It is with great sadness that I light this lovely Siglo I and think about how fortunate I am to be sitting in a dry dusty garage as my buddy gets his hands dirty with the oil dripping into the pan under my car as he changes my oil filter and tells me about his friend in Japan who is writing to him and describing what he has seen in the last few days.  I wonder why the Supreme Being has decided to shake up the lives of some of the most loving, hard-working and compassionate people on our planet.

I’ve seen Japan from Kobe to Sapporo and felt the hospitality of men and women who looked at me with almost a childlike innocence as they offered me tea, great beer or a place to sleep for the night.  I remember thinking to myself that it was almost impossible to believe that a country of hugely populated cities had dark alleys that I walked down and at NO time was I ever in any danger.. I’m serious, I could be drinking for many hours in a bar or restaurant and then walk back to my hotel at any time of the night and stagger into strangers in the dark who only either gave me a smile or walked idly by without me feeling concerned about my safety.  Would I be able to do that in our hemisphere?  Yeah Right!! What have we become?? OR.. What have we always been???

Yet the Supreme Being decides to punish THEM !!!!

Take a look at some of the video clips on www.liveleak.com and tell me that you don’t feel anything when you see giant surges of water bulldoze houses over and you notice a tiny human form running for high ground.  These are truly frightful digital clips of widespread destruction that we now see almost as it is happening.  Many years ago we would only have read about it in the paper and with any luck get a glimpse of some blurry photo.

I feel optimistic that the Japanese government will do all that it can to help it’s citizens rebuild their lives and recreate employment.  I’m sure we’ll watch, in months to come, a loving group of Japanese officials do all that it can to make the lives of their people as comfortable as possible.  Quite a contrast from a different government in a different hemisphere who, after the water went back into the sea, seized the opportunity to punish the people of a city because it felt they had a history of voting the wrong way.

Traditionally, New Year’s Eve is one night when we pull out all the stops, dress up in our finest garb and ring in the new year with Champagne, music, dancing and for some of us, handing out and smoking some of the best cigars in our humidors.  Cubans and Non-Cubans are usually set on fire and sacrificed to the tobacco gods so that the new year will surely bring prosperity, comfort and good health.  All should unfold nicely as long as you light something that pleases them.

Christmas, of late, has resulted in more than a few new cigars sitting in my humidor so as time goes by I find myself with something that can’t wait to be lit and a night like that is a good enough reason for me so I’m thinking of taking a few options in my travel humidor.  I DO have friends that love cigars but quite often are not carrying any so I’ve become the guy that passes a few out to close friends.  I love sharing the experience with my friends and look forward to contributing to their evening.

I plan on taking Cohiba Lancero, Robusto and maybe a Genios for the maduro guy in the room… Maybe I’ll be the maduro guy… Don’t really feel like making any plans yet and will let everything unfold.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you plan on smoking.

Schadenfreude is the German word for the pleasure derived from others’ misfortunes.. Its a good word that applies to how I felt today as I sat on my front steps, with a Cohiba Siglo I in hand, and watched drivers on our street slip, slide and go careening into the traffic circle at the end of our block.. I’m only a few houses from the end of our street, so I had a bird’s eye view.

The cigar tasted great and the entertainment on the street was greater…. But…. The little cigar DID taste great, paired with a strong Italian coffee.

Vancouver’s drivers come from all over the world.  I love the diversity of cultures in our city and truly believe that we are rich with many fabulous restaurants, sights and sounds as we visit shops and neighborhoods that have been improved with the immigration of people from countries around the world. For someone like myself, who enjoys the antics I see on our streets after the first snow fall, the change of seasons is not unlike Christmas coming early.

We who grew up on the prairies and who learned how to drive in severe winter conditions, quite often choose to keep our vehicles in our garages and only go out at night when there is less traffic.  It is much safer and more often than not, our vehicles look the same upon our return as they did when we initially left home.

As Martha Stewart would say, ” Its a good thing.”

After spending a week in Edmonton at the Canadian Country Music week I have to admit that I wore myself down to nothing.  Late nights, adult beverages and meetings that lasted long into the nights and then a long drive back to vancouver resulted in a flu of biblical proportion.  I found myself laying in bed, sweating, coughing and drinking as much fluids as I could possible take in but the worst of all of it was the total waste of money I spent on cigars that I simply couldn’t taste in the days following.

This morning I woke up with no residual sick feelings at all and so after breakfast I decided to celebrate with a Cohiba Siglo IV and a cappuccino on the deck.  Wow, what a difference this cigar was after the others that simply were fine but lacked any subtle nuances of flavor because of my inability to taste.  This corona gorda with a 46 ring gauge and a length of 5.6 inches opened up with a nutty tobacco taste that was creamy and slightly earthy.  The older Cohiba line was only slightly present in this cigar and by that I mean that it had the Cohiba spice that I love so much but slightly milder and easier to take in the morning.

