Those of you that have been around cigars awhile will remember when
Cigar Aficionado had a charity auction in 1994, and the exclusive Diplomat Trinidad, based on a Cohiba Lancero, 7 1/2" x 38 gauge, (not sold in stores at the time and earmarked as diplomatic gifts) was selling for several hundred dollars per stick. Prices at auction in the late '90s were breaking records and Cuba decided to cash in by making a version available to the public. In 1998, they released the new public version of the Trinidad in one size, Fundadores, 7 1/2" x 40, available in Cuba, Mexico, and lastly, Canada. A dear friend in Vancouver gifted me one of these. This is the original flat label, with no embossing. Unfortunately, many years ago, there was a summer without air conditioning and I had a battle with some tobacco beetles that required freezing some sticks and resulted in some of my cigars having holes—this is one of them. In any case, I finally decided to smoke this particular stick. It was originally supposed to be smoked as part of my
Birthday Haul Weekend a week and a half ago, but, it was too cold outside. Today is warmer, so it's time to light up this puppy (the background is the lid one of my Amboyna Burl Elie Bleu humidors).