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Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
Welcome to the Lounge Lizards Podcast presented by Fabrica Five. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars as well as whiskey travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo. Tonight, I'm joined by Senator Visits, Chef Ricky, and Bam Bam.
Gizmo:And our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some scotch, talk about life, and, of course, have some laughs. So take this as your two hundred and thirty ninth official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Use here once a week. We're gonna smoke a Honduran cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you a formal lizard rating. We investigate a shocking breach of lizard protocol.
Gizmo:Senator details a recent visit to Alaska, and Poobah Calls in on special assignment from Florida, all among a variety of other things for the next two hours. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we pair 15 years age Macallan double cask single malt scotch whiskey with the Bond Roberts Dalia Linea b number three.
L&O VO:In the lizard justice system, North Korean based defenses are considered especially heinous. In Bergen County, New Jersey, the dedicated lizards who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Bam Bam Accountability Unit. These are their stories.
Gizmo:A Dalia from Honduras on the pod tonight, boys. From our friends at Bond Roberts. This is the Dalia's, the Linea b number three, and it's 43 wing gauge cigar by six and three quarters inches long. And boys, how excited are we to have this in our hand tonight?
Bam Bam:Very.
Gizmo:So I have to start by saying, obviously, Bon Roberts, Fabrica Five, very good relationship with those guys. They're a sponsor of ours. Let me make something very clear.
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Gizmo:Number one, Rob doesn't even know we're doing this review. Number two, we purchased this cabinet full price, no discounts, nothing, $15.50 a stick. And number three, if the cigar deserves a low rating, it's gonna get one. That's correct.
Senator:Sorry, Rob.
Gizmo:Mean, that's where we're at tonight. I don't think that's gonna happen. Agreed. Given our experience with Bon Roberts. I was really happy when these came in.
Gizmo:They look phenomenal.
Bam Bam:I love the dimension.
Gizmo:It's so good. The Dalia is just a It's a perfect Vitola for me.
Bam Bam:Honestly, visually, this footband and band are very elegantly designed. They're minimally designed. I just love the proportions of the band, the footband, and cigar itself. Beautiful, beautiful cigar.
Chef Ricky:Aesthetically,
Bam Bam:is. Aesthetically, dimensionally. It's a little toothy. It's not the best of wrappers as far as the smoothness is concerned, but still, it's a handsome smoke.
Gizmo:I do like the simplicity of the bands. Got Gorgeous. Very understated. Yeah. It actually kind of reminds me a little bit of like a Trinidad type of band, you know, from a very simple kind of Or look to Trinidad, maybe like a Trinidad comboed with
Bam Bam:True. Romania. Yeah. Just different color scheme.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah. All right, boys. Let's cut this thing. See what we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper.
Gizmo:I love a Dalia, boys. I love a Dalia. So this cigar is the identical dimension to what we would know in Cuba to be the Partagas eight ninety eight, the Cohiba Ciglo five Interesting. And of course, the MDO number two from La Goria Cubana that was discontinued twelve years ago. They have had a ton of special releases out of Cuba in this exact size.
Gizmo:But right now, in quote unquote regular production is Cigarlo five and this, but Regular production. You don't even see them.
Bam Bam:Stated very loosely.
Gizmo:They might as well be limited editions at this point they never ever come up. So I think, you know, that was certainly some of the intention here from Rob and Hamlet and those guys to do this vitola. So what are guys getting on the cold drop?
Bam Bam:I'm getting a touch of graham cracker, maybe a very faint baking spice. Getting a little salt.
Chef Ricky:Getting salt, nutmeg, and a little cedar.
Bam Bam:There you go. I've only had one of these ever.
Gizmo:Really?
Bam Bam:Yep. Same. Last last week.
Chef Ricky:Haven't had one yet.
Pagoda:I'm excited. My first.
Gizmo:Yeah. Well, tonight's the night, boys. Let's light this thing. The Bond Roberts Dalia's, the Linea b number three out of Honduras. And, again, it's a 43 ring gauge cigar by six and three quarters inches long.
Gizmo:MSRP on this is $15.50 US coming in 10 count boxes, 50 count boxes, and 25 count boxes.
Bam Bam:This is so good. Wow. It's so good.
Senator:I got this on the cold draw. This is the one note that wasn't mentioned, and I get it right off the bat on the finish. There's a creaminess
Gizmo:that is part
Senator:of this profile.
Chef Ricky:The graham cracker is super bright right now after the light.
Bam Bam:Very, very Cuban like, this cigar. What was the last Cuban that we did in this room?
Gizmo:It was Magnum 46, was it?
Bam Bam:I don't remember.
Chef Ricky:One we recorded last was in a Cuban, but it sure smoked like one.
Gizmo:Oh yeah. Yeah, that's true.
Bam Bam:That's absolutely correct. Yeah. The graham cracker for me is very forward on this. Exquisite
Chef Ricky:for now. My draw is a little snug, but I like it. I like it. I was a little worried about it. Something about these Bon Robert cigars, I feel like from the jump, they smoke so developed and rich and aged and just super deep in flavor that I feel like there's other cigars that take a full third of a steak to get to this point right off the light.
Gizmo:Bam, answering your question, the last Cuban we did was the Romano and especially selected.
Bam Bam:The rest.
Senator:The rest. Okay.
Chef Ricky:Well, it
Gizmo:feels like was excellent. A month ago.
Bam Bam:Other than what we smoked prior to this episode, my last heavy baking spice biscuit type experience that I'm getting now tonight.
Gizmo:Flavor on this is out of this world right now. Fantastic. Wow. You know, I we we talked about this cigar. So for listeners, we did an interview with Rob Ayala and Hamlet when they were in New Jersey.
Gizmo:Actually, they were here at ten eighty six a year ago, and that was the first time that we had been smoking these cigars. They brought a bunch of them.
Bam Bam:It was kind of an interview.
Gizmo:Yeah. It was a conversation. Pseudo
Bam Bam:brawl interview.
Gizmo:So what I love is that they had these a year ago. They had these ready to go. They had the blends were final, everything. They did not come out until May of this year. So what I love about the way that they work is they're very patient with the process.
Gizmo:They wanna make sure they nail it. They wanna make sure they have enough stock before it goes live. Like, they're not in a rush. So I think to have a final blend in May '25 and for it to not come out until May '26, I think that's a pretty cool thing.
Bam Bam:It's very cool.
Gizmo:Especially given how well they smoked a year ago.
Bam Bam:And it requires an awful lot of patience as a business owner. I'm not sure if I have that kind of patience. It's a labor of love.
Senator:I mean, other thing is clearly the tobacco's got some age. Yeah. This is smooth as can be, the delivery of flavor, which is awesome.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Agreed.
Gizmo:What are the highlight notes for you guys right now? Is there anything you would compare this to?
Bam Bam:It's smoking like a Cuban cigar for me.
Senator:I get the graham cracker that I Graham and Chef were talking also get a nuttiness with this.
Bam Bam:A little bit, yeah.
Senator:A creaminess. There's some cream on the finish.
Chef Ricky:I'm also getting a sweet floral note. It's almost potpourri like that I don't really get often. Hear rooster call it out call it out quite a bit. You know? I'm getting a little bit of that today.
Bam Bam:On the retro, maybe I'm getting it on a tail end, a bit of a potpourri thing, but that sweet cream that Senator mentioned, I'm getting that on the front of the traditional draw and the front of my retrohale. It's pretty pronounced and it's balancing beautifully with the salt and the graham cracker.
Chef Ricky:Such a blast of flavor. It's not doing it in a shy manner.
Bam Bam:You could put this up with almost any Cuban cigar right now, the way it's smoking.
Gizmo:To me, this is like what I would expect out of a phenomenal Lucy, just in a smaller format. Like maybe a little bit more concentrated,
Pagoda:but
Gizmo:like this cigar is absolutely going to be If it stays like this, based on what I know previously, this is absolutely going to be entering the rotation on a very regular basis.
Bam Bam:I kind of like the Lucy comment. If you get a good one.
Gizmo:If you get a good one, that's the problem.
Bam Bam:And it's subtle and light, and it's kind of reminiscent to that.
Gizmo:So, of course, this is the fourth cigar that has come out from Bon Roberts. We're going to I am just on Bon Roberts, not on the mofo stuff or the other fiber Kafai releases. So of course, first up was the petite 109 from Bon Roberts, then the 109 and then this May they released the Phenomenos. Of course, we know that's the big boy and the Dalia that we have in our hands. So this is the fourth release from Bon Roberts.
Gizmo:Of course, blended by legendary Cuban blender Hamlet Paredes, who also does blend all the Fabrica five stuff. So if you're a fan of Reposto Trinity or any of those other cigars that we talk about often, you're gonna love this step up into Bon Roberts.
Pagoda:So Bon Roberts is a completely different line from Fabrica five, of course, but what's the real difference?
Gizmo:So I think the idea behind Bonn Roberts is to be an elevated, more mature experience. Of course, it's boxed and banded. So start there, right? It's a higher price point. The tobacco's a little bit more aged.
Gizmo:I think the blends are a little bit more refined. These you know, these go through a little bit different of a process as far as the blending and the production and all those things, you know, like the mofo and the pure desnoodles. A lot of that stuff was done with the tasting panel I was on years ago. These are done by Rob Hamlet and Rob Fox. That's what they do.
Gizmo:Of course, this is coming off the success of the Bon Roberts auction platform. That's where they're sharing a name there. Of course, the bond between two Roberts, Rob Fox and Rob Ayala. That's the name Bond Roberts. His two friends named Rob.
Gizmo:And they decided to put out cigars under that same name to offer premium cigars that smoke like this, that we're talking about being Cuban, to a global audience who's having a tough time getting Cubans in their hand. You know, we're hearing from all Lizards all over the world. I heard I saw someone the other day talking about being up in Canada and just not being able to find a cigar. Not being able to find a Cuban cigar.
Pagoda:And these come very close.
Gizmo:So Yeah. What do you guys think of the price on these? $15.50.
Pagoda:Excellent. Yeah.
Gizmo:Pretty nice. Right?
Pagoda:Definitely within my budget. Correct.
Senator:Yeah. I mean, the way this is smoking, this is as elegant of an experience as an Exclusivo is in the New World space. I mean, I guess technically this is the New World, but it certainly doesn't taste like one. So I think $15 is a great price.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I think they're doing an incredible job. I agree. And the Fabric Five line is fabulous, honestly. That's excellent.
Gizmo:Listen, we've said it before. I think the idea that they have been partners to us as long as they have the Fabric of Five side of it, Obviously, Bon Roberts now they sponsor a lizard of the week and stuff. But the idea that we can sit here and honestly. Have a conversation where we dissect this thing and it performs at the level that is performing right now. I have a lot of pride in that, that we have aligned ourselves with a manufacturer that's making something that I'm gonna try to smoke this as often as I can.
Bam Bam:It has the potential to displace the Cuban cigar in your collection. I agree. Truly.
Gizmo:It does. The best of Cuban cigars,
Bam Bam:Oh, I'd I agree. I agree. Now, that's quite a statement. I'm not sure if they're saying that, but from the consumer point of view, it's very apparent.
Gizmo:I don't think they're saying it that explicitly in their marketing and their conversation, but I think the idea that folks love a Partagas eight ninety eight. Folks love a Cohiba siglo of five.
Bam Bam:Of
Gizmo:course. And if you can't get your hands on them or you don't wanna pay 60, $70.80, $100 for it, you have a $15 alternative. And honestly, if I were to kind of make an amalgamation of two cigars, I'd take a Siglo five and a Partigus eight ninety eight. Yeah, sure. Maybe with an additional touch of creaminess.
Gizmo:Mhmm. I think this is a perfect marriage of those two.
Chef Ricky:Agreed. This cigar right now to me is tasting like ten years ago, visiting my grandma's house. And she's, you know, I walk in the apartment and she goes, and that's, hey, would you like some coffee? And even if you say no, it comes up, you know, it arrives.
Bam Bam:It's on the table.
Chef Ricky:It arrives. And my grandma would make it with evaporated milk, few spoons of sugar.
Bam Bam:Oh, that's a dessert drink.
Gizmo:Oh, man. Yeah.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. But that's how sweet and creamy this is tasting to me right now. When you have a very light cafe con leche and I mean light because of the quantity of milk in it and then there's sugar in there that's what this is tasting like. It is extremely delicious and nostalgic for me.
Bam Bam:Not that sweet forward but I understand what you're saying.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, for me it is.
Gizmo:I am
Senator:pretty sweet.
Chef Ricky:Especially at the front of the retro, it is.
Bam Bam:Evaporated milk? That's quite sweet boys. Well evaporated milk
Chef Ricky:isn't but evaporated milk with sugar is.
Gizmo:When the draw leaves my palate
Bam Bam:It's delicious.
Gizmo:It leaves a very sweet feeling Yeah. On the tongue and a very creamy feeling on the roof of my mouth. Correct. So
Bam Bam:as Pagoda says, it does coat your mouth.
Gizmo:It does.
Bam Bam:There is that effect. Yeah.
Pagoda:No, it does. You know, I'm getting a lot of the creaminess, but it's really so I think, like, I've been able to retrohale a few times. I get the graham cracker thing. It's so pronounced.
Bam Bam:Yeah. You
Pagoda:know? And the nose. But the nivage, you
Bam Bam:can retrohale better. No. Look at this. Look at
Gizmo:who look at look at this guy doing nivage commercials now.
Bam Bam:I'm not kidding.
Pagoda:I think I'll definitely do it. So I think we're gonna be ordering the Navaj tonight,
Bam Bam:meaning Go I for And
Pagoda:yeah, like in terms of the palate, I'm getting It is definitely coating. Like I'm not getting the sweetness, but I'm getting like, you know, the lactic creaminess with a little hint of sour note. Don't know.
Bam Bam:Really?
Pagoda:That could be my palate just because of what I've eaten or something.
Gizmo:That could be the lactic thing though.
Pagoda:Yeah, yeah, the same thing, yeah.
Bam Bam:There is definitely a sweet component here. No doubt.
Senator:The other thing that has to be said, the construction is excellent.
Gizmo:Oh,
Senator:yeah. I mean, if you look at everyone's burn line on their cigar, the ash is beautifully stacked, the draw is great. I mean, not one complaint
Bam Bam:from a construction standpoint.
Gizmo:Yeah. We've only had these. I've only had these in my tower. I ordered these this 50 cab, like, the day they were released, I ordered it. And it's been in the tower for a month maybe.
Gizmo:Mhmm. I didn't really dry box them for any significant length. Mhmm. I like, by the way, you're trying to hide that you're sipping that, but I can hear the reverberation in the glass.
Bam Bam:I can't
Gizmo:While you're sipping it,
Bam Bam:I can't resist it.
Gizmo:Turpentine? Bam
Senator:never tries the pairing.
Gizmo:Never tries the pairing. We've only had these a month. Honestly, if I were to tell a listener what to do when they get these as far as the timeline, I would give it forty five or sixty days. So I would think even the experience we're having, I think we actually might be jumping the gun a little bit.
Senator:I think so.
Gizmo:We just wanna, you know, do them. But I I think, man, even with time, I think these are somehow gonna even get better. I mean, this
Bam Bam:is phenomenal. It's easy to go through this really fast because it's so
Gizmo:good. Yeah.
Pagoda:It's one of those things you keep, you know
Bam Bam:You keep going back.
Pagoda:Yeah. You keep going back.
Senator:The other thing I like is just with the flavor profile, I feel like we'll see how this finishes, but at least from how it has started, I feel like this is a very versatile cigar. I mean, I could wake up in the morning and have a cup of coffee with this. I could have this in the afternoon. I could have this in the evening. I mean, there's really no bad occasion to pull a cigar like this.
Bam Bam:Definitely. Now when you place your order, how many days till arrival on average? Three.
Gizmo:And what's funny on this one, because I knew this was gonna be the review cab, I actually used a secondary pseudonym to a different address. Because I'm like, I'm not giving anybody any reason Correct. To think that this review is gonna be funky, you know? So I actually sent it to an additional pseudonym at a friend's address just so nobody knew where it was going or who it was coming to, so.
Bam Bam:Was the name Will Farrell?
Gizmo:It was not. It was actually the singer of a band that I love. Which band? I'll tell you later.
Bam Bam:I wanna know.
Gizmo:I can't tell you that because then they're gonna know. Damn it. You're gonna
Senator:Well, you know.
Gizmo:Is she I use it on I use it at small batch.
Bam Bam:I use it all
Senator:You know.
Bam Bam:The 19 concerts that he attended to the one artist.
Gizmo:No. It's not Trent Reznor.
Bam Bam:Alright. Stop it.
Gizmo:That wouldn't be that funny though. You Correct.
Pagoda:Can we go and have the first sip?
Bam Bam:I'm ready. Fucking torture, man.
Senator:Key is you don't ask for permission to go to
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Pagoda:I always do. It's like,
Bam Bam:you're a good boy.
Pagoda:I feel like these pretzels. Oh my
Gizmo:god. He is? What? What's wrong with that? What's wrong with that?
Bam Bam:It's a compliment.
Gizmo:Oh my god.
Pagoda:It's the
Bam Bam:way you said it. You're a docile puppy.
Pagoda:Oh, god.
Gizmo:So boys, I wanna read this email. This just goes to a little bit of housekeeping I like to do before we get into our pairing. So this one is coming from our friend Lizard G. And he says, fellow lizards, I am wanting to purchase a t shirt from the Lounge Lizards website, but I'm not finding a three XL size. Would it be possible to get one in the store?
Gizmo:So the answer to your question, and I had actually a couple other lizards, including one in the lounge, ask for larger sizes. Big news on the site, all of the things that are available to have larger sizes now have larger sizes in the stores. So if you need something bigger than a two x, feel free to go to loungewizardspod.com and check that out.
Bam Bam:Can I get a double x slim? Do they have that available? Jesus, Bam.
Gizmo:I I don't even know how to answer that. What do you what do you think we're doing? Lizard on Tuckets?
Bam Bam:That's correct. That would be nice.
Gizmo:Wizard G continues. Also, I just discovered your podcast a month or so ago, and I've been powering through episodes, enjoying them so much. I've learned a lot from you guys. Keep smoking cordially, Lizard G. So that's a nice note from him.
Gizmo:And, also, I wanted to throw this out there because I'm having a hell of a time with it. I'm looking for help from a lizard out there, a tech driven smart lizard who can help us with some AI. What I'm looking to do to the lizard, I'm gonna call to the technical lizards out there because Here we go. We had some real help with the new ratings guide, which has been a huge hit, by the way. The traffic to the website's been crazy.
Gizmo:I want to find a platform to successfully animate kind of the AI lizards, the cartoon lizards.
Bam Bam:Oh, you mean you don't wanna use mine?
Gizmo:Well, We're gonna use those, but I need to animate them.
Bam Bam:With the big potbelly? Of course. You sure?
Gizmo:No. We're gonna get a really svelte.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:Double x slim.
Bam Bam:Double x slim baby.
Gizmo:Double x slim caricature of you. But I'm looking for something that will handle the amount of voices we have on here. So what I've found so far is a limitation of really two voices on a lot of these platforms and a lot of them are not very good. So if you're someone out there who works with animation, those kind of things, you're smart with AI. I'm looking for something that we can replicate week to week.
Gizmo:Put some good animated content together to create a little bit of a visual companion to what we do in this room. Because we're not gonna turn the video cameras on, we know that, but we could really use your help in finding what that tech may be because I'm having a hell of a time finding it, and I know there are a lot of lizards out there who are way smarter at this than I am.
Senator:And it sounds like a great way for someone to win lizard of the week.
Gizmo:That's correct. I mean, could be lizard of the year if they figure this out because I'm having a hell of a time with it.
Bam Bam:Yeah. You'll get a dinner with Gizmo personally.
Gizmo:I'll do it.
Senator:Or a 2AM zoo.
Bam Bam:Correct. In bed. And
Pagoda:now to the liquor pairing.
Bam Bam:Way to impose your presence. I love it.
Gizmo:All right, boys. Let's go to the parrot.
Pagoda:Well done.
Gizmo:Tonight on the pod, we have, and this is coming at Senator's urging, We have a different variation on a classic. We have the fifteen years age Macallan single malt scotch whiskey, the double cask edition. Cheers, boys.
Bam Bam:Hold on. Yes. The aroma, it's like cotton candy and vanilla. It's almost port like. It's unreal, man.
Senator:I also get apple on the nose.
Bam Bam:A little
Pagoda:bit. Too much nivage going around me.
Bam Bam:Gotta clean out those tubes.
Chef Ricky:Great amount of apple, berries. Unbelievable.
Bam Bam:Yeah. But I'm getting a little cotton candy ish type thing and some butt shot. Yeah. Cheers.
Gizmo:Cheers, boys.
Pagoda:Cheers, folks.
Gizmo:Cheers. I'm still stiffing the aroma over here.
Bam Bam:Wow. It's a good move, chef.
Gizmo:Alright. So we are still in our Glencairn glasses. So let's I like to announce that as well. We have a lot of tough lizards out there wondering about our stemware.
Senator:And we are all sipping this neat. Correct. We are neat.
Bam Bam:I would buy this bottle immediately.
Senator:So I'll I'll just start by saying, I historically, years ago, hated Macallan 15.
Bam Bam:Yeah. As did we.
Senator:Dramatically preferred the twelve year, and that's when it used to come in a blue box. Now that comes in this red box, I was months ago at a friend's retirement party, and he had this by the case, and so we basically took one to our table. It is so easy drinking, so smooth, yet so rich in flavor. I mean, we put back so much of this, had a great night, and I was texting this whole group saying we have to review Macallan 15. Like, I cannot believe how much I'm enjoying this.
Senator:They definitely changed the blend because what this used to taste like and what this is like now to me are worlds apart.
Bam Bam:I couldn't agree more. It's really quite delicious. I'm getting butterscotch on the finish, vanilla. It is sweet forward, but very well balanced, and perfect viscosity.
Gizmo:This is really good.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's excellent.
Gizmo:So for how good this is now, the previous versions of Macallan 15 that you didn't love, which you've talked about quite a few times on this podcast, what would you say was really different about it or or really pulled it down into the dumps versus what it is now?
Senator:Two things. It drank really hot and sharp and aggressive. It was not refined. I found Macallan 12 to be way smoother than the old 15. And the flavor profile, it it lacked like the sweet cherry notes that you associate with Macallan.
Senator:It was like a huge departure from the 12 or the 18. It was like oakier. Exactly. Yeah. That's what I
Bam Bam:was gonna say.
Senator:I did
Bam Bam:like It was very, very oak forward. It had a sharpness to it, and it was a little too tannic.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Is this a double cask, or is this straight sherry?
Senator:I think this is a double cask.
Gizmo:They don't offer this in any other version except this one. So, senator, if you could look at the box, you just read the detail on the casks. It's right there.
Senator:So it says matured in sherry seasoned oak casks, natural colored double cask collection. Now what's weird about that is it's only saying sherry cask
Gizmo:That's what I thought was weird.
Senator:Double cask.
Gizmo:Is normally it two Cherries?
Senator:I guess so, but then this is pretty much and this would make more sense. Hang on a second. They have on the back something about the oak origin. Okay. Interesting.
Senator:Okay. So see, Macallan is figuring out that they have a problem when they use American oak ex bourbon barrels. Because what this says on the back, there is two types of barrels used. One is American oak, the other is European oak, but they're all ex Sherry season barrels.
Gizmo:This is all Sherry.
Senator:And I think that the old one was some ex bourbon and the other ex Sherry, and it totally threw off like the traditional Macallan flavor profile in the same way that the twelve year, they have the double cask and the Sherry cask, and that double cask, I'm certain, is not all sherry. It's some ex bourbon, some ex sherry. So this is exactly in line with what we typically love from Macallan, which is when they mature something exclusively in sherry season barrels.
Gizmo:Fantastic. What I love about this, I know it's still 43%, 86 ABV, but it does drink just that touch more refined than the twelfth.
Bam Bam:Agreed. Oh,
Gizmo:yeah. Now here's the question. Definitely smooth, yeah. This is, with tax, $145. That's a Let's
Bam Bam:Why call it do you have to do that?
Gizmo:Well, that's what we do here, Bam. You're talking a $50 ish to maybe $60 delta versus the twelve year Sherry cask. Right? Do you think it's worth that premium? I'll just
Senator:say this, for an occasion, absolutely. For every day, no. And that's simply because none of us are gonna spend a $150 on a bottle that we're gonna drink daily. But I think for any nice occasion, if I had to pick what I'm gonna gift someone, what I might pull out for a special occasion, I think this drink's far better than their standard 12.
Bam Bam:I feel like this is such a rare scotch, the way it's performing, and the flavor you're getting. And it's so smooth. It's almost worth every dollar to drink it weekly.
Gizmo:I'll say this. I think
Bam Bam:It's a pretty unique experience.
Gizmo:So versus the 18 when I've had it. I know we didn't record this on the pod. It's a very good spirit. Yeah. But I think if you're looking for something just to touch above that's like a really special occasion that's not gonna break the bank, this is an excellent choice.
Senator:Yeah, I'm also gonna go far and say, dollar for dollar, I would take this over 18 any day of the week.
Bam Bam:Yeah, I haven't had enough of it to Really?
Senator:Any day of the week.
Bam Bam:But what I'm getting here, I'd get a bottle of this and have it a few times during the month course of the month and then and just replenish every two months or so. I know it's a lot of money, but you don't get this experience very often in a scotch.
Gizmo:What other scotch would you guys compare this to? Is there anything?
Pagoda:Stuff within the same price range.
Senator:I think it's very differentiated. I I don't know that there's I mean, a comparison.
Bam Bam:Yeah. That's that's exactly my point.
Senator:And even within the Macallan line, which is what I love so much about it, like, this doesn't drink just like the 12, but with more age. It doesn't drink just like the 18, but with less age. Like, there's notes in this that are not present in the twelve year Yeah. Or the 18 year, which is why I love this bottle.
Bam Bam:This probably isn't gonna go over very well in the room. When I drink that Belle Vignette Caribbean cask, I kinda get similar sweet notes that I'm getting in this one. Just a touch. It glances in some similarities. I can see that.
Bam Bam:You know? Other than that, it's hard to pinpoint another one.
Gizmo:So I wanna point out to listeners who are very keen and know their data about the Lounge Lizards, we did the 15 years age Macallan, the version you were talking about, Senator, on episode 64, which came out over three years ago. And it did not rate what I think this is gonna rate tonight. So I'll tell you that rating later. But we did do the 15 years age, but I think it was a different varietal than, you know, certainly the cask you were talking about tonight, the change in the casks. Let's also note that they changed all the packaging on Macallan.
Gizmo:So there used to be blue and black detailing, especially on the 12. I think the 15 came in a Blue. Blue, and then the 18 came in a Black. Black.
Senator:No, sorry.
Gizmo:Was it black or
Senator:I don't remember. '18 was blue, I think.
Gizmo:It was black and And the blue on the then there were a couple, yeah. So there were, now most of them are red. All the details are red.
Bam Bam:It's a wallpaper print.
Gizmo:Yeah. And I think that's because Macallan's trying to sell those, you know, those crazy high end, like special they talk about the moon and the, you know, astrology, like the Pisces edition and the Picasso edition and all these things. So they've kind of tucked all of the age statement standard issue, Macallan's twelve, fifteen, 18
Bam Bam:It's called marketing.
Gizmo:Into red. It is called marketing. And they've moved those other things into, you know, I guess they they want the shelf to kinda look like these little
Bam Bam:They they are distinguished on a shelf. Know?
Senator:So I'll say this, I don't like what they've done with the boxes.
Pagoda:Me neither.
Senator:Mhmm. Feels like Christmas. Yeah. It does. And now it seems like all the expressions are using this red.
Senator:So I just think it's harder to distinguish on the shelf, like, if you're trying to reach for the 12 or the 15 or the 18. The bottles, however, I actually think they look really sharp. They do. It's clean. It's simple.
Senator:They've actually used a new top now. It's it's wood, but like it's indented on the top and then like embossed with an m from Macallan, which I think is really nice classy.
Gizmo:Very very cool.
Senator:Really classy. They now have like a QR code on the bottles. I don't know if it probably leads to the website. That's new. I've never seen that on the old ones.
Senator:And then on the back, they actually give you some very explicit imagery and words to call out flavor notes that you ought to get, which I think is pretty cool. Like What are we getting? I don't even have to read the small print text.
Pagoda:No, Giz, I think you should read it the way you read last week. Very dramatic. Without
Senator:even having to read all the fine print on here, you just see like a call out that says like butterscotch, apple, sweet spice. You see like a picture of like a cut into apple. You see
Gizmo:Is that a cherry? Is that a bottle of Heinz ketchup on this?
Senator:Yeah. That looks like ketchup or honey. I don't know what that is. Chef? But I give them credit.
Senator:Like, it makes it easier to just because most people aren't gonna read through the paragraph of crap that they put on these bottles, so I just think it's a nice touch to, like It is. Call out the notes so that someone could very quickly and easily see what they should be getting out of their experience.
Bam Bam:They need to put some vanilla bean on there. I mean, a little bowl of butterscotch.
Senator:But the apple, I'm glad to see because for me,
Chef Ricky:that was the defining baked apple. Yeah.
Senator:And that is apple is not at all present in Macallan 12 Sherry cask, and it's not in the 18. And I never thought I would want a prominent apple note in a single malt, and for some reason, it works spectacularly well with this for me, which is why I love it.
Bam Bam:Isn't it more of a baked apple? I like Chef's Comet. Yeah. Like cinnamon and nutmeg.
Senator:Totally. Like apple pie.
Bam Bam:Correct. Yep. I wanna know what Pagoda's thinking. Pagoda, you're the guy that has drunk and has taken in more Belvany.
Chef Ricky:He's like, Pagoda, you're the drunk.
Bam Bam:What are you thinking? No, I didn't
Gizmo:say that.
Bam Bam:I didn't say that. He has drunk.
Gizmo:By the way, he's got a bad reputation. He's not. I wanna make that very clear
Bam Bam:from the That's correct. We make jokes.
Gizmo:Yes. That's not who Pagoda is. Yes. But go ahead.
Bam Bam:You've taken in, you've consumed a copious amount of Belvene over the years. Yeah. What's your opinion of this?
Pagoda:I really like it, but, you know, I don't get the apple, meaning, for me.
Senator:Really? Wow.
Pagoda:Wow. But I you know, like butterscotch, like vanilla. I thought it was a little caramel ish. I don't know.
Bam Bam:Yeah, definitely.
Pagoda:Yeah. Very smooth.
Chef Ricky:Would you feel like apple pie?
Pagoda:No. Like, you know, I'm getting a little bit I don't know. There's something up with my palabre. I'm feeling a little bit of sourness, and it may not be from the cigar or this. So I'm not sure.
Pagoda:But, you know, in terms of just overall, it's a very, very smooth, very smooth drink. I think most of them, even the Belvigny, you know, the double bird. Yeah. And it coats the palate immediately, and it gives you this really good rich flavors of the vanilla, you know.
Chef Ricky:Is very oily.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's you could get in trouble.
Pagoda:It's an excellent. It's an excellent You
Bam Bam:get in deep trouble with this bottle. Oh, I know. Oh, we know you know. But it's easy to sit down. I could kill half this bottle in one sip easily.
Bam Bam:Easily. Because it drinks so beautifully smooth.
Gizmo:And I love that we don't have any ice in it. We're not even thinking about adding It's water or really a really well balanced spirit. Yeah. And I'll say, we're coming to the end of the first third here on the Bon Roberts Dalia Linea B number three and paired with this beautiful Macallan fifteen years aged. How is the scotch working for you with the cigar, and what are you guys getting on both?
Senator:I'll just start by saying, like, to me, a match made in heaven in that it's dessert, the whole experience. The sweet notes in the cigar, the sweet notes in the scotch, but there's, like, the baking spice that's present there too that helps balance it out. There's a creaminess, like, we're talking about this isn't like, you know, raw apple. It's like baked apple pie, which, like, has like a buttery, you know, creaminess you associate with apple pie. Like, the cigar has a creaminess to it, like a sweet cream.
Senator:I I would ideally pair this again with the cigar. Oh, fuck.
