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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!
Ep. #211: Partagás Serie D No. 4 (w/ Grgich Hills Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Lizard's Perfect Plate: Thanksgiving Edition, Lizard FAQs Answered, Helping New Smokers/Being a New Smoker, World's Largest Cigar Lounge & Gizmo Bought a Watch)
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Gizmo: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Lizards podcast presented by Fabrica five. 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, chef Ricky, and bam bam.
And our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some wine, talk about life, and of course, have some laps. So take this as your 211 official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. We meet this here once a week. We are gonna smoke a CIC cigar tonight. Share our thoughts on it and give you our formal lizard rating.
We discuss the world's biggest cigar lounge coming to Pennsylvania. We answer lizard FAQs, and we each build our perfect plate for Thanksgiving, 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 2020 vintage Girish Hills Estate, Cabernet Sauvignon with the Partagas Serie D number four, A Cuban classic on the pod tonight, boys, [00:01:00] for our Thanksgiving episode.
That's correct. From Cuba.
Bam Bam: Oh yeah.
Gizmo: It's the Partagas Serie. D number four. The famous D four. Well, a Cuban classic usually does come from Cuba. Correct. This is why I have you here then. All right. Good catch, man. So it's a re robusto. It's a 50 ring gauge cigar by four and seven eights inches long. And boys we're back to the D four.
We have not done this since New Year's Eve. 2021.
Bam Bam: That's ridiculous. Wow.
Gizmo: My lobbying efforts have paid
Bam Bam: off. Yeah. We
Gizmo: ignore your lobbying. Many years of work there. Many years of work. We're finally back to it. So, listeners, keen listeners, may, may know that we shouldn't be doing another Cuban on the pod until episode two 15.
We changed it up tonight because we have a Thanksgiving episode, and we only really, before the end of the year, have one more Cuban coming. The BKE 54 is gonna be our New Year's Eve cigar. So I didn't wanna only have the Bke as the only Cuban cigar to round out the year. So we're doing this [00:02:00] tonight as a celebration for Thanksgiving.
Boys Can't
Bam Bam: wait.
Gizmo: So what do you guys think of the cigar that we have in our hand tonight?
Bam Bam: I miss it. Honestly. I think it looks great. Yeah. It's been a win. I, I haven't had one in quite a while.
Gizmo: I agree. I'm right there with you. I've not had one in quite some time. It's
Bam Bam: funny. Before we chatted about this earlier today, I opened my box of D four thinking of bringing one in tonight for after the pod.
Mm. Thought against it. You can still pass those out. Well, I didn't bring 'em. It's an old friend. It is An old friend.
Rooster: Used to be $10 dude. Yeah. Or less. And it used, used to be,
Bam Bam: this used to be fairly consistent staple in our, in our, oh yeah. I think
Gizmo: most of us were smoking this every day at one
Bam Bam: time. Oh, at least weekly.
Yeah.
Gizmo: Now I, I don't know if I've pulled one of these in the last six months. Yeah. I'm dead serious on that. It's not longer. Pretty wild. All right, boys, let's cut this thing. See what we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper. The box code on these D fours is TLU. February of 22, the
Bam Bam: cold draw [00:03:00] is outstanding.
Chef Ricky: Mm.
Bam Bam: Whoever kept these, kept them Right. Dry fruit all the way. Mm. Talk about a throwback. Here we go. No, I'm apricot and raisin. Yep. Little cedar a touch. Mm-hmm. Mayan has
Gizmo: a slight bit of resistance.
Bam Bam: Yeah, a little bit. But it's, it's outstanding. And I just took really just a cap right off. Yeah, me too. Yeah, same.
Chef Ricky: So lovely. It really is apricot raisin. Little like marmalade. Yeah. Little, you know, like little apricot marmalade with some little where? Where's PA though? With the mar shrine? The, I'm actually
Bam Bam: getting goosebumps right now thinking about the cigar.
Gizmo: It's a celebratory cigar for how diminutive it It is.
It's a little re robust though. It's legendary, but it is a legend in the Cuban cigar space construction is also fantastic. Yes. Awesome. This is probably one of the best
Senator: looking de fours I've seen. Beautiful rapper.
Gizmo: That's why I pulled this box. [00:04:00] I did, I did look through a couple boxes. I actually pulled one senator 'cause we've had this conversation a few times, couple boxes I pulled, uh, one of the lighter eight.
That's right. One of the lighter shades of wrappers, uh, in this near box code of TLU, February 22. I was looking for 20 twos.
Bam Bam: How decadent you can pick, you can go through shades of boxes
Gizmo: and years. Ma'am, I looked at 16. A lot of freedom there. Nineteens 20 ones. 20 twos. Wow. Fourteens
Bam Bam: talk about blessing.
Gizmo: All right boys, let's light this thing.
The Partagas Serie D number four, the D four from Cuba tonight. And again, it's a robusto 50 ring gauge cigar by four and seven eights inches long. This came out of a provincial factory in Cuba. I would argue most of the de fours coming outta Cuba are not coming outta the Partagas factory. Some do come out of Eleg gto where they roll cohiba, but most of them are coming out of provincial [00:05:00] factories, so it's hard to find one with a mother factory coat on it.
Oh
Bam Bam: man. Don't you miss this rooster? Oh yeah. This is just insane delight. Oh
Gizmo: wow. What a great, what a great light. Wow.
Senator: Now you're talking, I don't need anything else. No, we don't need a pairing.
Gizmo: Just turn off the mics. That is, honestly, that is perfect. I.
Bam Bam: I don't know what to say. It's so good.
Gizmo: I kinda got chills, Ben.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Puts a smile on your face and keeps it there.
Gizmo: And for how much frustration we have with Cuba and Haos and the consistency and the construction and all the dumb shit that they're doing and the the
Bam Bam: where they're being made.
Gizmo: Yeah, it's all bad, but it's amazing that they could still produce something. Yeah.
Rooster: That is this good. You just can't beat a good Cuban cigar. [00:06:00] Yeah. You know? And we all have been smoking a lot of New World cigars lately. Correct. And then you smoke a Cuban here or there, this one, and it just completely
Bam Bam: brings you back. It resets you. Yeah. Yeah. This is only two and a half, maybe almost three years old coming up on four four.
Yeah.
Gizmo: February 22. So just under four years.
Bam Bam: Correct. Yeah.
Senator: If you smell the burn line, you get cinnamon.
Gizmo: Yep.
Senator: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: Oh, it's right there.
Senator: The classic cinnamon on the D four.
Gizmo: So I know that we're very early here, but I do have a question right off the bat. Where does this cigar sit for you in its maturation as to what you're expecting from a four years age D four or just a D four in general?
Is this the sweet spot that you expect at the light from the D four?
Bam Bam: I'd have to say yes. And honestly, everything I'm getting here is what I would hope to get.
Rooster: I mean, it's perfect right now. It
Bam Bam: really is. It's hard to say 'cause it's so good off the light.
Rooster: Yeah,
Senator: I agree. Uh, my [00:07:00] experience has always been young D four smoke.
Great. Yeah. I, I can't remember lighting a young D four and being very disappointed or feeling like there was a lot of ammonia. That's one of the many things I think that makes this cigar special. Correct. Young or old, they're great. Correct.
Bam Bam: And we would consider this to be part of the quote unquote recent runs, kind of after 20.
Yeah, I would say this is, yeah. This is
Gizmo: definitely in that kind of window that we always talk about. 21 to 24. Yeah. I mean, we're not smoking 24, 25 boxes normally outside of the pod. We have, you know, smoked some fresh stuff here on the pod. Yep. Uh, that is 24, 25. But as far as what we've been referencing in our smoking journey mm-hmm.
As far as, as far as those core years of greatness, and that's part of this recently, of course it's, this is definitely no doubt.
Bam Bam: Does anyone have a 24 box? Mm-hmm. I don't either.
Gizmo: That's definitely what they're shipping now though. If you're able to get a box, you're definitely gonna get something that's 24 or early 25.
Bam Bam: Wow. [00:08:00] The buying hiatus has been in full effect. Oh yeah.
Gizmo: And that's the other thing, uh, when I, when I came up with this concept today, like Thanksgiving episode, only one more Cuban this year. Let's do another one. What would we do that's celebratory, we haven't done the D four in a while. Mm-hmm. We're visiting some Cubans and I think the biggest thing for me is with what you just said, the difficulty in acquiring them.
Mm-hmm. Folks around the country, if they have any Cuban cigars, this is one of the ones that they're most likely to have. So I think that we have chosen a cigar that I think most of our listeners are hopefully gonna be able to get their hands on.
Bam Bam: Hopefully.
Gizmo: So whatcha are you guys getting as far as flavor donuts?
Hmm.
Chef Ricky: First few draws I was getting a good amount of, um, not as sweet as a snicker doodle, but definitely like a, a, a dry cookie with baking spice. Lots of it. Not, not as much. Uh, I'm not getting those sweet dried fruit apricot notes that I got on the cold draw. They definitely got a little warmer and toasty and some cedar forward notes.[00:09:00]
But, uh, I'm loving every bit of it.
Rooster: It's definitely, there's some cedar that comes through. Mm-hmm. And a nuttiness. Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: Yeah. I'm more nutty than cedar. Um, cedar for me is very little faint. Very faint. Nuttiness is there, it's there, but it's actually like for me, the perfect amount.
Bam Bam: Yeah. And honestly, as far as I'm concerned, the less cedar I get on any cigar, smoke the butter, the butter for me.
Yeah. But this is very nutty. Um, definitely carbohydrate, like with the subtle sweetness I get like almond, uh, nut. Yeah. Mond, to me it's almond, like mond walnut hybrid type thing.
Gizmo: To me it's like a, it's like toast with like an almond butter on it. Yes. Agreed. You know,
Bam Bam: with a, with a touch of baking spice
Gizmo: cin, like cinnamon likeon just sprinkled on.
Yeah. You know what I mean?
Bam Bam: Little almond cookies of some kind. There you go. How are you gonna beat that? I mean, just think about that description.
Gizmo: This is an elegant cigar, man. It's
Bam Bam: incredible. And it's great for the holidays. Yes. Perfect timing. Yes. Perfect timing. [00:10:00]
Gizmo: So boys, this cigar was originally released in 1975.
Wow. Comes in a few different packaging options. First is
Bam Bam: he's laughing. I dunno why, sir? I'm just laughing at him.
Chef Ricky: I, I knew Bam had a rooster joke in there somewhere. That never made it, that never made
Rooster: it. It's only 1975. I know that's why that's family wasn't early enough. You could see the thought process.
Chef Ricky: He's like, ah, it's not old. I was teetering on it. But,
Gizmo: so this cigar boys comes in a couple different packaging options.
Of course, we are looking right here at the semi boy nature box of 25 cigars. Effectively a cedar box of 25 cigars. There's also a 10 count box just like this of the D four. And then they also have the two bows that come in 15 packs, uh, five cardboard packs of three.
Bam Bam: Those are great.
Gizmo: So the 10 count boxes were originally released in [00:11:00] 2007.
The cardboard packs with the tubo were released in 2009. And then, like I said, the original box, the 25 count was released in 1975.
Bam Bam: The 10 count box is sexy. It's sleek. Yeah. Kind of like it.
Gizmo: I like a tenor. Yeah. And especially if the prices now, I mean it's definitely much more affordable, easier to get, you know, for listeners.
Bam Bam: And I had that whole, that tubo presentation once long ago. Those, those cigars disappeared fast. Yeah, that's a pretty cool setup.
Rooster: I wish they made these in 50 cabs. You know when? When the price was good.
Gizmo: Yeah. The old days. Yeah.
Senator: I don't care. Even now if they made it a 50 cab. Oh, just to have a 50 cab of D fours, I'd pay almost anything for that.
Correct. Just to have that.
Rooster: You get this sweetness, but it's on the aroma.
Senator: Yeah,
Rooster: it's like on the foot of the cigar. It's sweet. It is, right.
Bam Bam: You get a little bit also on your palate. Oh, definitely. I'm getting that semi-sweet carbohydrate thing on a palate.
Gizmo: So boys, when we [00:12:00] did this cigar for New Year's Eve 2021, so that was our first New Year's Eve.
We're coming up on our fifth New Year's Eve episode this year. This cigar we, the cigar we smoked was a 2019 cigar and at the time cost us $10. So we were paying somewhere around actually under that. I mean we were paying $215 at times, $225 for those cigars at that time. Why do you have to
Bam Bam: remind us? Why didn't we stock up like bastards at that time?
We didn't know. We did. Just not enough. Not enough. Guess. GIZ did. Like who knew? Who knew? Who knew. You wouldn't have bought a truckload. A truckload You would've bought. I did. And it wasn't enough.
Senator: Correct.
Bam Bam: That's my point. I did not get a truckload though. I,
Senator: I'm sorry. Think of how many boxes of D fours I've consumed and bought in my life.
That's correct. I bought a plenty. It's just, you could never, you can't have enough foresee this and that.
Gizmo: Even that's not enough. How many boxes of D fours do you think you've gone to in gone through in your smoking career?[00:13:00]
Senator: I honestly, it's hard to say. Hard to know a lot. Yeah.
What's the answer? Genius. What is
Gizmo: 50?
Bam Bam: Okay. Alright. I like that.
Gizmo: 50 cigar, 50 boxes of cigars. That's a thousand and what? 1200 D fours. I believe that. That's incredible. Wow. That's amazing.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: So now these cigars boys are 22 to $25 a piece. More than double and they're definitely creeping up. That actually has come down a little bit.
Yes, that's right. As things have softened in the market, they're 28, 29 at one time. Certainly, yeah. Certainly the United States kind of leaving the buying market for most of the retailers. Those prices have come down a little bit, but we're talking, you know, probably once things return to some, you know, some semblance of normalcy, probably talking a 30, $35 cigar.
Mm-hmm. In the next year or two, which is terribly unfortunate.
Chef Ricky: Yeah.
Gizmo: Well, we're off to a great start here, boys. That's
Bam Bam: excellent. [00:14:00]
Gizmo: So let's talk about some news and then we'll get into our pairing. First up, I love sharing stories like this because I love seeing new retailers come to market. I love seeing new shops being built, new lounges, et cetera.
This is unbelievable. And I read it twice 'cause I, I was shocked at this. So cigar page, the big online retailer, they sell like crazy packages, silly stuff. You get like a 30 count of Macanudos there or something. They're opening the world's largest cigar store in 2026 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, right down the street from that Massive Cigars International.
I don't know what's going on there. What the people out there in, in Pennsylvania and Bethlehem and Allentown and out there, I don't know what they did to get so blessed by God, by the cigar. Gods here. How many people
Senator: even live in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania? Yeah, that's a good
Gizmo: question. They're building a 66,000 square feet.
Holy of usable four space, [00:15:00] half of which will be used for the retail operation, which will include and shout out to half wheel on this 24,000 square feet of retail space with 32 foot ceilings, 4,000 square feet of outdoor patio space. What indoor seating for more than 200 people. A full service, a full service bar with 42 beers on tap, A second story, mezzanine lounge, and a 20 foot tall stone fireplace.
They're guaranteeing that they're going to have 750,000 cigars on hand. At all times.
Rooster: That's right next to Cabela's. Yeah, it's right near Cabela's. There's other, and the Cigars International big shop is out there. So
Bam Bam: Ci I've never been there, but I hear they've got a beautiful lounge.
Rooster: Yeah, I I was there last year.
I think we Nice. I hear we, we drove, uh, we were driving to Atlanta at then my daughter, no, a couple of years back.
Gizmo: Mm.
Rooster: I mean, Cabela's is huge too. I mean, that's like, you went to
Gizmo: Atlanta by way of Bethlehem.
Rooster: We drove through. Yeah, we, [00:16:00] well, we went to North Carolina, we went to Charlotte. We stayed there overnight.
So we, it's 80 route.
Gizmo: This is the rooster, uh, navigation method. It's right by, it's right by Hershey.
Senator: Why wouldn't you go straight south? He got out the old map. No, no. If you it out, it's the way the
Gizmo: rooster flies. If you're gonna, if
Rooster: and they don't fly. If you, we were moving my daughter. We had all her shit in the truck.
So, so you stop for a cigar in Pennsylvania, you went west instead the south go west. Young man can't, if you go to Charlotte, you have to go through That's, that's how it guides, that's how it takes you. Okay. Wow. So what? Yes. Interesting. Is that Apple? Why would you
Senator: go straight south through New Jersey to Delaware?
You would
Rooster: think
Senator: so. But it takes you to Maryland. It
Rooster: takes you
Senator: this way
Rooster: through. Trust me, if you, you put, this is crazy. Put it on Google Maps and that's how it takes you. Wow. It you have to go more out west. Interesting. He hasn't updated software since
Senator: 1994. That's correct. He's on the original. He's on the original.
He's on the original.
Rooster: Garmin
Gizmo: is like, he's throwing his hands up in the
Senator: air.
Rooster: I was using a paper map. [00:17:00]
Chef Ricky: He might've had no toes selected on this. That could be, oh, that's my fault. If you punch in
Rooster: New Jersey to Charlotte, that's how it'll take you.
Gizmo: I think it's 81,
Rooster: isn't it?
Gizmo: 81 is out where I grew up in Pennsylvania.
That's like two hours from here. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But usually, I mean, why would you not take 95 miles south? 95 if
Rooster: you're going to like Wilson, North Carolina, if you're going to, uh. You know, c like it's kind of closer to Tennessee. Yeah. It's more, it's more west. So. Interesting. You gotta go, you go, you go out more west.
I
Gizmo: learned a lot today. Yeah. Interesting. We are, we're just getting started. Anything to avoid the tolls
So these folks out in Bethlehem are blessed. I, I just can't believe it. And it just seems to me, I mean, it just seems like cigar page is declaring war on Cigars International. Why build where Cigars International has been forever. It's already there.
