HAVANA TRAINING TRIP - MARCH 2015

I've been a member of the Turmeaus management team for some years now and it has always been my dream to visit Cuba. 

My first time trip to Cuba was thanks to Hunters & Frankau and what a great trip it was! 

It was a long journey as I couldn't wait to land and grab a few cigars, but we had the dreaded passport control to deal with at Jose Marti airport which seemed to take almost as long as the flight, I don't think they liked the look of our line. 

We Arrived at the Hotel Nacional and I managed to get my hands on a couple of Vegueros cigars which was near the top of my list of cigars to smoke whilst here as well as any specials that I've not yet seen in the UK. I found these to be great little sticks, good burn, good draw and great taste, so I know I'm looking forward to these returning to the UK. Quick change and out for dinner, with a few more sticks. 

Next morning fresh start, with some fresh rolled robusto cigars from the Hotel Casa del Habano and then on with a tour of Old Havana, with the occasional stop off at the local Cigar Shops. All seem to carry pretty much the same cigars so finding something I'd enjoy was not a problem. 

No visit to Old Havana would be complete without a visit to the good ol' Partagas Factory and it was a great experience to see it. 

The afternoon was filled with a tour around Havana Club Museum accompanied by some rum sampling with a Romeo y Julieta. The sampling involved Havana Club 15 Year, Havana Club Seleccion De Maestros, Havana Club Maximo, Havana Club Union and Havana Club Hunters & Frankau Anniversario 225. The Havana Club Maximo is something else, very smooth and very tasty from the first sip to the great after taste, I think I died and went to heaven by this point but swiftly brought back to Earth with the sound of the fire alarm that we set off with the cigar smoke! 

Next day we were off to Pinar del Rio with a stop off at an Escogida to see how cigar leaves are sorted, stripped and fermented before they are rolled into little sticks of joy. 

From here on to the Hoyo de Monterrey plantation - the beginning. I've never seen anything like it, just plant after plant of delicious cigar leaf in the making. These leaves have it good over here, once picked they just get to hang around on a pole in the Casa de Tabaco.

We had the chance to visit the Hector Luis farm before leaving Pinar del Rio. Again more leaves just hanging around with nothing better to do but mature and become more beautiful in preparation for the next stage of their life. 

The cigar roller was busy rolling away so it was a good chance to grab some more freshly rolled cigars for later. I Popped out to Melia Cohiba for some Pizza in the evening which went down well with a Hoyo de Monterrey Coronation. 

We were a little spoilt in Cuba as we could smoke and enjoy cigars inside almost everywhere we went. 

Our 3rd day in Cuba started with a short coach journey to La Corona to see the cigars being rolled. 

This was a fantastic experience, 5 floors in this building each doing a different job from rolling the leaves, to checking the quality, to boxing them up ready for shipping. We were given a tour by the factory director which ended with a sampling of fresh Cohiba Robusto Supremo cigars which started in his office and ended in his conference room, boy did that room fill with cigar smoke quickly! 

This was a first for me with the CoRo Supremos and even though they were only few days old the burn and draw was great with a little bit of a sweet taste to it, so I may try ageing one to see how they turn out. 

The afternoon was spent at El Laguito with a small tour of the factory as they are in the middle of renovations. What a wonderful place to be in! Again the tour was given by the factory director which also ended with a cigar sampling of a Cohiba Siglo VI that was rolled just that morning. 

I think I've been picked up the best of the bunch were cigar are concerned, every cigar was great from start to finish and the Siglo VI did not let me down, it was also a little sweeter than the CoRo Supremos. 

In the evening we were off to Club Tropicana with some generous servings of Havana Club 7 Year Rum. What a fantastic show they put on here, simply breath taking. 

Final day in Havana so it was off to the ICT Factory where the machine made cigars are produced. We were given another full tour of the facility by the Factory Director and were taken through every product from start to finish. 

In the afternoon it was a visit to Habanos SA Head Office for a chat with Maique. This is an experience and privilege of its own being here at the heart of Habanos. 

Maique was ready to answer any and every question we threw at him, I think he has a cheat sheet of FAQ's that he revises before meetings like those! 

We were treated to an H.Upmann Magnum 46, not sure how old they were as they were served up on a silver tray, very nice touch, might need to use that idea in the future. 

The end of this visit involved a stay over at Paradisus Resort with all the trimmings. Most of this time was spent bathing in the glorious Cuban sun, cocktail in one hand, cigar in the other. A good number of the H.Upmann Half Corona's were smoked at this point. I found these sticks to work well with most cocktails, especially the rum based ones anyway. 

Little catamaran cruise with a Montecristo No. 2 on the Sunday so now that's one off the bucket list too.



My thanks to Hunters & Frankau for such a memorable trip and to C.Gars Ltd for proposing me for this incredible experience. 

Best wishes, and happy smoking, 

Ian