I picked up a pretty good deal this week at Cigars International. They had a cigar called, oddly, a Fighting Cock, which is a cigar made in Nicaragua, and possessing an extremely strong flavor. My typical cigar is oftentimes a mild cigar like the Macanudo Gold or an Arturo Fuene, and since it’s been a while since I’ve smoked a strong cigar, and since I was able to pick them up for less than $1 apiece, I put an order in. (A plug here for CI… it got to me in two days, even with normal ground shipping.)
My first impression is that it is a well made cigar. It’s solid, with very little give when you squeeze. When I lit it, I was immediately greeted with a strong, thick flavor. After a while, not only were my taste buds affected, but I started to get a little light headed. It didn’t burn perfectly even, nor did I manage to keep it lit, but I think that was due to the fact that I needed to set it down every few minutes to allow my head to stop spinning.
Once I got beyond the strength, I did enjoy the interesting spicy flavor that was clearly present. I think it needed a good strong ale to go along with it. This isn’t a golf course cigar, but more one for sitting down and enjoying for its own sake. For a dollar cigar, I think it ends up being a good deal.
I’m flipping through the latest copy of the Cigars International catalog this morning, and I found a surprisingly honest review for Fat Cat cigars.
Remember this brand from the boom? At that time with the severe shortages, cigar smokers would resort to just about any cigar available on the shelf. Even despite those circumstances, it’s still amazing anyone actually bought a cigar with a name like this. Worse yet, the cigar itself was marginal - acrid tasting with a foul aroma and unappealing wrappers. No surprise then that a closeout just came my way. I guess it beats a machine-made… if only barely.
BTW, the “boom” refers to the big cigar boom from about 1992 to 1997. I started smoking them in 1995, but stuck with them even after the “boom” was over, much to my wallet’s relief.
Christmas came early at our home today. Our last stove was dying, and my anger with it didn’t help it any. With Sarah’s busy schedule, the fact that our last stove didn’t have features like time bake and delay bake really was causing problems. I grew up in a home with time bake, and one of the favorite memories was when my dad would throw a ham into the over on Sunday morning, and we could sit in church knowing that it was going to be ready to serve when we got home. Mom would also do the same thing with a lasagna during the week, setting the time bake before running errands in the afternoon. Without the time bake, Sarah and I were tied to the stove while cooking, and it really was a pain.
We ordered our stove as an early Christmas present. One other major change is that the old stove was electric, and the new one is gas. We didn’t have gas growing up, but my in-laws do, and I really liked it when we lived out there a couple years ago. So, for very little money, we ran the gas back up to the stove area upstairs on Monday, and got the new stove hooked up today.
I’m writing this article in the midst of a lot of turmoil going on in our church right now.
Many people who grow up in a certain lifestyle have difficulty figuring out whether they hold their beliefs through a conscientious decision, or whether they’ve come to that conclusion by default. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a member of Immanuel Presbyterian Church, later Olive Street Presbyterian Church. I don’t remember any time when I didn’t hold Christian beliefs, and more specifically, Christian beliefs that are Reformed, and Presbyterian (definition). My belief in a Presbyterian form of Church government has always had some reservations, and recently those “theoretical” reservations have expressed themselves in the life of our church. Hence, the writing of this article.
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Japan has started to become a recurring dream to me. I fall asleep, and feel like I wake up at 4am (like I did this morning). I take a shuttle down to the airport, jump on a couple airplanes, and end up in this fantasy world. I eat weird food, put on a thousand dollar outfit, brief generals and dignitaries, enhance multi-million dollar computer systems, and fly home.
Because of the time change and the foreignness of the whole situation, I never quite get acclimated, and I do feel like I’m moving around in a dream state.
This trip is supposed to be short, and I’ll be home in a week. Still, it’s time away from the family and it’s getting harder, not easier.
The Washington Post has written up an article confirming my earlier prognostication… the Republican Party is losing the vote of the libertarians, and the libertarians are growing.
Libertarians usually vote for Republicans, who promise to hold down taxes, spending and regulation. But in the past six years of Republican control in Washington, federal spending has skyrocketed. Meanwhile, the Republican Party has become more dominated by the religious right, and the Bush administration has mired the country in a seemingly endless war in Iraq.
My prediction is that the Republicans are going to lose both houses today. And they’re going to scratch their heads wondering why. I’ll explain why:
- The failure of Congress to fulfill their Constitutional responsibility for oversight of the Iraq “war”, and instead try to distance themselves from Bush and blaming him for the Iraq policy.
- The finger pointing at Democrats whenever people asked Republicans what the plan for Iraq was, saying “Well they don’t have a plan either.”
- The federal budget skyrocketing since Bush came into office.
- Calling Democrats “Tax and Spend”, while implementing a “Spend but Don’t Tax” policy, greatly increasing the federal deficit.
From PCA News Time Capsule:
Twelve Rules for Promoting Harmony Among Church Members
by Thomas Smyth
- To remember that we are all subject to failings and infirmities, of one kind or another. - Matthew 7:1-5; Rom 2:21-23.
- To bear with and not magnify each other’s infirmities. - Galatians 6:1.
- To pray one for another in our social meetings, and particularly in private. - James 5:16.
- To avoid going from house to house, for the purpose of hearing news, and interfering with other people’s business. - Leviticus 19:16.
- Always to turn a deaf ear to any slanderous report, and to allow no charge to be brought against any person until well founded and proved. - Proverbs 25:23.
- If a member be in fault, to tell him of it in private, before it is mentioned to others. - Matthew 18:15.
- To watch against shyness of each other, and put the best construction on any action that has the appearance of opposition or resentment. - Proverbs 10:12.
- To observe the just rule of Solomon, that is, to leave off contention before it be meddled with. - Proverbs 17:14.
- If a member has offended, to consider how glorious, how God-like it is to forgive, and how unlike a Christian it is to revenge. - Ephesians 4:2.
- To remember that it is always a grand artifice of the Devil, to promote distance and animosity among members of Churches, and we should, therefore, watch against everything that furthers his the Devil’s end. - James 3:16.
- To consider how much more good we can do in the world at large, and in the Church in particular when we are all united in love, than we could do when acting alone, and indulging a contrary spirit. - John 13:35.
- Lastly, to consider the express injunction of Scripture, and the beautiful example of Christ, as to these important things. - Ephesians 4:32; 1 Peter 2:21; John 13:5-35.
Thomas Smyth (1808-1873) was pastor of Second Presbyterian Church, Charleston, S.C.