Bam Bam: You know, Senator brings up a good point. How many people out there actually smoke cigars in that area?
I, I think tremendous attraction
Gizmo: of Pennsylvania is, it's very good [00:18:00] for retailers who are shipping out, right? So this is gonna also be their headquarters, just like CI's headquarters are in Bethlehem. But it's, it's an odd place to why It's crazy. You're in the same town down the street, but the folks out there have some great choices now.
Oh yeah. To go have a cigar. Good for them. I would argue better than anywhere else on the planet. I agree. And they're gonna have what?
Chef Ricky: That, that's gotta be a couple hundred
Gizmo: thousand square feet of cigar space between the two of them. That's gotta
Chef Ricky: be a Guinness World record or something. It's, it's the biggest floe
Bam Bam: on the planet.
Do you know how far apart they are? See, uh, the two establishments can't be more than 20 miles if that.
Gizmo: It's less than five minutes away. Ba from, from
Bam Bam: factory to factory. Essentially what we're talking about
Gizmo: headquarters to headquarters. Yeah. That's unbelievable.
Bam Bam: Minutes. That is very unu unusual.
Gizmo: And they're competitors.
They're not in business together. Unbelievable. Wow. All right. Made the best lounge win. Correct. What's interesting is that the founder of Cigar Page also founded Cigars [00:19:00] International, but then sold Cigars International to STG. So he's competing against the company he used to own. Interesting. So I don't know what the, uh, methodology is there, but I guess, you know, it's kind of goes back to that retail competition thing.
It's like, why every time you see a two banks together, you know, a cvs, you see a banks, a Walgreens, or Banks Home Depot. Home Depot is right next to Lowe's. You know, it's always, it's an interesting, it is competitive mindset. I don't know what, what the psyche is there, but mm-hmm. Whatever it is, it works.
Rooster: Mean Cigars International is not small. No, no. It's huge, man. It's huge.
Bam Bam: You've been there, but yeah, I hear it's awesome. Big.
Gizmo: All right, boys, I'm loving this cigar and it is time Now. We have a lot to get to tonight, but first let's get to our pairing. We have a Cabernet Sauvignon, a 2020 vintage from, and I don't know how to pronounce this, senator, there's, there's a lack of vows happening here.
Bam Bam: I [00:20:00] caught Senator
Gizmo: Chef. Come on, man. Oh, that was you this time. Yeah. So, Senator, how do you pronounce this? G-R-G-I-C-H. Just go for it. Grgich Grgich gge Gch. Gge Hills Estate, Cabernet Sauvignon. Pretty cool story here, but let's try this boys. Cheers. Cheers. Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to all our lizards out there.
Wonderful night. Wonderful night. Celebrating a lot on the pod. Four years, I think last week or the week before, and now for Thanksgiving, and we have the holidays coming up, so that should be pretty exciting.
Bam Bam: Very earthy. I love the dry finish. Mm-hmm. But it's a nice long finish, A little earthy, some minerality, and the 10 ends up front make it really interesting and it, I love that it's not sweet, like it's just enough.[00:21:00]
Chef Ricky: Yeah. I'm right there with you. Got some Earth got a little like just the smallest if you let it linger on the palette. I get just the smallest amount of plumb almost current for me. Um, yeah, current's a good one, correct. Yeah, that's what I get. Yeah. But yeah, beautiful. Long dry finish, little Nutanix sophisticated, great body aroma's.
Delicious.
Bam Bam: Yeah. See, I would argue it's a wine like this is the perfect wine to match with a cigar.
Gizmo: I'm happy with the parallel for sure. I
Bam Bam: Of course, I am too. I just love how earthy and minerally this is with that little bit of, uh, current. It's perfectly balanced, dry. The dry finish is off the charts for me.
I love that.
Gizmo: I think if I had any complaint and I wanna hear what Senator thinks, if I had any complaint, I wish it had a little bit more of an edge to it to cut through. Really? Yeah. I just a little bit just to watch. I disagree. I think the minerality,
Bam Bam: the [00:22:00] minerality is what's giving you that edge. Yeah. I think
Gizmo: it's a little tame right on my palate.
It's a little tame for me and it's not bad. Wow. But I just wish it would kind of have a little bit more of a, I'm a sharp edge. I'm very surprised. Just a little bit. I'm surprised.
Senator: I'm shocked. I mean, when you said we're doing a Cuban cigar, the reason I thought of this, um, I, I think ggi, like for a full-bodied Napa cab, it's like so smooth and supple.
Like it, it would not fight with a Cuban cigar in the way that a lot of like Napa cabs that can be really heavy and jammy would absolutely overpower them, and you'd want to pair with like a new world Maduro. So I'm honestly surprised to hear you say that. Um, but the flavored notes, I think that have been called out are spot on.
The only thing I would add, there's a lot of blackberry in this, which I really like. Um, but it, it's an awesome wine. Uh, I had a, a company, it's it very complimentary
Bam Bam: to a cigar. Oh, for sure. Especially what we're smoking tonight. It's,
Senator: I had a company event we hosted in the city a couple weeks back and I'm usually our sum.
[00:23:00] Um, so I had picked this and we were drinking this the whole night. Every person loved wine. Um, and I hadn't had it in years, but this is great. I've never even had it with a cigar. And I love the pairing. See, I like
Bam Bam: a wine like this with a steak.
Chef Ricky: Mm-hmm.
Bam Bam: I would never have a fruity sweet cabernet with a steak of any kind.
I think it, it's disgusting actually. I agree. That combination. Yep. The earthiness and a dryness of this. I hate to say it,
Senator: but that's what most steakhouse end I know. Up observing you. That's true. When you have some like jokes som come over and they'll like, like the sweetest
Bam Bam: cab can't stand that. I love the earthy dryness of this.
That really compliments a good steak. It's a great, it's, it's a great, you
Chef Ricky: know, accompaniment for a meal. Yeah. Correct. Especially something meaty like that. Yep. And you know what? The fat, the fat on that steak would just help these flavors linger on your palate and smooth things out, round things out just a little bit.
I'm shocked to hear you say you want something sharper. 'cause I do get No, no,
Gizmo: no. I just want to, I'm not sharper, not fruity. I just want a little bit more of an edge. So
Bam Bam: let me ask you [00:24:00] a question. I wanted to cut
Gizmo: through a little bit more.
Bam Bam: How do you feel about degan? Any minerality at all?
Gizmo: Absolutely. I take all your notes I think are spot on
Bam Bam: you don't I?
But I think that what's unique about this, the minerality of it's very unique. I haven't had. Look, I'm not a Cabernet guy, but I haven't had one that's like this.
Chef Ricky: Well, to me, I do find this sharp, almost the way you would find a super, uh, like Dr. A super aged cheddar. I don't eat cheese. Yeah. Oh, I forgot.
Yeah, that's right. Oh, I fed you three times. Honestly. Cheese.
Senator: Nevermind. Even just the mention of it. He might give it a four now.
Bam Bam: But, you know,
Gizmo: honestly, I just, I, and I say that not, uh, facetiously, I just No, no, no. I don't know the reference, you know, I just don't eat cheese.
Bam Bam: I also think a barbecue that's mm-hmm.
Got some unique sauces. This will cut right through that. Yeah. I think it'd be great.
Senator: So, I mean, to your point about steak, we were at a Mexican steakhouse in the city. Mm-hmm. And that, that's why for the red wine pairing, I had done this. Yeah. And the white wine pairing, uh, we've done on the pod. One of my favorites was, uh, Pascal.
Joliet. Sanair. Nice. Ooh, very [00:25:00] nice. Like
Bam Bam: that bottle. That was delicious. So how much is this
Senator: at a total wine? 75. 75 bucks. 75 bucks At a small wine shop, it can go as high as a hundred. Mm-hmm. So you just gotta buy it the right place. Okay.
Gizmo: And the vintage, we're drinking tonight again, folks, is a 2020. Nice.
2020 on this. So let's talk a little bit about G gogi. There's a, a pretty amazing history here that we need to share. Um, I was really, really blown away by this. I had never heard of the maker. I'd never heard of the Marco. I've never heard of the estate, nothing until Senators suggested it today. I, I went and grabbed it.
And I'm so glad I did because this is a pretty wild story. So the winery, the guy is
Senator: an absolute legend.
Gizmo: The, apparently the guy as far as putting Napa on the map. Really? Yeah. So the winery was founded in 1977 by a guy named Mil Ko, Mike Gerage, often just called Mike gge and Austin Hills of the Hills Brothers Coffee family in Rutherford, California in the heart of the Napa Valley.
The name is a [00:26:00] combination of the two founders names obviously Gerage Hills. Mike Gerage had earlier made a massive impact. This is crazy. His 1973 vintage of Chateau Montena won the famed judgment of Paris blind tasting event in 1976, where Californian Wines beat French ones and that win put California Napa grapes on the map worldwide.
Bam Bam: That's pretty incredible.
Gizmo: Over time, this estate has shifted from buying grapes. To being 100% estate grown. And in 2006, they changed their names from Hill, uh, gage Hill Seller to Gage Hills' Estate. So let's talk a little bit about the farming practices. Uh, so the one thing that they emphasize very strongly, I, I went through some YouTube videos.
I was looking at their website and stuff today. So from very early on, RGGI Hills focused on the vineyard as the source of quality. Their estate owns multiple vineyards, [00:27:00] including in Rutherford, Ville and Los Carneros. And this is the big one for them. They emphasize sustainable natural farming. No artificial fertilizers or herbicides are used in the estate blocks.
They've moved toward organic biodynamic and now regenera regenerative p uh, practices. So I think like unlike a lot of other manufacturers who are certainly volume-based, these folks are not just going organic, but also like making sure that everything in the estate is like totally mm-hmm. Good for the environment, the whole thing.
Yeah. Now, I don't know, Senator, if you have a comment on that. If, if a lot of wineries are doing this a a lot are, they're moving that way now, you know, I don't know.
Senator: They are. I mean, the thing I, I like at this price point, at 75 bucks a bottle like this is in a steak grown bottle. So all the grapes in here are on their property in a estate.
They're not buying grapes from anywhere else. I say that because there are plenty of other $75 bottles that, you know, they're buying grapes from different vineyards and blending that. [00:28:00] Um, but this guy, I, I just, when I say a legend like Napa was nothing in the wine world. Like no respect whatsoever. And that judgment of Paris the first time, like they actually beat the biggest French winemakers.
Um, and this guy was at, um, Chateau Montelena at the time. Huge, huge deal. And I mean, he'll always be remembered for that. And then to go out on his own and, uh, you know, make, uh, some of the great wine that he does now. Uh, just an awesome story. Yeah.
Gizmo: So quickly on Mike Garge. So he was born in Croatia in the 1920s and escaped from Yugoslavia when communism began rising in 1954.
Went through Germany, then Canada, and then finally immigrated to California in 1958 to pursue wine making. Obviously in 1973. Uh, when he was at Chateau Montelena, he won like, uh, Senator [00:29:00] was just saying the judgment of Paris. So this is pretty wild. He's the king of Sha Chardonnay, so he's put Napa on the map.
He's also known as the King of Chardonnay. Celebrated his 100th birthday in 2023. April 1st, 2023, and he died just a couple years ago, December 13th, 2023 at a hundred years old. Beyond Napa, he helped revitalize the wine industry in Croatia Rooster. You got it established
Senator: there. It's
Gizmo: establishing a winery in the Dalmatian coast region producing native grape varietals, uh, in Croatia.
This is very cool. In 2002, Mike played an instrumental role along with the University of California Davis, professor Carol, me Meredith, in tracing the mysterious roots of California's findel back to its surprising source. It was Croatia. No way Zindel grapes came from Croatia. And this guy, a Croatian happened to discover that [00:30:00] when they were trying to figure it out.
How cool. So I, I'm sure for him at that time, it was a revelation. Yeah. Was pretty amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Because he was almost, you know, 80 years old at That's
Senator: fascinating that that happened. Wow. I mean, we can do without c Findel grapes, but the rest of his story is, I mean, it's pretty cool.
Gizmo: So I was talking to Senator earlier about Chateau Montena, and he was telling me how much he loved his experience there when he visited, I guess a couple years ago, was it?
Oh, no,
Senator: many years ago.
Gizmo: Okay.
Senator: Um, yeah, so I've been to Chateau Montena. They have a really, really beautiful property. It, it is kind of worth visiting just for that. Like the, the main house on the vineyard is like this big stone structure that is just Ivy covered, like the whole thing. Like so many people take photos in front of it.
I have a photo in front of that. Um, but what I just, why it really soured my experience and I'll never return and I don't drink their wine anymore. Um, one, I think Chateau Montelena has lost its way. I think their wines are super jammy now. Mm. [00:31:00] Like I just mentioned, obviously I'm not a lover of Zinfandel, like their cabs drink like a Zinfandel to me in a way that I really don't like, like super jammy and would completely overpower a cigar like this.
And I just remember sitting in the tasting room and like. You know what I love about going to a place like Napa or any wine growing region is the people whose job it is, is to introduce you to the wine. You know, and I'm sure you know, chef can appreciate this, as, you know, anyone that would speak about tequila in his restaurants, like they're trained up, they have been educated, they're supposed to know a lot about the product.
And I've never been to a vineyard in Napa where I felt I knew way more about wine than the person whose job it is, is to actually be talking about what they produced there. They said something that the person said, something that I knew was not correct, and so I corrected the person and then they kept arguing with me.
And then another guy who was a [00:32:00] taster there looked it up and said, no, he's correct. And I'm sitting there educating the person whose job it is to share all this knowledge and information with every person who comes through that door. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. I I in the wine business, like anything, you know, it's filled with people who are passionate and take this stuff so seriously.
I don't, I did not feel in that visit, in that experience that they embrace that same ethos that I think whenever we visit a tobacco growing region, a wine region, anything like that, you come to learn and soak up knowledge and this experience was the opposite of that. So that's why I have a complicated relationship with chat.
When you
Rooster: say jammy, you, you mean it's kind of like overly sweet. It's like syrupy and
Senator: sweet. Overly
Bam Bam: sweet. Yeah. Not good.
Gizmo: Well ger in his later life, obviously this wine is excellent.
Bam Bam: This is, this is an excellent
Gizmo: wine. And I think, like we're saying, despite my call for just a touch of edge, [00:33:00] I do think it's an excellent red wine pairing for a Cuban cigar.
I think you nailed it here, Senator. I think any Cuban cigar would stand up very nicely next to this, be it mild. Mm-hmm. The most mild ver or, or you know, on the stronger end of what you'd expect from a Cuban cigar, a, a bolivar of some kind, or a Partagas P two, the sister to this. I think it would stand up well to any of those.
Bam Bam: Ramona Alones would
Gizmo: be fantastic. Ramon would be great with this. Oh,
Senator: for sure. And the operative word I would use to describe this wine, and this is if anyone notices the common thread in any wine that I ever love and recommend, it's balanced. Yes. Yes. It's not too sweet. It's not too dry. Perfect. It has like, just enough of everything to satisfy and be versatile.
I would do ANCOVA with this for sure. I would do,
Chef Ricky: I'd do an eye of the shark
Bam Bam: with this. Oh yeah. Um, with this,
Gizmo: look at the range of what you compare with that.
Chef Ricky: Yeah.
Gizmo: I would love a re robusto Trinity
Chef Ricky: with this. Trinity Reo would be, F's a good call out. If we're doing [00:34:00] this with the D four, then we all know it goes well with the Aldino.
Correct. Yeah, that's exactly right.
Bam Bam: Yeah. No, it's, it's true. 85th would be great. The Cameroon would be great. Mm-hmm. Even that, um, land, Sarah the Aliante had, which I had the other night. Outstanding. Great. Cigar. Cigar, and those get better and better be great with this wine.
Chef Ricky: What do you think of the Kaba? I gu with this wine I UA
Gizmo: cab.
I we have, I I think that's a, you know, it's funny talking about it, working with any cubit, cigar. I mean, that's pretty much, you
Senator: know, for, to know for me. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's, that's more like a pinot if you're gonna do a red
Bam Bam: wine with that cigar. Yep. Yep.
Gizmo: So boys, we're coming to the end of the first third here on the Partagas Series D number four from Cuba.
What's everybody thinking at this point?
Rooster: The cigar is like a creamy rice pudding with, with like cinnamon. And, uh,
Chef Ricky: you know what, you're so spot on. I got tapioca earlier and I'm like, bam. Calls that shit out all the time. I'm not gonna say tapioca. And you said a rice pudding and I'm not today, buddy. See, I'm not the only one.
It's like a
Rooster: [00:35:00] creamy rice pudding with, with cardamon and, uh, you know, like, like nuts and Yes,
Bam Bam: that's true actually. Yes. Yes. I will say though, and I love this, I think the wine has pulled out some, the minerality or earthy parts of what this cigar is, which I'm loving. It's, they're marrying together beautifully for me.
Senator: But I'm glad Rooster said that there is a creaminess. Oh yeah, of course. You don't of always get or expect in any cigar, like usually a a a more age cigar kind of comes together where you get like a creaminess about it. But this has it and I'm actually surprised. Yeah. Not every D four I would describe as creamy, but this, this definitely is usually you think that has, usually
Rooster: you get a lot of, you get some leather too.
Yeah. Right. Yeah, that's what I remember. D four.
Senator: Yeah. You
Chef Ricky: a touch a little bit leather, a little woodiness a little bit. You think the creaminess
Senator: is due to the age? Well, that's what's surprising me. I mean, it's only a 2022 cigar. You normally get that with something with more age. So I'm surprised for whatever reason, you know, the way this [00:36:00] blend turned out, um, before you do that this year.
