Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
**Gizmo:** [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Lizards podcast presented by Fabrica 5. 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, Chef Ricky, Grinder, and Bam Bam, and our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some tequila, talk about life, and of course, have some laughs.
So take this as your 151st official invitation to join us and become a card carrying Lounge Lizard. We're going to smoke a Cuban cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating. We venture into the world of budget Cuban cigars, we answer a listener email on smoking while eating, and we discuss Chef Ricky's recent agave event in New York City, all among a variety of other things for the next 90 minutes.
So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar and enjoy, as we pair Lalo Tequila Blanco with the Vegueros, Centrofinos. A Cuban Robusto tonight on the pod and the [00:01:00] first from Vegueros. It's called the Centrofinos. It's a 50 ring gauge cigar by five and one eighths inches long and boys we have officially entered the world of quote unquote budget budget Cubans.
**Bam Bam:** If that's a real thing these days with the pricing.
**Gizmo:** So what do you, what do you call budget?
**Bam Bam:** Like how much is this? Good question.
**Gizmo:** This cigar ranges in price between 14 and 19. So that's what I thought. Yeah. So budget to me would be closer to like a new world budget cigar that performs well,
**Bam Bam:** like six bucks,
**Gizmo:** a six, eight, 10.
And we've done plenty of them. But for Cuba, we're talking sub 20 is a budget quote unquote value or budget. So this is a nice looking cigar. It is. It doesn't look bad. No. Um, it's not machine made, is it? No, these are all him. Okay. I mean, to me, if you took this vigorous band off just from how it looks right now and you put a band from a hoyo epi two on there, you put a band from a
**Bam Bam:** d four
**Gizmo:** part of his d four.
It doesn't look [00:02:00] dissimilar, dissimilar, right? So, I mean, we'll see what the tobacco tastes like, what the blend is like. But, um,
**Bam Bam:** I do have a recommendation before we cut these is. Wrappers are very delicate. Very apparently. I would just snip the absolute cap off if you can. Yeah Otherwise, I think you're gonna ruin the rest of the wrapper at the top
**Gizmo:** and let's do that Let's cut this thing boys.
See we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper I just totally destroyed my cutter. It literally just split in my hands. You're a powerful man So much
**Chef Ricky:** for the wrapper being delicate
**Gizmo:** I didn't even get to the cut. I opened it and it's split in half. So i'll have to deal with that later I
**Bam Bam:** have a beautiful dimple that drawer Surprising to see a dimple.
Little di little dimple. Mm-Hmm, . Good. Cut there. Chef
**Gizmo:** draw is wide open. Wide open for me.
**Bam Bam:** And it's actually tasty.
**Gizmo:** I would argue it might be too wide open. Mm-Hmm. .
**Bam Bam:** I need to smoke very quickly.
**Gizmo:** Mm-Hmm. .
**Bam Bam:** But it's very pleasant. I'm [00:03:00] getting faints of like raisin, maybe even apricot. I'm getting like
**Chef Ricky:** a.
**Bam Bam:** It's pleasant.
**Chef Ricky:** I'm not getting anything that sweet just yet. It's, it's, it's pretty, uh, kind of vegetal and green for me.
**Gizmo:** That's what I was going to say. Mine tastes like, like a little moss. Yeah. It's like, it tastes
**Chef Ricky:** like moss or hay, hay or grass.
**Gizmo:** Petrichor. It could be petrichor. Horsefoot. Horsefoot. All right, boys, let's light this thing.
The Vigero Centrofinos. Again, it's a 50 ring gauge Robusto. By five and one eighth inches long. The box code on this is SRM April 22 SRM, April 22. What does SRM stand for? It's a provincial. That's a provincial. One of the provincials. I don't think these have ever been made. In a Mother Factory. At a Mother Factory.
You would hope not if you're calling it a budget cigar, right? Correct. It's not taking [00:04:00] priority out of other cigars that are not made at Mother Factories that should be. Very pleasant on the light. Yeah. Yeah. I gotta say. This is pretty good. Not mad at that. And the smell at the head of the cigar, where you draw from,
**Bam Bam:** is aromatic.
Absolutely aromatic. And the foot.
**Gizmo:** Let's
**Bam Bam:** do a retrohale.
**Gizmo:** This is not bad. Retrohale's very pleasant.
**Bam Bam:** This is the opposite of what I was expecting. Everything that's happening now is opposite. It's like they've added something to this. It's that sweet for me.
**Grinder:** I don't get the sweet, I don't get the sweetness. I was talking to Giz a couple days ago about the cigar and we were, I was, I was relaying how I kind of think this is going to be a little bit of a surprise.
I bet it's going to, it's not going to be as shocking as, as you might expect.
**Gizmo:** I mean, I hope for our budget smokers out there, the listeners who's who've requested us do [00:05:00] Vagueros, Quinteros, Jose Piedra, those other cigars that aren't priced. Like a, like a premium Habanos Robusto, let's say. Just, let's just focus on the Robustos.
I hope that this performs well tonight so that we can positively point our listeners into something Cuban that's not gonna be a 28, 30 regular production Robusto. That's my hope tonight. But off to a nice start.
**Grinder:** Yeah, definitely. The floral, the floral is, is there, but it's not as strong as some of the other Cuban cigars.
It's kind of nutty. I get, I'm getting like nuttiness. It's
**Rooster:** also creamy with some cedar.
**Bam Bam:** More
**Grinder:** fruit
**Bam Bam:** over here. Of
**Grinder:** course,
**Bam Bam:** I'm getting fruit. As I'm saying it, I'm like, of course, you guys got me like self correcting. Now
**Grinder:** the, the strength is very mild, very mild. This is like not even medium. I would say.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, this might be overpowered by the water we're drinking [00:06:00] tonight.
The water. No, but for, for it being a mild cigar right now, the flavor is fairly robust for me. I'm getting a lot. It's nice.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. It's mild in body, but the flavor it's, I think it's firmly medium from the point of view of the experience. I'm
**Grinder:** getting like biscuit, a little biscuit, but like a soft, like a, like a delicate biscuit.
Yeah. Maybe that's the sweetness I'm getting.
**Gizmo:** This is surprising on the light. What are you getting, uh, Chef Ricky?
**Chef Ricky:** I'm, I'm getting slight nuttiness. I could see some biscuit. Overall, I think the finish is a little dry for me. Um, yeah, very mild, uh, in strength for sure. Um, and the wide open draw is not helping with that.
That's true. It's a short, short finish. It is. It is. It's a very short finish. Are
**Bam Bam:** you getting anything? Any bitterness on the front at all? Any? No. I'm saying I'm getting like a tang. Yeah. Or a pepper or a tang. I guess like
**Grinder:** pepper. [00:07:00]
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, pepper or tang is absolutely what I'm getting on the front.
**Grinder:** I, I, I just have a premonition that this might turn into a pepper bomb at the end.
Because, because it's gonna get to the end of the cigar. It's gonna get like toasted and you're shaking your head.
**Gizmo:** I think if we smoke it slowly. Well, I was about to
**Grinder:** go there. I think if
**Gizmo:** we smoke this too fast, I think it's going to go there. A hundred percent. We heat it up too much, but I think if we try to pace ourselves, get into some conversation and just, just kind of let it do its thing.
I don't think it's going to bite us based on how it's previewing right now. Obviously anything can happen, but I just, I'm all my premonitions coming in this room tonight. Are out the window for me right now. So let's talk about the cigar boys. These cigars were released originally in 2018. They come in a pretty unique and cool metal tin of 16 cigars.
So we were passing that around the room and it is, how would you describe the shape of that BAM?
**Bam Bam:** It's a [00:08:00] rectangular box, roughly five inches tall, three by three by three. It's a nice volume, aluminum, and it's got a light lavender color with a black top. That was an excellent description. Yeah. And that's why I go to BAM every time.
Correct. And of course, the green logo is unmistakable. Yeah. The V, the
**Chef Ricky:** green V. You always pick up that light lavender. You were the first one to point it out to me on those Bellicoso Yeah. Where's the lavender? Naked eye. I would have said white, but you're right. There's a slight lavender tinge to it. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** So it's pretty cool that this cigar comes in Grinder's colorblind. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! that it comes in this unique tin and it comes in the quantity of 16 cigars. Yeah, that's cool. Which it also comes in a display box of 16 cigars. Which are in four cardboard packs, which is like a retail type setup, you know, like they, they have other Cupid cigars that come in three cardboard packs, five cardboard packs.
So these come in four packs of four. So the only configuration that you can get these in is 16 cigars.
**Bam Bam:** Either in a cardboard box or this tin. Yeah. [00:09:00] No cedar. Wow. So that gets that, that, that. Explains why it's a budget stick. Well, why, like,
**Grinder:** is, would it, just from the raw materials perspective, that's probably more expensive than the, Oh, yeah.
I would think so. Especially in Cuba.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, I don't know why that, I don't know why that is, but it's unique. It's maybe because it's a newer release, having been released in 2018. It's only a release that's been around for, for six years now. So, you know, maybe it being newer, they loaded up on the aluminum.
Yeah. Boxes and,
**Bam Bam:** or maybe they just found these boxes or , so, and they're using them. Another
**Gizmo:** re booster was meant to be put in them and they act, they misprinted them. ,
**Grinder:** I, I'm gonna make it a, a, maybe a premature claim here, but this, the, the strength of the cigar and the flavor, it would be a very good first cigar in the morning.
**Gizmo:** Oh, this would be great. With the kind of coffee. Yeah,
**Grinder:** absolutely. Yeah, because it's, it's delicate. It's, the finish is, is short, which I think is okay in the morning. You can, you know, just nice, crisp, short finish, as you say, with a cup of [00:10:00] coffee on the deck. I think this would be an excellent slot for that.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah, and you know that the kind of nuttiness I'm getting, it starts kind of Brazil nuttish, and then it starts to taper off into a hazelnut. Now I'm starting to get some of that, those sweet notes that Bam's talking about. A little nougat,
**Bam Bam:** like a, like a, like a, like a,
**Gizmo:** what's the nougat? That description was not budget.
No, it wasn't. Nutella. Nutella.
**Bam Bam:** Nutella.
**Gizmo:** Without the chocolate. So Bam, I, I want to go back to the tin configuration that we have here for these, these cigars. And you were noting as you were going through them that it looks like They got a little beat up in there.
**Bam Bam:** Uh, yeah. So what do you think
**Gizmo:** that is that's doing that?
I think
**Bam Bam:** as you take cigars out it creates room in the tin and they knock around when you hand them or pass them or even move them on your desk. The caps were cracking, so you'll get that. But I think you get that in almost any cigar configuration if you're, you know, not gentle.
