Havana In Winter – Part Three – Cigars, Hector And The Vatican

21 Dec

Christian had left without being able to visit the Vatican as, due to some dumbass posting stupid comments on Facebook regarding the Talismanes release in London a week earlier, all visits there were cancelled and the saints had to pay for the sinners …. I never cease to be amazed by the stupidity of some Read more…

Havana In Winter – Part Two – More Of The Same With Jan & Lili

15 Dec

The second week started with more friends flying in, Jan & Lili brought much welcomed butter to Havana and joined Christian and me at our Casa bringing more life into it. After some last minute uncertainty and a lost flight even Anthony and Maegan made it, giving me a winning bet of 5 cookies against Read more…

Havana in Winter – Part One – Christian And A Wedding

14 Dec

It was unusually cool, windy and rainy this trip. I spent almost four weeks in Havana and never had it this cool. If that was cool to me, imagine how the Cubans were feeling … It was hitting the ground running as always. Only a day after I arrived my friend Christian from Belgium arrived Read more…

Back To Portmann Cigars In The Vintage VW Bus

8 Oct

It was the annual VW Bus ride ( with a large flowerpot as an ashtray ) with Frank and Jos down to Switzerland and Portmann cigars. A few boxes had to be picked up and, honestly, we missed the friendship, hospitality and love that the whole Portmann family extends to all their customers and friends. Read more…

Christian’s Great Weekend

4 Oct

It was the end of the Hermantour, the year long celebration of Christian’s 50th birthday and he had invited the same large group of friends to have a fantastic weekend full of friendship, excellent food and good spirit. I left on Friday morning, smooth driving all the way into the Netherlands for a few cigars Read more…

Cigares Avec Mon Frere Simon

11 Sep

It was a day just like the days Simon and I had in Havana together. Smoking, drinking, eating, exploring and having good conversations … Smoke we did – six cigars each, and talk we did too, a lot and into the night. Mon frere Simon and his lovely Eve from Montreal are on a European Read more…

Rik’s First Cigar – Cracking a Cab For A Friend

27 Aug

Khun Rik is my long time Thai buddy and aircrew colleague since he first flew a Kuala Lumpur-Jakarta shuttle with me back in 1998. We became good friends then and over the years he helped me plan numerous vacations in Thailand, visited us frequently in Germany and even flew on my last flight in my Read more…