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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 are normally around 90 minutes long 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 presented by Fabrica5. 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, Chef Ricky, 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. So take this as your 148th official invitation to join us, and become a card carrying lounge lizard. We plan to a week. We're gonna smoke a New World cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating.
We revisit a familiar friend from Oban, we discuss Davidoff returning to the PCA show, And we share the latest lizard bingo card from a listener, all among a variety of other things for the next two hours. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we pair 14 year old Oban single malt scotch whiskey with the Roma craft in Temperance Volstead VO 1920 in noble experiment.
A Robusto Gorda [00:01:00] tonight from Nicaragua. It's the Roma Craft Intemperance Volstead VO 1920 in Noble Experiment. And boys, just like the name being a mouthful, this cigar is 56 ring gauge. By five inches long. Uh, yeah. So we continue our journey into bigger ring gauge cigars.
**Bam Bam:** Nice toothy wrapper. Honestly, very rugged.
Yeah. Rustic looks like a brownie to me. Block of brownie.
**Gizmo:** It does. Yeah. It does look like a brownie. Yeah. You know, what's interesting is the box press. It doesn't feel like a 56 ring gauge cigar in your hand because of the box press. I think without that box press, this would feel pretty robust. That's because it's
**Bam Bam:** rectangular, right?
Yeah. You got a shorter dimension, so it doesn't feel bulky. Yeah.
**Pagoda:** Oh, the architect spoke .
**Senator:** Did, did anybody notice the wrapper doesn't go all the way down to the end of the foot? Yes. It's like a I did notice that. It's really bizarre.
**Gizmo:** I wonder if that's like a flavor thing on the light or something. A decision they made.
That's interesting. That's what
**Rooster:** [00:02:00] Doff did with the dragons.
**Bam Bam:** Um, like a year. The dragon, right? Literally a 32nd of an inch. Like just like this. Yeah. They pulled it back. Mm-Hmm. .
**Gizmo:** Alright boys, let's cut this thing. See we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper.
Cole draws great.
**Bam Bam:** Wide open. Mm hmm.
**Gizmo:** Definitely getting the raisin dried fruit thing. Pretty woody.
**Bam Bam:** A little cedar. Not getting any dried fruit. Cedar. I'm getting raisin for sure. Wow. It's a little too open for me. Yeah. I like a little resistance. Yeah. There's no resistance, none at all.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. My cold draw doesn't have a whole lot here. I have some Cedar, not, not much dried fruit, and maybe it's because of the color, but I'm feeling a little bit of cocoa. I shouldn't have said brownie. I'm sorry. The color of the wrapper does look like a, like a Hershey cocoa powder color. Almost. [00:03:00] Um, all right.
No more power of suggestion. Okay.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys, let's light this thing. The Roma craft in temperance Volstead VO 19, 20 in noble experiment. Again, it's a 56 ring gauge cigar by five inches long coming out of Nicaragua. It's one of 11 in this line. We'll go through all those. And this is the first entry from Roma craft tonight on the podcast.
So we'll talk about their story a little bit as well. What's the cost on this? These were 10 bucks. Okay. Affordable.
**Senator:** Did anybody mention spice on the cold draw? No, no. Okay. My mouth still after just the cold draw tastes like I just had like spicy food. Oh boy. It's like a tingle. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Really? Senator does not like spice.
**Senator:** I'm getting nervous. No, I don't mind spice. I'm just surprised. I wasn't expecting it on the cigar. Interesting. [00:04:00]
**Bam Bam:** It's a spicy brownie. The aroma off the foot is actually quite nice on the toast here. Hmm, that's nice on the white. So I'm doing something now that Poobah recommended long ago. Every single The purge?
Yeah. I am actually purging every single time I complete a toast on every cigar. I've been doing that for a long time. I just recently I did it when he said it. It's pretty, it's a revelation, honestly, for me.
**Poobah:** Yeah,
**Gizmo:** it helps. Yeah. Especially when you're using the torch. This is a nice open on this cigar. Nice start.
**Chef Ricky:** I'm getting some kind of, like, crushed pepper. You know, not black pepper, not white pepper. There's a little bit of, like, meatiness to it.
**Rooster:** It's like a pizza pepper. You know, one of those like the red pepper,
**Bam Bam:** the retro hair
**Rooster:** that'll put hair in your nose. Wow. That's about the only place hair grows these days, [00:05:00] bro.
TMI,
**Pagoda:** bro.
**Bam Bam:** But this is,
**Senator:** this is quite a cigar. The smoke output and the combustion is ridiculous.
**Gizmo:** We are, we are not going to be able to see each other in about five minutes.
**Chef Ricky:** I tell you what, I mean, this is pretty full right off the bat for me. Oh, absolutely. On the body, especially. It's a very rich cigar.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** And I think with the spice, it makes it almost, um, I don't want to use the word overwhelming, but it's like, it's full. It's enveloping. It's enveloping all your senses.
**Senator:** It's just like
**Bam Bam:** sensory
**Senator:** overload almost. But here's a question. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Doesn't it dissipate fairly quickly? For me, it does the spice. Doesn't know.
I'm getting a spice. Like, yeah, it's like literally
**Senator:** after the draw, just like I got on the cold draw. It tastes like I just had some spicy meal.
**Rooster:** You feel it in the back of your throat, especially when you feel it back there. Not
**Bam Bam:** yet. For me, I'm getting on a front and it goes away fast, but after the retro hill, it stays in your knees.
All the retro is, I won't do that again. [00:06:00]
**Gizmo:** All that being said, though, I, I, I'm actually surprisingly, I'm enjoying this. And I'm surprised that I'm enjoying it as much as I am because everything that we're calling out is counter to what I would look for in a cigar normally. But
**Rooster:** this is actually pretty delicious.
So we're at that point now that the rapper is actually coming into play. So I think that's going to change. Uh, so you get that pepper blast in the beginning. So now with the rapper, maybe that will, if this continues
**Bam Bam:** in this track trajectory and it increases in strength. I don't know. I don't see me finishing this cigar.
I'm hoping, like Rooster's
**Senator:** saying, that the wrapper's gonna tame the spice. I would hope so. That's my hope. Yeah. You
**Chef Ricky:** know what I do love about the exposed foot? It almost gives you that perfect toast and light. You know, there's no, it kind of starts you off. And on the toast, it helps prevent you from kind of charring your wrapper.
Right. Um, which we should all be able to do anyway. But it's a good little cheat. What are we
**Senator:** doing? Pagoda, you okay?
**Bam Bam:** I'm all right. Someone [00:07:00] passed gas. Something happened. No, no, no.
**Pagoda:** I don't. I
**Chef Ricky:** don't know. Guys. Poo was thinking an awful. Oh, he is. He is.
**Bam Bam:** Um, it's a little scary. What's going on in that, in that brain right now.
Get them. Something's about to happen.
**Poobah:** No, no, no, no. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm just, I'm, you know, yeah, you, you'll light a cigar and then in the first few puffs, it's usually approachable and pretty good and who knows what this will turn into. Thank you. But. It's previewing like it could be a pretty, pretty strong cigar.
Oh, yeah. So I'll reserve my commentary until further notice.
**Rooster:** So you don't see too many cigars where the foot is exposed, right? I mean, this might be only the second, second. Yeah, second or third cigar that I have seen that on.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. And it's very subtle. Most people would miss it.
**Rooster:** You wouldn't even like notice it if Senator had not mentioned it.
Yeah. I didn't even notice it. Yeah. No,
**Chef Ricky:** especially with the [00:08:00] lighting in here, it's a little dim. So it's tough to see the difference.
**Gizmo:** Bam Bam's a very demanding client as far as the lighting goes. So. Correct. He dials it in every, well, every time we record. You do a very good job. Thanks, man.
**Pagoda:** It's about setting up the right mood.
That's true.
**Senator:** I'm just going to say this is my first experience with a cigar that the wrapper doesn't, you know, completely cover the foot. I'm not a fan. The reason I say that we hoped is happening. The wrapper is taming the spice. And I feel like it's much more balanced now where to start was way too peppery for me.
So I wish this would have went all the way down. I would have enjoyed this from the light. I didn't enjoy that little bit initially. And now it's settling into something that I can't appreciate.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. There's a little sweetness coming through. Yeah. I wonder what that blending decision is to kind of punch you in the face on the light with The spice and, and to, to pull the, to not have the sweetness present when you light the cigar and to make you wait five or six or [00:09:00] seven minutes.
Maybe it's a functional thing. Maybe
**Poobah:** they think it's like you light, you light the filler and then you avoid kind of Kind of wakes you up. You avoid. The user, the user from, from It does do that. Hey, I'm here. Messing up the wrapper when they light it. I don't know.
**Senator:** I have a different theory. I mean, I have no clue if this is accurate, but Yeah, I have
**Poobah:** no clue if what I said is accurate, by
**Senator:** the way.
Um, to me, what would be interesting if they were trying to do is the fact that the wrapper didn't go all the way to the end of the foot It made us think about the rapper and I'm now understanding what the rapper is doing for the cigar by them doing that, where if it, what, if it would have went all the way to the foot, I'd have no clue what role the rapper is really playing in the flavor.
And this is the only reason that I think all of us now can understand what that does. So that. That'd be the only thing I can come up with. And that would make sense. I agree. The wrapper and the
**Poobah:** binder. Neither one. Good theory.
**Chef Ricky:** But I agree with what you're saying a hundred percent, because I, I, I think [00:10:00] number one, it's allowing us to understand what the wrapper is contributing, but also what the binder contributes.
Right. And we're kind of tasting, we're able to taste what the blender is putting out, uh, first hand before the wrapper does its part. So it almost gets, gives you a bigger appreciation for the cigar in its,
**Gizmo:** So I want to, I want to parallel that really quickly to the chef portion of your life, right? Do you ever make decisions when you're putting a meal together or a, a, a dish?
Yeah, that's, that's the word I was looking for. Sorry. That's what I meant to say. So when you're designing a dish at one of the restaurants, For your menu. Do you ever make decisions like that to purposefully make the, you know, consumer wait a second to get what you're going for?
**Chef Ricky:** A thousand percent. I, you know, it could be, it, maybe it's not done so deliberately the way it's done here with the cigar.
Uh, but it could be done in the sense where, you know, as you assemble a dish in layers or using different components, whether it's a puree or, Or, you [00:11:00] know, a gastrique or something, you know, just a, a different component there. I don't know what a
**Gizmo:** gastrique is. Let me just make that clear.
**Chef Ricky:** Think of a sweet and sour syrup of sorts, right?
A reduction, uh, usually contains a vinegar and a sweet component. Um, But yeah, ultimately what you want to do is layer your dish or, or give certain components of your dish to the customer in phases that, I mean, obviously some people are just going to go at it, you know, there's only so much you could do, but.
Yeah. When you can, when you compose a dish that is part of the goal, um, is, you know, especially if you're layering something, whether it be a dessert, whether it be, uh, uh, a stack of some kind or a salad or anything like that. Uh, a thousand percent.
**Poobah:** Yeah. So when you layer it, you can, you can surprise, um, you can surprise the, the customer with something that maybe, maybe they're in.
25 percent through what they're [00:12:00] eating. And then all of a sudden they get a surprise.
**Chef Ricky:** Yup. Yup. Yeah. So I think one of the best places to do that are within a soup, when you have a soup that, that there's a puree or something like that, right. Cause you could inlay certain components within that puree, whether there would be a cream base or something, uh, or garnishes or reintroducing certain ingredients.
So if you have a brownie, right. And that brownie is going to be. Have some sweeter components, but then you introduce cocoa nibs, right? And cocoa nibs are just like one note of that chocolate experience that tend to lean bitter, but then maybe there's a whipped cream that's sweetened, or maybe there's a fruit compote that goes with that or caramel or dulce de leche.
So then when you combine all of those things together, your experience changes for the better. Uh, but now you have an understanding and an appreciation of the different components that went into making that. You know, you could be an
**Pagoda:** excellent
**Chef Ricky:** blender. And actually, it's one of my dreams. Do we um, do we need to continue [00:13:00] recording?
I think we're done. I have a lot of cigars to smoke, but that is one of the things I would love to do at some point. I am
**Gizmo:** waiting for the whipped cream to come in on this brownie that we're smoking right now. That would be But that would be fantastic.
**Pagoda:** I think I'm getting a bit of really dark chocolate.
The bitterness of the dark chocolate, I don't know.
**Bam Bam:** I think that's kind of fair. It's, I think our palates are definitely adjusting. This is a very strong cigar. So I think it's a combination of it maybe evolving down a bit and a palate adjustment. Because this is.
**Senator:** Yeah, I just think going back to the rapper theory that there's like, A sweetness and a spiciness about this cigar and the sweetness is trying to cut the spice and the spice is trying to cut the sweetness, kind of like a dish, you know, Ricky's talking about, and I think it's working.
I mean, I really do. I'm enjoying it because I don't think either is overpowering me now that both are in the game where in the initial stage, obviously the rapper wasn't present. And that's when I [00:14:00] thought it just skewed way too spicy.
**Rooster:** If you put the cigar up to your. nose and you smell the foot, you can sense the spice.
Like it's almost unbearable. It's right
**Gizmo:** there. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Kind of flares your, it makes
**Poobah:** your
**Gizmo:** nose flare.
**Bam Bam:** And the retro, the retro is still a bit rough.
**Poobah:** Yeah, there's this, this has nicotine in it. Um, for sure. Um, but. I will say so far, I mean, we'll see what happens. We're still very early on in the game here.
Quarter of an inch, quarter of an inch, but I'm, you know,
**Gizmo:** I'm enjoying it so far. I'm finding the draw to be satisfying enough that I'm not thinking about pulling another draw. Like I'm spacing my draw, I guess. Wow.
**Poobah:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** You know, more than I normally would.
**Poobah:** Yeah. I mean, you have to, the finish is so long because it is a strong cigar that If you don't space it out, or if you heat it up, you're going to collapse.
You're going to get in big, you can get yourself in a, [00:15:00] maybe a world you don't want to go to, but that's not a bad thing. I mean, I think that this is cigar that given the combustion of it, the ring gauge of it, it's going to stay lit. You know, I think you've got to take your time with this thing. I agree with you on that.
