Lounge Lizards - a Cigar and Lifestyle Podcast

Recorded at Ten86 Lounge in Hawthorne, New Jersey the lizards pair the Partagás Coronas Gordas Añejados with 15 Year Aged Macallan Single Malt Scotch. The guys discuss the history of the Habanos Añejados line, they review Gizmo's first-ever box seizure and they read a listener email about butane lighter issues.

Show Notes

Recorded at Ten86 Lounge in Hawthorne, New Jersey the lizards pair the Partagás Coronas Gordas Añejados with 15 Year Aged Macallan Single Malt Scotch. The guys discuss the history of the Habanos Añejados line, they debate the value of the scotch pairing and they review Gizmo's first-ever box seizure.

Join the Lounge Lizards for a weekly discussion on all things cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban), whiskey, food, travel, life and work. This is your formal invitation to join us in a relaxing discussion amongst friends and become a card-carrying Lounge Lizard yourself. This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.

website/merch/rating archive: loungelizardspod.com
email: hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
instagram: @loungelizardspod

What is Lounge Lizards - a Cigar and Lifestyle Podcast?

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 range from 60 to 90 minutes and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.

The podcast features seven members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Grinder and Bam Bam.​

This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.

Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!

**Gizmo:** [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Liz's 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 by Rooster Puba, Senator Pagoda, Grindr, and bam bam, a full house of lizards.

And our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some scotch, talk about life, and of course, have some laughs. So take this as your 64th official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge, lizard Planet. Meet us here once a week. We are gonna smoke a Cuban cigar tonight. Share our thoughts on it. And give you our formal lizard rating.

We review the history of the Anado line. We debate the value of our scotch pairing, and we discuss my first ever box seizure, all among a variety of other things for the next hour. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we pair 15 year age Macallan single malt scotch with the Parus Corona SCS on atos.

A 15 year age. Ran Corona from [00:01:00] Cuba tonight, boys on the pod. The RGUs Coronas Gordos Antos. Very nice looking stick, huh? Yes. An oh yes,

**Senator:** ados. It's nice to see a, uh, a Cuban box press. It is .

**Gizmo:** It's

**Poobah:** custom semi box press. Yeah, soft.

**Gizmo:** Yeah. So this is a really interesting cigar. I have a lot of kinda little anecdotes I wanna talk to you guys about with it that I find interesting.

I mean, the whole ahas line is just confusing and weird. in general. Um, but, uh, you know, I guess first let's cut this thing boys. See if we're getting on the cold draw on the wrapper. Just gave me chills. So

**Grinder:** let's cut this thing boys .

**Gizmo:** So this is a 46 ring gauge cigar by five and three eights inches, again from Cuba.

Pretty nice on a cold draw. So this, I, I did a little data scrubbing. This is the seventh [00:02:00] RGUs that we've smoked on this podcast. Ooh. Okay. Ready to hear 'em. We did the Maduro one. We did the RGUs short. We did the D four for last New Year's Eve. We did the Collibra, we did the Parus P two in the Battle of the Pyramids, and we did the lucit.

With Rob Isla a few weeks ago. Nice. So, um, yeah, this is our seventh party. It's on the pod, so this is definitely, I was surprised to see I, I kind of forgot a couple of them. I thought it would maybe be like four or five, but I was definitely surprised that it was, uh, that it was seven. How's the draw, guys?

Nice. Mine's

**Poobah:** wide open. Mine

**Grinder:** is plugged as fuck. Oh

**Bam Bam:** boy. , does anyone have a perfect draw? I do, yeah.

**Gizmo:** Oh, that's, thanks. So what are you guys getting on the cold draw? Fig and

**Poobah:** vanilla.

**Bam Bam:** Yeah, it's very nice.

**Gizmo:** Absolutely fig. I'm getting a lot of cedar on the wrapper, but I'm, I'm getting the fruit notes,

**Bam Bam:** like, uh, pubis Little sweet.

Yeah.

**Senator:** I honestly, the cold draw, this is one of the most flavorful cold draws I can

**Bam Bam:** remember, dude. [00:03:00] It's setting up to be a good cigar.

**Senator:** Yeah, I mean, I mean, I feel like I'm smoking it already. I haven't even lit it, it it, it's

**Poobah:** alota flavor, right? Yeah. Sweet.

**Bam Bam:** Honestly, the other, no, I mean the other aha that I've had is the Nola h Chapman.

That's flavorful, but nothing like

**Gizmo:** this. But from, from, it's not, that's not an aha. It's not, no, it's not called a

**Rooster:** no. Oh, I keep forgetting that. It's the

**Poobah:** Yeah. But this has a way different cold draw than a typical, uh, parus that has kind of those baking spice and, and cinnamon flavor kind of

**Gizmo:** things going on.

Agree. Mm-hmm. It's funny you should say that because there's some questions about how this cigar started its origin, which is kind of the case with most of the Ana Hato cigars. But this is, this has a weird backstory that we're gonna get into.

**Senator:** Awesome. Are you gonna tell us this is

**Gizmo:** fake ? Yeah. I got these from Monte Fortuna couple weeks ago.

enjoying boys. They were 10 bucks a piece. . Let's light this thing [00:04:00] boys. The RGUs, Corona Scda, aha. From Cuba. So this box was released in 2016. But it has a box date of m a s, December oh seven, so it's a little over 15 years old, which obviously is the whole thing about the ADOS line is that these cigars are released.

This is

**Grinder:** phenomenal. This is so good. Sorry. Should I not?

**Gizmo:** Wow. Wow. Strong start. Yeah, but the, wow.

**Bam Bam:** But, but

**Gizmo:** it's delicious. Wow. No, I mean, strong isn't good. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Not strong as in so many like

**Senator:** bacon. That is

**Grinder:** bacon cookie, multi, like, kind of earthy, little

**Senator:** wow. Some that

**Grinder:** the graham cracker is coming through. Sorry, I'm just free balling it

**Senator:** here. No, you're right.

I think the graham cracker's spot on. I'm getting honestly Don [00:05:00] Carlos shark like flavor. Yeah. That's not, that's

**Bam Bam:** not wrong. Yeah. The aroma

**Grinder:** is fucking unbelievable. This is the

**Gizmo:** aroma

**Senator:** on this cigar. I just have to say, look, I, I'm sorry. The aha line gets shit on all the time. I have always thought for very good reason.

The only Ana hato I've had that's really spectacular is the Ahman Ana Hato, which

**Gizmo:** is

**Bam Bam:** amazing. Incredible. We all love that Sakara.

**Senator:** This is really good. I mean, I wouldn't give this a shot. I mean, I, I, I think we've said this on other podcasts, on other episodes, RGUs can do no wrong. I think this is already showing exactly that, but now I'm regretting that I, there's like this black mark on the ADOS line as if they're all, there's something wrong with them.

This is spectacular.

**Poobah:** So, so take it, take it now and, and. Just, just retro hale it. Yeah. Through the nose. And you get the, you get the, the baking spice, the floral you get. Well, so now there's so many. Take it. So take it now. So all those things you said are true [00:06:00] now blow it through your nose and it's so floral.

It's amazing. It's

**Bam Bam:** it wrong. I get baking spice

**Gizmo:** and little floral. Yeah. You could taste these even you can taste how age has just baked it perfectly. Yep. It's like all the flavors baked together brilliantly. I run the risk

**Grinder:** of bur of smoking this too fast. Yeah,

**Gizmo:** don't do that. Don't do that. So kiss God. Yes.

Yo

**Poobah:** dude, it's like, It's like, almost like lavender

**Gizmo:** through the nose. Oh my God. He's right. It's, it's special. Yeah. Am I crazy? No, he's very, very floral. It definitely

**Poobah:** a very floral, but like, not overpowering floral. Like you'd get like with like an MD oh four, right, where it's like so floral. It's almost like perf, there's almost a not perfume thing, but it's hopefully it's, it's, it's, it's very floral.

Yeah. It's not overpowering, but my goodness.

**Senator:** But this is where, I mean, Puba said earlier, these are not traditional RGUs notes. No, no. Which, it's amazing to me the range that they're able to achieve out of their line. I mean, if you, if we did this blind and you made us [00:07:00] guess what Cuban brand this is, I don't think anyone would say part August to

**Gizmo:** start.

It's funny you say that. I dunno what I'd say, which

**Senator:** is impressive for them to be able to pull this off. There's, I

**Gizmo:** might say, , it's,

**Rooster:** it's, to me it's like a combination of an aged L G C and an Mond. Mm-hmm. I agree with

**Gizmo:** that. Yeah. Because it has that fal, it has the

**Rooster:** floral from the lgc line and it has like the graham cracker and the baking spices from the upland line kind of put together.

And with 15 years of age on this, it's kind of like really balanced and

**Gizmo:** mellowed out the flavor. Exactly. It's crazy. Yeah. Crazy. So what's interesting about this whole Ana Hato line and Rob, who we had on a few weeks ago from f o h, he's a big critic of, of, of the Ana Hato line as a lot of folks on the internet, as senator was alluding to Cuz and there's two, there's two kind of grudge camps.

There's a grudge camp in flavor and performance, which is certainly, that's, you know, to one's pallet, whatever. And then there's a grudge camp [00:08:00] that lives in the confusion and lack of transparency with the pricing, original pricing when they release the line. What's actually in this tobacco, why? Let's say they have an AAHA Romeo Churchill, which is a regular production cigar, and this has never been a regular production cigar.

The only other time that this cigar has appeared in part August's line as a size was as, as an el, which was the Siri one. Number three I think was the addi, additional liata that's the same size as this, but there's never been a Grand Corona from RGUs in regular production, at least in the last 20 years since Havana been, are you talking about the series C?

No, I think it was series one, number three. Series one. I think it was a three or something. I don't remember. Uh, it's an el from like 2011 or something. But, but, but, but

**Poobah:** the point you're trying to make is that there's like, there's some mystery behind, well, what, what, what, what Leaf is actually in [00:09:00] this? And that's exactly it, because it kind of doesn't.

**Gizmo:** It doesn't have classic RGUs. It doesn't come have classic parus. Now, makes

**Grinder:** you wonder though, is it, is it not classic Parus just because of this age? Because we've smoked for some pretty well aged

**Gizmo:** RGUs, but COL still had the dna. Yeah, it did. It did.

**Senator:** Of Parus. This is

**Gizmo:** intentionally different. Yeah, but here's the question now, going back to the comment about Aho, the grudge camp where there's a lack of transparency.

