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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 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 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, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, and Bam Bam.
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 160th official invitation to join us and become a card carrying Lounge Lizard. We're going to smoke a New World cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you a formal Lizard rating.
We're back to Lanceros with a Honduran Puro, we learn how Pagoda lost yet another cigar case and his car, and we answer some listener email, 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 Kirkland 16 year old single malt scotch with the Aladino Classic.
In elegante, a Puro from Honduras on the pod tonight. [00:01:00] And it's a Lancero. It's the Aladino classic in elegante. And of course it's a 38 ring gauge cigar by seven inches long. And boys, before I get any shit about bringing another Lancero in, it has been 38 weeks since You counted. Did land, did you actually count?
I went back and looked. Alright. You served your sentence .
**Bam Bam:** We'll allow
**Gizmo:** it long. Really? That long? 38 weeks. 38 weeks. The last, uh, he had 38 to life. I mean, we, we were easy at him. ,
**Bam Bam:** he's out on par while he's out on parole right now, so we'll see. It could be a, I don't know. We'll
**Gizmo:** see how it goes tonight, but, uh, yes, it's the last one we, we did was the foundation.
So we are back tonight with a Honduran Puro, which is the first time we've done a Honduran Puro Lancero on the pod. And we'll see how this is. And of course, this is the debut from Aladino on the pod. Yes, correct.
**Bam Bam:** It's a fairly good looking cigar. Very toothy. Has anyone smoked anything from Aladino before?
**Chef Ricky:** I have not. No, I have a few years ago, but I don't remember much about it, [00:02:00] unfortunately.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys, let's cut this thing. See what we're getting on the cold draw on the wrapper.
**Chef Ricky:** I will say I feel like there's a lot of kind of loose pockets throughout my stick. I agree, right? Like, just like kind of not consistently packed here,
**Bam Bam:** but the cold draw is pretty delicious.
Very, very fruity for me.
**Gizmo:** I'm getting like a black or like a black tea
**Bam Bam:** almost. I'm getting a very deep like raspberry current thing happening for me. No,
**Chef Ricky:** uh, no berry for you. I get a little berry. I'm getting, uh, so I, I had some leftovers and yesterday, as you guys know, I made Thai curry. Uh, so just, I'm getting a lot of that black tea leaf, but I'm also getting some, some like slight bright, dried fruit.
Yeah. It's very, very good on a cold drink. So the fact that you're getting it, that's also great because I thought it was maybe my palate being influenced by dinner.
**Bam Bam:** I'm even getting it. Can you believe it? Is that what you're trying to say?
**Senator:** I'm definitely getting the black tea. There's no [00:03:00] question. I get the black tea.
NBAM's call out of the raspberry. I do get like a tart berry note.
**Gizmo:** Yep. Yep. It is. Yes. The tartness of the berry is what I'm getting. Not the sweet.
**Bam Bam:** All right. Now this is promising. I was actually very skeptical, but let's see.
**Gizmo:** All right, let's do this boys. Let's light this thing.
**Bam Bam:** Oh yeah.
**Gizmo:** The Aladino Classic in Elegante.
It's a Lancero. Again, it's 38 ring gauge cigar by seven inches long, a Honduran Puro. Coming back down from the 60 ring gauge cigar we did a couple weeks ago from Rocky Patel, back to a Lancero, which is nice.
**Chef Ricky:** Interesting on the light, it gets a little sweeter, so that raspberry comes through even more.
Very fun. Wow, that's
**Gizmo:** interesting on the light. Unusual.
**Bam Bam:** But very good. This is nice. It's almost flavored. I'm sorry.
**Senator:** I wouldn't go that far. I mean, I get the tea as well. So like for me, the flavor is balanced. It's not like overly sweet or in one direction.
**Bam Bam:** It's really, um, [00:04:00] it's unusual. The tea for me, it's very strong now, where prior in the culture, I wasn't getting much of it, but that's very forward for me.
It's like, uh, almost like a black tea with milk. Yes. Because I've, I had that when I was a kid, like these guys, you mean chai chai kind of human
**Rooster:** I'm going to choke somebody. Just, just a
**Bam Bam:** note to all the listeners. Just ignore all these guys. This is very complex on the light. I'm
**Gizmo:** impressed. Me too. How much was a cigar? Bam. You're not going to believe it. Eight bucks.
**Bam Bam:** This is like the my issue del tiempo range warped. Yeah. And also
**Gizmo:** the aging room. The Quattro Sonata we, uh, we enjoyed.
The Maestro. And the,
**Senator:** uh, Oliva
**Gizmo:** V. Lancero. Oliva V. Lancero. That's a little cheaper than this. Yeah. Six bucks. Something like that. Yeah, you get those between five and six, you know, on a deal. But, dude, this is
**Senator:** The thing I'm most impressed is that it's unique. Yes. Very. We've had so many Lanceros that, [00:05:00] like, for a New World Lancero, I'm expecting it to be similar to something we've had.
The fact that it's not, I give them credit.
**Bam Bam:** Agreed. We've smoked so many cigars on this recording, it's tough to surprise us at this point. But this is really surprising right now.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah, I'd have to agree.
**Gizmo:** Smoke output is fantastic as well. You know, and we've talked about that before in these, these small ring gauge formats, how often, I mean, you talk about Cuban Lanceros, how often they're overfilled.
There's no draw in some cases with the Oliva V Lancero. They're under filled, you know, probably for budget reasons to keep that price down. So, you know, what we have here is a cigar that there are some areas of my cigar, like, like Ricky was saying that the pockets are a little, you know, Soft combustion.
It feels good. It feels pretty consistent and it tastes great for eight bucks. I mean, that's a, that's an early merit here to, Oh yeah.
**Chef Ricky:** Maybe those pockets in the last hero or intentional just to allow for a good draw.
**Senator:** Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think the construction of this is similar to the Oliva V [00:06:00] Lancero.
That's a loosely packed Lancero. Yeah. But what I like about this, I don't think that we're going to need to like this as much or touch this up as much as that Oliva. And so I think like, there's a little more tobacco in this and it's. Maybe more evenly rolled, so I'm, I'm more optimistic about how this will perform.
**Gizmo:** What's interesting about you saying that is I was reading, cause you know, before we record, we all kind of look at what we're doing and Google and read about it. I was reading on half wheel when they did their review, he was saying that he had to keep relighting it. So I was kind of cautious when I ordered these, I threw them in my tower and they've been in my tower at a lower humidity for quite some time.
I'm hoping that bringing them down, From a normal retail humidity is going to put us in a position where we don't have to constantly relate.
**Senator:** I also saw there was some photo on half wheel when they were smoking this, like the ash was literally curving. I mean, it looked ridiculous. I, I think there's a lot of half wheel reviews that if you look at the way the cigar they're smoking is burning and even the color of the [00:07:00] ash, it is dark ash, like burning hard, but I think that they just don't bring the humidity down on a lot of these sticks that they procure.
I agree. So, um, I'm glad with this properly stored. I mean, it's performing really well. The ash is bright white.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, bright white ash. And we joke about that term stacking dimes, but in a Lancero, it quite literally looks like that. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Impressive so far. I
**Gizmo:** will say, I also like the band on this quite a bit.
It reminds me of the classic Vegas Robania band from Cuba with the, With the R. Correct. And on this, it has a brown and gold with red highlight. Band that says Aladino Classico and then it has the founder's name on it.
**Senator:** I also like that it's all one band. It looks like there's a secondary band. That's true.
But it's all together, kind of like Padrona's doing now with the new bands. It is easier to just deal with. Sure. That's the case. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** So, as I mentioned, these are Honduran Piros, also made in Honduras at the Fabrica de Perros Aino at Las [00:08:00] Lomas Hama. And let's talk about the makeup of these cigars. The wrapper is Hao, uh, Honduran Hano.
The binder is Honduran Rojo, and the filler is a combo of Hon Honduran Rojo and Honduran hano. So. A few different types of tobacco in the cigar. And like I said, the MSRP on these is nine 50 for a box of 20. You're getting them for 190 bucks, but we found them for a box of 20. We got them for 160 online, which is a great price.
The line was originally released in. 2022 and this cigar was the fifth cigar released in the line. Came out a year later in July, 2023. Let's go through the other olas in the line. They have the Corona Classic, which is 44 ring gauge by five, Theto, 50 by five, Toro, 50 by six, the Gordo 60 by six and a half.
And finally, the new ante, the one we're smoking tonight. 38 ring gauge by seven. Do we know how long
**Bam Bam:** [00:09:00] the
**Gizmo:** maker's been, uh, in business? So the actual brand that makes these cigars is called JRE, which is named after the founder, Julio R. A. Iroa, and his son, Justo M. Iroa, together, uh, founded the company JRE tobacco, no relation to the Joe Rogan experience, as I saw some people joking about online.
Uh, but, uh, they founded this company in 2015. However, they have been growing authentic Carrojo in Honduras. For over 50 years. Wow. For other manufacturers. So I think this was an effort about 10 years ago to start to make their own cigars. I'm sure that they're very proud of their tobacco and what they've done for other folks, and they wanted to do their own thing.
So they have three lines. They have the Rancho Luna, the Tata scan, and what we're smoking tonight. The Aladino. So those are their marcas under J. R. E. Tobacco. And I assume that they're making a lot of tobacco for other folks in Honduras. So, I would [00:10:00] assume we've smoked some of their tobacco before somewhere else.
Well, the whole Fabrica
**Bam Bam:** 5 line is impressive as hell, right? And that's all Honduran based. This being Honduran, kind of The producers, the producer. So that's something you have to keep in mind, right? So anyone that wants
**Gizmo:** to purchase a, a, a cigar brand is going to have to know about The Tymon product. The Tymon product is a, it's a brand that's being distributed by a tobacco manufacturer.
you're going
**Bam Bam:** to
**Gizmo:** want to see this thing because, yeah, it's the, uh, you know, uh, it's the coolest stuff out there and it's the coolest tobacco brand on the market. So you want to want to know this stuff. And the other thing we wanted to talk about is the I feel like it's proving our point that Honduran tobacco is really good and really approachable.
It's
**Rooster:** not mild. You know, it's, it's almost on the border line between mild and medium. Are you
**Bam Bam:** referring flavor wise or body wise? Because flavor is
**Rooster:** pretty full, full flavored flavored, but the body is Kind of, kind of between mild and medium. Yeah. I mean it, you get that sweet note too, it's [00:11:00] a little sweet, you get a little earthy.
Have you ashed yet? I did. Okay.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. Once I ashed that, that first stir is settling in now, and I'm getting some baking spice, a little creaminess, I'm also getting some, uh, what, what feels like just kind of ginger cinnamon, cinnamon esque to me. Um, it's quite good. Yeah, like a baking
**Bam Bam:** spice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Getting a little, uh, propitia going on here.
**Chef Ricky:** Oh yeah, look at that, yeah. There's the curvy edge. It's like half wheel.
**Senator:** I think the thing that just impresses me with Honduran tobacco, it's able to taste aged. Yeah. At such a young stage. It's like crazy to me. Correct. Like all the fabric of five cigars we talked about, how smooth they are. Yeah. Full in flavor. And this is another example. I mean, if you told me this had several years of age on it, I would believe it.
Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Absolutely. I agree.
**Rooster:** It is. The Honduran tobacco is so different than Nicaraguan tobacco. You can just [00:12:00] totally tell like this is not Nicaragua, like Nicaraguan tobacco will never give you a floral note like a Cuban tobacco can. But I think the Honduran tobacco. You can get that floral note sometimes.
Yeah. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** So I was reading a little bit about the founder, Julio Eiroa. And he, like I said, he's been doing this for 50 years. He was born in the Pinar del Rio province of Cuba in San Juan y Martinez. And it says on his bio, I found this interesting born in 1938 in San Juan y Martinez, the first 20 years of Julio Eiroa.
You know, his life were marked by the internal political situation of his island, of course, which caused his exile in the end, traced his future outside its Cuban borders, bringing him to Don Lee and the Hamastran Valley in Honduras, where he founded the JRE tobacco farm named, you know, his initials, of course, the flagship of a man with his authentic Corojo, a family man with tradition.
And an exceptional, unique cigars. So this blend, unlike some of the others that Aladino makes, this [00:13:00] classic line with those five Vitolas I listed before, uh, has less Corojo in it. Uh, they, they wanted this blend to be less Corojo forward than the other cigars in the portfolio, giving what they call a classic profile, I guess, a little bit closer to Cuban.
So that's why I went with the classic line versus some of the others that I wanted to try something that was a little bit more chill. And I think that. This cigar is really delivering on flavor. A nice experience.
**Bam Bam:** I think they've achieved it here.
**Senator:** Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** So far.
**Senator:** I mean, if this didn't have a band on it, I could believe this is Cuban tobacco.
Yeah, I agree.
**Pagoda:** Pagoda. The smoke output's fantastic, by the way. And I think what I really like about the smoke as well as it's, it's, um, you know, it's very pleasant and. You know, sometimes you get these really light smokes and sometimes again, it's like, I think medium bodied smoke, velvety, creamy, it's just excellent, it lingers, and then leaves a sweet edge, the baking spice, [00:14:00] and then a bit of sweetness in the back, it's great, really enjoying it, this is fantastic.