I don't, I think you've got to take time in between draws and not heat it up too much, because if you do, you may find yourself. With a
**Chef Ricky:** inferior experience. Mm hmm. I'm kind of gonna go out on a limb and say that maybe a cigar like this has never been smoked in this room. Ah, not true. No?
**Rooster:** This is a good morning smoke
**Chef Ricky:** for you.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Well, I, I know, you know, typically we're used to like the dried fruits and I am getting a light, breadish, breadish note here now, uh, it might be the introduction of the rapper. I think that's what's kind of leveling things off a little bit or balancing things. This reminds me of a Padron 90
**Bam Bam:** or some of the family reserves possibly.
Yeah. No, just,
**Rooster:** I think the family reserve [00:16:00] has a little bit of the heavier chocolate notes, heavy chocolate, like cocoa. This is more on the spicier side, kind of like the padron 90th, the ones that come in the red tube. This is true. The duos, those are, those have a spice component that the 45th. I
**Poobah:** know, but it's not,
**Rooster:** but it's, it's a step up.
I
**Bam Bam:** think from
**Rooster:** that, I mean, it's, it's, it's not, yeah. Empower. Yeah. This, this has more spice. This is more, yeah,
**Senator:** this
**Rooster:** is more spice.
**Senator:** I mean, they're both strong cigars. I, I don't think that this is stronger than a petron 90th. That's a very strong cigar. But the
**Bam Bam:** 90th is also very smooth. Sorry. Very much smoother than this.
Right.
**Senator:** Yeah, I mean, not much that that cigar. It's a really, really full. I really feel. I know that trying to be super smooth. It's not trying to be subtle. Correct.
**Gizmo:** And we joke about rooster smoking that in the morning. But for me. Even for how much we love Padron in this room, I can't reach for a red tubo 90th Maduro at, at any time other than after I've had a pretty big meal and I've had, I've got some other [00:17:00] things happening, a good pairing with it and even still,
**Bam Bam:** it's rare.
**Gizmo:** It is rare. Still trying to punch you in the face. Like, it's like Mike Tyson and cigars.
**Rooster:** Amateur pallet.
**Chef Ricky:** 20 years ago. Yes. Yes, exactly. I
**Senator:** mean, Rooster doesn't eat dinner till 10 o'clock. So he's got a full stomach in the morning. That's true. That's also true.
**Gizmo:** That is true. Well, we'll see how it develops.
Let's talk about this cigar, boys. This cigar is named after the Volstead Act. So the Volstead Act, boys, if you're not familiar with it, is the act known as the National Prohibition Act enacted on October 28th, 1919, named after Andrew Volstead, who was the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who was instrumental in its passage.
The act provided the legal framework for the enforcement of the 18th Amendment. To the United States constitution, which established the prohibition of alcoholic beverages. So the act defined what constituted an alcoholic beverage, which really was anything over 0. 5 percent by volume [00:18:00] made some exceptions for medicinal, religious and industrial uses, but otherwise banned alcohol.
For nearly 14 years. So this line of cigars is named after people and events related to the Volstead act. It is being offered in 11 sizes, five of which are regular production and six of which are limited production. So the regular production cigars are named after a prohibition era figure. I'll go through those.
Now, Izzy Einstein is a four by 46, the bell Livingston, four and a half by 52. The bill McCoy, which is a Robusto 50 by five, the George Remus 56 by five, identical size to this and the Roy Olmsted, which is a 54 by five and a half. And then there are six limited production of a toll is like we said, the blind pig 60 by four and a half, the Senator Volstead.
50 by five. The Noble experiment we're smoking tonight, the 56 by five, the 1920 revenuer, the [00:19:00] 46 by five and three quarters, the grand perfecto, 60 by five and five eights, and finally the Judas Hole 44 by six and a half. That sounds dangerous. So they make a lot of, that's a big, big portfolio. It's in this, yes.
I mean, they
**Rooster:** make other. Yeah, I mean this is just on the volt side.
**Gizmo:** This is just one line called the in temperance Volted VO 1920. Here's the thing
**Senator:** that's funny. So I think is, was with me this night, one of the members at our lounge actually handed out to a few of us this cigar, but in a different ola. Yes.
It looked like a re robusto or a short re robusto. It was probably 50 ring
**Bam Bam:** gauge. I was there for that night at Okay. And the, the, it was a, it was circumference. It had a circumference. It wasn't box press, I don't think. I thought it was box press. It was box press.
**Gizmo:** Was it? I think that was the Bill McCoy, the 50 by five.
Boxpress. Robusto. Boxpress? Yeah. Okay.
**Senator:** So, the funny thing with that cigar That was not nearly as spicy. And if you think about it, there was a lot less of that binder and filler just because the ring gauge was small, much smaller than 56. [00:20:00] So I think with less of that, and I just think it balanced better with the wrapper.
So the only thing hearing that range that they have, I do suspect that they all smoke pretty differently because that cigar, I actually thought skewed more sweet than spicy. I think this skews more spicy than sweet. So I would recommend to anybody who's interested in this line to try a few because they, they do have a very different experience.
**Gizmo:** You know, the thing I wonder too, is that being in the regular production, is that kind of a more. Uh, medium affair or, or, or smoother affair than what they're offering in the limited production, which this is one of those six.
**Pagoda:** Did the wrapper actually, was it complete? No, it wasn't
**Gizmo:** either.
**Pagoda:** Oh, it wasn't either.
Same
**Rooster:** thing. Was the cigar a recommendation from a listener?
**Gizmo:** Three listeners specifically requested the Noble experiment.
**Poobah:** Really? Wow. I am, I'm almost craving, this may sound nuts, but I'm almost craving like a power cleanser, like almost like a [00:21:00] glass of champagne. And I know that may sound. Or honestly a tequila core.
Or a tequila, yeah. Something that almost a higher proof tequila. Like, like a G four. Have you had the
**Chef Ricky:** G four? Of course. Yeah. Yeah, I have. That's good. So
**Poobah:** like, so, so like a G four Bronco. Mm-Hmm. to me would cleanse my palate. If you had that, cause it's super.
**Chef Ricky:** So I actually had G4 before it hit market at the house.
You're talking to the chef. Ricky insider. That's
**Poobah:** why I'm asking him the question. Do you know what I'm saying? Almost like a G4 like Blanco, which is, is, is 90 proof, but it does not. Drink like a 90 proof tequila, almost like to cleanse my palate from the strength of the cigar or almost the champagne to just to kind of reset me a little bit where I'm drinking it with scotch and it's almost like it almost doubles up the richness where I'm kind of looking for like a little [00:22:00] bit of clarity.
Cause it's so spicy. It's like when you eat a shrimp cocktail and you have a shrimp cocktail and you dip it in the horseradish and you drink it. And like, if there's, I know a lot of you guys aren't vodka fans, but shrimp cocktail and a martini goes together. Do you, do you, do you know what I mean? Because it
**Chef Ricky:** bloody Mary in your mouth.
Right.
**Poobah:** Exactly. You make a bloody Mary in your mouth.
**Chef Ricky:** That's funny, by the way,
**Pagoda:** but
**Poobah:** it's, you know what I mean? It almost like the spiciness with the cleansing of something, maybe a little crisper with this. may pair well.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. I don't disagree with that. I think most, mostly you're wanting to kind of get rid of that pepper, but I also think the scotch goes well with, although we're not on it yet, but the scotches, the scotch for me brings in a sort of a sweetness, sweetness and caramel.
Absolutely. You know, an oaky note and then some slight peat, um, but it's very pleasant. It's very, and this is now my second time I had it for the first time a few [00:23:00] weeks ago at a Yankee game. Uh, but yeah, no, I think this pair is well, but I agree. I think, uh, you know, again, like with pairings, you could go in multiple directions, right?
You could kind of double down on what you're experiencing or you could choose to kind of cleanse it away and reset and that's perfectly okay as well.
**Senator:** On the cigar at this point. The spice is really dialing down. Yeah, I agree. I am enjoying this more and more as I smoke it. I think for me, if it just started here, this would be like right up my power alley.
But where it is, I'm very happy with this right now.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, I think it's really good right now.
**Bam Bam:** It is good. That's surprising to hear because this is really completely full flavored, full bodied cigar. And it's, it is pretty damn smooth.
**Senator:** That's the thing. It's smooth. I don't think it's got like aggressive strength or even aggressive nicotine where it's not kicking you around at all.
For me, it's like the perfect balance full cigar. I also have to say for 56 ring gauge, this [00:24:00] is the single most comfortable 56 ring gauge cigar box press is doing that. It's the rectangular box press. It's not a jawbreaker, right? It definitely doesn't look like it. I mean, I feel like Padrone has. A lot in the, like the 1920, I mean, really all the lines, but I always think of the 26 with some of those bigger ring gauge box, press cigars.
That's right. But they're longer and at that size with that ring gauge, it's just too much where I, this to me is a perfect size for a 56 ring gauge cigar.
**Bam Bam:** This cigar requires a lot of patience. For the novice cigar smoker, the moment they take their first three or four draws, I can see a lot of guys or gals put this down because they just assume it's going to continue all the way through.
Yeah,
**Rooster:** but the pepper has kind of dissipated. Well, it takes patience. Like I said, it takes patience. And it's, yeah, and it's not, I mean, it's, there's a lot of cedar. I dunno if you guys, no, there is bit, it looks like a toasted or kind of like a burned cedar note that comes through. Mm-Hmm. . Yeah. It, it's mellowed out.
**Senator:** It's mellowed out big time. And I do get some cocoa in this cigar for sure. [00:25:00]
**Rooster:** Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** About
**Senator:** now.
**Bam Bam:** Yes. Now try the retro hale. It's actually very pleasant now. The cocoa for me comes through on the retro.
**Chef Ricky:** I was gonna say, there's still some spice present at the tail end of the retro, but not like it was, but not a few moments ago.
It's not as aggressive. Yeah.
**Poobah:** It's there throughout the, see that's that finish. So the finish, I want to almost like cut it. I want to cut it. I think we would so go so well with the tequila. I really believe it. Like it's almost like because it's, you know, you eat Mexican food and it's like it's that spicy and then you have that kind of agave.
**Chef Ricky:** Well, I think some of the things that you've that you've pointed out between the champagne and the tequila in particular, they have buttery qualities to them. And I think that. Helps also sort of team some of what, uh, that pepper that's being presented here. You right.
**Senator:** Yeah. I'll just say, as far as the pairing, I just want something sweet with this.
Agreed to me. It doesn't have to be tequila. It doesn't have to be anything in particular. I [00:26:00] mean, I would even want like a coffee with this, just anything sweet to just balance this out. Well,
**Gizmo:** how about this?
**Senator:** So let's try, let's try our pair.
**Gizmo:** Should we try the open 14 years old? Cheers boys. Cheers. Are we drinking G4?
We are drinking G4
**Poobah:** made by Oban. 14 years old. By the way, the G4 is great. We got to do it. Am I wrong, Ricky?
**Chef Ricky:** No, no, it is great. Senator, you drink sweet coffee? I would have never thought you were a sweet coffee
**Senator:** guy. I mean, sometimes you want some, uh, some sugar in there. Okay.
**Gizmo:** So this Oban is an excellent pairing for this cigar.
**Bam Bam:** I couldn't agree more. Excellent pairing. I think you get the sweetness that you're looking for here. I agree. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** So what's interesting about this, boys, is this is one of the room's favorite single malt scotches. And somehow it has missed. Being reviewed on this podcast. We've talked about it several times.
We did two of the sister releases from Oban. I think we might've had this to [00:27:00] drink with our first episode. Cigar part of Gospaduro one. Yeah. That's the problem with it is you drink too much of it. You do forget too much of it. Exactly. But man, this is a wonderful single malt. Oh, yeah, it really
**Chef Ricky:** is. And it pairs beautiful with this.
It stands up perfectly to this. Yeah, agreed. That's the thing with Oban.
**Senator:** It is more sweet than it is peaty. The peat's there, but it's not overpowering. And so with this cigar, it's a perfect match.
**Chef Ricky:** So Rooster Pagoda, not to call you guys out here, but now, all right. So I took a sip of, I took, it's an Indian reference, obviously.
I took a sip of the Oban. I retrohaled and I'm getting an Indian sweet spice almost. I even almost pulled out a berry there and some yeasty notes. This cigar isn't totally changed for me. I think
**Rooster:** that's a question for Pagoda. Brewster, just take a sip. I'm not consuming this, but I used to. I used to.
Remember, he's from Prohibition. He
**Bam Bam:** still hasn't
**Rooster:** changed since.
**Bam Bam:** What year was that again? When he started smoking. There you go. You had your first Exclusivo then. That's right. [00:28:00] Did they
**Chef Ricky:** have it back then? Yeah, this is a
**Bam Bam:** really
**Gizmo:** good pairing.
**Chef Ricky:** Guys, and 10.
**Gizmo:** Yeah.
**Chef Ricky:** 10 for this cigar.
**Senator:** Oh, the cigar. I was like, certainly not the scotch.
**Pagoda:** Definitely not the old but new. No, I, like, I don't know what Indian sweet spice, uh, you'd be alluding to, but.
**Chef Ricky:** Just when you sip the open, allow it to run all through your tongue. Don't just like, you know. No, I
**Pagoda:** do. I do now.
**Chef Ricky:** All right. All the way down the sides. Yep. And then retrohale your stick. He may have so much ice in there.
That's hard to.
**Bam Bam:** Well, I'm proud of him. He just
**Senator:** put one chip. One chip tonight. That's big. Oh yeah. Oh, that's right. Actually, I put the ice in his glass. You did? That's why , he's being,
**Gizmo:** he's being regulated ice, ice prohibition in the room tonight. Correct? The ted,
**Chef Ricky:** yeah. No, I think putting ice in the spirit is, is criminal.
I mean, you, you lose everything about it.