**Grinder:** They're cracking at the foot,
**Bam Bam:** too.
**Grinder:** I [00:11:00] pulled
**Bam Bam:** two that had cracks at the foot. Yeah.
**Chef Ricky:** This is a very thin wrapper. Very thin. Yeah,
**Bam Bam:** and of course the cigars are stored vertically, so the foot's at the bottom. You just dropped out on your car floor or at the house and there you go. Bingo.
Exactly.
**Gizmo:** So Vegueros does not have a ton of history.
Obviously this is the first one we've done. So we'll talk a little bit about it. It was founded in 1997 around that time that some of the other markers were like Kawaba. Vegas, Robania, et cetera. All of the Vitolas in the original range were discontinued in 2012. And then the next year Vigaros was completely relaunched with new cigars.
Like I said, this one came out five years after that in 2018, but it's interesting that they canceled the entire line. And then relaunched the entire line with this reason for them. No idea. I don't, I don't know if it wasn't performing well, if the cigars weren't tasting well, I don't know what it was, but that, [00:12:00] that original launch of the brand didn't even make it more than 15 years.
So let's talk about some of the other current production cigars from Vegueros. They have the Entree Tiempos, which is a petite Robusto 52 by four and three eighths inches, the Magnanitas, which is a petite pyramid 46 by three and seven eighths, that thing is like.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** It's like a, like a pencil. The Tapatos, which is a Corona extra 46 by four and three quarters.
And the central Gordo's a petite Robusto 54 by again, three and seven eighths inches long. So that's the other thing that's interesting about this as I was researching Vegueros is we're holding in our hands the most substantial cigar from them, which is this. On the shorter side of
**Bam Bam:** a Robusto,
**Gizmo:** a Robusto at 50 by five and an eighth.
This is the longest cigar that they have and probably the longest smoking [00:13:00] time. So they, they've developed this line to be a diminutive, diminutive. Exactly. Honestly,
**Grinder:** though, like the way I'm smoking cigars right now, I, When I do have time to sit out for a cigar, oftentimes it's interrupted and I'll have to like put it down and come back to it or likely ditch it.
And it's always such a pain. Like you feel it in your stomach when you have a good cigar and you know you can't finish it and you have to put it down. This, I could see me smoking a lot of these because of that reason where I wouldn't feel the pain in my gut. By tossing it and it's like, okay, you know, my daughter has to go do, so I have to go do this or that to take the dog for whatever, all these different reasons that why, why these, these, these moments could get interrupted.
I could see myself enjoying this and not feeling that kind of, you know, regret. Also, the aroma in here is really fantastic. It is. And I like, I like a milder cigar, you know, so I'm, I'm, I'm kind of digging it right now.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. I'm bullish as Puba would say.
**Rooster:** I'm [00:14:00] bullish right now. Correct. Didn't the, uh, Centro Gordo was the latest cigar to be introduced.
I think it just came out. It was, it was announced
**Gizmo:** in 2022 and it was released late last year. Yeah. Yeah. I actually haven't seen those come up in the market. I mean, obviously they wouldn't catch my eye at that size, 54 by under four inches long, like that is just not a cigar I'm very interested in, you know, like it may, it, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
I mean, obviously with what grinder just said, it makes sense for his situation, but. The sizes of these cigars, um, You know, certainly aren't built for. It's the way I smokes.
**Chef Ricky:** Quick walk or, you know, morning stick. I, I think that there's one called the Manita, which, you know, would insinuate that day and send it for the morning.
Yeah. This is like a, this is like
**Grinder:** a dog walker, you know? Mm-Hmm. . This is built for speed, not for comfort.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. It's picking up in flavor too. For me. It really
**Grinder:** is.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah.
**Grinder:** It's getting a little floral. I mean, I don't want to be overgratuitous, right? It's still, [00:15:00] it's still plain Jane, but I think it's just defying expectations in a way that makes me kind of excited.
I think
**Bam Bam:** it's okay. It's not blowing my socks off, but it's,
**Chef Ricky:** yeah. So, Giz, when you say budget, what exactly, uh, was the cost of the stick?
**Gizmo:** So, of course, after the latest price hikes over the last few years, these cigars now range between 14 and 19 each. You can get a 16 count tin where the cardboard packs for somewhere around 300.
So, you can find it for a little under that and a little over that, depending on where you're shopping. But generally, we're in the range of, you know, 300 bucks for 16. It's good for somebody who's starting out on
**Rooster:** the Cuban journey. You know, start off
**Chef Ricky:** with, with
**Rooster:** this brand
**Chef Ricky:** and chances are they'll be readily available on those sites.
They're probably not the first to go. I don't know about that.
**Bam Bam:** You know, I don't see these come up very often.
**Gizmo:** And I, I think it's because I don't, I don't know if they're making that many. That's right. Right. You know, as far as priority, you know, there's a scarcity of [00:16:00] tobacco. As we talk about almost every episode.
Are you gonna, you know, We're allocating. Yeah, allocate that into A lower price cigar. Your more budget cigars. So. And then also, you know, you have to factor in when Habanos and Taobao Cooper are making production decisions. They're basing that on orders from retailers, which then are giving those orders to distributors.
So, whichever Habanos distri whatever Habanos distributors are ordering and pushing to get, that's what they're going to prioritize as far as manufacturing, you know? So that's why, We do see some of the cigars that we love not coming up very often. Schwab Supreme, you know, some of the others that we talk about that are scarce in the market, they are, it's because they're not driving.
They're, they're not doing as much business as some of the Mm-Hmm. , higher production stuff. I mean, the
**Rooster:** factories are rolling. What? You know, depending on what the orders are coming in. Correct. Like, whatever the demand is, that's what they're rolling. So I doubt these are going to China. Oh,
**Bam Bam:** no, I
**Gizmo:** would doubt that too.
**Bam Bam:** I doubt you. I don't think you'll find these in Asia anywhere. Yeah, [00:17:00] we should,
**Grinder:** we should ask the listeners. Do you find these in Asia? It's like, where are you finding these? Good question. Right.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, it is a great
**Grinder:** question.
**Gizmo:** I'd also love to hear from, from Cuban cigar smokers in our audience. You know, if a, if they're smoking vigaros prior to us doing this tonight, cause this is the first vigaros I've ever had.
And also, are you seeing other people in your community on the internet, in the forums, et cetera? You know, reaching for any, any sort of Vagueros. I'm really curious about that.
**Bam Bam:** Well, you've seen it on our forum. Yeah, but it's rare though. It's very rare. It is. It is.
**Gizmo:** You know, and the other one, the reason why I ask that too is we do have Quinteros coming up.
You know, that's in the queue. We have that coming up in a few weeks. I've had one of
**Bam Bam:** those.
**Gizmo:** I, I've not had any heavily
**Bam Bam:** aged from your buddy.
**Gizmo:** Oh,
**Bam Bam:** remember that whole, yes, yes. That whole order that we placed with him. That's a delicious cigar. That is, Oh, I think it was, I had like 20 years of age plus maybe.
Outstanding 20 years out. I'm not sure if it was adult. It was outstanding. [00:18:00]
**Gizmo:** So I got to give credit and we got to shout out lizard Dustin, who was very kind to actually give us these cigars tonight to review. Nice. So these came, uh, from our friend lizard D. Thank you, D. We appreciate it. All right, boys. It's a little early, but Grinder had a great idea.
Let's try our pairing tonight. We have a brilliant tequila that I know I discovered at the For the Love of Agave event that our friend Chef Ricky over here puts on at his restaurant, Anejo, in Tribeca, New York City. And it's an event that features, what, 20 or so vendors?
**Chef Ricky:** It was about 32 this time around, yeah.
So
**Gizmo:** 30 vendors handing, you know, samples out of their products. Most of them are artisanal, you know, mezcal, uh, tequila. And then what was the other one? So towel was there and there was even,
**Chef Ricky:** there was even a RAC present, uh, which is rare. I really liked this hotel. That was, yeah, that
**Grinder:** was something.
**Gizmo:** So the one that we're drinking tonight, we discovered at the last.
For the love of agave event, and it's called Lalo and it's [00:19:00] tequila blanco. Yeah. And, uh, let's try this with our vaqueros tonight. That is such a good Blanco. It's delicious. I mean, that is, it's D smooth, a great blanco.
**Grinder:** It's, it, I would de It's like a, it's like a smooth minerality. Like a sweet minerality.
Yeah. Spot on. Yeah.
**Chef Ricky:** Lots of mineral botanical. Yeah, it's, it's re it's floral. The nose is great 'cause it's kind of vanilla and kind of sweet, but. You know, the actual flavor profile is not that
**Grinder:** do they, do they make
**Chef Ricky:** other, um, no. So this is what makes Lalo so special is they choose to only focus on Blanco.
Yeah. Um, that's like, that's their craft. So they're a third generation, uh, tequila maker. And Yeah. Mm. Their whole thing is to have a fresh take on the art of making Blanco. So they only produce Blanco tequila. Um, and it's confirmed or certified additive free. There's absolutely no aging because Blancos can be aged up to two months.
Uh, but there's absolutely no aging. And these guys go and use champagne [00:20:00] yeast for their fermentation.
**Gizmo:** Did anybody bring champagne yeast tonight that we could try? You know what's funny? I have
**Chef Ricky:** fresh yeast in my car for my wife later. What? Because she's making croissants tomorrow. Interesting. For a client.
Is it champagne yeast? It's not champagne yeast. But you know, champagne yeast is, is, it's known for being able to tolerate sort of rougher environments. You know, uh, tough temperature swings. Um, so it's a great yeast for especially a high, uh, Alcohol product like a blanco tequila. Um, but no, these guys, they do everything.
Great. They're using a stone to Hona. They're using, uh, you know, natural, uh, open air fermentation, uh, and you could tell when the product, you know, the, the body, uh, the finish is short, uh, I'm sorry, long. Uh, and it actually pairs really, really good with this cigar. I agree. I think this is a great choice.
Yeah,
**Bam Bam:** the finish is outstanding. It's quite long and I think it evolves after you take it down. I get a little pair right at the very, very [00:21:00] tail of it. It's really, It's different. And
**Chef Ricky:** staying on brand with tonight's episode about the, with the budget cigar, Lalo is a very affordable Blanco tequila. I picked up this bottle for 43 bucks.
Not bad. That's a
**Gizmo:** great price. In
**Chef Ricky:** fact, I gave the guy of the, of the spirit store where I purchased it a little bit of shit because he had it. Tucked in the, you know, like an aisle cap there with a Tito's vodka. And I'm like, dude, what are you doing? This tequila is amazing. It deserves to be over there on the tequila shelf.
