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Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
Ep. #189: Fuente Fuente Opus X Oro Oscuro Robusto (w/ Brugal 1888 Doblemente Añejado, Opus X Marketing, French Smoking Laws, Sugar Content in Rum Pairings, Listener Email on Padrón & Will Opus Ever Meet Expectations?)
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Gizmo: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Lizards podcast presented by Fabrica five. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars, as well as whiskey, travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo. Tonight I'm joined by Rooster Senator, chef Ricky, and bam, bam.
And I plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some rum, talk about life, and of course, have some laughs. So take this as your 189th official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge. Lizard. Planet meet is here once a week. We are gonna smoke a new world cigar tonight. Share our thoughts on it and give you a formal lizard rating.
We revisit Opus and discuss its marketing success. The guys comment on new French smoking laws, and we discuss the added sugar content in several of our rum pairings, all among a variety of other things for the next two hours. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we pair Brugal 1888.
Do Mente any Jaro with the Fuente Fuente opex. Order RO and Rub. A Dominican Piro on the [00:01:00] pod tonight. It's from Arturo Fuente. Fuente Fuente. Technically it's the Opus ex ro in Ribo, and it's a 50 ring gauge cigar, and it's a little longer than what you'd expect. Bam. It's five and a quarter inches long.
Yeah. A quarter inch matters.
Bam Bam: Yes.
Gizmo: Oh, every, every quarter inch matters in every scenario of life. Correct? Correct. So it's 50 by five and a quarter inches long. And boys, I am, uh, very eager to smoke this because we've not had amazing experiences with, with opus on this pod. This is the third we're doing tonight.
I'm very hopeful tonight. Quite the dark. It looks like a Maduro, but it's it's not. I was about
Bam Bam: to say the darker is extraordinarily dark. Pretty good looking. The band is ridiculous. Yeah, the double, it has two
Gizmo: bands on it. That's the aura,
Chef Ricky: right? Yeah. Is it two or three on? Well there's a foot band as well.
Yeah,
Gizmo: A yellow ribbon foot band.
Chef Ricky: I got a little divot in mine here. I'm debating if I should change it,
Gizmo: swap it [00:02:00] out. You know what's interesting too is this band is actually a very similar in color. Mm-hmm. To the color of the band that Haos uses in their slide with boxes in their cabinets to wrap the cigars.
Is that true? It's very similar in color, yes. Wow. Interesting. You noticed that today. Interesting. It might actually be the same exact color.
Bam Bam: No. Parallel but still interesting. It's called Im right.
Gizmo: Alright, well let's cut this thing boys. See what we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper. I must say, first things first when I pulled mine out of the cellophane and I put it to my nose, the foot, the aroma at the foot, unlit is unbelievable.
Bam Bam: It's delicious. It's, you guys are getting, I'd argue it's complex so you're getting prune. I'm getting a date type of a note on the, on the aroma for me. It's like sweet. Yeah.
Chef Ricky: Yeah. Little bakery. There's a little prune date. Dark chocolate, black cherry earth compost here.
Senator: That's some really good compost [00:03:00] rooster's.
A farmer tonight, boys. Do you not
Chef Ricky: see the picture? All
Bam Bam: those ears. See the gosh, ocean. You look like a farmer tonight. Look at you. You got the hat on the flannel shirt. The vest
Gizmo: cold draw is completely blank for me.
Rooster: Um, yeah, I'm getting some sweetness
Bam Bam: bit maybe on
Gizmo: the cold draw a little bit. I'm getting very little.
It's not translating from the
Bam Bam: chef mentioned. Uh, like a, a dark cherry. I'm kind of getting that, that note on the, on the culture. Offer me
Rooster: some cedar. Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: I
Bam Bam: can't wait to light this
Gizmo: up. Chef, you switched yours out. You're feeling better about that second one. Yeah.
Chef Ricky: And I gotta say the cold drawer is a, it's a little better after hearing what you said.
I thought it was gonna just be really flat, but I'm getting a little, a little flavor here. I'm getting some of the those, uh, sweet fruit dried fruit notes that I was getting on the nose. It's, it's actually very nice. Yeah. It is becoming very date prune forward now on the, with the cold draw and
Bam Bam: [00:04:00] then a little cherry and mm-hmm.
And a little dark chocolate from there. Yeah.
Senator: On that
Bam Bam: cold draw.
Senator: I'm just glad the cold draw that you get dried fruit because smelling the wrapper smells like straight manure. Mine does not. Thank you. Not mine. Exactly. I had the same experience as rooster.
Chef Ricky: Really? Really? Mine doesn't. That's a shame. I think yours got your, yours and roosters came into the, into the, the country dip.
I took that out to the,
Gizmo: the paddock.
Chef Ricky: Touch the horse foot
Gizmo: maybe. All right boys, let's light this thing. The Fuente Fuente Opus X Auto. And rib robusto.
Chef Ricky: You know what the cold draw is like if you were to dip a freaking raisin nett in dark chocolate. That's agree with you. The cold draw feels like to
Bam Bam: me.
That's fair. That would be a bit too sweet for me. I don't get it with the dark chocolate in that level of sweetness. No,
Rooster: that came outta compost. Oh, okay.
Gizmo: And again, boys, it's a 50 ring gauge cigar farmer by five and a quarter inches long. A Dominican piro, as they say here, it's born from the magic soils [00:05:00] of Chateau de la Fuente.
How much was a cigar? $42 Yaa.
Rooster: Yikes. The MSRP is like 20,
Gizmo: right? Yeah, from when it was originally released in 2015. 2015.
Bam Bam: That is quite the cigar price.
Senator: Okay. I think Gizmo got ripped off. I don't think this goes that high. Normally
Gizmo: it does actually. I found it higher online. Pagoda, Zi.
Bam Bam: Were in the
Gizmo: room. That's insane.
It's
Chef Ricky: omnipresent. Correct? I checked every freaking pocket. I knew I had it. Alright.
Bam Bam: Hey, uh, farmer Brown. What do you think of the price?
Gizmo: It's a steal.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: So I've had these in my tower since October. I actually went down with Henri to who Lizards will remember. Uh, was instrumental was the guy who hooked us up with Stoic in that blind episode.
He actually joined us when we reviewed it. He and I went down to Philadelphia to Holts, went to Fuente Mania, which is an annual event. They throw there and actually picked up, I bought these [00:06:00] cigars then in October and I do think they were a little priced up from what they normally are, maybe five bucks or so.
'cause there was a charity component. But, um, because I could have sworn somewhere around 40,
Senator: I smoked one of these and I'm curious what size does this comes in? Because the ring gauge, this is exactly what I remember, but I thought it was like an inch longer than this or a half inch longer. But, uh, when I remember looking it up at the time, I feel like I was seeing like 30 something bucks.
And for Opus, I was like, that's not terrible, but 40 something. I mean, that's deep.
Bam Bam: 42 to be exact. This is delicious. Off the light. Yeah, mine's pretty good. I'm finding it very good. Uh, that's pretty complex. There's some savory sweet notes here. I think, um, date is coming through and dark chocolate still for me,
Chef Ricky: I purged it a little bit.
Maybe I need to get some of the butane now. But right now, to me it's tasting like shit. It's tasting like what rooster was smelling, um, to me. Wow. Yeah. Rooster never
Gizmo: lies. I, I'm, I'm into my like third or fourth draw and it is [00:07:00] definitely improving. Now It's starting to settle. Yeah.
Chef Ricky: Yeah. So I'm just gonna keep merging a little bit here.
I'm surprised, guys.
Gizmo: Yeah. I'm getting all the notes that Bam just said. It's quite good. Yeah, right now I like it on the light. I'm getting a little, um, I. Almost like a sour umami. I, I don't know what it is, but like a tingle, like a mushroom on the front of my tongue.
Chef Ricky: Lactic.
Bam Bam: No, no, I know exactly what you's talking about.
It almost like a
Gizmo: citrus citric
Bam Bam: giz. Just wanted to use the word umami. Umami
Senator: isn't that in a song it's better than rare. Plus umami. Umami
Chef Ricky: that t umami over rare plus any day. Correct. Getting a sour
Senator: umami.
Gizmo: So boys, uh, to answer senator's question here on the other side is this is offered it, I'm gonna read them out.
It's offered in a belly coso called the triple X 49 ring gauge by four, little under five inches long, four and a half inches long. Comes in boxes of 42. This is really weird. Wow. So just hear me out on why I am telling you the box counts. Perfection number four. A little over five inches long. 43 ring gauge comes in 42 cigars [00:08:00] per box.
The super Beso is a 52 ring inch cigar, so a little bigger than this five and a half inches long. Comes in boxes of 29 cigars, also available in three pack tins. The Fuente Fuente, as it's called just Fuente Fuente, is a, is a Ola 46 ring gauge. Again, a little over five. It's five and five eighth inches, inches long can I guess
Bam Bam: 11 box, count 32 on that one band.
32.
Gizmo: The double rib robusta, which is a 52 ring gauge by five and three quarters inches long, comes in boxes of 42. The perfection X 48 ring gauge by six and a quarter comes in boxes of 32 and the Reserva de Chateau. 48 ring gauge by seven inches long. Classic Churchill comes in 32 per box. So which are we smoking?
We are smoking the rib robusto, which comes in boxes of 29 cigars. And what's the ring gauge in the length? The ring gauge is 50 by five and a quarter Sensible [00:09:00] box counts
Bam Bam: very consistent.
Gizmo: I, I don't know what the point is in shipping boxes of 29, 32 42
Bam Bam: could be an internal. Yeah, I don't know what they're doing.
Something. Yeah.
Rooster: Have you tried retro heiling? I have. You get that spice on the nose, you actually you can retro hail. Hell yeah. I've been doing it for what, 50 years now. Yeah.
Bam Bam: Right. You must have learned recently. The retro
Gizmo: hill is actually very nice. It's very nice. There's a lot of flavor there.
Bam Bam: Agreed.
Agreed.
Rooster: Don't you get a little spice on the nose. On the retro? No, not yet.
Chef Ricky: Not for me. No. This is one of those rare instances for me where I'm enjoying the retro more so than the traditional draw. And there's a lot more flavor for me. Um, I'm getting that citric thing. You're, you were pointing out, but it's in the form of grapefruit.
Hmm. Okay. Maybe, which is a really weird, uh, flavor note for me on a cigar. 'cause it's a little, uh, tannic. It's a little pithy. You're getting that on the retro or the traditional draw tradition that's on the traditional drawing and then on the retro it gets a little bit more like up in the front of the mouth.
[00:10:00] Yeah.
Senator: Okay. Yeah. I thought he was insane. But take a draw. Ba I haven't
Bam Bam: gotten it yet, honestly. I can see it. So I'm, I'm gonna try and myself tonight and go to a very slow pace with this. 'cause I think if we smoke this too quickly, it's gonna turn to shit.
Chef Ricky: I agree.
Bam Bam: Yeah. Like a lot of opus do.
Chef Ricky: Same.
Bam Bam: But, um, I'm actually liking the traditional draw better than a retro hill.
Really? Yeah. Um, it's okay. The retro, but the traditional draw is very, very good.
Gizmo: So I was noticing when I was shuffling these around, getting them ready to bring for the pod tonight, I was noticing the wrappers on these very thick quato wrapper on these and dark. Mm-hmm. It looks like a, like a dark espresso almost color.
Yeah.
Bam Bam: Yeah. It
Gizmo: looks like a Maduro wrapper. It does. Mm-hmm. Yep. And it's pretty like rough and rugged. It is for the expense of the Opus X cigars. I mean, obviously you don't wanna judge a cigar based on the eye, [00:11:00] but it does factor in.
Bam Bam: Do they actually get that dark naturally?
Chef Ricky: Bam. Bams looks like it's, could be a little darker than mine.
He, it's painted. He, it looks like he's, he's holding Serrano's bat from Major League. I looks a little, uh, okay.
Bam Bam: I have them side by side. Am I wrong? A little darker.
Chef Ricky: Oh, this one looks a little bit more, um, saturated, if you will. The Paro looks drier, so
Bam Bam: dark and so, yeah. I dunno,
Chef Ricky: but no, it's, yeah, it's not, it does look like
Senator: a
Gizmo: Maduro wrapper.
Senator: Yeah. Oh gosh, Sean, I don't know. I think Carlito died. Them
Gizmo: cigar is starting to settle in nicely for me. It's nice. Yeah. I'm, I'm, I'm not regretting my purchase yet. We'll see how they, yeah. See how it goes at this price. But I think for all
Senator: the, the commentary about the look of the wrapper, it's gotta be imparting a good amount of flavor here.
I mean, the first thing I remember when I lit this cigar many months ago was how flavorful it was. And I don't recall any opus that we've done. On the pod being [00:12:00] very flavorful. I feel like they've all just been kinda medium and not as many distinct notes. And I just remember my palette being in some way kind of awakened as soon as I lit the cigar.
Gizmo: So, well that's, that's what put the yellow banded opus on our radar was Senator had that experience. I think you were in DC correct? At Shelly's? Yeah. And he texted me a picture of it and said, this is the next opus we should do. Okay. 'cause it had a lot of flavor and he was very happy with it when he smoked it there.
So that's when I went to Fuente Mania. I picked him up. But
Bam Bam: yeah, it is a full flavored experience,
Rooster: I must say. The band looks really cool on a dark rapper like this. Right? It really like sticks out. It does.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Senator: And this is also in stark contrast too. I remember the only other opus I've had with this, um, Destin o Sea glow on it.
I think they make something that comes in like red tins. Mm-hmm. Has anybody seen those? Yes. I think you're right. Yes. Yeah. And I just remember this is back in [00:13:00] our old lounge days, I had like bought a tin of them just to try something different and they were so boring and there wasn't a lot of flavor. So I was shocked.
I mean, I got this as a gift from someone, uh, around my birthday last year in August and then lit it up in October. And uh, this is night and day to that other destiny know selo that I had. Hmm.