The argument that a lot of folks make is that these cigars sat around and aged for however long that they did before they released nine years. Right? So they, again, this is a late oh seven box date of these cigars being rolled, released in 16. We're smoking them in 22. Okay? So that's the timeline of this cigars life.

The thing is, is that the assumption is that these cigars are not banded or boxed until 2016. So it's not like they rolled these in 2007 apparently and put these bands on them. and let them sit as a parus sitting in a warehouse, 5,000 boxes or however [00:10:00] many 10,000 boxes, and then they release it. The argument is like, who knows what Marcus tobacco is in this?

Who knows what blends are in this? It may have had nothing to do with Parus until they decided, you know what? We need a parus on a hato. Let's throw a band on it, you're saying, and they

**Grinder:** had these like polos just aging somewhere in the corner of a warehouse. That's

**Gizmo:** what, that's the whole idea of Ana Hato is that they're aged, but they don't give you very specific things, and the fact that the Romeo, for example, is a regular production cigar that aged, and then they released it as an Ana Hato, and there's other cigars that they've done that with.

This has never appeared in regular production. Makes me think.

**Senator:** I mean, there are new world sticks that do very similar things. I mean, I think the daven off line, you think of so many times we talk about these like limited editions that they have, or even the DOA that we've reviewed, it's got a 2014 band on the foot of it.

What does that mean? Why would they, yeah. What is that? It's not part of any regular davidoff line that they've just had sitting there since [00:11:00] 2014 aging, and they just all of a sudden banded it. I just feel like this kind of thing happens and there's this weird. Mysterious process and intrigue, but when it works, it works.

I mean, for the Dominican it worked, and so far this really

**Gizmo:** works well. I'm, I'm, I'm a little confused.

**Rooster:** So are you saying these cigars were rolled in 2009 and they were 2007.

**Gizmo:** Seven And they let them sit and they let them sit. They decided whether it's gonna be a EGUs or that's the something else. That's the thing that we don't have a definite answer on.

Mm-hmm. , we don't know when the, the actual RGUs label that we're looking at. So there's two bands on the cigar. There's a Parus, classic Parus Band, and there's the Anado band. We don't know when they put that Parus band. Mm-hmm. on this cigar. Was it put on this cigar when it was rolled in 2007, or was it put on when they boxed it in 2000?

That's

**Senator:** the question. But why does that ma, I mean, it it has to be parus tobacco, obviously it doesn't,

**Gizmo:** that's the point. We don't know that. Yeah, that's, that's IUs

**Senator:** ever dare sell a cigar That's not their own tobacco. That's true. [00:12:00] Because they have

**Grinder:** these factories that are making different markets across the Havana's catalog, as they say.

Right. So if it's in factory, well, I

**Gizmo:** mean is a of this factory code? I don't know. But let, let me

**Senator:** just be clear, right. If there's a, if this is at all possible, that you look at a band on a Cuban cigar and it says Parus or Upk or Lgc or whatever it says, and we are not certain that it's actually their tobacco.

I mean, it, it erodes brands, period. Well, no, like when I pick up a pagus, I know it's parus tobacco and what to expect when I pick up an ment, I know the same thing. If I'm hearing that it's possible that this is someone else's tobacco, well

**Gizmo:** someone else isus, everything is havanas. It's like saying that Mountain Dew is not Pepsi, which is not, it's like the, it's haos is haos.

So they do whatever they want. The blenders s

**Senator:** these brands, I mean, they, they don't manufacture the cigar. . Right. I mean, that's the whole point of the brand is they manufac, they grow it mm-hmm. and they, they produce it, they manufacture it. Yep. If that's not true, then the whole, [00:13:00] the brands mean nothing, then they don't even exist.

So that, I'm just, that's like a real existential crisis if this is true. Just, and, and

**Gizmo:** that's where, and this is where the grudge Camp of Ahas line comes out of the transparency of how this was all put together. Mm-hmm. , I, I mean, Rob himself on his. Uh, sometime last year I was reading a threat about it called this, one of the biggest failures that Havanas has ever had.

There's a, that is,

**Bam Bam:** that there is a lot of information online that's backing up what he's saying, but how do you corroborate

**Gizmo:** that you don't? Well, here, here's the, that's the, that's the beauty of haos. There's been, here's well, the

**Poobah:** beauty and the mystery. Right. Well, here's the thing. I, I think that there's been some disappointment, um, with certain ONA Hato releases, um, just because they just don't live up to the price and they don't live up to the hype, which creates, you know, you're like, okay, this cigar supposed to be, what is it, five years of age on

minimum

**Gizmo:** five.

Minimum five, but this one had nine. This,

**Poobah:** right? Yeah. Whatever the case may be. Right. So, As time goes on, and, and there's been some [00:14:00] disappointing, um, aha for banded cigars, which just leads to all, I think all of this kind of speculation that, that, that you're starting to hear in, in, in forums and whatnot. I mean, I think the, I, I think for us, practically speaking, you know, this, um, does it, if, if this was a blind tasting, would I pin this?

That's exactly the point. Yeah. As a pagus

**Gizmo:** No way. And Senator opened the whole thing

**Poobah:** with this. I mean, no way. I wouldn't, I wouldn't be able to pin, I wouldn't, I wouldn't guess it. I mean, I don't know what I would guess. Mm-hmm. , but it would be tough because it's really unique. I don't

**Grinder:** know if I would put it as, Like a

**Gizmo:** Cuban, oh, I would put, oh, I'm definitely get Cuban.

I get Cuban all day. Someone, someone said a

**Grinder:** shark before and I was like, that kind of resonated with you.

**Senator:** Yeah. I mean, resonate. This is Cuban tobacco. I would say a Cuban or if, if someone tried to lie and tell me it's a new world, my one guess would be the Don Carlos shark. Even though this, the vit

**Gizmo:** would get, I knew Right.

And on Aha. . [00:15:00] Yeah. Carlos from, uh, cor Quick. No, it's, I mean it's, listen, it's definitely a Cuba tobacco, it tastes like it. To me, the mu the Muskiness of the age is, is very in line with, you know, that's not,

**Senator:** I'm just gonna take a stand in this debate and say, because I, I can't accept that there's a possibility that there are brands.

Cuban cigars where it's not actually their tobacco. I can't accept. I mean, if that's the case, I like that shatters Cuban cigars for me, just period . So, I mean, I think we'll get over it. Me, I don't subscribe to that. I, I, I do like what Puba has said is what I have read, the complaints I've seen online overwhelmingly are that so many different cigars in the ahas line are disappointed, have not lived up to the hype.

They've disappointed in flavor, in performance. The price point's ridiculous on a lot of them, and so it's gotta meet a high bar and it doesn't come

**Poobah:** close. I think what we've found, I agree and I think what we've found in, in our personal experience with, with these is that [00:16:00] actually when you pick up an an , an ana hot box that actually has age.

The ones that we have picked up, like the Outman, um, the 20 stone? Yeah. 2011 and the 2011. Like how luxurious that and com and, and beautiful and yeah. That's fantastic and complex. That cigar is, you're kind of getting a similar experience here. So, you know, time. Time.

**Bam Bam:** I'm not sure if I would put this above that cigar though.

**Gizmo:** Oh. Oh, I don't know about This is pretty damn good right now. I'm,

**Bam Bam:** every up and AAHA that I've had has been

**Poobah:** such a, unless the jury's

**Gizmo:** still out on that. My I

**Senator:** agree. Okay. But I, I also just wanna say one thing. Look, there's obviously a lot of hate around the ahas line and I'm sure it's deserving, but I'm just noticing a clear trend here.

We've had the Ahman ahas and we love it. And this Parus ahas is off to a really, really good start. These are two Cuban brands that we love. Mm. . And so I'm not, I'm not surprised, like I, I'm actually frustrated that I gave into some of this online [00:17:00] because I find it hard to believe that either of those two brands I revere so much, would put out a really shitty product.

Do I believe that the Romeo ADOS line sucks? Yeah. because their standard production sucks. That's that's true. Do I think that some of the other brands would fall short? Yes. Because I think for a lot of the other brands, some of their cigars are excellent and others I'm not really a huge fan of, but I've yet to have an Ahman or a Parus that I don't like, truly.

**Gizmo:** Yeah. But

**Rooster:** going back to the point that Havanas has the tobacco aging and then the role of cigar, and then they decide whether it's gonna be Aha or a

**Gizmo:** EGUs or something, we don't know that that's what's what people are saying. That's, that doesn't make

**Rooster:** sense to me. Right. You can't put an EL on. On a cigar after you roll it and you smoke and you're like, oh, wait a minute, we could release this as an el

**Gizmo:** No,

**Bam Bam:** it, and that needs, there needs to be a preconceived notion in the way they make it.

Yeah. I don't buy that.

**Gizmo:** Agreed.

**Rooster:** So I think this had to be a, it had to be rolled in the portis factory, aged [00:18:00] in their warehouse or wherever they aged them, and then they put the, uh, put the banner.

**Gizmo:** But I, I mean, listen, maybe it's New Year, new lizards, but you guys are given Havanas and Cuba tobacco. More credit than I've ever heard of this podcast.

No. I mean, this is

**Senator:** just the brands. I, I, I just, I think these all stand for something we tell the brand history. I just have a really hard time imagining that any of these brands. Would ever be in a situation where they're putting a, their band on something that they didn't grow and produce a quick question.

I just don't buy it. Yep. Quick question.

**Gizmo:** How much are these? So, well, they're very hard to find now. Uh, when you do find 'em, I got them, actually, we got these from our friend in California. Oh. Mm-hmm. per per stick. What are they? Uh, we paid, uh, we paid around 20, 25 bucks. Oh. It's not that, that's, they're very reasonable from Oh, but that's o price.

That's not what you're gonna pay on Bond Roberts. I've

**Bam Bam:** got the up in ahas, I just don't remember how much they are And up

**Rooster:** in ados were around, like when we bought them. Yeah. They were about five 50 a

**Gizmo:** box. I paid five, I paid more maybe 6, 6

**Bam Bam:** 50. Yeah. I [00:19:00] think I paid over 600 for the two

**Senator:** boxes that have

**Gizmo:** I got a very good deal.

I paid less than, yeah, I paid

**Rooster:** around 5, 4 95

**Gizmo:** of my, I paid for something,

**Poobah:** multiple boxes that I will tell you multiple

**Bam Bam:** different prices. It's worth every dollar. Those, those boxes are worth every dollar. Yeah.

**Gizmo:** Let's, as far as I'm concerned, lets, let's quickly, I, I kind of wanna get back to this cuz I'm really enjoying the flavor.

I just wanna quickly run through all the Ana Haass that have been released by Havanas. I was just gonna ask that. So we'll start, we're gonna go in alphabetical order of Marco. So upk, as we've discussed, released the, uh, RA Robusto in 20, uh, 2016. Hoyo de Monterey uh, released the Hermosa number four, Dan Cigar salute would love that cigar.

In 2015, Monte Christo had two ADOS releases. They had Churchhill, which is interesting. Uh, and Montecristo Tubo. Churchills in 14, and the Montecristo two bows are coming out in 21. Uh, which means we'll probably see them in 24 with the way the p uh, HOAs goes. Uh, the Parus Corona Goos, which we're smoking tonight.

Two from Romeo the Churchills, which senator mentioned the 2019 [00:20:00] release and the pyramids in 2014. And I didn't know this one. Boys Trinidad funded. Doris ados is coming out. What, in 2021? Yeah,

**Bam Bam:** it's $120

**Gizmo:** a stick. More than that probably . Yeah. So that's gonna be, that's crazy. Good luck finding. So strap on your boots out there.

Lizards. There's more coming. I mean,

**Poobah:** this, this, this is not gonna, this cigars gonna play out beautifully. Oh yeah. I, I'd put, I'd bet everything I have in the bank on it, this thing is. Gonna end badly in any way. I'll be, I'll be honest with Puma, this is, this is very, very, this is one of, this is

**Gizmo:** extraordinary, in my opinion, is when I pulled this box out and I put my nose in it.

And when I, when I started the dry box sticks yesterday, I was very nervous cuz all I got was cedar. It, every cigar just smelled like cedar. And I'm like, here we go. Maybe they just kept here

**Senator:** we go near the Romeo on maybe,

**Gizmo:** yeah, it might have been near the Churchill on August. Mm-hmm. . But, um, this, [00:21:00] I would say Cedar's not even a note I'm getting at all.

It's No, no. It's an absolute flavor box. You know, you don't get, there's no rough

**Poobah:** edge anymore. No. You

**Bam Bam:** don't get the, on the, on the wrapper when you're put it to your nose. You don't get any, any sense of flavor until you get a cold draw and then you light it. It's

**Senator:** incredible. I just, when, when Gizz said it's a flavor bomb, the thing that's actually surprised me most about this.

This is medium full in flavor. Yeah, it is.

**Gizmo:** I was just gonna say that it's not

**Senator:** light. It's not, it's, and the, the crazy thing why that surprises me so much is we talked about how floral some of the notes are in this. Most cigars that have floral notes, I don't think ever really touch the full category. They stay firmly planted in medium, which is good.

But I do love a full flavored cigar. And I think we talk all the time about how with Cubans, you know, there's, there's only a handful that really get into that full category. They're all pretty much medium and some in the mild camp, some of

the

**Gizmo:** Maduros get there, but that's about it. Oh, but Maduros, that's about it.

Sure. But

**Senator:** that's about, it's so few. Yeah, exactly. Mm-hmm. And the fact that this is, I'm [00:22:00] smoking it, I think firmly plants one foot, one leg in the full camp and the other in the medium. This. Perfect.

**Poobah:** It's full. I mean, it's body, it's full body. This is what I would, it's

**Gizmo:** body. Absolutely. If

**Senator:** I could curate a CI Cuban cigar for myself, this is what I would wanna

**Bam Bam:** experience.

Dude, the the cinnamon is, is

**Gizmo:** just so, can I say something that may be a little controversial in the room? . This is reminding me more of any, uh, of any other cigar I've smoked from Havanas. This is reminding more of that Vegas, Romania classico thing that we love more than any other havanas I've ever had.

It's touch. It's like touching on some of those flavor notes

**Poobah:** in terms of the level of complexity and sophistication. Yes. Yeah. But the Vegas Robia Classicos gives you more Cho, more chocolate and

**Gizmo:** Coco, which is a classic Vegas, you know, a ette uh, flavor. And this is more Fal and

**Senator:** fruity. Yeah. I mean, as we're talking about classic flavor notes for these brands, I mean, BAAs said he's getting a lot of cinnamon in this.

Mm-hmm. and I'm [00:23:00] now, I don't know, a quarter inch into this. I'm getting that. And that's classic par aged part, like

**Gizmo:** a, which is a col. Yeah, the D four

**Senator:** now

**Bam Bam:** I was about to say that Senator, the D four. When it's aged.

**Senator:** Right? A hundred percent. Yeah. Which is why now at this point, if, if the cigar were already smoked this far and I took a, a draw and I had to guess, I would say RGUs.

So I'm no longer like this validates for me that, I'm sorry. I think it's bullshit. It's a Cuban, this is some other brand cigar. He's consulting for

**Gizmo:** Havana. It's Aag .

**Senator:** This is just, this is now smoking like a party.

**Gizmo:** It's a, it's a little reminiscent

**Rooster:** of the

**Gizmo:** Collibra that we had. Yeah.

**Bam Bam:** You know, dude, I was gonna say that.

I kept it to myself because I thought you were gonna laugh. . But

**Poobah:** sweeter. But sweeter. I get it. Because the Collibra has this floral notes, right? Yes. So the col could, the Collibra has that F floral, that floral,

**Gizmo:** that fragrant, that Collibra had a lot of age on it. Oh yeah. As well. Yeah. Yeah. Now this is

**Senator:** straight RGUs right here, exactly where I am in this.

So

**Gizmo:** you're about an inch in, right?

**Bam Bam:** Yep. Yeah. I have to [00:24:00] say, the spirit that we're pairing with this, the caramel notes I'm getting, it goes pretty nicely. I have to

**Gizmo:** say. I have not taken a sip yet. Very nice. I have been waiting for this moment. So, uh, We, uh, we, we kind of did the, I did the math on the cigar. We figured out it was a 15 year aged cigar.

Mm-hmm. . So, uh, Grindr went and picked up 15 year aged Macallan, which were big Macallan fans in the house. Um, I don't think I've ever had 15, actually. Neither have I, I like it. You have 12, 15, 18, 20

**Senator:** at your place. You know, last time we had the 15, do you remember North? You don't remember this? So, uh, me, rooster and bam, when we went up to, uh, wood, Woodstock, new Yorkton Dillon.

Oh yeah. Right. Uh, we all, this, actually, this is a funny story. I just, we collected our SCOs. Yeah. So we all, just some of the lizards and some, uh, other, um, lounge friends of ours, we went up to this hotel in, uh, Woodstock, New York. This was around the pandemic time. It's like no one had really gotten out. I remember that was my first like, hotel stay during the pandemic.

And, [00:25:00] um, we all brought a different bottle of scotch and the only requirement was it had to be minimum 15 years. That's true. And, uh, we had a hell of a night. We did, but, uh, one of the bottles was Macallan 15. Okay. Which we had there. Right. I

**Bam Bam:** do like

**Gizmo:** it. What do you, what do you think of a grinder? I think it's

**Grinder:** pretty pedestrian.

**Bam Bam:** Wow. Oh, oh

**Gizmo:** wow. .

**Senator:** I

**Grinder:** mean, it's, it's, it's the double cast. It's not the cherry cast. So that's already a ding. Um, It's good. Yeah. I guess pedestrians a too, too, I'm getting a bit

**Gizmo:** ous as well. What's the price point? Yeah.

**Bam Bam:** How much is this? Hundred 40. Five 50. I'll forget it. Yeah. That, that takes

**Gizmo:** it

**Senator:** down a notch.

I'll say this about the, the Macallen 15 I, I have had a full disclosure. I hate relationship with this spirit , and I love Macallan. Did you say I

**Gizmo:** love hate or just a hate? Oh no, just a hate. Well, that alone, I thought the 15 just

**Bam Bam:** wanted part. That alone makes it a legendary spirit when 12 doesn't it? 12

**Senator:** is

**Gizmo:** No, no, no, no.

**Grinder:** The 12, Sherry, [00:26:00] when we talk, when we talk about the 12 share, is, is, is an a plus. We, I thought you, in comparing the the 12 to like the 18, you'd always say like,

**Senator:** 15 is great. No, no, the 18 is too, I'm too much. I'm, I hate the 15. I'm absolutely in love with the 12 sherry and the all 18 is good, but for the price I would take 12 Sherry any day of the week.

No, it's like not even close for me. We all agree. So I think

**Grinder:** the absence of the sherry, and this is just, you know, it's a bit of a letdown for someone who drinks as much Macallan as we do, or some people, I mean, so I think it's okay. It's totally scotch, but it's, but it's, it's a run of the mill. It's a ru Sorry to interrupt.

It's a run of the mill scotch

**Senator:** to me. Yeah, it is. But the, the thing, not for the price. I'm surprised. So I started by saying I've had a hate relationship with this, this spirit. This is drinking sweeter than I ever remembered, Macallan 15, which the sweet notes usually would get from that cherry, that cherry cask.

So I, I like some of that. It's [00:27:00] honestly almost a little too sweet, but it pairs well with the cigar. It does in the sense that like the cinnamon notes you're getting in the cigar, you're kind of getting a little bit of that here. Yep. So it's working better than I would've expected. Um, but I still can't say I, I've had mine with some ice.

I actually wish I, did anyone try this? Neat. I did. I'm having a need, so I'm having it neat. Are you, do you get a bite? Um,

**Bam Bam:** there is, yes.

**Senator:** Okay. A bit of a bite, but whenever I have Macallan 15 meat. Yeah. I get a bite when I have Macallan 12. Neat. I actually don't get, don't get a bite. 12, Sherry, I don't get much of a bite.

This is true. So that's always been the knock I have on this. It's like, I'm sorry if I'm gonna spend now 65, $70 on a bottle, Macallen 12. And it's got no bite. It's got this rich, delicious flavor about it. And now I'm gonna spend 150 it price bucks less than half and

**Poobah:** I'm gonna get a bite. You getting it for 65 right now?

Cuz it's like

**Senator:** 81st? No, it's 69. 69. Bottle king.

**Rooster:** Bottle king. Yeah. Does the Macallan 15 also come in as Sherry?

**Gizmo:** It does, but it's hard to find. [00:28:00] Ah, ah, I don't think he. Does it? I'm

**Senator:** not sure.

**Grinder:** I, I think it does, cuz I saw this. It does, but it's hard to find. But

**Gizmo:** I couldn't find it. I've never seen, I went to Cherry, I went to four liquor stores tonight, so that, that would be interesting.