**Senator:** I'll just
**Chef Ricky:** say this, I mean, maybe one chip is okay, chip, but I'm saying that's the thing. One
**Senator:** chip, I, I really firmly believe Obin is a really full bodied, like viscous scotch. Agreed. Agreed. That I think with one chip. [00:29:00] Just accentuates and opens up even the flavor more if this were there a lighter scotch I'm a hundred percent with you But I think this is one of those unique ones that can really hold up I think
**Pagoda:** and I've been saying that about the most gorgeous for multiple episodes.
I agree. Well,
**Bam Bam:** I you know more than a chip my friend
**Poobah:** No, I just poured the open and it cuts now now it's cutting through. Yeah, it's kind of giving that cleanse that I want and it's it's it's it's
**Chef Ricky:** I think it's also because the cigars is Sort of toning down, toning down a little bit, and your palate's adjusted.
So I think the, uh,
**Rooster:** the sweet spice that you mentioned, are you thinking about jaggery, maybe?
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah, it's, yeah. Is it? Yeah. Yeah, because that's like a re I knew it was
**Bam Bam:** j You guys the same thing. Look confusion on gizmo's face after you said
**Rooster:** that JA j's go. Right? Exactly. It's, it's sugar. That's an
**Poobah:** it I'm very familiar with,
**Rooster:** obviously Deli all the time.
Oh [00:30:00] yeah. This is the G three JRE that I'm talking about. The G4 .
**Chef Ricky:** No, wait till you have the G four's gonna, you're gonna love it. In Mexico, they have piloncillo, which is along the lines, although jaggery I think is a little bit richer in its delivery, but yeah, it's almost like heavy molasses. Yeah. That's right.
Yeah. And so when you have that, and you have the oven, yeah, it amplifies it all.
**Gizmo:** So boys, like I said, we did two sister spirits to the open 14 years. This is kind of the headliner as far as open single months go. We also did the little bay and we did a distillers edition. We'll go through those ratings later.
We've done some open history, but I'll just run through some. Of the facts about open real quick. Open distillery is one of Scotland's oldest and most historic whiskey distilleries. It's located in the coastal town of open in the Western Highlands. Open distillery was founded in 1794 by the Stevenson brothers, John and Hugh Stevenson.
The distilleries establishment predates [00:31:00] the town of open itself, which actually grew around the distillery. So that's pretty cool. Despite its long history, open is a relatively small distillery. It operates with only two copper pot stills, which remain some of the smallest in all of Scotland. They produce around 870, 000 liters of alcohol per year.
It's currently owned by Diaggio? Diaggio! It's only like the biggest, you know, alcohol conglomerate in the world. You know, honestly,
**Bam Bam:** I prefer Diaggio.
**Gizmo:** Diaggio!
**Bam Bam:** There you go.
**Gizmo:** Which is obviously huge. And, uh, man, we love Oban. Yeah, we do. Off the podcast, obviously, because we didn't think to rate it here. So, we're doing it tonight.
And I just think it's a wonderful pairing to this cigar. Agreed. It's a great Scott. So, Oban is listed as one of the six classic malts. Glen Kitchney, Dahlwini, Craggenmore, Talisker, and Lagavon. So, it makes up one of those six. Cool. So, that's Oban. And do [00:32:00] we
**Bam Bam:** remember the price on the
**Gizmo:** bottle? I think
**Poobah:** this was around 90.
**Senator:** Yeah, it usually goes for 90.
**Poobah:** Yeah. I remember these being presented years ago on that kind of pyramid. They'd have like a thing behind the bar where that's right. They would take, remember they would, we did that in Senator's garage. No, they would take, they would take those six, five, six scotches, six, I think it's six of them.
And they would go and they'd have them stack them on stack. They'd have them on this wooden pedestal, the agio. And it was a part of their, you know, marketing Dow when he was on there. Yeah. You know, we all, we've never reviewed that, by the way.
**Pagoda:** No, we did. The 15.
**Poobah:** We did that one. It did not do well. It did not do well at all.
No, no, I know. I, it, it, it wouldn't. Um, uh. It didn't. It didn't. But it must have been here. It must have been early on in years ago or something, right? Yeah, it was a long time ago. It was a long time ago.
**Gizmo:** Very light and fruity. So this Cigar Boys, we're coming to the end of the first third here, I can't get over it.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, I'm in full swing now. I'm retro [00:33:00] hailing with every draw. It's very easy to smoke now. It's settling in beautifully.
**Gizmo:** You didn't, uh, we didn't talk about the binder and the filler. So the wrapper on the cigar is Ecuadorian Sumatra hybrid, the binder is Mexican San Andres, and the filler is a three part combo of Nicaraguan tobacco, Condega, Xalapa, and Pueblo Nuevo.
Those Spanish lessons came along well. The French questions too. So
**Pagoda:** we
**Gizmo:** think
**Chef Ricky:** that spice is coming from the San Andres.
**Rooster:** I think the San Andres gives the sweetness. Yeah, Nicaraguan tobacco. It's Nicaraguan tobacco. And
**Pagoda:** by the way, typically we've liked all cigars with the San Andres. With the San Andres, absolutely.
The mind of it.
**Poobah:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** So we'll go through some of the Roma craft history as well. We have a lot to go over tonight, boys. So quickly on Roma craft, it was founded in [00:34:00] 2011 by two founders, Skip Martin and Michael Rosales. They're headquartered in Austin, Texas. Their factory name is Nika Sueno in Esteli, Nicaragua.
They have a few lines as. Rooster mentioned, including the intemperance that we're smoking tonight. They have the crow Magnin, the Akitane and the Neanderthal. And then two quick things on their founder, skip Martin. He was actually in the beverage industry before entering the cigar business. He started with a cigar lounge.
In Galveston, Texas, called Hava Cigar Shop, and Michael Rosales also had his own cigar brand called Adrian Cigars, uh, before partnering with Skip Martin, and he is on the marketing and business development side. I think Skip Martin is more of the blending and production side of, Roma craft to back Charles,
**Senator:** Charles
**Gizmo:** Barkley's favorite place, Galveston,
**Senator:** Texas, where all that dirty water washes up.
They think they're swimming on a beach, Galveston, Texas. That's one of my favorite bits. I have to look it up. You got to give me,
**Poobah:** you got to give me [00:35:00] the reference for that. No,
**Senator:** he was, uh, When was this after, um, XM? Maldi's a spell? No, no, no, no.
**Gizmo:** No, it was. Yeah. One of the NBA teams lost or played really poorly.
And he said, instead of sending them to the Caribbean, that's it. They should send them to Galveston where they have the dirty water. You know, it
**Senator:** washes up on stories like people in Galveston think they're swimming on a beach. They're just swimming in a bunch of dirty water that washes up at Galveston.
Then apparently Beyonce's mother is from Galveston and tweeted at Charles Barkley about this. And Charles immediately said, I apologize. I take it all back. I don't want any problems. Tell Jay Z we're good. Cause I was going to
**Poobah:** say Galveston is fantastic. I love the Gulf coast of Texas. Have you ever swam there?
Oh, yes. I mean, I've spent, yes. Why do you think Pooh has three arms? Is that where that cough came from? Exactly. Uh, no, the Gulf Coast of Texas is actually Corpus Christi, [00:36:00] Galveston, and then also Port Aransas, I've spent, which is south of Corpus. Um, I spent a lot of time there, a lot of time there, um, in my thirties.
Uh, I know you, some of you guys here are in your thirties. Um, uh, hunting for red fish on the Gulf. It is absolutely the, the, the beaches. Um, and the swimming and this, well, yeah, it's, it's, it's no, it's a great place. To, um, to go. It's a nice part of Texas. I didn't know it was on Galveston's payroll. We're going to have to have Charles Barkley on just so these two can debate it.
I want to hear it totally. No, it's really nice there. Um, uh, certainly, uh, Port Aransas, which is about an hour South of, uh, of Corpus Christi, um, to probably two and a half hours South of Galveston. Beautiful. I mean, uh, it's
**Rooster:** a vacation spot for the Texans. All right. [00:37:00] It really, yeah. Corpus Christi and that, you know, the Gulf,
**Poobah:** it's beautiful.
Um, had some really, I mean, I probably went there, uh, to port a, what they call port a port Aransas, uh, I mean, probably nine years in a row. With my cousin David and, uh, we would go down there and hunt ducks, um, in the morning, fish for redfish in the afternoon, hunt, hunt ducks in the evening and drink G4 at night.
Yeah. Well, yeah, we drink tequila. Not, not, not, not G4 back then. That was still the don't hold your, that was still the exactly exactly. Um, But boy, it's fantastic for just being in the outdoors and, and, uh, and the beaches are, the beaches are really super. So, um, you
**Gizmo:** got to head down there and see the folks from, uh, Roman craft to back.
**Pagoda:** You know, not that I'm a good swimmer, but I think that's one place I could swim controlling the density of the water. [00:38:00]
**Gizmo:** Give me a float. All right, boys. Let's talk about some cigar industry news, some big cigar industry news. This coming off of our Conversation about the PCA show that we attended in Las Vegas.
One of the things we noted were some of the large manufacturers who did not have a presence at PCA in 2024. Notably, the number one that we listed was Davidoff.
**Bam Bam:** Of course.
**Gizmo:** And Davidoff has announced for the first time in four years that they are going to be in New Orleans in April 2025. For the PCA show 2021.
I'm going this time.
**Bam Bam:** Are you? You got to come. Yeah, the
**Rooster:** Davidoff is going to be
**Bam Bam:** there. You're going to get all your Grand Cru's. The
**Senator:** dragons. Good luck with that. I mean, the funny thing about Davidoff coming back, they outright said whoever their spokesperson was, that they did not feel they were getting enough value out of being at the trade show.
And, uh, I have to give a shout out to, uh, My man, Josh Herbushki, who is [00:39:00] now the CEO at PCA. I mean, they aggressively, obviously, pursued Davidoff trying to get them back and were able to make something work that Davidoff feels it's, again, worth their time. Cool. Yeah. I mean, I will say, silly on their part to suggest it's not worth their time.
The fact that George Padron, Carlito Fuente, Um, Rocky Patel. I mean, all the, the biggest names in the business are there and find that a valuable use of their time. I find it idiotic how it could be worth their time and not Davidoffs, but I'm glad to see them. So they
**Gizmo:** were the, they were the final holdout on the big four who left PCA around the time of COVID 2021.
Including Altus, STG, and Drew Estate and they are the last ones getting back into the swimming pool, coming back to PCA this year. Yeah.
**Poobah:** You know, a lot of times, you know, with, a lot of times with these shows, um, I don't know what the exhibitor fees are so they can be, I'm sure they're pretty exorbitant, that that wouldn't affect doff.
I mean, well, Lord knows they can afford it. Yeah, [00:40:00] understood. Um, but sometimes it's based on principle being a person who does, you know, in my line of work, I do 50. Probably 50, 55 different Congresses a year, different shows a year, probably I'd say 12 of which are national. Sometimes when the show organizers are not working with you to on sponsorships and things like that.
So there are certain things like first right of refusal on. So like, if you're a sponsor, let's say you're a sponsor and you buy a certain footprint. On that exhibit floor, you know what I mean? Like that may cost X, but they're playing, but then somebody else has first read a refusal on and are locking in sponsorship opportunities, whether it's talks, keynotes, whatever it is, [00:41:00] and they're blocking the other.
Competitors out because they're locking it in early. They're locking them in the day, basically the day the show ends, they're locking it in. There's a lot of things that go into kind of like where you're like, well, you're kind of not, you know, we're buying this kind of a footprint and we want this kind of exposure and we want the, you know, and there's some politics that can get involved there where, where the sponsor.
You know, as a sponsor, you're saying to yourself, Hey, you want to know something like you're making a statement? Like, Hey, we don't need this. Like, like if you're not gonna, you know, work with us a little bit on certain things, then guess what? Like, we don't need you that much. We're out. And you're making a statement to them to say, you know, Having us here may be better for you than you think.
You need us more than we need you. Maybe a little bit.
**Gizmo:** And I think, no, but it may be just
**Pagoda:** limited
**Gizmo:** qualified vendors. I think you're nailing it on the head because [00:42:00] in early 2020, the big four that I just talked about put out a joint statement and this I'm reading in Cigar Aficionado, the four companies, STG, Altidus drew a state and Davidoff joint statement said that they were citing grievances, such as high costs, low returns, dwindling attendance, and pointing to Poobah here, misalignment with corporate strategies and the need for overall restructuring.
A hundred percent, a hundred
**Poobah:** percent, a hundred percent. So if the Congress, Or whatever you want to, we call them Congresses, but in my business, but if, if the, if the convention, the Congress, whatever that you want to call it, the meeting, if the meeting, isn't giving you enough time or enough, like keynote talks or whatever you want to call it, we would call it symposia in my business, but it's it where it's like, Hey, We're paying for this type of a spot.
We want this type of a footprint. We're going to put up an exhibit. We're going to staff it. We're going to fly people out [00:43:00] there. I want to have an opportunity to, to showcase our brand. And if the show runners aren't running it in a way where there's enough, where it's organized. Where you can stand up like a half hour talk on X, Y, Z, whatever they want to talk about, and there's not enough spots for that and they're not running it.
Right. You know, the, the, the, the sponsor is going to say, you know, you want us to spend 150, 000, you know, It's going to be 50, 000 for a 10 by 20. It's going to, for booth, it's going to be this plus it's going to be another 20, 000 for this and that. And then, you know, to, to, to have your, you know, your logos up and all this other kind of crap, and then an ad in the program book, by the time you're done with it, it can add up to a lot of money.
So Davidoff could be just saying, Hey, you want to know something like. We don't need this. [00:44:00] We're Davidoff. We don't need you. So it's a matter of the showrunners working with the sponsors to make it like copacetic
**Gizmo:** for them. So I think the thing that we saw was that those things you're talking about, those, those keynotes, et cetera, that's a, those are scarce.
There really weren't that many. If you look, how many, how many talks were there? Probably six or eight total. Over how many days? Two or three days? That's
**Senator:** not a lot. It's not a lot. It's not a lot, but I will say, I got the impression that this past one was more than they normally have. And the attendance spoke for itself.
