Wednesday, November 11, 2009 PARIS: Award-winning French chocolatier Patrick Roger is commemorating the fall of communism with a 15m long and 900kg chocolate reproduction of the Berlin Wall. Roget has been building the chocolate wall in sections over the past four weeks in his studio outside of Paris. They bear the hallmarks of the original wall with uncanny chocolate replicas of the drawings like "the fraternal kiss" between the then East German leader Eric Honecker and the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. The wall is entirely made of black chocolate, the graffiti spray composed of coco-butter and artificial colouring. The chocolate sections of the wall are already on display in four of his French chocolate shops. On Monday, Roget will commemorate the fall of the wall by smashing his own chocolate incarnation in his flagship shop on Paris' Left Bank and the public will have a chance at joining in and enjoying the sweet taste of freedom. Monday marks 20 years since the Berlin Wall was pulled down, leading to the reunification of Germany. The German capital had been divided among the victorious European allies at the end of World War II and quickly became a symbol of the Cold War.
Sunday, February 28, 2010 HAVANA: Hundreds of wealthy merchants and cigar aficionados from all parts of the world gathered in Havana this week to bid high stakes for humidors full of premium cigars. Cuba's annual Habanos festival ended on Friday night with an auction of ornate humidors of cedar and mahogany stacked with hand-rolled stogies that raised 800,000 euros ($1.09 million dollars). Habanos S.A. executives this month said cigar sales fell 8 percent to $360 million in 2009, so they have created the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, aimed specifically at female smokers. Women now make up only 5 to 10 percent of customers for Habanos. But even with the creation of the Julieta, Garcia said Habanos has only modest hopes for 2010 sales, due largely to a weak economy in Spain, the biggest market for Cuban cigars. The flavor of premium tobacco relies on the soil and climate in which it is grown. The western province of Pinar Del Rio, famous fo...
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