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The lizards pair the Cuban Punch Punch with 10 year aged Glenmorangie scotch. Poobah gives some history on Punch, Grinder explains the unique distilling process of the scotch pairing and Bill O’Reilly joins during a technical difficulty.
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 eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
**Gizmo:** [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Lizards podcast. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars, as well as whiskey, travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo, and tonight I'm joined by Rooster pba, Senator Pagoda Grinder, and bam bam.
A full house of lizards. And our plan is to smoke a ci. Drink sub scotch, talk about life, and of course have some laughs. So take this as your 20th official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plan to meet us here once a week. We're gonna smoke a Cupid cigar tonight. Share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating.
Puba will touch on the history of punch Grinder will explain the unique distilling process of our scotch pairing. And we have a special visit from Bill O'Reilly all among a variety of other things for the next hour. So, sit. Get your favorite drink, light up a cigar and enjoy as we pair the punch punch with 10 year aged Glen Morgie Scotch.
A Corona Gorda from Punch tonight. [00:01:00] The punch Punch. Very similar in size and shape to the Magnum 46. Uh, really nice wrapper on it. Toothy Puba, you were commenting on the, uh, on the wrapper as Rooster handed it around.
**Poobah:** It's a look. It's a handsome looking ci. I've never had one of these
**Rooster:** Almost looks like a Colorado rapper.
It does, yeah. Like a reddish brown. Yep. Just, it just
**Gizmo:** looks
**Grinder:** very well made like the rapper's nice and tight, smooth. It's not, it's not chewy.
**Gizmo:** So these rooster, I think you said these are 20 fourteens, right? 2014. So this is, I, I guess probably other than the, the Maduro one is probably the oldest Cuban that we've had on the pod, uh, thus far.
I don't think we've done any other age Cubans that were, that. Older than, than that Maduro wand, which was a 15. So. Hmm. It's fitting that it's coming from Rooster. Of course we're Of course it is. We are, we are pleased to be in Rooster's connoisseur corner tonight having the punch punch. So let's, let's [00:02:00] cut this thing,
**Poobah:** the connoisseur's corner.
It's funny cuz he sits in a corner, actually within the seating
**Gizmo:** configuration and he has a whole different lighting setup above him. Sure. It's like a little halo over his head. Yeah. All right, let's cut this thing. Let's see what the, uh, cold draw. Like on the punch, punch.
A little, little snug. Yeah. I always find these to be snug. It
**Bam Bam:** is snug. I'm getting a nice floral note,
**Grinder:** getting a lot of cedar, cedar, floral, both
**Bam Bam:** very floral. Yeah, beautiful s STDs. Love the cigar.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, I've, I've always found that the draw needs to be a bit snug, but to con, you know, to, uh, you know, Senator was talking when we did the Magnum 46 episode.
Those are always really kind of tight, a little bit of a pain in the ass. I find these to be a little bit more manageable, draw wise.
**Senator:** Yeah. It's so funny you say a little bit more manageable, because I've had a few of these and I think the draw is definitely more open than, uh, Magnum 46 and mine right now.
Just a little bit of resistance. [00:03:00] Mm-hmm. , but perfect. Honestly,
**Grinder:** how I would.
**Bam Bam:** Same here.
**Poobah:** Yep.
**Rooster:** I actually like a little resistance. I mean, it's not, not like if it's too open, it's, it almost seems like
**Bam Bam:** it burns hot. The cigar is like, and it goes fast,
**Gizmo:** loosely packed, maybe,
**Senator:** you know? Yeah. Oh, I agree. I just, that's why for me, the Mag 46 is a bit, a little too much resistance, where this is just the right amount.
Yeah. For, for what I like, this has
**Grinder:** a very, very subtle or soft box press. Does it?
**Gizmo:** It definitely does. I think that's probably just for being in the dress box. Dress box. I like that. Yeah. But you know that off that, you know, we've talked about that before, that that often causes that tightness in the draw that shouldn't be there.
Construction, .
**Grinder:** Sorry, going
**Bill O'Reilly:** just said, fuck it. Started.
**Bam Bam:** He say, fuck it.
**Gizmo:** I'm right behind. I'm right behind you. I'm right behind it too. Let's do it. Bullshit. The fuck Are we wasting time? The punch, punch. . All right, hold on boys. He doesn't have audio. Wait a cigar and put his headphones in. Light[00:04:00]
**Grinder:** Who's that? No. Check Christmas kid.
**Bill O'Reilly:** So angry right now. He sounds like a I'll do it. Live
**Poobah:** fucking
**Bill O'Reilly:** pillow. Riley
**Senator:** I can't do it.
**Gizmo:** Do it. Fuck
**Bill O'Reilly:** it. Do a lot. Fuck it. We'll do it live. I'll write it. We'll do it live.
**Senator:** Fucking thing
**Grinder:** sucks. . I didn't even drive. I lit it, but I didn't draw on it yet. It's just kind.
**Bill O'Reilly:** What is for credits? I don't know what that means to play us out. What does that mean? ? To end the show. Yeah. Yeah. All right.
Go. Go In. 5, 4,
**Senator:** 3. That's tomorrow end. That is it for us today. That's tomorrow end. That is
**Bill O'Reilly:** a, yeah. 5, 4, 3.
**Grinder:** That's tomorrow. And that is it for us today. And we will leave you
**Bill O'Reilly:** with a, I can't
**Bam Bam:** do it . We'll do it live .
**Bill O'Reilly:** We'll do it live. Fuck it. Do it live. I can. [00:05:00] I'll write it and we'll do it live. Fucking thing sucks,
All right, good. Let's go.
**Gizmo:** 5, 4,
**Bill O'Reilly:** 3. Perfect timing.
**Bam Bam:** That's tomorrow end. That's
We gotta keep that in. We gotta keep
**Gizmo:** that in. I would keep that in. I'm looking. All right, boys. We're lighting the punch, punch. Needs
**Bill O'Reilly:** to play us out. What does that mean to end the show?
Four three. That's the item. That's tomorrow. And that is a yeah. Fucking thing. Sucks, . That is it for us today. And that's
**Gizmo:** it guys. Thanks for tuning
**Poobah:** into the podcast. Everybody Can't do it. Do it live. Ok. Do it live.
**Gizmo:** We're doing it live, baby. This is the content we're becoming known for. Oh God,
**Poobah:** guys, we had a production snafu for the listener.
We had a production [00:06:00] snafu and Gizmo lost. Lost his fucking mind. on
**Bill O'Reilly:** pagoda.
**Poobah:** I mean, his headphones weren't working. He lit the cigar too early. And he's gonna have to just
**Gizmo:** get over it. It was a major protocol breach. He fucking, he was
**Poobah:** like, bill O'Reilly in here, in the studio on the,
**Bill O'Reilly:** the best part is Fiona didn't give a fuck.
He just sat there, take care of this. Right?
Screaming
**Poobah:** at him. What are doing there? What are you doing? Your headphones are your head fuck. Fuck it up. You fuck it up. Did you fuck it up? Did you fuck with it? Did you
**Bill O'Reilly:** not put it on ? ? Dude, it's, it's pagoda. Like he just, I did
**Gizmo:** not say any of those things. You asshole. Oh, it's on tape, brother. We'll pull the tape.
We'll pull the tape. Oh
**Grinder:** gosh. This tastes great, by the way.
**Poobah:** great cigar. We're doing it live. .
**Gizmo:** Oh man.
**Grinder:** The draw opened up. Wow. Beautifully, beautifully. Yeah. This, this is a fantastic smoke. [00:07:00]
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. This is one of my favorite Cuban cigars introduced to me by Rooster, I think over two years ago. A year and a half.
