The great actor/manager Sam Neill is, in his spare time, also the President of the People’s Republic of Pinot. He has put up on his website a simple test John designed as a guide to a knowledge of fine wines. Here it is:
Are You a Wine Expert?

• Do you have more than two books about wine?
• Are your other books about food, rugby and the genius of Neil Diamond?
• Have you ever held a glass up to the light, rolled the wine around and said ‘Yes. Excellent’
• Do you think the wine is better if the bottle is covered in dust?
• When you hear that something has a good nose, do you you think of Gerard Depardieu?
• Do you think Sangiovese is quite a handy flanker from Hawkes Bay?
• Do you send wine back, but order the sausages?
• Have you ever stopped singing ‘Danny Boy’ in order to ask a friend which side of the hill the wine comes from?
• Do you regard anything over $12 as an investment wine?
• Do you think a garagiste is a person skilled in the housing of tractors?
• When you see a refractometer, do your bowels tighten slightly?
• Do you think Chateau Margaux is where Rudolf Nureyev had his barrique looked after?
• Do you frequently tell people red wine is good for you because it contains antioxidants?
• Have you ever considered refraining from eating oxidants?
• Do you wish to personally congratulate the man who invented the screw-top wine bottle?
• Do you swill a small taste of wine thoughtfully around on your palate before spitting into the sommelier?
• When you hear mention of a drip dickey, do your thoughts turn automatically to the trouser?
• Have you ever consciously attended a horizontal wine-tasting?
• When you enjoy a Reserve Pinot, do you secretly hope one of the other Pinots gets injured, so it can get a run on the park?
• When being breathalysed, have you ever asked the police officer for a pH reading?

By Alexander Britell

While Cuban cigars are renowned the world over for their quality and their history, the process of how Cuban cigars are made – and just what they mean to the Cuban people – have remained largely unexplored, particularly in film. But thanks to the efforts of James Suckling – one of the world’s leading experts on cigars (and wine), viewers of his new film, Cigars: The Heart & Soul of Cuba, get a unique glimpse into the culture and production of habanos. Suckling, the former European Editor at Cigar Aficionado and now the pioneer of a new media venture, JamesSuckling.com, that provides cutting-edge analysis of wine and cigars, guides the film, which was written and directed by noted Canadian director James Orr. To learn more, Caribbean Journal talked to Suckling about Cuban cigars, their importance to the Cuban people and what makes them one of the most sought-after products in the world.

What motivated you to make Cigars: The Heart and Soul of Cuba?

I always wanted to do a movie on Cuban cigars, because I’ve been going [to Cuba] since the early 1990s as the European Editor of Cigar Aficionado. So when I left the magazine, one of the main reasons was that I wanted to do this movie on Cuban cigars.

What was the process like making the film?

The process was actually a lot easier than one might expect. I know the subject very well, after writing about Cuban cigars for almost two decades, and then I was working with my friend, director James Orr [Sister Act; Three Men and a Baby], who is a very accomplished Canadian film director, and he smokes cigars, and he’s one of my best friends. So we didn’t really have a script. It was all done spontaneously, and it went really well. We had a local film crew, and worked with an English guy who has a travel business there, so he also helped in the production. It was a really fun project, with friends, and it came out really well.

What do cigars mean for Cuba?

I think it’s almost like a religion for Cubans. They have such pride in cigars, and the tradition, the process, it’s part of their culture, so it’s sort of like when you think of wine, with Frenchmen, or pasta with an Italian.

You’ve been traveling to the country for some time now – what does Cuba mean for you?

There’s something mysterious about Cuba. The people are educated, the histories are amazing – going back to Columbus, and everything is just so beautiful with the colonial architecture. It’s like going back in time.

Did you learn anything in making the film that you didn’t expect?

Because when we filmed it, we didn’t really have a script, in an interesting way, we didn’t know completely what we had. We went though the process of cigars, but it was really a journey to find out why Cuban cigars are the best in the world, why they are so exceptional. In the end, after five days of doing the film, it was really my sort of journey, into finding out why. Obviously the things are the soil, the climate, the processes, the history – all of this accounts for the greatness of Cuban cigars. But in the end, what we realized was that it was the people, the Cuban people, that make it with such passion and love.

