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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, best of 20 24 episode, presented by Fabrica 5. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars, as well as whiskey travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo, and I'm joined by Rooster, Pooba, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder, and Bam Bam. And our plan is always to smoke a cigar, talk about life, and of course, have some laughs.
Gizmo:So take this as yet another invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plan to meet us here once a week. We're gonna go through some of our and your favorite clips from the last year. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we raise a glass to 2024. We begin our recap with the champagne toast from episode 149.
Gizmo:Our first episode featuring all 8 lizards with the newest lizard, Chef Ricky. So we not only have Paul and Jay, we also have Oh. Paul Roger.
Senator:That's that's nice.
Gizmo:And we have several bottles of this.
Poobah:It's Jay.
Bam Bam:We're Jay.
Gizmo:We're doing we're doing We're doing the Jay. Poli and Poli tonight on the pod celebrating El Senador's birthday. You wanna pop this thing, or do you want me to do it?
Senator:I mean, I kinda wanna witness Gizmo do the honors.
Chef Ricky:Oh, god.
Poobah:Just don't point it in my direction. Oh, god.
Pagoda:You can point it at not not a rookie's.
Rooster:Wait, because you're
Poobah:handling your saber? I'm holding on to Senator's arm here so he doesn't he doesn't fly out of the chair when you mess this up.
Chef Ricky:For those plain lizard bingo, it doesn't, look like the sabers make an appearance? Correct.
Pagoda:But I do like the boley and poli.
Gizmo:Boley and poli. Listen. There's 8 of us here tonight. We can't afford to drop a quarter of this on the floor.
Poobah:If you were super boujee, you'd name your poodles like boley and poli, except they both answered in the same name.
Gizmo:Alright, gents. Let's do this.
Chef Ricky:Is this the first episode with 8 lizards?
Gizmo:This is the first ever episode with 8 lizards.
Senator:Don't don't pop it off like you're about to do. What should I do? We're not trying to spray people with champagne. Twist it.
Rooster:Twist it. Twist the body.
Poobah:Twist the bottle. Twist. Hold the cork and twist the bottle.
Senator:Hold the cork. There
Bam Bam:you go.
Poobah:There you go, guy. Alright.
Pagoda:A lot of fucking
Bam Bam:critics in this
Poobah:room. Jesus Christ. God.
Senator:All these years of life where he's learning how to open a champagne bottle for the first time.
Rooster:I did a good job.
Poobah:Don't tilt the glass. You're good. He just drops a bit.
Gizmo:He's I know. I well, you're making me nervous.
Pagoda:Thank you.
Gizmo:Unbelievable. Oh, goodness gracious.
Poobah:A lot
Gizmo:of critics in this room, Bam.
Senator:Correct. Oh, thank you.
Gizmo:So, senator, happy birthday. This is very exciting. You're turning, 22?
Senator:That's right. That's right.
Bam Bam:And we are 7 plus in the room tonight, aren't we?
Gizmo:We are. 1st episode ever with 8 lizards in the room.
Bam Bam:Nice. How cool is that? Very cool.
Gizmo:We resumed our lizards in Cuba series in January on episodes 117 and 119 with our first ever trip to the island and recapped our updated impressions, advice to travelers, as well as Pagoda's customs experience.
Poobah:I mean, things are very dynamic there. You know, every time you go, it's different. Things are different for the people. Things are different for as a US tourist. Mhmm.
Rooster:And anything can change at a moment's notice.
Senator:Yeah. Right. I mean, even geopolitically, things change so fast. I mean, the fact that when we went in March, all we heard about was growing Chinese influence in Cuba. That was really kind of the the talk of Havana.
Senator:Then you fast forward, and now everybody's talking about Russian influence exploding in Havana. And, Russian
Bam Bam:investment as well. Exactly.
Senator:They're allowing them to transact in the ruble. They're giving out these decade multi decade leases to put up buildings Yeah. These these Russian investors.
Poobah:They're building Russian banks. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, somebody was saying, Cuban National, that
Rooster:you're not going to recognize Cuba because Cuba is not gonna own Cuba. No. China and Russia will own it.
Bam Bam:That's exactly right. And that's a it's a it's a crime. Shame. It's a crime.
Senator:And the sad part, you know, to Gizmo's point of the United States could really do a whole lot of good there, is you talk to all these Cuban nationals, and they have such an affection for America. And they would much rather American investment be made there and us treat them decently Sure. Than Chinese or Russian investment that the track record thus far has not shown. I mean, none of this money is getting funneled back to the No. Cuban people.
Senator:I mean, we heard stories of talking about these buildings and things that are going up. The labor that they're even using, they're not hiring Cuban nationals
Bam Bam:to build these buildings. They're importing labor.
Senator:They talked
Poobah:about I think they say some from India. Pakistan.
Senator:Pakistan is that that's for sure. I mean, that's just fucked up. These people need money. This is their country, and they won't even give them these jobs.
Poobah:Right.
Rooster:But why can't the Cuban government do something about that that the Cuban government that you have to hire Cuban
Bam Bam:The Cuban government is partnering with these entities that are coming in to invest in Cuba.
Senator:Here's why. Partnership. Here's why. There there is no competition. Right?
Senator:So the United States has an embargo. If you're China or Russia, all you're saying to them is this is how we're gonna do it. You don't like it. Who else is gonna invest here?
Bam Bam:Right.
Senator:No one. And so they dictate all the terms, and this is how the Cuban people get screwed over.
Gizmo:Mhmm.
Rooster:But why bring outside labor when you have labor in Cuba?
Senator:I mean, what they were telling us is that somehow it's even cheaper.
Poobah:Oh, I
Gizmo:don't know. And they might be and they might be more skilled.
Pagoda:No. Skilled. They might be skilled too. Because construction, they look for engineers and, you know, people with a certain amount of skill. Yeah.
Rooster:But how could it be cheaper than $30 a month?
Bam Bam:Yeah. I'm not sure about the factor of being less expensive, but Pagoda makes it
Poobah:a point. Of skill.
Bam Bam:Yeah. That's there's a point there.
Gizmo:The the thing that that same person said too that really hit me hard was and he said it very simply, was that Cuba's always had an abusive husband and, you know, an abusive drunk husband. I found customs to be actually a little bit smoother just because with the connection, I think it was a little bit squeezed on time and they recognized that. So we didn't have to waste as much time. But I know Pagoda specifically, you know, unfortunately, was the one out of all of us that got picked off to have his bags inspected, and he lost some cigars.
Pagoda:The Hispanic looking one. This is ridiculous.
Bam Bam:Well, we all No.
Pagoda:I'm just kidding. We all
Bam Bam:had A little patina on his skin.
Pagoda:Yeah. Yeah. No. But overall,
Bam Bam:you know
Senator:When you're when you're a nervous traveler, you could be an easy target.
Bam Bam:Well, when your eyeballs are like binoculars
Poobah:going through the I mean, can you just imagine, like I'm sure they can tell, like, your heart rate as
Senator:you're, like, walking through your sweaty pagodas, like, fucking beating so fast, sweating. Like, we're getting this guy.
Pagoda:You're you're getting a sweetheart, bro. It's really interesting that 3 people spend about an hour, and they took 20 cigars from me. So that's great. Yeah. What a great use of their time.
Pagoda:Right?
Bam Bam:It's true.
Pagoda:Listen. You know what? Hey. How about just leaving those 20 cigars from a personal consumption?
Gizmo:No. No. These were
Poobah:the ones that you brought with you into Cuba. Yeah. You didn't
Gizmo:even buy them there.
Pagoda:No. I did not.
Rooster:Buy them.
Pagoda:Yeah. I did not even buy them there, and that's but it is what it is. Listen. Overall, it was an experience, I think. I've learned through it, and I'll, handle them better next time.
Senator:So the customs experience when you're flying to Havana through Miami is pretty damn seamless. Yeah. I was actually shocked.
Bam Bam:It was fine.
Senator:I mean, they have it such that you don't have to your bags automatically go on to Havana. You don't have to collect them at Miami and then recheck them. None of that, which was great. You just go right into the same you're in the same terminal that you land your connecting flight. They have a person at the gate selling the visa so you don't have to go to a separate place like other airports to get it.
Senator:That part was pretty easy. I know for most of us, our gate was literally 2 gates down from our connecting flight. Yeah.
Rooster:Not mine.
Senator:Rooster got unlucky. His was for Yeah.
Rooster:It was I landed on d 7, and I had to make it to d 47. Oh. And the flight was already late, so I had literally had about, I don't know, about half an hour to make it to
Gizmo:the gate.
Bam Bam:You were sprinting. Yeah.
Senator:But the reason I say that is going in, I feel like that was as seamless an experience as you can possibly have, but coming out, that's where Miami clearly has not really figured that out.
Bam Bam:Absolutely not.
Pagoda:No. Because they they want to check your bags. Yeah. And, you know, it's it is ridiculous in
Gizmo:a way. To elaborate on what senator was saying, so when you get off the plane in Miami, coming back home
Poobah:Mhmm.
Gizmo:Connecting, you had to go through, you know, you had to get off the plane, go through customs, collect your bag, go through the secondary customs where they pick some people off. Yeah.
Bam Bam:And you're going on a odyssey.
Gizmo:And it
Bam Bam:takes an Odyssey to get picked up.
Bam Bam:An Odyssey. Yeah.
Gizmo:And then you had to recheck your bag Yeah. And then go through security again
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Gizmo:To go back into the terminal to get on your domestic flight to come home. And that's where Pagoda unfortunately got picked off.
Pagoda:And you, you know, and the thing is the the timing difference is about a hour, hour and a half, and now you're stuck in customs for about an hour. So now you're rushing. I, like, I don't understand the overall, idea behind
Rooster:You know what I don't understand is the TSA, it's the the thing is not uniform. Like, some airports, you have to take your shoes off and some, you don't. Who dictates that?
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah. They do what they want, and it it it was it it did not in my Like, having TSA PreCheck or Global Entry did not factor into that.
Bam Bam:Yeah. He's right. Yeah.
Senator:I mean, for me, that's very simple. You if you don't have Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, you have to take your shoes off everywhere. The difference was that that route we took was specifically for connecting flights through Miami. And so they obviously recognized in the interest of time, people are gonna miss flights if they have to take their shoes off, do all this. So they treated everyone as if they were a pre check traveler, and you could keep your shoes on, keep your laptops in the bag, which was the one smart thing they did.
Senator:The rest is a mess.
Poobah:But
Bam Bam:That was my exact experience. No shoes off. I kept my hat on, walked right through. Yeah. So that was that was a courteous.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:So I think our collective advice to anybody who's listening to this podcast is to go to Havana with the intention of not buying cigars. And I say that because as we just detailed, there's really not much stock there. No. So to go down there and to load up on what you can actually get in the country with maybe a little bit of a premium, get what you want from certain retailers, the risk going through Miami, which is generally a very intense customs experience. We've all heard horror stories of people traveling through Miami.
Gizmo:To me, it's not worth the risk. Don't go to Havana with the intention of buying cigars. Go with the intention of, you know, giving stuff away. Get some cigars if you're able to get some fine, but don't load up for the the, you know, for the sake of it. Do that when you're in the states.
Poobah:Just pay
Gizmo:a bit of a premium, 10%, whatever it is.
Bam Bam:Going to enjoy the experience for you.
Senator:I agree, but if if you are, for some reason, intent on buying cigars there, just don't go through Miami.
Gizmo:There you go. Right. We we
Senator:heard from people that we sat with in Havana saying if they fly through Houston Houston. Yeah. No problem.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Really?
Poobah:Really?
Gizmo:That that's a United flight. You gotta go through Houston.
Bam Bam:Oh, okay.
Poobah:Now I was just gonna
Rooster:say that it's easier said than done because, you know, all of us have a lot of a pretty extensive collection.
Bam Bam:That's true.
Rooster:But being, you know, going to Havana as as a first time listener and going there, you're gonna be tempted.
Poobah:You're gonna you're gonna wanna buy us.
Bam Bam:Were tempted the first time in the last.
Rooster:Still did. We actually still did buy stuff. Yeah.
Senator:Yeah. And the other thing I'll say, you know, going through Miami, can you get through there with a little? Sure. I mean, I had 50 Cuban cigars on me. I wasn't stopped.
Senator:I had you know, some rum wasn't stopped. I've all made it through. So it's just you you can't be excessive, and you have to be very calm.
Poobah:You have to use your You have to use your
Chef:mess your girlfriend. Listen.
Pagoda:You know what? I I don't mind everything. It's it's just that it'll make you feel like a criminal as if what is it that you've done? You've got something from Cuba, meaning,
Bam Bam:like,
Pagoda:hey, listen. You go over there. You're gonna buy something for your personal consumption. Either don't allow us to go there completely. But if we're going there and we're allowed to come back, let us get a few cigars even for guests, you know, like for gifts or whatever.
Pagoda:It's small. So the interesting thing is now you can get Cuban cigars from anywhere in the world for personal consumption, and you're allowed up to a limited amount. Like, I think it's over a 100, by the way, couple of 100 cigars or something. And the only place you're not allowed to get the cigars from is Cuba. And I just don't understand the reason behind it.
Pagoda:Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:It's the damn embargo.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Correct.
Senator:Life's not fair at pagoda.
Poobah:I'm back
Pagoda:to my new world. Where's my ALR?
Gizmo:We then detailed our first ever trip to Pinar Del Rio, the growing home of Cuba's most premium tobacco. Very, very appropriate that tonight we are recapping our trip to Pinar Del Rio and Vinales. Where do you wanna start, boys? Do you wanna start with the, the roads?
Senator:Yeah. Let's recount our luxurious ride over to, Pinardo Rio.
Rooster:Well, I mean, I wish we had gone to this farm.
Gizmo:Yeah. I wish we could have. Yeah.
Rooster:If we would have found it. Yeah.
Gizmo:Next time. Always always something to do next time. Well, we were very fortunate. We rented a, a 15 passenger van, which ended up being a blessing because It was
Rooster:kinda small. We really want really Gizmo Yeah. Really wanted the big bus.
Gizmo:I did want the big bus.
Senator:Yeah. You you let us down a little bit on that one.
Gizmo:About that. I'm sorry about that. But thank God that we had the bus because I know some folks who've gone out there in the 52 Chevys and
Poobah:did the
Gizmo:2 and a half ride out there. And I don't know how they survived because
Bam Bam:How did the how would the car survive?
Gizmo:The roads in Havana excuse me. The roads leading out of Havana to Pinar del Rio for 2 and a half, 3 hours are
Rooster:With no suspension. With no suspension.
Gizmo:Are they are just absolutely atrocious, and it's almost like they paved it once in the fifties and have not paved it or updated it since. It's it's crazy. What was your experience in the, in the van, senator?
Senator:I mean, it feels like you're at an amusement park on a roller
Poobah:coaster.
Senator:I mean, the entire way, you're literally just, like, flying up off the seat every 2 minutes. I I was trying to sleep when we were going out there. It was, like, impossible.
Pagoda:I'm glad I was sober because, it was a easy trip for me.
Gizmo:It would have been bad if if if you had some drinks and you weren't feeling great. It would have been a rough trip.
Senator:Yeah. And if you're someone who gets car sick, good luck making it out there.
Gizmo:So on the way out, we hit a tourist rest stop, which I guess every vehicle or bus where the tourist pulls into, I guess it was about an hour, hour and a half outside Havana probably or so.
Senator:I just found it funny because you just think of, like I don't know. In the states, when you're going driving to random far distances, there's, like, a welcome or a visitor center or something like that. I just found it amusing that, like, you're on this road that's in total disrepair, and then you pull up and there's, like, actually this pretty nicely done, like, visitor center. There was a gift shop that had things you don't even find in Havana, like hand soap and lotion and all this crap for sale. I was shocked.
Senator:They had a bar. There was food. It was a pretty nice setup.
Gizmo:Nice. Yeah. It was definitely the nicest kind of quick stop that we had seen anywhere in Cuba, even, like, even in Havana.
Bam Bam:Was it crowded at that stop?
Senator:Not too crowded, but not dead. There were definitely people.
Gizmo:I mean, when we pulled in, there were probably 5 or 10 buses and and as well as other taxis and stuff there. Yeah. Okay. It's definitely that's like the tourist trap.
Poobah:It's
Bam Bam:a well traveled area, let's say. Yeah.
Senator:I mean, that that honestly was nicer than anything on the New Jersey Turnpike, if you were, you were gonna stop. Truly.
Gizmo:What about the Jon Bon Jovi rest station?
Pagoda:Correct.
Senator:What's in there? Cinnabon? I mean, kebab.
Gizmo:And a Burger King. I was
Rooster:I was a bit disappointed with the coffee there, though. Oh, really? It wasn't good.
Bam Bam:They did
Pagoda:have a cappuccino machine, though.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Did they have ropa vieja at the restaurant? I know.
Poobah:We need
Pagoda:I I think they made the the coffee out of powdered milk.
Senator:I got a fresh coconut there. It was good. Did you?
Gizmo:Did you really?
Bam Bam:Yeah. I don't remember that. Yeah.
Senator:Wow. Some coconut water.
Pagoda:He did
Gizmo:not share, by the way.
Chef Ricky:I'm sure
Bam Bam:he didn't.
Pagoda:I think Senator was the only one who was rehydrating that day.
Bam Bam:Smart. Smart. Very smart.
Gizmo:So we continued on our journey about another hour and a half, I would say, because we headed first to Hector Luis Prieto's farm, which is about 40 minutes further than downtown Vinales and where a lot of the farms are to his farm, which is called Quemaro de Arubi. And I would say is the premier destination for tourists coming in who wanna have a really nice experience at a farm, really get a great tour, see everything, and, of course, have some drinks and some food. So that was where we went first. And I think that our impression, certainly, I was surprised how well set up that farm was for visitors.
Rooster:Yeah. They have done it a few times. Definitely. Yeah. It seems like every single tourist, you know, if you're on a tour, they take you there.
Rooster:Right. It's it's well set up to accommodate a bunch of tourists at the same time.
Poobah:Nice.
Gizmo:It's a
Rooster:nice, well done, I mean, it was a nice spot.
Pagoda:It felt very welcoming. There was, like, music going on. It was breezy. You could see the tobacco farms. It was a nice little, yeah, setup.
Gizmo:So we drove down a long dirt road, and I certainly wasn't I had no expectations of of what what was coming. But as soon as you park, immediately, there's almost like a visitor center. There's a open air like like Pagoda is saying, a covered open air bar restaurant type setup right off of their humidor. And you get to come in and and say hello to everybody and meet everybody. And then we were able to take a tour, and and that's where it started.
Gizmo:Take a tour of the process at at his farm, understand why he now, I would argue, is probably the successor to Don Alejandro Rubagna, whose cigar we're smoking tonight in his name, as as the premier tobacco farmer in Pinar del Rio. Certainly famous apparently for the quality of the leaf that comes from his farm. He has found ways very similar to to Robena to grow really, really excellent tobacco that is celebrated not only by the industry, but by Habanos itself. You know? He is very much, I would say one of their favorites.
Rooster:He's the 4th generation farmer. So the farm has been there for quite some time.
Bam Bam:Not to go off topic, when was the last storm that went through that area? How long ago? So was that 2 years ago?
Gizmo:It was about a year and a half.
Bam Bam:Year and a half.
Gizmo:Or last year. Yeah. And and he Any remnants
Bam Bam:of that that you saw?
Gizmo:We didn't see it at his farm. We certainly saw it as we were driving out. Okay. There was quite a bit of damages as we were driving from Vinales, kind of the downtown touristy area out to his farm another 40 minutes. I mean, we were driving.
Gizmo:We saw structures that were just walls standing, roofs completely gone. Some of these homes that people live in, I it's incredible that they're able to sustain a family life in some of these homes. Like, they definitely were hit very, very hard, but it seems like Hector Luis had come out of the Ruby has been able to recover quite well, I would say.
Rooster:I think the Robena farm was pretty badly hit.
Bam Bam:We heard that. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah. So Hector Luis, the one thing that, you know, before we even start talking about the tour we went on, he told us that he started farming when he was 37 years old. It wasn't when he was 18 or 16 or 12. He was he came into this business at 37 years old.
Bam Bam:And dry fall, do you think he's in?
Gizmo:I think he's in his late fifties.
Bam Bam:That's not a long time No? To do that.
Senator:Rooster, you could still be a tobacco farmer. Correct.
Gizmo:It's not too late.
Poobah:Yeah. There's
Rooster:still hope for me. I would like I would like that.
Bam Bam:I could see it.
Rooster:I would like that.
Bam Bam:Oh, I could see it.
Rooster:I could live there.
Bam Bam:With your shorts on, your hat.
Senator:Yeah. Who needs Goshen when you have Pinardo
Bam Bam:on the phone? Cigars in your lapel. Oh, it is Guayabera.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:You're Guayabera. Correct.
Pagoda:In this cowboy boots place.
Gizmo:Yeah. It is funny. You see so that, you know, there's an illustration of Hector Luis that's kind of famous. It's on the sign as you're pulling into the property. It's on all over the Internet, you know, is this picture of this guy with this specific hat on and the way he dresses and always has a big fat cigar on his mouth.
Gizmo:And I'll tell you, he was exactly as I expected. Like, when you saw him, it's like, that's Hector Luis because as he came up on us, it's he looked identical to every picture I've ever seen of the guy. Wow. Identical. Wow.
Gizmo:So then we met our tour guide who actually is a roller at his farm and started the process of the tour even, you know, beginning with the seedlings.
Pagoda:They just want no comment. The cigar he was smoking was probably a double Gordo or something. It was, like, huge.
Gizmo:It was, like, an 80 ringgit.
Senator:And he he mangled that thing. He was chewing all over it. I couldn't believe that I was watching.
Bam Bam:Probably his lunch. So So we
Gizmo:started the tour right off of the visitor area, the place where you sit and have drinks and whatnot, with, like, a little pod, I guess you would say. It was kind of a pod set up with seedlings in it, and they started the process there. Any takeaways from, you know, from the beginning of the tour there and what we learned about the seedlings? I mean, I just thought
Senator:it was cool. They showed the the plant that has these little the balls that, have the seeds inside. And I remember he was, I guess, maybe passing some of the seeds to other people. I mean, it's as fine as sand, the seeds. I would have expected the seeds to be harder, like Yeah.
Senator:Sesame seeds or just something more sizable. I mean, literally, it was just like sand in someone's hand. They were watching, and then they put that into that little pot that you were talking about to start to sprout the plant.
Gizmo:So they put it in these little pods for 45 days, and that's where they start.
Bam Bam:That's where they germinate.
Gizmo:And that's where they germinate, and that's where they start to grow. And after 45 days, they're ready to be planted in the in the tobacco fields. But I like like senator, I was very surprised. I think sand is a perfect example how fine the seeds are. I would have expected that they were like you said, even I was expecting maybe closer to, like, sesame seeds, like, a little bit bigger.
Gizmo:But like you said, they were very, very tiny like the point of a point of a needle. Really? Very, very small. Wow. So then we went on we continued on the tour, and we went into the actual growing area where the plants were growing, and we were able to see a lot of stuff there.
Rooster:So the first so first farm that we went to was where they were growing the shade shade grown wrapper. All the wrapper is grown under shade.
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Rooster:It it was I don't know how how big of an area would you say. Maybe quarter of an acre, like that particular
Gizmo:Yeah. That specific That's what specific
Rooster:area. That was there.
Bam Bam:And that entire area was covered with linen?
Rooster:It was all covered. Not only the top, even the sides were covered.
Bam Bam:Oh, wow. Yeah.
Rooster:And I would say the tobacco plant was roughly about 6 feet.
Pagoda:Yeah. 6 feet. Yeah. About 6 feet. Us.
Rooster:Yeah. Beautiful, beautiful looking plant.
Bam Bam:I like that.
Rooster:I mean, massive leaves. And when they start picking the leaves, it's from the bottom up. Interesting. And on the lower part of the plant, I think those are the leaves that are lighter in color. And as you go higher up, they get a little bit darker in color.
Senator:And also just smaller. They were saying that, like, the leaves at the bottom, they start picking to actually roll cigarettes, and the larger leaves, they let obviously keep growing that they're gonna use for cigars.
Gizmo:It's amazing how fast the plant grows from that little seedling we were talking about.
Poobah:Mhmm.
Gizmo:In 90 days, it almost grows like a weed. Like, in 90 days, it went from that seedling, you know, where they took it out of that pot. After 45 days, put it in the ground after 90 days, it was almost 6 feet tall.
Pagoda:It was
Gizmo:amazing how fast it climbed.
Pagoda:Beautiful. I I think I was really impressed by looking at the tobacco plants. They were green, and it was just beautiful the way it was set up. You know, I was expecting it to be like, I've been to certain farms where everything's just so it feels very crowded and, somewhat helpless.
Rooster:I was surprised by the size of the leaf. Yeah. I mean, it must be at least, like, maybe 4 times the size of my hand. Yeah. You know, big big leaf.
Pagoda:Yeah. You have you have
Bam Bam:small hands.
Gizmo:The other thing I thought was amazing too was we learned that the protection from the sun is not only for protecting from the sun. It's also for protecting from heavy rain because too much water or too little water can very adversely affect the growing of the plant. So that also protects too much water from coming in because they wanna be very, very specific about how much water the plant gets.
Rooster:Also wind, I guess. I mean, it protects
Bam Bam:the I don't think
Rooster:from all the elements. And
Pagoda:it and it traps the heat. Right? I think it
Rooster:It does. Yeah. It does trap the heat.
Bam Bam:Yeah. A question about the soil. What color was it? Was it dark, lighter?
Rooster:It was dark.
Bam Bam:Yeah? Dark brown. Okay.
Gizmo:Yeah. I feel like it was very much what, like, you'd see in any sort of garden. Mhmm. It's that kind of color. You know?
Gizmo:It was a darker brown.
Senator:Agree. Nothing distinct.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Pagoda:Very well organized there. Yeah.
Rooster:I think we did ask him, like, how much how big of an area it is, and I forget forget what he said, how many hectares. They have a lot. Yeah.
Gizmo:I think it's, like, 3rd I think they have, like, a lot of lot of land there. Right. Hector Luis has quite a bit. Yeah. They grow a lot of tobacco there.
Gizmo:So as they start picking the plant starting at 90 days, they move those into the Barn.
Rooster:The barn, The casa del tobacco? Well, they bunch the leaves. They take, I think, 5 or 6 leaves, and they bunch them, and then they hang them upside down on like a long stick. And I mean, obviously, there wasn't much there because it's not harvest season yet. And I assume when the harvest begins, I mean, that whole room is just full.
Rooster:Can you imagine that smell?
Gizmo:Must be amazing.
Senator:Yeah. Must be incredible.
Gizmo:Intoxicating. I mean, he
Senator:he was saying that stick that they hang them on, that they dry the wrappers for 50 days typically on that stick before they bunch and then, you know, ship it out.
Gizmo:The other thing was interesting too is you said that only women are chosen to bunch the leaves onto the onto the needle, I guess, the the rope that holds it on to that that stick. No men do that. It's only women.
Bam Bam:So here's a question. So once they they thread the needle with the leaves, does it stay on there for a certain amount of time? And then do they transfer it to another to a vessel of some kind after?
Gizmo:I think about 50 days.
Rooster:50 days.
Bam Bam:You said that 50 days. Okay.
Gizmo:And then they keep turning it over as they're picking more off the plant I see. After, you know, a certain amount of time.
Bam Bam:Right.
Gizmo:You know, they're feeling good about what's coming up on the bottom of the plant. They keep picking. That process keeps continuing, and then they move the stuff that's, you know, ready to go after 50 days into the, you know, fermentation area.
Rooster:I think they they move them into bigger bundles.
Bam Bam:Okay. Together.
Rooster:Like, yeah, first of 5 leaves, and then it goes into a bigger bundle, then even a bigger bundle.
Senator:And He he was saying that they the bundles are typically it's 50 leaves, which is he said about the equivalent of 2 plants, and that bundle they called a. Then he said they'll take 4, and that's called a. And that's they'll bundle those into 40.
Gizmo:Wow. And
Senator:that's like do you remember there was, like, those, like, big crate looking things?
Pagoda:Yeah.
Senator:That was, I think, the, like, 40 Manojos all bundled into one of those crates.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Right. Wow.
Rooster:I think they spray water on them to keep them moist, and they cover them up with some kind of a jute or some kinda
Bam Bam:And you'd have to think with all that mass, there's weight, there's heat that develops in there, and they ferment fermentation
Rooster:process. Right. Yep.
Pagoda:The one thing I wasn't clear about is do they take the leaves and they put them all the way on top? Because I remember there were some towards the ceiling or the barn.
Gizmo:I think that's just a a space saving measure.
Pagoda:They're Alright.
Gizmo:They're constantly leveling them up just to keep making space for more leaves coming in and try to, you know, start to cure as much tobacco at the same time as is possible.
Rooster:And I'm sure. I mean, we just saw one barn. They have multiple barn drying barns, maybe, you know, couple of barns for wrapper leaves and bunch of other barns for regular tobacco.
Senator:And in that barn, you know who was watching the whole process. That Castro, painting they had in there. Do you remember that? Oh, yeah.
Poobah:It was
Gizmo:actually a pretty cool
Senator:photo. I have to say. It was like this painting of Castro with, like, clouds of smoke billowing out of his mouth. He's just sitting there, like, kinda like a little smirk, and he's just right in the center of the room as these women are all doing their work.
Bam Bam:Probably smoking a Fundidorris.
Gizmo:The one thing I read too is that the barns were historically constructed from palm wood, which I guess is readily available in Cuba with roofs of thatched palm fronds, and now they're made of corrugated iron sheets and sawn lumber. I don't know what sawn lumber means.
Bam Bam:It's just dimensional lumber.
Gizmo:Got it.
Bam Bam:Yeah. 2 by 4.
Gizmo:This is why you know, Bam, this is why we have you here. Correct.
Senator:The only reason.
Bam Bam:Okay, guys. Good night.
Gizmo:Bam, we'll text you.
Pagoda:Gotcha.
Gizmo:The other cool thing, is that I you know, we saw this when we're walking in as they have massive doors and massive windows, which obviously they use to regulate temperature in those barns. So throughout the day, obviously, as it gets hotter during the day, I'm sure they're opening that to keep it cooler, and then at night, they're closing it to keep it a little bit more regulated so that the tobacco can cure evenly. You want the air throughout the process.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Yeah.
Rooster:Throughout the process. Kept kept very dark.
Bam Bam:Do they have fans blowing?
Rooster:We didn't see any fans. I think it's just air movement through massive doors and windows. I mean, I must say the temperature was a little bit cooler in that area compared to Havana. It definitely Green.
Bam Bam:It's also the time of year.
Rooster:Due to the altitude.
Bam Bam:Or Oh, that too. Yeah.
Gizmo:And you're not on the water. Right? I mean, I have to imagine the the humidity with the water there is affecting our perception of of temperature versus being out in Pinot River.
Rooster:You guys noticed. Like, when we were sitting down to eat, right behind, there was, like, a river.
Gizmo:Mhmm.
Rooster:And there
Rooster:were a bunch of houses in it. I guess they used that for irrigation. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.
Rooster:They don't waste anything. No. Use all the natural resources.
Senator:Well, I did think it was funny. The one thing that they clearly did not know at that farm when we were under, like, the cheesecloth where they were they were growing all the wrapper, leaves, the someone had asked what happens as far as, like, fertilizing the the the tobacco plant And, if they the veins when they strip the vein, from the leaf, if they, you know, use that as fertilizer, the guy's like, oh, no. No. We just throw all of that out. We know that's not the case.
Bam Bam:That is not true.
Senator:No. We've been on any factory tour. Those veins that they strip out of those leaves, they send back out to the farms Yeah. That are used for fertilizer, which makes perfect sense.
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Rooster:Right. They also use compost in the, in the soil when they plant the seed.
Bam Bam:If I remember correctly, they'll take the stems, and they'll soak them
Poobah:in water.
Rooster:Water and use
Bam Bam:them water. Use that as a to keep insects away.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah. Because there's a high concentration of ammonia.
Bam Bam:Exactly right. Yeah.
Gizmo:Yeah. So then after the process like we just talked about in the barns, some of the wrapper is moved to climate controlled drying chambers known as calphrysas. So after the 50 days that they're in the barns and this is not everything. Some are moved for 25 days for an additional curing process in, calphrysas, which is a more precisely controlled process and results in higher percentage of top quality wrappers compared to the traditional air curing that we were able to see in the barns. So what I was amazed by, and and I guess it was contrary to the perception I've I've seen on the Internet or heard from other folks who visited, these tobacco farms is quite honestly how simple the process seems as a layperson.
Gizmo:I know it's very labor intensive. I know there's a lot of, you know, diligent science and effort and experience involved. But from seedling to what we learned about the curing process in the barns, it wasn't very complicated. I was surprised that I was able to kind of understand it very quickly and kinda got a grasp for it. It it just seems that throughout the many generations, many 100 of years they've been doing this, they've been able to really simplify it Yeah.
Bam Bam:And systematize for themselves.
Gizmo:And just do it well.
