James Suckling Most Recent Comments: See Also: When Passion BlindsPosted: 09:01 AM ET, May 16, 2007 I appreciate the intense passion or enthusiasm some people have for cigars, particularly Cuban. But I think some times it gets carried away and it leads people to say ridiculous things.
For example, I have heard people say, and have seen them write, that Cigar Aficionado rates fake cigars because the descriptors and quality criteria we use are not the same as the ones they use, or not up to their standards. Or if there is a typo in an article I write, or some other mistake, then I am intentionally trying to slander Cuban cigars and all 11 million inhabitants of the island.
Chill hermano. Fuma. Calma.
I am sorry to disappoint them, but Cuba has made some bad cigars and will continue to, just like every other cigar producing country. Premium cigars,for the most part, are artisan products and quality can’t be completely controlled, especially when it’s hand made.
I was sitting in Havana a few months back and smoking a cigar with Ricardo Alarcon, who is president of Cuba’s National Assembly, and he agreed that quality in the late 1990s and the first few years of 2000 were not up to scratch. Why can’t others simply agree with the facts? Or at least try to understand them…
Global Warming and Cameroon WrappersPosted: 09:14 AM ET, May 04, 2007
My mobile phone rang early the other morning in Los Angeles, which woke me from dreams of sake and Trinidad Robusto Extras the night before. It was a bit hazy, but it was a familiar voice coming out of the small speaker—Josh Meerapfel, the young tobacco entrepreneur and grower who produces the best Cameroon wrapper in the world. If you smoke stuff like Fuente Don Carlos, then you have smoked Josh’s wrapper.
He’s a good friend and had just got back from Africa. “We need some rain, man,” he said. “It’s really got me nervous. We should be fine, but this weather is crazy.”
Sometimes we forget how cigars are really an agricultural product, especially when they are made with tobacco from Cameroon and the Central African Republic. Wrapper there is all hand grown and hand cultivated. There is no irrigation, no tractors, no nothing. I have been there. Most of the tobacco growers live in mud huts with no running water or electricity. It’s real Out of Africa/Dr. Livingston I Presume/Real Deal Jungle, with tobacco fields.
When I was there we would hike for miles through thick jungle to visit various growers. A few weeks before one of the Meerapfel's employees was attacked by a big cat. I can’t remember if it was a leopard or a lion or what. I didn’t care. I was sweating bullets walking through that jungle! I think I had to change my underwear when I got back to the camp.
Anyway, everyone speaks about the weird weather and how it affects their tobacco crop. I remember old Alejandro Robaina was talking about the same thing a few months back in Vuelta Abajo in Cuba.
Global warming is real. I hope the earth corrects itself soon. Or maybe we will be growing tobacco in Los Angeles, if we can find the space?
Cellaring CigarsPosted: 10:42 AM ET, April 30, 2007 I saw this this morning over my coffee, and I thought I better chime in. The parameters for aging cigars is always slightly subjective, but I prefer to have mine a little dry. That’s how it’s always been done in England, and the British are the specialists in aging smokes.
I prefer to keep my cigars around 65 percent humidity and 65 degrees. The latter is important to keep cool because warmer temperatures run the risk of allowing beetles to hatch and munch your sticks!
Anyway, here is a posting from Wine Spectator’s site on storing cigars in wine cellars. It’s from the Dr. Vinny section, which is a Q&A feature on the web.
April 27, 2007:
Dear Dr. Vinny,
I would like to start storing and presenting cigars openly in my wine cellar. Will it hurt my wine to store the cigars in the cellar side by side?
—Chris
Dear Chris,
It won’t hurt your wine, but it might hurt your cigars. I checked with Gordon Mott, executive editor of Cigar Aficionado, and he says that the ideal condition for cigar storage is a 70 degree temperature at 70 percent humidity, which roughly matches the growing conditions of the tobacco.
However, the ideal storage for wine is 55 degrees at about 70 percent humidity. This means that wine cellar temperature is generally too cool to store cigars. Why would that matter? Well, for one, humidity is also relative to temperature. I know it sounds like magic (it’s science!) but for every drop in temperature degree below the ideal for cigars 70 degree temperature, you need to increase the humidity to keep cigars properly humidified. If the air is too cold, it won’t be able to hold enough moisture in suspension. So at 55 degrees, you’d need about 80 percent humidity. Over the long term, your cigars are likely to dry out in your wine cellar. Read more
The Strength of HarmonyPosted: 07:46 AM ET, April 25, 2007
About a week ago I had a small dinner party at my house in Tuscany with Giacomo Neri of Casanova di Neri and Vicenzo Abbruzzese of Valdicava. These two guys are some of the best wine producers in Italy, making Tuscany’s famous red, Brunello di Montalcino. I gave both of their Brunellos 100 points about a month ago in Cigar Aficionado’s sister publication Wine Spectator. The wines were the 2001 Valdicava Brunello di Montalcino Madonna del Piano Riserva and the 2001 Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino Cerretalto.
