Elite Traveler Summer 2023

EXPLORE THE HOT LIST

This page, from top Blue Cigar is a cigar lounge and library; the library has many rare books and fi rst editions; the secret room; Italian Cigar guillotine by Savinelli dating back to 1876

Opposite page, clockwise fromtop Inside Blue Cigar; the cigar menuo ff ers 22 lines; the library has 6,500 books

Smokeshow

Aksahin, Ra ffl es Doha’s director of food and beverage, and personal cigar enthusiast (with over 7,000 cigars in his private collection). “On a daily basis, we have a book-reading ceremony, where we pick one of the books and read one chapter out loud, which you can then match with your cigar and your drink,” says Aksahin. The drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic varieties) draw identity from the bookshelves. For example, the Captain’s Grog — a mix of rum, lychee, banana, lemon and bitters, served in a pewter mug under a smoke- fi lled cloche — pays tribute to the library’s numbered edition of Moby-Dick witha foreword by Jacques Cousteau. Other rare books include The Iliad and The Odyssey in Latin and Greek from 1707; a 1785 edition of Robinson Crusoe ; anda fi rst trade edition of Treasure Island . Excitingly, guests are invited to read and touch the books. Just ask, and any book will be brought to your table with a magnifying glass and white gloves. And if someone spills? “That just becomes part of the story of the book.” Blue Cigar has already developed a local following, no doubt helped along by the selective atmosphere. “In Doha, some of the VIP guests don’t like to be seen,” says Aksahin, as he reaches for a door hidden within one of the bookcases. The door leads to a secret room, stocked with more rare books — but here, in a playful wink, they are all spy novels and detective books. Rare tomes. Bespoke smokes. Secret chambers. This is just the beginning for Blue Cigar. There are plans in play to bring in a torcedor (cigar roller) from Cuba to craft cigars in front of lounge guests for added theatricality; a cigar delivery service — where the cigar sommelier travels to o ffi ces and private majlis to re-create the Blue Cigar experience; and even a cigar academy and workshops for both guests

No one does luxury quite like the Middle East. Maybe Louis XIV’s pre-Revolution France or Renaissance Florence (with the palazzo-loving Medicis at the helm) could have o ff ered a run for their money, but these days, the GCC countries are clear leaders in over-the-top extravagance. Case in point: the new ‘six-star’ Ra ffl esDoha. If money talks and wealth whispers, then this hotel screams at the top of its lungs. All 132 keys are suites; no ceiling is a normal height; luminous marble (some 250,000 sq ft of Bianco Statuario) pours across every imaginable surface; and everywhere you look there’s gold, gold, gold. During the 2022 World Cup, this was the hotel of choice for FIFA execs — which says everything you need to know. However, there is more than just aesthetics at play. Behind the very fancy facade, there’s a deeper, meaningful story — especially in Blue Cigar, the hotel’s one-of-a-kind cigar lounge, which doubles as a library of rare books (including 200 fi rst editions), making it not only something extraordinary for Doha but for the world. First, the cigars. Blue Cigar has options from three di ff erent countries: Cuba, Nicaragua and Dominican Republic. “Middle Eastern a fi cionados prefer Cuban cigars because they’re loyal and traditionalists, but they’re also open to exploring,” says Blue Cigar’s cigar sommelier David Alexander dos Passos, bedecked in a debonair uniform (or “wardrobe” as they say at Ra ffl es) of velvet slippers and smoking jacket, designed by British couturier Nicholas Oakwell. Themenuo ff ers 22 lines (the most in Doha), but the real story is the custom cigars. Created just for Blue Cigar by master cigar blender AG Molinari (who worked with Cuban President Fidel Castro), three custom lines of cigars will be arriving in the upcoming weeks: AG Molinari Don Joses; AG Molinari Don Placidos; and AG Molinari Big Lucianos — each with unique tastes and di ff erent vitolas (shapes). “Nowhere else in Doha has custom cigars [and] this is our own exclusive blend,” says dos Passos. “These cigars are made with tobacco that has been aged for more than 20 years. They’re coming from the Dominican Republic, but we have a blend of di ff erent nationalities. The wrapper, for example, is from a blend of Cuban tobacco donated by Fidel Castro to Molinari in 1997.” There will only be a limited number of each line (with the Don Joses and Don Placidos maxing out at 40,000 units each), as all the custom Molinari cigars are made with a capa (wrapper) from the historic Cuban tobacco. “When this is over, it’s over — because there’s limited tobacco. You can’t make more,” says dos Passos. The limited-edition ethos also carries over to the Blue Cigar’s sweeping bookshelves, theatrically trimmed in thundercloud-blue curtains and lit by empire crystal chandeliers. “We have 6,500 books from auction and [many] fi rst editions,” says Cem

and locals alike. By Nicole Trilivas

From $1,175 per night. Contact reservations.doha@ ra ffl es.com, +974 4030 7100, ra ffl esdoha.com