Stories of Cuba with Edward Sahakian and Eddie Sahakian at Davidoff of London | Kirby Allison

here we are it's a beautiful evening here in  london i'm on st james's street right at the   corner of german street of course in front of  one of my favorite places davidoff of london   and i must say that i've had the distinct  privilege of having been invited by edward   and eddie sahakian to enjoy a cigar with them  after the shop closes so i hope you'll join me   one of the things i'm hoping that  we are able to tease out of them   are a few of their stories of  cuba and the dominican republic gentlemen thank you so much for having me so nice  to have you here [Music] eddie thank you so much   for having me of course one of my great pleasures  of traveling to london of course is seeing you too   and so it's so nice to be able to do this  on the first night here in london the honor   is ours my father and i could not wait to see  you as soon as we heard you were coming again   opportunity to smoke a cigar not not to be  passed up um you know one of my great dreams   of course is to one day be able to go visit  cuba you know i've wanted to travel to cuba   for as long as i can remember certainly for as  long as i've been smoking cigars and of course   you two you know i've had the opportunity to  go many times and so i thought you know maybe   edward you might share with us you know some of  your memories from maybe one of your first trips   with great pleasure because that  first trip i will never forget sorry to interrupt you may i with  that recollection in your mind   offer kirby a little cigar to start the proper  recollection i was just going to suggest that   before i start yes well i might go on a bit my  long story great company certainly is always even   a little bit better with great cigars so we've  got some here now these are not cubans these are   davidoffs right and we've got three different  cigars here right so i think it is a great   illustration of just the breadth and the  portfolio that davidoff of london has developed   kirby what you have there is the david of royal  robusto as it befits you you are a king from texas   well everyone feels like a king here in  these chairs so thank you you're very kind   it's a beautiful cigar it has a significant age  tobacco approximately 10 years in there really   smooth delightful uh it's got a real  personality as you smoke through that   so i'd love to know what you think when you  when you get through the and so the tobacco   is aged for 10 years before trolled or it's  indeed after it's rolled before it's rolling   okay uh only davidoff seemed to execute that as  well as they do uh and there's a real personality   they they're able to continue rolling that year on  year and preserving the same identity to the ceo   it's like blending a good um good whiskey  absolutely right absolutely right dad what   are you smoking well i've chosen to smoke the  david of year of the tiger of course i think it's   very appropriate we're in february the chinese  new year has started it's the year of the tiger   and this year davidoff has done something magical  i don't know if you could see it very well they   managed to put the stripes of a tiger onto the  wrapper of the cigar as well how on earth did they   achieve that if they revealed the secrets yet uh  i have heard one or two stories okay but i gather   the stem of the wrappers were separated and then  put onto the wrappers bunch them then they were   pressed for a number of days i think no more  than two three days and that way they managed to   extract the oils of the stem onto the wow wrapper  itself and it's left these beautiful marks on it   it's just this is a cigar tiger so yeah and i  only smoked one of these when it just arrived   and i thought it'd be very appropriate i smoked  another one with my dear friend kirby here thank   you well happy chinese new year happy chinese  new year yes yeah kirby may i offer you the   match or would you like me to light it for  you i can't refuse that offer oh you know of   course our how to light a cigar video i think  is uh vastly approaching the million view mark   again another great testament to the poetry with  which you guys are able to really ritualize the   enjoyment of lighting a cigar yo you're too kind  i can't do it as well as dad as you probably know   but after many years of practicing  you you've learned very well   practice makes perfect exactly well i think this  really speaks to davidoff i mean i mean they are   really um you know singular in the world of cigars  and their ability to flawlessly execute am i wrong   they've come a long way in a short time really  first time i remember when i visited the dominican   republic it was with dr schneider he invited me  to go there with him because he said we've just   purchased the factory and we're going to make  the david of cigars there i'd like you to be   one of the first people to see it wow and when we  walked into the factory very basic very primitive   but i could see his dream what it's going to  turn into and it was a lovely experience and   what a bold decision i mean you know of course  all of the the the history of cuban tobacco to   um you know to say you know what we're going to  break away from rolling and manufacturing our   cigars in cuba and go doing the dominican republic  that was a time when when you spoke about cigars   it was cuban cigars havanas nothing else yeah and  dr schneider says i said schneider you will never   be able to make a cigar as good as the cuban  ones said edward you wait and see and he was   right wow he was right he's absolutely right how  long did that take i mean tuck i mean you know   i'd love to hear you know of course your stories  about cuba but i mean this point right here of   you know davidoff you know transitioning from  having their cigars made in cuba to made in   the dominican republic was huge well the move  was made in 1990 and they officially stopped purchasing or david of cigars being  made in cuba and they moved on   to the dominican republic before that dr schneider  had made a research of the whole of the caribbean   and his choice was dominican republic and it  was