Senator:I agree. That that was my takeaway and just how fast the process is. I mean, the fact that, like, the plant grows to, I mean, a 6 foot tall, you know, mature plant in in 90 days, I I would not have expected. And I was also surprised to learn that after that initial yield, it it's not the case that, like, you know, they're picking the leaves and then letting new ones form. They just remove the plant, and they start the whole process all over again.
Senator:Yep. I mean, they said that they can obviously wait for an additional yield, but their experience is that that first yield is the best one and the ones after it don't really compare. So I was just shocked how, like, rinse and repeat and how quickly and automated this process almost becomes.
Rooster:I mean, I'm sure, like, different farms are doing little different things. Maybe at this particular farm, they were doing this. I mean, some farms do grow some cigarette tobacco. They might be growing some other vegetables maybe
Gizmo:if it's
Rooster:supposed to be very
Poobah:good for the soil.
Bam Bam:It goes to I I guess it goes to show the for me, the most complicated part of what we're smoking tonight is in the blend. So if it's fairly straightforward in growing the tobacco and fermenting the tobacco, but it's the art is in the blend that creates something exquisite.
Gizmo:And I think, you know and and we discussed this with Danilo, and, you know, 2 weeks from now, for the listener, we're gonna have our interview with Danilo Rodriguez, the production manager of Cohiba and El Negito. And we talked extensively about the choosing of tobacco, you know, when they go to these storage facilities. So the tobacco leaves, farm like Hector Luis, It's, you know, packed up in, Tercias, it's called, which are square packages wrapped in yaguas, which is, I guess, like a bark, again, coming from the, the royal palm, plant. And then it's moved to Tabacuba storage facilities for additional fermentation and sorting. And that's where we talked to Danilo on that interview we have coming out in 2 weeks about his process of selecting that tobacco and going there and choosing what they wanna use for wrapper, filler, binder for the various cigars they're manufacturing at any given time.
Gizmo:That, like you said, Bam, that seems to me obviously, the execution on Hector Luis's part at at a farm like that is top notch and very important
Bam Bam:to the critical sell. Sure.
Gizmo:Critical. But for making a great cigar
Bam Bam:That's the art.
Gizmo:It comes down to the choice of tobacco and then, like you said, the blend.
Rooster:What if Tabakuba keeps the farms separated, or does it all just go into one massive or multiple barns?
Poobah:How can you go in like,
Rooster:can Danilo, like, go in and say, well, is this
Pagoda:is from
Rooster:Alejandro's farm, or this is
Bam Bam:Yeah. I may have heard incorrectly, but when we were interviewing Danilo, aren't there 2 large fermenting entities in Cuba that they all get sent to and they stay there?
Gizmo:Yeah. The storage facilities, I think, just have everything there.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:I think it's sorted by type of wrap you know, type size of wrap or color
Bam Bam:Right.
Gizmo:You know, etcetera. And I think, like you said, I don't think that they're they're discerning as far as which farm it comes from. They're just trying to choose the best tobacco that's in front of their face. I don't think that he's able to to say I want x, y, or z. I think it's just he chooses what's available
Poobah:to him.
Rooster:So Robena can't say that I wanna use my own tobacco for my cigars?
Gizmo:Well, he can, and we saw that with Hector Luis. Hector Luis is able
Rooster:to only within the farm, but I'm saying when they're actually getting rolled in the factories No. They can't say that I wanna use my own tobacco.
Senator:Yeah. I mean, the strange thing, though, is I mean, then then how how is how do we know Hector Luis's tobacco is better than the next person's?
Pagoda:You don't.
Senator:If it's all just in one
Bam Bam:Yeah. You don't.
Poobah:Facility. I
Rooster:think it just comes down to more to the blending decision, not so much as the tobacco.
Senator:I mean, tobacco is important. To do with Hector Luis. He has this reputation. How do we get the reputation is
Poobah:my point. Correct.
Gizmo:I think for Hector Luis, I think it's the yield coming off that farm. I'm sure Tabakuba is there every day monitoring the process, monitoring what's coming out of there, and I'm sure that he's just figured out a process that works for his farm that yields the what, you know, Tabakuba and Habanos view as some of the best tobacco coming out of there. And maybe he just gives them more product.
Pagoda:But at
Bam Bam:the end of the day, they all go to a central fermenting location. Yep. And you can't discern product from one form to another.
Gizmo:Exactly right. That we know of anyway. That's that's my understanding.
Bam Bam:We don't yeah. There's maybe something we don't know.
Pagoda:I don't know. What I really, liked was, after the tour, where he picked up a dry leaf, the wrapper leaf, and he ran his finger through it, and it was so leathery and, Very pliable. Yeah. It was, yeah, very stretchy, leathery, and it was you you got a good feel for the wrapper. Yeah.
Bam Bam:That's cool.
Senator:When we were talking to him about, you know, where all this tobacco goes and how much of it they send to Tabakuba versus actually keep on the farm, I think he had said 90% of it gets shipped out, and 10% of it, they actually keep and then roll their own cigars with their For themselves? Yeah. Yeah. That then they can sell.
Bam Bam:Really? Yeah. So that That's cool.
Gizmo:That was a COVID measure that Tabakuba introduced to help these farmers during COVID and, you know, with financial struggles is they started to allow the farms to roll their own cigars and sell them to tourists so that they could, you know, make some make some extra money
Bam Bam:That makes sense.
Gizmo:I guess, for the farm. So that's you know, as soon as we were done with the tour, immediately, we were kinda shuttled over to the area where they rolled. Our tour guide rolled a cigar for us. I think he gave it to Pagoda or or senator, and then, we were able to go in the humidor that they have and Really? Purchase some cigars.
Gizmo:Yeah.
Bam Bam:Cool.
Senator:It was funny. It was like this little shed with, like, a portable air conditioning unit, basically, like, pumping AC in. Like, as soon as you come in, they're like, close the door. Close the door. It's like, keep the air conditioning again, and it was there were all all these little, drawers that had different cigars in them.
Senator:It was it was pretty cool. They actually also one of the walls was just covered with photos of celebrities that had actually been there.
Bam Bam:Really? Anyone notable?
Senator:Yeah. There was,
Gizmo:like, best of luck.
Bam Bam:Get out of town.
Gizmo:The president of Cuba. Well,
Senator:I hope so.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Of course.
Rooster:And they had three sizes of cigars. They had a kinda like just like the bajiquas, like 52, a 54, and a 56.
Bam Bam:And that's it.
Rooster:Those three sizes. Okay.
Senator:Here's another one. Steven Seagal.
Gizmo:Oh, Steven Seagal. Damn. Action star.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Senator:Oh, 50 Cent. I'm staring at a photo of him and Hector Luis.
Bam Bam:Oh, boy.
Rooster:He's worth Love it. He's worth a quarter now. Yeah.
Senator:Oh, wow. Do you know who I think this is? No. No. Never mind.
Senator:That I there's a guy who looks just like Samuel L Jackson, but it's not him. That would
Gizmo:have been very cool.
Bam Bam:Barack Obama.
Gizmo:So the other thing in the humidor that was cool that is worth mentioning is that Hector Luis was actually named Habanos man of the year a few years ago. I guess because, you know, he produces such great tobacco and, you know, provides a lot of, product for Tavacuba and Habanos. At the Habanos gala dinner, they honored Hector Luis Prieta with the Habanos man of the year, which is only given to 1 person a year. So that was I thought that was pretty cool. So the actual trophy was in the humidor on display for us.
Bam Bam:Fantastic.
Rooster:There is an there is an agency that kind of monitors production of seed and quality of seed and seed control. The Tobacco Research Institute. Tobacco Research Institute. Yeah. So they're heavily involved in the whole farming, You know?
Gizmo:And I think they're also kinda like Coca Cola with the secret recipe. Yeah. The Tobacco Research Institute are the keepers of the blends, and the the markers and
Bam Bam:Is that right?
Gizmo:Yeah. So when it comes to blending, it actually is is processed through the Tobacco Research Institute, which I think is probably why in previous episodes, we've talked about you know, and I think we talked about this with Danilo in the upcoming interview is that inside Cuba, we know who rollers are. We don't know who blenders are. Outside of Cuba, we know who blenders are and the people who are making the blending decisions, and there's no celebration of the people actually rolling the cigars. And I think that inside Cuba, this is a big reason why is I think this is kind of a closely held group of people at the Tobacco Research Institute who are making blending decisions and monitoring blends and making sure things are consistent to keep things in line for Tabakuba and for Habanos.
Bam Bam:All the markers.
Gizmo:Exactly.
Bam Bam:So you think they keep track of the the recipes, essentially?
Gizmo:They have the secret sauce.
Poobah:That's
Bam Bam:a good theory.
Senator:And they wanna keep them secret. Of course. Yeah. I mean, we'll talk about this in the Danil interview.
Bam Bam:Makes sense.
Senator:These are the people that wield the most power, really. Like, if we knew who they were, we'd all try to get them out of Cuba, and they'd be, you know, blending for, you know, new world brands. Right? Like, that's why they keep them quiet.
Chef:I'd buy them a house here.
Senator:But but truly, think about it.
Poobah:I mean
Bam Bam:It's true.
Senator:Every big cigar company would try to pursue some of these people. That's why they keep their
Bam Bam:Amazing.
Senator:It's amazing. Identity quiet out.
Gizmo:Episode 121 was the first ever episode recorded outside of a lounge, and we were invited to sit down with Cohiba's production manager, Danilo Rodriguez Portal, in Havana, Cuba for a wide ranging exclusive interview on Cohiba and Cuban cigars. We covered Bijiqua, quality control, his journey to El Negrito, and much, much more.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:The the real challenge for Baike is trying to keep those standard of quality. We have to be really careful about it. The expectations for our customers are really high. And we are talking about the IK. The standard of quality have to be only the best of the best.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Mhmm. No other way around. You cannot negotiate with quality because first, we are talking about a really important brand for Havana's World, for Cigar World. And, of course, also, Veike got a huge limitation for production is the availability of Mediatel Tempo leaf. Without Mediatemple, it's impossible make a bake, a 54, or any kind of bake.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:So the amount of cigar we are able to produce in 1 year depends directly from this particular kind of leaf.
Pagoda:So is that what has changed that Mediatemple is not as available? But why why is that?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:I think the big problem is not just about Mediatemple. Wrapper is important too, and, of course, you need a combination of perfect leaf. We are talking about wrapper, binder, seco, which provide smell, flavor, burrado, which provide speed of combustion, ligero, which provides strength. So every kind of leaf has to be necessarily the best of the best. No other way around.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Mhmm.
Senator:Typically, with the bajiquas, roughly how much of the leaf inside is Mediatempos versus seco, other, abalado, the other types of leaves? Without being too specific. I know you probably can't can't tell scientifically, but
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:One
Senator:leaf. One leaf.
Bam Bam:One leaf. Okay.
Senator:One in each cigar.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Each cigar.
Gizmo:Danilo, what are your flavor notes when you think about the Heekke 54?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:When we think in a in a bake, we we use the factory way to to taste the cigars. So we are looking for very general, parameters in order to taste the cigars. First and most important, draw. The worst problem you can find in any cigar is a draw problem. 2nd, of course, smell, aroma is really important.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Mhmm. It's the the soul of the cigar speaking, so we have to be really, really careful about the smell. And we have to be really demanding about the quality control. So the smell, aroma of the of the cigar is really important. So this is one of the items, I think, we need to pay attention.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Flavor, of course. If the leaf doesn't have the right kind of, process of fermentation, you will find aggressive flavor, pepper, spicy. We are not looking for that. Our final goal is try to produce a strong cigar, potent cigar, but at the same time, easy to smoke. So flavor is important because flavor is the reflex of the process of fermentation.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:If the pro if the process is not good, of course, the flavor will be, messy, aggressive.
Gizmo:So tell us a little bit about your journey into adulthood, becoming an attorney, and how did you end up at
Poobah:The Eladito?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:What you can call, a walking mistake. I started in the military law school, and once I get the from the army, I start to work as a lawyer. And, I heard this in the Oncological Research Institute in Cuba. So and then in that time, you know, you have to, get in contact with, of course, patients all the time. And that time, I was working also in the nights in a in a bar.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:So I spent, like, 2 years almost sleeping 2 hours a day, bartender in the night and, of course, lawyer, during the day. So imagine that crazy. So, by the end of, 2019, we heard a rumor about a virus in China. We're making a lot of damage. And, of course, I think of myself, okay, this is a dangerous situation.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:And, of course, in case of closure, quarantine, whatever, the the business, you know, restaurants, theaters, that kind of business will suffer first and more. One friend told me they were looking for a a lawyer in a cigar factory. And I say, okay. It's a perfect opportunity to start to work with something I love. I have been cigar smoker for 10 years now, but professionally speaking, I have been working in cigar business for 4 years.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:So in the beginning was opportunity to learn. I say to myself, okay. A couple of year working in a factory as a lawyer, learn a little bit about cigars. And once this virus, thing pass, I can't go out with my life and never have been more wrong. The cigar world is simply magic, amazing.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Once you get in, it's really difficult to get out. You simply fall in love. And I got the wonderful opportunity, the director in corona, mister Osmar. The guy one day called me to his office and say to me, okay. You are the weirdest lawyer I ever seen.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:You're never in the office. What's the problem? Say, okay, sir. I I want to learn about cigars, about production. And the guy said to me, okay.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:I will put you on test 1 month in one of the of the workshop. If you are good enough, just stay as a boss of that particular workshop. If you don't, you have to go to the office. So we we agree on that, and a month later, I was the chief of that particular department. And since that point, ahead has been a wonderful journey.
Gizmo:Wow. So how long now have you been the production manager at
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:In Coiba. Palo Gito at Coiba. 2 years and 20 days, I think.
Gizmo:So can you walk us through a a typical day for you at Elagito? From the moment you arrive to the moment the moment you head home.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Okay. 1st, we need to understand a cigar factory, as many business, is like a living being. Even though if you think about we don't use machines for producing cars, we got the most valuable asset for productions is the skill of our rollers. So you have to be in touch with that particular part of the production machine. So the first thing I think everybody have to do in a factory is go to see the workers.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:The people who are really involved directly in production feel the bit of the factory. After that, okay, you check your email, whatever, any, bureaucratic thing you have to do, paperwork, whatever. And after that, 9 AM, we start with the testing. Tasting is a really important part of the quality control because we randomly select cigars from production, and we taste them. A cigar can, look like really good outside, be beautiful, but you need to taste them.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:That's the only way you can be a 100% sure what you're making. So we are 11 tasters, and we try 2 cigars every single day.
Pagoda:Wow. Is there a blender also on that tasting panel?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Not necessarily because for for became taster, you have to pass several tests in order to identify the kind of sensibility you got. The first test, for example, when the first time I make the test, we were 100 aspirants. Only 19 passed.
Gizmo:Wow. So 19 out of a 100 Uh-huh. Passed. Wow. That's a high fail rate.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yes. The first test is using water. They give you a tiny dissolution of salt, sugar, acid, bitter, and, of course, water. They put you 10 glasses. You have to identify which is what.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Believe me, it's hotter than suns.
Gizmo:We should try that sometime. I like that. Yeah. We really should. We'll see if we any of any of us pass.
Bam Bam:We need to do a competitive tasting among us.
Senator:It's perfect.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Salt is relatively easy. Sweet, also. Acid and bitter. Good luck with that.
Pagoda:So it's different parts of your tongue that have receptors for different, like saltiness, bitterness, sweetness.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yes. But also and I can recommend this more because it's really important. Train your brain. Train yourself. Your sensibility, your tongue, okay, will, cap the the flavor, but you have to train yourself in order to identify them.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Like an instrument, a guitar. Anyone can grab a guitar. Hold it. Okay? But you need to learn to understand.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Your brain need your brain needs to adapt the position, the the muscle strength, the ability, the coordination. Is basically the same thing. You have to train yourself in order to identify this flavor and avoid spicy food. 12 to 10 days before the test, reduce the amount of salt in your food. So you got a fresh palate.
Senator:How long did you prepare for this?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:I was really lucky. I got this, quality control specialist in Corona, the first factory where I where I work. The guy basically adopt me. He he saw the interest and say, okay. You wanna be taster?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:We'll train you. And if we're a movie, we'll be like Karate Kid, you know, the the old guy training the the young one, pretty much the same. Okay. That's the the first test, the water. The highest rate of failure is in that particular test.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Almost 50% of the aspirants fail that particular test. After that, they when I say they, it's their Research Institute of Tobacco, start to give us cigars with different blending. The first test is really easy because they give you one cigar using just Lijero, which is a crazy strong cigar light off constantly, so it's easy to identify. One cigar made only with bolato leaf, of course, combustion. So it's a crazy fast combustion cigar, but no flavor at all.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:And 1 cigar made only with seco, which is balanced, so it's really easy to identify. The second test, the blending, they start to make them closer and closer. So by this 5 test, the 5th test is really difficult, so you have to start to pay attention to details. For example, before lighting the cigar, you have to pay attention to the front of your cigar. The different kind of leaf got different texture, different color.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:The leaf, which provides strength, is darker. So if you pay attention to your cigar on front, you can appreciate the strongest cigar generally got a higher concentration of darker leaf right in the center. So the proportion of ligero is higher. Technically, that cigar supposed to be stronger. So tiny clues, but you have to pay attention to that.
Bam Bam:That's interesting. Yeah. It's very interesting. Yeah.
Gizmo:So when you're when you're on the tasting panel and you're you're smoking a lot of the same cigars every day on this panel. Right? You're trying different cigars from the factory that are coming out of production. So what raises a red flag for you? Let's say when you smoke a Bahiake 54, what what is a recent or what's an example of something that's kind of been, woah, something's wrong here?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:1st, draw. But draw cigar, even if it's too much or not enough, you have to open it. So if you got one cigar with that kind of problem, you open the cigar and see what's the problem. Not enough leaf to match the wrong position of the leaf, which can provide huge problems with draw. For example, once, we are talking about long filler cigars, so whole leaf.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Okay? So the roller has to put the leaf straight. If the leaf gets screwed, plug the drawer, and that particular cigar is impossible to smoke. So that's a red flag. Once we identify a cigar, of course, the taste, and I I have to I have to tell you this before.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:The taste, we made it without knowing which roller made the cigar.
Gizmo:So it's a blind
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:It's a blind test.
Gizmo:So there's no, bias of any kind.
Senator:Wow. But when you find a problem, like it's too loose to draw or it's it's too resistant
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:The quality
Senator:track that to the
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:roller and share that specialist Mhmm. Get scheduled of the numbers.
Bam Bam:Right. Ah, okay.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:They know which roller made the cigar that I'm potentially smoking. So we track the roller. Okay? And we make an extra, a wider sample of his production. So next days next day, we taste 10 cigars for that particular roller.
Gizmo:Wow. Wow. Okay. Wow. So the heat the heat is on when that happens.
Gizmo:Yes.
Senator:Yeah. The
Poobah:pressure is on.
Gizmo:It's like your the interrogation light is right over his head.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Nobody want that kind of attention, but it's important.
Pagoda:Of course. Yeah.
Bam Bam:I have a question regarding the roller. Do you provide continuous or ongoing training?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yes. Of course. It's important.
Bam Bam:For quality purposes, but also from the point of view of the the technicality of rolling a cigar to make sure it's consistent. You have and what kind of continued training would that be?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:For example, if we got rollers start to present problems, quality problems, we rec recalify them. So they have to pass, a curse, a training again. So, we check them by the end of the training if the guy improve or don't. For example, the the average age in our factory is really high.
Gizmo:So we got because people have been there for a long time.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yes.
Senator:Would you say the average age at Lagido is highest among the factories?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yes. We are talking about some rollers in Lagito have been working there for 30 years.
Gizmo:That's incredible. Wow.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Even some rollers in Laguito are rollers from 3rd generation.
Gizmo:Wow.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:The youngest one. Some of the youngest rollers we got have been rollers for 3 generations now.
Pagoda:Do they start off at Laguito, or do they come from La Caron? Can you get directly into Lagido as well?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Received rollers from other factories, and we had some really good experience. But in general terms, we rather trying our own rollers in the factory.
Gizmo:Got it. So after the tasting panel, what going on with the the throughout your day? So you've done the tasting panel. You've made your comments and any corrections that need to be made. What what's next for you?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Check every one of the stage of production, every workshop. If you got a problem with, the stripping room when we select the wrapper
Gizmo:You're saying where they strip the, they strip the leads.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:You have to wait until the leaf half are in the terminal, which is the classification by color. So in that point, it's really difficult to fix any kind of problem. So it's better identify the problems on time. This is why we have to check every single day is like a farm. There's no free days in a farm.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:There's no free days in Lagito. Same principle. Every step is important. For example, if we use a tobacco leaf, 2 leaf from the same plant, from the same level, from the same cut. One, you put it the right way so you make the proper fermentation process, and the other one, you just let it dry.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:You find 2 defeat 2 different results by the end of the process. One leaf is just a dry leaf, and the other one will provide the whole kind of experience you expect from a tobacco leaf. So it's not just about the quality of the leaf. It's also about respecting the process. Every little detail matter.
Gizmo:So let's talk about tobacco procurement. This has always been I've always been very curious about this, and even when we've spoken in the past. How, where, when how does the process for you of procuring tobacco for Elagito how does this process happen? Where does it happen? When?
Gizmo:How often? Run us through it because we are so curious about this.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:1st, we got only 1, farming season for cigars. Some producers make a little later, little sooner, but usually, only one farming season in the year.
Senator:What month is that?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Which, in general, start with in November until March. Some producers are bold, and they start to farm in later, so they, harvest later too. But in regular terms, those are the month that the the farming process take place. And first, producers, of course, put the the seeds on the on the land, the plants grow, and they made the first many author many authorities about cigar identify the dry process as the first fermentation, which I personally agree with that. So once the the leaf are ready, they make a classification.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:So for that, we got these, places in the countryside. Spanish name, Escojida. So choosing or selecting. And, of course, in this place, they identify the leaf by size and by cut. We were talking before about the different kind of leaf.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Bolado, for example, grows at the bottom part of the plant and we start harvesting from bottom to top. So though that is the first leaf we cut. Okay? So after that, Seco and finally Ligero and, of course, Mediatempos 20 days later. But Mediatempos is more a process than a kind of leaf Because technically speaking, Ligero and mediotiento, both kind of leaf, are the crown of the plant.
Pagoda:Does every plant produce Ligero and probably not Mediatemple? Potentially speaking, yes.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Every plant produced Ligero because every plant got crown, so top leaf. Mediatemple, as I was saying before, is more a process. 1st, we need to understand for make premium avanos, long filler cigars, the leaf have to came necessarily from Gueltabajo. That's the origin denomination for premium Havana cigar. Okay.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Bualtavajo is a tiny region in the west of the island, and Bualtavajo got one of the more hostile environments for farming. This is why the plants have to fight for their survival. So the plants grows under a huge amounts of stress stress. So the first result, the plant is doesn't obtain all the nutrients in it from the soil. So need to develop bigger leaf in order to cut more sunlight.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:So it kept still living. Okay? As a result of the whole metabolic process to transform UV light in metabolic, energy, the plants have to develop a lot of metabolic process. So the concentration of nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide is higher. So difficult terrain, in general terms, provide tasty cigars.
Gizmo:So the the harder the plant has to work, the more stressed they are, the better the tobacco is.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:In our experience, yes. For example, if we think about wine, some producer are farming higher and higher in the mountains. I'm thinking about Argentina, for example. 2,000 meters high because that kind of, place to farm are really hostile. The soil is not good.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:The oxygen the saturation of oxygen in the air is lower, so the plant have to fight back. As a result, you got different outcomes for the plant that if you put it in a really easy place to develop as the people.
Senator:I'm very curious. What what makes a good grow a good tobacco growing season? And I ask this because you mentioned wine. So in wine, in certain regions, a really, really hot summer that year helps produce an incredibly bold wine that they're looking to make. So I'm curious, what kind of conditions make a good or a better tobacco growing season?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Maybe this comes on, a little crazy, but if you pay attentions to the producers in the countryside, hurricanes. The year after, a hurricane year is a wonderful year for tobacco farming.
Pagoda:Interesting. Wow. So that would be this year then. No?
Poobah:Mhmm.
Bam Bam:And why is that?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:I think one of the reason is the rain. And, of course, the amount of, organic material that the hurricane left behind. Kill the grass, kill any kind of plant who eventually, fall to the ground, leave even. So those particular elements eventually rotten. So goes to the to the land and the result is even better.
Pagoda:But the hurricane also destroyed the crop.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yeah. The year of the hurricane is bad. The year After is excellent. After is good.
Gizmo:So how so how does the tobacco that we're discussing, how does it end up at Elagito in the hands of of the growers? How does that process work?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Okay. The the producers in the field eventually sell their their crops to a government company who make the fermentation process even. So you got consistency. If every producer made their own way of fermentation, it's really difficult be consistent about blending cigars because you got a 100 different fermentation process. So this company named, La Vega is a government owned company, make the whole process of fermentation even.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Once they are ready, they, we buy the leaf from them.
Pagoda:Is it also true that in Guelto, the soil, the pH is very neutral? Like, they say in Nicaragua, it's very acidic, so the fermentation process is longer as opposed to Cuban tobacco where the soil is very neutral.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Nicaragua and Cuba got a really different soil. Even, for example, the soil in Nicaragua is more fertile. In Nicaragua, you can find volcanoes. So volcanoes launch
Poobah:to
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:the atmosphere tons and tons of element that are really good for for soil, but we don't find it here in Cuba. So the chemical composition of the soil is different, so the environment which the plants develop is different too. For example, if you made this experiment, maybe proof help to prove the point. If you put a Cuban seed, Cuban tobacco seed in Nicaragua, you will find a plant with 18 to 20 leaf. If we put the same seed in Bual Tabajo, 14 to 16 leaf.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:This is because the soil is different. In our case, the soil is less fertile, so the plants cannot grow same rate.
Pagoda:To a normal listener, I think they would think that the soil, if it's fertile, you would produce a better plant.
Gizmo:It's the opposite. Saying it's
Pagoda:the opposite. They're less fertile the soil. Part of the plant has to work, which produces a better product.
Poobah:Mhmm.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:For maybe for produce vegetables or fruits, you need to develop the plant in a fertile soil. The way we consume the tobacco is different. We consume in the leaf. So the concentration of organic components in the leaf, which is the reflect from the environment the plant is growing, okay, is what we are looking for. Same plant in different environments, in different soils will taste different.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Even, for example, in Cuba, we got different farming areas, 17 denominations areas in Cuba. The cigar from the east of the country is quite different, that cigar you can find in the west, even in the center, Because they in that part of the island, we got different kind of soil, different weather. Not too different, but enough to establish a difference about the flavor profile. This is why the cigars, the plants, sorry, the tobacco we use for Coiba necessarily have to came from Boltebajo. No other way around.
Pagoda:It's the most hit by hurricanes too. Right?
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Pagoda:That region?
Senator:Make a
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:lot of damage.
Gizmo:So when that government company that handles the fermentation, when they feel that the tobacco is ready to be sold to Tobacco. Yeah. So it's sold to the factory. How does that process work? Do you just get a phone call?
Gizmo:Or
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:No. We usually go to the to the storage and select them. We go with some of our quality control technicians. So they made an inspection for for the leaf, and they decide which leaf are good enough. The of course, that depend of the kind of cigar we are making in that moment.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:For example, we cannot buy bigger leaf, big leaf for small cigars. It's pointless. So size, quality, complexion, the proportion. So the different kind of leaf we're gonna buy is established by the cigars we are attending to to make in that particular point. In regular terms, we both, we buy the leaf monthly.
Bam Bam:Is this is it a single facility, or are there multiple fermentation
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:No. We always buy from there from the same.
Bam Bam:So and does every factory purchase from the same facility or does Cohiba have, let's call it a special fermentation facility that they buy from?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Same process. Fermentation until this point is the same for every brand.
Gizmo:Wow. And do you get do you get the the first kind of Choice. Look over or the first choice of tobacco being that you're it's Cojiba and Leguito and it's the premium Habanos product?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yeah. But we have to be quick about it because the other guys Don't get me. Want the better label. Sure. Sure.
Bam Bam:See, this is interesting because we as a we had always thought that you had a preference or or, priority. So it's interesting to hear this.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:The the easy part is the our factory is one of the smallest factory in the country, so we don't need too much.
Gizmo:So what are some of the, the biggest challenges that you face at La Ghetto on a day to day basis or, you know, production in general? Rapper.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Rapper. Rapper.
Gizmo:Not enough wrapper.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Constant worry. We had enough, but the quality is important. And we got a saying in La Grito, it's better make 10 perfect cigar instead than 100 good cigars.
Senator:And is that very specific to Cohiba? Like, because the wrapper on a Cohiba, I mean, it's pristine. You you kind of notice a difference in those wrappers than you would any really the other markets where there is more variation, it seems.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yes. For example, in Cuba, we use, traditional way in order to dry and ferment the leaf. We don't use any industrial process for that. So by the end of the process, we got 64 different color. 64.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:So every brand got their own specific range from those 64 colors. For example, if we are talking about Coiba or Trinidad, we are talking about the 10 lightest color.
Bam Bam:I see.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Montecristo, for example, can be a little darker. Artagas, even darker. Punch or Ionis, even more. And, of course, some brands allow some little defects, but those are not compatible with Cohiba.
Bam Bam:Not Cohiba standard?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yes.
Senator:I've always been so confused, Partagas in particular, and I I do love Partagas, but the the d four, for instance, the variation in the wrapper color, some can be so light, some can be so dark. It's a huge range.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:D four admitted that kind of grading. Koiva doesn't doesn't admit it admitted so.
Bam Bam:Right. Don't get him started on d fours. We'll be here all night.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Okay. It's a beautiful cigar.
Chef:It is. So
Gizmo:do you have challenge acquiring new talent, to roll cigars?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:It's not difficult find, people who want to learn how to roll, but none every person got the skills, the discipline that you need for for rolling handmade cigars. And not every roller are skilled enough to make coiva. So constantly, we are looking for trainees for for roller. The whole process take 9 months. And we are talking maybe 3 for every 10 guys finishing the training.
Gizmo:Another high failure rate. Yeah. 70% don't make it through the training.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yes. Wow. This doesn't means the guy the guys are not good enough to be rollers, but not good enough to be Coiba.
Bam Bam:So they could be assigned to La Corona or another factory?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:We usually when we have to let go some of the young trainees, if they prove they're worthy during the course, we make this recommendation letter for a different factory.
Senator:Oh, that's great.
Bam Bam:Got it. That's good to hear.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yeah. Yes. Because they'll steal
Gizmo:They can still thrive Yes. But just not at the level of COIVA.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Even some guys graduate. I got this experience with, with a really young guy who worked to the factory and after 3 months simply wasn't good enough. And we have to talk to him and explain him why he cannot continue with the training. But, we made the recommendation letter for Partagas. The guy go to Partagas, graduated, start to roll in Partagas.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:By the time he feel confident enough and acquire the level of skill, return to the factory. Right now, he's working with us.
Bam Bam:Really amazing. Yeah. That's amazing. That's incredible.
Gizmo:So it's just diligence and, like you said, discipline?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yes. And if you are working in, for example, automobile industry, you want to work with Mercedes or Ferrari or Rolls Royce, for example. If you are into tobacco's business, into tobacco's production, you want to work for Coiba. So it's a matter of proud too. And you guys has been in the factory before.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:You can you can tell. The people who work over there simply feel proud to be part of Coiba.
Bam Bam:We can see that as well when we're there.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yes. You can you can breathe out. Yeah.
Gizmo:Yeah. You can feel it. Oh, sure. Sure. And like you said, it's a smaller facility than a lot of the others.
Gizmo:Corona is like a that's like a machine. That's a factory. Yeah. The Lagito feels more of like a It's like a family. A tight knit unit.
Senator:Yeah. Yeah.
Bam Bam:You know? Smaller groups Yeah. In single rooms.
Gizmo:Yeah.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:We know each other by names. We know each other by the problems. We got a home. It's really close, the work. And this is important when you have to work with and for people.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:You need to understand. You need to be part of the group. We worry about the concerns. Be part of the of the problem and the solution.
Bam Bam:In their personal lives? Also. Really?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yes.
Bam Bam:Wow. It's amazing.
Pagoda:Yes. And you become a better roller if your your family life is more more content.
Bam Bam:And secured. Sure.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Even you can tell if 1 roller got problems problems at home just by looking at the the quality rate. If you got a problem with your wife, for example, your quality goes down.
Gizmo:We never have that issue.
Bam Bam:No. No. Happy life. Happy life. So
Rooster:you you never tell your
Pagoda:rollers to keep your problems at home like we
Bam Bam:do? It's
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:impossible. It's impossible because if you are doing anything anything with your hands, you put your heart and soul in that way you're making it. So stressful stressful rollers make mediocre cigars. Happy rollers made amazing cigars simply as that.
Gizmo:And you know who also told us that? Osmar at La Colona.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Osmar is, a really a really estimated and respect person by me. Osmar, pretty much teach me everything I know Wow. About cigars and give me the opportunity to start work as a producer. So I have a lot to think of him thank to him, and for me have been, a teacher and a friend.
