Tag: cigars

Reviewing the CAO Flathead V660 Carb cigar, smoking it at Club Mareva Beirut, Lebanon.

Bored Absurdist’s Top 10 Cigars of 2024

Chris KhatschLeave a comment

It’s that time of the year again, gentlemen. So, here are the Top 10 cigars I smoked in 2024:

Cigar Review: Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Espressivo

10. Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua Espressivo

Here’s a strong and aromatic robusto that has a 60-minute smoke time. It’s a masterfully constructed box-pressed cigar that has a firm draw and burns slowly. It’s good-looking, too. I liked pairing it with Islay whiskies. But it also goes well with espresso.

Smoking a Cuban Partagas cigar while driving in Beirut

9. Partagas Petit Coronas Especiales

At number nine, we have a small Cuban cigar that is enjoyable behind the wheels. It would also be nice to pair it with a cappuccino while listening to the birds singing in the trees on a sunny summer morning. If it were up to me, I’d label the Partagas Petit Coronas Especiales as a “breakfast cigar.”

Smoking a cigar at Chateau Pape Clement in Pessac, Bordeaux.

8. Sin Compromiso Seleccion No. 5 Parejo

This is the cigar I smoked at Chateau Pape Clement, so I will always remember it because it’s attached to amazing memories. (My wife and I spent a night at Chateau Pape Clement when we were in Bordeaux. It’s a beautiful place, and their wine is unforgettable.) I smoked the Sin Compromiso after dinner and paired it with espresso and water.

Adventura The Royal Return King's Gold Toro cigar review in Lebanon by Chris Khatsch

7. Adventura The Royal Return King’s Gold Toro

A medium-to-full-bodied toro that will stick around and burn slowly for 90 or so minutes as I lay back and meditate.

Sancho Panza Double Maduro Cigar Review at Mareva Club Lebanon

6. Sancho Panza Double Maduro Gigante

Not the best first impression, but this double toro did grow on me eventually. It’s a big, practical cigar, and it deserves its number six spot on my list. It’s an excellent choice for a “casual smoke.”

Cigar Review Lebanon: Have a Cigar Arturo Fuente Chateau Fuente King T

5. Arturo Fuente Chateau Fuente King T Natural

Sometimes, I think that Arturo Fuente’s great name in the cigar industry has ruined Arturo Fuente’s cigars a little. I often expect a little more from their cigars than what I eventually get. Now, the Chateau Fuente King T Natural is an amazing cigar, and that’s why I placed it at number five. But I felt there was something missing when I was smoking it, and I don’t know what it is.

Reviewing the CAO Flathead V660 Carb cigar, smoking it at Club Mareva Beirut, Lebanon.

4. CAO Flathead V660 Carb

Big cigar, great construction, majestic burn, generous smoke, beautiful ash, and bold notes. Smoking the CAO Flathead V660 Carb was one of my big cigar moments of 2024.

Review of Club Mareva Beirut's double corona cigar called Odyssey A

3. Club Mareva Beirut Odyssey-A

This one is definitely the longest cigar I smoked in 2024. It was released by one of my favorite cigar lounges in Lebanon, and I just had to try it. It was a great experience.

Arturo Fuente Opus X Destino al Siglo Maduro Perfecxion X - Cigar Review - Mareva Lebanon

2. Arturo Fuente Opus X Destino al Siglo Maduro Toro

This was my birthday cigar. It was an excellent cigar and one of the best I smoked in 2024. Definitely a great choice for a celebration cigar.

Smoking and Reviewing the Liga Privada H99 at Club Mareva Beirut, Lebanon.

    1. Liga Privada H99 Toro

    A strong, full-bodied, good-looking, toro-sized cigar. All my preferences in one amazing smoke. This year, the Nicaraguan Liga Privada H99 Toro takes the number one spot.

    If you enjoy reading my cigar posts, you may also enjoy my book about cigars. Check it out here.

    Have a Cigar: Don Rafa Robusto Habano

    Chris KhatschLeave a comment

    Name: Don Rafa Robusto Habano

    Country: Nicaragua

    Shape: Parejo

    Size: Robusto (5 inches x 50)

    Strength: Mild to Medium

    Someone told me that Don Rafa cigars are “good and cheap, if you want to smoke them every day.” I got curious. Though I don’t plan on smoking the same cigar forever, I lit one to see what “good and cheap” means.

    Don Rafa is an affordable cigar that tastes like the good break you need. Though a little earthy and peppery, it’s an easy-to-smoke cigar. Very casual. You can fire one up any time.

    Have a Cigar: Quorum Classic Double Gordo

    Chris KhatschLeave a comment

    Name: Quorum Classic Double Gordo

    Country: Nicaragua

    Shape: Parejo

    Size: Gordo (6 inches x 60)

    Strength: Full

    This isn’t the first cigar I ever had, but it’s the first cigar I really enjoyed smoking.

    Accompanied by a glass of Laphroaig 10, I smoked this Quorum Classic Double Gordo while reading on the balcony of the hotel room at InterContinental Mzaar.

    A cool breeze caressed me sporadically as the dusk fell slowly. As I waited for my fiancée to get dressed for her birthday party, I nursed my drink and smoked my cigar like a general who had just won a war.

    The book I was reading was Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. “We covet knowledge merely because we covet enjoyment,” I read. And I immediately smiled. The Laphroaig was working. Though that was surely not what Rousseau meant when he was writing it, his words are especially true when it comes to single malts and cigars, I thought. We desire knowledge because we desire a more pleasurable experience. Knowledge massively enhances the taste. The more you learn about single malts and cigars, the better they taste.

    Half the taste is the story, and consuming stories makes us human.

    This six inch Gordo I was smoking lasted for about an hour. And when it was finally done, I enjoyed its aftertaste for a moment before washing my mouth with another dram of whisky.

    If I ever become a full-time cigar aficionado, you can say that this was the turning point. My cigar journey starts here.

    Quorum Classic is an affordable and tasty cigar. I have one on my desk as we speak, and I know that I’ll light it very soon.