with a gentleman called hendrik kellner he found them they met they talked they  tested some of the cigars he had made   and dr schneider said this is a man that i could  work with they shook hands and it all started from   there yeah well class his son is a good friend of  mine yeah i've had the privilege of meeting and   he was a little boy he must have been a little boy  boy then yes and so i remember him thank you wow   brilliantly lit if you need a little further  encouragement my lighter awaits you may i just   use that uh i think i did not like your own cigar  dad i know i know i have not reached your mastery well you must get to work on your own man i  will relieve you from that torture already   it's that virgin puff as you described the last  time we met you know really i guess had been   something that i'd always rushed is the um you  know the lighting of my cigar and robbing myself   of this first you know puff of smoke and i have  to say it uh after having had the opportunity   to experience that i don't think i'll be able to  rush that process ever again i'm so happy to hear   that kirby you know it can be it can be borderline  annoying when you're impatient for that cigar but   it's worth the wait isn't it yeah sure is um so  that's incredible so you were one of the first uh   people that dr schneider took to the dominican  republic well i could claim i was the first   person outside the inner circle yeah the  management to go there with that schneider   and it was a very interesting trip we landed in  santa domingo long road trip up to san diego and it it was very basic the cigar industry  in 30 years public was not all that great   at that time yeah and what about the  dominican i mean did it exist at all   i mean clearly they were growing tobacco well they  were growing tobacco they were making cigars but   it was not a map of the cigars at all they  had some local brands the only other people   who had started a few months before that  making cigars uh there it was the dunhill   but they had chosen another factory in the  dominican in the dominican republic and uh davidoff was really they started from scratch  literally when we visited they had one   building which was partially the working  rollers working there they had the storage   for the tobaccos a few offices a lot of land  and nothing much and then dr schneider said   that this is going to be the rolling factory  here on this side there was nothing there   it looks very nice well it will look nice  when it's i mean what is going to be the aging   section that's going to be the  manufacturing quality control   and as he's pointing it out we're  looking at just plain land nothing else   so he literally started from scratch uh i  remember one of the interesting things when   this was the second or third day we were there and  hanky kellner he needed to discuss some business   with dr schneider so he said i've asked my  wife imelda to take you around to show you   the city is there anything you would like to see  i said what yes i'd love to see some cigar shops   and he hesitated and said well don't  have cigar shops here as such so   what do you mean you don't have cigar shops  you know where do people buy their cigars from   so well we have shop selling cigarettes but nobody  really smokes cigars really such wow there was   not a single cigar shop i could go and visit it's  amazing it was i was surprised i was so surprised   incredible and how did that contrast with your  first time to cuba i mean because at this point   in 1990 davidoff of london had been open to  92. okay that was 92 when i did the first visit   davidov had left there in 1990 it took them a  year year and a half to find the location and   start working on the plans my first visit to cuba  was in 19 end of 1987. really okay 1987 one day i   had a visit from a gentleman called almeida senor  almeida he was the cuban he was the representative   of cuba tobacco then it was called cuba tobacco  habanos they don't exist and one day he walked   into the shop we had met a few times before  and he said edward i want to talk to you about   something very serious oh god what's happened no  i said please come and sit down on these chairs have i said something upset you or what he  says no no edward i want to ask you a favor   said yes by all means he said if we invite  you to come and visit cuba will you come   i said you know i thought you will never  ask i'd love to come to cuba of course   it's always been my dream to visit the cuba  where the cigars are made where it's all done   so why do you ask that he said well i was under  depression you might not want to visit i said no   whoever gave you that impression was  wrong i would love to visit maybe his mom maybe mean what was it like traveling   you know to cuba kind of in that era well i will  tell you how it was travel commonplace after he   spoke to me he said then i'm going to invite a  few other retailers and now that you're coming   i could tell them that edward is coming so they  will come as well and he invited there was about   four or five uh couples i was there on my  own but it was desmond souter with his wife   there were three other couples one or two  from the north james bar who was one of them   and everything was organized it was in february  and where we received our invitations our   itinerary and the first thing i noticed of  course was that we had to fly from london   to shannon in ireland and then from there change  the plane and fly a direct flight well not direct   with a flight with one stop to havana so we  were all excited we're going to go to cuba   all dressed up in our very light clothing  panama had the lot and we got onto the plane   british airways beautiful took us to shannon  airport and got off a couple of hours later   that the flight is ready to board we're checking  our itinerary and it was a error float i'm talking   about error floats of the 1980s okay and the  other thing we noticed there was no numbers on   the tickets an error float no seats floodplainer  aeroflot there was the russian russian okay   airline that was the only airline flying to cuba  in those days really so we all gathered in front   of the