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Recorded at Ten86 Lounge in Hawthorne, New Jersey the lizards pair the H. Upmann Magnum 50 with 12 Year Aged Aberlour Single Malt Scotch. The guys discuss Bam's and Gizmo's recent trip to Cuba, they ponder this cigar’s place in the H. Upmann line, and they have a cigar tower intervention with Bam Bam dubbed the "Bam Bam Accountability Hour". PLUS: Current Run of Cuban Cigars, Grinder’s Birthday Toast & Blini vs. Kettle Chips with Caviar
Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes range from 60 to 90 minutes and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features seven members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
**Gizmo:** [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Lizards podcast. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars, as well as whiskey, travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo. Tonight I'm joined by Rooster Poobah, Senator Pagoda grinder, and bam bam, a full house of lizards.
And our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some scotch, talk about life, and of course, have some laughs.
**Grinder:** So take
**Gizmo:** this as your 62nd official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plan to meet us here once a week. We're gonna smoke a Cuban cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating.
Bam and I recap our recent trip to Cuba. We discussed this cigars place in the upland line, and we have a cigar tower intervention with bam, bam, all among a variety of other things for the next tower. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we
**Grinder:** pair 12 year
**Gizmo:** aged Avalo single malt scotch with the Huppman Magnum 50.
A double rub. Robusto [00:01:00] from H Upk of Cuba on the pod tonight. The Magnum number 50, A 50 ring gauge cigar by six and a quarter inch. Beautiful. Mm-hmm. beautiful wrapper on these. Yeah. Nice. Always look
**Bam Bam:** good. Nice natural color. Yeah. A little toothy.
**Gizmo:** They have two bands on 'em. They have the classic age up in, uh, band, red and gold and white.
And then they have a second band for the Magnum series. This one's, you know, obviously this says Magnum 50, but each of them has their own second band. Um, and we've done the Magnum 46 on the pod. Mm-hmm. , which we love. And the other regular production is the Magnum 54, which we have not done, which I'm sure we will do at some point.
We love that too. And we've done a bunch of other up men that we've really enjoyed, so we can get into that. And
**Rooster:** uh, and also just released Ahman
**Gizmo:** 56. Yeah, the Ahman 56 just came out. Mm-hmm. It's worth trying for the American consumer. Is that right? Well, who else smokes 56 Ring Age.
**Bam Bam:** That's gonna be quite
**Senator:** the cigar.
Can we just talk about what is the logic? Uh, [00:02:00] sorry, this is already a stupid question. What is the logic in Havanas doing that doesn't make any sense. 56. If, if they don't sell cigars in the American market, and primarily that they're obviously exporting this shit to Europe and Asia. Why a 56 ring gauge, I
**Gizmo:** think, but I think the Hong Kong market likes big ring gauges too.
Really? I mean, they eat up Q qd 50 fours. E two s.
**Rooster:** Yeah. I sold a box to somebody in China, but he case it 56 and he said, anything you have over a 50 range gauge. Send me your
**Gizmo:** list. Interesting. Wow. They like it over. He
**Rooster:** wanted something like 52, 54, 56,
**Gizmo:** 56. It's a value prop. Too much. It's a
**Bam Bam:** value prop. They, they like to look like they're balling, right?
When they're having a, or they wanna look like some, they're holding something substantial.
**Gizmo:** And that's why the Mahik 56 is so big over there because they're five feet six.
**Poobah:** And some people like , some people like lo like larger ring gauge cigars who are uh, aficionados. I mean, uh, Lawrence Sauder likes, uh, uh, you know, he's not say what you want about like him chewing his cigars or [00:03:00] whatever, but the guy is a tobacconist in London and he sells a shitload of cigars and he smoked every cigar there is and he likes large ring.
And then, so I think it's just personal preference.
**Gizmo:** And I think the retailers and distributors too also know that a lot of these boxes are coming to America. Embargo or not, they're coming. So, you know, I think, I think AANAs is, you know, trying to make cigars. Cater to everyone. And I think the other thing too is it's definitely trending.
Look at their lines that have come out. Look at the cigars. They released the special editions. They're not Lonsdale, Landeros and Coronas. I mean no, they're double or boost those and bigger they're, they're, it's true, they're big, big
**Rooster:** cigars Plus can't make more money off of a bigger ring age. Yes. And sell it as a, at a premium.
Yes. I mean, instead of rolling a petite Corona that you're gonna sell for like, you know, 10, 12 bucks, you can sell the 56 for whatever it's
**Gizmo:** going for. I can't imagine what's that? Probably 40, 50 bucks a stick. But, all right boys, let's cut this thing. See we're getting on the cold draw the wrapper. [00:04:00] So again, we've done some other cigars in the line.
This one we often find to be a little different. It's a little light, it's a little lighter than the fif, than the 46. I like the cigar.
**Bam Bam:** I don't hate it. I don't hate
**Gizmo:** it either. No. To me, this kind of lands the same way Acuity 50 does in in that line. It, it's kind of in the middle as far as, or excuse me, on the lower end as far as like strength and.
And Flavor Rooster
**Bam Bam:** gave me my first Magnum 50.
**Senator:** I've actually never had, this is my first time. Really?
**Grinder:** Years
**Gizmo:** ago.
**Poobah:** Yeah. Well, I like the cigar. Yeah. Um, I think that for what it represents it that it , sorry. It's that, it's that, it's the Goda
**Grinder:** Christ . Wait, your turn. What episode is this?
**Gizmo:** 62. What are you getting on the first third?
**Grinder:** I'm so distracted.
**Bam Bam:** It's like, you need to leave .
**Poobah:** I will leave. Oh, I like the cigar. You know. Um, so I think these are 2019, [00:05:00] January, 2019.
**Gizmo:** Awesome.
**Senator:** Yep. I'm just curious to try this because the, the only reason I haven't really pursued it, I, I feel like everything I've read or heard about it, it's a very polarizing cigar of people either love it or hate it.
So I'm very curious where,
**Gizmo:** where I'm gonna fall on that. A lot of people in the group love it.
**Bam Bam:** Yep. Yeah. And I'll be honest, the first, I got one of these from you Rooster, three or four years ago, and I bought everything you had, I like them. , you saw me. The rest of the box. You don't remember that. .
**Gizmo:** I think these, these are often more earthy.
I think they're not as, they're just, there's something different about these regards, which obviously we'll experience in a second, but metal, metal, chocolate from what I, yeah. And, and on the cold draw, it's like there's, it's, it's cedar. It's, there's a little bit of dried fruit, but it's, again, it's very different than the mag 46, which is only four.
I get.
**Grinder:** All the notes I get are so subtle. Mm-hmm. in cold draw. So subtle. Very. It's almost like there
**Bam Bam:** is a little dried fruit a bit.
**Senator:** Yeah, they are. But I like the notes I'm
**Gizmo:** maybe a little, little
**Bam Bam:** almond on. That's nice. Baking. I think it's a good And spices
**Grinder:** good.
**Rooster:** Daytime, like after breakfast
**Gizmo:** smoke. [00:06:00] Yeah. Yeah.
**Poobah:** Well, let's see. Let's smoke it.
**Gizmo:** Let's light this thing boys. The H up in Magnum 50 from Cuba. Again, it's a 50 ring gauge cigar by six and a quarter inches. , it's a double re robusto. What's interesting is the factory name for this cigar is actually the Magnum 50. Hmm. I don't know. I don't think there's any other cigars out of Cuba that are made in this size in regular production.
This is the only one made in this exact size in regular production outta Cuba. So, um, you know, like Rooster mentioned, they have a Magnum 56, which is a special release. They also, I believe, have a Magnum 52, which I think they're calling the Year of the Tiger. Right. Uh, which is like a le or something, uh, regional, I don't know what it's regional.
Yeah. For Hong Kong. And then, um, you know, this cigar was a special release originally, and then it comes now with a bunch of, uh, regular production configurations. Yeah. The factory
**Poobah:** code's. E S L. Okay. [00:07:00] I'm
**Bam Bam:** liking this right off the bat. Nice. Great combustion. It's
**Senator:** very subtle. The flavors. Yeah. I like it. Um, honestly, when I, on the light, this reminds me of the last time I had like a Connecticut wrapper cigar.
It's like very light, very mild, nice flavors, but very
**Gizmo:** subdued. So Poobah, where do you slot this usually?
**Poobah:** Sometimes it's like a first cigar. If I'm like easing into it, I can, I smoke 'em in the summer. Hmm. You know, um,
**Gizmo:** combustion's fantastic. Oh yeah. I'm getting a little almond thing. Um, earthy, A little saltiness. Not to the degree that I would say twang, but, um, it's, you know, nothing's really hitting you. I, it's super, it's
**Grinder:** a very light cigar.
Yeah. I, I, I get some good flavor. Um, but it certainly is light and
**Gizmo:** it's a pleasant cigar. I like that. The aroma is really nice. Aroma's beautiful. [00:08:00] I got one of those, uh, when I cut it on, uh, the, the dimple. Yeah. I got the, I got a really significant dimple on, so did I actually, yeah, I have a small one that's the, apparently the mark of a well rolled cigar.
It's a
**Poobah:** dimple. Well, yeah. The seams are, are the seams on it? Are, are tight? Yep. Mine are a little loose, actually. Well, well rolled. I mean, on mine it's
**Gizmo:** well rolled. Same. So this came out of a, uh, 25 count box. The Poobah had. Uh, it also comes in a variety of different, uh, packaging options. Uh, the typical, uh, three by five aluminum tubes in cardboard packs, uh, used to come and I wish it still did.
Same with the Mag 46, uh, in a sliding wood box of 50 cigars. Hmm. Which they discontinued 10 years ago. Um, and then my favorite configuration of all of them, of course, is the, I just love 10 count presentations from Havanas. The, the little coffin, the little 10 count, 10 count coffin, I think it's very cool.
Are excellent. Um, Yeah. And so this cigar was released in 2008 [00:09:00] as part of a kind of a rebrand for H Chapman trying to get away from some of the Corona, uh, minor Corona majors, some of the regalia, some of the cigars that weren't really prominent. Um, daily smokes of folks that liked Chapman. And this line has been very successful for them.
**Bam Bam:** Has anyone in this room ever had a bad H Chapman? I don't think I ever have.
**Poobah:** Yeah. I've had Corona majors that aren't very good. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I've never had that. The, it's kind of a budget line. Hmm. I remember being very disappointed with those.
**Grinder:** Um, I've had some Meg 40 sixes that were really tasty, but Oh, tasty.
Yeah. The draw was so, some performance issue. Yeah. Yeah. It was so bad that I couldn't enjoy the
**Poobah:** cigar. I've had some mad for, I've had a little bit of hit and miss with those, but more hits than misses
**Grinder:** for
**Bam Bam:** sure. I tend to correlate this, this mark as mark of high quality. for
**Grinder:** me personally. I agree with you that yeah, it's a beautiful cigar.
**Poobah:** Well, it's a global brand, you [00:10:00] know, I mean, they, yeah, they're more expensive stuff. The higher end stuff within the market is generally good. It is. Whether they float your boat or not is a different story. Mm-hmm. , you know what I mean? I'm getting, um, but there's quality there. Oh
**Gizmo:** yeah. I'm
**Grinder:** getting a lot more, uh, sorry, a lot less rather of the, of the infrequent notes that I was getting even before right now,
**Bam Bam:** I don't know.
I'm,
**Gizmo:** I'm getting some less So does that mean you're getting less or more? I'm getting less, yeah. Okay. More
**Senator:** or less. I feel the opposite.
**Grinder:** That, that's funny. more or less . Less or more
**Senator:** for, for me, this is a cigar that on the first couple puffs, you, you really can't be too quick to judge, which I was about how mild the flavor was because now you know, several puffs in.
That saltiness that I think GI mentioned is like really picked up and it's like kind of lip smacking, like it's making all the other flavors more accentuated. Um, I'm starting to enjoy this a lot more. I like it. You can like see early in [00:11:00] the day, morning or even early afternoon where this would slot in.
And GIZ also mentioned this, but the combustion on this cigar is just, it's like, it's off the chart Chiney of smoke. It's
**Gizmo:** fantastic. Yeah. Which, you know, as you've mentioned a few times, you, you know, you expect that from a double ru boosto, you expect that from a, a significant cigar. Mm-hmm. and I, I find myself disappointed when I do pick up a bigger cigar, especially even bigger than a 50 ring gauge if it doesn't operate like a chimney.
That's true. I don't care how it tastes. It's dis there's something in my brain. It's disappointing. Mm-hmm. , you know, ,
**Poobah:** whereas it's got a dry, like a dry, nutty taste to it. Yeah. It's like an
**Gizmo:** almond thing or something. Yeah. Yeah.
**Poobah:** At this point, at least I don't smoke these that much. Mm-hmm. , um,
**Rooster:** I mean, typically, would you smoke this size after
**Gizmo:** breakfast?
No. No. You know, I tend
**Rooster:** to smoke a lot of smaller ring gauges, you know, in the morning. Mm-hmm. . And then as the day progresses, maybe a little bit bigger in the afternoon, and then after dinner, obviously you can go for a bigger smoke.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Yeah. And the size
**Rooster:** wise, you think that this would [00:12:00] have a
**Gizmo:** lot
**Poobah:** more. It does pick up.
I mean, it's a big cigar, like any big long cigar. At first when you light it, it's gonna be very Right. It does pick up. Yeah. Um, but the, I would, I would smoke it in the summer, uh, on the, on the patio, like watching sports center. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Like, you know, it's a little bit hot out. You may not want something that's just so overwhelming.
