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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 Rooster, Senator, Pagoda, chef Ricky, and Bam Bam.
Gizmo:And our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some sparkling wine, talk about life, and, of course, have some laughs. So take this as your one hundred and eighty sixth official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plan to meet us here once a week. We're gonna smoke a Cuban cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating. One of the last remaining Cuban marquettes makes its debut tonight.
Gizmo:We answer a listener email on budgeting for cigar purchases, and we open up a discussion on the future of Cuban cigars on this podcast, all among a variety of other things for the next two hours. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, enjoy as we pair Cobb Laurent's Burgundy Cremant with the Sancho Panza bellicosas. A Cuban bellicosso on the pod tonight from Sancho Panza, and it's a debut. It's a 52 ring gauge cigar by five and a half inches long. Its factory name is a Campanas.
Gizmo:And boys, I would say out of all the Cuban cigars we've not smoked, this is probably
Bam Bam:One of the ugly.
Gizmo:The number one the number one listener requested. Yeah. And I've gotten a lot of emails, folks excited about us smoking this cigar tonight. So here we are tonight with this very simple Sancho Panza delle Cosos.
Bam Bam:I'm excited to smoke it. I think it's gonna be good, but it does not look good.
Rooster:Why? I mean, it looks like a Monty too.
Chef Ricky:This thing looks like it was built with the pyramids. With the old silver kingdoms.
Bam Bam:It's got of a box pressed. Looks like a rhombus. It's got rounded edges and square at the same time.
Chef Ricky:And got buds all over the place.
Bam Bam:Yeah. A lot of dents and dings and, you know.
Gizmo:I think the band was hand cut with the guy with a little pair of scissors.
Bam Bam:In backyard.
Gizmo:Yeah, Pagoda's backyard.
Rooster:Kinda looks like-
Chef Ricky:Using Giza scissors. It looks like
Rooster:my left leg with varicose veins.
Chef Ricky:Oh, boy. That's an edit. TMI. TMI. No.
Chef Ricky:That's not an edit. TMI.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's cut this thing. See, we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper.
Senator:I can't wait for that listener that sent in those, like, AI generated images. Add varicose veins to roosters' legs.
Rooster:I'm getting them fixed next week.
Bam Bam:My cold draw is wide open.
Gizmo:I had to do a second cut. My first cut, I was getting almost no draw.
Bam Bam:Same. Yeah. It took about an eighth of an inch. Nice open draw.
Gizmo:Now I'm in good shape here.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Great open draw. Not a whole lot of flavor on the cauldron. I'm getting a little bit of cedar maybe.
Bam Bam:Not even that for me.
Chef Ricky:The aroma on the foot here, a little bit of hay, some dryness, coffee. It might be because some of you guys are drinking some coffee that I'm getting some coffee notes here, but it's really just kinda hay and really light cedar.
Bam Bam:He's Superman, Didn't you know?
Senator:I don't know. I might have gotten lucky. My He
Pagoda:could tell a nuance of a drink
Bam Bam:from halfway across the room.
Bam Bam:I'm passing the song. Container, no less.
Senator:I might have got lucky. My cold draw is wide open, perfect draw.
Pagoda:Mhmm.
Senator:And I'm actually getting a decent amount of flavor on mine. I I get the cedar that you mentioned, but I also get a little bit of cocoa. It at least tastes promising on the cold draw.
Bam Bam:Very faint for me.
Gizmo:Yeah. Cocoa's absent for me here.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Same.
Rooster:You do get that cedar.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Not me. Wish I got something. Alright,
Gizmo:boys. Let's light this thing. The Sancho Panza bellicosos. 52 ring gauge cigar by five and one half inches long. Again, its factory name is the Campanas.
Gizmo:For smokers out there who like Cupid cigars, this is an identical cigar in size and shape to, of course, the Bolivar Bellicosos Finos Mhmm. And the Romeo y Julieta Bellicosos as well as a bunch of other regional special limited cigars that have been put out over the years. But there are three Bellicosos in regular production. This, the Bolivar, and the Romeo y Julieta.
Bam Bam:Is this a young cigar?
Gizmo:It is not. This cigar's box date and code is GRMDecember2019 from a provincial in the province of Artemisia.
Chef Ricky:That explains the verrucous veins.
Bam Bam:I have to say, all jokes aside, this is delicious off the lights.
Senator:I agree with Bem.
Bam Bam:It is outstanding. Wow. Mhmm.
Gizmo:That is good. Wow.
Chef Ricky:It's funny, the first couple draws didn't didn't yield much, but then at about the fourth draw, started getting some really intense flavor. It's ridiculous.
Gizmo:That is It's creamy. Creamy. Mhmm. It's like a milkshake.
Senator:I was get it's milk chocolate as well.
Chef Ricky:I was
Senator:getting on the cold draw.
Chef Ricky:Oh, this is gonna be so
Bam Bam:Yeah. There's dairy and milk and Coffee. Coffee and chocolate.
Rooster:Milk is dairy.
Gizmo:Don't forget, he doesn't go to the grocery store, so he's not he doesn't know where it has dairy.
Senator:Milk is $14.99.
Chef Ricky:That's a gallon. Oh, yeah. It's like a chocolate coffee milkshake or
Bam Bam:I'm sorry.
Chef Ricky:What year is this? 02/2019.
Gizmo:Fantastic cigar so far. Yeah. So this is just over five years of age. It's about five and a half years of age at this point on this cigar.
Bam Bam:Do we know what this retails for?
Gizmo:So right now you get this cigar for between 28 and $30 a cigar.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I was a
Gizmo:So the box is approaching, you know, $700, 7 hundred 50 bucks.
Bam Bam:Kind of the going rate now?
Gizmo:Yeah. Unfortunately. And we have to shout out OG listener, Lizard O out in California. Nice. Hooked us up with these cigars tonight.
Gizmo:Very kind of him. I was struggling to find them, and we're gonna talk about that in a little bit. Oh, yeah. But I was really struggling to find these cigars for quite some time, and he came through for us. And I'm very appreciative because he's allowed us to have this cigar time.
Rooster:And he casually mentioned he only has four boxes.
Gizmo:Only four.
Chef Ricky:Only four.
Gizmo:He's almost out.
Pagoda:Well, he sounds like bam.
Bam Bam:Not recently.
Senator:I feel like I'm smoking a Padron torpedo. There's a box pressed to this Yeah. Of them being packed in that dress box.
Gizmo:Stuffed in that dress box.
Chef Ricky:And the combustion of this is phenomenal. Yeah. The smoke in the room, the smoke coming off of everyone's cigar right now, it's The retrohale is so good.
Gizmo:This is really great.
Bam Bam:Excellent.
Gizmo:I am blown away. I mean, you can certainly taste the age on it. No But it is such a complex, smooth Creamy. Creamy cigar.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Delicious cigar. Keeps your attention.
Rooster:It also has that saltiness.
Pagoda:It does. Has
Gizmo:anyone in the room had this cigar before?
Senator:Never. I have.
Gizmo:I've had one and it did not perform like this.
Chef Ricky:Same.
Gizmo:This is night and day versus the one I had. It was certainly younger when I had it than this one is.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:You know, this one's five and a half years aged almost, but
Bam Bam:This is kind of like an obscure marker for me. I'd love to, you know, smoke more of these. Can't get your hands on them.
Pagoda:Yeah. No. I said considering the price and obviously not hearing of it like other regular. Like for me, I've never really followed this or wanted to have this or try it. It'd be very difficult for me to put up $30 a day.
Gizmo:Sure. To try it. And it, you know, not that you wanna judge a book by its cover, but as we discussed when we opened the episode here, it's not presenting itself as being something that is elegant in its look or the band isn't really interesting. The boxers are very boring. You know?
Gizmo:So I I understand exactly what you're saying, Pagoda. If you walk into a shop and you don't know what this is
Bam Bam:Yeah. You'd have to know.
Gizmo:You'd have to know because you're gonna reach for one of those brands that you do know. Or you see a punch or you see the El Rey del Mundo, if you're not familiar with those outside the global brands, like, you'd probably reach for those over this because this isn't very fancy. You know, it's not very flashy. So this is the only cigar technically in regular production right now in Sancho Ponza. There is one other cigar that is kind of up in the air as to whether or not it is still in regular production.
Gizmo:It's called the non plus Amarevas Petite Corona, 42 ring gauge by five and one eighths inches long. That cigar was discontinued in 2019. The Cupid cigar community aficionados that love that cigar were really panicked about it. And then all of a sudden, they started popping back up again in the last two years. But, technically, it is still discontinued, so I don't know if we're gonna see any more of the Sancho Panza non plus.
Gizmo:So this Bellicosos, just like that Diplomaticos we smoked two weeks ago, is the only cigar in regular production for Sancho Panza, which is pretty weird. Sad. That you have two marcus now in Cuba. There's more than that, actually, but you have two marcus now in Cuba that only have one cigar
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Gizmo:In regular production.
Bam Bam:Very strange.
Gizmo:Very odd. And they have a ton of discontinued cigars over the years. I'm gonna go through the history in a little bit. And, of course, this marker is used quite a bit for regional editions, for that regional band. And I wanted to point out one boys because we talk about this one a lot.
Gizmo:They have a new edition regional for Peru coming out called the Chan Chan, which is a sublimas, 54 ring gauge by six and one quarter inches long. Of course, shouting out the Buena Vista shows Social Club.
Chef Ricky:Think there's a sublime shot out there too. Sublime. That's what it sounded like.
Gizmo:Yeah, that's the story on current production of Sancho Ponce. I'll go through their history in a little bit. On the bellicosos, these only come now in dress box of 25 cigars. There was a slide lid box of 50 cigars that was discontinued in 02/2003, and this cigar was in existence well before the revolution. So, yeah.
Gizmo:So I'll talk about that in a little bit. But first, boys, what are we thinking about the cigar? Because I'm loving it.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's delicious.
Gizmo:Very good so far. Absolutely.
Pagoda:Yeah. It's a great tuna.
Rooster:Cocoa, you know, flavor and with that little salty to it.
Chef Ricky:Little nuttiness here too. A little almond. Yeah. Some almond here.
Bam Bam:I like that saltiness. I'm getting a bit of that now. It's giving it very nice balance with that sweetness that it has.
Senator:It's very Monty too like, I feel like. Like a great Monty too. And I I had one of these a few years ago young. You got the cocoa. It was not creamy, so the age has definitely helped bring that together.
Senator:This is a lot more refined than I remember this cigar. I mean, I never pursued it or picked up another one after my first one.
Bam Bam:I'm gonna guess you were away when
Senator:you had this, not here, Not stateside. I forget because I know who I got it from, but I don't remember if we smoked it away or here. Have
Rooster:you guys ever smoked the Sancho Panza Molinas? No.
Pagoda:No. You're predating yourself again.
Senator:This pre revolution rooster?
Chef Ricky:Were you with Fidel? Two thousand.
Rooster:That was another very good cigar.
Bam Bam:A good moment with Fidel, I'm sure.
Pagoda:Hey. I had to get you back to
Gizmo:the day. I like how he just accepts it and just keeps going as
Bam Bam:He's leaning into it.
Gizmo:He's leaning in.
Bam Bam:Not really, but
Chef Ricky:So so since you guys are beating up on Rooster here, I think it's, you know, only fair that we give him a little shout out. He noticed something on the band called where it said Delamontes Alexion, and I found the answer, I think, on FOH. So their answer is that I want to use a Spanish family name. This band was probably a personalized cigar band made for a person named Delamonte as Sancho Ponza never cared to produce different bands since probably the nineteenth century. This is probably the last band that existed when Sancho Ponson no longer produced new cigar band designs.
Chef Ricky:So there you go. It's just a leftover band.
Gizmo:I like that they just keep rolling with it. Some random guy in Spain. Just keep printing the name on there. Why change it? It's working.
Gizmo:Ship them.
Bam Bam:Let's not change the dye.
Chef Ricky:So did the Molina cigars say Molina on the band?
Bam Bam:It requires work.
Chef Ricky:That was just the name of
Gizmo:the Votolo?
Rooster:It's like a it was a small ring gauge. I think it's a 42 by six, something like that.
Gizmo:It was a Lonsdale rooster, 42 by six and a half. Cervantes is the factor. That's pretty close. Memory.
Chef Ricky:Off by
Rooster:half an inch.
Pagoda:You got a good memory too.
Gizmo:It was discontinued in
Rooster:2012. In 2012. Yeah. Not that long, Drew.
Bam Bam:For you.
Rooster:Jesus. When were you born, Ben?
Pagoda:There we go.
Gizmo:So, boys, let's go through some Sancho Ponza history. They have a long, long history, and they've been through a lot of ups and downs. The brand was registered in 1848 by Don Emilio Olmsted, a German who also created El Rey del Mundo around the same time. Sancho Panza is the name of the servant of Don Quixote, a famous character in the very popular novel by Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes. By the way, I it's crazy that that that novel was written in in, like, early sixteen hundreds, late '15 hundreds.