He's like, that's good to know. But, uh, yeah, no, it's, it's been, uh, one of my favorite Blancos for a long time. It's a great Blanco. You know, you could feel not guilty throwing it in a cocktail or having it at a party with a lot of people who may or may not appreciate higher price tequilas or super, uh, cerebral tequilas.
Um, so it's, and it's a beautiful bottle. It is. It's, it's, yeah. It's actually very similar
**Gizmo:** in a way to the Vegueros tin. That's true.
**Bam Bam:** It's a, it's somewhat rectangular with like a little bit of a rounded top and. Yep. Clean white label. Just [00:22:00] like a little.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Clean labels. Yeah. Very
**Bam Bam:** clean.
**Gizmo:** Would you say there's any lavender in here, Bam?
**Bam Bam:** No, cream. There's a little purple up there. A little purple on the top. On the bottom, maybe. It's more of a violet. Yeah, but the bands are horizontal, like tin, so it's kind of cool.
**Gizmo:** So this has been, for me, a standout Blanco both times at the event we went to at your place. And trying it again, it was like, we need to do this Blanco with a mild, To medium Cuban cigar.
Cause we obviously, I think this is only the second Blanco that, or third Blanco really, that we're rating on this podcast. So for all the other Repos and Añejos we've done, I think this is a great choice for a mild Cuban cigar.
**Bam Bam:** But I will say this. I, and this has enough body, this Blanco, I would have this with almost any cigar, almost any cigar.
Not every cigar, but almost. It stands up. It's got a lot of body. It's got good legs to it. I would smoke this with a D4, no doubt about it. I think, I think this can wear a lot of different hats. I would, [00:23:00] I'd have this with an E2. I would have it with definitely the Schwa Supreme. Yeah. I would disagree with that.
Yeah. I think it's a, I think it's a premier tequila. I mean, after, after gizmo, like torches some steel over there, welding steel over there. Let
**Gizmo:** me make a, let me lodge a complaint before we talk more about tequila. I'm having a hell of a time keeping this cigar lit. When I'm not, when I'm talking dude, it like has gone out twice on me.
Well, you do talk a lot. Well, that's my job here. That's correct.
**Grinder:** I haven't had that problem. It's been, it's been a great burn. The burn line has been very consistent. Look how sharp that burn line is. That's a, I mean, that's a great ash too. It's ridiculous.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. I'm having, I'm struggling a little bit to keep mine lit as I talk, which is frustrating because I don't want to smoke it fast and I don't want to keep lighting it up.
Maybe you got
**Bam Bam:** one of those banged up ones. Maybe. Mine looked great when I pulled it out. Since we segwayed to the cigar for a moment. Yeah, let's talk about that. I gotta tell you, it's getting better. I didn't really, it was okay for me that first, what is that, three quarters of an inch, it was fine. I wasn't as [00:24:00] positive as the rest of you were.
It was okay. It has settled in beautifully now. So it's, I think now I'm getting more of the cream that Rooster mentioned. That's happening. Um, and then a little bit of biscuit like Pagoda mentioned, or like um, Greiner mentioned. Excellent.
**Rooster:** I get, it's gotten better. I also get cedar. I mean, right from the beginning there was some cedar, some cream, maybe a little bit of leather.
I don't know, it might be way off, but yeah, I
**Grinder:** think all these are valid. I just think they're all subdued. They're not, they're not, they're not
**Rooster:** very pronounced.
**Chef Ricky:** The retro hail does offer some enlightenment to the flavor a little bit because without it there as it always does. But on the retro, you get a lot of creaminess, you get a lot of that biscuit note and it's really enjoyable.
The retro hail offers
**Bam Bam:** tremendous value. Yeah, I think you're right. Like this, especially, we've talked about it, but there's no, yeah. So it's interesting. The milder cigar, the less bodied cigar, honestly, the retrohale actually helps to enhance and helps you capture more. I think [00:25:00] it's essential. I agree. We're a very robust and full cigar.
**Gizmo:** Sometimes, sometimes your eyes are water.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, I'll retrohale maybe every sixth, fifth or sixth draw. On this one, I can retro every single draw.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, I'm a little frustrated with mine right now. We'll see what happens here.
**Grinder:** That's unfortunate. Because I think if you look around the room
**Gizmo:** Everybody's having a good experience.
**Grinder:** Absolutely. I'm sorry, Giz.
**Gizmo:** No, it lit up great. It's just there's something going on with it. I don't know if the I don't know what is happening with the combustion where it just will not stay lit. I had great output, great smoke output. Everything was fine. And all of a sudden, and you said your draw was wide open, wide open, no problems with the draw saying you look a little further along than the rest of us too, because I think I'm having to keep Yeah.
Relighting it.
**Bam Bam:** Smoking it too fast, maybe. Get out of here.
**Gizmo:** All right, let's get back to the tequila. So this Lalo is, was a standout and we talked about, we mentioned that we, we were at Anejo New York City Tribeca a few weeks ago on a Monday night for the, for the Love of [00:26:00] Agave event. Chef Ricky was so kind to invite us out.
And it was the second one that we had been to and it was excellent. We were able to taste so many great tequilas. And Mezcal and Sotal, which is the first time I've ever had that, which is a very unique, uh, spirit out of Mexico. Oh,
**Bam Bam:** yeah.
**Gizmo:** But what I love is that you're interfacing with people who are directly involved in the production of these agaves.
You know, spirits and I learned a lot just from walking around for an hour, hour and a half, just sipping different things, talking to these different people like it continues to be in a light enlightening experience with this with agave that is just Really, really eyeopening.
**Bam Bam:** Absolutely.
**Gizmo:** And, and we left there with some really great impressions of, of a lot of different brands.
**Chef Ricky:** It's truly special. At every table we have, you know, the, either a brand ambassador or a distributor, and then in some rare instances, such as in the Chamber of Spirits case, where we have Mr. David [00:27:00] Soro, who's an absolute agave legend. Um, and there's probably so many people that came to that event just to see him and to be able to interact with him.
Not only is he the distributor of his product, but he's also the maker of his product. Um, and he really just produces really, really truly amazing product, uh, spirit, uh, from rice, not rice, yeah, from ricea to some mezcal or agave distillates that aren't technically mezcal because they're choosing not to go that route and get the certification, uh, to some really amazing tequilas.
Um, But yeah, it's, it's really a, a, an awesome opportunity to just go in there and get exposed to all of these agave distillates under one roof at the same time and be able to have that conversation and that, and gather that information from people first. I,
**Grinder:** I found it really fun to just, I just, you know, there was a lot of passion in the room.
People were really excited. You know, people were enthused to talk about Was
**Rooster:** the [00:28:00] restaurant closed?
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. Yeah. We closed the entire restaurant, top and bottom. Um, although we had a great meal downstairs. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, and then there was a VIP hour, which you didn't make it in for band that started at six.
And that, like you mentioned, is that's a great opportunity to, you know, especially if you live a little bit further to kind of come in, you know, and, and, and grab a taste of everything you'd like to with, before it gets super crowded and then you can make your way out and go about your day. Oh yeah. We did it
**Gizmo:** right.
We were back. In the lounge with a cigar in the second quarter of the Monday night football game. It was great. Correct. No, in my case,
**Chef Ricky:** I left that midnight, so I wanted to leave early, but it's hard. You know, I get pulled in a lot of different directions and yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Although we saw Lizard JP in the club. Yeah, yeah.
Lizard JP was there. Yeah, yeah. He sneaks out. He doesn't get any work done at the restaurant. And you know, and hey,
**Chef Ricky:** kudos to him because he gets, uh, well, he made it to Fortaleza of Agave. That's [00:29:00] true. And it's even great to see him there because he doesn't drink. Yeah. Right. Sure. Right, right, right. And, uh, it's like that, that's just how special the event is and, uh, and the information is that valuable.
**Rooster:** Do you guys sell all the tequilas that were, Yes. Present in that room. There
**Chef Ricky:** is a rare. Yeah. Really? 100%. We have over 240 different expressions of agave distillates. Uh, there are rare instances where some guys want to come in and we offer them for the love of agave and, and we gather feedback based on what, uh, you know, on people's enjoyment of the product.
And if they do well, then we'll, we'll put them on the shelf.
**Gizmo:** Wow. So I just want to mention some of the, the highlight tequilas and, and spirits for us. I think there were a couple highlights. Of course, as soon as you walked in, I wish Puba was there because the first person as we walked in was G4, which I know he spent.
a few episodes ago.
**Bam Bam:** Oh yeah.
**Gizmo:** He's, you know, a couple of times he kept saying this cigar would go great with G4, G4, G4. He couldn't
**Bam Bam:** stop [00:30:00] talking about it. So I
**Gizmo:** finally was able to have G4, which was awesome. Right next to them was Don Filano, which of course we have a lot of experience with thanks to Chef Ricky.
I will say two of the highlight brands for us, for me at this event, were Volans. Yes. And Fosforo.
**Bam Bam:** That was good.
**Gizmo:** Fosforo. So Fosforo
**Chef Ricky:** is a Mezcal. That was great. That's great. Yeah. And Volans is truly, truly special. Tequila and
**Bam Bam:** Eno was excellent as well. Yeah,
**Chef Ricky:** yeah. What was
**Grinder:** the, what was the, the spirit with like dia DTAs, like skeletons on
**Chef Ricky:** it.
That's s We've had that mescal too in the club was brought some models of that. That was really good. Yeah. They have a lot of expressions
**Gizmo:** and I think maybe, you know, Lalo for me, the Blanco, I, I really love this. I'm glad we're doing it tonight, but Enta was a brand that. When we went down the line of, I think they had four or five expressions there.
I'm not sure. That was really a standout for me. That was probably my favorite. [00:31:00]
**Chef Ricky:** Mejanta is special and it's one of the few tequilas that's distilled by a female master distiller. Oh, wow. Um, it is, it's fairly new to market. I want to say it's maybe been released, not even two years. We probably got it a year ago.
Um, if that much, if that long. Tequila
**Rooster:** vixen. Correct.
**Chef Ricky:** And, uh, And yeah, it's, and you guys actually all had some of the Anejo, which I think is truly special. Uh, yeah, it's not, yeah, it's, it's, it's exceptional.
**Gizmo:** Cheers to you, Chef Ricky. Thanks for having us. It was a great event. I encourage all of our listeners when we announced the next one, you got to come and join us.
