Saturday at the Hut - 1/15/11

Carnival Inspiration (click to enlarge)

I think I've done more smoking in the last week than I have in a long time. Paula and I were on a 5-night Caribbean cruise from Monday through Saturday and I enjoyed either a cigar or pipe pretty much every day on board the ship. We sailed on the Carnival Inspiration out of Tampa with stops at Grand Cayman and Cozumel. The weather was kind of crappy on Monday, chilly with on again-off again rain. Tuesday at sea and Wednesday in Grand Cayman were picture-perfect. Highs in the 70s and sunny. Thursday in Cozumel was in the low 60s, rainy, and very windy. We caught breaks in the rain though and explored downtown Cozumel, bartering with shopkeepers and enjoying a fantastic lunch at Pancho's Backyard, a place Paula discovered on a cruise ten years ago.


I was pleased to find a decent-sized cigar lounge on the ship. When we cruised a few years ago on Royal Caribbean, when I finally found the cigar bar, it was closed. This time I smoked a couple pipefuls and a few cigars. Paula joined me for a couple cigars as well. Unfortunately, I was the only pipe smoker. But I did meet a very nice older gentleman from upstate New York. We chatted awhile and discovered quite a few things in common, including auto racing. Years ago I used to write for an auto racing newspaper, Gater Racing News, out of Syracuse, and he said he reads it every week. We knew a lot of the same drivers racing the short tracks in the area and his son and daughter run the dirt track circuit throughout central New York. Small world! On board, I smoked Tinder Box Reserve 1928 in my Cavicchi volcano and I brought along an Ashton, Oliva, and La Gloria Cubana Serie R to enjoy. There was nothing quite like relaxing with a good cigar or pipe and watching the water glide by.

La Casa del Habano (click to enlarge)

I ran across a couple cigar stores while in Grand Cayman. The one pictured here, La Casa del Habano, was the only one that actually looked nice and well-stocked. Unfortunately for me, they had nothing in the way of pipe tobacco, although they did sell estate Meerschaum pipes. In Cozumel on our way from the pier to lunch, we probably walked past a dozen or more cigar stands or shops, all advertising "Authentic Cuban Cigars." It struck me that if they have to emphasize that they sell "authentic" Cubans, they probably aren't. I ignored the barkers and pressed on to lunch.

Paula and I on the Inspiration's bridge
with the captain.

Probably the highlight of the cruise was the behind-the-scenes tour we took. It's not advertised at all - Paula found out about it reading the forums on Carnival's website - and very limited. There were only 18 people on the tour, which lasted three hours, but we got to see a lot of the inner workings of the ship. We toured the galley, backstage at the theater, crew mess halls, crew lounge, cargo holds, engine control room, and bridge. We got to meet the captain and had our picture taken with him on the bridge. When we arrived back in our cabin there was a plate of pastries and sweets from the head chef, who we also met in the tour. All in all, it was very impressive and interesting. 


We arrived back in Tampa on Saturday and Joe K was kind enough to pick us up. We disembarked very quickly from the ship and were home by 11:00 or so. Joe went off to The Tobacco Hut and I joined him an hour later. We were joined by Peter G, Ed B, and Darryl G. Nothing too exciting happened at the Hut, although I promised I would include what Joe, Peter, and Lou thought was my "conversion" back to the Christian fold. 


I explained that our first day on the ship we had lunch at the buffet on the Lido deck. While waiting in line we saw this loud, bald redneck sporting probably a 60" waist, goatee, wearing a sleeveless t-shirt and covered with tattoos. Paula and I feared that he and his hillbilly family would be our dinner companions, since everyone shares a table with others at dinner each night. The story went something like this, "I looked at this disgusting guy and thought, 'If there is a God, please don't have him sit with us at dinner.'" Well, that brought the house down, because we ended up having quite normal dinner-mates. Well, sorry to disappoint you, guys, but it was just an expression. There was no momentary lapse or conversion. Just a figure of speech!


Nice to see Peter as he's been under the weather lately and seems to be on the mend now. Darryl has made it two visits in as many weeks and Ed has been stopping by pretty regularly. I was hoping to see Adrian so we could perhaps do battle over the chessboard again. I wanted to see Steve B as well to thank him for replacing another section of my back fence. Not sure how he did it since the back gate was locked, but thank you!


