2510 Celebration of LCDH Teddington Weekend of July 7

[Drguano]

Once upon a time, in a place called England, a young man and his wife (we’ll call them Ajay and Bhavna) decided to go into the cigar business. They opened a small shop in Teddington and called it Broadweighs Cigar Store in 1993. The business thrived and 15 years later, they decided to find a space that would accommodate a subterranean smoking lounge. This became La Casa Del Habanos on High Street in Teddington.

 

Last Saturday night, Ajay explained all this at a splendid black tie affair to celebrate the 25^thanniversary of their business but after a few hours of smoking and drinking a most excellent selection of Cuban rums, I cannot recall any but the basic facts from his speech and I probably got those wrong. *

I flew to London overnight and arrived on Thursday. After a smoke with my most generous host Evan (we call him SeeGar here when he does make a rare appearance) and his lovely wife,Ginette, it was off to meet Gino (MrJapan) and Fernando for dinner, drinks and… another cigar.

Thursday night is the new Friday night in London and the Duke of Sussex’s Hippo pub near Waterloo was packed. We did manage to wrinkle a few noses with our puros before departing for Teddington in Gino’s hired auto. Gino’s GPS spoke Italian and argued with my English-speaking phone all the way but an hour later we arrived at LCDH Teddington an hour later where Ajay greeted us with a smile and a manly embrace.

 

Ajay led us down to the lounge that was already full of happy aficionados and produced a surprise. He had opened box of Hoyo de Monterrey Double Coronas from 1991 that a guy named Marvin had scored 100 points for an American magazine. We lit up around 11:00 pm and were soon blissed out. I offer no review except that it was a stellar smoke.

 

On Friday afternoon, Gino, Fernando and I paid a visit James J. Fox to sit in Sir Winston Churchill’s chair and smoke Romeo y Julieta Capuletos courtesy of Stuart Fox’s generosity before making our way to Teddington for a very pleasant gathering of Ajay and Bhavna’s international guests. Our hosts treated us to champagne, rum and cigars plus a lovely dinner under the stars at Shambles across High Street from the LCDH. The gathering included a large delegation from California that spend an annual weekend in May with Ajay at the Harvest Inn located in Napa, CA. They brought magnums of Nickel and Nickel Cabernet and Grgich Chardonnay. Ajay shared Trinidad Coloniales before dinner and then another splendid vintage cigar that I really enjoyed but cannot for the life of me recall what it was. We wrapped it up at 1:00 am (at least I did because I had an hour Uber ride across town to my bivouac.

 

Then came Saturday. It took me an hour to prep for black tie. My first full scale tuxedo experience.

Then off to the penguin colony at Hampton Court. What a night! Cocktails and canapes starting at 5:00. Music, classic cars, speeches and dinner. I do have a list of the cigars passed out that day: 

·      Ramon Allones Petit Belicosos, 2012 RE for Gran Bretana

·      La Gloria Cubana Inmensos 2010 LCDH

·      Cuaba Piramides 2018 EL

·      Montecristo No.2 2005 Gran Reserva Cosecha

My drink of choice was the Havana Club Tributo 2018. This rum was aged in Islay whisky casks and produced 2,500 bottles for worldwide distribution and had a thick, mouth coating of smokiy, semi sweet richness that was superb. I was heartbroken when it ran out and we had to make do with Frapin 22 yr Millesime 1993 Cognac Grande Champagne courtesy of The Whisky Exchange.

 

All in all, a great few days of nicotine and alcohol and first class hospitality from the Patel family. It was great to celebrate 25 years in the business with them and know that they appreciate their clientele as much as they do and in so doing, demonstrate that cigars are not just a filthy, expensive habit, they are a way of life!

*The fine print

Edited July 13, 2018 by Drguano
Typos

[Cayman17]

Great story and pics! ?????

[zeedubbya]

Fantastic!  Thanks for sharing. 

[Danimalia]

Great stuff!

[Bartolomeo]

Thanks for the summary, looked like a grand time!

[alloy]

Thanks for a great story! And you really dress up nicely!

[garbandz]

excellent review,thank you !!

[Mr.T]

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Raskol]

Great review...Thank you!! 

[El Presidente]

Everyone looks wonderful.

You are indeed the wandering minstrel of the cigar world . Can't wait to catch up again mate!

[Drguano]

52 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

Everyone looks wonderful.

Can't wait to catch up again mate!

Havana in November!

[fastkiller13]

Looks like everyone had a great time. Great Pictures, thanks for sharing!

[Drguano]

The mystery is solved by an update from Ajay:

“The cigars you had on Friday night were a Trinidad  Coloniales from 2006 and a Saint Luis Rey Churchill cabinet of 50’s from 1998’.“

The Trinidad was nice and the ‘98 SLR was very, very nice.

[Mr. Japan]

With big delay I read it. Thanks for the great time peter and all there.