One of those great cigar moments.......

[El Presidente]

Left my family at the beach yesterday afternoon for the hour drive back home. I will catch up with them again New Years eve and New years day. Put in Elvis Costello and the Attractions and sparked a Partagas Serie D No 4 for the drive home. What a great combination.

Arrived home, fed the dogs as the first shadows of dusk were crossing the ponderosa. Grabbed a bottle of Mt Difficulty Pinot Noir (NZ) a Hamlet custom from the home humidor and "The Havana Mob" by TJ English. I sat down on the front stairs of my house overlooking the horses with my two dogs at my feet.

PJ gifted me this book recently and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Almost essential reading for anybody interested in Cuba and Cuban cigars as it takes in the period of the 40's 50's Havana and the interplay of all the characters from that period....Lansky, Luciano, Sinatra, Castro, Batista.

I was enthralled this afternoon reading about Batista inviting a young University activist to his house in Mirimar. The young Castro was a hothead but a great student orator who was making a name for himself. He was also on his second murder charge as he had a penchant for hand guns and a short temper. Batista knew that Castro wished to run for the senate and merely wanted to touch base and assess the young firebrand. The meeting went well. Little did he know.

I looked up from the book realised that an hour had gone by as well as most of the bottle of wine and 3/4 of the cigar.

Just one of the great cigar afternoons I can remember

"The Havana Mob"...TJ English....Get a copy.

[Ken Gargett]

i have 'havana nocturne' by the same bloke but yet to read it. i am now inspired to do so.

[kjellfrick]

I just finished this book, Rob, and I agree, it was very interesting but also sad in its description of the very corrupt society at the time.

I just started another book; Che by Björn Kumm, a swedish journalist who was one of the people present when Che was displayed after being shot in Bolivia.

[SamuraiJack]

One of my favorite things to do is read with a cigar and a drink or 4.

[Jimmy2]

Is this the book your talking about its by the same person ?

Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution

[shrink]

I like Elvis Costello, too. And PSD4's. What more can I say?

[buster]

Well Prez, you inspired me. It was an unnatural 62 degrees F (16.6 C) here in normally frozen New England today. I was determined to have a relaxing outdoor smoke. Busy morning, than errands with the kids and the honey-do list. Had some free time at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, but I was a good boy and went to the gym for a workout rather than take a walk and have a smoke (yeah, walking is a workout, but all the holiday cheer had me feeling guilty).

Got back home in time for dinner, resigned that I missed my opportunity. It is the last night of Hanukkah, so we lit the candles, exchanged presents, and sat down to a great meal that my wife cooked, including traditional Hanukkah latkes (a wonderful fried potato pancake for those who don't know), and stuffed turkey cutlets w/ prosciutto with a garlic caper sauce. Everyone retired to the living room to watch some dvd's the kids received for presents. I stepped outside and noticed it was still reasonably warm...58 F (14.5 C). Aha! My moment indeed arrived.

I set up on the screened porch. A t-shirt plus a fleece vest was plenty comfortable (and pants, of course!). I had some interesnting candidates in the humi, but I went for something that would not be a long smoke, a Punch Petite Corona del Punch. I split a box w/ a friend and had not tried one yet. They have been sitting for about a month. I don't have the box code...I think they are from '07. I also poured a glass of wine from dinner, an Argentinian cab, "don Rodolfo" 2006 from Viña Cornejo Costas. Not spectacular, but an easy drinking fruity cab w/ a little peper.

The PCdP was fantastic. Started out surprisingly light, w/ a sweet and creamy taste and chocolate hints. Quickly became bolder, but still w/ the same profile, sweet and chocolately but with more spice, and stronger all the way down to the nub, but well balanced all the way. I finally got the religious experience I was looking for all day, enhanced by reading my current night table book, "The Year of Living Biblically" by A.J. Jacobs. The book is a hoot, lots of laughs, I highly recommend it. It is a memoir of a writer (he is an editor at Esquire) who spent a year trying to follow...as literally as he could while living in Manhatten...all of the rules in the Bible.

It was a great surprise opportunity and a great end to the day. Well almost. After I finished my stick, I had a dose of reality by going out on my deck and shovelling a 20'x2'x2' swath of snow (that's 6mx0.6mx0.6m for the rest of the world) that had fallen off my roof to the deck, before it freezes to a solid block overnight. Still warm out and the snow was moved easily...probably my most enjoyable shovelling of the season. I'll have to try the wine and cigar trick before shovelling next storm.

I'm fairly new here, and new at the review thing and trying to describe my smoking experience. I get vicarious thrills reading all the straight reviews here, as well as the stories of special cigar moments. I hope some of you enjoyed mine.

Be seeing ya. Cheers,

Rick

[Tampa1257]

Just finished reading the Havana Mob a couple of weeks ago and found it interesting. Not so much because of the Mob aspect, rather how the political aspect and the rise of Castro and the people lead to the revolution. Good read.

[El Presidente]

Nice post Rick

Both books appear to be the same.

From what I can tell....not much in Cuba has changed

[Ken Gargett]

Is this the book your talking about its by the same person ?

Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution

hi jmmy - that is correct. i'm sure i have a copy but buggered if i can find it.

[Van55]

i have 'havana nocturne' by the same bloke but yet to read it. i am now inspired to do so.

I believe they are the same book. Havana Nocturne is the title given to the USA release of the book.

[Ken Gargett]

I believe they are the same book. Havana Nocturne is the title given to the USA release of the book.

amazon is selling both but it has little info re 'mob' and quite a lot re 'nocturne'. it makes no reference that i could find to them being the same but they both are about the same size and came out withing months of each other and are so close in topic that one would have to assume that they are the same book.