How do cigars impact other facets of Cuban life?

I don’t think it impacts it much at all – other than that it’s an accepted pleasure and pastime in Cuban life. It’s also used in their Afro-Caribbean religion, Santeria, but it’s just something that a Cuban enjoys – like a good glass of rum – it’s just sort of part of life.

How much has the quality of Cuban cigars changed over the years?

From about when I started going there in the early 90s, the quality was amazing. Production was pretty small. And then, by around 1998, they started over-producing, and the quality went down until about 2001. Then they started really focusing on quality, and fine-tuning some of the process. Now, I think the quality is back up to where it should be.

What do you see going forward for Cuban cigars vis-à-vis the United States?

Well, if the embargo were dropped, they might be able to sell their entire production. Right now, estimates are that they export about 80 million to 100 million cigars a year, and maybe as much as a third of that goes to the US anyway – whether it’s Americans traveling, buying them, or them being smuggled in. America is probably now the biggest consumer of Cuban cigars.

What do you ultimately want people to take away from this film?

I hope that the film can give people the feeling of how Cubans are, and how Cubans are very much like all of us, with the same aspirations and feelings, that this sort of forgotten island for many people actually has much more in common with us than we may think. I think the biggest thing is, when people see the movie, they can ‘t believe how much work goes into the production of Cuban cigars – from growing the tobacco – where the tobacco may have been handled over a hundred times through making the cigar, and can go through 200 processes. So it’s really interesting – I had no idea about how much went into making the cigar, and in a way I can’t believe how inexpensive they are. I think what I liked, too, about the movie is that by seeing the process, seeing the people behind it, you really get an idea that, in this age of internet and Twitter and Facebook, that there are still products like Cuban cigars that are really hand made, that are artisanal products, and I think this is really important.

Today I was fortunate enough to find a wonderful post on a cigar forum site, www.friendsofhabanos.com, where not only have I participated online but met members in person several times at a herf, or gathering to smoke fine cigars. This post tells of the delicious pairing of salty foods and cigars. The author was kind enough to allow me to post it here. Enjoy!

I am currently teaching at The College, first year. Unlike now, where neophytes take their courses based on their area of expertise, all first years took Foundation Studies: 2-d Design, 3-d Design, Colour Theory, Drawing, Symbol, a couple of others I cannot remember. This was over thirty yeas ago!

Two Dimensional design consisted of creating a series of acrylic canvases for an older fellow named James Cridland who had little patience for students who did not understand his humour but was a very nice man. He had a huge farm of dairy cows north of the city and came in several days of the week to train us.

Move ahead thirty years… I have become a successful graphic designer, illustrator, account director, wife and mom, and somewhat of a vintage art collector. We enter the BUNGALOW shop in Toronto’s Kensington Market and find this lovely painting on the wall, marked 1960′s graphic whatever.

NO NO NO I say, that’s from my class, Jim Cridland, OCA, 2-D design, 1979-ish. Matthew says, “You have to be kidding”. The owner pulls it down from the wall, and not only am I right, but I even know the artist, none other than Kim Yakota, who I worked with for years.

This is the painting. That is me in the class. These are the markings on the back, and that is the logo of the Art College way back when. The painting graces our dining room wall and we were thrilled to purchase it for $200.

Here in the province of Ontario, Canada, we take them so seriously that I dared to attempt to bake some and take them to a dinner party. I worked at it for 2 days. And I lied about making them until a positive reponse came through so I could blame it on someone else if they sucked.

Well turns out they did NOT suck and so I thought I would share the experience and recipe with you!

LISA’S BUTTER TART RECIPE

Filling:

• 1/2 cup room temperature butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• a few drops of lemon juice

In a medium bowl cream together all of the filling ingredients until smooth.

Pastry:

• ice cubes
• water
• 2 1/2 cups (625 mL) all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp (5 mL) salt
• 1 cup (250 mL) cold lard or shortening (8 oz/250 g)
• 1 tsp (5 mL) white vinegar or lemon juice
• 1 egg, beaten

Pastry:
Place three ice cubes in a measuring cup and add enough water to cover. Set aside.

