Please send your cigar news to: Reviews@Aficionado.Org.Uk
Guinevere Antiques have an Exhibition of Extrodinary Cigar Smoking Antiques and Collectables. With Experts Yannick David and Arnaud Thomasson they have assembled some of the finest examples of Humidors, Cigar Cases, Ashtrays, Cigar Holders and much more for the Around Cigars Exhibition. The display runs from 29th November to 23rd December at 574-580 Kings, Road, SW6.
The dates for the smoking ban have been released by the Government, Wales will be bringing their ban on smoking in enclosed public places in on 2nd April, England will bring in it's ban a little later on 1st July.
Czech and Speake from London's Jermyn Street have an interesting scent in their collection. The aptly named Cuba is a mix of essential oils including burgamont, lime, peppermint, layered with rose, clove, bay & frankincense, tobacco, and vetiver. The products can be purchased online or from their range of shops and distributors around the globe. Perhaps an ideal product for those who like the smell of cigars?
The film of the book, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer will be in the cinemas on 26th December. This dark story gives an interesting insight into the complexity and skill required to make scents. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with no odour but an excellent sense of smell. The story follows his obsession to make the ultimate scent.
Fresh news from California: Tall Orders Productions are launching their inaugural edition of the Cigar Calendar for 2007. Photographer Adrian Carr has blended cigars,
smoke and accessories with his beautiful model in 16 unique images. Calendars can
be ordered from their website for an introductory price of $34.99 plus US$9.50 to be delivered
to the UK.
Limited edition, signed editions are also available.
This week was chocolate week, what better a time to buy a chocolate cigar. The Algerian Coffee Stores at 52 Old Compton Street sell some delicious coffee and a range of chocolates. The Venchi's Chocolate cigars are from Italy and are available in a range of flavours. Our researcher was unable to comment as to what had happened to the samples but the empty wrappers were found shortly later. We take it that they enjoyed the haslenut prailine chocolate filler surrounded by a dark chocolate wrapper.
1989 was a dry year in Cuba with a record low rainfall in both October and November. The Soviet economy collapsed and in turn Cuba suffered economically. In the same year, a wise man put aside some tubed cigars made a pledge not to smoke them till later. Now we can benefit from this man's wisdom by wandering around to Sautters of Mayfair and purchasing some Romeo y Julieta No. 1 Tubos. This 42 ring gauge 142mm cigar comes in a classic silver tube and a bargain price of £5.
What do you buy the aficionado of cigars who has everything? The answer has been provided by a classic car driver called Gary who is not a cigar smoker. Gary bought the plate 6 years ago for his Caterham 7 because it had his car number C7 and name on it GAR. Gary was initially puzzled why everyone though he was a cigar smoker. Ive included a picture of the plate and I think that you will see why!.
This unique UK car registration plate is available for sale, offers in the region of £5K, contact Gary Guest : c7gar at hotmail dot com for more details.
The latest character who's no longer allowed to smoke, is Thomas the cat. Thomas who is famous for his slapstick appearances in the series "Tom and Jerry" smoked the occasional cigarette or cigar. Tom's friend Butch is also in trouble for promoting cigar smoking whilst playing tennis.
The complaint started when a British viewer of the Boomerang channel complained to the regulator Ofcom. This has triggered a witch hunt at Turner Corporation where all of their animated stars are being reprimanded for their promotion of smoking.
The cat and mouse pair have previously been in trouble with the authorities for their depiction of violence and had to clean up their act for their 1975 New Tom and Jerry Show.
Boomerang viewers voted Tom and Jerry their favourites in their 2004 survey beating the other bad role models, Scooby Doo and Dangermouse.
Mr Doo was not available for comment but his agent says he is clean of his snacking addiction having not had a scoobysnack in 134 days. Dangermouse was questioned last year over suspision of arson and possession of explosives.
