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The lizards pair the Oliva V in Churchill with Chivas Regal 18. The guys discuss Oliva, the LIV golf league and they roast Gizmo about an infamous night out.
Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
**Gizmo:** [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge listeners podcast. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars, as well as whiskey, travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo, and tonight I'm joined by Rooster Puba, Senator Pagoda, and bam.
Bam. And our plan is to smoker cigar, drink some scotch, talk about life, and of course, have some laughs. So take this as your 37th official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard planet. Meet us here once a week. We're gonna smoke a new world cigar tonight. Share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating.
We explore one of the most popular new world markers, discuss the live golf leak, and the lizards roast me about an infamous night of drinking all among a variety of other things for the next hour. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we pair 18 year age shivs regal with the Ava V in Churchill.
Our first leave a v [00:01:00] on the pod tonight, the Series v Churchill Extra, a beefy, large, intimidating 52 ring gauge by seven inch cigar. We have a lot of history with the cigar boys. We do
**Bam Bam:** a lot of history.
**Pagoda:** I think a lot of people have a lot of history with the cigar . That's a good point. I know a lot of people who really love this cigar.
It's a very
**Gizmo:** popular cigar. I it, it's one of our most requested cigars we've ever had on the pod. Yeah, yeah.
**Senator:** It it's so popular. Some only smoke this cigar. That's true. .
**Gizmo:** It's very true. It's tasty. Some do. It has a unique smell on the wrapper, I gotta say.
**Poobah:** Yeah. It's, it's very, very Bob Baffert.
**Gizmo:** Bob .
**Poobah:** Very, very barnyard.
Very
**Gizmo:** equestrian. Very equestrian.
**Poobah:** Very
**Gizmo:** equestrian. Bob Baffert . Isn't he suspended from? Ever participating in horse racing ever again? My point. Exactly. .
**Senator:** I heard he got into shooting. That's
**Gizmo:** true. That must be what he's doing now. . [00:02:00] All right, boys, let's cut this thing. See, we're getting on the cold draw on the wrapper.
Cold draw's not
**Poobah:** bad. It's
**Gizmo:** okay. It's not bad. Little fruity. Yeah. Like a
**Bam Bam:** typical new
**Gizmo:** world. Yeah. New world dried fruit. Yeah. Cold draws not bad. Mm-hmm. . It does not smell great though. I mean, this does not happen. There's some things that
**Poobah:** are happening pre-life for me that this
smells
**Senator:** like that opus that I got that night, we did the opus episode.
For some reason mine smelled like,
**Gizmo:** like horseshit. Yeah, that's exactly what this smells like. ,
**Poobah:** because I, for the listener, I was smelling it before we started to record and it smelled like a, like it smelled like a racetrack. Like I was a dirty barn. Well, yeah, it really does. It smelled like something that I would, uh, you'd see in the.
Uh, in the paddock down at Belmont .
**Bam Bam:** And all serious though, a lot of guys love the cigar. I, yeah.
**Gizmo:** [00:03:00] I, and we've gotten, let me tell you, out of any, this Marco's very popular. Any Marco? This is the one new world that we've gotten more requests for than
**Poobah:** any. Is that right? That little box press? Maduro one is good.
The Melania good Melanio is is? Yeah. It's not bad. Pretty good cigar. It's a little sweeter. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Should we smoke
**Gizmo:** this thing? Yeah. Let's light this thing boys. Our Nicaraguan piro tonight a still your lighter Churchill Extra. Oh, that's for the moment. 52 ring gauge by seven inches. The
**Bam Bam:** cigar requires a big
**Gizmo:** torch.
The rapper is a sun-grown Havana. The binder is Nicaraguan and the filler is Hapa Valley. Laro.
**Poobah:** I got that charcoal starter thing out on this. You know the thing you start your charcoal with, with the butane? Mm-hmm. .
**Gizmo:** Here. You need that
**Rooster:** because Is that Like in
**Gizmo:** Mexico's? I'm not sure. It says it's a Nicaraguan fur.
Oh, okay. So maybe [00:04:00] it's just a
**Rooster:** region.
**Gizmo:** Region. Nicaragua. Yeah. Now
**Poobah:** you
**Bam Bam:** gotta admit initially first straw is not bad. Yeah, it's not bad.
**Senator:** No. Lot of smoke output.
**Gizmo:** Yep. And a little fruity. Yeah. This is a big cigar, man. Yeah,
**Bam Bam:** it's pretty mild initially for me.
**Gizmo:** Oh, this is, this is
**Rooster:** gonna build
**Poobah:** No bitterness. No bitterness. Yeah.
**Senator:** Oh man. Four. The light got
**Pagoda:** so hot.
**Senator:** Oof. That's uh, Gizmo's Favorite. Lighter.
**Gizmo:** Four of, no, that's my lighter. He forgot his, oh, .
**Poobah:** Is that an St. DuPont? He just ejected onto the floor? No,
**Gizmo:** it's a vertigo. I know better.
Oh,
**Poobah:** okay. .
**Gizmo:** I knew
**Bam Bam:** better.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. This is not bad on the, uh, on the first light here. No. You know, I mean, I look at this cigar and I, I, I hesitate anytime I see a Churchill. I don't know. Simply because it's, it's a
**Poobah:** commitment. Yeah. [00:05:00] But this is even, this is a bigger, this is 52 ring gauge. This is like a Churchill extra.
Yeah. It's definitely big. Yeah. You better, you better like this if you're gonna light it. Yeah. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I mean, it's not bad. No. Very mild.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Surprisingly getting a slight canoeing over here.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, a bit. What are you guys getting flavor-wise so far? A little fruity.
**Senator:** Yeah. I get dried fruit and something that's cocoa wish on the finish. Like either super dark chocolate or. Uh, dark roasted coffee, beans, some, something around that flavor
**Poobah:** profile.
Yeah. Maybe a little nutty something. Yeah. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I, I'm, I feel like the, the smoke to me is almost like a little chalky or something. Like, it's almost gritty. I don't know why that is, but it's different. I've, I, I don't [00:06:00] remember ever having that before. Oh,
**Poobah:** this what, you know, the podcast is funny. this what?
Because I'll tell you why. , can I tell you guys why we're all different? We like different things and everything, but like, I'm smoking a cigar that quite frankly, I would just never smoke in my life. Ever. Yeah. This, this old I I and, and if the listeners just like, send bad emails and say, PAHs a, a douche bag, I just, this is not a cigar.
Like the size. I wouldn't pick, I wouldn't pick the, I wouldn't pick this for so many reasons. You know what? And I'm not coming in pre like judging it, but it's just so Yes you are. Oh yes you are. I'm packing huge and ridiculous. Someone
**Senator:** has to bring Puba back down Yeah. From the ceiling. And, uh, it's a cigar you wouldn't pick up.
Now here's a, but the puba of old may have picked up some Ashtons
**Poobah:** and some more questionable. Oh, yes. Say look, listen. Not too, not too long ago, . Oh, okay. Okay. [00:07:00] Fair enough. Um,
**Gizmo:** but
**Rooster:** he's gone. I mean, he's like, you know completely. Yeah. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I mean,
**Poobah:** flavor profile. Gizmo. Gizmo used to eat chocolate and cigar apparent.
This is true.
**Gizmo:** We all used to have a primitive palette.
**Senator:** Speak for yourself Gi . So the
**Pagoda:** rapper wasn't chocolate enough,
**Bam Bam:** honestly, just to get back to the cigar, I feel like you gotta rate this for what it is for the moment. Like all previous recordings, right? Yeah, absolutely. We have preconceived notions about the cigar.
There's no doubt about it. We are rating already. Well, no. Oh. But I think right now for what it is, no,
**Gizmo:** it's not bad initially. It's not bad. It's smoking.
**Senator:** Okay. I think, I think Babas have an important point in the sense that I didn't think, even on the light, that I, I thought I'd have a very negative reaction to this.
And it's not overly harsh or nothing's too aggressive so far, and so it, it's not bad
**Bam Bam:** to start. It is a well-made cigar. Right. The rapper's
**Poobah:** really nice. Yeah. You know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna course correct a little bit because There you go. I think it's the size. [00:08:00] Yeah, I totally agree. We don't like it. I think it's the size.
Yeah. It's too big, right? Like it's really the, because if this was a box pressed like that, don't they make a box press the Melan V The Melan view, the Man V. Now I don't know where, how that well regarded that cigar is the world. It's very popular. Grinder loves it. It's
**Gizmo:** a, it's a good yard cigar.
**Poobah:** Yeah, yeah.
right? But in other words, the size of it, like, I'm just looking at this and I think I'm just with apprehension going, I'm gonna smoke this whole thing. Like, maybe that's why I'm just kind of like feeling apprehensive about it.
**Senator:** Yeah. I just wanna understand the flavor that this imparts. And I say that cuz I, I feel like we should talk about this.
You meet so many people when you're a member of different cigar lounges and um, you know, I remember meeting someone who exclusively smoked this exact cigar in this, this shape, this fat. exactly what we have in our hand. And I was very shocked and confused as to how someone could smoke only one type of cigar their [00:09:00] whole life.
It's all it smokes, it's baffling. Never introduced variety or anything else. So I just am, the curiosity has been killing me to try this cigar given that someone could enjoy this so much that that's just all they wanna, you know, dive into. It's
**Poobah:** actually, I'm, I'm being a dick. It's, it's, it's act It's started off Not bad.
No, it's not bad. It's, I started off good. I'm being, I'm being a little dick .
**Senator:** Um, I think I know someone who could print a better label for this cigar, but it's,
**Gizmo:** yeah, the label is not, yeah, it is not special
**Poobah:** at all. You mean the poopy brown color with. .
**Gizmo:** Yeah. It is not, uh, how much is the stick? Yeah, good question.
It's 2 55 a box. Um, you get, uh, oh, 50 12 bucks. You, you get 24 in there. So there are about 10 bucks a stick. 10 bucks a stick. Okay. Which is, I mean, if, listen, if you like this flavor profile for what you're getting, gonna spend an hour and a half or an hour or whatever, that's great. Is great price. Um, yeah.
And, and also
**Senator:** that's a good price for that kind of time. Yeah. The, the way I, I would recommend [00:10:00] we approach this, at least the way I approach new worlds that are very reasonably priced. Like this is a big cigar for $10, right? Oh yeah, that's true. I, the utility for me when we do this is, and I, I've brought this up before when I end up, you know, quickly visiting a cigar shop or lounge, and I ha they don't allow outside cigars.
I must buy something there. And the selection can be fairly limited. And just what's something that you know, is gonna be serviceable to just have a quick smoke and something that I'm not gonna hate. and, uh, so that, that's kind of the lens through which I'm, I'm viewing this cigar of, would I just in a pinch have to buy something?
They happen to have it. Is this something that could satisfy enough to be serviceable? Yes.
**Poobah:** And, and in a social situation, um, more importantly. So I've had a, actually quite a few, many, many of those ver robusto, the ones who were melania's or whatever in social situations, like outdoors after a hunt, you know what I mean?
Where you're just kind of [00:11:00] casually like just, you know, you're just hanging out. It's like, Hey here. Or a bar barbecue. Or a barbecue or something where you're not focusing on things that much and you're just having some drinks. You know what it is? Uh, um, that particular cigar, which by the way, it has a similar like flavor to this.
Yes. It's a, it really does. Um, you kind of just go through it and it, and it's good now, I think because I was initially reacting to. The actual com. That's not a big commitment that, that, that ra robusto, you know, you're kind like, cool, like I'll just smoke this, this, when looking at this, I think at first I'm going, I'm really gonna get into this whole thing for this long.
Mm-hmm. . So I think the, the, the, in my experience with these, that little one that says, okay, it can get my, I'll give it that much attention. Yeah. But to give it this much attention, that's pretty fair. Which is mega attention. Yes. Is, is telling me something different, not about the taste. Very
**Bam Bam:** fair comment.
Do you know what I'm saying? From, from the point of view, the size, the shape,
**Senator:** the vital. Yeah. I, I think that's all fair. But one, one thing I, [00:12:00] I have a different perspective on. I, I, I don't like when we are so hesitant around larger cigars, not in ring gauge, just, you know, a, a Churchill or just something that's gonna be a longer commitment.
I say that because I feel like we sit here and we say, well, that's gonna be a really long commitment. But the reality is most times, that we meet up to have a cigar. Oh yeah, right. We're smoking, let's say even if it's a short session, two hours, we're having two robos, two hours, and so that's two hours. And so, you know, this is like an hour and a half.
It like kind of splits the difference between them. So yes, it's a long commitment, but I don't think it's like such an extraordinary amount of time that no,
**Poobah:** no, you're missing is my. I'm saying a commitment to this stick to this stick to this particular stick, to this particular stick for me. In other words, Rob Robusto would probably is gonna rate higher for me than committing this flavor profile for so long.
Gotcha. That's all I'm saying. I mean, I'll com, dude, you know what? I'll smoke a Lucy. I'll smoke a [00:13:00] right ho double Corona when they're good. Or Chef edition whatever chefs. Dude, I love big, long cigar, long smokes, but you gotta really like this. I guess what I'm saying is you gotta really like this flavor to go in this big on a Churchill extra.
That's fair. Yeah. I'm curious. A
**Bam Bam:** pretty big smoke. What's everyone? Boy, what's everyone getting now? Half inch in
**Gizmo:** getting some spice. Yeah. Yeah. Getting a little more spice. I'm getting that Nicaragua kind of oomph a little bit in the back of my throat. It's surprisingly
**Bam Bam:** still light for me. I'm getting a bit of a flavor ramp up on slight
**Poobah:** bit of pepper, but not much.
Yeah,
**Bam Bam:** yeah. It's
**Poobah:** surprising. It'll build, though I would imagine these things can, but for me it's
**Senator:** surprising in a good way. Yeah, agreed. I expect No, no, I agree. So, like the melanio is, is meant to be like a smoother, less bold version of the regular V line. Okay. And so I was expecting this to start maybe even too aggressive for my palate.
And I think, but we're all saying is like, this is not starting a, not at all. Which is good. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Very good. I'm surprised. Smokeable, [00:14:00] I'm surprised it's smokeable. And again, that, you know, that goes back to the bias of looking at the cigar. You know, to pub's point to what we were all saying, we're laughing about it.
Obviously we have a history of seeing the cigar smoked a lot in our prior lounge. Mm-hmm. , um, you know, and we have some laughs about that, but I, I am surprised, uh, to where this is landing right now, three quarters of an inch in Yeah. Yeah. I, I can't knock it so
**Poobah:** far. No, no. I'm happier. I was kind of goofing off at first, but yeah.
I'm, you've settled down. I've settled
**Bam Bam:** down , uh, for now. You're the, you've become the banker now. I can see that.
**Poobah:** But it, it tastes pretty good. Yeah, it does.
**Gizmo:** I mean, for a $10 stick, I mean, it's, it's, it seems reasonable in value so far.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Yeah. Pagoda, what are you thinking about this thing? Yeah. You know, uh,
**Pagoda:** totally your point.
Uh, I was expecting something very different. Uh, I was expecting a lot of, you know, uh, coffee to that. I don't know. That was my expectation going into the cigar, but it's been [00:15:00] relatively mild from the perspective, you know, smoke end. So I don't,
**Senator:** I don't think it's mild. No, it's medium. Definitely medium. I think it's, yeah, no
**Pagoda:** mild
**Bam Bam:** comparative to what I was expecting, and I'm getting a great cocoa flavor with some fruit and, you know, a bit of pepper there too.
So, so
**Senator:** kind of complex. I'm, I'm getting that too. In, in the first half inch, I wasn't getting, Any sweeter chocolate or cocoa notes. You're getting it now though, but now, yeah. After a full inch. Mm-hmm. , all of a sudden it's gotten a lot sweeter, like closer to milk chocolate. Wow. I would, in a way that I like.
**Poobah:** It's actually, I would, I would agree with that. It's getting better. I'm becoming, I'm taking a more mature outlook on this.
**Gizmo:** I gotta say. So there, there's one thing about this that's really reminding me of the EP choreo. We did the
**Poobah:** el centor,
**Gizmo:** the, uh, the blue one. The pledge prequel. Yeah. Ah, there's a, there's a bit of a, a touch of that flavor in this.
I like [00:16:00] that. Some red
**Poobah:** dried fruit kind of up upfront
**Gizmo:** deal. Yeah. It's something about the way that it's hitting the back of my throat. I think this is better than that, I think so far.
**Poobah:** Definitely. Yeah. Actually, it's funny you say that. It is. Yeah. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** But the el Centor is better than this so far. For sure.
Hands
**Gizmo:** down. Yeah. . There's a hint to that in there too. Yeah. You send door, I
**Rooster:** mean, for, you know, $10 for a
**Gizmo:** Churchill. Mm-hmm. . That's a hell.
**Rooster:** Yeah. I think it's, you know, so
**Gizmo:** far good value.
**Pagoda:** Yeah. And I know a lot of guys who will smoke, you know, the bigger ring gauges and, you know, bigger cigars. It's just, that's what they're drawn to.
Um, you know, I guess it's a out
**Bam Bam:** of preference. Yeah. Would you consider this an entry level cigar? Just a
**Gizmo:** question
**Senator:** for price, certainly it's price. Yeah. I mean, if, if a Churchill is 10, I, I would think so, for
**Rooster:** sure. But not for, not for flavor wise. I think, I think this is a little bit more, it's got, it's got spice.
I mean, it's, it's full flavored, it's got a lot of body. It's
**Gizmo:** medium flavor for me. Medium. Yeah. Well,
**Rooster:** I mean, I remember having this from [00:17:00] before and it really builds and builds and it gets strong. So in that sense, I mean, honestly, whoever, not for a beginner,
**Gizmo:** sorry. Yeah. That's, that, that's all I, whoever stored these, they're
**Bam Bam:** in
**Poobah:** great shape.
Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Uh, I think they're in good shape. Senators had them now what about three weeks? . Yeah, something like that. Four weeks. So I think that has a lot to do with how it's smoking right now. Yeah. I think pulling the humidity down on these is you need to key, you know
**Rooster:** why? Because this tower is not in the garage.
**Gizmo:** It's inside the house. . Wait,
**Bam Bam:** it's not in a
**Gizmo:** box. . Wait. Yours is still in the box. . Oh geez. Is it? It is. We're gonna do this every single week until you get that humidor. Yes, sir. Set
**Bam Bam:** up deserve it. Seasoned. I deserve it. What's, what's the whole, what? What's the hold up? I've just been too busy. I'm not even thinking about
**Senator:** that thing.
Siri can't carry it up the stairs. .
**Bam Bam:** The funky thing is I've got some boxes coming now. I gotta, I gotta get, I get skid up time. . Gotta get it
**Poobah:** done. We have offered, yeah. But definitely
**Pagoda:** an inch in it does get into the cocoa.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, definitely. Yeah. It's definitely in a very good way. Yeah. I agree. [00:18:00] This is very surprising,
**Senator:** dudes.
Surprising. I'll also say, I mean, I've had that melanio to, I like the way this starts more than, I like the way the Melanio starts. Oh, more complex for sure. This is more complex. More complex. Complex. And I actually get more barnyard in the melanio. And this wrapper, you, it smelled a lot like barnyard. Yeah.
But when you're smoking it, you're not getting that that much. That's right. Where went a melanio. I actually get that a lot on the light. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** What's also surprising is this what I thought to be an awful spirit. It's drinking okay with ice. Honestly, it's, it's not bad.
**Gizmo:** I don't think we need to talk about the spirit tonight.
We're
**Bam Bam:** gonna fucking, should go right into
**Senator:** it. You know, GI Gizmo, your, your intro was great, but should we have had a trigger warning to start this
**Bam Bam:** episode for you or for me? Senator, do we have, do we have a sync
**Gizmo:** primed up for this time? ? Yeah. All right, so let's talk about what it is first, and then you guys can.
You guys can grill me. So this is the Shiva Regal. Well, you
**Poobah:** can try and direct the conversation in whatever direction you want to direct it, but it's only going one way. .
**Gizmo:** So it's 18 your age. [00:19:00] Shiva Regal correction.
**Bam Bam:** It's Shiva. Yeah. Not Remy.
**Poobah:** I said Remy.
**Gizmo:** Oh yeah, I, yeah, yeah. That's an edit. Yeah. Shva regal. 18 year.
18 year.
**Poobah:** Delicious. Yeah. It's, it's a really, it's a legendary spirit in this group. , can I ask a serious
**Bam Bam:** question? You sure? Is it bad? It's not bad what the,
**Poobah:** the shva is? No, it's very good. Oh, the shiv? No, the shva is kind of drinking.
**Bam Bam:** Okay. Surprisingly. Why would you say, is
**Pagoda:** it bad? You should say, well, how good is that?
**Gizmo:** Yeah. It's, it's 18 year
**Poobah:** age. Look, I mean, it's, it's, look at who's in the room. It's, it's extremely smooth. It's, it's extremely smooth.
**Gizmo:** It's a 70 plus dollar bottle. That's
**Senator:** true. Yeah. I mean, I mean, the thing that this definitely the age really helps because, I mean, shiv is 12 is not harsh. But it has some bite.
This has totally mellowed any of that out. The
**Rooster:** Shva, shva 12 is smoother
**Gizmo:** than like black label, right? Right. Oh yeah.
**Rooster:** I mean, black label use for, I remember like it has, it has [00:20:00] some edge to it. There's Shv is, that's where you
**Pagoda:** use a smooth, a little bit of club soda. That's
**Senator:** blush. I also think, you know, when you compare like black label and that's 12 years and, and Shivi 12, the black label has a lot more flavor than Shivi 12 does.
Yeah, but I think the age with the Shivi 18, this has more flavor, more body to it, which i, I like a lot more cuz the 12 for me is just too, there's nothing interesting happening. This at least has some flavor.
**Poobah:** Yeah, it does. It has flavor. It's almost too smooth. I want to
**Bam Bam:** hear how he got wasted on this , because I wasn't there.
I wasn't at this place that this happened. Cover your
**Gizmo:** ears guys. Mom, . Who wants to start? Are
**Poobah:** we, are we, are we going there? Yeah. Oh, we're going. We're going. Oh, are we going there? We're going there.
**Senator:** We're good. I'm pretty confident in saying the only reason Puba picked up this bottle is to go there, .
**Gizmo:** Yeah. No, I gotta for the listener
**Bam Bam:** buckle in.
I want, yeah, I wanna primer for the listener. This was a legendary lizard night. I wasn't there. Yeah, I'm, I'm
**Senator:** sorry. I I wasn't either actually. Oof.
**Poobah:** You weren't
**Gizmo:** there. I wasn't [00:21:00] there. It was just, it was just
**Rooster:** me. Puba Rooster
**Gizmo:** Puba
**Poobah:** and guess my and shit. Fuck. Oh, is that right? Yeah. Yeah. So, dude, so this , so, so we're at, we're at our, we're at uh, the lounge.
We all met at really nice, elegant lounge, but it closes at 9, 9 58, what was it? Yeah, nine, like 9 58. And, um, , if you've been listening to the podcast, we go longer than that. , uh, not 10 o'clock doesn't work for us. 10 o'clock doesn't really work for us, nor should it for, for most people. I mean, uh, so the hours are not reasonable at this place.
So we would look for alternatives. And one of the alternatives, um, locally is this local Indian restaurant. And, uh, uh, the owner who we're friends with happens to let us smoke cigars in there, which is fantastic. Uh, from time to time, not all the time, but the, you know, late at night, nobody's in there and we would crack the [00:22:00] doors or whatever.
And so we, we go in and, um, we didn't lighten these cigars yet. I actually, I don't even know if we smoked cigars that night, did we? I don't think we did. I don't think we did. No. Um, we, we, so we walk in and, uh, and the owner of this Indian restaurant, uh, great guy, dynamic guy, funny guy, um, He's got a full bottle of sh of Shiva 18 on the table, and he's running his whole scene in there.
He right, he's running, yeah. His whole ecosystem. He's got an ecosystem that he runs. And
**Rooster:** this is after the restaurant had closed close. It was him. And this lady was sitting at
**Gizmo:** the, at the table. They were, they were meeting about a party was, she was apparently
**Rooster:** there since, what was her name, since 6:00 PM We just know her as
**Gizmo:** shit.
**Poobah:** Fuck . Right. So, so, so, so, so she got, yeah, we only call her shit. Fuck. So, so the owner of the restaurants hanging out with this woman who we, because she called us shit. Fuck. Because she called us. [00:23:00] Shit. Fuck. So I, I basically, we were talking. She was talking about her kids. And she goes, she goes, you know, she goes, I don't understand these kids.
They, they, they talk back to me and I'm like, you're shit fuck like that. And I, and, and, and I'm like, I'm like, wow, shit. Fuck. And she's like, shit, fuck. I'm like, you sh you're shit fuck. And she's like, you're shit fuck. And then I guess that's it. So we just started calling her shit. Fuck. And she didn't mind, thought it was funny.
And um,
**Senator:** and so now it's a term of I affection. She
**Gizmo:** calls, calls her kids,
**Poobah:** shit, fuck, shit, fuck. I'm like, come on, shit. Fuck. I have another drink. Because I'm like, I can't believe she's talking like this. It was her mouth and everything. And I, and I, and she was like, shit, fuck these shit fucks. I go, yeah. I go, shit, fuck.
So I kept calling her shit, fuck. She thinks it's funny. Everybody is, is drinking and, and, and we're drinking this Shiv regal. So, uh, so Gizmo is there and, and Rooster's sitting to the right of me, gizmo's sitting to the left of me and, and we [00:24:00] start drinking And, uh, . It's not an ask like, I need a refill. The owner of the restaurant, Mr.
Rest, let's call him Mr. Rests. He just, he just fills up your drink. As you're moving along. You'll be like talking and then you'll turn back in your drink and then it's just full. It's Indian hospitality. It's Indian hospitality, precisely. So long story short. . I'd look over at Gizmo and he's, it's like as if someone threw water on the gremlin, you know what I mean?
like his, he's like, there's weird, he's twitching. Weird things are starting to happen. His eyes are going all kind of crazy, like, and , you know? I'm like, what's up giz? And he's like, he's like, I gotta go do payroll, . I gotta go.
**Bam Bam:** What time was this? 2:00 AM This is
**Gizmo:** midnight. This is like fucking midnight,
**Poobah:** right?
Payroll at midnight. He guys, I gotta go do .
**Rooster:** We're like, you gotta do payroll now. He's like, yeah, I gotta
**Gizmo:** deliver. I gotta do this, I gotta do that. I [00:25:00] gotta do payroll.
**Poobah:** Like the payroll. Look, look at Rooster. He looks at me. He goes, fucking payroll. What the fuck is he doing? We're like talking about him in front of him.
He doesn't even know what's going on. . So, You know, we're like, whatever, whatever. And he, he walks out to his vehicle and I rem and we were wrapping up kind of anyway, no, we thought he
**Rooster:** left . We were
**Poobah:** like, all right, he is gotta do perils. We let him go, which wasn't the most responsible thing as a friend. But anyway, he's an adult.
He's gotta take responsibility for his actions. He walked out the door and, um, and we thought he had gone and we're going back to our car. And I see an hour later, next thing I know, I'm looking at this, this Volkswagen. And there he is. He's in the Volkswagen and the RT on, right? And I, and I look inside and he is asleep.
he's completely unconscious, right? I go, I, [00:26:00] I go, rooster, come here. You gotta see this . I go, look, look inside I his most fucking shot. I wish he would've taken a photo. He fucking shot. And then, and then Rooster says, he goes, Is that vomit in the car, . And I'm like, definitely, that's vomit in the car. The entire passenger side of the vehicle is covered in puke.
Mm-hmm. . So I knock on the door, , wake him up, and I look at him and I go, he snaps right too. Like nothing like he, he seems like he's totally straight. I said, Hey man, you should , I'm done with peril. I don't think you should drive . And he goes, uh, he, he goes, nothing to do. And I go, listen man, you own a business.
You can't do this. You're not driving anywhere. And he said, he said, oh, you're right, you're right. And that was it. And then we just pulled him out of the car. Uh, uh, rooster drove, Brewster, drove him home and that was it for, well, hold
**Senator:** on. I, I heard he Chris in Rooster's. Yeah. The side of Rooster's
**Gizmo:** car. The color of his car changed that hair.
Well, I just said, I just said,
**Rooster:** listen man, [00:27:00] I gotta drive you home.
**Poobah:** I was like, . Yeah. He got in.
**Rooster:** Yeah. Yeah. He got in and, uh, you know, the whole way home, we have the window, window down and, uh, I think he,
**Poobah:** he must have gone, he gave you a new paint. Give you a new paint. . This is humiliating. I know , but, but, but, but,
**Gizmo:** but this is the real, I knew it was coming as soon as I saw Shivs on the, uh, the itinerary tonight, I was like, oh,
**Senator:** the only thing I heard over, the only thing I heard, I, I feel like Gizmo needs an attorney right now, so I'm just gonna play a fake one for the podcast's sake.
Um, I, I did remember Gizmo saying that he had told the owner he didn't want any more Shivas. I was putting my hand over, heard the glass. She did heard that the owner was pouring the sh Oh yes. He was threw his fingers into
**Poobah:** the glasses. Oh, that's exactly what happened. . Oh, that's exactly what happened.
**Gizmo:** I was begging him to stop pouring and he was, I was covering the glass with my hand and he was pouring.
Through my hand.
