At First Glance

Articles

	Quick navigation

			At First Glance Many foreigners arriving in Moscow for the first time have no idea what to expect once they get off the plane. On the one hand, over the past few years Moscow has become a very European city with a highly developed hospitality industry. On the other hand, Russia remained a closed country for such a long a time and the stories of bears roaming its streets, mafia showdowns and danger lurking around every corner were deeply ingrained in the perceptions of many foreigners. We have asked several guests of the Big Smoke Cigar Festival to share their impressions of the city, the people who live here, and, of course, the cigar tradition in Russia. Many of them have come to Moscow for the first time in their lives… On the photo: Nikolai Ribinsky, a Red Army musician, playing an unusually-shaped balalaika during rehearsals at the Royal Albert Hall, London. February 1963 Frank Elliot has lived in Moscow for 8 years When I thought of the Russian capital, I thought of the Kremlin, military parades with tanks and missiles rolling across Red Square, vodka, freezing winters and queues for basic food items. I didn’t arrive at Sheremietyevo airport with a suitcase full of Levis and chewing gum, but I was prepared for most eventualities. Moscow in 1997, however, had moved on a lot from my childhood memories of the Cold War. The biggest difference I noticed from Edinburgh, where I had just flown in from, was the extremes. There was no middle ground, no happy medium. On the roads there were either Mercedes 600s or clapped out Ladas. Eating out was either at some low-end Soviet-era canteen or a luxury restaurant in a 5-star hotel. Even the weather was extreme: that first winter the temperature went down to minus 35 and the following summer was blisteringly hot. Perhaps the biggest problem in those first few months was my distinct lack of Russian language skills. When my helpful guide or work colleagues were not around I was quite lost. In those days, and even today to a lesser extent, many of the shops only had counter service. It meant that if you wanted to buy something, you needed to ask for it, often having to pay the cashier at the other end of the shop. And that’s not so easy when you only know the words for ‘beer’, ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’. Now, newcomers to the city can easily get around this problem by just going to the plethora of Russian and foreign supermarkets that are constantly springing up all over the city. Fortunately, the metro system, apart from being the cleanest, the most beautiful and quite possibly the most efficient underground system in the world, is fairly easy to master after a few journeys. Nowadays most of the street names in the city centre and the metro signs have Latin versions as well as Cyrillic. A lot of these changes are down to one man. Moscow’s mayor Yuri Luzhkov is implementing ambitious plans to put Moscow firmly on the world map in terms of business, tourism, sport… you name it. And if ever there was a city that never sleeps, it’s Moscow. One of the first things any visitor will notice in the evening are the numerous “Open 24 hours” signs. Traffic jams in the middle of the night are not uncommon and most cafes and bars have an until-the-last-customer-leaves policy. And while we’re on the subject of bars, unlike in the UK, where propping the bar up or standing up to enjoy a pint is a common sight, in Moscow everyone sits at tables. It took me a while to get used to walking into a bar and being told there was no room despite the place looking like a quiet afternoon in a Grassmarket pub. A night out in Moscow in a bar or club is meant to be a relaxing affair sat around a table with a group of friends with waiter service. And thankfully the very idea of a smoking ban is as distant as Dublin or New York. Most decent menus have at least a page or two of tobacco products with a variety of cigars in different price ranges. The city’s nightclubs range from the elite establishments with their strict “face control” to bohemian student hangouts located in old communal flats. Moscow has about 80 theatres which regularly perform to packed audiences. Cinemas are just as popular, with modern shopping centers often incorporating a multi-screen movie theatre, and though I have never been to Las Vegas, I am quite sure Moscow has more casinos. Eating out has become more enjoyable with numerous restaurant chains and affordable cafes aimed at the middle class sprouting up across the city. The number of places where you can buy good quality cigars has also grown substantially. A friend of mine – a veteran among the expat community here – who likes to keep his humidor well stocked used to have to place orders with contacts abroad. Now