Punch Edición Limitada 2017 Regios de Punch (my thoughts)

                  I  was very lucky to find a box of these cigars last March in Havana when there was nothing to be found after the Habanos Festival. I was so hoping they were good but the only way to find out was to try one.
                  This Corona Extra comes in a Slide Lid Box of 25 cigars and weighs in at 48 x 120 (4.7"), the box date reads, November 2017. They have a darker wrapper that's a little bumpy and they're a little hard when squeezed. However, great draw and the pre-light gave off mild wood. Once lit the cigar emitted huge plumes of smoke. Off the hop this cigar was very strong with flavours of earth and a little bitterness. Less than an inch into the smoke the bitterness left, the burn was even and it was still quite strong. Past the first inch it was strong and pretty one dimensional....still earthy. After an inch and a half the ash falls on it's own and the edge comes off a little bit....and so it remained for the rest of the smoke.
                   It's smokeable now but I didn't find any complexity to this cigar, in my opinion it may need a little rest for the flavours to come out. I will try another one this summer and see if there's any change, it certainly has the stuff to become a good smoke.

 

El Gelato (Heladeria) Really Good Ice Cream in Havana

               There seems to be a trend towards going back to the old days of when Havana had good ice cream for sale. Granted, it's a lot more expensive today than it was back in the 60-70's when 'La Coppelia' in the Vedado district of Havana was practically giving ice cream away. When the 'Coppelia' opened it's doors in 1966 it offered 26 different flavours, today it only offers one or two at any given time. The love for ice cream however has never diminished in Cuba and if you drive by Coppelia today, even though they only have the 1 or 2 flavours, you'll always find a lineup. I have heard over the last couple of years, with the regulations changing regarding the opening of private businesses, that there have been a number of ice cream shops opening up. Until my last trip I have never gone to one of them. I came across this particular one during one of my long walks and decided to have my dessert here that evening. I wasn't disappointed, as good as any I've had in Italian ice cream shops back in Toronto. Of course the machinery to produce the goodness probably comes from the same place we buy ours from in Canada, Italy.
               During the day the place wasn't so busy but when we returned at night for our dessert around 10pm, the place was jammed. We were lucky enough to grab the last table available. I went to take a look at what was remaining flavour wise and more than half of what I saw earlier that day had been sold. At one point shortly afterwards they had to shut down before the normal hour due to (what they said) lack of water. You might say, what does water have to do with anything, which is what I thought. The answer was, how are they going to wash the cups and whatever other utensils are used for service. I personally think they had sold far more than they had anticipated and were using ice cream they had prepared for the next day. Even though the flavours we requested were not available behind the counter, they miraculously appeared in our bowls....our waiter assuring us when ordering that he would retrieve them from the back.
              Although the prices were a little high for a Cuban, there seemed to be quite a lot of them there having ice cream right next to Tourists and Diplomats. I don't know if I would go out of my way to come here since I'm sure there are a couple of similar locations closer to or in the tourist area (Old Havana) but if you're in the Miramar area of the city, like I am, this is a good spot to frequent if you're in the mood for a good Gelato. Be aware, space on the patio is limited and it can get very noisy, a lot of families come here and the kids run amok.







'El Gelato' Heladeria
1ra y 46
Miramar, Playa, Havana,
+53 5 2420870

Havana (A Pictorial - 2) March 2018

                  I always take way too many pictures when I go to Cuba. Couple that with the fact that I walk all over the place while I'm in Havana and it makes for a lot of material that can't fit into one post. Here is another bunch of pictures of my favourite city.