Yeah. You know, and you have the time, kind of a leisurely thing you do in the patio. That's kind of when I would slot, slot these, these in where it's like, I've got some, I've got some open space,
**Gizmo:** you know? Yeah. You don't want something to kick you around light lunch.
**Poobah:** Yeah. Like, yeah, exactly. Yeah. You know, eat a little sandwich and then eat, you know, smoke this thing and have a drink.
**Gizmo:** I, uh, you know, listen, we don't, we don't compliment havanas a lot on the podcast. We're really tabba kuba. I think the, the blend choices that they made in the Magnum line are very intelligent in that the 46 caters to, I think [00:13:00] more smokers like us in the room. The 54 is kind of in the middle, and then this one's on the lighter end.
Mm-hmm. , and I think that it's intelligent to offer. A cigar of this size that doesn't kick you around. Yeah. You know, like my father-in-law, we always talk about my father-in-law cuz I just think of his palate. He would love the cigar. Yeah. And I'm enjoying it. I think if you like
**Poobah:** K Dorsey, I think if you like, that's a great, I think if you likes great comparison, it's also when you have a good epi two, you know, this can fit in maybe in like, you know, when I smoke an EPI two, sometimes I'm not.
But again, those are like, I've had stronger ones. I know. I, I, I think I shared one with senator one time. I had an aged one, A tubo and that was stronger than, than we did
**Gizmo:** them on the podcast. It was honestly
**Senator:** one of the Fuller Cubans. I don't know how
**Grinder:** it was wild.
**Gizmo:** And EPI
**Poobah:** two was wild. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Tubo. We did those.
We did those on the podcast. Tubo, the Tubo, they
**Poobah:** were 20, they were good. I think this was just, no this was a different, this is an older one. Yeah. We did newer, younger tubo on the podcast. Mm God. This was an older tubo. I bought [00:14:00] fi. I only have 15 of 'em. I've smoked five and I think I gave Senator one. But anyway, that's cigar.
It was like closer to a part four than it was, was, it was really quite good. And I want to say it was, uh, I want to say it was a 15 or something like that, or a 16, I can't remember. I'd ha I, I threw the cardboard away, but cuz it came intuos and cardboard. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. The three, the five by threes. Yeah. Yeah.
Hmm. I'm
**Rooster:** starting to get some like milk chocolate, like chocolatey note. I'm getting a little bit of that and not like, like, uh,
**Gizmo:** coffee, but
**Rooster:** more, uh, chocolate milk
**Poobah:** kind of thing. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Yeah. It's, there's some complexity there, but it's not like, it's tough. We're kind of, we are also coming off some reviews that, some pretty, pretty complex cigars.
Yeah. We are. Yeah. Maybe some of the most expectations are important as well. When you're smoking this, like the price point, [00:15:00] everything,
**Gizmo:** what is the price point today? I was about to ask of the Magnum 50, do you guys have any kind of ballpark? I, I can pull up the price list as we get into other, I must have bought this box two years ago if it's
**Grinder:** over currently, but can't be over
**Rooster:** $20.
Two years ago maybe it was about 20 bucks a stick. What? Yeah, about
**Poobah:** that. Well, yeah, dude,
**Grinder:** it's a big cigar. It's
**Bam Bam:** a long, it's a big cigar, dude. It's gotta be like $52.
**Gizmo:** 52, I would assume only for bam . I would assume it's mid thirties. Why 52? . So we've done a couple other, uh, h Chapmans on the pod as we mentioned.
We did the, uh, H up in Magnum 46 in the same wine, got an 8.1 back in 2021. It's crazy to say that, uh, we of course did the, one of the highest rated cigars we've ever done was the, uh, lub 14, Huppman number two, which I believe came in at a 9.9, 9.8, excuse me. And, um, yeah. So now we're doing the Magnum 50.
**Poobah:** You know, one place I used to smoke [00:16:00] the cigar was, uh, Uh, driving, like I would if I was driving up to the hunting property and I knew I had an hour and a half drive, hour and 20 minute drive. Nice for the car, you know, cup of coffee, you get in, it's the morning. I know I'm gonna smoke. If I was gonna smoke a ribo, I'd smoke two on the way, you know, on the way or, or a half grown a plus a, a booster or something.
Do you know what I mean? I, I say so sometimes I would smoke this and like, it's great for the car cuz it's not.
**Bam Bam:** I've never had the pleasure of smoking in the car. Really?
**Grinder:** Never.
**Gizmo:** The only time I think I did was in rooster's car on a way to a golf event. Of course you did. You smoked in my car. You
**Grinder:** haven't
It's a rolling ash track. I've done a few things
**Gizmo:** in your car. ,
**Grinder:** your, your car's vanity plate
**Poobah:** says the ash track.
**Gizmo:** Yeah,
**Grinder:** it does.
**Senator:** I have to say this cigar is not normally in my wheelhouse and that it's milder than what I normally [00:17:00] pursue, but. It's, there is complexity in this cigar, and I, I'm just impressed. Like how Well all, like, I'm getting a lot of dried fruit now. There's like so many different flavor notes. I'm like going on a little journey.
Um, I'm
**Gizmo:** impressed. It's a good cigar.
**Poobah:** It's well regarded, you know, and people
**Grinder:** love it. Honestly,
**Bam Bam:** I think there's sophistication in the mildness in the way. It's, there's
**Grinder:** a subtlety that the subtlety sophisticated, elegant subtlety.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Yeah. If we were singleton. All right. Elegant subtlety. Fruity decades elegant
**Poobah:** subtlety.
Yeah. Got it. Like, be, before we came in here, I had a, uh, an old D six. And like when you light that up, you get this, like, it's, it's like a, it was like a 2016 D six, right? And like, you get this like, like, it's like, it's like a flavor bomb.
**Gizmo:** It's like concentrated
**Rooster:** D four flavors in a
**Gizmo:** short
**Poobah:** state. It's exactly what it is.
That's exactly what it's, but so you don't get that here. This is a little bit more of a journey and it, and it's a little bit and it's definitely lighter and you're not getting. [00:18:00] So many pronounced things going on. But yeah, there's maybe there's merit in that. A lot of
**Bam Bam:** merit. I think some spice to me, it's very Cuban esque.
I like, I don't know. I like, I feel it's
**Gizmo:** very Cuban esque manning. If I would've picked this up and without anything, I would feel Would you, would you pick it up? Uh, well,
**Rooster:** because I know, I mean,
**Gizmo:** you
**Rooster:** like a fuller Yeah.
**Gizmo:** The jury is still out, but, uh, but it is, it's, I'm actually
**Bam Bam:** really enjoying it as well. I wonder what our pairing will taste
**Gizmo:** like with this.
I haven't tried it yet. Let's do that.
**Grinder:** You are a
**Gizmo:** segueway. He's the segueway king. The segueway king. So, so we have decided in the new year here to revisit some of the spirits that we did very, very early on in the podcast. We did probably, we probably did 14 episodes if you include the, the two bonus before we actually started rating spirits.
Mm-hmm. . Um, so we are doing the Aber War 12 tonight. A delicious single malt. I love this spirit.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, you
**Gizmo:** love it? Yeah. Three fingers. Three fingers. Oh yeah. Let's try it. [00:19:00] Giddy up baby. So we first did the Aber War 12 on episode 12. We didn't rate it as we said. Um, I think we did a little bit of a brand history on that.
So check that out if you're interested. The cigar we paired it with is interesting cuz it was one of the, you know, again, one of the best cigars we smoked all year. The Don Carlos Eye of the Shark. God, that was awesome. Which got a 9.9. That was awesome. So, you know, um, I think this is a perfect pairing for, for the subtlety of the cigar.
It's delicious.
**Senator:** Yeah. It's, it works so well with this. Yeah, just take a sip of the scotch and then draw on the cigar. It just accentuates like, because this is a mild smoke, you kind of need something to wake up your taste buds and I feel like the flavor just dude, like is so much more. Dude, you're right on the money.
**Bam Bam:** It's awesome.
**Senator:** Tried this great parent. Oh yeah. You get so much
**Gizmo:** more of it.
**Poobah:** Right. And this is a scotch that you could drink on a, on a warmer day. Yeah. Outside. It's so, I mean, you could like garnish, lobster bisque with this. It shows So Sherry, Sherry forward, you know, when they bring you the lobster bisque note.
Oh yeah. Would you like some sherry sir? [00:20:00] And you're like, sure. Gimme a couple drizzles on the, on your soup. You could like literally do that with this. It's so Sherry,
**Gizmo:** I've never had Sherry put on my soup. I'm I'm going to the wrong place. Well, with the lobster fists, I'm going the wrong place Biscuits. You gotta, I gotta, I gotta get my game up.
**Grinder:** Can I just say, speaking of, uh, pairings, sorry if I digress, but I did the, um, the potato, the kettle potato chip with the creme fresh and the caviar. Yeah. Yeah. And the champagne. Paul Roge. It's a hard find, isn't a pinch, actually.
**Senator:** Oh, it's uh, Florida.
**Rooster:** But how many miles are you away from
**Gizmo:** Senator's house? It's true.
I
**Senator:** would've spotted you Miles. Truly. He's got cases. I do. I would've spotted you about. I should. I should have thought.
**Grinder:** Yeah. That was silly. But I don't know. I'm kind of, I try to be as self-sufficient as I can. Yeah. But anyway, yeah, the family was floored. Absolutely floored. It's like a new thing. Totally enveloped into the world.
My favorite love.
**Bam Bam:** There's
**Grinder:** something
**Gizmo:** lost. Senator Slaves. There's something about the potato chip that, that gets everybody in, like interested in it. If I [00:21:00] recall,
**Grinder:** if I recall Poobah, Poobah said, well, it's salt and fat. What can you not like? and carbs? like, do you like
**Poobah:** butter?
**Grinder:** Do you like butter? Do you like salt?
Salt and butter? That's what taste
**Gizmo:** like. Butter. Potatoes, potatoes, salt
**Senator:** and butter. The potato chip thing though, truly makes it as somewhat, obviously, I've been eating caviar for a long time, and. I've always, usually just had on Aney, that was the standard fair, how you should serve caviar, bini, creme, fresh, um, caviar.
And then anything else that you want to add. And there's obviously plenty from there. And whenever I discovered this kettle chip thing, um, I'm not even remembering where I got this I idea, I mean, something I must have read. I I,
**Gizmo:** I actually remember exactly where you got it from.
**Senator:** I remember why we got felt validated from
**Gizmo:** Bravo , wasn't it?
Yeah. The woman that lives in
Long
**Senator:** Island. That was my validation. Oh, . So the funny thing is that wasn't the genesis of tv. No. That wasn't the genesis of it. So I mean, I forget where I found it, but then my wife and I watching this, uh, Bravo TV show. And
**Gizmo:** Senator by the way, is a Big Bravo guy. Oh yeah. Oh, there [00:22:00]
**Grinder:** every Lizer a big Bravo guy and a housewife guy.
A big housewife guy. Grindr's Gonna back me up. Andy Cohen. I can, I can acclaim the merits of, of, uh, below deck the various forms of Below Deck, the mini
**Senator:** machinations of which that's
**Gizmo:** probably where you got it from.
**Senator:** not below Deck . Are you sure? No, there're two basic and below deck Gotcha thing. But, um, it was a, a Bravo show at this woman who's like super wealthy in this kind of big socialite in, I guess like New York.
And, uh, Charleston. And, uh, she is having like a party or she's at a party and, um, she's like, oh, they're serving caviar on BU's, how day Class A? And I'm sitting there like, holy shit. Like she's, she's on my page . And then she hosts some event and she serves it on kettle chips. And I was like, if this woman can serve caviar on kettle chips, I'm in good company.
I can do the same thing. So I felt very validated. My choice then
Is
**Rooster:** it, is it the texture of the potato chip?
**Gizmo:** Its the crispiness.
**Senator:** That's the cru. It's exactly, it's like, you know, the caviar just melts in your mouth. Yeah, it's like butter, like Poobah [00:23:00] said. Where when you have that kettle chip that has that crisp, like the contrast and texture, right, for me, just like puts it over the top where like a Bellini just, you know, it's like a little pancake.
It, it, it doesn't add anything to it. I'm gonna try it with like
**Grinder:** some ruffles, some like ridged ruffles. You know what I'm talking
**Poobah:** about? You could. You could, you could do it with it. Well, I mean, I think people should just do what they like.
**Grinder:** Um, Doritos, my only fear . No. So,
**Poobah:** so, so, well they'd be too salty
**Senator:** that, that's where I was going.
That's the thing. Ruffles would be too salty because caviar's already salty. And then you add the chip, you need a chip. That's salt much, I think the
**Gizmo:** creme. But I take the creme fresh. Takes away the saltiness though. Oh.
**Poobah:** But not cuts it out. So, so my, my go-to is the low salt Cape Cod, 40%.
**Gizmo:** Oh. Cape
**Senator:** Cod is the best.
**Grinder:** Cape Cod's the one you get The low salt Cape. Chip.
**Poobah:** Chip. So I'll do it with that because I find that the regular, so my problem with the potato chip, and it's not a big ripe because I still do like the bini. I do [00:24:00] like when I was at, so when I was at the end, a great restaurant over here, saddle River in probably one two, number one, two restaurant in the state.
