HAVANA — The back room of La Casa del Habano is a temple where cigar lovers from around the world come to worship their god. More than 100 climate-controlled mahogany drawers, each filled with delicately rolled cigars, line the walls. Rich smoke hangs heavily in the air, flirting with the sweet scent of cedar strips that purists use to light their cigars.

LONDON — The foreign ministers of Russia and Azerbaijan had a lot to talk about at their joint press conference in Moscow Tuesday: transport of Azeri oil, peace negotiations in restive Nagorno-Karabakh — and the vocal merits of a 22-year-old Russian pop singer.