The Cigar Companion [antikvár]

(^has been said that a fellow cigar smoker is a friend. I feel ^^?y the same about cigar books. My life is a story of passions, and one of my greatest moments is sitting back in a welcoming leather chair and carefully putting a match to an artfully-prepared, handrolled cigar. Each time I light up a great smoke from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, or Honduras, I take time to fully savor the complexity of the tobacco blend and the happy marriage between the filler tobacco, the binder leaf, and the silky-smooth wrapper. I can see in my mind's eye the delicate, highly skilled fingers of an experienced roller applying the finishing touches to a cigar. For a brief moment, as I remember the pungent aroma in a cigar factory, everything else is blocked out from my mind. I recreate each step in the life of an outstanding cigar, from the deep emerald leaves in the field, to the sticky skin-smoothing humidity in a curing barn, to the carefully measured piles of tobacco on a rolling desk, and, finally, to the deeply aromatic cedar aging rooms in which a cigar rests before beginning its journey. One of my greatest moments with cigars was in Cuba. On my first trip to Havana, I was shown the Romeo Y Julieta factory. My visit was announced over a loudspeaker in the factory's main work room where 190 cigar rollers were busily rolling their daily quota of 100 cigars. On hearing I was an American journalist, they stopped, and in unison began banging their chavettas (cutting knives) on their desks. The rhythmic chorus of steel blades tapped on the hardened wood surfaces of the desks sent shivers up my spine. I was, literally, overcome with joy. I felt part of a worldwide network of cigar lovers. I approach each smoke of a cigar with a sense of anticipation. Like many things in life, the more I know, the better understanding I have, and ultimately, the more enjoyment. Well-researched books contribute greatly to my overall appreciation of a subject, and, with this book, my understanding of cigars will be greater and my pleasure undoubtedly enhanced. Marvin R. Shanken MAV 1993