There's no doubt of New Jersey. No doubt. Hands down. Mm-hmm. . So I remember that big caviar service I got at my birthday. Big one. Jamie brings out both. So he'll bring chips and bellinis. Right. So I'm like mulling on them. I'm mulling on the, uh, both and I'm, and I'm eating the Bos and I'm like, you know what?
I think I kind of, so, uh, I'm a little bit back and forth. I, again, I think it's what you like sometimes I feel like the saltiness of the chip can, I can't taste the caviar as much. Just saying like the bellini's more of like a neutral delivery device
**Gizmo:** where you're getting more
**Poobah:** caviar. You, you could, you could argue that.
But again, they're both fantastic. I mean, it's caviar. Dude, I, I'll, I'll put it on a bagel. .
**Grinder:** Do you know what I'm saying?
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, me too. It's true. I do love caviar that much.
**Grinder:** You [00:25:00] know, it's, it's hard to mess up. Yeah.
**Poobah:** It's so good. Um, but anyway, so I mean, I, I wouldn't rule the bini as
**Gizmo:** senator. What kind of gripes do you have with pub's?
Gripes, ?
**Poobah:** Well, it's not a gripe, but I'm just saying, Hey, a little
**Grinder:** gripe. Are you trying to
**Senator:** It's, I'm not anti, I'm not anti bini in that, in I'm not someone who won't have caviar. Aney The problem for me is like, the bini has to be really well made in the sense that when Pubis says that he feels like he tastes more of the caviar with a bini, with a, a really well made bini That's thin.
Yes. But a lot of them, they can be so doy they even, how small they are that it just like totally overtakes like the cavi. You almost can't find the caviar. You're like losing out on the flavor where the chip is so thin and small. Like the caviar is kind of the star on that.
**Grinder:** You're well, the bini at the end's a good bini.
I have a great idea. Yes. Yeah. Why don't you do the, be. Encasing a potato chip with the creme fresh and the caviar on top like they do for layer taco. Like a Mexican, like a melt, [00:26:00] like a taco bell
**Gizmo:** taco be, sounds like a crunch wrap, supreme.
**Poobah:** A crunch wrap. And you could eat that in the car. So first of all, yes,
**Grinder:** yes, I would absolutely do
**Poobah:** that.
I would make a sandwich. I would go bini on bottom, crim, fresh caviar chip, crim, fresh caviar, and eat that as one unit,
**Grinder:** which that would be incredible.
**Poobah:** You just pop that. I bet that would be
**Grinder:** incredible. It would be. All
**Gizmo:** right. Listen, we all have homework. We have homework. We gotta come back and report back on this issue.
Two weeks. It's a caviar me milk. It's, it's a, you got
**Grinder:** We have
**Gizmo:** caviar
**Poobah:** again, because you, you gotta, you gotta, you also have to take the, uh, the little, the egg. You do a layer of egg, the, the chopped egg, and then you do a layer of the, uh, shallot, you know, and you, you make a, you make a mei melt.
**Gizmo:** You could do it. . That's a high end meel. Oh yeah.
**Grinder:** But, but the whiskey pairing is actually wonderful.
It's
**Gizmo:** fabulous, actually. I'm finding as, as I sip it more, it's opening up and it's actually, it's getting better. That's [00:27:00] awesome. As it sits. That's awesome. There's some weird thing about the flavor note of the cigar that I'm really enjoying and I can't quite put my finger on it. It's like, it's almost like the flavor notes are so subtle and, and are well-balanced that I'm getting a lot of smoke as opposed to like distinct flavor notes.
But overall it's really, really enjoyable. You know, it's
**Bam Bam:** nice if you win. You retro hale. I get a toasty nut note, which is really quite
**Poobah:** nice and it's, it's got cedar and it's got, yeah, well, it's kind of nice and toasty. It's
**Gizmo:** toast. Great. It's toasty. It's a pleasant smoke. Yeah. Very. It's just excellent Cuban tobacco.
Very, and I really, I, you know what, I reach for this all the time. The answer is no. Mm-hmm. . But when I would, it, it, it's, it's really, well, I think this is really well blended. Yeah, I think it's really well blended. I agree. It,
**Senator:** it's per, it's super balanced. Yeah. Like we're picking out a bunch of different notes that like nothing is overtaking or overpowering the other.
They all just kind of compliment each other in a really nice way. Exactly.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. I think, I think what's important for a cigar that doesn't have a strong [00:28:00] body or any particular strong note, but the quality of it's so high. I think this, this holds a lot of merit for the guys that like a lighter cigar.
Totally agree. And it's delicious and it's very smooth and velvety
**Grinder:** fantastic. It's, it's
**Poobah:** not a muted shit show. No. It's not like you can't misinterpret the fact that it is mild. Exactly.
**Bam Bam:** But it's not, it's not a Exactly. It's
**Grinder:** not a muted, muted shit show. It's not a
**Poobah:** muted shit shit show where you're just like a lot of merit to the
**Gizmo:** cigar.
Yeah. It's good.
**Rooster:** And it has ahman dna. Yeah, it does.
**Gizmo:** You know, you, you taste that. Not a ton of baking spice, which I ju I if I were to complain about one thing early on though, you guys, I wish it'd had a little bit more of the upk baking spice. Mm-hmm. that we liken an Upton too. Do we liken a half Corona That wen a, you know, Winston a little bit, but Oh God, that half Corona.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. That's a little home run hitter.
**Poobah:** Yeah. You, you'll start to get some, like more of those like, uh, peppery baking spices down the, down the stretch here. Yeah. The last, last tar, the last stuff it'll pick up and send, you'll get some of that, a little bit more cent cent [00:29:00] type mm-hmm. Notes and
**Gizmo:** stuff. Mm-hmm.
So what's crazy, I mean, I, I, I'm sitting here doing the math and I'm like, I must be wrong. So this is a January 19 box. Yep. So these cigars are four years old. Which first off, that's just crazy for me to say. Like, COVID Covid to me is like a, . I just can't believe that 2019 is four years ago. That's crazy.
So this was rolled by somebody who had Covid. . This is pre covid. Pre covid
**Grinder:** rest. Pre covid. Cause yeah, if you think about that, because 19, you're, you're thinking just before Covid, right? It's like it feels like it was Covid feels a year ago. It was just
**Gizmo:** 19 March. Yeah. Yeah, March. March, 2020. March 20. Yeah.
But,
**Grinder:** but late 19, they were talking about it and Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Europe and Asia. Yeah. Yeah. Well this is really, really good. Yeah. Oh, by the way, we have to raise our glasses, boys. Do we? We have to raise our glasses. Yeah, because Grindr's birthday is in two days. Oh, whoa. Let's raise those glasses, my man. Cheers.
**Grinder:** Cheers.
**Gizmo:** Grindr Lan. [00:30:00] Happy birthday man. Happy birthday cheer. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. Birthday. Cheers boys. Cheers. Cheers. The grinder
**Grinder:** grind. Cheers. Yes,
**Gizmo:** sir. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. All right, speech. Let's go. Come on. for
**Bam Bam:** the people.
**Grinder:** Thank you for your time. Thank you for your patience, , and uh, this is lovely.
I love you all lizards around the world, my man. Smoke on.
**Gizmo:** Yeah,
**Senator:** I was hoping you were gonna
**Gizmo:** work a Petco in there somewhere. . Yeah, that was disappointing. Lack of Petco. Well, you know,
**Grinder:** we've, we've, we've kind of, we've, we've done a lot of Petco, you know, so it's, you got special occasions. Not that this isn't special.
**Gizmo:** You know what? For your birthday, we're gonna put out a Petor T-shirt. Okay? We're gonna put that on the store. We'll do it. Actually, I did have, we had a listener email. I didn't send you my definition. You have to send me the definition. We had a listener email. It's like, please make petor merchandise. Cool.
**Poobah:** And I'm all, I'm enjoying the, the burn and the construction of the smoke so far. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's pretty
**Grinder:** solid.
**Gizmo:** Nothing wrong with it at all. Yeah. We're well into the first third. Haven't, haven't corrected it. It's, it's [00:31:00] performing
**Grinder:** perfectly. This is right up my alley. Perfect. It really is. And I've smoked this cigar recently and it, it wasn't as
**Gizmo:** good as this.
Right. ? This is, this is by far hands down the best mag 50 I've ever had. Yeah. It's not even close. It probably has enough time on it at this point. Like I've had, and I know that you and I Poobah, I'm pointing to Poobah. Poobah and I disagree on 2017, a little bit here and there. I had some magnum fifties and 10 count boxes, hunter and Franco stickers on 'em.
I mean, they were just not good. So
**Bam Bam:** that one box tainted your whole 2017 outlook. I had
**Gizmo:** two boxes of this, of mag fifties in 10 counts. Pretty much from H and f maybe. Well, it's one of those bad runs. Yeah. Bad run as Rob said. Hmm, hmm.
**Bam Bam:** Hmm.
**Gizmo:** These
**Poobah:** look good in the box. . Um, let me just look at something
**Grinder:** that's so frustrating as a, as a consumer, you know, the Yeah.
And as, and as a aficionado you get excited about good boxes.
**Gizmo:** [00:32:00] Yeah. And you buy something that's not cheap. Yeah. You buy something that's supposed to be, as they call it, a luxury good. I mean, Havanas thinks they're making Rolexes. Yeah. You know, they think they're making Louis Vuitton bags. That's what ho Bono's thinks.
And that's what that, you know, as Rob said, they effectively told 30% of their customers that we don't care about you. You know, we, we don't care about serving. You. Get out, raise the prices so high. It's like, and then you buy a box of the most premium product. and it doesn't smoke. Yeah. Sometimes , well, I know that we have a lot of success, but I'm saying that like, in the worst case, like, you know, imagine getting a Rolex and it, it was a half hour fast every day.
I, I, I
**Poobah:** haven't had too many problems. The only markers that I've had problems with have been Monty Christo,
**Gizmo:** uh,
**Poobah:** and, uh, the Hoyos
**Gizmo:** oils. The Hoyos. Mm-hmm. . I've kind [00:33:00] of had problems with all of them. I've had problems at all. And, and
**Poobah:** loosies. Well, I mean, I've had here and there I'm talking like, where it's like
**Gizmo:** consistent.
**Poobah:** Yeah. Yeah, some of the loosies, I mean the loosies we smoked the other day were spectacular.
**Bam Bam:** Well, not mine wasnt, and they
**Gizmo:** blew up. I gotta not mine, mine. Mine wasn't mine. I gotta say though, exploded. The one thing I will say, going back to giving Havana's credit is, you know, again, going back to Rob's mention of runs, Rob Iowa, by the way we're talking for the listener.
We did an interview with him, what, 10 episodes back or whatever. Um, the run of like 2019 till now, like it very well could be that this is like, we are in the golden ages, very good runs like Cuban Tobacco and Production. It's been phenomenal. Like, who knows? 10 years, we may look back and go, wow, that three, four year period may end up being some of the best Cuban tobacco that's ever come out.
Like what, 19 20 19, 20 21.
**Grinder:** I wonder what can, what was like so conducive to that? You know,
**Gizmo:** it's a good question. [00:34:00] I, I don't know if the tobacco sat around longer because of Covid. I don't know if it sat around longer because of product, you know, uh, a packaging shortages. Well,
**Bam Bam:** I also think there's a lot to be said about some of the 2018 runs, like the
**Gizmo:** Monte 2018, the late 20 eighteens.
**Grinder:** We were smoking, we were smoking young nineteens in 2020 that were phenomenal. They were awesome. They're awesome. So they weren't sitting around
**Gizmo:** and the sister cigar this. But, but the thing is, is that, like, let's say, you know, we talk about the, the packaging issues like, you know, Cub, uh, bam and I went to Cuba.
Mm-hmm. , um, which we could talk about. Uh, and, and we were told that there's effectively a million rolled cigars on the island, million and a. . Yeah. They don't have packaging for. Right. And it's like that to that tobacco, those cigars are already rolled, but they're not gonna get a box date until they're put in a box.
So you're getting a box date, maybe of late 22 that's been sitting in that warehouse for Gotcha. You know, so you're getting a, you're getting a kind of a patron headstart on the aging process. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you, you're, maybe you're trying, you're getting rid of some of the, like, who knows? Who knows if that's true?
Yeah. [00:35:00] Well we certainly saw a lot of stuff. We did. I mean, you guys
**Rooster:** saw it fuzzed hand. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. And you know, you
**Gizmo:** actually saw the cigar sitting there to be, we saw, yeah. We saw Warehouse full of what they said was about 300,000. It was
**Bam Bam:** eye-opening, honestly. Honestly, to see that many cigars. Beautifully organized and just, oh, it was incredible.
No package.
**Grinder:** No package, no labels. I thought you would use
**Bam Bam:** the word ogas.
**Gizmo:** Well, they were probably
**Grinder:** very close, crystal ball, very close with . This could
**Bam Bam:** also be,
**Grinder:** uh, golden age of fakes as well. I missed that. If you have that much inventory sitting around an island in the Caribbean, you know, there's, there's a, you know, it's, I'm not surprised that there's people sniping cigars.
**Senator:** The cigars need freedom as much as the people.
**Grinder:** Yeah.
**Poobah:** indeed.
**Rooster:** So I'm thinking like, we should take empty boxes when we go.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Right. They could use it. Let's fill 'em up for you. Oh, Tupperware, Tupperware donation. You know, I know we talked, we talked a little bit about it with Rob when he was on, but man, [00:36:00] bam.
And I really had a magical experience in Cuba. Yeah. It. Fantastic. We, we went with, uh, Phil and Bruce, friends of ours who've been there like nine or 10 times, so we kind of avoided some of the BS that I think our first time goer would, um, would experience. But we went down for the Parus Festival, which was okay.
Okay. It was a little bit of a disappointment. The gala was nice. The gala dinner, the final night was good, but Yep. What, what was disappointing? Uh, well, the, the
**Bam Bam:** kickoff event was
**Gizmo:** awful. Yeah. The kickoff event they were serving rolled up him. And pineapple on sticks. And that was really the food. Yeah. Jesus.
And that was 300? That was $350. Jesus. Jesus. No caviar. No. No caviar.
**Bam Bam:** Okay. No, but crush. But we've saw photos of previous events that were incredible. The spread was just fantastic
**Gizmo:** and people were really upset that have be gone many, many times. Oh yeah, yeah. You know, bam. And I went for the first time. We wouldn't go again, I don't think.
But what's
**Rooster:** cool is, from what I understand, that you could buy tickets to each event
**Gizmo:** separately separate. It wasn't
**Grinder:** like a That's right. Package. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** And the same for the, you know, [00:37:00] the February
**Gizmo:** event. So it's, it's really a, it's really a four day, it's really a four day thing. It's the opening night, which is like a dinner, uh, kind of a, like a hors deu.
You walk around, et cetera. Second day is a, A beach day. Then there's a third day, which you kind of go out to the countryside and you hang out at a, at a farm. Finka, how was the beach day with Bamming up? Uh, we skipped that day. , we skipped that day. Yeah,
**Grinder:** that would've been
**Bam Bam:** traumatic. I had, I had
**Grinder:** a feeling
**Poobah:** gonna have seen that movie.
Uh, sexy Beast .
**Grinder:** I
**Bam Bam:** had the speed already. It was ready. Oh, really? No. Battle of the Clevers. .
**Grinder:** No. Battle of the, oh God. Shanked. That's
a
**Grinder:** horrible, you, us a horrible
**Gizmo:** room. A horrible visual. And then, uh, the last day was the Galla Dinner. But we, we had such a good time. We were fortunate. We toured La Corona. We toured Elto.
Elto was incredible.
**Grinder:** Elto
**Bam Bam:** was B Luck, Corona's Magic Eyeopening. That's where we saw the highest volume of cigars in one room. Yeah. And people have been [00:38:00] saying it was, it was incredible. You guys would've went nuts. Yeah, nuts. It's crazy.
**Gizmo:** So are there local smoking cigars everywhere or they can't afford it?
They can't afford, they can't afford one. That's so sad. It is. I mean, what, what one cigar costs us, that's what they earn in a
**Bam Bam:** month. But what I learned was they get, they do get an allocation of this. Really cheaply made customer, machine made. No, these are machine made cigars that everyone on the island gets an allocation of.
Yeah. Really? Yeah. And they're awful from what we hear. Yeah. We
**Grinder:** don't, they're not great. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** They're the, and all the, all the doors, all the torso doors are allowed to take five cigars home a day. Yeah. Those are these machine ones or No, the ones day roll or, that's cool. Yeah. You know, maybe seconds, blemishes, et cetera.
They have a room for, for, uh, torso doors to take them home. But, you know, the one thing I, the one rumor I wanted dispel, cuz I've seen it a lot on the internet you guys may have too, is that, you know, in the last six months or so, that the roll, uh, that the desks were empty, that there weren't a lot of rollers lock, Corona and Allego, everything were pumping single desks.
They were pumping was full. Yep. And, uh, you know, it was really magical. I mean, it [00:39:00] was tragic at the same time to see people impoverished. You know, we, we were fortunate. We Yeah. Took some cool stuff. We took some baseball equipment, uh, bam. Brought some school supplies. I brought feminine hygiene products, and we had, so when we went
**Bam Bam:** down to the baseball field, the moment the bag dropped onto the grade, kids just flooded.
Yeah.
**Gizmo:** It was incredible. Yeah, it was. We have a video, so, uh, Phil, uh, who's been there, he, he was kind of our tour guide with Bruce. Yep. Yep. Uh, he brought a full duffle bag full of baseball equipment, baseballs, baseball bats, balls, gloves, yeah. Everything. And we just drove around for a half hour with our driver.
Mm-hmm. stuffed in the back of a car. I mean, I don't, I've never been closer to another, it was like a clown car. Yeah. We were, it was like a clown car. We drove around like, for what, an hour, maybe half an hour at least. Yeah. Trying to find kids playing baseball. And we did. And man, we rolled up with that duffle bag and these kids freaked out.
Yeah, freaked out. That's great. PBA was all in. It was great.
**Grinder:** Now toward the end, we're all in forgiving. I'm just, it was wonderful. It was really
**Poobah:** wonderful. I'm just not all in for the hams [00:40:00] sticks and the
**Grinder:** clown
**Bam Bam:** card. No. . Oh, I don't think you would've done well
**Grinder:** with that clown
**Poobah:** car. Senator said that Senator, Senator.
Senator isn't either. I mean, well,
**Grinder:** Senator would've
**Bam Bam:** had his limo. ,
**Grinder:** private chauffeur. He's out on
**Poobah:** that. I mean, he'll
**Bam Bam:** give, but PBA would've gotten into a fight with the driver ,
**Grinder:** you
**Poobah:** know.
**Grinder:** But, uh,
**Senator:** an experience like this is worth putting aside, uh, our
**Bam Bam:** preferences a hundred percent. I'm glad you said that. It's so
**Poobah:** true.
You the other still, you still wouldn't eat the Hamm in pineapple
**Grinder:** stick . No, he wouldn't. He wouldn't eat it. I
**Bam Bam:** didn't eat it . I didn't touch the fucking shit. I didn't
**Grinder:** Hawaiian,
**Gizmo:** Hawaiian themed. I put money on my must been, there's no way Senator eats the I'm not eating, but I'm still going. Yeah, yeah. You're gonna go.
So here's the one other thing. They weren't sticks. They were kohi. S splendido. Yeah. Gotcha. The other thing I wanna say too is that, uh, there's always been a rumor that the food is horrendous. Um,
**Bam Bam:** oh, please. Every meal we had, some meals I had was spectacular. Yeah. And I'm not joking. It was delectable. So what now?
Poobah does not believe me. He's looking at me with skeptical.
**Poobah:** No. You had [00:41:00] some bad batista's revenge down there.
**Gizmo:** No, no, no, no. Not at all. I had Nick, I had a little nick poison, little nicotine poisoning because the cigars we were smoking were so
**Bam Bam:** fresh. So we need to, that's a whole nother topic, I think. Was this Too many cigars.
Okay. So are we gonna jump into this? So, Juan Moya, who we met. Yeah. Honestly, the best part of the trip for me was the people that we met. Yeah. We met some amazing folks. Meeting Juan. Meeting Nester. Yeah. Who was the guy that took us through the Elto uh, factory. That young kid.
**Gizmo:** Oh, uh, I don't wanna say his name.
**Bam Bam:** Okay. He's gonna be a future interviewee. Yeah, definitely. Along with Juan. No doubt about it. These guys are, they're, they're incredible cigar people, but, um, just meeting them and getting their perspective and talking to Juan who owns a cigar.
**Gizmo:** He owns old Havana Cigars
**Grinder:** in that And Cayman.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Soan. You know, we're talking about how we like to keep, where we like to keep our cigars.
You know, we're in low sixties, mid sixties maybe, and he's shaking his head. Scowling. No. We keep our Cubans at high seven, uh, mid seventies. Low seventies. Yeah. It's shocking. They liked their
**Grinder:** [00:42:00] cigars very
**Gizmo:** wet. So the thing that I experienced very
**Senator:** wet. Did Gizmo have an aneurysm when he said this? Yes.
**Grinder:** I almost had
**Bam Bam:** an aneurysm and I actually almost threw up after a, a few days of smoking.
Yeah. All these very wet cigars. It gets to your stomach
**Grinder:** and your
**Gizmo:** head very quickly. Dude, I smoked. Really? I smoked less cigars than I've ever smoked. It was while I was in Cuba, cuz I didn't, I I thought like, you know, I'm, I'm not gonna bring anything. I'll just smoke what I find. The cigars that when you get them, we got them out of the factory.
We're sitting in the factory smoking 'em. They're so young. They're so fresh and young. The ammonia, the nicotine is so strong that like, there's like, you know, as Poobah has mentioned, sick period. It's a very early sick period in cigars. I was smoking two cigars a day. I, I went down for a day just on nicotine poison.
I wasn't throwing up or sick. Yeah. I was just like, wow. It was tough, was
**Poobah:** bad. You know, one, one of the things to do just as a, as a rescue, uh, I've done it and I've read about it, is, uh, have a, have a real coke.
**Grinder:** Yeah. The sugar.
**Gizmo:** The sugar. The sugar. Yeah. I agree with that. The problem is finding a real Coke in Cuba.
Not possible. Yeah.
**Poobah:** Or something.
**Gizmo:** You need to Didn't sugar, we didn't say a single can of soda all week. [00:43:00] Yeah, you're better. You can't get a Cuba, Libra anywhere. Well, Cuba, Libra, you can, but that's got coconut
**Bam Bam:** in it. Yeah, it does. That's true. Yeah. We didn't
**Grinder:** think of
**Gizmo:** that. Now actually. You're
**Rooster:** probably better off taking your own smoke.
**Gizmo:** That's what I'm gonna do next time. Smoke dose, smoke the fresh.
**Bam Bam:** I did bring a a, a box of, uh, new worlds. Yeah, and it's funny where a patroni actually rescued me a few times. Smoking. That actually saved my stomach. A few me too times. Me too. I'm not joking.
**Gizmo:** I stole a couple from that. Not joking. I gotta say this is,
**Senator:** yeah, that's not, this is really depressing hear.
I mean, well it's just my fantasy of like going to Cuba is like just going with no cigar. You know? It's like whenever we travel anywhere in the world, we always bring cigars with us. But hold on the thought that like, I would be going to the place that I buy so much from. So here's the thing. And I just wanna find stuff on the island and smoke it all there and have this experience.
Now I'm hearing shit. I'm not gonna even get listen up
**Grinder:** to stuff
**Bam Bam:** there. Well, everything. So everything I had, I had personally at the part, the shop was outstanding. Yeah. That it was fantastic. And the cohiba atmosphere, that was, that was, was [00:44:00] that was an amazing lounge. And the cigars there were kept very nicely.
Yeah. But everywhere else, in any, every factory where we got a cigar, it was way, way
**Grinder:** too long. So there's
**Gizmo:** two that, that's the thing. I
**Rooster:** think you guys smoked some cigars that were
**Gizmo:** freshly rolled at the factories that a, I didn't needed to sit. But even some of the, even some of the singles that you bought at an L C D H Hmm.
The two humid too fresh. They were very humid, you know, and, and I just, I should have brought my own stuff, you know. Um,
**Bam Bam:** the two most memorable cigars. Was the, the Cohiba, uh, Len. Yeah, that was off the chain. That's a good cigar. And the Sir Winston that I had there, mine both. Both were
**Grinder:** very young. Excellent.
The
**Gizmo:** best cigar I smoked all week was a Schwa Supreme. I got at the Cohiba atmosphere. Yeah, I had that too was good. That was the best cigar I had all week. And the sir win, we smoked Sir Winston's. We got Sir Winston's for 20 bucks. I regret
**Bam Bam:** not bringing a box back. Yeah, I think a virtual trip,
**Gizmo:** something's better
No. Yeah, we can't, you, you can't adequately describe There's $20
**Grinder:** for a Sir Winston . What the
**Gizmo:** fuck was, that's two years ago. Pricing. But, but you may be onto something.
**Poobah:** Yeah. [00:45:00] You could pay for the whole trip by bringing like two boxes back. .
**Bam Bam:** So here's a funny, a little funny story at the gala, like the end, the, the last evening of the Parus Festival, we were talking about what we're gonna smoke.
So I pulled out a shark. Juan Moys, you're, you're sitting to the left of me and Juan Moys sitting to your left. Yep. He looks at me and says, and I love this line. Hey, man, you are in Havana. .
**Grinder:** We don't smoke those here. .
**Gizmo:** Juan's a great guy,
**Bam Bam:** dude. I fucking love that line. I will never forget that. That guy is great.
He's
**Grinder:** one of the
**Gizmo:** coolest guys I've ever Yeah, we're gonna have him on the podcast for sure. He's a, he's a special guy, man. Yeah, he's, I think he's actually gonna be in New York. He's gonna come and, uh, hang on. Uh, in person with us on the cod. Yeah. Yeah. The, here's the thing I'll say though, is that, you know, you, we go on this trip thinking that it's gonna be a cigar trip, cigar focused.
And what I found and I took away, and I was really, really happy to say it, like it very much was less about cigars when we came home and it was more about [00:46:00] the people that we met. Yeah. Via cigars. It was the good that we were able to do for the Cuban people, which was amazing. And we had some really great food and drink.
