James Suckling Most Recent Comments: See Also: Taboada and His Custom SmokesPosted: 04:37 PM ET, October 11, 2007 A surprising amount is said and written about custom-made Cuban cigars. These are cigars that retired factory rollers produce in various cigar shops in Havana as well as abroad. Mostly recently I was at a La Casa del Habano in Tijuana, Mexico, and retired Rodolfo Taboada Campa was rolling in the small cigar shop. He was rolling cigars on a bench just inside the door. He was there giving a demonstration to the Casa customers of the art of cigar rolling and I assume that they could buy some of his cigars as well.
As I wrote in my last blog, he gave me a couple of slightly thinner than normal Belicosos with dark chocolaty wrappers that were packed with flavor and character. (Check out my video blog when I smoked it with CA Senior Editor Dave Savona.) They were some of the richest and strongest Cuban cigars that I had smoked in a long time. They were almost like drinking a triple espresso! Moreover, they drew wonderfully. The construction was perfect. I am not sure if he used a mold or not to shape the cigar.
“When I started rolling, we didn’t use molds,” he said, when we were speaking in Spanish at the shop. “They didn’t come into popularity until after the revolution. It is not as fast as rolling with molds but I think that cigars always draw better if you make them the old fashioned way.”
He was rolling some very large, almost mammoth-sized cigars that were sort of super Montecristo A shaped and he certainly didn’t have molds for those. Besides, the mold really only gives uniformity to the bunch of filling tobacco Taboada or any other roller rolls.
I also noticed he was using the old technique for bunching called en tubado or in tubes. Read more
Cubana, Heaven and CigarsPosted: 08:16 PM ET, October 02, 2007 Maybe I was being a little dramatic, but I honestly thought that the Bolivar Royal Corona could be the last cigar of my life. I am not a great fan of Cubana airlines but I needed to take the flight this weekend to make my connection to Los Angeles. So I had no choice.
I quietly smoked my cigar in the morning with a cortado coffee and contemplated my life, my children, my friends, and my job. At least I wouldn’t have to do any more blogs, I thought to myself sipping the rich coffee and smoking the cigar. And I would not have to worry about all the anti-smoking laws around the world. Alimony, school fees, pissed off girlfriends, feisty editors, bad tempered immigration officers…you name it.
Gone. No more hassles.
Anyway, I got to Jose Martí Airport, checked in and went to wait for my flight. I looked out the window and I saw the beast of a plane I would be flying. It was built in the 1980s in Mother Russia. It was none other than the AS Yakolev Yak-42 D.
Here is what I read in Wikipedia online about the flying machine:
“Shortly after the type's introduction into commercial service, a number of accidents caused by vibrations in the tail section of the aircraft forced a suspension of the type's operations. After the necessary modifications were made, the Yak-42 re-entered service in the Soviet Union circa 1985. The type was never exported as new, only after the political transition of the former Soviet Union, a few Yak-42s were leased out to carriers in Africa, Cuba, Pakistan and in former Yugoslavia.”
I drank a couple of Crystal beers in the airport for courage.
We boarded the flight and it was boiling inside. The air conditioning wasn’t working since the engines were still off. It smelled of warm and sweaty people with an undertone of damp carpet. I tried to look out the scratched window. My seat was broken as well. Read more
The Biggest Humidor in the WorldPosted: 12:32 PM ET, September 27, 2007 I visited the Partagas factory in full sunshine. My Cuban friends were telling me that they could feel autumn in the air. It made me laugh to myself—I have never been so sweaty on an autumn’s day.
It was pretty hot and sticky in the rolling room of the Partagas factory in downtown Havana. About 300 rollers were busy handcrafting a range of cigars. I saw mostly large ring gauge, small length cigars being rolled. In fact, I asked if anyone was making double coronas and they said no. Most of the cigars were Regional Editions for the Middle East and Cohiba Maduros. The one Regional Edition that looked pretty amazing was a Bolivar Sublimes, which I believe is going to be sold in Lebanon.
