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The lizards pair the Vegas Robaina Unicos with Akashi White Oak Japanese Whisky. The guys discuss the history of the marca and its' founder Don Alejandro Robaina, they reveal one of the greatest Lizard cigars of all time and Bam refuses to share cigars with Pagoda.
Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
**Gizmo:** [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Lists podcast. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars, as well as whiskey, travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo, and tonight I'm joined by Roosters, Senator Pagoda, and bam bam.
And our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some whiskey, talk about life, and of course, have some laughs. So take this as your 38th official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge, lizard plan of music here once a week. We're gonna smoke Cupitt cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal
**Senator:** lizard rating.
**Gizmo:** We discussed legendary Cuban tobacco farmer Don Alejandro Robia. We reveal one of the lizard's greatest cigars of all time, and bam, refuses to share cigars with pagoda, all among a variety of other things for the next hour. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we pair Akashi White oak Japanese whiskey with the Vegas Romania Unicos, another Cuban pyramid on the pod.
[00:01:00] Tonight we continue our Battle of the pyramids with the Vegas Romania Unicos, which is a 52 ring gauge by six and an eighth inches cigar. And since I got these boxes, uh, this box guys, I, um, I've really kind of been enamored with the wrapper on it. Yeah. Like every time I open the box, it's like, I don't wanna use the word optical illusion, but it's just for some reason when these all are sitting in the, in, in a row mm-hmm.
you know, 13 in a row on the top of the box, it's just like, it's like mesmerizing how good these cigars look. This is
**Bam Bam:** a Colorado wrapper, right?
**Senator:** On this.
**Gizmo:** I don't know, I mean, I don't know if they call it a Colorado,
**Senator:** but
**Bam Bam:** I bread. Really? Yep. Just earlier today. Hmm. I'm not sure if that's accurate, but I mean from like Denver, , denver cigar denver cigars.com.
That's where I get my info. .
**Gizmo:** So this is from the Upton factory, G e m, uh, September, 2021. Gm. GM is good. GM's a good code box code. So I've only had one out of [00:02:00] the, uh, this box when I got, I got it about probably, what, two months ago? I'd say two, three months ago. I haven't had another one since that first one.
It was good. Uh, it wasn't great, but I think it was just a little too humid. So we'll see how we do on the pods. So yeah, f
**Rooster:** o h actually when they reviewed the stick,
**Gizmo:** yeah, it was the same box code. Really?
**Rooster:** Oh, good. Gm? Uh, maybe it was May
or
**Gizmo:** good. Okay. Well I'm hopeful and uh, I guess we'll see how we do, but let's cut this thing boys.
See what we're getting on the, uh, cold draw the wrapper.
We have a lot of love for Vegas, Romania in this room. We could talk about that in a little bit. But they only make two cigars right now. They make this the Unicos and they make the, uh, osis. The Osis, which is a hermosa, like a number four Corona extra little thing. It's only five inches long. 48 ring gauge.
So I like the wrapper. It smells great. It does
**Senator:** the, the wrapper smells great and wow, the cold draw puts off a lot of
**Gizmo:** flavor. Mm mm [00:03:00] It's like fruity.
**Bam Bam:** Yep. Bake, uh, maybe a tad baking spice.
**Gizmo:** I don't, I hesitate to use the word leather cuz I don't mean it in a Sir Winston type of sense. Leather. No, there is leather, but there's something there that's a little leathery.
Like old, like old
**Senator:** leather. Yeah. Yeah. Right. I can see that. It
**Bam Bam:** tastes old. What year is this? 21.
**Gizmo:** Oh boy. These are young babies. Interesting. Like I said, hopefully the, uh, . Hopefully the moisture is, is handled appropriately. They've been in my tower for about two months, so. And do you
**Senator:** get chocolate when you
**Gizmo:** smell the wrapper?
I do. I'm the wrapper, absolutely. Chocolate, like cocoa. I got like coffee. Like
**Rooster:** coffee.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. I get the coco, like, yeah. Yeah. It's a really beautiful constructed cigar. Like I said, the wrapper, I think is, is, is, is rustic, I want to say, but it's, it's really well constructed. It sounds, it sounds great. How much are these?
It looks great. That's a really good question right now. I mean, after the price jump. Oh, no one knows what things are. Yeah. I mean they're probably, uh, they're probably 20 bucks a stick. Okay. [00:04:00] Wow. That's, you know, before, I think when I bought these, I got them for like 14 or 15. Wow. I think now they're about, probably about 20.
Okay. So the
**Senator:** good old days. 2020 .
**Gizmo:** All right, boys, let's light this thing. The Vegas Romania unicos, again, it's a pyramid 52 ring gauge by sixth and one eighth inches. And we have high hopes for this thing. You really gotta light this thing. Yeah, you do. I've found that with every one of these that I've had.
It really takes a lot of flame.
**Senator:** I don't mind it though. Like Bam said, it smells incredible.
**Gizmo:** It smells so good. It's so good. Yeah. All right. Let's see what we're doing
**Senator:** here. I've gone through probably half a tank of butane going just to light this.
**Gizmo:** Oh, that's good.
**Rooster:** Milk chocolate. Yeah, coffee, right? Coffee with cream. Coffee.
**Gizmo:** Conk. [00:05:00] It really reminds me of an uping too, which we haven't done yet on the pod, but it kind of, it's in that family for me. I kind of think, right. As far as flavor,
**Senator:** I agree with that. Just for, with this though, I, I feel like richer, darker
**Rooster:** flavors.
Deeper than it, deeper flavors of mond too, but, uh mm-hmm. . Yeah. I mean, you get, you get leather. I mean, I get some
**Gizmo:** leather and definitely. Like coffee, coffee, coffee.
**Bam Bam:** Oh, I definitely get the coffee. And little, little fruity and little cocoa and little fruit.
**Gizmo:** Little dried fruit. Yeah. Very complex.
**Bam Bam:** All those things make for a great, great
**Gizmo:** start.
So if the whole
**Rooster:** cigar would taste like the
**Gizmo:** beginning, oh, , it's gonna
**Senator:** 10. Typical, you would have
**Gizmo:** many nines in this room. Never the case. Lot of nines and tens. Yeah. You know, so, so far, uh, the battle of the pyramids, let's go through what we've done. We did, uh, bbb F the, well bbb F I guess is Aela coosa. We'll kind count it.
But we won Mon two Monte Monte two, right. We've done the P two. Yep. P two. Uh, we did the San Crisal. Uh oh. The La Punta. La [00:06:00] Punta. We'll count that. We'll put that one on the bench that's in
**Bam Bam:** the garbage can right now. .
**Gizmo:** Yeah, we did, we didn't do the UND two. We didn't do the UND two. That No. Or the, uh, Diplo two.
And the Diplo two. And I think that's kind of covered. We did the P two as well. Yes. Yeah, we did the P two. So, . We're kind of, yeah, we have a couple left, but a wonderful vitola from Havana. This is, this is fantastic. What was
**Rooster:** sort a rating on the Monty two compared to the E two? The P two, you mean? P P two, I mean, was uh, the Monty higher or was
**Gizmo:** the P two higher?
I don't remember. We'd have
**Bam Bam:** to look. Yeah, vaguely remember the P two being
**Gizmo:** a bit higher. Yeah. But I think the Monte two did perform well and was surprising in the, and it was delicious. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think both of them were in the eights worth looking up. Yeah. I, I, I can, this so far has like
**Rooster:** more strength than any of the torpedo that we have had so far, even more than the [00:07:00] P two, I think.
I agree with that. Definitely. Definitely the Monty two
**Gizmo:** for sure. Yeah. But the more, more
**Rooster:** body. More body, more like concentrated flavors.
**Gizmo:** Mm-hmm. , I think a
**Senator:** hundred percent more than the P two. All of 'em. Yeah. Yeah. I'm
**Gizmo:** with you. Would you call this a full cigar? For, for Hao? For Havanas, I would, I think this is probably on the higher end.
Well,
**Rooster:** the, I mean, we just lit it, right? So let's see how
**Gizmo:** it goes. Yeah. Yeah.
**Senator:** But the reason I'm saying that is just I, I feel like most cigars on the light start off as light as they're ever gonna get. Mm-hmm. . And they only pick up in strength if they're even going to pick up. So the fact that this already, I think, starts full.
Yeah. I mean, it, it can only get stronger
**Gizmo:** from here. Yep. Yeah. How do
**Rooster:** you like it? Pagoda?
**Gizmo:** No, I'm really enjoying it. I'm, uh, actually
**Bam Bam:** pleasantly surprised, I think because of that increasing strength profile. Yeah. PU would probably throw down in about three minutes, ,
**Gizmo:** but he does love an up in two, and I do think that this is mm-hmm.
it's kind of in the wheelhouse. Maybe a little bit more of an oomph. Fave right this second. Yeah. I love,
**Bam Bam:** you know, love, love the up mitu, [00:08:00] man. Oh yeah.
**Gizmo:** I can't wait to do that. Cigar. Spectacular cigar. So, uh, the Unico, uh, comes in box of, uh, it only comes in dress box of 25. . Uh, and it was, it was originally released in 1997, which is when the Vegas Robia Marco was initially launched by Havanas and the namesake, uh, Vegas Robia is named after, uh, the very, very famous Cuban tobacco farmer, Don Alejandro Robia, where if you bought a box of Vegas Romania cigars prior to 2022, his face, his, uh, his likeness was actually on each of the boxes.
And they actually just recently changed that. I don't know if you guys saw, there's a little bit of an uproar. They've pulled his, why didn't they
**Senator:** change it? I actually liked it. You know why? Bicycles
**Gizmo:** boxes. We have, you know why I think they did guys A legend, this is the rumor is they're trying to create more, he's a lizard.
They're trying , the OG lizard. He would, they're trying to create more white space on the boxes for the [00:09:00] various, uh, warning labels that governments impose on cigars. That's kind of the idea of, so they're just trying to create more space so that. , they don't cover stuff.
**Senator:** Why even bother to accommodate any of that?
I know, I know Jesus,
**Gizmo:** Jesus call Havanas. But, um, so Don uh, Don Alejandro Robia, like I said, very famous. He's one of the most famous ever. And what's interesting about him, legend, and what's interesting about him is that out of the farmers in Theta Abajo region in Cuba, each of Don uh, Don Alejandro's harvests 80% of what he harvested was deemed fit for use compared to 35% average Wow.
For every other farmer. So this guy became a legend of growing, harvesting, and producing just really high quality tobacco and then efficiently producing. Exactly. And then they gave him, uh, they, you know, they created a, a market, you know, uh, celebrating [00:10:00] him. Does, does he
**Rooster:** produce tobacco for other brands, or is it just
**Gizmo:** his mm-hmm.
Yeah, he was a producer for many, many years. I mean, he died in 2009. Um, so he was a very, you know, in the rise of Ivans in sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, he was one of the premier farmers of, of Cuban
**Rooster:** Gar. So I guess on the, on the band, uh, of the cigar, there's, there's a ear on this 1845. Any idea what that means?