Yeah. Honestly, some
**Bam Bam:** of the rom dude. Oh dude. The Santiago 1120. How about the 20? And the 20 was off the charts, 20 was amazing. Off the charts and our evening sessions with everyone that we met. Yeah. That now That was incredible. It's just incredible. That's
**Gizmo:** what I look forward to. Yeah. It was
**Rooster:** nice just sitting outside on the, uh, hotel National.
Yeah. Listening to some Cuban music.
**Gizmo:** Oh yeah. We got a live performance of Chan Chan right in front of us. That's awesome. Yeah. And it cost us, uh, three, three Cuban pesos. Well, the affordability is just off the chan. It's one of the most affordable places to travel in the world because of the exchange rate.
Oh, it was amazing.
**Bam Bam:** How so? We had a dinner. Calm down, . I'm sorry. This is, I was excited about this one night because I couldn't believe how cheap this dinner was. Four
**Grinder:** lobster
**Gizmo:** tails, by the way, lemme just tell the [00:47:00] listener, , I, I've already cut. You're ruining my flow. . I, I've cut, I've cut it out a bunch by now.
But Poobah is sat next to, to bam bam who keeps violently coughing because he is had this post-nasal drip thing. Yep. And I've, you know, for the listener, we're not gonna make you suffer through that. So I cut them out. Thank you. But, uh, port Poobah is definitely suffering through whatever's going on here.
**Grinder:** He's not even from bam, bam.
**Bam Bam:** He's not even in the direction of it. .
**Grinder:** That is fear.
**Poobah:** No, you just lean in my direction and cough. ,
**Bam Bam:** there's up for
**Poobah:** you every,
**Grinder:** every four minutes, .
**Bam Bam:** That's true. I apologize. You're my man though. Um, I'll tell you ,
**Grinder:** he goes, he goes, clearly, you know what I'm
**Bam Bam:** gonna do? I'm gonna put a a
**Grinder:** You're coughing in his face.
You're like, hold on. He's, he's my bad. Don't worry. Just cough straight forward instead of leaning towards me. Because if you're leaning away from anyone,
**Poobah:** I'm
**Grinder:** leaning away from the mark. Use that handkerchief you
**Poobah:** carry around. I should just, just [00:48:00] coughing your vest comes another one
**Gizmo:** I can feel. No, no,
**Poobah:** I'm good.
Coughing your chest. I'm good
**Grinder:** coughing your,
**Poobah:** just
**Grinder:** close your mouth, . Alright, where were we? Is that a hanky? Stop coughing for crying out loud. That a
**Gizmo:** hanky. It, it really, it really was an amazing trip that, that was not as much about cigars as I thought it was gonna be. Yeah. Meeting everyone that we'd met. It was about the people.
We had some amazing. Connections. We ended up meeting people and spending the entire week with people that we are already connected to in Facebook groups and Reddit and mm-hmm. , all like, it's just amazing the people that we've met. We met Andy and, and, uh, yeah, Andy, uh, he runs Bob Roberts for, as a US fantastic
**Rooster:** citizen, which I did not know that you cannot stay at a
**Gizmo:** hotel.
You cannot stay at ahead. I told her, Nope. Airbnb, you have to, you have to go quote unquote in support of the Cuban people, you stay an Airbnb, which is o owned and operated by Cuban people. It's all, you know, through Airbnb. You can use your Amex to pay for it, which was great.
**Poobah:** They'll hit you with a fucking radio wave dude, Havana Central.
We stay in the [00:49:00] Havana National illegally Radio, come back and you'll have, you'll have tinnitus in your ear, in, in, in fucking, uh, you'll end
**Gizmo:** up like, bam. Yeah. . Yeah. He got it. He got it. He spent too much time with the nasa. Now
**Poobah:** if you don't have the plasma, when that, you'll have your come back and you have tinnitus and vertigo for the rest, trouble, rest of your life.
**Gizmo:** you might get
**Rooster:** p and d
**Poobah:** postnasal drip.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Cigars phenomenal. So, uh, yeah, I can't wait for the rest, the rest of you guys to come
**Grinder:** down. Yeah. Honestly, it was magical.
**Bam Bam:** It's worth it, worth the time, and I would go, I would go at
**Gizmo:** least once a year. What advice would you give to
**Rooster:** a first time
**Gizmo:** traveler to Cuba? , you definitely need to bring a full suitcase full of something that the Cuban people do not have access to.
Mm-hmm. , uh, medical supplies. School supplies. Yeah. Things for children. Uh, uh, Phil brought a full backpack full of pinky balls, like bouncy balls. Mm-hmm. , and he would just fill up his pockets every day. And he'd walk down the street and he'd see [00:50:00] a kid and he would throw them a bouncy ball. And it's as if you gave a kid in New York, like a 70 inch tv, a PlayStation five in every game there.
It made their month. Yeah. Like the pink, the look on their face. It's amazing. Yeah. The pinks balding. Your, the little, just a little pinky ball. Yeah. Little three inch ball that bounces. I mean, bam. And I grabbed a couple of those from Phil. Mm-hmm. . We were walking around and, uh, we saw two kids throwing rocks into a storm drain.
Mm-hmm. . And we each had a ball on us, and we gave both of them a bouncy. I mean, we were walking maybe a quarter mile down. We could still hear them screaming and yelling. Yeah, that was great and excited. Racquet balls with, you
**Poobah:** remember playing rack, having a racquet ball as a kid. Mm-hmm.
**Grinder:** love a racket Ball Wally Ball
**Poobah:** playing that bouncing net off the wall.
**Gizmo:** That was fun as shit. Yeah, it was. So that, that's my advice to, you know, anybody who's traveling to Cuba is bring you. And I know about that. I brought a full about that suitcase full of feminine hygiene products, Tylenol. Um, so I felt great going to the school. And you brought school supplies?
**Bam Bam:** Frans, around, around a corner from my Airbnb.
I brought a suitcase full of notebooks, pads, pens, [00:51:00] um, other writing instruments. Met with the school, I guess. Yeah. The head of school. Yeah. It was, it was great. It's, you know, very appreciative.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. So it, it's, I really, we really enjoyed it. It was amazing. Yeah. Nice. You play, you play
**Poobah:** like, like wiffle with a taped up bat dude.
With, with
**Grinder:** the, with the street. With a racket ball or in the backyard. Or you can launch that thing in the next fucking week. Yeah. You're breaking
**Poobah:** windows. What? You know I'm saying remember that? Oh hell yeah. Tape up a wiffle ball bat and hit it with a ra. Hit a racquet ball with it. Everyone can launch it.
You
**Grinder:** can launch your fight. You're all too young for that, but that's what we did.
**Poobah:** Like 300 feet. Yeah. It's fucking amazing. Did that and
**Bam Bam:** got into fights.
**Gizmo:** Yep. Yeah. Wiffle ball bats. I mean, that would go over great. There you go. When you come, let's go bring a whiffle ball and some duct tape. Yep. Okay. I'm telling you man, it was that thing.
That's what the trip ended up being about.
**Bam Bam:** I gotta see Poobah and Cuba, ,
**Grinder:** Poobah and Cuba
**Gizmo:** after I'm bringing the mics, baby.
**Grinder:** Uh, honestly,
**Bam Bam:** you know, the heat was, it was oppressive and it was their winter, I guess. Yeah, it was pretty hot. [00:52:00] Um, even at night undressed the winter it was really hot. I I on, I can't wait until I see.
I'm gonna see you in the streets of Cuba.
**Rooster:** mimo, bam, bam.
**Poobah:** I'll right then I think
**Gizmo:** you would. Was
**Grinder:** was Gizmo
**Senator:** introducing himself to everyone as hemo?
**Grinder:** Hemo? No.
**Bam Bam:** NoMo.
**Poobah:** Gito and Bato. . Bato .
**Grinder:** Yes.
**Bam Bam:** Bato works in Italy. Not so
**Gizmo:** much. Listen, you guys have no idea what you're gonna experience when we go. It's amazing. Amazing. Me and pagoda know
**Rooster:** we grew up in India.
We'll be fine. You'll be good. You'll be
**Gizmo:** good. It'd be another day. We've, you know, the other thing that seen, the other thing that was shocking to me was when you were standing out on a main street, the amount of exhaust coming off the cars was overwhelming. Like, maybe that helped, maybe that contributed to how I was
**Bam Bam:** feeling.
Def and me too. Yeah. It, it did give me an obsessed stomach. [00:53:00] It all, these don't go to India. The
**Gizmo:** rest .
**Rooster:** As soon as you land from
**Grinder:** the airport, , it was gross. It's like a lamp gross. .
**Gizmo:** So boys we're, uh, well over halfway here in the H up and Magnum 50. I'm really enjoying the cigar. Even as I'm talking, I, I find it to be delicious.
What are you guys thinking of it right now?
**Senator:** Well, I think Poobah mentioned that we could expect this and it, it picked up in flavor, the peppery down the stretch in the final third. Yeah. Little peppery. Yeah. It, it, this is nice. I mean, thi thi this last third is more my speed, like what I would normally pursue in a cigar, but for where this would slot in, which I think all of us have talked about like morning, early afternoon.
There's, there's a lot, uh, a lot to enjoy
**Gizmo:** here. Yeah, agreed.
**Poobah:** Yeah, I agree too. And, and, and it also, it doesn't take as long to smoke as you'd think, at least this particular box. Um, the cigars, you know, sometimes you pull out a double corona, or this is, I guess technically a double, double robusto. Kind of somewhere, but it, you know, it wasn't like a, [00:54:00] a brick in your hand.
It wasn't like, it wasn't loosely packed, but it wasn't tightly packed. It's white so it smoked, you know, relatively quickly. I mean, when did we light these up? Maybe 45 minutes ago. An hour. Oh, it's been an hour. It's been an hour first, but a first cigar. This, and we're pretty much, I mean, senators basically getting there.
Everybody's basically done. So like, wow, you guys are ahead of me. You know. You're
**Gizmo:** ahead. I'm at, yeah, you're ahead of me too.
**Poobah:** Probably. Cause it's not like it's, look at Pagos. Huge time investment. Wow. You know, pagoda started early.
**Bam Bam:** Yes he did. He is lagging behind. Listen, I like to smoke it slow. Oh, really? . I
**Grinder:** thought you were gonna say something else there.
No, . I,
**Gizmo:** uh, I'm, let's keep, I'm getting, I'm getting some spiciness off the, uh, burn line. Yeah. Which is really pleasant. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
**Poobah:** white Pepper. The pepper. Yes. Way pepper. Yeah. This is a,
**Grinder:** this is a phenomenal cigar for me. It's a great cigar.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. This is definitely the best Mag 50 I've ever had. Not [00:55:00] even close.
Not even close.
**Senator:** Close. If there were any doubts to its authenticity, I can confirm these are, these are real because as I got down to the final stretch, the first Oh yeah. Band, the, uh, the Red Mag 50 bands. Yeah. The burn line is right there and the glue is still stuck to the wrapper and there was no hope I had to peel it in.
Yeah, that's authentic first
**Bam Bam:** blown out came
**Grinder:** right off. Same exact. I had a, I had an issue as well and still do as
**Gizmo:** a matter of fact. So when we, when we did the Sanor episode, we talked about, I think Rooster said it about you have an a QD day. Like you could smoke three or four Cuties back to back in your day.
If you were to do that with upk, what would your line be? If you were to choose four cigars from Ahman to smoke, boom, boom, boom, boom, in order right In a row, or throughout the day, what would they be? Because I know what, wow. I can name mine real quick. Right now. I would do four Sour Winstons . Yeah. I know what I would do.
Right? You would do the 50. I would start with the 50. If I had the time, I would do a [00:56:00] 46 in the afternoon. I would do an up and two after that and I would do a Sir Winston after dinner.
**Grinder:** That's a, that would, and then with a half Corona,
**Gizmo:** that's the line. That's the move. Yeah. And then a half Corona after that.
But I'm
**Bam Bam:** kind of disappointed. No one likes the
**Gizmo:** 54. I just don't love that ring gauge. I love that thousand I had. I love that cigar. Did you say number two? Yeah. That was right before
**Poobah:** Dominic. And people like the 54. I just don't love 54 ring gauge cigars. Yeah, it's true. Once I get past 52, little, like 52 in a torpedo is good cuz the mouth feel for me is okay.
But once I get past that kind of, uh, The, the E two connoisseur style, I'm done. Yeah. That's about as big as I go. Yeah. It's a big, I dunno about anybody else. Yeah. The
**Gizmo:** 54 for me, I
**Senator:** have the, the Mag 54 I, prior to that cigar, I could not say that I've had problems with any monds, any box of Batmans I've ever bought.
I have no complaints. That cigar, uh, it's been a mixed bag for me. Oh my gosh. That's my only frustration
**Bam Bam:** with that cigar. I have never had a performance [00:57:00] issue, honestly, with any, I know that. Oh yeah. Well, I've never had a badman. I don't, I have never had
**Grinder:** one. Well, you
**Poobah:** get most of them from
**Grinder:** us. Yeah. Well,
**Poobah:** so I mean, course you, they're well conditioned. Ah, they usually have some age on 'em in their first
**Grinder:** Well, not true. You know.
**Bam Bam:** Not true. The Royal 10. Not true. Not truth for
**Grinder:** the listener. You're out . Alright.
**Gizmo:** That is not true. So, because we're here now, I love the 54. We didn't an update on what? No, no. Cue. Cue the intervention.