gate to go onto the plane all together we  were about 12 of us and there was a a lot of other   passengers waiting the gates opened they announced  please board the plane and we were being polite so   anybody wanted to push through we let them go  without realizing the reason it's just because   they knew what was going to happen everybody went  and sat down in the plane by the time we arrived   into the airplane there was one seat here one  seat there and one seat there we could not stay   together as a group so like easyjet these days a  bit like that yes southwest airlines in the united   states it's free-for-all we all managed to get our  seats we sat down [Music] uh the plane took off   and they said we have one stop for  refueling in a place called gander   now gander is north east of maine sort  of in canada uh not too far from canada   or it is part of canada i'm not sure if it's an  island or was it newfoundland or somewhere or   i don't know all i remember it was gander and  it was only for refueling and it was very cold   we landed there for refueling they said you can  go inside and have some refreshments you're not   allowed to stay on board [Music] we're  walking out of the plane t-shirt short   maybe a jacket and the degree there was minus  20 degrees centigrade wow it it hit us i mean   we nearly fainted oh my gosh it's there a bus is  there a car to take us no no you have to walk from   here to the building there which is about 200  yards away i don't know how fast we ran there   just talking about it gives me the shivers and  no choice got into the building it was warm so   we weren't freezing inside there was nothing  available they were waiting for the caters   kettles to boil so they could offer us tea or  coffee and that's all we had hot tea and coffee   and that took us about an hour and  a half to wait until it was ready   coming back there was a couple ted ted citizens he  was with us he had a heart problem to start with   and when we went into the building his heart  palpitation started because of the cold so   they did arrange a small jeep to come and take  him into the plane rest of us we had to walk   oh i forgot to mention walking in and out of the  plane there was no stairs going up the back of the   plane opened wow and you just had to walk up there  a bit like the cattle [Laughter] truck yeah my   goodness it was incredible what a journey we flew  there we arrived in havana it was early afternoon   in the airplane we were given sandwiches as  food and our dessert was a trolley walking by   with oranges and apples that's all it was and the  lady she was pushing the trolley and she was just   throwing the apples and oranges whatever she  fancies she would throw at you and if you were   not quick to catch it the person sitting next  to you would get it and it was not yours anymore some of us we had our desserts some of  us kept it for later just in case so as   we arrived into havana airport the  first thing there was a sign saying   no food allowed so all the oranges and apples  we had saved we had to dispose in a basket there   eventually we went through the  immigration and onto the hotel   we stayed the first night in a hotel  commodore that was the only nice hotel then   and that was the beginning of our  journey first trip in cuba but it was   fascinating we visited several factories there  we visited the original romeo juliet factory   in the particles factory and everywhere we  went we were welcomed with such open arms it   was just unbelievable we were the first group  of retailers visiting these factories really   and it's hard to believe they were told that these  are the people who sell these cigars that you make   so you know they were so happy to see us and we  were so happy to see them it was fascinating it   was like finding old relatives you know the warmth  there that was waiting there in the factories   did you see alligator as well on that trip  uh no no no a legito at that time was out of   bounds it was because ligito was the factory  where the david of cigars were made [Music]   and they had just started uh making i think the  cohiba lancers were made there did it exist did   cohiba as a brand existed yes it did exist  then it did exist but we did not go there   we did the partagas the romeo juliet uh factory  and one other factory i think it's the h outman   factory visited sorry to interrupt that was this  the part of us that we now visit as a museum   or yes with the shop underneath oh exactly that's  the original factory then it was fully functional   working beautiful we had access to everywhere  i mean any door we wanted to open we opened   and walked in and everybody put the chambet jack  jack jack that's how they welcomed you and the   chavez by the way are the blades that all torso  doors use all rollers use large sort of curved   knives to use as they're making the cigars i must  insist that you relied i can't sit here and ah use your lighter which you've kindly lent to me  so at that time i mean were i made was there much   tourism in cuba i mean was it even very common  there were no tourism because there were a few   russian tourists i mean at that time you couldn't  even visit china really very few russian tourists   there was some germans were there we noticed were  there any italians because italians always seem to   get everywhere there might have been but very very  few very few i mean we stayed in the commodore   hotel and then from there we went and stayed two  days later we stayed another hotel in the middle   of nowhere this is visiting pinel de rio where  the plantations was which was fascinating again   you know the first time i was seeing the tobacco  plants the leaves i mean you could touch them you   could smell them we visited the barns where they  were storing them it is just incredible and from   that trip we came back we stayed two nights in  that other hotel next to them no no no no no no   riviera hotel riviera hotel riviera they had  opened it only for us to stay there a few nights   there was no other people there and here you you  walked into there you could almost sense the mafia   talking to you and around you because that's  in the godfather too