**Poobah:** Were you drinking to a straw? I mean, but, but I'd like to also put in context for the listener please. Just so everyone understands, one GI is not a big [00:28:00] drinker at all. Uh, he's not a huge drink. Like, you know, he doesn't over-indulge. Uh, but
**Senator:** for the record, also, gizmo didn't drink in college, which is the reason this happened.
**Poobah:** That is true. Yes, that's true. And, and, and, and so he, he, he's vomited, but you know, subsequently to that as well. Um, uh, but so he's a puer is what I'm trying to say is, is that I wanna provide context and that he's a little bit of a pucker. You're really
helping
**Gizmo:** with the context. Well, no,
**Poobah:** no, because I don't wanna make it seem like you're that guy who's like constant because you don't me, I drink you, you kind of drink.
I, I. You know, he hit, he hit, he hit up Senator Sink one night. Yeah. We, we, he claimed it on water
**Gizmo:** immediately.
**Senator:** That, that was the best one. That was the best one. So we, we had a legendary night at my place.
**Gizmo:** This was about four months after the
**Senator:** shivs incident. Yes. . Right. Which at the time, you know, gizmo said, oh, it was just that night.
I, I'm not a puke. I never, this never happened to me.
**Poobah:** This only happened to me at Van Halen concert in like [00:29:00] 1994 . And you're like, okay, .
**Senator:** So we have this, this great night at my place. And this was, uh, sort of when the, the, I had spread my love for caviar and Reverend Caviar champagne cigars, all this su sushi, sushi karaoke, karaoke on my deck mean
**Poobah:** it was, was wonderful.
It was a wonderful
**Gizmo:** day. Paul Rose Saber. Saber.
**Senator:** Saber. Yes. and, uh, fast forward, I noticed Gizmo. So part of the problem I noticed everyone was pouring for themselves. And I, gizmo was actually sitting right next to me that night. I'm looking at his glass and it, it's like a Mr. Ssur dude. I mean, he's just filling up his was full old glass, I'm sorry, missed.
Oh, Mac. Mac. I still remember. He, he had the bottle, had the bottle next door, next on the deck. Eddie just kept filling and I was like, Ooh, boy, that, that's an aggressive pour. And I'm like, all right. You know, maybe
**Bam Bam:** he can, one after another was a full glass. It was full, it was a full fucking glass. It was
**Gizmo:** full.
I Ubered that night. I Ubered that night. And then
**Senator:** you fast forward, I noticed, I'm like, this has been in the bathroom for a long time, , and I see, I look like [00:30:00] through the sliding glass door and I see there's like a line to use my bathroom and I'm like a line, okay, something's not right here. How long did it take to, you know, take a piss?
So I go inside .
**Poobah:** So I go inside and
**Senator:** just open the bathroom and GI is just standing over the sink at my sink. Matt Gizmo in a way it never hoped to. Wow. There was, God knows how much worth of caviar and sushi in the sink. And also
**Poobah:** I'd just like to say like, Like senator's bath, like red cus bathroom. It's very nice.
It's pristine, it's very nice, like pristine. It's very, very nice. And it's like, this isn't like an American standard. Oh no. You know, sink that your grandmother, this is like a flat sink not to be puked in and stuff. It's as a fucking disaster. It's
**Bam Bam:** a custom drv. It sink. Modern, crispy Christy.
**Poobah:** Yeah. It's like built into the wall of Oh shit.
Oh yeah, yeah. It's like, you know, real, the real thing. It was, it's like a, it's like a fucking thousand dollars [00:31:00] sink or something. At least, you know what I mean? , at least the, the best
**Senator:** part is just gibe looks at me and he goes, it, it was the water. I was, I was just trying to shovel water my mouth and, and that's how it happened.
It was the water.
**Poobah:** It was the water. You just sitting there like, this is not the fucking water because this is so much water. And then, then we, so we, we split up into, so now we're like, seal team fixing them. Yes. We're like, okay, we've gotta, because I'm trying to fix it, we're gonna cut. This
**Gizmo:** is the worst part.
I just don, I
**Senator:** was trying to fix it. Gibo, who's usually Mr. Fixit, but in this state was doing the exact opposite. He's like trying to rip the drain on like, gizmo, just get out the bath. No, no, no. I got it. I got it. I'm telling Rooster, I'm like, rooster, just get him outta the bathroom so I can try to fix this.
And I had to plunge the sink, . And finally
**Poobah:** they were chunks when I, okay, so you just got it for the listener, you have to have the visual of, of like,
Of a senator because he's not a real tool guy. I mean, he may [00:32:00] do spring plantings or whatever he does , but he's not, he's not, bam. I mean, bam, bam. Can, bamb can climb up the side of a fucking tree and I could do that. Chop a li off for like, I could do that. Climb on somebody's roof. Yes, he could build a house.
You could build a fucking house. This guy, you know, you got, he goes and he grabs his toolbox. Yeah. I actually had to bring tool, this fucking toolbox, dude. It's like right off Amazon . None of the shit's been fucking used. . I'm like, you're stuck with plastic on it. , and then barcodes and shit still. I'm like, dude, what is the toolbox?
It's like, yeah, I'm gonna have to. I'm gonna have to really address this. He was so serious. , his wife was away and everything and he's like, I can't. Yeah. Can you imagine?
**Senator:** My wife comes home and it's like, why is there sushi in our bathroom sink the
**Poobah:** drain? I mean by goodness. Oh, it's unbelievable. And he's trying to use this toolbox.
It was very funny. But um, you'll have to give me credit. I fixed it. You did?
**Senator:** Yes you did. Yes, he did. So GIZ had like dislodged the stopper, which I had to reattach.
**Gizmo:** It's [00:33:00] the only time in the time I've known Senator. We get along very well. . It's the only time he's ever been irritated with me. , at a degree that I knew it was that night.
It was that moment. I remember him yelling. I remember very distinctly him yelling at Rooster. Get Gizmo the hell outta here. Yeah. Out of the bathroom. Get him out of the bathroom, out the house. Just bathroom? No, just outta the bathroom. That wasn't easy. .
**Bam Bam:** So the moral of the story to the young listeners out there, do not overly hydrate while you're drinking.
Yeah, it's the water. Yeah. Don't do that. It's the water hydrates the water. You hydrate before
**Poobah:** or the morning after? Not during, no. Oh. But we love you so much. But you know, genius producer and we love you. But you know, sometimes,
**Senator:** sometimes
**Gizmo:** he malfunctions,
**Poobah:** sometimes well, listen, that was like, that's, that's why you're gizmo.
I mean, it's because if, if you know the wrong ingredients go in or you get exposed to certain things, you can have, well you have like, you know, you have food vendettas too. Vendettas, . [00:34:00] Like he's got, he's got certain dietary vendettas, like he won't eat dairy like it's a vend. It's true. You know, ,
**Gizmo:** I am, I'm anti-D.
Dairy. Anti-D dairy. Just
**Poobah:** cause I don't like how it makes me feel. It's not emotional. You're gizmo, you can fix everything and you're smart and you're, you can, there's certain ingredients that if you mix with you, he's a, he explodes. He's a gremlin. , yeah. .
**Gizmo:** Well, let's hope that, uh, three's not a charm, because those two were plenty for the roast tonight.
Yes. The roast of gizmo tonight. . Holy moly. Boys,
**Senator:** it is nice to see you able to drink shva again because you swore you couldn't drink it again. But you being
**Gizmo:** a good, good sport today, it is so good. Right? It's nice when I'm pouring it myself. Yes. In a reasonable manner. Yes. As opposed
**Senator:** to we know exactly how that ends.
a gizmo PO is a term for a reason.
**Gizmo:** Yes. Mm-hmm. . Oh boy. What a night. Oh. . Well, I'm very thankful that you guys recap those stories for me. That was, and the listeners. Thank you guys so much. [00:35:00] Well,
**Poobah:** we try to share, you know,
**Gizmo:** sharing is caring.
Oh, man. All right. So we're about halfway through the Ava V. Boys. What do you guys think of this? I, I gotta say not bad at all. Very good. Bad, very good. Yeah. For a $10 stick, it's, uh, surprising. I mean, it is very.
**Bam Bam:** I not, I'm smoking it a little too quickly
**Gizmo:** at this point. Yeah, you're, you're
**Poobah:** way further than wheel.
Yeah. Uh, bam. I mean, you're real. He's loveda, please. Yeah. I can't, it's, it's why he carries that club and he walks around in like, in like animal skin, you know, like cat skin underwear. That's right. Like bam. Bam. I got leopard on tonight, like leopard skin. Please, please.
**Bam Bam:** I'll take you in the back room and show you later.
That's right.
**Gizmo:** rooster's at the same point. And he usually is the slowest. Yes. He's happy.
**Senator:** How are you guys smoking through this so fast? Don't it
**Gizmo:** too hot? I'm not talking as much. Can't wait this to be over, I guess. . No, no [00:36:00] it's not. No, no. It's good. It's good. No, it's pretty good. Yeah. I feel like the flavor's pretty much the same for me.
Yeah. It's picked up a little bit in strength. Yeah. But I feel like it's very consistent to what it was. Consistent. Consistent.
**Pagoda:** You know what's interesting is I was just reading a little bit about it, uh, earlier and at some point. These were very hard to get cigars. Like really? Yeah. The demand for these was way off the charts.
**Senator:** Um, we know who's responsible for that.
**Pagoda:** Yeah. Yeah. We, we do .
**Poobah:** Mm-hmm. ,
**Rooster:** I mean, at the, at the previous lounge, he,
**Poobah:** they always had them.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Yeah. No one else smoked them. .
**Gizmo:** Yeah. He would smoke. What he only one, he smoked what? Two and a half boxes a month. Two a day. Right.
**Rooster:** You know, it's really odd that this is what he would smoke every single day.
**Gizmo:** Yeah.
**Rooster:** Twice, two. Yeah. Every day. I mean, how could you do that? I mean, I mean,
**Gizmo:** even
**Senator:** sometimes more, because sometimes he would say he had like a morning cigar right. On his porch and I,
**Gizmo:** but this
**Rooster:** is the only stick that he would smoke. Yeah. Yeah. [00:37:00] I could never picture myself smoking the same stick. I don't care what stick it
**Gizmo:** is.
Even if it's a cigar you love. Yeah. Yeah. .