Incredible. If you're in the tri state area, if you're in New York city area, check it out. You got to come to that event. And I'm not even promoting it from a business standpoint. I'm promoting it from a, any of our listeners out there who've gone on the tequila journey, and we've gotten so many emails about tequila and then those who've gone on the mezcal journey, we've gotten so many emails from folks who've run out and buy those mezcals.
If you are into it and you're in the area, you got to [00:32:00] make room on your calendar when these events are announced, because we're coming out of there with five to 10 to even 15 potential. Candidates to review in the future here. So, so it's a, so it's a good thing. And we
**Chef Ricky:** do, we do it twice a year. It's once a year at, uh, each local.
So once we do it once a year in New York and this around the summertime in the September, uh, month, early month of September. And then we do it again around February in Philadelphia. Oh, cool. So we used to do twice a year in each location, but it became a bit much. So now we just, we split it. Every six months, but one in Philly New York.
How many people show up this last one? It was about a hundred and thirty eight people. It's awesome. So yeah, it gets pretty crowded So you guys leave you guys left right on time? Oh, yeah, we did
**Grinder:** great We didn't we didn't talk about another star of the show which were the past hors d'oeuvres
**Gizmo:** Oh yeah, the hors d'oeuvres were great.
**Grinder:** Fantastic. The pork belly was out of this [00:33:00] world.
**Chef Ricky:** The pork belly tostada. My personal favorite was the hush puppy. The hush puppy was great too. They were hard to find though. Yeah, they were going quick. They were going fast. And um, yeah, you guys missed the mariachi. I'm fine with that. At 10 o'clock. That was pretty fun.
That's cool. Some dancers. Bam would have loved that. Oh yeah. Yeah. Bam approved activities.
**Gizmo:** So boys, we're coming to the end of the first third here on the Vigueras Centrofinos. What's everybody thinking?
**Grinder:** I think it's a good cigar. You know, I think, uh, definitely picked up in, in, I wouldn't say strength, but flavor.
Um, you know, I think this is a cigar that I definitely enjoy as a pastime. You know, not necessarily looking for all of this enrichment of flavor, this rich flavor, but just something to appreciate a good cigar, good Cuban, but not get, you know, not get too deep in enjoying the, the, uh, you know, the flavor profiles.
And I think, I think as we, as we come [00:34:00] along here, it's definitely, like I said, picking up in, in these flavors. So
**Rooster:** I'm starting to get like a coffee note now, like coffee and leather
**Chef Ricky:** a little bit. Yeah, I could see the leather. I think sometimes for me, leather comes across as a vegetal note. Um, but yeah, I guess I'm, I'm associating it more with leather now.
I did have to relight because I kind of started talking there for a little bit. So that's my first relight. But otherwise it's been smoking pretty good and it has picked up in flavor.
**Gizmo:** I think whatever construction issue I had with lighting, I think I'm past it. Looks like you sorted it out. So I think I'm sorted out now.
Yeah. It's burning fine. I'm slowed down. Got a good ash on it. Yeah, I think we're, uh, I think we're moving in the right direction. All right, boys. It's time to do lizard of the week. And this email is fantastic and is also right in line with what we were just talking about with chef Ricky. So this comes from lizard Edwin.
He says, Hey lizards. First, I wanted to share how much I love the show and truly how much it means to me. I feel like the Tuesday ritual you've given us has helped [00:35:00] me create a virtual friend group to share cigars with each week, even though I'm not in the same room with you guys, your effort, humility, and appreciation for the hobby.
And your fans is really refreshing. Congratulations on 150 episodes, and may there be thousands more to come. Your journey from episode 1 to now is pretty amazing. And any blizzards out there who haven't gone back from to listen from episode 1 to episode 150 should do it. It's a completely different experience, and it's refined now versus then.
But the camaraderie and friendship is the same. It's a 10, it's a 10, it's a 10, as Pagoda would say. With Chef Ricky coming on board to the panel, great move by the way, I feel like now is the right time to ask this question. I am very fortunate in the Midwest, and he says, unlike our neighbors to the north, I'm assuming he means Canada, to have a great lounge selection, and to have one of my lounges share space with an excellent steakhouse, and on the other side, a great Italian pit.
That's awesome. I mean, how lucky is this guy? That's awesome. [00:36:00] He's
**Bam Bam:** very lucky. I mean, We don't have that.
**Gizmo:** No. He's killing it. Hey, but he doesn't have Wonder. That's true. Yet.
**Bam Bam:** Not yet.
**Gizmo:** What do you guys think about smoking cigars while dining? If you do like it, and I think Gizmo at one point said he did, what foods do you pair with what cigars?
**Bam Bam:** Any food.
**Rooster:** Well I think the only real place that we have enjoyed that is in Cuba.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah,
**Rooster:** I mean also hearth and tap Jamie's Jamie's in Clifton.
**Grinder:** You can go, you can, I mean, Club Macanudo, you can, but you know,
**Rooster:** it's something special when you're having a meal in Cuba, smoking a cigar, right? And there's a live band playing.
Correct combination of those three things is just, it's something special.
**Chef Ricky:** You know, I'll say coming from a chef's perspective, I probably just would stay away from super acidic foods, uh, because I think it would just kind of really wash away, you know, so maybe a red [00:37:00] sauce at an Italian place, unless it's a, super deep and, and, and long cooked marinara or
**Bam Bam:** he makes a great
**Chef Ricky:** point.
I, but you know, I probably wouldn't eat a ceviche at a Mexican spot or any kind of crudo that has like a ton of lime or anything like that. But, you know, a beautiful steak, something fatty, a protein, typically. Yeah. So, you know, some kind of, uh, you know, I'd love to try. perhaps a chicken liver mousse or something like that at a steakhouse.
You know, oftentimes there's cognac in there and shallots, just things that I think would pair really well with almost any cigar, especially. We are elevating our discussion. Uh, you know, overall, how about seafood? Yeah, no, you know, listen, lobster. Scallops, uh, sea urchin, these things are creamy, buttery, slightly briny.
Oysters, as long as you don't go too acidic, you know, maybe take it easy on that mignonette. Um, but yeah, I, I think, you know, for sure, if you're able to take advantage of that and you have that privilege. Go for it [00:38:00] because it's, it's, you know, you're only adding to your experience.
**Gizmo:** I, I know I feel lucky here at 1086 because we joke about wonder, but it's right down the street and we have a couple of great restaurants around here.
We can bring food in, everything's here at the lounge so we can eat here while we smoke and drink. And I love to sit at the bar and I'll order a filet or a piece of meat from wonder. And Amani too.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I have my fillet and, and I'll have some broccolini, some sauteed broccolini, and then I'll drink some red wine, some Oberon or something like that.
That is a fantastic combo. Makes perfect sense. And I'm doing it all at the same time. Like I'm not waiting on the steak to finish. Like I'm doing it all at the same time. And I've had that same experience up at hearth and tap in Montville. And
**Bam Bam:** Jamie's.
**Gizmo:** And Jamie's too. But up at up in hearth and tap, I've had salmon, which pairs very well with a cigar.
So I'm very much a proponent of smoking while eating. And of course, like Rooster said, when you're in Cuba, that's every meal. Absolutely. Breakfast, you're, you're having a cigar with breakfast. There's no doubt about it.
**Chef Ricky:** [00:39:00] And, you know, I haven't had Wonder to the extent that you guys have, but, you know, if there are other steak options, I strongly recommend going with the steak option that is fattier.
Filet is very lean, but, you know, it's a go to because it's very tender. Uh, there's not many cuts of meat out there that are tender and lean at the same time. But if you're able to get a ribeye or something like that, and you get those pockets of fat while you're smoking, it's, it's great. It just really extends the experience.
**Grinder:** I had a, I had a pork loin. Um, today for dinner and I had a cigar just afterwards and it worked. I didn't have it with dinner, but it was, I, I got the impression it would have been a perfect pairing. Oh, sure. It's nice and lean, but not, you know, too much.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. Sometimes pork loin has that thin fat cap on the side.
Yeah. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** So he continues. What drink pairings would you guys choose for having with both a cigar and food? My, my default there, of course, is red wine.
**Bam Bam:** You know, I love red wine or a white wine with a fish. This is an interesting question because a [00:40:00] lot of us, like me, I would skew my drink selection based on what I'm eating, not what I'm smoking.
The cigar complements both because you kind of want the meal to stand out. And the cigar experience, I think it makes it fun. It's more robust and rich. I would. Definitely pair the drink with the food before I pair it with the cigar. I would agree. I think,
**Grinder:** I think if you're sitting down for a meal, first of all, God bless you.
Second of all, you know, you should, you should, that should be the focus. Correct. And, um, you know, honestly, a cold beer with a steak and a cigar. Oh, that's great too. Sure. It, you know, it's, it hits, it smacks, it smacks you with goodness and it's not overwhelming and it goes well with anything.
**Chef Ricky:** I'll, I'll say this too.
I mean, a super baller move, If your steakhouse has anything with foie, foie gras, and you're able to maybe get some foie gras and maybe some sauternes, well, that, you won't do the same, you won't do them at the same time, but [00:41:00] often times there's sauternes, uh, in the cooking of the foie or some kind of sauce that's paired with it, that might blow your socks off to me.
That would be, that could be an incredible pair. What, why do you think that would be? What is it about? Steakhouse foie is super fatty, but it's so delicious. Delicious. Flavor, you know, foie gras, foie gras in general is sweet. It's, it's, it's butter on steroids, if you will. And
**Rooster:** sauternes
**Chef Ricky:** a dessert, dessert wine.
And it's oftentimes, you know, usually when you have a lobe of foie, because it's so rich, it's usually paired with something sweet and slightly acidic, but. Yeah, that could be a super, uh, which is why I mentioned the chicken liver mousse. But, you know, if you're able to get some kind of duck liver mousse, that may work even better.
**Gizmo:** So he asks, does doing this hamper your ability to enjoy the cigar or the food perhaps? And I think you already answered that question saying. Just stay away from something that's heavily acidic and lean something that's [00:42:00] fatty rich, rich, you know, as opposed to something that's tomato based or, you know, something like that.
Yeah.
**Chef Ricky:** I think if you're having an enjoyable cigar, the last thing you want to do is cut that flavor. You know, you kind of want that experience to last and you want it to linger. So just think of what are foods that you could eat that could extend that experience. And Usually, you know, fat help is a, is a flavor extender, you know, it keeps the, it keeps all those, uh, flavors on your
**Bam Bam:** palate long.
Yeah. So the cigar choice is also important. Like that Monty II call out, I think it's smart. I wouldn't necessarily have a schwa supreme with a steak.
