THOUGHTS FROM THE FIELD

According to weather lore, “If birds and badgers are fat in October, a harsh winter is on its way”. There is sense in this. A mild summer is good for all flora and fauna, meaning plentiful food for birds and badgers. In truth, the size of a badger is an inaccurate means of weather forecasting. A badger’s weight fluctuates markedly over a year. In May a boar weighs on average some 9.5kg, rising in mid-october to 11.5kg. However, the size of badgers varies according to their geographic

Showcased in 2016 as a limited edition, the Topes is familiar to cigar enthusiasts around the world. Measuring 47/8in and with a 56 ring gauge, this is a brute. Trinidad is a location, with northerners invariably the heaviest. The weightiest British badger on record was a County Durham specimen that tipped the scales at a corpulent 27.7kg, just beating the previous record of 27.3kg, set by a Rotherham brock. In 2015 a sow badger said to be “the size of a pig with teeth about 6in long” attacked a Somerset pensioner called Terry Cooper. Mr Cooper was saved, it was reported, by the timely intervention of his Jack Russell.