Bam Bam: How's your burn line guys? I'm curious. Mine's been pretty good. Mine excellent. Yeah. Little up, little up and down for me, but mine was a little, not that I minded this it is up and down. Mine was a little bit wonky, but I am trying to make an effort to smoke a little slower. Yeah. So rooster's senator, those burn lines look fantastic.
I think
Rooster: mine is a little up and down. I to had to retouch it a few times.
Gizmo: I
Rooster: had to touch it.
Gizmo: Maybe once you to you're talking Yeah, but it's because I'm talking a lot. Sure, sure. You know. But I think we're off to a, a really good start here, boys. All right. Let's go to one more news story. I have a new segment I wanna do with you guys tonight.
This one is coming outta Denver. Just sharing some more news. Uh, obviously it was election day a few weeks ago, so voters in Denver have voted to keep flavored tobacco ban in place. So they approved a referendum that will keep these cities flavored tobacco ban in place. 72% of the folks there voted in favor mm-hmm.[00:37:00]
Of banning flavored tobacco. Okay. The ban applies to the sale of almost all forms of flavored tobacco, including cigars, piped tobacco and flavored vaping products. It does not apply to flavored tobacco intended to be smoke in a hookah that is sold at a hookah tobacco retailer.
Bam Bam: Unbelievable.
Gizmo: So, I don't know how the hookah, the hookah lobby got this carved out and the, and the, the, the pipe tobacco.
That was the one. That's really why I'm bringing it up. Let's think about
Bam Bam: that. How many guys in Colorado do you think Smoke pipes? I'm sure a lot.
Gizmo: That's awful.
Bam Bam: I think it's an awful
Gizmo: law. And they're one of the, that that town and that state is one of the ones that has been very early on with the, you know, advent of marijuana loss.
You know, being able to smoke marijuana. I mean, that's a big deal out there. So I, it's just weird to me that tobacco again is the focus of these folks, um, you know, regulation. But I, you know, for the folks who, who, who smoke pipes like we're talking about, when you go into a a tobacconist, they had just have.[00:38:00]
20, 30 jars of different flavors of tobacco. That is all banned now. There. That's awful. So anybody who smokes pipes, you can't
Rooster: even get what you want. Nope. That's terrible. It's just terrible because most pipe smokers smoke something that's called aromatic tobacco. The aromatic tobacco is flavored tobacco.
Mm-hmm. You know, and, and to banned. That's typically at
Bam Bam: home in private. Yeah.
Senator: And you're generally talking about older dudes. That's the thing. I'm like, it, it's for what purpose is this serving? When have you ever seen a kid with a pipe? Never. I mean, it's ridiculous. Rooster may have in the early 19 hundreds.
That's correct.
Chef Ricky: When he was, I'm sorry, rooster. You know, I wonder if there's some kind of additive or, or something that someone who smokes pipe could buy this tobacco and then maybe buy this flavoring and maybe sort of flavor their own product and let it age and let it sit and, and and macerate or whatnot.
Yeah. Rooster doesn't agree with that.
Rooster: I guess you could just order it outta state order. Just don't Or buy on Colorado. Yeah. Just stuff. Some potpourri in your pipe. That's
Gizmo: correct.[00:39:00]
So this one was weird too. I'll finish up here 'cause we're close to New York City. Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, was instrumental in keeping this ban in place. Don donating approximately $5 million in funds to keep the ban on the books. Pretty wild and weird. I'd like to know where that
Bam Bam: money goes.
How does that money work? Its way to actually pass a law. Oh, I
Senator: could tell you Senator, buckle in.
Bam Bam: Go ahead. I'd like to hear this consulting maybe offline, but correct. Jesus Christ. Yeah, it's
Gizmo: pretty wild.
Bam Bam: That's amazing.
Gizmo: Alright boys. So for Thanksgiving tonight, I wanted to do something a little different.
Obviously every year we talk about food and all these other things, so I wanted to change it up. So this year I wanted to do a little game with you guys and with our listeners out there. And the listeners are gonna benefit from this game. We're not. But what we're gonna do tonight is the perfect plate.
The Lizards Thanksgiving edition. Hmm. So [00:40:00] what I'm looking at, and what I sent all of you guys is a five by five box, almost like a bingo card. Where on the top are each of the five of our names, and on the left side are five items that we're gonna consume on Thanksgiving. Appetizer main, a side, a pairing of some sort for your cigar and the cigar.
So again, appetizer, main side for food. And then you have your cigar and your pairing, those five categories and then the five of us. So what we're gonna do is each of us is going to pick one of those items and we're gonna go around the room, almost like if you've ever done like a snake draft in fantasy football, we're gonna pick an order, I'm gonna go on my randomizer, we're gonna pick an order, and then it's gonna go backwards and then keep going.
Mm-hmm. Back and forth. Now what's important here is you don't need to pick in order as you see it here, you don't need to pick an appetizer first or a cigar first. You could do whatever you want. Obviously the person who has first pick first round is gonna have, you know, five choices of what they wanna do.
They could [00:41:00] choose anything. Once something is chosen, it's off the board. So if someone chooses Turkey, for example, for their Maine, off the board, somebody chooses the Padron Eightieth's anniversary. Mado. That's,
Bam Bam: that's tough. It's off the board. We're all gonna have Turkey of some kind. Well, not in this box.
Gizmo: So what's great for the listeners tonight? World ba bam may have to pick the soy ball before Rooster.
Senator: That's
Gizmo: correct.
Senator: That would be amazing. Oh my God.
Gizmo: So what's great about this for the listeners and really why we're doing this, is we're gonna put our chart up on the Instagram profile when this episode drops the week of Thanksgiving, and we're gonna have a vote go out and we're going to have the listeners tag some friends to get them to follow the pod and make a vote.
And someone who makes a vote is going to win a 10 count box of Bond Robert Cigars. So quite literally they're gonna make a vote as to who in this room, the five of us put together the best combination of those five things. Alright, so here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna [00:42:00] go through here. I have a randomizer on wheel of names.com.
So of course 'cause the order matters, we're going to select the five names right now. So I'm gonna go through this very quickly and uh, we'll see who is up first. So first up we have Chef, of course. Nice chef. Then bam, gizmo Rooster, and then Senator. So Chef Bam, gizmo Rooster. Senator. So Chef, you are up.
First one, one, what's your choice? What's your first pick here tonight? I'm going with the cigar first and I'm going with the Padron. 60th. Padron 60th. Okay. All right. Bam. You're up next. An appetizer man, a side, a pairing or a cigar. Put your plate together.
Bam Bam: I'm gonna go with my Davi off Millennium Pyramid.
My, one of my all time favorites. Yes. First cigar I've ever had for my holiday cigar on Thanksgiving. [00:43:00]
Gizmo: Alright, I, for my cigar, am gonna choose the H up man, sir Winston. Hmm. That's my choice there.
Rooster: All right, rooster. I'm gonna do a cigar as well. Okay. It's gonna be the La Gloria Ana, MDO number two. Ooh.
Gizmo: Ooh.
That's a good one, man. That's a celebratory cigar. Alright, and finally, Senator,
Senator: this is hard.
Gizmo: Well, you're holding it. I already knew it. I didn't enough to go to him. All right, so we got the part against D four for you. So now say no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm not, I'm debating. Oh, between a D four
Senator: and a Piro 80th.
Gizmo: Oh, okay. That's what I'm
Senator: debating between.
Gizmo: So which one do you think the listeners are gonna be more uh oh yeah. Into when they vote. Oh, that's a great debate.
Rooster: So you have to keep in mind the pairing. No, and the pairing, of course. Who am I kidding?
Senator: Ah, no, this is tough. It's not easy.
Gizmo: I, and you know what's the problem?
Is give the listeners what they want. You have a little bias in your hand [00:44:00] tonight, so that's the problem. You're actively smoking a D four. I do. And it happens to be very good. It's freaking good. All
Senator: right. What is it? All right, I'm gonna stick with the D four.
Gizmo: All right, Portus. D four for Senator. So now, because you finished the first round here, Senator, you are first up in the second.
Excellent. This one is, so you have to go again.
Senator: Easy appetizer, caviar. Done. Ooh,
Gizmo: that's
Senator: cool.
Gizmo: So what kind of caviar are you? Oil
Senator: centric? Caviar.
Gizmo: So for the listeners out there, what's the easiest way for them to get that?
Senator: Whole Foods?
Gizmo: Whole
Senator: Foods, Costco.
Gizmo: And they always have a good, uh, well not around Thanksgiving, but end of the year they have a great deal.
They do on caviar,
Chef Ricky: usually between Christmas and New Year, where Dallas is a great seafood veer and they have awesome caviar selection. I'm not sure if they're, they might have a website where you can order online. Give them a shot.
Gizmo: Alright, so Senator, you chose caviar Now, rooster, you have an another selection here Out of the four you have remaining.
Yeah. Appetizer remain side. And I'm gonna do the pairing
Rooster: oat milk. Now we're,[00:45:00]
the pairing is going to be a French bloom. Champagne, French bloom, champagne Rose, French. It's gonna go perfect with the lag. Gloria Cabana, MDO number two with the floral and all of that.
Gizmo: And for the listeners out there who don't drink or who are looking for something that doesn't have alcoholic, non-alcoholic, you talked about that a few weeks ago.
We got a question about non-alcoholic parents. That's right. You said it's an excellent,
Rooster: it's an excellent manufac champagne. Yep. Yeah, it's a non-alcoholic champagne. Uh, the rose is, is not sweet at all. I think it will go perfectly with like a nice floral cigar. No oat milk. That's later with cookies.
That's correct.
Senator: Alright, so that's, that's oat milk's. What he brines the cereal ball in. I was gonna say that.
Rooster: It's gonna be no so ball either. All right.
Gizmo: Gonna be creative this year. Nice. I'm having a hard time with this.
Bam Bam: Whatcha are you gonna pick?
Gizmo: That's what I'm trying to figure out. I don't know. I it's a, that's with pairing difficult here [00:46:00] with pair
Bam Bam: with the pairing.
Gizmo: Go with the pairing. All right. With the H up man. Sir Winston, I'm going to go with Havana Club Rum.
Senator: Well, you gotta pick an expression of that. I'm
Bam Bam: gonna go, this is not easy. This is not easy. I was kidding.
Rooster: Santiago 20.
Senator: No, I'm saying an expression of Havana Club,
Gizmo: correct.
Senator: Havana seven. There you go. That's what I thought.
But you just have to say it. I know. I was debating make a lot of different types. I
Gizmo: was debating. All right. And Vana Club seven. All right. Bam. What do you got?
Bam Bam: I want a champagne. Mm-hmm. And I would like a bottle of Boing J. Bottle of Bo Ander.
Gizmo: Very nice. Yes. Okay. All right. And finally, chef,
Chef Ricky: I,
what was this? Uh, the cigar bourbon. And we all got a bottle of, I I'm still [00:47:00] cherishing mine. I really enjoyed it. Oh, that was good. I don't remember. Was that, yeah, I still have the, I still have maybe, uh, three half a bottle left. Oh, what was it?
Gizmo: The, the cigar bourbon, or was the cigar malt the dalmore?
Rooster: No, no, no, no, no, no.
It was way before. I'm pretty sure it was
Chef Ricky: a bourbon.
Rooster: It's gotta go well with the 90th
Chef Ricky: moonshine. Okay. You know what, I'm actually gonna go with an appetizer here. Okay. Uh, so just this past Monday I did this amazing soup, or sorry, an a Chile, uh, for a tequila pairing dinner. And it worked out beautifully where, um, in, instead of using jalapenos and cucumbers, I did habanero, butternut squash, and apple.
And so it looked beautiful on the plate. That's awesome. I paired it with achi and then afterwards I'm like, you know what? I need to make this into a soup as a starter for Thanksgiving. So I'm gonna do apple butter, uh, apple butternut squash, uh, soup [00:48:00] with some chorizo crumble. Little, so oil, I'm, I think it's in the square.
Butternut. I'm sorry.
Bam Bam: Butternut squash
Chef Ricky: food. Butternut squash soup with Wait till he gets to the garnish. Yeah, he's not done yet. Sorry. Butternut squash soup with chorizo crumble. Great choice. There you butter. Alright, apple butternut squash soup with chorizo crumble. All right, apple. Just put a B, c
Gizmo: butter
Chef Ricky: nut.
A BS
Gizmo: Squash soup. What was it? Chorizo
Chef Ricky: crumble. Chorizo crumble. Put chorizo. Yeah.
Gizmo: And a rosemary garnish. You have to go again. Oh. 'cause you're, uh, you also have the next round here. Okay.
Chef Ricky: Okay. Uh, that's right. It's a snake, um, side. I'm a sucker for dressing, man dressing stuff, and I love it all. That is my number one side at a Thanksgiving table.
So I'm going to, let's go with a, um, sausage fennel [00:49:00] pan dressing with some, yeah, yeah. Brioche pan dressing. There we go. This is, this is not fair. I'm sorry. I forget. You have a square to fill. Chefs
Bam Bam: sitting to my right.
Chef Ricky: Come on. You guys got the cigars in your pans. All right, ba, you're up next.
Bam Bam: So I'm gonna do appetizer this year.
We're gonna do, um, uh, shrimp and, uh, crab cold
Gizmo: shrimp and crab
Bam Bam: appetizer. Yeah.
Gizmo: So, uh, you wanna call it like a seafood cocktail type thing? Sure. No, you need to say shrimp and crab. There's many types of seafood. That's true. We're only doing those lobster, all kinds of stuff. We're only doing
Bam Bam: those two.
Shrimp. And crab. And crab. Yes.
Gizmo: All right. So for me, I'm gonna go with my side. I'm going, my favorite thing that happens at Thanksgiving in my house or anywhere, corn casserole. I'm obsessed like that with corn. Cassel. I dude that up too. That is my favorite thing. Corn cas. I love it. So very much. Roost.
You're up.
Rooster: Uh, I'm gonna go with the Maine. Okay. The Maine this year is gonna be not a soy bowl. It's gonna be a plant-based beef Wellington.
Bam Bam: Beef Wellington. Ugh. [00:50:00] Holy slopes. Plant based beef. Now, hold on. Is that homemade or you buying that Homemade. Wow. So someone's gonna make the dough and,
Rooster: well, it's, it's really the dose.
These I'm worried about. How is he making the meat? Meat? So basically, what's it made? So you take impossible meat. Impossible burger. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you make, uh, you know, you take the mpa like onions, carrots. Did you say mi fell the came tobacco. Correct. And then you add in like shiitake mushrooms and portini mushrooms and then, uh, herbs and stuff.
And then, then you layer that on the, on the pastry sheet. And then you put the very creative, possible meat on it and you roll. It's very creative.
Senator: Do, do you like your impossible meat? Medium rare or what? Temperature? Medium plus rare?
Bam Bam: Correct. That'll be medium plus. So I've had the impossible meat, right?
The beef. It's not bad. Thank you. Impossible Sausage is actually better but impossible. Sausage is great. Yeah.
Chef Ricky: Have you tried the chunk? I feel like their stuff for whole, whole steak cuts is a little bit more, uh, true to texture.
Rooster: Is that a company? [00:51:00]
Chef Ricky: Yeah, it's called Chunk. Oh, okay.
Rooster: I have not tried that. Now see
Chef Ricky: if you find it, give it a shot.
Maybe before Thanksgiving. See how you feel about it.
Rooster: But for a beef Wellington, you kind of want the ground. Ground what? It's usually made with filet. Now beef Wellington is filet. It's a tender one, correct? Yeah. But for this, the recipe I've seen, it's made with impossible meat. Mm-hmm. I guess you could use like a steak.
Chef Ricky: Steak strips. You know what the ground is good too. 'cause you could, you could actually add some flavors, right? Meat. Yeah. This is a meat love. Do you have beef tender? Do you have
Bam Bam: like a plastic steak mold you can shove that into and kind of make them look like a steak and you put
Chef Ricky: it in surrender web.
Gizmo: Get your 3D printer out.
That's correct. All right, Senator, you're up. So you right now have a main aside and a pairing to choose.
Senator: Okay. I'll make this easy. I'll do pairing. I picked a D four Paul Roge. There you go.
Gizmo: Paul Roge champagne. Okay. And you have to go again. Now you're
Senator: up again.
Gizmo: Mm-hmm. So you have a Maine and a and a and a side
Senator: [00:52:00] side.
I'm gonna go Brussels sprouts with Panchetta.
Chef Ricky: Mm. That's nice. That's a good one.
Senator: Little
Chef Ricky: hot honey.
Gizmo: There you
Chef Ricky: go. There you go. Okay.
Gizmo: Brussel sout with Panchetta Rooster.
Rooster: Um, what's left? Oh, the appetizer. Appetizer inside for you. So the appetizer's gonna be a barta salad.
Chef Ricky: There you go. Nice. Or mixed greens. Nice.
Okay. Little, little age balsamic on that. Heavily age balsamic. Nice reduction. Yeah. Yeah. That's one way
Gizmo: to do it. So I'm debating what I wanna do for my Maine, because I don't. I don't love Turkey. I'm not a Turkey
Chef Ricky: guy. You're just not. Dude, you're speaking. Here we go. Haven't you been on a smoking kick elk?
Yeah. Spatchcock your Turkey. Have you ever smoked that Turkey? And it's gonna be fucking amazing.
Gizmo: No, I, I have done Turkey on my Traeger grill before. I love, it's, it comes out brilliant. That's awesome. But I don't love Turkey as much as I love beef or elk. And you're brining it? Yeah. Oh yeah. Bri it with the whole thing.
All good stuff. Yeah. Oh [00:53:00] yeah.