**Gizmo:** Apparently the Robia family, that is when they started producing tobacco in Cuba, uh, was in the Vota Abajo region. They started producing tobacco in 1845, but he himself became a legend cuz he really revolutionized the process. Of planting, growing and harvesting tobacco. So it took from
**Rooster:** 1845 to 19. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** 19 60, 19 97 . Wow. Yeah. It took till 1997 till they gave him his own marker. But that's how revolutionary is. He's a, he's a perfectionist. Yeah, absolutely. . And you know, [00:11:00] like we said, there's only two current production cigars, uh, currently being made by Rubia. Uh, by Haos. And that's the, the Osis and the Unicos.
Uh, and then they had some very popular cigars that were discontinued, including the Don Alejandro, which was a double Corona, which is a stab in my heart because I, I wish there were more. Mm-hmm. , Havanas, double Coronas, more loo, you know, loosies, Gigantes and, and Hoyos. I mean, there's not a ton of them out there.
Yeah. And then of course, boys our favorite, the legend. The Rubia Classicos, the best, the goat, the best ever. That is the
**Senator:** goat. The Michael Jordan of, yeah.
**Gizmo:** Cubans. So that was an also original release. It was at Lonsdale 42, reengaged by six and a half. And that was discontinued in 2012. So I gotta tell you, that specific cigar was the cigar that changed my whole perspective about cigars.
Not even just Cuban cigars. Mm-hmm. , [00:12:00] because I had only had a few before. You really, you gave me that cigar rooster. And you gave all, you know, you introduced it to all of us. Actually, I think Puba, Puba Puba gave us the first one too. So he gave me the cigar, rooster gave me the first cigar, but Puba brought it to the group.
Uh, and that cigar changed my perspective on same. What a great cigar. Same. Same. I mean, I'll never forget where I was, the circumstances, the temperature outside what was on tv, . It was one of those pivotal moments in my, in my, I I, I hesitate to say the word life, but it's so. Foundational for my love of cigars.
How old were you? Guz? , .
**Senator:** 12 . We didn't all
**Bam Bam:** have that together, did
we?
**Senator:** No, no. So how, how that started, and this all starts with Puba. Puba had gotten not a box, but some singles of them. Yeah. And he came by the lounge here. It was just me and him one night, and he's like, Senator, you have to try this cigar. And at the time I wasn't really [00:13:00] smoking anything smaller in ring gauge than a Ribo that was like my go-to.
So this was Lonsdale. So I'm like, okay, this is a smaller ring gauge. Um, I had never actually had a Vegas robinia until that point, so it wasn't familiar with the brand. So I was highly skeptical going in, and Puba just kept saying, trust me, you're gonna be blown away when you have this cigar. And kind of like you said, you remember exactly where you were and like everything happening, like I was sitting right here where I am right now, and right on the light.
I could not believe how incredible the flavor was on that cigar. And, um, then I was gushing about this. I think Rooster was talking to you the next day. So then I think Puba had started sharing with, uh, everyone else, and I think everyone's review was unanimous. Like, we love that cigar.
**Bam Bam:** Then you bought a few boxes.
So Rooster
**Senator:** found a source for them, right? We all bought a box. Yeah. Yeah. I got one box.
**Gizmo:** I have a box. Box. Yeah. We all have the same date, same code. And I got my first
**Senator:** [00:14:00] one from Senator. Okay. That's right. Uh, the night at my, uh, at my place, I Beck, dude, I
**Bam Bam:** was in your seat. Gibel. Yep. And I, I was kind of speechless for a while, but I started gushing about the cigar.
It was just,
**Senator:** it's that, it's that good. It's a game changer. Yeah. Game
**Gizmo:** changer. Senator said the Michael Jordan of cigars. Yeah. Yeah. Very accurate. It, it to me is the, of cigars to me of all time. I have a box of probably 15 of them. I just ignore that I have them cuz I don't, I haven't pulled one out in a year, year and a half,
**Senator:** probably same.
Uh, the, the last time I opened, it was like a year ago giving one to bam. I mean, it's just, we can't replace them, so I'm so hesitant to pull for one now. Yeah. Is it really that hard to find? They're, they're gone. They're, they don't never made '
**Gizmo:** em since 2012. They're 10. They haven't made 'em in 10 years.
**Bam Bam:** They've gotta be somewhere in the world in some collection somewhere.
**Senator:** Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure there's yeah. Singles, but no one's got multiple, like tons of boxes of those.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. We hit the, you know, we hit the jackpot when Rooster found that source and, and we all got boxes. We wiped them out and thank God we did because it's just [00:15:00] the greatest cigar that I've ever had.
And we also
**Senator:** got lucky
**Gizmo:** with the year we did. It was a
**Senator:** 2011, right? That's exactly right. Yes. And I know Rooster had sourced an even older box and I thought that was very good. My preference is still the 2011. Yeah, me too. But um, ma'am, I wish they would bring that cigar back.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. It's really sa you know, we, we talk about violas that are kind of out of fashion.
And I don't understand why Lonsdale double Coronas, two of these cigars that they canceled in the, in the, uh, you know, 2000 tens. Um, I wish they made more of '
**Senator:** em. It's so funny. Just going back to Robia, how you were talking about, um, obviously they're legendary, that family for just the amazing tobacco that they produced there.
When you're in, in London, and I'm sure other parts of Europe, there are, I remember one of the times I went to London, someone was telling me to stop at Souder very famous place to have cigars in, in London, and, uh, he said, go to Souder and ask them for the Robia farm roll. It's unbounded that he, I guess, ships out to [00:16:00] some retailers and I was so disappointed they were sold out.
He's like, they fly off the shelf. He's like, if you were here a day or two ago, you would've got some . So I've never gotten to try these, but I've heard they're like, unbelievable. They're completely unbounded. Cool. That's
**Gizmo:** wild. . I wonder, and I wonder, you know, are they just, are they growing it in that region on his farms?
Are, are his people rolling it? Like I'm, I'm curious what the, the history on this, the process is on, on the farm roll is
**Rooster:** that, isn't that one of the guys we buy used to buy from, calls it g o d? Isn't that a, isn't that, that's that stick. I
**Gizmo:** mean, who knows though, apparently.
**Rooster:** I mean, it's interesting.
Apparently it's a non, it's a, I guess it's a, it's not a lawns tail. It's, it's a little bigger ring gauge. It's a little bigger thing. A little bigger. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, look
**Gizmo:** at, look at the burn on this. I mean, it's a great cigar, right, guys, right? Yeah. The burn. I, I would definitely still classify this as full, uh, you know, we're about what, three quarters of an inch in I would, medium, medium, medium.
**Senator:** I would say medium full. [00:17:00] But what I'm just really encouraged by is it's very smooth. The delivery of all this flavor, which I've only had one or two of these before this. And one in particular I found to be really harsh and rough around the edges, and maybe it was just too young. Yep. What, what year did you say this
**Gizmo:** is?
These are 20 ones. Wow. Yeah, they're, uh, they're, again, they're up in factory, g m September 21. Hmm.
**Rooster:** Cool. Yeah. So the, the draw is not like wide open. It's got a
**Gizmo:** little, little resistance. Yeah. Let's just, just a touch, which I kind of like that. I like that. Yeah, I do too. I don't like when a cigar is like really wide open.
Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** If it was wide open, gust will be done by now. Oh, . If it was wide open, pagoda would be done by now. .
**Senator:** Yeah.
**Rooster:** I think this cigar is in pagodas wheelhouse. It is. It absolutely is. A
**Gizmo:** lot's, a lot of flavor. Some strength for sure. So what does this rank for you and with, with your pallet versus some of the other, uh, pyramids that we've had? I, the P two, the Monte two, the, I do like the P two a lot. Yeah. I like
**Rooster:** to pee [00:18:00] too.
Yeah. I
**Gizmo:** prefer the P two, the mon two .
**Bam Bam:** But this is, this is, this is nice. Dad joke. Rooster . Yeah. . Is it nap time
**Senator:** yet? soon,
**Rooster:** Ben.
**Gizmo:** But this is, this is excellent. Yeah. I'm really enjoying it. The flavor is very complex for me in my mouth. It's in a way that, you know, there's a lot going on. It's, it, it coats the roof of your mouth.
It's, it's got a little pep, little, little spice to it or something that's kicking me around in a good way. And there's sweetness
**Senator:** there. I'll also say, I think this is one of those few Cubans that is very new world esque, that if you gave to someone who only smokes New World sticks, would immediately appreciate this.
Like, there's no transition to have this. And like if you're, let's say if you smoke a Millennium pyramid regularly, I think if you light one of these up, you'd instantly be hooked.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. I think this, I totally agree. I think this would, you know, go very well [00:19:00] for a new world smoker.
**Bam Bam:** There is some strength in this cigar.
Yes, there is. Um, as you're getting into it, I'd say it's medium. Okay. But more full than medium for me.
**Senator:** I think medium full.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I gotta say smell it at the burn line or it's burning. Yeah. Smells so good. There's, there's like a mustiness coming off of it. Yeah. And it's not aged. It's not like an aged mustiness, but there's something coming off the lines.
I think it's that old
**Rooster:** leather smell that you get.
**Gizmo:** Has anyone had an old Unico Rooster is
**Rooster:** dark. Yes. I have an oh eight box.
**Gizmo:** Ah,
**Senator:** we look forward to trying this . Yes, same
**Rooster:** My, of course, you have an O eight box. My Venmo is
**Gizmo:** at Lizard Rooster .
**Bam Bam:** Guys, I use Venmo so much with you guys. Like my son's nickname is Venmo at this point.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. So, uh, like I said, Don Alejandro Robo died in 2010. Uh, he was [00:20:00] diagnosed with cancer in I guess oh nine. Um, but like I said, I, I just think it's a sin that some of these great violas have been canceled because, you know, they were not, they were loved cigars, but beloved cigars by the cigar community.
And it's just unfortunate that they, they got rid of some of these. I wish they'd bring 'em back. Do you know what type of cancer? I don't. I don't. That's a little scary. .
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Not to change the subject from something so grim. This Japanese whiskey
**Gizmo:** is delicious. Yeah, let's talk about it. The akashi white oak, very drinkable.
I gotta say the bottle was surprising to me when I picked it up. Yeah. It's, it's not a traditional whiskey bottle that I would know. Yeah,
**Rooster:** it looks like a Hendrix. It does gem bottle.
**Gizmo:** It does. and it's got a really cheap screw top on it. like, it's like an aluminum screw top that if you turned it upside down, I think would fall right off.
How much was was that? It was 70 bucks. Now I was told by Senator that that price is quite high, extremely
**Senator:** high. So a a, a Astra wine in the [00:21:00] city, very famous wine shop. They have it for 50 and in, in Manhattan, everything is more than what we pay out here for our That's ridiculous. So you could even find it cheaper than 50 other places.
I don't know how total wine, I, I honestly think that Total Wine made a mistake on the
**Gizmo:** pricing. Probably. Well, your, your boy Gizmo took care of it
**Rooster:** as Astra is a big place, right? Astra huge. Great wine shop. Huge wine merchant. Yeah. A lot of online and
**Senator:** uh, yeah. And they got a huge store. Yeah. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Downtown.
Downtown. Yep. This is a really good cigar. I'm enjoying the, uh, the whiskey as well. Me too. What do you, what do you think of
**Senator:** it? Gray pairing? I think it's pretty good. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** It's a nice pairing. It kind of reminds me of, uh, one of the scotches that we did on, on the nose. ,
**Senator:** the, the, the flavor notes in this should be more single malt scotch like.
So it's not a scotch Japanese,
**Gizmo:** it's a whiskey, it's not a scotch,
**Senator:** but the notes are, are more similar to, to an actual single malt scotch. Um, I can talk a little bit about what's actually in the
**Gizmo:** glass. Yeah, [00:22:00] I'd really, I'd love to know more
**Senator:** about it. So, just quickly on the distillery, uh, white Oak, uh, was established in 1888.
It's the oldest distillery in Japan, which I was surprised about. Cause I feel like Suntry is known as like the distillery in Japan. But these, these guys are even older. What was the year? I'm sorry I missed it. Uh, 1888. Wow. Um, and they were the first distillery in 19 19, 4 years before Suntry to obtain a license to make whiskey.
They were initially saki brewers and didn't make whiskey until 40 years into when they were established. And so this what we're drinking, the akashi is sort of their introductory uh, expression. And it's a blend of 70% corn grain and 30% malted bartley. It's slightly ped, which is why I think you get some of the more single malt scotch type notes from the Pete
**Gizmo:** that's here.
What's interesting though, I wouldn't have called out Pete had you Not at all. Yeah, I [00:23:00] had you not said that. I would never have called that out. Same here.
**Senator:** And then it's age for at least three years in X bourbon barrels and finished in cherry casts, which we obviously all love. So, um, I've seen it on just a number of lists as like a, a good introductory Japanese blend, uh, blended whiskey.
And, uh, it's not bad. The one thing I will say I immediately noticed that I didn't expect, and I'm not happy about, it's, uh, , it's very light, not in body and taste, uh, literally the, the consistency of the liquid. It's really, really light.
**Bam Bam:** We may need to try it, uh, neat. Without ice. Yeah. That's to get the true essence
**Senator:** of it.
**Gizmo:** Maybe that's true, but
**Rooster:** that's kind of typical of Japanese whiskeys, right? Oh, I thought that
**Senator:** one that we had, the, the, you guys, the ni of coffee still we had that had it was vis viscosity. Yeah. Even the hibiki has some viscosity, but this is really just thin. It, it, it's, yeah. It's not got much Right.
Viscosity or
**Bam Bam:** body to it. I'm looking at it in your glass. It looks like a glass of water. [00:24:00] Right. The way it's, it's it's moving around in your cup, right?
**Gizmo:** Yeah. I feel like, I feel like I enjoy it though. I feel like the scotch that this is reminding me of, and you may say I'm crazy. I know you're like a psalm in your taste, your palate.
Like, almost like a Doomo 12. It's something like when on the nose I'm getting a little, do more on the nose. That is
**Senator:** not a bad
**Gizmo:** comparison at all. Yeah, that's the, that's the one I'm thinking of. The Domo
**Senator:** 12. I, I get sweetness on the nose a little
**Gizmo:** bit, and we did that about, I don't know, five, 10 episodes back.
But it, I, I remember that one. I, I think I liked the sun to re better than this. The Hibiki, you mean? No, no, the suny the Suntry. Yeah. That was the affordable, it's like 35, 40 a bottle. Yeah. Yeah. I definitely think I liked that better than this, but maybe without ice, you know, in a second pour. Sure. We should try that and see if it, uh, if it changes at all.
Are you, are you guys getting a bit of harshness in the back,
**Senator:** like so before the ice melted? Yeah. Yeah, I did. And now that the ice is melted, it's smoothed out. So I, I definitely think that this is probably something, uh, to have on the rocks, [00:25:00] but we'll see when we try a little bit neat. Maybe in a little.
**Gizmo:** So I gotta say about what?
An inch and a half into the unico here.
**Bam Bam:** Beautiful, beautiful, bright
**Gizmo:** white ash. I am really enjoying the cigar. Yeah. Honestly, I was a little hesitant coming into in here today, , because the ones I've had in the past, including the one I had outta this box, like right off the truck, I was not very impressed with.
So I was curious like, you know, how's this gonna do tonight for us? And it, it's definitely overperforming my expectations coming in here tonight. I, I,
**Senator:** same here. I honestly, I've never bought these because the one or two I've had in the past, I did not enjoy. I just found it to be very rough around the edges and just the flavors hadn't really married together in a way that I would've hoped.
But this is really, really good.
**Bam Bam:** It's good. I like it better at the first light, the first half inch than I do now. Um, it's still very nice. So I'm, uh, I've got some anticipation here as I go through
**Gizmo:** it. One aspect that I'm enjoying of this smoke is, is after I take the draw, . And when I slowly push the smoke out [00:26:00] of my mouth, I like how that's tasting on the tip of my tongue as it as it kind of like finally makes it, its exit outta my mouth.
That's a great point. It's really
**Senator:** delicious.
**Bam Bam:** Honestly, every cigar I have, I make it a point to draw the smoke across red, the tip. That's where I get a lot of my flavor.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, tip of the tongue. Yeah. Try
**Rooster:** also retro hailing.
**Gizmo:** Oh yeah. You get, you get a lot of, uh, flavor. I
**Senator:** also, at this point in the cigar now, it tastes very Monty too, like to me.
Ooh. When it started, I thought the flavors were much richer and deeper than that and they were. . But for some reason right now, I can see now it, it's, it, I I could literally feel like I'm smoking similar to what I just said. Yeah. It's mellow. The light me. Yeah. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** High flavor. And it's mellowing. Yeah. But let's dial down into that.
Are, are you, what aspect of the mon two are you like really pointing to? It's, I don't think it's the twang, right? It's more, is it more like
**Senator:** chocolate thing? No, but that's, but, but it's a little twang because I'm getting now saltiness in this.
**Gizmo:** Ah, okay. See, I'm not getting that yet. Is anyone else getting a, a bit
**Senator:** saltiness?
A little little bit, yeah. Yeah. And that reminds me of like [00:27:00] that twang and the monty too. So that, that's kind of where I'm coming from.
**Rooster:** I got a little bit of dried fruit or maybe some raisin like, uh, hint of it. Yeah. Hint of, uh,
**Senator:** agreed.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Yeah. It's my first unico, by the way.
**Gizmo:** Is it really? Yep. Never had it before.
**Rooster:** The aroma out of the smoke is That's great. Is intense. Yeah. It's like really, really
**Gizmo:** nice. And the smoke output on this thing is very good too. I'm, I'm kind of surprised by, how much smoke it's putting out. Absolutely. I also, the
**Senator:** construction on this, I mean, look at Rooster's Ash right now. Yeah, yeah. . I mean, look, we love Cubans.
I, I don't think the ash holds on Cubans the way that it does on some of the new worlds that we smoke, but this is unbelievable . I mean, if this were almost any other Cuban torpedo, this would be all over
**Gizmo:** right now I think Gizmo's got a great one. I think that was a hint to Ash.
**Bam Bam:** Yes. We don't want to, we don't wanna call Carson.
**Senator:** [00:28:00] Put, put very
**Rooster:** diplomatically by Senator . You
**Senator:** better ask that fucking steak. Let's see how look at. But look at that. I'm tapping it and it structure. Yeah. It won't come off. The structure is very good.
**Gizmo:** I I, I can go a little longer. Yeah, you
**Bam Bam:** can now that you've tapped it.
We don't know .
**Gizmo:** Yeah, you may loosen this up. That's a slight
**Senator:** fracture. Just, just hold it right over your shirt. Yes.
**Bam Bam:** Just ash on your lap. .
**Gizmo:** Good thing the carpet is gray. , . I am de I'm getting a little bit of the saltiness now. Mm-hmm. definitely coming very 90 too, like Yeah, it's very cool. It's very, very cool.
**Bam Bam:** I've got a question, though. Yeah. For 20 bucks, is it worth, is it worth the purchase for $20?
**Senator:** I mean, to me the jury's still out, right?
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Still. Okay. I think I, you know, I, I think having had these before, seeing how this one's performing to have a, a box or, you know, let's say after tonight 15 of these cigars, It's 20 of these cigars in my humidor and kind of tasting one every 90 days.
Hmm. That's cool. And you know, as they [00:29:00] age out, like, I'm not gonna reach for this once a week. Mm-hmm. , you know, I, I i, I, I do think though, having this one box that I have, I'll be very happy. I do, but I don't think I'm gonna accumulate like I do P two s or Right, right, right. Or up and twos or, or Monte twos.
Right. I mean, I've had, I have a problem with Yeah. I'm kind with you there right now. I'm with you there. I mean,
**Rooster:** after, after having this tonight, I, I kind of wanna revisit the older box that I have and see just, just a comparison as to what that would, so do we look like
**Senator:** Yeah. for
**Gizmo:** everything I've been reading, they say that these
**Rooster:** age really
**Gizmo:** well.
Yeah. So it seems like that's a pretty common thing. I mean, given our experience with several, thanks to Rooster and Puba, uh, several of the, of the Vegas Romanians, it seems like they. This, this marker really ages. Well, I mean, one thing
**Senator:** I also just noticed with this, the, the rapper is very thick.
**Gizmo:** It is, yep.
It has a kind of, it's a thick rust. You know the box of Kanye that I got? Yeah. That the rapper is like real thick. Yeah. Thick. Yeah. It's, it's, it's kind of close to that. Yeah. [00:30:00] What this is made in Niagua?
**Senator:** No, no. .
**Gizmo:** It's Petron. Petron makes this. But definitely, uh, one of the better Cubans I've, uh, really, really enjoyed.
I feel like this is definitely as close to your wheelhouse Yeah. As we can get. Maybe other than like our first episode, the Maduro one. Thank you that, you know that, that is like classic pagoda for me. Yeah. It's a big, as far as flavor, that's got a bunch MP two as well. Those, those have disappeared. , dude, I have,
**Rooster:** I can't, don't see those
**Gizmo:** anymore.
I have three. Boxes. Yeah. , .
**Senator:** No, I mean, since you got
**Gizmo:** your tower now, let's talk about that. Yeah. And it's nice. How happy are you? How house
**Bam Bam:** Tower? I'm very fucking unhappy right
**Senator:** now. Is it? Is it still
**Bam Bam:** in the garage? It's still in the garage. I have no enthusiasm for season. That thing. Not yet. Why?
**Gizmo:** Why,
**Senator:** why? Oh, you have to do, okay.
Ah, Jesus. No, no, no.