**Grinder:** Lot of spice. Wonderful cigar. Yeah. Yeah. Lot of
**Rooster:** spice. There's some spice, there's some lot of
**Gizmo:** cedar and creaminess. Definitely cedar leather. You'll also get a little hint of, uh, floral. Floral
**Rooster:** and also a little bit of citrus, like an orange wine
**Gizmo:** flavor a
little
**Poobah:** bit. Yeah. It's like you light a candle and it's like a, it's like a bondage scene.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. little leather little. A little floral . Little spice light. A candle. Little spice. Little wa wax. Wax loop.
**Gizmo:** Leather bells, beads, blood beads,
**Bill O'Reilly:** beads, and blood. Blood.
**Gizmo:** Oh, the lounge. Lizards are off the rails tonight, boys. We're off the rails tonight. We're off the. . This is a wonderful cigar. Yeah,
**Grinder:** man. What, what do we know about the punch? The punch?
**Gizmo:** So they make what? They make six different cigars in the marker. [00:08:00] Right? They make, and I've only had a few, I don't know how many you guys have, had roosters had a punch right now.
Yeah. Yeah. They make
**Rooster:** a short to punch, they make a punch. Coronation, they make the punch, punch and also, um, a punch double corona.
**Poobah:** Uh, yeah, the coronation of Petite Corona, right? Uh, 42 by 1 29. The, yep, the double Corona. Um, of course the gra the what they call a Punch punch Grand Corona, which is what we're smoking now.
Or maybe it's like a Corona Gorda, I guess. . Um,
**Gizmo:** they have a, an LCD H too to punch the, they have a, they have a bunch of regionals. Yeah. What's LCD h Sorry? Casa Delano. What is that? Like the official retailer of Havana's sa all over the world. Hmm. So they, it has a separate, it has an additional band that's like red and black.
I didn't know that. Yeah. And then they also use Punch Havanas uses punch to do quite a few regionals. They do, [00:09:00] yeah. Which are, which are, you know, pretty good. You've had a bunch of those, right? Rooster? Mm-hmm. , the regional. Yeah. Really good. Yeah. This is a great cigar. I, I think Rooster, you're like the exclusive dealer of this cigar in the group.
It's like I, I've gotten every single punch that I've had from you. Same. Same here. Same here. La Casa Rooster. Same here. . L C D R.
**Bam Bam:** He gave me my first
**Grinder:** punch, the connoisseur's corner. ,
**Gizmo:** stop by. I like the cigar. Yeah. This is really nice. Especially with good, you can, you can taste the age on it. How, how rounded out and definitely smooth it is.
**Grinder:** I get a lot, I'm getting, getting like a very, I don't want to use barnyard, but earthy. Kind of an earthy flavor.
**Bam Bam:** Definitely. You know the cool thing about this, I've given this to a few guests at the house when it was warm out, sitting outside.
professional or you know, prolific cigar smokers. But they love the fact that when they have this, it coats their mouth. There's a coating [00:10:00] that they get. I'd love to hear that from guys that don't smoke too often.
**Grinder:** I would love to be a professional cigar smoker. , do you
**Poobah:** know any professional?
**Bam Bam:** I redact. I redact that comment.
**Poobah:** It's like a league. Is there a league of sorts? ,
**Grinder:** I, I couldn't find the word.
**Gizmo:** So really all, all that I know about Punch, I don't know PBA if you know, or, or Rooster you guys, but all I know is that, um, obviously it, it's a brand that's been around a long time. They founded around 1840. Haos SA calls it, it, they put it in their value category and their catalog.
So you have the global brands like Cohiba and. Putman and all those, this is more of a, they call it a value brand. Yep.
**Poobah:** That's, that's, yep. It was named after, it was founded by a German guy named Stockman, and it was named Punch was named for a European puppet show character named Mr. Punch. Um, uh, it was successful in Great Britain.
There were some changes of ownership. [00:11:00] Um, then the brand was brought to Cub. Purchased by a gentleman named Mammal Manuel Lopez Fernandez, um, and the brand inboxes still kind of have his name in the artwork. Um, he retired around the stock market crash, I think of 1929. And then, you know, fast forward to the, um, To the revolution.
And of course the Cuban government took it over like all the cigar companies. Um, but it's been, it's been. It's been a popular, uh, brand. Like, like, like many of the value brands and many of the smaller markers. They've had a lot, they have a lot, a lot of discontinued violas. And I was gonna say there,
**Gizmo:** there's a lot of cigars that they used to make that right.
Haven't been made for quite some time.
**Grinder:** What makes this value. Like this is, what
**Gizmo:** does that mean? I think that I, I, I think that the way that Havana sells and markets these cigars, [00:12:00] you know, it's not, there's not a lot of high dollar cigars in the range. I mean, these are all pretty reasonably priced cigars, right?
It's like when you go to Taco Bell, you know, you have the cravings,
**Rooster:** cravings menu, the
**Gizmo:** dollar menu on the side actually
**Grinder:** don't,
**Gizmo:** that's where the punch,
**Rooster:** I was there today, so I , I
**Gizmo:** have the Fiesta veggie burrito. Nice. Nice. That's beautiful.
**Bam Bam:** I love that. It's
**Grinder:** two bucks. It's a good hangover. Uh, I had
**Gizmo:** five of them.
It's a good hangover last. It's amazing. If you ever drive by a, a taco, be like one in the morning, two in morning, five of them .
**Poobah:** You
**Gizmo:** have
**Rooster:** five? I had two. I missed that. I bought five. Wow. I bought them for
**Gizmo:** my kids. Mm. So, uh, let's go back to the cigar. Yeah. Let's get back to the cigar.
**Senator:** So, sorry, I, I'm just sitting here.
I, I've been very quiet so far about this cigar because I've had several punch punch cigars and I have to assume that they were not as heavily aged as, because this is far more complex than the other punch punch sticks I've smoked and I'm just really, really impressed with how many [00:13:00] distinct flavors are within this cigar.
It's really cool that on the finish, I don't think anyone has said this, but have, do you notice on the very end of the finish, like a roasted nut or like a, like a walnut kind of flavor? Yeah,
**Poobah:** it's a little dry too. Yeah. There's like a dryness there, which isn't a bad thing. It's just, it's like the way the smoke hits your pallet.
Um. then runs off. It's, it, it's, it's kind of nutty and dry. Like a dry roasted, peanuty kind of dryness.
**Grinder:** Yeah. What's the, what's the nut that you roast like at Christmas time? Chestnut chest. It tastes like a toasted chestnut a little
**Senator:** bit. Yeah. Could be that too. Yeah. What's funny about Punch? So I remember Rooster gave me the first one of these I had ever tried, and I'm not sure why, and maybe others had this impression.
Before I tried a Cuban punch, I had only known, you know, the non Cuban punch, which I, for some reason associate with really, really strong intense cigars. And so [00:14:00] having a Cuban punch, I assumed it would be this like really aggressive, intense cigar. And it's not, I mean, this is really refined and complex and just nothing like I know the non Cuban brand to me.
So I feel like there's a real dis. Within punch between sort of the Cuban brand and obviously all the non Cuban stuff they make. Yeah, it's a very
**Rooster:** smooth, velvety smoke almost.
**Gizmo:** Right
**Bam Bam:** Absolut? Absolutely. It's creamy for
**Grinder:** me. I get cream.
**Gizmo:** What's funny about you saying about the, the, the brand name two senator was, uh, you know, well before I ever had, you know, like you said, the Cuban punch.
I always, I guess maybe my brain saw the word punch and I'm assuming like it's gonna punch you in the face cut with strength or. Certainly that's not the case with these. I've never had the new world, but I just always assumed that based on the brand name, you know,
**Poobah:** that's a
**Gizmo:** puppet punch the puppet. I
**Senator:** also love that this is so versatile, a smoke.
I mean, I could have this in the morning, the afternoon, the evening that we're happening now, anytime, any
**Grinder:** [00:15:00] time of day.
**Bam Bam:** I do notice that the, you know, this is the first time I've had an aged punch punch. The, the younger ones aren't as, um, flavorful. I mean, or the, the strength of. To me, this is stronger than a younger
**Rooster:** punch.
I mean, can you even name of like one Cuban cigar that you can't have during the daytime? Uh, most
**Poobah:** of them
are
**Bam Bam:** like medium. I would not do a Maduro one for breakfast.
**Grinder:** Yeah. Well
**Senator:** there you go. Right. Alright.
**Gizmo:** So it's a rarity or the
**Bam Bam:** Luci? The luan. That's not an early
**Poobah:** cigar. Yeah, most of them are
**Rooster:** like in the medium rains and
**Senator:** not, you know, I also wouldn't have an 8, 9, 8 in the morning.
I mean, there's a lot. I just feel like there's a preference, there's a time and a place for all these things I feel like. Yeah. Yeah.
