Champagne and Cigars

There are two certainties on NYE: I will be smoking a cigar and I will be having some bubbly.  If you plan on doing the same, check out this blog post by Haute Living highlighting their top five Champagne and cigar pairings.

Louis Vuitton Humidor

This post is dedicated to G Luxe friend Steve C. who is both a Louis Vuitton aficionado and a cigar lover.  The  Louis Vuitton Cigar Case 150 probably works no better or no worse than your average humidor, but it is a good looking piece of hardware to hold your favorite cigars.  The case is made of Mahogany with a Macassar ebony veneer finish and pear tree wood accents, and comes with the usual cedar lining on the inside along with a Credo humidification system to keep up to 150 cigars at the perfect humidity level.  Buy it for $3,550.

via Extravaganzi

Red Dot Ritual by Cohiba

Yeah, we know this video is basically a commercial for Cohiba cigars, but it's still pretty sultry and makes us want to grab the ladies for a night out at a cigar lounge. 

How to Unplug a Cigar

For a cigar smoker, nothing is more aggrevating than taking that first puff of a cigar that you've been looking forward to smoking and realizing that it's plugged.  At that point you have a few options: suck the shit out of it (not ideal), toss it and grab another (a potentially expensive solution), or get one of the un-plugging tools shown in this post on Famous Smoke's blog.  The Havana Draw Enhancer shown above will only set you back $14 so you may want to pick up a couple for your home and your golf bag.

$750 for a Stick of Gurkha His Majesty Reserve

I love cigars.  I really do.  I've been smoking them since I was 17 years old and probably have gone through over 10,000 sticks over my lifetime.  I've smoked great ones and plenty of crappy ones.  I've celebrated cigars with friends and smoked them in solitude.  I probably spend more money on cigars than most people spend on food.  However, I can't imagine under what circumstance would lead me to spend $750 on a single cigar.  That is the market price for a stick of Gurkha's His Majesty Reserve Cigar, holder of the title "world's most expensive cigar."  Why is it so damn expensive?  Well the cigar is rolled with a secret blend of tobacco.  Nothing unusual there.  But then once they're rolled, they're infused with Louis XIII Cognac.  Less than 100 boxes of these pricey cigars are produced every year with boxes going for $15,000.  Are they worth the price?  Hell if I know.  If you're adamant that you need to smoke one before you die, you can break out your platinum at Cigar.com. 

via The Life of Luxury

Cigars and Oysters Make for a Happy Sunday

If you happen to be in Virginia this weekend, make sure to check out the Celebrate the Vices of Virginia event taking place on Sunday, November 6 at the Woodlawn Plantation in Alexandria, VA.  Your $125 ticket will get you your fill of oysters, roasted pig, bourbon, local wines and regional craft beers.  In addition to all that goodness, there will also be a cigar-rolling exhibition.  Proceeds will go to the Arcadia Center, a non-profit organization that promotes local and sustainable food sourcing, so you can go ahead and indulge in good conscience.    

 

Burn by Rocky Patel

On November 6, one of our favorite cigar makers will be opening up a new cigar lounge in Naples, Florida.  Rocky Patel will debut Burn, a high-end cigar lounge that will accommodate up to 300 smokers.  The cigar bar will not only feature all of RP’s cigars including our favorites The Edge and Decade, but also cigars from his competitors.  In addition to great smokes, you’ll be able to enjoy top-flight alcoholic beverages served seat-side by roving mixologists and their mobile drink carts.  We’re hoping Burn becomes a huge success and inspires Rocky to open up a few more lounges, especially here in SoCal.

via Cigar Aficionado

CAO La Traviata Favorito

I love CAO cigars.  In fact, the CAO Brazilia is one of my favorite smokes and I always make sure there is a plentiful stash in my humidor.  The one CAO cigar that I haven't had a chance to try is the La Traviata Favorito, which Cigar Aficionado recently named their Cigar of the Week and giving it a 91 rating.  After reading a full review on CigarFan, this looks like a stick I'll need to add to the smoking rotation.

