Name: El Septimo Gilgamesh Sable Shamash

Country: Costa Rica

Shape: Parejo

Size: Toro (6 inches x 50)

Strength: Medium

It was a Happy Halloween because I had the El Septimo Gilgamesh Sable Shamash.

I don’t get to smoke a lot of El Septimo cigars because not a lot of shops sell them here. Also, they’re not cheap. This one was a gift from a friend who was invited to our Halloween house party. He came in with a few good bottles of wine. And only two cigars for just the two of us.

To be honest, the Sable Shamash wasn’t as complex as I had expected it to be, but it was a good cigar. Its smell promised a little more than what I got to experience smoking it. I paired it with many drinks — first with a gin tonic, then with a full-bodied red wine, then with a Johnnie Walker Black Label, and finally with a Midori Sour. There was a sweetness to it, but it could also have been from the drinks I was having. I got leathery and nutty notes, and, at the end, peppery hints.

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.

Name: Condega Serie ‘F’ Maduro

Country: Nicaragua

Shape: Parejo

Size: Robusto (5 inches x 50)

Strength: Full

It rarely happens, but it happens. I smoked four cigars yesterday. The Condega Maduro was the fourth.

I woke up today with a hoarse voice and still a little drunk.

I had so much wine. I don’t think I ever had so much wine before. We were at Château Kefraya, and all the wines were so good. So we emptied many bottles, and we sang.

Chevaliers de la table ronde
Goûtons voir si le vin est bon

Now I’m thinking about something I read a few days ago. Where’s that book?

“Socrates wanted to die,” Nietzsche says in Twilight of the Idols. “Athens did not give him the poison cup; he gave it to himself; he compelled Athens to give it to him.”

Oh, last night! I drank until, like Lord Byron’s Damaetas, I drained the dregs of pleasure’s bowl.