Did you know that Michael Jordan smokes six cigars a day?

Better yet, did you know that MJ also smoked copious amounts of cigars while he played in the NBA? You wouldn’t think that cigars and the highest possible level of athletics would go hand-in-hand, but it worked for His Airness.

When looking to gauge my newfound cigar consumption against other habitual smokers, I wanted to know what was typical, so I asked around. I definitely don’t want to be like Mike in this case, smoking six cigars a day, but at the same time I wanted a baseline to make sure I wasn’t going over the edge. Turns out that three cigars a week is where most of my cigar-loving colleagues are at, so that’s my threshold for now.

When it comes to drinking, I’m more like MJ during his multi-championship heyday. I drink every single day and every single night, never to the point of stupidity (except for this past Saturday), but definitely more than the recommended two drink maximum. I’ve long found my equilibrium when it comes to booze.

Much like I’ve been asking my cigar smoking friends about their consumption levels, I’ve get asked repeatedly by passionate new whiskey drinkers about my daily volume; most of which revolves around what I eat. To give you some insight about my health habits, I’m 5’ 11”, about 180 pounds, I run three miles every morning on the treadmill, and I intermix that with rowing on my Concept2. I usually do four-to-five mile hikes on the weekend with my wife, so cardio and fitness are also engrained into our daily life.

Every three weeks I make two gigantic pots of meat: one is a recipe from my Italian friend Marco for Tuscan ragù sauce, and the other is from my mother-in-law for Sonoran (Mexico) pork. I freeze multiple bags of each when I’m done, and I pull them out about once a week for quick dinner. I intermix those meals with take-out and other recipes that determine what I drink. To give you an idea of my weekly consumption, here’s last week. When I say “1 bottle” of wine, my wife and I usually split 60/40.

Monday:

• A large Campari and soda when I got home.

• Beef ragù and spaghetti with a bottle of 2017 Paitin Serra Barbera (one of the best Italian red wine deals of the year—by far!!).

• Two small glasses of Caffo Vecchia Grappa after dinner.

Tuesday

• A large Knob Creek 9 Year Bourbon and Fever Tree Spiced Orange Ginger Ale when I got home.

• Baked chicken breasts with sides, along with a bottle of 2018 Hirsch Bohan-Dillon Pinot Noir (the wine I have consumed more of than any wine in the last five years).

• A glass of Pinhook “Tiz Rye Time” 5 Year Old Rye after dinner.

Wednesday

• A glass of Pikesville 6 Year Old Rye Whiskey when I got home, along with a Montecristo Connecticut White Vintage Double Corona cigar (I wanted to taste a pure Connecticut wrapper and it’s a lot like blonde or light roast coffee compared to dark roast).

• Pork tacos for dinner with a bottle of 2018 Von Winning Riesling Trocken (buy as many 2018 German rieslings as you can afford before they’re gone).

• A glass of Cascahuin Tahona Blanco Tequila after dinner.

Thursday

• A bottle of original Coors Banquet Beer when I got home (followed by a second while I did the Instagram Live event with Jasmine Hirsch)

• Frozen pizza with roasted Romanesco broccoli on the side with the new Bele Casel Asolo Extra Brut Prosecco (I just bought two cases of this for my personal consumption—best dry Prosecco value I’ve had in YEARS).

• A glass of Chartreuse VEP after dinner (watch out when you hit the VEP because it usually hits back).

Friday

• A Four Pillars Olive Branch Gin martini with two olives when I got home.

• Takeout from Mizlala in Sherman Oaks with a bottle of 2019 Elena Walch Castel Ringberg Pinot Grigio (single vineyard Pinot Grigio from one of the best white wine producers in Italy, super zippy, lots of minerality, not the basic bitch PG you’ve been getting used to drinking over the last decade).

• A glass of 1994 Pellehaut Armagnac after dinner.

Saturday

• Did a four mile loop in the morning around Burbank

• Opened a bottle of Cruse Tradition Sparkling Wine at noon.

• Moved to bottle of 2019 Mylones Dry Rosé afterward and ordered Round Table Pizza at that point (I’m from NorCal, so for me Round Table is like the moment in Ratatouille when the critic actually eats the ratatouille).

• Opened a third bottle of a wine sample I had been given around 4 PM, then fell asleep halfway through.

Sunday

• Started with a Davidoff Petit Robusto Churchill cigar.

• Two bottles of original Coors Banquet Beer between 12:30 PM - 2 PM.

• Took the evening off to recover from Saturday.

-David Driscoll