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Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features 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 presented by Fabrica 5. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars. As well as whiskey travel food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo. Tonight I'm joined by Rooster, Chef Ricky, Grinder, and Bam Bam.
And our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some tequila, talk about life, and of course, have some laughs. So take this as your 159th official invitation to join us. And become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plan to meet us here once a week. We're gonna smoke a Cuban cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating.
We debate cigar lounge etiquette, we discuss Cuba's continued challenges with power and weather, and a sommelier writes in to take us to task on additive free spirits, all among a variety of other things for the next 90 minutes. So sit back, get your favorite drink, and enjoy. Light up a cigar and enjoy as we pair El Tequileño Platinum Tequila Blanco with San Cristóbal de la Habana Edición Regional Portugal Saudade.
A regional edition from Cuba [00:01:00] tonight on The Pod. It's the San Cristóbal de la Habana. So Dade, Edicion Regional from Portugal, and it's an Edmundo boys, a 52 ring gauge cigar by five and three eighths inches long. And we are back to San Cristobal regionals. Dum da dum dum. So we'll talk about this, but this was not the cigar we were planning to do tonight, boys.
And your friend Gizmo over here, uh, had a little oopsie earlier today. So we'll talk about what happened there. But thankfully we had these in the. Tower, ready to go. Courtesy of a listener, Lizard Pablo.
**Bam Bam:** Pablo.
**Gizmo:** Sent us these quite a, quite a, quite a while ago, but I didn't slot them in because we had done the Hiram
**Bam Bam:** Amalaya.
**Gizmo:** So I was going to punt these to first quarter next year, and uh, here we are now.
**Bam Bam:** How long have you had this in your tower?
**Gizmo:** These have probably been in my tower about eight months.
**Bam Bam:** They feel perfect. Yeah. Ready to smoke.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, I hope so.
**Bam Bam:** And the wrapper, to me, it's gorgeous. Yeah. It's got that light brown marbling of some dark browns and there's a little glistening [00:02:00] to it.
**Chef Ricky:** That's a
**Bam Bam:** very beautiful description. It's beautifully made. Yeah. I'm hopeful.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys, let's cut this thing. See, we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper.
**Bam Bam:** And I have a dimple. Nice.
**Rooster:** Always a good sign.
**Gizmo:** My draw is perfect.
**Grinder:** Mine's a little tight. Mine's tight. And I took off like a piece of the wrapper.
I'm a little tight as
**Bam Bam:** well. You're tight as well? Yeah. You may want to take a bit of the cap off. A bit more. I definitely. Oh, you guys took off.
**Gizmo:** I took off a good amount. Generous. You might have to perfect draw him. Yeah. So while he's perfect drawing, Bam, let's talk about flavor notes here. Yeah. I'm getting a lot of cedar.
**Bam Bam:** Don't laugh, but I'm getting a, like this very faint banana pudding type thing in the back.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. It's it. There's something. The vanilla wafer. The vanilla wafer. Yes. Yes,
**Bam Bam:** but soaked in like a cream or something. Yeah,
**Chef Ricky:** I'm getting like a little vanilla wafer.
**Bam Bam:** Something like that. It's very pleasant. This is light though.
**Grinder:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** So Grindr, you did a little surgery. [00:03:00] Didn't go too well. I just
**Grinder:** got.
**Gizmo:** He's got tobacco. Tobacco
**Grinder:** in my mouth. In the mouth, on the hands. I'm struggling right now. It's the first, it's the first time back in about a month. Welcome back. I need a warmup period. I need to go to the range and pop off a few wedges.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys. Let's light this thing. The San Cristobal de la Habana. So Dowdy, the edition regional for Portugal released in 2021 announced in 2020. Released in 2021, and again it's an Edmundo in size, a 52 ring gauge cigar by 5 and 3 eighths inches long.
**Grinder:** Very good off the first light.
**Bam Bam:** I'm glad you've salvaged the experience.
**Grinder:** I mean it's, it's got some pretty, uh, tumultuous fissures at the end here. This is delicious. Nice on the white. Mm hmm. Honestly.
**Bam Bam:** Different than I expected. [00:04:00] Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's a sweetness that's very, very forward on this thing.
**Chef Ricky:** Wow. And creamy. Right? It's also very, uh, floral, perfumey. Yeah. There's
**Bam Bam:** a lot
**Chef Ricky:** of
**Bam Bam:** No dry fruit that, well No, no. Not much. Maybe like an apricot way in the back, but no dry fruit. I'm sure some of the listeners are happy about that.
**Gizmo:** So this cigar is the sister actually to the Hiram al Malaya, both edition regional cigars released in 2020 from San Cristobal.
As we know, they use San Cristobal a lot to do regional editions. This is the fourth San Cristobal de la Habana cigar from Cuba we're doing on the pod tonight. The other three, of course, the La Punta, the Hiram al Malaya we just talked about, and the little one, the El Principe, which performed very well.
Very well. Quite a little while ago. So we'll go through all those ratings, uh, later in the program.
**Rooster:** It's very good.
**Bam Bam:** I'm kind of speed. I hope this experience that we're having right now [00:05:00] lasts and continues right to the end. This is exquisite.
**Gizmo:** This is really nice. And already on the light is miles ahead of the other regional, the Hiramamalaya that we did.
**Rooster:** It's one of the better regionals that I've had, that I've ever had that very long time. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** What's, what year is the, are these, so these are 20, 21, late 2021 came out of, uh, LA Corona. Do they have a code? I think it's BRM.
**Bam Bam:** Okay. And the cost,
**Gizmo:** so the MSRP on these cigars when they were orig, uh, originally released.
It was 22 a cigar. I looked knowing this question was coming. I looked at Bon Roberts and the latest box of 10 that was sold on September 1st of this year, 2024, the cigar was 48 a piece. So they've more than doubled on the secondary market on Bon Roberts. And then of course you have the. The buyer's premium as well, 15%.
So that's, uh, you know, you're probably closer to mid fifties per cigar on Bob Roberts for these. So, but in other markets, though, [00:06:00]
**Bam Bam:** in other markets, it's mid forties
**Gizmo:** if you
**Bam Bam:** can find them.
**Gizmo:** Wow. Originally 22 bucks. Wow. So this cigar, like I said, released late 2021 announced in 2020. They come in varnished slide lid boxes of 10 cigars, and there were 8, 000 produced.
So if we look at the cigar boys, we have the classic San Cristobal de la Habana band on it, brown, yellow, and gold. And then underneath that, we have a modified regional edition band, which of course says Exclusivo Portugal, and they have the 60th. anniversary celebration of Empor S. A., which is the Portugal distributor for Habanos S.
A. So they're celebrating the 60th anniversary of that company. So the word saudade is used in Portuguese to express feelings of melancholy, loss, or nostalgia. So it's not a festive smoking sentiment, as Cigar Aficionado says here. But [00:07:00] it's a reflection of Portugal and its cultural identity. According to Empor, the company that we're talking about, the distributor for Habanos, Saudade is quote, one of the most used words in poetry and romantic music in the Portuguese language.
**Bam Bam:** Chef, is he pronouncing that correctly? That's Portuguese. Do you speak Portuguese?
**Chef Ricky:** I don't. It is very close to Spanish, but yeah. No, no, no.
**Bam Bam:** No Portuguese over there? Yeah. No. I love the cheese bread. Hey, Amsterdam. I think it's called like There's a ship from Portuguese in the ports. I need you to go and rob it.
They know Dale Lewis, man.
**Gizmo:** This is a really good, uh, On the light here. I'm honestly surprised. What, uh, what aroma are you getting on the pho? It's very, it's like potpourri. It's very floral to me. Yeah, truly. Not a lot of spice, but it has like a, it's making my nostrils flare.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** [00:08:00] You know.
**Bam Bam:** But the typical draw on the retrohale, both are just exquisite.
They're delicious. I am really blown away right now. It's for me right now, kind of reminiscent of the turquoise early on too. In the smoking experience. Interesting. A
**Gizmo:** little bit. I feel like this might be closer to medium. The Turo. I feel like the Turo was a little bit more mild than this.
**Rooster:** Yeah. Yeah. I, I would agree.
I think this has a little bit more flavor. Well, the flavor type
**Bam Bam:** for me is, is reminiscent
**Rooster:** and more body than the Turo.
**Grinder:** Yeah. There's like a, there's still spice too. There's like sweet and spice. Is
**Rooster:** there like a baking spice? Mmm.
**Gizmo:** It's not like a pepper thing for me. Maybe a white pepper, if it's pepper, like a touch.
I'm not getting But I'm really not getting A touch of pepper. I'm not getting A lot of pepper.
**Grinder:** I don't I wouldn't say peppery. No.
**Bam Bam:** For me, I'm still getting that vanilla wafer banana pudding type thing in the back and the front. It's a very faint cocoa. Very, very faint, [00:09:00] but extremely pleasant. See it's No pepper at all.
**Chef Ricky:** I've been super quiet because this is very unlike anything I've had before. on this part with you guys. It's it's quite
**Bam Bam:** complex, right? Yeah.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. And so it's very cedar forward. I'm not getting as much sweet of another way for, see, I'm not getting cedar as I was on the cold draw. Um, but now it feels like, you know, there's, there is a, I see what you're seeing above.
You know, the, the pepper and it's, it's not as pungent or a straight forward as a black pepper. I don't want to get into what kind of pepper it could be. Cause some people are just going to be like, but yeah, it's, I don't, there's, there's definitely a. You know, green peppercorn kind of espalette thing happening here, um, and, and very floral in, in a perfumey way for me, even on my palate, you know, it's, it's very interesting.
**Grinder:** The aroma is fantastic. I think the, the spice that I'd get is, [00:10:00] is less pepper and more like, as, as Rooster mentioned, more like a baking spice. It's like a, it's like a, A bittersweet,
**Rooster:** it's like a nutmeggy.
**Grinder:** Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's there.
**Rooster:** You know, nutmeg can be, it can be sweet and peppery.
**Gizmo:** This is a real surprise right now.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. I'm wondering honestly, maybe because I took too much of my cap off, I'm getting a lot more flavor from the coming through just from the leaves of cells. You may be getting more of a
**Bam Bam:** burst of smoke.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Is your draw like a wind tunnel, or is it, is there still a little resistance? It's still pretty resistant.
Oh, that's interesting. But then you're okay then.
**Chef Ricky:** But I think I'm getting a lot of flavor from the leaves that I've exposed here, rather than going a little bit shorter on the cap there.
**Gizmo:** I gotta say, the smoke output is also very nice. Mm hmm. You know, sometimes you get these cigars out of Habanos, especially the smaller ones, like a Robusto like this.
Mm hmm. And It doesn't put out [00:11:00] a ton of smoke, where this is, I feel like I'm kind of like a chimney right now.
**Grinder:** Yeah, this is smoking fast though. Like this is, we're going to burn through this. Yeah, we have to pierce ourselves for sure.
**Gizmo:** So in line with the name of the cigar, Saudade, and its importance in the Portuguese language and their music, it's, you know, not a festive smoking sentiment, reflection of Portugal, it's cultural identity, melancholy, loss or nostalgia.
We have to mention a friend of ours from Portugal. Lining, aligning with us smoking this cigar tonight, Steffen Heim, who unfortunately lost his life in a tragic accident a few months ago.
**Bam Bam:** Right.
**Gizmo:** And Bam and I met Steffen in Havana on one of our first trips there.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** And this guy was Mr. Havana.
**Bam Bam:** It was our very first trip that we met.
It was. He and his beautiful wife, Aura. Yeah, they're a great couple. Honestly, I had the pleasure, I met them three times, [00:12:00] my entire, all, all of my trips to Cuba. And they were sophisticated, intelligent, fun to talk to, not highbrow. You know, they have, their cigar knowledge was off the charts, their collections were off the charts, and they love to sit down and talk about cigars and the cigar industry and what was happening in Cuba.
And they were so knowledgeable and it was, uh, it's a
**Gizmo:** tremendous loss. It is. It's a huge loss for the community. Yeah. I actually saw on Reddit on the Cuban cigars subreddit that someone actually posted rest in peace. Uh, Stefan Hein. I saw that. Yeah. Pretty amazing. I was surprised to see that. I was too. And it's just.
It shows you how, how small the community is, but also how much of an impact he had on this community. You know, Stefan was at all the events in Havana for many, many years with aura and
**Bam Bam:** they were a staple. They were a
**Gizmo:** staple. They were everywhere. Every, every year, uh, aura would throw a birthday party for Stefan in Havana.
It was always a big to do during a [00:13:00] festival time. And, uh, it was just, you know, it's, it's a really, really huge loss for the community for us personally, because we do know them and we knew Stefan. And, uh, we really wish Aura the best. It was shocking
**Bam Bam:** to hear. Yeah. That day, what What took place and it's um, I was speechless.
I didn't know what to say. I sent her a quick note with my condolences. Same here. We're chatting amongst us. It was shocking. Yeah. Shocking.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, it's a huge loss for the community. You know, Stefan was cool. It was cool. He used to take old Safes. Safes, like bank safes. Correct. And he would turn them into high end humidors.
**Bam Bam:** They were works of art, actually, when he finished. Absolutely. Yeah, each was a unique, unique piece. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** and he, you know, he was very important to the community in Portugal, the cigar community. He was a former dentist, I think.
**Bam Bam:** That's right.
**Gizmo:** Retired dentist. That's
**Bam Bam:** right.
**Gizmo:** And, uh, yeah, so we wanted to mention that.
And like I said, very coincidental that we're doing this cigar, the Portugal, Portuguese regional tonight. Very appropriate. Because this wasn't in the plans. Uh, for tonight and here we are. [00:14:00] So definitely wanted to mention, uh, the loss.
**Rooster:** Can you imagine the collection?
**Gizmo:** No,
**Rooster:** but he had, I can't imagine.
**Gizmo:** We saw pictures of it.
Yeah. I mean,
**Rooster:** every time I would see a post, you would literally see, I mean, boxes
**Bam Bam:** pre embargo Davidoff's
**Rooster:** he had every, I mean, everything that you could imagine. Yeah. Yeah. Everything you could imagine. Amazing.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. He had one of the most impressive collections I've ever seen. Yeah. So, terrible loss, all our best to his family, and uh, he was a real brother of the leaf.
Correct. God bless Aura. Perfect use of that term is to describe Stefan, so we will miss him.
**Rooster:** Stefan and Aura, they were not married, I believe, right? I think
**Gizmo:** they were just long term, in
**Rooster:** a long term, you know, long term relationship. Well traveled, and they would go even to the festival in Italy. Um, they had a part related to Hibana.
Yeah. They have a
**Gizmo:** part of his festival in Italy. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Didn't Lizard Bruce and Lizard Phil?
**Gizmo:** Yes. Both went.
**Bam Bam:** They both went. They saw, that was the last time they saw Stefan. Yeah. [00:15:00]
**Gizmo:** All our best to, uh, Ora and his family. And, uh, of course his friends out there. There were many. So boys, as we're talking here, I've, I've hit the cigar a few times.
I've, I've drawn on it. And, uh, it's really, Delicious. It's, it's requiring no maintenance
**Bam Bam:** at all.
**Rooster:** Yeah. The construction is impeccable. It's
**Bam Bam:** impeccable. Look at the, the burn line is razor sharp. Even grinder's burn is improving dramatically. It's getting better. This is, this is quite the cigar.
**Rooster:** Did the, uh, did the poker, did that help?
Oh yeah.
**Grinder:** Yeah. It worked wonderfully. Thanks, Pam. Yeah. The, um, the gorilla hands didn't help though. No. I tore that
**Bam Bam:** thing
**Grinder:** apart. Bam overdid
**Gizmo:** it a little bit.
**Grinder:** For the listener, you have to see Bam's hands. They're like, you have the hands of a 350 pound linebacker. Get out of here. I'm not kidding. You have like humongous
**Bam Bam:** hands.
Gizmo and I have the same hands. It's true. No way. Yes. Same size [00:16:00] hands. We've done it. Really? We've done it.
**Grinder:** Yours are just more robust than. You know
**Chef Ricky:** what that means. You got a lot more vascularity on your hands. Your fingers are. I use them a lot. He's a builder. Correct. Oh, boy.
**Gizmo:** So, boys, I want to jump into our pairing tonight.
We are very lucky to have, uh, both entries in our pairing, uh, were sent in by listeners. As we know, the cigar was sent in by Lizard Pablo. And a, we've received another gift from our friend, Lizard Mike. Lizard Mike. Who, if you remember. Coming through. The lizard friend of ours who sent in the Tequila Uno.
Dose trace, which excuse me, the UNO and the trace, not the dose, the UNO and the trace, the Blanco and the Añejo home run. And we love them.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** And we love them so much. And he sent another tequila for us. This is El Tequileño. Is that correct?
**Chef Ricky:** El Tequileño.
**Gizmo:** El Tequileño. [00:17:00] I'll work on it.
**Bam Bam:** You did it.
**Gizmo:** And he sent a note with it.
And he said, Gizmo, another Highland Blanco for you guys. That's at the top of my rotation. I put it toe to toe with the UNO and he added a bonus for his boys. He also sent us some Topo Chico mineral water, which we all have. And he did that to meet the, satisfy the delivery minimums for total wine.
**Chef Ricky:** Love it.
**Gizmo:** So we've got some, I thought that was for me. Okay. It is correct. You have one. You don't have any tequila, but you have this.
**Rooster:** Yeah. Like, you know, I don't drink tequila. So he sent the Topo Chico.
**Gizmo:** So the Topo Chico, I'm doing a little palate cleanse. And now I'm going to try.
**Rooster:** Let's do
**Gizmo:** that. The tequila. So we have the El Tequilenio Platinum Tequila Blanco tonight.
**Chef Ricky:** Yep. So it it's really important here. So this is this is a Blanco, but. El Tequileño specifies, or names it, uh, the Platinum or Platino. And the reason they do that is because their Blanco [00:18:00] Tequila is actually a Mixto Tequila. So some of you guys may remember me bringing it up, uh, prior, but, uh, that's usually, uh, a tequila, uh, That, you know, like a Corvo Gold, right?
That we all associate all these like sort of negative experiences with because there's so much additives. So by CRT regulation, you need to have 51 percent agave, uh, sugars in your mixto. Uh, El Tequileño, their, their sort of namesake, the Blanco, not this one, but this is a step up, the Blanco was actually 71 percent agave sugars.
And then they use cane sugar and biloncillo. to give it some depth. So I bring all this up because my kids told me we had this bottle today. I know it's a good tequila, but I totally forgot about my history with it. One of my first trips to Mexico going to La Capilla, which at the time was the oldest bar in, in the town of tequila.
And I know the owner passed away in 2020. So I'm not sure if it's still open or not. But there was a [00:19:00] cocktail there called La Batanga and it was Mexican Coke with four ounces of that mixto tequila, pinch of salt, salt on the rim. And he'd stir it with a butter knife, um, or the knife he used to cut the limes.
And it was delicious stuff. But at the time I remember being in tequila and thinking, man, like everybody's, you know, telling us how agave. And here, one of the best cocktails I have in one of the, in the oldest bar in Mexico is made with a mixto tequila. But. Now, I learned that, yes, it's a mixto tequila, but it's not just any mixto tequila.
They really go out of their way to make a quality mixto product and that Blanco is 22. This Platino is not that, it's, this is more in the 40, 50 range, but it takes, you know, It is a hundred percent agave. They do rest this in oak barrels for about a minimum of 14 days. So that's why it's really creamy, rich.
There's a butteriness to this. Yeah. [00:20:00] Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** And a slight minerality. Yep. And it's very botanical. Mm hmm. But there's also, it's kind of like there's a, there's a over arching like sweetness to it, which wraps it all together. It's really, yeah. And a little delicious experience.
**Chef Ricky:** A little touch of citrus. I was, that's why it was the butteriness and the richness and the minerality that I was super excited to have it with the cigar.
Uh, and I tell you, it's almost like he knew what we were going to smoke. I mean, I think
**Bam Bam:** the pairing is outstanding because that's
**Chef Ricky:** sweetness that I'm getting in a tequila works beautifully
**Bam Bam:** with the cigar. Outstanding.
**Chef Ricky:** So these guys have been making tequila since 1959. It's now third generation. Um, and this brand in particular, it's kind of like one of the big.
You know, they call it the hidden secrets and one of the hidden secrets of Mexico. Uh, cause there locally, it was, it's been big. And now here, I think in 2018, Paradise Spirits or 2013 bought them out. So they've been able to expand their operations and, and grow, uh, the business and almost triple production of what they used to do.
So [00:21:00] I think now we're seeing a lot more of it here in the States. And it wasn't until. Maybe this year, uh, that I started seeing it again and it completely, you know, just kind of, uh, escaped my mind that I had this in Mexico. It was that mixto tequila, uh, brought back some fun.
**Bam Bam:** So I've seen this in Bottle King.
It's all around us. We can get it anytime, anywhere. I will be chasing this bottle.
**Gizmo:** And Lizard Edov, who we talk about a lot in the podcast.
**Chef Ricky:** Just make sure it's the Platinum and not the Blanco. Platinum, okay. Yeah, it's not, because the Blanco is the Mixto, which again isn't a bad tequila, but you know, this is not that.
But this is special stuff. Lizard
**Bam Bam:** Ediath's got a bottle that he kind of walks around with. Yeah, it's like a nursing bottle. That's
**Gizmo:** where I first heard of it. And obviously, Lizard Mike's on the opposite coast. He's in California. And he sent this on a whim, you know, with how much we love the tequila uno.
**Bam Bam:** Did Lizard EDF pay under 20 for that bottle? I think it's so inexpensive. The [00:22:00] Blanco. Yeah. The Blanco is 22. The Blanco, correct. The Blanco
**Chef Ricky:** is 22.
**Bam Bam:** So this is the first time I've tried this, this maker through his, you know, through his bottle sitting at the lounge. It is really quite good for the price. It's surprising.
It's insane.
**Chef Ricky:** And I think that's why they do it. You know, it kept it accessible, um, in, in the time of Tequila in Mexico over all these years. And it's just kind of interesting because the, I think Mixto as a category has been so, uh, spoken about negatively because of those cuervos, the cuervos of the world, uh, that these, you know, Unless you had this prior in Mexico, or you know anything about their history, you don't realize there's someone actually that goes out of their way to make a quality mixto.
And they're also making quality, a hundred percent agave distillates. Yeah. So.
**Bam Bam:** Impressive. It's good stuff.
**Gizmo:** And this tequila with this cigar. is perfect. Yeah. They're a perfect match for
**Bam Bam:** me. It's that sweetness pairing that works beautifully to [00:23:00] kind of work off of each other a bit.
**Rooster:** What's, what's the Mexican Coke.
How is it different? I
**Grinder:** think it's made with, it's made with corn sugar. Yeah. As opposed to 100 percent cane sugar as opposed to high fructose corn chip.
**Rooster:** Yeah. I heard, I mean, I might be wrong, but that's the original recipe of Coke is what Mexican Coke is now.
**Chef Ricky:** No, I think the original recipe had a few other.
differences. Um, but Mexican sodas in general are all made with 100 percent cane sugar. Like all the Jarritos, um, a lot of the Mexican Fanas, Mexican Sprite, Mexican Coke, they're all made with 100 percent sugar. I mean, you're practically the mayor of Cancun.
**Bam Bam:** How have you not had that? Hey, man,
**Rooster:** I made too much sugar.
It's a lot of sugar. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** You haven't had Coke in, uh, in Mexico. I haven't
**Rooster:** had a
**Bam Bam:** lot of Coke.
**Rooster:** We got an eight ball in the park.[00:24:00]
You're crazy. But the Haritos, Haritos sangria is my favorite. So I love that.
**Gizmo:** So boys, as I mentioned, This cigar was a total accident today. So for a keen listener who listens to our podcast a lot would hear on the intro when I do the, Hey, lizards, gizmo here thing that, uh, I mentioned the Monte Cristo open master,
**Bam Bam:** correct?
**Gizmo:** Which was a cigar that we were planning to do tonight. It's fraud you're committing.
And then about three hours before we were supposed to record, I realized I didn't have them in my tower. Pagoda has, has them. He's got them
**Bam Bam:** hostage. And he's not coming
**Gizmo:** tonight.
**Bam Bam:** Right, right.
**Gizmo:** So then we pivoted to this cigar, which uh, thankfully Lizard Pablo sent in and we had in the tower. And it worked out obviously we, because we're talking about Stefan.
