Category: Blog

Have a Cigar: La Aroma del Caribe Mi Amor Belicoso

Chris Khatsch1 Comment

Name: La Aroma del Caribe Mi Amor Belicoso

Country: Nicaragua

Shape: Parejo

Size: (5 1/2 inches x 54)

Strength: Medium to Full

There’s this restaurant called Métropole — more of a café trottoir — where they serve good steak and pain perdu. It’s located in Minet el Hosn in Beirut. I go there with my wife sometimes. And, when I do, I make sure I bring a good cigar with me.

Métropole, I’m sure many would agree, is a perfect place to light a cigar. When the weather is nice, the place becomes filled with cigar smokers, dilettantes, and aficionados. That’s why I go there, too…

La Aroma Del Caribe Mi Amor is a rich, flavorful, and well-balanced cigar. It is complex but not too complex. You don’t have to pause everything to focus on the nuances. You can smoke it leisurely, at your own pace, while you nurse a drink. It can be paired with tea, coffee, whiskey, or wine. Last time I had red Bordeaux with it, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Have a Cigar: Casa Turrent Serie 1901 Robusto

Chris Khatsch5 Comments

Name: Casa Turrent Serie 1901 Robusto

Country: Mexico

Shape: Parejo

Size: (5 1/4 inches x 50)

Strength: Medium to Full

I could smell
the leather armchair of a philosopher
misplaced and forgotten in a chocolate factory.

I could taste
the sweetened pain of a man biting on a leather belt
in a torture chamber.

Where does the sadism come from?

I could taste earth, wood, and chickpeas
dissolved in coffee —
muddy, Arabic coffee.

I was smoking a cigar
and nursing a twelve-year-old whisky.

“This is a good cigar,” I said to my wife
who was busy witnessing the synthesis of
people, music, and alcohol
in a failed state.

The music was loud,
the lights were dim,
the people were
cocktail-drinking, popcorn-eating zombies
wasting their lives.

Or… Were they trapped in this city
and the best they could do was
party?

And was I not like them? There,
burning valuable time.
Waiting, maybe, for something.

I was there smoking
time
like I could smoke eternity
without ever feeling bored.

I was there blurring reality
with smoke.

Have a Cigar: Puro Del Oro Trianglo Extra

Chris KhatschLeave a comment

Name: Puro Del Oro Trianglo Extra

Country: Nicaragua

Shape: Parejo

Size: (5 1/2 inches x 62)

Strength: Full

I tried different vitolas of Puro Del Oro cigars — the Grand Churchill, the Toro, the Petit Torpedo, and now the Trianglo Extra.

It is not a very popular brand, I would say, but I see more and more people smoking it in Lebanon. The reason is clear: they’re of good quality, affordable, and taste great. I smoked many of them in 2021. I’ve read many books and wrote many poems smoking them.

The Trianglo Extra is earthy with notes of coffee and cream. It tastes best when paired with coffee drinks or whiskies. It burns evenly and gives a great deal of smoke.

I smoked a Trianglo Extra this Monday while setting up the grill. We were celebrating Independence Day in Lebanon.

Good weather, good friends, good times, and a lot of smoke.