I mean, there were over 5, 000 attendees at the PCA that we were just at. It was a full house. I read that was the highest attended since 2016 that they've done. So I think they've clearly been cognizant of the feedback and starting to incorporate it. And I think there was a ton of enthusiasm out of the last one that.
It probably made it so much easier for Davidoff to say, okay, something has changed
**Gizmo:** and leadership [00:45:00] change. Like you said, credits to Josh. Exactly. I mean, leadership changes probably he's making some sort of impression on these companies, namely Davidoff in this case to return a hundred
**Poobah:** percent. And then it's like, you know, the other questions that the sponsor's going to ask is who we want to break down of who the attendees and the decision makers are, who are actually attending, how many actually wholesaler distributors.
Are, are, are, are going to be here because that's who they want to talk to. They want to talk to wholesalers. They want to talk to distributors. They want to start to make distribution deals with people and, and run their, and, and, and, and, you know, to kind of grow their business and, and, and create profitable, so optimized lines of distribution.
At the show, that's what they're concerned about. To piggy, I want to piggyback on that for just a second. It's not the
**Bam Bam:** retail guy. If you remember, we spent a lot of time in the Padron camp and the E. P. Carrillo camp and with Steve Saka and his group, the sales volume in those three locations were very, very high.
Oh, I just sat [00:46:00] and I watched retailers go into the room. They'd buy their cigars and leave. And it was happening all day long for these three retailers, um, or distributors I should say. I'd be curious to see how much Doff sells, how busy their booth would be and, and how many retailers go to actually buy from them.
Yeah, it's
**Gizmo:** a, it's a good point because it is, it's a, it's little different. We know it's a high buy-in to get
**Bam Bam:** into off Yeah. It's, it's $75,000 your initial buy-in, it's a little different. It's a lot of money. Yeah. It's a different, it's different. They
**Poobah:** have a very unique distribution model, so for them, um, the way they do their distribution is kind of, is different than.
Then, then, then other than, than other cigar companies. So they have their distribution model kind of nailed down the, the, the, the, the smaller cigar manufacturers want to actually connect with, they want to connect with general cigar. They want to connect with El Patis. They want to connect with wholesale or distributors or regional distributors to get their stuff into the channel.
So you, [00:47:00] those are the people they want there. But there's that. David doesn't need them.
**Bam Bam:** I don't think they
**Poobah:** do. You know what I mean? They don't really need them. They have a different distribution model. So for them, they're like, where's prop. They're probably seeing themselves. Well, where's really the value for us?
Um, at the show, that's probably why they weren't there. Yeah,
**Pagoda:** no, but you know, the country, the limited, uh, qualified stores, I know I was speaking, uh, that's also
**Bam Bam:** a very good point. You're not going to see a lot of retailers walking into that Davidoff booth, like you do with the Padron booth, because you can't sell it for five Exactly.
**Pagoda:** So there's like a radius of about five or six miles that you cannot sell Davidoff if one of the retail stores has it. Sure. So now you're already reducing the number of, you know, qualified vendors.
**Poobah:** That's right. So, so by, by virtue of their very unique end of one distribution model for them, how valuable is that show to go to as opposed to.
[00:48:00] Um, you know, all these boutique blenders who are looking to what they're looking to make relationships with wholesalers, distributors to get their stuff into the channel. A lot of the guys
**Gizmo:** that we saw are trying to even launch their business. Exactly. They're trying to just get it going, you know, on top of, of course, the big boys that we just mentioned.
That's right. Who are trying to grow their business, which is like, you know, we're near conglomerates. Some of the folks that we're talking about. Exactly. You know, so for Davidoff to return and I'll read one more quote that I'm, that I, again, points to, I think Josh and the leadership team, they're doing a good job.
This is from the Druis state ad interim president and commercial director. He says, I'm very pleased that in recent conversations with PCA leadership, we have found closer alignment and a shared vision of shaping our beautiful industries future. So they're clearly happy with whatever they're hearing.
And, uh, it'll be nice to see. Davidoff at PCA in New Orleans in April. And I do hope
**Pagoda:** that they hand out some free samples.
**Gizmo:** Maybe they'll have a beer [00:49:00] cart. They might have a
**Pagoda:** beer
**Gizmo:** cart. We should push for that. Yeah, totally. All right, boys. We're at the halfway point now in the Roma craft in Temperance Volstead VO 1920.
in Noble Experiment. What's everybody thinking now?
**Chef Ricky:** I'm all in on this.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. I think it's delicious. Yeah. Once it's settled in for me, it just stayed pretty consistent. It hasn't evolved. It's still very pleasant. Um, smooth and easy to smoke.
**Rooster:** Try taking the band off the cigar.
**Bam Bam:** Will that make a smoke better?
**Rooster:** No, but it's like a Cuban cigar, like you can never take the band off. Try peeling this band off.
**Bam Bam:** It is difficult. Mine came right off. Oh, I'm suffering.
**Rooster:** It's not coming off, right? What are we doing? It won't slide out. Yeah, no, I'm almost at the point where it's seen for me. Yeah, it's got his right off. Yeah Once
**Gizmo:** I got
**Rooster:** my fingernail in there Ricky's with
**Chef Ricky:** me mine took a little bit
**Rooster:** gives us having a hard time
**Bam Bam:** 1926 senator Okay, those are heads
**Chef Ricky:** from
**Bam Bam:** 1926 [00:50:00] Very calloused
**Chef Ricky:** You know, I got to say for this cigar, I feel like the past few pods, um, some of the cigars that we've had, they were just sort of one note. Um, some, you know, with some of those sticks, that one note was pleasant. Um, I'm happy with the journey this cigar has taken us on today. Even with that strong sort of punch, punch in the face in the beginning, I really do love how, you know, this cigar has progressed and, and it's, it's been a fun experience.
It's been a great journey.
**Senator:** I also have to say the construction is excellent. It is. Mm-Hmm. for me, the draw is and and smoke
**Chef Ricky:** output.
**Senator:** And the smoke outputs. Great smoke output for sure. For me, the draw is perfect in the sense that, I mean, with this ring gauge, there's the ability for so much air to pass through this cigar and it to heat up aggressively.
And there's a touch of resistance that I think always kind of keeps the draw in balance. And I didn't ash my cigar until almost halfway through.
**Pagoda:** Yeah.
**Senator:** I mean, that's how [00:51:00] the ash was. Burnt, uh, burned perfectly, even structure, um, bright white ash. I, I'm really impressed. Yeah.
**Poobah:** Yeah. Me too. And this is not as the kind of flavor profile I usually go for it.
It's a little, um, yeah, well, you know, yeah. The strong, well, the, well, Nicaraguan cigars outside of the Padron line is not something that's really something that I pursue. Um, and I'm not actually even saying that I would pursue this, but I certainly appreciate the cigar for what it is at, at a 10 price point.
I mean, there's nothing I could totally see someone who has a palate for something like this. Like, I, I, I have no problem with the cigar whatsoever. Is it like totally for me? No, but it has a, I gotta be agnostic. I'm being, it has a lot of merits. It has a lot of merit. It has a lot of merit, and it's, it has a lot of merit.
**Gizmo:** I think the, the fact that it's interesting outweighs [00:52:00] some of, and I'm speaking for you Uba, but I, I, I'm agreeing with you in that I normally wouldn't go for a cigar of this type of profile. Mm-Hmm. . But the fact that it's complex and interesting and taking us on a journey, despite those things, despite some of the spiciness, some of the, the, the flavor that I normally wouldn't seek.
I'm really curious about it. I'm really interested in it. I agree.
**Senator:** And I think simply they've succeeded at what they've tried to do with this.
**Rooster:** Agreed. If you're seeking for that full experience, this delivers without
**Senator:** getting kicked around too aggressively. Like that, that's the big thing. Yeah. Got to get over.
That
**Poobah:** is the big thing. You have
**Bam Bam:** to get past that first half inch. And once you get past that, then it settles in beautifully.
**Rooster:** Not even half inch.
**Bam Bam:** I thought it was a 30, um, three seconds, three 30 seconds. No, that's very tiny.
**Poobah:** This is not the flavor profile. Like I kind of go for it. Like, like To me, the, the, the Exclusivo in Maduro in this kind of Nicaraguan expression, [00:53:00] it would in a box press would be something that I, that's what I like.
Right. This, I mean, you know, given to me, uh, in a social setting after a meal. You know, there's no way I am saying no to this. I agree. Agreed. I agree. You
**Gizmo:** know, even at this ring gauge, I'll be honest. I, you guys know and you guys gave me shit, and the listeners have too, for bigger ring gauge cigars. I, I don't reach for them.
No, but this is really pleasurable in the hand, as senator noted. It feels good. It's great mouthfeel.
**Senator:** Yeah. I like this ring gauge so much. The, the box press on this and the, the length even not being too long. I wish that the 60, the 1964 line in Padron had this identical Vitola.
**Pagoda:** I think the 1929, the number nine is very close.
No,
**Bam Bam:** he's right though, that it's a little, it's a bit of a fat cigar that Padron, and it's not as clean of a box price as this.
**Senator:** I agree. You know, it's a little, yeah. Where when I have this kind of ring gauge, I [00:54:00] mean, I don't need, you know, a really long cigar. It's going to take plenty of time just to get through this.
To me, this is the perfect size for any 50 ring gauge cigar. Either way. Welcome
**Pagoda:** guys. Welcome to the bigger ring gauge.
**Gizmo:** Hey, we're here now. We're next week. We're going to do a 60. The week after that, we'll do a 70 and we'll finally get to the 80s. And then, and then when you send us photos, it will look like a baseball bat
**Poobah:** in your
**Pagoda:** hand.
That's right. Are we going to be doing the asylum at some point? Oh yeah, we're going to do it. We're going to do the
**Gizmo:** baseball bat. That's
**Pagoda:** right.
**Gizmo:** Alright boys, let's move into some Lizard email. We have a couple great ones. We'll finish with our Lizard of the Week because I think that one is a standout.
Let's start with one from lizard. Johnny says, hi, Giz. Just wanted to let you guys know that I picked up a bottle of Neta mezcal
**Poobah:** while
**Gizmo:** visiting my in laws in Indianapolis based solely on your recommendation. And it was everything you guys said it was kudos chef Ricky. It was such a beautiful spirit. I knew I could count on your unbiased reviews and tasting note.
Cheers. [00:55:00] And thanks again. How about that, Ricky? That's awesome. That is fantastic.
**Chef Ricky:** You know what, that's a small house, my Skull Man. And the fact that people can go out there, find it, and enjoy it, and appreciate it. That's, I mean, that's why we're here, right? The question is, where do we find it? Spread the gospel, baby.
Where do we find it? It's giving me goosebumps.
**Senator:** I can't explain it. Go to, get on a plane to Indiana.
**Pagoda:** I might have to go there.
**Gizmo:** All right. This
**Poobah:** one's from Lizard Brando. He's a democratize. Hold on. Democracy. He's democratizing mezcal.
**Gizmo:** Yes. That's what we do here in the pod. We, we democratize spirits and cigars and caviar and caviar.
**Pagoda:** All
**Gizmo:** right, boys. This one's from Lizard Brando. He says, hello, lizards. I've been smoking since I was 24. My first purchase was in New Orleans in 1996. I walked into a shop to find Peter Weller Robocop reaming a guy out, For leaving a walk in humidor door open. I've only smoked new worlds until I found your [00:56:00] show a couple months ago.
You guys definitely can teach an old dog new tricks. I've now enjoyed several Cubans in the past month. I've listened to about 50 shows on my 45 minute commute to and from work. I started at the beginning, but have to listen to the new ones. So I go back and forth. I'm sitting at my local shop lounge, Cigar Cigar in Evansville, Indiana.
Enjoying my first Lancero, a tabernacle, thanks to you, your gentleman's writing, and it is fantastic. Thanks again. I will have to try more of this Vittola. It's time for some accountability. Is it? Oh boy. Please tell Chef Ricky to speak into the microphone and a bit louder.
**Bam Bam:** I got scared there
**Chef Ricky:** for a moment.
I, I was, I was not expecting this, but you know what? He's not wrong.
**Gizmo:** I either can't hear him or I have gizmo screaming in my ear. He's an official lizard now, so it's time to account. Thanks for a real good time.
**Chef Ricky:** Lizard Brando. Brando. Thank you. And the, uh, the critique is taken [00:57:00] well, and you're absolutely right.
Um, I am sitting in a new spot in the room. I'm having a hard time looking at people when I want to talk. I don't know how you've been doing it for so long, Pagoda.
**Pagoda:** See, his respect for Pagoda has just increased. Yeah. I'll take it.
**Gizmo:** The problem is the ice. The problem is the ice has taken that away. It's Chef Ricky's way of saying duly noted.
**Pagoda:** And Chef Ricky did put in a cube of ice in his oven. No, I did not. No, you haven't? All right, all right. Correction.
**Chef Ricky:** He almost wrangled you when you said that. What the hell is wrong with you? This chair doesn't have that much influence. It will.
**Pagoda:** It will. You'll come around.
**Gizmo:** So we got, we got a couple, we got some really great emails this week, boys.
This one is from Lizard Luigi. He's written us before. This is a great one. Hello, Lizards. I email you fresh off completing my order for the newly released Bond Roberts Petite 109. Between the commentary you fellas have provided in regards to not only your personal [00:58:00] interactions with Rob, as well as Gizmo himself saying this is one of the best cigars he's smoked all year.
I have no doubt this cigar will exceed expectations on a separate note. I've rewatched gizmos interview with Rob Isla, and I'm overwhelmed with the insight that the audience was given us cigar nerds thrive on the ins and outs of what's actually required to provide us with this thing that we love so much.
I was reading Rob's writeup today about the release of the bond Roberts petite one Oh nine. And it's amazing how he goes out of his way to recognize every aspect of this groundbreaking release from the blender. To the package designer distribution, et cetera. So if you guys have a check that out on FOH, Rob did a full write up and included pictures of nearly every person in the chain, anybody's hands touch that cigar, you can learn about them.
Talks about them, shares a photo. It's very, very cool. It's amazing. The bond. No pun intended that was developed while making the cigar. And I'm sure the end result is nothing short of amazing. All caps. Keep up the great work guys. 5 a. m. [00:59:00] Tuesday. Can't come soon enough. Great email. Lizard Luigi.
