Author: Chris Khatsch

There must be a little art in everything I create, even if my creation is as cold as a machine and follows empirical data.
Arturo Fuente Opus X Destino al Siglo Maduro Perfecxion X - Cigar Review - Mareva Lebanon

Have a Cigar: Arturo Fuente Opus X Destino al Siglo Maduro Toro

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Name: Arturo Fuente Opus X Destino al Siglo Maduro Toro
Country: Dominican Republic
Shape: Parejo
Size: Toro (6 1/4 inches x 49)
Strength: Medium to Full

I smoked this cigar last night, celebrating my birthday. I smoked it at the cigar lounge surrounded by friends who were there to see me age another year. I paired it with Bulleit Rye. It was good. Actually, it was great…

However, I’d like to add that, compared to other cigars, the Opus X is overpriced. There are much cheaper cigars out there that taste great. But it’s a good birthday cigar, nonetheless.

It’s possible that the name of this cigar is “Arturo Fuente Opus X OXO Oro Oscuro Perfecxion X.” But after a few Google searches this morning, I decided to give up. I forgot what was written on the box when I picked it up. I think the name had “Maduro” in it, but I have a hangover that I need to take care of right now, and my short-term memory seems to be on a holiday. I could, of course, ask the cigar lounge. But I won’t be visiting them again this week, and I really want to get this post up before my wife and I go to this getaway, where we plan to enjoy my birthday weekend. Besides, the color of the cigar wrapper is Maduro to me…

So, what’s the verdict?

It’s an excellent cigar. It’s smooth and sweet, has a great draw, and comes with a harmony of notes. However, for the same price, you can purchase three excellent cigars instead of just one. (But if it’s your birthday, you are allowed to pamper yourself.)

February 18, 2024: Another Hangover

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Another hangover on a sunny Sunday.
I wake up dead
and crawl out of bed, crawl
to the nearest water source,
a fountain of life,
and drink like a man who was just saved
from hell.

In hell, there’s no water,
but there are fountains you can drink from,
fountains of spirits that do not quench your thirst,
but dehydrate you instead
and dry up every stream of thought that once flowed
in your head.

February 17, 2024: Practicing Philosophy

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Practicing philosophy is neither about the question nor the answer. It’s about experiencing a question that strives for an answer using you — your mind, your spirit. We can even say the following: Practicing philosophy is about forming and attempting to answer a question that is unresolvable. (Everything that falls outside of this, no longer belongs to the practice of philosophy; it belongs to science. Although, it is also important to note that all knowledge, including science and religion, belongs to philosophy.)

A philosopher needs a good amount of observable truths or facts to generate hypotheses as well as theories. But he doesn’t need to generate truths or facts.

A philosophy is always personal. A philosophy — if it really is a philosophy — can only disguise itself as being impersonal. When someone reads your philosophical text, a part of you replaces a part of him. He becomes a little more like you — a little more like your philosophy. You transfer (duplicate) a part of you into the other. We can call this the reproduction of ideas because it is how they survive, evolve, etc.

Reading philosophy is a lot like eating. Your mind will digest what it can (or needs to) digest. The rest will turn into philosophical fat or feces. Coming back to a philosophical text is a repetition that teaches you something new. It changes you differently. Rereading a philosophical work is not the same as relearning the same thing. You cannot relearn. You can only learn new things through repetition.

Philosophy is the love of wisdom, not wisdom. Loving something is different than being something. If you love a woman, you are the lover of the woman. You do not become the woman by loving her.

Philosophizing is not something you do to get somewhere. Philosophizing is something you do when you get somewhere. It is the child of boredom; and therefore, it is a leisure activity. In fact, this is what I’ve been doing for the last 30 minutes or so…