Russian cigar expert Dimitry Drutsa has just released a book on Cuban cigars, a laudable effort to catalog vintage Cuban cigars for Russian smokers. As far as we know, this is the first comprehensive vintage cigar book written and published in Russian. The book is titled Vintage Cuban Cigars and is a respectable 314 pages long. Focused on vintage cigars only, it is not intended to be a primer or cover regular production Cuban cigars. Instead, it consists of a compendium of the author’s selected articles on vintage cigars, as well as a collector-ready catalog of different editions, series and years, including releases up to 2019.
In the book, Drutsa explains in detail why and how certain cigars become vintage, what happens with tobacco during the long aging process, how they should be cared for and stored, and why these cigars attract sellers and collectors and can command astronomical prices at auctions. Although the book is intended for serious collectors, Drutsa also gives good practical advice to beginner collectors who are just getting started in the world of vintage cigars.
Drutsa is a cigar enthusiast and collector, a certified Habanosommelier and master sommelier, and an instructor at the Habanos Academy in Cuba. He has twice represented Russia at the International Habanosommelier Contest (2013, 2014) at the Festival del Habano in Havana. Drutsa is also the author of numerous publications in Russian cigar media, a member of the Horsepower cigar club in St. Petersburg, an honorary member of Baku Cigar Club (Azerbaijan), and an official judge of the Cigar Smoking World Championship (CSWC). Drutsa told Cigar Journal that he may release an English edition at a later date.
