Lounge Lizards - a Cigar and Lifestyle Podcast

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Recorded at Ten86 Cigars in Hawthorne, New Jersey, the Lizards pair Quai d'Orsay Coronas Claro (UBL MAR 22) with 123 Organic Tequila Reposado Dos. The guys saber Pol Roger champagne for two Lizard birthdays, they discuss the future of Cuban tobacco and the global supply/demand issues and they are shocked to learn that Lizard X’s wife angrily returned to the lounge.
PLUS: Has the Golden Age of Cuban Tobacco Ended?, Body vs. Strength vs. Flavor, Why Cuban Blends Change, The Lizard X Files: Lounge Etiquette, Lizard's Cuban Prognostications, Is a European Non-Cuban Cigar Boom Coming?, New French Bolivar R.E. & More

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

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

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 Lizards Podcast presented by Fabric of Five. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast found on our love of premium cigars as well as whiskey travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My My name is Gizmo. Tonight, I'm joined by Rooster, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, and Bam Bam, and I plan to smoke a cigar, drink some tequila, talk about life, and, of course, have some laughs.

Gizmo:

So take this as your two hundred and forty fifth official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. I plan to meet you soon once a week. We're gonna smoke a Cuban cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you a formal lizard rating. We pop champagne for two lizard birthdays. We discuss the future of Cuban cigars and the global supply and demand issues, and we are shocked to learn that Lizard x's wife angrily returned to our lounge all among a variety of other things for the next two hours.

Gizmo:

So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, enjoy as we pair one two three organic tequila Reposado Dos with the Que Dorce Corona Sclero. A Cuban Corona on the pod tonight, boys, and we are going back to Que Dorce. Coronas Claro.

Chef Ricky:

I thought you were gonna say back to That

Gizmo:

was We're not going back to Cali. We're not going back to Cali. It's a 42 ring gauge cigar by five and five eighths inches long. And boys, we have a very special night tonight. So we are back to Cuban cigars.

Gizmo:

We haven't done one in five weeks, number one. Mhmm. Number two, we have some really great stuff to talk about. And number three, more importantly, we have some birthdays in the room tonight, boys. Two birthdays.

Gizmo:

Top knot in the corner. Top knot, number one. Chef Ricky, his birthday is actually today.

Bam Bam:

That's correct.

Pagoda:

Happy That's birthday,

Chef Ricky:

pretty awesome.

Gizmo:

Thank Happy birthday to you.

Bam Bam:

Thirty nine years looks really good on you.

Gizmo:

Normally, the birthdays don't actually land on recording days. That's not too common. He's fortunate. And the other birthday, just a couple days ago Mine passed. Was Lizard Bam.

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Pagoda:

So how old are you now, Bam?

Rooster:

64. Four. Oh, boy.

Chef Ricky:

I was shocked that an old boy

Pagoda:

made Congratulations. Me Happy birthday. I don't know. I forgot what it is. I think I need to have one more drink after that.

Pagoda:

Happy birthday, guys.

Bam Bam:

Thank you.

Chef Ricky:

Thank you. Thank you.

Gizmo:

So, with that in mind, senator, I have something for you to saber.

Bam Bam:

You do? I do.

Chef Ricky:

The senator was like, I

Gizmo:

don't Did you bring a saber?

Senator:

I didn't bring a saber, though.

Pagoda:

Did you say saber or saber?

Gizmo:

Saber. So before we even get started on the cigar, we are going to have our favorite.

Bam Bam:

Oh, yeah. Chill. Classic.

Gizmo:

Paul Roger.

Bam Bam:

Very nice.

Gizmo:

Now I just wanna say, if it was only Bam's birthday, we probably wouldn't be doing this. That's correct. Because Correct. It's also your birthday, and it's actually today. Know You what it was, Bam?

Gizmo:

The secret committee, the Lizard, Secret Livers, that we're all in and you're not? Oh, okay. We got together and discussed that.

Senator:

Correct. We also felt bad that we're making chef work on his birthday. Correct.

Chef Ricky:

This is not work.

Pagoda:

Well, chef just turned 50. We've got to celebrate with the champagne.

Chef Ricky:

Almost. Five more years.

Gizmo:

Five more years. So senator is now unwrapping the Paul Roger bottle, which I got a couple days ago. It's been chilled. Should be great. It's been out of the fridge probably for about an hour.

Bam Bam:

Can't wait.

Senator:

Forty five minutes. We're gonna test your refrigerator temperature. It's gotta be perfectly cold for a clean break.

Rooster:

That's a sexy saber

Gizmo:

storage situation.

Bam Bam:

I'll I'll I may be drinking glass.

Pagoda:

Yes. Can you open your mouth when he savers?

Rooster:

There might be only one Lizard. That's not nice.

Gizmo:

The whole label must come off. And now the aluminum gate.

Senator:

Alright. Now we're looking for the seam of the bottle, which we've got here.

Gizmo:

All right. We haven't done this in a while, boys. This has We been a haven't. This has been a minute since we've done this. I don't remember the last time.

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Chef Ricky:

Is it gonna take out the new computer?

Gizmo:

Honestly, it may

Chef Ricky:

have been.

Senator:

I got my target.

Bam Bam:

I may soak a new case. Yeah.

Gizmo:

That would not be great.

Pagoda:

No. Senator, when did get the cookery?

Senator:

For your birthday, Pagoda. Well done, Pagoda. We'll we'll make it happen.

Gizmo:

Alright, boys. Here we go.

Pagoda:

Yeah. Clean break. Oh my lord. Nice. We just lost some champagne.

Pagoda:

Yeah, baby. Yeah.

Chef Ricky:

Gizmo's hit

Gizmo:

baby right in the hand.

Pagoda:

Did it? Yeah. Well, Not the Not The

Gizmo:

cap right by your foot there.

Senator:

Oh, really?

Gizmo:

Cork. Yeah. I almost caught it.

Chef Ricky:

Mhmm. That's a clean-cut. Look at that.

Bam Bam:

We need to mop in Aisle 1.

Senator:

But your storage situation was not ideal, I'm just gonna say.

Pagoda:

Should be a little colder.

Senator:

Well, it is too clearly too much movement in the bottle. That was a lot that came out. Well, I drove You

Bam Bam:

drove it. From Guam? Yeah. You're supposed

Senator:

to drive very slowly, very carefully. You know how far it gets

Gizmo:

it takes to get here from Guam?

Bam Bam:

Avoid potholes.

Pagoda:

In reverse, if possible.

Chef Ricky:

We're gonna

Senator:

do a quick cleanup before we resume programming,

Bam Bam:

Bob. Correct.

Gizmo:

The saber has been put away. Another job well done there, senator.

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Gizmo:

I admire your skills. You're constantly refining You're sabering. I don't think I think it's probably been probably at least a year or two since we've done that on the pod, right?

Senator:

Yeah. Probably a

Gizmo:

year. Sure. Chef, have you been here when we've done that?

Chef Ricky:

I think we did it for a prior birthday last year. Or maybe it was New Year's. Could have been. Yeah, I've been here I think for two Sabres at least.

Gizmo:

Okay, got it. So boys. Cheers.

Bam Bam:

Cheers. Happy birthday.

Senator:

Thank you so much.

Gizmo:

To both of you. Thank you

Bam Bam:

very much.

Gizmo:

We love you. Very happy birthday

Pagoda:

to both.

Bam Bam:

Thank you.

Senator:

To 60 more.

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Gizmo:

Yeah. Today's your opportunity, Rooster, to give him some old boys. Yeah.

Rooster:

Just you wait.

Chef Ricky:

I was shocked it didn't hit the lizard chat.

Gizmo:

So as we sip some Paul Roger, I do have gifts. I do have some gifts for the boys.

Bam Bam:

Very unnecessary.

Gizmo:

I'm going to pass this around via rooster so they may not get to you. I have two. I am am I wrong?

Chef Ricky:

Very James Bond villain.

Gizmo:

Am I wrong?

Rooster:

You know, I can't find the cigar you gave me on my birthday.

Gizmo:

Oh, yeah. Is that real? The Dom Especion. Did you the La Especion. Lives.

Gizmo:

Yeah. So I have two Andy

Rooster:

told me. What are you

Gizmo:

waiting for? H Two up 2014 H upman sir Winston's for you boys.

Bam Bam:

Holy smokes.

Pagoda:

That is So

Gizmo:

I know that chef always talks about the twenty fourteen h up and sir Winston, so I figured Cuban episode tonight.

Bam Bam:

That's outrageous.

Gizmo:

Hasn't been it's been a while, and so each of you

Bam Bam:

are getting That's outrageous.

Pagoda:

Don't worry, chef. I have a sonata for you later.

Gizmo:

So happy birthday, boys.

Bam Bam:

That is Thanks. For grabbing the head of the cigar.

Chef Ricky:

Well done. Hey.

Pagoda:

I forget. Let me just I'm into manual company.

Gizmo:

Alright, boys. So let's get into the cigar now. Wow. It's gonna be a celebratory episode tonight for sure. We have the Coronas Claro from Que Dorce in Cuba, like I said.

Gizmo:

42 ring gauge by five and five eighths inches long. And, boys, we just cracked this box, and it is beautiful.

Rooster:

Gorgeous cigar. I'm getting citrus.

Bam Bam:

I will say though, the wrapper is a bit toothier than other Coronas Clower that I've had.

Gizmo:

Just a touch. Yeah. It's a little rough. Yeah. A little more rough.

Gizmo:

Alright, boys. Let's cut this thing. See what we're getting in the cold draw and the wrapper. Very hopeful that we're all gonna have decent experiences tonight with draw. Draw is wide open.

Gizmo:

You never know.

Chef Ricky:

Amazing draw. Draw is perfect.

Senator:

Do we have extra?

Gizmo:

We do.

Senator:

No, I'm kidding. Draw's perfect. This

Bam Bam:

is pretty rare.

Gizmo:

You know you got me there for a second. I did think about it.

Bam Bam:

Honestly, so how's everyone else's draw? This is curious. Perfect.

Senator:

Mine is wide open.

Gizmo:

This is crazy. You know what this goes to? We'll talk, we could talk about this in a little But, you know, I have a theory on Okay.

Rooster:

Let's talk

Gizmo:

why that is. Do you guys cut on the cold draw?

Rooster:

I cut my Sir Winston, by the way. Sorry.

Gizmo:

Sorry about that.

Pagoda:

It's all good, buddy. Enjoy.

Bam Bam:

I like that Brewster patina on my cigar.

Gizmo:

This cold draw has a ton of flavor. I'm not getting much. I'm getting cedar. I'm getting salt. Yeah, I'm getting a little salt there.

Gizmo:

I'm getting a little sweetness. It's really nice.

Chef Ricky:

You know, I'm realizing what combination of flavor gives me tomato.

Gizmo:

Coronas Claro and Paul Roger?

Bam Bam:

Graham cracker and PetraCore.

Chef Ricky:

Cedar Cedar and salt is Yeah. Okay.

Gizmo:

I still don't see it, but it's your birthday, so we'll go with it.

Senator:

I literally wished him a happy birthday today by saying

Chef Ricky:

That's why I laughed before

Rooster:

I said it.

Senator:

May your cigars not have notes of brown paper bag or tomato, and immediately, he's got a tomato note. Immediately.

Chef Ricky:

It's not bad. I don't dislike the tomato note.

Rooster:

Alright, boys. Let's light this thing. Are you getting the tomato note on this? On the cold roll?

Chef Ricky:

Right now on the cold roll, yeah. It's the combination of cedar and salt.

Gizmo:

The way

Chef Ricky:

it hits my palate, it tastes like a fresh sliced tomato that you just sprinkle a little bit of a touch of salt on, and it kind of triggers those, like, umami receptors on the palate.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. I think you're in the kitchen too much.

Gizmo:

The Coronas Claro boys from Cuba and Kay Dorsey. Again, it's a 42 ring gauge cigar by five and five eights inches long. So the box code on this, boys, is UBL March 2022 coming out of the Partagas factory tonight, which is exciting.

Bam Bam:

What's exciting is how delicious this is. They're very delicious. It's outrageous

Gizmo:

as always. That's a special cigar, man.

Bam Bam:

Come

Gizmo:

on. That's a special cigar. Fantastic. So the first time we did these, we did them on episode 30, we smoked cigars from 2021. Going back to our conversation about how we all have pretty good draw on this right now, I'm leaning on the theory that we had or the experiences we had around boxes from 2022, 2023, 2024 that had really improved construction, smoking experiences, more consistent blends.

Gizmo:

So I think this is another indication four years later now that this is smoking much better than I think it probably would be if it was a

Bam Bam:

2018, 2017.

Gizmo:

Exactly right.

Bam Bam:

Post 2018 runs. Exactly. When

Senator:

did the prison cigar boom start?

Bam Bam:

Actually after 2018.

Gizmo:

Probably 2425.

Bam Bam:

Well don't forget they roll them on their thighs in there so they don't have table space.

Gizmo:

Talk about patina.

Rooster:

I think this is the best cigar QD makes.

Gizmo:

Yeah, I think so too. I I don't I mean, think the '52 might be The a 52 is great, yeah. But the other cigars in the 50 line, the 54 or the 50, I don't love, I don't reach for.

Pagoda:

The Xeno's great, meaning. The Xeno.

Gizmo:

For listeners out there who are not familiar with that comment, Pagoda once tricked our friend Rooster here into thinking he was smoking a QD, and he was actually smoking a Xeno cigar.

Senator:

With a QD Bandhunt.

Gizmo:

With a QD Bandhunt.

Rooster:

This is very good.

Senator:

This is excellent. The funny thing, I think all of us, if that most of us have smoked a lot of these cigars. Yeah. For me, there's been a bit of a frustrating variation in like performance year to year. Like I've had some with a very different flavor profile to this, like actually a lot fuller, and other ones that are just like this, and this is easily my favorite expression of this cigar, so I'm just thrilled that I feel like this smokes the way the blend was intended to.

Senator:

What box codes or what year? Remember? I don't remember.

Rooster:

Because I know I have 2019 and 2020s, and they've been very good. They've smoked great.

Gizmo:

I had a couple twenty twenty boxes that were good, Not mind blowing.

Rooster:

19 was good.

Gizmo:

I remember, I think Senator and I had one that was a similar box, it was like I don't want to say hit or miss, but it was like

Senator:

It just wasn't excellent. This on the light is excellent, and that on the light is just good.

Rooster:

Do you remember we smoked this cigar, I think, the first time, all of us in your garage I think it was the month of December. I think Grindr was there.

Senator:

You remember that night, Rooster? Oh, that was

Rooster:

that That was a day. It was daytime.

Bam Bam:

Oh, it wasn't that

Rooster:

No, it wasn't. It wasn't that fateful night. Correct. Let's just say it wasn't that. It was a daytime.

Rooster:

It was around like right around Christmas or right after Christmas, between Christmas and New Year's, I stopped by in the daytime. It was you, grinder, senator, and that was there. I bought the cigar. Guys had not

Gizmo:

had We had not had it. That's a long

Rooster:

time ago. It was amazing experience.

Bam Bam:

That night though was hilarious. You were ready to fight everybody.

Senator:

Including Gizmo's dog

Gizmo:

and raccoons. Poor sky.

Pagoda:

That's the night fuck shot came out. That's right.

Senator:

That's exactly where it started.

Rooster:

He's such a nice guy.

Senator:

Fuck, shut up.

Pagoda:

Fuck him.

Gizmo:

What kind of notes are you guys getting here on this light?

Bam Bam:

I'm getting graham cracker. I'm getting a little salt. I'm getting coffee.

Chef Ricky:

Yeah, I'm getting coffee biscuit and just a touch of like citrus pith or zest.

Bam Bam:

Have no citrus at all.

Pagoda:

That's what I get. Get a little bit of saltiness with a little bit of

Senator:

a little

Pagoda:

slight touch of orange, a little floral salty.

Chef Ricky:

Yeah. I'm getting a little drying note that feels like it comes from a grapefruit peel.

Bam Bam:

I think you guys are being swayed by the color of the band.

Senator:

No. But this kind of goes to my point about the variation, so I'm not getting any citrus right now on this, and there are other ones that we've all had where the citrus is pretty prominent.

Bam Bam:

That's true.

Senator:

So that's where I just mean there's just a I don't know. It's strange.

Bam Bam:

Cuba being Cuba.

Rooster:

It Yeah. Depends if they squeezed some lemon juice on it or not.

Chef Ricky:

I'm not at all

Bam Bam:

Well done, Rustom.

Senator:

Flavors I'm getting on this. No, not upset.

Rooster:

Phenomenal, yeah. I think I'm getting mostly like cedar and salt right now.

Gizmo:

That's where I'm at.

Senator:

No biscuit I or feel like the biscuit, but

Rooster:

not coffee. I'm not getting any coffee.

Bam Bam:

No coffee. For me, this is smoking like a quintessential Cuban. These flavor notes for me are what I pursue in a Cuban cigar.

Senator:

There's also a little bit of a creaminess to this.

Pagoda:

The creaminess is lot

Rooster:

of it.

Senator:

When you said coffee, I thought of coffee with milk or cream. It's really good.

Bam Bam:

Yeah, it's excellent. How much are these going for now?

Gizmo:

Do we know? That's the problem, Bam. Number one, they're very hard to find. I haven't seen a box of these in a long time. I'm sure FOH, I'm sure Rob has gotten some.

Bam Bam:

What's your guess?

Gizmo:

I just haven't seen it. Right now, my guess is probably Per stick. Between 30 and 35 when you're getting it direct from a Habanos retailer, a legitimate retailer. If you're getting it on the gray market, maybe a touch more than that. If you're It's getting 20 plus.

Gizmo:

If you're getting it on Bond Roberts with some age on it, you're paying out especially if it's in The US for us here in The US. If it's already in The United States, people are paying a premium for that because there's not a customs risk. Folks outside of The United States might be able to get it closer to a normal price, but I've seen it go pretty high. Outrageous. So what do you think about, given the experiences in the past you've had with this specific cigar, the size of this cigar in our hand, this Corona, what do you think about this being 30, 35, $40 Yeah.

Bam Bam:

Was thinking about the As

Gizmo:

a regular production Corona from Cuba. I think it's crazy.

Chef Ricky:

It's a lot.

Rooster:

It's a tough pill to swallow. I mean $35 for a Corona, that's a bit much. I mean as good as this cigar is, know, pay close to $40 that's quite a bit.

Senator:

I think for this there's a big difference between $30 and $40 for me. This is a pretty unique Cuban cigar. I don't know that any of us have really compared this to another Cuban that we've had. And I say that because I feel like at $30, I would pay the premium to be able to smoke it again. But at $40 for this size, like, that's a hard line for me.

Senator:

I just think that's crazy. This is too small of a stick to command a $40 price point.

Bam Bam:

But you only live once, and honestly

Senator:

It's not that bad. Just like Ben's pricing.

Bam Bam:

I would pay it. That's not bad. It's bad, but I still would pay it.

Rooster:

That's not bad.

Gizmo:

Would pay it to have a box in my tower.

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Gizmo:

This is a cigar, if you remember, especially in the summer months, we used to reach for these a lot. Dude, we were raving. We were rolling through boxes of these like it was nothing.

Senator:

Were getting

Gizmo:

them for $12.10 dollars

Bam Bam:

Took it for granted.

Gizmo:

And now it's moved from a cigar that you can reach for that frequently whenever you want. If you have to put it down halfway to do something, relight it, you don't really care. At $30.40 dollars now it's a special occasion cigar.

Rooster:

Yeah, think that's where the disconnect is for us. Having what we have paid for these cigars, we are not willing to pay that $40 price. But maybe a new cigar smoker that's getting into cigars now who has only seen these cigars at this price might be okay with it. Might be like okay I'm gonna have the Cuban cigar, I'm gonna pay that price to have that box, but I'm not willing to pay that.

Pagoda:

You might be working for SpaceX and just cash down the options. $800 for

Rooster:

it. More.

Senator:

Yeah. Congrats, Pagoda. Correct.

Pagoda:

This is ridiculous.

Gizmo:

This is a good cigar, man. What a nice treat for your birthdays, boys.

Bam Bam:

Correct. Thank you.

Gizmo:

Thank God the Gurkut episode wasn't on your birthday.

Rooster:

Oh my God.

Bam Bam:

That would have been fun, though. Actually, that was a fun episode.

Gizmo:

It was. I would smoke

Rooster:

the cigar kind of slow.

Gizmo:

Yeah. This is Oh, yeah. I'm nervous about going through it too fast for sure.

Rooster:

It is a two hour episode. The retrohale's delicious.

Senator:

It's a good thing we have plenty of extra.

Chef Ricky:

It's a good thing we have the cigar.

Rooster:

Oh, there's another one.

Bam Bam:

What are getting on retro?

Chef Ricky:

Retro for me is creamy creamy sort of a Hold on.

Rooster:

Tomato bisque.

Chef Ricky:

No, no, no. Tomato's gone. The tomatoes are on cold Marinara. I usually never get the tomato on the light. It's usually on the cold draw for me.

Rooster:

Lobster bisque.

Chef Ricky:

Chimichurri. Tomato for me is

Pagoda:

He's debating. He said should I say Did

Chef Ricky:

I just say tomato?

Rooster:

Forget the tomato. The retro

Chef Ricky:

ale for me is creamy coffee and a slight dulce de leche. A little caramel. See the

Bam Bam:

is a little sweeter for me actually. Yeah. Just a touch.

Gizmo:

Yeah. I'm not sure

Chef Ricky:

if I'm getting

Gizmo:

a little more of the bready thing for the nose than I am actually on

Chef Ricky:

the It's like you've ever had these alfajores? They're like

Gizmo:

Oh, yeah. Sure. Senator had those with you.

Rooster:

That was last Oh,

Senator:

We just had

Chef Ricky:

So an alfajores is a sandwich cookie, right? And the they're two thin shortbread cookies. Mhmm. And sandwiched between the two cookies is a milk caramel or dulce de leche.

Bam Bam:

Sounds interesting.

Chef Ricky:

It's very delicious. Nice. My wife makes delicious ones.

Gizmo:

Didn't bring any. Noticed

Bam Bam:

that. Correct.

Chef Ricky:

Well, we know where all the desserts, all the extra desserts went today or whenever that happened. Cigar's closet? Giz's closet. No.

Gizmo:

Mrs. Chef hit me up looking for cigars for his birthday, so I ordered them for her and Wild time. Hooked it up. Cool. So our friend Ricky has some With cigars in his tower

Bam Bam:

pastries?

Gizmo:

And she brought some pastries. Nice. I didn't actually try anything.

Senator:

Thanks for sharing that.

Gizmo:

I brought everything else. Sorry I didn't bring the brownie bites.

Bam Bam:

You get a pass.

Gizmo:

So boys, the Coronas Claro comes in boxes of 25, a cedar box with not not much on it, just a couple markings, you know, the Habano stickers, the QD stickers. For listeners who don't have one in front of them or don't know what it looks like, I would I would say it's as close to like a d four type box as you're gonna find in Cuba with a with a pop top lid and a clasp on it. This cigar was originally released in 1974, and folks will remember who have smoked these in the past that the band changed alongside the rebranding of Que Dorce in 2017. So some of the old bands, if you remember, were kind of those old, really plain looking Que Dorsey bands.

Bam Bam:

Which I do love, by the

Gizmo:

Which are great. Yeah. But these Can I see that again? Yes. Of course.

Gizmo:

There it is right there. Very plain. And it was almost like a mustard brown.

Chef Ricky:

It looks like the Cabo Iguan Exactly.

Rooster:

That's what we said. Say that.

Gizmo:

Oh, okay. I think the Cabo Iguan was probably Inspired by. Inspired by

Pagoda:

that. Nice.

Gizmo:

Call out. For sure. So the other thing that happened too is they did not say this, but aficionados who spoke a lot of Cuban cigars believe that the blend actually changed when that branding changed on these cigars, and it pivoted a little bit more to what we're talking about. If we call it citrus, we call it the bready sweet thing. I think in the past they were a little bit earthier, they weren't as sweet, and I think they're different, they're great, but I do think that this blend with time is gonna have a lot more legs, I think, than the old one.

Chef Ricky:

That's So then that aligns with Bam's commentary on me being influenced by the band. Them changing the the band design to maybe influence that

Gizmo:

Well, changed all of Line up citrus. They changed all of K Dorsey in 2017. Entire brand got a rebrand. You know, we've talked about K Dorsey ad nauseam in the past. So I wanted to get some more information specific to the Coronas Claro.

Gizmo:

So I actually went to Min Ra Nie's book, The Encyclopedia of Post Revolution Havana Cigars. Of course, legendary book published in 2003. Probably the most legendary cigar book out there. El Habana Moderna is kind of the follow-up to that from Alex Groom. That's kind of the modern version of that book.

Gizmo:

It's also excellent, so check those out. But what I saw was this is a box, as Minrani says here, believed to be from the mid nineteen seventies. There is a white porous stone in the top end of the box serving as a moisturizing device. This did not work very well, he says. Note that the heads of three cigars on the far right were damaged due to excessive humidity from that device.

Gizmo:

A box of nineteen ninety eight Coronas Claros is on the right. In comparison, I'll show you guys that, which doesn't have any of that. It's the box that we know and and would see right now. So check that out. That is the white porous humidity stone that Habanos was testing out on Coronas Claros in the nineteen seventies.

Gizmo:

Clearly didn't work. So the official model name is actually the Coronas Claro Claro. It was discontinued in 1995, that cigar. Then they changed it to the Coronas Claro, and there's a lot of confusion about the different cigars and the different names and stuff. But technically, this cigar is still called the Coronas Claro Claro.

Gizmo:

On the old boxes, it only said Coronas. It did not say Claro. What's interesting about it is that this cigar was about 10% more expensive than the Coronas Claro, the original one, as the specially treated light color wrappers required extra labor to make. Consumers increasingly recognized that there was no real difference in taste between the Coronas Claro Claro and the Coronas Claro. There was no taste difference.

Gizmo:

This accounted for the eventual demise of the Coronas Claro Claro. So they had both of them existing in production at the same time, and then, of course, discontinued them because there was really no point to it. And then yeah. So they sales went down to zero effectively and they were discontinued in 1995 and now we just have the Coronas Claro. So that's about all I have tonight on on QD.

Gizmo:

If anybody out there wants to know a little bit more about QD history, look back at some of the other Que D'Orsay episodes we've done. We've certainly talked a lot about Que D'Orsay, the French influences, where the name came came from, who founded it, etcetera. So you can check that all out in a previous episode in the catalog.

Bam Bam:

You know, I find it interesting. You guys some of you guys are critical of some of their other cigars. I love every QD. I have no issue with any of them. I think they're all fantastic.

Rooster:

But I think flavor wise, this surpasses all of them.

Bam Bam:

Okay. They're all very they're all good.

Gizmo:

I would say this, Bam. I think they're all okay, but I think at the current price, I'm not reaching for any of them except for this one and the 52.

Bam Bam:

I agree with that. Pricing is pricing.

Gizmo:

Because I remember, Senator, you were reaching for the 50 as your morning cigar. I love this. Quite some time ago. This is a

Senator:

theme though with QD. As much as I feel similar to BAM in that I've smoked and enjoyed everything they make, The 50, I really got into one of our trips to Cuba, I had bought some at a shop and was smoking them in the morning up on our rooftop, and it was absolutely perfect.

Bam Bam:

And Lee had Cohiba I think. Probably. Yeah. Down the street.

Senator:

And then I had procured a couple boxes, one of them actually through Giz and the other one I probably found online, And the experience and flavor profile was very different box to box, similar to what I was describing with the Coronas Clara where one box was very much like this, like medium, smooth, easygoing, great for the morning, and the other had like these very dark wrappers and was a lot fuller than what I had previously tried. So I just it's been a mixed bag, but when I've had these blends the way I think they're intended to be, they've all been excellent. I've bought and smoked many of the QD-fifty four, but I will say the QD-fifty two and some of you were on my patio the night I had broke open my first box of those, and this was actually before shipping got shut down into The US. So I brought this out, I only, did they had just come out within

Gizmo:

Did you order them after we reviewed them? Probably. I mean it must

Senator:

have been like right after. And I gave a bunch of these out that night and then it was literally, I was blown away. I think if you haven't had the 52 like it's right on par with this cigar. And then kind of all shipping got shut down into The US and I'm never gonna be able to get another box in unless I pay some outrageous premium. But those two like Issues that I think are as good as it gets from QD.

Bam Bam:

I also love the 54.

Gizmo:

I think the 54 is okay.

Bam Bam:

Well, in your opinion.

Gizmo:

Yeah, that's why I said it.

Senator:

Yes, as Lizard Johnny would say, that's just your opinion.

Gizmo:

That's correct.

Rooster:

Isn't it a bit milder? Like softer?

Gizmo:

Think I

Senator:

it's milder than this. I think this is milder than that honestly.

Rooster:

Senator was saying about the 54 having a little bit more umphor, maybe BAM said that, than the Coronas Clara.

Bam Bam:

It does, that's true. I think it's a bit earthier than the other QDs, just a touch Exactly.

Senator:

It's not as sweet and dessert like as Which this is right

Bam Bam:

I love that deviation from the rest of the Cuban catalog because a lot of them are graham cracker y, which I love, salty I love, sweet a little bit. That 54 is a little unique. Appreciate that.

Senator:

Like the 54 regardless of its size, I would not have that in the morning. That's always been like an evening smoke because it's drier, but this with all the dessert notes you get, you could easily have this with a cup of coffee in the morning.

Rooster:

So I'm not getting the citrus note that I'm used to from the Coronas Claros. Both boxes or three boxes that I have and I have smoked out of them, all three of them you get that orange peel citrus note, which is kind of like the dominant note and which is a departure from the other QDs. That's why I feel like Coronas Claro is one of my favorite QDs because you don't get that in the 50 or the 52.

Bam Bam:

Or many other Cubans.

Senator:

And this

Rooster:

goes to my point about the

Senator:

Every other Cuban. It's like three boxes you're getting it and all of a sudden in this one you're This is experience with QD.

Bam Bam:

I don't think it's a demerit that you're not getting citrus.

Rooster:

No, I'm not saying that, but I'm just saying

Bam Bam:

Because of how good it is.

Rooster:

But it's so different than any other Cuban cigar because of that dominant citrus smell.

Bam Bam:

You want that.

Senator:

And I like that. I like to Rooster's point, honestly, if I smoked this one blind, I would actually think this is an Upman more than I would

Bam Bam:

Yeah, that's that's also QD.

Gizmo:

That's great comment. Very good

Rooster:

comment. I think

Gizmo:

that's spot on. Yeah. And I think that the citrus thing, Bam, is important to our experience with this cigar I know. How we've thought about it, where we've kind of slotted it, where it ended up being smoked on summer nights with a beer, with an athletic, you know, like, that was that cigar for

Bam Bam:

It went hand in hand.

Gizmo:

That's true. And and I think for how great this is, I think senator's spot on. This could have an Upman ban. This could be an Upman corona, and I wouldn't think twice about it.

Bam Bam:

I Yeah. Think that's perfect

Chef Ricky:

You guys take a minute to smell your burn line. I feel like I'm getting citrus on the burn line as well.

Bam Bam:

I'm getting a

Senator:

sun So I actually do get some on the burn line.

Bam Bam:

I'm getting cocoa on the burn line.

Senator:

But I'm not getting it on the palate.

Chef Ricky:

No, I'm not getting cocoa on the burn line.

Pagoda:

I'm getting a slight orange peel. Like, part of me was thinking it was like a salty orange cream circle kind of a thing. Yeah, I'm really enjoying this.

Chef Ricky:

I'm wondering if maybe

Pagoda:

those I'm not boxes getting the sweetness or the graham cracker note. I'm not getting that.

Gizmo:

Really? Wow.

Chef Ricky:

I'm wondering if maybe those boxes were different years and maybe the growing conditions, the harvest was just

Gizmo:

And the blend, I mean, year to year blends change a little bit. I mean, I can't knock the cigar. It's excellent, but it is not what we're expecting from the cigar tonight based on previous experiences, which were excellent.

Senator:

And I just say that because when you think of other Cuban brands, I don't see the same level of variation. With the D four, are there better boxes, better years? Of course. But I don't know that I've ever had a single d four box that didn't have a cinnamon note in it in some way, shape, or form. It's just odd that, like, citrus is a defining note in this cigar, and we're not getting it at all here.

Senator:

And I also have had ones where it's been like oddly absent even though most of my experience with this cigar, it's been very, very present. So that's just the only as much as I love QD, and as I said, I enjoy them all, I would still smoke them all, but I don't love that I don't always know exactly what experience I'm gonna get in being consistent with what I think the blend was intended to be. Yeah.

Gizmo:

I do think the 52, going back to that conversation about the other QD cigars, I think the 52 stands pretty close to how this is smoking right now in my experience with it.

Bam Bam:

I agree with

Gizmo:

that. And I don't think it's that far off in flavor right now from the 52. I think they're kind of neck and neck. Correct? And that's a great cigar, obviously.

Gizmo:

We've talked about this in the past. New production cigar that's come out from Habanos through Que Dorsey.

Bam Bam:

Great shape.

Gizmo:

Great blend, great Vitolda, smokes great, out of the box. They're doing something right with these newer blends and these newer productions, and I think that, you know, this box is obviously, even for its differences from what we've expected, very, very good tonight. Delicious. So for the listeners out there, on episode 30, we did the Coronas Claro. That's a long time ago.

Gizmo:

Over four years, boys, we reviewed this cigar, if you believe it. And that was a 2021. So we smoked a 2021 Coronas Claro in 2022. Today, we're smoking a 2022 Coronas Claro in 2026. So that was a year gap on that rating when we get to that later, and

Senator:

this will be a four year gap. The only theory then maybe I have is actually that with age, it loses that citrus note. And the only reason I say that is I remember Giz, we were at a barbecue, and I think you had brought a very old QD with the old band. The o nines. And that was the first one I had had with the old band, and I remember it was really enjoyable.

Senator:

It actually, I think, smoked very similar to this, and I do not remember getting a prominent citrus note at all in that cigar.

Gizmo:

That's where the theory about the blend changing comes from because that citrusy kind of note to it started popping up around the rebrand.

Senator:

Okay, interesting.

Gizmo:

So it's almost like when the old band became the new band and they rebranded Kay Dorsey, I think that flavor might have been introduced in the blend at that time or whoever was re blending it that year just found something that popped in the tobacco, worked really well with citrus, great for the blend and they went with it. That's what I think happened, but it definitely was not present in those old ones for sure. So let's go to some news boys before we get to our other pairing that we're actually gonna rate tonight. This one is kind of relevant coming out of France like Kay Dorsey does. There's a new Bolivar regional edition coming.

Gizmo:

It's called the Evento 55 Exclusivo Francia. Oh my lord. And it's a Henios 52 ring gauge by five and a half. And I like this suggested retail. You're never gonna find it for these, but suggested retail is $40 a cigar coming out as pretty much right now.

Gizmo:

So it has the red and silver secondary band on it, which says, and it's celebrating the fifty fifth anniversary of Caprova, which is the distributor of Cuban cigars in France. Did you note the Vitola dimension? I missed it. Yeah. It's a henios.

Gizmo:

It's called 52 by five and a half. So it's like a it's almost like a fatter Robusto

Pagoda:

for $40.

Gizmo:

For $40. And it what's nice on it, it has the nice shape on it.

Bam Bam:

Oh look at that. It's pretty cool. Very nice.

Rooster:

It's gonna be closer to 60 plus.

Gizmo:

Oh yeah, you're not gonna find it. You're probably not even gonna find it. Mean they're announcing these things. I can't imagine if you can't get D4s and

Bam Bam:

you can't It's propaganda.

Gizmo:

Yeah. It's just, you know, I don't think this stuff is

Bam Bam:

actually Fucking Cuban cigars I can't buy anymore.

Gizmo:

Yeah man. It was PTSD. Correct. I'm traumatized. So here's another one.

Gizmo:

This one you referenced earlier, actually, La Essepcion. It's called the Selectos Realis coming out. Another regional edition for Italy. It's a 52 ring gauge cigar, a bellicoso by five and a half inches long, quite literally identical to the other one except it has a bellicoso tip on it. It's an Italian regional celebrating the final in a trilogy for the La Essepcion brand.

Gizmo:

So actually, I think the one that I gave you for your birthday was in this I

Rooster:

think I think you must have taken it back that night. I don't have it.

Gizmo:

Didn't take it I didn't take it back. Now what's interesting, we're talking about a 52 by five and a half cigar at $40 we just talked about. This one, five and a half by 52 Bellicoso, just under $60 a cigar.

Bam Bam:

Wow. Sipsions of Marc, I don't have much experience with. I'd like to, but ain't gonna happen.

Gizmo:

Cigars I've had are okay, but they only use them for these kind of releases. There's no regular production cigars coming out.

Bam Bam:

Primarily a lighter bodied cigar?

Gizmo:

I've had them. I would actually kind of say if this had a lot of Cepcion band on it, I wouldn't be surprised. You

Bam Bam:

know? Okay.

Gizmo:

I have maybe had three or five of them total in my life, but they're all special edition regional stuff, so they're all kind of one off blends. Richard, didn't you have a box of

Chef Ricky:

those at one point?

Gizmo:

I did.

Chef Ricky:

One was And

Rooster:

the Man to Us. That was the that was the other Italian regional. Right.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. Those are pretty good.

Senator:

Yeah.

Gizmo:

Yeah. Those are good. So what's interesting, 4,000 numbered boxes of 50 cigars. So these are coming only in 50 caps. Expensive 50 cab, but a 50 cab nonetheless.

Gizmo:

And finally, boys, we're just gonna touch on this really quick. It was a pretty big news story again couple, couple days ago. Cuba experienced another pretty long nationwide power outage, and it just keeps getting worse and worse for these folks. So this is from July 6. So Cuba began to slowly restore power after the country's national electric grid collapsed earlier, the latest blow to an island already suffering from severe energy, fuel, and medicine shortages.

Gizmo:

So the grid operator said it was providing electricity to some vital services, including hospitals and food production places, but by late afternoon was able to serve only 1% of the capital Havana's demand. So they're only serving one percent of Havana and 0% of everywhere else on the island. I I mean, if you need a if you have a medical emergency, I mean, if you're pregnant and you have a a complicate like, I just don't know how you get any help.

Bam Bam:

Wasn't there at one time a lot of chatter about the US government coming in, over, something like that? Where does that political conversation stand? Does anyone know? What's the latest? Think it stands.

Bam Bam:

The

Senator:

Iran war was gonna take two

Bam Bam:

weeks. Well yeah.

Gizmo:

So that punted definitely punted the stuff.

Bam Bam:

Cuba has been deprioritized

Gizmo:

for her. Correct. So we're thinking about all our friends in Cuba. I've gotten a few emails from listeners asking about how to get to Cuba and what the best way is and where to stay and where to go and all these other things. I really advise you, unless you're going to be like Anthony Bourdain or some sort of like stunt TV person trying to film something that's like, don't go.

Gizmo:

Don't go to Cuba right now.

Bam Bam:

A lot of stunts. He has probably got that generator going right

Senator:

now.

Gizmo:

I don't know, man. I saw the other day that You need fuel. You need fuel for

Senator:

Yeah. They're probably not.

Gizmo:

Oh, that's true. Fuel is not available.

Bam Bam:

And the airport. God knows.

Gizmo:

So it's a very difficult situation in Cuba right now. So again, if you're thinking about going, don't. Save your money and save your time, and go when things improve.

Rooster:

So I just saw a box of Baixe 50 two's come up for sale. Just take a wild guess.

Bam Bam:

$1,100 per cigar.

Senator:

That's not bad.

Gizmo:

I'm gonna say 3,500 for 10.

Rooster:

6,000. Oh my god. What? And somebody How bought

Gizmo:

many is it?

Senator:

10. 10.

Rooster:

They come in 10 count boxes.

Senator:

The only 18

Bam Bam:

statement on it?

Rooster:

Or 6,000. It was fairly would say maybe it was 2019, 2020 box.

Senator:

What a disgrace.

Gizmo:

That is obscene.

Bam Bam:

Oh, yeah.

Rooster:

Somebody bought it. Probably 6,000.

Bam Bam:

Some oil tycoon somewhere.

Chef Ricky:

No. He's like, no.

Rooster:

Took out a HELOC.

Gizmo:

That's crazy. Some $600 a cigar.

Bam Bam:

Some chic someplace.

Gizmo:

Alright, boys. It's time now to go to our pairing tonight, and we are back to tequila.

Chef Ricky:

I'm stuck on that $6,000 box.

Gizmo:

So we have the one, two, three, or uno dos tres, the Reposado dos Mhmm. In hand tonight. Chef was so kind to bring this in. We have done the one and the three, the Blanco and the Anejo respectively. And Bam, when we said we were doing the Coronas Claro, said he wanted to do a Repo, and Chef brought this in.

Gizmo:

So cheers to you boys. Cheers. And, again, very happy birthday to you both.

Bam Bam:

Thank you so much.

Gizmo:

Good to be with everybody.

Chef Ricky:

I tell you, there's no turpentine in this.

Bam Bam:

Really?

Chef Ricky:

It's one of the smoothest Repos you're gonna

Senator:

All I'm gonna say is wow.

Gizmo:

Yeah. The nose is fantastic. It's like buttery. Yep. Butterscotch, vanilla, all day long on the nose.

Gizmo:

Oh, man. That's excellent. We're gonna

Senator:

need two bottles of this.

Gizmo:

I think Bam's in love.

Chef Ricky:

Bam's speechless. Bam's Bam's looking at me.

Gizmo:

I looked right at you.

Senator:

Bam's like, You're the reason we're gonna end up at Madison Rose after this.

Chef Ricky:

I feel the love. Feel the love.

Bam Bam:

Dude, it's extremely buttery. That's incredible. What's unique is on the nose, the aroma, there's a bit of a smoky aroma to it for me.

Chef Ricky:

I don't get much smoke, I'm definitely getting butterscotch, vanilla, the softest hint of agave.

Bam Bam:

I'm not getting heavy hints of butterscotch or vanilla. It's very light, but the buttery experience is very forward for me.

Chef Ricky:

On the palate, yeah.

Bam Bam:

And a touch of salt too. This is incredible.

Chef Ricky:

Yeah, so this is a, as Gis said, is the Dos Reposado from the Uno Dositres line. Six months American white oak. Obviously, it's not a lot of time in oak, but there's a good color here, which tells me the oak the barrels are heavily charred. And it's very clean tasting. So that speaks to the production method, you know, for instead of using to Honas or things that would, like, introduce minerality.

Chef Ricky:

Here they're using a mechanical shredder. They're still using stone brick ovens to roast the, you know, steam or bake the agaves for about two days. But overall, I mean, look, the one did great on this. I think a lot of people said that was like the best Blanco they've ever had. The three did good.

Chef Ricky:

But so, you know, why not do the two? And then I think there's the the Ablito that we haven't done. That's the extra Anejo. That's a few $100.

Bam Bam:

How much was this bottle?

Chef Ricky:

This is wholesale price is about 98. So retail is, I'm gonna guess somewhere in the 130s. Oh my lord.

Bam Bam:

Wow. That's a lot.

Senator:

The only thing I was gonna say, this is outrageously smooth and definitely drinks like a very refined spirit, so I was anticipating a somewhat higher price for a Repo for sure, but

Gizmo:

maybe Maybe a eight months.

Senator:

Yeah. 80, at most 90, but 1 and

Chef Ricky:

30 is

Gizmo:

Can I just say something? The I think you got that number wrong. The No.

Chef Ricky:

When did you get?

Gizmo:

The Anejo at Total Wine right now, it's available, is $81. Oh, that is I remember the other one being

Bam Bam:

Now you're talking.

Chef Ricky:

It's not the first time that Jersey retail has been less than New York wholesale. Like Don Julio here, you could get a bottle of Don Julio for like 110 and we were paying wholesale 121. Wow. In the city at the time. So this is probably one of those cases where it's flipped.

Bam Bam:

This changes the trajectory of the So

Chef Ricky:

no, it's important because I got to spend a restaurant.

Gizmo:

I got Right it now you can buy it for $70.

Senator:

Okay. That's more what I would be because

Gizmo:

that slots because I'm remembering the prices on the one and the three because I purchased it after we reviewed and it was like 50 and 80 or something. So I was like, this has to fall in the middle.

Bam Bam:

I gotta buy a bottle of this shit.

Gizmo:

It's very good.

Bam Bam:

This is unbelievable. Yeah.

Chef Ricky:

Alright. So we recorded You buy

Rooster:

it in New York. It was definitely it

Chef Ricky:

was definitely 98 at the restaurant. But, yeah, I'll look at the invoice again, but I wanna say that was it. Buy them in New Jersey. So, yeah, $70 in New Jersey. That's a freaking phenomenal price.

Chef Ricky:

But, yeah, this is one of the better sipping Repos you could get, if not one of the best.

Gizmo:

And for folks out there who care about this, it's certified organic. That's in the name of it. Certified organic tequila.

Chef Ricky:

Cool. You know, so they go through the USD certificate the USDA certification. I don't usually speak to it or speak about it because I feel almost every tequila, especially the tequilas you drink on this pod, are organic. These guys just go and spend the extra money for the stamp. So

Gizmo:

Fantastic. So, boys, we come to the end of the first third now on the Que Dorce, Coronas Claros from Cuba paired with this Paul Roger that we love so very much and the tequila that we just talked about, the one, two, three, the dose, the Reposado. How is everybody feeling about the cigar, the pairing? How's it working for you?

Chef Ricky:

You know what's one of my favorite things is that all three work insanely well together. You could bounce from the champagne to the tequila to the it's all a beautiful, beautiful harmony.

Senator:

I completely agree. I think both pair perfectly. Chef described the tequila as very clean. This Peugeot always has a very clean, dry finish.

Gizmo:

It's so good, man, every time.

Senator:

Yeah, and I think for that reason, they're both easy drinking. This so smooth. This is a very medium affair. There's a bit of a creaminess about the smoke in the cigar. So I think it's a home run as far as pairing is concerned.

Rooster:

I'm curious about Pagoda's input on tequila. He's not a big tequila guy.

Pagoda:

Yeah, I'm not. But you know what, from a flavor profile perspective, it's excellent. It's very buttery and for me it's just like when you take it on the palate, it just feels sweetness,

Gizmo:

And you

Pagoda:

then it opens up and then becomes it gives you the whole tequila, the agave kind of flavor in the back.

Bam Bam:

Any buttery qualities for you?

Pagoda:

Yeah, very buttery. Very buttery. Pairing really well with the cigar.

Senator:

And to Pagoda's point about the sweetness, I mean, what I appreciate about this, I like Arepo to be sweeter. Like, I expect and I want, a Blanco to be more agave forward, I want Arepo to have some more sweetness while maintaining some agave, and I want that Anejo to be almost more whiskey like, and this to me is the perfect example of what a Repo should taste like. Now there are fun Repos that we have that have very different wild profiles, but to me this is a perfect representation of a traditional Repo.

Bam Bam:

Oh, think it's an outstanding pairing. Honestly, do love the idea of a Repo being just a touch sweeter. This is a perfect balance between salty, buttery, and just a touch of sweetness. It's not too sweet but sweet enough. And it's perfectly clean.

Pagoda:

I think it finishes very clean and

Senator:

it goes

Pagoda:

into a completely different flavor profile as goes to back of the pack.

Bam Bam:

What did we say this was? $71

Gizmo:

It's $70

Bam Bam:

We got to go out and get a case of this. I mean this is just incredible tequila. Incredible.

Pagoda:

A case? What?

Senator:

That's a Ringy endorsement. Buy the case. The whole thing.

Bam Bam:

That'd be

Pagoda:

a six in a case?

Chef Ricky:

We know BAM's rating.

Rooster:

Business must be good.

Gizmo:

This is a this is a really excellent evening.

Bam Bam:

It's awesome.

Gizmo:

And what a redemption from Gurkha last week. Right?

Bam Bam:

Mhmm. Incredible.

Pagoda:

We need a few more birthdays.

Rooster:

Don't even remind me of that cigar.

Bam Bam:

Well, was told we're doing another Gurkha sometimes.

Senator:

It better not be for my birthday next month.

Gizmo:

That's a great

Pagoda:

idea, actually. Oh, hey.

Chef Ricky:

You wanna see senator walk out?

Senator:

Actually, thank god. I'll be in Doctor on my birthday. That's true.

Bam Bam:

But But before We'll make sure

Pagoda:

we get a cookery as well.

Gizmo:

Yeah. Correct. The cookery. So, boys, we have some very exciting news I wanna share. I'm excited.

Gizmo:

I don't know if you're as excited as I am, but I'm excited that the Lounge Lizards are in a position now, thankfully, Thanks to Lizard Nation, thanks to FabricA5 and Bond Roberts and Small Batch and all the support, I've hired an editor. Oh, right. I've hired an editor.

Bam Bam:

Your life is even easier than it was. You know, I get a royalty for that.

Gizmo:

Correct. I'll see you after with the check. Correct. I am very excited. I have found a great talented guy named Mike who's already actually been editing.

Gizmo:

This will be his third episode tonight that he's editing this one. I still oversee the end of it and quality control and we're both working back and forth with a great workflow, but it's such a relief for me. It's so much time back in my week. I probably spend five, six hours working on the episode each week outside of recording.

Bam Bam:

I have a question. Yeah. So prior to him editing the episode, do you go over what you're typically removing, what you're keeping, what to look for?

Gizmo:

That's a great question. I

Senator:

still He just tells him, Mike, wing it.

Gizmo:

Yeah. Correct.

Bam Bam:

Then he goes plays, I don't know, squash.

Chef Ricky:

He goes and smokes six padrons. Right,

Senator:

frisbee.

Gizmo:

Actually, so what I did was once I found Mike and he clearly was very capable and competent as an editor and engineer, this is what he does, right? He's an audio engineer. So I actually was on Zoom with him for about three hours, sharing my screen with audio and literally edited an episode or half an episode in Did he

Rooster:

sign an NDA?

Gizmo:

That's great. He did actually. So I showed him pretty much how to edit, the decisions I make, and there's a lot of nuance to editing. You know, somebody asked me the other day on on a Zoom call on FOH, like, much of an episode do you record to end up at two hours, fifteen minutes to pretty much, we edit out maybe three to five minutes total of any episode. You know, if it's opening a bottle or passing something around or a cough here and there over two hour, it's not that much.

Gizmo:

Like, we're not recording three, three and a half hours and taking an hour out. That's not what edit means here, but there's a lot of nuance to that stuff and the breaths and everything else. So to answer your question, I spent a lot of time showing him how I work, and we've developed a great workflow where if he has a question about something, can color it. When I get it back, I know what it means to review it, make a decision. Then I listen to everything and review it one more time, but it's a life changing situation.

Gizmo:

Do

Bam Bam:

you listen to the pre edited pod before he gets his hands on it to expect what the final product could be? Because there may be things that you want to keep that he removes.

Rooster:

That was my question. Like, how does he know what to keep and what to cut?

Bam Bam:

Thank you for repeating that. Just wanted to clarify.

Gizmo:

Okay. So that's a great question. What's nice about our

Pagoda:

workman Two

Bam Bam:

form question.

Gizmo:

Correct. And I'll give you two answers if you want. What's great about our workflow is that I'm not just sending him the audio files, I'm quite literally sending him my entire session file, which in audio terms means every single thing. And what's nice is when he edits it, I get all of it back the same way. So any edits he makes, it doesn't actually delete the audio, it's just chopping it up in the program and playing the segments that we want.

Gizmo:

So if I wanna undo something, I can very much undo it.

Bam Bam:

That's cool.

Gizmo:

You know? So if let's say he cuts something out and, you know, I don't want to do that, and we want to put it back in for whatever reason, you know, I can do that. It's no problem. So

Senator:

And what's nice is as we've heard since he's come on board, you know, Giz uses the mic as kind of like a Louis Lit dictaphone from Suits, for those who have seen the show Suits, and says, Mike, that that's a cut. Mike, leave that in. Mike, it's 11PM.

Bam Bam:

At 2AM.

Senator:

I'm heading out for the night. I'll call you later.

Gizmo:

I gotta tell you, man, it's an incredible relief. You know, five to six hours, five years running every single week. Yeah. It's like three hundred hours a year probably with the best ofs and everything. I mean, I was like, I'd edit on vacation getting up early.

Gizmo:

Was when my mom was I was at her bedside. Dude, such a relief, and I'm so thankful. Why I'm saying all this is it's not a pity party. I'm very thankful that we're in the position we're in. I'm very thankful to the listeners.

Gizmo:

Thankful to you guys. Thankful to our sponsors that have allowed this show, this program, this podcast to end up where it is at a level of influence that we're able to do that and now I can kind of leave the room like you guys do and feel really good about the end product without having to spend five or six weeks. Five Cheers to or six hours each week, you know? Fantastic. And we've never missed a Tuesday 5AM boys.

Bam Bam:

That's correct.

Gizmo:

That's right.

Senator:

Cheers. Cheers.

Pagoda:

That's like a new birth for Guess. It's the third birthday.

Chef Ricky:

Guess for

Gizmo:

the It quite literally is, honestly.

Chef Ricky:

For the record, I offered to help at

Gizmo:

it in the past.

Senator:

Yeah. Come on, Giz.

Rooster:

Get tomato notes on every single

Senator:

So next Bam is gonna ask us for a stunt double to sit in on his accountability hours.

Bam Bam:

Oh, that would be nice. That's a great idea. I actually have a candidate or

Gizmo:

two for that. So I wanna shout out Mike. You guys could say hi to Mike if you want.

Chef Ricky:

Like, hey, What's up, Mike?

Bam Bam:

Yo. Yo.

Gizmo:

Listeners will certainly get to know that name as we reference Mike in the future. He's loving the program. He's not a cigar guy, I think he's gonna get into

Chef Ricky:

it. Not yet.

Gizmo:

Correct? Should he even get a Lizard name? Lizard Mike?

Bam Bam:

That's correct.

Rooster:

That's what

Bam Bam:

we're rolling with. So what will be his first cigar? That's a great question. I would think

Gizmo:

of Fabrica five Robusto Trinity.

Bam Bam:

There you go.

Gizmo:

I was probably

Senator:

gonna say the rest of that Gurkha box, but

Gizmo:

That's gone. That's

Bam Bam:

actually punishment.

Chef Ricky:

We want him to stay.

Bam Bam:

That's also

Rooster:

Yeah, I need

Gizmo:

him to keep editing. But I'm very thankful, so I just wanted to share that. And you know, again, situations, everything else, I wanted to talk about a story that happened today that I don't think most of you guys are aware of. You know, I'll preface this by saying, I think listeners out there, when they hear this story and the stories that have, you know, come previous to it, you're probably gonna think we're making this shit up. And what's crazy about our world that we exist in here, in the Lounge Lizards, our lounge, the guys here, our friends, everything else, it is so crazy sometimes, the shit that happens, and this story is unbelievable.

Gizmo:

You guys aren't gonna believe this. We live in a TV show at this point. We need to This lounge needs to be a TV show at this point. Okay?

Bam Bam:

You're not wrong.

Gizmo:

And with that being said, it's time to go into the Lizard X Files. We have I'm getting another Lizard X story from

Bam Bam:

today. Nervous. It is my birthday.

Gizmo:

We had an we had an alien in the lounge today. If you remember a story about a gentleman named Lizard x

Senator:

I am an alien hunter, Bam. We had an alien in the

Gizmo:

room with Lizard x today. No. Unbelievable story. What time of day

Bam Bam:

was this? Day or this is daytime. Afternoon.

Gizmo:

Middle of the afternoon.

Bam Bam:

Today. Today.

Gizmo:

Today. Today. Here's how we're gonna set this up.

Bam Bam:

Wait. Did we have a violent encounter?

Senator:

No. No violence. Okay.

Bam Bam:

That's good. Senator is very merciful. Well, mean, I'm talking about other individuals from

Senator:

They call me the silver tongue. That's my first motive.

Bam Bam:

No, understand that.

Senator:

Trying to resolve conflict.

Gizmo:

There a conflict? So this all started, senator and I got some word that this person was in the lounge.

Senator:

That there was an intruder.

Gizmo:

There was an intruder and senator happened to be coming to the lounge anyway. He was running a little late.

Bam Bam:

Hold on. Male or female?

Senator:

We'll get there. We'll get there.

Gizmo:

So, senator was running a little late to the lounge. We had gotten this kind of tee up that this person was there. We were shocked about it.

Senator:

As like Larry David in Curb. There's a disturbance in the kitchen. Oh, know who it a disturbance in the lounge.

Bam Bam:

I know who Correct. I

Pagoda:

know who it is.

Gizmo:

Was a disturbance in the lounge. So, what I'll say now is that I can't believe this happened. Again, for listeners out there, I'm gonna play a video for the guys in the room. This is real. This is very real.

Gizmo:

This actually happened for how unbelievable it is. It only happens at ten eighty six. So senator, what I'm gonna do is play a video.

Senator:

Can I tell the story first, and then them see the video?

Gizmo:

Go ahead. Do that.

Senator:

The reason I say this because having lived through it, how I felt it happened, and then seeing the video of how it happened

Bam Bam:

Outer body experience?

Senator:

It was even swifter and way more efficient than I recalled living through it.

Gizmo:

Yeah.

Senator:

So this message goes out that there is a disturbance in the lounge. I am shocked by the nature of the disturbance.

Gizmo:

I am too. Couldn't believe it. I thought he was joking. Thought Lizard J was joking.

Senator:

I thought it was a joke. But then he sent enough messages and was descriptive enough that it seemed very real, and there was a World Cup soccer match going on at the time. All I wanted to do was get to the lounge, be able to enjoy the game. It's a big game. And I was very agitated by what I was hearing was going on.

Senator:

So I made crystal clear that upon my arrival I was going to promptly rectify the situation. So I walk into the lounge and sitting in the lounge is Lizard J, Lizard Phil, Lizard X, and his wife. What? Came back. Lizard X's wife returned

Gizmo:

to Merged in the lounge again today.

Senator:

And from the text messages that Lizard and I were getting prior to my arrival, she arrived at the lounge very angry, grabbed his cell phone, started going through it, was saying a bunch of stuff to him. The lounge apparently went absolutely silent. Like pin drop silent. Lizard J described his level of discomfort as so significant that he was considering leaving the lounge because he did not feel comfortable witnessing this incredibly awkward encounter between Lizard X and

Bam Bam:

his wife. So when a gentleman has to leave his own lounge, that's a problem.

Senator:

That's a problem. And that's when I started to get very upset. Correct. Because I'm trying to come there to relax, and if people are saying that they're so uncomfortable as members that they're considering leaving, I was furious. So I entered the lounge, and I immediately said, gentlemen, and I look around the room, and I see Lizard X's wife.

Senator:

And I look at her and I said, are you a new member here? She says, What? And I said, Are you a new member here? She says, No, I'm Lizard X's wife and he's been trying to kick me out of here. And I said, well it sounds like you're out.

Senator:

Rightfully so. And she looked then very flustered, and now she was getting uncomfortable, which was my goal. She made the entire room uncomfortable, so now I'm gonna give her a

Gizmo:

little disclaimer. So by the way, before you came in, for listeners, I mean, and for you guys, this there was like, I think this was a thirty or forty minute situation Oh, yeah. Silence pin drop in our lounge because of the discomfort of this woman barging in. That's an eternity. Literally sitting there scrolling through his phone.

Senator:

And then just refused to leave and was just sitting there babysitting him like he's a child.

Bam Bam:

And was Lizard X stunned and just sitting there stoic?

Gizmo:

Yeah. He's always stoic.

Senator:

Miserable. From the descriptions we were getting, he was sitting there miserable. When I walked in

Bam Bam:

Now Giz, were you there before senator Ryan?

Gizmo:

I wasn't there at all. Not at all. I was on camera I pulled footage.

Senator:

Okay. I

Bam Bam:

can't wait to see I

Senator:

pulled footage remotely. So once I said, Well, I guess you're out. Then she goes, Oh well, I'm no one important here, I'll just leave then. I've been kicked out of nicer places than this. And so she gets up very angrily.

Senator:

Wow. There are cookies on the bar that someone brought. She goes over to those to take a cookie. Well, she's a new member. Lizard X says to

Bam Bam:

Wait a minute. She was trying to take a cookie after she's

Senator:

Oh, yeah. And then Lizard X says to her, take them all and go.

Gizmo:

And then She must love desserts like pagoda.

Senator:

She very angrily starts trudging over to the door to leave, and I just said to her, nice to meet briefly meet you. Hope you have a great day. And she stormed out. Wow. I then said, you're welcome, boys, to the entire lounge.

Senator:

And Lizard actually said, thank you.

Bam Bam:

Oh, poor guy.

Senator:

Well Now the funny part of this, as I was

Bam Bam:

Now was she wearing a housecoat? She was not wearing a muumuu. Was she wearing slippers?

Gizmo:

Let's just

Senator:

say she was close to the attire of the other

Bam Bam:

encounter. Housecoat and slippers. Check.

Senator:

Now the funny thing was going through this, you know, when you're having an exchange like this, you you feel like it takes 10 times longer than it really did. I couldn't believe Giz pulled the camera footage. How swift and quick she got out of the chair once I started engaging with her. It's it's honestly stunning. She

Bam Bam:

felt embarrassed. That is rightfully so.

Gizmo:

Alright. So as proof to our listenership, again, who think these stories are probably made up because there's no one else in the in probably Lizard Nation who has these crazy lounge stories like we do, but somehow it happens where there's a podcast that gets recorded every week. So here is the footage of senator coming in and processing this issue. There's no audio, of course, but you guys can watch it.

Senator:

You'll see me enter stage left.

Gizmo:

You see see missus I see Lizard X. See Lizard X.

Senator:

X is on the left.

Chef Ricky:

She's she's

Gizmo:

There's senator with the saber.

Senator:

Yes. With the saber.

Chef Ricky:

That's why she left so quickly.

Bam Bam:

Who's in the blue there? Is that Lizard Jay?

Gizmo:

No. That's a new member I think.

Bam Bam:

Okay. Got it.

Chef Ricky:

Sitting here

Senator:

and starting to engage.

Bam Bam:

Getting uncomfortable. Gets gets uncomfortable. Ants in her pants.

Senator:

She gets right up and says, I'll leave.

Bam Bam:

Goes for the cookie. Goes for the cookie.

Gizmo:

I love the cookie. I mean, only in this lounge, In

Senator:

New York

Gizmo:

minute flat. Was quite literally, this video is quite literally, in its entirety, one minute long. If you had

Senator:

They sat there for forty minutes prior not knowing how to get rid

Chef Ricky:

of this person. Let me

Senator:

just It took me less than sixty seconds.

Bam Bam:

If you had audio, that would be solid deal.

Gizmo:

I honestly think I need to figure out how to get audio.

Rooster:

I wanna I wanna put

Gizmo:

this solid lounge. This lounge needs to be a television show, dude. This shit is crazy.

Rooster:

I I have a question. Did she walk in with Lizard X?

Senator:

No. She walked in after. They were there with Lizard X, and then later she entered.

Rooster:

So who let her in?

Gizmo:

She came into the retail store. Oh, yeah. The retail store. The store. Retail store.

Chef Ricky:

The retail store.

Gizmo:

This afternoon.

Bam Bam:

My gosh.

Chef Ricky:

We might need a

Rooster:

How humiliating for Lizard X.

Senator:

Yeah. It's awful.

Gizmo:

Through that. When I walked in literally

Rooster:

It's not the first time.

Senator:

She was just sitting there angry like she was his babysitter or his mother and was just going to supervise him watching a soccer game by the entire way. I mean, it made no sense for her to still be there at that point. It's a group of guys watching soccer.

Pagoda:

And Lizard X loves soccer.

Rooster:

It's just the point that she took his phone, and she's going through his phone. Well Like,

Senator:

come on.

Bam Bam:

If I may. Now, I like Lizard X.

Rooster:

We all do.

Bam Bam:

I have a lot to say, but I'm going to curb my comments because I don't want to hurt him. But there's a lot that he could and should be doing at home that would keep any of this from ever happening, and it's just not taking place.

Senator:

I don't think he cares. I mean we don't know that, I'm sorry. For her to show up in the middle of the day while he's watching a soccer match like

Bam Bam:

My wife wouldn't dare put her pinky toe in here. Me neither, man.

Gizmo:

Or yours. And she has by the way, she has said it when she's when she heard the original Lizard ex wife story when she barged into the middle of the night.

Bam Bam:

There's a way you carry yourself. Alright. I'm not saying a word. I'm done. I'm out.

Bam Bam:

I'm sipping my tequila.

Senator:

No. You're not wrong. There's not a single person here that this could ever happen with. This is such an outrageous and unique Unbelievable.

Rooster:

Well, something caused her to show up at the lounge.

Senator:

Well, he's probably the place for it.

Bam Bam:

That's the point. Exactly right.

Senator:

It's like if she actually wanted to have a conversation with him, then say, let's go talk outside or let but, like, the whole room for forty minutes had to sit in silence as the two of them as he's sitting there quietly, she's just basically yelling at him.

Rooster:

So I kind of blame Lizard X a little bit for that.

Bam Bam:

Well, that's where I'm going.

Gizmo:

Yeah. But he doesn't have his situation.

Bam Bam:

I don't wanna launch into the guy.

Senator:

Yeah. I mean, to Rooster's point, what he should have done when she clearly established she's gonna just sit there. He should have said, let's outside.

Rooster:

This is not the place.

Gizmo:

Or By the way, there's members

Rooster:

there. Right.

Chef Ricky:

Of course.

Rooster:

We're gonna make other people uncomfortable.

Senator:

And like the fact that when I said to her, are you a member? And then she says, well, I'm so and so's, wife, and she goes, he's been trying to kick me out of here,

Chef Ricky:

and that's when I'm like, well,

Senator:

I guess you're out. Like, he's a fucking paying member at this lounge.

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Senator:

And there's no room for you to be here right now babysitting him like a child. So he clearly attempted, but he failed. I mean, if he would have just got up and walked out, she would have followed him right along, and he just chose to sit there and watch soccer and then have the whole rest of the room be uncomfortable.

Bam Bam:

Yeah.

Senator:

That's not great form.

Bam Bam:

Yeah, and if she were mature and of right mind, she would wait for Lizard X to come home and have a conversation there. Mean, this is basic Adulthood. And

Gizmo:

decency. It's before even lounge etiquette, it's just like adulthood and decency. You don't walk in and put members at your private club in uncomfortable situations. I'm sorry. You just don't.

Bam Bam:

This is why retail is a big mistake.

Gizmo:

I agree.

Chef Ricky:

They need a card reader on that side.

Bam Bam:

They need to get rid of this whole thing.

Senator:

Well, the problem is even if there was a card reader, there was the last time she showed up and someone opened the door for her. So Yeah.

Bam Bam:

Lizard y. Well, that was y. It's correct.

Senator:

Which, by the way, wait until Lizard y hears this story. I can't wait. I hope he's here tonight after we finish

Gizmo:

recording. You know, so for the listeners

Rooster:

out Oh, there

Bam Bam:

he was in the room. Can you imagine?

Senator:

When he sees the video, it's gonna

Rooster:

gonna die.

Gizmo:

He's gonna love it. Holy smokes. For listeners out there, just some context if you didn't hear it, the original piece of this story when Lizard X's wife, and we call him Lizard X obviously I'm playing X Files music, etcetera, but when Lizard X's wife originally showed up was episode two twenty we talked about it. By the way, that's twenty five weeks ago.

Bam Bam:

That's crazy.

Gizmo:

That's six months ago.

Bam Bam:

It seems like last month.

Gizmo:

It seems if you told me it was three weeks ago, I would have believed you. But it was six six months ago almost, episode 220. His wife showed up in the middle of the night irate, and senator was witness to it again. This is the second time now that he has witnessed to this. And I have never heard a story.

Gizmo:

We've never gotten in the email. We've none of us have ever experienced a dynamic like this, a marriage dynamic where the wife is showing up at the lounge and then sitting herself down And berating her husband's in of everybody.

Senator:

These members that are there to relax. This is a place of peace, not conflict.

Bam Bam:

That's correct.

Chef Ricky:

Unless Pam starting it. Also correct.

Bam Bam:

I don't deny it.

Gizmo:

So here's my question to wrap this up, senator. When she eventually left, what was the conversation like between you, the other members, Lizard X? What was

Rooster:

that like?

Senator:

Lizard X, it was extremely minimal. It was simply thank you, and he proceeded to watch the soccer match and not say basically another word.

Bam Bam:

Fantastic.

Senator:

And among the other members, was a ton of gratitude and just shock how quickly I was able to get her to leave.

Gizmo:

It is impressive. I'll be honest.

Bam Bam:

I'm also happy how Lizard X reacted post wife departure. Relaxed, watching the game, thank When

Senator:

he left all I said to him is he said make sure you pick up a bulletproof vest on the way home because it sounds like you're gonna have a rough ride as soon as you enter that door.

Bam Bam:

Or hire a bodyguard.

Rooster:

I think he's used to it.

Gizmo:

I mean he clearly must

Senator:

Well clearly because the members at his former lounge that are now here, all said, Oh, we've seen this happen multiple times at our prior lounge. This is a routine thing, is why it's a despicable way to handle any sort of marital conflict. You don't do this in front of a bunch of members of a lounge who are here to relax. Go outside, go to your own home, take this conversation in private, don't involve us, we have no nothing to

Gizmo:

do with If that

Rooster:

was my wife, first of all, she would never come into the lounge. And second of all, if she ever made a mistake of coming into the lounge, I would have a conversation outside and say, listen, honey, you cannot come into this lounge. If you have something to discuss with me, talk about it at home, outside. This is a private conversation, not for public. Correct.

Pagoda:

Put it on my calendar.

Bam Bam:

You got that babe?

Gizmo:

Send me an email.

Rooster:

She won't know how to do that. You

Chef Ricky:

got that honey?

Gizmo:

I just, you know, when we talked about this on episode two twenty when that story happened and I showed Mrs. Gives the video and everything, she said to me, she's like, I can't imagine a scenario, as terrible as a scenario could be, that I would drive to that lounge and walk in it. Yeah. She's like, I would just find a way to get in touch with you and deal with the situation, or like you said, Pam, wait till you get home.

Rooster:

Correct.

Gizmo:

But I never put myself in a situation where that I needs to

Rooster:

mean, I have been here, and I think most of us have been. He's on his phone, and his phone is constantly ringing. And he chooses to ignore her.

Senator:

He chooses not to mention why. Can you blame

Gizmo:

him? I can't imagine why.

Rooster:

So that's why she shows up. Because the first time she was like, I was literally concerned about him because, you know

Senator:

I know, but that's what's silly about this time, like last time it was, oh, I was concerned about him, so then she told him to get up and told him she was going to kill him, and then they had a huge argument in the vestibule. Time, she sits down

Gizmo:

for and forty

Senator:

is just sitting like she was not for her to tell me that he was trying to get her to leave, and yet she chose to just stick around for forty minutes, and would have stayed there had I not walked in for the whole soccer match with him. She had no intent of leaving.

Gizmo:

She might still be Yeah. Here with That's a problem.

Bam Bam:

Did she actually say, I'm going to kill you? Last time she literally said I didn't know that.

Senator:

Her exact words, I don't forget. She goes, I thought you were dead, now you're going to be dead. That's what she said to him. Jesus. In front of a room of like 20 the lounge was packed that night.

Gizmo:

Boy, that's Oh, I remember shit, man.

Senator:

I mean, Lizard Y had to sit at the bar that was the only available seat. That's how packed.

Bam Bam:

Well, he was observing his work.

Chef Ricky:

You know,

Bam Bam:

he's a master at this.

Chef Ricky:

You know, the fact that he didn't even move tells me he felt safer in here With these guys. Amongst these

Gizmo:

guys. That's also true.

Senator:

He was sitting there. Please, senator Cuban. Please.

Chef Ricky:

She's got to be scary because I I I would I mean,

Senator:

he's he's like a prisoner of war. A She's nice woman.

Gizmo:

I'm sorry. A prisoner of war.

Senator:

I would have got up

Chef Ricky:

and left just to force her to leave. You know, the fact that you stay and sit and just have her, you know, maybe I would have tried it for five minutes to see if she would have got up and left. But once, you know, you're here for, you know, half a half a half of a freaking soccer game, would have just got

Gizmo:

up It's like and

Rooster:

me walking into my wife's mother's club meeting. You know?

Senator:

It's true. I mean, that would be insane.

Bam Bam:

It's untenable.

Pagoda:

What do that?

Gizmo:

It's untenable. That's awful. Awful. I love those clips, man. I didn't know you had all that.

Gizmo:

You know, again, I just have never heard of it. What I'm really prompting Lizard Nation to share with us, I wanna know if anyone out there in Lizard Nation has experienced any sort of crazy lounge story like this because, again, in the five years almost that we've been doing this podcast, we've never gotten a single email about an errant lounge situation that is kind of off the wall or, like, couldn't believe it. I mean, you know, guys are gonna be guys and there's things that happen, but this stuff is crazy that's happening around here. It's like there's something in the water here.

Chef Ricky:

Bet Joe Lounge has their fair share of crazy stories.

Gizmo:

Not like this, man.

Bam Bam:

No, nothing like this.

Senator:

Actually BAM's probably been a part of a few

Chef Ricky:

of You guys ever dated Latina? I wish.

Bam Bam:

I wish I was a part of it. I'm like watching from a distance.

Gizmo:

Unbelievable. Listeners, we'll keep you updated on the Lizard X Files here. It's clearly becoming a thing on this podcast. I never thought, honestly, in my wildest dreams to think six months ago that we would be talking about Lizard X again

Bam Bam:

Yeah.

Gizmo:

Is I just would have never thought it possible.

Bam Bam:

It's mind boggling.

Gizmo:

Like, once you do that, how do you not have the self awareness to never do it again? Like, clearly that was a bad situation. That time she was in front of, like you said, an entire lounge. She embarrassed him and made him, you know, look like a fool.

Rooster:

It was a different time of day.

Gizmo:

Yeah. Very much so.

Rooster:

But this was afternoon.

Gizmo:

I know.

Senator:

But still Now she's gonna come in

Rooster:

the morning because he comes in

Senator:

the morning sometimes. That's what's even crazier. The last time, it was late at night, so I can buy the I was worried about you all of that. It was 03:00, like 04:00 Yeah. While there's a major World Cup match on from in a country playing that he is from.

Senator:

I mean, it's so obvious where he is and what he's doing. There's no reason to be hysterical and angry and sitting here babysitting like he like he's a child and he can't watch a soccer match.

Gizmo:

Yeah. But the fact way, can I just say for the he's a good guy, man?

Chef Ricky:

Yeah. He

Gizmo:

is. A good dude.

Bam Bam:

We love Lizard

Rooster:

She was going through his phone.

Gizmo:

And she clearly didn't find anything. Sat there for forty

Senator:

at home.

Gizmo:

That's right. Yeah. Anyways, crazy stuff, boys, with Lizard X and Mrs. Lizard X and we'll keep the listeners updated.

Bam Bam:

But it's a good question you threw out to the listeners.

Gizmo:

Yeah I want to know, seriously, if you're out there, if you've had a crazy lounge experience, somebody blowing up, I want to hear about it because I seriously think this is isolated to 1086.

Chef Ricky:

I think it happens more than we realize. There has

Rooster:

to be some stories.

Gizmo:

I want to hear it.

Chef Ricky:

Enough that we could probably make a segment out of it.

Gizmo:

I want to hear it. So tell us your crazy lounge stories. Email us.

Bam Bam:

Oh,

Gizmo:

yeah. Certainly you could be Look

Pagoda:

winning Lizard of the at the bright side, he's about 70, and she's still in love with him. I think that's the

Senator:

best luck. Have you met her to go to I don't know how to call that love.

Rooster:

If this is love, I want no part of it.

Pagoda:

Well, a little bit of jealousy if they're at the age of seventies. You've got to give them credit. All right.

Chef Ricky:

You know what was my favorite thing about that? When you started that music, Bam was so fucking nervous.

Gizmo:

He was so nervous. Oh, man.

Rooster:

Because he thought it was about him.

Bam Bam:

I have PTSD.

Gizmo:

You know, the thing

Bam Bam:

And it's untenable.

Gizmo:

The thing about Bam Can

Pagoda:

you forward me that music? I will. I will.

Gizmo:

See, here's the thing about Bam.

Bam Bam:

Playing at the lounge.

Gizmo:

Here's here's the thing about our friend Bam Bam over here, and I know it was his birthday, but Bam really truly believes that there is a secret club that he's not a part of Oh, I don't believe that. Meets on decisions as it relates to the podcast. And We talk about him. You are so

Chef Ricky:

You know what it is?

Senator:

Not formally, but informally that is.

Bam Bam:

I am

Rooster:

Well, he's not that far off.

Bam Bam:

Listen. I'm the talent

Gizmo:

You are so paranoid.

Bam Bam:

I need no decision making to talk this. None.

Gizmo:

I'm good. Am I wrong?

Rooster:

I mean You're not wrong.

Senator:

You're both not wrong.

Bam Bam:

Alright. That's not nice.

Gizmo:

I mean, we meet sometimes.

Bam Bam:

That's not gonna be forgotten, senator.

Senator:

I mean, it's not often, just quarterly.

Gizmo:

I mean, quarterly. Yeah. We just go through every it's a long meeting, but we go through everything.

Rooster:

Okay. I mean, it is one of the most listened to episodes. I mean, can we help? You know? Yeah.

Rooster:

It's we are all about the content.

Gizmo:

Correct.

Bam Bam:

So what about Lizard X now?

Rooster:

Talking about Lizard b now.

Gizmo:

Uh-huh. Alright, boys. We've come to the end of the second, third, well beyond that of the Coronas Claros from Cuba and the one two three, the Unodos Tres Tequila Reposado, the Dos. How's the pairing working for you guys as we laugh about these crazy lounge stories?

Bam Bam:

Outstanding.

Rooster:

The cigar is incredible, but I do miss the citrus note. I'm sorry.

Gizmo:

Same. Is a touch. It's a bit of a step down for me.

Rooster:

Yeah, but had I not smoked a Coronas Claro that gave me that citrus note, I might never miss it. But having had that, I kind of look forward to that.

Gizmo:

So what I will say, and this is a very general comment for you guys, but I'm trying to decide in my head how that is gonna affect my rating.

Bam Bam:

I know.

Gizmo:

Does that citrus being absent, can I knock it for that given the incredible experience this cigar is actually giving me tonight?

Bam Bam:

So you used the word incredible. I know. Case Okay. Closed, it's an incredible cigar. Yeah.

Bam Bam:

It's delicious.

Chef Ricky:

I could see rooster knocking it but you have a delicious tequila in your hand that's providing some citrus note on But the

Gizmo:

I do not rate the cigar based on the pairing.

Bam Bam:

That's correct.

Gizmo:

You are

Chef Ricky:

absolutely right.

Gizmo:

Ever. Yeah. The cigar on its own is a really great cigar. It's given us a fantastic night tonight.

Bam Bam:

You said incredible.

Pagoda:

I'm definitely getting a little bit, like I think I've, even on my lips at the end now, like in the second half I think, the saltiness has really dissipated, but for me, like now it's like the orange rind, you know, it leaves it's like sometimes when you have like a Manhattan, it'll leave a little bit of the tingly sensation on your lips. It's right there, it's great.

Senator:

Very descriptive. I mean, I'll just say on the citrus I like it.

Pagoda:

Well, I'm learning from it the best.

Senator:

I like

Gizmo:

it. Lizard B.

Pagoda:

You like it. Yeah. Hey, can you repeat that? I think Bam likes

Chef Ricky:

I like it.

Rooster:

You like that?

Gizmo:

I like it.

Pagoda:

Bam likes that.

Gizmo:

That's a sound bite.

Chef Ricky:

There ever was white.

Rooster:

That's a good sound

Pagoda:

bite. So,

Rooster:

yeah. You like that?

Bam Bam:

I like that.

Gizmo:

So stupid. It's so stupid, but it's good.

Senator:

Senator. I'll just say on the citrus note, the defining question for me, and this will factor into my rating, is how differentiated is this cigar? And historically with that citrus note, there is no other Cuban cigar like it, period. Without it, for me, there are other Cuban cigars like this and so that's what's going to factor into my rating.

Bam Bam:

But they're all still excellent. Excellence is excellence, right? Incredible is incredible. Even if it's not differentiated.

Senator:

Yeah, but without it, now this compares to certain upmans and there are certain upmans that are better than this cigar, so that's what's gonna affect it.

Bam Bam:

Oh, so that's a different statement. Okay.

Gizmo:

Alright. We'll see how it goes a little bit later, boys. Okey dokey. It's time now to go to some listener email, and I have a really good one tonight that I wanna start with from our friend Lizard O in California. Of course, he won Lizard of the Week a couple weeks ago.

Gizmo:

He's a big supporter of the pod. I would call him an OG listener, like a day one guy, super supportive, and and he's really, really awesome. We really appreciate Lizard O. He says here, Lizard Nation, this isn't me quitting Cuban cigars, but it is me quitting Cuban cigars. Giz and Rooster know how obsessive I've always been about my collection.

Gizmo:

I keep a borderline psychotic spreadsheet to track every box in my overstuffed cabinet. And by the way, his cabinet was the motivation for both Rooster and I picking up the vigilant. He was the one that had the vigilant and inspired Rooster and I to pick those up.

Senator:

And he keeps his spreadsheet like BAM. Yeah. Big spreadsheets, guys.

Bam Bam:

I've got great spreadsheets.

Chef Ricky:

Thank you.

Gizmo:

I haven't updated mine in years.

Senator:

The difference is he admits he knows everything in his tower. Bam says he has no idea, but he does have a Correct.

Gizmo:

It lets me monitor the age of each box, and every six months or so, I cross reference Bond Roberts to see where the market values are heading. I was floored by what's happened to Cuban cigar prices this year. Boxes that most of us were picking up for around $250 just a few years ago are now fetching $1,500 US and up. I still consider anything $20.20 and newer fresh. Fresh BBFs at $1,500.

Gizmo:

Fresh Coronas Claros, the cigar we have in our hand tonight, 25 count box, $1,500. Yeah. What's up? Fresh Sancho Panza Bellicosos at $1,300. Fresh Sir Winston's at $2,500.

Gizmo:

A $100 a cigar for a fresh Sir Winston. He says I could go on. I can remember taking a hard line not long ago that no cigar was worth more than $30. I remember senator saying the same thing about his precious d force. Now you can't even get into the hobby for under $40 a stick, and that's for Juan Lopez or Hoyo.

Gizmo:

Anything more desirable starts at 50 to $60 minimum per cigar. What are we even doing here? I understand the economics, supply and demand, Cuba struggles, drastically reduced production quality, near impossible importation into The States, and Habanos aggressive price hikes. But consumers are also feeding the frenzy by willingly paying these prices. Nothing on earth compares to a great Cuban cigar, but at these rates, no Cuban is worth it anymore, especially when the guys at Fabrica five and Bon Roberts are doing what they do and Cuban custom rolls and farm rolls deliver better access and value at a fraction of the price.

Gizmo:

After twenty years in this hobby, I'm throwing in the towel on my Habanos boxes. I know I sound like a curmudgeonly, quote, back in my day old man, but it just isn't fun anymore. The juice isn't worth the squeeze, especially when I can get 90% of the satisfaction or more from the excellent alternatives I mentioned above. Rant over Lizard O.

Senator:

Preach pastor o.

Gizmo:

Good email. Good email. That is

Rooster:

Spot on.

Gizmo:

So well said and spot on.

Chef Ricky:

Can you

Pagoda:

just repeat that, please?

Chef Ricky:

I'm just kidding.

Bam Bam:

So is he is he will he be liquidating whatever Cubans he has?

Gizmo:

I think he toyed with the idea. I I do know this. He's not buying anymore.

Bam Bam:

Well, neither are we.

Gizmo:

Yeah. But I mean, I think the difference is if you wanted a box of Monty twos Bam or a box of d fours and they were available to you, you need d fours, you would buy them.

Bam Bam:

I would.

Gizmo:

I mean, he's pretty much drawn a hard line here that that that those days are over for

Bam Bam:

him. Okay.

Rooster:

So there's just one point. Somebody like him who has a pretty extensive collection of Cuban cigars, so now he's holding on to the Cuban cigars and they're smoking mostly New Worlds.

Bam Bam:

As we do.

Rooster:

And that's what we are doing. And we're not going to be buying a whole lot of Cuban cigars like we used to. But the question is for a new collector who's starting out now, who has not experienced those prices that we did. What is his take on this? I mean, that's

Gizmo:

a great question. I mean, it's almost like, you know, the reference earlier, the joke about the SpaceX employee. It's like, you need to be so flush with cash to get even 10% of the point that we're at buying five years ago. Correct. Which means 90, to answer your question, 90 plus percent of new cigar smokers, collectors, whatever you want

Senator:

to call them, can't possibly afford to do that.

Rooster:

So the second question is, what happens to Habanos five years from today?

Bam Bam:

Well, we talked about this.

Senator:

Yeah, this is what I've said. When we first started talking about this, said in the immediate term, there's not going to be any massive impact because there are plenty of people that have smoked Cuban cigars that have the means and the money to still buy at these crazy prices. Primarily primarily internationally. Exactly. But in the future, that's where it's different.

Senator:

Because, again, if you haven't had a Cuban cigar, there's no reason for you to be chasing something you've never experienced and then paying a stupid premium. So even for the people that have means, if they've never had one, the the cost is gonna be so cost prohibitive that it's like why even start there or try there? And then for most people, they're just immediately priced out. And that's where I think Cuba's made a massive mistake by going so aggressive with these price increases that in the future there's no question they're going take a huge hit.

Rooster:

Yeah. I mean do you think this would not have happened if they had not sold half of it to the Chinese company?

Bam Bam:

Possibly.

Senator:

Very possibly.

Rooster:

Right? They would not have to.

Senator:

I mean I don't know Cuba to be a particularly greedy nation when it comes to stuff like that. They don't have a whole lot. This is not a country that

Bam Bam:

Well those that are in control have a lot.

Senator:

Correct.

Bam Bam:

And they have the tendency to take for themselves.

Gizmo:

But also, the Cuban cigar piece of it, maybe now, but then, was not even probably in the top five of a revenue generator for that island.

Senator:

Yeah. Also, let's just hear it. The proof's in the pudding. Let's just look to history. So before the Chinese got an ownership stake in Habanos S.

Senator:

A, we were smoking Cuban cigars for cheaper than we were Old New World's.

Gizmo:

Yeah.

Senator:

It would have been fair for Cuba to say, We're gonna make our prices on par with other New World cigars. None of us would

Rooster:

have And we would have been okay with that.

Gizmo:

A 100%.

Senator:

That's an absolutely fair thing for them to do. Correct. The fact that they kept them well below, when I say like this is not a country that I've known to be particularly greedy from like a price setting standpoint and a revenue generation one, like they have not. And so all of a sudden enter the Chinese, and now we're talking about Cuban cigars selling for a minimum of almost $40 is outrageous.

Bam Bam:

Yeah.

Rooster:

So once the Chinese are out, if and when.

Senator:

I don't I don't think there's ever a when and

Gizmo:

an agreement.

Pagoda:

Didn't the guy get caught?

Gizmo:

Yeah. But I think it's gonna the government's probably gonna own it, I would think.

Rooster:

Yeah. I mean, do you see the prices coming down? No way.

Gizmo:

No way. So here's what I think. What I what I say about this is it's almost like for all everything we've said about the prices increases being unfair, especially as supply has remained consistent from when they did it, let's say, to 2024. Right? Looking at the current situation now where you're talking about some Habanos distributors getting not even five to 10 boxes of cigars to sell to their customers each month.

Gizmo:

We're talking nations, full distributorships getting 500 cigars a month, ten, twenty boxes of cigars. The supply issue is a major problem for them right now. So what I think the current pricing model actually does align with the major supply problem they have right now because demand certainly is decreasing from a mass of consumers because of the prices and availability. But for those consumers in Hong Kong and China and Cyprus and UAE and all these places that love cigars and will pay $6,000 for a box of 10 bijiques.

Bam Bam:

And they'll continue to do so.

Gizmo:

That's exactly right. So what I'm saying is while those prices were egregious when supply was available to us two or three years ago, now it's almost like it makes sense because the supply has dwindled probably to a small percentage of what has been available in the past. Yeah. And they still have consumers that are going to eat up every single cigar that comes out. So the prices align with that.

Gizmo:

There's not enough available for people who want to pay $20 a cigar. It's not available.

Senator:

I'll just say this again. These are all just random predictions on my end, know, take with a grain of salt, but to Rooster's question of will the prices come down at some point, I don't see that ever happening, and I think like what is But actually the

Rooster:

maybe some sort of a correction happening. No, no, no.

Senator:

Just hear me out, just hear me out. So what I would anticipate happening is if you think about what we were previously paying for Cuban cigars before all the craziness, those prices were stable for years. Mhmm. For years. I mean, well before I knew you guys, the same cost we were paying then was the same thing I was paying

Gizmo:

you ten years. They were

Senator:

probably about stable. Exactly. And so I would anticipate that basically, they're gonna hit a ceiling, and prices are just gonna have to stay there because there's not gonna be enough demand to go any higher, and it is gonna be years and years and years, and as inflation eventually starts to bring all these other cigars up closer over a long period of time.

Gizmo:

Fifteen years. Yes. Twenty years.

Senator:

They're gonna have to stay there. Like there's just no other way to remain competitive. And so like I think they've hit their ceiling way earlier than they should have, and they're just now gonna be stuck there for like the next fifteen years. There's just nowhere else to go.

Rooster:

So even if things stabilize in Cuba, another government takes over Cuba, let's say US government comes and takes over Cuba, they invest money in the infrastructure, they invest money in farming, growing a lot more Cuban tobacco. And supply is beyond what they were producing at their peak. Even at that point, you don't think the prices

Senator:

will No, come because for the next ten years, there's still going to be enough extraordinarily wealthy people that

Rooster:

are gonna And gobble up all this

Gizmo:

also, all those things you named, improvements in infrastructure, improvements in socioeconomic situations for the people in Cuba, that is not a two to three to five year fix. No. That's That's long decades long process. If it starts today, it's decades long.

Bam Bam:

Just the agricultural component to fix that. It's crazy. I think you're looking at twenty years to get irrigation right, to get land cut and fill and soil movement and setting up farms the way they're supposed to be. It's a long time.

Gizmo:

Plus, you also have an aging population who are not having as many babies as they were. The birth rate is certainly down.

Rooster:

And you have

Gizmo:

to keep still living. And you've all asked the brain drain. Exactly. I mean, it's untenable, as you say. Seriously.

Gizmo:

I think it's amazing.

Rooster:

The near future, the supply is going to even dwindle even more.

Gizmo:

It's already happening. Yeah. Right?

Bam Bam:

Already happening. Of the struggles they're going through. And that's only going to get worse before it gets better.

Rooster:

And I think the quality is going to go down.

Bam Bam:

That makes sense.

Gizmo:

I think And demand is going to go down.

Senator:

Absolutely. It already is. Look at our own purchasing.

Gizmo:

Think about In how The United States, I don't care what anybody says. I would bet The United States was a significant piece of where. Not from Habanos numbers, but where Cuban cigars ended up. Mhmm. We are the largest cigar consuming country in the world.

Gizmo:

We are more than every other country combined as far as consuming cigars in the world. So I know for a fact that a significant portion of Cuban cigars that were produced, whether or not it's on paper, ended up here in The United States.

Bam Bam:

That's

Gizmo:

true. The fact that we've been cut off from

Bam Bam:

that Correct.

Gizmo:

Shows you that the stock all over the Internet that's available to non US consumers shows you how powerful, even today with the supply issue Mhmm. How powerful The US market is for Cuban cigars.

Senator:

Yeah. And again, Cuban cigars, though, are available in all these other markets. And how many listener emails do we get every single week talking about, I'm done paying these prices. I'm buying fabric of five. I'm buying this brand.

Senator:

I'm buying that.

Bam Bam:

Like Yeah. That's

Senator:

true. Everyone's had enough, and it is only the people with extraordinary means

Bam Bam:

That's correct.

Senator:

Who are buying the $6,000 boxes of bijiques They won't stop. That will continue to purchase. That's right. For the rest of 90 plus percent of the world, they just can't afford

Bam Bam:

And you're looking at two regions, honestly. The Middle East and in particular The UAE and Asia.

Rooster:

Absolutely. You know in Europe people are paying a lot more for New World cigars too like a Padron.

Bam Bam:

That's true.

Rooster:

Yeah the Exclusivo is closer to what like $40

Gizmo:

Yeah we did that a whole So that's bunch kind of like in stuff which

Rooster:

line with the Cuban

Senator:

Yeah, but that's but that's the point, right? So like in the European market now you have greater access to New Worlds than they've ever had, and they're on par or cheaper than Cuban cigars. So at best case, Habano's demand Habano's essay's demand in Europe is flat, right, like there's no reason to suddenly prefer Cuban cigars anymore, now they actually have other options, so that's best case it's flat, and worst case, they're now buying other new worlds they never had access to, and so demand is dipping for Cuban cigars in Europe. Then you take other parts of the world, I mean, it's like no contest when Cuban cigars are priced at what they are. I mean, I'm sure you can have does Fabrica Five ship basically everywhere globally?

Gizmo:

Not everywhere, but a lot of places.

Senator:

Most places, I would assume. So it's like when you can access stuff like that, there's no reason to pay that premium.

Gizmo:

Plus, yeah. You can also get Bon Romberts on COH cigars.

Bam Bam:

Mhmm.

Gizmo:

They're on on iHeart cigars. There's websites that you can get them on for worldwide distribution. It's not just at their website based in Miami.

Bam Bam:

I have a question. I wonder if there are shops anywhere in the world that are carrying FOH and Fabricified cigars.

Gizmo:

There's not many because they have Rob has such a Production. No, he has an in house, it's like a born in customer base on the forum. He doesn't need to go to retailers and effectively have his profits to then have it in a retail shop. He's selling all the cigars he

Bam Bam:

makes. There's

Gizmo:

no shipping sitting at the Fabrica five shop that hasn't been sold. Pretty much it's made to order at this point. Think it's

Rooster:

a huge opportunity for a new world manufacturer to produce increased production and ship them outside of The US market.

Senator:

That's what's happening.

Bam Bam:

We've also discussed that right? And last, what, not the last PCA show but maybe two shows ago, that conversation has taken that took place at multiple stops especially with Steve Sakka. We had that discussion. It's happening. New World Remember that

Senator:

user who wrote us with all the different New Worlds that he can access in Europe ten years ago? None of those were there. It's already happening.

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Senator:

And that's why Cuba is shooting itself in the foot. Yeah.

Bam Bam:

That's right.

Pagoda:

I was saying, I think Rocky Patel heard that.

Gizmo:

Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know what the problem is I hope he didn't. You're welcome, Rocky. The problem with ramping up production is you can't forget what happened in the cigar boom.

Gizmo:

That's another thing to do it well, to maintain consistency and quality that takes time. You have to bring in people, you have to pair them up, you have to train them how you want your cigars to be made. Quality control, testing, hiring management for that. That is something that if you do it at scale too quickly, you are going to be that cigar company that during the cigar boom had success, scaled up too quickly and has disappeared because the consumers will not tolerate buying repeatedly cigars that are going to decrease in quality. We've talked about a lot of brands that have done that.

Gizmo:

We are talking about current brands that are doing that. You can't do that for a purchase, an item that is a repeat purchase. This is not a one time buy. You're constant if you enjoy it, you're constantly buying new. It has to be maintained.

Gizmo:

To Gizmo's point, I mean, think each of

Senator:

us as individuals about cigars that we maybe smoked five or ten years ago that we no longer do. There's a lot of them. Why don't we? The blends haven't been consistent. I don't get the same flavor I used to add to those cigars.

Senator:

Dab it off. Right? We've talked about this. The construction's inconsistent. I'm frustrated that every time I don't know what I'm gonna get, and we stop buying them.

Senator:

So, you know, Gizmo's point, I think, is a very important one that for any of these companies, the consistency has to be there, and that's why they have to scale wisely if they're gonna have any

Gizmo:

chance of staying around and continuing to grow. The other thing I want to say too is, from a geopolitical standpoint, let's say The United States and maybe some European countries get together and they form a consortium and they go in and they quote take over Cuba, whatever that looks like. When you're looking at farmland, I promise you, given the food situation there and the hunger situation, tobacco is going to be last on the list Yeah. It'll be be planted on those farms.

Senator:

A 100%. Deprioritized.

Gizmo:

It's going to be deprioritized. So I cannot see a world in which one of these countries, who, by the way, a lot of them, including The US, are largely anti tobacco, going in there and saying, let's plant Cuban tobacco where it was before and find other ways to find food. No. They're gonna go in, and they're going to want this island to be able to feed itself.

Chef Ricky:

Mhmm.

Gizmo:

How do you do that? You gotta grow and maintain your own food. They're going to use that farmland to do it. I'm sorry. Cuban tobacco, I think the golden age of Cuban tobacco was unbelievable that we were able to experience it, but I believe it has absolutely come to an end.

Gizmo:

No matter how any of this works out, point. I think it's over.

Bam Bam:

A very very good

Senator:

point.

Pagoda:

Think

Senator:

it's it's 100%, and if The US even were to come in like we're talking about in this hypothetical scenario, the tobacco industry is irrelevant to the US government. Correct. The US government's

Gizmo:

play And Europeans too, senator.

Senator:

Totally. The US government's play would be if we actually ever literally took over running Cuba. It's a tourism play. That's where the revenue would come from. That's the money that they would care It's not selling cigars.

Senator:

They would allow the Cubans to still Habenos says they would still exist. Some form of, you know, the the Cuban government or Cubans there would still run it. So there's not gonna be any drastic or meaningful change there. The US has no interest in what happens with that.

Gizmo:

And what do you need to do to get that the the tourism up, to get those tourists there? You have to improve the infrastructure. So what you're talking about is a new deal situation that FDR did where you are getting every able-bodied person on infrastructure projects. Mhmm. So anybody who's rolling cigars They'll be working elsewhere.

Gizmo:

For high end prices around the world.

Senator:

That's

Gizmo:

right. They're not gonna be in a cigar factory. That's right. They're gonna be making real money, doing real stuff to improve the island to get people there and to make them healthier and better and everything. They're not gonna be rolling Cuban cigars.

Gizmo:

I'm sorry.

Bam Bam:

Can't wait to rebuild that place.

Gizmo:

Lizard Bee Inc. Correct. So listen, this is going be a conversation I think that's ongoing. I think this is a really nice prompt here from Lizard O, a great email from him. We're very thankful to him for sending that in.

Gizmo:

And I think as we kind of continue our thoughts on this and discussion, you know, outside of the podcast, think about those things as you know, to bring it in here because I think this is really intriguing. I think it's a really, really powerful topic. And I'll be honest, there's a lot of people who are Cuban cigar enthusiasts who think that topics and thoughts like ours that we're discussing here are crazy. Yeah. A lot of folks out there think everything's gonna be rosy and perfect and no problem.

Gizmo:

And I think it's I I don't hear any music. Like, you know, it's it's not over till the fat lady sings. I don't think the fat lady is singing as far as Cuban cigars go.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. The music has stopped.

Gizmo:

The music stopped. So great discussion, boys, and thanks again to Lizard o for prompting that. Let's go to another email now. This one is from our friend Lizard Lake. He's another OG listener.

Gizmo:

Good man. He says, Gizmo, what an honor to be named Lizard of the Week for the third time. It was awesome to hear my question slash rant read aloud and for the group's feedback on the digital cigar culture situation. Two questions. Previously, you said the weekly winner could get the 10 count Bon Roberts box of their choosing, and I wasn't sure who I should ping to beg for a box of the new Dahlias.

Gizmo:

So you're gonna get a box of Dahlias. Don't worry about that. I'm gonna get your address and send it to those guys, and they're gonna send you a box. So no problem. He says, your review was so solid, and the size of that Vitola is right in my sweet spot.

Gizmo:

I'm actually smoking one right now. I love the petite one zero nines, dying to try the Dahlias. Second, the group seems to use terminology to describe flavor and strength and body interchangeably. In the recent review of the Aladino two hundred and fiftieth, there were remarks by senator about the difference between the two hundred and fiftieth versus the eighty fifth anniversaryo and how it was lighter in body but not in flavor. It is my understanding from other cigar reviews that body equals flavor, strength equals nicotine.

Gizmo:

Example, a full bodied cigar would be very flavorful. Any clarity on the group's opinion of what body constitutes would be great as it comes up in most episodes. I know talking for two hours and using descriptors like this can easily become jumbled, and it's not a critique as much as a way to engage and find out more about each lizard's use of common cigar jargon. Thanks, Lizard Lake. Great question.

Senator:

Really, really, really good question.

Gizmo:

It's funny we haven't actually had that discussion before and clarified. We've we've clarified it in the past, but not

Senator:

to this No but not as clearly as we could have. So he very correctly points out, you know, we throw around terms like body, strength, nicotine, things like that.

Bam Bam:

Full flavored.

Senator:

Yeah but I'm keeping that separate because the ones that actually mean the same thing, body, strength, nicotine, roughly the same thing. Flavor is completely separate from that.

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Senator:

Because you can have a very light or mild bodied cigar that actually has a ton of flavor.

Bam Bam:

Oh yeah.

Senator:

But I think what can be confusing is it it almost can sound like body and strength are different things, and they're actually we're saying the same thing. So hopefully that helps clarify for him and others, but that's typically what we mean.

Gizmo:

I agree. Very well said. Alright, boys. It's time now to go to our lizard of the week presented by Bond Roberts. And our lizard of the week this week is our friend Lizard James, and he's going to win a 10 count box of cigars

Bam Bam:

Oh, James.

Gizmo:

From our friends at Bon Roberts. Anything he chooses as we just discussed with Lizard Lake. And Lizard James says this, hope all is well, Lizards. I'm a fairly young smoker, age 28. I was searching through Spotify about three months ago searching for a cigar podcast to help me pinpoint the accurate verbiage, like we just discussed before, to use when trying to distinguish flavor notes in my cigars.

Gizmo:

I tried plenty, but they were all short form podcasts with very little information about the actual cigars they're smoking, let alone the flavor notes of their cigars. You guys hit it so on the nose with how you take your time not just to enjoy the cigars, but also take turns sharing flavor notes. Your podcast has helped me tremendously in that regard. I especially appreciate the cigar news section of the show. The knowledge you guys pass on is absolutely excellent.

Gizmo:

My fiance is due to deliver my first son into the world this coming November, and I can't help but think about, through your podcast, how much knowledge I'll be able to pass on to him about this hobby of mine someday. Apologies for the long message. This is not long at all, by the way. I just wanna take the time this morning to say thank you guys for a great show and for helping me and eventually the next generation of me get along in this hobby that I hope to share with him. Much love, Lizard James.

Gizmo:

What a great email. That's awesome. So I love hearing that man. 28 years old, little one on the way, loving his cigars and I'm so glad we were able able to help him and we have a lot of lizards out there, who've shared similar sentiments, so we're very grateful. And again, congratulations to Lizard James winning that 10 count box of Bon Robert cigars.

Bam Bam:

I'd like to hear what Lizard James is smoking.

Gizmo:

It's a great question. Yeah. Lizard James, have to shoot us another email.

Bam Bam:

Give us a list.

Gizmo:

Give us a list. And that's another prompt for all of Lizard Nation. We love the contributions from Lizard Nation on this show. We just read three emails tonight that were absolutely stellar, prompted great conversation that we just had. So Lizard Nation is crucially important to our show.

Gizmo:

So even if I don't get to your email immediately or right week one, week two, I will get to it, I promise, if I can. But please keep sending those emails, those voice memos, those comments on Instagram, Spotify, whatever you choose. Please continue to reach out to us. We'd love to hear from you. And boys, we have come to the end of our evening with the Que Dorce Coronas Claros from Cuba and the one two three tequila, the Uno Dos Tres Dos.

Gizmo:

The Reposado Dos. How's the pairing working for you guys? And don't forget to send over your ratings while we discuss it. But I gotta say, as I am about to pour some more tequila, I thought tonight was absolutely a stellar pairing. And I just wanna ask a quick question.

Gizmo:

Do you guys think that this tequila could pair well with most Cuban cigars? Because we'll get that question out there. Correct. All. I'd go as far as And saying what's interesting is I think this flavor profile in this tequila actually aligns very very well with Cuban cigars.

Gizmo:

Agreed. And I think Hondurans too. There's something about it that I think makes the Cuban tobacco pop a little bit, especially as we were drinking the Paul Roger, which was excellent, getting into the tequila, which was excellent, of course, and how that impacted the cigar. I think it was a win win win. So we'll see how the ratings do tonight.

Gizmo:

But now boys, it's time to go into the formal liquor rating tonight on the Uno Dos Tres Tequila Reposado, the dose.

Bam Bam:

Bam, bam, you're up. Okey dokey. I love this tequila tonight. Chef, fantastic recommend. The buttery nature of this, I said it from the beginning and I'll continue to say it, that just touch of salt in that buttery experience and a hint of sweetness, I'm at a strong 10.

Bam Bam:

At that price, there's no reason why there isn't a single person in this room that wouldn't run out and buy that bottle tomorrow.

Chef Ricky:

10. I wouldn't.

Bam Bam:

I got some soy extract for you.

Rooster:

I'll give you some soy extract.

Pagoda:

Heavily aged.

Chef Ricky:

All right, chef. I'm also out of 10. Listen, last week I was when I found out we do the Coronas Claros, I was doing some research at the restaurant trying to find the perfect Repo. I might have had seven or eight of them. And, you know, this is a Repo that's been out for quite some time so it's nothing new, it's nothing that you know is on the market that people are super excited about because it's new, but it's an OG and when I tasted it I was like this is it.

Chef Ricky:

This is it. And, you know, I just going off of what I remember from my previous Coronas Claro experiences, I knew right off the bat that this was gonna be the guy and I'm glad it is. I'm glad it worked out. I'm glad we have it here tonight. Great price point, butter, vanilla, butterscotch on the nose, slight salt, slight citrus on the finish.

Chef Ricky:

And you know what? This, like, this tequila presents sweet without some of those very those notes that you expect in in tequilas that drink like this like cinnamon or any spice. There's not a whole lot of spice which I really appreciate and enjoy because the cigar is providing that little hint of spice that's missing. And what I love most about this here is how the agave stays present, but it's not overwhelming, right? Like there's a lot of tequilas we've had in the past that have agave present and I love them for that, especially high proof stuff.

Chef Ricky:

But for some people that are new to the tequila experience, that could be a little overwhelming for them. This cigar is I mean, sorry, this tequila is perfect for that individual. It's a perfect gateway tequila. It's not super expensive. It might not be that easy to find.

Chef Ricky:

Although, Giz, you said you found it at Total Wine?

Gizmo:

Yeah. It's not available at this exact one, I've seen it around the country. It's available.

Chef Ricky:

So yeah, if you look you'll find it and you might get lucky walking into a retail store and seeing it but there's definitely some tequila's out there that are easier to get than this one.

Bam Bam:

Super sophisticated.

Rooster:

But you said it's not expensive?

Bam Bam:

$70? $70.

Chef Ricky:

At $70 it's not super.

Gizmo:

For him it says it's 130.

Rooster:

In New York it's 130.

Senator:

Everything Retail in New York is it's much more. Gave New York prices for everything that we've reviewed it'd be like $30 higher.

Chef Ricky:

So, you know, it's funny leaving New York today, was like, do you guys see the haze in the sky? It's really hazy here in New York. And as soon as I cross the Holland town, I'm like, you know, we're not that far. But, yeah, it it feels like a different world sometimes, but we're not that far apart. But yeah, this tequila is amazing.

Chef Ricky:

It drinks well. I love it. I kind of rediscovered it on this pod with you guys because I think Thanks to

Gizmo:

Lizard Mike out in California. Big guns.

Chef Ricky:

It's been on. It's been out for quite some time and it's something I sort of forgot about. So thank you Lizard Mike for bringing it back to the forefront and I'm glad that we're

Gizmo:

drinking it tonight. Alright Pagoda.

Bam Bam:

Oh. We're here. You know this

Gizmo:

I love the surprise look on your You

Bam Bam:

know I was just thinking The alarm just sounded.

Pagoda:

I was thinking about tequila. I remember talking about this is the year it's going to be the summer of tequila. Damn, I think I talk about that every year.

Gizmo:

Next year.

Pagoda:

It's already been a year. Yeah. Yeah, no, would rate this tequila the nine. It was fantastic. It was very buttery, sweet for me like in the front, and then you know I got a little bit of the agave in the back.

Pagoda:

It left a very, very, very good flavor profile and it was very, very complementary to the cigar as well because for me, my cigar was a little citrusy, this brought a little bit of the sweetness, it worked really well. I just overall enjoyed it. The only thing I keep asking myself, is this something I'm going go and really get into it again? Because I've had some tequila which have really blown me away. This was a bit short of that.

Pagoda:

And yeah, meaning it's a 9 for me.

Chef Ricky:

Is it the price point Pagoda? It

Pagoda:

Firstly, the would never pay $130 for a tequila.

Chef Ricky:

We're at 79. Big

Bam Bam:

value guy.

Pagoda:

Yeah, but you know, even if it came down to $70, now you're comparing with really, really good whiskeys, you know which I enjoy.

Chef Ricky:

You'd probably get the wrong Or

Pagoda:

I like my $25 rum, know I love my Florida pounding. That's also true. For a

Gizmo:

day to day,

Pagoda:

it's like definitely, you know, something, you know, they're the bit of the value consciousness in me just inherently. Sure. Having said that, yeah, that's a nine.

Gizmo:

So for me it's a 10. I'm shocked that so far they aren't all tens. I'm honestly shocked that you're nine. I I think this is a brilliant Reposado, a perfect Reposado as we discussed with Cuban cigars, with Honduran cigars. I think it actually could reach even further into some cigars that have a little more oomph to them.

Gizmo:

Dominican, Nicaraguan, the Padron I'm gonna smoke tonight. I think this is gonna pair very well with it. It's drinking great with this Dahlia from Bon Roberts I'm smoking.

Bam Bam:

I'm a

Gizmo:

huge fan of the stoic equanimity, and I would love to experience that with this cigar and just what it triggers and what happens on the palate. I agree. I I I just think that this was brilliant tonight. I'm very, very happy with it. At a 130, of course, I think that's crazy.

Gizmo:

But at 70, I think it's right on par with a great price for a great Reposado from other manufacturers. I love that it's pure. I know you said you don't really care that they go through the process but I think that's cool. And for me I'm definitely going to buy this. I actually think this might be my favorite of the three.

Gizmo:

This Reposado out of I the one, two, think this is probably my favorite of the three so far. For cigars, I think is the best pairing one. So I'm looking forward to buying a bottle of this. But for me, it's a 10. Senator?

Senator:

So I'm also at a 10. This is a spectacular spirit for cigars. Number one, the versatility. I think we all agree that every Cuban cigar would pair well with this, and I'd also go as far as saying almost every New World cigar would pair well with this. It is so smooth, so balanced, so refined.

Bam Bam:

I don't know a New World that wouldn't pair well with this.

Senator:

I just think of like, you know, a Podron ninetieth, very heavy, a Liga nine, like a very heavy new world, I think you'd want

Gizmo:

to bump up

Rooster:

to Yeah, 90

Gizmo:

you'd to get to

Bam Bam:

90 that makes sense.

Senator:

So the versatility is tremendous, the sophistication that this brings is excellent. The flavor profile for me, if you were to look up Reposado in a dictionary, this is what I want there as

Gizmo:

I agree.

Senator:

The poster child, the standard bearer. It's the exact flavor profile that I think of in my head when I pick up a Reposado and what my expectation is for the flavor profile that it delivers. The dessert notes were awesome. I I have not one thing I could possibly complain about here. I would definitely stock this in my bar.

Senator:

This brand, I mean, what a credit to them.

Gizmo:

Home run.

Senator:

Every expression has been awesome. But to Gizmo's point, I think of Blanco's and we've talked a lot about G4 as kind of the poster child there, some other ones. G4? That's right. For Repos My

Chef Ricky:

name is Love fourteen. But

Senator:

for Repos I feel like this is really the standard bearer and I think I might agree that this is my favorite of the three. So well done chef with the selection here and a huge credit to the brand. Perfection as far as I'm concerned.

Pagoda:

So just a quick question, the Gefos are about what $50?

Senator:

It's got to more

Chef Ricky:

than that.

Gizmo:

I think it's more than that because

Senator:

Probably like 60, 65?

Gizmo:

Yeah. I think it's probably on par with this. Oh

Pagoda:

oh, really?

Gizmo:

I would think it's probably close.

Pagoda:

No. I'm just figuring because I bought them.

Rooster:

Ah, so

Senator:

you've got some g four

Rooster:

in your bar.

Gizmo:

Big tequila guy.

Pagoda:

Yeah. It's actually been in my locker for a year. I hope it's aged well.

Gizmo:

It's a it's a Reposado now. Alright, boys. The former liquor rating tonight on the one two three, the Uno Dos Tres Tequila Reposado, the dose, is a 9.8.

Bam Bam:

Very

Gizmo:

good. So let's compare that to the other two we've done from the same manufacturer, the Blanco and the Anejo. First, the Blanco was a 9.8. So just one touch below this. Or no.

Senator:

The same.

Bam Bam:

Identical. Hey, Mike.

Gizmo:

I'm an idiot. The same as this. And the Tequila Anejo scored a nine. So even number there.

Bam Bam:

Interesting.

Gizmo:

Guess what episode we did that on? 80. No. One twenty. Episode 150.

Gizmo:

Jeez. The Fuente Fuente Opus x Biento d'Amour, the Opus Dubai.

Senator:

Yes. Yes.

Pagoda:

Oh, really? The opus, Dubai.

Bam Bam:

You know? I'm gonna smoke that tomorrow.

Rooster:

Yeah. Me too.

Gizmo:

By the way, I can't believe that that's almost a 100 episodes ago.

Bam Bam:

That's great.

Gizmo:

We're coming up on two fifty. That was episode 150. And now, boys, it's time to go into the formal Lizard rating tonight on the Que Dorce Coronas Claros from Cuba.

Rooster:

Rooster, you're off. Before I begin, I think something is off with you.

Bam Bam:

Yeah.

Gizmo:

It's only been one week. I just

Bam Bam:

you know, I'm You You need to stay dialed in.

Gizmo:

Do you know how many words I have to read on every episode? I'm gonna stumble a few. Correct.

Pagoda:

Yeah. You know, it's gonna be interesting to see where the mic had a little tally for who makes the most little Most errors. Errors in yeah.

Rooster:

I mean, are we to are we to expect like you're on vacation and Mike shows up in your place and sets it up?

Gizmo:

You know what, that's a great idea.

Rooster:

Okay, going back to the cigar. The Que Dorse Coronas Claro. The first time I ever had that cigar, I was absolutely blown away by that cigar. And the flavor note that was the most distinct in that cigar, which is very difficult to find in most Cuban cigars it's that citrus note that was and is so prominent in that cigar. In the couple of boxes that I have, every single one, I get that note.

Rooster:

So that citrus note was not prominent in the cigar that was smoked tonight. I think only other than Pagoda, you might have gotten some citrus. I think maybe Chef Ricky as well. But for most of us, I think that citrus note was missing. And for me, as soon as you mentioned we're going to do this on the pod, that citrus note, I'm thinking about this all day.

Rooster:

I'm looking forward to that note. So that note wasn't there. But besides that, I mean, this cigar, the performance of the cigar, the construction on the cigar this is a fresher box. This is a 2022. It still has four years of age on it now.

Rooster:

We're in 2026. The cigar was creamy. It had cedar. It had graham cracker note. The cigar was absolutely fantastic.

Rooster:

I mean, it was very pleasurable. It was a great cigar. So I'm a solid nine. All right, Senator.

Senator:

So I agree with Rooster. I'm also at a nine. The flavor profile of the cigar was enjoyable all the way through right down to the nub, but going back to my point earlier, what was gonna really determine for me a nine or a 10 was how differentiated this cigar is. And I have to say, without that citrus note present that was the defining characteristic of this cigar in the past, There are several Upmans that I could have thought I was smoking. There are even other cigars that have had similar profiles to this, so there wasn't that unique different characteristic about this cigar that would make me if this was the only Coronas Clara I had ever had, it lacked that uniqueness that I would go out and chase and pursue it in the way that we were buying boxes, plural, when we first tried this cigar.

Senator:

The other thing for me, my cigar I actually think was a bit underfilled. I did have to touch it

Gizmo:

up a it few feel light in the hand?

Senator:

It felt very light, the draw was wide open, It smoked very quickly. Mean, we're all well into a second cigar.

Rooster:

Agree on the relight. I had a relight few times.

Senator:

Yeah. And so for all those reasons, it definitely was not a perfect cigar for me. I couldn't possibly give it a 10, but that doesn't take anything away from the fact that it was incredibly enjoyable. What it did deliver was excellent, but I just needed a bit more for it to hit that absolute perfect 10, and so for those reasons, I'm at a a strong nine.

Rooster:

You know, also the price point.

Senator:

Oh, actually, I'm glad that you mentioned. I mean, the fact that this is felt underfilled, smoked as fast as it did, And And how much?

Rooster:

Closer to $40 or something.

Senator:

Dollars for a cigar this size, a Corona? I mean, that's that's insane.

Bam Bam:

That's insane.

Gizmo:

Pagoda. So for me, this is a 10.

Bam Bam:

You're out of line. Pagoda.

Gizmo:

Getting easy over there. This is why Mike can't come in and do this because you're gonna do

Bam Bam:

that. That's correct.

Gizmo:

So for me it's a 10. Honestly What? I I really had I really went back and forth on it because of my commentary about the profile changing, like senator just said, the price to replace it, the, you know, lack of differentiation, the lack of the citrus, but the cigar was a 10 for me tonight. It was incredible. Every single draw was brilliant.

Gizmo:

This is one of the best Cuban cigars I've smoked in quite some time. Mine, I took it down very much to the nub. It was brilliant. I I can't say anything bad about it. No.

Gizmo:

Did I expect citrus? Yes, but it was a great cigar. If I think if this had an H. Upman band on it and we were smoking this tonight, I think there would have been more tens in the room. And I'm only saying that because I think that the lack of the citrus or the differentiation from the previous experiences we had have kind of knocked it a bit and I think a little unfairly.

Gizmo:

I I just think that the cigar tonight was brilliant. Now the other thing I'm gonna comment on is the price. Yes, the price to replace this is $30 $35 $40 I didn't pay that when I bought this box. I bought this box when it was fresh four years ago for what? $18 a cigar?

Gizmo:

Okay. So for me, yes, to replace it is one thing, but what I paid for that box that's sitting in front of us was reasonable for the experience I had tonight. So I have to judge it on that. I have to judge it on how it performed. It was brilliant.

Gizmo:

I can't knock it at all. I still absolutely love this cigar despite the lack of citrus there. I just I really, really loved it. So for me, was a 10.

Rooster:

But guess my listener today, I'm sorry, is not going to be able to get it at $18. He's gonna have to pay 40 plus.

Senator:

Correct? I just wanna say, have no problem with any of your commentary. That's fine.

Gizmo:

I didn't say a listener could get I'm saying that's what I judged

Senator:

it on. I know, but I I think that's an unfair. I I have no problem with any of your commentary. Just on the price, that's like saying, if somehow I'm able to score a cigar that normally costs $50 for $5, and then I'm gonna rate it a 10 because I only paid $5, I mean, that's just not realistic. That's not the market price.

Gizmo:

Shout out to the tequila tonight for $1.30, and we could buy it for 7.

Senator:

Well, it's fine if you do it in reverse.

Gizmo:

Yeah. And it's his he's still giving it a 10. And it's his birthday.

Senator:

And it's that's our restaurant. It works in the reverse because, like, if he still would say at a $130, it's a 10, that works. But if it's $5, that's a whole other ballgame

Gizmo:

I'm looking at it differently than everybody else because I actually purchased this box. It sat in my tower. I'm the one that put the investment in it with time. You know? So that's how I'm judging it.

Gizmo:

I do respect the fact that a listener can't go get this for that price. Understand.

Senator:

I'm just saying if you happen to score it at $5 a stick by a miracle, which has never been the case, but let's say you did Yeah. You can't rate it based on that you only paid $5 because it is impossible to ever get it.

Gizmo:

That's fair. I'm just saying when I purchased it, the fair market price was that. That's what I paid. It wasn't discounted, whatever. So, again, I I can't knock it.

Gizmo:

It was really brilliant. I loved it and it was just excellent. Pagoda.

Pagoda:

Hey guys, Benning, you put me in trouble. The value man's in trouble now because I did rate it at a 10. For me, was an excellent experience, you know, from the very beginning to the end. In fact, I smoked it right to the nub. I got a lot of the citrusy notes, I didn't even get a lot of the graham cracker, the sweetness.

Pagoda:

I got more of like a very creamy orange cremsical kind of a thing but saltiness. And there was a little bit of floral saltiness that left a very pleasant profile on the top. For me, the experience was, hey, you know, I remember hanging out in Cuba on the top of the balcony and having a Corona Claro early in the morning. I think it used to be our first cigars often. I think maybe we'd picked it up and we used to smoke these.

Pagoda:

You know, it's good memories, good, you know, and I was feeling like I was experiencing the same thing. And it's been a wonderful evening, right, meaning it's two birthdays, we're celebrating, having champagne, I'm getting the citrusy notes. In fact, towards the end, I think the saltiness subsided quite a bit and then I still got a little bit of the orange rind I think I was mentioning on my lips with a little bit of tingle. I felt like it was like a really good you know, when you have a really good Manhattan, you have the orange rind over there which kind of leaves some kind of, you know, flavor on your lips. And I really, really enjoyed my experience tonight.

Pagoda:

And, you know, for me, it's not only the past memories, it's been a wonderful experience tonight. I I think it's a 10 for me.

Gizmo:

Alright, chef.

Chef Ricky:

I thought the cigar was absolutely phenomenal up until the final inch. What? Yeah. It kind of muddled up on me a bit. The the sweetness that was strong throughout, the baking notes, they sort of became really earthy.

Chef Ricky:

Now maybe I'd smoked a bit fast because at one point I looked over to Rooster and I was admiring how much cigar he had left compared to

Rooster:

I'm the wrong person to look.

Gizmo:

Rooster can smoke a Corona for three hours.

Pagoda:

He's still in the first you're gonna go home and smoke the mission.

Chef Ricky:

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe where you were versus where I was, but I really enjoyed this cigar. And I got some citrus notes. I got some citrus on the burn line, some on the palate. Not as strong as from what I remember.

Chef Ricky:

And I've I had a I don't know. This might have been my eighth or ninth cigar because this if you guys remember the story, I I met up with a high school buddy who made his first bid on Bon Roberts, and it turned out it was a box of Corona.

Gizmo:

Your

Senator:

eighth or ninth smoke today?

Chef Ricky:

No, no, no, no. Coronas collados.

Senator:

It is your birthday sign.

Chef Ricky:

It is. No, this is

Pagoda:

Should have been 11 deep

Chef Ricky:

by now. Exactly. I'm on my second cigar. I'm on a 2021 Chef's Edition right now.

Bam Bam:

Oh. Fitting cigar? An aristocrat.

Chef Ricky:

But yeah, no, I enjoyed the cigar. I thought it was beautifully done. I loved the tomato note. I got on a cold draw. Oh, Jesus.

Chef Ricky:

Here we go. Listen.

Gizmo:

It's his birthday.

Senator:

Yeah. It's his We'll

Gizmo:

allow it. It's his birthday.

Senator:

I got tomato too. It's not

Chef Ricky:

ketchup, it's tomato. There's a

Gizmo:

Vine ripened. What kind of tomato?

Chef Ricky:

It's a vine ripened beefsteak tomato with a touch of Malden

Rooster:

can't sea

Bam Bam:

wake me up in twenty.

Senator:

Not San Marzano

Chef Ricky:

beefsteak With a touch of mild and sea salt, but, or mild and salt rather. But no, it was great. I enjoyed it. I totally forgot about the price point, like Pagoda.

Gizmo:

130.

Chef Ricky:

Yeah. So, yeah, at $40, it'd probably be an 8. At 130, it might be a 7. But, no, this was a great cigar. The flavor was awesome.

Chef Ricky:

The build was great. The smoke output on such a small cigar was incredible. That, I couldn't believe how much smoke was coming out of this for all of us. I mean, you just said you couldn't open your eyes. Yeah.

Chef Ricky:

Damn.

Senator:

Yeah. And Rooster told him

Chef Ricky:

to keep him closed. He said his eyes will feel better if he didn't breathe.

Bam Bam:

A lot of anger over there.

Chef Ricky:

Two birthdays and there wasn't even one old boy tonight. Wow. But no, for me it's a night.

Bam Bam:

Alright, Bam. There isn't much I can add. I'd love the cigar tonight. I thought it was delicious. Citrus or not, differentiator or not, it was an exquisite cigar.

Bam Bam:

I'm at a nine. So that point, of course for the current price, what's most frustrating about all Cuban cigars is the scarcity and availability and access. I'm not going to ding it for that because that's where the environment is now. If it were a little bit more affordable, if I can find it again, maybe I'd be at a 10. I don't know.

Bam Bam:

But it was delicious from beginning to end and I didn't get anything. I smoked this down to the bloody end. It wasn't muddled at all. I think it was for me very consistent from beginning to end, so that experience you had was not my experience at all.

Chef Ricky:

At one point I had to just do another cut just to see if it would improve and it didn't much. Okay.

Pagoda:

I didn't get that either, but for me it was an excellent one.

Bam Bam:

Not much else I can say, but I'm a solid nine here.

Gizmo:

Alright, boys. That puts the formal Lizard rating tonight on the Que Dorsey Coronas Claros at a 9.3. Fantastic. And let's compare that to the other four Que Dorces we've done on the pod.

Bam Bam:

Hold on. I'm gonna guess the Coronas Claro that we smoked previous to this episode years and years ago. It's much higher rating.

Gizmo:

Okay. Let's see. We're going hold that one to last. First up, K. D'Orsay QD 54 on episode 50 scored a 7.8.

Gizmo:

Underrated. The K. D'Orsay 50 on episode 90 scored an 8.2. Also underrated. The Que D'Orsay number 52 we talked about tonight on episode 157 scored a 9.6.

Gizmo:

K.

Pagoda:

Yeah.

Gizmo:

And the Que Dorsi Coronas Claros on episode 30, the first one we did from 2021, was a 9.4. So only one point Point.

Bam Bam:

Higher than this. Damn, homeboy.

Gizmo:

So if you wanna know what everybody rated it, rooster nine, pooba nine, gizmo 10, senator nine, bam 10.

Bam Bam:

10. Correct.

Senator:

Well, we knew that.

Bam Bam:

That's correct.

Rooster:

Didn't we didn't we do one band? We did not do one with an old band. Senadores.

Bam Bam:

That's correct, old boy.

Gizmo:

Oh, we did do a senadores.

Rooster:

We do it.

Senator:

Oh, yeah.

Gizmo:

You're right. Look at rooster. Oh, man.

Rooster:

Who's the old boy now, motherfucker?

Bam Bam:

That's old boy's mentality

Senator:

right there.

Gizmo:

Oh, man. That's hilarious.

Pagoda:

He had a bit of hip. He still has

Chef Ricky:

a hip.

Gizmo:

And so You're

Rooster:

still By

Gizmo:

the way, on episode 60

Pagoda:

You're living. You're living. You're living out

Gizmo:

of On episode 60, we did the Que Dorce de Senadores scored a nine. So so far on this podcast, the number 52 is the clear winner at 96. The previous Coronas Claro is 94, and tonight, a 93.

Rooster:

What do you

Gizmo:

guys think of that?

Senator:

I agree with Bam that some of the early scores but are too I will say I do like the kind of ranking, like stacked order of those because

Bam Bam:

The hierarchy.

Senator:

Yeah. I would chase the QD 52

Pagoda:

Over

Senator:

even more than I would this Coronas Claro.

Pagoda:

Yeah. And it's sort of cigar. Mean, it's

Gizmo:

not the

Bam Bam:

Citrus version.

Gizmo:

Focused Coronas Claro.

Senator:

Even that just because I've had such a mixed bag with that, and I have to think that the QD 52 with being newer, and we've talked about how, like, the quality and consistency and construction's been better, I I imagine I'd have a more consistently great experience with that cigar that would live up to the one we reviewed and ones I've had, where this, I feel like, is a bit of a mixed bag.

Gizmo:

Alright, boys. A great night tonight. We have to congratulate again our friend Lizard James, who won lizard of the week with his great email. And, of course, thanks to Lizard o with that great email and all the other lizards who write us and send us voice memos and comment on our stuff. We really appreciate it.

Gizmo:

You guys are the lifeblood of our podcast. We have to thank Bon Roberts, of course, for sponsoring our lizard of the week segment. We appreciate those guys. I'm actually smoking a dahlias right now. Brilliant, brilliant cigar.

Gizmo:

I love it. Small Batch Cigars Boys, the official retail partner of the Lounge Lizards Podcast. Use our code lizard 15 for 15% off your entire order. They are fantastic. Plus 5% rewards back.

Gizmo:

Free shipping. It's incredible. We love those guys. Support them. Smallbatchcigar.com.

Gizmo:

And of course, boys, Fabrica Five.

Chef Ricky:

Correct.

Gizmo:

Chef Ricky got a bunch of Fabrica Five for his birthday today.

Chef Ricky:

And Bon Roberts.

Gizmo:

Congratulations to you and Bon Roberts too.

Senator:

I'm smoking at Trini Robusto right now.

Rooster:

How is Issues?

Senator:

I'll tell you this. It's more differentiated than my Coronas Clara was.

Gizmo:

Really? Truly. Fantastic. And it's good to hear. So thanks to FabricA5.

Gizmo:

Use our code Lizard Pod for 10% off your entire order with those guys at fabrica005.com. They have some great new sampler packs, which I'm sure you've heard on the intro of this episode. They have a lot of great stuff over there, so check them out. Fabricas005.com. Let's all say a lizard prayer for our friend Lizard X tonight.

Gizmo:

He had a rough day. Yes. And we hope to see him soon. Let's see what's going on there.

Bam Bam:

Sleep well, my friend.

Gizmo:

And boys, happy birthday.

Bam Bam:

Thank you. Thank

Senator:

you. Happy birthday, old boys. Happy

Chef Ricky:

birthday to

Rooster:

both of you. And we should do a lizard of the year. Oh. And have have Lizard O send him

Gizmo:

a five pack.

Chef Ricky:

A five pack from his Lizard

Bam Bam:

of the year can hang out with Rooster.

Gizmo:

And finally boys, because I mentioned it earlier, we have to thank Lizard Mike and all of Lizard Nation for helping with us being able to find Lizard Mike and bring him on board to help us process and edit the episode to make sure that continues to come out 5AM every Tuesday and taking a little bit of work off my back. So we really appreciate that. Thanks to you guys. What a great night, guys.

Bam Bam:

Very good.

Gizmo:

By the way, I think we should be cracking Paul Roger every single episode.

Pagoda:

Am I crazy?

Senator:

You're not gonna hear me say no.

Gizmo:

I mean, every episode, I think we should have some Paul Roger. But a great night, boys, and we'll see everybody next week. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You can find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, loungelizardspod.com.

Gizmo:

That's loungelizardspod.com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us. Hello at loungelizardspod.com. You can also find us on Instagram at lounge lizards pod.

Gizmo:

We really appreciate your time, and we'll, we'll see you next week.