Bam Bam: When was the last time you had elk?
Gizmo: Two, two days ago.
Bam Bam: Really?
Gizmo: Yeah.
Bam Bam: Where the hell do you get that?
Gizmo: I get it on a, it goes hunting. Actually, we're very lucky, very close to us as a company called Fossil Farms and they have all different kinds of, uh, game, unique game and stuff. Wow.
Actually very close to, uh, to Guam where chef and I live. That's cool. Um, and uh, I get elk tenderloin there. Do they have Beyond Elk? Great question. Great question. Chunk. Alright, so for my, uh, for my Maine here, I'm gonna go filet mignon. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go filet
Bam Bam: mignon.
Gizmo: All right. Bam.
Bam Bam: So we are doing two proteins and you took one of mine.
So we're gonna go with Turkey. Turkey, yeah. For bam. Okay. You gotta give some specifics. Come on. What? Well, I'm not making it, but I know it's gonna be a Turkey. All right. I have a question.
Rooster: Why not Bolognese? I have a
Gizmo: question. Touche. How much does a Turkey cost at the grocery store? Take a guess.
Rooster: It's like [00:54:00] 800 bucks.
Bam Bam: I am gonna say 27 bucks. No, the room is silent. So I'm close. I
Rooster: under, it's a big
Chef Ricky: one. Tell you, I've been getting, it'll be a big one. I've been getting, uh, 40, 40. I've been getting heritage turkeys and they're, they're a lot more expensive than 27 bucks. Yeah. So like a ball, I would guess maybe 34. So you're not too far off there, Ben.
Look at you. Right. See, nice guess, maybe. Yeah. It depends on the, I mean, you gotta specify size too, right? 'cause you That's true. 15, 20. That's true. I think he's in the ballpark. Yeah, he's probably 18 pound Or maybe look at how
Gizmo: much you've grown over the last year. Correct. Look at you.
Chef Ricky: There you go.
Gizmo: All right, chef.
Chef Ricky: My pairing. Okay. I, I figured it out. It's the, uh, Hein xo, cigar Cognac.
Gizmo: Oh, okay. From my pa. That's
Chef Ricky: a pretty good call. That's a nice one.
Gizmo: Excellent. Alright. And you're gonna finish up now we need your Maine, [00:55:00]
Chef Ricky: it's gotta be Turkey. I love Turkey. Turkey's already off the, uh, off the board. Off board. You're off the board.
Oh, damn. Took it Sam, just take it.
Gizmo: He took my
Chef Ricky: own one. Okay. Okay.
Gizmo: Ooh, what else do I do? We're putting the chef on the, uh, hot seat here. Ooh. Um, oh man. I wish we had another bottle. This wine.
Rooster: It is good.
Chef Ricky: Yeah.
Damn. Tenderloins out too. Turkey's out. Yeah.
Senator: We're all screwed. Rock, rock along. Or me and you rooster's out.
Chef Ricky: We're screwed. I'm here. Uh, you know, I, I almost feel like this is what I have to make for DI had land last year,
Bam Bam: man. It was outstanding
Chef Ricky: rock.
Bam Bam: Yeah. Yeah. Outstanding.
Chef Ricky: All right, well listen, I'm a, I'm gonna tap into Oh, I don't take
Senator: that.
Don't take that. Don't take the lamb.
Chef Ricky: No, I'm not. I'm not. Im, oh, thank God. Because if I can't take that, I'm like, I, I'm at a loss. Listen, I'm gonna tap into my, my, my Puerto Rican roots and we're gonna go whip a needle, which is just pork shoulder. How do you spell that? P-E-R-N-I-L-P-E-R-E-R. [00:56:00] Neil Peril. Okay.
They don't have that Pennsylvania.
Gizmo: Yeah, we haven't had that. Alright. Bam. You're wrapping up now with your side.
Bam Bam: So the size for me is very simple. Um, I like a medley of broccoli and carrots. Sauteed with garlic and olive oil. Salt and pepper. Very simple. So almost says bad as soy bowl. No, that for me, I love, you know why it sounds worse.
It sounds I love vegetables and for me that's great. That's a great balance to a rich meal. It's colorful. Also very colorful.
Chef Ricky: I do love me some charred broccoli. Yeah.
Gizmo: Broccoli.
Chef Ricky: Rob, maybe, uh, not for, I
Gizmo: do love broccoli, rob, man. I do too. I love broccolini too. I do. I like the bitterness of broccoli. Broccoli, broccoli.
Chef Ricky: Excellent. I need lots of garlic and oil or sos I don't think the broccoli
Senator: was a problem.
Chef Ricky: The carrots were the problem. Yeah.
Bam Bam: Yeah. Julianne carrots cut on the side. You know, how did Julianne
Rooster: carrots,
when were you born?
Five
Chef Ricky: years before you. [00:57:00]
Gizmo: Correct.
Chef Ricky: I'd love that though. GLE carrots are nice. Yeah. Honey gazed. Those are nice.
Bam Bam: More calories. Sure.
Chef Ricky: But it's holiday.
Bam Bam: It's Thanksgiving than That's true.
Gizmo: Alright, so I have my appetizer. You guys are not gonna like this one. Controversial pick here. Mac and
Bam Bam: cheese. Diced spam. With diced spam.
This, this takes feedback. Don't talk, don't say scrapple.
Gizmo: That would take me back too. But no, I do like
Bam Bam: scrapple.
Gizmo: I, I'm nostalgic scrape this. I lived in Philadelphia. Scrape is a big thing. Yes. What a scrap. It's disgusting. Scrapple is
Bam Bam: disgusting. It's, but it's good though. It's good. It's not healthy.
Chef Ricky: Yeah.
It's,
Gizmo: it's quite literally all of the scraps. Hamburger helper, ground down into a, like a, like a rectangular.
Chef Ricky: Um, mesh of disgusted a puck. It's coarse spam. Like a coarse grown spam. Yeah. The ligaments are in there. Everything's in there. You toenails are in there. You fry it, you eat it with some grits and fried egg and sounds
Rooster: so [00:58:00] appetizing.
Gizmo: All right, so my appetizer, because I'm nostalgic for this, it actually, I really look forward to it 'cause I know what it's, my mom did
Bam Bam: it every year. Stove top?
Gizmo: No. Okay. Mini, mini pigs in a blanket with the croissant rolls. All right. In a, in crescent. Crescent rolls. Crescent croissant. Yeah. Crescent rolls with the hot mustard.
That's fun on the side. Hot. That mustard makes her come
Chef Ricky: back on the pod. That's fun
Gizmo: because it's, I don't know why that was part of her thing every year, but it like, that's fun. I like look forward to it. I still do it. I still make 'em.
Chef Ricky: It's a fun and easy appetizer to make, especially if you're entertaining a lot of people and you know, a lot of seven year olds.
Yeah.
Primitive
Gizmo: not nice. I was gonna say the same. Not nice. Alright, rooster, you're finishing up now with your side. Roos. Did so, uh, probably do, um, a garlic, mashed potato. Nice first potato entry, actually. Yeah, true. Alright, garlic mashed. And Senator, you're finishing up with your mane now
Senator: I'm gonna go with the [00:59:00] rack of lamb.
Lamb. I've never, I've never done it on Thanksgiving, but given everything that's been taken, I think it would be great.
Bam Bam: Yeah, I can't make it. My mother makes it. It's, she does it in a big steel pan with a ton of vegetables. And this, this thing that she makes, it's got a, it's a very thick gravy that she pours over it.
It's in the oven for four hours and it, it's four hours. Wow. And she takes it out and continues to base it. It is heavenly. It's heavenly.
Gizmo: Is that a normal amount of time to cook that? That's, that's well done. Plus it's a long time.
Bam Bam: Yeah, it sounds like a lot. Yeah. But because she's taking it in and out and basting it, she's monitoring it.
It's very juicy. It's,
Chef Ricky: but you know what, it's on the bone. Yeah. So like, worst case, like it's, it's delicious. It's gonna be fine. Yeah. It's gonna be, but what, what, what you will get out of that is a ton of flavor because it gets to sit with those juices and, and the vegetables and everything else in there.
So
Gizmo: are you doing that at a lower temperature? I don't know
Chef Ricky: what
Gizmo: she's doing. So you can hope so. Yeah, I would think so. Well, are you talking like [01:00:00] 200 at 25? I would, very
Chef Ricky: low. 2 75 to 3 25 max. Okay. Yeah.
Gizmo: Alright boys, so that wraps this up. I'm gonna read everybody's mm-hmm. Single column and then we're gonna discuss it.
And like I said, listeners out there can look for this on our Instagram and somebody who votes For the best choice among the five of us, the best plate, the best combo, the best pairing. Choose one of us and you can win a 10 count box of cigars from our friends at Bond Roberts.
Chef Ricky: What does the, what does the lizard win?
Gizmo: We'll see. Yeah, we should win that box. So you get to go to Bams Tower and pick the box of your choice? No, I'll take it to caucus for a day trip
on a boat. Correct. All right. Okay. So first up, chef appetizer, apple butternut squash soup with
Chef Ricky: cheer.
Gizmo: Chorizo crumble. I can't read my uh, handwriting. Your Maine was peril. Your side was peril. Peril.
Chef Ricky: Per what? Per Neil? [01:01:00] His Maine and his side was peril. No, no. He was just re repeating the per your
Gizmo: Maine was peril.
The side was, could you just put roast pork? 'cause
Chef Ricky: I'm afraid people aren't gonna know what ben needle are. Roast pork. So maybe in parentheses, put roast pork. Okay. It's actually quite good, man.
Gizmo: Oh yeah.
Chef Ricky: Roast pork. Can I
Gizmo: just put roast pork?
Chef Ricky: Roast pork shoulder. There you go.
Gizmo: Roast pork shoulder. Alright, let me, uh, lemme change that.
D electable.
Chef Ricky: It's great. The skin gets nice and crackly. The flavors. What are you lobbying for? A vote like down. Seriously, man, everybody knows what to expect from Turkey. You're color selling, you selling it. You got Turkey. Everybody's gonna want Turkey. So
Gizmo: all, so for your side chef? Correct. So for your side chef you had sausage fennel, brioche pan
Chef Ricky: dressing,
Gizmo: dressing slash stuffing.
Chef Ricky: Yeah.
Gizmo: Right. Your pairing, your drink was Hein exo cigar, cognac. Great choice. And finally your cigar. Was the padron [01:02:00] 60th. 60 years great choice. All right. Bam. Bam. Your appetizer was shrimp and crab. It was your kind of like a correct cold with, is it cocktail sauce? What do you do? You dip that in you, you cocktail sauce and lemon.
Okay? Yep. Your Maine was Turkey, your side was broccoli and carrot sauteed Your pairing, your drink was Boer champagne, and your cigar was the davidoff. Millennium pyramid. Thank you's gonna
Chef Ricky: lose based on that side. This is gonna take
Senator: lobbying for a vote again. I don't understand.
Gizmo: Alright, so for me, my appetizer pigs on a blanket.
Oh my Lord, I regret saying that. Now. The main was filet mignon, rare plus, of course my side was corn casserole. My drink was Havana Club, seven years age rum. And my cigar was the Cuban H up man, sir Winston. Nice.
Senator: There're gonna be a lot of seven year olds tagged out.
Gizmo: Correct. [01:03:00] All right, so for Rooster, I'm gonna need some help here.
The appetizer was a barta salad. The Maine was a plant-based beef Wellington. We went through that. His side, very good choice. Garlic mash potatoes. The pairing was a non-alcoholic French bloom, rosacea, champagne and his cigar a hammer. La Gloria Kuana, MDO. Number two, great choice,
Bam Bam: spectacular cigar.
Gizmo: And finally, Senator.
His appetizer was caviar. His Maine was rack of lamb. His side was Brussels sprouts with panchetta. His pairing of course was Paul Rose Champagne. And his cigar Fittingly enough because cigar we have in our hand tonight, boys, the Partagas Series D number four from Cuba. There
Bam Bam: you go.
Gizmo: Very nice. So like I said, somebody out there in Lizard Land is just gonna make a quick vote on Instagram, is gonna win a 10 count box of Bon Roberts cigars.
So we really appreciate Bon Roberts for helping us with this segment and, uh, sharing another box of cigars with one of our listeners this week. And of course, in a little while, we're going to get [01:04:00] to our lizard of
Senator: the week. Can I just say a side that didn't get mentioned that I do love on Thanksgiving? A sausage stuffing.
Chef Ricky: That's what I said. Yeah, that's, yeah. You pick that. Yeah. So when it's not in the Turkey, you call it a dressing when it's actually in the Turkey. Oh, I don't want in Turkey. Mm-hmm. Its, it's too soft in the Turkey. I agree. That's why I like dressing. So it's, they don't call it stuffing Technically. You're not supposed to call now senator's lobbying
Bam Bam: for chef.
Chef Ricky: This ain't fair. No, I'll take a petro 60th for it. Correct. Listen, lemme tell you 90th I, IDI dice some miracle. I I don't want to hear it. I add Feno into that, some brioche, then I deglaze with whatever white wine I may have in the fridge and then I render out my sausage. I add all of that in. You do it with a brioche?
Yeah. Oh, that's too soft for me. Well, no you, I like a sourdough with the st uh, for the Sure Sausage stuff, but you gotta dry your bread out and toast it. Oh yeah, yeah, I agree. Dry your bread out and toast. A shit ton of butter. Like [01:05:00] Thanksgiving in my house, we go through five pounds of butter. Wow. Five, five
Gizmo: pounds easy.
All right, so how many people are eating? 12? Two. So you all, you're each eating a half pound of butter. Are you including the
Senator: cardiologist or
Chef Ricky: on call? That visit is usually in February after the holidays just to see the damage. But uh, yeah, no butter butter's essential Sounds Delicious. Time. Sage, nice.
Rosemary,
Bam Bam: can you turn off his mic now?
Gizmo: So I gotta say, when I look at this list, each of the five of us, I think have a pretty damn good shot because that's nice. I think any of us would be happy maybe, except with Rooster's choices. I was gonna
Chef Ricky: say Rooster doesn't even believe you on that one.
Gizmo: But I think seriously, I think that everybody has a pretty good list here of stuff.
I think I'd be happy with any of these selections, you know, and I'm, I'm also surprised to see, well, maybe not surprised, but I'm, uh, it's cool to see that there's two non cubit cigars and three mm-hmm [01:06:00] cubit cigars on the list here. You know, we didn't include dessert. What's your favorite dessert? Ba
Bam Bam: I'd love a pie.
Yeah. For Thanksgiving. And I do love blueberry.
Senator: It's my all time favorite. Oh, blueberry pie is great. Yeah. But it's very hard to find good blueberry pie. I agree with you, Senator. It's always blueberry pie. Sugary for me. Yes. The greatest blueberry pie in this area, I'm not sure if they're still open or they closed.
There was a place, uh, trout wine Farm. I think, um, maybe closer. The greatest blueberry pie when I was a kid. Really? Of all time. No shit.
Chef Ricky: Well, not to plug her, but just to give you guys a heads up, my wife will be doing a pie sale to benefit. Benefit. Those? I'm in. I'm in. Really? Oh yeah. I'm definitely in for that.
His wife is
Bam Bam: an incredible baker. I want a pie from
Chef Ricky: her. I don't think blueberry's on the menu because it's not in season. Mm. But, um, that's okay. Yeah. But she, I can't. Apple caramel. Yeah. Pecan pe, apple caramel pie on there. Pecan. What's your
Senator: favorite pie that she makes? I'm curious.
Chef Ricky: Uh, I love them all, man.
But I, so I prefer pie to cake. [01:07:00] Spoken
Senator: like a good
Chef Ricky: husband. I like them all. He's a good lobby. No, but I'm one of those guys that loves pecan pie. Mm-hmm. And I love when she makes it. 'cause it's not glowingly sweet. Like the pecans come through the nuttiness, that aroma. No, I'm hard out on pecan pie. I love pecan.
Yeah. But she makes an amazing, but you said it's
Senator: not overly sweet. Yeah, that speaks to me because every pecan pie I have ever had, it's like sweet. Yeah. I make,
Gizmo: I made a mistake last year. It's like opening a bag of sugar and just pouring it straight to your mouth. I purchased like a dumbass, I purchased the Costco rooster.
Why are you looking at me? You're a shareholder. The Costco, he's telling you to sell the can pie. It's like, it's like a, when you go to a pizza place, you buy a large pizza. It's that big. Wow. And I just think like senator's saying, I just think it's a literally like a two pound bag of sugar in there. Yeah.
So it's just a sugar bomb for
Chef Ricky: her. It's a little rum, some maple syrup pecan. And, um, sounds, there's definitely some brown sugar in there as well. You had me at rum. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, [01:08:00] it's, it's how, how are
Gizmo: used seven? Correct. Where's the price? A little
Chef Ricky: That Maria Aita. You know, that's a good one. It's a good one.
You what's great. Really good.
Rooster: Like a Jamaican uh, rum cake.
Senator: Oh yeah. That's nice too. Oh yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo: I love an apple crisp. A warm apple Crisp. Yeah. Crisp little vanilla apple cobbler. Yeah. Anything. Apple
Senator: is a total aside, but on rum cake. The best rum cake around here. Um, Paris Baguette in Ridgewood. Is
Rooster: that
Senator: right?
Great rum cake. Wow. It, the Koreans make great to making rum cake. It's not sweet. It's delicious. Are you serious?
Bam Bam: I swear to God. So I will say Paris baguette, they've got very high quality pastries. Their cakes are excellent. It's. Sleeper.
Senator: Yeah. And it's pagoda approved.
Bam Bam: Oh,
Senator: well. And he is the dessert king.
That's true Life.
