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Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
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!
Ep. #210: Montecristo Double Edmundo (w/ La Marielita 18 Year Rum,
===
Gizmo: [00:00:00] Welcome to The Lounge Listen podcast presented by Fabrica five. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars, as well as whiskey, travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo. Tonight I'm joined by Rooster, Senator Pagoda, chef Ricky, and bam bam.
And our plan to smoke a cigar, drink some rum, talk about life, and of course have some laughs. So take this as your 210th official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plan this here once a week. We're gonna smoke a Cupid cigar tonight. Share our thoughts on it and give you our formal lizard rating.
We discuss new releases from cohiba and D. We debate how Haos SA could rehabilitate underselling Marcus. And we discuss our recent cigar rotation changes all among a variety of other things for the next two hours. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we pair 18 year age La Marlita rum with the mono Cristo double edmundo.
A rib Robusto extra from Monte Cristo on the [00:01:00] pod tonight. It's called the Double Edmundo and it's a 50 ring gauge cigar by six and one eighths inches long. And boys, we are back to Cuba.
Bam Bam: Oh yeah,
Gizmo: I can't believe by the way that it's been five weeks now since we reviewed the Romeo Ihu, the Diani, if you remember.
And we are back with a cigar that I've been eyeing up for quite some time, and I have an interesting admission. I've never smoked. A Monte Cristo Double edmundo. Have any of you guys had the cigar?
Bam Bam: Not a double.
Gizmo: Well of course we reviewed the Edmundo.
Bam Bam: Yeah. And I had a box of those quite a while ago.
Gizmo: Have you ever had this?
Bam Bam: No. No.
Gizmo: Has anybody had this?
Bam Bam: I have. Okay. Of course you have what you, is it correct?
Gizmo: So I'm really looking forward to it. 'cause this is one of the, uh,
Rooster: in initial release
Gizmo: IPOI, uh, I am curious how this is gonna stack.
Bam Bam: I like the fact that the wrapper has a bit of a oily sheen to it. It's, it looks good.
Rooster: What a year [00:02:00] are these?
Gizmo: These are 20, 25.
Bam Bam: Whoa.
Gizmo: PGM April 25.
Bam Bam: Wow.
Gizmo: So this is something that if we like it tonight and rate it well, this is something that, uh, consumers, especially outside the United States can get right now. Yeah. Probably a very similar box code. So.
Senator: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: So these could be inmate rolled. These could be inmate rolled.
Let's cut this thing boys.
Senator: I I can't smoke it now.
Gizmo: Perfect. Dammit. And see we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper.
I'm a little nervous about these tonight, boys. They did feel pretty hard in the box. Have some perfect draws on. So call here
Bam Bam: just took the very tip of the cap off and it's a bit resistant. More than a, mine
Gizmo: is
Bam Bam: more than a bike.
Senator: Me just take a little more off. I did the same.
Bam Bam: Yeah,
Senator: I did. Two cuts. A second.
Bam Bam: Cut's. Perfect. I do a second cut.
Pagoda: Just do a g cut. You'll be fine.
Bam Bam: How's your.
Gizmo: It seems okay.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: Mine's a little tighter than I'd like.
Bam Bam: Yeah, I know. Sure.
Gizmo: Yeah. [00:03:00] Little. This will be a, this is gonna be a challenge. Yeah. How's your chef
Chef: brother? Slightly resistant, but not in a bad way at all. Just
Bam Bam: so, so, you know.
I'm sorry. When you put your finger at the place that you cut where, and you've got solid tobacco. Yeah.
Gizmo: Like that. Oh yeah. It's a, it's like a brick.
Bam Bam: It's, yeah. That's like, there's resin there. That's not gonna be good.
Gizmo: Yeah. Well, we're gonna do our best here. Ba fuck. All right boys, let's like this thing. The Monte Cristo Double Edmundo from Cuba on the pod tonight.
Again, this is a rib Robusto extra. It's a 50 ring gauge cigar by six and one eight inches long. Its factory name is the doubles, and it is the only cigar of that size in regular production in Cuba.
Bam Bam: Do you remember what you paid for these?
Gizmo: These were [00:04:00] $40 a piece. Ba
Bam Bam: Holy smokes,
Gizmo: if you
Bam Bam: can
Gizmo: believe it.
Bam Bam: No, I can't.
Not for an edmundo. Even if it's a double I,
Gizmo: it's a little pricey for the cigar that we have in our hands. I think. 40 bucks. And I know we're not discussing flavor yet, but just the feel of it. You're, you know, we're smoking two $20 bills right now.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: It's a pretty pricey robust though.
Bam Bam: It's pretty nice off the light.
I like it on the light. Yeah. Actually once the smoke travels through it and gets a little warm, the, the cigar smoking. Okay. I think it'll got better.
Rooster: The draw is slightly resistant, but
Bam Bam: mm-hmm.
Rooster: Not bad.
Pagoda: No. The smoke, the smoke output for me has been fantastic while a resistant draw, but
Gizmo: it's off to a good start.
Bam Bam: Yeah. Nice.
Gizmo: It doesn't have, um, what I'm expecting right at this moment on the light from Monte Cristo.
Bam Bam: That's correct.
Gizmo: It's [00:05:00] a little different for me, uh, especially the number two. I, you know, I, I don't reach for Edmundo a lot.
Bam Bam: Here's a question. Is anyone getting just the slight touch of a very faint white pepper right now?
'cause I'm getting a little bit
Rooster: on the retro or
Bam Bam: no, I haven't retro yet.
Senator: I'm not getting pepper.
Bam Bam: No, I'm not getting pepper. No white pepper at all? No,
Senator: I'm getting walnut like a nuttiness.
Bam Bam: Dry nut. Yeah. Dry nuttiness. Yeah. Like
Rooster: a peanut.
Bam Bam: Oh, I'm getting retro. I'm getting walnut on the retro. Yeah. Um,
Senator: funny how some of us don't need to retro to get that.
Bam Bam: Yeah. Not getting the
Senator: debate continues. End.
Gizmo: Mine's a little boring right now. On the light, I would say not what I expect from Monte Cristo.
Bam Bam: I'm not super excited about it, but it's got my attention right now, you know?
Gizmo: The
Bam Bam: same
Rooster: way. Yeah, the aroma's very pleasant.
Bam Bam: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Rooster: Nice. Yeah. The aroma at the burn. Mine's nice. [00:06:00]
Chef: Yeah, aroma.
Bam Bam: The burn.
Mine's
Chef: nice. The retro's a little.
Bam Bam: That's the best part of the cigar right now for me is the aroma, honestly.
Chef: Mm-hmm.
Bam Bam: Wow. That is really, really good.
Rooster: It kind of tastes like an, a little bit of an aged Cuban. Tobacco doesn't taste fresh.
Bam Bam: The aroma for me has got like a bisco biscotti type thing happening.
Pagoda: You, you know, it's really funny.
I try, I try to retro hell, but it feels like my nose was blocked and nothing came out. It was,
Bam Bam: it's called a, it's called a deviated septum.
Pagoda: It is a deviated septum. Bless it. But you know, you try once in a while, but yeah, like, um, you know, for me I got something like, you know, I talk about that my glucose biscuit kind of flavor or gram crackery or it's, I got that in my mouth.
I don't know, maybe
Bam Bam: I get that on the aroma. The cigar,
Gizmo: I took a perfect draw of mine, put it about three quarters of an inch in, and uh, it's definitely helping a lot. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Just [00:07:00] pulled a very little bit of tobacco out of it.
Bam Bam: Yeah. I may have to do that.
Rooster: It's like you have to take a second puff to get smoke output.
Gizmo: Yeah.
Rooster: You know, the first straw doesn't do it. Right.
Gizmo: Yeah. It's almost like you have to double draw to get, get it going. I don't think senator's having that experience.
Senator: No. Mine's a chimney. I, I think I'm lucky with just a, a good roll and Pagodas is,
Gizmo: mine's still that be really good. Bam is holding his cigar up right now with the perfect draw.
Wow.
Bam Bam: My mine's turned out be very good. Yeah. This, it is solid. Honestly. It's like they injected resin right at the head of the cigar. What the hell are we doing? Unreal. Seems like you can use it for Multipurposes. Correct. Well bend over.
Gizmo: So hopefully this develops into something nice. We'll see. But, uh, right now we're, uh, cruising along here. So this Cigar boys comes in a couple different packaging types as do a lot of the Montecristo [00:08:00] cigars. This came out of a 10 count box that obviously we see right there.
Rooster: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: Cedar Box. And again, the price on this was just around $400.
US and I bought these probably about three months ago. So these have been in my tower for quite some time.
Senator: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: And again, a $40 re robusto extra is pretty wild.
Senator: That's,
Gizmo: so they also,
Senator: this is probably a dumb question, but I don't know that I've ever seen Na Monte not in a dress box. Now that I think about it.
Gizmo: The Wide Edmundo and the Edmundo, all the Edmundo has come. In the cedar boxes,
Senator: but everything else is in dress
Gizmo: boxes, right? Yeah. So, so the, the, the one, the two, the three, the four, the five all come in the dress box.
Senator: Okay. That's why, 'cause I've never bought a boxes. The
Gizmo: Pete comes in a dress box. Yeah.
Senator: Interesting. Yeah, it's just weird to see, honestly, like I'm so used to the bright yellow dress box.
Bam Bam: There is an edmundo that comes in packs of three and many cardboard boxes that are in the overall box where you get the code and the dates.
Gizmo: Yeah. So all these do that the, it comes in a display box of 15 cigars, five cardboard packs of three.
Bam Bam: [00:09:00] Yes.
Gizmo: And it also comes in a semi boy nature box of 25 cigars. So Cedar box as well. Mm-hmm. In 25 cigars, all of them. And this cigar were released in 2013.
Bam Bam: Hmm.
Gizmo: So this is a pretty recent addition to the mono Krystal line.
Bam Bam: I do like that five count, that 25 count presentation. It's very nice.
Gizmo: Yeah. It's kinda like a, it's interesting for the, you know, smoker out there.
It's kinda like a D four box.
Bam Bam: Yeah. It's
Gizmo: cool. You know, for mono Cristo, that's how I would describe it. Mm-hmm. Like, it's really, that's nearly identical to what a part, his P two comes in, you know, that
Rooster: 10 count box. I have to kind of say like, this is a bit of an anomaly from all the fresh boxes that we have smoked.
That couple of us are having dry issues on my cigar. It's like peeling a little bit.
Gizmo: Hmm.
Bam Bam: You mean there's a separation at the seam?
Rooster: Yeah, like right in the middle. Like the wrapper's peeling.
Bam Bam: So I have that here too.
Rooster: You do? Yeah.
Bam Bam: Right at the seam. It's lifting a bit,
Rooster: which is a bit unusual. We haven't really had that with, you know, the, [00:10:00] the latest
Bam Bam: one.
Rooster: I
Bam Bam: never had that with I, Monty,
Senator: any Monty. But Rooster's saying like the recent runs, we've been recent. Yeah. We've done well, quality's been much better. That's true of the roll. And this,
Gizmo: especially you, the draw has always been pretty good.
Senator: Yeah,
Bam Bam: I'm kind of happy with the draw now. Things have adjusted nicely.
That's
Gizmo: good. So I'm starting to get that salty thing, I guess expecting on the light.
Pagoda: Yeah. The Cuban que saltiness. Yeah.
Gizmo: Are you getting the cocoa that you expect? No. From Montery? No.
Pagoda: No, not
Gizmo: yet.
Pagoda: I just got a little bit of the biscuity, you know, the gram cracker thing, but that's gone. It's very earthy and salty.
Very Cuban esque for me.
Rooster: It's a little bit of
Pagoda: wood
Rooster: maybe.
Pagoda: Yeah. Wood is cedar ish. Yeah.
Chef: I'm still getting some cedar biscuit. Uh, little creaminess on the smoke here.
Rooster: Mm-hmm.
Chef: Uh, that's about it.
Bam Bam: I'm laughing at him
Rooster: getting some wood.
Senator: I'll say the burn line on this is very ugly.
Gizmo: Oh yeah. It's terrible.
Senator: It's not even, and the ash looks very flaky as it's forming.
Like
Gizmo: I feel like this is gonna be over each of us.
Senator: [00:11:00] Yeah,
Gizmo: well all over us.
Pagoda: I'm all clean. You're clean.
Gizmo: We're only a couple minutes in pagoda.
Pagoda: I haven't put my cigar on today, so. Mm-hmm.
Chef: I wonder if those, if they sold even one of those. Well, we know one, the question is two GIZ has one
Gizmo: I do. It's embroidered.
No, I didn't order one.
I don't think it hit its, uh, Kickstarter goal, unfortunately.
Chef: Mm.
Gizmo: So, so tonight, boys, this is the ninth Mono Cristo. We are reviewing on the pod, and I use that terminology because it's technically only the eighth Mono Cristo we're, 'cause remember we did the Mono Cristo number two twice.
Rooster: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: So we did an earlier version of that, a younger, uh, uh, an older version, excuse me, several years ago.
And we did a more recent version of 20, 22, 10 episodes ago, 10 weeks ago, the Mono Cristo number two, which rated very, very well. So what, what disappoints me about this cigar at, at this moment, and we're, you know, 10, 11 minutes in here is [00:12:00] if you're a smoker who listened to that review 10 weeks ago. And we gave that cigar a very high score.
We loved it. And then you run out because this cigar is on the preview Yeah. For, for what's coming. Yeah. Coming in November, December. This is in a totally different universe.
Rooster: Well that's,
Gizmo: nows
Rooster: it's kind of typical, right? I mean, Monte twos have always been, I think, a flagship of the Monte Crystal line and the edmundo are, I think it's step below.
Bam Bam: I agree.
Rooster: Yeah.
Bam Bam: Correct.
Gizmo: They're just totally
Bam Bam: divergent
Gizmo: in flavor, you know.
Bam Bam: Yeah. This is definitely a bit heier, more minerality. There is a good amount of salt I'm getting now, as you mentioned. And it's okay. It'll keep your attention for a while unless it gets super peppery or acidic.
Chef: I'm honestly thinking of the last cigar that we smoked that was so incredible and so much less expensive.
Correct?
Gizmo: Yeah. [00:13:00]
Chef: Yeah. The
Gizmo: ua. Hey. Uh,
Chef: yeah.
Gizmo: Oh yeah.
Rooster: Kaan.
Gizmo: Yeah. Kaan. That was a great cigar. 12 bucks. Less even
Rooster: 10.
Chef: 10. Yeah. Yeah. So dynamic in flavor that gave you so much, you have fight it. Yep. Yep.
Gizmo: Well, we'll see how this develops boys. Let's go into some news before we get to our pairing. First I'll open with Monte Cristo.
So the Elba Iion Liata for 2025 is coming out. The cigar is 54 ring gauge by five and three quarters inches long. The cigar is named for the famed island of Elba, which is referenced in the classic novel, the Count of Monte Cristo, of course, a Alexander Dumas, which obviously is the name of one of the cigars in the 1935 line series alongside, uh, two others.
And what's interesting about this boys is the cigar is gonna be [00:14:00] $120.
Bam Bam: No thank you.
Pagoda: Say it
Bam Bam: pagoda.
Pagoda: How, how do they come up with this pricing? Save, but go. Well said.
Gizmo: I mean, it's crazy.
Pagoda: Is it cost based, market based? What is their,
Gizmo: I think what they do is, so this cigar has one band on
Pagoda: that's ego based.
Gizmo: That's $40.
The cigar that's coming out, the Elba has three bands on it.
Bam Bam: Oh, okay.
Gizmo: $120. There you go. So I think it's based on the band. It's 40 per,
Rooster: it's
Gizmo: $40 per band.
Rooster: Yeah. It's like whatever a roller in Cuba makes in a month. You quadruple that.
Bam Bam: Or in, in a certain facility,
Gizmo: an alternate. The annex. In Annex,
Bam Bam: that's exactly right.
There you go.
Gizmo: The rolling annex. So these cigars are gonna start hitting shelves soon. It has a really nice packaging, actually it comes in packages of five. I can understand why at $120 a cigar, why they're putting 'em in boxes of five as opposed to 10 [00:15:00] counts or, or more. But I do like that, uh, unique packaging there.
How would you describe that? Bam. You're the packaging expert
Bam Bam: reminiscent of, um, that line that they have other than that intermediate band, same color scheme. That intermediate. But does that silver, I can't see from here. It's
Gizmo: gold.
Bam Bam: Gold, okay.
Gizmo: Yeah, it's gold. It's like a wood.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: Grain.
Bam Bam: It's beautiful.
Gizmo: Yeah.
It's a really nice box.
Bam Bam: But at $120.
Gizmo: Yeah, it's crazy. It's
Bam Bam: outrageous.
Gizmo: So the box is gonna be $700. Euros. So that's actually $150 a cigar. I'm sorry, $150 a cigar. So 10,000 of these five packs are gonna be circulated. So these cigars, they're gonna be making 50,000 of these cigars. So, uh, that will definitely be a cigar that we are not smoking on the podcast.
So let's go to another one here, boys, and then we'll go to our pairing. This one is a story out of the [00:16:00] Maldives
Senator: Maldives. The Maldives. The Maldives.
Bam Bam: There you go.
Gizmo: This is a story
Senator: close to Paramus Park
Bam Bam: in Secaucus
Gizmo: fuckers.
Senator: I love to go diving at the mall. Oh yeah.
Gizmo: This is a story coming out of the Maldives.
The Maldives has become the first country in the world to implement a countrywide generational tobacco ban. So this means that any person born after January 1st, 2007 will forever be prohibited from purchasing tobacco products. Country
Rooster: because the whole country is sinking.
Chef: Do people actually live there or is that just like a, a tourist vacation spot that's there?
Gizmo: There are
Senator: 528,000
Gizmo: senator people living there.
Bam Bam: Senator's been there. So let's hear, let's
Senator: hear
Bam Bam: firsthand
Senator: people do on the, the main island there, Malay. But none of this is surprising because alcohol is outlawed in the Maldives.
Bam Bam: Except unless if you're on
Senator: original [00:17:00] property, the hotels Exactly right. So all the hotels Muslim are exempted Muslim,
Bam Bam: Muslim country.
Senator: That's correct. Yeah. So like, honestly, this doesn't surprise me at all. And the hotels of course will find a way to, you know, be exempt from having to enforce that. Yeah, that's good.
Gizmo: I found this interesting too. A retailer found to be selling tobacco to a person born after January 1st, 2007 will face a fine of approximately $3,200.
Bam Bam: Will they get their hand cut off?
Gizmo: Very possible. '
Bam Bam: cause it happens.
Gizmo: So they are, uh, very excited to be eliminating tobacco from their country. And I, you know what's interesting that it says here, you know, shout out to half wheel. It says that it's the first country in the world to implement the generational tobacco ban.
New Zealand actually did implement the generational tobacco ban and then it was
Pagoda: rescinded.
Gizmo: Resealed. Rended.
Pagoda: Mm.
Gizmo: Yeah, it was killed. So it actually went into effect. And then I think a new regime came in in New Zealand and, and booted it out. So that is, uh, unfortunate. And you know, listen, like you're saying, you're not surprised.
You're saying it's a Muslim country, but at [00:18:00] the end of the day you don't like seeing this stuff.
Bam Bam: No.
Gizmo: You know, you don't wanna see these stories and it's unfortunate that they're happening. So boys, I need a drink.
Bam Bam: Let's do
Gizmo: it. The cigar is very dry for me right now. Really. Let's, let's go to our pairing. And this one is really, really interesting and has a lot of touchpoints here tonight for us on the podcast.
This is La Marita, 18 years aged rum out of Panama. This is a Panamanian product and a couple of the guys here have been to Panama and it's got a, an incredible story that we're gonna talk about in a minute. But, uh, it's La Marita.
Chef: Cheers.
Gizmo: Cheers boys.
Chef: Cheers. Cheers. Salud.
Gizmo: 18 years age rum tonight on the pod.
Chef: This is absolutely amazing. It tastes like pecan pie with butter pecan ice cream, and a drizzle of maple syrup all over it.
Gizmo: That
Chef: is awesome. It's really, really good stuff.
Bam Bam: It's quite delicious.
Chef: Yeah, and I know that all sounds super sweet together, but it, the way it's delivered here, it's really, [00:19:00] really well balanced.
Bam Bam: I will admit though, when I sniff this before the pod,
Chef: oh, we all heard you every time
Gizmo: you do this
Bam Bam: every time. Not, not every time, but it was like senator,
Chef: but every
Senator: time,
Bam Bam: almost every, but it's opened up beautifully. I get butter scotch on the finish. It's, and it's a very long vanilla butterscotch finish for me.
Fantastic.
Senator: I love it. I, I mean, I. My experience with Ramen Panama is limited in that like pretty much any restaurant or bar the I kind of go to is abuelo, which at some point we have to do here. Um, we'll like go to instead. Correct. Make a leto.
Bam Bam: That's the alter ego. He's on around right. Abu
Senator: um, pagoda and I have had their, like the seven year is kind of like their analog to Havana, uh, club seven year.
Um, but this, I've never seen even the bottle on a shelf at a bar or restaurant there, but this [00:20:00] is absolutely delicious.
Chef: It
is.
Gizmo: I can't wait to hear how much you cost. Yeah. Take a guess how much this cost?
Bam Bam: 39
Gizmo: bucks. $65.
Senator: Wow, that's incredible.
Gizmo: 18 years. Age rum. No additive. So that was the other thing too.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
No additive.
Gizmo: So I
Bam Bam: was gonna ask you about how this was made.
Gizmo: Yeah. So I'll, I'll go through their history and
Bam Bam: all
that.
Bam Bam: That's an excellent price.
Gizmo: $65,
Senator: I
Gizmo: just
Senator: wanna say 18
Gizmo: years
Senator: age rum on the price. This legitimately, if you would've said a hundred dollars, I would've thought that that's reasonable for
Bam Bam: 18 years spirit.
Senator: Yeah. The reason I say that, like, what this kind of reminds me of is this is like a, a fuller expression than any of the seven years that we drink. Havana Club, uh, Florida Ka abuela I was just mentioning. And I think in like Havana Club, you think of like the Cel Alexion Maestro as like the
Gizmo: mm-hmm.
Senator: Fuller, much fuller expression of Havana seven, and that's like a hundred something a bottle.
So this kind of reminded me as like that analog. So I would've thought a hundred bucks would've been. It's kind of standard fare for something like this. 60 something [00:21:00] dollars to me is a steal.
Bam Bam: I think this is more sophisticated and it has a bit of a drier finish than that. Cel Alexion that you mentioned.
Senator: I totally agree.
Bam Bam: Added a lot less of an expensive price.
Gizmo: I think it is so smooth and easy to drink.
Bam Bam: So no added sugar,
Gizmo: no added, there are no additives in this
Bam Bam: zero sugar.
Gizmo: There is zero added, you know, additives to the product. Aside from I'm
Bam Bam: incredibly naturally occurring sugar course.
Gizmo: Of course, of course.
Rum of course,
Bam Bam: fantastic.
Gizmo: But I was very specifically looking for something and you know, you know, we're doing a cubit cigar every five weeks now, so obviously we're unable to get a Cuban rum that we haven't had, and even the ones we have had are difficult to get right now, of course. So I wanted to find something that I thought would tie in well to smoking a Cuban cigar first.
First things first, I love the price. At 18 years age, that was number one. Number two, I love that it's a 40% alcohol by volume product. So an 80 proof, which is classic Cuban rum is 40%. I think almost all of them. Some of the. Some of [00:22:00] the Santiago's might get a little hotter than that. Correct. Santiago de know
Senator: that Santiago does
Gizmo: just a little, I think they might a little bit, I'm not sure.
But the classic Cuban rums are, are 40% generally. So I like that. And then of course, the story behind this, uh, is a really, really incredible story of a Cuban family. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna talk to you a little bit about that now.
Bam Bam: Quick question though.
Gizmo: Yeah.
Bam Bam: Where did you find that
Gizmo: Total Wine? What has this on?
It's a part of their Spirits direct program. Spirits Direct is a program that Total Wine works out. I'm, I'm sure it's like a Costco thing or a Walmart thing, where they beat up their vendors and throw a special label on it, get good pricing and get a lot of the product. But for our listeners out there, the benefit of it being Spirits Direct is it's probably available in almost every total wine store in the country.
Interesting. So I think that this should be a fairly accessible rum choice for our listeners. And I think, you know, based on the first sip here, I mean, it, it's certainly gonna rate well tonight
Chef: [00:23:00] and those Spirits direct bottles, they're usually very well priced as well.
Gizmo: Yeah. And I got a free delivery on this because it was Spirits Direct $65.
Chef: Nice.
Gizmo: And, you know, killer. Yeah.
Chef: That's, that's, that's encouraging. I see a lot of tequilas or agave distillates in that Spirits Direct program that I'm always kind of, uh. Hesitant of person. Is that strictly
Rooster: online?
Gizmo: No, it's in the store as well.
Chef: Oh
Gizmo: yeah. So this actually came out of the store near us. Um, so it was delivered, uh, today.
So the founder of the brand is a woman named Janet Diaz Bonia, and she founded this.
Senator: It's Bobby Bonia sister.
Gizmo: It's a's product
Chef: she's been using his, uh, deferred salary. Launched a brand.
Bam Bam: That's correct.
Gizmo: Find What's it? A million bucks every, uh,
Bam Bam: every year for next 14 years.
Gizmo: Every April. Got some good use out of
Bam Bam: it, correct? July 1st. Too bad you can't try any. Who dead that?
Gizmo: So Janet's [00:24:00] grandfather, Jose Manuel Diaz, affectionately known as Manolo.
Had a market called La Favorita, which was one of the most well regarded and recognized establishments of its time in Arta, Cuba. The grandfather had to sell La Favorita in 1956, and then he purchased three other businesses, a bakery, a bread shop called Lorena, which was his wife's nickname. Nickname, and a market called Casa Manola, which was primarily known for its fine liquors and Leurs.
Her grandfather handpicked every spirit sold at his shop as each had to meet his high quality standards. Of course, their success was very short-lived. New Year's Eve, 1958, of course, the Cuban Revolution began, and as they said, initiated unforgettable events orchestrated. A ruthless dictator, as they say here on the website, who callously stole the aspirations and legacies of many Cuban families.
By 1963, all of Jose Manuel's [00:25:00] businesses had been intervened and seized by the regime, so without anything to their name. Many families fled Cuba, however, those with sons close to military age were not as fortunate. Janet's father was about to graduate from the Cuban University when he boarded a raft headed to the United States, but was caught before reaching freedom and after being imprisoned and upon his release, refusing to work for the government, the Cuban regime forbade him from graduating or pursuing an education at all.
He was branded a traitor and labeled a political prisoner, a badge he wears to this day as a badge of honor. Then on April 1st, 1980, that's a big day for a lot of Cuban families. There was, uh, they initiated a political tidal wave, as she says here, with thousands of Cuban swarming, the Peruvian embassy begging for political asylum.
And the movement provoked an exodus today known as the Marielle Boat Lift. So everybody's heard about the Marielle boat lift. Uh, so at six years old, Janet, along with her parents left [00:26:00] Marielle Cuba and landed in Key West Florida. Across the Florida Straits. So they were at sea for 17 hours and uh, got outta Cuba.
So the name of this is La Marita, which is obviously a reference to the Marielle Boatlift. And she has some beautiful artwork on the front of the bottle, custom done for this bottle by an artist named mm-hmm. Uh, Umberto Benitez. Pretty amazing that that is the story of the name here. And then it goes on and on and Ricky talking about the product itself.
So they go to Panama and they find Don Poncho, who's a very famous maker of rum in Panama.
Pagoda: And Don Pagoda
Gizmo: and Don Pagoda.
Pagoda: Correct. Look at him. He sits like a Don, I was about to say famous drinker over there.
Gizmo: So they connected. With Don Poncho, and like I said, [00:27:00] chef knew his name and they started putting together this product. And I guess Don Poncho was so inspired by the story that he pulled out this blend of 18 years aged rums that he had, uh, set aside and not used. He was waiting for a special release or something to use it and decided that based on their story, he was going to give them this blend, this recipe, and this rum.
So then they put their label on it, and now it's La Marita the 18 years age that we're drinking tonight. And again, I can't believe that it's only 65 bucks. Wow.
Bam Bam: It's a cool story.
Senator: Yeah.
Bam Bam: Yeah. And a beautiful bottle.
Senator: So is that the only expression they have?
Gizmo: That is the only expression they have as of today.
Wow. They were founded in 2022. This is a very new company post COVID company. Interesting.
Pagoda: So how did they age there? Around 18 years. I'm just kidding.
Gizmo: Well,
Pagoda: very astute.
Senator: He's done.
Pagoda: Go now. That's correct.
Gizmo: So it's distilled in Las ca de pe Panama, [00:28:00] proof down by using filtered local fresh water and skillfully formulated by world renowned Cuban Maestro Romero, Francisco, Jose Don Poncho Fernandez Perez, and Don Poncho before immigrating to Panama, grew up surrounded by sugarcane fields in Cuba, learned the craft from his father, and then earned a degree in microbiology.
He's known worldwide as the godfather of rum with experience in the spirits industry spanning over 60 years. And Chef, of course, they're not gonna call it out on here, but you said that he was involved in Havana Club.
Chef: He was one of the master stores for Havana Club in Cuba. Yeah.
Senator: That's very cool, man. Who knows what he is doing.
Correct.
Gizmo: Makes sense that it tastes like it does. Mm-hmm. Because this is really damn good. Very
Chef: good.
Gizmo: And if I, I, I told you guys, this was Cuban rum tonight. I think everybody in this room, I would, I would believe it would've believed it, right?
Chef: Yeah,
Senator: yeah, yeah.
Chef: Even the color on this rum is beautiful, beautiful.
Amber color,
Senator: the [00:29:00] viscosity.
Chef: Oh, viscosity's. Great. Yeah, this is very,
Gizmo: it's got the perfect amount of heat too, just, just perfect amount and it pairs beautifully with a Cuban cigar.
Senator: And the other thing, I mean, we're all drinking this neat, talking about how smooth this is. Yeah. I think most rums that we drink, we do have some ice.
This is outstanding.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: So this rum matures in bourbon curated American white oak casks, enveloped within Panama's tropical setting. Of course known for its rich environmental elements aged 18 years, which is the youngest year in the ultra premium masterfully handcrafted blend. There are no additives, artificial flavorings or anything else in this rum.
It says here what you see and what you smell is as pure as our intentions to provide you with a genuinely delicious tasting experience.
Chef: It's absolutely beautiful that they're able to do that without any adulteration to the product. That's just, it's crazy if, if it, obviously it's not easy, but why can't every producer make [00:30:00] this stuff?
You know?
Senator: It's true.
Chef: It's amazing to me. And then an 18 year product, 65 bucks, there's no buffer. There's, you know, I don't know. They obviously don't have another, another, um, expression of this spirit. So, I mean, are they just sitting on rum for 18 years so they could then produce another batch and put it,
Bam Bam: or start a company
Chef: on the, on the, on the market?
Like, well,
Gizmo: Don, I'm, I'm assuming that, uh, you know, Don Poncho, the, uh, as they said, the godfather of rum here, I'm sure he's got a pretty bustling business in Yeah, he must in Panama, that he's obviously making a lot of different rums and stuff, and I'm, I'm assuming, has a nice stash of, uh, aging barrels.
Chef: Anyone watch OSA King here?
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Chef: A
Bam Bam: few episodes
Chef: reminds me a little bit of the, uh, 40, 40-year-old bourbon. They're stashing Right. That they're fighting over in the new season. Stallone, I haven't seen
Gizmo: the
Rooster: new season
Gizmo: yet.
Chef: Oh, sorry. Take that back.
Gizmo: So that's the story on the rum. I'm very happy we grabbed this tonight.
I'm very happy that it's performing as well as, as it is right now [00:31:00] because, uh, I think this is something that our listeners are gonna love to pair with. Cup coupon cigars. Yeah.
Chef: That bottle's not surviving the night.
Gizmo: Definitely not,
Chef: no.
Gizmo: That will be gone.
