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The lizards do a blind taste test of an un-banded cigar provided by Grinder, paired with Redbreast's 12 Year Aged Irish Whiskey. (Cigar reveal is at 52:20 or you can find it at the bottom of the full show notes.)
Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
**Gizmo:** [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Lizards podcast. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars, as well as whiskey, travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo, and tonight I'm joined by Rooster Senator Grindr and bam.
Bam. And our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some. Talk about life and of course have some laughs. So take this as your seventh official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plan to meet us here once a week. We're gonna do our first blind tasting tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating.
Grindr will also reveal what cigar we smoked, and we'll chat about rooster's transformation into a connoisseur of vintage Cubans, all among a variety of other things for the next hour. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we pair red breast, 12 year aged Irish whiskey with our cigar of unknown origin, our first [00:01:00] blind cigar provided by Grindr, and he won't even tell us if it's Cuban or non-urban apparent.
Trying to make it difficult on us. What will you tell us about this stick grinder? I'll tell you it's size.
**Grinder:** Okay. Six by 52.
**Gizmo:** Six by 52, I guess that's a Toro, correct? Yeah. Okay. All right. What are you guys getting on the nose? Not much at all. New World. Old World. New World. New World.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Mike,
**Grinder:** I can't tell by, I get a little sweetness on
**Senator:** the wrapper.
I
**Gizmo:** am too on the. I don't remember. It's, I feel like it's very, uh, this is
**Rooster:** not a Maduro wrapper. Right. Does look like a Maduro.
**Gizmo:** It's dark. I feel like there's some age on the tobacco. It's a beautiful,
**Bam Bam:** it smells
**Gizmo:** very nice. Great. Yeah, it feels great. It feels great in the hand. Could
**Senator:** be auro, it could be a Connecticut broad leaf.
It's sort of hard to tell. Mm-hmm. . Yeah,
**Gizmo:** it really nice construction. Yeah. It's a well [00:02:00] made cigar. Construction is like perfect. Yeah. It's a real regular production
**Rooster:** cigar. Not like a custom.
**Gizmo:** Or like a limited ,
**Rooster:** because if it's a custom roll, we would have no clue. We have no
**Gizmo:** idea what
**Senator:** that is. It's something that we can buy that is regularly
**Grinder:** produced.
You can buy it. Yeah. Okay. Got it. And I wouldn't, yeah, you may have smoked it. You may not have.
**Gizmo:** All right, let's cut it. Let's see what, uh, we got on the, uh, cold draw here of this blind cigar here. I will say, guys, you know, and I, I mentioned this before we went on. . I like the fact that I'm not judging this on what my eye is seeing on the label.
You know, a lot of times when I look at a cigar, like anything else, I guess a scotch, any a bottle of wine really too. I'm not a connoisseur like senator, but I'm always judging it based on the label, and I like that tonight we're just basing it on flavor. Completely agree.[00:03:00]
**Bam Bam:** Cold draws pretty tasty.
**Grinder:** Definitely tastes some, Hmm. Oh, some aging. Uh, definitely
**Bam Bam:** some
**Gizmo:** aging. The draw is very nice, very loose. My, my, my guess from this is that it's gonna be a high smoke output cigar based on the build and the draw. I
**Senator:** get a little cedar and hay on the cold draw.
**Gizmo:** Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Oh. Uh, from Aldehyde or? No
**Senator:** Petco Petro
**Gizmo:** saw dust.
No Petco. No Petco? No. All right, boys, let's light it up. How about
**Grinder:** moss? No moss. No moss? No moss,
**Bam Bam:** no.
**Gizmo:** Mos please. No mos, no moss. All right. We're gonna light it up. Six by 52 dark oily wrapper.
**Senator:** I'll say this on the light. Sweet. My guess is already
**Gizmo:** New World total agreement. It's good, really nice on the [00:04:00] light.
Get some sweetness
**Rooster:** on the, on the light. I think you,
**Grinder:** who? Whoever said Cedar. I get it on the light.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. This is really nice. It feels good in the
**Grinder:** hand. What's the difference between New, new World and no world? Just Cuba versus non
**Gizmo:** Cuba? Yeah. Yeah. And that's how I kind of label it too, when I, you know, do the descriptions on the episode, you know, or New World.
Cuban, I guess like in
**Senator:** Wine, new World being the US and old world being everywhere
**Grinder:** outside of it. I think we
**Bam Bam:** should do a, a really, a serious pod wine podcast. Yeah. I, you
**Gizmo:** know, I, I, I
**Bam Bam:** don't know enough. I'm an amateur, so am I. I'd like to learn more.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, I'd like to learn some too. And I know that you'd be really interesting.
I should be a
**Rooster:** different podcast. You know you got the Wine Spectator cigar Fish anda whiskey Whiskey. The wine lizards. The wine lizards, ,
**Gizmo:** the, the, the chef hosted by bam bam. The wine gizzards,
**Senator:** the, the shower wine lizards toasted by Hubba[00:05:00]
**Gizmo:** Oh man, when he said that, that killed me, man. ,
**Bam Bam:** that's like, it's like Cosmo Kramer cooking in his bathtub.
**Gizmo:** Hoopa drinks over on in the, uh, Over on cab in the shower. That's such a, that's such a fraternity
**Grinder:** move. Like . That's amazing. Definitely. Oh, can you bring your shower caddy with like a bush
light
**Gizmo:** in the corner of it?
**Rooster:** What's this other line? It delivers 60% all the
**Gizmo:** time. Yeah, that's from Anchorman. What the fuck does that mean? That's an anchorman quote. Hmm.
**Rooster:** From the movie.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Will Ferrell, uh, so bright white ash on this? I'm definitely saying new. .
**Rooster:** What does that mean when you get bright white ash on a c as opposed to like a charcoal gray or, you know, dark?
It's
**Senator:** a great question because I, I think most of us prefer that white ash. You get that on a petron, we're getting that on this millennium, some
**Grinder:** millenniums. No
**Senator:** doubt for sure. Well, no doubt. [00:06:00] Some Cubans you get that and then others you don't. My preference would always be to have a bright white ash, but I'm not really sure why.
Some cigars never really achieved that. Yeah, I
**Rooster:** I You don't normally see them on Cubans, the white ash.
**Gizmo:** You do get it
**Bam Bam:** on the Maduro one though. A white
**Senator:** ash and, and I've occasionally on certain D four s have that. Yes, most no. But certainty fors from time
**Gizmo:** to time. But like you said, all, almost all patrons, you get that really rich ash that's.
**Grinder:** Definitely a distinctive taste.
**Gizmo:** You ever had this
**Grinder:** before? I have not had this before. Oh, you haven't? Oh boy.
**Gizmo:** But you guys may have, so this is new for you too. I didn't know that. It is new for me.
**Grinder:** This is part of a, that's my, the only other piece of information I'm giving. It's
**Bam Bam:** part of a JR five pack. Would you
**Gizmo:** share the price point on this
Yeah. How much is this, uh, grinder? Do you know? Alright, ballpark. $14. [00:07:00]
**Rooster:** It's a non Brock Box Express exclusive.
**Senator:** Right. Please don't
**Grinder:** offend.
**Gizmo:** I'm getting your what? Family. I'm getting a little taua vibe here. That's so funny to say that. That's same. That's, I'm definitely getting a tattoo. Very good. Reiner gave you
**Rooster:** that look.
You are right.
