Cigar Time

I had just finished writing for the day and it was cigar time. I'd recently gotten a box of VSG's, high end, well aged Dominicans made by Ashton, and it was time to treat myself. For me, this can be a complicated process.

Treating myself is usually a bit complicated. Not by design. It's just that I like things certain ways. Like when I go to sleep at night. I lay on my right side, my right arm under the pillow supporting my head. I have my left arm resting on a small pillow in front of me and my legs are scissored apart at about 30 degrees, knees slightly bent. This is the only position I can go to sleep. I guess I am a creature of habit.

So "relaxing" with a cigar requires several elements. First is the place. I have a table and chairs under a thatched roof tiki gazebo on my back deck. The area has a southern exposure and is in the sun all day long but the gazebo keeps the table in the shade. Being at the top of a hill we have a good breeze. This means that on even hot, sunny days I can sit in a relatively cool, breezy area to have a cigar.

The chairs are of a comfortable, sling-back design. They have a tightly woven fabric to sit on; the frames curved to support the neck and lower back just right. I usually turn one chair so that my left arm rests upon the table and I pull up another chair, facing me, to put my legs on. It's like having a recliner on the porch.

Next, I have some interesting toys that provide me with a pleasant smoking experience. I have a heavy, cut glass ashtray with a long groove cut in one end on which to rest the cigar. When the sunlight shines through it, it acts as a prism, casting a multicolored rainbow of light upon the floor.

I have a Zippo lighter, embossed with the Confederate flag (it reminds me I was born in Georgia), that has a butane torch insert in place of the regular wick lighter. So it provides me with the cool "guy thing" of a Zippo that is excellent for lighting cigars.

My wife got me a brushed stainless steel, monogrammed, Swiss Army knife that includes a corkscrew and a pair of cigar cutter scissors. It has six or seven other functions but it is my favorite cigar cutter.

I always enjoy an adult beverage when I am smoking a fine cigar. Today I poured myself some 15 year old scotch from a bottle of Pinch that I recently opened. The amber liquid glowed with a golden heat as it flowed over the ice in the cut glass. I could smell the distinct, musky aroma of the wooden barrels in which it was aged.

And finally I grabbed a book by James Lee Burke that I had recently started. His prose reads like poetry. His beautiful descriptions of southern life and the seamy underbelly of Louisiana crime are unparalleled. He is without a doubt my favorite author.

So there I sat, comfortably ensconced in the shade of my tiki gazebo, my treasures within hands reach. I leaned back, relaxed, at peace with the world after a full day of writing. My mind finally relaxing.

As I surveyed the peaceful surroundings, listening to the birds playing their summertime games I glance at the table one more time. "Damn!" I muttered to myself. I had everything I needed except for one thing.

I had forgotten my cigar... again.