Chef: Yeah.
Bam Bam: How are you feeling about your cigar?
Gizmo: Good.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: Yeah. It's coming around. It's, it's not what I'd I, I really want out of Monte Cristo, but for what this cigar is and what it's trying to be inside that edmundo line mm-hmm. It's there
Senator: for
Gizmo: me. It's, it's coming around.
Senator: I have a different experience for me after about an inch and a half or maybe two inches of ash all of a sudden.
Exactly.
Gizmo: Dude.
Senator: All of a sudden it's, it's picking up in sweetness. It's a little creamier. I got more salt, like kind of Monty Twang started making an appearance. So where I'm at right now, this is recognizable as a monty, the first like inch and a half, two inches. I, I wouldn't have blindly said, this is definitely Monty DNA, but it's definitely here
Bam Bam: now.
Yeah. So I, about that same dimension, [00:32:00] inch two maybe I got some sweet carbohydrate, uh, almost like a scone type thing, not graham cracker. 'cause that's very, for me, very distinct. And I chased that in Cuban cigar. So that's not what I'm getting here, but I'm getting a kind of a sweet, semi-sweet, baked good of some kind.
Um, I think it has a very nice finish. I think it's gotten more interesting. I'll also, I'm surprised it's, it's fuller than I thought it would be.
Senator: Mm.
Bam Bam: Every mundo I've had has always been on the milder side. This is a bit fuller.
Rooster: I've had
Senator: that experience.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Rooster: The smoke is very creamy. It's like velvety. The aroma
Bam Bam: is delicious.
It
Rooster: lingers.
Bam Bam: It's so good though. Aroma.
Rooster: Yeah.
Gizmo: I think for me, I'm not getting the sweetness thing right now. I'm getting more of like a funk. It's like a funky, not sour, but it's kind of in that family.
Bam Bam: So I do get that on a retro hill, by the way. Almost like a, um, barnyard sour cream type of hybrid for me.
Gizmo: Mm-hmm.
Bam Bam: Which I do like. [00:33:00]
Gizmo: I think the retro's pretty nice.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: I'm getting it on the, the normal draw.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: And I think, like you said, I think the aroma might be the best part for me right now. Greed smells great.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm. I just, I just love the wrapper. It is so oily.
Gizmo: Smoking Great though, for a cigar that was produced in April of this year.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: I mean it's got, what, six months on it effectively. Pretty good. What do you think of it? Pagoda?
Pagoda: No, uh, absolutely. And I think we all were, at least some of us were very apprehensive about Yes. How well hard it felt at the beginning. I think, at least in my case, it's been fantastic in terms of the draw, I love the smoke output and uh, yeah, for me it's been very Cubans in the sense of, you know, the saltiness and yeah.
It's, it's just been fantastic. No complaints. And I also think I, like, I haven't gotten a lot of the sweetness mm-hmm. Like you mentioned, but, you know, pairing it with the rum, the sweetness from the rum, I think it's complimenting each other extremely well. I like the pairing.
Gizmo: I agree with you on that.
Pagoda: Yeah.[00:34:00]
Gizmo: I think the, I think like you're saying, I think the rum is adding something on my palate right now that the cigars not giving me, it's a nice marriage. Obviously you guys are getting sweetness out of the cigar. Yeah. So how is the,
Senator: how's the, and it literally just keeps picking up. Like, I'm getting so much sweetness.
I have intentionally stopped drinking the rum for an extended period of time just to see whether I feel like I need it with the cigar. 'cause it was so dry to start for me. It, it's so sweet Right now. I don't need anything to help this along. I, I really like where this is at.
Bam Bam: Yeah. I've been drinking and we'll continue to.
It is delicious though. The rubs fantastic.
Gizmo: It's good. It's, yeah. So boys, let's go to some listener feedback. Got some great emails and commentary on our Lalo Dena Cameroon cabinet number one episode. Obviously we did the Lag All and Distillers edition as well. Had a lot of folks say that they've not had that expression.
One listener sent me a thing, I don't know if you guys have heard of this. Lag one is [00:35:00] putting out a 12 year expression for a limited time. It's coming out right now as we speak for holidays 2025. It's like a short run. So I think we have to grab that. I do have their 11 year expression. We need to do that.
I do have that, uh, the Offerman edition, the Nick Offerman edition, it's called, uh, that they put out with, uh, the guy from Parks and Recreation.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: You know that guy? Yeah. Uh, Ron Swanson.
Bam Bam: Yep. Yep.
Gizmo: And, uh, so they're putting out a 12 as well, so I got some info on that. Interesting. So, uh, here's one from New York, Guido.
This one's on FOHI like this comedy. He said, absolutely. Great episode of the podcast this week. Really enjoyed this discussion about the California lawsuit and appreciate the guys put some meat on the bone in terms of why PCA, et Cetera may have waited to file. So, for anybody who missed that episode, what we're talking about is the cigar industry, P-C-A-C-A-A, suing the Attorney General of California for creating this UTL license situation that's happening, which is requiring all manufacturers to [00:36:00] pay $300 per vitola.
Per line, per release. Everything they have, every single cigar is $300 to get the cigar approved for continued sale past January 1st, 2026. So unfortunately, that still stands and it seems like that's gonna be a problem. A lot of manufacturers, uh, are, are definitely behind on it. I know Dunbarton, Steve Saka has refused, uh, so far to do it.
So I guess if it sticks, he's gonna have to, but as of right now, those cigars are not gonna be available for sale in California as of January 1st of next year. Pretty crazy. So, continuing along, it says, when I, when I was drinking lag Distillers edition was my absolute favorite Scotch. I was in grad in law school, spending all my cash, drinking single malt, like an idiot, but an idiot with good taste.
I also need to thank Lizard Gizmo. This is my mistake for unintentionally picking me as Lizard of the Week for two weeks in a row. So [00:37:00] I didn't realize that Ny Guido here on FOH was the same guy who put up that Reddit thread
Bam Bam: Wow.
Gizmo: With a different name that I read and gave Lizard a week. And the same guy is getting two lizards a week,
Bam Bam: double dipping,
Gizmo: double dipping, and I had no idea.
So he says here, I heard that, smiled from ear to ear while laughing to myself. I so appreciate the discussion on my tower and look forward to troubleshooting with Gizmo. Just a wonderful, truly excellent way to spend a few hours every Tuesday.
Senator: Wait till GIZ finds out that both of these guys are really pagoda
Bam Bam: also correct.
Or if F lizard. Guido, is that his name,
Gizmo: correct? Yes.
Bam Bam: Is he an attorney?
Gizmo: He is.
Bam Bam: We may need in-house counsel.
Gizmo: We might
Bam Bam: correct.
Gizmo: You might need in-house counsel. Yes.
Bam Bam: Speak for speak for yourself. I do. But this group may
Gizmo: correct. So boys, we're coming to the end of the first third here on the Monte Cristo double Edmundo.
I kind of got ahead of myself. I didn't realize we're at this point now, but what are you guys thinking right now? I know we just went through it, but
Bam Bam: pagoda,
Gizmo: it's coming around for me.
Bam Bam: Very [00:38:00] patient. I'm admiring how patient you are with your smoke tonight.
Pagoda: Yeah, I've learned, I've learned from the best. Of course.
Bam Bam: Roosted.
Gizmo: Thank you. Pagoda.
Bam Bam: I, I like the cigar.
Gizmo: Yeah.
Bam Bam: Mine's coming around. Yeah. I, I do like it. I, I, I can't say that I'm in love with it, but it's, it's good.
Senator: I, I like it. Uh,
Bam Bam: yeah.
Senator: Two things. One positive, one negative. Um, the, the huge positive for me, I'm finally getting a bit of cocoa.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Senator: Which I've been waiting for the whole time.
This being a Monty. And the salt has even picked up where it's reminding me of like. Chocolate chip cookie with like sea salt.
Bam Bam: Oh, that's the best.
Senator: That's like what I'm getting right now. Um, the, the one downside I mentioned this and it, it's really bad. I mean, look at pagoda cigar, even like the ash is so flaky.
The burn is not even
Bam Bam: that is really unusual. It's like you have a seam in the middle of your ash. It's so strange.
Senator: It's ridiculous. And look at his,
Bam Bam: yeah. Look
Senator: at [00:39:00] how uneven that's burning. It's
Bam Bam: like a, a rose going wild. But, um, I, I have to say my, I'm pretty happy with my ash. It's just goes to show the inconsistency, right?
Senator: Yeah.
Bam Bam: And how they're made.
Gizmo: You know, what I'm feeling, I'm feeling that that funk I was talking about was coming at a pro as a product of all that talking I was doing about the rum. I kind of had to touch it up a little bit. Mm-hmm. And I think it just got a little funky. Now it's kind of cleared out and it's definitely coming around to, I'm starting to get more of that baked good thing that you're talking about.
A little salt.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: I like that kind of call out of the salty chocolate chip cookie. But I'm not getting the chocolate yet.
Bam Bam: Yeah. I'm
Pagoda: not getting the sweet
Gizmo: loose of the chocolate. I'm not getting the chocolate yet.
Bam Bam: No. Coco for me. But that sweet carbohydrates still there for me. I, and I'm, I really do like that.
But I've noticed Rooster, you're touching up your, um, smoke.
Rooster: Yeah. I'm at the point where the wrapper was kind of peeling off.
Bam Bam: Okay. So you're adjusting. I'm
Rooster: just touching
Bam Bam: that.
Rooster: Yeah.
Bam Bam: What's up chef? We're quiet tonight.
Chef: Yeah. I'm not, I'm not in love with the cigar. I, I think I like [00:40:00] it. It's okay. But I'm really just getting salted nut.
Little, little butter this here, but that's, it's kind of been consistent the entire time. Mm-hmm. I'm waiting for some kind of dynamic to come through. Yeah. That makes me go.
Rooster: You getting any sweetness?
Chef: Not a whole lot. I get sweetness in the form of, uh, when, when I do a slow retro hale and I'm getting some creaminess, that smoke is a little sweet, but it's not as sweet.
That's that last cigar that UA fucked me up.
Bam Bam: Oh boy.
Chef: You're could be able to let it go in a
Bam Bam: good way. Yeah. Yeah. I, I gotta say this, the butter's pretty spot on for me. I'm getting kind of a salted butter
Chef: Yeah.
Bam Bam: Experience. I agree. Uh, which I think is very unique to most cigar I've had. I don't think I've ever had that in a cigar.
It's, it's pretty good.
Gizmo: Except the parus line. Maestro Reto. That's all we talked about was salted butter. Salt
Bam Bam: butter. Yeah.
Gizmo: That was the whole recording.
Bam Bam: That was a while ago.
Gizmo: Remember that? We were talking about popcorn. Oh. And salted butter and
Bam Bam: yeah.
Gizmo: That was a very salty, buttery cigar. More than this. It came through in
Bam Bam: a much fuller way than this is [00:41:00] presenting it.
Gizmo: Definitely.
Bam Bam: But this is subtle and I like that.
Gizmo: So continuing on NY Guido says it totally wasn't on purpose. Of course, I said that, uh, that was a first. Oops. And congratulations. He said he posted the Reddit thread, not even thinking that you guys would see it. That we would see it. Seriously. Love you guys and what you do.
It feels like I've got friends right across the river, so I'm guessing that he's a, uh, new Yorker.
Bam Bam: Correct.
Gizmo: Probably in Manhattan or Brooklyn or something like that. Lizard Fugu says 25 years of Haos sa Huh? You guys make me feel younger than ever. And then, uh, finally here, forget about it says, great.
Listen, gents. Cheers. So it's nice to hear from the folks on FOH and, uh, I'll get to some listener email as well in a little bit. So boys, I wanna talk about some new, other new releases Up. First is the davidoff year of the horse. So
Bam Bam: year, the what
Gizmo: year of the horse, maam. And [00:42:00] I got so irritated with this that I pulled the music from the YouTube video of the launch product.
Did you guys see the launch video? So what's happening and, and what's frustrating me about this and why I wanna put them on Blast tonight is because they're doing the same thing that Haos is doing, that Opus is doing. And we're migrating to this thing in the cigar industry where we're selling our artsy limited fancy lacquer boxes that just hold rolled tobacco leaves.
That's effectively what's happening.
Senator: Well, doff has been doing this forever.
Bam Bam: Yeah,
Gizmo: but this is the worst. Offender that I've seen so far.
Bam Bam: Wait till we talk about the price.
Gizmo: Exactly right. So I pulled the music on the YouTube video, so I'm gonna play this while we talk about the release here, because I thought this was so absurd that they did this.
So I'm gonna, I pulled the entire song, I found the original artist and pulled the entire song. So we can listen to what Doff wants us to play [00:43:00] behind us talking about the year of the horse. Okay. So Davi off's, year of the horse returns for 2026. This is the 15th year in a row according to Haos, according to half wheel.
That Doff has created a Zodiac series release, inspired of course by one of the 12 symbols on the Chinese Zodiac calendar. This year, of course, is the year of the horse.
So this year's cigar has filler from the Dominican Republic, binder from Ecuador, and rapper from Ecuador, and of course comes with a secondary fancy band. Mm-hmm. With a gold
Bam Bam: Yep.
Gizmo: Horse on it.
Bam Bam: Yep. Yep.
Gizmo: Of course. So all of the cigars here use the same blend. I'm gonna go through them in a second. And, uh, Davidoff says it created it using its own [00:44:00] proprietary hybrid seeds.
Here we go, boys.
Bam Bam: Sure.
Gizmo: With a combined age of 43 years. Oh
Bam Bam: wow. Oh my god. Combined. Oh, love it. I can't wait to smoke that cigar.
Gizmo: So they said, ensuring our aficionado's time is beautifully filled. Remains the foundation of every innovation. At Davidov, our limited edition year of the horse cigars, which are composed entirely of proprietary hybrid seeds, showcase our expertise in seed development and blending these creations will surely resonate strongly with collectors and connoisseurs alike across all key markets.
I completely disagree. So let's go through the cigars. First up, we have the 2026 year of the horse, 55 ring gauge. By six and a half, they're gonna make 175,000 of these, box of 10, $650.
Bam Bam: Nice.
Gizmo: Then they're gonna have a limited edition [00:45:00] 2026 year of the horse. This is the flagship exclusive torpedo 52 ring gauge by six $89.
A box of 24 will be $2,136 us.
Rooster: That's the one.
Gizmo: So they're gonna release 600 boxes of 24 cigars.
Bam Bam: Unbelievable.
Gizmo: I mean, what are we doing, man?
Bam Bam: I mean, this is
Gizmo: just listen to this music.
Bam Bam: Listen to your stats. Awful.
Gizmo: And finally, the Doff limited edition 2026 year of the horse Masterpiece Toro 56 Ring gauge by six 20 HUMIDORS of 88 cigars.
Guess how much this cigar is? $556 What? And 82 cents
Bam Bam: for one cigar.
Gizmo: Yes. A humidor of 88 is $49,000.
Bam Bam: Oh my gosh. What the
Senator: fuck? This is just,
Bam Bam: this is, I'm going
Senator: cross the line. [00:46:00] Doesn't even begin to
Bam Bam: describe. I'm gonna get rid of all my doffs. I am gonna boycott the brand. I'm fucking out. They're the buyer right there out, I'm out
Rooster: the mil the, uh, millennium pyramid.
Bam Bam: I'm out. I'm 10 bed. Wow. I am deadly serious. This is outrageous.
Chef: I'm just pissed.
Bam Bam: No,
Chef: this, this music doesn't relax you. Bv Yeah, I was relaxed.
Bam Bam: It really does. It feels like I'm an Asian massage parlor. Yeah, I know exactly.
Pagoda: That's what thinking. And I could see Bob going, Ooh,
Bam Bam: that happens frequently.
Pagoda: What the hell?
Bam Bam: Oh yeah.
Gizmo: So, I'm sorry. I know this is ridiculous to be playing this music and busting balls here, but this is just as, as we say in the lounge, this is big bullshit from Davidov. I mean, this is crazy. So this was the highlight. This was really what frustrated me about this. So they announced that the Humidors, which is really where they put a [00:47:00] lot of the focus here, the Humidors are each hand painted by Chen Gu Wang, and has Marketery from Agnes Paul de Pass.