**Gizmo:** I agree with that.
**Bam Bam:** Okay.
**Gizmo:** Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** But I would do a D4. I would absolutely do an E2. I would do a Ramona Lona Specialty Select. Those standard production, more, you know, less fruit, more earth, coffee, leather, I think makes sense.
I think especially if you're eating proteins, chicken or steak.
**Gizmo:** And the reason why I reach for, the reason why I reach [00:43:00] for the Monte II is I think that salty thing that happens on the front of your tongue there. Yeah, it's complimentary. For me it just works with the red wine as we know, of course, because we've talked about that ad nauseum with Cuban cigars.
Yeah. But then pairing that with, with a nice piece of meat, it just, it, everything hits for me. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** It's cool to kind of plan your night when you're in front of your tower or whatever you have and you're looking, I'm going to have a steak with the guys. I'm going to think intently about what I'm eating and choose my cigars accordingly for sure.
**Chef Ricky:** And, and I'll, I'll piggyback off of bam a little bit there. You know something leathery, peppery. Mm-Hmm. Uh, could go great with earthy, with an earthy, could go great with red meats. Whereas something fruity, maybe slight, slightly citrusy could go better off with, you know, chicken quail and dare say Turkey.
I know turkey's not something you see in restaurants often, but, Mm-Hmm. . Despite its leanness, turkey has this quality of being able to just kind of stay on your palate for a while, right? And you know, it's, it, yeah, it, I mean, you'd be, it, [00:44:00] this, this is a fun exercise. It is. And we're calling
**Bam Bam:** out only Cubans, but let's not forget the Exclusiva with a steak.
Of course. Outstanding. Of course. LP number nine. Yeah. Or the, my, one of my, my favorite, the Millennium Pyramid with a steak, or I've had that with poultry. It's, it's fantastic.
**Gizmo:** So, you know, what's funny, the reason why I lean money too. Or just Cuban would, but I'm usually reaching for a Monte Cristo number two.
And, and just one quick note, I'm, I would probably not reach for a higher priced, crazy cigar, either call it a Cohiba regular production or Monte to really cheap anymore. I know, but it's still, you know, 28, 30 bucks. It's not, you know, a 60 or 70 cigar, but it works for the palate on this food. But the reason why I kind of, I'm bringing up Cuban cigars is that.
I'm usually having the meal at the front of my night and that's where I'm having my Cuban cigars. Like when I'm, when I'm leaning into, when I get into the Honduran second, the fab five, or I'm going to the Dominican, then the Nicaraguan that's later in the night. Like those [00:45:00] cigars almost become dessert for me at that point.
So
**Bam Bam:** that's
**Gizmo:** why I'm, that's why I'm kind of pointing to. Uh, Cubans, as far as the experiences I've had.
**Rooster:** And there's nothing wrong with having a cigar right after the meal. Sure. Sure. Also. You know, I mean, a lot of those
**Chef Ricky:** flavors are still on your palate. They're
**Bam Bam:** still lingering. But there's something decadent about smoking and eating for me personally.
It's a great experience.
**Rooster:** If the venue allows you to do that. Yeah, sure.
**Bam Bam:** And we're lucky we've got a couple spots. Yeah.
**Rooster:** Yeah. Very few.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah, you know, this lizard might have just given me, uh, some purpose because I haven't done a whole lot of TV, I've done some, uh, but if there's anything that I will do on TV or would do on TV, it's, uh, you know, David Chang has a show on Netflix where he's cooking for two personalities and he's just kind of winging it.
I'd love to do something like that where we're all smoking cigars and I get to cook and then we do it here in the food. That'd be pretty awesome. This is sounding
**Gizmo:** good. Thank you, Lizard Edwin, for the email. Now we're getting [00:46:00] somewhere here. We could all wear masks, you know, and just Just cut off like at the
**Chef Ricky:** It'll be like a masquerade ball, but, you know.
**Gizmo:** So we're going to keep digging in on Chef Ricky here because he goes a little bit further and I like this. He says, also, I'm curious about how Chef Ricky's journey into higher end tobacco with you guys, as he mentioned a few times, has potentially influenced the way he picks his menu for his restaurants.
**Grinder:** That's a great question.
**Gizmo:** Is there any sort of influence from cigars or tobacco or the way that your palate thinks about those things? Is it influencing? Your menu choices?
**Chef Ricky:** I can't say directly necessarily. I think if anything, I approach my tasting of cigars the way I would approach food. Where I'm, I, I want, you know, so while I'm enjoying the cigar, one of my least favorite things about it is how short the finishes, right.
And. When [00:47:00] I, when I, when I eat and I'm on the healthier side, uh, as far as weight is concerned, you know, when I, when I eat, I want that flavor to linger. I want that flavor to last, especially if it's delicious. So when I create a dish, I oftentimes look for ways to extend that experience further. Uh, so whether it's through the use of fat or the use of aeration or, you know, whatever the case may be, I use those tools, uh, to my advantage to provide that experience.
And
**Rooster:** also you have mentioned a few times. If you could incorporate some tobacco shavings into some kind of a chocolate dessert or something like that, you know, that, that would be, that would be
**Bam Bam:** amazing. I can come to the restaurant and just ash on your, on your desserts. I could do that.
**Chef Ricky:** Burned tobacco is not the same as unburned tobacco.
Um, burned tobacco is just salty. Yeah, I've actually tasted it. We may have all tasted it, you know, accidentally, but I've done it on purpose. Um, and I, if, or. [00:48:00] Burnt tobacco, you know, lit tobacco, whatever, just, it has a salty, a very salty forward note. Um, so when I have used it, cause I, there has been nothing recent, you know, cause I would never sneak tobacco onto a menu item that, you know, people aren't aware of or anything like that.
So it would have to be something focused, uh, you know, maybe it's a special dinner of a bunch of tobacco smokers or something like that, where I seek out, where I seek to, you know, to implement tobacco into the dishes and usually the best vehicles for that because if you've ever, uh, you know, gotten an unlit leaf in your mouth, it's very sort of tannic, very bitter, uh, somewhat acidic.
Uh, usually the best ways to sort of, uh, just, you know, Uh, smooth that out is through the use of fat and cream. So, you know, there, I have done things where I've incorporated tobacco into whipped cream. I've incorporated it into chocolate. Uh, salted caramels. Things like that because the caramel has butter.
Uh, [00:49:00] you know, just think about, you know, the whole movement with, uh, marijuana and all the edibles. And usually they're very rich and, you know, and that's used to one sort of, uh, mask. A little bit? Not so much mask, uh, it helps sort of distribute the, in, in marijuana's case, it helps distribute the THC, uh, and just kind of smooth it out and deliver in a manner that's a little bit slower, uh, which is why sometimes it takes edibles just in general a while to hit, but also it just helps kind of carry out and smooth out that experience, uh, the flavor experience, because some people truly enjoy that flavor profile.
**Rooster:** You could also use like the cigar leaf as the bottom of the dish and serve something. As a presentation. Yeah. You know, that would be,
**Bam Bam:** that would be. That's cool. Or I can like wave the waiter in. Can I get a little bit of Sir Winston shavings here, please? You know, now you got me thinking,
**Chef Ricky:** can I wrap a tamale in tobacco leaf?
Now we cooking. [00:50:00] Oftentimes it's a banana leaf or corn husk and it'd be done with tobacco leaf. So who knows? You know, possibilities are endless. I just need, I need a, you know, test dummies.
**Gizmo:** You're looking at it. We'll be the dummies. Mostly the dummies. We'll get you some medio tiempo leafs. So lizard Edwin finishes his email here.
Thanks again. I really love what you guys do. And I think it's still an underappreciated service to the entire cigar community. Much love lizard. Edwin
**Chef Ricky:** Wow. Email. That is an awesome email done. That was one of, that was the best email in my tenure is that Lizard of the Week. That was a lot of fun. That's Lizard of
**Gizmo:** the Week, so let's talk about that boys.
So Lizard Edwin, like we've been doing every week for maybe the last six or seven weeks. I'm not sure it's gonna win some stuff from the Lounge Lizards podcast. So if you wanna win, you have to send us a great email, a comment. A note, uh, uh, DM on Instagram, a voice memo, whatever it may be, any sort of something we could share on the air [00:51:00] every week, someone's going to win lizard of the week.
So congratulations to him. Uh, we really, really appreciate all of our listeners for reaching out. And we have a few more emails to get to tonight here, boys. But first, can
**Chef Ricky:** I add onto lizard, everyone? Cause that email was so amazing. I forgot one major super. Pairing that I think would be incredible, especially with that Maduro three, we had a few weeks back to part of this.
Yeah, that the, you know, one of the last fleet, uh, flavors that hit me, uh, was the mushroom do mommy. All right. So imagine pairing truffles. You know, something like that with a cigar, you know, a parsnip puree that tends to be kind of creamy, buttery, sweet. And then you have that truffle come through.
**Bam Bam:** You're talking white
**Chef Ricky:** truffle or black truffle?
Either. Either. Yeah. I'd go black truffle just because it's black truffle time right now. I'm such an elitist. Ha ha ha ha
**Bam Bam:** ha. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Well, thanks, like I said, to Lizard Edwin. And we have some more emails to get to tonight here, boys. But first, we are well past, I would say, [00:52:00] the halfway point here on the Vigero Centro Finos.
**Grinder:** Mm hmm.
**Bam Bam:** Mm
**Gizmo:** hmm. What's everybody thinking? Mine's definitely gotten a little better here.
**Grinder:** I, I think mine is, is really, really good. The smoke, I don't know if we haven't mentioned this, but the smoke output in these is tremendous, is really quite significant. The, uh, flavors have, have, have kind of remained constant basically since the beginning of the second third.
**Bam Bam:** Haven't they gotten more savory? Yeah, more pepper. I think, I think
**Grinder:** after, I think, I think the second third, is different from the first third. And I'm probably into the final third by now. Yeah. And it's, and it's about the same. It's pretty savory for me. Yeah.
**Chef Ricky:** So now I'm experiencing some burn issue. It's not burning as clean.
I'm not getting that sexy ash that it was. The burn line is a little erratic at the moment. It's, it's good. It's, you know, it's still good. It didn't improve for me. If anything, I think it took a small dip for the worst, but, um, it, it might, it may stabilize and get it was. So looking at your
**Bam Bam:** cigar, so I was there and you can, now mine's pretty razor sharp.
You have to, once you smoke past that [00:53:00] point, you'll kind of, it'll self adjust. Level out, yeah. And you'll do slight touch ups to get it kind of back to that nice razor edge. Yeah, and the,
**Grinder:** the aroma has, has, has, you know. Was, is, and will probably, you know, forever be fantastic.
**Rooster:** I think the cigar is also not rolled very tight.
It's not packed with a lot of tobacco. So hence, I think that might be the reason why we're kind of having some burn issues a little bit.