**Rooster:** But I think there tend to be more in the general, like the medium. Not, uh, very full,
**Senator:** right or you know, like that, that Monty one, uh, you gave me last night, rooster. I wouldn't like that in the morning.
Even the early afternoon, that's a evening. Really intense, rich smoke, lot of good [00:16:00] flavor.
**Gizmo:** that goes
**Rooster:** so well with a cup of Java. Oh yeah. I mean, it's got such
**Gizmo:** cocoa.
**Bam Bam:** Did you give that to me when I was at your place? Is
**Gizmo:** that the same
**Rooster:** one? No, you had the Monty three. Monty three, but it's the same, uh, which I loved.
**Bill O'Reilly:** Same box. Love
**Gizmo:** that cigar box steak. That's what I had too when I was at your place. The three, right. You had the three. So I had that with a, uh, rooster made me a cup of coffee. It was awesome. With the coffee. Yeah. The Monty
**Senator:** three and now someone
**Gizmo:** got a new coffee maker. Oh yeah, he got me fully. I was in Rooster's connoisseur corner.
He was like a snake charmer and, and hypnotized me. All I
**Rooster:** did was make him a cup of black coffee. Out of the Jira
**Gizmo:** essay. The Jira
**Rooster:** essay and Kema was
**Gizmo:** hooked.
**Grinder:** Yeah. What's so, what's so unique
**Gizmo:** about that? Well, it's fully automated, so it's for the lazy person who doesn't want to deal with, uh, you know, Cleaning and doing all this different stuff, trying to make a, a cup of coffee or, or something with milk product in it, which I don't drink, but you know, my family does.
Uh, it's just fully automated. It does everything. You, you don't have to. . You clean it and you push a [00:17:00] button and it, you put the beans in and it, it makes everything in it and it's
**Rooster:** perfect. It's great. It's got a built-in berg grinder and it also has a pass through in the back. So somebody wants like a flavored coffee.
You could put flavored beans in the back, so that won't affect the, uh, the actual grinder where you keep the regular beans in it. So it's a one-touch button, one-touch machine, which will make anything from espressos double espresso. Lattes. Macchiatos. Yeah. And you can customize them how hot to how hot you want them and, uh, the strengths, strength of the coffee.
Yeah. Um, how do you want the foam, the, you know, the, the ratio ratios and stuff, and also how thick you want the foam and all of that. So it's just one touch and it, it grinds the beans, makes the coffee dispenses the, the used up grinds in a separate receptacle. Yeah.
**Grinder:** So that's, so the, I'm, I've been getting very, like, discerning in my coffee selection recently.
So like, I'll, I'll, first of all, I'm only shopping for, for beans at Whole Foods. [00:18:00] And I'm only, and I'm actually looking at the back of the, like some of these, some of, if you go to like ShopRite and you, and you look at like, when this, when these, when this shit was roasted. Right. So I, I grind my own beans.
Some of it's been, someone's been sitting on the fucking shelf for like three or four months. Yeah. You gotta get it like fresh. Yeah. Like it was, it was roast. , you know, a week ago. That's when it's so much better. Right. I, that's what I found. So
**Rooster:** you can, you can actually subscribe to different services and get coffee delivered.
That was really freshly roasted, like within couple of days, and you can have it shipped and buy small quantities. Yeah, don't buy like huge bulk,
**Gizmo:** you
**Grinder:** know, rooster, the difference is amazing for like a. and we're talking about aged, aged cigars. If you age, roasted, uh, coffee beans, it only gets worse. Oh, yeah.
And you can, you can
**Gizmo:** really taste the difference. But I think that, you know, it, there is a parallel to cigar smoking in co and drinking coffee. To me, you know, in, in the different flavors and the different things you could pick out. I mean, there's nothing, to me, there's nothing better with a [00:19:00] cigar. I mean, obviously other than scotch, but you know, then a, a great cup of coffee, especially in the morning or afternoon.
I'm doing some work. I'm
**Grinder:** getting, I'm getting a bold, like coffee, like a very heavily. Roasted bold coffee flavor with this cigar, actually, is that crazy?
**Senator:** I think your mind's playing my mind. I'm thinking of psychological ,
**Poobah:** having a placebo effect.
**Gizmo:** Placebo. So speaking of scotch, let's talk about our pairing tonight.
Very exciting. This is great Scotch. A different scotch. Yeah. So what, what is this guys?
**Grinder:** This is flavor profile. This is who's, who's doing the scotch reading? Well, this was provided by By is provided by Pagoda. Pagoda.
**Gizmo:** Pagoda. Thank you very much, PA. You guys are welcome.
**Bam Bam:** Let us, I don't know anything
**Poobah:** about he's doing.
You're welcome. We're doing a, a scotch reading. Let us proclaim the mystery of faith.
**Bam Bam:** Let me tell you
**Poobah:** who's, who's at the missile as the Lord
**Bill O'Reilly:** walks.
**Poobah:** And he saw Paul[00:20:00]
**Senator:** All right, so
**Bill O'Reilly:** we're we're Drake Glen Ramji, Ted from
**Poobah:** From the book of Glen Morran.
**Bill O'Reilly:** Ted . Glen
**Grinder:** Morgie. Glen Morgie. Is
**Gizmo:** that how you pronounce it? Yes. Oh, I feel like an idiot on me too. Glen Morgie. Oh, Glen
**Grinder:** Mory. Yeah. Glen Morgie 10 is one of my all-time favorite. . And for me, like tasting in Glen Morgie, it tastes, it's, it's so crisp, it's so light.
It, it goes well with this, with this cigar, I think. And, um, the, the unique thing about Glen Glen Morgie is that they have, I think I may have talked about this on a recent podcast, but they have very high stills. Um, they have copper pot stills that are, I think like 17 feet. and they have a few of them, I don't know how many they have, but they're known worldwide for their high, high, you know, their, their tall stills.
I think we talked about this earlier, like when you have a high still, there's this concept called reflux [00:21:00] and the more reflux there is the, the lighter con, the lighter the, the scotch is because there's, cuz of the height of the, of the still it less of the particulates get con or get carried up with.
With the, uh, with the vapors because gravity, essentially, and Glenn Morgie has the highest one. You can compare that to like a Macallan. Macallan has some of the shortest pot still as there are similar to, to like a log of one. Macallan is known for their, and you can see it, and it's, it's got kind of as got a, uh, a thick amber
**Poobah:** viscusi.
So, so what does that mean? So what does that, how does that affect how the spirit is distilled?
**Grinder:** It's distilled the same. But when you have the, the shape and the height of the, of the pot still really influences that. So like Macallan for example, has a short squat, onion shaped, um, still,
**Senator:** and, and what does that do?
Like what are they going for by intentionally going with a shorter one versus a tall one? Well,
**Grinder:** like I said, there, there's, there's, in the process, in the, [00:22:00] and the distillation process, you're heating a bunch of, of, of, of stuff up, which is the malt and the, and the, and everything. Right. And that pot. And when you do that, it goes, and, and then it comes to the top of the still and it goes down like this inclined, um, uh, tube.
The higher that up that is up, the less likely you'll have some of the particulates that are consumed by the, um, that are, that are taken away from the barrel. So like when you are aging, uh, log of loin, you're aging it in, uh, oak barrels that also have some of that pity water and, and that pettiness in the water.