**Rooster:** Yeah, sounds great.
That's awesome.
**Gizmo:** So I just want to give a quick update on the Bon Roberts cigar. So we did that right around the time it was releasing two weeks ago. It is only available right now at cohcigars. com, that former Cigars of Habanos. It was launched on August 16th and these cigars are 15 and 60 cents each.
You can get them in bundles of 25. And we had some, uh, folks email us. The lizard pod code does not work on those cigars. It only works on the fabric of five cigars you find at their website. So you won't find the code working at COH. I do believe at some point there are going to be 50 cabs or releases available out of the shop in Miami.
50 cab? Yeah, 50 cabs. Oh yeah. Yeah. So I would assume those are going to be coming later this year. So we'll let you know when that happens. But the, uh, the final launch price was 15 and 60 cents a cigar, which based on our experience, boys, that's a really, really good price for that cigar. So the only [01:00:00] thing that applies on that cigar is no bullshit is there are boxes and there are, there are boxes, there are bands that no bullshit remains, but yeah, that was a great, great cigar.
And. A great email from Lizard Luigi. So that's not the winning email. No, the lizard of the week is the updated bingo card boys that we got from Lizard John.
**Poobah:** And,
**Gizmo:** you know, we've put up. Our social guy, Lizard Max, made an awesome bingo card because we joked about playing Lizard Bingo. And Lizard John wrote us an email and he said, Hello, Lizards.
After listening to almost every episode in the span of a few months, which, by the way, that's That's impressive as hell. That's unbelievable. Yeah. Thank you for that. I put together a lounge lizards bingo card just for fun. Love the pot as always. Keep up the great work. So for this, Lizard John stands above everybody else and wins lizard of the week this week.
And we are going to go through Some of the items on this bingo card, because I think it's [01:01:00] fantastic. All right. So I guess we'll start at the center square. Cause that one hits every episode. It's so good to have you here
for our love. So that one, that one hits every episode, but let's go through some of the others. We got Ricky in attendance. So that's, that's one. That's a good one. Discussing Habanos S. A. This didn't deliver. We do say that a lot on cigars that don't work. In size 80 font, are the words dried fruit.
**Pagoda:** Bam is definitely in attendance.
Thank you, Lizard John.
**Gizmo:** Another one, razor sharp burn. This is a poobah one. This is fucking lunacy.
Discussing the trip to Cuba, sponsored by Fabrica 5. That one hits every episode too. Oh,
**Bam Bam:** yeah.
**Gizmo:** Gizmo ragging on Lucy's. I feel like I don't rag on Lucy's enough. No, you [01:02:00] don't. I'm starting to move them, but. I still enjoy them sometimes the bam, bam accountability hour. That's that one hits quite a bit rooster.
Did we ever do that?
**Bam Bam:** I'll see you guys next week.
**Gizmo:** We can do that again. All right, boys. I say that every episode that one hits. I think we might already have bingo on some of these. The champagne saber when Garcon appears. It's so good to have you here. Like I said, the center square. That's an elite score.
That's a Bam Bam line too. Garcon makes an appearance in a box, and then of course, the counter to size 80 font dried fruit is wet fruit in size 80 font.
**Bam Bam:** You're getting the most points in those boxes. When you're playing this game.
**Gizmo:** And then, It. It's a 10. It's a 10. It's a 10. There's a pagoda reference there.
Yeah. Quote at our other lounge.
**Chef Ricky:** You'll never hear that from me. . Esp. Esp, esp. . [01:03:00]
**Gizmo:** I I like. It's serviceable. It's
**Pagoda:** serviceable. .
**Gizmo:** That's kind of funny. Then one says, uh, ragging on large ring gauges. Well, that's you is no, I don't rag on large ring gauges and me ragging on literally anything.
I mean, I feel like every one of these boxes gets checked at least every other episode. The draw is a little tight
**Senator:** gizmo
**Gizmo:** ragging on smoky scotches.
**Bam Bam:** Uh, that's all of us,
**Gizmo:** another size 80 font caviar. And then finally, it's an easy smoke Pagoda. I mean, does this not encompass, does this not perfectly detail very well done our podcast on a bingo card.
So I'll put this on the, uh, the Instagram. This should be framed. This week's very
**Chef Ricky:** funny. You could tell he listened to every single episode.
**Gizmo:** Oh yeah,
**Chef Ricky:** he listens to everything. That's [01:04:00] funny.
**Gizmo:** I like that he put, you know, I like how he laid it out. Like there's, it, there's a good variety in here across the board of all the lizards in the room.
I think it's pretty awesome. So congratulations to lizard. John, well done. You went lizard of the week. We're going to send you some stuff out of our human or anybody out there. And, and I've noticed since we started doing this, the emails have been amazing. So keep those emails, voice memos, comments, et cetera, coming every week.
Somebody is going to win lizard of the week. And it's going to win some stuff from us and a little note that I'll send you. And, uh, thanks to everyone for writing in. We love, love, love hearing from our listeners and the stuff like this, it's stuff like lizard Brando talking about. You know, chef Ricky needing to speak into the microphone, celebrating Bon Roberts cigars, celebrating net to Mezcal.
I mean, just hearing these things, the engagement from our listeners. It's awesome. Is really quite incredible. So thank you out there for, uh, for tuning in and for sharing your thoughts with us. So that's that boys. So we're coming [01:05:00] to the end of the second third. We're coming in the last third now on the Roma craft intemperance in noble experiment.
What's everybody thinking? Wow. Yeah. It's a pretty damn good cigar. Yeah.
**Senator:** The second third was my favorite so far. Yeah. I
**Rooster:** can't, I can't
**Senator:** disagree.
**Rooster:** I just can't believe it. I mean, you can get this kind of experience for 10, 10. Yeah. It's, you know, it's, it's a, it's a full experience. Cheaper than
**Poobah:** a Corona in the city.
Yeah. I think it gives, I think there's a lot of merit to this, given the fact that this is not my thing. I like it. So it's not, it's not a cigar that I would like. I wouldn't buy a box of these just cause it's not in, it's, it's kind of like not my wheelhouse, but I'm smoking this whole thing. Nope. Like, and then I'm enjoying it.
Like if I, you know, if I was in a spot and someone was [01:06:00] like here, take, you know, we had dinner or whatever, have, or wherever I was, how, you know, absolutely. I'd smoke this. Would I buy a box? No. Would I have a couple in my humidor? Yeah. Like I'd buy a couple singles of these at JR. Or wherever they're available.
Yeah, no doubt about it.
**Chef Ricky:** I tell you what too, coming into the cooler months, this cigar with this scotch pairing, it's it's home run. It's pretty good round of fire. It's outdoor fire pit.
**Pagoda:** I think Bruce has found his new coffee in the morning. This
**Chef Ricky:** is a great, great. Cooler month cigar coming into the fall around the fire pit with your scotch.
Sure. It's a good golf cigar too. I mean, the lap was pretty thick. Yeah.
**Poobah:** Value for money at 10 bucks. If this was 30 bucks or something like that, that would be a different story. 25 a cigar. I'm not sure, but at 10. This is a, this is green. This is great value. [01:07:00] Are most of the
**Gizmo:** cigars kind
**Poobah:** of
**Gizmo:** that price
**Rooster:** range or?
**Gizmo:** Everything I've seen is very reasonably priced. You know, this is, this is one of the limited production releases in this line and it's still 10 bucks.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. You would think it'd be more expensive. You
**Gizmo:** would, you'd expect us to maybe be not, you know, Poobah's example of 30, but maybe 14, 15, 16.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** But. And I think even then I'd probably feel the same about it as I do now at 10, but everything I've seen, the cigars are very reasonable.
And the fact that, you know, lizard Nick was walking around the lounge, just handing this out to five, six, seven guys, try this, try this, try this. I mean, it's one of those cigars. You can have them in your humid, or you can have them in your locker at the lounge. You can share them with people and they're going to smoke great.
And, and it's a really reasonable price for
**Poobah:** it. It is. It's, it's a little, I would, I would tell the listener it's for the experienced. More of an experienced cigar smoker. It's definitely not something you want to hand someone who casually, who doesn't, [01:08:00] you know, who doesn't, who doesn't
**Senator:** smoke a lot. The only caveat, the smaller ring gauge of this, like the Robusto, the 50 ring gauge.
That was medium full. That I would give to anyone on the spectrum in their cigar journey, whether you're an experienced smoker or not, whether you love a full bodied cigar or you don't, you like something more medium, that started medium and the peak it ever hit was medium full. But with this larger ring gauge and more of that binder and filler, this is definitely firmly in the full camp and you've got to enjoy a full cigar to appreciate it.
Yeah.
**Poobah:** This is not for kind of an. Occasional smoker, but that being that notwithstanding, it's, it's, it's, um, it's good.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah, I got to say in the second third, the pepper like dissipated almost entirely, but it's making a slight presence. It's making its presence known a little bit here in the final third, but it's still delicious.
I'm still getting those yeasty notes. I think next week I'm gonna bring in a brick of fresh yeast. I want you guys to [01:09:00] smell it because I just feel like it's something that no one else is getting. But I find it present in cigars that I really enjoy. Pagoda, this is right up your power alley. You've got to
**Pagoda:** be loving this cigar.
No, I'm really enjoying it. And you know, for some reason, I'm getting a lot of the dark chocolate bitterness. The bitterness that you get, that's definitely coming through for me throughout. I've been really enjoying it. And of course, along with a little bit of spice, which I kind of like, it's right within my wheelhouse.
And I think it's a buy.
**Poobah:** But that bitterness is not. It's not unpleasant. It's sweet. It's sweetish chocolate.
**Chef Ricky:** You know, bitterness. I just think Pagoda's noticing the bitterness now in cigars because he has less ice in his drink finally. Normally his palate is so numb. The bitterness. Yeah, that's an indictment.
**Poobah:** It's all fair. How Ricky has settled into the podcast. So well. Dangerously
**Pagoda:** well. And I love it. I love it that now Ricky is becoming a Scotch [01:10:00] drinker. No, no, no. Yes. Yes. And he's realizing what else is out there in the world. No, no. I'm
**Chef Ricky:** really, I'm ready for it. the scotch journey for sure. I
**Gizmo:** like this rivalry brewing between the two of you.
This is good. We started with ice. It has
**Chef Ricky:** nothing to do with pagoda. It's just ice. It's just ice.
**Poobah:** But the bitterness is not, it's, it's, it's, it's a little bit of a merit if that's your jam. Um, I'm loving it. Uh, yeah. I, I, cause I like Campari. I like, I like, I like Campari. I like I like these, you know, so I, it's, and this is not my kind of home, like, this is not my thing.
You keep saying that, but I think, and I like it.
**Chef Ricky:** You're warming up to it. Yeah, I really think, I really think you're gonna buy a box set by the end of this. I mean, this is no
**Rooster:** Lub 14. No. It doesn't have those baking [01:11:00] spice notes. You know, that love 14 needs to make that chart. I mean, that's gotta be in
**Poobah:** there, that love 14.
That's all he talks about. I like the cigar, but I really like the cigar. I mean, I really like the cigar and it surprised me. Um, this cigar surprised me as well, by the way.
**Gizmo:** I mean, you know, what I was reading online about it, I try to come in with an unbiased opinion before we light the cigar, obviously getting the spice when we, when we first lit it.
How it's settled in it's totally defied what my expectations were tonight. And actually hearing across the room with the variety of pallets we have in the room and everybody finding something to enjoy in it for 10 bucks. I mean, this is a really great recommendation.
**Pagoda:** Yeah, it is. Yeah. And the fact that you're smoking a 56, it's fantastic.
**Gizmo:** And I'm going to take it all the way down to the nub. Yeah, we're
**Poobah:** all right there. We're with you. Ghost rider. I mean, look at everybody. Everybody's got it down. You got, and you guys know, I would have dropped this. Oh, we know you. We've never seen you do that. [01:12:00] Let me say it again. No. And I don't even want, I don't want to drop it.
**Gizmo:** I know it's awesome. It's it's, it's good. It's really performing well. I some
**Bam Bam:** water over his head cause he's too excited. Well, what I'm
**Poobah:** saying is it was surprisingly nice. It's I love this version of Pumbaa, guys. Oh, no. See what
**Gizmo:** happens when we have a nice cigar?
**Chef Ricky:** Oh,
**Poobah:** yeah. Yeah. No, this is really good. Yeah, it was really nice.
**Gizmo:** So I got an interesting news story here for you boys. This one surprised me. Talk about surprises. A Florida state Senator named Joe Gruders has announced a plan for a bill banning smoking in public. So, what's interesting about this, so let me just Is this in Florida? Florida, in Sarasota. Oh man, that's not gonna go anywhere.
He's a state Senator in Sarasota. He's gonna be out of office next year. He's gonna be out of office next year. He's gonna be out of office next year. Exactly, Pooh. He's announced that he will be introducing a bill that would implement a complete ban on smoking in public places [01:13:00] if a November ballot measure Delegalizing recreational cannabis use by adults passes.
So he's come out in support of the cannabis measure. Which I guess is goes against, uh, the governor and many members of the GOP down there. What he said is that the proposal would define public places as a place to which the public has access, including, but not limited to streets, sidewalks, highways, public parks, and common areas in Florida.
So he's in support of the cannabis measure, but he wants to ban. Smoking anywhere in public. What he says is I'm not a big fan of smoking anywhere of any kind. I think it infringes on my enjoyment when I'm out in public. We don't want to see what's happened in Vegas and New York with smoking on the streets.
People just don't want to smell it. I don't know what you're talking about. The customs officers better come through.
**Pagoda:** You custom officers, you come and vote him out.
**Poobah:** If you want to take my cigars, you gotta do that. A state senator in [01:14:00] Florida, of which I'm a part time resident, let me tell you something.
Here we go. This is, okay. You, you can carry say Poobah. This is lunacy. It's total. Well, he has no shot. First of all. He's, he's, he's a, you can make a U-turn anywhere in Florida, literally anywhere, and it's totally legal and you can, can shoot anybody anytime. And also you can carry a gun with no license provided you don't have.
A felony record. So as long as you don't have a criminal record, you can carry a gun concealed with no license. And you're going to tell people in Florida, there's absolutely, it's like the freedom state. There's like absolutely no way on God's green earth that you're going to, that they're going to ban smoking on sidewalks.
On at outdoor bars, it's, it's a free for all down there, which is what it's supposed to be. And thank God for it. And, uh, it's just not [01:15:00] happening. I mean, it's not happening, you know,
**Pagoda:** I'm sure he's the transplant from that little town and he's not a
**Poobah:** us Senator. He's a state Senator. This guy's got no pole. Am I, am I right?
Am I right, Senator? You're the Senator.
**Senator:** You're not wrong. Justify it, Senator. Will you? Go ahead. Well, he's a, he's a state Senator, so he makes policy in the state of Florida. If he was U. S. Senator, obviously it'd be federal policy. Either, there are idiots in either camp, and this clearly is also correct.
**Gizmo:** I just don't understand supporting Cannabis, but wanting to get rid of smoking and saying he doesn't
**Senator:** like smoking of any kind, as if you don't smoke cannabis, I guess, because
**Gizmo:** he walks by people smoking outside and hypocrisy, then it turns into New York
**Poobah:** City, which is you can't walk down the street in New York City, uh, Pagoda.
Uh, I don't work there anymore. I worked there for 27 years, but you smell weed everywhere, [01:16:00] every single, every, you can't walk a block in, in, in Pagoda. You can just back me up for this or tell me I'm nuts. You can't walk one to two blocks, two blocks in, in Manhattan without smelling weed. Am I wrong?
**Pagoda:** You're not wrong at all.
And what really bothers me is the fact that weed or marijuana does alter your state of mind. It completely alters your state of mind and that's completely fine and it has a very very strong smell as well as much as people may or may not like the smell of cigars because a lot of people do say most people like the smell of cigars most people do it's like It's, it's crazy.
I, I think he should be shipped. Somewhere else.
**Senator:** Shipped. I also, this guy talking about Vegas. No one's walking down the streets of Vegas smoking, it's sweltering hot. Everybody's inside trying to have a smoke. I mean, that's ridiculous. And
**Gizmo:** a lot of casinos have actually banned smoking entirely in Vegas too.
I mean, you do need to find a spot to [01:17:00] smoke. Now, I don't know if that extends to marijuana. I don't know if they're as tough on marijuana as they are as Tobacco in some of those spots, but to everybody's point in the room, like it seems like cannabis is getting a free for all at, you know, nobody wants to regulate cannabis.
Like anywhere you go, people are smoking weed. There's no penalty for it. But in some of these places, some of these municipalities, you light up a cigar. Like it's a problem. It's a problem. And it
**Poobah:** makes no sense. It is a problem. Um, I mean, I believe in Vegas now. I haven't been there in a while, but I believe in Vegas and then certainly in the casinos, even around here, they have spots now, not in New York, in the Adirondacks, they have those casinos up in the Cascades that actually there's no smoking there, but there's certain, uh, most casinos in Las Vegas, I believe.
And, uh, many in Atlantic city, you can go to a spot in the casino. That's a smoking area. You can't tell [01:18:00] gamblers, Hey, you can't have a cigarette. And like, you got to go outside and leave the casino. The last thing they want you to do is leave the casino. Okay. The, the, the, what they want, they want to keep you in the casino, keeping you, it's literally designed to keep you in there.
So the last thing they want to do is ban smoking cigarettes. Cause what's it, what happens when you're, when you're winning. You want to have a cigarette when you're losing, you want to have a cigarette. It's it's, it's, it's like goes hand in hand. Now smoking at the tables, the last I checked, mostly you can't, they have designated areas with on the floor where you can have, you can have a cigarette.
You just look, you just lost fucking 3, 000. It's like, are you going to send me out in the cold and just in the cold of Vegas? Well, no, I mean, in Atlantic city to have a cigarette, I mean, 90 percent of these people who were [01:19:00] playing these slots and coming down from these old age homes and fucking buses, do you know what I mean?
It's a G you know, there's, they want to smoke and play slots. That's, that's exactly what they want to do. Am I wrong?
**Chef Ricky:** You're not, you're right. You're not wrong.
**Poobah:** I mean, that's their whole agenda.
**Pagoda:** I'm from Chinatown. They all smoke cigarettes. Right. You're going to tell
**Poobah:** some Bacharach player in a high, in a high stakes room that they can't smoke.
No. Some guy. Come on,
**Bam Bam:** I'm staying,
**Poobah:** you
**Bam Bam:** know, I don't know.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys, I got one more for you before we move into our rating portion of the program. This one I love. First responder celebration here on the podcast. Firefighters in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania rescued a man stuck 30 feet high in his tobacco barn.
So I guess he was having a medical issue. Tobacco barn? Yeah, tobacco barn in Lancaster [01:20:00] County. This is in Quarryville and Bart Township, uh, responded to a, a medical issue in Bart Township, Pennsylvania. The man was approximately 30 feet off the floor in the tobacco barn. Well, I guess he was having some sort of medical issue, a stroke or a heart attack or something like that.
Firefighters brought the ladder out, cut a hole in the wall of the barn, put the man in a Stokes basket, and lowered him to the ground. How cool is that?
**Bam Bam:** Did he have a cigar in his hand?
**Gizmo:** I don't You know what's funny is, uh He wanted one right after, I'm sure he did. The NBC coverage of this did not include that detail.
Fuckin Eagle fan.
**Rooster:** He was in the Stokes basket. Correct. Probably had an Eagles jersey on. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** shout out to the EMS and the firefighters there. It was pretty cool. But there are some pictures. I mean, he was really high up. They had to bring the massive ladder out. Fuck. The firetruck ladder and cut a hole in the side of the barn to get them out of there.
Fascinating. And you know what? Those are
**Chef Ricky:** probably
**Gizmo:** volunteers. Absolutely sir. [01:21:00] Kudos to the firefighters rescuing him. So boys, any final thoughts here before we move into the ratings on the Oban 14 and the Roma Craft that we
**Bam Bam:** have in our hands tonight? Delicious pairing overall, I think. I think it worked great.
Yeah, I'm ready for the next cigar. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Honestly, like I'm down to an inch. I'm getting a lot of molasses right now. It's actually gotten a little sweeter for me.
**Pagoda:** But the good. Yeah, it hasn't gotten
**Bam Bam:** bitter at all. That's the jaggery. Yeah. Is that right? Okay. Jaggery it is, man.
**Rooster:** We'll bring a brick of jaggery next time to go with the yeast.
Jaggery and yeast. It's a little Mick, a
**Gizmo:** little Mick Jaggery. Pooh was doing his Mick Jagger impression. Moves like Jaggery over there. All right, boys, it's time to move into the ratings now. Let's start with our rating, our formal liquor rating for the Oban, 14 years old, single malt scotch. Bam, bam, you're up.
**Bam Bam:** So this is a classic scotch for all of us. I'm going to give this a 10. You know, I've always loved this. I'll never not [01:22:00] love it. It drinks beautifully. I remember one night with Senator, we polished off an entire bottle together. What else can I say? It's an excellent spirit. 10.
**Gizmo:** All right, Pagoda.
**Pagoda:** Yeah, this was a 10 before I started.
It was a 10 in the middle. It's 10 now. It's a 10. It's a 10. It's a 10. There we go. Anybody
**Gizmo:** playing Lizard Bingo?
**Chef Ricky:** Bingo. Chef Ricky. It's a 10 for me. Um, you know, I put this right there for me. Uh, I don't know. This is number, maybe scotch number four, uh, in my scotch journey. So I don't have a whole lot of experience, but I could tell you this, that this scotch delivers, uh, beautifully.
It's, you know, what? It's not as sweet as the Macallan, which I really do love. There is some peat present. There's great balance. No ice necessary. Maybe one chip helps. He looked at the Was that an admission? That was a
**Bam Bam:** true admission.
**Chef Ricky:** No, no, [01:23:00] I'm, I'm just, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm For some.
**Pagoda:** Listen. I would like to say he's warming up, but I think he's cooling off.
**Bam Bam:** I saw, I saw a
**Chef Ricky:** guy. He'll throw your shoe at you if you put ice in your drink. Yeah. And I won't miss. Um, no, but this, this, this scotch is just beautiful. It's well rounded. It went great with the cigar. Um, yeah, I love it. It's a 10. It's a 10. It's a 10. There you go. Bingo.
**Senator:** Senator. I don't disagree with anything that's been said.
I'd also give it a 10. I think when Ricky talks about it being balanced, that's what defines this spirit for me. I think, you know, scotch is known as being peaty and I think this is a good introduction for folks who want to try something with some peat but not be overpowered by it. There's nothing intimidating about the way that it delivers it.
It still has those sweet notes. I [01:24:00] think it's incredibly versatile. I mean, we've paired this spirit with such a crazy range of cigars, Cuban and new world, Cuban and new worlds, sweeter cigars, spicier cigar. I mean, I can't think of a cigar that this wouldn't pair with. And, um, I think just the, the body that it has, it's such a satisfying experience.
It's like, this is one of those spirits that even just after dinner, if I can't have a cigar, It has so much flavor and that little bit of peat that kind of reminds me of having a cigar that I reach for after a meal. So for all those reasons, I, I think, um, you know, they've really just, it's perfect. I, I hope it never changes.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. And you know what I love about it? It's usually for me, body viscosity just equals sweetness, right? And this doesn't have that, like, it's not cloyingly sweet. It's, it's the right, it's the perfect amount. It's balanced. Yeah, it's balanced.
**Gizmo:** Yep. [01:25:00] I'm in lockstep here. It's a 10. This is just a regular rotation, single malt scotch for me, as I know it is for everybody in this room.
I can't believe it's taking us 148 episodes to rate this incredible spirit. To remember to rate. To remember to rate, that's correct. We drank too much of it, I guess, that we didn't rate it, but Early in our career. It's a really, really amazing single malt scotch. I think it pairs well with With almost any new world cigar out there.
It's certainly paired well with this full experience we had tonight, even through some of the spiciness, even through some of the things we talked about, it really, really paired well. And it, it, it was a good companion. I think I did. It didn't stand above and it didn't stand below. It was right neck and neck with, with the flavor of this cigar.
And I think it performs very, very well. With almost any new world cigar that we smoke on this podcast. So for me, it's a 10, probably. I love this spirit. Poobah.
**Poobah:** Uh, yeah,
**Gizmo:** I'm in [01:26:00] lockstep
**Poobah:** with everybody. It's a 10. I feel like maybe at one point we've been drinking this together for a long time. I feel like at one point, like it went through a rough patch.
Am I wrong? It did.
**Bam Bam:** Absolutely. Right.
**Poobah:** Because, because it went through a rough patch where it was like, we were, we were drinking open 14, like At the old lounge, not to go to the bingo board, but, um, like, like a lot, no, I'm, I'm being serious. We, we would, we would go to the right. And then it went through like this thing where like you'd buy a bottle and it wasn't quite what this is.
The expression that this
**Senator:** is the difference is it was Peter and it was like it, it, it lost its balance. It's true. The Pete became much more dominant than the sweet notes that you get in this scotch. And I think that's when it fell out of, uh, fell out of favor for a lot of us. And honestly, it was Bam. I'll never forget.
I hadn't drank this in several months, six months, 12 months, [01:27:00] and Bam brought a bottle over. And we took one sip and just kind of looked at each other and said, this is how we used to remember. It's different than we've been experiencing it. And next thing we know, we polished off the whole bottle, the two of us.
And that's when it was kind of back for us. This is before all you guys
**Bam Bam:** showed up. Yeah, because
**Poobah:** we really used to drink this a lot. Yeah, we did. It kind of fell out of my rotation for, I'm not gonna, maybe the last three years because there was something that was going on. I don't know what it was, maybe it was, it wasn't the same as what it was three or four years ago.
It's that ramp up inpedieness,
**Bam Bam:** I think, yeah. Yeah,
**Poobah:** and, uh, but, but tonight's bottle was, uh, Was great. I mean, I, I, it's a 10 all day for me and I'm glad that it's kind of back, um, in a way, because it wasn't, it went through a little bit of a rough patch, um, where, you know, there were a couple of bottles. It's like, and it's a premium price, [01:28:00] right?
Yeah. It's 90 bucks. Oh yeah.
**Rooster:** I mean, it might've been a bad batch or a bad run. It was a long bad run. Wow. Heavy on Pete. Yeah,
**Poobah:** it was a long kind of not, well, not bad run, but just not what it was, not what I remembered it is. And this is kind of what I've remembered as. So for me, it's a 10, I'll give it a 10 today.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys, that puts the formal liquor rating tonight on the Oban 14 years old, single malt Scotch whiskey. At a 10. 0
**Bam Bam:** damn homeboy. There you go. That's a perfect
**Gizmo:** score for this. I did the math on that. Yeah, I did. I pulled out my calculator. So let's compare that to the two sister spirits. We've done from open the little bay.
We did on episode 21. If you can believe it. scored a 6. 8.
**Pagoda:** Wow.
**Gizmo:** Not great. And the distillers edition we did on episode 65 consumed a lot of 6. 8
**Senator:** rates
**Gizmo:** during the pandemic on episode 65. We did the distillers edition and it was a [01:29:00] 7. 5. So this scored nearly 25, 30 points higher than the sisters. What was the
**Poobah:** distillers
**Gizmo:** edition?
How was that different? I don't remember what the flavor notes were, but it scored a 7. 5. So it certainly did not.
**Bam Bam:** I remember the viscosity was very light compared to this.
**Gizmo:** So I got a question for you guys, for listeners out there. I know some of us have mentioned Pete. I know that it is a little bit of a component of this spirit.
We did this when we talked about the Balvenie Curious casks, 14 year age, the American bourbon barrel spirit. We always, of course, reference Talisker and Lagavulin as well as Lafroig, which we have not done on this podcast. I'm curious for the listener out there. Where does this kind of stack as far as Pete goes compared to those three spirits that we mentioned?
