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The lizards pair the Cuban Partagás Serie D No. 4 with Pol Roger Reserve Brut champagne for a very special New Year's Eve episode. Senator attempts to democratize caviar, the lizards discuss Cuban robustos, sourcing authentic cubans and end with a discussion on their deep appreciation for the cigar hobby.
Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
**Gizmo:** [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Lizards podcast. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars, as well as whiskey, travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo, and tonight I'm joined for a very special New Year's Eve episode by Rooster Puba, Senator Pagoda and Grindr.
And our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some champagne, talk about life, and of course, have a few laughs. 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 smoke a Cuban cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating.
We'll begin with caviar. We'll discuss our favorite Cuban ribos and how to source authentic Cubans. And we'll finish by discussing our deep appreciation for this wonderful hobby. We share all among a variety of other things for the next hour. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we ring in the new year with Parus series D [00:01:00] number four, and Paul Roja Reserve.
Brute champaign, our first ever New Year's Eve special, hopefully first of many. And we have an exciting night in front of us, let's put it that way. So we're gonna start with some fantastic caviar provided by Senator. Senator. Tell us what we have in front of us. This looks incredible. So
**Senator:** all the lizards have some royal, et cetera, caviar from the uh, Caspian Sea.
I would argue it's the best caviar. You can buy. I mean, people go pretty crazy with this stuff. But the reason I'm excited about this is there's this notion that caviar's this crazy expensive, fancy thing only to be had very infrequently. And my life's mission is to democratize caviar. And so the lizards have all imbibed in some caviar at my place.
And I feel like everyone that has questioned caviar and and said that they wouldn't enjoy it, once they've tried it, they've fallen in love with it. And when you buy in bulk as I do, it [00:02:00] actually becomes fairly
**Gizmo:** affordable. I gotta say, I, despite what you just said, I do feel very bougie eating caviar. Very bougie.
It's democratized, but it's fantastic. Is this from Kirkland?
**Senator:** It is not . That's the only reason that I didn't give you some, uh, rooster is the
**Grinder:** vessel. Uh, I.
**Senator:** the vessel as in the Yes, yes. Great question. Okay. Try to tell us the presentation. So the, there's a, there's a very traditional way of serving caviar and times have modernized and I think people have gotten a little clever.
Traditionally, caviar is on a blaney with, which is like a mini little pancake with creme fresh, and then a whole bunch of other stuff you can sprinkle on top some, some, uh, boiled eggs, some red onion, scallions, all these different things. Chives, I'm a purist, so I don't love throwing a whole bunch on it.
And what someone has figured out in the last five years is that caviar is incredible on a kettle chip. So it gives it, I mean, kettle chip has that crunch. It's got that saltiness. [00:03:00] It's, it tastes unbelievable. And I was skeptical at first, and I started eating it this way and kind of going against the grain.
And now tons of places, I mean, boo Boo will know this. I, I took my wife, uh, for her birthday to this nice restaurant in her area. Puba was actually so gracious that he ordered caviar service for our table, which was m more well above and beyond. And what I, why I say that is when I was there, guess what they served with the caviar?
Not just Blaney's, but also kettle chips. The kettle
**Gizmo:** chip. Yep.
**Poobah:** Yeah, they do a nice service there. You left probably all the accoutrements on the sides just ate the caviar and the crim fresh. But it's there if you want it. I, I did enjoy some, some, yeah.
**Gizmo:** I gotta say the, uh, the kettle chip really helps with, as you called the democratizing caviar.
Like when I've never had caviar prior to that time that we had it here. Uh, and the kettle chip kind of makes it, um, more normal or more
regular,
**Poobah:** I guess more, more approach. It makes it a little bit more approachable perhaps, but, um, [00:04:00] and that, I think that's the idea. Now
**Senator:** before we have the caviar, there's only one thing that you want to pair with caviar.
I mean, Russians will tell you vodka. I'm not gonna dispute that. I'm just not a big vodka drinker, but, Uh, champagne and caviar is the perfect pairing. So we, we've got something to go with this. I think we should, we need
**Gizmo:** some New Year's Eve Champagne. Absolutely.
**Grinder:** It's a holiday. It's quite a, quite an event.
**Senator:** Yep. It's a celebration. So what we've got tonight, one of my favorite champagnes, Paul Roge Brute reserve, was actually Winston Churchill's favorite champaign. If it's good enough for Churchill, I think it's good enough for the lizards. , absolutely. And uh, amen. I love it. And because it's New Year's, there's only one way to properly open champaign.
Yes. It's saber time.
**Gizmo:** It's saber time
**Poobah:** baby.
**Gizmo:** Saber it. So Senator has a, uh, saber that was gifted to him, uh, by his wife,
**Senator:** correct. Senator? Yeah. For my birthday this past year. And, uh, it's actually made by a brand that makes cigar accessories, uh, Fox Knives, who I think Rooster has a cutter from [00:05:00] them. Um, they custom make these in Italy, so my wife got my name engraved on it.
The whole, the whole thing. Um, I'm not easy to give for, I have to give her credit. This was probably the best gift I've ever received.
**Gizmo:** Excellent.
**Poobah:** Uh, and there's a, there's a whole, there's a whole play by play, um, that we can go through. So, Senator standing up right now, now he is got the, he has the, I'm gonna give the color commentary.
He had the bottle upside down. Um, that's clearly he can explain the rationale for that once he soil
**Senator:** is off. So the reason the bottle needs to be upside down, you want the neck of the bottle to be extremely cold when you're savoring to ensure you get a clean break. So, uh, that, that's why you saw it upside down.
Okay.
**Poobah:** So it's upside down, an ice cold, um, in, in a bucket. So now he's got a towel. He has a secure grip . He has a secure grip on, on the bottle, uh, which is ice cold. He's [00:06:00] looking around, he's kind of measuring the room. He's trying to find a place to do it. He's going for it.
**Senator:** Whoa. Hey,
**Poobah:** that popped right off was very incredible.
So it's a very, it's a very clean break. Um, quite amazing. His technique is brilliant. His technique is brilliant. He takes the cord, uh, the sword and he puts it perpendicular, um, to the neck of the bottle. And then he lines it up and he goes back and forth a couple times, and then he just launches the, uh, cork right off.
And then the entire top of the bottle just breaks off clean. Um, And he's, he's, he's serving us now, which is quite fantastic, very well
**Gizmo:** executed. We should do this more often. I like, I like Senator walking around during the pod and serving us, you know,
**Poobah:** and Garon and senator's gonna talk , his name, his named tonight, um, mercy.
Um, so, uh, [00:07:00] Senator went a little, oh God, that thing's foaming up. Oh, that's perfect. That is
**Grinder:** perfect. No way. Oh, that he, the poor, just let me commentary on the commentate on this. The poor for Senator Hibbs himself formed the perfect mushroom of foam, and it just, it didn't even go over, just perfectly
**Gizmo:** executed.
I gotta give him a 10 out of 10 on the execution here. Brilliant Execut. Well done. Well done. Thank
**Poobah:** you. Brilliant. This champagne is really for, you know, if you're not an everyday champ, first of all, this is a, and, and senator's gonna talk about this a little bit. So Paul Roge is this champagne is, Again, it's very approachable.
