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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!
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 Brewster, Pagoda, chef Ricky, and Bam Bam.
Gizmo:I had a plan to smoke a cigar, drink some tequila, talk about life, and, of course, have some laughs. So take this as your two hundred and thirty eighth official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. We meet us here once a week, we're gonna smoke a New World cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you a formal lizard raid. We try our first ever cigar of completely unknown origin. We answer a listener email on must have cigar accessories, and we share a voice memo on accessories that are good for air travel, all among a variety of other things for the next two hours.
Gizmo:So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, enjoy as we pair Wild Common Tequila Reposado with the Meerapfel Estancia 52 USA, Addision Exclusiva. A grand robusto slash toro tonight on the pod, boys.
Bam Bam:Double robusto.
Gizmo:From an unknown origin. I think that might be the first time I've ever said that.
Bam Bam:Is that true?
Gizmo:It is. And this is a 52 ring gauge cigar by five and five six inches long. It's called the Meerapfel La Estancia 52. And boys, we don't know anything about this cigar. You're gonna be shocked how little we know about the cigar we have in
Bam Bam:our house.
Rooster:I know it's gonna be good. It's got a pigtail on it.
Gizmo:It does.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Gizmo:I didn't even notice that. It does have a pigtail.
Pagoda:He gets an extra point.
Bam Bam:Well, but you take a point away for the footband, so you're even.
Gizmo:This I hate to say that. Banding on this cigar is loud and proud.
Rooster:It's opulent.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's very iridescent and very reflective.
Gizmo:So it almost looks like there's three bands, but there's really two. What I love is I think this is a first as well. Look at that the the main band. There's
Chef Ricky:like Connecting a there.
Gizmo:Yeah. There's a cutout there. That's connected. That almost looks like it's two bands, then of course the foot band that Ben's mentioning. So
Bam Bam:you know, in your hand it's way too reflective, but in the box, it really presents very elegantly if you look at that. That's a stunning Yeah.
Gizmo:You know? Alright, boys. Let's cut this thing. See what we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper.
Rooster:Yeah. The footband came right off, which is Yeah.
Gizmo:That's good. That's good. Alright. Gotta say, this is this wrapper is pretty rough. Yeah.
Gizmo:But It's not the prettiest wrapper.
Bam Bam:Try the cold draw, kids. It's so good. This is so good.
Gizmo:Wow. Mine's a little bit more resistant than I think I'd
Bam Bam:Mine's very tight, actually.
Rooster:Fruity.
Bam Bam:Yes.
Rooster:Right? Very fruity on the draw.
Pagoda:Wet cold draw.
Gizmo:It's like fig to me.
Bam Bam:Fig and berry.
Gizmo:It's like a fig Newton.
Bam Bam:I'm getting berries. Fig is good. Yeah. But it's I may need a perfect draw here.
Gizmo:I'm feeling the same. Mine's tight. Really?
Chef Ricky:I have a pretty open draw on mine.
Gizmo:Mine's pretty tight.
Chef Ricky:But I'm not getting the intense cold draw that you guys seem
Bam Bam:to have. It's delicious.
Rooster:How much did you cut off? Maybe very little.
Gizmo:I don't think I want to cut more, though. Pukhun, how's yours?
Pagoda:Yeah. It's good. It's resistant. Yeah. But I think when we light it up, it just one of the Open deals where
Bam Bam:it up. Let's hope so.
Gizmo:All right, boys. Let's light this thing. The Meerapfel La Estancia 52. And, again, it's a 52 ring gauge cigar by five and five sixth inches long. And we don't know where this was manufactured.
Gizmo:We don't know even the country where it was manufactured. We don't know anything about any of the ingredients. So The entire cigar is undisclosed. That's
Bam Bam:a problem.
Gizmo:These are the this is the king of being undisclosed tonight on
Pagoda:the part Really? I'd like the davidor if you mean to say.
Bam Bam:That's doing well.
Gizmo:We should know it's coming from the Dominican Republic with them.
Bam Bam:That's true, but I don't like when a product doesn't fully disclose its products, its ingredients, and its origin.
Gizmo:They don't even tell you which factory it's coming out of, or country or hemisphere. I'm willing to ignore that if the cigar blows
Chef Ricky:us away. I'm willing to tell you this is an extremely creamy Delicious. Delicious
Bam Bam:Off the light.
Chef Ricky:Cigar right off the light.
Rooster:Still throwing together.
Bam Bam:He's still
Gizmo:mine took a little bit to light. Like, I feel like I used
Bam Bam:Really?
Gizmo:Quite a bit more butane than I normally would. Pagoda was right, though.
Bam Bam:It opens up once the heat goes through
Rooster:it. Yeah.
Gizmo:It's a nice start. Yeah. I think you nailed it. Think you said it, chef. Really creamy.
Bam Bam:Mhmm. Right off the light.
Gizmo:Right off the light. What kind of flavors are you getting?
Chef Ricky:This is smoking very Cubanest to me right now. Good amount of salinity here I'm getting. I'm getting good salt. A little salty. I'm getting great bready notes.
Chef Ricky:Carbohydrate.
Bam Bam:For me it's a biscuit like a graham cracker that I love.
Pagoda:Yeah, I think that you nailed it up there.
Bam Bam:Yeah, that's a very common note that I chase for me. Yeah, graham cracker, buttered toast. Dry fruit, dare I say, a little bit of apricot, maybe a touch of dried fig.
Chef Ricky:Listen to everything we're calling out on the first draw.
Rooster:I was getting that more
Gizmo:on the cold
Rooster:draw than on the light.
Bam Bam:I was getting that too, but I'm getting that here. A little bit of dry fruit as well.
Gizmo:Chef, I agree with you. I think there's something very Cuban esque about this cigar. Now what would you guess compared to off the
Bam Bam:light in the Cuban catalog?
Gizmo:Probably To
Rooster:me, it kind of reminds me of the Turquinos.
Bam Bam:Fucking great call out.
Gizmo:Actually, I think that's a think you just nailed
Bam Bam:That's a fantastic call out.
Rooster:How do you That's what it
Chef Ricky:reminds How
Pagoda:do you remember the flavors with this cigar?
Chef Ricky:I can't wait to get there.
Gizmo:I think I
Pagoda:wanna answer that question.
Bam Bam:I wanna answer I wanna answer But I
Gizmo:think before we
Bam Bam:do that He's right.
Gizmo:Mean, now, he nailed it.
Bam Bam:Think that's a 100% correct. And honestly, for me, you're gonna laugh. It's also reminiscent of the schwa because there's a lot of what I'm getting here in the schwa that I also get in the turkey notes.
Gizmo:And I also think there's a touch of up in here. Yeah. The baking
Bam Bam:Uppen number two.
Gizmo:The up in two. Correct. Exactly.
Bam Bam:Correct. But to answer your question, how do you remember? Honestly, there are catalogs of cigars that you smoke that you have a really special a
Rooster:lot of Schwa Supreme, you remember that
Bam Bam:one That's true, right but that turquina is a special cigar, so you're gonna remember that.
Pagoda:Most
Chef Ricky:of I just
Bam Bam:don't. Most of
Gizmo:us do. When we smoke a great cigar, or I smoke a great cigar, I really
Bam Bam:It's an imprint.
Gizmo:Denote that in my head to the best of my ability. I'm not perfect But with there's some things that, like, you have a cigar, it's really different, unique. There's some sort of note you've never had before. And to me, it's like a brand. Like I'm branded with that flavor note.
Gizmo:So when I taste it again, I can go right to it. Now I think these two guys are better at this. You know, Chef and Bam are better at this than But I
Pagoda:it's I also think because they smoke it frequently.
Bam Bam:Don't be hating rooster.
Gizmo:But no. But we don't smoke the Tortquinos frequently. How when was the last time you had one of those? So been a while for me.
Bam Bam:Two years plus? Wow.
Pagoda:The thing about the gotta stop drinking, man. This is it.
Bam Bam:We drink too.
Rooster:The thing about the Tortquinos was that it was a departure from the brand. It was nothing. It was very unlike a La Gloria Cuban.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Rooster:It was very different. But it was more like It was more like this.
Bam Bam:Well, was more like other Cuban cigars where the rest of the LGC catalog was very, very specific.
Pagoda:Yeah. The smoke up, it's fantastic. It's like, you know, sometimes when you have these slightly drier cigars, like if you do get those drier cigars and the smoke just comes out right away, it feels like that. But obviously it's not giving me that experience.
Bam Bam:We talk about this gorgeous box? Yeah, it looks great. It's a stunning black lacquer 10 count box. We love the 10 count. It's just so handy.
Bam Bam:It carries beautifully. It's got a gold perimeter border on the top of the box, and there's a little embroidery in the corner, and this emblem is stunning, which is the Meerapfel.
Gizmo:Family logo?
Bam Bam:That's correct. That's the seal. Yeah. Fent, this is just absolutely gorgeous.
Rooster:And it comes in a beautiful cardboard outer layer. Then it
Gizmo:has It's
Bam Bam:very Cuban. The cardboard-
Rooster:The velvet.
Gizmo:It kind of reminds me of Bahike a little bit.
Bam Bam:So it has a velvet sleeve that you pull the box out of, but the cardboard People laugh at cardboard. If it's done well like this and it folds over perfectly, that's an elegant,
Gizmo:I'm elegant fine with this and like the bijique or like when you get a Sir Winston from Cuba or a box of Cohiba Incerro, they come in that cardboard outer so that that can get beat up if you're moving it around in transit, on the pallet, in the master crate, whatever it is.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:Then the box that you have in your hand doesn't get damaged.
Bam Bam:Yeah. The hinges are not gold, but they're plated, and they have a little weight to them, it doesn't fly Slam.
Chef Ricky:What's that stamp there on the upper left?
Bam Bam:I can't read it.
Gizmo:It says La Estancia e e, which is the exclusive edition. This is an exclusive release.
Pagoda:Does La Estancia mean?
Gizmo:The stay. The stay. The stay. I love their logo.
Pagoda:It's it's very eloquent, I must say.
Bam Bam:It's beautiful. You know? And then inside of the top lid, it's got a black ink version of the logo of the family seal, I guess, if you wanna call it that. It's beautifully done.
Pagoda:It looks like a cutter from here.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Right? Yeah. That's true. Good find.
Gizmo:There's been a lot of hype about this cigar. I picked it up at a small batch. Mhmm. The MSRP on these boys is $32.40.
Pagoda:Out of my budget, boy.
Gizmo:So with the 15%, got it a little bit less than that using our code there, lizard 15. But, I mean, right now
Bam Bam:That code is a gold mine.
Gizmo:It is. It's a problem actually, how much money I'm spending.
Bam Bam:Well, that's the thing. It's very tempting to continue to buy when you know you've got a code in your pocket.
Gizmo:Obviously, this is a debut on the pod tonight, boys. The Meerapfel family has not put out many cigars, right? But if you remember, if you've heard that name before, it's because we've talked about the Meerapfels a lot on this podcast. They, of course, are very famous for their Cameroon tobacco, which I'm going talk about when I go through their history. They were the former suppliers of Cameroon tobacco to the Arturo Fuente company.
Gizmo:And remember, they had that divorce situation, which got a little weird. Carlito put out that video. I've got crates and crates of Cameroon, and don't worry about it. Nothing's changing. Obviously, they also divorced the international distribution, which the Meerapfel family business was doing for Fuente.
Gizmo:Now they've taken that back to themselves. So pretty famous divorce happened last year between these two companies that have been doing business together for a very, very long time. So the other way that we've talked about this is the owner of the firm, Jeremiah Meerapfel, is very, very big personality. He's on all the shows. If you've seen him, you know.
Bam Bam:He's a showman.
Gizmo:He's a showman.
Bam Bam:Wears a hat, a brimmed hat.
Gizmo:He always has a Scarf.
Bam Bam:Scarf on. Yep. Exactly. Correct.
Gizmo:Exactly. So he's a big personality in the industry. And actually, he used to do kind of like a video podcast live with Carlito Fuente, like every week. And obviously, that doesn't happen anymore.
Bam Bam:Apparently, they're one of the one of, if not the wealthiest cigar or tobacco families in the world.
Gizmo:I would not be surprised if that's the case.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Don't they have an exclusive on They grow more Cameroon wrapper?
Gizmo:Well, it's not an exclusive. The thing about
Bam Bam:But they grow more than anyone in the world.
Gizmo:They do, very much. They are Especially authentic Cameroon in the jungles of Africa.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Gizmo:That's where they grow it. And what's interesting is if you think about it, and we were talking to someone at PCA about this. If you think about a normal tobacco farm, which is like any other farm where there's just rows and rows of, you know, some sort of crop growing, Cameroon grows in the jungle, and it's like different houses, like different ownership plots and acreages. It's all over the place. It's not centralized on farms.
Bam Bam:It's not a farmed product because I think it requires more
Pagoda:of
Bam Bam:the natural terrain and not a cultivated terrain. I don't know.
Gizmo:No, I think you're 100%
Bam Bam:right.
Gizmo:Yeah. But they have the hold on that because they've been doing it since the late sixties.
Pagoda:They require, yeah, think they consolidate a lot of the The interesting thing is I think they were comparing it with tequila, I think.
Gizmo:Yeah, kind of like the agave. Kind of like what happens with agave.
Chef Ricky:It sounds like it's a wild tobacco. It is. Yeah, it is. I would sort of compare it more so to Mezcal. Okay.
Chef Ricky:Right? So in Mezcal, you have a lot of variety of agave, some of which are wild, like the Pistate. So it sounds like Cameroon from Meerapfel was that. But I haven't tasted anything like this in an Arturo Fuente cigar. So they're definitely not using this stuff.
Bam Bam:Yeah. That's a correct definitive statement. This is
Gizmo:pretty damn good.
Bam Bam:But the quality is impeccable. You're just looking at this ash, the structure is thick and deep, and it's rich.
Gizmo:And it feels good in the hand, man.
Chef Ricky:Oh, man. There's even a little hint of spice that's really
Bam Bam:That's coming out now.
Chef Ricky:Really interesting here. It's like baking. It started off like cinnamon for me and it might start to be leaning into a pepper, into a little Yeah. White
Bam Bam:So It's interesting.
Chef Ricky:This is very interesting.
Bam Bam:And I'm finding it that it requires a very slow smoke because for me, the packing for my stick is a little dense. I'm not getting through as quickly as I'd like to, so it's requiring a slower pace.
Chef Ricky:So far, man, this is
Rooster:Do they make a lot They of
Gizmo:do not. They just come into The United States market fairly recently. They've been making Meerapfel cigars, I believe since 2014. Like I said, we'll go through the history in a little bit. But it's a pretty recent thing for them that they're doing this.
Gizmo:They've been just curators and growers of tobacco. Obviously, they had the distribution businesses. They've had their hands in a lot of things back quite a long time. They're legends of the tobacco business, you know? And so anytime we've ever, again, we've talked about them.
Gizmo:We talked about them actually with Ernesto.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Gizmo:Because they have a cigar, and it has Meerapfel Cameroon on it. And there's actually a band designating that on that Carrillo cigar. Smart.
Bam Bam:Cigars, you getting any pepper at all?
Gizmo:A little bit. A Me I'm little bit on the draw.
Bam Bam:On the fry?
Gizmo:I'm getting a little bit on the burn line. But the retrohale is still very pleasant.
Bam Bam:It's very, very nice, the retro. For me, the pepper, if if there is any, it's very mild. It's on the front.
Pagoda:I'm not getting it at all. I'm not getting pepper. I'm getting. It's like, you know, the graham cracker y thing with, like what my glucose biscuit with a little bit of the baking It's spice really good. I love that.
Bam Bam:Now you're talking.
Rooster:It's also very creamy.
Pagoda:Yes, very creamy. It's very and very easy to smoke. I mean to say, you just Dude,
Bam Bam:right now
Pagoda:You just leave it on your thing and it just
Bam Bam:It seems to be worth every dollar, the way it's performing.
Pagoda:It's really interesting that, like, after we lit it up, it feels like there's no resistance at all.
Bam Bam:I still have a touch, which Yeah. I
Pagoda:But I I don't.
Chef Ricky:Mine is wide open. I almost wish I had a little resistance. But
Gizmo:Mine is right in the sweet spot now for me as far as the draw goes.
Bam Bam:There's one little disappointing detail. Let me see your rash. You're you saw the two of us, I think it's because our cigars may be packed a bit denser than the other guys. For us, ours are a bright white, and it's very clear, the layering. Yours is a bit darker.
Bam Bam:Yours has a little dark there's some discoloring in some of the flesh from cigar to cigar to cigar.
Rooster:Mine's fairly light.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's not that dark.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Pagoda:Yeah. Mine was actually it wasn't stacking up, so
Bam Bam:it's Yeah. It opened like a flower.
Gizmo:This is really good. Yeah. So let's go through some of the Meerapfel family history. This is pretty wild. I think you guys are gonna like this.
Gizmo:So as we know, as I mentioned, they're one of the oldest tobacco families in the world. The family history traces their tobacco activity back to 1610. Wow. Unreal. 1610.
Gizmo:Is that the Renaissance period?
Rooster:Yes. I mean,
Gizmo:is that like
Bam Bam:Yeah. That's way back there.
Pagoda:Yeah. Michelangelo was around. This is before most of the religions were around.
Gizmo:Was there a Sistine Chapel painted at that time, or is that the '15 something or '16?
Pagoda:Was it '15?
Gizmo:Yeah, it's right around there.
Bam Bam:It was prior to that, I believe.
Gizmo:So they've been involved in tobacco trading, cigar manufacturing, leaf brokerage distribution, and of course, wrapper production. So the tobacco trade moved through Spain, Venice, Italy, and Germany, and Meerapfel founded a cigar factory in 1876 in Untergrombach, Germany. And the family actually produced cigars there until World War II, and then during the war, the factory was destroyed, and then the first chapter of the family making cigars ended. So then Richard Meerapfel went to Cameroon in Africa in 1969, and he is credited with help helping preserve authentic Cameroon wrapper production. And, of course, that became the family's modern identity in premium cigars and certainly how we've become familiar with them.
Gizmo:So the quote that they use, the kind of trademark that they use, is called genuine Meerapfel Cameroon. And that's what you see on any product that has Meerapfel tobacco in it. You'll see that genuine Meerapfel Cameroon, which of course has now become one of the most respected rapper names in the business. A lot of that thanks goes to Arturo Fuente, of course, because he used a lot of their stuff for many, many years. So behind the scenes, they spent a lot of decades growing, sourcing, aging, and distributing their Cameroon tobacco.
Gizmo:They've worked closely with all of the major cigar companies, and they also handled international distribution for brands, of course, like Arturo Fuente and others. So Meerapfel was not originally a modern cigar brand. Okay? So La Estancia, not the one we have in our hand, the original one came out in 2014 and was really only released in Europe. So The United States couldn't get this, and that was because it featured Nicaraguan tobacco and Cuban tobacco.
Gizmo:So that leads us to a discussion that we should have in a little bit, and I want you to think about this. Is there a component of this that's authentic in them not disclosing what's going on so it can be put up for sale in The United States?
Bam Bam:Oh, I know where you're going.
Gizmo:Or, uh-oh. Or are they playing with this, you know, elusiveness that there could be Cuban Tobacco. Some, you know.
Bam Bam:You know? That's unlikely. You never know, but they're highly unlikely.
Gizmo:Some forbidden fruit Yeah. In what you're smoking. So I I think the all of the above
Bam Bam:You couldn't ever prove it either.
Gizmo:You couldn't prove it. Of course not.
Bam Bam:Unless you do it.
Rooster:I mean, why do you think it's unlikely? If they have been in business for such a long time
Bam Bam:You think
Chef Ricky:they're They in
Rooster:have had you know, they could have mass piled Cuban Tobacco.
Gizmo:I think the reason why is because if there is some possibility that somehow it's outed that that's happening Correct. Now you're in
Chef Ricky:Deep, deep
Gizmo:You have a real problem with, you know, The United States.
Rooster:Remember a cigar at our North Korea lounge where the owner used to say, this particular cigar has Habano Cuban tobacco. Do you remember that? Do you remember? I think it was called the Pinar or something.
Bam Bam:I remember that cigar, but I don't remember it, smoking it.
Rooster:Yeah. I mean, it wasn't that great, but it was mentioned that, oh, this one has tobaccos from the Pinar del Rio. Apparently the way they got around to it was because the tobacco in it was pre embargo.
Gizmo:So that would allow So super, super old. And that's what I thought that they were talking about. No, don't think that's the case, at least on the original one. I mean, certainly for the price. They were selling that in 2014 for like $25 $26 in Europe.
Gizmo:So having pre embargo Cuban tobacco, there's no way that they were releasing it and telling that story without sharing
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:That there was pre embargo tobacco because that people would have gone gangbusters.
Chef Ricky:You'd be
Bam Bam:bursting to tell people.
Gizmo:Of course. Of course. So, La Estancia, the former version of what we have in our hand came out in 2014. Then in 2022, the Meerapfel cigar came out, which was an ultra premium luxury cigar line, which was a tribute to Richard Meerapfel. It featured authentic camera and wrapper, of course, and was positioned as as they call it Uber luxury.
Gizmo:So I'm assuming the price on that was ridiculous. So La Estancia, the line is a tribute to the family's Cuban legacy. So it's deeply connected to Hellerapfel and pre embargo Cuban tobacco history. The family has had large reserves of Cuban tobacco, and they waited years hoping the embargo situation would change. It's is what it says here.
Gizmo:So then allegedly, they created La Estancia. I don't know if I believe that. Again, I think you'd be telling people and you'd be selling it for ridiculous prices. So that cigar that was coming out in Europe in 2014 was manufactured in Honduras and featured, like I said, both Nicaraguan and Cuban tobacco. The cigar we have in our hand, this is the La Estancia Edicion Exclusiva, was released internationally in 2018.
Gizmo:And, of course, as we're tasting, I think, it was designed to recreate an older Cuban flavor style. The family says largely disappeared after the early nineties. So some of the notes that they have on their website here, flavor notes, cream, cappuccino, latte, nougat, and soft vintage Cuban style character.
Bam Bam:Oh, I think they've achieved it.
Gizmo:Yeah. I think that's one of those when you list you see the list of the notes provided by the manufacturer. Yeah. I kinda think they nailed it.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I think they did an incredible job here so far.
Pagoda:It's really interesting because now the top of my palate's really filling up with the flavor It's good. Which is very, like, quintessential, like Cuban cigars. You know?
Bam Bam:You know what it reminds me of from the point of view of the way you just described the coating of your mouth? When you have a punch punch, when I smoke that cigar, it coats I get a coating of that salty graham cracker y thing happening more than most Cuban cigars, and I'm getting that similar experience here. I think it's right on the money.
Rooster:The punch punch has a mustiness to it. Which you don't get here. Which you don't get that
Gizmo:here, but I know what you mean by the
Rooster:coating of
Gizmo:But there is a little funk here. There's some sort of funk on There's the a funk on the finish.
Bam Bam:On the touch. Correct. On touch of that finish. Correct. I agree.
Gizmo:So the current US release was announced in 2026. It was part of Meerapfel's family reserve blends entering The US market. So this cigar comes in four sizes, all coming in boxes of 10. So you have the 50, which is a traditional Robusto 50 by five. The 52 we're smoking tonight, again, 52 by five and five sixth inches long.
Gizmo:The 56 is a 56 by six and a half, and they have a Gordo 60 by six.
Bam Bam:Gordo? Oh,
Gizmo:yeah. Pagoda's gonna be picking that one up.
Chef Ricky:I thought he was pointing at me. You wouldn't be wrong.
Pagoda:Hey, but that's where you realize value.
Gizmo:Is that right? He's a value guy. I'm just kidding. So, yeah, these are pricey cigars. The cheapest one I think is coming in somewhere in the high twenties.
Gizmo:Of course, going up to closer to $40 across all four cigars. Let's talk about Jeremiah Merrifell, and I found this interesting. I wanted to read you this opulent biography on the Mirefel website.
Bam Bam:Dakota is loving this cigar.
Pagoda:I could see it. He's loving it.
Bam Bam:It's rare that he holds it and does the bam bam shake. Yeah. And then he squints and then goes like this and shakes his head. He is liking this cigar.
Pagoda:I'm really liking it. I'm impressed.
Rooster:I might be way off, but it kind of reminds me of a little bit of a bahike.
Bam Bam:Yeah, too, I guess. A touch.
Gizmo:I don't think it has that Cohiba DNA in it.
Rooster:Like, bahike is a little bit different than the Cigarlo series. Oh, it definitely is.
Gizmo:There's no question about that. But I still think that there is a grassy hay thing that exists in bijique. Certainly, they're creamier cigars, and they have that little bit of funk to them. I still think they have a little bit of that Cohiba DNA in them. This is really, to me, this is almost like a I think a little Gloria Cuban obi jicke.
Gizmo:I think that's a better way to put it. I think it has that DNA with the creaminess. There's that little bit of funk. Super elegant smoke.
Bam Bam:Very elegant.
Gizmo:I think this is really, It's special. Really Yeah,
Rooster:more like the Turquinos, but not not the MDO series. MDO series, you know, those are very floral.
Bam Bam:If there's any cigar in the Cuban market or the catalog, it's the Turquinos that this is most like, I think. Good call out,
Gizmo:man. So I want to read you this bio, and then we'll get to our pairing. This is the bio on the Meerapfel website about Jeremiah Mierapfel. Think you guys are gonna love this. In the shadowed light where legacy meets imagination, Jeremiah Mierapfel stands as the untamed force behind the Meerapfel myth.
Gizmo:He is the alchemist, a relentless creator whose vision burns with a rare fire. Guided by an instinct few possess, he seeks out the most ancient and elusive tobacco leaves, forgotten treasures, Davitov, from distant lands, each carrying the echo of centuries. With a mind steeped in daring elegance is your mind steeped in daring elegance, Bam?
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:After your your Bam Bam fashion faux pas a couple
Bam Bam:weeks correct.
Gizmo:With a mind steeped in daring elegance, you give shape to dreams. Intricate bands that blend gold with sacred materials. Objects d'art. What is that? Objects Objects dart that defy convention and experiences crafted in such limited measure, they seem to exist out of time.
Gizmo:Yet Jeremiah's true brilliance lies not only in creation but in transformation. He does not simply make cigars. He reimagines them as vessels of desire. I think Pagoda's experiencing that
Pagoda:Oh, right Jeremiah.
Gizmo:As expressions of rarity, as declarations of uncompromising excellence in his hand. The cigar is no longer a product. It's a living masterpiece.
Pagoda:Is it the same writer, marketer as the Davidoff guy? I think
Rooster:they use the But same
Gizmo:I think he wrote this about himself. That's what I think.
Bam Bam:One man alone, betrayed by the country he loves.
Gizmo:So the other guy involved in this cigar is a guy named Reinhard Pohereck. Reinhard Pohereck. And his bio reads, in the silent chambers where knowledge becomes legacy, Reinhard emerges as the unseen sentinel of the Meerapfel universe. He is the guardian, capital a g on guardian, a figure of poise and precision whose mastery lies not in spectacle but in the depth of his understanding. With a rare blend of expertise and diplomatic finesse, so the government, he navigates the intricate world of cigars like a conductor guiding a symphony attuned to every nuance, every note.
Gizmo:To Meerapfel, Reinhard is more than a custodian. He's a curator of meaning, capable of discerning the invisible thread that binds tradition to excellence. His palette honed to perfection rivals that of a perfumer or a master sommelier, a sensitivity born of reverence, not of routine. But Reinhard does not simply protect. He reveals with the elegance of a matre des ceremony.
Gizmo:I had some French. They love one phrase of French in here like a matre d. He introduces each creation with quiet authority and timeless grace. In his hands, a cigar is not offered. It is unveiled.
Gizmo:Every gesture, every word carries the weight of heritage and the promise of an experience unlike any other. If Jeremiah is the visionary fire, Reinhard is the composed force that brings fire to form. Together, they are the twin pillars of a legacy shaped since 1610, an alliance forged not only to preserve the Mirefel name, but to elevate it generation after generation. Fredo. I'm ready to run through the wall.
Bam Bam:1610?
Gizmo:1610. Yeah.
Pagoda:We'll go. This is before the Homo sapiens came around.
Bam Bam:How were those days?
Rooster:I was in Cameroon. Those are two wild bios.
Bam Bam:That's unbelievable.
Gizmo:Wow. I think I should have Chad GBT write lizard bios in this style.
Rooster:I was
Chef Ricky:just gonna say that.
Bam Bam:That'd be hilarious.
Gizmo:Maybe I'll do that while we're talking about the tequila. I'll get a couple bios written. So boys, we'll come back to the cigar in a moment. Let's go now to our pairing. We have the Wild Common Tequila Reposado.
Gizmo:Really excited to see how this does tonight with this cigar. Cheers, boys. Good to see you.
Bam Bam:Good to see you, man.
Gizmo:For the listener out there, we are drinking these neat in our Glencairn glasses. Aroma's fantastic. Oh, the nose is great. Also creamy. Buttery.
Gizmo:Actually, it has like Buttery
Pagoda:I thought it
Chef Ricky:would be Lots of PetraCore. Apple. Good amount of minerality here.
Gizmo:Shout out Grindr.
Chef Ricky:And I think Bam called it a little bit. He mentioned green apple and I got a little bit of honeydew on the nose.
Pagoda:You guys are so much better at this because I thought it was a little grape y.
Bam Bam:Little grape juice tonight, Pagoda?
Gizmo:Is there like a lactic type of on the nose? On the nose?
Chef Ricky:Yeah, that's the butteriness. There's a little funk.
Gizmo:It's leaning more funky. Yeah, yeah. Lactic.
Chef Ricky:Yep.
Bam Bam:It's very good.
Gizmo:That's pretty damn good.
Chef Ricky:So the brain the genius behind this is Chava Rosales or the master distiller behind Cascain.
Gizmo:Oh, wow.
Chef Ricky:So this is from Nom eleven twenty three. So we already know they make legendary juice. And the model behind creating this was nothing added, nothing lost. Right? So in creating this, this just came out a few years ago.
Chef Ricky:So right at the onset of like the whole additive free movement and the guy that basically sourced Chava to make this juice, he's a it's called Wild Common because he's an outdoorsman. He's actually a climber. I forget his name, but we recently did a dinner together over the summer. That was really popular, and it did well. And, they also have a mezcal that's delicious, But their entire line is great.
Chef Ricky:I love this stuff because it leans briny, buttery, and very mineral forward. Yeah. But there's like a little kiss of bourbon there of oak from the bourbon barrels. They're obviously lightly toasted bourbon barrels.
Bam Bam:A touch
Gizmo:of sweet fruit.
Chef Ricky:Yep. So great, great tequila to add, to your cabinet for those additive free, nerds out there like myself.
Bam Bam:How much is this bottle?
Chef Ricky:This bottle runs about $70.
Bam Bam:Okay. Not bad.
Gizmo:I think it's really good. You know what's funny though? There is a little bit more heat.
Pagoda:Yeah, heat.
Rooster:I was expecting.
Pagoda:That's yeah.
Gizmo:What is that coming from? Because it's not a higher in proof. What is that?
Chef Ricky:I it's the production process. So what they're doing here, they're blending. They use a Tahona for milling, but they also use a mechanical shredder. They use copper pot stills, but they also use stainless steel stills. They do fermentation with fibers, but they also do fermentation without fibers.
Chef Ricky:So everything they're doing, they're kind of combining the slightly more modern approach with the old school approach. And I think it produces a slightly sharper spirit.
Gizmo:Nice.
Chef Ricky:Because the 40, it's still 40%, it's not any higher.
Bam Bam:You know, I'm not getting heat,
Pagoda:but I
Bam Bam:do I get pepper.
Gizmo:Know, I'm just getting a little warmth as it goes
Bam Bam:Warmth, yeah.
Pagoda:I'm getting the warmth and I'm getting a little bit It's of a
Gizmo:not bad, I'm not complaining.
Bam Bam:I love that warmth, but for me it's very minerally on the finish. Where for me all of the sweetness and the fruit and apple, I'm getting that in
Gizmo:the front.