Gizmo:Yeah. And I'll go a step further. I think that this scotch would pair very well with almost every cigar that we smoke on this podcast.
Senator:I agree. I agree.
Bam Bam:Chef, you mentioned something that you felt there was an oil oiliness to this. I would call it buttery. The scotch. It's got a buttery kind of consistency on the palate, especially in the front. That coating effect gives me that effect.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, it's great. I think what it's doing for me with the cigar, it's bringing out a nuttiness that was there earlier, but before it was kind it felt more lactic and creamy. Now it's very nutty for me. Still sweet, but there's a nutty almost like someone added nuts to my apple pie now.
Bam Bam:The unbridled enthusiasm for me is gonna be unleashed tonight. It you're not gonna be able to hold me down. Okay? I'm rating what I'm rating, Poobah. Okay.
Poobah:Okay. I'm
Bam Bam:here. Alright,
Gizmo:boys. Let's go to some news now. We have some very important news in the room tonight. There was a breach of lizard protocol. And, Bam, I was wondering if you could share with us and the listeners Mhmm.
Gizmo:Where you were Friday afternoon, say between the hours of two and 6PM ish.
Bam Bam:Well, clearly, you know where I was because I don't remember.
Gizmo:Let me play some audio.
Bam Bam:I'm actually looking at my schedule.
Gizmo:We'll give some context.
Senator:Yeah, this is good.
Rooster:I was home. And don't forget, there was a point we actually We were looking for our own lounge to open. We were looking for
Gizmo:a space. We were at a small Right?
Bam Bam:What we were driven to. Yeah. Right? It was PTSD.
Gizmo:We were looking at real estate.
Bam Bam:We were suffering there.
Senator:It was a struggle. Converted my garage to
Bam Bam:a smarty lounge. That's how desperate we were
Senator:at this point. We quit there. We're like, what are we gonna do? We're going other places.
Bam Bam:I know.
Senator:Wasn't great. We're striking out on real estate to get our own spot.
Bam Bam:I'm like Enough, kids. I got it.
Gizmo:Garage. I don't
Senator:know what else to do.
Rooster:I mean, then here comes $10.86. Correct. And it was such a blessing. Absolutely. To have a lounge that's open twenty four hours.
Pagoda:With lots of
Bam Bam:That's what you were talking about earlier.
Rooster:A golf simulator that nobody uses.
Gizmo:With an espresso machine. With a greatly improved humidor. A, yeah.
Bam Bam:Greatly improved humidor, yeah.
Senator:Okay, and now another one. If someone would walk, even just step their foot into that room
Bam Bam:You'd get yelled at.
Senator:To take a call for two minutes flat
Bam Bam:Well, didn't go in that room. I mean, they'd get screamed at
Senator:like they just committed murder.
Bam Bam:Oh, forget about opening a window. You can't open a window.
Gizmo:Or changing the station
Rooster:for music.
Bam Bam:Who touched the Sonos? You would hear
Rooster:the 150 keys that are jingling on his pocket.
Bam Bam:Up the stairs.
Gizmo:Could hear him coming up the stairs.
Chef Ricky:And God forbid that you use the
Bam Bam:faucet faucet. Right. Turned the
Chef Ricky:heater drain light?
Gizmo:Who turned the water on?
Pagoda:No Cuban music. No Cuban music.
Rooster:Just a napkin or a
Gizmo:tissue in
Rooster:the bathroom. Like, my God.
Chef Ricky:This place sounds horrible.
Gizmo:And another
Senator:one. We've experienced this firsthand, that's why we half jokingly, mostly seriously call our former lounge North Korea, because in many ways it operated like it sounds like the owner of this lounge. That's right. A, you know, not customer friendly experience.
Gizmo:So, Bam, where were you on Friday between the hours of two and 6PM, would you say?
Bam Bam:Oh, shit.
Chef Ricky:Don't forget about that unbridled enthusiasm at the
Bam Bam:Correct. It's plummeting quickly now. You know, if you I just have to say something. If you're a young guy or a gal and you walk into an establishment and you're feeling judged, if that proprietor is not helping you in making a selection, if they're not helping you go through all the options, educating you, that's a place you don't wanna spend any time in. And we've been through that at our former place, lack of hospitality.
Bam Bam:It just it's untenable. This is not a place where you wanna be.
Gizmo:So we got a photo on the text chat Uh-huh. From you on Friday. Yeah.
Senator:Self incrimination. Self incrimination.
Bam Bam:But you I also incriminated another lizard.
Gizmo:You were sitting in North Korea.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Gizmo:And I would like to understand
Bam Bam:Okay.
Gizmo:What in God's name you were thinking
Poobah:Okay.
Gizmo:Walking into that treacherous hellhole
Bam Bam:who's been there several times, and he's a local. And he, you know, let's have a brandy. And I said, sure. Can we have a cigar? I said, sure.
Bam Bam:We can go back to the place we went to the several times before, which I've also sent photos of all my previous meetings there to you guys. It's for him, it's an easy place to meet, and it's kind of centrally located. You know, you have to give it its its due. It's it's located great, and we went during it during the day. It was fairly empty, and, you know, it served a purpose.
Chef Ricky:Bam is like James Bond.
Bam Bam:Uh-huh. Just
Chef Ricky:espionage everywhere.
Pagoda:Did you receive it very, very well?
Bam Bam:It's espionage.
Poobah:Damn, were you damn, were you held at gunpoint?
Bam Bam:Did you have
Gizmo:At him do this time, I'd like to bring in a subject matter expert on this issue.
Bam Bam:Am I on trial?
Gizmo:A former North Korean prisoner of war himself. Uh-huh. A man who helped us escape the grasp of the regime's tyranny. A guy who almost got me killed for violently dumping a 2013 Romeo Juliet to Churchill.
Bam Bam:Pass me the bottle. And a more Korean
Gizmo:ashtray just after four puffs. Gentlemen from geopolitical exile in Florida, a founding member of the Lounge Lizards Podcast, please say hello once again to our dear friend, the one, the only, Poobah.
Poobah:Hello, friends. And thank you.
Bam Bam:This live? Poobah, can hear me?
Chef Ricky:This is awesome.
Poobah:Yeah. This is live.
Bam Bam:So You motherfucker.
Gizmo:So Poobah, so you
Bam Bam:so you make an effort to come on the pod to grill me.
Gizmo:Poobah, it's a pleasure to have you back on the show. And I know you
Bam Bam:a pleasure are
Gizmo:to be here. You are in geopolitical exile in Florida. Yes. And I truly regret that you're here under these horrific circumstances.
Poobah:Yes.
Gizmo:I have to ask, how are you how are you feeling since the news broke seventy two hours ago?
Poobah:Well, I'm I'm I'm disappointed.
Bam Bam:I need alcohol.
Poobah:I I'm I'm Can you
Bam Bam:pass the bottle, please?
Poobah:I'm I'm confused.
Bam Bam:Thank you.
Poobah:And I'm I'm still frankly, I'm still processing, you know, the whole situation. I mean, I thought we left North Korea years ago. We escaped together.
Bam Bam:In Defect solidarity.
Poobah:Yes. Defect yes. Exactly. We defected in search of freedom better cigars, fewer regulations, and then out of nowhere, Ben sends photographic evidence that voluntarily, you know, he returned to the regime.
Bam Bam:That's correct. Now.
Poobah:And I actually I actually checked the photos a couple of times because I thought they were actually, like, AI generated, and it was a joke.
Bam Bam:So honestly actually, I was doing reconnaissance as a splinter cell. Oh, sure. On behalf of the lizards. Okay.
Poobah:Well, I mean, you paid a day pass. You bought a day pass. Yes?
Bam Bam:I I pay
Gizmo:How much was the day pass?
Bam Bam:I purchased two day passes, one for myself and one for my client. They were $25 each.
Pagoda:Right. For the day.
Poobah:So a day pass. Right? So this wasn't like a diplomatic mission. This wasn't like a humanitarian visit. It wasn't a It cigar
Bam Bam:was more of a it was fiscally Cigar emergency. It was fiscally motivated.
Pagoda:No. This was like Rodman going to North Korea. Correct. It was a guest of honor.
Bam Bam:Yes. It was an effort for enrichment and forward growth
Poobah:Right. So like
Bam Bam:for the business. Correct.
Poobah:So are you gonna, like, do, like, a segment on the show, like letters from occupied territory? I something As like
Bam Bam:a splinter cell, I can do that because honestly, I was welcomed with open arms.
Senator:Sounds like you've been brainwashed.
Bam Bam:Wow. Yeah. That Poobah,
Gizmo:what would would you say this is a little Stockholm syndrome as chef said?
Poobah:Well, that's exactly what it is. Well, first of
Bam Bam:all, that's incorrect, and I'll tell you why.
Poobah:It's acute Stockholm syndrome occurs
Bam Bam:during a long course of being handled and treated in a certain way under captivity. I haven't been there in years.
Chef Ricky:But you re you were there for years.
Poobah:Yeah. I have I have a series of questions. Okay? Nobody forced you to go there. Correct?
Bam Bam:Correct.
Poobah:Alright? Did you noted did you notify the state department before crossing the border?
Bam Bam:I did not.
Poobah:Did you did you stamp your passport on the way in?
Bam Bam:He did not.
Poobah:Okay. Was there a
Bam Bam:moment General general Gizmo was busy. Where
Poobah:was there was there a moment while you were purchasing the day pass? Correct. Was a yes or no question.
Bam Bam:Uh-huh. Go.
Poobah:Was there a moment while purchasing the Daypass that you thought maybe I should phone a friend? Like, you were on, like, you know, the game show.
Bam Bam:As I said, I felt uneasy going into that place. If it wasn't for my client, I would never walk into the place.
Poobah:Right.
Bam Bam:That's an honest truth. That's an honest truth.
Poobah:Did they charge anything extra for like basic human rights or anything like that?
Bam Bam:No, no extras for the ice.
Chef Ricky:The bathroom. But
Bam Bam:my client did bring with him. So he brought the spirit, and he brought two rocks glasses.
Senator:Oh, why? Because they still don't have glasses there?
Bam Bam:Correct. Wow. Interesting. They still don't
Gizmo:have glassware?
Bam Bam:That was a that was really quite a nice touch on behalf of my client. They still have ice. I wasn't charged for it.
Poobah:Oh, that's great.
Bam Bam:Yeah. So, you know
Poobah:I mean, did did like, how many surveillance cameras, like, welcomed you back? Like like, what's the over under on that?
Bam Bam:I noticed they
Poobah:were actually Was that 10 or 12 or how big?
Bam Bam:Say, as I sat down, I thought I noticed them pivoting toward me.
Pagoda:You'd be like, what's your citizen score, please?
Bam Bam:They slowly rotated in my direction.
Poobah:So what what you're saying is you did feel nostalgic somewhat when you saw the cameras.
Bam Bam:I did. Well, I think that's where the PTSD kicked in a bit from previous It was PTSD. That's correct.
Poobah:K. Okay.
Gizmo:Mhmm. I pulled all the clips.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Yes. You did.
Poobah:Yes. It's I mean, are Cuban cigars still kind of classified as enemies of the state there?
Bam Bam:I didn't see a single Cuban cigar in place.
Gizmo:So Are you eradicated?
Bam Bam:Yeah. I I think so.
Chef Ricky:You wouldn't have Cuban cigars in the communist regime. It's crazy. Makes
Poobah:no sense. Exactly.
Bam Bam:I was tempted to bring a Cuban cigar for myself and for my client, but I thought otherwise.
Senator:Now, just just so we're clear
Gizmo:Go ahead, senator.
Senator:From the time that we left all in solidarity, quit that lounge Mhmm. To now, when you just recently went back
Gizmo:Yes.
Senator:Have you been back?
Bam Bam:Yes. Before you have. Twice. Twice. Twice.
Bam Bam:Twice. Twice.
Gizmo:This is the third time.
Bam Bam:Exactly. Same client, by the way.
Senator:We're establishing a pattern. Well,
Bam Bam:again Yes.
Poobah:We are.
Bam Bam:I have a client with that's specifically located regionally, and this was convenient for him.
Chef Ricky:I don't know, guys. We might have a Manchurian candidate here.
Gizmo:I didn't know you were there two other times.
Senator:He may be infiltrating this group. That's
Gizmo:I'm working for the enemy. I was gonna you may
Bam Bam:be a squinner here. Oh, may be doing oh, counterintelligence. Yes. Could be.
Gizmo:Well, is definitely counterintelligence.
Poobah:Well, this is this is you're you're being recruited, and you don't even know that you are. You don't
Gizmo:even know.
Poobah:This is how it works in in in in these these types in of regimes.
Bam Bam:I'd give you such a really strong, long hug. I'd probably pat make you pass out.
Poobah:Well, you could certainly do that. You're a hulk, but but I have additional questions. I mean, you know, there's there's more questions you need to answer. Okay? Alright?
Poobah:Did Kim Jong's junior show up to Yes. It was there. Were the secret police there? Okay.
Bam Bam:Yes. He was there.
Gizmo:Secret police.
Poobah:So Very cordial. Okay. Very cordial, but but but monitoring.
Bam Bam:Oh, yes. Correct.
Poobah:Alright. Were there any And the host
Bam Bam:So after we sat down, the host also visited our table just to make sure
Senator:The supreme leader.
Bam Bam:Yes. The supreme leader.
Senator:Was the supreme leader's wife there?
Bam Bam:She was downstairs. She walked by, she said hello as well.
Poobah:Oh, very very good.
Pagoda:It seems like
Poobah:you're in a middle the yeah. All part of the indoctrination.
Bam Bam:Can I say something? Well, can regarding her her presence, it was a very quick hello and barely a glance.
Poobah:Well, that's what they do in dictatorial regimes. They're not I'm just
Bam Bam:gonna gonna be be forthright here. Was a privilege. Interaction was probably the most awkward because she sped right by me, barely looked at me. I said, hey, Barbara. How are you?
Bam Bam:Hey, how are you? And she just kept on going right into the humidor. So that was a little unusual.
Poobah:Yeah. No. Well, I don't think it's unusual. I think it's it's par for the course.
Bam Bam:Well, unusual for me because I've never gotten that treatment from her. PCA. Oh, yes. PCA. That's correct.
Senator:You're the only one that saw her, you said she pointed and laughed at
Bam Bam:She looked at all of us and burst out laughing.
Senator:I didn't even see them.
Bam Bam:And I'm actually I'm hoping that they hear this.
Poobah:Me too. We're we're
Bam Bam:Get a sense as to how, you know, we're feeling about it.
Gizmo:If they're listening, I would like them to know that if I could, without punishment
Bam Bam:Oh, here we go.
Gizmo:Set off a small nuclear device and level that building to the ground, I would do it.
Bam Bam:Okay. You're gonna print that, aren't you?
Gizmo:it. I'm not gonna go that far.
Poobah:Okay.
Senator:Don't save it up for bail money, boys.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Attorney fees.
Poobah:We did you did you did you see any, like, any any former defectors there, or were you on, like, some sort of solo, like, pilgrimage?
Bam Bam:I'm not gonna name
Poobah:if you've been oh.
Bam Bam:I won't yeah. I won't name names, but there was There
Poobah:were other defectors there.
Bam Bam:There was, you know. We know him here as Lizard Y. Yeah, he's a lizard, and he was there. And I'm not surprised that he continues to go there because, you know, he's got ties there. A lot of the members he knows, they know him.
Bam Bam:I just thought it was funny to see him. I think he was shocked to see me though.
Gizmo:I would have
Bam Bam:been. He was shocked, I think.
Chef Ricky:Didn't say in the lounge though that that's where he takes clients.
Bam Bam:Is that right?
Chef Ricky:Yeah. He did. He did say
Senator:here, that's more
Bam Bam:Lizard wife?
Senator:From what I hear, that may be changing very soon. Oh.
Bam Bam:Okay. I, for a moment, considered bringing him here to our home base, my client, but he had other another appointment soon after, so I didn't want to have him come all the way over here.
Gizmo:Let me ask let me just ask a quick question here. I'll ask Senator first.
Bam Bam:Oh, don't ask me, but you can ask him.
Gizmo:Senator, what would it take for you to to walk into that place one more time? Nothing. What amount of money could you earn to force you to walk into that place one more
Senator:time? Nothing.