isn't it if you've seen   the godfather too there's a scene where al pacino  ends up in in havana just before the the fall of   batista okay and one of the mafia businesses was  the riviera hotel the guy was sort of divvying   out and you'll get this hotel you'll get out  of it it's just built then it was just built   uh i remember so well i had a lovely room it was  like a sweet huge with a big piece of carpet there   half of it worn out a big chandelier and when  i switched the light and only one bulb came on   there must have been like 18 19 balls only  one of them were and in the bathroom when   you opened the water there were three taps  a drinking water tap which had no water and   then there was the hot water and the cold water  and the cold water was working and that's all but they only had opened it for a few days  just to welcome this group of retailers from   the united kingdom which is what sat empty and  and we stayed there two nights and from there   we had a week to rest we went to varadero and we  stayed in the nacional hotel or hotel national   which is next to the dewpoint house the dupont  house belonged to the dupont family and during the   revolution that was all confiscated everything was  closed locked and done one of the evenings they   invited us to have drinks and smoke a cigar or  do a tasting of the cigar in the dupont house wow   and we walked into the dewport house you could  see before us only two hours before somebody had   come to open the doors everything was left laying  around as it was newspapers from the 1959 dates   on it magazines time magazine everything was  there you could actually sit there clean the   dust and touch it it was beautiful it was lovely  it had a lovely terrace looking onto the ocean   uh which we realized it's full  of mosquitoes but it was too late   and uh we did have a wonderful time the  water was beautiful warm caribbean beach and   after five or six days we flew back  air flowed again that was my first trip   to cuba i have such lovely memories every factory  we visited we were presented with gifts everybody   would like the romeo juliet i should have the  box how many cigars did you bring back with you   how many boxes well we came back with a lot of  cigars purely because every factory we visited   we were presented with a box of cigars each person  and they wanted to give us other souvenirs which   obviously they didn't so the only other souvenirs  they could give us were cigar bands and sort of   papers that covered the cigars things  like that lovely little momentos   so we probably had four or  five boxes each of those cigars there were not shops as such there was a few  shops we visited and we bought a few cigars   here and there and then at the last day before  coming back we were presented with a lovely we   actually visited the head of the the offices  of the cuba tobacco which is on uh calais and we've met with the head of a cuba tobacco  i don't remember who it was it wasn't padron   before him or may there was with us all the  trip was it avelina lara or was that different   no i didn't meet having elena lara there avanilla  lara he was the head of the legito factory in the   production side and he he was when we opened the  show yes producing only davidoffs and in 1980 when   i opened the shop avelina lara and rima fernandez  who was the actual roller they visited the shop   and they stayed here with us for two weeks  doing the demonstration that's when i got   to meet avelina lara he's another legend he's not  with us any longer he passed away a few years ago   but we did not vis i wanted to meet him but he  was based in the legito factory and we were not   it was not in our schedule to visit  the factory so we didn't see we have   photographs in black and white of those early  first few days in the shop with avelino lara   and norma fernandez yes rolling she was rolling  here and there's pictures of my father and norma   in and senolara in the cigar room he's offering  me a cigar he's sort of lighting a cigar this   room right here this very room avelina lara  in his later years of his life he ended up   working in bahamas for a hotel called greycliff  it's very well known great cliff hotel there is   it's it's quite well known it's got the world's  largest stock of wines and drinks in his basement the building belonged to the previous uh i  think he was the governor there so he had   bought it from the governor and the basement  when you go into the vaults of the where they   kept the wine it extended to underneath the street  underneath the other buildings around there it's   i don't know how many hundreds of thousands  of bottles of wine exists there but it's just   incredible many years later i visited there  and avolino was there as well i met him over   again it's hard for me to even fathom you know  what that era was like i mean to hear you describe   it and i'm sure contrasting that with what it's  like to go visit cuba now or your first time to   go visit cuba it was i'm sure it felt like  you were stepping back much farther in time   than just the 1980s but also you know it was pre  the downfall of the soviet empire or soviet union   i should say so it really had that soviet um  very very good slightly brutalist revolutionary   feel to it i can imagine i mean when i went to 97  it was like that we were warned that whatever we   say will be listened to so we're very careful like  the internet today yeah yeah exactly indeed except   now you don't need to be in russia for that to be  the case um wow well what so you poured something   for us and i'd love for you to talk about what  you're smoking your father had an opportunity to   introduce his cigar thank you for sharing that  it is a pleasure thank you you brought back a   lot of memories for me we'll touch back at that  here in a second but we'll use this as a segue   uh eddie if you wouldn't mind well i i couldn't  resist i'm smoking the new winston churchill   limited edition 2022 perfector which  is a 61 ring gauge at its widest point   it's a gorgeous limited edition just landed i  mean we're talking a few days here in london   um and because of the winston churchill of course  association