Smoking Cigars in Taipei

On a trip to Taipei (Taiwan), one of my good friend took me to "L'Arriere-Cour" (The Backyard), a very nice whiskey/cigar bar, in the heart of the city. Typically Taipei, the place is not that easy to find. It's actually at the bottom of a pretty small lane.

They have a very nice selection of whiskeys, wines, and cigars. They keep the wines and the cigars altogether in their cellar. They have a fair selection, ranging from great classics (Montecristo #4, #5, etc.) to some more unusual smokes (Romeo Y Julietta - Petit Pyramides Limited Edicion 2005 - the one I chose ;-)
Friendly ambiance, not too expensive, not snobish, good service : who could ask for more ?

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L'Arriere-Cour
No.4, Lane 23, Sec.2, An Ho Road. Taipei. Taiwan.
+886 2 2704 7818

Cohiba Double Corona Limited Edition 2003

The friend of mine who owns the Partagas 155th anniversary cabinet, also had a box of Cohiba Double Corona Limited Edition 2003 (lucky bastard !)... He was kind enough to give me one of these.

To be honest, I did not know exactly what to expect. I mean obviously this cigar had very good reviews, the brand is supposedly the best Cuban brand, blablabla... yet Double Corona is a very competitive format : a lot of very serious brands fight in this arena, with very serious players involved. We're talking Ramon Allones Gigantes, Partagas Lusitania, Hoyo de Monterrey Doble Coronas, Punch Doble Coronas, etc. And, let's face it, Cohiba is also famous for being quite expensive... some would say over-hyped...

So... what's the outcome ? Well, I have to say that this cigar tastes really really good. Bouquet of spices at the beginning, then strong hints of chocolate, superb earthy finale, truely a pleasure. Any critics ? Yes, well just one actually : for the same price I can buy two Ramon Allones Gigantes !

Brand : Cohiba
Origin : Cuba
Format : Double Coronas
Rating : AA+ [please refer to my Cigar Rating Chart].

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You can have a look at the complete smoke on my Flickr account.

Partagas Cabinet 155th Anniversary

Look at what I found in a Friend's cellar/humidor : Partagas edited a special cabinet for its 155th Anniversary... filled with 155 unique cigars : Churchills, Piramides, Double Robusto... Absolutely exclusive ! Only 155 were produced ! His cabinet is absolutely untouched... Truly unique !
He has the number 133 out of 155... Check out the picture !




(See the whole thing here on my : Flickr account)