Serendipity Happens: Lord of the Rings

Serendipity: "fortunate happenstance" "pleasant surprise"

Serendipity: A pretty good John Cusack movie

Serendipity: A chocolate shop where you can get this ice cream sundae:

For a mere $1,000. [source]

Serendipity: One of my all-time favorite words and a favorite occurrence. I get sad when serendipity happens and I miss it!

The other evening, while at Habanos, Valentino saw someone wearing a Tatuaje shirt and asked our friend and fabulous bartender Nathalie (Hi Nathalie!)* if he worked for one of the cigar companies. She said, "No," but thought Valentino would enjoy chatting with him, so she introduced them.

As they chatted, Valentino noticed a magnificent ring on his finger--in the shape of an ashtray with a cigar and lots and lots of shiny elements.Naturally, my man swooned, because that ring, loaded with sapphires and diamonds gold and silver is effing gorgeous.

The man, Hamo Tavitian, told our hero that he DESIGNED it. He MADE it. (You guys! How cool is that?**) He showed Valentino pictures of other things--cufflinks, money clips, bracelets...and much more, that he's designed. You can see some of them here. Gorgeous, right?

Of course, I didn't know any of this was happening because I was home grading papers.*** But when he returned to the homefront, a mere six minutes away, he told me the whole story and showed me pictures. How could he pass up a custom-made ring? Especially one as super cool as that?

Now if I had been there, I probably would have been vying for his attention**** and he might not have even noticed the nice man and his shirt, and then...and then...

The next day, he made the call and ordered this baby:

It's a little reminiscent of that delectable dish above, isn't it?
(Humour me and say, "Yes.")

But wait! There's more:

Here's a funny thing: Let's call it serendipity light.  We were chatting with our friends at Rolling Stogies during the Providence Columbus Day Festival on Atwell's Ave...

Thanks for the day off, sir!!

...and one of the guys (Hi Joe!) said, "Hey, we just saw a guy with a really cool ring. It was kind of like an ashtray."

We were all, "Whaaa?" and "OMG!"

Here's another funny thing: We were at the festival 1. Because you know we love those things and 2. To meet up with Hamo to pick up Valentino's ring!

And here's a fabulous thing about this ring: It is custom-made, so even if another guy did have one, it would never be the same as our hero's!!

 
You need to check out Hamo's website and then you need to contact him and then you need to get one and then you need to call and thank me and buy me a cupcake.*****

Lord of the Rings (and other lovely jewelry)

"I'm passionate about my work," Hamo said. "Jewelry is my first love and cigars are my passion--every piece of Design by Hamo jewelry is hand-designed and hand crafted by me. I hope you enjoy wearing it as much as I do making it." Trust us, you totally will.******

Note the H on the cigar. Hmmm...I wonder what that stands for...
(It's Hamo.)

Know what helps up the Cool Factor? It's as heavy as...a really, really heavy thing. So heavy that if I wore it around my neck for more than ten minutes, I'd become a C-shaped lady right-quick. But it would be worth it because everyone would stop and admire my lovely necklace, just like they admire his gorgeous ring.

Just so you know, Hamo creates a full line of men's and women's cigar-themed rings, cuff links, pendants and accessories with many various stones and metals including ruby, emerald, gold, silver and more. See just a small sampling here and here.

Let's take another look at this and swoon over the blue sapphires, diamonds, Argentinian silver, and gold. And you can't even see the ruby that's mimicking the lit end of the cigar.

Hamo's business is located in Boston, but that doesn't preclude you from chatting with him and maybe getting a little something--or somethings--for yourself, regardless of where you live. Or you could just happen to leave the website open on a page that just happens to have a picture of something you just happen to want. Because sometimes, just sometimes, serendipity needs a jump start.



*Hi (again) Nathalie!

**The Cool Factor is cranked up to a zillion!

***Grrrrrr

****Hahahaha

*****Cupcakes are the world's greatest reward.

******We are incredibly trustworthy, if we do say so ourselves. And we do say so.

Words You Should Know #2: Vitola

No, not this:

(It's a victrola) [source]

Or this guy:

(It's Vitruvius. He was known to be a hard-head. Authors generally are.) [source]

Or even this guy:

(It's Vito Corleone.) (He is too a real person!)
 

Instead, I give you this:

[source]

"Whaaa?" You're asking as you freak out from sensory overload. Calm down, calm down.

Here's the dealio: Vitola is the unique measurements of a particular cigar. That's all. A Lonsdale is always a Lonsdale, regardless of who makes it--It will be 6.5" long and a ring size of 42. You'll see it listed as 6.5 x 42. Same thing with the salomon (5.8 x 56). Or the torpedo (6.5 x 52). (You knew I was going to choose the wacky shapes, right?)

Not sure what the ring size* is all about? A ring is 1/64 of an inch in diameter. So that Lonsdale 42 ring size means the diameter is 42/64. So what does that matter? Bigger the better, right? Err...maybe? Not really? Depends on what you like.

The general rule is the thicker (higher ring gauge number), the cooler the smoke, which means you'll get a hotter burn with the smaller ring gauge.

Also, the ratio of wrapper to filler is significantly different--higher ring gauge, more filler so the wrapper plays a smaller, but still important role. Smaller ring gauge means the wrapper will account for more flavor in the smoke and less variation in the filler.

I know! It's more interesting than victrolas and Vitruvius! Even Vitruvius playing a victrola! (But nothing is more interesting than Vito Corleone, of course!)

Oh, there's lots and lots more to learn, but let's stop here for the day, okay?**


* If you're a fan of comedian Brian Regan, you might know this as a girth unit.

**There's really no need for more sparkles, but I feel like I owe it to you.***

***Three is better!