It's, it's not particularly expensive really. And, um, it's, it's a little bit on the dry side and, and I really like that personally. Um, it's not on the, it's not on the sweeter end of the, of, of the spectrum. And I'll let, I'll let Senator talk about that. But this is a really, really nice champagne that I think it's overlooked by some, [00:08:00] um, it it, but it's a legendary, it's a legendary brand.
**Senator:** No, it really is. And the funny thing, I feel like when it comes to champagne, everybody just knows that goal label VV Cleco, and that's. Kind of become the gold standard for a, a pretty decent bottle of champagne. Vu for me is a little on the sweeter side. And with caviar, you actually want something that's drier.
Um, and so when I first had Paul Rochet, I was like, oh my God, there's no better pairing with caviar or seafood, oysters, anything like that. It's just outstanding. Um, and it's incredibly reasonably priced. I mean, uh, there's a lot of places that'll sell it 50 a bottle, which is about the same as vv, but when you find at some of the larger discount liquor stores, like a total wine or somewhere you can find as low as 40 bucks a bottle, which yep, I think is well worth it.
**Gizmo:** Well worth it. It's very reasonable. Well worth it. All right, so let's dive into some caviar. Well, some champagne first. Cheers.
**Senator:** Happy New cheer.
**Gizmo:** Oh yes, cheers boys. Forgive me. Cheers. Crazy to
**Poobah:** the wizards. Happy you. You're, you're a [00:09:00]
**Gizmo:** savage. I'm a savage. I'm starving an animal. . Cheers, boys. Cheers. Cheers.
**Poobah:** Cheers.
Happy New Year. Cheers. Happy New Year.
**Gizmo:** Cheers. Cheers. Happy New Year to all the wizards at home listening. So glad to have you with us. Oh my God, so good. Gets me every time. Amazing. I got, I got home
**Rooster:** by 1130 though, man. Taste so good
**Gizmo:** when it hits your lips. Fantastic.
**Grinder:** All right. I need to try some of this.
**Gizmo:** C So there's, it's a kettle chip with creme, fresh and caviar.
That's right.
**Poobah:** I mean, for those out there, who, if you don't think you're gonna like caviar, if you like salt and you like butter,
give it a, give it a whirl. Um, this notion that somehow, you know, it's gonna be this fishy tasting kind of, uh, lip smacking experience or lip puckering experience, um, You know, that's not what it is.
**Rooster:** Are the potato chips salted? They [00:10:00] are. Does
**Gizmo:** that affect the flavor at all with the caviar? Not
**Senator:** really. And the Cs, they are like salty a little bit.
Yeah, it is. And it's on top of the creme fresh, which isn't that salty. So I feel like it doesn't, it doesn't really interfere that much. So cre fresh actually kind of cuts the salt I think so bit. Yeah.
**Grinder:** Cre, creme fresh is such a versatile, a versatile thing. I use, I make, so when I make scrambled eggs, I'll use creme, like at the end I'll put little dab a dollop of creme fresh in there and mix it all in.
It adds like, it, it, it just really
**Poobah:** kicks up the flavor. Oh, you'll fold it in and it creates like a French omelet? Kind of. Yeah.
**Grinder:** Well, I'll, I'll just keep, you know, I'll, I'll mix it, you know, I'll mix it in. But my. I, I take my scrambled eggs very seriously. ,
**Rooster:** do you, do you make your own Crem fresh or do you, can you buy it?
**Senator:** I buy it at Whole Foods. It's actually excellent, whatever the brand is. I think maybe Vermont Creamery or one of them. But you know, they make it fresh. It's not some like processed crap. It's kinda like cool whip kind of thing. No, no, not exactly. . [00:11:00]
**Poobah:** Well, Mike Caviar's done .
**Gizmo:** Mine is two, right? Mine is two. And now it's time for the, I don't hesitate.
I medicate. Next component to our, uh, our Manja Oi Tonight of Lizard Delicacies, the Parus Series D number four. I mean, to quote Puba from a former episode, it, it's a familiar friend to the lizards. Yep. No doubt about it. So why is this, I mean, it's not an expensive cigar. It's not a difficult cigar to find.
Why is this such a perfect cigar for what we're doing tonight?
**Poobah:** Well, I mean, it's a esp It's, I think, to all of us, it's, it's, it's a special cigar. It's been around for a long time. It's been around the, the Siri series, for lack of a better term, has been around since the thirties. It was, um, discontinued momentarily, um, in the [00:12:00] sixties, um, because of the revolution.
And then, uh, reintroduced in 1978 and hasn't left the market since. So, um, it's a popular cigars, just a loved and regarded cigar, I think by, by so many, I mean, and we all have a personal connection. Senator has a, has, has a personal connection to this as well.
**Senator:** Yeah. So I, I, I'm happy to go next. Uh, for me, this is always a great.
it's a great everyday cigar, but I, I have celebratory memories that involve a D four. When I had to pick my wedding cigar, that was sort of the one request I had with my wife. I want a cigar table and a whole thing and I, I, that was granted and it was hard to pick a cigar because obviously I'm gonna have some friends there like lizards that smoke cigars all the time.
And so I can, you know, serve something fuller like a patron. They're gonna love that. But with other guests who don't smoke that frequently. What's amazing about [00:13:00] this is how versatile. The D four s I think Puba mentioned on another episode how Monte Christo is actually the bestselling brand of Cubans, but the bestselling cigar is actually the part against D four.
And I think it's just has such a wide appeal because you can be someone who occasionally smokes cigars and this isn't gonna, you know, smack you in the face with too much strength or anything like that. It's, it's, it's smooth. It's got just enough flavor, it's a refined smoke, but also for the avid cigar smoker like we are, it's got enough flavor and complexity that it just keeps bringing us back every time.
**Grinder:** I think it's a great, it's a great, um, new Year's pairing, celebratory, but, you know, nothing too crazy. It's something that, you know, the familiar friend commentary, if you want something you, you know, you can trust and, and depend on, and it's great for a good celebration really
**Gizmo:** is. I agree. So with that, I, you know, we know the cigar very well, but, uh, what are you guys getting on the nose with this thing?
Cedar. Cedar. Lots of cedar. Yeah. Yeah.
**Poobah:** Not [00:14:00] a ton else. And there's a lot just, it's, there's a lot of, uh, just a strong tobacco taste in the filler, um, on the cold draw, but maybe a touch of baking spices. Um, that's something we've all smoked so many times.
**Gizmo:** Oh, the draw is so good every time.
**Poobah:** They're pretty consistent.
Let's light it up.
**Gizmo:** Let's light up RGUs D four. It's a rib robusto 50 ring gauge by 4.9 inches. Cuban, of course. And a lizard staple ranges anywhere between 10 and 15 bucks a stick depending on where you get it. And, uh, if you don't have this in your humidor, you have to get it. It's just everybody loves.