**Gizmo:** Listen here. Here we go. Let's get into this. That's where we go. Eight months of this
**Bam Bam:** shit. I've got huge bins of boxes of cigars. Now my anticipation, when I first ordered [00:31:00] this thing, it was on at a 10. It took eight months to get to me. I'm at like a three now. Why? But it's
**Senator:** here now. All right.
So let is it is, let me just clarify for
**Gizmo:** you.
**Rooster:** It's kind of like dating, like you dated this chick for like
**Gizmo:** 80 years. So Yeah. She's an old
**Rooster:** hag now. And
**Senator:** now you don't.
**Gizmo:** So you're like me with women. That's a joke. That's a joke. . It should be like
**Rooster:** a lease three years, you know,
**Gizmo:** buy back option. That's
**Senator:** true. That's true. ,
**Gizmo:** too much,
**Rooster:** too much mileage. No thanks.
**Gizmo:** So
**Senator:** here's the give it
**Bam Bam:** back. So I will be, I will be seasoning that thing this weekend. I made a promise to myself to get that.
**Senator:** The, the beauty of it, the seasoning process is so simple. I know. All you have to do is just like wipe it down with this sponge and salt water. We'll, salt and pepper. Put the oasis in there with the still water. Yes. That's,
**Gizmo:** it's all you gotta do. I've
**Bam Bam:** gotta un card it, get it downstairs. That's an effort. And then I'll start to do.
**Gizmo:** it'll happen. And then the, now then it'll be
**Rooster:** 2025.
**Senator:** Now that
**Bam Bam:** I'm paying a thousand dollars a box ofs for cigars. Yeah. [00:32:00] Yeah. My inventory's gonna stay
**Gizmo:** where it is for a while. Yeah. But you, you said you have them
**Rooster:** in a bin? In a I have in a Tupperware.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. You have boxes there already have. So don't you wanna get them out and put nicely display air movement?
Yeah. Do you wanna
**Bam Bam:** look at them? I do. I'm dying to look at them. Yes. I think bam, bam. This is embarrassing. .
**Gizmo:** Here's my question for you. And I'm, uh, you know, I know that I'm, I'm, I, I'm a little superstitious with it, but I feel like the moment you got your tower Yeah. The prices went through the roof. Exactly.
**Senator:** That was my immediate reaction. Soon as that happened, I was like, he cursed
**Gizmo:** us. He, you cursed us. I'm
**Senator:** gonna
**Bam Bam:** fill that tower with Philly Blondes, , and be very proud.
**Senator:** And
**Gizmo:** cigarettes, . I mean, man, I, you know, I, it was looking like a lot of the markers were gonna be what, seven, 10%. And then you see the price of the RAs.
Epi two s. Oh, ridiculous. Mon twos. I mean, RAs went from, you know, for a 50 cab, cuz we, we eat those things like m and [00:33:00] ms Yeah. You know, it, it went from like 5 60, 5 80 for a 50 cab and they're seven 20 now, you know, in a matter of three days.
**Senator:** Look, I have few regrets in life. Yeah. But not getting a second tower is easily one of my top regrets.
Sure. It's just like the cost of anything in life only goes up. And if you know that you're, you know, gonna be enjoying something for a while, especially cigars that only get better with age, there's no expiration date on these things. Yeah. I wish when prices were much better a few years ago, we would've just, we loaded up,
**Gizmo:** stocked up like this.
But I even feel, I mean, I, you know, with, with the, the buying spree that I, and we have been on and I kind of buy, you know, a lot of stuff for all of us. I'm glad that even prior to the last couple weeks with the prices going up, like I have 15, 20 boxes on the way that now. , I could resell them for 20, 30% profit, which I would never do.
No, but they're that much more expensive today than they were three weeks ago. Yeah, it's
**Bam Bam:** insane. Why don't you lease a bam BA's tower ? I might, I might. Thousand [00:34:00] dollars
**Rooster:** a foot. I mean, the, the, the price increase. I mean, had we had the tower, it would've actually paid for the tower. Yeah. Easy.
**Senator:** Yeah. You know what I mean?
Like, because when we, when we, no, I bought more boxes. Let's think about this. When we all first bought towers. Yeah. And obviously that was one of the earliest, I no exaggeration. Within three months of me getting the tower and ordering a ridiculous number of boxes, I paid for the tower. Yeah, you did.
Because I was buying in bulk Yep. At insanely lower rates than you would get at any, you know, retail shop or anywhere else. And it, I already got my money back. Sure. To your point now forget getting your money back. I mean, you'd make your money
**Gizmo:** hand over fist. That's right. Yeah. Yep. And I, you know, I did the same, you know, when, when I got my tower last summer, if you remember.
Within three, four months, it was completely full. And I'm, I was back into Tupperware, you know, and obviously I'm smoking a lot more Cubans now, but it's also like I'm gra I'm glad that I have four or five boxes of D four s four or five boxes of money two s because now to replace them it's [00:35:00] co arguably cost prohibitive.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. And what's funny is, you know, when I, when I'm not with our group here and I'm with Townies, they are constantly asking me, uh, are you only smoking Cubans? Cuz I never bring a new world with me anymore. I'm always reaching for Cubans. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I, I would say become a habit. I would say my consumption is at least three or four to one.
Yeah, me too. Cuban to New World. Me too. I mean, I, if we have a, you know, I was with Senator yesterday and thankfully he gave me two, uh, cuz I didn't bring enough cuz I, I wasn't planning on it, but I had three or four Cubans and, and I think I had four Cubans, two new worlds yesterday, right? Hmm. There was four in one or three and two.
I had five sticks. But. Or six sticks. But anyway, you know, I smoke way more Cubans than I do the new world, you know? But the thing that I must say is even at, let's say a, a Vegas Romanian Unico that we're smoking now at 20 bucks, it's still kind of reasonably priced versus a lot of the new worlds that we kind of [00:36:00] reach for.
That's true. You know, dat offs are not, not cheap. Nope. Patrons are certainly creeping up there too. Yep. So, you know, everything's going up, I guess. But the only thing is availability, right? Like the thing. Yes. That's the problem. And the weight. You know, you, you go online, you buy a box of patrons, you have 'em in two days.
You go online, you buy a box of Cubans from a good source. In Australia. In Australia, and it takes 40 days. Yeah. You know, and the other thing that we're seeing too, and I don't know if we've really talked about this as a group, but I think the gray market vendors are really in trouble here. You know, a lot of these guys just don't have stock.
They are compensating for that with the stuff they have. Their prices are just through the roof, they're served. Yeah. You know, un unfortunately we're buying direct through a a ho Bonos retailer, but, you know, it's, it's gonna become cost prohibitive, especially on the secondary market, you know, trying to get Cuban.
Well, I mean, it's just,
**Rooster:** do you, do you think there's a point where the consumer [00:37:00] just kind of stop smoking a lot of these Cuban BR brands because they're gonna be, you know, it's gonna be out. They're gonna outprice
**Gizmo:** them. I've seen a lot of stuff on the forums on Reddit where guys are saying, I'm done with Cubans.
And I, I don't know if I, a lot of it's hyperbole or I, I don't know if I believe 'em per se, but I don't think you're wrong. But I don't think anything's gonna change until they're able to catch, I
**Rooster:** mean, especially production, Cohibas and Trinidads, I mean, for
**Gizmo:** sure. I mean, that's like
**Bam Bam:** ridiculous. Well see.
Wouldn't a reduction in demand decrease prices over time?
**Gizmo:** Eventually, but they still have such a backlog of, of, uh, yeah. Orders, production and orders. I see. And they have a, uh, supply issue. That's their problem is it's not even in any way. So that's what I think cabanas is. Playing a short game, not a long game with pricing saying we're not able to keep up anyway, so we might as well raise the price and we're still gonna sell the same amount of cigars.
**Senator:** Yeah. Yeah. I mean that, that's the problem, right? Like even if, and I do believe that you will see far, I shouldn't say far, you will see fewer consumers [00:38:00] purchase Cubans as a result of the, these price increases, right? Yes. Like this, this hobby requires disposable income. Yep. And you look at some of the prices now, there are absolutely guys that are gonna sit there and say, I used to be able to buy this cigar for 12, $13 and now you want me to pay 2020 $2 a stick that I'm not gonna do that.
Yep. And there are alternatives that they're gonna find to fulfill that. Sure, sure. So I think that will happen. But the problem is right for the the retailer, well are they gonna be able to move sticks? They are. Because all they have to do, I mean, you think about demand got so. I remember years ago there were not quantity restrictions on boxes on the websites Never that we ordered for.
Never, dude. Yeah. They didn't exist. That only happened within the last year or two during the pandemic. Yeah. And now most of them, it's like limit two boxes of, of one kind of cigar per customer. Some even limit one. So if they were, if there were demand issues, all they have to do is remove that and every box they have is going to Hong Kong or some market with people who are just gonna spend outrageous sums of money on these and could care less.
So That's true. That's, [00:39:00] that's why sadly I think no matter what, prices will not
**Gizmo:** go back down. I agree. And I, and I think to, to Rooster's point, especially with Cohiba and Trinidad, you know, that's, that's all gonna go right to Hong Kong. I mean, cuz they're willing to pay it. I mean, I, I saw a box of Cilo six yesterday came up at, at one of my favorite retailers out of Australia.
The price on the box for 25 cigars guys was $1,800. Oh my gosh. For a cigar that was made four months ago. Wow.
**Bam Bam:** Wow. C oh
**Gizmo:** six, not a mahik. , not a regional, not a limited, not a, you know, some kind of crazy age thing. A a cig oh six made four months ago was $1,800 for a box of 25 cigars. And that's not on the grain market.
Yeah. But that, that's gonna be 22 to 2,500 there. But how many people can afford that? Well, that's the problem. But they don't, they don't make enough of 'em. So I don't think they care. The the thing to Senator's point that I, I find interesting, and I, and he mentioned [00:40:00] this in a prior episode on the pod here, was what I think the cost is gonna do is it's gonna prohibit new people Yeah.
From entering the market.
**Senator:** Oh yeah, a hundred percent. Because let, let's just think about when all of us told a friend about our love for Cuban cigars and they were curious and figuring out, I think the perception, at least my experience has been, most friends will say, oh, well those are really expensive.
Right. and I'd say no, they're, they're actually the same, if not cheaper. Mm-hmm. than most of the new world cigars You would go out there and buy. Exactly. So for them, that became a very easy entry point. They're like, wow, I can get this for 12 bucks. Sure. I'll try a box of D four s I think a D four for
**Gizmo:** $15.
Yeah. D four Epi
**Rooster:** two s. I mean, uh, yeah. Very
**Gizmo:** reasonable. RAs I mean, I remember we were getting RAs for eight or 10 bucks. Crazy. Yep. And that was on the, that was a third, like, you know, it had touched three hands by the time it got to us. Crazy. We were the fourth.