there uh i thought about what can i   offer kirby to to enjoy we've had some wonderful  whiskey together um one of our favorite drinks   and being patriotic armenians yes it resonates  very well with us is an armenian brandy okay   the armenians call it cognac as in cognac but  technically it's a brandy uh called ararat and   it's named after the very infamous mountain that's  not in armenia itself at the moment but used to be   and um armenians are rightly very proud of  the distillery and the product this particular   expression is a 20 year old called nairy and it  resonates with winston churchill because there's   a story to when winston was first introduced  to this very brandy uh by stalin i believe is   that absolutely it was in yalta it was in the  meeting in yalta where they had a meeting there   roosevelt churchill and stalin after the meeting  and they had their dinner and after the dinner   roosevelt retired early with  churchill and stalin carried on   to smoke a cigar stallion smoking his  pipe and stalin offered winston churchill   said would you like to drink some cognac he  said i love cognac and he poured the cognac   as they started drinking mr winston this is  delicious what is this this is armenian cognac   really and it's they specially make it for me as  well this particular bottle this is 20 years old   lovely cognac was it this one or the vin that  he was the story goes maybe well i i've been   told both stories davine but the gentleman who  we recently got this bottle from he insisted   that this it was the night but i think even if it  was the davine it was a 20 year old one as well   so sir western he enjoyed that so much that he  asked stalin he said can i have some more i will   send it to you of course the meeting finished  they went back to their countries and very soon   one day the prime minister's office  receives a letter from customs and excise   there's a case of spirit here for you  and sir there is 20 something pound   beauty so can you please arrange  payment of that so we could deliver that   well the payment was made and the churchill  received his cognac he drank it he loved it   and he sent a letter to stalin  thanking him for sending the   case of the cognac and he said may i just suggest  next time should you want to send any more can you   please send it through our diplomatic channel  [Laughter] which opened the door for the uh   ambassador the russian ambassador to come and  visit sir winston churchill every month and to   present him the case of uh armenian brandy that  was sent to him by stalin it's amazing how cigars   and great brandy you know have been at the center  of uh diplomacy for so long so you know to a great   diplomat on that note church fellow statesman  your great help thank you great help edward and as i drink this i can see sir winston   in the bottom of my glass you know he's smoking  his signature cigar there he is these are the   special glasses which david has produced  so you could rest your cigar on it as well   what more in life does one need perhaps a coffee  cup with the same indentation that's right   um the reason we love this armenian brandy apart  from it being an armenian connection of course   is that it's reminiscent or reminds us much more  of a elegant rum there's there's a sweetness and   caramel notes to it that you don't always  find in brandies and we think it pairs   beautifully with cigars i hope you enjoyed  as much as we do yeah thank you for sharing   i mean you know i think you two are always  exceptionally generous in your hospitality and um   you know what i love about davidoff of london  here the shop is how really everyone that walks   through the doors has the opportunity to really  experience that genuine hospitality that of course   you two are so famous for so thank you thank you  thank you kirby it's always a pleasure to see you   it's always a pleasure to be able to sit  down with somebody who appreciates a cigar   have a chat share ashtray together i mean it is i  think what i love so much about a cigar and we of   course speak about this at length uh is how you  know good cigar really is a commitment to time   and uh in smoking a cigar you know one  gets to choose with whom he spends time   and it's an important aspect of enjoying  a good cigar is with whom one spends   that time with yes and here we are you know  one of my favorite places of course in london   you know here on this corner of st james's  and german street dowd off of london and   you know this it really is one of the first places  i visited whenever i first came uh to london thank   you so much kirby i have to say there's another  place i would like to spend some time with a   cigar with you and i hope it'll happen soon is  cuba or dominican republic or both perhaps yeah   well um how is your cigar developing this  is beautiful well i hope as well as yours   i love this cigar so it's the second time i'm  smoking it i'm i'm in love with it i've put away   several boxes already i'm nervous running out  of that and i have to say the one you're smoking   would have been the one i would have smoked  otherwise how are you smoking it too fast eddie   well it's because what can i do i'm  blowing that's a 62 rain gauge cigar   only parts of it that's right you're smoking it  too fast yeah well i have i suffer from that same   that same proclivity yeah now that's one of the  reasons that you know whenever i first started   smoking you know would primarily be at night and  i really find myself you know gravitating towards   the you know the the double coronas and the church  hills and the lusitanias these large format cigars   but as i've recently installed this absolutely  brilliant smoke filtration system in my office i   now find myself having to you know build up my  collection of reserve of robustos and coronas   because um you know i haven't the time for a  proper long scar during the day yes uh we we   have to find the cigar to match the uh the time  we we have to offer it now so it's been a great   you know kind of privilege because it's given  me the opportunity to diversify a little bit   you know my you know my humidor you know  whereas before you know it was