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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 seven members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
**Gizmo:** [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Lizards Podcast. 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, and Bam Bam. And our plan is to smoke a cigar.
Drink some scotch, talk about life. And of course, have some laughs. So take this as your 117th official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plan a meet us here once a week. We're going to smoke a Cupid cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it and give you our formal lizard rating.
We begin the three part recap of our 2024 trip to Cuba this week, including our first impressions of Havana. Almost a year after our first visit, an update on our restaurant and lounge recommendations and the massive impacts of inflation 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 14 year age Glenlivet single malt scotch with the Punch Double Corona.
A Cuban Double [00:01:00] Corona on the pod tonight. It's the Punch Double Corona. It's a 49 ring gauge cigar. By seven and five eighths inches long. And boys, I think we have finally entered the battle of the Cuban double Coronas.
**Bam Bam:** Giz, the moment you handed the cigar to me, my excitement level went through the roof.
I saw
**Gizmo:** it. It's a beautiful cigar. It is, and it's not one of the double Coronas that's widely chased, like a Lusitania and the Hoyo. You know, this is kind of like the Is it due to availability, or? I guess, and I just think that punch is kind of a If you're in the know kind of marker. I love that marker. You know, and, and I know Rooster's.
I do too. One of his I know you do. I love punch. Oh, I do
**Rooster:** too. I love the Punch. Punch. Yeah. But I have not had this short punch. I've not had the double Corona punch. Yeah. Yeah. Short, short. The punches. Delicious is a phenomenal stick.
**Bam Bam:** Look how, look at this flagship cigar. This is, yeah.
**Senator:** Quite a stick, man. We,
**Gizmo:** we like their mother factory too.
Yeah. La Corona, Corona. Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We have a lot [00:02:00] to talk about today, boys. Back from Cuba, very exciting. But first let's cut this thing. So we're getting on the cold draw on the wrapper. So I've never had one of these, like Rooster just said. I've had this box in the humidor probably for about a year, year and a half.
I was very happy, uh, that the feet on these looked like they weren't over packed and sometimes when you pull a Lusitania, it's a little tough, you know? Come on. Bam's giving me the hand. That Cole draw is
**Bam Bam:** outstanding.
**Senator:** Senator. Just the draw is wide open. Perfect. But it's delicious. Great. I'm getting a lot
**Gizmo:** of dry fruit here.
Mine's a slight bit resistant, but dried fruit, coarse cedar, which is interesting because it came out of a dress box. But
**Bam Bam:** it's so pleasant. I
went with the, uh, V. Oh, you
went
**Gizmo:** V cut? A la Danilo. Look at you.
**Senator:** Very fair. Is this slightly smaller in ring [00:03:00] gauge than
**Gizmo:** the Lucy? No, it's identical, actually. Really? Yeah.
**Senator:** I don't know why a Lucy feels bigger in the hand. Mm hmm.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, you're right. All right, boys, let's light this thing. The Punch Double Corona.
Again, it's a 49 ring gauge. Cigar by seven and five eighths inches long. It's factory name is the Prominentus. And these cigars are slightly over two years old. S O U is the factory code. Excellent code. December 21.
**Bam Bam:** Excellent code. And do we know what these
**Gizmo:** cost? These are somewhere now between 35 and 40 a piece.
**Pagoda:** By the way, uh, I got a couple, uh, in, uh, one of the stores in Cuba. It was, uh, 24. 50 a stick. A couple of these? Habana
**Senator:** Libre.
**Rooster:** You're joking. Wow. They had these. They also had the, uh, Hoyo Double
**Gizmo:** Coronas. Really? 26. 26 bucks?
Well, this is great on the light. [00:04:00] Amazing. Wow.
**Bam Bam:** Wow. The retrohale on this, it's like, honestly, there's a lot of fruit there. It's like bubblegum for me. It's not.
**Gizmo:** It's right there. Definitely getting the cedar, dried fruit, little spicy, little bready.
**Bam Bam:** Bread, like a, um, a biscuit. For me, it's biscuit fruit forward at the moment.
We're going to need to get boxes of these.