I had smoked quite a bit of the Tinder Box Reserve 1928 on our cruise, which is a nice cross between aromatic and English, but I was ready for a true English blend, so at the Hut I loaded up a Crown Winslow freehand with Lou's most-excellent Baker Street blend. I can't say enough about this tobacco. It's got just the right amount of Latakia and was really enjoyable.


That's all for now. Hope to see everyone next Saturday!


Cheers!
 - Bob

Saturday at the Hut - 6/19/10

Saturday at the Hut started a little early for me with a phone call from Mike G in Tennessee. My wife handed me the phone and with no introduction, I heard Mike's voice say, "When you go to The Tobacco Hut today I'd like you to pick up two La Gloria Cubanas and drive them 600 miles to the north. I'll be waiting on my front porch for them." It was great talking to Mike especially since I seem to keep missing him when he comes into town occasionally. He asked how Joe was enjoying his retirement and offered a tip on how to kill small projects around the house by describing them as very large projects: "Okay, honey, you want those flowers planted. I'm going to start by renting a backhoe..." Classic Mike.

In attendance today were Joe K, Peter G, Steve B, Ed B, myself, and Lou (of course). Steve brought a friend, Bobby, who - like Peter - has a near-encyclopedic knowledge of all things sports. I'm always amazed how people can hang on to little seemingly arcane bits of information about practically every team in every sport. I was glad to hear that Bobby was a Cleveland Indians fan and he's not even from Cleveland. I grew up there so it's kind of an automatic thing that I would be an Indians fan, but he's from Gainesville and made the choice voluntarily - wow!

On my recent trip to Key Largo, I was able to bring back Joe's favorite cigar, the La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Tabaqueros. Joe first tried them at Lou's and fell in love, but they've been on back order ever since. I first tried the tobacco store in Key Largo, Island Smoke Shop, which is a large, well-stocked cigar store. They didn't have any de Tabaqueros, but I did pick up a sampler of their El Original line of house cigars. I brought back one for Lou and Peter and though I haven't tried one yet, Peter enjoyed his maduro torpedo.

On the trip back from the Keys, we drove through Sarasota, so I was able to stop at Bennington's at St. Armand's Circle. Boy, do I love this store! Hundreds of pipes, lots of tobacco choices, and very knowledgeable staff. I could spend all day in there, and I'm sure the hour we did spend seemed like all day to my wife. No new pipes since I had just purchased a new one a couple weeks ago in Boston, but I did pick up a couple Bennington blends of tobacco. And Joe's much-coveted de Tabaqueros cigar.

Saturday at the Hut I enjoyed one of those Bennington blends, No. 15. Like Lou, Bennington's blends their own tobacco and has since 1965. I had the privilege of speaking with Gary Bennington, who blends the tobaccos himself. They also stock a lot of commercial tins of tobacco, and Gary was able to point me in the direction of some of their mixes that mirror the commercial blends. I had actually come in with the intention of buying some more Frog Morton, but ended up with a couple packages of theirs.

I tried the No. 15 in a Crown Viking from The Tobacco Hut (are you reading, Tim?) and it was excellent. According to Gary, it was patterned after the famed Balkan Sobranie White Label, out of production for over a decade now. This tobacco is a light, medium-bodied English Mixture containing a high percentage of Turkish Yenidge leaf, flue-cured Golden Virginia Ribbon and Cyprus Latakia. At first, it burned a little hot, probably because of the Virginia, but it soon settled down and became a most enjoyable smoke, especially in the beautiful Crown Viking from The Tobacco Hut (still reading, Tim?).

Next week I'll try their No. 5, a mix of Latakia, Virginia, and Burley. Not sure which pipe I'll try it in. Maybe one of the other Crown Vikings from The Tobacco Hut, or one of the several Petersons I've picked up from The Tobacco Hut over the years. Maybe even the Comoy I bought from The Tobacco Hut. (Are you still with me, Tim?).

That's all for this week - cheers!

 - Bob