**Poobah:** Yeah. Some people though though, it's like, to each his own, um, yeah, I guess a friend of mine who's kind of like getting into cigars was he's asking me all these questions, you know, he's saying, oh, what about this? What about that? What about this, what about that? I said, you know, you, you just gotta try.
And, and I know it's, I'm gonna caveat, it was very like, judgmental in being like a douche at the beginning of the podcast with the cigar. But it is a journey and you do really need to like, just, it doesn't matter really what you smoke. I mean, if you like smoking something and you like it, that's really great.
Like, and if that, if that's what turns your crank, you know? Yeah. More power to you. Yeah. You know, if you're enjoying yourself and then you're relaxing, if that's what pulls your pants down, you're good. If that, yeah. I mean, for you , that's what's required. Get that tension now. You know, tension. You need the tension, the tension release[00:38:00]
We know that you need that often, but. Well, to your point, this is what it is. You know, if, if this is what does it for you, I respect
**Gizmo:** that. That's fine. I mean, listen, if, if, if this suits your flavor profile and, and for 10 bucks, I mean, it's a win-win. Yeah. You can't, you can't, you cannot knock it at that price.
You
**Senator:** just can't. No, I just, the thing I'm most encourage about is the flavor profile of it has notes that we do like in New Worlds to go. Very true. Yeah. Yeah. Very true. I'm getting that cocoa, um, there's a little bit of spice. Yeah. Um, the delivery of it is not aggressive. It's not like strong on nicotine or it's smooth.
I, it, it's, it's not bad.
**Poobah:** I mean, is it better than I'm gonna go here? Is it smoking better than that? The, the, the opus tar bomb? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It is. Yeah, it is. I mean, which is kind of funny. Yeah. Yeah. You know, if you had to choose between really those 2,
**Bam Bam:** 2, 4 times the price Yeah, that's right. Times the price.
**Poobah:** 42, it's four times the price. You know?
**Gizmo:** That's a good point, Ben. . [00:39:00]
**Senator:** Oh, there, there's some merit in a cigar like this at this price point.
**Gizmo:** Absolutely. Well, I mean, to poop's point earlier, I know we were busting balls and obviously we, we have a history with this as we've detailed, but you know, with with with folks that we know that smoked this exclusively and, and we will laughed about it, but to me it's like, again, going back to the benefit of this podcast for us in the room, we, none of us would've ever, ever picked up this cigar because of the history that we've had with it and preconceived notions.
Yeah. And, and I mean, it's a lesson for all of us, right? I mean, you've said this earlier, I mean, it's, it's pretty good. It's pretty damn good. Yeah.
**Poobah:** It's developed into something pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I
**Senator:** I'm glad Gizmo brought up the pledge prequel earlier cuz that was cigar the year recently.
Yeah. Yeah. And so far I would absolutely smoke this over that.
**Gizmo:** I totally agree. No doubt. Now the El Centor, no way. I think that is I that, that was awesome. El Centor is
**Poobah:** a great cigar. Agreed. A gum halfway through and it's actually.
It's not, I'm gonna eat my words cuz I [00:40:00] was being such a dick at the beginning of the show. . Um, ah, you know, it's, it's, it's come around pretty good. Yeah, I agree. It's come around pretty good. I'm not gonna lie.
**Rooster:** I mean, the Melanio was actually rated pretty high on the
**Gizmo:** uhs. Yeah. I like this better than the millennial.
**Senator:** I like this better than the Melanio. Yeah. I really do. I I just think like the melanio is, is milder than this. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. and I, the flavor notes, I don't get a ton of cocoa in that cigar. I get much more barnyard and in this I get a lot more cocoa. There's a lot of cocoa here, which is a flavor of that.
Like I chase in New World cigars. That's why we love Pedron and some other, and even the El Santa aor, there was lots of coco in in that. Oh yes. So this is much more, uh, suited to my palate than the millennials.
**Bam Bam:** Yep. And I think worth picking up for a lot of the listeners that are looking to try cigar. I think this,
**Poobah:** it's very worthy.
It almost ha It doesn't, it doesn't taste like an ex exi, but No, but like, it has that Nicaragua it does flavor to it. [00:41:00] So like it has those underpinnings that are a little bit adjacent. Like you can kind of Right. Taste the petrova in the very, very, very background of the thing. Mm-hmm. distant. But that's a great way of putting it.
But there, yeah. You know, so like, as it builds in this long, big, huge pet Yeah. It kind of builds into something at the halfway point that's, you know, more of, I think what you'd want it to be at the light. Right. I think
**Rooster:** the, the legal line is, I was
**Gizmo:** gonna go there a little bit better than, uh, it's better than that flavor wise.
Yeah. I would agree. A hundred percent. I think hands
**Bam Bam:** down. Yeah. Yeah. also, the league is more expensive, right? Yeah, I was gonna
**Gizmo:** say for 10 bucks, right? I mean, they're getting the Poppas Frita
**Poobah:** for 10 bucks. Factoring that in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The, the little one.
**Pagoda:** So, so the other interesting thing, I will, when I was reading about it, this cigar Olis started in the 18 hundreds, and [00:42:00] obviously he's gone through a lot of problems.
I haven't read a lot in detail, but, um, you know, this, I think this cigar was made in 2007, in the, in two thousands. And the, you know, the ownership, the son took it over. He went to Spain, he came back and he started a factory. And you know, these guys were producing over 6 million cigars at some point. Yeah.
Like, this is,
**Gizmo:** uh, definitely, well they certainly, they sell a ton of cigars, these guys. Yeah.
**Pagoda:** So it's, it's interesting that it does have a huge following. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** And, and like I said, this cigar, I think out of the emails and messages we've gotten, The Oliva, not specific, this, uh, specific viola, but we've gotten so many requests to review Oliva.
Yeah. And I can see why
**Bam Bam:** there's an interesting thing. Sorry, go ahead.
**Senator:** I just, so pagoda is a hundred percent right. I, I was just fascinated. So I had to look some of this up and, and it, it does say, as Pagoda was mentioning, that Oliva traces its history back to the tobacco fields of Cuba, where Melanio Oliva, so that's where Melanio comes from.
That was his first name, started [00:43:00] growing tobacco in the 18 hundreds, like you said. And it says his grandson Gilberto became a tobacco broker and eventually left Cuba for Spain. And then later se uh, settled in Central America, where now obviously they operate. I never knew the history of Oliva dated back that far.
That's actually impressive. It
**Bam Bam:** is, yeah. And I'm, I am smoking this. Oh, very fast. So what's interesting is, you know, usually if you smoke a cigar too fast, you get a lot of ammonia and it gets bitter. I'm not getting, I don't get that here.
**Senator:** Another fun fact. Yeah, go ahead. On the Cuba piece, Melanio Oliva first grew tobacco in Pinard del Rio, Cuba in 1886.
Wow. His growing operations were suspended when he fought in Cuba's War of Independence. Wow. That's cool.
**Gizmo:** Wow. Very cool. Very history. Very cool. And you know, it's amazing that so many of these, uh, of, of these cigar brands have ended up in Nicaragua. Yeah. You know, uh, obviously Davidoff and Fuente have ended up in, in, uh, Dominican, but you know, Pedron, Oliva, some of the others have ended up in Nicaragua.
[00:44:00] I mean, this is a really nice Nicaragua car. It
**Poobah:** taste Yeah, it tastes like Nicar. It tastes like a Nicaragua cigar. It does. And it, it actually, the, the delivery has been more metal than you would expect.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Especially down where we are now, you know,
**Rooster:** but it's typical of Nicaragua cigars to be like full flavored and full bodied, you know?
And that's what you
**Gizmo:** get
**Poobah:** out of this. The, the, the, the, the, the one more subtle observation, um, The finish is short. It is. Um, and that's nice actually. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe, maybe it's nice how the flavor sets up for it, but mm-hmm. , it doesn't seem to, um, it doesn't stick around much. Right. So this could be a merit or it could be, it could be a merit in a cigar, it could be a detriment.
Is that It's a little bit one dimensional, but again, it's true. If you, if you really like this, then that could, that, that could be a virtue in the smoke. Yeah. Um, it just depends on what your palette is. It's kind [00:45:00] of delivering, to me, I think the same kind of flavor throughout, it just builds in a little bit of strength as it moves along.
But other than that, it's pretty, kind of, yeah. Consistent, pretty consistent in, in how it tastes. And that could be a merit or it could be unsurprisingly, not harsh at all. No, no, no. Not getting that kind of tar hook. No, nothing. There's nothing really unpleasant about it. Right. It's just. , it just doesn't deliver as complex of a finish.
Like when you smoke a perr. Not that it's fair to compare the two maybe necessarily, but the finishes longer. The flavor and the palette just, it, it lingers and it's just, it's, there's a complexity there. But this is a pleasant smoke. This is a pleasant smoke. Yeah. I mean
**Senator:** the, the other thing I, I think I, I have to give this credit for the construction's actually very good.
It, yeah. I mean, it is a lot of church Churchills are not easy cigars to make [00:46:00] and you know, we've talked about of Cuban Churchills, right, the Romeo and Julietta Churchill, we've had nightmare experiences with the construction of that cigar and the, the draw. This has been burning even. . The draws great. I mean, I don't think I, I'm looking at everyone's cigar.
I don't see any uneven burns or anything that's really
**Poobah:** been a, I haven't touched mine up. The ring gauge is significantly bigger though, on this. Oh, totally.
**Senator:** Yeah. Yeah. I mean it's a, yeah, a Churchill
**Gizmo:** extra, right? It's a 52 by seven. Yeah. Mm-hmm. .
**Poobah:** Yeah. So not as the, I mean, the Churchill is harder to roll. Well, traditional Churchill, which can lead to all those issues you're talking about the draw issues, right?