Gizmo:What would it take for you to spend even a dollar in that place one more time?
Senator:Nothing. They could give me 10 free boxes of cigars, and I'd light them on fire. I wouldn't take them.
Bam Bam:Correct. Totally understood. Understood.
Gizmo:Pagoda. I know you're not as harsh as we are. You're a lover. Have you been back?
Pagoda:Nope. Correct. He's a good boy. Poobah. I'm a great guy.
Gizmo:I know you're in exile in Florida, geopolitical exile. Have you been back?
Poobah:Negative.
Bam Bam:Negative. Correct.
Gizmo:This is a traitorous move.
Bam Bam:Well
Senator:This is treason. I don't know about that.
Gizmo:Can you explain your thinking, please? Yes.
Bam Bam:So when
Senator:I mean, you literally are propping up the regime by giving them money.
Poobah:Bam, did you have a government approved guide assigned to you at all times while you were there?
Bam Bam:The guide came up twice to our table and then rotated the room. Yes. Very observant. And I did say the cameras started to tilt in my direction. Yes.
Bam Bam:So that likely happened.
Poobah:So there you go.
Gizmo:What was the total amount of money that you spent including cigars and day passes at the lounge that day? What cigars did you purchase?
Bam Bam:I brought a Millennium Pyramid with me.
Gizmo:Okay.
Bam Bam:And I gave my client a Grand Cru number two.
Gizmo:So you didn't purchase any cigars in the
Bam Bam:I did not. $50 for the two day passes, and that's been kind of the ongoing thing.
Gizmo:Oh, it
Senator:sounds like the supreme leader
Gizmo:missed that one. He's gonna hear
Senator:this one. Violation of the rules.
Chef Ricky:No. Hence the cameras.
Senator:No outside cigars.
Bam Bam:Well, I guess they'd like me.
Senator:I guess they don't know that you are breaking the rules, but
Gizmo:they're gonna no doubt. Correct. Did you try to change the music on the Sonos?
Bam Bam:No. I don't have the ability to do that, like you.
Gizmo:Did you try to open a window?
Bam Bam:I will never ever do that again.
Gizmo:Did you run the faucet?
Bam Bam:No, but I grabbed ice. I went to the refrigerator.
Gizmo:Did you go in the bathroom and use the provided hand towels, which is a no no?
Bam Bam:I did not go to the bathroom.
Poobah:On a scale on a bam. On a scale of one to 10, how, like, disappointed were you that they didn't search you before you
Bam Bam:went in there? I may have passed through a body screen of some kind without knowing it, because they may have that type of x-ray technology there.
Gizmo:They definitely do. Yeah.
Poobah:Sure. Did they stamp your passport? Or like, like, how did that work?
Bam Bam:Well, he ran the credit card, so I had to sign a document.
Gizmo:He lifted the signature. Yeah.
Bam Bam:I had I had to sign a document of entry of some kind.
Senator:That card is definitely microchip.
Bam Bam:Oh, yes. Correct.
Gizmo:It's probably listening to us right now.
Bam Bam:It could be.
Gizmo:I I was devastated when I saw the photo.
Bam Bam:You're devastated, but I'm really happy Poobah's in the room with us right now.
Gizmo:He is.
Bam Bam:Do you have any idea how this makes me? This makes me glow inside.
Gizmo:I'm so glad.
Pagoda:Poobah, man.
Bam Bam:Miss you, man.
Gizmo:When I hit Poobah up earlier today and said, what do you think about this? He was instantly like, Absolut. Oh
Bam Bam:my gosh.
Gizmo:Poobah, am I wrong? No, you're
Poobah:not wrong because you bought a day pass. You bought a day pass.
Bam Bam:I don't even try to provide content, chef, and it just comes.
Gizmo:We escaped It that
Pagoda:just happens.
Gizmo:And you paid to go back.
Bam Bam:I just lived my life, chef.
Gizmo:You paid to go back.
Pagoda:I'm just
Gizmo:living living my
Chef Ricky:What's gonna happen, Bam? What do you think was gonna happen when you sent that?
Bam Bam:So here's the funny thing. So when we sat down prior to recording, I'm chatting with Pagoda, and I told him I haven't been in town in quite a while, downtown where we live, of course, right? Where this club belongs.
Gizmo:Pyongyang.
Bam Bam:Yeah. And he said, Well, that's not what we've heard. And then I actually forgot that I went there.
Gizmo:It's classic. Yeah,
Bam Bam:it is. Things kind of leave my mind once I finish whatever I'm doing. And it actually didn't dawn on me until Poobah rang into the recording. Fair enough. Unbelievable.
Pagoda:It's all good.
Bam Bam:I should have known.
Gizmo:Imagine being a prisoner of war, and then being freed, and five years later saying, you know what? I'd like to buy a ticket back to that place. Can you imagine?
Senator:Yeah. Don't think John McCain tried to go back after he was captured.
Bam Bam:That's correct. That is correct.
Gizmo:I I just have some sort, there's something there. We need to process this trauma.
Bam Bam:But I will say I was welcomed with open arms. They were very cordial, very professional.
Senator:Oh yeah, open arms and a tight grip.
Pagoda:Yeah, well don't forget, he's got a long term visa. He's been there three times. Yeah.
Bam Bam:Correct. It's a work visa. You know, somebody's gotta peel the potatoes. All right?
Poobah:He's rationalizing a day pass, and you have Stockholm syndrome.
Bam Bam:I love you, Poobah.
Poobah:I love you too.
Gizmo:You know? Poobah, we miss you, and what a wonderful opportunity, by the way, for you to come on the pod tonight. We miss you. Listeners are always asking about you. So any opportunity to you know, you're a subject matter expert on all things North Korea.
Gizmo:So to bring you in tonight was really important to, you know, provide a lot of color
Bam Bam:to the
Gizmo:treasonous activities of our friend Bam Bam here in the room.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:Poobah, if you were to provide any corrective measures, any sort of advice that you can give us
Bam Bam:Atonement is what
Gizmo:I'm looking To get Bam Bam back in line here, what does he need?
Senator:What's the recommended sentence here?
Poobah:You Water know, we have a man here that is trying to explain his actions, and he can't rationalize, you know, the fact that he's buying day passes at at at at that lounge. And it's you know, you don't you don't accidentally buy a day pass, fam.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Poobah:I mean, you intentionally do it. I mean, I don't know how many papers you needed to sign.
Bam Bam:I signed supreme year prior
Poobah:to entry, but I would imagine Well, there was one
Gizmo:primary outcome.
Poobah:It's like going through cost customs.
Bam Bam:And I left my I had to leave my thumbprint on the way out.
Gizmo:Was there any moment where you were scared? Because I would be Yes.
Bam Bam:Not scared, but a little uneasy when the supreme leader's spouse walked by.
Poobah:What are you doing? It's kinda like saying, oh, like, I was just showing my friend Alcatraz or giving him a tour of like the old regime. Like, what are you doing?
Bam Bam:Well, it was a matter of convenience, honestly.
Gizmo:All I'm gonna say is convenience and money to me is less important than the tenets of being a lizard.
Bam Bam:Correct. You go too far, gentlemen. I You go too far.
Gizmo:I'm afraid that if we don't hold these sessions
Bam Bam:That is a damning statement that I will not
Gizmo:You've been there three times.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Gizmo:How many times have we talked about this
Bam Bam:I will.
Chef Ricky:Not just that because for the record, North Korea is about ten minutes from our home lounge. Correct? So when we say convenience
Bam Bam:Well, I couldn't convince this gentleman that I
Poobah:There's 4,000 other places that you could go. Okay? And Gizmo
Bam Bam:I don't think it's 4,000, but I understand what you're saying.
Poobah:Gizmo, I'd like to I'd like the record to reflect that Bam is now actively negotiating on behalf of the regime.
Gizmo:He's negotiating with terrorists. Correct.
Bam Bam:Well, you know, I will be the leader of some
Senator:And no remorse. Yeah. I see that. Which factors into the sentencing.
Bam Bam:Some derelict country soon. Precisely.
Gizmo:Poobah, it's great to have you on, my friend. Thank you for joining us.
Bam Bam:We miss you, man.
Chef Ricky:We love you, Poobah.
Poobah:We love you, Poobah. I miss you. And by the way, to all the listeners out there, I miss you guys too. I'm just geographically displaced. But this technology gizmo, kudos to you, and pat pat patching me in.
Poobah:I hope you guys have a great podcast, and I miss everybody, but we see each other when I come up. So peace and love to all. Enjoy your cigars, and I love you all.
Bam Bam:Love you, buddy. Alright.
Gizmo:Thanks, brother. Love you, We'll see
Pagoda:you soon. Love you. See you.
Poobah:Love you. See you soon.
Bam Bam:That was great.
Chef Ricky:That was awesome.
Bam Bam:Aw man.
Chef Ricky:Really well done, man.
Pagoda:So what are the sanctions?
Bam Bam:How many well.
Gizmo:It's a real problem for me, I'll be honest.
Bam Bam:Well, know.
Gizmo:Honestly, it kind of ruined my day when I saw that photo.
Bam Bam:I'm good at paying back reparations. So
Gizmo:Really? So when I asked
Bam Bam:I was waiting for that. By the
Gizmo:way, when I asked Rooster about this, I said, do you wanna call in? And he said, I'm not available, but tell Bam I can't wait to go for the fundy dinner.
Chef Ricky:I was just gonna say if he was here, he would say, no big steak dinners.
Bam Bam:Okay. He can't wait. He's gonna get a soy ball. Okay? I'm gonna make sure it's a soy ball.
Senator:Rooster's gonna be 230 by the time he's allowed to enjoy that soy ball.
Bam Bam:Correct. Well, he'll survive it. Portobello mushroom.
Gizmo:Bam, I gotta tell you, you are one of one, my friend. I don't know how you do it. I love you all. Honestly, I don't know how you walked in there. I don't know how you did it.
Bam Bam:Like I said, it was uneasy, I will admit. Each time I went, it was a little uneasy for me to walk in, but you've got a client, it's convenient for him, and it was really just a matter of convenience.
Gizmo:What was the context of the other two visits? Just want to ask quickly.
Bam Bam:It was the same client, developing a relationship and making contact.
Gizmo:Sad days, boys.
Bam Bam:Well, actually I will say I had a wonderful meeting. I had an incredible breakthrough professionally. So I am quite pleased.
Senator:Oh, I'm glad the regime told you to say that. Correct.
Gizmo:Is he reading I think he has something written on his hand.
Bam Bam:He's reading That's actually inscribed in my eyeball. You have context. That's correct.
Gizmo:He has context with the That's right. Talking points.
Bam Bam:Given to me by the regime.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. We are coming to the end of the second third now on the Bond Roberts Linea b number three, the Dalia's and the Macallan 15 years age double cask. How great is this pairing tonight, boys?
Chef Ricky:I tell you, Poobah just made it better. It was so good to hear
Gizmo:your good to hear him, man.
Chef Ricky:And and the audio quality was amazing.
Gizmo:It was. Well, thank you, man.
Chef Ricky:Really well done.
Bam Bam:Well done.
Senator:I also have to thank Poobah. For me not to have had to be the prosecutor for a change,
Gizmo:that was beautiful.
Bam Bam:Thank you. The Lord's artful. Artful.
Pagoda:He was very, very, very good.
Gizmo:He had it well put together. He was when very I hit him up He
Bam Bam:was ready. He was ready.
Gizmo:When I hit him up, he was Yeah. He was quite upset about
Bam Bam:it. Yes.
Gizmo:Yes. And he said, what time? Tell me what you need. I will be there.
Bam Bam:Oh my lord. Six six cigars later with with all the thinking and I the
Gizmo:honestly, all all joking and laughing aside, this cigar is phenomenal. Through that laughing and that joking, every single draw of this cigar Mhmm. Has been phenomenal. I'm blown away that I've only had these thirty days. I was expecting some sort of I was expecting something to come up based on the time that I've had them, not allowing them the rest.
Gizmo:Every single draw has been great.
Bam Bam:So Senator and I have had one prior to this. You've how many have you had?
Gizmo:So I had
Bam Bam:After testing, of course.
Gizmo:Yeah. So after so after Rob and Hamlet were here last year, I probably had three since then. But I have not had one in the last six months.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Gizmo:But I will say, the consistency in these cigars, from the final, hey, this is what we think is the final blend, you know, this is gonna be the production cigar, to today, it's only gotten better.
Bam Bam:Yeah, it's an exquisite cigar. Delicious.
Gizmo:For me right now, this is my favorite Bon Robert cigar
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Gizmo:Out of the four. And I really love the one zero nine and the petite one zero nine. And the Phenomenos to me is just it's such a big cigar. That's like a Super Bowl cigar to me. I'm gonna smoke that in one of the Super Bowl halves or on Christmas or New Year's, it's like a celebratory cigar.
Gizmo:This is a daily cigar.
Bam Bam:So the Phenomenos of the cigar that I had when we had Hamlet and Yeah.
Gizmo:That was the one you smoked.
Bam Bam:Rob with us. Yeah. That was delicious. These are, I think, a step above the one o nines from the point of view of body and flavor. I think I'm getting much more graham cracker.
Gizmo:Graham cracker.
Bam Bam:More of a Cuban experience in this cigar than the one zero nine, the petite or the regular size 109?
Gizmo:I think the best, like larger 100 nine's that I've had
Bam Bam:Those are awesome.
Gizmo:Very much remind me of Lusitania's. Yeah. That is a Lusitania like replacement.
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Gizmo:This is that flavor profile on steroids.
Bam Bam:A much more consistent Lucy.
Gizmo:A 100%. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've had some really bad Lucy's. I mean, I've had great Lucy's, but
Senator:I agree with all that. The only thing though I will say, I feel like the petite one zero nine and the one zero nine are not as sweet as this cigar. That's true. And so like, those for me are very much like an afternoon evening smoke.
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Senator:And I think this like has so much sweetness that it's like in all times of day, even including the morning. So I think, you know, when you want something lighter in the Bon Roberts portfolio, you could grab this to start a session, and I think when you want something a little drier, a little nuttier, I think that's where like the the one zero nine really shines.
Bam Bam:Agree. You know, I had a habit prior to drifting away from the Cuban cigars where I would start my evening. Oh, I didn't wanna
Gizmo:say drifting away from our group, but alright. Drifting away from capitalism. Alright. Take it easy. And democracy.
Bam Bam:Go USA. Go USA.
Gizmo:They told him to say that.
Bam Bam:What the hell was I saying?
Senator:I'll remind you drifting away. Yes.
Bam Bam:It was PTSD. Alright. That's a place you don't wanna spend any time in. Unless you've got business. It's awful.
Bam Bam:You son of a bitch. You really prepared for this, didn't you?
Gizmo:You're goddamn right I did.
Bam Bam:It's untenable. I'm done. I'm not talking again for the night. No rating for me.
Gizmo:You know what my favorite part is? Is he's turning off his mic, listening to himself. Oh
Bam Bam:my God.
Chef Ricky:This couldn't have been planned any better. Well done.
Bam Bam:This hobby requires hospitality. You know, I had pretty good hospitality. It was PTSD. I
Chef Ricky:I feel that unbridled enthuse enthusiasm just drifting away.
Bam Bam:It's still there. It's still there because
Pagoda:it's so delicious.
Senator:It we're all breathing it in the rest
Gizmo:of the group. By the way, he's he's passed it on to us.
Bam Bam:Correct. What was I saying? Drifting away. Yes. Drifting away.
Bam Bam:Thank you, thank you. So, you know, prior to us moving away from smoking as many Cubans as we did at one time, I would start my night with a Cuban cigar and then move into the New World category, usually end with an Exclusivo or something like that. I think, Senator, you hit it on the nail on the head. Because of how sweet there's a sweet nature to this, it's a great start to a long sit of cigars. It'll it's and I said it earlier, this will displace the Cuban cigar experience without a without a doubt.
Bam Bam:And I think And that's quite a statement to say.
Gizmo:And I think, you know, I think it's very apropos what you're saying. I think for someone who is looking to replace it, right, this is a great fit. But I also think for the folks who are really not wanting to replace their Cuban cigars, but are desperate to get them and they can't. This is a cigar that you really need to say, you know what? I will try a non Cuban cigar in place of that.
Gizmo:Let me just try a 10 count box because, as you're saying, for the folks who want to get away from Cubans for whatever reason, fine. But for the folks who don't, they're crazy not to try this.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:It's both sides of the coin.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Gizmo:It's like, I mean, this is a phenomenal cigar.
Bam Bam:It's incredible. You know, I stood in front of my tower. I was craving a Cuban today. You know, I wanted to bring a punch punch, and I said, you know, I don't have a lot of those. Let me just keep this for a while.
Bam Bam:I know what we're gonna smoke tonight, and it's actually, this is hitting the
Gizmo:mark.
Senator:The regime told you you weren't allowed to have it.
Bam Bam:That's also That's really what happened. That's correct.
Gizmo:The last seventy two hours, he's been I can't smoke you, but I'm not allowed to smoke you. Can I
Bam Bam:ask you a favor? Please turn off my mic. I don't wanna talk.
Gizmo:Let's talk about the pairing, though. I have taken a few sips as we've been talking tonight here. This Macallan 15 is such a step up from what I remember in the past. This is the first time I've had it since you've been talking about how great it's you know, how how improved it is, Senator. I I think you're on the money here.
Gizmo:This is gonna be a dramatic improvement in the rating versus when we did it on episode 64. It's unbelievable.
Chef Ricky:You know what I love about this gun carrying glass? Bam has the
Senator:As you stroke it with your thumb.
Gizmo:That's correct. That's that's where I'm getting it.
Bam Bam:In a very explicit manner. That's what I'm getting at.
Gizmo:Thank God we're not on video. Correct.
Chef Ricky:Bam has the Bam Bam wiggle, right? When he really enjoys a cigar and he stares at it and just kind of takes it back and forth away from himself.
Bam Bam:It's called a shake
Chef Ricky:and the Bam Bam wiggle, Bam Bam shake. And then Pagoda has something similar where he just kind of stares at it. The movement isn't as dramatic. But with this class, when I have a spirit, I enjoy in it. I find myself doing this where it's almost like caressing the cheek of a loved one.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Very. You know?
Chef Ricky:Caressing the cheek of a loved one over here.
Bam Bam:Ah, bam approved activity. This is
Chef Ricky:a damn delicious spirit. Yeah.
Pagoda:It must be love.
Poobah:It is.
Bam Bam:It is.
Gizmo:Yeah. What an what an excellent pairing tonight.
Bam Bam:I agree.
Gizmo:What a perfect, you know, I knew there'd be some laughs tonight, but what a perfect pairing to go along with the laughs. I mean, this is what it's, to me, this is what it's all about. I mean, this is so fun right now. When you can hit all three, it's like
Bam Bam:It's a home run.
Gizmo:Yeah. Who's doing better than we are right now?
Bam Bam:It's a home run. Nobody. Unbelievable. You know, from the point of view of drinkability, when you open a bottle of Abuelo seven, how easy is that to drink? It's akin to that experience.
Pagoda:Yep. Yeah. It's just got a bunch of hallucinations.
Bam Bam:It's so rare to say
Senator:that for a Scotch, senator. I couldn't agree more. Right? Other Scotch, I have two glasses, at most three glasses, and I'm good. Rum, there's not really an end.
Senator:This, there is no end. That's correct. It's so smooth, yet so rich in flavor. Yeah. Like, you just wanna keep going back for more.
Gizmo:I'm bummed we only have one bottle.
Bam Bam:But it's that experience that I I want to continue to chase now after tonight's experience with everything I'm drinking. There have been tequilas where we would go through an entire bottle in a sit because it's so easy to drink and it's delicious and it helps blend your experience with what you're smoking. That Abuelo seven, even a florticano.
Chef Ricky:Tom Pancho.
Bam Bam:Yeah. And a lot of the other rums that we've had, and this is probably the only scotch that we can collectively say. It's giving us that identical experience, and that's what makes it so unique. It's slotting in its own place. There's a lot of merit there, and regardless of the price, which I know is gonna factor into what we're gonna do later on, it's hard not to give this a very, very high rating.
Bam Bam:It's hard.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's pivot a little bit. Senator, I was shocked. Talk about going to places that you don't expect a friend to go to. Again?
Gizmo:Again. This one's not a bad one. This is still a democratic place. You went to Alaska.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:Yeah. You went to Alaska.
Bam Bam:I did. He had whale blubber. Freak a C style.
Gizmo:So I I know you went there for work. It wasn't your first destination, certainly on the list of places to go. But you've come back pretty enthusiastic about your experience, what you saw, what you what you experienced there, what you tasted. Tell us a little bit about your trip to Alaska.
Senator:Yeah. So I've got to say, Alaska is one of the most fascinating places I've been on the planet, and I've traveled plenty. It's always been on my bucket list, but probably at the bottom, you know, it's not like I've been dying to visit Alaska, but had an opportunity, there was a business reason I needed to be out there, and it was funny because my my first night, which was brief because I landed, so there's only one at this time of year, there's only one direct flight out of any of the three New York airports to Anchorage, and it's a United flight out of Newark straight to Anchorage.
Gizmo:Your favorite.
Senator:Yeah. Oh god. Don't get me started. Although I will say the crew on United that services the Alaska route, dramatically better than the United crew that services like the lower 48
Bam Bam:seats.
Gizmo:Maybe it's like Macallan 15, maybe it's there's an improvement coming across Oh,
Senator:no, that's not the case.
Bam Bam:I was
Pagoda:already at porridge for dinner.
Bam Bam:I love porridge.
Senator:No. I had to catch my own dinner in Alaska and
Gizmo:bring him
Bam Bam:to a plate. He was harpooning a whale.
Gizmo:He had his George Foreman grill in first class.
Bam Bam:He had a sailor hat on with a harpoon.
Pagoda:Hey, senator. Did you see Russia from there? Just just curious.
Senator:Oh, yeah. Sarah Palin and I, we were right on her deck. Yeah.
Gizmo:Just staring at Russia. We were waving to Putin. That's Bam's buddy now.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Pagoda:The guest of honor. So
Senator:one direct flight. It's a seven hour flight out to Anchorage. I got there. It must have been like 07:30, and the crazy thing in Alaska is this time of year, which kinda starts their summer, so like late May through August, there is twenty hours of daylight in Alaska.
Gizmo:That's unbelievable. I mean, I've heard it, but I've never experienced it.
Senator:Crazy. Like it totally messes with you because I landed at 07:30, by the time I got settled into my hotel it was maybe like nine, 09:30 Alaska time, and I'm I'm trying to tell myself like I need to go to sleep because I'm four hours earlier there. So it's well into like normally when I would just be going to sleep anyway.
Bam Bam:It was broad daylight.
Senator:But it was so bright out. I mean like twelve in the afternoon bright here. That's weird.
Gizmo:Really?
Senator:So I tell myself I'm like
Gizmo:Like sun not even setting?
Chef Ricky:Like Oh, not at all.
Gizmo:It's a Like you're at a Wawa gas station.
Senator:Literally, it is twelve noon beaming sun here. Wow. Is what it was like at 09:30PM there. And so I told myself, the only hope I have is I'm just gonna go on an outrageously long walk all over the city, come back, tire myself out, and hopefully then I'll just pass out.
Bam Bam:That's cool, man.
Senator:So I get out of my hotel, and if I went to the left, I would have been in like the center of downtown where I know there's like lots of hotels, restaurants, all that. I make a right like going toward the airport, and there's stuff there, but I quickly realize I'm venturing into some of the less savory
Gizmo:stuff there.
Senator:Less savory. I mean, there are some actual shops, coffee shops, and restaurants, but the problem is you pass some rough areas where I'm starting to notice. I'm looking at normal stores and shops, then I'm going a few more blocks, and I'm like, okay, the windows are blown out there. That looks abandoned. Oh, boy.
Senator:There's a meth head crossing the street yelling
Chef Ricky:at someone. I'm thinking about New
Senator:York City.
Chef Ricky:If you were walking in the direction of any airport, what would you see? It's pretty similar. Kind of similar.
Senator:It's true, but trust me, this is worse. Trust me. And so I'm walking along, walking along, and I'm looking at this seemingly abandoned building. All the windows are blown out, and all of a sudden, from the second story window, some meth head just pops out of the window and starts screaming. I'm like, what
Gizmo:the hell is going video game.
Chef Ricky:I was just gonna say, it sounds like Hogan's Allen.
Senator:Like, I felt like I was in a movie or a TV show. Like, none of this felt real. And so I'm just seeing like abject poverty, like drug addiction
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Senator:Some serious stuff. And it was funny because I was messaging a friend of mine while I was on the flight, and he by pure chance, he says to me, he's like, I actually lived in Anchorage for a month. I'm like, what were you doing in Anchorage? And he said that he just invested in building a rehab in Anchorage with some partners.
Bam Bam:Currently under construction. Very smart.
Senator:Brilliant. So fast forward like, I land, I'm going around, and I'm like, this is genius. I mean, the drug problem in Anchorage is a serious thing. And what I've learned is
Gizmo:it because they're so isolated?
Senator:It's two things. So the winter, it gets dark at like by 3PM. It is miserable.
Gizmo:Oh, so you get into this like seasonal depression type thing?
Senator:A 100%. I mean, you have such a short period of daylight during the winter. There's a complete opposite of the summer.
Bam Bam:Lizards after dark would survive well there.
Senator:Well, here's the other problem. You know what the average temperature is in Alaska in the winter?
Bam Bam:Oh, it's freezing.
Gizmo:I'm gonna guess five degrees Fahrenheit. No
Pagoda:clue.
Bam Bam:Lower. Less? Negative two, negative three.
Gizmo:Lower. Negative 20. Negative
Senator:20 is the average temperature on an Oh average my god.
Bam Bam:No, thank you.
Senator:In the winter. It goes as low as negative 40.
Gizmo:Oh my god.
Chef Ricky:Not at this. It
Gizmo:is so By the way, if you were storing your cigars at that temperature, you would kill the beetles in about ten minutes.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Gizmo:The beetles would be dead.
Bam Bam:The problem is you can't venture out of your house. So would you. Really.
Gizmo:So would I. But let's talk about the beetles.
Senator:So I have this very odd experience, go back to my hotel, pass out, and at this point, I'm sitting there saying to myself, Anchorage is a total shithole. Like, I can't believe it's like so sad what's going on here. And I had also heard from my friend who lived there for a month that, the drug and alcohol problem in Alaska obviously stems from the the intense winter there and darkness and people just being depressed and just having nothing to do other than like drink or do drugs. Also, the tribal communities all live outside of this city, so outside of Anchorage. And apparently, like, once someone in these tribal communities, like, develops a drug addiction, the community basically pays for a one way bus ticket to Anchorage and just gets them out.
Senator:Wow. So Anchorage just houses all of these people who have drug problems, and not nearly enough places to go to resolve it. Wow. So there's that element. I'm That's terrible.
Senator:Sitting there like
Gizmo:That's sad to hear.
Bam Bam:It's terrible. It's
Senator:And so my first night, the next morning, I'm sitting there saying to myself, Anchorage is not a nice place. I'm not really thrilled to be here.
Bam Bam:Okay. Hold on. When you went to bed, was it daylight?
Senator:Oh, yeah. So here's the crazy thing. Even when it is nighttime so nighttime is supposed the sun sets at 11PM, it's never actually dark in the summer. It's more like dusk. So even like the four hours of darkness, it's just like
Bam Bam:dim.
Gizmo:It's like you turn the dimmer down on your land.
Senator:It's a
Bam Bam:zombie apocalypse.
Senator:Yeah. And so it's just weird, like imagine you're walking outside at like 10PM with broad daylight beaming sunlight, but all the restaurants are closed, they're not serving dinner at 10PM, and then the bars are open, so all you just see is basically people drinking in broad daylight, and nothing, every store, every restaurant is completely shut closed.
Bam Bam:Strange.
Senator:So it's just a really weird dynamic.
Bam Bam:It's like,
Gizmo:you're there for a couple days, right? I mean, and you experienced this, but if you lived there, imagine the circadian rhythm Yes. Effects.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Gizmo:Especially if especially if you're not fortunate to have a good economic situation or a good family situation. Like, any of those elements being out of whack, it's a perfect storm of, like, human disaster.
Bam Bam:And the development of addiction.
Gizmo:Of course. Because you're looking for
Bam Bam:Relief. Yes. Yeah, I can understand.
Gizmo:It's it's really kind of a wild concept.
Bam Bam:You have to blackout your your shades?
Senator:Yeah. So that's the other thing. It's like, if you don't have great blackout curtains or shades, I mean, you're screwed because
Gizmo:Or like the what are they?
Senator:The sleep mask? Oh, yeah. Eye mask.
Gizmo:The eye mask? That would help.
Senator:And my problem was when I landed, of course, I got in my room, and I opened up the shades to see what my view was like. And when I saw the bright sunlight, I'm like, oh, of course, I'm not ready to go to sleep.
Gizmo:Time for a cigar.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Correct.
Senator:That's what screwed me up.
Bam Bam:What time was that?
Senator:So by the time I got to the hotel, maybe 08:30.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Senator:And so the next day, I am trying to get some work done and find a place I can go, and I had contacted before my trip there. There's two cigar shops in Anchorage. The one one of them has an actual cigar lounge that's members only. The cigar shop is called Fifth Ave Cigars. It's on 5th Avenue in Anchorage.
Bam Bam:Is that the place I sent you?
Senator:Yeah. Alright. Cool. Yeah. And their lounge is called, like, the Lounge at Fifth, and so they're so hospitable.
Senator:I mean, the opposite of North Korea that we were just talking about. They set me up with a week membership, a key fob to let me come and go into the lounge as I please.
Bam Bam:Twenty four hours?
Senator:So what they told me is the lounge opens at 10AM every day, closes at 8PM, but unlike North Korea, the woman's exact words on
Gizmo:the phone to talk Bam's friends like that.
Bam Bam:Okay. Thank you. Proceed.
Senator:The the woman's exact words on the phone to me were, well, as long as you're here before eight, we don't kick members out. When when you're done, then you can leave.
Bam Bam:That is quite nice to hear.
Senator:Amazing. So I show up at 10AM the next day, meet the the guy that works there. He gets me all set up, brings me downstairs. The lounge is, again, Anchorage. There's some very unsavory parts.
Senator:There's some nice parts. I was not expecting much. It's a beautiful lounge.
Bam Bam:You send photos. I thought the motif was fantastic. The chairs look great.
Senator:Yeah. Like, nice leather chairs there, tons of seating.
Bam Bam:And, honestly TVs. If I may comment, I like the wood motif. So it had looked like it had a a chair rail with darker stained wood at the bottom, and then above, it looked like a lighter oak wood paneling. Very cool. Yeah.
Bam Bam:And some hints of red here and there.
Senator:Big high ceilings.
Bam Bam:Yeah, man.
Senator:Multiple refrigerators in there with bottled water that's free for members, which was really nice. They I couldn't believe this is actually genius. I've never seen a place do this. They have a robot Roomba vacuum
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Senator:That they must set to go on every few hours, and it just does its thing, goes around the room, sucks up all the ash that's on the floor, and goes back to its home, and shuts off, which I thought was very smart.
Gizmo:It was definitely monitoring you.
Bam Bam:Yeah. And it doesn't look like we need it tonight. Not yet. I'm just glad know there's
Pagoda:electricity there.
Senator:It's solar. And the wildest part is this week membership only cost me $20.
Gizmo:That's crazy. That's unbelievable.
Senator:That's beautiful.
Bam Bam:I can That's awesome. Wow.
Senator:Bring my own cigars, no cutting fee, absolutely incredible hospitality.
Bam Bam:Question. So you went after hours? I did not actually. Okay. So you were there during business hours?
Senator:I was.
Bam Bam:What was the bar like? That they were fully stocked bar?
Senator:No. So it's like ours. It's bring your own.
Bam Bam:Oh, okay.
Senator:But the cool thing is they have these two huge cases. I think it was in one of the photos I sent with outrageous bottles of bourbon and single malt scotch. Like, stuff that's really hard to get, like special edition.
Bam Bam:Were they available for purchase?