Steve Allen - "Asthma doesn't seem to bother me any more unless I'm around cigars or dogs. The thing that would bother me most would be a dog smoking a cigar"
A reader sent me a link to www.youtube.com, a site for publishing "your own movies". A search for "cigars" on the YouTube site produces lot of the links to videos of girls smoking cigars, ladies smoking cigars and guys smoking cigars. However there were also a couple of adverts that I'd seen before from the Independence Cigar Company. These humourous adverts are obviously targeted at cigar smokers who like scantily clad females so check with your company's acceptable use policy before viewing these at work. There is also a screensaver that can be downloaded from their website.
On 13th of July the Leader of Cuba Fidel Castro will be 80. Happy Birthday from Aficionado of Cigars.
Mel Smith is acting in a play called "Allegiance" about Winston Churchill's relationship with Michael Collins in the Edinburgh Assembly Rooms. Winston was of course famous for smoking cigars and along with the 5th Earl of Lonsdale is the only man to have a cigar size has been named in his honour.
However, Mel is not allowed to smoke a cigar in a the play as that is against the new Scottish smoking regulations, the English regulations have clause that specifically allows plays to contain smoking on the interests of artistic integrity.
Sheila Gilmore a local councillor likened Mel's cigar smoking to using a real sword and running someone through which is presumably why the Circus of Horrors is not visiting Edinburgh this year. Both Mel and the venue could be fined if they allow the act to continue uncensored. For more details see the Scotland on Sunday.
Famous non smokers include: Adolf Hitler, Allen Carr and Roy Castle.
In
July there were some silverware and gold sales at Christies.
Items of note include:
Aficionado of cigars has failed his cigar identification test again, in the latest XMen movie, poor Wolverine looses
a fine cigar. "That was my last cigar...," Logan says. But what kind of cigar was
it?
If you know what brand of cigars this anti-hero smokes then let us know.
"Thank
you for smoking" a new film out looks at the Tobacco lobbyists job and the
conflicts of interest of the main characters. Apparently Americans do understand
satire...
The press has picked up some slightly old news and spotted that current legislation in the UK could mean that smoking can be banned outside of offices and at bus stops or other places where groups of people could be expected to congregate. This probably won't have too much affect on Aficionados of Cigars but what's next?
Wales has decided to pick up the smoking ball and demonstrate that they can enforce a ban more quickly than England. We could see a restrictions in action across Wales before the end of the year.
Scotland reports that their ban has caused more people to visit pubs, and is claiming that this is good for their health. The survey does not mention if these people are cutting down on trips to the gym or trips to the chippy to find time to visit the pub more often.
On a lighter note, the Dunhill Humidor might seem a strange place for a smoking ban but Aficionado of Cigars recently noticed that there is a "No Cigarettes" sign as they might taint the taste of cigars. Don't worry however, for the time being you can still enjoy smoking cigars there.
Maxibond Cigar Club held a tasting session of limited edition cigars earlier
this month. It's a members and guests night only but you can find out about membership on their website. These cigars have specially aged, dark wrappers from the 2003 crop.
Maxibond Cigars & Accessories
63 Fairfax Road
London, NW6 4EE
June 15, 2006
7:00PM-10:00PM
sales@aficionado-a-havanas.com
http://www.aficionado-a-havanas.com
There are lots of reasons to visit Belgravia
On the evening of Wednesday 14th there will be the Elizabeth Street Summer Party. Everyone there will be having fun raising money for the Trinity Hospice. There will be luxurious food and drinks and music will be provided by a blues band. There will be fabulous prizes to win in the auction and for those with less of a bodget there is also a raffle. The party begins at 6pm and continues till 11pm.
Also in Belgravia there is TomTom. From 12th to 16th June there will be a cigar roller demonstrating her art of rolling a Havanna cigar. Over 5 days over 100 cigars will be rolled and sold in a presentation tube.
The second big celebration this year is the 100th Anniversary of the birth of
Zino Davidoff. Davidoff are celebrating in style with a very special box of cigars which is now available in shops in London.