Pagoda:In the front, correct.
Bam Bam:The minerality, I kind of enjoy it I have to say. That's a pretty interesting experience.
Chef Ricky:So I think again, think that's coming from the blending of both worlds. But you're right, the finish is very mineral and almost briny and drying and the start is where you get the fruit and some of the sweeter almost banana like this.
Bam Bam:Could do a dozen oysters with this.
Gizmo:Oh, that'd be great.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Absolutely. That'd be
Gizmo:a fantastic snack.
Chef Ricky:I mean, this pairs well generally with any almost raw fish preparation. The ceviche is great.
Pagoda:I'm
Chef Ricky:sure. The blanco especially goes well. But the Reposado, because it's not so heavily oaked, it leans itself well to something like oysters. Do you
Bam Bam:carry this at the restaurant? Of course. Yeah. There you go.
Chef Ricky:It's great
Gizmo:stuff. So chef, when you were reading about the cigar, when I said, Hey, do you think that this be a good pairing for us tonight? Because we had it in the in the ready to go. What made you say that what what kind of informed your guess that this might be
Chef Ricky:little me bit for me, it was I honestly don't remember what I read on the cigar. Sorry.
Gizmo:No, it's okay. But you said the minerality when you were reading it,
Rooster:you said that it
Gizmo:was gonna, you know, tee up the cigar.
Chef Ricky:What I actually no. What I did remember reading was there was slight buttery and creamy notes on the cigar and I thought I felt that the pepper would be a good contrast to that on the finish and that the briny notes and minerality would pair well with as a as a compliment as a similarity to the cigar whereas the pepper provided contrast. I have
Bam Bam:a slightly different take. I happen to love how the minerality and brininess, for me, actually brings out more sweetness in the cigar. Yeah. After a sip, I let it kind of settle and I take a pull on the cigar. It's really helping to accentuate just the sweet factors of this cigar.
Bam Bam:The fruitiness, it's really quite nice. It's an interesting pairing.
Chef Ricky:It's great because the finish on the spirit itself is not doing that. That's exactly right. So when you go back to drawing the cigar, you're
Bam Bam:experiencing this beautiful volley. Exactly. That's exactly right. Because you're getting sweetness on the front of the spirit, but not at the finish and when you're taking your draw, you're right back to your
Chef Ricky:Yeah. So this pairing in particular has some components that are contrasting what we're doing and I think usually a lot of our pairings are complementing and one this is more of a contrast or has a contrasting note.
Gizmo:I kind of like the contrast though.
Bam Bam:This pairing takes patience to experience well, and you can't smoke and drink too fast. You just cannot.
Rooster:Yeah.
Pagoda:No gol No patience, man. I know that.
Chef Ricky:No. And it's perfect because can't you can't smoke the cigar fast.
Bam Bam:You can't. I don't
Gizmo:think so.
Chef Ricky:I think the pace of the of the tequila requires that as well.
Bam Bam:Yeah. That that volley that you described, you're not going to get that if you're gulping and smoking quickly and you're onto your next cigar. It's not going to happen. This is a mannered experience.
Pagoda:And for me it's so different because, I don't know, like maybe I like a certain type of, even in the tequila, like, you know, something which has a sweeter finish in the end. So for me, I'm not really A touch different. It's very different. Like, you know, when you're given something completely different, like my expectation was way off. So I'm not really feeling exactly what you guys are feeling.
Pagoda:Let's give it a bit more.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I would say this is more like drinking Fort de Lessa, for those that are familiar with that flavor profile in tequila, than it is drinking El Te So to. Right? El Te So to is very lean sweet, leans to those sort of butterscotch notes. There's no butterscotch in this.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. There's butter, but no butterscotch.
Bam Bam:It is buttery. Yeah.
Chef Ricky:It's almost oily. Even the glass, it looks great.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I'm
Rooster:trying to think, what other cigar is more Cuban esque than this one in the new world.
Chef Ricky:The Guan offered a lot of Cuban esque notes, but I feel like this delivers it more.
Rooster:This even has that salty
Chef Ricky:clang that
Rooster:you get out of a Cuban cigar. The Cabay Guan didn't have that, right?
Bam Bam:Know, close.
Pagoda:To My Father Blue?
Rooster:I haven't had that.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I would think that does give me some
Pagoda:Cuban esque, the Honduran
Rooster:don't 100%. You think this might have some Honduran tobaccos? I
Gizmo:here's my question.
Chef Ricky:Well, you said it was grilled in Honduran? Or no? There are other cigars.
Gizmo:We don't know where this is. Alright. So let me ask this question. Do you think that there's Cuban tobacco in this cigar?
Rooster:It's hard to tell because you can I guess there's a way to replicate those flavor notes without using Cuban tobacco? We have gotten There's so many Honduran cigars that we have had that kind of taste like Cuban tobacco, but we know there is no Cuban tobacco in it.
Bam Bam:Correct. Like Klaus Kellner's pledge to his father, that cigar that he made, that for me was very Cuban like, and it's there's some nuances of that that I'm getting here too, but other than a few of the Hondurans that Pagoda mentioned earlier and What We're Smoking Tonight and a Capa Iguan, I don't know. There aren't many other ones.
Pagoda:Even the stoic, remember the first time we had the stoic, we were trying to figure out whether it's Honduran or not, but it was not. They
Gizmo:didn't have that.
Bam Bam:But we can't forget about the Trinity Robusto. That's also very Oh
Pagoda:yeah, that's
Rooster:why And a lot
Bam Bam:of the FOH cigars,
Gizmo:That's they're very
Rooster:what I lean to say that this might have some Honduran tobaccos. It's a blend of it has to have some Honduran.
Bam Bam:It smokes like a Honduran. It's actually exquisite right now.
Chef Ricky:I just got a little pocket of you guys had to add pralines or pralines. Perfect.
Gizmo:A little Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We did have some caramel.
Bam Bam:Yeah. A little caramel.
Rooster:Yeah. The cigar actually just turned that sweet note. Like, you're getting that sweetness now.
Chef Ricky:It's even on the burn line.
Gizmo:Dude. So, boys, we're coming to the end of the first third here on the Meerapfel.
Bam Bam:I blew past it.
Gizmo:La Estancia, the 52, the Edicion Exclusiva from an unknown origin.
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Gizmo:Debuting on the pod tonight. And this wild common Tequila Reposado, what's everybody thinking right now?
Rooster:It's a very elegant smoke, very balanced, very creamy, very it's got that baking spice thing happening. And now now it just got Sweeter. Sweeter.
Bam Bam:I'm in lockstep with what Rooster just said.
Chef Ricky:I have one complaint and it's minor, but my cash is kind of flaky as Ben pointed out earlier, but it's gotten a little worse.
Rooster:I thought you were going say you're not getting any tomato. No, I
Chef Ricky:don't want it here. I don't want it here. But the burn line is wonky and the ash is flaky, and it's kind of flowering on me, as Ben would say. But the flavor is phenomenal. Like, it's not coming through in flavor at all.
Chef Ricky:It's just visual.
Bam Bam:What do you got to guess?
Gizmo:I I'm really having a very Cuban esque experience tonight on this. I'm honestly shocked Yeah. How good it is. I think the tequila is a wonderful pairing for this. I I love, as you were detailing the contrast, I think that's a perfect word for what I'm experiencing over here, the creaminess, the sweetness.
Gizmo:There is that little bit of funk that that remains on the palate, then the tequila really complements going down. I I just I'm really, really happy right now with this. You know
Rooster:the tobaccos, they taste aged. They do. It's not, you know, it's not fresh tobacco. It's like you can taste the age on some of the tobacco.
Bam Bam:Well, said it's pre embargo. That's pretty old.
Rooster:Yeah.
Gizmo:I got to say we've smoked a lot of cigars that are $32 Oh yeah. We smoke cigars that are a lot higher than $32 and they don't perform like this.
Bam Bam:Yeah, this is really quite impressive.
Pagoda:Yeah.
Bam Bam:The Don Carlos shark, there are some of that elements in that cigar that I'm getting here tonight, so that could be another one that's for me
Gizmo:But that has a little bit more of a Dominican kind of
Bam Bam:There's a touch of Cuban quality to that that's not consistent in the entire smoke, but you get it. I think this is much more of a Cuban experience.
Gizmo:So, boys, I have a good one for you. In the shadowed light where wanderlust meets calamity, Pagoda stands as the intrepid and occasionally airborne soul of the lounge lizards. He is the traveler, yes, but one whose journeys have tested the very laws of physics and probability. From the sun drenched fields of pro cigar to the unfortunate moment, his vehicle left the earth entirely. Pagoda carries not only the spirit of exploration, but the scars of its consequences.
Gizmo:With a mind attuned to both the grand and the granular, he moves through the world of cigars with quiet authority when he's not navigating the perils of the open road. He's walked the factories, met the rollers, and returned not only with souvenirs but with understanding. He has also, on more than one occasion, tested the structural integrity of his own transport, becoming legend in the process.
Bam Bam:Many times. Times.
Gizmo:Yet Pagoda's true brilliance lies not where he goes, but in what he survives to bring back. He does not simply report. He translates, distilling the essence of distant lands, ancient crafts, and the occasional near miss into moments the circle can feel. In his voice, the world narrows. The room widens, and every cigar becomes a passport to something greater, even if the journey there was slightly more dramatic than intended.
Gizmo:He does not merely travel. He endures bridging continents, traditions, and the occasional airborne interlude with the same unflappable grace. In his hands, distance disappears. The cigar is no longer a product of place. It's a vessel of memory, of craft, of belonging, and of quiet understanding that some journeys are simply more memorable than others.
Pagoda:Absolutely. How about that?
Gizmo:Yeah. Wow. I gotta tell you, this AI shit is scary, man.
Bam Bam:Scary, isn't He endures. He self inflicts.
Pagoda:Definitely soften flicks.
Gizmo:What are you liking better right now? If I had if you had to pick one.
Bam Bam:Is it because I'm doing this?
Gizmo:Yeah. I see you kinda bobbling.
Bam Bam:I I think I love this. I really do love both.
Pagoda:Oh, you do? Yeah.
Bam Bam:I I liked like, chef, I think, hit it on the nail on the head. That volley between that minerality and sweetness, it helps for me reset every draw I take on a cigar. So I'll I'll take that sip. I'll just wait a few seconds, take a draw. It really does enhance the sweet nature of this of this cigar.
Bam Bam:It brings out the creaminess, it brings out the butteriness, and it brings out some of that praline that you mentioned earlier.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Yeah. I'm getting even now from my last sip, it drew out some toasted coconut, and now there's citrus. There's like a good amount of sweet citrus on the finish of the tequila. This is so fun.
Bam Bam:That I'm not kidding.
Gizmo:I mean, listen, guys, we're forty some odd minutes in, and we're still raving about the cigar and the pairing. But I mean, it's very rare that we are this far into an episode still like pretty blown away by this cigar.
Pagoda:Yeah, I think we have
Bam Bam:a shared symbiotic relationship tonight, chef and I.
Gizmo:What is
Bam Bam:Because I'm getting like an orange rind in my drink kind of in the finish. Yep. That minerality has disappeared.
Gizmo:The citrus, bro.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Yeah, the minerality's gone. It's kinda like
Rooster:On a little the tequila.
Bam Bam:Yeah, tequila, yes, definitely.
Pagoda:You know, I've come to the realization that tequilas drink better when they're warmer. Like now I'm like really
Bam Bam:Well definitely room temperature.
Pagoda:Much better now.
Chef Ricky:Room temperature. Think everything does. We've had this conversation at Nordstrom.
Bam Bam:Yeah, correct.
Pagoda:I do like a lot of drinks with ice, meaning I was, you know, we were drinking with Flor de Cana yesterday, and I put in a cube of ice and it was very, very good. Meaning I think in Havana 7, I don't like the ice that much.
Bam Bam:It'd be sin to put a cube of ice
Pagoda:in that. Yeah. But, you know, it it depends. For me, it's slightly different now. Mhmm.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's go to some news. Couple things to talk to you about tonight before we get into some listener email. This one I thought was pretty interesting. The Tobaccoist of Greenwich, of course, a very famous retailer in Connecticut, you know, legendary place, very beloved by manufacturers.
Gizmo:It's pretty amazing. I know you've been there. Wanna talk to you about
Bam Bam:that in a Yeah, yeah.
Gizmo:So they landed and they announced these all at the same time, exclusive cigars from Foundation, La Flor Dominicana, and Padron. So on June 10, The Tobacconist of Greenwich is hosting an event called the Titans of Tobacco, featuring quite a few noted cigar personalities. As a part of the event, each person is bringing special cigars, most of which will be an exclusive Vitola of an existing line. So the three that have been announced so far are the foundation ten year anniversary fifty four by six Toro made by AJ Fernandez using a Connecticut broadleaf Habano hybrid wrapper over a Brazilian Matafina binder and fillers from regions in Nicaragua, Condega, Esteli, and Jalapa. Previous to that, it's only been offered in a 58 by seven Salomon.
Gizmo:So this is also all of these are gonna be in 10 count boxes. That one is going to be the Foundation Rare Finds Titans of Tobacco Collection priced at $47.50 a cigar. Very similarly, La Flora Dominicana's release is the same 54 by six Toro, and it's a version of the La Flora Dominicana thirty years. That cigar previously introduced to 2024, only been offered in a 58 by six and a half chisel Vitola, but this is gonna be the second one. So Blendwise and shout out, by the way, to Half Wheel for all this awesome information.
Gizmo:They make it very easy for me to share this with you. So shout out Charlie and those guys. Blendwise, it uses an Ecuadorian Sumatra seed wrapper over an aged binder from Cotawi Dominican Republic and fillers from the farm in La Canela Doctor. So this one is gonna be called the La Fort Dominican Rare Finds Titans of Tobacco Collection, also priced at $47.50. And finally, Padron is making a 54 by six Toro for the event.
Gizmo:Of course, it's a Nicaraguan Puro. This one is interesting in that it's only going to be offered in one Maduro wrapper. It will not be offered in a natural. This one is $7.50 for the $10.75 dollars a cigar. So Tobacco Secret Ingredients has yet to announce the releases from Arturo Fuente, Henke Kellner, and Klaus Kellner, our friends, and Tobacco Secret Ingredients.
Gizmo:At least one of those three cigars will be something other than a 54 by six Toro Extra. So folks who are really into this and are close to The Tobaccoonists of Greenwich can get tickets for the titans of tobacco at their website, tobacconistsofgreenwich.com. The tickets are $1,750 each.
Pagoda:Yeah. Well, that's like the World Cup softball.
Gizmo:By the way, think it's sold out.
Pagoda:I'm wrong.
Bam Bam:Yeah. We'll we'll talk about all of that in two seconds whenever you're ready.
Gizmo:So unfortunately, event is sold out. The tickets are $1,750, completely sold
Bam Bam:out. So this is a common theme there because of the spending power in the neighborhood and the region, right, in Greenwich. They have some of the most incredible raffles where you're bidding, and the price points on what they're actually buying are outrageous. You're talking 5 figures for a box of cigars, paraphernalia in a shop they end up raffling off if they're raising money for a charity.
Gizmo:They usually do it for charity. I know Fuente does a for the Arturo Fuente
Bam Bam:family It's an incredible place because the patrons there come, They're wealthy. There's no limit to the spending power, and they're very generous. And they also all happen to love cigars. I've smoked a few cigars up there, especially in the springtime. The shop's not massive, but they'll pull chairs out onto the sidewalk.
Bam Bam:And you're
Rooster:They have a lounge.
Bam Bam:They do. It's not that big.
Rooster:They have enough lounge.
Bam Bam:It's not that big. Maybe inside, there's eight chairs, if I counted correct, nine maybe. So I smoked on a sidewalk with fourteen, fifteen other guys, and your people are passing through, and you're smoking and having conversations. It's a
Gizmo:There's unique something about them. I mean, they are up there as far as a brick and mortar retailer, as far as having a name that, you know, I don't know if it's relationship, if there's just a deep mutual respect with these manufacturers, but to get these guys to all show up to one of your events at the same time
Bam Bam:It's based on one There's only one of They move products.
