At last we had a chance to see something big in Cigar World of London.
Cuban Embassy and Cuban Tourist Board in association with Hunters & Frankau held a Bolivar Centenary Dinner at London Hilton Park Lane on November 4, 2002.
Simon Bolivar, one of the great romantic figures of the 19th century, liberated much of South America from Spanish rule. In 1902, seventy-two years after his death, the Rocha company in Havana commemorated him on a new brand of cigars that it launched first in Great Britain.
Tickets to the dinner were £150.00 each. London Hilton on Park Lane donated £20.00 from the sale of each ticket to The Medical Aid for Cuba Appeal. Tickets were limited to 100 persons but we managed to get hold of two tickets and attended the Dinner with one of our best customers - Mr. S. Lok.
The champagne reception prior to dinner was very "smoky". Honestly, that was the first time I saw so many cigar aficionados at a time. Before entering the room we had a good chance to see the Bolivar Centenary Humidor and Trinidad Humidor which were signed by Fidel Castro and shipped to London practically the day before dinner along with the first ever available box of Cohiba Siglo VI - a new addition to Siglo line.
All those items were to be auctioned at the dinner.
There were quite a few celebrities and well known business people from the City as well as several representatives of British aristocracy.
The Press was represented by Cigar Aficionado's James Suckling, Daily Telegraph and Country Style magazine.
After about half an hour mingling among the guests we were invited to the dining room of the Windows Restaurant. The organizers quite surprised us by the very original menu list made in a tobacco leaf style banded with the Bolivar cigar band. The content of the menu was worth the effort. See it for yourself:-
Then the Auction started. Here's the results:-
Lot No 1 - The Bolivar Centenary Humidor
Signed by Sr. Fidel Castro, President of the Republic of Cuba.
The first (No1) of a limited edition of 100 humidors made to commemorate the centenary of the launch in Britain of the Bolivar brand. It contains 100 cigars - 50 Royal Coronas (47/8" x 50 ring gauge) and 50 Belicosos Finos (5 1/2 x 52 ring gauge) - all of which are double banded to mark the occasion.
Bids started at £500.00 and in few minutes ended at... £7,000.00
Lot No 2 - A Box of 25 Cohiba Siglo VI
One of the first boxes of the new Cohiba Siglo VI (5 7/8" x 50 ring gauge) to be made at the H. Upmann factory in Havana and the very first to arrive in Britain. This cigar, created to mark the 510 th Anniversary of Columbus's discovery of the New World, will not be generally available until next year.
Bids started at £250.00 and ended at £2,500.00
Lot No 3 - The Trinidad Humidor
A unique humidor created by Cuban artisan Armando Cotarelo Prieto in the style of a typical 17th Century house in the colonial city of La Santisima Trinidad. It contains 50 cigars - 25 Trinidad Fundadores (7 1/2" x 40 ring gauge) and 25 Trinidad Robusto "A"s (7 1/2" x 50 ring gauge).
Bids started at £1,000.00 and in about 10 minutes ended at...£14,000.00
Then the "palate cleansers" were served with the Second cigar to follow - Trinidad Fundadores (as one of our clients put it - a Rolls Royce of cigars) accompanied by a Seven Year Old Havana Club Rum. The joy of my cigar was a little bit spoiled by not a very good draw on the first third, but it improved by the middle and the finish was FANTASTIC!!!
At about 1.00 p.m. a dessert was served and beautiful girls offered us the Third cigar - Bolivar Corona Gigantes Cabinet Selection - one of the most powerful cigars there is, which we enjoyed listening to Latino music played by the Cuban band and watching a very expressive dance by the Cuban girls.
Unfortunately, it was all over at about midnight, when most of the guests left.
It was a great evening and we want to thank Hunters & Frankau Ltd and Hilton Park Lane for giving us this opportunity to meet fellow Cigar Aficionados.
