Memoirs of a Cigar

When it comes to reviewing Cuban Cigars, “James Suckling is God”. His reviews intertwined personal relationships with long time tobacco owners, cutting edge reviews of the latest releases, and his writing style effortlessly combined the world’s foremost insiders knowledge with friendly, unpretentious humor. He has served for many years as the most influential man in the business. In fact, I am planning on smoking a Cohiba Gran Reserve in the very near future, which I shelled out $125.00 for, based solely on Suckling’s informal 100 out of 100 point rating.

Aside from his Cuban Cigar Reviews as European Editor for Cigar Aficionado, allowing him to travel to, and purchase from, Cuba, he has also been the worlds foremost expert on Wine, working at Wine Spectator for over 30 years. Bordeaux was his specialty.

Here you can read Cigar Aficionado’s announcement on his retirement: http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Features/CA_Feature_Basic_Template/0,2344,3213,00.html

In a state of shock and disbelief, I scoured the Internet for details of his departure and for information on his future endeavors. Apparently he left the sister publications on good terms, and is in pursuit of exciting new projects. One article hinted that he may produce wine himself. Another quoted James as saying he would continue to review Cuban Cigars in the future.

James, my site www.memoirsofacigar.com could always use another experienced contributor. Good Luck, and much Respect!

In the late 1950′s Tampa Florida was a bustling cigar city where Cuban Tobacco was imported, rolled and sold to the American Market. In 1962, as a response to Cuba’s ongoing alignment with the Soviet Union, President Kennedy enacted the Cuban Trade Embargo, therby making it illegal to purchase Cuban goods in the US. The famous story of Kennedy sending his aid out to buy over 1000 Cuban Cigars, H. Upmann petites, the morning before signing the law, is also widely accepted to be true.

The Grossman Estate in Tampa Florida had a huge supply of Cuban Tobacco at the time, which was kept in perfect conditions for several decades after the death of Sr. Grossman, while the estate was in probate. Finally the tobacco ended up going to one of his sons, who then sold it off to Puros International de Armando Ramos, Inc. (PINAR) during the Clinton Administration, amid rumors that President Clinton might end the embargo during his final years as president, which would therby decrease the value of the rare tobacco.

PINAR then sent the tobacco to a factory in Equador to be rolled into several different sizes and blends. Some of the tobacco was mixed with Equadorian Wrappers (Pinar 2000 series), and others were kept 100% Cuban wrapper, binder and filler (Pinar 3000 series).

Today I am smoking the Pinar 3000 Belicoso Fina, which is made from Cuban Tobacco that is over 50 years old. The cigar is unbanded, and comes in it’s own box that reads “PINAR 100% Pre-Embargo Cuban Tobacco”.

The cigar looks to be in good shape, and has a rich, semi-oily wrapper. The foot of the cigar gives off an abundant fragrence of light dry cedar wood, however the wrapper is devoid of any smell at all. Pre-light (after cutting, but before lighting) the cigar provides a rich toasted chestnut taste which is so enjoyable I sat puffing away on my unlit pre-embargo Cuban for about 5 minutes while “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire” plays on repeat in my head. My concerns of a flavorless pre-embargo cigar disapate slightly.

Upon lighting my Pinar Belicoso I am greeted with a rich woody taste. However, a few puffs into the cigar and the taste was gone, replaced only with that tingling sensation and flavor you get when smoking a Parliament Cigarette. The Cigar’s smoke has a very rich and velvety mouthfeel, and the smoke’s aroma is very light and pleasant. About half way through the first third the cigarette flavor diminished, and I could note a slight hint of earth, vegetal and salt.

The middle of the cigar was still rich with old, slightly harsh tobacco, but some cream was added along with some flavors of coffee and heavilly toasted nuts. The more I smoked, the less I tasted cigarette, and the more I tasted cream, toasted nuts and light coffee. By the final third the Pinar 3000 Belicoso Fina had fully reedemed itself, and became what a good aged cuban cigar should be.

I think it can be very easy to puff too frequently on these cigars during the first half. You can really sense the richness of the smoke, but with the flavor evaporating over the years, you have a tendency to drag a little harder, hoping to pull that flavor back from the grave. If you do, you will end up with harsh and burnt tobacco flavors. I took my time however, about 2 hours in total, and was rewarded with a rich pre-embargo cigar.

Overall this was a good, interesting cigar. It didn’t disapoint because I knew it would probably be very light on flavor, as I have smoked several fairly tasteless pre-embargo cigars before. Also, the final third was great! There is something very unique about smoking a well constructed pre-embargo cuban from 50 years ago that makes you feel like you are in a secret cigar club. A secret club that holds several former US Presidents as members. This is agent ‘double o’ memoirs signing off.

My Labor Day Weekend started off with some freshly baked Crossiants that I had set out to rise the night before. I then set the coffee grinder to coarse and ground up some freshly roasted Guatemalan Coffee Beans from Plantation Roastery in San Carlos. I poured the coffee grounds into my Bodum French Press and added boiling water. You can really taste the quality of the coffee beans in a French Press, and any preservatives that you might never notice in a standard American coffee maker. Like preparing a fine whole leaf tea, when drinking coffee from a French Press I never add any cream or sugar. You just don’t need it.

I had rummaged through all my cigars a few nights prior with my friend Andrew, and we had noted the amazing aroma of the Montecristo #2′s I had been aging for a few years now, so today I decided I would try one. Then disaster struck. As I laid my Montecristo #2 Torpedo across my coffee cup for a photo opp, the cigar fell in, and was half soaked in Guatemalan Coffee. It was at that moment I had an epiphany about the newly purchased hair dryer Chloe had just brought home. I plugged the hair dryer in and blasted hot air through the foot of the cigar, while slowly rotating the cigar in my hand. After about 2 minutes the cigar was dry, and I could proceed back out to the waterfront terrace, with my Guatemalan Infused Cuban Cigar.

My Montecristo #2 lit up as though nothing had happened. I could definately taste the mild Guatemalan Coffee notes present in each puff, blended in with the cigars soft leather texture and toasted wood and spice characteristics. It made for an excellent pairing with my cup of coffee, and I think you could experiment futher with other beans in search of different flavor combinations, if you were so inclined. Fresh Sumatra or Kona Beans would also be interesting choices, but only pure fresh roasted coffee in a French Press would suffice for high quality infusions.

Like tea leaves randomly blowing into a pot of boiling water during the Ming Dynasty, my accidental cigar infusion was ultimately a success. By using high quality fresh roasted coffee beans, and pure brewing methods which retained the coffee oils, and infusing an aged cigar from the foot to the midway point, so as to blend with the first third, which when aged loses it’s strength and has some room in it’s flavor profile for flavor to be added without becoming overly complex to the point of conflict, my accidental infusion of Guatemalan Coffee and Cuban Cigar was perfectly done. It’s important to note the half empty palate of the first third of an aged Cuban Montecristo #2 for this process, similar to the half completed painting “The Feast of the Gods” by Bellini, which was subsequently completed by Titian, thereby gaining him much notoriety and praise, my half empty palate of Cuban Montecristo, when filled with the supple flavors of Guatemalan Coffee gave me much pleasure and satisfaction. An accidental, yet memorable, memoir of a cigar.

-Bernini (in the year of two thousand and ten), celebrated cigar aficionado. “Guatemalan Infused Montecristo #2″.