Cheap Cigars – Swisher Sweets, Optimo, & Black & Mild

On my frequent trips to 7-Eleven I have often noticed the inexpensive cigars behind the counter. Yesterday I decided to check them out at Cruft Labs.


Above (l-r), we are looking at Black & Mild, Black & Mild Wine, Swisher Sweet, Swisher Sweet Strawberry, Swisher Sweet Grape, Optimo Peach
Swisher Sweets and Optimo are made by Swisher International and Black & Mild are made by John Middleton, Inc. These kind of cigars tend to come in various flavors, so I had to get an assortment.
There are plenty of other types of cigars at 7-Eleven, included the interesting Backwoods and Blunts, but I figured I’d start small and move on from there.
The range of flavors available is amazing, from Cherry to Chocolate to Icy Hot. Obviously, I have more research to do.

To test, I went onto my back porch and tried them one after another, drinking beer to cleanse my palette. Obviously, I didn’t smoke the whole cigar, but I did smoke enough until I had a good feel for each one.

Black & Mild – Very light, hint of cigar. Very much of a cigarette taste. I enjoyed the plastic tip. Made it easy to hold while I wrote.
Black & Mild Wine – Smells like a strawberry fruit roll-up. Cool draw due to plastic tip. Almost a fresh grape flavor while smoking, like the smell of grapes in the store.
Swisher Sweet – Light tobacco smell, no deep aroma. Slight hint of sugar on lips. Most like a regular cigar, better than the flavored ones.
Swisher Sweet Strawberry – Strong fake strawberry smell, like a car deodorizer. Subtle strawberry taste, strong artificial flavor. A bit irritating with harsh notes. Worst of the lot.
Swisher Sweet Grape – Strong grape smell on outside. Easy, light draw. More cigar that cigarette. Light grape taste on my lips.
Optimo Peach – Overwhelming fake peach smell. Very artificial. No cigar flavor, just bland smoke. Slight peach taste on my lips.

I can see why people smoke these. They are inexpensive and quick to smoke. If you find a flavor you like, you can stick with it and find it pretty much everywhere. I was surprised how much I liked the plastic tip. It made smoking very easy. Much more straight forward than the delicate balance of holding a regular cigar in your teeth.
I think that Hunter S. Thompson was onto something with his cigarette holder. If only there was one for cigars…

Thanks to my daughter Zoe, who took photos and quizzed me while testing the cigars.

Aqua Dots

If you are exposed to children’s television, then you are undoubtedly aware of Aqua Dots. Aqua Dots are a heavily promoted product on TV that promises creativity with little mess.
For parents that already have Perler Beads, the allure of not having to use a iron to finish artwork is great. We have many melted bead art pieces in the house, but the complication of involving a parent with a hot iron makes it not the best solution for encouraging creativity.
I ordered the Aqua Dots Super Studio at the end of June and it arrived last week. Yes, it took more than TWO MONTHS for the order to arrive. It missed my daughter’s birthday by seven weeks, but it finally did arrive to much hoots of excitement from the girls.


The unit itself is fairly nice. The girls put it together with no adult help. It needs a couple AA batteries to run.

At the top of the ‘studio’ you load the actual Aqua Dots into the rotating dot holder. The button on the right turns on the motor that powers the fan. The fan is use for pushing dots down the tube and also drying completed work. The button on the left lets the dots drop into the tube for use.

The beauty of the system is the way the dots are placed. When the dots are dropped into the tube, the air blows them down the tube. The button release on the wand let’s you place the dot exactly where you want it with good control. I was impressed how well it worked for a simple system. Again, this all was simple for the kids to grasp and operate without parents.
The placement grid is essential for holding the dots in place at the right spacing. The grid slides back and forth to work on the dots, then slide them under the fan for drying later.

The key ingredient to success here is the small spray bottle of water with the Aqua Dots sticker on it. The balls themselves come in small packages and have are coated in a small layer of glue. When you have made your artwork, you simply spray it with the water and in a few minutes the glue dries and the artwork is held together.

Success is straightforward for children. The methods and instructions are clear and easy. My daughter printed out her own design, slid the graphic under the placement grid and made her own design easily.
Overall I think the Aqua Dots is a good toy for children. It’s easy to use and can be expanded upon to made three dimensional shapes as well. The main drawback in the long shipping time. Also, we can see the end of the dot supply and will have to buy more. From what I can tell, I can get the refills at Amazon or Toys’r’us.
If you want Aqua Dots for your kids for Christmas, I suggest your order now.

Update:

Aqua Dots have been recalled due to concerns about children eating them.

Seattle Bound

This weekend I’m heading up to Seattle for the Penny Arcade Expo aka PAX for some fun gaming time. I decided to make the trip last month to spend some time away from the office decompressing.
I haven’t blogged much lately. No particular reason, just as my buddy Martin would say, “I aint feeling the blog right now…”
My daughters have been out of town visiting their grandparents in Ohio, leaving Michele and I with unaccustomed free time.
Things we have done while the girls are away:

  • I napped on the couch regularly.
  • Michele rearranged the living room, tossing out much furniture.
  • I watched Heat in HD.
  • Michele ‘furnished’ our backyard deck.
  • I played poker for 5 hours and ended up exactly $1 up.
  • Michele watched pre-season NFL football.
  • I stopped drinking caffeine (for a little while).
  • Michele repainted the hallway.
  • I replaced the old lights in the hallway with new lights.
  • Michele did a 7 mile beach run
  • I replaced the ivory 3 & 4 way switches in the hallway with white 3 & 4 way switches (with the circuit hot).
  • We went out to dinner and saw the movie Sunshine (good).
  • I installed a gig of RAM in a friend’s computer.
  • We went to see the Beastie Boys at the Wiltern.
  • I cleaned up my desk (kinda, but not to Michele’s standards).
  • Michele began planning a bachelorette party in Vegas.
  • I sorted through the last 3 years of bills and burnt them in the backyard (very satisfiying).