We drank those wines as well as two other 100-pointers: 2000 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Le Rocche del Falletto Riserva and 1990 Latour. I was feeling too generous that night. They were some of my best bottles in my cellar. But that is what great wines are for…drinking.
And all four wines were mind blowers. What was amazing about them was that they were powerful and rich; yet they continued to have an elegant, refined undertone. They did not blast you with fruit or tannins, like some modern wines today. It was all about balance. And all of them continue to deserve 100 points.
Thinking about that dinner also made me reflect about what we smoked after dinner. I had a cigar and wine merchant friend from Hong Kong over as well, Thomas Bohrer. I smoked a 1988 Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure No. 2 (50 ring gauge by 4 7/8 inches) as did Giacomo Neri while Thomas lit up one of my last 1993 Cohiba Siglo I’s (40 ring gauge by 4 inches). My and Giacomo’s cigars were so refined and flavorful with wonderful harmony with loads of tobacco, cedar and dried flower character. I gave it 96 points.
Thomas’s smoke, even though was a short one, was never finished. The guy loves cigars but I guess he found it too strong. I have smoked it many times and it is a blockbuster smoke. And I love it, especially with a rich espresso. Read more
Lovely Lonsdale
Posted: 11:06 AM ET, April 09, 2007 I am smoking a 1998 Partagas Lonsdale from a cedar cabinet of 50 cigars and it is lovely. It is balanced with lots of cedar, dried flower and cappuccino character. I don’t want it to go out. (92 points.) It was made in the Partagas factory in downtown Havana.
Whenever I smoke a lonsdale, I think of Havana. The cigar measures 42 ring gauge by 6 ½ inches long.
I remember that this was the preferred smoke of many of the top cigar people in Havana in the 1990s. It was to Cubans who smoke, what espresso is to Italians who drink coffee. I haven’t met many Italians who don’t drink coffee.
Or maybe smoking the lonsdale in Havana is like ordering a beer in Ireland? You get a Guinness. You don’t get another beer from a pub on the Emerald Island unless you ask for it.
I think that many of the old timers liked the Montecristo No. 1 when it came to lonsdales. They liked the mellow cedary character of the Monte. They also said that it was just the right length…longer than a corona or petite corona (Monte No. 3 and No. 4). Those cigars were just not long enough for after a meal.
I understand what they are saying, especially today after lunch.
Taking a Break from BarrelsPosted: 11:23 AM ET, April 03, 2007 I just lit up a Montecristo Petit Edmundo, and the spicy and tobacco character in the smoke is seducing me like a lost girlfriend who wants me back, and is willing to do anything to make me happy.
It’s just what I need after tasting close to 500 barrel samples in Bordeaux for the Wine Spectator over the last two weeks. I have been in Bordeaux tasting the region’s newest vintage. (Check out my report on www.winespectator.com.) And it’s been hard work. A lot of the reds showed excessive tannins either from being made from slightly unripe grapes or overextraction during the fermentation and macerations. But there are also some superb wines including: Latour, Margaux, Mouton, La Mission-Haut-Brion, Léoville Las Cases, Pétrus, Trotanoy, Vieux-Chateau-Certan, Lafleur, and Pavie. There are another two dozen or so outstanding wines.
My tasting has been an aid to people interested in buying 2006 Bordeaux as futures, or “en primeur.” Basically, it’s buying the wines as they age in the cellars of the various châteaus and securing the wines you want at a particular price and a certain quantity. In the past, people bought the wines at lower prices as futures than when they arrived in the market two years or so later in bottle. But it’s not as sure now with the large increases in prices for the last vintage as futures, 2005, but the ‘05s are amazing wines. They may be as great as the legendary 1961. I tasted a number of them during my stay this time and they continue to spellbind me.
I wish I could say the same about 2006. It is not a year to buy many futures, especially for Americans with the weakness in the dollar against the euro. Unless prices come down significantly, I doubt there will be much action in the world market for futures, except with a few precious names. But if someone wants to buy, there are some interesting wines. Read more
A Petit Robusto Takes Me Home for the NightPosted: 11:11 AM ET, March 23, 2007 I smoked a Hoyo de Monterrey Petit Robusto the other night while finishing a bottle of 2000 Lafite with a buddy in the fashion business who lives near me in Tuscany. Is it my imagination or is the PR stronger than the Hoyo Epicure No. 2?
I would have thought that the PR would be milder, like the Epi No. 2. But it seemed very strong for this cigar. I think a lot of Cuban cigars are stronger these days as factories use better-aged ligero, or stronger tobacco in their blends.
These “abridged version” or “Cliff notes” smokes seem to be concentrated versions of the original. The Hoyo PR is certainly richer and stronger than the Hoyo Epi No. 2 and the Montecristo Petit Edmundo is equally stronger than the normal Edmundo. I wonder if the Cubans do this intentionally when they create the blends for these cigars?