I
Chef Ricky: had to look around for a minute. Oh my God. So did I, I literally
Senator: was like,
Gizmo: alright, so boys, out of the 25 choices that we made here [01:09:00] collectively tonight, what is missing from this that's actually gonna be on your table or is gonna be in your, you know, in your, in your case, your carrying case of cigars, your pairing. Mm-hmm. Obviously the guys that chose champagne, you and, and Senator Bam obviously probably are gonna follow that with something, you know, a scotch, a rum, whatever, a cognac, whatever it may be.
So what of the things that we have here today, were you not able to select that you would have? Mm-hmm.
Senator: I'll throw two things. One on a cigar, Poron 80th. That was the one I was torn between. And on a pairing, the Remy Martin xo. Oh, that's great. That is a great cognac of choice. And that was a phenomenal bottle.
Yeah, absolutely.
Gizmo: What about you, chef? Anything that we didn't put on here, um, that you're gonna have or are looking forward to? Well, Turkey.
Chef Ricky: Yeah. Turkey. Well, you got Turkey on there. There'll definitely be Turkey on my table as well. Um, there's usually a, a sweet potato of some kind. Mm-hmm. I do like a sweet potato.
Me too. Yeah. So, you know,
Senator: can I just say it? [01:10:00] Fuck the marshmallows. Yes, I agree. I agree. Yeah. Yeah. Thank, I don't like you good with that. No, no, no. I love simple sweet potato. Do you know how many like times I've been to like a Friendsgiving? Fucking
Bam Bam: thanks. So Correct, correct. It's disgusting. It's how many times have been to like a
Senator: Friendsgiving thing or like a day or two after Thanksgiving?
Like people get together and someone just has this stupid sweet potato dish loaded with marshmallows on top.
Bam Bam: Yeah,
Senator: it's gross. What are we doing? I agree. It's gross. We're grown
Gizmo: adults. Yeah. It's a hard pass.
Rooster: Sweet, sweet potato casserole.
Gizmo: You talk about childhood trauma by the way. I had a very bad experience camping one time when I was about eight years old.
Boy Scout. And no, I never, I went to one Boy Scout meeting and I told my mother I couldn't do it. So we were camping. My family. Were you roasting marshmallows and we were supposed to have s'mores
Bam Bam: and it fell into your pants and, and you had to take off your clothes or running into the river. Is that what happened?
No, it was
Gizmo: raining terribly and it was a, it was an absolute terrible experience and we ended up [01:11:00] making these s'mores, and the marshmallow was so disgust. I'm, I've actually, since I was about eight years old, have not touched marshmallow at all.
Senator: Yeah. So you won't eat a s'mores? I
Gizmo: don't like
Senator: smores. All right.
That's
Gizmo: ridiculous. I'm
Senator: saying it has no place on sweet potato, but likes I'm smores. If someone made smores, it's not something I'm gonna like actively seek out. But a s'mores, you can't say, can't say no to. Like even Ben and Jerry's
Gizmo: has like a s'mores ice cream. Yeah, I'm out. No, but that
Chef Ricky: s'mores have to be hot.
Like let's the Correct. That's smores and ice cream shit outside fire. They gotta be hot fire. Correct. You gotta get that char on the marshmallow. Mm-hmm. Yep. You know, like it's, it's important. Um, agreed Gravy, no one mentioned gravy. I make a killer mushroom gravy for my Turkey. Mm-hmm. Uh, that usually gravy's important.
Usually I, I usually spike with cognac. Um, and I now, we talking and, and I use at least three mushrooms, shiitake's always in there. 'cause I love the umami and the woodiness. It brings, uh, oyster mushrooms and usually some cremini or button with some kind. Um, are you selling this for charity? I could use some [01:12:00] gravy.
Vy my table. It sounds like this sounds
Bam Bam: good. Um, yeah. I don't do a gravy. Like my wife makes a, um, olive oil.
Chef Ricky: You said the lamb, the lamb rack. That's a nice
Bam Bam: gravy. Yeah. But by the time it comes out of the oven, it's cooked into it itself. I see. I'm, I'm ba anything on my plate, oh, that's, except for what my wife makes for over the Turkey.
She makes something with a le lemon, olive oil, rosemary and thyme, and creates a very thick brine. She, she whisks it very, you know, aggressively for a while. It's velvety over chicken or Turkey. It's fantastic. Sounds pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. It's light
Gizmo: cranberry sauce. I can't stand cranberry sauce. Mm
Chef Ricky: mm
Gizmo: It's
Chef Ricky: a staple.
Disgusting. All right, listen, I have a confession here. No, there's some good cranberry sauce
Senator: there. There's good cranberry sauce and most is terrible cranberry sauce and could
Chef Ricky: make homemade cranberry sauce with the best of them. But there's nothing like the fucking can jelled people. Very soft. Oh, get out.
I'm sorry. No, people love, [01:13:00]
Bam Bam: I'm sorry. I They do love that, that there is
Gizmo: nothing worse than you're sitting at a table and you hear the can be open and
Bam Bam: then they turn it over and it,
Gizmo: right. It just falls into the plate. And then they put, I thought, bam. Love that sound. Well, yes, certain settings.
Bam Bam: And then they put that on a table and
Gizmo: you're looking,
Bam Bam: and then you're looking at this thing.
It's
Gizmo: got the aluminum can
Bam Bam: impressions on the
Gizmo: side of it. No, the,
Chef Ricky: the key, the key is awful. The key is take it out before your guests get there. Oh my God. Slice it along those impressions. I'm dying uhhuh. So that way it's presented. I'm sorry if your
Senator: food is jiggling in front of you. I want nothing to do with it.
I
Chef Ricky: agree. It's
Senator: ridiculous.
Chef Ricky: It's just, it's, you know, it's one of those things for me that kind of tie. I don't need a lot of it, but it, maybe it's my pig's in the blanket. That's what it's, but pigs in the blanket aren't gross. Well that's, it depends on who you are.
Gizmo: No, they're not gross. Make
Chef Ricky: that
Gizmo: noise one more time, Ben.[01:14:00]
Exactly my point. Correct. Is that gonna, is that gonna become a soundbite? Correct.
Senator: No, I will say this like cranberry sauce. I thought all cranberry sauce sucked. I, I had no interest in it, but. Bizarrely Fresh Direct actually makes a very good cranberry sauce. Really interesting. I literally, they have like an order minimum you have to hit for them to deliver to your house.
And I obviously, cranberry sauce is not enough to meet it, so I just have to add every year a bunch of bullshit just to get them to deliver the cranberry sauce. That's the only thing I order
Bam Bam: from them. Wow. Gotta try it.
Gizmo: Alright boys, we're coming to the end of the second, third now, and the part is series D number four from Cuba and our drink, what are we drinking?
The gge Cabernet Sauvignon from 2020 outta Napa.
Chef Ricky: What's everybody
Gizmo: thinking?
Chef Ricky: Right at the start of my second third, I got this really pleasant punch of Mexican cinnamon. Just a sweeter. What's Mexican cinnamon? It's canella. It's, it's um, [01:15:00] it's different from like apple pie cinnamon, right? Like American cinnamon.
It's kind of a little bit more, uh, like fireball, like red hot, right? Like that. Okay. Sort of note versus just like regular cinnamon. Sounds pleasant. It's very
Senator: nice. No, he's not wrong in the sense that I've had, and this experience was with Uba, actually this was a, a box of pu BA's d fours. I have never gotten more cinnamon in a cigar that this, I think it was a 16 box, but it's not normal cinnamon.
It's exactly like chef is describing. It's a little bit
Chef Ricky: brighter. Yeah. Spicy. I mean, when he says
Senator: fireball, like it's just like. A blast of cinnamon. You can't exp expect, imagine like we're sitting there poop and I smoking this cigar thinking like they couldn't have laced it with cinnamon. Like mm-hmm.
I've never had, like,
Bam Bam: it was that strong.
Senator: If Saka made it, I would've questioned it. It was like, I've never had a cigar with that much cinnamon. It was
Gizmo: wild. Wow. [01:16:00] What's interesting, I've seen folks talk about the D four, the cigar we smoking tonight and they mention a spice and I, and I don't know if they're interpreting what we're talking about, the cinnamon, that kind of thing as, as like a peppery spice.
Hmm. But I've, I, it's like, it's seems misinterpreted because for me, I don't think I've ever had a spicy D four. It's sweet spice. I've d fours. Yeah. And I've had D fours that are not good. Mm-hmm. I've had D fours that are fireproof and don't burn. Mm-hmm. I've had cigars that just don't taste good. But I've never had a pepper.
No. Like a peppery D four. Never agree. You know, it's, uh, it's interesting. Yeah.
Bam Bam: Rooster, what do you got?
Rooster: Yeah. Rooster, what do you think? I think it's more like a nutmeg spice maybe. Maybe nutmeg in combination of nutmeg and cinnamon. That's, that's what I kind of get on the cigar. Okay. For me, not a pepper's
Chef Ricky: a little bit brighter.
Yeah. Yeah. For me it's cinnamon. It's like a bright, clear cinnamon. I get [01:17:00]
Bam Bam: a clear cinnamon on the retro hill for me.
Gizmo: We opened this lighting, this cigar tonight. It really kind of raving about it. It's perfect. I I thought it was a perfect cigar. Where are you guys right now with this D four? I'm enjoying it.
I
Senator: It's fucking great. Don't, don't me don't do this. I'm, I'm, I mean, what are we, by the way,
Gizmo: I did not share my opinion. I was asking the question. This still to me is a perfect de Yeah. I'm enjoying it. I'm like, it's perfect for
Bam Bam: me.
Senator: I'm what you
Bam Bam: the hesitation in the room all of a sudden. Well, I don't know what to say, but I'm enjoying it.
No, there really isn't much to say because we know the cigar cell well. I just, but there is issues.
Gizmo: We have, we have had bad deforest spam. Yeah. They all perform
Rooster: different. This is a good D four, but only thing I have to say, the burn line is a bit wonky. Yeah. I had a call that's like a slightest. Yeah. You know, and that's it.
But the flavor, I mean, it's, yeah. I never really
Bam Bam: criticized the cigar for the burn line, especially if it's tasting like this is, yeah. Yep, yep. Um, I, I don't know if I really ever had a [01:18:00] bad quote, unquote, D four. Oh, I have, I've had D fours that were slightly off, but never
Gizmo: bad. I've had, I've had D fours that I would rate like a seven five.
Oh, wow. You know, I've had D fours that I'd rate an eight five, and I then I've had d fours like this that are just
Bam Bam: Yeah, yeah. Off the charts. Really? Yeah.
Gizmo: Incredible. Sure. And, and what's funny about what Senator said, it's, it's ki it's kind of not really related to age. It's interesting how the D four works, you know, I've had bad age
Senator: ones.
Gizmo: Yeah. Mm, absolutely. But,
Senator: but to your point, I'm glad you said seven five. I was worried you were gonna say something lower than that. The worst D four I've ever had is probably a seven. Yeah. I may, I think, which speaks volumes to a D four because there are a lot of other cigars that I cannot say that Yeah, the swing is way
Bam Bam: greater.
Yeah. I'm just under an eight all time. I can't say that I've ever had a really bad
Rooster: one. I mean, usually I've never had a D four with any draw issues either. Same. That's one cigar that I, well, we've said this before, how can somewhat, these are probably the most consistent Cuban cigar made. It's the, you're right.
Yes. Yeah. No doubt. I agree.
Gizmo: All right boys, let's go to some listener email. Now this one is from [01:19:00] Lizard Enrique who writes us a lot, and his subject line was, happy Thanksgiving. Says Hello lizards. Happy Thanksgiving to you guys. In just a few weeks, we will approach the Let's touch base on that after the new year time for business emails, which marks the best time of the year for lizards across the globe.
Thanksgiving here in the US is a time of reflection, so forgive a few questions that I hope will be informative or introspective For the listener, he says, first, what's the specific process the gang uses to select what's cigars will be on the podcast? Is it reading reviews versus listener suggestions versus personal curiosity?
How far in advance are they chosen? And what does the standard prep look like for the actual cigars in advance of the podcast? And does it differ for Cuban cigars versus New world? So seems like a you question.
Chef Ricky: Yeah.
Gizmo: Well I think there's a couple things. I, I think number one, uh, certainly I choose the most of the cigars, if not all.
[01:20:00] Um, we, you know, obviously I'll discuss it like today. For example, this was not in the cards, this is not on our, Hey lizards gizmo here. Here's what's coming up. Intro thing. This was on a whim tonight. I was a little concerned that the behi K 54 would be our only. Cuban between early November and the end of December, 2025.
I didn't like that. So I thought the D four would be a nice, you know, this was silent lobbying
Bam Bam: that Gizmo didn't even realize it was happening. Correct? Oh yeah.
Gizmo: I'm lobbing for senators. Uh, that's
Bam Bam: also correct, but you know what the call is. Perfect, perfect call. It worked out really well today. Oh yeah.
Gizmo: Um, so generally I'll do that now what I'm doing for New Worlds, because a lot of the new worlds that we're smoking are cigars that none of us have ever tasted that's happening.
So I'm going off of recommendations. I'm talking to the folks at Small Batch. I'm talking to our, you know, our friends at FOH Rob Isle. I'm trying to, you know, on on from a, a lot of different sources. I'm trying to understand what folks are believing to be great non Cuban cigars out there, and then I'm taking [01:21:00] chances.
That's thankfully, I think a lot of them have worked out. Some have not. And, and obviously we'll see how that goes. The
Rooster: listeners have been very helpful
Gizmo: about that and the listeners have been amazing. Yeah, the listeners have been very helpful. And I will say to listeners out there, hearing this right now, we take your suggestions very seriously.
When I get a listener who writes in and says, Hey, here's what I like to smoke that you guys have done, and I think because of that you should try this. We take that seriously and we will bring that cigar in because we need suggestions.
Chef Ricky: Yeah. Did you tell 'em about the Venn diagram you create for each pairing?
And that's a private matter. That's a private matter between him and
Gizmo: himself. So. How far in advance are they chosen? I generally, I'm choosing cigars at least six weeks in advance because I want to get them, I want to have them prepped to smoke,
Bam Bam: acclimate.
Gizmo: Yeah. And really, I, I do that because of my normal procrastinating tendencies.
I normally would wait, but what drives me to do it in advance is so that I could tell the listeners on that [01:22:00] intro thing what we're smoking. So generally I'm four to six weeks out at a minimum. You know, tonight the cigar I've had in my tower for three some odd years. So it works out. And then what does the standard prep look like for, you know, the cigars in advance of the podcast?
It's pretty much the same. I mean, if it's a cigar, we're bum rushing to get to review. For example, the Davidoff Chefs Edition. We did not have for a long period of time. That goes right into a dry boxing situation when it comes in. 'cause we wanted to review it quickly. Most of the cigars are sitting at, you know, low, low to mid sixties.
Great job on that couple of weeks. Um, thank you. Bam. And, uh, yeah. So as far as Cuban Cigars, new Worlds, I mean, it's pretty much the same process. Mm-hmm. The Cubans live at a little bit lower of your humidity. The new worlds live at a little bit higher humidity. All right. So back to Lizard Enrique's email second over the course of doing this podcast.
What have you learned about each other that honestly surprised you as a smoker? A drinker or just as a friend. Listeners [01:23:00] get to hear the evolution in real time, but I'm curious what that's looked like. It's a loaded question from your side of the table. So what, what about each other? Keep it clean folks.
Keep it clean. What about each other has surprised you over this? You know, we're now in our fifth year, so four four plus year journey.
Senator: In gizmo's case the, the role that childhood trauma plays in his cigar ratings. Oh yeah. And his food choices. Honey
Gizmo: Pigs in a blanket. Yeah. Honey's bad. I'm not guy. The PTSD runs steep.
Oh yeah. Yeah. I think the thing I'll say as far as surprising is I think I often find it surprising how we are able, and I think individuals in the room, all of us collectively and as individuals come in with a preconceived notion. And once we get into it, we're able to dismiss that. Yes. And I think all of us, I think for how stubborn and type A I think a lot of us are.
Mm-hmm. I think our ability to change our habits, to change rotations mm-hmm. To [01:24:00] smoke cigars that would be left of center to even who we were a year or two or three, four ago as smokers. I think that's been the most surprising thing. 'cause sometimes I've come in thinking there's gonna be a pushback or some sort of negative feeling about things.
But I mean, most recently that, uh, Kaba igu from T Oh yeah. I mean that's a redemption tour starter. I mean, those guys are. Uh, as far heroes in my book right now with that cigar, so I can't wait to try something else from them. Mm-hmm. So I think it's just our ability or, or individuals, our, you know, each of our ability to adapt to, you know, what we're tasting in the moment and then changing habits.
Chef Ricky: I, I would say for me it's, it's, it's similar to that in that I love the way when we get in this room, you know, I started as a listener on this pod, right. You guys have been in it as, you know, panel members and, and you know, founders of the pod, if you will. I started as a listener and I guess a lot like Liz, Enrique.
I always wondered, oh, what was the prep that went into this? And, you know, are they just getting [01:25:00] together and picking a cigar? That, and the amount of, of, of work that goes into setting up each episode, mostly done by Gizmo. But, you know, he leans on us sometimes for pairings and, and, and recommendations and, um.
It's, it's an, it's, it's a lot of effort. It's a lot of time. Uh, and it creates this quality podcast. And I absolutely love when we're surprised by a cigar Right. Or a pairing. Right. Which, I mean, there's been many cigars and many times where we come in here, especially senator, who usually has a very strong opinion about something.
Who him? About everything. Um, and most of the time he's correct. I I've, most of the time he's correct. I've a lot of appearings on this spot, I'll just say, yeah.
Senator: That have made their ways into our rotation. Yeah.