Notably, they have a horse on it, created from straw and silk Davidov says that five meters of silk are used for each humidor. So then they show a picture of them stringing silk. Into the box. Mm. The horse. Wow. Like,
Senator: I mean, that, that's why we smoke cigars.
Gizmo: This is why we smoke cigars boxes. That's why I'm playing this music.
So we have, everything has changed as far as announcing cigars. It's
Bam Bam: all about gimmicks for me. I'm in,
Gizmo: it's all about the box and the pres, you know, the presentation. And the problem is, is it's like the emphasis is totally off the cigar. It's totally off the cigar. They're, they, they now have, here we go.
Bam Bam: My blood pressure's going up right now.
Gizmo: D Itoff is also offering a limited edition accessory set to accompany the cigars release. So you could pay, what was it? Bam, I think [00:48:00] $49,000. And if you wanna spend a little more money, you can get the limited edition accessory set to accompany the cigars release. Each set will include a porcelain ashtray, a cigar case, the davidov double blade cutter, and a cigar stand with, of course, the collector's coin.
Mm-hmm. So now they have collector's, coins, I guess, in all of these year of the, so if you're a coin collector, forget cigar smokers. We're talking to coin collectors now. They have a, a, a booklet or a a thing. You could display all the coins from all of the doff year of the releases that you've ever.
Purchased and smoke.
Bam Bam: This is just over the top. This is crazy. Unbelievable.
Gizmo: I it's like the marketing team has a DHD or something.
Bam Bam: Can you turn off the music please? For,
Gizmo: I mean, where, where's the focus here? It's not
Chef: on the
Gizmo: cigar. I mean, that's the whole point. I, I, I mean, [00:49:00] you know, obviously playing the music, but it's like, what are we doing here?
Chef: Yep. Yeah.
Gizmo: They're not even like, it's not even like a celebration of the, the Chinese zo. It's all about this packaging and this presentation of this luxury bullshit that is happening across all of these manufacturers. I mean, it's just crazy to me.
Bam Bam: I don't know what to say,
Gizmo: so I encourage all listeners to go out and watch the YouTube video that I pulled that music from, because it's just so silly.
Like there's no details on the cigar or anything else. It's all about the package.
Rooster: And when was the last time you were absolutely blown away by a Zodiac
Gizmo: doff year off? Never. Correct.
Rooster: Ever. Almost never.
Gizmo: Have you guys, we've talked about this before. Have you guys had any year of the, do you actually like really obsessively loved you went out, bought a box?
Like have you ever had one that even remotely made it worth $65, let's say? No way. Forget way 580 or whatever. [00:50:00] It's no way.
Senator: They've all, for their price point, been disappointing. Mm-hmm. All of them.
Gizmo: Of course every year now they're going to have the coin in these things. I guess you can collect them if you'd like.
Uh, you know, and then I guess you can go out and buy all the other year of the horse releases from all the other manufacturers that do similar BS here, but, um,
Chef: there's even a box to put the coins in.
Gizmo: Yeah. Oh, there's a whole thing.
Chef: Yeah.
Gizmo: Yeah. It's, it's really exciting. So if you're a coin collector who happens to also like a cigar here to there, uh, here and there, you can go out and buy the doff year of the horse in one of its three editions.
Bam Bam: This is a great way to diminish your brand,
Gizmo: isn't it?
Senator: It is. And I'm sorry. The combined age thing, combining the number of years of the tobacco in the cigar is as pathetic and disgraceful a marketing gimmick as I've ever seen.
Bam Bam: Unbelievable. You know, it just goes to shit. And they've
Gizmo: done that
Bam Bam: before. What was the other
Gizmo: one?
111.
Bam Bam: Yeah. Remember
Gizmo: that The 111
Bam Bam: release, [00:51:00] we've said this many times, standard production cigars are the way to go and they always will be the way to go.
Chef: Yeah. And what's what's sad is that as you were reading that, I'm looking at this Reddit thread and there there's people, I mean, they're probably bots or paid to, but there was actually people excited for this.
Gizmo: I think people, you know where in
Bam Bam: Dubai.
Chef: Yeah,
Gizmo: exactly. People, people get into the hype. I, I mean people are, you know, obviously buying this stuff, but it's the same consumer that Haos is trying to reach. Haos doesn't care if we smoke this Monte Cristo tonight. They don't care if our listeners do. They want the highest ultra, you know, massive net worth individuals to be consuming their product.
They don't care about the average Joe smoker anymore. And I, and, and what's
Bam Bam: That's correct.
Gizmo: Pissing me off. Is the Davit off is doing the same exact thing?
Bam Bam: Well, you know, I said I'll boycott the brand, but I can't.
Gizmo: That was a quick backtrack. It was very quick.
Bam Bam: I love my millennium pyramid. [00:52:00] I love that short little
Rooster: Dominican
Bam Bam: love.
The Dominican had that the other day. It was exquisite. I mean, standard production,
Pagoda: the Maduros, the Maduros,
Bam Bam: the Maduros are good.
Pagoda: The Aruba show
Bam Bam: and you know, that's it.
Gizmo: All right, let's go to another new release. Of course, this one of now is Hano same kind of bs. We talked about this release as well. The Cohiba VSOs has gone on sale.
It's the same size as the Trinidad as Alda. It's a 53 ring gauge cigar by five and seven tenths inches long. It's the vital known as the D Norris. So that's the same as the Trinidad. Esmeralda has a pigtail on it. These cigars are coming out now. 10 cigars per box. Each cigar is $314 and 92 cents.
Bam Bam: You're full of good news today.
Gizmo: I wish I had some music to play behind this one. It's gonna request it back. Yeah. [00:53:00]
Bam Bam: $310,
Gizmo: $315 for the new cohiba. And of course it comes in the fancy box with, you know, the display. Mm-hmm. I guess this is for duty free or something, you know, 10 count boxes, but a 10 count box of these to do the math for everybody.
$3,147 and 21 cents per box for 10 cigars. I mean,
Bam Bam: they're
Gizmo: obviously selling these Right.
Bam Bam: But they're not, they're selling them to people that aren't serious cigar smokers. And that's, that's, that's true.
Senator: But that's what they,
Bam Bam: and that's what they want. That's what they want. And that's fine to the
Pagoda: collectors.
It's
Bam Bam: for Yeah, that's fine. Let them buy this and waste their money. That's it.
Senator: This is why I'll always have so much respect and admiration for brands like Patron Drone.
Bam Bam: Yeah. Oh yeah.
Senator: Because, you know, and I'm sure for many of these brands, you know, there was a point in time where they would've completely rejected doing something like this.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Senator: That's exactly right. But they've completely sold out
Bam Bam: Yep.
Senator: To just chase an outrageously tiny [00:54:00] sliver of the market. And, um, the fact that there are still some brands that wholesale reject that and would never do that. I have nothing but respect for
Bam Bam: George. Padron will stay grounded, he'll stay solid.
He'll still continue to make an incredible product and we will always buy his cigars and because of it.
Gizmo: Let's talk about his boxes for one second. Of course, the 60th, you know the, the 50 years, they do have some beautiful presentation.
Bam Bam: They do. Yeah.
Gizmo: But that's secondary to the blend of the cigar. The story of the cigar.
The why of the cigar, right. His normal boxes of cigars in the 1926 series, 1964 and the thousand series has a stamp on the bottom right hand of it talking about their recycling program. Look at your boxes of Padron. Sometimes you'll get a Cedar box of Padron that is beat up, has nicks and scratches all over it because that box has been recycled from a previous
Bam Bam: Yeah,
Gizmo: consumer.
Bam Bam: It's
Gizmo: cool. It was sent back to them by a retailer and they still look great and do better than
Bam Bam: most boxes. The whole concept is [00:55:00] awesome,
Gizmo: but at the end of the day, it's not about the packaging.
Bam Bam: Correct?
Gizmo: It's about
Rooster: the tobacco
Bam Bam: and the smoke. And the smoke.
Rooster: But you know what, if you look at it as a company that's a doff, as a company, are you better off coming out with these very special releases and hyping it up and marking it up so much?
Are you gonna sell so many more cigars? Like, are you better off just sticking with your regular line? I mean, and focusing on that. Are they really gonna sell out like these $49,000 humidors? Are people really gonna buy those?
Bam Bam: I don't know. Yeah. In certain parts of the world they've got money to burn.
Dubai. Yeah. Abu Dhabi, Dubai, China, Asia, parts of Asia.
Gizmo: But it's crazy. Like, I don't know, a single smoker
Bam Bam: No.
Gizmo: That I've ever met or talked to.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: That is excited about this release or will be
Bam Bam: because it's
not
Gizmo: a, and certainly it's not gonna, that's 50,000 humidor.
Bam Bam: Yeah. It's not a serious product.
Gizmo: It kind of turns you off from the product course and the whole line.
Yeah. And this does go [00:56:00] back, by the way, I wanna tie this back to our PCA conversation. When we talked about all the different booths that we went to at PCA, all the different experiences we had, and we talked about our experience just being around the Davidoff booth, it felt like a, a car dealership.
Bam Bam: Of course,
Gizmo: it felt like you had to sign up and like, get an appointment.
Bam Bam: You know, the one good thing they can do is start producing their Dominicans at a higher rate. Why don't they do that?
Senator: Well, not at a higher rate. I thought they discontinued it entirely.
Gizmo: Well, I think there was just limited 2014 tobacco. I, I don't think that even exists anymore. Is that right? That I don't think it's gone.
Bam Bam: So that, that, that run of, of tobacco's gone. Mm-hmm. Is that I didn't know that.
Gizmo: Yeah. But yet they have 43-year-old tobacco, so somehow
Bam Bam: exactly.
Gizmo: It's crazy. And that's, you know, let's, let's keep hitting on this, like you said, the, the the age thing. Right. Why not list what each of those three tobaccos, what's the age statement?
What's the story, what's the fermentation, what's special about [00:57:00] this? Mm-hmm. What have you done with this? What, why are we, you know, excited to be trying this product?
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: Focus on that.
Bam Bam: Correct.
Gizmo: So, because they don't focus on that, we're not gonna focus on that.
Senator: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: Unfortunately, that's the story tonight, boys on some new releases from doff and Haos.
Mm.
Senator: Again, if any manufacturer comes out with a cigar at a really high price point, that cigar has to be mind blowing. And if someone says that you need to pay $300 to have this once in a lifetime experience, and it's that good, I'll chase that one time experience.
Bam Bam: Oh yeah.
Senator: We have never, we've been very fortunate to be gifted some wild things.
We have never smoked a cigar that individually cost hundreds of dollars that any of us has said, this is one of the three greatest cigars I've ever had in my life. That's my [00:58:00] problem. Like, Padron, when they came out with that 60th anniversary, $75 a stick, that violated my, like, you shouldn't pay more than $40 for a cigar rule.
Bam Bam: True.
Senator: And I was skeptical and worried, like if that cigar didn't deliver. It would diminish everything that gives me reason to hold so much esteem in that brand.
Bam Bam: Correct.
Senator: That cigar was absolutely incredible.
Bam Bam: Yeah. It's delicious.
Senator: And that's why I'm okay with them charging an aggressive price for it because it is one of one you, you can't really compare that to something else that's gonna deliver that kind of experience.
But the bullshit that Doff is putting out, I mean, we've smoked several of their year of cigars. We've had the Royal, I mean all, all these just stupid high price smokes they put out.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Senator: And they smoke like a $30 cigar. They, they don't smoke like a 60 or a hundred dollars smoke. It's insanity.
Rooster: Yeah. And we don't even know who the blender is.
That's also true. The Kelner family is not [00:59:00] involved with ddo. No, they're out. A lot of Yo Diaz is, is gone.
Bam Bam: Yep.
Rooster: He has his own thing. I don't even know who the blender is. It's
Chef: the, some guy named Bob. It's the same guy blending Zeno.
Rooster: And you love Xeno.
Bam Bam: You do.
Gizmo: It tastes like a qd.
So, you know, I, I wanted to pose this, uh, to the group here. I really liked this conversation, um, that was happening on FOH before I get to some listener email. So Rob put up a question and I guess this was prompted by, I don't know, some things that are happening with Haos or whatever. I'm not sure. So Rob put up this question that I.
If you were the CEO of Haos, okay, you're the CEO of haos and 80% of your wine. Like, think about all the cigars they've, that they've got out, all the cigars. We've smoked regular production, special stuff, you know, [01:00:00] regionals, limiteds, all that stuff, right? Let's say 80% of it doesn't move, sits on the shelf, 20% of it.
The cohibas, the special releases from part Agus, whatever. All those things, they move pretty quick, right? What would you do with the stock that's not selling with those lines? What would you do with them? And he put up five different things, drop pricing across all lines, reduce pro production, increasing scarcity among the slow performing lines, a steady program of relaunches for non-performing lines.
So let's think like, like they did for Trinidad, kind of did for K Dorse, right? Kind of relaunching the brand, discontinue the non-performing lines, or do nothing and keep it as it's, and
Senator: when we say the non-performing lines examples, just so we're clear on what we're talking about,
Gizmo: let's say cigars, it's not specific stuff, but let's say stuff like, um, you know, just fundee.
Like Vagaro, yeah. Like a varo. So, you know, maybe, maybe not the diploma logo, end diploma. [01:01:00] What are we talking like a diplomatic, maybe a ponza. Oh, I see. Maybe a, an El Ray del Mundo, maybe. Mm-hmm. You know, Jose Piera.
Bam Bam: So it's not pricing based is what you're
Gizmo: Juan Lopez.
Bam Bam: Right.
Gizmo: Those kind of like Gloria Kuana, you know, the cigars that maybe don't have a great story to tell and people aren't very excited about them.
You know, the connoisseur like, like some of those cigars. But for me it's
Senator: very easy discontinue the, the non-performing lines. Like I don't, I don't understand, and, and this is true in anything. It's like, why try to prop up and sustain a brand that means basically nothing to any cigar smoker. Like, I, I have never met someone who has said to me, my absolute desert island cigar is a Sancho panza.
Or, and not to say there aren't good Sancho Panza cigars. There are,
Bam Bam: there are,
Senator: but like, it, it, at no [01:02:00] point in its history has had a following a cult-like following. Like some people who love a parus or love an oil, even though, you know, many of us don't. But there are people who, do I get why they make so many of those cigars?
I've never met for some of the, you know, a Jose Piera. Like, what's the point if you don't even have any avid consumer that wants and loves that product. So, you know, you think of like they're already having a problem with. Their workforce, right? I mean, now they have prisoners rolling cigars, right? They don't have enough people to roll these
at
Bam Bam: the annex
Senator: Senator, right?
Bam Bam: That's correct.
Senator: So it's like you have a very, you know, limited workforce to actually produce this product. So your options are like to increase the rate at which you produce cigars that people actually want and are gonna buy and are gonna sell, or have them rolling cigars that people are not that excited about wasting time and labor on that
Gizmo: and tobacco,
Senator: and tobacco and marketing dollars for it.
Like, I, it doesn't make any [01:03:00] sense to me why you would at all in given the situation that Cuba's in, right? Mm-hmm. If, you know, labor was so easy and, and, you know, uh, infinite, like sure, there's not much of a cost to keeping these up. To me, I would just get rid of them. I really don't understand the point of trying to save something that, you know, at this point doesn't have any following.
Bam Bam: I agree with that prior. I, I would take one step, one step prior to eliminating the lines as I would do a price realignment on these particular, uh, markers that you mentioned. You're not gonna do that with Cohi or Trinidad, but everything else that's not selling in those. If you want to call them standard production or more batch production, I would adjust pricing and see how that worked.
Rooster: Mm. But like an example, like you mentioned Juan Lopez.
Bam Bam: Yeah. These
Rooster: cigars boxes are Juan Lopez, number one, and number two, you can still find them,
Bam Bam: but they're
Rooster: also in the mid five hundreds for a 25 count box.
Bam Bam: But how much
Rooster: more [01:04:00] than
Bam Bam: they were a year or two, three, or
Rooster: probably probably double. But that, that's true for every single double, every single Cuban cigar.