**Rooster:** We were getting boxes of RAs 50 caps for
**Gizmo:** like five and a quarter.
Yeah. Yeah. And bef and two years [00:41:00] ago they were probably 400. Yeah. Wow. You know, so it it, it is an interesting thing in the long game, like a senator said a few episodes ago, cuz I, I thought about what you said and it's like, okay, five, 10 years from now, are there gonna be guys really excited about jumping into Cuban cigars when the cost to do it is so prohibitive that yes.
they're not gonna be willing to make that jump into that flavor profile, even if it suits them or is arguably better in some ways. I just don't see it happening. Mm-hmm. , I think, I think there's a challenge there. So
**Bam Bam:** how are you feeling halfway through this? I love it.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. I really like it. You don't, you sound skeptical.
Yeah. You sound skeptical
**Bam Bam:** a little bit. I'm getting a little, uh, um, just a, a hint of ammonia. Maybe I'm smoking too
**Gizmo:** fast. Try blow, blow through it. Yeah, push it out. I haven't gotten a touch of ammonia. I haven't
**Senator:** gotten pneumonia, but I'm getting more leather that GIZ was talking about now when you're in the second half.
**Gizmo:** That's true. Yeah. And I, it's a leather that I enjoy. Same. Yeah. [00:42:00] It's a, it's a,
**Senator:** it's kind of like an old,
**Rooster:** like an old leather chair, , you know, has that weird leather smell.
**Gizmo:** Have you
**Senator:** like, tasted a old leather chair? ,
**Gizmo:** not taste Rooster, but nose now. Like
**Senator:** a
**Rooster:** smell, you know, like a worn, like a warm out leather chair.
**Gizmo:** Kind of weird. Yeah. Rooster
**Senator:** and Grindr had a, uh, leather tasting.
**Gizmo:** No, I, I think it's very good right now. Pagoda, what do you think of it? I'm really enjoying it. Um, I don't get any of that leather. It's, uh, a little bit of, uh,
**Senator:** I don't know, for me, maybe because I'm drinking the whiskey alone. It's just working really well. I'm really
**Gizmo:** enjoying myself. I think the whiskey's okay.
I don't think it's great. Nope. Um, especially for the price point. Even if I got it for 50, I still think I would feel the same about it. Agree. It was was 30, I think I'd be a little bit less on the fence, but it, I don't think it's, it's great at 50 or 70.
**Senator:** I completely agree. And the [00:43:00] reason why this just doesn't meet my expectation is because the flavor notes in this whiskey are reminiscent of some of the traditional flavor notes that you would get in a scotch, which I am predisposed to like very much.
But the problem is it's so light and because of that, like there is that little bit of harshness, it doesn't bring everything together. in a way that's all that enjoyable. So I, I just,
**Bam Bam:** yeah. We noted that on the finished there's a bit of a, of a bite Yeah. By the harshness. Yeah. Up front. It's nice still. And, and even in like in the
**Gizmo:** middle when like, if you roll it around in
**Senator:** the middle of your palette, it's not bad.
And maybe that's the sherry, you know?
**Gizmo:** Yeah. It very well could
**Senator:** be. Yeah. Yeah. And the last thing why I'm saying that the body of this is really disappointing because suny, that we were talking about the Toki, um, that's only 35, $40 a bottle. That's also light. Like this is, but the flavor, it was delicious.
Matches. Delicious. A light whiskey. Yeah. Yeah. It's floral. Yeah. It, it's like a perfect summer [00:44:00] whiskey. Mm-hmm. where this has more of those winter fall whiskey notes that we would expect in a scotch, but then is as thin and light and, and, and just lacks body in the way that some of those
**Gizmo:** others do. I don't think I'm loving the pairing of this specific whiskey with this cigar.
**Senator:** I, I would say this, actually, I don't, I don't think the
**Gizmo:** pairing is a problem. I don't think it's bad, but it's not like, I don't think they're, they're made for each other in ways that I think in the past we've kind of, what would you prefer with this? A bourbon? No, I'm, I would probably very rarely say a bourbon just cuz of my, just, I'm not a bourbon guy.
You know, like, like Cuba and Grinder are, yeah. I'm more like, to me, I'd love, I really would love a Macallan with this. Mm-hmm. Well, that Or alv. Or
**Senator:** a bny. I agree. I think a traditional single mal, yes. But that's, that's why I'm saying I don't have a problem with this pairing. The notes in this are, they're course similar to a traditional single mal.
Yeah. So I actually think it does pair well. Yeah. I just think it lacks body to keep up with the body that this cigar has. That's
**Gizmo:** great. That, that's, he said it [00:45:00] way better, accurate. He said it way better than I did. , that's accurate. All don't know about it. . Thanks. Pagoda,
Yeah, this is really delicious. So anyways, bam. Thanks for the, uh, jinx on the pricing. Yeah, you're welcome. And, uh, good luck filling up your tower. I'm spending
**Bam Bam:** all the money. I have . I'm not going to let that stop me. I need to fill that fucking tower. Look,
**Senator:** Philly blunts are great too. We are judge. Blueberry,
**Gizmo:** blueberry, blueberry, blueberry.
Yes. They covered flavors.
**Senator:** They do. Did you hear about this? Uh, that they were, uh, there's something which is going
**Gizmo:** on about cigars where they wanna ban
**Senator:** the flavored cigars. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Which is great. Yeah. I mean, I certainly have no problem with this, but the FDA wants to crack down on what they view as. You know, kids being, uh, uh, turned onto any sort of tobacco product, which I'm fine with.
I am too, you know, because I don't think a kid's gonna be reached for a Vegas Romanian unco. Oh no. You know, sourcing D four s.
**Senator:** But yeah, I think there's a problem with it [00:46:00] though, cuz I, I'm pretty sure the, uh, premium Cigar Association pca, who's the trade for all, uh, brands, weed smoke, they're against it. Uh, they're against it because there's something in it that is very broad and vague that could like, impact stuff we would smoke.
Really? Mm-hmm. It's, I didn't know that. It's not very clear, like, it's not narrowly defined
**Bam Bam:** how that would impact the cigars that we like. Interesting.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Well, with that detail, I'm against it , but inherently I don't care if they ban Right. You know, in infused cigars. I mean, I, I don't think they really have a place in, in the premium dis uh, premium cigar discussion, even if they are hand rolled.
I just, I don't think they, they, they're not in this universe for me. Yeah. Agree. You know, and we had a long discussion Oh yeah. A few episodes back about that. But, but, um, yeah, I, I, I'm really enjoying this cigar. I'm, I'm glad I got them and I'm glad that we, that we're trying this tonight. I do think that with time and, and dry boxing them, keeping them outta the hum drawer for a day, [00:47:00] just trying to make the humidity a little bit more reasonable has certainly helped because the, the burn is very, very good on these.
Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** What did help is blowing through. Yeah. Which I've never done on the cigar. I don't do that very
**Senator:** often.
**Gizmo:** That helped a lot.
**Rooster:** So typically when, when the cigar is like,
**Gizmo:** kind of fresh mm-hmm. , you'll get that. It'll get, if you get the ammonia,
**Rooster:** you know, just blow the blow out a
**Gizmo:** bit, like a couple of times.
**Rooster:** It's good technique.
So
**Gizmo:** that works.
**Rooster:** Has the cigar like picked up in strength for you or is it about the
**Gizmo:** same? Um,
**Bam Bam:** a bit. I think it's, it's pretty smooth.
**Senator:** for me, it's actually held roughly the same strength all the way through. Me too. The only thing flavor-wise that's very different for me is the first half was sweeter and the second half is a lot more leather and just drier flavor.
Nuts. I'm getting more
**Bam Bam:** earthy,
**Senator:** earthy notes for me, the second half. And
**Gizmo:** I think that's actually a satisfying, uh, progression. Progression in the cigar for me. If it was the other way [00:48:00] around, I think I, I, I, I'm glad it started sweet and kinds working its way. Sure. You know, I kind of like a, a cigar that's elegant, like, you know, I mentioned the Sir Winston.
That's a very leathery type of cigar and I'm, when I have that cigar, I love the, the progression and, and the, the intensity of that
**Senator:** leather flavor. What year is your Sir Winston, because you have been saying leather and Sir Winston 2014. A lot recently. 2014. Okay. Maybe with age that happens. Cause I had a, a younger, not a young, but a younger than that Sir Winston from Puba and it was just pure
**Gizmo:** dessert.
My 2013 and 20 fourteens were very, there was, there was that up? Classic up and sweetness there, but the leather note was the one that really hit me there. It's so weird. I
**Senator:** got tons of shortbread out of that. I mean, have you had, you've had Winston's. Yeah.
**Rooster:** So serve Winston's to me. They, they have to sit for a while.
I mean, 2019, 2020s touch 'em. Yeah. They got us sit for at least five years.
**Gizmo:** Oof, .
**Senator:** Wow.
**Rooster:** I [00:49:00] mean, I'm talking like, this is 22, so like 17,
**Gizmo:** you know. Well, you know, that's my favorite
**Bam Bam:** vintage. 2020 twos. . , ladies and gentlemen. That's an inside joke.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. I, I always get, you know, I had a 13 on my birthday, the Sir Winston, and it had. Shortbread sweetness. But the weather was really the thing that I was like, interesting. That really, really satisfied
**Rooster:** me. I, I remember that day. I remember seeing those pictures and we're all wondering like, what is going
**Gizmo:** on?
Oh yeah, I went for it. It was a secret.
**Senator:** Have we
**Gizmo:** this story now? No, we haven't. Oh, we haven't.
**Senator:** We need to talk . Go for it. I'll have to start. Cuz I was there for most of it. And I feel the
**Gizmo:** most, I just saw the pictures. Honestly, I
**Bam Bam:** thought you were gonna get up and leave
**Gizmo:** wherever you were. I,
**Senator:** I, I was so just like deflated
Why? So just imagine, imagine this for the listener. Imagine you're sitting at a cigar lounge with a very good friend of yours. He's lighting up all these ridiculous like gr fantastic cigars. [00:50:00] You're sitting there like, wow, he's really going hard today. Like, all right, let's list's what I did. There's, there's like $200 in my, which, which he
**Gizmo:** normally doesn't do.
**Rooster:** No, no. You don't see him smoking. Like a
**Gizmo:** part, like a luciann Incredible collection that night. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was a Lucy. I did a contiki. The regional from, uh, El Ray Delmondo. Right? Yeah. Although that one didn't go, that didn't go too good. Los. And, and then I did, uh, sir Winston, I did a Sir Winston and an 8 98 and an 8 98.
Oh my gosh. Yes.
**Rooster:** I think I did like a vintage, vintage. 8 98. Yes.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, A 2002, 8 98 20 years old. And I did a, uh, an 80th from
**Senator:** Patron. Ooh. So like, I'm sitting there, I'm just like, wow. Like, he's, he's really like, literal,
**Rooster:** literal, he just sold his business and it got like gobs and gobs of money. ,
**Senator:** you know, and gobs of cigars.
That's what I'm thinking. Like literally in my head, that was option one. And option two is like, I'm like, oh my God, he's dying. Like this is like, like this is it. Like this is the last, [00:51:00] you know, smoke. Wow. So I'm just sitting there so confused and I'm like, wow. Like, you know, such a selection. He's just like, yeah, I just wanted some good cigars.
