After viewing the humidor, I moved to the tasting room. Here, the other contest winners gathered and we listened to a presentation on how cigars are made.
Our speaker, Ms. Chayanich (Ann) Lekachinabutr -- the club's manager:
I am such a nerd; I was the only one who took notes. (laugh)
Some interesting things I learned were..
- This club is the only distributor for Cuban cigars in Thailand.
- Tabacco is grown between October ~ February.
- The tabacco used is 100% organic -- no chemicals.
- A cigar has 3 layers: the filler, binder and outer wrapper. The aroma is in the filler.
- To dry the tabacco leaves, which are sorted later, takes 2 years!
- After the cigar is finished, it is aged for an additional 24 ~ 36 months!
It's easy to understand why one cigar usually costs ¥1,200 / $12. I enjoyed her lecture very much.
A wrapper sample:
Next, it was time to learn how to cut and prep a cigar. I knew this already, but played along. (laugh)
1) Cut the end off the cigar -- about 1 mm, using a cigar cutter.
The cutter:
Cigar prepped and ready for lighting:
2) Using a special cigar lighter, burn the end of the cigar until red hot. (At another cigar club in Japan, the owner said I should lightly burn the wrapper too, but when I asked at this club, they said "don't do that". It confused me! @_@
A cigar lighter (the gas is butane):
Burning:
Finally, it was time to taste and enjoy! I don't smoke at all, but there is something sexy about a cigar....I just can't refuse one. ^_^
Cutenekko です！
(It's blurry, I know. The lady I asked to take my picture had a full shot of whiskey before this..haha!):
Be sure to visit tomorrow. I will show you the whiskey which is also a house speciality. You'll enjoy the pictures very much!
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