Main is maintained because there's not, it doesn't take as far of, of a journey from the bottom of the, of the mash up to the top of the still. And with the shorter still, it's less of a journey, more particulates are maintained because it's less influence of gravity and time.
**Gizmo:** That is fascinating. Great detail grinder.
Yeah. That's
**Senator:** awesome. Does that suggest at all that shorter would impart a bit more [00:23:00] flavor or No?
**Grinder:** It, it not a, it doesn't impart it. Maybe impart is a, is a good, it's a good word, but. , it maintains some of the, some of the, uh, influence of the barrel. Okay. So like Glen, Glen Morgie is a, is they They do, I don't know if they age in, I think they age in a blend of first, uh, fill and second Phil Oak barrels.
Meaning it's not like they're taking American bourbon, they're just taking oak barrels first fill and second fill. So they'll do it two times and they'll recycle it twice, and then they throw that shit. Gotcha. Um, and it's, and, and, um, as a result, when they do the, you, there is some slight oak, but not a lot in this.
It's still very, still very light. Caramelly, leathery, not leathery, but, uh, there's some hint of honey, but it's not overpowering with the, with the, with the taste of the oak. No, I don't get any
**Senator:** oak. I mean, what you're saying makes a lot of sense just because I feel like Glen Ramji just across the board, they're SCOs, they're not really.
Bold in flavor. They're [00:24:00] really smooth on the lighter side, very refined. I mean like Glen Ranchi 18 is fantastic. It's incredibly smooth, but it's very light. It's not like a really Yeah. You know, intensely flavorful
**Grinder:** scotch. There's a crisp to it. It's a nice
**Senator:** crisp, yeah. Yeah. So like everything Grindr is saying is like helping me understand why this is almost, their whole line is that way.
And then the only exception to that rule is you've ever had glamor Angie. , that's like one of the boldest, biggest flavor bombs of a scotch I've ever had. And they must do that differently than everything else. Cause it, it's nothing like anything else.
**Grinder:** They make. Glen, Glen, Glen orangey is one of those things that I, you know, it's, you can, you can drink it any time of the year.
It's not gonna knock your socks off. Um, you're gonna get some good flavor. It's a great summertime, Scott.
**Senator:** Well, the 10 years, not the 18 is very, very,
**Grinder:** The 10 years not
**Senator:** what Gonna knock your socks off? Oh yeah, yeah. But the 18 will, it's
**Grinder:** really good. I'm, I'm talking about the one we're drinking. Yeah. Um, it's, it's, um, yeah, it's just a, it's a, I think it [00:25:00] pairs well with this, you know, lighter Cuban, any lighter Cuban.
**Gizmo:** I think it's pairing very well with this . I think so too.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Yeah. I get a nice pair No. On the finish of this drink for me. Well,
**Grinder:** I
**Senator:** think the, the biggest commonality, it, it, it's very floral to me, this scotch. , which I think pairs really nicely with the floral notes you get in the punch.
**Grinder:** Punch. Great point.
There was a, um, like I, I was, I was. I was, I was casually talking to a master distiller in Scotland, . And in he was saying, he was saying only casually talking to
**Bam Bam:** a master distill lunch with a
**Gizmo:** master distiller. He was telling
**Poobah:** me how I, so let me rephrase that. I was nerding out with a master distiller in Scotland
**Bill O'Reilly:** casually talking with him
**Grinder:** and his comment to.
And I've said this on previous podcasts and, and, and, um, Senator, I've had, we've had a few conversations on this. You, there's the glen, the Glen Morgie 10 to me is, is quintessential [00:26:00] scotch for me. It's because you can, you can, you can have that anywhere at any time. And it's this great single malt and it tastes very rich, highland scotch like, like Scotland.
But it doesn't, it's not, it's, it's not something too overpowering. And because it's so subtle. You, you catch you, you work harder to catch a lot of the flavors. But the fascinating thing is that I don't think it gets much better with Agere. I don't know if the signs made are distilled any differently, but the tent
**Senator:** like a 10 year's heavily aged and it's like nothing.
Yeah. Anybody makes, but I don't, I don't know what kind
**Grinder:** of barrels in a bottle. I don't know what kind of barrels. It's, it's, you know, it, it might be a different process, but
**Senator:** Oh yeah. No, there's a lot of mystique around it. Yeah. It's not a cheap
**Grinder:** bottle either, but the, the Glen Mor G 10 for me, . I don't think you could get like age imparts a lot of good stuff in, in a scotch.
I don't think you could get much better than. In my opinion, I'm
**Senator:** really intrigued. What do you mean by that? When you say better than this? I mean there are better, I think we all 12 prefer count and 12 over this. No, like
**Grinder:** a, like as far as, you know, conversations about aging, this, this, [00:27:00] this type of scotch.
Yep. A Glen Maji 10, I don't think is gonna be that much, that less appealing to me than a Glen Maji 18 or Glen.
**Senator:** You know, I love where you're going cuz Yes, we have absolutely talked about this and you know, the parallel for me, if we're gonna talk about lighter SCOs, right? This is only 10 years as Glen Maran.
We reviewed DW Winnie 15, which is a lighter scotch with five more years of age and I actually prefer this. This is cheaper than that is. And to what Grindr's getting at there. I don't think that extra five years produces anything that magical in a light scotch like this. I think this is perfect. Exactly how it is.
**Poobah:** For what? It's fair. It's a fair, you're run into the law diminishing returns. That age statement, it's almost like that extra five years based on, on. on what the, uh, what the what, how they're starting it. Dawin and or, or Glenmore. It's just you're not, whereas maybe, you know, I think Mc, I think like Macallan 18 feels a [00:28:00] little bit richer than the 12.
A little bit deeper. I still love the 12 though. Well, no, I'm not. I, no, but I'm saying, I mean, I agree with you on that one. I, I, I think I agree. You know, I'm not, I I like the 12 too. I'm not going there. I'm just saying you, it's a different spirit. Right. So I I it's a different spirit with all that age, and I'm pretty sure the process is relatively similar.
**Grinder:** Yeah, it, yeah, it is. And, but you know, I, there's actually Senator and I agree on agree, we agree on a lot of things, but this is another one we agree on where the Macallen 15 is. To me, it's a noticeable difference between the 12 and the 15. To me there's a, there's a slight difference between the 15 and the.
Slight very slight, barely. And if I, if, as far as we talk about, you know, value for dollar, I was just gonna say,
**Gizmo:** what, what's the price
**Grinder:** difference there? No, I, I would always go for a 12 because value for dollar is a hundred percent better. But if you want a little more richness, a little more flavor, a little more viscosity, oh, I don't know about viscosity, but a little more, [00:29:00] um, punch to, to, to not, you know, for lack of a better term, we're smoking a punch.
Um, the 15 really kind of dials it in Nice. So
**Gizmo:** the
**Rooster:** color on this looks a lot like some of the Japanese whiskeys.
**Grinder:** It Yes, that's very, that's true. They have high, they have high stills. Yeah. Glen, Glen Moore. I don't know how that compares, frankly, taste wise. No, no, no. Not, not taste wise, but, you know, Japanese SCOs to me kind of get a little too oak forward, you know?
Um, and I don't, I don't like
**Poobah:** that. Yeah. I, you. I've never ever had Japanese scotch.
**Gizmo:** Oh, we gotta do that. We gotta do one. We gotta do it. I, I've never had it. We have to. We That's a, that's an easy one. Always had a few. Yeah.
**Poobah:** Just never been compelled to buy it. , how about this?
**Gizmo:** Uh, we're getting Kiki next, uh, your next week.
Okay. All
**Grinder:** right. Try, try. Good luck finding it,
**Poobah:** dude. Oh, is it hard to find? Yeah, it's a
**Gizmo:** very hard to find, but I have, imagine I have at least one leg at home For sure. [00:30:00]
**Senator:** So I just like this because I don't, I think most we, we've all talked about were, you know, Macallan 12 is our favorite sort of, you know, 12 year and, and just everyday scotch period.
