Innehållsförteckning för November/December 2018 från Cigar Aficionado

You’re to be forgiven if you think of fruitcake as a punch line rather than a culinary treat. We’ve all encountered that stale doorstop of a cake embedded with iridescent fruit that inspired the old joke: There’s only one fruitcake on Earth and people endlessly regift it to each other. Prepare to rethink this holiday tradition/terror. Today, there’s an extremely refined version that even fruitcake haters will love. Robin McKay, a professional chef in New York’s Hudson Valley, first attempted a fruitcake for her British boyfriend, himself a fruitcake connoisseur, and ended up taking it to a level that even Americans will appreciate. It’s 100 percent natural. No preservatives of any kind. Not a single radioactive looking candied red or green cherry. The result is a dense flavor bomb, each…

There’s a tribal pull to a firepit: Friends gather, conversation flows, the smoke of your cigar blends with the cinders. It’s magnetic, like the kitchen in your home. So why would you put a Sub Zero and a Wolf stove inside and not build anything but an investment grade centerpiece for the backyard? “This is something you’ll pass down to your children,” says Mike Bertelsen, the creator of the Cowboy Cauldron, a suspended firepit that—like the Big Green Egg and other “heirloom grade” hard goods—has inspired devotion. “It suits your most primal instinct. Around a circle, face to face, not looking at it like a screen.” Bertelsen, a D.C. lobbyist, says the Cauldron idea sprung from a visit to George Washington’s Mount Vernon. “They had a couple of braziers hanging…

The waiter pours your coffee, strong and hot. As you take that first, bracing sip, you stare out from your perch and look down upon the verdant green carpet stretched out far beneath you, the lush Cibao Valley of Santiago, Dominican Republic. Puffs of morning mist blanket the hills below, rising slowly, and you light your first cigar of the day. The view from the wraparound balcony at the Camp David Ranch, a hotel and restaurant perched high above the city of Santiago, is breathtaking in the morning, and nearly as beautiful at night. From up here one can look down upon nearly the entire city, where most Dominican cigars are rolled. The small homes and buildings far below that dot the landscape—bright and green, small plots of farmland between…

The Cuban Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo de San Juan scored 92 points and is a perfect example of Habanos S.A.’s shift towards thicker cigars, as it’s one of the thickest Hoyos in the entire line. Cigarmaker A.J. Fernandez has become the industry’s go-to guy when large companies want to reblend and reboot their classic Cuban cigar brands for the U.S. market (with non-Cuban tobacco). In the case of the Ramon Allones by AJ Fernandez Toro (92 points), he produces and distributes the cigar, but doesn’t own the trademark. The San Cristobal Quintessence is made in Nicaragua by My Father Cigars for Ashton. It scored 92 points with a defining core of leather and black pepper.…

One doesn’t normally associate richness and body with cigars wrapped in Connecticut shade, nor does one associate a $5 cigar with very high scores, but the Charter Oak CT Shade Rothschild shatters both preconceived notions. It scored 93 points for its abundance of complex flavors as well as its medium-to-full body. The brand comes to us via the Foundation Cigar Co., owned by Nicholas Melillo, who decided to price this cigar in value-brand territory. It’s the highest-rated smoke of the category and one of the best values of the issue. The Cuban Montecristo Edmundo scored 92 points, unfolding the luxurious layers of complexity expected from such a storied Cuban brand.…

In a world of fast food and one-size-fits-all sensibilities, how often does something feel made especially for you? The “Made for You” section celebrates those items that are created with such high quality of hand workmanship and degree of customization that they become individual to you. In each issue, our editors will endeavor to bring you special things from anywhere on the globe, choosing them solely on the basis of outstanding quality. Our goal is to give you guidance on the best of everything. 1 GRAND TOURING—AIRSTREAM We love Airstream trailers for their deco-like bullet design, but for serious touring the company’s Interstate Class-B motorhome lineup fits the bill. The latest in the series is the Interstate EXT Slate edition. It comes on the familiar Mercedes-Benz platform and includes both…

While the 3-Series may be the most popular—read: financially attainable—BMW, the brand’s heart and soul is in the 5-Series, a sedan that blends luxury and performance into one delightful package. At least it was until the last-generation 5-er seemed to lose a little bit of the passion that made it such a standout. So it was with trepidation that auto scribes awaited the latest version of their midsize model, the 2019 BMW M5. Would it lack some of the crisp steering and handling of earlier models? Could any BMW really be an M if it swapped out the manual or double-clutch gearbox for… wait for it… an eight-speed automatic? What about the idea of punching power to all four wheels, rather than the back axle? On a day’s drive through…

