Name: Norteño Robusto Grande

Country: Nicaragua

Shape: Box-Pressed

Size: (5 1/2 inches x 54)

Strength: Medium to Full

Last cigar of the night,
paired with a pint of lager.

I’m drunk,
my stomach is full,
and life is good, overall.

A bearable boredom
and a sleeping fear of death
overshadowed by exhaustion.

All I want to do is smoke.
All I want to do is get lost in thoughts.

I want to burn
this time that I have.
I want to burn
parts of my past.
I want to burn all that I suffer from,
and from its ashes I want to see a phoenix rise
and swallow Icarus
and give birth to a new sun.

I am drunk again.

The alcohol brings back old memories,
the good and the bad,
as well as the moldy secrets
that have been kept in the cellar
for a few eternities.
I entertain myself with them briefly before
I let them rise with the smoke
and disappear.

Suddenly,

I know who I was, who I am, and who I want to be.
Tonight, I’m sitting with the three of them.
But there’s a chance I’ll never
sit to drink with them again
if I choose to change
and become a better man.