But I got to tell you,
**Bam Bam:** This is better than that cigar. I think so. I've had that Open Eagle many times. This is, this is, I'm sorry. Yeah. [00:25:00] Hands down. This is, this is much better.
**Gizmo:** Which is good, especially given the price point.
**Bam Bam:** Oh yeah.
**Gizmo:** So I'm, you know, that's probably the first time I've ever done that, you know, and how 159 episodes and I have to tell you, I have had
**Chef Ricky:** Second time.
**Gizmo:** Second time?
**Chef Ricky:** Second time. I don't remember. We did The Little Hammer. That was on the fly episode. Oh, that's right. That's right. I left the cigars at home. That was also a banger. You're being watched. You're two for two, man. Okay. You're two for
**Bam Bam:** two. Well, we know you have such high integrity. These things bother you.
We know that.
**Gizmo:** Let me tell you. I have had, and I know you guys know. You're hitting 100, man. I am. I am. Both of the, both of the mistake. Cigars have, have worked out, but, uh, I had a hell of a last few days that has caused my brain to be complete mush. I went into my, uh, laundry room on Sunday night a couple days ago, and I noticed a, a drip, uh, above my
**Bam Bam:** yeah.
**Gizmo:** Washing machine, and I was very confused as to what it was, and I called the plumber out. He came the next day and the plumber started looking around. He said, I'm not touching this call of remediation [00:26:00] company, right. I'm like, well, that's weird. Like, what do you think it is? He said, it's definitely a pipe leaking from above.
So the remediation company comes out, starts tearing into the wall, and we find that there has been a drain, a drain pipe that, that cracked in my kitchen. And. permeated the floor of the kitchen into the laundry room downstairs into my smoking garage. And after two days, I now have to replace my entire kitchen.
I have to put a full new setup in the laundry room, all the walls. And now I can't smoke in my garage.
**Bam Bam:** Correct. Cause you have a big hole in it. Cause I have a
**Gizmo:** massive hole in the garage. So it went from seeing a couple drops coming off a pipe to I have to put an entire kitchen, can't smoke in my house and the laundry room is complete
**Bam Bam:** disaster.
I heard Mrs. Gizmo is very happy.
**Gizmo:** She's thrilled. You know, I'm devastated that this is happening and she's talking about what kind of vibe the new kitchen is going to be.
**Bam Bam:** I am ashamed or maybe not so ashamed to [00:27:00] admit I've never done laundry. What? Ever? I haven't ever done laundry. You've never done laundry once in your life?
Maybe once.
**Rooster:** So, I know my wife doesn't listen to the pot, so I can say this.
**Bam Bam:** Mrs. Rooster, don't judge me.
**Rooster:** She always tells me, whenever you do the laundry, you mess it up. So don't do laundry. I'm like, correct. Perfect.
**Bam Bam:** I'm out. This is
**Chef Ricky:** great. So, you know what happens with me? I try to help or I think I'm helping.
So I start a load and then I leave the house. Yeah. I mean, I put, I put my wife forgets or maybe I didn't tell her that there's a load of clothes in the laundry and you know, now we got to rewash them because they were sitting in the front loader for a day. I put the
**Rooster:** dark and the light. In the same, you know, I don't think anybody separates anymore.
I don't know. I don't say she gets, she gets so upset. You can't put this together with this. This doesn't go in the dryer. I'm like, honey, I have no idea. [00:28:00] I just throw everything in the dryer. She's like, no, this cannot go in the dryer. I'm like, why? You want it to dry, no? That's how you get
**Gizmo:** out of laundry duty, though.
Just keep messing it up. Exactly! That's my point! Mess it up! I've done all my own laundry since I was about six years old. So
**Bam Bam:** they started tearing it open, and it was in a concentrated area, but over time, did they eventually take more and more away?
**Gizmo:** Well, we thought it was a minor issue, and it kept growing into a bigger, bigger, bigger issue, and what we discovered is the drain pipe that was leaking was behind a wall.
In my kitchen. So I could have never seen it and there wasn't a lot of mold. So I don't think it's been happening for that long, but it's, it's, but the water moves fast
**Rooster:** kitchen sink,
**Gizmo:** kitchen sink drain, and the dishwasher also drains into that. So I'm assuming it's a high pressure, high temperature from that.
**Rooster:** That's the most used sink in the house. Sure.
**Gizmo:** Absolutely. Sure. So it's, uh, created an absolute disaster to the point where, [00:29:00] you know, we were supposed to record on Monday night. We punted to today. We're recording on a Wednesday now. Was it a metal lead pipe? Yes, it was a galvanized pipe. See, I mean, now they don't use that.
Yeah, they use PVC. Those
**Bam Bam:** corrode. The thing of it is they, it could take 30 years for that pipe to corrode. Right. From the inside out. So it's a ticking time bomb.
**Rooster:** Well, a lot of times it's happened to, like, I was telling Giz about this. We had to get the roof drain, like the main drain to be cleared. And we had an old lead pipe and the guy, when he put the snake in, he accidentally punctured the lead pipe, which went into the concrete pipe.
One of the closets in the guest bedroom, nobody goes there. So we didn't even know about it. So every time you would run the sink, the water was seeping in or leaking, you know, from there. Wow. And, uh, it, it took a while to realize that. And, uh, you know, it, uh,
**Bam Bam:** Water. I mean, Homeownership does have its drawbacks.
Yeah. From time to time.
**Gizmo:** [00:30:00] You know, I, I, I try to be like a proactive homeowner. You know, like I put a roof on before I needed to, I put a new air conditioning unit in before I needed to reinforce the deck before I needed to did a new electrical service. So this cat, like being caught off guard by this is something like, There
**Bam Bam:** isn't anything you or anyone else could ever have done about that.
Yeah. Cause you just can't see it until you see it.
**Gizmo:** And of course, now it's terrifying how much this is going to cost and not knowing if the insurance company is going to get involved because I haven't heard from them, so it's just been a mess. But anyway, my point in this whole story is, we were supposed to do a different cigar, I totally spaced on it, and thankfully we have this delicious cigar with us tonight.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, so look, for the listener, if you're going through anything like this, and you have a good homeowners and policy, the thing to do is file a claim. as quickly as possible. Don't wait. Don't hesitate.
**Gizmo:** So I, so I discovered the leak on Sunday night.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Plumber came out Monday afternoon. Okay. Remediation company came Monday evening.
Great. And I called the homeowners while the remediation company insurance. Yeah. I called homeowners insurance. Great. To start [00:31:00] the process, the claim still haven't heard from the adjuster, unfortunately, because they're so backed up. But That's okay. You know, we'll see, uh, we'll see what they cover and what happens.
As long as you have your claim in,
**Rooster:** you're
**Bam Bam:** good.
**Rooster:** Any, any damage that's caused by the result of that will be covered.
**Bam Bam:** Typically, yeah.
**Rooster:** Typically, yeah. It depends on the terms
**Bam Bam:** and conditions of your policy.
**Rooster:** It's typically covered because, you know, I mean, they're not going to cover the actual, you know, hole in the pipe or the plumbing issue.
That's right. But they'll cover any damage caused the vicarious
**Bam Bam:** damage.
**Rooster:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** And you got to catch it fast because what I was told by the remediation company is if there's a ton of mold, that's an indication that it's been happening for too long and they could kind of look at that as negligence or a lack of maintenance or keeping your eye on the ball.
So thankfully there was just a lot of moisture. There wasn't a lot of mold. There was maybe a. Two square feet or three square feet of mold total. Yeah, you did the right thing. So I should be okay.
**Bam Bam:** You're, you're right on top of it.
**Gizmo:** So anyway, I won't be smoking at home for a while, boys. No. Might have to get one of those outdoor tents with a little heater.
Put it in the [00:32:00] backyard. You'll be
**Bam Bam:** doing your pod edits right here at the club. I will. Am I right? I will.
**Gizmo:** So boys, we're coming to the end of the first third here on the San Cristobal de la Habana Cidade, Edición Regional Portugal. What's everybody thinking?
**Grinder:** This is a fantastic cigar. It, it tastes very Cuban esque.
I don't know how to, it's, it's, it's like a very flowery floral. Do you think it tastes like a QD
**Rooster:** a little bit?
**Bam Bam:** There's a little bit of that.
**Rooster:** Like a QD DNA? A little bit, yeah.
**Grinder:** Right? I think it's a little more, I think it's a little more flavorful. Yeah.
**Rooster:** Yeah. Did you try the QD, the 52 that we did? It was
**Grinder:** fantastic.
Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. It's a great cigar. I think I gave it a 10. Actually, Senator just ordered a box of those and they came in and they looked beautiful. From iHavana. Perfect. Great.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Beautiful box. This experience right now, you know, I don't remember such a delicious Cuban cigar on this podcast. It's really, it's, it's, it's high praise, but this is, it's, This is something else right now.
**Rooster:** This [00:33:00] should be a regular production. Oh,
**Bam Bam:** absolutely.
**Chef Ricky:** The flavor is super intense. And now coming into the second third, I'm getting really bright pops of apricot. That was there earlier for me. And it's continues to be getting it. Um, you know, the, the heavy cedar sort of floral has now gone to the background and I'm getting really bright pops of apricot, which with a sip of this tequila.
**Bam Bam:** You know, as I think about this and the cost for this thing, it's that, that's, that's really a huge disappointment.
**Gizmo:** The MSRP at 22 sounds brilliant. Why don't we just assume that's what it is? Let's rate it based on the MSRP. Let's do that. Yeah. Can we do that? I mean, at close to 50 for a Robusto of this size, I mean, even at how delicious this is, I mean, it does put it to the, you know, put you in a position where you're not going to run out and chase.
**Bam Bam:** No.
**Gizmo:** Even trying to find a box of these at that price. No way. I mean, that's what's difficult about it, you know, is it's like, you know, maybe I'd have a box just to keep for a few years and just have one every once in a while, but they come in a
**Bam Bam:** box of 10. They [00:34:00] come in a box. That's 500 bucks plus your shipping and so on.
**Rooster:** Yeah. The second band on this reminds me of that Sir Henry. Yes. Right. The other regional, the other regional Ramon. Yeah. Ramon Iones.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Yeah.
**Rooster:** This is really good so far.
**Bam Bam:** Rooster, what are you calling out here on this thing?
**Gizmo:** Are you still getting the nutmeg thing?
**Rooster:** No, I think it's dissipated.
**Gizmo:** I think it's dissipated too.
You know what I'm getting that I think tying to what you said about it tasting very Cuban esque grinder is I'm getting a little bit of like the twang on the front of my tongue, like a little bit of a salty bite that's happening, which only happens with some Cubans, not all.
**Grinder:** Yeah, that's true. My, I think the floral.
Aroma is, is, is what's hearkening the Cuban esque comment. The apricot, that's an interesting one because when you said it, I, I could taste it, you know?
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, it's definitely
**Grinder:** there.
**Chef Ricky:** And right as, you know, Giz just said, as we're, we're, you know, we're just finishing [00:35:00] up the first third and I take that draw, it was almost like a pop rock, just how intense it was.
It's great. It's great. A lot of flavor here. Very intense. And then the flavor, the tequila, yeah, the tequila for a Blanco. You like, there's no heat on this tequila. What's zero. It is so creamy. It's awesome. Amazing. And it just freaking balances.
**Gizmo:** For how creamy the, the. Tequila is, I love the nose of it. It still has like a very earthy floral thing, but when it hits your palate, yes, it's bright, but when it hits your palate, it's very creamy, rich, smooth.
And like you said, there's absolutely no heat or bite to it at all.
**Bam Bam:** You getting any cocoa on the retrohale on this thing? Very, I get a very faint cocoa at the, toward the end of my retrohale on this thing. Very faint. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A little bit. I could see that. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** You know what's nice too, is the draw and the retrohale, both linger.
Very long.
**Bam Bam:** [00:36:00] Yeah, it's got a nice long finish. This is the kind of cigar that I have a hard time smoking at a slow pace. I just want to go through this because I want that.
**Rooster:** Try a sip of the Topo Chico to cleanse the palate. Yeah, let's do that. That's really
**Gizmo:** good. Yeah, Topo Chico is great. I had this a lot when I was in the Dominican Republic with La Aurora.
**Grinder:** You needed your seltzer, Fitz? Have to. Yeah. And,
**Gizmo:** and they were demanding as we were doing the tasting stuff that I talked about on that episode, the tasting seminar Cigar Institute. We were, they wanted us to be sipping, uh, seltzer, you know, carbonated water and smelling freshly roasted coffee beans to clear the nose.
Oh, wow. So we would clear the palate with this and we'd clear the nose. Nice. Freshly roasted coffee beans. And it, it was a really interesting experience. I
**Bam Bam:** will say that I'm happy that Topo Chico is not cold. I like the room temperature experience. I agree. Right. That's nice.
**Gizmo:** So boys, it's now time to go to some listener email.
We're going to give Lizard Bow. [00:37:00] Lizard of the week. And this is quite an email. So the subject is all lizards, additive free accountability. Hey lizards, you can call me lizard bow. Been listening for a while now and really enjoy your podcast. I would like to bring your attention to a few things about additive free spirits.
Let me just say, this is wild. Let me just begin by saying I have worked as a sommelier. For almost 15 years in three Michelin star restaurants. I did my SOM training at the German wine school in Koblenz, Germany, and have a concentration in beverage from Johnson and Wales University. Holy. Okay. First paragraph.
Uh, legit
**Bam Bam:** legitimacy check.
**Gizmo:** Uh oh. Wow. Here we go. This is a, this might be some lizard chef, Ricky, uh, accountability here tonight, additive free tequilas is a hot and trendy subject right now. There are four additives that are allowed by the CRT, which is the tequila [00:38:00] regulatory council is a Ricky has mentioned a few times to be used in tequila production, glycerin.
Oak extract, caramel coloring, and a sugar based syrup. As long as it's less than 1%, the producer does not have to specify if additives are used above 1%. Of course, they have to state it on the bottle. For the most part, it's usually kept to less than 1%. Nothing on that list of additives stated above seems relatively harmful when compared to a California wine.
In California, there are 12 common additives, and there's a link below that he sent a link to an extensive list of additives that are allowed to be used in California. Thank you. He lists some that I'm not going to read because I can't pronounce them, of course. I also must mention the high levels of arsenic in the Napa Valley and its water soils.
He listed a, he, he linked another Napa County, uh, article on, on its additives.
**Bam Bam:** Where's Senator?
**Gizmo:** As someone who has worked in a few of these wineries, I can tell you firsthand that they all use it. Stag's Leap, Caymus, uh, Papillon, or any Orrin Swift wines for that matter. They all have additives that we cannot pronounce.
[00:39:00] Additives are not just in wine or tequila, they're almost in any, everything. for listening. Cognacs, rums, single malts, and I've saved the best for last. Unless you are consuming zero dosage champagnes, even champagne has added sugars to the final assemblage. Additive free quote unquote is a marketing attempt to get people to try new lesser known tequilas.
What people fail to mention is most of the additives are natural additives, especially compared to what's used in American wine production. My point in all of this is drink what you like, keep an open mind, drink And don't be persuaded by marketing or don't be persuaded by chef Ricky, maybe,
**Bam Bam:** or peer pressure.
**Gizmo:** One can argue there are more additives in a can of Coca Cola of apropos to our conversation earlier than a bottle of Casa
**Chef Ricky:** Migos.
**Gizmo:** Thank you kindly for your time. Lizard Bo.
**Chef Ricky:** I disagree. It's a hot take. I like the email. That's why I I like it. Yeah. Yeah. No, great, great email. Obviously, great source. Um, [00:40:00] I, you know, Casamigos, you know, I, I mean, I hate not to put any pressure on anyone that enjoys it, but I, I, it's clearly shit.
I mean No peer pressure. You taste it, you know, and it's just, it's not there. Um, so yes, this, what he, everything he stated is true. Um, I'm just curious to know or understand Tequila Matchmaker's, uh, additive free labeling. Um, I don't know. You know, if, if they're, if, if they're following CRT standards or if they're even stricter or what the case is, um, but yeah, I think, I don't, I don't know that anyone is labeling or putting on their bottles, even if they are over 1%, that those additives are listed.
Cause it's clear when you taste the tequila that's loaded with it, you could tell the difference. Whether it's Clausel's or whether it's Casamigos, um, or, or, or any other diffuser [00:41:00] tequila. I mean, I just, you know, look, whether it's a matter of, you know, paying the inspector off or whatnot. So you could avoid having to do certain things.
Maybe that's happening, but I mean, for me, it's clear at state when you taste an additive, uh, you know, uh, tequila that isn't additive free, you know, quote unquote additive free versus one that. Has a ton of it, um, to me, there's no, it is a clear separation there. And I think even for you guys, you guys could taste the difference.
Cause we've had some tequilas and gone back to some others. And it's, it's, it doesn't hit the same, you know, on the palate. It's, it's cloyingly sweet. It's not fun to drink. It's honestly overwhelming. It feels artificial. It tastes artificial. Um, so yeah, I mean, if everybody's in the same, you know, playing field with 1%, Uh, then something's going on there,
**Rooster:** but isn't a pretty clear lizard bow.
What he's stating is that even when it's called additive free, there's still adding some,
**Chef Ricky:** well, [00:42:00] he's yeah. For it to go on, for it to not go on the bottle, you're allowed up to one person. But with that being said. Using Casamigos again as an example, there's nowhere on their bottle that's listed what additives they have, or Claselzul, and to me, it tastes like you, you know, the additives are there.
Now that's also because those are diffuser tequilas, um, so that has a lot to do with that as well. So maybe in the diffuser process, because, You're stripping, you know, you're not really using agave. You're actually using agave nectar to make tequila. Maybe because it's missing some of those critical elements.
The, the additives come through more. I'm not sure. But are the,
**Rooster:** are the additives put in for flavor? For flavor, for body preservation, maybe
**Chef Ricky:** flavor, body and coloring. I don't, I don't, I don't think it's for preservation. Maybe when it comes to wine, it's there for preservation, but not, [00:43:00] not on the spirit side.
**Gizmo:** Well, I got to say, I mean, I don't necessarily have a horse in the race. I just prefer these tequilas that have, you know, no additives or less additives than the ones that you're mentioning now that are obviously, you know, ripe with additives, but it's pretty cool to me that we have a sommelier. Yeah.
Who's working at Michelin star restaurants, you know, who's entered the conversation. So I, I, I love hearing from listeners like this. You know,
**Bam Bam:** his emails, very democratic, let everyone drink what they want. But for me, I've practically abandoned scotch. Um, I don't remember the last time I had bourbon unless we're doing it on this podcast.
I am right now completely focused on tequilas and cognacs and armagnacs. Because of course, the experience that we've had here. I don't reach for those spirits any longer because of the incredible access to the tequilas that we've had.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. And I
**Bam Bam:** think that for me and the clean tequilas are their [00:44:00] revelation.
They are a true revelation. They've changed the way I drink. I agree. They changed
**Gizmo:** the way I drink. I, I think there's, there's a couple of components for me that I, uh, I'm right there with you in that I've, I find that. You can get some really amazing, you mentioned, uh, tequila, Cognac, Armagnac, even rum. Oh, of course.
Very reasonably priced. And what I like Cano, of course, right? Flor de Cano, or Yeah, that's available anywhere. Yeah, you can get them anywhere. And it's delicious. Or even the Bregal that we did.
**Bam Bam:** Bregal was good, extra though. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** the extra Vieja.
**Bam Bam:** If you can get that. Vieja, excuse me. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** The thing is, too, in addition to the price component, you know, compare that to some of the single malts we drink.
Mm hmm. A lot of them are, you know, Expensive. Yeah. Right. But the talent is 80 the
**Bam Bam:** tequilas are now climbing.
**Gizmo:** They're climbing.
**Bam Bam:** You know, tequila Ocho is not a cheap spirit, but worth every dollar.
**Gizmo:** But what I like too, is how I feel the morning after drinking the spirits that we're talking about compared to the Balvenie or McAllen or some of these others, you just, or [00:45:00] the bourbons, of course, you just feel better.
**Bam Bam:** It's, it, it's, kind of gives me a pick me up at night when I'm with the guys at the club or alone somewhere. It's, it's really, it's something else. It's different.
**Gizmo:** But in line with what Lizard Bo saying here, as far as the democratic nature of all this, what, what I love is the variety of emails we get, the variety of spirit recommendations.
It's like the listeners are going through a very similar journey that we're going through, you know, and, and positive feedback, negative feedback on what they're tasting. It's like, we're all kind of learning. about this together. Obviously, we've gone very heavy on the agave stuff, even men's cow.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** You know?
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Um, so, you know, I just, I love hearing from listeners like this lizard bow. Thanks so much for writing us. Like I said, he's going to win lizard of the week this week. We do this every week. You out there can win lizard of the week. All you have to do is send us an email like lizard bow did. Um, A voice memo, a comment on Instagram, YouTube, whatever you choose, just give us some feedback, write us, tell her, tell us what you're thinking.
Tell us what you're smoking. And, uh, you can also win [00:46:00] some stuff from us. So I'm going to send lizard bow, a little package from the. I mean, I
**Rooster:** do agree with both when he says, drink what you like. I mean, after all, you know, one person's taste will differ from somebody else's. So that also
**Bam Bam:** goes to our cigar experience.
Smoke what you like. Yeah. Yeah. You know, we often find ourselves looking at some guys in a club. At our various clubs that we go to and we're judgmental.
**Rooster:** I don't look at guys at the club. Well, I'm sorry.
**Gizmo:** No, but it is true. And I think that, you know, very similar to what we're saying about spirits. I mean, turn his
**Bam Bam:** mic off. All right.
**Gizmo:** The democratic nature of cigars are different cigars at various price points, different origins that we've tried.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** That have turned out being great, completely unexpectedly.
**Bam Bam:** I
**Gizmo:** mean, even tonight we're smoking a San Cristobal de la Habana. Aside from the El
**Bam Bam:** Principe,
**Gizmo:** the other two we've done on this podcast were some of the worst that we've done among [00:47:00] Cuban cigars. Even to go back to this, which Lizard Pablo so generously sent us, like This cigar is smoking brilliantly, you know, so there's a lot of merit in that.
This cigar was perfect, but the wrapper just cracked.
**Bam Bam:** You're not smoking it right. You're gripping it too hard. You
**Grinder:** need to keep practicing. You gotta be gentle. I remember my first beer.
**Gizmo:** Alright boys, let's move to another Lizard email. This one's from Lizard John from Boise. He always writes us. I love hearing from Lizard John.
He always has a good question for us. It says, Hi Giz, hope you've had a good week. I've got another question for the lizard panel. This one is involving cigar lounge etiquette. Do you feel I love
**Bam Bam:** this shit by the way.
**Gizmo:** I do too. I
**Bam Bam:** love these emails.
**Gizmo:** I love these.
**Bam Bam:** Let's go.
**Gizmo:** Do you feel it's appropriate for a patron to bring a cigar from home into a shop or lounge to smoke as long as they purchase a cigar during their visit.
I for one believe this is perfectly fine, but I've heard [00:48:00] opinions to the contrary. I would love to hear your thoughts as always. Cheers to you guys. And best wishes, cheers to you guys. And best wishes. Lizard John from Boise.
**Bam Bam:** I have to start off absolutely appropriate. If you're buying, if you're not, if you're not a member and you're just, you're walking in as a, you know, as a customer.
Bring your own cigar, but absolutely always buy a cigar from the house at a minimum. Absolutely. Otherwise, you are going to pay a cutting fee, probably.
**Gizmo:** And you're going to piss them off.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, and they won't be very happy. Rightfully. Yeah. Buy a cigar, support the shop,
**Grinder:** smoke that cigar, and smoke your cigar.
I don't think most shops care either. Like if you, if you do buy a cigar, it makes no difference to them whether that cigar you smoke in the lounge is one from their, from their humidor or not. There are. So long as you buy one. As long as you buy one. Yeah. What's
**Gizmo:** funny is I heard a story that's, it, this email is very.
Uh, you know, appropriate timing wise from Lizard John, because last week I met a new member at our lounge here at 1086 who was telling me he went to another lounge, walked in the humidor, bought like a high end 20 or [00:49:00] 30 cigar, felt it was a little wet, put it in his bag, and pulled out one he brought with him, and they were very unhappy that he did that.