**Poobah:** Yeah. And they, they, they, um, with a few years of age on them, they smoke [00:15:00] great. They smoke really great. Um, uh, with not so much age on them. Um, if you're smoking a 2019, I think these are 20 nineteens that we're smoking, correct? That's correct. Um, so just a couple years. Um, and they, you know, they really come into their own.
Um, but we've also have, have had age D four s and they get a little bit more complex and a little bit more, um, you know, they offer something a little bit different. But for the most part, these cigars really, they perform really well young. They perform really well with some age on 'em too. I think
**Senator:** to pub's point, the thing that's always amazed me about the cigar of any Cuban, I actually think that these smoke better young than any other, I mean, we've all had 20, 20 boxes of this.
I think some of us have even had 2021 if I'm not mistaken. Yep. And I feel like the reviews on all of these, regardless of how little age have been really positive, [00:16:00] which is a testament to Cardis. Cuz I definitely couldn't say that about every brand that young in a cigar.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Yeah.
**Rooster:** This is definitely a cigar that I think we all have in our humidor or cabinet.
I mean, some lizards have more than others, but you know, Anna, a senator has a few boxes. Uh, gizmo, Puba, I don't know how many Grinder do you have any boxes?
**Poobah:** Maybe ?
**Senator:** I don't know. Very
**Gizmo:** cagey.
**Poobah:** Well, who I don't know. We, we don't know. They could all be gone from Planet Earth, Rooster because, because you tend to buy everything that's available.
**Rooster:** this is, uh, this is a favorite of Pagodas as well, I think. Yeah,
**Pagoda:** the coming, the coming one, I'm really enjoying it. In fact, uh, it was one of, uh, the first, uh, Cubans have smoked recently in this second chapter of smoking Cubans, and, um, really began to enjoy it. And in fact, uh, [00:17:00] one of the first boxes I ordered, I believe I might have ordered from I Havanas or something.
Um, but, uh, fantastic, uh, something which is an easy, easy smoke, very great combustion, and I, I just
**Rooster:** enjoy it. Yeah. And this is also a great steak. If somebody asks you for a cigar or Cuban cigar, you hand him the cigar, you're pretty confident that they're going to like it. Absolutely. It's, it's a well-liked steak.
It's not overly powerful. It's, it's a good, uh, you know, it's, it's, it's like, it's a medium smoke. It's, well, you know, well life with everyone. Medium to fall, I mean, medium
**Gizmo:** to fall
**Senator:** to, to rooster's point, I feel like the D four is the gateway drug to Cuban cigars. A hundred percent. I feel like you start with this cigar and you're just, all of a sudden in this vortex of Cubans where you want to try a whole lot more.
I mean, that was my experience at least. This was actually, I think the first, if not the second Cuban I ever had that really got me excited. I've got a guy that, that works, uh, um, uh, at my firm [00:18:00] who is a cigar smoker, but he hasn't really had many Cubans. And we were chatting the other day and I, sorry, next time I'm in town, we've gotta light up a D four together.
And I know as soon as he lights this cigar up, he's gonna be asking me to try every Cuban. That's just what this cigar does.
**Poobah:** Yeah. Yeah. It, it, it does. And, and we, um, I sat, I sat at the lounge, um, uh, and Senator gave me a D four, um, and I was hooked. I, I said, this is the greatest. This, this is so great. Um, how can, how can I procure more of these?
And then a discussion ensued about procurement, which is a whole different conversation, ,
**Senator:** and then you had a lot older D four s than I did overnight.
**Poobah:** um, uh, well played. Uh, and, and so it's just, yeah, it's, it's really, and it pairs well with the champagne too, because it's, it's, they're formal notes to this cigar, and we don't talk about that, I think as often as we should. [00:19:00] Um, like with all Cuban cigars, this cigar, it delivers the, it has fal notes to it, and it's also has this kind of salty, um, uh, very typical Cuban tobacco flavor on the finish.
And it really pairs well when you, when you pull that champagne up to your mouth, champagne and cigars pair grape. . Ask Winston Churchill. Ask, ask any aficionado. They'll tell you it's really, really nice. Some ice cold champagne. And this particular cigar, I think because of the four notes that it has, um, and some of the complexity that it delivers, particularly down the stretch, it can, uh, it can really de deliver a satisfying experience when paired up.
So it's interesting, right, because you could put it up with a scotch and you can, you can have a really a, like a really satisfying sit. You put it up with champagne, like this is a cigar I'd reach for if I was [00:20:00] eating shrimp cocktail and, and or a bloody having a bloody eating shrimp cocktail or oysters caviar champagne.
But it also stands up. to a scotch or a bourbon, and it just, I think it speaks to the versatility and the popularity of this, of, of this particular cigar and why it's been just kicking, kicking ass for so long.
**Grinder:** I'm, yeah. I'm literally dancing between the scotch and and the champagne while smoking this D four right now.
Yeah. And it's, and it's working beautifully. It's like a, it's like a symphony.
**Gizmo:** I've never had, uh, a defor with champagne, and I'm feeling like I'm tasting different things. It's kinda like when you put a record on, you've listened to so many times and you have a different pair of headphones that give you something a little different.
It's like, I'm hearing the same song I've heard a thousand times, but I'm hearing something in the background I've never heard before. It's brilliant. You know what's
**Grinder:** fascinating to me is I, I'm not a big champagne guy. I, this is, I'm drinking this now and I'm, I'm loving it with the cigar, you know, so maybe, I don't know if it amplifi.
The [00:21:00] stuff that I do like about champagnes or champagne or mutes, the things that I don't like, but it's working very
**Senator:** well. I'm so glad to hear this and, and gives what you just said there, I feel like was poetry that was so well put in that having this with champagne, and I've had this with champagne many times, but I haven't sat in a setting like this where I'm really thinking seriously about the cigar and the flavor notes I'm getting out of it.
And I feel like with a dry champagne like this, it's, it's reminded me and I feel like I forgot that there's this sweetness, actually in a D four, it's not all that prominent, but it's there in the back. And because the champagne's so dry, I'm getting this nice sweetness that I'm not necessarily always thinking about when I'm having a D four with a bourbon or a scotch that's already got some sweetness.
I sort of lose those flavors in the cigar. So like you said, this has been, I feel like I'm re-exploring the D four, which is
**Poobah:** actually really fun. Yeah, it's interesting because the champagne kind of cleanses the palette between the draw, which is cool. Because it's [00:22:00] carbonated and it's, and it, and then you, it, it, it does, it gives you a little bit different of a finish.
Um, and it pairs up well. We know that it's just, but how often do you, are we actually thinking about it and discussing it? You know, we know we've smoked the sc cigar on Senator's deck, you know, with like a seafood tower or whatever, because that's, that's what we do from time to time. And, and, uh, and you just go, this is great.
Oh, this is great. Rob tastes great. You know, it's, it's, but you know, we don't sit generally in, in like we do in the podcast and just, and just talk about cigar notes, so, um, or tasting notes. You know, it's not what we generally do, but it is interesting. It,
**Gizmo:** it's funny, I mean, we're only a few minutes in this, certainly, so far, as far as a podcast goes, as a, as someone on this side of it, it, it's almost been one of the most eye-opening.