Bam Bam:And we love him. Yeah. Osmar is great. Yeah.
Pagoda:Do you still apply your law degree where you work in some aspect?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yes. And the military formation too.
Pagoda:Oh, really?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Give you tools. For example, we were talking about, again, about most of my subordinates, the people who work under me, are all enough to be my parents. Wow. So you have to earn that respect.
Bam Bam:And how to speak with them?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yes. Yeah. You have to be both hammer and pillow at the same time. And nothing teach you faster that particular thing than the military life. If you are a squad leader or a platoon leader, you have to be the best and the worst man at the same time.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:If you use that tools to create a team, if you are talking about work, believe me, you get the better results.
Pagoda:And every time we see you, meet you, we learn something new.
Bam Bam:It's true. Tonight, we learned a few things
Senator:that we didn't know. It's incredible to hear you talk about spending 4 years in this business. I think the first time we met you, we left and said I mean, I've been smoking for 15 years. In that first meeting, I learned more from you than I have in 15 years of smoking cigars. So it's just incredible to the testament of the student that you've been, and we're now students that are, you know, able to learn this knowledge and share this with others from you.
Senator:You know, I think we're eternally grateful. It's really been incredible.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Thank you,
Bam Bam:guys. Are your students. Yes.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:I think it works in in both directions. I learn a lot too from from you guys. And, also, my grandfather used to say, in life, you have to find whatever you love to do. And once you find it, try to be paid for doing it. Whatever you do, put your heart and soul in order to be the best and be happy.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Everybody got their own preference.
Rooster:Mhmm.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:I cannot say the new world cigars are better or worse than Cuban. They're simply different.
Bam Bam:They are.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:The customers got more options.
Senator:Sure.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:So I think even if we are, competing for the same market, the most important winner is the customer because we got more choices. Dominican cigars are really good. Nicaraguan cigars are really good in their own way. Cuban cigars got their own strengths and weakness. So every producer got their own potential in order to develop a different cigar, a richer cigar.
Gizmo:Well, as far as quality goes and performance and experience, you have given us a great experience tonight.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Thank you.
Gizmo:Cigar was amazing. And, certainly, to sit with you and to discuss these things and to for us, most importantly, be able to share this with the world, this important information that is not widely available. That's really important to us. So we are very, very grateful for for everything tonight and your time.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Thank you, guys. What can I say for me is a wonderful opportunity? Share a little bit what we are doing over there in Lagito. And, also, I think it's a big opportunity in order to meet new people because cigar is not just about smoking. It's about companies, about share.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:It's the whole culture around cigars.
Bam Bam:This thing of ours?
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yes. Most of my best memories are around cigars.
Gizmo:In April, we went to Las Vegas for the Premium Cigar Association trade show for the first time and recorded episode 126 on-site at the show. We shared our impressions of both the show floor and the presentations we saw from industry heavy hitters. Grinder mentioned something that, that I wanted to talk about. You said how interesting it was to see how much of the year's business gets done at this trade show for the cigar industry.
Chef:Oh, absolutely. So I I was you know, we visited a lot of the booths, and, you know, we're just inquiring about, you know, commerce. We're all we all have business minds. And all of the all of the, sales associates I spoke to, the even, like, the head personas, to see a guy like Rocky Patel hustle his ass off
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Chef:To make a fucking sale.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Chef:At yo. Back to back to back. We were we were hanging out at his booth for a little bit. He had a he had a fantastic booth with music, live music, and and some, beer for us. Yeah.
Chef:And the guy is just and this is ubiquitous across all the all the, you know, the operators and all the brands. People are working hard.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Chef:And, you know, you ask the questions, like, where what's going on here? These guys are taking orders. You know? They're they have their iPads out. They're talking business.
Chef:They're talking about new products. And I said, well, what's what's going on? Like, is how many how much of your business? He said, honestly, we set up the entire year here. We get everything lined up.
Chef:We introduce the products. We make sure we have our orders, and we we take it in. We and this is our forecast. We have our forecast, and we and then it sets our inventory, and this sets our whole entire year. If we have a good show, we have a good year.
Bam Bam:It's exciting to see, honestly.
Gizmo:With all that happening that Grindr just detailed, with all of the business that's being done, the kindness and the generosity with time and the the warmth of the reception And
Bam Bam:the open conversations. Yeah. When you walk into the generosity of their time.
Gizmo:Talking with Jorge Padron, and you're talking with Carlito Fuente, Rocky Patel, and all of these guys, it's it's really amazing.
Bam Bam:Yeah. The amount of Surprising.
Gizmo:Yeah. It it really, really is.
Chef:To have the that amount of access with, you know yeah. You you look at a guy like George Padron, who's so you know, he's, you know, he's got a lot of demand on his time. He he, you know, he took time just to speak to us, to tell us what what, you know, the the cigars he's has coming out this year. We had a a wonderful presentation for, a new a new cigar he's releasing this year, and even across all the different brands, Carlito, EP Carrillo. These Ernesto, you know, we've spoke to Ernesto for 10 minutes yesterday.
Chef:This is wonderful access. These guys are a salt of the earth. They're working hard. It's a blue collar business, but a but a a luxury good. And you have to understand that.
Senator:Yeah. Yeah. I think the thing that's remarkable is, clearly, all of these guys have not forgotten the opportunity that this trade show years ago provided for them that they, to this day, take so seriously and have never taken for granted. I mean, you hear stories of even brands that are large now and we respect, like Padron, and them coming to this trade show and, you know, hoping that they would break even and not lose money coming to it and get just enough sales out of it for it to be worthwhile. It's not cheap to have a booth at a trade show like this, and it's just incredible.
Senator:Like, some of even these small boutique brands that we were able to meet as we're walking through, you know, I hope 5, 10 years from now that those brands are tell telling a similar story of, if it wasn't for a trade show like this, we wouldn't be where we are today. And so I just love the opportunity it provides for small brands and the largest of brands, how they haven't forgotten where they came from and how seriously they take this and how generous they are with their time and everything that they share.
Chef:Show up here.
Pagoda:You know, they all show up here. You know, as, owners of businesses, especially the larger brands, you know, they don't need to show up here. They could sell the sales team. Yeah. But they all show up here, and they personally guide.
Pagoda:They take the retail, outlets, very, very seriously, and, that's the way of distribution. And, it's it's fantastic to see all of them come and work hard and hustle
Poobah:Yeah.
Pagoda:Like Ryan dimension earlier.
Bam Bam:And for me, personally, I haven't ever been to an event like this that centers around something that we love so much. It's very inspirational. And to have the access of the the conversations, that alone completely took me by surprise. And and you've all said it, how impressive it is to see someone like George and Epicarillo and a few of the other major retailers working their asses off. It's just I wasn't expecting it, honestly.
Pagoda:Boots, guys. We gotta talk about the boots. Oh, yeah. Let's talk about our favorite boots. Yeah.
Pagoda:Where it's the amount of time and effort that has gone into some of these beautiful displays, amazing.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Pagoda:It's not like, you know, cookie cutter, you know, trade shows where you have one stall after the other. No. They're elaborate. They're not fantastic.
Bam Bam:I could certainly comment on design and craftsmanship. Like, everything is uniquely designed. Everything is custom made. My question is, are they using it from show to show to the show, or are they doing a new booth at every every event? That's a big question because it's so expensive.
Gizmo:I would imagine that there's no way that the like, the Padron booth, which is the central booth in the trade show. Yeah. There's no way they're scrapping that every year and starting fresh. I I think they're using that booth as the construct of their, you know, of their presentation each year.
Senator:They they are. And we we've heard that, George Padron actually mentioned that most of what's there, they have used trade show to trade show. Obviously, there's some new elements. I mean, they have a new cigar release with the 60th. Obviously, that whole display is brand new.
Senator:You know, in the Fuente booth, the the Padron Fuente collaboration, that part of that is certainly new. But I think the thing that was so cool, you think about the the first day that the trade show opened. As media, we were allowed to come in actually before any of the retailers were by about 2 hours.
Bam Bam:Early in the morning.
Senator:Yeah. So us literally being some of the first people to walk through this and just you could see them still making final preparations for that 10 AM opening time and vacuuming the rugs in their booth and making sure everything is perfectly aligned the way they want it and the stress that that comes with that. There's so much pride that these brands take
Poobah:Sure.
Senator:In displaying their product and telling their story. And, for me, like Bam said, the inspirational part of this Yeah. That was just so exciting to see.
Gizmo:So before the whole trade show and exhibition floor opened on Saturday and Sunday, there and Monday are the 3 days that the actual trade show is open, on Friday was a pre event, which started with a documentary, I guess, which was kinda highlighted by Pete Johnson of Tata Wai. He was in it quite a bit, on Friday around noon. And, senator, you said you you really had some nice takeaways.
Senator:Yeah. I was just really shocked. I mean, for me, coming to a trade show like this for the first time, I expected there to be such a huge divide between new world cigars, which is represented at this trade show, and Cuban cigars that, obviously, you know, we review equally. And I was just shocked that the first thing we walk in this big convention hall, and they have these huge, screens running this kind of documentary, and video talking about Cuban tobacco and Cuban refugees and the role that Cubans have played in the cigar the history of of just cigar production and then, obviously, even new world production today. And I just was shocked.
Senator:I I I felt like there would almost be a concerted effort to kind of box out any mention of the role that Cuba and Cubans have played in this since they're competing, obviously, with that product in many respects. And I was just so gratified to see them embracing Yeah. The true history and the role that Cuba's played in this product that we all love. So, for me, that was just, like, as great of a start to this as possible, where it was bringing together these 2 worlds that we try to do on this podcast that I don't think happens enough
Bam Bam:outside of probably not a coincidence that, you know, there are a handful of marcas that began in Cuba and that have transitioned to the new world, and they happen to also be the most elite cigars that we all pursue. Yeah. Why is that?
Chef:You also I mean, you can't disregard the fact that a lot of the great brands we have in the new world kind of series, new the new world divide here, are, you know, families, Cuban families Yeah. That started their business. They
Bam Bam:they brought it over longevity. Yeah.
Chef:To to other parts of the Caribbean, to the United States, and that that rich heritage is is still there. You know? It's something they're proud of. It's something we're so happy to embrace. And, as as, senator mentioned, it was beautiful to see.
Pagoda:There's one large community, guys. It's one community at the end of the day, and, you know, it's, omnipresent at least at this trade shows.
Gizmo:So following that documentary premiere was the pairing that La Aurora presented with the La Aurora a 100 20th anniversary cigar with the rum that they have, which is e Leon Jimenez. And that I was shocked, honestly. I I came into that thinking it was gonna be potentially a dud, and I was shocked how good both the cigar and the rum were.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Very impressive.
Senator:We're gonna do those on the podcast for sure.
Gizmo:Absolutely. I
Senator:mean, to Gizmo's point, my my interaction with La Aurora as a brand has been relatively limited. I can't say that in my limited interactions, it's been particularly good one. And so I had the same healthy skepticism that you did about that and, also, the idea of this rum being developed by La Aurora that the family, that is, that started La Aurora, I just was shocking to me. I don't know of really any other cigar brand or company that has gotten
Bam Bam:into this business. There's another marker that's doing that.
Gizmo:So following that event was an incredible presentation from Nick Molello of Foundation Cigars on the Connecticut River Valley and Connecticut Tobacco. It was eye opening. Yeah. He spent 48 minutes or 50 minutes or something just deep diving, really with no notes aside from the PowerPoint that he was that he had up, deep diving into the history of tobacco going back 250,000 years, then to 14000 years up to the present. I mean, really, really went deep.
Gizmo:And I learned a lot about not just Connecticut tobacco, but tobacco in general And and certainly the approach of the Connecticut farmers, and now in Ecuador, the people who are growing Connecticut tobacco, and how that impacts all, you know, all of the brands that we smoke. Right. Potentially, including Cuban cigars.
Pagoda:It's good to see. It's actually really, really good to see, how committed they are to their craft and how knowledgeable they are about their craft.
Bam Bam:Nick Nick is a technician. And when we sat there and he went through slide after slide, just the level of detail in the presentation itself was just so incredibly impressive and very technical in detail. I think we can all appreciate that. I for what I do visually, it was just incredibly well presented.
Senator:Yeah. I I agree. I I think it's just so fascinating that, you know, you think of a lot of the individuals who lead and run these big cigar brands, and, you know, they're at heart. They're business people. They're manufacturers, but they're not necessarily experts on the growing process.
Senator:They're not farmers by trade. Right? They have folks who run that. Even in Cuba when we've talked about this, you know, we've gone out to the farms to talk to those people and learn more about the growing process. And when we're in Havana, we're learning more about the manufacturing and production process.
Senator:For Nick Malillo to have so much depth as to the growing process as well as the manufacturing process, I learned a ton from
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:it. Incredible.
Senator:I was shocked at how knowledgeable he is about all of this. And for him to stand up there and say that this is the first time he's actually given that presentation, I mean, it was so well done. You would have thought he does this every week.
Bam Bam:Oh, absolutely.
Gizmo:He said it was the first time.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's crazy. He's fully integrated in every step of the way with his company. Oh, very deep. Absolutely.
Poobah:He he
Chef:I mean, he talked about his story. Right? And he's been in it for a long time. Mhmm. And he's and he's played a lot of different roles, and he has so much, intimacy with the farming process.
Chef:And you can tell you can see that passion. He talks about the people. He's talking about, obviously, very specific growing, climates and acclimating different seed to different climates. He knows what the hell he's talking about.
Senator:And he's lived it. He lived in Nestle for a few years at a very young age.
Bam Bam:And did he start in a cigar shop when he was a kid?
Gizmo:Yeah. He had incredible history.
Bam Bam:That was his first
Gizmo:15 years old.
Bam Bam:Into the business. Yeah.
Gizmo:And then we went into the keynote address from the Padron family, which was beyond impressive.
Senator:I mean, even before that started, we had bumped into George Padron himself in the back of the room and had a great conversation with him. And he had said to us, wait until you see this video that I'm gonna show of my father, this interview that they did years ago. And at the time, I expected it to be, you know, a few minutes and something that, was just a small part of the presentation, but it was, you know, almost a documentary short film style, presentation of what they did and just so incredible and compelling, telling his father being able to really share from, firsthand, some of the things that are so important to him and that clearly to this day live on in how his son runs and operates Padron.
Bam Bam:Yeah. You know, honestly, as they were playing that film, you know, we all have kids. If you don't have kids, you've got nieces and nephews. You've got some younger individuals in your family, and I got a little emotional. You know, I've got a son at home, and I envision that path.
Bam Bam:And what if I had that with my son? And it was really very inspirational. It moved me. It's very moving.
Chef:I was choking back tears the
Bam Bam:whole time. Me too. A little bit. There was a little it was it was really quite something.
Chef:It makes you think about the thing that really tied it all together is is the fact that George George brought his whole family. They're all here. Yeah. And they're all class, and their presence is so professional. Yeah.
Bam Bam:And we've said this the other day that they look and act and behave like the first family of
Chef:the cigar world. Right? Yeah. And everything is clean. Right?
Chef:There's nothing gaudy. It's every it's traditional. They they and, you know, the that's the way they conduct their business. Everything is is tied to integrity. Everything is tied to humility.
Chef:They have all the kids taking orders, hustling.
Bam Bam:Oh, man.
Chef:And what he brought his whole family up on stage, and he was so proud. And to have that kind of you know? Right. The the the video and then the family, it was just it was all been
Senator:one Truly, for the listener, when when Grindr is saying the whole family, we're not just talking about his immediate family, like his wife and kids. We're talking wife, kids, grandchildren. I mean, little Rico, they had on the stage. She's gotta be all of what?
Rooster:You know,
Senator:7 years old maybe
Poobah:Yeah.
Senator:And talking about how he's the future. Right? They're they're already thinking that far ahead of he's gotta learn these lessons at such a young age like, George Padron was able to from his father is just so incredible. And and to Bam's point earlier, so inspirational, and And I think I I felt the exact same thing. I mean, literally, fighting back tears just there was so much in there of how I try and aspire to live my life and I think many of us on a daily basis.
Senator:And to hear that all just brought together so neatly in a a little, you know, documentary like that
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Senator:Was, was really, really moving. And I think the pursuit of of truth and honesty and not being afraid I mean, you know, there was mention in there, The commitment of quality is so great. Padron is never going to apologize for at a point saying, maybe right now we need to scale back production a little bit because we cannot maintain quality based on some unforeseen challenge. Right. Right?
Senator:Whether it's weather climate, whether whether it's something happening in the market, whether it's labor, you know, things that are happening in Cuba. We talk about the labor shortage during the pandemic, and, you know, those are the times that honest businesses need to be willing to say, we've gotta pull things back temporarily in order to preserve the integrity of our product and to hear firsthand from Jose Padron, his father Yeah. That being so critical to the ethos of the company and brand that he built. And then later on, obviously, George Padron, you know, being the steward of that. And, clearly, those kids and that future generation will hopefully uphold that as well.
Pagoda:Yeah. The theme was totally family. Like, it was really interesting from George Padron and his father, Jose Padron, when we saw the video. I think there are 2 things to be said. Right?
Pagoda:Obviously, there's a commitment to quality, which they don't compromise on, and family. I think they were the 2 recurring themes between everything they do and the fact that they brought their family on the stage and, the way they're holding themselves and everybody's involved in the business, this is a true family business, guys.
Bam Bam:Yeah. You know, I think from the point of view of of the legitimacy of the market, we all pursue the market. It's an incredible market. We love Padron. But Jose came here with absolutely nothing in his pockets.
Bam Bam:He started from nothing. True self made man. And I think George, the reason one of the reasons why he reveres his father so much is because he knows his dad started from absolutely nothing, went through hell for years years years. A lot of guys at this table started from nothing as well. We try to build our businesses on our own.
Bam Bam:There's a lot of identity there that we we can identify with. And I think George has done an incredible job just bringing that through, and it comes through in his in his product, in the way he holds himself, in the way his entire family holds himself. Regardless of how elegant they look and how successful they are, there's a true there's a strong backbone there.
Chef:Well, it's, you know, this business is hard. It that's one of the things we learned, even more so. This business is hard. And but there's so many family businesses, family brands within the industry. And to have such an anchor as a family, and George kept referencing, this is not about me.
Chef:Everyone has a role. I'm no more than the other, you know, to have that kind of leadership. And and and, you know, that's what that's what family is about too, guys. Right? This is what we we have our presence.
Chef:Everyone has a role. Yeah. No one is is you know, we
Bam Bam:we each play our certain role, and
Chef:everyone has a totally different kind of accountability. How many times did
Senator:we talk about accountability? Too many times. How many times?
Poobah:Too many goddamn times.
Bam Bam:That's a topic for another day, boys.
Chef:But but in all honesty, everyone holds each other accountable to to to delivering the family, the, you know, value and and staying together. For to be together for so long and to still have that bond, family businesses are hard. We're all around family businesses.
Bam Bam:I'm sure.
Chef:You know, and to it's it's hard to keep it together. But that American story, it's so inspirational. We're all patriots here. We love America. We love cigars, and we love our families, and it was just so inspiring.
Senator:The other thing
Senator:that really stood out is just the reverence for history and tradition. I think we've talked about in the past how Padron is one of those few brands that they don't come out with a flashy new release for every single holiday or every single thing happening like some brands do. And some do it well, many don't. And you heard him talk about how his father you know, he told the funny story of going into mustering up the courage, his words, to go into his father's office with a business idea, wanting to change the bands on Padrones from those brown, very simple bands that I think are basically like, what's on the 1,000 series. Yeah.
Gizmo:They're still there.
Bam Bam:That's right. Yep.
Senator:And thinking that they need something more ornate that better represents the quality, the high quality that they seek to deliver. And his father just kinda he he he actually said he went on for about 30 minutes straight talking without his father saying a word, and he said, are you done? And when George said he was done, his father said, how many cigars have you sold? And at that point, obviously, the answer was pretty much 0. And his father said, I've sold x 1000000 cigars.
Gizmo:80,000,000. 80,000,000
Senator:cigars with those shitty bans on them. Yeah. And you're telling me that we need to change the bans on the cigar.
Gizmo:Get out of my office. Get out of
Senator:my office. And, you know, George said for him, it was a lesson, not that the idea itself was a bad one, but that the way he approached it was without reverence for the history and the tradition and making sure that that doesn't get lost Yeah. If they're going to make a change. And and to me, you know, I just think that that has carried through throughout its history, and, you know, it's their 60th anniversary. And he's talking about looking ahead to the next 60 years.
Senator:And I just think that, there are so many brands out there in cigars, but also other products that we consume that at one point or another, we've said, wow. I used to love that brand, and they've just gone in such a radically different direction. I no longer identify with it anymore, and, therefore, I don't buy it. And it gave me just, a lot of comfort in knowing that that's always going to be front and center, and I'm not gonna have to worry that, you know, the day I hand my son a Padron, it's going to be a radical departure from what we're experiencing. And another just quick anecdote that I think illustrates that, he talked about how the strength of the Padron cigar, how he went to his father and said, we're getting feedback that these cigars are just too strong for consumers.
Senator:Maybe we need to change the blend. And his father said, we need to wait for the consumer to catch up to where we are. And the foresight that he had that now you look at all these years later, he was right. I mean, the pursuit of a fuller flavor experience with a smooth delivery, I mean, that's the signature of Padron. That's what's built them to where they are, and it's also true of many brands that we pursue.
Bam Bam:Yeah. And I think George learned a lesson in how to protect your tradition. Jose was protecting that from the point of view of of really high level seriousness because he did it alone, on his own, without any help for years years years. With that little hammer. Exactly right.
Gizmo:We also sat down with industry legend, Steve Saka at PCA, on episode 128 for an impromptu wide ranging interview about his career, Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust, and even his respect for Cuban cigars.
Senator:I think the thing that separates good cigars from great cigars, like you're saying, is complexity. And a lot of our listeners, I think, that have been on this journey with us, we're trying to find for them brands and particular cigars that deliver a complex experience even if that's a mild cigar that maybe someone likes, that it has enough complexity to it, that it's interesting enough for someone like me or some of these guys who doesn't love a mild cigar, but with enough complexity can enjoy it. And I think with this cigar, you talking about the process that goes into this, whether it's the the blending decisions that are made that deliver that complexity. That's what all of us are chasing for in some way, shape, or form, and it's really great to hear what you're doing to deliver that.
Pagoda:Agreed. Fully agreed. Yeah. Complexity and consistency. Right?
Pagoda:Because, like, you
Senator:Consistency is consistency is something that we're roughly is overlooked. Because the thing is we all have this experience where we smoke a brand, and we absolutely love it. And then, like, a year later, it doesn't taste anything like the original.
Poobah:Yes. Exactly.
Senator:Right? And, I mean, look. You you get a 100 people to try a cigar, and 3 of them fall in love with it, and then they become box buyers on it. They know when it changes almost instantaneously because they smoke so much of that one cigar. And that's one of the challenges where the big companies, they have a huge advantage.
Senator:They have the deeper inventory levels. They have their production capacity. They're better capable of making consistent cigars than the small manufacturers.
Bam Bam:They can inventory raw products. Right.
Senator:And that's the reason why most brands, when they're launched in the marketplace, they literally last 2 to 3 years. They come and they go very, very quickly. And it's one of the things that for me is really important. I mean, Sober Mesa was the first thing we launched 9 years ago. We sell more Sober Mesas today 9 years later than we sold starting 9 years ago when it was the hot new thing.
Senator:You gotta have it. You know what I mean? And the only way that that's possible is if the blend is consistent. Now when I say the blend being consistent, one of the biggest fallacies that so many people would make is they think that that means that it needs to be the exact proportions of a particular tobacco or even the same tobaccos. The thing is tobacco is inherently always changing.
Senator:It doesn't change crop year from crop year. It's sometimes different from bale to bale within a crop year. So the way that you actually make a consistent cigar is by constantly micro tweaking the blends on a continual ongoing basis. Because you as a consumer, yeah, you wanna hear that we use this, and it's that, blah blah blah. But in the end, what you really want is you really want the same smoking experience every time you choose a cigar.
Senator:That's why a cigar like Padron is so popular. Okay? Because what they have done is they have basically taken many years of tobacco, and they're basically constantly adjusting the blend in a way using the same tobaccos, but adjusting it so that when the consumer buys that cigar out of the box, they know what they're buying. They know what they get. They know what the experience is gonna be.
Senator:So you can't treat cigars as a Betty Crocker baking recipe. Because if you do that, they will not deliver the same experience. Your job is, as a blender and as running a factory, is to constantly micro adjust the tweak just so wait. Sometimes the tomatoes are a little sweeter. Sometimes they're a little more acidic.
Senator:Do I need to add a little more sugar to my sauce? Do I need to add a little more salt to my sauce? Because in the end, you love grandma's sauce the way grandma's sauce is.
Bam Bam:I don't think it's ever been explained to us that way where the micro tweaking is such a big part of this. I've never heard that from any other manufacturer. So that's really, really intriguing. I gotta
Senator:say You also have to understand that probably most of the guys that you talk to, they're almost always the sales and marketing weenies. They aren't actually the people that buy tobacco weenies cigars.
Bam Bam:Hey, mister Saka. We're pretty connected. Okay?
Senator:No. But I I think to Steve's point, you know, you think about we review tons of new world brands as well as Cuban cigars. And I think in Cuban cigars, what you're saying does not happen very much. You know, we talk about the inconsistency we Yeah.
Senator:Like, Cuban cigars look. They have a different problem. They have a very limited amount of tobacco, and they have a tremendous amount of pressure to produce so many units. And what ends up in the box ends up in the box. I mean, just look where we are with the Cuban production numbers now.
Senator:Let's skip the crazy cigar boom years. They've been pretty much consistently making 75,000,000 to 85,000,000 units a year for a very, very long time, But they found themselves in a position now. What I think last year's production was 38,000,000
Gizmo:Yeah. It was under 40,000,000.
Senator:38,000,000, 40,000,000 units. They don't have a choice. And I know that the, like, the Cuban I don't know how far off the weeds we wanna go here,
Poobah:but, like,
Senator:the You're in our weed. We we we all are. The Cuban price increase of last year that they blamed on the Asian markets to kinda bring the price warriors, Yeah. That was the thing they said out loud. But if you really start to think about it, the real problem was we used to be able to make 80,000,000.
Senator:We can now only make 40,000,000. How are we gonna make the same amount of money when we have half as much available stock to sell? Well, the answer is very simple. We're going to make the price x, because if we don't make the price x, we're fucked.
Steve Saka:Yeah. Because
Senator:you're you're the man
Gizmo:who's a skyrocket.
Bam Bam:You can't provide.
Senator:That's the reason why they did what they did is entirely an economic decision. It has absolutely nothing to do with the product.
Gizmo:And it's also, you know, to your point, even now, they just announced last week that the expected, yield of tobacco, they just halved it. It they just cut it in half last week of what's coming out now. Yeah. Plus there's a massive brain drain of people who are actually willing and able for a dollar a day to go roll a 100 cigars.
Senator:Now it's really weird. A lot. So so most people on my side, let's just call it new world to make it simple. They're typically the anti Habanos people. I'm actually not that dude.
Senator:I smoked I have probably I haven't smoked a lot of Cuban cigars, but I probably smoked 10 or 12,000 Cuban cigars
Bam Bam:Oh, that's all?
Senator:Over the years. I had, like, a 7 year stretch where I was pretty much a heavy Habanos consumer.
Bam Bam:Okay. So we need to know what your your Habanos, choice is.
Senator:When it comes to Habanos. I'm, I'm, like, still just punch punches of Ramona.
Bam Bam:That's totally awesome.
Senator:That's your Select. You're
Chef:talking about
Gizmo:Ramona alone, especially Select. Come Ardugus d 4?
Senator:Yeah. D fours.
Gizmo:You know?
Senator:These are stellar cigars. Unvarnished 898.
Gizmo:898. Here we have here.
Senator:Yeah. I mean, I there was a point in my life.
Gizmo:I know. Who knew? Where I You're listening.
Senator:East all of the yeah. No, dude. That's crazy. But, anyways,
Bam Bam:I feel like we've been with him for years. Yeah. Alright? I mean, come on over your place with a 6 pack. We're gonna chat.
Bam Bam:Alright?
Senator:But, I mean and look. And I still smoke Habanos. The thing for me, my palate's kind of changed over the years. So back in, like, the late eighties or late nineties, Habanos' were stronger compared to most of the Dominican cigars I was getting. There were very few non Cuban cigars that were, like, delivering for me.
Senator:There used to be Rolando Reyes senior used to make Cuba Aleadas, no longer the same cigar, but that satisfied me. Ernesto Porrasquerio, when he made his Elrico Habanos and those old style La Gloria Cubanas, they satisfied me. But a lot of my consumption was habanos. When we got to about 1998, 1999, the Nicaraguan cigars, the tobaccos, they actually really jumped ahead for me strength wise and palate wise. So for me, other than some of the limited re regional releases, I look at most Habano cigars as mild to mild to medium.
Senator:Right?
Pagoda:They agree.
Senator:I mean, that's kinda where they are.
Gizmo:Even their Maduros don't even touch full.
Senator:Right. And so so they're kind of relegated for my own smoking to be in that. The one thing that Cuban cigars have that I don't think any of us have been able to recreate in any way is that kind of Javanos have this very unique, sweet, slight floral nature
Pagoda:to them. Yes.
Bam Bam:We're talking Bam Bam language
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:right now.
Senator:So, I mean and that floral characteristic is something that we haven't been able to duplicate. So no matter how many different ways we talk about Cuban or this or that, it's never quite there, to be honest with you. It it just doesn't work. But just guess what? They they can't make a meat kirita black.
Gizmo:Yeah.
Senator:They have no tobaccos that they have available to them that can simulate that kind of smoking experience. So I don't look as Cuban cigars as being lesser or greater. I look at them as being different. Different. Now separate of we can get into the construction issues, which have always look.
Senator:When I was a heavy Habanos consumer, 50% of cigars, I just accepted the fact that the construction was not gonna be we we kicked the living shit out of them when it comes to that. Right? Absolutely. But we cannot duplicate that flavor profile. So when a customer or a consumer says to me, Habanos, Habanos, Habanos, if they're actually a real smoker, and they've experienced the portfolios across variety, and they still go back to Javanos, I can appreciate that.
Senator:Yeah. I can understand why. Because it is a very unique flavor. It is a very unique aroma that you get out of a Cuban cigar that you can't duplicate in another cigar. But I don't consider it better or worse.
Senator:I consider it to be its own entity. And you have to understand too, for a lot of the international consumers, 30 odd years ago, non Cuban cigars in the marketplace were only about 2%. And the reason why is it has a lot to do with how cigars are distributed worldwide. You don't have individual retailers that buy cigars. What you have is you have fixed distribution in all of these individual countries or territories.
Senator:So in order for a a a distributor to bring in a cigar, they needed to bring in a lot of it because they were basically buying a commitment for a 1 year basis. So for them, Habanos was their premium, and then the only thing they bought from us, not in Cuba, was all of our shit product. They wanted the stuff that was literally $2 cigars. So here you are. You're in wherever, Germany, and your only comparative standard is their premium, Habanos, and our $2 crappy bundle cigar.
Senator:Well, of course, you as a consumer go, well, all these Nicaraguan cigars suck.
Bam Bam:Yeah. You know
Senator:what I mean? Because you're getting the worst of the worst. Now things have dramatically changed over the last 10, 15 years. Non Cuban cigars currently, they're pretty much 40% of the international market, and they're probably gonna get up to be about 70% of the international market pretty soon. But now these international consumers are now getting to do a much more apple app comparison.
Senator:It's not a direct translation to Cuban, but at least now they're getting our best New World Cigars versus the best Habanos cigars. So now it becomes a question of what flavor do you like? What strength level do you like? It's no longer this tremendous quality difference
Poobah:Yeah.
Senator:Than originally was.
Gizmo:But and you're also benefiting from the price. Right? The fact that the Habanos price has skyrocketed to a point that in Hong Kong, a d four might be $50.
Senator:Even more than the price, I think because of the lack of inventory and them their shift to the Asian market, you now basically have retailers around the rest of the world who were always, like, the champions of Bonnose are now put in a position where they basically have to motherfuck it because they can't get it to sell. And, look, you're a retailer. Your job is to sell cigars. So you can talk about how great the product is that you no longer have available to your consumers to sell. And then the other thing too, again, part of also what makes a big difference is the whole social media and how interconnected we've become as a world.
Senator:Because now what you see is you see these younger consumers that are in Italy and in Germany and in Africa and Australia. They read about all of the interesting products that we have available to the American consumer, and they're intrigued by them. Where Habanos, what do you have? Last new brands were in 1998. San Cristobal
Gizmo:Yep. And,
Senator:what was the Cuava.
Gizmo:Cuava was late nineties.
Senator:No. The Vegas Rabania. Oh, Vegas Rabania, man. Right?
Poobah:Yep. And then
Senator:what did you have next? You had the line extension on Cohiba. What was that? 2010, 2011 Bahiki. That's all you've got new.