Gizmo:Of course they do.
Bam Bam:And it's all at a ultra premium, and their patrons are spending that money for that product.
Gizmo:And of course it's got to be good customer service. They've got to be
Bam Bam:good It is very good. People
Gizmo:to
Bam Bam:You can ask them one question, and they'll keep you standing there for twenty minutes giving you all of the different arrays of answers and options for one cigar that you're looking at.
Gizmo:Pretty awesome. So I want to get up to one of these events one day because they do these events. It's like crazy venues and stuff. I mean, major food. It's a real, real cool high ticket item.
Bam Bam:George Padron had an event there at a local country club. I think that it was $1,500 a chair, and they had a limit of, like, 30 to 40 people, and it was sold out within forty five minutes.
Gizmo:Wow. Amazing.
Bam Bam:Yeah. So the following up there is really powerful and strong.
Gizmo:Here's another one. This one is for our listeners in the European Union. So I think this is an important one to share because we do have a lot of international listeners. So the EU has opened public comment for future tobacco regulations. So they are working on their next gen of tobacco regulations, which is coming as soon as later this year, December, they're saying, on half wheel here again.
Gizmo:Shout out Charlie. As part of the process, the European Commission has opened a public comment period that invites anyone, including non EU citizens, hint hint to The US folks, to submit their opinions about the future regulations.
Bam Bam:If you were born before 2026, you can't smoke cigars. Correct.
Gizmo:The comment period runs from May 18 to June 15. So apparently, there's a guidance document. You can find this at halfwheel.com. The EU Commission has not yet disclosed the full scope of the revision. However, we know that plain packaging is under consideration in the upcoming revision of the EU tobacco products directive, says the general director of the ECMA in a press release.
Gizmo:We therefore strongly invite cigar smokers to make their voice heard so the EU regulators understands that cigars are different from mass consumed tobacco and nicotine products. Traditional niche products consumed on an occasional basis should continue to be regulated in a different manner than cigarettes and emerging products used on a regular daily basis. So, again, go to halfwheel.com if you're in the EU, and apparently, they're accepting it even if you're not in the EU. Some comments on this, and I'm going to write. I'll write a comment.
Gizmo:I mean, focusing on the the men's loneliness epidemic, the, you know, mental and social benefits of sitting and smoking a cigar. You know, there's a lot of merit there. So for our international listeners, I would really encourage you go and submit a comment, especially if you're a resident of one of the EU countries. So check that out at halfwheel.com. Pretty sad that that's happening.
Gizmo:I mean, plain plain packaging is just a joke with cigars. Mean, it's a joke.
Bam Bam:Our friends in Canada have to endure that.
Gizmo:Yeah. And they're probably gonna get punished even more now that The UK has passed the Oh, yeah. Generational tobacco ban. I'm sure that's coming next to Canada.
Pagoda:Yeah.
Gizmo:You know? It's crazy. All right. Here's another one. This one's interesting.
Gizmo:So if you remember a few years ago, there was a big to do about cruise lines docking in Cuba, and the American government went bonkers because these cruise lines, I guess, with American flags on the ships or picking up mostly American tourists were then stopping in Havana to let the tourists off, spend some money, and get some stuff. So there was a big lawsuit that, I guess, the cruise lines filed because OFAC went ballistic about them doing this. In an eight to one ruling, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of an American bay port American based port business that was once operating in Cuba and its lawsuit against cruise ship operators who use the same ports for tourism purposes. So the lawsuit brought by Havana Docks, which is a company that has had an agreement with the Cuban government at the Port Of Havana, which was supposed to last for seventy six years. Of course, when Fidel came in in 1960, changed it all.
Gizmo:But, anyway, they sued four cruise ship operators that used the port after Obama normalized relations with Cuba, which greatly increased American tourists to the island. Twenty twenty two, a federal judge ruled in favor of Havana Doxin ordered each cruise line to pay at least $110,000,000 each. So that's a $440 $4,440,000,000 verdict. The cruise lines, of course, appealed. They lost, and then it went to the Supreme Court.
Gizmo:So I guess they might be cutting some checks.
Bam Bam:That is outrageous. It's crazy.
Gizmo:440,000,000. So that's why I wanted to share this because that number was shocking when I read it.
Bam Bam:That is that is outrageous.
Gizmo:So I'll say it again because it's a huge help to us. Shout out to our friends at Half Wheel. I love those guys.
Bam Bam:I agree.
Gizmo:They are the place. I visit their site every day. It's them and fohcigars.com. Go to both of those sites every day to get my cigar news and conversations. So check them out.
Gizmo:I can't get over this cigar. It's ridiculous. Correct. Again.
Bam Bam:Wow. Off the charts.
Rooster:Yeah. Pre embargo tobaccos.
Bam Bam:So slick. Well, what did you think when you inspected the bales back in the '16 what was that, David?
Gizmo:Did they have a funk to them?
Rooster:This twang. I mean, who needs Cuban cigars? Can just have this.
Bam Bam:I have to say I'm going through this cigar very quickly now because I'm having a tough time keeping myself from taking a draw. It's really just so delicious.
Gizmo:I just almost Don't put yourself in a position where it's gonna get bitter and punish you for it. That's true.
Chef Ricky:I'm jealous of Pagoda because it looks like he has another whole other half
Bam Bam:to Well, look step Cigar. This Wow. You still have the
Chef Ricky:band on.
Gizmo:Look at yapping a lot though.
Bam Bam:Impressive. I'm talking fast.
Chef Ricky:You wanna switch? No.
Bam Bam:I think, I'm going say it again, I think the torquino call out dude is so
Gizmo:Yeah, think that's a phenomenal call out.
Bam Bam:Phenomenal call out.
Gizmo:Really is smoking Cuban esque.
Bam Bam:Yeah. What's that torquinos going for now?
Gizmo:Probably around the same price as this. High twenties. Around 30. Really?
Rooster:30? $28.30.
Gizmo:Yeah. $28.30.
Pagoda:How many do you have? If you can find them.
Rooster:Ask in case.
Gizmo:I have one box with maybe nine cigars in it.
Bam Bam:That's that's exactly what I have.
Gizmo:Yeah. I think I got one. Yeah. Because I ordered two
Rooster:I don't for have any, chef.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Right.
Gizmo:That's don't buy one
Chef Ricky:from you one of you guys. You don't have buy one. I'll give
Gizmo:you one.
Bam Bam:Thank you.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's go to some listener email now.
Pagoda:I'd like to buy one too.
Gizmo:You're out. I'm kidding.
Pagoda:You're out.
Gizmo:You're out. This one is from Lizard Stein from Belgium.
Bam Bam:You're
Gizmo:in. I got it. He says, hi, Giz. I've been listening to the Lounge Lizards for a long time, I think since around episode 70 or so, But somehow I never actually took the time to write you guys a message. And there's a lot of listeners listening right now who are in the same boat.
Gizmo:Get your phone out, get your computer out, and send us a note. Correct. We wanna hear from you.
Rooster:Or a voice memo.
Gizmo:Or a voice memo, even better. We love giving away Lizards of the Week. Every lizard that writes us on a regular basis, some you're gonna win sometime. So keep writing. You're gonna win these amazing cigars from Doctor.
Bam Bam:So now are there Phenomenos in that- Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:They're in the loop.
Pagoda:Oh, yeah, baby.
Gizmo:So he says, I'm reaching out now because last week I was ordering some cigars online and I wanted to check the ratings table on the website for a little inspiration. When I looked, I noticed the ratings from 2026 were missing. Also reminded me that a few episodes back, I remember you guys were saying that updating the ratings table was kind of a pain in the ass. It was. Not anymore.
Gizmo:We'll talk about that in a second. So I figured I'd send you guys a note. I'm a software and web developer, and I've been doing that for about fifteen years. So if it would be helpful, I'd be happy to help you out with updating it and even maybe even help automate some of it so it's less of a hassle going forward. No charge, obviously.
Gizmo:Just happy to help out. I've really enjoyed your show for a long time, so it would be a nice way to give something back. Thanks for all the great episodes. And if this sounds useful, feel free to reach out. Greetings from Belgium Lizard Stein.
Gizmo:So, obviously, we talked a couple weeks ago that we had launched. Actually, we did it in episode. The ratings launch, we talked about that a little bit. The reason why I read this email from Lizard Stein in Belgium is number one, we got a lot of emails like this about a lot of folks offering their help or ideas about what would improve the ratings guide, what they'd like to see. I would love to hear from more Lizards exactly in that regard.
Gizmo:I would love for you to go to our website. Go to the ratings thing. Check it out. The new ratings. There's sliders.
Gizmo:You could choose countries of origin. You can choose ratings. You can choose highest to lowest. Whatever you want. You can also search, you know, pairings and cigars.
Gizmo:I would love to know if there's any other element of that data analysis that would be interesting or helpful to you as a smoker out there, as a listener to us in making good purchasing decisions. So of course, I want to thank Lizard Stein for offering up his help. I'm, you know, I'd love to hear from him on some improvements that could be could be made on what we did, but I want to hear from our listeners on how the ratings guide can continue to help you. And by the way, obviously tonight, this is a debut. You know, I'm not using the ratings guide tonight to compare to anything, but it's been so awesome to be able to go to our ratings guide when we like we did a Davidoff a couple weeks Yeah.
Gizmo:To go to the ratings guide, be able to pull up
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Gizmo:The little cards of all of them. I just screenshot them. I throw them right in my iPad. I have everybody's individual rating. I have the composite.
Gizmo:I have the pairing we did. I have every piece of data from it. So it's making it really helpful even for us here in the
Bam Bam:room. It gives you a great quick visual of the ratings. Where before you'd have to go through list and list and then scroll
Gizmo:up clean and
Bam Bam:it wasn't sortable. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:Now it is.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:So if there's Listen, again, if there's anything out there, you know, anything on that site that you think could be improved out there in Lizard Nation, please let us know. We certainly wanna hear from you guys. Let's go to one now from our friend Lizard Julio. He's in the Doctor, if you remember. He says, hello, Lizards.
Gizmo:Last weekend, I had the pleasure of trying the Kellner LE 80 for the first time. Killer. Paired with the one two three Tequila Reposado. That was a good one. And I found my way to some videos of the legendary cigar blender, Henkie Kellner, offering reactions to his son's amazing cigar blended in his honor.
Gizmo:I was fascinated to see the way Kellner smoked the cigar. A short pull, a small pull of air, and then a quick release without a retrohale. I couldn't help but wonder if this is an experienced blender specialized approach to analyzing flavor. It reminded me of how winemakers also have peculiar method methods of tasting. I'm sure senator can offer some takes on this.
Gizmo:And let us not forget the mesmerizing whiskey tasting methods of the Dalmore master blender, Richard Patterson.
Pagoda:Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four.
Gizmo:I still have this clip, by
Chef Ricky:the way.
Pagoda:One, and then it comes up.
Gizmo:And then the Just fantastic. This brings me to all of you. How have your tasting methods evolved since you started your cigar journey? I often find myself doing a short pull to activate the combustion of the burn line before doing a slow long pull, but I can't help but wonder if there is a better way. Do you truly taste the cigar during the pull or only during the puffing out?
Gizmo:How much do you like to chew on the smoke before releasing it? And do you find yourself changing the way you smoke a cigar depending on its flavor profile or whether it's a Cuban versus a New World? Thanks for always expanding on the importance of fundamentals for both the experienced and novice lizards. Sincerely yours, Lizard Julio.
Bam Bam:He always has very good questions.
Gizmo:Great questions from Lizard Julio.
Bam Bam:This is a great, great question.
Gizmo:It is. So what is your answer?
Bam Bam:Well, I don't modulate my smoking from New World or Cuban. I smoke them the same. But I do like, at the light, I'll take a short puff and just draw, expel it out, and then maybe wait two seconds and then take a deep draw. But I won't retrohale until probably the fourth or fifth draw because I wanna get that palate experience. And I typically for me, I don't experience the flavor until I expel the smoke off of my palate, and then I'm capturing the notes.
Bam Bam:And, typically, in my retrohale, I'm capturing the most notes at the tail end of my retrohale.
Rooster:Yeah. For me, it's the aroma of the cigar is very important to me. I know if the aroma is good, the cigar is going to be most likely be
Bam Bam:good Not always guarantee. It's not
Gizmo:100% of the It's close.
Chef Ricky:It's close. It's It's good.
Rooster:But I enjoy that aroma coming off the foot of the cigar. And then, you know, the way kind of I smoke now, it's like I'd let the smoke linger in my mouth for a longer period of time. You don't Retrohill, right? Or not as often? I try.
Rooster:So what I've been doing is I've been practicing a little bit. So the way I do that is when I take the smoke in, I move my tongue on the top, like the roof of the mouth, kind of close it, and then try to blow it out of the out of the nostrils.
Bam Bam:So that's a tough way of doing it because I don't move my tongue. I kind of leave it down. I just close the back of my throat and kind of push up through my nostrils, and it's been working great that way. I feel like if I were to force the tongue up, I may get some backwash of the smoke, and it may make it uncomfortable.
Gizmo:I've just for me on the retrohale, I've just tried to develop you know, I've I've tried to train myself to do it as if I'm just pushing normal air
Pagoda:Correct.
Gizmo:Through my nose. That's exactly It's almost what it is to me is developing the tolerance for a potential bite or uniqueness of flavor, something that your nose isn't used to kind of going the other way.
Bam Bam:Exactly correct.
Gizmo:So I think that that is the success in being somebody who can retrohale often, is just creating a tolerance and an acceptance of the unknown as you throw whatever you've drawn into your mouth through your nose.
Bam Bam:And the interesting thing is you don't need to retrohale the entire draw. Like I said, for me, I'm retroing the very final tail end end of my
Chef Ricky:the entire
Bam Bam:draw. And I get the most pleasure that way.
Gizmo:I do a little bit of both, I think. Probably like a thirty, seventy retro to normal draw as I'm pushing out when I'm Yeah, doing
Chef Ricky:there's one thing he mentioned there that I love, it was chewing the smoke. And you can't do that with every cigar. That's with some cigars that have very dense, creamy smokes or smoke. And I love those cigars. It's an experience to be able to chew the smoke and kind of let it linger.
Rooster:Like this one.
Gizmo:Yes. Yeah, is a good example. Actually, it's a good one for this question tonight.
Bam Bam:This cigar is actually getting better and better and better as you get down to the end of it.
Chef Ricky:I agree with you 100%. But when you're able to chew the cigar, the smoke, I love to retrohale, but very slowly. Right? So I think key with the retro for me anyway is just to go slowly, don't rush it and really experience the nuance of what it is that you're getting. Especially when the smoke is thick and creamy viscous, it's going to come through a lot more.
Chef Ricky:For me, it's a more pleasurable experience.
Bam Bam:But he didn't mention the retrohale. That's just for some of us that can do it. I think one of the key elements that he asked was, Where capturing are the notes? Are you capturing it as you're taking the smoke in? Are you capturing it as you're pulling I it
Chef Ricky:think retrohale came up because that's where I get most of the notes. Right? I get the whole tasting on the palate first, but for me the nose is such an important part of your palate that I couldn't It's like trying to
Bam Bam:It's synonymous.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, it's like going to a wine tasting or trying to experience food, but you have a sinus infection or you're completely stuffed up, right? You would never do it. You're missing at least 50% of the experience. If not more. So, you know, for me they go hand in hand and I can't imagine doing one without the other.
Chef Ricky:It's just, it's so natural at this point. I'd lose track how often it happens, it just happens.
Bam Bam:But I wanna hear from Pagoda because he's loving this cigar tonight. He's not a retrohaler. His traditional draw is giving him a lot of positive, very pleasurable experience.
Pagoda:Yeah. So for me, I I try retrohaling, but it just doesn't happen. Have a
Bam Bam:do You don't
Pagoda:have to. But I do try it. What's really Here's a question.
Bam Bam:Just to ask what the lizard was asking. Are you getting your flavor as you take the smoke in, or for you, and are you getting it more as you're pushing the smoke out?