predominantly   larger format cigars now being able to kind of  experiment and is it humidor or humidors well   right now unfortunately it's just a humidor but  this last trip to london has inspired me to begin   working on actually the construction of a walk-in  humidor so you know my my small little uh humidor   which you know to call it small probably would be  a misstatement but my my credenza humidor that i   have in the office has become like a game of  tetris you know getting the boxes in and out   so they're not the only ones so many of my  customers are doing that now either walk-in   humidors walk in humidors i mean walk in it could  be a small cupboard convert it into a humidor or   it could be a spare room that's converted into  humidor but more and more people they're asking   us advice how should we do the humidification  extraction whatever but i hear it every day   well video shall be coming to you soon on the  construction of this humidor well we will look   forward to coming and inspecting it in person  first we must fill it you know it's like that's   the god willing with all the restrictions being  lifted we will be able to firstly come and visit   and give our advice on on the premises itself  ah what a brilliant letter well uh eddie what   about your first time to cuba so dad you  went in 87 um i was incredibly fortunate   10 years later at that time i had been working  here in the shop for a few about three four years   and it was a very different time for  cigars i think between 87 and 97 we had the   the cigar boom in the us driven by cigar  aficionado and and everyone's interest in   in smoking um so i went at what i would call  peak cigar celebrity moment really and cuba   was buzzing and it was my first trip i'd fallen  completely head over heels in love with cigars   and of course the idea of going to cuba were you  in the business at that time i was yes it was   about three years i was working three four years  i was working in the shop already it was meant   to be a punishment i said eddie would you come to  cuba with me and it's supposed to be a punishment   for him and of course he said he'd love to and  it turned out to be a pleasure pure pleasure   it was everything i mean perhaps not as as sparse  and spartan as my father experienced in 87 there   were certainly uh fewer trappings it was not a  luxury trip as such but you don't expect that   when you go to cuba and if you went with the right  mindset yeah which i hope i had um everything was   a marvel from the greeting from from the you know  the even the fact that nothing worked the way we   were used to it working was charming and of course  the cherry on the cake above everything else you   know coming from london was the climate but the  cigars and to see the plantations and to see   the the the the real plant itself the leaves uh  how they process it the factories the rolling that   was a lovely treat and i was in the company of  cigar royalty you know i was a little little flea   on the back side of of these big personalities  and gemma's father was there nick freeman gemma's   mom brady and uh also at one of the reception we  went to the what's that nightclub where this is   no also tropicana tropicana where they didn't  have the cigar festivals as such then but they   were having these gatherings in tropicana and  fidel castro came there i think is this the   one where you tell this story uh no that was  a havanos festival where you tell the story of   he wasn't supposed to arrive but then it  was this one yeah it wasn't then it even   habanos did not exist as such this was just he  purely visited there he did the auction and of   course eddie was there it it was uh amazing  how many people do you think were there in yeah it was packed but what a difference ten  years made you know between your trip you know   in 87 and your trip in 97 yes um and and i can  you know the the extra layer there was that they   were celebrating the 30th anniversary of kahiba at  that time it fell in 97 because it was february 97   but technically it was 96 the 30th anniversary  and they had prepared some extraordinary cigars   one of which and i and i still remember we were  at the tropicana and castro got up and spoke and   i was spellbound by this i mean incredibly  charismatic person um charming funny all   of it and then they had this charity auction of  these wonderful humidors and suddenly my father   starts to bid on one of the humidors and of course  i was i you know i could hear the price yes and   i was looking at dad and i was like oh god i  didn't realize he was doing that well in the   show every time my hand went up that and next  thing i know dad had won this amazing humidor   so you know it had everything for me that trip  and i have to say i walked away amongst all of it   remembering that the cuban people themselves were  the magic of that country yeah everyone we met   you know they from from the taxi driver to the  porter to the roller to the to the random person   in the street you know each one of them had a  story to tell each one of them was was welcoming   you know cultured yes um musical you forgot the  bar man the barbie and the guests at the bars   you know and and to this day if you go to cuba  with the right mindset which is not to expect um   a luxury holiday in the sense that we have become  accustomed but if you go there expecting something   totally different and the cradle of of the cigar  world to be there you will not be disappointed   um i hope that happens soon for you all the  bucket list pinnacle moments i could ever imagine   you know having the privilege of visiting cuba in  your company and sharing a cigar in cuba must be   something we try to put on the calendar for this  year if not this year next sometime in the near   future um even if it means i've got to paddle a  boat across the caribbean you know i'll be there   we will meet you halfway on the terrace of  the national hotel there drinking i mean i   must imagine that smoking a cigar in cuba just has  to be something to experience it tastes any cigar   the same cigar you smoke here will taste different  there and the cigar that you will taste there will   taste different here it's incredible i just love  the idea of being able to you know bring a box of   cigars you know acquired in cuba back and what  a special place that that would you know occupy   in my humidor in your new walking and my new  walk-in humidor life's too short not to have   a walk-in humidor wouldn't you agree absolutely  i think several my wife aspires to a walk-in   cupboard we aspire to walk in humidors yes yes  i don't think my wife quite understands but um   it's probably something that makes  her nervous more than anything else   because you know as as things go you  know if it's empty must be filled   um so your trip 1997 yeah and i mean what a  um kind of what a difference you know 10 years   makes oh yes and i and again my i didn't go again  from 97 i didn't travel there again until 2009.   