I paired James Geary’s book Wit’s End: What It Is, How It Work, and Why We Need It with a Cohiba Connecticut and Zacapa Centenario Sistema Solera 23. While academic in nature, I believed the levity of discussing wit required a light to medium bodied smoke balanced with a rich rum. The pairing is incredibly smooth and pleasing but not the incredible, life altering experience that each of these items has been individually lauded to be.
Wit’s End was kind of like reading a book with multiple personality disorder as each chapter is both formatted and stylistically written differently, with an intent to exemplify the type of wit being discussed. I found the sheer consistency of the Cohiba and the Zacapa to be perfect foils against the dynamic reading. The Cohiba band and the Zacapa label met the levels of flashiness in the writing styles, so all three have wrapped the substance of what their about with a certain amount of ostentatiousness.
Wit’s End was light-hearted but sometime ponderous, missing the mark on the type of wittiness it was attempting to embody at the time. Cohiba aimed for being a serious contender in the Connecticut field against such major players as Davidoff but likewise fell just short of success. The Cohiba was a solid and enjoyable smoke but not memorable enough that, at its price point, I would reach for it over, say, a Davidoff. The Zacapa 23 also falls short of the magnificence it attempts to portray in its claim of 23 years old. The Solera system which was used for its aging indicates that the rum is aged in a series of casks for different lengths of time, aged from 6 to 23 years long.
They achieve a kind of shoot for the moon, land among the stars effect. Despite failing to reach greatness, all three are solid in their outcome. The book is a quick and mostly fun read, the smoke is a consistent and pleasant flavor, the rum is a rich and sweet drink. They paired well together, not one of them distracting from another, blending smoothly in taste and enjoyment levels. If you do read Wit’s End I would highly recommend that you do so with the Cohiba Connecticut (or maybe a Davidoff) and the Zacapa Centenario Sistema Solera 23. If you don’t try any of these though, I wouldn’t say that there is any major detriment to your breadth of life experiences.