he can find his favourite Exquisitos and Siglo range in Moscow at reasonable prices. Some of the other changes I’ve witnessed have just mirrored global shifts in the way people live their lives. Virtually every Muscovite now has a mobile phone and advertising of consumer products is just as overwhelming as in the UK; I even read recently that Moscow leads the world in terms of the number of billboards. Though the Russian capital is often ranked in the top five most expensive cities in the world, I have found you can live as cheaply or luxuriously as you wish. Bills for household utilities are a fraction of what they are in the UK and, if your Russian is up to it, you can escape from the tourist traps and still have a comfortable lifestyle. The Moscow of long queues and shortages that I imagined before I came couldn’t be further from reality. Like the Russian character the city is big and bustling, but once you make friends with it, it opens up all its charms and truly gets under your skin. Now, when I leave the city for more than a few days I get homesick and can’t wait to get back. It is hard not to fall in love with the place. The fact that that helpful guide of mine I mentioned earlier is now my wife may also have something to do with it. Didier Houvenaghel owner of the Nicarao cigar brand: Moscow is a miracle of a city and this definition applies not only to the striking architecture and the beauty of Russian girls. To me, Moscow, first and foremost, is a smoker’s paradise with no smoking bans whatsoever. Perhaps, Moscow is one of the freest cities in the world. In addition to the freedom, cigar smokers also enjoy great comfort as the cigar salons I have seen here are by no means worse and in many respects even better than those in Europe. Take, for instance, the cigar room at the Gubernatorsky restaurant, with personal humidors. I wouldn’t mind having my own humidor there, with my Nicarao cigars. You know, my hobby is learning foreign languages. I am ready to bet that next time I come to Moscow I will be speaking Russian, not just for the sake of reading Tolstoy and Chekhov in the original but also to be able to understand my Russian friends many of whom I have found during the Big Smoke Festival, another event that will always attract me to Moscow. Billy Perdomo Head of International Sales, Tabacalera Perdomo: I often travel across the globe on business, but I can reveal that in no other place have I ever received such a warm and hearty welcome as here in Moscow. What is especially pleasant is that each time I come to Moscow I meet more and more fans of our cigars which means that Moscow smokers are refining their tastes, they are not afraid of trying new cigars, though at the same time they have already developed their own preferences. As for my personal impressions of Moscow, I have to admit the following. I like walking the streets of Moscow gazing at the people who wrap themselves in furs in winter while in summer they take nearly everything off although the temperature outside barely gets above 20 degrees. I, on the contrary, always seem to be lightly dressed for the Moscow winters, wearing a light overcoat, while in summer I feel a bit cold. At any rate, I have to keep myself warm, and a cigar is a good supplement to a strong drink. That is why during my visits to Moscow I am permanently smoking cigars. Rafael Nodal, President, Havana Cuba Cigar Company: Nowadays my company is actively exploring the Russian cigar market. The invitation to attend the Big Smoke Festival for me is also a chance to get to know the situation better, to figure out what prospects the Russian market has to offer. I am happy to be in Moscow, I am delighted with your magazine, with the Moscow cigar shops that I have visited. I told the RTDA board about the seminars held by you in the framework of the Big Smoke Festival and we would like to adopt your know-how. We would like to organize similar training courses for the employees of tobacco shops. People in Russia want to know more and more about cigars and the cigar culture, and I believe my company has a rosy future here. Helmut Bührle President, Laura Chavin Cigars: Cigars in Russia are becoming an important attribute of life. But the tastes of Russian cigar smokers are still developing extensively, with quantity prevailing over quality. They seek more and more brands, more formats, more expensive cigars. That is not enough to become a cigar country. I, for one, would like to see as well as the ever-increasing interest in cigars more attention shown to the cigar culture, knowledge of the particulars of cigar production and cigar etiquette. After all, a cigar is an extremely delicate thing that requires not so much ‘width’ as ‘depth’. The Russians, I think, tend to understand that.