Casa Turrent 1880 Gordito at a Restaurant by the sea in Byblos

Have a Cigar: Casa Turrent 1880 Rosado Gordito

Name: Casa Turrent 1880 Rosado Gordito

Country: Mexico

Shape: Parejo

Size: (4 inches x 60)

Strength: Medium

The Casa Turrent 1880 Rosado was recommended by a friend, the co-founder of our cigar club.

We’ve smoked a lot of cigars together, and I know his taste quite well by now. He prefers much milder cigars than I do, but he knows how to pick his sticks. I’ve grown to trust him. So, when he described his experience smoking the 1880 Rosado and compared it to Cubans, I knew I had to try it. And I loved it.

I paired this one with vodka and smoked it at a restaurant by the sea in Byblos.

Good stuff.

Rocky Patel LB1 cigar in Byblos by the dock.

Have a Cigar: Rocky Patel LB1 Toro

Name: Rocky Patel LB1 Toro

Country: Honduras

Shape: Parejo

Size: Toro (6 1/2 inches x 52)

Strength: Medium

Not bad, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I usually enjoy other Rocky Patel cigars. I paired the first third with espresso, and then I switched to pilsner. At one point, I thought about having tequila, but I felt it would kill the cigar. The beer was alright.

My favorite RP stick so far is probably the Number 6, although the A.L.R. deserves to be smoked a few more times, too. As for the LB1, it’s unlikely that I’ll smoke more of it. But that doesn’t mean I won’t light one if it’s the only cigar available. It’s an okay cigar.

Smoking a Buffalo Ten Maduro Toro in Saida/Sidon

Have a Cigar: Buffalo Ten Maduro Toro

Name: Buffalo Ten Maduro Toro

Country: Dominican Republic

Shape: Box-Pressed

Size: Toro (6 inches x 50)

Strength: Medium to Full

Took an unplanned trip to Saida (Sidon) to have lunch with a friend. This was on Sunday. Amazing weather. The sky was clear, and the sun seemed like it was announcing the arrival Spring.

(It’s funny how a 45-minute drive can take you from one world to another. When I got out of the car, it felt like I was a very long way from home. The spirit of the place welcomed me as a city would welcome a tourist. My eyes were enjoying the freshness of scenery.)

We went to an Italian restaurant that was supposed to be good. Overall, it was okay, just a little above average. But what was more than okay was the company and the cigars I smoked. The Buffalo Ten Maduro Toro was the first one I lit. I paired it with an espresso, and I was happy with it.

It was an interesting lunch. It always is when the person you are with is willing to jump from one philosophical topic to another just for fun. The conversation started with Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s concept of antifragility and ended somewhere very far away from it. We also had a few good laughs.

So, it was a day well spent.

When you are fragile, you depend on things following the exact planned course, with as little deviation as possible — for deviations are more harmful than helpful. […] When you want deviations, and you don’t care about the possible dispersion of outcomes that the future can bring, since most of it will be helpful, you are antifragile.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder