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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 range from 60 to 90 minutes and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features seven members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
**Gizmo:** [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Lizards podcast. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love and 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 Poobah, Senator Pagoda, Grinder, and bam bam, a full house of lizards.
And our plan is to smoke, smoker cigar, drink some tequila, talk about life, and of course, have some laughs. So take this as your 96th official invitation to join us. And become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plan to meet us here once a week. We're gonna smoke a Cupid cigar tonight. Share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard grading.
We continue our journey through the Connie Line. We discuss our recently launched 20 year Cuban factory code guide, and we answer a listener email all among a variety of other things for the next 90 minutes. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we pair ate legis tequila reposado with the H Upmann Connoisseur number one, a Corona extra tonight on the pod from H [00:01:00] Upmann
it's called the connoisseur number one. It's a hermosas number 4 48 ring gauge by five inches long. Beautiful cigar. Very pretty cigar. It is. They look really nice. I found the construction on the seven of these cigars that we had to all be like really consistently nice. Have you had this, I I have actually not had this cigar.
Have you guys had this Poobah?
**Poobah:** I haven't, I have not
**Gizmo:** had this cigars. That's surprising. I'm shocked to hear that. Yeah.
**Poobah:** Honestly. Nope. Nope. This particular one
**Bam Bam:** I have not had, the only cigar I've had in a connoisseur line is the Kanye.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Which we just did on the pot. Yeah. So it'll be nice to do the next one in the line.
Yeah. Looking forward to it, uh, tonight so it doesn't say it on the band. Yeah. So that's a recent thing that was, uh, not added until I believe 2021. I mean, the wrapper's.
**Rooster:** Awesome. What's the, uh,
**Gizmo:** box code? This is, uh, 2018. Uh,
**Bam Bam:** 20. Okay. If you keep the cigar to your nose for just a minute or two and leave it there.
It's really,
**Poobah:** I'm not getting much, but [00:02:00] I like it. It just smells like cedar a little. Like I'm not getting a ton. No, but No, but it's maybe a little milk
**Gizmo:** chocolate kind of thing. Uh, maybe. What's caught? Cut it. Two boys. See we're getting on the cold draw. I have my fingers crossed for the cigar tonight. I've heard very good things about the Connie one.
Hmm. Nice bit of resistance. Hmm. Oh, mine's wide open. Nice. Um, mine kind of has that kind of Mag 46. Perfect amount of resistance. Oh wow. Yours is wide open. Wide open. Little bit of
**Senator:** fruit, almost like a padron. I like it. I'll take that. Any Cuban that's this open, I'm happy.
You
**Bam Bam:** know what, let me recut mine 'cause I'm jealous.
**Gizmo:** This is really nice. What else are you guys getting on the, uh, Coldron? Well, it's different. Some fruit.
**Grinder:** I'm getting grass.
**Gizmo:** It's definitely more earthy, I think, than a Connie a I agree with
**Senator:** that.
**Gizmo:** On the a on a cold draw. Hmm
**Senator:** hmm. I really like it. It's almost like a little cohiba
**Gizmo:** [00:03:00] like Yeah. Yeah. All right.
Let's light this thing boys. It dries a little tight. The H up and minus is two. The H up man. Connoisseur number one, again, it's a hermosas number four size 48 ring gauge by five inches long out of Cuba. Second out of the connoisseur line that we're doing, and true to its name, it's the first connoisseur that was released by H Hutman well before the 1960s.
This cigar has been around for a very long time. Interesting. So the Kanye's only been around for 10 years or so. Mm-hmm. And this cigars been around since guess the forties or fifties. Comes in a slide lid box of 25 cigars. And that's the only format.
**Bam Bam:** I like it right off the light.
**Gizmo:** Ooh, that's nice. On the light.
Very nice.
**Bam Bam:** Hmm. Shout out to a listener. Yeah. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** We got this from a listener lizard Kamal. Lizard.
**Bam Bam:** Uh, Liz Lizard. Kamal [00:04:00] Lizard. Kamal hooked us up. He's That's my man right
**Gizmo:** there. Yeah, he's great. He's a great guy. Yeah. Great guy. Oh, very, uh, very cool of him. I didn't ask, he just said, Hey, can I send you some stuff?
Yeah. Gimme the address. And he fired away. Very nice. Fantastic guy. Yeah, great guy. Keep him coming. Kamal.
**Poobah:** I like this right away. Mm-hmm. It's nice. Right. But you know, I'm a whore. Forman
**Gizmo:** whore. Should have brought your mug. Yeah. Had your tequila in a mug tonight. But it's different. It is, it's very different than the Kanye on the light.
No question about that. It's,
**Poobah:** well, yeah, it's different. It has, it has. Some different qualities here. I'm trying to, I'm trying to figure out, it's, it's more like a
**Rooster:** 46. I think
**Gizmo:** it's similarities.
**Poobah:** I think there's
**Bam Bam:** something Yeah. I think is called that earlier. I agree with that, but a little
**Poobah:** more desserty here.
Yeah. Yeah. Not as peppery. Mm-hmm. But
**Gizmo:** we'll see.
**Senator:** I'm just amazed that blind, my first guess would not be up.
**Gizmo:** I agree. I agree. [00:05:00] But I, I think it, it have, which is interesting, I think it has characteristics similar to the Mag 46. It has some, you know. Mm-hmm. No
**Poobah:** blind. I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I wouldn't pick it out either.
I am, I'm in agreement,
**Gizmo:** maybe part parus or cohiba.
**Poobah:** I don't, I, I'm not foreign enough yet to, to yeah. To have any conviction one way or the other. But
**Bam Bam:** you know, on the way over, I was thinking there are four cigars in this series and you hope that each has an individual profile to keep it interesting. Yeah.
You know, there's always that.
**Gizmo:** It's certainly the reputation they have, so we'll see. Yeah.
**Senator:** I'll say that the sticks that I would've guessed blind. Either some cohiba. Mm-hmm. Or this is bizarrely specific, but the epi one. Interesting. The oil epi one. I say that because that cigar is way earthier than the epi two.
Like the epi two's got like some sweeter kind of desserty notes. The epi one, I think GIZ gave me one randomly. I feel like you bought like a 10 count. Something small
**Gizmo:** of them. Interesting. Tried one think. I think I actually may have split a box of those [00:06:00] with uba. I think that may have, it's funny, I I, I almost
**Poobah:** grabbed one.
I think so ironic. It's weird. I think we may have split, split. A soss happened to me today. You know, weird things happen sometimes where like, so I was, we're gonna find out. Well, well no, like weird shit. So I, I was, you know, you ever hold your cell phone and you go, I should call, So-and-so. Yeah. And then all of a sudden they text you.
Yeah. Has that ever happened? It happened, that happened to me with my dad. So today I am like, I should call my dad. That's cool. And then the mi, I mean, within 15 seconds he's like, how's the weather? 'cause of all this flooding, you know, he wants to talk about the weather. Um, and I'm like's telekinesis.
That's so weird. And then I, I had my hand on an, on an epi one and you're talk like, I had my hand on it. I was like, Uh, and I put it back, I thought, I haven't thought about that ago in a long time because I pulled a tray out in my humidor all the way back, and I have them because I had a little trouble with them and I bought 'em [00:07:00] years and years ago.
And like, I tied them up in a ribbon and I put 'em in like in the back of the, of, of, of a tray, you know, the hu of, of, of, of the cabinet. And I tied like 10 of them together. Did it help and stuffed them there? I don't know. I haven't. Oh, okay. I was like curious. I like, I was like, oh. And then I was like, I don't feel like I'm tying that.
**Gizmo:** I haven't, I haven't. It's, it's funny you bring that up, Senator. 'cause I haven't thought about that cigar in a very long time. Like now I'm thinking I want to go, go reach for one again. But I'm finding the flavor on this. To be very complimentary. We talked about this on a previous episode. The smell at the burn line, the smell at the foot and the flavor of the draw are like a perfect harmony like match for me right now.
Yeah. It's working nicely. It's working really, really well. Well,
**Poobah:** right, like once it cools down a little bit off the light, it's, I, I, I, I'll be, I'm with, I'm with Senator [00:08:00] in that I wouldn't really peg it blind as an up and I don't know what I would peg it at what I would, but it's, it's nice. It's really nice.
It
**Gizmo:** is. What kind of flavors do you guys getting?
**Bam Bam:** Well on the smoke, like at the nose, don't laugh, but it's like peanuts and almond for me. I agree with that. It's nutty on the draw for me. It's an excellent combination of savory and sweet dessert and earth notes for me. It's really quite cool.
**Gizmo:** I'm getting like a little like salty baking thing.
A little twang, not a spice. Um, A little bit of weather and I think there's a little bit of nut going on. Like a salty nut. A yeah, like a little bit of a nut. Yeah, I
**Bam Bam:** get that on the smoke, the aroma.
**Poobah:** I'd love it. I'd love it. It's a little salty to me.
**Senator:** I get like salted almonds, cedar, some earthiness. Those are like the three dominant notes for me.
No
**Bam Bam:** dessert notes at all?
**Senator:** Not much. Just a nuttiness. That's a little sweet. Okay. Not, not anything. Not like [00:09:00] up min sweet. That I would
**Poobah:** No, very like, it's not like hitting you with these dessert flavors. Um, it is a little
**Gizmo:** sweet for me though. This is really nice. Yeah. So as I mentioned, they only come right now in slide load boxes of 25 cigars.
Uh, they used to come in a varnished semi boy nature box of 10 cigars, but that was released in 2014 and discontinued in 2014. So obviously that was not a success. For some reason it's been around since the, like I said, pre 1960s. And, uh, they just put the new band on it about two years ago. So we have one of the cigars with the older band on it, which is just the classic h upperman band.
So if you see them now, they have what you'd find on the connoisseur a uh, the larger band incorporating the classic Up Man, and then another band very similar that just says, uh, connoisseur one. It's a very simple band, but yet very elegant. It's elegant. Yeah. This, this is just all class. Classic,
**Poobah:** classic
**Bam Bam:** that mark of the Marco man, they're, [00:10:00] yeah, it's
**Grinder:** very cool.
It's a standard run for them. Mm-hmm.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. This is one of the ones that's, you know, kind of a classic alongside the Hutman two, the Sir Winston, uh, a lot of the other cigars that we love from h Hutman, I feel it has more strength than the Kanye. Oh, it does. I think that, oh, sure. I agree. Sure. A hundred
**Rooster:** is a little bit on the milder
**Gizmo:** side.
This isn't firmly medium. This has more.
**Poobah:** This is, I don't even think they're in the same, I totally agree.
**Gizmo:** This is way up my alley. This is, I really
**Poobah:** like it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
**Gizmo:** Because I
**Rooster:** really love the 46. Yeah. Yeah. And then after that, like at this point
**Gizmo:** it's, it's this, yeah.
**Poobah:** It's, this is is a great size. It's a great size.
It's, I wish, not quite a reus though,
**Gizmo:** but I wish it was an inch or two longer. I feel like I say that on every episode about cigars that are five, four and a half, five inches long. I would love another inch or two out of this. You just go ahead there. Alright, go ahead. Bam, bam. Say it. I'm not saying a word.
Go ahead. In general, no, but the listeners know it's coming. You might as well say it. I abstained. It'll
**Poobah:** it'll leave you, it'll leave you, [00:11:00] it'll leave you wanting more.
**Gizmo:** That's it. There you go. So we did a full history, uh, on the connoisseur, a episode a little while back. We're gonna do the full connoisseur line, all four cigars.
Uh, so they have four of them in the line. The number one, the number two. The A, which we've done. And the B uh, the B is a pretty big cigar. It's a Genie Alice, same size, I believe, as the Rio Secco. Mm-hmm. Which is a, a cigar that we 54 we don't love. But yeah, it's pretty big. Yeah. It's a pretty big cigar. So they come in a ver variety of different sizes.
Uh, and then of course the, the Connie two, uh, is another one. But yeah, we, so we did a full history on up and so we don't need to recap that, but they have a wonderful story and. Certainly our celebrated brand among us for sure as well. Yeah, certainly here. Yeah, no doubt. We love it.
**Poobah:** Are you guys getting a retro, uh, on the retro hill or are you getting a little bit of that floral?
**Bam Bam:** I get floral and dessert notes on the retro for
**Gizmo:** sure. There is a nice floral through the nose, real nice. So I get
**Grinder:** um, trace, let chase,
**Gizmo:** I get a little [00:12:00] trace, let on It's
**Rooster:** got some creamy
**Poobah:** Yeah, yeah. Creaminess story. That's the creaminess definitely. That's the d n a of ment I think. Yeah, I think Rooster
**Bam Bam:** hit it on the, on the head.
It is much fuller than the Kanye. Yeah, yeah.
**Gizmo:** No, no doubt about that. And I think in a really good way
**Bam Bam:** and I was skeptical about the cigar. I've never had it. I wasn't expecting match. It's a home run right now. It's delicious. Absolute home run.
**Senator:** Pagoda. What do, what do you think? I, you look very pensive. Yeah, no, I,
**Pagoda:** you know, I was about to say buttery creamy.
And you, you said the word creamy. That's all I'm getting. But I'm not getting really pronounced flavor, like whether from salty, but it's not very salty. Like I, I typically am able to pick up the salty notes. I'm not getting a lot of that and not a lot of sweetness, so I'm just gonna wait, uh, and see how it
**Poobah:** develops.
You getting that a little
**Bam Bam:** bit of, yeah, there's a little bit of that. No coating of the mouth. No, I,
**Pagoda:** it's definitely very creamy and buttery. I thought a little bit of salty butter. I don't know what it was. That's the way I felt very,
**Grinder:** uh, I would, I would describe the, the ar, the, the, like the smoke, the aroma is creamy, [00:13:00] but the taste is definitely, there's definitely the Cuban twang.
Saltiness. There's twang
**Gizmo:** in here. There is T, it's got tang. I think. I haven't looked at all, I think there twang on the front. Honestly, I'm surprised I on the
**Poobah:** front
**Bam Bam:** of your tongue, you know, connoisseur one right now is smoking like a very complex cigar. For me personally, the
**Senator:** only thing very complex. The only thing I will say to Pagodas point.
I don't, I'm not getting any one very pronounced flavor. Like I think of a lot of monds. You're like, you get a blast of baking spice. It's like very, very prominent. Right. And then you pick up all these other flavors that are right there with it. Yeah. Yeah. With this, I'm getting a little bit of a number of different things, but I, there's not like a dominant flavor to
**Gizmo:** me.
They're slightly muddled. I don't bit, to me it's like just they're,
**Senator:** they're, they're softer. They're not as
**Gizmo:** bold in, in, to me it's like when you make a great steward or great soup or something and it just, when it comes together, it's brilliant. I agree. I agree. And you're not picking out certain things in it, but when it's there and everything's working.
Right. Yep. I feel like that's what we have here. Like everything's kind of playing very nicely with each other [00:14:00] and nothing's trying to push too hard. And I would've expected that cedar. Would've been a dominant note based on when I first got them from Kamal, how they smelled. Mm-hmm. I think, I don't know if I just, you know, 'cause I left them loose in the tower, outta the box, so maybe they kind of chilled out a little bit on the cedar, at least from the arro, the, the, the nose.
But, you know, everything's working really well. A little
**Poobah:** white pepper maybe. Yeah, there is a, I do get
**Gizmo:** a little, I get the, actually, yeah, yeah. So this is a very popular size in the Haos catalog. There's a bunch of Herms number four. The most famous, of course is, um, well in our group is the El Ray del Mundo, schwas Supremes Schwas Supreme baby, which Dan Sini, uh, from Cigar Salute.
We talked a lot about that cigar with him. That's his favorite Vitola. I think he loves that cigar.
**Poobah:** Well, they'd smoke. Look at everybody's, they, they, you know, his. His point of view, and I think he's right. These hermosas, there's few of them and they tend [00:15:00] to, I mean, if you look around the room, not just Ash, but I know where you're going, but like the construction of the hermosas.
Excellent. The size is like
**Gizmo:** so killer. Oh yeah. This is great. So, and a couple others out of, uh, Cuba that are the same size? Well, I'll just do regular production stuff. I won't do any of the, uh, there's a ton of regional edition that are in this size. Um, the other one is, another one that we actually did on the podcast with Dan is the son, Louis Ray Reggio.
Uh, Reggio is the exact same size. Great. Another one that we've had a bunch of listeners email us about is the Vegas Robia FSOs, which we need to do is the same size. And finally, this is the one I wanted to mention to you guys. I found it interesting. I haven't had it yet, they just released it. It's a new regular production cigar from Rafael Gonzalez.
Check this out. It's this exact size and the name of the cigar is the Coronas Lonsdale Lonsdale. It's a Herms number four called the Coronas Day Lonsdale. [00:16:00] Overreaching on the name a bit.
**Senator:** How much rum was someone drinking
**Gizmo:** up with this?
**Senator:** I mean, that's the name of Ola. Why would you name
**Gizmo:** two? Olas, right?
Corona.
**Senator:** The why would you create a cigar named, that's, that's
**Gizmo:** interesting. Ci. They were drinking Coronas and Smoking Alon Spa. Sure. And then there's a ton. Uh, like I said, there's a ton of regional additions and special humidor cigars and whatnot that have come out over the years, but that is the, uh, full run.
Of, uh, hers number four to Cuba. Bunch of other cigars that, you know, up in makes. We've done a few of them on the podcast. I'm sure we're gonna do a lot more. We've done the Magnum 50 and 46. Um, we didn't do the 54, correct? No, we have to do the Magnum 54. We have a lot of listeners asking for that. We do. So maybe once we're done with the connoisseur wine, we'll do that.
I love that. That's a mild cigar. Is
**Bam Bam:** it 54? Mild? What isn't it? I don't know. I it's got, it's got some body to it. It's mild,
**Senator:** medium. I like it. I think it [00:17:00] starts mild, but it builds up to firmly. Medium. Yeah. It's a big
**Bam Bam:** stick. It is. And it's got an unusual profile, I
**Gizmo:** think, worth reviewing. Another one that we love is the Half Corona, which for listeners out there, if you're unfamiliar with H Up, man Oh boy.
As a Marco and you want to just dip your toes in the swimming pool instead of diving head first to getting a, what would be, I guess a $600 box of upland twos now? Mm-hmm. Which is a sin. Uh, something you can get today. Pretty much regularly. Mm-hmm. And smoke the moment you get 'em. Yeah. They're two or the H up and half.
Corona. Yeah. 200 a box. It's a steal.
**Poobah:** Yeah. Yeah. I, I had one yesterday and um, if you buy the tin is a, the tins are so great. The tins are so great and they're reusable. Yep. So, I went on a shoot yesterday, a sporting clay shoot. Uh, I brought a tin of those. It was a shoot spot actually. Uh, there was an Ashton rep there, and then Taconic Distillery was up there, um, which we should consider [00:18:00] talking about some of their bourbon.
Yeah, they make bourbon, they make rum. Hudson Valley. I've heard of it. They make, he's right looking and they make a s worth looking at. It's really worth looking at. Yeah. And it's actually would be a great day for us to go up and just do a tour up there and, and, and of the distillery. And they're at, they're at all these, these, uh, clay Target shoots.
Anyway, so I brought, I actually brought. Um, uh, four of them. And it was just perfect. Uh, for, for the group that we were shooting with. It's a perfect half hour cigar and it's, yeah. And you can, you know, very accessible. Very accessible when you just kind of put 'em in this thing and the, and the, the tin is like curved,
**Gizmo:** so it's just Yeah, it's right.
What pupa means by curved is it's actually the, the top of it opens like a door, like a book. It's concave. Right, right. And, and then on the bottom, the, the tin is actually shaped for the five cigars. So why I like traveling with it is I feel like the cigars are very well protected in there. Um, and I feel like you can throw it in a pocket at a wedding or something and it just works great.
**Poobah:** It's really great and people love them 'cause it's not a huge time [00:19:00] investment. And you can share 'em. And if you have the tins and then you buy a box, you can re transfer. Yeah. Re
**Gizmo:** refill 'em. Have some fun travel case. Yeah, exactly. It's a travel case. Oh yeah. It's really, they're really nice. Really, really nice.
I like
**Senator:** when you said there were a good introduction to the up in line. And I say that because I. Usually when I'm sitting down with friends who don't smoke that often staples like a D four or an ex vo, they'll have for something Cuban in New World. And then for the person who finishes and watches a little short smoke to cap it off, I always give them an up in half Corona.
And every single time they kind of look at it like, oh, this small little cigar. Yep, this is probably nothing that special. They underrate it, then they try it, and every time someone says to me how this little cigar has so much flavor, this is one of my favorite smokes I've ever had. So I really love the idea, like it's an intro to the up mid line because every person that has it, Loves it and then wants to try more of it.
Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. And I think it's, I think for me, the half Corona, just to kind of, to me that's the gateway drug for someone who's interested in cigars or really likes [00:20:00] new world cigars doesn't have a lot of experience with Cubans. It's a great gateway, uh, drug to the Cuban cigar experience. 'cause it checks all the boxes.
Yeah. It's, it's also a size
**Rooster:** that's very important to have in your hemmor. That's true. Yes. Because when your friends or somebody comes over who don't, they don't really smoke cigars and they wanna try them. Sure. But they're like, yeah, do you have anything small? Do, do you have anything like a small cigar?
I'm like, right. Yeah, let me see. I'm sure I do like, you know, I used to give them like ta those ura, the pets. Oh, those are also great. Between that the Mann half Corona is, that's also awesome. Is great.
**Poobah:** Yeah. Yeah. Super approachable and, and, and really great. It comes in handy like at the holidays. Mm-hmm. So let's say in the winter.
Yeah. In the, in the in or in it's chill. Exactly. When it's chilly. So like, uh, that's a step out. Mm-hmm. That's a quick step out with your uncle, you know, it's like can we, alright. We just speak out for a little one. We just, we just, yeah. We just had some, some apps. Now we're going on step out in the front porch or the back porch for a quick one.
The end. Let's step out and that, that
**Bam Bam:** slots, it's awesome. [00:21:00] And, you know, it's, I think it's a sophisticated stick for the size, you know, you call it an intro, but any seasoned Cuban or new world cigar smoker's gonna
**Gizmo:** love that to me. It checks every single box. Oh yeah. It checks every box,
**Poobah:** everyone. And the one that really kind of edges it out though, is the D six party.
Oh, that's a great little cigar. Which I have one with me tonight. The, uh, the D six. Check it out,
**Bam Bam:** light it up and pass it around. Won and
**Poobah:** pass. Uh, check it out. 'cause it gives you a little bit more bang for your buck if you're looking for a little bit more poke. Mm-hmm. The
**Rooster:** Monte Crito made the a Corona Oh, that's another, that's another
**Gizmo:** small cigar.
Oh, cigar. Same size, great flavor.
**Rooster:** Concentrated Monty Twang. Yeah. I mean, it's
**Gizmo:** fantastic stick. I think those
**Bam Bam:** need to be, and that's value a little, a year or two older to smoke those where the h Yeah. We, the up and half Coronas are right off the bat. Great. Yeah. We
**Gizmo:** found some 2019 boxes like in March. I, that's what I
**Bam Bam:** have.
Yeah. I, I
**Senator:** mean that 2018. 18
**Poobah:** Oh special. But the half Corona, if you lay 'em down. I've [00:22:00] got some older ones like, like five plus years old. Dude, I'm telling you man, it makes a little bit of a difference. I mean, it's not, they're I like 'em. Yeah, you're right. I like them. They're, they're, they're, they're good. I had the,
**Grinder:** um, I have a lot of, uh, petite Corona.
Bolivar. That's a great,
**Senator:** like
**Gizmo:** had one this morning. That's
**Poobah:** a sledgehammer. That's a great sledgehammer. MSU 18. That's like a meaning, like that's 19
**Bam Bam:** two or
**Poobah:** good U 19. Remember that little weapon that they had that they, they, they that, that, like it was popular in the, in, in the seventies. Sickle, no, no, no.
You'll rooster, you'll know about this. It's an ice pick. So like it was called the blackjack. It was like a little like piece of leather and, and cops would just like hit people in the face with those. Oh boy, Jesus. Oh, oh wow. That's what the, to me, they're outlawed. The b the Boulevard, petite Corona. I, I swear you guys could disagree with me.
Whatever. It's one of the stronger it is. Nicotine,
**Gizmo:** no question. But that's what Mr. [00:23:00] Likes in the morning.
**Poobah:** Oh yeah. It knocks. I've, I've, I've had some that I have a box. I've bought one box in my life and I have half left, and they, they still kick the crap outta me. Yeah,
**Senator:** I agree. The only thing I will say, so I, I don't love that cigar because young, I can't mess with it.
No way. Um, 'cause for me, a, a small cigar like that is like I'm gonna have in the morning or. Um, just in a pinch somewhere where I'm not looking for like a blast of nicotine or anything. I just want something like nice and easygoing medium. But I will say with age, I feel like bam. Did you have an age box of the bolivar?
Petite Corona? I have two age boxes. Heavily. Yeah. Significantly aged. Well, they're eighteens 18, ones a 19. I have eighteens. You do. I feel like you gave me one of those and that I've given a lot to you.
**Grinder:** Particular grown a lot ones, A lot of the, uh, there, the boxes I have are 17 and 16. Oh
**Bam Bam:** oh,
**Poobah:** interesting.
Could have been, uh, have you guys run into draw [00:24:00] issues with those? 'cause I have. I have. I've had that.
**Senator:** I haven't, I have
**Poobah:** never had a draw issue. Never made draw with some of them. I rarely
**Bam Bam:** have a draw issue with a cigar. It's strange. Like those Monte ones that you guys all complain about. I've never had a bad cigar.
No, me neither. I love that stick, by the way. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** So, boy, speaking of value, we are 25 minutes into this episode right now. And I'm an inch in at this cigar and I can't believe it. I never, I can't believe how slowly this is smoking.
**Bam Bam:** It's really, really good. How much was this? Do we know?
**Gizmo:** Like we got it. First gift.
How much did they go for? Do we know? Gift i's think they're about 25 bucks. 20, 25. Yeah. They're probably 25. Kamal was definitely
**Grinder:** Lizard. Come on. Keeping these.
**Gizmo:** Well, lizard and I've had 'em for quite some time too because he's Yeah, but he knows how to Oh, he's, yeah. He's, he's very
**Poobah:** seasoned with his Oh yes.
I mean, right now I'm, I'm getting a lot of, I'm getting a lot of cedar. It's kind of, um, I'm not saying it's one dimensional, I'm not even knocking it 'cause I love Outman, but I'm not getting a whole lot of. Complexity. [00:25:00] It's a little bit one dimensional, but at the same time I'm okay with that.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, I get a little tanginess, not so much.
I get a little tiny bit of cedar, but this tanginess, I'm still getting those dessert nodes very faintly, which I love.
**Gizmo:** I like the flavor profile of this. It's good.
**Poobah:** I did. I love it too. I love it. I did too. Don't get me wrong. I like the flavor profile and I'm not saying that I'm just not getting a ton of different stuff.
'cause I think you, you
**Rooster:** look for baking spices in, in an Mann because you like the, uh, Kanye. So I think you look at the number two.
**Gizmo:** So you look
**Poobah:** for that highest rated cigar, the podcast,
**Gizmo:** you're not, not true anymore. You're
**Rooster:** not quite getting those
**Gizmo:** flavors in this. It's when Ramon Ionis, uh, 2019 El, I wasn't here for that.
So 10.0
**Senator:** I told you they were worth holding those man.
**Grinder:** Is it a valid,
**Bam Bam:** is it a valid score? Wait, what? What?
**Senator:** The green box. The green box. Yeah. I held them and didn't touch 'em. And Jesus, they changed like you couldn't [00:26:00] believe poop
was
**Bam Bam:** about to turn off his mic. No. Well,
**Poobah:** okay. I was the first in the group to even buy those.
This is true. Uh, but yes, the, the fact that they changed is great. I'd love to try one. They
**Gizmo:** were magical. I actually got five more. I'll give you one. I I'd love the smoke one. So yeah, the, the flavor profile on this is really interesting and I think it's unique. I like it. And for how much we love up men. I love up men.
It's kind of got its own d n a that is different mm-hmm. Than the rest of the line. I will
**Senator:** say though, uh, Puma's commentary resonates with me and we may be the outlier in the group when this comes to rate, because I like the profile of this, but I'll be honest, I don't love it. I do agree that it's a little bit one dimensional.
I am getting a lot of cedar. I wish it was getting more baking spice, so, Um, just for a different opinion in the room. I'm, I'm not in the camp that like this is firing on all cylinders for me. It's firing on some, but certainly not all. [00:27:00]
**Gizmo:** Yeah, I'm not catching that cedar. I'm not either mine. No. And I wonder maybe it's like mine certainly because of the draw seems like it's a little more packed than what you said yours is.
Maybe that's affecting who knows the experience
**Rooster:** that you're having. I dunno. I think, I think if you like the Upland 46, you
**Gizmo:** would love the cigar. And that's where, yeah, Mac 46. 46.
**Poobah:** 40 mac. But the MAC 46 has like a lot more, has more pepper,
**Gizmo:** has more cake, more sugar. It does than this. Yeah. Yeah,
**Rooster:** yeah. But I think the flavor profile kind of matches the Mac 46.
**Senator:** This little similar, but I wouldn't say it matches something younger brother that's got more spice. This has more cedar to me. And this is earthier than that is to me.
**Gizmo:** Mm-hmm. But
**Rooster:** it has a little bit of pepper though. I get a little bit of like pepper creaminess and white pepper. And white pepper. Yeah, white pepper.
**Gizmo:** But
**Poobah:** the, I will say, I, I, I, no, I mean, the construction and the burn on this thing is like exemplary. It's not a single correction. Nope.
**Gizmo:** I still have my ash on. It's Yeah, you do. It's just
**Poobah:** [00:28:00] absolutely. You can't ask for, I mean, this is smoking like a doff. I agree. The
**Gizmo:** construction is excellent. I
**Rooster:** agree. Yep. I mean, not a single issue.
I mean, look at us. There's seven of us
**Gizmo:** in this room. It's, it's, that's rare. That's rare that we have a Cuban and seven outta seven. No gro are having a good experience on the, on the burn and construction. Yeah. Yeah. Port Pagoda is usually the one that picks the one that's
**Bam Bam:** fallen apart. Not
**Pagoda:** tonight actually.
My, my jaw's been fantastic.
**Poobah:** So where would this fit in? I mean, this could be a morning cigar, this could be an afternoon. Me, this is the first
**Gizmo:** cigar of the day. Cigar. It's first one of the night. Mm-hmm. This, this would slot for me for sure. Aren't all Manns for cigars? No. Not the Sir Winston. Not the Sir Winston too.
**Poobah:** Sir Winston is not, not the up, not ne, not the up two now up.
**Gizmo:** No,
**Pagoda:** no. This is a very, very early morning cigar for me.
**Gizmo:** And for me. The the half Corona is a finisher. I agree. That's how I, that's how I finished my night. Yeah. You know I pulled that out when I want an extra half hour. Yeah. Cherry on top. Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. You could also start your day with that. You could,
**Poobah:** the half Corona. You could. [00:29:00] That's true. You could put that any, you could smoke that thing anytime. Yeah. Doing anything from washing your car to washing your
**Gizmo:** car. Who does that to with your shirt off in the car wash.
**Senator:** When's the last time you washed your car?
Uba
**Gizmo:** while smoking up? 1989. 1989.
**Poobah:** I thought you were gonna
**Pagoda:** say, lemme ask my
**Bam Bam:** driver. He had abs back then.
**Gizmo:** Alright boys, let's talk about our pairing tonight. What is the name of it? I know it's Ste something. Ste. I can't see it. Lewas Ste. Lewas. And what does that mean? What is a Lewas? What? What do you think it means?
I think it's a donkey or something. Google translate.
**Senator:** Seven leagues. Seven leagues. There we go. That's Grinder. Got it. Look at this. He has been, his Spanish is already ahead of yours. What's going on?
**Gizmo:** Giz Babble hasn't got, we haven't gotten there yet. On babble.
**Poobah:** You mean you haven't signed up yet? That's agave and salt.
This tequila,
**Gizmo:** it's an artisanal tequila, right? Chef Ricky loves this. This is one of
**Senator:** Ricky's [00:30:00] favorite, uh, brands deliver. That's terrific.
**Bam Bam:** It's really is really very good.
**Gizmo:** That's go great.
**Poobah:** And
**Gizmo:** Margarita. So we're drinking the Reposado. Wow. Uh, tonight on a Chef Ricky recommendation, Senator picked this up, um, and it's artisanal tequila, which is all we reach for now after having gone through the mm-hmm.
The gauntlet. The gauntlet with Chef Ricky. Uh, and that is a delicious spirit.
**Poobah:** You know what's interesting? The viscosity. The viscosity is fantastic. It's awesome.
**Bam Bam:** Agree. That's awesome.
**Poobah:** It's, it's like it's thick and creamy and, yeah. Salty and sweet One thing, it's the
**Bam Bam:** dish I, when you first take your very first sip of that, there is just a tiny bit of bite, but as you go through it and you're finishing your glass, I'm ready for a refill.
It gets beautiful and smooth it Fantastic. Sweet. Honestly, there's a little earthiness and
**Senator:** sweetness to it. All right. So I'm glad you said the earthiness because I get that and I think that pairs really well with the cigar we're smoking. It does. And the reason I picked this up, so Ricky did, uh, a tequila tasting in, uh, our [00:31:00] town and the first tequila he started with was Ste.
Leg was Blanco, which is his favorite, which for me was a little hot, so to pair with a cigar. Neat. I'd wanted to try the repo, something with a little more age that maybe smoothed it out a bit, but, um, he's obsessed with CETA legis because it, uh, it's made by his favorite family in the tequila business, which is the Kano family.
Mm-hmm. So, um, just a little bit about S Lewas. They're one of Mexico's oldest distilleries owned by the Karea family, who's been in the tequila business for over a century. So there's like tremendous history. They're super respected. Ricky always says like the greatest man. The biggest man crush he has is this guy Carlos Karea.
Wow. Who's like one of the sons that's like taking over things. Um, it's a Highland, uh, tequila, uh, produced in Jalisco. And the name, uh, Lewas is named after Poncho Villa's horse, which was said to be able to run seven leagues, which is about 21 miles in a single day. Wow. Wow. Uh, the tequila is made from a hundred percent blue agave as we would [00:32:00] expect.
The thing I was surprised reading it says is aged for a minimum of two years in oak barrels. And the reason I say I'm surprised by that is because the typical breakdown, I mean, tequila's not aged all that long, the whole Blanco repo. Mm-hmm. And Anejo, um, I mean, a Blanco can be aged just a couple of months.
A Reposado can be aged as much as a year. And an anejo is usually between one and three years. So to hear that supposedly, at least if this is accurate, what I've read, um, all of their tequilas kinda start at like the two year range, which seems much more than most. Um, and then I thought, what was interesting, Ricky's talked about kind of the process that these different distilleries use.
And my take, just from what I've read, it seems that they're kind of, with this brand, a blend of kind of old school and some of new school that Ricky was talking about. It says that the agaves are harvested, uh, cooked in ovens and then pressed by a mule driven to Hona, which we've heard Ricky talk about.
Yeah. Right. So that's kind of the old school. Um, it says, or shredded by more recent techniques. So they do use [00:33:00] some of, I think the new school. But, um, I, I do love how this drinks,
**Bam Bam:** it's awesome. I think it's complex because of that earth note and the dessert note that you get in him. Really agreed.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. I really love the tequila.
It's good. That's good. And what did you, I'm sorry, if you mentioned it, what did, what's the price point on it? Mm-hmm.
**Senator:** 62 at Total Wine 62. It's
**Poobah:** super duper great price. It's, it's, it's, it's super. And the, the, the interesting thing about this tequila, um, is the color. I, it, it, it's, it's a repo, but it's, it looks like a Blanco.
It's totally clear. It's totally clear,
**Gizmo:** basically. Which is odd too, that it was in barrels for as long as it was. Right. That's true. I mean, yeah. How does it not take any of the color? Is that an abnormal thing? Well, Oak Oak
**Bam Bam:** doesn't
**Senator:** impart much color. No. But some of these brands are like that. So another brand that I think is also the Cina family that we love, Ocho is Nono.
Um, Elta Soro. Elta Soro. That's an Anejo that we drink. That's right. And that's clear as can be. Yeah. And that's supposed to have one to three years of age. To me, it's
**Poobah:** [00:34:00] got a little more color than this. A little more.
**Gizmo:** It, it does for sure. But,
**Senator:** but, but that's probably the lightest aho that we've Correct. And
**Bam Bam:** happens.
And it's also very, very good. Oh, it's SROs so
**Poobah:** delicious. Als. Soros fantastic. But this by the way, is, I mean, neat. Uh, it doesn't need a drop of ice. Doesn't, it's fantastic. Yeah. It's very balanced. Yep. Yeah. Very, very balanced.
**Gizmo:** Isn't OCHO from the same family? Uh, I don't think so. I don't think so.
**Poobah:** Huh. It's got a perfect balance of salty and
**Gizmo:** sweet.
Right. Agree. It's amazing. Yeah. I agree. Super. I'd be curious now what, what Dijo tastes like. Yeah. You know, from these guys. I mean, 'cause this repo. Because for me, with a cigar, I don't usually reach for reposado. I really prefer an anejo, usually same, really Same for with a cigar. Same. Yeah. I like something that pushes a little more, but I, uh, I think this repo is really working.
I'd love to mm-hmm. See how the anejo
**Poobah:** does, but like the ocho repo Psal, it's great
**Gizmo:** cigar. They're great cigar. No, they're regular cigar. The other
**Senator:** repo that we prefer the repo of [00:35:00] everything they make is, uh, Forza. Forza. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Which we
**Poobah:** are. Yeah. And fort laser repo pairs great. With the scar, but that's got a lot more color to it than this does.
It does, yeah. Um, that's true. Which is interesting. I don't know why, but who cares? It tastes great. They both taste
**Senator:** great. The only thing I will say that was surprising, so when I opened the bottle, you look at the top and you see wood and you're like, oh yeah, of course there's gonna be a cork in there. So I'm pulling up and I'm pulling up, buckle up everybody.
It's not coming. And then it was very anti-climatic because then they just start twisting and I'm like, what the hell is this? A screw top? A screw top. Oh my god's screw top. I don't know why they wouldn't just put a cork in this thing. That's true. I feel like it would just add to the quality of it.
**Gizmo:** Presentation. Yeah. Yeah. There's a couple scotch manufacturers that have a cork, uh, a cork that, that actually has a screw top in it as well. That's weird. But there is a cork in it, which I don't mind like Yeah, that you know what, you know what has it? Is the Glen Roths. That little short fat bottle. I've used the
**Senator:** bottle.
You don't drink, you just use to store
**Gizmo:** other, uh, I refill it with Costco. That's your container. Kirkland 12. 'cause it fits in my [00:36:00] locker. The Costco doesn't. It's your, it's your thermos.
**Poobah:** Exactly. But you know, who knows? It could have to do with, um, I would imagine maybe supply chain cork is not It's true. And, and you know, it's not gonna affect, um, the spirit one way or the other.
And
**Bam Bam:** can bam, bam. Have a refill, please. Oh yeah.
**Poobah:** It's, it's, it's, it's, it's got a mouth feel to it. It coats your
**Bam Bam:** mouth nicely. Wanna top it does.
**Poobah:** Sure, sure. It's got a mouth feel to it. That's really. It's really good. Thank you. It's really balanced. I mean, very balanced. I
**Senator:** think balanced is the perfect word to describe this tequila you're getting like complex flavor notes with just the right balance of them.
I, I love it. Yes. It's
**Gizmo:** very balanced. It's
**Poobah:** really delicious. Just like the cigar. Super approachable.
**Gizmo:** This cigar is right in my power alley. I like, love it. I want love. 10 boxes of this right now. Yeah. 10. I'll take one. I really [00:37:00] do. It's really good. You and
**Bam Bam:** I, I think, have a differing opinion in the room. I think this cigar, I think also has a great balance between savory and sweet and just like the spirit does.
They both go great together.
**Senator:** I agree. Yeah. I will say in, in your defense on that, the second half of this cigar for me has picked up on the sweet notes, which now is like right in my
**Gizmo:** wheelhouse. Are you ahead of me? I. Roughly the same, roughly, maybe a little further.
**Senator:** But it was, once I kind of hit the middle, I started getting more traditional atman notes, which I also very much like, like UBA does.
So while I was complaining just a little bit in the first half is I crave what I'm getting now. I wish I got that for the fir from the first half, but where this is now, I, I really like this. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** I, I
**Poobah:** do too. It, it's almost like, um, it's not quite as complex as, as that cigar. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.
Uh, but it's delivering, it's, it's similar.
**Gizmo:** [00:38:00] It's, I, I, I disagree. I think it is complex. Oh, again, I think the cigars complex,
**Bam Bam:** anything you guys don't think it is, guys, anything that gives you savory and sweet earth and dessert notes, that's a complex evil.
**Poobah:** Regardless of it. I'm getting, I'm not saying I don't like it.
I'm not even saying that that's a bad thing. I'm saying it's just a straightforward delivery. It's changing
**Gizmo:** now. I'm having a very different experience than you guys, and like I said, I don't know if it's a construction thing. I'm finding this to be very complex. I'm finding it to, like, BAM just said, it's hitting so many different things and they're not, you know, competing with each other.
Everything's just right where they need to be for me right now. And you,
**Bam Bam:** you know, you take a draw and then a, a sip of that delicious tequila. It's perfect. It's really satisfying.