**Chef Ricky:** Makes sense. I think my opinion got a little skewed to talking about all those rich, food, rich, delicious foods. I'm like, man, I want to reach a richer, deeper cigar right now.
Yeah. This is not a, yeah, this is not a black
**Gizmo:** truffle. No. All right, boys, let's continue on with some more lizard email. This one comes from lizard. John from Boise. He says, hi, Giz. I could use some assistance from you and the fellow lizards. I'm trying to decide between the cutie 50. That's the K door. The H up in half Corona.
And the Hoyo Epicure number three for [00:54:00] my shorter smoke sessions this coming winter. Sadly, my budget will only allow for one of the three box purchase options. I would love to hear what choice the esteemed lizard panel would recommend as always. Many thanks for all of your hard work on the pod. Cheers.
Lizard, John from Boise. So let me list those again. Boise's going, he's looking between the K door, say 50, the H up in half Corona. And the Hoyle Epicure No. 3. Very,
**Bam Bam:** very distinct cigars. And
**Gizmo:** they're three great choices. They're all
**Bam Bam:** excellent. Excellent choices. You can't go wrong. But, um, has any of you, have any of you been in Iowa in the winter?
It's a little chilly. It's Idaho,
**Gizmo:** by the way.
**Bam Bam:** Boise's in Idaho. I'm sorry. Even worse. It's got to be brutally cold out.
**Gizmo:** That's exactly what I was thinking, which leads me to my choice. Half Corona.
**Bam Bam:** Dimensionally. Yeah. It makes sense to go for the shorter cigar. Also, also
**Rooster:** you'd never had a,
**Gizmo:** I've never had a bad one.
The performance on those. It's like 99 out of a hundred. Let's assume [00:55:00] he's
**Grinder:** extremely consistent. Let's assume he has access to a lounge.
**Chef Ricky:** I was going to say that he set the stage. Is he smoking outdoors? Is he smoking under cover? My feeling is that
**Gizmo:** it sounds like it's going to be shorter smoke sessions in the winter.
That sounds to me like he's not going to a lounge either. He might be in a, an unheated garage space. He might be smoking outdoors on a deck bundled up, you know? So, you know, and a lot of guys do that. So that would lead me, I'm leaning in that direction. And that points me to the. Did the H up and
**Bam Bam:** if he could not really convert, but get a heating element in that garage, if he has one or outside or a shed of some kind, get a shed from home Depot.
You can put two chairs in it. There's plenty of room there. Get some kind of a heating element. That's not expensive. Have a little smoking shed for yourself. I'm still not looking forward to winter. That I mean, that's bringing me
**Grinder:** back to like sitting, standing outside, freezing my hands off. It's
**Bam Bam:** impossible to smoke outside when it's freezing.
**Chef Ricky:** And he could even go the you could go the fishing tent route, the ice fishing tent route. You could go with a pop [00:56:00] up canopy, 10 by 10 with some sidewalls, which is what I pop up on my deck during the winter. I bring in a heating element in there and watch the pop up tent,
**Bam Bam:** because if you drop your ash on that vinyl, it's
**Chef Ricky:** the floor is not.
Okay. Part of the tent. Oh, I see. Yeah, that's just, you know, so
**Gizmo:** I think the room consensus here for me, the way I'm reading it, correct. And my vote is certainly the H up in half Corona. I think it's the best short smoke out there from Habanos. It's the most reasonably priced out of the three. So you're talking on a half Corona.
You're probably spending about 10 bucks a cigar. The cutie 50. You're probably spending about 22 to 24. epi three, as we know, is, is reaching, it's creeping closer to 30. So what I'm thinking is if you go out and light one of those cigars and all of a sudden the wind hits you out of nowhere and you have to put it down, I would much rather put down the HR half Corona than any of the other two,
**Bam Bam:** but I wouldn't recommend any.
Cuban cigar in the middle of winter to smoke. Honestly, I would deviate from this list [00:57:00] completely and go new world. I think padrone. Yeah, padrone number 35. Yeah for the 1926 series, correct? It's about two and a half inches long It's very rich. It's got a sturdy wrapper great in the winter. We've all had that.
We love that cigar
**Rooster:** Yeah, it's a powerful
**Gizmo:** smoke
**Bam Bam:** though Very powerful but for the winter and for a short stint it makes sense and
**Gizmo:** almost identical in size to the half corona We're talking so here's
**Grinder:** here's a curveball You Have you guys ever tried the nub by Oliva? Yes, I have. So, those cigars are not that bad.
They're not great.
**Chef Ricky:** They're not, but they take surprisingly long to smoke. The ring gauge is larger, yeah. The
**Grinder:** ring gauge is larger, but they're robust. They don't go out. Like, if you get hit by wind, or as you said, they're not, they're pretty good. Pretty sturdy cigar. And they're cheap, you know, so, you know, it's, it's a good throwaway stick.
You can smoke it maybe an inch and then you'll still have half an inch left or whatever, and you're not going to feel bad. Let's not
**Chef Ricky:** forget that [00:58:00] Davidoff Bellicoso, uh, the Churchill. Yeah. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Winston Churchill. Personally, I would not do that in the winter either. I don't think I would either. It's, it's a, it's a beautiful cigar.
It's got very delicate notes. They're distinct and it's, it's extremely well made cigar, but I would lean more toward A Perron or honestly, the Liga Papa Fritas outside.
**Gizmo:** That's a, wow. That's a good one. That's a good one for six to $8.
**Bam Bam:** That's a good, again, a very sturdy cigar. The another one comes
**Rooster:** is the Fuentes.
Short story. Yeah, the hem. That's a classic. That's a good, that's a good winter smoke. Very good recommendation.
**Gizmo:** The other one that we haven't mentioned yet either is the other Padron that's small in the 1964 line, cheaper than the 1935, is the El Principe. Right, yes. In the 1964 line. That's a little longer, I think, than the A.
Chapman half corona we're talking about. Yeah, it's like an inch. Similar blend. About an inch longer. Yes, and it's a similar blend to the Exclusivo we love. It's a small little smoke and it's very [00:59:00] robust.
**Bam Bam:** It's sturdy. I had that the other night. It was very good. You know,
**Rooster:** another one that comes to mind is the, uh, Petit Cazadores Reserva by Tatouage.
Oh yeah. Which is, which comes in a 50 cap, it's like a little football, it's like 4 for a cigar. That thing is awesome. It's a great winter smoke. That's a
**Bam Bam:** great cigar. Great cigar. That's
**Rooster:** a good suggestion.
**Bam Bam:** So we're all, I mean, just responding to the email. I think I would run away from the Cubans in the middle of the winter, get into the new world, small format cigars.
And
**Rooster:** especially because you don't have to buy a full box. Yeah. In the new world, you can, you could, you could pick up fivers. Correct. And you could try a couple of different ones. And
**Chef Ricky:** I also think what Bam is putting down is that the flavor profile of a Cuban cigar lends itself better to warmer months.
And indoor. Or indoors. Indoor, yeah. So yeah, I think going with something a little hardier, if you will.
**Gizmo:** Well, as we get into the colder months, we're certainly thinking about our lizard nation members out there who live in places like Boise, who live in Canada. God [01:00:00] bless you all. God bless Minnesota, Minnesota, these cold, cold places.
As you get your gloves on ready to smoke. I admire the tenacity. I really do. I admire the love of the hobby to the point that you're willing to put up with such brutal cold temperatures. Um, so, uh, if there's any other listeners out there, lizards out there who have any questions for us in line with lizard, John here.
Uh, we're happy to answer them. But, um, and in case
**Rooster:** he has a garage, I mean, we have done a deep dive on garage setups with portable heaters, you know, electric heaters that are mounted and kind of like, you know, hardwired in the actual manufacturers to go
**Grinder:** to, I'll tell you what, I didn't even think of the tent idea that chef Ricky just mentioned.
Uh, you know, I can't
**Rooster:** picture you in a tent. I don't know. Listen, it's, it's
**Chef Ricky:** great. I bought two for my daughter's birthday recently. And, um, I just, I'm like, you know what? This will fit perfectly on the deck. And, uh, and it does, I put it up. Cause it gets too sunny [01:01:00] up there sometimes. And it came with sidewalls and 10 by 10 is plenty of room for you.
And maybe three other buddies, as long as it's slightly vented and you have a heating source in there, you're good to go. Shields you from the wind. And it's not thousands of dollars.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, you can get one for a couple hundred bucks, probably. On Amazon.
**Chef Ricky:** A hundred percent.
**Gizmo:** All right, well, thanks to Lizard John for writing us that email.
And boys, we are in the final third here on the Vigero Centrofinos now. Mine is smoking pretty quickly. What's everybody else thinking? Yeah, it's pretty quick. It's, it's gotten a little harsh. Yeah, mine, mine's definitely harsh.
**Grinder:** I agree. It's picked up on the harshness for sure.
**Bam Bam:** I, I honestly, I felt that it smoked like a very young cigar from the beginning.
It wasn't very, you know, Complex. Um. I agree. But there was a moment there where it was very pleasant. For me, it was an inch into the cigar and that middle third. Other than that, the beginning and end are kind of very average.
**Grinder:** I would echo the harshness. It's picking up in pepper. It's picking up [01:02:00] in that, you know.
**Rooster:** It's mostly red pepper now. Yeah. That's what I'm getting. Cayenne pepper. Red pepper. Red pepper.
**Chef Ricky:** Paprika. Untoasted paprika. Yeah, I could see that. Slightly bitter. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys. Let's do another. This one's from lizard Ray. He wrote us a few weeks ago, uh, asking about any recommendations for going to Cuba.
We talked about a few different things. He said he was going and he wrote us an email. He just had gotten back, said, hello, lizards. First off, thanks for answering my questions about Havana. I emailed you recently. We got back late last week from our fourth great trip to Havana. It was hot, but we were prepared.
Our Casa Particular above Cinco, Cinco Sentidos, which is a restaurant that we love very, very much. It was excellent. Once again, our top three meals for us were Cinco Sentidos, Cha Cha Cha, and a new place for us called El Izalde, close to Cha Cha Cha. We hit up the Partiga Shop, the Cohiba Atmosphere, and the Upstairs Lounge at the Hotel [01:03:00] Nacional.