Trying to find

**Grinder:** this one with the 12. Thank you so much. Kudos grinder. At least

**Pagoda:** now a no, not to buy this .

**Senator:** I'm just kidding. .

**Gizmo:** Wow.

**Bam Bam:** Honestly, if it was, if it was cheaper, I would drink this. Not regularly, but I'd have it occasionally. I don't mind it. I do. This is better than I last had. Yeah, I like the caramel note.

I didn't have it with any ice. I think if you had ice, it would probably dilute that. And I know you

**Poobah:** wouldn't get it, but, but, but pound. But pound for pound, it's this. Mm-hmm. dollar for dollar. Is this

**Gizmo:** a better performance? It is a better waste. My point a hundred percent. So who's holding, holding up for listeners?

Who's holding up to BNY Double Witch? Well, I'm looking at, here,

**Poobah:** I'm looking at Grindr because he is looking at me. Well, yeah,

**Grinder:** I mean the, the fascinating thing is this is, I think it's aged similarly with within two, two different types of oak, you know, casks and it's, it's a very similar spirit. , [00:29:00] um, for double, double the price, for double the price and probably less the flavor.

**Poobah:** Yeah. So, yeah, so I'm holding up a, a balcony double. 12, 12. Mm-hmm. . And I've been drinking a lot of this , there's, there's no, you know, because the price, I

**Gizmo:** mean, I price, but he resent, he resents the implication. . Yeah.

**Poobah:** But for the, I

**Gizmo:** mean, can he resent, can he resent his own implication? I don't think he does. He

**Poobah:** does tonight.

I don't think

**Bam Bam:** he does. Not tonight. No. .

**Poobah:** No. But I mean, if we, if you could take a poll right now, pound for pound and dollar for dollar. Right now, there's, right now price, price point wise, you're right. Yeah. And everything I, for me, you're right. Like I just find myself drinking more and more of this and Mc, the price of Macallans gone up you to a point where it's not like, I mean, it'll always be this.

The single malt scotch that's like closest to my heart because it is, yeah. Macallan 12, but NY Man, I, you know, it's hard to deny it. I'm, I'm not gonna say [00:30:00] take a poll. It's,

**Senator:** I agree. And, and that's why even

**Gizmo:** right now, right

**Senator:** now, like I, I agree with you a hundred percent PBA and even Macallan 12, that's my point.

Like I know you're pointing out the price increase. It is unfortunate when Macallans done with their pricing, but the Macallan 12 cherry is still half the price of what we're drinking. And I would still drink it

**Gizmo:** over this. Can I make a point quick on Macallan pricing On 12? Yeah. Yeah. I think they've actually backed off a little bit.

They did. They, they went a little closer to 80, 89. They sure did for a while during Covid, right? Not now, because they were short and, and now I think they're sitting on the shelf and I think they're backing off their fast. And that's why I

**Poobah:** moved. Like, and that's over the past

**Gizmo:** couple of years. That's why you've gone there.

Sure.

**Poobah:** Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know when it's a $20 cost delta. Sure. You're kind of going. . Yep. And, and, and, and this and the double wood drink, so, well,

**Gizmo:** yeah. I prefer it. I know we've talked about this ad nauseum here on the pod, but I mean, I prefer the double wood even very similarly to the Macallan with the 12 to this 15.

Yeah. With price. I prefer that to [00:31:00] the Caribbean cas. I prefer the 12 all day. Me too. Yeah. Yeah. You know, to the 14, I like the crib in

**Senator:** there, but the Caribbean cast actually, it's very good. It's excellent.

**Gizmo:** I'm not saying it's bad. I'm saying I prefer that for, especially when we're having a cigar. It's, I

**Senator:** prefer the double I, the reason I think we're the Caribbean jumping on that is we just wanna make sure, like the delta between Macallan 12, Sherry Macallan 15 in terms of like flavor and it's huge.

And performance is huge. Where the 12 double wood and the 14, like the fourteens also an outstanding bottle.

**Bam Bam:** Scotch. It's, it's very small. The delta.

**Pagoda:** Yeah. No, but the price, the price for the Caribbean is closed to, uh, it is 80

**Senator:** bucks. 80 bucks something, which is Yeah. 80

**Gizmo:** bucks. It's worth it.

**Poobah:** Right. And that's, that's, that's, and that's a really, really good bottle of Scotch man.

Yep. For, for the dollar. Yep. Hell yeah. Like it's really. Especially in the, especially in the summer. , I'll tell you,

**Pagoda:** summer, winter, spring,

**Senator:** fall, fall.

**Gizmo:** I agree. All year time. Right.

**Poobah:** Gotta,

**Pagoda:** it was just so funny because, uh, somebody was asking me in the lounge, oh, is that the same bottle [00:32:00] you were having a couple of days ago?

I said, no, no, no. .

**Gizmo:** Right.

**Poobah:** You said multiples, multiple bottles staged and lockers all over, all over the place. Um, It is really a nice, it's a nice spirit, but this 15 is, is really good, but it's not, um, I don't think it's, you always gotta take price into the consideration. Yeah. If this, by the way, if this was, if this was, let's say it was $87 or $90

**Senator:** or something like that, can we go further?

Let's say it was. $70. I still wouldn't drink it over Macallan 12 or Bevin 12. And then you

**Pagoda:** have open 14. Don't forget

**Gizmo:** Urban. Yep. It's kind. Yeah.

**Poobah:** Well, which is kind of, which in our group has been kind of on the outs.

**Gizmo:** Yeah. No, I don't know why you're saying that. Well, we haven't had it. Well, we haven't been drinking it.

That's the scotch I have in my locker. Lockers. Does he Only Scotch I have in my locker right now. He's not wrong. In yours. In mine. That's the only one I have. It's the only one I'm drinking right now. Ah.

**Senator:** It's the least full bottle in [00:33:00] my, on my Barard to .

**Poobah:** Wait, wait a second. I thought that Okay. I haven't,

**Gizmo:** the only one that has kind of I, I've pushed out that I was drinking locker last year.

Bearish on, on

**Senator:** on. Honestly. No, no, no. We talked about this. So when we did an episode about oen, we were talking about. It used to be my absolute favorite single mall. Mm-hmm. . And then it went through this weird dark period where it was harsh two, nothing like I remembered. Two years. Bam. I thought it was crazy when I thought that.

And, and then bam, val, he had the exact same experience. Legit, okay. It's not just me. No. And then the story I had told, uh, it was remarkable. Bam, comes over my place. We're in my lounge, and he brings a bottle of o And normally I'd be very excited about this, given my recent experience with it. I was, I was skeptical and bam said, I'm the same way.

But let's try. . It was so smooth, tasty. Tasty and tasty and a little sweet, little sweet. Mm-hmm. and weep. I'm not exaggerating. We killed it. The two of us alone killed the bottle that night in my, in my lounge. Like it was that good. And they're

**Gizmo:** back.

**Poobah:** They're firmly. [00:34:00] Oh, that's, that's good to hear because I've kind of ba for whatever reason, based on the what, based on our commentary.

Actually, I had kind of backed off of, uh, off of that for a while.

**Gizmo:** Uh, the, the only one that I've, you know, you get the habits, you

**Poobah:** know how you get that, like

**Gizmo:** habits. The only habit I've fallen off of was Tallk. I've kind of not been reaching for that as much, but for me right now, my number one is open.

**Pagoda:** And you know, the thing is Earth gets called a well, I always is better because of the slight pettiness and you know, it gives you that

**Senator:** form and you know, it goes for like 90 bucks I think.

Yeah. And at that price point, it has a complexity about it that's deserving of the price point. You know, most of the scotches we're talking about. , you know, Vinny 12, double wood definitely leans on the sweet side. Macallan 12. Sherry leans on the sweet side. It's so balanced and complex. Open 14, there's like this dryness about it.

Mm-hmm. , this speediness a little bit of sweetness. It's just, it's balanced. Serves the [00:35:00] price of

**Bam Bam:** commands. Yeah. It's beautifully balanced. And as pedestrian as this may be tonight, I'm hap I really enjoy the pairing. I, I'm liking

**Senator:** it a lot to BA's point with this cigar. I actually, and I think it's working great.

**Gizmo:** It works great tonight. Yeah. I don't love the $150 price point. Fuck. I mean, it's seven times the price of the cigar, but , you know, um, I mean, so be it. But boys we're about halfway through here. On the RGUs Corona Coronas quarters.

**Poobah:** It's definitely a parus. It's fantastic. And it, and it, and it's got a fruit.

It's got this fruit note that's in the level of complexity. It's got fruit, floral. It's crazy. And it's also got these baking spices thing going on. It's totally bananas. And I think the thing is delivering on every level, the fruit. The fruit.

**Rooster:** And floral is not

**Gizmo:** a part of his dna. No. Yes, you're right.

Correct. You don't, don't go and, but you. No,

**Senator:** that's true. But age parus, because you mentioned Abra earlier. Rooster. Collibra. The Collibra. We got those floor nodes we were

**Gizmo:** shocked by. That's right. Let's not forget age D four s that cinnamon Cinnamon four something [00:36:00] pops.

**Poobah:** Well, that's, but that's a cinnamon note.

Yes. That's a real baking spice cinnamon note that pops, I've got 20 thirteens, 2014 D four s. Mm-hmm. that I'm still, you know, nipping at, uh, th those. Or more baking spice more cinnamon bombs than, than this has got, this is really a comp, I don't know about you guys, but this is a really complex cigar to me.

It is. That's doing a lot of different things.

**Gizmo:** This

**Grinder:** is one of the best cigars I've

**Gizmo:** ever had in It's fantastic. Yeah. I'm

**Senator:** glad Grind said that. I, I'm just gonna make the definitive statement now. This is one of the best Cuban cigars I've ever had. I felt the

**Bam Bam:** same. Me too. Surprising. It's

**Poobah:** hard to say now. Yeah, me too.

Yeah.

**Gizmo:** Grinder. This is really, can I have that extra cigar back, please? Yeah. Right. .

**Senator:** And you know what's interesting is throw over. Yeah, yeah,

**Pagoda:** yeah. The sticks, um, over my whole pal, like my whole tongue feels flavor. It, it coats your

**Bam Bam:** mouth. It's, it coats your mouth. It's

**Poobah:** never ending. Right. The finish is

**Gizmo:** just unbelievable.

I gotta say too, I love [00:37:00] RGUs. I love this flavor profile in this size, in the Corona. I know we've, we've talked about this a lot, how much we love this kind of size cigar. , like the Mag 46, for example. Um, but this at 46 by five and a little under a half an. . I think that this is a perfect delivery vehicle for, for what we're getting right now.