Senator:No. And the funny thing is the guy when he brought me down, he's like, make yourself at home. Everything here is yours. Bottled water, all free, any of that. He goes, but those cases back there with all that whiskey in it, he goes, that's display only, not not to take.
Gizmo:Don't touch it. Yeah.
Senator:Then for lunch that day, I had reached out to some friends who either have spent a lot of time in Anchorage, lived in Alaska, or knew people who were from Alaska. And everyone basically said that the one restaurant that they to this day miss when they used to live there is this pizza place. And I'm sitting there saying like, how can there possibly be good pizza in Anchorage, Alaska? So I looked this up. It is the highest grossing pizza place in the entire country.
Gizmo:How is that possible?
Pagoda:Portnoy has not food available. No.
Gizmo:It's the only one open.
Bam Bam:In the entire country?
Senator:That's crazy. It's like wild. It's a place called Moose's Tooth. So we go out there for lunch. I was insanely skeptical.
Senator:I'm like, there's no way this is gonna be good pizza. I have to say, I mean, this place operates like a machine. There was a heat every table. It was a weekday at like twelve noon. Every day table taken, there was a wait to get seated.
Senator:The pizza was very good, and they do this cool like you can get individual pies, you can get slices, they do like a lunch special, like a slice of pizza and a salad. Their salads even were awesome. I did the pizza and salad. So very good place. I have to give them credit.
Senator:Somehow, Alaska knows how to make pizza. And then for dinner, based on my bad experience the first night, I was like, I just wanna see what one of the nicest restaurants here is like. I was expecting it not to be to the standard that we would expect in the New York area. Went to this restaurant called Crow's Nest. It's on the Top Floor of this historic hotel in Downtown Anchorage.
Senator:This place is beautiful. I mean, wood paneling, kinda like a gentleman's club, stunning views of all the mountains outside of Anchorage. The I mean, the silverware, actual silverware. I mean, like, everything super super high.
Gizmo:Is that important to you?
Bam Bam:Did they give you a plate?
Gizmo:No. Just silver.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Senator:Oh, many plates, even charger plates. I mean, every single detail, they had
Bam Bam:So the photos that he sent of his meal Amazing. It looked really spectacular.
Senator:Unbelievable. What did you order? We were sitting there, so we got, as an appetizer, oysters and some bone marrow. Both were excellent. And then I'm looking at the menu for dinner, and I was gonna order this black cod that's supposed to be really good there.
Senator:And I see this guy roll by with these two rib eyes, and I'm more of a fillet or strip guy than I am a rib eye guy, but oh my goodness. Speaking my language.
Gizmo:Rib eye, baby. Speaking my language. Did they have those in hold on, Senator. I'm sorry. Do they have those in North Korea?
Bam Bam:They do not. Okay. Steakums. Steakums.
Senator:This rib eye looked unbelievable. So I'm sitting there just debating, do I get the rib eye? Do I get the fish? And then this woman on my team, she's debating the exact same thing, the rib eye or the fish. So we asked the waiter, like, is there any way it's possible to, like, kinda divide that up, or should we just order them both and we'll take care of ourselves?
Senator:He goes, no. No. No. We'll take care of it. We'll split up the fish.
Senator:We'll split up the rib eye. So I had sent you guys photos of like my half of the rib eye with some broccolini, potatoes, this red wine reduction, and the rib eye was like an espresso rub that they did. And the fish was also awesome. Their cocktails, they've got like six different types of Manhattans, an extensive cocktail list.
Bam Bam:I've never heard
Senator:of that. I mean, everything Six
Gizmo:have you ever looked the Specials menu, and they have six different Manhattans?
Bam Bam:That's very impressive.
Gizmo:Normally, it's like six drinks.
Senator:Correct. Yeah. They're wine list. They're on Wine Spectator's like highest grade of top wine list in the country. Wow.
Senator:So the experience was awesome. We had an amazing meal. And then the wild thing is, again from recommendations that we got from people who have spent a lot of time there, the most legendary bar in Alaska is a place called Chilkoot Charlie's in Chilkoot. They call it Coots for short.
Bam Bam:Coots. That's cool.
Senator:So Chilkoot, they just call it Coots. So we go to Coots, and this place is a bar that is 10 times the size of our lounge here. Huge.
Gizmo:How big for Bam, how big is it compared to North Korea? Really?
Senator:So we show up to this place.
Gizmo:I'm not gonna let it go.
Bam Bam:I know you're not.
Senator:There are like 12 bars and rooms within this one big bar. 12 different ones.
Bam Bam:That's cool.
Senator:They also have an outdoor patio where they sell cigars, and you can smoke cigars on the patio.
Bam Bam:Now that's a proper establishment. I couldn't believe Unbelievable. Correct.
Gizmo:My hands are in the air.
Bam Bam:I know.
Chef Ricky:Is the Michelin Guide in Alaska?
Senator:No. They're not. They're not.
Bam Bam:They're actually not.
Gizmo:They would hit this place.
Senator:Yeah. Well, this is just a barnyard.
Gizmo:Well, the restaurant No.
Chef Ricky:I meant for the first Oh,
Senator:the restaurant.
Bam Bam:But, dude, having a cigar in a patio? Oh, yeah.
Senator:Unbelievable. And the the thing
Gizmo:Especially when it's minus 40.
Bam Bam:Can I get another tank of propane, please?
Gizmo:Sir, I'm cold, sir.
Senator:Thing that's shocking about is Alaska is actually not smoke friendly. It is prohibited to smoke anywhere indoors, period. The only place that has an exemption that got grandfathered in is that Fifth Avenue Salmon shop.
Pagoda:Yeah. You can't mess the environment.
Gizmo:So you so you can't open a new lounge if you want to?
Senator:Absolutely not. You you can't smoke indoors anywhere, period. That shop has been there fifty years. The lounge is is three years now it's been there. And so this place, even just having an outdoor patio, like, there's restaurants that let you smoke.
Senator:It is very very strict in Alaska.
Bam Bam:So at the cigar club on 5th Ave, were there other cigar smokers when you were there?
Senator:I was there probably like 10AM to noon, and then again later in the afternoon, no one. Really?
Gizmo:You were the only person.
Bam Bam:Only one. That's unusual.
Gizmo:Do you know like what was their high season?
Bam Bam:Yeah, that's a good
Senator:question. I mean, definitely it's peak summer. So peak summer is like mid to late June through like September? Early August. Oh, wow.
Gizmo:Okay. So it's a short season.
Bam Bam:It is. I
Senator:mean, summer lasts beyond that, but like peak tourism when there's like tons of people in town, it's it's like that kind of window. But this Chilkoot Charlie's so I'm sitting there smoking a cigar. This guy walks up to I'm there with my team, and this guy and we're nicely dressed. We were there for that day was a workday.
Gizmo:T shirt, jeans?
Bam Bam:No. Yeah. Graphic tee. Let's
Senator:say let's just say
Bam Bam:Funker flip flops.
Chef Ricky:Crocs. I love Alaska.
Bam Bam:Oh, cargo shorts.
Gizmo:Bam loves that. Oh, yeah. Oh gosh.
Senator:Let's just say Anchorage is an outrageously casual city. I mean, you basically either work in oil and gas or you're a fisherman if you're living there. Those are the jobs that are available there. So this guy walks up to us and he's like, you guys definitely aren't from around here. What what are you doing here?
Senator:And we're like, oh, we're here for work. He's like, oh, yeah. I figured. He's like, are you guys building a pipeline here,
Bam Bam:or what are you doing? We're drug dealers.
Senator:And we're like, no. He's like, are you lobbying our government? We're like, no. He's like,
Poobah:are you trying
Gizmo:to fuck us somehow? We're like, No. I like this guy. Oh, Let's
Pagoda:like get him
Gizmo:on the pod.
Bam Bam:Yes. So we I wanna send him to North Korea.
Gizmo:Yeah. So we come
Senator:to find out he's one of the owners of the business, and he's like, I'd love to give you a tour. And I had read, this place has these 12 bars, but some of them are, like, hidden. They're in, like, secret doors.
Gizmo:Here we go with the speedy know how to,
Senator:get to speedy.
Gizmo:Push the right combination on the on the
Bam Bam:It's kinda cool.
Chef Ricky:Pull the
Gizmo:right The checkout. I don't mind it. The register.
Bam Bam:I don't mind
Senator:There's exclusivity. My team was very excited to get the tour, I said to him, I said, as soon as I'm done with my cigar, then we'll do the tour. So he kept coming back. He said, You're still smoking? You're still smoking?
Senator:I said, As soon as I'm done, I promise. So I properly smoked in a Pedronix Luxivo, sent you guys a photo. Once I finished that, we got him and we did the tour. And this place is wild. I mean, some of the rooms were like chain locked because those bars were closed.
Senator:So he opens one of them, and we go to this room that's called the Russian room. Was Pagoda in there?
Bam Bam:Jesus Christ. Under lock and chain? Just
Pagoda:just survived Siberia. That's correct. The prison of Siberia.
Senator:No. We went in we went into the Soviet room, and we found Bam in there.
Gizmo:Correct. His picture was there with the full garb on.
Bam Bam:Yeah. With a nice big sword in my hand.
Senator:So the crazy thing is he opens his door, we go into the Russian room there, and it has the guy tells us this, and I'm not honestly believing him. This just sounds too ridiculous to be true. I googled it as soon as we left there. He's a 100% accurate. This room has the single largest collection of Soviet and Tsarist memorabilia in the entire world.
Gizmo:Wow. You gotta get
Bam Bam:there. Oh no, I don't.
Senator:The owner that procured all of this from Russia over many years and smuggled it out without Russia ever realizing, has that room insured alone for tens of millions of dollars? Jesus.
Gizmo:Can I just ask you a quick question?
Bam Bam:Can imagine
Gizmo:going to Russia and smuggling weapons out for your collection and Anchorage?
Senator:No. I I mean, it's crazy.
Bam Bam:It's like That's crazy. That took a lot of courage.
Senator:It's like original, like, war medals from world wars and Wow. Lenin's, like, personal flask he used to drink out of, like, crazy faberge eggs and golds. I mean, just crazy crazy stuff. Stuff from, like, the national hockey team and, like, the Miracle on Ice, all like, crazy crazy stuff.
Bam Bam:They actually had a Faberge egg in there?
Senator:Oh, yeah. Really? Yeah. Crazy stuff. Like, you would not believe.
Senator:It's like a museum.
Bam Bam:Some fabreges go for millions Yeah. And millions on the open market. That's pretty impressive.
Senator:Insane. Wow. So we we experienced that room. They've got like two rooms that have full stages. They do concerts, comedy shows, all kinds of stuff.
Senator:And then we go into this room, and I'm like, what is touching me? From the ceiling, there's things touching my head, there's things on my arms. I'm like, what
Chef Ricky:is all this? I looked around the dress lay.
Senator:Is it is all is all bras.
Gizmo:Like, the clothing item I remember
Bam Bam:that photo.
Gizmo:That's a Bam approved activity.
Bam Bam:That's a Bam approved room. Yeah. That's correct.
Senator:So the funny
Pagoda:thing I think this is where we need to lock them up.
Gizmo:Yeah. We could set them there forever.
Bam Bam:Put me under lock and key, baby.
Senator:It's ridiculous. And so we're like, well, what's the story with this room? And so the guy tells us that women get free get a free drink if they take their bra off and leave it there, like permanently at the bar.
Gizmo:I didn't know you had a place in Anchorage, Bob.
Bam Bam:I'm a heavy investor.
Senator:And I mean, the guy said to he's like, basically, this place in the seventies and eighties was absolutely wild. He was like, it was, I'll put it politely, wild women and cocaine. Like, that's what this place was in the seventies
Bam Bam:Drugs and Honestly, I'm
Gizmo:sure there's not like a Netflix documentary about it.
Senator:I wish it was there.
Gizmo:Honestly, it sounds like one of those places.
Senator:It does. You know? And so the guy said, like, that's what it was like during the seventies days. And he goes, my goal is to keep that alive in 2026. Literally what he said.
Senator:And he's like, it's harder with the younger generation, but he's like, we're actually starting to gain a lot of traction. And he's explained to me that with these 12 bars, the way Alaska works, this is so convoluted, you have to get a liquor license for each individual bar within this one establishment.
Gizmo:So if you construct a bar, you need a license for that one. If you put another one in the room next door Same room. Wow. Wow. You
Bam Bam:need another liquor license.
Chef Ricky:Wow. It's the same thing in New York City.
Gizmo:We Is that
Chef Ricky:have two liquor licenses, one for upstairs, one for the Oh,
Gizmo:that's crazy. Never knew that.
Bam Bam:Neither did I.
Senator:Wow. Okay. So Alaska's not crazy then. Wow.
Bam Bam:How interesting. That
Senator:is insane. So what he was explaining to me was he's like, in our heyday, we had, you know, all 12 bars open. We were paying for 12 liquor licenses. He's like, you know, with the younger generation, four of them were closed. They kept eight.
Senator:And he's like, now as we've been gaining more traction, we're reopening two of them. We just got our liquor license for those two. And he's like, we've also had to wait because there's a finite number, so we had to wait until people lost them to be able to purchase them.
Bam Bam:Yep.
Senator:So then he's telling us about this room with all the bras in it. I mean, it's crazy. There's like photos on the wall. Playboy has done shoots at this place. Like, it is wild what has happened here.
Gizmo:Look at the grin on his face.
Bam Bam:Correct. Move. Ain't getting that in North Korea. He'll put
Pagoda:a down payment on an igloo soon.
Bam Bam:That's correct. I got my own ice machine, baby. It's okay. I'm making my igloo. Oh my god.
Senator:So then he tells me, everyone knows the actress Dakota Fanning. Yep. So he tells me that she shot a movie in Anchorage months ago, and they actually shot a number of scenes in this bar. And he told me when she was done filming, she took her bra off, and it's on the ceiling there. And so he's showing us, like, this black bra hanging from the ceiling, that's Dakota Fanning's.
Senator:Nice.
Gizmo:A free drink is a free drink then.
Senator:So this place is just so cool, so much fun. And then the last day I was there after we had wrapped up our meetings, I had gotten like a tour guide to take my team and I for six hours outside of Anchorage to see all the natural beauty of Alaska.
Gizmo:The mountains So Bam woulda love this.
Bam Bam:Well, I would love it if I'm in a vessel with guns and armor. But out in the wilderness with grizzlies, that's risky. You're protected, Bam. Okay.
Pagoda:So we see We know you can run fast.
Bam Bam:Yeah. When something's chasing me, you better believe it.
Gizmo:Yeah. Should've seen him at PCA running around PCA.
Senator:At point five miles an hour.
Gizmo:That's a little fast.
Pagoda:I was
Bam Bam:very sluggish that day.
Senator:So we see a bunch of all the nice mountains, glaciers, and then the wildlife is unbelievable. So I had really wanted to see a grizzly bear. I've never seen one in person. And there's this huge conservation center where basically if there are certain animals that they encounter in the wild that are like seriously wounded, or for some reason seem like they're gonna be threatened and could be killed, they will put them in this conservation center. Now the grizzly part of this conservation center, the grizzlies have like 14 acres.
Senator:It's huge. So you're not really guaranteed to see anything in that circumstance because there's just so Yeah. Much
Gizmo:It's a lot of space.
Senator:Yeah. Exactly. Soon we got there, we saw a bunch of black bears, which was awesome. Like, they have a 950 pound black bear there. This thing was massive, and and we got to be super close.
Senator:Like, as close as Bam is as I was to like these black bears.
Bam Bam:It's about six feet.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. That that that's about two
Bam Bam:feet. Okay. It's two feet. It's exactly six feet. Were you, like, standing in front of it?
Bam Bam:Like
Senator:I mean, there is a, like A fence. A fenced barrier.
Pagoda:Okay. That looked like a very thin fence.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Chef Ricky:That is not a Bam approved
Bam Bam:activity. No.
Senator:And I really wanna see the grizzlies. So we got to see moose and elk, these beautiful, huge bison. And this one bison had just given birth three days ago, and I had sent you guys a photo of the huge
Gizmo:that mom was a bison. Baby bison.
Senator:That was a baby bison, only three days old in that It looked like three years old. Yeah. Exactly.
Gizmo:Crazy.