By far, the Cohiba Atmosphere had the best selection of cigars, which we've said Several times on the pot. That is if you're going to Cuba and you need to get some cigars, the Cohiba atmosphere is the best place to get them,
**Bam Bam:** no doubt about
**Gizmo:** it. And it's right in central Havana there. It's very easy to get walking
**Bam Bam:** distance.
**Gizmo:** We found plenty Partagas D4s and E2s, Bolivar Royal Coronas and Coronas Jr. And some H Upman number twos and singles. They had lots of boxes of Cohiba and Trinidad. No
**Bam Bam:** surprise.
**Gizmo:** The Conde de Villanueva is closed, but the cigar shop and lounge moved a few blocks away to the east of the old Villanueva. We stopped in and met the new roller, Ramon.
He's a great guy and he sells some nice custom rolls. They painted the new place similar to the old Conde de Villanueva and brought over the old furniture. The highlight of his trip, he says, they got the opportunity to visit and tour the El Aguito factory. Really? Which is awesome to hear.
**Bam Bam:** That's rare.
Sure.
**Gizmo:** By far, this was our favorite experience of the [01:04:00] trip. Of course, we had our fair share of rum, Cristal Cerveza, and cigars on this trip. It was a good way to celebrate our friend's 50th birthday. As always, thanks for the work you guys do. I appreciate it. And I always look forward to the next podcast.
**Bam Bam:** Great email.
**Gizmo:** So thank you, Lizard Ray, of course, for writing us. But how awesome is it that he got to go to La Quito? It
**Bam Bam:** makes me miss Cuba right now. Yeah, honestly,
**Gizmo:** he named all the hotspots.
**Bam Bam:** Oh, yeah.
**Gizmo:** What
**Rooster:** is the Conde Villanueva?
**Gizmo:** It's an old hotel and there were very famous custom rollers there and the place closed, I guess, and they moved the lounge, but there's been a lot of very popular custom roles that have come out of it.
**Rooster:** Did that just reopen
**Gizmo:** or? I'm not sure of the timing of it all. No, we hadn't gone there. We also, the reason why we didn't go there is because the old rollers who were famous, I guess, had left there. So we didn't even venture over there.
**Bam Bam:** The Hotel Nacional, that. Smoking lounge. That's kind of up in that second and a half level.
I'm not sure if all of you, any of you got in, gone in there. I did beautiful, elegant, a little dated, [01:05:00] but it's got a lot of history. It's really beautifully done and it's almost never crowded.
**Gizmo:** The problem for us is when we went, they wouldn't take cash.
**Bam Bam:** That's true.
**Gizmo:** They were only taking the MLC cause that's an official government property.
And once we kind of figured that all out, we kind of avoided the place. But a beautiful,
**Bam Bam:** quiet spot for a cigar. Yeah, it was pretty good respite. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys. One more here from lizard. Justin. He said, shout out to whomever picked the first one listed lounge lizards baseball cap on the merch store.
I love caps with no underwire that you can cram in a suitcase. And they will be fine. This one is that, and the material is perfect, and it looks like a cap with an underwire. Keep up the great work. I really enjoy it, even if at times some of y'all make me scratch my head. Who's he talking about? That's what I'm trying to figure
**Bam Bam:** out.
I know who he's talking about. Who? Years. Truly lizard, bam, bam.
**Gizmo:** I have to ask lizard Justin, who he's talking about there, but I'm happy to hear [01:06:00] that he's enjoying the, uh, the lizard merch. That's great. So boys, I know that this is kind of opposite of our experience here tonight in the podcast with our budget Cuban cigar.
So we're going in the complete opposite realm. We talked, I don't know if it was a few weeks ago or even a few months ago at this point about the new Cohiba Esplendidos. That's the. Churchill size, a cigar that is from Cohiba. They don't, they don't have many Churchills in regular production. They announced a 2017 quite some time ago, and it has finally hit shelves.
And boys, we have the pricing information.
**Bam Bam:** Only seven years later.
**Gizmo:** On Monday, August 26th, franchises in Germany. began selling the newest Grand Reserva cigar from Habanos S. A. in Germany where prices are strictly controlled by the government. The cigar is priced at 600 per cigar. For a box of 15, [01:07:00] that's 9, 000.
**Bam Bam:** Rooster, let's go. I know you got it. That's obscene. That is obscene. I mean, no cigar is worth
**Gizmo:** 600.
**Bam Bam:** 600? Yeah, I'm sure it'll do great in the Hong Kong market. Yeah. Probably.
**Gizmo:** Of course. Yeah. I just, the, just the, the pricing on this, the thinking on this, it's, it's just a slap in the face to people who celebrate Cuban cigars.
It's
**Grinder:** not, it's not for cigar, real cigar smokers. No. It's for, you're, you're, you're in Macau and you're spending money at the, at, you know, wherever the fuck you spend money in Macau and you want a, a outrageous cigar. And you want to feel like James Bond. Yeah. You get that cigar. That's, that's exactly what
**Gizmo:** it is.
So for some more detail, the 2017 is a special version of the Cohiba Esplendidos, a regular production cigar sold by Habanos S. A. Both cigars measuring 47 ring gauge by seven inches long. The [01:08:00] tobacco used for these, this release is aged at least five years before the cigars were rolled. So you're paying.
600 for five years age tobacco. There's,
**Grinder:** there's not like new technology in growing tobacco guys. So like what, this is the same tobacco that we've been smoking for centuries. So like what, what, how is it any different?
**Chef Ricky:** Correct. 300 an hour.
**Gizmo:** So yes, this is, uh, I mean it's just crazy. I mean, you know, they put the secondary band on which has the reserve of markings, etc.
They come in these fancy boxes, which of course are going to be, you know, counterfeited like crazy, as they all are. But, uh, It's just, I don't understand. It's it's,
**Bam Bam:** it's decadence. But it completely supports our argument in this room where you pursue standard production, Cuban cigars, and they're all excellent.
They're well made, they're delicious. And you can kind of gauge pricing and see [01:09:00] where the market's at with all the standard sticks stick with that line. Exactly. And that's where we want to be.
**Gizmo:** And listen, I, I, I don't care what anybody tells you, the Gran Reserva Cosecha 2017 Esplendido, with 5 years or 6 years of age on it, just go out, if you really want the Esplendido, just go out and buy the Esplendido.
Yeah. And age it yourself. It's the same blend. It might be, quote unquote, a better watched over tobacco as far as Tabacuba goes.
**Bam Bam:** That's an expensive
**Gizmo:** band you're paying for. I mean, it's crazy. So the other thing, I don't know if we've ever talked about this, but um, I want to list the other Gran Reserva releases that have come out.
This is the seventh. The others were Cohiba Siglo 6 Gran Reserva, which is the first one. Announced in 2011, they re they announced them every two years. So then in 2011, the Monte Cristo number two, Grand Reserva Cosecha, 2005, 2013, they did the Partagas Lusitanius, Grand Reserva Cosecha, 2007, 2009, the [01:10:00] Romeo y Julieta Y.
Churchill's Grand Reserva Cosecha, 2017. They announced the H. Upman Sir Winston, Grand Reserva Cosecha, 2011, 2019, they did the Hoya de Monterey, double Corona. Gran Reserva Cosecha 2013 and finally in 2021 prior to this release, they announced the Partiga Siri E number two 2015. So the one thing you can tie a line in between all of those is they've so far only focused on the global brands.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** So you're not seeing
**Bam Bam:** Ramon. There's a standard production cigar that mirrors. every single cigar that you just mentioned. Exactly. So when you read a list out like that, to me, it's like, there's like, there are collectors out there that are, that pursue these cigars for just for the sake of collecting this, these, these sticks.
**Rooster:** Yeah. You won't be seeing a Vaguero's reserve, et cetera. You know, like someone
**Bam Bam:** like Minran Ni, God bless his soul, guy like that would pursue these cigars because he's building a catalog. And there are other [01:11:00] guys in the world that are probably doing the same thing. This that's what this is for. Right.
**Gizmo:** Yeah.
I mean, I have to be again. I just don't understand anyone who has, you know, decent price sense or value sense saying, you know what? I don't care how much money you have just saying I'm going to smoke something that's 600.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Like we're talking about wrapped up tobacco leaves. There's really nothing like Grinder said.
There's been no advancement. There's nothing special here. We're talking about distressed Cuban tobacco being sold. Which that cigar probably costs 15 cents to make, if that, for 600 a cigar.
**Grinder:** Nice markup.
**Gizmo:** Very nice. Shout out to Half Wheel for putting all this information in a really clean and tidy way for us to share it with the listeners tonight.
We appreciate Half Wheel. We get a lot of stuff from them. So that's that, boys. The Cohiba Esplendido Gran Reserva Cosetra. So, Bam, we'll do that on episode 200. All right. All right, boys, we're coming to the end of our [01:12:00] evening here with the Lalo Tequila Blanco and the Vegueros Centrofinos. Any final thoughts before we move into the ratings part of our program?
**Bam Bam:** All
**Grinder:** right. It's definitely faded. Yeah. I thought it was, I thought it was a pleasant, I thought it was a pleasant smoke. I think for what you're, what you're paying for and what you get. the Delta, uh, of added value is, is pretty significant actually. And, you know, I would, I would, I would challenge any of us to find a cigar that, that has, you know, this kind of delivery with, with that, with that price.
Uh, yes, you know, you can certainly find New World cigars that are of equal price that probably have a lot more pack. A lot more punch, right? Or cheaper. Yeah, or cheaper. But, but, you know, Rooster made a good comment earlier. If you're new to Cuban cigars and you're just trying to get a footing, this, this might be a good entry point.
And there was, there's a lot of great sticks that are good entry points to Cuban cigars, but this is, this is, you know, [01:13:00] lower cost and, and I thought it was a very well made cigar. The burn was great for me. I know some of us had some troubles there. Uh, the flavor profiles were there, but they weren't.
strong. They weren't overpowering, but it was, it was a pleasant smoke. And, uh, you know, I, I, I don't, I don't say I'm not going to say I'm going to buy a 10 of these, uh, just because, you know, why would I, right. But like, if I could, or if I, if I needed to, or, you know, I was in those situations where I want to throw one away, like I was describing, yeah, it would be a great, it'd be a great slide in.
**Chef Ricky:** It's a great cuban to share amongst friends, you know, if you want to give away a few sticks and not like be hurt in the pocket, but yeah, it doesn't offer a whole lot. It doesn't do much. I think for, I mean, a few weeks ago, I had a holy shit experience with, uh, with that part of his mother or three. This is definitely
**Bam Bam:** not that, uh, I have some opposing thoughts about some of this and I'll.
We'll talk about it in the rating.
**Gizmo:** All right. Well, of course, boys, we first have to do our formal liquor rating tonight on the [01:14:00] Lalo Tequila Blanco. Bam. You're up.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. So this is definitely a nine for me. I like this from the moment we took a taste at Anejo and Tribeca and tonight it is, it just drinks beautifully without a single chip of ice.