**Gizmo:** Oh, yeah. Well, this is excellent. It's very complex on the light. Oh, yeah. Why
**Rooster:** did we not get more of these?
**Gizmo:** Right? We only got a
**Pagoda:** couple. Because of those custom guys in bloody Miami.
**Gizmo:** To go to his favorite people. Yeah, he loves those folks. So boys, like I said, these come out of 25 cigars.
They used to, unfortunately, come in a slide lid box of 50 cigars. Which was discontinued in 2017. [00:05:00] They used to come in a dress box of 10 cigars. A dress box of 25 cigars in cellophane, and the coolest one is they used to come in a cajon of 100 cigars in a bundle. Oh my goodness.
**Bam Bam:** That's just too much to take.
I'll take it. Oh, I mean, we can't get that anymore.
**Gizmo:** I would settle
**Rooster:** for a 50 cap. Oh yeah. I would love a 50 cap. That would be incredible. Do they exist? Well, 2017, they
**Senator:** discontinued. Giz probably has seven of them. He's not telling
**Gizmo:** us about. This is actually, so I, like I said, I've had this box in my humidor for about a year, year and a half now.
Box of 10? Box of 25. They don't make the 10s anymore. Look at you. And I have not smoked one. I, this is my first one smoking tonight. I put that box aside for the pod, uh, to see how it does. And then, uh. As it performs tonight, I'll start pulling on them, you know, and see what happens. It's nice of you to
**Senator:** wait to share a Double Corona with us, as we always do.
Mm hmm.
**Gizmo:** Correct. Yeah, I remember that story with you guys. The Hoyos. [00:06:00] The listener will remember that. Very loudly, uh, upset with you guys for smoking the Hoya Double Corona. Ah, right. On Puva's porch without me, even though I procured them. Correct. On 250 cabs. So, boys, this cigar is old. Appears in the 1962 Cuba tobacco catalog.
So it's definitely pre 1960 release. It's the flagship of the punch line, even though when most folks think of punch, they're thinking of punch punch, they're thinking of punch short to punch. They're thinking of the, a lot of the regionals that come out of punch, cause this is a market that's used a lot for regional additions.
And of course, uh, some of the. La Casa Del Habano special releases like the Punch 48, uh, which one of our lizard friends here in the lounge, Lizard Henry loves that cigar. So, um, this one, you know, simply by the nature of a double Corona, the leaf being so large, harder to get, harder to roll. And not being as in [00:07:00] favor with the current common smoker.
You know, double Coronas are just not as available anymore. So like you said, it was nice to see them priced fairly in Havana when we were there last
**Bam Bam:** week. Shocking that price, honestly.
**Gizmo:** So what are you guys getting on this? I'm
**Senator:** getting a nuttiness in this cigar that kind of reminds me of the punch 48, but a different type of nut.
The punch 48 is like a walnut, like a kind of intense nut flavor. This is more like an almond or, um, cashew, maybe even. I like it.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. I love
**Gizmo:** the cigar so far.
**Rooster:** Complimented also by a little
**Gizmo:** spice. Agree. Yeah. Just a touch of spice. Not much at all. Yeah. Just the right amount. Yeah. I would say it's a little bit on the fuller side flavor wise like medium.
Yeah, I think firmly medium. Yeah, I agree with that So this is now the fifth punch cigar that we've done in the podcast. We did the Mantua Regional edition the punch punch the [00:08:00] punch Duke, which was also a regional Mexican regional And we did the punch short to punch. So this is the fifth one we're doing.
And like I said, this is the flagship of the marker. We did cover on a recent punch episode. I believe it was the short to punch episode, a little bit of the history. So I'll kind of breeze through this real fast. Punch brand was established around 1840. It was designed and very popular, uh, in the. British Market.
It draws branding elements from Mr. Punch, which was a puppet show in the UK, as well as royal iconography. It was founded and owned by Manuel López Fernández via his firm Juan Valle y Silla from 1884. Until 1925 and his name is still on some of the punch logos. So if you see the punch logo, you'll actually see his name on it.
After the blue mold crisis in the early 1980s, a lot of punches models were canceled. And then in 2002, when Habano SSA really came in and kind of wiped out a lot of this stuff, punch, a lot of punch stuff went away and now. [00:09:00] Uh, as of today, this is classified by Habanos in the value category of the portfolio brands.
And of course, like I said, it's very popular for regional editions and, uh, they say it comprises medium strength cigars, which I think is accurate in these, but I think some of the others that we listed kind of lean a little bit more mild, but, um, I don't think of strong cigars when I think You know, or even medium, really.