Senator:The only thing that you've got new is the regional or the special limited releases which are priced at a point that if you're not, like, a super special whale customer, you never even get to sniff that stuff. So they do nothing new and exciting for the smoker to really get into where we we're like we make something new every Tuesday. Right? So there's so much stuff. There's so many interesting wide variety of blends.
Senator:And because of the way the Internet works, they get to read about all these things. So the so they're interested in trying all of these different cigars.
Pagoda:For you.
Bam Bam:So the other day, we asked ourselves a question about what the largest emerging market is for the new world product in Europe or Asia? What what what do you Asia? Is it Asia?
Senator:Yeah. The new world's crazy right now.
Senator:For for
Senator:the new world's cigar Look. Even a podunkie crappy company like us that nobody's ever heard of Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust, I'm doing a half a $1,000,000 in Brazil alone.
Bam Bam:Oh, that's fantastic.
Senator:Brazil. Wow.
Gizmo:That's amazing.
Senator:I mean, it's insanity right now. It's it's really quite crazy. Yep. I mean
Senator:What do you think is driving that?
Senator:I think it's a combination of it's a it's a few different things. Obviously, if Habanos is delivering so much less, there's a void, number 1. Number 2, it is the fact that the world has become so much flatter in the sake in the way of communication and access to information. So now you're able to drive, a lot more interest in the things that they otherwise wouldn't have been exposed to in a way that's very economical, where before, you know, you had basically gatekeepers of the information, where the gatekeepers have pretty much fallen at this point. I think the other thing that's really made a big difference is I know we like to bag on the, and I do, the millennials and the z's of how fucked up they are, and you guys are fucked up for a lot
Bam Bam:of reasons.
Gizmo:But let me take talking to us?
Poobah:Yeah. Well Not me, by the way. Yeah.
Senator:But let me tell you what they are that we weren't. They're far more discerning of a consumer.
Bam Bam:It's true.
Gizmo:They have spent curious. Yeah.
Senator:They have spent their entire lives being advertised to unlike any other generations. Right? And for them and they're also not as much they're a everybody's a value consumer because everybody wants to feel what they get for they're worth for their money, but they're far more discerning. They research everything. They read about everything.
Senator:They make conscious decisions about how they're gonna spend their money, and they're okay with spending more if the quality is actually better.
Bam Bam:It goes back to your process statement. Right.
Gizmo:That's a
Bam Bam:part of them. Yep.
Senator:That's a part of them as a consumer base that's unlike any other consumer base.
Chef:You're you're speaking to our listener base right now because our podcast, these are the conversations we have. Every time we light up a stick, every time we we drink, a spirit, we're talking about value for money. Yeah. We're talking about what are the what are the big banks.
Senator:Value is a universal thing. So whether a cigar costs $4 or whether it costs $40, what's really important to you as a consumer, when you're smoking that, do you say to yourself, I'm happy with what I spent for the experience I'm being given. And if I'm satisfied with that, then guess what? The cigar is the right price. Just the same way.
Senator:Look. A Toyota 4 door sedan is a wonderful cigar. A Mercedes is the same 4 door sedan. They both go forward. They both go in reverse.
Senator:The Mercedes is a little bit better fit, little bit better finish, better interior, a little bit more ergonomically designed. Yeah. I coulda spent my 40,000 on a Toyota and say, wow. Why would I ever spend a 120,000 on a Mercedes? But if the guy that gets in his Mercedes feels the difference and feels like it's worth the money, then he's happy with his $120,000 purchase for his Mercedes.
Senator:And that's the universal truth about all of us as consumers. It's we all wanna feel like we're getting value for our money. But value is not based on price. Value is based on your perception of what you spent and what it gives you in return, and that's the thing that people need to think about.
Gizmo:And we we talk about value a lot Sure we do. With regard to when you sit down and light a cigar, like, we sat down 30, 40 minutes ago with the cigar, it's the time. It's it's the value with relation to time. I'm gonna give an hour, hour and a half, 2 hours of my day to this cigar. Is it really giving the time investment that I've made in it?
Gizmo:Does it make it worthwhile? And it's it's like you said, it's price really in some ways has nothing to do with that.
Senator:Price is determined by your wallet. We can only spend what we have. So we're all on a pry like, I'm not a big wine drinker. Okay? Wine is an occasional thing more because my wife wants to do something fancy.
Senator:Whatever. Right? I find myself as a consumer of wines. I find myself to be satisfied for most of the bottles that I buy that are between 28 $40. That's where I've decided the price break is.
Senator:If it's Thanksgiving dinner, okay, I'll sprinkle a 140 here, a 160 there for those meals. I'll buy the whatever. Opus or a Stag's Leap or something like that. But that's the mental determination that I have made as a consumer of wine that's not, like, into wine, where I feel like I'm happy. Now that doesn't mean that I don't drink an $8 bottle of wine and go, oh my god.
Senator:That's amazing. And it doesn't mean that I don't drink a $1,000 wine and go, what the fuck? A $1,000? Are you shitting me?
Gizmo:You know
Senator:what I mean? But we all kind of find a place for ourselves where we're comfortable with what we spend. And, ultimately, we judge everything kind of in that price bracket. In other words, if you're a consumer that regularly smokes a $20 cigar, it's very unlikely that you're gonna start smoking an $8 cigar. You're really comparing your experience to other cigars that are near that price point to figure out what's the best value for you.
Senator:Because you have come in your head to determine this is where I find things are good or bad. I'm a huge brown spirits guy. Right? I love bourbons. I love scotches.
Senator:Have I had plenty that are ridiculously expensive that I go, wow. That's amazing? But do I like it better than my $85 bottle of La Gablein? Do I like it better than my $50 bottle of Noah's Mill? No.
Senator:I don't like it enough that it's worth 6 times the value. Somebody else may say, no. I do appreciate the difference. I do see the value in it. So therefore, this is what I'm gonna buy.
Senator:But that's an individual decision that we as consumers can only make for ourselves, and that we as manufacturers, we can't tell you that why why are you smoking this? Why are you smoking that? You're spending too much. You're spending too little. That that is something that you we have no control over.
Gizmo:You know, the thing that's that's really, really interesting about this cigar is and I don't know what the age of the tobacco is. I know you're not a big age guy per se, but I'm shocked at how how smooth it is.
Senator:It's But that's true with all
Gizmo:of our cigars.
Senator:So I had a this won't be as appealing on radio or audio, but so when I was like a so I started off as a cigar geek. That's how I got into cigars, like crazy cigar geek. So one of the things I did is I went to visit a factory in Honduras. They made some of my favorite cigars. It was Jolla De Monterrey and Punch.
Senator:It was owned by an independent company called Villazon. It's a and I'm not saying cigars are worse today than they were then, but it's a much, much different company far removed from the people that were originally involved. And their general manager, master maker at the time, was a gentleman named Estello Padron. Estello Padron was the brother of Jose Orlando Padron. God rest his soul.
Senator:Both Estello and Jose Orlando have passed, and he was one of my favorite cigar makers. And I went to the factory, and I shadowed to him for about 2 weeks. At one point, he said to me, Saka, Saka, the most important thing you need to know about making good cigars is this. And he pounds his chest like this. And I'm young and new, so what do I say?
Senator:Passion. Right? Passion. Love. Fuck that.
Senator:No. What a good cigar is a cigar where when you're smoking this cigar that's in your mouth, that you're checking your pocket to see that you have another. That's what a really good cigar is. I love that. Cigar should be strong enough and satisfying that you're really enjoying it while you're smoking it.
Senator:But when you get to the end of it, you wanna reach back into the bag and take another potato chip. So while I love occasionally smoking a really strong peppery budding cigar, I find it wipes me out. So what I like for me, even if a blend is mild and even if a blend is super strong, it still needs to be smooth is my personal viewpoint on cigars. So even our heaviest blends are still always smooth to the palate, because I don't want the cigar to wipe you well. I want it I want it at the end.
Senator:I wanna leave you craving another one. I want you to do runner runner. And why do I do that? Because I'm shameless, and I wanna make more money. I want you to smoke
Poobah:another cigar.
Pagoda:That's excellent.
Senator:Steve, mission accomplished.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Correct.
Senator:So I I just have to ask. We've talked a lot about cigars, but I do wanna just get into briefly a bit about your story. And I say that because you built and ran a such a wildly successful operation at Drew Estate.
Poobah:And
Senator:so what was kind of the light bulb that went off when you said, I wanna go out on my own and build what you're building right now?
Senator:So before I was at Drew Estate, Drew Estate was actually so I had a much better job before I was president of Drew Estate. I worked for JR Cigar, and I did a lot of their, custom projects and whatnot while I was there. So, actually, when I went to be president of Drew Estate, that was actually a step down. The truth is I spent 20 years of my career making other people really rich. And, look, not that I didn't do well along the way, but I kinda got to the point in my life.
Senator:And, look, I've been very blessed in life. I've been bought out three times, which is an experience that most people you're lucky in your life you get bought out once.
Pagoda:Wow. That's amazing. Right?
Senator:I've I've gotten bought out 3 times. And,
Steve Saka:you
Senator:always hear about that guy on Wall Street that gets really rich and then goes to Vermont and does goat cheese? I wanted to be that dude.
Poobah:Well, that's you.
Senator:Right. So so, basically, what we do now is look. We're a small family company. We only make cigars that I like. We look.
Senator:We've been in business 9 years. We had our 1st company meeting, actual, like, real company meeting in December.
Bam Bam:That's amazing.
Senator:9 years without a fucking meeting. That's perfect for me.
Gizmo:I like that.
Senator:I just I got tired of bankers in my life and attorneys in my life and sales and marketing weenies and focus groups and all of that nonsense, and I just wanted to do what I wanted to do. We're look. We're we're a company that's, like, really beloved and really disliked by a lot of retailers. I mean, we most come like, we haven't given a single deal or a discount on a cigar since 2017. We're at the trade show.
Senator:There's no deal. Now for our best retailers, we give them unicorns. We give them self support them, but we don't do business that way.
Chef Ricky:Right.
Senator:I don't give a fact that you have a beautiful shop. You're the best shop in Chicago, whatever, yadayadaya. No. I I I just don't care. I just wanna be in shops that like the product, like the brand.
Senator:We don't have salesmen and brokers on the road in almost the entire country. We have a few that we started with in the beginning going the traditional model that have done a good job, and I have no reason to take that away from them. But we haven't added a single person to go out and sell cigars since about 2017.
Bam Bam:That's amazing.
Senator:You know what I mean? We just basically we do business with the people who wanna do business with us, and god bless them. We love them. But I've always been a believer in dance with a girl that wants to dance with you. Don't don't chance something.
Senator:So we've been a very slow growth organic company. It's what we do. You know? And and it's worked really, really well for us, and, I'm just too old to wanna do all that bullshit again.
Bam Bam:Right. But you control every component of your production now Oh,
Senator:I'm the
Bam Bam:from top to bottom.
Senator:It's terrible.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's a lot of work.
Senator:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm the It's a puller out of the way. Buying.
Senator:I do all the blending. I do all the production scheduling. I do all the final QC. I'm the guy like, all the brands, the graphics on them, I do that too. Now I'm not good at it, so I typically have a 10 year old on another monitor telling me
Senator:in YouTube
Senator:how to do things in Illustrator. And those little bastards
Gizmo:that talk today to learn how to iron iron a shirt, by the way. I was
Senator:on there.
Poobah:I mean
Gizmo:I swear to god.
Senator:It's we're we're we're a real small mom and pop. We're we're a small light team. I mean, in the US, we have less than 10 employees.
Bam Bam:That's incredible.
Senator:But we do we do business like we have 30.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Yeah. I
Senator:mean, it's kinda crazy. Yeah. But it's good because, you know, what it means is it means that everybody that we have is really sharp, and they work really hard, and they get paid more. And I like that part. There's a there's a benefit to your work, and we we have no partners, and we have no debt, and I don't have to worry about anything.
Senator:And, you know, and it look. When you don't have the pressure to sell, it makes things easier. And I'm not trying to discount it. Look. We stay in business because people buy our cigars.
Senator:But we don't we don't feel the pressure. Oh, the numbers are down. We gotta do this. We gotta figure
Poobah:out how
Bam Bam:well setting your own rules.
Senator:Right.
Poobah:Yeah.
Senator:And, look. For the partners that we do business with, it's really great. For other people, they hate it. But look. They're their own independent businesses.
Senator:I don't tell them how to run their shops. I don't tell them how to operate their businesses. They make decisions that are in their best interests. And, look, even if our interests don't align, I don't disrespect it. Sure.
Senator:You know what I mean?
Bam Bam:But it's likely that those that buy from you align with your values.
Senator:That's what you hope. Yeah.
Gizmo:I I was gonna ask, you know, you're coming up on 10 years
Senator:Yeah.
Gizmo:With Dunbarton. Amazing. What what kind of roller coaster ride has that been for you behind the scenes in 10 years? Is it is it up and down? Was it a slow No.
Senator:No. We've What was
Gizmo:what was
Senator:that like? To pretty much grow year over year. But I will admit, it's been a grind. You know, the first the first 3 years were really hard in the beginning. And as time goes on, it gets a bit easier.
Senator:The problem is the more successful we are, the more work that I have to do because there's just more tobacco, more cigar work is necessary. So, like, for example, I do a lot of podcasts, and I I'm on social media quite a bit. But I physically I'm I I'm not the road warrior going and doing that hand to hand combat. I I just don't have the capacity to do so.
Senator:And and I'm also curious. When you think about the next 10 years, what that looks like from your perspective? And I say that because for me personally, and I think a lot of our listeners, you talking about delivering even the fullest body of cigars that you make, having a smooth delivery, and you talk about markets like Brazil and these other emerging international markets that are starting to smoke more new world cigars. I think for any consumer in a market that's used to Habanos or a mild or a medium cigar, what the gateway into some of those fuller cigars, Nicaraguan tobacco, is that smooth delivery, which sounds exactly like what you're looking to deliver. So I'm just curious.
Senator:What do you see as kind of the next 10 years for for what
Senator:you're looking? I'll be dead. I'm going Tuesday to Tuesday.
Gizmo:New release to new release.
Senator:Yeah. Yeah. Look. I I I I don't ultimately know. I mean, I look.
Senator:I I don't even know if I'll be doing this 10 years from now. I mean, it's hard to know that I've I've I'm old enough to know to never say never and never to make ironclad statements because they just end up biting you in the ass in the long run. I mean, right now, we're just gonna keep doing what we're doing. You know?
Bam Bam:Well, we hope you keep
Pagoda:doing it.
Senator:There's no there's no current plan to change. But at the same time, if some idiot says he wants to give me a $100,000,000 to go away, I'm taking the 100,000,000. You guys are on your own.
Poobah:You know what I mean? I am
Senator:I'm not stupid. You know? But, I mean, I I really don't know. I mean, right now, I'm just focused on what we're doing currently.
Chef Ricky:Right.
Senator:You know, it's funny you're asking that because we just redid our, our final our our wills and our estate planning. And, you know, one of the things that makes it very confusing is this small family owned company that you know? And they're like Sure. And I'm just kinda like, if I die, just shut it down.
Senator:We'll we'll take it. We're here. Yeah. Yeah.
Poobah:Just Let's get that wheel adjusted.
Senator:Down because, I mean, I I don't I don't know how it functions.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Right.
Senator:The way it's currently set up without
Bam Bam:Without you. Me. Yeah.
Senator:Yeah. It's kind of a sad thing, but it's the reality of it.
Gizmo:I mean, you've built an amazing legacy over all these years. That's true. You're so well respected.
Senator:I don't know. You are.
Poobah:I mean
Senator:I think Come on. I think most consumers have no clue who I am.
Gizmo:I think the discerning
Senator:cigar smokers have never heard of Don Bernd, and they've never heard of Steve Saka, and they have no clue whatsoever.
Gizmo:I think the discerning and curious customers, the people that you want to reach are
Bam Bam:And I I think the more people that understand your process and how you make the cigar, I think just brings so much value to people. They'll be buying more and more.
Senator:You ho.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Absolutely. I
Senator:was just saying just what you're trying to do. I mean, I I love a full cigar as much as the next, but I'm looking for a smooth delivery and experience. I'm not looking to be punched in the face like some consumers are. Hearing you say what you just did
Senator:So let me say this.
Senator:Opens The way
Senator:it works for me. Most cigar smokers get, like, cigar crazy, they obviously amp up the the level of cigar. And they'll get to a point where they get to the point where you just can't make a stronger cigar and it still burns. And they'll go through a phase where they'll be there for, like, 3, 4 years, But almost universally, they eventually drift back a little bit less. Because the problem is when you're getting something that's so strong, it wipes out all the flavor nuances.
Senator:It kills the aroma. It kills the experience. So when you look at the guys that have been smoking 2030 years, they did go through that phase where it couldn't be stronger. You just you're always chasing the dragon. Yep.
Senator:Eventually, almost always, they always kind of drift back
Gizmo:a little.
Senator:And oddly enough, they also sometimes get to the point where they can start to appreciate that mild cigar that they had dismissed 10, 15 years ago.
Bam Bam:Seems to be a natural evolution for most smokers.
Gizmo:And it and it is the evolution of what's true.
Bam Bam:We have.
Rooster:We've gone through that.
Pagoda:Shot of us. Yeah.
Senator:Because and this is one of the reasons why you see some of these brands get, like, uber hot for, like, a stretch because they're just hitting that point where they're getting those consumers that are in that segment of when they're smoking. Yeah. But very rarely do they ultimately keep them because almost everybody dials it back a little bit. Look look at the the craze we've had recently with super high proof liquors. Right?
Senator:Yeah. I mean yeah. Oh, it's gotta be a 120. It's gotta be one 114. It's gotta be this.
Senator:It's gotta be that. But almost always, you're like, yeah. I still like my liquor a little hot, but I don't quite like it that hot.
Bam Bam:Right.
Senator:Right? And you just kinda drift back a little bit where you start to get more of the flavor and more of the nuance.
Senator:Can you talk a little bit about just your thoughts on aging tobacco? Because I feel like you you've been on the record talking about this, so I'm curious for our listener.
Senator:Look. I've I am not the guy that's going to be the proponent of long term aging of tobaccos in the bale. Look. The longer something ages, I think you start to dissipate flavor. Now I know it's a selling point to say this is made out of 5 year this and 10 year that.
Senator:And, look, there's a certain segment that makes a certain style of cigar, but I also think that you're you're giving away too much. So for me, most of the trippers that I use are typically right around 2 years of bail aging on most of the materials. And most of the wrappers that I use range between 2 to 3 years.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Poobah:I
Senator:don't tend to go long term. I only actually have one cigar in the portfolio that's expressly made with all vintage tobaccos, and that's in Muestra da Saka, the Exclusivo. That cigar is made all
Bam Bam:that cigar.
Senator:All the cigar all the tobacco in that is aged a minimum of 5 years, but the reality, we're at the point now where it's at age, like, a minimum of 7. Yep. Wow. Minimum of 5 is what we say out loud because that's a safe number for me to say.
Bam Bam:You know, as good as that is,
Senator:this is
Bam Bam:a revelation, this little star.
Senator:So That we're smoking
Poobah:right now.
Senator:But, again, it goes back to what you as a consumer enjoy smoking. Right.
Gizmo:It's been an amazing hour with you. I think I hope this is gonna be the first of many. I feel like we could sit here and talk for 6 or 10 or 12 hours.
Bam Bam:Eye opening and very educational for you personally.
Senator:Look. Anytime you guys reach out to me, I look. This doesn't cost me anything to bullshit.
Poobah:So, you know,
Senator:let me know.
Gizmo:We appreciate your time. Thanks so much for being with us, and, we'll
Senator:talk to
Pagoda:you soon.
Poobah:Thanks so much, Steve.
Gizmo:As we discuss the potential causes of the collapse of Cuba's sugar industry on episode 135, Pupa introduced us to governor Jesse Ventura, who then also shared his thoughts on the h up and half corona and the extraterrestrial. I don't know what it could be.
Bam Bam:Could be a hostile takeover.
Chef:Bam, the conspiracy theorist.
Senator:Yeah. This is the CIA's necrotactic to destabilize your tinfoil hat?
Bam Bam:Hat. I did.
Pagoda:Economic espionage.
Poobah:Going to your Jesse Ventura voice. You know I was down down. I go down to to to the Baja, and and and that's where I that's that's that's where I I I I have my, you know, my get out, where I go to get out of when the chaos comes. When the chaos comes, I go to the Baja, and I have my people down there in It's a
Chef:good impersonation.
Poobah:You know, in the Baja. RIP.
Senator:He's alive? He's alive? Yeah. Oops.
Gizmo:He's very much alive.
Poobah:No. For me
Gizmo:He's alive in this room.
Poobah:That's that's where I go because when when when the when the shit really hits the fan, you need, you know, you you you you need you need safety from because society will go mad.
Gizmo:So, boys, we're baja. We're coming to the end of the h up and half corona here. I I can't even believe we're saying that already. We're only about 40 minutes in, but, yeah, we're at the end of the cigar. Any final thoughts before we move to our rating on this one?
Senator:Good till the last drop.
Bam Bam:I mean, it
Chef:just Yeah.
Senator:Even at the very end, it's
Bam Bam:Burning the fingertips, and we love it right to the end.
Gizmo:I do like that at the end, it picks up just a little bit
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:In intensity. It's a it's a great finish
Bam Bam:in there.
Poobah:It's like Maxwell House.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's move to the formal listed rating tonight on the h Upman half corona. Rooster, you're up.
Rooster:Very good cigar. I mean, for a short smoke, how much it delivers, I mean, it's excellent. You can have it in the morning. You can have it at as the last smoke. I'm gonna give it a 9.
Gizmo:Nice. Pupa.
Poobah:I'll give it a 9 as well. I think it's it's it's it's for what it is, it's fantastic. It's got a Chapman DNA. It's it's always consistent, and it's one of my favorite short smokes of, in that boneless s c catalog.
Gizmo:I'm a little disappointed that Jesse Ventura
Poobah:didn't do the rating. But Well well,
Bam Bam:circumstances can be arranged. You know,
Poobah:when when when I need to get out of town and I need to grab something, convenient, along with my other necessities, you know, if the aliens are coming and they're coming, you know they're coming from the universe. I I I do grab
Gizmo:They're from the universe.
Poobah:They're coming from the universe. They're coming there because they're coming. They're they are coming. I grab my my, a tin of of h up and, half coronas. What's what's the x file remember the x files?
Chef:There is that, like, line that they put on the marquee at the end of every episode. Life exists out there or something like that. That That just reminded me of that.
Bam Bam:We are not alone.
Chef:We are not alone.
Pagoda:Thank you.
Poobah:We we we are not alone. There there are other there there are others. There are others with us. Don't kid yourself.
Gizmo:I feel like on the intro, I'm gonna have to say that I'm joined by Rooster, Hooba, Senator Pergona, Grinder, Bam Bam, and Jesse Ventura.
Poobah:As governor of Minnesota, when I met Fidel Castro, he looked me in the eye, and he told me I was a man of courage.
Rooster:Where do you
Pagoda:come up with this? This is fantastic.
Gizmo:Oh,
Chef:god. Mhmm. Oh, good stuff.
Gizmo:So much had changed by the time we returned to Cuba in October, and while most of us were lucky to get out without issue, Pagoda detailed his experience during the island wide power outage that made headline news worldwide. So as we mentioned, the entire island of Cuba has been dealing with a major power outage, I guess, going on 4 days now, since it all happened, leading to probably what is the worst humanitarian situation on the island since at least the special period in the early nineties when the Soviet Union collapsed. Likely is even worse than that. The real question that that is up in the air is the long term stability of the electrical system, and as we know, the problem is food. So let's go back and lay out our experience here from the beginning.
Gizmo:So our plan was to go for about a week. Pagoda was gonna come in a little bit later than us and stay a little bit later and kinda show his friends around Havana and kinda give them a little bit of the lizard experience there and meet some of our friends and give some stuff away, etcetera. So senator and lizard Henry, a friend of ours, arrived on Friday, October 11th. I came in from the Dominican Republic the next day on Saturday 12th, and then Bam arrived on Monday 14th. All of us leaving on when, on Friday.
Gizmo:Excuse me. Pagoda arrived on Wednesday 16th with his plan to stay, and he was gonna stay till what? The following Wednesday. 23rd. So 2 days from now.
Poobah:Yeah.
Gizmo:Yeah. So the first first things first. I mean, compared to our other times in Cuba when we had been there in the past, the rolling blackouts that were occurring throughout Havana were much more common, I feel, than any other time we had been there.
Senator:Way more.
Gizmo:Like, it was every day.
Senator:Every single day. Maybe there was one day there was an exception. Yeah. If not every, almost every single day. We lost power from between an hour to 4 hours of the day.
Senator:Yep. And the wild thing is, you know, lizard Henry and I get there that Friday, then Gizmo shows up the next day. And we usually stay in this large, house.
Gizmo:Like a walk up, a 3 floor.
Senator:Yeah. 7 beds, 7 baths, a big place. And it wasn't available the entirety of the dates that we needed. So the first two nights, we were in the penthouse of this apartment, and then we were moving to the house. And so Gizmo shows up Saturday.
Gizmo:Had a great workout.
Senator:This apartment is on the 15th floor, the top floor of this building. And Gizmo's texting, you know, lizard, Henry, and I that he's, you know, on his way. He'll be there soon. We're like, okay. Great.
Senator:The time he was texting us, we did have power in this apartment. Now Gizmo shows up, and the fucking power goes out. He's gotta walk up 50 flights of stairs.
Poobah:You on the 16th floor?
Bam Bam:I would love to have seen his face.
Poobah:And the funny
Pagoda:The funniest part with the luggage?
Chef Ricky:He's rubbing his chest as you talk.
Poobah:As you say the story.
Gizmo:I'm feeling my lungs.
Poobah:The funniest part is that the day before
Senator:when we when lizard Henry and I got there and the staff at the at the apartment was warning us about these blackouts and how usually they schedule them, and they're for a few hours during the day. And, she said she'll give us a heads up, you know, as much as she gets it. And, I think it was Elizabeth Henry. He's like, you know, just watch somehow, like, when when, Gizmo arrives, like, the fucking power goes out. He's gonna have to climb up 15 flights of stairs.
Senator:Fast forward the next day
Bam Bam:Are you serious?
Senator:The timing of it. I mean, as soon as he got to that place.
Gizmo:Wow.
Senator:And he gets up there dripping sweat, fucking puffing, coming up
Bam Bam:with the With his luggage.
Gizmo:He was furious. Well, because they're sitting there puffing cigars. Oh, I can't see it. They didn't even know the power went out.
Poobah:They didn't even know because
Gizmo:they're sitting in the living room in the dark smoking cigars.
Poobah:Oh, it
Senator:was broad daylight.
Gizmo:That's why we didn't know. Yeah. They didn't know.
Pagoda:Wow. So how did you know? Because
Bam Bam:Oh, so so so
Poobah:because the elevator As soon as
Gizmo:I pulled up, the elevator didn't work and all of a sudden the housekeeper shows up like, you have 2 options. You can go somewhere else or you can climb the stairs. So yeah. So I climbed the stairs. But the you know, it was it was a real change in the fact that not that I have a problem with power outages or climbing stairs per se, but it it was unique to arrive in Havana, arrive to and, you know, we stay in Vedado over by the US embassy, and it it was the first time that we had experienced, you know, a power outage like that.
Gizmo:And then it continued every day. Mhmm. Every day in the afternoon, it continued. And it was like, okay. You know, there's definitely problems, and they they see problems happening.
Gizmo:They don't have the capacity to serve the city of Havana. They certainly don't have the capacity to serve the country, and it it you kinda sense something. It just felt a little different. You know? Yeah.
Gizmo:Like, the look of her eyes
Pagoda:This is the first time. Right? Because I think the last few experiences, we've never ever experienced a blackout or even, like, a couple of hours.
Senator:But just they've been much shorter and less frequent. So, like, most trips that we were there, the power would go out while we were, like, upstairs on the roof having breakfast.
Poobah:Mhmm.
Senator:It'd go off for, like, a half hour, an hour, and then it'd come back. And it wasn't every day. It was maybe just a handful of days out of the trip. True. But this should be every day and for extended periods of time, I mean, it's just crazy.
Senator:I mean different. The fact that the housekeeper at the first place was telling us, like, you know, when this happens, you guys are gonna need to make the decision. Do you wanna just stay in the apartment and wait it out? Try to leave in advance of the blackout so you can use the elevator to get down. Or, otherwise, your option is 15 flights of stairs down.
Senator:And if you come back to a 30,000,000 the chance
Gizmo:and get stuck in the elevator.
Pagoda:Oh, that'd be crazy. Terrifying. That's terrifying.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:You know, it's actually to the point where I probably will never stay at that penthouse again in
Senator:Not probably. Yeah. We're not doing about this.
Gizmo:We're not doing it.
Senator:Percent. Every time we were in that elevator and Gizmo had to open his mouth each time and make sure we all knew, can you imagine if we got stuck in this elevator right now? Like, why speak this into existence at this moment? But, yeah, it was scary. I mean, we just you couldn't get it out of your head that I mean, we're we're gonna call the Cuban fire department, and they're gonna come in Oh, yeah.
Senator:2 days?
Bam Bam:I mean, right away.
Gizmo:We'd still be in the elevator.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Wow. Wow. Then lord knows you guys had a ton of sticks on you, so it's not like you could even light a cigar in there because it's sold small and
Gizmo:all of you have to do is just airflow. It's tiny. I mean, 3 of us fit in there tight. Torture. Yeah.
Gizmo:It would have been it would have been really bad. I mean
Senator:I'm not claustrophobic, but that there is, like, no air in that, elevator. It's brutal.
Chef Ricky:No. And just the thought of, like, is somebody gonna come anytime soon to save us? Yeah. And if even if they do, can they?
Senator:Yeah. I know where it's
Gizmo:They have the tools
Bam Bam:to do it.
Chef Ricky:Exactly. Yeah.
Pagoda:It's like if all 3 are standing, all their bellies were touching.
Poobah:Yeah. Pretty much.
Gizmo:Pretty much. Oh, man. So the first real kind of high sign to me that there was a problem, like a serious problem, was on Thursday night, I got an an a message from a friend of ours who works at one of the factories. And, we haven't talked about this person before. It's not anybody we've mentioned, just someone that we know at one of the factories.
Gizmo:Sent us a link to a government issued statement in Cuba saying that effective Thursday night, October 17th, that all school activities, all nonessential work, and all social activities were gonna be canceled effective immediately through the weekend. So Thursday night through Monday, there was to be no school, no nonessential work, and, you know, all the clubs and anything non tourist bars, anywhere where people congregate was to be closed to limit electrical consumption. So that's a pretty big red flag. Like, what what is what's what's to be anticipated here? So we continued on with our with our day, and we we actually saw some folks at La Corona that day, which was really nice.
Gizmo:Went over there. Had a nice time there. And and we had a pretty fairly normal Thursday day and evening. You know, it was totally fine.
Senator:So and evening? No. We did not have a normal evening.
Bam Bam:Day day and afternoon.
Chef Ricky:The evening
Pagoda:until the testing was Yeah.
Senator:So the the thing disaster. Right. You know, with these blackouts, the one thing about them, they were always scheduled just during the day. They were never at night. That's correct.
Senator:Never once at night. And on Thursday night, we go to dinner. We get back to our house, and
Poobah:Mhmm.
Senator:Someone we were actually, was dropping off some cigars for us. And, you know, I'm looking at, like, the patio that's usually lit at this house. It is dark, so I go to, like, flip the switches, and I go, holy shit. The power's out. This never happens at this hour.
Senator:I mean, this must be, like, 9 o'clock after we've eaten dinner. And for hours, we were without power that night. No air conditioning. It's hot. It was storming.
Gizmo:It was it almost felt like a like a tropical storm type of wind and rain.
Bam Bam:Felt like Armageddon for a moment.
Gizmo:Yeah. It was very odd.
Senator:And so that was also another odd sign of just, like, for the power to be out at night there. Like, clearly, this is not one of these scheduled things. And, the duration that it was out, something was obviously off.
Pagoda:I remember when the lights came on. Oh. There was so much jubilation. Oh.
Bam Bam:We were we
Pagoda:were happy.
Senator:It was We were born again. Yay.
Pagoda:Yeah. That was one of the happiest moments. Yeah. That was great.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's crazy. Like, that Thursday night, I you know, I remember when we came back to what you're saying, and you walk in the house, and it's like, it's dark. And, you know, you're thinking about all these people around Havana who might not have power. Like, how difficult that is that that must be to navigate.
Gizmo:You know, if your cell phone's dead and
Bam Bam:Of course.
Poobah:You don't
Gizmo:have a lot of stuff in the house, you have little kids in the house, like Well,
Bam Bam:that's the
Gizmo:challenging that must be.
Bam Bam:For us, it was Inconvenient.
Poobah:It was
Gizmo:It was inconvenient.
Bam Bam:It was a walk in the park compared to what families are going through.
Senator:Yeah.
Bam Bam:I can't imagine. Yeah. Food spoiling, not having water, kids are scared, wind, rain, no security at all.