I think it's a no brainer. The least
**Chef Ricky:** amount of Pete. Yeah. The
**Gizmo:** least amount.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Yeah. It's on a lower scale.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. I mean, I think McAllen's a step below this one. [01:30:00] Agreed. Um, and this may be a step above the Balvini, um, Doublewood? No. Well, that's curious. Oh, I'm sorry. The curious task, the 14 years that we did recently.
Uh, but yeah, it's definitely a few steps above the Doublewood. Uh, so I would say on a scale of a one to 10, I'd probably say it's a four.
**Poobah:** Okay. Yeah. It's, it's not like, it's not a Sherry forward, which is nice as much as I love Balvenie and we all love it. Um, and McCown as well. It's a little bit more Sherry forward in this, this, this is right in between there.
It's got kind of a, it's got a little bit of a dry finish. It's the open. I feel like tonight I had the open that I had six years ago. The open of old. Am I wrong?
**Senator:** No, it's, it's been back for some time now. They, they've clearly fixed whatever. the issue was, and I think it's now very consistent. I mean, we've been drinking this and having this experience for at least the last two years.
Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. So how long do you guys think the bad run [01:31:00] was? Was it a year? Was it two years? I think two years.
**Bam Bam:** I kind of feel it was about two for me.
**Gizmo:** That might be right. Yeah. 20, end of 2020, 2021, somewhere in there. Maybe three, but
**Bam Bam:** two?
**Senator:** I, I think probably, Either 2019 to 2021 or 2020 to 2022. It's one of those.
**Gizmo:** And it goes to what we talk about with cigars, what we talk about with wine, what we talk about with other spirits that are handmade. I mean, these spirits are going to go on runs that are great and sometimes they're going to dip.
**Bam Bam:** And we know how you hate the 2017 run of the entire Cuban catalog, the entire Habanos catalog.
**Senator:** But I will say though, it is very odd for this to happen with a spirit. It's much easier to maintain consistency with spirits. I mean, they're, they're able to take and blend this from all over the place. It's not that difficult. That's, you know, why I talk about my appreciation for wine and certain things that.
There's a vintage on every bottle of wine. There's not a vintage on this bottle of, you know, [01:32:00] 14 year Oban. And so because of that, they have a lot more flexibility to take stuff from different years. Again, that 14 year age statement, this is true on every single scotch. That's just a minimum of 14 years, everything that's in there.
They can use older stuff to try to blend and achieve the same consistent flavor profile. So It's very odd and rare when it happens, but it has happened with other spirits. I mean, McAllen used to have a period where, and I think this is when they were literally running out of sherry casks and cheating and using, again, this is my theory, cheating and using that, that, uh, those American oak barrels that then magically they came out with this blue box that they said was half aged in sherry and half in American oak.
Okay. And I think the precursor to that was that black bot, uh, that black box that was allegedly all Sherry, they were having to do that and realize that people were catching on and they needed to create a separate product. And was that a product of demand? You think? Uh, and [01:33:00] supply.
**Gizmo:** Yeah.
**Senator:** There's just a short there.
I mean, to this day, there's a shortage of those Oloroso Sherry cats that they need to make that. Correct.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. I, I don't think Sherry's a huge category in terms of sales, so there's probably not a whole lot of those cies. Exactly, yeah.
**Poobah:** The, the, the, the a hundred percent. And, you know, you go into a, a bar and you go, I'll, I'll have a Macallan 12.
Well, is it Macallan 12, Sherry cask? Or you grabbing that with the blue ribbon on top? I think most of the
**Gizmo:** time it's the blue box. A hundred percent. Yeah. Oh, it's not the, the black box
**Poobah:** often. It is, yeah. You can, and you have to see the
**Chef Ricky:** bottle. You know, you have to ask and you have to confirm because
**Poobah:** there's a distinct difference.
Oh
**Gizmo:** yeah. All right, boys, it's time to move into the formal lizard rating now on the Roma craft in temperance Volstead VO 1920 in noble experiment. Rooster, you're up.
**Bam Bam:** I can't wait to hear this rating.
**Gizmo:** I
**Bam Bam:** can't fucking wait.
**Gizmo:** So I'm at a one.
**Pagoda:** You can't change your rating. [01:34:00] That's it. Senator will tell you you're done.
**Chef Ricky:** Next. Poopa's giving you the lip. Like, are you fucking crazy? He's so serious right now. Look at Poopa. He hasn't cracked a smile.
**Rooster:** I mean, if the, the cigar strotted out with a abundance of, uh, Pepper blast, you know, it was, it was a bit intimidating.
The first few, uh, puffs that I took rooster intimidating. I know that's for most of the guys in this room.
**Bam Bam:** You're speaking for us. I appreciate that. Thank you for
**Pagoda:** everyone. Yeah. Where's the daisy in you meaning? No, I'm getting there. The jaggery
**Rooster:** jaggery note comes through later. So the cigar, I mean, it did start off a little intimidating.
It was a little bit. A bit of a pepper blast, but it really, really, uh, moved quickly to the notes that we all love the pepper did continue, but it kind of dissipated quite a bit, but it was still there, [01:35:00] but the delivery was very smooth. The construction was beautiful, uh, great smoke output. And, um, The notes that we were getting through throughout the cigar.
I mean, that jaggery note that Ricky mentioned. I mean, that definitely, you know, it was a little bit of a sweet note, but with a little little bit of spice at the end of it and for 10 a cigar. I think that's a great, great find. Um, maybe not for everyone and definitely not for a novice smoker, but somebody with a little refined palate and looking for a fuller, richer experience.
It's a home run. Um, And for 10, it's, I'm going to give it a nine. All right. Poobah. I'd
**Poobah:** echo everything that, that, uh, that rooster said. Um, except the one, except do you echo the Jaggery? Okay. Except I'll bring a jar of Jaggery next. No, I, I enjoyed it very much. It's not a nine for me. It's an eight. I think it's, it's a, it was a very enjoyable [01:36:00] experience.
I spoke to it right down, uh, right down to the, I smoked the whole cigar. It was fantastic. So it's a strong recommend for me at an eight. It was, it was spicy. It was, it had all that Nicaraguan DNA that Ecuadorian, um, smatcher rapper. Really nice. Always love that. And it was, uh, it was a really good cigar, not a nine, uh, for me, but, but, but a solid, a solid eight, I recommend.
**Gizmo:** So for me, it was a nine. I think this cigar really benefited for me from the element of surprise. I was surprised not only in, in how it performed the whole way through, but how it transitioned from that initial light where we. Kind of all had this hesitant moment of, Oh, are we in for two hours of pain?
No doubt about it. And, and the surprise there and the journey it took us on is really a merit in, in the way that this cigar was blended. [01:37:00] I think it was a wonderful start to our journey with Roma craft. It makes me want to try more of these cigars. It certainly makes me want to try the other. Entry from the line that a lizard Nick handed me that I haven't smoked yet.
That Senator was talking about. I just thought this was a really good cigar. Why did I not go 10 giving all these heaps of phrase? Why did I not do that? Because it's not going to enter my rotation. I'm not going to go buy a box of these cigars. It's not a cigar I'm going to seek out, but the ring age is too large and the ring gauges, of course, but what I'm saying
**Poobah:** is, but to me, a nine, to me, a nine is you'd buy a box of it.
To me, an eight is a strong recommend.
**Gizmo:** No, I
**Poobah:** think a nine is like, you'd go buy
**Gizmo:** a box. I think for, for me, for this cigar. If I was handed this cigar, if I walked into a lounge, I'd have a smile on my face picking this cigar up. I think it performed very, very well. Would you buy a box? I would not buy a box because I just wouldn't smoke them that much.
But it's a really good cigar. It's a really good cigar. It's just not going to [01:38:00] enter my rotation. You buy a box. Not necessarily, not for me, I think part of
**Rooster:** me, like we're giving it a nine is because of, you know, the price point price factors are, of course, delivering a full flavored cigar agreed and by singles,
**Gizmo:** it was, it was unique in a way that I don't think I've ever had a cigar.
Like this. It really piqued my curiosity. It kept my interest the whole way through. It changed a couple times. I'm, I'm very happy to get a nine on this cigar. And I think the price factoring in is very, very fair. Yeah. Now you just have to buy a box. Okay. I'm going to buy a box. Senator.
**Senator:** Segway. Um, I, I really enjoyed this cigar.
I'm at an eight for me. Number one, the construction was excellent. I have to give it a lot of credit for that at 10 a stick. It's a handsome looking cigar. I mean, invisible seams. Uh, I mean, you know, BAMS Brownie analogy early on. I mean, I, you really just, it's. [01:39:00] So well done the ash held on great. The flavor obviously super robust, really full, but smooth, not.
Ever overly aggressive. The last third does pick up. I don't think we talked enough about the last third, the last third for me. Um, the sweetness starts to subside. I think chef Ricky was saying he was getting a little more pepper in that last third. Luckily, not as much pepper as on the light. So it was, it was the right amount.
Um, you know, I'm not someone who ever pursues a peppery cigar. So for me, this was definitely out of my comfort zone, but I think it was done in such a great way that even someone like me who doesn't pursue that. Can really enjoy and appreciate this cigar. I would smoke this again. I think the thing that definitely impacts my rating is having had this in a smaller ring gauge, in a Robusto, that cigar is medium full, which is very much what I normally pursue.
And if I had to choose between the two, [01:40:00] I would pick up the Robusto over this. Nonetheless, it's still an excellent cigar. And for my palate, it's an eight. I think for someone who loves a full bodied cigar. This is a nine or a 10. No question. And I think as everyone has said, the price point at 10, very hard to beat to get that level of quality production and the experience it delivers.
So it's definitely a recommend.
**Chef Ricky:** Chef Ricky, you know, for me as a chef, I really appreciate the journey that the blender sent us on with the cigar. Um, you know, the smoke output was phenomenal. The cigar looked beautiful. Um, the flavor was great. The flavor varied. And though the initial light or the light was somewhat bitter, peppery and, and strong, it really made you appreciate what the wrapper brings to a cigar.
Um, and I think, you know, for that with, you know, I would buy a box of these, of this. [01:41:00] Cigar, would I smoke it often? No, but I would feel happy knowing it's in my humidor so that when I do want it, it's there and I think there's times where I'm going to go for it and I'm going to grab it and I'm going to enjoy it.
And then there's times where I probably won't, but I think it is, it is a box purchase worthy. It definitely caught me off guard because Roma craft is not, you know, maybe a name that I associate with a high quality cigar. Um, but. you know, price point, smoke output, flavor, you know, three or four different phases of the cigar that I experienced, uh, notes that I was able to call out that I haven't found in other cigars, and still delivering an enjoyable experience for all of us without the presence of dried fruit, without the presence of wet fruit, without the presence of, you know, fruit
**Bam Bam:** here.
No fruit, it's still, it's still, unfortunately, it's still no,
**Chef Ricky:** no. And you know what, for, for, for us on [01:42:00] this pod, like those flavor notes are our bangers, they're, they're home runs almost every time and we seek them out and we enjoy them. So the fact that, you know, I don't think the cigar is going to get anything less than an eight tonight.
The fact that it can get that high of a score without those, those notes that we all love present. I think that that's a huge merit for the cigar and I, you know, for that, for me, it's, it'll get a nine.
**Pagoda:** All right, Pagoda. Well, this is a nine for me, you know, to echo everyone's sentiment over here. The construction was really, really good.
So much so that I think each one of us, I think, smoked it down to the nub. Yeah. And nobody really, you know, was touching the cigar, you know, retouching the cigar up and It was just fantastic. The smoke output was fantastic. The feel of the cigar is great. Obviously, from a construction perspective, it's a home run.
Having said that, in terms of the flavor, of course, it's, you know, it is a, uh, [01:43:00] a fuller body cigar, which is, you know, kind of fits in my wheelhouse. And the, for me, it wasn't, overly peppery in the beginning, and it kind of maintained that throughout. And not only that, it also, I got that, uh, the, the dark chocolate bitterness, uh, which I really enjoyed.
And, uh, it's, uh, one of those things, uh, that I really, uh, somewhat even seek out in cigars often. And so for me, it's a strong nine.
**Bam Bam:** Bam Bam. Yeah, so, if you can see, I'm down literally to a quarter of an inch. For the listener, Bam is smoking his fingers right now. He's at
**Gizmo:** three thirty seconds of an inch. Well, I'm at three
**Bam Bam:** eighths, actually.
This is a three eighths of an inch finish on this thing. Thank you for clarifying. Yeah, it is. Look, I, uh, I'm at a nine. And I can't tell you how much I love this cigar. It was intimidating initially, but Honestly, it evolved, and for me, personally, it just got better and better and better. I didn't get any pepper at the end.
I'm down. For [01:44:00] me, personally, no pepper, a lot of molasses, and the dark chocolate's right on for the aroma on the foot. Fantastic cigar. So
**Rooster:** why not
**Bam Bam:** a 10? Yeah, why not a 10? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I'm not gonna smoke this a lot. You know, I just won't go for the cigar very often, but. He
**Rooster:** smoked it down to less than a nub.
It's true. It's true. But I think. Less than a nub. I
**Bam Bam:** think a nine is a fair score for this. An eight's a great score, but a nine's a good score. would you buy a box? I would not.
**Pagoda:** No, but the thing is it doesn't even get
**Bam Bam:** harsh, and Poop is unhappy about that, but look I think there's a lot of guys we could debate that
**Gizmo:** in a second.
So boys, the formal lizard rating tonight on the RomaCraft Intemperance Volstead VO 1920 in Noble Experiment is an 8. 7.
**Bam Bam:** That's impressive.
**Gizmo:** The experience that I had tonight, I think an 87 is a perfect score for this cigar. I agree. It is. And, and, and. Now, when
**Bam Bam:** you look at the composite rating. It works. It's under a nine.
I'm not going to pursue a box of it, but it was so enjoyable. It, this [01:45:00] gets passed around the club. You're going to smoke the cigar.
**Gizmo:** It was eye opening to a point that that nine is so valid for me. Agreed. Like this cigar opened my eyes in a way. That I, I would say who was growling, grunting over there. No, but it did.