I loved every puff as it moved into the final third with vanilla and subtle honey and it made me wonder why I smoked anything at all in the days before.  This might have been the best Cohiba I smoked this year, I still have a few more from this box from ’08 and a large part of me wants to start tomorrow the same way I started today but I don’t believe I’ll be able to re-live this morning’s experience with the same excitement and passion so maybe I’ll dig around my humidor for another Cuban and see what tomorrow brings.

Well tomorrow we’ll be having a great day of weather in Vancouver, who knows, maybe one of the last great days of the year for golf and a Siglo I in the great outdoors.  One problem though, the City of Vancouver has now banned smoking on all public beaches, parks and golf courses.  Are you kidding me?????? No cigar smoking on a golf course??

I think its about time I make a statement and light one of those beautiful Cohibas anyway and see who will be trying to stop a calm and agreeable law-biding citizen as he hits a little white ball on a golf course with a small Cuban burning on the dash of the golf cart!!!  I have to dig my heels in and continue a tradition that has been carried on since golf has been invented.

Now I know that I have no right to foul up anyone’s air when they are sitting in a restaurant, bar, bank, church, bus depot, airport, department store, shopping mall or movie theatre but GIVE ME A BREAK, I’m going to be on a fairway in the middle of an open air golf course and I KNOW that I won’t be bothering anyone!!!!! Come and get me!!!!! Whoever you are, wherever you are!!!!!!!!

I can’t go down without a fight!!!!!!

Dropped in to see a friend of mine last night at his art gallery in South Vancouver.  There was an opening going on and, from time to time I love checking out what he has hanging on his walls. OK OK, maybe I really stopped in to hang out on the back deck with a glass of fine wine and do a bit of a cigar swap with him, which is something we do a few times each year.

I had a few Cuban Robustos that I wanted him to have and in turn we walked over to his humidors in the office and took a look at what was available and ready to smoke. We were drinking a lovely British Columbian Syrah and each decided to smoke a medium strength Cohiba Siglo III that he had been hanging on to.  What struck me was how the humidor smelled when he opened the lid.  This is one thing that, I have to admit, is a bit of a fetish I have and love the sweet barnyard smell of a humidor filled with beautiful cigars.  I had grandparents who owned a farm and as a child, I spent many a summer helping out and killing time in their beautiful barn yard.  The smell of fresh hay, horses and peaceful quiet afternoons can creep out of a humidor when the lid is lifted and the row of perfectly rolled Siglos in the top tray gave off all that I needed to bring me back to my youth.

The quiet jazz band and the people milling around the art gallery were of no concern to us as we smoked these beautiful cigars and drank the wine I brought.  We sat in silence and didn’t say much, simply smoked and occasionally commented on either the perfect burn or what we were both tasting as we went from third to third.  I have only a few friends that know and can identify all of the beautiful flavors that a Cohiba can give you and I take every opportunity to see these guys and learn whatever I can from them.

Well since we’re on the topic of people that bug me here is another example.  A cousin of mine came over last night with a few cigars to smoke and after dinner we went out on the the deck for Scotch and Cuban cigars.  He brought a few Siglo No 4′s with him and that suited me just fine.  With a cigar of that strength I felt that my old standby, Oban Scotch would work out and it was a fine pairing.

This is a cousin I rarely see and although we are quite close he is a guy I occasionally get into pretty good arguments with.  His family was always very comfortable, financially speaking, and he was an only child….. Strike one……. This guy would come over to visit and bring always the biggest and best toys with him and then the bragging would begin….. Bragging?? … Strike two……

He has been smoking cigars for the past 2 years now and although he is a bit younger than I am, by 2 years, he feels and has always felt somewhat superior……. Strike three…….

Last night he started out by telling me all of the facts he knows about Cohiba cigars and I sat silently and listened to him go on and on…. and on….. and on……. and on…… about his feelings towards this wonderful cigar… He told me about the cigar’s obvious flaws and weaknesses compared to the original Cohibas…… I had to hear about his feelings towards the cigar’s development going into the second third and how he felt that this cigar was letting him down…… Good grief!!!!!!!!  I was having a fine time smoking the beautiful Corona Gorda but he wasn’t letting go of it…..

Just when I had had about enough, he started telling me that I should come over to his place more often so he could give me cigar tutorials and if I paid attention I could really learn a few things from him… That was it!!! I couldn’t take it any longer and started to plan a little accident for him!!   He had chosen a chair that I was going to spend a bit of time repairing since it had a weak back leg that would sometimes give out and cause the person sitting on it to fall back… Off to the washroom he went and I knew what I was going to do.

