Hi friends.
How are we all doing?
I am of course concerned about the individuals who don’t have air conditioning.
What absolute torture the last few weeks were.
I must confess I'm not really one who enjoys hot weather, being the miserable, sad bastard I am, I am much happier in colder weather then I am in blistering heat.
My justification is simple, if I'm cold, I chuck on a jumper.
Still cold?
Let's dust off the parka.
You’re hot?
A t-shirt!
Still hot?
Let's go topless!
Nope, I am still hot.
What do we do now, skin ourselves alive?
I think we can all agree that this recent heatwave has been, at best, unbearable and at it's worse, quite dangerous. I am aware of numerous locations across the UK and the world where wildfires offered a genuine risk to life.
I commented to a friend that stepping outside the house and feeling the intensity of the sun makes me feel as though the sun is trying to kill me. As if I had done something horribly wrong to upset it and it had a personal vendetta against me. This made me think, what the fuck is going on here?
A while ago I wrote a piece about climate change which I believe is currently very relevant, so I would like to attach a small bit of it below. Hopefully for any of those who are concerned about the temperature spikes across the planet this will be the first stop on your journey of curiosity.
Many people seem to paint carbon as this heinous, omnipresent satanic thing that wants to destroy everything we hold dear and probably sleep with your partner. This is not true.
Carbon is in-fact one of the most abundant elements in the universe, accompanied with oxygen, hydrogen, helium and nitrogen. Without carbon we cannot exist since we are virtually carbon creatures. So carbon isn’t the bad guy.
So what is up with carbon?
Well, from what I understand, the Earth over the billions of years it has existed had managed to reach a carbon equilibrium – where a certain amount of carbon circulating in the atmosphere is being absorbed by the ecosystem (oceans, plants and animals) before being released back in to the air. I refer to this as an equilibrium since the amount of atmospheric carbon does not exceed the ability of the ecosystem to absorb it.
Common sense leads me to question: Can this homeostasis be tampered with? Has it been tampered with? And what happens if things are thrown out of whack?
Before getting in to that, I started understanding the significance of the ecosystem.
What shocked me was the colossal role our oceans play in managing this carbon cycle.
Oceans cover around 70% of the global surface and are constantly and continuous exchanging heat, moisture and carbon with the atmosphere. The oceans absorb much of the solar energy that reaches earth, and thanks to the high heat capacity of water, the oceans can slowly release this heat over many months or years. What really astonished me is that the oceans store more heat in the uppermost 3 meters (10 feet) than the entire Earth’s atmosphere.
For me, the key to understanding global climate change is inextricably linked to the ocean. Climate is influenced by storage of heat and carbon dioxide in the ocean. The Earth is a pretty happy camper doing this for the foreseeable future. However, as I started looking into the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, this is where things get a bit rough.
What is palpable is there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of atmospheric carbon which is completely outside of the parameters of the carbon cycle.
But why? What is going on? What has happened recently?
Well the only factor that has changed is the advancement of the human race. Humans have come along and taken billions of tons of carbon (in the form of fossil fuels), that had been buried for hundreds of millions of years and been adding it to the carbon cycle at a rate which has nullified the equilibrium I spoke about earlier.
Just to put this in perspective, the carbon parts per million (CO2 PPM) in the atmosphere had remained quite consistent around the 300 level for around 10 million years. In the last 20 years, we have gone from 350 to around 500 CO2 PPM(!)
The consequence?
All this extra atmospheric carbon has caused a rise in temperature. Typically we hear about an increase in global temperate of 2-3 degrees centigrade. This doesn’t sound like a great deal, however it is important that we really understand how sensitive the ecosystem is to temperature.
For example, a drop of 5 degrees would see London freeze over, while an increase in 5 degrees would see plunged London under water. Literally.
Even worse, we seemed to have designed modern civilisation to be ultra-sensitive to climate change by building the majority of our big cities on the coasts. Most countries are in fact quite low lying and therefore would be complete submerged in the event of a climate crisis. This is of course extraordinarily frightening, and it begs the question: what on earth is being done about this?
The solution is multifaceted and complicated, however, to me, getting off fossil fuels is probably a good start.
Fossil fuels are also referred to as finite resources. It is absolutely foolish, ridiculous and irresponsible to plan a global future on the back of something that will not last! Fortunately, people like Elon Musk are creating companies like Tesla and Solar City to change that, and Bill Gates is developing new nuclear generator technology to help us generate clean power for the future. It would be truly inspiring to witness in my lifetime, the human race go interplanetary. However, it was be a tremendous shame if we do so in a parasitic fashion, draining the Earth of its resources before moving on to the next.
So what final words do I have to say on the climate change deniers?