Even
**Bam Bam:** though he purchased the cigar? Even though he purchased the cigar. That's a problem.
**Gizmo:** It wasn't a Cuban, it wasn't like a Cuban, non Cuban thing. It was a new world cigar. And the lounge owner, or shop owner was very unhappy that
**Bam Bam:** they didn't smoke the cigar. They purchased. Yes. Even though they purchased the cigar prior to the lighting of the cigar that they brought in.
That's just Ace, Leon and I. Makes no sense. That's crazy. Retailer needs to have a talking to. I agree.
**Grinder:** I think maybe it depends on how he inspected that cigar. 'cause if he's in looking at it, if the, the owner says like. Sees that it's real. Maybe his view is that it's not wet or but he kept the cigar though.
Maybe you're implying my I don't keep my humidor at the right. But that's that's a personal preference. He didn't report back to the owner. I was
**Chef Ricky:** gonna say it could have been worse. He could have made a scene and gone To the counter and say hey, this cigar is not great. Can I change it out? Or you know, that looks I think he did the right thing.
I agree.
**Gizmo:** Listen, every time I go to a place that [00:50:00] I'm unfamiliar with I always buy a cigar and I always assume same You That the humidity of that cigar is going to be higher than how I like to smoke my cigars. It will be. It will be. But that's always my assumption. So I always buy a nice cigar. I put it in my bag.
I might even buy the same cigar I'm going to smoke if they have padrones or davidoffs or, you know, aging room or something that I'm going to smoke. But I always do this.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I've never had a conversation with a, with a shop owner about it, but I've heard stories. Wow. This is pretty prevalent that they get pissed off.
**Chef Ricky:** You know, to me, that's just a sign that the shop itself may not be doing well. And sometimes shop owners internalize all their stresses.
**Bam Bam:** We were, no, no, no, no, no. We were, we were members at our previous lounge, one of the most successful cigar shops in the country. I forget, the Cigar Nazi. Please. Exactly.
That may have something to do with it, depending on where you are, but not always.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah, I just think it. It's in the shop owner's best interest to be [00:51:00] as welcoming as possible. Because as cigar smokers, we're running out of places where we can smoke and we can smoke in peace. And now the weather is getting cold, so you never know who's coming in.
But yes, if you're going in and you're not a member, absolutely always buy a cigar from the shop. And I think after doing that, it doesn't really matter. What cigar you're smoking. I mean, if you're really gonna have a Hawkeye, I mean, watch what cigar I'm gonna light. That's, that's disturbing. Yeah, that's disturbing.
You don't want to be there. No,
**Gizmo:** no. And that's, that's where I was gonna go is, is what a turnoff to ever go back there.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, I agreed.
**Gizmo:** And patronize that shop again, right? So
**Bam Bam:** that's the exact opposite of what hospitality should be. Agree. If, if there are any retailers listening. Be hospitable to your customers.
A thousand percent. They will always
**Grinder:** come back. I, I, you know, I think that's indicative of this, like, maybe that guy, the owner is not a cigar smoker. Yeah. You know, do you know a cigar smoker that owns a shop that would say, okay. You can come in here. If you buy a [00:52:00] stick, that's great. You know, you have to buy a stick, but you can't, you can, you can't smoke any other stick.
No one would say that. No one who smokes cigars themselves, because the reality is when you come in, maybe you, maybe you just have a different feeling when you, when you start to, you know, I mean, the other thing
**Gizmo:** I can think of as far as scenarios in which a shop owner would get pissed off are two. Number one, you go in the humidor and you buy a cheap petite Corona.
Uh huh. And then you go in your bag and you pull out like a, yeah. A Padron Diplomatico, like a double Corona, and all of a sudden you've paid for like a, you know, a 30 minute experience and now you're sitting in there for two hours. Maybe that could be a little bit of a rub, I understand. But
**Bam Bam:** that shouldn't be ever, that should never factor in as a business owner.
Regardless of what your customers are buying, if it's a 5 cigar or a 50 cigar, they're buying a product from you, be hospitable.
**Chef Ricky:** Or
**Bam Bam:** go
**Gizmo:** up to them instead of chastising what they're smoking and saying, Hey, listen, you know, you've been here for a couple of hours. You only [00:53:00] purchased one small cigar. Would you mind going in and just picking out another cigar?
That's okay. You'd, you'd, you'd love just to kind of punch him. But I think that's, I mean, rooster rooster, we haven't heard from yet.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. Outside of that, I'll say maybe. You know, post, post a small sign or something by the register, you know, that if you're bringing a cigar from outside, then the minimum purchase should be, you know, 20 or whatnot.
But I think any, any, any well educated lizard is gonna, you know, not take advantage of the situation and Go ahead and do the right thing because you know, it's the right thing. And, and you, you're supporting the hobby, you're supporting the ecosystem of what we do. Um, so yeah, it, it, it's in your best interest to make a decent purchase.
So
**Gizmo:** my other scenario that I wanted to ask you about, of course, we're smoking a Cuban cigar tonight on this episode. Oh, I
**Bam Bam:** know where you're going.
**Gizmo:** Is here in the United States, going into a, uh, an unknown place, purchasing a cigar, In their, in the humidor, sitting down in their lounge [00:54:00] and pulling out a Cuban cigar from your bag.
I've done that. Do you find that, do you feel that's inappropriate?
**Bam Bam:** No. No. If I purchase a cigar, that we know. Of course. That's why I'm asking. Now honestly.
**Rooster:** And I would do it only there. Cause you like punching people.
**Bam Bam:** So again, I don't think that should factor in at all. You know, I play, you guys know, I play a lot of espionage.
I, you know, in my travels, I find a lot of shops I go in, I actually feel uncomfortable not buying a cigar at a place. I would never think to do that. Not doing it. Yeah. I mean, even,
**Gizmo:** even sometimes when you go into a place and it's a nice, you know, kind of seating area and you go in the humidor and they don't have a great selection, I will still buy a cigar or two, even if I'm going to come home and give it away or I don't want to smoke it or I'll just reach for something that I think might be in line with a decent cigar.
Yeah. I actually love, I love
**Grinder:** those times because that's when I, that's when I get different cigars that [00:55:00] I never would have gotten because I, cause you're like, okay, I have to buy something. You know, I'm here, I'm here, I have to buy something. May as well try something I've never had before. You know, out of the blue.
And, you know, sometimes you get lucky and find something special. It's like
**Rooster:** going to a restaurant and bringing your own food. Yeah. Would you do that? No. Or, or what
**Chef Ricky:** happens more frequently, actually, is people bring in their own beverage. Right? And then you try to ask them, you know, like, Wow. Are you gonna buy?
Yeah. It happens. It doesn't happen. It's mostly one location where it happens at. And yeah, sometimes people just get annoyed. Like really? You don't understand why that's not a
**Rooster:** good thing. Unless, you know, if the restaurant does not have a liquor license, then people bring in. No, no. But it does. It
**Chef Ricky:** does. Yeah.
So it's, you know, but yeah, I just think it's, it's a good move to buy a stick. Always. When you're going to a lounge. Always. Always. Always. support, strike up conversation with the owner. And I think the ownership needs to be a lot more [00:56:00] hospitable because you might make it, you might, you might turn this person into a member.
So here's
**Bam Bam:** an interesting thing. So in a lot, a lot of the shops I visit, they don't have the cigars that we love, Davidoff's or Padron's, um, or now the aging room that we're really deep into or the Oliva V series that they don't have. Some of these places don't have. So I, I buy an inferior cigar that I feel is inferior for me.
**Rooster:** Like a Baccarat? Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Cognac flavor. But I end up, I, I talk to the owner or the shop manager. Why no Padrones? I asked them why. Why no Davidoffs? Why not this cigar? Why not that cigar? Sometimes they just may not know any better and you spark this conversation. A lot of them don't know any better, which is sad.
**Chef Ricky:** And next thing you know, you're a consultant for them. Yeah. Others, yeah, right.
**Bam Bam:** And the others don't have the financial capacity to buy the minimum buys. Through these wholesalers so that they're kind of limited. So you learn about regional shops in your area, who has what and what they can do [00:57:00] and can't do.
**Rooster:** Look if, if you are a cigar store owner and you have not heard of Poron or Doffs, no, it's not that they.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, I agree with you. It's not that they haven't heard of it. They just either can't afford the minimum buys.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, they lack access to it. And they might
**Rooster:** not. It's more than possible. That's a pretty common thing.
Davidoff will not give you, you know, if somebody else is selling Davidoffs in the area. Correct. Yeah, they have a radius cost. Yeah, that's right. So
**Bam Bam:** it goes back to what Kiz said earlier. I'll buy an inferior cigar in that case to be respectful. Then I'll pull out my own cigar.
**Rooster:** Yeah, I mean, there's so many other brands of New World cigars that you can smoke that are very good.
And I mean,
**Gizmo:** as we go along here in the pod, I mean, we keep finding these cigars that are, that are great. I urge,
**Bam Bam:** I urge every retailer that's listening to this, to go to our ratings list. You'll find incredible New Worlds and At extremely low prices, that'll knock the socks off your customers. Yeah, and they're easy to get.
Knock the socks off your customers. And they're easy to get. Absolutely.
**Rooster:** And most of them are very helpful if you ask them for a [00:58:00] recommendation for something that you haven't tried. You could ask them, you know, what do you recommend? This is, these are the kind of cigars I smoke. And, you know, maybe you could recommend
**Bam Bam:** something.
And they can call Giz and he can place the orders.
**Rooster:** Perfect.
**Gizmo:** And you want to get my phone number out to 1 800 CALL GUESS. Correct. Yeah. So to answer, you know, John's question here, I don't think there's any scenario where it's inappropriate to pull out your own cigar. If you go in and buy something, I think go in and buy a nice price cigar.
Don't buy like a factory second for 2, you know, buy a decent cigar at a fair price and then sit down and smoke what you want. And if you have a rub, then. You know that that shop's not for you.
**Bam Bam:** Correct. You know. Good advice.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys. We're coming to the last third here on Nissan. Cristobal de la Habana.
Sadare. Edicion Regionale Portugal. What do you guys think?
**Bam Bam:** Well, this cigar is, for me, still displaying a really delicious sweetness. In combination with what I'm drinking, I'm getting a [00:59:00] dessert experience. After dinner, with this, this combination, I wouldn't need to have anything sweet after dinner. This is really special pairing tonight.
**Chef Ricky:** I tell you what, while I love this tequila, I'm almost envious of Rooster's pairing. Because he has an espresso over there. And I could only imagine it goes really well with this cigar. This is, this is just, yeah.
**Bam Bam:** I wish I had more. I am shocked how good this cigar is. Yeah, this is It's surprising.
**Gizmo:** This is a really nice experience.
I'm loving the aroma at the burn line. Yeah. Even as we're into the last third here.
**Bam Bam:** No ammonia at all. No sharpness. Am I crazy thinking that this is actually smoking like it's a bit of an aged cigar?
**Gizmo:** Well, it does have three years on it.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** At this point.
**Bam Bam:** But
**Gizmo:** it's tasting like it has five or six or seven.
**Bam Bam:** It's really quite sophisticated.
**Grinder:** So I've, I've, I've got a, um. I was just mentioning, I have a pretty significant tear down the, down the wrapper. Yep. From tip to tail of the stick. You're holding it together though. It's, it's, it's, there's one little millimeter where [01:00:00] it's still together at the calf. And.
Holdin on
**Gizmo:** for dear life.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, it's, it's probably gonna, you know. I would apply some moisture to that entire fissure.
**Gizmo:** But I'll tell ya, this is a cigar though. That you, you want to take down even, even despite the construction. And I
**Grinder:** will. So I, that's, that's where I'm going with this. The construct, I don't know if it's a construction flaw or you know, what's causing it.
It's still smoking phenomena. So like, I'm just going to run with it. And add some moisture to that. I would lick that. I don't know. I would, I've done it. It works guys. It works. It's exploded. Add some spit to that. It's exploded.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Just eat
**Grinder:** it. It's
**Gizmo:** also hot
**Grinder:** as fuck.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** So boys, four weeks ago, we talked about the insanity happening in Cuba with the power outage.
And we, we obviously detailed Pagoda's experience with that. And we ran through all the, all, everything that was going on there in that episode. And unfortunately, Cuba's woes have continued. [01:01:00] Uh, not only does the power remain a huge problem in most of the country. I mean, the rolling blackouts, some communities are experiencing days without power at a time.