Gizmo:Wow. That's a long time ago. Yeah. After the death of Olmsted in 1870, the brand was purchased in 1874.
Bam Bam:Rooster was waiting. I was waiting too. Rooster was waiting. Well, I looked at him. I went like this.
Bam Bam:The head gesture.
Gizmo:But then he bought
Chef Ricky:it? No.
Bam Bam:He printed it.
Gizmo:So the business slowly declined, and in 1898, the production was discontinued entirely. And then it was purchased by another firm and went completely bankrupt in 1920. In '19 in the 1920s, the brand went through a bunch of different ownerships, including the Ionis family, Cefuentos, Pago Isia, and it was purchased by Ray Del Mundo cigar company in the nineteen thirties. And then that is when they say, according to Minrani, around that period, two legendary models were created, the Sanchos and the Molinos that you were referencing. In Habana business registry, the brand appears under the ownership of Ray del Mundo.
Gizmo:So this is a a brand that is very much aligned in its history and its standing in Cuba with El Rey del Mundo, which is, of course, a market that we love, especially
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:BAM's favorite, the Schwa Supreme. Correct. The Ray del Mundo cigar company was making the super premium brand, El Rey del Mundo at the time, which was, quote, the most expensive cigar in the world. And because of this, Sancho Panza finally began to prosper. And in the nineteen fifties, it was one of the most popular cigar brands in Spain, which might align, chef, with what you were just talking about with the band there.
Gizmo:So they've had an up and down period since then. I I would say now they're in a down period seeing as there's only one Vitola in regular production and another that's kind of in a questionable amount of production in the non plus. But, yeah, I I would hope that just like some of the other lines out there, I hope that they bring this, know, market back to life.
Rooster:There's nobody in Hong Kong smoking Sancho Panzers. No way. So there's no interest in Humboldt to, you know, make Sancho Panzers.
Gizmo:That's correct. So that's the story on Sancho Ponza, boys. You know, I was trying to figure out where the mother factory for Sancho Ponza is. I would assume it's La Corona. I I wasn't able to find where the mother factory is, but I would assume aligning with Diplomaticos, which technically is H.
Gizmo:Upman, but they make most of them out of Corona.
Bam Bam:You don't think this is rolled into provincial ever?
Gizmo:It is this is rolled into provincial, but the mother factory where the blending decisions are made, etcetera, you know, I'm I'm assuming is is happening at La Everything
Rooster:is rolled at La Corona. Yeah. Pretty much. My buddy was just there in Cuba. Yeah.
Rooster:He saw boxes of Cohibas, Mexicas.
Bam Bam:In La Corona? No way.
Rooster:I swear to God. No way. Oh yeah. I swear to God.
Bam Bam:That's not supposed to He
Rooster:saw a lot of Mexicas being rolled out.
Gizmo:That is not supposed to happen. Exactly. It's happening everywhere. Their demand is so much
Bam Bam:they can't keep up. Where's the press release on that?
Senator:You just heard it.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:So I have an interesting news story. I saw this on FOH. Shout out to Rob over there. He put this up. I thought this was fascinating.
Gizmo:The article is from a newspaper called, Watagua Democrat. And the article is, Cuban cigarillo factory is overwhelmed by burning demand overseas. And it says Cuba's sole producer of cigarillos cannot keep up with the exploding demand abroad for the smaller, cheaper, and machine rolled version of the island island nation's much more famous handcrafted cigars. Working at full capacity, the ICT, which is the company that produces these, they produce 800,000 cigarillos a day. Wow.
Gizmo:And it's not enough.
Rooster:What? Who's smoking these?
Senator:Yeah. Really?
Gizmo:Women? Exports have increased tenfold in two decades, and that's despite stricter smoking laws worldwide and, of course, not being able to sell in The US market. ICT sales grew from 25,400,000 cigarillos in 2001 to 200,000,000 last year. What? 200,000,000.
Bam Bam:That is nice upside.
Gizmo:The ICT factory opened in 2001 employs 400 workers producing cigarillos with 64 machines, seven days a week, twenty fourseven.
Chef Ricky:Do you think that's just a result of low Cuban stock in some areas like duty free shops, so people just kind of pick up whatever they see and most of the time that's what you end up finding in these places?
Gizmo:I would think that's what it's from, and I would think that obviously we're comparing this to 2,001, right? We're comparing numbers from them based on this article, but I would assume over the last few years it has to be tied to the cost of Cuban cigars, especially at places like Duty Free, Because if someone's like, bring me some Cuban cigars home, you know, your your mother-in-law, your aunt, your uncle is not gonna be buying a $700 box of D4s. Exactly. They're gonna buy a pack of cigarillos that say, Nevada, Cuba.
Rooster:I doubt a cigar smoker actually smokes cigarillos that much. It has to be an ex cigarette smoker Correct. Would relate more to a cigarillos. Because if you
Pagoda:think about Nat Sherman, Nat Sherman was selling a lot more of their Nat Sherman cigarettes, which were natural. Like they were like tobacco leaves. They were selling most of that. In fact, when, you know, Philip Morris had ended up purchasing Nat Sherman, the reason they'd purchase it was for that business. So I'm sure there's a huge demand for that, you know, globally.
Gizmo:I just thought some of the numbers were pretty incredible. And of course, then they detailed, they had a quote here from twenty four year old worker Rizelle Barbara Fuente who earns 11,200 pesos per month. She says, I love my machine. And they calculated that that 11,200 pesos was $93 a month. Actually, if you use the current conversion rate with US dollars, it's about $30 a month, which is just crazy.
Gizmo:So, yeah, I found that very fascinating. I had no idea that Cuban Cicadillo demand was that high that they're producing hundreds of millions of those each year and actually making quite a profit. Yeah.
Pagoda:I wonder, do they inhale it or do they just smoke like cigars?
Gizmo:That's a good question. It is. A really
Bam Bam:good question. We've all tried those little cigars. I have.
Chef Ricky:I smoke it just like a cigar.
Bam Bam:They're not very satisfying because there's just not enough combustion or production in the smoke. Yep. You do get some nice flavor depending on if you like. I've had Davidoff little cigarillos. They're nice, but very, very quick.
Senator:Guess didn't you get the little Partagas ones when y'all smoked them in the parking lot?
Gizmo:That's right. I did. You know what? The reason why is I was on I Have An is this is quite some time ago. This was, like, during COVID, I think.
Gizmo:And they had, like, a a you know, I think you got, like, 200 of these Partagas cigarillos for, like, $50. Know we did that. Less than that even. I think it was, like We had a lot
Rooster:of time on on our hands.
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Gizmo:So yeah. So I ordered them, and they weren't great. I mean,
Senator:For me, I just remember the filler, like, kept falling out. It was really annoying.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Like, how can you roll a tight tiny little cigar?
Gizmo:Well, it's a machine
Chef Ricky:made process.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's true.
Chef Ricky:And they're not great for the car because the ash has no any any kind of integrity, no structure. So it just kind of flakes off and
Rooster:But Gizmo's got a special ashtray for that.
Gizmo:I do. Yeah. Correct. I love my car ashtray. Alright.
Gizmo:So, boys, I have another one for you. I found this one very interesting as well. You know, we're not a sports podcast, so we're not going down the rabbit hole of sports per se. But Not even this weekend? It was it was announced that Michael Jordan is going to be joining NBC as a special contributor to their upcoming National Basketball Association, the NBA, moving back to NBC next year, and Michael Jordan's gonna be joining them.
Gizmo:So Stephen a Smith was talking about it on his podcast, and I clipped this because I thought it was fascinating that Stephen a Smith was talking about Michael Jordan. So I wanted I wanted to play this for you guys, see what you thought of this.
Bam Bam:Any way you slice it, let me tell you this about Michael Jordan. Obviously, he's somebody that I know, got a lot of love for. I've known him for many years. We we we talk quite often. And clearly, he's a brilliant basketball mind.
Bam Bam:How could you not be being as great as he was? My only suggestion to end would be to NBC. And that would be even though this is not something that you should you would normally take into consideration, I would ask you to do this. Number one, you might wanna let him smoke his cigars.
Bam Bam:Yeah. We Because
Bam Bam:the Michael Jordan smoking a cigar is a little bit different than a Michael Jordan that ain't. The Michael Jordan that smoked those cigars gets very, very relaxed. When he's very, very relaxed,
Chef Ricky:he tends to be
Bam Bam:a bit more outspoken. Correct.
Senator:And that
Bam Bam:dude, trust
Bam Bam:me, y'all. Y'all wanna see that brother on television.
Gizmo:I thought that was a pretty cool clip.
Bam Bam:That's very cool.
Gizmo:Steven A. Smith calling for NBC to allow Michael Jordan
Bam Bam:Well done.
Gizmo:To smoke cigars on the broadcast. And I love what he said. Obviously, he's saying it in a very Steven A. Smith polarizing type of way. Right?
Gizmo:Michael, you know, Stephen A. Smith's a very polarizing guy. But
Chef Ricky:Just like his hairline.
Gizmo:I love that he recognizes when he's with Michael Jordan and Michael's smoking a cigar, he's getting a much more relaxed, open, chill, you know, let's have a great conversation, Michael, than the Michael that's
Pagoda:not sure. I think Stephen Nay needs a cigar.
Gizmo:He loves a cigar, especially when the cowboys
Bam Bam:Yeah. Correct.
Chef Ricky:Especially when
Gizmo:the cowboys lose.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I look forward to hearing Michael Jordan's opinion on during these broadcasts just because, you know, the the constant criticism is like, oh, he played during the time when the NBA was much easier and the pressure wasn't there.
Bam Bam:Easier.
Pagoda:Easier.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. But that's why you hear a lot of the young kids saying.
Bam Bam:Do they have any idea how much physically tougher it was?
Chef Ricky:I agree with you.
Gizmo:Was no load management.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Correct.
Gizmo:He played every game.
Rooster:Yeah. Now they just shoot threes.
Chef Ricky:Played every game. He had teammates that weren't showing up because they were in Vegas and Elbows,
Bam Bam:body checks Yep. Clotheslines, all was part of the game.
Senator:When the kids are saying easier, they mean less competition than there is now.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's yeah. So it's not as a level playing field. Yeah. That makes sense.
Gizmo:So hopefully NBC will listen to Stephen A. Smith and allow Michael Jordan to sit there with his Partagas Lusitanias and
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:His oil double Coronas.
Bam Bam:Wouldn't that be incredible?
Gizmo:Wouldn't that be amazing?
Senator:Yeah. And a glass of tequila.
Chef Ricky:Correct. The hobby needs it. The hobby needs it.
Bam Bam:Oh, you better believe it.
Gizmo:Amen. So boys, let's go to our pairing.
Bam Bam:We
Gizmo:have a very special night ahead of us tonight. This has been prompted kind of through a back and forth, would say, between talking about doing some budget champagne, some stuff that comes in a little cheaper, getting some recommendations, and then kind of that ping pong. Now senator went out, found a bunch of them,
Senator:and has tried a bunch. Correct? And this is the first one tonight that I wouldn't say a bunch, but I think I got very lucky. You know, some listener wrote in, it would be helpful to have some more excessively priced sparkling champagnes, cava, whatever it may be. I've been searching for a very long time to find something that fits in that category.
Senator:I found some decent options. There's one we'll do at another point that I think everyone will like, but this I stumbled upon very recently. It's from France. It's from burgundy, not champagne. But I'm curious to see what everybody thinks.
Senator:I I
Bam Bam:have some questions. Have you had this before? I've had a lot of it. So you know it. I can't let's try it.
Gizmo:Cheers. So how about we tell the people what it is?
Senator:Yeah. Giz, read the Yeah. There you
Chef Ricky:go. Alright.
Bam Bam:Alright. I'm being presumptuous.
Gizmo:Here we go. Oh god. Cava Llorans, Cremant De Bourgon?
Senator:Very close. Burgundy.
Gizmo:No. That's not Burgundy. Come on. Stop it. There's no no.
Gizmo:That's not Burgundy. How do you actually say that in French?
Chef Ricky:Is it bourguignon?
Rooster:Burgignon.
Gizmo:Burgignon. It's it's referring to burgundy. I know it is, but I'm reading what it says. Cremande bourguignon. Bourguignon.
Chef Ricky:Goddamn it. That's better. That's better.
Pagoda:It sounded like It sounded like burger and naan. Bourguignon.
Gizmo:Cremande Bergogne. Bolognese.
Chef Ricky:You might be onto something there.
Senator:Alright. Can we have Pagoda say Cave De La Ronde?
Pagoda:Cave De La
Gizmo:Ronde. Oh.
Bam Bam:Sexy. Here
Gizmo:we go. Alright. Let's try this, boys. Very sultry. A little sparkling wine from France.
Bam Bam:Cheers. Cheers, boys.
Senator:Cheers. Oh,
Gizmo:yes.
Chef Ricky:All I need now, and it's not from Burgundy or Cuba, but I feel like a little piece of Manchego cheese between this cigar and this sparkling wine and I'm in a very lovely place. This is delicious. Absolutely.
Bam Bam:It is very well balanced. Just enough sweetness, but the dry and I love a dry champagne or wine, so for me this hits the spot.
Gizmo:I'll be honest, I'm shocked that it's not champagne.
Bam Bam:It's very sweet.
Gizmo:Like I came into this lead up here saying, let's try the pairing, and I said champagne, and I knew it wasn't champagne.
Bam Bam:We haven't talked price yet, but this is punching above its weight class. It's drinking like a very sophisticated drink.
Gizmo:This is awesome.
Chef Ricky:It's not overly briny.
Bam Bam:Very good.
Chef Ricky:It's a little creamy, little sweet. Yeah. This is great. Yeah. What's the price?
Bam Bam:And dry.
Senator:Alright, so this is the craziest part of this. You will never believe the price point.
Bam Bam:22
Senator:This bottle retails for 20. No way. At bottle king where I bought it, and there are several other sites you can find online at this price, $15.
Bam Bam:Get the hell
Gizmo:out here.
Senator:Way. Swear to God.
Gizmo:This is a $15 bottle? $15. Wow. From Burgundy in France. Listen, man.
Gizmo:You know? I'm in. It's hard to
Bam Bam:I'm all in.
Gizmo:It's hard though to go to some of those champagnes that we've loved on this podcast and spend three, four, five times as much. This is outstanding at that price.
Senator:Okay. I'm thrilled to hear this. Pagoda. I wanna hear Pagoda, actually. He loves champagne.
Bam Bam:I'm looking at his face.
Pagoda:So I have a question for you. How did you discover this?
Senator:I literally so the funny thing is in Bottle King, they've always had a very limited selection of champagne and sparkling, And I noticed my last trip there, all of a sudden, I started seeing bottles I've never seen there before in years, and it was some French sparkling that were not like the big champagne houses, you know, Moed, Pol Roger, Vuve, all the ones that we know. And so I had picked up two one actually from champagne, this one from Burgundy that I had never seen there before. The one from champagne, I hated. We're not gonna even bother doing it. But this bottle, I was blown away at its price point what this delivers.
Senator:So it was just pure chance, and I was thrilled because the hard thing the most frustrating part of me not being able to find something very affordable that drinks like a champagne is when I've been in France, I have found other French sparklings from outside of champagne that have been excellent, that I would I mean, cost like $20. I would so happily serve anyone that comes to my house, but you can't find them here. So this was the first time I walked in Bottle King and actually saw a French sparkling from Burgundy that was excessively priced, and then tried it and said, oh my gosh, this is as good as some of the, you know, accessible stuff I have found in France.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's excellent.
Pagoda:I'm really enjoying it. It's really good. I my first couple of sips were a bit sweeter, but now that my palate's adjusted, I'm feeling it's really balanced now. Really enjoying it. And for the price point, oh, we've got another one competing with I
Gizmo:can't believe this is 15 The
Bam Bam:second bottle's clutch because we're gonna kill that first bottle.
Gizmo:We're definitely gonna kill this That was very smart clutch. Your second bottle. Clutch.
Senator:I've probably already been through 10 bottles of this, no exaggeration, just in the past couple weeks.
Bam Bam:I believe it. Oh, man.
Chef Ricky:I believe it. I was gonna say I might need to buy a refrigerator that matches my tower just for this spark There you go. Because this stuff is delicious. Awesome.
Senator:The thing that shocks me about this, number one, there's a quality about champagne that is unlike any other sparkling. Champagne has a creaminess, like a mousse like quality that no American sparkling, Italian sparkling Cava has. Those have, like, a more have a a more abrupt finish. It's not as, like, silky and creamy and velvety. I couldn't believe the first sip I took when I opened this bottle.
Senator:The first time I tried it, it's very creamy. I mean, you always have to spend at least $50 to have that kind of, like, creamy finish that you get in this. The flavor profile, I couldn't agree more with what everyone has said. It's very balanced. It's a little sweet, but also a little dry.
Senator:I think kinda the the perfect amount on both sides. You can pick out some, like, distinct notes that are in there, which we can talk more about in a little bit. I just for $15, I can't remember the last time I have drank any sparkling that has delivered as refined and enjoyable experience as this does. And for me now, you know, I used to we talked about this on a prior pod, us trying to source smaller format bottles of champagne. Yeah, the half bottle.
Senator:Because there's nothing you feel worse than doing is opening up a $50.60, $70 bottle of champagne. Mhmm. You just want a glass or two, and then you're sitting there, you know, what should I do with the rest? Do I save it? You try to, you know, put a stopper in or something to seal it.
Senator:At this price point, I'm like, forget small bottles. I mean, if I drink half of this and threw the rest out, who cares? It's $15. That's true. A small little mini bottle is $15 of any of the big champagne houses.
Senator:So the the utility of this is tremendous, and it's a bottle that how this drinks, I would be proud to serve anybody that comes over my house. I mean, know, I think everybody knows I'm usually very happy to pop, like, Pol Roger and stuff like that, but this does
Bam Bam:the trick. It does. I could have this with barbecue. I can have this with a meal. I could have this with just a cigar sitting outside on a very warm day.
Bam Bam:It is quite something.
Rooster:Is there a minerality that you get?
Senator:There absolutely is.
Bam Bam:There is. Definitely. Not heavy, though.
Senator:No. Is this? This would pair great with seafood, great with oysters.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Senator:It definitely it has so many champagne like qualities. My only complaint is I wish it had a little bit more body, a little bit more structure Mhmm. But it it can't do that at $15.20 dollars. So, like, I understand the limitations at the price point. Outside of that, I wouldn't change a damn thing about this.
Senator:No.
Bam Bam:No. Very good.
Pagoda:No. But this is fantastic. I'm gonna thank you, senators, all this.
Gizmo:So, boys, we'll go back to this in a second, but first, we're coming to the end of the first third here on the Sancho Panza bellicosos. What's everybody thinking? It's terrible. Good. I have a couple more and I'm taking them home.
Rooster:I want another one. My draw got a little tight and I took a little bit more off and that helped. I don't know if you guys have the same.
Bam Bam:No. This is performing beautifully.
Gizmo:Yeah. Mine's performing great.
Bam Bam:It is a delicious cigar. No No complaints at all.
Gizmo:The retrohale is Outrageous. Outstanding. It's outrageous. Especially when you take a sip of the sparkling wine that we have here. Mean,
Bam Bam:really You know the interesting thing, I don't need to drink a thing with this cigar.
Gizmo:I agree.
Bam Bam:I could smoke it right through, just a bit of water maybe if I needed it, and that's it.
Chef Ricky:But the champagne.
Bam Bam:Oh, so worth There's an enhancement for It
Chef Ricky:does, sorry, the sparkling wine goes
Bam Bam:so well with Yeah,
Gizmo:it pairs perfectly with Correct.
Senator:There's that creaminess in the cigar that, like, the champagne is just the perfect complement to. I'm thrilled with this pairing.
Bam Bam:Great pairing.
Gizmo:The thing too I'll say is, you know, you were saying you wished that it had a little more body, but just in, like, putting the focus on tonight, I'm glad it's sitting where it
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:It sits body wise alongside this cigar because I think this cigar I would say this is right between mild and medium. I don't even know if this is touching medium.
Bam Bam:It's not full medium, no.
Gizmo:You know, so I would say that
Bam Bam:But very flavorful.
Gizmo:Very flavorful, but I'm saying in body. Correct. But pairing with this sparkling wine, think is Also flavorful. Excellent.
Chef Ricky:That's why they pair so well together. There is not like a heavy tug in either direction when you take part in any either whether it's the sparkling wine or the or the cigar. It's kind of really easy to get back into the midpoint with it. Yeah. I'm getting a little caramel on this Like it's become a little bit sweet for me.
Bam Bam:On the cigar?
Chef Ricky:On the cigar itself. Yeah. And it might just be like the coffee and chocolate and everything coming together and maybe not some of the creaminess from the champagne.
Bam Bam:You mean the coffee I'm drinking 20 feet away from you?
Gizmo:Yeah. This is a wonderful pairing tonight.
Senator:Mhmm. And I also wanna say when, you know, people are looking for budget champagnes, right, any sparkling wine made outside of France is not gonna drink really anything like a French champagne. But for, you know, this, they can't call champagne because it's not made there, but any sparkling wine made in France is made in the exact same champagne style that they make it there. And I didn't even know this, so like this says, you know, cremente, the literal translation of that is creamy. And it's meant to refer to this champagne style of winemaking, and that is that characteristic experience that you have only with French sparklings that I can't remember.
Senator:I mean, I think of like, you know, budget sparklings that people drink lots of. A gruette as an American one out of New Mexico. I mean, like, there's nothing at all creamy about that. You know, Shandan Pagoda and I have drank plenty of as an excessively priced sparkling. Very good, but I wouldn't in any way describe as creamy.
Senator:And so, like, that style is what's so unique to the French style of winemaking, and I'm just so thrilled that it holds true outside of champagne where you can find such a great
Pagoda:deal.
Bam Bam:Yeah, I'm getting that creamy experience right at the middle of my tongue. The front is the sweetness for me and the finish is nice and dry. Very elegant.
Chef Ricky:This is the perfect pairing for the season that we're coming into.
Bam Bam:Oh yeah.
Chef Ricky:You know, just like spring heading into summer. It's refreshing. It's it's it's direct and pointed, but just beautifully delivered.
Bam Bam:Wow. Agreed.
Gizmo:I use
Chef Ricky:job center just like, you know what you're doing or something.
Gizmo:I try. I used that word a couple weeks ago. I used this word a couple weeks ago, effortless. Like, to me again, both of these are just like, you know, sitting outside on a beautiful summer morning, like a Saturday morning or something, this cigar
Bam Bam:It brings you peace. Yes. It this this pairing is brings you peace. It's fantastic.
Chef Ricky:I I could we're we're gonna have to do this. I'll do a spring risotto with a little shrimp, little lobster, or langoustine. Some peas? Little peas, maybe some spring asparagus. I like that.
Gizmo:I like that. Uh-huh.
Chef Ricky:It might be too late for ramps, but a cigar and the sparkling wine.
Bam Bam:Back to
Senator:the ramps.
Pagoda:Alright. See you Sunday, chef Ricky. We we we would agree on Monday, but, know, Monday is a busy day for you.
Gizmo:And for us, we record the pod Monday nights.
Senator:Yeah. But how you were saying both these are effortless, they're also so versatile. It's like this cigar, you could literally smoke this in the morning, the afternoon, or the evening. Yeah. This champagne, the or this this sparkling, the exact same thing.
Bam Bam:Right after breakfast.
Senator:This any time of day.
Bam Bam:I think so too.
Senator:And when I say the body thing, like, it is so easy drinking. Like, this cigar is so easy smoking that I mean, you can just put this back in crazy volume.
Gizmo:Yeah. That's the problem. This can get dangerous pretty Yeah.
Bam Bam:Well, I don't know. I need another bottle to test that out.
Gizmo:Let's crack it up. So, boys, let's go to an email now. This is gonna be our lizard of the week. This is from Lizard Allie from Durham, United Kingdom. And I I will say, and and this email represents this, we have gotten an immense amount of email and commentary about trying to find budget sparkling wine, Cava, champagne, etcetera.
Gizmo:You know, the call out, looking for those less expensive bottles like we're talking about tonight. And I wanted to read this email for you guys from Lizard Alley here about this exact topic. He says, hi, lizards. Really enjoying the show, and I'm a weekly listener from Durham in The United Kingdom. I thought I'd send some recommendations through for sparkling wines.
Gizmo:As you mentioned, Cava, on a previous episode, went looking for sparkling wine around $30. And Spanish sparkling wine is certainly a rabbit hole I have been down and I'm still exploring. Being from The UK, I have access to a Spanish distributor, and most of my seller is Spanish as it offers great price to quality ratios and many styles that I love. I love sparkling wine, and most of what I drink is either champagne, corpignat, or cava, the perfect pairing with Cubans in my opinion. Much of the cava we see here in The UK is of low quality and has a terrible reputation, but there are many excellent examples of serious wines that offer a great drinking experience, which in my opinion rival champagnes, as we're experiencing tonight here, boys, albeit in a different way.
Gizmo:Many of the best of these are classified as Corpinat. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly. I'm so sorry, Lizard Allie and the other people out there who are cringing as I say that.
Bam Bam:And us in the room.
Gizmo:C o r p I n a t t, Corpinat. Corpinat. It's a designation of origin to distinguish sparkling wines from the Pernetes region of Catalonia. There are very strict rules. They must be made in this territory.
Gizmo:They are all produced via the traditional method. 90% must be indigenous grapes. Oh god. The most common are zarolo, and he puts in parentheses. I can't wait for Gizmo to try and pronounce that.
Gizmo:Maccabello, Parallada, and Malvasia. I'm so sorry. This is horrible. The aging rules are stricter. All wines must spend at least eighteen months on Lee's, and wineries must make at least one wine which is over thirty months old and another over sixty months old, five years.
Gizmo:My favorites are the Grand Reservoirs, which are aged longer and some have a nutty oxidative style of old vintage champagne without the same price tag. My favorite producers are Grimona. He just did this, dude. Recoretto, Lopart, and others according to Rello, Mascondi, Julia Burnett, and Confectes. Oh my god.
Chef Ricky:Well, we know who's not winning lizard of the week.
Gizmo:Not me. Some of my other favorite producers outside the Corpanaut designation in Spain include Mestris, Juve Ecamps, Cellar Crypta, Raventos Eblanc, and Mastinol. I I I'm trying, man. There are also some great valet cavos from Roger Goulart if you can get those. We were recently served one in a Michelin starred restaurant in Spain, and I was blown away when I saw the bottle.
Gizmo:It was available for around $20 US. It tasted like a great champagne. This all depends on what bottles you guys have available. Of course, feel free to reach out if you need a recommendation on a particular bottle. I'd be very interested to see what you guys think of some of these wines.
Gizmo:Thanks very much. Lizard Alley. What a great email. Great email. I love email deep dives like this.
Gizmo:This is why Lizard Alley is our lizard of the week this week because an email like this now I can't pronounce it, but I can send this to senator and and and chef to start sourcing some of these things for us to try to taste some of this stuff and get it on the pod. So that is why Lizard Alley is our lizard of the week is because this email is super helpful, and we really, really appreciate the deep dive that listeners do for us. So many listeners have done it. Listeners do it every single week, and we are very, very grateful. So thank you to Lizard Alley, our lizard of the week.
Gizmo:Anyone out there can win lizard of the week. We're gonna send him a little care package from us. We give that away every week. All you have to do is write us, send us an email, a comment, whatever you choose, and you can also win lizard of the week like Lizard Allie and so many others have. So I will send that to you guys and you can have fun trying to source those things and pronounce those names because I just butchered that entire email.
Bam Bam:That's okay. I'm sorry about that.
Senator:No. Super helpful email. I mean, seriously, kava as a category I mean, fifteen years ago, no one was drinking kava, period. Right? It's like it all it takes is a small catalyst for people to start pursuing a champagne like experience at a more affordable price point.
Senator:And, you know, some of the larger names in Kava were luckily able to market enough that they created serious demand for those brands, and it's opened the door for a lot of other smaller producers. And I hope more this happens. I mean, champagne is famous for a very good reason, but there's excellent sparkling wine that's made in that same country that just doesn't really see the light of day. I can't how many years have we all been shopping in liquor stores and wine shops in this area? This is the first time I've seen a sparkling wine from Burgundy.
Senator:In Bottle King, that sells like everything. So I think the demand is growing for this kind of stuff, and I hope that people keep consuming it so that there's a whole lot more of it out there, but I'm really excited to try some of those recommendations and see what we're able to source around here.
Bam Bam:I wish they increased the production on this cigar.
Gizmo:Yeah. This is a hard cigar to find, Bam. And like I said, we're going to talk about that. But this was a real challenge. They do not make a lot of them.
Gizmo:You know, the aficionados try to vacuum them up as quickly as they can. But I can't tell you the last time I saw these anywhere listed en masse.
Bam Bam:I can't tell you how delicious this is. I'm really, really enjoying this cigar. I'm getting a little banana on my profile, just a touch of banana.
Chef Ricky:I was just going to say, coming into the second, third here, I have a little fruit trying come through.
Bam Bam:But a little tapioca and banana for me is really, really right there for me.
Chef Ricky:I'm getting a little mango. A little mango here. Yeah. That's very specific
Bam Bam:and strong. I'm not
Rooster:getting guava.
Chef Ricky:It's not more specific than tapioca. You're out. What the hell?
Pagoda:Well, I'm glad we're drinking grape.
Bam Bam:Excellent. Excellent cigar, guys.
Gizmo:Wow. So, boys, let's go to another listener email now. This one's from Lizard John from Boise. He writes us all the time. Always a great email and a great question.
Gizmo:Says, hi, Giz. I've got a relatively basic question for the wizards this week, but one that has nagged at me for a while now. Cigar smokers tend to nurture and take great pride in their size of their hem, ash, I e the longer the better. I've never understood why this is apparently an important quality in a cigar. Personally, I ash my cigars on a regular basis so as to avoid the almost inevitable and untimely drop on the lap.
Gizmo:Pagoda, do you wanna talk about that before I continue the email here?
Pagoda:Talk about what?
Bam Bam:By the
Gizmo:way He's not even paying attention.
Bam Bam:Hold on. You've gotta be there's not a single drop of ash. Maybe one I can see on his belly.
Pagoda:By the way, was trying to focus on retro hair like I don't know. My brain just got fried.
Bam Bam:The kid's clean tonight.
Gizmo:He says, but maybe I'm missing something. Is there any real utility in letting your ash grow as long as it possibly can? As always, my very best wishes to you and the boys. Cheers. Lizard John from Boise.
Rooster:I think the cigar, it's easier for a cigar to hold on to ash because of the shape. If it's a pyramid, bigger the ring gauge, the longer the ash is going to hold on. And also if it's not that loosely rolled, it's going to hold on. But I think the cigar actually smokes a bit cooler if the ash is holding on.
Bam Bam:I agree.
Senator:I completely agree
Bam Bam:with you, Richard. I do too. I also like to I don't want overly extended ash, but I want to see it. It gives me a sense of how the cigar was made. If it's holding on in their structure, know I'm smoking a quality cigar.
Rooster:Right. It's matter to the construction of the cigar.
Bam Bam:Exactly. And visually it matters.
Senator:It is, but Rooster's point about a burning cooler, I think is the most important one.
Bam Bam:I agree.
Senator:I don't think it is just aesthetic why people ought to do that or enjoy doing it. No. Some of the best smoking experiences I have are when the ash is holding on for a while
Gizmo:Mhmm.
Senator:And the cigar is burning cooler, and the flavor is, like, so concentrated Yep. And just perfect and not, you know, charred or too hot that you can get sometimes. I I think there's a lot of merit to trying
Chef Ricky:to do it. I'm just curious if Lizard John was a cigarette smoker prior. I feel like sometimes constantly ashing is a habit from, you know, leftover from smoking cigarettes. But yeah, I think, you know, if you're getting a four inch cigar length, that's a little crazy.
Bam Bam:That's too much.
Chef Ricky:But I think, you know, solid half inch to an inch of a constant ash is good for the cigar. It's good for the experience.
Gizmo:I'll go I'll say this. I mean, let's look at it from the opposite perspective. A cigar that the ash doesn't hold at all and it falls off like a cigarette, that is an incredibly frustrating smoking experience. When you are every two or three minutes, five minutes, the ash is flaking off and falling apart and getting in all of your clothes, that's a major demerit for me Yeah. In my perception of the value of that cigar, you know?
Bam Bam:But am I wrong in saying that most of the cigars that we like actually produce ash that's fairly structural? Yeah, And most of the cigars that we give a low rating usually have a very low structured ash.
Gizmo:I think there's one standout.
Bam Bam:There's some correlation there.
Gizmo:There's one standout for me that we rated very, very well that I
Bam Bam:think New World or Cuban?
Gizmo:New World. That I think is a very challenging cigar ash wise and combustion wise that we rated very highly. But the Eliva v Lancero is one that that
Rooster:has That's the size
Bam Bam:of the
Gizmo:cigar. No. Very No. But it's a great point. That's what it is, chef, is that they're underfilled.
Senator:Lancero. They're underfilled. In rooster's defense, it is both. It's not just one. Correct.
Senator:Every there is not one Lancero that holds a significant amount of ash. There you you're lucky to get an inch. That's usually about it. But that cigar agreed because it's Lucy Pack exacerbates the challenge that already exists to the point that, like, it's constantly you're fighting.
Gizmo:I think most Lancero's that I smoke or that we smoke Uh-huh. I remain in control of
Rooster:the ash.
Gizmo:I think the Aleva V is the one that I do not have control
Bam Bam:of. So the my father Lancero, that's got some decent structure on it. And also the other blue label, I can't
Chef Ricky:Don Pepe. Don Pepe.
Bam Bam:Don Pepe, which is actually they're all smoking beautifully now. That ash holds on pretty well, I have to say.
Senator:I'm just saying with the Lancero, you're not gonna consistently be able to hold two inches of ash in a way that you can on a
Bam Bam:Robusto or Toro. In general, that's correct. Oh, millennium that holds a ash. Good half inch.
Senator:Not two inches. I just smoked one the other night.
Bam Bam:I wouldn't do a two inch ash on any cigar. Chef said, I think a half inch to an inch, you get a sense of the cigar and you flick it in your ashtray.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, but there's something to be said about just kind of being able to sit back and smoke your cigar and enjoy it. If you're constantly worried about it for your ashtray or worried about your clothing or the furniture.
Bam Bam:Pagoda, I'm so proud of you, Look at you. You look pristine tonight.
Pagoda:One of the options of ash is you can just leave it on your belly.
Rooster:You know, a cigar that really holds its ash, it's the shark. Yeah, shark. Yeah, the Don Carlos. That's one cigar that will
Chef Ricky:Oh yeah.
Senator:That cigar, it's an outlier if you can't smoke it all the way down without ashing. Like that's how crazy the construction is
Chef Ricky:on that.
Bam Bam:Wouldn't you say the eightieth?
Gizmo:Yeah, Padron Eightieth
Bam Bam:is another That's another one, right?
Chef Ricky:Or the sixtieth. Padron sixtieth held on the ashram. Yeah. That's true.
Gizmo:Yeah. You know the one I I had the other night, Senator gave me That's right. Was the h Upman Anajados
Bam Bam:Oh, the Cabusto.
Gizmo:Oh, that's a That one holds on. Like, you could smoke the entire cigar without ashram.
Bam Bam:Beautifully made cigar.
Senator:That's gotta be the only Cuban cigar that I have ever multiple times been able to smoke all the way to the end without ashing a single time.
Bam Bam:Yeah. That's a good point.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's go to a news story now. This one we've talked about before and and and another big change in the status here on Cohiba versus Cohiba. So General Cigars has been suing Habanos, and Habanos have been suing General Cigars for about thirty years now. And according to CigarFish
Bam Bam:legal fees there.
Gizmo:The legal battle for Cohiba has been going on for thirty years, and the judgment has now gone in favor of the Cubans again. The most recent ruling is a result of a suit filed in February 2023. General sought to reverse a decision made by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in 2022, which again ruled to cancel General's Cohiba trademark registration in The United States. And again, last month, General lost the case again. So, of course, General sells many as we've called them and a lot of folks call them red dot Cohibas, in The United States where you look at if you look at the Cohiba brand, you could see the red dot in the o of Cohiba.
Gizmo:And I guess, originally, Cuba Tobacco challenged the legality of The US trademark in first time in January of nineteen ninety seven. So it's been in litigation ever since. Pretty crazy because what I don't understand about this, unlike some of the others and listen. Do I love that there's a Partagas and an H. Shuppman and a Romeo Y Juliet and a Monte Cristo in the new world space?
Gizmo:No. But the argument has always been that those were trademarks that were taken in the revolution from Cuban proprietors who were entrepreneurs. The thing about Cohiba specifically for me and my perspective, and I'm curious what you guys think, is it was founded in 1966, almost a decade after you know, six, seven years after the revolution. It was never a part of that same conversation. So I don't understand how they ever were able to sell Cohiba outside of of of what Cuba tobacco does worldwide here in The United States.
Gizmo:I don't know why they've been able to do it, but they have. But it seems like that might be a challenge again. I'm sure this is gonna continue on forever. But, you know, right now, it looks like it's on the side of Habanos and Tabakuba.
Senator:I think there's obviously legitimacy to their argument. Right? I mean, we know the origin of all of these brands, and it is in Cuba. I mean, there's no question about it. I've always found it strange that there exists the exact same brand just made in another country, and even the artwork of the bands, like in many ways, tries to mimic it.
Senator:You look at a New World Monte Cristo band, it looks almost identical to a Cuban Monte Cristo band, which I think is problematic, can create confusion. I mean, are all, like, legal criteria for there to be infringement. So there's no question that they have a legitimate legal argument. You know, the hard part of it is like, you know, I'm not sure how much interest or sympathy there is for Habanos S. A.
Senator:Or the Cuban government when it relates to, you know, almost anything right now. So I'm curious to see where it goes.
Bam Bam:I feel like the case can be made for Cohiba. But as you mentioned earlier, if there are families that actually created the marcus and they were forcibly left,
Gizmo:That's a different for me, that's a different conversation.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I mean, that's part of their brand that they created, and I think they have every right to create that brand elsewhere in the world if they were forced out of their country. Cohiba's different, though.