**Grinder:** got some
**Gizmo:** tat. I'm, I'm feeling like it's definitely got that vibe. I, I don't know if I would
**Rooster:** say this. We'll know when you get to the last 30, whether it's a tattoo, either or not. . .
**Gizmo:** That's a subtle rooster. Dig. You know, it could be a Liga.
**Bam Bam:** Viva
**Gizmo:** Kubo. Very welcome
**Rooster:** to do the Shank.
**Gizmo:** Not
**Bam Bam:** the, not the, not the nine, but the other.
There's another one, the 52.
**Grinder:** Do you think this is dark enough for the 52? Yeah. I mean, They're modern rappers,
**Bam Bam:** right? Not, not all of 'em.
**Gizmo:** That's true.
**Rooster:** Yeah. Yeah. But Grinda said he has not had this, so he's had a lot of Lego. Mm-hmm.
**Senator:** All right, so I'm gonna go out on a limb and [00:08:00] rule out placencia. Mm-hmm. ,
**Bam Bam:** the room is quiet.
**Grinder:** that, I mean, you put one and one together to get two laser laser.
**Gizmo:** You
**Bam Bam:** need some applause? Laser beams are coming out of Grindr's eyes
**Gizmo:** right now, so I, let's, let's immediately rule out patron. And I think Ddo, right? Yeah. It's
**Rooster:** not a Padron. Not a
**Gizmo:** Davidoff. I'm not getting a ton of flavor. No, it's weird, but it's like, it's good though.
The smoke is very smooth in my mouth. It's like coating my mouth like we've talked about with some, some other sticks like it. It's, it's good, but there's just not a lot there yet. It's like
**Rooster:** sweet and spicy. Mm-hmm. , you get the sweet notes in the beginning and then kinda like the retro hell has spice.
**Gizmo:** I get the exact same.
The retro hale is very spicy. I'm gonna say it's not a Fuente.
**Bam Bam:** Unlikely could be a liga. Oh, I'm sorry, a Gloria. Not the five. The one up [00:09:00] above. It was at a seven. . I think Taua is pretty good. Guess,
**Grinder:** man. I agree.
That's
**Senator:** the only thing that's sticking out to me right now is taua.
**Gizmo:** It feels really good. I, I keep saying it, but it feels really good in your hand.
It almost has like a Churchill vibe the way it's weighted.
**Bam Bam:** Can we get away with, with just guessing the maker and not the actual stick that they make?
**Gizmo:** We're gonna do our very best, I guess. Sure.
**Grinder:** You can. You know, I think that's the best we're probably gonna be able to do.
**Gizmo:** You can do whatever you want. Yeah.
I'm just trying to think what else. At a $14 price point though. The taste is very unique to me. It is. It's.
**Bam Bam:** Where would, where would you put the flavor profile on this medium? Mm,
**Grinder:** medium to full. Definitely medium,
**Gizmo:** but spice definitely between medium and full. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** The finish is nice. Actually on this, I think it is at this, I get the sweetness on the finish.
A hundred percent
**Grinder:** for me. Oh, see, I get the reverse. Yeah. Reverse. I get the reverse. No. Sweet. Then spice and spice. Sweetness in the, for me,
**Bam Bam:** I get spiced and.
**Gizmo:** It's hit me a little bit in the, you know, it's hit me in a little bit in the back of the throat with the spice after [00:10:00] I'm,
**Bam Bam:** yeah, I'm actually getting it right in the front.
Uh, I'm weird tonight. I'm getting in
**Grinder:** the back of my, it's not tonight.
**Gizmo:** Ignore
**Bam Bam:** me.
**Senator:** Bam. Tell us about the, um, funded Doris, like notes you're getting outta this cigar. .
**Grinder:** No, it's a, it's a, the spice that I'm getting is it, Apropo to a, uh, a holiday cigar, maybe. Definitely holidays coming up, gearing up for that.
**Gizmo:** Now, we've talked in the past, I think that this is agar and I mean, we're only about what, three quarters of an inch in, but this is a cigar I would give someone that Yeah.
Is over my house. Yeah. I don't think this is gonna kick their ass. I think they could appreciate this, especially after a big meal, you know, and I think with the, the. I think that this would do well outside around a fire or something.
**Rooster:** I think it's safe to say it's a non-urban.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, I think that's a definite.
**Grinder:** Is that the, is that the vote? Yes, that's definitely my [00:11:00] vote. Our vote, yeah. Definitely. I will confirm it's a non Cuban. Okay. All right. 20 to go.
**Gizmo:** What do you guys think of, of the blind taste? I mean, does it, do you guys, because I will fully admit that I judge, based on the brand and the. .
**Grinder:** I, I, I like this idea because you guys always shit on me for smoking obs odd cigars, and we will vindicate you tonight.
No, I don't know if you will. We just try to help you grinder that and because I've never, I've never actually smoked this cigar, so, but I, I, it's, it's something that I, I was like, Hmm, that's interesting. I wanna try it. And here we are.
**Senator:** No, I have to say, I mean, whatever this is, is not something that I normally smoke.
That's New World. And so if there were a band on. , it would absolutely color my absolutely impression of this stick, so I'm very glad we're doing this
**Grinder:** blind. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I, I, you guys have a palette that is, you know, refined, [00:12:00] chiseled, polished over many, many, many cigars and, um, I think this is very different from what you guys traditionally smoke.
In my opinion, it's, it's different from what I.
**Senator:** I have to say the burn is great. I'm everyone's
**Grinder:** straight. The construction and the burn.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Is, and you'll get a long ash on this guy.
**Grinder:** I think. See now it's changing. It's like
**Gizmo:** I just went away from
**Grinder:** Tae. Yeah. It's changing a little bit. It's getting like, I'm
**Bam Bam:** getting a weird, tiny bit of floral,
**Grinder:** weird something.
Yeah. The the spice is, is migrating. It's
**Bam Bam:** not, I still, I like it. I
**Grinder:** don't, I don't not like it.
**Senator:** I'm gonna throw out another brand as a possib. Part of this is colored by, I know that Grindr smokes this brand. My father,
**Grinder:** avo.
**Gizmo:** Oh,
**Grinder:** this is not
**Bam Bam:** an avo. No, I've never seen an AVO that looks
**Gizmo:** like this. They make some funky avo.
**Rooster:** This is a, he like heavy, not like an avo, I
**Gizmo:** think.
**Senator:** I mean, he smokes an AVO domain and that's not a light cigar by any means. It's for forever. [00:13:00] He's not a heavy cigar. Not heavy.
**Gizmo:** That's what I'm saying. AVOs not heavy. This is. Has strength, has bond, do you think it has strength, has, has character, has uh, you think it's medium full?
Me? Yeah.
**Rooster:** Plus Grindr has had the hours, I think
**Gizmo:** plenty of them, but there's a lot of them. I, I mean, I, they, they make a lot of, they make a lot of stuff. They
**Senator:** make a lot of cigars. I mean, AVO is famous that they, they make so many cigars that, here's the story. I don't know if you guys remember reading about, how AVO came out with those lines.
Each band had a different color. There was like a green one, a yellow one, orange, and then apparently some guys were really clever and figured out that AVO threw those bands on old DDoS that were not selling. and they just tried to market them as these new limited release, limited edition AVOs, and they were really dat off cigars.
So I feel like they come out with a lot of random stuff. So to me it's
**Rooster:** possible this could be a Liga provider. Nine. Hmm.
**Grinder:** Really? [00:14:00] That's fuller than this. I mean, Ali is, it's
**Bam Bam:** also longer than this cigar dimensionally
**Gizmo:** what's, what's the size on the leak at 50 52. I
**Grinder:** think it's five and it's the, well, it's probably the size, but it's longer.
Okay. Six and a half maybe.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, that kills that. He could also be trying to throw us.
**Grinder:** No, no, no. Why would
**Bam Bam:** I Grinder's too honorable for
**Gizmo:** that. . Let's talk about our scotch pairing. It's not a scotch coffee. Oh, that's right. It's a whiskey. It's an Irish whiskey. Right? It's an Irish.
**Grinder:** Red Breast 12 Classic
**Bam Bam:** discovered at one of our favorite
**Grinder:** posts.
It's a great, it's a great whiskey. I love it. It is, it's
**Gizmo:** so
**Grinder:** reliable. It's the best Scot best scotch in my opinion. It's the, it's, it's the best Irish,
**Gizmo:** very
**Senator:** smooth. I would agree with that. And it actually, it drinks a lot like a scotch. It's really smooth and refined [00:15:00] in what you'd expect to get out of a.
It's got really nice sweet notes and flavor to it. I, I first had this, I think with most of you at one of the lounges, um, that, that is o owned by, you know, an an Irish guy is very proud of, of, of Ireland and has a hell of a collection of different ears of red breast. And I, I now drink this regularly after, you know, just a few trips there.
It's really, really tasty.
**Rooster:** It is. I think Puba
**Gizmo:** introduced you guys to this. Yes, he did.
**Grinder:** Right? That's right. That's right. So let me ask you this. If it's, if it's New World, what country or countries, that's tough. I'm
**Bam Bam:** saying Dominican.
**Grinder:** That's exactly where my head
**Gizmo:** is. Yeah. Dominican. But I think the Connecticut Broad Leaf, I think that was a good call.
I, I don't know if this is Maduro, I think it may be more Connecticut broadly. I still
**Senator:** stand by that I would say Connecticut or Sumatra Leaf and, and that this is Dominican.
**Gizmo:** So, uh, our Red Breast 12. I'm just reading a little bit about it. a [00:16:00] combination. Uh, it's matured in a combination of bourbon and sherry casks, but it's very smooth, you know.
Interesting. I, I didn't know it was, I didn't know that either, because I don't get the sherry thing. Well, the, the sweetness in it. Yeah,
**Senator:** it's a little sweet. But I didn't know that a lot of, I mean, I don't know a whole lot about Irish whiskey. I didn't know that they use Sherry
**Gizmo:** casts for, it's made from a, a mash of malted and unmalted barley, then triple distilled in copper pot still.
You know, they're obviously saying it's a pot still. Whiskey matured in the combo of American Oak and Sherry seasons. Spanish Oak
**Senator:** Pot still is a big thing. I mean, there are a lot of Caribbean rums that are, are pot still rums that are really good. Like a lot of Jamaican rums. Even, uh, Appleton estate, like they're, they're pots still.
**Grinder:** Do you know the difference between Irish and Scotch? No idea. Anyone. Pri Irish whiskey? Yeah. Isn't it
**Bam Bam:** made in a
**Grinder:** pot? The whiskey? , um, somewhat. Some scotch [00:17:00] are in, are in Potstills. Yeah, absolutely. Um, the primary difference is the, is the blend of the malt. So they, they, some is unmalted in Irish, it's, it's a mixture of malted and unmalted and scotch.
It's un
**Gizmo:** malted.
**Rooster:** What does it mean malted?
**Grinder:** It's when you get the mash and you put it in the big thing and you let it ferment, and it's like all, it smells like flowers in there and sweet and vanilla and because it's unmalted it's, it's, it's more refined and there's less,
**Rooster:** but what, what's, what's the grain?
Barley. It's barley. Yeah. That's used for all whiskeys.
**Grinder:** Yeah. Yeah. Well, scotch, scotch. Whereas like bourbon is bourbon's corn, right, corn And, am I wrong on that? Someone correctly?
**Gizmo:** You're right. Corn. I think that's correct. Yeah. Yeah. So for it to be
**Rooster:** called scotch, it has to be from Scotland. That's the
**Gizmo:** primary.
Yeah. Right. And it's the different spelling of whiskey too, correct. Without E It is. There's no [00:18:00] E. There's no E. Yeah. So we're about an inch into the cigar inch and a. .
**Rooster:** Yeah. The flavor hasn't changed much. I think it has gotten maybe a little smoother, a little less spice now. It's, it's not that spice that we got hit with in the beginning.
I don't taste that that much. It's smoother,
**Gizmo:** it's rounded out a little bit. It's rounded out. Yeah. I'm definitely going back to my Tai feeling. It, it's, it really reminds me of those cigars. Yeah. It
**Senator:** hasn't changed much. I mean, to Rooster's point, the flavor profile hasn't changed a whole lot, and to me it's still very uae.
the smoke output on this has been fantastic. Smoke output is
**Grinder:** really great. So you, you mentioned earlier, you're out, you know, friends come over, holidays are coming up. You wanna hand 'em a cigar. Why is this one you'd hand them and how does that fit into that paradigm of a cigar? You, you'd give a guest
**Gizmo:** For me.
I, I think that I would give them, I would give this to a guest because I [00:19:00] think it's, uh, approachable, I guess to use a word that Puba would, would use. Approachable. I don't think that this is, . I don't think it, it kicks your ass with nicotine strength. I think it has enough flavor to stand up after a, a big meal or a a, a nice, you know, scotch or whiskey or whatever you may have.
I, I think it, I think it kind of fits in the mold of what you're doing on a holiday. Usually. I think it kind of plugs right in there as far as a, a
**Grinder:** cigar pairing for that. I don't know if I'd give this to a guest because, or there was someone who is not as a advanced smoker because I, I get a little bitter taste.
It's a little bitter to me in certain I'm
**Bam Bam:** not getting any of that. Yeah, I'm not getting, I'm not getting bitter. It's actually, I have to say it's enjoyable. I'm enjoying it. But you know what I
**Gizmo:** wondered. Now let me ask you this. with the bitterness. When was the last, did you have dinner? Was it a while ago?
Mm. Because I wonder if the, if your stomach acid is playing with, wow. Your perception of gizmo. Dr.
**Senator:** Gizmo over here. ,
**Gizmo:** the PhD.
**Senator:** Wow. L L [00:20:00] Z D. Lz. D .
**Gizmo:** Oh, that was fun. We'll get to that in a little bit. Uh, rooster's been buying some really unbelievable aged Cuban cigars and, uh, PVA sent out on the group text the other day.
He sent out. The cigar encyclopedia written by Rooster Lz. D .
**Rooster:** Z Z
**Gizmo:** lowercase. Oh, just, yeah. Z lowercase. It was post-revolution Havana. Yeah.
**Senator:** Got his lizard doctorate. He did, he, he got his doctorate
**Grinder:** in Lizard .
**Gizmo:** So I'm, what am I accurate on your food?
**Grinder:** Uh, I mean, how many hours ago? It was, it was too long ago. I think probably four
**Gizmo:** hours ago.
That could be what? because I find it even cigars that I love. If I don't eat enough, if I smoke a strong cigar, it just tastes a little funky to me. A little bitter. Yeah.
**Grinder:** Yeah. I hadn't, today was a late lunch. What do you call late lunch, early dinner, A winner. Supper. Supper. Mm-hmm. , [00:21:00]
**Gizmo:** first
**Bam Bam:** supper rooster.
What's that other cigar line that Liga makes? It's got a blue. Nor now? No, they have it at the old, um, underground. Yeah,
**Grinder:** so underground was a, I'm getting a little underground was made because in the factory, Liga, Liga started taking off. The number nine started taking off and all the guys were smoking.
When they're rolling these cigars, they're, they're smoking all the inventory, so they blended a new cigar. Just to give to the people who work in the factory. And that cigar was also phenomenal. So they're like, we gotta market this shit too. And then they started pumping that out and I
**Bam Bam:** used to smoke that.
I'm getting that in this a little bit.
**Gizmo:** Which one did you smoke? Foundation. Oh, I don't remember. But you had any foundation, Steve?
**Bam Bam:** I, I had one. Yeah. Good. That's a good analogy for this particular cigar. Yeah. Interesting.
**Gizmo:** It's got very
**Rooster:** similar flavors to when I had that foundation
**Senator:** steak. Do you [00:22:00] have the tabernac?
because that's a little bit of what this reminds me of. It's a dark wrapper, like this large ring gauge.
**Rooster:** It was a large ring gauge. It had like a bluish band on it from what I remember.
**Senator:** Oh, that's the g Gwen say that. Uh, you know who smokes that Pagoda with the blue band on it? The blue band is the G uh, gce.
There's a red band. That's the Wiseman Maduro. The black band is the tab.
I
**Rooster:** think about the Wiseman that kind of rings
**Senator:** a be. . I had a phase where I was smoking those and then I, I fell outta love with that cigar.
**Gizmo:** I used to smoke a lot of the, the, the Drew Estate League, um, the undergrounds. I used to smoke a lot of the sun groans.
Cause they make a, they make a shade. The sun gron in the Maduro. And that's what I was smoking when I met senator at the lounge. And then he turned me onto the exi. He quickly got off those
**Bam Bam:** well documented. I
**Grinder:** have two 1 cents Connecticut. [00:23:00] In my opinion is one of the best
**Gizmo:** Connecticut shades. That's the one with like the silver white label on it, right?
Yeah. Yeah.
**Rooster:** The cigars getting flatter now. Have you noticed that?
**Gizmo:** Mm.
**Senator:** For me it's a little,
**Gizmo:** it is a little harsher now. Yeah. It's definitely a little bit less to it. Yeah. The smoke output is like, the spice is almost gone
**Grinder:** proliferous. It is. It's getting cloudy in here. Phenomenal smoker, but just, uh, it's not even a full lizard.
Corium. . Well, you actually, technically it probably is a quorum.
**Gizmo:** It is. Lizard Quorum is five, right? Yeah,
**Bam Bam:** that's right. We call it corium in this room.
**Gizmo:** Yeah.
**Senator:** I mean, technically four.
**Grinder:** Yeah. Is it half? Oh four is four. The majority is more than it. Yeah.
Do we know that? Do we know the, do we have a, the origin story of what a koru.
**Senator:** Why don't, why don't we let bam define a a, a qu a quorum
**Grinder:** for us? No comment. The original quo. [00:24:00]
**Gizmo:** Well explain. So what happened? So you bam, I don't know, did you, were you typing it on the fly or something? No, I was using Siri. Siri, okay.
So, uh, Siri sent
**Bam Bam:** and it came out as the word as corium. And, and Senator will never let it go .
**Grinder:** It's, it's not just Senator Bam . We all
**Bam Bam:** say,
**Grinder:** you know what? I'm quietly angry
**Bam Bam:** about it, but I,
motherfuckers, the
**Senator:** best part was that I, I was of course, first to give you shit for. But my favorite was, was Grindr's response. Who then goes into like the etymology of, of course, forum course. And he goes Latin four. And he starts explaining like
**Grinder:** the
**Bam Bam:** entire, yeah. And for those of you that are listening, this is the academic corner over here,
Don't ever type a word wrong. Well, the good thing about
**Grinder:** you, bam, is
**Gizmo:** you never type a word. It's all . It's always serious. It's all serious. I'm blame it on serious. I'm always
**Bam Bam:** fault. I'm
**Grinder:** always driving. Can I say,
**Bam Bam:** I'm, I'm in a camp of La Gloria, [00:25:00] it could be number six, I'm thinking possibly,
**Rooster:** yeah, I haven't had that many.
La Glorias, so like, you know, the
**Gizmo:** non Cuban la
**Grinder:** Gloria, the traditional la Glorias underground. Don't you think this is a little too, it's not the girth, the, the gr gauge is a little too small for
**Bam Bam:** this Six is a little skinnier than the, than the R, the series R. This is, I think the series number
**Grinder:** six. Okay. Is it natural or Maduro then?
Maduro.
**Bam Bam:** Ah, made.
**Gizmo:** It's definitely dark. There's no doubt about that. It's dark. I just, I'm still, I don't think it's Maduro, I'm still in the Connecticut Broad for Sumatra camp here,
which again leads me to Tae cuz that's a pretty common, um, you know,
**Bam Bam:** any La Florida DOA cigars that mimic this? Ooh,
**Gizmo:** that's, I haven't had any of those yet. The Florida Minna, I, I haven't had Is that the guy in, in the ads? He's always on the horse. With the hat? Yeah, with his wife. With the wife. . I'm very confused by those ads.
I
**Grinder:** used to love their cigars. I'd think they make great sticks. I used [00:26:00] to smoke them a lot. A floor
**Senator:** doo. Yeah. Yeah. What have you smoked of their stuff? I, I've only had one of their
**Grinder:** cigars. The liata actually, they made a, they made a, like this really? Um, really thickly harrow cigar. They made this cigar called the chisel.
Yes.
**Bam Bam:** That's a powerful stick. They made
**Grinder:** a cigar one year. Double lague. Laro. They made a cigar a couple years ago. Laro. Lero. Okay. It's a Laro . They made a cigar a few years ago. That was, that was one of the oilies. It was a taa Stop using Siri, sir,
**Rooster:** from Theta. Region
**Gizmo:** aba. They also make that and Delusion Bull, which has been a really popular cigar recently.
That's Cigar wasn't
**Senator:** highly reviewed by Pagoda. I think Pagoda had
**Grinder:** one of those.
**Bam Bam:** I hate that cigar. I hate . I hate that fucking
**Gizmo:** cigar. I see guys online that love it. I haven't had it. I know.
**Bam Bam:** I never had it. You love
**Grinder:** it. It was hard to get really, because they won that. I think it was a ca. Ah, number [00:27:00] one. Number one, yeah.
Really? Yeah. Won Cigar of the Year. .
**Gizmo:** It was a big cigar too,
**Grinder:** but I like, yeah, they made, so what I was saying is they, I think I, I actually told you to buy one of these boxes years ago. It was a TAA special. And it was OPI Bull. No, it was, it was a, uh, la uh, Florida Domen and it was a TA special Box press, soft Box Press.
And it was one of the oilies rappers I've ever smoked, and it was so, Now this is changing on
**Gizmo:** me a little bit. It's kind of back to a little bit more flavorful now for me.
**Grinder:** I, I, I do, I do think it's a quite a different taste for me. This is not something that I encounter.
**Rooster:** This is closest to the foundation cigar that I've had.
**Grinder:** So, foundation. Tell me about foundation. Why, why is,
**Gizmo:** what is that? Flavor-wise, flavor-wise, [00:28:00] it's, it's, Kind
**Rooster:** of tastes
**Gizmo:** like the
**Grinder:** foundation. So is foundation, uh, where's it, where they make what kind of, I have
**Rooster:** no idea.
No idea. , I think it's Dominican. I don't know. I'll have to look it up. I, I'm not sure I was into it for like a brief moment, you know? But
**Gizmo:** What are you into now? Oh,
**Rooster:** don't, Anywhere. Let's go. Anywhere from beads and up .
**Gizmo:** So
**Bam Bam:** stay outta my world.
**Gizmo:** Kitty litter. Kitty litter. Yeah. Kitty litter. Let's go to, uh, I want to, I'm, I'm, I'm fascinated by this because our, our friend Rooster here has gone on a, uh, what do you wanna call it?
A buying spree. A uh, hunt. A hunt. He's a hunter gatherer in rooster's Connoisseur corner. Tell us, uh, tell us some of the, the aged. Crazy Cubans, you've been picking up cuz it's been, dude, it is like, I think that we may need to have an episode of the pod that's in Intervention. [00:29:00] Intervention. Yeah. We may need to do an intervention surpris some
**Rooster:** of those.
Well, I think the Cuban cigars in general, if they're not EL or certain regionals, you want those sticks to have some age on them because without some age they're harsh, they're not ready. Unlike what we usually smoke, like the Padron and Davidoff. , they're already age. The tobaccos are aged at like at least five to seven years of age on the tobacco before they roll them.
But the havanas usually don't have much age on them, so you have to let them sit for a while. So if you can pick up boxes that have like five years at minimum of five years of age on them, it makes a huge difference. And if you have the capacity in. Towers at home, you wanna be able to buy a few boxes and let them age and let them sit for five years.
God bless you. I don't, I want to get something that's aged that, you know, [00:30:00] 5, 7, 10, 15 years of, of age on them. Have, have
**Grinder:** you included this in your, in your home insurance yet?
**Gizmo:** Uh, you know, good. That's a good question. That's a good
**Grinder:** question. I'm
**Gizmo:** not kidding. . It's like, you're right. You've got a Fortune wife right now, , call the broker, or Progressive upgrade the policies.
So this has been something that I think, I'm curious what the, the flick of the domino was for you with, with the age Cubans, because it's really been a, a recent progression. And you are,
**Rooster:** I can you are in one word. Go ahead. It's called the Remington. As soon as you got the Remington, it's like, you know, shelves are empty.
Let's fill 'em up. What are you gonna fill them up with? You gonna fill 'em up with like new boxes that you're gonna let them sit for five years that you, you can't smoke them, or you gonna buy something that's aged and you can smoke them and share them right away. So, and the beauty about, you know, a lot of these age stacks is that I'm getting more and more into skinnier, [00:31:00] thinner ring age.
because there's so much flavor out of them. Like the Lgc, we had the metal Dior number four. Yeah, great
**Gizmo:** stick. I think
**Rooster:** that was like a 36 ring gauge and it had so much flavor and that has become my favorite stick in that size, and I can't get enough of them. Do they still make those? Uh, number four is still in production.
The number two and the number three are. The number four still is, but they're so hard to get there. I guess they're so, uh, limited production of the, of that particular stick. And then, you know, you wanna be able to get something with age. So I got a box that's 2002. Wow. And, uh, 2011 and 2013. Geez. 2002.
**Gizmo:** 2002.
Incredible. Did you get that? Yeah.
**Grinder:** So I, I just got a, um, a couple boxes for a friend of. 16 years age, uh, [00:32:00] selection of Cubans in a nice presentation. And that was, that was the probably the most age I've ever seen on a cigar personally that I've ever held in my hand. Did you try it? No, I gave it, I gave it as a gift to somebody.
**Rooster:** Yeah. I mean it, the, the cigars, when they have that much age on them Yeah. They completely get balanced. Yeah. Smooth. There's no rough edges. There's. You know, they're very floral,
**Gizmo:** perfuming sticks.
**Grinder:** Some might argue. It, it, it, it gets a little too cy though. Right. And some of, some of the taste gets maybe too muted.
Right.
**Rooster:** Maybe it's on certain sticks. But, but some Cubans I think they age really well. You know, like the funded dos, the vagus robes that we have had from, uh, I think we had 20 elevens. Yeah. And we also have, uh, I think I have a box from 2002 as well. I mean, you just can't beat them. Yeah.
**Grinder:** I'm really enjoying this.
But right now, by the way, yeah,
**Gizmo:** this is like, as we're talking and I'm thinking about the cigar [00:33:00] West, I'm just have to admit kind of going through it, it's, it's
**Bam Bam:** pretty, pretty good. Yeah. We're gonna be shocked.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. I think we're gonna be surprised. You know, to go back to your point, Grindr, about the, uh, the, the selection that you bought.
So you bought the selection Robusto and you bought the five pack of the selection pyramids, right? Yeah. So I mean, for someone out there. either doesn't, like Cubans, doesn't know, Cubans wants to venture in. It's a pretty reasonable, you know, gamble on a, a box of five robos to try five different haos brands of robos or pyramids and kind of get a, an idea of that flavor profile.
Obviously, they're age. So to find those same cigars again, obviously you could find them robusto, but you can't find them with that age. What were, what
**Grinder:** were they? They were, um, UPK, Parus, Cohiba, Romeo. Romeo. And.
**Gizmo:** Was there a BVA in there? Ho ho. No. Hoyo. Hoyo. Okay. So yeah, so you get five individual sticks in a wonderful Yeah.
Presentation. It's a great gift and good for if you want to try [00:34:00] something aged. They're not that. Well,
**Grinder:** I told the guy, I was like, you gotta smoke these now. Like, don't, don't sit 'em on. Yeah, they're ready to go. They're ready. They're, they're, you know, they're in the barrel. They're
**Senator:** rooster
**Gizmo:** approved.
**Rooster:** You know, it's interesting you talk about, when we're talking about age sticks, You've heard of a brand called Raphael Gonzalez.
Yeah. Whenever you get a box of the rgs, there's a line on it. It says either smoke them now or after one year.
**Gizmo:** Oh really? I don't know if you ever noticed that. I did not notice that. Yeah. I have a box of the little ones in my humidor.
**Rooster:** Do you? The pan tells. Pan tells, yeah. Oh, you do? I
**Gizmo:** have two actually. I think I have two boxes.
That's
**Rooster:** a great steak. Um, just got a box of those. Really old, uh, panatella, fantastic. Smoke, so much flavor, and still a good, like half an hour smoke.
**Bam Bam:** Grindr is now the connoisseur. I'm sorry, gizmo. . I, I'm looking at you like . Well,
**Gizmo:** you're a connoisseur of course. So, [00:35:00] because I'm so fascinated by, by this rooster.
Um, so obviously the va, the Vegas, Romania, 2011. I. Was a mind blowing stick for everybody. That's, yeah. That was introduced
**Rooster:** to us by pba. PBA was the first one to get a, I dunno if you got a box of those or, uh. 10 pack? No, I think he got singles. Singles and he shared with us. And that, I mean, at that point, that was like the
**Gizmo:** best cigar I think I've ever had.
**Bam Bam:** Well, I think we all agreed that night it was one of the, the best Cuban at that time.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Is
**Rooster:** that, uh, is that a Lonsdale? Yeah, it's a Lonsdale Lonsdale. So I mean that, you know, with, in that size, it's such an elegant smoke, so balanced, yet complex and it builds. It really picks up in flavor as you smoke that.
**Gizmo:** It's funny, I, you know that that 11 Classico by Robinia that we had, that was the first aged Cuban that I had of that level. And I'm still chasing that. It's, I'm still chasing that high. I mean, I [00:36:00] have them. It was incredible
**Senator:** though. I think that stick goes back to rooster's point earlier about smaller ring gauge cigars.
When Puba gave me one of those, I don't think I had a single Lonsdale in my humid. Prior to Puba giving me that stick. And that's what really opened my eyes to what Rooster was saying, that these smaller ring gauge Cubans are fantastic smokes.
**Rooster:** Unreal. Uh, it is unreal. I mean, it's, I think most, most Americans don't really kind of smoke that ring gauge.
Yeah. And I think it's more of a
**Gizmo:** European
**Grinder:** thing. My, I mean the, the, the most Cubans I smoke. Rooster, r Petite Coronas. I have 10 boxes of Boulevard Petite Coronas. Yeah. And that's, you know, I, I have one sitting right next to me that I was smoking earlier. Yeah. It's a great size and I love that. I love
**Rooster:** that smaller gauge.
But you also smoke like, uh, the lawn tails or Len Ceros. Yeah, but
**Gizmo:** I [00:37:00] Pellas. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, when I saw
**Rooster:** that box of the La Glorias, when it came in, I opened the box and I was like, The pictures. Don't do it justice. I was like, I was a little disappointed by looking at the ring size. I'm like, how could the cigar be
**Gizmo:** any good?
**Grinder:** Oh, look at that. So this is a, wow. I just pulled out a, a Monte ESP specialist. ESP number two. Yeah. I mean, this is, this is a fantastic scar. We should do, we
**Rooster:** should do it. We'll do this one next. Yeah. Yeah, I got enough.
**Gizmo:** I don't actually
remember with roosters one is, one is all I need.
**Senator:** what's his Is yours and what's yours Is
**Gizmo:** his
**Rooster:** Casa Casa Casa is mic Casaa. I I wanna ask Grindr about the, uh, the number two. Yes.
**Gizmo:** What, uh,
**Senator:** Brewster wants to know, should he buy five boxes today? This is
**Grinder:** a, this is a 19.
**Rooster:** 19, yeah. [00:38:00] Mm-hmm. . Yeah, cuz I, yeah, I have a, I have a box coming.
**Gizmo:** It's good. Of course, of course.
**Rooster:** Somebody, somebody sent, I, I got a box of, I think it was a box of Fundies from, uh, some guy in Hungary or from me. It was, uh, Germany. I don't remember. and he sent me a box, I mean not a box, a single Montecristo, specials number two. Yeah. And I didn't know what that cigar was.
Um, I mean, I had heard about it, but I didn't really know if that's the size. And it's got a pigtail on it, I believe. Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he said, this is from 1998. Ooh. And my goodness, the flavor on that stick. Unbelievable. So good.
**Grinder:** It's awesome. So to your question, It's the, the flavor is coat. There's like a thin layer of flavor in my mouth right now.
You know? It's like coating my palette pretty well. It's like silky smooth. [00:39:00]
**Gizmo:** I think I'm enjoying it. I think I'm enjoying it more now than I did when we lit it because
**Grinder:** it's a tattoo. High .
**Gizmo:** That's
**Rooster:** a is, this is
**Gizmo:** not a tattoo. I don't know. I still think it could. Call me crazy, bud.
**Bam Bam:** Lalo do is my guess at
**Grinder:** the moment.
I
feel
**Senator:** like it's picked up in strength. It has. When this started, I would've said medium full, and now I agree. I feel like this is closer to full body.
**Gizmo:** I totally
**Rooster:** agree. It's not like a tattoo. I, that's why I normally kind of, it kind of fizzles off like the last third.
**Senator:** But I say that because to Gizmo's point earlier of, would you give this cigar to.
where this cigar is right now. I'm not sure that I would. This is, this is a lot. It's
**Grinder:** a
**Bam Bam:** complex, it's a lot of flavor in this. It's pretty complex cigar.
**Senator:** I don't know that that much complex. I just think it, it packs power now. Punch.
**Grinder:** Yeah. There's
**Rooster:** a punch. Yeah. Yeah. Flavor hasn't changed that much. It's the same notes just in varying degrees.[00:40:00]
You know, initially there was a lot of spice and the metal, it kind of was lacking and now it's kind of picked up again.
**Gizmo:** I'm trying to think of what other brands this could be. So that's where I was
**Senator:** going. We, we haven't mentioned a brand, and I'm just curious if we think this is even slightly a possibility.
Is, is Rocky Patel at all possible?
**Rooster:** Oh God, no. I hope
**Bam Bam:** not. Geez, , I don't even say that.
**Grinder:** You don't know how I came here to rock your world, did you? Oh, so he wants, I'm
**Gizmo:** ruining my whole night. He
**Bam Bam:** wants vindication tonight. ,
**Grinder:** Rocky Pet.
**Gizmo:** Rocky
**Rooster:** Patel. I hope not. Pagoda
**Gizmo:** loves it, means Mish Patel. . Pagoda loves it. The the Dejas brother
Speaking of pagoda, I think Pagoda would really like this stick. I think he would. I agree. I think this is right up his alley. I'm, I'm enjoying this more as you put
**Rooster:** a band on it. Koji Robo,
**Grinder:** I'll tell you, [00:41:00] I'll tell you. This is a great
**Gizmo:** ci. I think it's very good. And again, I, I, I have to say it again. I'm, I'm grinder.
Let me tell you, let me tell you, let me tell you, I, I'm so glad that it didn't have a band on it because I, I don't think that I would be feeling like this, and that's my bias, but I think that's a really good aspect of this for me right now.
**Senator:** I'll be honest though, I'm not in love with the second half
**Gizmo:** of this.
I think I'm enjoy. More than I was when we lit it.
**Rooster:** You know what? Proper cigar etiquette is one of the, one of the, one of the points, if you're smoking with somebody and who's smoking a different cigar that you are smoking, which is maybe a little bit inferior than what you are
**Gizmo:** smoking. You take the band,
**Bam Bam:** you should take the band off.
Yeah, band comes off.
**Gizmo:** Have you, you don't subscribe to that, do you? I think that's, I put another band on it. That's a little
**Grinder:** presumptuous. . No, no. I,
**Senator:** we should talk about this rooster's. Is a good one in that if you [00:42:00] walk in a number of cigar lounges, you will see several guys who as soon as they take out a cigar, they're gonna smoke.
They actually take the band off the cigar. That's right. And cut it and light it. That's right. And I like it in theory because I think one of the things that's nice about cigars, you know, the, there's this level playing field with cigars. You can be from any walk of life, you can be of any circumstance.
and if you're sitting down with someone who enjoys cigar, You have an instant bond, you're, you're all of a sudden one in the same. That's true. So I, I like that aspect about it, but it's hard for me because there are some cigars. I just, I love the artwork of the band. I like to admire the, the cigar in all of its glory.
And you like to show
**Grinder:** off, you like to show off. It's not showing
**Senator:** off. It's just like, do you wanna smoke a, here's an example. Do you wanna smoke a patron drone without the band or do you want that patron band on there that you're staring at that 80th as you're smoking? I'll
**Grinder:** admit, I like the band.
**Gizmo:** I do.
Sometimes
**Rooster:** [00:43:00] you take the band off and it's gonna take the wrapper
**Gizmo:** off. That's what I was gonna say. As you, as you smoke that,
**Bam Bam:** stick on a Cuban For sure.
**Gizmo:** On a Cuban
**Rooster:** for sure. You know, it has to kind of, you
**Gizmo:** know,
**Bam Bam:** not new worlds though. Mostly Cubans react that way,
**Gizmo:** don't they?
**Rooster:** True. But you know, the, the glue on it will melt as the cigar heats up and it's easier for the band
**Gizmo:** to come
**Grinder:** off.
I'm, I'm in, I'm in New York Camp . I mean, I, I always leave the band on because of that reason. and I, I'll take it off once, once it get half, you know, when it, once it heats up and just because I'm, you know, I can't stop fidgeting, so I'll take it, I'll take it off,
**Senator:** but, but to bam BA's point, I feel like with Cubans, whether philosophically you think you should take the band off every time you li light up your cigar, or you should leave it on with a Cuban, never, you can't possibly take that band off.