Rooster: So far it's one of the better opus that
Senator: it's
Bam Bam: also one of the more fuller flavored opus than that you're gonna find, I think.
Because most of them are very mild to medium.
Gizmo: I've been, as senator said, I've been bored by almost every opus that I've had. And I, it like disappoints me because I wanna love the Marco and I just don't.
Bam Bam: Yeah. There's only two that I really like. I do like the Dubai.
Gizmo: Yeah.
Bam Bam: And I like the opus shark. I do love that cigar.
I haven't had it in a very long time.
Gizmo: I'll give you one.
Bam Bam: Well you have 32 of them, don't you?
Gizmo: No, that's a box of 29
Bam Bam: ba. They come in a box of 32 I think.
Chef Ricky: I [00:14:00] think this is gonna get better and settle it into second third. I think the first stir for me is kind of like all over the place. I'm getting some real earthy, you know, back and forth flavors that then become citrus and then cedar and then they get spicy.
Like it's kind of scattered everywhere right now and it's exciting. Whatcha getting center, but I think the second third's gonna smooth out. Yeah.
Senator: So I, I got some of that. I, I almost think BA's point about we should be very purposeful in smoking this slowly. I think when this heats up is when we're getting some of these like wilder flavor experiences because when I've slowed down and then taken a draw, I've gotten a way more consistent experience.
It's true. Like where dried fruit is actually like kind of the lead. And then in the background you're getting some of those other notes where I feel like when this gets hot, all of a sudden you're getting like citrus at the front, pepper and pepper and you're kind of, it gets confusing. So I think we've just gotta be really purposeful about smoking this slowly.
We're we're all
Chef Ricky: at the same point though, at this, at [00:15:00] this moment. It's true. So I don't, yeah, I don't think I'm smoking faster than you guys. It's just Okay.
Gizmo: I'm gonna, I'm just gonna try to purposefully smoke slower. Me too. You know,
Chef Ricky: it's just such an interesting ride so far. I haven't, I mean, in fact there's like a touch of molasses maybe I.
The
Senator: date thing is still
Bam Bam: there.
Chef Ricky: Yeah. I really want those, those dried fruit notes to come back to me.
Bam Bam: Yeah. I don't know if it's a dried fruit. I mean date of course. Yeah. But the molasses and um, even the prune, that's pretty, pretty right on the money for me. There's that bitter little bitterness that you get in that prune.
Mm-hmm. Which I love. Right.
Rooster: The chocolate note that we were getting on the cold draw, that's not coming through now. Yeah. You right. Giz. Senator, you getting
Bam Bam: any chocolate here? Not right now. No. No, zero. Okay. Alright. It's more in that, uh, that fruit lane. Yeah.
Rooster: Fruit and earthy like woody earthy
Senator: cedars, cedar spice.
Yeah. There's sweetness, like BA was saying, I'm not, I dunno if it's molasses. It could be something like that, like a prune that's got that bitter balance.
Gizmo: I would say, and this is might be a [00:16:00] crazy statement, there's something happening with the smoke in the front of my tongue that is almost, I want to use the word molasses, in that it almost lingers a little bit.
It does. Alongside that sweet sweetness. It does, you know, which is unique, like it's kind of throwing me off a little bit, but in a good way. Not in a bad way.
Rooster: Like on the tip? On the tip of your tongue, right,
Gizmo: exactly. Yeah. Like on the front. Same, yeah. Quarter of it. So the Opus X line is clouded in mystery.
All that we know is they are Dominican purs and this cigar, the Oro Ro has, as they say, a specially selected Fuente Fuente opus ex wrapper that has been pampered. Pampered, bam or sprayed to be extra aged and fermented. I don't think it sprayed, but thus giving the cigar a robust, balanced and dark finish.
So of course, Opus X was born really celebrating that Dominican tobacco could finally be used as wrapper. That was Opus X. That's what the launching [00:17:00] point was. Dominican tobacco being used as rapper, he kind of pioneered that Chateau de la Fuente. That is their claim to fame. Uh, and that's what Opus X was born out of.
And now, as we know, Opus X is probably the most sought after chased, I would argue, premium marketed brand. That exists right now. You know, you, you look at these drops, you look at the way that people chase these things. It's almost like luxury watches or cars or, you know, other things that people collect.
It's almost like it's gone beyond, beyond the hobby of smoking. It's almost like you're collecting a really bright, beautiful, well painted quer box. It's an interesting
Bam Bam: exercise in cigar marketing and some proprietors. One that we know will give maybe one or two per person, and that's it. It's true. You gotta keep coming back.
Gizmo: But the, uh, I just, I'm always fascinated when I see the Opus X thing and the way that people are rabid for it. Because at the [00:18:00] end of the day, when I take one of the cigars and I smoke them, I've not been blown away by opex. Mm-hmm. I wanna be,
Senator: but I just haven't been. Yeah. I think the thing that's nice with this, that addresses a complaint that I've certainly had, and I think all of us have said at some point.
When you go out and get a fresh opus cigar, they taste young. They don't taste heavily aged at all. That's correct. And it's so frustrating because you know, in the standard production line of God knows how many brands, right? Like Padron, four years in the 64 line, five in the um, 26 line, this actually tastes like age tobacco.
Like this is delivering full flavored in a very smooth
Rooster: way. It's refined.
Senator: Yes.
Rooster: Right.
Bam Bam: It's ref, yeah, it is refined. But the full flavored aspect is what's for me, unique in this, in this entire line
Senator: with this particular smoke. Sorry, I just have to say, if you wanna really wake your taste buds up and just take this cigar to another level, just take a sip of what we're pairing.
Correct. And then take a [00:19:00] draw and Wow. It's excellent. I don't have a glass.
Gizmo: Nobody poured me any damn.
Senator: You know, as I sit here being made to including myself, I'm sorry, I was a,
Gizmo: I don't want to point the finger, but hey, I literally did everything else.
Senator: I know you did. As we all sit here, please don't edit that.
All right.
Chef Ricky: As we all sit here being made to hold on. He poured. I'll deliver it. Oh,
Rooster: that's a two finger pourer. We're going off the rails here tonight, folks. Folks. Well, he's got
Senator: the small glass.
Chef Ricky: See. So as we all sit here being made to feel crazy for what we're tasting and how BA's tasting things differently, he's also been drinking the pairing ah, since before sleeping.
Yes.
Bam Bam: I've actually gone through a few bottles of this. He's been cheating. No, no. Just now. Did well at your house. Almost half a bottle the other night.
Gizmo: Cheers boys. Cheers. Cheers. Good to see you all.
Senator: Salute. Salute.
Gizmo: Let's try this. So we are drinking the Brugal 1888 doe
Bam Bam: mm-hmm.
Gizmo: Aged rum.
Bam Bam: [00:20:00] Correct.
Gizmo: And I was very impressed, boys.
Now we must say to the listener, we did review the extra Viejo and that is one of the highest rated budget rums that we've ever done on this podcast. True. This is the sister to that little pricier, this one's 40 bucks.
Bam Bam: Still reasonable.
Gizmo: And, uh, I'm looking forward to trying it here. Right. It's very nice.
Bam Bam: It it is very nice.
Rooster: It's cheaper than the cigar.
Bam Bam: It is. The whole bottle is cheaper than the cigar bottle one. Exactly. So ridiculous. Farmer Brown speaks up.
Senator: I'm sorry, I'm just gonna say the rum for me is a home run. Yeah, it's very good. And, and the irony, it, it, it's exactly like the cigar in that it is full flavored this rum. Mm-hmm. But delivered very smoothly. Like this is not like your standard like seven year Havana Club. Correct. Seven year Florida ka.
Correct. That's like a lighter, smoother, um, thinner. Easier to drink. Yeah. Thinner kind of [00:21:00] delivery. This is full flavor, but delivered in such a nice way. I really like the flavor profile. I
Bam Bam: think Pagoda would love the viscosity on this. I agree. It's, it's got legs for sure.
Senator: Great flavor and you know, we should mention we're smoking a Dominican cigar, we ought to pair it with a Dominican rum.
Yeah, exactly. Correct. Cole Genius. That's, that's correct.
Chef Ricky: Whoever thought of that.
Senator: Yeah, I think a bourbon would must been been bad. Better.
Gizmo: So boys, this rum is aged in both bourbon and sherry casks, so a double aging process. They say that we should be looking for notes of vanilla, red fruit and toffee, intertwined with cocoa and natural oak. Spice.
Bam Bam: I'll be
Senator: honest,
Bam Bam: pretty accurate. I think that's spot on. Yeah. Especially the cocoa, the toffee. I get a little vanilla and caramel.
Yep. Um, but the cocoa is unique in this. On the finish I get on the finish. Exactly. Absolutely. Which pairs well with almost any padron that you wanna smoke. [00:22:00] Great. With most Dominican cigars, I think it's a fantastic spirit.
Gizmo: It is interesting that it's called the Do Mente Anado. Mm-hmm. But there is no age statement on it.
That's true. Now I'm curious, you know, for you guys, compared to some of the other rums that we drink, even the ones outta Dominican, how many years do you think this rum has
Senator: on it? I'll slap an H statement right now. I think this is 12 year. 12 year. This reminds me like the viscosity and body of Florida Kanye 12.
I just had that a lot of it recently and mm-hmm It, that's the closest thing that, this
Bam Bam: reminds me of a call out. Hard to put a number. If I'm forced to, I'd probably put like a 10 year statement on it.
Chef Ricky: Senator, you're spot on. I just, uh, Googled it. It's aged for a total of up to 14 years. 14 years. Wow. I
Gizmo: looked and I didn't find that so well done.
The
Chef Ricky: world is probably, uh, 14 years spot on for $40.
Bam Bam: Huh?
Chef Ricky: It's pretty crazy. What's awesome about this rum and it makes you wonder about Dominican soir, it's delivering a lot of how. [00:23:00] The cigars deliver, especially that sort of tannic a note on the tip of your tongue that I call grapefruit and you were calling umami sour umami or whatever.
Um, so that it's, it's delivering that in a very similar fashion. Uh, it's, it's kind of awesome experience.
Gizmo: It's a really nice pairing and we're drinking this neat. And I don't think this needs a drop of ice. No.
Chef Ricky: I think if you add ice to
Bam Bam: this, you get rid of all that complexity. Well, I've had it with ice, a, a chip or two.
I like it for the temperature. Mm-hmm. I think it's still quite enjoyable with a chip. I
Senator: agree.
Bam Bam: I actually, I had
Senator: this the other night for the first time 'cause BA brought a bottle is to my place. Yeah. And uh, I had it with a chip or two of ice and it still maintains quite good. Like Yeah. Its body and complexity.
Sure. It, it, it's substantial. It can hold up.
Bam Bam: So I discovered this at another local lounge down the street. I. And they had a Brugal night. Oh, of course. Yeah, I know them. Yeah. There's a local rep that was there. How many Dominoes games that night? None. It was, uh, [00:24:00] it was quite the event and they had three different expressions in this line of, uh, rum.
There's one just above this, which is their ultra premium. That's $150 a bottle. Which one's that? I don't remember the name of it. I've had it in here a few times. And then there's an expression right below this. A little bit cheaper than this. This is the perfect medium between the two.
Senator: One of them is called the nda, but I don't know if that's the one below or above.
Bam Bam: Oh,
Senator: I think, I
Bam Bam: don't
Senator: think that's above. I don't that
Bam Bam: bottle's not hundred 40. It's another. It's another bottle. It's a gorgeous rectangular bottle. Bottle. They have
Gizmo: one I saw today. I think it might be called the Centennial or something like that. Yes, that's right. It was like a hundred bucks. Yeah. Not cheap.
It was right next to this one. So we might look to do that. You know, maybe when we do like a special episode or something. This is better than that. You
Bam Bam: think so? I've had both. Wow. I like this a lot better.
Gizmo: Okay.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: So I saw online, I know we did a little bit of history on this the last time we drank Brugal rum, but, uh, it's owned by the Edington Group, which are the owners of the Macallan and Highland Park Scotch [00:25:00] whiskeys.
Hmm. So this is a sister spirit Wow. To one of our favorite single malts.
Bam Bam: Correct.
Gizmo: Macallan.
Chef Ricky: I wonder who gets the Sherry Ko first?
Senator: I'm sure Macallan does. And yeah, by the taste of it, Macallan does. I mean, ho honestly, we were talking about like cocoa on the finish. The first thing reminded me of like the one scotch and a spirit that, like I always vividly remembered like a darker cocoa note on the finish is Macallan 12 in Sherry Cask.
Um, so yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if this is finished in some of the same stuff.
Bam Bam: Yeah. I, for me, the cocoa flavor at the finish is quite pronounced. It's really unusual. I. I love it. I do too.
Gizmo: So I wanna say too, the name 1888 is symbolic because the founder of the company, Andres Brugal Moner, who was a Spanish national originally from Catalonia, immigrated from Cuba, where he [00:26:00] learned the art of rum making.
And then he went to Porto Plata in the Dominican Republic and in 1888, established Brugal. So that's where the name on this rum is coming from, is it's celebrating the history of the brands going back to 1888 from a guy who came from Spain by way of Cuba.
Bam Bam: Very cool. Pretty cool. A lot of good things coming outta Cuba.
Mm-hmm.
Rooster: It's got a nice, deep, rich color. Yeah. Right?
Senator: Oh yeah. Yeah.
Bam Bam: And it has beautiful attire too. Yeah, it has fish nets
Senator: on it. That's why Bam. Picked it up. Ba bam. Approved the tire.
Gizmo: So boys, I have an interesting story for you here. The entire country of France has banned the use of tobacco products in all public areas, including public parks and beaches. So the country. The country. So
Senator: when you walk [00:27:00] down the entire country, no wonders. The president's of France's wife smacked him in the face.
