2021 October – An Evening With Didier Houvenaghel

19 Oct

Didier has been a regular visitor at the pharmacy cigar sessions for over 12 years now, always good to see him, a busy man, living in Singapore and having excellent cigar brands made in Nicaragua.

Last time we saw each other was at a cigar event in Mainz some 3 years ago …

Out of the blue he contacted me with a weeks notice that he was on a European tour and would be near the village, how about meeting and smoking at the pharmacy like in the old days ?

He is launching the second edition of his excellent book „Cigars from Soil to Soul“ and would present the book as well.

That would be a great idea except fort he fact that due to Covid we are not able to use the pharmacy lab yet as it is too small and would be overcrowded.

I informed Andreas and he suggested we move it to the local cigar lounge, Reiner Genuss at the Rheinhessen Inn hotel here in the village.

Reiner was excited to have Didier and organized the evening with ca. 20 interested cigar smokers attending some who had met him here before and some attracted by his cigars.

It was a very fine evening of cigars and information, passing the knowledge and keeping the flame alive.

I recorded the hour long chat by Didier, it contains some very good details on cigar production, history, quality control, rinsing cigars with water ( only recommended for vintage cigars ) and other tidbits.

Audio quality is not too good first 10 minutes as I was too far away but it improves after that …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4sFTMDT7FM&t=1469s

Didier passed around some outstanding Limited Edition La Ley Lanceros from 2017 that were rolled with 10 year old leaf, a limited run in ceramic jars that flew off the shelf within a few weeks in Belgium.

His brands are Nicarao, La Ley and Furia – all made in Nicaragua and distributed world-wide.

He is an agricultural engineer who studied over three years at Pinar del Rio University in Cuba, specializing in tobacco.

It was a highly interesting evening, we shared fun, cigars and information and it went on until shortly before midnight.

Next morning after breakfast we took the dogs for a walk through the vineyards watching the horses and running up a sweat before sitiing down for coffee and a morning cigar.

The second edition is available „en primeur“ and should be released in December – then I will visit Didier at his Belgium warehouse for an in-depth look and get a signed copy of his book.

Here is some information on the book : 

Dear Cigar Lovers! 

I am very happy to announce that the second edition of my cigar book is in press!

THE CIGAR, FROM SOIL TO SOUL is now 318 pages in 2 hard-cover volumes of 11 chapters, and with more than 100 drawings.
It is the result of nearly 20 years of work and thoughts, including, lately, 2 years of nearly full-time additional research, writing, structuring, rewriting, restructuring, etc.

This book is also the outcome of a collaboration with fantastic copy-editor, layout artist, painters, and printers. 

Books will be available from December but you can purchase them EN PRIMEUR for some more weeks and save a 15% off (limited time).  

See www.cigarthinker.com or  www.editionsdumyosotis.com

Full prices are 150EUR for the Black edition and 400EUR for the Limited Bamboo edition.  

Your support means a lot. Also please spread the word!

Wishing you all the best, Didier

Thanks for being here Didier – it was a great pleasure having you back !

Nino

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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