Everyone knows a sandwich tastes better when someone else makes it for you. And if you want a perfectly aged bottle of vintage Champagne, you let the experts do it. That’s the concept behind Champagne library releases, allocated bottlings of top vintages from a handful of producers. Unlike most wines, Champagne undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle to create its bubbles. The final production step is disgorgement in which sediment in the neck is removed (for a top vintage-dated cuvée that moment typically comes four to seven years after harvest). Standard Champagne aging—something anyone with a good wine cooler could do—is a post-disgorgement cellaring process. But real aging expertise comes before disgorgement. The chef de cave (head winemaker) extends maturation and contact with the enriching sediment, carefully monitoring select…

DANNY DEVITO can visualize it perfectly, as though through a director’s viewfinder: A large tobacco field in Cuba. A carpet of green fills the frame, as viewed from overhead by that latest tool in the cinematographer’s bag of tricks, a drone camera. And in the middle of this emerald vision stands…Danny DeVito, a triumphant smile on his face, enjoying his favorite cigar, a Partagás Serie D No. 4. “Imagine that cover,” DeVito says of his imaginary shoot for this story. He adds with a conspiratorial smile, “We should have gone to Cuba for this interview.” It’s probably redundant to call DeVito’s smile conspiratorial. Subversive and devious have been his default comic modes from the time he claimed his place in American popular culture playing acerbic dispatcher Louie De Palma in…

The infinity pool stretches out before you, cool and inviting. You light your cigar as a waiter brings an icy cocktail, and peruse the day’s menu, pondering your next move. At Casa de Campo, the choices are considerable. The resort is vast—7,000 acres—and all guests are assigned a personal golf cart upon check in. You may be here for golf, but the cart is not for the course. You’ll use it to get around the property. The resort has a little bit of everything, first and foremost some of the finest golf in the Caribbean (see page 86). Casa de Campo opened in 1974 as an executive retreat for conglomerate Gulf + Western. If you stayed here many years ago and think you know Casa de Campo, you don’t. A…

Astatue of Nicolás de Ovando stands atop a marble base in the middle of a piazza that dates back to the 16th century. Cast in bronze, he’s a bit shorter and a bit stouter than his famous contemporary Christopher Columbus, but his pose and dark patina are no less dignified. Columbus might get all the glory for discovering the New World, but here in the colonial section of Santo Domingo, Ovando is the real rock star. A respected figure in this part of the Dominican Republic, Ovando helped to found the capital city of Santo Domingo and is properly memorialized for it. Cigars aside, one of Santo Domingo’s biggest attractions is its famed Colonial City, a seaside district set on the Ozama River whose ancient fortresses and massive defensive walls…

Was Tiger Woods’ victory in the Tour Championship on September 23 the greatest comeback in sports history? It was, to be sure, huge. Even more, it was Hoganesque. Only 18 months before the win, Woods could barely move, let alone swing a golf club. “I was beyond playing. I couldn’t sit. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t lay down without feeling the pain in my back and my leg,” he says. In April 2017, he was lying on an operating table undergoing spinal fusion surgery, an operation that finally seemed to end years of physical and emotional agony, years that he no longer competed like the all-time great with 14 major championships, years that he barely competed at all. But a year and a half after that surgery, the vast throngs…

Three cigars—each from a different country, each representing different blending styles—scored 91 points to lead this category. La Aurora is proudly the oldest cigar factory in the Dominican Republic, and its 1903 Cameroon blend has tobacco from four countries. The Nicaraguan Nat Cicco Aniversario 1965 Liga No. 4 was created to commemorate the company’s first brand back in 1965, which was quite a different smoke, a factory reject, value cigar. The Punch Sir David, another commemorative smoke, honors the late David Tang, bon vivant and founder of Pacific Cigar Co. Ltd., which distributes Cuban cigars throughout the Asia Pacific region. It had its market debut in August.…

It’s difficult to blend a mild cigar with distinctive character. Conversely, it’s just as challenging to blend a full-bodied cigar that has balance. But the Flor de Las Antillas Belicoso scored an astonishing 95 points for achieving just that—power and grace. The high score makes the cigar an instant classic on our rating scale, and it’s a showcase of the blender’s art, as it’s both bold and intense, but maintains a steady procession of flavor without ever becoming borish or overpowering. Like a well-paced meal, the cigar builds, starting off more medium bodied and developing in both body and richness. More astonishing than its performance is the price. Cigars that score 95 points are rare in our pages, but to have one that retails for $7.50 is more than a…