Experiences because we've smoked this so many times and I, it's almost like I'm smoking it for the first time again, you know, it's a totally different experience, [00:23:00] especially with the champagne. So this is, uh, this is a really nice way to, uh, end the year.
**Senator:** I agree. The other thing I wanted to flag just about this cigar, I think we've said this about parus, but this stick in particular is so consistently well constructed.
I rarely, if ever, have had draw issues with a D four in particular. I mean, the draw is perfect on this right now. Beautiful burn. Nice white ash. I, I just, it goes back to we've had this conversation before. You know, petron, we, we sort of hold as the gold standard of consistent quality production and Parus is another that I put right up there.
I mean, we've burned through God knows how many boxes, and I, I can't remember the last time I heard a complaint from a lizard about how a D four, you know, was plugged or poorly constructed. I think we all have had just phenomenal experiences
**Poobah:** with these. Yeah. And it's no coincidence that, that, you know, [00:24:00] historically Boulevard, uh, Ramona La Gloria Kumar all fall under the Parus banner.
We're under the Parus banner. Um, pre-revolution. We're under the part Parus banner and those legendary cigars and those, I guess quote unquote blends right, have carried on. And it's no coincidence that we love those, that we love Ramon alone. We. because they're kind of cousins historically. So it, it, it, it's, it's, no, it's, it's, I don't think it's a coincidence.
And, and, and RGUs is the mother factory. It's one of the, it, it's, so what they're putting out, you know, anytime you, you, you, you can align a box code with that RGUs factory you're looking at something that's generally gonna be really, really good. Um, really, really, Goodmans are sometimes rolled out of there, and Parus is sometimes rolled out of the Upton factory.
So [00:25:00] it goes back and forth. And I think that, that, that, that, that's where you see this quality, you know, what they're putting out, um, has been, at least in recent history, very, very consistent.
**Pagoda:** So, Senator, what do you think, like, um, um, you would think of D four s as, uh, the exclusive os you know, you think about the US line or, you know, uh, the non-urban line.
and, uh, exclusives hold such a great place, um, among all of us. You know, I think this definitely feels exactly that way for the Cubans. Consistent, easy smoke, great combustion. Love it.
**Senator:** I couldn't agree more. I mean, when we started smoking a lot of these, I feel like a number of us, myself included with call the Parus, D four, the, the Cuban Padron, consistency, quality, versatility.
It, it just had all, it checked all those boxes. So I, I think you're exactly right. Pagoda. It's a good analogy.
**Poobah:** Yep. [00:26:00] Yeah, it's a sta This is, this is for so many a. Uh, uh, just a regular rotation cigar. This is the, what you put in. I, if, if I really had to pick a, a single Cuban, it would be a re robusto, it would be a toss up between, I think this and the Ramon alone, especially selected, they're both very good.
I think that in my personal, just in my personal experience, the part parus tends to be a touch more consistent from cabinet to cabinet or from, whether from cabinet to box, whatever you want to call it. Um, but they're both really, really good. They're both, it may be the best, it may be one of the, the bestos I'll go out in a limb of all time.
Just in terms of like what it is and what it delivers. Uh, I don't think that's a limb, I don't think year after year. I mean, it's not a limb. It's, it's not a limb. I mean, it's, it, it's [00:27:00] really the best. Yeah. It's, it in terms of, um, Now, maybe there're cohiba people out there who are saying it's in the top five.
It's really in the top five. I think you, you have to give it the, the top three. Top
**Rooster:** three. Maybe the top three. I mean, I would say comparable to a Ramona Yo. Uh, especially select. I don't know if the Cohiba booster, some people do do love the booster. EGUs D four, aand Lopez number two is also a very good
**Poobah:** one.
No, not in the same
**Gizmo:** conversation. ,
**Senator:** Jesus Christ.
**Poobah:** Some of the Hermosas though, you know, some people like those, those, they're, they're, they're like rabu, like the El Ray Deo, schwa, Supreme, and it's like that. But you know, that's another one at the end of the day. Desert Island. Desert
**Gizmo:** Island. This an,
**Senator:** I'm with you on
**Gizmo:** that all day.
I'll tell you, man, this. Like I said, I don't, I don't know much about champagne, but there's something about this [00:28:00] champagne that, you know, you've had it at a wedding or a celebration or something. This is very drinkable. Good champagne. And it's pairing perfectly with the cigar right now. Yeah. It's
**Poobah:** not frie.
It doesn't, it's not, it's, you know what I mean? This is not, um, crap that you, that, that you would get at some shit. Catering hall, you know, down in whatever it is in Ock or something. What's the,
**Gizmo:** uh, price point on the champagne?
**Poobah:** I,
**Grinder:** uh, 40, that's around 45 bucks.
**Pagoda:** It's around 50 typical liquor stores. And if you go to a discounted liquor stove, so
**Rooster:** around would say that's not bad.
No. 1450. It's not
**Pagoda:** bad at all. Good range.
**Senator:** Well, it's good to see everyone's enjoying this so much. I think we're ready for bottle number two. Number two. I want
**Poobah:** more.
**Gizmo:** Oh, we wanted
**Poobah:** to see the saber more
**Grinder:** for sure. Yeah. So, so it's New Year's guys. Do you guys have, uh, do you guys have New Year's resolutions? I definitely
**Gizmo:** do.
**Grinder:** What are, what's your New Year's [00:29:00] resolution?
**Gizmo:** Smoke
**Grinder:** more cigars. Okay. That's not a New Year's resolution.
**Gizmo:** Smoke less cigars. No, I'm kidding. Uh, I definitely want to get, uh, make better gravy, . I definitely want to get, uh, I wanna drop about 25 pounds hold. That's
**Grinder:** my plan. That's not a lot. That's not a little, that's a lot.
Okay.
**Pagoda:** Is that from your arms or the whole body? .
**Poobah:** Well, just kidding one . I, I, I, I personally think that that gizmo should stop burning down Christmas trees in Midtown . That's, that's what I think. I think that I, I, I, I, I think that, that you should have a more positive outlook on the Christmas tree. I believe that, that, that, that, that you have, you're framing this unfairly.
No, you have a problem. .
**Gizmo:** All right. The lizards and I got into a little bit of a, uh, heated Christmas battle. In the last few weeks, uh, name of this [00:30:00] last weekend as I was teeing off about the Christmas tree situation in my home, and how if it were up to me, we wouldn't have a Christmas tree. And not because I hate Christmas trees, but because I just don't need the
**Poobah:** aggravation.
Right? So for the listener, please, please don't stop listening. At this point, everyone in the room besides Gizmo loves Christmas trees and we love everything about Christmas. So, and the presence below. So why did you burn down the Christmas tree in the middle of Midtown, outside the Fox News building
**Gizmo:** yesterday?
It was in my way.
It was inconvenient for my traffic needs.
