Posted: 04:56 PM ET, 02/23/09I just finished lunch at El Aljibe restaurant in Havana, and I noticed a table of a dozen or so dudes wearing various U.S. baseball uniforms, from the Dodgers to the White Sox. They looked like they were having a great time. They had smiles from ear to ear and a number of them were smoking cigars. Read more
Posted: 02:56 PM ET, 02/23/09The drink bone is connected to the smoke bone is a sentiment that I am fond of saying, but sadly in the age of the nanny state getting the two key skeletal elements of this adage together is becoming harder and harder. Either you find one of the few remaining bars with a license that allows smoking or you walk your drink outside while you smoke. Read more
Posted: 06:32 PM ET, 02/22/09I went over to the Nacional Hotel this morning to pick up my registration for the XI Festival del Habano. José Antonio Candida from Habanos S.A., the organizer of the event and the global distribution and marketing company for Cuban cigars, had my package in hand with a Bolivar Royal Corona in tubo. Read more
Posted: 04:12 PM ET, 02/20/09My shoes were dusted with a thin layer of reddish brown dirt. My bare arms were being baked by the tropical sun and the smell of curing tobacco was in my nostrils. I was back on a tobacco farm.
I took the long drive from Santiago out to Mao today with a group of about 30 other people here for the final day of the ProCigar Festival. Read more
Posted: 02:23 PM ET, 02/20/09A friend just about had a heart attack this morning. He had what he called a “global conference call” connected to “eight countries” for a “huge business deal,” but, unfortunately, his mobile phone from Cubacell ran out of credit halfway through the conversation. Read more
Posted: 03:34 PM ET, 02/19/09Last night was opening night in Santiago at the ProCigar Festival. I was sitting in a gorgeous setting, a table in the middle of an old estate once owned by a pal of former Dominican dictator Trujillo. Each table was resplendent with elaborate exotic plants, some as tall as a yardstick. Read more
Posted: 01:00 PM ET, 02/19/09I was in Aljibe, the famous chicken, rice and bean joint in Havana last night, and ran into a couple of Americans who were on a fact-finding mission. I am not sure what they were looking for, but it was a little of the ugly American and it wasn’t pretty. Read more
Posted: 04:21 PM ET, 02/18/09The Airbus swooped down from the clouds, revealing the lush, tropical landscape below. Fields of yucca, plantain and tobacco covered the land, flanked by mountains brimming with trees, each one cloaked by thick mist.
I’m back in Santiago, and it feels good. Read more
Posted: 02:02 PM ET, 02/18/09My back is still in pain. If I move the wrong way, I have a sharp pain spike through my lower back. Maybe I should try some Santiago 11-year-old rum? The Bolivar Belicoso did not remedy the situation, but it sure was a lovely smoke.
Another friend is considering organizing a santero to get rid of the pain and evil spirits. Read more
Posted: 04:22 PM ET, 02/17/09I have been hanging tight in my friend’s apartment in La Habana thanks to a pinched nerve in my lower back. It happened on Sunday night. I will not go into the details. But it hurts “como un desesperante. Read more
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