**Poobah:** And the construction is just so good. It's impeccable. Yeah. You can't take anything away from the way these cigars are rolled,
**Bam Bam:** whoever paired this tonight.
Well done. Kudos to you,
**Gizmo:** Senator. It to, I'll send aor. Mm-hmm. Right.
**Poobah:** That's awesome. I like the, come on. I'm not knocking it. [00:39:00] I'm not knocking it.
**Gizmo:** I'm just saying it's for the listener Senators over there just nodding his head like his head with a little, we know, we know Garone for
**Bam Bam:** a reason. Would it be anyone else?
**Poobah:** I'm not knocking the cigar and I'm the biggest No, I know you're not knocking of all time. I'm not knocking the cigar. I'm just saying it's,
**Gizmo:** I'm fine with everything you guys said, except in saying that it's not complex. Agreed, agreed. I'm
**Senator:** just validating that I don't think poop is at all crazy in that My take is exactly what he said.
It's not saying the cigar is bad, it's not saying I'm unhappy with it. I just wouldn't call it an an overly complex cigar. I do think that it's relatively straightforward, the flavors. I like what I'm getting in the second half. Hmm. I was. Not as pleased with the first half. I, I
**Pagoda:** think the amplitude of flavor is just lower.
Right? The amplitude is less. Hmm. Maybe that's what it is. So it is just,
**Grinder:** I think this is a wonderful cigar and I agree with everything everyone's saying. I think, yeah, maybe it's not as complex. There is some subtle complexity, but every flavor [00:40:00] profile that I love is in this cigar. Hmm. Good to
**Poobah:** hear. Maybe what it is, maybe for me what it is, is that the finish is just a little bit abrupt for me.
**Gizmo:** He's not wrong. Agree with that? He's not wrong. There is a unique lingering, when I push the draw, I, I, I hear what you're saying. It's like a little
**Poobah:** bit abrupt. Like it's little short. I'm, I'm wanting like, like I keep smoking and I'm wanting more and more and more, and I'm just saying in between draws, I'm kind of just saying, give me, give me, and it's not just giving me, it's giving me like 75% of what I want and it's lacking that 25% of like.
Some sort of finish that's lingering that's between
**Bam Bam:** draws. For me, that's not always a demerit. If the cigar itself is good, it just makes me smoke the cigar faster because I want more of it. Yeah, agree. No, you're
**Pagoda:** right about that. It makes you smoke faster because you're seeking something and I, I don't know, like, uh, uh, I think you just nailed it because I think I [00:41:00] was feeling that it's not really, uh, completing my palate and as soon as I have the tequila, I get the flavor of the tequila is just taking over.
**Bam Bam:** And it works. It
**Pagoda:** works beautifully together. It's working really well. Oh yeah. I'm not, I'm not questioning that. It's,
**Senator:** yeah, like I said, it on the nail tequila
**Gizmo:** helping it, it's really helping. I agree with that. I think they're paired. I think it's perfect because the finish is a little short. Yeah. It's where
**Poobah:** tasty though.
It really is so tasty. I mean, so think about it. So like, think about where this would fit. Think about a place where this would fit. I think that there's a really, really solid place that there, that this would fit. I would buy a box of these. I would smoke these, but there's like a certain, I think, place where I'm smoking this.
Um, and maybe that's daytime in Rooster's House in the
**Gizmo:** morning. I think, I think,
**Grinder:** I think for me, uh, for me it's thinking about where it would fit. It's very versatile for me because of my flavor, the flavor, this [00:42:00] ad I like. And I would smoke this anytime of the day. Hmm. Anytime of the day. So even after dinner.
**Senator:** Absolutely. Yeah. So I'm, I'm with poah. I would only smoke this during the day. There's not enough flavor here for me to smoke this at night.
**Bam Bam:** Interesting. I'm with you too on that. Honestly. I, do you know how much I love the cigar? I've said at a nauseum, but it makes sense. Uh, mid-afternoon after lunch.
Fabulous. Fabulous. Or it could be the start of a cigar session where you're doing three or four sticks. It's a great start to a night. Totally.
**Poobah:** Yeah. It's just the finish is just mm-hmm. It just, it just, it's like, it, it's like a, the, the rain on the horse just pulls back. Yep. And you're like, I just want a little bit longer of whatever's happening there.
That's fair.
**Senator:** Or like an Mond two lingers. Oh, it's got a long finish. God, I love that cigar.
**Poobah:** God, that's like a meal. My God. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, not, maybe not a fair comparison, um mm-hmm. But yes. Agreed. It's, [00:43:00] but boy, I mean, look at e even,
**Senator:** sorry. Even a Mag 46. Mm-hmm. That's got a long
**Gizmo:** finish. Certainly longer.
I think the Mag 46 has a longer finish than this. Yeah, certainly. But I think they're very, you know,
**Poobah:** it's a different cigar I think altogether. Yeah. To be honest. Um, I think the Mag 46 is a, Which is cool. I mean, I think that actually what up man's doing as a global brand, the fact that there, that, that there's, that there's a spectrum of, yeah.
Of releases and a spectrum of, of. Of, uh, of cigars within the, you know, within their, their, their portfolio. That is great. I mean, this can suit it
**Bam Bam:** a lot of people. Yeah. It's very cool because I had a concern, like I said earlier, we're gonna do the other two connoisseur cigars, you know, in the back of my mind, driving over here, is it gonna be like the Kanye?
Is it gonna be Yeah, same thing. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Yep. You makers, it's hard to make four cigars in that line,
**Gizmo:** but, you know, gave different, but you what gave, you know, what gave me [00:44:00] hope not in a great way, honestly, was how Up Man has done the, the Magnum line with the 46, the 50 54, and they're all unique and they're completely different.
They're all unique, all three of them. Yeah. You know, and we've done two of them on the podcast. The 50, I don't love nearly as much as I love the 46. I know a couple of you guys love the 50, but it gave, you know, certainly gave me hope that it was gonna be unique. Yeah. But this is definitely, I. Um, performing better than I thought it was gonna percent, yeah.
I mean,
**Poobah:** the con for me, I think the connoisseur, particularly a connoisseur with age, like the ones we reviewed, is a more complex cigar all the way through. It gives you a bigger journey. It's a bigger, it's just a bigger smoke. Um, but, uh, but this has merit. I mean, it's got a lot of merit. The cigar for me.
Yeah. The construction is impeccable. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Like's so
**Senator:** well made. I [00:45:00] go as far as saying this is one of the best constructed ments I've ever.
**Gizmo:** I agree. Seen. It's burning perfectly for sure. And Sure the ring gauge size, the smoke output's really wonderful. The room is full of smoke. The combustion's fantastic.
It's smoking like the Kanye does. I agree. You know, a lot of smoke. The build, the
**Poobah:** construction, the combustion is used in a plus. It's a merit here. Yeah. Big time. I mean, it's big
**Gizmo:** time. So on the podcast guys, we talk a lot about box coats and we talk about factory codes outta Cuba and we chase them and we talk about runs and.
Uh, we talk about, you know, what factories are outperforming others in the, uh, throughout the years we smoked young stuff, we smoked older stuff, and for the first time in a really readable way. Um, we've put together, put together a. Complete archive going back 20 years of every available Cuban cigar factory code.
**Poobah:** Okay. This is insane what you, what what you've done here, bro. I
**Bam Bam:** don't think anything like this exists
**Gizmo:** anywhere. It doesn't. It [00:46:00] doesn't. So I put it up, I put it up a couple months ago on the internet in a couple groups, just wanted to kind of feel everybody out, make sure that we didn't miss anything, there were no errors.
Uh, I sent it to Rob Isla. Did you feedback from Friends of Elano? You got some feedback? I got a little bit of feedback early on. Then when I launched it, you know, it hasn't been edited much since, but, uh, I felt like it's time to kind of, Talk about it on the pod and let everybody know. So it is available on the website, uh, for anybody who wants to go and kind of trace the boxes that have been working for them or those that haven't understand where they came from.
It, you know, goes down to the detail of the province, uh, for the provincial factories and then the various factories in those certain provinces. Uh, all the way back to 2003. Obviously at the top, the four mother factories, Lido up in Corona, Parus, and then some others that are not provincial, Bellino, tuna, Svia, and, uh, KWE.
And then a ton of provincial factories. I mean, what are there, 30, 30 factories on here? Completely archived. 20 years. Awesome. Dude,
**Bam Bam:** this is extremely robust.
**Gizmo:** So this was, uh, [00:47:00] this was quite an effort. Uh, I got a shout out my guy. Mc cigars at Mc Cigars Maxwell on Instagram. He helped me. We were literally for days on a Google sheet together going through this.
And then the hardest thing was the source material that came outta Cuba looked like it was shot on a Nokia phone from 2004, like through like a body of water. So some of the stuff was really, really hard to read. So, you know, it's a, it's a Coke bottle camera exactly between, between, between, uh, between Bon Roberts.
Referencing and Google Maps as far as nailing the spelling and names of, of the provinces and factories. Um, I think we have a pretty good complete list here
**Bam Bam:** looking right for Theus.
**Gizmo:** Oh, they're there. Yeah. 2019. So the value in this is, is obviously number one, being able to trace runs and factories and cigars that you like, namely the provincials, which are not [00:48:00] terribly available.
But number two is knowing whether or not you have, you know, this is a good start Yeah. To the investigation of whether you've purchased or, or about to purchase a legitimate box of cigars. Um, you know, the box code thing is certainly the starting point, uh, or the habanas verification site. Um, it's maybe two.
Those are two of 15 different things you should be looking for on a various box, you know, any, a given box of cigars. But, um, so go to the website, check it out. Uh, very proud of it. Uh, I think it's a great educational tool and, and people seem to be digging it, so it's a beautiful piece as well. It's, uh, it's good.
So check it out. All the box codes are there. Yeah, I
**Rooster:** sent it a couple of guys and they loved it. Awesome. They're like, fantastic. Great job. Yeah.
**Poobah:** This, this, this is really, I, I didn't have a chance to look at this today. This is outstanding. This is unbelievable.
**Bam Bam:** I love the gem. Good work again. Yeah. Very good work.
**Senator:** Yeah, it's just a huge help because I feel like all of us over the years, you find random forums that have a very [00:49:00] particular point in time. Like here are some of the top codes from 18, here are some of the top codes from this year. But to have all of this in one place is just such a time saver. Oh my gosh.
**Gizmo:** Oh, big time.
**Poobah:** And it really is. And I've seen other spreadsheets, but they're just not as comprehensive
**Gizmo:** and not as easy to read. I mean, you know, and not as easy to read. Yeah. It's that, you know, that was the thing for me was making this something that's an actual reference tool that can be updated regularly, is like now we can lean on the people we know in Cuba and get box codes as they come out.
This is a living document on our website. And you can go and what's crazy, get updated versions. The, the, the
**Poobah:** Provincial Pro factory. Go ahead. Sorry. Sorry. The Mother factory codes here, like, I'm just looking at them all on my, yeah. B r e. Mm-hmm. B R E. Um, G E
**Senator:** M M S U poop is looking at them saying, that's the only codes I have in my tower.
Yeah, no,
**Poobah:** it's making me feel so good about my, all my, you know, this [00:50:00] is really, um, and then parti this and you look at, yeah.
**Gizmo:** The, the big thing about this document for me is not the mother factories, 'cause that information is very readily available. It's the provincials, like if you look down all the way down nearly to the end of the page, you look in the Holgan provincial section.
Felina number two is the factory name. That code from November 19, that was through 22 S O u. Yes. So many of my boxes, so many boxes are s o u. And to be able to trace that back and forward is a huge help. You know, to be able to see, okay, I love cigars that have been in that run. Absolutely. It's And to know good code.
A great code, very good code. And now it's O e G. But anyway, I encourage listeners to use this as a tool to start your process of verifying what cigars are working for you and not in your collection, but also to verify authenticity. And I say it's a starting point [00:51:00] because this is the first of many. You have to go through a full process to really understand if you have real stuff.
What
**Grinder:** does, if it's in, let's take the first column like two, you know, 2003. Mm-hmm. And Sanct spirit this, right? Yep. There's How many rows are there? Eight or nine. Eight or nine. Does that mean there's eight or nine box codes for 2003? For Sancti
**Gizmo:** Spiritists. That means that on the right, on the right side are each of the factories that are in the province of Sancti, spiritists R on the right.
Oh, I see. That align with those box codes. Oh. So there are eight or nine factories in Sancti spirits that. That that produce cigars.
Yeah.
**Senator:** Yeah. I think the great thing also is you mentioned SS O U. The takeaway from this spreadsheet, I hope for no listener is Well you only want exclusively boxes that are from the mother factories at the top.
Exactly. That's not the case. Not the case. We're talking about SS o U being a great code. And that's from a provincial factory. That's right. Some of these other provincial factories. I'm looking at some of these codes that I know we've had and we've really enjoyed. So it just helps you then [00:52:00] know, okay, stuff that from this time period that was coming out of this little provincial factory is great and I will happily pursue it.
Because when
**Gizmo:** you smoke
**Rooster:** a cigar out of a box and you don't know the code, and you're like, well, this was a great cigar. Let me go back and look at like where this
**Gizmo:** came from. Yeah. And that tells you Exactly. And the other thing too, from a verification standpoint, you know, you can kind of back into it, right?
So you go, okay, somebody's put up a 2014 box of Sir Winston. And it's coming out of a factory from, you know, Santiago de Cuba. You can look at the other codes, go on Bond Roberts. See if any other Sir Winston's that have been sold outta that factory have popped up and now you can verify like, wait a second, does that code, do they actually make Sir Winston's there?
Yeah, because Winston's only come outta two or three factories. They don't come outta 30 factories. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So now you can be, varies the a, a connoisseur, it could
**Bam Bam:** be discerning, referencing our Yeah. And understand what you're buying
**Gizmo:** a connoisseur.
**Poobah:** Can I ask a stupid question? [00:53:00] Sure. What's up with 2018?
**Gizmo:** So 2018 they did not change the box codes. Oh, I see. Same with 20 and 21. So the dates at the top are only when the codes changed. I see. You know, so that's an important note. That's a great question, Puba to point this out. Box codes, factory codes do not change annually. They do not change all at the same time.
Right. We're talking about Cuba folks. Yeah. Right, right, right. They, you know, they could change over 30 months for 30 factories. They change on a whim. They change on a whim. It's very irregular. It's Cuba, and they do not change January 1st. Of each year. So well, maybe on,
**Poobah:** maybe on here. There should just be an asterisk or something
**Gizmo:** that says 20.
There is, there is look right under the, uh, bottom.
**Senator:** So Pupa, the funny thing is your feedback was exactly the feedback that I gave gizmo right before he put this out. Okay. Which was that. And so we put a little disclaimer at the bottom that says, note years shown are the points at which factory codes changed.
So if you're looking for 18 and you don't see it, you look at the year immediately prior. Mm-hmm. And that would mean that's the codes that applied to year, right? It's the [00:54:00] same
**Bam Bam:** box codes
**Poobah:** that year. Yeah. You, I mean all the, the, the, the, the, the. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** This is great. So the other thing too that I'd like to call out to the listeners who are connoisseurs out there, especially for, you know, going back 20 years, there's, there are some factories that, even for the folks in Cuba that we, that I referenced this with, that are, that are kind of on the inside.
There are quite a few codes that are unknown. So, For a listener out there who may have a collection that's pretty deep and pretty expansive, uh, we could use your help. Hmm. So please find this. The, the, the document. Email me, email us, and uh, and then we'll talk about, you know, updating some of these, these codes that are missing.
But for the vast, vast majority of 'em, they're there. The other
**Senator:** thing I will say that this is helpful for us just with spotting bad fakes. Exactly. I mean, we've seen, like literally if you were to get a See a Box that has an ss o u code on it, it's from 2015. There's not a single factory that used S O U in 2015.
That's right. Instantly know that. That
**Gizmo:** makes very cool. And that, and you know, for [00:55:00] Lito, that's a big one for Lito. Mm-hmm. Um, even for how, you know, how, how, how famous that factory is. Those codes are everywhere. You know, the, the counterfeiters were using u a o well into 22, which clearly we know from this document it changed at the end of 2019, uh, to m a r.
So it's like, you know, listen, is it. Is it the end all, be all of being able to tell if you have a counterfeit or not? No, it's the starting point. But to have it all in one place that's ver, you know, verified and easy to reference, the
**Bam Bam:** consolidation of information
**Gizmo:** is very valuable, you know? Yeah. Well also, and I'm a believer, well, also, it's like how, how
**Poobah:** widely is, do we, is this distributed?
Never because, never. Well, no meaning, meaning it just gives assholes a way to refer to something that's validated to not, I don't know. Do you know it?
**Gizmo:** It's, I had that discussion with a few of the people that we talked about, and the overall consensus was that [00:56:00] sunlight is the best disinfectant. Education is the, the, yeah.
You know it, to me, transparency, the way I look at this is we have what we view as a tight community here in, in what we do. I think the people that listen to this podcast, the people that might see this, I think the people who are out there producing. Boxes that were produced at scale that I, that I purchased from Monte for tuna.
These Nova DSOs from Cohiba that are out there for $8,000 a box, which had been proven fake. The masos that went out that were 25, 30, $50,000 boxes. These folks are so far ahead of the curve as, as far as counterfeiting that this is peanuts to them, this is peanuts to them. This is peanuts today. Yeah.
They're, they're, they have factories in China, manufacturing perfect boxes and cigars that are, are nearly undetectable. So, you know, I, I don't think that this is a tool that they're gonna find very useful. I hope not. And also, listen, I found source documents that [00:57:00] did not come out of our friends in Cuba on the internet.
So this is just a consolidation of the information. I think that helps our friends and our listeners in the community. It's an awesome project, dude. Awesome. Yes. Very interesting. Well done. Yeah, thanks.
**Bam Bam:** Having that provincial information also to cross-reference is very unique.
**Gizmo:** Very unique. And to me it's like, you know, listen, you, you, let's say you have a box or two or three of a code that's not working for you now, you know which factory maybe isn't on a good run and what you stay away from and you stay away from.
Yeah. You know, and you're, to me this is an educational tool to make better purchasing and smoking decisions. You know, I love the lizard though. Watermark on it. Big time. I wasted a lot of paper trying to figure out the right, uh, tone watermark percentage there. So boys we're coming to the last third here of the H up, man, connoisseur.
Number one. What does everybody thinking of this thing? That's a great cigar.
**Bam Bam:** Hmm. I have no
**Gizmo:** complaints. I'm loving it. Yeah, I do. I too really enjoyed it. Oh yeah.
**Senator:** Yeah. I mean, I will say, as we're talking about codes, every [00:58:00] single b r e box I've had construction wise mm-hmm. Has been flawless. Like we have up in, uh, number two's, B r e Yep.
Every single one. Flawless
**Gizmo:** construction. Yeah. Yeah, Bres a good code. Mann twos have been great outta there. I just think as we've talked about, I think the up man two is one. Maybe this is too, 'cause we haven't had a terrible young one. Um, they just need time, you know, up two's, sir Winston's, we've talked about that before.
We have Valley Costos from B rre. Yep. Uh, I think so. I think it was M S U. Is it m s U? Mm. Maybe you're right. I think it was part his factory. I don't
**Senator:** have any, um, Bolivar. B r e boxes.
**Gizmo:** Mm. So, uh, we got a couple cool emails. Obviously this one first is appropriate for the tequila we're drinking tonight. I wanted share with you guys.
This is from, uh, I. Lizard Siegel, as he calls himself. Wanted to say thanks for more great podcasts. I've been trying to catch up on all the older pods. I just finished number 34. Again, I think I've gone back and listen, was quite impressed with the two, two tequila [00:59:00] episodes as we talked about with Chef Ricky.
Very informative. I have a question for you. I'm trying to find some at like my local stores. It seems that a lot of the ABCs around us, uh, I guess he's in Florida, don't have them. Um, do you guys have any suggestions for other stores or other sources that might be further away or online? Obviously total wine is one that we call out a lot.
Do they ship total wine if they do? Only locally. Only locally, uh, not outta state. So Total Wine is one, but there are Bottle King. Bottle King is one. There, there are certain resources on the internet you can go to find some of this more artisanal tequila. Yeah,
**Senator:** I, I would also say though, for artisanal tequila or just things that are not huge global brands, I.
I have found that just a lot of the times going into random local shops, you'll be surprised what you find. I say that hundred percent. Some bottles, like something as simple as fours of Reposado. I can't find that at total wine. No, total wine is massive. But I go into, you know, this little shop near us and they happen to carry it.
So [01:00:00] I think for some of this artisanal stuff, just walking into random shops, you'd be shocked.
**Poobah:** What you find is true. I a hundred percent agree. And when we're talking about Florida, um, total wine doesn't have as much as the a, a local place. That's right near my place down in Florida. They have um, they have elta Soro allocation.
