Cohiba and cocaine

Matt introduced me to the high flying, nose powdering world of advertising at a recent partee ... We had to fight for a "smoking table" despite being in an outside courtyard... but managed to find some civilised French people to swap with who understand the need to have a puff. It was a Cohiba day with a powerful, dark roast, coffee grind little Secretos and a mellower hay, leather and earthy cedar big boy Genios, two chips off the same grassy block that defines the marca. Matched with a coffee liqueur and brandy cocktail concoction. It made for a great catch up after a few months in the desert of the soul (ie without seeing each other).  

You're all invited to join us next time ...

Jianlong Strikes Back

 

You may remember this Honorary Heretic from his legendary intervention a few years ago Smoking and Drinking the Great Wall of China. Well I had been waiting for an opportunity to catch up with him since then, which finally came when I cannily booked an 18 hr stopover in Singapore (his home town) on the way to Paris. 

So I looked him up and he took me on a tour of the heritage buildings he restored with the company he recently sold. This is one of them in the background, Chijms, a chapel for a fancy catholic school. Now for hire and surrounded by bars in a very pleasant drinking quarter...

5th bday Por Larranaga Petit Coronas

I pulled one of these out this morning and took a quick squiz at the box code - Agosto 2012. When I bought this cabinet of 50 probably in 2013, it was expressly so that some of the cigars therein could reach the 5 year mark. Why? These are just one of those cigars that had been said to improve after 5 years.

Fortunately in this case they've also been most enjoyable all the way along. The difference? Well, the body is a tad lighter, there's definitely a bit less grunt in the trunk and a slight hint of extra sweetness, bringing them a bit closer to say, those Quai d'Orsay Coronas which we once had. Even easier on the tongue with morning coffee ... whereas before i was sometimes tempted to make it morning whisky or [insert hard liquor here] for that last third. Mission Accomplished I'll say...

why not to buy duty free...

check out the price tag (singapore dollar pretty much the same as NZD) and weep

Bolivar in st Auban snow

... with Mik the cigar model, who recently learned to smoke cigars.

Yukatas and Bolivars

Spent some time in Japan on a conference/ course and introduced my colleagues in the smoking room to the joys of a Bolivar. The Marlboros did not compare. These are taken inside the room of a traditional guest house in the bath robes provided for the hot spring communal baths. John from PNG, Steven from Solomon islands, Jun from the Philippines, Tokpah from Liberia pictured below. Good fullas each and every one of them

Sam's 30th Poker

Romeo y Julieta Churchill in a Cohiba Ashtray... a good way to start... Rich and medium bodied but a little green around the edges (i think these were less than a year old). Performed admirably in difficult conditions (continual Auckland rain).

Zahn and Greg working on smoke and light effects with their RyJs

The Man Himself

the common garden slug, died a happy death and added some protein to my diet

Who is this faceless man?

Hello Zach - once a Heretic always a Heretic

Spring is here...

The bees are swarming, flowers blooming, and my Quintero is singing sweet cedar

Por larranaga in oruamotoro

A Google Street view 180 version. Chopped off my hand with the cigar but otherwise worked alright... (Meant to be viewed by zooming in and scrolling around.)

San Cristobal and Nick On Point

We smoked this La Punta in my garden while Nick destroyed vast quantities of tawny (my thought on Dow's standard tawny is that although pleasant it is not quite brawny enough for the cigar game). 

Nick is Joe's brother who appeared briefly on this site last year. We decided to replace Joe with his not-so-beardy brotherly equivalent after Joe was disrespectful towards the Most Venerable POTUS last year.

Anyway, I totally disregarded my own advice and pulled this torpmeister out after a hearty lamb casserole type lunch with lots of red wine. It was definitely harder to appreciate those finer points discussed in that San Cristobal La Punta review a fortnight ago. But I did also pull out a Glenlivet whisky which was a reasonable match. Good times.  

Vegas Robaina Robusto - Robusto by name, robusto by nature

(the following text was speech recognized by Google - well it tried anyway)

Two puffs on the cigar made me 40 legged human for the lEGO humans sleep full bodied it is definitely full-bodied 20 current teeth grump grant grunt full of earthsea mercy percy Percy cedar. It is full of tenants and required constant free clipping to avoid overcome she is plenty of Fish libero which since cairns 2 minute mint f****** a. It is ultimate islay companion. Slight not made me work hard for my reward. Suck. Which glory. Set me down on my arse and say 10 hale tell me Rees mary's it's earth lizza leather and pepper. Smoke yes 4 breakfast if you are a hard bayern men.

