If true, this story is good news. The Cuban exile community in Florida has held our foreign policy captive long enough on this issue, and I'm glad the President is rethinking our approach.
I'll visit as soon as I possibly can. And smoke a beautiful Cohiba.....
Sunday, March 8, 2009
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4 comments:
I'll ask who the same question I ask people who smoke cigars. Are cubans really that good or that good because they are illegal?
An excellent question, my cigar challenged friend.....the answer is.....a little of both.
Some have called Cuba "nature's humidor", and there can be no disputing that some of the world's most enjoyable cigars come from Cuba.
That said, I'm sure there are crappy ones there too.
As for the joy of smoking the forbidden fruit, there's something to it. Throughout my years in the Navy, one of the things I found myself doing with regularity in the foreign ports I visited was sniffing out the tobacco shops in order to find a good Cubano or two to enjoy whilst strolling the streets of the town.
And now, a little Kipling:
The Betrothed
by Rudyard Kipling
"You must choose between me and your cigar."
- Breach of Promise Case, circa 1885.
Open the old cigar-box, get me a Cuba stout,
For things are running crossways, and Maggie and I are out.
We quarrelled about Havanas - we fought o'er a good cheroot,
And I knew she is exacting, and she says I am a brute.
Open the old cigar-box - let me consider a space;
In the soft blue veil of the vapour musing on Maggie's face.
Maggie is pretty to look at - Maggie's a loving lass,
But the prettiest cheeks must wrinkle, the truest of loves must pass.
There's peace in a Larranaga, there's calm in a Henry Clay;
But the best cigar in an hour is finished and thrown away -
Thrown away for another as perfect and ripe and brown -
But I could not throw away Maggie for fear o' the talk o' the town!
Maggie, my wife at fifty - grey and dour and old -
With never another Maggie to purchase for love or gold!
And the light of Days that have Been the dark of the Days that Are,
And Love's torch stinking and stale, like the butt of a dead cigar -
The butt of a dead cigar you are bound to keep in your pocket -
With never a new one to light tho' it's charred and black to the socket!
Open the old cigar-box - let me consider a while.
Here is a mild Manila - there is a wifely smile.
Which is the better portion - bondage bought with a ring,
Or a harem of dusky beauties, fifty tied in a string?
Counsellors cunning and silent - comforters true and tried,
And never a one of the fifty to sneer at a rival bride?
Thought in the early morning, solace in time of woes,
Peace in the hush of the twilight, balm ere my eyelids close,
This will the fifty give me, asking nought in return,
With only a Suttee's passion - to do their duty and burn.
This will the fifty give me. When they are spent and dead,
Five times other fifties shall be my servants instead.
The furrows of far-off Java, the isles of the Spanish Main,
When they hear my harem is empty will send me my brides again.
I will take no heed to their raiment, nor food for their mouths withal,
So long as the gulls are nesting, so long as the showers fall.
I will scent 'em with best vanilla, with tea will I temper their hides,
And the Moor and the Mormon shall envy who read of the tale of my brides.
For Maggie has written a letter to give me my choice between
The wee little whimpering Love and the great god Nick o' Teen.
And I have been servant of Love for barely a twelvemonth clear,
But I have been Priest of Cabanas a matter of seven year;
And the gloom of my bachelor days is flecked with the cheery light
Of stumps that I burned to Friendship and Pleasure and Work and Fight.
And I turn my eyes to the future that Maggie and I must prove,
But the only light on the marshes is the Will-o'-the-Wisp of Love.
Will it see me safe through my journey or leave me bogged in the mire?
Since a puff of tobacco can cloud it, shall I follow the fitful fire?
Open the old cigar-box - let me consider anew -
Old friends, and who is Maggie that I should abandon you?
A million surplus Maggies are willing to bear the yoke;
And a woman is only a woman, but a good Cigar is a Smoke.
Light me another Cuba - I hold to my first-sworn vows.
If Maggie will have no rival, I'll have no Maggie for Spouse!
Ahhh, kind of like the Jersey Tomato only legal.
I would assume that at some point prior to opening up relations, or certainly as a photo op as soon thereafter as possible, our SECSTATE will visit Cuba as the first high level diplomatic exchange. Makes me wonder, do you think she'll bring Bill any of those cigars you are discussing? Yeah, me neither.
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