On the web, I’ve just been surfing around till I start to nod off at the keyboard. Here are a few cool things I’ve been spending time on:

Born in the Summer of Love

Today, forty years ago, in 1967, the Summer of Love, I was born.
Yes, today is my 40th birthday.
Our culture puts a lot of emphasize on this birthday, but it feels pretty normal to me. Today is very much like yesterday. I had no burst of wisdom or perspective.
Over the last forty years I have seen and done many things, but today I will share what I think is important. They are not new or original ideas, but I have found them to be true and helpful in having a happy life.
No matter how much you learn, there is always more you don’t know and people smarter than you.
Sometimes I say, “The more I know, the more I realize how much there is I don’t know.” You can never stop being willing to learn and listen to others. Everyone has something to teach you, even if it’s how not to behave. Learning something new everyday is as important as eating well and exercising. The tough part about his reality, is that people like to consider themselves an expert on a topic and feel that they need to dismiss new ideas to maintain their status as an ‘expert’. Understanding that you don’t need to be perfect and can ask others for help is amazingly liberating.
The only person’s opinion of you that truly matters is your own.
Many people spend their lives trying to live up to an ideal or image that others have created and set expectations about. You need to live your life the way that you want to live it. That doesn’t mean you can ignore others, but you should dress the way you want to dress, eat what you want to eat, listen to the music you like, and not worry about what other people think about your personal choices. Not easy to do, and not a reason to be non-conforming on purpose, the idea is to not do things because others expect you to.
Compassion and humility are the hardest virtues to practice, but they are the most important.
While everyone is a unique individual, we are surrounded by billions of other unique individuals. Coming to the perspective that the world does not revolve around yourself is hard. After this realization, you can see that helping to alleviating the pain and suffering of those we encounter, is likely our most important job in life. Having compassion for others does not require gigantic effort and sacrifice. Sometimes it is simply joking with someone that could use a smile or leaving a large tip. Having compassion for others isn’t always about the big, dramatic effort, it’s about living your life daily considering those around you. The point is to think about the needs of others more than you think about your own desires.
Humility is perhaps the toughest thing for many people to develop. Instinctively, we want others to pay attention to us and what we do. There is nothing wrong with feeling happy when you receive a compliment or a link to your weblog. 😉 Humility is focusing on the others around us and their needs rather than our own. Easy to say, tough to do.
Thank you for reading my weblog, I hope it makes you happy. Have a wonderful day, I know I will.

The Booksling (ver. Moleskine Mod)

I’ve been a fan of the people at Everyday Innovation since I got my hands on a PicoPad several years ago.
Recently, I saw that they now make something called a Booksling. As someone that uses a Moleskine notebook at the office daily, I was intrigued. I like to write with a pencil and always have a hard time carrying it with the Moleskine. The Booksling looked to solve that problem.
Some people may find other uses, like students or others that take notes or highlight while they read, for the Booksling.


The Booksling comes in an attractive package in the mail.

Here is the Booksling next to a standard (5.25″ x 8.25″) Moleskine notebook. The come in three colors, cranberry, grape and mango. They look like red, purple, and yellow to me, but I’m an engineer, not an artist…

I wanted the Booksling on the back of my Moleskine, but soon found that the cool pocket on the back cover interfered with the Booksling.

Undaunted, I stole my wife’s Exacto knife from her quilting table. I cut just enough of the pocket to allow the Booksling to slide underneath. My wife hates when I use her tools for ‘non-fabric’ stuff, but she seems perfectly OK taking my pliers and wire cutters and migrating them to here quilting table.

The pocket has been modified now and you can see the Booksling in place, under the Moleskine pocket.

There is the Booksling holding my favored pencil, the Mirado Black Warrior. Obviously the pencil is longer than the notebook, presenting a slight problem. I’m considering cutting down a few pencils specifically for use of a matching length of around five inches.

Most people use mechanical pencils, and I’m sure they’d work fine. Here is my Muji mechanical pencil as a demonstration.
I really like the Booksling. At $6 each, they are a steal and you should buy one now.
I hope the people at Everyday Innovations keep on developing new, cool products. So far they are 2 for 2 with me.

Coca Cola with Orange – Cruft Labs Mobile Edition

This week, I am in London for work. Rather than seeing the sites, I am focused on the amazing kinds of junk food to be found in Britain. Yesterday, I saw this in the company canteen. Of course, I had to try it.


I took the bottle back to my hotel room and went to work. First, notice that Coke Orange is 1% ‘orange fruit from concentrate’. A wee bit more than the usual drop of artificial flavor in most flavored drinks.

The soda pop itself looks like regular Coke. For some reason, I was expecting a bright orange color like the bottle, but it had the standard dark brown/caramel color in the glass.

When I first smelled it, the aroma of Tang, a powdered orange drink, was very strong. The smell was dominant over the usual sweet smell of Coke. After tasting a bit, I was surprised to find that the flavor was not nearly as strong. In fact, the orange taste was subtle and not that bad at all. I think that Coca Cola is counting on the strong smell and subtle taste to entice drinkers. While I likely won’t seek it out, the Coke Orange was OK and if offered it again, I wouldn’t turn it down.