I mean, but even the
**Senator:** wrapper on this, it looks very good. I mean,
**Poobah:** it's very nice. Yeah. It's excellent. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, there's like, the seams are tight. Yeah. They are basically invisible. Yep. Yep. And that's the, you know, that's a virtue. The combustions really good. The burn has been great. Um, taste is just a little bit, maybe one dimensional, but maybe that's a good thing.
**Gizmo:** We didn't mention the draw. [00:47:00] There's a there in mind Anyway, there's just a slight bit of resistance that we've talked about on episodes past. That is, is definitely helping the cigar. It's a good thing for sure. You know, it's just a touch of resistance. Mm-hmm. ,
**Poobah:** but really actually a per the perfect amount.
Exactly. In terms of the performance of the smoke. Excellent.
**Pagoda:** Yes. And not overpowering in terms of smoke output. No. Yeah. It doesn't light
**Bam Bam:** up like the Yeah, we
**Pagoda:** couldn't see each other. , .
**Poobah:** I mean the leagues were really like, what was that, the T nine League of nine, number nine, the League of Nine or whatever it's called.
Yeah. That we lit those up. It was like, whoa.
**Bam Bam:** That was called the fire department. That was so good though.
**Poobah:** so good. Yeah. So the, the shva 18 smooth going down. Nice. Going down. Very nice. Yeah. I mean, if I was on an airplane, ,
**Gizmo:** is it, uh, worth the price? No, I don't think it's
**Poobah:** [00:48:00] worth 80 bucks. No. 72 plus tax in New Jersey.
Other places it'll run shit. 89 bucks in Florida. Yeah. Or something like
**Bam Bam:** that. But on the other hand, it's drinking so well right now. You know,
**Poobah:** it's pleasant. I mean, very, you know, like, it's crazy. You know, my dad, who's 78 years old and just wants a smooth scotch and to watch the US open, you know what I mean?
And just wants to sit there and not, you don't need, you're not smoking a cigar. You're just relaxing. Yeah. And you're gonna have 1, 2, 1 or two. It could, it's definitely, it's so drinkable and approachable I think for certain there's an audience for it. Absolutely agree. Yeah. It's like, I don't need smoke. I don't want that.
Yeah. I just, I just wanna like, relax with my life and just be okay and yeah, if you're looking for something
**Pagoda:** different because, because of the price point. I think what makes it interesting is, [00:49:00] if you're a single malt, you know, uh, if you prefer single malts. I think there's a lot of really good options, which are slightly better, I would think.
And so it becomes a difficult thing to pull up just to, you know, pour like for, for when it comes to me. So,
**Senator:** yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, I think that's where, when Puba says, you know, there's an audience for it, and, and I, I, I agree with what you're saying, pagoda, you know, if you're someone who, if you're
**Poobah:** looking very smooth
**Senator:** experience.
Yeah. Well, I think some scotches are very smooth. I, I think it's more, you know, a lot of single malts are very flavorful and very complex, and I think if you're just looking for something that's smooth, that isn't taking you in a bunch of directions, it's gonna be pretty straightforward. It's not gonna disappoint.
Not gonna surprise you in any way. Right? Like, this is kind of an old steady
**Bam Bam:** friend. It's funny you say that. That's
**Poobah:** exactly right. Yeah. I think it's a great way to describe it. Yeah. But we, you could also describe it, it's really pleasurable. [00:50:00] I mean, like there's zero, anything that's not good about it, everything.
It's just, if you're looking for a complex experience, this is not gonna give you that. But it's gi, it's giving you this blended scotch smooth delivery. And so, People want to just put on a little shot, Hey, , ,
**Bam Bam:** where
**Poobah:** the hell did that come from? Some Genesis or some shit, you know what I mean? And just chill, you know?
I mean, you know, smooth. Operator, operator, operator.
And that's all you want. It's funny, I, you know what I mean? Like everything, there's definitely a place where if I had this at my bar, I'd pour it
**Bam Bam:** under pairing. Well, yeah. Well I was about to go there. Everything you're saying about the Shiva, it's, you can say the exact same thing about the cigar. There's, there's an audience for it.
There's no rough edges. There's nothing that you wouldn't, you could say, cause it makes it a terrible
**Gizmo:** cigar, but the accessibility of this cigar at 10 bucks, it's incredible. Versus that [00:51:00] $80, you know, always
**Poobah:** available. That's true. This is ironically, that's true. This is ironically turning into a, a interesting very, cuz we have a very Yes, it is.
The cigar is smooth and kind of straightforward. Yeah. And the scotch is kind of smooth and straightforward. Yeah. Which, um, great pairing. It works funny. Yeah. It's, it's funny. It's.
**Senator:** So
**Pagoda:** they, they make this ci I think Pumas left Speechless. Yeah. think so. He's got he's got no
**Bam Bam:** negative comments. Amazing. I never, it's a miracle. It's a miracle. It's a miracle. And you know what,
**Pagoda:** I think I would've lost a lot of money today because that's,
**Poobah:** I would've
**Bam Bam:** thought I would've take this and
**Gizmo:** I would've taken action all day
**Poobah:** and lost.
No, no, no. I thought I was gonna ditch the cigar.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. We almost had a side bed there. You would do that. And
**Poobah:** they didn't do it. . And I'm not gonna do it. I'm gonna smoke the whole thing. Yeah. It's really good. It's pretty good. Pretty
**Senator:** good. They make, they make this in a rib boosto, right? They do. [00:52:00] Yeah. Yeah. I, this is helpful cuz you know, uh, when you have friends come over who don't really appreciate cigars that much, but they just kind of wanna have a cigar to, you know, do what the group's doing.
Um, it's always very hard to find cigars for those occasions when you don't want to just burn through, you know, great sticks that you really appreciate that someone can't. . And, um, I've tried doing that with the melanio and it has failed. Mm-hmm. really part of it's on me. I, I, I think I gave out a bunch of exces.
Oh. And then everyone had a second exi, and then guys who I know just don't care about cigars. I'm like, all right, this is silly. Just keep burning through these. So let me just reach for something I have for, you know, sometimes, uh, guests that don't particularly love cigars. So I had pulled out a, a little 10 count box of these millennials, and I'll never forget, you know, one of my friends, he lights this up and he goes, Senator, this, this isn't as good as the cigars you were giving us before
I was like, shit, it's, it's not as good. I trained them well. I didn't think that they would know the difference, but I feel like if I got this in Ra [00:53:00] Robusto, the regular v instead of the Melanio, this would be more satisfying. Mm-hmm. for, um, someone who, you know, is just looking for a casual
**Poobah:** everyday smoke.
Yeah. In Ra Robusto for sure. It would be the Churchill's intimidating. Oh yeah. No, this is too much. So It is, it is, but it's. But it worked out okay for us.
**Senator:** Yes. Yeah. And I think, you know, you talk about, you know, a, a yard cigar and if you're gonna be, you know, literally out in the yard, like doing a lot of work, you're gonna spend like two hours out there.
Yeah. Like this Churchill Wood slot in there. It's
**Bam Bam:** also a great, it is a great
**Gizmo:** golf course cigar as well. None of the six of us have picked up a lighter to relay this thing. It's, it's, so let me just run through, you asked about the rubo. I'll run through the other vitos that this line has and, and for the listener, this is specific to the Ava V, what we're smoking right now.
Not the Melanio, just the Ava V. They have the Churchill Extra that we're smoking right now. They have Alan Cero, they have a Figero, they have a double Toro, they have a torpedo, a bellaco. A double [00:54:00] rib robusto and a number four. So did you say
**Bam Bam:** double Toro? Double Toro. Your favorite?
**Gizmo:** I had a double
**Senator:** Toro. Yeah.
In fact, this is the only brand that makes a double Toro. That's right. of a to that ba thought was bam is everywhere. No, no, no,
**Bam Bam:** no, no, no, no, no. I am vindicated. There is a double toro. It is, it exists. What,
**Poobah:** what, what is the
**Gizmo:** 60 60 ring gauge by six inches Is the double twin . hoof. It's like smoking a bridge. I, you know, I'll be honest, the experience we're having tonight makes me want to try the land horse cock the land.
So the land er a 38 by seven. I want, it's funny you mentioned
**Senator:** Lance Serro. A few of us have tried it. Yeah. So we did a land serro night at our, uh, former lounge. This might have been before Gizmo had joined the lounge, if I remember that night. Yeah. Yeah. So it was me, bam. Rooster and Puba. I think the LANs was good.
Grinder and Grindr. Yeah. And um, it came in second. Yep. I think the first one was, uh, Alea. Or a Drew [00:55:00] Estates landi. That was, we have
**Poobah:** lovely. Her.
**Senator:** Didn't That was the lean, that was the, yeah, I didn't like that. Uh, but this came in second.
**Gizmo:** Hmm hmm. Yeah. And I, I, I'm interested to try the, uh, the double re robusto as well.
**Senator:** And to clarify, this was a new World Landero night. We're not cuing, including Cuban
**Gizmo:** Land Zeros. Uh,
**Poobah:** I'm looking at the, the, you could have got killed for that. . Yeah. .
**Gizmo:** I'm looking at the, uh, Ava site here. A lot of these have, have some pretty high ratings from cigar journal, cigar snob, and, uh, cigar fisha. So, seems like a, you know, like I said, very popular wine.
Yeah. A lot of folks have, uh, a lot of folks are smoking
**Bam Bam:** these. Looking forward to the rating here tonight.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. I'm very curious what it's gonna be. Oh yeah. No question about it. So I gotta ask you guys, cuz we haven't talked about it yet. Uh, I, I'm not a golf guy. Hmm. Um, but I'm really fascinated by the business aspect of.
uh, and the social aspect of, [00:56:00] of this new, uh, golf league, the live ah, yeah. League, um, was started by the Saudi Arabians that Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, and a few other folks have migrated to Bryson. I'm and Bryson as well. Yeah. I'm curious what you guys think of this. I, I mean, I saw some, a quote from Charles Barkley.