Gizmo:Yeah.
Senator:I just remember Gizmo. I'm gonna have to pack in the dark.
Gizmo:I was dying. You know why? Because my phone was dead. I'm usually pretty good about charging my phone. And for some reason, on Thursday, I didn't.
Pagoda:I gave
Poobah:it to
Pagoda:the door. Was dead.
Poobah:It was dead. Yeah.
Gizmo:It was totally cooked.
Chef Ricky:Well, now you guys know it takes some solar battery packs out.
Gizmo:Oh, yeah. We have a whole new set of we have a whole new agenda. We'll talk about that a little bit later. So on Friday morning, we woke up. There was power.
Gizmo:We were totally good. We left I guess we left the house about 8:30 for the airport, the 3 of us and wizard Henry. We said goodbye to Pagoda, who was expecting his friends. Went to the airport. Everything was normal.
Gizmo:Went through the airport, got on the plane, and we were on the plane. And then we're on the plane on the Wi Fi to Miami, and shit hit the fan. The entire country went black. No no power. Thank God that the Cuban government can't screw up the sunlight
Poobah:Right.
Senator:Like they can electricity. But I mean, the wild thing is it it went it went dark when we were when we had boarded because we boarded at 11 AM. The flight left 11:45. Mhmm. It went dark at 11.
Senator:But the airport, they had generators, so we had no clue. There was still power where we were. Yeah. But everyone else was starting to realize, okay. Here we go again.
Gizmo:So we started panicking because we had left our boy pagoda
Senator:behind. Our
Senator:most capable lizard
Poobah:in Spanish speaking country.
Bam Bam:Most technically adept. And by the
Pagoda:way, I had no clue. I went out of a cigar upstairs. You're on the roof.
Poobah:Here's the best part. He sent us a selfie. That's right. He did send us a cigar in his mouth, smiling. He's having a great time.
Bam Bam:Oh, and he had only 10% left on his phone, by the way.
Pagoda:Oh, Jesus. No worry in the world. Life is gray, you know?
Gizmo:Yeah. So we're on the plane flying back, and then we landed Miami. It was a short flight, obviously, catching our connection to Newark. And we started reading about this and understanding what was going on, and and I had talked about that Thursday statement I had seen. Clearly, the government knew this was coming, and it totally turned the entire island off.
Gizmo:And it didn't really turn back on until today, Monday. Yeah. You know, which which is crazy, and we'll go through all that those details with Pagoda there. But it was out for 3 or 4 days from that time that we were on the plane that morning, which is just absolute lunacy.
Poobah:Yeah. It's totally crazy.
Senator:I also think for context, I I imagine that someone's gotta hear this and say, well, like, you know, I've been without power for a week when there's a hurricane, things like that. You know, it's one thing when it's weather related and they're actually having to, like, restore downed power lines and things like that or
Chef Ricky:a blown
Senator:transformer. This is just this country literally doesn't have the energy that it needs Right. To produce enough electricity to
Poobah:power sensors.
Bam Bam:To produce the power.
Gizmo:Right. The carbon to turn the turbines
Bam Bam:Correct. Yeah.
Gizmo:At the thermonuclear plants Correct. To provide enough power
Bam Bam:for Thermoelectric. Thermoelectric. Yeah.
Senator:It's crazy.
Gizmo:Yeah. Did I say nuclear?
Bam Bam:Yes. I meant thermoelectric. Nuclear would be great.
Gizmo:That would be great.
Bam Bam:Yeah. But I don't think they'd be able to keep it stable on that island. Yeah.
Senator:I I don't think we're gonna allow nuclear there.
Bam Bam:Yeah. The isotopes the isotopes have to float in cold water, people. It's gotta be in cold water.
Gizmo:So we started trying to get in touch with Pagoda, and we're on the plane trying to, like, conduct, like, a Navy Seal operation to first get Pagoda to realize what's going on. Oh, yeah. I mean
Pagoda:I'm I'm enjoying what's happening today.
Gizmo:Selfies. Senoda and I are, like, on the plane, rows apart messaging like, we gotta get him out of there.
Chef Ricky:He's there using the last of his ice in his cocktail. Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:Oh, yeah. He's sipping Havana 7.
Bam Bam:We were all pretty terrified for him, but we didn't get that reaction from him at all. It was really to
Pagoda:the place. Ignorance, isn't it?
Bam Bam:Yeah. That's true. That's true. But as nighttime fell, we were scared for you. Yeah.
Bam Bam:The so it's We were really terrified.
Senator:Someone had to be because he wasn't
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Senator:Pagoda, no ice? How's it working?
Gizmo:Well, he was in Havana without power, so he's used to no ice now.
Bam Bam:Been through hell and back, man. Alright. This is our own personal MacGyver right here.
Pagoda:He's been through hell. Listen. You don't need ice if you have a really good spirit in your hand. There you go.
Gizmo:Alright. Amen. Pagoda has changed.
Pagoda:This weekend has changed. This weekend really has.
Senator:You know, there's no ice there. He doesn't need ice. He doesn't need electricity, water. He's a simple man. These things
Bam Bam:hair is a little curlier. His eyebrows are a little bit more furled. He's looking very relaxed, almost sexy, I gotta say. He's a different man right now. I like it.
Pagoda:The absolute vacation.
Poobah:There you go.
Bam Bam:That's right. Till Wednesday. Double 07 meets MacGyver meets Pagoda.
Chef Ricky:I was gonna say he's giving me the world's most interesting man vibes.
Rooster:Correct.
Gizmo:Yeah. He gave us all that vibe for about 2 days. Aw, dude. So, boys, let's go back. You know, we're obviously we're making light of all this, and, it's a tough situation there.
Gizmo:So let's go back to what you experienced. So Friday, we're on the plane to Newark. We took off from Miami around 3 o'clock, landing around 7, I guess, or something like that. We were a little delayed. And, man, we were all in a state of panic on the plane not being able to get in touch with you, seeing the messages on WhatsApp not being delivered, not understanding what was going on, hearing from other friends in Havana, reading the news, seeing Twitter.
Gizmo:It was really starting to boil very quickly. So I'm curious for you, how did how did the experience start in the afternoon once you kinda started to realize what was going on?
Pagoda:So, let me, begin with ignorance. Right? Ignorance. I'm over there hanging out, having a drink. Ivan comes by, having a little chit chat with him.
Gizmo:That's the half hour of Casa.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Correct.
Pagoda:Trying to pour a drink with him. You know? It's just very relaxed. Then he steps out. I'm hanging out alone or, you know, on the rooftop.
Pagoda:It's slightly breezy. The weather wasn't, you know, bad because it
Gizmo:On Friday.
Pagoda:On Friday. Remember how it was really pouring
Bam Bam:That night.
Pagoda:The last couple nights and
Gizmo:Even Thursday morning when we were leaving the house, the It
Bam Bam:was there.
Gizmo:The street was kinda the sidewalk and street were a little flooded from
Chef Ricky:the rain.
Pagoda:Yeah. So I'm hanging out. You know? I'm reaching out to my buddies trying to find out what's going on, what time are they arriving. So one of the lizards who ended up in Miami, there were a couple of them who were coming from Miami.
Pagoda:Their flight got canceled, and it was postponed to around 7 PM at night. So, you know, it was kind of unfortunate, but, one of them has a pad in Miami, so they ended up going over there. And, so I was expecting them later, but the other lizard who was flying in from Houston, you know, I was expecting him, sometime in the afternoon. So, you know, things are going normal. And, as as as we all know that when you fly into Havana, you know, taking, like, a connecting flight, oftentimes your luggage doesn't show up.
Pagoda:So for for, lizard Danny, his luggage does not show up. Yeah. So, obviously, now he's at the airport. He used to, you know, ride
Poobah:the For
Senator:the record, he flew United.
Pagoda:He did fly United.
Poobah:Correct. And
Senator:Because he's not the only lizard on this trip Yes. That United lost their luggage. Correct. Me, Gizmo, and Bam flew American. All of our luggage made it.
Senator:No problem.
Poobah:That's true.
Senator:It's only the United flights.
Gizmo:Only the United guys.
Pagoda:So now his you know, so you have to fill out a form and, you know, they said they'll deliver it either by the next morning because the next flight from Houston was the following morning. So I thought, alright. Anyway, so this lizard shows up. Now the electricity hasn't come back yet. Now this is kinda strange that it does go out for a couple of hours and then, you know, it's expected back.
Pagoda:It's getting a little warm. You know? There's no water. So, you know, I wanted to go shower and, you know, just be ready so that by the time let's Danny showed up, you know, we could hang out a bit and step out. And there's no water.
Pagoda:So I said, alright. You know? The beer is getting warm. So now
Bam Bam:I'm on That that's a big problem.
Pagoda:And, you know, it's like, alright. You know, we'll make do. There's there was a Havana club. I'm chilling over there. Lizzard Danny shows up.
Pagoda:You know, we we still grab another beer, warm beer. We go up on top, you know, after he sees, the pad. And now your text messages start coming, and, you know, they're talking about, oh, you know, there may be a crisis because all of, the electricity in all of Cuba is out. So I said, oh, alright. You know, speaking to Ivan, he's like, oh, the electricity will be back around 4 PM, 5 PM.
Pagoda:So we're like, alright. You know? We are optimists at the end of the day. You know, we're on vacation, relaxing. So what we do is now I haven't eaten anything all day because I didn't eat breakfast that morning.
Pagoda:So I'm really hungry. Obviously, I've had a few beers in and, smoked a couple of cigars. And so as soon as the lady comes, you know, we have a drink and we said, let's listen. Let's step out. Let's grab something to eat.
Pagoda:Now we go to, Parquet Central. I said, let's go grab
Gizmo:That's the hotel. Hotel Parquet Central.
Pagoda:I said, let's begin. Let's smoke up there in the lounge and then, you know, if we have to, we can find something to eat at the hotel itself. And when we reach there so this is the second period, the realization, where you're really coming to a realization something's going on. So we walk in, and they wouldn't let us into Pakistan Central. And they said it's only for the guests of the hotel.
Pagoda:So we're like, alright. So now, you know, this is That's weird. Yeah. The realization period. Like, alright.
Pagoda:This has become a little more serious.
Senator:Because for the listener, this hotel is always open to the public.
Gizmo:Oh, yeah.
Senator:Never an instance where you can't walk in that hotel.
Bam Bam:That's our home base. That's our
Gizmo:home base. Yeah. For cigar smoking. Yeah. One of, anyway.
Gizmo:Yeah.
Pagoda:And beautiful cigar lounge. I thought that'd be a great way to start, you know, little Danny's trip in Havana. So now we get a bit worried. I'm hungry. I said, alright.
Pagoda:If they're not letting us in, let's try and grab something to eat so we go to Cha Cha Cha. And George is out there. And now
Gizmo:So, George, just so so just so you know, for context for the listeners, so the restaurant ChaChaCha is one of our favorites. I think senator, lizard Henry and I were there probably 3 times. Bam, I think you went twice. Mhmm. Pagoda had come once with us when he had gotten there.
Gizmo:It's one of the staples. It's right across from the Museum of the Revolution. It's quite literally across the street from the the Grandma boat.
Bam Bam:So Conveniently, though.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's very conveniently located Yeah. Central Havana. You can walk right there from Parkades about 2 blocks away. So, George, that that you're mentioning, is the very eccentric, amazing host, maitre d', whatever word you wanna use.
Gizmo:Just a fantastic guy.
Senator:This guy is fit for Hollywood.
Pagoda:Oh, amazing. Friendly.
Gizmo:Yeah. Very kind.
Bam Bam:He's the Cuban Elvis.
Gizmo:He just takes care of everything. He's awesome.
Pagoda:That's great. He comes out. You know, he shakes hands. You know, it's a loud you know how he is. He's so warm and welcoming and hugging.
Pagoda:And I said, you know, he introduces himself to Liz Danny. We said, all right. You know, we'd like a table for 2. And, George says, oh, really sorry to say that we're not serving any food, you know, because they like to say, you know, they you know, anything that's frozen or anything, they weren't just they weren't serving at all.
Chef Ricky:So at at this point, does lizard Danny start looking appetizing to you?
Pagoda:I don't think he'd ever look appetizing. Sorry. Have you seen lizard Danny? I'm kidding.
Bam Bam:He's a handsome boy.
Pagoda:No. He's he is. But yeah. So now, you know, there's a little bit of worry that steps in. Alright?
Pagoda:So so George is like, you know, it's it may be tough to find food, but he suggests I said, can you suggest a place around? He suggests a place a couple blocks in. So now we start walking in. Now now you're gonna realize, you know, we are everything's becoming a little more heightened in our, you know, in our brain. Like, every And
Gizmo:the text messages are coming in.
Pagoda:Right? Messages are coming in. Everything's coming together. So this is the period of realization. And now you're going so we start walking.
Pagoda:And what what we start noticing is that a lot of people just hanging out on the streets because when there's no electricity, nobody's hanging out in their houses. So you see a lot of people. The local are just hanging out on the streets in groups of people, and they're just hanging out over there. So now we are walking there and, you know, obviously, there are people who are coming out, you know, asking for, you know, some kind of assistance in whichever way. You know, we are walking by them, and we try and look for this place 3 blocks away.
Pagoda:We can't find it. So now we're like, alright. Now it started to get a bit dark. We're like, damn. If we don't find a place to eat, I haven't eaten anything all day.
Pagoda:And this is getting a little worrisome. So we start walking back. We said, let's take the route back towards Park Central and we'll take a cab and we'll go back home. And then hopefully, Yvonne will be able to set something. In the meantime, I reach out to a little Nino and, you know, reach out to him.
Pagoda:He said, oh, cha cha cha. It should be open. I said, you know, we had just been there. So he says, alright. Give me a sec.
Pagoda:Let me find out what may be open around here. So we're trying to find out what's open there. This is a this is a period of really trying, you know, to make sure that we have eaten something so that we can survive the night. So this is where we are.
Gizmo:So just for the listeners, so lizard Nino is important to the story. He's a a friend of ours who lives in Havana, very resourceful guy, very successful, kind of like, just can make anything happen.
Bam Bam:Pretty well connected.
Gizmo:Very well connected.
Senator:Yep.
Gizmo:You know, friend of ours, great guy. We've known
Senator:him. Great IT guy. Great IT guy.
Poobah:Rivals Gizmo sometimes. Gizmo doesn't like Urrogate, but No.
Gizmo:I'm not a fan of it. So that's important, because we'll we'll talk about Nino in a little bit. So continue. I'm sorry.
Pagoda:So now what we do, we start walking. And so now we're going by by charter side. I you know, I recognized, Carbone. I thought, oh, maybe Carbone was right by just a Yeah. Another restaurant.
Pagoda:And so and then Lizzo Danny goes in. He says, no. No. This it's a saloon. It's not a restaurant.
Pagoda:You know, there's a saloon in the corner. So I said, no. It seems familiar. I'll take a few steps back, and you can see their outdoor you know, they have the outdoor patio on top. So I said, alright.
Pagoda:Let's let's just walk there. We went there, and all these you know, all the servers, the waiters, everybody's just hanging out there outside. And so I said, are you serving food? And they said, yeah. Come on in.
Pagoda:We were so relieved. We were so happy. It was, you know, the sense of jubilation from the night before. You get so excited. Yeah.
Pagoda:Yeah. So, you know, we sit down. What's great is as soon as we sit down, you know, we said, do you have any kind of cold beverage like cerveza or something? They said, yeah. They'd kept the beer cold on ice.
Pagoda:So they'd bring us cool crystal. It was so great.
Bam Bam:That's a lifesaver.
Pagoda:I'll tell you. You talk about the relief and the excitement and the happiness.
Senator:The nectar.
Pagoda:Yeah. I'll tell you. It is, it was such a great moment. The beer was tasting so good. And, you know, when you go through an experience like that, you know, everything is enhanced.
Pagoda:You're just enjoying the drink and
Chef:You were ready to stay another 2 nights without Bobby. At that point
Pagoda:in time, you say, you know, you bought yourself more time. And so, yeah, we ordered food, you know. So these guys at Carbone, even they didn't have any electricity, but I think they had some kind of a manual generator or something. There were, like, a couple of guys at the back. They were going, and then you would see the generator come off for, like, 10, 15 minutes.
Pagoda:I don't know what they were doing, but they did bring us some food, prepared food. So we thought, all right.
Gizmo:Wow.
Pagoda:Let's just grab this to eat. So it was, you know, it was it was a really, really good moment. Yeah. And then after that, now we are getting a bit worried because we walk out and so what ends up happening with the kids?
Senator:Hold on. Did I talk to you on the phone when you were eating at Carbone? Because this was in your jubilation period where you seemed to have no concern in the world.
Bam Bam:We're we're good. We're good, sir.
Gizmo:Panicking, and you're at dinner having cold beer, selling No.
Pagoda:No. So we we spoke about half hour later because we we got back to the house. Okay. So what happened is then we step out and then
Bam Bam:It's gotta be hold on. It's gotta be pitch black outside.
Pagoda:It is dark. Yeah.
Chef:Like, there's no lights.
Pagoda:There's no lights. But, you know, we we just How how
Senator:are you getting charged on your cell phone?
Pagoda:Oh, so my phone is just about dead. It's got, like, 7% left. But Danny, little Danny, his phone was working. So, you know, we're walking down the street because just down the street is Paco Central. Although we walked there, we said at least we'll get cabs from there.
Pagoda:Now you could realize that it's getting dark. There are people all over the streets, and there are not many cabs around. Like, you're like, alright. What's going on? And so we go to Pakistan Central.
Pagoda:Fortunately, there were 2 cabs. You know, they have those fancy cabs sitting right out over there. But there was one regular cab out there and we just one of the guys comes and says, you want a cab ride? And we said, yeah. So anyway, we got home.
Bam Bam:Very fortunate. Yeah.
Pagoda:And so we ended up so now the thing to, inform even the listeners is that even during these periods, the hotels, not, the local hotels, but all of the European hotels have generators. So there's electricity in those particular hotels. Now that's a different story. If you're not a resident or a guest, you're not getting in. But, you know, we we go over there and we say, alright.
Pagoda:Let's go back home. So now even, you know, when you're trying to get back in without in the dark, you're trying to put the keys in, it's an experience.
Bam Bam:Unbelievable. Everything.
Gizmo:So because over where we stay, without light over there It's dark. Yes. It's dark. We're right on the Malecon. It's residential.
Gizmo:It's it's dark, dark, dark.
Bam Bam:Chef, if you're downtown Havana and it's pitch blackout, those roads are treacherous. And when you walk through that neighborhood where Alcarbonas were located, it's like a maze. I can't imagine what it's like in there. It's gotta be very, very pretty.
Chef Ricky:Lord knows, but go to have a ton of crystal.
Poobah:Oh, yeah. Oh. Oh, yeah. And Havana Club. I'll take every cold
Gizmo:beer you have here.
Bam Bam:He had that shit on IV. Exactly.
Senator:So he's fucking blaming it on a
Chef Ricky:lack of electricity. No. We all
Bam Bam:know what the real problem is.
Pagoda:But but I'll I'll tell you, we did have, quite a few beers. It was it was great, and, yeah, it was so refreshing. It was,
Chef Ricky:did you were you able to is it a situation where you could buy beers to take with you as well?
Pagoda:No. We we had beers back home. No. No. We are still imagining the electricity would come back, hopefully, at night, maximum the next morning.
Pagoda:Now for little Danny, what an introduction to Havana. By the way, I did use
Bam Bam:That's tough.
Pagoda:I did use, this is Havana, man. This is Havana.
Bam Bam:Hey. You in Havana, man.
Pagoda:You in Havana, man.
Chef Ricky:Cuba being Cuba.
Gizmo:It's complicated. So you're back at the house.
Pagoda:You've been with the house. Back at the house. We make it, all the way upstairs. You know, we said, let's, light up cigars and, you know, we pull out a Havana 7, and, and and that's you know, we're chilling, and that's where the phone calls start.
Senator:So the funny part, at at this point, we're me, Gizmo, Bam, and Lizard Henry are in a car leaving Newark Airport trying to get home. And I look to see if there are flights operating the next day. Now online, it's showing they are, but, you know, who knows what the reality is if they can take off. So I call American Airlines, and I'm like, can you be certain that the flight scheduled for tomorrow morning are actually able to take off? Because there's no power in the entire country.
Gizmo:And we don't know. We're talking about this in the car. I'm driving. Senators in shotgun. Other guys are in the back.
Gizmo:We're talking, like, you know, if the entire country's out, how much fuel do they have at the airport to keep the generators going? Is that gonna go out tonight, tomorrow morning, tomorrow afternoon, or can it last? Like, all these question marks are up in the air, and we're literally thinking, like, there's a possibility he's gonna be stuck there in this situation.
Bam Bam:And We had no idea.
Gizmo:We're being jovial about it, but there was a general like, a serious sense in the car of, like, we need to figure out how to get Pagoda out of there. So he calls American
Senator:Yes. The woman on the phone, she's like, everything I'm seeing, the all the flights are leaving. They should get out tomorrow without a problem. It seems the airport has power. So at this point, I talked to Pagoda on the phone, and Pagoda's, you know, having his Savannah Club, chilling on the roof of the cigar.
Senator:And he's like In
Bam Bam:the dark.
Senator:In the dark. In the dark. And he's like, oh, you know, we're just gonna, you know, wait till the morning. And if the power comes on, we'll be okay. And and if not, we'll just go to the airport.
Senator:I'm like, but good. If you go to the airport tomorrow morning, there's gonna be no flight to get on. Like, as people realize, this is not coming on. Every tourist is gonna flee Havana. There are seats now on a 10:30 flight and an 11:45 AM flight.
Senator:You need to change your flights and get on one of these 2 planes now to guarantee a seat. And it was just so he said,
Poobah:oh, yeah. I guess we'll do it. Then I talked to him. I get home, like, a
Senator:few hours later, and he's like, there's this change fee that they're charging. And
Poobah:and and he's like, my credit card's not working. And I'm like, you gotta figure this out now. I'm like, use a VPN. Has to be booked tonight. There's no chance.
Senator:And then Pagoda said apparently when he tried to book, like, a bunch of the seats had sold in Totally.
Poobah:In that time. Oh, yeah.
Pagoda:So so so now you could imagine. Guess who's reaching out to me, you know, senators reaching out to me. I'm like, alright.
Chef Ricky:This is all having fun, and they just No. No. No. So they won't.
Pagoda:They
Chef Ricky:made you panic.
Pagoda:They fucked up. There was a bit of worry, you know, when the hotel didn't let us in. There was a bit of worry when we realized that the restaurants are running out of food. So it's there in the back of your mind. So it's kind of frustrating.
Pagoda:Now, the one thing I forgot to mention is my phone is dead, by the way. So we get into the cab. Fortunately, the cab driver had
Gizmo:A charge.
Pagoda:A charger Oh, wow. And an iPhone. So I was able to charge and, you know, he had a fast charger. In that drive back home, I was juiced up to around 10% again. Mhmm.
Pagoda:So I'm about 10%. I'm speaking to senator on the phone.
Bam Bam:No problem.
Poobah:I got to eat a second. Outside.
Pagoda:I'm good. So now
Gizmo:Let's ketchup.
Pagoda:So now I go to the app, try to change the flight. I said, alright. Let's change it. So little daddy changes his immediately. Headphone's working, and there was no extra fee for him.
Pagoda:So
Chef Ricky:He's, like, what is this?
Bam Bam:Change it. I'm out.
Gizmo:I'm out. I'm out.
Bam Bam:See you.
Pagoda:So and I'm over there. Now, like, this is where the panic starts. Right? A little bit. Well, then the fabric is, so for me to change a flight, there was a fee.
Pagoda:Now for a fee, you have to pay by a card. And as you know, in Cuba, there's no American cards being accepted. So I'm like, senator, I don't even know what the hell to do because I just not accepted my card. And, lizard, I can't even use lizard Danny's phone because he doesn't have a VPN. So, fortunately, you reminded me, listen.
Pagoda:Make sure you get on the VPN, but we had already switched it to, get it to US of Miami, I think, the night before for for a different reason. So I said, alright. But so now what happens is when you go to, Cuba, what we typically do is we get a SIM card that gives us a Cuban number. Now when the phone is off and you re you know, you put it on again, you have to put the PIN number to get back into the phone.
Gizmo:Yeah. So for the listener out there, all Cuban SIM cards have a lock on them. So when the phone restarts, you have to put in a unique identifier 4 digit PIN to reactivate the SIM. If you don't do that, your phone does not connect. Even if you have the plan and data, will not connect to the cell phone network without that PIN.
Pagoda:So this is where the paddock is, you know, on. Right? I'm like, alright. I've got, like, very little juice left. I've gotta go.
Pagoda:Firstly, it didn't even hit me. And I'm like, why isn't this working? And then I see that, you know, the, I wasn't getting any kind of cellular network. I said, ah, damn. It's a SIM.
Pagoda:I said, oh, I need to find the PIN. Now it's dark. Mind you, we're on the rooftop. I have to go find my luggage, find the SIM.
Poobah:I don't know where it is. A real MacGyver.
Bam Bam:10% on a phone or less.
Pagoda:Oh, so now, like, I go down, you know, I figure it out, get the pen, you know, let the daddy use his phone, the lights. Mhmm. Now just imagine. We are, like, buzzing, smoking cigars. There's a little panic.
Pagoda:I figured a bottle of have I
Poobah:had a club?
Pagoda:And so finally get the pin in, and, you know, I I was, eventually able to, you know, book a flight back. But it was what what was really interesting is at that time, I think, I had spoken to senator, and there were, like, 5 seats available in the earlier flight around, you know, half 10, and all the seats were booked immediately. I said, oh my lord. Now people are bloody exiting the country.
Poobah:Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:As I predicted.
Pagoda:I said, oh, and then I have, like, very little juice left. I'm trying to book the thing. They were like, and then I book it, and I think I'm done. And then you know how it goes silent, like, you have no idea till the indication comes on? I'm like, damn.
Pagoda:Did I book it or did I not? Mhmm. It was it was just crazy. But, you know, finally, it did give me the confirmation. I said, alright.
Pagoda:Now Oh. You know, we can relax.
Chef Ricky:Now we could smoke and drink it.
Gizmo:I get it. The rest of the night like when when it went another hour, another 2 hours, another 4, 6? You're getting the late in the night. Power's not on. It's hot.
Gizmo:Mosquitoes, etcetera. Like, what what is that feeling like? What, like, what does that what's happening then?
Pagoda:So so what started to happen is it's very breezy. You remember, like, it's getting to how it was the night before. The slight drizzle. You know, we were under the shed, you know, on the rooftop. We have a Havana, you you know, club.
Pagoda:We we swung cigars. So we just catch it up and hanging out and smoked cigars. Actually, it it got a bit breezy towards the towards a bit later because I think we finished the cigar. But we were very relieved once we'd booked because now we know that we had to go out. You know, Ivan had come down.
Pagoda:We had, arranged to go back with him. He was gonna drive us back. To the airport. So now we are set for tomorrow. Now it's just a matter of getting through the 9.
Pagoda:And so, we you know, we finished a bottle. You know? Now now we are like
Senator:We're on bottle number 2.
Pagoda:Now now it's like He's on late.
Gizmo:He's going through 2 bottles of Havana 7, and the rest of us are on this chat on WhatsApp.
Bam Bam:On pins and needles.
Gizmo:Full on panic. Because we're seeing things that he's not seeing with a dead phone on
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:The Internet and talking to other people. News is talking to me.
Senator:Context. This, like, made such big international news. Some of my business partners who don't follow news in Cuba at all, like, most people, of course, wouldn't. I'm as I'm, landing in Newark, getting emails, text messages. Are you out of Cuba?
Senator:Are you okay? And I'm like Yeah. Yeah. Why would these people who never pay any attention to Cuba
Rooster:That's true.
Senator:Why are they asking me this? And that's why I'm like, holy shit. Even here, it was all over the news.
Bam Bam:It was insane.
Pagoda:Yeah. And over there, we're like, I'll tell you, ignorance is a bless. So the next so now we it's so it starts to rain a little bit and then it's very, very breezy. Now if we were to shut the doors, we'd you know, it'd be really, really hot. So we leave the doors open.
Pagoda:And now better the rain's coming in, you know, the doors all over the place that they're hitting each other. There's crackling noises. So you're we're the zombie. You're gonna go
Senator:to Sun Survivor now.
Bam Bam:Yes. Exactly. So you left your bedroom door open.
Pagoda:Yeah.
Bam Bam:And did you open the windows?
Pagoda:Oh, actually, yeah, I opened the window in the back as well a little bit. Right? They had they have this actually, I moved to your room and, the guest room upstairs, and then, Danny was in, little Danny was in where little Henry was staying. Got it. And so then we were right next to each other.
Pagoda:So we, you know, we had that little terrace in between, but we're just hanging out for a bit.
Gizmo:There's like a shared balcony there.
Bam Bam:Cool. Yeah. Nice.
Pagoda:And then so now we're trying to sleep, but it's loud and it's crackling. And now you could imagine this is all dark. It's
Gizmo:pitch dark.
Pagoda:It's pitch dark. Yeah. You know, there's some light coming from somewhere, you know, where there's some generator, but it's it's pretty dark, and it's like a windy night with a little bit of rain. And, it it was interesting. I didn't sleep very well, of course.
Pagoda:No.
Gizmo:Yeah. Neither did we. No.
Pagoda:But thank you, guys. I'll tell you, for your support and, you know, even the advice and the conversations we had to try and get everything done and book the tickets. No. Thank you, senator. Thank you, Giz.
Pagoda:Thank you all. Because, you know, you forget that sometimes, like, it it is a support of the community that helps you at least be aware of things if nothing else. And then for us, you we are very grateful because you did get us out. We were able to inform the other 2 lizards not to come back in. So it kind of really worked and, you know, thank you.
Gizmo:That's important too to notice even inside Cuba for unfortunately, for the the Cuban citizens, if they don't have a working phone, they're not getting the text messages. The, you know, the the the national radio channel went down. Obviously, television's not working. So the communication about what's happening, what to do, I mean, every single human being on that island who's not a tourist is on their own, really.
Bam Bam:So a few friends that we met,
Rooster:a few of
Bam Bam:them messaged me, and I'm asking them, are you okay? What's happening at your houses? 1 in particular said that all of their food was spoiling. They didn't have the means to cook any of it because it was too dark, and they had no security, so they were all terrified. So they're huddling together in one room, not knowing what to do.
Bam Bam:They can't go anywhere. Their phones were on and off. I can't imagine what that was like, dude.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's terrifying. It's it's
Bam Bam:it's unbelievable.
Gizmo:And we have to add context to the listeners who haven't been to Cuba or not familiar with Cuba with regards to the feuds the food situation, which is really the electricity is one component of this, but the trickle down of that is the implication on the on the food supply, which already Well, hold on. What food supply? That's exactly right. Already in Cuba is fairly challenging at best. It's rationed.
Gizmo:And even the ration at times doesn't exist. So if you're so fortunate to have a refrigerator that has some food in it, a freezer that has some food in it, you might have spent months, weeks, however long compiling that food for yourself and your family. And now all of a sudden, you're into the next day, you're you're moving into to 18, 24 hours, that food is gonna start going bad.
Chef Ricky:Right.
Gizmo:And the you can't just go to the store and get more. There is no store. Even if you have money, there's no store. You know, it's really important to think about for you know, we're like I said, we're being jovial. This is what we do here.
Gizmo:We're trying to create an entertaining program for our listeners out there. But you have to think how dire this situation can become as quickly as it as it did and has become for folks. Like, it is a real, real crisis.
Bam Bam:Don't forget about the hospitals.
Gizmo:Yeah. Hospitals running out of power.
Bam Bam:Just in the city, but out in the provinces. I read articles where they left patients in the dark. They couldn't help them. Now if there's some patients that are in severe conditions, god knows what happened to them.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's really tragic.
Pagoda:It I to there are 2 things I do wanna mention is that when the situation is happening, when it's occurring, we get a beer. We're left, and we're walking by, back, towards, Park Central. You see people out there. There are all types of people. It's dark.
Pagoda:You know, people are coming and asking you for, you know, some kind of assistance. And,
Bam Bam:you
Pagoda:know, you just don't know what happens when in those moments. So there's a bit of you know, we know that Cuba is relatively one of the safer islands, in the Caribbean. So I, you know, I just kept thinking about that. But having said that, you know, there is something in the back of your head that, hey, listen, you gotta watch. You know, you know, we've lived in New York and, you know, we were in full alert zone.
Pagoda:I'm not saying that we were, you know, just chilling and hanging out. We've been full alert zone. We knew exactly what we were gonna do in terms of the next steps. We were looking for a cab. We were willing to pay more if a cab would have come and we would have just gone.
Pagoda:We just needed to get back to the CASA so that we're in a safe, secure environment. However dark it was, that was probably our safest place. After that we'd taken care of at least a good meal at that point in time. So, but the fear does start setting in. And then, you know, the conversations at night were very, very different.
Pagoda:You know, when I was speaking to Liz and Danny, we were like, alright. Do we stay another day? Or, you know, what are the consequences of that? So, you know, you go through that. Right?
