Partagas P2 Xmas sampler (XNYRW5)

[Chas.Alpha]

So, you didn’t think that I was going to get away with 2 full weekend days off without doing my household chores, did you?

Before I scrubbed the patio tiles, I decided to burn my Sunday smoke. Somewhere around New Years, I always burn one and drink to fallen friends. I lost two old mates this past year and gave a toast to both of them. That said, each year I always burn one in honor of my friend Sean Appleby-Simpkin a.k.a. The Phantom Phiddler. A great Irish fiddle player, pretty well known around the British isles. Wicked sense of humor, we were lifelong mates from the day we met. He bought me this cutter when I mentioned I had lost mine somewhere in Paris. The P2 is a great cigar, worthy of it being FOH #1 this year! Back to Sean...

We met at the bus depot in Salzburg. His Irish brogue was so thick it may as well have been Gaelic. He couldn’t have stood 5 feet 2, and if any better it was by millimeters. A stout man, claiming he weighed 16 stone. More on that later...

We (Debbie and I) and his wife Sue were both going to take the tram up the Untersberg mountain. Inside the gondola, he had overheard a man from “Cambridge” spouting out about how he had single-handily defeated the Germans in his Sopwith Camel! Let’s just say the rest of the ride way very entertaining! We got off of the tram at the top and Sean looks at me and says “Do you see it? Is it a mirage??? It looks like a pub!!!” 🤣

Yep, it was a pub. If you ever wonder why I love the Austrians so much, they put a pub on top of a mountain! 3 pints to start the morning and Sean’s wife Sue says she wants to climb to the top of the mountain (walking path to the top) Sean and Debbie have had enough climbing just making their way to the pub in the sky, so Sue and I make our way up the goat path to the top.

Stunning scenery! Salzburg below, Innsbruck to the West and you can almost see Vienna to the East! Back down we go, just in time to hear Herr Ober ask Sean if he wanted another pint. “IF YOU WISH!!!” I still use that line to this day...

Back down in Salzburg, at our mutual hotel, Sean mutters something about getting another pint. I could barely understand what he was saying until he breaks into what is to this day the best John Wayne impersonation I’ve ever heard! “I said, do ya wanta get a drink or don’t cha?...”

Since these were the first words I’d clearly understood him to say in three days, I replied “there ain’t ever been an Irishman the could outdrink an amurican!” Game on.

Taxi to the beer garden: We went head to head, with both of our wives rolling their eyes. After seven liters, I was feeling the upper hand until Sean got a second wind. 9 and a half liters, I was done. Sean drank his 10th, ordered 1 more then got us to the taxi... Bet was: loser buys. Sean paid.

The next morning, fuzzy-headed, I found a note on my door “Gone to the Cater Coombs, mate. Chocks away!”

We stayed in touch from across the pond. I sent him an “American Pound” which was a 1 pound silver dollar, he sent me a Bodhran. An Irish drum that I promised him I’d learn to play.

So, that is my final cigar review of 2021. Should old acquainted be forgot... Every time I hear that I think of Sean. The PhantomPhiddler died 12 years or so ago.

Treasure every day and every one. One day they’ll all be lining up for what you left... 😂

Cheers! My FOH Brothers and Sisters!!!