Chef Ricky: But I think all of that goes into making this, the quality podcast, uh, that it is. And I'm, I'm very fortunate to have experienced it from both sides.
And you know, sometimes you get behind a curtain on some things and you're like, oh, this is a complete Yeah. Disappointment. Yeah. [01:26:00] Disappointment. Exactly. And that is not the case with this, you know, this is, it's, it's forever a quality product. It's amazing.
Senator: I can't wait till Gizmo has ai like putting all this together.
Correct. Gr what are we smoking this week?
Gizmo: Just sitting there. Pett my cat. GBT What are we
Senator: pairing with it?
Gizmo: With your, uh, pinky in Air. Exactly. My Doctor Evil outfit. Correct. So does any, does
Rooster: anybody else have any, uh, surprises? I'm kind of still learning how Deep bams collection is Every week. Every week I find out how many more boxes of each cigar he has.
I mean, it comes out, you know, that's not true.
Senator: It's like peeling back an onion. You know? My surprise with BAM has been every single liquor paring everyone almost. He just smell it smells like smells. Turpentine knows it. He says it's turpentine, it's gasoline. That's true. And then 20 minutes in,
Gizmo: he's like, this is a tent.
This is amazing. It's true. It's true. So let me just set up for the listener too. I'll give you another bam quirk. He does two thing when he, [01:27:00] two things. When he comes into the podcast every week he sits down and he comments on the temperature in the room, always. And then he, he takes a sip of the pairing early and says It tastes like turpentine.
That's true. I mean like clockwork. Every week.
Bam Bam: It's hot in here right now.
Gizmo: Today he even commented on the air quality, the humidity. We got a humidity comment. It's humid, and he wasn't wrong. It's weird. R
Chef Ricky: was right.
Gizmo: Another question here from Lizard Enrique in his email, third, has doing the podcast changed the way you actually enjoy cigars?
Does talking through each and every smoke and pour you make you more thoughtful or just more critical in your downtime? And do you still get the same satisfaction from lighting up off mic as you did before this all started?
Senator: Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I, I think it definitely has. Of course. I mean, I think, you know, when we're here, we always talk about under the microscope all that it's a hundred percent true.
And when we're not here, the only times that I truly feel I have a cigar [01:28:00] under the microscope, like this is when I'm smoking alone. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Because outside of that, like you're in such a social setting, it's hard to, you can't focus perfectly focus on the cigar. Yeah, that's true. Like the most recent example of that for me, this was, uh, uh, one episode I had missed with the, um, the, the stoic equanimity.
I've had two of those cigars prior to that pod both times. They were given to me in a social setting. I know I like this cigar. I thought it was very good, but can I really tell you much depth about what I experienced or do I know what exactly I would have rated that cigar? I don't, and I've made the note to myself of like, I need to, since I missed that episode, I need to smoke that alone.
Yeah. To truly decide where that would stack for me. That was a delicious cigar. It was. It was. And it
Bam Bam: performed beautifully here tonight. That night. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo: I think, I think the other thing too, you know, to piggyback on what senator's saying, I think I have a mindset change when I'm [01:29:00] here. I'm thinking very differently than certainly I'm in the lounge here with, you know, even you guys, anybody else in our lounge.
But even when I'm at home, if I have a game on or I'm watching something or I'm doing some work or reading, whatever it is, I'm not this intense about it. I'm not this focused about it. I'm allowing my brain to be switched off. And I find that when I'm able to do that, when I get in here, I'm better for it.
I think if I was trying to do this every single time I smoke a cigar alone, I don't think that
Bam Bam: interesting.
Gizmo: I don't think it would be as good for me as it is. I feel differently. I'm the opposite of that. Yeah. I agree
Bam Bam: with that. I really, especially if I haven't smoked a cigar alone in quite a while, but I love that alone time with a cigar and I can really dive into the what I'm getting and it leaves an imprint and I remember back certain cigars and certain moments I'll never forget.
Those are. Precious moments, and you kind of, I bring that into the pod.
Gizmo: Well, I'm, you know, I do too. I know, but what I'm, [01:30:00] what I'm saying is, is this intense focus, and obviously I've got computers and iPads and I, I'm doing a thousand things here. Yeah. So it is very different from me, of course. Like perfect.
Senator: I'm not, for me, when I'm saying, if I'm alone and I'll have a game on anything, and I'm, I'm very locked in, in a situation like that. The, the small batch, um, the Cigar Light have Oh, the Avow. The Avow, yeah. So, you know, we got a bunch of those to try. When we were at pca a mm-hmm. You guys remember I would, I was on my patio every time taking a photograph and telling you guys notes what I was experiencing.
Yep. Yeah. And I loved those cigars. Yeah. And had I done that with a bunch of people around me and I'm chatting, there's no chance that I would've been able to really correct discern how great those cigars are, but by myself, even with a ball game on, uh, it's so much easier to really just dial in on what you're experiencing with.
Exactly. Exactly. I mean, next,
Rooster: next to being on the pod, smoking alone is like the second best thing. Yes. Best thing to do. I agree. Because you can really get into a cigar. Yeah. Yes. You can really un, you know, correct. Fine [01:31:00] nuances and like the flavor notes that you're getting out of a cigar, he can really focus in.
Correct. I agreed. This is
Senator: rooster justifying why we never see him at the lounge. Well, he's working,
Gizmo: I'm taking notes. Correct. I think for me, I, I'm still doing that. I'm still picking up the notes. I'm still making that imprint. It's just a different level of intensity. Sure, sure. Like when I'm here, I'm just like, mm-hmm.
I like octopus arms. I have so much stuff going on. Yep. Alright. Another one here. The lizards have always been vague about the problems they had with management at their previous lounge. Oh boy. What were they? Have we, who is this? He, Luigi is asking this question. Enrique. This is lizard Enrique.
Bam Bam: I'm sorry.
Lizard Enrique is asking this question. Yes. Oh boy.
Senator: Oh yeah. Where do we start? We were having such a good time.
Bam Bam: Yeah. I think the paramount issue was the lack of hospitality. Yeah. That is for me it the lack of hospitality and all the things that trickle down from that.
Gizmo: I think you nail it. And I think any cigar retailer out there who listens to this [01:32:00] podcast, who has a lounge set up a couple chairs, invites folks in to smoke.
If you operate that facility like a retail facility and not a hospitality facility. Mm-hmm. And hospitality first. You're not gonna win.
Chef Ricky: No,
Gizmo: you're not gonna win. It's all about hospitality. Yeah. Alright, I'm gonna give the listener what he
Senator: wants. I'm gonna give the quick rundown. Oh boy.
Chef Ricky: Number one. He's
Senator: been waiting over four years for this, by the way.
Number one, the hours. This lounge on Saturday. 6 34 paying members, no, no, not that close. At 5:00 PM
Bam Bam: Five What it five. That's a fact. 5:00 PM 5:00
Senator: PM On Saturday. On Sunday only if there was football. Would they open until five? Effectively,
Gizmo: effectively 18 weeks a year plus playoffs. Right. Only if the giants were playing.
Senator: Right. And so if there's not football, no one apparently wants to smoke a cigar indoors on a Sunday, which is crazy. During the week they were open till 10. The [01:33:00] problem with that was no matter how much you spent in their humid door mm-hmm. If you're lighting a cigar that you just bought there, let's say a 30, $40 cigar you, you bought from them, you can never perfectly time when a cigar is gonna end 10 o'clock strikes, and let's say you need five, 10 more minutes just to finish that cigar, then you'll happily leave and go home.
They wouldn't give you a single minute beyond 10:00 PM to finish your cigar. We've, and they would basically tell you to go out on the sidewalk if you wanna finish that
Gizmo: cigar. How many cigars did we've smoke out on that sidewalk after getting kicked out of there? Many effectively at 9:59 PM Many,
Rooster: actually, the time was 8:00 PM
Gizmo: Well, that's, that's true.
They would
Rooster: close at 8:00 PM So you have to call if there ahead there if there was nobody there. Yeah. So here's, or if you didn't call ahead, here's what happened. Me it
Bam Bam: close. So I was coming in from Brooklyn and I families, it was, it was kind of late, but they had their dinner. I ate out, so I need a cigar.
So I'm driving to our club where we spend thousands a year paying members. Yep. [01:34:00] Forget about that membership. We're spending thousands of dollars in the humid order above and beyond our membership on premises. I go and it's, I was like, it was at 8 45. It was locked, closed. Next day I go to the, I go to the shop and I ask the, the owner, what the hell's going on?
I thought we were open till 10 o'clock every night during the week. Well, uh, bam. You've gotta call ahead if it's after eight o'clock to make sure that someone is there and request for someone to stay till 10 o'clock. Ridiculous.
Senator: It's ridiculous. It's like nobody wants to have a cigar after 8:00 PM Correct.
And then the final thing I'll mention, which is in, I, I can't say the straw that broke the camel's back 'cause there's many, but this is up there. There was this crusade against Cuban cigars. Oh yeah.
Chef Ricky: Mm-hmm.
Senator: Where every one of us had to spend a minimum amount in their humidor. You basically got back what you paid as a cigar credit,
Bam Bam: which we exceeded every time.
Senator: That's the thing by a lot. So you had a [01:35:00] lot of guys, the vast majority who were members there that spent the bare minimum that they were required and they'd smoke their new world cigars just to that minimum. Then you had guys like us who obviously smoke a lot more that would spend 4, 5, 6, 7 times. That's right.
What was required in a In a month. Every month. Every month. Every month. That's correct. And yet, if we wanted to occasionally light a Cuban cigar. We were told that's not allowed. And that was a problem to the point that they had this little clown there policing what bands are in Ashray? Ashtrays. The Es.
That's right. And if there's a Cuban band, they're reporting back to the Supreme leader. That's right. That Jon Kim Jong-Un that we've had a, a Cuban cigar. And I'm sitting there and I said this to the owner, I'm like, I'm sorry, I have two choices here. I could spend the bare minimum that you require and smoke no Cuban cigars, or I could spend 4, 5, 6 times what you require.
And occasionally I wanna light a Cuban [01:36:00] cigar, which puts more money in your pocket. Correct. Why do you care if I occasionally have a Cuban cigar?
Gizmo: This is the kind of place this was. And he, and they, and he had this dopey mentality that a Cuban cigar that was smoked in their lounge was taking money outta their pocket.
Outrageous. And what he wasn't understanding is that regardless of how much money was spent, a hundred percent. And, and I'll be honest, I, I know for Senator, I know you were, I think you were kind of absent at the, the time there, it was during COVID, those first few months or whatever. Yeah. I got, and I, I had COVID early on.
Yeah. You and I hadn't met until after that, but Right. I know for Senator and I, and I think Rooster as well, we were buying, and I was doing this, I was really kind of following in senator's footsteps. I stopped buying online.
Chef Ricky: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: I would go in and pay the premium and pay the tax to support the club.
Yeah. To support the, the retail shop, because I loved being at the club so much. And I loved my friends there. Correct. And that wasn't good enough. That was a good enough. He had this mindset that if we smoked a Cuban cigar, we were effectively taking money out of [01:37:00] his pocket. When I was trying to explain to him, I'm like, you don't understand that we are developing, and this is well before podcast.
This is well before the real deep dive into Cubans. When I smoke Cuban cigars, I'm still gonna smoke the same amount of New World cigars. It's not zero sum. And, and
Senator: the guys there, like us that smoked human cigars, smoked way more cigars than guys that didn't That's right. That we bought there. So he's making more money.
That that's the thing. That's, that's your
Rooster: prime customer. It's just, you know, the, the, the previous owner, he was micromanaging that business and the sheer lack of privacy that you had at the lounge. They would physically go and check your lockers. They went through by, they went through your locker, by the way, special.
So here you wanna hear this.
Bam Bam: So we, and we were walking up the stairs. I'm not sure one of you guys were with me. You know, we went in Rooster's Locker. Oh, I was there for this. You know, he has Cubans to cigars in his locker. It's like, well, and they're
Gizmo: not telling Rooster it's it. He's not even there. No, he's they're telling you're somebody else.
Senator: Here's my favorite thing is when the owner of this [01:38:00] establishment said to me, uh, something about bringing in outside cigars, I said, I have no outside cigars in my locker. They're all stuff that I bought here. And he goes, well, rooster has a box of sharks. That's that's right. Of Don Carlo Sharks in his locker.
Yeah. And it's like, number one, that's not my business. Talk to Rooster about that. Number two, the reason Rooster has that box in his locker is because this idiot. Limits rations. One, one shark or two shark per customer, even if you're a member. So Rooster wants to pay him for a box, but he won't sell him one.
So why do you think Rooster has a box of sharks in his locker? Well, I can go to another store
Rooster: in the same state where we live very close and get a, where you're not a member and they're happy to sell you whole box. Correct. Exactly. Correct.
Bam Bam: You know, giz, you describe the dream customer for a cigar retailer.
Someone that decides to buy and stay in the humidor and buy outta the humidor and support the establishment and comes consistently. That is what every cigar retailer should, [01:39:00] should aspire to. Of course. To, to get their customers to that level.
Gizmo: Imagine, imagine being such a good, and it was un and it went unappreciated.
Of course. It, and I would argue it was looked down upon Oh yeah. Because we were spending more time there, even though we were there more smoking, more of their cigars. And that's the thing we were looked down upon, like we were using them in some way.
Bam Bam: And Senator mentioned it earlier, there are guys there that spend the bare minimum, they smoke two cigars every day, dog shit cigars.
Yeah. And they, and they're cheap cigars. And they love the fact that they left at around 6:00 PM and then came back the next day and smoke two cigars and left at 6:00 PM And that's their routine every day. That's the profile they want.
Gizmo: They would rather save that $40 in labor over those two hours than sell each of us seven or eight boxes of cigars every month.
Oh yeah. I mean, don't
Bam Bam: forget about all the, the, the, the. The opportunity that we offered to the cigar manager at that night to give him an extra a hundred dollars, an extra $200 among us. Yeah. Mean
Senator: we, we made offers that make absolutely no sense half an hour. We were wizarding, [01:40:00] we were desperate, we were so, we,
Gizmo: we were desperate, we were safe.
Senator: Were so desperate to just finish a cigar there that there were times we would say like, we'll give you a hundred dollars if you can just stay an extra 15, 30 minutes. And this guy, that a hundred dollars is more than he makes the entire night. Oh yeah. Yeah. Because his proprietor does not pay these folks well.
Correct. And so we're helping that person and helping ourselves with just finishing a cigar. And he would say, oh, that we bought
Gizmo: there, that we, that we bought there.
Senator: And he would say, thank you so much. That would be amazing. But I have to ask the owner. And he'd call the owner. The owner would say, Nope.
Correct. Can't take it. Tell 'em to leave. It's unbelievable. It's insane. And I wanna
Gizmo: make one thing clear for our listeners, and I'm sure this is obvious, but I wanna say it, by the time we were getting to the end of our evening, anybody in this room, anybody who's listening to this podcast and how we smoke knows we were not smoking cubit cigars at the end of the evening.
We were smoking cubit cigars at the beginning of the evening. That's true. We were working up in strength as we do. Right. And we were certainly into at the time, probably. D Itoff or Padron, that's right. At the end of the evening. Every [01:41:00] evening, every time I got kicked outta there, I either had a late hour Churchill in my hand.
Mm-hmm. Or I had a Padron exclusive. Right. Every single time I got kicked outta there and I bought every cigar that I smoked of either of those two lines in that shop. It's, it's like an idiot because I paid a hundred dollars more per box buying it there.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Rooster: And don't forget, there was a point, we actually, we were looking for our own lounge to open.
We were gonna, were looking for a space to smoke. We were looking at, we were looking at smoke cigars, looking at what
Bam Bam: we were driven to. Yeah. Right. It was PTSD. We were looking at real estate, we were suffering there. It was a struggle. I converted my garage to a
Senator: lounge. That's how desperate we were at this point.
Correct. We quit there. We're like, what are we gonna do? We were going other places. The scene wasn't great. We're striking out on real estate to get our own spot. And I'm like, I'm just gonna convert a garage. I don't know what else to do. Yeah. I mean,
Rooster: then here comes 10 86. Correct. And it was such a blessing.
Absolutely. To have a lounge that's opened 24 7 4 hours with lockers, with a golf simulator that nobody uses with an espresso machine. With a greatly, with approved [01:42:00] humidor. With ly approved
Chef Ricky: humidor. Yeah. Yeah. With eight plus televisions,
Gizmo: by the way, the o the television's, the other spot, it was Two Tel. You ever see that Michael Scott episode of the Office where he gets the LCD TV and he's so proud of it and it's like a 24 inches wide.
Yeah, it's, it's like a six inch television. He pulls it off the wall. We had two of those at that other lounge.
Rooster: Now imagine if he had asked him. You know that we are, we want to record a podcast. Could we have that separate private way meeting area? No way. Which would've been ideal for a podcast. I would Closed doors.
Yes. I mean,
Senator: that's,
Rooster: we would've never even asked. Yeah. The
Senator: irony of that, there was a room in the back of this former lounge we're talking about that was kind of set up like a conference room.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Senator: In all the years we were there
Rooster: never got used. No. One zero times
Senator: has ever used that room. Correct. You can rent it if you want it for like your exclusive use, but out by the way, no one did
Gizmo: way, by the way.
Let's make it clear for the, listen, this [01:43:00] is not a room for a party. They have a conference table and chairs in a glass, like a fishbowl right. Type setup. That's, that's it. And so
Senator: occasionally, like, you know, you're, you're in the lounge and let's say you have to take a quick, important call and it's just too loud.
It'd be natural to just go in there. 'cause you can close the glass and just quickly hear and take your call. If someone would walk, even just step their foot into that room you'd get
Bam Bam: yelled
Senator: at to take a call for two minutes flat.