He's playing it perfectly cool. Like this is just a normal day in the neighborhood. And I get up and leave. You left. And I came. Then bam comes. Yeah, I'm home. I forget what I was doing after that. And I see this message that Bam finally figured out. And it was his fucking birthday. It was, and he had me sit there with him the entire time.
Honestly. It was like a, I could just say it's my birthday so I could properly toast with him. I'm good. I couldn't believe it. I
**Bam Bam:** had to draw it outta him like it was a dental procedure.
**Gizmo:** My gosh. Okay. .
**Rooster:** I
**Senator:** mean, there would've
**Rooster:** been a champagne
**Senator:** bottle with a saber, right? Of course. Yeah. I would've brought it to the lounge.
Yeah. . Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Listen, few other things. I , I, I'm good. Uh, to me it was a perfect day. Some great, great cigars with friends. Uh, that's how
**Senator:** I roll. I love how
**Gizmo:** low key you are. I'm not a birthday guy. I love that. It's not, I don't have it on Facebook like my wife and maybe two of my closest friends. Remember my [00:52:00] mother, of course, my dad barely remember.
you know? That's it. Okay. I'm gonna call
**Senator:** bullshit right away. , why Uhoh? You know why, why? Because no one knows people's birthdays more than you do. No, I know that's true. He's got a fucking calendar completely full. No, I do. Every person he ever
**Gizmo:** meets their birthday. I do. I I have everybody's birthday on my phone.
Not for any other, it's not like a game to me. Well, that's nice. Yeah, but I, I like to No,
**Senator:** but he's made it sound like birthdays are not
**Gizmo:** that big a game. No, no, no. I'm saying my birthday, his own birthday is, my birthday's not a big deal. Your birthday, the other guys, you know, he's right. That's fair. I,
**Senator:** I'm, I'm very into it.
His birthday's not his, you know, . Yeah. It doesn't really
**Gizmo:** big , which is true. I don't care about it. I don't care. I don't, I don't like the attention. I don't want a thousand Facebook messages and I just would. Have some great
**Senator:** cigars. We're gonna throw you a surprise party. Next. Now, next
**Rooster:** year it's gonna be at, uh, one of those Japanese restaurants with the hibachi.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Throwing shrimp in my mouth. .
**Senator:** That's, that's gonna be in bayone. Yeah. As you're chugging sent. Yes, exactly.
**Gizmo:** Eating chicken [00:53:00] savo volcano with the
**Rooster:** onion thing. , you know they do that. Yeah. With the oil, with, yeah. With the rings stuff on. Make a little volcano. Yep. Gonna come out hot throwing
**Gizmo:** shrimp in my
**Senator:** Yeah, they're gonna, they're gonna be throwing strip tails in his hoodie.
**Rooster:** Now he is gonna wear a button
**Gizmo:** down. Sure. That day. Oh, they button downs. You guys do have me on the button downs, by the way. I'm full on button down when I go to dinner now. Nice. Totally
**Senator:** fine. Here's, here's our problem with the button down. I'm not sure that we've collectively shared this feedback that we need to with you
The, the all black like nightclub button down does not qualify for dinners. Agreed. Agreed. if you're going clubbing, by all
**Gizmo:** means. Yeah. Well, you know, I don't do that.
**Senator:** I know. So that's
**Gizmo:** why I'm saying you gotta, why is that bad for dinner? What's the problem? Lighter in color because you don't
**Rooster:** need to wear black all the
**Gizmo:** time.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Uh, a lighter colored cigar, uh, cigar. That's a New York thing. It does denote a bit of formality. It's for dinner. It's a bit,
**Senator:** it's [00:54:00] all good. It's all, it's, it's a more elegant look. Yeah. Like, here, here, here's an example, right? London is one of the best dressed cities in the world, right? Every person on the street that's wearing a suit has like a custom fucking tailored suit.
You will not see a male in London wearing a black dress shirt almost anywhere. And I'm not saying that it's. Categorically bad, but what I'm saying is if you just wanna have a little more elegance at, at a meal mm-hmm. , just go with a little lighter
**Gizmo:** shirts. Listen, we need to do a lizard shopping trip, because here I'm thinking here, I'm thinking, oh, I put a button down on 'em and really, I'm gonna really impress the boys.
It's an upgrade. It's an upgrade. I'm gonna really impress the boys. It's an upgrade. We're
**Senator:** always pushing you to reach new heights.
**Gizmo:** We ha We have to take him to untuck it. Oh wow. There we go. Okay. That's,
**Senator:** that's my shirt. That's your
**Gizmo:** next destination. That is my shirt. You're gonna help me shop on Untuck it?
Yeah.
**Senator:** All right. It's quite easy. You're gonna like everything you buy. I guarantee it. , you're gonna love what you find and you will find what you love. . [00:55:00] But you're gotta untuck
**Gizmo:** it. Untuck it. I don't tuck anything in. That's perfect. Yeah.
**Senator:** Please tell me if you're wearing a suit and you tuck your
**Gizmo:** suit.
**Senator:** Oh no. I mean, listen, of course.
Which is though, I have to ask. The only,
**Gizmo:** the only exception for any of this is a funeral or a wedding. . That's the exception you could wear black. I, I do. I have a white shirt that I wear with a black, nice black suit. Okay, good. You know? Yeah. Not a black shirt. No, never a black shirt to a,
**Rooster:** you know what's weird?
If you go to an Indian funeral,
**Gizmo:** you wear white. So white. Mm-hmm. , including the suit.
**Rooster:** Yeah. I mean, they just wear like, uh, traditional, you know, cor it's called, but it's white because white is calming. White is, um, kind of holy. If you, you know, I could say that it's like, it's clean, you know, the, yeah. Black is kind of like more, you know, on the downside, I guess forbidden.
It's a funeral. It's white. It's
**Gizmo:** peaceful. It's calm. It's, it's [00:56:00] interesting here in the states or you know, in the west, that black to a funeral is kind of what is expected. It's well here. Yeah. Yeah. It's meant to symbolize. It's
**Senator:** how different is you're in mourning. You're in mourning. Right? Where like white is meant to be more celebratory wedding.
Well,
**Rooster:** in the, in the Spanish culture, um, The women, if their husband dies or there's a death in the family, they don't wear bright colors for one year. Wow. Wow. They wear dark colors, so they, you know, it's like browns and blacks and uh, really like subdued colors, like nothing bright. They would never wear orange or green or like something really bright.
**Senator:** So this, this would be very useful for single lizards. , you'd like immediately know? No. Being that I'm in the available
**Gizmo:** in Spain,
**Rooster:** no. Being that I'm in the garment business, I, you know, I noticed that because that
**Gizmo:** is really interesting. Ask for that. Yeah. That's really interesting. It's different. And you said that's that Spanish culture?
Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Wow. . I just learned something guys. I learned something. I did too. I didn't know. I learned a couple things. A, [00:57:00] I can't wear a black shirt anymore, which I thought I was doing great. .
**Rooster:** Sometimes you can wear that sometimes, but sometimes, you know. Oh geez.
**Senator:** Do you want to check your karaoke night at, uh, turmeric.
**Gizmo:** That's a classic, by the way, . That's, uh, that's party for sure. We need to revisit that. Yep. All right, boys, we're coming. I'm not driving there
**Senator:** anymore, by the way. . Good. How, how's the car holding up going? Yeah, what's the
**Gizmo:** estimate on the car? Damage?
**Senator:** It's falling apart. Okay. , what's it just like a few hundred damage, right?
Yeah, seven grand.
**Bam Bam:** Zero. How's Mrs Pagoda feeling about that? She loves me even more. Oh, .
**Senator:** How's your tower feeling about
**Gizmo:** that? Yeah, she smashed
**Rooster:** it. Pagoda needs a car with no pedals. No, that would be ideal.
**Senator:** Oh, I need a Tesla. self-driving Tesla. Oh, that's you. You need a bumper car. That's
**Rooster:** what you [00:58:00] need. You need a
You need a
**Gizmo:** chauffeur. I
**Bam Bam:** need a chauffeur. Yeah. I think Uber does a great job. A garan
**Gizmo:** driving cars. I would love that. So we're coming to the last third here, boys of the Vegas, Romania, Unico. What are you guys thinking? I'm really enjoying this thing.
**Senator:** I'm very impressed. I, I honestly thought I was gonna be disappointed.
And the thing that's makes me happiest about this cigar, obviously the flavor profile is great. I just love that the delivery of all that flavor has been smooth. That's right. I'm not getting any, you know, harshness from the cigar and, um, that's what I look for in a really flavorful cigar, like a patron, like a Monty two, like this.
Um, I'm very pleased. So
**Rooster:** remember, like I said, like when we first lit the cigar, the flavor that we, that we were getting on the first third, even before that, like right on the light. Yeah. That flavor is. What I was looking for throughout we
**Senator:** pursue that flavor. Right. Which is the more dessert, like part of it.
Dessert. Yeah. I like that too.
**Gizmo:** Yeah.
**Rooster:** Like [00:59:00] a lot of, you know, that coffee
**Gizmo:** notes that we were getting. Sure. I'm
**Bam Bam:** getting a deep espresso and
**Senator:** and earth. Yeah. It's getting, there's different coffee. It's getting a little warm now. Yeah. You know, I like it. A little
**Gizmo:** hot. Yeah.
**Senator:** I mean this is a strange comparison cuz it's a new world comparison, but honestly the second half of this with like the leather and some of the other flavor notes that you both were describing honestly reminds me a bit of a late hour.
**Gizmo:** That's interesting. Oh yeah, yeah. Let's
**Bam Bam:** take another puff. That's interesting.
**Gizmo:** But you know, in the late hour you get a lot more of the chocolate and this, you're getting, I'm getting a lot more of the coffee,
**Bam Bam:** a little bit of the bitter coffee I am getting. I like this a little bit better than that, than a late hour. The late hour for me is a bit minerally at this point. It's good.
but it's not as smooth as this in my
**Gizmo:** opinion. So we, we were talking about the Sir Winston late hour.
**Bam Bam:** Oh, right. Oh, oh, that's, oh yes. Is it? Yeah, it's well above my
**Senator:** page. No, no, no. I'm sorry.[01:00:00]
meant the
**Bam Bam:** turn off his bike.
**Gizmo:** Can you guys pass the, uh, the whiskey over to me please? Yes. I wanna try it.
**Senator:** Neat. I'm having it neat now. How, so talk to me, how is it,
**Bam Bam:** what, lemme pour a bit? Well, it's, it's different. It's gonna affect the rating for sure, for me in a good way or bad whiskey. It, it's definitely got bite right off the bat in this really, the flavors are definitely more pronounced, not as sweet as it is when with a chip of ice.
