James Suckling
Most Recent Posts: See Also:
A Pleasant Surprise in Milan
Posted: 10:17 AM ET, October 24, 2007
I spent a few days in Milan this week with my kids during their half-term break from school in England. I went to the fashion city to take them to my friend’s rock concert, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush. By the way, their new album Snakes and Arrows is superb. It’s the real deal, maybe their best ever. I particularly like the tracks Amor and Sword, Far Cry, and Work’in Them Angles. Hearing them live was fantastic, and it was my children’s first rock concert. Very cool! Geddy and Alex get better with time, like fine old Cuban cigars…
The day after the concert I decided to check out Noli, the cigar shop near my hotel the Park Hyatt, which is in the center of Milan—and what a pleasant surprise. Noli has a great selection and all their cigars are perfectly kept in refrigerated lockers at about 65 degrees Fahrenheit and 70 to 75 percent humidity. There were some great things there, from Maduro Cohibas to this year’s limitadas from Hoyo and Romeo y Juileta. The Trinidads are still not in!
It didn’t matter. I was super excited to see the Por Larrañaga Petit Corona in Cabinets of 50 smokes. In fact, I had to have one that morning! Check out my video blog.
The small cigar is so refined and perfumed. It really is an all-day smoke. I particularly like smoking it in the morning. I fired one up with the owner of the store, Luca Noli, and it was a dream. The only problem was that there was no place to smoke! The laws suck in Italy now for smoking in public places.
I had to walk around the Duomo Square smoking in the drizzling rain. If only I was in the warm sun in Havana, I thought to myself. Anyway, it was a lovely fresh smoke showing lots of cedar, dried flowers and cappuccino character. I would give it 92 points. And it sells for 5 Euros each. So, it’s a good deal…
Noli is easy to find. It’s in the Galleria near the Duomo. It’s about a one minute walk from the Prada and Guicci stories. Glad I found it. By the way, my 13-year-old son, Jack, was the video crew on this one…
Reader Comments
Submit your comments
 |
- Access to ratings and tasting notes for more than
12,000 cigars
- Sneak previews of the best cigar ratings from Cigar Aficionado magazine - weeks before they are released to the public.
- Plus: The twice-monthly Cigar Insider newsletter, with exclusive cigar news and extensive cigar ratings, many of which will never appear in Cigar Aficionado magazine.
|
 |
|
Cigar Aficionado RSS Feed
User Name: Manny Iriarte Posted: 08:01 PM ET, October 28, 2007
Mr. Suckling, I know exactly how excellent your stay was in Milan. I lived in Italy for a few years about ten years ago. I can only imagine the great feeling of smoking a fine cigar in the Dumo Plaza and drinking a good wine. Lucky You... See you in Las Vegas, "Big Smoke." Manny Iriarte