Champagne and Cigars

Cigars and champagne...two of our most favorite things. Truth be told, it never really occurred to us that the two would go well together. Now we may have to start pairing our favorite maduro with some bubbly after seeing this list on Luxist of their ten champagne and cigar pairings for the holiday season. A glass of Veuve Clicquot with a Rocky Patel Decade? Why yes please.

La Aroma de Cuba Belicoso

It's been a while since we've posted a cigar review. Well this morning I had to write about a delicious cigar I'm currently enjoying with my cup of coffee: the La Aroma de Cuba Belicoso. I just received a box of this gorgeous Nicaraguan cigar earlier this week and couldn't wait any longer to grab one out of the humidor. Everything about this screams that it will be a great smoke, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

Let's first start with the appearance. This bad boy looks like a proper cigar. The belicoso with its tapered end is one of my favorite shapes to smoke and this one is no exception. The chocolaty Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper with its deep, rich color is simply beautiful. I couldn't help staring and admiring my humidor filled with these luscious babies. Cigar porn I guess.

I used a straight cut as one would on a belicoso and carefully lit the cigar with my blowtorch (toasting it first, of course). The draw was perfect. I smoked the cigar all the way down to the nub and I probably only ashed 3 or 4 times, demonstrating the terrific construction of the cigar. The burn was even and the cigar remained cool throughout. This is one well-made cigar.

From the first puff, there was a wonderful earthy sweetness with hints of cocoa and chocolate. There was bit of spiciness that added another nuance to the cigar. The flavors remained fairly consistent throughout the smoke, letting up only slightly as I got to the end of the cigar. The Nicaraguan blend is a new one developed by the master Don Pepin Garcia and I have to say, it's better than the previous ones used in the old La Aroma de Cuba (which I also liked a lot). Speaking of aroma, it's just as wonderful as the flavors.

At just over $5 a stick if you buy a box, this is a great cigar for your everyday smoke. But don't let the low price fool you: this will hold up just fine after a steak dinner with the fellas. Go ahead and buy a box (or three) for $135.

Dinner and Cigars at Cache

With all the smoking Nazi's in SoCal, it's nearly impossible to enjoy a cigar, especially to enjoy one during a nice meal. That's why we were just tickled when we learned from Urban Daddy about the Cigar Night Dinners at Cache in Los Angeles. For $150, you'll be treated to a five-course meal paired with three cigars. To make a reservation, call 310-399-4800.

Where to Smoke a Cigar

With the anti-smoking facism that has taken hold over this country, it's damn near impossible to smoke anywhere in public. I bet it is easier in any given city to find a strip-mall Asian massage parlor that peddles hand jobs than it is to find a place where tax-paying Americans can sit, eat a bone-in ribeye, and smoke a fine cigar. The LA Times recently put together a list of the 10 smoker-friendliest countries in the world. Looks like we'll have to head off to Belarus to enjoy that cigar dinner. How absolute ass.

Limited Edition Habanos

If you insist on only smoking Cubans, you'll be glad to know that Habanos is unveiling a few limited edition smokes in the second half of the year. The Edición Limitada is composed of a selection of brands and sizes which are not part of the brands' typical line. The new smokes include:

• Romeo y Julieta Duke (Girth 54 x 140mm in length) – This new size is available in labelled boxes with 10 sticks in one layer.

• Bolívar Petit Belicosos (Girth 52 x 125mm in length) – Presented in the Edición Limitada for the first time, this is one of the most full-bodied Habanos brands and one sought-after by experienced smokers. Cigars are packaged in labelled boxes comprising 25 units.

• H. Upmann Magnum 48 (Girth 48 x 110 mm in length) – A light to medium-flavoured smoke, this cigar has a smooth flavour and delicate aroma. Cigars are presented in SLB boxes containing 25 units.

via moodiereport.com

Alec Bradley Select Cabinet Reserve

I'm smoking an Alec Bradley Tempus cigar which I've had in the humidor for a few weeks, when I read about the upcoming release of his Select Cabinet Reserve cigars. If the new cigars are anything like the Tempus or the Maxx which I also enjoy, then cigar smokers should be in for a real treat.