Wow. It’s all changed. I remember the first time I visited the Partagas factory way back in September 1991, and most of the cigars being rolled were coronas and petit coronas. I still can’t get over how the French’s favorite Cuban smoke now is the Partagas Serie D No. 4. So much for the boring Montecristro No. 4 that used to reign in Paris.
Long live the Robusto! Long live regional editions! Long live Cohiba Maduros!
Nothing has changed though with the quality of rolling at Partagas. It still looks very, very good. It’s a pleasure to stand in the rolling room and watch people do their work. It makes you understand why we enjoy a fine handmade cigar. It’s all so artisan. In this age of high speed Internet and ultra-high tech, there’s something very calming watching a roller do his or her work.
I was given a Bolivar Royal Corona at the factory when we left the rolling room and entered the color sorting area. I wasn’t sure whether I should eat it or smoke it. It looked so good with its darkish wrapper. And it smelled rich and decadent – what I sometimes call the Partagas stink. (The factory controls the production of Bolivar.) The cigar smoked like a dream. It was rich and super flavorful with lots of tobacco, earth and even hints of cheese on the palate. Read more
Just Smoking in the Rain, What a Wonderful Day in HavanaPosted: 04:30 PM ET, September 26, 2007 Yesterday it absolutely poured in Havana. I honestly thought that the city was going to sink underwater. I was having lunch with some friends from Habanos S.A., the global marketing and distribution company for Cuban cigars, and the restaurant that were in, La Cocina de Lilliam, was under about five inches of water in about 30 minutes.
It was lucky that Juan Giron, the head of marketing for Habanos, had brought some smokes to pass the time. We were like men in a lifeboat for about three hours and the rain pelted down. He brought a Partagas Culebras to smoke. There was also Jose Antonio Candia, who also works in marketing with Habanos, so it was the perfect smoke since when you take it apart it turns in to three tangled skinny smokes.
I must be in a slightly strange mood but I found it sort of sexy taking apart the Culebra to smoke. There are two fine silk red ribbons on each end that you need to unravel to take the cigar apart. It reminded me of undoing a few other things before enjoying something very pleasurable...
Anyway, the smoke was surprisingly powerful. I thought it was a little too strong for such a small diameter smoke, but when I spoke to a friend at Partagas, she said that they have very little seco in the thin cigar to balance the ligero. So it’s strong. “That’s the taste of Partagas,” she said with a smile. I can’t complain. I would buy the cigars again just to undo those red ribbons! 90 points. I saw it sold for about $68 Convertible Cuban Pesos in the Partagas cigar shop, or about $82 for three individual cedar boxes in a paper box. So that means nine cigars for $82.
We actually finished those Culebras before the lunch of grilled fish and black beans and rice was finished. So we fired up some Hoyo de Monterrey Regalos, which are one of this year’s three Edición Limitadas. This is a focused and rich smoke with a slightly reserved character to it on the palate. Read more
Back in the Cigar CapitalPosted: 11:51 AM ET, September 24, 2007 I am on my second cortado this morning as I write this blog from Havana. And it’s sooo good. The small and thick sweet espresso with hot milk is like thick, warm milk chocolate. I would smoke a cigar with it right now but I have some meetings with people from Habanos S.A., the global marketing and distribution company for Cuban cigars, and they have a number of cigars they want me to try. I think they want me to smoke the new limitadas as well as the culebras. But I am not sure. I will report back later.
I did smoke a couple of cigars yesterday after I arrived from London on my direct flight with Virgin Atlantic. I went over to a friend’s house and fired up a Punch Punch. It was from March 2000. What a drag. It was bitter and bland. At least it drew well. But it reminded me how dull, even rotten, cigars from this period were. I smoked it for about 10 minutes and threw it in the street before I went to the ballet, Carmen, with some friends at the National Theater in Old Havana.
