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Looking good! Glad the plan worked out. It's too often we hear of consideration for such events falling short and ending in disappointment/waste. Cheers.

Appreciate the reply, Hoepssa. I finally made my way over to the Hyatt LCDH in Taipei a few weeks ago. Contrary to the description of the old shop, the LCDH I visited was clean and the employees were very accommodating. I was in and out very quickly, as I just wanted to pick up a quick stick for a grab-n-go. Even so, I spent quite a while looking around, and they didn't mind. Left with a HU half corona, quite a pleasant one (first time), the cost was about 15USD. However, there were two employees: one seemed a little less well-versed than the other, more senior worker on duty. The younger one handled one or two boxes until I had said enough that he left me to finger through on my own. Nevertheless, the stock I saw was decent. Didn't even have a peek in the smoking room -- next time I'll stop by for a proper look around, and report on some of the stock I see about. Despite my perception that the shop would benefit from being a little cozier, as it felt a little too contrived, it still seems like a decent place (though I have to say, this being my second Asian LCDH visit, the one in Cambodia was an extremely pleasant visit -- hardly even a comparison). Lastly, any forumers who stay or find themselves in the area, feel free to reach out and we can have a burn.

This I was unaware of. Apologies, then. Sounds like a complicated issue with which I have no familiarity, but I certainly agree with the position to avoid such accommodations! WRT Foul's post: I can, however, attest to Costa Rica being a great place to visit! In fact, I could see myself settling in there. Truly a wonderful place. (Though I still kept a care package of Cuban sticks with me -- didn't have much luck on the puros hunting front out there.)

Watching these headlines lately with an interest in perspective as things move forward into the next decade or so. I'm not in a position to travel to Cuba within the next 3 years, though I will comment, with respect to some of the opinions above, that I find the notion of traveling to Cuba to stay in 4 or 5 star hotels far from suited to my taste. Then again, I've never really been the type for that kind of stuff. More like cracking coconuts and avoiding roaches while peering at the liquor cabinet and puffing on something delicious! Maybe this past year in East Asia has been rubbing off... Cheers.

Hello FOHers! Speaking of watches, I've recently crawled into fishing territory in the vintage market. Any friendly members here established on any respectable forums? I'm currently reading around SCWF, hoping that the community there will be worth sticking around for. Lastly, I should mention, if anybody is willing to part with a TZ <85% 52x caliber stream Seiko, please get in touch.

Reviving an old one here... I will be in Taiwan for two to three years for graduate study beginning in the Fall. In fact, I will be in Hsinchu, but the entire island is so small, what's it matter? If anyone could give a more current account of the cigar scene (and especially LCDH) in Taiwan, I'd be much obliged. Looking forward to lots of study, great cigars, and a rejuvenated tea obsession.

Wabashcr, it can be hard to find quality loose leaf that's low in caffeine. Even white tea is not necessarily low in caffeine content. After all, tea all comes from the same plant! You might do well with some lovely herbal blends, though, and if you can tolerate a bit of caffeine but not a whole lot – a blend with just a bit of tea plus other herbs might be a perfect compliment to your lifestyle. http://verdanttea.com/shop/blends/ Check out the bottom of this page. There are a lot of very tasty-looking herbal and non-tea blends. You are not necessarily limited in fun and flavor in a choice to remain caffeine-free! This site is just one example of a vendor that carries interesting herbals. Cheers!