In a bowl with a spatula and a pastry cutter [or in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade], combine the flour and salt. Blend well. Cut the cold lard into cubes and add to the flour. Cut in the lard just until the mixture resembles large flake oatmeal.

In a glass measuring cup, whisk the vinegar and the egg. Add enough of the reserved ice water to make 1/2 cup (125 mL). With the motor of the food processor running or while stirring vigorously, pour in the egg mixture. Blend until the mixture forms a ball.

Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap. If necessary, knead to make a smooth ball. Press into a disk and wrap tightly. Refrigerate for 45 minutes. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness adding extra flour to prevent sticking. Cut to fit 5 oz (125 mL) muffin tins using a 6-inch (18-cm) cutter (or smaller if you want to make more tarts). Refrigerate until ready to fill. We filled them 3/4 full.

Bake 375 for 17-19 minutes

Carlito Fuente of Arturo Fuente Cigars initially intended the summer crop only as a setting for Garcia’s movie, The Lost City, in 2004. Veteran actor and director Garcia, though, had other ideas. “When we finished shooting the scene, I asked Carlito what he was going to do with the tobacco,” Garcia recalled. “He said if the tobacco was good he’d use it. I suggested using it to make cigars with the logo from The Lost City, and that the project would benefit his foundation” — the Cigar Family Charitable Foundation, which provides education and health services to communities in the Dominican Republic. After five years of careful aging, the summer-grown tobacco turned out to be superb: a leaf exhibiting all the celebrated complexity of the original Fuente Fuente OpusX wrapper, but with a unique character all its own. The medium-to-full body, and complex and sophisticated flavors of the summer-grown wrapper make Fuente Fuente OpusX The Lost City a distinctive experience for any cigar connoisseurs, no matter what their taste or preference.

The Lost City portrays the passions and conflicts of a Cuban family torn apart by the revolution. Garcia plays club owner Fico Fellove, who faces intense pressure both from politicians who are pulling his country apart and from mobsters who want to muscle in on his business. In the movie’s most poignant scene, Fico’s brother Ricardo—who has become a high-ranking official in the new Castro regime—visits their uncle Donoso at his farm to inform him that Fidel’s regime will confiscate his tobacco farm. Donoso, who could not control his disappointment and anger with Ricardo, has a heart attack and dies at his own farm, and Ricardo, overcome by grief, commits suicide shortly afterward.

To further emphasize the Fuentes’ position on the store’s purpose, the Fuente family opted not to be financial partners in the venture. The store is a straightforward licensing deal, structured as a partnership between the Freys and Levin, who pay an annual royalty fee directly to The Cigar Family Charitable Foundation.

A sub branded and even rarer cigar in this line is the Opus X Forbidden Lost City. I, ahem, just happen to have smoked one of these tonight so I thought I would share it with distinguished readers. Enjoy!

Here is a review of one… and you will love the name!

Here are some of my favorites.

From top left:

Aroma De Cuba, Nicaragua; Zino “Chubby”, Dominican; Cohiba Behike (pronounced BeHeeKay), Cuba; Opus X, Dominican; La Aurora 107, Dominican; La Aurora Preferido Cameroon, Dominican; Bolivar 1895 (non-Cuban), Domincan; AveMaria, Nicaragua; AVO, Dominican; Davidoff Moduro, Dominican.

Why so few Cuban entries you may ask? For this posting, they just did not have the artful labels.

Cigars and coffee have been matched together as long as they have been making cigars and growing coffee beens. The rich taste of the cigar matched with a succulent cup of coffee starts the day for many as well as anytime of the day. One of the hottest brands out today is Rocket Fuel Coffee, owned by Lisa Rotenburg, and has a variety of coffees to fit every taste. Lisa took a moment recently to sit a chat with GCPuffs.



G.C. Thanks Lisa for taking time for us,how did you start in the coffee world?