**Senator:** Yeah, I really like this, I'm just going to say now, if this holds, This is going to get a very high
**Gizmo:** score. I agree. And I think we'll be buying boxes of this. And again, you know, you think about for an 8 experience.
**Pagoda:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** And, and you have to, you know, my brain is constantly comparing to the other cigars in this Vitola, of course, that we've smoked, but also those other cigars that are so much pricier.
And it's like, it's crazy that they can deliver that for 8 in this cigar. Yeah. Like, it's absurd.
**Rooster:** You know, I mean, I was reading the half wheel review today, just when you, because I knew nothing about the cigar, half wheel kind of shit on it. They didn't like that cigar. Yeah. The notes that they pulled out were earthy, tobacco, dry tobacco, a little bit of creaminess, you know, nothing else.
Tobacco. Brilliant. Are you getting tobacco, Ben? Of course. [00:15:00] But that, I mean, this is a delicious smoke. It's really, really good. Yeah.
**Chef Ricky:** I'm even, I'm getting some toasty bread here now. Yeah, it's, it's really like panning out to be a really flavorful and, and diverse in this experience.
**Bam Bam:** So that, that Berry Forward experience disappeared for me, but it's, it's becoming like a biscuit now and on the foot.
It's a very mild chocolate for me.
**Gizmo:** I'm also getting, is there like a hint of um, There's an herb that I'm thinking of. Mint. Mint? Or is it uh, I was gonna go with mint. Like peppermint or something in that family. On
**Bam Bam:** the finish I get a little bit of like a minty peppermint thing. On the, when I exhaust.
**Gizmo:** So boys, as we're getting into the cigar here, I have to do some housekeeping.
We did the Rocky Patel 6060 two weeks ago, and I got a few early comments on it. Was I there? I think you gave it an eight, if I remember correctly. Yes, you did. And, uh, I did. An enthusiastic eight. And I [00:16:00] noted that, uh, It was our three year anniversary of the podcast. And we weren't doing any big celebration because we had done that for the 150, right?
A couple of weeks prior. And that was the, my kind of new plan doing 150, 200, 250, 300. Well, did I get some email from folks? Very unhappy that we didn't celebrate. And I got some notes. I like two on a FOH. They were kind of going, they were picking, backing on each other here. One from a lizard Enrique wrote, the boys should have celebrated their 30th birthday.
Third anniversary with more fanfare, but I'm hoping we get a big new year's eve episode to make up for this malfeasance. Good listen as usual. And then lizard Sonic stag wrote, totally agree. It was so disappointing that such an event was celebrated without champagne, but with a Rocky Patel, I think there should be an accountability hour for all the lizards.
**Pagoda:** Wow. He's not wrong. We feel the same. Yeah. I don't know what you guys are talking about because that was a very pleasant evening. I remember it [00:17:00] was, it was,
**Gizmo:** I guess, you know, I guess I bring it to the group because you know, the listeners obviously want us to celebrate the birthday, but You know, it's like if we have champagne once a month, it kind of, uh, dilutes the impact of the champagne around here, you know, popping champagne.
So the question I guess for the room. I don't know what you're talking about. You gotta keep it special. The question for the room is what's the, uh, what's our modus operandi moving forward here?
**Senator:** Senator, please. I mean, I don't, I don't agree at all. I'm sorry. I'm shocked. I'm shocked too. We ought to drink champagne every episode.
**Pagoda:** I'm not gonna
**Bam Bam:** say no.
**Pagoda:** We can start with it and end with it.
**Senator:** But the reason this happened, I didn't know it was our three year anniversary prior to us hitting record. Uh oh, that's another indictment. Get ready
**Bam Bam:** for the emails now.
**Senator:** I mean, you know, just saying. I don't think any of us knew. We were all kind of surprised when we hit record to even know it.
The Sabre would have made an appearance
**Pagoda:** if I knew that. Because I think you need to start a newsletter.
**Gizmo:** I should. For you guys. I'll just send it to you. [00:18:00] Just add that to your list of shit to do. Yeah, yeah. I'll put that on the pile. So that was, uh, that was great. And, uh, yeah, so we'll have to consider what we're going to do moving forward for celebrating big milestones.
But I will say, uh, to the question of getting a big New Year's Eve episode, New Year's Eve does fall on a Tuesday this year, boys. So I do have a hoot of an episode planned, both cigar and spirit wise that I think is going to be very, very special. So I look for that next month. Can't wait for this hoot.
It's going to be a hoot.
**Chef Ricky:** All right. I'm getting a little popcorn now. It's, this thing's all over the place, but in a really good way.
**Senator:** The thing I like as I'm smoking this is, it's so versatile. I'm imagining so many different occasions that this would slot in. Morning, afternoon, evening, like early evening.
Yeah, sure. It's
**Rooster:** Oh yeah. At the movie theater with popcorn. That's right. Yes. Yes.
**Gizmo:** So speaking of popcorn boys and good entertainment. The Tyson, [00:19:00] good
**Bam Bam:** entertainment. Was that
**Gizmo:** good? Well, the Tyson Paul fight was last week. The fight
**Chef Ricky:** leading up to the Tyson
**Rooster:** fight was good. Outstanding. Two out of four fights were, were pretty good.
**Pagoda:** Two out of four. Well, the one where the Indian kid,
**Senator:** nobody watched that. Yeah, that was rough.
**Chef Ricky:** I was going
**Rooster:** to
**Chef Ricky:** say,
**Rooster:** I must've
**Chef Ricky:** missed the fight.
**Rooster:** The first one, the barrios and the, uh, Barrios fly. Who did he fight? It's
**Pagoda:** Neeraj. Oh,
**Bam Bam:** Barrios and Ramos. Barrios and Ramos. That was good, dude.
**Senator:** I love the Indian guy that fought.
A number of us were watching at the lounge and I see him on the TV and they're like, this is the first fight of this kind that there's been an Indian fighter. I said to Pagoda, I was like, Pagoda, you see the Indian fighter. He goes, Oh yeah, I'm trying to place a bet on him right now. He couldn't get it in time though.
**Rooster:** I was like, this, this is gonna be over in like the first round, you know, looking at him and looking at the other guy, the other guy was like covered in tattoos, like head to toe. And the [00:20:00] Indian guy walks in, he's like, Pretty out of shape.
**Chef Ricky:** Really out of
**Rooster:** shape. I'm like, there is no way this guy is going to last.
What was the weight class? I would say middle.
**Chef Ricky:** Probably.
**Gizmo:** So what did you guys think? I want to just generally ask. What did you guys think of the Netflix presentation of the fight package? Well, I just want to say, even before the presentation,
**Senator:** this was one of the most brilliantly marketed sporting events, period.
I say this because we've all known this is coming for many, many months. They obviously had to postpone the date when Tyson, uh, had some issue health wise. And uh, at that point I said to myself, I'm like, this is going to be so fake and contrived. There's no way I'm going to watch this. And then it was like the day of, and of course, I'm sitting there, I'm like, I have to watch it.
Of course
**Bam Bam:** you do. And I feel like everybody
**Senator:** felt like the same way.
**Bam Bam:** Like, everyone's like, of course we're gonna watch it. When those things come out, we're like gnats to the light. Okay? We can't resist. That was, uh. And everybody was talking about it. Yeah, that's true. And you had to watch it. [00:21:00]
**Pagoda:** And it was easily accessible, right?
I think most people who had Netflix could just go in for free and watch it. And I think that probably had an impact. Absolutely. It was nice
**Gizmo:** that there was no pay per view too. No pay per view. It's hard to scream and yell about. You know, the fights and the, the quality, quote unquote, when, you know, it's in, it's built into your normal Netflix subscription that you're already watching and consuming and paying for anyway.
So overall, I guess my only rub with the whole event was I think the commentating was a little weak versus what UFC is able to do, what HBO was, you know, famously able to do with boxing for many, many years.
**Senator:** Don't sell short. They had that real boxing expert. Who's the woman? The Rosie Perez. Rosie Perez. Oh yeah.
Boxing
**Chef Ricky:** aficionado. Oh yeah. So insightful. I'll have, you know, Puerto Rican woman love boxing. That's true. They can fight. I love
**Senator:** boxing too. That doesn't mean I should be a commentator.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah, no, I really felt like the commentators in general were more entertainment based than actual, you know, plus the, plus there were a lot
**Rooster:** of technical.
Issues. [00:22:00] Yeah. Like a lot of streaming issues. Yeah. You couldn't hear, uh, Evander Holyfield. He couldn't hear any of the other ones.
**Chef Ricky:** I don't even remember seeing him on the, on the presentation. I remember Cedric, the entertainer, Rosie Perez, Jerry Jones, a bunch of people that had nothing to do with, we couldn't hear Jerry Jones.
**Gizmo:** And also I, I saw around the country, we were having issues here at the lounge. I think, you know, it was a combo of Netflix's issues. And also we had like six TVs going with it on the same, you know, Internet and we had
**Chef Ricky:** to cut down to, we
**Gizmo:** had to cut it down to one and we were still having issues, but there was definitely a supply demand issue as far as bandwidth goes.
You kept seeing the memes with the buffering percentage in the middle,
**Bam Bam:** correct.
**Gizmo:** You know, floating around, but overall I was entertained. You know, I was a little sad about Tyson. Me too. You know, I think they hyped up his condition and his ability. And then when he walks out and he's kind of wobbling with his legs and he's sitting down and he looks like he wants to cry between the fights.
Like, you know, it was a little bit of a bummer, but he set up his family for. I think he could have [00:23:00] done,
**Chef Ricky:** I think he could have done better and he would have done better had he probably not been told he can't do Tyson. I think he held back on a lot of punches, you know, he definitely penetrated, you know, his, uh, what's his name?
Jake Paul's, uh, defense and the old Tyson would have just unleashed a punch. And I don't think it would have taken Tyson a whole lot of energy or anything to just do one punch and probably put the guy on his ass. Yeah, but he didn't. But there were times where he just, you know, he did the whole kind of back and forth, side to side.
And you know, old Tyson release, you know, shots of the body, you know, a knockout punch to the chin. This Tyson just kind of bit his glove because he couldn't do anything. It was strange.
**Senator:** I'll also say this. I mean, Tyson fought. In a very different era when boxers fought, I mean, now it's like since Floyd Mayweather, right?
Like these like defensive boxers who like, don't actually throw punches, right? They just dance around the ring and don't really fight. Jake Paul was not going after him. Jake Paul [00:24:00] wasn't looking for like a serious fight. He knew if he just got a few hits in and just, you know, basically stayed away from him, he was going to be fine and win the fight.
So I also, I think at his age, In this day and age, the way that a lot of these guys fight, it's hard to have the energy and the stamina to just keep chasing and chasing and trying to get in a few punches. It's just a different game.
**Rooster:** I think that the fight one before that, the girls, that was a great fight.
That was awesome. That was crazy. But wrong decision. Wrong decision. Wrong decision. That Katie girl is
**Senator:** a dirty fighter. Yeah, with the headbutt.
**Rooster:** Dude, her eyes. She must have headbutted her like 10 times. Multiple times.
**Senator:** And they only took one point away. I mean, it was ridiculous. Yeah,
**Rooster:** it was a deep gash. Yeah, yeah.
Brutal. Gash. Awful. Yeah. She's tough as hell. Blood running in her eyes. She is.
**Gizmo:** And of course, we got to see Mike Tyson's ass too. That was nice. Correct. Chef Ricky'd love that.
**Chef Ricky:** Holy smoking guys on the chat.
**Pagoda:** Didn't, didn't you send a pic of some baked buns? [00:25:00] Yes. I saw
**Gizmo:** some woman, uh, did some baked goods. It looked exactly like, um, I will say though, for us, you know, here at the lounge, it was fun to see a packed lounge like that, like every seat was full.
It was a lot of fun to be sitting around. I mean, the, the, the lounge was super smoky. Like at one point we had to open the doors to the outside. Like it was probably the smokiest I've ever seen. The lounge
**Senator:** just put like a regular fan, just trying to like suck the
**Gizmo:** smoke out and push it out of the lounge.
It was that crowded. It was pretty intense, but it was a great night. It was fun to hang with everybody. You know, it's kind of felt like a super bowl type of vibe. You know, a lot of people, a lot of cigars, a lot of great conversation. It was a lot of fun.
**Bam Bam:** So that's the interesting thing about Mike. Yeah. He always draws a crowd.
He has his entire life. He's an incredible human being from the point of view of like being an interesting character.
**Rooster:** He's an incredible fighter. I don't know if he's an incredible human
**Bam Bam:** being. I think he's become. He's become. I think he's evolved. Come on. I think he's matured. He has become. An incredible human being.
**Senator:** If you watch interviews with Tyson, the [00:26:00] most compelling interview I've seen with him recently in the, like the last couple of years, he talks about how his son came to him and said, I want to fight like my dad. And he looked at his son. He said, son, that's, you do not want to fight like me. You don't want to fight period.
He said, I did this because I had nothing else in life. This is all I had. You have every opportunity in your life. This is not for people who can actually go do things with their life. And I was like, What a like, incredibly profound Yeah. And like mature perspective of course to say like, guys do this 'cause they need to do it.
He's like, I don't want to be an animal fighting this way. I don't like what this did to me. And, um, I just thought that was his, like introspective a thing as I've ever seen. And I think it's a sign of his, like real maturity. He talks about he, how he goes to therapy, he's worked on so much and how miserable he really was personally.