Every, every single episode, rooster Pipe
**Grinder:** down is gonna be brought up. until it's ready. This is, that's right. This is the bam, bam. Accountability
**Gizmo:** hour .
**Grinder:** So I don't like that. The answer's no. And I'm gonna give
**Poobah:** you, it is, I'm sorry. I'm gonna give you some advice and I'm gonna tell you how to get this done because you've had it since May, by the way.
All right. Cause I know how to get it done. So remember the gentleman from her old. Uh, the mo the mover? [00:58:00] Yes. He own, he, he, yes. Uh, he owns, um,
**Gizmo:** moving company. Yes. He used to, he sold it. But yeah, they've
**Poobah:** been around for forever. They're very, very good. Unless something has changed since he sold the company. But I've used them multiple times for small moves, stuff into storage, things like that.
very, very fair. Call these
**Gizmo:** people. They have a
**Senator:** human or seasoning
**Poobah:** department have No, they will. The human ORs in his
**Gizmo:** house. I have it in my house. No, I, I don't believe that. For a second I wanna say No,
**Poobah:** no, no, no, no, no. But, but this isn't that particular, I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but for me, I tried to move it with, uh, uh, hand truck with a friend that's too heavy and big.
You guys don't
**Gizmo:** have the same, have
**Grinder:** a different one. It's a different He has, I've got the tower of
**Bam Bam:** power too. He has, he
has
**Grinder:** a different humanoid. Oh, you, it's very light. That's mov. Yeah. Oh yeah. I saw it's in his house. I have it downstairs. I thought
**Poobah:** I'm sorry. It up. I thought he had the one that Smo and I have I.
I'll
**Gizmo:** send you all a photo tomorrow if he can put it on his back. Kind of. It's not that heavy. Go up the stairs. Here's
**Poobah:** the problem, PBA. Here's the problem. I've already, I've already,
**Senator:** that's, [00:59:00] that's why we're so frustrating, guys. He has it in his eyes. The problem is he didn't apply the kitty litter
**Grinder:** treatment yet.
No, . That's not gonna happen.
**Gizmo:** Not gonna happen. Listen, he's had it nine months in his possession now. Yeah. You got it in what may?
**Grinder:** I don't remember. Where is it?
**Gizmo:** It's in my cellar. Okay. You haven't,
**Bam Bam:** I've wiped it out
**Gizmo:** with distilled water. Have you put the cigar oasis in it? Yeah, I haven't. Have you even
**Senator:** bought the cigar Oasis?
I have
**Bam Bam:** it all. I've got the l e d tape, the light, the whole nine yards, the weather strip.
**Gizmo:** Ba, junior. Just
**Senator:** plug it in. I just, bam.
**Grinder:** Junior.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Bam. Junior is pretty good at that stuff. He could do that for me. Right.
**Poobah:** But what is, is it in the spot that's gonna reside in?
**Grinder:** Yes, it is.
**Gizmo:** It's wiped out. I just gotta get to it.
I thought it was in your garage. This,
**Bam Bam:** it wasn't garage for a little while. No, it was, it was there for a while, but it's downstairs. This is lunacy. . .
**Gizmo:** You need to get this together. Bam. Seriously, I will. I will. Bam. Bam. Accountability hour. I will. I'll It's, it's a new. It's time. The people want you to get your shit together.
People , we
**Rooster:** need to set a [01:00:00] timeline by next pod. How many we want to see a picture with? Well, do you have
**Poobah:** cigar? Do you have cigar? Does he have cigars? The next pod, yeah, he has
**Senator:** Tupperwares For how many, how many
**Grinder:** listeners are we every week? Do we get saying, when is ba gonna get the, the humidor setup up?
Here's what you do. At least determine it now, but here's what you do. You
**Bam Bam:** guys have put me on a spot,
**Grinder:** I'll get it done. And accountability. Listen, heres what you do. Got it. You got it. You
**Poobah:** take the cigar oasis, you install it, , then you, you take the drawers within the tower of power, and then you, you put the distilled water on it and you let 'em sit for a little while.
Yeah, that's it. I Then he did that. Okay, well, no,
**Grinder:** I didn't get that far. It doesn't count. I check
**Poobah:** it out. And then you waited. You waited a few days, it did the bomb. You check it out and then you put your cigars into the humidor, , you know what? And then you close the door. I'm very, you turn on the oasis and put some hydrometers in there and you're done.
I
**Gizmo:** know
**Rooster:** what it is. He's waiting for the electrician to do the l e d lighting. .
**Bam Bam:** The string lights. The string lights. String lights.
**Gizmo:** That's [01:01:00] not it. This is, this is for every podcast. It's strange. It's a sin. It'll get done. This is a podcast Sin You're Carry. And here's the other. Just
**Grinder:** put your cigars in it.
What do I'm afraid of? I just have the thought. I, how many people wanted that? It's the mental, I gotta fit it in my brain. So,
**Poobah:** by the way, you'd be surprised at like how quickly the thing, because the cigars so fast actually have, they contain some humidity. And then when you put the distilled wa and you, you, when you, uh, what's it called when you put the, there's a technical term for it.
When you put the distilled water on it, You just treat
**Grinder:** the cedar all the surfaces. Season. Yeah. Seasoning.
**Poobah:** Thank you. Thank you guys. When you season it, you'd be very surprised how quickly. All right, here's
**Grinder:** question. Good things start to happen. So here's a question. It's not
**Bam Bam:** that hard. So I wiped out the entire interior of the tower maybe five weeks ago with the distilled water.
Do I have to do it again?
Yeah,
**Senator:** you, you gotta do that. Like this is so fucking simple. I'm just, look, I own the exact same tower. Yes. All you need to do, take a. Put distilled water. I bring it out. Just wipe down [01:02:00] every surface in the entire ver I've shoulda done that. That's gonna take you 10 minutes. But I've gotta do it again.
Apparently, yes. It'll take 10 minutes. Okay. You're just wiping a sponge around seat or this is the easiest thing you do. Get the oasis, say, I have to say, and then, and then look. It's more like seven minutes. Look you. Yeah. Thank you, . And then you just are gonna plug in the cigar. Oasis. Put it in there. Put distilled water in the bottom of it with, with beads.
It comes with, you're gonna like that part . He, he might
**Grinder:** do it for different reasons
**Senator:** and literally just set the humidity to what you want it to. Yep. And that's it. Leave it for a few days and that thing is gonna hold humidity beautifully.
**Bam Bam:** How are you gonna fill it up? How long should I wait before I start loading it up?
I would just keep
waiting
**Gizmo:** a week.
I
**Senator:** would just wait a week just for, just to be extra safe.
**Poobah:** Just do it, dude. Put the cigars in. That's what's gonna happen. Put the cigars
**Gizmo:** in . No, no, don't. It's gonna happen
**Grinder:** bro. , you're putting
**Gizmo:** it, put the whole boxes
**Poobah:** in there. That's right. I will. You'd be surprised. I, I've run the Remington literally with nothing in it.
Hmm. With, and it sits at 62 cuz it's packed with cigars. That's nice. Something like it got a little dry. I took one of those [01:03:00] big veta packs and just the three twenties. Yeah. And just put one in the middle and it just sits, it just sits, it don't do anything. I don't put any water in there.
**Rooster:** It's a sealed cabinet, so it's gonna, it's gonna contain the humidity
**Gizmo:** in it.
**Bam Bam:** I've gotta do the weather stripping around the door. I gotta seal the
**Senator:** outlet in the back. Yeah. It's not sealed in the same way that you like, it's a little different. It breathes more, which I, I prefer. I agree. It's human. It's not like a win door where a win door's, like, literally like no air can possibly
**Grinder:** flow.
It's
**Gizmo:** big desktop
**Poobah:** unit. Yeah. But when, when you get a new toy, you
**Gizmo:** wanna set it up like right away. You honestly
**Grinder:** excited took so long to
**Bam Bam:** get my enthusiasm waned by the time I got it. My mo I just, I I So you, you prefer,
**Senator:** you prefer every day digging through Tupperware bins to find your cigars? No, I actually hate that.
I do hate that. Right. So that should be the mo all the
**Gizmo:** motivation you need. I hate it.
**Grinder:** Not, not, not to pile on .
**Bam Bam:** Oh, oh, go ahead please. . But,
**Grinder:** uh, it's the, the amount of cigar acumen you have. It's just shocking [01:04:00] that we had to go through this process of telling you how to do this. I think you're just
**Bam Bam:** like busting my chops now.
What? It's
**Gizmo:** is. We love you. Bam. We care about you. We do love you too. I love you. This is an intervention.
**Grinder:** I love you too. Need intervention. We want you to optimize this. I
**Bam Bam:** want me to, I enjoy my
cigar
**Gizmo:** passion. Yeah. I just, what I hear is you don't care about the listener. That's what I'm hearing. Oh. Because they counting us.
Well, that's, that's a little, that's a little too, they're counting on us to, to provide information
**Grinder:** that, that's a
**Bam Bam:** definitive statement. You know, that's, I've got my tail between my legs now. That's, that's my, I I'm,
**Grinder:** it's a fix. It's a, I'm very hurt problem. That's, it's a fixable problem. Well, this is what happens with the accountability hour.
It's gonna hurt for a couple minutes. It hurts , and then it's gonna feel really, really good.
**Rooster:** By, by next pod he will have the
**Gizmo:** tower. Yes. Yes. Going with
**Grinder:** cigars in it. Yep. And I do have a big shipment of
**Bam Bam:** cigars coming
**Grinder:** now, so I've gotta get it done.
**Gizmo:** Here's your deadline. I've gotta get it done. Here's your deadline.
Yeah. Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day. It needs to be up and running.
**Grinder:** I'm gonna work on it tomorrow. Okay. I'm holding tomorrow. You're gonna sheet Pan. Gift yourself a I'm hop.
**Poobah:** [01:05:00] Yeah. And by the way, you know what I do? I would like that when I reorganize my humidor, which isn't very often cuz I'm a little bit of a pig pen.
I'm not like senator.
**Grinder:** I'm very angel about winds up the fucking bands and shit
**Poobah:** on his singles
**Grinder:** and they point in the same direction. He's fastidious. Have you, have you guys ever seen American Psycho? He really, Senator? Yeah. .
**Poobah:** Yeah. Yeah. Mine. My, my humanoid is just like a Tetris kit. .
**Grinder:** Uh, but but
**Poobah:** anyway. All plugged together?
Yeah, all just what I can jam in. But anyway, but what I do actually, cuz I keep guitars and stuff too acoustic guitars down in where I keep it, what I'll do is I. This thing called Aveta, V E N T A, which is an air cleaner and a humidifier, but it's not like a fucking Vix humidifier, like one of the tobacco is.
We know he runs in this humidor that just, uh, you put like in a baby's room. Oof. It's not like from the seventies. It's not that it actually recycles air, cleans it, and humidifies the air. It's, they're made in Switzerland. They're really good. [01:06:00] They're good for wooden keeping room instruments out of their case.
What I do is I actually get the humidity up in that room. You guys have seen my little room? Yeah. I get the humidity up to about, you know, 52, which is good per perfect for instruments, right? So then when I open the humidor, it's not a, it's not a shit show. It's not jarring, it's not like shocking to it. So, oh, cool.
I d so I do that. So if you wanna run, if it's in a small enough area, no, get it a little humid in there. So you're not fighting to like, Get the whole thing back up. I'm not, cause it's not gonna take two seconds to load, do the loading. So Yeah. Plus it's in the cell and organize
**Gizmo:** it. It isn't in a
**Grinder:** cell's cellar.
**Bam Bam:** I saw his room, he's got a cool setup. He's got his desk there, he's got all his guitars and it's a separate room from the rest of the cellar level. That's kind of cool. I don't have that.
**Grinder:** I've got one
**Gizmo:** big room down. You're gonna build a separate room. That's what you're waiting, you gotta, you gotta build a How would, how
**Poobah:** would he be able to do that?
**Grinder:** I get it. I get it. Does he know how to do that? I'm
**Gizmo:** not, I never said he's putting
**Grinder:** an addition. I am not doing that. He would've to
**Poobah:** charge himself [01:07:00] $77,000. The
**Grinder:** wall. He could also, it's a contractor,
**Poobah:** he invoice himself. I'm sorry. Hi. Bam. Honey, this is bam. I'm sorry, we're we're behind schedule and 40% overestimate.
I can't get the human or in, that's what he called himself. I'm sorry. I know the materials are there. It's just we're on other jobs. I can't install my own
**Grinder:** ba. This is bam. Bam. I can't afford myself. I
**Poobah:** cannot afford myself. Timeliness blown. He, even as a contractor, he even blew his own timeline.
**Grinder:** Bam. This is Bam.
PA
**Poobah:** Rescue. Bam. Hi, this is
**Grinder:** Bam . I'm really sorry.
**Poobah:** I've blown my own timeline. ,
**Grinder:** pa, can you please
**Bam Bam:** rescue me please? ? Listen, I, the only thing I remember is I think we were supposed to order it at the same time. I did. I've had the human running for over a year, right? No, no, no, no. We, we were at Brick, I think took an extra, it took an extra six months to get my humal.