Pagoda:A little bit when I take it in, but mostly after I've just about pushed it out, and then it leaves a little bit of flavor profile right towards the end. And then what it does is, like in this particular case, it's enveloping my palate, so it becomes even easier, right? You know what you enjoy. But like, you know, when I was getting a lot more of the Graham Crackery notes in the beginning, I think I was trying to retrohale. So it was probably a lot of the smoke around.
Pagoda:Maybe I was getting a portion of it. So I don't know whether it was really within my palate or within my nose. Could be both. But could be both. Yeah, at the end of the day, like listen, don't overanalyze it.
Pagoda:You know, smoke it in, and leave the smoke in your mouth. Let it, you know, roll a little bit, and then, you know, push it out. And you know, you're going to find the flavor. Like, you know, you have an exclusive or you get it on the way in as
Gizmo:well. Correct.
Chef Ricky:Here's It's very an exercise. I think the reason you're getting the flavor on the exhale is because that's when you begin to breathe through your nose at the same time.
Bam Bam:And that's when you're
Chef Ricky:tasting If you do not do that, you're not going to get any flavor.
Gizmo:Yep.
Chef Ricky:Right? So in a way you are retrohaling, but you're just not expelling any smoke through your nose, you're expelling strictly the aroma, what's left in your mouth after blowing
Bam Bam:the Correct. You cannot hold your breath and smoke a cigar.
Gizmo:Of course not.
Bam Bam:You won't get any pleasure or experience from it.
Gizmo:So my answer's kinda threefold to this. So number one, for me, it's based on the type of cigar I'm smoking, the way I draw it, which I'm a little bit different than you, Ben, because if I'm smoking the most full cigar that I can pull out of my humidor, I'm not gonna be taking multiple draws of it, especially if the draw is open, if not very resistant.
Bam Bam:What if it was your first cigar of the night, your fullest cigar?
Pagoda:You still couldn't do that?
Gizmo:No. So it's depending on strength and it's depending on how resistant the cigar is. So I am very much 80% of the time, let's say, like Henkie Kellner, as Lizard Julio described here, what I do when I draw, and you you just said, don't overanalyze it. Only reason I'm analyzing it is because we've been asked, but it's just the way I smoke. I'll often do a short puff, and then I'll do a stronger pull.
Gizmo:Kinda like when someone's revving a car engine, they'll go, voom, voom, voom, you know?
Pagoda:That's amazing.
Chef Ricky:Kind of thought your cadence matched the guy. You like that?
Rooster:Yeah. Voom, voom. So
Gizmo:that's when I have a cigar that is not super open to slightly resistant, that's what I do. And I've been doing it all night tonight. The only thing that I differ with Henkie Kellner on is I do throw some of it through the nose. Correct. Very often, especially if the nose is you know, the retrohale is pleasurable.
Gizmo:Mhmm. If it's not, then I'm gonna skip the nose most of the time. And we've discussed that on episodes previous where the draw is great and and the retrohale isn't.
Chef Ricky:So let me ask you this. If you're unable to retrohale, do you experience that cigar less favorable?
Bam Bam:That's a good question for senator.
Gizmo:That's a senator question, but I think
Rooster:the No.
Chef Ricky:No. No. Mean for you because you are retrohaler. Think for senator, he would say no. No.
Chef Ricky:Do you enjoy the cigar less because you're unable to retrohaler?
Gizmo:No, I think I look at it, what the cigar is delivering through the vehicles I'm allowed to experience it in. If for some reason the retrohale is not pleasurable, I'm not knocking the cigar for that. If the normal draw
Bam Bam:Sure.
Gizmo:That all of us are kinda on equal ground with But we've through that's working.
Bam Bam:We've had that.
Gizmo:Of course we have. But I don't knock something if the retrohale stinks.
Bam Bam:I agree with you.
Gizmo:I'll knock a cigar for bad construction. Yeah. Bad draw.
Bam Bam:Bad flavor notes, of course.
Gizmo:Bad flavor, of course. Yeah. I won't knock it for bad retrohale.
Bam Bam:No. Agreed.
Gizmo:I think that's an unfair I almost feel like I almost feel like people who can retrohale a lot are kind of lucky. I feel kind of lucky that I'm in that camp. Also agreed. To have that, it's almost like it's like a little cherry on top of the cupcake.
Pagoda:All cigarette smokers can, by the way. Of course, yeah.
Gizmo:But that's also difficult. A lot of times cigarette smokers go into cigars, I've heard from a lot of folks, it's difficult to not inhale the smoke. They struggle with that because they've trained themselves to inhale.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. So I smoked cigarettes in my early 20s. What? And after my first divorce.
Gizmo:By the way, he's a chef in New York.
Chef Ricky:They all smoke cigarettes. Correct.
Bam Bam:Just don't smoke over my entree. By
Gizmo:the way, that's definitely happened. At least in the nineties, it did. No question.
Chef Ricky:A little ash flavor. Yeah.
Pagoda:You know the smoke of the old fashioned.
Rooster:That's a Marlboro red. Correct.
Bam Bam:Or a Camelite.
Chef Ricky:I forgot my thought.
Gizmo:What premise?
Chef Ricky:Oh, so yes, I smoked cigarettes in my early twenties And yes, as a cigarette smoker, it was you retrohaled because you inhaled. But when I started smoking cigars, I had to teach myself to retrohale because I had to allow myself or teach myself to create that action without inhaling. Right. So I remember watching videos on how to retrohale, and it was the guy from Cigars Daily that I was watching.
Gizmo:Tim. Yeah, Tim. I loved him, but
Chef Ricky:man, when his videos come on, it's like, you know what? The way he explained it was perfect.
Gizmo:Yeah, you know, he's he's great. You know,
Chef Ricky:you scratch you scratch your inner ear and you just kinda kick up, you know, it's like that whole action. Yeah. And you kick up that air without making the obnoxious sound into your nose and just blow out. And that allowed me to do it. But as a cigarette smoker, it wasn't an easy transition for me.
Chef Ricky:I had to sort of learn it and train myself. But I felt it was an important part of the process. So I did it.
Gizmo:So, yeah. So like for me, like if I have a cigar that's really open draw, I'm just taking one normal draw retrohale. If that's in play, great. If not, fine. That's the only thing that's changing the short puff, long puff kind of idea as I smoke.
Pagoda:I typically take two. Yeah. Maybe that's why it's like it's all over
Gizmo:my shirt. It's all
Chef Ricky:over your shirt? No, I take two.
Bam Bam:I guess. It's not all over my shirt. So
Gizmo:that's a great question from Lizard Cigar guys. Excellent. Awesome question.
Chef Ricky:But it's not your fault. Your cigar is burning very, or was burning very wonky. There was a lot of canoeing happening there.
Pagoda:But the flavor's so good. It is. By way,
Gizmo:I don't
Pagoda:know whether you guys got it, but I short of got a little bit of, like, the aroma. It was a bit of cardamom. I don't know whether that's Yeah. Did you feel it? I was like, All right, alighty?
Pagoda:This is really good.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. So a little bit earlier, I almost called out some form of licorice, and I was afraid that it Oh, was gonna
Bam Bam:I was gonna do the same thing.
Chef Ricky:I was afraid it was gonna piss people off because I know Yeah. There you go. So I didn't wanna suggest
Bam Bam:Don't it disagree with that.
Chef Ricky:And all of a sudden you pick up on it.
Gizmo:I didn't get it.
Bam Bam:Or or like an a niece,
Chef Ricky:a hint
Gizmo:of a
Bam Bam:niece, something in that family. But this is early.
Rooster:It's the same same family. Right? It was earlier. Yeah.
Chef Ricky:This was about twenty, thirty
Bam Bam:minutes Correct.
Gizmo:That's correct.
Chef Ricky:Where I got it.
Gizmo:Yep. So boys, we've come to the end of the second third now on the Meerapfel. La Estancia 52 and the pairing tonight, the Wild Common Tequila Reposado. I know we've been talking about it, but I mean, how good is this experience right now?
Bam Bam:It's gonna be hard not to give this a spectacular rating. Honestly, the way this cigar is smoking, it's truly getting better
Chef Ricky:as you get down into it. Bam, your cigar is smoking perfect. It is. Your cigar is smoking perfect.
Gizmo:Our ash.
Bam Bam:His too. The ash is just fantastic, and it's structural, and super velvety still, super delicious. I'm still getting graham cracker, I'm still getting a little bit of nougat, some dried fruit. It's hitting all the
Pagoda:boxes. This is such an
Bam Bam:For excellent
Pagoda:me, the only problem was I think the construction was a bit off.
Bam Bam:I saw that.
Pagoda:I've touched it up a few times. It canoed twice. You've corrected, though. Yeah. I've corrected, yeah.
Pagoda:But having said that, mating this cigar Yeah. Is fabulous.
Bam Bam:I don't remember many cigars down the stretch like this that smoke this deliciously.
Gizmo:Yeah. I still got quite a bit to go.
Bam Bam:You do. Pretty pumped.
Gizmo:All right, boys. Let's continue on here. I wanted to share two comments I thought were hilarious. This was from our episode that had the ass pocket whiskey. Yes.
Gizmo:This is from Lizard J. Dowdy on FOH. They say I don't know. I usually prefer to take my whiskey orally. It tastes better that way, even if the other way will get you drunk quicker, which is true.
Gizmo:This one's from user Tom Tom's ribs two ten. A highlight of the episode is the lizard math of calculating how much Ricky drank, how fast he drank it, and how many cigars were smoked while he visited his fantasy baseball friend. The boys needed to bust out the lizard abacus between this and Bam's precision prior callouts of the dimensions of a muffaletta. This is emerging as my favorite math podcast.
Bam Bam:It's gonna get better, boys.
Gizmo:Oh, that's a great note. This one is from Lizard G. He says, hey, fellow lizards. I'm wanting to purchase a t shirt from the Lounge Lizards website store, but I'm not finding a three XL size. Would it be possible to get one?
Gizmo:Also, I've just discovered your podcast a month or so ago and have been powering through episodes enjoying them so much. I've learned a lot from you guys. Keep smoking cordially, Lizard G. So I'd like to share with Lizard G and I think there was another lizard out there. I don't remember who was asking for three XLs.
Gizmo:I have added larger sizes, three XL and up to all of the possible merch items on the store that that it was available. So go check that out. We do have three x's and up available now on the Lounge Lizards website store. This one is from Lizard g p zero one two. He says this is a missed opportunity here, gents.
Gizmo:And he shared a picture of Pagoda flying like Superman.
Pagoda:There go.
Gizmo:He put that into a Chachi To
Chef Ricky:make it accurate.
Pagoda:It. I That is fantastic.
Bam Bam:See, that that belly provides good balance. It's like a I
Pagoda:think he's taking it in.
Bam Bam:You know
Pagoda:what He's taking it in.
Bam Bam:It's like a fulcrum balance, that belly. So when he goes too far one way, the belly goes the other way, brings him back.
Pagoda:What belly? He's an Adonis.
Rooster:And he says
Pagoda:back over here.
Gizmo:And he says also, was chef further away from the mic on this episode? He was significantly harder to hear at times. Listen. Chef's only been on the podcast.
Bam Bam:A year and
Gizmo:a Two years now. So he's still figuring out that we do in fact use microphones when we record.
Pagoda:I have a tough time lipreading him all the time anyways.
Rooster:Correct.
Gizmo:So yeah, I did get some emails about that episode. Like, what the hell's going on with Chef here?
Chef Ricky:There was an episode where I felt I sounded further away. So it might've been the mic's fault, but
Gizmo:We're blaming the mic now.
Pagoda:As old as Mike's phone.
Gizmo:You gotta get up on it.
Chef Ricky:User error. User error. No.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Gizmo:Actually, what I've been doing now is I've been more conscious of it since this email came in. So I'm gonna make sure that you're closer to because certainly I'm the loudest. Pagoda's right there with me, and then everybody else kind of underneath that. So I'll try to make it such that you're closer in that way. Alright.
Gizmo:So we got some emails here and a voice memo actually on accessories. We haven't talked about accessories in a while, so I wanna go to this one.
Chef Ricky:Oh, this is a great one.
Gizmo:Woah. Now I have to turn that down.
Bam Bam:Shattered my eardrum.
Gizmo:So this one is from El Porro Delos Biernes. He says, hey, Lizards. I'm writing to you from Spain. Just listen to the episode where you talk about the new draw testing tool from Rachin. Remember that crazy thing?
Gizmo:Yeah. Yep. It was a 100% BAM buzzer worthy,
Bam Bam:he says. Mhmm.
Gizmo:What are the Lizards' essential cigar accessories? Obviously, a sharp cutter is a must, but I see there's a big debate on the lighter flame torch versus multiple flame torch versus soft flame And conservation, humidor versus tupperdur, etcetera. Are there any new cigar accessories that have surprised you lately? Thank you for your podcast, and you are invited to a paella pairing with a Rioja if you're ever in Madrid, Bam.
Bam Bam:Excuse me? Wow.
Gizmo:Thank you for the laughs. I really appreciate you guys. Long live Lizard Nation. So great question there, and I love the offer for some paella. That's awesome.
Gizmo:If we're in Madrid. So what are your essential cigar accessories at the moment?
Rooster:Look, a cigar bib is a must.
Bam Bam:Mean Well,
Gizmo:for some of us.
Rooster:Start with that.
Chef Ricky:Especially that $500
Pagoda:one. Yeah.
Gizmo:We gotta get a custom one with Pagoda's name on it.
Bam Bam:Correct. With the Superman logo.
Gizmo:You know what? I think I could say. I think I could fit that in the Glencairn suitcase.
Bam Bam:You can.
Gizmo:In the briefcase.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Gizmo:I can do that.
Bam Bam:For every week.
Gizmo:So essential cigar accessories.
Chef Ricky:Cutter lighter.
Bam Bam:That's it.
Gizmo:Yeah. I'm running pretty light these days. Love my Sisuman scissors.
Bam Bam:They're nice.
Gizmo:I use those. I actually don't bring those for pod night most times because they're a little bit more bulky and I'm just trying to throw stuff in my pocket. But when I'm smoking most of the time, I'm using my Sisuman scissors. I love my Sisuman car. They have like a cigar holder ashtray that I use in the truck.
Gizmo:That's my travel. That's like the best travel cigar stand slash So
Bam Bam:you're driving and you're putting your cigar in a holder?
Gizmo:No. It's it's remember that? It's a little Yeah. Looks like a cigar ramp. Yeah.
Gizmo:The ramp.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:It's amazing for the car because if you stop short, the cigar doesn't go anywhere. It holds the ashes.
Pagoda:You know what I
Bam Bam:love about that? It's got some weight to it. Mhmm. It's great. And
Chef Ricky:there's also little ridges there. Yes. That's traction.
Rooster:It's such a bad habit though to smoke in the car.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah. You're like a rolling ashtray.
Rooster:So you didn't talk about a cigar rest. I mean, I think that's-
Gizmo:Well, the cigar rest is actually very important.
Rooster:That's very, know, I think you use one
Gizmo:of these foldable ones, be it wood or stainless.
Pagoda:Rooster, think we need round of those supplies.
Gizmo:Did you
Bam Bam:lose your Oh, he lost his.
Gizmo:Yeah, of course he did. He loses everything.
Bam Bam:So honestly, I haven't used the rest in a very, very, very long time.
Gizmo:I use it every time.
Rooster:There you go. Give it to Pagoda.
Bam Bam:I'm not doing that. But I do see you guys using it. I it doesn't come to mind for me. The cutter, the lighter, and I tend to keep my cigar in my hand most of the time when I'm
Rooster:smoking. I mean, do you work while you're smoking a cigar? Like, if you're working on your laptop, like, you know, take a puff and put it down and put it
Bam Bam:the cigar rest. If I'm here with a laptop and I'm working, I do bring the rest. But if I'm smoking, just hanging out and having a a spirit, I I usually just hold on to the cigar most of the time.
Chef Ricky:It's very rare for me to put the cigar down.
Gizmo:I don't See, do that putting right it down constantly when I'm here because I'm
Chef Ricky:all over
Gizmo:I'm the like, here you are.
Bam Bam:In the club?
Gizmo:In the club, I usually don't. And the only reason though is because I don't have a table at like comfortable arm's length here in the club that I can sit it on. They're all down and away.
Bam Bam:It's true.
Gizmo:It's true. You know, the side tables.
Bam Bam:Gotta file a complaint about that.
Gizmo:We gotta improve those. Correct. As far as like, aside from that, my plastic bags, I know that that's one of BAM's faux pas. This is one of my favorite accessories is the cigar bag. I know you hate it,
Bam Bam:I do.
Gizmo:But I can store this in my pouch, in my bag, in my hoodie pocket.
Bam Bam:But you can put your case in there too?
Gizmo:Nah. Sometimes it's too bulky.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Chef Ricky:You know what I'm surprised doesn't make an appearance amongst any of us is a nub tool. Never. Nub.
Gizmo:Almost like what you do is you're getting it down to the nub and you
Bam Bam:I'll put use the PerfectDraw for The PerfectDraw.
Chef Ricky:The Yeah. Perfect perfect draw. Draw. Cool, hornet custom It's true.
Gizmo:Our buddy Troy Woodworks, who actually we got these rests from, he makes some beautiful nubs.
Bam Bam:Is that right?
Gizmo:Ash tray combos. Yeah, they're incredible. Incredible.
Pagoda:Yeah. A buddy of mine bought me one of those cigar holders for a golf cart.
Rooster:Oh, with
Pagoda:the I lost it on the first day. I left it on the golf cart. Oh, man.
Gizmo:Well, least you donated it to But the future buddy of mine yours came
Pagoda:from barade, and he said, you know, like that was his, you know, he left it for me on the way out. It was very nice of him. He went and bought it for me. And well, it lasted a day.
Chef Ricky:You know what I love for Papa Go Reddin to add? She fucking embraces it. There's no attempt to clean it off.
Bam Bam:He's just leaves it rolling around in it.
Pagoda:Yeah. It's all over the place.
Gizmo:It's an accessory. Correct. It's a cigar accessory.
Bam Bam:Yeah, and that's a layer
Pagoda:of insulation. I keep getting the aroma, you know?
Bam Bam:You know what's funny? Not having smoked a Cuban cigar in a while, I'm not using that perfect drawer very often at all. I don't
Gizmo:pull it on anymore,
Chef Ricky:dude, at all. I haven't used my perfect drawer
Bam Bam:in quite
Pagoda:a long time. I think I lost that as well, but
Gizmo:Yeah. Gosh, come on.
Bam Bam:But during
Pagoda:our Cuban days
Gizmo:Cuban days you had to bring it.
Rooster:Yeah, yeah. Was a vital tool.
Gizmo:You could not get through a sit. Yeah. If you were smoking multiple Cubans, most often, you were at least pulling it out once.
Bam Bam:And it's probably cringe worthy for a guy or gal out there that's heavy into the Cuban catalog, and they've got a good inventory and they're smoking them. For us to say that we're not smoking them very often kind of is the case in our situation.
Gizmo:But listen, we're in a we're in a position where they're not very replaceable right now. The price has gone significantly through the roof. Yeah. And we found non Cuban stuff that is giving us great experiences, kind of like cigar we have in our hand tonight.
Bam Bam:And they're all perfectly made. And they're all Primarily.
Gizmo:Yeah. I mean, we have construction issues, but most of the time it's not perfect draw, you know, required fixes. Correct.
Chef Ricky:You know what's great about this hobby? There's a lot of hobbies you get into and you kind of want to get every accessory or get get you know, to feel like you're getting so deeply into it, you have to get all these little things to just kind of make it happen. And as long as you have a case, a lighter and a cutter-
Bam Bam:So a sharp cutter.
Chef Ricky:So glad to You could just go ahead and spend all of your money on fantastic cigars.
Gizmo:That's right.
Chef Ricky:There is no need to buy a $500 cigar bid. There's no need to buy you know, a $5,000 lighter or a $40,000 humidor.
Pagoda:I'm listening, I'm just listening.
Bam Bam:I am. I'm saving a lot of money now. But the case. Now, we talked about Gizmo's love of plastic bags.
Gizmo:Listen, you gotta give me a pass. This is very convenient I'm just saying. For
Bam Bam:The case is so vital for a lady or a gentleman planning her evening and his evening to smoke a cigar. I think a case is essential.
Chef Ricky:We gotta patent this. What? I need to edit this. So as a chef, we have knife rolls. Dude, yes.
Gizmo:I have one of those from Monte Cristo. It's a leather one.
Chef Ricky:Oh, have cigar rolls? Yes. Why do you still use a zip
Gizmo:Because you know what the problem with the cigar roll is, is they're not sealed.
Bam Bam:That's
Gizmo:right. So they're with the elements. They're with the ambient. Not the So to Lo case. He's saying the roll, like the Monte Cristo roll that we got.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Chef Ricky:At the- There's nothing with zippers that you could then roll.
Bam Bam:You could Honestly, look, you're playing Again, could
Rooster:problem Hold with the roll is that they're going to be touching each other,
Chef Ricky:No, they don't have to.
Bam Bam:They've got individual They've little little pockets and then you roll
Rooster:it up.
Gizmo:Here's a thing.
Bam Bam:You're going through your selection of cigars in one night. The elements aren't really gonna affect you in a cigar roll.
Gizmo:Think the thing for me with the plastic bag It's convenient. Is also
Chef Ricky:your pocket.
Gizmo:I can if I forget about it after a long night here, I go home, I leave that in my bag a day or two. Sometimes I leave stuff in my bag for a week until
Bam Bam:They're protected.
Gizmo:Next pod night, and I'm like, holy shit. I never took these cigars out. Mhmm. They're fine.
Bam Bam:That's true.
Gizmo:They're not getting, you know, dehumidified or over humidified.
Bam Bam:Only you in this entire club will get a pass on
Gizmo:this. Thank you, man. Only you. I've passed through the banned fashion photos.
Bam Bam:There are a few guys in this club that don't have a cigar case, I think it's a disgrace. It's a fucking disgrace. I'm sorry.
Chef Ricky:Mine sits in my car because it's too big. I need to get a smaller one like this.
Gizmo:You need to get a nice Soda- By the
Chef Ricky:way, we got I have a Soda
Bam Bam:Lo, but I like a bigger
Chef Ricky:this one. It's smaller. Because to Giz's point, it's just I don't want to feel like I'm carrying a briefcase.
Gizmo:Yeah. Look at me with the Glen Cairns. Thank you guys. Now I have a briefcase.
Bam Bam:But here's the thing. There was a time when Giz had a big suitcase.
Chef Ricky:Everybody did, yeah.
Bam Bam:Senator had a big suitcase.
Chef Ricky:Shit, remember when
Bam Bam:we Brewster had a big suitcase. Y'all were all sporting that big cigar suitcase tonight. I'm walking in with my little leather thing. You guys all made fun of me.
Chef Ricky:Remember the
Pagoda:We still do.
Chef Ricky:The Winston Churchill You
Gizmo:do. Davidoff's Winston Churchill briefcase. That thing was ridiculous.
Rooster:You were all
Gizmo:walking That was so ridiculous.
Chef Ricky:For a bit. Yeah.
Gizmo:Yeah. Now that
Chef Ricky:thing's floating around my garage.
Rooster:So, you know, Davidoff did come out with a gift one time, and it was a roll. But, yeah, it wasn't it wasn't very practical.
Gizmo:It's not. It's more of a it's more of like a nice piece to have, but I just don't think there's a lot of utility because you gotta there's like a rope on it. You gotta untie it. You gotta unfurl it. You gotta pick your cigar.
Gizmo:It doesn't fit all the vitolas because it's a certain height.
Bam Bam:That's true.
Gizmo:It's a pain in the ass.
Rooster:And it's just for cigars. There was really no pockets or accessories.
Gizmo:On my Monte Cristo one that we got a PCA, there is a pocket for a cutter and a wipe. That's exactly right.
Rooster:I think okay. Cigar case just makes sense.
Chef Ricky:You
Gizmo:gotta have a cigar case.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:I carry it on nights that are a little bit more formal. I don't bring the plastic bags sometimes, but for most folks here, I think they bring Is
Bam Bam:that true? It is. Don't I know about that.
Gizmo:If have the sport coat on, I bring the bring the
Bam Bam:No. I don't think that's cigar knife.
Chef Ricky:You know, a few years He's ago
Bam Bam:carrying the plastic
Chef Ricky:He's not lying. A few years ago, we were at Carnegie Mhmm. And you had your suitcase there.
Gizmo:There you go.
Chef Ricky:Your cigar briefcase.
Pagoda:But in the PC,
Bam Bam:you used that about six years ago?
Gizmo:No. I kept it all in my back. Maybe three. Okay. So now, boys, it's time to go to our lizard of the week presented by Bon Roberts Cigars.
Gizmo:And our lizard of the week this week is gonna be our friend Lizard Sean, who sent us a great voice memo on the same topic. Cool. About cigar accessories.
Rooster:Awesome. Hey,
Lizard Sean:Lizards. Lizard Sean here. Hope you're all doing well and everybody's recovering from those injuries.
Gizmo:Pagoda.
Lizard Sean:Please pass on a well wishes to Grindr and Pooba. I know I speak for hallucination when I wish them well and hope to hear from them again soon. So I was just getting ready to pack up for my trip to Jamaica, gathering up my cigars, cutters and lighters and such, and realized I got to do a refresh on just exactly what is allowed and what is not, especially when, boarding a plane. So I thought that would be a good idea to have some dialog from you guys as a group and maybe help educate some of us. I mean, you guys are world travelers.
Lizard Sean:So who best to ask than the lizards themselves?
Bam Bam:Global Insider, correct?
Lizard Sean:Yeah. I'd like to have some dialog, hear what you guys have to say. Hopefully, Lizard Nation will learn some stuff and hopefully avoid anybody from getting their lighters confiscated. So that's it. Hope you enjoy your summer, safe travels, and look forward to the next pod.
Gizmo:Here we go.
Chef Ricky:So I'll leave this up to you guys because lately I'm just an expert on Hudson River Crossings, Holland Tunnel to be exact.
Gizmo:You can take a perfect draw through there.
Bam Bam:Cigar is an expert on train travel. Correct. And accessories.
Gizmo:So specific to Lizard Sean's question, I feel like I've kinda got this down a little bit. I feel very, very fortunate in all the traveling I've done. I've found a way to get lighters through normal security in in carry on baggage, cutters as well. First and foremost, if you're carrying a perfect draw, you gotta put that in checked luggage or don't bring it. That's number one.
Gizmo:Number two, you always always, always wanna keep your cigars with you in your carry on bag. Do not put your cigars in checked luggage unless you have such a bulk of them that it's not possible. But really, you wanna keep those as close to you to you as you can. Put other stuff in your in your check bag. Keep those with you in the pressurized cabin.
Gizmo:So as far as what you guys bring on the plane, I know I'm an outlier, I'll go last. What kind of accessories do you guys bring on the plane? What do you check? What do you actually bring with you when you travel? What's the move?
Gizmo:For me,
Rooster:it's simple. It's I bring the case. I put everything in the case. But all the accessories are the cheaper ones that if they take, you're not at a loss. I'm not going to take a DuPont lighter.
Rooster:I'm not going to take a DuPont cutter or an LE Blue or something like that. You know, Amazon has these great little skinny lighters you could take those.
Gizmo:That's where I'm going.
Rooster:And you could take, like, a butane refill or something like that. You know, cheap cutter. So anything that will just get you through the vacation. Yeah. So
Gizmo:Yeah. You know what I've been doing? This might be a faux pas. Sometimes when I travel, and especially if I'm taking Cubans, I'll actually cut them at the house before I pack them up and check the draw. Interesting.
Gizmo:So I don't have to bring a perfect draw. I don't have to worry about the cut. I'll do a quick test. And a lot of the time I'm bringing Cubans. I draw tested at the house.
Gizmo:This is a nightmare. I put that one back. I grab another one.
Bam Bam:I'll fight you later. You leave your cutter at
Gizmo:home? No. I'll bring a cheap cutter.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Gizmo:But with the cheap cutters, what happens a lot of the time, especially on a Cuban, is you're mauling the wrapper on it. If it's not like a super super sharp, it's like one of those plastic ones.
Bam Bam:And you likely won't have a perfect draw where you're going.
Gizmo:Yeah. Of course. That's what we're talking about. Not bringing that unless you have a checked bag, you could throw it in. But still
Bam Bam:It's interesting.
Rooster:It's a
Gizmo:little bit of a risk. So a lot of the time I'm cutting, especially my Cubans, so that number one, I'm not damaging the wrapper on the head when I get there. Number two, I'm checking the draw quick, and then I'm throwing my bag after they they pass my draw to pile.
Rooster:I don't like that idea.
Gizmo:Why? I don't understand
Chef Ricky:this. No.
Gizmo:No. This is bullshit.
Pagoda:Know why
Gizmo:way is. No. I'm glad senator's not here for this one because I think he has a horrible take on this.
Pagoda:That's a faux pas.
Rooster:No. I would never cut my
Gizmo:cigars before. Why?
Rooster:No. It doesn't it's not an irony.
Gizmo:No. You what is it? Disrupting your ritual? Yeah.
Pagoda:No. The whole flavor profile was
Gizmo:What are A priest of cigars? And tastes
Pagoda:like the musk from the airport.
Gizmo:No. It's not, I mean, the other thing too is when I have cut Cuban cigars that have and I cut them and they have badger on, I throw them in my tower as a single. When both ends are open, I'd say 60% of those are super tight.
Bam Bam:They do improve.
Gizmo:Improve because both ends are open. They're drying
Chef Ricky:out. That's what I would think.
Gizmo:But I don't understand. Alright. I want to get into this. What the hell is the issue with disrupting their ritual that for some reason cutting them early is a problem for you guys?
Bam Bam:Brewster, may I?
Rooster:Please. Okay.
Gizmo:I'm about to play the Twilight Zone music.
Bam Bam:I do love when I'm traveling. I get to sit and cut the cigar, take my cold draw the moment I cut it, light it, like we do here at home. So there's that The ritual. Yeah. There's something to that.
Bam Bam:Other than that, I don't know if I have a problem with what he does. No. It's a person that's
Gizmo:know what I do? When I travel, I hedge having problems.
Pagoda:I know. It's it's gotta it's gotta change something because how about this? Why didn't why didn't we cut it and leave a cigar? Because you don't have it on the first day. You're probably having some of the cigars on the third day.
Gizmo:But I have it sealed in a bag with a bovada, dude.
Chef Ricky:Cigars are precut, but he has no idea where the passport is.
Gizmo:So while you guys No passport.
Bam Bam:While you guys think about this, one of my major faux pas is, and I have embarrassed myself on our trips as a group many times, where I'm ending up so paranoid about my cutter and lighter, and I don't have a cheap cutter. I don't have a cheap lighter. I've got my two pairs of DuPonts.
Pagoda:Those early blues.
Bam Bam:Yeah. So I leave them home, and I end up traveling without a cutter and a lighter, and I'm borrowing tools from all of y'all.
Gizmo:That is annoying, by
Bam Bam:the way. It's awful.
Gizmo:I love you, but it's annoying.
Bam Bam:I know. It's terrible.
Gizmo:By the way, we went to PCA. I brought three lighters, and you I and drained three of them. You and Pagoda emptied all three of my lighters.
Bam Bam:I know, I know.
Pagoda:But I got lighters as well.
Gizmo:Yeah, but he used yours, and then you used mine. Yeah.
Bam Bam:So I think the investment in just having a good stockpile of very cheap lighters and very cheap cutters is great for travel.
Pagoda:You don't need cheap cutters.
Bam Bam:You can get a
Pagoda:good cutter. Either that or you can actually the cutters.
Rooster:You buy a lighter whenever Sometimes you
Gizmo:they do.
Bam Bam:They don't.
Rooster:You should even buy one of those BIC lighters.
Bam Bam:I guess.
Rooster:You just gotta light the cigar.
Chef Ricky:Or touches.
Bam Bam:That's heresy.
Pagoda:That's heresy.
Bam Bam:Biclighter in a cigar is heresy
Pagoda:by a.
Rooster:Know, but what are you gonna do?
Gizmo:But listen, some of the places you go, you're gonna have a trouble finding lighter. Correct. For me, what I do, and I could put the link in the episode description. Rooster mentioned it. I've, you know, we found and thanks to Lizard Phil in the club.
Bam Bam:That's a great lighter.
Gizmo:It's a little skinny long. It looks like a thicker pencil. It's black. I think I get a pair of them for $8 on Amazon.
Bam Bam:They're awesome.
Gizmo:I love them. But when you put this in your toiletry bag, it looks like a nose hair trimmer. Yeah. I've traveled maybe 25 times with this in my my travel bag. In my carry on, I've never had a problem because it looks like a nose hair trimmer.
Pagoda:Have you ever used it at the nose trimmer?
Gizmo:I have not. You know, it would be effective. It would work.
Pagoda:You're lighting the cigar up a little. You can singe
Bam Bam:your nose hairs.
Pagoda:It would work.
Gizmo:But so I carry that. I carry a cheap lighter of some kind, something I'm not afraid of losing, like you guys said. I carry my rest. And then if I really want to bring a perfect draw, it's in my
Bam Bam:our very
Gizmo:first Check back.
Bam Bam:Very first trip to Cuba, I brought my DuPonts, and they didn't get taken. I was able to come home with them, and I felt like such a fool after we got back because I realized I took such an enormous risk. That's $500 worth of accessories. Yeah.
Gizmo:And there's no going back, man. No. You can't go put that in your checked luggage.
Bam Bam:No. No. So I won't ever do that again.
Gizmo:Yeah. I think carrying cheap stuff. But again, for me with Cubans or Hondurans or something with a with a really, really fragile wrapper, I'd prefer to precut them with my scissors, something sharp at home, throw them in the bag, carry them. And I also know that I don't have draw problems. So while you guys are sitting there fighting your cigars in Havana or in Doctor or something, I'm just light in mind because I know I've already checked the draw.
Bam Bam:But these less expensive cutters are actually pretty sharp.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. They work. Especially early on.
Bam Bam:To each his own.
Rooster:Also, to pack the cigars, if you don't want to pack them in the case, those five finger bags are a great way to travel with.
Gizmo:I've never had So let me lay out what I do. I have a backpack that I love. I carry my laptop in it, my iPad, my headphones, everything's in it. My passport when I have it, Chef.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:I take five finger bags. I've probably taken 30 or 40 cigars in five finger bags. I put them in that pouch in front of my laptop and iPad. I've never had, not one time doing that, have I had a damaged cigar. And the real estate, those bags take up with the cigars in them.
Gizmo:I can take forty, fifty cigars in the space that one of those leather cases would fit in my bag with eight cigars in them. Yeah. So from a utility standpoint, from a space standpoint, keeping the cigars safe, sealed, humidity safe, I will always travel with those five finger bags. I bring forty, fifty cigars with me right right in my backpack I have with me.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Those are great, but I've traveled with a big plastic bag full of cigars. No issues at all.
Rooster:But the five finger bags actually protect they
Gizmo:protect us.
Bam Bam:It's true. It's true.
Gizmo:So congratulations to our friend Lizard Sean sending in that great voice memo. And of course, thanks to all the lizards out there who write us every week.
Pagoda:And if
Gizmo:you have any commentary
Bam Bam:FOH cigar is he getting?
Gizmo:Whatever one he wants.
Bam Bam:Oh, he gets to pick.
Gizmo:He gets to pick? What? Yes. He won a 10 count box of his choice of Bon Robert cigars.
Chef Ricky:Wow. Can he mix and match?
Bam Bam:Go No. For the
Gizmo:You can get a 10 count box.
Pagoda:Dude,
Bam Bam:those things are exquisite luxurious.
Gizmo:Honestly, think all four of them. I would go Dahlias if it were Yeah.
Bam Bam:I know.
Rooster:I would do Dahlias. Oh, they're so good.
Bam Bam:They are. But the longer experience on the Phenomenos, it is It's phenomenal.
Gizmo:It's amazing. It's phenomenal. So, again, congratulations to our friend Lizard Sean on winning lizard of the week this week with his great voice memo. And we'll finish tonight, boys, before we get to our ratings with a note from our friend, Lizard Johnny the Greek, our resident Lounge Lizards podcast philosopher. He says, hello, boys.
Gizmo:Johnny the Greek here.
Bam Bam:Is he related to my friend, Vinny the Neck?
Gizmo:Yes. Okay. Every now and then, someone asks how I can enjoy cigars knowing the risks. It's a fair question, but life itself is a risk. Life.
Pagoda:Life. Life.
Gizmo:Stress, anxiety, nonstop pressure, lack of peace. More men are buried by the weight of modern life than by the smoke of a good cigar. That is a great sentence.
Bam Bam:Very interesting.
Gizmo:Most people never stop moving long enough to think anymore, and that's where cigars come in. For me, it's never just been tobacco. It's the ritual, the discipline, the reflection. A moment to sit down, shut the noise out, and reset the mind. The world slows down behind the smoke for an hour, and sometimes that hour is worth more than people realize.
Gizmo:The brotherhood and sisterhood matters too. Good conversation, strong company, men and women sitting together without phones in their faces, solving the problems of the world one cigar at a time. Everything carries risks. Too much food, too much booze, too much stress. None of us are making it out alive anyway.
Gizmo:So enjoy the goddamn cigars, not carelessly, but with appreciation. Sometimes peace itself is worth fighting for. Your resident philosopher, Johnny the Greek. Very, very nice. Love when Johnny emails us.
Gizmo:I I wish we could keep this as a recurring segment every week because that fires me up. And I wanna copy and paste that and put that in that EU public comment there
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:About tobacco and the regulations that are coming on cigars, this is exactly what it's about.
Pagoda:Yeah. You know, he could write a blurb on each one of us.
Chef Ricky:Absolutely. I need you to reread that with the same whatever
Gizmo:As the Meerapfel? As the Meerapfel. It's hard. I mean, his is a little bit more normal than what the Meerapfel bio was. Okay.
Gizmo:But yeah, thanks to Johnny DeGreek. We love hearing from him and he always has something great to say. And I think it's a great reflection to think about why we do this, how we do it, you know, and and how great it has been for each of us and the collective here
Pagoda:Of course.
Gizmo:And Lizard Nation. So shout out to him. And of course, again, thanks to Lizard Nation for every week sharing your thoughts and comments and feelings and what you're smoking with us. We really, really appreciate it. So keep it up.
Gizmo:We love to hear from you. And now, boys, we are coming to the end of our evening tonight with the Meerapfel Estancia 52, Addision
Chef Ricky:Such a shame that it has to end.
Gizmo:Exclusiva and the Wild Common Tequila Reposado. Any final thoughts on the pairing before we go to our ratings? And don't forget to text me your ratings,
Bam Bam:please.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Such a shame that it has to end.
Gizmo:I wish the cigar was about eight inches longer.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I mean, I'm literally down to a quarter of an inch here.
Chef Ricky:Yeah.
Bam Bam:And Rooster, how does a cigar get better and better and better as it get deeper into the cigar? It's very rare.
Rooster:It's unreal.
Bam Bam:It no. It's a rare experience.
Rooster:It's a pre embargo tobacco. Okay.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. It's time now to go into the formal liquorating tonight on the wild common tequila Reposado. Bam Bam,
Chef Ricky:you're up.
Bam Bam:Yeah. So I'm at a very enthusiastic nine. I think, you know, I'd buy this I'd I'd happily drink this on a weekly basis. There are a few other tequilas that I would slot maybe just one point above, but I love the briny sweet balance, that volley that you called out, chef, is very accurate. That minerality that dissipates very quickly on the finish, I think, would be a fantastic pairing with almost any cigar, both Cuban and New World.
Bam Bam:It's pretty versatile. So I'm at
Gizmo:a strong nine. Alright, Jeff.
Chef Ricky:I'm right there with you, Ben. I'm at a nine. Look, I'm sure the bottle's a tad bit expensive at 70 to maybe $74 depending on where you get it. But for what this is delivering an additive free tequila that's produced by Chava Rosales. I mean, guy's a legend.
Chef Ricky:All those Cascadine expressions,
Gizmo:none
Chef Ricky:of that stuff is necessarily cheap. So, but this is a spirit that you know is being produced properly. I love the expression of nothing added, nothing lost. And I feel like that's, that's very true here. You know, the brine almost orange blossom like at the end that you get that really compliments a cigar in that sort of anise note beautifully.
Chef Ricky:It just it did it did great. And I I really enjoyed it. So I think for me, it's surely a nine.
Gizmo:So I'm also at a nine. I thought it was amazing tonight. And I say that specifically because I don't think this tequila Reposado or this tequila is as versatile as some of the other excellent tequilas we've had in here, including the Reposados. I think, you know, the minerality of the brine you've talked about, the citrus, I think for what we had as a cigar tonight as a pairing, I thought it was perfect for this. But I think a lot of the other cigars that we smoke-
Bam Bam:Do you think it'll overpower this cigar?
Gizmo:I just think it might be more of a clash. I don't think it's as universal in its pairing as some of the other tequilas we've done that I think we say could pair with a Honduran, a Dominican, a Nicaraguan, a Cuban. I think this has a specific lane that it fits in, And I think it works with those flavors that you guys have been talking about. And I've I've shared, like, the terquenos from La Goria Cubana. This tequila would be amazing with the terquenos from from La Goria Cubana in Cuba.
Gizmo:I think this with a partagus, maybe not so much. This with a Padron Exclusivo, maybe not so much. I don't think it's as versatile as some of the other tequilas that we've done. And I also think that the $70 price point is a little high for this. So for me and all those reasons, it's a nine.
Bam Bam:I disagree with the versatility comment, but I'm with you on everything else. I think the sweetness on this will virtually work with almost any cigar. Yeah. Because you're pursuing something that's subtle and sweet with almost anything that
Gizmo:you're selling. We've said the word funk tonight a couple times. I think this has a funk that takes not its versatility
Chef Ricky:sweetness coming from oak or the bourbon barrel, which I think we're used to from the El Desoros and the Ochos and the Don Fulano's. This is a sweetness that's coming strictly from the agave. The bourbon, the oaky notes that are coming here, it's it's way in the background. The sweetness you're experiencing here is from the actual agave, and that's why I love this.
Bam Bam:I want to change my rating.
Gizmo:Talk to Pagoda.
Bam Bam:Bury your nose in this glass for just a little while. The aroma is intoxicating. Yeah.
Pagoda:It's really interesting because I get the exact opposite experience.
Bam Bam:Walt, it's your turn to rate.
Gizmo:You're up.
Pagoda:Yeah. It is, yeah. No, so for me it's an eight, and I also think I was even teething between a seven and an eight in What?
Gizmo:Wow. You were thinking of going down to a seven?
Pagoda:Yeah, like at least in the beginning. Think I really really enjoyed it in this You're gonna go
Chef Ricky:on a pip.
Bam Bam:You're on a pip.
Pagoda:No. I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it once it got a bit, you know, warmer. And that's when, like for me, I don't even think the pairing really matched well for me. I thought it took away from the cigar.
Pagoda:In fact
Gizmo:You think it took away?
Pagoda:Yeah. And in fact, if you look at this, you know, by the way, was just thinking about it. In tequila, this is probably my lowest rating. I don't think I've ever gone down tonight. Yeah.
Pagoda:I've always really enjoyed the aroma. I think the aroma was alright. I don't think the flavor was that Like for me, I'm seeking something in, you know, tequila, or I enjoy a certain flavor profile in tequila, where it envelopes your mouth. While it was buttery, and that's why I think, you know, it provided a bit of the sweetness, but now I can understand what the sweetness was slightly different from what I would expect it. But it just didn't You know how sometimes you have a tequila and you're like, oh, damn.
Pagoda:It's so good. Yeah. And I think we've discussed this before. But for me, you know, that's why I was between a seven and an eight. And I think now that I'm, you know, drinking it on its own, it's definitely improved a lot when the temperature's gone down to room temperature.
Pagoda:So, it's an eight for me.
Chef Ricky:Wow. Yeah. And I listen. I think that's fair because, Giz, when you mentioned versatility, I was coming from a perspective of who do you give this tequila to. Right?
Chef Ricky:And Well, my versatility is what am I smoking with it? A 100%. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Yeah.
Chef Ricky:But I probably wouldn't give this to somebody who I want to love tequila if it's their first try of tequila.
Gizmo:I agree with you on that.
Bam Bam:Right?
Chef Ricky:Mhmm. This is more of like an experience. You've been into tequila for a bit. Now you want to understand agave. You've kind of fallen in love with agave and and
Gizmo:Here's some Don Julio.
Chef Ricky:No. Don Julio, you got a lot of work to do. Dig them out of that hole.
Gizmo:Here's some Casamigars.
Bam Bam:Honestly, that's like turpentine. Remember how much we love that stuff?
Gizmo:I know. I still have a bottle in my locker
Bam Bam:for three What a journey we've been on.
Gizmo:Yeah. Amazing. Amazing.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, this
Gizmo:is no. That makes a lot of sense, though. I agree with you. I don't think that someone who's a novice to tequila, which I still feel like I am, you know, this point Always learning. Me too.
Gizmo:Know, it's I I don't think this is a good first step. So boys, the former liquor rating tonight on the Wild Common Tequila Reposado is an 8.8.
Bam Bam:A touch low.
Gizmo:I think it's a touch low. He almost went with a seven.
Bam Bam:Yeah. No.
Gizmo:I think I think 80 eight's fair.
Chef Ricky:It's fair.
Gizmo:Especially given the price.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I think after we rate something, we should be allowed to exclude a rating.
Gizmo:Like, you are the weakest link?
Pagoda:Correct.
Gizmo:Goodbye. We'll
Rooster:drop drop the lowest score. Right.
Pagoda:Or the highest because there's somebody who rates 10 here. I am I you
Bam Bam:know, I am
Gizmo:enthusiastic. Alright, boys. It's time now to go into the formal lizard reading tonight, the Meerapfel. La Estancia 52, Addision Exclusiva, Rooster, you're up.
Rooster:I am actually absolutely blown away by this cigar. It is amazing, and I'm in shock how Cuban esque this cigar was tonight. I was very skeptical, to say the least. I had no idea about this brand. I had no idea what the cigar would smoke like.
Rooster:It came in a very well dressed box, a beautiful box. And a lot of times, the cigar doesn't deliver when it comes in boxes that are so ornate. But the cigar was pleasantly surprised. I mean, the cigar, right off the light, we knew that this is something special. The aroma on the cigar, the floral aroma of the cigar.
Rooster:And then when you light it, it just started off with a creamy blast. And then the flavors kind of transformed into graham cracker and baking spice. And the cigar really kind of took you on a journey, beautiful journey. You know, it got sweeter at the end. At the halfway point, it was you know, that baking spice kind of turned up, kind of ramped up.
Rooster:Even got, like, a citrus note and anise cardamom notes came through.
Chef Ricky:Every flavor it delivered, it did it so perfect.
Rooster:Yeah. I mean, we kind of you know, we talked about, like, how Cuban esque and how close to a turquino this was. And I think this is better than the torquino's again. I think it has more nuance, more flavor.
Bam Bam:Giz is shaking his head. It gives it a run for its money. It does give it a run for its money.
Gizmo:I I think it's a it's I think it's it's playing a different game.
Bam Bam:It is.
Gizmo:It's in a different lane.
Bam Bam:The turkey neck. It has a little bit of that Cuban funk that we don't get as much in this, but it gives it a run for And its
Gizmo:I would argue too, this, I don't know if I'd say this cigar was effortless tonight. I think that this required some effort a little bit, and not in a bad way. I think the Turchinios is just in such an easy Yeah. The draw is wide It just goes. I mean, it's like you're in the fast lane on cruise control in that cigar.
Gizmo:I think this one requires a little bit this one's more like driving a Porsche. Yeah. Where you really have to pay attention. It's an excellent you know, it's really well put together. But for me, like, the Turkinios is like, you get in the car, you get in the Tesla and it's driving itself.
Gizmo:Sure. Like Pagoda does. You know, I think that's that would be my comparison. But sorry to interrupt.
Rooster:No, it's good. My cigar actually had no construction issues. There were no draw issues. The draw was pretty wide open. I had no complaints about that.