Bam Bam: I break your hand.
Senator: I mean, they get screamed at like, they just committed murder.
Oh. Oh. Forget about
Bam Bam: opening a window.
Rooster: Oh god. God forbid. God, you can't open a window or changing the station up for music. Who
Gizmo: touched the Sonos?
Rooster: You would hear the 150 keys that are like jingling on his pocket up the stairs. You hear him coming, running the stairs and God forbid that you used the faucet wast.
Oh
Senator: right. You can hear the dream line. Who
Rooster: turned the water on? And God forbid if you used a, a napkin or a tissue in [01:44:00] the bathroom. Like,
Chef Ricky: my God. Geez. It was insane. I was just gonna say, and look at us now. We smoke more new worlds than ever. Everyone in this lounge is influenced by the cigars that are smoked on this podcast by what we're smoking in the lounge.
That could have all been his Yeah. Correct. Right? That's correct.
Bam Bam: Good email.
Gizmo: I'm so pissed off right now. I know. All right. And he ends lizard Enrique, by the way, for the listener who's still ta uh, who's still listening. Uh, this is an email from Lizard Enrique as we, uh, go through therapy here in our formal lounge, he says. And lastly, a question for Rooster. Can you share any fond memories of the first Thanksgiving that took place in 1621 in Plymouth Rock on the Rock of Jabal?
Cheers, lizard Enrique before we had power. Oh, more impossible beat. Correct. Alright, boys. And now it's [01:45:00] time to go to our Lizard of the Week presented by our friends at Bond Roberts. And as we know, all of our lizard friends out there who are Lizard of the Week are now winning 10 count boxes of Bond Roberts Cigars.
Incredible. Awesome. Thanks to Bon Roberts for that. It's, it's really an incredible gesture and awesome for our listeners. This one comes from our friend Johnny the Greek, who we heard from a few weeks ago about non-alcoholic pairings. He says, Hey, giz, here's an offering for the pod. Many thanks to you guys and have a great weekend.
Hey boys. Johnny the Greek here. Let's talk about something we all forget once in a while, the new guys, the rookies, walking into a humid org, like it's a chemistry lab, sniffing wrappers like sommeliers and pretend bam, first time offenders, correct sniffing wrappers like sommeliers, and pretending they know what [01:46:00] retro hail means.
We've all been there. None of us lit up our first stick looking like pros. We hacked, we burned, we tapped ash like we were swatting flies, but someone showed us the ropes, and that's what keeps this whole thing rolling. Sometimes we take for granted that everyone who listens can just figure it out on their own, but the truth is it's not always that simple.
Sometimes it takes a little guidance and sometimes a helping hand, quite literally, to show how to cut toast and light without turning the whole cigar into charcoal. So here's a little tried and true advice for the new guys. Start easy. Don't reach for the strongest stick in the humidor just to prove something.
You'll turn greener than a candela wrapper before you hit the first third. Go with a mild or medium cigar, something smooth, balanced, and forgiving. I like that word forgiving. Correct? Take your time. Slow draws. Let the flavor come to you. This is not a competition, it's a ritual.
Chef Ricky: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: A moment to enjoy, not to [01:47:00] survive.
Love this email and don't ever be afraid to ask a seasoned smoker. For a little help or an opinion that might be, by the way, that might be the most important line in this thing.
Bam Bam: Yeah, great email.
Gizmo: Do not be afraid to ask a seasoned smoker for a little help or an opinion. As for the veterans out there.
Pass it along. I'll add be a mentor.
Chef Ricky: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: Share a light, a tip, maybe a laugh when the new guy torches half a cigar trying to get it lit. We're not here to judge. We're here to smoke. Forget the $400 Bahi K and the gold plated cutter. It's about the leaf, the laughs, and the moments. So here's to keeping it fun, keeping it relaxed, and keeping that fire burning bright.
And as always, to you, the lizards, your smoke, your spirit, and your comradery are the heart of this brotherhoodhood. Long live the Leaf. Nice. Beautiful email. That's a great email. A killer email. Correct. That really is killer email. Great advice. So thank you to Johnny the Greek who's gonna be our Wizard of the Week.
And I, I just wanna share, you know, I just wanna share on that I, I think that he absolutely nails both sides of the [01:48:00] experience here, the newbie and the veteran. And I think that it is. An uncomfortable thing, especially for a new smoker to walk into a lounge and kind of feel like a fish outta water.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: And I would say in almost any lounge and be
Senator: told everything, you're smoking a shit. Like when I first met Gizmo new punches, by the way, you were soft about it. I was You,
Gizmo: you did not, you know, you said,
Senator: I literally said, have you ever had a fish? You
Gizmo: were, you were funny about it. Yeah, I was in his early days.
Yeah. My primitive power. I
Chef Ricky: was gonna say, I would've known, loved to known that senator.
Gizmo: But I think the thing that's important, especially, you know, I'll comment on my own journey like we're talking about here with Senator, but even when I sat down for the first time at North Korea, at the former lounge we just talked about, and I had this massive bag of cigars. I think the most important thing about it is I didn't have an ego about it.
So when he looked at it, and I had never really, I'd never met you until that day and you said, dude, you gotta go take everything back. Yeah. Tell him that Senator sent you [01:49:00] back down Few. Well, that was after. After I gave you an exvivo to try. Correct? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because if you hated,
Senator: I wouldn't have said that.
'cause if people have different pals, but once you tried that, you, I, I mean I've never had someone thank me more for anything I've ever given anyone Yeah. Than Gizmo when he first experienced an exvivo. Correct. And that's when I'm like, okay, he's the kind of guy that like, that's correct. Appreciates the same stuff I do now.
He just needs to course correct and get rid of that crap and start diving in. So, quick
Bam Bam: question. So at that experience, how many years were you smoking cigars?
Gizmo: I was on and off, so, so that was COVID ish time. Mm-hmm. So let's say 2020. I started smoking in 2014 dog rockets. Oh, okay. I stopped when I got divorced in 2017.
Yep. Yep. And then picked back up during COVID 'cause I was bored. Mm-hmm. And then my father-in-law was up and turned me back on. He left and I was like, I still need to smoke cigars. Starting to get a little chilly. I joined the lounge. Nice. And that's where I met senator there. Yep. So that's, that was the timeline.
So I would say I was out of it [01:50:00] for a few years coming back in. Uh, but you know, that conversation with Senator in that first few weeks there. Yeah. I mean, kind of You said be open, changed everything,
Bam Bam: be open, be open to recommendations.
Rooster: Right. Yeah. And it's, it's not a competition. No. So the bag of cigars that you came into the lounge with,
Gizmo: you obviously bought them at the Yeah, that's right.
So I, what I did was I joined the, I went upstairs, they took me for a tour of the lounge. I went back down into the retail shop, signed up, and then spent my credit. Did I go, did the, did the proprietor actually walk you through the They, yes. Walked me through. Exactly. Did he
Rooster: help you choose any cigars?
Gizmo: Yes.
They just said, take this, take this, take this, take this, take this. Okay. What was most profitable for them? I, yeah, I mean, I don't know. I don't even remember what was in there. I mean, this is the
Senator: problem with, with some retailers, you know, a great retailer ask you the right questions to understand mm-hmm.
Your palate and what you enjoy. Mm-hmm. And then can make informed recommendations. I mean, at this place, obviously I was further along in my journey than Gizmo at that point. Like, I, I know what I like. And at [01:51:00] no point in all those years there, did they ever recommend No. A cigar that made sense for my palate.
The only recommendations I got that made sense were from other members who had smoked a lot of cigars that, you know, like I had, had the millennium only in Turo. He would always give that out, you know, every year for the holiday gift. And bams like, oh, I really love this, uh, this pyramid torpedo was the pyramid.
And that was the first time I tried it and I was like, wow, the millennium line is actually, it's
Bam Bam: different. Great. It's different, right.
Senator: You'd think knowing everything I buy in that humidor, that the proprietor at some point could've made that recommendation. They never did.
Gizmo: No.
Senator: And that's where it really, the, the tobacconist matters a lot.
Rooster: Yeah. Right.
Senator: So I bet
Rooster: like not a single cigar was a pad grown in that bag. I don't think so. If anything, maybe it was a thousand series I that's I that whole bag like I'd extra vision seller
Senator: mean like there was nothing we smoke in that bag. No,
Rooster: that's shocking.
Chef Ricky: Yeah. You know what though? Gives kudos to you because at the end of the day, Senator felt you were someone he could talk to and [01:52:00] we're worth investing that time in.
Gizmo: Well,
Chef Ricky: I, I literally
Gizmo: came in with my hands up. He was open, he was open. I sat down at the chair, I said, nice to meet you guys. I have no idea what I'm doing. I, I'm here to learn. And that's really where it started. Like, yeah,
Senator: he, he straight up said to me the very first time I met him, he's like, I'm a novice cigar smoker.
Like, put his cards on the table. That's great. And there's no judgment in that. No. It was like, and that's why I just said to him, have you ever had this? And he said, no,
Gizmo: I wanna see. Like, he literally, he literally got up within three minutes of me meeting him, went to his locker and said, alright, smoke this.
Bam Bam: But there's also joy in giving something to someone who hasn't ever tried that being a mentor band. There's so much joy there.
Senator: But, but to, to chef's point, like if, when I met him, seeing what I saw in that bag, if he was like, oh, I smoke cigars all the time. This is the greatest cigar I've ever had. This is all I smoke.
I would've quickly sat there and said, okay, nice to meet you. Good. Would've went on to the next
Bam Bam: and he would've moved. That's correct. That's a good point. Yeah.
Chef Ricky: Yeah. No, I mean, I'm sure GIZ walked in there. He saw your watch, and he's like, listen, I'm a [01:53:00] novice cigar smoker, dude. I
Senator: didn't even know what
Gizmo: watches
Senator: were.
Okay. I, I have no idea. All right. This is the perfect time. We gotta say it. We gotta say it for the listener. Oh yeah. Here we go. Gizmo. After all these years fighting. Everything I have ever. I don't know if I would say fighting preached.
Gizmo: Have I have I fought? Oh, you have?
Senator: Oh, my Apple Watch tells the time the same way.
Oh, my Apple Watch, blah, blah, blah.
Bam Bam: We actually have a recording, I think somewhere where you're like, for sure. Yeah. I'm not into watches
Senator: for sure. Correct. Finally has given in and accepted the beauty and craftsmanship of a luxury of a fine timepiece. That's correct. And Gizmo is now the proud owner of a Rolex.
There you
Bam Bam: go. I am, I have a submariner. It's awesome. It's beautiful.
Gizmo: So, uh, so I gotta, I, you know, we'll tell this story quick actually. I want to do, I do wanna talk about this on a future episode because I do think, number one, the watch conversation hit a lot of listeners in a really great way. And I think it hit me in a really, really great way that I left that really kind of [01:54:00] inspired and thinking about it.
And I went down a rabbit hole on YouTube and I kind of figured it all out. And then I came to Senator, like I did that exclusive and I said, dude, you know, I don't know what I'm talking about. I think this is what I want. Can you help me out? And that's what he did. So thank you for that. Yeah. Um, and, and, and hooked me up with a, with a great retailer that, um, that helped me get the Submariner on my wrist.
But, you know, I think. Uh, being open to that and, and, and that conversation we had, I sat here and I really took it all in. You guys discussing those watches, and it's not a competitive thing in this room, you know? No, and that's what I love about this. It's like, I don't think anybody cares what anybody else has on their wrist.
It's just like we elevate each other, you know? Correct. And, and what I learned and what I've, what I've experienced here, and I, I was tired of the Apple watch.
Chef Ricky: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: I was tired of text messages coming up on my wrist. I was tired of all that. I was tired of charging. You could turn that off. All that stuff.
Charging, charging it. I was tired of it. But once I experienced this and I tried it on another friend here at the Lounge Lizard, Ryan let me [01:55:00] put it on, on my wrist, uh, one of his, his watches, it felt really good. Do you remember what it was? I think it was, uh, was it a sub?
Bam Bam: I don't think he has a sub.
Gizmo: It was a sub.
Or Daytona maybe.
Bam Bam: I don't think he's, does not have a Daytona
Gizmo: Batman, um, day Trust? I don't know. No,
Senator: he, he has, um, he has the Hulk, which is the sub. The hu okay. Yeah, the sub. Yeah, it's a sub. Yeah, it was the green sub. Correct.
Gizmo: Correct. So, uh, you know, so now I've gone down the rabbit hole. Yeah. My entire YouTube algorithm is watches.
So I ended up getting a, uh, submariner, not the latest edition, this is the 11 66 10. Mm-hmm. Ln, look at him quoting reference numbers, unbeliev Ference number. This I can't do that. This, this watch was made, uh, June 2nd, 2012. 2012. Okay. And, uh, I love this iteration. Obviously the new one is 41 millimeters.
This is a 40. Yeah. Uh, but I am, uh, yeah, I'm doing my normal gizmo thing as, as I do correct with this. And, uh, I, you know, unlike Senator, I think and, and Bam, who've really well, senators kind jumped into it.
Bam Bam: He helped me get my Submariner and my Daytona.
Gizmo: Yeah.
Bam Bam: [01:56:00] And honestly. It's an, it's an intimidating process.
It is. If you don't know where to go to make sure you're getting an authentic product with box and papers and have someone that you can communicate with and who's responsive
Senator: and at a fair price, of course. Because you over just like s Exactly. Right.
Gizmo: Exactly. The problem with cigars though, the problem with cigars though, is you can't walk into, or excuse me.
The problem with watches though, is you can't walk into an authorized Rolex dealer No. And walk out with a great watch. No. Never. You might be able to walk out with something. No, you're probably not gonna walk out there. You're not gonna anything at a retailer with what you want at, at an ad. Correct. So anyway, I, I'm very, very, uh, happy to have this watch.
I've been wearing it now I think about. Two weeks a week. It feels awesome. I haven't taken it off. Yeah. I love it. Great. You go to bed with, with it,
Bam Bam: you shower with it, everything. Alright? Oh yeah. Everything.
Gizmo: The litter I've been, yeah, I have been wearing it to bed. I just don't take it off. It's awesome. Wow.
Feel great And, uh, you're wear to bed. Yeah.
Bam Bam: You might give, uh, Mrs. Gizmo a [01:57:00] black eye
Senator: best. Cool. She'll give herself one
Gizmo: of those. Yeah. She gives herself one of those as an No, it's not. I mean, yes, it's, no, she hurts herself more than anybody I've ever seen, so
Bam Bam: Girl.
Gizmo: So we will, uh, let's table this watch discussion to a future episode.
Yeah. 'cause I think we have a lot to dig into. I wanna talk about some things. I'm really excited about it and, uh, I'd love to hear from listeners by the way, on their time pieces. So send us some emails if you want to get involved in this watch conversation. Uh, we would love to hear what you think and of course what you're smoking recommendations, what you're having at Thanksgiving, what you're drinking, what you're eating.
Mm-hmm. Anything,
Bam Bam: yeah.
Gizmo: That falls under the lifestyle category that we kind of, broadly say at the beginning of this episode every week. Jump into the conversation and win yourself a box of Bon Roberts cigars and
Bam Bam: everything you just mentioned. You're gonna have those conversations at any cigar club. If you sit down and you're open to being friendly and getting recommendations and recommending if you've been smoking for a while, it opens up so many different categories of discussions.
Sure. It's [01:58:00] fantastic.
Gizmo: And, and I wanna make one parallel quick before we go to our ratings. I will say my mentality, I've known you now, what, uh, five, six years, whatever, senator, my mentality was the same with saying to him, I want this Rolex and I have no idea what I'm doing. It's the same mentality as that first day I met him and I sat down and said, I'm a novice smoker.
I have, I don't know nothing. You know, this is what I got. And he, it was the same mentality. So my point in saying that is anytime you walk into a situation where you don't know what, maybe you think you should just be honest. Yeah. Agreed. Because there's nothing worse than pretending. Correct. Mm-hmm. I think pretender, I, I think being a pretender is one of the biggest mistakes that a cigar smoker forget timepiece.
Collector or wearer. I think for a cigar smoker, I think being a pretender is one of the worst things you can be. I don't think, yeah, I'll, I'll just use a
Senator: quick example, and this is not to dive in back into the watch Rabbit hole, but it's just a really good example. Like, as someone who really, [01:59:00] really loves watches, when I meet someone and they'll tell me I have, I have a hundred watches, and, you know, they're rattling off all their big brands.
I, I, to me. There is no human being that could truly love and be passionate about and even find the time to regularly wear a hundred different luxury time pieces. Correct. It's not possible. No. So I'm like, you're just someone who just AMAs all these watches to say that you have them and you think it's cool, but like there's no way Yeah.
That you're invested or connected with a hundred different time pieces. And that, I think is a pretender.
Chef Ricky: Correct. I agree with you. Correct. And if you're gonna be a pretender, you're limiting your journey. You're limiting the, the, the prospects of the scope of what you could learn and take in and absorb and, and enjoying.
But what you're doing is you're putting up a wall without
Bam Bam: realizing
Chef Ricky: it. Yeah. Yep. That's
Bam Bam: it. Yeah.
Gizmo: And I think, you know, for the listener out there who's not interested in watches or fancy cigars or whatever we're talking about here, I think the idea that we're kind of, [02:00:00] we're trying to communicate with this podcast is when we sit down at a lounge, when we sit down together, we leave the lounge better than when we walked in.
We've learned something. We've laughed a lot. We're going back to back into our quote unquote normal lives better because we've had this outlet. Mm-hmm. And the common denominator in all of that is the cigar. Mm-hmm. Whether we sit down and talk about sports or. New credit cards that, you know, chase Sapphire versus Amex Platinum or, or remember our Amex discussion, our big Amex discussion.
