Indholdsfortegnelse for March/April 2021 i Cigar Aficionado

It’s the spaceship that lands in your backyard with a lesson in thermodynamics. The Ooni Koda 16 is the propane-fired, outdoors-only pizza oven you’d find on the Jetsons’ patio. It hits temperatures over 900°F, turning a simple mixture of flour, water, yeast and salt into Neapolitan pizza in 60 seconds. Onboard is a cordierite crystal stone and an L-shaped burner system making the oven hottest in the rear left corner. To nail the ideal Neapolitan crust—crispy outside, chewy and tender inside with requisite “leopard” spots (charring)—you’ll learn to turn the pie into and away from the hot spots. That way it cooks evenly, just like at professional pizzerias. We recommend getting an infrared thermometer and a “banjo” pizza peel (long pizza spatula). Oh, and please practice before your first pizza…

It’s a beautiful day at the golf course. You tee off, driving the ball in a long arc down the fairway. Behind you, an electric motor hums, wheels start to turn. A robot caddie brings over your golf bag and offers you a cigar. It’s called the Club Car Tempo Walk, an electronic assistant that follows you around the links, hefting your cigar and golf accessories so you can focus on your swing. Tempo Walk carries more than your clubs. It also has a tray for your cigars, lighter, cigar cutter, travel humidor, portable ashtray—anything you don’t want weighing you down while you’re walking or taking a shot. It comes equipped with a touchscreen tablet with GPS yardage, a USB charger for your phone, divot repair kit, cup holders and…

When he arrived at the hallowed grounds of Augusta National for the much-delayed 2020 Masters last November, Dustin Johnson was a portrait in confidence. At his press conference before the first round began, he sat his six-foot-four frame into a chair and smiled, sounding ready without appearing cocky. It was his 10th Masters, a tournament he had never won. He had lost by only one stroke in 2019, and was coming in with momentum, as the No. 1 golfer in the world and the winner of the 2020 Tour Championship and FedEx Cup. He answered all the questions with ease, and showed just how relaxed he was when fielding the final question: what’s your favorite Masters tradition? “For me,” he said after a pause, “my favorite thing about the Masters…

Bushmills Single Malt 21 80 proof, $200 Bushmills is the outlier in Irish whiskey because it’s made in Northern Ireland, not the Republic. Overlook the geographical distinction. This 21-year-old melds Sherry- and Bourbon-aged whiskeys and then finishes the combination in Madeira casks. The result teems with vanilla, caramel, maple syrup, toffee and raisins. Connemara Single Malt 80 proof, $43 Connemara sets itself apart from most Irish whiskey in being not only double distilled, but also peated. The product of the Cooley Distillery, which spearheaded the island’s expansion of production, not only plumes with peat smoke, but follows up with notes of cinnamon, hard candy, bread dough, caramel and salt spray. Green Spot Single Pot Still 80 proof, $75 Made by New Midleton for a wine merchant, Green Spot only recently…

100 COHIBA ESPLENDIDO (1992) This big cigar is perfect—they don’t get any better. It’s as good as any post-Castro cigar I have ever smoked. The draw and flavor are both dreamlike, with complex notes that include nutmeg and chestnuts. A Cuban star. If you have a box of these in your humidor, you are a lucky soul. —Marvin R. Shanken 98 PADRÓN SERIE 1926 40TH ANNIVERSARY (2014) CIGAR AFICIONADO’S original Cigar of the Year is an age-worthy smoke that continues to delight. It’s a box-pressed torpedo with a sublime draw. It begins with notes of licorice and tart cherry before becoming chocolatey. Later, touches of coffee bean join the flavor party. Delicious, rich, rewarding. —David Savona 97 PARTAGÁS 150 ANIVERSARIO CORONA GRANDE (1995) Only 150 of these humidors were released to celebrate the…

Nicholas, Rich and Mike Fornaro honor Mike’s graduation from Saint Joseph’s University with drinks and cigars at his home in Hamilton, New Jersey. Luke Barden celebrates his graduation from Georgia State University with family while enjoying Cohiba and Romeo y Julieta cigars at home in Atlanta, Georgia. While aboard a harbor cruise in Newport Beach, California, Jim Cathcart, Lance Mora and Alex Icaza mark Jim’s 65th birthday with Scotch and cigars. Matt and Rachel Grossman at The Cigar Bar at the Nemacolin resort in Farmington, Pennsylvania, just before the Covid-19 pandemic. Longtime friends Brian McCarthy and Mike Albo pour a finger or two of Macallan 18 to sip with their Alec Bradley cigars in Maple Grove, Minnesota. To commemorate his 30th birthday, Robert Mier and Jorge Echevarria light up Cuban…

Cloistered in the French Alps between the turquoise edge of Lake Annecy and La Tournette mountain’s frosted peak is a five-star Relais & Chateau inn that’s not only home to a fine, Savoyard restaurant, but welcomes cigar smoking on its outdoor patio with a resplendent natural setting. The fairy-tale town is Talloires and the boutique hotel is Auberge du Père Bise, a luxury hideaway where the fresh mountain air and stunning lakeside views have lured the well-to-do from their stuffy city dwellings for more than 100 years. (Eight suites, 15 rooms, starting at $254.) An environmental restoration project that started in the late 1950s has turned Lake Annecy into what locals insist is the purest lake in all of Europe. One look at its Caribbean-like waters, and you’ll see the…