Save any association of war-time or oratorical prowess for the more conventional essays of your history books! I'm talking about pairing cigars to fine beverages... I'm talking about stimulating the organoleptic faculties in ways not previously explored. Yeah, I'm talking about that translucent, sunset-colored liquor as the stage upon which your cigar smoke performs – champions – a timeless ballet of taste. Applause. Repeat. I'm not talking about rum or (Scotch) whisk(e)ys, folks. I'm talking about Sir Winston Churchill and his love for tea, baby. It's a common interest that he and I share, and though he likely died with a devotion to this affinity for taste, I'm just starting to come into it. The three+ feet of snow surrounding my entire outdoor field of vision has led me to seek enjoyment from the comfortable warmth of my study. This year, I've fallen in love with camellia sinensis. image below taken from another news article entitled: "One very cool customer: Churchill, puffing on cigar and wearing dashing aviator glasses while being tailed by the Luftwaffe during ‘most daring flight of the whole war" (and very likely, I'd wager, drinking tea in the midst of it) http://theteastylist.com/2012/01/23/pillars-of-smoke-churchill-cigars-and-lapsang-souchong-tea/ Above is a marvelous, short introductory read about anyone who wishes to know a bit about the tea I've been drinking lately and why it was Churchill's choice tea liquor for accompanying his cigars with. It's called Lapsang Souchong – or Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong – and it's what most of us would call a black tea smoked in indigenous pine wood/needles. I will post a personal review of a pairing as soon as I figure out an optimal one. I'm short of cigars out here in Vermont at the moment so I have to be very particular, as I only brought my 50-count humidor with mostly the type of stock that I don't want to touch yet (sentimental, nostalgic value, etc). (links to the article from which this image is borrowed) Almost every day, I've been having organic lapsang souchong leaves with a self-mixed chai spice, a spot of hemp milk, and occasionally some local honey. Phew! But with a cigar, unadulterated tea liquor is a must. Though I don't have a yixing clay pot or a gaiwan, I have been experimenting with brewing in the gong fu cha style simply by way of water-to-leaf ratio and short steep times for multiple infusions. For the skeptics, here's a short and persuasive read entitled "Why Tea and Cigars?" (Google it for original article, I believe it appears on a cigar vendor site): I've decided to post this topic here in protest to the fact that both the "Wine Beer Spirits" and "Food" forums do not seem to have a place for tea discussions. Here are a few links to other cigar and tea pairing discussions: http://walkerteareview.com/conversation-on-lapsang-souchong/ (here's a site to get lost in tea ratings and discussions for days – this is a piece on lapsang) http://www.friendsofhabanos.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=113405 http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=17109 (tea connoisseur board – topic discussing pairings) http://www.flavorandfortune.com/dataaccess/article.php?ID=617 (a lapsang article for the foodie epicureans – this site's "Dedicated to the Art and Science of Chinese Cuisine") http://verdanttea.com/teas/lapsang-souchong/ (where I bought my favorite lapsang souchong leaves) There was a previous thread that suggested some online tea vendors. Some of these are better than others. Camellia-sinensis.com is fantastic for Canada and US, for sure. Lately, I've fallen in love with verdanttea.com but there are so, so many high quality vendors. Lastly, anyone still actively pairing their sticks with high quality teas? I'd love to hear about them. To keep my head clear for studying, I haven't been much for alcohol lately and I've found a new, massively complex delicacy (and indeed, art form) to learn about and appreciate in time. Tea is so healthy. Since giving up the coffee and drinking multiple cups per day, I've felt absolutely amazing. There's good research out there and with any interest, I'll take the time to post some additional legitimate sources on the health benefits of tea, but here's an excellent PDF outlining all of the main points.

Cool, man. Congrats. Nice to have a group of guys at school to smoke with. No such herf potential at my little, rural college in Vermont.

Cheers. Looking forward to another video. It's -5ºC in Vermont at the moment – I could use a cigar fantasy.

Thought you were leaving?

What was the original price paid for it? Any idea how many of them were crafted?

Seems like he was just interested to see what the fellow was doing in the water so close to him. How fast can they swim at most? For some reason, I picture them swimming much faster than that. edit: (from Wikipedia) "Despite their relative lethargy, saltwater crocodiles are agile predators and display surprising quickness and speed when necessary, usually during strikes at prey. They are capable of explosive bursts of speed when launching an attack from the water. They can also swim at 15 to 18 mph (24 to 29 km/h) in short bursts, around three times as fast as the fastest human swimmers, but when cruising, they usually go at 2 to 3 mph (3.2 to 4.8 km/h). However, stories of crocodiles being faster than a race horse for short distances across land are little more than urban legend. At the water's edge, however, where they can combine propulsion from both feet and tail, their speed can be explosive." If that crocodile didn't like him, he wouldn't have had a chance. Those jerks seemed to have scared the heck out of the thing by throwing that object in the water.

In tasting cigars, I've found leather to be one of the flavors that has popped up most frequently throughout my smoking experience. Such a taste might differ for everyone. I can agree with the above, and have also had it taste like various other leathers. Of course, this speaks to a larger phenomenon: that of tastes and of where they lie within the web of associations by which we recall when the sensory act of tasting triggers a memory, or numerous memories, in our brains. For that reason, everyone's capacity to taste and experience cigars (or anything, for that matter) is highly unique from one another. This adds color and diversity to the individual experience as well as the rituals of interacting and tasting with one another. In fact, I believe that as social animals, it is this premise which validates the aphorism that "variety is the spice of life". Solitary, epicurean enjoyment of cigars (beverages, cuisine, etc) can be an essential part of one's life. Yet who would argue that those people who draw from such withdrawn experiences to engage in discriminating discourse, often in the form of excited arguments and wide-eyed, wide-grinned agreements do not have the most fun? I would like to argue with that such person! The physical attributes of our tongues and taste receptor cell to taste bud ratios vary negligibly, in fact they pale in comparison, to the palate lying dormant in our collection of most intimate memories. Genuinely, I believe it to be the chief divisive differentia of our consciousnesses. (I've always loved the term "web of association" I like to imagine sometimes the intricacy of our neural anatomy as a web which captures the constant input reel of our waking days.) Well, back to leather. I wonder if it's the cigars I've had that have been responsible for this: in my most recent review, I characterized and thereby categorized an "end-of-cigar" leather that had taken the stage in yet another stick. Above, I noted that this leather has been present in quite a few of my cigars. When phrasing the flavor that way, it occurred to me to question whether this observation was unique to me. I've never had a cigar in which leather was central to the profile, nor even present before the last portion of the second third. Is leather flavor most common at the end of a cigar? Could this be due to the increased acidity accumulated toward the latter end? If so, I would be inclined to believe that another leather that I have not yet encountered exists in other stages, flavor profiles, and is perhaps far richer, more complex, and naturally more enjoyable. (I've enjoyed my leather notes, but wished for them to be better placed so that I could pick them apart with greater ease). Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend.