Lounge Lizards - a Cigar and Lifestyle PodcastTrailerBonusEpisode 135Season 1
Ep. #135: H. Upmann Half Corona & Arturo Fuente Rosado Sungrown Magnum R 44 (Short Smoke Special No. 5 w/ Flor de Caña 12, Lizards Take Cigar Aficionado to Task on Cuba, Minneapolis Cigar Smoking Ban & Poobah Introduces us to Jesse Ventura)
Ep. #135: H. Upmann Half Corona & Arturo Fuente Rosado Sungrown Magnum R 44 (Short Smoke Special No. 5 w/ Flor de Caña 12, Lizards Take Cigar Aficionado to Task on Cuba, Minneapolis Cigar Smoking Ban & Poobah Introduces us to Jesse Ventura) Ep. #135: H. Upmann Half Corona & Arturo Fuente Rosado Sungrown Magnum R 44 (Short Smoke Special No. 5 w/ Flor de Caña 12, Lizards Take Cigar Aficionado to Task on Cuba, Minneapolis Cigar Smoking Ban & Poobah Introduces us to Jesse Ventura)
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Ep. #135: H. Upmann Half Corona & Arturo Fuente Rosado Sungrown Magnum R 44 (Short Smoke Special No. 5 w/ Flor de Caña 12, Lizards Take Cigar Aficionado to Task on Cuba, Minneapolis Cigar Smoking Ban & Poobah Introduces us to Jesse Ventura)
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Lounge Lizards - a Cigar and Lifestyle PodcastTrailerBonusEpisode 135Season 1
Ep. #135: H. Upmann Half Corona & Arturo Fuente Rosado Sungrown Magnum R 44 (Short Smoke Special No. 5 w/ Flor de Caña 12, Lizards Take Cigar Aficionado to Task on Cuba, Minneapolis Cigar Smoking Ban & Poobah Introduces us to Jesse Ventura)
LOUNGE LIZARDS PRESENTED BY FABRICA 5 - Visit Fabrica005.com and use code LIZARDPOD at checkout for 10% off THE ENTIRE STORE! Free worldwide shipping from Miami on all orders over $125. See website for more information and terms.
Recorded at Ten86 Lounge in Hawthorne, New Jersey, the lizards pair the H. Upmann Half Corona and Arturo Fuente Rosado Sungrown Magnum R Vitola 44 with twelve year aged Flor de Caña rum for their fifth Short Smoke Special. The guys take Cigar Aficionado to task on their recent Cuba-focused issue and they discuss one city’s controversial new law to limit indoor cigar smoking to no more than 15 minutes. Plus: Flor de Caña history & Poobah invites Jesse Ventura to join the episode
Join the Lounge Lizards for a weekly discussion on all things cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban), whiskey, food, travel, life and work. This is your formal invitation to join us in a relaxing discussion amongst friends and become a card-carrying Lounge Lizard yourself. This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
LOUNGE LIZARDS PRESENTED BY FABRICA 5 - Visit Fabrica005.com and use code LIZARDPOD at checkout for 10% off THE ENTIRE STORE! Free worldwide shipping from Miami on all orders over $125. See website for more information and terms.
Recorded at Ten86 Lounge in Hawthorne, New Jersey, the lizards pair the H. Upmann Half Corona and Arturo Fuente Rosado Sungrown Magnum R Vitola 44 with twelve year aged Flor de Caña rum for their fifth Short Smoke Special. The guys take Cigar Aficionado to task on their recent Cuba-focused issue and they discuss one city’s controversial new law to limit indoor cigar smoking to no more than 15 minutes. Plus: Flor de Caña history & Poobah invites Jesse Ventura to join the episode
Join the Lounge Lizards for a weekly discussion on all things cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban), whiskey, food, travel, life and work. This is your formal invitation to join us in a relaxing discussion amongst friends and become a card-carrying Lounge Lizard yourself. This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
What is Lounge Lizards - a Cigar and Lifestyle Podcast?
Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
Gizmo:
Welcome to the Lounge Lizard's podcast, presented by Fabrica 5. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars, as well as whiskey travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo. Tonight, I'm joined by Rooster, Poopa, Senator, Pagoda, Grinder, and Bam Bam, a a full house of lizards, and our plan is to smoke a couple cigars, drink some rum, talk about life, and of course, have some laughs.
Gizmo:
So take this as your 100 and 35th official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. We plan to meet you here once a week. We're gonna smoke 2 short cigars tonight, share our thoughts on them, and give you our formal list of ratings. We take cigar efficient auto to task on the recent Cuba focused issue, and we discuss one city's controversial new law to as we pair 12 year age Florida cona rum with both each up and half Coronas and the Arturo Fuente Rosado sungrown Magnum R in Vitola 44. A short smoke special tonight on the pod.
Gizmo:
We're gonna do 2 cigars, of course, one from Cuba, the h up in half corona, and one from the Dominican Republic, the Arturo Fuente Magnum R in 44.
Bam Bam:
2 nice little cigars.
Gizmo:
You know, I was surprised when I pulled this out that it has a box press on it, the the Fuente.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. I've read that in a few articles that come out like this. Yeah. I've
Gizmo:
never had one of these.
Bam Bam:
Although, when you see a photograph of it in CA, there's no visible box press impression on it.
Gizmo:
It just looks like a Yeah. Normal parejo. Yep. We're gonna start with the Cuban cigar, the half corona boy. So let's cut this thing.
Gizmo:
See if we're getting on the cold draw on the wrapper. The h up in half Corona is a 44 ring gauge cigar by 3 and a
Bam Bam:
half inches long. This is a crowd favorite.
Gizmo:
I think Correct. So we've done 8 or 9 other h Upman cigars out of Cuba on the podcast, and I think on every single episode, we have mentioned our love of this specific cigar.
Bam Bam:
Correct.
Gizmo:
And I think everybody in the room, except for Grinder, which I just found out, has never had one. Everybody else in the room smokes a ton of this. It's me. Are you allowed to
Senator:
be part of this podcast? If that's the case, that's
Bam Bam:
the case. Allowed in the building?
Grinder:
I think I think I got one one time from, Pagoda, actually. Not pag yeah. Pagoda. But but it was, like, on your deck one night. I'm pointing at you.
Grinder:
Pagoda.
Senator:
I know we all
Grinder:
look alike. The other
Bam Bam:
the other pagoda.
Grinder:
The other idea.
Rooster:
I know we all look alike. The same skin tones.
Gizmo:
The grinder's pointing at rooster. Oh, yeah. I'm talking about pagoda.
Gizmo:
It was on
Rooster:
rooster's deck. Samosa twins.
Grinder:
It was on pagoda's deck. Ah. Pagoda gave it to me one night.
Bam Bam:
Glad you said it, but it's
Grinder:
been a while.
Gizmo:
Yeah. This is a great little cigar. Like I said, we talk about this cigar a lot. Have high hopes for it under the microscope tonight. What are you guys getting on the cold draw?
Bam Bam:
Cedar. It's very pleasant.
Gizmo:
Classic kind of figgy thing that I get out of most upmans, you know, when I cold draw them.
Again, it's a 44 ring gauge cigar by 3 and a half inches long out of Cuba. It is the 9th h upman cigar we've done in the podcast tonight, and this is definitely a lizard favorite. No question about it.
Bam Bam:
Just the aroma coming off the cigars. I'm toasting the foot. It's it's just it's heavenly. One of the best ways to end a cigar session.
Gizmo:
You know, Ben, I'm glad you just said that because I was gonna say there's there's a first for me tonight in that I have never opened a smoking session with an h up and half corona. Same here. Always closed Finished Yep. My evening Same. With an h up
Rooster:
and half corona. Same. I have these in the morning
Gizmo:
sometimes.
Gizmo:
Yeah. They're great little Yeah.
Rooster:
Driving simulator. Smoke. Mhmm.
Bam Bam:
But the coffee is delicious.
Gizmo:
Oh, they're let me tell you something. These on the light Come on, pooga. Some of the best of some of the best of Habano cigars.
Gizmo:
It's everything you expect in terms of hupman DNA. And, you know, for that, it's it's a it's a winner all day long. They're they're wonderful.
Pagoda:
Undoubtedly, one of my favorite short cigars and introduced to me by Bam.
Bam Bam:
Is that right?
Pagoda:
Bam Bam. Yeah. On the one night in the North Lounge.
Bam Bam:
I got my first one from either senator or Puba.
Gizmo:
I don't remember who. Yeah. They're good. I like them because they're portable. They come in the these tins that They're beautiful.
Gizmo:
You know? So if you buy a few tins and then you they also come in a,
Senator:
Dress box.
Gizmo:
In a dress box.
Bam Bam:
They also come pretty good out of that box as well.
Gizmo:
Cardboard? Yeah. You know? Yeah. Totally.
Gizmo:
But when you have the tins, you can you can throw you can throw 5 of them in there, and then and they're actually curved.
Rooster:
These would be great in a 50 cab.
Gizmo:
Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:
Yeah. Right? So the thing that the Pooh was pointing out, so let's talk about the packaging. So they come in 2 different variations, the aluminum pack of 5 cigars, and and they also come in a dress box of 25 cigars in the cardboard. The aluminum pack that Puba has in his hand, they come in, are they 5 by 5.
Gizmo:
Right?
Grinder:
Yes. So they come
Gizmo:
in they come in 5 aluminum tins in a pack of 5 of those tins in cardboard.
Bam Bam:
Mhmm.
Gizmo:
And each of the tins, as Pupa was just mentioning, there's ridges where each of the cigars sit inside the tin. So when you throw it in your pocket or your bag, the cigars are not banging around Sure. You know, as you're moving around or traveling. So it makes for a really convenient way to carry 5 cigars with you Totally. As you're as you're traveling.
Gizmo:
It's a
Bam Bam:
very, very cool presentation.
Gizmo:
It is. It's a it's a it's a cigar that I always share with people. Fits in, like, your shooting jacket. You know what I'm saying? Or it fits in, like, your golf bag.
Gizmo:
Or you go to a wedding and you can carry them in carry them right in your your suit jacket pocket, like the outer pocket. You can just throw it right in, and it fits actually almost like it's designed for.
Gizmo:
And this is the perfect length of a cigar at a wedding where you can enjoy a cigar and not get a lot of shit from the people you're with for disappearing smoking like
Bam Bam:
Correct.
Gizmo:
An hour long cigar. You know, you're in and out in 25, 30 minutes and satisfied, you check the box, had a great cigar, and you're back in the action.
Gizmo:
100%. And it's approachable for anybody, and and the the experienced boat smoker and the, and a new smoker because it's not overly strong. But it's got a lot of body to it, which is which is good.
Gizmo:
These are tasty cigars.
Grinder:
If you go
Pagoda:
to an Indian wedding, you can smoke all 5 of them, one after the other in the wedding itself. No. No. The wedding is just so long. You you need a break.
Pagoda:
That's cool.
Gizmo:
That's cool. You can smoke
Senator:
you can smoke 5 of them during the wedding, but you can't bring alcohol in? Didn't you tell me that you have to, like, drink in the parking lot or something crazy?
Pagoda:
That often happens on the wedding day. So there's a lot of drinking before and after, but a lot of traditional families on the wedding day don't allow for alcohol being served at the wedding. So then And you go smoke
Senator:
at the wedding? No.
Pagoda:
Well, nobody smokes, but you could ideally.
Bam Bam:
Depends on where.
Gizmo:
Isn't there cold
Gizmo:
In India,
Gizmo:
you have
Senator:
a lot of a goat is getting thrown out of a lot of Indian weddings.
Pagoda:
No, but then you go to the parking lots and in the parking lots, there's typically a huge liquor.
Rooster:
That's where the bar is.
Pagoda:
That all the men are hanging out of the
Bam Bam:
The bar is in the trunk. It's in the trunk.
Gizmo:
But isn't there
Pagoda:
Like, this trunk is in the
Bam Bam:
Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:
Yeah. Isn't there, like, gold being exchanged?
Pagoda:
Oh, no. That's happening inside. Inside.
Gizmo:
Inside. Like, there's a smelter in the smelter.
Bam Bam:
It's At the
Gizmo:
wedding. And shit. And they're like, okay.
Gizmo:
This sounds like total
Gizmo:
lunacy. No. It's I'm not kidding. I This is
Bam Bam:
a smelter.
Gizmo:
There's there's gold. There's a lot of exchange. Lot of exchanging of gold from
Gizmo:
what I understand.
Rooster:
Understand when an Indian wedding happens, you know, it's like a culmination or coming together of 2 families. Right? So the daughter is coming, let's say, you know, to your house or vice versa. So the families give the daughter a lot of stuff, and her family Does
Gizmo:
he realize he's describing all weddings? No. I mean, this
Gizmo:
is this is
Gizmo:
a 5 day
Gizmo:
it's a 5 day event.
Bam Bam:
There's an endowment there, right? So it's
Gizmo:
a kind of It goes on for 5 days. Completely different days now. Right.
Rooster:
It's an American wedding.
Gizmo:
There's a bride and a groom.
Bam Bam:
Wait, wait. You're allowed to tailgate at a wedding at this wedding. So that's that's unique.
Gizmo:
So the first day, you audit the gems. The second day, you audit the silver. The third day, you audit the gold.
Bam Bam:
You fire up the smelter.
Gizmo:
So, boys, what are we getting on the flavor profile here on the light of the h Upman Half Corona? Such a good cigar.
Senator:
Yeah. For For me, I always get a nuttiness with on this cigar that I really like, and I think Pooh was talking about how this has, like, kind of universal appeal. I've given this cigar to novice cigar smokers just because it's a short smoke and something easier for them to handle. Every single time, there's, like, as much enthusiasm for this stick from someone who barely smokes cigars as us who obviously have smoked a 1,000 of these. So I just think the flavor profile, it's, nutty cedar, a little earthiness A little baking spice.
Senator:
Little baking spice, and, it's nice. It's complex for a little cigar. And and the one thing I mentioned, the combustion for how small this cigar is is awesome.
Pagoda:
It's awesome.
Bam Bam:
And it's so good. It's easy to smoke very fast.
Gizmo:
And it has the perfect draw on it too. There's just a for me, there's just a touch of resistance. Yeah. But it always, like like you said, there's always great combustion, great smoke output, and it always burns perfectly. I could take this all the way down to the knob.
Gizmo:
It's perfect the entire way through.
Bam Bam:
Oh, yeah.
Rooster:
I mean Never never had a bad one.
Bam Bam:
Never. No. No. It's true.
Gizmo:
Toe toe to toe, I think a part of the short, if, you you know, if I had to pick one short smoke for the rest of my life, it would be that. This would be right behind it.
Senator:
I feel the opposite.
Gizmo:
I do too. This. Yeah. I think I would take this one. The thing that I wish was different about this cigar is I wish there was like I wish instead of being 3 and a half inches, I wish it was 5 or 4a half or 5a half.
Gizmo:
You know? Because it's just such a great flavor profile. I wish there would it just lasted a little while.
Bam Bam:
Wish that about a lot of cigars, but that change in dimension could change experience
Gizmo:
Yeah. Possibly. It serves
Rooster:
some purpose. Yeah. You know, at the at the end of a session or at the beginning in the morning That's
Gizmo:
awesome.
Rooster:
You just wanna have a short smoke. It's still a good half an hour smoke.
Bam Bam:
Yeah, man. Yeah.
Rooster:
At least.
Gizmo:
Yeah. I just like I just think the part of your short just out punches its weight class just a little bit more, than this may, but to each his own. It's a it's they're close.
Grinder:
Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:
I think the shorts age great in a in a big 50 cab. I think I think they've they lend themselves towards towards aging maybe maybe a little better, but these get better with age
Bam Bam:
as well. For those that retrohale in a room, aren't you getting a little sweetness on that?
Gizmo:
I am. I'm getting a little spice as well, a little baking spice. On the
Bam Bam:
finish of it, maybe.
Gizmo:
Yep. And I'm getting a little through the retro.
Bam Bam:
Pretty sweet, though.
Gizmo:
I the thing I'm getting on the in the back of, like, traditional draw on the back of my throat is a little bit of licorice. I have, like, a little bit of a licorice thing happening. I I often do with these.
Bam Bam:
Did you have that earlier today?
Gizmo:
No. Okay. I actually despise the flavor of licorice.
Senator:
I've I've never gotten licorice. Neither by.
Pagoda:
No. No. No.
Gizmo:
I mean,
Bam Bam:
I love licorice, but not ever have had it in this little cigar.
Gizmo:
I get it in these.
Rooster:
I'd be like like anise. Yeah.
Gizmo:
It tastes like an upman. I mean, it's they're nice.
Gizmo:
So let me ask you this flavor profile wise. Like I said, we've done 8 other h upmans on the podcast. This is the 9th tonight. You know, we went through the entire Connie line. We did we did some of the other classics.
Gizmo:
We did a robusto with Anjanos, the 46 from the magnum series, magnum 50, the number 2. Where would you guys say that this is closest to out of the larger format
Bam Bam:
it's good question.
Gizmo:
Cigars? What do you think this is closest to? Because I have what I think is an answer to that.
Senator:
I mean, I have an answer. I don't know if people are gonna agree with
Gizmo:
it.
Senator:
Yeah. To me, it's closest to the up and
Gizmo:
2. That's exactly my answer as well.
Bam Bam:
Well, that has a lot of baking spice in it that so this is
Senator:
it's faint
Bam Bam:
here, though. I get more coffee and, earthiness here, but I do get the faint sort of spice.
Gizmo:
I agree. What else in
Senator:
the Upman line would you say it's closer to than that?
Bam Bam:
I mean, they're all
Rooster:
It's not it's not all like the Connie line. Agreed. It's it's not the Upman 46. It's different.
Senator:
Has more, like, more negative. And, like, regular spice, not baking spice.
Bam Bam:
And the 56. Is unusual. It's that's different than almost every other Upman in the line too.
Gizmo:
Yeah. And the 50 is weak.
Rooster:
With Upman too. Yeah.
Gizmo:
Upman too is probably the closest. Although that's the the big daddy, I think, is That's true. Of the Uptman line.
Bam Bam:
Yeah.
Gizmo:
That's
Gizmo:
Maybe aside from the sir Winston
Bam Bam:
Mhmm.
Gizmo:
Which we haven't done on the podcast.
Rooster:
It might be the same blend.
Bam Bam:
Could be.
Rooster:
It could be. You know? It could be.
Gizmo:
The DNA is definitely there, though.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. That's true.
Gizmo:
Is good.
Bam Bam:
That's true. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:
We did that part of Gasiliados, recently. I guess, what, 2 weeks ago. And you talk about the DNA being absent.
Grinder:
That was a Yeah.
Senator:
It needs some, like, gene therapy or something to, like, fix that fucking blend.
Grinder:
That was terrible. A steroid shot that's about. Terrible.
Gizmo:
I've been, like, I've been looking at that box in my tower, and every time I see it, I get angry at the part of Casale I have because it was such a letdown.
Rooster:
Put some 8 9 eights in it.
Bam Bam:
I should. Blend.
Senator:
The other thing about this, Dick, we obviously are, I think, generally low on cigars that come in a dress box. We obviously prefer a cabinet. This is, for me, the one exception where when I started to run out of being able to, at a time, source tins, I ordered a dress box of 25 just to try them. Honestly, they were just as good Sure. As the tins.
Senator:
And so I think this is one cigar that you don't need to be wary of ordering
Bam Bam:
Yep.
Senator:
A dress box of. I think that they smoke great.
Bam Bam:
I have 2 dress boxes, and they all perform very nicely.
Gizmo:
I think also the the important thing to note, when we first started buying these 4 or 5 years ago, the tins were everywhere.
Bam Bam:
And now price was so
Gizmo:
And the price was, yeah, of course. Ridiculously reasonable. A quarter of what it is now or a third.
Senator:
I mean, for context, we were paying, what, like, $130?
Gizmo:
Yeah.
Gizmo:
For 25
Senator:
of them?
Grinder:
Yeah. Crazy. If only
Pagoda:
I'd executed on the wisdom from senator years ago.
Senator:
To stock up?
Pagoda:
Would it lower
Gizmo:
the Stock
Pagoda:
up. It went from, like, 129 to 179.
Senator:
Oh, yeah. These were the ones that you kept waiting. I was yelling. I'm like, this fucking order it.
Bam Bam:
That's still pretty damn good. I'd pay 1.79.
Senator:
70 or less.
Pagoda:
Was like the market where, you know, they fluctuate and they'll come back down. No.
Rooster:
Yeah. Good luck with that, Miguel.
Gizmo:
No. This isn't the Russell 2000.
Pagoda:
No. I know.
Gizmo:
So, yeah, unfortunately, the the tins really haven't been coming up as much as the dress boxes have, you know, coming out of Cuba. So, you know, for me now, I I look at those tins. They're very refillable. So when I have a dress box, I have the tins. I just load them up.
Gizmo:
I keep the cedar in them. Correct. And they work perfect. Yeah.
Bam Bam:
They're really fun. It is fun.
Gizmo:
They're just fun. They're they're handy. They're fun. I enjoy them.
Rooster:
And they smoke pretty good fresh.
Bam Bam:
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Senator:
That that's another thing with this cigar. Like, I think Pooh was talking about the aging potential of the part of the short, and I think that that cigar needs a little bit of age. This cigar, young, it it starts out really well. I like, you can enjoy these young just as much as you can with some age.
Gizmo:
Yeah. Yeah. For sure. The part of the the part of the short packs a little bit more punch. It has that part of his DNA.
Gizmo:
It's got so with in that cat in the in the cabinet, there's something that happens, in the marinade, I think, with the party that's short that, you know, that ends up netting out in a pretty cool place.
Senator:
Do you like the party to get short,
Gizmo:
poomba? Well, I just think I just think it it it like, for for the price and and and the taste and the flavor that it delivers, it just out punches You
Gizmo:
know what's unfortunate?
Gizmo:
You know what
Gizmo:
I'm so sorry? About our experience here on the podcast with the party to get short? That we're smoking an upman? No. When we reviewed that cigar, however long ago that was, it only got an 8.
Gizmo:
The way we talk about it, I think it just underperformed that time.
Senator:
Probably this. I think there's more variation in how the short smokes and performs than there is with this Upman.
Gizmo:
Mhmm.
Senator:
In that, I have never had anything other than a stellar Upman half corona. And I've had some mediocre partiga shorts and some great shorts. And I also don't really love the shorts out of the dress box like I do the the cabinet. So, like, I think that that has to factor into that rating. I mean, why else would that have scored low?
Gizmo:
I think it's pretty well established that the Partiga shorts need a couple of years.
Gizmo:
Mhmm.
Gizmo:
You need they need a couple of years of just undisturbed marinade, you know, minimum And for the price, and then what you get at the end of that, at the other end of the tunnel is, I think, something really nice.
Bam Bam:
Mhmm.
Gizmo:
Yeah. And I think to your point, I think these also age well. I mean, we're smoking tonight, box code t u e, November 20. I think these smoke, as you said, really well, you know, is off the truck as soon
Gizmo:
as you
Gizmo:
get them, and they just continue to get better with age. They I don't think these have the lull that the Particle Short does young, probably because it's just naturally a a stronger blend. It's a little bit that that cigar has a little bit more oomph to it for a short smoke. Just takes a little bit more time to kinda mature or marinate as you're saying.
Bam Bam:
I do think, you know, combo gives merit to the idea that both cigars kinda go hand in hand. I think they're great brother, sister combo for a night.
Senator:
One thing, and this may be controversial. I think young that this smokes just as well as with age. And I know that's, like, crazy to say, but you'll recall you bought a heavily aged I did. Bunch of tins of these up and half coronas, and you weren't all that thrilled with them.
Gizmo:
They did not perform well.
Senator:
Wow. And the reason I feel that way is, you know, we've smoked countless of these cigars young. Every time I smoke one of them, I have never said to myself, I just wish I had some more of this or some more of that or that you showed, and I wish it didn't. For me, the experience is flawless all the way through.
Rooster:
Very, very consistent. Yes.
Senator:
So to me, I'm not pursuing anything more than I'm getting out of it, which is what age, you know, usually does. You have that smoke and you say, that last third was a little muddled or, didn't deliver something I was looking for. And with time, that's gonna improve. I haven't had that experience with this cigar, and you getting a heavily aged box of them and not being all that thrilled with it, I would just say to the listener, this is one unique Cuban cigar that you don't need to pay a premium for age. You don't need to let this sit to get the fullest, best experience out of it.
Senator:
To me, the best experience comes young just as much as it does with age.
Bam Bam:
Just buy what you find. Yeah. Grab them.
Gizmo:
Yeah. I I I have I have some with age 9 plus years of age, and, they're good. I mean
Gizmo:
See, the ones that I had, I think they were 1010 years old at the time, senator. I don't remember if they were 2013 or 2014. Obviously, we were chasing 20 fourteens pretty heavily after we did the age up and number twos on the podcast from 2013, the loves. I got a box of 20 25 of the half coronas from that same year, not from the Up and Factory. I don't think they make many of them at the Up and Factory.
Gizmo:
They they're all out of provincials, but they were not great. Yep. You know? And I was pulling nineteens twenties, and they were blowing the doors off of those thirteens and fourteens. So it just might have been a bad run or bad box.
Gizmo:
It could have been. I I Who knows? And also, when when I when I purchased when I purchased them, it wasn't as big of, nearly as much of a premium. I mean, it was maybe whatever it was. It was it was a nominal amount more, you know, a few years back, like, pre COVID, that that I picked some up.
Gizmo:
And, I bought a bunch of tins and I enjoyed them. Do you know what I mean? And so I thought they'd benefited from age versus the young ones, but the premium, the Delta wasn't nearly as big. I mean, we were talking, this was not a thing. Like maybe I paid, I don't know, 40 or $50 more for all that.
Gizmo:
More for for for for the Sure. You know what I mean? Like a delta. Right. It wasn't that much.
Gizmo:
Like, it wasn't it was a different scene.
Bam Bam:
So I'm curious. Grinder, this is your first half corona. How do you, what's your experience, man?
Grinder:
I love it. I think the aroma is fantastic. Yeah, man.
Gizmo:
It is.
Grinder:
Like, from the from the minute, one of the things that I enjoy at the onset was just taking in the, like, the plumes of smoke that you guys had. That was phenomenal. And right now, I'd say definitely, the baking spice I'm getting was was, like, on the faint of a cinnamon, a little bit cinnamony. It's very mellow. It's got, like, a I I did get some of that it I I wouldn't say it's an Easter licorice, but it's got some kind of faint in the back.
Grinder:
It's way back.
Gizmo:
Very much in the back. Yeah. And and it's accentuated when you kinda, like, smack your tongue against the roof of your mouth. I agree. It it you can really, really pick that flavor up.
Gizmo:
And then once you have it, it it sticks with you.
Senator:
And it's not grinder. Grinder. Give us a petrichor or something here. If it's not licorice or at anise, what what are
Gizmo:
that is picture. Just smack your tongue at the back
Bam Bam:
of your mouth. That would do it.
Grinder:
Let me let me bring out my thesaurus. I I would say it it's, it's not it's not petrichor. I don't think it's anise or licorice, but it's got that that it's it's directionally in the right ballpark. And it's but it's a good flavor. I don't like licorice myself either.
Grinder:
I would say this is a fantastic smoke. I think I wish I to your point earlier, I wish I had more of it. Yeah. I'm like Yeah.
Gizmo:
We're already at the
Gizmo:
We're already done. The cigar. I know. But, like, that's the that's the beautiful thing about it. I had smoked that Padron, the short what's the that I sent a picture?
Gizmo:
35?
Gizmo:
The Padron 19 26 number
Gizmo:
35. 35.
Gizmo:
Right. Very similar in size to this.
Gizmo:
Yes. Right.
Gizmo:
A little bit longer maybe.
Gizmo:
A bit. So I smoked one of those and, over the weekend. And I just said to myself, this is like the 1st 3rd of an 80th.
Pagoda:
Mhmm.
Gizmo:
Almost. It it has that kinda like DNA, and it leaves you wanting I think sometimes the beauty of a of a short smoke is it leaves you wanting a little bit more and it kinda you you end up over indexing. Like, oh, I want more. I want more. I want more.
Gizmo:
But maybe if it was more, it wouldn't be more.
Bam Bam:
That's also
Gizmo:
It's just is what it is. That's also
Bam Bam:
a great nightcap. So the whole concept of a nightcap, it's just enough to get you home, which I love. Yeah. After 4 or 5 cigars, that number 35, this guy, the part of the short, great nightcap.
Grinder:
So this is a very traditional, like, nightcap, like, cigar. How does it pay how does it pay you know, compare smoking at the onset of an evening for you guys?
Bam Bam:
I've never done that.
Gizmo:
I think
Gizmo:
I yeah. This is the first time I've done it.
Senator:
That's what we're doing.
Gizmo:
Yeah. You know, this is this is performing as well as it does for me at the end of the night. I think the thing I like about it at the end of the night, especially as you move from, you know, the way we traditionally run rotation is we'll do our Cuban cigar. We'll do or 2 or 3, and then we'll move into Dominican cigars, and then we'll move into Nicaraguan. So across that, we might do between 46.
Gizmo:
To me, the way that this performs at the end of that night after having a a more full Nicaraguan experience, maybe from a Padron or or something like that, is it kinda just it rounds it out with this sweetness Yeah. And this more timid in comparison flavor profile. It's it's just a very refreshing way to end the evening.
Grinder:
I would imagine that, I mean, from my experience, this is the the flavors are are are not, I would say, medium, medium to full on flavor, but they're delicate. Like, there's that delicacy in in on the palate. So I, you know, I was wondering because if you if if we have a a cigar session, we're smoking 4, 5, 6, 7, I'm looking at you, senator, cigars in a in a session. You know, it could it could kinda dilute the palate a little bit, and this is this to me is a little delicate.
Gizmo:
So I was
Grinder:
you know, I'd be keen to understand.
Gizmo:
I think
Gizmo:
it performs well.
Senator:
I I do too. For for me, a true nightcap cigar is a cigar that has just enough flavor that no matter what you've smoked before it, it's still gonna hold up. But it has, like, a very smooth, easygoing delivery because after 4 or 5 cigars, you're not looking to get kicked around. You're not looking for, like, a ton of strength. And so I think, like, this cigar, I think some of the other short smokes that we like, like that Davidoff Belicoso Yeah.
Senator:
I think they all have in common, whether it's new world or Cuban, that there's enough flavor to keep you interested no matter how much you've had before, but it's so easygoing that it's just like a nice mellow way to end
Bam Bam:
the night. What's interesting is they all have one similarity for me is that they're all on the sweeter side. Either a dessert or a fruit or a baking spice, something, that is a great finish for me.
Grinder:
It's just memorable. Dessert. Yeah. It's true.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. It's memorable, and it's just you go home. You're done. It's true. Very satisfying.
Rooster:
Do you ever smoke the short the punch at the end? Short the punch.
Bam Bam:
No. No. That's a little bit kind of a robust, though.
Gizmo:
That's a that's like an opener or second cigar
Bam Bam:
for me. Like a second cigar.
Gizmo:
Or a Saturday morning with a cup of coffee Doug.
Rooster:
Yeah. That's a very sweet
Bam Bam:
Oh, you know I love that cigar.
Grinder:
Peanut butter.
Bam Bam:
I love that cigar.
Senator:
It is, but it's bigger than most
Gizmo:
of the short snugs.
Pagoda:
The ring sizes.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. It is. Yeah. Great cigar.
Gizmo:
So, boys, we normally don't jump into it this quickly, but I just wanna take a sip of our pairing
Grinder:
because we're almost done with
Gizmo:
before we move
Gizmo:
to the end of the cigar here so that we have a a reference point, for rating this, this rum we have tonight. So we're we're trying again. If the a keen listener will remember at the PCA show, we brought, Luis Robles from Florida Connor on the episode with us, actually, and he gave us I think it was 23 year aged. What was it, senator?
Grinder:
It was heavily aged. Yeah.
Gizmo:
Florida Connor rum. And tonight, we have the 12 year age, the standard production you find at any liquor store.
Bam Bam:
Right.
Gizmo:
And we're gonna
Bam Bam:
do both of those
Gizmo:
ones tonight.
Bam Bam:
Maybe I'm wrong. But this right here Yeah. Is delicious.
Senator:
I was gonna say that. I was like, oh,
Bam Bam:
this is delicious tonight.
Senator:
The the one we did on the pod before, just by the way, it was the 130th anniversary. There wasn't an age statement. That's correct. It's definitely heavily aged. Got it.
Gizmo:
Got it. It's, it has the viscosity of a cognac. Yeah. It, there there's some faint notes of vanilla, some faint notes of cinnamon, and caramel.
Bam Bam:
Mhmm. It's really quite delicious. Now we sampled this at the show. We did. Right?
Bam Bam:
Yeah. We did. Among a few other.
Senator:
And this is their entry point, and this is their 12 year. I mean, the price point is insane. Yeah.
Bam Bam:
So how much is this?
Senator:
At total wine, you can get this for $35 a bottle.
Gizmo:
Dude, I'm kinda like a Snickers it's like a little bit like a Snickers bar, but with vanilla.
Grinder:
A Snickerdoodle is worth
Bam Bam:
stocking up on right now. The way it's drinking, it's delicious.
Senator:
The the big thing for me with this, Luis talked about this on the podcast, and I think that's why when we met him at PCA, we were intrigued to actually have him on because Lizard Luis. Yes. Because it's so hard in the rum space to find rums without added residual sugar
Gizmo:
Yes.
Senator:
And even other additives that they put in there. And the fact that Florida Kanye, their entire line, they're, like, so big on this. There's no added sugar, no additives whatsoever. And if you look at most rums that you can find at, like, the $35 price point, you'll try the rum, and it'll be sweet as convenient. You'll say, well, one, it's too sweet if you don't love a really sugary rum.
Senator:
But you'll always say, wow. It's very smooth. And it's smooth because they've poured all that sugar in there to mask how harsh it really is. The fact that this is $35 with no additives.
Bam Bam:
Incredible.
Senator:
And just with a little ice or a little water to open it up, drinks as smoothly as it does, but has a rich flavor in that viscosity that Poop was talking about. To me, it really delivers a lot at a crazy low price point.
Gizmo:
Yeah. And and it has a little bit of a dry finish. So it's, it's, it's fine. It's sweet upfront when it which, which I think is a merit. And then it doesn't have that, that sweet finish, that that long sweet finish where you're like, kinda like, this is this is too much.
Gizmo:
Like
Senator:
Yeah. Like, you feel like you just
Gizmo:
had syrup or
Bam Bam:
something. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. What's cool is if you remember lizard lizard Luis, what he was saying about the process, it's a very efficient, almost zero waste, 0 carbon method of producing this.
Bam Bam:
It's impressive as hell.
Grinder:
When we had this at PCA, we didn't have ice, did we? No. I remember it I remember drinking it kinda hot. The 12 year. My I remember thinking it was kinda
Bam Bam:
too hot. Point, you need a a chip or 2 of ice cream.
Grinder:
Yeah.
Senator:
Yeah. For the 12.
Grinder:
Yeah. It's much smooth. Like, I didn't even try it neat this time. Mhmm.
Bam Bam:
So I
Gizmo:
think what I like about this is is we're having this Cuban cigar, and we've thrown out so many different notes of flavor in this Cuban cigar in it. I think this performs medium, this cigar, right, in in in body. What I like about the rum is it it it's very complimentary. A lot of rum, I think, especially rum that can almost overproof rum. I'm thinking, of course, of, like, that four square we did a long time ago.
Bam Bam:
Oh, that would
Gizmo:
You know? Not the Cuban stuff. Most of the Cuban stuff performs well with the Cuban cigar, but the non Cuban stuff that we've had, it drinks hot as we've just said. With a chip or 2 of ice in this, it's very complimentary. It's mellowed out.
Bam Bam:
Not overwhelming.
Gizmo:
It's not meek. Like, it the the chip or 2 of ice doesn't take too much away, and I think it performs really well with the cigar.
Bam Bam:
Delicious to drink.
Senator:
It's so enjoyable. It's really versatile. I I was so excited to do this because recently, when I was in DC a couple weeks ago, Shelley's backroom, we've mentioned many times on the pod, the the kind of one cigar lounge in DC. I was looking on their spirits menu. Normally, I would order a scotch or a cognac there.
Senator:
And having recently tried Florida conga, I'm, like, always looking for it on, like, bar menus, and they're working on growing their distribution. I mean, Luis talked to us about that. Even in Vegas, we had a hard time finding Florida Cana where we were. And I couldn't believe at Shelley's. I mean, I as I've been traveling since PCA, I check everywhere to try to find Florida Kanye.
Senator:
I have not been successful. And at Shelley's, they actually had the 12 year on their menu. And I had a glass with a Cuban cigar, and it was just awesome. Yeah. And, this is now only my second time that I'm actually enjoying a a whole cigar with this spirit, and it it's just so good.
Senator:
I I I I can't believe this is $35. $35.
Pagoda:
It's really delivering. Yeah. I I don't know. I get a bit of, coffee ish taste as well. I don't know.
Pagoda:
And it's been you know, I asked myself this question at least a few times. Is that coffee ish? It's it really does feel like it. It's been very smooth, and it's been fantastic for a 12 year old.
Grinder:
I think I think rum and a Cuban cigar are it's like a match made in heaven. It's a perfect match.
Gizmo:
I mean, we're in Cuba. That's all we drink. You know, obviously, there's not a ton of single malts running around or ton of other spirits, but, you know, in Cuba when you're there. But if we have the choice, we still reach for rum when we're in Cuba. Sure.
Grinder:
And you guys know I'm not, like, a big rum guy. And there's always something that just clicks, you know, with with rum with with a good rum from, you know, the Caribbean with a good Cuban cigar. It's just it's like a it's like magic.
Senator:
Yeah. And I think the thing that's excited us about Florida Cana is it's as close to a Cuban rum as I think exists. I mean, we talk about Cuban rum. Even other rums that we've done, they talk about certain blenders try to mimic the Cuban style of rum, which is a softer rum. Rum outside of Cuba, whether you're talking about the Dominican, Jamaica, Barbados Mhmm.
Senator:
Any of these places, they're bolder rums. They're they some of them drink more like bourbons. They're meant to be fuller experiences. And Florida cana, I feel like, skews much closer to the Cuban style of rum, which is a very soft delivery while still having a good amount of flavor.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. What's different about this, though, you do need a chip. For the 12 year. Yeah. Yeah.
Bam Bam:
To match that smoothness. And you get it once you put that piece in. It's fantastic.
Grinder:
Very It's got
Rooster:
it's got really nice, deep, rich color.
Bam Bam:
Beautiful color. Yeah.
Gizmo:
I did notice that in the bottle when I picked it up
Bam Bam:
That's gorgeous.
Gizmo:
How it's it's very dark. I mean, even for a 12, it's it's got a lot of color to
Bam Bam:
it. Yeah. Yeah. And the beauty
Senator:
is knowing that, like, you see some rums, particularly some higher end Dominican rums, and I say that with air quotes, that have even added food coloring that definitely impart like this really rich intense color. And you know that because they will not claim that there's no additives in their rum. They can't do it. And for us to be certain, there are no additives in here, but yet that color is naturally produced from the aging and maturing process in those barrels Mhmm. Is very cool.
Bam Bam:
Luis, you're doing something right.
Gizmo:
So speaking of Cuban Sugar Boys and rum, this is a sad story out of Cuba that was pretty big news a couple days ago. BBC put out an article saying that Cuba's iconic sugar industry has all but collapsed, which is terribly sad. I mean, the island, you know, if
Bam Bam:
you think about surprise right now with all of everything that's going on.
Rooster:
What isn't collapsing
Bam Bam:
in Cuba? Correct.
Gizmo:
It's it's terribly sad. For 100 of years, I mean, sugar was the the mainstay of the Cuban economy and the export economy. Obviously, sugarcane is the primary component of the rum that we so so much enjoy. But last season, Cuba's production fell to just 350 tons of raw sugar, an all time low for the country well below what they produced in 2019, which was 1,300,000 tons. So it's just it continues to degrade.
Gizmo:
And and, obviously, it's just another indicator of what's going on in Cuba.
Grinder:
Yeah. Did they cite any, like,
Gizmo:
reasons why? Yeah. The BBC says it's really years of chronic mismanagement and underinvestment, sounds very similar to another industry we're familiar with, have wrecked the once thriving industry. Today, sugar receives less than 3% of state investment as the Cuban government chooses to back tourism as its main economic motor instead. So, you know, if I'm Habanos, if I'm an investment partner in Cuba reading this article about an a historic industry on this island collapsing like this, seeing the same patterns applied to what's going on with tobacco
Gizmo:
under investment.
Gizmo:
Yeah. You know, like, the the the drop in production in crop, it continues to drop year after year, and you can blame hurricanes all you want. There's not a major hurricane hitting Pinar Del Rio every year, and it still continues to drop and drop and drop because of the underinvestment. So it it's just terribly sad to see these major, you know, motors for the economic health of Cuba completely falling apart. True.
Gizmo:
You know? And
Bam Bam:
There's nothing else you can really say.
Gizmo:
Yeah. It's it's just it's terrible.
Bam Bam:
But there are other factors. You know? You need gasoline to run crops and machines, and they have a gasoline shortage. That all goes inflation? Factors into it.
Bam Bam:
So how how how are you gonna produce acres and acres of sugar when your machinery can't run? Yeah. That's a factor.
Senator:
No. That's exactly it. I mean, in this BBC article, the guy that they interviewed, this guy, Miguel Guzman, talks about how there's not enough trucks in the fuel shortages mean that sometimes several days pass while they can't work.
Bam Bam:
It's unbelievable.
Senator:
And they're just sitting idle, not able to do anything. So all of this has definitely impacted their food.
Bam Bam:
General question. Do they import their gasoline? Because they don't make it there.
Senator:
Yeah. Everything's all good. Import it.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. Do we know
Gizmo:
where?
Pagoda:
I'm sure from Russia.
Gizmo:
Most of it's from Russia. Yeah. Wow. Obviously, Russia's not been a great partner,
Bam Bam:
though, and I'm up here too.
Gizmo:
Go ahead. You know, it's unfortunate that the it looks like the sugar industry is all but collapsed now, and it's just another problem here.
Bam Bam:
Are factors that are purposely creating this environment there for a reason.
Gizmo:
I don't know what it could be, Bam.
Bam Bam:
I don't know what it could be. A hostile takeover.
Grinder:
Bam, the conspiracy theorist.
Rooster:
Yeah. This is the CIA's next tactic to destabilize. Your tinfoil hat?
Grinder:
I did. Economic espionage.
Gizmo:
Go into your Jesse Ventura voice.
Poobah:
You know I was down down. I go down to to to the Baja, and and and that's where I that's that's that's where I I I I have my, you know, my get out, where I go to get out of when the chaos comes. When the chaos comes, I go to the Baja, and I have my people down there
Grinder:
in It's a good intersection.
Poobah:
You know, in the Baja.
Bam Bam:
RIP.
Gizmo:
And he's alive?
Rooster:
He's alive? Yeah.
Gizmo:
Oops. He's very
Gizmo:
much alive.
Gizmo:
No. For me
Gizmo:
He's alive in this room.
Poobah:
That's that's where I go because when when when the when the shit really hits the fan, you need, you know, you you you you need you need safety from because society will go mad.
Gizmo:
So, boys, we're baja.
Gizmo:
We're coming to the end of the h up and half corona here. I can't even believe we're saying that already. We're only about 40 minutes in, but, yeah, we're at the end of the cigar. Any final thoughts before we move to our rating on this one?
Senator:
Good till the last drop.
Gizmo:
I mean,
Senator:
it's just even at the very end, it's
Bam Bam:
just fingertips, and we love it right till the end.
Gizmo:
I do like that at the end, it picks up just a little bit Yeah. In intensity. It's a it's a great finish in there.
Gizmo:
Yep. It's like Maxwell House.
Gizmo:
Alright, boys. Let's move to the formal listed rating tonight on the h Upman half corona. Rooster, you're up.
Rooster:
Very good cigar. I mean, for a short smoke, how much it delivers, I mean, it's excellent. You can have it in the morning. You can have it at as the last smoke. I'm gonna give it a 9.
Rooster:
Nice. Puba.
Gizmo:
I'll give it a 9 as well. I think it's it's it's it's for what it is, it's fantastic. It's got h up in DNA. It's it's always consistent, and, it's one of my favorite short smokes of, in that badass essay catalog.
Gizmo:
I'm a little disappointed that Jesse Ventura didn't do the rating. But Well
Bam Bam:
well, circumstances can be arranged.
Poobah:
You know, when when when I need to get out of town and I need to grab something, convenient, along with my other necessities, you know, if the aliens are coming and they're coming you know they're coming from the universe. I I I do grab They're from the universe.
Gizmo:
They're coming from the universe.
Poobah:
They're coming there because they're coming. They're they are coming. I grabbed my my, a tin of of h up and, half coronas.
Grinder:
What's what's the x file remember the x files? There is that, like, line that they put on the marquee at the end of every episode, life exists out there or something like that. That just reminded me of that.
Bam Bam:
We are not alone.
Grinder:
We are not alone.
Pagoda:
Thank you.
Poobah:
We we we are not
Gizmo:
alone. There
Gizmo:
there are other there are others.
Poobah:
There are others with us. Don't kid yourself.
Gizmo:
So for me boys, the age up and half corona is a 10. I'm surprised to hear 2 nines. I'm actually a little angry at the nines. I think that this is the best of Cuban tobacco. I wish the format was 3 times as long.
Gizmo:
I wish this flavor profile was extended. I love it. I love it. I love it. I think it's just some of the best of of Cuban tobacco, some of the best of short Mhmm.
Gizmo:
Short format Cuban tobacco. It's excellent. It's a is short. All day long. Senator, go ahead.
Senator:
Thank first of all, thank you, Gizmo. I am outraged
Gizmo:
I am too.
Senator:
By the nines. Completely
Gizmo:
9 is a great sport.
Poobah:
Outrage. You're outraged.
Bam Bam:
You don't
Gizmo:
like it.
Grinder:
This is Rooster does not like this cigar.
Gizmo:
Number 1. It's a 9.
Senator:
Number it is not.
Rooster:
Why do you hate this cigar?
Grinder:
So much.
Pagoda:
It is not. I know. Right?
Senator:
Number 1, this is the most consistent Cuban cigar, period. Period. The entire Habanos catalog. We've smoked more half Coronas than probably any Cuban stick, and I have never once had a problem with this cigar. Every one of them has delivered a ton of flavor, been super enjoyable.
Senator:
The flavor profile and the blend is perfect. If I could have someone, you know, blend a cigar for me that would be a closer
Bam Bam:
Yeah.
Senator:
In a Cuban cigar, it would be exactly this.
Bam Bam:
And I would wish for 50 cabs of this.
Senator:
The construction on it is flawless. The combustion, a plus, and the flavor delivers every time. It's easily a 10. Thank you, senator.
Gizmo:
I completely agree.
Bam Bam:
Correct.
Gizmo:
We're gonna disregard the first two scores. Pagoda, go ahead.
Pagoda:
Well, we can't do that.
Senator:
We're gonna Hold on. And we're not gonna forget this. When we need to split up cigars, Brewster boobah
Bam Bam:
Or allocation. Yes. Good
Gizmo:
point. Good point.
Gizmo:
Pagoda, go ahead.
Pagoda:
It's a 10. I think it was a 10 even before I walked in.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. He's not wrong.
Pagoda:
No. I you know, it's it's like the experience that we've had with this and, you know, we've really, pursued the cigar, you know, over the last couple of years, and it's, been a staple, I think, you know, towards the end of the night. Every time we're looking for a short smoke, we look at each other and there's a a half growner, you know, just tends to pop out, and, it's such a pleasant experience right before you head home. And, for me, it's just a 10. The fact that I'm still smoking it and Rooster finishes I'm I'm I'm I think Rooster, you might have enjoyed it more than anything.
Pagoda:
He was smoking a bit faster, but, yeah, it's a 10 for
Gizmo:
me. Grinder.
Grinder:
It's a 10 for me.
Gizmo:
Wow. Here we go.
Grinder:
I First one. First one. I'm I'm excited to to smoke more because of the consistency comment. I I found the flavor profiles to be spot on. I like that it was very smooth.
Grinder:
I like that there were some nuance in the different tasting elements of my palate, you know, what what we talked about earlier, which is different. Like, usually, there's there's some balance and some nuance, but it's not as as stark in this, I found. So I I like the variety. I like the complexity with that. And, you know, short stick, I need I don't have a good short stick right now, so this might this might fit the bill.
Pagoda:
Yeah. It does, you know, it's complex, and it packs a punch for a short little cigar.
Grinder:
I It's it's amazing. I like the analogy to the dessert. You know, it's like a it's like a good meal. This would be
Bam Bam:
It's there.
Grinder:
Yeah. It's got that sweetness that just
Bam Bam:
And I think that's why we all fell in love with it really at the end of the day.
Grinder:
It's got the sweetness, but there's that saltiness that we didn't really talk about, which I got pretty heavily. So there's a that salt in sweet. It was like a caramel delight. It was fantastic.
Gizmo:
I mean, you didn't get it wrong, Grimder. Your first one. I'm impressed. Correct. Unlike Rooster, Bam Bam Bam.
Gizmo:
You're right.
Bam Bam:
I I've just lobbied for that allocation. I know you are. I mean, what can I say? It's a 10. We've loved this cigar from the moment we started smoking it.
Bam Bam:
It'll it'll never cease to be a part of any of our rotations. 10.
Senator:
Except except Rooster said he has none left.
Bam Bam:
He won't get any either.
Rooster:
I think for me, the Ramon Club Club Corona
Bam Bam:
The it's the
Pagoda:
Club Corona. That
Bam Bam:
is also quite delicious.
Gizmo:
That is really good. Yeah. Yeah. I'll take credit for that.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. So yeah. Go ahead. Yeah.
Gizmo:
Yeah. You're right. Credit for bringing that to the group.
Bam Bam:
He's true. It's true. Yep.
Gizmo:
It's a great it's a great cigar.
Bam Bam:
Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:
Hard to find kinda right now.
Bam Bam:
What's our rating, by the way?
Gizmo:
So, boys, that puts the formal lizard rating on the h up and half corona at a 9.7. Wow. Excellent rating for that cigar.
Poobah:
They put fluoride in the water, the government. And, it's not their job to put fluoride in the water. It's your mom and dad's job.
Gizmo:
Thanks, Jesse.
Senator:
Oh my goodness. We need to just talk with his voice every episode. Every episode.
Pagoda:
I think Pooh will be replaced by Jesse.
Poobah:
I think it's influenced the ratings.
Gizmo:
Oh god.
Senator:
The the last quick point I just wanna make on the half corona, the the thing we haven't mentioned that I think we need to the price point is also great. Yeah.
Gizmo:
It's a great
Senator:
price point. So hard to find an affordable Cuban cigar anymore. And the fact that, I mean, we used to be able to get these for, like, 4 or $5 a stick. Now About 8. $8.
Senator:
$8.
Gizmo:
Yeah. They're you know, if you get them in quantity, you can get them for 8 or 9. I think a little bit little little bit more if you get them in in small quantities.
Senator:
Is in line with most short smokes now. I mean, the Davidoff Belicoso we've talked about, you can find online for 8 and change. So this isn't far from most short smokes.
Bam Bam:
But the rating is low, in my opinion. A 97 for this historic, legendary low score? Yeah.
Rooster:
9.7 is low.
Rooster:
I don't I don't see how it's a crime. You know, this
Poobah:
is not
Pagoda:
criminal. Alright. Enough. Hey.
Gizmo:
You're asking.
Poobah:
I'm giving.
Gizmo:
Alright, boys. It's time to move into the second cigar tonight, The Arturo Fuente Rosato sungrown magnum r Vitola 44.
Bam Bam:
That's quite the name.
Gizmo:
A beautiful I I would say this is box pressed. I I I almost like a Semi. Semi box press press. Yeah. Cigar from the Dominican Republic.
Gizmo:
Semi, like, from coming remember coming to America? Yeah. He took way advantage of his privilege. I mean, we're in We're
Gizmo:
we're in the weeds tonight, though.
Gizmo:
No. We're not. No. We're not.
Bam Bam:
Can you hit me in my binoculars, please? No.
Gizmo:
No. Simmy would take advantage of, Eddie Murphy's character. He'd spend too much money. He'd put the hot tub in the apartment.
Bam Bam:
That's right.
Gizmo:
Do you know what I mean?
Gizmo:
When he's It's like show him his translator.
Gizmo:
Yeah. Right. It's just not right. You know? Send me too much.
Gizmo:
So, boys, let's cut this thing. See if we're getting on the cold draw on the wrapper.
Bam Bam:
The wrapper smells delicious.
Gizmo:
This cigar smells amazing.
Bam Bam:
You know, it's honestly, it's, for me, unlike a lot of cigars that Carlito makes. It seems different.
Gizmo:
Yeah. This this cigar at the foot smells unbelievable, honestly.
Bam Bam:
And the cold draw? Yeah. It's really different from any Fuente
Grinder:
that I've had. Lots of cedar, some sweetness.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. There's, like, a raisin type thing happening.
Gizmo:
It's definitely raisiny, something like that.
Bam Bam:
Which is a dry fruit, by the way. Right.
Gizmo:
It is a dry it is
Bam Bam:
a dry fruit.
Gizmo:
Here it is.
Senator:
Ladies and gentlemen, there it is.
Gizmo:
Enough to
Bam Bam:
it is. I'm just saying. Oh, by the way, so if you read the description online about this cigar
Gizmo:
Dried fruit?
Bam Bam:
They highlight dry fruit. And what do they use?
Senator:
Are you on the CA payroll now?
Bam Bam:
I well, no. Heavy cinnamon, we we should be getting on this nutmeg, dry fruit.
Rooster:
Baking spice.
Bam Bam:
Yeah.
Gizmo:
You know what the thing about Bam is? It's just he he can't sit it out. Like like, he can't What are you talking about? Well, he just he can't take a step back. You know what I mean?
Gizmo:
And just go, you know, I'm not gonna lean into the dried fruit right now. I'm gonna let somebody else say that.
Gizmo:
See, I think
Bam Bam:
you should
Gizmo:
lean into the dried fruit, but that's me. I am the no. Okay. You're the dried fruit?
Bam Bam:
Onward. Let's go.
Gizmo:
No. No. No. We're we're we're we're letting someone else call out the dried fruit, and then he goes because there is dried fruit in this. It's there, but it's just federal.
Gizmo:
Just just just let it bubble up to the top. You know
Bam Bam:
what I appreciate it. Yeah. You're right. You're right.
Gizmo:
I got a beautiful cigar, boys.
Pagoda:
Yeah. Uber, how would Jesse say dried fruit?
Poobah:
Dried fruit?
Gizmo:
Alright, boys. Let's light this thing. The Arturo Fuente Rosado, sun grown Magnum r, Vitola 44 from the Dominican Republic. It's a 47 ring gauge cigar by 4 and 7 eighths inches long.
Grinder:
I'm excited for this. I love Rosario wrappers.
Gizmo:
You know, I've actually never had a cigar from this line. So I'm pretty excited about this tonight. This was sent in, by the way, by listener Lizard Kamal. So thank you,
Bam Bam:
Lizard Kamal,
Gizmo:
for sending this in.
Bam Bam:
Love Lizard Kamal.
Grinder:
Such a generous listener.
Gizmo:
Oh. Wow. That's nice on the light.
Grinder:
It hits It is.
Gizmo:
It it yeah. Had a little bit of a punch to it.
Bam Bam:
It's actually quite delicious right now.
Senator:
And and I'm correct in saying lizard Kamal is a big Cuban cigar guy.
Pagoda:
Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:
Big Cuban cigar guy. He sent us the San Cristobal de la Habana El Principeche.
Bam Bam:
So Liza Kamal's got quite the Cuban collection. He does.
Senator:
Just say that because for any of the listeners that are big Cuban cigar guys as we all are
Gizmo:
Mhmm.
Senator:
There's some gems to be had in the new worlds.
Bam Bam:
And this could be one of them, senator. This is really quite beautiful off the left.
Gizmo:
We've found quite a few.
Grinder:
Yeah. This definitely has some age. This is rare. They say
Gizmo:
it's 10 years age, the wrapper, Ecuadorian wrapper. Well, Ecuadorian sumatria.
Grinder:
Yeah. Definitely.
Senator:
Do you just the the wrapper tastes good?
Bam Bam:
Yeah.
Senator:
It does. On, like, most cigars, you know, obviously, your your lips are touching the wrapper. You're getting some of the flavor of the wrapper, but there's not usually a lot there. You're it's the smoke that's delivering that. If if even on the cold draw, there's so much flavor on just this wrap.
Senator:
It's unbelievable.
Bam Bam:
So did you actually see a 10 year age statement on this? Because all the language I read that that doesn't say 10 years. It says heavily aged. Whatever I've read on this.
Grinder:
So I I read a, a review a review review blog where they say it's purported to be 10 years.
Senator:
I read the same. Yeah.
Bam Bam:
So they never confirmed that.
Grinder:
The retrohale. Have you guys retrohale yet?
Bam Bam:
Yes. Yeah. It's intense.
Gizmo:
It's very intense. I don't
Gizmo:
know how
Gizmo:
much I'm gonna be doing that this episode.
Gizmo:
I don't
Grinder:
know if I'm gonna do much of it either.
Bam Bam:
I find it to be pleasant, actually.
Grinder:
Yeah? We got nostrils of
Gizmo:
It's a little spicy there, Bam.
Senator:
A little spicy.
Gizmo:
Yeah. It's hit me a little hard. I will say you can taste the aged tobacco. This is one of those cigars you you taste that that significant age on on at least some of the tobacco.
Rooster:
Is it tobacco aged or the wrapper? The wrapper.
Bam Bam:
The wrapper. The wrapper.
Grinder:
Just the wrapper.
Bam Bam:
How's your draw, everybody? This is wide open for everybody.
Gizmo:
Wine. It's wide. It's very good.
Pagoda:
Yeah. And I like the size as well. Yeah.
Senator:
It feels great in the hand.
Gizmo:
Yeah. It feels great in the hand. It's a it's a bold expression up front. I feel like, in a good way.
Rooster:
Mhmm. What is this? Robusta?
Gizmo:
Or like a no. It's a 44 ring gauge. 47 ring gauge.
Gizmo:
47 by a little under 5 inches long.
Bam Bam:
So the number 44 apparently denotes the number of cigars in the box.
Grinder:
Not the 4.
Senator:
Which Fuentes is known for
Bam Bam:
the not the wreckage.
Senator:
Odd numbers
Gizmo:
That's true.
Senator:
In their box, especially in the Opus line. Yeah.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:
So they're calling this a robusto,
Gizmo:
by the way. I'm getting I'm getting white pepper, and I'm also getting some some sweet notes. Yeah. But I'm gonna let it cool off a bit. Just let it chill.
Rooster:
It tastes different than other Fuentes cigars.
Bam Bam:
It does. It does. Sure.
Rooster:
It's unlike the Hemingway series. Right? Not like the Don Carlos series.
Bam Bam:
Definitely not.
Rooster:
You know, it's it's different.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. It's more complex, I think.
Grinder:
It's like a it's like a leather potpourri.
Gizmo:
It really is.
Bam Bam:
You know what Puba called out pepper and some sweetness? That for me is the hallmark of a pretty complex experience, my opinion.
Senator:
There's also, like, a saltiness on the finish of this.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. Yeah. How much of it?
Senator:
It's like sweet and savory.
Gizmo:
I'm getting some really unique scent off the head of the cigar.
Bam Bam:
Oh, yeah?
Gizmo:
Where you draw from? Smell right
Bam Bam:
there. Very Oh, cinnamon for me, actually.
Gizmo:
It's a little it has a little, spiciness to it. Almost like a baking spice.
Bam Bam:
Cinnamon for me.
Gizmo:
Could be the wrapper. Maybe.
Grinder:
I agree with cinnamon. I mean, these are this wrapper's delicious. It's it's definitely the wrapper.
Gizmo:
Yeah. This is a great little budget cigar.
Bam Bam:
Honestly, it could be a nutmeg because they do call that out.
Rooster:
How much does this
Senator:
offer? Send me?
Gizmo:
Around $10.
Rooster:
Wow. Yeah. Readily available?
Gizmo:
Or Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It placed in the, Cigar Fish and Auto top 10 a few years
Bam Bam:
ago. 2016, I think, was number 6. Yeah.
Gizmo:
It was number 6 earlier. It was 7.
Rooster:
Yeah. So this comes 44 in a
Bam Bam:
box. 44 in a box. 47 ring gauge.
Gizmo:
Yeah.
Grinder:
This is a this has got a lot of heat to it.
Gizmo:
It's spicy to me.
Gizmo:
Like good spicy or bad spicy?
Gizmo:
Not sure yet. Okay.
Grinder:
It's good for me.
Senator:
I like it. For me, good.
Grinder:
I love it.
Rooster:
I think it's a pleasant spice. It's not, you know, it's not obtrusive. It's it's good. It's not
Bam Bam:
Not at all. Right?
Grinder:
The ash is, So
Gizmo:
it's really interesting. I was reading a little bit about this. So the Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper on this cigar, he take so when when Carlito was blending this, he was he was taking leaves placed lower on the plant than the ones used for the VSG line that we love so much, which gives it a little bit more of that leathery thing Mhmm. That we're experiencing tonight. Mhmm.
Gizmo:
And definitely that sweet spicy thing that's happening Yeah. Is coming from that, those leaves coming off the lower part of the Ecuadorian Sumatra plant.
Bam Bam:
Beautiful white ash on there. Yeah. Nice burn line.
Senator:
I just can't believe you don't really see this cigar very much. No. I had never even heard of it, let alone seen someone else smoke it until tonight. Same.
Gizmo:
I mean, he's just got so many cigars, so many lines, so many useless. I mean, think about how much shelf space you'd have to have you'd have to have as a retailer.
Bam Bam:
Carlito, Tranquilo, Tranquilo, man. You got a lot of cigars out there.
Rooster:
I mean, just in the Opus, there must be, like, 50 different lines.
Bam Bam:
Crazy. That's crazy. The and
Gizmo:
the the Hemingway, the rare pinks, the the Don Carlos, the preservers, the I mean, it's it's just crazy. And then the low line stuff, we're not even talking about the budget stuff.
Grinder:
Yeah. The smoke output is phenomenal. You know what this reminds me of? Don't you're gonna you're gonna chase at this a little bit. The, Hoya de Nicaragua has this rich rosado wrapper, and it's got that rich spiciness.
Grinder:
I get a little bit of that in this. Of course, we did the the Joy de Nicaragua on tango and didn't review it
Bam Bam:
well. Mm-mm.
Grinder:
I think we had some I think we had some I think that was a little wet. I think it disrupted the taste quite bit quite a bit.
Bam Bam:
On a good experience.
Grinder:
This is this is this reminds me of that, and I and I love it.
Bam Bam:
In a good way, of course.
Gizmo:
This cigar is definitely
Bam Bam:
more spicy than I was expecting. Everything I've read about it didn't mention any pepper at all.
Grinder:
Yeah. I'm not getting that word. I'm not getting pepper. I'm not getting any I mean, maybe
Bam Bam:
a little bit on the finish. Retro.
Grinder:
I'm I'm getting more horse rat horseradish on the on the retro. But but definitely on the flavor, it's it's more of the cinnamony Yeah. Slant as opposed to the pepper slant.
Bam Bam:
This was supposed to be a departure at that time for all of the bold, strong cigars that were coming out. He said he wanted to do something different. Right? Rich flavor profile in a medium delivery. I think he's achieved it, but it's still kind of on the strong side for most of us here, I think.
Grinder:
I think it I think it packs a strong punch, but not in the same way like a rich Padron one.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. Yeah.
Senator:
Yeah. I'm surprised honestly by the flavor profile because I have not had a Fuente that's spicy Mhmm. Before. I don't know if I'm alone in that. You're right.
Gizmo:
No. I agree.
Senator:
So I just wasn't expecting that coming in. I think even when you read the notes like Bam is saying, like, it describes this as very dessert like
Bam Bam:
Correct.
Senator:
Which is very much what we pursue, especially for, like, a a short format cigar. Absolutely. So, the spice for me, it was much fainter on the light, and it's picked up a little bit. And I'm just really hoping that it doesn't get any stronger than this because if it does Yeah. It's gonna ruin my experience.
Bam Bam:
I I think Poopah was correct earlier just letting you gotta let it settle in a bit, probably.
Grinder:
Yeah. He I'm not he wasn't sure yet. I think, I think, you know, to your point, senator, if this gets more intense, because I already feel it getting a little more, you know, more velocity, it would be
Pagoda:
a little it would be
Grinder:
a little too much. But
Senator:
I'm only
Grinder:
a centimeter in
Rooster:
I think it's good right now.
Pagoda:
Yeah. Begoda,
Bam Bam:
what do you think?
Gizmo:
Oh, I
Pagoda:
was just about to take a puff.
Bam Bam:
That was intentional, by the way.
Pagoda:
I was like, you know, I gotta love it. No. No. I I do I wish
Grinder:
you had a video camera right here.
Pagoda:
I'm glad your phones don't work. No. I I was, just drifting into a different thought for some reason. But, yeah, but, like, I'm really I'm really I'm really enjoying the cigar. I mean, I I like the way it's performing right now.
Bam Bam:
You know, I admire how you you've got a great capacity to drift off, which I think is a merit.
Pagoda:
What a what a compliment. No. No.
Bam Bam:
No. No. No. We all have very stressful lives. It's a merit to be able to do that.
Bam Bam:
I can't do that. I wish I could do that more often. Kudos to you, bro.
Pagoda:
Gonna come right back. Yeah, man.
Gizmo:
Sometime, you should go down to Mexico and take peyote if you wanna drift off and find yourself I may need to do that. And and bit No. I love it.
Pagoda:
I love it. I love it. Jesse's here.
Gizmo:
I feel like on the intro, I'm gonna have to say that I'm joined by senator, Grinder, Bam Bam, and Jesse Ventura.
Gizmo:
As governor of Minnesota, when I
Poobah:
met Fidel Castro, he looked me in the eye, and he told me I was a man of courage.
Gizmo:
Where do you
Pagoda:
come up with this?
Gizmo:
This is
Pagoda:
fantastic. Oh,
Gizmo:
god. Mhmm.
Grinder:
Good stuff.
Gizmo:
I don't know if I love this cigar.
Gizmo:
I'm with you. I don't like it at all.
Bam Bam:
It's, I mean Alright.
Senator:
Tell us how you really feel
Gizmo:
about that. I don't know. I don't think it's that good. Mhmm. It's it's,
Gizmo:
it really reminds me of a part of his short.
Gizmo:
It's very I don't know. It's kinda like spicy and peppery and risotto eating. Not my thing.
Rooster:
To me, it's not heavy on pepper. I'm not getting heavy pepper.
Bam Bam:
Are you enjoying it?
Rooster:
I like it so far. It's not bad.
Bam Bam:
It's not bad.
Senator:
It's not bad. I'm I'm kind of in between. I don't hate it. I don't love it. And I'm I'm just still in this, like I feel like in this tenuous position where I'm afraid that the pepper is gonna pick up, and it's, like, almost distracting me from being able to enjoy the cigar because it's, like, hit the maximum that I want in it.
Senator:
But the construction's amazing. I'll give it that.
Gizmo:
Yes. I'm moving forward with, you know, some anxiety.
Gizmo:
Have you guys tried the rum with this cigar?
Bam Bam:
Yes.
Gizmo:
And what do you think of the rum with this cigar compared to the
Gizmo:
It helps the cigar.
Bam Bam:
It does help the cigar. There's something about this cigar that's almost, I can't put my finger on it. It's almost medicine y. It's it's just it's a little unusual.
Gizmo:
It's a little it's a little weird to me too.
Bam Bam:
It's a little weird. I don't know. I'll just
Senator:
say on the rum, I actually think it it helps a lot. Yeah.
Bam Bam:
It does.
Senator:
And I think, number 1, the sweetness in the rum is helping balance out the spice that we're getting in the cigar. And I also think and Puba called this out earlier, the dry finish on this rum, I think is what allows it to actually still pair well. Like, if it had a very sweet finish, it would clash with the spice and the drier nature of this cigar. Where because it has a dry finish, I feel like it can complement a drier cigar as much as it can a sweeter, more dessert like cigar. So for me, it actually works.
Gizmo:
So we didn't have the opportunity at PCA to talk to Luis when we had him on about the history of Florida Cana. And and really, we don't know much about their brand other than speaking with him for about 10 minutes. So I know you you've read up a little bit on it. So what do you have on, for us on Florida Conner?
Senator:
Yeah. I have to say it's got a really, really cool history, and I feel like we've we've dived into the history of so many different brands, so it's kinda hard to find something new and different and interesting, but I'm really impressed with what they've done. Number 1, you think of the spirits category, all these major brands are owned by one of the big behemoths, whether it's Pernod Ricard or Diageo. I can't believe this is still they've been there for over a 130 years. It's still family owned.
Senator:
It's in the 5th generation of the family now running and operating.
Bam Bam:
That's cool.
Senator:
On their website, they have a stat. It says only 3 in 10000 family businesses make it to the 5th generation. Wow.
Gizmo:
I was gonna say once once you get to the 3rd generation of a business, it starts to fall off
Bam Bam:
pretty quickly.
Gizmo:
Or it's
Gizmo:
sold off.
Gizmo:
Yeah. Yeah. Even the second. Yeah.
Senator:
It's amazing. And their history is kinda bizarre in how it starts very unexpected. So the story begins in 18/75 with a young Italian who actually What? Pursued trying to make rum in Nicaragua. Never would have expected.
Senator:
Oh my lord. Guy named Alfredo Francisco, Pelas or Pelas,
Bam Bam:
Genesa.
Senator:
And the Pelas family still to this day, they they run the the whole operation. And so he left, general Italy, risked everything, left behind his family, and traveled to Nicaragua in pursuit of making rum. In 18/90, he found the perfect setting for the florida kinda distillery at the base of San Cristobal volcano, which is the tallest and most active volcano in Nicaragua. The fertility of the, the surrounding land, the enriched water, and hot volcanic climate was instrumental in the rum's unique flavor, unique and smooth flavor. The funny thing, if you look at the label even on here, and it's on the packaging, and I know Luis mentioned this.
Senator:
You know, it says here carbon neutral certified, and they talk a lot about sustainability. Sure. And I'll be honest. I mean, a lot of these companies that do this, I think, are are kind of bullshitting just to, you know, kinda for ESG and all the things that, you know, the the world seems to care about. They kinda tout this, but there's usually not a lot of substance behind it.
Senator:
I can't believe when you read what they're doing there. The Florida Kanye Distillery is 100% powered by renewable energy. Being one of the world's first fair trade certified spirits, which was another designation that I thought was a bunch of bullshit. But when you actually read what that means for them, it's very legit. So they're in compliance with 300 different labor, social, and environmental standards.
Senator:
That's, I think, kind of the BS part of it. But what they actually choose to do is it means that the proceeds from every bottle sold go directly toward improving the lives of workers, their families, and the community since the workers get to choose how to invest those funds in projects like health clinics, schools, scholarship funds, and environmental projects. Wow. Which is pretty cool.
Gizmo:
That's pretty cool. Yeah.
Bam Bam:
You know, also, not to interrupt you, but when we interviewed him, he his passion for these details came through in the interview. It was absolutely genuine. Not hyperbole, not trying to tout to, you know, the green people in the world. I think it's it's all true, and it's it's it's
Gizmo:
I mean, that was
Bam Bam:
very passionate.
Gizmo:
That was really one of the only reasons that we actually asked him on is is I I wasn't doing it. I was getting set up, but I think Pagoda and
Bam Bam:
Senator.
Gizmo:
Senator ended up at the Florida Connor booth because it was very close to where we were ended up recording.
Rooster:
It's also
Bam Bam:
free booze.
Gizmo:
Free booze.
Gizmo:
But they also hit it off.
Grinder:
And it very good booze.
Gizmo:
1st first off, the rum is very good, but then they hit it off with Luis and had a great conversation. And then impromptu just said, hey. Let's let's bring him on for 10 minutes and sip this rum while we smoke our cigar and talk about PCA.
Bam Bam:
He's a total lizard.
Gizmo:
It came right through and, like, you know, the most important thing is the rum is very good.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. And, you know, he was
Pagoda:
a radio jockey as well, so I think, he was very comfortable getting on ball. That's true.
Grinder:
Yeah. He was very nimble in front of the mic. No.
Senator:
So I just think I mean, Luis impressed us talking about the production process and the lack of additives and all that. The fact that we'd even get into the history and we're already so impressed, I'm just amazed. I for me, I there was an immediate attachment to this brand just from talking to him and now knowing the history and that it's still family owned and operated, and they really seem to care about the community there in Nicaragua. And all that they've survived in Nicaragua over a 130 years. I mean, there's been a civil war.
Senator:
I mean, there's been a lot of stuff that's happened. I was also reading how, like, 2 of the family members that were at one point running the business died in a tragic plane crash, then, like, the next generation had to step up quickly. Like, they've been through a lot. And the fact that they're still, still producing a spirit like this so well, I give them a world of credit.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. Absolutely. And it's such an affordable price.
Gizmo:
Yeah. And, you know, what's interesting is the 18 year bottle was right next to this. When I picked it up, it was only $10 more. Unbelievable. Wow.
Bam Bam:
Because I think this is kinda rounding up for me now. It's it's settled nicely.
Grinder:
I I love the cigar. I love the cigar.
Gizmo:
You're enjoying it now? Yeah.
Senator:
I love it. Yeah. I I agree. So my big fear about the spice picking up, I actually think it's dialed down. Agreed.
Senator:
And I'm getting a little more sweetness now, and I actually I'm
Gizmo:
getting, like, a nuttiness now.
Bam Bam:
Well, there's yeah. So they're they do call that out in their flavor flavor profile, so it's something that they call.
Gizmo:
You know?
Gizmo:
Like a walnut or something. You know? Yeah.
Grinder:
I'm not getting that. I'm I'm definitely getting that cinnamon spice that I love, and it's and it's lingers it lingers when you when you take it in and and it hits your your your palate. It stays there for a bit. It tingles, and it's it's really phenomenal.
Senator:
I agree. I get cinnamon, like Grinder said. I do get a little bit of nuttiness, and, bam, I'll just say it. I get a little dried fruit right now, and it's it's all working really well together.
Bam Bam:
Cool. But he said it for me.
Gizmo:
Yeah. I'm I'm I'm getting going.
Pagoda:
He's a set for you.
Gizmo:
You're well played.
Grinder:
Thank you.
Pagoda:
Because later than I'm learning, man. I think you were drifting.
Gizmo:
I know. Yeah.
Pagoda:
I think you were drifting. I think
Gizmo:
Pucca was
Bam Bam:
on Peyote. Peyote's hitting.
Gizmo:
He's sweating. I wasn't I wasn't drifting. No. But it it no. But it's like sitting in the pocket when you're in a band.
Gizmo:
You know? When you're playing, you don't always wanna just take
Bam Bam:
I'm learning.
Gizmo:
I'm learning. Take the lead and do all these riffs. You sat back and let the dried fruit come
Bam Bam:
to you. I commend you for that.
Gizmo:
You know what I mean?
Pagoda:
I feel that.
Gizmo:
And then
Gizmo:
you were able to give in a little accent, like, boom bam.
Bam Bam:
I feel ashamed. You know?
Gizmo:
Like like, as as as opposed to just going off with a with a lead out of nowhere. All the notes that you mentioned, the cinnamon and and and this the cigar mellowing out are all true. It's just not and there's that sweetness in there too. It's just I don't know what it is. Maybe I didn't get off, like, on the right foot on this date.
Gizmo:
You know what I mean? Like, when you sit down and you're like, hey. What's up? And, I don't know. Something goes wrong with, like, the way she orders her food, and you're like, no.
Gizmo:
This is not going anywhere.
Bam Bam:
You're out, babe.
Gizmo:
When was
Gizmo:
the last time you were on a date?
Gizmo:
Well, 22 years ago. But that's that notwithstanding, I'm trying it's getting better. So I'm coming around a little bit, but it's it's it's it's still not totally rubbing me the right way.
Grinder:
I I think I think that the the flavor profile in this cigar, you have to to to enjoy it. It it has to be in your power alley. Like, there's certain flavors that really resonate with people, and they're gonna love the cigar. I think if you're not in that, you're really not gonna like it.
Gizmo:
Yeah. Well, I think that's maybe where Yeah. Possible. Where I'm where I'm at. It's not that it's bad.
Gizmo:
It just may not be my jam.
Grinder:
Yeah. And it and it's different from, like, it's different from a Cuban cigar for sure. Definitely. Like, on the opposite end of the spectrum.
Rooster:
I
Gizmo:
think it's very different than a lot of the other Fuentes we've had. Yeah.
Bam Bam:
It is. Absolutely.
Senator:
I'm gonna go even further than that. One of the things I was gonna say that is drawing me in somewhat is, to me, this is unlike any cigar, period. I can't think of another new world cigar I've had that delivers this flavor profile. Like, I was I think a lot of us were confused even as we started smoking this because it wasn't weird early on. Yeah.
Senator:
Familiar to us. Right? It wasn't like something we could instantly recognize and know where this journey was gonna lead us to. So I think what has been done with this blend is very unique. The jury's still out, obviously Sure.
Senator:
As we smoke this on where we land, if we like it, if we don't. But right now, as it's settled in, I'm enjoying what I'm getting. Yeah. And it is memorable because I can't this to any
Rooster:
other cigar.
Bam Bam:
There aren't many New Worlds that have a cinnamon note like this does.
Grinder:
The the Antonio has it. I swear to God. Yeah. Antonio has it. Yeah.
Grinder:
If it's, you know, if a good it's a if it's in good condition.
Gizmo:
Mhmm.
Grinder:
And I love that cigar, and I love the cigar. They they're they're very equal to me.
Gizmo:
This has an extremely long finish for me.
Pagoda:
It does.
Gizmo:
Very, very long. And I'm not sure that this long of a finish is it builds and it builds and it builds that I'm it's for me. It seems that there's a little bit of, like, Tarrish harshness for me for me. That in, like, in the back of my tongue, that's just building and building. And I'm not it's not the most pleasant thing for me, But on the front of the pallet, I can see the sweet I can you know, I taste the sweetness, but in these dessert notes that we're talking about, but it's just not there's something here in the balance of it.
Gizmo:
Okay. So to to to wrap that the the commentary up for me is that it's not as balanced of the cigar as I'd like it to be. It's a little bit, There's some rough edges with it that I just particularly with the long finish, there's an extremely long finish. It's just not my thing. It's not doing it for me.
Gizmo:
But that's just me.
Rooster:
Have you guys ever had the ESG? Yeah. Yeah. The Fluentes?
Gizmo:
Yeah. Yeah. I've only had the VSG, not
Gizmo:
the VSG. Oh, the VSG.
Rooster:
No. The ESG.
Gizmo:
I've had the ESG. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:
Yeah. Yeah.
Rooster:
This, I get a little bit of that flavor profile in this cigar.
Bam Bam:
It's a yeah. That's more of a velvety
Gizmo:
That's a version of this Vistra cigar. Yeah.
Rooster:
It is milder.
Bam Bam:
It is. Yeah.
Rooster:
But you get, I mean, you don't Tremendousness. Flat like the like the pepper has really diminished.
Bam Bam:
Oh, sure.
Rooster:
So pepper's gone, and it's got it's got good flavor.
Gizmo:
I agree. It does. I'm just getting hints of nausea and a headache. But you know, other than that, I'm doing fine.
Grinder:
Yeah.
Gizmo:
Hints of awful. Oh, boy.
Gizmo:
I don't hate the cigar. I don't love it.
Gizmo:
I don't hate it. I don't
Gizmo:
love it. I just I think it's okay. I think the rum is definitely helping, but this is certainly not a cigar that I see, you know, something I'm gonna chase in the future.
Rooster:
I mean, for $10, you know, for this size and what it delivers Yeah. I think it's it's decent.
Bam Bam:
I'm with you there. I'm with you. I don't have any references here. I would
Rooster:
not mind having a 5 pack of this Sure.
Gizmo:
You know
Bam Bam:
Once in a while.
Gizmo:
In the humidor.
Senator:
Yeah. It's just very unique.
Bam Bam:
Yep. It's different.
Gizmo:
Yeah. So, boys, let's talk about an interesting news story that came out. We were talking about this on the text chain, and it was obviously big news in the cigar world that Minneapolis enacted a new law signed on May 1st prohibiting any more than 15 minutes of indoor smoking time at the city's cigar lounge.
Rooster:
What is happening in this world?
Bam Bam:
Understand. What
Pagoda:
is governor Jesse thing? So
Gizmo:
Canada When alright. So I was in Minneapolis, like, 3 weeks ago. First off, the city's got not a lot going for it. Okay? So, listeners, if you're in Minneapolis, I'm sorry, but it's like one of these cities that you go to and
Senator:
They've got basketball going for it right now.
Gizmo:
Oh, yeah. Well, where you walk around, it's like, okay. And I know people like Denver. They like Kansas City. They like these places.
Gizmo:
You walk around these cities. These cities are are are are semi abandoned. Okay. That there's not a lot of people on the street. You walk through Denver.
Gizmo:
There's not people walking around. People aren't really walking around that you walk through Minneapolis. It's just, there are these buildings. There's all this commercial real estate and there's no people,
Pagoda:
no people.
Gizmo:
And then it's the same thing. It's like you you walk around Kansas City. There's there's there's stuff, but there's there's no people. And it's very confusing. And I, you know, and I don't really, you know, completely understand it.
Gizmo:
I I read an article in the Wall Street Journal the other day that talked about these types of cities, you know, where they're just, you know, as as as messed up as New York City is in terms of of crime and this kind of rant these random acts of violence and just all kinds of weird stuff that's going on in New York City, I mean, at least it's it's, you know, inhabited. Like like like you know what I'm saying? Like, there's, like, inhabitation. Like like like, you you kind of, like, walk around cities like Minneapolis
Bam Bam:
Is that Jesse's fault?
Gizmo:
City. You know? Well, we took the people and we
Poobah:
put them underground because we took We needed, you know, their shelter there. Anyway. But,
Gizmo:
there's something going on in these cities that's just that's that's odd. Okay? And I don't know why Minneapolis, has, has nothing more to think about, which are more important things like, bringing, bringing big business there, ensuring that, you know, their commercial real estate stays alive, which is dying everywhere, and that they're attracting business and providing incentives, for people to be working in the city and doing things because it was, I was just recently there. It was just it's just not active. And then the the some of the people that you see that are active, you know, are are are being stimulated by things to make them active.
Bam Bam:
And they can't smoke a cigar there.
Gizmo:
You can't smoke a cigar.
Bam Bam:
Not for more than 15 minutes. Yeah.
Gizmo:
You're only allowed to sample,
Gizmo:
by the way.
Gizmo:
So when you go to a cigar lounge Yeah.
Bam Bam:
Let me buy a $40 cigar.
Gizmo:
In Minneapolis, you're only allowed to sit there for 15 minutes to sample the cigar, but then you have to get out. And apparently, the lounge one of the lounges in Minneapolis was actually cited for providing seating to customers to sample cigars.
Senator:
Wow. Which that shop or or lounge or whatever you wanna call it apparently had been doing for years because the law only allowed for there to be seeding for sampling, but they didn't really define what sampling was. So they put seeding and said, my customers are sampling cigars, and they would have a few smokes. And then they took it a step further and said, well, now we're gonna change the ordinance and define sampling as 15 minutes, which has now made it impossible to smoke a damn cigar.
Bam Bam:
I'd like to know how they're monitoring this law and how they're enforcing it.
Pagoda:
What a favor
Bam Bam:
for the city.
Gizmo:
Well, there's no police in Minneapolis. Exactly.
Bam Bam:
Because there's no people.
Senator:
No. It's a it's a great question. I mean, it even says in the article, it's not exactly clear how the new sampling regulation's gonna be enforced day to day, though there are monetary penalties and license restrictions or revocation Wow. If a license holder proves to violate the new standards.
Bam Bam:
Get out of here.
Gizmo:
I just don't understand, you know, like, Pupa was saying. Like, how does a city council
Bam Bam:
Sounds like Canada.
Gizmo:
How does a city council That's right. Put this on the agenda, and and they're so worried about adults sitting down enjoying this relaxation of smoking a a premium cigar? It makes no sense to me.
Bam Bam:
It's un American. It's un American.
Rooster:
You you can only relax for 15 minutes. That's it. You're done.
Senator:
Well, the funny thing I I love so PCA put out a comment about this. There's a quote from, Glenn Loop who is the director of state advocacy we met at PCA. Mhmm. And he said, it basically compels the cigar smoker to act like a cigarette smoker. I mean, it's ridiculous.
Senator:
It's like you're sitting there, you know, puffing away, trying to get in a 15 minute smoke. It's just not possible. It's stupid. It just defeats the purpose.
Bam Bam:
Unreal.
Gizmo:
I just don't I I, again, I cannot wrap my head around what what the impetus is for a a council to get so passionate about this specific topic.
Gizmo:
You know, this is this is brought forward by, you know, by a city council that's for government control. And if you're for that, you're for that. But, you know, may the force be with you. But
Gizmo:
You know, I I wonder if, like, is it are neighboring businesses complaining about smelling smoke? Like
Rooster:
Who know?
Gizmo:
What what
Gizmo:
is the angle?
Bam Bam:
Yeah. It's a good question.
Gizmo:
What I don't understand the benefit of
Gizmo:
It's not enough to do. There look. It snows basically, like, 11 months out of the year. Okay.
Pagoda:
And you've got them out loudest.
Gizmo:
It's freezing there. I was just there 3 weeks ago. It was freezing. Okay. Alright.
Gizmo:
You know, it's almost, it's almost June. It's freezing over there. Okay. You, you, you got people who are basically, you know, the the Minnesota's built on I mean, a lot of it's built on out, you know, outdoors Activities. Activities.
Gizmo:
Yep.
Gizmo:
As the governor, as the governor knows.
Poobah:
Fishing. Yeah. Fishing for Northern Pike and while I,
Gizmo:
you know, this is the, the, the great woods This is what it's about. And and no. But that's what that's a lot of the tourism is driven by nature, you know, nature enthusiasts and things like that. What's happening inside the city of Minneapolis to make this, you know, this is clearly not,
Rooster:
I mean, it should be a cigar friendly environment from what you're saying. I mean, all these, you know, outdoor activities and stuff, that kinda goes hand in hand with cigar smokers.
Gizmo:
It does. But I think most of those folks live outside of the city limits and
Gizmo:
My biggest concern here is, you know, obviously, we're seeing this in states like, you know, like a state like Minnesota. We talked a few weeks ago about these Massachusetts. These Massachusetts Oh. You know, generational cigar bands coming into play. It does worry me about other states like ours here in New Jersey about this happening.
Gizmo:
Like
Grinder:
Correct.
Gizmo:
This is a very real possibility that that these things are gonna start happening here, and it's crazy to me.
Gizmo:
The craziest thing is in Minnesota, when you walk down the street, there's a weed store on every other street I know. In Minnesota. Sorry. But there's a weed there's weed shop. When when the only thing that I smelled was not cigar smoke, was not people smoking cigarettes on the sidewalk.
Gizmo:
It was weed. Duh.
Senator:
Stevie a. Stop
Gizmo:
smoking the weed.
Senator:
Stay off lay lay
Gizmo:
off the weed. The weed.
Gizmo:
The weed. And there was weed everywhere. There was there. So you've got, it's okay to walk down a city street
Grinder:
with a joint with
Gizmo:
a joint in your hand and walk by a, 2, 2, 20 year old 9 month olds and blow pot smoke in their face, but it's not okay to sit in a cigar lounge and smoke a cigar. It doesn't make any sense.
Bam Bam:
No.
Rooster:
This law does not apply to a private lounge, I would imagine. Right?
Senator:
No. It does. It does.
Gizmo:
It does.
Gizmo:
It does. Any indoor smoking.
Senator:
The reason it does is because, basically, what they're saying, there's a there's this, like, Clean Air Act in Minnesota that applies that they're applying to indoors and the effects that secondhand smoke would have indoors. The problem with Minnesota and Massachusetts and states like it is that they grant local control over tobacco regulation. We're right now, at least, we're fortunate in New Jersey that tobacco is regulated at state level. So, like, the town of Hawthorne, the town of Ridgewood, those towns cannot just decide that they wanna create their own regulation of tobacco products. It's run by the state.
Senator:
And that's why, like, in Minnesota, statewide, you can smoke in lounges. The problem is in Minneapolis. Yeah. I mean, one of their biggest cities.
Gizmo:
I
Senator:
They've regulated it such that now you basically can't. So those are the states that this is the biggest threat. And when these municipalities can decide their own tobacco regulation that supersedes the
Grinder:
city. What gives them the druthers to fucking do that? Like, why are they so
Bam Bam:
Good question.
Grinder:
What what's the point? What's their what's their ideology?
Senator:
Clearly, the mayor is not a lizard. This was driven by the mayor of Minneapolis.
Grinder:
Yep. Let me see who
Gizmo:
mayor of
Grinder:
Minneapolis is here. It's crazy. I'm sure I'll have my own, like
Senator:
The the only thing just quickly on Minneapolis, I will say, so Poop is right. The streets of Minneapolis for years, and I haven't been in a while, but I used to have a client there. I was traveling there quite a bit. The streets are dead. At night, you will see, like, 3 people on like, for a 5 block stretch.
Senator:
It's actually really eerie. So you're a 100% right.
Bam Bam:
That's weird.
Senator:
The weather sucks. It's frigid in Minneapolis. The only thing I will give that city credit for, unlike a city like Chicago that is also freezing cold, In Minneapolis, they were at least smart enough to figure out that it is miserably cold here and impossible to even just go from building to building without freezing your ass off. So they have underground. They connect and even above ground, the skyways that connect a lot of the buildings.
Gizmo:
The governor was just talking about that.
Senator:
Honestly, it helps a lot. I've been there in the dead of winter when it is painful to spend even a few minutes outside. And the fact that I could literally navigate to most major offices and buildings in downtown Minneapolis without one stepping foot outside is incredible. Because in Chicago, it's the exact opposite.
Bam Bam:
That's true.
Senator:
You're, like, right on the lake getting that insane wind on top of the frigid cold. It it's brutal.
Gizmo:
Yeah. It's brutal.
Bam Bam:
Good points.
Gizmo:
Yeah. Wow. They've got that going for them.
Rooster:
Unbelievable. Not moving to Minneapolis. That's for sure. Or Massachusetts.
Bam Bam:
That's correct.
Gizmo:
Well, it doesn't seem like it's gonna be the end of these kind of stories, boys, but, hopefully, it doesn't. Hopefully, it's not pervasive and extends, you know, into more states around the country because it's just it's not a good thing.
Senator:
Yeah. And the only thing that's gonna stop it is litigation. So there's gonna be tons of lawsuits to try to find a way to get this all straightened out. Yeah. We hope so.
Gizmo:
I hope they're successful. You would think
Gizmo:
you know, but the cigar smoker I'm not saying it's a minority, but I I don't know for sure. But, well, I think you could I could say with some certainty that there's probably more marijuana smokers in the country than there are cigar smokers.
Grinder:
I think
Bam Bam:
that's accurate.
Gizmo:
And, so, you know, you have all these. You talk about quality of life, and I'm all about freedom. And if, you know, if somebody wants to, you know, smoke a joint or do whatever they're gonna do, that's all that, you know, that's all good, man. Like, it's America. I'm all for freedom.
Gizmo:
But at the same time, I think that you gotta have, you know, kind of look at these things with a, you know, with a rational, you know, point of view. And that's not happening right now. You know, it's kind of all over the place. Yeah. In terms of quality of life.
Gizmo:
Quality of life, if it, you know, how is a cigar lounge really impacting the quality of life, you know, in a neighborhood compared to, compared to, like, a weed store. Do you know what I mean? Like
Senator:
Or even just in isolation. I mean, that's what's crazy about this. Like, we're not debating whether we should be able to smoke cigars in a bunch of restaurants. Right? Like, as much as we would love to do that Great.
Senator:
I think, you know, we obviously understand that for noncigar smokers, that'd be a miserable experience. Totally fair. These are places only for people who choose to go to smoke a
Gizmo:
cigar Right.
Senator:
That are bothering no one else.
Bam Bam:
Yep. It's
Senator:
They even talk about in the article how then one of the arguments was, well, the employees are exposed to 2nd hand smoke, and the owner of the shop said every single employee I employ here smokes cigars. Yeah. It's not impacting them one bit. They're all cigar smokers.
Rooster:
So their choice to work there. Exactly.
Bam Bam:
It's an unfair attack overall.
Senator:
That cigar smokers can't just freely associate in a private business and smoke a cigar is outrageous.
Gizmo:
Sure. Yeah. It it's outrageous.
Gizmo:
I I disagree.
Rooster:
It's pretty
Gizmo:
Well, hopefully, those lawsuits that you were just talking about, you know, from PCA and others, you know, actually do some good and
Senator:
We need more, judge. Yes. We do.
Gizmo:
So, boys, we're well past the halfway point here on the Arturo Fuente Magnum r Vitola 44. What's everybody thinking now? Mine's gotten better.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. It's true. Yeah. I mean, I'm I'm I'm not hating it. I'm kind of enjoying it.
Bam Bam:
It's, it it still continues to be a very unique experience.
Grinder:
Pagoda, what do you think?
Pagoda:
It's a smokeable cigar. I mean, very high praise.
Grinder:
Hey. It's Yep. You can smoke it.
Pagoda:
Like, it's not doing much for me in terms of, either the flavor. I do like the construction overall. It's been, burning well, but, got a little bit of the baking spice. I've got a little bit of spice, went away. And now I feel a little bit of spice again, but nothing really, you know, like, let's say, flattering about the cigar where I wanna just go back and, you know, really, like you know, when you relish something or when you really enjoy something, not getting that at all.
Rooster:
It's a good golf cigar, I think.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think this will hold up well outside. Yeah.
Pagoda:
It did. Yeah. Yeah. And the right size, I think. Mhmm.
Grinder:
That's a good analogy. It's there's a lot of smoke output too. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:
So, boys, I wanted to go to a listener email. Actually, we got a few listener emails about this. This one certainly was the, I would say, the most angry or the most heated. Oh, boy. From Lizard Luigi, he wrote, hey, lizards.
Gizmo:
I just received my bimonthly issue of Cigar Aficionado, and this issue revolves around the 30th anniversary of Marvin Shanken's interview with Fidel Castro. Skimming through the article, one line caught my attention about human rights for its citizens. I would love for you guys to share this, to read the article, and talk about how insane this statement feels even 30 years later. Marvin Schenken should be ashamed. He republished this.
Bam Bam:
Wow.
Gizmo:
Luigi.
Bam Bam:
Is he is Luigi Cuban?
Gizmo:
I don't think he is. Okay.
Senator:
But I mean, I don't think with his name, he sounds Italian.
Gizmo:
No. No.
Gizmo:
I don't
Bam Bam:
know. The best the best is the response.
Grinder:
I don't think he is.
Gizmo:
I mean, I'm not gonna
Gizmo:
make an assumption. Brother Mario are eating mushrooms.
Bam Bam:
Alright, guys. You have a you have a good night now.
Gizmo:
They're trying to find the princess. So I, you know, I I did get this order, this magazine, about Cuba. I don't know if you guys saw this, this come in from Scarficionado. It's, you know, clearly, the guys from Cigar Aficionado went to Havana for the Habanos Festival in March and just did some, I guess, sightseeing and some reviews and whatnot. And, you know, I'll be honest, the coverage is lackluster at best.
Gizmo:
You know, they decided to highlight a lounge, and they highlighted a lounge at the Hotel Nacional
Bam Bam:
Oh, boy.
Gizmo:
As opposed to any of the other lounges. Some of the dining choices that they made, they No.
Rooster:
Vistemar made it.
Gizmo:
They did Vistamar made it, but they praised La Guarita, which, you know, the last few times we've been there have been absolute trash.
Bam Bam:
Correct.
Gizmo:
And the biggest thing to to lizard Luigi's point here, and, you know, we talked about this earlier in the episode with the the sugar problems. I do wanna read this because I I think it's crazy that that that this was reprinted in 2024.
Grinder:
Seems it seems like, you know, Cuba should spend less time investing in cigar aficionado to to publish their shit and
Gizmo:
Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:
I don't know if this is a quid pro quo. They got free access. I don't know what happened. But long story short, so this, this interview with Fidel Castro from Marvin R. Schenken was originally, published in 1994.
Gizmo:
This is the 30th anniversary of that. So let's put some time stamps on this. Right? So in 1994, Cuba was 3 ish years into what is now called the special period, which is after the Soviet Union collapsed. Cuba went through a real, real economic and humanitarian crisis because pretty much all of their economic help dried up.
Gizmo:
So this is originally published 3 years into that nightmare. Now, 30 years later in 2024, we know that today, it's even worse now than it was 30 years ago during the special period. There's a very, very clear humanitarian crisis. We've talked about this on the podcast Right. Many, many times.
Gizmo:
Right now. So what bothers me is reading this article published without an asterisk on it. Marvin Shanken says, from what I read, the American government is looking for Cuba to undergo political reform and improvement in its human rights. So now I'm gonna skip over some of what Castro said here, but he said, as far as human rights, and I will try to keep my answer brief, no one in the world has done more for q more than Cuba has done for human beings for its citizens. No one else in every sense.
Gizmo:
The best evidence of that is that our health programs have saved the lives of many children, and we've been helping out in other places around the world with our doctors, medicines, and knowledge. To to publish that again in 2024, which, by the way, this is a redacted interview. It's not the complete interview. To publish that again is just so With everything that's happening now. Yeah.
Gizmo:
To me to
Senator:
to tone deaf. Yeah. Put an
Gizmo:
asterisk on that. And listen. We're not a soft podcast, but we've been to Cuba. I've been there 7 times.
Pagoda:
Sure.
Gizmo:
We've been there a lot of
Bam Bam:
times. Times.
Gizmo:
Many times. We could see what's going on. I don't understand how these guys were there 3 months ago and decided that publishing this quote from Castro 30 years ago, which was obviously wrong then Mhmm. And couldn't be further from the truth now. And publishing that in the premier cigar magazine in the world.
Gizmo:
Is it? Well, it's what's the other option?
Bam Bam:
There aren't any other alternatives, really.
Grinder:
I I mean, I just think to to that pithy comment, it's, you know, they I don't think they have the right scruples in mind when they when they publish their shit.
Gizmo:
So Clearly, they don't. I I think that this is a real, real you know, it's a sad thing for me, obviously. It's it's for us because we go there. We have friends there who are really suffering now in Cuba, and, you know, there's a major hunger issue. There's food scarcity, the crazy, you know, increase in the cost of living, the repression that that remains
Bam Bam:
Yep. Fuel
Gizmo:
fuel. Fuel. Fuel. Fuel. Inflation.
Bam Bam:
You name it.
Gizmo:
Yes. And the notion that the health care system is good is the biggest fallacy in the history of fallacies and fallacies. It's a fallacy. They don't get good drug substance product there. They don't have enough supply.
Gizmo:
They don't have enough medical supplies. Do they do a pretty good job of educating folks in, you know, in the schools and things like that? Do they do a they do a pretty good job. Job. Yeah.
Gizmo:
They do a pretty good job. Is it exemplary? Not by any stretch of the imagination. So it's not. It's just isn't because they don't they don't have the technology.
Gizmo:
They don't have
Senator:
Yeah. They reuse syringes. I I mean, they have no access to basic medical supplies.
Gizmo:
And by the way, by the way, just a few just a few weeks ago, for the first time in its history, the Cuban regime officially requested help from the United Nations Food Program due to a shortage of sub subsidized milk for children under 7 years old.
Senator:
The real sad part of this and and what's disgraceful on Marvin Shankin's part in CA is this is an industry and a hobby that centers around people. Right? This is a handmade
Rooster:
product. Right.
Senator:
If you travel to any of these countries that produce cigars, you are meeting the individuals who make all of this possible. And if you have spent any time in Cuba to actually talk to these people and understand how much suffering is going on there right now and think that you'd it it it's not a responsibility of yours as a media publication talking about cigars to shine a light on what these people are really going through and dealing with there and just completely sugarcoat this with a bullshit quote from 30 years ago that was a lie then and is a lie now is so irresponsible. Exactly right. Even major American media publications are coming out talking about how there is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions going on right now in Cuba. Mhmm.
Senator:
And the people that should be closest to understanding what's going on there, which should be cigar smokers as tobacco is the product that, you know, Cuba actually is well known for producing and not talk about any of that that's going on is absolutely outrageous.
Gizmo:
I I I I've never agreed more with anything that you've ever said. This is that's a 100% accurate. And and and and and my I suspect that Marvin Schenken, and you can quote me and print it. That, that, that this is, this article here is completely 100% commercially driven and, and, and, and, and, and self serving for him, his ego and the quid pro quo that goes along with him writing something like this. So when he visits there and he gets what he gets and his people get what they get and they get the access to the cigars that they get for reviews and things like that, this is completely self serving in nature.
Gizmo:
It seems to me because it's not, it's not based in any, any type of rational approach. Don't write the how about this? How about go there and then don't write the article at all. Don't write it at all. If you're going to write it and he writes something like this to Senator's point, this to me, it on its face is, is, is, is a quid pro quo in some way for him to have clout on the island for him to, to strut and his people to strut and his book to strut and things like that.
Gizmo:
And, they're not getting advertisers dollars around it, but they are getting access.
Gizmo:
They're getting something. And they're
Gizmo:
getting something. And, it is, disgraceful, quite frankly, and you can quote me and print it. Am I am I crazy? You're not crazy?
Gizmo:
No. You're a 100% right.
Senator:
You are not crazy.
Gizmo:
And and
Gizmo:
to senator's point to what you're saying here, it's like we're talking about a product maybe more than any other product and a luxury product now as Habanos designates it
Bam Bam:
Of course.
Gizmo:
That on the box is printed that it's totally made by hand. Every component of the process involves human beings and the labor of human beings working to make this thing that we love, working to make this magazine that he's built 30, 40 years now successful. It's from the labor of these human beings. And, you know, again, going back to this article, 90% 92% of these human beings in Cuba live in poverty, and 62% of them are surviving with the bare minimum.
Bam Bam:
Sure. There's true food security
Gizmo:
issues there.
Gizmo:
And for decades.
Gizmo:
For decades. But to, again, to take an article from 30 years ago, you could've cut that whole piece out, skip that whole thing, reprinted it with redacted whatever. Like, he did. A lot of it was cut out, but they chose to print that in 2024, and and it's just an absolute disgrace.
Gizmo:
Talk about the cigars. Be object be objective about the cigars. Be objective about the events, and leave the rest of it out of it. I I don't know. You know?
Grinder:
Is there any, like like, response from the community about this?
Gizmo:
Yeah. People are do we I've we've got several emails about it, and I've seen other articles about how crazy it is that this was rebranded.
Grinder:
Yeah. That's what I mean. Like, anywhere else in the pop like, popular media media that would say this guy.
Senator:
Anyone who's been to Cuba would read that and say that this is the most outrageous thing that's been printed in a very I
Gizmo:
also don't know how many people who are publishing on the Internet or or or have the Kahulis to go after to go after cigar fish and all.
Pagoda:
What I mean.
Gizmo:
I frankly don't give a shit. Yeah. Yeah. We don't care. I think that this is an absolute disgrace to what Puba said and what senator has
Senator:
has said. It's it's horrible. No. I know. A 1000%.
Senator:
I'm saying wish
Gizmo:
more people would come out
Senator:
of this place.
Grinder:
That's what I'm saying. We need there's you know? There it's it's utterly disgraceful for him to to publish that and to it to almost try to veil it. Like, we we're not gonna do a real new article. We'll just republish a new one and but still give you the article, but we don't wanna you know?
Grinder:
No. You're you're still publishing the article and re reprinting these quotes.
Senator:
I am also canceling my CA subscription period.
Gizmo:
I'm with you. I did this all done. Horrendous.
Bam Bam:
Well done.
Gizmo:
This is horrendous.
Gizmo:
Well done. I use it as a large format coaster anyway.
Grinder:
Large format.
Rooster:
You know, the reality also is that we have been there multiple times. Yeah. And every single time we go to Cuba, things have gotten worse for
Gizmo:
the people. Sure. And and, Rooster, this is just in a year and a half. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:
Because the inflationary climate is not happening. It's make it's exacerbating. I think it's exacerbating the, the economic problems that they're having because of all sorts of different factors. It's it's bad.
Gizmo:
Yeah. So I just I wanna thank lizard Luigi and the other listeners who wrote out, to who wrote us talking about the, insane article that was printed again. And this whole this whole issue is a disgrace. I think, you know, celebrating Cuba like this, I mean, it's just horrendous, and, and they should be ashamed
Pagoda:
of themselves.
Gizmo:
You know, there's a way to do it. The he the the publication, you know, could have taken an approach where they honor Cuban culture, honor the handmade nature in which, Cuban cigars are cultivated and, you know, and made. There are things that you could focus on other than going into the territory that he went into in this article.
Senator:
Printing propaganda from the government.
Gizmo:
Yeah. And by the way propaganda
Bam Bam:
from the government.
Gizmo:
Not to shine a light on us, but, I mean, we've done 60 some odd episodes of Cuban cigars on this podcast. Correct. And and and they're rooted in truth. Yeah. We celebrate the what what happens with these cigars that we smoke, we celebrate the human beings that make them, the people that we meet.
Gizmo:
We tell their stories.
Pagoda:
So that's
Gizmo:
We talk good and bad
Gizmo:
about it. He's working top down. He's Exactly. He's working top down,
Gizmo:
not bottom up. Exactly.
Gizmo:
He's you know, to honor the people who are making these to who who who are making these phenomenal products in the same way and manner in which they've been making them for 200 years plus, it would, it's like counterintuitive almost to the whole, to the whole, like ethos of cigar aficionado, which is a revenue based model, that, that honors really new world cigars for the most part because of the commercial nation nature of the book. So it's almost like when you, when you, when you juxtapose, when you juxtapose, okay, the ratings and how the ratings come out and how nonsensical they are. And when you align that with, with, with the ad buys, do you know what I'm saying? Yeah. If you do the calculus on the advertising buys in the book versus the ratings, and then you juxtapose that with him with, with, it's almost like, what do you want?
Gizmo:
Like, oh, you're going to put this kind of, you know, you're gonna editorialize about the Cuban government and all this stuff in the book. And it's a quid pro quo for you to get what concierge service on the island. So you're going to get concierge service on the island for yourself and your, and your, and your, and your people that the 12 people, they fly down on a jet or whatever they do. Do you know what I mean? At 15 people, they probably roll in with like a cadre of people, and they're going to have a whole thing.
Gizmo:
Ryan beat serious. Right. And then they get the red carpet. They're going to be at the hotel national. Right.
Gizmo:
Can you stay there?
Gizmo:
Nope. No.
Gizmo:
Can you stay there? No, no. But he, but he, he can stay there.
Gizmo:
Of course.
Gizmo:
So, so, so, so it, this is, It's lunacy. This is bad meat this is bad meat in a can.
Gizmo:
To use one of your words, it's total lunacy.
Bam Bam:
Correct.
Gizmo:
And it's an absolute disgrace. And I'm glad that we're able to talk as openly about it as we do, and we will continue to.
Bam Bam:
It's very sad. You know, I'm I'm sitting here listening to all of you, and, you know, every time we go, all of my interactions with the average Cuban citizen has always been very pleasant and respectful. They're not ever looking to get anything from you. It it just shows how resilient they've been, but you've got a question. How much longer is this resiliency going to stay in place?
Bam Bam:
When when does that change?
Gizmo:
Yep.
Bam Bam:
How much suffering does a human being
Gizmo:
have to go through? Not gonna change.
Bam Bam:
Well, it's going to there's there's a wall. Human beings will hit a wall. Eventually, something will happen.
Rooster:
I think they're at a breaking point.
Bam Bam:
I agree. That's exactly what that means. That's my point.
Rooster:
There are protests on the streets. I mean, it's, you know, it's gonna get worse.
Bam Bam:
Look, it's inevitable.
Rooster:
I mean, if people cannot have the basic necessities of food, shelter Yeah. I mean, what else is there?
Bam Bam:
Has Shinken ever sat in a restaurant or walked the streets and interact with the general population? No.
Senator:
No. And the other sad thing, it's like this pathetic attempt to gain access in Cuba shows you just how little this clown actually understands about Havana. The reality of Cuba and what makes that place so special. Right? There are the powers that be that determine prices and have price gouged the hell out of all of us with the pricing of Cuban cigars and what gets released and what doesn't and all of that.
Senator:
But the people who actually decide what those blends are, how they're gonna make them, new products that are gonna come out, the people actually that are innovators in this space, the people that truly have the greatest access are the local people that work in those factories. We talk about great runs. Those runs stem from individual Cubans that have done some amazing work to make sure that those workers at those factories have what they need and that that product gets made well that we all are so fortunate to enjoy. That's not a result of anything that any government there has done or any, you know, honcho that sits in an office all day and and and basically, you know, pillages from these people taking a bunch of the profit that's made and paying nothing to these workers. It's the local people.
Senator:
Right. We have been so fortunate to gain the access we have because we have relationships that actually mean something with local people who actually run these places and are responsible for that labor. And so I just find it comical that someone like Marvin Schenken thinks that even if a red carpet's gonna be rolled out and he can stay at the Hotel Nacional and he can, you know, gain access to a few extra sticks, The real special access come from meaningful relationships that are built over a long period of time there with people who actually have access to the innovation that's happening there.
Bam Bam:
Right.
Senator:
The prototypes that are being made of different cigars. These are not things. I mean, we've talked to people at these factories where they have billionaires that fly in and do tours of some of these factories, and they don't get to see certain things there because these are the kind of people who just wanna pillage these factories. Mhmm. Wanna literally, we've been told stories, steal, Jesus, sculptures and random things and cigars from these factories.
Bam Bam:
That's right. Yeah.
Senator:
And they don't actually let them see behind the curtain in the way that folks like us who have been so lucky and fortunate because we've gone there without an intention of coming home with anything from these places Other than information. Exactly. To learn and actually understand. And so I just find it so funny that his aim he's even failed at. Yeah.
Senator:
Because if this guy thinks he's got access, I have news from he does not.
Grinder:
Correct.
Gizmo:
Well, a 100% right. Wouldn't it wouldn't have been wouldn't it have been nice to even skim the surface of, of the notion and the territory that you were talking about as in regard to the people and the product and the process and the culture. Wouldn't it have been nice? But that would actually take effort, insight, and creativity. And humanity.
Gizmo:
Well, maybe a little maybe a little
Gizmo:
sweat, maybe
Gizmo:
a little sweat, maybe a little sweat in an uncomfortable car ride. But but but, you know, you know, a long ride at long ride out to Bernardo Rio or wherever, you know, but he's, I guarantee you, he sat in the hotel national. You know what I mean? Went to the, went to a couple of restaurants. You know what I mean?
Gizmo:
Went to the festival events.
Gizmo:
Yep. Events and and smoke some cigars and rubbed elbows, got out of there and tried to cobble a story together. That's not a real story.
Bam Bam:
No, it's not.
Gizmo:
So wouldn't it have been nice to release, at least if just, just try, pretend, skim the surface of something to what Senator was talking about. But that would be kind of capitulating to the people and that would jeopardize his access. He's never going to do that because it's all about a quid quo pro, which ladders back to advertising dollars with new worlds in the rankings. Mhmm. And that makes this cigar publication a rag.
Gizmo:
Completely agree. Well said. Well, we put a good bow on that, boys.
Bam Bam:
Absolutely.
Gizmo:
I would love to. Well well, you know, we will keep eviscerating stories like this and publications like this. I think it's an absolute disgrace, and I I think everybody in the room here has, represented those same feelings tonight. And, again, thank you to the listeners, especially wizard Luigi who wrote out, and and, you know, shown a light on this, and we will continue to do so.
Poobah:
Cuba's history. I get hyped up.
Grinder:
What does Jesse have to say
Gizmo:
about that? I don't know. Excited.
Gizmo:
So, boys, it's time to move into the ratings now. We're coming to the end of our Arturo Fuente Magnum r Vitola 44 and the Flor de Cana 12 year aged rum. Yeah. You guys ready to move into the ratings on these?
Bam Bam:
Yes, sir.
Gizmo:
Alright. Let's do the, formal liquor rating on Flor de Cona rum, 12 years aged, bam bam, you're up. So that's $35?
Bam Bam:
Yeah. Drinks like a cognac, which is the chip of ice, I'm giving it a 10. Wow. Absolutely delicious. Now, honestly, you know, I love a glass of Weller with a piece of ice.
Bam Bam:
Some of the cognacs that we've had, it's very reminiscent of all those high level spirits for this price. It's a 10 in my book. 10. Awesome. Grinder.
Grinder:
I'm giving it a 9. It's very solid, very smooth. I don't like rum. It was it was it I think the ice helped a lot because I remember, you know, I mentioned before, I remember
Bam Bam:
need a chip.
Grinder:
Yeah. I remember tasting it before and just kinda you know, at at PCA, and and and it wasn't really going down smooth. The ice I put put the ice in first. It it melted out. It paired very well with our our first cigar.
Grinder:
And, yeah, it's the second cigar. It's definitely drinkable. It's definitely a cigar that I or excuse me. Definitely a rum that I'd go for again. And I don't
Bam Bam:
high praise drinkable. You can drink it. Oxygen oxidizes.
Grinder:
Yes. Exactly. So I'm a 9. I really enjoyed it, and you guys don't see me go through, like, a few fingers of of rum frequently on this podcast, and I just did that tonight. So
Pagoda:
Awesome. Pagoda. It's a 10 for me. I I've been pleasantly surprised, actually, because, I know senator and I, I think we tried 12, 18, 20, and 23.
Bam Bam:
And 25. Several 25. By the way. Several helpings of each yeah. Guys, wait.
Gizmo:
He's let's not forget the Stella.
Gizmo:
You guys went back to the well.
Bam Bam:
The 14 beers that he drank in an hour.
Pagoda:
It was It was a very happy afternoon.
Gizmo:
You had a good PCA. That
Bam Bam:
was impressive.
Senator:
I'm impressed he remembers it all.
Gizmo:
I know.
Gizmo:
He might be remembering because you told him that it happened.
Pagoda:
No. But you know what it is is that I'm not a rum drinker either, but I've, recently come around to rums. Obviously, we do love, you know, the Havana 7. Everybody knows it. And, this, I wasn't expecting, this to really just go down so easy, so smooth.
Pagoda:
I got a little bit of coffee. I don't know.
Gizmo:
I I
Pagoda:
was just enjoying it. And, you know, but the Cubefies is fantastic. It doesn't feel like it's a rum. I think it's, you know, it's got these, embodiments of a spirit which is, you know, a part of me thinks. I don't know.
Pagoda:
Somewhere along the line, it was reminding me of the Nicka coffee. I don't know, to what extent, but, yeah, really, really enjoyed it. It's a 10 for me.
Grinder:
I think I think for a category that's rife with so much pollution with all these additives to have you know, to and to know that it's very organic, very real. There's no shit in it. It it adds to your at least for me, it added to to my enjoyment.
Pagoda:
And for a price of $35, I mean, it's it's unbelievable.
Gizmo:
But Senator.
Senator:
So I think like Pagoda said, it's no secret that we love Cuban rum. And for me, I'm honestly always chasing, trying to find something that I can legally and easily purchase in the United States that comes as close to some of the Cuban rums that we love so much. And we've had a hard time doing that. I think we have found some things that veer somewhat close to it. I think the, the Mount Gay XO was one that we had found.
Senator:
But I have to say, for me, Flor de Cana is the closest thing that I've tasted to Cuban rum. And this 12 year at this price point, you know, when I think of Oman, I'm I'm out of Havana 7, from Cuba, and I'm not gonna be able to, you know, enjoy anymore until I'm back there. This is what I would pick up in place of that. I it it I always love visiting Shelley's in DC, but when I found this on the menu there, it literally made my night. No matter what cigar I had, just to find a rum I could purchase in a cigar lounge in the United States that reminds me of Cuban rum.
Senator:
It's a 10. The price point's
Bam Bam:
fantastic. Right. That's
Senator:
right. Deserves so much credit for sticking to what it has always felt as important that the rum is natural without any of this added crap that most of these rums, these companies now, have done to try to mask the the disappointing spirits that they put out. I will definitely buy several bottles of this. And, for any listener that loves Cuban rum that inevitably runs out of it, this is a great alternative. I
Bam Bam:
couldn't agree more.
Pagoda:
By the way, Giz, in lieu of the Havana 7, I think I'm gonna get you one of these drugs.
Gizmo:
Done. Pagoda owes me a bottle of Havana 7, by the way.
Rooster:
It's a long story. Just one?
Gizmo:
I'll take I'll take my Havana 7. I'll take my Havana 7.
Pagoda:
There's 7 50 on my left, I think.
Gizmo:
So I I I will say this. I don't disagree with anything any of you guys have said. From a comparison standpoint, though, when I compare this to other 12 year aged rum, the stuff we get in Cuba, scarcity aside, the difficulty we get in the United States. I'm putting that aside. Comparing it to the other 12 year, 11 year age rum in Cuba and even the 7 year Havana club that we love so very much, this spirit is not a 10 for me.
Gizmo:
It's a 9. It is a step below the best 12 year stuff I've had.
Gizmo:
I don't
Gizmo:
know. Not very far, but it is not a 10 for me. You know, factoring in price, everything else, I I I'm very very comfortable at a 9. I think it's a great great, great rum.
Bam Bam:
I'll be
Gizmo:
happy to drink it score. But it's not a 10 for me tonight.
Bam Bam:
Score, but it is what it is.
Gizmo:
Hooba. Well, it's tough because when you take price point into into the consideration, it's it's hard not to give it a 10 for value.
Pagoda:
Yes.
Gizmo:
So I'm probably gonna lean that way because there are Barbados rums, in my opinion, in the in the four square runs, and they're all different. So it's not like, you know, they're doing very small batches, very small runs. They're aging them in different different casks. I'm a fan of that. Yes, it's higher proof, but to me, it's definitely a higher quality spirit than this, but money for value at $35
Rooster:
I mean, Hard to beat.
Gizmo:
It's really hard to beat. So if you're going to take price into consideration, it's hard not to give it a 10. It's an easy drinking, lower proof rum, that's approachable and really great with the cigar. It kinda has properties, from a viscosity standpoint, more like a cognac. Which is a huge merit.
Gizmo:
Yeah. Which is a because it coats the mouth, and it's nice. And I got I got vanilla. I got I got, like, I got some molasses in there. It was really, you know, some brown sugar.
Gizmo:
It was really quite good. But all that sweetness aside, it had, and I think this is where the organic thing comes into play. I think the no additives come into play is the dry finish. You kind of want that contrast where it's balanced. So there's balance to the spirit.
Gizmo:
And I think at $35, it's really tough not to give it a 10. So it's going to be a 10 for me with a little bit of a caveat that I've had better rum, but the for what it is and at the price point, it's a 10 all day for me.
Pagoda:
Yeah. What did Jesse say?
Gizmo:
Alright, boys. That puts these formal liquor rating on the Flor de Cana 12 years aged at a 9.7. Excellent score. Another excellent score.
Bam Bam:
Yeah. Honestly, look. If I can't get my hands on the Havana Club, the 7 year age, this is a great number 2. And, honest, I'm gonna go out on a on a limb. I love Santiago 11, which also you can't you can only get in Cuba.
Bam Bam:
It's reminiscent of both of those rums for me with a chip of ice with a chip of ice.
Senator:
And the other thing, it
Pagoda:
just has
Bam Bam:
Look. You and I can go through a half a bottle in this. Easily. Very easily. And to what Poohbah said earlier, it's so easy drinking.
Bam Bam:
It's hard not to give this a 10.
Senator:
And and the other thing that just has to be said, when you just think about let's take Cuba out of the equation. Right? Because most people cannot get access to Cuban rum and
Gizmo:
Everything's fine in Cuba. I just read the latest issue of Cigar Aficionado. Correct. It's going great there.
Bam Bam:
Steaks everywhere. Everything's perfect.
Senator:
It's like, you know, the reality is most people can't get access to that. Even for us, it's when we go, we can obviously access it, but it's not something we can have all the time. When you just compare this to spirits, and there's a zillion of them that are available to us, there is no other spirit outside of, I think, that Courvoisier VSOP that was at a similar price point.
Bam Bam:
And we love that.
Senator:
No other premium spirit at $35 that we would all be dissatisfied drinking and pairing with a cigar, and that's just incredible.
Bam Bam:
Off the charts. Yeah.
Rooster:
I mean, the score reflects that.
Bam Bam:
Sure.
Rooster:
Sure. Sure.
Gizmo:
Great rum tonight. Yeah. Alright, boys. It's time to move into the formal lizard rating now on the Fuente Magnum R Vitola 44. No pressure.
Gizmo:
Brewster, you're up. Yeah.
Rooster:
I mean, I I I kinda like the the beginning of the cigar. I like the first third. The very last, like, inch got a little harsh for me. I mean, I know the spice kinda diminished after the first third. The it's a good cigar.
Rooster:
It's a decent cigar. It's not a great cigar. Would I buy a box of 44 sticks? I don't think so. Maybe a 5 pack to have because it's very different than a lot of the other cigars or any other cigar that I've ever had, and it's unlike any other Fuentes.
Rooster:
So I'm at a 7. Okay. Puba.
Gizmo:
I stopped smoking it halfway through. I thought the cigar was not good at all. It didn't do anything for me. It really didn't. It didn't hit any of the notes that, I mean, that the construction and the build of it was really nice.
Gizmo:
The no problems there, but, I really didn't like, I didn't really like it at all. I thought it was harsh. I had an aftertaste in the back of my mouth. It was not it really I would never smoke the cigar again. I wouldn't buy it.
Gizmo:
I wouldn't recommend it to anybody. And, that's just me. So for me, it's a 5. And, yeah, I didn't think it was I don't I wouldn't someone gave it to me. I'd I'd never smoke it again.
Gizmo:
So it's a 5 for me.
Gizmo:
So for me, it's a 7. I thought the cigar performed very well. The flavor wasn't in my wheelhouse, but for what it is trying to be, I thought it performed very well. And I can understand why people would love the cigar. It's just it doesn't align with my personal palate and my preferences.
Gizmo:
I thought the the cigar performed well. Why did I give it a 7? I think the opening was a little weak. I I didn't love how it opened. I did like the last 2 thirds of the cigar.
Gizmo:
I thought it performed very well. Construction was great. Burn was great. Combustion was great. It's just the flavor profile of the cigar is not in my wheelhouse, but I'm very happy to 7.
Gizmo:
I don't I don't think I would chase the cigar, but but if someone gave me this at the lounge or something, I'd be very happy to smoke it. So that's why I'm at a 7. Senator.
Senator:
I'm in lockstep with Gizmo's commentary. For me, it's a 7. And I think, you know, where I grew with Pupa, the first third for me was very problematic. I don't think I've ever been more anxious or nervous smoking a cigar than I was in the first third of this because I was getting things that I don't really pursue flavor wise in a cigar. A lot of spice, and just an odd profile.
Senator:
Right? Like, just the kind of the the blend was just not like anything I was familiar with. But what I will give it credit for, the second, third, and especially the last third actually got much better.
Bam Bam:
Mhmm.
Gizmo:
And I
Senator:
feel like it got sweeter and less spicy, and, it kinda mellowed out in strength even for me toward the end. I didn't feel that it was all that, all that strong. I didn't get bitterness at the end. It's not my ideal flavor profile, so it's not something that I would actively pursue. But I agree with Gizmo if someone gave me one of these and I didn't have a cigar on me.
Senator:
I could smoke this, you know, enjoy it enough to, have a good experience. And so, and the last thing I'll say, the construction as is the case with, most Fuentes was excellent all
Gizmo:
the way through. Yeah. Yeah. Blood's excellent.
Senator:
No burn issues. I didn't have to touch it up. The combustion was great, and and so it definitely deserves some credit there as well. And so for me, I'm at a solid 7. Pagoda.
Pagoda:
Yeah. It's a 7 for me. I was there were there were moments of it. I thought it could be an 8, and I was drifting in that, direction. But then I think 7, the first score, it's a very smokeable cigar, and that's I like, I know everyone made fun of that, but it's something it feels good in your hand.
Pagoda:
You know? It's good great combustion, good construction. So, you know, it's like if you're lost between 5 or 6 cigars, this can easily come in and go without really adding anything to, you know, the portfolio of cigars you've spoken that day. Yeah. It it wasn't, there wasn't there there was nothing really attractive about the cigar which made me feel that that I wanted more.
Pagoda:
I wanted to really finish the cigar. I just continued smoking it, you know, to till the end, and it's just a 7. Grinder.
Grinder:
I'm at a a an 8. And, you know, those those flavor profiles that, you know, some of the guys mentioned as unique or or even odd are flavor profiles that I really enjoy. You know, that cinnamony spice, it's not even like a it's not I wouldn't even equate it to a pepper, black or white pepper. It's it's I would say it's it's got that strong cinnamon sharp, flavor, which I really enjoy. And, I would I would give it, you know, I would give it a even a higher score, but I'm thinking when I when I tasted this cigar, I was immediately reminiscing about the, the Antonio.
Grinder:
And that is one of I love that cigar. I will always love that cigar, and it and it brought me back to that. The only reason I didn't give it a 9 was because I still rate that the intent the Antonio higher. And, you know, the consistency was there for me. Obviously, the the construction was great.
Grinder:
The burn was great. The the smoke output was phenomenal for me. There it did change a little bit. It went strong and then hard and then then softer, and it kinda rounded out the end there. I didn't have any of that harshness at the end, and, that that Rooster was mentioning.
Grinder:
So for me, it's a solid 8.
Bam Bam:
Okay. Bam Bam. Yeah. I'm at a 7. You know, a 7's a mild recommend.
Bam Bam:
It it it doesn't mean that it's a bad cigar. It's just it's very unique. It's different. I also think it achieved what Carlito was trying to do. This at the time in 2016, all those bold cigars, this was a different expression.
Bam Bam:
I think it achieved that for what it is. And the cinnamon forward profile, also very unique in a new world. 7.
Gizmo:
Alright, boys. So that puts the formal lizard rating on the Arturo Fuente Magnum r Vitola 44 at a 6.9. So let's go through
Bam Bam:
Honestly, a touch low. It's a touch low.
Gizmo:
You think so?
Gizmo:
I Because I gave it a 5. Yeah. I would never smoke the cigar. Understood. Again.
Gizmo:
Understood. But it might be pretty good.
Bam Bam:
No. It's it's a touch low.
Gizmo:
So let's do some, comparing. So the h Upman Half Corona from Cuba that we did earlier on this episode got a 9.7. We did 8 other h Upman cigars from Cuba on the podcast. Let's run through those quickly.
Bam Bam:
We hate this, Marco.
Gizmo:
On episode 6, we did the magnum 46, got an 8.1. On episode 40, the h upman number 2, the famous love 14, one of the best cigars we've ever done, got a 9.8. Episode 62, the magnum 50, got a 7.6. On episode 72, the Robustos Anajados got a rating of 9.6. On 86, we started our journey through the connoisseur line.
Gizmo:
We started with the connoisseur a at a 9.2. 10 episodes later on episode 96, the connoisseur 1 rated an 8.6. On episode 111, we did the connoisseur b, rated a 7.2. And finally, the connoisseur number 2 on episode 125, rated a 9.0. So this cigar at a 9.7 sits just below the Love 14 up in number 2
Bam Bam:
as far as agent deserves.
Gizmo:
In terms of popularity and how often people smoke a 2 in the half corona
Pagoda:
Mhmm.
Gizmo:
It kinda lines up Yeah. In terms of, like, how much you smoke it, put it in your rotation. It's popular.
Gizmo:
So let's also compare our Tour of Fuente cigars we've done on the podcast. Tonight, the Magnum R, Vitola 40 4, as we know, got a 6.9. We did 6 other cigars that Carlito blended on the podcast. On episode number 12, we did the Don Carlos eye of the shark, got a 9.9. On episode 31, Opus x, the only Opus we've ever done, the perfection 888 got a 6.6 just below this.
Gizmo:
On episode 39, the Arturo Fuente Hemingway in signature got a 7.2. We did the Arturo Fuente Hemingway short story.
Bam Bam:
I'm feeling very vindicated right now. He's not wrong.
Gizmo:
Over there. We'll get a smile on his face.
Bam Bam:
I know.
Gizmo:
On episode 55 short spoke special, that got a 7.0. We did the Ashton VSG torpedo, which we know he blended on episode 97, got a flat 8.0. And finally, on episode 116, we did the Arturo Fuente rare pink in signature, which got a 6.4.
Gizmo:
Am I wrong? You're not wrong. You're not wrong.
Gizmo:
So, boys, that rounds out Arturo Fuente and h Upman ratings on the podcast. I can't believe we've done 97 now
Bam Bam:
That's amazing.
Gizmo:
Respectively between the 2 of them. Great night on the Pod Boys. The rum performed very well. The Flor de Cana, 12 years age, got a 9.7. The h up and half Corona from Cuba got a 9.7.
Gizmo:
And finally, the Arturo Fuente Magnum R Vittola 44 got a 6.9. Great night, boys.
Grinder:
Great night.
Gizmo:
Great hangry, great conversation. Thanks to, Fabrica 5 for supporting the podcast. Always. And we'll see everybody next week. Keep smiling.
Gizmo:
Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You can find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, loungelizardspod.com. That's loungelizardspod.com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite pod cast platform.
Gizmo:
If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us hello atloungelizardspod.com. You can also find us on Instagram atloungelizardspod. We really appreciate your time, and we'll, we'll see you next week.