4Bars cigar aficionado, Sam Spurr, looks back at the best moments in 2008.

2008 saw a number of fantastic events for cigar lovers held around the country. All the major retailers got in on the act and hosted memorable evenings catering to the tight-knit cigar community. By far the best new event was Cigar Theatre, hosted by BarShow. If you missed it, this initiative brought together Australia’s leading authorities on cigars and the bar trade. Combine these identities with representatives from Pacific Cigar Company and throw in a Cuban cigar roller direct from Havana, and you have a great two-day event.

A number of new cigars were released last year, or made available for the first time in Australia. Distributed by Pacific Cigar Company late last year was the Partagas Serie D No. 5 Edicion Limitada from Habanos SA. It was a healthy addition to the Partagas line-up. Get in quick, as these cigars don’t go into regular production and will be snapped up quickly.

Winston Churchill Cigars: One of history’s greatest personalities finally has his name attached to one of his favourite pastimes. Countless photos regularly reveal Sir Winston with stogie in hand. Churchill’s grandson gave Davidoff the thumbs up to use the Churchill name for a new range of cigars and they duly created 4 different shapes to commemorate the cigar icon. Swedish Match, Davidoff’s Australian distributors, launched the cigars in Sydney and Melbourne last year.

As official importer of Padron Cigars in Australia, Cigar World’s Ray Battistella is onto a good thing. The Padron 1926 80 Years acknowledges Jose Orlando, the patriarch of the Padron family. This cigar reached our shores last year and yours truly had the opportunity to sample a great cigar. My first impressions are below and were obviously made before a certain league player’s defection half way through the season.

BANG! Straight from the start this cigar had some oomph to it. Akin to being steam rolled by a Sonny Bill Williams shoulder charge, this cigar got straight to the point. A strong cocoa and nut aroma is most striking on the palate whilst a subtle, underlying pepper taste was lingering. Towards the end of the first third, golden syrup flavours flew in just under the radar…just.