When Dustin Johnson arrived at Augusta National Golf Club last November for the strangest Masters of all, he strangely wasn’t the center of attention. Yes, he was the No. 1 player in the world, and by a comfortable margin. Yes, he had won three tournaments in 2020, marking the 13th consecutive year that he had won on the PGA Tour. Yes, he certainly was part of the conversation about who could win the most precious of the majors. But Bryson DeChambeau’s brute force assault on the game, which culminated in winning the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in September, was almost a social media shouting match when it came to the Masters. Would he bludgeon Augusta National to its knees? Would his 350-yard drives make the storied course little more…

It’s a Sunday afternoon in Atlantic City. Inside the sportsbook of Ocean Casino Resort, gamblers’ eyes dart between open betting apps on their phones and athletic play on the dozen or so monitors that fill a front-and-center wall. Games of football and basketball can be seen unspooling inside empty stadiums and arenas—a sensible bid aimed at stopping the spread of coronavirus—but lack of spectators is no issue at Ocean. There are plenty of fans in the house. In fact, from here in A.C. to Las Vegas, and many points in between, business at the books is booming and some casinos are investing mightily. At the newly opened Circa, in downtown Las Vegas, for example, a three-story-tall, high-definition screen floods the room with action, and games can be viewed (as well…

Last year may have started off normally enough, but 2020 turned out to be anything but typical, especially for the cigar industry. Shops had to close down, factories had to shut their doors and a general air of uncertainty plagued cigar smokers across the country in the wake of Covid-19. As it turned out, the industry adjusted to the circumstances, and despite the “pivots,” “new normals” or other buzzwords of 2020, Cigar Aficionado and Cigar Insider were able to conduct blind tastings with the same level of accuracy and volume as any other year. This analysis is an embodiment of 2020—a breakdown of 12 months’ worth of ratings, showing which countries produced the highest-rated cigars, which cigars excelled and which sizes performed at the highest level. It’s also a price…

Pandemic be damned, we’ve seen a flood of exciting new products lately, but few have generated anywhere near the buzz of the Ford Bronco. Make that Broncos—plural—because the Detroit automaker is rolling out three different versions—the familiar Bronco, in two-door and four-door models and a sport model—all with the same rugged DNA. And Ford is hinting that still other variants may be in the works. The smallest, the Bronco Sport, was the first out of the gate. It’s about the size of a Ford Escape crossover, with which it shares some underpinnings. But don’t think of it as just an Escape with bigger tires. The chief engineer Adrian Aguirre suggests, “It punches way above its weight.” The Bronco Sport is able to handle extreme off-road conditions and can make even…

With an estimated nine million metric tons of plastic dumped in the oceans annually, dive watch makers are making a splash by recycling that trash into fashionable wrist straps and more. In 2018, Breitling tapped Outerknown, the sustainable apparel company for NATO straps made with Econyl yarn derived from discarded fishing nets and other ocean waste. The Outerknown range of colors and sizes fit any Breitling. A brown Econyl strap outfits the new Superocean Heritage ’57 Outerknown, which takes its cues from the original SuperOcean from 1957 with arrow-shaped hands, oversize indexes and a distinctive concave bezel. The retro-styled COSC-certified chronometer with a bronze dial is available in stainless steel ($4,380) and with an 18-karat red-gold bezel ($5,225). Ulysse Nardin established a research unit dubbed the marine circular economy. Last…

Atiny piece of paper, 1¾” x 2¾”, with an image of an inverted biplane sold at auction in 2016 in New York for $1,351,250. Quite a return on investment as in 2005 the stamp had fetched $577,500. What made it so expensive? Supply and demand; only 100 of the Upside Down Jenny were printed before the mistake was discovered and the plane was righted. That’s not to say philately (a fancy term for stamp collecting) is all about speculation. The hobby opens our eyes to foreign travel, history, architecture and art. The study of stamps as well as postal history is among the most fulfilling and fascinating pastimes. And it isn’t for nerds. John Lennon’s stamp album was displayed at that same New York show that sold the Upside Down…

The term “malt” makes a drinker’s mind jump to Scotland, the lead producer of malted whiskies, whose beloved liquid barley spirit fills the shelves of liquor stores. Images of pot stills evoke the same visions, suggesting the stately vessels that pepper the glens of Caledonia. But just to the west of whiskey’s main producer lies an island with an equally rich heritage for distilling pure barley whiskey in copper spheres, one that is sometimes overlooked. And its bounty is returning as the Irish whiskey category surges with interesting spirits from new distilleries as well as broader choices from the Emerald Isle’s established producers. If you drink Irish whiskey you might know Ireland for its amicable, light blends, but just over a century ago it was also the wellspring of the…

General Tommy Franks • Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series Superior I may run out of furniture in my houses, but I damn sure won’t run out of humidors,” says Gen. Tommy R. Franks, who spearheaded America’s military response after the 9/11 terrorism attacks. Franks oversaw American military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. He spent his entire career in the Army, enlisting in 1965 and serving in Vietnam, and ultimately being promoted to Commander In Chief, United States Central Command. Today, Franks is 75 and retired, with several places he calls home, each with a cigar-friendly spot. “I make sure in each place that I have a place where I can smoke,” he says. “I smoke at least one cigar everyday.” He keeps busy nowadays…