I like the fact that you see more cigar butts than cigarette butts in this dusty city by the sea. I seldom see smashed cigar butts in my home state--the People’s Republic of California. I went for a run this morning down the Malecon and I jumped over numerous smashed cigar butts--so much for a smoke free state. I cringe with the thought of all the health fascists in America that don’t even believe in the personal liberties of people enough to even allow people to smoke outside anymore. But that’s another column.
I did have a fabulous cigar already. It was a Rey del Mundo Grandes de España, which is no longer made. The long and refined smoke from 1996 delivered wonderfully fresh aromas and flavors. It showed tea, tobacco, citrus and nutty character. It was so clean and beautiful. I gave it 93 points. I smoked it with a mojito before dinner at El Templete, the terraced restaurant on the Malecon near Plaza de San Francisco. Read more
The Snake is Back from CubaPosted: 09:42 AM ET, September 10, 2007 I can't wait to get my hands on the new Partagas Culebras. The hand-made cigars are arriving from Cuba in the market in the next few weeks. And they are completely hand-made. In the past, they were made with short filler tobacco and partially machine made. But the Cubans have upgraded them. Check out the photo below.
I haven't smoked a culebra in a long, long time, but I still remember the one of the first times I did. It was with Eric de Rothschild at Chateau Lafite-Rothschild in the mid-1980s. Rothschild, who oversees the first growth Bordeaux, was a keen cigar smoker at the time and had stocks of cigars aging in London at Robert Lewis Cigar Merchants.
 "James, I like my cigars with a minimum of seven years of box age," he told me. I was not about to complain. In fact, the culebras was a mild and delicious smoke.
I have to admit that it was sort of weird smoking the twisted cigar. As you know, a culebras, which means snakes in Spanish, are actually three twisted cigars wrapped together. The new Partagas are each 5 3/4 inches long with a 39 ring gauge. You have to take it apart and then smoke one of the three. I once saw some idiot smoking all three together. He seriously didn't know you have to take them apart! Traditionally, cigar rollers in Cuba were allowed one culebra per day to take home when they finished their work. I think it went out of fashion a short while after the revolution. Shame.
Anyway, we can all enjoy a good Cuban culebra in a few weeks. Maybe the tradition will start up again?
New Limitada 2007s from Hong KongPosted: 01:16 PM ET, August 24, 2007
I picked up some of the new Edición Limitada 2007s last week while I was in Hong Kong celebrating a good friend’s 50th birthday – God forbid the day comes. I was in Central and I noticed the Davidoff shop in the corner of a big retail complex, so I popped in the door. Cool… Romeo y Julieta Esucdos (50 by 51/2 inches) and the Hoyo de Monterrey Regalos (46 by 4 1/3 inches). They were $35 each. Not cheap. They still didn’t have the third limitada: Trinidad Ingenious (42 by 6 ½ inches).
My friend plopped down the cash and they put a couple of each in paper sleeves. I put mine in my computer case for the long ride home to Italy on British Airways via London. By the way, if you fly through British airports at the moment, security is a bitch. They only let you have one carry on bag, which include brief cases! Thank God I knew about it on this trip so everything was in a small Tumi roller bag.
The beautiful smokes made the trip just fine and I put them in my humidor for a short rest. One thing that I noticed about the two cigars is that their wrappers were not very maduro. In fact, they didn’t look very Colorado, or dark chocolaty brown. They were darker than normal, however. I remember a few years back that Habanos said that Edición Limitadas were not necessarily dark wrappers but specially selected tobacco with addition aging.
I remember a conversation with Hilda Baró, who is the head of the Partagas factory back in 2002, and she said during a visit to her factory that some people have been confused with the Edición Limitada program because many have been calling them maduro cigars. “This is not true,” she said. “These cigars are not maduro. They are simply made with aged wrappers which have been coming from the upper parts of the plant, particularly the top ones or coronas.”