It will tear those cub even, even at
**Rooster:** the end. You can't take it off because you're like taking off peeling like layers of it, like an. Yep. Literally. And, and then you know, you got a good Cuban, I mean, it's not a counterfeit, right? That's one
**Gizmo:** way to tell. Yeah. The [00:44:00] RGUs, when you take off a RGUs band, if it comes off in one piece, that's what I'm in.
I get concerned if it , if it comes off in four different pieces, yeah, it's okay. Now it's authentic. Yeah. Yeah. I know it's real good point. But you know what's interesting, uh, uh, about your point, Senator, is that I find when I see someone smoking a cigar, and I know what it. Maybe to counter your point, I think it opens up a little bit of a conversation and it brings me back to when I met Pagoda, let's say, and he was smoking something.
I said, Hey, you know, I see what you're smoking. I think you may like this padron that I gave him. And that, that really kind of is that how started that journey,
**Bam Bam:** you know? Is that how the senator turned you to patrons?
**Gizmo:** Yeah. I mean, he saw what I bought . He, he took, I walked upstairs with 200 on cigars and he said, Hey, Stop.
Yeah, don't do
**Bam Bam:** that. Try this.
**Gizmo:** Take those back if you like it. And that's exactly what I did. And it was just because it knocked my socks off and I wasn't a guide who knew one band from another. I just was smoking cigars cuz it relaxed me So. . Wait, I wanna
**Rooster:** know, what did you get with the $200 when [00:45:00] you got what cigars?
Well,
**Gizmo:** the tobacconist that I, that I had purchased it from, kind of walked through the humidor with me. Here's a true tobacconist and kind of put a, just put a bunch of. Random cigars in my bag. Did you ask him to
**Rooster:** recommend anything? Yeah, I asked
**Gizmo:** him for help. Yeah, because it was my first But he chose those sticks for, yeah, he helped me choose them.
Yeah. And if
**Senator:** you saw those sticks that I did that day, rooster, you would not call 'em a tobacconist. So that's what I want to
**Rooster:** know. What, what did he recommend or what, what did he ask you? Like how long you've been smoking cigars and uh, what's
**Gizmo:** your flavor profile? Definitely. And he knew that cuz I had just, I was just joining the lounge, so I had the credit, I credit that I had to burn.
And uh, you know, I kind of told him when I was smoking, which was pretty. Low level stuff in my mind. Now what I think about what I was smoking, it was not great stuff. And not from a pricing standpoint. I mean, I was smoking expensive stuff that I would say is not great value. You know, cigars. And I think that, you know, what he put in my tray was amateur bullshit.
[00:46:00] Amateur bullshit, I guess. No, it wasn't even Ava. There was a couple, I think there was a Camacho in there. There was aua. . Yeah, there was, it was, it was not good. Katra. And what else? There was some, uh, some of the Hemingways were in there. Cool. Like the art. Some Nat Shermans. Some Nat Sherman's Hemingway. Yeah.
Some Fuente Hemingways. It's not bad. No. There. Those are good cigars. The Uros are very good. No sir. But I'm
**Senator:** sorry. Nat Shermans are
**Gizmo:** not great. Yeah. Uh, Nat Sherman's, uh, there was, it was a mishmash of other random stuff and there weren't any patron drones for sure. There weren't any, David. . Um, there weren't any, you know, good fuentes, you know, it, it, so I, so I guess my po my point Isist
I guess my, uh, you know, a couple of my fathers in there, which I did smoke. One of those I did not enjoy, but I know. Did you say you liked some of those Grindr? The, my father? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know which one I had. You.
**Grinder:** Well, that, that'll knock your socks off the judge. The judge is good. Yeah. I like that one.[00:47:00]
They make, um, The Flo de an tills. Is that my father? Flo
**Senator:** de san? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's a good stick. That's a good budget stick. Yeah.
**Rooster:** This better not be a rocky pat potato. I can tell you that. .
**Grinder:** All right. Do you want, do you guys want to go around?
**Gizmo:** Are you guys ready to give it the, uh, formal lizard rating?
I think so.
**Grinder:** I'm ready. I'll go
**Gizmo:** Last rooster. You're out. I'll go first. Yep.
**Grinder:** So let's give a, let's give a rating and then let's guess.
**Gizmo:** Okay. Rooster, what is it?
I'll give it a six.
**Bam Bam:** Is it because you think it's a Rocky
**Gizmo:** Patel? No,
**Rooster:** I think the beginning I would've given it a seven. It started off like really great, but it's a six.
**Gizmo:** I'm gonna give it a seven. I'm gonna give it a six.
**Grinder:** Bam.
**Bam Bam:** I'm at a seven cause I, I am enjoying the cigar. It does go back and forth. It's minerally now for me.
I wish I. [00:48:00]
**Grinder:** I, I would probably give it a, a five or a six. Oh. For a year. I'd probably get a six. Whoa. Okay.
**Senator:** How nice of you to share a cigar, you would
**Grinder:** rate a five. I I never had the cigar . I never had the cigar senator.
**Gizmo:** How true. Never. But now, before we start guessing, the one thing I will say, , and we talk about this sometimes about the, the dollar of this.
You said this is a $14 stick. Yeah. So that's where, you know, some of these cigars that they, I know where you're going with this. They price at that, at that point it's like, you know, I don't want to judge it on the, the dollar value. And I didn't, I, I judge it on, on how, you know, the smoke that I'm having tonight with you guys.
I, I don't think I would ever buy this cigar again for 14 bucks. So he,
**Senator:** here's, and I, I think we should all go around why we gave the ratings now that we've given them. But the reason I gave this a six, when it started, I thought I would give this a seven because it started smooth. There was a nice sweetness to it.[00:49:00]
The second half of this cigar for me picked up a little too aggressively in. There's no complexity to this cigar. To me it, it's very OneNote, and in the second half I'm not even able to pull out those notes like I could in the first half. So I just feel like the second half is too muddled and too strong for my liking to give this anything higher than a six.
**Gizmo:** I, I think it's a seven. To me. The first third was very, you know, was very good. And I think the last third here, I'm enjoying the middle, the middle third to me was not great, but I, you know, I'm, I'm sticky by my seven for sure. I think that this is, uh, I definitely think this is a seven. However, again, at that price point, I wouldn't
**Rooster:** buy it.
Yeah, I think, I wish we had not known the price. because
**Gizmo:** I didn't judge it on that. You
**Rooster:** just kind of start comparing with like other 14 hour sticks and you're like, wait a minute, I could have the Padrone [00:50:00] exclusive for the same price.
**Gizmo:** Right. And that's, that, that was no brainer. That was like a 10. Yeah. You know, so,
**Senator:** uh mm-hmm.
Damn. You said you gave it a seven Y
**Grinder:** seven. Yeah. I
**Bam Bam:** didn't, I I fought, I piggybacked be between, uh, behind all of you. Regarding the first third is delicious. I thought smooth. The middle did get flat, but I'm enjoying the mineral quality of the last third. I, I happen to like that from time to time tonight. I like it.
**Gizmo:** Grant,
**Rooster:** if you have a box baled by them off , I don't, I
**Grinder:** don't have a box. Five
**Bam Bam:** 20 bucks is $5
**Grinder:** a stick, so I, I gave it a six because it's a good smoke. It's, the construction is great. It's well. , um, smoke output is phenomenal. The, um, you gave it a five? No, I gave, I, I said five or six. I'll give it a six. The, um, for me it's just the flavor profile.
It's not something that I'm, it's, it doesn't. [00:51:00] It doesn't it, it's not something I enjoy that much. It's good. It's not great. Do we, uh, seven. Do we have a score? We
**Senator:** do have
**Rooster:** a score, so 3 3 6 s and two sevens. So
**Senator:** the composite lizard score is a
**Grinder:** 6.4. Hmm. Okay. I think that's a fair score for this student. Yeah, I think that's, yeah.
All right. Let's do brand.