Pagoda:And it it's interesting because these kind of situations in a place like Cuba could erupt, you know Very quickly. Very quickly because
Senator:That that was our fear.
Rooster:That was
Gizmo:our fear.
Bam Bam:That's right.
Pagoda:And and because, you know, it is a revolutionary kind of people are very intelligent. They're smart. You know? They are you know? You've got to also realize that the generation who's experienced the first revolution is still alive.
Pagoda:Some of them as grandparents, as, you know, senior citizens. So there is that sense where, you know, these people are not, you know, just laying back and, you know, if the minimum that what is being offered to them is being taken away, whether because of a natural disaster, it could lead to chaos.
Poobah:Of course.
Pagoda:You know, that's when you really start thinking now you're thinking, like, there's a moment like Argo. You know, I need to better get out of this place and I'll take yeah. Whatever. And, no, thank you once again for making us realize that that was also happening and, you know, putting everything in context together was very, very important at that point. I just wanted to pass one, comment right before we, you know, finish this episode.
Pagoda:You know, life is really a sum of experiences, and it's really interesting that I was able to experience this and ended ended up being very positive, you know, from going through the emotions, you know, whether it was, you know, you begin to, you know, realize that, you know, there's something happening and then you go through, you know, a little bit of, the panic. You go through the happy meal moment where, you know, you've experienced it. And then when you come back home, there's a sense of relief. It has been a wild wind of emotions in the last couple of days for sure. But, you know, to the listener, the Cuban people are very resilient and they're very happy and they're very supportive, you know, but they do need to lead a very comfortable life as well.
Pagoda:So do we all in today's day and age. And I think that, you know, it's a call out to everybody whoever can support, the people. Right? You know, please do in whichever way you can. Wikiz, after all, you know, this is, for a positive human experience as well.
Pagoda:And, you know, I wish them the best, and, I hope things improve there so that we all can visit Cuba in happier times.
Gizmo:Bam moved on from Citrus this year and found himself tasting a lot of dried fruit. It seemed like everyone took notice.
Chef:Lots of cedar, some sweetness.
Bam Bam:Yeah. There's like a raisin type thing happening.
Gizmo:It's definitely raisiny, something like that.
Bam Bam:Which is a dry fruit, by the way. Right.
Pagoda:It is a dry it is.
Poobah:There it is.
Senator:Ladies and gentlemen, there it is.
Bam Bam:It is. I'm just saying. Oh, by the way, so if you read the description online about this cigar
Poobah:Dried fruit?
Bam Bam:They highlight dry fruit. And what do they use?
Senator:Are you on the CA payroll now?
Bam Bam:Alright. Well, no. Heavy cinnamon, we're we should be getting on this nutmeg, dry fruit.
Rooster:Baking spice.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Poobah:You know what the thing about Bam is? It's just he he can't sit it out. Like like, he can't What are you talking about? Well, he just he can't take a step back. You know what I mean?
Poobah:And just go, you know, I'm not gonna lean into the dried fruit right now. I'm gonna let somebody else say that.
Gizmo:See, I think you should lean into the dried fruit because that's me.
Bam Bam:I am the
Gizmo:yeah. Okay. You're the dried fruit?
Bam Bam:Onward. Let's go.
Poobah:No. No. No. We're we're we're we're letting someone else call out the dried fruit, and then he goes because there is dried fruit in this. It's there, but it's just federal.
Poobah:Just just just let it bubble up to the top.
Gizmo:You know what I appreciate.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. You're right. You're right.
Gizmo:I got a beautiful cigar, boys. Yeah.
Pagoda:Bubba, how would Jesse say dried fruit?
Poobah:Dried fruit? Did Tuxedo Timmy send a voice mail?
Gizmo:Oh, he have a voice mail.
Bam Bam:Know what I did?
Poobah:Inside it
Gizmo:Let's go, Timmy.
Poobah:Let's go, Timmy.
Bam Bam:The peanut gallery has been now invigorated. Okay? Here we go. Big mistake.
Gizmo:So,
Rooster:Keep them coming.
Gizmo:Listen. We love voice memos because, you know, it it it's not me reading your email. It's your voice, what you have to say, and I'm very excited to play this voice
Pagoda:memo for you.
Senator:I can't wait to hear it.
Bam Bam:Upset that I didn't get to preview this.
Steve Saka:What's up, my lizards? It's Tuxedo Timmy checking in. I just cut a a drone 90th, and I'm gonna I'm gonna test the cold draw right now and see what see what kind of notes I get out of it. You know, get some raisins, some nugget, a little chocolate, but, you know, definitely not dried fruit like our dear friend,
Bam Bam:Bam. I've never said that about an idea.
Chef Ricky:Who is a
Bam Bam:That's okay.
Steve Saka:Professional at getting dried fruit
Poobah:out of every single cigar. Takes a gold draw on.
Steve Saka:You know, it could be a Partiga Serie d 4. It could be a Siglo 5. It could be an Oliva v Lancero.
Gizmo:Incorrect. I love
Steve Saka:I love his enthusiasm for the podcast.
Gizmo:A punta.
Steve Saka:But BAM needs to be taken to account
Senator:Again?
Steve Saka:Because there's no way in our there's no way you're gonna get dried fruit on a Padron 90th. There's no way you're gonna get dried fruit
Bam Bam:Correct. I've never said that.
Steve Saka:Before. There's no way you're gonna get dried fruit on a lot of the cigars that you guys smoke. That's incorrect. Wanna say as a fellow lizard, I appreciate you guys for having a mini accountability hour with Bam on his
Bam Bam:Thank you, Jimmy.
Steve Saka:Cross. I just think it's, just impossible to to Anyway, guys, you know, I'm a big fan of what you guys are doing, and, we'll chat soon.
Poobah:Oh, I'm fine.
Bam Bam:Like I said, look.
Gizmo:So by the way, the by the way, the unwritten the unsigned letter that we got with all those cigars also mentioned
Bam Bam:This is true.
Gizmo:Your dried fruit
Bam Bam:situation. Happy to entertain the fans. Very happy.
Poobah:I'm pure I'm tearing up. That was so loud. Collapsing right now. Collapsing. This is this is so loud.
Poobah:So happy.
Pagoda:So when have
Poobah:I introduce the accountability hours Hold on. That it's a recurring season. We have we have
Gizmo:for a year and a half, by the way.
Bam Bam:So Tuxedo, we've never reviewed the 90th. We haven't done that. I've never called the drive through note on that cigar and never will.
Rooster:I don't think you said you did. Not on that one.
Poobah:I see. I think you got it.
Rooster:On every other one.
Bam Bam:These these are baseless claims.
Poobah:Baseless claims. Did
Rooster:did you hear
Poobah:did you hear that, Timmy?
Rooster:I think we need another, voice memo next week from you.
Poobah:Timmy's gonna FedEx a shovel. Bring it on. So so Pam could just dig his hole deeper. He's gonna, like, go to Home Depot and get an army shovel and FedEx it. Bring it on.
Poobah:Bring it on. So, Bam, I
Gizmo:gotta say, I'm happy that there's a full house here tonight because your attorney is present. As am I.
Bam Bam:I'm very
Gizmo:happy that there's a full house tonight. Put I hope you put him on retainer.
Bam Bam:Homeboy's on retainer.
Gizmo:Because, I mean, these are serious accusations here.
Bam Bam:It's from
Gizmo:the listeners. And by the way
Bam Bam:And they are baseless, but it's okay.
Gizmo:Timmy Timmy
Bam Bam:is was never reviewed here.
Gizmo:I'm not
Poobah:sure what
Gizmo:he's talking about. Not the first, the second, the third, the 5th, 10th.
Bam Bam:Well, I wouldn't know.
Poobah:I'm gonna insist you plead
Senator:the 5th.
Bam Bam:Done. Turn off my mic. By advice of counsel, turn my mic off.
Gizmo:So what are your
Rooster:what are your thoughts
Gizmo:on him suggesting that getting dried fruit on every single cigar, every type of cigar, every kind of cigar, every cigar you've ever had. What are your thoughts on him saying that about your,
Poobah:Gizmo is a prosecution.
Bam Bam:I'm loving it. He is. You know, honestly, for me, a lot of the Cuban cigars, I get various notes. But predominantly, it's dried fruit, a dessert spice of some kind, and a and a coffee and espresso. And that's kind of where I'm at.
Poobah:But What what about citrus?
Bam Bam:Yeah. And I haven't had citrus in a very long time.
Pagoda:Would you I wish
Bam Bam:I wish I would love to to get that.
Pagoda:But that's an so not a
Poobah:Would would you agree that would you agree that you call out dried fruit
Bam Bam:Yes.
Poobah:And citrus?
Bam Bam:A lot. Not citrus, but dried fruit.
Poobah:Yes. Dried fruit.
Gizmo:Yeah. The first 100 episodes of citrus.
Poobah:Citrus is the last 30 dried fruit.
Gizmo:The last 30
Bam Bam:I see. This is an inside job. Would you This is an inside job.
Poobah:I mean, would you agree?
Bam Bam:I can't deny it.
Gizmo:I don't
Poobah:he did not take counsel's advice. I'm sorry. He's incriminating himself. Because I'm going with the the, you know, the lead the lead attorney standard thing. Would you agree?
Bam Bam:You know, it's something I get. I get an apricot or a date or a raisin from time to time. And for me, that's all in this family of dried fruit.
Senator:Yeah.
Bam Bam:I get that.
Chef:I I prefer the wet fruits, so we'll have to
Bam Bam:we'll have to temper your you mean the fresh fruit. Yes.
Chef:Fresh fruit.
Poobah:The fresh fruit.
Pagoda:The fresh fruit.
Senator:They are the same.
Poobah:I know. Dry and dry and wet. Dry and wet.
Senator:Happen to be, you know, antinibs.
Poobah:You know, we should really, we should take, we should take BAM out to a farm Do it do an A dry fruit farm? Yeah. We should take him well, we should take him out to a farm and and and Do some power at the moment? Yeah.
Bam Bam:You have no idea. I'd like to do blind taste test with this group right here in this room. Let's do that.
Rooster:On what? What's that what's
Poobah:that gonna sound for? What's that gonna sound for? What's that gonna sound for?
Bam Bam:How about this? You'll learn about my extensive ability to pick out notes.
Pagoda:How about this? Because when
Poobah:you call on Cypress for every cigar No. Smoke a cigar every week. We we hear your extensive spectrum. You have you've been attorneys even turned on us. Exactly.
Poobah:You're fucking fired, dude.
Senator:Would you agree would you
Poobah:agree that you you have a a dehydrator, a fruit dehydrator at your home?
Bam Bam:No. But I wish I did. I wish I did.
Poobah:Oh, gosh. Oh, motherfuckers. Jesus. Motherfucker. Motherfucker.
Poobah:Well, you guys never had a dried apricot in his life.
Bam Bam:That is not true.
Poobah:Had a dried dried cherry, a dried dried what do you what do you have in your life that's dried fruit? Never.
Gizmo:Dried
Chef:dates. Dates, raisins, apricots.
Poobah:Nah. If I audited your pantry, there'd be none of that shit, man.
Gizmo:Oh my god.
Bam Bam:Come on over. Pantry audit.
Poobah:Pantry audit. Let's just do, like, a bring Mike's, and let's just go over to his house and just be like, we're coming in. We're gonna look at your pantry. There'll be no dried fruit in there. He'll be coming in.
Poobah:He'll be cooking the bolognese in the in the corner. Oh, we're
Bam Bam:gonna go to bolognese? Bolognese.
Poobah:That's an ancient joke. That's right. That's prepod. The the chunky bolognese.
Bam Bam:I've learned to chop my onions very finely
Rooster:because You have.
Bam Bam:I have because of you.
Rooster:Post a video. Correct.
Gizmo:Well, no. So the listeners have taken Bam to task on the dried fruit. There's no question about that.
Bam Bam:Indeed, they have.
Gizmo:And I'm grateful. I'll be honest. I love hearing from listeners on this topic.
Poobah:I do too. Yeah. More voice memos.
Gizmo:This is fantastic.
Chef:The real
Poobah:the real question
Senator:is if you if you think about the timeline here, it was citrus for about the first 100 episodes.
Bam Bam:Oh, that is so not true. It is
Senator:so true.
Bam Bam:Exaggeration is off the charts.
Rooster:90 seconds.
Poobah:We took him to
Bam Bam:Fuck it off the charts. It's ridiculous exaggeration.
Senator:We're we're
Poobah:gonna be more precise. 97 episodes.
Pagoda:Okay.
Senator:And then we gave him so much shit for that that all of a sudden morphed into a new note of dried fruit. Now that he's been taken to account, there's going to be a new note
Gizmo:excited to see what's next.
Poobah:For the next 100 episodes.
Senator:So we just need to figure out what that's gonna be.
Bam Bam:You'll have to wait.
Rooster:You know what? After 97 episodes, the fruit does get dry. Correct.
Senator:Oh, wow. That's true.
Gizmo:That's that's what it is.
Chef:That's right. That's right, sensei.
Poobah:Wow. Sensei.
Gizmo:So we will see what's next.
Bam Bam:Correct. Yeah. Stay tuned.
Poobah:Well, there is some dried fruit. There's a lot of dried fruit. You know, I I
Bam Bam:I just find it hilarious.
Gizmo:There's a lot of dried fruit.
Bam Bam:There's so much hesitation on all of your parts to say those
Poobah:words. It's You know? So I'll go there.
Bam Bam:I mean This gets to hilarious.
Poobah:So no. I'll go there because we all know that that Dan's modus operandi is like the first person to comment on the on the cold draw
Bam Bam:no matter what. You're stealing my thunder.
Poobah:What are you doing? So so before we even go there, I will say it does have, you know, some Fig Newton going on.
Rooster:Lot of fig.
Bam Bam:And raisin.
Gizmo:It tastes like you bit into a Fig Newton or It's delicious. Had a handful of raisins on the cold draw.
Poobah:Yeah. For sure. So, bam, I took that off your shoulders.
Bam Bam:Thank you, sir.
Poobah:Not a note I call out on a consistent basis. However Don't you
Bam Bam:dare call it out on a consistent basis. However
Senator:You may become afflicted with dry fruit
Poobah:it is. Every episode, you may start calling out dried fruit.
Bam Bam:I resent the commentary. Side effects include
Senator:side effects include not sharing cigars, not setting up your tower humidifier.
Bam Bam:Also incorrect. Tower, yes.
Poobah:Yes. Well well, the adverse events associated with Bam Bam are not associated with me. However
Gizmo:Yes.
Poobah:But I would but but I do, those are the that's pretty pretty prevalent.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Poobah:Probably.
Gizmo:Bam then came under the crosshairs in a second voice memo when he didn't share one of his famous Opus Dubai cigars with Tuxedo Timmy and the lizards at PCA. So I didn't mention that there's a part 2 to the voice memo.
Poobah:Oh. No.
Bam Bam:No. For fuck's sake.
Poobah:There's more from Tuxedo Timmy?
Gizmo:I I forgot to mention it. Here we go.
Bam Bam:I can't wait.
Steve Saka:Oh, Gizmo. One more thing. How could I forget? So couple months before, PCA, I'm in a chat with, Rooster and and Bam on Facebook.
Pagoda:Oh, would you look at
Bam Bam:that? And
Steve Saka:I'm giving Bam a hard time because somehow he ended up with that Arturo Fuente Opus ex Dubai box that you guys tried to hold him accountable for.
Poobah:And
Bam Bam:This is absolutely an inside job.
Steve Saka:I'm looking right at you, Rooster.
Senator:Man, Bam.
Bam Bam:I would love Inside job.
Steve Saka:One of those Opus ex Dubois. What what a beautiful cigar. What a what an amazing set of bands those have on them.
Bam Bam:That's true.
Steve Saka:And Bam says to me, dude, I'll bring you one to Vegas. So lo and behold
Senator:I remember
Steve Saka:I show up to Vegas. I come right did. You know, you guys you guys know how I roll.
Bam Bam:He was very generous about it.
Steve Saka:Vegas and Very generous. Timmy, cup see the change was very one-sided, Bam. And,
Senator:welcome to the club,
Chef:Tuxedo, Timmy. Even your
Steve Saka:fellow lizards there showed up and
Bam Bam:Not true.
Steve Saka:And showed the love. I mean, senator of all guys
Bam Bam:Of all guys.
Steve Saka:Showed up and and gifted me, like, 4 amazing new world cigars.
Senator:He says that because I had met him till that day.
Bam Bam:It's a team effort. It's a team effort.
Steve Saka:I gave him an shook his hand, gave him a hug. I did not leave our hearf with an Opus ex Dubai. Oh. And I just think as,
Poobah:Well
Steve Saka:as the committee of lizards that you all are, you would be doing fellow lizards a disservice if you did not make the community aware of this egregious
Bam Bam:Oh, boy. Act.
Pagoda:No. No. No. No. No.
Pagoda:No.
Gizmo:No. No.
Poobah:No. No. No. No. No.
Poobah:No. No. No. No. No.
Poobah:No. No. No. No. No.
Pagoda:No. No.
Steve Saka:No. No. No. No. No.
Steve Saka:No. No. No. No. No.
Steve Saka:No. No. No. No conversation. Gizmo has the proof.
Steve Saka:And, yeah, man. First impressions are everything.
Senator:Alright. Oh. So This is unbelievable. This
Pagoda:is ridiculous.
Poobah:Of all time. I
Bam Bam:don't remember this conversation at all.
Poobah:Oh, of course.
Bam Bam:Hold on.
Rooster:I have it.
Bam Bam:Tuxedo Tim. You have
Poobah:it. You have it? Send
Bam Bam:hold on. Tuxedo Tim, you send your address to Gizmo, I'll you a Dubai.
Gizmo:He just said he doesn't want you to send him anything. No.
Poobah:But he
Senator:It's too late.
Gizmo:You said You get one chance to make
Senator:a first impression?
Bam Bam:I don't remember that.
Poobah:He said or you said, are you coming to PCA? And you said yes. He goes he said, I'm gonna bring you
Rooster:a couple of good like sticks, and you said, I'm gonna give you a Opus to buy.
Bam Bam:Well, he promised me an LGC number 4, which he never gave me. Oh. He did say that in his text.
Senator:What did he give him? He only gave him, like, 4 amazing cigars, but that's not enough.
Rooster:What did you give him?
Poobah:Not a thing. So here's what I'm
Gizmo:looking at, by the way. I'm looking at the chat.
Poobah:This is the accountability now. Right, champ. Gotcha.
Gizmo:A screenshot of it. Of course, he
Poobah:did.
Gizmo:And he said, it it, This is great.
Poobah:Of course.
Gizmo:The tuxedo Timmy says, send me something. I'd love to try an Opus Dubai, or better yet, just bring your best to PCA and so will I. And, Bam, our friend here goes, dude, if you're going to PCA, I'll see you there with the Dubai in hand.
Bam Bam:Oh, my god. Did I actually
Poobah:say this? Oh, did I say that?
Gizmo:We have proof. My lord.
Bam Bam:I actually don't even remember any of that, but I We've heard that before. Get send gives your address. I gotta Dubai. Yeah. I'll say it.
Poobah:Way to it.
Chef:Introduction of
Bam Bam:this new evidence. Well, I'll
Poobah:reparations will
Senator:be made. I also, Bam, am vindicated, my friend. With? You are. I had never spoken to Tuxedo Timmy online or in person before PCA.
Senator:Okay. Not once. Months before, you, my friend, were messaging with him. Wow. So when he says even senator, as in we have never spoken, we have never met, we have no clue who each other is.
Poobah:We had
Bam Bam:some intimate conversations. I took notice.
Poobah:All we did is chat
Senator:at PCA, and I, as any gracious lizard should, he unexpectedly gifted us some cigars, and I wanted to give him some cigars that he had on the
Poobah:way to try.
Gizmo:Also came in hot as well. Yeah.
Poobah:You knew him, and Gizmo did
Senator:as well. Now you knew
Bam Bam:you came unprepared to Vegas.
Senator:You were chatting with him for months prior. You actually knew who this person was. I did not.
Gizmo:Correct.
Poobah:And you came empty handed.
Bam Bam:You know, tuxedo Timmy, you're putting me on the spot, but I, would like I would make reparations to any of our listeners at any time.
Gizmo:So that also opens the door. There might be more listeners out there.
Rooster:You can start with the listeners.
Bam Bam:I could
Gizmo:There might be
Poobah:other leaders out
Gizmo:in this room.
Bam Bam:I mean That is not
Pagoda:true. Been let
Poobah:down. So
Bam Bam:sure. I categorically untrue. I am
Rooster:I've been on Bam's birthday.
Poobah:I gave him a I gave him her a a Vegas rebania. I I I I 2011, which is the greatest cigar in the world. I gave him an LG. What did I give him? An LG 898 on my deck.
Poobah:I gave him a VR. Fucking nothing. I don't give it to my house. First classico of his life at my house, the famous night. Yeah.
Poobah:I have to say him a classico too.
Gizmo:Let's hear from his attorney.
Chef:To say with the introduction of this new evidence
Bam Bam:I sit in silence.
Chef:With the introduction of this new evidence, it's it's pretty damned. And and the it's a surmountain wound. I'm declining I'm declining counsel forthwith. I paid your retainer.
Bam Bam:I paid you the retainer.
Pagoda:I'll I'll Venmo you. I I thought you were gonna say, hey. You better plead guilty.
Poobah:I just I mean, this is a case.
Pagoda:The minimum is.
Poobah:This is a legitimate case. I you did say we're gonna do the
Rooster:Opus Dubai on the pod.
Poobah:What you just said about giving cigars to every other listener, the damages are insurmountable at this point.
Pagoda:I'm out.
Gizmo:Didn't you say that?
Poobah:I'm just We're gonna
Gizmo:do it by the way. Dubai on the By the way, I don't have the Opus Dubai on the calendar. We do have it on? We do have a Magnum R in the short smoke special next week. I don't have an Arturo Fuente Opus Dubai on the calendar.
Bam Bam:It's ready and available.
Senator:I just wanna say I'm happy to do a public service and serve as the claims administrator. So for all lizards who wanna submit a claim for some cigars that Bambam owes
Poobah:them Who
Bam Bam:are you now? The the new lizard administrator?
Gizmo:Senator, I'm talking about a class action.
Poobah:Class action. That's right.
Rooster:And I'm gonna
Senator:be the claims of
Poobah:this here. Clarkson Lawson.
Senator:Make sure that
Poobah:everybody has the lawless action.
Rooster:All the listeners are involved.
Poobah:His fucking birthday giving them the number 2 like a fucking 2008. Hell yeah. Guys. Guy what did I get? Why do you get 2 of us?
Poobah:I got I got a fucking Hemingway. That's not true. At 2 AM. We tossed it across the room.
Bam Bam:It's unfair. Blindsided tonight. Blindsided.
Gizmo:I so I am asking any other listeners out there who have any claims, against BAM
Bam Bam:It's gonna be very silent.
Gizmo:For unfilled orders. You didn't even know this. Orders? You don't even remember what you promised.
Bam Bam:Running a fucking retail establishment here? Sounds like it.
Pagoda:I mean, they there
Rooster:is there is one person that he does give a lot of he's very generous towards him.
Senator:Oh, who's EDF. EDF. Do you know how many times I go in the lounge and EDF has this crazy cigar and say, where did you get that? He says, Dan give it to me. I said, well, apparently, I need to change my name to Ediev.
Bam Bam:That's not true.
Poobah:That's why
Senator:I say that every time.
Poobah:So you
Bam Bam:know what I
Poobah:you know what Ediev Yes.
Bam Bam:You know what I tell Ediev and I tell everybody? Just tell me what you want. I've been telling
Senator:you what I want. Tell me
Poobah:what tuxedo, Timmy did. He told you what
Senator:he wanted. Tuxedo Tim,
Poobah:and you
Senator:said you'd bring it in him.
Bam Bam:So I completely forgot about that conversation. So tuxedo Tim, I owe you.
Gizmo:So I I stand with senator here as our claims administrator.
Poobah:Uh-huh.
Gizmo:I I would like to hear from any other listeners who have been slighted.
Bam Bam:I don't.
Gizmo:In any way. I don't.
Senator:Send them to Giz. I will judiciously process through all of them. We'll make sure that reparations are paid in a timely manner. With interest? That's right.
Senator:With interest.
Poobah:That judiciously. You're not the judge. You're the clerk.
Bam Bam:Jack, you're right. Makes a mystery.
Poobah:That's basically the judge. He's the fucking clerk.
Bam Bam:No. There won't be any of that. I assure you. I assure you. Rooster, take care over there.
Poobah:Crushed. It's getting crushed.
Gizmo:So, yeah, you got taken attached tonight, my friend.
Bam Bam:Correct. Correct. Correct. Correct. Like I said, I'm happy to entertain.
Poobah:Can I just say, Bam, we fucking love you?
Bam Bam:I love you. I love you.
Gizmo:I gotta tell you, Bam, your ability to create content for this podcast is unmatched, unprecedented. Knows no bounds. It has never been seen quite like this.
Poobah:No. And and Starbound. It's called true sacrifice. True sacrifice. With a fist.
Poobah:With a fist.
Bam Bam:His fist
Pagoda:in the
Poobah:air right now.
Rooster:And we implore Tuxedo Timmy to keep, keep those voice memos.
Pagoda:Yes. Nothing else to talk
Bam Bam:about. It's done.
Gizmo:We don't
Poobah:know that. No. No. No. No.
Poobah:There could
Bam Bam:be more
Poobah:listener of the pot. There could be more there. His voice memos are exemplary in the delivery. When I get a working phone, I'll
Bam Bam:be talking to him a lot.
Poobah:Yeah. By the way, this is amazing.
Gizmo:Bam spam doesn't have a cell phone right now.
Poobah:He was he was texting us all day from his MacBook.
Bam Bam:Exactly. Like a like a dinosaur. You were what?
Rooster:We might go from drive
Bam Bam:to to drop this disabled. It's not working. I dropped it. It's not working.
Poobah:Did you back up all that shit onto your air Apple AirPod or whatever it is? I don't know. Text him from his
Pagoda:Bad. He's
Gizmo:taking us all day from his back.
Poobah:You're at risk right
Senator:now, babe. From the car?
Bam Bam:Just a run of bad luck here. Run of bad luck. Oh
Poobah:my goodness.
Gizmo:So I think we also, you know, just to put a
Senator:You know, this run of bad luck, there's a thing called karma. Yeah. You may wanna just, you know, distribute some of those cigars, and everything will be better.
Poobah:I think he needs to spend more time up in Goshen. Digging ditches. I think,
Gizmo:you know, listen, to to put a bow on this whole discussion, I I think we need to come together as as an operation, as a podcast, as a community As a supportive group. And and and as we did a year and a half ago, very different than now, we need to find a way to come together and lift our friend.
Senator:I love you said very different than now.
Gizmo:This is safe. I was trying. I was trying. We're trying to lift our friend
Bam Bam:It's very dramatic. Places. Very dramatic.
Poobah:Oh, I
Gizmo:didn't create this situation.
Chef:What's what's the next, fruit that we're gonna equate?
Rooster:A rotten fruit.
Bam Bam:I'm thinking about it. I think it's cream and honeysuckles coming coming out. I love it. Yeah. I love it.
Bam Bam:Boy. Yeah.
Gizmo:Bam's eyebrows just went up.
Pagoda:I think you did use that. I think it's honeysuckle.
Rooster:That's a sophisticated palette if you can get honeysuckle notes on anything.
Gizmo:You know, when I think back to the original Bam Bam accountability hour, I think about what happened here today. I think the world is gonna be a better place after this discussion.
Poobah:Aren't we ready to do the ratings?
Gizmo:Oh, yeah. We're getting there.
Rooster:Alright. Oh, yeah. It's dang?
Poobah:Yeah. Oh, the cigar well, the cigar's a 10. It's a 10.
Chef:Can we just skip it? I'm
Bam Bam:not doing it again.
Poobah:The cigar the cigar is a the cigar is a 10. The bourbon's a 10. I just love the cigar. I'm like, yeah. Everything's a 10.
Bam Bam:Very high praise from the, the
Poobah:scrubs and everything in the corner. Everything's a 10. It's a it's a 10 for me. It's a 9 for me. It's a 9 for me.
Poobah:Come on. I can't help it.
Gizmo:I I will say that was I feel I feel better now. I feel like there's a weight off my shoulders.
Bam Bam:I'm glad you do.
Gizmo:Excuse me. I feel great.
Poobah:He's the one that got crucified. I know,
Gizmo:but I feel good. I this is good for the community. You know? The listeners are gonna benefit from this improvement. Correct.
Gizmo:Tuxedo Timmy, I hope you keep sending voice memos.
Chef:Sacrificed it on the altar of tobacco.
Bam Bam:Get his your address. I'll take care of you, buddy.
Gizmo:Alright. We'll make that happen.
Bam Bam:I love you, bro.
Chef:That weight off your shoulders are the sins of the world.
Senator:2035, he's gonna get those cigars.
Gizmo:No. We
Poobah:get next at the next
Rooster:PCA. Right?
Chef:Once the PCA. Yeah.
Bam Bam:In New York.
Rooster:No. No. No.
Bam Bam:I'll bring him with me to Louisiana at
Poobah:the next PCA. No. No. No. No.
Poobah:Hand.
Gizmo:We'll see you in New Orleans, Timmy.
Bam Bam:That's correct. He'll have it
Senator:for it when PCS in Dubai. Dubai. Exactly right. Once the string
Bam Bam:lights are up.
Gizmo:Tuxedo Timmy then set his sights on me for not bringing in enough cigars over 50 ring gauge, and the other lizards were thrilled.
Steve Saka:There's so many great cigars out there that are greater than 50 on the ring gauge, and I just think you guys are doing a big disservice to the community by only reviewing or primarily reviewing cigars that have a reengage of 50 or less. So, I'm expecting all of you guys to hold Gizmo accountable and select more cigars that have a reengage of greater than 50.
Pagoda:Yes, Timmy. Like that.
Steve Saka:Gotta hold this guy accountable.
Poobah:I I I I I well, all I have to say is quote, unquote, another Lancero, boys. Yep. Another Lancero tonight for the pod.
Rooster:Another Lonsdale.
Poobah:Another Lonsdale tonight. Even Gizmo looked at this cigar before he
Senator:cut, and he's like, is this a Lansdowne? Yeah. He did.
Poobah:I know it's a 46. I said, no. It's 46, and I never even saw the cigar before. Timmy, I mean, that's a shot over the bat a shot over the bow. It's pretty
Bam Bam:right on the
Poobah:money. It's pretty right on the money. Yeah.
Senator:I I just think Tuxedo Timmy needs to add Esquire at the end of his name.
Bam Bam:I also think he has way too much time on his head.
Senator:That was perfectly articulated the the case, and Gizmo is guilty as charged.
Poobah:Totally. He's totally guilty as charged.
Senator:I mean, for instance, this cigar
Bam Bam:In my book, you're innocent.
Gizmo:Thank you, Bam.
Pagoda:Alright?
Gizmo:I appreciate you.
Pagoda:Correct.
Senator:I am Guilty.
Bam Bam:I am Careful, Giz. Sequestering myself out of this comment.
Senator:Careful, Giz. He expects an Opus Dubai in return.
Bam Bam:I got plenty of those.
Senator:By by the way, speaking of Tuxedo Timmy, so what did he think of the Opus Dubai that you sent him? You you would have sent it by now. Right, Ben?
Poobah:Sent it by now. He had
Bam Bam:it on his golf cart. I saw it. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Poobah:Well, what are you sending? The glove fits so you can't equip.
Gizmo:Alright. Let me ask a question. So, obviously, I love Lancero's, Lonsdales, etcetera. Coronas, we know that. We had a good run of Lancero's and Lonsdales, and I felt
Poobah:A good run. We we felt an eternity. An eternity run. That's true.
Gizmo:I I feel like that's an under celebrated line of cigars. Everybody loves to smoke big ring gauge cigars.
Poobah:Went a little far.
Senator:That's correct.
Poobah:Just am I wrong?
Bam Bam:You are the procurement master.
Poobah:He went a little far, but but but but so in but in Gizmo's defense, he does a lot of work for the show. He does a lot
Bam Bam:of This is not an atonement, Adam.
Poobah:I'm not What do we do?
Senator:Not atonement. Also, in Gizmo's in Gizmo's defense, as we've seen with his photos, he has small hands.
Poobah:Oh. He does, actually. Come on.
Rooster:That is not true.
Poobah:He's like an ewok. I wish you guys It's not it's not it's not
Bam Bam:it's not a lie because when he sends a photograph of a cigar, it looks like a baseball baton.
Gizmo:There is
Poobah:something wrong with that. No. That's correct.
Gizmo:Measured our hands. Yours and my hands are the same.
Poobah:No. A half corona looks like looks like a corona gorda in his in his Ewok hand.
Bam Bam:So Louisville Slugger in his hand, dude.
Poobah:He's an Ewok. His hairline is an Ewok. He's got a beard. He's like an Ewok. But but but anyway, I think that the point is well taken, and, maybe we'll make a conscious effort as as a group to, to do some larger rings ring gauge cigars.