Senator:And so we were kinda wrapping up, hadn't seen the grizzlies, and our tour guide's like, let's give it one more shot. And so we're standing there, and there's all this brush, nothing's moving, we can't see any. And as we're kinda getting ready to leave, this one woman is like, what is that in the brush? And we're looking, and all of a sudden we're like, oh my god, it's a grizzly. Now they blend in so well
Bam Bam:Oh yeah.
Senator:With brush.
Bam Bam:Oh yeah.
Senator:I mean, if you were hiking on a mountain Alaska, by the time you even realize that one was in the brush near you, you're dead. That's it. I mean, they're super super aggressive. Like the tour guide said with a black bear, you know, they're not aggressive by nature, but if they get frightened, so so like if you were to startle them, they will attack. Or if you were to do something stupid and try to, like, take something of theirs, they're definitely gonna attack.
Senator:But he goes with a black bear, even as big as they are, he's like, if you really clobbered one, like, on the snout, it would probably just, like, back off. A grizzly, there is no hope whatsoever. Like, they are aggressive by nature.
Gizmo:You're cooked.
Senator:As soon as you are in range for them, that's it. They can run up to 60 miles an hour. You can't even outrun them.
Bam Bam:They're typically much much bigger than a black bear.
Senator:No. So that's the funny thing. I didn't know this until this trip. No way. I'm telling you, grizzlies usually top out around like 600 pounds.
Senator:So that grizzly I sent you that I saw, that was 600 pounds. Black bears
Bam Bam:can go
Senator:up to like a thousand pounds. Get
Bam Bam:the hell out Wow.
Senator:Yeah. Wow. It's wild.
Bam Bam:I didn't know that.
Senator:So the funny thing is this grizzly, he's laying down, which is why it was hard for us to see him at first, and then all of a sudden he pops up, and there is just something about grizzlies, like, they don't look real. They literally look like a stuffed teddy bear. Like, the way they move, their mannerisms, their head shape, it's so perfectly round
Bam Bam:when they're to fly through the air. The mannerisms. It didn't look real.
Gizmo:I wish I had a Superman clip. I know.
Senator:But it's so wild. They just, like, they look super friendly even though they're the complete opposite of it. So it was super super cool to get to see that.
Bam Bam:That's incredible.
Senator:And then we went and saw a bunch of other, like, glaciers after that. But Alaska is stunningly beautiful. I mean, the whole time I was there, I could not even believe that this is part of The United States. So I would go back. Like, that's how much I enjoyed it.
Senator:I'd go like peak summer, ideally like mid June or July, but highly recommend it.
Chef Ricky:And just to recap, this is when you turn right or left? Left.
Bam Bam:That's a good question. Wow. I'm
Gizmo:glad I'm glad you had a great time. Honestly, I was expecting you to come back and be like, you know, it was fine. I don't wanna go back. Like, it sounds like if you're somehow find yourself up there, you'd be happy to be back.
Senator:A 100. Like, I am I am confident that in my lifetime, I will return again. And it's amazing, in the summer, I was expecting it to be freezing cold. I mean, it was in the mid fifties. I never even wore a jacket, I just had like a
Gizmo:That's hoodie weather boy. Quarter zip,
Senator:and like a vest. That was as Nice. Much as I ever needed, even at its coldest, even at night.
Gizmo:That's
Senator:great. And fast forward to like June or July, I mean, it can hit 70 degrees there. Wow.
Gizmo:So how how long was your flight from Newark to Anchorage?
Senator:Seven hours and ten
Gizmo:minutes. That's seven hours and not too bad. The problem for a lot of folks in the country though, is they'd have to go to a hub, be it Chicago, Newark, Seattle, to get to connect
Senator:there. Here's the good thing. During peak summer, which starts, these flight routes usually start early June, there's more direct flight options. So year round, there's only this United flight out of Newark. In June, there's an Alaska Airlines direct flight that goes from JFK to Anchorage.
Senator:There's also one from Boston that goes to Anchorage on Alaska Air. So there's a lot more options during peak tourism time, which is summer.
Bam Bam:Nice. I'd like to see a glacier.
Senator:It's cool. Yeah. It's really cool.
Bam Bam:Some of them are so massive, They cause a lot of them, when they start to break apart and they fall into the ocean, they cause tidal flows. It's a huge, huge
Chef Ricky:I'd like to see one from land, not from a boat.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Good point. Imagine you capsize in that water.
Senator:Yeah. Mean, I'll show you just a little You'll be able to see a bit from here. This is a glacier up here, and there's water down there, more glaciers.
Bam Bam:It's spectacular. It's beautiful. Yeah. Unreal.
Gizmo:Super beautiful.
Bam Bam:Awesome. Wow.
Gizmo:I kind of want to go
Bam Bam:now. Me too.
Gizmo:You know, I've always talked with the wife about taking a cruise and doing that. Not that I'm a cruise guy, but just going up there and-
Bam Bam:Getting up there.
Gizmo:Yeah, But I'm now I almost want to fly there direct and Yeah, spend a
Bam Bam:sounds cool.
Gizmo:Sounds great.
Chef Ricky:Just
Bam Bam:so Look, during peak season, you've got a cigar lounge. We got everything we need. It actually sounds like a great trip.
Chef Ricky:Just make a left.
Gizmo:Correct. Senator, thanks for sharing that with us tonight.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Very cool.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. We're wrapping up our evening, but we have to get to our lizard of the week presented by Bon Roberts. And our lizard of the week this week is gonna be a unique one. I have to celebrate our friends on Reddit who there was a thread about cigar podcasts, and I wanted to celebrate this because it's hard to get loved on Reddit. And for some reason, the folks on Reddit are really, really appreciative of us, and they love us.
Gizmo:So I wanted to share some of the commentary there. So someone asked about cigar podcasts. There wasn't really a comment. And user Jax m c seventy, who's been a lizard of the week winner before, says lounge lizards, by far the best. They smoke New World and Cubans.
Gizmo:They also pair them with spirits and rate them both new episodes every Tuesday. And the reply to that was our lizard of the week, likely Twilight. He or she, I don't know, says Lounge Lizards is definitely the best by far. They're a fun group of guys, and I like the lifestyle aspect of the podcast, so it's not too cigar focused. Excellent taste in cigars and spirits.
Gizmo:I've yet to be disappointed by anything they've rated highly. They are a bit more focused on the mild and low proof stuff, though. So thank you to Lizard Twiley. By the way Wow. As of a couple weeks ago, we're starting to move into the higher proof stuff.
Gizmo:You weren't here, senator. We had a spirit that blew our minds.
Bam Bam:It was delicious.
Gizmo:The barrel seagrass.
Bam Bam:Delicious.
Gizmo:And I think this Glencairn is actually helping us in I moving that actually
Senator:got to try some of it because there was a bit leftover when you guys did
Poobah:it. Dude, it's
Gizmo:And the lounge,
Senator:it was very good.
Gizmo:It's so good. We rated that very highly.
Bam Bam:Loved
Gizmo:it. So Lizard Avarice said, love those guys. And there were a couple other comments. Lizard turnaround zero eight said, I know it's been said, but lounge lizards smoke a new cigar each week so you can smoke along with them while you listen and compare your thoughts. Also, just a funny group of guys.
Gizmo:So it was nice to see our comment as the highest one there from Lizard Jack's MC 70. We really appreciate that. Like I said, he won lizard of the week before, but likely Twiley is gonna be our lizard of the week this week and is gonna win a 10 count box of cigars from our friends at Bond Roberts. So congratulations to him or her. Whoever it is, they're gonna win a 10 count box of cigars.
Gizmo:I love seeing love on Reddit. We appreciate our Redditors out there. Reddit's a tough place to get loved. So to see that, to see all these upvotes on that comment about us, to see us at the top of that list, We really, really appreciate it. So I wanted to shout all of our Redditors out there on the Cigar's subreddit on Reddit.
Gizmo:So, boys, don't forget to send your ratings to me for tonight, but we are coming to the end of our evening on the Bon Roberts Dalia's, the Linea B number three, and the Macallan fifteen years aged single malt scotch whiskey. What a night it's been tonight. Bam Bam is a defector. Senator went to Alaska. How dare you?
Gizmo:Phenomenal evening tonight, but it is time to get into our ratings. And first, we're gonna start with the formal liquor rating tonight on the Macallan fifteen years aged single malt scotch whiskey. Bam Bam, you're up.
Bam Bam:So for all the reasons I mentioned earlier, how incredibly delicious the spirit is, how easy it is to drink, and how it parallels some of the other spirits that we drink and the amount that we drink, it's such a unique scotch. I don't think any of us have ever had a scotch like this before. And as Pagoda poured my third glass, I could easily drink this the entire night. I can go through a half a bottle of this and just really be enveloped in flavor. I don't know.
Bam Bam:I've got to give this the very highest rating that I've ever given. It's a 10, but if I can go above it, I would go above it tonight. It's a true 10. It's expensive, but honestly, the experience for me is well worth the expense. I would buy this on a monthly basis, keep it fully stocked, and drink this all year long.
Bam Bam:Fantastic. 10.
Senator:It's the highest rating Bam's ever given. 10.
Gizmo:I've never given it a 10 before. I've never given it 10 before.
Senator:It's more like the lowest rating Bam's ever given.
Bam Bam:I told you I was gonna be unbridled tonight. Chef.
Chef Ricky:This scotch was amazing. The baked apple, the butterscotch, the honey, the berries, it was all there. The viscosity, you know, the body on the spirit was great. Perfect accompaniment to the cigar. I really, really enjoyed it.
Chef Ricky:Price point is high, but, yeah, this is something you could buy, stock your cabinet with, share if you choose, but at the very least, it's gonna be there when you want it, and it's gonna be perfect every single time.
Bam Bam:It's just so special and different.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I really love this scotch. It's a 10 for me.
Senator:I'm sorry. Can we just take a moment to acknowledge? Chef is not a single malt scotch guy. Well,
Gizmo:he kinda is now.
Senator:Been getting there, but he even always caveats when he's rating usually a single one. So it's like, I'm not this is not typically my thing, and this is how I feel. For him to be with no reservations whatsoever at a 10 is pretty huge.
Chef Ricky:And we're at the end of May. Right? So let that speak to the versatility of the spirits.
Bam Bam:That's true. Also true.
Chef Ricky:Right? Where it's not like we're in the dead of winter where this would be even more perfect. Yeah. Right? We're coming into summer.
Chef Ricky:Sure. It's a slightly cooler spring than normal. But this was this concert was
Senator:incredible. I drink this in the summer.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Oh, absolutely.
Gizmo:So I really loved the spirit tonight. I love the pairing, but it's not a 10 for me. It's a nine. Everything about it was great. I do think the price point at a $145 is really high.
Gizmo:You're not wrong. I mean, if this was a 100 or 95, maybe I could get there on the 10. Yeah. But when I compare this to the the Balveni Caribbean cask 14, doesn't even clip, you know, three digits.
Pagoda:Mhmm.
Gizmo:I don't think it's that much better. Right? And you you referenced that spirit, Bam. I did. I love the Balveni.
Gizmo:I love the Glenlivet we did a couple weeks ago. The fusion cask, we talked about how that was you were saying senator feeling between a 15 and 18 years age spirit. That to me was an excellent spirit, not even close to this price point. Right? So at $150 on this, it's really, really good, but I'm not gonna stock this, Bam.
Pagoda:So you do.
Gizmo:I'm not gonna go to the store and buy this
Bam Bam:every month. So for you, it's a celebratory spirit.
Gizmo:It's Holidays. Every once in a while.
Bam Bam:Special occasion.
Gizmo:It's a thank God for this podcast spirit.
Bam Bam:Honestly That's almost every day, by the way.
Gizmo:It's a thank God for this podcast spirit because had I you know, had we not been here reviewing this tonight, I probably would have not tried it, certainly given our previous rating. But also the price point, I'm gonna reach for other things. It was really, really good. I loved how it paired with this. I think it would do well with so many other cigars.
Gizmo:But for me, it's a nine. Pagoda.
Pagoda:It's a 10 for me. You know, I so the way I look at it is, you know, just to try and address some of your concerns is that, you know, when you think about Macallan 18 Please, Pagoda. Pull up the When you think about Macallan 18, Macallan 18 is what? Over $3.03 $50.
Gizmo:Yep. Which is also crazy, can I just say?
Pagoda:And now you think about Macallan twelve, We really like, at least some of us over here, some of the Lizards really love, you know, the one which used to be in the sherry, you know, the black cat.
Gizmo:Yeah. Now it's the red box, but it's the sherry cast. Yeah.
Pagoda:The the 12. We used to love it, and we would rate that a 12, you know, a 10. I think, you know, the 15 this 15 can compare, I think, with most eighteens out there, number one. Number two, the delivery is excellent. It is so smooth.
Pagoda:You know, you think about smoothness, and when you're going through scotch, you get an idea of the different level of smoothness you get when you when you drink a scotch. This scotch is exceptionally smooth. On the aroma, it's very, very good. Right? You get the sweetness, meaning coming from like whether it's a vanilla, caramel, I think, butterscotch.
Pagoda:It's so tasty. What it leaves on the palate, really medium to long term finish for me. It covered my palate with the sweetness, which is excellent. You know, like something we all crave for. The other thing is the viscosity.
Pagoda:You know, we always talk about liquor and, you know, when we are having a lot of the spirits, viscosity really matters a lot because it really affects the delivery. And I think this has got the perfect viscosity for the profile it's delivering. Right? Like, it is an excellent, excellent spirit. Yeah.
Pagoda:The price may be a bit too high, but then you're thinking once again, this is you know, you're thinking about a Macallan, which is typically considered a very nice brand anyway. You're you're and then you're saying, hey. Listen. If you can get something as good as the 18 I, you know, I like, I haven't had the 18 for a while, but this is less than half the price from that perspective. So it's a 10 for me.
Senator:Alright. Senator. Pagoda hit the nail on the head for me. This is a definite 10. His commentary about this being able to compete with just about any eighteen year single malt that's out there, I couldn't agree more with.
Senator:I mean, it is so rich and so flavorful, yet so memorably smooth. I don't know of any single malt that is as drinkable and smooth as this fifteen year expression. I've always loved Macallan, but what's always disappointed me is as much as I've loved the twelve year, I have not been able to fall in love with their other expressions at a higher age statement. And the fact that now this fifteen, this is better than the 12, I thought I would never categorically say that. I always used to say dollar for dollar, I would take the 12 any day of the week over the 18.
Senator:This is something really special. The notes that you get are differentiated. Oh. They're distinct in the line. Absolutely.
Senator:The apple and butterscotch that you get are not prominent, and some I mean, apples certainly not even existent in the 12 or the 18.
Bam Bam:It's almost rum like. Yeah.
Senator:I would agree with that. Yeah. It's really really special. The viscosity I mean, the bottle's empty. You know it speaks volumes.
Gizmo:Oh, no. Right?
Chef Ricky:Oh, no. This pod.
Senator:I'm just blown away. I hope Macallan never changes this. They have struck gold. And as far as the price point, you know, this is where I think Pagoda's commentary is so helpful. It's you have to look in the single malt category.
Senator:The price is already ridiculous compared to what you can find in rum and other things. And there are reasons for it, but it's still inflated. And the idea that you can drink something this refined in the single malt category that you would typically have to pay minimum $250 plus, and in Macallan's case, 350 plus. To find that at a $140, I think, is as fair and reasonable as they can possibly offer given the category that they're in. So I would definitely stock this.
Senator:Again, at that price point, given that I have spirits that we all love at $25 a bottle, those are gonna be my daily drivers still. That's not gonna change that. But for occasions now, this is absolutely something that I wanna pull and reach for, and I'm so grateful that they came out with this.
Chef Ricky:And by occasions, you mean just waking up feeling great.
Bam Bam:Correct. Right? Thanking God for this podcast. That's it.
Pagoda:You know on the other hand like, you know when you go and if it's somebody's, you know like a milestone birthday, right, and you wanna give more than just a bottle of balcony or a champagne or you know which is typically between 60 and $80. You don't wanna spend $302.50 bucks sometimes, you know?
Bam Bam:Totally. So
Pagoda:this is just the right I think it's an excellent of a gift
Bam Bam:Totally to people.
