David, thanks for your message and sorry for the slight delay in response.

I have been rooting around my rather chaotic filing system to try to locate this article, but unsuccessfully, I'm afraid. Too many house moves since then ... However I do remember the research. The fundamental point is that spirits with slightly more intrinsic sweetness (like Cognac or aged rum) seem to work better than drier spirits (like Armagnac and much malt whisky). Whisky, of course, varies greatly, depending on the cask treatment it has received, and anything with a sweeter finish (port or madeira casks, for example), is likely to work well.

The same thing applies to blends. For example, I'd opt for Johnnie Walker Gold rather than Black if I was going to toy with a cigar, though Black is perhaps the more interesting blend without any smouldering leaf to hand. On the cigar front, I remember we worked our way through all the standard small cigars on the market, and I half-fancy Villiger performed well. Since then, though, I have discovered my favourite small cigar of all time.

It is, in essence, a simple cellophane-wrapped, ready-cut 130 mm Havana called Guantanamera (this 'official' size descriptor is a decimo). I bought these at Bordeaux Airport, and -- sorry -- haven't yet seen them on sale in the UK, though you might like to hunt about on the web to see if there is a UK stockist. They weren't expensive. The leaf is from Vuelta Arriba in Cuba: good terroir! They are relatively loosely packed, superbly fragrant, easy-going (take a break whenever you want and re-light later), with little rancidity or asperity. Wonderful though the great Cuban hand-rolled cigars are, my life is just not languid enough to give me the necessary hour or so to smoke one, especially since I only ever smoke outdoors on a once-in-a-while basis.

I've long thought that Cuba should increase its machine-rolled and small-format production ... yet the tiny little Romeo y Julietas and others which you can get in boxes of 20 don't perform very well -- they are too short and small to covey the richness and complexity which marks Havana leaf out from all the rest. This particular 'decimo' size is perfect. Hope this is some help. Thanks for your comments on the Food Programme, too, which I appreciate.