Tokyo’s vast skyline, its towers aglow with blinking red lights, fans out beneath the 33rd-floor windows of your room at the new Prince Gallery Tokyo Kioicho hotel. The mesmerizing urban landscape is the focal point of the design through spans of glass with a daybed in the window inviting you to contemplate the futuristic metropolis. And yet, in Kyoto, just a few hours to the southwest by bullet train, the same hotel collection presents Suiran, where Japan’s ancient cultural traditions are still preserved and revered. Visitors can have the best of both eras. In its way Kioicho leaves some of the frenetic buzz of Tokyo’s pulsing streets solidly on terra firma as the 36th-floor reception area reveals an overlook of the dramatic two-story Levita lounge with the skyline beyond. The…

The inherent beauty of the Dominican Republic makes itself known to the first-time traveler from the sky. As the plane begins a slow bank in the thick, tropical air, grand stretches of green fill the land below. Tobacco fields and plaintain farms, mountains and lush valleys. The world teems with life. This is a land where tourists have plenty to keep them busy, from white-sand beaches and blue waters to worldclass golf. One can walk through history on cobblestone streets, sit down to a flavorful meal of local cuisine or simply relax in style. And this is also a country of cigars. They have been rolled here since 1903. Over the past two decades, more cigars have been made by hand in the Dominican Republic than any other place on…

Three decades ago, Adrian Zecha’s search for a beachfront home in Phuket, Thailand, led him to open a small resort he called Amanpuri. The term “boutique resort” was not yet in vogue, but the escapist luxury property drew a passionate and loyal following. Today, there are now almost 30 Aman Resorts worldwide, and “Aman junkies” are among the most devoted customers in travel. The brand spans four continents, with urban properties, mountain properties, and even UNESCO World Heritage Sites. But one luxury travel niche Aman has lacked has been a golf property—until now. The Dominican Republic has long been the king of Caribbean golf, but its hidden gem is the Playa Grande Golf Course, a stunning Robert Trent Jones Sr. clifftop design on the country’s less-visited north shore. Evocative of…

The Casa Cuba Doble Tres from the Fuente family scored 93 points and is emblematic of a different era in cigarmaking—understated, yet full of character without having to be a full-bodied powerhouse. Made in the Dominican Republic, Casa Cuba was created by Carlos Fuente Sr. (who died in 2016) and released in 2013. The size Doble Tres is named after a Cuban domino. La Colmena Amado No. 44 scored 93 points as well and is one of the few Miami-made cigars in this tasting. The medium-bodied brand is part of the Warped portfolio (owned by Kyle Gellis) and rolled at the El Titan de Bronze factory in Miami’s Little Havana. Both cigars emphasize balance over strength.…

The brand name is quirky and the size might have you scratching your head, but the Room101 Farce It Is A Magnum scored 92 points and showed a rather playful balance of spices that ranged from sweet to fiery. The name and the blend are reflections of brand owner Matt Booth, who has always taken a whimsical, yet interesting approach to cigars. The thick, 60 ring gauge allowed for ample blending of tobacco from five countries. Made in the Dominican Republic, this is the first Room101 brand released by Booth since he left Davidoff of Geneva in 2017 and went out on his own. The CLE Connecticut 60x6 scored 91 points and is made in Honduras. The name CLE are the initials of brand owner Christian Luis Eiroa, who frequently…

94 ROMEO Y JULIETA DUNHILL SUN-GROWN BREVA (1959) This cabinet of 50 pre-Castro cigars has unusual packaging, and the smaller cigars inside come packed in foil. The smokes are dark brown, and roughish in texture, a nod to the sun-grown wrappers with which they are made, and they measure a little more than five inches in length, with a ring gauge of around 44. It’s a well-made cigar, and it gives off a chocolaty aroma as it burns. It doesn’t have a typical taste or finish of a pre-Castro cigar. There are tones of black pepper and some charred, burnt qualities. Stronger than most with this type of age. —Marvin R. Shanken 96 MONTECRISTO NO. 1 (1989) This 29-year-old lonsdale is drop-dead gorgeous, with a silky wrapper and superb construction.…

The Chinese-made sedan lurched down a one-lane dirt road, skirting puddles of water and seeking high ground between the deep ruts. The small town of San Luís is a few miles away, as the crow flies, but unlike the trip on the wings of a bird this journey by earth is long and slow. There had already been three stops, each of them to ask someone walking if anyone knew the whereabouts of Sergio Paz’s farm. Then it appeared, a wooden slat tobacco barn nearly jutting out into the reddish clay road, with a vintage tractor idling in front of an open door. The visitors stepped inside the dank, hot interior, with tobacco leaves hanging on horizontal poles all the way to the ceiling. The question was asked again: “Is…