We have a friend in Havana that, that in her, uh, area has not had power for five days, no water for five days. I mean, it's still a very, very serious thing. They did get some crude oil from Mexico, which I guess has been a bit of a help. But. The grid there is just a complete disaster.
**Chef Ricky:** They can't get a break.
It seems like when the light gets, the electricity gets back up and another tornado comes through. Exactly. How is this
**Rooster:** affecting the cigar factory?
**Gizmo:** They're still operating. They're still operating. Yeah. On generators. So some of them have generators and some operate without power. Um, but yeah, they are still making cigars.
Obviously, that's very important to the economy there, that they make cigars. I'm sure Habanos is pressuring them to output. But to, you know, to, to Chef Ricky's point, shortly after the episode aired with, where we discussed the power outages, [01:02:00] Hurricane Raphael, Hit the island
**Bam Bam:** that's not that's not the end of it
**Gizmo:** and caught and it's not the end of it because some serious damage to the electrical grid and and obviously cause some further power outages and then There was an earthquake two of them to a five point nine and a six point eight which if you think about the You know, if you visualize the, the island of Cuba, which is the biggest island in the Caribbean, the very far Eastern point, kind of like the boot of the Cuban island, there was a 5.
9 magnitude and a 6. 8 back to back magnitude earthquake that not only obviously rocked Cuba, but it was felt in both Miami and in the Cayman islands. Wow.
**Bam Bam:** Crazy.
**Gizmo:** So that also caused damage to the electrical grid. And, and of course, you know, structures and everything else, which are held up as you know, by, by two by four, by two by four.
Correct. You know, as Bam has noted on, on, on, [01:03:00] you know, previous episodes. So,
**Grinder:** so how does, how does this affect. Any, does this influence any trepid, feelings of trepidation or fear of going back to Cuba for me? No,
**Gizmo:** I mean,
**Grinder:** uh, for me, it's a yes.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. I, I, I just, I feel, uh, driven to go and tell the story. Number one and do what we do here
**Rooster:** doesn't mind walking up 50, bring a flashlight.
He's
**Bam Bam:** a journalist. He's a journalist
**Gizmo:** after
**Bam Bam:** all.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, I mean, I, I think that telling the story is very important. I think a lot of the media out there is telling a limited story is telling a story colored by the government. A lot of what comes out of Cuba is of course the mouthpiece of the Cuban government.
So there's, I think telling that story is important in the context of cigar smokers. I think it's important, you know, to tell what's going on there. And also, uh, there's an element of it for me that. I want to go and help the people that we know and love there.
**Chef Ricky:** You
**Gizmo:** know, I want to bring them supplies. I want to [01:04:00] bring them food, you know, medical supplies, things that they need.
So to answer your question, grinder, I still plan on going. It's going to feel different. It's going to be different, but it has not changed my drive to want to go to Cuba. So I
**Grinder:** was talking to Lizard Henry and he's he's gone with with the other lizard in the group to Cuba a few times, right? Yeah. Um, And his, his, you know, he was also talking to the lizard Phil, um, and.
You know, you know, Lizard Phil is definitely going again. He's going in February for some festival. Henry was like, no chance, you know, no. And, and I, that I would not have expected that because he's so, you know, he's, he's so in love with the place. Yeah. So to hear him say he had, he wouldn't do it. I just kind of wanted to hear their point Well,
**Gizmo:** I mean, there, there is a scary component of it.
I mean, if the Cuban government runs out of fuel, again, the grid goes down, they don't have fuel for generators. I mean, if you're considering worst case scenario as a tourist, you [01:05:00] know, what does it mean that the airport isn't operating?
**Bam Bam:** Right.
**Gizmo:** What does it mean that the hotels, like the thing, you know, Airbnbs, you can't get what you need.
I would be more concerned about
**Grinder:** unrest. Like, Oh yeah. You know, cause like when you're that, not that I know, but like, I would, I would think when you're that Down trodden to begin with, and then you get hit with this.
**Gizmo:** And it's wave after wave after wave.
**Grinder:** Lizard Pagoda told us what he went through. It doesn't take much to shimmy, to shimmy something, to shank somebody in the street and say, give me your money.
Like, you know what I mean? So, Pagoda was walking
**Bam Bam:** the streets. With the buddy of his. No power. It was pitch blackout. He was fine. Yeah, he, well. He was scared. He was scared, you know, and, and, you know, rightfully so. He and his buddy were walking through the streets, and that neighborhood where El Corobón is located, it's a maze there.
Um, and people, they're not going to stay in their apartments in a blackout. Everyone is in the streets. So he's trying to get through big dudes are bumping into him. [01:06:00] They know that he's not a local, he felt intimidated. And I feel, I think this, this question of unrest, I think that's going to, I think that's going to start generating sooner rather than later.
I think when
**Gizmo:** you're in Havana or in Habano Vieja, which is where Pagoda was during this experience, that I feel like that area is safe. It's, it's when you start to get out of the. The central Havana area, that's where I think these risks can be.
**Grinder:** But, but there's going to be a point where they get out of the countryside and start coming where all the money is, right?
So like, and you know, I, I think as. as like a tourist, you have to, you have to be cognizant of that. And, you know, the unrest factor factor is, is it's to your point, it's not going to get any better. And, uh, you just hope that, that there is some kind of like steady state that they can get to because I
**Rooster:** mean, look, I mean, human beings can only take so much.
I mean, you're talking about necessities. You're talking [01:07:00] about no food, no water. No power.
**Grinder:** Yeah.
**Rooster:** I mean, these are the things that we take for granted.
**Grinder:** I would be fearful going to Cuba with a bag of goodies because. If they're, if they're desperate, they're going to be targeting someone like that's out in the streets, doling out goods, you know?
**Bam Bam:** Well, I will say one thing, you know, our path into Cuba, right from the airport, we're right to our Airbnb. We have our suitcases, our host is with us, everything's safe. We've mapped out our trajectory to go to local schools, local, uh, medical clinics, and so on. We try to take care of those that are in our local area.
And not venture so far out of where we're staying. There could be some risk if you go beyond where we are. I,
**Gizmo:** I, ultimately, ultimately with Cuba and specifically Havana, I, I think if you're smart, you're good. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think if you're behaving in a smart way, if you're moving in a smart way, you're, you're gonna be fine.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, so that's a good [01:08:00] point.
**Gizmo:** I think there's a lot of other Caribbean islands that have plenty of power. Plenty of food, plenty of everything that we're talking about, and the unrest and the risk to your, your safety is a thousand fold what it is in Havana. I just don't feel unsafe in Havana.
**Bam Bam:** If you're gonna go to Cuba, go with someone that's been there.
Exactly. That would help. That's, that's a huge point. That's a key.
**Grinder:** And I'll, I'll be honest, I'll make a confession, like I've, I've been wanting to go to Cuba with you guys for some time, just hasn't worked out for me personally, right? Knowing this, it does like, it does. Decrease. Yeah. That's another, yeah, that's another way of, it does decrease my ambition a little bit.
Sure. 'cause I'm a little like, whoa, you know, I mean my, and then, you know, my wife sees the news article and she's like, you still want to go there? I'm like,
**Bam Bam:** well, tell her you got bam. Kind of,
**Grinder:** but you got bam, bam by
**Bam Bam:** yourself. .
**Grinder:** You good? Those big hands, big
**Bam Bam:** hands. , not like the rooster choking hands over there, but , I mean, I
**Rooster:** have to say the Cuban people are some of the nicest people that I've ever met.
I'm sure. And, and resilient mean mine is at, I mean, I have not ever, I [01:09:00] mean. three or four times I've been there. I have not seen any crime whatsoever or heard about it. I mean, I mean, you could be walking down, you know, out of a restaurant, you come out, it could be like 10, 11 p. m. and people actually come out and they invite you to their house.
I mean, they don't even know you, right? They're that hospitable. They have nothing to offer, but yet they'll invite you to their house. They're such a generous people. And share whatever they do have.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, they're so generous. I, I just don't feel unsafe, but I do think that heating the warning, the Ben Bam kind of laid out where go with someone, if you're going to go to Cuba, go with someone who's been there before, who knows the lay of the land.
I think that's an element that's really crucial. But as far as general safety, I even through all of this, I do not worry for my safety when I go there. I'm responsible. I'm smart. Same. I keep my eyes open. You know, I, I don't wear fancy watches. I don't have any, but I don't wear fancy watches. I don't carry loads of cash.
I don't flash anything. Uh, but I just don't feel [01:10:00] unsafe there. So boys, you know, not to turn this into a political conversation and it's not, but this is something that is certainly on the mind of Cubans. Now, president elect Trump has nominated Senator Marco Rubio from Florida to be his secretary of state, which.
Is a challenge. Um, yeah. For, for travel. For us
**Bam Bam:** getting back and forth to Cuba.
**Gizmo:** For travel. For customs. For cigars coming in the country. And I would argue most importantly for the Cuban people.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** You know, because uh, Marco Rubio is very, Vocal in his anti Cuban government, uh, thinking. And I would assume, you know, there's a lot of hope that the country is going to be opened back up to American citizens to, you know, go as tourists again, you know, let there be a free flow of money and it doesn't look like that's going to be happening in the next four years, that's for sure.
You know? So it's, it's something that, you know, I was reading on a periodical Cubano, [01:11:00] which is an independent. News sourced out of Cuba, not influenced by the government. And, uh, what they wrote was that, uh, Senator Marco Rubio known for his firm stance against the Cuban regime could assume the position of secretary of state in the next administration of president elect Donald Trump, according to U S media, if confirmed Ruby, of course, would make history by becoming the first Latino to occupy this position.
And at the same time could directly impact travel and immigration policy to Cuba. This is very interesting. During his political career, Rubio has been a persistent critic of those Cubans who, by benefiting from regulations such as the Cuban Adjustment Law, where they are able to obtain permanent residence, which, like a green card, but then are able to return to the country.
where they came from. So they're asking for asylum, they're getting a green card, and then a few months or years later, they go back. Obviously, why are they going back? To take money and supplies and to help their families still in Cuba. But he has been very against that. And he said recently, uh, [01:12:00] rhetorically, how is it possible, quote, how is it possible that someone fleeing persecution returns to Cuba a year later?
We cannot ignore that. Some go to Cuba several times a year. It's so short, a lot of questions about the nature of those trips.
**Bam Bam:** That's a very short sighted comment. He doesn't understand every per every person that we've talked to that got out of Cuba, that has gone back. They, it's like you said a moment ago, they go back to help their families.
Otherwise they can't survive very short sighted comment.
**Gizmo:** I agree. And, and what concerns me is even, you know, we've talked about this. When you travel to Cuba, you have to choose one of 12 general OFAC licenses. The one that we choose is called in support of the Cuban people. And this seems like a, uh, an attack on that.
You know, because when we go, our intention is to help the people that we meet and the people that we see there. Um, you know, it's just, I, I'm a little concerned about how this is going to impact things, especially since he's a Cuban American. And, and [01:13:00] where he's from in Florida, in the Southeast United States, there's a lot of Cuban Americans who are, you know, Rightfully.
Rightfully. And
**Bam Bam:** staunchly against Cuba. Yes. And the regime. Because of
**Gizmo:** what happened to their family a few generations ago. Sure. You know, so it's, uh, it's a really troubling, uh. But
**Bam Bam:** there's such a fine line. My heritage, where I come from, there's a lot of turmoil there. Um, there's a lot of violence. And Seacaucus?
Yes. Newark? You know, but I want to go back. I want to support those people. I have extended family there that we stay in touch with, but I've never been back because it's a little dangerous. I have to think that some of the Cuban Americans that live here in the States, in Florida, they have to have some sense of wanting to help the people that are there.
Regardless of who's running the country.
**Gizmo:** I agree.
**Bam Bam:** That's, I think, where the thinking should be. Because you're not going to get rid of the regime. They're going to be there. Try and help the people. [01:14:00]
**Gizmo:** So, another note that they said here, the economy of the island, largely dependent, of course, on U. S. tourism and the travel of the Cuban economy, and exile would be severely affected if restrictive policies were restored.
The senator for Flora has pointed out that the business done with the Cuban regime, especially by businessmen who travel frequently, is a betrayal of the Cuban people. For him These trips that we've talked about represent an indirect support to the economy of the authoritarian government in Cuba.