Poobah:I think it's I think it's duly noted.
Senator:I think look. Even just taking a listener's perspective out of this, if you just we've talked about where the the global market is headed in cigars. It is larger ring gauge
Poobah:stuff.
Senator:And so I do think we have responsibility to review some larger ring gauge sticks. And
Poobah:Yes.
Senator:I even think, like, for this cigar, like, you know, I could have bought a box of any size that they make, and my preference was to have this in a 52 ring gauge Robusto Largo.
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Senator:And even smoking this, I do prefer that Robusto Largo to this cigar. And so Yeah. I think there's some merit to
Gizmo:what you see your
Senator:Timmy is saying there.
Rooster:And Yeah.
Senator:I really think that we ought to be keeping that
Poobah:in mind. We should do more more larger, ring gauge cigars and explore some of these things. And, I think it's constructive feedback. Thank you, Tuxedo Timmy.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I'd like to hear some recommendations from the listeners on some larger larger ring gauge cigars.
Gizmo:I agree.
Bam Bam:Absolutely. I
Gizmo:mean, we could have
Rooster:done this in a Robusta. I think it would have taken the same amount of time.
Chef:Yeah. It would have.
Gizmo:For sure.
Poobah:For sure. Definitely.
Gizmo:For Tuxedo Timmy's point, I think there's definitely validity in the new world space. There's no question about that. When I'm looking for a new world, I'm always looking for something a little left to center, you know, that that's not a standard robusto. I'm always looking for that. We do robustos sometimes.
Gizmo:We did the dab it off a couple weeks ago. But Every every time
Senator:we do a Liga, Gizmo is like, I ordered the Corona Viva. Every time that that's your, like, go to when Pagoda is the one always saying, like, the larger ones The double Kronos are really good. Are are much better.
Bam Bam:And then he sits down to scruntle. He's got a small ring gauge
Gizmo:to go on his head.
Rooster:You know, bigger ring gauge cigars are also also cooler. You know, they smoke cooler.
Bam Bam:Are there many it's, are there many Cuban cigars in the larger ring gauge?
Rooster:Now there are.
Poobah:Sure. There are. Now the Kanye a. You got the Connie b.
Bam Bam:We did those.
Gizmo:I think we've done I think we've done more
Poobah:Cuban, bigger
Gizmo:ring gauge cigars than we've done New World. Several months later, Bam made good on the Opus Dubai promise as we celebrated episode 150, and we put a button on Bam's long dried fruit journey with a gift from lizard Luigi. It's episode 150.
Bam Bam:My lord.
Gizmo:If you can believe it. So we started the celebration last week, of course. We did a little champagne. Mhmm. We celebrated senator's birthday.
Gizmo:It was a nice beginning to our celebration. And tonight, because we don't like to repeat ourselves, for the first time ever, the entire room has no idea what cigar we're smoking.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Rooster:Is it a pre embargo Davinoff?
Gizmo:It is not.
Bam Bam:I think it's a soccer special.
Gizmo:We don't have that kind of, we don't have that kind of budget.
Senator:Is it Rooster's favorite Zeno?
Gizmo:It could be. So in the interest of doing something special and something we've referenced in the past, we tonight are doing Oh
Chef:my goodness.
Gizmo:The Fuente Fuente. Wow. Opus x 2020, the Opus Dubai.
Senator:There it is.
Poobah:I called it. I called
Bam Bam:it. You did call it, you fuckers. Such a downer.
Rooster:Look at that
Gizmo:box. Look at this presentation.
Rooster:Beautiful box. Look at that.
Senator:Now is this Bam Bam's box?
Gizmo:This is Bam Bam's box.
Bam Bam:Look at this. Indeed.
Gizmo:So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take 1
Chef Ricky:So you knew what it was And
Gizmo:I'm gonna pass around. He did not.
Bam Bam:I respect my par. Don't. Thank
Poobah:you, man.
Chef:For fuck's sake.
Senator:He's he's Bam Bam by day, Alec Baldwin by day. Thank you.
Bam Bam:And somewhere, Miguelito's lurking around.
Poobah:Somewhere in the depths.
Rooster:How how many do we take?
Gizmo:You take 4 each
Rooster:out of
Gizmo:the box of 20. So, finally, we have a gift from a listener for Bam tonight. This is from lizard Luigi who's written us a lot. He won lizard of the week a few weeks ago. He says, hey, lizards.
Gizmo:I'm listening to the JC Newman shark episode, and hearing Bam being taken to task about his dried fruit notes has encouraged me to do my part and help Bam further hone his seemingly one act play dried
Poobah:fruit salad.
Bam Bam:That is the knife to the belly if I've ever heard one.
Gizmo:So lizard Luigi says, please accept this dried fruit fruit platter
Poobah:Wow.
Gizmo:As a training to this.
Bam Bam:Look at this.
Gizmo:To get Bam to understand exactly what the hell he's tasting. That is awesome. That's from Costco, by the way. So this this is actually dead serious. This is not cheap.
Gizmo:This is a really high quality Harry and David. Yeah. Platter.
Bam Bam:Lizard Luigi, thank you
Gizmo:so much. That is that is quite the case. Very, very kind.
Bam Bam:That's very generous.
Gizmo:So I think and I think that this is exactly what we're talking about for all the ball busting we do in this room Uh-huh. Of Bam and the rest of us. This is exactly what it's about. The listeners out there, we love you, and we know that you love us. And
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:I think
Gizmo:this is an awesome homage to this ongoing joke with Bam that turned into something
Bam Bam:we're going to call. I've got goosebumps right now.
Gizmo:Thank you
Bam Bam:so much. That's very cool.
Gizmo:So that's a dry fruit platter for Bam.
Bam Bam:That's awesome.
Chef Ricky:It's a dry fruit flavor.
Bam Bam:My man.
Gizmo:And he says, as always, I enjoy the pod. You guys make Tuesday the best day of
Chef:the week. Awesome. That's great.
Gizmo:So thanks again, guys, and that's from Blizzard Luigi.
Bam Bam:Wonderful. Wonderful.
Rooster:I mean, I must say in Bam's defense.
Senator:Rooster coming to Bam's defense.
Poobah:Wow. This is the
Gizmo:first This is new.
Rooster:I would say 40% of the cigars on the cold roll, you do get dried fruit.
Bam Bam:You get
Gizmo:a raisin.
Rooster:Some kind of
Poobah:fig Apricot.
Bam Bam:Not? A raisin, you're gonna get. Today today, I got apple.
Chef Ricky:And you know what you find in dried apricots? Citrus.
Gizmo:Wow. Right? Yeah.
Bam Bam:A little bit.
Poobah:Yeah. Sure.
Bam Bam:My man. Thank you for corroborating.
Rooster:So you're on to something. Yeah.
Poobah:No. I I think it's cheese.
Senator:Every year, it's a different note.
Poobah:Last year, it was citrus. This is the year of the dried fruit,
Bam Bam:and next year, we're gonna find out. Honestly, I we haven't hit citrus except for the Sonata, the, aging room.
Poobah:Aging room.
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:Because you
Chef:you've been on the dried fruitcake, though.
Bam Bam:I have been, but we haven't had many cigars
Poobah:since this
Gizmo:trip. Though. I think I think citrus has been a note that we haven't found in a lot of the recent cigars we've been smoking. The the notable one is that age of room, which I get every time. I think of you every time, you know, as as we smoke that cigar.
Rooster:But, like, Corona's Claro, I mean, that's got
Bam Bam:Oh, a lot of citrus, orange peel. Yeah. Yeah. Agreed.
Gizmo:So, yeah, thanks to all the listeners. We had a ton of comments and emails on dried fruit. I've probably gotten more stuff on dried fruit than anything else
Bam Bam:in the
Rooster:last year.
Bam Bam:You know what? I'm feeling course. I am feeling the love tonight.
Gizmo:You should with this dried fruit platter. So that puts a button on that, boys, on episode 150 tonight. I thought that was a fun little
Chef Ricky:That just
Chef:means the agree would
Gizmo:ban. Exactly.
Poobah:My my shirt looks like an ashtray.
Bam Bam:Thank you, chef.
Poobah:I'm wearing a white shirt.
Rooster:We need a cigar bib. Yeah.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Look like Pesotto tonight.
Gizmo:Chef Ricky led a holiday food discussion on episode 162, which then devolved into Rooster sharing his vegan plans, us learning about the Coon Spoon, and the discovery that Bam hasn't been in a grocery store in years. Sennader then invited Bam to play The Price is Right at the end of the episode. And listen, it sets us up for a great cigar? Yeah. Right?
Gizmo:Correct. Great meal.
Poobah:Mhmm.
Gizmo:What's the perfect follow-up?
Chef Ricky:Right in
Gizmo:a A great cigar.
Bam Bam:Right in
Gizmo:Chef's cigar lounge at home. Well, that's what we're gonna do. Absolutely. Go there. We're gonna have the beef Wellington.
Gizmo:What was the what was the dessert? The buffon?
Rooster:Banoffee. Banoffee.
Chef Ricky:Banoffee. Sticky top.
Gizmo:We're gonna have it all, Bam, and then we're gonna have some cigars.
Chef:I need his address.
Gizmo:Bam, what's your, meal plan for the, for the holidays?
Bam Bam:For Christmas? Yeah. Leg of lamb. Oh, nice. Usually, leg of lamb.
Gizmo:Do you go to the Costco Business Center to get that?
Bam Bam:No. I don't buy anything.
Senator:Costco Business.
Bam Bam:So missus Bam Bam buys everything. I don't know where she gets it.
Chef Ricky:Mean you don't go to Costco?
Poobah:I don't
Senator:What's wrong with you?
Bam Bam:I can't flu shop. I don't know how to do it.
Gizmo:You don't know how
Poobah:to do it? How to do
Bam Bam:it? No. I just
Gizmo:make I'll be honest. It's not that hard. Accountability hour part 3.
Bam Bam:I I also do the laundry.
Gizmo:So New Year's Eve episode.
Senator:And, Gus
Rooster:Man makes banoff. So which which part
Poobah:of the shopping experience is hard? The shopping cart, the putting it in the cart, getting the Getting myself bagging the groceries? No. I I'm
Bam Bam:a good bagger, but I can't get myself to go to the supermarket. I can't do it.
Gizmo:Is it because you're a celebrity? Like, you're afraid of being a comedian?
Bam Bam:I just I just don't
Senator:I Wait.
Gizmo:Are you Bam Bam from the Lounge Lizards podcast?
Bam Bam:I get that from time
Poobah:to time. Do. I do. Oh, yes.
Gizmo:He looks formidable. I think that might be him. No.
Bam Bam:I don't I don't I don't go I don't go to the supermarket often.
Poobah:When is the last time you've been at his supermarket? Years. That is This cannot be serious.
Gizmo:Are you kidding?
Bam Bam:It's I'm not lying. Come on. I've also I haven't ever done laundry, and we've talked about that before. So there are things I just don't do. I don't I don't do them.
Bam Bam:I don't know.
Poobah:This is the gift that keeps on giving.
Bam Bam:So I make a list of things. I actually make, like, lists of entrees, and she figures it out.
Gizmo:Oh, is that order in
Bam Bam:Yeah. So the lamb with the what's the with the root vegetables, I love that.
Chef Ricky:Oh, roasted root vegetables. Okay.
Bam Bam:All root vegetables for Christmas with
Chef Ricky:my snips.
Gizmo:This is crazy.
Bam Bam:I just don't go shopping.
Senator:I can't get over it.
Senator:I know. Someone's saying they haven't been
Senator:in a supermarket in years.
Bam Bam:Yes. So today, I needed, like, chicken breast because I needed a protein for a meal, and I'm, like, calling missus Bam Bam. Are you gonna go to Whole Foods and then come home, or are you gonna go to work and then go
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:to Whole Foods? I
Chef Ricky:need to eat. Let me introduce you to Instacart.
Poobah:I
Gizmo:know. Your life is really so stressful.
Poobah:Do it.
Bam Bam:It's just something I don't do. Alright. I need a drink.
Gizmo:But here's the thing, though, senator.
Bam Bam:I'm taking a drink.
Poobah:Drink. It all aligns. I don't know what that means.
Senator:It's am I wrong?
Poobah:I know what that means.
Bam Bam:What does that mean?
Gizmo:Senator knows what I mean, and so do the listeners. Correct.
Bam Bam:Yeah. That's not right.
Rooster:Just wait till we get the emails.
Gizmo:Oh, yeah. We're gonna get some emails. So, Rooster
Rooster:Yeah.
Gizmo:No meat for your protein. What will No.
Poobah:Actually, I don't say
Senator:it, though.
Bam Bam:Soy ball. A soy a fucking
Pagoda:a ball of soy. Tofurky.
Poobah:Tell her
Bam Bam:It's like a basketball, but it's a soy.
Rooster:It's gonna be a leg of tofu.
Gizmo:Crown roast, baby. When he, 1 year,
Bam Bam:said he's gonna have a soy ball
Gizmo:Oh my god.
Poobah:I would
Pagoda:I didn't know what to think.
Rooster:Actually, Trader Joe's makes makes a pretty good vegan roast, and my wife's going to make a she's
Poobah:gonna make
Gizmo:a vegan Holy cow.
Poobah:Trader Joe's
Senator:soy ball.
Bam Bam:Is it seitan? Is that what it is?
Rooster:I don't know what it is, but it's good. And she's gonna make a
Chef Ricky:vegan shepherd's pie. Nobody's going to roostle's pie.
Gizmo:Alright. No. Did you notice how I didn't say my Yeah.
Bam Bam:We're going to chef's house.
Gizmo:Yeah. We'll be at chef's.
Rooster:Good. My tower is safe.
Poobah:Oh, gosh. Now I
Chef Ricky:know Don't don't underestimate the power of a charcuterie board. You know, we're talking main dishes here, but recruiters definitely got a a beautiful charcuterie board out so you could keep your I
Bam Bam:have to say one thing, though. There was one Easter. The senator sent the photo. This was years ago, and I haven't forgotten this. You know where I'm where I'm going.
Bam Bam:That bread pudding?
Poobah:That's my wife's. Dude.
Senator:It's a plus.
Bam Bam:Do you guys remember that fucking photograph? That thing
Senator:wild thing, Bev, like I didn't even know what it was. Details. It was, like, probably the furthest dish in the photo.
Bam Bam:But he's He watched his zoo.
Poobah:Circled it.
Chef:I zoomed.
Senator:And nailed it. And that was probably the best dish on the table.
Poobah:I
Bam Bam:didn't know what it was. Because it was it was lumpy. It was crispy. It was chunky. I have never seen I don't know what the fuck it was.
Gizmo:Bread pudding?
Poobah:You know
Gizmo:what I'm saying? Pudding. We still haven't tasted it. Did you notice that?
Bam Bam:That I haven't had.
Gizmo:Just saying.
Bam Bam:Now I know there's a lot of culinary arts going on in the senator's house.
Chef:Correct.
Chef Ricky:My wife makes a croissant bread
Bam Bam:He doesn't talk about
Poobah:it. Mhmm.
Chef Ricky:With of another anglaise, and the bread pudding has a rum caramel. It's insane.
Gizmo:If I give you some Havana Club 7 Yes. Can I have some of that? I have
Bam Bam:a bottle of that too I can give you.
Gizmo:No. No. Forget him. Forget him. We're walk in here.
Bam Bam:Although he's got, like, 10 bottles. I got one.
Gizmo:Senator, I know you're going to Whistler. What's what's it looking like, man?
Chef Ricky:He's gonna have Canadian bacon.
Senator:Yeah. I'm gonna be eating poutine.
Poobah:No. Not the Canadians.
Bam Bam:I don't buy it.
Gizmo:He's gonna have cheese fries.
Bam Bam:Nope. I don't I don't buy it for a second.
Senator:No. Luckily, the Pacific Northwest has great food. I mean, the seafood out there is ridiculous. I mean, you'll get some of the best fish you can get. And oysters.
Senator:Oysters. There's a great place in Whistler Village. It's a place called O'Roxy. Amazing for apri. They've got, like, every kind of oyster you can imagine.
Senator:So the food scene is really good. I'm actually excited for that. I'm happy that I'm, like, off the hook for being fully responsible for cooking, which is nice, and we will all contribute the nights that we don't eat out. But, usually, Christmas for me, like, Christmas Eve is always heavy seafood. Christmas day is like a chateaubriand or, like, some fillets
Bam Bam:I'll throw on the
Senator:grill. So I'd like to adhere as close as I can. That's just what I it's like my tradition. It's what I like. So, hopefully, Christmas Eve will probably be some seafood, and then, I want a steak on Christmas day.
Bam Bam:So how many people are going up? The 3 of you.
Senator:I think 6 of us will be there.
Bam Bam:Oh, nice.
Gizmo:Yeah. Okay. That's manageable.
Bam Bam:And who typically who controls the menu when you're eating at home?
Gizmo:I mean, can
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:I Well
Gizmo:What kind of question?
Bam Bam:Has an in law to deal.
Gizmo:What kind of question is this?
Chef Ricky:Something senator doesn't control?
Pagoda:Oh, I I
Gizmo:think Thank you.
Poobah:That's exactly what I was going on.
Senator:I think he's not asking in my house. He's asking me to
Poobah:come out
Chef:to Whistler. When you're away.
Senator:Yeah. I have no control.
Bam Bam:It's a different it's a different scene.
Senator:Totally different.
Rooster:Yeah. It must be hard. Yeah.
Gizmo:Yeah. How's that how's that go?
Senator:Although, actually, I shouldn't say that. One of the years I went out there, I made steaks for everybody, and it got, like, rave reviews. But that's a mistake because then you get asked to make it again. So On the grill? No.
Senator:They didn't have a grill, so I had to do the the pan in the oven.
Bam Bam:I I kinda like that.
Senator:Came out perfectly.
Bam Bam:A flat sheet pan?
Senator:No. No. No. A cast iron cast iron Oh. Sear and then in the
Bam Bam:oven, just cook it. Like a steak in a cast iron pan. That caramelization that you get, that's off the charts.
Chef Ricky:So this is this is an egg
Poobah:and butter
Bam Bam:and rosemary.
Senator:But I'm
Chef Ricky:gonna tying. Timing garlic. Okay. Rosemary works too. But everyone this if you've never done it, try reverse searing, especially if you have a thick cut of steak, which I imagine on Christmas day, you do.
Chef:Reverse
Chef Ricky:what? Reverse searing. So it's
Gizmo:Reverse searing is the move.
Chef Ricky:It's the opposite. Right? So you put your oven on 200 degrees or 225 or 250 max. You put your raw steak into the oven. Also, dry brine your your meats.
Chef Ricky:Right. Like the wet brine on turkeys is messy because
Bam Bam:what type of surface are you putting it in the oven? You could put it
Chef Ricky:on a sheet pan with a rack.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Chef Ricky:Right.
Bam Bam:That's easy.
Chef Ricky:Now here, you the goal isn't to get color. The goal is to kind of cook it evenly throughout. So you get it to a rare temperature.
Gizmo:You wanna do rare? Yeah.
Chef Ricky:You pull it out at rare. You get a blazing hot cast iron pan, and then Stove top. When you sear on your stovetop. Yep. Super hot.
Chef Ricky:You know, preferably maybe avocado oil or something with a high smoke point.
Poobah:Mhmm.
Chef Ricky:So you're not smoking out everyone in the house. And then you sear your steak heavily, get caramelization. Hold on. Are you putting butter in there? Always base your proteins.
Chef Ricky:This is what we call our rosacea in the in the business. You're gonna use
Gizmo:In the buzz.
Chef Ricky:You're gonna use butter, thyme, and you got a head of garlic. You cut it in half. Don't even remove the the the skin the skin of the garlic. And you're just you know, your butter's gonna start to foam. Always wait for the butter to begin to foam, and then you're gonna take a spoon, preferably the largest you know, the spoon with the largest bowl, not like a large serving spoon, but, you know, I ideally, the perfect spoon is a coon spoon.
Chef Ricky:You should have enough time to get one on Amazon.
Pagoda:They're about to
Bam Bam:question raccoon spoon? Coons.
Gizmo:Coons. That's a questionable name.
Senator:What Hester uses to club the raccoon.
Chef Ricky:Great cool great cool.
Pagoda:Club them. Before you close your bag.
Gizmo:Nice nice patina on it before
Pagoda:you take
Gizmo:your steak. Correct.
Bam Bam:So the reason a cold skin your wrist. It's
Poobah:so serious. So is that how you
Rooster:get the steak medium plus? Oh.
Gizmo:The plus comes back. Oh my god. Great.
Poobah:A coon spoon. Coons
Bam Bam:spoon. Coons.
Chef Ricky:K k u n z is named after one of the most celebrated chefs, Grey Coons. May he rest in peace. He was one of the first chefs to get
Senator:The first raccoon at Brewster.
Poobah:The first one he chose now.
Chef Ricky:He was the chef of Les Panas in in in New York City in the eighties. They got one I believe it was the the first,
Senator:one of one of
Chef Ricky:the no. Michelin wasn't around yet. It was one of the first, three star ratings from the New York Times, or is it 4 stars? I forgot. I haven't seen the New York Times review in years.
Senator:The New York Times.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Chef Ricky:But this is when food reviews are horrible. This is when they were relevant. They were this was in the eighties, late eighties. And, yeah. So he created a spoon.
Chef Ricky:It has a perfect size well in the bowl of the spoon, and it allows you to grab enough of whether it's a pan sauce or you know? Because in higher, in Mission of the Star Kitchens or just in fine kitchens, it's frowned upon to use tongs to flip your meats or things like forks because you destroy the meat. So you're taught to flip meats and things like that with your spoon. So this spoon is, you know, it's, like, perfect for all of these things. So it's the perfect spoon to use for basting your meats.
Chef Ricky:So you throw your steak in the cast iron pan with your half head of garlic, with a few sprigs of thyme, with your butter. Let that butter foam up, and then just baste your meat.
Gizmo:Baste your meat, Pam.
Chef Ricky:That's a bad improve activity.
Gizmo:Oh, correct.
Poobah:With a Koonspoon.
Senator:With the Koonspoon.
Bam Bam:Love my basting.
Rooster:But before you do that, you gotta go grocery shopping.
Poobah:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:That's over for him.
Bam Bam:I am so sorry I fucking mentioned that.
Gizmo:By the way, can I just tell you as you're describing this, like, I'm I'm starving?
Poobah:I'm falling
Gizmo:in I'm falling in love with you.
Senator:I hate to say it, Gizmo. I'm sorry, but chef Ricky's coming to Whistler. He's not coming to your place.
Bam Bam:You know what I want? I want that steak and the bread pudding for dessert.
Gizmo:I'm gonna listen to this episode as I reverse sear my steak for Christmas. Yeah. I'm gonna listen to these full instructions.
Bam Bam:You're overlooking the bread pudding, though. That's, like, an underwritten shirt.
Gizmo:Bread pudding for me and you.
Rooster:We're still on the entrees.
Bam Bam:Alright.
Senator:So, yeah,
Chef Ricky:sear your meats, baste your meats, and, you know, please don't get soy balls for Christmas Yeah.
Poobah:Unless you
Chef Ricky:have unless you have to.
Bam Bam:Yeah. You're gonna have to send us a photograph of this soy ball.
Rooster:You got it.
Poobah:I'll put
Gizmo:it on the Instagram for the listener.
Bam Bam:It's gonna be like this white ball.
Gizmo:It'll be our most commented post ever. Rooster soy ball.
Poobah:Next.
Chef Ricky:Oh, man. I can't wait for Christmas.
Senator:I have a I have a quick segment before we close. The Price is Right with BAM. What's this now? How much does the carton of milk go for? I wanna hear this.
Gizmo:I'd love to hear this. Go. Wait. Wait. Is this a gallon of milk?
Senator:A gallon of milk.
Gizmo:Alright. A gallon of milk, Bam. Go.
Chef Ricky:Oh, this is great.
Poobah:Oh, $8? Oh my god. $8? $11.
Gizmo:Oh my god.
Poobah:$11. $11.
Bam Bam:I don't know. What? $5?
Gizmo:Higher. Higher.
Bam Bam:I don't fucking know. I don't do the shopping in
Pagoda:the house. I don't
Poobah:know. $4, man. $4 for
Bam Bam:a gallon.
Steve Saka:Oh, okay.
Poobah:Oh, my gosh.
Steve Saka:That's a good deal.
Rooster:What what about basil eggs?
Bam Bam:It's gotta be, like, $10. Oh, my
Poobah:gosh. This is incredible.
Pagoda:I don't know, dude.
Poobah:I mean,
Gizmo:this is so on brand.
Bam Bam:I don't know. I don't know.
Senator:His wife could come home and say, honey, I spent $500 at the grocery store. Okay.
Poobah:I bought 10 things. He's like, alright.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I don't get involved in any of that.
Poobah:Bam, you
Gizmo:are one of 1, man.
Bam Bam:You've said that before. I don't think that's
Gizmo:a compliment.
Pagoda:That is not a compliment.
Chef Ricky:Wow. You know, when I would be at home as a kid and, you know, you're home sick, you're watching The Price is Right with your grandma or your mom or whatnot. And I'd see some of these people up there and the prices that they're yelling out. I'm like, where the fuck do you buy groceries
Bam Bam:In Bam Bam World.
Rooster:Bam Bam
Poobah:Homes World. Bam Bam
Gizmo:Lands. Yeah. Pagoda has two running themes, car problems and losing cigar cases. In an incredible turn, he found a way to merge them into one unbelievable story on episode 160. So I gotta hear this story.
Gizmo:I can't wait anymore. We're 50 minutes in. Why? What happened? I can't I can't wait anymore.
Gizmo:I've tried to hold myself off. I was gonna go to listener email,
Poobah:but I can't do now?
Bam Bam:I don't know, but I'm waiting.
Gizmo:So, apparently, there's a volume 2 of the Pagoda vehicle saga.
Pagoda:Hey. What's going on here? I can't wait to hear you. Talking about?
Poobah:It was
Gizmo:it was teased to me by senator earlier, and I just we need to tell the listeners what happened here.
Pagoda:It wasn't me. The best part is it
Poobah:was teased to me, and, boy, was
Senator:it worth the wait. Mhmm. I saw Pagoda days ago, and Pagoda's about to leave, and he just leaves me with he goes, senator, I have to tell you a story the next time I call. You.
Poobah:And the next time he saw me, oh my goodness. I was dying laughing. The whole room was just dark laughing.
Senator:This is one of the
Poobah:greatest, like, just classic Pagoda stories of all time.
Gizmo:I'm ready. Ready. Go.
Bam Bam:Do you
Senator:wanna tell it, or do I have permission to tell it?
Pagoda:No. You go ahead and tell it.
Gizmo:Oh, that's a great story.
Poobah:He resigned. But I just resigned.
Pagoda:But I still don't think it would make.
Senator:So Pagoda tells me that he was, out late, you know, as usual, enjoying himself in the city. It was, I think a friend's birth someone's birthday.
Chef:Yeah.
Senator:So he was out at a birthday. He said the the the I'll start with his reasoning. He didn't have dinner. Mhmm. So a lot of, you know, lot of,
Pagoda:festivities. Possessions.
Poobah:He hasn't had a
Rooster:meal since Cuba, bro. Correct. Since the power outage
Poobah:in Cuba.
Pagoda:So my lights are still out.
Senator:So ended up at some bars in the city, Begota tells me that he got the last train out of the city back, here to Jersey. He gets out of the train station in Glenrock, and he's first, he he somehow realizes in the state that he's in that he
Poobah:thinks he forgot to pay for parking. So he decides at whatever ridiculous hour
Senator:of the night to then pay for parking after it's way past the time that he should have paid. He would have been ticketed already.
Bam Bam:Retroactively. Retroactively. He pays for it.
Poobah:So he's buying parking for his car. He's looking around the parking lot, and he can't find his car.
Pagoda:So And remind you, this is the middle of the night. It wasn't me, but there was nobody around.
Poobah:It wasn't me.
Senator:He's looking around this parking lot for
Poobah:his car. Can't find it. So the first thing he decides to do, after all he's consumed that night, he says, you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna call the police department. You wait.
Poobah:So you He calls the police department.
Pagoda:You you are hammered. Whoever that was, call the police department.
Gizmo:Let's just say, hypothetically, it's someone we know who might be in the room or might not be in that bedroom. So you're hammered, and you decide to call the police telling them that your intention was to find a car in the parking lot and to drive it home.
Pagoda:Correct.
Poobah:And then
Bam Bam:Oh my god.
Pagoda:And the first thing is now this is after walking around the parking lot a couple of times trying to locate my car.
Gizmo:And for the listener, this is a big public transit
Poobah:Correct.
Gizmo:Parking lot. There's probably Glenrock.
Pagoda:Right? I had Glenrock. Yeah.
Gizmo:Hundreds of spots.
Rooster:But you called the Ridgewood Police Station.
Pagoda:When I called the Glenrock.
Poobah:Oh, okay.
Senator:So he calls the police. 2 cop cars show up for this. And the cop says
Poobah:to him, what kind of car do
Senator:you have? He says, I have a Tesla. And they said, well, then did you check the app? The app will tell
Poobah:you where the car is.
Senator:I was like, no. I didn't check the app.
Poobah:So they're like, well, check the app. You don't need us to find the car. It'll tell you where it is. So he checks the app. He opens it up, looks at the location.
Poobah:It's sitting in his driveway. He never even took the car to the train station.
Rooster:But right away, he should
Poobah:have said, oh, my wife must have picked it up and took it home.
Pagoda:Whoever that person was wasn't thinking.
Poobah:And so that's the best part.
Pagoda:It was so embarrassing for the person.
Poobah:So that they give him a ride home in the back of the police car. He's sitting back there.
Senator:And pagoda just goes to me, it's really tight back there. It's really tight back there.
Pagoda:Well, now I can claim that, oh, whoever that was can claim that they had a ride in a cop car. It is bloody tight. It's ridiculous.
Gizmo:That is amazing.
Bam Bam:Wow.
Rooster:Were you cuffed?
Poobah:And didn't they
Gizmo:at least put on some music
Pagoda:for you? No. I wasn't. I'm sure they were laughing at it firstly because, you know, the idea is that you call the cops, and let's assume we found the car. What would have I done?
Pagoda:Would they have arrested me?
Rooster:No. They're there to serve and protect.
Senator:Oh, but I'm saying if
Gizmo:he went and got in the vehicle.
Bam Bam:No. If he was in it, yes.
Poobah:It's in his driveway. No. I'm saying
Senator:if he was in the parking lot happen
Chef Ricky:to be
Bam Bam:in the parking lot.
Rooster:I know you wouldn't have driven home at that time.
Pagoda:Yeah. I I don't think so.
Chef Ricky:No. He might have
Rooster:I mean, like, cops, could you drive me home? I'll pick up the car tomorrow.
Bam Bam:You are allowed to be drunk as long as you're not behind a car.
Rooster:That's right. That's fine.
Gizmo:Oh, shit. That's pagoda's father. Calling him to talk
Poobah:to you.
Rooster:Calling him. We found your car.
Gizmo:So here's the other question. I noticed tonight you walked in empty handed Yeah. Me too. Your solo.
Poobah:Oh, I left out the best part of the story. The man who's lost god knows how many cigars and cigar cases at this point says
Senator:to me his big Solo case this is a $400 Solo case.
Bam Bam:The big beautiful blue one. Yeah.
Gizmo:Oh, yeah. Like, 10 or 12 cigars.
Bam Bam:That's also cigars. By the way, that's a gorgeous case. Yeah. Shout
Gizmo:out shout out Manny Solo. He at manual solo.com makes amazing cases. And you
Rooster:didn't have one of those Apple AirTags.
Poobah:Oh, no. I asked about this. I've been telling him to get one for 2 years.
Senator:Forever. And and if pagoda's immediate response was, these tags are, like, 40, $50.
Bam Bam:They're $40.
Senator:And now he lost, like, probably $600 worth of stuff in that. So he goes, well, the the guy who experienced this Yeah.
Gizmo:Not Pigoda.
Senator:Who who who who was
Chef Ricky:Right. Right. Right.
Senator:Claims that it was in his briefcase. It was. And it just magically found its way out of the briefcase on the train ride to Glenrock.
Pagoda:Oh, okay. I have no idea where it is, and I can't seem to remember.
Bam Bam:Maybe it's in your office.
Pagoda:I asked all my buddies, did I bring it out? We were all in restaurants and bars, and all of them have said no. So I have no idea who's going
Rooster:last time this happened, you were able to retrieve it Yeah.
Pagoda:That was in the
Rooster:lost and found of
Pagoda:New Jersey Transit. Yeah. New Jersey
Bam Bam:Transit.
Rooster:So maybe maybe we should try that again.
Bam Bam:Should go back? Or it's probably in your basement somewhere.
Pagoda:Yeah. That's what I thought. It was at home. I've been looking around.
Bam Bam:And it never made it into the city.
Chef Ricky:Is it in the car?
Pagoda:I mean, I was definitely I have no idea where it is. Wow.
Bam Bam:Now hold on. Were the DuPont cutter and lighter in that case?