But
**Bam Bam:** flavorful cigars though. Oh, delicious. That comes to mind. Delicious. Like the Punch Punch and the Short to Punch for me are, are outstanding cigars. They are. And
**Gizmo:** delicious. And then finally, like Senator noted, the mother factory of punch is La Corona. Which we love too. Downtown Havana. Yeah. So let's go through some of the other cigars in their line very briefly.
Currently available, the Coronations. Which comes in a dress box of 25 in two bows the double Corona. We're smoking tonight The petite coronation same configuration as the big brother [00:10:00] coronation the punch punch as we discussed which comes in a dress box of 25 Cigars and a dress box of 10 cigars. We reviewed that cigar.
That's a Corona Gorda 56 by 5 and 5 8 and then like we mentioned the punch 48, which is a hermosas number 3 Grand Corona 48 by five and a half has the LCD H second band on it. And then the short to punch, which is a petite Robusto 50 by four and three quarters inches. There's a new petite Corona coming out, which I'm sure the rooster here is going to be very interested in.
It's going to be released early 24, it says it's called the triunfos and it's a 42 by five and an eighth inch. So that'll be pretty cool. Yeah. A lot of canceled cigars. I don't want to go through them all, but this line definitely was cut down quite a bit, uh, twice, like we said in the 1980s. Again, in the early 2000s.
So that's the rundown on punch. And as we noted, by the way, [00:11:00] it shares a name with a very, uh, unrelated cigar brand sold in the United States here, which is very commonly, uh, attached to that, a bobblehead thing. Right. Uh, that you always see at some of the cigar shops. I use those. And,
**Bam Bam:** uh, gas stations. And gas stations.
Yeah. I use those in the garden. Ah, you put those in the garden. Yep. You plant a tomato, put one of those sticks right next to it and it keeps the bird away. Great. And the bugs.
**Pagoda:** But I must say the draw on this, for this being such a long cigar, is
**Bam Bam:** fantastic.
**Senator:** Yeah. I'll go as far as saying this is the best constructed double corona I've ever had.
**Gizmo:** I agree. And the fact that we have five of them, and I didn't, when I was going through the box, I always look at the feet of the cigars that I pull for the podcast, just so we try to eliminate any construction and draw issues. And the first five I pulled were these five. So the fact that we're, none of us are having an issue with how many issues we've had with Cuban cigars is a little bit of a surprise.
Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** We didn't mention the quality of the wrapper. You know, I'm looking at Rooster cigar. [00:12:00] It's slightly glistening. There's a beauty to this wrapper that I'd love. Uh, very slightly toothy, beautiful color.
**Gizmo:** You know, this is really significant in the hand, too. Like, it just feels
**Bam Bam:** great. Yeah, it's like a late hour, right?
Like a, you know, one of those, you know, a Churchill, anything like that feels fantastic.
**Rooster:** Yeah, I mean, I, I love the size. Um, I, I mean, I've kind of had really bad luck with Lucy's. Have you? Not good. Yeah. Even like a lot of aged Lucys, they just draw issues, plugged, haven't had good luck. I mean, just, you know, five of us smoking a punch, double Corona, no draw issues, burning great.
Yep.
**Gizmo:** Fantastic smoke. The combustion is really nice too. Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of nice smoke output. And I'm finding, even as I was talking through the punch history. I didn't draw it for probably two minutes, right? Three minutes. You're not going to have to nurse this. And I don't think I'm going to have to touch it up.
The burn is really sharp. [00:13:00]
**Bam Bam:** Honestly, the retro hail I'm doing it now on every draw is outstanding.
**Senator:** I think when I asked if this is smaller in ring gauge, then the Lucy, the dress box, this coming out of a dress box, I've only smoked Lucy's out of a 50 cab. I think it's kind of just made it a little more compact and it feels nicer in the hand.
And I also think that this isn't. Two, this is an over packed with tobacco, um, just helps. I, I love, like for me in the hand of Churchill, there's like nothing that feels better than that. A double corona I like, but sometimes can feel a little, a little large or just kind of unwieldy. This is perfect. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Sometimes I find too, to your point, A lot of, some of the double Coronas I've had Hoyos, I've had Lucy's that are quite a bit heavier than this, even though it's the same size, like, I don't know what it is, they're just more densely packed than this is tonight, but I'm really, I was relieved when I pulled the box out that these didn't have a ton of weight to them.