**Grinder:** By the way. We're not incriminating gizmo here. He had not burned out. We don't want any
**Senator:** listeners, right? Well, we, we can neither
**Gizmo:** conform confirm nor deny, but no absolutes, .
**Grinder:** Anyone else on, uh, on uh,
**Poobah:** resolutions? Resolutions? Well,
**Senator:** Spend less on
**Poobah:** cigars, spend less on [00:31:00] cigars, lose weight.
**Rooster:** That's
**Gizmo:** not happening. , spend more on cigars, smoke, more
**Rooster:** aged
**Gizmo:** stuff. Listen,
**Poobah:** I'm, I'm convinced Rooster's tapped into the 5 29 because every is kids college fun. Cuz this is a joke. I mean, so, so for those out there, you know, like out for those out there in the world, there are, and maybe this is something we should talk about and I'm just going to, I'm gonna talk about it.
I think that, you know, there are resellers out there who are very, very good. There, there are places that you can go, um, uh, I'd recommend going. Uh, there's certain social media sites that you can get involved in that, that, that really are very good and, and, You know, of course Rooster, I, I, I opened the door to my world, of Cuban cigars, and, and, and, and Rooster is buying [00:32:00] every single premium box five minutes after it's posted
And, and now he's, he's very generous and he shares, but from time to time there is a box that comes up and it's been up for five minutes and then it goes down . And I go, I would've liked to have bought that box , but he is on it all day. But I d I kid. Um, but there, but also one other topic for the listener too.
There are people out there that you need to be careful of. And what I would say is, is that if you find, if you find someone telling you, uh, that, uh, that patrons suck and that you shouldn't smoke 'em, if you find someone telling you that the only one. who? That they're the only person who sells legitimate, uh, Cuban cigars.
That everyone else's stuff. And that these third party vendors are counterfeit. I'll give you a piece of advice. They're full of [00:33:00] shit because they're manipulating you. So if you're out there and you've got a guy who's out there telling you just for the listener, if you're new to Cuban cigars and you've got one person telling you everybody, that, that, that sites like I have, this is all well known and on the internet, c o h sites like I have in c O h.
are, are in, and, and cigars of bonos are selling fakes and counterfeits. They're lying to you to get you to buy cigars from them. Well, well,
**Senator:** let's talk about some of the sites that listeners should buy Cubans from. That's a good idea. Right. I think the, the ones, and I'm talking about the, the major sites, not Facebook groups, are things that we buy from other collectors or other lizards around the world.
But the obvious sites that we've all used, that we've gotten great quality out of, we've never had issues. Cigar terminal i, havanas.com, cigars of Havanas,
**Gizmo:** I like Friends of a Bonos as well.
**Poobah:** Yeah. Have there, have you had shipping issues? No,
**Gizmo:** I've, I, uh, I think I kind of, because there have been, there [00:34:00] have I d definitely during Covid there were major shipping issues out of Australia, but they've cleaned that up a bit.
The only problem now with, with F O H is they just due to the, the Cuban supply issue, uh, they took their carts offline. So you have to participate in the, uh, the 24 24. , uh, which is the owner of the site puts up 10 boxes a day or 15 boxes a day, and you have to email them directly to get access to those boxes within a certain period of time.
So it's not an auction. The prices are very fair. In some cases they're less than other sites, but you just have to be on it and, and in front of it. But they put up some really incredible stuff on there. It's just you can't go there on the, on demand and, and, and purchase something through the cart.
**Rooster:** There are even some, uh, LA Casa del Havanas that will ship directly to you now.
**Gizmo:** Yeah.
**Grinder:** Mon Monte Fortuna is not so bad either. Monte Fortuna. It is, it is. So I found Monte's prices to be Monte Fortunas prices to be absurd.
**Poobah:** Uh, yes.
**Grinder:** It depends. It de it depends. They've gone up tight. So, so typically they're, they [00:35:00] are benchmarked against the others. They're higher. The quality is always great.
They, they vacuum seal all the boxes. They, the, the it I've never had delays like I have with, I have. I like, it takes like a month for me to get a box of op from I have, which is to me sometimes.
**Poobah:** Okay. Sometimes.
**Gizmo:** See I've been averaging about two weeks.
**Grinder:** Well, maybe I'm just unlucky. Yeah. Could be Monty. I, I order it a week and a half a week later.
I get it. And that's amazing from where, you know, where the heck it's coming from, but it's vacuum sealed. The quality. I could, I could pull it outta this, the box right there and smoke it. But the prices are,
**Poobah:** I think the prices are, I think the prices are really, they,
**Grinder:** they also have awful, they have great, they have a good, not great, they have a good selection of regionals, which I'm a, you know, they have a good, they have, they, they kind of play that market very well.
Um, which, Kind of bite on pretty easily. But I think
**Gizmo:** all of us are shopping. We're [00:36:00] looking like Monty Fortuna is great when they have a sale. I have is even better when they have a sale. They all do that. They all have, you know, it's, it's just normal shopping and Right. You just kind of have to look around and find your price.
I'm
**Senator:** curious where everyone's favorite site is. So again, taking Facebook group, social media out of this, what's your favorite site at this point to order Cubans from?
**Gizmo:** Mine's I, Havana
**Senator:** I'm with Gizmo
**Grinder:** Mine's. I, I with, I, I've, I've been a, I, so I've converted to, I have it. So I started off, I don't know if for the rest of you guys, but I started off with Scar Terminal.
Same. Then I, then I moved to Monte Fortuna and then I paused. Um, and then I procured some from, from fellow lizards and their respective social media platforms that they're engaged in. And then I've kind of, I kind of, I'm, I, I, I started, I have, and I, and. , I'm mostly ended. I have,
**Rooster:** so there is a cigar site called cigar analysis that kind of [00:37:00] rates all these different sites, whether they're, whether there's a cell counterfeits or they're real.
So that's another good site to go on to see what sites you should order
**Gizmo:** from. There's also a, there's also a great subreddit on Reddit, uh, Cuban cigars. And if you look at their sidebar, they have a list of whitelisted sites that are verified by users there that, um, and they're constantly updated about quality and whatnot.
But as far as like, you know, authenticity, so we're coming into the second third here on the Parus D four. I mean, just fantastic guys. Yeah, the flavor
**Rooster:** hasn't changed much. It's, it's the same notes that we were getting in the beginning. What
**Gizmo:** are guys getting?
**Poobah:** Well, it's got that salty, it's got that Cuban twang.
It always has that little bit of a Cuban, that little bit of saltiness, a little bit of floral note. Typical D four mine and a little bit of
**Gizmo:** sweetness. Mine's picked up just a little bit.
**Senator:** I get that Cuban twang, a little bit of sort of creamy sweetness and then like a little bit of cinnamon and [00:38:00] tobacco,
**Poobah:** Cuban tobacco.
It really just, it reminds me when I think of Cuban tobacco, I think of the cigar. It's, it's, and you know when you, I'm just looking at mine, like I just askeded it and it's got that perfect cone, which means it was just rolled. Great. What does it
**Gizmo:** mean, pba? You talked about the cone. What does it mean when cigars tunnel?
Cuz I see a lot of guys on online and on the forums complaining about tunneling. What does that, what does it, what does that mean? Is that a humidity
**Poobah:** problem or roll problem? Well, it could be your smoking it too slow. Okay. That could be one thing. Or it just, or it could be rolled poorly or too fast. It also
**Rooster:** can be if the humidity's too high and if the wrapper is too thick, it absorbs more liquid water.
Right. And the tobacco doesn't. So the wrapper is burning slower than the tobacco that's inside. Yep. That actually kind of happened to me the other day. I sent you guys a picture of, uh, ? Uh, I don't know. Oh, it was a, it was a Monty, ed Muno, double ed Muno. So the rapper was, rapper is kind of thick on that.