This is ridiculous. The entire country,
Bam Bam: every cafe, you'd see someone with a cigarette in their mouth. Yeah, exactly. All over town. That's why I don't understand The French not gonna happen. The French are known for cigarette smoking. When did this happen? This will never, just in the last few weeks. It's not gonna take hold.
It's possible. It's
Gizmo: possible. It
Bam Bam: starts July 1st. 12-year-old kids there smoke cigarettes. It's impossible.
Rooster: My daughter was there in March for spring break and she said literally they were smoking at every single correct coffee shop. Cafes, you know, just smoking cigarettes, even cigarettes, like, you know, everywhere.
It's very common.
Senator: Everywhere. That's my favorite part of visiting Paris. The fact that like, you don't even have to think, where am I gonna be able to light up a cigar? You just pick any cafe on any corner and sit down, order a glass of wine, light up, and they're so happy to have you. This is like, so. This is the antithesis of their culture.
I, I'm just shocked.
Bam Bam: It's shocking.
Senator: I don't know how they're even gonna possibly enforce this. There're gonna be [00:28:00] riots in the streets. This is, this is, it's gotta be fake news.
Bam Bam: Gonna have 8-year-old kids starting to mob up, then they want their cigarettes.
Gizmo: The Minister of Labor, health, solidarity and families that's quite a division, said that the freedom to smoke stops where children's right to breathe clean air begins.
Senator: Oh, Jesus Christ, Jesus.
Gizmo: That's quite a statement. And by the way, if you do get caught, you will be subject to a fine of 114 Euros. Enforcement will be handled by municipal police. They're gonna run
Bam Bam: outta tickets to write. They're
Senator: literally gonna run outta tickets. Next, they're gonna ban public nudity in France.
I mean, this is ridiculous. That's also a problem.
Rooster: I mean, don't cars cause pollution?
Bam Bam: Correct.
Rooster: We're gonna ban cars.
Bam Bam: Yeah. All Tesla's all over the world.
Rooster: Tesla,
Gizmo: what do you think? Kiss. That's a callback to like episode 10.
Bam Bam: That was hilarious, dude. That Oh, I love that.
Rooster: You know, there [00:29:00] is a lizard who always posts a picture on one of the Facebook groups and he's smoking a cigar in a coffee shop in Paris somewhere.
Bam Bam: Oh, that's true. Michael. Um, something or other. Yeah, the Duke. Correct. The Duke. Correct.
Rooster: So I don't, I don't know what he's
Senator: gonna
Rooster: do. He's
Senator: gonna freak out. I can't wait to see how this unfolds. Honestly. I wonder,
Gizmo: I do wonder if the private establishments are kind of carved out from this, 'cause it says public spaces, but I don't know.
I obviously, I don't know French law, but uh, you know, I don't know how it works, like it does the sidewalk in front of your shop county as your private property, is that public space? You know, if you're walking around the Eiffel Tower, can you have a cigar while you're getting harassed by all the people trying to take your money?
I mean, can you smoke a cigar there? I mean, definitely not, so I would assume not. Yeah.
Senator: I think like highly public places, especially with a lot of tourists, I think there's no chance. But I just am so interested to see how this unfolds with like, every business that has outdoor seating that typically is litter.
I [00:30:00] mean, there's an ashtray on every table at an outdoor cafe of any kind there. I'm just struggling to imagine they're all gonna take those away and say, no, no, you can't smoke here anymore. I'm really curious to see what happens. Wow.
Gizmo: This is interesting too. It does not include electronic cigarettes, so you're allowed to vape.
Those are healthy and you're also allowed to smoke on coffee terraces. Those are two things that they carved out. So maybe they will let cafes then. I mean, what's a coffee terrace
Senator: above? I don't know. A cafe like Terrace
Bam Bam: is up. It's above street level. Oh my God. Yeah, it's, yeah. How many of those are there not, not many.
Rooster: I'm moving to France to build a terrace.
Bam Bam: Correct. A lot of concrete in them terraces.
Gizmo: So another good news story I saw on Half Wheel Boys, and we were talking about this when we reviewed the cigar another, what was the first one that was not good news. Yeah, the first one wasn't good news. You said another
Senator: good news story.
Well, this is
Gizmo: another news story. This one's good. There we go. [00:31:00] From half wheel. So Steve Saka has announced that the Umba Gog bronze back. Is coming out with a re robusto.
Bam Bam: Yep. Saw that. So
Gizmo: we talked about that when we review reviewed that cigar. We love that cigar by the way. But they're coming out with a 52 ring gauge by five vitola that uses one of his special Connecticut broadleaf wrappers.
The same one that was used for the classic Henry Clay cigar, which is what the bronze back is celebrating. Mm-hmm. Was the original Henry Clays and everything else is Nicaraguan. So that cigar is gonna be coming out now and uh, it has an MSRP of just under 11 bucks, sold in 10 count bundles. Nice pricing.
So, yeah, I like to see that. And I know that the re robusto in that was something we talked about wanting, so I'm glad that, uh, Steve is gonna be putting that out. And uh, we are definitely gonna review that at some point in the future because everything we've done from Dunbarton has done pretty well in the pod.
Senator: Yeah. Speaking of sake. I'm not [00:32:00] sure if anybody caught this, but I found this very amusing when I just happen to scroll by this on Facebook. Uh, did anybody see, he did like a live video recently, like within the last week or two. Lying with the fire pit? Yes. Yes, I saw that. So like, he lit a fire at his house and apparently he at some point came out with like this terrible swag idea.
It literally looks like a baby figure of Steve Saka. Oh boy. Like, it looks like, like a, a bald aging baby. Basically a, a mini me. And he said it was like the worst swag item that like they ever came out with. And he had all of these that I guess nobody bought. And so he wanted to burn them all. So we did a live video just burning like his own image and likeness for like hours in front of it while he was smoking a cigar.
It was very funny. A therapist could have
Gizmo: a lot of sessions. Oh, with that, with that, with him, with that story burning the. Model of yourself. Yeah. En mass. Oh
Bam Bam: yeah. [00:33:00] You know, I'll have to admit he was a kinder, gentler version of himself in New Orleans, I think, than previous conversations. Yeah, I think so. I think he's starting to lighten up a bit.
Gizmo: Well, cigars are doing very well. People love him.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: People love
Bam Bam: him. I
Chef Ricky: think
Bam Bam: that's the reason.
Chef Ricky: And we love Steve.
Gizmo: Yeah. Yeah.
Chef Ricky: Okay. I think now my cigar has settled into a place, uh, where I can also settle in and it's presenting some I. Creamy coffee. I don't know if it's the amount of ash that I've developed on this at this point or what it is, but it's tasting a lot better now to me than
Gizmo: When you say better, what are you, what are you getting?
Chef Ricky: I'm getting creamy, creamy coffee. I'm getting light spice. I am getting a little bit of, uh, chocolate, not so much cocoa, but now it's actually turned to chocolate. Uh, could be the rum influence, but the rum is still presenting those same bitter tannic notes in the, at the tip of your [00:34:00] palette, uh, that just give you some, uh, complexity.
But the cigars really changed. It's, it's, it's turned around for me or settled in, not turned around, but settled in. Someplace where I like it.
Gizmo: I agree with you. I think mine at this point, and we're not quite to the end of the first third year coming up on it, but I, I feel the same, I feel as the last few draws have really been a lot smoother.
I feel that all of those flavors have married up now. Yeah. That we've been talking about. Yeah. There's no sharpness, but I am, it, it's almost 35 minutes that we're into this cigar right now and it's taken quite some time to get to that point.
Bam Bam: Well, I haven't had the challenges that you two have had. I, I've liked this right from the start.
Um, I think it's really quite good. It's unlike any opus I've ever had. It's really quite different. I could agree with that. Yeah. I think it's probably the best opus I've had.
Senator: I agree. Uh, for me, the first third I liked, uh, I think like when you enter the second, third, it. [00:35:00] The flavors just kind of marry together in a more harmonious way.
Like by that point they feel distinct at first and then they like kind of all work together. So I really like the star of the second third. This for me is like the cigar is hitting its sweet spots. It's a very good cigar.
Rooster: It's like the caramel sweetness is coming through with a little bit of pepper that you get on your retro hale when you blow out.
Like on the, on your nose? Yeah, on the nostrils. You, you get that little pepper. Mm-hmm.
Bam Bam: You had
Rooster: me
Bam Bam: a caramel,
Rooster: but I'm not getting any
Bam Bam: of the pepper yet. I,
Rooster: on the retro spice,
Chef Ricky: I get some spice. Yeah. Yeah. Doesn't have to be pepper, but yeah, I see some spice. Maybe it's nutmeg or something like that.
Gizmo: Alright boys, let's go to some listener email.
Now I wanna share some comments here. This one I liked 'cause it referenced an old episode. The. Aging room. Quatro Sonata and Lizard. John who writes this a lot, said he was re-listening to this episode while smoking his first sonata, and it's amazing. Paired it on [00:36:00] this hot Boise Day with a Stegel Rattler, and the citrus and other fruit notes are off the charts.
What's that? I'm guessing a beer. So thank so thankful for this pod because I'm generally a boutique cigar guy and wouldn't have even picked this one off the shelf. But for the lizards review, it's just perfect for a warmer weather smoke session.
Bam Bam: Hmm.
Gizmo: So he's having a Quatro? Yes. Okay. Correct. The Sonata.
Okay. Oh, the Sonata. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Senator has a few of those every week. I, I love hearing a day that day. I love hearing that same.
Rooster: Yeah, that cigar does get better with a little bit of age as well. Once it sit a little bit, it get really gets smooth.
Senator: I agree. But I honestly think it's more that it needs to come down in humidity to like have that like amazing experience.
So I think when you get it, if you let that sit for like three weeks, it is a whole other level of experience.
Bam Bam: I gotta tell you, I think, and I said this before at your place, the concerto. I'm edging that [00:37:00] up just above the sonata for me. Wow. I've only,
Gizmo: I've only had one that's high praise. I've only had one.
So that's the new wine, by the way, for listeners. That's the new wine from Rafael Nadal.
Bam Bam: Yeah. I need more of those to solidify that, but it was excellent. Is that the
Rooster: one with the blue
Bam Bam: man? Yeah, it's like a baby blue turquoise. Yeah. It
Rooster: just came out. Yeah. At PCA
Bam Bam: they launched it. It's really quite good. And there is a lot of foco in that cigar.
Rooster: So you like it better, better than the Sonata?
Bam Bam: It, for me, it has actually more cocoa and it's, you know, that it's very cocoa forward. So how do you not love that? Sure. You know, I think the sonata's probably more complex. There's a bit more, it's um, there are other notes happening with that, that are balanced where the concerto is just so overtly coco for me.
So it's not very complex, but it's really delicious.
Rooster: Have you all had it?
Senator: I haven't had it yet. No. I have, and I, I mean, I described it as like a sonata and steroids in the sense that mm-hmm. I think it's like a fuller expression of the Sonata. Um. I, you know, I can't wait to review it 'cause I think we're all gonna be debating kind [00:38:00] of the merits of, you know, which we prefer.
Sure. Which occasion, things like that. But I think it's an excellent cigar. Yeah. I need to try another.
Gizmo: Well, we're definitely gonna review it. We actually have an interview with Rafael Nadal in the can that's from PCA that we're gonna cut into a review once we get our hand on enough quantity of the aging room concerto.
So look out for that. I'm hoping to get that up sometime this summer. We just gotta get those cigars in our hand, wait a couple weeks and then smoke 'em for a review and we'll put that interview in. And it was an awesome interview, by the way. Yeah, a lot of fun. Yeah. Great interview. So this one's from Lizard Marcus.
He says, hi giz and team, I just listened to this week's episode and it was awesome. I was talking about the episode, the Padron episode with, with the. Uh, George Padron interview. Cut into it. Nice. It was really cool getting to listen to you guys answer my question on air. I also really enjoyed the conversation with George Padron.
The more I fall down the rabbit hole of the tobacco industry, [00:39:00] the more I fall in love with stories like George and the Padron family. Because my palate is still quote unquote fresh, I find myself gravitating towards consistent cigars with great construction like Padron. I'm happy to report thanks to the recommendation I just received my first five pack of Voss.
What's your commission on that? Not great given you got a five pack. I was hoping to hear my first box. Get a box.
Senator: You know, you gotta buy a box of it's 25 of those, correct?
Gizmo: I am going to rest them for a bit then light one up and I will certainly report back Now onto another quick question. One of the cigar brands I have really come to enjoy is Placencia.
I am shocked you guys have only done one episode around this brand, considering they're such a large player. New World Tobacco, by the way. I think they might be the largest. Yeah. One of the, they're the largest, if not one of the top three in the world as far as volume goes of, uh, premium tobacco. Is there a reason for this?
They have a ton of great [00:40:00] cigars in their portfolio.
Bam Bam: The alma,
Gizmo: that is the reason. Yeah, that's
Bam Bam: true. You know, the older version and the newer version of that cigar, the newer version that's, I guess a few years in production is pretty good. It's not something we're pursuing.
Senator: You know what I'm really curious about?
I, I don't think none of us talked about Placencia years ago. Like how did they grow this fast? If you think back like 10, 15 years ago. I don't ever recall seeing a Placencia cigar 15 years ago in a retailer.
Bam Bam: Oh, it's marketing.
Senator: That's what it is. Short. See? See a bunch of people smoke in them either. Oh no. I see a lot of people. No, there's a lot of people. Oh yeah. A lot. Oh yeah. You go to a lot of lounges, you'll see guys with a placencia.
Bam Bam: That green octagon. Cigar is a huge hit everywhere. It
Senator: is. Yeah. I just don't understand how like that quickly,
Gizmo: you know what's funny too?
[00:41:00] It's a good point. I mean, I mean, I think the answer is that not only are they making a lot of cigars for themselves, I think they've ramped up their production capabilities such to a point that they're everywhere. They're making cigars for everybody. They're in every cigar shop. And I know that, I mean, their their own Marco.
Yes. But I'm saying beyond that, I think a lot of those cigars that they're making are being branded and sold by other people. When did their
Senator: brand like actually start in a public fashion? I don't know. I'll just say that. 'cause truly prior to 10 years ago, I don't recall ever seeing Placencia. None.
Neither do i,
Rooster: I mean, other than the alma, I don't know what
Chef Ricky: else they make. They have the CE 4 1 1, which I'll admit. I. I smoked one maybe two ago. We have an Emma filter
Senator: man
Chef Ricky: in the house. I, I, I just had to go back because sometimes I ask myself the same question, why don't we smoke these? And, um, I found myself in a place with a very limited selection and I really needed a cigar.
'cause I was in, I was about to start a long drive and I wish [00:42:00] I didn't buy the freaking thing.
Rooster: I think I've, we, I don't know. Shouldn't say we, I mean I found it very one dimensional. Yeah. That was my experience, experience with the ceya and wanted after a lot more out it. Yeah. And I
Chef Ricky: bought this freaking thing in a New York City cigar shop, so I paid up to the freaking roof for between taxes and markup and whatever.
Uh, and I was just not happy with it. And it was boring and it was one dimensional and yeah, I don't even think I finished it. And it was a pretty small format cigar.
Gizmo: So, to answer your question, Senator. The family has been around since 1865. In 2015, they were the largest premium tobacco grower, globally.
5,000 plus hectares, planted 40 million cigars a year, and they have 6,000 plus employees. And in 2017 they launched Placencia cigars. Wow,
Senator: okay. That that explains it. So I'm not crazy. 10 years ago we were not seeing them in any retailers. Correct. But it is crazy to hear that they've been around less than 10 years.
They're [00:43:00] huge.
Bam Bam: So they cut their, their brand, they cut their teeth on making cigars and tobacco for other manufacturers. Exactly. Right.
Senator: Okay. But nobody knew they were doing that from a consumer standpoint. No. That's what's so remarkable to me. It's true. Like no one had a clue behind the scenes that they were making all these brands.
All of a sudden they just launched their own brand and it just sells like wildfire. I, I'm just shocked that quick, how they've been able to be this successful. Yeah. And you know
Gizmo: what's interesting too, our conversation about the Alma fuerte, Rob Isla, who we just talked about, we had on a few weeks ago from FOH and Bon Robertson.
Fabrica five of course said that one of the best cigars he smoked in the last year was actually a Placencia alma fuerte.
Bam Bam: He did say that.
Gizmo: I saw him post about that on the forum, and he actually told us that in the lounge. So it actually made me think like mm-hmm. We should be, uh, trying those again. And I do remember Senator, there was a placencia you smoked at PCA that we got there.
That was like a, almost like a Lonsdale size. Yeah. White with a white label label on it. White
Senator: label. So I had that too. It was a decent cigar. Yeah. I liked it. It was good. I liked it. I've yet to find anything they [00:44:00] make that I've been at all and like truly impressed by that I would reach for another, but that was, it was good.
Is it
Bam Bam: a price? A question of price because I'd rather go to any per drone cigar than anything that they,
Gizmo: well, I think that's our smoking habits, but I think the fact that we've only done one in 189 episodes now on this podcast is just a matter of me and us not
Bam Bam: correct
Gizmo: sourcing them and getting them so.
Mm-hmm. Because of this conversation and other folks asking about Placencia and obviously their size, I will be bringing some placencia in. It's just a miss on my part, not throwing it in the queue.
Rooster: I mean, if they sell that many cigars, people are obviously smoking them and they like them. So, yeah.
Gizmo: So here's another one from Lizard.
Luigi always sends us a great email. He said with the recent Padron episode, I always think about senators adoring love for Theo, it's, you've become famous for this senator. However, he rarely, if ever, states whether he smokes the [00:45:00] Maduro or the natural. I would love his insight on what's his go-to, why, and if he rotates between the two, great work is always lizard
Senator: Luigi.
Yeah, so I mean, I think we all in this group are similar in that all of us really almost exclusively smoke Maduro, um, across any of the pones that we smoke. For me, I've tried the Exvivo in both, um, even from my earliest days. I mean, the exvivo is what like really got me into premium cigars, and I remember having a natural one shortly after that and even then, and I feel the same way now.
For me, the Cevo Maduro delivers like such a rich, just complete experience and kind of like this cigar, like a lot of flavor in such a smooth, accessible way. Like that cigar and the cigar we're holding right now. Even a novice smoker, if you gave either of those, they would be able to handle it and appreciate the flavor they're getting because [00:46:00] it's so smooth.
Um, the natural version of that, I get na as you would expect, less flavor, but. It's to me a little harsher. It's not delivered in as smooth and
Chef Ricky: round.
Senator: Balanced. Yeah. Balanced away. And so I have not really loved that particular cigar in natural and my experience with other pones in natural, I haven't really loved, but I will say the one padron in natural that I actually really like and I have made a mental note that I need to actually pursue some of these.
It's that, uh, 50th in the family reserve line that Grindr really loves. Yeah, I remember he gave us all one. That's good. I was shocked how good that is. Mm-hmm. And uh, is that the one that George Padron, uh, also always smokes? Is it the 50th natural you like the 85th natural? I think, I think it
Gizmo: was the 85th or the 45th.
Senator: Okay. Then I also want to try some of the other family reserve ones. In natural. In natural because maybe [00:47:00] that's my jam for like an afternoon cigar. In the other regular lines, I vastly prefer the Maduros. Mm-hmm. So I think
Rooster: the family reserve line is a fuller Sure. It is blend. Yeah. So maybe in the natural it kind of tones it down a bit.
Mm-hmm. But still delivers good amount of flavor. Flavor. Yeah.
Senator: And I'll also say in addition to thei, like where I've done head to head, the Maduro and the natural, the, the 50 year, the, the hammer, the first time I had that cigar, someone very nicely, uh, gave me a gift of that cigar in Maduro and Natural, and I smoked them back to back.
I started with the natural, then worked up to the Maduro, and I vastly preferred the Maduro. Another cigar that I've done that with is the Padron 80th and the 26th line. I've smoked those back to back. Vastly prefer the Maduro. So I think for any listener that has a similar flavor profile to mine, or really anyone in this group, the the Maduros are really where we purchase and.
In smoke. That's where it's at.
Gizmo: I think Grindr's the only one [00:48:00] that actually prefers natural in most of PA drum.
Chef Ricky: It was a hot topic on the little Hammer episode. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo: Which was great that we did it. You know? It was delicious. That was a great cigar. Yeah, it was. And then of course we did review the torpedo in natural from the 1964 line.
Yeah. Because it won cigar the year, and I, I thought it was a good cigar, but I actually prefer that cigar in Maduro as well.
Senator: Mm-hmm. Agree. Yeah.
Gizmo: All right, boys. I know we're past the end of the first third here. We're into the second third, but what are your thoughts on the cigar right now? The Fuente Fuente Opus X Auto in Ribo.
It's a mouthful.
Bam Bam: What are you thinking,
Chef Ricky: chef? It's settled in, um, for sure. Almost a little too much. Um, what does that mean? That sounds great. It's, uh, you had a lot of
Bam Bam: tequila before this episode. No, no. I wish
Chef Ricky: I could tell. I wish, I wish I could tell. I wish. No, it's, it's, it's the, the flavors for me have really been dialed down now.
It could be. 'cause I haven't been smoking a lot, so maybe I just need to heat things up a [00:49:00] little bit. I've really been, uh, listening to all the emails that you've been reading. Uh, great, great topics and actually, um. Pretty impressing myself that I'm able to remember older episodes Now. I would sit here in episodes where I be like, how do you guys remember all this stuff?
And, uh, here I am that a cigar
five minutes later. Wanna know? Tell us more about your memory show. As my daughter says, five minutes later, correct. Um, yeah, no, but the, the cigar, it's still going well, but I feel like some of the, the flavors I was enjoying, uh, have just been a little muted. So again, I think I just need to maybe heat it up a little bit.
Senator: I, I've really liked it. To me it has held the flavor. It hasn't changed much for me. And I actually like that because I've been enjoying the flavor. Uh, my only complaint, this is unique to I think my cigar, 'cause I've been looking at everybody else's. Whoever rolled my cigar definitely messed up because.[00:50:00]
When I got into the second third, the ash started splitting apart and I could see some kind of holes in the filler that are much larger than there should be there. So, uh, it, it did not, it, it kind of messed up my experience for a bit and I've been ashing very regularly just trying to get past that and hope I can develop a, a nice consistent ash that holds.
But outside of that, luckily it didn't destroy the flavor. I'm still getting a lot of good flavor.
Gizmo: Do you feel like your cigar was underfilled?
Senator: Is that what you're saying? At a part, there must have been like a much thinner or smaller leaf used. I mean, you can still see a little bit of the hole that's too big.
You know when you get like a giant hole. Yeah, it is a void middle of your cigar. But the first third that didn't happen. It only all of a sudden the second, third, and then the As started splitting with that big hole and was flaking a lot. And I'm hoping that I'm getting past that and it hopefully the rest of this was rolled.
Properly. What about you, giz?
Gizmo: I'm enjoying my cigar right now. Uh, I think the second third has been very good. Much better than the first third for me. Yeah. I mean, I still, you [00:51:00] know, and I'll say this in my rating, but you know, my only complaint thus far is that it took about a half hour for me to really get to a point that I love the cigar.
Bam Bam: That's strange. You
Gizmo: know, for a cigar of, of this caliber of this price shouldn't
Bam Bam: be the case. It shouldn't
Gizmo: be the case. And
Bam Bam: there's inconsistencies in the make of the cigar too. But
Gizmo: yeah, for a $42 cigar, senator should not be talking about No, you know, problem.
Rooster: The, the burn line is not super sharp. No, I would agree with that.
It's wonky
Bam Bam: for all of us, I
Rooster: think. Yeah, and the other thing, I don't know how you, how your cigars are, mine is a little tight
Bam Bam: now. Mine, so I, I
Rooster: actually went ahead and cut another one eighth of an inch off.
Bam Bam: Okay.
Rooster: And did it help? It didn't help. It didn't help much. And the, the smoke output is not stellar.
It's, it's okay. Mm-hmm. Right. I agree
Gizmo: with that.
Bam Bam: You know, I would. Combustion's not great. No. But for me, the flavor has been so delicious from the get go. I'm personally not gonna ding it for the combustion issue or even the razor sharp burn because you can touch that up. I [00:52:00] feel it is really quite delicious.
Um, in my retro hale don't laugh, chef. I get a tiny bit of apricot.
Chef Ricky: Yeah.
Bam Bam: And it's, um, still getting a little cocoa, but it's also very, um, there's a little bit of leather and it's kind of got a leather cocoa thing happening, which is exquisite for me. And that's been, house is back and forth. It's consistent though.
I mean, it's pr like Senator said. I kind of agree with that. It's, it was much more pronounced in the beginning. It's, it's kind of plateaued, but in a delicious way for me. It's, it's very good.
Rooster: Yeah. It's also picked up a little bit in strength touch. Yeah. It's, it's, it's a good medium bodied
Chef Ricky: cigar. It's, it's still quite easy to smoke.
Yeah. I, so now I've. Hit it up a little bit and it's heated up and I, I am getting more flavor. And just to BA's point about the, the A, the a, the apricot, it's it for me. So originally I was getting some plumb here, but that sour note, I think it [00:53:00] could be plumb. It's, yeah, well, no, but the sour note makes it apricot, like, yeah.
So yeah, that's, that's spot on. Yeah. Love that one. Very nice.
Gizmo: All right boys, let's go to some more emails. This one's from Lizard Siegel. He says, thanks guys for another great episode. He is talking about the George Petro interview. When will another segment from PCA be featured? That's a great question.
Bam Bam: That's a very good question.
Gizmo: Sto uh, AOA obviously came out two weeks ago. That was from PCA, and then sometime over the summer we're gonna do a Dominican piece with Klaus Kelner and Vance Taylor from Kelner Cigars and Stoic respectively. And then we're going to do an ipi carillo. Probably middle to later in the summer, and we're gonna feature in our episode from Lisette.
And then finally, Rafael Nadal. Once we get our hand on enough concertos, we're gonna stack that in. And that will be one of the, I don't know where that's gonna fall, but it'll, it'll land somewhere in there. So that'll be the conclusion of our PCA content. So I'm trying to spread it out. That's great. So that it's not just every other week, a big PCA thing, so, uh, spreading [00:54:00] it out over a few months, so that's awesome.
You know, hopefully that'll be the case. And he finishes up here. I think it would be fun to send Bam to the grocery store and have him shop LOL.
Bam Bam: That'll be a big no
Gizmo: lizard Siegel. I would actually love to take, to take like a remote.
Bam Bam: Will
Senator: you bring a mic, Mike? I'll bring a remote mic. Okay. You'll walk behind me with a cord.
Put bam on an episode of supermarket. I'll interview the deli
Bam Bam: guy behind the counter. No problem. I would love that. Let's do that.
Gizmo: I'd love to see you in the grocery store for the, the first time in your wife.
Bam Bam: Am I paying $20 for this yogurt,
Senator: sir? That's 3 99. No, no. Here's 30.
Bam Bam: That's not
Gizmo: bad. That ain't bad.
Here's another one from Lizard. Jason. He says, hello boys. Have you considered the Crowned Head's Blood Medicine 2025 Limited edition.
Bam Bam: What are we talking about?
Gizmo: Some of these names? I mean, how do they come up with
Rooster: that?
Senator: Yeah,
Chef Ricky: like what the fuck
Senator: are the blood medicine? The blood is so off-putting. As soon as I heard that, I like cringed.
Gizmo: Just smoke the first rib robusto and I think [00:55:00] this could be right in your wheelhouse. I'm getting a box and I'm local. I live in Livingston, New Jersey. Would be happy to donate some to the cause and drop them off if you consider a smoke for the pod. So that's cool from lizard Jason. So let's talk about some feedback boys on our episode with Rob Isla and Hamlet Perretti.
