I’ve been messing around with the layout a bit, trying to find a new look that will set the feel and tone of each of the blogs. I think I have something for now. Anyways, back to my “novel” writing (I’m woefully behind in my word count). Perhaps inspiration from a Hemingway Classic cigar will help me.
Tag Archives: cigar
I, too, can dare to hope and dream. It’s not just for the privileged few that make up politics and the like. I wrote a lot of this for the National Novel Writing Month 2008. As it happens, today is the day after the election. I hear the morning birds chirping perhaps with a little more ‘pep’ in their chirp; the buses rumbling along with the sound of kids laughing and teasing; the sky, while grey, is still bright in some way.
Hope.
A powerful thing for a great nation and individual men alike.
I sit, gently puffing on my cigar as I ponder my future and what I’m becoming. The Pending Boi inside me is growing up fast with the realization of becoming a man one day, perhaps not quite what I want but the reality of it all. It’s been over 2 years since I started my transition from woman to butch to genderqueer to transguy. Some may question why I did it and why it took so long to do it. No path for any goal is the same for all people. Mine is my own path and it’s a unique one with terror, fear, love, hate, joy, dreams and even hope. I may one day call myself a guy, dropping the trans along the way when my historical self becomes a footnote to my present self. For now, I’m a transguy and I have hope for who I am, where my future lies and what will become.
Maybe one day transmen and transwomen won’t have to announce their transitions of the true selves they are; maybe they’ll be able to just become who they are supposed to be (much like many of us) and all of us will celebrate that, rather than remember the ones lost along the way for being true to themselves.
The cigars I enjoy today are not little Short Storys but rather ones that could make up novels and epics. They come with intricate details that weave a tale of mystery and temptation. I watch as the gentle smoke from the Gurkha Centurian dances at me, beckoning me to join into the story. It becomes the symbol of being apart and yet, being part of. I still remain somewhat of an outsider to life but less so today. I belong here as the transguy I am and the guy I will become.
Maybe one day, we too can have the audacity of hope and dreams to be seen as people.
Maybe.
Cigar Description: Georges Reserve is an aged Nicaraguan, long-filler handmade cigar with a unusual African Cameroon binder. The only place I know that you can get it at is Famous Smoke online. The wrapper is near perfect in it’s construction and is more of a mild-to-medium cigar. It was the first box of cigars I ever bought.
I bought the Corona size, which is a 5 1/2 in length with a ring gauge of 42. Perhaps a bit skinny for some but I found it to be a perfect size. The binder is a natural colour, almost a tan-like hue. And it’s creamy to the palate. The long Nicaraguan fillers are wrapped perfectly so that the draw is even and consistent.
It only attempted to tugboat once but self-correctly easily. All-in-all it took about an hour and a bit to smoke this cigar with very few relights (I think I only had to do one and that was because I had gotten distracted). It re-lit nicely and without any of the bitter taste that often comes with relighting a cigar.
The actual “flavour” of the cigar is a creamy, nutty flavour that isn’t overwhelming on the palate. I found it didn’t take away from what I might be drinking (whether coffee, Red Bull or a beer) but was enough to just enjoy.
I have found that this cigar does far better as it ages over time. I had bought these ones in May/June and have found that recently they have improved immensely. I’d recommend them but only if you put them in your humidor for a couple of months to “settle”.
Rating: Overall, I’d rate these an 8/10.
Cost: At a price of $80/box (25 cigars to a box), that’s about $3.20 per cigar and makes for a nice daily or near daily smoke. Granted, when I bought them I got it for a 2-for-1 deal so my costs were down to $1.60 per cigar but even today, I’m considering getting a box or two of them.