Agree. You know, I love it.

**Poobah:** I'm retro handling the cigar on every Me Too single. Yep. Draw. It's true. And it get, and it, it's just getting better and better and better. Better. It's so good. It's, it's, it's, it's lunacy. It's really, it's, you know what it's, um, with the, the, the, the what, the commentary here. This is really up there with one of the best Cuban cigars I've ever smoked in my life.

I

**Gizmo:** feel bad for the lizards out there who are listening to this and are gonna try to find this, because if you can find this, they're probably, they're very, I have not seen them anywhere. I have not seen 'em anywhere. I don't know. I

**Pagoda:** find that it's smoking pretty fast. I don't know whether I'm in, [00:38:00] you know, I'm smoking faster

**Bam Bam:** or not.

Something it's so, I don't even know. It's so good. It's just so good. You

**Gizmo:** can't stop. Yeah. Yeah. So the, uh, the other thing I wanted to answer, rooster asked, um, what the line, uh, what the, uh, the cigar name was on the other size of the parus that was released as the el It was the Series D number three el that was released in 2011 was also a Coronas Cortis in the same size.

The thing that,

**Grinder:** like, despite the draw issues I had, and it's still a little tight. . It's still phenomenal. It, it's still like one, it's still the best cigar I've ever had.

**Gizmo:** Yeah. This is really good. One of the best. I'm sorry That'ss happened to you cuz I'm

**Poobah:** not having

**Gizmo:** any of those

**Grinder:** issues. No, it's alright. I, but, but that's what I'm saying.

Like, it's that good

**Gizmo:** that I don't Can we, can we make a quick comment on Haos as well, by the way that they put this beautiful cigar that's aged nine years when it was put out. Now a 15 year age cigar. They stuff it in this cardboard dress box. It's a crime. I think it's all, it's hollow. We have a box, we have two boxes of D four s here that come in.

That [00:39:00] semi boy nature box. Yeah. Beautiful presentation. Yeah. Cedar. What are we doing with these cardboard boxes? It's a crime. It's a crime. It is. I don't understand Even the ELs. Yes. Yep. Anybody what drives me

**Bam Bam:** crazy. Anybody getting a hint of salt? I'm getting just a tiny bit of delicious salt here. Little twang?

**Gizmo:** Yeah. Do you have your t-shirt on? You got twang T-shirt? Not yet. Not

**Bam Bam:** yet. No. I, uh, yeah, I'm getting the boxers actually. ,

**Senator:** did you see I've already, you already ordered

**Gizmo:** 28 pairs. I did put a note on the boxers, by the way. So we're talking about the lounge wizards merch store. A little plug. Mm-hmm. But, uh, I put a note on there that bam, bam ordered 28 pairs to cover a month, and, uh, every listener should at least order one.

If you ordered

**Bam Bam:** 28, yeah, there may not be any less, so get on it. .

**Senator:** The other thing, uh, that this gets high marks for the combustion is great. Outstanding. Yeah. Smoke output. I just say this, this is really weird. I just feel like lately, uh, for whatever reason, uh, just, you know, life's stressful, um, I'm going in my tower and I'm not just [00:40:00] looking at cigars anymore.

Flavor. I'm, I just need combustion smoke. Yeah, smoke. Like, you really just lose yourself when you just are sitting there with a cigar that's got just tremendous combustion. And a lot of the smaller sticks I have the smaller ring ages, I, I don't usually think of as able to provide the level of combustion I'm looking for after a really hard day.

And the. Satisfying thing about this for me, the flavor's absolutely tremendous. Yeah. And you, the combustion aroma Yeah. Is so significant that, like pagoda said, you get lost in the aroma. Mm-hmm. , the aroma's phenomenal. It just takes your appreciation for it to another level. It's

**Gizmo:** funny,

**Poobah:** your, I'm getting cherry now.

I'm getting fucking cherry a little maple . No joke, dude. Like this thing is

**Gizmo:** what? That a shirt funny outta your shirt. I'm getting cherry, I'm getting a fucking cherry. Is that like a black cherry or a, is that a fucking cherry? Yeah. Like it's as, as long as it's not

**Senator:** Robitussin cherry. [00:41:00] No,

**Gizmo:** that's Romeo. Yeah.

**Poobah:** This is lunacy. This fucking, this is amazing. This is very,

**Gizmo:** this is Luna. See this. Let's, can I just say, I, I, I, am I

**Poobah:** wrong? Is there, is it fucking lunacy? You're not The last time I, this thing is

**Gizmo:** ridiculously good. The last time that we got playful like this on a cigar that shocked. Was another part of us on the collabs episode.

Yeah, shocker was, that was another shocker. That was great. That's a different kind

**Poobah:** of shock. That's

**Bam Bam:** gotta be one of the all time best recordings. That was awesome. I mean, that was awesome. What a great night.

**Gizmo:** You know, we, I remember I came back, did I think I showed up and knocked on the garage door? Like mid pod

**Poobah:** because you That

**Gizmo:** was, yeah, that was a great, that was a great, that was great.

We were not expecting to get those flavors out of the, well, it was also aged.

**Senator:** How long did you age that?

**Gizmo:** I didn't age. That was just water age .

**Bam Bam:** Oh

yeah.

**Poobah:** Somebody else then, by the way, and then we all, somebody else he did and then we all loaded up. I bought two boxes of me too. 20 14, 20 15 collabs. What

**Gizmo:** were they?

I think it was 2008. [00:42:00] So here's what I would say to the listener, the reason why I brought that up is that the cigar that we're smokey tonight is gonna be very challenging to find and very expensive. However, if you have the opportunity to buy some sort of aged Collibra, I do think that it is pretty close as far as the experience.

Um, and, and the flavor profile, it's, it's definitely they're in the same ballpark. Yeah.

**Senator:** I just say I would, any heavily aged party at this point would,

**Rooster:** I would also say an, uh, if you can get a box of eight 90 eights

**Bam Bam:** Oh, sure. I dunno what you're talking about

**Senator:** spreads. That's a, that's a, that's let's go from the unattainable to

**Poobah:** the impossible.

Yeah. But let's, yeah, but let's also call it timeout too, because, um, pull your pants up guys. . But, but because, uh, even a heavily aged 8 98, like from let's say the mid two thousands. Right. Which, right.

**Gizmo:** What about oh two s?

**Poobah:** Oh two s, right. Even that, that's still a, by the way, that's, that's a [00:43:00] full strength cigar.

It still has power. It's got power. Yeah. It's got more nicotine, it has more La harrow trimmings in it than this, than, than this cigar certainly does. That's the harrow heavy kind of 8 98 kind of, even with the age, it's, it brings a different experience, a much different experience. This cigar, and I'm not trying to compare the two.

Please don't.

**Senator:** No, please do. I like where you're going this

**Poobah:** Well, because the 8 98 is, is a, It's a punch fist. It's a motherfucker ass kicker. It's a fucking ass kicker. But in the, a great way. Listen, just

**Gizmo:** so the listener, the listeners, listen, the listeners can't see you doing that. ,

**Poobah:** clutching

**Gizmo:** my fists looks.

**Poobah:** It's makes the ex, it makes the 8 98. The 8 98 it looks like. Which is a strong, it's a, it's, it's a really, it's a, it's full bam. Experience.

**Senator:** Tell us what he's doing.

**Bam Bam:** It's a little . Hold on. It's a little X-rated .

**Poobah:** [00:44:00] You do? Oh, no, no, no. You know, it's funny, I had

**Gizmo:** the same thought. , I don't wanna, I don't want to interrupt you real

**Poobah:** understand what you're saying.

Where this, where, where this cigar, um, actually, it, it, it just delivers a way, way almost.

**Senator:** Please just say it. There's one word I'm looking

**Poobah:** for you. Almost an opposite experience. Correct. I just think the 8 98 delivers more power and strength, and it's definitely fuller, even with a ton of age on it than this cigar.

Now this cigar brings fruit floral. And just something that's a little bit of the departure from a traditional RGUs that I know, uh, which is pleasing, interesting. And, and, and very, very cool. And it's one of the better Cuban cigars I've ever

**Gizmo:** had. So what is the word that you're calling the

**Senator:** word I always hoping you were gonna say, and, and I actually love that you compared this to an 8 98 because I think everyone in this room regards the Pargo 8 98 is one of the best Cubans period.

The thing about this cigar, I have to give it credit and I love the eight 90. [00:45:00] I'm obsessed with that cigar. This is much more complex to me. Complex is the word I was looking for. Oh yeah, I was gonna say elegant. I mean, you can go there too. That, that I, I don't disagree. But that's where, for me, I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I was gonna light this cigar and say, this is so much more complex than an 8 98 a cigar.

I regard as one of the best Cubans, and I would honestly, I have to put this right up there with it because the 8 98, like Puba said, it delivers strength. It's more straightforward. I love the like chocolate notes that you get out of it that you don't necessarily get here, but the complexity, uh, I will never pull as many flavor notes out of an 8 98 as we already just not even finishing this, just maybe a little more than halfway through have pulled out.

It's unbelievable.

**Poobah:** I couldn't agree more. Well said. I, it's, it's, it's, it's, there's a level of complexity that's going on here with this that's, that's different and

**Gizmo:** special. And it's off the charts. Off the charts. And you know what, let's, let's talk about this for a second. So we [00:46:00] talk about, and we've paid, all of us have paid Bonko bucks for cigars, ELs regionals, all this other shit, age or whatever it may be.

Just rooster. Just rooster . I didn't wanna say anything, but not seriously. Look at all, all the money that we spent on cigar. We spent 20, 25 bucks on the cigar. Look at the experience that we're having with just an aged, not even regular production, kind of a limited production, but just kind of out of the norm, part of a cigar worth every dollar.

It's, it's incredible. And this is why. I think this is a perfect example of why this hobby is so intriguing to me and us is because we have these moments of like, euphoria, these experiences with these cigars that I could have never expected. Honestly. I was coming in this recording tonight and this sit with you guys.