Shocking because you didn't order
**Grinder:** Karma's a bitch. . [01:08:00] Yeah. Yeah, kind of, you
**Rooster:** know, since you have had the humidor, pagodas wife has like changed the hinges
**Gizmo:** on it five times. Can I just say
**Grinder:** this is a, this is a fucking odd slog. This is a abuse. This is called accountability. What do you expect? I'm gonna cry
That's what we're going for. Hi. Hello Felic.
**Poobah:** Hello. This is Hello. Hi, how you doing? Hi. This is, yeah. No, this is Ba. No. I know the, the job was supposed to be done. Can you kill his
**Grinder:** mic, please? The materials. Mic,
**Poobah:** the materials are in . It's just getting it in the schedule right now is very, getting help is difficult.
Yeah. Getting, you know, it's been very tough. Right? Labor's not supply, supply chains. No. Labor are a problem. And, um, you know, prices are going up.
**Grinder:** Cuba. Cuba, he's charging himself like
**Bam Bam:** more money. Pba, please, please, please leave. Bam. The Tupper man. alone. Tupperware
**Grinder:** man. Alone. I'm [01:09:00] sorry. All right. Okay.
**Gizmo:** It's too easy.
All right, so let's, we're gonna stop the pile on now. Okay. What we, we've processed this issue together. Yes. Yes. What, what takeaways, what's the delta? What takeaways do you have here and what, uh, what are your action items moving forward? Well, I've realized I
**Grinder:** have no friends in the room. He's gonna make a pun.
**Poobah:** He's gonna make a punch list and do nothing
**Grinder:** and never show up again.
**Bam Bam:** He's missing the door
**Grinder:** in. I'm sorry. This is too easy. It's too easy.
Hold on.
**Gizmo:** All right. So what are your action items here? What are you, what's, what are the takeaways? Well, I gotta
**Bam Bam:** wipe the thing out, get my oasis in, seal it up and get my cigars in there. That's it. And what's
**Gizmo:** your timeline?
**Grinder:** Valentine's Day. He said tomorrow. Tomorrow?
**Bam Bam:** Okay. I'll get it done tomorrow. All right, good.
I got estimates to write. I got call. Oh, fuck it. I'm putting it all aside. I'm gonna do this tomorrow.
**Senator:** More. We have, we have only thing that you need to seal lot tomorrow is the electrical box in the back end the door to steal around it. That
**Grinder:** means April. And the weather's stripping around the door. Yep. [01:10:00]
**Senator:** 24.
Yes. And on the weather's stripping, like the thinnest kind you can possibly get.
**Grinder:** Yeah, I've got that foam, but super thin. It's like an eighth of an inch. If it's thick, it's
**Bam Bam:** not gonna close. Yeah. Eighth of an inch
**Gizmo:** probably. So, uh, for the listeners out there who've emailed us asking, what's the status here?
**Grinder:** No one's emailed you. What's up with Bam? No one has emailed me. Please keep the email. No one. I know.
**Gizmo:** I've seen no one has emailed you. Join the accountability . Help us help. Bam.
**Grinder:** Easy Rider 7 26 emailed us last week saying what's up with BA's humidor. Who? Easy
**Gizmo:** Rider? 7 2 6. He's a listener band. Remember? You don't care about the listener.
I do.
**Bam Bam:** He's one of them. Oh, easy Rider. I got you.
Punchless is on its way. Okay, what's the next topic?
**Gizmo:** Oh gosh. How's the cigar? That was fun.
**Grinder:** The very
**Senator:** last thing. There's one key component missing here. Should he not do this? What's the punishment? He has to, he has to give the tower up to the,
**Bam Bam:** to the rest of us. Yes. Fuck that. It's gonna happen. No, it's gonna happen. There has to be
**Gizmo:** some consequences.
**Rooster:** [01:11:00] I'm coming over
**Gizmo:** next week.
I'm gonna take the tower. Uh, I'm taking the cigars, that tower I, that I procured for him. By the way, you need
**Bam Bam:** a double tower. With your stock. Come on. So wait.
**Senator:** That's why he's gonna take yours, . I,
**Grinder:** I personally think he will pay it. The, uh, the accountability hour in the, in the public shaming is, is, is enough.
But having some teeth in implemented into this policy, it has come to a conclusion, might be worth, I think we, we've
**Senator:** reached that point. If you don't have it set up, all of, give us to come over and take a box of our choosing from a box box, Tupperware, a box. A box. A. Each? No, no. A stick a box. I I
**Grinder:** go first.
**Bam Bam:** a stick.
Oh, a stick
**Grinder:** please. Mike. He
**Poobah:** only has like seven boxes. This is be a
**Gizmo:** big deal. We would only be taking our own boxes back
**Grinder:** No respect. No
**Gizmo:** respect at all.
**Poobah:** Oh,
**Gizmo:** no. That was fun. Oh, that was f So fun. . . Bam. Thank,
**Grinder:** bam. Easy. It was just too easy.
**Bam Bam:** the contractor jokes. This never had . [01:12:00]
**Grinder:** Oh
**Poobah:** man. Good thing there isn't a lawyer in the room.
**Gizmo:** Oh yeah. So boys we're uh, into the last third here of the h Chapman Magnum 50. What do I thinking right now?
I like it.
**Grinder:** It's really good though. Yeah. I've started another cigar. Yeah. Senators finished. You finished it because I finished it.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Yeah, I'm done. Yeah. It's really, really good. Mm-hmm. .
**Bam Bam:** Damn you. You guys smoke really
**Gizmo:** fast, so I'm just surprised. All right, boys, are you ready to do the, uh, formal liquor rating on the Aber War 12?
Yes. Or scotch pairing tonight? . Yeah. Bam. Bam. You're up. Mm-hmm. ,
**Bam Bam:** I'm gonna give this an eight. Okay.
**Gizmo:** Delicious. Grindr, uh,
**Grinder:** in between a seven and an eight. Excuse me. I'll give it a seven.
**Gizmo:** Okay. Pagoda? Eight. Okay. Senator? Eight. Eight for me. Poobah h. Eight. Okay. Formal liquor rating on this is a 7.8 mm, which I
**Bam Bam:** think is perfect.
I think it's low. Eight. Eight. I think it's a bit lower. It should have been an even eight.
**Gizmo:** I mean, look, I, I, I'm actually .
**Grinder:** Hey, this still evil eyes . [01:13:00] It's a great spirit, man.
**Senator:** No, it is. Is, but, but I have to, these ice in these ice we're the, where the rating ended up I actually think is very reflective of where it should be.
Even as someone who gave it an eight. The reason I say, Like if we had decimals. Why? I love when this gets average. I think nine times outta 10, if not 10 outta 10 ends in the right spot. If there's one knock I have on this, look, this is first of all, extremely versatile. Like Poobah said, you have this like in the summer when it's hot.
Yeah, you can have this when it's cold, but you don't want something too full body. There's so many applications for this great, but the thing that it lacks is complexity. It's very straightforward. It's just a sherry. You know exactly what you're gonna get. There is nothing hidden or complex in this spirit.
And so for me, that's where like you, you have to deduct a little bit. So I think like a, a 78 out of a hundred is like exactly where this belongs. Uh, but it's, it's delicious. I mean, you could polish this. I mean, we, we've almost killed the bottle. We don't do that. We will kill that, that bottle. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** We, what's the, uh, price point on this?
We didn't talk about
**Senator:** that. Oh, it's fantastic that, that's the other thing [01:14:00] that really should factor in. Now this is where, I mean, maybe there's merit when BAM says it's too low because the price point is so good. This is when it goes from algebra to, should be able to get this for a long time, for 40 bucks a bottle, which is outrageous.
What's it now? Wow.
**Gizmo:** I think like
**Senator:** 45. I think it's around
**Grinder:** 50 bucks.
**Bam Bam:** 50 bucks. That's awesome. I bought one weeks ago, bro. $50 for that is, that's a very fair price. That's excellent fan. It's
**Grinder:** great
**Poobah:** price. Well, that, that's why the, uh, the, the balcony is priced so competitively
**Grinder:** 60,
**Bam Bam:** 62 off the charts and, and LV is way
**Gizmo:** better, I think.
Oh, yeah. Well, and we're gonna, we're gonna revisit that one too. It more expensive. That's
**Bam Bam:** what, 65 a bottle. See, I don't know if that word better applies. It's just different. They're both very good. That's also, that's also very shees and not like this. No, not this way, but yeah. Yeah. But you know, I think it's got more
**Grinder:** complexity
**Bam Bam:** and a little more.
**Senator:** Of course, sure. This price point reflects that it's like $15 more bottle than this is.
**Gizmo:** Yep. Yeah. Yeah. All right boys, we've come to the end here of the H up in [01:15:00] Magnum number 50. I am really liking the cigar. Great. Great. Finish performed beautifully. Yep. I didn't touch it up one time, even when I was talking about Cuba.
Or busting bas balls. I didn't touch it up One time. The entire entire had to smoke. Well, all right, , he's holding himself accountable. Yeah. This is the accountability hour. All right. We're still in it. God damn you. Are you guys ready to do the, uh, formal is rating on this thing? Yes. All right, rooster, you're up.
**Rooster:** All right. So I'm gonna give it a seven. Oh, wow. But I'm gonna explain, uh, okay. Later on. We'll, wait. So when you pick up the cigar, to me, I feel like this should have a little bit more flavor. I mean, it's, it's a pleasant smoke, but I need more out of a stick that, that size. And I typically would smoke this in the morning, but I won't pick this up in the morning because it's such a big
**Gizmo:** cigar.
**Rooster:** So, for that reason, and it, it was, it was pleasant. It wa it didn't blow me away. I mean, it's a good cigar, but [01:16:00] there's other better monds that I enjoy more. Hmm. Like the 46. Yeah. Um, so I think that's the reason why I would, I'm, I'm at a seven. Okay.
**Gizmo:** Poobah.
**Poobah:** Yeah, it's a tough one for me. I mean,
**Gizmo:** um,
**Poobah:** I don't, I don't think it's a seven for me.
I think for what it is and what it's designed to be, it's not like it's trying to be something different than it is. Uh, so. I think if you want a relaxing smoke, that's gonna take some time. And that's mild. It, it's the, the construction was good. Didn't touch it up once. The combustion was really good. Um, it was rolled really well.
The build was really solid, so I'm gonna give it an eight just because it's, I can't give it a seven. [01:17:00] Because I don't think it's, I don't think it's trying to be anything else than what it is now. If it's not for you, that's a different story, so be it. Yeah. So be it. But I, I, I can't give it as low at that low of a score because I think it, I think it's a little bit better than that.
Than a, than a, than a than a seven 70 point cigar. Yeah. You know,
**Gizmo:** for me, so for me, any other magnum I think I've had in the past would probably have been a six or a seven. This is definitely the best. Excuse me. Magnum 50 I've had in the past would be a six or seven. Um, for this specific cigar. For what it did, for what it was.
Um, this was absolutely an eight for me all day. It bordered, I was touching a nine for a minute, but it's settled out very clearly at an eight, especially as I think about the other Magnum fifties. The one thing that Rooster said that for me makes a lot of sense is I just don't see this slotting in for me a lot.
Generally when I'm reaching for something in the afternoon. It's not a big double re boosto smoke.
**Bam Bam:** It doesn't need to slot in. I mean it That's true what it is.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. But I'm not gonna rush out and buy a box of these for sure. [01:18:00] Senator, I
**Senator:** love Rooster's commentary on this cuz we're in lockstep and I was worried that everyone was gonna give this an eight and I was gonna be the lowest score.
I am absolutely outta seven. The reason I'm outta. There, there's a lot that works well in the cigar. The construction, like Poobah said, is fantastic. I didn't have many problems. Obviously the, the band, but that's every Cuban, that's, that's nothing specific to this. The, the things I have a hard time with are for what it is.
So this is designed to be a mild smoke, which would slot in for me early in the day. Um, and you, you mentioned that there, there's some comparisons to qd in kind of this lighter profile, which I very much resonate with me as I was smoking it. I've become obsessed with as a morning smoke, a QD 50. What I like most about that cigar that I didn't, not one lizard in this room mentioned this word.
There's a creaminess, I mentioned it. E qd 50. Mm-hmm. . I did not get a creaminess about this cigar. I got a lot of different flavor notes. There was complexity. Those are all merits that, that deserve praise. But the thing for me, I [01:19:00] just love, like in the morning with a cup of coffee, which is where I would reach for a stick, like just a creaminess that kind of brings everything together in a way that I'm able to get from other milder sticks that this didn't have.
So just for my personal preference, that was one thing that I would've hoped for in this that was lacking. I also think that the size, it's just too long for something that's gonna slot in early in the day. Yep. Um, at most I'm gonna smoke a regular re boosto. I'm not gonna smoke something this long. So, um, those were, were kind of the two biggest things for me.
And then the last thing I'll say, which also was a problem, the final third, I liked that it picked up in flavor and started to get peppery. , but really close down the stretch. Like when I was starting to smoke this closer to the nub, this is not a cigar. I would smoke all the way to the nub. I found like the flavored like totally got lost and it was just hot tobacco toward the very end.
Where a lot of other Cubans like, you know, a, a a D four, D five, a d six, like you can smoke that literally to your fingers burn and that flavor is still so good. Yeah. Um, so that just didn't happen for me here, so that's why I landed a seven.
