HAVING spent three decades writing about and enjoying the occasional Havana cigar, I really should be beyond being surprised. Cuba is a land of paradox and curiosity: think Alice Through the Looking-Glass, add the Land of Oz and for good measure have it re-written by Kafka. The sheer roulette wheellike sense of chance keeps me interested and on my toes. The last thing that I anticipate from the island paradise of Cuba is consistency: and, therefore, just when I am least expecting it, consistency arrives from Cuba in the seductive shape of the new British regional edition, the Por Larrañaga 47.
I used to be rather dismissive of this brand, for which I now heartily atone, as it would be the height of folly to dismiss this cabinet of 50 cigars, not least because it has arrived, mirabile dictu, in good time for the festive season. The Cuban cigar industry has a commendably relaxed attitude towards such quotidian concerns as delivery dates and deadlines and I seem to remember that the PL47 had been due in the UK during 2021. Call me a cynical old sceptic, but when I learned that the PL47 would be launched a mere two years late on November 1, I was looking forward to its arrival on these shores sometime towards the end of January.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der November 29, 2023-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der November 29, 2023-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