San Cristobal La Punta - Your Sweetness is my Weakness

It was yet another perfect weekend afternoon in Wellington's resurrected summer... so I pulled out a cigar I never had before, a San Cristobal La Punta (in the batch i just sent out). Pick the right cigar for the right time, I say - so I sniffed the foot to verify that it was no nicaraguan monster or tannic terror lurking beneath that "colorado casi-claro" wrapper. The gentle vapours emanating from within allayed any fears so I deployed my useless matches, and after half a packet, she was alight.

The draw on this one was quite loose, so much so that I had to rein in my huffing instincts and gently sigh inwards instead. The resulting dry harshness on the palate wasn't helped by a small hole in the wrapper and binder a cm or two above the foot, a problem which soon disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Thereafter everything fell neatly into place.

The relatively standard cedar base of the habano was smoother than usual, almost silk-like. It carried an edge of turmeric and cinnamon through the nose. An unusual and most becoming sweetness wove itself around all this, tasting somewhat like the cane sugar from those coffee sachets, but leaning towards maple syrup, with the added flavour of a muscat-like dessert wine. A decent hint of salty cumin developed half way in, with sweet paprika, and white pepper if i forgot my tantric discipline and lapsed into full puffing. But otherwise, it was a steady light-medium bodied delight. I never dared to spoil it with a drink, but the gentlest of drams might have done for it (e.g. Tomatin). This La Punta was on point.

This is the sweetest cigar I've had in a while... the only Cuban coming close to it was a young Juan Lopez no.1 about 5 years ago (which lost 90% of its sweetness after a year's age). As these are only one year old, they will be no different and I don't expect it to maintain this level of sweetness for long so smoke now and enjoy. I would recommend it mid-afternoon on a clean palate.

The money shot

Whisky, stags and golf

Matt using his well aged Bolivar PC as a pointer off the tee

 

Greg and Matt enjoying average golf with excellent company in a perfect autumnal twilight. 

We had a bottle of syrupy sherried Jura malt to keep us relaxed in between wayward drives, and it told as we followed each other from fairway to fairway (on the same hole). The Punch Punch, my favourite afternoon delight, also joined us - and while not quite as immediate in its flavour delivery as in its heady youth, still put out its signature hints of cloves on light cedar. Matt's Bolivar Petit Corona sounded like had aged all the way to mildness. We managed to saunter around 11 holes before sunset, and followed Matt's fluorescent pink bag home in the growing darkness. 

Greg's unusual lighter looking longingly at this Petit Corona

Sam's graduation Cohiba

Cohiba Siglo II - a higher class of Yard-gar at Sam's old villa

Had a Cohiba Siglo II in warm humid conditions to warm up for Sam's latest graduation last year. The slightly austere cafe au lait and coffee grinds mix melds nicely with the cedar zing and barnyard hay to produce an ever reliable fix, which is just as grunty as it is velvety. 

Rainbow smokin Habano

And the result of all those labours...

Fidel demonstrates what a beard is for.

Handy place to store your Guantanamera cigar for an afternoon while you're waiting for the right moment to light up.

Spinning yarns about another Quai d'Orsay down in the deep South

This is Graham helping me with my trout spinning, a Quai d'Orsay, and a tiny sample bottle of Bowmore 15 y.o. sherry casked whisky on Lake Hawea... just last week after Matt's wedding. Back at work now. *sigh*

Jean-Michel et le Quai d'Orsay

My brother-in-law's thoughts on the Quai d'Orsay from a Gisborne beach.

How to empty your humidor

Play baseball with your son for about 40-50min every second evening and make the experience even richer by smoking delicious cigars. All out of cigars now. I even smoked the prop cigar that I had as Fidel for the Sevens. Truth be told, it was actually pretty decent.
PS: Moving out of the old Henderson villa in a week's time. She's seen so many great cigars. I'll miss the creaky old thing and her peaceful garden.