Rooster:But the flavor is what's impeccable. I mean, it's just amazing.
Bam Bam:Flavors
Rooster:come Amazing the way they have blended this. And not only the blend, I mean, you can taste the age on these tobaccos. I think, Bam, you pointed out that it had some punch punch type notes, how it envelops and coats your
Bam Bam:Your palate.
Rooster:Your palate. Which is I mean, I'm a huge punch punch fan. I mean, I love I love the punch punch. And, you know, we are comparing this to a Schwa Supreme. A Torquino is a punch punch.
Gizmo:The highest of compliments.
Rooster:Highest of compliments. And this is a new world cigar. I mean, who knows? I mean, the fact that they don't even tell you what the blend is. Yeah.
Rooster:I mean, we suspect that it does have some kind of Honduran component to this. Or Cuban. Or Cuban, who knows? But whatever they have done, they have done a fantastic job. Now, the price point is a little bit on the higher side.
Rooster:But to deliver this kind of a cigar for this experience, I think it's well worth it. You know, it's not going to be in our daily least for me, it's not going be in my daily rotation, But maybe once a month, twice a month. And the fact that it comes in a 10 count box, it's not a crazy price that you spend
Gizmo:on You paid it for those Davidoff Puro Dominicanos.
Rooster:Yeah. Correct.
Chef Ricky:Can I ask you a question? Would this qualify as a special occasion cigar for you?
Gizmo:Yes.
Rooster:I think so. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, actually like that. Would almost be the same rotation as a Cuban cigar.
Rooster:As often as I smoke a Cuban cigar That's a great I don't want a Cuban cigar, I would pick this one up. Because this is going to satisfy that Cuban what I want to experience on that given night. So I'm at a solid 10 on this. All right, Pugoda?
Pagoda:Yeah. Listen, I echo everything you've said. This is excellent in terms of flavor. I think I was enjoying it. I think Bam mentioned it, that he caught a moment where I was totally zoning away and was completely in love with the cigar.
Pagoda:The flavor profile, you know, really, like it's, you know, in the Cuban kind of profile as well, this, you know, I really enjoyed, I felt I got a lot of the graham cracker and the bacon spices, which for me would be more akin to an uppant two ish kind of a flavor profile, which was really, really good. I, you know, in the aroma, I think I'd mentioned that I was getting a little bit of cardamom, was very pleasant. The flavor profile it left in my palate was extremely pleasant. I mean, it was fantastic. It's like, you know, when you have a cigar and your whole, you know, palate is with an excellent flavor, you just seek it more.
Pagoda:And the only reason I knocked it down to a nine was the construction for me. Unfortunately, this cigar tunneled twice and had to touch it up a few times. You know, it's ashed all over me. They've seen it. You know, for, you know, a cigar which is over $30, you know, you just want the construction to be perfect.
Pagoda:But don't take away anything because some people over here had perfect construction, and I think the flavor is what's gonna drive me back to the cigar. It is definitely a cigar where I'm gonna go and buy a box of 10. You know, for me, it's gonna be an infrequent rotation, but it's gonna be there because it's available, and it's available on small batch. You know? So, you know, you get the 15% off, and you keep it with you and smoke it whenever you're seeking a Cuban.
Pagoda:You can just go and pick one of these. And it's a very, very, very strong nine for me.
Gizmo:All right. So I'm gonna start with the negatives. Okay? I hate that this is undisclosed tobacco. I hate everything about the idea that there's no component of this that has been shared with us.
Gizmo:We've talked about it before. If there's one or two elements of the blend you don't wanna disclose as a blender or manufacturer, I get it. But to not share the country of origin, the factory, the binder, wrapper, blender, any of it, I think, is lunacy. I also think the marketing BS, like we talked about with Davidoff, those crazy bios we read. I mean, it's just so over the top.
Gizmo:They don't need it. They don't need it. The cigar speaks for itself.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Gizmo:That's exactly what I was gonna say.
Chef Ricky:But That's it matches. Because this cigar, the flavor on this cigar
Gizmo:is No, but so some of that stuff is so ridiculous. Yeah, I get it. I mean, honestly- But they delivered. I take less away from these guys than I do with what we've been talking about with Davodos. That's correct.
Gizmo:Because cigars deliver. Exactly. This is delivered tonight.
Bam Bam:It's interesting what you're saying and what Chef's saying. The cigar is like the crescendo after all of this buildup and very descriptive backgrounds of the makers. There's something to that if the cigar delivers. Exactly. If the cigar doesn't deliver and it's costing over $30 I'm hoping we don't ever walk out of this room without giving it a 6 or below.
Gizmo:Of course.
Chef Ricky:Right? If you're extremely confident and full of yourself and you deliver, keep Fine.
Gizmo:Yeah. That's exactly it.
Bam Bam:All respects.
Gizmo:Like to me, it's the difference between is this marketing hilarious or is this marketing pissing me off? And that's the difference is does the end result, does the product give me a great experience or not for this high price that your marketing has caused me to spend? That's the difference. Now let's go to the positives. I'm gonna call back to our friend.
Gizmo:So this cigar for me was absolutely brilliant. It was Cubanesque. I loved every draw of it. I loved every third of it. I couldn't believe even getting down to the nub Correct.
Gizmo:How excellent it was. The construction was perfect. I think that the biggest standout thing here was that it was unique. Wait for it. I don't know you know, aside from, you know, comparing it to other Cuban cigars, I think it was unique in the sense that I don't know if we've ever had another non Cuban cigar where we've said, This cigar tastes exactly like a specific Cuban cigar.
Gizmo:And I think that in the world that we're in and what we chase, a lot of the time, that is a really amazing thing to find, and it's like these light bulbs going off. When Rooster said that tonight, it was like an moment. Yeah. You heard the angels singing like, This is exactly what this is, and it's delivering perfectly, and it did it the whole way through. At $32 even less with that code, you said Pagoda?
Gizmo:Yeah. For two hours of excellence tonight and this really well built cigar, I'm totally cool with it. For me, it's a 10. I love this cigar. It's a 10.
Gizmo:It's a 10. It's a 10. I can't wait to have another one. Brilliant job for all the BS in the marketing. Absolutely brilliant.
Gizmo:I'm really, really impressed. Chef.
Chef Ricky:I hate to do this because the cigar was almost perfect, but that's why I'm doing
Pagoda:it. Almost?
Chef Ricky:Almost. Like you Pagoda, maybe it's the sofa we're sitting on. I'm not sure, But I had some construction issues, not as bad as you, but I think that's because I made some effort to touch up and correct. But my ash was flaky. It didn't have that beautiful structure that Bam and Gizzes and I think Roosters had, but we both had a similar, somewhat similar experience with construction.
Pagoda:Yeah. Because we you know, when you have really good cigars, they self correct.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I have to give it a nine because it wasn't a perfect cigar because of that. A flavor perspective, this was a perfect cigar.
Chef Ricky:Now I may not be as quick to call out certain flavor profiles because I don't always feel as confident when it comes to comparing Cubans to some new worlds or just kind of recalling past cigars in general.
Gizmo:He'd rather call out ketchup and Angelica.
Chef Ricky:Because you know what? I eat those more.
Gizmo:I know you do.
Pagoda:And wasabi. And wasabi.
Chef Ricky:Then I smoke a a Schwa Supreme. So
Bam Bam:Very good.
Pagoda:If you know that, tell me I should all be Correct. By the way, no shit If for he cannot he cannot call out and do the flavors, what the hell am I doing there?
Chef Ricky:I just can't recall some of those cigars to the same level that you guys can. And I and I love you guys for that and love that you're able to and I hope to get there someday. But there is a cigar that I've had plenty of, especially early in my Cuban journey that this did remind me of and that was a BBF. And I know for you
Gizmo:Bolivar, Bella Coso, Finos. Correct. Listen around there.
Chef Ricky:There were a lot of similarities for me with the between this and the BBF and it was that that flavor memory that maybe made me call out the Cuban s notes. So I'll I'll leave that there for what it's worth. But aside from that, this cigar delivered everything. I mean, the if if you guys were here or if we were recording.
Rooster:We are here.
Bam Bam:For BAM. And we are recording.
Chef Ricky:When I when I By the
Gizmo:way, I just looked confirmed. Correct.
Chef Ricky:When I said you guys, I meant the listeners. And at this time, we were not recording when BAM first took a whiff of his cigar, And he was just making all kinds of amazing sounds because of how great it smelled.
Pagoda:Called him amazing,
Gizmo:but you know.
Bam Bam:So
Chef Ricky:that was the start of
Pagoda:it.
Chef Ricky:And then we got great tasting notes on the cold draw. And then the first, you know, the the the the initial light was just a creamy bomb cappuccino and and and bacon spice and just so dried fruit and and toasted nuts. And then you get further in and there's a little bit of a baking spice. For me, it was more so cinnamon. And then nougat and praline and it just delivered all these things in an amazing way.
Chef Ricky:And actually, this just this just hit my head, but
Gizmo:Buckle up,
Bam Bam:M. Oh, here we go.
Chef Ricky:What is this? You guys are such assholes. What remind me of the shitty Cuban wannabe that's super expensive. Atabay? Yes.
Chef Ricky:This
Gizmo:Like how quickly I called that out?
Bam Bam:Very good.
Chef Ricky:This cigar
Gizmo:is what Atabay wants to 1000%.
Bam Bam:Finally, you say something with merit.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, I'm going home.
Gizmo:That is an excellent I mean, you're being facetious, but that's 100%
Bam Bam:true. No, that is
Gizmo:very, You very well know, let's just say on the adobe thing too, we talked about it earlier very briefly. They also do this undisclosed. There could be or there could not be, you know, the guy who designed this did the bijique stuff. There is that kind of playing with this question mark around the mystique of the ingredients. That's an example.
Gizmo:This one though is a little closer to reality though than that.
Bam Bam:I love the comment.
Gizmo:Yeah. I agree. Really.
Chef Ricky:I mean, but this this cigar brings that out of you, right? Just from smoking that and having that experience. So I want to give this a 10, but I can't because it wasn't a perfect experience. So it's a very, very strong nine. And if we were a decimal system, it'd be a 9.9.
Gizmo:We can blame But,
Chef Ricky:you know, it's a nine for me.
Gizmo:Alright. Bam.
Bam Bam:I have to say, this is probably one of the most special cigars I've ever had in my life. It really truly was very unique.
Chef Ricky:I feel that.
Bam Bam:I can count on my four or five fingers special cigar moments that
Pagoda:You only have four, actually.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Well, I may not have five cigar moments that
Pagoda:are formed. Four I may not missing the middle finger.
Rooster:Email refuses it.
Chef Ricky:Now you know how it feels.
Pagoda:Let me clear my throat. Alright.
Bam Bam:May not have four or five cigar special cigar moments. Vegas, Rubin in 2011.
Rooster:Opus, Dubai.
Gizmo:That's a good one.
Bam Bam:Yeah. No. A 2015 e two that I can remember that I had years ago.
Rooster:Sir Winston. In
Bam Bam:2015. That's definitely a Sir Winston. I actually had one two nights ago.
Rooster:A splanidos? Yep. Of the number two.
Bam Bam:I mean, it's special. That's special, but
Gizmo:Not 14 was
Bam Bam:Not at this level. I mean, you're talking really such a unique cigar experience tonight, and I don't mind their mystique or any cigar maker's mystique if they don't wanna disclose certain information. If, like you guys said, if they Delivers.
Gizmo:If deliver.
Bam Bam:Yes. If they're gonna give me a crescendo of an experience like this
Rooster:I don't need to know what's in it.
Bam Bam:No. Well, I would like to, but I am buying as many of these that I can get my hands on. I
Rooster:don't Watch out.
Bam Bam:Yeah. No. It really truly was such a delicious experience. And how many cigars get better and better as you go down?
Gizmo:That honestly was one of the most impressive parts
Bam Bam:That's about unbelievable. There was
Gizmo:Every draw seemed like it was climbing up a mountain.
Bam Bam:Was down to that final quarter of an inch. It the was building flavor. We And talked about it earlier. Pagoda mentioned it, how it coated your palate. There aren't many cigars Cuban and New World that are doing that today.
Bam Bam:So I think for all of those reasons, I am if I can give this a 15, I'd give it a 15. I can give it a 20. This is a perfect, perfect cigar regardless of the price because of how special and unique the experience is. I'm in a very, very firm 10.
Gizmo:So with BAM's 20, the former lizard rating tonight, the Meerapfel Estancia 52, Odysseo and Exclusiva is a 17.8.
Bam Bam:All right. There we go.
Gizmo:No, the actual rating is a 9.6.
Bam Bam:Very excellent for the cigar.
Chef Ricky:Agree. And if you use the small batch code that we have- Lizard 15, lizard-fifteen. Can't beat it. You're talking about $27.2 a stick. Come on.
Pagoda:What? You're doing the math?
Gizmo:Come on. Free shipping. Incredible.
Chef Ricky:This is a math podcast. Did you not hear?
Bam Bam:That's right.
Gizmo:Lizard Enrique said that.
Pagoda:And I
Bam Bam:honestly, I'm gonna differ on the celebratory experience or the need to have a celebration to smoke this cigar. I wanna buy enough of these where I can smoke one one a week.
Rooster:You can celebrate every week.
Bam Bam:Yeah. No, but honestly, you can give one to a guy in the lounge or a gal.
Pagoda:I'll be right there.
Gizmo:You're gonna have difficulty finding that many
Chef Ricky:of
Gizmo:them.
Chef Ricky:I know that. He's doing me a favor every time he's in the lounge.
Bam Bam:I know that, I
Pagoda:know that.
Bam Bam:But what cigar forces you to do is what the whole cigar experience is It's all about, 100%. Slowing down. You have to smoke this in a mannered pace. You're not going to be a bull and rush through this cigar. It requires a very mature approach, and honestly, I don't know many cigars that require you to do that.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, it sucks that we've had this experience, and it couldn't be a 10 across the board because this cigar deserves it.
Gizmo:And maybe next time it could have been.
Bam Bam:Very true. Very true.
Gizmo:So, boys, we have to congratulate our friend Lizard Sean again for winning lizard of the week this week. He's gonna win an awesome 10 count box of cigars from our friends at Bond and Robert. So thanks to them for sponsoring our lizards of the week segment. Of course, we have to thank Small Batch Cigar. We just mentioned them.
Gizmo:Go there right now. These are still in stock as of we as of the moment we're recording this. Use our code lizard 15 for 15% off your entire order. Pick up a bunch of stuff. Small Batch have been incredible partners to us.
Gizmo:They are so supportive. When I tell you, I had a call with those guys last week. We were on the phone for two hours. We didn't talk business for a moment. It was amazing.
Gizmo:Those guys are so supportive of what we do. They love what we're doing. So let's return that favor. Please go out and use our codelizard15smallbatchcigar.com. And of course, boys, our presenting sponsor, Fabricant.
Bam Bam:We love you, Rob.
Gizmo:We love you, Rob. We love Hamlet, and those cigars are brilliant. I can't wait. I have a Trinity Robusto in my plastic bag right here. You can hear it on air.
Gizmo:A little ASMR lizarding. I have a Trinity Robusto right there. I can't wait to smoke it tonight after this.
Rooster:You know, those dahlias are phenomenal cigars. They're amazing. God, they're so good.
Gizmo:So it might be my favorite cigar that's not
Rooster:even finished that cigar and I ordered more.
Gizmo:Yeah. Incredible. So good. Incredible. Alright, boys.
Gizmo:One more time tonight on the pod. The Wild Common Tequila Reposado had an 8.8, and the Meerapfel La Estancia 52. Addision Exclusiva had a 9.6. Boys, what a great night tonight.
Rooster:Was an ordering them.
Chef Ricky:I was just gonna say it was an amazing night, and
Gizmo:I want everyone to know that BAM's currently ordering. Correct. And he's gonna order a ton of them.
Bam Bam:I'm trying to do that right now.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. A great night, and, we'll see everybody next week. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You could find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, loungelizardspod.com.
Gizmo:That's loungelizardspod.com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us. Hello at loungelizardspod.com. You can also find us on Instagram at Lounge Lizards Pod.
Gizmo:We really appreciate your time, and we'll, we'll see you next week.