When he was in the house I reached over and loosened the bolt holding the left back leg and quickly sat back down in my chair without him noticing as he strolled back on to the deck.. He reached for his drink, stood over me and continued braying on and on about all of his vast cigar knowledge and then sat down again….. Nothing happened…..

Talk about lucky, this guy must have been holding on to a lucky rabbit’s foot in his back pocket as he smoked, drank, had another drink and then started leaning back onthe back two legs of his chair when it finally gave way….. I sat quietly watching his drink spilled over him as he hit the deck and saw the sparks of his cigar as it smashed onto the floor…….. The argument began…….

I pretended to be sorry and offered to give him a dry shirt but he wasn’t having any part of it.. All of the things that he didn’t like about me started spewing out and before I knew it, he was blaming all of our family’s problems on me….. I was into the final third of the cigar and it tasted great.. I took another sip of the Oban and told him that maybe it was getting a bit late…….

The last Cohiba Siglo VI I smoked was some time ago during a trip to Alberta…. I felt terrible about it because I think it was a total waste of money… Not buying the cigar, but where and when I chose to smoke it… Smoking a cigar, especially one of that calibre, in less than perfect conditions is a real waste of time.. Anyone thinking about going outdoors and lighting up one of Cuba’s finest works of art during a snowstorm in sub-zero weather should have their heads examined… That is exactly what I did, except for getting my head examined…

Last night we had a fine evening in Vancouver, and out on my deck with a glass of Oban, I felt it was time to light up a Siglo VI..  It was a very different story from my last experience with that cigar.

This is a rock star cigar in every sense of the term starting with the construction.  A bit of a tightly rolled Canonazo ( I love that word ) but after clipped, still had an easy draw.. How do they do that????  Pre-light draw revealed a bit of wood and grass but subtle at best…. Hmmmmmm, subtle may be a great word to have on hand when describing this cigar.  The choice of Oban may or may not have been the best pick for a beverage since it really had more power than the cigar because of the very slight flavor changes that happened as this cigar progressed… Not a lot of change and progression, sort of reminded me of a Trinidad Robusto Extra in it’s delivery…..

It burned perfectly and required only a small amount of correction as it got into the final third but I love how cigars taste as they approach the nub…. All in all, a very different experience from my Alberta snow storm afternoon with this same cigar!!!!!

I keep writing about this fabulous little perla and, although some of you may be tired about me going on and on about them, today’s entry is for all of the other people…  I just smoked another from my humidor and I can’t say enough about the wonderful complexity of this short entry from Cohiba.

It will start off with the grassy signature Cohiba flavor but then hang on…. This one will take you on a very exciting ride of Cohiba flavors that include cedar, coffee, chocolate and also a hint of vanilla.  The construction is totally Cohiba quality and I’ve NEVER ran into any problems with the burn… NEVER !!!!

Another plus here is that the price of these little cigars is considerably less than what you’d expect to pay for a cigar of this calibre, making it the buy of the year, in my opinion.. Take my advice and pick up a box of them… Smoking them right away is just fine and aging them….. WOW !!!!!!!

I picked up a few cigars today since my humidor has been getting beaten up in the last few weeks and for some reason included in today’s purchase I opted for a few Siglo V’s.. Normally I don’t smoke dalias because I’ve run into a few with draw issues but after dinner tonight I thought I’d light one of these.  I paired this evening’s cigar after dinner with a Shiraz from Australia and at first I wasn’t sure if I was making the right choice but we had lamb for dinner and I wanted to finish off the bottle..

At first the two weren’t marrying at all but then I thought that having a glass of water with the cigar and wine and everything started working out just fine.  There’s something about keeping your palate clear when smoking a cigar that, more often than not, requires something clear and refreshing and, in my experience, water always does the trick.  The first few draws from this Cohiba revealed, as usual, a bit of a testy, rather powerful toasted tobacco and then it became a rich creamy smoke that started to reveal slight bean flavors.  This isn’t your average Cohiba, I believe that the creamy coffee you get from this cigar is considerably milder and takes a bit of concentration to detect the subtle nuances this one has to offer.

After the first third of the Siglo I decided to take the wine I had left and drink it all in one gulp.. Maybe the water was all I needed to be able to detect all that this cigar had to offer. As I entered into the second third I was really quite pleased to find that it became a bit more powerful and developed into a very satisfying experience I was hoping to find when I bought them today.

I always say to myself, whenever I buy cigars,  that they are going to sit in my humidor for a year or two and that I’ll get to them when the time is right but, alas, I think that I know myself better than that and I’ll probably keep going back and picking these Siglos and continuing my search for that ideal moment of smoking perfection…. Sometimes I hit it right… Sometimes not……. Hey, I gotta keep trying!