The Cigar Life

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...

Tuesday, August 30, 2022 Had my good friend Mike over a couple weeks ago or so. It was great to see him. Love lighting up and having a cigar together. Above photos are from that night. We each smoked a Romeo y Julieta. Tonight I had the same kind of cigar. I've been back at work for a week now to get my classroom set up and I'm trying to enjoy the pleasant temperatures while they last. We still have a number of nice days ahead but eventually they'll start to become fewer and farther between. Not that colder weather has kept me from smoking cigars outside. No time like the present though. Dale came out with some wine to sit with me. He's been on vacation from work and goes back the day after tomorrow.  Although I'm back at work I won't have students until Tuesday of next week. We talked of retirement which is on the horizon and are looking forward to new possibilities.  Had Orville on the Bose.  Like I said, the weather was very pleasant. 

Sunday, August 7, 2022 From the article More Than a Cigar by Evan J. Elkin as appearing in Cigar Aficionado in the Winter 94/95 issue: "When Sigmund Freud's nephew Harry declined a cigar at age 17, his illustrious uncle started as if thunderstruck. He paused and then, weighing his words carefully, admonished Harry: "My boy, smoking is one of the greatest and cheapest enjoyments in life, and if you decide in advance not to smoke, I can only feel sorry for you." (Freud: A Life for Our Time. Peter Gay, 1989, Anchor Books/Doubleday.) For Freud, the decision not to smoke was surprising, even illogical. Indeed, one can hardly think of Freud, father of psychoanalysis, without thinking of cigars. He was seldom photographed without a cigar in his hand, which is no surprise, since he typically smoked 20 per day. As he wrote, analyzed patients and took his daily walks, Freud smoked continually." https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/more-than-a-cigar-6051 Wow. Twenty a d...

 10 Things Every Cigar Smoker Should Know by Gregory Mottola from Inside the NFL, Sept./Oct. 2017 appearing in Cigar Aficionado Magazine Click on the link below for the article: https://www.cigaraficionado.com/article/10-things-every-cigar-smoker-should-know-19531

Thursday, July 21, 2021 Another beautiful day to sit in the yard.  Listened to music.   And enjoyed the beautiful warm, sunny, clear day. 

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.