So, um, you know, DW Winnie 15 is just not something I ever really reached for. And even some of the lighter Japanese whiskeys that I've tried, um, some have been pretty good, but nothing that I would really reach for regularly. I, I'm curious to revisit what Pagodas gonna bring. You know, maybe I'll feel differently about, But I give glamor energy credit because this 10, if I, if it's a really hot summer day where I'm not looking for like a really rich, super flavorful scotch, I just want something light, something mellow.
Enjoy a nice hot afternoon. I would reach for this. This is a
**Grinder:** great happy hour. Aif like, it's like an awesome, like you're in the city, you're on Madison Avenue, 30 40th and Madison Avenue. Hey, you want to, you want to get, you want to get out of the office at four o'clock and, and start start. Happy hour.
This is a great, this is a great starter. I know
**Poobah:** that
**Gizmo:** neighborhood. What's the price point on this [00:31:00] bottle?
**Rooster:** Oh,
**Senator:** it's super accessible.
**Grinder:** Yeah. I don't even know. It's cheap. Super
**Senator:** expensive. No accessible. Accessible. I think I, I know this to be 40 bucks a bottle. Is that what it's
**Bam Bam:** You're around 40? Yeah. Yeah. Wow.
Very,
**Poobah:** very affordable. You know, the thing I, the thing I love about, um, uh, this podcast is, um, First I would you get to drink a lot. I don't know what you're talking about. . ,
**Bill O'Reilly:** uh,
**Poobah:** yes. And I do resent the implication, but, um, the intimation, yes. Uh, but no, what I, I, what I was saying was, I just, I think that, uh, it's interesting you, so I'm not buying, I'm not ever buying JI 10.
Okay. It's just not making its way into my scene because it's not my scene.
**Gizmo:** I
**Senator:** don't, but you said do wind makes it into your scene sometimes?
**Poobah:** No. Uh, once a year on the boat. I feel like you've said on the boat.
**Bill O'Reilly:** On the boat.
**Poobah:** I did. Why, what? Don't you like that [00:32:00] I did? No, no, no, no, no, no. There's, I'm getting there.
Let me make my point. Okay. So, so I'm make, I'm making a point here. You guys are the peanut gallery. It's the hunting. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So like, what's interesting about, there's two things that are happening right now. , um, besides just general insanity due to Covid, but I would never, I don't, I would never just go out and buy a punch punch.
I would never go out and really buy Glen Merani 10 because you know what? It's really not in my, it's out of my comfort zone. These are not, it's not a brand that I embrace. Glen Merani is not a brand that I embrace. So, but what I'm finding it, but what's great about this and what I'd encourage the listener to.
With their friends. Whether you have a podcast or you don't, is to like, is to, is to introduce new things and try them because, um, what this, this podcast has been a catalyst for, for me personally, has been it forces you to actually, by doing this [00:33:00] as a group, forces you to actually try some new things and focus on it.
Because before we get to the. I wouldn't have through the first third of the cigar. I know. Like if getting back to the cigar. Yeah. Like I didn't love it. . It's like in the middle now, and I'm like liking it more. I'm getting there like it's, I'm coming around, I'm coming around to, it takes a second for
**Senator:** me.
We know the, the pre, uh, podcast Puba would've thrown it in the astray after the first two puffs. It's true. We've now forced you to have to experience the whole thing.
**Poobah:** It's good. Yeah. Yeah. It's good because I'm impatient. I want what I want and I want it now, and it better be good. Or I'm fucking throwing it out.
So, or throwing it in the lake, as I would say. Right. The, the, the. , but it's, this is good. So the point I'm trying to make is, is that, is that, it's like it th this exercise forces, it's forces me to, uh, to just expand my horizons a bit. And I think that that's a, that's a positive thing. Uh, you know, to me,
**Gizmo:** I, you know, not even an, as a matter of discerning taste, To piggyback on what you're saying, I've just not [00:34:00] experienced a lot of these things.
I've not tried them, so I'm, I'm in the same boat as you. Like, this is just eyeopening. Every podcast we do is eyeopening. Time is
**Poobah:** precious, is, and it's like, I just, I'm particular about what I like. Yeah. So this is making me try stuff that I just wouldn't spend time trying, you know what I mean?
**Senator:** Taboo's. I categorically said I would never drink a fucking scotch from Kirkland, from Costco
And the only reason I did is because our two Costco loyalists here, rooster and uh, I'm a junior loyalist. He's a senior loyalist and gizmo. And, and that's the only reason I tried it. And yeah, like for the price point for an everyday scotch. Yeah, it, it, it serves its purpose. I still
**Grinder:** won't, well,
**Bam Bam:** I did, I did have a drink in the shower.
**Grinder:** For the first time. .
**Gizmo:** Alright, that's another podcast. Uh, I
did
**Poobah:** that. Really? I did that High five. I did that. What'd you have A beer? I had a beer. Nice. .
**Bill O'Reilly:** That's very like
**Bam Bam:** Roadhouse. I don't know where it came from, but I did it. That's a
**Grinder:** col. That's a college move. Was it a bush [00:35:00] light that is. It was a Heineken. In college,
**Senator:** you have like your shower caddy with like a, like a natty light in
**Grinder:** it.
**Bam Bam:** Well, I've got my, you know, I've got my shower and the sink is next to it. And then the sink. It's like got an extended piece of stone where you can put something, can we shoot? Usually my phone goes there, but I wanted a beer so I would look, popped it open. If, if, if went down, turn the shower on, jumped in, had a sip, put it on my shelf, wash my hair, had another sip.
**Gizmo:** This is not the sign. Full episode, Jeff Kra. Cooking in his bathroom.
**Bam Bam:** Well, yeah. And, and
**Grinder:** tuba drinking wine in a shower. . So if, if, uh, if senators, I'm trying to give you a pound right now and you're just ignoring me . Anyway, he just, he just doesn't give a fuck. Oh, here. Oh, what was that? I was, I was, I was, yeah, I was green.
**Poobah:** he's, he, he's British. He doesn't do pound .
**Grinder:** Very unusual night. He does bumps. The, uh, I don't know what I was gonna say. Oh, if, if senators trying to democratize caviar, . Full stop. I don't know. Caviar with whatever, you know, just Democrat, democratize. That's his, [00:36:00] you said it's his life goal. I would like to, one of my life goals, I would like to normalize.
Shower, drinking, shower beers, . All right. I'm in. Why is it, why, you know, why is it only something you do in college?
**Gizmo:** You should always, because I think what happens is you come outta college and then you meet a woman and then she starts to judge. When you do things like
**Grinder:** that, this, this cigar
**Senator:** is fucking phenomenal.
Well, maybe you haven't found the right woman. Absolutely. There you go. How
**Gizmo:** long have you, but can I quickly showers for, hold on a second. Wait,
**Rooster:** how long? How long are your
**Gizmo:** fucking shower ? I totally agree. How long is that? Yeah.
**Rooster:** What are you doing? Like in and out, like 20 minutes in the shower minutes? I
**Gizmo:** have no hair to wash.
I
**Grinder:** mean, no shower. Have you seen, have you seen me drink beer?
**Gizmo:** Yeah,
**Rooster:** I can drink. I
**Gizmo:** can drink. I haven't seen you take a shower though, . Why Jesus .
**Rooster:** I mean, how long do you take a shower that you need to drink a beer? Beer in
**Bam Bam:** the shower? Here's what I did that night. So that night I went to a local place that I found to smoke a cigar.
So before I haven't shower, I didn't shower all day. I woke up, had the pajamas on, and I worked. I wanted to shower and feel like a human being, but I wanted to get tooled up a little [00:37:00] bit. So I. My beer while I'm showering and I finish a shower and I still have a beer. So, you know, doing the hair, brushing the teeth, take a shot, you know, little sip right?