It really was like, wow, okay. I had, I not been spoken this under the microscope in this room tonight. If I hit with this in that lounge over there, just with us sitting there, would you have put
**Bam Bam:** it down?
**Gizmo:** I might've put it down. So
**Bam Bam:** I said that earlier, but if you have the patience for this cigar, for the listener, fight through that first three eighths or half inch or whatever the dimension is, you're going to love, you'll love this cigar.
By
**Chef Ricky:** patience, we're talking three minutes for this, right? We're talking three minutes. And by the way, if you know, that's what we're talking about. Now, if you're in a Gulf coast, a
**Pagoda:** 10 buck cigar, this is a good one to take to the Gulf.
**Chef Ricky:** There's so many shitty 10 cigars out there. I mean, this is,
**Rooster:** you know, unusual.
Also the guys who like a fuller. Bodied cigar, gave it a nine. And I
**Gizmo:** think [01:46:00] also as far as the nine dispute that Poobah, I can, I can sense this, this volcano about the box. You got to buy a box. The thing is for what this cigar is, what it intended to be, the experience it gave us tonight, it really delivered on everything.
It intended to be 10 a
**Poobah:** hand. So who's going to buy a box. NNN.
**Chef Ricky:** Now, I'll hate to to ask this, I hate to ask this question, but if it wasn't Roma Craft,
**Poobah:** no, it has, would it get a better score? No. If it, if it had no band on it whatsoever. Mm-Hmm. blind. Okay.
**Gizmo:** For me, buying a box does not factor into my eight. I agree.
Eight, nine, or 10.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, I agree.
**Gizmo:** It, it factors into what it did for me in the room tonight. The experience we had tonight, the smoke, it delivered the price. I mean, it checks every box. I'm not going to run out and buy 25 of these. I may buy five. And like chef Ricky said, I might keep it in my humidor and reach for this.
When I'm [01:47:00] looking for that kind of full experience after a big meal. If it's cold outside, I want to smoke outside around a fire. Like it really serves a purpose. It's not going to crack a rotation. But it's an 8. 7. That's a perfect score for the experience tonight. But we have to realize,
**Pagoda:** even on the rotation perspective, you can't like, we've reviewed 150.
We can't buy 150 different types of boxes. Well, I was just going to say, on average,
**Chef Ricky:** you guys all have like 64, at least 64 boxes, right? So how often are you, that's only bam, bam. I have
**Senator:** only five. I agree with Poobah's frustration around trying to make sense of how you rate something and not get a box, but I think as I've been thinking about this, really full bodied cigars are kind of an exception to that box rule.
And I say that because let's look at like the Padron 50 year for example, right? Like the 50th is a cigar that's very full. It's not something that we pursue often. No, it's something we pursue. Sometimes no one in [01:48:00] this room has bought a box. Now, obviously they come in a huge box, so it's cost prohibitive.
That's part of the reason. But even if it were in a more reasonable size and you only got the Maduro that we typically smoke, that's not something that we smoke often that we'd be seeking boxes where I've always just bought some singles. I tuck them away. I smoke one or two a year. It's just not something I pick up.
It doesn't take away from the fact that I'm pretty sure I gave that cigar a nine and I think it's an excellent cigar, but it's not something. So I just think like these full bodied sticks, because they're, they're not for us, for our palates, for almost all of our palates meant. Or don't fit in or slot in daily, it's hard to want a box of something that you're just not going to smoke that often.
But the reason you're not going to smoke it often isn't because it's a bad cigar, it's just because it's fuller than you normally go for. So I do think these are an exception, because I'm normally 100 percent with you there. I think it's just the, the full, the full, real full body cigars are just an outlier.
[01:49:00] I
**Bam Bam:** really like what he's saying because we
**Senator:** all
**Bam Bam:** have a lot of hammers in our collection. We have a lot. I've got a lot of fifties. How often are we smoking that cigar? But it's an, it's a world class excellent cigar and we have it on occasion because of its strength. I also
**Gizmo:** pulled the data. Poobah, did you buy a box of a 50
**Pagoda:** year
**Gizmo:** hammers?
No. Did you buy, did you buy any quantity? Okay.
**Poobah:** Yes. How many? Um, I think I have five. Okay. Cause you
**Gizmo:** gave that cigar a 10.
**Poobah:** Yeah, he did. Uh, the only person in the room, the only person in the room who are we talking
**Gizmo:** accountability? The only person in the room who did it, who's making this point is senator who gave it a nine.
Yeah.
**Poobah:** Yeah. But don't they only, they come in boxes of, um, But we have, you can get, you can get any. And the funny thing is, I, I would actually
**Senator:** say if you give it a 10, you, you literally have to buy it. Oh, you have. And by way, Senator did say something incorrect. No, no. I did purchase
**Gizmo:** a box of, of 50 year [01:50:00] hammers in Maduro.
I do have a 50 cannabis. You motherfucker. I do. You did. Okay. Well
**Poobah:** that's, that's a lot of money. I mean. I got a good price. Okay. If you want to split those, look, I'm just, it's, it's, it's at 10 bucks. Look, everybody's got their opinion. I like the cigar. Somebody hit the reset button. I got, I got, I got, I like the cigar.
We're all of a sudden comparing. 50th anniversary, we're comparing scores, no, it's not the score. It's just the notion that if you give
**Senator:** it a nine or higher, you have to buy a box.
**Poobah:** Well,
**Senator:** I mean,
**Poobah:** it's your statement, give it a nine or higher. Yeah. I mean, well, would you buy a box if it was in your means to buy a box?
I mean, in other words, I'm not really. Yes. Could I do it? Sure. Yes. I would buy a box of those, but. I don't know. It's just, I got [01:51:00] one
**Gizmo:** more for you. It's funny. Did you buy, did you buy a box of the Drew Estate Herrera Esteli Norteno and Lonsdale? Yes. Oh, you did. All right. Impressive.
**Pagoda:** Who did you gift that to? I
**Gizmo:** did.
**Pagoda:** I
**Gizmo:** did buy a box of those. Listen, I think, you know, to, to, to put a button on this, I do think an 8. 7 tonight for this cigar, for this experience we had in the room, I think is a perfect score for this cigar. Overall, a delicious cigar. Yeah. I think 87
**Poobah:** is fine. I mean, I'm not. Digging my heels in, I'm just saying, you know, any
**Rooster:** more, but I think Senator made a, you know, a good point.
I agree. Not every, it's not an underrated cigar. You're going to go out and buy a box. Yeah. But this, this is not a cigar that you're going to smoke every day. So it's not going to be in here. So what he was, he was making
**Bam Bam:** the argument of strength and you're going to occasionally go for that cigar. It's not a consistent thing in your rotation.
I have [01:52:00] like 30 of those hammers. Maybe I'll have one or two a year. I just don't go for it. It's also
**Rooster:** the
**Bam Bam:** price point of that
**Rooster:** cigar.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, they're expensive. So
**Rooster:** this being 10 a cigar. Yeah, it's true. Maybe it'll fit in more into your rotation. Yeah, or even a
**Senator:** Liga 9. I mean, just other full bodied cigars. The Liga 9 is an excellent cigar.
Excellent cigar, but it's just not something that we reach for often because of its strength, not because it's a bad cigar. And I would argue, I would
**Gizmo:** argue to, to Senator's point here on the, the fuller extent of strength, we could rate a mild cigar, a very mild cigar. And 8. 7 tonight, or a few of us giving it nines, that might be the same case where we're not going to rush out and buy that box because we're just not going to reach for a super mild cigar very often.
That's also true.
**Poobah:** No, totally get it. So, I mean, it's almost, it's yeah. So. I'll walk it back a little bit in saying that like I'll, I would buy if I was in her old [01:53:00] lounge, in her old humidor, which was a good humidor, okay. Bingo, .
**Gizmo:** It was a pretty, Senator. Just hit bingo.
**Poobah:** It was a pretty good humidor. It's a good humidor.
Okay. Let's just call it that. Where I would, would, would I like throw one of these in buying singles. To, to, to reach the minimum. Sure. Sure.
**Rooster:** I mean, if this came in a 10 count box, I'm in, you know, maybe I don't want to commit into a, to a 25, you know, would I buy one or
**Poobah:** two and throw them in my humidor?
Definitely. These come in 12 count boxes.
**Rooster:** So that's perfect. Oh, yeah,
**Poobah:** absolutely. Yeah. You know, so, okay. Yeah, smoke one a month. So it's fair. I mean, you know, I mean, I'm not going to dig my heels in that much.
**Bam Bam:** All right. You know, honestly, this, this conversation is being spurred by this cigar. Just, I think it just says how complex and how interesting this stick is.
And how different it was. It was different. It's just, yeah. And
**Gizmo:** I'll be honest. It's a good cigar. The reaction from Poobah's palate tonight on, on this cigar. Shocking. Is maybe the most shocking piece of this. [01:54:00] Agreed. Cause I expected once we got into that pepper, pepper thing, even taming it down 30, 40 percent to the rest of the cigar.
I totally expected you to hate it. I'll be honest. I really, really love there is value in that shock factor. Correct. Yeah. This
**Chef Ricky:** cigar would have got a 47 on CA just because they don't get past that first, uh, you know, inch. True.
**Senator:** And because doesn't advertise much.
**Poobah:** It was a really, really, really good cigar.
So, I mean, you know, I'll walk that statement back a little bit. That's fine. I would definitely, like, if I was walking around and just, you know, you know, pick up singles, grab a fiver. Do you want to change your rating?
**Pagoda:** No,
**Senator:** it's still an eight. I will just say, I'm very glad that people Poobah made the statement because I think for the listener, it has to be hard to reconcile why sometimes you give certain sticks a nine, but say we wouldn't buy a box.
I mean, it's counterintuitive, but I really think it's [01:55:00] just a product of the strength. It's not a knock on the cigar.
**Rooster:** Well, also because we have
**Senator:** a lot of. Boxes, right? Do you have a lot of stock? I mean, you say that, but we'll rate a medium or medium, full cigar at a nine or a 10 and you're going to buy a box instantly.
I mean, we always find room for cigars. We do. I can't fit any more. So I can't buy it.
**Poobah:** Maybe to sum it up though, to put a ribbon on it, it's like there's a spot or depending on your palate, there's a, there's a spot for the cigar, I think in almost everybody's rotation, because sometimes you really want that Do you want that Nicaraguan punch, like, like maybe that's just different or that Nicaraguan flavor that's different than to me, what a 60, what an Exclusivo in Maduro presents, which to me is, is, is the best exemplification of that in my mind, for me, for my palate.
This is something different, you know, it gives you a little more, it gives you a little more oomph. It gives you a little bit more, it gives you a little [01:56:00] bit more punch, a little bit more spice. If that's what you're in the mood for, like I would definitely buy a couple of these and smoke a few a year.
Like I'd smoke like three a year. Yeah. You know what I mean? One a quarter, you know what I mean?
**Bam Bam:** Let me ask another question. You know, this cigar does leave me wanting to have another cigar. Yes, I agree with that. Now, it's surprising because of its strength. But I think it's a merit to this cigar. It doesn't so overwhelm you.
You have one cigar and you gotta go home. No, it wasn't
**Poobah:** that nicotine heavy. Exactly. It wasn't as nicotine heavy as full bodied as it was. So here's
**Bam Bam:** the question. In your rotation, would you, if you had this, and you're gonna smoke it that night, would you have it first?
**Gizmo:** No, I don't think I'd have it first. If I'm going to do three or four, see, this is the thing
**Bam Bam:** I'll be honest.
I would, now that we've experienced it, I would actually have it first because it kind of sets the table for me. And now I want another cigar. I'm ready for the strength was in the beginning.
**Chef Ricky:** Right? So it [01:57:00] dissipated. It didn't totally disappear, but it balanced out and just leveled off into something super pleasant.
But yeah, I, I think, you know, if you can't get past that, you know, those initial five pulls or draws, it's not, you know, you, you're not gonna really get what the cigar is about. And I think because we're, We all probably want another cigar after this, that, that speaks to how the cigar sort of tapered off and balanced out and it just really did well.
It did do well. Um, but I think, you know, that, that first punch left enough of an impression on us where we're just like, Oh man, do we really want to, you know, and, and the reality is that that was only a few seconds of the cigar. You want that punch. Yeah. You know, so it was, it was, it was great. And I, I, I appreciate what the blender did there.
And I mean, I I've had a couple of cigars where the foot was exposed, but never, ever have I had that experience where it's been such a drastic change. [01:58:00] And, you know, I always get a little nervous when I hear five different, six different tobaccos in a blend. Um, and I, you know, a part of me just being the chef, it's like, Oh man, is this thing going to lack focus?
But no, I think the progression was freaking beautiful. I mean, it
**Poobah:** was, it's not my wheelhouse. And we're arguing about how great the cigar was. We're arguing
**Gizmo:** over an 8. 7. I
**Poobah:** know, I know.
**Gizmo:** It's awesome. It really was good. It was good. That's a good thing.
**Poobah:** It was a good thing. I think
**Chef Ricky:** it's because we wanted it to get a 90.
That's true. Or a 9. 0. Except for Pooble.
**Poobah:** Yeah. All right. By the way. And 90 percent of the time we're in lockstep on our radar.
**Pagoda:** All
**Gizmo:** right, boys. A great night tonight on the 14 years aged open single malt whiskey. We had a 10. 0 and on the Roma craft in temperance Volstead VO, 1920 in noble experiment. We had an 8.
7, an excellent [01:59:00] night boys. Great conversation. Congratulations to lizard. John. For winning lizard of the week with his new updated lizard bingo card. We're going to put that on the Instagram. Of course, thanks to all the other lizards out there who write us emails, send us voice memos, et cetera. We really are really, really appreciate it.
Keep it up. Thanks to fabric of five, our sponsor, and we'll see everybody next week.
**Poobah:** Hope
**Gizmo:** you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You can 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 want to reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking. Email us. Hello at lounge lizards, pod. com. You can also find us on Instagram at lounge lizards pod. We really appreciate your time and we'll, uh, we'll see you next [02:00:00] week.