While waiting for our departure at the airport lounge at Havanas José Marti airport I had an interesting chat with Salvadore Parisi, the famous Italian cigar connoisseur. Smoking what was the final cigar of this trip we thought about the future of Cuban cigars. What will a Havana cigar stand for in 10years ? Will we face single estate cigars from Havana soon ? Will the Cubans start making cigars with tobacco from just one single Vega, from just one single field ? Will we have Vintage Havanas from these Single Tobacco Plantations ? Most likely yes, as the the Habanos world is not static at all…..

The cigars I have test smoked during this week we picked by random. Very much to my surprise non of them failed and the early 2008 smokes show a nice sweetness. Nothing like the cigars I have tasted years ago as now they are packed with fresh tobacco taste (yes), sweet flavours and a hell of a lot of potential. If my memory is not completely wrong they smoke as good as in the mid 1990 when I first travelled to Havana. Some of the highlights I have already mentioned as the Montecristo Sublimes and Cuaba Piramides are breathtaking smokes. They will be out to the markets in Summer 2008.

For the more about the festivals events see Christoph’s blog on www.thecigarsmoker.com