The Diademas Finas is a large Figuardos cigar from the Dominican Republic. It is sold in a unique picture box containing 10 cigars with a booklet about the life of Zino.
There
are a few significant Birthdays this year, Avo Uvezian is celebrating his 80th with
a new cigar. The AVO 80th Anniversary is a Belicoso format. Length 15.2 cm (6 inches)
with a 52 Ring Gauge. However if you are looking for something smaller, there is
a nice 2 cigar box of the small puritos cigar. This 10cm by 30 ring cigar is a fine
smoke from the dominican republic.
Shervington's at Chancery Lane has a small sale of
Cigar Box Handbags.
La Casa Del Habano is running cigar master classes on Monday nights which cost £25 per person and includes a cocktail some tapas and a cigar. The Manager Neil Millington gives
an informal talk on the production of Cuban cigars and a little about how the tobacco is processed. Everyone then watches a demonstration by our resident cigar roller of how a cigar is made and then (the best bit) all get an opportunity to roll a cigar themselves!
Booking is essential for these events so call 0207 314 4000 to avoid missing your place.
Monday 8th May to Saturday 13th May, there is a cigar roller visiting the Davidoff shop on St James / Jermyn street.
Perhaps the
tobacco plants of the future will be safer from diseases now that scientists have
modelled a virtual version of a "satellite
tobacco mosaic virus".
Dunhill's Spring and Summer Sale is
on at their 48 Jermyn Shop. This seasons collection pays homage
to Dunhill's rich and historic relationship with motoring.
March edition of Loaded Magazine
has an article on seductive smoking with Sophie Howard written by Jamie Fullerton. This article is a good excuse for Loaded to take more photos of Miss Howard but does not go into any depth. I would add two important comments to their article, firstly if someone makes some effort to learn about their afficionado's hobby then that increases their appeal and having a lack of respect for cigars has the opposite effect. Nothing winds me up more than someone asking for a cigar and then after 2 puffs leaving the rest.
However I don't really expect that the kind of ladies you find in Casa Del Habano are regular Loaded readers. I believe that the cigars smoked in this article are a Cohiba Esplendidos and a Hoyo De Monterey Epicure 2.
With the new smoking ban in place for pubs and clubs, there are changes afoot for smoking cigars in the UK, Aficionado of Cigars is investigating, watch this space...
If these changes have made you think twice about smoking then you may need to find a new use for your humidor. Perhaps use it as a case for a small computer? The people at Mini-itx have some very good ideas on how to convert your humidor to a quiet and stylish media pc.
So Valentines days is comming soon and you need ideas for
presents? Romeo y Julieta is playing on their name with some seasonal
advertising and Maxibond is offering
some gift sets. But if your valentine is not a smoker then perhaps they could share
in your appreciation with some chocolate cigars?
In Febuary there were a few other events happening.
Over
in Cuba Habanos SA is celebrating
the 40th anniversary of Cohiba with a the "VIII Habanos Festival". This
trade show and seminar will attract people from all over the globe to see the
factories, plantations and cigars. They will entertained by cigar
rollers and rolling competitions, the Cuban national ballet and an Italian
night. The full package of events will have set them back $1,260.00 CUC (approx
£765).
Closer to home is the
Ambiente Internationale Fair in Franfurt Germany. From the 10th
Feburary, this fair shows off the best in home items from around the
world. Several stands will have smoking accessories incuding a range of
humidors, cigar cases and ash trays.
Thanks to Jemar Humidors
for this news article.
In
January, I recieved a letter from a reader:
My little sister was on holiday in Burma/Myanmar at Christmas, and spotted this
Cherute smoker. It (the photo) was taken in Bagan market, Myanmar on 20th
December 2005. No idea what brand it is I'm afraid....
No new year would be complete without some sales, Harrods is of course having a sale but other shops such as the Covent Garden Sigar and Snuff parlor are having sales of accesories such as cutters and humidors.
Related articles: Cigar News Archive
2020 Media