Although the Aspiring Gentleman fully endorses Scotch Whisky as the drink pairing of choice with any of your favourite cigars, the realities of workplace, dinner table, time of day and other factors may warrant another beverage option. I’ve presented here what I consider to be the best pairings, but please let us know what your ideal pairings are.

Alongside temperature, humidity is crucial to our personal comfort.  In winter, as furnaces remove the water from the air in our homes and humidity drops, I often get dry skin and lips, and even nose bleeds.  Those who live in the south where humidity is high will sweat constantly even when it is relatively cool.  The importance of humidity extends beyond our personal comfort though, and effects both whisky and cigars.  Dry or wet conditions can lead to cracked wrappers or mold, respectively.  Similarly for whisky, whose corks expand and …

If you haven’t already seen it, I recently wrote a guest article over at Primer Magazine detailing my preferences for a golf course cigar.  Here’s a snippet:
Firstly, a golf course cigar needs to be one you are happy to give away to a variety of people, both cigar connoisseurs as well as first time smokers. As such, the cigars should be inexpensive. To me this means under $5, a price point where there are plenty of garbage cigars, but also some good ones – if you know what to look …

I wonder if our grandfathers and great-grandfathers are looking down at us, pipe or cigar in hand, wondering why we’re in such a rush. Why are we taking shots of Jack when we could be sipping and savoring a fine whisky? Why are we smoking 2 minute cigarettes instead of enjoying the complex and evolving flavor profile of a fine stogie? What is this thing, the “travel mug”? Can’t we just sit and enjoy a coffee without constantly speeding about?

I recently came across a post on Serious Eats discussing the presence (or lack thereof) of women in the whisky world.  While men are still the dominant consumer of whisky, the Scotch Malt Whisky Society has almost doubled its female membership over the course of three years (to a total of around 15 percent of its membership).  Also, an estimated 25 percent of all scotch drinkers in the UK are female, an increase from around 10 percent only a few years ago.  My start to whisky drinking is perhaps atypical, …

I can vividly recall walking into City Cigar in Vancouver for the first time – the sights, the smells, the people. I remember being hesitant, not because I was fearful, but because I wasn’t sure of the norms in a cigar shop or lounge.  While I’ve made more than a few visits to cigar stores since, it still can be a bit tricky to feel out the vibe in a given place.  Add to that difficulties with some states and provinces allowing smoking in cigar lounges and others not.  …