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Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
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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.
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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!
Ep. #198: Cuaba Distinguidos
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Gizmo: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Lizards podcast, presented by Fabrica five. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars, as well as whiskey, travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo. Tonight I'm joined by Rooster Senator Pagoda, chef Ricky and Grinder, and our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some tequila, talk about life, and of course, have some laughs.
So take this as your 198th official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plan to meet this here once a week. We're gonna smoke a CIC cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rate. We discuss the recent ramp up in customs issues at US borders. We share a Havana travel update, and Grindr goes off the rails after too much tequila, all among a variety of other things for the next two hours.
So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we pair El Tesoro tequila blanco with Cuaba Distinguidos. A perfecto on the pod tonight from Cuba. [00:01:00] It's from kba. It's called the Distinguidos, and it's a 52 ring gauge cigar by six and three eighths inches long. And boys. We're coming up on episode 200, and this is only the second kaba that we're doing on the podcast tonight.
The other one being the Solomons. And I'm a little hesitant about how this is gonna perform tonight. I'm a little nervous.
Pagoda: Don't be. It looks just like the other one,
Gizmo: except it's like three inches shorter or something. That other, that salamoni was huge. Has anyone in the room had this cigar?
Pagoda: No. All the time.
No, I'm just kidding.
Gizmo: I've, uh, I've gotten word from folks who heard our episode, the SMS episode, our review of that, and they said, forget about the salamoni. You gotta try the Distinguidos. So here we're tonight. We'll see how it goes. Let's cut this thing. How many were talls Do
Rooster: they make? Is it not just three?
Gizmo: No, they make more than three. They make, um, about seven. I'll go through those. Oh, I do? Yeah. Right after we late. So obviously the double perfecto shape means that both sides of the cigar are closed. [00:02:00] For new world smokers think padron 80th, or actually this site might even be closer to the padron 60th in its shape.
Yep. With a little bit less of a point on the front, on the, on the foot of the cigar.
Senator: Hmm.
Gizmo: My draw's wide open. Thank God. How much did you cut off?
Rooster: A little bit
Gizmo: more than me.
Rooster: Oh,
Gizmo: I
Grinder: think we have a draw problem. It's all right. It's not, it's, you gotta cut a little bit, cuddle
Chef: a little bit more off my, my
Grinder: cigar selection criteria still holds.
Chef: I have, I have, I have a pretty decent shot on this guy here. Mm. Yeah. Picked, I picked, picked the up. I picked a fruit. Appreciate
Gizmo: it. Yeah. Grinder. Picked everybody's cigar tonight. I'm getting a little salt, a little cedar. Yeah, I got a, that's really what I'm getting. Pretty
Chef: savory, creamy, cold draw here.
Gizmo: Very subtle though.
Not a lot. Not a lot there.
Grinder: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: All right, boys, let's write this thing. The kba, Distinguidos from Cuba. Again, pagoda. What are you getting in the [00:03:00] first third? He's, he went, I know, I know. I don't even know what to do anymore with this guy. Well, I'm, I'm a bad seat. Hundred 98 episodes. Wow. It's a 52 ring gauge perfecto by six and three eighths inches long.
Its factory name is a Romeo, and we'll talk about why in a little bit. This cigar only comes in one configuration dress boxes of 10 cigars. Jeff is the one welding steel tonight. It was originally launched in 2003, and the factory code on the cigar we're smoke. Tonight is BRM April 24, so that is the La Corona factory that we've frequented so much.
The middle row on the top floor there is where they roll most Kwa. The, that comes out of. Cuba.
Grinder: Yeah. The, the draw on mine is actually really not good. Sorry. Save your mind a little off. Yeah. You should
Rooster: have, let me pick your cigar.
Grinder: I know. [00:04:00] I actually didn't pick mine. It was handed to me. That's why it sucks.
Gizmo: By who? Yeah. Who
Grinder: handed you it?
Gizmo: I didn't hand you a cigar. I handed a box. Just roll with it. Oh, sorry. Yeah. I picked a cigar.
Senator: Just question nothing Grindr said.
Gizmo: Correct.
Grinder: I'll tell you what, this is pretty good. I like it.
Gizmo: It's a nice start to it. It's very mild in, in flavor and body for me right now. Yeah, maybe that's why I like it.
Very mild. Yeah. I think it's mild in body,
Senator: but I'm getting a good amount of flavor.
Chef: Yeah, I agree. Hmm. I'm getting good flavor on this. Yeah, it's really nice. And it's very round and creamy right now. The flavor's being delivered nicely. Maybe
Gizmo: I just need the, the foot of the cigar to open up past the
Chef: mm-hmm.
Grinder: This
Chef: is
Grinder: like, how much is this cigar?
Gizmo: That's the problem. Uhoh 24 30 $7. What? Jesus for aba. This cigar is 37. Alright. It's a four. I mean, if you think about the fact that the [00:05:00] Romeo, uh, Juliet, the Churchills we did a couple weeks ago, or $40.
Rooster: Yeah. But who's paying for close to $40 for a qba?
Gizmo: That's the problem.
That's the, that's the, that's the miss here on ha Bono's part. I, I don't understand. I get cohiba. I maybe get Trinidad a little bit. I get the overall catalog being bumped up in price, not to the level they have, but this cigar is not a cigar. This line is not a line that people talk about, celebrate, get excited about.
You're not seeing people pulling these out for special occasions. You don't see anybody posting these photos online. For me, this is like a step above
Rooster: Boros. Hmm. Wow. Just a slight step above. It's quite an indictment. Well, yeah. I mean, it's, you know, it's on the, it's on the, it's on the bottom right. I mean, do you, it's a, it's a big
Grinder: step.
It's a big step though.
Rooster: Do you have any of these in your tower?
Pagoda: Can you reserve your judgment until later?
Rooster: I don't have, I mean, I don't have, I don't have any, I don't know if [00:06:00] anybody in this room seems like I have never, never purchased
Senator: a qba, even a single in my entire life.
Gizmo: The only thing I've ever purchased Qba is for this podcast.
That's it.
Chef: I would, but at $36, I've 37. $37. I don't think I want to. But if it were something like 15 or 14, it's a, it's an ex, it's a,
Grinder: it's a steep price to hold a Cuban cigar that you know is second tier. Yeah. You know? Yeah. It's kind of like a.
Gizmo: More
Grinder: like third tier. Okay. Alright. Alright. Well, also it's a big step also from a, from a
Gizmo: tier standpoint, I don't think any of us in the room, the flavor might be acceptable right now, but it, I don't think it's knocking anybody's socks off.
Right. I mean, for me, the flavor's good, but I'm not,
Senator: I don't know. You're, you're knocking the start of the cigar. I, I, for me, this starts great. I think it's great. I don't have any problems right now.
Gizmo: I'm not complaining about the flavor of the cigar, but I'm saying it's not a $40 cigar.
Rooster: I just wish you hadn't told us the price.
Well, you guys asked this early.
Grinder: Yeah,
Rooster: I know, but that kind of,
Grinder: that's me. I asked [00:07:00] Yeah. It's all your fault. Yeah. I also picked the cigars.
Gizmo: So let's talk about the flavor boys. What is everybody getting so far on the light? Mayan just passed the crown where the foot of the cigar was kind of tapered off.
There's a lot of cream,
Rooster: a lot of cedar, little bit of maybe coffee.
Pagoda: Coffee. I think I'm getting like either the cherry coffee, I, it's, it's, it's, it's a coffee. It's strong coffee for me. I get all that and there's also a nuttiness to this. I'm getting nutt mostly
Grinder: nut. I'm getting like almond 'cause there's like an almond.
I think almonds, I think if you go
Chef: like a very slow retro hale just to kind of elongate the flavor here, you're gonna get like almond biscotti and a small hint of white chocolate. That's kind of what I'm getting right now. But I feel like once this opens up even more, it's gonna give us some more flavor.
So looking, looking forward to that. I like that all there's That's a strong nut though. Yeah. That's a strong nut flavor. Yeah.
Senator: And there's a salty minerality with all of this that we're talking about too, which I really like.
Chef: Again, it is all developed, it's all delivered [00:08:00] rather mildly. But, you know, it's not like booming your face holy shit, right off the bat, like we've had with some cigars, but, uh, it's all still there, you know, and I think, 'cause we, we all, we're all coming into this knowing it's a guava, it's surprising, but the price point is crazy.
Gizmo: It almost right now tastes and, and without the milk chocolate or chocolate thing that we would get in the Monte to, it almost has a little mono cristo kind of vibe to me right now. Hmm. Obviously not the feel on the hand, not the shape, but the salty, the B briny. The nuttiness. I'm not getting the chocolate thing that happens in, in a lot of montery.
I can see that, but I'm getting, it's like a distant cousin right now of mono krysta for me.
Grinder: Hmm.
Gizmo: It's off to a nice start though. But that's the thing out there for our listeners, if you do have one of these cigars or any of the kaba cigars in their catalog, which we'll go through in a minute, you gotta be very, very patient when you light it and, you know, let it go past the crown before you pull out your perfect draw.
If you're not drawing well before you do a second or third cut, [00:09:00] just be patient as it reaches that kind of half inch point. Yeah. From the beginning of the cigar.
Chef: Same, same as with the Padro 60th. Exactly.
Grinder: I mean, I, I, I was lamenting about the draw as soon as I lit it, but it's, it opened up very, very quickly.
Gizmo: Let's talk about KBA boys. I know we did the full history. On the Salim episode, we'll talk about that rating a little later. Obviously, Kaba is unique in the catalog for two reasons. Number one, every cigar of course, is a perfecto or a double perfecto. We know that that's what the wine is famous for. It came out in 1996.
Guess how much age is on this? Uh, this is just over, you know, like 15 months, 16 months. So let's go through the rest of the catalog boys. Let's see what KBA offers. The Dinos is a petite perfecto 43 ring gauge by four inches long. The ex Voss, which is an exquisite toast factory, named 46 ring gauge by five and three quarters inches long.
That's a perfecto. [00:10:00] The tradition Alice, a petite perfecto as well. 42 ring gauge by four and three quarters inches. The guidos that we have in our hand, perfecto, 52 by six and three eighths. And the almon, like I said before, the other cigar we've reviewed on this podcast, 57 by seven and a quarter. So are they all like in this shape then?
They are all in this exact shape. Wow. Exactly. I like the
Pagoda: shape.
Gizmo: Yeah. So they had two cigars that are discontinued. One is the Heuss, which was a 42 ring gauge by five and a quarter, obviously very similar in size to some of the other cigars. And really the famous one that I've seen, I actually have one that I was given, uh, the Diod Demi, which was a 55 ring gauge by nine and one eighths inches long, a giant perfecto and it comes in like an aluminum foil with the band on the outside and it came in a coffin.
Kinda like the Mono Cristo A, if you've ever seen the Mono Cristo, a [00:11:00] coffin very similar to that, like an individual slide lid box they call it. So that's the line. As it stands now, those two cigars are discontinued. I'll tell you what guys, the aroma in
Grinder: here is fantastic, and this cigar is really, really heating up.
Senator: I agree. If you smell the burn line, it's like roasted nuts. Yeah. This is like, it
Gizmo: smells like, yeah, it smell like one of those carts in, in New York City around Christmas time.
Chef: Exactly. Wait till you're taken the nose of this, uh, of our pairing here. By the
Grinder: way, I've already to complete that.
Chef: Jumping the gun over here, buddy.
It's so good. That side of the room's moving awfully fast today.
Gizmo: So it's interesting with Kaba, I mean, it, it seems like a very underdeveloped brand. I know we've talked about this when we did this Aons, but as we said earlier, you know, when as we were lighting, this is not a cigar that we see a lot, it's not a cigar that's celebrated.
It's not a cigar that at the Haos Festival they're doing anniversary releases of, you know, so it's almost like, it seems like it's kind of in [00:12:00] this purgatory of, in the Habanas catalog, it's almost kinda like Vegas ROIA right now, you know, where it's kind of like a, a, a, a dead brand as far as Habanas goes.
They're just kind of rolling out regular production, but there's no improvement.
Senator: The thing that's strange is from a consumer standpoint, obviously, I don't think any of us have ever met a consumer that celebrates this brand or is passionate about it. But when we went to Havana, I mean, Corona is very proud that they make so many of these cigars, and even Danilo, when we met him at Lito, one of the cigars that he regularly likes and smokes is a kaba.
We
Gizmo: were shocked. It might've been this one. Yeah. Could be Guidos, but yeah, it's a good point. When you go to La Corona, so I'll set the scene. So when you walk in La Corona, I, in the boardroom, I if, if you end up in there, or even in on some of the walls, you'll see some of the brands that are painted and Kaaba and Sanal are kind of the two headline that La Corona is celebrating there.
Of course, their major production, I would think number one is Monte Cristo. [00:13:00] They do make a lot of cohiba there. They make a lot of Parus H up and all the other global brands, but they really get excited about showing off their skill in rolling Double perfecto in perfecto. Maybe. They used to be very popular.
They, I think, I think the idea of this market being launched in 1996 was a throwback to the smoking habits of old, like in the early 19 hundreds, late 18 hundreds, that this was a popular size, but obviously it fell out of the favor for petite Coronas and re bustos. You know, as far as smokers and the amount of time they have, I kind of love how it,
Grinder: I love
Gizmo: the shape.
Grinder: I love the size. So do I, I think it's great. This is a perfect size.
Senator: That's why I don't think it's the size of the shape that is their problem. I think like they've done a really poor job of marketing the brand and I don't know enough of their cigars to say that all the blends are good or bad, but the fact that there's no one really championing these cigars, I mean, clearly the blends aren't as good as they ought to be.
Grinder: I would equate or, or try to. [00:14:00] Draw parallels to like a typical CPG company, right? There's, do you have a portfolio of brands? What's CPG?
Gizmo: Let's start there. Consumer
Grinder: product goods. Okay. You have a portfolio of brands and no matter how good or bad that was for you
Gizmo: and me, Ricky, yeah. No matter appreciate it.
Oh, me too.
Grinder: He's in cpg. That's the funny thing.
Rooster: I've just never called it cpg.
Grinder: You have a portfolio of brands that you market, and some of those brands are not very differentiated except their marketing. That's the only difference. So like you can have lower tier, high quality products that just aren't marketed.
They don't have that overhead and the prices are lower. And then there's others that are, you know, prestige or elevated brands. And those are your Cohibas, your Parus, your Monte, Cristos, your horde, all the, all the rest of basically the rest of the portfolio. Hmm. So it could be something like that. Like if you had some stupid McKinsey consultant come in, they probably would've say, you gotta tear your, tear your, your portfolio, put pricing aligned to that, and then you'll be successful.
[00:15:00] And honestly like. I don't know. It's, it's a great, it's a good stick. I, it's hard to differentiate some of the tobacco that comes outta Cuba for me.
Gizmo: Sure. I, I always laugh. I I kind of think it's comical when folks talk about, you know, is the quality of Monte Cristo better than Kaba, better than San Crista ball, better than all these other, and it's like, it's the same tobacco Yeah.
Coming out of the same factory.
Grinder: It's just, you put sun on soil in that place and it, and it, it makes great tobacco. You know, there's really no differentiating
Gizmo: except for blend.
Grinder: Yeah.
Gizmo: Fermentation and, and quality of, of construction there. Yeah. There's really no differentiation there. There's not a ton of different crops and seeds, and it's
Rooster: really processes mind, mind boggling that a blender can take the same five leaves, blend it different ways under a different marker, and it tastes completely different.
Grinder: Right. It's all about the ratios. Yeah. Yeah. But
Rooster: you know, it's the same, it's same, really the same, same [00:16:00] tobacco coming out of the, basically the same farms. I mean, I'm sure Cohiba does get like the top shelf, you know, from the farms that they choose to buy their tobaccos from.
Grinder: Yeah. I'll tell you what, this is like very much in my power alley.
The cigar. Yeah. Because it's light. It's very light, but it's, but there's still a lot of flavor, you know?
Senator: The point I'm at right now, this is absolutely delicious. Mine's great right now too. I agree. I agree. I love the flavor that I'm getting. Are
Gizmo: you guys getting a little, like a citrus thing? I sound like bam, bam.
Nope. Are you guys getting a cirus thing citrus right now? I
Chef: am. I'm getting a little citrus. I'm getting a little What kind citrus
Gizmo: would you say it is?
Chef: This is like lemon oil, little bit, little like light hint of lemon oil. It's not like, um, it's not juicy or anything like that, or pithy. It's, it's more oily for me.
Maybe it's 'cause of the creaminess of the smoke, but that's how I compare it.
Grinder: I'm definitely getting like, some of, some of the toasted bread type of [00:17:00] like Cuban profile and a little saltiness, but not a lot.
Rooster: What do you
Gizmo: think of the aroma? Great. It's really nice. I think the, the combustion's fantastic. The smoke output, the room is full of smoke and I'll be honest, my end, I, I don't, I, I don't know if there were differences in the weight of these cigars, but mine feels really good in the hand.
Senator: Yeah, that's what we were grinds. Yeah. The only thing I will say mine feels super light in my hand. Like it's super airy, like filled with too many air pockets. The draws actually. Okay. It just feels underfilled. This is like one of the lightest cigars of this size I've probably ever held, but the flavor I'm getting is awesome and the thing I'm just shocked by, it's not that there are notes in here that I like, I'm shocked by, but.
It's complex, this blend, like I'm getting several distinct notes that are easily discernible, that are really kind of covering my palate. So I, I'm really impressed so far.
Gizmo: I agree with you and I will say for you, saying that your yours feels underfilled or light in the hand, it seems to be [00:18:00] burning at a very similar pace to the rest of us.
So hopefully it won't jump ahead and, you know, get too hot on you.
Rooster: Even mine doesn't feel like overpacked doesn't feel heavy, but, you know, I think that's how they all, all of them are. Do you dry box these at all? I did
Gizmo: dry box them, yeah. I dry box them for about a week. I've had 'em for about six weeks and I dry box 'em for about a week.
Huh.
Chef: Just give us And what's that running at this time of year, considering it's summer and I'm gonna, I that It's super hum. Yeah.
Gizmo: So I'll dry box, I'll step it down. So what I'll do is it'll sit in my tower in the summertime. It's generally between 62, 60 4%, 70, uh, degrees, and I'll step it down into a 62 in a Ziploc and then I'll move to a 58.
And if I'm really feeling like I need to go down, I'll jump to a 49.
Rooster: Wow.
Gizmo: But these did not get to 49. Like if I'm really stressing, like I'm feeling the cigars and they don't feel really good coming up to about a week out on the pod, I'll, I'll throw a 49 in there and try to get a little more out. [00:19:00] So one more, uh, one more note on the cigar here, boys, before we move into our pairing tonight, I found this very interesting.
So the factory name, as I said on this cigar is called the Romeo. And it's because there was a pre 1960 cigar from Romeo Julieta of the same exact size called the Romeos Wa, which was dis discontinued in the late 1970s. So I'm thinking that when they launched this cigar in, you know, these cigars in 1996 and this specific cigar in 2003, they were throwing back to that history with Romeo Julieta, the Romeos.
And there were some other cigars that were released over the years. One from Bolivar, uh, a couple from Ava and Special Humidors, one from Juan Lopez, uh, one from Sancha Panza, and then several releases of the Romeos, uh, by Romeo Julieta. But that is the story on the Romeos, double perfecto Vitola out of Cuba.
So boys, I am parched. It's time [00:20:00] to go to our pairing tonight, and I'm very excited about this. And I had crossed my fingers when I made this decision on what we were drinking tonight. I called Chef Ricky and said, do you think this is crazy? He said, Nope. But the brineness in this cigar, I'm hoping it's gonna work out because we have El Tesoro Tequila Blanco tonight.
The final out of the triad that we have not reviewed yet, we've done the Reposado and we've done the Anejo.
Chef: Wow. Really? I guess that makes sense, but I didn't realize it's never been reviewed.
Gizmo: So what are you guys thinking of the flavor of the Elta Soro, tequila Blanco?
Chef: I'm so happy to be in this room right now.
It's been so long since I've, uh, sip out the Soro Blanco, just 'cause I've been focused on some newer things that have come out lately. And, uh, this has brought me back right to where I needed to be. This, this, you know, I mean, well just going into Alta sort a little bit. Nome 1139, otherwise known as Laa Distillery.
Uh, started by [00:21:00] Don Felippe. Nia now being run by his son, uh, sorry, grandson, uh, Carlos Kana, and he's continuing the legacy, doing a phenomenal job of making artisanal tequilas. And out de Soto, by far is probably the best stuff coming out of that distillery, mainly in my opinion, because they do everything the artisanal away from the vat fermentation to the double distillation to proof, so there's no water being added to this.
You, you notice the mouth feel the oiliness on this. It's, it's very, very rich and very appropriate for the cigar. Super sweet, lots of cooked agave notes, some good minerality coming through. A little citrus like this is a freaking home run right off the bat. I love this stuff.
Gizmo: It's a great Blanco and I'm actually really liking it with the cigar.
What do you guys think of the pairing between the tequila and the cigar tonight?
Pagoda: I think it kind of really works. It's, it's also because I think like, just overall in terms of just the cigar, I think for me it's really [00:22:00] like mild to medium clothing, like more towards a mild, and I think the tequila just goes on really well with it.
Grinder: I, I think, I think the, they pair very well together because they're on the same level. I think the tequila is not. There's a, there's you
Senator: equating elta, Soro to Qba.
Grinder: I meant just, just in tasting notes, like there's that minerality. Is is is there, it's strong, but it's not too strong. It's, it's, it's not overwhelming.
Um, and the flavor profiles with the cigar, this is a very smooth smoking cigar and there's this creaminess that is being cut by this subtle mineral, not subtle, I, I don't know how to describe it. It's between subtle and strong doing. Yeah, no, you're doing fine. Uh, and, and I think, I think it's like, it's a nice, it's, you know, it a nice good blanco that pairs well with the Ava.
Chef: It's, it seems perfect. I tell you what, just to heighten the sweetness a little bit on your palate, let it run down the back sides of your tongue [00:23:00] and you'll get cooked. Agave blast. I don't mind if I
Senator: do. Yeah. So I get plenty of sweetness on the, the blanco. I like that. It's like you get sweetness and the minerality, which is what I'm getting out of this cigar, like, there's like creamy, sweet notes, sweetness on the mineral, then that like salty minerality and then like the nuttiness kind of, that is in between everything.
So I think the pairing works really well.
Gizmo: So I, I love that this tequila, it has a lot of flavor, but it doesn't, it's not hot going down. Oh, Don,
Grinder: it's not hot at all. It's, I know
Gizmo: we've talked about taro being like that in the Reposado and the Anejo, but in the Blanco as well. It's, it's really smooth and easy to drink.
Grinder: You know, it's funny I said earlier that I think I'm a tequila guy now, before you guys even got here. It's not even the like Anejo or the rep, it's all the Blancos we've been having. Yeah. That have just been like, this is fantastic. It's interesting you taste the agave. It's interesting
Gizmo: how our journey has gone and we've talked about, I, I think it's very much parallel with cigars.
If you think about, [00:24:00] we've always talked about how, and we mentioned this with Steve Saka and that interview we did with him, like, cigar smokers run to the wall of strength and oomph and you know, they go all the, and then they start crawling back. And I think it's funny, like we started, I guess with cigars 'cause our mentality was thinking that you needed some age or a little more oomph to them in Reposado or you know, some touching some other kind of barrels, you know, in the aging process like, and now we're walking back and we've been doing primarily I think Blancos for the last six months.
And I think these have been a real revelation, especially with cigars that are a more milder medium. Than what we would expect in a new world cigar.
Chef: But, but I tell you what actually I think is making a difference is that we are, we've committed to additive-free, clean, artisanally made tequilas that have a lot more complexity body and, and just depth overall on a blanco.
Whereas when you, if, you know, if we were sitting here [00:25:00] drinking Casamigos or Don Julio Blanco, not, we're doing that in two weeks, by the way, for the episode 200 won't be, I won't be here,
Gizmo: Casamigos Blanco.
Chef: If we were drinking those things, you know, it, it, it would, it, our experience would not be the same. We would want age spirits or we would want, you know, charred, you know, bourbon forward, you know, flavor profiles just to kind of.
Stand up to the cigar, but because we're drinking complex deep Blancos here, it holds up well.
Pagoda: You know, in terms of intentional pairing, do you find that you are pairing a lot of these tequilas with Cubans?
Gizmo: I think we've done some of the Blancos with Cubans. I can look at the spreadsheet and see what we've done.
I mean, as far as the intentional pairing, it's really a conversation that primarily I'm having with senator and and chef about guessing if we don't know what the cigar tastes like, taking a guess as to what we can kind of discern from what we read online or other experiences in the Mar New world or [00:26:00] Cuban like everything.
And I think we're just really trying to be more intentional about that guess. But at the end of the day, if we haven't smoked a cigar, it's still a guess. But I,
Senator: I think to his question, I mean, there's no doubt that we're intentionally pairing Blancos with cigars. We expect to be lighter or medium at best.
Mm-hmm. Like, we would never pair a Blanco with a Padron or a heavy Nicaraguan cigar. Like that would just not match. That's where you would want an anejo that has more body, much more flavor. Um, so I think those are the general or a higher
Chef: proof Blanco. Yeah.
Senator: Right. Yeah. Those are the general parameters. I feel
Chef: like.
Yeah. I think we've done, rep Reposados is maybe the highest. We've gone with a Cuban, we might've done a CTE leg, west Reposado once here. Um, I don't know. I don't remember. I don't know how you guys remember everything.
Gizmo: I don't, I, I'm, that iPad is very, very helpful.
Pagoda: That's what we have pagoda for. Yeah. No, I feel like I'm having tequila for the first time.[00:27:00]
Gizmo: You know, it's funny too. I, I, it's just, it's amazing how different these agave products can be. You know, you look at, I, I think about the me Heta versus the Volans versus the G four Platinum versus the Tequila Os show versus, you know, uh, Forza. How different all of these products are. And it's really the kind of the same stuff.
Just the process is a little different, right?
Chef: Just like a cigar, right. With Cuban cigars, it's usually the same Cuban tobacco, right? But the blending could be different. Um, you know, I think in the case of tequila, there's the fermentation that takes, uh, that offer some influence, whether they're using stainless steel vats or wooden vats or, or concrete vats or, you know, the distillation process, whether the agaves a steak grown or harvested from multiple fields and then blended afterwards.
Um, you know, but in this case, with the al de soda, it's all done, right? It's all a steak corona, agave, they're all at perfect altitude and [00:28:00] volcanic soil, har harvested at the right, correct. Ripeness. So you're, they're getting a lot of, you know, getting a lot of breaks, which is sugar concentration, and that's what's coming through in the spirit.
Super rich, very creamy.
Gizmo: It's really working. And, you know, to keep going back to the cigar, I mean, it's really pairing wonderfully with the cigar. Yeah. Actually better than I expected.
Pagoda: No, yeah. I think it, for me, it, it's, um, the slight minerality I was getting in the cigar or a little bit of the savoriness.
I, I think that's become a lot more distinct for me. Um, um, so I'm, I'm really enjoying it.
Grinder: I think the, um, there's a minerality that's lacking in the cigar. To, for me, that's augmented. By the By pairing. By the pairing,
Chef: yeah. And that's coming from the hon? Yeah. Which grinder point? Uh, sorry, what's your name?
Gizmo Gizmo.
Gizmo: Episode 198. [00:29:00]
Chef: I missed last week. I'm sorry. It's been a long week.
Pagoda: Well, it must have been the bid. You know he's shaved now. That's
Chef: right. Yeah. On the, the lid of the alro used to be modeled after the tona in the distillery. I was highly disappointed
Gizmo: when I bought this bottle, man. And there's a wooden.
Wooden, but they changed all of 'em. Look at, look. Look at it. Looks like it. Senator. It's wood. All
Chef: of
Gizmo: them
Chef: though. I'm guessing the new run of bodily. Oh man. The wooden cap. Oh, that's maybe just
Gizmo: from a volume standpoint. They couldn't get the to done. Well, I hope they shave a few dollars off the price then.
Well, well, that's increase
Pagoda: of
Gizmo: the margins. That's paying for the
Pagoda: tariffs.
Gizmo: The tariffs. Hey, you're not So the price on this bottle, by the way, the Blanco $50. That's good.
Chef: Yeah,
Gizmo: good price
Chef: if you have any. Oh, so there you go. If you have any Alta Soto bottles with the Taho, you might wanna consider keeping those sealed.
Pagoda: I'll keep them sealed. They're sealed with the Tela inside for right now.
Chef: They're probably collective items at this point.
Gizmo: Alright boys, let's go to some news stories. Couple things we need to talk about. We talked about this about a year ago, year and a half maybe [00:30:00] the Cuban Trinidad re Robusto Extra is making its return.
This is one of the most sought after and. Cherished Trinidad releases that has ever been made. The Rob Robusto Extra 50 Ring Gauge by sixth and an eighth. It was introduced in 2004 and discontinued just under 10 years later, brought back as a duty-free exclusive in 2001. And now it is available in some sort of limited production, mainly in the United Kingdom.
Apparently h uh, habanas essay repositioned the Robusto extra, again, proclaiming that it would be back in regular production with new sleek packaging. The box count is the same, and the box itself has changed, changed dramatically. Of course, you're paying for a, you know, beautiful wacker boxes we've talked about so many times with cigars.
Now the problem here, boys, is the price on this cigar. Anybody wanna take a guess what the price of the new Trinidad Robusto Extra 50 ring gauge by six and an eight [00:31:00] is one CI 10, 10 count.
Pagoda: 110 quid.
Gizmo: It's a box of 12. Box of
Rooster: 12. Oh, that's right. All the, uh,
Gizmo: $720. So more so the price of these cigars is $89 a piece for a box of 12.
It's 1,020 bucks. That's not bad.
Pagoda: I can't wait to try them. Are you making a lot of money in these tariff games?
Rooster: Well, we don't split wise. Well, you said that's not, we don't split wise anymore, so I'm Okay.
Pagoda: That's not bad. It's like a hundred bucks a cigar. Yeah.
Gizmo: So before, uh, they were discontinued, uh, in 2000, I guess it was 2012, 2013, the cigars were retailing for $33.
So they've more, they've almost tripled in price. Everything on ha says catalog has
Pagoda: at least tripled. Exactly right. My salary hasn't, unfortunately.
Gizmo: So let's go to another one, boys. This one is from the Cuban News Network, and they say that the Cuban tobacco production grew during the first half [00:32:00] of 2025.
Apparently, production of rolled tobacco for export exceeded the same period in 2004 by more than 6 million units. Adding that, these deliveries to the Haos SA Corporation reached 90%, I guess, of what they were supposed to in the cigarettes, um, space. We talked about this, how well cigarettes are doing for the Cuban tobacco industry, 201 million packs of cigarettes were produced 104% above what they were expecting.
So that's pretty wild. So thankfully what we've heard about production being down and, and all these things being wrong with tobacco, it seems like they're still putting out a good amount of tobacco compared to what they were doing last year. So the scarcity hopefully won't be, is Cuba
Rooster: actually exporting tobacco?
This. I thought there wasn't E even enough to make.
Gizmo: Well, no, this is rolled tobacco that's going to Haos. But as far as Haos [00:33:00] goes and their investment in that, that business, they are definitely demanding that tobacco get off the island. Come hell or high water. I mean, they've gotta make their money. And one more news story for you here, boys.
It looks like in, uh, I like talking about this. For our listeners out there who are trying to get to Cuba from the US especially, it looks like Southwest has cut their flights between Tampa and Havana. So they were at one point going out of Fort Lauderdale, then they moved all of those flights to Tampa going back and forth between Tampa and Havana.
They've cut those flights in half. There is now only one flight going back and forth each day between Tampa and Havana. So they're saying it's a temporary thing. I think these airlines are just slowly making their exit gracefully from doing business with that Havana airport.
Grinder: I think there's a lot of factors at play.
Also, there's, there's probably far fewer Cuban nationals that are a hundred
Gizmo: percent
Grinder: going to America because of the visa thing that they [00:34:00] had that's expired. So now they, you know, there's fewer of that traffic, right? I mean our or less of that
Rooster: traffic or American tourists actually going to Cuba. Totally.
That's why I don't think
Senator: this is all about, that's niche. Many. It's multiple factors. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think this is all about fear of policy change or anything like that. I think it's a money thing. Exactly. They're not making enough money on these flights to continue operating them. I mean, American, it makes sense to keep them.
The place that obviously has more travelers in and out to, uh, to and from Cuba is Miami. They own that. You know, that's their hub. So I get why American would stay involved. But, you know, United through Houston, there's not nearly as many people flying from Houston as there is Miami. Even the same thing in Tampa.
Gizmo: And I think, you know, on both sides of the transaction there's challenges. Like we know that let's say you're leaving the United States with a bunch of stuff for your family. A lot of these folks, when they're flying, that's how they actually, the airlines actually make their money is that second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, you know, checked luggage bag that are weighing 70, a hundred pounds.
The problem now is on the other side, when they pull into Havana with [00:35:00] that, they're getting taxed very heavily at the airport for bringing that stuff in. So both sides of the the, uh, the travel are kind of squeezing the ability to get there and get, get what you need to get, you know, do done.
Rooster: But nothing has changed as far as an American person wanting to travel to Cuba.
Correct. Nothing has changed at this time. No. There's no restriction or anything like that?
Gizmo: No, and I think, uh, you know, for the guys in the room, the four of us who've been to Havana, I think now the problem for us and a lot of folks who maybe have gone there on mission trips, a lot of religious trips, education, you know, whatever it may be, us in support of the Cuban people, tobacco industry.
I think there's a lot of hesitation to go. I know in this room there's a lot of hesitation to go to to Havana right now. I know they might not let me come back. Well, you, it's not. Well, yeah. Only
Pagoda: you. Only you. Only you. Last time they confiscated just Mr. God, this time it's gonna be me. I'm deported.
Grinder: Can you imagine this [00:36:00] guy in some like, like retainers?
Oh yeah. It would not prison. It would not be good.
Gizmo: I think there's a significant hesitation with Americans going there. Even the ones that are going there on, on, on kind of like missions. Like, I don't wanna go there right now.
Grinder: So how's the blackout situation been though?
Gizmo: It's very bad.
Grinder: It's still, it's still, it continues to get worse
Chef: really.
Rooster: That's one of the main issues. I mean, if you are a traveler and you're going there on vacation, that should be the least of your worries, right? Because no power. I mean, snow, ac, there's no food. Probably no ice. No ice. Pagoda would be trouble. Pagoda double ed doesn't wanna
Chef: go back.
Pagoda: By the way, chef Ricky, I've seen you have a lot of alcohol with ice.
Chef: Oh boy.
Pagoda: Oh yeah.
Chef: That was one time it was out of my control.
Gizmo: So like Senator Pagoda Rooster, we've been there before. Do you guys wanna go back to Havana at, you know,
Senator: not, not particularly, but not because of any concern about, [00:37:00] uh, change in policy posture or anything like that? No, I'm not saying any of that.
I'm not worried about being able to come back here, like we are legally traveling there in support the king people. We can easily prove it. Um, for me it's just like the conditions have gotten so bad there that to fly into a situation where the entire country is without power for days, and it's like, okay, great.
You know, we have some resources to be able to find someplace with a generator, but it's not like we can go see the people that we wanna see and do the things that we wanna do. And so you're kind of just stuck. And to me that's, that's, there's no real purpose in doing that. And the situation is so bad.
It's like, you know, the, the depressing part for me is we used to go and bring all this stuff and it felt like materially impact people's lives there. Things are so bad right now. I mean, it's like almost no matter what we do or bring. We're not in having any meaningful impact at this point. Like that's how deep in the hole these people are in trying to be able to meet their [00:38:00] basic needs.
Gizmo: And we can't fix needs. We can help with wants if somebody wants something. But as far as needs go, we can't help with that. And unfortunately, on every aspect of, of what a human being needs to not just thrive but survive, every Cuban person who's not a government official or somehow connected is really suffering in, in each of those ways.
Food, clothing, and shelter. That the basic, you know, those three things are what you need. Those things are difficult right now. Then you add work on, then you add transport, then you add electricity. The basic things that we in, in developed culture understand is to be pretty essential and normal. And when they're not there, it's pretty disastrous.
The Cuban people are suffering with every single day. And we're not just talking and we're talking about Havana outside Havana.
Chef: Yeah,
Gizmo: it's brutally bad. They go 2, 3, 4 days, five days without power. And if they get power back for a little bit, [00:39:00] they're lucky. You know, it's really a bad situation.
Pagoda: It's gonna be interesting probably around the festival, they might make sure that the power doesn't go off.
They always do that. Make it a Of course. Yeah. But
Senator: can you imagine how many blackouts there'll be intentionally leading up to that, just to conserve power to make sure that all the people that fly in have an amazing experience and that's gonna be it. Yeah. It's
Rooster: either that or they're gonna cut off the rest of the country and just have power and Yeah.
Yeah. That's exactly what do. Yeah.
Gizmo: So boys, we're coming to the end of the first third here on the Qba. Just to guidos, what's everybody thinking right now?
Grinder: It's
Gizmo: very smooth.
Grinder: I I, i This is not smoking quickly either. This is a, yeah, this is a slow, yeah, it's slow burn for how light it is. I think I'm surprised
Pagoda: it's
Chef: for how much is burning for the smoke output.
You think you'd think you're blazing through it, but it it really, is it burning nicely? Yeah.
Gizmo: I'm loving the development of the flavor right now. It's picking up a little bit in body, I would say. Mm-hmm. Strength is still, I would say mild. It's not, there's really not any kick there, but I'm loving, I'm getting a little bit more brininess, I'm getting a little bit more [00:40:00] minerality.
The nuttiness is kind of faded a little bit, but it's really damn good, man.
Chef: You know what I'm missing that I'm not getting a whole lot of here is, is salt. I'm not getting much salt. I wish there was a little bit more of that, but I mean, I get it. But that's not an barbecue, but yeah. But that's where the tequila came in for me though.
Yep. You know,
Gizmo: it's funny, I'm still getting the twang on the front of my top, so I just, from the, I'm, I'm getting it as well. And I haven't zipped the tequila since I was talking about Havana. I, I'm getting quite a bit of salt on the front of my tongue, but in
Pagoda: fact, uh, to be very honest, I think I've been enjoying this without sipping the tequila a lot more, you know, the few puffs after, you know, having a sip, you know, there, there's some cigars which really, really compliment each other and somewhat enhance for me.
I'm finding that, uh, just smoking the cigar and so is just very, very pleasurable. Especially, you know, this the area where I am right now. So I
Grinder: find that, I find that really interesting because I'm, I'm not, I, I don't get the saltiness, the twang. Yeah. The Cuban twang with the cigar. I am get, like, when I just took a sip of the tequila though, [00:41:00] that draw immediately after is so sublime.
It's like I get the twang from the, the, the, you know, the saltiness, the minerality from the tequila. Fills in the gap for the saltiness, for the cigar. It's great.
Senator: No, I, the funny thing, uh, pagodas experience is like identical to mine with this I hadn't even thought about. I haven't touched the tequila in a very long time, and it's because I'm really getting flavorwise exactly what I want out.
The cigar. Cigar, it's like almost like it's not needed, even though it's an outstanding tequila, but I'm not reaching for it because I'm getting everything I want really flavor-wise outta the cigar
Gizmo: When you say everything you guys want. Right. And I'm experiencing the same thing. Like I said, I just took that first sip before we were talking about the, the news stories that we just did, three of them.
I haven't taken a sip since I'm finding the same thing. Like I'm not wanting to cleanse my palate or, you know, uh, hydrate my palate or whatever it may be. Or fine flavors that I would like that aren't
Senator: present
Gizmo: here. Exactly. Is it, is it because it's, the smoke is [00:42:00] creamy? Is it because it's hitting the entirety of your tongue, your entirety of your palate?
Is the smoke like a thicker, like viscous, creamier smoke? It's not drying your mouth out. Like, what is it? For me, it's, it's all of it. It's all
Pagoda: of it. Yeah.
Senator: I mean, it's all of it, but for me, primarily it's that it's hitting all of my palate and particularly like in a sweet and savory way. Like usually when I'm having a cigar, it leans much more in one of those two directions.
Right? So like, it's a very savory cigar. It's not very sweet. And then if I have a sweeter spirit with it, like that's what it's lacking. So it's helping the cigar, it's, it's giving me, uh, kind of completely stimulating my palate. Hmm. The same way when I have something that's like very sweet and not at all savory, there's no earth components or anything like that.
Having a drier spirit is helpful to get some of those notes and even like maybe a little bitterness or something that I'm lacking in the cigar and this, I'm really getting the best of both worlds, so I don't feel like I need something to supplement that.
Rooster: Yeah, it's a, it's a very nice [00:43:00] combination of, I feel savory and sweetness, but it's balanced with the creaminess that's kind of like ties everything together, so that makes the smoke very balanced,
Senator: which usually you get from age tobacco.
It's like shocking that this is creamy at just a year, a little over a year of
Gizmo: age. And we go back to our, our recent, you know, data proof that the stuff coming out of Cuba right now is pretty damn good young. You know, we talked a couple weeks ago about the Cohiba Cilo two, wondering if that cigar that we smoked that was six years aged at the time we smoked it, how that cigar would do coming out fresh.
I think it would be a lot better than that 2019 box was fresh. You know,
Rooster: I think the question is, is that purposely being done or not? I think, I remember
Pagoda: there was a hurricane, I think a few years ago, three, four years ago maybe that mixed up the soil again.
Gizmo: I also, I also think that the price thing and the lower supply of quality rollers, they've [00:44:00] reduced their, the production significantly since pre COVID.
I mean, we're probably talking 30, it's 30% of what it was, or 40%. So they're making more money than they ever have. They're making less cigars said absolutely, because that was compared to last year.
Chef: Ah, okay. Okay.
Gizmo: So, you know, they're making probably 30 to 40% of the cigars they were making in 2019. They're making more money than they ever have because they've tripled or quadrupled the price of them all.
But that would change. So they're able construction? No, but they're able to ferment tobacco. Tobacco longer. Because there's, there's not such a requirement for volume right now. I think Haos, despite all of our criticism of them, I think they're hyper aware that a consumer who's paying $40 for this, a hundred dollars for a COHIBA 200, $300 for a bke needs to be able to smoke that sooner.
I think they know that, and I think they're allowing the tobacco to ferment.
Senator: I agree a hundred percent. I mean, there, there's just no question. Like their entire model of raising prices and like, you know, [00:45:00] restricting supply like fails if people are not able to smoke these right away, if they're gonna spend now 30, $40 a cigar because they're not gonna go back.
Grinder: I'll tell you what though, I would pay four a box of these for $40.
Gizmo: You pay 400 for a box of 10? I think I would. I'm not quite there yet. I'm curious how the second half is gonna be, but I'll be honest, I'm very happy if this, if this person, I'm, I'm very happy with the first $20 bill. We'll see how the second this, if this
Grinder: persists, then I would then I would, yeah.
If, if it, I mean,
Senator: I'm not surprised you're gonna say this is very much his like Yeah. Flavor profile. Strength profile. So like. I know for Gizmo, this would necessarily fit the perfect bill, but I, I'm not surprised to hear Grindr say
Gizmo: that I'm not either. And I think for all of us, all six of us in the room, I mean, the fact that it's performing as well as it is with just the touch over a year on it.
Mm-hmm. And this is not an easy cigar to roll it. That's why they're so proud of it at La Corona. This is, yeah. You know, this is not, the new cigar, rollers are not rolling this [00:46:00] cigar. That's why they're proud, is because this is one of the hardest types of cigars to roll. That's a very good point. You know, so
Senator: I'll just say though, the only thing that frustrates me at a $40 price point, it's not a pretty cigar.
No. Yeah. Like the construction is, it's good, but it's not great. The band is cheap. The, the burn like it, it keeps correcting. It's not perfect perfectly, but it's not a razor sharp burn. Like I've looked around at everyone's, and at one point or another, everyone's has been a little uneven, and then it's corrected, little uneven, then it's corrected.
So again, if this were, you know, 10, $15, I wouldn't be as worried about this. But at a $40 price point, you expect perfect construction. And it's surprising and disappointing because for a lot of the big global brands like. Especially new stuff coming out of Cuba. You know, we've commented that construction has been excellent on a lot of these cigars and this I'm just having to look at and pay more attention to the construction than I would like to at that price point.
Gizmo: I do agree with you on that. I've done some touching up just because of the burns. Been a little inconsistent, [00:47:00] but it's not dampen my enjoyment right now of the flavor.
Pagoda: Yeah. I, I haven't had to touch on my cigar once and Nice. I've been really impressed with the smoke output and, you know, the flavor that I'm getting out of the cigar.
So it's been very, very enjoyable. The retro is in this sweet spot.
Grinder: It's so good. Where, where it's not, there's no spice. Yeah, it's perfect. It's, it's almost
Gizmo: like, I would say it's almost like a, um, chef Ricky, you would know this, one of those Girl Scout cookies. The um, the tray foil, the vanilla one.
Chef: Yep. The tray foil.
Gizmo: There's no spice. The tray foil, there's no spice to it. It's a simple dry, very sweet cookie
Chef: Shortbread. Yep. Short butter. Buttery. It's excellent. Yep.
Gizmo: Correct. It's so good. And there's no spice, there's no pepper. Nothing. This is a, this is a great
Grinder: cigar. I, I love this cigar for my. Uh, flavor palette. This is really something special.
Gizmo: Alright, boys. Senator, I need to know, I can't wait anymore. You've done some traveling [00:48:00] first and foremost. I need to know what you're getting
Pagoda: him Angry. I'm sorry, what
Gizmo: was he? Buena Vista Social Club musical in New York City on Broadway, which I believe was nominated for the Tony like best musical. Yeah. So you went to see this and it and it won
Senator: a tony, it did win for the the music.
Oh, nice. Which is not a normal category. They like created based on like, people were so impressed with the music outta this. So how was it? It was good. Um, I've gotta give, uh, Mrs. Senator Credit, she planned this whole thing. Uh, we went with another couple, went to dinner, uh, in Columbus Circle beforehand, uh, this Italian restaurant.
Uh, bad Roman. It was actually, the food was pretty good. There were cocktails even were good. Um, then I had a minor panic attack because we were having such a good time at dinner. We were not at all paying attention to time. And we look at the time and the show starts in like. 15 minutes, like starts, [00:49:00] I'm sitting there like, oh my God, we're gonna miss this.
And I, you know, for all of us that are fans of Wannabees Social Club, like this is, I wanted to see every single second of this. And with your luck, Chocho would've been the first. I know
Gizmo: exactly. That's so true. They would've opened with that. Never play it. The game.
Senator: Exactly. So I'm freaking out. I like frantically, uh, frantically.
Get an Uber, a helicopter, get down there. Then like, as we're getting towards like Time Square is so much travel, I'm like, just stop the car. We're gonna walk the rest. We are hauling ass to the theater. We get to the door at the time the show is supposed to start. And actually, no, no, no. We get to the door five minutes after the show has was supposed to start now.
I said to everyone, we were like, this is how we're gonna know if there are Cubans involved in this production. If they start late, there are Cubans involved. If not, this is total bullshit. Thank God we got in our seats, I think 10 minutes after the show was supposed to start and like two minutes later the show started.
We just made it in time. [00:50:00] Awesome. Um, the theater is small. I was like actually shocked how small, 'cause I've seen like shows that are not, you know, not giant productions, but they've been in a little bit bigger theaters in this one. Um, but the only benefit of that, I mean. I don't know that you can have a bad seat in this theater.
I mean, we had orchestra seats, but I think we were maybe row p and like super great sight line. I mean, we felt very close to the stage. Um, the story is cool how they set it up. So they basically have like the, the cast is two different sets of people like young and old where they keep splicing the story of early in their lives and careers.
Um, you know, what the, eventually, eventually to be Buena Bees Social Club was doing. So you follow them all kind of individually and as they kind of meet and perform in the same venues and things like that. And then an older cast that's playing them when they're 60 [00:51:00] plus and they actually form the Buena Vistas social club and take off and, you know, win a Grammy and travel the world.
So, um, it's cool how they set that up and they keep kind of going back and forth between them. Um, musically, uh, a lot of songs were great. Candela Mana, excellent. Uh. Cha ch was good. Not,
Gizmo: why can't we get a great
Senator: cha ch,
Gizmo: why can't we do it?
Senator: That was a, that was a disappointment for me. It just didn't have the, like, it's
Chef: probably their least favorite song.
'cause it's everyone else's favorite.
Gizmo: But that's the thing, man. If, if, if you, if you're Paul McCartney, you go out and you play the hits, you don't, you know what I mean? And you play them well.
Senator: So the thing is, like Cha Chan is, is actually like, meant to be a, a bit of a sad song. So they use it for a sad moment in the, the musical, but they do it in a way that's like too low energy, right?
Like there's, there's there, when you hear Chan Chan like, there's a profound nature to how it starts and, and [00:52:00] builds. And it doesn't quite have that. It just feels too sad and low energy almost throughout. Um, it's still good, but not what I was hoping for. My other complaint. Now again, most people sitting there would never be able to pick up on this.
We spent enough time in Cuba, and I speak enough Spanish to know what Cuban Spanish sounds like versus other Spanish. There are not nearly enough Cubans in this musical. Mm-hmm. The woman who, so the
Gizmo: dialect is, it's off a little bit
Senator: for sure. Like the woman who plays, uh, Omar Portuondo obviously a huge character in this whole, you know, show.
Um, she's definitely not Cuban. Um, she's got a very good voice. Um, I forget what country she's from. She does a great job. In every sense, but she doesn't sound Cuban. Um, so it's just little things like that, you know, I was missing the full Cuban flare that you would've expected from the show. Um, that aside, I mean, I would definitely still recommend seeing it.
You know, I'd probably give it [00:53:00] an eight out of 10. Um, but you know, there's just those little blips that I wish they did differently. But, um, overall energy was great, story was great. Um, and you know, it's not every day that you get to see, you know, performances of these songs, so definitely worthwhile.
Rooster: Did they do all the songs, did they miss any that you would've wanted them to do?
Senator: Pretty much all of them. There were do, do Cardinis, DOLs, Cardinis. They did. That was great. Um, there may have been one song that I was expecting that they didn't, but, um, all the big famous ones for sure, they hit. There was like one. Not crazy famous song, but that everyone would know that. I was a little surprised they omitted.
But all the greatest hits are definitely there. Wait,
Grinder: wait, wait. You're queuing up John, like cho ch in the after, after show, uh, program,
Gizmo: right? Well, that's how we always start in the lounge. It's always cho ch And doesn't Senator Junior at, you know, breakfast, he demands one of the Buena Vista songs. My son's
Senator: [00:54:00] favorite song, no Joke is C Cho Chan.
His second favorite song is Minga. Every Morning he's a little lizard babe on the way to school in the car. If not even while I'm making him breakfast, he demands dadda. I want to hear Cha Chan. This is
Grinder: awesome.
Senator: Every time this and my wife got so annoyed at first. I mean, now thank God, like she's heard me play it enough times.
Da D four. Yeah, that's coming next. Um, I mean the funny thing is even I have like a digital photo frame in my kitchen and all these photos come up and you know, some of them, he recognizes places. He's traveled internationally, but obviously Cuba, he hasn't been there, but he knows now like all the photos that are ones I've taken in Cuba and every time they come up he says, I'll visit Cuba with dad, uh, when I'm older.
And I'm like, you're exactly right. Someday I'm gonna take him. So, um, it's been fun. And even, you know, when he's older, I, I can't wait to actually take him to see whether it's wannabe's social orchestra we went and saw in the past or. If somehow this musical, [00:55:00] hopefully this musical Waxs persists. Yeah,
Rooster: I hope so.
You know, I would love to see Tropic on Broadway.
Senator: Oh, it's cool. Actually. They, they have a scene in the musical where, um, because uh, two of the girls, uh, performed in Tropicana initially early in their careers. You see this early on. Um, and they do a little, a cool set and they actually do a nice job. Like it's got the signage, Tropicana, all that.
Um, there's a lot of, you know, moments you see that just remind you of things that we've all gotten experience in seeing in Cuba, which is cool.
Gizmo: So I looked, by the way, the, it was the Jared Schoenfeld Theater. That's right. And it looks like it just, it has just over a thousand seats, so it's like an 1100 cap room.
So that's pretty small. That's, it's small. But what's nice about it though is like when you go in there,
Senator: you, you are, you'll be shocked how small,
Gizmo: but what's nice about it is when it's sold out, if it's Madison Square Garden or if it's a little venue, when it's sold out, it's still feels sold out. So that's good for, you know, if, if they're able to sell those thousand seats every night in [00:56:00] New York City, the, it's gonna continue on.
So, I I, hopefully that'll be the case. I,
Grinder: I just, I'm just confirming with, uh, Mrs. Grinder, we're gonna go see the show for anniversary. Oh yeah,
Gizmo: absolutely. It probably will for a while. Yeah. Awesome. So you're getting tickets. Oh, yeah. So were the tickets reasonable? Do you know? I know Mrs. Senator grabbed 'em for you guys, but,
Senator: um, well, I, I paid for 'em, but, um, uh, but she did pick them.
Um, I wanna say they were like three, three something, a ticket. It's
Gizmo: classic. I, I, I could have called that.
Senator: Well, he asked me as if I didn't know the price, and I'm like, well, of course I know the price I paid for it. So three something a ticket? Three something a ticket. Okay. That's
Gizmo: pretty expensive then.
Senator: Yeah.
Gizmo: Yeah. I
Senator: mean, it was sold out for sure. Every seat was taken. That's great.
Grinder: Where, where's the theater? What street? Uh, like 45th. 45th. I'm trying to pick our hotel room and we're gonna, it's
Gizmo: 45th. Yeah. There so many. 2 36 West 45th.
Grinder: Yeah. But at
Gizmo: Times
Grinder: Square, I mean, for like an anniversary [00:57:00] dinner date night without the kids, you gotta make it special.
So I'm thinking like Ritz St. Regis kind of thing, which isn't too far. Well, it's like if you're staying at the Ritz, you can
Gizmo: figure out how to get to the theater. It'll be all right. Yeah, I think you can pretty much stay anywhere and get to the theater.
Grinder: I know. I, I'm not wearing, I'm just, you know,
Chef: it's New York City and, and grander. Are you paying for that or is Mrs. Grand? No. Senators Poppy.
Gizmo: So, Senator, while we're on it, let's talk about your other travels. You just went to Atlanta. You were raving about the BeltLine and, and the food and the scene down there. So tell us about your trip to, uh, to Atlanta.
Senator: Yeah, Atlanta's a great city. I mean, I say that oddly like this is a revelation because I've been there easily 20 plus times in the past, but it's always been for business. So I've always been in downtown Atlanta. Um, you know, I haven't [00:58:00] really been able to venture out much to other parts of Atlanta. And, um, my, uh, best friend lives down there and so went to visit him, uh, and his fiance for a weekend there, and.
It is crazy how much development has happened in Atlanta in like the last five, 10 years. The area my buddy lives in, it's, uh, the neighborhood is called, uh, old Fourth Ward. And the cool thing is the BeltLine, which they built, I mean, all of it was built in different stages. So this part was built within just the last few years.
And the BeltLine is basically like this big wide walking path that they built that runs almost around the entire city of Atlanta. And so you just see people are, you know, walking, jogging, biking, running. Um, I learned you can, uh. There's no, uh, open container laws on the belt line. You can drink while you're walking.
There's, you can drink while you're running while you're running. Wouldn't advise [00:59:00] that. See joggers with those helmets. The beer helmet with the beer helmets. Yeah, with the straw mouth.
Rooster: There's tons of breweries and restaurants. Tons along the belt line.
Senator: There's breweries. There's distilleries, there's restaurants, bars, I mean, shopping.
Everything is right
Gizmo: there. So is it in line with like New York City? Like I think about what's on the Hudson, like on the, the Highline. The, well, the Highline connects to it, but what's the, uh, the running path along the Hudson? It kind of runs the whole along
Senator: like Riverside Park,
Gizmo: right? On the Hudson. Yeah.
Yeah. But
Rooster: that's, I dunno what the special needs is. That's more, uh, that's more like people are just jogging and walking. Yeah. It's not connected to stuff, but that's not, there's no restaurant. Yeah. There's nothing connected to it. Yeah.
Senator: Right. You would just take that to get down and then go in to actually go to a restaurant.
Like everything is built just right alongside this. Um, but that whole area is so well planned. Like, you know, my buddy was telling me, he goes, we never even feel the need to go into downtown Atlanta. Everything you could want is right there. Um. It's just a really cool [01:00:00] concept. Like I, I was just shocked.
And we went Saturday night to, uh, a Braves game and right across the street from the ballpark, which that whole area, by the way, if anyone's been to Nats Park in dc which is now Navy Yard, that neighborhood, it very much reminds me, and this is New Brave Stadium. They, their old stadium was in downtown Atlanta.
Truce
Rooster: Truist Park, right?
Senator: Yeah. The, the new one's Truist Park. Right. Um, so the old stadium was in downtown Atlanta, the new one. They moved out a little further outside and uh, that whole area, they built up around that ballpark, very similar to Nats Park. And it has a, a similar vibe. Uh, there's a burned by Rocky Patel Lounge right across the street.
Nice. There's a distillery, tons of restaurants, that whole like plaza just outside the ballpark. They've got like a DJ music blasting. People are having a great time. Um, so we went to the, uh, burn Rocky Patel lounge. We were gonna have a couple smokes before we went to the game. It's, so
Gizmo: let, let's just set this up for listeners.
So you've also been, [01:01:00] and I know Bam, has been to the Burn by Rocky Patel in Pittsburgh. Correct. Which is also right outside, is it the baseball or football stadium or both? Baseball, right. It's two blocks from PNC Park. So he's kind of got the same mentality in, in, in Atlanta. That he does in Pittsburgh.
Senator: Exactly. Which is brilliant. Yeah. 'cause it's like you get all that traffic pre and post-game. Brilliant location. Um, the place looks really nice similar to, uh, the one in Pittsburgh. Nicely designed, all of that. So we walk in, there's another party ahead of us, and I hear what they're telling them, and they tell us the same thing.
They're like, oh, do you have a reservation? And my buddy's telling me what he's like, I've been there countless times. There's never that many people in here. This one day, it was actually pretty crowded, but I still saw some open tables. So the woman goes, do you have a reservation person? Front's like, no.
She's like, oh, well, you know, I can take your number down, but it'll probably be at least a half hour to an hour before I can get you seated. I'm like, this is crazy. So we do the same thing. Okay, take the number, put us down, we [01:02:00] go a few storefronts down. There's a distillery, um, which we actually had some, and obviously everybody knows I'm not a huge bourbon guy, an awesome bourbon there from an Atlanta distillery.
So much. So I want us to do it on the pod. I think guys will really like it. Uh, it's called a SW and uh, we did a bourbon tasting, was there for maybe a half hour, then went back to the, uh, burn lounge. 'cause we never got a text or a phone call. So by the time we go back, half the place is empty.
Gizmo: And you didn't get any,
Senator: didn't contact any contact whatsoever.
So we go up to the woman and, uh, she's like, oh, um, yeah, I, I was just gonna, you know, call you guys. And I see she opens the book and the first people ahead of us, their number is still there. She crosses our number out of the book. So she never even called the people ahead of us. So I hope that they actually came back, because if not, they would've never gotten a phone call.
I'm certain I'm going
Rooster: to email Rocky right now.
Senator: So we get seated. And it was cool because by the, so when, when you walk [01:03:00] in, there's like big leather chairs, um, and like kind of coffee tables. Lounge area to the left is a, a bar far down as a humid door. And by the bar they kind of do it open air. So there's like, I'm sure if it's raining or really or colder, um, they have, uh, like glass windows that they closed up, but it was a beautiful day.
So they had like those windows open. So you were like inside, but like also open air, which was cool. Uh, so we sit down. I had brought cigars. You're totally allowed to bring your own stuff. You don't have to buy in the humid order. What about
Rooster: matches and lighter?
Senator: Well, here's the wild thing,
Rooster: here we go.
Senator: So, I told that story in Pittsburgh how I couldn't believe I bought cigars from their humidor and it took me 30 minutes to be able to light that cigar.
I looked around, there was no matches anywhere I asked. And this woman at, at the Pittsburgh location tells me Rocky Patel doesn't believe in matches.
Gizmo: We need to interview him next PCA and open with that question. Seriously. I mean, it's just absurd. I mean, as a traveler, you are not
Rooster: carrying a lighter with you.
Gizmo: Yeah. 'cause
Senator: ts a's gonna [01:04:00] take it, right? I I always have one. I mean, I had one but I couldn't bring it because we were gonna the ballpark after. Yeah. So the metal detector, they're not gonna let me bring a big butane lighter in there. So, um, I ask, Hey, you know, are there matches anywhere? No, we don't have matches.
Is there a lighter somewhere? Uh, there's only one woman here who has one. You have to find her. Jesus, this place is huge. The designated lighter up with that one person in the entire established that is stupid man. Lighter Are you, how are you light your cigar?
Gizmo: It's insanity. And let's just say that people are stealing all their lighters.
Rocky is handing out lighters and matches and cutters at PCA, like by the thousands. You know why? Because it's good marketing. Mm-hmm. Let every single person who comes in there steal one of those lighters. 'cause it's good marketing,
Chef: right? You go to soho Cigar Bar in, in New York City and they'll give you a free lighter.
They don't care. Yeah. It's market. You're spending like 30
Senator: something plus a cigar. The prices are not cheap. Like where's ppu when you need them? I, it's marketing. Marketing. [01:05:00] I didn't, uh, go in their humidor, but my buddy's been in the humidor plenty of times and he always complains like an ex vo there, which obviously I turned him onto.
He's like, he's like 30 something bucks. Like you're spending money to sit in there. It's not like they can't afford if Oh my God, a lighter goes missing, you know, one night. Yeah. And so like this poor woman or 10 like who care or 10. Exactly. I mean, matches, gimme a break. Totally matches as cheap as can be.
And so this like, poor woman, like she brings a lighter over like we light our cigars and we're like, you know, if we need to relight our cigars, like, what? And she's like, I know it's annoying, but just flag me. I'll do my best to get there as quick as I can. And uh, that was just frustrating. So
Chef: at the very least, they should give every server a lighter.
Senator: Exactly. Yeah. The fact that I asked the server and he said, there's only one woman that has a lighter in this whole
Gizmo: place is nuts. Or, you know, when you go to the bank or, or like you used to go to the bank before COVID. Yeah. And there was a pen and it had that little thing that was tied to the table on it.
Yeah. Yeah. Like what, what, what was like a little chain? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Like just put a lighter on the table with a little chain if you wanna Yeah. Self serve would've been
Senator: way faster than having to like find this person in this huge [01:06:00] place every time and flagger down. That we needed a light or we were having another cigar and we needed to light that one
Gizmo: or go, or like McDonald's, you know when you, you get fries or something and you need ketchup, you have to go to the little station.
It's so they should
Chef: have a station. It's bonkers to me that your lounge is called Burn and there's nothing to start a fire with. Yeah. That's
Gizmo: literally, that's like going to AHO and you guys being like, yeah, we don't have any agave products. We don't have
Chef: any Anejo te
Gizmo: there's no,
Chef: you gotta bring your own
Rooster: knows people are getting drunk and burning their leather couches or something.
Who knows? Could be.
Senator: So that was, you know, my second complaint. Just nothing to light my cigar. And the third thing was they have a full food menu there and we were like, you know what? We'll get some food here. It's probably gonna be better than what we would find in a ballpark. It's all raw. No, they don't cook that better.
Yeah, they don't have a stove that curry.
So, um, I'm looking at the like dinner menu there, so I was gonna order some salmon. [01:07:00] So I, uh, the woman says, what would you like? I still have the salmon. She goes, oh, I'm sorry to mention. But, um, you know, we're pretty much out of everything, so we're not serving the like, regular menu. So why ask what you want.
Exactly. Tell me what you have. This is crazy. Don't ask what I want. Also, how are you out of like everything? Oh my God, I don't even know. That's possible. It's not like she said, I'm just outta the salmon. Picked something else. They're out of like every entree that they make. So she's like, all we have is a game day menu, which has like four items on it and I'm looking and it's like wings, pizza, burgers, and something else, you know, really random.
And I'm like, this is ballpark food. I may as well just eat in the ballpark. So we ended up not eating there and it's like, that's money lost on their part. So I just, that's really bad, man. Yeah, I just don't get
Chef: it's, that's a kitchen move unfortunately. Yeah, they probably see a shit ton of volume that day and they're just trying to limit how many things.
A small menu to limit. Yeah. And just to keep the speed up.
Gizmo: So boys, we'll continue in a second here, but we are coming into the last third on the Kaba Guidos. What's everybody thinking right now? [01:08:00] This the senator tells us about. Pleasant not being able to light a cigar in Atlanta.
Chef: It's such a pleasant smoke.
I have no complaints about the cigar at all. I love it right now. It's so easy to smoke such a great cigar to sit and have a conversation with. 'cause you know it's not gonna turn off on you. You know it's gonna be there when you come back. It's just the flavor that it's delivering, it's consistent. I'm enjoying it.
Gizmo: It's funny you say that about not worrying about it because you know, a lot of times when I'm talking a lot in an episode or I'm doing a news or reading emails or whatever I'm doing, I'm often like worried like, okay, here, I gotta go back to the cigar. I gotta touch it up. I gotta relight it. This has been a workhorse through the entire first hour 15 of this episode.
Pagoda: I'll tell you, I've just been pleasantly surprised with the smoke out output. It's been amazing. Even though, you know, I think Senator had mentioned, even I felt that the cigar was a bit light. So I was thinking that we are gonna blow through the cigar. Yeah, it's burned really slowly with a really good smoke up.
But then [01:09:00] it's, it's been a really good, the cigar is
Rooster: mild, but it has a lot of flavor. Yeah, a flavor bomb.
Gizmo: Whatever the, the blend is, they got the Seco Vito LiRo, like they got that thing right where the flavor's great. It's not too strong. Tons of flavor there and the burn is perfect as far as the pace of it.
You know, sometimes we get a cigar that you expect to last an hour and a half, two hours. You blow through it too fast. Even if you're not smoking fast, it smokes fast. And then even a couple weeks ago we had that Cohiba SLA two. If you remember. And that thing lasted us like an hour and a half. Mm. The little petite corona.
Yeah. So it's really, this, I think is the perfect, you know, blend between flavor and, and pace of burn. So, Senator, back to you. I'm fascinated with the rest of your Atlanta trip. How was the food?
Senator: The food was great. Um, uh, that's another thing I was really impressed by. I think the best meal I had there. We went to this like, it wasn't the
Gizmo: wings that, [01:10:00] uh, burned by Rocky.
No,
Senator: it was definitely not the uh, uh, Rocky Patel lounge. The best meal I had there. There's like this Italian place, but it's like also a steakhouse called, uh, ill Premiero beautiful restaurant. It's in a hotel there. I mean, we ordered a ton of food. Like every single thing we got was excellent. It was like, you know, steak tartar, a barta, uh, two pasta dishes to share before our mains, like a lobster pasta.
Um, and something else I had gotten, I think, uh, like some grouper, uh, my friend's fiance got a filet. I gotta tell you, this was probably one of the best cooked medium rare filets, not medium plus I have ever seen. We go
Gizmo: rare plus
Senator: flawless. I mean, really flawless. What made it flawless for
Gizmo: you?
Senator: Because, you know when you get medium rare, right?
Like sometimes the seer is so aggressive that like,
Chef: and the center is bloody. [01:11:00]
Senator: The center's bloody, or the center is like, as it's supposed to be, but you have a lot of brown at the top and the bottom.
Chef: Yeah. It's not flush. Yeah,
Senator: exactly. Where this was just like a, a gradient of red. Perfect. Yeah. Like it was a work of art.
I was, 'cause I'm not expecting, like their Italian food is supposed to be like top notch and they do steaks that are supposed to be great, but you're not expecting like a, a top level steakhouse prepared steak. It was a plus. I was really shocked. Um, their wines were great. Better than roots. Oh, way better than that.
Roots is hardly a steakhouse these days. And then the cool thing is my, uh, my friend, they're members of, there's a, a social club upstairs. So think like Soho House, the Ned, like one of these type of places. Um, I forget what it's called, but. I guess even like members dying at this restaurant a lot, so that's why like they've eaten there plenty went upstairs.
They have a really nice cocktail bar, this [01:12:00] beautiful outdoor patio up on the roof of this hotel with awesome views of the city. The only bummer up there, and I asked this because my business partners are members in DC at this place, the ned, they have one in London, New York, a bunch of different cities.
And the NED in DC has a patio on the roof, just like this place in Atlanta. But at the ned you can smoke cigars. They even have cigar ashtrays. It's like meant to be a cigar smoking area. So I asked there and the guy was like, oh no, it's like a hard, no, they don't allow this in Atlanta. You can't do it. So that was a bummer.
But, um, beautiful space. They have a massive pool that members can use. A gym that they told me is like better than any Equinox you'll ever go to. It's like the best gym in Atlanta. Um, so just really well appointed. So it's like I came out of this, you know, Atlanta, I never had a bad thing to say about, nothing ever grabbed me in a way that I'd say like I could live in Atlanta.
After this trip, I was like, yeah, I could live in Atlanta
Gizmo: and like be happy. It has everything. I'll say, dude, [01:13:00] I I, I was in Atlanta a lot in the early 2000 tens. It was nothing like this. Yeah. It's nothing like, I know it's not, it was nothing like this. Like in the last 10 to 12 years. Yeah. They've really done a beautiful job changing the culture and the tone of downtown Atlanta.
It's
Rooster: a huge influx of, a lot of young people have moved in that area and a lot of 'em, people from this area have moved to Atlanta.
Senator: Yeah.
Rooster: And uh, you know, the restaurants are fantastic because my daughter goes to Emory there and she's lives pretty close to where your friend lives. Yeah, she loves that area.
She loves the bell line. She goes for walks on that every day. The pond city market is right there. Oh yeah. Nice spot. It's the nice Chelsea market of Atlanta. Yeah, that's really cool. Great coffee in Atlanta. And you also lucked out because the weather was good.
Senator: Oh, it was flawless because the weather
Rooster: can be very humid in Atlanta.
Senator: Super humid. Super humid, just hot and humid and literally lit. Little humidity. You don't wanna step
Rooster: outside. I mean, it gets that bad.
Senator: Yeah, I mean, we walked so much along the [01:14:00] belt belt line the entire time. I mean, if it was a normal summer, there'd be no way to do that. I mean, you'd be drenched just after 10 minutes out there.
But man, we lucked out with really great weather. Um, I've got nothing but great things to say about Atlanta. Just the people were so friendly. I mean, everything was great. Any trips to Dantana's? Just Dantana's.
Grinder: Dantana's Famous Atla, Atlanta Sports Bar and Cigar Bar. Oh no. Is that right?
Rooster: Never heard of it.
There's, that's the red door that's in that. There is,
Gizmo: I've
Senator: been to that.
Rooster: Uh,
Gizmo: is that like a secret thing? It's like, a's the speakeasy cigar lounge, I will say. What do you need to walk through? Like a washing machine or something to get No, uh, a red phone booth. Like a, it's so stupid. Like a, what are we doing?
Senator: Like a phone booth in the uk.
Rooster: That's cool, man. It's not that cool. You need a code to get in and Yeah. All the
Senator: hotel. So secret for anyone. Actually, this is helpful for listeners 'cause there are a number of red phone booth locations around the country. Um, any major hotel concierge will give you the code to red phone, booth, whatever city you're in.
I've been to the one in Nashville a lot. It's a beautiful lounge. Like [01:15:00] no joke. The, the seating in this place, some of the most beautiful tufted, leather, plush chairs and couches you'll ever see in a cigar lounge. Just the design, uh, it's a really, really cool spot. Awesome.
Gizmo: So sounds like you had a great weekend in Atlanta, man.
Senator: Yeah, I, I couldn't recommend it enough. I'm all in on Atlanta now. It makes me wanna
Gizmo: go again. Like I said, I haven't been there in so long and I did not have. Any, anywhere close to this kind of experience down there.
Senator: And my friend before that, he lived in New York, he lived in Brooklyn and like when he moved to Atlanta, now granted he's from that area, but I was, you know, wondering how he's enjoying it there in that like, Atlanta's always viewed as a pretty big step down from New York, but what they've built lately, I mean, you can get, you know, almost everything you need now.
Is it New York? No way. Even he says like, you know, New York, every imaginable type of restaurant, especially where he was in Brooklyn, like is within a block [01:16:00] radius of where you are. You know, you don't have that necessarily just like that in Atlanta, but you have just about everything you could want or need there.
I, I was super impressed.
Grinder: I'm not surprised though, right? 'cause there's just been a massive migration to the southeast, right? There is. So, there's so many people, so much action going on down there. So much money coming, coming into the southeast, from the northeast. Right. You know, it's, are we, this is bound to happen.
Gizmo: But, but also you gotta think about, there has been a significant improvement to a lot of the, you know, primary cities in the United States. You think about Detroit, you think about New Orleans, you think about Atlanta. You think about Houston, you think about Austin. I don't think about Detroit, but Detroit, no, no.
Detroit has done, Detroit has done a lot. Detroit is unbelievable compared to what you'd think of it 15 years ago. Quickly on Detroit, the baseball teams have gotten better. Yes, they have. I mean, yeah, they're winning their division. Yeah.
Senator: But [01:17:00] seriously on Detroit, I was there pre pandemic and years ago when I visited Detroit, I mean, it was, it was a mess.
It was, it was a hellhole again, early
Gizmo: 2000 tens, early 2000 tens. It was like all they had going for 'em was the football team. Ford making, you know, vehicles and Eminem, that was Detroit. Barry Sanders
Senator: and Barry Sanders. Whatever year the Nats won the championship, I was in Detroit. The, the night they won, I was there and uh, there is an.
Awesome cigar lounge in downtown Detroit. Like I will never forget. I walk up to this place, there is a Bentley parked out front. I'm in, I'm in Detroit. Like it just completely shattered every prior experience I had had anywhere really in Detroit. Davi Itoff selection like you can't believe. Padron, the people in there were awesome.
I had such a great time. Went to a speakeasy bar there. The best smoked old fashioned I have ever had in my life at a speakeasy in Detroit. [01:18:00] And you think like, you know, Detroit thinks would be cheap. This place, I still remember, I think I paid 40 something dollars for this cocktail. That is not Detroit shit.
Better be good. What's I'm telling you like money has explode. Smoke was expensive. What's going, what's going on?
Grinder: Smoke with cannabis. What's the, what's the industry that's like what incited the turnaround that I think it's good
Gizmo: leadership. I think, you know, bringing some investment in, I don't know what it is, but it's seriously turned around.
Money has flown into Detroit. Yeah. It's seriously turned around. Or why I'm
Senator: not certain hipsters, but for me to walk up to a cigar lounge and see a Bentley and spend $40 a cocktail at a place in Detroit, clearly there is money there now.
Gizmo: Yeah. Something's working in Detroit. I agree. I I had a rough time there in the early 2000 tens.
I was there maybe five, seven times and, and in the last five to seven years I went back for another event. It was really amazing. It was so different.
Grinder: I mean, I've, I've, I've flown through day trois, uh, more than a few times. [01:19:00] Uh, but. You know, I've never really spent a lot of time there. Yeah. Like in the actual city proper, so
Gizmo: it's pretty impressive now.
Chef: Yeah. Yeah. I think some level of, of an affordable life brings talent Yeah. To a city. Yeah, sure. Especially with remote work then puts out some pretty incredible things. Yeah. I think, I mean,
Rooster: Atlanta real estate has really gone up. It's, oh, I'm sure it's exploded. This is one
Senator: thing my friend was complaining about.
No, Atlanta's getting expensive now. Yeah.
Rooster: And uh, traffic, traffic traffic is, is, but that's always been the case down
Grinder: there. I so I, I spent,
Senator: but it's worse now. Yeah. There are a lot more people. I mean, these are, these
Grinder: are some big highways and they get lot. Yeah. Dude, I spent an entire year, uh, traveling to Atlanta and it would take me, I would stay at the, the west in, in Buckhead and I'd have to get down.
It's a nice
Rooster: area.
Grinder: Yeah. Yeah. It's a nice area. That's where's is check out's. And it would take me 45 minutes to get [01:20:00] downtown and it, and it wasn't like, it's not far, dude. Right. It's like Buckhead is not far from downtown Atlanta. That's right. I would go to the Coca-Cola headquarters, right? Mm-hmm. It's right off the highway there.
You literally, you're on the highway and you get off an exit and you're, you're right there. And. It's probably like six miles or so. It would take me 45 minutes to go that six miles. Yeah. And
Rooster: it's, and it's the busiest airport in the country. The world. In the world. The world. In the
Gizmo: world. In the world. In the world.
Yeah. Atlanta's the busiest in the world.
Grinder: That's because there's no really big major airports in the southeast, aside from Atlanta. Right. Like, what, what else is there?
Gizmo: I just think this, for some reason, it's become a worldwide connector. I don't know what it is, but there's a lot of flights going in and out out of Atlanta.
I would think it's O'Hare or, or, or New York. But it's Atlanta. It's crazy. Yeah. I mean, just to get your luggage,
Rooster: you have to take the, uh, the train. The train. I mean, just to get your luggage.
Chef: Well, is it more, more flights than all three New [01:21:00] York airports combined, or,
Gizmo: I don't know if it's that level, but as far as a single airport goes, it's the busiest airport in the world.
Grinder: I, it, it's just, it's, it's a lot of the, the, the airlines chose that as a common hub. So like there's a ton of Delta no one else did. Well, no, but it, so it's a Delta hub, but there's still a ton of like other airlines flights outta there,
Senator: right? Yeah. But it's heavily Delta. Yeah, I know.
Grinder: But
Senator: I mean, for instance, I couldn't find a single direct American flight into Atlanta.
Well, that's Delta and United.
Grinder: But United has a ton of flights to Atlanta.
Senator: Yeah. Not nearly
Chef: as many as Delta, but Yeah. But we all know Senator doesn't wanna fly united. Yeah. Won't I have to? How was your flight back? We're not answering that question. Next topic.
Rooster: Alright boys. That's a whole nother pod.
Gizmo: All right, boys, let's move on to some listener comments and email.
Before we get to our ratings tonight, let's talk about the feedback on our, our Romeo Julietta Churchill's episode. We did the Bill Carr Samon Champagne Rose, [01:22:00] and uh, we got some comments on it. This one's from Lizard Greg. He writes this a lot. He says, finally, Billy Rose makes an appearance in the spirit of accountability.
What about the other most egregious omission, the H Up Man, sir Winston, my number one favorite pairing without question is a Mag of Billy Rose and an aged alarm, large format vitola. Sir Winston Hoya, double Corona, et cetera. It's worth, it's worth the cost bump for large format bottles, Magnum Plus. I like that this can be a crowd pleaser, or if you're lush and drinking by yourself, there's no worry of running out.
Plus, you get to see how the champagne changes over time as it warms up and exposes itself. Of course, as he says here, oxygen oxidizes total wine usually has one and a half liters for about 220 to 240 bucks, and sometimes they have vintages as well for a bit more. And he says, and any quote, any Growy champagne, remember Bam, called the [01:23:00] Grower the Growy Champagne.
And the Magnum Plus is also a winner. So for lizard Greg, I did answer him. This is on FOH by the way. I answered him. Uh, so we do have a special milestone episode coming up in two weeks that, uh, the H up man, sir Winston and something else Winston related, is gonna be making an appearance. So look forward to that in about two weeks.
This one from Lizard Enrique, who writes us a lot, he says, the listener who wrote in about sharing a first cigar with his son, if you guys remember that was the lizard of the week that you guys chose on your birthday. Yes. Yes. Episode. A great email from Australia about a lizard who shared his first cigar with his son.
Reminded me of my own 11-year-old who listens to the podcast with me and always asks about what I'm smoking with. Curiosity, I'll never press, I'll never pressure the young buck, but have a few tucked away. I won't touch if he's ever ready to partake when he's older. It was a great episode and a great email.
One that makes me happy to enjoy this hobby.
Chef: Can I [01:24:00] chime in on that a little bit? Of course you can. So I had a great time last night with my kids. I was out on the deck and my son has, uh, found Star Wars. I've been trying to introduce him Nice to it for a while. He just sort of discovered it, playing the, uh, Lego Star Wars video games.
And now he's obsessed with everything Star Wars.
Grinder: So is he, is he like old school fan or like new school fan or like the
Chef: more recent? Yesterday was our first old school experience 'cause he's, he's, he's latched onto the prequel trilogy. And yesterday I introduced him to a new Hope. So, like, a new Hope. A new Hope.
A New Hope. Okay. Was our, was our first old school trilogy. Original trilogy. This exciting stuff. Edge of my seat. Tell me more,
Gizmo: chef.
Chef: I promise you there's lighters on my deck.
Gizmo: By the way, both of my dogs are named after Star Wars character,
Chef: right? That's right. Uh, so we're out on the deck, right? And I have my rover set up with the TV and whatnot.
So [01:25:00] we're out there watching Star Wars, watching a New Hope, and I light a cigar. And my son's dad. My son says he's 13. He is like, dad, can I have, I'm like, absolutely not. He's like, when I'm 14, I'm like, absolutely, absolutely not. I'm like, dude, it's, we're like, tell him he can come to my place's. 14. He,
Gizmo: he, he loves lizard.
Henry, his, you need
Grinder: to check, like, if he's 14, he can have a cigar. Come on, whatcha doing?
Pagoda: You know, chef, he's already had one. Probably if there are a few missing, you know, he know, he
Chef: knows where the key for my humidor is. So yeah, he, I'm, I'm, I'm not, I wouldn't be shocked, but yeah, that, that was just some, you know, every time we share those moments, it's al it's always great and it takes me back to that listener in Australia.
I,
Gizmo: I just love hearing from listeners like either reminiscing about their first time having a cigar with their son or their daughter or thinking about the future, uh, having their first cigar with their son or their daughter. Like, it's just awesome. And, uh, I love reading those emails from our listeners.
This one, uh, final one on this episode from [01:26:00] Lizard Ken Garge, who's a, uh, legend over at FOH. He says a great combo on this one. Guys. I'm not a podcast guy, but I have put that aside to try and have a squeeze when I can. So he is talking about smoking the Romeo Juliet, the Churchill with the bill card Salamon, uh, rose.
He says, I'm off fishing for Friday, so it might be a week or two at least. The Bill Carone team makes a brilliant rose. So Ken Garge, by the way, if you're for the uninitiated, is one of the premier wine reviewers in the world. Like one of the top guys. So credit to you, Senator on choosing the Bill Carone, uh, Ken Garge chimed in and, uh, really enjoyed the pairing idea.
Grinder: Do you, do you
Senator: aspire to be
Grinder: Ken
Senator: Garge? Uh, no. I've said this before. When I retire, I legitimately want to take, like train and take the som exams and see how far I can go.
Gizmo: I think you, I, I don't think you're gonna have a problem. I think you'll be okay.
Senator: I
Grinder: think you're gonna fucking hit it. Yeah, you're gonna be just fine.
You'll [01:27:00] knock it outta the park, bro. Yeah, yeah. Whatcha are you talking about? I hope you could do it now. It'd be fun to No,
Senator: no, I want to, it'd be so to look forward to when I like, can just devote time to things that don't involve work.
Grinder: I hear you.
Gizmo: All right, boys, let's talk about two emails. Now. These revolve around seizures and global entry.
Jesus Christ, pagoda. What are we talking about here? PA's gonna help with this one. Seizures. Seizures.
Grinder: I'm on point. I got this. Hold my beer.
Gizmo: Here we go. This one's from Lizard Rob. He's gonna be our lizard of the week this week. Of course, any lizard out there can win Lizard of the Week. Who gets some stuff from
Senator: us?
Clearly, clearly. Pagoda didn't choose this week. He did not.
Gizmo: All you have to do is write us an email, send us a voice memo, comment on YouTube, Instagram, even Spotify. Now, please reach out. Tell us what you're smoking and you can win just like Lizard Rob did. Let's read his email now. He says, Hey, lizards. I wanted to share my experience trying to buy authentic Cuban cigars for the first time.
I placed [01:28:00] an order with EGM Cigars for about $750 worth of various Cubans that were highly regarded on your podcast. They made it to Atlanta. Funny enough where they went off the radar. Then about a week later, I got the dreaded letter from Customs and Border Patrol. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed.
I was extremely excited to try them. After hearing about your passion and admiration for, of the ones that perform well, it's such a big risk that I don't think I will be able to pull the trigger again. On top of that, my wife ended up being the one to open this, open the seizure letter. Oh,
Chef: that's not good.
Okay. Gotta beat outta the mailbox. Oh.
Gizmo: So since that, the door has been shut in my face pretty hard. I wanted to ask if any of you guys have experienced buying Cubans from the cabinet in the dr. From my search online. Online, it seems like the best bet to find authentic Cuban cigars. We go there once a year in the DR of course, as that's where my [01:29:00] wife's family is from.
My other question would be, are there any resources you could point me to that would help me to spot fakes in real time? All that to say I love Nicaraguan cigars so much that it's not the end of the world for me. I've only been smoking consistently for three or four months, but listening to this podcast has helped me to try to find the best ones in a short amount of time.
So I wanna thank you guys a lot for that. I love the Sonatas and the Vos. My first time smoking a sonata was an experience. I won't forget. Did you hear that giz? Listen, I have one with me tonight. I'm gonna smoke it. You're gonna watch me Unlike any other new world I've tried. Another one that's in my top three is the League of Bravada, H 99.
Are you familiar with that one? Pagoda?
Pagoda: No, I'm not. I am. You should do
Gizmo: that one.
Pagoda: Yeah, it's pretty good. You know, we haven't
Gizmo: done a Drew State Liga in a while. We, we should do a, we should do one. I'm gonna bring that one in, uh, because of Liz's rob here and he says, for a mild to medium cigar, the Rodriguez Reserva Bravada is excellent.
Keep up the good work. I am. Hold on, hold on. Yeah,
Senator: do, do you know this [01:30:00] brand Rodriguez? No. Okay. This is really odd. So when I was just in Atlanta. My friend's fiance said that she was in Key West with some girlfriends of hers recently and she wanted to bring some, uh, get something for my friend and he smoked cigars.
So there is a Rodriguez Cigars in Key West Florida. Yeah, there's a r That must be what he
Grinder: is talking about. There's a Rodriguez. Uh, well I think there used to be a Rodriguez Cigars in, uh, Disney Springs in Orlando, Florida as well.
Senator: Big Disney guy.
Grinder: Big Disney guy.
Senator: But if you look up this Rodriguez Cigars, 'cause she told me she bought some cigars from him and I, I immediately, you know, I couldn't help it.
I was like, oh God. Like they're probably terrible. Go. Yeah. And then, uh, she's like, well just look at this site and I'm reading the story. And it's a family who left, actually they were tobacco farmers in Cuba. Really? Uh, they had apparently their own brand in Cuba, and then obviously they had to flee and then they started their own cigar brand in Florida.
Um, the story seemed cool. The website, some of the stuff [01:31:00] looked interesting. So if it's the same one, I'm curious what he smokes and we ought to try it. He smokes
Gizmo: the Rodriguez Reserva Privada. We should try it. We'll check it out. Maybe we'll order a couple. We'll try 'em and then we'll, if they're pretty good, we'll do 'em for review.
But yeah, he says, uh, for a mild to medium cigar, the Rodriguez Reserva Privada is excellent. Keep up the good work. Listening to an episode a day almost.
Grinder: Oh yes, lizard. Rob, I, I will tell you the Rodriguez in Disney Springs, the staff. Is so they have lighter, they have lighters. They have lighters. They're so, they're, they're, they're so welcoming.
Rocky would never hire them. They have
Gizmo: burgers and lighters. It's a huge win.
Grinder: Dude. The, he, the, the, the, uh, the attendant there, the guy behind the counter, he lit my cigar with a spiff. A spliff, what do you call those? A spill? Cedar spill. Sorry. That'd be, I cross, I'm crossing wires for some reason. [01:32:00] Looks
Chef: like marijuana crossing wires.
Sorry. He, he used to, I love how Grindr looks at me. He, as if, as if I would know. I mean, yeah.
Grinder: But, but they were so, they were so like, you know, it felt like being at home. They were just like, attending to everything. I spilled my, my water. He got me a new water. He, he, like, he had a Macallan behind the counter.
He's like, do you want some something heavier? And I was like, yeah, sure. It's a great, you know, and, and she said that, um, one of the nephews was running the, the operation behind the counter. Like, it was just like a, it felt, it didn't feel like corporate. It felt like a, like a, like a little like family. A great hospitality.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Rooster: How was the cigar?
Grinder: It was good. It was good. I, I don't remember actually very vividly. So it was probably just, eh, yeah.
Gizmo: So the thing I wanna say on Lizard Rob's email here is obviously ordering for the first [01:33:00] time and having your first order seized is definitely a huge bummer, devastating. I think EGM along with some others, it's one of the premier sites to buy, of course.
Don't think Cuban cigars, do they guarantee Shipment Rooster? I'm not
Senator: sure. I don't don any of them do anyway. I don't, I don't remember. Do don't think, I mean, based on his email, it doesn't sound like it, it doesn't sound
Gizmo: like it. Yeah. So what I would say Lizard Rob, is I would get on, uh, FOH and look at 24 24 and order there.
I think they're having a much better success rate, uh, with cigars coming into the us. Uh, but don't be turned off by the fact that you had a box use. There's really no repercussions if you do have global entry. We're gonna go to another email now about that. Just don't use your full legal name. Try to come up with something different and you should be okay.
Unlike your friend Gizmo who did this three years ago, used his real name. He was also
Senator: about to get picked up by ice when this episode. Yeah, I don't care
Chef: anymore. Whatever. And chef, I don't give a shit. And chef. And chef and I lost my goal, my global injury.
Gizmo: So, uh, yeah. [01:34:00] So don't worry about it lizard, Rob.
It's not that big of a deal. Hopefully, uh, you'll be encouraged to order some more Cuban cigars, uh, in, in due time and tell your wife, you know, if she has any questions, she's feel free. You know, feel free to reach out to us. Reach out to me. We will take care of her concerns.
Chef: Yes. I have a question. Go ahead.
What's next after you lose global entry? Do they like, come knock on our doors? Or, or, or. Do we know yet? No. I guess we're gonna find out. You'll find out after
Gizmo: this episode. Yes, that's for sure. Like are you concerned? Listen, I am not concerned by the way. Half
Grinder: care, half the government staff has been fired at this point.
I don't think we should have. Have to worry about people. I definitely hast been fired. Correct.
Pagoda: They've been pleased. Exactly.
Gizmo: All right, boys, one more email. This one is from Lizard Buzz. He says, I have a question and a comment. Good evening guys. I wanted to thank you for selecting me to be Lizard of the Week during the Debarton Tobacco and Trusts sober Mesa Brule episode.
Not sure if I was gonna get some swag for winning. I [01:35:00] never received any follow up in regards to obtaining my address and was just curious. So listen, anybody out there who wins Lizard of the Week, you gotta gimme some time. You're gonna get your stuff. I do it in huge batches of like eight or 10 at a time.
I'm not doing it every week. You will get your stuff. Just gimme a minute unless anybody else in the room wants to take care of this. But stay but stay on Gizmo so he doesn't forget I'm there is no forgetting.
Chef: I do have a pretty good relationship with my UPS guy. So, you know, let me know if you need, what the hell does that mean?
Senator: I mean, what kind of relationship? Tell me more chef. Mean I'm about to enter my seat. Like Star Wars.
Gizmo: What, what kind of relationship are we talking about? Yeah, I got a personal mailbox. What's her name? She, what's his name? Chef. It's not JLo.
Alright, so Lizard Buzz says he also has a question for you, for us. Uh, he said, I heard of a few of you guys mention that you've lost your global entry involving [01:36:00] Cuban cigars, but you never gave the exact details of the incident that cost him for losing it,
Chef: ordering Cuban cigars. Are you sneaking in boxes
Gizmo: through customs stuff mailed to residents?
I was curious what it took for the TSA to remove the privilege so your listeners would know what to do or not do in regards to attempting to obtain Cuban cigars. So, first things first, the TSA has nothing to do with this. The TSA. Is a domestic United States operations, they don't care customs, it's all about the CBP.
Those are the three letters you need to worry about Customs and border patrol. So how synonymous, synonymous with KBG? Correct.
Senator: Kgb. Sorry, that sounded like cabbage.
Gizmo: Alright, so here's how we lost our global entry. We used our, our, our legal name, our government name, and we ordered Cuban cigars and then they got popped at some sort of border entry point, be it Miami, Chicago, la, New York, whatever it [01:37:00] may get popped or
Chef: where, wherever Pagoda is or
Gizmo: wherever.
Pagoda is generally Miami. Uh, so that's what happens is, is if you use your government name and you lose a box of cigars and you have global entry, they're going to take it. There's no sneaking in boxes, you know, off a plane. It's all about stuff mailed to your residence under your government name. So my advice to anyone trying to avoid that is don't use your government name.
Chef: Yeah.
Gizmo: Uh, so the reason why I lost it was I was ordering rascals in mass for this group. What a surprise. And for this group, everybody in this group, including you, grinder, uh, everybody was getting, uh, Ramona, especially selected, and I had two of them get popped in a row and then I lost my global entry for the rest of my life.
So. Congratulations, pagoda. Senator, you were ordering more than just Raab. It's our fault. Can I raab? I got popped twice. Can we, can we just hold the phone?
Grinder: I got my Raz way before you lost your global entry. [01:38:00] So you can't from me. You
Gizmo: can't. Yeah, but you still were part of, you were participating in the effort.
Just take, just wear it. Okay. That, that's just wear
Grinder: it. That's some stupid non-rational explanation.
Gizmo: You got RAs for me. You're involved
Chef: all, I had some Coolaid, but I some Discoing DDoS. Is that, is that
Pagoda: why they don't taste as good? I mean, I've been aging them for years.
Gizmo: You just got one of those bad, uh, customs and border patrol boxes.
So anyway, to answer Lizard Buzz's question, that's what happened. Uh, when you order cubit cigars and you use your government name at your government address, and that's the same one that matches your, uh, global entry, they're going to pop you. So find a pseudonym like Lizard Gizmo and Guam and you'll be just fine.
Well, one
Senator: other thing. Do that, but also don't order a crazy quantity. Correct. So.
Chef: My quantity. Do not order friends boxes.
Senator: Have your friends order separate boxes so that it is dispersed. That's a huge red flag when there's like a delivery every week of [01:39:00] multiple boxes to one address. Master crate.
Grinder: Yeah. Yeah.
So, so stop doing us a favor. I haven't done any favors in about three or four years. Okay. And don't order en mass first. Yeah.
Gizmo: We're done with the ordering en mass over here. But anybody out there yet, just, uh, be careful with what you use as far as your name and address as it compares to your global entry.
And boys, we are coming to the end of our evening tonight with the Elta Soro, tequila Blanco and the Kaba Guidos. What's everybody thinking right now as we, uh, finish up our cigar and pairing? I just wish the cigar were the size of the salmon. I know, dude. If the saladon had the same flavor profile as this, I would be, I would've been in heaven.
This cigar was excellent.
Chef: Agreed. I'll say, I'll credit the tequila for making us happy. The cigar could have stood on a, I think the cigar, actually, I think the cigar think the cigar actually made me more happy than, than the tequila. I think the cigar was the star. I'm happy in the sense of intoxication, [01:40:00] but I think the cigar was a star.
Senator: I only got one and a half pores. Someone, uh, to my left was, uh, housing. Yeah. Grinder. Grinder.
Grinder: Not a tequila guy, quote unquote. I told, I told you like twice. I'm a, I'm a tequila guy. Say that again. You're a what? One
Gizmo: more time. Could you say that one more time for us, please? Yes, please. Can you spell tequila for us?
Qui stand up and just point your, your arm out here and touch your nose, please. I plead the fifth. Okay. All right, boys, it's time to move into the formal liquoring tonight on the Elta Sora, tequila Blanco grinder. Unfortunately for you, you're up on the tequila, correct?
Senator: Oh, we've been drinking rum. What are you talking about?
Grinder: I love it. Welcome back, man. I love it. Uh, we just got through sleep training and it's like, here we are, we're finally at our, at our sweet spot. So anyway, um, I, it's. I found [01:41:00] the, uh, minerality in this tequila just at the right sweet spot. This, this tequila didn't offer a lot of punch in any, it wasn't elev, it wasn't excessive in any flavor, but it had the perfect median for everything.
So I got a lot of the good, like I could taste the fruit, I could taste the minerality. Um, and with this cigar, it paired very, very well as far as providing that extra min minerality that I was seeking in, in the cigar. So you guys, I think we had some other comments that you had that twang, I had a little bit of, of that twang on the, you know, the, the separate parts of my, of my palate.
But generally it worked. The, the combination worked very, very well. And, uh, yeah, I mean, I, I will drink another bottle of these.
Senator: Was it wonderful?
Grinder: It was truly, it was, it was [01:42:00] truly wonderful. There we go. Yes.
Gizmo: Excellent.
Senator: The rating, now you have
Grinder: to give
Senator: a rating.
Gizmo: So for 198 episodes. Now, this is the best part.
What we do is we give a number as far as our rating goes.
Grinder: Giz Gizmo looks at me. Like, what? What's the rating? And like what Both of my hands are in here. Want me to, what's your number? I'm a nine. All right. A nine. Geez. After all that, what? Yeah, I mean, it's great. I'm just feeling it tonight. You know.
Correct. Clear.
Senator: Clearly not enough.
Grinder: Fuck, chef Ricky. How, how
Senator: is it not a 10? I can't believe this. Are you
Grinder: giving it a 10? We'll see, I'll see in a minute. We'll see. I'll, I'll give him it. A 10. You can't, can't pagoda Goda. You cannot change. No, you can't change the rating. No. No, I didn't. That's not official. You can't change.
No, no. I, I'm, I'm sorry. Pagoda, the sergeant
Pagoda: of, um, has declared was a nine.
Grinder: That's it. Can I tell you something? No, you can't change your rating. You, you, you're not a sergeant and you definitely don't have arms. So you, you're not a sergeant of any arms [01:43:00] here in this room. He
Gizmo: is the, the SOA he is.
Grinder: Oh, yeah. And
Gizmo: you're out I this room.
Grinder: He ccb You have not, you have not moved on to the next person. So therefore you're
Senator: onto a nine. I'm, so your nine is recorded in Gizmo's iPad. It's done. He gave it Chef Ricky, he gave it a 10. I wanna give it a 10. Gimme a 10.
Chef: You can't. I'm at, I'm, I'm at a 10 plus for Gizmo. Gimme a 10, right?
Rooster: Gimme a 10. Just score it an 11.
Then I'll be even,
Pagoda: you know, we'll all give it a 10 and then he'll be the only one with a nine.
Grinder: Put a put a put a p next to my, next, to my score for protest. Protest in case I, in case
Chef: you couldn't tell, this tequila is so good. Grinder has had quite a bit of it, so much of it that he rated in nine and he called a cedar spill with spliff.
So needless to say, this is some good shit.
No, but I, I have a little drug. In all seriousness, this is a tequila that's worth every single bit of the $50 you will pay to get your hands on it. [01:44:00] Um, just amazingly made, very well done. You guys have all heard me on this podcast for quite a few episodes at this point, uh, raving about Carlos Rena and everything that comes out of the La Deya Distillery from OCHO to the Soto to tap Patillo.
Um, it's all good stuff. It's all delicious. It, they're all bangers. Uh, but OT Soto is a cla. It's in a class of its own because of how it's produced, uh, where it's tru truly using all art as a new methods and the flavor comes through. Extremely creamy. A very sweet Blanco, very well balanced, good amount of minerality, not overpowering, uh, a good amount of fruit.
There's even a little bit of caramel here for a blanco, and that's kind of odd, but it's fun. It's fun to drink. It's fun to consume. Uh, and it's worth every penny. It's a 10 for me.
Gizmo: All right, pagoda.
Pagoda: Yeah, I've been debating between a nine and 10, but I think it's a 10 for me as [01:45:00] well. I think this is one of these, uh, tequilas I do have at home.
Grinder: This is ridiculous.
Gizmo: Can I just say, doth protest too much. Doth protest Too much. I I wanna give it a grinder score. You're in such a ditch right now. You
Rooster: gotta, you gotta think before you speak, man.
Pagoda: Go ahead, pagoda. Yeah, no, I, it's, it's one of those tequila, the thing I've tried before and I've, I have a couple of these bottles at home and I've, uh, always really enjoyed it.
Uh, although this was supposed to be my summer of tequila. Damn. I haven't been drinking tequila. I've been drinking a lot of the Florida car. Uh, but, you know, uh, that's it for the rest of the week it's gonna be tequila and I'm gonna tap into some of these older bottles with a glass top. Yeah. Uh, and uh, really just enjoy it.
Uh, it's been fantastic. Turn grinder's mic off please. Can I just say something? Can, can I just say,
Grinder: we've had some exceptional Blancos recently and I just didn't feel like this, like, I don't even know their names, but they were so good. But this one just [01:46:00] keep going guy. Dear. It had a smudge
Gizmo: business.
You're almost to Australia. Just keep digging. What's the name? What's the name? It did have a
Pagoda: smudge, so there you go. That's why you really, what's the name of this one? Fuck
Grinder: Ro bitch. No, but seriously, I felt like there's been more That's fine. I'm good flavor in others. I'm okay with it. You right. He's
Senator: all over the place.
Grinder: Jesus side,
Senator: that it has to be a Ted. Now he's back justified. I'm at 10.
Gizmo: So that what it says, unlike some folks in the room who gave it a nine, I am absolutely to 10.
I think this is a perfect Blanco. I mean, we have had some other perfect Blancos, but what's funny is this stacks up next to those in its own and it's different own very unique way in its SRO way. Yep. In a way that even Forza doesn't do.
Senator: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: Uh, WANs, I think Ofta some of those other mta
Chef: that was amazing.
The, the, that was the Uno from Unre. Uno [01:47:00] was great too. The
Gizmo: G four tequila, G four, the platinum was great too.
Chef: Those are brighter. Yeah. I think what makes makes this yes unique is that it's, it leans sweet. Yeah. It leans, there's a lot of, it's honey. It's so to drink's. A lot of honey present. It's so easy to drink.
We know.
Gizmo: So, listen, I, I, I, uh, I, I love the brine. I love the complexity. I love the price, even at $50. I, I think that's a perfect price for this, this spirit. It's excellent. I wish I knew about this sooner. I wish I wasn't so obsessed with focusing on the Anejo on the age and then Thedo. Yeah. And instead of the Blanco I think that was a mistake on Mayan, our part and the early part of this journey.
And I'm glad we're correcting ourselves just like we have. I have, I have to, I
Grinder: have to say on
Gizmo: some other stuff, I
Grinder: have to say, chef from the, from the get go, from the, from the, he always said it. He always said Correct. Always go to the Blanco.
Gizmo: But he did serve us and our wishes in those early episodes by bringing in Ajo [01:48:00] extra because those are 'cause
Chef: you knew what we were coming from.
Those are gateways. Right. Exactly. And as I said, worked, as I've always said, the true tequila aficionado, the person that appreciates this stuff is going to go back to the Blanco to get a gauge and understand what the agave truly tastes like. And you could taste the quality of what's being put into this bottle and how it's being made.
Absolutely. And that's what sets this apart.
Gizmo: It's a great one. I love it. All right,
Senator: Senator. So to me it is criminal to give this anything other than a 10. Yeah.
Grinder: You motherfucker, you,
Senator: you criminal
Grinder: this, this room is out to, to bury me. You buried yourself. Yeah. I told I only see one shovel. And who holding it? I told you the coffee and
Senator: dig the dish.
Grinder: I told you I, I,
Pagoda: I'm a 10. But what about the smudge? This, you did mention this much. That was the reasoning. Then it doesn't matter. Maybe you had so many other
Senator: great Blancos that this just didn't stack up against motherfucker.
Chef: Yeah. [01:49:00] I think Grinder prefers a, something brighter. I think so. Too. Citrusy. I think so too.
Don't ever say citrus,
Grinder: how dare you? But
Senator: to me, I, I miss Pamm. To me, it, it's, it's absolutely a 10 in the sense that for a Blanco it, it's like so complete and satisfying. You know, I, we usually would reach for a Blanco and we want something lighter than an Anejo or Reposado. This to me has like as much flavor as some reposados that I've had.
I don't know if I can go as far as saying it Anejo. But you feel as satisfied. Yeah. It's like, just, I think it's almost there. Yeah. And the sweetness and the savory elements of it complimented this would compliment any Cuban cigar. Extraordinarily well.
Gizmo: I
Senator: agree. And I think any new world cigar that is medium, like, uh, most Honduran cigars, stuff like that, um, it's delicious.
I, I really, uh, you know, the funny thing is [01:50:00] Tesoro seems to be best known for its anejo. Is that fair to say? Chef?
Like if a bar is gonna stock one of the three.
Chef: Yeah. I, I would say in Anejo,
Senator: because that's what I see mostly in bars. Sure.
Chef: And then, yeah. And that's because that's the gateway. That's what people know they're gonna sell.
Senator: Right. But I just say that for this brand in particular, 'cause then there are other brands I'll see in the bar and they'll only have the repa or Sure.
Like they pick and choose. Yeah. Yeah. And the funny thing to me was I was at this F1 bar in DC we had a company thing that we, uh, hosted there and they had to soro and I was very excited and it was the Blanco and I was hoping they had the Enjo. And I didn't try it because, ah, it was a Blanco, I thought to myself, not because it was a Blanco, I mean if it was G four, another Blanco I've had, I would've bought in a heartbeat.
But because that Anejo is so good. Yeah. The repo is so good. The odds to me that a brand at all three levels [01:51:00] would produce something like a plus is, is slim. I mean, most are not able to do that. Like if you look at any brand we love, there's not one of them that we would say every expression that they put out.
Is our favorite in that category. It's usually to do one really well, or at most two, but there's no way, three or more. So the fact that this brand has been able to do that is unbelievable. And, uh, the price point is the other reason that I'm at a 10. I think $50 is beyond fair for what this delivers.
Pagoda: It's an excellent price, very well balanced, not too hot, meaning, you know, these are the things like you look for.
And it's, yeah, for me it works really well. Some of us look for, like for me, like for me, it worked, it worked really well. What a 10? It's a, unfortunately it's an excellent 10.
Gizmo: You know, ELs composite score, El sro te tequila blanco could have been a perfect 10 tonight. Unfortunately it's not. It is a 9.8.
Senator: Unbelievable that it's a ten's a it's a 10. [01:52:00] It's a 10. I think
Gizmo: that's a sin, but as, as our sergeant of arms, uh, will say pagoda, what's the score?
Pagoda: It's a 9.8, correct.
Grinder: Can you just get off
Pagoda: your
Gizmo: head? Horse? This is a 10. Um, I'm giving it a 10. Did you not live through the time? I almost tried to change my school.
Oh, that was a nightmare. Alright, so let's compare tonight's 9.8 versus the other two. Elta, Soro Tequilas. We've done. Lemme tell
Chef: you, if Senator couldn't turn a fucking nine to a 10, nobody could correct
Gizmo: nobody's, so we did the Anejo on episode 58 with the punch. Duke Re, uh, Mexican Regional scored an 8.0, flat 8.0.
I think that's a little weak for that. And on episode 152, we did the Tequila Reposado scored a 9.6. So the Blanco at a 9.8, which should have been a 10 grinder, uh, is, is just a bit above thedo as the best taro we've done. Hey, let's, and a
Pagoda: smudge below the 10, just a smudge below, below the 10, just a spliff
Gizmo: below [01:53:00] the truth.
Grinder: Well let the record show that it was, it was awesome and amazing. It was, uh, he's rating it again. Go ahead.
Chef: Listen, let the record show that a 98 is almost a 10, and also that the agave that's represented in this bottle is fucking delicious. It is. It really is. Yeah.
Grinder: Period. Let's just settle on the fact that it's fantastic.
It's delicious. It's all right, boys. What did I say? It's awesome or amazing. Wonderful. You said it's nine.
Gizmo: All right, boys, it's time to move into the form. Eer reading tonight on the Kaba Guidos Rooster Europe. It's a 10.
Pagoda: Are you sure? Really. Wow. Wow. Wow. A 10 foot rooster. I mean,
Rooster: wow. The cigar is very, I don't think we mentioned this.
It's very versatile. It is. I think I can smoke this in the morning with a cup of coffee.
Senator: Yeah. And
Rooster: have it in the afternoon. You can have it pre dinner, the cigar. I mean, it, it absolutely satisfies your palate. And I never thought that a qba would be giving a [01:54:00] qba a very high score like this. I mean, just from the, just from the light.
The, uh, you know, the cedar, the
Grinder: cedar is great. The
Rooster: sweetness, the savory note that you, that you absolutely look for in any cigar. It absolutely satisfies your palate. At least my palate. It completely satisfies. And the cigar, even though it's, seems like it's rolled, like there's not enough tobacco, but it really lasts.
I mean, I'm still smoking this. I think everybody else has done. I'm still, I'm still going. The cigar is, you have another about two hours though. Go ahead. It's a four hour cigar.
Pagoda: We definitely worth the price. Yeah. Value the
Rooster: price is, you know, it's $37, but it's a, it's a long cigar. It's a big cigar. It's a very good cigar.
So I'm at a 10. Wow. All right, Senator. So I'm just curious, are you gonna buy a box? Um, if it was a 10 count Yeah. I would be in, that's all they have. Yeah, I would. Would not. No, I would, I would will, or I'm going [01:55:00] to, if I don't lose my global entry, I'll order it under Gizmo's name. Maybe. Go ahead. Lizard, gizmo and Guam be my guest.
Yeah. I would buy a box.
Senator: Alright. Right. No, that's good to hear. Yeah, I just, when someone gives a cigar tent that the reason I ask that, I feel like that's the cigar that you must have. Yeah,
Pagoda: no, that's fair enough. Yeah.
Senator: Um, for me, I'm at a nine, uh, a strong nine. I'm in my wildest dreams. I never thought this cigar would get a single nine.
I thought this probably would top out at an eight. Um, and that's my limited, you know, interaction with this brand. It was a complete experience all the way through right from the first puff. You got a blast of flavor even though you knew the body of it was mild, but in no way did that disappoint. Um, the flavor was so good and it stayed consistent all the way through.
That was kind of the fear is like, I love the first third. The midpoint I feel like was the best part of the cigar and [01:56:00] you were just kind of waiting for something to go wrong and it never did. Um, the creaminess that was present in this cigar was so little age is super rare and memorable about this cigar.
Um, and then to have like just a perfectly balanced blend of the sweet notes and the savory and, and the salty minerality that you get in the cigar. Um, it's just awesome. And like Rooster said, it's really versatile. I mean, from time of day to, um, different things that you could pair with this. Uh, there's so many occasions that this would make sense for now.
My only reason I can't give this, the 10, um, the price. I mean, if this were a, if this were the Solomon at that size, I would maybe then give this a 10. That's a big cigar. This is a normal size cigar. This is not, in my estimation, a big cigar. And at 40 bucks. And it's not a particularly handsome looking [01:57:00] cigar.
You know, I did have to touch it up a few times, um, the Ashes f Flakier than I would like. You know, there's just things that at that price point, you need to be perfect to say, I am unequivocally gonna drop $40 to buy that cigar. It's gotta check all the boxes for me. But it came close enough to checking them that, you know, it's a strong nine, I would definitely smoke this again.
But the price point is really the only reason. It's not something that I'll probably go out and pursue a box of, but when I'm traveling and if I see in a, in A-L-C-D-H, this stick, no question, I would pick it up.
Rooster: And
Senator: I
Rooster: think out of all the AVAs it's particularly this size that has really, you know, performed really well.
Yeah, I mean, just on the flavor alone and it's, it's fantastic.
Gizmo: So for me it's also a nine. I, I think the first thing I wanna point to, because this is what I think about. Uh, a as, as we're sitting here recording, but the vibes in the room, the energy, the, the, the borderline giddiness that [01:58:00] we comment on when we talk about the Collibras episode or other special episodes that we've had.
This cigar brought something out in this room tonight that I wasn't expecting. I, I mean, I, I was expecting this kaba to be in the sevens or eights. Clearly it's not gonna land there, but what a major surprise for me, you know, versus what my expectation was coming in tonight. And I'm, I'm, I'm very, very happy about it.
I thought it was a brilliant journey. I really loved the nuttiness as we started. I loved the sweetness through the retro hale without any spice. And then moving into what was primarily like a saltiness for me, which paired brilliantly with the tequila. I mean, I, it was a home run. It had great mouth feel.
It smoked very slowly. I think there was a lot of value there. Um, it, it, it was, you know, so satisfying that we didn't reach for the tequila. We talked about that several times. It was doing, not all of us, of us, well, not all of us, but, you know,
Chef: we'll
Gizmo: get there.
Chef: You know, ironically enough, it was the one that gave the tequila.
And I, can I just say [01:59:00]
Grinder: I give it Ted, this is lunacy. This is Luna eight talk.
Gizmo: Talk to Pagoda. Uh, more seriously. The the price is a problem and $37 a cigar, that price is a problem. It's not a cigar that I will reach for. And, and, and the reason why I've given it a nine is it wasn't perfect for me. I very much applaud what it was trying to be, what it set out to be, and what it accomplished here.
But for me, what I'm looking for, it was not a cigar that I'm gonna reach for. I'm not gonna stock this in my humidor. I'm not gonna go buy a box of these. I'm not gonna wake up thinking about this cigar. It was not perfect for me. And, you know, I wish it was, but it really, really surprised me. And finally, uh, before I move on, I'll say that young Cuban cigars continue to impress our data has shown on this podcast that young Cuban cigars are performing brilliantly.
We can buy with confidence. Uh, we have some other cigars coming up. I have the Romeo Julietta Diani, which is [02:00:00] from the, uh, the lineal line from them. An expensive cigar coming up after our 200th episode. You know, so I'm, I'm, I'm kind of getting more positive as we're smoking younger Cuban cigars, which in the past wasn't the case.
I used, used to have anxiety about it. I'm feeling more positive and I think that that's a great direction for Cuban cigars to go and Cuban consumers of these cigars to go. Um, so I'm very, very happy with it. It's a nine. It wasn't perfect, but I'm very happy to the nine pagoda.
Pagoda: You know, sometimes we round down, sometimes we round up.
I've been thinking between a nine and 10 all long. Uh, today I'm gonna round up and give it a 10. And, um, my man wow. And, and, uh, the reasons are for me very, very flavorful for me. It was medium to a long lasting finish on my palette. Left me with one of those pleasant flavor profiles. You know, I think I'd mentioned in the middle of the episode, I just didn't need the tequila.
I was really, really enjoying [02:01:00] the cigar. Um, you know, it did get off the burn line a bit, but it did self-correct. Oh, overall, no complaints about the burn line. For me. The draw was great. The smoke output was fantastic. It was creamy. Flavorful, yes. Typically I like bit more oomph in a cigar. Um, which I felt that it was coming towards the end, but it was so flavorful and it was so, the smoke, uh, output was great.
And, you know, just, it was an easy cigar to smoke. Now the price is, you know, a touch bit high. You know, I think if it was between 25 to 30 bucks, I think it's definitely, definitely worth it. Uh, um, you know, but today I think I'm rounding up, I'm being a little more generous, uh, from the score. I could have rounded down and given a nine, but it's a fantastic cigar.
And for the feeling I'm left with the pleasant, the happiness. Uh, it's been a wonderful episode tonight and it's a 10 for me.
Chef: All right, chef? [02:02:00] Yeah. So for me, this cigar, uh, you know, I'm in locks up with you guys in that it delivered flavor phenomenally well. It did everything it needed to do, but I think at $37 or approaching 40 bucks, I need to feel sexy smoking a cigar.
Gizmo: I think you look great,
Chef: but, and this ci, this cigar just didn't have that like sex appeal for me when it comes to that price point. You know, just even upon grabbing it before I even went to light it, the band slipped off. The cigar is fairly rustic in, in appearance, but the flavor was phenomenal. The cigar was great.
Um, but just at 37, approaching 40 bucks, risking your global entry, getting seized or canceled, whatever you wanna call it, is it worth it? I don't know. Um, but the experience tonight was great. The flavor was great. The performance on a [02:03:00] cigar was great. So I'm gonna give it a great score and give it a nine.
Excellent.
Gizmo: All right. Grindr, here it is. Guys. Take as much
Senator: time as you need. This is, are you
Pagoda: sure? Please take before you speak.
Gizmo: It's a brutal room. I love it. I'm just kidding. I was trying to help him out so he doesn't have to plead his case for an hour. I do the
Pagoda: score first and then describe it later. I've never, I've never felt this much pressure.
Grinder: I'm gonna do the, I'm gonna do the score first. All right. For me it's a nine. Okay. Oh my goodness. Another nine. So another nine. Oh boy. God forbid. We'll see what happens. So, um. The flavor profile was great. Um, it was wonderful, you might say. And, um, it's kind of like right in my, I mentioned this before, right in my power alley.
The cedar was a nice flavor profile. The almond that I mentioned was, [02:04:00] was really tremendous. Um, I felt like there was, uh, I don't know, just a continuity from beginning to end. I'm in, maybe, I don't know, how much is this? An inch of the cigar left Half an inch. Yeah, half an inch. And it's the same flavor.
Like I have, there's no harshness in this at all. It's the same consistency. So I would say it's, it, nothing really changed with it. Um, and for me, from beginning to end, that's a good thing because this, this is what I, this is what I like. I do think there, there is a little more to be had on the, on the flavor.
It's, it's a great flavor profile. Um, and it's like I said, it's, it's right what I typically enjoy, but I just want a little more oomph. Um, like, like the tequila. Like the tequila, yeah, exactly. I've had enough oomph. It's nice. Um. And I think the biggest demerit is, I've had to touch it up three times. [02:05:00] Yeah.
And that's, you know, it's, you mentioned sexiness chef. Um, it's not a sexy burn, it's by any means. Like it, it did course correct once, um, but the ash is just kind of gnarly. And, uh, like when I look at a cigar that I would give a 10 for like a really, really good 7 0 2 doff or like a pargo, um, the burn is typically a little cleaner, you know, and this wasn't, this wasn't there.
And that, that might at, that might be attributed to the, just the lower grade of this market. I don't know. But I think it speaks volumes to the fact that Cuba just makes good tobacco, man. Like no matter what, it's gonna make a good cigar. So are you okay
Rooster: with the price?
Grinder: Yeah, I mean, I would pay 40 bucks for this any day because this is what I like, you know?
And, [02:06:00] and your, your comment on, um. You know, it's very adaptable to different situations. Like you can have it in the morning. You could have like, yeah, I could have this all day. I could smoke this all day.
Chef: And actually, you just reminded me, you mentioned Coffee Rooster. I think this cigar would go amazing with coffee.
Yeah, coffee. It would, cigar would go amazing with Chai. Chai. Not to steal the thunder from the Indians in the
Rooster: room. Just chai or chai tea
Grinder: speak. Speaking of chai though, like I, we didn't touch, I, I got like citrus it, I didn't mention this before. I did Got, I got, I did get, dare you, I get, I did get a little citrus and, and the baking spice.
I felt like there was baking spice there. It wasn't like a particles or like a Monte baking spice, but it was there. And um, yeah, it just, it was a little frustrating. Oh, it sounds like a 10. To pay $40 and still have to touch it up as much as I did. Just change it. It sounds like a 10 grinder. I am sticking with this one.
I gave a 10 to the, to the, [02:07:00] to kill,
Gizmo: not according to my iPad. Yeah. Can you
Grinder: just fucking erase it, dude, like you have an eraser?
Gizmo: No, it doesn't work. All right, boys. The formal lizard rating tonight on the Cuaba Distinguidos is a 9.3. That's fair. An excellent score. That is great. Let's compare that to the other cava we've done on the pod.
We did the Solomons scored an 8.0. Yeah. So this is a major step up. And you know what? We had a lot of listeners telling us that's exactly what we should be expecting with the Distinguidos is a major improvement versus the Solomons. And I think we need to try some of those other Vilas that we talked about much earlier in the episode tonight that, uh, Kaba makes available.
I think bam would, would be outta 10 on this. Bam. Would've loved the cigar.
Chef: Yeah.
Gizmo: Right. And I'm gonna save one for him.
Chef: He, he, he might've knocked it on price a little. No. Yeah. Price is a problem.
Gizmo: 37 bucks is a problem. All right, boys, so great night tonight. Let's go through the ratings one more time on the Elta Soro, tequila Blanco.
We had a 9.8, almost a 10. Thank you Grinder. And the cava. [02:08:00] Distinguidos from Cuba scored 9.3. We have to congratulate our friend Lizard. Rob, thanks for writing us. He won Lizard of the Week. Like I said, anybody out there, I'd, I'd
Grinder: like the official ledger, uh, lizard ledger to reflect that I have a p next to my score for protest
Gizmo: Pagoda.
It doesn't matter. Motion denied.
Congratulations to Lizard Rob for winning Lizard of the Week. Like I said, anybody out there can win Lizard of the Week. All you have to do is write us, send us a voice memo, whatever it may be. And by the way, we do have a big episode coming up in two weeks. Episode 200 is coming up, I so stay tuned for that.
And, uh, please send us some comments, some notes. If you're feeling nostalgic about the last 200 episodes, please uh, write us. We would love to read them on episode 200 and of course boys, we have to thank our sponsor, fabric of Five. They've been great partners to us. They have great cigars. Everything's back at stock.
They have some great deals. Of course, use our Code Lizard Pod when you [02:09:00] order from FABRICA zero zero five.com. And boys a great pairing tonight. Great conversation, some great laughs and, uh, we'll see everybody next week. 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 pod.com.
That's lounge lizards PO 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, 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.