Category: Blog

Chris Khatschadourian having an El Septimo Cigar at Fidel in Antelias

Have a Cigar: El Septimo Excepcion Esmeralda

Chris Khatsch1 Comment

Name: El Septimo Excepcion Esmeralda

Country: Costa Rica

Shape: Parejo

Size: (5 inches x 60)

Strength: Medium to Full

I finally got to burn an El Septimo Excepcion Esmeralda from The Diamond Collection. It’s a creamy smoke with hints of dark roast coffee, walnut, leather, pink peppercorn, and cedarwood. I paired it first with Glenfiddich 12 and then with a fine red wine. If Freud could say something here, he would probably say, “El Septimo isn’t just a cigar.”

The El Septimo Excepcion Esmeralda is one of the best cigars I had this year.

Have a Cigar: Oliva Serie V Double Toro

Chris Khatsch2 Comments

Name: Oliva Serie V Double Toro

Country: Nicaragua

Shape: Parejo

Size: Gordo (6 inches x 60)

Strength: Medium to Full

Another night of drinking, another night of smoking cigars.

Reading Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises this week also made me want to drink and smoke a little more, even though I had promised myself to cut down on drinking.

The news is that I smoked my first Oliva Serie V cigar just this Thursday.

The Oliva Serie V Double Toro is an amazing cigar with notes of medium roast coffee, chocolate, oak, and black pepper. I smoked it leisurely at Spine Beirut, which is one of the trendy rooftop clubs this summer. Of course, it was my wife who chose the place. She’s the one who’s always up to date with the latest trends in town. So, we booked a table, invited some friends, and made it happen.

I paired my cigar with gin and tonic and watched people dance like Lebanon isn’t going to hell. The cigar kept me company for about two hours. When I was finally done with it, it was already time to pay the bill.

I will have to get some more Oliva Serie V cigars. I liked them very much, and I have some extra space in my humidor.

One thing’s for sure: I’ll pair the next one with coffee.

Chris Khatschadourian smoking a Don Tomas Clasico Cigar in Lebanon

Have a Cigar: Don Tomas Clasico Rothschild

Chris KhatschLeave a comment

Name: Don Tomas Clasico Rothschild

Country: Honduras

Shape: Parejo

Size: (4 1/2 inches x 50)

Strength: Medium

As Freud once said, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

My wife had some friends over last night, and I had to sit with them. We had dinner: Armenian manti and sou boreg. I had a glass of red wine and ended up smoking the Don Tomas Clasico that’s been sitting in my humidor for ages.

I wasn’t looking for something strong or complex. It was already late, already past midnight. I wanted to smoke something easy and straightforward. And this Don Tomas Clasico hit the spot. It’s a cigar that is just a cigar, and I enjoyed smoking it.