Pagoda:No. No. No. Now I don't carry DuPont.
Poobah:Lesson learned.
Pagoda:Well done.
Gizmo:Alright. Serious question. How many Sotelo cases have you lost since we started the podcast?
Bam Bam:Or cases in town? Cases. Oh, I don't know. Can I
Rooster:can I guess?
Gizmo:No. It's gotta be 5.
Bam Bam:I got 4. I'm calling 4. It's gotta be 5.
Senator:I'm going 5.
Rooster:I think 3.
Bam Bam:4 for me.
Poobah:What's the number, Pagoda? The problem is he never remembers these when these things happen.
Pagoda:This would be my 4th.
Bam Bam:I won. Ding. Ding. Ding.
Gizmo:So you've gotta be at least $3 into case and cigar and No.
Pagoda:No. No. Just about a grand because my first case was about a buck 50.
Gizmo:With all the cigars in it?
Bam Bam:That's, Yeah. That's at least And the other cigars. Oh. That's $400.
Gizmo:Oh. Oh.
Pagoda:Oh, yeah. I forgot. Yeah. Because these had the Mag, 46.
Poobah:He had the Bank 46 that we
Senator:got in Cuba.
Pagoda:Oh. Yeah?
Senator:He had them in there.
Pagoda:All 3 of them. Because it was my buddy's birthday, I thought I'd bring it out.
Poobah:But the AirTag is too expensive.
Senator:That's right.
Pagoda:No. But listen. What I don't understand is somehow I were able I was able to get it from Cuba, and now I still don't get to bloody try them. This is ridiculous. Wow.
Senator:Just so for the listener, go back. If you want a free solo or free cigars, ride the New Jersey transit late at night just to city to Glenrock. Guaranteed.
Gizmo:New York City to Glenrock. Correct?
Senator:Correct.
Gizmo:Yeah. You will find some gems.
Chef Ricky:Oh, yeah. Wow. Or go to a lost and found?
Gizmo:Yeah. Could be.
Senator:Yeah. Yeah. My name's Pagoda. I left my case on the train.
Bam Bam:Well, how
Pagoda:was another day.
Poobah:You know, you like, anybody could go up
Rooster:to the lost and found and say, how would you prove it? It? How would they know, like, it's yours?
Bam Bam:That's true.
Pagoda:Yeah. Oh, no. Yeah. So they
Senator:go ask you to describe it. When you go to any lost and found, they're like, what color is it? You know, describe it. You have to give something.
Rooster:You just you gotta get those AirTags.
Pagoda:AirTags. I do. Even all my you know, people hanging out on Saturday, and everybody would like, why don't you have AirTag?
Chef Ricky:Listen. This is probably the week to do it with all the Black Friday deals going on and Amazon and whatnot. Yeah. Yeah.
Senator:I have a bunch of a package of, like, 5 of them because even with the AirTags, somehow, you'll lose 4 more.
Poobah:Correct. So just buy, like, the get a bundle.
Bam Bam:And never buy a DuPont product ever again.
Pagoda:No. Never. Never. I've I've been I've been told that I should buy a few and just carry 1 in my pocket in case I get lost.
Poobah:Mister, thanks, man. Why don't you
Gizmo:give me access to your AirTag, and I'll
Rooster:tell you where you are
Senator:and throw 1 in your car? Yeah.
Poobah:In the car too. Yeah.
Pagoda:Oh, wow.
Gizmo:We smoked James Hetfield's blackened m eighty 1 on episode 100 and 18, and Bam treated us to some Metallica karaoke. A corona tonight from Drew Estate on the pod. It's called the blackened m eighty 1. It's a 43 ring gauge cigar by 5 inches long. And Bam Bam, I know you're excited.
Gizmo:I'm excited. We have entered the realm of Metallica. Correct? Oh, yeah.
Pagoda:Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:Bam promised that he was gonna do karaoke tonight.
Bam Bam:I'll do karaoke. I gotta get my lyrics.
Gizmo:So this cigar, I would argue, is pretty rustic.
Bam Bam:Very toothy. Very toothy.
Gizmo:Dark, And it looks with a very simple band on it that just says black. And there's a foot band as well
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:With m81 on it, which I pulled off. But, yeah. It's pretty cool. And,
Rooster:a Mexican San Andres rapper.
Gizmo:Yeah. And everything in it is Maduro.
Bam Bam:Looks like a powerful cigar. Yeah. It's gonna take a punch.
Gizmo:Here we go.
Poobah:Yeah.
Bam Bam:Who doesn't love Metallica? Come on. Reminds me
Gizmo:of Mariano Rivera coming out to the New York Yankees. Here we go, man. Go. True.
Poobah:I say your prayers, little one. Don't forget my son. To include everyone. Oh, it's perfect. Keep going.
Poobah:Duck you in, wall within. Keep you free from sin till the sandman he calls. Sleep with one eye open, gripping your pillow tight. Exit lights.
Gizmo:Alright. That's enough. Alright. Okay.
Senator:Giz, can you say it? Not even close.
Pagoda:No. Oh, come on. We have
Senator:a drop shot.
Bam Bam:Complete it. I have a drop shot. Hey. I'm into, like, 3 cigars tonight.
Rooster:I liked it.
Senator:Thank you.
Rooster:I thought it was good.
Bam Bam:Thanks, bro.
Gizmo:We discussed a new cigar bib Kickstarter in episode 132, and I unfortunately found myself needing one while we were discussing it. So, boys, there's a new product coming to market.
Bam Bam:I think it's I think we need that around here in this club for for sure. I need it. A few guys. For one of us. For a few guys.
Bam Bam:Yes.
Pagoda:I wonder who that is.
Bam Bam:You.
Senator:Actually, we needed this product back when we were recording in my garage. Alright.
Gizmo:So let's tell the listeners about it. So this is Lujo and Co Inc, has launched a Kickstarter campaign for what they're calling and has a they have a registered trademark, and they have the little r with the circle Nice. For cigar bibs,
Senator:which are Does the American Academy of Pediatrics approve this?
Pagoda:Can my son not
Senator:use one of these?
Gizmo:So they've put together a product. It's a cloth product, a fireproof piece
Rooster:of
Gizmo:fabric, with ornate writing and various colors and whatnot to put on your lap so that if you accidentally ash while you're smoking your cigar, you don't burn a hole in your very fancy or expensive clothes. Nice. So, by the way and so Halfwheel put this up. I've never seen more comments on something on Halfwheel, on a Halfwheel post than I did on this one. So it's on Kickstarter.
Gizmo:It's called the Cigar Bib by Luzhou and Co. What I found interesting is that the prices are
Bam Bam:wild. Mhmm. Are they customizable?
Gizmo:They are customizable. You can get different colors, different fonts, and whatnot. But the price, I believe, is supposed to have an MSRP of $469. Excuse me?
Senator:No way. I swear to God.
Bam Bam:Excuse me.
Rooster:Yeah. You're off by a 0.
Pagoda:I think Lucha Lucha lost his
Gizmo:So when you Lucha. It's Lucha.
Bam Bam:Lucha lost
Pagoda:their Mojo. Lucha. If
Gizmo:you support early, if you're an early champion Wow. As they call it on Kickstarter, you can get the cigar bib 40% off retail for $281. And they're offering it classic font, contemporary font, blue, green, all different colors. And, yeah. So they're trying to raise $30 on Kickstarter for the cigar bibs.
Pagoda:I really wanna see Al Sharpton and Michael Jordan wear these around.
Gizmo:I'll take a towel. I just, listen. I am I'm definitely notorious for dropping ash on myself. Sometimes, senator not all the time.
Senator:That's fair.
Gizmo:Every once in a while.
Pagoda:We launder the next day.
Gizmo:So yeah. And it comes with a drawstring tote bag so you could transport them to be used anywhere you desire to smoke.
Senator:Ah, that explains the price.
Bam Bam:Wow. The tote bag.
Gizmo:I mean, I just can't imagine walking into a a cigar lounge and you have your
Bam Bam:Putting a bib on.
Gizmo:You put your
Senator:you put your cigar in there. See gizmo
Poobah:with my gizmo.
Senator:It would be so funny.
Pagoda:I would definitely judge. I think it seems like the only people who are gonna be contributing to this campaign is Lou and Joe. I'm sorry. So they say
Gizmo:that the cigar bibs allow you to protect the threads from the surprise of unexpected hot ashes falling on you while smoking cigars, which often occurs while distracted conversing or entertaining others. These handmade that's what I've been doing. See? It's distracting conversation. I get ash all over myself.
Gizmo:These handmade semi custom cigar bibs give you peace of mind so you can relax and thoroughly enjoy your smoke without worrying about hot ashes damaging your skin, clothing, furniture, vehicle interior, or any other valuable and possibly irreplaceable personal items.
Pagoda:Lose my peace of mind when I have to pay the credit card bill. $500? But those
Gizmo:coming in hot.
Pagoda:I'm sorry.
Gizmo:The goal in design of this luxury accessory was to create an elegant talking piece that not only protects your investments, but also serves as a fashion accessory statement piece that expresses your personality. Their tagline is expressive accessories for living boldly. Very bold price.
Poobah:I'm wait I'm waiting for a pagoda to ash on himself. This is like this is like
Senator:Oh, yeah. Pagoda's got a full couple inches of ash.
Pagoda:I'm trying to give Lou and Joe every reason to be successful. It didn't happen with this cigar because, the ash is holding strong. I can count the rest.
Senator:Can we check their Kickstarter to see how much they raised? Can we check for Carlos?
Poobah:Oh, shit. Oh. No. No. It's on you.
Poobah:Because if you realize that, it actually happened.
Bam Bam:Oh my lord.
Poobah:You need
Rooster:the blue dough. I just
Poobah:I thought it was pagoda.
Senator:Can I just recap that for a listener? This was you you'd think we planned this.
Poobah:Oh, god.
Senator:So, Grindr and I immediately react because we see Gizmo's ash fall right on his lap.
Poobah:And as we go, oh, no, Gizmo looks up and looks at Pagoda thinking he's got ash on him saying,
Senator:oh, no, and has
Poobah:no clue that the ash is actually in his lap. Amazing. Amazing. Shit. You gotta get the fib, man.
Poobah:You gotta spend the $400.
Pagoda:500. 500.
Poobah:I should
Pagoda:ask him.
Gizmo:I guess I need it. So I I think it launched on May 2nd. As of recording this, they have about $1300 in a Kickstarter, but I don't think it officially launched yet. They're trying to raise about $29,000. Wow.
Senator:Yeah. They're lucky if they get 2,000.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Poobah:Let's let's just have
Chef:you ever had ash actually burned like
Senator:a piece?
Poobah:Not an ash. No. But No. I I
Rooster:see a spark, you know, from a Yeah.
Senator:Way out. I won't lie. And I Yeah. I don't ash on myself often.
Gizmo:But I mean, I've seen it, but what do I
Poobah:you know, who's counting?
Bam Bam:Another check.
Senator:But I did, I remember a few years ago, I was in, dress clothes and, like, some pair of trousers. I think, like, a spark like you're talking about, and it burned a hole in my pants. I was so pissed, and I they were, like, pants I bought a while ago that I couldn't replace. I was I was very agitated about this.
Bam Bam:It is annoying when it happens. Have you sold them?
Pagoda:Standouts. I mean, ash. I could see, like, ash on, like, you know, that kind of material really just burning a hole through for sure.
Senator:No. Just, you know, a pair of trousers will, easily will burn
Danilo Rodríguez Portal:a hole through.
Gizmo:Tuxedo Timmy sent me a message today and said you should have brought the cigar bib to, Lagito when you were with Oscar so you didn't burn the couch.
Senator:That's right.
Gizmo:Remember I was almost dropping the
Poobah:ash on
Gizmo:the couch last year?
Bam Bam:He gave you a look.
Gizmo:Yeah. I should've brought the cigar bib. I think that would've been a nice talking piece with Oscar and Right. Lay it out on the couch at Lagito and prevent any sort of errors. Could've put it on?
Gizmo:What it I can't believe I just ashed all over myself talking about that. I'm, like, embarrassed. Because I'm looking at my iPad, like, talking about what we're doing here, you know, and, of course, I ash all over myself. So they offer, wrapping this up, they offer luxury protection, safeguarding skin and attire from unexpected hot ashes, and they certify safety functional design. They say that their style meets versatility, diverse colors and styles designed to complement any cigar aficionados taste and elevate your cigar experience, seamless portability.
Gizmo:You can protect your investment, experience true rack true relaxation, and they say it's the ultimate cigar companion.
Bam Bam:I can relax. I'll just ash right on my belly. Forget the ash. Right?
Gizmo:I joined Bam and his love of the retrohale in episode 125, and the group took me to task on it. I've been enjoying the retro way more on Cubans than I have, you know, trying to work on it with a a a new world. It the new world experience with with the retrohale is is
Bam Bam:Never an exclusivo?
Chef:It could be harsh.
Gizmo:It it doesn't the exclusivo, yes.
Rooster:Okay.
Gizmo:Some of the some of the other new worlds that I smoke, like the Davidoff's, I don't really love the retro on those.
Bam Bam:Really?
Gizmo:The millennium, I don't get all the flavor.
Chef:I love
Poobah:it. Yes. 100%. 100%.
Gizmo:I have never said that.
Bam Bam:Jokes aside, like, for me
Poobah:You can't enjoy a cigar without retrohaling it. I mean, what do you mean?
Gizmo:Have I said that, ma'am?
Bam Bam:I I you're making fun of it, but I actually have I would never be able to smoke a cigar unless I retrohale
Gizmo:it for me.
Poobah:Doesn't like to retrohale Davidoff's.
Bam Bam:Well, that's Giz.
Chef:I I think Davidoff's a good one.
Senator:So maybe then Bam is gonna take the mantle.
Poobah:He's I
Senator:think Giz has lost it.
Bam Bam:Giz may be suspect. I don't know.
Senator:This is great.
Bam Bam:I love you. I love you.
Poobah:He's so rattled right now. I know. This is crazy.
Gizmo:I don't even understand how this is
Poobah:a controversial topic.
Rooster:He thought he
Poobah:thought he was the king of the retrohale, and now we find out it's really bad.
Gizmo:I'm like the prince of
Poobah:the hell.
Rooster:We need judge
Poobah:judge. This is I
Gizmo:think he's on the payroll of judge. So, anyway, for the listener out there, I encourage you and Bam encourages you Yes. And Grindr. Everybody else is a shithead. I encourage you to to really, really try
Poobah:Mhmm.
Gizmo:To get yourself into the retro hell because it has really elevated
Pagoda:I agree.
Gizmo:My cigar experience.
Bam Bam:I've learned
Senator:a lot from BAM and Grindr on this one, so thank you guys because You
Gizmo:got it, bro.
Senator:Giz hasn't been able to really explain it very well.
Gizmo:Listen. You want me to explain it? It it takes That
Poobah:was that was rhetorical. It's sarcastic. Thank you. This is not this is not one of the best. You're the earnest in which you bit that was just That was incredible.
Poobah:That bait, you're like a largemouth bass. Yeah. A storm.
Bam Bam:I'm usually the guys biting the bait.
Chef Ricky:All right?
Poobah:The bait went right by you and you're like
Gizmo:Listen, I'm I'm very passionate about the retrohale these days.
Pagoda:And I think we should discuss it every part, man.
Gizmo:We tried several new regular production releases from Cuba this year, and several of them performed brilliantly. Capped off in December with the new gold medal from Bolivar, which we rated a 10. On episode 163, we discussed how Cuba might be blending these new cigars differently. This is the 4th Bolivar we've done on the podcast, so let's focus on the cigars we've reviewed. The Belicosos Finos, we did very, very early on, 100 of episodes ago, the Royal Corona, which is a Robusto, and the Corona Gigantes, which is a discontinued big boy.
Gizmo:Is this in the flavor profile range of what you'd expect from a cigar that carries the Marco Bolivar?
Senator:No. I'll just say I do think that there is Bolivar DNA in this. I think, like, the only 2 Bolivars that I think there are elements of, it's not, you know, tremendously similar, but elements of. I think there's a little bit of BBF and a little bit of the Gigantes in here. Outside of that, I I think, you know, it's very different than you.
Bam Bam:Maybe the Gigantes for me, but none of the other vottolas in this market are close to this. It actually I haven't had anything that's buttery and salty with the sweet finish and minerality. That's that's pretty hard to compare.
Rooster:Yeah. It kinda reminds me
Poobah:of the Bolivar Coronas Extra Which is also BCE. BCE. Yes.
Rooster:It's also discontinued. Mhmm. But it has that like, the DNA is closer to that Bolivar
Gizmo:to me.
Rooster:Because I think the twang is, like, really prominent.
Gizmo:Yeah. Because, you know, what it brings up for me, I do think this is a little bit of a departure from Bolivar. Like, a lot of the newer production excuse me, newer release cigars from Cuba, you know, I think these blending decisions that are being made in Cuba, I don't know if it's is it that they're putting Leslie Harrow in it so that they're ready to smoke faster? You know? Because you think about a, a bonavar Belacosas Finos that's coming out today.
Gizmo:It still needs quite a bit of time, probably more than the year and a few months that this cigar has on it. Think about the other new release cigars we've done, the Turquinhos, the Ramon Ionis number 3. Compare that to Arras and some of those other cigars. All ready to smoke. I think they're making blending decisions given the sensitivity to price so that the consumer is able to smoke them faster and and and more quickly when they're when they purchase them.
Gizmo:So that's what I'm wondering on these newer cigars out of Cuba. And this is certainly a question that I plan to ask when we go to Cuba again.
Bam Bam:That's a great question.
Gizmo:Is are they actively making decisions to put Leslie Harrow in these cigars to make them more ready to smoke now? And then also I ask, what is the aging impact of these newer blends? Because if you taste the cigar like a, let's say a Particus series p number 2, right, in the family of Bolivar, that cigar has a lot of oomph with a year or 2 on it. It's, for me, probably borderline harsh.
Bam Bam:Did you say p 2 in
Gizmo:the family of Bolivar? Yeah. Yeah. What's, you know, Partagas, Bolivar
Bam Bam:Mhmm. Okay.
Gizmo:Ramona Onis Yeah.
Pagoda:La
Gizmo:Gloria Cubana. So, like, that cigar young at a year, year and a few months is really tough to smoke. But with 7 years
Bam Bam:It's incredible. It's brilliant.
Gizmo:I wonder now cigars like this, Leslie Harrow, little easier to smoke young. Does this have the legs To age. To age that those cigars do?
Pagoda:What what in this to your observation, guys? What in this to
Bam Bam:your observation? It's an excellent question. No.
Senator:I I think it's really smart. I mean, it it would make sense that, you know, maybe they are using Leslie Harrow. It can't be a coincidence that all these new releases are smoking great young. I mean, we've never, in our time smoking Cuban cigars, have said, like, there's this wide range of young Cuban cigars that smoke well. We have some favorites that do that, but a lot that don't and just need more time.
Senator:So, yeah, I think that very well could be the case. Mhmm.
Gizmo:And what do you guys think then is the implication of that on long term aging? Wow. You know, does this cigar have the You
Bam Bam:would have to say that it's gonna impact you, and you're gonna consume those sooner quicker and sooner, which then, of course, requires you to buy more, and it's like a Yeah. As you said earlier.
Senator:Didn't Danilo say that, less Milder cigars age better?
Rooster:Better or
Poobah:even have to
Gizmo:have That That was his opinion on it. I feel like I feel like the cigars that I've had that I've had for a longer period of time that have aged better are the stuff that have a little bit more oomph to them.
Poobah:I agree with that.
Bam Bam:Like the b like the BBF. That's a good example. We have
Senator:BBF is a great example.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Rooster:I mean But on the other hand, the Hoyo de Monterrey epi 2
Bam Bam:That's right.
Pagoda:It's so far.
Rooster:Age, I mean, it's it does really well.
Bam Bam:It does. Which is a fairly mild cigar.
Gizmo:Mild. I mean, I guess it's a matter of taste, but I just wonder I do wonder some of these younger or excuse me, these new release cigars out of Cuba that are smoking so great with 6 months, a year, a few months on them. Like, how are they gonna be in 7 years? I'm I'm really curious about that.
Rooster:Even the Rafael Gonzalez that we did on the call. The monster. Right? I mean, that smoked wonderful.
Bam Bam:It was a fresh box.
Senator:Yeah. I also you know, I think Danilo said this when we met with him, and this aligns with my philosophy. You know, cigars, when they're delivering what you want out of them, young, smoke them.
Bam Bam:Just go through them.
Senator:And when they're not, age them. But I I don't subscribe to this philosophy that, like, every cigar Mm-mm. Needs more age to get better and reach some certain level. I think many cigars, some cigars definitely need that. The BBF, perfect example.
Senator:Yeah. Young, most of them, I'm not a huge fan of.
Bam Bam:But with
Senator:this even a few years. Rass, I agree with you. But this cigar, if this finishes as good and as satisfying as it's been so far, I don't really care what it tastes like with more age because this will be a perfect expression
Poobah:Mhmm.
Senator:For what I would look for in a cigar. I'll happily smoke an aged one, but it's not like I'm pursuing that experience. There'll be nothing more I want out of
Gizmo:this cigar. Qualify my question. My question is really to educate the listeners and us. If you go out and buy a box of these, you know, I think it'd be wise to expect that the cigar you're tasting today is how it's gonna be smoking now. I I don't know if it's gonna get better.
Gizmo:It might after a year or 2, but I wouldn't sit on a box for 10 years No. For the sake of it. You know, to Senator's point. My my question here is saying to the to the consumer, buy a box, smoke 1. If they're smoking great, start going through them because I think they're smoking really well young.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I I I'm always sampling a box the moment I buy it. I'll take one out and try it. And if it's smoking well, I'm gonna continue to dip into them. If it's not smoking well, like senator said, I'm gonna put it aside for 6 months and then revisit it, have another cigar.
Senator:And and I'll say even when you age boxes, you know, I also don't think it's the case, like, maybe it's not that great. You age it. And then all of a sudden, you pull one, and it's awesome. I don't always subscribe to, like, oh, well, if I just age it for another 5 years, it's necessarily gonna be better.
Gizmo:Oh, absolutely.
Senator:So, like, it may hit
Gizmo:its peak.
Pagoda:Like Yep.
Senator:I think a great example of this, the Ramon Ionis 2019 Limitada, that green box I bought we did on the pod. That cigar, when I got it, I didn't like it. I let it sit for a few years and then pulled one out, and it was absolutely mind blowing. And then we all smoked one from that box and gave it tens across the board.
Bam Bam:We did.
Senator:And I don't buy that, like, if I as I continue to hold that 5 years from now, it's gonna be better. Like, it scored a perfect ten from every single person in the room. Yeah. And so what did I do? I smoked the rest of the box.
Bam Bam:Thank you.
Senator:Like, it can't get better.
Bam Bam:I agree with that point. So we all have tons of boxes in our towers and Tupperdooars. I have cute boxes of Cubans that I haven't cracked open in a very, very long time. How do I know that they're not aging past their plateau?
Gizmo:They very well maybe. Right.
Pagoda:Sure. I should.
Gizmo:Okay. Hey. It is Christmas.
Bam Bam:That's true.
Gizmo:Do you want me to talk
Bam Bam:to my played, motherfucker. We'll
Pagoda:we'll keep you informed.
Gizmo:But Go to we'll try one and tell you.
Bam Bam:Okay. But seriously, though, you know, we have a ton of stock. Yeah. I think it makes sense to periodically go through. I don't do that.
Bam Bam:And I I think I should and I will now.
Gizmo:I think it's a good lesson. Just go through it. You know, and be let's let's also qualify this too that we've been trained, and I think most consumers of Cuban cigars out there have been trained by the blending decisions of the past that most, if not all, Cuban cigars need a little bit of time to settle in and get to a point that they're a pleasant smoke. What we're learning now from our recent examples is that Habanos has changed their philosophy in blending. I just I think that it's it's they've made a The biggest change.
Gizmo:Yeah. To to satisfy a consumer who's paying 400% more than they did a few years ago on a newer cigar. I think that's a conscious decision, and I think we all need to pivot our thinking with new release Cuban cigars.
Pagoda:No. But that's really smart. Right? Because if you're competing with the new worlds, which are ready to smoke as soon as they come out Of course. You know, I think it's a if it's a deliberate decision, really good for them.
Bam Bam:That's smart.
Pagoda:Especially for the prices they're charging now. You know? Nobody's gonna invest in them and put them in the box for another 5, 10 years considering the prices. So yeah. No.
Pagoda:That's fantastic.
Senator:Yeah. It's brilliant because, honestly, the the brand we've obviously criticized is Cohiba around this. Like, you pay this extreme premium, and I don't think any of us have sat here and said that most of the Cohiba catalog is Good Young. It's not. Yeah.
Senator:It needs time. And the frustration is if you're paying that premium, it needs to be ready to smoke. So if they're starting to take that approach with a lot of the other markers and if they eventually do that with Cohiba I mean, I love the idea of being able to pick up a Cohiba Robusto young that is great. I've never experienced that.
Bam Bam:Yep.
Senator:But if that were the case, I'd understand the premium more. My only amazing Cohiba Robustos have been heavily, heavily aged.
Gizmo:And I think I think the thing that distinguishes well to your point here is that the old blends, the the recipes that have already been designed that are in production, they're not changing. Well We're only talking about new This is a hypothesis. Production cigars.
Bam Bam:This is not fact. This hypothesis. Well, I think It seems to make sense.
Gizmo:I would see our data set, Bam, on new released cigars that we've smoked in the last year.
Bam Bam:You're right.
Gizmo:It's trending You're right. This way. I have no idea. Trending
Bam Bam:this way.
Gizmo:And I think if you pick up a Partagas p 2 that was rolled in the same month year at this cigar that we have in our hand Probably
Poobah:the biggest.
Gizmo:Or Bella Kososfinos, I don't think we're gonna have the same smoking experience we're having tonight.
Senator:Okay. He's saying it won't. He his point, which Yeah. Which makes perfect sense is new releases never before produced cigars.
Poobah:Yes.
Senator:This is the blending decision they're making. The standard production stuff that's been around for a while
Bam Bam:The same recipe. The same recipe. They're not gonna change. This is true.
Gizmo:Yeah. They're not gonna deviate from that and disrupt what their old consumers expect from new production. The guys were very kind and marked my mom's passing in April with a wonderful tribute, which resulted in us sharing what our friendship, this podcast, and the cigar community means to each of us. You know, I I I've told you guys this privately, but, you know, certainly cigars, you know, obviously is the foundation of what we do here, but even more so, our group and what we do here with this podcast and putting that appointment in the calendar each week. Obviously, we've talked about over the last two and a half years how it makes it a priority for us.
Gizmo:We get here. We love our listeners. We love doing this. We love sitting down together and having this experience. Great cigars like we've had or mediocre cigars like this one's kinda starting out right now.
Gizmo:Putting that thing in the calendar and and what we do here has been a a real rock for me over the last few months, as you know. It's really been the only thing outside of that other part of my life that I've been consistently able to do. So I'm very grateful for that. Like, this has really created normalcy for me.
Bam Bam:As we are as well.
Gizmo:Yeah. Over the last, you know, 6 months and the last 6 weeks have been horrendous. But, you know, this thing of ours has been a a real rock. So I'm very grateful for you guys.
Bam Bam:Love you, bro.
Gizmo:And I appreciate it. I love you guys, and this is very, very kind. So thank you. Yeah.
Poobah:Love love you very much. The fellowship of, well, of this podcast has been has been great. We've been able to share so many experiences together during the, you know, during the broadcast and also you know, and and after. You know? After after you know, after we record, it's not like we're like, hey.
Poobah:See you later. And sometimes See you next week. Sometimes we are if, you know, we all have responsibilities. But, generally, we, you know, we hang out.
Senator:Generally, we choose to be irresponsible
Bam Bam:and make and make poor decisions. Yeah. Yeah.
Poobah:Generally. But we do, you know, we spend time together. I mean, we don't just get together for this show. We we we spend time together. We talk to each other.
Poobah:We, you know, we we we we share our wins together. We share, you know, we share our losses together. And, you know, that's fellowship. And and I I think to senator's point, like he always said, you know, the cigar is a is a great equalizer.
Rooster:And we were friends before the pot, and we will be friends.
Senator:You know? During the part. It will never end. This is that's what I wanna say
Poobah:after the part. Yeah.
Gizmo:We're locked in.
Senator:But to this point, I mean, it was very gratifying even just,
Poobah:I'll be in Velcro. Me me me and Meester will be in Velcro shoes and tube socks in Boca del Vista broadcasting remotely from a retirement home. Hey. I'll make it happen. I'll make it happen.
Senator:Assisted living. It will be an
Poobah:assisted living facility. Fuck that. I'm gonna be in
Bam Bam:my go. I'm gonna be in my Jag cruising around
Steve Saka:at 80.
Poobah:No problem.
Senator:I hate your Jag.
Bam Bam:No. It's just delivery for me.
Poobah:Jag convertible. Correct.
Pagoda:And the rest of the list is It would
Bam Bam:be my liberty 10.
Senator:But to the to the all the points are being made, I I mean, I think us even meeting listeners when we've traveled and, you know, most recently, obviously, at PCA and just hearing from some of them things like over the last few years, you guys have been part of, like, some of the biggest moments of my life, my highs, my lows. And so, you know, I think Gizmo always talks about how there's that invisible chair in the room that kind of the listener sits in to hear it from listeners that they feel like they've shared some of their biggest life moments with us Mhmm. Is really powerful. Yeah. And, I just think emphasizes why what we do is so important.
Bam Bam:Even the emails that we've gotten, lizard Eric sent an email that I'll never forget. Now I happen to know him, but he said when he feels alone and he he listens to our podcast, he likes a cigar, he feels he's with us. That's powerful. That's what it's all about. It's powerful.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Yeah. And when the
Senator:listeners hold Bam accountable, it's extremely powerful. Well,
Pagoda:it's it's So please continue to do this. Yeah.
Bam Bam:I love you all. I love you all.
Poobah:Yeah. I mean, you know, look. I don't think the I don't think, Bam's accountability hour will ever end. It's Of course not. It's it's it's well
Gizmo:It's a living breathing thing.
Poobah:It is. Well, it's timeless. It's the Oh, is it? The accountability hour is timeless. It's like an onion.
Poobah:It's like an onion. You pee one layer
Rooster:and another layer.
Gizmo:You just keep going.
Senator:Keep going. Alright.
Poobah:It's like an onion.
Gizmo:Yeah. I got but listen. I I gotta say, you know, ball busting aside, I'm, I'm terribly grateful for this thing. You know, just even editing the podcast, like, just knowing I had to get that done and creating this kind of responsibility that we've, you know, built, you know, Tuesday 5 AM, this podcast
Bam Bam:relying on you. Has to hit. Yeah.
Gizmo:You know?
Bam Bam:And They're relying on that issue every Monday, Tuesday morning.
Gizmo:Yeah. And that's it's like, you know, it's the that that is like that is like a religion to me, making sure that that podcast hits no matter what happens. And, you know, what that's created though is is an ability to disconnect from whatever else is going on and just hyperfocus on that and get it done, and and I'm very grateful for it and very grateful for you guys and our listeners. I mean, it's just, it's really a beautiful thing that we've built. And like senator said, to hear that from people who are outside the room, but then to experience it inside the room when this terrible shit is happening for months months, and I'm driving back and forth, but I'm still able to see you guys every week.
Gizmo:And when this microphone is in front of my face, it all disappears, that is really, really powerful for me. You know? So, yeah, I'm very, very grateful, and thank you for this amazing spirit. It's awesome.
Bam Bam:It's delicious.
Gizmo:We're drinking it neat.
Poobah:We're great. Well, we're and we're grateful for you. I mean, we're grateful for the work that you put into the shit into the show.
Pagoda:Oh, yeah.
Poobah:We couldn't do it without you. And, you
Gizmo:know,
Poobah:the you you know, gizmo really he, you know, he he curates the content. He, you know, he's he's essentially the host of the show and and and really gets it done, you know, in terms of the editing, and and the preproduction stuff. And and, you know, so cheers to you for your commitment, and, you know, and we love you. Cheers, boys. Thank you again.
Poobah:Cheers.
Gizmo:I'm very grateful. As we wrap up another great year, we'd like to thank our fantastic presenting sponsors at Fabrica 5 Cigar Company. We are so proud to have them with us. And our recording and lounge home, 1086 Cigars in Hawthorne, New Jersey. The guys and I would also like to thank you, Lizard Nation, for your incredible and unwavering support of this podcast all year.
Gizmo:Each of you is our lizard of the week this week. We wanna send a special thank you to all the lizards who shared amazing cigars and pairings with us this year. We are very grateful for your support. Please do keep in touch as we head into 2025. Continue to send us those emails, voice memos, and old fashioned mail.
Gizmo:We can't do it without you. Happy holidays to you all, and, we'll see everybody next week.
Rooster:Keep smiling.
Gizmo:Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You can 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, you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us, hello atloungelizardspod.com. You can also find us on Instagram atloungelizardspod. We really appreciate your time, and we'll, we'll see you next week.