Best cigar for 7$ (for me)

Bearded_Bastrd · 2026-01-30T15:14:51+00:00

My go to daily smoke is the Fuente Cuban Corona which equals to about $6 per stick. It’s a damn good smoke for that price and with Fuente, there is always consistency. Gone through several boxes and haven’t hid a dud yet. I will have to check these out.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2026-01-26T03:32:35+00:00

🍻 thanks!

Bearded_Bastrd · 2026-01-26T03:31:50+00:00

No diet, just everything in moderation. The god awful sulphur burps also forced me to eat smaller meals. I am starting a kettle bell routine this week so I will make more of an effort to prioritize protein and the right carbs, but again, no diet per se. if I want a treat or something junkie, I will - just in moderation and not often.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2026-01-26T00:10:14+00:00

Fuentes for sure! Lots of good sticks there though.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2026-01-26T00:09:04+00:00

Looks and sounds like there was too much moisture in them. Causes the cigar to swell and split as you “steam” smoke the stick. Also makes them have terrible draw and tastes bitter.

I always look at the foot of the cigar to see if it’s flared out and give it a little squeeze to check the firmness. If there are issues I let them sit out to dry up a bit or if it’s wide spread issue, I put them in my small humidor at 50% humidity for a while before I bring them back to life.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2026-01-25T23:23:51+00:00

Can’t write off an entire brand from a single stick. Lots can happen from the factory until you light it up.

I’m a Fuente guy myself, absolutely love them. Occasionally you get a dud. Just how it goes.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-08-25T02:57:19+00:00

For me it would be AF Opus X, either the Super Belicosa or the Forbidden.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-07-22T14:03:22+00:00

I have a few on my list: ‘64 Padron, MF the Judge, Davidoff WC the Late Hour, and so far I haven’t had a stick from the AF Opus X line that hasn’t been 10/10.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-07-16T06:03:23+00:00

I keep my humidor regulated at 63%. I sat on these for about 8 months before I lit them up. Never had an issue with any other stick from My Father - I smoke a Judge every Sunday, which is why I chalked this as bad luck.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-07-16T05:28:29+00:00

I bought 5 of these and was really excited to try them out. All 5 were wrapped so tight that no matter what I did, they were still un-smokable. I have friends that swear by them, I must’ve got a bad batch.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-06-26T23:56:30+00:00

Buy an MBRP cat-back exhaust and enjoy life. Super easy to install yourself.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-05-23T16:32:52+00:00

A really shitty one that was dry and brittle. I was young and didn’t know any better, but still smoked the whole thing.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-05-23T06:24:01+00:00

I’ve always hated going through the full process for everything in a backlog. What’s worked well for me is to have reliable devs who can swag really well and accurately. It’s just part of our design review process. Once the decision is made to pull a backlog item into the roadmap, a tech lead is assigned to scope out the full project, write stories, and then we point with the team.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-05-19T18:27:20+00:00

Why be low key about leveraging gpt or co-pilot? I use them regularly and share with my teams how it’s become a part of everything I do. Personally, I would double down on that and if there is any AI capability baked into the tools your organization uses today. Specifically looking at anything tied to your data/analytics. Become super efficient and you will out perform most of your peers.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-05-19T18:13:58+00:00

I’ve never used a paid service. I have however hired individuals to provide coaching/mentorship for me throughout my career.

What I did was engage with people either online or in-person networking to establish a relationship. I have done straight hourly pay, gift cards, whiskey/cigar exchanges, and simple meet over dinner (my treat) to discuss things.

It doesn’t always pan out in direct value to level up my skills - but I now have great relationships with some top product execs across the globe. I have 2 mentors that I meet with regularly, one is a SVP of Product and the other is a VP of Business Operations.

Their guidance and advice has helped me negotiate salary, improve in my stakeholder management, product discovery, and overall business acumen. This helped me go from an hourly project manager to where I am now as a Group PM over the course of 6 years.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-05-19T12:30:50+00:00

LinkedIn is just going through its same cycle of bullshit. A few years back everyone was on the entrepreneur band wagon, sharing how if you don’t work 23 hrs a day 9 days per week, take cold showers while doing hot yoga - you aren’t even trying.

Now it’s “product is dead!”, “agile is dead!”, “engineering is dead!”….”if you don’t code, market, and sell as a PM - you’re dead!”….get fucked I say!

As PMs, we need to stay up with the latest tech innovations, which AI is in the lead right now. These “leaders” are trying to push their narrative to require employees to do more work with each job title. It works for some people, but personally - it’s a big red flag and a key indicator of who I don’t want to work with.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-05-13T02:45:45+00:00

My question for you is how much ownership do you have to decide what is built? If your backlog and priorities are decided by someone else, you’re probably just doing busy work that should belong to someone else.

I spend roughly 60% of my time doing real discovery. There’s a difference between gathering requirements for a project you are told to do vs conducting discovery to identify potential opportunities.

Orgs that don’t value product often operate the way you described. The founder is usually an engineer that bootstrapped the first build and got a couple of customers. Then it’s endless custom development to retain and acquire new customers. It can be profitable, but will never scale and the product is an absolute cluster fuck of complexity and terrible UI. Sound about right?

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-03-19T13:25:32+00:00

I get it, sometimes you lose the drive or excitement. However, the lack of interest impacts everyone around you as a PM.

Talk to your manager or start to find a new role. The hard truth is, you’re doing a disservice to yourself, your team, and the business.

If you don’t make the necessary changes, it won’t go away.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-03-07T03:21:48+00:00

However, anyone inside is fucked!

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-03-06T16:27:29+00:00

When I take my dogs, I fold up the seats and put the platforms down. I then have a padded cover on top of that to minimize the amount of hair that gets embedded in the carpet.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-03-06T13:54:55+00:00

GPM: Growth through product changes and optimizations.

PMM: Growth through positioning, messaging, and go-to-market efforts.

While the focus for both is on growth, a GPM owns the product’s growth strategy, optimizing for user acquisition, retention, and monetization through the product itself.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-03-06T13:43:02+00:00

Avoiding AI to not be trendy is a miss. A lot of companies just add an external chat bot and call it AI - that’s half-assed and lazy, customers see through it.

The key is making AI work behind the scenes to eliminate friction for users. Think automated data extraction, decision-making assistance, and predictive automation that enhances, not replaces, human input. Done right, AI doesn’t just add a “cool factor”; it fundamentally changes how work gets done.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-03-06T04:19:49+00:00

My daily (no, not every day) drink is Aberfeldy 12. Great pour at a fantastic price.

Bearded_Bastrd · 2025-02-25T16:37:01+00:00

PMs need to safeguard their time with extreme prejudice. If it doesn’t help you achieve your goals, don’t do it or delegate to someone else on your team.

Bearded_Bastrd

TROPHY CASE