jacktarnold Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Wow. Makes me want to live in Europe just for the fun scavenger hunt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanceSchmerr Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 Yesterday I tried a couple more - the Bolivar Poderoso RE Belux, and the RA Robusto Corto RE Paises Bajos. The Poderoso was delicious, with copious Bolivar flavour, and lots of depth for future ageing, I quite enjoyed it. I'd give it an easy 92-93. The Robusto Corto surprised me - even more flavour than the Poderoso, and good balance to boot. Even though I'm loath to recommend a short robusto, I have to be fair and give it a 93-94. Both are box-purchase worthy if anyone is on the fence about 'em. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maplepie Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Thanks for sharing, Chris! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IPORTER Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Georgous eye candy!! Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcmontie Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Congrats looks like a great trip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackham Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Yesterday I tried a couple more - the Bolivar Poderoso RE Belux, and the RA Robusto Corto RE Paises Bajos. The Poderoso was delicious, with copious Bolivar flavour, and lots of depth for future ageing, I quite enjoyed it. I'd give it an easy 92-93. The Robusto Corto surprised me - even more flavour than the Poderoso, and good balance to boot. Even though I'm loath to recommend a short robusto, I have to be fair and give it a 93-94. Both are box-purchase worthy if anyone is on the fence about 'em. Totally agree with you on the Robusto Corto, smoked it in LCDH Amsterdam and it is surprisingly good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanuckSARTech Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Nice to see that our tax dollars are being well spent on your cigar travels of Europe!!!! Damn offi-sures!!!!! All my best to Chantelle!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanceSchmerr Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 It's been too long since I've updated this - Shows how busy I've been!Let's start off with our excursion to Munich in late November. A great weekend trip, with lots of fun at the BMW Museum, Christmas Markets, and some great Bavarian fare - so much beer.... Anyway, I dipped in to the local tobacconist (Pfeifen Huber - great service here!) - unfortunately, no one in town has any RE's going back past the RG Petit Pyramides which I already have, but I did find something good - A box of QdO Panetelas! The box had an odd corner sticker, which I asked about, and was told that there was a few boxes specially chosen for this guy. Cool... Can't lose with the "POS" Code....LOL Good aroma on these, and construction is perfect - knock this discontinued off my "to buy" list! Something else neat that we picked up at the Christmas market was something I've wanted for 15 years - a German "Christmas Pyramid". No, not that kind.... This is a German Christmas tradition to have one of these, my German Grandparents and mother both have theirs, and I'm ecstatic to finally have one for my wife and I now. The heat from the candles makes it go! Most important was the provenance - you can find so many cheapo ones at the market, made in China with big gobs of glue and paint for 20-35€, we did the homework and came away with this one for about €150, with all the documentation and proper stamps on it, showing it was made in the one region in Germany where these originally came from. The difference is night-and-day, on ours you can't see a speck of glue, the turning mechanism is effortless, and the details are really beautiful on it. It's a piece that'll be something I pass down to my kids...when I have 'em!I guess you can tell i'm proud of it! Enjoy! Coming up next - Paris! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusguy Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Can't wait for which REs you managed to dig up in Paris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strada Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Very nice Chris, keep it going! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ChanceSchmerr Posted January 26, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 26, 2015 Next trip was Paris in early December. This one was a whirlwind trip, my wife and I both want to return to actually relax a little, felt like we tried to cram a lot into 4 days. We did see Versailles, Champs D'Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Musee D'Orsay, Notre Dame...you get the idea. It actually started off on a sad moment - our Eurostar train hit a poor dog whilst full speed in France, putting the front engine of out commission, and delaying our arrival in Paris nearly 4 hours. At 300+ Km/hr, I'm sure the dog never felt a thing, but still a sad event. In any case, because of the delay, we get a free return trip on the Eurostar sometime in the next twelve months....so that's our trip to Belgium, covered, sometime this year! Anyway, while in Paris - I (of course) made sure to visit the good blokes at La Civette and Le Lotus, the two best cigar shops in town! I came away with a few goodies.... First, my primary goal was the QdO Belicoso Royal RE. Civette was empty, but Lotus obliged! Le Lotus also had some random stuff that I didn't expect. Chief among them - a box of Punch RS 11s! Now, I'm a huge fan of the RS12s, not so much of the RS11s, but I don't mind them, and I know they are fast becoming extinct. It was easy to say yes. If anyone is especially keen and/or desperate for these, let me know, and perhaps we can work out a trade. If not, I'm happy to keep, and I've smoked one already, it was spot-on brilliant Punch flavours 7+ years on 'em already! They aren't the nicest looking wrappers, but the aroma is spot-on, construction great, and again the taste is perfect aged Punch. These are going to be excellent smokes. I managed to find a couple RA Especiales de Allones in my trip to visit Guy, and was memorised by this cigar, one of the best RA Regional's I've had, so I've been searching high and low for it. Lotus and Civette had none, but I chanced upon another tabac that had a box of 10 on the shelf! Happily, I asked for the whole box. The owner obliged, but then started removing the cigars from the box to put in a bag. I asked her to stop, as I wanted the box to go with them, but she adamantly refused, saying she wanted to keep the box. I insisted, as did she. Rather than leave without them, and after I had a *close* look to ensure these weren't fakes or something, I reluctantly took the ten, this time put into an empty Partagas LE box she had instead. I have no idea why she was so adamant to keep the damn box. Whatever, I got the cigars. They are to die for. I keep an Aged Boli CG from Le Lotus in there with them so they don't move around too much. Sorry it's so blurry! Finally, I also found a few more singles of the ERDM Petit Compania (also a great French RE), bought all I could find, and a couple QdO Beli Royals so I don't have to crack the box any time soon! There's a couple of Swiss stragglers there from my next trip - the VR Petit Unicos RE and the Ramon Allones Especiales RE (they have to think of some new names for these RA RE's. Getting a little predictable). The VR Petit Unicos was flavourful, but awful. I absolutely hated the sour chocolate flavour, left an awful aftertaste. Seriously going to forget that last one I have for 10 years to see if it gets any better after a decade of purgatory. The RA Especiales Suiza was decent. Nowhere near as good as the Benelux SS Robusto Corto RE.... And that was Paris! I look forward to visiting without a huge agenda sometime later this year! Next up - our week in Switzerland! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanceSchmerr Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Can't wait for which REs you managed to dig up in Paris Posted! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wabashcr Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Thanks for sharing. Those are some gorgeous photos. Looking forward to future installments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterk814 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 love this trip report, thanks for all the pictures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Presidente Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Great report Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanceSchmerr Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Thanks all! Let's see if I can get Switzerland up here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ChanceSchmerr Posted January 27, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 27, 2015 Switzerland! Expensive country, but we got one day of skiing (conditions were lousy) in our 8 day stay in the Alps at Villars-sur-Ollon, and for the rest of days, we enjoyed the castles, the food, the museums (Olympic Museum is AMAZING) and just relaxing in general! The Swiss are lovely folks! We spent the first night in Geneva before heading to the Alps - this gave me a chance to check out the Tobacconists...as I do! Davidoff was under Renovations, so I couldn't go there. Gerard Pere et Fils was very disappointing - a shop inside a hotel, with snooty staff and cigars in generally poor condition. They have rare stuff here - I would steer clear of it. I only got a few boxes here - thankfully the only things I saw that that weren't dried out or void of all aroma. Steer Clear. Nope, the shop you want to go to here is Gesto's. You have to go up the elevator to get there, but once in, there is a massive walk-in humidor, with