The,
Senator: that was such a good episode.
Gizmo: Commentary was hilarious.
Senator: Put your seat belts on. Oh boy.
Gizmo: So this was from Lizard Shaky, who is a guy who sent a, who's a listener, who sent us some great spirits to review. He says The cigars lightly toasted the guests. Also lightly toasted
Bam Bam: more than lightly. Such
Gizmo: a good episode, thanks to everyone who made it and gave us this window into blending and tasting new cigars.
And then Rob replied to that and said, I was completely sober. I have no comment on the other guest. Here's another one from drink, smoke, golf on FOH. He says, no one says fucking motherfucker with as [00:56:00] much love as Hamlet. What a beauty. This one's cool. Hi all. I was very glad to hear the podcast on the Lounge Lizards, and I like the beginning intro, where they say where they're from.
They first said that they're in their studio in Hawthorne, New Jersey, and that's where my uncle lived, my father's oldest brother, and where I have a lot of childhood memories in Hawthorne. Then I heard that our friend Hamlet is in Fort Fort Myers, which is where my childhood friend is now. Just goes to show you that it's a small world after all.
That's lizard guy. And then another comment. Hamlet needs his own podcast, ASAP, uh, lizard. Nico Patrol said, outstanding podcast. Can't wait to listen more. And then Bonos, who always comments said, uh, hammy talks slowly with those dramatic pauses, those moments of silence, we wait to hear what's coming. The room sits and waits.
MJ fuckers fucking motherfucker. LOL, such a performer. I also wanted to add my [00:57:00] picture of my custom rolled hamlet from the man himself. I watched him roll this many years ago. Again, the wrapper is a little veiny, looks a bit off nowadays, but I'm sure it will taste great. And finally, wizard Sonic Stags a great episode, and I love when you guys have guests on the show.
Bam Bam: That's cool.
Gizmo: So great feedback on all of the interview stuff that we've done over the last few weeks. And, uh, I'm sure we'll get some feedback on the sto a at OA interview that came out two weeks ago. And, uh, we'll share that in an upcoming episode. So let's go to a long email here. This one's from Lizard Chris, who actually won Lizard of the Week.
Recently and uh, he says, good morning lizards lizard. Chris here again. And I wanted to tell you all about a recent experience I had at my lounge. My lounge invited me to a private meet and greet with Rocky and Nish Patel. I picked out the 60 Ann Robusto to smoke at the event and later they were handing out the Emerald.
I definitely concur with the formal lizard rating. It was a well [00:58:00] constructed one act play with nothing inherently is interesting about it. I would recommend it to a novice smoker to build the pallet, but I would never pay 20 bucks for that stick. Again, getting the actual meet and greet. Rocky gave a speech about his story and how he entered the industry, which by the way we've talked about is a pretty incredible story.
It's. Yeah, and he really put boots on the ground. I mean, he worked his ass off to build his business to where it is. So, no, uh, no question about that. I know you guys have highlighted that in a previous episode, so I won't get into that. Now, what I mainly wanna talk about was some interesting claims he had.
He claimed that Nicaragua tobacco is inherently better than Cuban tobacco because it is fermented, and that Cuban tobacco always has an ammonia taste. I wasn't going to interrupt him and give him a quick lizard lecture on how that is not really true, but I was thinking of easing into a conversation with him afterwards.
That is quite a claim.
Chef Ricky: Oh yeah. Marketing, well propaganda,
Gizmo: that's quite a claim. [00:59:00] Continuing on his speech, he grabbed a piece of paper and folded it over on itself a couple times and a zigzag type fold instead of cigars are rolled like this to prevent plugging. Instead of grabbing and bunching the tobacco, like other companies, he said that every single one of his cigars is run through a draw machine.
Where have we heard that before? And whatever it doesn't make the cut gets chopped up and sold to Swisher. That's pretty funny. This got a lot of laughs, including myself finishing up. He spoke about the Connecticut River Valley and how there is very limited amount of tobacco coming outta there. Because of labor shortages and tighter regulations.
I thought that was super interesting and it got me thinking what cigars use actual Connecticut River Valley Tobacco, and not just Connecticut seed grown in another country. And I think it's few and far between at this point. Yeah. I know that at PCA two years ago, we were able to watch a presentation from Nick Mulo, a Foundation Foundation, our who, yep.
Very passionate about the Connecticut River Valley. Gave a long history on it, but he himself said because of those things that Lizard Christ just mentioned, most [01:00:00] of the production of Connecticut tobacco has moved to Ecuador and elsewhere. So I think very, very You little,
Senator: the growing conditions in Connecticut Exactly.
The weather have changed. He was saying with climate change like it, it has totally ruined their ability to consistently grow that.
Gizmo: Upon further research and some chat GPT assistance, I found that one of the more interesting cigars that use a Connecticut River Valley wrapper is the Liga Bravada nine.
I've never had the pleasure of smoking one of the older Liga you guys spoke about, but have had a newer one recently. This leads me to believe that the shrinking of the Connecticut River Valley tobacco could be causing the vast inconsistency in the tobacco grown and where it's grown, probably leading to the major difference between the new and old Legas.
I know it was a revelation that a majority of the flavor comes from the filler instead of the wrapper, but it still pushes me to want to ask this directly to Jonathan Drew and Drew Estate. So that's an interesting comment. I mean, I think that, you know, we've talked about, you know, older league of versus new league.
I know Pagoda especially [01:01:00] has commented on that quite a bit on the pod. I mean, it's like, you know, if you want to compare it to single malts or you know, any other thing that is blended on a regular basis, wine, you know, they're doing their best each year to. Iterate and match the existing flavors of the year before or the year before that, and they're never gonna get it.
Perfect. I mean, a great example of this, and we talked to Lizette Perez Carillo about, this was the first year's pledge of Allegiance that we absolutely loved on this podcast. Mm-hmm. And then the second year of it was a very good cigar, but it was completely absent of the citrus note that we were like screaming and hollering about that was incredible and unique and different.
So that's a good example of the same cigar just having a different iteration and different product and tobacco and blend. So I think that's primarily what it is.
Senator: Yeah, I mean with that they, she said it was the exact same blend and. I mean that goes to you, you know, you need a master blender that is able to somehow, and, [01:02:00] and this is why I think our interview when we talked to uh, Klau Kelner, you know, you've gotta really have a hell of an inventory of different types of tobaccos to be able to, if a leaf that was once delivering something all of a sudden is not to have something that you can introduce to try to replicate that.
Yeah. I mean that's the hard part. That is the challenge of blending
Bam Bam: and you can't deny the League of Nines are different now I hear that over and over and over. Have you had one recently? I have not, no. And I probably won't. I've
Chef Ricky: had one sitting in my tower for a few months.
Gizmo: I haven't seen many people smoking liga.
You know, I, I think the celebration of Liga has definitely fallen off. Remember
Bam Bam: at one time you couldn't find them anyway. You couldn't find them. Yeah,
Gizmo: yeah. Pre COVID you couldn't find them. It's true. You know, they were definitely sought after and the special editions, limited editions. But I definitely think things have changed over the last few years.
Bam Bam: And when we did that very early in our recording career, it was delicious. Very good. And one of the, one of the. Most the best
Rooster: smoke point. It was like a chimney.
Bam Bam: The Senator Lounge, the [01:03:00] fire department was about to show up.
Gizmo: Yeah, they, that fan that he had in the window in the Senator garage didn't damn cheating.
Senator: My wife was about to come downstairs,
Gizmo: so Lizard Chris finishes. After the introduction was over, I struck up a conversation with Rocky about his favorite stick from his brand and he pointed to the one in my hand, the 60. We continued talking for a little while and maybe it was the number of people there or my age, but he didn't really seem interested in anything I had to say, so it did not, so I did not provide the proper accountability hour for Rocky.
Overall, it was a great time and cool to hear his story in person. Got to catch up with a couple friends and meet some new ones. I would love to hear lizard input on all of these topics above. Check out the picture of Below for reference. So there's Lizard Chris Boys with Rocky Patel. At his lounge. Very nice, nice photo and he finishes by saying also gizmo.
Thank you for the lizard of the weak package. I'm currently smoking the fabric of five Lance Sero from 2019, and it is unbelievable. I'm [01:04:00] halfway through and I have never got such pronounced notes of coffee and salted caramel from any other stick. I'm a huge fan. Cheers to that.
Bam Bam: Okay.
Gizmo: And this, and this is definitely my next box bundle purchase.
How long did this rest in your humidor before you sent them out? Keep smoking lizard, Chris. I probably bought them in 2022. 2023. It's a good cigar, so, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that comment, uh, shows that the aging potential on the fabric of five stuff is, uh, very, very strong. I think that they're gonna do very, very well with h.
So great email from Lizard Chris. We really appreciate it. So boys, before we get into our last email here, our lizard of the week, we are coming to the end of the second third, going into the last third here on the Fuente Fuente Opus X Esco in Ribo. What a mouthful.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: What's everybody thinking now?
Bam Bam: You and I Senator, probably have the best experience in the room.
What are you getting right now? I'm still getting the same thing. It's
Senator: actually gotten a little bit sweeter, isn't it? It's delicious. [01:05:00] Yeah. This is unusual. At some point, I think Rooster mentioned caramel, like that's exactly what I'm getting right now. Yeah. I really love the flavor profile. The only thing I'm very aggravated about right now is just the construction of this is I have re-lit and touched up this cigar.
It feels like a hundred times smoking it. I think all of us. And it has made it just like, I'm enjoying the flavor. This should be effortless. This is a $42 cigar, an opus cigar. I should never have to be this conscious about the burn in construction.
Chef Ricky: Yeah. Yeah. I'm having a hard time trying to develop a meaningful ash on this thing.
Like the, the ash just isn't, it's very flaky, very weird. Um, it's not building and to me that's critical and, and a great cigar experience. Um. Yeah. Flavor-wise, it's delivering good flavor. Some caramel. Yeah. But that's about it. I'm not getting a whole lot, more than, much more than that.
Rooster: I was getting a lot more and spice in the first third, and then [01:06:00] about the halfway point or a little, little before the halfway point.
Now I'm not quite getting those, those, uh, same notes.
Gizmo: The burn line is definitely frustrating me. I have touched this up. I know I've been talking the most out of anyone, but, uh, you know, I have touched this up probably five or six times since we lit in an hour 10 almost. And it's frustrating. It's not an effortless smoke.
Bam Bam: Yeah. And that's a problem right now. I I'm, I'm, what's that bad? You're second or third time now? This is my fourth time touching up. Oh. Um, I'll overlook that because it's just, I'm just enjoying the flavor so much. I'm getting even a little bit of maple. Uh, it's
Senator: kind of nuts. I'm just shocked by this because the first one of these I had at Shelly's, if I had to touch that cigar up this much, I would have given you guys the most scathing review of the cigar.
Yeah. You would never
Gizmo: have told us to buy it. He
Senator: would've thrown it at the window. For sure. I mean, I, I had a well-constructed cigar then, and the flavor was good, and at least this time the flavor is holding up. But the construction is just really a disappointment. It's [01:07:00] clearly
Bam Bam: an a consistency issue
Senator: for an elite high level cigar.
That's a problem. Yeah. A brand, you can, uh, we do not rush. You cannot rush the hands of time. Right. Like, I mean, this is a rush job. This is a shitty role. Mm-hmm. I mean, multiple of us have this experience. What a shame. Yeah.
Rooster: Yeah. My draw's still tight. It's not good.
Chef Ricky: Yeah. Rooster's ash is somewhere between a canoe and a.
A pencil tip, sailboat. Dunno what's happening. Sailboat. He's
Bam Bam: got like a under lap of wrapper there. That's kind of like the structure of it actually doesn't know what it wants to do. What are you getting? Flavorwise g
Gizmo: My, it's about the same. Yeah. I'm still getting a little bit of that citrus type of note.
I'm getting a little bit of the sweetness. So weird. It's a little woody. Um, it's definitely not as good as it was at the beginning of the second third. It's kind of back to where it was in the first third. I'm a little bored right now with it. Like it's, it's for a $42 re robusto. It's not peaking my interest at all.
Chef Ricky: Crazy.
Gizmo: Um, I, I was [01:08:00] very hopeful at that 30 minute mark that I was in for something here. Yeah. And unfortunately it's just not been the case tonight.
Rooster: Wow. I mean, when you, when you took the cold raw off the cigar, it seemed like it would be a very promising cigar. You know, when you lit it also, you got these.
The cherry note, the sweetness, and it's kind of like about the halfway point. It's kind of gone down. It's dissipated quite a bit for me,
Gizmo: and I'm also getting in the last few draws. Now I'm getting like a bitter thing. It's like a bitterness. This goes to there. This is lunacy that I was
Bam Bam: talking about. It's crazy what's happening right now with this.
Yeah. I can't
Senator: believe this how inconsistent this cigar is. It's like bam and have a totally different cigar than the rest of you guys. By the way, I
Gizmo: hate to do this, but when you think about how many cigars we've smoked over the last six months, or a year or a year and a half since we've really gone down some rabbit holes, especially in Honduran tobacco, when you're talking about an eight, 10, $12 re robusto, that's a perfect [01:09:00] burn line that has great flavor.
Every time you pull it out, it's consistent senators comparing it to the Parus D four, you know, it's just. Really unfortunate that you're talking about a $42 re robusto same size effectively as any of those other cigars that I'm referencing. The Stoic, the Fabrica five, the all Dino Cameroon, the All Dino Classic.
Uh, I just, IATA can't wrap my He and the Sonata. Yeah. The aging room stuff. I can't wrap my head around this. $42 re robusto performing at such a weaker level than that.
Chef Ricky: Mm-hmm. This cigar feels like it's not made to smoke past the band. It reminds me of those cheesy cigar lounge posters that people buy or you see on the internet and, um, you know, like the Bacca
Bam Bam: Rock.
Chef Ricky: Well, you know, uh, it, it states cigar facts and it shows you ring gate sizes and the purpose of the band. And like one of, don't knock
Senator: those. Gizmo has one of those [01:10:00] on his wall
Gizmo: that's not nice.
Chef Ricky: And a box of Bacca rock.
Well, what one of the quote unquote facts that I saw was that the band was put there to tell you when to stop smoking. What? Right. That would be more than
Rooster: a half of the cigar, man. No
Senator: shit, right? For Rocky Pat. Not a value man. For a Rocky Patel cigar, that'd be the whole cigar. Look at that 60, uh, like cigar.
Yeah. I could see
Bam Bam: Farmer Brown getting mad. Right now
Chef Ricky: I'm living, but I tell you what, if I put this thing down just before I took the band off, I would've been much happier than I am right now. So it just, I, I, I, I don't know, maybe this is like a, a ca cigar, you know, like it's meant to get a good rating and then, you know, a few draws and put it down.
But
Gizmo: I, I, it's just hard for me to reconcile referencing what I did earlier. And again, I came in despite the past two cigars that we've done on this podcast. And the other couple of Opus I've had outside of the podcast. I did come in tonight, very optimistic. You [01:11:00] know, Senator had smoked one. He said it was very good.
I went, purchased them. They've been in my tower since October. It's now coming almost into July. It's been in there a long time. So, and they feel great. And feel great. So I don't think it's
Chef Ricky: a humidity
Gizmo: issue. Well, it's definitely not a humidity issue. Well,
Senator: I mean, it could be. Well of course he's gonna say no.
Gizmo: Well, you guys could start storing all the cigars. You're welcome to. Yeah. Uh, no, but you know, very seriously, it, it, it goes back to this marketing exercise thing we're talking about where. I, I don't know if, if that's really a, a, a, a point anymore for Opus X. I think they're just trying to move cigars, do the marketing thing, the fancy boxes, limited releases, false scarcity.
I mean, at the end of the day, again, we're talking about, it's pretty much the same stuff here. You know, this tobacco is not that far off in origin, maybe in age certainly, but any of the Hemingway stuff, any of the Don Carlo stuff, it's not that far off. This is not monumental, [01:12:00] life-changing unique tobacco that's in here and, and unfortunately this blend is not great.
And most importantly, the construction's not good.
Senator: Yeah.
Gizmo: It's 42 bucks.
Senator: Yeah. I'll just say I disagree on the blend. I think the blend is actually very good. I like the flavor that I'm getting because
Bam Bam: you're getting a
Senator: great experience on it. Yeah. Bam. And I are getting something different, obviously than, than at least this seems properly blended.
Maybe those weren't, um, or made, you know, to the specs of the blend, but the construction, I think is what is common among all of us. That's true. This is a poorly constructed cigar.
Gizmo: What's amazing too, is you're having a great flavor experience and you've probably had, maybe you and Rooster have had the worst constructed cigars in the room.
That's true.
Rooster: Yeah.
Gizmo: Yeah.
Rooster: I'm, I'm kind of getting a bitter note right now.
Gizmo: That's what I was saying. I was getting, I'm getting bitterness. I can't, if it's believe, I can't believe, I don't know if it's like heavy, heavy, heavy. This is crazy Nicotine. It's not nicotine now. No, it's not nicotine for me. It's bitter on the tongue.
It
Chef Ricky: feels like citrus pith. Are you, I think you guys are all kind of coming to where I was a little early, uh, a while ago. Not all, but Well, you'll get there. [01:13:00] We'll get there. He's waiting. Are you smoking it properly? There's, so one of my pet peeves is when I smoke a cigar and I end up with a rounded ash.
To me that's just a huge sign of shitty construction. Uh, and that's what's happening here. I can't build an ash. The ash is rounded. It's it's just you. Hmm. Yeah. I'm looking at bams ash. It's splitting over there. It's looking weird. The color's bright white though. That's
Bam Bam: another thing. That color is inconsistent in the room.
Yeah, you're gray, dark gray, medium white. This is bright white. Yeah, it's weird.
Gizmo: All right, boys, let's go to another email here. This is from Lizard Josh, and he's gonna be our lizard of the week This week. He says, hi lizards. My wife and I are sharing our 10th anniversary at the end of the month, and we have a trip to Jamaica scheduled 10 years ago.
Immediately after the ceremony, I lit up a Padron 80th. [01:14:00] Right in your wheelhouse, Senator. It was my first 80th and I immediate, I immediately knew I got married to two loves that night. Jokes aside, that's a great line. Jokes aside, I knew it would always be my celebratory smoke and that I would save it for milestones or those perfect moments.
So on our first anniversary, I bought a full box of Eightieths. I smoked one a year until seven years in when I realized that the original box was down to one. To sum up a somewhat uninteresting story, I plan to smoke my last one on this year's trip. I figure 14 years of age on this cigar between me and the five years within the factory.
Will make it a perfect way to timestamp the occasion. I also know Senator had shared an experience with these aged cigars and wanted to reach out with a final thought. I thought it might be fun to ask each of the lizards on the panel what drink they would pair with the cigar for the occasion. However, there is a catch.
It would need to be readily accessible in an airport duty free or [01:15:00] within an all inclusive resort.
Bam Bam: Lot of stipulations there. Lemme remember
Gizmo: that. Get on your thinking cap ba. It could be, for example, a spirit or a cocktail offering, but the game is that if you had limited options and didn't wanna spoil the experience.
Anyway, I love the podcast and I thought I'd love to share in on one of my favorite smokes and hopefully have fun with a little insight from all of you. Cheers, lizard. Josh,
Bam Bam: nice email.
Gizmo: Great email. And congratulations lizard. Josh on your anniversary on smoking. Great cigars from,
Rooster: how do you hold onto a box of eight cigars for that long?
I know, right? That's what senator did. That's true. Well, he
Bam Bam: dis
Gizmo: but he had multiple boxes. Multiple boxes. Discipline rooster.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: So what would you say at an airport duty free? Glen Fiig. Glen Fiig.
Bam Bam: That's the easy Havana Shi seven year Havana Club.
Senator: That's the easy answer. I think. I, I agree. I Havana seven would pair perfectly and that should be easily accessible at the airport.
Mm-hmm. Honestly, this [01:16:00] Pral 1888, I think would go, I agree perfectly with, uh, an 80th Yes. And honestly, I mean better than Haa seven in the sense that like this has more viscosity mm-hmm. Of fuller experience. It's a little, it's a little richer. Yes. That it is, is a fuller experience. That's also true. I think this would be a home run as pairing.
Yep.
Chef Ricky: Chef,
Senator: what
Gizmo: would your drink be?
Chef Ricky: I think the brutality 8 18 88 is a great choice, but I also think the bini double wood. I think anything finished in Sherry C for that is gonna work. Great.
Gizmo: Great point. Any, I mean, any 12 year single malt, I think that, you know, has a sherry cask finish is gonna be a great pairing for that.
Padro, you know, really anything we've done on the pod, if it's Macallan, if it's bny, if it's Glen Fiig, um, anything we've rated very highly. I know there's been some that we haven't loved. Are there any that I didn't name that would be kind of in that same category? I'm trying to think what I would reach for, but no.
And also, I
Senator: mean, he's gonna be in Jamaica, the Appleton 12 year also would pair great with a, with an 80th.
Gizmo: That's [01:17:00] great. Rum man. Oh
Senator: yeah.
Gizmo: Appleton Estate Rum is very good. Yep. Talking about combustion, the room's pretty full now. Yeah, my combustion's definitely got a little better. Got some good smoke going here.
Chef Ricky: I'd hope so. You guys applied so much flame to your cigars to get them back to where they needed to be. Yeah, I just
Senator: wanna build them back for the butane at $42, they should be like $34. And I used DuPont butane for fuck's sake.
Bam Bam: That's right.
Gizmo: So boys, I was texting with my father-in-law talking about the podcast and he asked a really good question.
He wanted me to ask the lizards. He said, can you ask the guys what was their most unforgettable cigar experience that you've had on the road, whether in a, you know, work environment going to. You know, a different country, a factory, a field, a lounge, anything or, you know, somewhere surprising. What was your most memorable cigar experience away from home?
And he asked that because we were talking about his career as a traveling pharmaceutical sales rep. Um, so he was thinking about all the different places traveling around, that he had smoked [01:18:00] cigars and we were talking about his favorite moment. So I wanted to throw that to you guys. I know that all of you, all of us, have had a lot of different experiences around the world.
Smoking cigars
Bam Bam: for me, the first time I had a chance to smoke. A D four at the Parus shop in Cuba. That was just off the charts experience there, really unforgettable. The cigar was perfect, the ambiance is perfect. Had a great group of guys from all over the world. It was unforgettable.
Senator: I mean, that's a really good one.
I, I mean, I'll never forget the first time in the parus shop. I know what you're gonna say. I mean, I lit up a lucita and that was the day we got to sign the guest book that they had just started there. And I mean, I, I've, I was emotional like that. Yeah. It, it like felt like a cigar. And I wrote this in the guest book, like this is a mark of that has been there for like every.
Important moment in my adult life. Like that was my wedding cigar. I lit that up after my [01:19:00] son was born. Like every momentous occasion as an adult, like Parus has been there for it. And to light that in the parus shop experienced the hospitality that we experienced there. Renee, Renee, I mean, he's the man. I, it, it was surreal, honestly.
So for me, I, I think it's probably the same. I'll just add another one that, that came to mind. Um, and this is Cuba again. Um, I mean, the first time we lit, uh, a Bahi K 54 with dlo. Oh sure, yeah. That was, yeah. Yeah, that was pretty bad. That was awesome. And, and it wasn't even just the setting, it was the company in the sense that, like, that being the first time I had met Danilo, to see someone in a place like Cuba with.
Such limited experience really in the industry, know so much and like just devote. His every waking hour to like this passion he has, like we do for cigars. [01:20:00] I was just blown away. Like, you, you just don't expect that to be possible. Um, so that that for me also was just an amazing experience.
Rooster: Yeah. I think for, for me it was, uh, so I had a punch double Corona at Habana Libre.
That was a delicious smoke was awesome. And you was off,
Bam Bam: uh, pagoda that day.
Rooster: Pagoda, yeah, there you
Bam Bam: go.
Senator: Yeah.
Rooster: Yeah. They
Senator: left us out.
Rooster: Uh,
Bam Bam: correct.
Rooster: As usual. You were
Gizmo: napping
Senator: also, correct? Ah, I certainly was not
Gizmo: Pam and I were so, I, I would agree. I, I mean, outside the US I mean, um, I, I have a lot of. Great memories of my time in Cuba, especially with Danilo.
Uh, and I think it's, for the same reason Senators you mentioned it, it's, it goes beyond the cigar, the cigars, the vehicle, uh, that it, you know, inspired and, and allowed us to have just brilliant conversation. And, you know, he and I have become great friends. It's just been a, a wonderful experience and to be in the heart of some of the best tobacco coming out of Cuba and to learn so much as Senator said from D Nilo has been a great experience.
[01:21:00] So I would say that was definitely it for me. I, I'm curious for you guys domestically in the US
Bam Bam: Hmm.
Gizmo: What, what's been your most memorable cigar experience? 'cause I, I have one outside of a long lounge. Oh, we know
Senator: that. Um, I mean, I'll, I'll give one. First time I had the Pedro 80th at our former lounge. I had bought it there and I really, really liked that cigar.
And I bought a box and I went to, um, the, uh, grand Havana Grand Havana room and. I brought the box with me and the guy that was hosting, you know, I gave him one, some other people, and I love that cigar that I lit up so much that I smoked four of them back to back to back to back. Yeah. Wow. I've never done that with a cigar ever.
Have you done it since? No, that's insane. I mean, I even look at myself. You don't say, what was I thinking? I mean, that's a, that's an expensive night. Oh yeah. Um, but you know, it was, the company was great and it, it was just funny. I was meeting people [01:22:00] there that had like political past and just people that we knew, a lot of people in common.
And it's like, I wasn't even thinking, and I'm like looking at myself like, oh my God. Like I'm on my third, I'm on my fourth of these. And just the evening the company. And man, that cigar is so special. Definitely memorable for me.
Chef Ricky: Yeah, I, I, I'm gonna take this quite literal and, uh, my, my favorite on the road cigar was on the way to Philly.
And, um, it was Vegas Rub, Romania Classical. I thought you were gonna say a
Senator: Philly blunt for a minute. I got worried.
Gizmo: You, you smoked the classical in the car.
Chef Ricky: That's right. Wow. Just, and that was after I ran it underwater for seven seconds. Holy. And gave all of us a heart attack. That was, that was the start of Watergate.
That's right. And, um, yeah, no, it was, it was super delicious. And I, I guess I didn't realize the reaction I would get after telling everyone that, you know, I tried the water experiment with that cigar, but it needed it, and, and it did [01:23:00] amazing things to it. Um, you know, I, that was a memorable experience for me.
The feedback, the comments from all of you guys. And that was in the lounge chat, so I was getting a lot more comments. That was just really fun. And it was a delicious cigar. It. Led to a super memorable hour and a half for me on the road. That's awesome.
Gizmo: I mean, I, I have to say, I know this is going against the question that we're talking about here, but I, we've talked about this before, but that Vegas Rabbinic Classico, the first one Sure.
That Rooster ever gave me at the old lounge. I mean, it just sticks in my brain. It's like a Yeah. Imprint. And I've been chasing that ever since.
Bam Bam: Uh, that flavor profile. Yes.
Gizmo: Yeah. Just that experience, that moment, like, I'll never have that again. And you, you're constantly chasing it. Correct. You know what I mean?
Like, I'll never get there again, but I want to,
Bam Bam: I had that for the first time in Senator's Garage. That's the very first time I believe I had that cigar. And I, it's like you said to this day, that created an imprint that you're consistently pursuing. [01:24:00] So
Gizmo: boys, we're coming to the end of our evening with the Pral 1888 Doe Anado Rum and the Fuente Fuente Opus X ro in Ribo.
What's everybody thinking?
Bam Bam: I'm thinking. It's unfortunate that not everyone is having the same experience that Senator and I are having right now. This is still for me, quite delicious and the pairing with this spirit has been, it's off the charts. Really, really delicious
Senator: experience tonight. The flavor all the way down the stretch for me has been great.
It's crazy. I really can't take anything away from that. Agreed. I'm highly
Gizmo: envious. Yeah. I'm not getting much. No. Yeah, that's, that's at this point it's bitter and it's uninteresting. It's just bitter. It's boring,
Chef Ricky: it's flat. It needs a, it needs the electrical paddles. Maybe you should
Rooster: dip it in the Brugal.
Senator: Yeah, yeah. There you go. Pour it over. Pull in. Arnold. One thing I will say about this rum, this is the second Brugal we're doing on the podcast. [01:25:00] I'm pleased to see I. That my experience has been when you drink Brugal, you don't actually feel like shit the next day.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Senator: And that's usually a sign that like, there's not a ton of added sugar and other things in there.
Because I remember the extra Viejo we did, I mean, we drank plenty of that. Yeah. I don't think anybody had a bad experience. And this bottle, I mean, honestly, when BA brought this, seeing the dark color, I was nervous and I'm like, oh man, this might have a lot of sugar. And I looked it up and like, from what I was seeing, they, they actually, they post on their website, the calorie count in that very few, you know, uh, spirit brands do that.
And it was like. 45 calories or something and I'm like, okay, it's impossible that it's loaded with sugar. If there's 45 calories in, like I can finish that bottle tonight, gimme more. But seeing that, that's what made me feel a little comfortable, uh, trying it, uh, on a Sunday night when like I had a busy Monday morning and not having to worry and I felt great the [01:26:00] next morning.
And it said a lot, I think speaks volumes to Al. And, you know, Dominican rum I have traditionally been very wary of, because Ron z Cappa, that stuff is loaded with sugar. Like you're drinking Kool-Aid or something. It's undrinkable. I'm sorry. It's ridiculous. Like that XO bottle. I, I, I won't name names.
Someone, a lizard gifted me a bottle of it once. I mean, it's just sugar in a bottle. I couldn't drink it. I, I, I, I don't even know what I did with it at this point. And it like totally colored my impression of Dominican rum as like, this is all stuff with a ton of additives and like, you know why I like and respect rum out of certain, uh, Caribbean islands, like Jamaica has very strict rules.
There are no additives in their rum. Um, we talked about Foursquare from Barbados, like, and is [01:27:00] Mount Gay also from Barbados? Yes. Mm-hmm. Those are two brands. They definitely do not add sugar.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Senator: Um, Florida, Kanye, we have found out of, um, Nicaragua no additives. I mean they boldly put additive free on every single bottle of their product.
That stuff is incredible. And so I'm very encouraged by, um, Brugal and, you know, I know Chef had found, um, a little data that some folks have kind of crowdsourced on sugar content and rum. Yep.
Chef Ricky: And the, so to your point about the, you know, you're mentioning a lot of Caribbean brands. It seems like the Caribbean nations have committed to making low, low to no additive realms.
Mm-hmm. Um, with some, a pact of some sort or, or whatnot. Um, and they're, you know, this au has very low sugar or added sugar coming in at 4G, whereas that Bacardi that we, uh, reviewed, I don't know how many episodes ago, but that was somewhere at 20 g, the Bacardi eight year, right? Yeah, that's right. The ocho, yeah.
Yep. And
Senator: 20 grams of [01:28:00] sugar per shot per pot. Oh, wow. That's
Chef Ricky: insane. This is all coming via hydrometer test results. Um, so it's, uh, you know, it's, it's now those are estimated or estimates, if you will, but it's still low or zero altogether. Yeah. So that's what we're looking for. You know, I, I think it's great, uh, that someone's actually going above and beyond do this research and, and find those things.
And
Gizmo: so let's shout out the site that you found. Yep. Rum revelations.com. And on our chat here today, you guys were pulling up some of the different data points. Like you said, Senator 1888 has four grams of sugar. The Bacardi eight has 20 grams. The Florida Kanye, they only rated one came in at zero.
Senator: The 12 year.
Gizmo: The 12 year. And the Havana Club seven from Cuba has four grams, the same as what we're drinking tonight.
Senator: So I, I said on our chat, just based on our experience, I mean, we love Havana seven. We feel great drinking it. The same thing with this bottle. You know, my guide now going forward is like four grams or less.[01:29:00]
Totally, you know, meets the, the test in my book. Mm-hmm. I think when you get above that is when you can prob, you know, probably run into a little trouble. Yeah.
Gizmo: And I think too, for listeners, I mean, it's not like we're purists about additives or whatever. I think the product of what we're. Describing and discussing is waking up the next morning and not feeling like shit.
You mean we're not starting make lizards healthy again.
Bam Bam: But we ki we kind of are though, you know, that whole tequila run that we learned from Chef Ricky, we're in love with all of the clean tequilas that are available out there. And I think it's great to see a rum like this and as Senator mentioned, the Florida Kanye, these are great options to have.
Chef Ricky: Yeah, I would love nothing more than for everyone to come clean and just put it out there. Agreed. And use it to, you know, and there are some, with some of these rums listed on this site, prior to these, this research being done, done. They were coming in at higher sugar content. And then as they start seeing that the population's paying more attention to it, now all of a sudden the tests are showing [01:30:00] lower sugar content.
So it matters. Um,
Gizmo: I just don't understand how they can get away with not telling the consumer what's in the product. Like so many other things that we consume, it's pretty amazing. They don't have to tell you, but let me just be
Senator: clear. That's not unique to rum, that's the case for all spirits. I know that, that's what I'm saying.
I mean, good luck telling me the nutritional content in Macallan and many scotch like Oh yeah, a lot of protein in that Macallan, the macros are off the charts. It's a great purse workout, uh, workout Drake. But I, I will also say for listeners that are wondering like, you know, what are rum brands to watch out for that do the complete opposite?
Um, obviously Ron Z Cop I mentioned, but another one that is, I think the poster child for this is diplomatic. Oh, rum out of Venezuela. I don't know if you've ever had it comes in like that, um, like frosted glass, like green bottle. And when you pour that rum, I mean it's like black o like crazy, [01:31:00] crazy dark.
Yeah. How was that? To the point that I'm sure there's food coloring in addition to just boatloads of sugar they pour. I will never forget the first time I took a sip of that. It was disgusting. I mean, undrinkable. So
Chef Ricky: for the record, what I did learn in reading this, uh, article is that all rum is allowed, caramel colorant sugar is the problem, and us rums, which there really are no good US rums being produced, but rums produced in the US are allowed up to 2.5% additive.
So to put that into perspective, te the tequila industry by law is allowed up to 1%. Uh, so two point a half percent is pretty high. Hmm. Um, but no one's really buying us rums. That's all like probably, you know, uh, shelf stuff, but, or speed.
Gizmo: Speed. I don't know if I've ever had a rum from the us. Yeah. No. Not that I know of anyway.
Yeah, Bacardi. [01:32:00] Puerto part of the Puertorican. That's a tequila. Yeah,
Bam Bam: it's a tequila.
Gizmo: Alright, boys, we're coming to the end of our evening now with the Briga 1888 and the Fuente Fuente Opus Ro in Ribo. It's time now for the formal liquor rating on the Brugal. 1888. Double Mente ro bam. Bam, you're up.
Bam Bam: Yeah. So I'm taking aroma, I'm getting maple caramel in the nose.
The drink is delicious. It's affordable. Um, at a 10. A 10. Excellent. Yeah. Yeah, because I've had, I've had four bottles of this. I'll continue to buy it. I'll take it tonight. Well, no, but I will, I I'm gonna continue to pursue this bottle, so for me it's a 10.
Gizmo: All right, chef Ricky.
Chef Ricky: I, I'm, I'm sold under Dominican Rummm.
I'd be honest, I, I, prior to this pot, I've had a lot of entry level al, that were either gifted to me from, you know, maybe employees who were going to the DR and coming back and [01:33:00] bringing some stuff for me and I was just never really a big fan of it. It always felt overly woody and just not really developed.
But what we're drinking on this pod is a lot. Is is superior to that stuff. Uh, and it's done really well. I'm in lockstep with you. Bam. Bam. At the 10, uh, the, I'm, I'm sorry, Senator, I took your, your phrase there. Um, but it's, it's delicious. I love, love, love the, the viscosity on it. Uh, I love, um, the body that it delivers, uh, on the drink.
It's round, it's delicious. It's easy to drink without ice. And you know, at some point it was really adding to the cigar, but now the cigars kind of come to a point where not even the rum could help it. So, but the rum on its own is a 10 for sure. What was the price point on this bottle? 40 bucks. Oh my God.
What of steal? Hold
Gizmo: on. So, for me, it's also a 10 I, I. I'm totally blown away [01:34:00] by this rum. Uh, I continue to be amazed at this journey. We've gone on with all of these different spirits and we continue to find these gems. This is at 40 bucks. This is a bottle that every lizard should have in their cabinet.
This is easy to reach for at any time that you're looking for a nice pairing. I think almost for any cigar, for a Cuban cigar, a Honduran cigar, a Dominican cigar, a Nicaraguan cigar. This works for the lightest of those. Mm-hmm. And I think it also works surprisingly for the heaviest of those. Yeah.
Bam Bam: What's interesting about this is the versatility.
If you're on a warmer day with ice, just a few chips Yeah. It gets that temperature up and you're still getting very, very good flavor.
Chef Ricky: That's a great point, Pam. I think with a lighter cigar, some ice would help us for sure. Yeah. It would make the printing a little more appropriate. Sure. I,
Gizmo: I do think. This is one of the most versatile rums that we've had in that I think a lot of the rums that we love, I, I don't know if they would work well [01:35:00] with a more full Dominican or especially Nicaraguan cigar.
I think this one would do it. I love that $40 price point. I love how effortless it is to drink. I love that. We don't need ice. I love the aftertaste. I think it sips so smoothly. There's no heat. It's just a really, really well balanced, well produced rum. So I'm very, very happy at a 10 Senator.
Senator: Yeah, I, I'm thrilled with these scores.
I'm also at a 10, I'm honestly shocked. It's a 10 all around. Um, I expect there to be some debate about this. I think Gizmo's point about the versatility hits the nail on the head for me in the sense that. It is shocking how this could hold up to the fullest of cigar and also like just a firmly medium easygoing cigar.
And it's because the flavor is so rich and full, yet the delivery is so smooth that despite how flavorful it is, it [01:36:00] can pair perfectly and not clash with a medium body or even a mild, medium cigar. But for a real full body cigar, this has the, the, the structure to really hold up to it. So, uh, that's a huge, huge merit.
The fact that, you know, you don't have to worry about a silly amount of sugar content. The interestingly for me, the rum that this actually reminded me of, like competing head to head and they're at very different price points. Uh, Havana Club, CEL Alexion de Bistros that I. This has the same viscosity that does, but the difference with that is that that packs heat.
Bam Bam: Mm.
Senator: That's not a rum that I would pair with like a milder Cuban. I don't even love that with like a lot of medium bodied Cubans. You need like a medium full Cuban for that rum. And that thing goes for like over a hundred bucks a bottle, I'm pretty sure. And you need a chip of ice with that. That's the thing.
It's got heat. You gotta have some ice where like this at a fraction of the price Yeah. [01:37:00] Delivers the, the fullness and richness of the flavor that that does, but without any of the heater that harshness. So, uh, you know, if you look at, if any listener looks at the rum that we regularly drink, it's usually like.
A seven year expression of something because it's versatile, it can go with anything. And Florida, Kanye seven, Havana Club seven, like those are on the thinner side. Yes. Yeah. They're not rums that like, you're gonna have a league of nine or you know, a really heavy padron and say like, that's the perfect pairing.
You're gonna say like, it compare, it's not gonna clash, but it's not. And by the way,
Gizmo: the way that we smoke, we're four cigars in by the time we're That's correct. And, and probably four pores in. Correct. By the time we're even thinking about the, how well does this pair with our Nicaragua
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: So, you know for sure.
It, it, it kind of clouds your Yeah. This thinking about the pairing this, but the funny thing is.
Senator: Knowing that, like I, I've always known Havana seven, Florida County seven, it's not an ideal pairing for some of the fuller stuff we smoke yet. We still [01:38:00] reach for that.
Bam Bam: Yes.
Senator: And that's because like any of the fuller bodied rums that are accessible to me, pack too much heat, cannot be drank in volume of any kind.
And so I never reach for them. And this is kind of the only thing that. We've come across that fits that Bill. So there is no question I think we'll regularly reach for this rum. Yep. And, um, I'm thrilled that it got a 10. It deserves it every bit. Agreed. Especially at that price point of
Chef Ricky: 40 bucks a bottle.
Yeah. It's ridiculous. And you know what, I think it delivers just the, the smallest amount of heat that is perfect to make it complex and in and interesting. Uh, because I I agree with you that the Florida KA is, has no heat. It's a super easy drink. Yeah. It's almost like it's been diluted to a point that, and I, I don't mean this in a bad way, it's not to knock it, but this has just enough heat where it may, you know, it, it could stand up to a fuller bodied cigar, uh, like this has reached at [01:39:00] times.
Sure. Um, but it's definitely dissipated the cigar we know. So Bo de formal
Gizmo: Liquoring tonight on the Briga 1888, do La Mente Ado. It's a 10.0 a perfect score. Impressive. And let's compare that quick shout out. Good job to hear. Lizard Johnny. Lizard Johnny. Oh yeah. And Lizard. Bam. Who brought this to your house?