Finish the beer and jump in a car
**Poobah:** and go. It's very productive use of time. Fantastic. I up to
**Gizmo:** efficiency though. This is efficiency. I like that. EF efficiency. I
**Senator:** just, I like, this is a nice challenge on Grindr's part. I like this . We need metrics for success here. And I say this cause I'm gonna take a quick victory lap.
I send all the lizards this. Caviar sales have exploded in the past year. People are now, cuz the fear, the whole caviar industry was hurting initially when covid happened because most people, the vast majority would only get caviar at a restaurant and then covid happened and obviously people are going to restaurants far less frequently than they were.
And caviar now is, you can get it shipped to, uh, to your home. That's how I get my caviar. I buy in bulk. I have it overnighted from LA and obviously it comes from, from Asia, from the uh, before. like it, it's, it's taking [00:38:00] off. So I, all I will say is the results are there. And I want, I want to see in a year's time that, uh, shower, beers,
**Poobah:** shower taken off.
So you, you sent about caviar in the shower. You
**Gizmo:** sent a picture, ,
**Grinder:** you sent a picture to the, to the lizard. Chat of eggs with caviar. And I was like, that's boy fucking genius. Yeah, that was, that was awesome to do that. That was a power move. And I was like, that's kind of, I don't, I've never seen it. You probably seen it.
Eggs on eggs. It's probably a thing. I don't know if it's a thing, maybe it's not a
**Senator:** thing. So I, I know where I've had it. So I, I, I talked to, I, I went to the Maldives a few years ago with my wife and, uh, at the St. Regis there, one of the items on their breakfast menu, they do a lobster omelet with caviar and it is incredible.
So that's what inspired me to, But I made an omelet. I threw some creme fresh on there, some caviar, little fresh dill. It
**Poobah:** was awesome. I gotta tell you, I took a page, uh, out of, out of, um, Grinder's book. He goes, [00:39:00] oh, I put a little creme fresh in my, oh yeah, that's the way to do it. Eggs, put the eggs, right. I just never thought to do it before for whatever reason, and I know how to make a French omelet and, you know, do it right.
Um, so I just, I did that. I just, I basically, I had some herbs in the refrigerator, put it in, and I just, I did a little, I just spread some cre fresh on the top of it, and I just, I didn't even fold it in the eggs. I kind of did what, what, what, what Senator did. And I just put it on top and just, that's it. So what
**Grinder:** I, so what I do, what I do hate it.
I found this video of Gordon Ramsey making a. A scrambled eggs. It's an amazing video, and he does it. And I, this is how I make my scrambled eggs. Now, he does it, he puts it on the pot. He, he scrambles it in the fucking pot. He puts it on the stove, he whisks it around, takes it off, keeps whisking it, puts it back on.
And he does this like for 10 minutes. And this is what I'm doing every fucking morning. And at the end of it, at the end of it, he, he lightly seasons it with salt and. [00:40:00] I lightly see him with salt and pepper, and he just gets a little dollop into the, into the, the pot, uh, where you're, you know, whisking the eggs Right.
When it's basically made. And he, and he mixes it in with it. He doesn't like dollop it on the top. He literally just dumps it in there and, and consumes it within the Yeah, like how you,
**Poobah:** how you'd finish scrambled eggs with butter basically. It's
**Grinder:** so good. Yeah. It's so. . So
**Rooster:** are you cooking and then taking it off and whisking it again
**Grinder:** or, yeah, I, so one of the things that's, that's fascinating me is like, it, you can notice the difference in the, in the texture of the egg by how much heat is applied to that.
So I'm, I, I, I whisk it. I, I put the eggs in the pot on the stove and I whisk it on the, on the heat. I do that,
**Senator:** put the heat, is it low heat or high
**Grinder:** heat? I do medium,
**Senator:** medium, low. Medium. That's the thing. My wife has taught me this. You want it no higher than medium,
**Grinder:** low? No. Yeah. and I, I put it on there, I whisk.
You always gotta keep it moving, that's the thing. Just always keep it moving. 20 seconds on, 20 seconds off, 20 seconds. And I just keep doing that for [00:41:00] like a few minutes and comes out. Phenomenal. Yep.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, I, that video's amazing that there's two videos I love of Gordon Ramsey. I love that one. I love his beef tender wine video.
Uh, the, uh, so
**Senator:** can I just propose something , I think we need to do like a, a morning. Podcast recording. Yes,
**Gizmo:** cuz we
**Senator:** need to do the buddies. We do Bloody Mary's pub buddies style. Yeah. Mm-hmm. , we do some scrambled eggs. Mm-hmm. , maybe we'll follow the Gordon Ramsey recipe. Could. Could be. Could be.
**Grinder:** That'd be awesome sounds.
Can we do kegs and eggs? Fantastic. Kegs and eggs. Kes and eggs and a cigar. . Love it. What about
**Gizmo:** legs? , kegs,
**Bill O'Reilly:** eggs and legs.
**Bam Bam:** I'll take care of that. .
**Gizmo:** All right, boys, let's get back to the punch. We're a little over halfway through now. The punch, punch. Love it. I am loving every single draw of this cigar. Yeah. Yeah.
Every single one. That's picking up in flavor. It's picking up, actually, I, I mean,
I
**Rooster:** enjoyed the cigar Right on the light.
**Gizmo:** I did too, so I did too.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Right. Always have. Yeah. Yeah. Always. Yeah. I, I I've never had a bad
**Gizmo:** punch, Bo. I don't know. Let me ask you, you [00:42:00] guys a question. I don't know any other cigar that Haos makes to compare this to.
I can't place it in my mind is, uh, what's the, what's the cigar that ha bonos. that you guys have smoked that you would compare this to? Well, I mean, to
**Senator:** your, to the point you're making, I think even forget just the punch, punch. I don't know that anything punch just has a very distinct flavor profile. I, I feel like there's not another Cuban brand that I would say, oh, that's really similar to Punch generally.
So I, I'm with you. It, it's very different. It's very
**Gizmo:** unique. Like I'm trying to compare it to something and I just can't find what, you know, it's maybe close to a Romeo. Yeah. But Romeo I feel like has that cherry thing.
**Senator:** You know, and heavy on cedar.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, the cedar. I'm not getting that. Like
**Senator:** I, like there's cedar here.
Rome doesn't have any spice. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** This is more of spice to it. And floral. There's more floral
**Poobah:** here. No doubt. That's fair. I'm just trying to think. Mm-hmm. , I'm just trying to, I'm, maybe I was, maybe I'm reaching, I mean, if
**Bam Bam:** anything, if maybe a Royal Corona, a bva [00:43:00] is somewhat reminiscent of this.
**Gizmo:** I don't know.
To, to me the bva is, is yeah, bolivares a little more bold than this.
**Senator:** I really don't think there's a comparison. No. It's like chocolatey and stuff, which is a real credit to punch. I mean, it's something very, very
**Grinder:** unique.
**Bam Bam:** I happen to love it. I'm, I'm halfway through. Yeah, it's really nice. Yeah. It has picked up in flavor.
And Senator, are you
**Grinder:** right? I, I love the cigar. I, I like the, you know, your comment about it's great from the first light actually not getting much transition, I think, I feel like it's the, flavor. It's just picking up though.
**Senator:** Agree. Same flavors, but just picking up a little bit. Strength. Yeah. It's just, it's going
**Gizmo:** up, it's It's going up a little bit of a ramp.
Yeah. Yeah. Really nice.
**Rooster:** Anybody picking on any like citrus
**Gizmo:** ri like a orangeish
now?
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, definitely. The Rhine, the citrus Ryan. Makes sense. I do. Yep.
**Gizmo:** Grapefruit? I gotta say that this cigar, the age has definitely benefited the cigar. No question. Versus the nineteens, twenties that I've had. Yeah, it's different.
Yeah.
