The act of smoking a cigar requires patience, persistence and attentiveness. If one gets too absorbed in something else, the ember will be extinguished. If it is smoked too quickly, then the flavor is worsened and the smoker is likely to feel ill. The enjoyment of cigar or pipe smoking is inherently a ritualistic act that engages the senses without the veil of psychological distortion other smokables may offer.
Likewise a good glass of whiskey demands pacing and care if one is to enjoy it fully. If one dilutes the whiskey with ice, it will go down easier but the flavor will be lessened. If one drinks the whiskey too quickly the burn will be stronger than the flavor and the notes of the spirit will be lost. However if one drinks and sips in order to taste, then the whiskey will become a unique liquor rather than just a quick buzz and burn.
This kind of leisure offers us a particular consolation in our consumerist culture. “But wait aren’t you consuming when smoking or drinking!?” the casual observer may ask. Allow me to discriminate on how this is not the same.
Smoking and drinking with intent is an act of rest. Often they are paired with conversation with strangers, family or friends. They are meant to be enjoyed in this mode more often than not. A glass of whiskey can last 5 minutes or 30 minutes. Likewise a cigar can last 30 minutes or an hour and a half. This is time you could, of course, spend on social media or doom scrolling. This leisurely time encroaches on the practice of busyness which so often occupies each and every corner of silence that comes into our lives.
Consuming social goods in the service of full leisure is beyond vapid consumerism. When the goods that we are meant to enjoy are enjoyed towards a pursuit of a fuller enjoyment of life, we are acting in a way that suggests that the goods themselves are not the aim. Enjoying life by engaging in contentment shifts our time away from seeking and getting towards appreciation and gratitude.
Additionally spending time with this kind of leisure engages an instinct which we have not lost in our materialistic age, the desire for ritual. The art of making a good cocktail fully embraces this. The panache and flair of a bartender making a cocktail adds creativity and attention to what would otherwise just be a simple mixed drink. The finesse and rhythm of cutting and lighting a cigar elevates the experience above just getting a quick nicotine hit as with a cigarette.
The ritualistic aspect of this activity belies a innate sense of a desire for some degree of sacredness even in the simplest of enjoyable things. This naturally has filled the void of turning our architecture into clean and sterile boilerplate templates, which do little to elevate the imagination. Our media offers little in the way of elevating our imagination towards the sacred or ideal. People will make something tangible more sacred and raise it higher up from their mundane lives in order to escape from the boredom of everyday life.
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