He's obviously someone that's very vocally supporting this, but it's almost as if somebody created a, another NBA or another NHL league to compete well with the primary league
**Bam Bam:** from the point of view of payments. It's a super league. Yeah. Financially, yeah.
**Pagoda:** Right. Yeah. I, I don't know about this idea about super leagues because they've tried to do it, this evidence soccer in Europe, and, you know, with all the top teams getting together and they're paying a lot of money, it's gonna be interesting to see how sustainable they are, because at the end of the day, even the Saudis are doing this as a form of investment, and if there's no ROI in the long term, Uh, I think it's unsustainable,
**Bam Bam:** honestly.
I think they do a lot of things from the point of view of, of, uh, notoriety. They [00:57:00] want to bring credibility to their country, and a, a lot of their actions are based in, I, in my opinion, in that realm of thought.
**Senator:** I'll, I'll say this, and I, I think I'll be quick on this, and I'm, I'm especially curious some of the guys who like golf and are, are even, you know, deeper in golf than I am as just a fan.
Um, when this started, I had a very negative reaction to this. I, I mean, I, I just thought like, you have a, a sport and, and your job is to protect and grow that sport, right? So like, if you play on the PGA tour, like that is an American run entity, right? And if you're a member, if you're on the PGA tour, right?
Like you, you've kind of, you're, you've bought into that, right? And so if there's a problem with it, you fix it. You try to do that. and you, you try to improve or grow that sport. And I especially, you know, a Saudi run league that obviously from a foreign policy standpoint, we don't have the best relations with the Saudis.
[00:58:00] And, and I won't get into a political discussion, but that fact just remains. So, I had a hard time understanding how you would have a number of these players and especially American players, say, well, you know, screw this league that I've invested so much in and that has invested so much in me, and now I'm just gonna go run off into this clearly well financed league.
But I, I almost questioned like the motives really behind it. Like, I'm not sure that this was created for the love of the sport and to be this amazing thing. Like, I, I kind of lean more in bams camp, but what I will say where I, I, and I criticized in my mind players who would go run to. and I really respected the players that said, I'm sorry, I want no part of that.
Let's fix what we have, what we've been part of, what we've committed to, where I've started to change my perspective a bit. And, uh, I think there have been a number of, of pundits and people on TV who have really poked at, uh, from a player's standpoint of how, how could you turn [00:59:00] down, you know, if someone's willing to pay you 150 million to play golf, how as a player, can you turn that down?
And why I'm more sympathetic to that is when you, you know, break down the reality of just sports generally. This is entertainment. Obviously all these athletes, they love their sports, but they would not be choosing this as a career if it didn't pay well. This is to support them and their families at the end of the day.
Same reason all of us go to work every day, right? Sure. We, we may, some of us may love what we do, but if we weren't paid, you know, well enough for it, it wouldn't be worth our time. And so, As I've started to think of it through that lens, I'm now less critical to players that have decided to make that jump.
And, and, and it kind of then begs the question, well, if the PGA a tour wants to keep those players, then then like, find a way to pay it. Like, you have to compete.
**Poobah:** You have to That's right. Compete. That's right. And, and as somebody who is, I've, I've, I've played golf for most of the majority of my life, um, and grew up in that environment and, and still in [01:00:00] as an, I'm an avid golfer to this day.
And I, and I really enjoy the game. I, it, I had the, I think you articulated, um, I agree with everything you said. It's, it's, I felt the same way at first, but then when you look at, um, the type of money that's being, that, that's being presented, it's really hard to justify. It's like, you know, There's, there's this level of hypocrisy that's out there in terms of we're all using iPhones.
Yep. You know, and, and all those iPhones are, are, are, are made essentially via slave labor, you know, and we're going to Saudi Arabia for oil and all this other stuff. And, and when, when, when these types of numbers are put in front of people, you know, 150 million, a hundred million guaranteed guaranteed money, um, it's really [01:01:00] hard to say no because it's in the context of the global stage, because there is a po You can't divorce the fact that this is Saudi Arabia that's standing this up.
You can't like divorce that. . So, so there is this ethical concern I think that comes into play that you can't really dev that which, which is, which, which creates all this tension. This is what's, this is really at the core of it, in combination with the fact that the, the, they're also like defecting.
They're like defecting. Yeah. So there's this thing where you're like, I don't like that aspect of it, but at the same time, You know, this is a lot of, of, of Escarole as they say in New Jersey, you know, this is a lot of money and it's like everyone, everyone else is capitalizing on this. And yes, the p g A tour needs to make some, like, revise how they're helping players out, particularly [01:02:00] players that they ride rep their reputation on like Phil Nicholson and these legends.
Like, and that there should be some maybe additional compensation from the tour or like, et cetera. So there's a lot of players like the Sergio Garcias and people like that who are like, dude, like, yeah, how can I say no to this? You know? So, and I get that cuz at first I, I, I felt the same way that Senator felt.
But now I, I, I'm kind of saying, you know, we're gonna now go to them and get all our oil. And we, we, we have all the hypocrisy that exists. It's hard for me to say like, Hey, Phil Nicholson, like, you shouldn't do that for 150 million and just go hit a golf ball. And he got 200 million. Did he get 200? Is that what it is now?
Yeah, that's right. I, I mean, that's all, that's, you know, he's not making 200 million any other way. So that's a lot of money in, like, it's a rounding error on the Saudis p and l and like , you know, [01:03:00] this is a rounding era. This is a, this is a tiny little, so it's hard for me now. As much as I don't like it, the, I kind of, the idea of it, I, I don't fault the players for taking the money.
It's really, it's a lot of money. It's too much money to refuse. Agree. Basically.
**Senator:** Picking up on the last thing you said there, as much as I don't like it, I mean I'm still in the camp. I don't like this happening because I, I don't think this helps golf. I, I really fundamentally don't. No. Right. Like if the whole premise of the PJ tours to be this American run thing that agree that they've built and grown over time and are, are seeking to grow for the future, this completely erodes and threatens that.
So I don't think that's helpful to the sport the same way and anything, you know, that's why there was the uproar that Pagoda was talking about in soccer. Like, you go create this super league, like it erodes everything that everyone has known, supported, and bought into for decades. And, and it, it, that's, that could all just be gone.
And so I still give a ton of credit to the players [01:04:00] that do hold out. and now what's, what's you have to unpack there is, you know, for some, they're able financially to do that, right? Like if you're Tiger Woods, it's like remarkable that they could offer him almost any amount of money. He just doesn't need it.
Doesn't need it. And they
**Gizmo:** did. And they did, apparently they offered him close to a billion,
**Senator:** billion dollars and he's like, I'm already a billionaire. Yeah. Like, I don't actually need this money. So like I respect now he, he could be so money driven that he could just say, well you know, I need the second billion and so Sure.
I'm just gonna go right ahead. And I do. I think you have to give credit where credit's due to any of the players who are saying, I feel in a position financially, that I don't have to just chase that money. Yeah. It's hard to, but that's why I do give credit to the guys that do the same way that, you know, in anyone's lifetime, right, you're gonna have different career opportunities that'll present itself.
And some of them may be more lucrative than. . And at some point you either say that, you know that money's worth chasing or that you know, you're really bought into this thing you're, you're doing, you're working on your building and [01:05:00] you know, more money isn't gonna
**Poobah:** make you feel any happier. But like Bryson de Shamba, like his body's not gonna hold up the way he swings.
The, the go with the way he swings, swings the golf club. He will win. He can maybe win another five years, but he's done. He can't swing and maintain that. His style of play that power long term, like his style, he'll have to completely change it up. I mean, he doesn't swing like, like a Louis, uh, OAV station.
Yeah, yeah. Like, like even though he's going to, I believe to live, yes, he's going to live, he's on the list, but he's got one of the best swings ever. But he also hasn't been able to win. That's, you know, he's come so close. Yes. He hasn't been able to win and convert those majors and it's like to get that prestige.
So I understand with a guy like Louie, Louie can play forever. Louie can go and he's gonna, his swings like, like. . It's so smooth and fluid and like, he'll, his body will last forever. Bryon the Shambo, like if you're him, you have to take that money because his body will, he's already injured. Yeah. Cause of the way he swings.
That's a good [01:06:00] point. His body's gonna break down. You take the money and you go, there's, there's, and Phil Nicholson's a money guy. Yeah. He's always been a money guy. Kind of a gambler. Kind of a, we know that like a, like a fast shooting. He plays fast. A little fast and loose in his life. Like money wise, maybe He's also older.
He's older. Yeah. I mean, this is it for him. I mean, you're gonna fucking $200 million. Hey, I'm in. But a guy, so I don't blame him for doing it. Do I like the idea of it? Definitely not the, the way the majors in the, the, if they're gonna be able to get exemptions for these tournaments that they've previously won and things like that.
Like how they work the exemptions and how if these guys are gonna be able to qualify, they're out of the FedEx Cup cup. They've been taken out of the FedEx Cup race, so how are they gonna, you know, So it's complicated, but they've made these decisions. Do you wanna win majors and do you want to be included in these tournaments or not?
And what that's gonna look like moving forward. Who knows? And how long this league's gonna live? Who knows? But here's a question. Who nine figures is nine figures? It's [01:07:00] gonna have a huge impact on the pga. But
**Bam Bam:** here, that's a, that's where my next question is going. So anything that's a disruptor in any industry doesn't enforce that industry to get better react and you'd hope adapt.
You would hope. And if guys are leaving and going to this new league, doesn't that open the door for younger PGA budding stars to come up and have
**Poobah:** an opportunity to play? It's a small percentage. Those players, it's so hard to just earn a card. I know. So those players, yeah. Ha, are still gonna have to work their way up to the Korn Ferry tour and they're still gonna have to earn their way on to the PGA tour.