Correct. All right. That's true. Yeah, we got a shout out. Bam as well. Let's compare this to the other Brugal. We did, we did the Extra Viejo on episode 116. Can't believe it's been that long ago. Also scored a perfect 10. Is that right? Both Briales are both but's. If I say that scores, I mean
Senator: Lizard. Johnny brought back that extra Viejo from, uh, Dr.
When he was there and gave it to me and, and I gave it obviously for us to, to drink. And he, you know, he's a proud Dominican. He loves Brugal. And, um, my experience with Dominican Rum has been so bad through Ron Zpa that I was very hesitant and Al's [01:40:00] batting a thousand. I mean, this is awesome. I think they're a potential sponsor.
Chef Ricky: Guys, we're, we're one more Boal away from having a live Domino game on this podcast.
I think Jo Johnny's
Rooster: in Dr. Right now.
Gizmo: That's correct. That's correct. All right boys, it's time now to do the formal lizard rating. Tonight on the Fuente Fuente Opus X ro ba are Busto.
Senator: Yeah, I'm up.
Gizmo: Rooster. A hot seat buddy. In fact, you are
Rooster: up. Okay. Farmer Brown.
So for me, the search for a good opus still continues. Mm. I mean this cigar, it. Looked promising, had a beautiful dark wrapper, the smell on the foot, you know, we got some like dried cherry and a cedar woody earthy.
Chef Ricky: You did call out compost and yeah, I mean, it kind of smelled manure, smelled like compost.
Towards the
Rooster: end, it tasted like compost. So, I [01:41:00] mean, uh, oh man. Wow. I mean, I kind of put it down like I had more than a third of the cigar left and I had to put it down. So I think I might have been the only one with a real, uh, draw issue on the cigar. The construction on this cigar was not adequate. I mean, for a $42 cigar.
At least the construction should be flawless. Whether you get the flavors or you know, if the flavors are muted or you're not getting the perfect flavors that you're looking for, the construction should be spot on and it was not. I mean, it's a huge demerit because if I have to relight a cigar at least like 15 times throughout, that's not good.
Especially at this price point, the flavors, I mean the, the notes that we were getting from the, uh, beginning to maybe about the first third and maybe almost to the halfway point, they were, you know, we were getting cedar earthiness, little bit of a mushroom umami type thing happening. There was a [01:42:00] sweetness, there was a caramel sweetness coming through.
There was a hint of pepper. But at the halfway point it, I really lost interest in the cigar. It got muted, had draw issues almost throughout, and, uh, having to put down a $42 cigar, it's not good. So for that reason, I'm at S seven.
Senator: All right, Senator. It's tough. 'cause even though I had a different experience, I mean there, there's a lot that's indefensible and so, you know, I'll say this, I'll start with the flavor.
What I was thrilled to see is that the flavor that this delivered was some of the best flavor I've gotten out of any opus cigar. Period. Like the only opus cigar that I've had that's been really flavorful has been the opus shark. We've all smoked that cigar. We like that cigar. Outside of that, any other opus has been like mild, medium, at most medium.
Like this actually flavor wise, like got medium full at a number of points, which I really liked. [01:43:00] And the flavor profile, the blend are flavor notes that I think all of us, if not most of us pursue. I really liked the, the dried fruit, the sweetness. It transitioned a little bit. It picked up as it went along.
There was a lot of merit to the flavor of the cigar. Mm-hmm. In your experience For sure. Tonight. Yep. For sure. Yep. Like if this was well constructed. The flavor it delivered, uh, you know, is present. This would actually get a very good score for me. The frustrating part, this is honestly one of the worst constructed cigars I have ever had on this podcast.
In the final third, the ash was literally just crumbling like sand. I mean, I had to completely clean off my clothes. You looked like go for a while. I felt like the Dakota. Exactly. I mean that,
Chef Ricky: that never
Senator: happens to
Chef Ricky: you, Mario. Never.
Senator: No. Yeah. I didn't that by
Gizmo: the way, that's why I didn't bust his balls when I saw it, because I knew it wasn't his fault.
Yeah. I wish I saw
Senator: it. I didn't see that. No, it was not user error. I mean, this, this cigar just [01:44:00] horrible construction. Horrible. For a $42 robust. That's, and that's what makes it infuriating. Yeah. Like if this were an $8 cigar delivering the flavor, this did. I can overlook stuff like that at $42. It's inexcusable.
So. The fact that I had one of these prior last year that did not have this construction issue. I mean, I was wearing a suit and Shelly smoking this thing. I, I would've been furious just having a wipe as all over nice clothing. The fact that I had one of these that was well constructed. So at least I know it's possible.
Some of them do exist. Um, there was one in the room tonight, by the way. Bam. Had a nice
Gizmo: one. Bam had a good one. The rest of us not, but he did have to
Senator: relight several times. That's true. Yeah. So all of us didn't,
Bam Bam: so I hit the flame about six times tonight. Wow.
Senator: Yeah. That's, that's completely, yeah. It's unacceptable.
Inexcusable. Yeah. Um, so I'm also gonna give it a seven. Um, that is a factor of me having this another time that it was well constructed. Candidly, if this was the only one I ever had, like just the construction [01:45:00] ruined the experience so much, I would've given it like a five or a six. But the flavor is good.
And so I think like for a listener that likes Opus or is curious about Opus. If you know you get a good one, I think you're gonna have a great experience without this construction issue. This could've gotten an eight from me. This would've been one of the better opus I've ever had. Um, and something that if I was in a retailer and I had to buy something or someone gave me one, I would absolutely smoke again.
But if I have another one of these like constructed this way, I mean there's no chance I'm not gonna sit through an hour and a half of just ash all over me. It's not worth the experience. So that's where I net out outta a seven.
Gizmo: So unfortunately for me, I had a very brief moment, maybe 20 minutes of, of good to, you know, decent to good flavor that I mentioned, but it's gonna be a six for me tonight.
The smell of the foot before we lit the cigar was the best part of the entire cigar. Oh, you couldn't
Chef Ricky: stop smelling it. It was the best part of our cigar so far up your nose. So your aroma was nice getting worried.
Gizmo: The aroma on [01:46:00] the foot before we lit was the best part of the cigar. Yeah. That's crazy.
That's crazy. I was so hyped when I pulled that out of the cellophane and put it to my nose. I couldn't believe how good it smelled, how good the tobacco smelled.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: I was so amped. I, I did love the umami citrus thing that we talked about. Then it fell off, and then it really hit at the beginning of the second, third, and then it fell off again at the end of the second third.
The, the cigar completely disappeared. For me, it was bitter in the last third, the whole way through, the entire way through constant touchups. Even when it was tasting great. I was having to touch it up despite the fact that I talked more than anybody tonight, no question about it. Reading the emails and stuff, I still had to touch it up, you know, a a, a pretty proportional amount, you know, to the rest of you.
I just think that's completely unacceptable. It's boring. It's expensive and there are so many other choices out there that are a third of the price or a quarter of the price or less. And I just [01:47:00] think for Opus X, again, this exercise in fancy boxes and unique box counts and you know, false scarcity like the bourbon people do that.
It's just limited release. I just don't buy it. And this is the third out of three that we've done on this podcast that I've experienced this. I continue, like Rooster said, to search for an Opus X. That even keeps my interest the whole way through. I'm not looking for a nine or a 10. Just keep my interest.
Don't make me touch it up. Mm-hmm. Gimme a well-constructed cigar. Gimme, gimme some good combustion.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: Like I don't understand what we're doing for $42 a cigar on this. I think it's an absolute sin. So for me it's a six.
Rooster: Chef Ricky. The, the fact that the bottle of Al is a $40 bottle. Hey, come on and stick is $2.
Jesus farmer
Bam Bam: Brown. Can't get
Senator: over that
Rooster: one. He can't get over it. I should be, I should start drinking instead of smoking.
Gizmo: All right, chef Ricky.
Chef Ricky: Yeah, [01:48:00] so I'll give you the review front. It's a six for me. Um, Dominicans have a lot to be proud of. Al is one of those. Opus not so much. We've been searching and searching and searching and at $42 a stick.
I mean, I couldn't even get a su a su substantial ash on this thing. Even now looking at it, it's all over the place. This feels to me like a jumping jack.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Chef Ricky: Are you guys familiar with that fire orc, right? Yeah. It starts all crazy. And for me, that's how it started. It was, I was getting all these wild flavors all over the place.
The nose was great getting grapefruit and, and prune and date and, and all of these just like. New flavors somewhat in the beginning, and then it settled into something that was nice just at the point where like the jumping jacks starts to kind of fizzle out and then it fizzled out. And the last two thirds just became something where I.
All right, when is this thing over? I can't wait to smoke [01:49:00] my next cigar. And it's not so much because I enjoyed this one. It's because I, I need a good cigar now. Um, so yeah, for me it's a six. Uh, the $42 price point is insane. At the very least. Give me a great ash to look at. Give me a good smoke experience.
And some, you know, it, it did give me some flavor, but it failed on the other things. Um, so yeah, for me, I. It's, it's a six.
Rooster: All right. Bam. Bam. He's at a 10,
Gizmo: no, he's at an 11. You know, compensate.
Bam Bam: I will say the flavors kept my attention all the way through. Um, I'm incredibly envious of that. I'm getting a lot of maple and some decent amount of cocoa.
It's very
Chef Ricky: difficult. You know what? I believe you bam. Because of the reputation you've developed. Uh, have
Senator: I a hundred percent developed, developed. Nice. Chef, you're
Bam Bam: on my list.
Gizmo: I love that. Chef gives you a compliment. Senator shit's on you and chef's on your list, correct?
Senator: He used the word, not me, [01:50:00] I said, said,
Bam Bam: I can't get over what he said.
Senator: There is no winning, no, not in this group. There ain't not, when you're in between Senator and Baba. That's, that's the reputation you have, the reputation you've developed.
Chef Ricky: Two divorced parents.
Bam Bam: Thank you very much. But, um, I, I, I can't give this more than a seven because of the inconsistency in the construction.
Um, as I was smoking this, I would've pursued more of this cigar. I, I would've gotten a few of these, have them once in a while because of the flavor is so good, but I'm afraid that I'm gonna get a bad version of this. And Senator, you said it earlier. If you get a good one, I'm not risking $42 on an if.
Exactly. So for that reason I'm at a seven. But the flavor, if I'm just voting on flavor, I'm close to a nine on this thing. This has just been delicious all the way through, but it's unfortunate that it's not a well-made cigar. It's seven.
Gizmo: Alright, boys, that puts Thefor Lizard rating tonight on the Fuente Fuente Opus X Auto.
At a [01:51:00] 6.8. Yeah, it's dessert. So does, does this make
Chef Ricky: us a, a Spirit podcast officially? Well, is this cigar that bad? That made us a Spirit podcast. We've had a, we've
Gizmo: had a good run of, uh, cigars. Unfortunately. Fuente Fuente, Opus X has not done well. Uh, I do want to compare this to the other two we've done, and then I have a question for you guys.
So we've done two other Opus on the pod. I'm not gonna go through all the Fuente. I'm just gonna go through the Opus X. On episode 31, we did the Opus X, perfection. 8, 8 8 scored a 6.6. And on episode 150 we did the Opus X BTO Dior. Famous Opus Dubai. Thank you. Bam. Bam. Right. Scored an 8.0. Mm-hmm. So this is just a touch above that really rough experience we had with the Opus X perfection 8 88 on episode 31.
And, and again, we've found ourselves with an expensive Opus X that has underdelivered to a point that it hasn't even reached recommend.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: So my question [01:52:00] for you guys, let's say this cigar was $8. Let's say it was $8. What would you have
Bam Bam: rated it today? I would've given it an at least an eight.
Gizmo: I would've added one point and put it at a seven would be an eight.
If it were me,
Bam Bam: eight for me because
Chef Ricky: of the flavor program, and I would've added one and gave it an eight. Yeah. Um, I would've been at an eight for the excitement in the beginning. Um. And the, the beauty that the rapper was, I would've given it an eight.
Rooster: I would've, I would've stayed the same. Hmm.
Chef Ricky: Wow.
Rooster: And because the construction was so bad and your draw was awful, and the draw was awful, and you had
Gizmo: bitterness more than I think anyone.
It was really
Rooster: bitter. I mean, it almost felt like nicotine, like, you know, right on the tip of your tongue. So, and that probably
Chef Ricky: had a lot to do with your draw. The quality of your draw. Yeah. You just don't
Rooster: enjoy it when the withdraw is so tight. No, you know, especially on a new world cigar. When was the last time we had a draw issue on a new world cigar?
That's true. And that to an opus.
Senator: A $42. It's crazy. Say it again. The bottle. Don't forget. Don't forget. They use a draw machine on every [01:53:00] cigar. Every single one. No, that's rocky, that's rock.
Gizmo: They use two draw machines in the oldest. All right, boys. A great night tonight let's review our scores one more time.
The Brugal 1888 Doe Ro scored a perfect 10.0 and the Fuente Fuente opus ex. The re robusto scored a 6.8. Of course, we have to thank all of the listeners who wrote us, and, uh, we reviewed a lot of, uh, email on the podcast. And I especially want to thank Lizard Josh, who's our Lizard of the week. Anybody out there can win Lizard of the Week.
All you have to do is send us an email, a comment, whatever you choose, uh, and you can win Lizard of the Week. So we're gonna send him a little gift pack. Of course, we have to thank Fabrica five, our amazing sponsor, the great partners to us, try some of their cigars. They're delivering way better than this $42 cigar did tonight.
So a great night boys. A great rum, a decent cigar, and uh, we'll see everybody next week. Hope you enjoyed this [01:54:00] episode. Thanks for joining us. You can find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, lounge lizards pod.com. That's lounge lizards PO d.com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us hello@loungelizardspod.com. You can also find us on Instagram at Lounge Lizards Pod. We really appreciate your time and we'll, uh, we'll see you next week.