The Select Cabinet Reserve is made with Honduran Trojes wrappers which company President Alan Rubin described:

"We talked about the natural sweetness of the wrapper and the chance to develop a blend around its unique flavor profile," Rubin says. "When we got back to the factory, we went to where we store all the wrapper tobacco and opened a few bales for inspection. I grabbed a hand of tobacco containing 25 leaves, plucked two of them, de-stemmed them, and rolled a sample. These caramel colored leaves were glorious to the touch and looked fantastic. Even better, they smoked every bit as good as I expected."

Sounds like something that's right up my taste bud's alley. The cigars should be available later this month and will come in boxes of 20.

Lamborghini Humidor

If your puny little 30-count humidor is no longer good enough to hold your ever expanding cigar collection, but you're not ready to invest in a full blown cigar cave, consider picking up this Lamborghini humidor. This gorgeous limited edition humidor is called The Cylinder and features a lacquer carbon fiber design as well as premium kiln-dried Spanish cedar and will hold up to 150 of your best smokes. You can purchase one on sale for $329 (reg. $399).

via bornrich.org

Sopranos Dinner

Tonight, my boys from work and I are having our monthly "Sopranos Dinner" where we gather at the local Fleming's Steakhouse for a few hours of tasty ribeyes, excellent bottles of wine, and of course plenty of cigars (surprisingly they still let us light up in the outdoor patio). It's an opportunity for us to relax, enjoy a bit of the good life, and reflect how damn good our lives really are. Like my boy Josh observed about our guy's night out: "It's like being in college...with money."

Amen Josh. Amen.

Win a Cigar Cave From Partagas

Thanks to the cigar Nazis, there are fewer and fewer places out in public that you can enjoy a tasty cigar. In fact, it's probably not too far in the future where the only place you can legally light up is in your home. In preparation for that dreadful day, everyone should have their very own home-based cigar sanctuary just like NFL cigar aficionado Tony Siragusa. The fine folks at Partagas are offering you a chance to win $10,000 for your very own cigar cave. Simply send them a 200 word essay on where you smoke and why you need a cigar cave. The winning submission will be based on need, creativity, ability to convey the cigar smoking experience, and relevance to Partagas cigars. Make sure to submit your entry by August 21.

Provintech Wine Cellar

While this monster wine cellar with optional humidor by Provintech may have been originally designed for restaurants, nothing is stopping you from taking out that third mortgage to stick one in your pad. The gorgeous cellar comes with temperature controlled bottle storage and white and red wine dispensers. We can see Crew Member Shadinsky's head spinning right now.

via ballerhouse.com

Cigars Threatened on Golf Courses

Here we go again with the anti-smoking Nazis. Now these fuckers are trying to ban smoking on public golf courses. Are you kidding me??? You may not personally golf, but surely you've seen a golf course. It's huge. It's a massive expanse of grass and open air that is designed for a handful people at any given time to try to whack a little white ball into a hole in the ground. Let's say that each whole is 300 yards long and the left-to-right boundaries are 100 yards apart, you're talking about a whole lot of space where a non-smoker within a foursome won't accidentally catch the case of the cancer even with smokers around.

Smoking a cigar on a golf course is one of life's little pleasures. Nothing brings a smile to my face quicker than teeing off at Torrey on a Friday with a stogie in my mouth. When I golf, I usually play with a three other buddies. Half of us will smoke a cigar and the other half don't. Guess what we do? Like grown ass adults, we split up with the smokers in one cart and the non-smokers in the other. If I'm the only cigar smoker, I make sure to puff only when we're zooming around in the carts and the wind blows most of the smoke away or I'm off hitting my shot away from my friends. Basic courtesy and common sense is all we need, not more fascist laws.

via sportsillustrated.cnn.com

One Long Arse Cigar

Despite having smoke thousands of cigars over my lifetime, even I would have trouble smoking the world record setting stogie rolled by Jose Castelar. The 65 year old Cuban cigar roller recently broke his forth world record by rolling a monster 142-foot-long cigar. Senor Castelar limits himself to one cigar a day, but there is still no word yet on whether he'll try smoking his record breaking cigar, as he did with the 67-foot-long cigar he rolled in 2005.