By Dave Worthington of Whisky Discovery
Bedford’s Cigar Meetup May 2016
Bedford’s cigar specialist, Harrison and Simmonds, were joined by Jerry Mir from Tor Imports
for The Bedford Cigar Club meet up at The Standard in Bedford High Street on Wednesday
25th May. There was a great turnout with twenty one in all, and as per the usual format
we had two great cigars to taste:
Our first cigar was Joya de Nicaragua’s Rosalones
342, a Half Corona (3½” 42 Ring gauge), one of the
original brands produced by Joya de Nicaragua.
The Rosalones is a rich and medium bodied cigar
made with Nicaraguan ‘Habana Criollo’ wrapper.
binder and filler tobaccos. The combination of
these Nicaraguan tobaccos result in a consistent
flavourful blend with earthy notes.
A very enjoyable cigar, the burn was cool and
surprisingly slow for such a short cigar. There
were hints of pepper, coffee, and earth, together
with a dried fruit sweetness. For me this would
sit perfectly alongside a rich dark coffee rather
than the pint of Guinness I had, but I persevered!
I would love to have a few of these in my humidor
for the weekend coffee.
Our second cigar was Cigar Aficionado Magazine’s
number one Cigar of 2015, the My Father Le Bijou
(the Jewel) 1922 Grand Robusto (5 5/8” 55 Ring)
Le Bijou features an Ecuadorian-grown Habano
Oscuro (Dark) wrapper with a fine mix of
Nicaraguan long-fillers, and is a full-bodied blend
with an exquisite and exceptional aroma.
I loved the smooth, chocolatey sweetness of Le
Bijou and would love to revisit this one again
soon. As noted earlier, My Father Le Bijou 1922
received Cigar of the Year honours for 2015 and
an impressive 97-point rating, noting: “It takes
a profound understanding of cigar tobaccos to
create a smoke that conveys uncanny impressions
of dark chocolate-covered raisins, savoury leather
and a sweet-and-salty finish that resonates on the
palate.”
Our hosts, The Standard Pub put on a selection
of nibbles which disappeared rather quickly so
everyone must have found them tasty! As we’d
come straight from work, we ordered some pub
grub to augment the nibbles.
The highlight of the evening’s entertainment is
always the raffle where a plethora of prizes, mostly
cigars, are on offer alongside the booby prize of
a Hamlet cigar. The My Father Le Bijou box was
wanted by many, so to remove all arguments as
to who saw it first, this too was entered into the
raffle. It was my turn to ‘win’ the Hamlet, which
always gets the loudest cheer, or should that be
jeer? Fortunately there was more than adequate
compensation as I also won a lovely Cuaba
Divinos Petit Boutique.
Money raised from the raffle goes to charity, and
the last event raised £76.00 and this time £170.00
was added to the CAFOD Candlelight Fund for
Francis John Nathaniel Simmonds.
Some dates for your diary:
Wednesday 29th July
With Hunter and Frankau (Cigars t.b.a.)
Wednesday 24th August
With TOR Imports (Date t.b.c and Cigars t.b.a.)
Thursday 22nd September
With Hunter and Frankau (Cigars t.b.a.)
But to make sure you don’t miss the next
meeting why not sign up to their contact list at
[email protected]
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