Naug

I've been into coffee quite seriously since about 2000, when a friend from the old Herfers Paradise BB sent me some home roast - amazing. I did vacuum brewing for awhile with an electric thing from Starsmucks - made great coffee, when it died I went to press pot (french press), and then a Technivorm moccamaster. My wife however used my $80 espresso machine from amazon until it died. I did a little research and replaced it with a $250 Breville, intending not to use it after all I had the best drip machine made. Well this thing got me hooked on cappuccino and I started looking for a used Rancilio Sylvia. Found one and bought the Rancilio Rocky grinder for a pair. The Sylvia has long been considered one of the best sub $1K machines and you should be able to find one used for around $300. Remember do not cheap out on the grinder it is as important or more so than the espresso machine itself. The downside of the Sylvia is temp control and single boiler. Today I use a LaSpaziale Lucca espresso machine, Eureka Atom grinder, and a Behmor 1600+ roaster. Pretty spendy with a combined total well over $3000 USD. I however would say that the best cappuccino in Taichung comes out of my kitchen. I would check reviews at Seattle Coffee gear, I think they are fairly honest. Chat with the folks at Clive Coffee as well (based in Portland my home town) Cheap espresso machines are generally junk. The other thing that will make a huge difference is home roasting your own beans, do some searching. Start off with a used air popcorn popper for cheap. Good luck!

One month ago before colonoscopy (no problems found) 120/78

Found this on one of my Taiwan FB cigar boards. Aircraft aluminum 1.5" T, 2" W and 6" L comes in black, gold, red and blue. Bummer the purple one is no longer available. They are selling here for about $100 usd shipped, which seems high to me. Anyone seen anything like them? TIA Toby

I would want samplers based on cigar characteristic/flavor profile. Mild, Medium Strong, with sub groups spicy, creamy, salted driftwood (Really Rob, love the SP Beli, but salted driftwood - love it), stone fruite ertc... I for one have a hard time distinguishing any of these notes - well not strength and spice.

I have smoked thousands of cigars over the last 22 years, until reticently predominately NC. There are a lot of great NC, the consistency, density and quality of build I believe exceeds all be the best PSP and maybe these as well. I am not referring to whatever overdone thing Fuente is doing with Opus or any other manufacturer who nearly covers the cigar with garish bands. Nah, the average 8 - 12 stick. They will be consistent in flavor through the entire box and for most part have no need of aging. While with CC, in a PSP box maybe 3 - 5 duds and it gets worse from there (Rob's observation). I have a handpicked box of Punch Punch of which 10 got chucked at halfway, a 2014 box of Monte 4 from a well known vendor in Geneva that I would say 75% tasted like lawn clippings mixed with pine needles. So why do I smoke CC? There is a depth of flavor that I have never found in any non CC, the Don Carlos used to be lovely, Ashton VSG, Lew's JR Ultimate's, Rocky Edge, Island Smoke Shops El Original were all hard to beat. Still they miss the Cuban "twang." So at the end of the day if you only smoke NC and stick to the mid and upper mid level you will enjoy fine tasting and well made cigars. Just don't succumb to the temptation of the snake with the Cuban apple. LOL

right here is the best advice Jeff is a great trainer

Another great option for inexpensive home training... TRX style suspension and or elastic band. I have a TRX version made for Decathlon cost something like 640 nt (20 usd), you can find a lot of training styles on youtube.

Weight loss happens in the kitchen with a healthy diet. The gym is for conditioning and adding strength. at 54 I'm 6' 2 172 lbs at 18% body fat - this is solely based on diet. Due to a variety of reasons, the primary being expat in Taiwan (more sedentary lifestyle than my home in the states) I've started a gym routine 4 to 5 days a week for strength training. Before gym I drink a protein powder/shake from Costco, after I make a smoothie of mixed frozen berries, frozen banana, Greek yogurt, protein powder and water in the vitamix - all processed sugar/syrup free - the two give me about 80 grams of protein and almost 0 fat. Oh and I get my 3 k and pre k kids ready for school too. For a routine it is weight lifting only, Monday chest, variety of bench, cable and dumb bell work. Tuesday shoulders, cable work and dumb bells, Wednesday, legs and biceps. Thursday back, variety of rows, pull downs and pull ups. Friday triceps and revisit chest or shoulders. All designed for gaining muscle mass.

Montecristo Especial and Trinidad Fundadores would be a happy thing... Been wanting a box RyJ Cazadores for about 18 years, might grab the next 24:24 for these.

Morning cup of joe looks like a ristretto (21 grams to pull 2 oz) cappuccino. Roasted by me in the Behmor and prepared with these. An investment for sure, but nothing beats the La Spaziale for steam power I buy my beans about 22 kg at a time for transport to Taiwan.

Espresso toys for the decade! I only use a grinder for espresso, for that I have this - the Eureka Atom. It grinds 20 grams in around 9 seconds and is dead quiet, really really quiet. When you're serious about espresso - La Spaziale Lucca and Eureka Atom - cappuccino nirvana!

Currently my most reliable Fonseca#1, my lemon Punch Punch SOM MAR 17 halfway through the box and have only had two that I didn't chuck.

Well the title pretty much says it all, Dips gone or OOS?

Thanks all, I had a nacient idea that it was legal to hand carry CCs. When we go through customs will have as many as 20 peices of luggage plus carry on. Not overly concerned that they bother mom and dad with 3 preschool aged kids.

Our stay in Taiwan appears to be coming to an end earlier than expected. Our moving costs are all covered by our employer. Looking for advice on how to get the CC's back to the states. We will have a container for the bulk of our belongings which will be at sea for about 4 weeks. We also have an air freight box that will be out of sight for about a week and then of course there is carry on and checked baggage. Probably ~ 450 cigars. Ideas? TIA Toby