Mm-Hmm. . And how, like, boxing was an outlet for his pain and misery. Yeah. And, uh, I think it takes a big person to be able to say and admit all that. So I, I really, I [00:27:00] think he's a wildly different person today. I agree. I also,
**Gizmo:** I also watched him, uh, he did two Joe Rogan interviews about, 11 months apart or 10 months apart.
And the first one he came on and he was talking about his weed farm and his new weed products. And he was very chill and introspective and relaxed. And then the next time he came on, he was in fight mode, like preparing to fight. And. He was a totally different guy, like scary to the point where Rogan said he extended the, the, the width of his table because some of the things you can see some clips that Tyson was
**Bam Bam:** there at a proximity alert there,
**Gizmo:** I guess he like Rogan was laughing at something Tyson said, and Tyson looked at him and said, I'm not joking, like shut down the laughter
**Bam Bam:** and
**Gizmo:** Rogan the next episode you see the table is like twice as long, you know where they're sitting, but I mean, it's, it's, it's really amazing when he flips that switch.
What he turns into.
**Bam Bam:** That's what was so disappointing about the fight. So if you saw all of his training videos, how incredibly intense they were, [00:28:00] how full of energy he was, his movement was ridiculous. That peekaboo style that he has and the way he pivots. I didn't see any of that in a fight. Yeah. Right.
Where was any of
**Pagoda:** that?
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Pagoda:** There was no, it wasn't a fight.
**Rooster:** Oh, his, his fights. I mean, he used to fight with that animal instinct, right? I mean, he fought with vengeance. Yeah. Yeah. Most of it, a lot of his fights were done in like 30 seconds. First round knockout early in his career, early in his career. The first, those were some of the greatest fights I've ever seen.
**Bam Bam:** First, like 25 fights were all done. Usually within the first round, 22 fights. Yeah. Incredible.
**Rooster:** He was a great, incredible fight. I've never seen a fighter fight like that. The way he would just, he would just come out like, you know, right away, just.
**Bam Bam:** I don't think we'll ever see anyone like that again in the ring.
**Gizmo:** So boys, we're coming to the end of the first third here on the Aladino classic in elegante. What are your thoughts right now?
**Bam Bam:** I'm having a hard time slowing down on this thing. It's so good.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. I'm really enjoying it. It's really
**Bam Bam:** quite [00:29:00] delicious. I agree.
**Senator:** I agree. And I think the funny part for me is the flavor profile is not necessarily like, if I were to say what my ideal, Lancero flavor profile would be, I'm not sure that I would pick every note that I'm getting in this, but I really like every note that I'm getting in this, so it just, I like that it's pushed me a little out of my like sweet spot or comfort zone and in a way that like I would want
**Bam Bam:** to pick this up again.
Are you guys getting any, I'm getting faint banana, and I'm still getting that bread pudding, bread biscuit type thing for me still. Yeah, I'm
**Chef Ricky:** starting to get some mustiness, which I usually kind of align to banana.
**Bam Bam:** I've been getting that for a while. Um,
**Chef Ricky:** yeah. So, yeah, I, I'm, I'm getting that here. It's settling in a little bit.
I'm, I'm, I still get little pockets of spice on my tongue, but no, it's really pleasant. Alright, I, I
**Senator:** have to say this, this is crazy. Bam, I'm very impressed. With? Your flavor call outs banana the last several weeks have been a plus. What are [00:30:00] we talking about? I agree with you No, no, listen as if they
**Pagoda:** haven't always been
**Senator:** well We went from citrus to drive thru and now the range is honestly impressive.
**Bam Bam:** The fuck out of here Take the company
**Senator:** Boys, the reason the light bulb went off when you sit there and say the banana thing and chef Ricky goes, I, yeah, I'm starting to get, I've been starting to get this mess in his bed and bam goes, Oh, I've been getting it for a while. And I'm sitting there like he's been picking up on a note for a while that Ricky's talking about just now experiencing.
That's a huge deal. You're
**Rooster:** making me blush, please. So, so, so what Senator does not know is that Giz has been giving bam coaching a cigar. A week prior to it, I compare notes, so he comes
**Bam Bam:** prior. Is
**Senator:** Bam wearing a buzzer like the Houston
**Bam Bam:** Astros?
**Senator:** Buzz twice for banana, three times for
**Pagoda:** raspberry? I got one on
**Chef Ricky:** my ass.
If I make a mistake, it makes me jump up. Cozy Altuve over here. Cigar flavors. Well, it [00:31:00] sounds like my work here is done, boys. Got people to think outside of the dried fruit realm, and uh
**Gizmo:** Yeah, it's good. I gotta say the, uh This is crazy. The retrohale is very Cuban esque. Probably more than the actual regular draw.
That's a great,
**Bam Bam:** great point.
**Gizmo:** I'm getting that kind of, uh
**Bam Bam:** Schwa? Yes! I'm getting schwa supreme. A little
**Gizmo:** earthy. And a little rass. Yeah, a little rass, a little spice. It's, this is But very smooth. There's also a little bit of nuttiness in
**Senator:** the background here. Like a walnut,
**Bam Bam:** for me.
**Rooster:** There's definitely a baking spice.
You could say it's like rass with some baking spice on top of it.
**Bam Bam:** Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Which is what, for me, the schwa supreme is.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys, it's time to move into our liquor pairing tonight now. This is a very exciting one for our friend Rooster, who's not drinking, but also for me. And
**Bam Bam:** Gizmo. And for
**Gizmo:** me.
**Bam Bam:** As part owner of Costco.
That's right. I'm pointing to Rooster right now. We
**Gizmo:** have, I would assume, one of the top selling, but kind of under the radar, single malt scotches in the world. The Kirkland, [00:32:00] 16 years aged, Single malt scotch that you can get at Costco, I think. And I think you can get it at Total Wine and some other places, but, uh, Total Wine?
Yeah. I believe you can get it at Total Wine. They sell Kirkland, A Costco product? I saw it on their website. Really? Wow. Yeah. I've never seen that in
**Senator:** Total Wine, any Costco product.
**Gizmo:** I don't know. Maybe Costco makes it available in markets where they don't have the ability to sell liquor. Maybe they, they.
That might be the case. Put it into Total Wine. Because our local
**Senator:** Total Wine, I've never seen that.
**Gizmo:** So let's try it boys. 16 years aged Kirkland Scotch.
**Chef Ricky:** Oh, that's nice. Lots of honey, malt for me. Yeah. Full bodied. Bourbon coming through big time.
**Rooster:** See, I think you guys should have done this blind. You can't tell him it's a Costco Scotch. We're
**Bam Bam:** impressed with Kirkland products.
**Rooster:** Oh, you're not.
**Chef Ricky:** Yes, we are. A little, little hot, but in a very pleasant way. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** it's, uh, [00:33:00] 46%.
46? Yeah, 92 proof. How are you
**Chef Ricky:** liking the pairing, though? For me, the malt. Pairs really well with the mustiness that I'm getting that kind of malt and banana happening together. It's great
**Senator:** I honestly I mean I call this cigar versatile earlier I feel like there's many things that would pair well with this.
So for me the pairing is is good You know, I'm not sure it's perfect, but I don't know. I don't know that this cigar needs a perfect pairing It can work with so many things. I
**Rooster:** think rum would do well Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
**Senator:** Yeah.
**Pagoda:** So
**Senator:** many
**Pagoda:** rum, cognac, certain tequilas. This may be a bit, I think I'm in champagne.
Coffee, yeah.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah, coffee for sure. Coffee. It's funny, I, I feel like the, the malt and banana coming together create this kind of coffee note on, out, on the pairing.
**Bam Bam:** Not feeling like the scotch overpowers the cigars to touch you, to touch. I think the heat of it. I think, I think the heat of this spot I, the
**Gizmo:** heat of it does touch.
We're all drinking at meat. There's no ice here, but. I think if you put a chip or two or three in here, I think it would cool it, you know, cool it [00:34:00] down enough that it would probably align with the Honduran tobacco. But I, I do think that from a power standpoint, this is definitely overpowering the cigar a little bit, but it's not doing it in a way that I feel like is negatively affecting my palate.
**Senator:** Yeah. I don't think much just because for a 46 percent spirit, I think
**Bam Bam:** it drinks pretty smooth. Yeah, no, no complaints on the heat. Just comparing it, the body of the spirit with this, the body of the cigar. It's, for me, just a slight, it's slightly off a touch. I don't even think it's, like, super viscous or, like, that
**Senator:** full of the spirit.
It doesn't cling. I think it's, like, medium full. I don't think it's a very full bodied scotch.
**Rooster:** You can never go wrong with a Costco product, let me tell you. Whether it's scotch or anything. And you know what I like about this? We didn't
**Gizmo:** like it, Rooster. Rooster. I could take that bottle back tomorrow and get my money back.
**Rooster:** You're still even half a bottle. You could really half the bottle and bring it back. A real
**Bam Bam:** Kirkland Scotch with eggs. No problem.
**Rooster:** Yeah.
**Chef Ricky:** Pancakes.
**Bam Bam:** Why
**Rooster:** not?
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. I took my wife to a Costco business. You guys ever been [00:35:00] in a Costco business center? No, no. Yeah. I took my wife to want to do. Of course. Course. She's the
**Rooster:** only one else.
I went the other day. You know what to sell a leg of lamb? You can buy the whole leg of lamb. You could buy a whole whole leg of lamb. A whole
**Chef Ricky:** whole leg. You could buy guy who doesn't. It's a vegan nightmare. You could buy a whole lamb. I mean, there's so much you could buy buckets. Oh, you said
**Pagoda:** leg of lamb.
You could
**Chef Ricky:** buy buckets of soy sauce. Good morning. Pi .
**Pagoda:** No, because I had business center. And then I heard Lego something
**Chef Ricky:** like it's so much tighter and roomier and brighter. Yeah. Honestly, when you said
**Bam Bam:** business center, I was expecting like walking into a Kinko's with Costco on it with office supplies. Right.
Yeah. So
**Rooster:** these are Costco's that are made for like. You know, businesses like the restaurant and you walk outside. There's like sheep and they slaughter right in front of you. What
**Pagoda:** are you doing? That one? Are you a buyer [00:36:00] for some restaurants? He's buying the wool from the sheep
**Bam Bam:** for his hands.
**Rooster:** I'm checking, I'm checking to see what's going on at the business.
That's your business. You gotta, you gotta oversee your business,
**Bam Bam:** right?
**Rooster:** Make sure the
**Gizmo:** sheep are getting fed. I really liked this, uh, single malt. I am surprised that the age statement and how it tastes, it doesn't, the age statement, I would think it'd be either a little more viscous, have a little bit more oomph to it than what it does.
Yeah. This very much tastes like a 12 year age single malt to me. And
**Pagoda:** it feels light, light bodied for some reason. It's
**Bam Bam:** easy to drink. Senator said that
**Chef Ricky:** earlier. I agree with that. I think the higher proof has something to do with that and I think like any higher proof spirit when we, when we do them with cigars, uh, the more you drink, the more the pairings kind of align because the heat, you start to feel it a lot less.
Your palate
**Bam Bam:** gets adjusted.
**Rooster:** The more you drink, the better you feel.
**Bam Bam:** That's
**Chef Ricky:** true.
**Rooster:** Does it taste like
**Chef Ricky:** Rampur? Unless you're Pagoda. No, not at all.
**Bam Bam:** Dude, I was thinking about that Rampur earlier. [00:37:00] Yeah? Lord. You like that?
**Pagoda:** No. Which one? The rose, the rose petal one? Didn't we have it here? Yeah, we did. Disgusting. By the way, I've got a new Rampur.
I've got a Cassava. A new one?
**Rooster:** Yeah. Thank you so much for going. Don't even bother bringing it on this part.
**Chef Ricky:** Coming from the man that doesn't drink.
**Rooster:** I'm just saying, you know, cause when you say Rampur, there's already a preconceived notion, like it's not going to fly. We
**Senator:** gave it a fair shake. Oh yeah. Believe me, that thing could kill someone.
It was disgusting.
**Bam Bam:** Cleans my
**Senator:** carburetor. Nice
**Chef Ricky:** acquired taste. Ram Poore. Rocky Patel. I think that bottle was 200 bucks. WD 40. It's all in the same vein.
**Pagoda:** Listen, this is what we're going to do. We're gonna go and eat some really spicy Indian food, then come and do a pod with Rocky Patel and Rump or it'd be great.
We can't taste anything. I had that. Well, Puba
**Rooster:** would be in the bathroom before we start the pot. Poor Puba. Oh, poor Puba. He
**Pagoda:** might fly to Florida, right? The night before someone's got to
**Bam Bam:** inspect that thing.
**Gizmo:** So boys, I was [00:38:00] very curious about the. Makeup of this single malt scotch. It's pretty clear. It's a says on the bottle.
It's, you know, brought to market by Alexander Murray Inc. And I wanted to dive a little deeper because I've heard a lot of rumors over the years. Obviously, the 12 year blended whiskey we did on the pod. We did that on episode five. We never rated it so early on, but that was a hit. It's a great. That was delicious.
You know, 12 year blend. It's really reasonably priced. Do you
**Rooster:** remember how many bottles you used to go through? I used to go through a lot. You used to buy those by
**Bam Bam:** cases. So, let me ask a question in the group. Um, personally for me, it's been a long time since I've had a glass of scotch. I haven't gone near it.
