Wine, Burgers And Cigars – A Tour Of Central Germany With Cpt. Keith

It was a continuation of Havana on a small scale. A more intimate scale but with almost as many cigars to smoke and interesting places to see as in Havana.

I had met Keith just a short while ago in Havana and shared cigars, places and friends with him, and then he pops up flying to Frankfurt and having a day off in town.

So I made plans to pick him up and give him a lil’ tour of my village, central Germany and the places I like to be and smoke a cigar in.

A little payback for his driving me around Dubai and to Oman six years ago.

Sunny Saturday and an early start at 09hrs from his hotel in Darmstadt to drive to the village via the Rhine river and the vineyards of Nierstein, Oppenheim and the rolling hills of Rheinhessen.

A short stop at the pharmacy and a chat with Andreas, a tour of the cigar lab and the office where the pharmacy cigar evenings started.
Keith has missed the pharmacy cigar events but promises to be back.
He loves Andreas’ licence plate … 🙂

A morning cigar in my Cafe, a vintage Partagas Shorts courtesy of Keith and some sausages to have a base – needed as I’d take him to some of the village winemakers, Böhm and Weinmann, where he will try the Riesling and the Winter Apple spirit. He takes a small selection of wines back home.

It was noon and time for lunch. I don’t usually drive an hour for a Burger, but I sure do it to have an excellent one and the chance to smoke cigars in a civilized lounge and meet friends.
Gasthaus Zahm in Saarbrücken’s old quarter is such a place. Great home made Burgers with local beef and fresh ingredients, great service and around the corner from LCDH Saarbrücken and Salih, Michael and Viktor.

A breezy or rather speedy ride on the German Autobahns doing 190 km/h on some speed-limit free stretches, no need to use the ashtray, and we were right next to France enjoying a great lunch and chatting about Havana, the Festival, the cigar scene, the usual suspects and the airline scene these days.

Belly full, it was time for some serious cigars. We started with Cohiba Sigl. V from the mid-nineties, excellent, grassy and solid cigar before continuing with La China Salomones and a superb Lancero while chatting with the regular LCDH crowd on anything from Cuba to the regional elections next day.

After selecting some cigars and a chat with Salih it was time to get back to the village for a last cigar at Andy’s Irish pub. We enjoyed the PL Picadores while watching some football and Keith was quite impressed with all the cigar smoking facilities available in such a small place.

A sunny and very delightfully complete day with 500 kms of fun and a good time.

Happy Landings Keith !

Nino