The Cigar Life

Saturday,  October19, 2024 Got some raking done today and filled up a few leaf bags. Felt proud of myself for doing so.                           Rewarded myself with a cigar.  Had a Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur #1 which is one of my favorites and has been for the last 30 years. I remember buying these back in the day at the old Golden Leaf which was then in Calhoun Square (it's now called Anthony's and is over on Lake Street between Bryant and Colfax). I was living in a garden level apartment in Uptown at the time. I didn't like to smoke inside so I'd usually light up in my Toyota Corolla and drive around. I loved how the car smelled the next day.  

Sunday, May 5, 2024 Absolutely gorgeous day. Seventy-one degrees. Lit up a Macanudo which was beautifully mild. My On the Rocks pre-made Old Fashioned was a perfect compliment.                         A Macanudo was the first premium cigar I ever bought.  I was 18 years old and I believe I made the purchase at a cigar store in Southdale.  Dale sat outside with me for a bit and we got a kick out of the neighbor kids playing on their jungle gym. Listened to Oscar Peterson. 

Sunday, September 4, 2022 Dale and I went to the State Fair this morning. This afternoon I smoked a little Romeo y Julieta in the backyard after lighting up in the garage. While smoking I continued to reminisce about the summer of 1982 which is when I began to indulge my cigar obsession.  The appeal lay in how completely masculine it was to me. 

Saturday, September 3, 2022 Labor Day Weekend is here. School starts next week. As always it all went too fast.  I think of that first summer of cigars in 1982. Walking up to Salk Drug Store on Lyndale Avenue to buy Swisher Sweats and Dots. My cigar intake was much more sporadic and infrequent back in 1982. I would go for months and sometimes a few years.  Lighting up became a little more frequent once I moved out on my own. I'd sometime walk up to Golden Leaf in Calhoun Square for a cigar and then drive around smoking it in my Toyota Corolla. I liked how the car smelled the next day.  There's a bunch of other stuff I remember about the summer of 1982: the above album; Twilight Zone the movie seen with Mom, Dad, Sam, and Pete at the France Avenue Drive-In; my bicycle accident and the hospital stay that resulted from it; watching Brideshead Revisited on PBS; staying up late because I couldn't sleep or because I would sneak one of Dad's Swisher Sweets; watching NBC Ove...

At the end of this week I'll be halfway through my summer break. I'm trying to enjoy the weather and take advantage of the time off.  It's warm but pleasant in the shade. Listening to ABBA's recent album. I remember listening to ABBA The Album a ton back in the summer of 1977. 

Saturday, July 3, 2022 Smoked a Romeo y Julieta this afternoon and although I've smoked a number of these before and like them, this one, for some reason was a little bitter for my taste. It was passable but not my best experience with this brand. Had a nice Zoom call with Mom, Dale, Sam and his family. We had a really great conversation about some family history that's come out of the genealogy work I've been doing recently. I think it was interesting and meaningful for everyone which completely delights me. I'm hoping knowing and talking about our shared history will bring all of us closer together.  I'm still reminiscing about cigars during the summer of 1982 and some of the music I was listening to at the time. I remember the first time I heard "Gloria" by Laura Branigan. I had my Sony Walkman (the one Dad had given me about a month earlier during my 10-day stay in the hospital as I recovered from a bicycle accident) radio on as I was finishing mowing ...

I watched The Addams Family as a kid and remember thinking I wanted to wear a suit and smoke cigars just like Gomez Addams (John Astin). To me he represented a kind of masculine ideal with the way he dressed and with his cigar.