Bam Bam: Look, I think these, I think those line, a lot of the cigars that you mentioned are, for me, I happen to like a lot of those cigars. I would try a price readjustment for a while,
Senator: but my point
Bam Bam: is, and see how that goes.
Senator: If you wanna
Bam Bam: inventory,
Senator: my point is if
Bam Bam: you were, or, or re resurrect a market possibly.
Senator: But my point is, if you were to slash the price of many of these brands that we all do not enjoy or, or purchase or consume by 50%, no one in this room is gonna go out and smoke those cigars.
Bam Bam: Well, I love the jail ones.
Senator: I'm not talking about Juan Lopez, he, Jose Lap,
Bam Bam: Piera, Piera,
Senator: Viro
Gizmo: Viero. But let's talk about Sancho Panza. The the ones I was give San f percent Fonseca Fonseca, San Cristal De la Habana.
Bam Bam: Yeah. Not, not that great.
Senator: What I'm saying, like you could
Bam Bam: not that great
Senator: sell them for a Florida Con 60% off.
Yeah. You're still not gonna buy.
Gizmo: You're not. Yeah.
Bam Bam: [01:05:00] Yeah,
Gizmo: yeah. And, and, and I'm curious if. Let's say, uh, uh, San Cristobal was decreased by 60% as senators saying.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: Would anybody in this room go out and buy a box of this?
Bam Bam: No.
Gizmo: For $200? No.
Bam Bam: Uh,
Gizmo: would you buy a box of you're not gonna do it?
Bam Bam: No,
Rooster: absolutely
Gizmo: not.
Maybe, maybe Rooster would. The nonplus, I know you like that cigar, but that's kind san's non plus. That's kind of discontinued, not discontinued. I don't, I don't know, but yeah. Yeah, yeah. You know, it's like, I, I think,
Senator: and this comes at, at the expense of brands that they actually should be investing in. Yeah.
Like Vegas, Robina, we love the Classico.
Rooster: Oh yeah.
Senator: All they have is that, uh, that Beso or torpedo? Um, yeah.
Gizmo: Well they have two. They have the FSOs
Rooster: and they have
Gizmo: Yeah.
Rooster: Ko. Yeah. I
Gizmo: think he, but
Rooster: I think, I think Rob is talking about the current inventory that's in stock, how to move that. Well, I think it's also the, the
Gizmo: brands that move very slowly, like looking forward, thinking.
Mm-hmm. I
Rooster: agree with Senator about discontinuing the lines that are not [01:06:00] doing well.
Bam Bam: That's correct. Yeah.
Rooster: Right. Do that. But for the current inventory that you're sitting on that's not moving mm-hmm. Maybe a price increase would help.
Bam Bam: A decrease, you mean?
Gizmo: Decrease.
Bam Bam: Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo: Alright, boys, let's get back to this in a second, but we're coming to the end of the second third now on the Monte Cristo Double Edmundo paired tonight with the 18 years aged La Marita rum from Panama.
What's everybody thinking right now?
Bam Bam: I like it. I think it's smoking beautifully right now.
Gizmo: Mine has really come in. Yeah. To becoming a very good, very good cigar.
Bam Bam: It's,
Gizmo: it's, it's not great, but it's very good.
Bam Bam: It's quite good.
Gizmo: Yeah. I'm very happy with mine right now.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Chef: I think I'm at a good point with it and I, I'm, I'm feeling good about it.
I think good is about it as, as, as as good as, as good as it's gonna get for me on the, with this, it has picked up a little bit in strength as it gets closer here to, to the end. Um, maybe a little potpourri, a little flu where it's become for me, um, almost perfume me. Um, I'm [01:07:00] not getting as much of the sweet, nutty butteries as I was earlier on.
Uh, I might be smoking a bit too much 'cause I'm trying to get more smoke output because it's kind of clogged at this point for me.
Bam Bam: So the salted butter is kind of ramped up for me. Yeah. It's like a salted pretzel with butter on it, kind of. Oh,
Chef: I wish I was getting that.
Bam Bam: That's really where I'm at and it's really unique.
Uh, I happen to love what I'm getting right now.
Senator: So for me, the, the sweetness picked up at the beginning of the second third, but as you get closer to the final third, the sweetness dials back down, which is disappointing for me because the peak kind of performance for the cigar was when it got sweeter and when I was getting more traditional Monte notes.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Senator: It's still very good right now.
Bam Bam: Any butter is for you salty
Senator: there. There is, yeah. And like the salted pretzel is actually a good thing. 'cause like
Bam Bam: that's right there.
Senator: I was getting like salt on a cookie and now I'm getting like salt on a pretzel. Yeah. Like you're describing. Yeah. Um, so I'm not unhappy with it, but I just wish that [01:08:00] some of that sweetness would've stuck around longer.
Bam Bam: I hear you.
Pagoda: Yeah. For me, like I didn't get a lot of the sweetness at all, but I'm getting a lot of, uh, the saltiness and I think it's. And I'm not sure, like for a second there, it wasn't as dry, but it's feeling dry again. Okay. And I think to me,
Chef: sorry,
Pagoda: I'm just really enjoying the rum, so you're No. Along with that.
So I think it's a really good pairing and it's very complimentary.
Chef: You know, pagoda maybe for me, I, I kind of felt like it was getting muddled. I purged. It's, it's less What is whatcha doing? I hope he is lapping for the same reason. I'm Is it, is it the ash? That's what I'm looking at.
Bam Bam: He's
Senator: covered
Bam Bam: in just a mountain of ash while he's sitting like Don uh, Don Colle over here.
It's everywhere. The couch is bad and shirt. I'm, I'm, I'm preventing it from falling. You're enveloping. No, he's enveloping himself in the experience. That's what he's doing.
Senator: But this goes to the construction. I'm
Bam Bam: sorry. [01:09:00] No, it's not good. Very poorly. It's true.
Rooster: For a 40 hour cigar, you expect Yeah, it's crazy.
At least good construction.
Bam Bam: But they do expect you to sit upright when you're supposed I'm very comfortable that You look great, bro. You look great
Rooster: chef.
Chef: Yeah, no, it, it was getting somewhat muddled for me and I purged, purged it. Um, now it's, it's a little bit more in line with what I'm hearing from BA and Senator, not as, as, as pleasurable as I would like it.
I'm not getting as much of it as I would like, maybe as what bam Bams getting. Uh, but it sounds more in, uh, similar to what Senator. Uh, found in his, but I think a purge, a purge is in order.
Bam Bam: Any no pretzel butter type thing for you?
Chef: Not as much. I'm getting a, i I got back into the butter realm a little bit, but it's very light.
Uh, but it was really muddled there for a moment for me. Mm-hmm.
Rooster: Yeah. I think it's still creamy. You still get that creamy note. Yeah. You know, the smoke is still velvety. Yeah. But the problem is the, the construction of the cigar, like the draws so [01:10:00] tight
Chef: Yeah.
Rooster: That you keep, you kind of struggle with the cigar so you're not getting the full enjoyment
Bam Bam: and
Chef: the ash is definitely an issue.
Rooster: Yeah.
Chef: You're going back to what you said earlier, to try to get a good amount of smoke, it almost requires a double puff and that just leads to you smoking faster than, than you should,
Rooster: which is kind of odd for the fresh ones. Yeah. You know, this is the first cigar that we have done out of the 23, 24, 25. I mean, this is the first 2025, uh, cigar I think we have had.
Right.
Gizmo: I
Rooster: don't,
Gizmo: no, I don't I think we might have had a young cu Cuban, like an uh, early 2025 Cuban,
Rooster: but it was much better construction wise.
Gizmo: Yeah. This was the only one recently that we've had.
Rooster: Yeah.
Gizmo: That has not been constructed. Well, unfortunately.
Rooster: Uh, we need a refill.
Gizmo: Yes, correct. Pass, pass
Senator: that.
Gizmo: Alright, so let's jump back into our discussion here about the hypothetical restructuring of the, I'm taking it AOS lines, so I'll, I'll just give you what my answer was.
I'm curious what you guys thought about what, what I was thinking here. So what I said on [01:11:00] FOH, and again, shout out to the guys there and Rob for posing this cool question. I said, um, I would do both a relaunch and a discontinue depending on the Marcus history with consumers and the potential new story that can be told.
So what I was thinking is a line like La Gloria Kuana could be an interesting rebrand opportunity. Maybe not to the level of Trinidad, but I think the name, the branding, the patriotism to Cuba, all those things that you can put in that name that, with that story. Mm-hmm. And of course the legendary MDO series.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: The great Teos that has come out. That's, that's doing very, very well. We,
Bam Bam: we happen to also love that market. Are we saying that they're
Senator: struggling?
Gizmo: I'm saying that that's probably one of the ones that's in that 80% that's not selling very, very well. Mean.
Rooster: I wouldn't put in that they just don't have, other than the Turo.
Gizmo: They only have
Senator: Turo. I know the MD four, but those are, those have gotta be selling's. No way. Their box of Turo sitting on a shelf, but he's
Rooster: saying
Senator: NLCD. The
Rooster: market maybe needs to be revamped,
Senator: come's need more cigars. They [01:12:00] don't need a new story. They more of a tall, I think the bands are beautiful. I think the story's fine.
I they just need more cigars. That's true.
Rooster: They need to come up with more of, you know, go back to the MDO lines. Come back with the MDO number two. That's what
Senator: I'm, oh
Rooster: please. Number
Gizmo: three more, more
Senator: sticks. It's very simple.
Gizmo: So I was saying, you know, lines like, uh, Sancho, Panza Fonseca, San Cristobal, Juan Lopez.
I don't think that there's that interesting of a story there to prop up a relaunch or even really to justify putting out new cigars like we're talking about. Mm-hmm. With La Kuana. And then I agree with Senator, I would discontinue or make exclusive any wine that's not selling. So like, let's say the Schwa Supreme that is kind of a connoisseur cigar or someone that really loves, you know, specific cubit cigars may chase that.
You know, a a somebody who has a really deep collection may chase that.
Bam Bam: We cannot
Gizmo: terminate that. Put that cigar out. Put that cigar out, cannot that
Bam Bam: cigar.
Gizmo: No, I'm not saying terminate. I'm saying put the cigar out every two or three years, satiate the people who really want it.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: But migrate the effort and the time and the tobacco, like Senator was saying to cigars, do people want, like [01:13:00] we constantly talk about how many shelves around the world are empty.
Are empty. Yeah. Why?
Senator: Yeah.
Gizmo: Get rid of all this stuff that's not selling or is not exciting and fill those shelves with stuff people want, satisfy your dealer's needs, your retailer's needs who have no product to sell.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: You know, that's, that's what I would do. That's what I would do. What do you think Pagoda?
Pagoda: Yeah. No, I kind of agree, but you know, everything that's been said, because at the end of the day, what is, to really understand what is really slowing down, uh, the sales of particular brands or particular cigars, um. Depending on that, you know, we often talk about, Hey listen, we like some cigars, which may be rated about a seven or an eight or an eight, and they're overpriced, but if they were much cheaper, we might buy a lot more of those.
So really to understand what's really going on with those particular individual sticks. And, uh, you know, it's a combination. It's, it's not like a simple, uh, [01:14:00] solution to these, but yeah. Meaning if you have inventory, put it up. You know, I know a lot of people who will go and buy cigars just because they're Cuban from, like the airport.
They'll go and just pick up, they don't even know what the brands are. So, you know, and a lot of them may be price sensitive, and I think that if some cigars are reasonably priced, they will, they will move whether or not people really enjoy them and they, you know, it's, it's just a matter of really trying to understand what is happening with particular brands.
And like you said, if Cutie was, you know, um, you know, went through a completely different, you know, program. To, uh, reignite, uh, you know, just a brand. Uh, I think, uh,
Bam Bam: well, I think Cuties are selling fine.
Pagoda: They're selling really good now. Yeah.
Gizmo: But I think they did go through a little bit of a rebrand. They, you know, they put new, all new bands.
They've released some new cigars.
Bam Bam: Yep, yep.
Pagoda: So, you know, that's an example where, you know, there's certain, uh, you know, markers, you know, which, uh, definitely, uh, can, uh, you know, it has to be strategic thinking and a lot more [01:15:00] data is needed before any simple decisions made.
Chef: Yeah, I, I agree with everything that's been said.
I think at the end of the day, if you have a surplus drop that pricing significantly to those brands that aren't selling, allow it to serve as a gateway into the Cuban market for some new cigar smokers that are maybe even timid because of price point. And after that, this discontinue it and use your limited resources.
So limited to the fact that you need prison labor to roll your cigars. Now you could free up some labor to actually roll the cigars properly with the proper labor and hopefully have a better, a better end product at the end of the day. So, yeah, I mean,
Gizmo: well, doesn't it work once they get an order, that's what their role Yes and no.
I mean, when they announce a regional or liata, they make. The retailers and the distributors pre-order all that stuff years in advance. I mean, we know that when they announce something, it doesn't come out for two years. Those cigars were paid for [01:16:00] two years ago.
Senator: Right.
Gizmo: So I, maybe the answer's yes, but it's not an expedited, you know, somebody orders something and, and they rush to roll it and get it in their hands.
I mean, it's just not the case. No. You know, it's not the way that they work.
Rooster: Yeah.
Gizmo: I mean, and clearly they don't care about their consumers like we were talking about earlier. So, you know, caring about introducing new smokers to the line, I I mean, that's certainly not, you know, a priority for them. Yeah. And then too, they don't care about their retailer network because so many of their retailers around the world have empty shelves.
Rooster: That's correct. Yeah. I mean, I remember like being at LA Corona and seeing boxes and boxes of AVAs being rolled. Yeah. And they said, well, they got a huge order from the European market, and they were rolling a lot of Kappas.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Senator: And, and the other thing, I'm sorry, like, the reality of Haos is say they need revenue desperately.
Gizmo: Yep, yep.
Senator: So, like, they're not really in a position to be able to slash prices. Like that's why they've been increasing prices, that's why they put out these outrageously price sticks that they know only certain markets are gonna [01:17:00] pursue. So to me, it's like with the price increases increase your ability to produce more of the stuff that's selling at that higher, you know, price point and get rid of the crap.
Like, there's no point. They don't have the luxury of being able to sustain that.
Gizmo: No. Yeah. Well, I thought it was an interesting question. Yeah. So shout out to Rob. Uh, you know, thanks for teeing up that, uh, interesting conversation because, uh, I, I've been thinking about it because I hope that Aban does something.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: Because there's certainly a lot of things that they can retool instead of just focusing on these high dollar releases that keep coming out. Question.
Bam Bam: I haven't been to La Corona in a while. Who was the last person at LA Corona? Anybody know? Were you there? I think maybe you two guys, probably
Gizmo: guy from Tabba, Cuba.
Bam Bam: Remember that room? The pre boxing room where they had the massive room of prepped cigars, all beautifully laid out, just stacks and stacks and stacks of gorgeous,
Gizmo: like pre, they're not banded yet.
Bam Bam: No, not yet.
Gizmo: Yeah, they're
Bam Bam: stacks. So you walk [01:18:00] around the whole, it was incredible. The inventory at that time seemed massive.
I'd like to know what that room looks like right now. I'm just very curious how it looks. Is there inventory? Are they holding it back?
Gizmo: I think the tactic, I think Haos is always, you know, putting together false scarcity in some ways. Mm-hmm. But again, I think the focus is on these, these high dollar, you know, high volume releases.
You know, they can't satiate the cohiba market. They can't do it. They cannot fulfill the demand for cohiba. They unbelievable. They just are unable to do it. So, you know, I think that's the priority. But again, hopefully some things change here.
Bam Bam: Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo: We'll see. Uh, we'll see what happens. All right, boys, let's go to some listener email now.
We're gonna start now with Lizard Christophe, who won Lizard of the Week recently. He says, hi again, lizards. I'm just wondering if any of you will be at the World Tobacco Middle East in Dubai. November 11th and 12th. Ba
Bam Bam: November.
Gizmo: November 11th, the 12th. You [01:19:00] going? No, it'll be my first time attending. I work for a major supplier in the tobacco business.
But I'm, it's not cigar related. Unfortunately, I've seen the World Cigar Show at the venue is being organized by PCA, which I know you guys have attended in the past, in other locations. If any of you happen to go and would be willing to meet, please let me know and I'll give you my contact details.
Hopefully I see you in, in the next few weeks. Unfortunately, we will not be in Dubai for the World Tobacco Expo,
Bam Bam: but I have to say that is, I
Gizmo: would love to go.
Bam Bam: That is some market. I, they buy things there, they spare no expense, and unfortunately they'll buy things that don't make sense.
Gizmo: So this one here is from Lizard Luigi.
He writes us all the time. He says, Hey, lizards, just wanted to let you guys know about the Garden State by Cortez Cigars. Cortez Cigars was started in 2006 by two brothers. They started rolling out of a 400 square foot factory in Shrewbury, New Jersey
Chef: Cortez,
Gizmo: which was followed up by their own factory [01:20:00] in the dr.
The reason I'm emailing you is that they are launching a cigar called the Garden State, a cigar made of tobacco from New Jersey and is rolled in New Jersey.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Pagoda: I see the excitement out here.
Bam Bam: Yeah, I've I've heard of them. So when I would vacation down New Jersey Shore and the kids and wife are asleep, and I'm Jones, and for a cigar, I'm always searching for a place of smoke that this company does have two small lounges.
They close early. And um, I didn't bother going because I called the two and they've got limited seating. I was curious. I never got a chance to go, but, um, people like them.
Senator: Nothing like New Jersey Tobacco rolled in Newark, New Jersey.
Gizmo: Luigi says whether it will be good or not, who is to say? What I could tell you is that there are other blends that they have and they're fantastic, especially their ginga and the 10th anniversary.
These guys know what they're doing and even if it's just for a keepsake to honor New Jersey, I think it's [01:21:00] worth you guys checking out. Interesting. Keep it up guys. Lizard. Luigi. So that's what the. Garden State Cigar looks like from Cortez.
Bam Bam: Is it green?
Gizmo: It's green.
Bam Bam: No,
Gizmo: not the band. No, not the, no, not the tobacco.
Bam Bam: Okay.
Gizmo: The, the bands are green. The, uh, the branding is green. All right. Here's another one from Lizard Chris. He writes us a lot. He says, Hey lizards, it's lizard. Chris, again, I wanted to thank you so much for naming me Lizard of the Week a couple of weeks ago. I know this is another long email, but every time I get a chance to write in, there's just so much to say the whole, by the way, he's the one that prompted the kava discussion with the names and whatnot.
So he says, the whole fresh net bit cracked me up. And I really appreciate all of your insight. I haven't been able to find a bottle of vintage Paul Roge anywhere near me. Is there a particular vintage I should be looking for, or a good place to source it online? No rush though, since the wedding isn't until next October, but I would like to find that [01:22:00] special bottle eventually.
Senator.
Senator: So as far as a place to find it, just go on Wine Searcher put in,
Gizmo: is that an app?
Senator: Uh, it's a website.
Gizmo: Okay.
Senator: I don't even think they have an app. Um, just put in what you're looking for. So like, you know, vintage Pul, it'll show you of every year what online retailers you'll be able to buy it at and what the price point is, what each of them is selling it at.
So. For me, that's always the easiest way to find like a very specific bottle that's not like readily available at any total wine or local, you know, wine shop or liquor store you have by your home. Um, so I would do that, but vintage Polo er, if he goes on there, there's no reason he wouldn't be able to find that.
As far as specific vintages, I mean, the one that we did obviously we really loved was that 2013?
Gizmo: Yes, I think so.
Senator: So we know that's a great bottle if you wanna play it safe, get that.
Gizmo: Mm-hmm.
Senator: Um, but with Paul Roge, I, I highly doubt that you can go wrong. So whatever you can find is [01:23:00] probably worth trying.
Gizmo: The other one I'd recommend to him too, because we had a great time drinking it was the Winston, the Sir Winston Churchill edition.
Senator: Yeah. Well that's
Gizmo: a very expensive which model, which is 10 year, but it's for his wedding, so I'm assuming that they're gonna splurge, you know? Correct. That's true. So that might be, that's a 10 year vintage every time it's released. Correct. Yeah. So if it's released in 26. It'd be a 2016 vintage of it.
Bam Bam: How much is that bottle again?
Senator: Like 300
Gizmo: bucks. 300 bucks? Oh
Bam Bam: yeah.
Gizmo: Yeah. It's a legit, uh, serious bottle boss for sure. By the way, forget the fresh net. It's cheaper
Pagoda: than the dit of cigar.
That's true.
Gizmo: By the way, forget the fresh net. Go with the Hove and Camps kava. I truly think it's the best budget friendly sparkling I've found near me. It runs about 22 to $25 at select stores and it genuinely drinks like champagne with that rich, buttery quality. I'm also thrilled to hear your partnering with Small Batch Cigar.
I'm on an Aino craze right now, and Stoic is next [01:24:00] on my list to try. Funny enough, the night before you announced the partnership, I almost bought a box from them. So happy to hear that. And we've heard from a lot of listeners, a lot of emails have come in saying, thank God you guys have partnered with Small Batch getting, uh, getting that code.
People are really excited and of course, like we've said, they're a great retailer. Here's an idea. What if you collaborated with Small Batch to release a monthly or bimonthly Lizard Cigar of the Month Club? I live a busy life. It's a blessing just to get the chance to smoke anything outside of my car.
When I'm not commuting between school and work, forget about sourcing singles. It would be a total game changer if listeners could order a sampler of the cigars. You'll be reviewing. Obviously, you'd have to skip the prison cigars and some Fabrica Five stuff might be tough to get, but even a mostly complete sampler would be life changing for you.
Regular listeners.
Chef: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: Interesting thought.
Chef: Even if it's one stick in, in whatever their sampler pack already is or their, their Cigar of the month club, even if it's one stick where that, that's a great idea.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Chef: Yeah.
Bam Bam: [01:25:00] More work for you?
Chef: No, it's just forwarding an email. Just add them to the, the, the shared Apple Notes.
Good to work is, yeah. Tell him to pick one.
Gizmo: He continues here. As for watches, thank you again for the mention. That's something I've been thinking about for a while. I'm fascinated by luxury time pieces and have been eyeing the tso PRX Matic 80 as a starting point.
Senator: So that's b basically like their version of an AP Royal Oak.
Mm.
Gizmo: Okay.
Bam Bam: Similar visuals on that.
Senator: Yeah.
Bam Bam: Really?
Gizmo: He
Senator: says, I mean, not exactly. Of course. That's cool. But it, it's a cool piece. Like if that interesting existed when I was, you know,
Bam Bam: starting
Senator: out young with, you know, very limited, you know, a budget for something like that. I would've bought that watch,
Gizmo: he says. But for now, since I already wear an Apple Watch, I'd rather spend my money on cigars and eventually save up for a Rolex GMT Bruce Wayne.
Once I'm done with school and further established in my career,
Pagoda: another good [01:26:00] choice.
Bam Bam: I do like that watch, I have to say. It's pretty cool. It's bulky. It's nice and chunky.
Gizmo: Yeah, it's nice.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: I have a friend I met at a lounge out of town. What were you
Pagoda: describing? I'm sorry.
Gizmo: Who started collecting Rolexes?
He let me wear his Bruce Wayne GMT for a day we spent together and I absolutely fell in love with it. He's also got a Panda Daytona Explorer Starbucks sub and a date just on the way the dude's a nut. He's become one of my best friends and will certainly be a groomsman at my wedding. Yet another example of cigars being the great equalizer and creating incredible friendships.
As always, thank you guys for everything you do and keep smoking lizard. Chris,
Bam Bam: nice email,
Gizmo: great email. Love hearing from all of our lizard friends out there, our listeners, and now boys. It's time for our Lizard of the Week presented by our friends at Bond Roberts. We love Bond Roberts. We love their cigars and they have a brand new.[01:27:00]
Auction platform that they just launched, check it out. Bond roberts.com. It's all retooled, all rebuilt, really good looking, really easy to use. The search is great. So check out the brand new bond roberts.com and of course, their cigars are available through Fabrica five fabrica zero zero five.com, and use our code lizard pod for 10% off your entire order.
Chef: That's really great to hear because the few times I did use that site, I found it a little tough to navigate, especially the first, first time. Uh, so that's, that's awesome. Mihir, I'm kind of anxious to go check it out.
Gizmo: Yeah, it's really nice guys. And the mobile's really good. Like it, um, I was really, really impressed with the, the new Bon Roberts, so check that out.
And thanks to them and congratulations to Lizard Mark, who's gonna be our lizard of the week this week, and he's gonna win a 10 count box of Bon Roberts cigars.
Chef: They're smoking beautifully,
Gizmo: aren't they? Oh
Chef: yeah. God,
Gizmo: unbelievable. Good. So good. So what, what, what have you guys been smoking [01:28:00] from b before we get into this email?
I've been, I've been smoking the, the regular 1 0 9, the Linea D number one. Is that
Chef: the
Gizmo: shorter one? That's the, the bigger one. The
Senator: big one. The bigger one. Fantastic. The big one is awesome.
Gizmo: The big one's amazing.
Senator: I had like, when the Petite 1 0 9 came out, I was smoking a lot of those. Those are awesome. I love them.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Senator: I hadn't really had many of the, the full regular 1 0 9. That's cigar.
Bam Bam: It's
Senator: delicious.
Bam Bam: It is, it is extremely delicious. I mean, I can't talk enough about it.
Pagoda: It's, it's, it's actually really good. It's outstanding. Lizard Child was over and he tried one of them and he says, oh, this is fantastic. Great.
With coffee in the morning. Monster. That's like Rooster right up there.
Chef: I, I've been rolling through the petite one oh nines. And they're, they've been, they're too delicious. Yeah. Yeah. They've been really, really, really good.
Gizmo: So, lizard Mark's gonna win a 10 count of one of them.
Chef: Mm.
Gizmo: So congratulations to him.
And he writes the subject line rituals and he says, hi lizards lizard. Mark here. First time emailer, but I've been listening for a long [01:29:00] time. I've listened to every single one of your episodes. At least twice. What? Wow.
Chef: Wow. At least,
Gizmo: at least twice. I like the, at least I like that. I
Chef: have the first 10 episodes.
Those were rough.
Gizmo: The first 10 were a little rough. So I, he said I have a very quick question for you guys. Do any of you, or do you all have, uh, do or do you all as a group, have any rituals pre or post pod? Yes. When you are recording, do you guys have any rituals before you record or after you record?
Thank you so much. Love what you guys are doing and keep smoking wizard Mark.
Bam Bam: Great question.
Gizmo: Great question.
Senator: Chef. What's your Monday ritual? That's
Chef: a pre ritual.
Gizmo: Alright, so before we get into group rituals, I don't know if we have any group rituals, but does what, does anybody have any pre pod stuff that they do consistently every week? Call it a ritual or not as Mark's calling it here, but
Bam Bam: [01:30:00] one thing I don't do is I don't smoke a cigar before the pod.
Deliberately.
Chef: Same
Gizmo: bullshit.
Bam Bam: No, I don't. I've
Gizmo: seen you do it,
Bam Bam: but it's very rarely, maybe twice. I try not to smoke a cigar before the pod. Twice a
Rooster: mud.
Bam Bam: No, no, no, no, no. No way. Very, very rarely.
Rooster: Even on a Sunday.
Bam Bam: Yeah. I didn't have a cigar today. Yeah. I, I really try not to smoke a cigar before walking in here.
It's a thing for me,
Pagoda: same for me. I think it really
Bam Bam: helps. Yeah. Right.
Gizmo: Yeah. Senator tries not to smoke more than six cigars before a pot.
Bam Bam: That's correct.
Gizmo: Anything up to six is fine. So does anybody else have anything that they do before we record?
Chef: Can't say. I do. I mean, I, I definitely try not to smoke a cigar, especially if it's something I haven't had before on the pod.
Um, but that's about it. I can't say there's, you know, I get the man button extra tight. It's about, I know, bam. Likes looking at it. Uh,
Bam Bam: it's fascinating.[01:31:00]
Gizmo: I I maybe I have some that might count. Obviously I come here and I do all the setup myself.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: So it's kind of like my chill time before we start. I don't know why, but I like to take a shower before I come here, even though I'm gonna come here to smoke and, mm.
Chef: Thank
Gizmo: God, you know, lift stuff and do stuff.
I don't know why. I just feel better when I do that.
Chef: Yep.
Gizmo: Like, I feel like my mind is clear.
Chef: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: Um,
Chef: it's a good reset.
Gizmo: Yeah. Yeah. And I, I guess my other kind of ritual is like the hours leading up to the pod, like when I'm having dinner and stuff, I'm going through what I want to bring up.
Senator: Is this like the car salad or
Gizmo: No, the car salad comes after that.
That's correct. That's the
Bam Bam: snack.
Gizmo: That's the, that's the pre pod snack. That's
Bam Bam: correct.
Chef: Actually, that's a good point. There is a little research
Gizmo: Yeah.
Chef: For me sometimes, you know, especially Yeah. If you're doing a drink or something. Yeah. Or there's a cigar I've ha I haven't had before, or there's a drink that I'm bringing on, or just something that I know I'm completely.
Not, you know, uh, acquainted with, I try to do a little bit of research.
Senator: The rest of us are just born, ready, correct? [01:32:00]
Chef: That's correct. Ever
Senator: ready? For sure.
Gizmo: Yeah. I mean, I pull a lot of info on the cigars and on the drink and I have clips and I prep my iPad, like one sheet that I use here while we're recording to keep everything organized.
But yeah, that's probably it as far as pre pod rituals, aside from getting here, setting up Bam is very particular about the mood lighting in here. He doesn't like when the lights are too bright.
Bam Bam: Yeah,
Gizmo: true. Or when they're too dark, that's every week.
Bam Bam: I know
Gizmo: you're very specific on the lighting
Bam Bam: and I
Senator: appreciate And don't forget Dam's, other ritual of as soon as the spirit is poured, he says it's turpentine.
Turpen.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Senator: No matter what's in the glass,
Bam Bam: sometimes he
Gizmo: does it every week. Every week he goes, oh, this is terrible. And then by the time we get to it, I'm
Bam Bam: loving it.
Gizmo: He loves it. It's a 10.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: Alright, so pre pod rituals as a group, I think, I don't really think we do anything before we hit record, right? I mean,
Bam Bam: no,
Gizmo: we just catch up real quick and go.
Bam Bam: Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo: And then after we pack up and I guess we [01:33:00] all sit down and if, if we're hanging around, we're post smoke, we all have a
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: Post, post pod smoke. All of us smoke together after the, uh, after the court recording usually, unless somebody has to go home. Right. But I think that's about it. Yeah.
Senator: Yeah.
Gizmo: Pretty straightforward. We've been doing this a long time now, so
Senator: Oh
Gizmo: yeah, we've kind of got it nailed down, so. All right, well, thanks again to Lizard Mark, our lizard of the week, and thanks again to our friends at Bond Roberts for sponsoring our Lizard of the Week segment and sending out a 10 count box to all of our Lizard of the Week winners these days.
It's a huge, huge get and, uh, we're very, very happy that our listeners are able to, uh, experience Bond Roberts and anybody out there can experience it right now. Go to FABRICA zero zero five.com and uh, use our Code Lizard pod and of course, like I said, check out the brand new Bond Roberts auction platform, uh, when you get a chance.
It's really, really nice and really, really well done. Alright, boys, we've got one more email here before we get to our ratings portion of our program tonight. This one is [01:34:00] from Lizard Buzz and he says, Hey, rooster specifically wrote it to you.
Senator: There is, oh,
Gizmo: he said it took me over four months, but I finally caught up to date with all of the past shows.
I love the fact that I can trust your reviews because in my opinion. They're the most honest in the business regarding the sober Mesa Blue. I think he means the sober Mesa Brule being sweet tip debate. I just discovered that Steve Sacca released this five pack years ago in protest, and it made me laugh.
The name says it all, and it's a five pack of cigars called the STFU with exclamation points. So one cigars the S, then a T, then an F, then a U, and then three exclamation points,
Bam Bam: I'm sure that's directed right to us.
Gizmo: It's the STFU sampler. It's called the Sakas Taste for yourself Sampler, obviously that's not really what STFU stands [01:35:00] for.
And he says, I'm tired of telling people that sober Mesa Brule is not sweet tipped. Many agree, but others do not believe me. So how do I prove a nar? Uh, so how do I prove a negative simple? I let you taste, compare, contrast, and decide for yourself included are five identical cigars of the Brule blend.
With the only difference being, there are three versions included. Unadulterated ak, normal brule, one that is sweet tipped and one that is double sweet tipped. But here is the catch. I'm not gonna tell you which it is until September 15th, 2020. Obviously this is five years ago via Facebook Live on our page.
So smoke 'em, debate about it and decide for yourself. Steve Staca. So he had the STFU sampler that came out, I guess after a lot of smokers were debating if they were sweet tipped or not. So obviously that continues now five years on as we definitely had a uh
Bam Bam: oh yeah.
Gizmo: Very clear experience with the Brule.
Bam Bam: Correct.
Gizmo: Has anybody been smoking that, by the way? Since, uh, since we reviewed it? Did anybody run out and buy them? [01:36:00] I had one that day after, but uh, I haven't had any, not after the initial purchase.
Senator: No, once I heard I was pre-diabetic after the first one, I kind of quit after
Bam Bam: that. That's exactly, exactly right.
I had cavities after that ago.
Gizmo: Alright, so before we get to our ratings, I actually wanted to ask you guys this because I've noticed that some things have been changing for us in our rotations, in what we're smoking for you guys, uh, given like the last 10, 15 weeks since we actually did this segment last time of what we're actually smoking in a rotation.
What are some of the things that have entered your rotation over the last couple of months and what are some things that have left your rotation over the last couple of months? Pretty consistently, because I know that all of us have been smoking different stuff. I would say over the last couple months a couple things have shifted in and out.
Obviously there's the consistence. All of us are smoking a lot of fabric of five, a lot of padron. I think aging room has moved from the sonata to the concerto. False. I'm seeing [01:37:00] more of that in the photos though. False for certainly
Rooster: for me, not for me. I'm, I'm smoking this or not. Yeah.
Senator: I, I, I honestly prefer the Sonata to the Concerto.
Bam Bam: I love really, I love both cigars.
Chef: I enjoy them both. They're both very different. I enjoy
Bam Bam: equally because they're different. Yeah.
Rooster: No, but the Sonata after it sits for a while.
Bam Bam: Oh, I know.
Rooster: It's excellent. It gets, it gets absolutely delicious. Sure. And I think it's even better than the Concerto is.
Senator: Yeah, I agree.
Rooster: It's, wow. I totally disagree with you guys. I think it's Fuller. I think it's just the I agree
Senator: with that. Yeah.
Rooster: I don't know. It's Labor for sure is full.
Senator: My only, so they're, they're both distinct cigars. There's definite merit to both of them. The Concerto definitely has more nicotine than the Sonata.
Chef: Hmm.
Senator: I get, like, I, I'm, I'm positive of this.
I've smoked through at least a box of concerto and obviously over 20 boxes of the Sonata. The Sonata, I could smoke like three of those back to back to back, have no problem. The Concerto, if you [01:38:00] smoked. Several cigars and you have one of those, you feel the nicotine strength in there.
Bam Bam: Really.
Senator: That's the only thing that I don't love about that cigar.
Now, if I just smoked one or two cigars in a sitting, the concertos fine. But if you're, if you're going to smoke several, I don't love the feeling
Bam Bam: sensitive palate.
Gizmo: Yeah. Very.
Chef: I'm gonna pay a little more attention to that the next time. But
Gizmo: I've been smoking a lot of them. I, I completely disagree with that assessment.
I, I have not felt that one time. Yeah. Have you gone back and smoked to Sonata? Yes. And I don't like it as much as I do the concerto. Well,
Bam Bam: you, I don't think you were ever fully in on the Sonata.
Gizmo: I, I, I like it. Enjoyed it.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: But not to the level that I think most of you guys did.
Bam Bam: Right.
Gizmo: The concerto, though I'm obsessed with, I'm smoking one almost
Bam Bam: every day.
I, I have to say I love both and for different reasons.
Chef: You know what really fell out of my rotation, and it's just because we've come across so many more cigars that are beautifully priced. Uh, the Davi all white label, [01:39:00] Churchill Laso, the Vaso, I used to really stock up on those and smoke a lot of those.
And now I, I'm not as enamored by them. They're a little boring to me now because of the All Dinos and because of, you know, just what we've been smoking lately. Those,
Senator: that's a short smoke though.
Chef: Yeah. It, it is a short smoke and it has a place, and I Do you,
Senator: do you have them?
Chef: I do.
Senator: You
Chef: do? I do. Okay. And normally I have a hard time holding onto them.
Mm-hmm. But I've noticed that lately I'm not reaching for them as much. Uh,
Senator: so what, what short smoke has replaced that? 'cause? The Enos, there's none of those that we smoke that are a true short smoke.
Chef: That's the, the thing with that cigar, it is a short smoke, but it could smoke, you could get a good 30, 40 minutes out of it.
So it's not necessarily, you know, it's, it's 30,
Gizmo: but also for the price. Even if you pick up a cigar, a rib robusto that's eight bucks and you're only able to smoke three quarters of it, I mean, that's the same price as the Davi Biso. Yeah.
Chef: And you know what it is to, I have that cabinet of Petit Casado, so when I'm thinking true short smoke, that's what I'm grabbing
Gizmo: the taua.
Chef: Yeah.
Gizmo: Yeah.
Chef: So.
Rooster: That's a good one. I love [01:40:00] the pad road number 35 for a short smoke.
Bam Bam: Yeah. I
Rooster: think you can't beat
Bam Bam: it. So if anything has fallen out, it'd probably be that one. 'cause I haven't had it in a long time, but everything else we're talking about, I try to have on a somewhat consistent basis. Um, yeah, it's tough to say.
Pagoda: I think that my father blue labels come into my rotation
Bam Bam: as well. Yeah, that's a good
Gizmo: sign.
Pagoda: The Honduran. Mm-hmm. The Honduran.
Gizmo: What about you, Senator? I know you've been trying a lot of different stuff.
Senator: Yeah, I mean, I think the, the, my father's definitely entered the rotation, obviously not the primary rotation.
I feel like it's a kind of a six man. It's a
Gizmo: reliever,
Senator: reliever, a six man in, in basketball. Um, I mean that UA that we did, um, the, the milder Churchill that is starting to enter the rotation, um, I really enjoyed that cigar and it's so distinct from everything else in my normal rotation that it's so easy to slot in a cigar like that, that doesn't remind you of something else that mm-hmm.
You're not kind [01:41:00] of debating, well, this one or that one. It's either you want that or you don't. 'cause there's really nothing else in our rotation quite like it. Mm-hmm. Um, so those would probably be the two. But other than that, um. Again, I don't wanna say that the concerto has fallen out of my rotation, but it is definitely not, I, I think I was expecting it to re potentially replace the Sonata.
Um, and it reinforced for me that like the Sonata will always be one of my favorite cigars, and I smoke as many now as I ever have.
Rooster: Do you smoke those more than a vo?
Senator: No, I would honestly say it's equal, truly equal,
Rooster: because I'm smoking an exclusive, I think every, every other night.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Rooster: I'm smoking one every day.
Bam Bam: It's
Gizmo: unbeatable.
Rooster: Yeah. I have an exclusive every day. It just satisfies you at so many levels.
Gizmo: Yeah.
Rooster: That nothing beats it.
Senator: And actually I'm probably a little off. I, I definitely smoke mores than I do the Sonata, but not that many more. [01:42:00]
Pagoda: And for me, the exclusive os have really reduced.
Rooster: Really?
Pagoda: Yeah. Wow. I eat, like, I was having a lot of the Allo, Dino, Cameroons.
Senator: Mm-hmm.
Pagoda: Um. The Sonata, the concerto, the, my father. Um, and I, you know, I always have, uh, davidov, a couple of David offs here and there. Mm-hmm. Like, I still have some of the seven oh twos and, and I really like the Beco, so I always have. And you got the
Gizmo: year of the horse coming.
Pagoda: Oh yeah.
Gizmo: That's exciting. The humidor
Senator: actually though, now that you say that, I knew that was,
Pagoda: that's hilarious.
Senator: Now that you say that. What has fallen outta my rotation is Davidov. Outside of that little beso.
Gizmo: Really?
Senator: I mean, I used to love smoking the millennium. I mm-hmm. I think bam and pagoda were at my place. Hold on,
Gizmo: hold on, Senator, let me get some music for you. Go ahead. What were you saying?
Senator: Please turn it off.
I had lit, uh, millennium and it wouldn't burn. [01:43:00]
Gizmo: Really?
Senator: Wow. It was bizarre. Um, it
Gizmo: was fireproof. Like it would not That's
Senator: unusual.
Gizmo: No. Ignite.
Senator: That's very
Bam Bam: unusual.
Senator: It was crazy.
Gizmo: Something's going on. Something's going on over there, man. I'm telling you.
Senator: Check that tower, man. It check the
Gizmo: tower. It's not the, no, not the tower.
I'm saying over at Doff.
Bam Bam: I know.
Senator: Insane.
Gizmo: Yeah, but this is a cigar. He has had it for a while.
Senator: No, of course. I'm not worried about my tower. I'm, I'm certain that doff has an issue. I mean, there hasn't been anything. Do you have newly
Bam Bam: purchased pyramids?
Senator: No, they're old.
Bam Bam: Okay. Yeah. No, I haven't had any issue with any of the older, we purchased our,
Senator: I've had multiple issues with those five count ones that we, or four counts count that we bought off of.
Uh,
Bam Bam: really,
Senator: I have a while back.
Bam Bam: They're exquisite for me.
Rooster: I had a late hour.
Pagoda: Yeah. We saw. Yeah.
Rooster: Yeah. That was incredible.
Pagoda: Yeah. Haven't had one
Senator: of those. I don't feel the same way.
Rooster: I'm totally out on those. Wow. Was, I'm so bored with them.
Pagoda: It
Rooster: was good.
Pagoda: Oh really? I haven't had one of those for a long time. It was good.
Senator: I lit when it didn't grab me the way that it used [01:44:00] to Davidoff is honestly, I used to love the late hour. Love the millennium. Those were like every day cigars for me. I don't have any interest right now.
Bam Bam: What about your Cuban collections? I mean, I haven't seen many of those in rotation in a group.
Gizmo: I, I would definitely say Cubans have fallen out on, on my rotation pretty heavily.
I'm, I'm pulling one maybe once a week.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Gizmo: Twice a week.
Bam Bam: I did bring a Bahi K 52 tonight to have, because I wanna try that. I haven't had it in a long time.
Gizmo: Mm-hmm. And
Bam Bam: the sig five. Nice. We'll have that tonight.
Gizmo: Alright, boys. We're coming to the end of our evening tonight with the La Marita 18 years age rum and the Monte Cristo Double Edmundo.
Any final thoughts here before we move into our ratings tonight? This rum is expertly crafted.
Bam Bam: Yeah. I'm, I'm happy we have this spirit because the cigar, you know, it was, I, I, I did enjoy it, but it didn't end well for me. Hmm. Um, it did unravel substantially. Uh, and the flavor, that salted, buttery pretzel thing evaporated [01:45:00] that last inch and a half.
So not a great ending.
Senator: I'm in love with the rum.
Bam Bam: Oh yeah.
Senator: Yeah. I think the rums
Rooster: too.
Senator: My rating is gonna reflect it.
Bam Bam: Absolutely. I'm in love with this rum. Absolutely.
Rooster: Yeah. For me, the best part of the cigar is actually the aroma from the foot. Yeah, I agree with you.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Rooster: That was really the best part.
Bam Bam: It kind of, it came in and out of good moments.
Yeah. You know, it wasn't consistently good. It was okay and then it was good and it was okay. And then, and then, then just kind of fizzled out.
Chef: Rooster, can you do me a favor and smell this rum? At least got the nose.
Bam Bam: Take a sip for crying out loud.
Chef: Because I think this rum is so good that if Rooster drank, he would also love this rum.
But the nose is intoxicating and delicious. There
Bam Bam: go take a sip. That's it. Take us. Does it smell like,
Gizmo: does it smell like turpentine? Absolutely not. It smells delicious. Correct? Yeah.
Bam Bam: Yeah. Back to the cigar though. I think the combustion was fantastic. Mine
Gizmo: was okay.
Chef: It had it moments.
Bam Bam: Yeah. The room was pretty smoky.
So, you know, there's something there.
Chef: I think you were, and rooster, the end caps here, you guys had phenomenal smoke [01:46:00] output.
Rooster: Mm,
yeah.
Chef: My,
Rooster: I had a, I had a rough draw. This was me
Bam Bam: too.
Chef: Oh, did you?
Rooster: Very tight.
Chef: Yeah. There were times there where you looked like you were, uh,
Rooster: had multiple
Gizmo: lights, multiple real lights.
All right, boys, let's go into our formal liquoring tonight on the La Marita. 18 years age. Panamanian rum. Bam. Bam. You're up.
Bam Bam: I'm gonna go out and get a bottle of this tomorrow, so I'm at a 10.
Gizmo: Yeah,
Bam Bam: I think this is just, it gets better and better as you drink. It's delicious. Well, I said earlier and it's still there.
I'm getting butter, scotch, and, and vanilla on that finish. It's not o overly sweet. It's nicely balanced. It's a little thin. It's not very viscous, but it's a absolutely easy to drink and outstanding. I would have this with any Cuban cigar and many, many new worlds.
Senator: Your palate. Okay. Bam.
Bam Bam: Hmm.
Senator: Thinned.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Senator: I think it's viscous.
Not viscous. It's very viscous.
Bam Bam: For me. It's viscous.
Senator: Yeah.
Bam Bam: Really? This, this, I don't know. I'm it's,
Gizmo: it's not syrupy.
Bam Bam: No, but it's not which,
yeah.
Bam Bam: [01:47:00] It's a merit. Yeah.
Gizmo: It coat your mouth and stays there.
Bam Bam: Stays. This is more
Senator: viscous than Havana Seven.
Bam Bam: For Kanye seven. I don't know about that. I'm looking at it in my glass.
It seems thin, but honestly it doesn't affect me in any way. I think it's an out thin, I'm giving it a 10.
Chef: Those legs are long. Those, those legs for days here. Yeah. So usually that's,
Bam Bam: I'm drinking out of a brick. It's ridiculous Glass. Gotta file a complaint. All
Chef: right, chef. Ah. Uh, yeah. So first and foremost, this is an absolute 10.
Um, I think this room is crafted beautifully. You know what? The nose is pecan pie, little bit of maple syrup, some toffee, beautiful oak. But it's all delivered well, and it's really balanced. There's even enough tannins here where it, it creates this complex finish where it almost feels like it's gonna finish dry, but it doesn't.
But it's, you know, it's not super sweet. It makes you go back for more.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Chef: It is [01:48:00] the perfect rum. I could drink this thing every single day. I want a bottle. I want a case. Oh yeah. I want this around me all the time. Yeah.
It's
Bam Bam: beautifully balanced.
Chef: This is a beautiful rum. It's not the cheapest rum, but for what it's giving us, for what it's doing for 18 years, 65 bucks.
That's 65 bucks. That is a freaking bargain. So this room is a home run. Holy shit. I mean, I, I feel really, really good about this room. I love it. It's a 10.
Pagoda: Awesome. Pagoda. I think it's a 10 for me, uh, straight up. You know, I'm so happy that we found it right in the beginning of, uh, the cold to season in the winter.
Mm-hmm. Because we, at least, you know, some of us tend to really go on four, either the Havana seven or the Florida Kanye seven, and when you need something slightly richer and smoother and something which really delivers, and it's, it's really wonderful. And, you know, I feel that for me, I think the viscosity was definitely a lot more than what the seven provides, and I'm loving it.
Like, for me, [01:49:00] it's just been fantastic. Um, you know, the chef said it, it lingers in your palate for a reasonable amount of time. I think it today, it really enhanced my experience with this particular cigar. And
Bam Bam: yeah,
Pagoda: it's a 10.
Bam Bam: Nice long finish.
Pagoda: Yeah.
