Havana 2015 – Tapas And Coats

15 Mar

 

nfc capNo, nothing gastronomically here to review, no new restaurant or paladar – if Tapas is your thing.

Tapas means cover(s) in Spanish.

And neither about wearing a coat although it was cold enough in Havana the first week to freeze one’s ass off.

The Tapas are the covers of both my and Frank’s Ramon Allones Perfectos Switzerland humidor – see first picture.

I took them to Havana and both Pablo and Alex were kind enough to have new, personalized ones made for us bearing our names and nicks.
Jose Ernesto Aguilera signed and dedicated them to us as well.

A beautiful idea that makes the humidor even more personal.

And the Coat is actually the Cuban Coat of Arms, found at the Plaza de Armas and presented to me by my friend Keith “CanuckSARTech” from Toronto.

There is a special place in my office for this beautiful antique and I will cherish it whenever I set my eyes on it.

Pity Keith only presented it to me in his “Africa” Hotel in Kohly the very last night before we both flew home so there’s no “hand-over” picture.

So : Muchas gracias Jose, Alex y Pablo and Thank you Keith !

Nino

5 Responses to “Havana 2015 – Tapas And Coats”

  1. Frank 15/03/2015 at 20:42 #

    Thanks again Nino for taking care of this while I also was freezing my butt off in cold Belgium. I’ll thank our Cuban friends in person in Feb 2016.

    • Nino Munoz 16/03/2015 at 19:03 #

      My pleasure Frank !

      Hope I don’t have to kidnap you to come along next year … 🙂

      Tot ziens / Nino

  2. Keith 17/03/2015 at 09:36 #

    Glad you liked it, Nino! After missing out on getting that engraving plate with the COA, I had a little mission on to find something similar, and found a vendor that had this little gem.

    Apparently, from what the seller told me, this is made from a solid brass main piece, and the wood backer is cuaba wood (“torch tree” wood, if that rings a bell?), and was the main variant availble to certain state personnel in the 60’s and 70’s for display in their offices. Not sure if that’s true or accurate or not, but it’s another tidbit on it.

    He had another one there that was refinished and cleaned up more, but I thought this one had much more character, more hues, and more depth to it than the cleaned up one. Something very befitting it’s new owner!

    Cheers amigo. Something well deserved.

    • Nino Munoz 17/03/2015 at 21:46 #

      Buddha !!

      I loved it !! And I wish we had had the chance to take a picture at Ivan Justo’s last dinner – what a surprise it was getting it from you in “Africa” … 🙂

      I’ll send you a picture of the Coat of Arms being proudly displayed in my office. I truly love the gesture and the piece and will cherish it as coming from you with love to your ugly uncle 🙂

    • Nino Munoz 19/03/2015 at 19:26 #

      Thanks Keith, really means a lot to me !!