**Grinder:** Not you've, you've had cigar, uh, younger.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, [00:44:00] I have. That's the only ones I've had. I've never had one this age. And I happen to like,
**Bam Bam:** I like it young as well. It's great. Young, great. Yeah. Yeah. This is
**Grinder:** just more complex. What did you say? You didn't say tuned up. You want to get tuned up. What did you tooled up?
Tooled up. I'm getting a little tooled up, uh, on this Glen, Glen Morgie here. Mm-hmm. Haven't had scotch in. Like he doesn't
**Poobah:** need to get 10 days. He doesn't need to get tooled up. Fucking wake up tool. He's always tools
**Bill O'Reilly:** up. Cut.
**Poobah:** I love, I love you. I love you. I love you. You just opened yourself up for that. I always do. Don't I? Teed yourself up like a pa, like a papaya. Like a
**Bam Bam:** Kirkland, uh, golf ball. Bye. Yeah, .
**Gizmo:** Oh,
**Rooster:** don't even go there. Oh
**Gizmo:** boy. Don't go there.
**Poobah:** Oh boy. Yeah, I'm probably gonna be in the minor. Here, really? Um, yeah, I know where
**Bam Bam:** you're gonna score this.
**Poobah:** I every tell, I, I, I, you know, um, for me, it, you know, um, and I don't, I, I, it's, yeah, I'm not, I'm not over the moon about this, this, this cigar. Um, but it's [00:45:00] good. It's good. I, I, I mean, it, it's, I can, I can appreciate how someone else who's not. Um, they like it a lot. You know? What a compliment. No, I'm just saying.
I'm not saying it's, it's not, it's, it's not, to me, it's not offensive in any way. It's not, it's not bad. It's just not my jam. It's not your flavor profile. It's not my jam. Right. I do think
**Gizmo:** that it's getting a lot better, at least for me it is in the second half. A little more spiciness a little. It's, uh, some, it's pick up and shrimp.
Yeah, no, definitely.
**Poobah:** And it's smoother. Yeah. I'm really enjoying the second half, second half. I'm enjoying much
**Gizmo:** more than the first half. The first half. Yeah. So I want to go quickly. We got a, we got an email the other day. Ooh. Fr Aary. Uh, Rex says he's a want to be lizard Rex. He's very cool. Um, and, and he was asking, [00:46:00] he said, you know, you guys talk a lot about age on Cub.
and talking about cigar smoking young, and why, why does age benefit Cubans more than maybe it does a new world cigar? You know? Why do we talk about age when it comes to Cubans? What's,
**Rooster:** what's, what's with that? Well, because a lot of the new world sticks, they're already like the good brands like David Dos and pot drones.
they're using age tobaccos right off the bat, and even the wrapper is aged and the tobacco is aged. Like a lot of the padron are like, have a good five year age on them. Some of the DDoS have like five to seven year age on their binder on the filler. So it's already an age stick. And that's, and Cubans are being rolled pretty fresh, so they need most of them, maybe not all of them.
I mean 20, 20 and, uh, 20 ones have been a pretty good, uh, pretty good year for a lot of the. A lot of the Cubans, but uh, with some age on it, they definitely ha it definitely helps.
**Senator:** Yeah. I mean, you know, I, I was always a little bit frustrated with Cuba in the sense that I, I wish that [00:47:00] they would age these sticks a little bit before, you know, sending 'em to us and, and being able to just smoke them right off the bat.
Like we are a lot of patron drones and, and Dinos. But I guess we're, I've become more sympathetic. I've really been thinking about this, just trying to reconcile, you know, why this is, if you think about outside the. everywhere in Europe, Asia, anywhere else in the world, all they have and consume are Cubans.
They don't, they, you cannot find Padron, David Itdo you'll find in some places, not most. So they've just, the, the demand is so extraordinary. They can't really afford to slow down production by waiting to age them for so long and they gotta kind of pump them out and, you know, then it, it becomes a challenge for us in that we have to age them ourselves or buy them already aged at a bit of a premium.
It's clearly worth it. .
**Rooster:** Yeah. I mean, a padron, excluse overseas, you're gonna pay like 50 bucks for
**Gizmo:** that stick. If you can even find it. You can even find it. You can't even find it. You know, they don't have one. And I've heard of it more by the way, [00:48:00]
**Bam Bam:** or the, or the tactic. I've learned from all of you here in this room.
You know which Cubans you can smoke right away and which you can't. Right. So you That's right. You purchase based on that plan. And I've been doing that recently. You like to put Oh, we know. Yeah. Yeah. You guys keep been buying a lot. The D four s and all the Bellaco Bino, uh,
**Grinder:** Bolognese Bino. Thank you. Yes.
The
**Bill O'Reilly:** Bbf . Bo aids .
**Poobah:** It's the Beco Espino. It was, thank you. Last week. Yes, yes,
**Bill O'Reilly:** yes, yes.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. So those cigars you can smoke right away. So here's a question that I think we can discuss openly. Um, as I collect Cuban cigars, young and Old, how long should I hold my younger cigars before I. . 20 nineteens enough.
**Rooster:** I'll probably try one, like when you get it in like after
**Gizmo:** a few weeks and
**Bam Bam:** I'm adopting that.
I
**Rooster:** do like that. And then wait like a year, then wait another two years
**Gizmo:** and see how really that long. Well, I think I, to me, I, you know, if you have a cigar, you pull [00:49:00] it out after you get it. Let's say you, you keep it for three to four weeks, right? It comes off the truck three to four weeks. You put it in your humidor.
Mm-hmm. . You try one. It's pretty good. Okay. It's pretty good. Maybe you're getting hints of ammonia in that last. , give it another 30 to 60 days. Try another one. See if there's any change. If there is, continue that process. Once they hit a point that you're thrilled with it and maybe you're impatient, you don't have a lot of stuff in your, your humidor, smoke through 'em.
If you're, if, if you know, I, I got this advice from Rob Bio, uh, with friends of a bonos. And that was his advice, guys talking about storing stuff forever. He's like, you know, as Rooster always says, cigars are meant to be smoked. Right? Right. You know, just like wine, it's meant to be, if you like, it's meant to be consumed.
So if you like what you have, okay, and it hits a point where that last third isn't biting, you smoke through 'em. That
**Senator:** that's the thing, right? Like every cigar, you know, a poo was talking about the maturation process. Like every cigar matures differently, right? There's not like one set formula for every single cigar.
So my rule of thumb, which is I think very much in line with what everyone is saying is. , you know, especially if something's being shipped overseas. You wanna let that acclimate in your [00:50:00] humidor for a few weeks? Try one. If you're not happy with it, you, you feel there's a lot of rough edge. Let it sit for a while.
And, and my rule of thumb, the same is true with wine, is to just try one every year because some sticks will hit their stride much sooner and other sticks need a lot more time. And you're, you're gonna try that and say, Nope, next year I'll open it again. They, and you just gotta keep trying.
**Poobah:** They, they sure do.
And, and, and one example of that is, for me, you can re, you can back into it. So I, you, you can back into it. So I really fell in love with, I really fell in love with aged Upmanu. S um, but I backed into that process and I backed into the Eman two. So, , I would, I have multiple, multiple boxes of, of 2014 and 2015 up in twos, right?
So I procured many of those boxes and then I started buying, then I started procuring like 2016 boxes. Then I started procuring younger boxes. Guess what? I don't, I [00:51:00] don't really like that cigar. For me personally, I mean, there may be people out there who do, and if you do great, smoke 'em, but for me, I don't, I think for me, that could, that cigar actually transforms into something really, really amazing with five years.
Of age on it, it just turns into something completely different where maybe you, you know, where you can rip through a, a box of, of D four s that are, have a year and a half on the, on the box date and you're like, I'm gonna rip through this whole, this whole fucking box cuz they're just good. I'm gonna smoke 'em now.
Fuck it. So, but for me, That's not how, but, so you can back into that process by finding out what you like and then saying, you know what? I'm gonna buy a box of that. It's gets less expensive and I'm gonna age it myself and front load my collection with some maid stuff back, backfill it with some young stuff.
