Oh yeah, where was I ???? So the last thing that happened was my power went out but I guess I neglected to tell you about what happened after…..

Vancouver is a bit of a world center for devil weed grow-op production, in fact so much so that there could be as many as 20,000 grow-ops in the lower mainland at any given point in time… This is what I read in the paper but I’m a cigar guy… I tried that stuff when I was a kid and like Clinton, I didn’t inhale!!! ( much )……

So the power goes out and then I hear sirens…. Well, I wasn’t sure why but then again this IS Vancouver and anything is possible… Turns out I have a neighbor 3 doors down in the “Biz”, as it were, and he was also stealing electricity to keep the operation costs down. This is something that happens a lot and quite often you get caught because the electric company matches the amount of use on a grid with the amount of revenue coming in…. Things don’t match up and then the giant microscope comes out….

The Cohiba Robusto was into the final third and tasting rich and fruity when our neighborhood went black but I’ve learned to stay quiet and stay in the shadows when things like this happen and most of the time it all blows over….. Most of the time…… Then I heard a rustling in my bushes…

We have a lot of animals ( cats, dogs, raccoons, the odd black bear and deer ) who drop into our yard at night, so I shouldn’t have been concerned but I thought I heard this one humming or something weird…. I set the Robusto down and went for my flashlight and when I came back there was a kid, maybe 17 or 18 standing on my back deck in handcuffs….. The lights then went back on and I could see that he looked terrified and it brought back memories of the few times when I was younger and felt the cold steel on my wrists.. These days I like staying within the parameters of society’s rules and I made a promise to myself that I’m permanently going to be keeping it that way…… Then a German shepherd ran on the to back deck and pulled the kid down…… All Hell broke loose after that….

The next thing I know is that there are 5 cops on my back deck shouting orders to the kid, the dog and yelling at me to put my cigar out….. This was when I had had enough….. I don’t care if you have to conduct your business on my back deck but there was still about 2 inches of Cohiba’s best burning in my hand and I wasn’t about to be pushed around on my own property so with my elbow I reached behind me and turned out the lights on the deck……. Things got a little noisy after that !! The dog went crazy, the cops started yelling and the kid ran off …..  In a second they were gone, all was quiet and I was alone again…

I don’t think the kid made it very far with handcuffs on and a German Shepherd on his tail but I didn’t care much…. I went into the kitchen, poured another shot of port and went back to the deck to finish one of the best Cohiba Robustos I had yet this year!

One hot afternoon in Havana last year my wife and I sat under an umbrella at a table in Cathedral Square and drank too much rum and beer as we ate lunch.  Havana is full of great musicians playing everywhere and that particular day we watched a latin jazz band whip up the crowd that sat around eating and drinking.  At one point during our meal a young man walked around with a tray of various cigars, I picked a perfectly rolled Cohiba Robusto and marveled at the taste as we waited for our bill.

We strolled back to our hotel and along the way, posed and took a few pics with a few colorful locals, then walked into our hotel lobby.  Our hotel usually had live entertainment in the lobby and this afternoon we listened to a trio of fine fine singers, two of which played nylon string guitars and one bongo player.  Since we had met them and spoke to them a few times in the 3 days we stayed there, they wanted to introduce us to a man in the audience who was planning on putting up some money for their next CD.. Needless to say, they were ” on ” that day….

In Cuba you’ll hear a lot of the same songs being played by street musicians but this trio played a lot of different music we hadn’t heard before, which was very refreshing.  We sat down and an ashtray was brought over to me which made me love the country even more… Wow, you can smoke cigars almost everywhere… What a civilized place, and the Robusto was taking me on a journey of fantastic flavors. At one point in the trio’s set the man with the $$$ requested a song called La Malaguena and it was met with a hush in the crowd that is usually reserved for the type of moment you run into when someone orders a type of fish at a sushi restaurant that will kill you if it isn’t prepared properly. The stage was set for something exciting, it was hot and tropical, we were a bit on the drunk side in a country where we couldn’t understand the language… Sounds kind of exotic doesn’t it..

Listen to THIS:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuT7pYKS4E4&feature=fvw

Have you ever thought about giving Cohiba cigars as a gift? Of course you have, but I know you would rather smoke them yourselves - but seriously, due to the recession, a lot of people are going through some tough times. So I decided to lighten things up and spread some positive energy around my office. I thought why not hand out a Cohiba cigar (Cohiba Robusto to be exact) in my meetings with potential new business partners?  Everyone loves a free gift and who can say no to a real Cuban cigar right? So about three weeks ago, I started handing out a Cuban cigar at the end of all my

business meetings and frankly, I don’t think I will ever stop again. The connection that you make with your potential business partner is much stronger with this simple gift. It is absolutely unbelievable how this gesture totally changes the energy in the room. I think it’s because as men, we all have a few  things that we can find common ground on (Such as women, sports, cars) and Cuban cigars is definitely one of them. I feel that after my potential partners touch the Cohiba cigar, they automatically become my buddies, and it usually leads to a fun conversation about Cuban cigars and stories begin to exchange between all parties. That little Cuban cigar give away leads to really getting to know your potential business partner as a person, rather than just some ‘Business Zombie’. Overall, it had led me to some amazing friendships and fruitful business partnerships. Almost all the guys I gave Cubans to are now also my regular drinking buddies (You know how I love scotch and Cohiba cigars right?).

So next time you have meeting with your potential partner or client, try the Cohiba cigar give away, I guarantee you will build a very long lasting and fruitful relationship. I think what I’ve learned from this recession is you can always add more value to people’s lives even when things are looking down. Regardless, I think we should all try to give more value each and every day because it will make you feel good, and whatever you give, you get.

It their is one cigar that always does it for me, that would be the Cohiba Robusto. Cohiba is hands down the most popular Cuban cigar brand right after the Montecristo. I always enjoyed pretty much all Cohiba cigars - even the little sizes such as the Siglo 6 (Or as I like to call it, “The on the run cohiba”).

When I’m holding a Cohiba Robusto however, it just feels like so natural . . . like it was made just for me. Honestly, for me I think the Robusto is the perfect size. It takes about 45 mintues to enjoy which I think is the proper amount of time that you should be spending when smoking a cuban cigar.

Anyways, I was really happy when I found this very informative article on the Cohiba Robusto. It shows that it’s not just me that truly appreciates the Cohiba Robusto.

The Vancouver Cigar Company has produced a straight forward (and more importantly free) e-book called Cohiba 101 (Cohiba 101 Download).  I downloaded it tonight and gave it a bit of a look over and was surprised about two things: #1) It was relatively pitch free (just good information) #2) I learned a couple of things about the Cohiba.  Also it seems that they actually used some of my reviews that I sent them (Bonus!).

This 101 e-book thing would have been great when I first started smoking cigars.

Cohiba Cigar Blog Entry By Shane