And I think it was, [00:39:00] maybe it was maybe a, maybe it was too moist.
**Gizmo:** I don't know. So that's a good question too for, you know, uh, uh, a good point for the listener too is, you know, we get these Cuban cigars in, I think most of us, maybe say for a rooster, uh, we wait to smoke them, you know, is it, is it two weeks?
Is it 30 days? Is it 60 days? I mean, we joke about Rooster six hours right off the truck, but I, I generally rest mine depending on where they come from and how they feel if they feel spongy or not. Um, I'm minimum 30 days usually when they come in.
**Pagoda:** What humidity level do you keep
**Gizmo:** it at? 62. 62 for all my Cubans, I'll be honest.
**Grinder:** That's great. I, I, I smoke mine. I'm like, rooster, once I get it, I'll just fucking pop it in my mouth and smoke it. I don't, I don't, I don't Wait.
**Senator:** I'll say this, I, I. I always used to wait, and then I started following in the ways of Rooster. And, uh, he has some good experiences smoking stuff right off the truck.
I had a few good experiences, but recently I've had bad experiences smoking right off the truck. So I've now had to [00:40:00] institute a lot more discipline and a great example of this. So, you know, the other night we had that, um, uh, the Anado, the Ahman ADOS weeks ago, we should review at some point. My God. And the funny thing is I told you that I had another box for that, that I bought from, I have, that I assumed was a younger box.
I'm a fool because I got home that night, I was with you guys and I had only smoked one out of that box and it was right off the truck, which was a mistake. That's why it wasn't a stellar experience. And the box date had a sticker over it. So I had to pull the sticker off and look at the box date and it's 2011, just like the box we have.
Oh, lucky bastard. So I actually have two boxes of those. Oh. But my mistake was smoking it right off the truck, which if you wait. , you're gonna have a much better experience most of the time. So you, you walk to, okay,
**Gizmo:** so hold on. I'm calling poop's eyes now. Poop's, eyes lit up. So did you say 2011?
**Poobah:** Yeah. Oh yeah.
These are 20 elevens that we have. Yeah, these, these up in ahas. You'll
**Senator:** also never believe what I paid
**Poobah:** for it. [00:41:00] These up men ahas these 20 elevens. Uh, I'm sorry. They are, um, I don't know how to explain it, but they're fucking amazing. They're fascinating there, right? They're fucking amazing. And, um, you just revealed yourself.
Now, , look, I'm not gonna hide it. Your supply, I'm not gonna hide it. I'm teasing you. But, but, but, but, uh, no, that's fantastic. What a score, right? So you'll never believe what I paid for that bill. Oh, you probably paid $320.
**Senator:** No, I would die for that four 40. So we paid for the box we got that we had with GIZ that night.
I think you paid 4 54. Everyth. Think it was more than that. I think it was like 4 65 maybe. Your was 4 75. I paid for, I paid
**Poobah:** 4 78.
**Senator:** Yeah. So like 4 65, 4 78, I looked back, I got it on a special sale on, I have for three 50. Oh my God. Wow. Outrageous. For a 2011 bucks.
**Gizmo:** Don't tell. Bam. Bam,
**Poobah:** man. And those are, they are.
Well, now we, okay, so now we know [00:42:00]
**Senator:** if they pop up. And I
**Pagoda:** have, that's, that's right. So a blind squirrel plant a knot once in a while. Yeah. That's great.
**Poobah:** So the, so those I, I, I gotta tell you, those are absolutely outstanding cigars. We couldn't believe what was going on with those cigars the other night. It's true.
**Gizmo:** I didn't hash it the whole time. Oh yeah. That was insane. I had the whole cigar. I didn't ash
**Rooster:** it. So, Puba, did you get yours on the I have
**Poobah:** no. Alright. No, I got 'em on, on the group.
**Senator:** Oh, okay. And I got my other box on the group. Same box, same box state. Ironically we bought from different sellers on our group.
And we each got the exact same box code month and year. Wow.
**Gizmo:** Right.
**Rooster:** So I would say that once, you know, if you get, if you get the boxes in and if you think they're fresh, kind of feel the cigar, you know, press it, see if it's spongy. If it feels too spongy, let it rest. But sometimes you might be lucky, they might be stored like really well and they might be okay.
Just give it like a couple of days or even a week or two and then,
**Poobah:** then try one. I think you [00:43:00] need to wait. If it's been in transit, just give it a couple days.
**Rooster:** Well, it depends on where it's coming. Right. If it's coming from overseas, yes, I agree. You might wanna wait longer than it's coming from, like within the continental us, you might have not have to wait
**Poobah:** that long.
Well, that's correct. If you're buying it from a private seller, just ask 'em how long that they've had it in their possession and how much acclimation time it, it, it requires and then that'll inform it. But if it's coming from from Switzerland, um, if it's coming from Switzerland, You need to, you need to take that and you need to, I, I put it away.
I don't touch it for at least four weeks if it comes. Cuz that's just a long time. Yeah. It's been in transit for, I kind of look at it this way. If it's been in transit two to four, three weeks, it needs to at least acclimate for the amount of time that it's traveled. Is is, is the kind of, is the, is the, is the rule that I go
**Gizmo:** by.
The other thing that we have to point out too is most of the retailers are storing, even their Cubans, they're storing somewhere closer to 69. You know, so [00:44:00] even, you know, friends of a bonos, I have all those guys, all those warehouses are 69, 68. So, you know, even when you get them from those guys, that's why I wait is not only from the transit time, but just in the warehouse they've been sitting in, you know, they're definitely
**Poobah:** humid.
Well correct and they're hedging because in case the box gets Exactly. If they're hedging, cuz in case the box gets really held up for a while, when it gets to the end, the end user. The end cus the end customer, they may not be, um, it may not be kindling by the time it gets there. They're, they're so, so they're gonna, they're gonna hedge just, just a little bit and not store them at 62.