**Gizmo:** Got it. Pagoda. [01:20:00] Yeah. This is, uh, really interesting because, uh, this, uh, definitely does not fit in my flavor profile, but I gotta tell you, the last third is something I'm really enjoying.
I enjoyed the first third, I think the middle. I
**Bam Bam:** kind of lost
**Gizmo:** it. Um, my thought with it is I was going between a seven
**Bam Bam:** and eight and seven and eight and I, I think it's a really strong seven, but this is one of those Cuban cigars. I could have easily
**Gizmo:** pushed
**Bam Bam:** toward an eight, uh, especially
**Grinder:** the last third. I think if it had
**Gizmo:** a little more of the last third, somewhere in the middle as well.
I think it'd definitely be an eight for me.
grinder.
**Grinder:** Um, so there's a lot of, uh, things about the cigar that I really appreciate and enjoy. You know, this is a flavor profile that is really kind of something that I like. It's, it's lighter, it's smoother. Um, the aroma out of the cigar was phenomenal. Just outta the end of the, the, the, the foot of the cigar was really something special.
And it [01:21:00] maybe had something to do with the age on it or, you know, just the quality of tobacco. Um, the thing, you know, That itself, if I just look at that in isolation, it, this is would be a perfect cigar for me because like they had that smoothness and then it, in the middle they had this, there was this spice that came on that was like reminiscent of mond, but it wasn't, it just wasn't there.
Um, in totality. And for that I was like often frustrated. I, I think that's kind of the word that I would say is frustrated because they had this subtlety that I liked and I appreciated the softness and the creaminess. I didn't, I, I did get some creaminess as senator mentioned, but I was generally, uh, frustrated because, That smoothness wasn't consistent.
It was like, there was, it was very episodic. And for a cigar this size, there was, there was just, there was too many episodic moments of goodness, but also just like, meh, you know, I have to spend all this time smoking the cigar . Uh, [01:22:00] however, it did burn pretty quickly. So, uh, for that it was just, uh, it was a very, very solid seven, uh, for me, very, very solid seven.
And I don't know, uh, the last time I smoked the cigar what I would have rated it, but I would be keen on understanding that because I wouldn't be surprised if it's similar to
**Bam Bam:** that. Hmm. Bam. Bam. Hmm. I'm gonna give this an eight and, and I'm giving it an eight because I, there aren't very many lighter bodied cigars that are of this quality that I like.
I really like this cigar, and I'm a, it's not in my flavor profile at all either, but, For the guys and gals out there that like a lighter cigar. I think this is a home run for them and I think it's worth an eight
**Grinder:** a rating. I find that so, so interesting cuz I, I I would be super, this would be in my, in my power alley, but I gave it a seven.
Yeah. It's strange.
**Poobah:** I I, yeah. I think it, there's merit in those, the commentary. I think the commentary, there's, it's [01:23:00] insightful. I'm a little bit more of an up in like person maybe like, I, I don't know, but I think you are. I think I am. But you, you guys aren't wrong. I mean, it doesn't, I guess reflecting back, I, I just, I, it doesn't, I, I index up a little bit with upk.
Um, probably, but you're not wrong. Like everything that you guys said. Is, I couldn't quite give it a seven, but it's, it's, it was, it was just an eight for me. It was just an eight. Hold on What Senator
**Grinder:** said early on, very early. I just think
**Poobah:** it was very good commentary. Yeah. And in our report it's accurate. I mean, like
**Bam Bam:** early on, Senator, you said this is a polarizing cigar in a lot of the reviews.
There's a reason for that. I think it's because of the quality of it. It's hard to place it for a lot of people because it's so light
**Grinder:** body. I, I was, I was looking, I was looking for a more definitive statement in the ci. and I got a lot of whispers, you know? Ah, yeah. Yeah. So that's, that's pretty accurate. I agree with that.
Not
**Senator:** wrong, and, and I like the way you described it. That's [01:24:00] okay. I also just wanna say, I mean, even in giving this a seven, and I don't know the other guys that gave it a seven, feel free to agree or disagree when I'm giving this stick a seven. This is not saying that I didn't enjoy the cigar, that this is a bad cigar.
I see. If someone gave me one of these, when I smoke this again, absolutely sure. Anything I rate a seven or higher, I would smoke again. Sure, sure. But the difference for me, between a seven and an eight, nine or a 10 is, will I pursue a box of these? No. Will I myself seek to smoke this again, not necessarily, but if it fell into my possession, if, you know, I was so, and, and somewhere and this was really all they had, I would pick this up and know that I'm gonna have a, a fairly satisfying experience, just not a top experience like some of the other sticks.
Right. If I
**Poobah:** was doing, if let's say you had some cigars and you were like, okay, we were trading something like, well, I'll throw in a mag 50 plus this, this, and this. You'd be like, okay. Like it wouldn't.
**Grinder:** You know, it
**Poobah:** wouldn't offend me. No, it wouldn't. No. You'd be like, all right, like I'll definitely having a few in your humidor isn't a bad thing.
Maybe you don't go out and buy a cabinet, but maybe you buy five and you age 'em and you keep 'em around for a [01:25:00] while, you know? . Yeah. Like I only have one cabinet of these, so I looked, I thought it maybe I had more, but I only actually have the one cabinet cuz I don't go for it that often. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** But again, I'm gonna go back to what I said earlier.
There aren't very many lighter bodied cigars that are of this quality that I wanna smoke. I would smoke this again. Yeah. Yeah.
**Grinder:** It's that
**Poobah:** simple. The build was terrific. Yeah, absolutely. The construction was terrific. Quick, we didn't touch it up like it's like a combustion, it's like a premium cigar. I would would say.
There's no question there's a premium, but there's no doubt about it. But I think, and it wasn't like, it wasn't like so, uh, it wasn't like just the complete. Dead lay as, no, you know what I'm saying? like, like, you know, it wasn't just like a wet fish
**Grinder:** or a woo
**Senator:** no, but, but the flip side of that, it wasn't memorable.
Like for me, that's, that's
**Grinder:** what me from giving, yeah, no, it's not memorable, but I also
**Gizmo:** think for the people hold who pursue this, the people who pursued this kind of flavor in a cigar, it's a home run for them. You know what, this is exactly what they're
**Grinder:** looking
**Bam Bam:** for. It's, it's also not memorable for [01:26:00] those that pursue a different type of cigar like we do as a group.
**Grinder:** I, I think, I think that's all it is. A nice analogy that I just kind of thought of is like, you know, when you're a kid and you go to, like, some kids are really into roller coasters. You go to roller coasters, different theme parks, and you get to some, some really beginner roller coasters and intermediate and really like high velocity roller coasters.
This is one of those where like we're all experienced roller coaster rider and we get into this middle one that's like, oh, this is a great brand. It's at a great park, it's gonna be awesome. It goes inverted, does this, that, the other thing. And then you're just like, yeah, it goes upside down, you know, it goes, it goes kind of fast and it goes, does this and this wheelie and so on and forth.
But it wasn't. It was underwhelming. It wasn't, it wasn't satis. It wasn't that. It wasn't satisfying. It was, but it was just kind of like, yeah, been there. I'm surprised because you've been on that. I've been like that lighter profile. I know. But shock. I,
**Senator:** but
**Grinder:** I was, it was, it was like a, I was, use the word again, episodic.
I had, I was like, oh, this is really great. And then it was just like, but it died. It just kind of died,
**Gizmo:** you know?
**Rooster:** I actually [01:27:00] enjoyed the beginning of
**Grinder:** that
**Bam Bam:** cigar. No, the beginning and the end. I like the whole thing beginning.
**Gizmo:** I enjoyed the whole thing. Front to back. Yeah. Oh,
**Poobah:** yeah, yeah, yeah. It was, it was, it wasn't like I didn't get frustrated smoking it.
Mm-hmm. , but it didn't blow my hair back either. Yeah.
**Rooster:** Mm-hmm. . Yeah, it was pl it was pleasant. But
**Poobah:** if I was, if I could give it a 7.6 I, no matter if I'm breaking the rules.
**Gizmo:** Well that's what's funny is that's, if I exact formalist rating seven, eight is a 7.6 7 8 0 7
**Grinder:** 8.
**Bam Bam:** 7.88. Do the math. Do the math. Come
**Poobah:** on guys.
Jesus. Like if I could give it a 7.6
**Gizmo:** with a 7.6, you have three. You did say 7 8, 7 0.8 on the aor. Ah, ah,
**Grinder:** that's, oh.
**Gizmo:** Oh. The AOR was a 7.8 and the Magnum 50 was a 7.6. Okay. That's an accurate score. That's an accurate, that's a perfect score. It's a perfect score for, for, for the pairing. Hmm. I
**Grinder:** can't believe I just, I really handicapped that.
Got my ass enjoy. I really enjoyed smoking it and like I've, I smoke, I [01:28:00] smoke cigars and I rate 'em a seven and that's like a high score for me of course. And I love that, that flavor profile. Hmm. Uh,
**Gizmo:** I just think, I think for me the same thing with the center said I gave it an eight. It was the best Magnum 50 I've ever had.
I'm not gonna rush out and buy a box. I would have five or 10 in my humie, be very happy with them and probably have them for five
**Grinder:** years. I'm not gonna reach for them. And from the point of view of the listener, it's a
**Bam Bam:** recommend
**Grinder:** re's, a retro's, a recommend, anything over a seven.
**Gizmo:** Seven is a re And if you're in the flavor, if, if your palate prefers a mild to medium cigar.
This is a six and a a quarter inch long, 50 ring gauge cigar. That smokes great. You're gonna love it like a chimney. Great construction. Go try
**Bam Bam:** it. Excellent combustion.
**Grinder:** Excellent combustion. And the aroma on the foot is phenomen. It's amazing. Yeah, it's really, and and like I said, there are those whispers of spice.
The whis, like there's a, there is complexity that they, that they interweave into it. It's just not very
**Gizmo:** pronounced like the Mag 46 for a lot of smokers, they don't love it. And that, and that's
**Grinder:** what we love. It's some people that might be perfect. Love that cigar. Yeah. It might be perfect.
**Gizmo:** Exactly. Grind. I think we ta talked [01:29:00] about it earlier on.
I, very early on. I think the blend was very, very specific and intentional and I think what they were going for, they achieved. Yeah. Agreed. I really do. And the fact that we didn't have to touch it up, I think is really a high,
**Poobah:** it's a premium. Yeah. It's a high mark. It's a's they were really rolled well.
Yeah, yeah,
**Gizmo:** yeah, yeah. The fact that you
**Senator:** didn't get nicotine
**Gizmo:** poisoning. .
**Grinder:** Yes. I, I, these were, these were, were well said. Were great cigars. Thank you. That's excellent.
**Poobah:** Absolutely. Thank you. Oh, by the way, you know, just let sell us something pretty good. Golf, of course. Cigar, if you were on the golf course. Oh yeah.
Yeah. That's good. You know, it would be, it would be nice in the summer and you put it in the golf cart. It's big enough. And it'll last you for the, you know, the, that or by the pool or something. You, you could let it, even if it goes out, you'll be lighted. So, I mean, I think it has its spot. Oh yeah. It may not be like the lounge cigar.
It's definitely not an after dinner cigar. Yeah. But it's a spot maybe, uh, warmer months and you've got some time on your hands. Light one up. Maybe, maybe
**Grinder:** open up the, uh, the arts section of the, of the, uh, of the journal and [01:30:00] you, you smoke a little more. There you go. Sunday afternoon, or I think the,
**Senator:** sure. I think the best , I think the best application for this cigar is gonna be, bam.
While you're setting up the tower.
**Grinder:** I knew you were gonna say one of these. Yes. He's gonna set you do there. Alright. Pba. I need one of those. ,
**Poobah:** by the way. It's yours. Set up the tower.
**Gizmo:** I, I'll do that. Bam. Don't be so hard on yourself with the invoice. Okay. Get it done, . All right,
**Grinder:** boys. Bam. This is Bam. Oh
**Poobah:** my God.
Bam. This is bam. Bam. This is
**Grinder:** bam. Let it go. We got go. I love that.
**Poobah:** Talk to me about the project . Move
**Gizmo:** it along. Gizmo. All right, boys. A 7.8 for the Abor single malt Scotch. And a 7.6 for the Cuban Huppman. Number 50. Magnum Number 50. Great night boys. I think we accomplished a lot tonight. I think bam. Bam has a list of things to.
We, we covered a lot of things tonight. . This might be BA's last stuff. Easter .
**Grinder:** Uh, I quit. that, that's tomorrow. And that is it for Bam. Today. He will leave you with a [01:31:00] Fuck it. We're gonna
**Gizmo:** do it live. All right boys. A 7.8 for the Avaro. 12 year, uh, single malt Scotch whiskey. And a 7.6 for the Cuban H up in number 50 and excellent night.
We accomplished a lot. Bam. Bam has a has list to do. Yes, sir. Good luck.
**Poobah:** 0.0
**Grinder:** for bims. That is really, that's low. That's really
**Gizmo:** love. Good luck. Bam. We love you. All right, boys. We'll see you next week. You smoke. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You could find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, lounge lizards pod.com.
That's Lounge lizards p o d.com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us hello@loungelizardspod.com. You can also find us on Instagram at Lounge Lizards Pod.
[01:32:00] We really appreciate your time and we'll uh, we'll see you next week.