Hoyo de Monterry Epicure Especial Cigar Review. Beirut, Lebanon.

Have a Cigar: Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Especial

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Name: Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure Especial

Country: Cuba

Shape: Parejo

Size: Robusto (5 1/2 inches x 50)

Strength: Medium to Full

Here I am smoking an excellent Cuban cigar on a balcony overlooking Beirut and the Mediterranean Sea. It is 11:15 AM on a weekday in September. The sky is clear, and my panoramic view tinted by the rays of a cheerful sun does not lack splendor or beauty.

I can see the Beirut port from here, the same one that exploded last year. And I can see large cargo ships patiently waiting to deliver the goods they carry. The sea looks calm and serene.

Briefly, I let my eyes focus on the narrow line that separates the land from the sea. I see tiny cars on the highway flowing towards Beirut. Like blood cells, the cars go in and out of Beirut. “The heart still beats,” I say to myself. “This broken heart, despite everything, still beats.”

Everything looks alright in this picture. From a distance, everything looks just fine. But I know that what I’m looking at is, in fact, a place that can only be described as hell. I cannot see the suffering from here, yet I know it’s there.

I smoke my cigar and take notes in my notebook.

When I am done smoking, my eyes let go of Beirut and the sea. And I go inside to make some coffee.

Flor de Copan Cigar Review

Have a Cigar: Flor de Copan Classic Toro

Chris Khatsch1 Comment

Name: Flor de Copan Toro

Country: Honduras

Shape: Parejo

Size: Toro (6 inches x 50)

Strength: Mild

The Flor de Copan Toro, if you want to smoke it like I do, until there’s nothing left of it, is a cigar that lasts for two or so hours easily. That’s a great amount of time! And it goes without saying that the longer the smoking duration, the happier I am.

Its smell reminds me of a hot cup of cappuccino with cinnamon. It looks beautiful. And it tastes like it’s time to party. It’s a mild-bodied cigar with notes of blonde roast coffee, white chocolate, and maple.

Great quality and great taste. It’s a stick that can be paired with coffee drinks or blended whiskies.

The Flor de Copan Toro is a decent cigar to enjoy at gatherings or on a night out with friends.

*****
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Have a Cigar: Don Rafa Churchill

Chris Khatsch1 Comment

Name: Don Rafa Churchill

Country: Nicaragua

Shape: Parejo

Size: Churchill (7 inches x 50)

Strength: Medium

I woke up with a hangover,
ready to work on another hangover.
I am like a Sisyphus whose bottle refills
every time it is emptied.

This is my life, then.
This is where I am now.
Madness cannot be very far from here.
You can see that in my sunken eyes —
how exhausted I am!
And burned out. And bored out.

In between hangovers, there is some
suffering
and a lot of drinking.
In between hangovers, there is the life
that I never wanted… except
the love story that’s being written.

I smoke cigars, too, when I drink.
Most of the times, the cheapest cigars I can find.
Sometimes,
cigars that burn like Shakespeare’s plays in a fireplace.

And you can smell the fire in my beard
and all the verses I have burned
under the open sky.

When I drink, I like to have a pen
and a notebook in close proximity, too.
But I see how this may mislead the onlooker.

You must never mistake me for a poet
even if you see me scribble
and spit out words like active volcanoes spit out lava.

Where I come from, poems give birth to themselves.
The poet is the drunkard who happens to be there when that happens.

Where I come from, the poet has not mastered the language.
On the contrary, he has given up on language;
he merely uses it out of boredom,
distorts it, abuses it…

Where I come from, the poem is only read by the poet
who will forget
everything.

In the morning, nothing will exist but a hangover
that means nothing at all.