I really enjoyed it. It's botanical and a little minerality. It's, it would go great with a lot of, there's a lot of cigars I have in mind that I would pair with this. Nine.
**Chef Ricky:** Chef Ricky.
**Bam Bam:** Chef Ricky.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah, for me, it's a nine. These guys, you know, they, they, they, they go out there to just make a delicious Blanco, super drinkable.
The price point is amazing. Um, and it's a very versatile spirit. Um, you know, clean, mineral forward, the nose is super pleasant, not a super long finish, which is okay, but yeah, I, I don't, you know, for the price point and for what's out there, you know, there, I think, There's no better Blanco on the market, especially at this price.
**Gizmo:** So for me, it's also a nine. I think it's an excellent Blanco. I think for the [01:15:00] price, it outperforms 43. Uh, is it the best Blanco I've had? No. Do I think that this may be contrary to what Bam said about pairing with other cigars? Do I think this is the best Blanco we've had to pair with other cigars? I don't think so.
No, no. But I think it's really, really good. And I think any listener out there, this is a great entry point to tequila. The
**Bam Bam:** value that you're getting. It's excellent. The nine is very, very, um, it's worth, it's worthy. Yeah. And it's easy
**Chef Ricky:** to find. I don't think any of our listeners would have a hard time finding this bottle.
Uh, you know, some of the things that we've had in the past are difficult to get at your local brick and mortar spirit store, uh, somewhat easier online, but this is something that you should be able to find rather easily.
**Grinder:** All right, Grinder, you're up. Get your calculator out. I'm also a nine. I thought the flavor profile was, was, was very smooth and I'm not, I don't typically like Blancos and this was, uh, something that was easy for me to drink.
The minerality was [01:16:00] crisp. It wasn't too strong. I didn't get a overpowering, you know, hotness to it. I thought it paired well with the mild cigar that we smoked.
**Bam Bam:** And you're not a tequila
**Grinder:** man. And I'm not a tequila man. I like, I really like Añejo.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Grinder:** But, you know. The more I'm drinking tequila with you guys, the more I'm becoming a tequila man.
I was gonna say, he's
**Gizmo:** seeming like a tequila man these
**Grinder:** days. He sounds like a tequila man. So yeah, nine for me.
**Gizmo:** Alright boys, that puts the formal liquor rating tonight on the Lalo Tequila Blanco at a nine. Point zero
**Chef Ricky:** where they score. Yeah
**Gizmo:** for a 43 bottle that you can easily find. It's a home
**Chef Ricky:** run And I just want to add like this is the perfect Blanco to drink me if anyone ever has any hesitancy in terms of oh You know, it might be too hot or whatever, you know, whatever you could think of This is not that, you know, in fact, I think if you were to turn this blanco into a margarita, you'd be doing it a disservice.
I think the flavor, the flavors would get [01:17:00] lost in a margarita, but I think the, the way we're drinking it tonight, uh, it's, it's perfect. Well, the
**Rooster:** Iceman isn't here.
**Grinder:** We did, we did bring out some ice, but it was, was not needed.
**Gizmo:** We didn't use it. Yeah. All right, boys, it's time now to move into our formal lizard rating on the Cuban Vegueros Centrofinos.
Rooster, you're up. I mean, this
**Rooster:** cigar is a budget cigar and I think it smoked like one. I didn't like the finish on this. I thought it was, it was kind of dry. It was, uh, short. Um, the flavors were there. I mean, there were some notes that were there, but they were not very pronounced. So it's not in my wheelhouse.
I mean, the, the, the grassy and the hay notes and a little bit of creaminess and cedar that, you know, and, and then towards the end, I guess more like. About the halfway point, like the pepper kind of built up a little bit and towards the end, the cigar actually got a bit harsh. And for that reason, [01:18:00] um, I'm at a six.
Yeah. Six. Wow.
**Gizmo:** Grinder.
**Grinder:** So I, I enjoyed the cigar. I don't want to underscore the word enjoyed. I think it was a very pleasant cigar. Um, I think it started off very nicely. I love the aroma. Um, the retrohale really brought out the flavors that were somewhat muted just by smoking it straight. I would agree that it got harsh at the end, a little peppery.
The finish was, it was biting. It was, it was sharp and biting and a little bitter, um, towards the end there. Uh, you know, I would say it's probably in that medium range, uh, of score wise, but when I take into consideration what I'm getting for what I paid for, I would give it a seven.
**Gizmo:** Okay. I'm also at a seven.
I was hoping to be at an eight tonight knowing that we're smoking a budget cigar, knowing how some of the community feels about the cigar. They buy these up, they reach for them, they age them, they love them. It didn't [01:19:00] do that for me. I did have that moment for about five or 10 minutes where I was having that burn issue.
Thankfully I got past that. The last third definitely got a little rough, rougher, certainly than I would have liked, but I really enjoyed the flavor that we were getting at the beginning. I think the aroma was nice. The smell at the foot, the smell at the head of the cigar, it outperformed its price until I would say that last third, obviously I had a little bit of a wonky burn issue, but I think a seven is a fair score for the cigar, given what it is and what it's trying to be.
And so that's where I'm going to be. Ricky.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah, you know, so I kind of want to touch up on the pairing a little bit here because I think initially I felt that tequila paired well with it But now just going back to my conversation earlier about trying to extend certain flavors This is one cigar that I really enjoyed the retrohale more than the actual Draw the flavor I was getting on the initial draw and a part of me wonders if it would pair better with the reposado Something that's just [01:20:00] slightly aged because this cigar offers very little sweetness except on the retro hill Um, it's a very dry finish very short uh, so I think something that could just maybe extend some and or highlight those flavors that are enjoyable on the retrohale would have been a little bit better because the tequila and the cigar were very similar in how they executed flavor.
They both seem
**Grinder:** young. Yeah,
**Chef Ricky:** yeah, yeah. And a part of me, so, you know, I'm going to give this cigar a 7, but I do think that perhaps with some age it could score an 8. Um, you know, so considering that it's a budget stick, it's not the worst cigar I smoked, the worst Cuban cigar I smoked on the pod with you guys.
It was a pretty short, uh, finish through and through. The final third did get somewhat harsh, but the retro was still enjoyable. Uh, I encountered a little bit of burn issue here and there, but nothing major. Uh, so yeah, it's a seven.
**Bam Bam:** All right, Bam Bam. Well, I continued to smoke the cigar down to [01:21:00] about an inch, and I'm not sure why I'm doing that.
Um, it's habit. It's for the people, Bam. For the people. It's for the people. It's habit. It's for science. I liked the beginning. It wasn't that great. There was a moment in the second third that I really enjoyed for about maybe an inch and a half of it. And now the end is really difficult to smoke. It, for me.
This did not smoke like a Cuban cigar. I'm sorry. I would not recommend this to a novice Cuban smoker or someone that I want to get into the Cuban habit. I would give them something else that I know they're going to enjoy and have a conversation about the notes that I look for in a Cuban cigar. I didn't get any of that here.
But with all that said, it's not an awful cigar, but the rating I w I'm actually toying with a five here, but I'm going to be generous and give it a six. This is, I'm To me, it doesn't smoke like a Cuban cigar at all. There was maybe moments, like I said, but it was very short lived. That's,
**Rooster:** that's your lowest score ever.
I [01:22:00] don't know about that.
**Bam Bam:** I think, I think, I think six is a little harsh. I do, I do, I do. Dude, I'm ready. I was actually going to give this a five.
**Rooster:** No, for Bam, it is. Bam, I don't think he's ever given a six to any cigar.
**Bam Bam:** I don't, I don't remember a Cuban cigar smoking like this. This is, this is really unusual.
A lot of grass and hay. Me I don't get that in many Cubans, if at all, ever. I think grass and hay is a common, is relatively common. Not for me. I don't capture that. We got
**Chef Ricky:** that camel foot.
**Bam Bam:** Camel foot's worse.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys, that puts the formal lizard rating tonight on the Cuban Vigero Centrofinos at a 6.
6.
**Bam Bam:** It's a shame. It's a shame. We were hoping for a better score here so that we can Promote it.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. It's affordable. Listener
**Chef Ricky:** to a more budget cigar. It just didn't hit tonight. I thought it at least got a 70. Yeah. Yeah. I was thinking
**Gizmo:** it would be in the sevens. My hope was maybe it would get into the eights, [01:23:00] but you know, the way it performed tonight across the board, my burn issues, the other guys burn issues, flavor issues at the end here.
A 6. 6 is, it, it's kind of the right score.
**Bam Bam:** Kind of. And the whole argument about aging these, again, for me, there was only just under two inches of enjoyment. How was age going to expand that into the rest of the cigar?
**Gizmo:** I don't know. I also think that, you know, from an aging perspective, we always talk about previewing and you can kind of, you can kind of taste the future sometimes in a cigar, and I don't see the potential here for greatness.
You know, I, I see the potential here for continued decency,
**Grinder:** but I, I don't think you're getting the mid eights, low nines. I think, I think, you know, for what it's worth, typically you don't actually get what you pay for with, with, you know, uh, Habano cigars, right? So, cause of these outrageous prices, I think you're getting what you pay for with these cigars.
I think there's probably a reason they're, they're picking these specific leaves and rolling them the way they are.
**Rooster:** I think, I think Veguero. [01:24:00] It's like the, whatever tobacco is left after everybody else has picked. That's probably what they get. Then he goes to Vegueros. He might be right. And Quinteros.
Yeah, sure.
**Grinder:** I don't, we don't know that. I don't think that's an outlandish statement.
**Gizmo:** No, I bet he's a hundred percent right. All right, boys. A great evening tonight. We appreciate all of our listeners, of course, for writing us. On the ratings, we had the Lalo Tequila Blanco at a 9. 0 and the Vegueros Centrofinos from Cuba.
Got a 6. 6. Thanks of course, to Lizard Dustin for giving us these cigars tonight. It's always nice when a listener and friend provides us with cigars. We really appreciate it. Of course, thanks to Lizard Edwin for the great email and congratulations to him for winning lizard of the week. And we always have to thank our sponsor, our partner Fabrica5.
For their support of the podcast and a great night boys. We'll see everybody next week. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You can find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website. Lounge [01:25:00] lizards, pod. com that's lounge lizards, P O D. com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
If you have any comments, questions. If you want to reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us. Hello at lounge lizards, pod. com. You can also find us on Instagram at lounge lizards pod. We really appreciate your time and we'll, uh, we'll see you next week.