Yeah, I agree.
**Senator:** A Lucy can literally feel like a baseball bat in
**Gizmo:** your hand. [00:14:00] Totally right. So boys, let's talk about it. We have just come back from our second visit as a group to Havana. We had an amazing time. Senator and I went for 10 days. Some guys went for seven, a couple guys went for less than that, just you know, because of other commitments.
But we had a wonderful, wonderful trip again. Incredible. It remains my favorite place in the world. I think we all share that, uh, feeling. But, uh, any first impressions returning almost a year later now? What, what were some of your first impressions this, this go around? Uh,
**Bam Bam:** for me, honestly, the moment we, we land, I landed, um, I felt like I was walking back into my home.
Walking into the Airbnb, it felt like home.
**Senator:** That's literally the first word that came to mind, home.
**Bam Bam:** It was very comfortable. You know, we're used to going now, but I'm still enamored by the beauty of it. But walking into our house from the airport, drive over, just felt like I was walking home.
**Senator:** I just think it's so refreshing.
Like the contrast of, we live in [00:15:00] the States where so many of our interactions can feel very transactional, even superficial, materialistic. And you just go to a place like Cuba and it's the complete opposite. Right. Like nobody's sitting there on their cell phones all day. Like you're having meaningful conversations with people here.
We have everything. And we're complaining as if like our lives are so difficult there. They have so little and they're not complaining, right? Like you're, they're just enjoying each other's company. And for me, it was just so fun. The people that we have met along the way, as we spent more time there, um, they feel like family when you see them.
And it's just so nice to be able to spend time with them. And so. Uh, for me, it's, there's no place that I'm able to be as present as Havana.
**Gizmo:** Yeah,
**Rooster:** I mean, it's, it's also the fact that having gone there a couple of times, like the first time you kind of didn't know what to expect. And now every time you go back, you're like, you meet the same people.
They know you, you recognize them, they recognize you. There's a level [00:16:00] of comfort that you feel, right? that you kind of, you know, have to go there a few times to
**Gizmo:** feel that. And you know the streets. You know the
**Bam Bam:** streets. Like where to go, the direction to go. True. It's much more comfortable. Yeah.
**Pagoda:** I felt, um, I think the first time I went I was so very nervous.
You know, you walk into the airport and there are a couple of these guards standing over there. You're walking to a country which you've heard of and you have a very different perspective. This is why Pagoda got stopped. You know, but this time around. There's a
**Gizmo:** bullseye
**Bam Bam:** face. Well, his eyes are wide open looking around like binoculars in the airport.
Hey,
**Pagoda:** you know, I'm nervous around authority. Let's put it this way. But having said that the second time, you know, I, I flew in on my own and you know, I, I showed up a bit late, but I was so comfortable. I was, you know, it, uh, it really is, uh, um, a place you get once you get familiar with that, uh, you feel at home.
It's excellent. You know, it's, and you know, uh, me and, uh, [00:17:00] Rooster often talk about it is somewhat reminiscent of going to India. There's, you know, going at least at the time when we grew up around 20, 30 years ago, uh, there's a bit of, uh, slowness to the thing. It's not so fast paced and everything, you know, takes its own time and.
They're very sociable. They're conversationalist and very, very helpful. You know, um, um, I lost my luggage, you know, they helped me through the, in fact, delivered it the same night in Cuba, which was
**Gizmo:** fantastic. By the way, if you lose your luggage at Newark, you're not getting it the same day. No, it's not happening.
And Pagoda, um, what
**Senator:** airline delivered it same day at night?
**Bam Bam:** It was, it was American.
**Senator:** Yeah. Just clarifying. Yeah.
**Pagoda:** Great experience. Yeah. Yeah. But overall, uh, felt really good. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I mean, I think for me, I think a combination of what's, what Senator and Pagoda said kind of sum up my thoughts. Number one, like I feel as soon as I land there, just time slows down, you know?
And it's, and then what Senator said, your ability to be present and, and [00:18:00] every interaction Is, is real. And it's like, you're in the moment. There's, there's nothing else distracting you from it. Your phone's not blowing up because you know, there's not a lot of internet going on down there. You don't have wifi.