Wow. They have forza out allocation. How they get it, I don't know. But I would, I second that notion, which is just walk in somewhere and see what they've got. And I think you'll be, you may be pleasantly surprised. You gotta do a little bit of, uh, footwork
**Gizmo:** to find, to go out. Go out and dig, go
**Poobah:** out and dig a little bit and see who's got what.
Um, and ask like, when's it coming in? 'cause when you ask that private business owner, Like, do you know, oh, you're out of Elso. When's it coming in? What are they gonna [01:01:00] do? You're out of EL for For Yeah. They're gonna go get in. Well, they're gonna sit, well, what they say? They give you the actual real information when you go into a total wine, you're dealing with the, some, some guy who has absolutely no idea and in, in terms of the ordering,
**Gizmo:** has no idea that the tequila even
**Poobah:** exists.
Yeah, exactly. You know, you're just dealing with a kind of a helper, you know?
**Senator:** Yeah. And their, their immediate thing is, Actually, I'd love to suggest, have you tried Patron? I mean, this is what you get.
**Poobah:** Yeah, yeah, that's correct. It's a great
**Senator:** artisanal tequila.
**Poobah:** No, correct. You just gotta hunt. You know? You gotta go.
You gotta go and see who's got, what's what. Who's got what.
**Rooster:** Is there somebody or a company that
**Gizmo:** actually ships, like think it depends on the state allowing stuff to be shipped in. Spirits are
**Senator:** extremely, extremely difficult to ship because
**Gizmo:** that's what the listener kind of asked you. Any, I think depends on
**Senator:** the state why, but spirits are very hard.
States have very
**Gizmo:** strict rules against, it's like Pennsylvania, where my parents live, where Grindr and I grew up. Um, I [01:02:00] can't send my dad. A bottle of wine, a bottle of alcohol. I can't find a store to deliver it to 'em because it's a completely regulated, they call it the state store because the state owns and operates all of the liquor stores in Pennsylvania.
I think you can get beer elsewhere. I. But as far as wine, spirits, and, you know, some of those heavier things, you have to get beer elsewhere. Yeah.
**Grinder:** It's, it's annoying.
**Poobah:** You know, it's, it's, it's confusing because you can go to Pennsylvania and you could buy fireworks, a brick, a brick of M eighties, uh, that with waterproof wicks, uh, uh, and, and a gun.
You can get, get a gun. Well, yes, and 30 round, 30 round magazines, you can shoot 50 caliber for your AR 15, but you can't get a spare shit with, with zero id. But you can't. I'm serious. You're totally true. It's, I mean, you can literally go over the state line to Pennsylvania and you can walk into a gun store [01:03:00] and buy all kinds of accessories and things that are not kosher in New Jersey.
And I'm not saying this out a personal experience. I'm saying it. No, you've just done so you've read it online. Okay. But, but, but no, but seriously, you can, you can No joke. Buy so much crazy shit in Pennsylvania, but the fact that you can't ship alcohol there is crazy. Well, but
**Grinder:** Pennsylvania has a long history of bootlegging.
So like, I mean, you think of like the, the city areas of Philadelphia and New York in the bootlegging times, that's, you'd go up, you'd, you'd come up and down from Canada and to Canada through Pennsylvania, up through New York, and you'd go across, up through Toronto. Like that's how you'd go. And uh, they have, you know, it was a highway for that kind of stuff.
So it's not surprising. It's overregulated.
**Senator:** Yeah. I don't know what Pennsylvania has against alcohol, because I think even, even during Covid, I had friends who were in Pennsylvania, covid at fir, uh, sorry. Liquor stores at first were not deemed essential businesses in [01:04:00] Pennsylvania. They were all getting in cars, having to drive to New Jersey and other states stocking up on liquor and literally bringing back car loads of it.
To home their home in Pennsylvania. Strange. It's the only place they could get it
**Gizmo:** wild. So wild nuts, tequila and SCO are essential. Lizard. Siegel had another question that I wanted to pose because I don't think we've talked about this on, on the pod before. Certainly not recently. The other question he has is, do you guys use a smoke eater in your lounges?
I usually don't care for the smoke cell smell after I sit in a place with bad air movement, which I think we all kind of agree with. And this one maybe for rooster the most. I know a few of you smoke in the car, does the smell linger? And how do you get rid of it? I don't smoke in the car.
**Poobah:** How you talking
**Gizmo:** about
**Pagoda:** he leases his car
**Bam Bam:** returns him
**Poobah:** www.audicustomerservice.net.
**Bam Bam:** Oh, he's got a Tesla now. So watch out Tesla. Your, your car's like an ashtray wheels what are talking about? Yeah. Yeah. So
**Gizmo:** how I haven't, I haven't smoked in the new car. Oh, okay. So in the cars you have smoked and how did you deal with that? You know, did the smell linger and whatnot? How'd you get rid [01:05:00] of it?
Oh, I actually enjoy that smell, so. Mm-hmm. I let it linger. My favorite was
**Senator:** the first time we asked ster how he goes about smoking in his car. And I think it was Gizmo. Gizmo was like, you know, do you roll down all the windows after, like really try to air it out? And Rooster goes, roll down all the windows.
He's like, I'd leave them up and I just crack the sunroof a tiny bit. 'cause I want the smoke to linger. Yeah. Like,
**Gizmo:** what? You wanna smell it hardcore? So how long does it last? Like, I want to, you know, I want to help here. I don't
**Rooster:** know. I mean, I, I, I, sometimes I would spray something in there and that would kind of like an odor, odor eater kind of a thing.
But that's about it. I mean, you roll down the windows or, I mean, occasionally I've taken like a Lambert and like kind of used that in there for a couple of minutes.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. The Lambert is a good Lamber, really works good tool. Yeah. But I mean, it's not something, I'll put that in the episode description, the Lamber 'cause it, it's a really nice tool to use essential oils,
**Rooster:** but it's not really, not really made for the car.
Yeah. Right. And it's made for your house. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, but, but it does work at the house. What,
**Poobah:** [01:06:00] what I think what works, what's worked really well for me in the past, and I don't smoke, smoke, um, cigars in my, my cars very often, but when I have, um, there's Armand Hammer makes a commercial. If you go on Amazon, Armand Hammer.
So found this out, uh, in Las Vegas many, many years ago. I won't. Add any more context to the circumstances. However, there was a lot of smoke. I'm sure you were
**Senator:** sober and no gambling was involved. No gambling
**Poobah:** was involved. However, there's a commercial arm and hammer air freshener that's like a big, and so the, um, the cleaning people had come up to the room and we were basically like, look, we need help because
**Gizmo:** understood, this room's
**Poobah:** okay.
This room's been, you know, and they go, all we do [01:07:00] that $300 charge is take the arm and hammer spray. It's a commercial spray. It's on. If you put an Armand hammer, air freshener commercial into Amazon, it's, it, it, you can order it by the case. And it's like, it's like whatever, 40 bucks and you get like 10, 15 cans and.
I gotta tell you, it like eliminates odor. Like you wouldn't, like you wouldn't believe. Um, that works really well. So I'd definitely recommend the Arm and hammer, commercial air freshener, and that's what they spray. And it like, it's literally neutralizes shit like you wouldn't believe. Hmm. Um, and then the other thing is, it's just if you're, if you're gonna smoke in your vehicle, um, you know, spend $400 a year and take it to a detailer, and when they, after they detail your car, it's like nothing's happened.
Mm-hmm. I mean, whether you have fabric or leather or whatever, you [01:08:00] know, you take it, there's a couple places locally around here, I mean, you take it and you pay, you know, they get into every new con cranny Yeah. And say, Hey, I've, they'll change, uh, a filter out. Yeah. And, and it's like nothing's happened. So, you know, if you're gonna smoke cigars in your car, Getting a full detail on it is not gonna, it's gonna, it's going com.
It's like nothing's happened. It doesn't stick around forever. Not necessary, I'm just saying. No, no, no. I'm just saying it's good. You wanna do that one-to-one,
**Gizmo:** especially if it's a leased vehicle. Fuck it. Just get back. Well,
**Poobah:** right. That's true. Let them detail it. But Armand hammer, the Armand Hammer co commercial is, is, is a great air freshener all
**Gizmo:** around.
All right. I'll put that in the, uh, episode description as well. Good to know. Well, cool. So, uh, lizard Siegel, thanks for, uh, emailing us. We appreciate it. Thanks for listening. I think, uh, I think, I think he's gone back and listened to every episode two or three times. That's great. That's great. That's awesome.
Super cool. Awesome. Super [01:09:00] cool. Can we quiz him? He could probably quiz us, I'm sure. Alright boys. So we're coming to the end of our evening here. H Chapman connoisseur number one has been an excellent cigar for me. I've been loving it. What do you guys think? I need a roach clip for this thing. Yeah, it's so good.
I want to keep going on this thing. It's so good. It's fantastic. And paired with the Ste Legas, tequila Reposado. Excellent. Has been excellent. An excellent pairing. Yeah. Thank you, Kamal. Yeah. Are you guys ready to do the uh, my man formal liquor rating? Lizard Kamal. Lizard. Kamal. Yeah, baby. Are you guys ready to do the formal liquor rating?
Yes. On the Ste? Yes. Repasado. All right. Bam. You're up. I'm gonna give it
**Bam Bam:** a nine. Okay. Extraordinarily drinkable, delicious, complex.
**Gizmo:** Excellent. Yep. Grindr, I'm giving it a seven. Seven. Wow. Alright. Jesus. Do you wanna give us the reason now or do you wanna spank? I, I'm
**Senator:** Or do you wanna get spanked? Uh, yeah, I
**Grinder:** do.
Now, is that a best score? It's a [01:10:00] horrible
**Gizmo:** score. How is that a horrible score? Because it's definitely not a seven for me, because that's a soft recommend.
**Senator:** Should, should, should be a
**Grinder:** hard recommend. I, I've softly recommended I'm, I'm not
**Bam Bam:** digging it.
**Gizmo:** There you go. Pagoda. I'll give it an eight. An eight. Senator.
**Senator:** Oh, I'll give it a nine. Bams commentary was perfect for me. Um, very complex, smooth, supremely enjoyable.
**Gizmo:** I agree. It's a nine all day. I, I thought I might've been the only nine, but this is an excellent repo. I'm definitely gonna get it. Nine for sure. Puah,
**Poobah:** um, for me, no joke. It's the best rep bull I've had.
I'm giving it a 10. There you go.
**Bam Bam:** I love it.
**Gizmo:** Whoa. There you go. I love it.
**Poobah:** Wow. It's the best. Re it's the best repo I've had in a long, long time. It's really good. It's very unique. It's
**Gizmo:** delicious. And it's a 10 for me. As soon as he looked up and he goes, this is agave and salt. Like, I know he is. I know he is gonna give it a good rating.