**Bam Bam:** We're gonna have to send Lizard Senator down to speak with Mr.
Rubio
**Gizmo:** that now we're talking we record that
**Bam Bam:** I think you can and it's recorded now I think that's the move boys. What happens when the famine and Disease start creeping in and all the kids that can't, they don't have access to food. They don't have access to water. You can't go to the hospital because they don't have power.
What happens when sickness and death starts to creep in? And those numbers start to escalate. Doesn't that get noticed? Won't that get noticed? It [01:15:00] always
**Grinder:** gets noticed. And we always give money and aid and that's, that's how it goes. I don't think we,
**Bam Bam:** we can't give aid to Cuba as it stands right now. We can't
**Grinder:** do that.
We give aid to a lot of regimes that have less than like very, very, uh, you know, malevolent intent to the United States and we still give aid to those people. And Cuba is, Not, not a threat. Yeah. They're not to, to the American to, that's true. So like, I don't think that's in the zeitgeist of this, uh mm-Hmm.
uh, for the agenda for this administration. Right? I hope so. No, you're right.
**Gizmo:** I hope so. I hope we're talking worst case scenario and we never see it. But yeah, I would like to see some of these restrictions lifted so Cuban people can benefit. But now having
**Grinder:** said that, he is a Cuban American first Latino, Latin, you know, in the, in the, as a Secretary of State.
He's going to get people coming, knocking on his door. Some Cuban Americans down in Miami saying, you got to do something. Fuck these people, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's true. You know, so you never know where it could go. Yeah. Right. [01:16:00] So it
**Rooster:** just seems that in the last two, three years, the country has gone worse.
Things have gotten worse for the people. Every time you go there, there's a different challenge. Like, the first time we went, there was no issue with power. There was, you know, power wasn't out.
**Bam Bam:** So look, Gizmo and I went prior to you guys going. That was how long ago? Over two years. Over two years. And since then, we've been back five or six times.
You've been there, Giz, more than any of us. You're right. Every single time we go, something new, some hurdle, some challenge, some disaster. Has hit these people.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, and there's no solution for it. No, it's getting worse. I mean, part of your
**Grinder:** worst rooster, you're right. These, some of these things are, you can't, like these, some of these things are divine.
Like you can't, like you're in the middle of the Caribbean. You're going to get a lot of storms.
**Bam Bam:** But what they're going through, it's almost biblical. Pestilence is next. That's coming. Disease is coming. Then what do you do?
**Gizmo:** It's not good. No. [01:17:00] So anyway, uh, Cuban woes continue and it's sad to see and, and, you know, as we continue to try to communicate with our friends there, it just seems like the, everything is getting worse slowly and progressively.
It's just getting worse. I think
**Grinder:** in the next month and a half, you're going to hear a lot more stories about people exiting, especially with, with the intent of president elect. Trump and what they intend to do with the Southern border and immigration overall. I mean, it's a pretty clear mandate on immigration.
They're not going to miss that step. So if you, if you want to get out of Cuba now, you probably need to get out of Cuba now, if you want to get out of Cuba ever. Let's put it that way. Should probably, now's the time. Now's the time. Mm-Hmm.
**Chef Ricky:** Shit. Got heavy, quick. Uh, any more listener emails? . I
**Gizmo:** will say I did tequila's flowing tonight.
Boys. I did wanna share, we got some wonderful emails after our Cuban episode, and I wanna highlight one that, that I think encapsulates the sentiment of our listenership [01:18:00] and, and what people had said. And, and this is from Lizard Enrique. He wrote this episode was terrific and moving and funny and heartbreaking.
The lizards handled this subject matter of the grid failure with gravity, empathy, and humor. It was a tough, tough balancing act, but it was well done. It was another great episode. And we got a lot of email. I'm not going to read them all because it says very similar things, but I just like the way that lizard Enrique said that.
So thank you to him and thanks to everyone who listened to that episode and, and, and wrote to us. And, you know, we had a lot of folks sharing their own stories of being there recently or being there currently. Um, and, and it's just more of the same. I have to
**Grinder:** say, I didn't go, I didn't, I, you know, I didn't go down with you guys, but you know, as a listener may know, or may, maybe may not know we record in advance.
Right. And, and that's, that's how you as a listener know what's coming up because we record it. We have a plan and we, we staged these things. Gizmo came back from Cuba and I was like, we gotta, we gotta record, we gotta get this out now. We can't let this be stale. We can't [01:19:00] have this come out in three weeks.
This needs to be live and to hear it, to see it on the news, to talk about, to talk to you guys about it. You know, in our chat and when we saw each other and then to hear it on the pod, I wasn't there for the, for the meet, for the, for the, for the session, but to hear it on the pod, it was, it was cool to like, Hey, I was kind of like in some ancillary way, a part of this.
And it brought me into it. And, you know, you could, you, you, the empathy. You know, as, as, as we mentioned in the email was, was abundant and it was, it was pretty cool to listen to.
**Bam Bam:** If you remember, we had some hesitation early on. Yeah. Not knowing how to approach this. Sure. How deep do we go? I'm glad we took this approach.
**Gizmo:** And the other thing I want to shout out too, and, and I, I had this, I got this note on a zoom call I was on. Someone noted, uh, how. Thoughtful pagodas words were in that episode because obviously he was the one
**Bam Bam:** he went
**Gizmo:** through actually went through Oh, yeah a lot more than any more than more than any of us certainly You know as far as a tourist goes went through the [01:20:00] most not compared to the Cuban people but got a really A couple of nice comments about Pagoda.
So I want to shout out Pagoda and, and him sharing his experiences and some of his thoughts and what he said, you know, on that episode. I mean, it was really nice to hear Pagoda really, really stand up. And, and the crazy thing is
**Bam Bam:** he was in Cuba without his shank, no shank in hand. He was, he was naked.
**Rooster:** He's a lizard that kind of just goes with the flow.
Not many things bother. That's true. That's a merit. You know, that's a true merit. It's a good thing. It can adapt in life. He can adapt. Oh yeah. You know, give him a couple of beers, a couple of cigars, a couple of Stella's 14, 15. He needs about 15, 24 hours without food. No, correct.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys, we're coming to the end of our evening.
Any final thoughts here on the tequila and the cigar before we move into our ratings. Just, you know, wonderful cigar. Wonderful. Yeah. I mean,
**Grinder:** the flavor notes were, um, [01:21:00] were very present in abundance, very full. Uh, I wouldn't say it's full flavored, but you know, it's, it's full flavor, not, not full bodied. Yes.
Excuse me. Um, I did have a bit of a construction issue, but it's, it's not, it's not been deleterious to my experience. It's been, it's been fine. I've hardly noticed it. Um, bam, thank you for that. But you know, I, I, I don't. No, the last time I've had such a flavorful Cuban cigar, you know, and they're all very, we all love Cuban cigars, but this one really kind of, the difference in, in floral, the baking spice, the apricot, and generally just the, the burn was wonderful.
I had such a rough time in the beginning. And it corrected itself pretty quickly.
**Gizmo:** I'm honestly surprised that you're taking that down to the nub. I mean, how many times have we had cigars on this podcast with construction issues, with rappers blowing up, having to use the perfect draw, and then it ends the night.
So many times, one or two guys have put it in the ashtray. To [01:22:00] see you taking that down to the nub, despite all that, it's pretty
**Bam Bam:** wild. The reason is there's no, Harshness to the cigar. Yeah, I literally have a half inch in my fingers. There's nothing negative about it I I mean, I'm down to the bloody end So I'm
**Grinder:** not even getting much of the wrapper right now, right cuz it's all flayed and shit and like That's where most the flavor is and it's still amazing at this stage flayed wrapper It still tastes wonderful.
It's, I mean, it's lost a little bit of its, of its luster, but, but not much.
**Rooster:** We have never had a better regional. Yeah. No,
**Bam Bam:** this is outstanding. It's honestly the best regional I've ever had. And I'll go out on a limb and saying it's one, probably one of the best Cubans for tonight. Cuban cigar experiences that I've had in a long time.
The last time,
**Grinder:** the last time I had a really good regional was the LGC, uh, Espana. Do you remember that one? Yeah, for sure. Yeah, that was, that was a short, short
**Rooster:** Robusto.
**Grinder:** Short Robusto, yeah.
**Gizmo:** Alright boys, so [01:23:00] before we get into the cigar rating, we have to start with our tequila rating tonight on the El Ticoleño Platinum Tequila Blanco.
Bam Bam, you're up.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, so I'm at a 10. Under 50 for that bottle. Is that right? Yep. Buttery. Creamy, the minerality, very sophisticated, complex tequila. Delicious experience all around.
**Grinder:** All right, Grindr. I'm at a nine. I, you know, the, um, It drank wonderfully. It was so smooth. It tastes, it tastes like a nectar, you know?
It tastes sweet, but there's that little bit of, like, biting minerality, um, and, you know, this is a very easy drinking tequila. You don't need ice. You know, chops to never Ricky, not, not even a chip. No, not at all. And this is a Blanco like it's not, it's, it's, it's usually associated with, you know, you have to temper it down a little bit.
Uh, the reason why it's a nine, not a 10, I think, you know, I look at the UNO, [01:24:00] um, I gave that a 10. There was just a little more flavor, a little more complexity, uh, a little more going on that, that kept me wanting to discover more. And this one was, it was wonderful. It was straight line though. You know, I, I, I kind of got everything out of it after the first couple of sips.
Uh, and you know, it just balanced very well with the cigar and I thought they blended, you know, they, it was a, it was a, it was a nice marriage of flavor and, and it didn't take away from the cigar. It didn't add much to the cigar, but it was, it just kind of melded nicely.
**Gizmo:** All right, Chef
**Chef Ricky:** Ricky. Yeah, so for me, I was at a 9.
Um, because I, I, I, like Grindr, am craving some of that brightness, some slight acidity. It was super creamy, but I'm gonna give this a 10 because I think they delivered on exactly what they're aiming for here. Um, you know, This is a brand that's been around for many years doing the right thing without the pomp and [01:25:00] circumstance.
And now they're finally getting some time in the limelight. Yeah, I think this is a 10. This is a must try. This is a must get. It's, it's, it's approachable. It's, this could be an everyday drink. Um, you know, it could be just as delicious in the summer as it could be in the fall or winter. It's just, it's really a versatile Blanco where it just never feels out of place.
Um, and I, I would. Even say, I think, you know, putting this, I think a lot of times people look at Blancos and they want to put it in a, in a cocktail. This is almost a Blanco that you have to sip neat. Um, because it, it is so rich and balanced that it might get lost in a cocktail with too much acidity or, you know, additional sweetness or whatnot.
So perfect. Sipping Blanco, beautiful price, um, beautiful delivery. You know, is it as bright as like the Uno? No, it's not, but I don't think that's what they were going for here. So it's a 10 for me.
**Gizmo:** So I I'm [01:26:00] also at a 10. I I've loved this from the first sip. I thought it was brilliant. I really loved how creamy and smooth it was.
You know, on the nose, there was floral. I do agree with you, you know, that comparatively a little bit more brightness as you've As you described, it might have been great for it, but for what this is, how it paired with the cigar tonight, I thought it was a brilliant pairing for cigars. You know, and again, we found another Blanco that performed brilliantly at a very accessible price point, which also is factoring into that 10 that at that price, I think this can't be beat.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, I agree.
**Gizmo:** You know, it's, it's pretty amazing. So boys, that puts the formal liqueur rating tonight. We'll On the El Tikaleno Platinum Tequila Blanco at a 9. 8, which by the way, matches the Uno Dos Tres, the Uno Blanco that we did a few weeks ago, also from Wizard Mike. Identical score, also at a 9. 8. I
**Bam Bam:** think the other lizards are going to love this when we break this out again.
Yeah, totally. Absolutely.
**Gizmo:** I agree, and I think we should. We should. [01:27:00]
**Bam Bam:** Lizard Mike, you're the man. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Lizard
**Bam Bam:** Mike is great. Good recos. He's
**Gizmo:** killing it. Keep sending.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys, it's time now for the formal lizard rating tonight on the San Cristobal de la Habana. Sadare, Edición Regional Portugal. I can't pronounce that.
I will get it by the time I record the intro. Rooster, you're up.
**Rooster:** This,
**Gizmo:** uh,
**Rooster:** San Cristobal Sudave.
**Bam Bam:** There you go.
**Rooster:** Is, is excellent. This is one of the, one of the, I would say one of the better regionals that I've had in a very long time. This cigar by San Cristobal, I mean, whoever blended this, kudos to him. This needs to be a regular production.
