Posted: 10:10 AM ET, 06/11/08Leaving Havana can be the worst experience at times. Sometimes you can take away things that you can’t smoke nor bargained for. I flew to Los Angeles over the weekend from the island and I found that I brought back something that I didn’t count on. Read more
Posted: 05:19 PM ET, 06/09/08I thought I was going to the Partagas Factory on Friday but I was told it was closed. So I ended up hanging with some friends and smoking some cigars (as usual) in La Habana.
It made me think about the new specialty factory that the Cubans are developing at the moment. Read more
Posted: 02:52 PM ET, 06/06/08Manuel Garcia, the commercial director for Habanos SA., the global marketing and distribution organization for Cuban cigars, probably knows more about the Cuban cigar business than anyone on earth. He has been selling Cuban cigars for Habanos (and what it was called earlier, Cubatabaco) around the world since 1989, and he has seen amazing changes in the industry, both in production and distribution and marketing. Read more
Posted: 05:02 PM ET, 06/05/08It’s hot today in Havana. They say it’s in the high 80s but it fees like the 90s. And it’s super humid too. What a change from Europe, which has been cold, wet and miserable over most of the last few weeks.
But that’s the magic of Havana, and Cuba at large. Read more
Posted: 04:41 PM ET, 06/04/08I sat in the VIP lounge at Havana's José Martí Airport for about an hour waiting for my bags. Everyone was super friendly, super chilled. I made some jokes in my bad Spanish and just hung and smoked my Trinidad Fundadore. Is it just me or does this awesome cigar taste better now that I am in Cuba? I think it likes being back home and it will stay here in the form of ash. Read more
Posted: 04:48 PM ET, 06/03/08What would you bring to Cuba for your first smoke? I always have that “problem” when I go to cigar smokers’ paradise. I like to light a cigar as soon as I arrive on the island, and that normally means at the VIP lounge in the José Martí Airport as I am waiting for my luggage. Read more
Posted: 10:48 AM ET, 06/03/08My right knee is throbbing, my shins are swollen and both feet are sore. Why? I joined a few friends on Sunday and played soccer for a couple of hours. It’s been about a year since I’d played, and much, much longer since I played regularly. Read more
Posted: 09:32 AM ET, 05/30/08I have to admit that I was a little nervous. Look at my face in the video before I drove the car. I think I look a little pale, even ashen. But it all went well, and after four laps around the track, I began to feel confident.
It was all part of a morning at the Fiorano racetrack near Modena, Italy. Read more
Posted: 09:31 AM ET, 05/27/08Every year, a friend of mine nominates the top ten days of the summer. The criteria are pretty loose, but basically it has to be warm, but not too warm, sunny but some clouds are allowed, and of course, no rain any time during the day. Last Sunday here in the Northeast wasn’t just a contender for a top ten day, it may have already won the title for the Best Day of the Summer: mid-70s, not a cloud in the sky and a light breeze to keep the bugs down and moderate whatever warmth there was from becoming too much. Read more
Posted: 12:42 PM ET, 05/20/08So I thought I knew all of Jose “Pepin” Garcia’s smokes. I was wrong. I had lunch the other day with John Gonzales, national sales manager for El Rey de Los Habanos, Pepin’s company in Miami. John and I were talking about cigars when he mentioned Vegas Cubanas, a brand I’d never heard of. Read more
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