Senator:You You bring up such a great point because, again, I had this last at a friend's retirement party. He was retiring from the military. He was in the military for, you know, like twenty plus years, and I know he loves Macallan. I hate the 15 at the time, so I bought the 12. Even though I would have been willing to pay the price of the 15, I think that's reasonable to gift someone at a retirement party, but I just didn't think that he'd enjoy it.
Senator:And then ironically, he's got this 15
Bam Bam:And they have it there.
Senator:And I try it, and I'm sitting there saying this is nothing like the old 15. So I think to Pagoda's point, like, is a perfect gift for celebratory occasions.
Bam Bam:That's true.
Senator:I mean, it it checks so many boxes.
Chef Ricky:You know, I'm gonna tell you what else makes the price point worth it here. The fact that Macallan made the pivot of adjusting that barrel formula, that's a big undertaking to do it at this scale for what they're doing and what they produce and to recognize that they had to make this adjustment and then actually do it and do it successfully, that alone to me is worth the price.
Bam Bam:It's completely different than anything they've made. Yeah.
Pagoda:You know what? It's a regular production. Like, they could have easily made this a special edition.
Chef Ricky:A limited yeah. Totally. Exactly.
Gizmo:Rare cask or something. Mhmm.
Pagoda:I think it's excellent.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. The former liquor rating tonight on the Macallan fifteen years age single malt scotch whiskey is a 9.8.
Bam Bam:Wow. Very
Gizmo:nice. So let's compare that to the other Macallans we've done on this podcast. On episode 11, we rated the Macallan twelve years, the Sherry Cask. We didn't rate it, technically. On episode 64, we did the other Macallan fifteen years aged.
Gizmo:Again, senator, referencing the old blend, 6.5. Wow. Wow. Yep. 6.5 to a 9.8.
Gizmo:Can you believe it?
Bam Bam:They're going in the right direction here.
Chef Ricky:Glad I wasn't here for
Bam Bam:that one.
Gizmo:On episode 77, the Macallan 12 years age, Sherry Kask scored a 9.8, same as this. Yeah. On episode 206, alongside the stoic equanimity Courage, the 12 years age double Cask scored an 8.3. That's a significant drop.
Pagoda:It used to have been the blue cast.
Chef Ricky:That makes Yep.
Gizmo:On episode 214, the Macallan, a night on earth, first light
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Gizmo:Scored a nine point zero.
Bam Bam:Good score.
Gizmo:So tonight at a 9.8, this is tied with the Macallan 12 years age cherry cask, which, of course, is the old black box, now a red box. But you gotta discern which one you want. You always wanna go for the Sherry cask select. Alright, boys. It's time now to move into the formal list rating tonight on the Bon Roberts Dalia Linea B number three.
Gizmo:Senator, you're up.
Senator:This is another easy one for me. It was a 10 from the first puff. I mean, beautifully constructed. The flavor, the the intensity of flavor that you get right on the light. I feel like the overwhelming majority of cigars, the first few puffs, you kinda have to give them time to settle in, and there's few cigars that just immediately grab you and deliver like sophistication right off the light.
Senator:The creamy finish that I got immediately, which signifies like aged tobacco, a refined experience, the gingerbread, the the baking spice, all those dessert notes, it picked up in sweetness, which I liked. I feel like a lot of cigars will start sweet, and then it completely dissipates, and I'm disappointed because I want at least some of that to carry all the way through, and here it did. I mean, my fingers were burning. I smoked it as far as I reasonably could have to the nub. I wish I had a toothpick in this case or a a roach clip like Chef and some others are are known to use.
Senator:I, in this case, definitely see the utility of that. And the price point, I mean, $15 for that experience, you know, there's few cigars that you sit back and say, would be willing to pay more than they're charging for that cigar, and you'd happily pay it to have that experience again, and this definitely sits in that category for me. The versatility is the last thing I'll say. The fact that this is something I could enjoy in the morning as much as the afternoon or evening provides a ton of utility and why this will crack into my daily rotation. So, you know, hats off to Bon Roberts.
Senator:I mean, they're not just obviously a great partner to us, but this particular cigar, I think, is something really, really special. And, you know, Rob and Hamlet are always looking for critical feedback, and I think they learned the last time they were here that I am never shy about that. I I the fact that I can't find a single thing wrong with this blend or this cigar or the experience it delivers just speaks volumes to the work that they've put in. So hats off to to Hamlet, Rob, and the team. It's a perfect 10.
Pagoda:Pagoda. So it's a nine for me. So let me begin with the cold draw. For me, I found, like, when I was having the cold draw, you know, sometimes I get that it's a really milky tea, like an Indian tea which is boiled with a lot of milk. I thought it was very so I was getting a little bit of more of the milky creaminess or the lactic kind of a thing from the cold draw all the way in.
Pagoda:But I'll tell you, was getting, I was, you know, I've been trying to practice retrohaling, this is so graham cracker forward. Oh, yeah. You even for like an amateur palate like me, when you get the Dude, graham
Gizmo:you've been doing this podcast for like five years.
Pagoda:I know,
Gizmo:when you
Pagoda:get the graham cracker.
Senator:Have you been to North Korea?
Bam Bam:Where are getting this?
Pagoda:He's being humble.
Bam Bam:He's being humble.
Pagoda:No, that was excellent. I'll tell you, you know, we lit up the cigar, saw Bam and I, we kept going back and taking puffs. Because you know sometimes when you get a really good cigar, you're like, you can't control yourself and you tend to smoke it a bit fast. I think just overall, it's an excellent cigar, very Cuban isk. You know, it's got a little bit of the baking spices.
Pagoda:The only reason why brought it down to a nine by the way, it's a very, very strong nine, you know. Sometimes I'm not think, you know, decimals would have really helped, you know. But what I found was that I was getting a little bit of the sour taste because of the lactic coating I was getting. I don't know whether what was driving it. It could be just my palate today.
Pagoda:But, you know, I I'm assuming it's a cigar, and just for that, I'm gonna rate it a nine. But overall, an excellent experience, and I would you know, I'm definitely gonna go and get a box of this. So, you know, let not let not my rating hold you back, but nine's an excellent score.
Gizmo:So for me, it's a 10. I I love this cigar. Again, I I was totally ready to come in here tonight and find any flaw I could because I think that's what people are expecting of us. But there was none. I mean, this cigar, think as Bam pointed out, and I'm sure you're gonna wax on a little bit.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:It solves the Cuban smoker's problem.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:It really fits into any Cuban cigar smoker's palette. It fits into that rotation. And at $15 it's so accessible. I don't know how you argue what the experience we had in the room tonight, you can't even argue that sliding in next to any Cuban cigar or instead of. The price is incredible at $15.5 The flavor was perfect.
Gizmo:The construction was great tonight. The blend is brilliant. I'm shocked as to how consistent and even improved it's been since we first had it, since I first had it a year and a half ago. And it was a three act play. It continued to develop.
Gizmo:That creaminess, that sweet creaminess that it left on your palate after the draw, highly unique. Really, really excellent. I'm completely, again, blown away by this cigar. I'm so proud that they are a partner of ours. I I'm so proud to be associated with them.
Gizmo:And I encourage every single listener to go out and buy at least a 10 count box of these cigars. If you don't like it, you have the Gizmo guarantee. If you don't like that 10 count box
Bam Bam:We'll take it.
Gizmo:I will buy that from you at cost. That's how deadly serious I am with my 10. I can't say it enough. Unbelievable, chef.
Bam Bam:Deadly serious.
Gizmo:I'll say it again.
Bam Bam:No, I'm deadly serious.
Gizmo:I've been a little deadly serious tonight, by the way.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Too too deadly serious. Yeah. I'm going to
Gizmo:procure some things on the,
Chef Ricky:you know, Bam, you came into this Dark web. Speaking of unbridled enthusiasm, and I think Giz has it tonight.
Bam Bam:Correct. For everything. In a dangerous way. For
Senator:everything. For killing.
Chef Ricky:Correct. Listen, this cigar was perfect. Senator said something earlier, right? And I've always I said this before when especially when the Bond Roberts line came out and when I started smoking it specifically with the Petite 109 and the 100 about how I felt distinguished. It felt like a distinguishing cigar, but the perfect word is sophisticated.
Chef Ricky:Every time I light the cigar and I hold the cigar in my hand, it feels like a sophisticated cigar. I feel like I'm going to have a sophisticated experience. And it delivers on that every time. The balance and flavor and strength and how it gives it to you and how it it transports you, this cigar does it. And I feel amazing when I smoke it.
Chef Ricky:I feel that I can trust the cigar that I I'm gonna light it, I'm gonna have a great time with it. I don't know how they do it. Obviously, Hamlet is a maniac because that's
Gizmo:that's that's a nice way to put it.
Senator:That's my brother from another mother.
Chef Ricky:But you need to be to create this blend. You need to be to create cigars like this and deliver on it. And he does an amazing job with it. That cigar was phenomenal. I can't wait to smoke another one.
Chef Ricky:It's a perfect Did I say it was a 10? It's a 10.
Bam Bam:Yes, you did. Thanks.
Gizmo:Go ahead, Bam. Bam's segment tonight is sponsored by the Democratic People's Republic Of Korea.
Bam Bam:Correct. So I think for me, the most salient point in this experience tonight is what Giz mentioned earlier, and I mentioned earlier in the evening.
Chef Ricky:Hold on, Bam. I'm looking up the definition of salient.
Bam Bam:Okay. Yeah, that's a toilet paper word to go to. Alright? Is its ability to replace any Cuban cigar that I have in my collection.
Gizmo:Dude, it's it's a 100% true.
Bam Bam:That is quite a virtue and very rare in the new world category. So when I when we come across a cigar like this, you have to give it its respect. And I wanna comment on what you said earlier, chef. You feel special smoking. It's sophisticated.
Bam Bam:I think that comes through in the band design. I think you're right. Think you're right. It's so simply designed, beautifully proportioned bands, and this particular dimension, there's something about this vitola. There's a beautiful masculinity to this cigar.
Bam Bam:Correct, but it's very subtle, and the band design is very crisp and clean and simple. For me, I think they put a ton of thought into the design of the bands.
Pagoda:It looks really good in Giza's hand, I'm sorry.
Bam Bam:Yeah, well, anyone's hand. Visually, it's a beautiful cigar, and I think that lends into that sophistication. But the flavor, the experience, and how Cubanesque it is, I have to give it a 10. And adding to that, the construction, the performance Yeah. The beautiful ash, not flaky at all, really good structure to it, You'd be hard pressed to find another cigar in the entire new world category that'll beat it out.
Bam Bam:So I have a firm 10 too.
Senator:Yeah. The only the only thing I'm gonna vehemently disagree with is I do not think there is a masculinity to this cigar. And I say that because this is a smaller ring gauge cigar. This is what? 43, you said?
Chef Ricky:But it still it still delivers that.
Senator:But I actually think if we were to really parse it out for me, like, the most elegant feeling cigars in the hand are actually typically smaller ring gauge, which I would associate with a more feminine cigar. Yeah. Like there's no Gordo or Toro that I hold in my hand, and I'm like, this feels so luxurious. It's usually like a 46, a 43, at absolute most of 50 ring age, like a Churchill, a Lonsdale, a Dalia's like this. Like so I just for the female listeners out there, I I ironically think that there is something more elegant about smaller ring gauge cigars than I do larger ring gauge cigars.
Bam Bam:Yes. Very
Chef Ricky:true. You're you're a 100% right. I don't mean toxic masculinity. There's an elegance. Oh, thank
Gizmo:you for clarifying.
Chef Ricky:With elegance in in masculine culture. Chef won't get canceled.
Pagoda:Senator, it'd be easy, please.
Chef Ricky:Won't be won't be the first one.
Pagoda:We might have chef join Bam Bam.
Bam Bam:I think
Pagoda:I think In the North Korean villa next day.
Chef Ricky:Bam. Bam. I'm going with you next time.
Bam Bam:You got it. I think I think chef and senator can debate this offline, but
Senator:I agree. Let's get back
Chef Ricky:to Bam.
Bam Bam:Yeah, correct. Just going back to By the
Pagoda:way, Bam looked very masculine with this cigar.
Gizmo:That's correct.
Bam Bam:The visual quality is fantastic.
Chef Ricky:PTSD. Alright. How many sound bites does Bam have on that board?
Gizmo:An entire page. Wow.
Bam Bam:What else is there? Alright. I'm at a 10. Go.
Gizmo:So, boys, the former lizard egg tonight on the Bonn, Robert's Dalia, the Linea b number three is also a 9.8. Wow. That's a perfect score for the experience we had tonight. Mean
Senator:Perfect pairing. Yeah.
Gizmo:Unbelievable how good the cigar was tonight. Honestly, I was expecting with the amount of rest that we had. I know I said this a few times, but I'll say it again after the nine point eight. I was expecting the lack of rest. Yeah.
Gizmo:You know, it's thirty days down maybe. I was expecting it to be a little harsh maybe at the end or a little bit dip it was brilliant every puff. Yeah. It was truly a three act play, which is unbelievable. Correct.
Pagoda:You know, when you have a great pairing, the energy just in this room is so lively and happy, and you can I'm sure you can make
Bam Bam:it out.
Pagoda:You can feel it. And listen. Even the bottle's empty. The bottle was empty very quickly.
Gizmo:The cigars are gone.
Pagoda:Gone. Meaning it's
Chef Ricky:Poobah was on. What else can you ask for?
Gizmo:It's just the perfect night. So, boys, what a great night tonight. We have to congratulate again Lizard Likely Twiley from Reddit for sharing that great comment that he or she did on Reddit. We really appreciate our Reddit listeners. Of course, we have to thank Bond Roberts for supporting us and sponsoring our lizard of the week segment.
Gizmo:So Lizard Likely Twiley is gonna win a 10 count box of cigars from Bond Roberts. Highly recommend choosing the Dalia's. I mean, what a great night tonight. We have to thank Small Batch Cigar Boys, the official retail partner of the podcast. They've been amazing.
Gizmo:I've gotten so many emails from listeners saying, can't believe how great it's been. I have someone today saying, between your code, between all of the rewards points, I saved a $100 on a $460 order.
Bam Bam:Incredible.
Gizmo:Took a $460 order down to $3.60. That's pretty crazy
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:If you do the math. Oh, yeah. And it's just because of the code and and spending some money there and earning those points. Smallbatchcigar.com. They're incredible.
Gizmo:Use our code lizard 15 for 15% off your entire order. And, of course, boys, Fabrica five. Correct. The OGs, the presenting sponsor of our podcast, we love their support. We really appreciate those guys.
Gizmo:Use our code lizard pod for 10% off your entire order at fabrica005.com. We have to shout out Poobah. I always to shout out Poobah.
Bam Bam:Well
Gizmo:He did a wonderful job asking
Bam Bam:I'll take it with a grain of salt, but I was happy that he was on tonight.
Senator:I am nominating Poobah for attorney general.
Gizmo:It was pretty amazing having him on.
Pagoda:I second that. Absolutely.
Gizmo:And we look forward to having him back. He was our subject matter expert tonight on all things North Korea. And, we have to thank the Democratic People's Republic Of Korea, friends of the program, for allowing Bam to not only enter the country once again
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:But also to return to us to share his experiences
Bam Bam:In one piece.
Gizmo:With a little propaganda, whatever it may be.
Pagoda:Maybe.
Gizmo:That's fine. But, boys, what a great night tonight. One more time. The Macallan 15 years age, single malt scotch whiskey, and the Bon Roberts Dalia Linea b, number three, both scored a 9.8 tonight. What a brilliant night
Senator:on the you to law and order for inspiring the perfect format Correct. To adjudicate this treasonous act our friend Bam is committed.
Bam Bam:Of course.
Gizmo:As always, Bam, you're one of one, my friend.
Bam Bam:Thank you.
Pagoda:Think we should
Chef Ricky:we should take it out to the law and order music.
Gizmo:Correct. See. Boys.
Bam Bam:I vote against it.
Gizmo:A great night tonight, and we'll see everybody next week.
Poobah:Keep smoking.
Gizmo:Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You could find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, loungelizardspod.com. That's loungelizardspod.com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
Gizmo:If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us. Hello at lounge lizards pod dot com. You can also find us on Instagram at lounge lizards pod. We really appreciate your time, and we'll, we'll see you next week.