Gizmo:I agree.
Senator:But when you say they create that brand elsewhere, I mean those families aren't creating those brands in Doctor or other countries outside of Cuba.
Bam Bam:Well, brought the name back.
Senator:These are big conglomerates, cigar conglomerates, that have taken basically that intellectual property and monetized it for themselves.
Bam Bam:This is true.
Gizmo:Good point.
Bam Bam:That's also another good point.
Rooster:Yeah. And Habanos owns the names, owns the cigar factories, owns the brands. There's not one person that owns a single brand.
Bam Bam:And there's no lineage of family, I guess, that owned that company or ran it prior to the revolution that were forced out that continued to make these brands outside of Cuba?
Gizmo:I don't think so.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Chef Ricky:So
Bam Bam:then
Chef Ricky:maybe the
Gizmo:argument can be made. I'm not sure.
Bam Bam:But it's Maybe there's an argument
Gizmo:there for all. Odd to me that why not just come up with something new? I don't understand creating the market confusion, as senator said. But
Senator:No. I mean, I get why these companies have obviously done it. I mean, no one would pick up some of these cigars if they didn't say Cohiba on them. If you don't know much about cigars and you see Cohiba in a retailer
Bam Bam:Correct.
Senator:You're very primed to buy that thinking that you're smoking a Cohiba, and I'm sure later Yep. In your smoking journey, you realize, oh, wow. That wasn't a real Cuban Cohiba.
Rooster:Yeah. Like the Monte Cristo Robusto.
Senator:Oh, yeah. That was great.
Chef Ricky:Truquillo. We'll just say for
Senator:the listener, I won't name in this.
Chef Ricky:I won't
Gizmo:name names. Please don't.
Bam Bam:Truquillo. Truquillo.
Senator:I I get to the lounge uncharacteristically early for a recording, and I'm sitting there and someone enters who is holding a yellow Monte Cristo dress box in their hand, and they say, senator, take a look at this box. Is this real? And I look at the box, and the first thing I look at is what cigar this is supposed to be a box for. And it says I see the the Cuban, you know, stamp, and obviously, I know it's meant to be a Cuban cigar. But you look on the side and it says, Monte Cristo 25 Robustos.
Senator:Oh. And I'm sitting there. There is no Monte Cristo Robustos.
Gizmo:It's a new production.
Rooster:It's a new Vitola.
Chef Ricky:You're like
Rooster:twenty twenty four swords.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Senator:It's ridiculous. So never mind that, like, the stamp on the bottom was obviously off. Like, there there's a thousand other tells, but to choose a cigar that doesn't even exist is, like, gotta be the worst fake of all time.
Rooster:No. These are real.
Gizmo:Oh, that's what we were going through. Yeah. To the point that they senator and and this person came in here to get a second opinion from me. I'm like, I don't know why they wouldn't believe him in the first place.
Senator:But Yeah. He's like, no. No. It can't be. The guy told me that they're real.
Senator:He wanted me to auction this box off. He's like, we gotta ask Gizmo. We gotta talk to someone. I said, he's gonna tell you the exact same thing. Gizmo looks at the box.
Senator:They're fake.
Rooster:I mean, it's a really bad counterfeiting job.
Chef Ricky:Right? Oh,
Rooster:wow. You can come out with something that doesn't even exist.
Bam Bam:Right. Correct.
Rooster:To create your own size. But I spent a
Bam Bam:lot of money.
Senator:Just pick any name that exists in the catalog if you're gonna try and counterfeit it.
Gizmo:Mhmm. Alright, boys. Let's go to another listener email. Now this one's from Lizard Blake. He says, hey, Lizards.
Gizmo:How's it going? The last pod I listened to was the Baquique 58 episode. My first question stemmed from that and the talk about where to purchase Cubans. By the way, this is setting up the next few questions for us in a big discussion we're gonna have tonight here about Cubans and where to purchase them. Do you guys ever purchase from FOH on the 2424 thread?
Gizmo:Second and main question for you boys is do you guys set aside a monthly budget you can spend on cigars? My fiance and I just got a place together and are getting married in October. She was gracious enough to be cool with me buying the big humidor I've been wanting. However, going forward, I obviously wanna fill it up.
Bam Bam:Mistake number one.
Bam Bam:I'm sure in a
Bam Bam:long list of mistakes. Let's go.
Gizmo:But also stay within our means and not piss her off. How do you guys go about all that? That's a big question.
Bam Bam:Oh, that's easy.
Gizmo:Thanks, Boise. He says, p s, how long did you dry box the Bajique fifty eights before you smoked them? LOL. Obviously, referencing that I think three or four of you guys asked me that question in that episode. How long we dry boxed them?
Gizmo:So we had a couple listener emails laughing about that. So let's start with, have any of us ever purchased from the FOH twenty four twenty four thread? Absolutely for me. I've purchased a lot of stuff there. I've did a lot of filling of my tower from 2424.
Senator:Sorry. Speaking of filling things, towers.
Gizmo:Yes. There's a
Senator:lot of empty glasses.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Senator:And this is the beauty Garcin. Of an affordably priced French sparkling. We have another bottle.
Rooster:I mean, think about this. On split wise, it's gonna be $3. If
Pagoda:it includes you even cheaper.
Bam Bam:Very true.
Gizmo:So while senator's pouring, has anybody else purchased on FOH on 2424? I know I did a lot of buying for the group.
Bam Bam:You helped me buy a bunch.
Gizmo:Yeah. I bought I bought a bunch for you.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I
Rooster:don't have I don't have the patience for that site.
Gizmo:I'm sorry.
Senator:No, ma'am. 2424 is now where they sell cigars.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Senator:It's only where you buy.
Bam Bam:That's he helped okay.
Gizmo:Alright. Oh, no. That was Bon Roberts. You're talking about Bon Roberts.
Bam Bam:Alright.
Gizmo:2424 is great. It's a little difficult to navigate. It pops up at a certain time, and that's on purpose. But everything they have goes up and comes right down, and and obviously, it's not a gray market site. So FOH is, of course, one of the best out there for getting legitimate Cuban cigars.
Gizmo:Let's go into the bigger question here. This is a this is a tough one. So how do you how do you navigate filling up your brand new tower? You're getting married in October, and you're trying not to piss off your fiance.
Chef Ricky:It's all about budget. No.
Pagoda:No. This is the time you do it before you get married, buddy.
Bam Bam:I'm sorry.
Pagoda:Do it
Bam Bam:now. Do it now. It has nothing to do with the money, the budget, how much everything costs because it's gonna be expensive. Put a few budgets
Chef Ricky:for it, there's not a I'm
Bam Bam:lucky in that Mrs. Bam Bam doesn't listen to this podcast very often.
Chef Ricky:Or have access to your other two Venmo accounts.
Bam Bam:That's also correct. Because I will never ever tell my wife how much my cigar collection costs, how much the tower costs. It's not something I do.
Chef Ricky:Well, my wife knows how much my tower cost. I never really tell her when there's new cigars coming, but I'm sure every time she walks down there, sees another something happening. It doesn't say much. But, yeah, I think if you just budget for it, set a line item aside, and you'll you'll be fine.
Gizmo:Well, I think, you know, I think it's a matter also of means and discipline. Right? If you have the means that you don't need to budget, so be it. If if you don't have the means or in in lizard Blake's place, he's getting married later this year. That's obviously an expensive prospect.
Bam Bam:And then
Gizmo:a lot of things kind of the dominoes start to fall once you get married in spending. Oh, yeah.
Bam Bam:A lot
Gizmo:of things happen there. So you do have to be disciplined about it. Sure. So I think that's an individual decision. Where are you at in your life, and what are spending
Bam Bam:being little facetious in my comments, but
Pagoda:Yeah. But in the wedding registry, make sure that you get cigars on.
Senator:Good call. I'm Depending
Bam Bam:on who the guests are.
Senator:Forget where you are in life. There's one thing that anyone needs to know when they need to explain how much they're spending on cigars. They only get more expensive. So what that person pays now is definitely going to be cheaper than what they're gonna pay years from now if they were to wait patiently to slowly fill that. I think that's easily the best argument that anybody has when they're filling up a tower.
Rooster:And it's also hard to budget because you don't know when those boxes are gonna pop up if you're looking for a special box. The way the inventory is, you have no idea when you're to see them. So if you like something, get it when you see it.
Bam Bam:Yeah. And I'm making an assumption that this is partly a question of how to break it to your spouse that you're buying expensive cigars. I don't think that's it. But when something comes up and you need it, you're going to get it. It's that simple.
Bam Bam:I mean,
Gizmo:it's I also think though before you get married and it's just like if we want to parallel this to someone who is a golf player and spends a lot of money on golf each year, you gotta be having this conversation before you get married because, you know, you can't be throwing surprises at this person after the fact and that's what's gonna piss them off. Like, if you're already in the zone here, you gotta you gotta make it known now.
Senator:We're missing the biggest point here. I can't believe no one has said this, myself included.
Bam Bam:Did you just have an epiphany?
Gizmo:A huge one. He's squinting.
Senator:A huge one. They're not married yet. Yes. Buy it all at separate properties still.
Pagoda:No. But that's what I said. Buy it now.
Gizmo:But maybe they're living together. I don't know.
Senator:Who cares? It's separate property.
Pagoda:It's separate property.
Senator:Once he's married, then it's it's his wife's yeah.
Rooster:Mean, does your wife tell you when she goes and buys, like, a couple hundred dollars worth of, like, a pair of shoes or jewelry?
Chef Ricky:I know everything. Yes.
Rooster:I have no idea.
Gizmo:I don't know anything.
Bam Bam:I know it all.
Rooster:They spend what they want when
Bam Bam:they use it as leverage.
Senator:Pam thinks he
Chef Ricky:knows everything. Exactly.
Senator:There's an entire other closet full of shoes.
Bam Bam:I'd like to think
Chef Ricky:I know.
Gizmo:That's why the grocery bill is so high. Hey. Yeah. I mean, listen. I think you just gotta be disciplined and and you gotta work within your means, and you gotta be straightforward about the fact that this this hobby and this lifestyle is good for you.
Gizmo:You're gonna come home after having a cigar, a better fiance, a better husband. That's the argument and it's the truth. Yeah. This is this is a stress relief. Esteem blows off steam.
Gizmo:You have a good community of like minded human beings if you're lucky enough to be able to find them, you know, or sit down with us in your garage every every week and and have a cigar with us and blow off some steam and and have a few laughs, and that's what it's all about.
Bam Bam:All that's very important, and I see guys here in the club that hesitate, that don't buy the cigars that they want. They're very budget conscious knowing that they have the means to buy those cigars. Not everyone does. I don't have pity for those guys. Those guys, they hesitate and they don't build the collections that they want for one reason or another, and I can't explain it.
Bam Bam:If you have the means, or even if you don't have the means, like you said, budget it, stagger your purchases, but there are cigar boxes that you have to have in your tower, hands down.
Rooster:And there are plenty of bargains out there. Mean, just look at our ratings. A lot of cigars we have done, it's gotten $8 9 dollars 10 dollars as the rating goes. And they're sub-ten dollars
Senator:That's right.
Gizmo:Stock up on those.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. And I think if you're in this hobby, chances are you have someone you enjoy smoking with or a few guys you enjoy smoking Do a few split box purchases.
Bam Bam:That's great. That's how we started. Yeah.
Chef Ricky:It's a great way to try different cigars without blowing the budget or blowing your bank or whatever. And it's easy to ease into it. And also now on this pod, we're doing so many new worlds. And we're lucky enough to have all the Fab Five line of cigars, Fabrica Five line of cigars that are presenting Cuban flavors without the Cuban price point.
Bam Bam:And all the incredible new worlds that
Chef Ricky:we've had. Yeah. So I mean, there's options out there and there's ways to do this without hurting your
Gizmo:own issues.
Rooster:Buying a house.
Gizmo:Right? He hasn't said anything about buying a house, but I'm assuming that's coming moving into it. It's coming up. It's coming up.
Senator:It's it's tough. In all seriousness, no. I mean, Gizmo's point, I think, is is the most important one. It's true. Like It's true.
Senator:This person is doing this because it's something that they're passionate about, something that they enjoy, something that brings them relaxation. Like, any partner in, you know, any relationship, whether you're married or not, ought to want for that other person to, you know, do things that fulfill them, that make them happy, that make them a better person. And so, you know, I can't see why if this person, you know, enjoys this, any soon to be spouse wouldn't want for that person, them to be happy and and, you know, the ability to be their best self and
Pagoda:It's an investment, you know? Yeah. Financial, you know, values of certain cigars have gone up. Socially, you're gonna meet a lot of interesting people. Mental health wise, you're really gonna be able to really take your time.
Pagoda:We call them, you know, whatever, therapy sessions often. It's just an investment.