stock almost overflowing, and a kind and well-spoken owner who was happy for me to open and inspect as many boxes as I wanted, once he saw that I knew what I was doing. Felt kind of like I was dealing with the Swiss version of El Prez, just an A-1 cigar buying experience overall. We'll start with the Bolivar Presidentes RE. Have heard great things of this one, so I found a box with perfect Aroma and construction. Wasn't hard, lots there. Got a couple singles too so I could try without cracking the box. Near the Boli Presidentes, I spied a stack of other Boli's as well. I'm not much of a Box Code Fanatic, but when I see TEB, I get weak at the knees. TEB 08 Boli CJs? Why the hell not! Great Wrappers and smell to boot! I've smoked one so far of a couple singles I got from a sister box - Brilliant 95 point smoke. Such complexity. TEB!!! What else did he have? How about the ERDM Choix Supreme's long-long cousin, the Gran Corona? A little aged, but a pleasant sweet smell and good construction (not perfect, but hey - 2001! Can't expect the moon) I look forward to these. I smoked one of a couple from a sister box while in Switzerland (I always try to get a couple singles so I can try before I dip into the full box) and I have to say I was surprised at the depth of flavour still in this one. I thought it'd be mild and smooth, but it's still got some life in there! Could let them age a few more years with no ill effect. Not sure I'll be able to hold back though... I had a good laugh at this one. He had stacks and stacks of oily, dark 2010 Punch Petit Corona del Punch boxes. I wish I could have bought the master-case. All excellent specimens. I spotted a few older boxes behind the stacks, and given that they were both 2004 and the condition was still very good, couldn't resist. I still wish I'd gone back for more of the Punch PC's. Maybe I will....Anyway, these gave me a laugh when I noticed the obvious and hilarious spelling mistake on the Label. Hey - "Petti" Coronas, anyone? LOL Over 10 year old now! Speaking of Punch and crazy good aromas - I wish you could all smell the funky barnyard these come from - Punch Clasicos RE's. Love the varnished ten box, love the cigar even more. I just don't love that i can't rotate these photos! Lastly in Gestos, I found another RE I'm hard over for - the aforementioned RA Especiales de Allones from France. Surprisingly, he had a couple different RE's from France there, but the ERDM Petit Companias were unfortunately highly priced in Switzerland, so I passed. These RA's, in a 25 box, with a damn TEB Code - no WAY was I passing on there. The oils and pure RA richness coming from this box was sensational. There was 4 boxes, the first one I opened was the best. TEB!!!! So Gesto's was excellent. Highly recommended. But that's not the only cigar shop in Geneva. As I said, I went to Gerard, because there was one thing that Gestos did not yet have - the RA Perfectos RE. Thankfully, this was one cigar that was actually in good condition there. I bought four boxes - 2 for a certain brother on here who will remain nameless.....untill of course he sees this thread again LOL. I picked the eyes out of what Gerard have - the best 4 boxes I could find. All the same box code and around the same number. So that was Geneva, and Switzerland! But we did get to another Country while there. We took the ol' rental car and drove out across the country, stopping only at the Lindt factory in Zurich to stock up on Chocolates (No guided tour, sadly), until we reached.....Liechtenstein! Since I'm weird like that - I've been trying to visit all the micro-states of Europe. With Liechtenstein, I now have 4 down (Andorra, Monaco and the Vatican as well), and only 2 to go (San Marino and Luxembourg). But this visit was about more than passport stamps - we visited the local museum and learned about how they are the world's largest producer of false teeth. We also visited their local Whisky Distillery, which was a tiny operation called Telser. The guy makes PHENOMENAL whisky - if you ever find Telsington Whisky for sale anyway, buy it without hesitation. We spent a well-oiled afternoon just talking whisky, which I'm sure my wife found slightly boring after the 2nd hour or so.. Anyway - they also have a Davidoff shop in Liechtenstein! I went in looking for one thing - and I found it - Swiss RE's to try! You've already seen the RA Especiales and VA Petit Unicos in the Paris thread - those are from Liechtenstein. Here you'll see the LGC Triunfos - That one was a gift from the Gesto's owner for buying so much from him. I'll be honest, I had avoided the cigar as i'd heard mixed reviews, but the one he gave me had wonderful oils and aroma, so I'm optimistic this will be a cracker. Also here is the ERDM Elegantes RE, which I'm aching to try, and the Juan Lopez Maximos RE - another one that has been panned, but I have to try for myself, right! Sneaking in is a couple cigars from Paris, the