Once Upon A Time In Cuba | CigarCraig's Blog

For the third year in a row my wife and sons and I were invited on a three hour New York City dinner cruise hosted by our dear friend Mitchell Orchant and his wife and daughter, along with Guy Hancock. Mitchell and Guy are international cigar merchants and host this party for their friends and customers. The venue was the Cabana, a Marco Polo Cruises boat out of the New York Sky Ports marina. We were able to board about an hour early, which was great since we had left home plenty early to avoid traffic and delays. We were each given really cool goodie bags with a couple cigars, some candies, little bottles of whiskey, cutters, matches, a lighter, all sorts of terrific stuff. There ended up being over 90 invited guests, and the boat had plenty of room on two decks. My sons both lit up the Grafton Reserva corona from their gift bags, which is a house brand for the Decent Cigar Emporium in Dublin, Ireland. This is made for them in the Dominican Republic and the boys enjoyed it and reported that it was a nice, mild smoke. I lit up a Room 101 Connecticut that I had gotten at the event I attended several weeks ago. The Room 101 Connecticut is a very nice cigar, rich and flavorful with a perfect draw. After we set out to cruise the East River, and we finished our first cigars, sushi was being served and a jazz combo was playing on the lower deck. A lavish buffet was set out with salad, chicken, eggplant and manicotti, everything one could want. Once again, Mitchell outdid himself and pulled off a fabulous evening. After dinner my son, Corey, and I lit up some special cigars that we brought back from Cigar Safari last year, Liga Privada Dirty Rats in a 7″ x 44 size. The additional length seemed to mellow the blend a little and it was a fantastic smoke, loads of flavor and the extra two inches really added to the cigar. My son Christian enjoyed an Acid Kuba Kuba. The weather, which was threatening, held off and it ended up being a really nice night, kudos to the captain for steering around what little rain there was. Of course, the views of the city from the river are spectacular. The new Freedom Tower is stunning and we got good views of the Statue of Liberty as well as the East River bridges. We saw some old friends, and met some new ones, as usually happens at these sorts of events. We always enjoy getting together with Mitchell of C.Gars Ltd. and his family, and thank him once again for including us. Thanks, as well to Guy of The Decent Cigar Emporium for also being a gracious host. All great folks whom I’m proud to call friends.

Contest

Mitchell was kind enough to provide me with an autographed copy of his book, “Once Upon a Time in Cuba” to give away to a lucky reader. Don’t worry, it’s mostly pictures! I’ll throw in some assorted goodies along with the book as well. Usual rules apply, leave a comment to enter, if you’ve won in the past six months you’re ineligible (excluding the Christmas Giveaways). I’ll close the contest and announce the winner on my Sunday, June 10, 2012 post. Many thanks to Mitchell at C.Gars Ltd. for providing these goodies.