**Bam Bam:** Rooster.
**Gizmo:** I don't know. . I'm like all over the place with this. I hope it's a rocky, aren't we all? I hope it's a Rocky Patel. I swear. I hope no idea. I just wanna see his face. When you say Rocky Patel, I'm leaving. I gotta leave her.
**Rooster:** Rocky Patel's coming over my house. ? Yeah,
**Grinder:** it's gonna hunt you down like you hunt those cigars.
**Rooster:** An Indian tobacco.
**Gizmo:** So what do you think it is? What's your guess?
**Rooster:** I have no idea. If I had a guess, I don't know. I said it could be a foundation brand. Okay. I mean, I have no idea which stick out a foundation. I don't know that whole, uh, market really well.
So I'll just say it's, maybe [00:52:00] it's a foundation.
**Gizmo:** I'm gonna stick by my guns and say, Tai,
**Senator:** I'm in the same camp Gizmo. I, I would say
**Grinder:** Tae left
**Bam Bam:** do.
**Grinder:** Ooh. . So do you wanna
**Gizmo:** know? No. Did did any of us get it right? Well, grinder, why
**Rooster:** don't you guess? . .
**Grinder:** No one got it. Right. Oh man. Wow. But someone almost got it right? Just gimme the fuss letter of the murder.
Someone, someone almost got it right. First letter. They called it out on the first draw. It is an avo. Wow. Senator. Whoa, Senator with the, with the AVO at the first Draw. Avo. This, I
**Gizmo:** was close. You were
**Grinder:** close. I was. So this is a recent release, AVO Synchro, CBE Toro. Wow. And six by 52 Toro. Um, wow. Dominican Havana rapper.
Well done Senator. Um, Colorado Maduro is the color, so it's kind of darker, right. But it is that Colorado [00:53:00] rapper. Um, and it is had that me. , you know, age and you, you guys weren't far from Maduro, right? Um, binder and filler, Ecuador, Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Um, obviously if it's a nav, it's got great construction because it's made by Davidoff.
Right? So you got that perfect construction basically. Um, yeah. And it's, it's got to me, it's got, it's got pretty. There's a hint of the DR. Flavor profile, but it's not, it's very different for me. And I think that's because of the, the balance of Ecuadorian and some, some Nicaraguan in there, that that kind of elevates it to a different, you know, flavor profile.
Um, but yeah, I mean, it's, it's not bad. It's okay. You're
**Bam Bam:** disqualified for bringing in a recent release that we wouldn't know
**Grinder:** came out
**Gizmo:** in August. I'll be honest, I'm very. . I'm very surprised It's a Avo. Avo.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. It doesn't look like any other Avo.
**Grinder:** I'll tell
**Senator:** you though, honestly, I think you guys haven't seen enough of their line.
Just baby, you're right now. I mean, that lounge that we used to be members of, they saw [00:54:00] a lot of Davidoff, AVO, Camacho, cuz it's all owned by Davidoff. And I've just always been surprised at how many Cigars AVO makes. I would just always see New limited, this new limited that, none of which I, I've tried that has been particularly good.
I think I've tried two abo. One that was recommended by this tobacconist that we'll put in air quotes, uh, for, for listeners that I thought was terrible. And, um, another AVO that Grindr had given me once, uh, that wasn't bad. Just not my ideal flavor profile. So that, that's kind of where I think some of this,
**Rooster:** and I think if you, you know, become a Davidoff dealer, they make you buy the whole line.
You have to carry Camacho, you have to carry. You know, and, and the entire
**Gizmo:** Davidoff line, you know what I wonder with, uh, far Ortego coming out soon. That's obviously, so, so that's obviously a, a Davidoff distributed brand. I wonder if that's gonna fall into the same category for these two words.
**Rooster:** Well, it's distributed by them.
It's not really their brand. So, so you just
**Grinder:** [00:55:00] sent me a, a different price point on this. I did, yeah. So it's not a $14. . I looked at a different site then, because I got this as, as a five pack with a, a box of domains. , you called it Fucking senator. Call it again. Um, from
**Gizmo:** Atlantic. Okay. So I, the price I found when I just Googled this as we're wrapping up here, is closer to 10 bucks online.
10 70, yeah. 10 70. So you're gonna pay between, you know, with tax, you're gonna pay between that 10 and, well, that's from
**Rooster:** that place. Or you paid, you paid more. I didn't
**Grinder:** pay. . It was a, it was a, it was a, it was a gift, yeah.
**Gizmo:** Got it. Nice. Well, I will say the one thing, I mean, we've talked about that Millennium Toro before and the burn on that and the construction.
This, I think for a Toro from Davidoff in an novel wine, this burns way better than that Millennium Toro. I agree. I
**Senator:** mean, if there's one thing, I think every one of us agreed on the construction. Was very good. Yes, the combustion [00:56:00] was great. Yes, the burn was razor sharp, white ash for me, just the flavor wa was the issue.
But it's a well-made cigar. It is.
**Gizmo:** Bams already into our second stick. We haven't even ended the pod yet. . Oh, . Jesus. Ghost like a true lizard. .
**Rooster:** It's already moved on to the
**Grinder:** I have, so, so a couple reasons why I wanted to do this is because one, you. Like I said before, at the onset, you shit on some of the cigars I, I come to the lounge with and I wanted to see, what are you talking about?
I wanted to see to, to, you know, perfect example was Gizz being like, I'm glad I didn't see, you know, I think that speaks volumes to how you perceive cigars having the band on it. Totally. It, it immediately colors your perspective in a way,
**Gizmo:** so,
**Rooster:** yeah. But I have a, yeah, I'll make a point. Even if the band was on it, we would've still given it the same.
Would you? Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I think I'll say this, I think because it's Avo I agree, but I think some other brands, [00:57:00] I don't know. I don't know. I, I think my, my eye bias would have given it a lower score if it was a brand that I inherit. Well, we waited the stick fairly. We smoked it. We did, yeah. I mean, in
**Senator:** fairness, I don't think any of us smoke AVOs really.
Except, except grinders. I've had, I've been biased against it. I still probably would've given it a six. . I would've definitely started this with a very negative impression because I'm just not an AVO fan, right? So I am glad we did this. Blinded. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** All boys. A 6.4 for the blind test. Avo, synchro, cba, I guess it's called the Kabe.
Kabe. So what, what does that mean for the listener? This, I would call that, I would call that a soft recommend. It's kind of on the border recommending pass
**Grinder:** to me to a lizard. I wouldn't recommend it to, to your guest that you come
**Senator:** by. Yeah, sure. That's what I was gonna say. I, I think it's a soft recommend for the guest
**Gizmo:** humidor.
Yeah, exactly. Belongs in
**Rooster:** the guest humidor. Yes.
**Gizmo:** Not in the lizard Pass. Theor guest. The, the
**Grinder:** guest shelf. [00:58:00] The
**Gizmo:** loosies. Absolutely. Yeah.
**Rooster:** There's no guest shelf. That's a guest humidor.
**Gizmo:** My new
**Bam Bam:** rating is a five, by the way. I'm down at five.
**Grinder:** I don't have any guests at ours.
**Gizmo:** All right boys. We'll see you next week.
Thanks so much for joining us tonight. Hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us Lounge Lizards Pod, p o d. That's a lounge, lizards pod gmail.com.
You can also find us on Instagram at Lounge Lizards Pod. We really appreciate your time and we'll, uh, we'll see you next week.