really there was a big hiatus for me and what i  discovered in 2009 it was a revolutionary change   i mean you know tourism had been taken to a much  higher level and um you know there used to be and   it was a truism to some degree that eating  dining and especially drinking but dining is   was especially risky in cuba unless you knew  where you were going and you knew what you   were eating by 2009 latin america well there  was no problem by 2009. i i can genuinely say   i've never had a problem i've been guided in  the right directions to the right places but   certainly in the last few years as a tourist  you can eat very well you can stay very well   and you will appreciate this i  appreciate it going from the uk   there is an absolute lack of marketing you know  sort of capitalism in its royal sense which is   the expression of of trying to persuade people to  spend their money doesn't exist in cuba yeah at   least not that we notice there's no tv there's no  advertising there's no billboards or if there are   they're very old they're not watching our videos  well there might be a political billboards for   that so and and you really realize how you're  bombarded every minute of your normal life in   in london or perhaps in the states absolutely  um it's wonderful it's so refreshing that's   one of the things i think i admire most about  you know from a distance uh of course uh just   life in cuba is how it really has been  preserved and being um you know just   exceptionally human right i mean there's  none of this um you know capitalist   pressures to you know push people towards you  know onto the i guess the rat wheel if you will   um and uh you know it's enjoyment of time  and of human expression of art culture   of dance and you know cuba you know regardless of  what you think of the the government itself um you   know the people from what i hear are exceptionally  beautiful people exceptionally kind and hospitable   and all just kind of full of you know of life yes  yes very very well said what is your spanish like   kirby well my wife is mexican and uh my children  are at least my oldest is fluent in spanish   i joke that you know at the age of four he  stopped speaking to me in spanish because he   quickly realized the limitations of my spanish but  i'm able to small talk in spanish quite well that   is wonderful because my spanish is non-existent  and my biggest regret every time i've gone to cuba   is not being able to carry a conversation with  someone who may not be great with english yeah   and and if you can and you open up a whole new  seam of of joy and and depth and understanding of   the culture next time i go i will i will be very  pigeon in spanish but i'll be some spanish yeah   um could i trouble you for another drop this  is really an exciting absolutely great pleasure   amazing so how many times do you think you've  had the privilege of visiting edward god i lost   track of it and count of it i mean between 199  between 1987 and 1997 whenever you went with   eddie how many times do you think he had been too  kind in nineteen hopefully there's more with this   time i feel terrible see more there's plenty of  the cases the second trip i think it was in 1992. it was in 1992 and if i'm not mistaken that was  the year when they launched the cohiba siegler   series the siegler one two three four fives i  think nick was on that trip with you know nick was i'm not sure no wouldn't have oh i'm sorry the  second time you went was my second time 92 yes   i think nick would have when wasn't the first  time nick came with you we went there with nick   it was after 97 maybe 2000 in 2000 2001 2002   yeah so what was it like i mean so you know  the split with davidoff you know i mean it was   kind of a forced split anyways i  asked that question from zeno himself   i asked xeno about that and  he said that edward it was a it was a happy marriage but it had to come  to an end yeah and that was his words yeah it's one of those things that i imagine at  the time must have been quite difficult but   in retrospect really paved the way for you  know davidoff to develop into the brand   that it is today because it never could  have been never ever had the opportunity   to control its product from the  seed all the way to the shop here   had they stayed in cuba by going to the dominican  republic it enabled them to have their own   plantations their own manufacturing their own  production their own boxing their own distribution   i mean any box of david of cigars here if you look  at the back there are some numbers on the label   and with those neighbor numbers on the  label you could trace the that box back to   who made the cigars really where the tobacco  came from and when it was planted at what   time what season by whom all the information  is there i remember visiting uh hanky's   office in one of my trips in dominican republic  and i said thank you these numbers what are they   so this is you could trace it i said come on now  what do you comment i'll show you he had a chart   on the wall from this end to that end and it was  all the numbers and the charts and everything that   every box you give me any number i'll tell you  where it came from to that extent and that you   will not get any other place unless it's all  under your own control and looking back 20   well 20 21 22 years later it proved to  be right they did