Back from a couple of weeks at school in Havana followed by a week on the sunny Varadero beach. Smoked waaay more cigars than I normally do at home but not excessive for this sort of trip.
As a 'poor schoolboy' I obviously don't move in the exalted circles that you other Cuba visitors occupy, hob-knobbing with the rich and famous and smoking all those Edicions Limitadas and giant Behikes so I failed to bump into those who were in town for the Partagas fest.
Except for Smokey MO!
But then, one is likely to encounter him at almost any place and time. Nice to hang out with him for a while.
On the non-social side, my 50 Lanceros (Laguitos No. 1) were resting comfortably awaiting my arrival in Santos' humidor and they smoked like a dream. Managed to bring 25 home. Pre-ordering, to give the cigars time to 'rest and dry' is the key to customs.
A friend bought some of the new H. Upmann Half Coronas and gave me one to try. Very tasty little smoke. With a few years of age, these could be the ideal 'morning coffee' smoke.
Found a box of Bolivar Corona Gigantes from the highly desirable 2008 production. FNP.
My first experience of the 2011 stocks was with a box of Monte Petit Edmundos. They have some of the darkest wrappers I've seen on production cigars other than the Cohiba Maduro 5s. Already very tasty and will only get better.
Viewed some true cigar porn:
Santos is rolling a number of different sizes (all huge) of maduro wrapped cigars for a Saudi prince. Don't know where he sits on the Royal Family tree (there are hundreds of princes) but he seems like a nice guy. Some of the smokes are 64 ring. All are over 9 inches long, including a super piramides. Yikes! I saw the molds-all custom made for these big sizes. Santos should be able to afford a new car soon.
As a 'poor schoolboy' I obviously don't move in the exalted circles that you other Cuba visitors occupy, hob-knobbing with the rich and famous and smoking all those Edicions Limitadas and giant Behikes so I failed to bump into those who were in town for the Partagas fest.
Except for Smokey MO!
But then, one is likely to encounter him at almost any place and time. Nice to hang out with him for a while.
On the non-social side, my 50 Lanceros (Laguitos No. 1) were resting comfortably awaiting my arrival in Santos' humidor and they smoked like a dream. Managed to bring 25 home. Pre-ordering, to give the cigars time to 'rest and dry' is the key to customs.
A friend bought some of the new H. Upmann Half Coronas and gave me one to try. Very tasty little smoke. With a few years of age, these could be the ideal 'morning coffee' smoke.
Found a box of Bolivar Corona Gigantes from the highly desirable 2008 production. FNP.
My first experience of the 2011 stocks was with a box of Monte Petit Edmundos. They have some of the darkest wrappers I've seen on production cigars other than the Cohiba Maduro 5s. Already very tasty and will only get better.
Viewed some true cigar porn:
Santos is rolling a number of different sizes (all huge) of maduro wrapped cigars for a Saudi prince. Don't know where he sits on the Royal Family tree (there are hundreds of princes) but he seems like a nice guy. Some of the smokes are 64 ring. All are over 9 inches long, including a super piramides. Yikes! I saw the molds-all custom made for these big sizes. Santos should be able to afford a new car soon.
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