra Añejo Tequilas fascinating.  The tasting was done during a seminar last week at the XII Festival Habano. About 200 people packed into the meeting room. Each seat had four glasses of Tequila in brandy snifters and two unbanded cigars.

We first lit up the torpedo, and smoked the balanced and flavorful cigar while tasting the two Añejos. I found the first tequila showed lots of citrus and white pepper character with saltiness on the nose. It was very sweet and round with an almost candied flavor. It was too sweet for me. And it sugar coated the smoke.

The second Tequila showed more vanilla and caramel on the nose and palate, but it was drier, rounder and softer. It was caressing on the palate and seemed delicious with the robusto, preparing your palate for every puff.
Surprisingly, the group preferred the sweet Tequila.  I really couldn’t understand it. But I guess people in general prefer sweet things. And I think Cubans in particular like postres, or desserts. The group’s preferred Tequila was the Leticia Hermosillo Ravelero Añjeo.   Read more

A Few Observations on Cuban Cigars

Posted: 06:46 PM ET, March 02, 2010

Do you smoke Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, José L. Piedra, Partagas, or Cohiba? Or all of the above?

You probably smoke one or two of the brands on a regular basis if you are into Cuban cigars, considering those brands account for about three-fourths of the total number of Cuban cigars sold in 2009. Brand figures released during a seminar at the 12th Habanos Festival shows that the above five brands account for the lion’s share of Cuban cigar shipments: Montecristo, 21 percent; Romeo y Julieta, 17 percent; José L. Piedra, 14 percent; Cohiba, 11 percent, and Partagas, 11 percent.

The top five brands were followed by Hoyo de Monterrey, 6 percent; Quintero, 5 percent; and H. Upmann, 3 percent. The remaining two dozen brands or so account for the rest.

If you love the ubiquitous Montecristo No. 4, then your petit corona-sized cigar accounted for about 8 percent of the market, followed by Romeo y Julieta Cazadores with 5 percent, Romeo y Julieta No. 2 with 4 percent, Partagas Serie D No. 4 with 4 percent, and Montecristo No. 5 with 3 percent.

A number of the next five best selling cigars are machine finished, or use short filler, including Partagas Millefleur, 3 percent; Quintero Breva, 3 percent; and José L.   Read more

The End of a Great Event

Posted: 06:00 PM ET, March 01, 2010

The president of Habanos S.A., the global distribution and marketing company in Cuba for cigars, came up to me during last Friday’s gala dinner and asked me how I liked the Cohiba Behikes that were being debuted to the world that night.

“So, Suckling, what do you think of Behike?” said Oscar Basulto Torres, the Cuban president of Habanos. I had just finished the BHK 52, which was in a black lacquered box with two other examples of the new Cohiba range. Participants of the fancy dinner were supposed to take them home as a memento of the evening. I couldn’t wait! Besides, it was my journalist duty to smoke them.

I already smoked a Behike 56 that fell into my hands a few days before the debut dinner of the blockbuster range. As I explained in former blogs, the robust BHK Cohibas use a full leaf in the blend of medio tiempo, which is stronger than seco but not as strong as ligero. In any case, the full leaf of medio tiempo delivers loads of richness and flavor in all the Behike range.

“I will give you my Behike 56, if you score it 100 points like you did the Cohiba Siglo VI Gran Reserva last year,” he joked. I wouldn’t be drawn on the score. He gave me his cigar anyway.

“You don’t have to give it 100 points,” he added as he walked backed through the smoke to the head table. “Just 99.8 would be fine.” I am not sure he was joking completely.
I am not allowed to score young cigars in my columns or blogs, because the magazine does that in blind tastings.   Read more

The Renaissance of the Blockbuster Cuban Cigar

Posted: 01:24 PM ET, February 25, 2010

I finally got my lips around a Behike. And it almost blew my head off. A couple of bad-boy-chocolately BHK 56 cigars (6 1/2 inches by 56 ring gauge) came my way, and I tried one following a heavy lunch at one of my favorite restaurants in La Havana, the awesome chicken shop El Aljibe. Usually a powerful smoke is just the right thing after a mega-dose of juicy roasted chicken, black beans and rice. Maybe I should have had more black beans before? Or next time I will order a whole juice-dripping chicken for myself?

But I must admit that I felt a little stoned about one-quarter of the way into the BHK 56. I was lightheaded at first. I also must say that I like the big gauge of the smoke. It’s got to be one of the biggest Habanos going. It’s bigger than the Cohiba Siglo VI, which is one of my all-time favorites coming out of Havana. In fact, I lit a VI up against the new bad-boy BHK, and at the end of the two smokes, it was the BHK 56 that won.

“This is a smoke for the professional,” said someone from Habanos S.A., who took part in developing the amazing smoke. Apparently, a panel of professionals in the tobacco sector on the island worked for months developing the blend of the new line extension of Cuba’s most prestigious brand.

The three Behikes underline how Cohiba is the super brand for Cuba. No smoker can say that the yellow, black and white colored band is just a status symbol now.   Read more

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