Without a doubt, varying opinions are the beauty of having a society that benefits from freedom of speech and is connected through the internet. However, those benefits also have the bi-product of information overload and unintended echo chambers. But if we’re able to at least start by scratching beneath the surface of everything we’re curious about before we absorb and form an opinion, we can at least train ourselves to have more open and intellectual discussions.
Although I have only uncovered a single pebble amongst a beach of rocks it has been perhaps one of the most eye opening rabbit holes I've gone down and I would implore you all to act on your curiosities and find out more. I for one will be creating more content on companies and projects that are doing extraordinarily innovative and disruptive things to help solve the energy crisis and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, maybe I could have a chat with old boy Elon? (hit me up)
Of course in my typical fashion, I have some cigars to talk to you all about, two to be precise. Both of these cigars are definitly not beginner cigars, I would probably put them with something like the Ramon Allones Specially selected in-terms of their accessibility from a strength perspective.
The first is the Montecristo No.2. To be totally honest, prior to this smoke the Montecristo brand is one I don’t have much experience with, which is surprising since the No 4 is the most popular cuban cigar in the world.
Montecristo No.2 Taken on Nikon Z6
The No.2 is a real looker, one that really does look good enough to eat, I shit you not, it looks like a cylinder of fine artisanal dark chocolate.
This particular shape of cigar is a first to the blog and is quickly becoming a favourite, the piramide. As you can see from the pictures, instead of a rounded head it tapers to a beautiful point, a very elegant and comfortable cigar to smoke.
Montecristo No.2 Taken on Nikon Z6
In terms of favour, this cigar does not fuck about, it delivers with beautiful dark, rich, deep, chocolatey, cocoa notes. Something I really enjoyed with this one was the density of the smoke, it was heavy and substantial in the mouth with truly wonderful aromatics. This was around an hour and 15 minute smoke for me and the strength undulated just enough for me to not get over whelmed, a tip of the hat to the blend.
I must say, it has left me hungry to get elbows deep in conducting some proper exploration of the Montecristo brand. A final point I must mention is at most places you can pick this cigar up for £35 ish, that is ALOT of cigar for £35, I really recommend it.
The second cigar is one that really blew my socks off.
I believe this is the debut showing of Trinidad on the blog? I'm sure one of you will correct me on that. Regardless, the cigar I would love to share with you all is the Trinidad Reyes.
Trinidad Reyes Taken on Nikon Z6
Again, I am embarrassed to say that this is not a brand I have had a lot of exposure to, apart from the Media Luna - of which I am currently looking in to the legal position of getting married to one - and the Coloniales, to be honest, I'm not a big fan of, I haven't tried anything else from the range.
I have to say the Reyes really took me by surprise.
Being rather diminutive in size (a petite corona) I wasn't expecting much, but damn, this thing is a little fire cracker!
Trinidad Reyes Taken on Nikon Z6
Unlike the No.2, this provided me with refined, delicate, spicy, floral notes. What a brilliant experience, I would say a solid medium bodied cigar with medium strength but full on flavour. Perhaps one of the tastiest cigars I've had in a while. This is definitly one I will be looking to stock up on and so should you!
Finally, many of you ask me what I use to carry my cigars and accessories in and I have been experimenting with a few different solutions.
The one I have recently been putting through its paces is The Cigar Holder leather case. In a nut shell its an all in one solution to carry your cigars, lighter, cutter and more in one folio style leather case.
The Cigar Holder Case Taken on Nikon Z6
From a craftsmanship perspective I am extremely impressed, this case is not only made in Britain but uses the finest Italian leathers and is quite literally built like a freaking tank.
During my numerous trips with this cigar case it still looks like a million bucks. All in all I have really been enjoying this case, particularly when I need to carry more than 3 cigars, this case comes in handy as I can get in 5 robusto size cigars rather easily.
The Cigar Holder Case Taken on Nikon Z6
Of course, every product has its detractions and for me, one of the benefits seems to be a double edged sword. The inane build quality of this item also means that it is heavy. It's not 'break your arm heavy' but once you've got your cigars and paraphernalia all packed up you really do notice the weight at this point and it can get quite uncomfortable to carry around.
I am also not the biggest fan of the prescriptive pockets for your accessories, If you've got lighters and cutters that fit the exact size of the pockets in the case then happy days indeed, however, I have some stuff from Colibri and Les Fine Lames that I just couldn't fit.
The Cigar Holder Case Taken on Nikon Z6
On the other hand, if you're using the St Dupont stuff then you should be absolutely golden.
My final verdict would be, if you are looking to get a case of this style there are a few on the market but I must say from a craftsmanship and design perspective I am the biggest fan of this one.
And thats been my week friends, thank you for reading and as always, I hope you have a lovely day and stay curious.