Robusto that they were to come out with. They don't really make a lot of cigars. They do make a lot of regionals, but I think this blend in a regular production would be a home run.
**Bam Bam:** I think it would be a home run across multiple marcas if they approach all the cigar manufacturing the way they approach this cigar.
**Rooster:** Agreed.
**Bam Bam:** [01:28:00] It's frustrating.
**Rooster:** Yeah, but I think, you know, the price point, the where it's at right now, I mean, at 50, it's a bit high, of course, but I think somewhere around like between 25 to 30, it's, it's absolutely worth it. And, uh, the cigar, I mean, it had a little bit of a burn issue, not a burn issue, but more like the wrapper cracked towards the end.
Um, Grindr also had an issue with the, uh, with the wrapper a little bit, but the wrapper is, is very, uh, very thin. So, you know, it can easily be cracked, but had no effect on the flavor. I mean, incredible flavor. I smoking, I'm still smoking it. I'm the last one smoking it. So, um, I mean, it's an awesome cigar.
It's a great cigar. So I'm giving this a nine.
**Gizmo:** All right. So I'm also at a nine. I think the thing that took it down for me is the price point. I'm not going to seek out this cigar. I don't know when I'll have another one if ever, [01:29:00] because I just don't think at that 50 price point that that's something that I'm going to try to obtain or reach for.
Obviously, if it was, you know, given to me, I'd be thrilled, but I thought the cigar performed brilliantly. I thought it was a really good cigar. It tasted great. You know, comparatively versus other Cuban Robustos, I don't think it reaches that greatness level. I think it was really, really damn good, but it's not great.
And I think the price factors in, but the flavor was, was fantastic. What a departure from some of the other San Cristobals we've done. What a departure from some of the other regionals we've done. It's just, it was a really, really pleasant cigar and I'm very, very happy with it. So it's a nine for me. Do you think it has a good aging potential?
**Rooster:** We
**Gizmo:** never, we never know what I wonder. I, it's funny you asked that Rooster. I, for me, I think that right now, I, I think it might be kind of at it's like it's hit its stride right now. Like I, I don't know if. There's anything more I could want from [01:30:00] the cigar other than a lower price point. Yeah, and a little bit more, you know, make it a little
**Bam Bam:** bit more accessible.
So does age create richness in a Cuban cigar? Sometimes. Yeah, very limited and rare to see that. Usually they
**Grinder:** Usually it brings it down. Yeah,
**Bam Bam:** they usually level out and get creamier and a bit more smoother and more elegant, but the flavor Does dissipate it over time. I mean, most of the most Cubans, I
**Rooster:** think the floral notes on this will, I mean, most of the cigars with floral notes age really well.
I mean, from my experience, like the LGCs and stuff and punch punch. I mean, they really do well with some age. So that's why I'm curious. And that's why I would love to see this in a regular production cigar.
**Gizmo:** Agreed. Yeah. Very good cigar tonight. So for me, it's a nine.
**Rooster:** Chef
**Gizmo:** Ricky.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. This cigar. Agreed. Was loaded with flavor.
Um, down to the very end I freaking burnt like the epidermal layer of my fingers [01:31:00] here. Um, it was delicious. Um, and you know for all the shit that, uh, just these limited production cigars get. The LCDH cigars Get on on, on our pod. I'm gonna give this one a 10.
**Bam Bam:** Wow. Wow.
**Chef Ricky:** You know, it delivered, it delivered for a
**Bam Bam:** $50 cigar that you won't ever, ever find
That's a 10.
**Chef Ricky:** That's, that's okay. He might go out and find
**Rooster:** it. You know what? You might try to find it, the experience that he had tonight. Listen,
**Chef Ricky:** we, I'm with you on that. We gave this tequila a 10 and maybe after this pod, we'll never see it again. Uh, but you know, it was, it was a delicious cigar. It, it delivered flavor in a very strong manner.
There's something I'm not used to when, you know, it's almost, uh, what you don't expect from a Cuban, you know, Cuban is usually a little bit more balanced or creamy, uh, you know, Baking and here you had all of those Cuban flavors, but just [01:32:00] super intense all the way through Uh, and I really enjoyed that. I had zero construction issues.
My wrapper didn't tear Um, I kept it out of BamBam's big hands, so it was safe Um, I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed it and um Yeah, you know, look, it's a box of 10, um, you know, so it, it's not like, it is a substantial investment if you choose to get a box, but it's not something that, you know, you're not paying 800, 900 bucks for it.
So if you really want it, if you really want the experience, it's, it's worth having as a special occasion stick. And I think it's kind of fun to be able to really enjoy a full flavor cube and, and, you know, and it's 40 degrees outside. But you know, it delivered an experience that was really warming and good points and, and, and just, although I would never smoke this outside, no, no, I wouldn't smoke it outside.
Just, you know, I, I just, it was very full of flavor, uh, with, you know, medium strength delivery. And I really enjoyed that. [01:33:00] I enjoyed that a lot.
**Grinder:** All right. Grindr. I, I'm usually not a, uh, a person who. Well, over index on price, because I like to review the product for the product, not, not the, not the marketing or how they get to the, to the bottom line on the, on the price point.
So if I discount that, um, which I, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm definitely doing here. I I'm giving it a 10 because the, the. You know, the experience for what it is, as Bam says, for tonight, this cigar, what I've experienced, you know, that, that to me is, is, you know, I took this thing all the way down and it was falling apart and it was still smoking phenomenally.
And I've been in those scenarios, we all have been, where I've just, you know,
**Gizmo:** So the, the one thing I want to say on your point about price and marketing and factoring that in technically from Habano standpoint, it's, this is a 22 cigar, the secondary market, which they have no control over the auction market, that's where it's at 48.
Maybe [01:34:00] because people have experienced the cigar being good the way we've experienced it's demanding that price, but technically it's a 22 cigar from their standpoint.
**Grinder:** So, so, you know, I mentioned before when we, we did a quick synopsis or summary of the cigar, the, the, the flavor profiles that I was getting, the nuance, the variability, but it was still consistent in those, in those different tastes, um, it really shined for me and, um, You know, the experience, it, it's, I couldn't believe how well it touched up itself, you know, after, after the start it had, uh, so the construction to me was good despite the, the thin wrapper, I think you just get that with Cuban cigars, you can't avoid that, um, it's gonna happen here and there, so, yeah, it's a, it, they knocked it out of the park for me, um, it's a 10.
Yeah,
**Chef Ricky:** and look, you have the Davidoff Maduro out there, right, it's a 50 stick, other than the fact that it's a Davidoff. I mean, you know, and it's, it's a good stick. Why is it getting that price? Right, this is a cigar that, you know, as you said, the MSRP on it is [01:35:00] 22. On a secondary market, it's getting a higher price.
Uh, but
**Bam Bam:** But we're not chasing that Davidoff Robusto. No, we're not. Unless we can find a deal. We're not sure. Because it's just so expensive. Yeah.
**Chef Ricky:** But this, this cigar delivered, you know. And I don't know if it's because I'm sitting in Senator's seat. I'm a little inspired, but. Yeah, no, I think it was, uh, yeah.
It's well worth it. Yeah. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Alright, Bam
**Gizmo:** Bam, you're up.
**Bam Bam:** So, tiebreaker. I'm more than a little frustrated tonight with this cigar. I want to give it an 8.
**Chef Ricky:** Well,
**Bam Bam:** that's not my rating. I want to give it an eight from the perspective of the unavailability of the cigar because it's a regional Why can't Habanos produce something like this on a more consistent basis?
It's frustrating. It's extremely frustrating You know, I want to enjoy I love all my Cuban cigars We all have great collections But I rarely get to sit and have that Vittola and get the experience that I had tonight in any other boxes [01:36:00] Cubans that I have in my tower and they're all great cigars
**Chef Ricky:** So, doesn't that mean the cigar deserves a higher score for that?
**Bam Bam:** Yes, and you've mentioned it earlier, I want to rate the cigar for what it is. I, maybe a hundred and some odd episodes ago, I never ever factored price in. As price increases have come and gone through the, through the Cuban catalog, it's become a factor for me, along with the availability. So I, I'm pissed off I want to give it an 8, but my rating tonight is a 9 because I love the cigar so much.
I can't give it a 10 because of the price, because of its unavailability, how much we've, we've completely shit on most of the regionals that we've had. It's the best regional that I think we've ever had and probably will have. I, I challenge anyone to find another regional that's this good. You're not going to find it.
It's very rare. There's frustration there. It's awful from the point of view of manufacturing production. So I'm at a nine. I love the cigar. Great night.[01:37:00]
**Gizmo:** It is your own regional Portugal at a 9. 4. Yeah,
**Bam Bam:** that's very high,
**Gizmo:** which excellent. Look, it tasted that for San Cristobal. That is the highest rating we've ever had on a San Cristobal cigar from Cuba.
**Bam Bam:** What was your rating again?
**Gizmo:** My my rating was at nine.
**Bam Bam:** So look, the flavor commanded that. That rating, but all of the other factors, which is the reason why you and I weren't at a 10.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. And also the fact that, like I said, I don't ever see myself having the cigar. I'm not going to go out and chase it at that price. And it's very limited. Only 8, boxes made. So it's really tough. So boys, let's compare that to the other three cigars we've done from son Cristobal de la Habana. La Punta on episode 32 scored a 5.
**Bam Bam:** 9. That's a good fertilizer cigar, by the way, by the way, grows really good tomatoes. We have
**Gizmo:** another one. What's funny about the La Punta tuxedo, Timmy sent us La Punta.
**Bam Bam:** Oh, I look at another one. I look at tuxedo, Tim. I look at that cigar almost every day. So that's
**Gizmo:** [01:38:00] that's going to be the next on crystal ball.
We do. Actually, it was supposed to be until tonight when I had my little brain fart. But, uh, that was a 5. 9 on episode 32. He sent us some more. So we're going to try that one again on episode 94, the edition regional hero, Malaya scored a 5. 8, even worse than the La Punta and that cigar, the hero, my Malaya.
Addisio and regional for Malaysia is the sister cigar to this, you know, released in the same year, same timeframe, uh, as this one. And finally, the El Principe, the little one on episode 132 scored a 9. 2. Yeah,
**Bam Bam:** that was delicious. So this
**Gizmo:** scored two points better than that.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** So all in all, boys, a great night tonight.
Of course, we have to thank Lizard Pablo for sending us these great cigars. Excellent cigar. Lizard Mike, again, for sending us these great cigars. This wonderful tequila, excellent tequila. Talk about batting a thousand lizard. Mike is batting a thousand
**Bam Bam:** true. And tonight's experience was delicious all around.
Just fantastic.
**Rooster:** Wait, we didn't, uh, wait the topo Chico. I wanted [01:39:00] to rate the topo Chico.
**Gizmo:** Topo Chico is a 10. It's a 10. It's a, it's a, it's a great minimal, great mineral water. I love the glass bottle.
**Chef Ricky:** The best mineral water.
**Gizmo:** And we have to shout out Lizard Bo, our Lizard of the Week. Thanks, of course, to him for writing in.
We always appreciate a good email, especially when it blasts a lizard. I think Chef Ricky got a little accountability tonight. Unadditive free.
**Bam Bam:** Chef was fighting
**Chef Ricky:** back, though, a
**Bam Bam:** little
**Chef Ricky:** bit. No, no, no. He put out some great facts out there. It was a great email. Did
**Rooster:** he mention which Michelin star restaurant? He didn't.
No, I can
**Grinder:** ask him. I would take an expert in tequila on a judgment of tequila than over an expert. in wine on a judgment of tequila any day. So chef Ricky, I think you still have the upper hand in my book.
**Gizmo:** And of course, boys, we have to thank our sponsor Fabrica 5. They're a great partner to us and a great night boys.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. Great
**Gizmo:** conversation. Great pairing. Wow. Both of them were great, and, uh, we'll see everybody next week. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You can [01:40:00] find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, LoungeLizardsPod. com. That's LoungeLizards, P O D, dot com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
If you have any comments, questions, if you want to reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us, hello, at LoungeLizardsPod. com. You can also find us on Instagram at lounge lizards pod. We really appreciate your time and we'll, uh, we'll see you next week.