You only have your cell phone. With the data, but you know, it's like everything about my perspective changes when I go there and I think it's why when I come back, I feel as refreshed as I do. Sure, we all do. Because it's just, it just absolutely recharges my batteries in a way that no other place I've traveled in the world has ever even come close to.
Viva Cuba. Viva Cuba.
**Rooster:** It kind of brings you back in time. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you're looking at the structures, you're looking at, uh, different towns. Like Miramar kind of reminds me of this, uh, area in Delhi. It totally reminds me of that. It's like a diplomatic enclave and, uh, the streets in India, just like
**Gizmo:** that.
Big beautiful homes. Yeah. Miramar
**Senator:** reminds me of like Embassy Rowan DC. Yeah. That's true. It's like beautiful and [00:19:00] feels so stately.
**Gizmo:** Very quiet. Yeah. And there's a lot of beautiful architecture and structures over here from all the different countries and their embassies and their diplomatic homes, you know, and homes are not like cookie
**Rooster:** cutter homes like here, you know, each one is individual.
It's like, it looks different than the, than the second
**Bam Bam:** one. Honestly, I found downtown Havana more interesting from the point of view of the way the, the, um, you know, the setting, the quality of the, of the buildings, they're in poor shape, but you stumble onto a gem within this. block of dilapidated buildings.
It's incredible how they focus and invest in certain buildings. And the rest of it is kind of, it's Cuba, right? So it's really that, it's very
**Gizmo:** ironic. You know,
**Rooster:** the inside is, um, I mean, I wouldn't say most, but in some of the homes, like the inside is very updated. Oh yeah. It's just the outside looks like in shambles,
**Gizmo:** but the inside is, it's true.
It's totally nice.
**Senator:** Even the cars. I mean, I was cracking up with some of the cabs that we got in. [00:20:00] They had video screens put in with like music videos playing. In a 1952,
**Bam Bam:** in a 52 Chevy. I
**Gizmo:** mean, can you imagine? You're watching a Carole G video in a 1952 Chevy. With a Hyundai engine. So
**Bam Bam:** the cab that you and I were in, it had a digital screen.
Um, I think it had a map of some kind. And it was tricked out. It was beautiful. And it had a Hyundai engine in there, or a Mercedes engine. Incredible.
**Pagoda:** And this time around, you know, uh, I think Rusa and I were, we were walking down one of the streets and it was like a mini bazaar and I didn't know that existed in Cuba.
Like the last time, I don't think we'd explored that much in terms of the local street in downtown Havana. And it was a mini bazaar with people coming and trying to sell us rum and cigars and it was, it was fantastic. It was, yeah.
**Gizmo:** We were on Obispo street. Yeah. In Obispo. Yeah. That's the main drag. Yeah.
You know, the other thing I find too, and I think we touched upon this a year ago when we did these, you know, recap episodes of our first trip as a group there together. I just love how resourceful [00:21:00] the Cuban people are. You know, even, even our host at the Airbnb, he's always Tinkering with something, fixing something, repairing something.
He's got a buddy over. They've got the hood up on the car. They're fixing something like they just consume their time with things that really matter in the moment and things that need to be done. And it's, to me, it's just, it's refreshing. It's a refreshing, peaceful way to live. And like you said, it's, it's like going back in time.
It's like going back 60 years in time. Yeah. It's also what choice do they have? You know, they don't
**Rooster:** have a choice as the mother of invention. They are. And it's so true.
**Gizmo:** They're they keep things
**Rooster:** going. Despite all the challenges, despite all the sure gasoline prices
**Gizmo:** are going up
**Rooster:** five times supposed to be 35 C.
U. P. A leader and they're paying like 250 C. U. P. In the black market and there is no gasoline. There's such a vast shortage
**Gizmo:** of, uh, of gasoline on the whole island. Yeah. So inflation has definitely taken its toll in the last [00:22:00] year. There's no question about that. We've seen it obviously in the prices that we experienced, but we're also hearing it from, you know, the folks that were in cabs with the folks that we're staying with and we meet, you know, the prices have really increased significantly for them.
Because of inflation. I mean, when they used to earn 30 American dollars in, you know, um, converted from Cuban pesos a month for working that 30 because of the inflation is now closer to 20. Yeah. Yeah. So they, you know, their pay has not been adjusted for. Inflation. So there was, you know, they have to resort to, you know, like you said, buying and selling gasoline on the black market, you know, and, and buying and selling phones and technology and other things.
