There's a phrase people say a lot right now.
"I need to slow down."
I've said it. You've probably said it. It sounds true when you say it. And then the day continues, and nothing actually changes.
This week was one of those weeks. Projects overlapping, decisions stacking, the kind of noise that's still going when you lie down at night. I'd been repeating it to myself for days.
Then on Wednesday, the weather made the decision for me.
Cold, grey, rain against the glass. The kind of afternoon that has nowhere to be. I warmed up my espresso machine, ground my coffee beans, and made myself a flat white. Then I reached for the Plasencia Cosecha 151 La Musica. And I sat down properly, for the first time all week.
Here's what I've been thinking about since.
Most things sold as slowness are still optimised. The mindfulness app has a streak counter. The morning walk comes with a podcast. Scheduled quiet time sits between two busy slots in a calendar. That's managed rest. It still has an output. Somewhere in the background, there's still a goal.
A cigar doesn't work like that.
You cannot rush it. There is no compressed version. You give it the time, or you don't bother at all. And the moment you try to fit it somewhere convenient, the whole point collapses.
That refusal to be convenient is exactly what makes it work.
What I found on Wednesday wasn't a productivity technique. It was an hour that genuinely belonged to itself. The flat white went cold. The rain kept going. And the thoughts I'd been carrying all week, the ones competing for space, started finding their own order. Without me trying to arrange them.
That is what ritual actually does. Not empty the mind. Organise it. Quietly, and without being asked.
The Ritual This Week
The cigar was the Plasencia Cosecha 151 La Musica.
A 100% Honduran puro, Robusto format. It opens with roasted coffee and toasted nuts, moves through dark chocolate and dried fruit in the middle, then settles into cinnamon and oak in the final third. The progression is gradual. Nothing shouts. Everything earns its place.
The flat white pairing was almost accidental, but it worked. The coffee in the cup and the coffee in the cigar moved in conversation. Complex enough to hold attention, but never demanding it. Each draw gave me something to notice, and that act of noticing was what let everything else settle.
This is a thinking cigar. Patient and composed. Cigar Aficionado's number two of 2024, though what I'll remember is the Wednesday afternoon it belonged to.
At Toro Puro, this is our cigar of the week.
What Caught My Eye
It is worth noticing how many things now promise slowness while being built for speed. Wellness has become an industry of optimised rest. Retreats with schedules. Apps that measure your calm. Rest, packaged for efficiency.
Not a criticism. Just an observation worth sitting with.
The things that genuinely slow us down tend to have no interest in being convenient.
A Closing Thought
"Slow down" has become almost meaningless through repetition. What still has meaning is the specific moment when something genuinely holds you in place.
Find those things. Protect them. Use them..
Cigar Ritual is written by Lisardo, founder of Toro Puro.
Notes on cigars, culture, and the moments we choose to slow down.
If a thought lands, reply and tell me what it brought up for you.