Gizmo: So I'm also at a 10. Uh, I thought this was an absolutely perfect rum.
I think being 18 years old for $65, I, I think that's a steal. Uh, like Senator said, if it was a hundred dollars, I don't think any of us would've blinked. But the fact that it's 65, uh, pretty much anywhere you can, you can get it any, at any total wine, um, I, I think is a, is a great opportunity for, for folks out there who love drinking rum, I thought it paired beautifully with this Cuban cigar.
I think it would do very well with. Most cubit cigars. Mm-hmm. And I think it would do well with all the cigars we just talked about that are in and out of our rotations. Oh yeah. I think this is a rum that will stand up nicely. Yeah. And next to pretty much every cigar we smoke.
Bam Bam: Correct.
Gizmo: I, I just think it's a perfect companion for cigar smoking.
And I love it. I love the [01:50:00] story. I love the Panamanian connection. I love the Cuban connection. I love the, the name of it. I love the artwork. I, I just think it's so well put together. So well thought out. And again, going back to the conversation we had about cigars earlier, about packaging, taking over for taste and experience.
I think for how much I enjoy the packaging and the story and everything else here, the product inside the bottle is the most important thing. And that is what stands on its own. It's excellent. It's brilliant. I'm very, very happy with this rum tonight. So for me it's a 10 senator.
Senator: Two words. O Panama.
Correct. I mean, cuo, cuo, uh, this is spectacular. Uh, easily a 10. The brilliance of this rum for me, we all drank a lot of a, a few brands seven year as like, it's not in any way those seven year rums. So Hana Club, Florida, KA, [01:51:00] they're in no way overpowering that you can pair them with basically any cigar. And they have just enough flavor.
Now they are thin, but there's enough flavor that you're kind of willing to overlook that. And most importantly, it doesn't in any way interfere with another cigar. We've been looking for rums that are smooth in that style, but when you want some more flavor, when you want some more structure, some more viscosity.
Briga 1888, that fits that bill.
Bam Bam: Oh yeah.
Senator: But that rum, I, I find myself still like wanting to drink it with a little bit of ice like I do Havana Club or Flo Decon. Mm-hmm.
Chef: It's not as well crafted as this rum
Senator: for sure.
Chef: Yeah. Yeah.
Senator: The Ion de maestros, I talked about Havana Club like that. Neat drinks hot. Oh yeah.
I like vividly remember sipping that in Havana and I was like, wow, like this actually packs a punch. Yeah. It almost has like. More flavor and viscosity than I'm looking for with some cigars. Mm-hmm. That I would not pair that with anything I'm smoking.
Bam Bam: Yeah. Not exactly a fan of that, honestly. [01:52:00]
Senator: This ha I agree.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Senator: This has perfectly fit that Bill I'm describing. Like I, I almost thought we would never find something that does it, as exceptionally as this does, it has more flavor, it has more structure, yet it is still so unbelievably smooth and could be paired with any cigar. There's not one smoke I don't think that this could hold up against and for that reason, um, I can't wait to drink more of this.
It, it is truly, truly special what they've been able to do with this rum.
Chef: Yeah. I think Senator said it. Really, this is a perfect rum. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this.
Gizmo: Yeah. I There's no fault to be found here.
Chef: Correct.
Gizmo: So boys, the formal liquor rating tonight on the La Marita 18 years age, Panamanian rum is a perfect 10.
Awesome.
Bam Bam: Love it.
Gizmo: And again, I, I'm so [01:53:00] excited that this is $65 and I can't wait. And I'm hoping that their next expression is either a 12 or a seven. I would love to try a 12 year of this, maybe at a 35, $40 price point.
Chef: It's true. This, this rum is so good that when you set 12, I'm like, I can't wait to rate it at 12.
Gizmo: It might get that, but you know, I would love to try this in a, you know, in a 12 or a seven, a cheaper price point. I think that'd be great for their brand, you know, to introduce something that's really inexpensive, additive free, you know, love to see it.
Chef: But if this is all they gave us, I'm happy with that.
Totally. This is also
Gizmo: really expensive. Totally. They, they killed their first release is perfect.
Bam Bam: It's a great alternative to have.
Gizmo: Alright, boys, it's time now to do our formal lizard rating tonight on the Mon Cristo Double Edmundo from Cuba Rooster Europe up. Unlike the rum, which was a
Rooster: perfect 10, the cigar is not a, it's not a perfect cigar.
Uh, you could get a bottle of this rum for $65, or you can buy a cigar like this for 40 bucks. [01:54:00] You know,
Gizmo: you don't even drink a night. Think
Rooster: you buy
Gizmo: the rum
Rooster: just for you guys just to have it on the shelf,
Gizmo: just to look at
Rooster: the artwork. Nice on, smell it. Smell it. Uh, so I had an issue with the cigar. The wrapper was peeling off.
Uh, the draw was a bit tight even after recutting it. Um, it was tight. Multiple re lights all throughout, you know, kind of took away from the effect of the cigar. And when the draw's tight, you really don't enjoy the cigar. But the flavor that I got out of it, it was creamy. There was a little bit of a nut.
It was like a little ready note. Um, it was, it was good, but it wasn't great. So for that reason, I'm at a seven.
Senator: All right,
Rooster: Senator,
Senator: this is tough 'cause I'm, I'm in between a seven and an eight.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Senator: I'm gonna round up to the eight because flavor-wise [01:55:00] there were. Some genuinely for me, great moments and other good moments. The reason I had to take the two points off, this is one of the worst constructed Cuban cigars I've had in a very long time.
When I got down to the very end rooster was talking about his unraveling. I didn't have that at all.
Gizmo: There's
Senator: toward the end, I mean, this is completely coming apart. I mean, it's a joke. Um, I had to relight this cigar probably 10 times while smoking it. The ash flaked off, same all the way throughout. I mean, we're gonna need a Dyson for pagoda at the end of this.
We'll
Bam Bam: have it next time.
Senator: I mean, pagoda needs
Rooster: a car wash.
You know, if, if my draw was open the cigar, I would've given it an eight.
Senator: That's the thing for me. The draw was open and the smoke output was excellent in, in my cigar. So those were definite merits. But like I said, the construction alone was a whole point. And [01:56:00] the fact that there were moments that the cigar was drier than I would've liked, um, and that I lost once I had finally achieved the sweetness I was hoping for.
It was fleeting and didn't kind of sustain even at like a minimal level all the way through. That's where I took off the other point. But the merits of the cigar, I mean the, the flavor profile all the way through is enjoyable. There was not one moment that I said I'm, I'm unhappy or there's something unpleasant I'm getting flavor-wise.
I just wish that that second, third, the sweetness I was getting with that, like little bit of like Monty salty twang would've held all the way through, and that's what definitely could have propelled it, maybe a point higher. Um, but I do think for anyone who, you know, is a Cuban cigar smoker or, or wants to get into Cuban cigars and wants to try something different, I think there's some merit, you know, in the, the blend.
I just wish it was more [01:57:00] consistently delivered all the way through, um, from a flavor perspective. So for those reasons, I'm at an eight, a soft recommend.
Gizmo: So for me it's a seven. I, I rounded down, I was between a seven and eight in my mind, but when I got into that last third, I, I was telling myself this is a seven.
I, I just think the construction, like you guys said, not to harp on it, it, it was poor at best. I think for me, I had a perfect draw mind and I still was kind of having to double draw it to get enough.
Chef: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: You know, combustion and smoke to actually taste it. I did have those moments of funk and flavor issues.
Was it 'cause I wasn't paying attention to it or was it because I was talking too much or whatever it may be still for a $40 cigar. Mm-hmm. We should not be talking about anything other than. That's the only thing on a $40 cigar. Cigar, we should be talking about
Bam Bam: consistent
Gizmo: flavor. Is consistent flavor, the blend, did it perform well, et cetera?
I can't believe for a 2025, April, 2025 cigar, we're not talking about youth. [01:58:00] We're not talking about young tobacco. We're not talking about ammonia. Mm-hmm. We're not talking about anything else that I think five, 10 years ago, we probably would be talking about Oh yeah. Of a cigar at six months age.
Rooster: Great point.
Gizmo: Right? We're talking about a cigar that doesn't have any of those classic Cuban problems, but has all of the problems of a quality control issue. And for a $40 cigar to have quality control issues, it's just. Unacceptable. It's unacceptable. And you know, we're talking about other great cubit cigars that might get canceled because they're not popular.
The fact that this one's gonna live 'cause it has a mono crystal band on it, I think is a sin and it's unfortunate. Um, for me, this cigar tonight, it took too long to develop into that first third. Took too long to get going. Um, the second third, I thought, like Senator said, was probably the best part as it hit that last third.
Like I said, it fell off a little bit for me between all those things, $40 price, construction issues, having to fight and everything else. I think a seven is very generous tonight, but I'm gonna go with that. Uh, [01:59:00] that's what the cigar was tonight. Pagoda,
Pagoda: uh, it's a seven for me as well. I, in fact, I was thinking about it as, um, throughout, while smoking a cigar, like how's it draining?
And, um, the couple of things I do wanna mention, I really did like the smoke out, but for me, the draw was reasonably open. So those were the positives in terms of the flavor profile. Very good. In the beginning, I think I liked a little bit of the Cubans salty fa flavor. I think predominantly a little more salty, a cigar for me.
I kept seeking the sweetness, which I think senator experience, I would've really liked just a tad bit of sweetness and, you know, if, if a bit of cocoa would've come through, which I think it mentioned once, I would've been really, really, I would've really enjoyed it. I, I also thought this cigar for me was very dry.
And every time I tried to have a few puffs without taking a sip. You know, it just felt it to be really dry in my palate. And I think just overall in terms of the construction, we know I've, like, I think I've tried to [02:00:00] touch it up multiple times. I've reli it multiple times. Um, you know, the Ashe is all over me anyway.
I think most of you were, you've got a $4 dry cleaning bill. Yeah. And I, yeah. But, you know, considering the flavor, the, the smoke output, the price, I think it's a seven for me.
Rooster: I mean, the short media Corona that, I mean, that just delivers It is so good. Right.
Bam Bam: But the dimension,
Rooster: yeah, it's short.
Bam Bam: But yeah, that's the thing.
It'll give you great flavor and it'll last because it's so short. I, I've got a lot to talk about, so go ahead. All right, chef. Yeah.
Chef: Yeah. The second, third of the cigar was my favorite point of it as well. Uh, it delivered some salt. It delivered creaminess, nuttiness, a little sweetness, not too much. But then everything, every other point of it after just felt muddled and a little bitter and not interesting.
I was fighting the cigar, I was fighting the draw. It's like the cigar requires you to draw on it often, but then when you do, [02:01:00] you suffer as well. And as delicious as this rum was, and it's no fault to the pairing, because I think had it been a good cigar, this would've paired really well. But the rum wasn't helping it.
You know, the, the, this rum has slight cocoa notes and some fruity butter scotch and toffee and, and maple. And it wasn't pulling. Much of that from the cigar and some of those, those notes should be present in this money. Um, so, and then the price point, which isn't, I'm not even really taking it into account in my rating 'cause I don't want to give this a six.
Um, so I'm gonna give it a seven. Um, and I, I, I think it's the right score for the cigar. Uh, it just, it didn't deliver what it should for a $40 stick.
Gizmo: Mm-hmm. All right. Bam.
Bam Bam: Hmm.
The cigar was frustrating at best because, you know, I talked about the buttery pretzel experience, which I loved,
Chef: [02:02:00] which I wish I got.
Bam Bam: Yeah.
Chef: Yeah.
Bam Bam: And, and so it was good. And then it was okay and it was good. And okay. And Senator, you mentioned it earlier, that lack of consistency. I mentioned it earlier where you, you get great experience and then it dips and it comes back up and it's enjoyable and it dips again.
Um, my draw was fantastic after the first, let's say, half inch of the cigar, that it was pretty plugged at that point, but then I did take the perfect draw. It opened up perfectly. So that was not an issue. The combustion was fantastic, but if that buttery pretzel thing continued, I'd probably give this a nine.
But I'm gonna give this a seven. Um, because I didn't get enough of that experience. It wasn't consistent enough. I did enjoy the draw on the combustion, but it just, it's just not enough to give it anything more than that.
Rooster: Did your cigar unravel at
Bam Bam: all at the end? It did.
Rooster: It did?
Bam Bam: Yeah. I'm looking at senators, his, his lifting.
Um, mine turned into like a flat brownie, you know, it's just started to expand.
Gizmo: I wanna ask a question just [02:03:00] for the listeners' clarity. Do you guys believe that is a factor of age, a factor of humidity or, you know, construction? Or is it construction? I just wanna make it very clear
Senator: for the, listen, it's a hundred percent construction.
Yeah. I mean, it's literally the wrapper lifting from the binder and filler.
Gizmo: Mm-hmm.
Senator: I mean, that, that's just a, a poor role. You could see it's unravels. You could, even, before we lit the cigar, all the seams were incredibly visible. It was like they actually hadn't, whoever, you know, was rolling this, the, the wrapper of it, like Chris 1, 1, 9, 4 tightly rolled the wrapper onto the cigar.
You could see it before it was even lit.
Gizmo: Yeah. Yeah.
Bam Bam: Seven.
Gizmo: Alright, boys. The formal elicit rating tonight on the Monte Cristo double Mundo is a 7.2.
Bam Bam: Okay.
Gizmo: So let's compare that to the other Monte Cristo we've done on the pod. On episode four, we did the Linea 1935 series. The Maltus scored an 8.9. On episode 28, we did the mono Cristo number two scored an 8.4.[02:04:00]
On episode 46, we did the mono Cristo number one, 6.3. On episode 66, the Remos Addision Liata from 2019 scored an 9.0. On episode 80, the sister to this one, the Edmundo scored an 8.0. On episode 127, the Especiali number two scored an 8.3. On episode 172, the wide edmundo. The other sister to this, the newest one, scored a 9.0.
That was a good cigar. And finally, on episode 190, the Monte Cristo number two redux. We revisited that scored a 9.8. So Monte Cristo is all over the map, boys.
Senator: Yeah,
Gizmo: including tonight at a 7.2. All right, boys, a great night tonight. Of course, we have to thank our sponsors, Fabrica five. They make great cigars.
Check out their site, like I said, Fabrica zero zero five.com. Use our code lizard Pod 10% off the entire store, free shipping as well. We have to thank [02:05:00] small batch cigars. Our retail partner here in the us, they're amazing. They're boutique. I know I ordered some stuff. I got it in two days.
Bam Bam: Mm-hmm.
Gizmo: Lizard, Henry Heto in the lounge here too.
Did the same thing, ordered it on a Thursday and arrived on a Saturday. Two days from California to New Jersey.
Bam Bam: Yeah. Wow.
Gizmo: Unbelievable.
Bam Bam: Awesome.
Gizmo: So check those guys out and use Lizard 15 at checkout for 15% off your entire order. Of course, some standard exclusions do apply. We have to thank Bond Roberts for sponsoring our Lizard of the Week segment, and they are going to send lizard mark or Lizard of the Week a 10 count box of Bon Roberts cigars.
Pretty awesome. So thanks to them. And of course boys. One more time. The La Marita 18 years age Panamanian rum scored a perfect 10 and the Monte Cristo tonight, the double Ed Mundo scored a 7.2. How good was that rum man?
Bam Bam: Yeah. Outstanding.
Gizmo: I, I think, I think this is one of those times a
Bam Bam: great [02:06:00] discovery.
Gizmo: I think this is one of those times that, it's one of those things where all of us are gonna go out and probably buy
Bam Bam: Sure.
Gizmo: A bottle, if not more than that. Correct. Like it's really that serious of a 10.
Chef: Absolutely. It's such a serious 10. I'm hoping you forget where we, we reviewed it just so that we could do it again in like three weeks.
Gizmo: That's right folks. We'll do a redux. All right, boys. A great night tonight. Thanks again to all of our lizards for writing and we appreciate hearing from everybody and, uh, we'll see everybody next week.
Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You can find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, lounge lizards pod.com. That's lounge lizards p d.com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us hello@loungelizardspod.com.
You can also find us on Instagram at Lounge Lizards Pod. We really appreciate your time and we'll, uh, we'll see you next [02:07:00] week.