James Suckling

Lovely Lonsdale

Posted: Apr 9, 2007 11:06am ET

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.