Rising of The Sap

Surely not…it can’t be! That large, pale yellow thing that hangs in the sky…is that SUN?

If you’re like Sautter El Jeffe Laurence Davis, you’ll have seen it plenty this winter. He’s been jetsetting all over the world as usual, gathering a tan and enjoying a bewildering variety of large cigars along the way.

If, however, you’re not a property developer and owner of a fine Mayfair cigar shop, you may have been left – pale and insipid – to the vagaries of your central heating system during what has felt like a very long, grey, wet and dismal British winter.

Fear not, fellow cigar lover; March is dashing past and April is fluttering her eyelashes – the weather is improving (honest!) and the sap is beginning to rise. Our thoughts turn now to more intricate, smooth cigars and perhaps a tad further away from the big bold, earthy smokes that have eased us through the ravages of winter.

Perhaps the woodsy notes of an aged Montecristo, or the subtle development of an H. Upmann?

The beauty of cigar smoking is that, after a while, you’ll get a feel for what you fancy. If you’re a wine lover, you may sometimes feel that a glass of oaky Rioja is perfect for that sizzle of Spanish sultriness. Equally, on a duff Sunday afternoon, you might quite rightly decide that a bottle of Claret will go very nicely thank you with your roast beef and the subsequent nap in front of the log fire.

And so it is with cigars. The chirruping of eager birds and the nodding of daffodils ‘makes a deuce of a lot of difference to a fellow’s day,’ as Bertie Wooster once so eloquently put it. And they also put you in mind for something fresh and contemplative – and maybe even a little fruity.

The Choix Supreme from El Rey del Mundo, for example. Supreme Choice indeed. These are delightful fresh out of a newish box, but if you can pick them up with even a little age, they’re a wonderful, under-rated smoke (don’t tell anyone we told you that).

Whatever you taste is whatever you taste, but we’re reported coffee and cocoa beans and a smooth tang to good examples of these which seems to fit Springtime like a well-worn moccasin.

Not that we’re telling you what to smoke, or anything – fire up a Party Lusitania on a sunny afternoon if that’s what rings your bell, by all means. We’re just trying to be helpful.

If the rain holds off, dear old Blighty comes into its own in Spring and Summer. You should make a habit of carrying a stickette or two about your person, should an opportunity arise. Nothing fancy – perhaps a Trinidad Reyes or the often-overlooked H. Upmann Petit Upmann (incidentally JFK’s’ favourite little stick and the one he stocked up on before signing his famous Cuban embargo. The swine).

Whatever tickles your fancy will quite literally put a little Spring in your step at this time of the year. Get out there among the ‘rolling parks, outhouses and messuages,’ to pinch a little more Wodehouse – and make the most of the warmer climes and freshest of fresh air.

Spring has sprung and huzzah and Hallelujah, we say.