The Montecristos came with a 50-cigar humidor. Although quite unexpected, it was indeed a very pleasant surprise when I got the phone call last month from a long-time friend, that he was in town, and carrying something that he hoped I might like. He was of course referring to the Montecristos; a boxful of individually wrapped habanitos which arrived in lieu of the torpedos he had ordered for me. And how did I like it? Very much! Although I have now progressed to longer and bigger cigar sizes from the robustos I originally favored such as the torpedos, pyramids, and double coronas, these habanitos were so packed with cuban goodness that I felt it was also a good time to go back to superb quality short smokes. Thank you, Ruel Algas, my fraternity brod, photo buddy, and one-time food splurge gangmate. And oh ruel, the habanitos are "just like a fantasy..."
The fat Cohiba came with two other robustos, also handcarried for me, but this time by Brian Jacobs, husband of my favorite saturday student, Lourdes. Although I never mentioned any cuban brand, Cohibas have always been aspirational for me. And as I was hearing Brian's side of the cigar story, I couldn't help but laugh when I found out that Lourdes had reminded Brian that he either showed up with the cigars or skip the Philippines altogether for valentine's! I lit up the first robusto on March 20 after fully conditioning it on my new humidor, an hour before taking my students out on the"paul yan experience sunset cruise". And even though the heat was around 34degrees celsius, I puffed that Cohiba with a contented smile on my face; a cup of starbucks coffee keeping me company through that hour, while all the time facing the bay where Spain, Cuba's colonizer too, was dealt their last defeat in Philippine soil over one hundred years ago. I bring my camera out and attempt to preserve the moment. But I opt to take another long puff instead. Ill just remember the moment in my mind, like all the other photographs in my life.
Photo credit: photographed on frame 15 of a canon 7D, with a 70-200mm f4 non-i.s. lens, handheld, artificially lit, iso 3200 setting, sometime close to midnight. Thank you Ana Murillo for the super-sharp equipment. It shows. :)
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Cuba Libre
The Montecristos came with a 50-cigar humidor. Although quite unexpected, it was indeed a very pleasant surprise when I got the phone call last month from a long-time friend, that he was in town, and carrying something that he hoped I might like. He was of course referring to the Montecristos; a boxful of individually wrapped habanitos which arrived in lieu of the torpedos he had ordered for me. And how did I like it? Very much! Although I have now progressed to longer and bigger cigar sizes from the robustos I originally favored such as the torpedos, pyramids, and double coronas, these habanitos were so packed with cuban goodness that I felt it was also a good time to go back to superb quality short smokes. Thank you, Ruel Algas, my fraternity brod, photo buddy, and one-time food splurge gangmate. And oh ruel, the habanitos are "just like a fantasy..."
The fat Cohiba came with two other robustos, also handcarried for me, but this time by Brian Jacobs, husband of my favorite saturday student, Lourdes. Although I never mentioned any cuban brand, Cohibas have always been aspirational for me. And as I was hearing Brian's side of the cigar story, I couldn't help but laugh when I found out that Lourdes had reminded Brian that he either showed up with the cigars or skip the Philippines altogether for valentine's! I lit up the first robusto on March 20 after fully conditioning it on my new humidor, an hour before taking my students out on the"paul yan experience sunset cruise". And even though the heat was around 34degrees celsius, I puffed that Cohiba with a contented smile on my face; a cup of starbucks coffee keeping me company through that hour, while all the time facing the bay where Spain, Cuba's colonizer too, was dealt their last defeat in Philippine soil over one hundred years ago. I bring my camera out and attempt to preserve the moment. But I opt to take another long puff instead. Ill just remember the moment in my mind, like all the other photographs in my life.
Photo credit: photographed on frame 15 of a canon 7D, with a 70-200mm f4 non-i.s. lens, handheld, artificially lit, iso 3200 setting, sometime close to midnight. Thank you Ana Murillo for the super-sharp equipment. It shows. :)
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2 comments:
Sir Paul you should be working for CNN.Voila! Your rhetorics and prose are superb..
Truly You are an asset to the media industry.
Sir paul thank you din na naging one of your favorite student mo ako. that cigar are my thank you gift because i become a good photographer. ones again thank for being a good teacher and a friend.
you are my inspiration and a mentor.
your the best talaga.....
my husband I likes you very much because you have a good heart and agape.
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