[photo by Ellen Karns]

Of Zen and the Art of Humidor Maintenance...

I've taken to smoking cigars. Well, that may conjure the wrong image. Better said, I've taken to the hobby of cigars, which includes some smoking. Mostly, it includes reading about cigars, learning about cigars, shopping for cigars, setting up one's humidor to season cigars, and, after smoking, reviewing and journaling cigars.

I guess it's a little like Carson Palmer saying, "I've taken to playing football on Sunday afternoons."

So, what makes it all worth it? Of all things, why cigars? Certainly, I could have found a hobby that's cheaper, less smelly, more socially acceptable, and generally doesn't make you die...

I've been wondering this same thing. Why, of all the things i could spend my ever-dwindling free time on, would I choose this archaic throwback to the days when we didn't know any better?

...I think it's because it's meditative, and that makes it fun.

When you spark a cigar, even a smaller Corona or a stubby Robusto, you're committing to 30+ minutes of doing nothing else. You are engaging in a fully immersive self-indulgent activity. The thing is rich, and deep, and attention-keeping...and, perhaps more importantly, it's pungent and smelly and the smoke spreads everywhere...meaning you can't very well do it inside, and you can't really do it while you're doing anything practical. When you have a cigar in your hand, it becomes what you're doing for that half-an-hour, and I love that.

I've also discovered that cigars are inherently social, as long as those you're being social with like the smell of cigars. For some reason, in a way more powerful than beer or vodka or appetizers or cigarettes or dance music, when you light a cigar with someone, you're bound to talk about things. Usually, things that matter to you.

I like my new hobby. It's simultaneously profound and generally useless. It's meaningful, and its purposeless. It's masculine and timeless, and hopelessly stereotypical and outdated. It's instantly social, and turns people off immediately. It's delicious and tasty, and it smells like rotten campfire the next day.

Mostly, it's relaxing. So let me know if you'd like to join me for a cigar sometime...I'd like that.

Cheers,
Justin