a a long journey in the   shortest timeframe 20 30 something 30 plus years  now 30 so that's why i never really got good marks i'm employing uh one of the tricks that you  taught me the last time we were smoking here   in this room in these chairs of rotating my cigar  uh i'm not quite to your level yet your abilities   you know smoke a cigar perfectly i i can't imagine  someone doing it more perfect than your father   that's because the ventilation we have  the airflow we're sitting in a draft   and every cigar smoker wherever they smoke their  cigar there will be a draft either it will be   coming from a window or a door going up from  the fireplace or through extractor or open   window you will always get that flow in the  room yeah and it's very important to make sure   that as you're smoking gradually rotate it from  every puff to puff if you can rotate it slightly   so it will burn equally yeah and around you  need a little bit of help i'm now becoming   subconscious yeah in my company please  do that that shows that you're paying   correct attention to the cigar everytime  you're enjoying the conversation with us   so i must say i mean for those watching you  know we actually this was during lockdown filmed   a video where you were exceptionally generous  in bringing in some of these reserved humidors   and this one that you spoke about in 2007 buying  an auction or 97 in 97 canada you know you you   opened up for us all to see you know i hope  one day that those end up i mean really in a   uh david off of london or it's a hockey and museum  somewhere with all these photographs that you're   referencing i mean again one of the things that  i'm just so struck here is just how much of this   modern history of just cuban tobacco and tobacco  in general you know you've had the privilege of   really witnessing and living through both  it was a great privilege for me an honor   and uh looking back it's 40 42 years now that  i'm in these chairs smoking and still enjoying   yeah all it does is just adds more and more  wonderful memories yeah really i hope eddie will   say the same another 20 30 40 50 years later as  well and and and truly the the the people we meet   along this journey are the highlights and kirby i  include you in very high on that list and humbled   genuinely our friendship came from this this  wonderful shop and your love of cigars uh and   now i hold you as a very dear friend and i look  forward to your visits and i hope to reciprocate   on on one occasion at least we've got to get you  two gentlemen or to texas one day i can't wait i'm   working and building you know the smoking room  and the humidor so that i may properly welcome   you know maybe a cigar evening yes with some  other cigar lovers friends that will be wonderful   it will give us a stronger excuse to come and  visit i think i think we need a world tour   of the shopkins we've got to do a smoking event  in new york dallas and maybe somewhere in the west   coast come on kirby i i think between you and  your and your fans your viewers i think there   would be great appetite to host something  perhaps in texas first you know home soil   uh if you do such a thing i promise you short of  them tying us to the chairs and not letting us   travel we would be honored to be there we've got  to we've got to begin working on that then because   it would be such a privilege to welcome you uh  you know my home texan the stake yes and ribs   i must say i've traveled i've had the  privilege of traveling quite extensively   i mean not as extensively as you two gentlemen  of course being as young as i am but um   i must say that i'm always a little reticent to  order steak outside of texas because it truly is   just better there that's one of the  few things i think we may lay claim to   probably debatable to those watching  we will come and do a tasting mistake   there's plenty of steak houses snake and  cigars so whenever you travel to cuba today   right does it still kind of hold that same  romance and mystique as it did whenever you first   started visiting it does for me every trip is   i look forward to it when i arrive there i'm happy  when i leave there i'm happy i'm coming back home   yeah but i always come back with some lovely  memories and to get there now it's much easier   we have the better direct flights now right well  direct uh from london we get the virgin flight   direct before it was british airways but they  stopped doing that i still like going through   madrid with iberia yeah gives me a chance to  stretch my lakes in madrid for a couple of hours   before i fly to cuba when you've even had the  privilege once of flying on a mutual friends   gulf stream or something twice in a private jet  yes well that was that was out of this world that   was something i would i think i would find never  never i would fly all the way to london for that   privilege of going like a jet the most interesting  part was that the pilot it was his first time   he was landing in havana and i said do you know  where to land i don't know but i'm following this i'm sure i mean what an experience for him wow  well gentlemen i mean thank you so much and   what a dream to one day be able to visit cuba  and you're a great company maybe we'll be able   to rope gemma into this also and i think that  is certainly something we must begin working on   you know one day hopefully in the near future of  being able to realize that and your great company   and to enjoy this great moment of smoking a cigar  with each other maybe drinking some nice cuban rum   in havana smoking cigars from havana uh with you  all so definitely it's a dream we have to fulfill   yes you're a good healthy yes thank you  to our dreams and our friendships yes   drink that it's been captured on camera  so it must happen now and here's that [Music]

Channel: Kirby Allison

Views: 570,667

Keywords: kirby allison, mens fashion, hanger project, eddie sahakian, edward sahakian, mens style, smoke cigars, cuban cigars, davidoff of london, davidoff of london cigars, cigar talk, how to, cigar expert, davidoff cigar

Id: D8wp0oT3y0o

Length: 59min 16sec (3556 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 12 2022