Foulkes & Sons S6 E7

And so, another year draws to a close and, in typical Foulkes and Sons style we cannot bear to face the future, so instead, we embrace the past with one of the great alumni of Savile Row, Sir (well it is about time) Jeremy Hackett, eponym of that most British of outfitters For this very special broadcast, Max and I were package signature, black watch towbar with cream, silk shirts, and bowties to give a friendly festive air, but find ourselves utterly outclassed, and eclipsed by the great man, who attends in a blaze of tartan and black tie complete with headgear. Among the topics we discuss is Jeremy's early days on Savile Row, and then the Kings Road, how we met at jumble sales in the 1980s, and we reminisce over the many treasures that we found, and those that we let slip through our fingers. Jeremy also gives us insights into New York in the 1970s where he wore a cordovan blouson and lived the Taxi Driver lifestyle: the film, not the professional of driving a Hansom carriage or Hackney cabriolet for hireHe walks among us as if he were mortal. I find myself replaced by an owl, one of Abercrombie and Fitch's finest creations from the 1960s, this prompted much humour at my surprise to find that the old Abercrombie and Fitch they had supplied Ernest Hemingway with Safari jackets had been transformed into a boom, boom room of Stygian darkness, where young people in scanty apparel endeavoured to sell me, sportswear Jeremy, of course trumps that having visited the actual old school store. Given that this was filmed at the time of the World Cup (please do not think that we were involved in anything as vulgar as planning ahead, far from it, we just did not get round to editing it until now) there are also some vague and futile attempts to understand the beautiful game about which Jeremy understands as little as I do. So instead, we retreat into the comfortable conversational territory of clothing. As for the cigars, we taste the new British regional edition, Ramon Allones. Private Stock 230 which arrives on these shores pre-aged. It was supposed to have made its debut in 2020, to mark 230 years of Hunters & Frankau, but two years of delay (COVID compounding the already quixotic scheduling of the Cuban cigar industry), have worked in our favour to deliver a cigar that lands a punch with the sort of balletic grace not seen since Muhammad Ali. On the Richter scale of Havanas Ramon is usually up there, battling with Bolivar for the title of superheavyweight champion…if I may mix my geological and pugilistic metaphors. So it was with no little trepidation that we ignited them, but trepidation turned to delight as wave after wave of rich, sweet flavour cascaded across the palate. If you want to know a little more about the cigar, and its genesis, read my article in FTHTSI After a few centimetres the intensity builds and the traditional traits of the Ramon assert themselves: yes this is a prize fighter all right, but a prize fighter in a dinner jacket tailored by Huntsman of Savile Row. Seldom if ever has Ramon Allones been so sophisticated. According to Jemma Freeman, owner of Hunters & Frankau this is no accident. “There are a lot of cigars out there that can be very strong. But we wanted to go to the lighter end of Ramon, we were looking for a more elegant cigar. So, when we tasted the options and had the conversations with the master blender at the factory, we selected a blend that is still fits the profile of Ramon Allones, but certainly not the very, very strong end because we think that the consumer palate is becoming more sophisticated and is now able to appreciate a balance of flavour, strength and aroma: it can be rich without being knockout and it is going to age in an interesting way .” And, viewer, ageing in an interesting way is what we at Foulkes & Sons aspire to. editing by the talented Freddie Foulkes (you might also like to check out his series of filmed interviews with contemporary artists - Cut Out Films) ‪@kirbyallison‬ ‪@HabanosOficial‬ ‪@cigarkeep‬ ‪@davidofflondon3525‬ ‪@HackettLondon‬ ‪@hackettlondon.‬ ‪@GQVideos‬ ‪@FinancialTimes‬ ‪@Ferrari‬ ‪@bentleymotors‬ ‪@STDupontLighters‬ ‪@HuntsmanSavileRow1849‬​‪@maserati‬ ‪@therakemagazine2522‬