Bam Bam:All very Let
Pagoda:your future wife know, I'm investing in me and us. Us. And us.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:Well said, Pagoda. Yeah. I like that.
Bam Bam:I was probably a bit of a jerk earlier with my comments, but No.
Pagoda:As always.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Yeah.
Bam Bam:I don't deny it.
Gizmo:No. Listen. I know you're being facetious, but at
Bam Bam:the end
Gizmo:of the day, you've had a longstanding understanding with your wife about your cigar habit, and you do what you need to do.
Bam Bam:And she's not a dummy. She knows what things cost. But, you know, buying now the flip side of all this is buying a 6 or $700 box of Cuban cigars for a lot of people. That's a lot of money. That's lot of money.
Bam Bam:It's
Gizmo:a lot of money.
Bam Bam:You know? Think about that.
Senator:Yeah. I mean, none of us are advocating go spend $2,000 on boxes of Cuban cigars or anything like that, to be clear.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Gizmo:Correct. And I I think the other thing I'll say too is if you have a fiance who hates that you smoke cigars, really doesn't like it, pushes back every time you go, you wanna figure that out before you put the ring on your finger. Because after that, I mean, it's gonna be very, very hard. And then, you know, you're gonna there's gonna be resentment. If you don't handle it early and you wait till later to handle something like that, it's going to create resentment.
Gizmo:We've seen a lot of guys go through this. All of us have. Yeah. In just even a few short years. Rooster a lot longer.
Gizmo:You know, it can be a really difficult thing if you are not on the same page with your partner about, you know, smoking habits. Poor rooster can't catch a break tonight.
Chef Ricky:Rooster, you look amazing for your age. You look amazing for your age.
Bam Bam:He's being fascist.
Gizmo:So thanks to lizard Blake for that question. And boys, we're coming into the final third now on the Sancho Panza bellicosos and our sparkling wine pairing. Haven't figured out how to pronounce yet, but I'll get there. What's everybody thinking?
Chef Ricky:Lovely. I think it's picked up a little bit in flavor and maybe just a tad bit in strength. But it's been it's been consistent throughout. It's been creamy and chocolatey and
Bam Bam:no rough edges at all.
Chef Ricky:Notes. You know, it's been it's been it's been a great experience.
Senator:I agree with that. I would say it I do think it has picked up a little bit in body in the final third, which is nice. Like, this is starting to try to touch medium in a way that I think the first two thirds didn't really at all. So I like it. I'm I'm very happy with this cigar.
Bam Bam:I think it's an excellent cigar.
Pagoda:Yeah. No. Absolutely. Absolutely excellent. I think, you know, with the champagne, what was really interesting, it really kind of, I guess, intensified some of the flavors for me.
Pagoda:Like could, you know, after, like it was cleansing the palate and then I was smoking it again. And it's been very, very good. I think the pairing has been fantastic as well.
Rooster:I would say the smoke is also kind of velvety.
Gizmo:Oh yeah, very good. Kind of does poach your mouth.
Bam Bam:Agree that.
Chef Ricky:Oh, especially with the champagne. And you know, to your point Pagoda, there's something that champagne brings to the table that some other pairings don't in that it is a great palate cleanser. The effervescence of it, it just clears your palate and makes all those flavors come together in a really intense fashion.
Bam Bam:Back to what Rooster said though, the experience of coating that flavor profile that you get, you don't get that in many cigars.
Rooster:No. It really lingers for a while.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's a special experience when you get to go through that.
Gizmo:How do you guys think, and I wanted to wait till this point to ask it because I've had moments of it as we've gone through, but how do you think the five and a half years of age has affected this smoking experience? I know Senator and I have had these cigars before, but
Bam Bam:Only you two can comment on that.
Gizmo:But I'm also, what I'm tasting here, Bam, is a very refined, mature, you know, complex smoke. Very. You know, this, I don't think you're gonna get something like this on a very fresh cigar, even, you know, obviously down into the last third. We've been very lucky. We've been very lucky.
Bam Bam:Yeah. We've had a few cigars where we've had very young Cubans, maybe two in our entire time. I don't remember what they were that we've had this experience, but not many.
Gizmo:Because it has that kind of aged flavor to it as you're coming down. There's a little I wanna use the word mustiness to the tobacco in a very good
Bam Bam:way. Maybe a very, very faint touch of barnyard type thing that I love. I love that profile. Yeah. For me, what I've
Chef Ricky:come to notice in aged cigars, the minerality becomes kind of dewy. Kind of a I guess it's kind of a touch
Senator:on the
Bam Bam:kind
Bam Bam:of
Senator:Dewy
Bam Bam:and muddy. Yeah.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. So it's been Yeah, I would guess that's what it's brought to the table. A lot of balance maybe, just kind of bringing a very consistent flavor throughout the entire experience.
Gizmo:Interesting. Alright, boys. So I I have a question for you that's gonna tee up a larger discussion, and I want to involve the listeners in this. But first, my question, I saw this on FOH the other day, and I thought this actually teed up this discussion very well. I'm curious, and and one of the guys on FOH who's awesome, John s, put up a question asking the FOH members, what percentage of your current inventory is Cuban and what percentage is non Cuban cigars?
Gizmo:And I'm curious for you guys, percentage wise, what you think your collection is sitting at right now, Cuban versus non Cuban. And let's compare that even to just a few years ago because I know the way that mine has trended. A great question.
Chef Ricky:I go first with this. I'm at 3% Cuban.
Bam Bam:You're building, dude. You're building.
Gizmo:No. You know what, though?
Bam Bam:We're with you, man.
Gizmo:No. We got you. We laugh, but the truth is that I think your situation and your percentage is probably most closest most closely aligned with a lot of our listeners out there. Probably. Know, who only have a few Cubans in there and and most of their collection is New World.
Gizmo:Obviously, we got into the game, you know, quite some time ago before the crazy price increases, but, you know, I think yours is very indicative of of the folks who are are listening to us, a lot of them.
Chef Ricky:It's funny. Two years ago, my collection was a lot smaller. So my percentage of Cubans and new worlds were was much higher, especially because back then Cubans were a lot cheaper, at least, you know, not as cheap as what you guys got them five years ago. But, you know, when I first met you guys is when I kind of started stocking up or exploring the Cuban world. But I've since smoked through a lot of those and I haven't really done a great job in replenishing that stock.
Chef Ricky:Because we kind of shifted towards new worlds and every time we find a new world we enjoy a buy a box.
Bam Bam:But it's also as difficult to source now.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, that
Bam Bam:too. Much more difficult. Platforms are canceling their shipping to The US. That's not easy. Yeah.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:So I I would say for me, my tower is probably 75 to 80% Cuban and 20 to 25% New World at this point. I think that has trended quite a bit in the non Cuban Oh, yeah. Direction. It was probably 85, 15, or ninety ten just two to three years ago, but certainly has gone down quite a bit. I've sold a lot of stuff.
Gizmo:I've gotten rid of a lot of the things that weren't ringing my bell, and I've replaced that with a lot of the new worlds that we've loved. I've got a lot of new worlds in there. I look today. I have, like, you know, four bundles of of Trinity Robusto from Fabrica five. I have five boxes of Aladino, Elagantes.
Gizmo:I have so many Padrons in there now, and I the way I used to buy New Worlds was I would just wait till I had maybe one backup box, and I'd buy another one or two. I never really load it up like I do now, but That's a mistake. Age well. A %. But it's just it's and I the reason why I've changed my habits is because of those kind of discussions and smoking those Oh, dude.
Gizmo:Those cigars that have sat, you know, in your tower. But that's where I'm at right now. It's probably 75, 20 five.
Bam Bam:Almost avoid smoking my padrons just to keep them in there for as long as possible. Like, I've got a lot of old padrons, and I can't wait to try.
Senator:You should smoke them. It just means you need to buy more so that Yeah. You have so many reserve that you're not touching them. Exactly.
Bam Bam:And they're so available.
Senator:I'll say for me, I'm $60.40 Cuban New World. I
Gizmo:I'm shocked. I thought it was gonna be higher on the Cuban side.
Senator:No. I don't I mean, I could be wrong. This
Chef Ricky:is mister Esclusivo right here.
Gizmo:I know that. Yeah.
Senator:Yeah. I I just I mean, outside of my tower, I have, like, a big, you know, Tupperware with Cubans, a big Tupperware with New Worlds, and then and so that's fifty fifty. And then in my tower
Bam Bam:Is all is all Cuban?
Senator:Not all, no. I would say I mean, think of how many New Worlds we've done in the last couple of years that we regularly smoke now. I I'd say in the tower, maybe seventy thirty, 60 40, something like I mean, it leans Cuban, but like of new world stuff that I'm smoking all the time that is in my tower because I'm just regularly pulling. I mean, the aging room, the Sonata, the Petrone Exclusivo, Adreno eightieth, the Aladino Classic Elegante, the Aladino Cameroon Robusto, the stoic. There's so many new worlds that we recently discovered.
Senator:So that just resulted in a lot of box purchases of that stuff that has definitely, I think, changed kind of that balance that I think historically was more like 7030, '70 '5 '20 '5, but now it's probably like 6040.
Pagoda:Don't worry, senator. We'll come and audit.
Gizmo:Pagoda, what's your tower like these days?
Pagoda:My tower? I would say 30% Cuban. It was about 10%. But I've been smoking a lot of the New World's town, and I haven't been buying a lot of cigars. So this year, think I bought the least amount of boxes.
Pagoda:It's been ridiculous. So I think as a result, the percentage of Cubans is increasing, but I'm closer to Ricky than you guys.
Gizmo:Sure. Bam.
Bam Bam:I'll give you the physical description of what I have,
Bam Bam:and then you tell me what the percentage Here we go.
Senator:This is teeing up in
Gizmo:regular accounting All
Chef Ricky:of a sudden the math expert.
Bam Bam:Guys know exactly what I have. I'm not hiding anything.
Pagoda:Listen, before I come and audit yours, can bribe me. That's what I'm saying.
Bam Bam:So my tower of power is full 100% Cuban cigars. I have three of the big tupper doors the size of this table. Those are Cubans.
Gizmo:How would how for the listener, how big would you say those
Rooster:100%
Bam Bam:How Yeah. But it's a little
Gizmo:bit tough. How big how the Tupper Tupperador for the listener out there?
Bam Bam:It's roughly
Rooster:The size of this room.
Bam Bam:By 30 by 20 inches tall.
Gizmo:Okay. Three of those.
Pagoda:Damn. You're you're more than Cuba.
Bam Bam:So those are Cubans.
Chef Ricky:Wow. These are the Tupadors that people use.
Bam Bam:But a lot of it's like, you're
Gizmo:still you're still at a % Cuban?
Bam Bam:No. But I have so that that's my Cuban, and then I have three other big tupper doors full of new worlds.
Gizmo:Oh, okay.
Bam Bam:So I would say
Gizmo:You're about seventy, thirty, 80, 20?
Bam Bam:20, I think. Eighty, twenty. Okay.
Rooster:Yeah. So is it fair to say that BAM has the most number of cigars?
Bam Bam:Hell no.
Senator:I said I have two Tupperware's full of cigars. He has three.
Bam Bam:Do you forget those two gentlemen sitting right over there with the the huge double wide towers and all the other stock that they have?
Rooster:I don't have six Tupperwares. I do. Yeah. Yeah. Does.
Gizmo:Yeah. My double wide is full, and I have six Tupperware
Bam Bam:for only have three
Senator:Kismos said he was done with Tupperware. That's where he got
Chef Ricky:the tower.
Bam Bam:And does he Do we do we remember that? I
Senator:don't wanna do Tupperware
Gizmo:anymore. That's why I'm getting the double one. My ratio is still correct.
Bam Bam:Yeah. He counts as cigars in the dark.
Gizmo:Rooster.
Rooster:I'm probably
Bam Bam:You think the darkness is your ally. I was born in the dark, molded by it,
Bam Bam:Defined by it. You can never beat me.
Gizmo:I didn't know you had a Bane impression in you. That's pretty good.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:That's pretty good. Rooster.
Rooster:I'm probably at seventy thirty. And how has that changed over
Gizmo:the last couple of years?
Rooster:So I'm smoking way less Cubans than I used to.
Chef Ricky:I think all
Gizmo:of us are.
Rooster:And I'm buying less Cubans, and I'm buying a lot more New Worlds, I think that ratio is gonna change a little bit. But I'm not smoking a lot of Cubans, so maybe it's not. So, you know, I'm at seventythirty, I think, give or take. Okay.
Bam Bam:Yeah. If Cuban prices weren't what they were, we'd all be buying And the accessibility. And
Gizmo:the accessibility.
Bam Bam:We would still be buying. It's a shame.
Gizmo:So boys, this is very apropos to this next discussion, and I want to involve the lizard nation, the listeners out there in this. So this is a call to action to please voice your opinion on this matter. We really wanna hear from you. So this Sancho Panza Bellicoso that we have in our hand was one of the more difficult acquisitions that I had for this podcast in quite some time. Obviously, it's coming we've come now to almost the end of trying each marker from Cuba.