That's what I do. Uh, if, if I feel like that cigar needs just a little bit more time to reach its peak or reach what I like, or what? I [00:52:00] think it's what I think it's best stages for me.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Well I think, I think that's a great way to put it. I mean, if you're so fortunate to find a cigar with age that you like, and you can buy younger cigars and, and, and mature them to the point that they kind of match what your, your flavor profile is, is suggesting is, is what's best for you.
Great. If, if you're not able to do that, you buy a box of, uh, cigars. Try one every so often and and find what your process is and, and age them accordingly. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And I think we're all doing that in, you know, both ends. You know, we're buying a lot of age stuff and we're buying a lot, buying a lot of young stuff.
That's good advice,
**Poobah:** you know? Yeah. You find what you like, just smoke what you like.
**Gizmo:** So that's the story. So I think that, I think to answer Rex's question, I think that's, that's probably the best way to put it. And as far as tobacco maturation and stuff, we will, uh, hopefully get an expert on here soon, interview an expert about that process and start to understand what the, uh, that would be fantastic.
Yeah. We should do that. Yeah, we should.
**Grinder:** I think it's usual. Senator's having conniption right now. No, no, no.
**Bill O'Reilly:** We got, we got,
**Gizmo:** we got, we got, it's a pago. We got a massive meltdown over
**Senator:** here. No, [00:53:00] no. What I'm looking at is as usual, the first to finish the cigars pagoda, he's done. Wow.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. That was an easy smoke. .
**Bill O'Reilly:** The, the O L R, the official lizard rating from pagoda. Easy.
**Grinder:** That was an easy,
**Gizmo:** that was easy. Smoke. All right, boys, we're coming up on the end here of the punch. . Um, I, I've really enjoyed it. Are you guys ready to do the, uh, formal lizard rating on this thing?
**Grinder:** Oh, the formal lizards not the official, no.
That's what makes this
**Gizmo:** so formal. I don't know. That's just what I said on that first intro, and that's what we're sticking with. So it works. It
**Bam Bam:** works. The Ffl r ,
**Gizmo:** let it go. The Ffl r All right, rooster, you're up. What are you giving the cigar?
**Rooster:** So I'm gonna give it a nine because I know Poo is gonna dump on
**Gizmo:** this
**Rooster:** I gotta keep the waiting out. All right. I'm giving it a nine.
**Gizmo:** I.
**Poobah:** Please don't give, give it to be honest. No, I, I I just think hedging is, [00:54:00]
**Rooster:** is bushing. No, no, no. I'm giving it a line because
**Gizmo:** this all the time and I enjoy it. He does love this and I like it. I like
**Rooster:** the cigar. Okay. Okay. And I thought it was very satisfying right from the beginning.
It's balanced, it's complex. It's got a lot of flavor. I
**Poobah:** shouldn't have, I shouldn't have showed my.
**Gizmo:** Puba,
**Poobah:** you're up. You do you Oh, no. For me, for me, the cigars a six. It's, it's even with, even with 20 E, even a 2014 with, with six, seven years of age on it for me, um, for me it's a six. So it's, it's, it's a good cigar for me, but.
But not something, not something I would reach for. Really? Um, I should have taken the band off . You sh I would've given it the same. Yeah. Um, honestly, I, it, for me, it just, it didn't deliver the kind of the flavor notes that I like. Um, but that's just me. Right. Not your flavor profile. It's not for me. Yeah.
It's understandable. It's good, but it's, I can understand why it could be for somebody else. It's just [00:55:00] not for
**Gizmo:** me. I really like these cigars. Um, this is, this has been very good. I'm gonna give this. I'm
**Senator:** actually right with Gizmo at an eight. I'll explain why. After we go around
**Gizmo:** pagoda, I'm at a seven grinder.
I'm an eight. Okay. And bam, bam,
**Bam Bam:** I am at an eight.
**Gizmo:** Okay.
**Senator:** All right. Our composite score is 7.7.
**Gizmo:** Hmm. lower. I would say that's a, uh, a medium sized recommend, I would say on the cigar lower than I thought it would be.
**Senator:** Me too. Yeah, me too. It's like right between a soft recommend and a heart. Usually we say eight is a hard recommend, so rooster's pointing at Puba and blaming it for ,
**Gizmo:** six
**Poobah:** cigar.
I mean, mine's tunneling, so you know, there's that too.
**Senator:** Well, so to, to Puma's point, I I'll, I'm happy. I just, I'll start us. because I like the flavor profile of this cigar. It's very unique in a good way. I actually really enjoy it, the things that ding it for me. Um, while [00:56:00] construction-wise, it looks beautiful before you've lit it the way it burns.
Uh, I mean, I've never had like a perfectly straight, nice, beautiful ash on this. Um, it's. White to start, but it's a com, like curved and crooked and, and kind of fumbling apart. And you, you just, you can't really, you gotta ash this thing pretty quickly or you're gonna lose it. And down in the last third is where I really had issues having to relight it, a little bit of tunneling like Poo was talking about.
Um, and it, it's muddled the flavor profile of it. So that, that's what dinged did for me. Why I gave it an a,
**Gizmo:** I kind of agree with you, Senator Jose, because it was a, . The last third. What happened was that I found that the cigar was just not burning evenly, and I had to touch it up quite a few times as well.
Uh, you know, dark ash, not very consistent. But having said that, uh, I really enjoyed the second half of the cigar, but, uh, [00:57:00] so it was definitely a seven for me. It could have been an eight, maybe. Uh, you know, we always talk about whether decimals would do it. Maybe I would've gone a bit higher. if the decimals were involved.
**Grinder:** Uh, decimals always do it, but
**Gizmo:** seven. Yeah. Seven is a, uh, what
**Grinder:** I thought, uh, you gave it a seven.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Yeah. Grinder. Why'd you give it your
**Grinder:** rating? I just loved it. I, you know, my burn is, is pretty sharp. Uh, I haven't had any of the, you know, construction issues that, uh, Senator was saying, um, in the flavor. I love the flavor.
the fact that it's a value cigar means nothing to me. Um, it's, it's a great cigar to me. And I think a, I do think a, your, the amount of age on this cigar really amplified the right tasting notes for me. Um, I like the spice. I like the, the, the, it's not musty, but I like the kind of rich kind of, uh, I think I said earthy flavor.
And it's carried, [00:58:00] its through, you know, from, from, uh, from light to to to end dash. So, you know, I'm a, I'm a fan of the cigar. A it's, for me is a, I'm a, I'm a pretty hard grader. Yeah. You're a hard grader. Yeah. Eight. It's a, it's a good score for me. Yeah. Eight is
**Bam Bam:** a pretty elite
**Gizmo:** score, right. , so bam, bam. I know you love this cigar.
What? I
**Bam Bam:** do love it. Yeah. I've had it a lot and I, this could be in my weekly rotation easily. I love the combination of the earthy notes and the floral, and a hint of citrus here and there that you get. And now that I'm down to the last inch, it's nice and it's spicy and there's a little bit of kick
**Gizmo:** there.
So what, I know you smoked a lot of these young, what, what did the age do for you on it?
**Bam Bam:** I don't want to say anything controversial again, but I kind of like, I, I like the. than the The youth. The youth, yeah. A little bit a hair better than this maybe. Okay. Because I get more floral than that, than I get in this.
Hmm. And I, that's the, that's a note that I pursue in every Cuban that I have. I try to pursue that.
**Grinder:** Got
**Gizmo:** it. [00:59:00] And citrus and citrus . All right boys. Well that's in everything pagoda. Thank you for the uh, Glen Mor G 10 Rooster. Thank you for the punch, punch cigars, uh, 7.7 for the punch punch. And uh, we'll see you guys next week.
Keep smoking. Thanks so much for joining us tonight. Hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello. Tell us what you're smoking, email us Lounge Lizards Pod p o d, that's lounge lizards pod gmail.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 week.