Anyway, it was a hell of a smoke. And it was better than the Lafite 2000. I scored this wine 100-points in blind tastings for CA’s sister publication, the Wine Spectator. It was not 100 points the other night though. It was so tight and closed. It wasn’t giving much of anything. It was a real bitch of a wine…
I don’t think it was a perfect bottle. May be the cork was a little off? Or the wine had not been stored properly? I have had the Lafite 2000 many times and it’s a perfect young thing. So don’t worry if you have some.
Nonetheless, Hoyo Petit Robusto stole my heart that night with my Italian friend. I only wish it had been longer…
Lost in TranslationPosted: 04:01 PM ET, March 21, 2007 I am back in Italy at the moment and I started to think about a funny incident last week while I was in Hong Kong for some wine tastings. I was hanging out with my friend Alex Wong, who has to be one of the biggest cigar collectors as well as wine collectors in the world. We were smoking some cigars in the evening, and an Italian friend came by to see Alex’s cigar collection, which could number as many as 4,000 boxes.
Anyway, my Italian friend came into Alex’s cigar room and began looking around. And he was really impressed. After looking at an amazing selection of smokes on the grand floor, I took him upstairs to a room full of hundreds of cabinets of Hoyo and Punch Double Coronas as will as various Churchills.
My friend said in Italian: “Those are nice, the 50s of Punch Double Coronas.”
“Si,” I said. “Multo buono.”
“How much do they cost?” he said to me.
I thought that was sort of a strange thing to say. But I told him that they were probably $400 or $500 a box since they were aged. They were from 1997.
“I take two boxes then,” he said with a big smile.
He was serious! Alex’s cigar collection was so fricking big that my friend thought he was in a cigar shop!
I had to explain to him that it was a private collection of cigars and that they were not for sale.
“OH MY GOD!” he said, shaking his head. “I had no idea.”
Si Edmundo...Posted: 12:32 AM ET, March 16, 2007
I received an e-mail this morning from a friend who said he was disappointed with the quality of the latest production of Montecristo Edmundo. I was sort of miffed after I sent him two cigars to try, but you know stuff happens that we can’t explain, especially with Cuban cigars.
The two smokes had come from complete boxes from a friend’s stash in Havana. I chose the cigars myself. So they couldn’t have been fake. And, honestly, I have not seen fake Edmundos. Cohiba Esplendidos, yes, but not Edmundos. At least not yet…
Maybe they were damaged in the post? I don’t know. He said it tasted weird and was underfilled. I don’t remember the cigars being like that when they were posted. Maybe he over humidified them? Or put them next to something unclean or funky in his humidor for a few days before smoking. Cigars are very absorbent.
Anyway, I am a great fan of Edmundo. Granted, the cigar was good but nothing special when it first came out a couple of years ago, but now I think it is one of the most satisfying that the Cubans produce. I think that changing most of the production to the new Upmann factory in Vedado has really helped. That factory is now one of the best on the island.
What are your thoughts about Edmundo?
Smoking in the World's Sin CityPosted: 08:59 AM ET, March 14, 2007 I was watching CNBC this morning while I was in Hong Kong and there was a report on how Macau, a tiny administrative region of China, generated more revenues in gambling last year than Las Vegas – $6.87 million compared to $6.7 million.
Incredible. I was smoking a Montecristo Petit Edmundo in Macau on Tuesday following a dinner at Wynn at the Il Teatro restaurant and I had no idea about the money involved! Wynn is one of a number of new casinos in the 10.9 square mile city. It’s an hour’s jetfoil from Hong Kong. The Venetian is expected to open in a month or two as well as Melbourne’s Crown. The former looks about the same as the Las Vegas operation but the 350 retail stores around the hotel and casino look a lot larger. A massive underwater hotel is being built across the street. Numerous other casinos are under construction or on the planning board.
I am not sure if the Chinese gamblers in Macau are going to be interested buying anything other than chips. They are ferocious gamblers. I toured the Sands with food and beverage manager, and it is the biggest casino in the world, with 230,000 square feet filled with close to 800 gaming tables and more than 12,000 slots. There are only 52 rooms and all are comped to high rollers. Very few gamblers come for sleeping in Macau. In fact, it is common for players to fall asleep on the tables.
I am not sure if I remember correctly but the average stay for a gambler in Macau is something like 23 hours, and I think 20 hours are spent gambling and the rest eating bowls of noodles and getting messages. Apparently, the 747 hanger sized facility of the Sands can be so packed that you can’t walk through the gaming floor. And many players will spend hours sitting in the same spot playing. Most only drink tea or milk as they play.
Macau is a hardcore gamblers venue. I played a few hands of blackjack and walked away a winner. But I couldn’t help but feel out of place. Read more
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