So the form Liquor Rating Boys is an 8.7. Very good. Very good score. It's a great rating. Oh yeah. [01:11:00] I think it should have been
**Bam Bam:** a little higher, but yeah. I too, too,
**Senator:** so Grindr, what was the issue?
**Grinder:** I, I'm, I don't drink a lot
**Gizmo:** of, yeah. Grind is not a tequila. No, he's not te I don't like,
**Senator:** you know, spirits
**Grinder:** now. Well, I don't, but I don't drink a lot of this spirit.
I don't drink a lot of tequila. I just, like, I don't drink a lot of rum and I, I'm, I'm, you know, baseline is gonna be a, a seven said it's a high score for me. All right.
**Senator:** First for a tequila. I thought we were all men here, but,
**Gizmo:** so boys, are you ready to do the formal lizard rating on the H Up men Connoisseur number one. Rooster, you're up. Yeah. I mean,
**Rooster:** I really enjoyed the cigar. I think it, it's fantastic. Smoke. One of the better ovens that I've had, so
**Gizmo:** I'm gonna give it a nine. Excellent.
**Poobah:** Uba. Yeah. I'm not gonna go that high. Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna give it a solid eight.
Okay. Uh, for me, it, it didn't, it didn't give me quite as much [01:12:00] complexity. I thought it was a little bit flat. Um, a little bit one dimensional. However, it's a strong recommend. Would I buy a box? Absolutely. Um, am I really, really, really glad that I had an opportunity to smoke the cigar tonight? Definitely.
Yeah. And eight's a great score.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Senator. So
**Senator:** I'm, I'm in lockstep with Puba in this, uh, it's an eight for me. The construction flawless, um, really, really great. The smoke output for the smaller ring gauge was also a huge plus the flavor for me. I enjoyed the second half, a lot more than the first half.
That's what really part of what, precluded it from a nine or a 10. Um, and the other thing is just the overall flavor profile. The second half was closer to what I normally pursue, which is in that nine and 10 range. And so, um, I'm glad I tried it. I would definitely smoke another, I don't think I'm gonna pursue a box, but, um, it was a, it was very good cigar.[01:13:00]
**Gizmo:** All right, so for me, I'm in lockstep with Rooster, definitely a nine. I really love the profile of this. I'm upset with myself that I have not had this before because it's really. A great cigar for my palate. Uh, and I'm absolutely gonna be chasing a box probably tonight or tomorrow. Uh, so nine for sure.
Can you get one for me? Always. I love you pagoda. It's an
**Pagoda:** eight for me. I, I think the second half did pick up. Uh, but I do think that the amp amplitude of the flavor profile, it, it just didn't, I was seeking something more. I think the, the short finish, which I think I agree with UBA a hundred percent. Um, But overall, a very pleasant experience.
So
**Gizmo:** it's an eight for me. Okay. Grindr.
**Grinder:** It's a nine for me. I echo pretty much everything you said. Um, I enjoyed every last, I, I think I, I think I smoked mine the fastest of you guys. I was just, and it was still perfect construction. I did, it wasn't hot. [01:14:00] Um, I was really like zoning into it, you know, when you have that cigar that you're just like, you're almost like, not speechless, but I don't know.
Every, everything about it was, was fine. Meaning the burn, the construction, the draw, and um, the aromas that I was getting, it was hearkening back to everything that I enjoy the most. So it was a very good, good nine for me.
**Gizmo:** All right. Bam. Bam.
**Bam Bam:** I think I'm at a nine as well. You know, I zoning into that cigar.
I think it's a, it's a great analogy. It, for me it was a complex cigar. 'cause I got both earth notes and savory and sweet altogether. That's for me, complexity
**Gizmo:** nine. Okay, so the former lizard rating is an 8.6. Wow. Good rating. Chapman connoisseur, number one. It's fair score. Yeah, I think that's fair. Very
**Poobah:** fair.
Yeah. So, so is what's the, what like, are these, I feel like these aren't pursued broadly. Not that they're that many boxes either that they're ubiquitous, [01:15:00] but what's the price point on this box?
**Gizmo:** I think it's about 25 a stick. That's a lot. It's an expensive, that's
**Poobah:** a lot. It, it, you know, at that price point.
That's a lot. I feel like
**Gizmo:** you're probably changing score maybe. No, no, no. Maybe a little under that. I mean, maybe you're looking at That's a lot. 5 75 for a box, five 50 for a box of that. That's kind of, I'll text come All right now,
**Poobah:** you know. But that, I think that plays into it too. And I know that all the prices are up right now, but, um, I mean, what up month can you get now for less than that?
You can't, I, I, I understand.
**Senator:** Um, You could tape some half Coronas together,
**Gizmo:** getting close to that. So let's look at some of the other ratings, uh, of H up and cigars that we've done in the pod. We've done a couple, we've done, uh, the first one we did was the H Up man, Magnum 46, which got an 8.1, so this definitely edged that out.
Hmm. Which actually kind of surprised me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [01:16:00] Uh, the Magnum 50 got a 7.6. The up in number two from 2014 got a 9.80 yeah. Yep. And the rab robusto on ADOS from episode 9 72 got a 9.6. Wow. Well that's hot. That's a great cigar. That was a great, that's hotter than hot. Sure it is. And then finally the other connoisseur, a uh, the other connoisseur was the connoisseur A that we did was, uh, was a 9.2.
Yeah. Yeah.
**Poobah:** Very good. Yeah, I think that that's,
**Bam Bam:** it's appropriate. It's locks that Brian?
**Gizmo:** I think so. Yeah. I think it's running away. What year was the Mac 46? I don't know, man. I mean, that's episode seven. Sorry about it. Yeah. Yeah. I don't remember. Um, I'm, I'm assuming it wasn't too old. Uh, and, and I don't think they performed very well when we smoked them.
**Senator:** No, that's the only thing, like MAC 46, when they're good, they're great, but they're a little inconsistent. Even the construction, I mean, I've taken a perfect draw to more mag 40 sixes than almost any cigar in my tower. That's,
**Gizmo:** they are [01:17:00] very surprising. They make surprising to
**Poobah:** hear they make more of them.
Senator, wow. The,
**Gizmo:** the box that we split
**Rooster:** Yeah. From the
**Gizmo:** guy from 2014. Long Island, 2014. Yeah. That's a great cigar. That explains, that's 2014. Yeah. So yeah, that's, uh, that's the connoisseur number one. So we're gonna do the other two connoisseurs. Can't wait down the line here. Can't wait. Uh, but both of them so far have performed very well.
I think
**Senator:** the most fun part of this for me, and I've said this from some of the other brands we've reviewed, When you have a cigar that shows range in their, in their line. Mm-hmm. Yep. The fact that when I lit this cigar, me and a few others, I think even said, we would not have picked this out as an Aman.
That's pretty cool. Yeah. Like we've said that about certain other brands where you have one stick and you're like, wow, this is dramatically different from what I normally get from that brand. It, it's cool to see that
**Poobah:** range. As a market does that very well. I really do think that there's a ra Think about it.
You've got, you've got like a Mag [01:18:00] 50, which smokes a hell of a lot different than a Magnum 46. Yep. You've got this number one that smokes a hell of a lot different than a magnum than, than a Magnum 46. Mm-hmm. You've got the Kanye, which is a completely different animal. Um, and you've got the Upton two and the Sir Winston there.
There's a range, the variety of Yeah. And there's a really, there's like, if you're an Upton fan and you like the d n a, like the d n A is all kind of in there, but they, there, they have a lot to offer and it's kind of, it's an exploration. Yeah. And, and there's different stuff in there. And I think that that's a, that's a
**Gizmo:** virtue.
Mm-hmm. And I think to your point, I, I think they do it better than most of the other markets. Yeah. As far as, you know, in diversity across the line. Can't argue that interesting flavor. Yeah. Cohiba, maybe you could throw in the conversation, but to me I don't, because of the, the price is just so inaccessible.
Mm-hmm. Like h up and remains [01:19:00] comparatively, let's say, let's temper that, but comparatively accessible. Mm-hmm. Price wise, and I think they have a wide range of stuff that for every smoker Yeah. There are at least three, four, or five cigars in the market that. Are performing
**Poobah:** brilliantly. Yeah. It's why part, part for me, it's very analogous to, to what the Parus Marcus stands for.
'cause within the parus rangers that d n a, that's all there, but then you've got an E two, you've got a P two, and you're like mm-hmm. Those are different cigars. Very different. The d n A is in there, but you know, you've got a D four and then you've got a a a a D five, which is different. And then a D six, which is different from a D five.
Yeah. And, and so yeah, you, you, you know, you, you go across or you got a Collibra that a party is Collibra. That's like a completely different experience. And Luan. Oh yeah. And Eita are an 8, 9 8. They, they're, they're those, it's very, very similar in terms of like [01:20:00] the kind of broad offering that these, that, that Parus and Nuttman have.
Which, which it goes without saying are these are flagship. Global brands, uh, in the Habanas SA catalog, and I think it's, it's a merit. What they're doing with is, is a good thing they're giving. You know the market of a range. Yeah. And that's cool. I don't think there's any like other and they're doing a pretty good job.
Are there
**Gizmo:** any other markets that are like that? Like that? Not many. I don't think so. I think it's part Agus and Upland and
**Bam Bam:** I think that for me, my tower, I've got more Parus and Upland than anything else. Than
**Gizmo:** anything else. I think that, I think that goes for all of
**Bam Bam:** us, everybody and the variety of it. And it's not like you're doing it intentionally, but you know, this is different than that.
Lemme get both. Yeah. And you know it know and
**Senator:** they're all good. Yeah, exactly. You know, like you've heard me half joking, half seriously say, yeah, part of this can do. No wrong. Iman in there up man can do no wrong. Like there are a few brands that you can say that. Across the range of what they produce. Even if something is not perfectly in your power [01:21:00] alley, you're like, this is still really enjoyable.
Yeah, totally. Like this cigar was not perfectly in my power alley. I still gave it an eight. Yeah, it's a great score. They're all very good cigars that they make. Yeah, it's a
**Bam Bam:** good point, UBA. Very good point.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys, a great night. So an 8.7 for the Ste lewas. Am I pronouncing that correctly? Close enough.
Ste, Lewas, tequila Reposado, and an 8.6 for the H u Man connoisseur. Number one out of Cuba. Alright, boys, a great night. We'll see y'all next week. Cube Smoke. Hope you enjoyed this 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 p o d.com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, if you 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 [01:22:00] we'll uh, we'll see you next week.