And that's just the way it's always gonna be. But
**Gizmo:** But to your But to your point though, bam, there's two aspects of this that I think need to be pointed out. Number one, I think a lot of the guys left may be safe for someone like Dustin Johnson. A lot of these guys are not competing every week winning. No, they're not.
The, the event that they're, that they're, that they're competing in, they're there. Obviously they're drawing eyes. Even Tiger Woods, I mean, what a remarkable comeback he's had again after that car accident. [01:08:00] But he's not competing each week for winning that, that event, again, safe for Dustin Johnson. Now, tiger is someone who outside of golf, via his sponsorships and who he is, is probably the most, arguably the most recognizable person in sports other than maybe Michael Jordan or LeBron James or Christiano, uh, Ronaldo.
I mean, he's got an incredible business outside of golf that he can't risk even for a billion dollars to go to live golf. No. No. He can't do it. No. Now you look at guys like Scotty Scheffler, Rory McElroy, uh, Justin Thomas. They're all staying because each week they're still competing and they're still winning.
So there is an element of the PG is really losing their marketing assets. But they're not really losing the people who are competing each win week to win the tournaments. Yeah. But if
**Rooster:** you're gonna lose the top names, that's what is that gonna do
**Gizmo:** to the Well, that's the, that's the question. That's the question.
Totally. And I think that a lot of the guys that have stayed in the pga, even with offers, they're staying because they can still really win and
**Poobah:** [01:09:00] be the top of the world. There's so many young players that are still gonna come up and are still gonna make things electric. And you can't duplicate what happens at Augusta.
Um, live. You can't duplicate what's gonna what? You can't duplicate the electricity of the US Open, even though US open isn't nec it's governed by the U S G A and the rules are, it's a new open tournament, which means an amateur can qualify. In theory, I could go out, play regionals, play in the meam play and matriculate through all the fucking tournaments within, inside a fucking two years and get in and make it to the fucking US open.
Yeah. If I played well enough. But
**Senator:** this is why everything you're saying I is why I emphasize like I feel strongly, I don't blame the players that have left, but. I don't give them credit in the sense that, like you look at some of the old timers, right? Like some of the legends in golf from a different generation and a lot of them are really, really opposed to this whole idea and.
You know, I think that there's something to be said for that in the sense that, you know, you, you look at, in sports [01:10:00] just generally, like you have athletes who have opportunities to become the highest paid player ever at their position, whether we're talking football, basketball, you know, any sport period.
And some of them just don't take it because they wanna win. They like, there's something bigger about what they're doing than how much they're paid. They're saying like, you know, I'm already making a hundred million, is 125 or 150 really going to materially make me any happier than I am now? Or give me something that I, I already don't have.
And so I do have to give credit to the players that make that calculus and say, and it's easier for some than others. There's no doubt. That's why I said Tiger's a in a whole other category where when you're a billionaire you can, you know, money almost doesn't matter at that point. But for the ones that are not in Tiger's, you know, financial category, I do give them credit where clearly for some of them, There, there has to be a calculus of I play this sport to play at Augusta every spring.
Yeah. And that's what makes me tick. And there's
**Poobah:** tradition there. And the endorsements, I expect [01:11:00] that, and by the way, the endorsements, just to close this, I mean the endorsements, you know, Phil Mickelson lost his endorsement deal, Phil Mickelson. So you're going into this, but you're Dr but you're dropping your partners.
Yep. The partners are dropping you. And that's a big deal because the long-term partnerships that you can make with Titleist, with Callaway, with Taylor made, with, with Nike, with these types of companies, with the banks and all the other corporate sponsors are, are, are relationships that can be actually really, really long and really, really enduring for the mid-range to upper mid-range tour player who's constantly, you know, in the.
They want their logos out there. They want their stuff. So, so for those guys, it's like, yeah, you're good. Yeah. They, you could get stolen and put into the lid, but what are the consequences gonna be for me? You can play golf until you're on the, on the Champions tour. You can play golf. I mean, Bernard Langer played golf for, you know, how many years in the champ you could play, play, play, play, play.
If your body holds up so long [01:12:00] term, is that the, is it the best thing? And if you love the game, tough decisions, but when, when you get nine figures thrown out, like somebody throws a hundred million at somebody and you're like 35, you go, eh, you know, I'm in. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** It's hard to turn it down. Yeah. Why don't they turn it down?
So would they, would they be
**Rooster:** excluded from any, uh, all the PGA tournaments?
**Poobah:** Like, we don't know what's gonna know yet. Like it could be, it sounds like it will be. It depends on what happens. I mean, Who knows how long this whole thing will even hold up. It hasn't even kind of materialized into something big yet.
**Senator:** And it's tough is if you're the PJ tour, you, you kind of have to do that, right? Like you, you have to create a consequence that is significant enough that makes people think twice about leaving. Right. If there's no material consequence, then there's no reason not to go
**Poobah:** take the hundred and the sponsors or just Yeah, they're going not play the ball.
Play ball. What do the sponsors have to gain by sponsoring you on the Saudi? They, they've nothing to gain.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. [01:13:00] But they'll probably get
new
**Gizmo:** sponsors. Yeah. Right. Or they may come back, you know, if they're, if the viewership is there.
**Poobah:** Who needs sponsors when you got nine figures. That's a good point. Yep.
**Gizmo:** Yep.
All right, boys, what do you guys think of the, uh, shivs Regal 18 right now? . I think it's working really well with this store. It's still drinking. Very good. Yeah,
**Poobah:** it's very efficacious. It's surpris of that. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** The both of the, uh, both are surprising. Both have been surprising tonight. Yeah. Are you guys ready to do the, uh, formal liquor rating on this thing?
Yep. Bam.
**Poobah:** Bam. You're up.
**Bam Bam:** I'm between a seven and a eight on this. Okay. I I'm gonna give it an eight. Okay.
**Poobah:** An eight.
**Senator:** Eight. I'm in the same boat for a blended Scotch eight.
**Gizmo:** I'm gonna give it a seven.
**Poobah:** I'm gonna give it an eight. I really liked it and I, I think that it's pretty approachable, drinkable. Little bit of cinnamon.
It's a little bit sweet. It's really good on the finish and I like it.
**Gizmo:** Composite lizard score, boys. 7.8. That's a good score. Good, very good score. Yeah. I think, uh, [01:14:00] for me, the reason why I dis, you know, I pulled memories down to a seven. Yeah. I won. I wonder why , the roast. The roast didn't help . Uh, but also the price point.
I think the price point, I, I compare it to another blended, any other blended scotch that I, that I drink or like, I, I just think it's a little pricey for what it's, that's a good point, fair point.
**Poobah:** Yeah.
**Rooster:** So what other blended scotch do
**Gizmo:** you, well, you, you look at, I love the co, uh, the Kirkland. Kirkland, Kirkland.
This is better than that, the Kirkland, but it is better than that. But I can get that 17 bucks bottle taste. , but I can get it for 17 bucks a bottle. So, yeah. I mean, come on. You know, it is. Don't gimme that. Look, pba. No, no, I hear you. . .
**Poobah:** It's
**Gizmo:** a little, we're talking about a $60 swing. Yeah. You know. True. So, and speaking of budget, this $10 Churchill Extra has really surprised me tonight.
Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** I'm down to an inch, not a single rough edge on it. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I'm coming down to the end here. Yeah. It's been very, very good and very, very smooth. I'm surprised.
**Poobah:** Yeah. I enjoyed it. , [01:15:00] please. I'm taking back what I said. I actually enjoyed
**Pagoda:** it. Yeah, we can sent you a delight.
**Poobah:** You enjoyed it. I did. I enjoyed it.
It's, it was very,
**Gizmo:** very surprising.
**Poobah:** Surprisingly better than I expected. You guys
**Gizmo:** ready? Do the, uh, formal reading on the side, would it make me buy a box of these? No. No. Right. Of course not. No. But I would have a couple of these in my humor maybe.
**Senator:** I'm, yeah. Like I said, when we start, I mean, for me, the utility of these sticks is like if I go into a retailer in a pinch and I just, you know, have to buy something there, and I just really want a cigar, like, I would have this and not leave at all.
Upset or disappointed. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** yeah, yeah. All right, rooster, you're up. All right. So
**Rooster:** for me, I mean, it's not in my flavor profile. Um, I'm not gonna source the, you know, box of this or whatever, but yeah, I mean, if I was in a pinch, like Senator said, I would, you know, I would grab this. So for me,
**Gizmo:** I'm gonna give it
**Poobah:** a seven.
The same
**Gizmo:** seven. I'm also gonna give a seven. [01:16:00] Rookie score is
**Senator:** seven here. Okay.
**Poobah:** Pagoda. I'm at an eight. Eight.
**Bam Bam:** I'm giving it an eight. Okay.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys. The composite lizard score is a 7.3 respectable on a $10. Churchill. Yeah. Respect. I can't, I'm shocked. Certainly. And, and we must say it again. We've said it several times.
We have to say it again. Coming into this episode, even when we all sat down to hit record tonight, where we thought this would end up and where it did end up is way, way, way different than my expectations. Certainly.
**Senator:** Yeah. I mean, anything over a seven I think is a soft recommended.
**Gizmo:** Absolutely. Yes.
Absolutely. We definitely recommend
**Poobah:** the cigar. Yes. I take back, oh, I retract my comments. . .
**Bam Bam:** I like this version of PBA . It's being deleted.
**Poobah:** Kinder, gentler, ver pba. I can be in introspective. Yes, .
**Gizmo:** All right, boys. Again, a 7.3 for the oli. Churchill extra. Very good. Thanks for the roast. [01:17:00] Thanks for the cigars to Grindr who's not here, but appreciate it and, uh, we'll see you guys next week.
Keep smoking. Thanks so much for joining us tonight. Hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us Lounge lizards pod, p o d, that's lounge lizards pod gmail.com.
You can also find us on Instagram at Lounge Lizards Pod. We really appreciate your time and we'll, uh, we'll see you next week.