Features
Cigar Cases
The pace of twentieth century life isn't your fault. But cigars were invented in a much simpler time and never meant for the baggage compartment of the Concorde, the trunk of a …
Arpege, Paris
At about 4 p.m. owner Alain Passard sat at a table in his restaurant, Arpege, smoking a Rafael Gonzalez Lonsdale and sipping a 100-year-old Malvasia Madeira. The lunch service was …
Bix, San Francisco
Bix is the kind of place you thought existed only in the movies; it is a truer-than-life supper club. Cocktails and wines are given equal prominence on the menu--does anyone even …
Smith & Wollensky, New York City
Almost nothing disturbs tradition at Smith & Wollensky, one of New York City's premier steakhouses. The deep, burnished gleam of the wooden bar welcomes the droves that gather …
The Art of Gallé
How much would you pay for a table lamp shaped like a mushroom? If you were the anonymous bidder at Sotheby's New York on December 2, 1989 who went home with an impressive but …
California's Great Reds
Wine and surfing. Those two pastimes captured my fancy in the summer of '74. Not much came of my surfing career. By the time I'd more or less mastered the sport of long-boarding, …
The Reign of Larry Laoretti
Looking for Senior PGA golfer Larry Laoretti on a sodden, sullen evening in North Miami Beach, the search ends up on Biscayne Boulevard. Such a melodic, fanciful name, a name …
Panama Hats are a Dying Tradition
In the town of Montecristi, Ecuador, the art of weaving Panama hats is slowly dying. Two generations ago, there were 2,000 weavers, but in the last generation the number dwindled …
The World of Watches
Under the impatient eye of our fathers, we learned to tie four-in-hand knots. Much later, there were long sessions with the salesman for that electronic video camera with …
Hotel du Palais, Biarritz, France
Biarritz is tucked away on the Bay of Biscay in southwest France. Known for more than a century as the "queen of resorts and the resort of kings," the small but elegant seaside …
Hotel Nacional, Havana
In the warm Cuban twilight, the silhouette of a man can be seen wading in the pool of the Hotel Nacional and smoking a long, pungent cigar. Forty years ago, it could have been …
Cigars
Learning Your ABCs: Cigars 101
If you're like most cigar smokers, you must have paced back and forth in front of the display at your local tobacconist, scratching your head, trying to make sense of the cigars …
The Montecristo War
Members of Spain's political elite might be in for a surprise the next time they ask for the humidor at one of their preferred Madrid restaurants such as the Paradis, just around …
Ratings from this Issue
Up Front
No Smoking at the White House
The scenes are almost comical. Cigar smokers at the White House chewing on unlit cigars. Among them, the president and several of his top aides. You might even imagine Spanish …
Out of the Humidor
Dear Marvin: I had no idea. I thought cigar smokers were a dying, passé lot. Then I got hold of your magazine. I read, reread and proudly displayed the issue. I had no idea …