Whole world is opened now, or, you know, problems at home. Yeah. You know, kid issues. College, you're, you're taking your kids to college. Correct. Mr. Bam. Correct. All these things. Everything when you leave the lounge, you want to leave better than you, than when you walked in. That's the only goal I think you should be looking for.
Very well said. Which chair am I to use? Very well said. Correct. Should you drive or fly? Yeah. How's the Acela menu [02:01:00] also important? All right. Be all right boys. We're coming to the end of our evening tonight with the GGE Hills Estate, Cabernet Sauvignon from 2020 and the Partagas Series D number four from 2022.
What's everybody thinking of the pairing before we get into our ratings tonight? Excellent.
Bam Bam: Call on the pairing. Yes. Just prior to the holiday. Yeah. Excellent call. Yes.
Gizmo: Perfect. I think tonight Perfect. And we'll get into our ratings, but overall as a pairing, I think what we had tonight was a perfect Thanksgiving fall.
Colder weather. Yeah. This time of year, pre-holiday, whether you live in a a cold climate or not pre-holiday, tonight's combo. This discussion, everything is exactly what I'm looking for this time of year. Yeah. You know. All right, boys, let's go into the formal liquor rating now on the GGE Hills Estate.
Cabernet Sauvignon from 2020. Bam. Bam. You're up. Yeah. I don't know what to
Bam Bam: give this. So this, this was excellent from the [02:02:00] start, but it's actually gotten better as the bottle was open. It's, it's really excellent. Um, at $75, regardless of the price, I would have this on my dining table if this was available at a bar during dinner.
No doubt about it. I love the dry finish and I love the minerality. It's so sophisticated. I have to give this a 10. It's a 10. It's a 10.
Senator: There we go.
Bam Bam: No doubt about it. I mean, it's really unusual 'cause I haven't had many Cabernets, but the, the ones that I have have always been just a slightly too sweet.
Yes, this is perfect. It's really complex. All right, chef,
Chef Ricky: I gotta give you a fist bump because you know what, I know you keep saying you're gonna wait till you retire. Go get your fucking Somalia certification already because you, you're definitely not pretending. Right. You the pairings. I mean this, the pairing is so [02:03:00] spot on.
It's delectable wine. It is rich, it is slightly woody, beautiful dry finish, beautifully tannic. It pairs so well with the cinnamon note. And this D four, and I hate to say this 'cause this isn't to bring the wine down, but it's just a combination. It reminds me of a mold wine, almost just those spices that cinnamon, the way it plays with this.
And because this wine isn't overly fruity, it is actually pleasant. It is a beautiful experience. So for me, this wine is a 10,
Gizmo: so for me it's also a 10. And I, I'm, that might surprise you guys, and I'll tell you why. Number one, I think for me it needed to open up a little bit more from when we started sipping it.
Number one, every sip I took, it got better, it improved. It got a little warmer. Especially on the second quarter. The temperature came down. The temperature as well. Yeah. Yeah. I think it got better every sip. And I think the thing that when I was asking for sharpness, I think what I was looking for was the wine to be the headliner.
In, in some way, or a co-head liner with the cigar. And [02:04:00] I think when we think about wine, or when I think about wine as it pairs with something, be it the food we talked about tonight, the filet mignon, I, I would pair this red wine with the cigar. I would pair this with, it's almost like you don't want it to be a co-head liner.
You want it to be the bodyguard behind, you know, the, the singer of the band. You know, it's like, it just the rock that is holding up the whole operation and allowing what needs to shine to shine. Mm-hmm. And it also has its moments. I'm not saying it's just a standard issue. I'm not saying it's just a companion piece.
It's an excellent bottle of wine. Mm-hmm. So when you take that sip by itself, it's great when you take that sip with a draw of your cigar, it's excellent. Correct. And that's why it's a 10 by itself. It's great when it pairs. I think it's excellent. And I think with a, a steak or some other food, I think it would be brilliant.
You think it's a 10 because it pairs well, I think it's a 10 because it's really doing its job.
Bam Bam: Well, you said a moment ago that it's a 10 because it [02:05:00] pairs well, it's pairing
Gizmo: well, I think that is, I think it's
Bam Bam: a 10 on its own. It's false. That's,
Gizmo: and that's fine. I think that's fine. But for me it's a 10 because despite my earlier hesitation, it's doing a brilliant job as what I needed to do as a pairing.
And it works great with a cigar as it would with a steak, with, you know, some sort of food pairing. Really great, really impressed, Senator. Well done. Well, ten's a 10. So for me it's a 10 Senator,
Senator: so this is easy. I I'm also at a 10. We'll still argue about it by the way. We're, we're, we're all done. I'm all done.
I'm all done. I'm just glad I'm not having to do it. I've got Baba the case tonight. This is good. Um, no, it's definitely a 10. I, I mean, for me, just the balance of this Napa cab, which is balance is not a word I would use to describe most Napa cabs, they usually skew far too sweet. Um, I love the complexity of flavor you get.
We've talked about, you [02:06:00] know, bam called out current. I think that's spot on. Mm-hmm. Blackberry, there's Earth, there's like, even like, um, almost floral quality that, like you get, you can get it on the nose, but especially on the palette. It, it, it, it has everything that you want in a wine that's gonna pair well with a substantial meal, with a flavorful cigar.
And the fact that this is a medium bodied smoke, but a flavorful, medium bodied smoke, and this doesn't overpower it, but holds up right alongside it. Yeah. There's not much more that you can ask for. So I think they've done a brilliant job, I think for an estate grown bottle at 75 bucks. It's a fair price point and, um, I think for an occasion like Thanksgiving or you know, really anything around the holidays, you think of, you know, any of the, of Christmas, anything like that.
Yeah, this would be great on a dining table with correct most things that you would want to eat for those occasions. So, um,
Gizmo: with this, this is gonna go
Senator: great,
Gizmo: by the way, with the [02:07:00] plant-based beef Wellington, oh yeah, sorry, Senator,
Senator: but with a cigar with food, it, it's really, um, hard to be disappointed. So a, a strong 10 for me.
Gizmo: So boys, the formal liquor rating tonight on the GGE Hills Estate, Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 is a perfect 10.
Bam Bam: Very good.
Gizmo: And now it's time to go to the formal lizard rating tonight on the part August series D number four. Europe,
Rooster: a fantastic flavorful D four. Absolutely brilliant. Uh, I don't how many times I've heard you
Gizmo: say the word
Rooster: brilliant.
Gizmo: Yeah, that is a, I mean, it is really, I wanna highlight that. That's the second I wanna highlight that. I think it's, it was a really
Rooster: good D four. Awesome. Excellent, excellent. D four. Awesome. Uh, this D four, I mean, I mentioned earlier it's like a, it's like a creamy rice pudding with cardamon and cinnamon, you know, but nothing was like really overpowering.
You said Not Meg.
Bam Bam: That's
Rooster: okay. Well, I said cinnamon too, but he was wrong about that. About cinnamon. I said cinnamon too early, but not back too. I got, I'm giving you a hard time [02:08:00] baking spice outta it. But the cigar was excellent. So I'm at a 10. Nice.
Gizmo: Solid
Rooster: 10.
Gizmo: Awesome. Again, using that word. Brilliant rooster.
You don't use that word like that's your word. Giz. I use that word a lot. Yes, you. But he does it. That's why I wanna, maybe too much. Yeah. I should tone it down. Yeah. Correct.
Senator: All right, Senator. I think before I even let this cigar, I was hoping to be able to give this a 10. I am so relieved that this is delivered as spectacular an experience as you can have with a D four.
It is definitely a 10. I'm not saying that because obviously this is my favorite Cuban cigar of all time. For this to be a 2022 cigar and rooster to call out the creaminess that we got in this cigar. Again, having smoked a ton of D fours, not every D four delivers that. Um, and it's not to say that the other ones that don't are lacking, it just like added another layer that was really awesome.
Uh, in just the flavor profile here, obviously the cinnamon, that's characteristic. D four, [02:09:00] we got that all the way through. Um, the nuttiness that was present here, um, like an mond like nuttiness, um, for me, you know, more almond, not like a dry nut, like a walnut or something like that, which I don't love as much.
Um, I, I, I have not one complaint. The flavor from start to finish delivered. There was no point at which I think any of us would describe it as muddled or we got bored. It was consistent. Um, the construction was pretty good. I had to touch up a few times, but nothing that disrupted my smoking experience.
The draw was perfect all the way through
Gizmo: slight resistance,
Senator: just a bit, just a
Gizmo: slight,
Senator: um, it, it's a perfect cigar for a celebratory occasion. Uh, Thanksgiving, any holiday, a birthday, any momentous thing that you're, you're kind of proud of and you wanna celebrate. This is a cigar that you ought to pick up.
And as I mentioned earlier. This is one of those Cuban cigars that young [02:10:00] can be just as great as something with age. And um, I think it deserves a ton of merit for that. So a strong 10 for me.
Gizmo: So I'm also at a 10. I I think this cigar was perfect. Front to end. It was perfect. I, I am actually blown away 'cause I haven't had a D four this good.
Yep. In quite some time. Not only because I haven't been reaching for them a ton. Yep. But just because I've had a few in the last year, let's say, don't even come close to this. Maybe an 85, 90 point cigar. This is a perfect D four. This is the cigar that every Cuban cigar smoker. This is the kind of thing you chase after.
I'm gonna chase this experience tonight on D four for years to come. It was that good. I really loved the entire flavor profile. I think the creaminess that you called out was, was perfect. The cinnamon, the balance of it. You used that word on wine tonight. Senator. I think this cigar was perfectly balanced.
Just the touch [02:11:00] of cedar. The, the, the cinnamon, the creaminess, the nutmeg, or, you know, those spices were calling out. It was so well put together. I said toast with almond butter earlier. It was so well put together. Constructed well, rolled well e everything about it was. Perfect. Brilliant, brilliant to use Rooster's word is the word.
I am, I, I, I just, I don't even know what to say. It was that good. I think it at, at $30, at $35. I still think it's a 10 at $40. I still think it's a 10. This cigar is Cuban cigar royalty.
Bam Bam: Yes.
Gizmo: It, there's no denying why this is one of the top Cuban cigars ever. Not just in rib robusto, but just ever as far as Cuban cigars go.
And this cigar in that rib robusto format tonight felt celebratory. It felt serious. It felt powerful, and it was [02:12:00] perfect. I love a D four. I loved this D four. So for me it's a 10 chef.
Chef Ricky: Yeah. I'm gonna say it. The cigar was a perfect 10 for me. Um, you know, I had a couple touch-ups, but that's, some of, that's the OCD in me.
A lot of that is just wanting to make this cigar. More perfect than what it already was. Um, you know, early on, Dr. Some dried fruit, some apricot, some jammy notes on the cold draw. Then we go into some cinnamon and some creaminess. And I even got leather on the final third. I got just the touch of it and it was pleasant.
It didn't overpower the notes that I was enjoying prior, which were some of the sweeter cinnamon notes. I think it played really well. Um, I want another one. Mm-hmm. I need some D fours in my life. You do? That's right. Ba brought his box. Yeah. Bam. Has
Gizmo: some in his tower. I heard.
Chef Ricky: I have none left. Well, from what I [02:13:00] remember, gizmo had about eight different shades of no.
Of people. No, definitely not.
Gizmo: Definitely not.
Chef Ricky: But this was an incredible cigar. Um, you know, the pairing was genius, uh, which just highlighted everything that was beautiful about the cigar in itself. Um, I really enjoyed it. It's a 10 and GI really think we need that 10 10 win soundbite. 'cause I have a feeling we're going to use it tonight.
Correct.
Bam Bam: All right. Bam. Bam. So, you know, the last Cuban cigar we had on the pod wasn't very good. And when you get to have the Monte
Gizmo: Cristo double und
Bam Bam: That's correct. It wasn't, uh, we, I was excited because it was a Cuban cigar. We don't get to do many of those now because of the scarcity of them. And when you get to have something like this.
I was, I had great expectations and everyone was fulfilled. I was super excited to sit down. I haven't had a D four in quite a long time. I said that [02:14:00] earlier. I cut the head off and Chefy mentioned it, but I was raving about the apricot, the raisin. So I got a lot of dried fruit on that, on that cold draw.
And that for me, continued through the entire second half. And it transitioned beautifully to the almond walnut. I got a hybrid of the two. Um, and I think that was, that's always a special experience. But for me, the cinnamon ramped up in the second half. Mm-hmm. I didn't get that in the first half. So for me, my experience was, I, I think it was extraordinary to get that dry fruit transitioning to nuttiness and cinnamon.
It was off the charts, 10 for me off the chart experience.
Gizmo: Alright boys, so the formal list rating tonight on the part is Series D, number four from 2022. Is another perfect 10.0. Fantastic. And as Chef Ricky said,
1010WINS: this is 10 10 wins and the Cross Bronx is backed up all the way to Jerome Avenue. The station.
You know the people you trust. 10 [02:15:00] 10 wins. You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world. That's right.
Gizmo: I wanted the last to that last line. We should do our own soundbite. You give us two hours of 22 minutes. That's correct. We'll
Senator: give you exactly of the world. I won't pagoda to narrate that. Oh yeah
Gizmo: dude.
I'll bring him to the studio where I record the intro and we'll do it. Life.
Life. Alright boys, A perfect night tonight with both pairings. Let's go through the other Partagas cigars we've done on the podcast in all these years. Mm. On episode one, of course we did, the Partagas Maduro number one scored an 8.7. On episode 14 we did the Colus scored 9.3. On episode 16, we did the Partagas short scored an 8.0.
On episode 36, the series P. Number two, the letter series, sister to the cigar tonight scored an 8.7. On episode 56, the Lucius with Rob Iowa scored an 8.0. On episode 64, the Corona score, US ROS [02:16:00] scored a 9.7. That was great. Episode 82, the series E number two scored a 9.3 on episode 113 higher than the P two.
I knew it was coming. Yeah, the Partagas 8, 9 8 scored a 9.0. On episode 133, the Par Eros La Casa Delano release scored a 5.7. That was terrible. On episode 149, the Maduro number three scored a 9.4. On episode 176, the Linea Maestra Rito scored a 9.2. And all the way back on our New Year's Eve 2021 special, the party gets Series D number four from 2019 scored a 9.2.
What? So tonight was eight points better than the first time we spoke the Series D number four on the podcast. Could
Bam Bam: we go through who rated what that night? I would like to know who gave it something less than a 10.
Senator: Well, I don't know if it was that great of a cigar pair. Yeah, I mean, not every D four is a perfect guy.
I know that. Like we
Bam Bam: talked about, I'm, I just wanna bust somebody's balls. That was a 2019 box, I think, right? [02:17:00] I want to hear 2019. I want hear who rated what. Just curious.
Gizmo: The Party series D
Bam Bam: number episode. I'm four on episode. Pagoda gave it a nine.
Gizmo: New Year's Eve, 2021. Everybody gave it a nine except Pagoda.
Who gave it a 10? Oh, giving it a 9.2. So, excuse me. Bam. Bam wasn't there, by the way.
Bam Bam: That's right. Missed that. Bam. Bam was not there then I missed that. Yes. Correct. That
Senator: would've been another 10. Yes. Everybody
Gizmo: else unbridled enthusiasm and, uh, pagoda gave it a 10. Okay, so that's that boys. What a great pairing tonight.
Excellent. Awesome. So let's go through it again. Hills Estate Cabernet Sauvignon from 2020. Scored a perfect 10 in the Partagas series D number four from 2022, scored a perfect 10. I wanna share with our listeners really quick, uh, our holiday schedule. So. We need, by the way, anything you loved from 2025, I'm putting together the best of 2025 episode now.
Mm. I need recommendations of stuff you loved. So [02:18:00] please get in touch with us. There's a
Bam Bam: lot. Send me an email
Gizmo: of stuff you loved from this year. And just so everybody knows, the best of 20 20, 25 episode is gonna air December 23rd, just it's a couple days before Christmas. And then we're gonna do our New Year's Eve episode.
The Cohiba bhi K 54 is gonna come out December 30th. So that is gonna be our holiday schedule for the year. So I want to hear from listeners. Please send us your favorite stuff from this year, any moments you loved for best of 2025. Of course, we have to thank Bon Roberts boys for sponsoring our Lizard of the Week segment, and we have to thank Lizard Johnny, the Greek for that awesome email about newbies and veterans at the Cigar Lounge.
Of course, we have to thank Lizard Enrique, our friend, and constant emailer. We really appreciate our friends out there who email us all the time with these great questions. Lizard. Enrique asked us a lot of great questions tonight, stuff we haven't talked about before on the pod, so we really, really appreciate that.
Of course, we have to thank Fabrica [02:19:00] five, our presenting sponsor. They have great Honduran cigars. We're coming into the holidays now. Load up, get your cigars, give them out as gifts, give out our code, share 'em with your friends. If you love this podcast by sharing our code of Fabrica five, you are supporting us.
So get yourself some great cigars. And support the Lounge Lizards podcast. And of course boys that carries over to our friends at Small Batch Cigars, correct, who also have a great discount code Lizard 15 on their website, always free shipping, 5% back. Plus using Code Lizard 15. You save 15% BAM Wealth on every single order
Bam Bam: Wealth of savings across the board
Gizmo: here.
So go out there, buy yourself some cigars from Fabrica five and Small Batch Cigars. We really appreciate your support and boy it's a great night tonight. 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 PO d.com. [02:20:00] Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us hello@loungelizardspod.com. You can also find us on Instagram at Lounge Lizards Pod.
We really appreciate your time and we'll uh, we'll see you next week.