**Gizmo:** Interesting. Yeah. You know, Senator, I'm definitely getting more of the Monte two thing right now, like in the saltiness. I wouldn't call it
**Senator:** twang per se. No, I wouldn't use that term explicitly, but there are components of that that are present here.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. It's, it's got a saltiness to it almost more like a table salt than a, than a what?
I know. As a Cuban twang from Amani two. Yeah. Yeah. But it's really nice. I, I like it. Um, and I think that this is a great cigar. We always talk about [01:01:00] where I would put this, if I was gonna have a nice steak dinner or something, I would absolutely, this is a cigar I'm gonna put after that steak dinner kind of where I would put a P two.
I agree. Yeah. It's, it's, it's really, it kind of suits that application for me. Yeah. Yeah. You know. Would you be satisfied, uh, with one and just one only, like one and done kind of thing? Yeah. I, I think this is a cigar. That's a great question. I think this is a cigar that if I only had a one cigar, like I'm thinking, you know what I'm thinking about.
I talked about that night. That I went to the casino and had that P two after the steak dinner. Yeah. This would slot in there perfectly. Sure. Um, it, it, it, it'd be either or for me in that application.
**Senator:** The casino security.
**Gizmo:** Still looking for you. Yeah. They were not happy , but it bothers me, man.
**Senator:** Like what color?
What color was your
**Gizmo:** shirt bla? Uh, black. Black button. That's why they were looking for you. That could be . No, it's, it's annoying man. Like all these people sitting around smoking cigarettes and they're giving me shit about smoking a cigar. It's like, it's ridiculous.
**Senator:** It's ridiculous.
**Bam Bam:** Like gimme a break in in a casino.
Black shirt is appropriate. Thank you. I think that
**Senator:** that's a party atmosphere. [01:02:00] Yeah,
**Gizmo:** exactly. Yeah. If you're playing blackjack
**Bam Bam:** or, or yeah. Or whatever. .
**Senator:** Thanks Dad. . .
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. I think it is nap time now.
I think the viscosity's a bit thicker on this without the eyes just a bit.
**Gizmo:** Oh, it definitely is. I mean, you can see it on the side of the glass. Yeah.
**Senator:** It. ,
**Gizmo:** it is definitely more bite. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Especially in the, up through the nose, like in the back of
**Senator:** the throat. Back, back on the, on the finish
**Gizmo:** for sure. But I think the, the, the sherry finish up finishing, I'm getting that sweetness from it.
**Senator:** I get that up front. I, I do get the sherry, I, I think the sweetness stays present when it's neat.
Oh, okay. It does. I
**Gizmo:** think it's better. Neat. I,
**Senator:** I'm in the
**Bam Bam:** same camp. Oh, it is better. Neat. Yeah. I think it's better meat. I agree with you. Yeah. Except for the
**Senator:** harshness. If you leave it, if you give it some time. I
**Gizmo:** think I will say to my earlier comment about the pairing with the cigar, I think this neat is way better with the cigar than with two ice
**Senator:** cubes.
Yeah. Because it should be, I mean, [01:03:00] the flavor profile of this whiskey should match this cigar. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** So, Senator, you said something to me the other day that I thought was, I, I, I would argue maybe revolutionary. Oh boy. We talked about your fantastic trip to Greece and. , you're, you know, partaking of libations in the various days and, you know, various times of the day on your trip. How does this fit in with a shower, shower, whiskey, , shower, scotch
**Senator:** I don't think it does . I, I told, I told Gizmo, um, obviously we've heard about the shower wine from Puba. I think all of us at some point have had a shower beer. Oh yeah. When I was on this trip, I was, uh, maybe trying to be a little more discreet about the volume I was consuming . So I thought, what a better time and place to drink [01:04:00] than in the shower before I'm, as I'm getting ready to go to dinner
So I pour a scotch on the rocks ice. Nice cold. and in the shower. It's unbelievable. Well, you're in a hot shower. In a hot shower. That's quite nice. I mean, I poured like a full glass of scotch and I was just like standing in the shower for like 30 minutes, just like pounding this, like, this is phenomenal.
like perfect . So I'm serious. Like we, we need, by the way, we do merchandise, like we're gonna need like shower sco, like, oh yeah. All these things need to be put on t-shirts, . But I'm deadly serious. If you have not had a scotch in the shower, never Please pour yourself one on the rocks and do this tomorrow.
**Gizmo:** Monday morning, seven 30.
**Bam Bam:** you'll need a, in the shower you'll have to have a shelf above the shower line the, the shower head. Right. So you don't get water in it.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, you do have, I didn't navigate that. You guys drink. I've never, listen, I'm, I'll be. . I've never had a shower, beer, never had a shower. Wine. I've had a lot of shower
**Senator:** beers.
[01:05:00] Okay. Usually Heineken Gizmo. You've lived such a shelter. Yes. I know this. I'm
**Gizmo:** working on it. So
**Senator:** I have
**Bam Bam:** a soap tray that's pretty big. Yeah, it's a corner tray. Okay. And it's above kind of my nose line. So I take a sip and put up there. It avoids the water. That's important.
**Gizmo:** But I feel like a bottle of beer is a little easier than a, a glass of scotch.
The glass would survive a glass of whiskey instead. A higher elevation. You could also put it in a sippy cup. That's true. over a straw. Oh. And you won't make, you won't leave the house. you won't make dinner.
**Rooster:** Buttoned down. Shirt in the shower. the
**Gizmo:** sippy cup.
**Bam Bam:** We're going off the deep end. Gentlemen. .
**Gizmo:** Well, if any listeners out there looking to hide his or rehearse, I, I've even got a photo of the shower, Scott.
Wow, you
**Senator:** didn't send that? Oh wow. I never sent it around. Wow. No, you didn't look at that. And there's like a little tray on the side that like no water sprayed onto. It was perfect.
**Gizmo:** My feelings are her. So you also have the phone in the show.
**Senator:** I didn't get that photograph. Did anyone get a, other than Liz's, I, I mean clearly I was too much scotch.
I didn't say anybody . [01:06:00] That's a great
**Gizmo:** photo. Yeah, I gotta take the phone as waterproof . Yeah, right. Yeah. Well, gizmos wasn't, dude, I'm so frustrated with iPhone, man. I told this story to the guys. I dropped my phone. Long, really long story short, I dropped my phone in a puddle in a store. My, it flipped, it slipped off my lap as I was getting in my car.
Did you put it on the roof of the car? No. Okay. No, no. It's a different day. Oof. . And, uh, it fell into a puddle. And if, you know here I'm thinking like, uh, you know, apple advertises that you can go 30 meters or something deep with these phones and they're fine. And I take the phone out. It works perfectly.
Everything but. The connector where the cable goes in, into charge and connect to your CarPlay and all that stuff. Just stop working. I blew it out with compressed air. I took some, like a little pipe cleaner. Ah, I tried to get, if there was any rust or whatever it, Russ Rice, I think is actually a myth. I don't think that works.
No. Sica would probably does work. It
**Rooster:** does work. It absorbs the, uh, the
**Gizmo:** moisture. It does. Hmm. Anyway, I tried [01:07:00] compressed air, I tried a bunch of different things. And you tried, you tried kitty litter. I, I did not try silica. .
**Senator:** Well, then would've
**Bam Bam:** added, uh,
**Gizmo:** moisture to the phone. . I, uh, and, uh, I had to get a new phone.
**Senator:** The most surprising part of this entire story to me was when you told me this story, I was just waiting for the moment you were gonna say, so I, I screwed open the entire iPhone. Changed the motherboard. Oh. Mother floor. Like I was waiting for this whole thing. What fuck happened to that ?
**Gizmo:** No.
Troubleshooting. I didn't do any. Well, no, I have Apple Care, so I let them troubleshoot it, and I said, send me a new phone. All right. And I got a new phone the next day, but, I was like, the iPhone is clearly not waterproof. If you need a few
**Senator:** pointers, you can ask. Bam. Bam. . .
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Senator said the same. He said, if you need help setting up your phone,
**Bam Bam:** Hey Pagoda, I gave you some tips on how to use your phone the other night.
You did. You did. Why?
**Senator:** Why do you think that was a,
**Bam Bam:** that was why not the up to, there's a photograph that documents that night. I know, but what I'm suggesting
**Senator:** and, and my caption as the person who took the photo was Bam, is showing pagoda how to [01:08:00] use an iPhone. Mercury is in retrograde .
**Rooster:** It's called the Deaf Leading the Blind
**Bam Bam:** I resent all of these comments. I resent
**Gizmo:** it. Brewster, you're disavowed.
All right, boys, let's take another sip of the Akashi and rate this thing.
**Rooster:** What does that mean? Akashi? .
**Senator:** It's a city in Japan. Ah. Oh, it is
**Rooster:** Akosh Sky, by the way. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Kosh. Yeah. So here's my question. You said the, uh, it's Sanskrit, it's Akashi White Oak, right? Yeah. White Oak
**Senator:** is the brand.
**Gizmo:** So, okay. That, so that's the distiller.
It's interesting
**Senator:** that it's backwards. It, it is on everything. So like, when we say SUNY Toki, um, SUNY is the brand. Toki. Is that blend?
**Gizmo:** Interesting. Very interesting. All right, boys, are you guys ready [01:09:00] to do the, uh, formal liquor rating on this thing? Sure. Bam. Bam. You're up. I'm giving it. Uh, seven. Seven. Pagoda.
Debating between a six and seven. Seven seven's. Five. Okay, Senator, I'm gonna give it a six. Six. I'm gonna give it a seven as well, which gives us the composite lizard score. Of a 6.8. Okay. Which I think, given my feelings on it, where it, you know, the pricing is how it was with ice, without, I think that's, I think that's a very fair score.
It's fair, it's a very
**Senator:** fair score. Sure.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. I like it better. It's better neat. Without a doubt. Yeah.
**Senator:** Agree. I'm glad we did, uh, a neat pour of this. I, I just, the reason I went six and I was debating six and seven, I, I just, if you're trying, I mean, the fact that this is lightly peed, they're trying to go for flavors that are reminiscent of a single malt scotch and to not have the body to match those flavors, to [01:10:00] me, you've completely failed at the mission, which was to make this reminiscent of a single malt.
So that's why I went for six and not seven. Hmm. And I also, the reason I. I would not buy this again or serve this to guests
**Gizmo:** at my home. I agree with you on that. No, I will not be reaching for this. Especially with how we felt about the Sun, Tory. Sure. I mean, that was, I think, way better than this.
Absolutely. And Hibiki, for me was spectacular. Yeah. Hibiki was very good as
**Senator:** well. Spectacular. And the
**Gizmo:** Nika Coffee. That was great. Oh, the Nika Coffee. That was amazing. That was awesome. Both
**Senator:** of, I enjoyed that so much. I bought a personal bottle at home after we
**Gizmo:** recorded. Nice. You're break it out. Is that, is that
**Rooster:** the best Japanese whiskey you've
**Senator:** had?
That and the, the, uh, Hibiki Hibiki Hibiki.
