12 Oct
It is a ritual by now that Frank, Jos and I take a yearly trip down to Switzerland to visit our good friend Mr Portmann. Last year was the only exception due to the freaking pandemic. We used to drive in Jos’ old VW Bus, but that bus has been retired by now … so Read more…
9 Jun
The cover picture of this report means a lot to me. It is from February 2010 and we had just arrived at Pancho Cuba’s tobacco farm an hour after a torrential rainstorm and strong wind gusts had destroyed most of the Tapado or covered wrapper harvest crop. The guajiros were desperate, the harvest was basically Read more…
19 Apr
Let’s clarify first – of course it wasn’t a road trip from Shanghai to Frankfurt, Web used the classic Lufthansa B-747-400 for that … and why is Web called Mr Plastic – well, being a big city boy he is used to whip out his credit card ( or mobile phone ) to pay for Read more…
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…
6 Oct
The yearly madness is a one week-end yearly holiday ritual for Jos driving the vintage VW bus and having a good time with Frank and me. The bus arrived in front of my village Café with 4 hrs of driving already on them from Belgium. We had a bite to eat, a coffee and a Read more…
12 Mar
It’s been five days since I arrived back home from yet another Havana – Festival Del Habano trip and as always I’ve had to air my lungs and cure the usual stubborn cough and running nose souvenir – funny how everybody gets a cold in Havana …. Before I start posting in detail on Read more…
18 Jan
The shock came the day before the joy of picking up the Ramon Allones Perfectos humidor – the Swiss Franc had become 20% more expensive. Which means also a shock to my friend Urs and his cigar business. From 1,65 CHF when shopping in Switzerland was still attractive to 1,20 CHF when it became Read more…
