Commemorated With Cigars

The Nicaraguan cigar maker Tabacarela Perdomo manufactures a cigar line named "COMPAY" to honor the Cuba's rich music history and the late Compay Segundo, the legendary musician (the Perdomo family, by the way, originates from Cuba). The "COMPAY" line has four cigars called... you guessed - Buena, Vista, Social, and Club (sounds familiar?).

Compay is a special blend of medium-bodied, vintage Nicaraguan tobaccos in a dark maduro cameron wrapper. They are medium bodied and produce a soft and extremely well balanced smoke. As an avid fan of the music group, I take of my hat to the person who decided to name them. They are available in four classic sizes: "Buena" (4.5 X 52 Robusto); "Vista" (6 X 50 Toro); "Social" (7 X 48 Churchill) and the "Club" (5.75 X 54 Torpedo).

You would think that the Cubans will be the ones to commemorate their beloved son with a high quality cigar, yet they did it with a machine made "Guantanamera Compay", a cigar that I don't believe Compay himself would have smoked. Nick Perdomo, on the other hand, gave Compay what he deserves - a line of excellent quality cigars and great names.

For his 95th birthday, Montecristo issued a special, limited edition of a 1000 Montecristo No. 3 cigars with a special band with Compay's picture. These cigars were not sold at stores, and were given as presents to all the participants in his birthday party at the hotel Nacional in Havana. Compay himself (of coarse...) received 156 of "his" cigars in a special humidor. The Compay cigars became collectibles even before anyone lighted the first one of them. And why Montecristo? Because Compay smoked their cigars almost exclusively. After all, he was one of their torcedores (cigar rollers) for 20 years...

How To Smoke a Cigar

Smoking a cigar may be viewed by most people as the same as smoking a cigarette, yet the cigar aficionado will go out of his/her way tell you otherwise, and not because when you smoke a cigar you do not inhale the smoke, but mainly because of the whole ritual involved, making it a real passion for those who practice it. Knowing how to smoke a cigar makes the whole difference, and turns it into a great pleasure. As the ultimate cigar aficionado, the late comedian George Burns, once said "Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman - or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle".

The true cigar aficionado will smoke his cigar in a quite, peaceful place, either alone or with some good friends. He/she will take out their favorite cigar from the humidor, massage and caress it if it is a little tight, and cut it at the perfect place, quickly and decisively. It will then be lighted with a long wooden match or butane lighter, and gently blowing at it making sure it is lighted evenly all around. Then comes the best part of smoking it slowly, enhancing the pleasure with a glass of cognac or brandy, enjoying every draw. The true connoisseur will only smoke the cigar to the band, yet many people will enjoy it almost to the end by removing it (the best way to remove it is after you lit and smoked it for a little while, as it will loosen the glue and make it easy to remove).

One of the great cigar aficionados was one of my favorite personalities and a great musician: the Cuban Compay Segundo, a member of the Buena Vista Social Club. He was asked about it when he reached 90, and he said that he was his grandmother favorite grandson, and he will sit next to her since he was five years old and light her cigars for her, hence he smoked cigars for 85 years(!).

Cigar smoking is a true pleasure, and throughout the years it became a symbol of status and class, and for many people it symbolizes a great indulgence which they truly enjoy.