Gizmo:There's certainly other cigars that we haven't done, but, you know, some regular production short format and whatnot. Of course, a lot of regionals and limitatas, which we can discuss our interest in those. But I'm wondering if it's time to consider and have a little bit of an existential discussion here. If it's time to consider the rhythm and the cadence at which we smoke Cuban cigars. Right now, we're doing it every other week, which means we need to acquire, you know, 26, 20 seven unique Cuban cigars a year in some sort of quantity for this podcast.
Gizmo:And given the limitations of retailer shipping to The United States, the price limitations, the accessibility period, I'm wondering if it's time to consider changing that rhythm and that cadence to not doing it every other week, but maybe doing it every third week or once a month to make it a little easier. Because this is I'm starting to get stressed out getting Cuban cigars, and and I can't imagine then for the listener out there how difficult this is for folks, you know, who don't have a podcast, who aren't doing this like we do. It's very, very challenging. So I'm wondering what you and the listeners have to say about us changing the rhythm and the cadence of how many Cubans we're So
Rooster:I would say if we are not going down the route of reviewing more regional Cuban cigars, it's going to be tough to review a lot of new ones because there's not that many. And they don't really come out with that many cigars. So that's one option if you do want to go that route. But I don't think we really love the regionals. It's usually hit or miss.
Rooster:And they're not cheap. And then the accessibility part of it that how are you going to get them. So I'm really up for maybe do it just once a month. Do a Cuban once a month and do three new worlds.
Bam Bam:I'm with you.
Rooster:Because there's a lot more new worlds out there to
Gizmo:be Explored.
Rooster:To be explored and had. So that's my view.
Senator:Yeah. I agree on moving to once a month with Cubans, not so much because I'm concerned about running out of Cubans to review. I mean, I think we've talked about this, know, Cuban cigars, they go on runs. They're they're not a particularly consistent product, so we could go through almost the entire catalog at a different point in time and have a wildly different experience.
Rooster:And we started to do that.
Gizmo:Exactly. We're doing that already. Exactly.
Senator:So to me, that's not the reason to do any of this. I think the accessibility is a huge, huge factor, And there's really I don't see utility in doing a ton of Cuban cigars a year and reviewing them if the overwhelming majority of our listeners are not gonna be able to source them in this environment. And now even for listeners who live in countries that can get their hands on these things, even though still obviously inventory is limited, the prices are so exorbitant that I think we know, you know, the overwhelming majority of us are not buying Cubans in the quantity that we once were. So for all those reasons, I I think it makes a ton of sense to, you know, do a Cuban cigar once a month. It doesn't mean we still don't love them, but it's the reality of kind of the world that we're all living in right now that this is no longer like a readily accessible or even affordable product to, you know, consume often in the way that that is true still for, you know, all new world cigars.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. In lockstep with you guys. Think especially, you know, with the Cuban cigars being at the price points that they are, there's a boom happening on the new world side because they want to take advantage of the fact that, you know, Cuban cigars are now more difficult to get, much more expensive to get into. You know, that they're they're they're really stepping their game ups and their blends and their flavor profiles. There's a lot of boutique brands out there like the Stoics that, you know, are are coming in front of us that are delicious and great surprises, I look forward to those.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Agreed. I agree.
Pagoda:I'm heartbroken.
Bam Bam:Life.
Pagoda:There comes the end of my, you know, Cuban cigar journey.
Senator:It's not the end.
Pagoda:No. Again Again, my palate moves towards, you know, the medium, you know, flavor profile and strength and
Bam Bam:Just as your palate adjusted, we're taking it away from you.
Pagoda:You're taking it away from me.
Rooster:Well, I I
Gizmo:think to, you know, to to chef's point, I I think the thing that makes this more palatable for me is I I think there's been a lot of the a lot of time where we've walked in the room as a group and we've seen a New World, a non Cuban cigar that we weren't familiar with, and we kind of gritted our teeth a little bit, a little nervous. Like, what's tonight gonna be like? And I I think what's changed over the last year for me is opt I'm a lot more optimistic because we've found a lot of great non Cuban cigars that have entered our regular rotation, and I think it's just been a matter of hearing from listeners about what's smoking great, trying new things, you know, tobacco and blends and and, you know, origin points that we appreciate and diving into them, you know, at a price point and and and that's accessible and they're easy to get, you know? So that's what makes it a little bit more palatable for me changing the cadence of it. But you know, again, I want to hear from international listeners, as senator just mentioned, but I've heard from them as well that, you know, to go out and buy a a Partagas d four is a $60.70, $80 US experience with with tax and everything else.
Chef Ricky:Now, for the
Gizmo:international listeners,
Chef Ricky:would it be just as difficult for them to get their hands on some of these new worlds that we're smoking?
Gizmo:Some of them, yes. But some of them, no. You know, so I think we'd have to be very calculated and smart about, you know, if we're doing a big brand one week, we do a boutique one week, we do a Cuban, you know, we kinda fall into a different rhythm. You know? We have to figure that out.
Gizmo:And again, I'd love to hear from listeners on this because this is very much an open discussion. We're not making a decision tonight, but I've I I really feel like we have come to a point where we've turned the page. We're starting to revisit some of the Cuban cigars that we reviewed early in the podcast three, four years ago now. It seems like that's kind of the point that we hit reset and try some stuff again with runs. But, you know, it's it's just a very different world.
Gizmo:And then, you know, the other thing too is, yes, could I reach out and and hit some folks up that have access to great cigars internationally? Could I find cigars? Yes, but then we have the customs risk. So then we spend all that money and then the cigars get clipped to customs, which I've had happened. Forget all that.
Senator:The listener can't get them.
Gizmo:Exactly right. That's the biggest problem. And that's where I was going. Was, you know, if we can't get them, you know, it's it's going to be exponentially harder because I spend a lot of time trying to source this stuff. Yeah.
Gizmo:You know, so it's just a very difficult prospect right now for everybody getting their hands on Cupid Cigars unless you live in Hong Kong and you have a billion dollars.
Bam Bam:You know, chef asked an interesting point. It'd be it'd be pretty cool to hear from listeners in Europe and other parts of the world to get a sense as to what new world cigars they do have access to. I'd like to hear that. Can they get a Padron, Exclusiva? Which is a for It's staple for us and we can get it anywhere here.
Bam Bam:I'd love to know the answer to that question. The Aladino, is that available worldwide? They are distributing throughout Europe. It'd be great to know where. So if there are listeners out there, please email us.
Bam Bam:We'd love to hear that.
Gizmo:So we will report back in the coming weeks as to what we decide. We'll read some emails, of course, of what we hear from you guys out there. So please do contribute your opinion on this subject to us. Let us know what you think about lengthening the time in between Cuban cigar episodes and filling that with non Cuban cigars. So I think that's the I think that's the route we're gonna have to go.
Gizmo:I just don't know what the rhythm's gonna be, so we shall see. Great point. So, boys, we're coming to the end of our evening now with the Cave Laurents Cremant, the sparkling wine from Burgundy, and the Sancho Panza, Bellicosos. What's everybody think about the pairing before we get into our ratings tonight?
Bam Bam:Is simply a delicious evening, I think, all around.
Pagoda:I think the pairing was fantastic.
Bam Bam:There is not a single I don't have a single complaint. In fact, I would like to do this again after our podcast. It's just delicious all around. I know what my rating's gonna be. Yeah.
Bam Bam:Me too.
Gizmo:Yeah. So let's get into that, boys. It's time now to do the formal liquor rating tonight on the Cave Laurents Cremant. Bam bam, you're up.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I haven't ever had this before. I would get cases of this, especially for the spring and summer, but I can drink this all year round for under $20 for how it drinks, how sophisticated it is, that dry finish that I get at the end, the creaminess in the middle, and the sweetness in the front, that's pretty sophisticated. I'm at a 10. I don't know how you can't give this a 10 tonight, boys.
Gizmo:All right. Chef, pressure.
Chef Ricky:I'm going to succumb to it and give it a 10.
Pagoda:You're succumb the Yeah.
Chef Ricky:I I'm telling you this is an amazing experience. It's an amazing price point. It's an amazing sparkling wine. And if someone just so happened to fuck up and turn it into mimosa, I wouldn't be upset.
Bam Bam:That's true.
Chef Ricky:You know? You can do anything you my wife would easily do or one of my friends that come over and they grab a bottle. I would not be at all worried about what they're grabbing because of the price point. I could just load up my wine fridge with this and
Bam Bam:be There is one problem. We don't have a third bottle.
Gizmo:Yeah. That is a problem. Absolutely.
Chef Ricky:Bottle king. We might
Senator:be going to Casa Senador after this.
Gizmo:Oh. Pagoda.
Pagoda:Yeah. It's ten ten wins. It's it's a 10. It's a 10.
Gizmo:For the listener out there, when when Pagoda references that, that's a radio station in the New York Metro Area that does pretty much news and weather. AM. AM. It's an AM station. That's all they do is news and weather and sports
Bam Bam:all day It's very dry and verbose. Yes. A
Gizmo:great Ten ten wins.
Pagoda:But this is fantastic considering the price point. You know, I've been thinking about it. It's very flavorful. It was a bit sweeter for me in the beginning, but, you know, once my palate adjusted to it, it was perfect. Really enjoyed it.
Pagoda:I can see, I see, like, I know Senator and I had a summer last year where we did so much champagne. I could see us repeating it this year with, you know, this particular champagne. This has been fantastic. Looking forward to the summer. Senator, cheers once again for finding out, Finding an you know, it's like a gem, you know?
Pagoda:Like, you have to go hunting for these things. And if you find a gem, you've gotta be able to share it with the world, although, you know, the price may go up, but it's been a fantastic experience tonight.
Gizmo:So for me, it's also a 10. I mean, at $15 for how this drinks, if you told me this was a champagne that that was a 60 or $70 bottle, I would totally believe you, hands down. It drank brilliantly. It paired great with a cigar. I think it'd be great with food.
Gizmo:I think it would be great with caviar. I I just all around, I think this is a home run, and I think we have now begun a new journey into lower price sparkling spirit pairings this podcast, and I think that is a ten ten win right
Bam Bam:there.
Chef Ricky:This will pair beautifully with fucking buttered toast. Like, it doesn't matter.
Bam Bam:Whatever you put
Chef Ricky:with, you know, it's it's amazing.
Bam Bam:I want that risotto dish. Yeah. You're not getting out
Chef Ricky:of that.
Bam Bam:I don't want no buttered toast. I want that risotto.
Gizmo:Alright, senator. Heard that.
Senator:Yes. This this was tough for me because I I've been debating between a nine and a 10.
Chef Ricky:Did you
Pagoda:Oh, please.
Gizmo:We should have gone to him first.
Chef Ricky:Ten ten wins, baby. Ten ten wins.
Bam Bam:Come on, man. Keep going. It's $15. Put it aside for one night.
Senator:I'm gonna I'm gonna rate it for the experience tonight with this cigar. And because of that, I'm gonna give it a 10. There you go. And the reason I say that I mean, you know, the price point is what factors into this. You know?
Senator:For me, if I were to take tonight's experience out of it, I would give it a nine. And the only reason is the one complaint I have is I just wish there were a little bit more to this. I mean, you know, Polar Gey is on the lighter side, but has more body than this does. That's my only singular complaint. And this, because it doesn't have as much body as I would ideally like, it is unbelievably dangerous in terms of how much of this you can drink.
Bam Bam:Yep.
Senator:It is so smooth, creamy, and easy drinking. I mean, you could put back a bottle very quickly and not even realize that you've done so. Mhmm. But the merits of that the merits of it is, you know, the flavor profile is very balanced, very pleasurable, and, you know, the thing for me with budget sparkling wines generally, I find outside of France, they all have somewhat of an aftertaste. It's very bizarre, but they all do.
Senator:And it's just like varying degrees of it, and you're kinda compromising on, like, what is the least offensive on your palate when you're done drinking it? And there's something so special about what they're able to do with sparkling wine in France because that's the only sparkling that I never had that. Like, the finish is so clean, and at a $15, even 20 retail price point, it is insane that that still holds true and is the case. So, honestly, if anything I have probably ever brought in this pod, I may be proudest of this. And the reason I say that, I've spent my entire adult life since I started drinking champagne
Bam Bam:At 12.
Senator:Trying to find a truly great budget sparkling that I would actually be comfortable serving in my own home. Truly, if I have people over, the only sparkling I the cheapest sparkling I'll serve is Paul Roger. I just I have not found anything else that I, like, love enough. Now if I'm just with the guys and we're just drinking volume, I mean, Shandong, like Pagoda and I have said, like, we'll drink that. But I mean, like, I'm entertaining.
Senator:I'm having, you know, a birthday party for my son or some kind of thing. I just I can't be proud of any other sparkling I've had other than true champagne. This is the only thing. I've been searching for so many years to find something that, like, I would so happily pour someone says, what is that? I have no idea what that is.
