Blowing smoke under the stars in Bali.

You're standing in an open-air teak villa perched on a rocky cliff as the setting sun slips into the Indian Ocean. Your left hand cradles a flute of Veuve Clicquot while your right caresses a freshly rolled cigar. A lavish multicourse dinner lies ahead. Heaven can totally wait.

It's May in Bali, and that means it's time for the Ritz-Carlton's Cigars Under the Stars. The annual affair is an exquisite celebration of fine wines, spirits and cuisine, all expertly paired with exceptional cigars -- a master roller is even flown in by the resort every year to showcase his craft for the attendees' benefit. This year's eighth Cigars Under the Stars took place May 16 in the resort's new Ayana Villa, with master roller Hocniel Diaz Valdes flown in from the Partagas factory in Cuba to present the Hoyo de Monterrey Regalos Edicion Limitada 2007. Other featured smokes included freshly hand-rolled Cohiba Maduro Genios and the Romeo y Julieta Escudos Edicion Limitada 2007. The resort's new chef, Andreas Kampl, presented an eight-course meal headlined by a lobster thermidor and concluded with petit fours fondant.

The year before, it was master roller Gustavo Garcia Bello flown in straight from Cuba's Partagas factory to roll petit coronas over cocktails (dinner that year included creamed lobster broth with sea salt-cured foie gras, paired with a fine Riesling and a Cohiba Siglo III.) The event's grand finale, a Cohiba Sublimes Edicion Limitada 2004, was accompanied by a Laphroaig 10 Year Old Single Malt. In 2005, Hamlet Jaime Paredes prepared his masterpiece: the Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Especiales Limited Edition 2004. The chef played up the evening's theme by preparing duck confit with a foie gras and tobacco leaf terrine.

Cigars aren't limited to just that one event, however; for the other 364 days of the year, the resort's open-air Damar Terrace offers Bali's largest collection of Cubans -- and live music to enjoy them by.
ritzcarlton.com/Bali

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