I don't see much of us in this room drinking scotch. I've
**Gizmo:** been sipping Balvenie at home. You
**Bam Bam:** have? The Doublewood, yeah. Yeah, I've had Balvenie and McAllen. Yeah? Recently? Yeah.
**Pagoda:** Balvenie and the rum. Pagoda has it for breakfast, that I understand.
**Rooster:** Maybe it's something like when fall comes around, you drink more scotch.
Yeah, maybe. I agree with that. I have a bottle
**Chef Ricky:** of McAllen as well that I haven't touched in a while. Yeah. I've really been focusing a lot on my tequila. Me too. [00:39:00] As of late, so. For
**Gizmo:** me, it's been tequila and rum. And rum. And cognac. And cognac. But I still at home, I'll still pour a
**Bam Bam:** Balvenie,
**Gizmo:** you know, but I just, for me, I think the rum and the tequila, I just like how I feel in the morning after drinking it comparatively.
So I, I'm, I'm reaching for scotch less, not because I want it less, but because I just prefer how I feel after drinking tequila or rum. Just
**Senator:** completely agree with Gizmo. That's exactly the same for me. I'm drinking more rum than anything right now. Solely because I mean, I love the taste, but also I feel amazing in the morning, regardless of how much I drink.
Um, but I can't say the same with scotch. If I consume the same amount, I'm not going to feel the same in the morning. Absolutely.
**Pagoda:** I can attest to that.
**Gizmo:** So Alexander Murray Inc is run by a guy named Steve Lip. Who's in Miami by way of Los Angeles. And what their website says is they're a merchant and independent bottler.
And they say their trade is in other parties, production efforts, which means they have an unwavering trust in their process. So of [00:40:00] course, what that means is they're going out and they're buying what they can from reputable manufacturers. And I think probably blending their own amalgamations of these things resulting in a Whiskey like this, a scotch like this, that I don't think this is from a single source.
**Bam Bam:** You think they're blending product from two different makers?
**Gizmo:** I think they're just probably bringing it all together and creating their own blends and bottling it. Because everybody has an opinion of what it is, but it doesn't taste identical to anything else. No, it doesn't. And they don't make their own stuff.
**Bam Bam:** No.
**Gizmo:** So they're going out and
**Bam Bam:** buying. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** they're going out and buying their own stuff. And if you look at their website, it's pretty amazing. I was, I was checking out their site. And they have a vintage malt section of different releases they've done. Where they've gone and bought, I mean, stuff from 1965, 1978.
Uh, they have, um, Ardmore. They have, [00:41:00] uh, Buna Habein, Kragenmoor, Cowl Isla, Dalmoors, Glenrothes. Wow. Um, and, and what they do is they take the stuff and they put their own labeling on it. So, when you look at the, you know, the Dalmoors stuff that they've released, which was from 1997, 2001, 1999, They're putting their own labeling on a Delmore product.
So I don't know exactly the mechanism and how their, their business works. But what I'm assuming is that they're going around and just buying up premium scotch from these manufacturers. And making their own bottles of it, of course, for a major retailer. But are they selling these at
**Rooster:** Costco?
**Gizmo:** These are not sold at Costco, no.
These are just different fancy releases they've done in the past. Uh, but Costco obviously is their number one, you know, uh,
**Pagoda:** vendor. They're private labeling them. They're private labeling them, exactly.
**Gizmo:** So, you know, I've seen people talk, is there McAllen in here? Is there Glenn Livid in here? You know, what [00:42:00] exactly is in here?
So my question to the room is, what does this taste closest to? You know, and while, while you take another sip and think about that, these are aged in ex bourbon barrels, of course, and then they are finished for six months in Oloroso sherry casks.
**Bam Bam:** Really?
**Gizmo:** And how much is the bottle? So this was 65 bucks with tax.
So I think they're probably 59 and then the tax brings it to 65. So for a 16 year age spirit, I mean, that's a pretty damn good price. It is. Yeah. I mean, what's the log of all in 16 right now? 80?
**Pagoda:** Yeah, 80 and 90. 90? That's a PD scotch. That's very different. So
**Rooster:** what does this remind you
**Bam Bam:** guys of? I'm thinking.
I'm hard pressed right now. Yeah. It's not
**Pagoda:** Glenn
**Bam Bam:** Libet.
**Pagoda:** It's one of the lighter bodied, um.
**Bam Bam:** Maybe Aberfeldy? Or, well there's another one, uh, [00:43:00] Abelor? No. It's, Abelor's sweeter than this.
**Pagoda:** Uh, Abelor's sweet. Abelor's way more sherry forward. Yeah, it's Abelor.
**Bam Bam:** Aberfeldy is not a bad callout. I think that's probably the closest one that I can think of.
It's not Glenlivet for sure, because Glenlivet's earthier and a bit more minerally. No, Glenn Leavitt is fruitier
**Senator:** than this. Oh, yeah. I mean, Glenn Leavitt 12 is straight like pineapple and it's a very fruity light. I haven't had that in a while.
**Bam Bam:** That's my, that's
**Senator:** my call out. Aberfeldy. Yeah, it's probably the best one I can think. It's not like McAllen. It's not like Balvini. It's not like Oban. It's not like Delmore. I mean, uh, maybe, hang on a sec.
**Pagoda:** I don't remember the flavor profile. I do have those bottles lying at home. I think I should go back.
You know what this
**Senator:** is a little bit like? Um, oh my[00:44:00]
god, I can't believe I'm blanking on the name. Chavis. No, uh, oh, got it. It's a little bit like Glenmorangie.
**Bam Bam:** Ah, I could see that as well. Glenmorangie, Aberfeldy. They're not in the same family, but they're kind of similar. A little bit of similarities there.
**Pagoda:** You're talking about like the clover to the 10, not the 14 and the bourbon.
No,
**Senator:** honestly, like the flavor profile, this is very similar to Glamorangi 18. Oh, really?
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Because that to me, doesn't have a little bit of, I haven't had that in a very long time. And the color and the body. Color's the same. Yeah. It's a little, there's a, some citrus there in that, in that spirit. I think I get that a little bit of that here.
**Pagoda:** I just feel that like all the flavors are muted, or maybe I'm just um
**Senator:** But the, the Glenmorangie 18, it's a very, very similar flavor profile. Like, it's not a full bodied 18 year scotch like you would normally get. It's like a, [00:45:00] Lighter, but medium bodied and flavored experience. This is as similar as I've ever had to probably Glen Ranch 18.
Another good call out.
**Pagoda:** I wouldn't do it now.
**Rooster:** And that's probably what? 150 bottle.
**Bam Bam:** Uh, yeah. 160 depending on that, on that. Yeah. The age statement. Yeah. So
**Gizmo:** then do you guys. What do you think of the value here at 65 with tax for a 16 year age? It's awesome. It's crazy. No,
**Pagoda:** no, but it's the value based on that it's 16 years.
My question is, if there's a Balvenie there and if there's there and you're in a store, would you pick this up for 65 or the Balvenie?
**Rooster:** Hell yeah, this. I
**Pagoda:** would pick up says a non drinker. I would pick up the ballot for you guys. No, it's a good gift for the DC community. For sure.
**Rooster:** Cheaper, the better there's, there's
**Gizmo:** a lack
**Rooster:** of 16.
There's a lack of complexity overall. Actually, if you're a daisy, you pour this in the empty Glen 18 and give it to the, oh, you me? To do the giz daisy. Do the GIZ . That's what he [00:46:00] used
**Senator:** to do with the
**Gizmo:** Kirkley 12. I did. Okay. Hold on. You're a master. You're a master at that. On, hold on. You're the master. The reason why I did that, okay, I resent the implication.
The reason why I did that is the 12 year bottle, 'cause the bottle fit of the blended Kirkland scotch is massive. And I had to find something to fit in my locker. So I would pour it in the Glenn Rhodes bottle, which is a little fat, you know, cylindrical thing with a, with a spout. And it also had a screw top.
I remember it was total sense. It was secure. All right.
So boys, we're coming to the halfway point here on the Aladino classic and elegant. What's everybody thinking as we're talking?
**Bam Bam:** I'm impressed with Pagoda's patience. Look how patient he's been with that cigar. Look at that thing. Wow. Look at you, Pagoda. That's ridiculous. I'm smoking mine pretty fast. I'm almost finished.
**Pagoda:** I've learned from the best. All of you. Wow. You and Rooster.
**Gizmo:** You're welcome.
I am, I'm actually, I am very, very surprised by this cigar right now [00:47:00] at this point, how well it's smoking, how consistent the smoke output, the flavor, the complexity, the value. I mean, it's unbelievable. We're
**Bam Bam:** getting incredible value for such a delicious cigar. This is really really good. It's shocking.
**Rooster:** It's a little bit like the Oliva V Lancero.
**Bam Bam:** But better. I
**Rooster:** feel like it's, it might be better than that cigar.
**Bam Bam:** I don't think it might. I think it's a lot better. Yeah, it is better. I'm not going to say it's much much, but it's definitely better than that. But um, this is.
**Gizmo:** And performance wise, the only reason I've pulled out my lighter is because I've been talking.
Yeah. No, I haven't touched mine. The Oliva V, you have to touch that up several times. I haven't touched
**Senator:** mine up a single time. Same. I've never smoked an Oliva V Lancero without touching it up at some point. That's true too. That's number one. Number two, the Oliva V Lancero is just a really tasty Lancero. I would not call it a refined experience.
Is a refined experience, like the delivery of the flavor is [00:48:00] so smooth and elegant and
**Bam Bam:** velvety, lingering finish, yeah, which is creamy and I still get that hint of biscuit that's continuing all the way through. Yep. All the fruits gone. Which I have no problem with, but it's really very creamy and very smooth right now.
**Rooster:** The Oliva V Lancero starts off great, but the last third is not that great.
**Senator:** Spot on. Yeah. With this, I mean, I'm deep into this cigar and I'm pretty confident that the last third is going to be really good. Yeah.
**Chef Ricky:** And the Oliva V is 2 less a stick.
**Senator:** Yeah.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. I'd totally happily pay two dollars more for a more developed flavor.
**Bam Bam:** You know, the other thing, this just adds to the arsenal of cigars that you can go after now. It's really great to find something like this. It's really surprising. Yeah.
**Rooster:** Um, I wonder how the Robusto would do.
**Gizmo:** That's exactly what I was, I was just going to go there and I was going to say, this is driving me to want to try the other [00:49:00] Vitolas.
Yeah. Because I think this flavor profile, even if it has a little more oomph, you know, in a larger format in the Robusto. I would love that. I think it'd be fantastic. I agree.
**Senator:** I hope
**Gizmo:** so.
**Senator:** I agree. And I'm enjoying this so much. I don't even want to wait like an extended period of time to do it. I hope we do it sooner than later.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. We'll schedule it for early next year. Next week. Next week is a Cuban Brewster. All right. So I got to hear this story. I can't wait anymore. We're 50 minutes in. What happened? I can't, I can't wait anymore. I've tried. To hold myself off, I was going to go to listener email, but I can't do it now. I don't know, but I'm waiting.
So apparently there's a volume two of the Pagoda vehicle saga. Hey, what's going on here? And I can't wait to hear what you're talking about. It was teased to me by Senator earlier, and I just, we need to tell the listeners what happened here. It wasn't
**Pagoda:** me. [00:50:00]
**Gizmo:** The
**Senator:** best part is it was teased to me, and boy was it worth the wait.
I saw Pagoda days ago, and Pagoda's about to leave, and he just leaves me with, he goes, Senator, I have to tell you a story the next time I see you.
**Bam Bam:** And
**Senator:** the next time he saw me, oh my goodness, I was dying laughing. The whole room was just dark and laughing. This is one of the greatest, like, just classic Pagoda
**Pagoda:** stories of all time.
I'm ready. Ready to go. Do you want to tell it or do I have permission to tell it? No, you go ahead.
**Bam Bam:** Oh, that's a great story. He's resigned, but
**Pagoda:** I still don't think it was me.
**Senator:** So Pagoda tells me that he was, uh, Out late, uh, you know, as usual, enjoying himself in the city. It was, uh, I think a friend's birth, someone's birthday.
So he was out at a birthday. He said the, the, the, I'll start with his reasoning. He didn't have dinner. So a lot of, you know, a lot of, uh, he hasn't had a meal
**Rooster:** since Cuba [00:51:00] since the power outage in Cuba. I
**Pagoda:** was like, my light is still out.
**Senator:** So ended up at some bars in the city, but Godot tells me that he got the last train out of the city back here to Jersey. He gets out of the train station in Gludrock and he's first, he somehow realizes in the state that he's in that he thinks he forgot to pay for parking. So he decides at whatever ridiculous hour of the night, To then pay for parking after it's way past the time that he should have paid.
He would have been ticketed already retroactively, retroactively pays for it. He's buying parking for his car and he's looking around the parking lot and he can't find his car.
**Pagoda:** Mind you, this is the middle of the night. It wasn't me, but there was nobody around.
**Bam Bam:** It wasn't [00:52:00] me.
**Senator:** He's looking around this parking lot for his car.
Can't find it. So the first thing he decides to do after all he's consumed that night, he says, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to call the police department. You wait till you,
**Gizmo:** you are hammered.
**Chef Ricky:** Whoever that was called the police department.
**Gizmo:** Let's just say, hypothetically, it's someone we know who might be in the room or might not be in there.
So you're hammered and you decide to call the police telling them that your intention was to find a car in the parking lot and to drive it home. Correct. Oh
**Bam Bam:** my
**Pagoda:** God. And the first thing is, now this is after walking around the parking lot a couple of times trying to locate my car. And for the listener, this is
**Gizmo:** a big public transit parking lot.
There's probably hundreds
**Rooster:** of spots. But you called the Ridgewood police station. No,
**Pagoda:** I called the Glenrock. Glenrock. Oh, okay.
**Senator:** So he calls the police, two cop cars show up for this and the cop says to him, [00:53:00] uh, what kind of car do you have? And he says, I have a Tesla. And they said, well, did you check the app?
The app will tell you where the car is. No, I didn't check the app. So they're like, well, check the app. You don't need us to find the car. The it'll tell you where it is. So he checks the app. He opens it up, looks at the location. It's sitting in his driveway. He never even took the
**Rooster:** car to the train
**Bam Bam:** station.
**Rooster:** What a right away, he should have said, Oh, my wife must've picked it up and took
**Bam Bam:** it home.
**Chef Ricky:** Whoever that person was, wasn't thinking.
**Pagoda:** And so that's the best part.
**Chef Ricky:** It was
**Pagoda:** so embarrassing for the person.
So that they give him a ride home in the back of the police car. He's
**Senator:** sitting back there. I forgot it was supposed to be. It's really tight back there. It's really tight back there.
**Pagoda:** Well, now I can claim that, oh, whoever that was can claim that they've had a ride in a cop car. It is bloody tight. It's ridiculous.
That is amazing. Wow.
**Rooster:** Were you [00:54:00] cuffed?
**Pagoda:** Did they at least put on some music for you? No, I wasn't. I'm sure they were laughing at it. Firstly, because, um, you know, the idea that you call the cops and let's assume we found the car. What would have I done? Would they have arrested me?
**Rooster:** No, they're there to serve and protect.
Oh, but I'm saying if he
**Pagoda:** went and got in the vehicle. If he was in it, yes, likely.
**Rooster:** It's in his driveway. No, I'm saying if it was in the parking lot. Hypothetically. Well, no, you wouldn't have driven home at that time. Yeah, I don't think so, no. He might have. Like cops, could you drive me home? I'll pick up the car tomorrow.
You are
**Bam Bam:** allowed to be drunk as long as you're not behind a car. That's right. That's fine.
**Rooster:** Oh,
**Gizmo:** that's pagodas. So here's the other question. I noticed tonight you walked in empty handed.
**Rooster:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Without your solo.
**Rooster:** Oh,
**Gizmo:** I left out the best
**Senator:** part of the story. The man who's lost God knows how many [00:55:00] cigars and cigar cases at this point.
Sesame, his big solo case. This is a 400 solo case. The big, beautiful blue one. Yeah. Oh yeah. It's
**Gizmo:** like 10 or 12 cigars. That's all. By the way, that's a gorgeous
**Bam Bam:** case.
**Gizmo:** Shout out, shout out Manny Sotelo, he, ManuelSotelo. com makes amazing cases.
**Rooster:** And you didn't have one of those Apple AirTags.
**Gizmo:** Oh no, I
**Senator:** asked
**Gizmo:** him about this.
I've been telling him to get
**Senator:** one for two years. Forever, and Pagoda's immediate response was, these tags are like 40, 50 dollars. They're 20 dollars. Now he lost like, probably 600 dollars worth of stuff in that. So. So he goes, well, the, the guy who experienced this. Yeah, not Pagoda. Not Pagoda. Right,
**Bam Bam:** right, right.
**Senator:** Claims that it was in his briefcase. It was. And it just magically found its way out of the briefcase on the train ride to Glenrock.
**Pagoda:** I have no idea where it is and I can't seem to remember.
**Bam Bam:** Maybe
**Pagoda:** it's in your office. I asked all my buddies, did I bring it out? We were all in restaurants and bars and, and all of them have said no.
So I have no idea where it's gone. Last
**Rooster:** [00:56:00] time this happened. You were able to retrieve it. Yeah, that was in the lost and found of
**Pagoda:** the New Jersey Transit, yeah. How lucky that man was. Maybe you should try that again. You should go back. Or, it's probably in your basement somewhere. Yeah, that's what I thought it was at home.
I've been looking around. And it never made it into the suitcase. Is it in the car? And there was definitely, I have no idea where it is.
**Bam Bam:** Wow. Now, hold on. Were the DuPont cutter and lighter in that
**Pagoda:** case? No. No, no. Now I don't carry DuPont .
**Gizmo:** Lesson learned. Well done. Uh, serious question. How many so cases have you lost since we started the podcast?
**Bam Bam:** Or cases in general? 10 cases. Oh, I don't know. Can I guess? No, it's gotta be five. I got four. I'm calling four.
**Gizmo:** It's gotta be five. I've got five. I
**Rooster:** think three
**Pagoda:** four for me What's the number pagoda? The problem is he never remembers these but these things happen. This would be my fourth. I Won ding
**Gizmo:** ding ding so you've got to be at least three grand into case and cigar and [00:57:00] no no No, just
**Pagoda:** about a grand because my first case was about a buck fifty
**Gizmo:** with all the cigars in it
**Bam Bam:** That's, uh, yeah, that's
**Pagoda:** at least that's 400.
Oh yeah. I forgot. Yeah. Because these had the mag. Oh yeah. He
**Senator:** had the bag 46 that we got in Cuba. Yeah. He had them in there.
**Pagoda:** All three of them because it was my buddy's birthday. I thought I'd bring it out.
**Rooster:** But the air tag is too expensive. That's right.
**Pagoda:** No, but listen, what I don't understand is Somehow I was able to get it from Cuba and now I still don't get to bloody try.
This is ridiculous. Wow. So for the listener to go back, if
**Senator:** you want a free Sotelo or free cigars, the New Jersey transit late at night, New York city, the Glen
**Gizmo:** Rock, correct? Correct. Yeah. You will find some gems. Oh
**Chef Ricky:** yeah. Lost and found.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, it could be. My
**Senator:** name's Spagoda.
**Bam Bam:** I love
**Chef Ricky:** my case of the trade.
**Rooster:** Well, tomorrow's another day.
You know, like anybody could go up to the lost and found [00:58:00] and say, how would you prove it? How would they know? Like it's yours. That's true. Yeah. Oh, no. Yeah. It's a big go.
**Senator:** to describe it. When you go to any lost and found, they're like, what color is it? You know, describe it. You have to give
**Rooster:** something just, you got to get those air tags.
**Pagoda:** I do. It wouldn't all my, you know, we were hanging out on Saturday and everybody was like,
**Chef Ricky:** why don't you have a tag? This is probably the week to do it with all the black Friday deals going on and Amazon and whatnot. Yeah. Just buy like.
**Senator:** a package of like five of them, because even with the air tag, somehow you'll lose four more.
Correct. So just buy like a
**Bam Bam:** bundle. And never buy a DuPont product ever again.
**Pagoda:** No, never, never. I've been told that I should buy a few and just carry one in my pocket in case I get lost.
**Bam Bam:** Why don't you give
**Gizmo:** me access to your air tag, and I'll tell you where you are and throw one in your car. Oh, wow. All right, boys.
We are in the last third now in the Aladino classic elegante. [00:59:00] What are you guys thinking? I'm loving this.
**Bam Bam:** I finished mine. That was weird. Yeah. Fantastic. Fantastic cigar.
**Gizmo:** I am. I've loved every single draw of the cigar. Absolutely.
**Bam Bam:** No rough edges. I can't even
**Gizmo:** believe it.
**Bam Bam:** So pleasant. It does smoke like an older cigar.
So there's definitely sophistication there. This is from the reviews,
**Gizmo:** from the reviews we talked about online, half wheel and others. I can't believe how different the experience is that we're having tonight versus what they described in their reviews. Well, you
**Bam Bam:** both, both Giz and Senator hit it on the head.
I don't think they dry boxed these.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, they're not storing them at the correct humidity or they're smoking them right off the truck or something.
**Senator:** Correct. This is the perfect example of why we do what we do. Yeah. I'll admit, I was very skeptical when Giz said we were going to review this one. You sent a nasty meme, I will say.
It wasn't nasty, it was hopeful. It was a guy praying. It was hopeful.
**Pagoda:** Was it Aladdin?
**Rooster:** I think that was more [01:00:00] for the pairing than the cigar, yeah.
**Pagoda:** No, it was the cigar
**Senator:** more than the pairing, honestly. I just had never heard of Aladino. You know, I was just very skeptical about what the experience would be like.
And I did read the half wheel article. I think they gave it 84 points, 86, I believe 86. And I'm sorry. Like this is much outstanding at its price point. Excellent. No doubt. Well,
**Rooster:** this was also, uh, recommended by one on a couple of the list. Several listeners
**Gizmo:** to smoke the Aladino classic. Also why we have lizard
**Senator:** nation, no good cigars.
Exactly.
**Rooster:** And. They never steer us wrong. Yeah. And it's
**Gizmo:** like, you know, coming in with a brand that we've never smoked, a lot of us have never heard of, you know, it is a risk, but when the listeners say, try this cigar, we've not been led wrong ever in three years, you know,
**Chef Ricky:** let's call a virus.
**Gizmo:** Uh, Las Calaveras, but that's, that's, that's Lizard Henrito.
That was an in house list. Yeah. That's an in house list. He doesn't listen to us anymore. So he dropped us. But yeah, this [01:01:00] is a, this is a big win tonight. So I'm, I'm really looking forward to the ratings, but before we get there, boys, we'll finish our cigars and we'll go to our lizard of the week. And this one is from Lizard Mitch.
He says, Hey fellas. Lizard Mitch here. I've been with you guys since the beginning and I've loved every episode. I'm probably an outlier But I got into cigars when I was 15 years old As a way to bond with my dad more me too the hobby and passion took off from there 13 years down the line I'm happily married with a toddler and another one on the way So I've got a full crazy house at the moment.
If it's been talked about before, I may have missed it, but I've been wondering if any of you guys ever had to put in some work to get your wives on board with cigars. Given the numbers you guys put up in a day, somewhere between 2 and 5 if I had to guess, or with Senator the Occasional 11, I'd guess all of your significant others are on, are on board with your hobby.
But was it always this way? I've found a decent [01:02:00] balance in my life, but it took some delicate persuasion after our first son was born as the next generation continues to dive into the hobby. I'm sure there will be conversations with spouses having to justify the hobby and maybe they can take a page out of your playbook.
I appreciate all you guys have done for me more than I can explain in a few short sentences. It's been stated by Senator a few times that we are creatures of habit. And I couldn't agree more. In my opinion, after about two years, most folks tend to have an idea of what they like and stay in that lane.
This podcast has challenged me to revisit some things I had brushed off and has continued to sharpen my palate. Lastly, my son was born a few months after Senators, and then I deployed shortly after for nine months. Wow. I was missing birthdays. holidays and big moments. And in his little life, that wasn't easy.
But this podcast helped me take my mind off of all of that and made me feel like I was right there with you guys in the room. So genuinely, thank you guys for that. That's incredible. Cheers, boys. Lizard Mitch. Amazing. Wow. Lizard Mitch. [01:03:00] Thank
**Chef Ricky:** you for your service.
**Bam Bam:** Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah. And a great email.
Yeah. Amazing email.
**Gizmo:** That might be the lizard of the year right there. That's incredible. I mean, that is, that is, when I read that email, I got like a little. Yeah. Choked up, man. Yeah. Cause that's some real heavy shit.
**Bam Bam:** Oh yeah.
**Gizmo:** There's some real heavy life stuff in there. Yeah. And to think that Lizard Mitch is allowing us into his life to, to kind of carry him through it and, and, and sit with us like, like we talk about that.
There's this empty chair in the room that the listener is sitting in, like to hear it expressed this way is really. Pretty amazing. Yeah. I
**Rooster:** mean, if I can give him one word of advice is to have a balance, smoke cigars, spend time with your family, spend time with your wife, but have that balance, whether it's one cigar a day or three cigars a week, it's everybody's situation or five a day rooster discriminate on even with a toddler,
**Gizmo:** I think Senator Smoking's [01:04:00] gone up since he had a kid. So going back to his question, it's a good question. Uh, yeah. Were all of our significant others on board or did we have to, uh, did we have to use some delicate persuasion? So
**Bam Bam:** for me early on, I didn't know any of you, I didn't have a podcast. I had. My son, and then my daughter came along.
My, so, Mrs. Bam Bam was actually very happy when I started smoking the moment my son was born. And I invited friends over to the garage. This is one of the first houses that I bought. The garage? Yeah. Early, my first, the first house that I still own, um, I'd sit in my garage alone, have a cigar or two, and go to bed.
Slowly, I started inviting my brother in law, a few friends that are just getting I remember I was there. I don't think you were here. I didn't even know you. You
**Pagoda:** know how we always say in this pod, you discover something new every day.
**Bam Bam:** So, she was happy that I had the guys coming over and I was spending [01:05:00] time because I was
**Rooster:** She would still be happy if the guys were coming back.
I was probably,
**Bam Bam:** yeah, overly doting, like almost getting in the way of like taking care of the kids. So I, she wanted me out of the way. So cigars was a great diversion for me and it was, it worked out great. And honestly it helped kind of get through that time. My business wasn't great. It was kind of going up and down.
So when my first kid was born, my business was really on a downslide, so I wasn't feeling great about myself, but the cigars and having friends over really helped me kind of get through that time. It did. Um. That happens to everyone, by the way. Yeah. And, you know, and it goes back up and I kind of ride the sine curve every couple of years, but the cigars was always a consistent theme for me that helped keep me around.
**Rooster:** So now that your business is doing better, you would rather not have any friends over? It's not nice.
**Pagoda:** When I met my wife, I was already [01:06:00] smoking cigars. What was great about her is she was She would indulge in it as well. Oh, she liked it. She'd meet me, so I used to hang out in merchants and she'd drop by, we were always a group of people.
There were a couple of guys and girls. We used to all chill, smoke cigars, and we weren't doing it that frequently in those days. You know, it was more of a, you know, infrequent thing, you know, once a month or twice a month. And um, so it was great. So um, Over the years, what I feel, and I think in terms of just pointers, right?
I think what I love about cigars is the fact that they don't really alter your state of mind. Um, the other thing is if you have a drink or two slowly, like in my case, they also really helped me reduce drinking. Uh, mind you. Really? Uh, what? Let's interview the Glen Rock police. Oh, that, that day I didn't end up in a cigar lounge.
I think that was a problem. Yeah. But you know what it is, you tend to pace yourself when you're smoking [01:07:00] cigars, when you're in a bar with, you know, a couple of your friends, you're just, you know, pounding them down after a certain time. I think, I don't know, or that's just me. Uh, but overall, I do think that, you know, in terms of the point is, and the other thing is therapy sessions, right?
You take that hour off, you know, you're in a better state of mind and then you can be a lot more productive internally in the house. And
**Gizmo:** think about how often we all get together and somebody's dealing with a life problem or a work problem or a situation. And, and it's really the only time that I think any of us sit down with a group of peers, colleagues, friends, whatever word you want to use, that You can vent and blow off some steam.
And for me, it's like, if I have a business issue or a life issue, the guys I'm coming to are in this room, right? Like this is my crew and it's people who've had more experience than me in some areas or, you know, life experience, work experience, whatever. It's like, I'm able to get this immediate [01:08:00] feedback while we're sitting there smoking a cigar.
And it's like, when I leave the lounge, when I leave having a cigar, I'm better than when I showed up
**Bam Bam:** and
**Gizmo:** I go home with that, you know, I show up better when I get home
**Bam Bam:** and you've never had to convince your wife about the hobby.
**Gizmo:** No, I'm, I'm very lucky because my wife's father, Lizard Mike smoked through her childhood smoke cigars at times.
I think in the seventies and eighties, she was smoking and cigarettes. He was smoking in his office in the house.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** So sometimes when I'll come home after a cigar, she'll say, Oh, you smell like my childhood. You know, like she's never had a problem with cigar smoke. She lets me smoke in the car when she's in it.
She doesn't indulge. Really? Like Pagoda was saying, but she doesn't care. So I'm, I'm very lucky in that way. Oh, she found Papa! Okay, you can delete that. The other thing too for me is that, I fell in love with cigars, really bad cigars, in 2014, as we've talked about a few times. We
**Rooster:** know.
**Gizmo:** But I fell out when I got divorced from my first wife.
[01:09:00] She wasn't into it. But when I met my, you know, Mrs. Gizmo now, I obviously met Lizard Mike, and he turned me back onto cigars. So really, the reason why I'm sitting here is originally his fault. And then I joined the, you know, the other lounge that we've talked about and I met all you guys and then of course, you know, went down the rabbit hole as I do with everything is, you know, full obsession insanity level.
Um, and, and so that's been very helpful as well as it's really her dad's fault.
**Bam Bam:** All right.
**Gizmo:** How did she feel about the kitty litter? Uh, she didn't like the kitty litter, especially when I was, when I was putting it in the oven to dry it out. Oh, yeah. Yeah, she didn't like that. You should
**Rooster:** ask the kitties.
Kitties don't have any litter.
**Chef Ricky:** She didn't love it. Yeah, you know, for me, I'd, I'd say, um, you know, doing what I do for a living. I think that the typical outlet is going out to a bar and then just kind of getting hammered every night. That's, that's not me. So cigars. You know what it's done for me, for my wife, for my family.
I mean, my kids [01:10:00] know I smoke. They, they oftentimes mimic me smoking. You know, if we buy veggie straws from Trader Joe's or something, they'll hold it and pretend it's a cigar. Doesn't your son do an impression of a senator? My 12 year old does an impression of a senator every single Monday when I leave my home to come here.
My daughter's like, say hi to Rooster. And Ethan's like, say hi to Senator. Um, it's Rooster now. It was good. Gizmo before I fell off. For me, it's, it's done a lot for generating friends, you know, great friendships, um, and you know, just as busy as I am. And as much as I bounce around, I don't have a lot of that.
I don't have time to develop that. So this allows me that and my wife really enjoys it. And trust me, there's times around like, man, I haven't been home for a few days or, you know, home during meaningful times when people are awake. So there are times where I get invited out and I'm like, Hey, baby mind. If I go by, you know, if I go smoke a cigar and sometimes I feel bad and she's like, Connie, go enjoy yourself.
And it's, it's the greatest thing, you know, and [01:11:00] if it was something where, you know, I was getting hammered every night or coming home different, or just, you know, my character was completely out of whack or order. Um, I'm sure it wouldn't be supported, but you know, this is, uh, this is something where she knows I, it relaxes me, builds solid friendships, um, and it's, you know, at the end of the day, I think, uh, any woman that loves you, what, what more could she want for you?
**Bam Bam:** Correct.
**Senator:** Yeah, I completely agree. I mean, I, I'm in a similar boat. My wife, um, never had a problem with me smoking cigars. I mean, I was smoking cigars before we were even dating and, um, you know, I think she's always been supportive of it. I think it's. The only part that she doesn't like is the smell. And so, you know, I remember we lived in an apartment in D.
C. I used to host a cigar night with all my cigar buddies, uh, every month. And this is actually at Shelly's in D. C., which for as much as I've sung Shelly's praises, the ventilation is not great in Shelly's. I mean, I get back to my hotel whenever I'm in D. [01:12:00] C. and like, I don't even like how I smell. It's just so intense, the cigar smoke.
So my wife used to just ask me to leave my clothes on our balcony of the apartment. Just not inside the apartment. But outside of that, uh, she really has no problem with it. And I think that she's grown to appreciate, you know, I think Pagoda actually makes a really great point around it not being mind altering.
You know, she knows that it's a way for me to reduce stress. We all have stressful careers. We have families. We have a lot of, you know, we're pulled in a lot of different directions, a lot of responsibilities. And, um, she knows for me that it just helps keep me grounded when I'm ha I've had a rough day. I just need to decompress and, you know, for my wife, like that's meditation sometimes.
Like I don't meditate, but like there's something meditative about like the whole cigar ritual and experience. There's no doubt about it. Exactly. Yeah. And so, you know, for me, it's that. And, uh, she very much, uh, respects that. And, uh, I think, you know, like Ricky said, like, you know, when someone [01:13:00] loves you, they want you to be happy and they want you to be your best self.
And for us, this helps us, you know, be our best self. And, um, I've been very lucky that my wife's been supportive of that.
**Pagoda:** You know, the other thing is, one could easily smoke on the deck or outside, depending on where you live. And, you know, you don't have to, what's really interesting about this is, there was a time I used to go to bars to meet my friends, and we did occasionally when we were celebrating people's birthdays, but overall, now I find myself in a cigar lounge often.
And it's a completely different experience. It's very rare. That from a cigar lounge, I'm coming, you know, what's it abbreviated, abbreviated, abbreviated. English is my second
**Chef Ricky:** language. All right, guys.
**Gizmo:** But that wasn't you. That was some other guy. He was abbreviated.
**Pagoda:** So it's like this whole idea that, you know, I'm sure that if I would have gone to Carnegie that night, I [01:14:00] would have been, you know, in a better state of mind for sure.
Sure.
**Gizmo:** Well, I think that's a great summary of all of our experiences. And again, we have to thank Lizard Mitch for this amazing email. Who's our lizard of the week. And again, anybody out there can win lizard of the week. All you have to do is send us a great email like lizard Mitch did. And so many other folks do.
We're going to send you a little gift pack from the lizards here. All you have to do is send us an email, a voice memo. A YouTube comment, whatever you choose, just communicate with us. Tell us what you're thinking. Tell us what you're smoking and that you can be entered to win. And boys, before we move into the ratings tonight, I have one more email from lizard Cody I want to share.
And lizard Cody writes, hello guys. I had a question for you that might have been answered before, but I only started listening around episode 140 and he's working his way backwards. He says, I'm curious how each of you got started in on cigars and did any of you With flavored or aromatic cigars, but sweetened tips or anything like that.
No, not
**Chef Ricky:** at all.
**Gizmo:** I started with the tobacco, especially Alan. I [01:15:00] loved it. And although I've moved on to be there being rather particular to Padron in aging room, I still like to visit a tobacco or Dunbarton still. Well, I was curious if any of you have such a guilty pleasure, I guess. I just want to know. If I should be ashamed or not.
And I thought that the way he ended that email was
**Pagoda:** wrong.
**Gizmo:** Pretty powerful. I don't know. It is wrong. I don't think that anyone should feel ashamed about finding their way into the hobby. And getting to the point where you're preferring Padrone and Aging Room. Oh yeah. I mean, whatever journey you took to get to the love of Padrone and Aging Room, He landed
**Bam Bam:** in the promised land.
You
**Gizmo:** landed there, right? So I'm fine with any of the starting points, personally. I don't think anyone should be ashamed. Correct.
**Chef Ricky:** Correct. Yeah, I agree. Everyone has their starting point. Um, I can't say I've ever been, uh, attracted to the flavored sticks and anytime I've accidentally stumbled upon them, I wasn't happy about it.
Um, but yeah, you know, whatever, as we've [01:16:00] spoken about with tequilas and whatnot, there's gateways and that was his gateway. And every once in a while he likes to pay homage to it and go back and that's fine.
**Senator:** Yeah. I think that's the best example. I mean, any product that you fall in love with at some point and, you know, really want to, Dive deep into the rabbit hole and trying, you know, everything that they make.
It's inevitable with some product. You start with a shitty version of it. All of us. I mean, when Ricky mentioned tequila. You know, all we knew was the big mass produced tequilas. None of us knew about, and we're drinking artisanal tequilas, like Ricky introduced us to. And, you know, it's not like Ricky sat there and said, well, these guys are a bunch of clowns, you know, look at what they drink.
You know, he said, this is how people kind of did that. Maybe just about gizmo.
**Chef Ricky:** If you're only doing flavored cigars and that's all you insist and you'd never want to try anything else. And that's a different story, but you know, you, you, that flavored cigar got you into that promise line as, as you said, and that's
**Senator:** it.
Curiosity. If the [01:17:00] curiosity is there, there's zero judgment. It's the guy who sits there and says, I will only smoke this one thing and is not willing to try anything else. Or I will only drink this one tequila and it's not willing to try anything else. I mean. That's a person who there is some judgment of you're just not intellectually curious.
You think there's nothing more out there than what you know, the limited bit that you know. And that's really the only problem. But I've met countless people. I, you know, I didn't start smoking flavored cigars at all, but I do remember in college, um, you know, in my fraternity, I was the cigar guy and got kind of a lot of my fraternity brothers into cigars.
And I remember this one other guy that lived in my fraternity house with me, uh, said to me, Oh, I'm a cigar guy. I was like, Oh, wow, no one else had said this to me. And he's like, yeah, I even have a humidor here. I'm like, wow, you too. I had a humidor in college. Smell like Fruit Loops. Oh, pretty much. And I'll never forget.
He, I'm like, I'd love to see it. He opens his humidor and it's filled with acid blondies. Oh boy. It's like with that blue label on it. And I was like, all right, [01:18:00] you're not a cigar guy. You appreciate the hobby, but like, you got to try something else. Senator's
**Chef Ricky:** like, you're out.
**Senator:** Yeah. I mean, and if he would have said, no, this is all I'm willing to smoke.
Yeah. He's out like I can't, there's nothing I can do to help that person, but he was curious and he started smoking some non flavored cigars and learning about them and then grew to really appreciate cigars for what they really are a natural organic product, not this artificial stuff that's made. and there's no judgment there.
Everybody starts somewhere.
**Rooster:** Correct. I mean, it is a journey, right? I mean, you start wherever you start. And even at this point, we've been smoking for a number of years and we're still learning. We, you know, like today we're smoking a new cigar that we have never smoked before. And we absolutely love this.
Absolutely. It's so enjoyable. Yeah. So it's a great hobby that you're learning. And You know, you're always, uh, trying to find new cigars. And if flavored cigars are your thing. I mean, I mean, he said he actually goes back and smokes them.
**Gizmo:** He says it's kind of like a guilty pleasure. [01:19:00] Yeah.
**Rooster:** So that's okay.
**Gizmo:** I, I think to, you know, what, what, I don't know.
It's okay to go back to it, but
**Rooster:** I mean, that's what, that's what he took. You
**Gizmo:** got to graduate at some point. I will say to Senator's point about judgment or even what Lizard Cody's Asking here about being ashamed, you know, I, I've seen some folks in our lounge here who've been members, I think, as long as we have and still only choose and only want to smoke acid flavored cigars.
Like they have no interest in exploring the next levels of this thing. And then you have other folks who've come in, start with an acid, we're sitting there, we talk to them and then we start talking to them about what we're smoking and kind of the journey of it. And then, like Senator said, the common denominator of success here.
**Chef Ricky:** What was the lizard's name that I sent this email? Lizard Cody. Lizard Cody. I'm, I, I, I, I task you with this. I'm curious if the reason you smoke flavored cigars is because you don't pair your cigars with a beverage. [01:20:00] Um, I would find it difficult to, you know, do that. Drink the quality spirits. We drink with a flavored cigar.
Great point. Um, you know, so maybe it's that maybe he doesn't drink or maybe he only does seltzer water. So, you know, he's, he's looking for some other, uh, to this answer.
He's a non alcoholic, not that rooster smoking acid, but, um, yeah, no, maybe, maybe that has something to do with it. You
**Rooster:** know,
**Pagoda:** don't produce a
**Gizmo:** large amount. That's two weeks in a row with a drug reference from you, by the way.
**Rooster:** Correct. Let's talk about acid cigars or acid reflux. Again,
**Gizmo:** I think the resounding, you know, point in the room here is there's nothing to be ashamed of starting there.
You've gotten to the point that, that, you know, you're at premium handmade cigars that are not flavored. You're tasting the things that we talk about and we'd love. And I think for any [01:21:00] lizard out there, there should be no shame unless you're exclusively only wanting to smoke flavored. Cigars.
**Rooster:** Send us some recommendations for the next pub.
No, we are not doing that. Are we? No. Are we?
**Senator:** I don't think so. Can I just say before we rate anything? Yes. I just challenge everyone in the room to literally smoke this cigar down as far as you humanly can to the point that it disintegrates in your hands. Senator, take a look. Because I don't do this often to this extent.
I'm at a quarter of an inch. I mean, bam, literally fingers are burning gizmo. Same thing. I cannot believe the flavor. Yeah. It's not altered. It's not hot. I'm still actually getting flavor notes that are not just hot tobacco. This is wild. Very unique. Sorry, I just didn't want anybody to put it down at the normal point that we do.
You just made me
**Rooster:** do that. I got an [01:22:00] ash head. The bottom was covered with ash and I picked it up. Did you put
**Senator:** the wrong end in your mouth? No, but it was in the ash tray and I took it out and took a
**Pagoda:** puff. Keep taking those puffs. And it's still good.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, I am shocked at how great this cigar was tonight. I'm really curious to see where the ratings end up.
But first, boys, of course, we have to do our formal liquor rating tonight on the Kirkland 16 Years Aged Single Malt Scotch. Bam, bam, you're up
**Bam Bam:** at an eight with this. Um, I didn't like it at first, but it grew on me. Honestly, it drank. Okay. For me, it wasn't a great pairing with the cigar. Personally. I thought it just slightly overwhelmed the cigar slightly, but halfway through it started to work together very nicely.
Um,
**Rooster:** cause you knew it was a Costco Scott.
**Bam Bam:** Not at all.
**Gizmo:** Here we go. No, that's what you think. There's a heavy judgment here. No,
**Rooster:** Absolutely. No, no, no, no. 100%.
**Gizmo:** Look how, look at his eyebrows. They're all
**Rooster:** [01:23:00] furled. What are you doing? How dare you give a Costco scotch an 8? How dare you? That's very high. Come on. I
**Bam Bam:** thought you'd be happy with that.
I think.
**Rooster:** It's a 16 year old scotch.
**Bam Bam:** It's a 60 bucks. 60 bucks. Hey, Rooster, take a sip. Yeah, try some. Glenn Merangie, 18. Come on. 18. I wasn't there. I'm going to affirm 8. Thank you.
**Senator:** I think Rooster is thermos is full of this. Maybe
**Gizmo:** this is what he's drinking all the time. It could be all right, but go to Europe.
**Pagoda:** I'm at an eight as well. And you know, I, you know, I started off, by the way, I did not enjoy the, uh, Uh, you know, the first couple of steps at all, but it did grow. And I think, you know, you know, the chef is right that you've got to just wait for it to just settle down because it was slightly high proof. I think in the back, that's where I got a lot of the flavors in the front.
It wasn't that much. It wasn't very Sherry forward. I know this was in Sherry. [01:24:00] And the viscosity, I think I would have liked it just a little more in viscosity as well. Um, having said that, uh, it did become reasonably pleasant and for me it was okay. Um, uh, but an easygoing drink for a 16 years guard for 60 bucks, I think it's an eight.
**Gizmo:** Okay, Senator. I'm at a
**Senator:** full,
**Gizmo:** uh, eight roosters getting hot over here. So disappointed I'm all your stocks going to plummet, dude. What
**Senator:** is there? How am I going to start selling? How much possible stuff do you have? It's a lot.
**Bam Bam:** Oh yeah.
**Senator:** Um, I'm also at an eight. I mean, the, the price point is really what's driving my eight.
Yes. I think for the price. It delivers plenty at 65. A 16 year at that price point is obviously unheard of. Um, I do think for a 16 year scotch, It doesn't have the complexity of most 16 plus year scotches. It doesn't have the body [01:25:00] or the viscosity that you would expect for something aged that long, but it is enjoyable.
It's easy drinking, even despite being higher proof. It's easy drinking. Yeah. Um, I think the flavor it delivers is enjoyable. Um, I just don't know that it's distinctive enough that it's something that I would reach for. Like we're sitting here comparing it to other single malts and I'm not sitting here saying like it's wildly distinct and like nothing I've had before, which most of the, you know, major, uh, single malt distilleries, they have a really unique profile, right?
Like an Abalor is wildly different from a McAllen, a Balvenie, any of those. And. This isn't wildly different from things we've had. It's like a little bit of a few things that we've had before. So that's the reason I'm at an eight. I would recommend though, you know, for anyone who wants a budget friendly single mall, that is a fairly versatile, this will definitely fit the bill, but for something that's going to knock your socks off, I don't think it's a [01:26:00] nine or a 10.
**Gizmo:** So I'm completely with Senator and, and, and Pagoda and Bam here. I'm at an eight. I actually probably would have gone seven, had it not been for Price, given this being a 16 year spirit, um, I, I think it lacked in complexity with the age statement. I think it lacked viscosity. I think it lacked, it wasn't interesting.
It wasn't complex. It wasn't.
**Bam Bam:** It did improve though. I will say, um, I was, I wasn't expecting it to get better, but. As, you know, Chef said, your palate adjusts, it finished okay, right? You just lost your Costco membership, by the way. That's it. Go join BJ's. I belong to both, thank you very much. So do I.
**Rooster:** Apparently only one now. Actually, uh, BJ's, uh, business center for you.
**Bam Bam:** Correct. I'll get my iPad, my Post it's there.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. So I, I, I am, uh, I'm a little disappointed honestly, in the product again, the price is the only thing keeping me at an eight. I think that's a very reasonable, fair price for a [01:27:00] 16 year age spirit.
But overall, I think this is honestly closer to a 10 or a 12 in the way that it tastes in the way that it feels. And I just don't think that there's anything about this that's memorable. And I don't think I'm probably ever going to think about this again, unless I end up at Costco and pick up a bottle for a holiday or something to serve to guests, which I think is where this would land for me.
It's a very accessible, nice age statement for a group, complex spirit for after dinner or something like that. But for what we do here, for all the things that we drink, it doesn't even come close. Uh, but again, given the price in that age, I'm going to go with an eight. Chef Ricky, do you like that? Wait, let me, uh, I'm
**Rooster:** not, I'm not done yet.
Rooster Esquire rooster at Costco dot com. That's his email. Do you realize the 12 years? Uh, that's the, that's a blended. Yeah. The 12 year blend. I
**Gizmo:** don't know if I like it better, but I think for the price, number one, for what it is. Number two, I do. And I think it actually pairs very well with cigars. Um, but I think I'd probably [01:28:00] place that in the same range.
The round of eight. Okay. Chef Ricky.
I love the rooster
**Chef Ricky:** who doesn't drink.
**Gizmo:** I know he's an advocate.
**Chef Ricky:** He's in rare form tonight. There's something in that cup. Oh yeah.
**Gizmo:** I think he's out there. He has like a coffee thermos and we think that there's scotch in it.
**Chef Ricky:** A little peyote in there. I think he had rum poured in there. We all doubt it. Oh yeah.
He definitely spiked his chai too. 100 percent rain pour. Look, I'm not in love with scotch, especially as of late, and at 16 years, I, and, and with the sherry finish and with the high proof, I thought it would deliver more in body. Um, you know, now it, it does finish creamy, especially as you drink it in your palate, you know, becomes accustomed to the heat.
Uh, but it just, it's not delivering a hundred percent for me on body. Um, Um, and fullness. So for me, I initially, it was a seven, but because of the pressure applied by [01:29:00] rooster, I'm gonna give it an eight. No, but truly because, uh, because of the price point, um, and this is something the Kirkland label kills me, right?
Cause it's something I would love. Here we go. This is the problem. This is the problem.
**Rooster:** I gotta pour this in a different bottle, with no label. No, but this is it. It would be a nine. You
**Pagoda:** gotta decant this thing. No way. You gotta thermos. By the way, I think it'd end up at a seven.
**Chef Ricky:** No, and I only bring up the label because, you know, when we say how we'll, we'll, we'll serve this to friends or family or bring, like, I can't bring this to an event because of the Kirkland label, you know, like.
It's, it's kind of, it's a little tough unless you go to roosters out for a party. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** I think there's utility in this when you're with a, if, if it's at a dinner party. No,
**Chef Ricky:** I think if you're serving at home,
**Bam Bam:** if you've got a bunch of guys at the house, a hundred percent yes. This, it's great. Yes, it's great.
It's a great product to serve and yeah, at that point, and by the way, is an excellent score. That's an excellent score. An eight.
**Pagoda:** I
**Chef Ricky:** agree.
**Pagoda:** I, I do think it's a very generous goal because I think we discussed that, that if we were in a liquor [01:30:00] store and near the NY right next to it for the same price, what would you choose, Alvin?
Sure. Thank you.
**Gizmo:** And I think that if you're bringing this to a house party or an event, I think the Kirkland name, certainly that's going to be a starting point of, of probably some jokes, but then that's going to be
**Pagoda:** trying to make it cool.
**Gizmo:** Yeah,
**Pagoda:** but it's
**Gizmo:** also, it's also countered by the 16 year age statement, right?
So when you're, you're, you're serving it to folks and it's, Oh, it's Kirkland. Not for me, but it's 16 years age. I mean, you could have a 40 year age statement on it.
**Pagoda:** They're just, they're just putting numbers out there for listeners out there.
**Gizmo:** I want this. I want you to know if a Senator and chef Ricky disappear after tonight,
**Pagoda:** we know who is to blame.
Correct. Oh my Lord. Rooster's pulling out his Kirkland hat. The
**Bam Bam:** raccoon hands are coming out.
**Gizmo:** So boys, the formal liquor rating tonight on the Kirkland 16 years age single malt scotch is an 8. 0. Nice score. Very high. I think it's a fair score. Highly recommended. Highly recommended. [01:31:00] Correct. Go out and buy it.
All right, boys. It's time now to move into the formal lizard rating tonight on the Aladino Classic in Elegante, Rooster Europe. So
**Rooster:** the Kirkland
**Gizmo:** cigar,
**Rooster:** I'm going to give it a 10. I think we all should rate it
**Pagoda:** together. We all know what the rating is going to be.
**Rooster:** The cigar was fantastic. Awesome cigar from the beginning to the end.
Uh, the Honduran tobacco is a hit. Yeah, it's a hit for sure. It's the closest tobacco to Cuban tobacco. And, you know, after you smoke a lot of Nicaraguan cigars and Cuban cigars, The Honduran tobacco is a great find. I mean, you haven't really explored a lot of Honduran tobacco. I mean, other than the fabric of five cigars, which are a home run.
If you guys haven't tried, absolutely go out and try them. This cigar is fantastic. I mean, I would definitely recommend this to anyone. I'm going to give this a. 10. Wow. And anyone
**Pagoda:** meaning anyone,
**Rooster:** anyone, even a Kirkland Scotts [01:32:00] drinker.
**Chef Ricky:** Chef Ricky. Yeah, I'm right there at a 10. Um, you know, this cigar felt great in the hand. I was a little skeptical at first because of some of the pockets that I felt throughout the stick. Uh, but no, it, you know, it was, it was done for a reason. Uh, never once did I have to touch it up. In fact, after rooster, uh, Mentioned, you know, smoking it to the very end, although it was at a quarter inch in the Astrea, I did pick it up and light it smoked beautifully after sitting there for about 20 minutes.
And yeah, this thing delivered very much. So on flavor, uh, smoke output quality. It did it all really well, and I can't wait to buy a box after this.
**Rooster:** And so reasonably priced, that it makes you want to try other sizes of this. You're right.
**Pagoda:** Finding something in my budget. Yeah, if there was one complaint, it's
**Chef Ricky:** that I wish it was a little bit
**Bam Bam:** bigger.
**Rooster:** Yeah. Right? So yeah, Robusto or a bigger size.
**Bam Bam:** It does leave you wanting a little more.
**Senator:** All right, Senator. [01:33:00] Uh, this is easy. I'm in lockstep. It's a 10. I, this is one of the biggest surprises this year for me by far. I will absolutely buy a box. What just stands out so much for a budget friendly cigar. There's so many of these that we have stumbled upon and had really great experiences with and been surprised.
And they deliver just like some great flavor that, you know, We've all latched on to, I can't remember one delivering that in such a refined, elegant way like this, and it's definitely the Honduran tobacco like Rooster's talking about. I just, I'm blown away, honestly, for 8, like, this smokes. Like a high twenties cigar.
Like it's that elegant, how it delivers that.
**Bam Bam:** And,
**Senator:** uh, you know, we
**Bam Bam:** do move markets.
**Pagoda:** He's trying to move the Costco market. Costco stock just
**Rooster:** went down. [01:34:00] His
**Pagoda:** retirement depends on this Costco stock.
**Rooster:** I am closer to the retirement age, by the way. So that's also
**Pagoda:** everybody.
**Bam Bam:** Oh, a classic shank. Oh boy.
**Pagoda:** I'm just surprised you could have actually beaten with Mike Tyson. That would've been a great match. .
**Rooster:** Dude. I wouldn't even be able to match the, the chicks without arms. They would probably still beat me. Kidding
**Chef Ricky:** you. Listen, no punches were thrown. just a little that
**Rooster:** wrapped .
**Senator:** Um, but, but very seriously, just on the cigar, the, uh, the flavors that it delivers.
Uh, they're distinct. Like, that's the other thing that I will forever remember this cigar for. It's not that it is refined and elegant and just delivering flavor notes that we've pursued or found in other cigars. It's carved out its own lane. Um, It's so versatile. I mean, I could smoke this in the morning with a coffee in the [01:35:00] afternoon in the evening.
Like we just did. Um, I can't wait to smoke my next one. It's a definite 10
**Rooster:** and there's very few cigars that you can take them down to the end. Oh yeah. They don't get hot. Not in this size. That's right. You know, they almost always get hot at this one. It did not. Very unique.
**Senator:** Exactly that. I've never smoked a Lancero down this far and enjoyed what I was, the flavor I was getting at this ridiculous point of like a half a quarter of an inch.
Some of us. Correct. It's insane.
**Gizmo:** So I am, I am in lockstep on this cigar. I am shocked by this again. Shout out to the listeners who recommended it. You know, it goes back to some of the things that, you know, some of the other guys said here, Honduran tobacco is an absolute hit. I think it's the closest thing.
To Cuban tobacco. And I think what we've experienced with Honduran tobacco is the consistency of the product that we've tried out of Honduras wipes the floor with Cuban [01:36:00] consistency, correct? You know, there's no draw issues. There's no overpack. There's no under pack. We're finding these cigars to be really brilliant.
Tasting cigars to kind of walk this fine line between new world and cuban in ways that at an eight dollar price point Makes that experience very accessible Especially for smokers in the united states. Yeah who can't buy cuban cigars like this is yet another one that is on the list of Shocks, but also cigars that deliver that Cuban esque profile.
Um, I was really impressed. I think the Retro Hail really shocked me with this one. That was something that pushed this to the 10 for me from a 9. That Retro Hail was so Cuban esque, it reminded me of Siglo 5. It reminded me of, of, of D4 in a way. Schwaffner. Rass. Like it really had some of those amazing elements.
I'm really impressed. I really want to try some of the other Vitolas, especially the Robusto. I think that's going to be slotted in early next year. We'll see if it [01:37:00] competes for how high of a score this one's gotten tonight. The construction, the burn, the combustion, all a plus it tasted aged.
**Pagoda:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** You know, in some ways age more than some of these other cigars we've had that have actual age statements on them.
There's no age statement here. That's true. There's no age statement in the marketing. There's no comment at all about how long these cigars have been aged. And I think that may be a product of the Vertical integration. They have that. They own their own tobacco. They're growing their own tobacco. They're manufacturing their own cigars Um, it's top to bottom seems like a really complete Operation here and it's really impressive and again I want to say at eight dollars for the listener who might run out and buy these cigars after this rating It's very important again If you want to have the same experience that we've had in this room tonight, you've got to bring down You The humidity.
You cannot smoke these cigars off the truck. You cannot smoke these cigars at 69 RH or in the 70s or even in the high [01:38:00] 60s. These cigars were stored in my tower for like three months at 64 percent relative humidity at room temperature. You've got to bring down the humidity, otherwise you're going to have the same experience that some of the other reviewers, like we talked about, had online.
So I really put an asterisk on this rating tonight. If you want to experience this, you've got to be patient and bring down the humidity of these cigars. That's a great point. That's
**Rooster:** with any cigar. But I think
**Gizmo:** this one more than ever, based on what we saw online.
**Bam Bam:** And the ring gauge of it, it's really a sensitive, right, Vitola, that requires lower humidity.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. No, that's. Even with that lower humidity, this cigar had some pockets of softness. So I could only imagine what that would be like if it was extra wet.
**Gizmo:** And if you're having to continually touch it up and it's burning incorrectly, in the pictures we saw on Half Wheel, I mean, it really could be an opposite experience of what we've had tonight if you don't bring down the humidity.
So I really emphasize that for the listener. That might be the most verbose I've been on a rating ever, [01:39:00] but this cigar deserved it. It's a brilliant, brilliant cigar. I'm really impressed.
**Rooster:** This is a cigar you can have back to back. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** I want to have another one. I easily would love to have one right now.
Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Same. We'll fight over the couple I have left. All right.
**Pagoda:** Pagoda. I'll keep it short and simple. It's a 10. It's a 10. It's a 10. Everything about it was great. the combustion and you know, I like a reasonable smoke output. It was velvety. It was great. Um, this leaves a really pleasant flavor in your palate, in your mouth, meaning, you know, the simpler things, it's, you know, I think, uh, Rooster, I think when you were describing, uh, the cigar earlier, you used the word enjoyable.
This is enjoyable. You know, it's just more than just like, you know, Taking a moment. And it's just so enjoyable that you really want another one right after just to attend for me.
**Chef Ricky:** Bam. You're up. [01:40:00] Thank you. Can I have a sip of your tea here? First
**Bam Bam:** to grab that tea real fast. It's the romper. We all know it. Yeah. I'm also at a 10. No surprise. You know, this cigar I could give to a seasoned cigar smoker and to a guy or a gal that's just getting into this cigar hobby. And it would, the versatility of this and the utility of it, you can smoke it almost anytime, anywhere.
I probably wouldn't smoke this outside on a windy day. I agree with you on that. Yeah, because it does, like we said, it does smoke like a Cuban cigar. There's some, it's a little delicate. I would, Definitely keep this indoors for me, unless it's a beautiful spring day with minimal breeze. Incredible cigar for what we're getting, uh, value wise.
10. We'll need to try the outdoor
**Senator:** piece. I'm not sure that I agree. Well, give it a shot.
**Gizmo:** I just think that, you know, I, I think we obviously, again, the product of the humidity coming down, but we're in a closed environment here under the microscope. I do think with a little wind, you know, some of those [01:41:00] factors outdoors, I, I think it might, Maybe not be as versatile, maybe, you know, outside bigger size.
Never know the
**Chef Ricky:** edge, the edge got a little wonky at times. So I could see for me, not for me at all, I was getting a little curvature like banded, but I just say
**Senator:** we've smoked a number of Lanceros outside, even with some wind. I mean, we've had Cohiba Lanceros in Cuba on a rooftop with wind that I've been shocked and have smoked well.
Um, so I, I'm not, you know, even a more delicate cigar like this, I think sometimes you'd be
**Gizmo:** surprised. Alright, boys, that puts the formal Lizard rating tonight on the Aladino Classic in Elegante at an impressive 10. 0. Shocking 10.
**Bam Bam:** 0.
**Gizmo:** I can't remember the last time we had a flat 10. It might have been the Ramon Iones.
Uh, I, my question to the room, because the listener out there is going to be skeptical. They're going to be questioning this rating. What do you think, if you could sum it up, what is reflected in tonight's [01:42:00] 10. 0 on that cigar?
**Chef Ricky:** I would say it's, it's, uh, that, uh, flavor for value. You know, just like, just what you're getting it, uh, you know, 8, the amount of flavor we got, the smoke quality, the smoke output, how
**Bam Bam:** sophisticated it was, how elegant, yeah.
You
**Chef Ricky:** know what, for me, to, uh, Senator said this earlier, it wasn't super refined. There were pockets that I got some spice and some, some, some sharper notes. But I welcomed them, they were great. Oh, I disagree, sorry.
**Senator:** I completely disagree. I said it's very refined. I didn't have a single moment that wasn't refined and deliberate.
I didn't get any sharpness
**Rooster:** at all. I think keeping the price point aside, even if the cigar was a 20 cigar, the weighting would be the same. Because I'm going to, exactly
**Senator:** what Rooster said is how I feel, and for me it summed up very simply, It checks every box when I give a cigar a 10, I can't find something wrong with it.
**Gizmo:** Yes.
**Senator:** From construction to [01:43:00] burn to flavor, smoke output, every single category that we look at price value, it checked every box. I can't find one thing that I can say is wrong with what they've produced with this cigar. And that's why it's a 10. But
**Bam Bam:** what's so unusual for such a Low priced cigar that it act almost behaves like it's in its own category.
'cause it's so unique. Yeah. And to Ru's point at this, where are you gonna find that in a d in a cigar that's under 10 bucks? I, I don't think's crazy. It's sharpness
**Chef Ricky:** is negative. Right. Sometimes we've had some super creamy te uh, blanco tequilas where I kind of wanted some sharpness to peek through. So in my case's not, I thought that was a, I thought that was a merit, not a negative, but I, I hear, I didn't experience it.
Didn't any sharpness. That's all I'm saying. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I think for me, what, what I see in this 10 is, and, and. Effortless chimney of flavor, like it, like those three things, it was effortless, it was a chimney and the flavor was brilliant and complete. And like Senator just said, I don't [01:44:00] think anything was missing in the cigar.
I didn't want for more. I didn't want for something different and I didn't have to pay attention to it to keep it going.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** You know, and I think that that is very rare to have all of those factors in one cigar, especially in the Lancero format.
**Senator:** And to Rooster's point, I want to be clear, if this cigar were 20, I'd still give it a 10.
Same. That's how good. So what's really
**Pagoda:** interesting is, you know, like a lot of the guys, like, oh, you know, Lither Ritesh, who was here the other day, he doesn't smoke a lot. He'll smoke once in a while. You hand them the cigar, it's not overly strong, is very flavorful, it's got a very pleasant, it leaves a very pleasant palette, you know, like it leaves a very pleasant flavor in your palate, in the sense that it's not smoky or you know, tobacco like.
It's very easy smoking and the smoke output, you know, you hold that thing, it looks elegant in your hand, and then when the smoke output comes, you know how people [01:45:00] feel excited, especially somebody getting into it. So for somebody like, Uh, you know, for, for, for most of us over here who've been smoking cigars, we've enjoyed it.
And somebody who can just be starting off, like I think, uh, Bam also mentioned, he's more than happy to hand it out to somebody who's starting. It just encapsulates and encaptures the whole spectrum. It's, it's excellent. Excellent. I agree.
**Gizmo:** So I think there's a little bit of redemption here tonight. I feel redemption in bringing in Lancero in after 30 odd, 30 some odd ups.
You're off the hook.
**Bam Bam:** You're off the hook. There's
**Gizmo:** also a little damnation of Kirkland tonight on the 8. 0 here for Rooster. You know, he's a proponent. I'm questioning everything now. You know, you were a bit inflated. Is the furniture a question now? Are we not buying the furniture? The raccoons
**Pagoda:** love the furniture.
**Gizmo:** Oh, that's true. The raccoons do love the outdoor furniture.
**Bam Bam:** Raccoons are terrifying.
**Rooster:** There's no more raccoons in Oakland. They have suddenly disappeared. All right, I'm coming over. They're gone. [01:46:00]
**Chef Ricky:** The Kirkland pestle's really good. I've noticed some
**Rooster:** bears though.
**Chef Ricky:** Oh, they're
**Bam Bam:** not coming
**Chef Ricky:** on your deck though.
**Rooster:** You like those bears, don't you?
Yeah. Right. I hear something in wrestling.
**Gizmo:** Pam's not a wildlife guy.
**Bam Bam:** No.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys, a great night tonight on the Kirkland 16 years aged single malt scotch. We had an 8. 0 and again on the Aladino classic and elegante. We had a 10. 0 a shocking. Experience tonight with that cigar. I can't believe it. And I know for the rest of us coming in with a little bit of trepidation, not knowing the, you know, the, the Marka never having experienced it to have a 10.
0 come out tonight is really shocking. All right, boys, a great night. Of course, we want to thank lizard Mitch, our lizard of the week for writing that amazing email. Thanks to lizard Cody for the great question about smoking flavored cigars. Thanks to fabric of five. Of course, our sponsor, they're great partners for us.
Please go try their cigars. [01:47:00] Honduran excellence. Go try them. Use our code. And, uh, we'll see everybody next week. Hope 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 week.