IBIZA – ALWAYS IN A PARTY MOOD

Ibiza swings, dances and seduces, well into the wee hours. On this luxury, fun loving island, cigars are an everyday pleasure. In Eivissa’s (Catalan for Ibiza) extravagant open air party temples, they are puffed with relish, throbbing to the sexy beat mix. A cigar lover could even come under the rhythm’s spell, turned on by the spicy aromas of a local favourite, the Bolivar Belicoso Fino on Europe’s hottest party island.

For night owls, the outlandish Croissant show cafe opens at six in the morning. It is located directly opposite the path up to the historic old city centre of Dalt Vila. The cafe’s proprietor, who wears an artfully twirled moustache a la Salvador Dali, coaxes me into starting the day with a Vegafina Robusto. All of a sudden, I am sitting next to a bevy of cheerful drag queens, a colourful start of the day. Ibiza has always been a tolerant place, with a love for everyone from grey-haired hippies to dubious VIPs and the hyper-stylish beings that float off super expensive yachts.

Whether arriving at the trendy Cala Jondal in a small sailboat or navigating winding roads in a rental car, everyone is warmly welcome. There is something for everyone; and evening for two in a romantic beach cove, making a night of it on an elegant marina, attending variety shows at the Lio, savouring Catalan designer gourmet food, and of course, luxuriating in the cigars that come as naturally to the lifestyle as cava, the local sparkling wine.

LIKE SOUTH-AMERICAN SUNSETS

Smoking exquisite Cuban cigars on Ibiza’s beaches aligns perfectly with my dreams of being “Forever young” – and goes well with the cool sounds that the DJs mix like sophisticated cocktails. The best place to listen to music is on the rambling Playa d’en Bossa, at the Ushuaia beach and Tower. The very fact that these hotels chose Ushuaia – the southernmost city in the world, in faraway Argentina – as their namesake reveals their confidence: Our sunsets are as spectacular as those in South America as those represent tobacco growing countries Dominican Republic, Brazil and Mexico.

Ibiza well stocked tobacco retails shops, called estancos, often offer their selections in astoundingly large walk-in humidors. The tradition rich shop radiates the charm of the Eivissa countryside. Caroline of Monaco’s ex partner bought his Cohiba Siglo VI there.

They emphasise that up to 80% of his sales are Cuban euros.

In Ibiza, smoking is only permitted outside closed rooms. But the island’s mild climate, inviting from April to the end of October, allows for easy going outdoor smoking on its countless lovely patios.

USHUAIA TOWER: IMPRESSIVE CIGAR LOUNGE

A visit to The Xaloc, the sky lounge on the Ushuaia Tower’s roof, is an unforgettable experience. Resourceful designers fashioned the futuristic bar using parts from old aeroplane engines. Sitting on substantial lounge chairs under the flight path of racing jets, enjoy a cocktail and puff a cigar with a spectacular view of the Mediterranean coast – and of the dance floor, where DJ David Guetta delights hundreds of partygoers with his live techno show. By contrast, the Montauk Bar’s cigar lounge, located next to the hotel’s excellent steakhouse, is peaceful and avantgarde.

Himalayan salt blocks glitter like jewels – a nod to Cap des Falco’s surreal salt landscape. In the lounge, ladies rest their high heeled feet on cow skin hides, and gentlemen enjoying a fine smoke peer through a glass window to the pool’s VIP area, where the “belles of the night” show off designer outfits.

THALASSO TEMPE HIGH ABOVE THE SEA

It’s the charismatic Belgian Alvar lipszyn, and internationally renowned architect and visionary thinker, who truly whets my appetite for a cigar – just in time for the sunset at his hotel Hacienda Na Xamena, built in the native Ibiza style. Located in the middle of a protected natural area rich with pine forests, the hotel boasts Ibiza’s most spectacular sunsets. Sitting on the elegant Eden Lounge’s panorama terrace, paradise on earth seems within reach. With detail obsessed perfectionism, Lipszyn has transformed the secluded hacienda – originally built by its father – into an exclusive refuge.

This luxury enclave is perched like an eyrie atop a bluff overlooking the ocean; a good three miles from civilization, the only sounds are birdsong and soft soul music. At the Eden Lounge, savour a favourite cigar while leaning back on pillows shaped like giant lizards. After an aphrodisiac dessert topping off an artful dinner at the Mediterranean style restaurant, some cigar friends from Amsterdam and I enjoy a Vegas Robaina.

ARCHITECTURAL WONDER

The ritual silence I found at the Hacienda Na Xamena embodied a totally different side of Ibiza. It evokes smkayak rides into small coves, strolls through picturesque white villages with their colourful hippie markets, and a fine smoke on the island’s Havana style colonial terraces, like  at the enchanting theatre music venue cafe, Pereyra. Lipszyc’s architectural masterpiece in the island’s peaceful north exists in harmonious accordance with the pristine nature surrounding it. Even the imitation Phoenician watch tower seems real here, somehow.

Plastic is found upon; one suns oneself under cloth shades next to a pool that is only accessible  by winding paths. Giant boulders rest next to a pool that is only accessible by winding paths.

Giants boulders rest next to beautifully designed wooden lounge chairs.

Someone has set out a bowl of plump, ice cold cherries, as temptingly beautiful as the biblical apple that tempted Eve. As if also under their spell, a young German woman tells me about her erotic escapades while an Indian man in a turban and bathing trunks talks on the phone in perfect British English.

The gorgeous editor of Madrid’s tabloid Hola muses about the new pearl necklace trend; her partner looks like an Antonio Banderas double and draws on a Vegafina Corona. I want to lure my guests into a labyrinth of wonder, to astound them, emphasising his foremost priority. Perhaps it is not coincidence, then that christian Dior found his creative calling here on the island , and that architects of the legendary Bauhaus school were inspired by the simple, whitewashed cubic houses of Ibiza’s residents.

Hacienda Na Xamena also boasts a one of a kind, ocean fed spa, created by Lipszzyc to mimic natural cascades. My guests are treated to an unforgettable thalassotherapy from head to toe. With the energy up here, 600 feet above sea level, they experience a rebirth between heaven and earth. Only at the end of our conversation do I discover the peaceful Buddha statue that watches over the pool from his niche like a benevolent father figure. It works. Why do you think, asks Alvar Lipszyc, that the Romans chose Ibiza above anywhere else as their final resting place?

For more information on the cigar culture in Ibiza, please feel free to contact us today at Taylors Tobacconists.