**Gizmo:** The both are the best I've had. I think the coffee was better for me than Hi the Hibiki and I think I rated it accordingly. I think I, I think I gave
**Bam Bam:** that a 10. I feel the opposite. For me, the Hibiki is above that. Just, just slightly above it. Yeah. I prefer the Hi.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. I really like the, uh, the coffee. That was very, very good. All right, boys, we're coming to the end here of the Vegas Romania Unico. [01:11:00] I'm curious what your thoughts are is we're coming down to the end of this cigar. That was, I'm actually loving it again.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, good. It's, some of the original notes are coming back from me.
**Gizmo:** So are you go, are you gonna sort the box or two of these? Like, oh,
**Bam Bam:** I would love a box or two for my tower.
**Senator:** Yeah. Well, when you ask him that question, you mean that you're,
**Gizmo:** do you want me to get you a box ?
**Bam Bam:** Will you share
**Gizmo:** or
**Bam Bam:** will you feel the peer pressure too? Yes and no. Oh.
**Gizmo:** Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. We
**Senator:** gotta tell this story.
We gotta tell this story. So we, we have, we have a little drama among the group lizard drama. So I had ordered a couple boxes of Ramon, I, uh, small club Coronas and Bam said that he wanted a whole box. So I said, fine, he can have a whole box. And the other box we split among four of us. Uh, pagoda wasn't here the day that I placed the order, and I was asking who wanted in on it.
So when I got them in and I sent the message to the group that they were, had arrived, [01:12:00] uh, pagoda said, oh, if I could have five, I would love to have five of them. I said to pagoda, I only got five out of the whole box. Like that's what we, we all split it so we each got five sticks, but BAM has 25 of them
So I would assume that he could part with five. I'm not looking at you now and BA's response. I'm not looking over here. BA's response was not, uh, enthusiastic. What are he saying to share? We should have more's not true. , his response was, these are great, we should get more of them, honestly. Alright, so that's not saying Yes, pagoda, I'm happy to share with you.
He
**Bam Bam:** also wasn't saying no, it was expressing enthusiasm about that cigar. That's where the, I love that little
**Senator:** guy. The proofs of the pudding. Because you arrived here today and hopeful heard before we have all witnesses, before the microphones went on, pagoda said, oh, are you gonna share the five sticks with me?
And I said, you can have 10. And bam said, I, I was not excited to share any of the sticks with you. . I feel the peer pressure. Yeah. He said I felt the peer pressure to share them with you. That was
**Bam Bam:** a joke. , [01:13:00] I'm heard. , you'll get over it. , . When I deliver five beauties to you, I'm sure you'll,
**Gizmo:** you'll get over it.
Who knows when that'll be, but I
**Bam Bam:** at the clubhouse. transactions will be made.
**Senator:** I, I think to make up for this, you should source the next box for the group.
**Bam Bam:** I will. You know, I, I will do
**Senator:** that. I'm
**Rooster:** only gonna
**Gizmo:** live for next 30 years. .
**Senator:** So here's, so I'm 55 . This is, this is all fair. I
**Rooster:** mean, the, the tower might still be in his
**Senator:** garage. Yeah,
**Bam Bam:** yeah, yeah.
It's all fair. This is so for the listener, this is very fair. . I am very lazy when it comes to making purchases and buying. We didn't say
**Senator:** that.
**Bam Bam:** Buying and sourcing. I am, I am. But I, I aim to change. Ooh. I aim to change that. Yes. You picked a good time to do it. Yeah. Well, I know. Well, ,
**Senator:** yeah, we hear about to receive a so, so [01:14:00] wait a
**Rooster:** minute.
So in moment, does this mean that guest does not have to get any more boxes for
**Gizmo:** you? No,
**Senator:** I just
**Bam Bam:** doesn't have to source anymore. No, that does not mean that ,
**Senator:** that's what
**Gizmo:** it means. That
**Rooster:** means that means you are gonna, you're gonna do the homework, rooster. You, you're gonna
**Gizmo:** source the boxes. Rooster.
**Bam Bam:** You gotta leave , because I hope you don't feel the pain, pressure.
That's all I'm saying. It does not mean that Rooster stops sourcing, but what it means, I've gotta step up my sourcing game, and I aim to do that when
**Senator:** this week, this starting tomorrow, this weekend. In the near future. Yeah, for sure. This is the, and
**Bam Bam:** how, how are you, honestly, I gotta be honest. I'm not as, You're much better sourcers than I am. No,
**Senator:** yes, you
**Rooster:** are. You, you are, you can achieve that same, uh, let's be
**Gizmo:** real. Hang
**Senator:** on. No, true. How many boxes did you on your own order from one of our groups that we ordered cigars from?
Okay, so now, and
**Bam Bam:** now this was my very, just fill those type of ways. Yes. Now this is my very, the very first time I was given access to this [01:15:00] exclusive group and I was like a kid in a candy store. These guys were so friendly, professional,
**Gizmo:** and we, we really
**Senator:** stopped you. It really stopped you for a number of years.
Joined . Well, it did stop for, no, here's the thing.
**Bam Bam:** I realized. I realized I didn't have a tower. I'm in Tupperware. It didn't make sense to continue buying, so I, I just put a hiatus on it now that the tower's here. You did,
**Senator:** you did a lot of goodbye for yourself, Ben .
**Bam Bam:** Well, you guys have everything I have in spades and you know it
**Senator:** Well, love it. I didn't have a lap, Punta until you had And what's your cigar rating? I regret that. .
**Gizmo:** Listen, I just as a reminder though, Rooster only has 30 years left. Okay. . Okay. Just well give or take mostly.
**Rooster:** Take,
**Senator:** hopefully . Oh, you got it. .
**Gizmo:** Oh. All right, boys. You guys ready to rate the, uh, Vegas, Romanian Unico?
What do you think? Let's do it. Yeah. Brewster, you're up again. You're up. Go the other way. No, [01:16:00] you're up. Nope.
**Rooster:** All right. I'm gonna give it an eight. Okay. And the reason is the beginning of the cigar, I loved the middle was okay. And I think if, if the whole cigar was like the beginning, if the flavor was out of the beginning, I mean that cigar would, this would be a 10.
So I'm gonna give it an
**Gizmo:** eight. Okay. I'm also gonna give it an eight. I've been kind of there since, since we lit it. Uh, I, I do think with time though, that it will be closer to a nine or 10.
**Senator:** I'm also at an eight, and for me an eight or higher is a cigar would smoke again. . And prior to having this, I thought I would never want to smoke one of these again.
Having this, I absolutely would smoke another one of these. And I think rooster's commentary on the first half versus the second half is exactly how I feel. If the first half were the whole way through this would've got a nine. Yeah. And I would actually source a box like tomorrow, but because it was not, it's an eight.
Yep. I'll smoke one again, but I'm not gonna chase these
**Bam Bam:** good points. Yep.
**Gizmo:** I'd give it a nine. I, [01:17:00] I really
**Senator:** enjoyed it. Um, I'm not surprised. Wow. I'm not surprised, you know, pits my flavor profile. Really
**Gizmo:** enjoyed
**Rooster:** it. So, BAMS gonna source you the next box. Yes sir. Please. .
**Bam Bam:** Yes sir. You are waiting to say that I know
Bam. Bam. I will give it an eight. Eight And I feel the exact same way Rooster does. I love the beginning and I noted earlier how much I love the end. The middle was, it was smooth, but it lacked a bit of flavor, but it was very smooth and the earth note started to come out in leather, which was
**Gizmo:** very nice.
So the cop is a lizard. Score is an 8.2. That's great. You
**Rooster:** know, I must say the aroma out of the cigar
**Gizmo:** is fantastic. Yeah. It, the aroma is great. Intense. It smells great. Yeah. It's
**Senator:** all part of the experience. Like here should be a car freshener of like this smell. Yeah. Unico, unico, car freshener, . It is excellent.
**Gizmo:** It's a great idea. Here's a question I have for you guys. Do you think you, you know, you guys were saying about the middle. Do you think that it just needs time? It's hard, or do you think that it's
**Rooster:** it's hard to, it's hard to tell. Okay. You know, like, [01:18:00] I mean, the classicos, we smoked those and that cigar, like from the beginning to the end was spectacular.
**Senator:** You know? It, it was just awesome. It never stopped. It was, it was
**Rooster:** spectacular. So it makes me, it makes me wonder if I go back and try one out of the older box. See how that compares. Yeah. Yeah. If I can. Are these difficult to
**Senator:** sauce? Well, that's good. We're gonna record episode two right after this with Boost
I gotta go, I gotta leave only now you're going . Yeah. Graduations
**Gizmo:** prom nap. You know, kind of what was your question? But enough for
**Senator:** the fucking nap .
**Rooster:** God damnit. I've never taken an afternoon nap. And you're only like four years younger than
**Senator:** That's true. . Go fuck yourself. .
**Bam Bam:** We need a, we need a, uh, uh, we need
**Senator:** a therapist.
Yeah, we need a raccoon in the room. .
**Rooster:** You're gonna be my raccoon. .
**Gizmo:** Pagoda. I'm sorry, what was
your
**Senator:** question? No, nothing. I was just wanting give di the difficult sauce.
**Gizmo:** Uh, no, they're, I don't think they're incredibly challenging. I don't think It [01:19:00] depends on sourcing Dakota. . ,
**Senator:** you're right about that. Oh, Jesus.
**Gizmo:** BA's getting blasted. Oh Lord. Oh Lord, no. Uh, these, these, I and the Formosa both are, I think, fairly reasonable to source. I don't think there is, you know,
**Rooster:** somosa are not available.
**Gizmo:** No, actually yeah, they're in. I see them. Yeah, I see them. Uh, unicos though, you can get them, they, they pop up here and there certainly not, you know, their regular production.
I don't think they're, you know, as easy to get as like a D four or, or, or something. Or Armani too. They're not really sought
**Rooster:** after by the average
**Gizmo:** cigar smoker. A lot of folks don't chase these, which I think is unfortunate cuz the market I think is just great. But, um, as we discussed, but yeah, these are, these are reasonably, um, normal.
Yeah. The source. Yeah.
**Rooster:** So, yeah, I mean to the listener, if you guys ever find like Classicos, please email us. Oh gosh. And actually just send
**Gizmo:** them to us. Yeah. . Don't smoke 'em, don't smoke, don't smoke 'em. They're all bad.[01:20:00]
Ooh. All right, boys. An 8.2 for the Vegas Romanian Unico tonight. Very good. Uh, pagoda. Thanks for the, uh, whiskey, for the Japanese whiskey. Thank you. And, uh, 8.2 boys. We'll see you next week. Good score. Thanks so much for joining us tonight. Hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking. Email us Lounge lizards pod, p o d, that's lounge lizards pod gmail.com. You can also find us on Instagram at Lounge Lizards Pod. We really appreciate your time and we'll, uh, we'll see you next week.