I was coming into this expecting that we were gonna be disappointed. I'll be dead serious. I was ready to be disappointed, and I'm shocked that it's performing the way it is for, you know, the things that you

**Bam Bam:** read online, [00:47:00] it kind of throws you off. Of course. And there's a lot of, there's some negativity about this Ciara

**Gizmo:** online.

Yeah. There's a, and there's a whole negativity about ahas, period. Yeah. Do you have any other

**Rooster:** boxes? We might be disappointed

**Gizmo:** in ? I have a couple coming. I, I, I mean,

**Poobah:** say I don't, I don't think there's negativity about this specific.

**Gizmo:** I actually haven't seen much

**Poobah:** about this at all, uh, uh, at all. I mean, this is kind of a li look.

Look, this is a little bit of a unicorn. Okay. I mean, and a hidden gem and, and, and, and this hidden kind of thing. And, uh, We're thankful for even just getting access to it.

**Gizmo:** Um, yes. Thank you o Yeah,

**Senator:** absolutely. I mean, I say Hidden Gem because honestly, I, I'm a firm, I've said this before, I don't think any cigar is worth paying more than $30 for.

I really don't truly believe that I would pay $40 for

**Gizmo:** this cigar. Ro do you see him looking at

**Senator:** you and I, I would, yeah. I am. I'm looking at two guys in the room. , I, I mean the fuck, fuck doesn't Talking about , I mean, I truly would. It's that good. [00:48:00] It's that good. Which I would say about so few cigars. Sure,

**Gizmo:** sure.

You would pay 40 bucks worth a classico. Yeah. Yeah.

**Senator:** But that's, I don't know. That's, that's why that's one. I mean, I can count on one hand the

**Gizmo:** number, I don't know if there's a limit to what I would pay would pay 40

**Rooster:** bucks for an Lgc md

**Gizmo:** O number two. Yeah. Yep. Aged.

**Rooster:** I would pay 40 bucks for an 8 98 with some age.

I'd pay 40 bucks for a D four with a lot of

**Gizmo:** age. Right. And that's five,

**Senator:** one hand. That's it. I

**Rooster:** probably,

**Poobah:** yeah. And I, I, I, I mean we just got started. Yeah.

**Gizmo:** I got a whole list. Well, I know you have a whole list for me.

**Poobah:** And for the normal I bought and I, the funny thing is I bought Classicos on the group for way under 40 bucks a cigar and got And that's cuz there was, and got a little flack for it.

Yeah. And uh, yeah, you paid 12. It was like, these people don't even know. I heard you overpaid . Yeah, exactly. Like I overpaid. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Smoke one guy crazy. Smoke

**Gizmo:** one of those. Yeah. Puba had a little run in on our, on the group about, uh, overpaying for a box of Classico from some [00:49:00] Jabi. I don't I haven't heard that word in a while, Jim.

Fucking meatball. Grindr. Has your, uh, cigar opened up on draw or are you still experiencing tightness? No, it opened. I think it has. He's almost done. So what's interesting though is I'm wondering though if the, if the tight draw is affecting how far along you are in the super, like pull on it harder. Half the tobacco is taken out.

He's moving along. It's gonna go fast. , it's, it's, it's smoking. Great. That's awesome. I think

**Pagoda:** the cherry flavor just got pulled.

**Gizmo:** Is it? I got a little cherry, I

**Senator:** got No, no,

**Pagoda:** no. I'm just saying, is it through the draw? Yeah, I guess the sweet,

**Grinder:** I'm just kind of, you kind of zone

**Gizmo:** this. You can, it's amazing. This thing,

**Poobah:** it goes through your nose like you wouldn't believe even into the last third.

Really good. It's really good. I mean, I'm not trying to ruminate too much over this, this, this cigar, but boy, I wanna see,

**Bam Bam:** listen

**Gizmo:** this, if you're not trying to ruminate, I, I wanna see what you're doing when Ru ruminate. No, [00:50:00]

**Poobah:** am I, I mean, dude,

**Bam Bam:** let's see how far he takes the gun. Bring it. How far he taking that cigar down tonight?

I wanna see, let's going to the, no, I,

**Gizmo:** I hope so. I could smoke this like once a week. Oh,

**Bam Bam:** easy. If you can get 'em. Smoke this every day.

**Pagoda:** Les Russa. I continue you smoking this for breakfast, lunch, and an acid .

**Gizmo:** So, uh, boys, I gotta tell you a little story so you can hear the paper rustling. I got a little love letter in the mail.

You got served? Yeah, you did. From the United States Customs and Border Protection Organization, uh, the first letter I've ever gotten in all of the importing I've done over the years, a notice of seizure, uh, and information to claimant's non-core reform where they listed that they found a box that was apparently coming to me, I don't know what they're talking about, of 50 small Cuban cigars and three other small Cuban cigars with a value of $660.

Not the wrong person . [00:51:00] That's what I

**Senator:** said. Clearly. I mean, that's what I said. You must have read that, said, my name's Gizmo. Who the hell is this guy? I mean, what, what?

**Gizmo:** I don't know who they're addressing this to, but all of a sudden then, uh, RAs cab and, uh, three Cuban ribos, uh, or Cohiba Ribos didn't show up in my.

So, so you get refunded for that. Yeah. So, you know, when you work with a retailer, you gotta make sure that their shipping's guaranteed this happens from time to time. Um, which is why I'm obviously bringing it up. Um, I jest, but, um, you know, it's unfortunate. This is the first time I've ever had a box get popped.

So I wanted to ask, has anybody else in the room had an issue with, uh, happen, happen to me. It did. So you get a letter in the mail and then you just ignore it, you know, you can't respond. Right. So this

**Rooster:** happened a number of years back and it was probably like 10 years back and I, you know, I had no clue like what to do.

So I asked one of the attorneys, this was out of a previous lounge, so he said, just don't respond. , and I think it was from Cigars of Havanas or, or Cigar Terminal. And, uh, Ravi actually messaged me, so Cigars of Havanas and he said, [00:52:00] just don't respond and we'll just ship out another one. So he said it's rare, but

**Gizmo:** it happens once in a while.

What, what are they doing with the, with that? They smoke 'em. I can tell you smoke them, man. I

**Bam Bam:** think they take 'em home. So I can guarantee fuck these people, man. I know friends that have friends that work in the customs department. Employees they do take them home and they fucking smoke them. Of course they do.

And they sell them. So

**Senator:** I think in retirement, all of us are gonna become,

**Gizmo:** it happens. I'm gonna work at J Cub, I'm gonna work at jfk. Have you ever had a pod? No. Have you ever? No.

**Poobah:** Was this at, was this

**Gizmo:** at a jfk? Yeah, it was. It came into jfk. Really? You know what, and you know what's crazy about it? You know what's crazy about the

**Poobah:** football?

But, but, but these were, but these came through. the Pacific. Right. They came

**Gizmo:** from, they came from That's where you're gonna get now. Yes. Yeah. I don't want to nail, I, I don't want to name Right. Because the percentage is so low where it's coming from. Right, right. Um, actually the worst, the worst port right now in the country that, uh, border, you know, C B P is, is coming in.

It is actually Miami is worse. [00:53:00] Is worse The worst right now. That's right. Southeast us right now is, is having a hell of a time. A lot of guys have gotten popped on, on, on imports. So should we really be talking about this? I mean, listen, what are, what are we gonna this's the customs guy actually a listener of the pot.

I'm sure there is. Tell him I want my RA cap back. I

**Poobah:** tell him to focus, tell, tell him to focus on fentanyl. Yes. .

**Gizmo:** That's what exactly. Focus on fentanyl and fake Rolex. Jesus

**Poobah:** Christ. I mean, you know, for, for crying out loud. Yeah. For crying out loud. . People are dying after that.

**Gizmo:** That really,

**Grinder:** that really bothers me.

I'm sorry. Of course. It's very frustrating. That's so fucking annoying to me that there's this. I can go on.

**Gizmo:** I'll, I won't go. No, I, I'm ready to put a defund, the CBP shirt on our merch store because like defund, the government defund, cbp, . Well, there's a defund, the IRS that I have seen on my Instagram that can we defund everything.

But you know, what's interesting about it is, you know, I guess the whole point is that you. Transactions to Cuba, or, or, you know, they're on the, do not, [00:54:00] you know, do not import list embargo and whatnot, but all it does is create more and everything box they take just creates another transaction that you're gonna replace that box with something like it's illogical and it's stupid.

And here we are. Yep. However, many years later, still dealing

**Poobah:** with this bullshit. These, these, these, these are, these are law enforcement people who, who, who are Mo Mo you know, mostly good people who are just kind of doing their jobs and when they come, well we assume, we assume they're good people, but they're taking well, well they're both, listen, they're making home.

**Grinder:** Do you consider the CBP.

**Senator:** Law enforcement.

**Gizmo:** Here

**Poobah:** we go. I don't have an opinion

**Senator:** on it. I was only making a Trump joke. Some I assume are good people. That was all I was going for. I was not ready to get this

**Gizmo:** instigator. No, no,

**Poobah:** no. I, I actually don't really know much about it. I know one. Uh, C B P guy who's a good guy.

I know one guy, but here's, here's what I, here's I'm saying. I would just say that all I was sa I mean, I don't know. I, I, I, I don't know, I I enough about it. I was [00:55:00] just, the only point I was trying to make was that most of these people have a job to do and, and, and, and if something pops up on a scan, you know, or whatever on an x-ray and they're obligated to open it and, and it's random that, you know, that that happens.

And then, you know, they don't wanna lose their job. They got, they see something and they open, they have to open these things, they open it and you know, the box gets picked off. I just as part of the process

**Gizmo:** and then

**Bam Bam:** they, then they take it home. Yeah. Yeah. I

**Senator:** don't

**Gizmo:** know. We don't know that we know how much that happens.

Like I don't

**Senator:** doubt that. But let, let's just, I think something Puba said, which is fair, I don't know anyone that works in customs and border patrol and I certainly don't want to, cuz then I would probably wouldn't receive anything I order . But just to, to pub's point, like they're doing their job in the sense that.

This is a product of really stupid policy. Absolutely. This is not about like, it's ridiculous any agents or customs in Boardom patrol. We had a situation where we have tried to isolate Cuba for God knows how long thinking that was gonna change Cuba and it obviously has not. [00:56:00] And then finally we had a president who just said, well if it this, we do the same thing over and over and it doesn't work, maybe we should just try something else.

And obviously Obama just opened it up, which I wish we would've just kept. Yeah. I mean we could just order shit freely and it wasn't, we literally, customs and border patrol was not ordered to fucking search through cigar boxes. Who cares? Just let 'em come in. They're gonna come in anyway. And then we obviously reverted back to the same bullshit policy.

I would love to see, this is not meant to be a political statement. I don't care who's the fucking president. This is silly. It obviously hasn't worked. Just open it up and let people live the way they wanna live.

