Today's saturday. After finishing some work I was lucky enough to have a free afternoon. That means I was off to my second "Living room", the "La Corona" Cigar store and lounge in the ancient town of Rapperswil City. Fortunately, friends of the cultivated smoke are still welcome for a good cigar in this location. It was definitely not outdoor-smoking weather: I even thought I saw some first ice-rain dropping. Grabbed my umbrella and off I was.
No need to walk by sight: The pleasant tobacco flavours emerging from the "salon" already caught me when I was still three blocks away. Some familiar faces were puffing the rainy weather away. You have to love the guys. They're always in for either a nice chat or, if you prefer, no talking at all. But without anyone having that arkward "silent moment" feeling. People appreciating good cuisine, fine wines or premium smokes are masters of non-verbal communication. I claim that places designed for aficionados are the best spot to make some interesting encounters, as everybody feels like a part of a family of similar-minded individuals. There was an air of relaxation filling the room beside the obvious smoke of various cigars.
Following the weather, I decided I'd go for a tea bought five minutes earlier a few shops down the alley. As for the cigar, an aficionado friend suggested I'd try the "Partagas Salomones". It's a special edition reserved for sale by "Casas del Habano", the chain working closest with Cuba's distribution monopoly Habanos S.A.
As Andi Stachl is well connected in the world of cigars and especially those of cuban origin, he had a box to pick from nonetheless as he and his shop are officially marked "Habanos Specialist".
The brand "Partagas" always stands for great quality and a very distinctive taste that suits many "connaisseurs". This stick was no exception: It started smoothly and could be clearly divided into three parts of flavour during the smoke. The second third was rich and aromatic, but without the usual "Partagas-kick". Co-smokers who were "working" on the same model found it to be better balanced than the standard cigars of this brand. I for my part really missed that oily sweetness you find in the "Lusitanias" for example. The last third came along with a dry harshness filling the whole palate. I was happy to have enough tea for breaks in between.
The cigar's format is indisputably great. "Salomones" sizes are always a pleasure to see and smoke with their ring gauge of 57 and this one also had a nice dark coloured wrapper and that additional "Casa del Habano"-anillo that tag it as a special edition.
After two very pleasant hours of smoking and discussions about wine and tobacco I was ready to go home for 5'o'clock tea. But Andi wouldn't let me go until he had showed me the latest arrival to his stock: The Cohiba Gran Reserva. This series is so special and rare (and thus expensive) that I'll give them an own post to duly present them.
With regards to the weather, today's item is definately the umbrella, "yusan" in chinese. "Yu" on the left side stands for rain. You can clearly see the "rain drops" embedded in something that could be an abstract cloud. Whereas the character on the right "san" doesn't need any explanation: If you drew an umbrella with a couple of lines, that's what it probably would look like. Notice the resemblance?
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