**Senator:** And for the listener, most of these boxes that we're talking about, these Cubans are being shipped from Europe. All of these websites, a lot of them from Switzerland, the D four we're smoking right now. That's why we're having this conversation. That's where the vast, the gray markets come from. Yeah. It's the duty free
**Gizmo:** zone
It's beautiful. Yeah. So back to the D four, [00:45:00] I mean, coming down to the last third here,
**Grinder:** it just reminds me of, you know, for New Year's thinking of like what I enjoy and my traditions or family's traditions in New Years, you know, Being with family and drinking scotch and drinking, you know, having a a, a good cigar outside in the freezing cold
It's, it's, it's the best, you know, even even when your, your hands are cold and you're, you're struggling there, it's still, it's still perfect and it's, it's just, it brings back a lot of memories. That's all, you know, it's New Year's is a, it's an interesting celebration too. Like some, some people celebrate it more zealously than others.
And, you know, even in the uk, in Scotland, right? Scottish, Scottish people go bonkers over New Years. It's like the f it's like the holiday. Probably because of their pig and ancestry with the , their,
**Poobah:** the nor the, the, the Vikings and
**Grinder:** the, [00:46:00] and all that kind of Celtic and amalgamation of culture. But for me it's, it's, it just the cigar.
It tastes like, it tastes like a, you know, it, it's a, you, you mentioned some, someone of, someone mentioned it's a good friend or, or a familiar friend. I think that's Puba having this with the champagne and I'm, you know, like I said, I'm alternating between a scotch. It's, uh, it's, it's really, you know.
**Gizmo:** Perfect. I love too, you know, we talk about this journey of enjoying Cuban cigars and, you know, we've, we've smoked, uh, quite a few now on the podcast and we've certainly smoked a ton, uh, individually and together. What I like about this, you know, is that this is a very accessible cigar and we've still chosen it to be that celebratory cigar going into the new year.
10, 12 bucks. I mean, it's just a rock solid, yeahs, it's reliable cigar.
**Senator:** And your point there, I just, again, all everything we're enjoying right now is accessible and I just hate that there's this [00:47:00] perception, whether it's cigars, whether it's caviar, whether it's champagne, that it is all so overpriced and expensive and inaccessible, and that's just not the case.
I mean, we started by saying this cigar can get for what, 10 to $15 a stick. That's very reasonable. We're talking about a bottle of champagne that you can find for 40 to 50 bucks. If you're clever and you get it from a total wine or somewhere like that, you're gonna pay $40. It's enough champagne for, there's six of us in this room.
Caviar, you're talking about on the cheaper end, $50 an ounce on the more expensive end. A hundred, $120 an ounce. That's still gonna give enough to share with six people in this room. Not an outrageous expense. And so those are, we love all of these things, but at the same time, Um, they're not things that I feel overly guilty about or that I think that people should think twice about.
I think a lot of these are things that actually should be enjoyed more often. And not just for the New Year or Christmas or some other
**Poobah:** holiday. No, absolutely. I couldn't agree more or couldn't agree [00:48:00] more. Y y y you like too much in life. Um, we don't celebrate like the small wins. The, the, the or or appreciate those, the, like those small moments that are meaningful.
Over the summer we got together and, um, and we had some caviar and champagne. W was there a, was there a specific reason to do that? No, but like, it was a really nice thing to do cuz I think celebrating each other, celebrating friendships, taking the time, and this is why cigar smoking, when you get back to what this hobby is about, it's about sharing.
So, and it's about, Um, sharing experiences and, and, and having a cigar, particularly the same cigar with others, is an experience. This is a good thing. This is a positive thing. You're not on your phone. You're, you're, you're not checking [00:49:00] your email. You are, you're focused on something that's organic, which I think is also important.
I mean, these are all things that are, are totally organic. Cigars are organic. They're from the earth. The, the, the caviar we're eating is from the earth. The, the sh the, the champagne grapes that were grown are from the ground. So these, to me, I think, are things that can ground a person and saying, I'm coming back to this, like what I'm inge what you're engaging in and what you're, what you're eating, or what you're smoking.
Is meaningful because it's actually come from the earth and it's been cultivated and it's been done in an artisanal fashion. This, to me, I think is, is a, is a great catalyst for conversation. It's a great catalyst to connect and to appreciate things, I think that each and each [00:50:00] other. Yeah, and, and, and, and I, I think because of that, um, that's why these things are loved.
**Grinder:** And I think, I think the, the, the important thing to realize is that we're not talking about a balance between hedonism and not, you know, abstinence. We're talking about enjoying things that are natural. You may you, you may have used the word ar word organic and real. Really it comes back to. Why we're here, we're, we're trying to enjoy our life because we only have so much time to do that.
There's a poem by a guy named Robert Herrick, who's like a famous poem. The opening line is, gather ye rosebuds while you may old time is still flying. And that same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying. And I think about that every day because at the end of the day, there's gonna be a point where we won't be able to enjoy these things that are part of our environment, part of the earth, part of the, the how this is all created and we should enjoy it.
When you get a, when you get a bottle of wine, it's meant to [00:51:00] be consumed. When you have a good scotch, it's meant to be consumed when you have a great cigar, enjoy it with friends and family. And, and, and that's, I think, that's the premise that
**Poobah:** we all agreed to. I, I agree a hundred percent. And it goes back to what Senator was saying before about accessibility, but it's, it's a, it goes a step deeper because it's, yes, it's accessible, but.
I think that there's a level of authenticity to some of the things that, that, that, that we've, we've indulged in tonight. This isn't about, this is caviar, champagne and cigars. Things like these are from the earth, and there's a level of authenticity to that. And I think that it, it, it, it acts as, again, as a catalyst to an authentic conversation, you have to strip away this notion that this is somehow that you, you're eating caviar to be cool or you're smoking a Cuban cigar to be cool.
It's actually, if you're really [00:52:00] appreciating in the way it should be, it's actually the exact opposite of that. You're appreciating these things in small quantities. Um, we didn't have a lot of caviar. We had an, uh, an announcer or, or less than an ounce of caviar ounce. An ounce, maybe we had an ounce of caviar between, between the six of us.
This is. This is not spreading it on a bagel with cream cheese, which some people do. I mean, I've seen people actually take an ounce of caviar, like, and like throw it on a, on a bagel with cream cheese and eat it. Like, that's, that's ridiculous. So this is about sharing and I, and I, and I do think that these things, um, act as, as a a, as a nice, um, a nice way to share if you, if
**Grinder:** you can't enjoy, if you can't enjoy the small things in life, how the hell are you ever going to make the big things that meaningful?
Right.
**Pagoda:** Uh, Puba, like [00:53:00] I really liked, uh, what you said and uh, you know, talking about shared experiences, uh, it's fantastic. I think it's also about introduction, right? Uh, Senator introduced USO caviar, well on a kettle chip with, uh, fresh cream, um, fresh cre crema, creme fresh. Creme fresh.
**Gizmo:** Um, well, you tried three times ke , you know, it
**Pagoda:** is.
I, I remember that day. It was a beautiful summer evening. We all were meet, uh, hanging out. Uh, you know, uh, Senator pulled out. Uh, you know,
**Grinder:** his sword First Saer experience. Yeah. First
**Pagoda:** Saber experience Us. Yeah, it was great. Then we, uh, you know, he introduced us to, uh, caviar and I enjoyed it so much. Uh, you know, I, um, on my wife's birthday, I introduced her to it.