L.R. As an illustrator and graphic designer, I was looking for a business I could run from home that would make use of my extensive portfolio of illustrations and paintings. I have been painting for about 15 years. Every painting is recorded as a high resolution scan and can be used as licensed property – cards, posters, you name it.  I saw a coffee company for sale but realized I did not have to buy anything I could start the site myself based on my experience as a graphic designer, a Power Seller on eBay and an entrepreneur. I found a supplier here in Toronto and went to CoffeeFest in Chicago to learn about the industry. My husband Matthew is a CEO and chartered accountant and fabulous mentor. We both happen to love coffee. The rest is pretty much learning as I have gone along and here three years later, we have http://www.rocketfuelcoffee.com/.

G.C. You often talk about cigars, how long have you enjoyed them?

L.R. About 4 years ago Matthew brought home a couple of cigars from a golf tournament. We tried them on our back porch and liked them but it was way too strong for me. We visited a shop near us and I tried a vanilla “thing” and we started being regular customers, moving into Cuban mild cigars, buying a small humidor. When I opened my coffee business, we became more interested in these premium topics such as Single Malt Scotch, cigars, and steaks.
Two years ago I became very active on coffee forums on the internet, even moderating one of them. I am very active on Facebook and Twitter, with literally thousands of contacts combined in these venues. Last year I figured it out that cigar folks might become coffee customers if I joined their forums. It is risky as they don’t much like a female in there too much – and I am the only one most of the time. But I am trying my best to hold my own and I am a good cigar customer on the
trade section so I think that is why they tolerate me.

G.C. How do you think the combination of cigars and coffee work as a pairing and is that something you try to promote as a cigar smoker?

L.R. Cigars and coffee are the perfect pairing and are part of what I call my “$25 theory”. This is before we even get to the perfect taste complement, which I will get to in a moment. Lisa’s $25 theory suggests that if you will spend $25 on a wonderful cigar (or 2), or a half pound of great coffee, a glass of single malt Scotch, a decent bottle of wine, delicious dessert for 2, a good rib eye steak… you get the idea where this list is going… you will buy the items interchangeably on the list. So to participate on these discussion forums or market to one will market to the other. So on my website it is very nice to list a coffee and cigar pairing. Everyone wins. And it is delicious!

G.C. With all your involved in with cigars and the coffee, what is it that you find gives you a get away from it, time to just relax?

L.R. It is with coffee and cigars that I do relax… at our log home in Feversham, north of Toronto.

G.C.What do you see for the future of your coffee?

L.R. We are working on a couple of very interesting projects right now where we are trying to sell larger volumes of Rocketfuelcoffee.com. One is getting involved on a Group Coupon site. We like the idea of roasting fresh Hawaiian Kona and Jamaican Blue Mountain Rocketfuelcoffee.com and putting together a one or two pound gift box and shipping it out to customers on these venues. A second project I have been exploring is called Raiserbean.It allows schools, churches, foundations or hospitals to use Rocketfuelcoffee.com for fundraising. They sell our amazing coffee and split the profit with us. We can even design custom labels for them. Of course the link with cigars is always on our mind!

G.C. You seem to really enjoy what you do. Is there ever a time it gets to be a little to much?

L.R. Interesting that you should ask that. This is not only a business for me. I am kind of obsessed about coffee, cigars and art. A good steak, a glass of single malt scotch and you have a great day for me. I can talk about these things forever. My husband has to shut me up. So it does not get to be too much for me. It is others that perhaps that I should be more worried about.

G.C. What’s next for you? Any new coffee coming out?

L.R. Right now I am very active in the art tours in my community where that log home is located. My paintings sell very well and I love painting up there. The coffees sell well and I love sitting on our back deck smoking special cigars. Recently I discovered Casa Fuentes, but they are hard to get up here! Trading for coffee is a good way to get them. New coffee? Folks seem to like the best ones we have. New ones don’t do as well.

G.C. Again thanks Lisa.

L.R. You’re welcome!!

If you have not tried Rocketfuelcoffee.com, you’re missing out on some of the best gourmet coffee on the market. Check out the web site and try some. If you’re not sure about what type you may like, ask Lisa, she loves to help!
G.C.

And here I am with Jorge, the man himself:

My only comment about the cigars, which lit beautifully, smoked evenly and tasted of caramel, coffee and sweetness, is they were slightly bitter. I think that is because they were straight off the rolling table. I bought several (at $15-20 per, how could I not??) and will store them in my humidor for 6 months to a year and revisit and report.