**Gizmo:** And we're talking about, listen, we're talking about, yes

**Pagoda:** sir. What are you running for? Some kind of

**Rooster:** office.

I'm just glad we live in Bozeman, Montana.

**Poobah:** But I mean, I don't know. What are they? I, I mean, is it, I just don't know. Are they bad? Like Yeah, what the problem They are. They're bad

**Gizmo:** people. I mean, oh, I

**Senator:** thought you were saying No, I'm saying they're just following the policy. Like that's my point. It like, this is a government, it's a policy problem.

[00:57:00] That's not a people problem. Under Obama, they were told not to do this, and then we revert, reverted back to the same policy and they were told, you must stop anything coming from Cuba, any Cuban product, even if it comes from Europe, Asia doesn't matter. And I'm just saying like, this is bullshit. We should just let it be, just open

**Poobah:** it.

Well, no, what I, what I'm, I mean what I'm my, in my mind, I'm just thinking they should be, they're aren't, shouldn't they be focused on fentanyl? Yes.

**Senator:** Yes. Exactly. And not this bullshit that we're saying the same thing.

**Gizmo:** They should, here's my thing, we're talking, we're not, we're talking about a premium handmade product.

That has no additives, no bullshit in it is, is, is built for relaxation. That's the entire purpose of what we do here. And the idea that it's a problem, it blows my mind. It blows my mind. Yeah. I mean, I just don't,

**Poobah:** it's absurd. I just don't know what the, I, I just don't think

**Gizmo:** they should be focused on

**Poobah:** fentanyl.

Right. And the, and like counterfeit goods.

**Senator:** Yeah. We're happy to import a bunch of counterfeit shit from China. But

**Gizmo:** I'll tell this my monte, my [00:58:00] Monte Fortuna fake box of Coro made it. I I,

**Poobah:** no, but I feel like, I feel like that a lot of what they do is, is picking up counterfeit through the airports is picking up counterfeit Gucci, counterfeit,

**Gizmo:** I think they don't

**Senator:** do a lot of that.

They don't do a lot of that. I mean, they're sold on the street corners of Manhattan everywhere.

**Gizmo:** Of course they coming, come, those come containers, those come in

**Rooster:** massive containers

**Poobah:** from China. Oh no. They, they come in, they come in off all over ships of,

**Senator:** yeah. All. Yeah. But that's my point. The policy is stupid.

I'm, I'm saying. Forget the, the random agent. It's not their fault. No. Even though, of course, none of us, like when they snag a box like they did with Gizmo. But the point is the policy doesn't make any sense. Where we have counterfeit goods coming in, we have drugs coming in, and we're worrying about a fucking cigar box that's coming from Cuba.

So stupid. It's silly. Yeah.

**Gizmo:** Silly. So stupid.

**Rooster:** And give, give the c b p guys like every single one of them. A, a black light so they can check the seal.

**Gizmo:** Yes. If they, yeah. So if the seal is good, let it come through. That's right. .

**Rooster:** It's no good. Keep the

**Gizmo:** fucking bin. . [00:59:00] All right, boys, we're coming to the last third here of the Parus.

Corona Scda. Ana Hato. What are you guys thinking? That's awful.

**Senator:** I'll smoke the rest of yours. . .

**Gizmo:** Yeah. I'm, I'm completely blown away. Yeah, blown, blown away. It's been a, I think it's, you know, as Puba always says, three act, play, I think in a really, really complimentary way, it's continued to develop from the first light. To where it is now. I think it's really just continued.

There is

**Rooster:** a little bit of a similarity between the ahman aha and the part against little

**Poobah:** bit. I said that

**Bam Bam:** earlier. Yeah. Yeah. A

**Gizmo:** bit. I

**Rooster:** don't know what that is, but

**Gizmo:** dessert. It's the baking spice, I think. The

**Bam Bam:** dessert. Yeah. That's accurate.

**Gizmo:** I think, yeah, a little. I don't think I, I think, yeah, it's a touch. I don't think it's a, it's, I don't think it's a close cousin, but I think the age of just Cuban tobacco, I mean, it just kind of bakes these things and, and chills them out.

And the, and the [01:00:00] flavors are just so, there's

**Poobah:** like a little, there's like a little vanilla. There's a little, there's a little spice, a little maple. I'm getting everything.

**Gizmo:** Yeah. Don't, I don't remember. There's so

**Rooster:** lot's going on. I don't remember the up and aha being like a

**Gizmo:** full No, you

**Poobah:** know, not nearly as full.

And it's not as complex

**Gizmo:** as this.

**Senator:** No. So I, I just wanna say I'm, so I've smoked, I, I, I am certain I smoked more up and Aah house than anybody in this room. . That's cigar in the last

**Gizmo:** third. Well, Nick Pixar , I knew he was,

**Senator:** I knew he was gonna jump in at you. How many boxes of this have you bought? Three. Okay.

Then we have the same amount either way. Point being the last third of that cigar. gets like this Fuller. The last third of this cigar I mentioned how early on This was medium full. Yeah. The last third gets full. Yeah, it's full now, which I really like. Yeah. Oh yeah. The same exact thing happens with the UP ahas that last third, and I would actually argue the UP ahas in the Final Third delivers even a little bit more power

**Bam Bam:** to this.

It does. Does. [01:01:00] It does. I

**Gizmo:** think so too. Yeah. So I haven't

**Rooster:** had that in a while. I mean, we should do

**Gizmo:** that to go back and, yeah. May maybe, yeah. We'll do, we should do the aha soon. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it's, it's since you guys have three boxes, they've

**Senator:** got dark wrappers. I mean, that's cigar. It's just a beautiful

**Gizmo:** cigar.

So boys, I got a, uh, we got a listener email from a guy named Jeff, uh, who I guess we had talked about St. DuPont lighters or lighters in the past on the pod, and bought an St. DuPont lighter, filled it up, worked great, and all of a sudden the juice runs out. He goes to fill it again and he can't get the thing to fire.

Do you know

**Rooster:** which, what, what kind of lighter

**Gizmo:** it was? I think it was very similar. It was the beaut, it was the jet like that we have, it was very similar to the one that we have. The Maxi Jet. The Maxi Jet, the Maxi. So, um, I very quickly just responded and said, Hey, you know, you gotta take a, a perfect draw or the end of a, uh, a, a cork screw or something and get the air out of it, you know, bleed it.

And I sent that email back, I said, bleed it [01:02:00] and fill it. You'll hear the air coming out, fill it up. And he said the thing worked Great. So good. Good tip for listeners. I mean, I've seen guys here at our lounge, um, do the same thing where they don't bleed the. The lighter before you try to refill it with butane, but really important thing is to make sure you get that air out of it before you try to put new butane in it.

I mean, you guys all do that, right? I mean, I'm

**Poobah:** sure you can use a golf tee, you can use a, anything,

**Gizmo:** you can use a nail. Yeah. Anything. Yeah. A pencil. Yeah, anything pencil. The, the, uh, mechanical pencils that my kids have for school. Sometimes I'll use that to bleed it, but you have to bleed the lighter before you refill it, especially a high end lighter.

**Poobah:** Yeah. Well, and, and even more importantly, the cheap lighters that I, I mean, I don't have a high end lighter because I lose everything . So I just use these vertigo lighters. Don't I know it? ? Yeah. Yeah. Rooster gave me a nice cutter and I lost it in the day. Uh, in a day. Yeah. Good day [01:03:00] in the day. Yeah. I lost

**Gizmo:** it that day.

What kind of lighter was that? It wasn't lighter. It was a cutter. It's a cutter. It was a xeno. It's a xeno. Nice cutter. That is, I'm sure it's somewhere.

**Poobah:** It's You're not looking in the laundry in the, in the washing machine out in the street. . Exactly. It's in

**Gizmo:** the pool. It's all good. So boys, we're coming to the end of our, uh, 15 year pairing tonight.

What are you guys thinking of Macallan? What do you think of the cigar? Like what, what kind of thoughts are you, uh, do you have on this before we do the, uh, the liquor rating? Like I

**Bam Bam:** said earlier, for what it is tonight, it's, I think both

**Senator:** are working. I, I have a slightly different take now. So the cigar, I think we've all said has picked up in flavor.

Um, and now the Macallan, for me has just fallen so flat in comparison to this.

**Bam Bam:** It's because you put ice in it. I assure you my opinion.

**Senator:** I mean, this is, this is their double ca. Mm-hmm. . I mean, it's not, if you even look at the, oh, I guess that looks close, but I still think the [01:04:00] sherry bottles that they produce, it's a darker spirit.

Oh, it's much better. Yeah. There's no argument. And I just think there's a richer, deeper flavor that holds up better to the second half of the stick, where I think now that it's developed a fuller flavor mm-hmm. , the scotch doesn't have as full of a flavor to hold up with. I think I'm just

**Bam Bam:** enveloped in the flavor right now.

**Gizmo:** I, to me, the Macallen 15, especially that price point, I mean, it'll, it'll reflect in my rating, but, oh, me too. It's just not, yeah. It's not doing what it should be doing. I mean, I'm curious

**Senator:** other guys, you know, uh, pagoda, Grindr, what are you sold, sold on the scotch? . Yeah. On the scotch.

**Grinder:** All right. Really? You like it?

**Pagoda:** No, I don't like it. Sold meaning you don't want

**Senator:** it. Oh, you want to sell it? I thought you were saying you were sold on it. . No, no, no, no.

**Gizmo:** This be a British

**Senator:** thing or something. I was like, no, no ,

**Bam Bam:** no. That,

**Pagoda:** you know, like it's for sale. No, when you trade, when you, when you trade, you say, Hey, listen, you, you either, you bet for it or you sell it.

Right? So it's like sold. It's something. I'd rather somebody have somebody else be

**Senator:** enjoying it. So you're dumping your macal 15

**Poobah:** cent. Yeah. If he was [01:05:00] in the commodities pit, he'd be waving

**Gizmo:** wav pie, . It's

**Grinder:** all yours. You're not, it's all yours. You're not done on that .

**Pagoda:** Yeah. It's, it doesn't do much

**Gizmo:** for me. Are you guys ready to do the, uh, formal liquor rating on this thing?

Yeah. All right. Bam. Bam. You're up. I'll go seven. Okay. I'll go. Six. Six. From Grindr. Pagoda. Six. Six Senator. Wow. I thought I'm usually harsh. That's brutal. This is pretty harsh .

**Senator:** No,

**Pagoda:** but you could have wined the price, the flavor, the

**Grinder:** taste.

**Senator:** That's true. That's true.

This is hard,

**Pagoda:** and the fact that it's not easily available. ,

**Senator:** all right. Now I'm sold. What's, what's sold? What's pushed me over the edge? Yeah. What's pushed me over the edge is the fact that I personally think this needs ice at 15

**Gizmo:** years and 150

**Senator:** bucks. $150. It's a six. I would've given this a seven if it at least was smooth enough to drink without ice.

I think,

**Grinder:** I think I was sold when I went to [01:06:00] four different liquor stores to find this fucking bottle

**Gizmo:** for 150 bucks. I, I was

**Grinder:** walking outta the bottle

**Senator:** king. I think this better be

**Poobah:** fucking good . I mean, I'm not gonna give it a six. I'm gonna give it a, I'm gonna give it a seven.

**Gizmo:** I'm gonna give it a seven two. I mean, I, I'm a seven all day for sure.

**Poobah:** I can't give it a six. It's a seven for me. So

**Gizmo:** the, uh, formal liquor rating on this thing boys is a 6.5 mm. Whew. Pretty average, not good. Macallan

**Senator:** average score. Yeah, I think we're gonna save listeners some money. Look, if you're, if you're obsessed with Macallan, you have to try it there. There's no way around that.

Um, would I take this if someone opened this up? Of course I would. But is it something I'm never gonna pursue? Are there I, I mean, hone, I'm just thinking of even very excessively priced 12 years single balls that I would still reach for over this. It just doesn't hold a candle. Well,

**Poobah:** like a million things under $150

That's true. Including like green spot, red breast, Irish whiskeys. Like [01:07:00] all, a lot of different things that you could Yeah. You could, you could sub in that are just really so much better.

**Senator:** The fact you're totally right.

**Pagoda:** You can get two and a half to the Vinny double word .

**Senator:** It's true.

**Gizmo:** All right boys, we're coming to the end here of our Corona.

My fingers are burning. Uh, Corona SCEs from RGUs, the Ana Hato. Any final thoughts before we, uh, Do the, uh, formal Liz rating on the

**Bam Bam:** thing. Simply, simply an incredible cigar. So, very surprising,

**Rooster:** but excellent, beginning to the end. Very

**Gizmo:** satisfying. I've really appreciated again, how it, it really, even from the first light, which blew me away to the first third, all the way to the end here, it's really developed, um, and, and changed.

And it's been interesting

**Bam Bam:** the whole time. But what's cool is it, it does build in strength, but those notes that we got early on continue to carry through. They just become more pronounced. Yeah. Yep.

**Senator:** Quite delicious. I, I have a slightly different take on the last bit of this. Mm-hmm. , um, cuz I'm, I'm starting to think of how I'm gonna rate this cigar and I'm just debating [01:08:00] between a nine and a 10.

The, the only thing that I, the only complaint I we're splitting here is cause I think this is clearly gonna score very high, but it's important we do that. The last fourth of this for me, it's picked up in strength, which I like, but I have lost the complexity of flavor on that that I had in the first three quarters of this cigar.

I'm getting just a couple of notes at most at this point. It is no longer complex at this point and wow. And so that's gonna definitely be the decisive factor for me between a nine

**Gizmo:** or a 10, I think. I think it's heated up. I I think it heat it up. Same. I don't think that you're wrong, but it's still very enjoyable.

Oh, it is. Couldn't, I'm

not

**Senator:** saying it's bad. Very enjoyable. Just so we're clear, understand. I don't wanna mislead the listener. This is deciding for me between a nine and a 10 and if this could have held all the way through that complexity. It's a 10 every day of the week. But because the final fourth of this, I mean truly, [01:09:00] I'm not getting more than two notes out of this right now.

What are you getting? That's what's a nine.

**Bam Bam:** Curious what you're getting

right

**Senator:** now. I mean, not a whole lot. Like that's what's a little problematic for me. I

**Pagoda:** couldn't, yeah, it's totally lost. The floral, the, you know, the freaking spice, it's

**Bam Bam:** totally lost it for me, I think what's ramped up is that vanilla, that maple, I'm getting a lot of that still with the intensity of the tobacco.

I, I'm happy to

**Senator:** a lot of tobacco intensity and not much flavor. Not much

**Gizmo:** of the flavors we got. I'm not gonna

**Poobah:** judge it at this, at it's at the end. Like we're very much at the end. We are. That's true. So

**Senator:** again, I'm, I'm nine or 10. I'm not saying this is best. Just hope we're clear. Still ,

**Pagoda:** it's still one of the best of Gods.

I've smoked. Yeah. Yeah. I mean,

**Gizmo:** all you guys ready to do the, uh, formal lizard rating on this thing? Right. Rosty, you're up. Yeah. So I mean,

**Rooster:** 90% of the cigar is fantastic, right? I mean, just to the very end. I agree with Senator about the, about the notes kind of diminished a little bit. Uh, [01:10:00] but I'm, to me, I mean, for what we paid, I mean, if you paid 20 bucks for this, this is a

**Gizmo:** 22.

22, yeah. Something like that.

**Rooster:** Even, even at, even at $40 a stick, uh, with this much age on it, uh, to me it's a 10. All right.

**Poobah:** Yeah. For me, Cuba, for me, uh, I, for me, uh, in the context of all the Cuban cigars that, that, that we've smoked, um, age Cubans, uh, this is really, this is, this is, this is a real standout to me.

Um, Uh, I've, I've gotta give it a 10 because it's, it was that good for me. It was really that good for me. Uh, it, it was different. It was differentiated, uh, and, and, and very, very, very complex. One of the more complex Cubans I've ever smoked. So I'm giving it a 10. It's a 10, it's a a 10,

**Gizmo:** it's a . So I am going to break protocol so far.

I'm gonna go with a nine on this [01:11:00] and I'll explain why. Senator,

**Senator:** I am also at a nine and it kind of pains me to give it that because, um, the first three quarters of this cigar, and I think Puba was saying a lot of this, that's still a very elite score. I, I, hang on. Okay. So this isn't even just one of the more complex Cubans.

This is one of the most complex Cubans I've ever had. The first three quarters of this cigar were a 10 all the way. I mean, I was sitting here smoking this, saying this is one of the greatest cigars I've ever had in my life. Period. , never imagine I'd say this about this Ana Hato. Um, the only reason I just have to give it a nine is because if I'm gonna, you know, a 10 for me is that's a cigarette I'm gonna pick up.

And every single time all the way through, it's just gonna completely blow my mind. And the last quarter, not the last third, just the last quarter, I mean, if I smoke a $15 xci down to the nub like I'm at right now, the flavor is [01:12:00] still exactly like the other three quarters of that cigar. And with this, it just started to fade and, and get very monotone at the, the very end.

So for me it's a nine, but three quarters of it was a 10. Yep. You

**Gizmo:** know, another five years of age

**Rooster:** you'll get to the bottom. . Oh, please, son, please

**Gizmo:** say that again. I said,

**Poobah:** oh, please, Russ. .

**Gizmo:** Pagoda.

**Pagoda:** Yeah. This is a tough one because, um, I've been thinking about this. Uh, it's been a tent throughout, by the way. I never felt so giddy, and I think we all were giddy with this.

Uh, we were happy they were, everyone was smiling. There was happiness. And you can, um, see the, you know, the, the buoyancy and the vibrancy within the group, uh, when we were smoking the scar, um, to the end, it's still a good smoke. I, you know, I'm generally very harsh on Cubans anyway, but in this case, I'll give

**Bam Bam:** it a 10.

All right. Oh, wow. All right. Wow, grinder. Because

**Pagoda:** I, I [01:13:00] will, I will definitely seek this out. I will seek good

**Grinder:** luck

**Senator:** finding it. I will too. Outta nine. .

**Pagoda:** I was gonna be at nine. I'm like, oh, it was, but it, the happiness and the giddiness you feel when you smoke a great cigar, you know, you just feel really good about it.

Yeah. So it's like,

**Senator:** oh,

**Gizmo:** Grindr,

**Grinder:** you know, I think, um, I think gizmo, this. . I don't think the perfect draw did enough. I think I'm gonna have to open up this other cigar .

**Gizmo:** I had a feeling it was coming. . Um,

**Grinder:** it's a 10.

**Gizmo:** All right. Bam. Bam.

**Poobah:** 10.

**Gizmo:** All right. Wow. Well, boys, the formal lizard rating on this cigar is a 9.7, so I'll tell you why I gave it a nine.

And the reason why is for, very similar to what Senator said, the first three quarters were really superb, the last quarter fine. But, uh, [01:14:00] compared to the, the love 14 up and two that we did the classico, some of the other experiences that I've had on the podcast where I gave it a 10, it was just slightly below those.

Yeah. I would say it's in the, maybe in the top five or top 10 of Cuban cigars I've ever smoked. But it's, it's not, um, it's not in the top tier where I'd give it a 10. Yeah,

**Pagoda:** it's, it's really interesting because. . Yeah. The, the, the last, uh, third, it just kind of dies. Yeah. Me in, in terms of the overall intensity of flavors, I,

**Bam Bam:** I don't know if I agree with that.

I, I, for me, the flavor just continued and it's really intense. I'm down to the last half inch, you know, it's just quite delicious. I, I enjoyed

**Grinder:** the flavor throwout as well. I didn't, I didn't have that kind of let down you guys.

**Bam Bam:** No, not at all. Not at all. Um,

**Gizmo:** I disagree. Yeah. All right, boys. A 6.5 for the 15 year aged Macallan tonight and a 9.7 for the Parus Corona SCEs on ados.

[01:15:00] From 2007, absolutely a surprise. Oh yeah. I can't believe it. That's awesome. A uh, could have been a better pairing. Unfortunately, Macallan could have brought the heat a little bit better for $150 bottle, but

**Senator:** one tenant holds parus can do no wrong, right? .

**Gizmo:** So, uh, awesome night guys. So thank you to, uh, thank you to o our, uh, friend in California for hooking us up with these cigars.

Thanks to. For grabbing, uh, running around, grabbing this Macallan 15 for us tonight. And of course, thank you to, uh, our host here, 10 86 cigars in Hawthorne, New Jersey for letting us record every week. We're very appreciative and, uh, awesome guys. We'll see you next week. Keep smoking.

Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You can find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, lounge lizards podd.com. That's lounge lizards p o d.com. 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, [01:16:00] say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us hello@loungelizardspod.com.

You can also find us on Instagram at Lounge Lizards Pod. We really appreciate your time and we'll, uh, we'll see you next week.