In fact, I called Senator and he advised me where to get all the stuff. And it was Whole Foods. You'd be surprised. You can go to Whole Foods, pick up some stuff, pick up a bottle of [00:54:00] champagne, and your wife is in love with you for another year. I'm
**Senator:** in . This is great. I, I've actually, ironically, saved a lot of marriages and Valentine's Days.
There were other guys that are former lounge shoe on Valentine's. They would ask, oh, what are you doing? And I would say, ah, I'm getting caviar and champagne and blah, blah, blah. They're like, oh my God, where do I get all this stuff? And I would show them the way. And they're still happily married today for it.
That's wonderful. But it's about sharing that experience, honestly. I mean, you have to understand, these are things, you know, I, I still remember the first time I tried where I had this misperception in my head. That caviar is this not that enjoyable, grossly overpriced thing that people just like to blow money on that are able to do that.
And when you really start to learn about caviar and you have it and appreciate it for yourself, you realize that it's actually a bunch of bullshit. That there are people that eat it that don't know anything about caviar, they don't even care what it tastes like. They just feel like, well, I should eat this if I [00:55:00] want to show off or be of a certain status.
And for people who really appreciate it and there are a lot of people out there, it's such a fantastic experience. Um, I mean the reason I had hosted a bunch of the lizards over at my place when we first did that was cuz there were a number of guys who said they had never had caviar before. And I knew once you try it, you're gonna just develop this appreciation for it.
I have colleagues at work who similarly have never had caviar. They've got a very negative impression. We've done a big team dinner where we've ordered caviar service and after that meal, , every single person leaves saying, I will eat caviar again. That was amazing. Yeah,
**Poobah:** absolutely. And it goes back to this notion of, this notion of celebratory experiences and celebrating life and appreciating life.
It's like that, that chef sedition cigar by davidoff that, that we all really love. It's a celebratory cigar. I think we could all agree. It's special, it's celebratory. It's like you bring that out and [00:56:00] you like, it makes it special. You know, we're, we're not eating caviar every weekend. Maybe maybe senator is , but we're not.
We're not, we're not, we're not doing it ev maybe we're not doing that every weekend. I mean, you want it to be special and you want these shared experiences to be meaningful. And
**Senator:** the shared piece is so key that you just said there, Puba, because, you know, interestingly, caviar is one of the only things that I've never had alone.
I've never once opened an ounce of caviar and ate it by myself. , it's either been with my wife, it's been with my family, it's been with my friends, never one time just by myself. And I, I love like so many of these things, it's about that shared experience at the same time, enjoying the same thing. And I think that's one of the things that makes it so cool.
Like you've been getting.
**Grinder:** And you know, I think, and I think, you know, looking at this episode at the end of the year, reflecting on the past year, which was another challenging year, right? For all of us, everyone, [00:57:00] um, challenging because of success, challenging because of not success. Um, the reality is part of what made it palatable or endurable was because we shared our love and our, our appreciation for this kind of stuff together.
And as a result, we grew in friendship together. And I think that's important to reflect on. Together. Together, right? Because we're not just sharing a cigar, we're sharing an experience, we're sharing a love of something that we can say, you know, we have this in common, we have this connection. And that's kind of what brought humans together.
All of, you know, for, for, you know, eons, right? Whatever, whatever. However millennia we've been existing, this is kind of, uh, an important moment that we should all reflect on and say, we're here together, we're sharing it, and we should reflect and say that this, we appreciate this and we're [00:58:00]
**Poobah:** grateful for it.
Absolutely. And we didn't die. And we didn't die .
**Gizmo:** Well, I think, you know, to kind of sum up and, and kind of focus it on, on what we're doing here, I think that this is a really interesting, uh, you know, development in my life and hopefully out all of our lives of not only getting together as often as we do, which I think is just, I look forward to what we do every week, not just the podcast, but the time that we spend when we're not doing a podcast, when we're just having cigars.
It's. Common ground. We all come to this common ground and we enjoy these cigars. And I think that, you know, hopefully for the listener out there who's, who's, you know, joined us over the last few episodes, hopefully, you know, if you know they're in the middle of Montana or the middle of Timbuktu, that they feel like they're a part of this community too, because they are.
And I think that that's the beauty of cigars is that it, it, it's the, it's a, it's a great leveler. You know, it doesn't matter how much money you make or you don't, you can smoke great cigars and you can smoke it with great people. And I think that we've certainly been that fortunate. I feel very fortunate that, that we have this group, we call [00:59:00] ourselves the lizards, and we do this thing and it's fucking great.
It's
**Poobah:** great. It's great. Full stop. Full stop. Yeah. So the D four boys, and it's a great, this is just a great cigar. I think we can all agree. So good. I mean, it, it, it's, I think almost, maybe I'll be outta school, but, you know, rating it. It's almost mean. It's, we can rate it. Let's do it. But do you wanna start us?
It's time. Yeah. I mean, look, I'm, I, you, it's for me. Um, for me, the cigar, the cigars a nine. It's close to my heart. It's just a nine. And that's it, rooster.
**Rooster:** Yeah, I think I agree with that. I'm also gonna
**Gizmo:** give it a nine. I'm also gonna give it a nine. I'm very, very, very in love with the D four.
**Senator:** Look at this all around so far.
Also a nine. Uh,
**Pagoda:** well, I always, uh, talk about experiences and, uh, the whole idea is, uh, well even, um, [01:00:00] Caviar taste and champagne dreams are accessible to everybody. Uh, the idea is that share those experiences in the coming new year with all your friends, family. Enjoy yourself. I think I rated at 10 because of my experiences.
**Grinder:** Wow. Wow. I love it. I'm, I'm a nine. I think that puts us at like 6.84. Eight six or something. Or nine. 9.86.
**Poobah:** 6.8.
**Gizmo:** Sorry. That's lizard math ladies. 8
**Poobah:** 8, 8 0.86. Fucking do the math. Fucking Georgetown Human calculator. , what is it?
**Gizmo:** The composite? I said 8.86
**Senator:** 9.2. How did you get it? If all of them are nine, oh, sorry,
**Grinder:** sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.
**Senator:** Dis happen. How much champagne is in that class?
**Grinder:** 9.1.
**Senator:** 9.16. No. Nine point bingo. Four star composite score is a 9.2 grinder's. Got
**Poobah:** it now And I think it fits very, it's very appropriate. and pagoda. Way to get in there with the 10 cause .
**Senator:** No, I love it.
**Gizmo:** I contemplated it. Absolutely. I contemplated it too. [01:01:00] All right, gentlemen, A fantastic cigar and even more so, fantastic friendship.
Senator, thank you so much for hosting, uh, for the wonderful champagne and cigars. Uh, and and caviar and gentlemen, a very, very happy New Year. Peace and love. Happy New Year lizards. Peace and love. Keep smoking. Thanks so much for joining us tonight. Hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking. Email us Lounge lizards pod, p o d, that's lounge lizards pod gmail.com. You can also find us on Instagram at Lounge Lizards Pod. We really appreciate your time and we'll, uh, we'll see you next week.