Senator:And I would tell them happily share the price point, and I have no doubt that they would be thrilled with what they're drinking. I'm so grateful that Bottle King has stocked sparkling from France that's not from the Champagne region. I hope that a lot of other liquor stores start looking into this and doing it because there is great stuff out there, and every occasion doesn't call for needing to open a $50.60, 70 plus dollar bottle of sparkling. You know, we want things that we can enjoy every day. We love, you know, Havana Club, Florida Cana Seven.
Senator:Those are $25 bottles of spirits that are just for every day. They're not for a big special occasion. Champagne has always needed that, and for people in France and in Europe, they can get that. It's very hard for us to get that here. So I'm sorry for the lengthy, you know, review on this, but I am just eternally grateful.
Senator:I hope that this gets made in perpetuity. Yeah. And I really hope that the quality never changes because what they've done in this bottle is perfect for its price
Bam Bam:point. Totally agree.
Gizmo:Well said. Amen. So boys, that puts the formal liquorating tonight on the Cave, Laurence, Cremant at $8.10.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:Perfect score tonight on I can't, again, I'm gonna say this one more time, I can't believe that bottle is $15
Bam Bam:I know.
Gizmo:I can't believe it.
Bam Bam:It's insane.
Gizmo:I think any of us would have rated that exactly the same if it was a $40 bottle.
Chef Ricky:I'm so excited for the split wise. You
Senator:wanna you wanna know the wildest thing? The first time I bought this and tried it, I missed this. I didn't know any better because I hadn't tried it. There was this limited sale, believe it or not, at Bottle King, it was $13 a bottle. No.
Senator:Come on. But I hadn't had it in the past, so I just got two bottles. I said even if I hate, you know, the one I try, whatever, I'll just throw the other one out. But then, of course, when I went to stock up, I was past the sale at that point. But I I hope they have that again because I think we're all gonna load up
Bam Bam:on you. You better believe it.
Chef Ricky:You know, senator, what I've noticed is as it warms a little bit, the body picks up.
Senator:I agree. Yeah. Yeah. Which we've learned with sparklings generally. You know, there's a tendency everyone wants, like, ice cold champagne, and champagne is meant to be cold.
Senator:It's meant to be chilled, but not aggressively chilled because that's where you actually lose a lot of the flavor and the nuance and the subtlety that's there. And even a chef is pointing out, like, you can lose the body in, what is meant to be a lighter sparkling. It becomes even harder to really appreciate the full structure when it's served too cold. So as it's come down, it's definitely gotten better. And that's been a common experience I feel like we've had.
Chef Ricky:It's the same thing in the culinary world when you're seasoning a dish that's meant to be served cold, you generally season it a little bit higher because of that. Interesting. So yeah. It's a Mhmm. It's it's a known fact.
Chef Ricky:Yeah.
Pagoda:I see Bam taking notes. Doing that.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. It's time now for the formal lizard rating tonight on the Sancho Panza. Bellicosos from Cuba, Rooster Europe.
Bam Bam:This cigar is a triumph.
Bam Bam:He nailed it. I caution you, gentlemen,
Bam Bam:to properly rate the cigar.
Chef Ricky:I'm getting a little Sean Connery on that.
Gizmo:It's actually Sean Connery meet Bane.
Senator:I'll bring you champagne to every pod just for this.
Bam Bam:Be very careful.
Gizmo:We need French sparkling, senator. French sparkling for Bain.
Rooster:So the Sancho Panza is apparently a budget marker.
Gizmo:Allegedly. Allegedly. I mean, it's
Rooster:$30 a stick now. I mean, think about it. The bottle of champagne is $15 and the cigar is $30 per stick. Mean, being that it's a budget mark or it was apparently, and they don't really make this is the only size they make now. But I mean, having said that, it's a delicious cigar.
Rooster:Started off really creamy. It had a little bit of a nuttiness to it as well. The smoke coated your mouth. It was really velvety throughout. And no burn issues, had great construction, very good smoke output.
Rooster:I really liked it. I mean, was really no complaints about the cigar. I mean, it was a delicious smoke. The aroma was very good. It got some really nice notes from the cigar.
Rooster:But it is a $30 cigar. I mean, like all Cubans now, I mean, there's really nothing that you're gonna find much cheaper. But having said all of that, I think I'm at nine on this cigar.
Gizmo:All right. Senator.
Senator:I'm in lockstep with Roussretta nine. I'm just really surprised. And in fact, I've actually had two of these prior to smoking this, and I'm remembering now from two different people I got this cigar. And neither time did I think it was a bad cigar, but there was nothing inspiring about it. This was inspiring.
Senator:I mean, I would absolutely smoke this again. It's nice to see that age really does something special for this cigar. I mean, you know, there are some cigars that we've had that they don't need age. They're ready to smoke young and especially more recent releases out of Cuba. I think this it's worth the time investment to just let this sit for a few years.
Senator:It lacks that creaminess that just brings everything together and delivers a more refined experience. I think we all looked at the cigar, talked about how rustic it was. None of us thought it was particularly refined and young. The flavor profile kind of matches that experience. Age elevates that experience.
Senator:So I'm really happy to see that. I think, you know, the only reason I'm not a 10, the flavor profile, while very much in my wheelhouse, I still would have liked a little more complexity, whether it was a transition that changed that a bit or just some other distinct flavor notes I was getting beyond, you know, the the cocoa and cream and some of the things that we and nuttiness that we talked a lot about. But really just a a great surprise, and it's sad to me that these are now $30 because years ago, mean, Sancho Ponza on any the
Rooster:sites $8 ago. Yeah.
Senator:Oh my lord. The price point was so affordable, and they sat. I mean, this was never a coveted or, you know, aggressively pursued Cuban market. And the fact that this is now hard to get, and $30 is just ridiculous. So that's the only part that's a tragedy to me, but that aside, the flavor is really excellent, and I I hope to smoke another one again.
Gizmo:So for me, it's a 10. I can't find flaw in this cigar tonight. It was effortless. Thought the flavor was incredible, and especially for a cigar that I would characterize as mild. For how much flavor we were getting out of that, we've
Bam Bam:had incredible.
Gizmo:A lot of mild cigars that are just flat and boring and don't keep our attention and they're not interesting and not because we need something more in strength, but because we want flavor. And this cigar tonight delivered flavor. It was complex. It was interesting. It kept my attention the entire time.
Gizmo:It was easy to smoke. It was delicious. The creaminess, it was salty. The retrohale was brilliant. You know, Bam is over there with
Bam Bam:It's a quarter inch.
Gizmo:Quarter inch, still smoking the cigar. It's good. I can't get over it. I do hesitate though with my 10, and I'm gonna keep it there, but I am gonna put an asterisk on that for the listener and remind them that we smoked a cigar that was five and a half years old tonight. Yeah.
Gizmo:So if you were to look at the other cigars that senator and I have talked about smoking previously, he had two, I had one, I don't know if that cigar would have even gotten a seven or
Senator:an eight. So I wouldn't go that far. I mean, my experience, I would say minimum each would have gotten a seven.
Gizmo:So I would say the same. I would say maybe a seven, maybe an eight on, you know, something like that. But tonight, this cigar was brilliant. So I do put a little bit of an asterisk for the age on it. Then the other complaint, of course, not to repeat everybody, but the price is a problem.
Gizmo:30. The accessibility, the difficulty in getting these, it's just a tragedy that this market is overlooked. It's not easy to get, and it's just priced too high. But given all that, the experience in the room tonight, the cigar was perfect. It's a 10 for me.
Gizmo:Pagoda.
Pagoda:It's a 10 for me. I think I'd already mentioned it earlier, was a 10 to 10 Wow.
Bam Bam:I'm surprised at that.
Pagoda:It was very, very easy to smoke. Loved the smoke output. You know, the construction was great, so you begin with that. The flavor profile was very, very good. I think I experienced, you know, the same thing, the creaminess of the cocoa, a bit of coffee there, saltiness.
Pagoda:I think initially it got a little salty for me extra, but you know, that dissipated and it was just the right balance for me. I think having it with the champagne, the combination was great. The pairing was just really fantastic because I think for me what it did was slightly intensify some of the flavors and I was really, really getting the, you know, the cocoa, deep cocoa, I've really enjoyed the flavor profile in terms of the sweetness and the saltiness. And you know, easy smoke, great smoke out, but you know I can't fault it for anything. Yeah, meaning the price and accessibility, you know I would traditionally give it a nine, typically you know considering the price and accessibility.
Bam Bam:You're a value guy.
Pagoda:I am a value guy, but today the experience you know, with the champagne was so fantastic. The pairing that, you know, I think Bam, you had mentioned it. I wouldn't mind a repeat of this.
Bam Bam:Absolutely.
Pagoda:And you know, in terms of the experience, definitely a 10.
Gizmo:Alright. Chef Ricky.
Chef Ricky:I'm at a 10 as well. You know, mostly because of the surprise that I've that I experienced throughout this. You know, the cold draw was kind of flat for me. There wasn't a whole lot outside of some light cedar. The the aroma of the foot was slight hay and some cedar, but then fire brought this thing to life.
Chef Ricky:You know, the nuttiness, the sweetness, the creaminess. Some I got some slight vanilla caramel coffee happening and then it picked up in strength on that last third. In true Bella Coso fashion, it might have needed a little bit of touch ups towards that final third. But, you know, it it delivered everything that it did beautifully. The champagne really, really elevated it for me or the sparkling wine rather.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, even at $30, what was the cigar five years ago? Price point. Probably 10 to 15. So buy it today and save it for five and a half years because it's only gonna go up in price.
Bam Bam:If you can find it.
Chef Ricky:It's only gonna go up in price. But hopefully you have this experience that we had today because this was truly a memorable one and I'd love to do it again. So it's a 10 for me.
Bam Bam:Alright, Bam. Something's going on over here.
Pagoda:What's good?
Rooster:Pretty good.
Pagoda:I was getting hot bone.
Gizmo:Jeez.
Bam Bam:I am at it. For what alright. For what this cigar was tonight, I am at a 10. I love this cigar. I thought from beginning to end it was delicious.
Bam Bam:It was consistent in the flavor profile. It just intensified slightly, but I took this down to a quarter of an inch. I didn't get a single rough edge, no ammonia at all. Very rare experience. The flavor was just outrageous.
Bam Bam:I continued to get that little bit of banana and tapioca at the end. It got a little richer.
Chef Ricky:I love when you call out the tapioca
Bam Bam:note. For me, it was there.
Chef Ricky:It's a nuance of cream.
Bam Bam:But there's that slight weird flavor that tapioca has, and I was getting it in
Gizmo:this spot.
Senator:Look at these two.
Bam Bam:It's crazy. I'm gonna get Double
Gizmo:meat twins.
Senator:Sous chef bam.
Bam Bam:Correct. Now, Bain's in the bathroom. So let me get this out. This was it was just an excellent experience. I'm at a 10.
Gizmo:Excellent. Yeah. Alright, boys. That puts the formal lizard rating tonight on the Sancho Panza Bellicosos. The debut from Sancho Panza on the pod tonight at a 9.7.
Gizmo:Wow. What a score. Wow.
Rooster:Wow. For a Sancho Panza. For a Sancho Panza.
Bam Bam:Yeah, man. I am I am back, gentlemen. I am back. I am disappointed at the nine seven. This is a triumph.
Bam Bam:Thank
Gizmo:you, Bane. Alright. Alright, boys. A great night tonight. Of course, first, we have to thank Lizard O for hooking us up with these cigars, helping us source them.
Gizmo:That was a huge help because we really wanted to do these, and we have a lot of listeners asking us when's the Sancho Ponza coming? And we are finally able to do it tonight. Of course, as I mentioned, we wanna hear from listeners on the topic of changing the cadence of how often we smoke Cuban cigars on this podcast. So please do send us an email or send us a note sharing your thoughts on that topic. Of course, we have to thank Lizard Alley, our lizard of the week.
Gizmo:We really appreciate that great email on sparkling wine. Of course, Lizards Blake and John from Boise for their great email as well. Of course, we have to thank our sponsor, Fabrica five. They are great partners to us. We really appreciate them.
Gizmo:So go try some of their cigars. We are smoking them en masse, and I hope that you are too.
Bam Bam:We love you, Rob. One more
Gizmo:one more time tonight on the ratings, the Cave, Lawrence, Cremant scored a perfect 10, the sparkling wine from Burgundy, and the Sancho Panza Bellicosos from Cuba scored a 9.7. A great night, boys. An awesome pairing, and, we'll see everybody next week.
Pagoda:Fucking best. Oh, Bob, you've come bustling.
Gizmo: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. That's loungelizardsp0d.com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
Gizmo:If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us. Hello at lounge lizards pod dot com. You can also find us on Instagram at lounge lizards pod. We really appreciate your time, and we'll, we'll see you next week.