Because wrapper leafs come from the top of the plant, they are richer and slightly thicker, which gives them a slightly darker color brown after processing. Read more
A Double at the BarPosted: 06:49 AM ET, August 14, 2007 I smoked a 1996 Partagas Lusitania from a cedar cabinet box of 50 last night in a small hipster wine bar in Hong Kong called Bar Aedes. This is a place a lot of the wine and restaurant trade hang in, and they don’t mind smoking. So cool…
Anyway, the Lusi was one of the best double coronas I have had in a long, long time. Wine and cigar merchant Thomas Bohrer brought them to the bar. The cigar was very flavorful, yet refined, with cedar, dried flower and nutty character. I gave it 93 points last night.
I hadn’t smoked a double corona for ages and neither had Thomas. I just don’t seem to find the time to smoke one anymore. And I have to admit that they are a bit ostentatious. I have even had people get aggressive when I have smoked one. I guess it’s something like “my cigar is bigger than your cigar.”
Luckily, there was none of that last night. And we just enjoyed what was a great cigar, with a few glasses of wine.
A Matter of TastePosted: 01:00 PM ET, August 02, 2007 Taste preferences are a funny thing, even with cigars. Last week, I had two instances when some buddy’s ideas about a cigar were completely the opposite of mine. And I am usually in sync with these guys.
The first time was when I was smoking a Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series Monarca sitting outside Punta Ala harbor in Tuscany on my friend’s boat. I thought the elegant yet rich smoke showed wonderful balance and perfumes with loads of flavor. He said that the Monarca had no flavor. I was ready to throw him overboard! I tried to explain to him in Italian that power is not necessarily flavor. I guess he is too used to his Partagas Serie D No. 4s.
The second time was smoking a Cohiba Siglo VI with a cigar merchant friend from Hong Kong after a dinner al fresco with some friends at my house. I thought the cigar showed wonderful richness yet was full of finesse with cedar, cappuccino and tobacco character. It burned wonderfully. In fact, I think it is one of the best cigars the Cubans have made in the last 10 years. It’s consistently a 95-point smoke for me. Yet my friend said “it lacked body and flavor.”
Perhaps smoking the cigars outside had some effect on the differences in opinions? It’s harder to focus your attention on a smoke outside, and surely some of the smoke and flavor dissipates more quickly compared to smoking inside.
Anyway, some prefer blondes, others brunettes…. what can I say?
Perfume to PoliticsPosted: 04:51 PM ET, July 23, 2007 I was at a big dinner on the Tuscan coast in honor of the American Ambassador for Italy over the weekend. About 40 or us were fêting the friendly and very professional diplomat, and by the end of the meal as we sat outside next to an illuminated pool, a few of us lit up some cigars. At my table of about 10 people, a friend and I were smoking Ramon Allones Specially Selected, the rich and wonderful Cuban robusto. Other tables had some Cohiba Robustos glowing.
Anyway, I overheard my friend speaking to the host of the party, a beautiful leggy brunette. He was commenting on how he could smell her perfume across the table. I think he was being a bit derogatory about it. He’s a wine producer and he gets rather pissed off when pungent women are in his presence and he is trying to enjoy his wine.
If I am seriously tasting wine, I see his point. But at a chic dinner, or just about any other time for that matter, a beautiful woman with beautiful perfume only enhances the whole experience.
I heard her say to my buddy, "What can you smell with that cigar going?"
“I promise you that I can smell your perfume,” he said. “And I prefer the smell of my cigar to what it is.”
I thought that the whole thing was getting a little out of hand. So I interjected, "I have a cigar as well. Let me see what perfume you are
wearing," as I raised my nose and gave a sniff across the table. "You smell like roses!"
"You’re right," she said with a big smile. "It’s Absolute Rose from Annick Goutal."
The table went quite for a second and then the conversation changed from perfume to politics.
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