Juan Lopez Minutos RE. Bloody expensive for a minuto (almost 10 euros a stick!!) but I got a couple to try. Not bad overall, but I like the JL Seleccion No. 5 RE from Andorra, a Perla that costs €110 per 25-box and delivers sweeter flavours. The French RE was too sour for my taste. Maybe its too young - at that price, it'll have plenty of time to get old on the shelves. There you have it - all caught up on my Cigar travels! Not sure where I'm heading next for cigars - I'm up to Islay in a couple weeks to tour some whisky distilleries and punish my liver for a couple of days. No cigar purchasing but likely plenty of smoking for that weekend. Then School takes over for a month and a half. Portugal for Easter? Ireland in April? We'll see, Stay Tuned! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLC Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Awesome summary of your travels Chris. Sounds like great trips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanuckSARTech Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strada Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 greeeeeeeat job! Keep reporting sir Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennykong Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Our first trip from London (aside from a side trip to Bath, Wells, Cheddar and Stonehenge) was a few delightful days in the south of France to visit mon ami Guy (laficion). We had a really wonderful time with Guy and his wife, and Guy also took me to his favourite local B&M. I think the shopkeeper is now a fan of mine... First up - I'm no Fonseca fan, but I thought - a 10 box of RE's ? What the hey. Fonseca Amateurs RE Francia. IMG_1152.jpg IMG_1150.jpg IMG_1154.jpg IMG_1155.jpg IMG_1156.jpg Then, I noticed the big Kahunas...the Bolivar Liberatadores, the RE's from 07/08. I pounced on all he had - a part box and a couple of lighter-shade wrappers from a different box than he had in the singles drawers. IMG_1157.jpg IMG_1158.jpg IMG_1159.jpg IMG_1160.jpg After that...I pretty much raided his singles drawers for whatever RE's he had. I bought out pretty much his remaining RE stock. Some ones I didn't think I'd find...even though some I wanted to find (the JL minuto, the QdO RE's) weren't there. IMG_1161.jpg Oh yeah, and he had one solitary Partagas LE form 2004. Not letting that one go by! Yoink! IMG_1163.jpg How about some Punch Small Clubs REs? I hate the petit Robustos, but I'll try these for a larf. IMG_1164.jpg Those ERDM Petit Companias looked like lovely companions. IMG_1165.jpg These RA Especiales RE's were a real find, I'm excited to try these ones. IMG_1166.jpg I guess I bought so many that the shopkeeper gave me this tattered JL Obus RE for free (I wasn't going to buy it, regardless. Pretty beat up. It's probably smoke fine though). He also gifted Guy a Boli RE as well, he seemed like quite the swell fella. IMG_1167.jpg France was awesome!!! Big thanks again to Guy for hosting us while we were there Look at that plume!!!! I'm salivating! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lotusguy Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Look at that plume!!!! I'm salivating!Given how high the humidity was in every cigar store I entered in France, I seriously doubt that is plume... I had to go through 3 boxes of the QdO before I found one that had only an acceptable amount of mold. Sorry, but that's how it is. Chris - you were lucky you went to Switzerland before the franc increased by 20% overnight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanceSchmerr Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 Given how high the humidity was in every cigar store I entered in France, I seriously doubt that is plume... I had to go through 3 boxes of the QdO before I found one that had only an acceptable amount of mold. Sorry, but that's how it is. Chris - you were lucky you went to Switzerland before the franc increased by 20% overnight Claus - this is a really good point. When I got my box QdO Beli Royals, they showed me two boxes of moldy ones before I managed to find one that was relatively mold free - and even then, I still had to switch out about 5 sticks with clean ones from other boxes before I was satisfied. I don't know why they have the humidity cranked so much... And yeah - had I got to Geneva a week or two later than I did, I would have come back with half of this haul, thats for sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanuckSARTech Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 ...And yeah - had I got to Geneva a week or two later than I did, I would have come back with half of this haul, thats for sure! Woulda / better been MY half, I'm presuming?!?!!?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dicko Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 really enjoyable thread, thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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