Tag: diary

September 8, 2022: Doing Well

Chris KhatschLeave a comment

In the back of a taxi cab. Window down. Wind in my beard. The sun shining in a turquoise sky.

Heading to the barbershop to get a haircut and trim my beard. After that, lunch with my wife. Chinese. And after that, work. Online meetings.

Actually, you know, I was just thinking, “Hard work got me somewhere, after all.” Here. It’s not the best place, and it’s not the worst. I could do better, and I’ll sure be trying that later.

But not today. Because tonight I got to pack. In the morning, I’ll be in Prague with my wife. Celebrating our one year wedding anniversary.

I can’t wait to get drunk with her, to get lost with her, and laugh, and love, and dance, and live.

I did well. I did very well. Can’t think of regrets.

It’s time to have some fun.

Chris Khatschadourian trying out the El Septimo Salvador Dali at Fidel in Antelias, Lebanon.

Have a Cigar: El Septimo Sacred Arts Salvador Dali

Chris Khatsch2 Comments

Name: El Septimo Sacred Arts Salvador Dali

Country: Costa Rica

Shape: Parejo

Size: Toro (6 1/2 inches x 54)

Strength: Medium to Full

Happy to have tried this wonderful cigar from El Septimo’s Sacred Arts Collection. It will definitely find its spot in the top 10 cigars I smoked in 2022.

The one I chose was named after Salvador Dali, the surrealist. It was the right vitola for the occasion. But I plan on smoking all of the others in the collection as well. For sure. The Sacred Arts Collection also includes the names of Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Botticelli, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Da Vinci. And all of the cigars look like works of art.

Full-bodied and medium-to-full in strength, the good-looking Salvador Dali was successfully paired with a glass of Havana Club Barrel Proof.

In the first few draws, I could detect subtle hints of dried peach, blackberry, and citrus fruits. The predominant notes throughout, however, were of dark chocolate, coffee, white pepper, and carob.

As I had a long conversation about life and cigars with my friend, the Salvador Dali burned softly between my fingers and gave out a lot of smoke.

An excellent cigar.

*****

Do you enjoy reading about cigars? Cigars also inspire me to write poems. Buy my book called A Poet’s Cigar Journal and Ten Poems.

Condega Arsenio for a late afternoon smoke

Have a Cigar: Condega Serie F Arsenio

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Name: Condega Serie F Arsenio

Country: Nicaragua

Shape: Parejo

Size: (5 1/2 inches x 50)

Strength: Medium

I’m smoking a working-class man’s cigar
on the terrace,
drinking,
thinking about the past
and the masks I had to wear
to get here,
to a place so near
to the stars…

I’m thinking about my father
and how he would have enjoyed smoking cigars
and drinking beer
with me.
He would have been proud…

I believe I’m where I want to be,
but there are other places I need to be.
There are all sorts of hats I need to wear,
all sorts of shoes I need to fill,
and so on,
and so forth.
And there are dreams I need to kill,
all sorts of destinies I need to fulfill,
and so on,
and so on forever, it seems.

Smoking a cigar on the terrace,
I’m texting a friend
whose cigar didn’t burn as well as mine
today.
And doesn’t this remind me of
something incomprehensible called
luck,
and how lucky I am to possess it?

I’m getting hints of earth.
I’m thinking, “I’ll get a lot of it
when they finally bury me.”
I’m getting hints of maple and honey.
This is how sweet life tastes right now.

And now and then, tonight,
I’m refilling my glass,
and I will do so until
I have no more dreams to kill
and no more to remember,
until it’s time for me to sleep.