I mean, it's, it's a really difficult situation. Yeah. It's a damn
**Senator:** shame that we have an embargo. The U S is a net exporter of oil at this point. We have it correct. We just can't send it there.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, and the other thing that was interesting
**Rooster:** was we not even a single time exchanged currency.
**Gizmo:** That's true. [00:23:00] The past
**Rooster:** couple of times we always did, and this time it was just the dollar was widely accepted and actually wanted.
**Gizmo:** Preferred. Preferred. Yeah. They want that over pesos. And I think Despite the embargo and all of that. Yeah, it's very convenient. And I think a lot of the restaurants that we went to that used to accept pesos to transact, they don't want them anymore. They want U. S. dollars now because the inflation is so unpredictable that they have this pile of CUP that tomorrow, you know, the gas, like you said, is going to be five times what it is today.
Yeah. And the Cuban government announced that. You
**Rooster:** know, in the past we used CUP because the exchange rate wasn't that good. So when you go to a restaurant You know, they're kind of, you're getting a better rate if you're paying CUP. This time it was a little bit even keel.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Yeah. They leveled it out.
Yeah. Yeah. It is unfortunate. You know, I think you used two pretty serious words as far as the situation there, it's, you know, a humanitarian crisis. And I think that a lot of, uh, [00:24:00] you know, news outlets have used those specific words to describe what's going on there. And, you know, obviously we're fortunate that we go there with the American dollar.
You know, we're very, very, uh, privileged when we go there. There's no question about that. That's a blessing. Uh, it, like, there's no doubt, but the people living there are really in a, in a seriously difficult situation, right? Yeah. I mean, it's crazy.
**Senator:** I think the first time we went, it was astonishing to think of how the average person lives on like 30 U.
S. dollars a month. Yeah. And with the rampant inflation now, like, that 30 is like half.
**Bam Bam:** How are they making ends meet, right? It's, it's a mystery and they're difficult.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, they've got to be resourceful. And I think there's a really, I think, you know, there's no doubt that there's a lot of hungry people in Cuba right now.
Yeah, you know, which is a real tragedy. Yeah, you know, and, and I think for the listener out there It roots us in our mission when we go there, it used to be about cigars, it used to be about rum and going there as an experience as this kind of brotherhood that we [00:25:00] have, and now having gone there that first time it changed the moment our feet hit the ground and now when we go back, it's really in service.
Of the Cuban people as, as we elect when we, we book our flight and we tell them why we're going, it's, we load up our suitcases, we bring as, as much as we can with us to, to give away to people, we're, you know, we brought clothes and school supplies and toys and medicine and even acupuncture needles and other things that they needed.
It's, you know, you, you need to come. With as much as you can to help these people out that you can meet along the way, you've got to be as giving as possible. Absolutely. Yeah. And just
**Rooster:** watching this, watching the people's faces light up when you give them stuff, I mean, there's nothing better. There's nothing gives me more joy than, you know, seeing those people happy.
I mean, it's, it's a very small thing for us to bring a suitcase full of stuff, but you know, for them, it's,
**Gizmo:** it's huge. It's
**Senator:** tremendous. I agree. I mean, I couldn't believe, uh, one of the, um, this woman who works as part of the [00:26:00] staff at the, um, the Airbnb that we were at, you know, we try to generously tip the staff, they work really hard, and so apparently from the last time she was talking about how with our tip, she was able to purchase a microwave.
And how she thought that in her entire lifetime, she would never be able to have a microwave.
**Gizmo:** By the way, let's note, she's 60 years old. Yeah. Yeah, or get her teeth done. And she got her, she, and with that same tip from last time. Right. She was able to repair all of her teeth.
**Bam Bam:** That's incredible. Those are life changing opportunities.
**Gizmo:** And I, you know, the thing is, is we can't fix all these problems. Certainly the United States can if, you know, they can, you know, alleviate a lot of this if we were to get rid of this stupid embargo. But, you know, we could impact on a micro level. Make real, real serious impacts for people. And it is, it really is a nice thing that we're able to do.
I mean, things are
**Rooster:** very dynamic there. You know, every time you go, it's different. Things are different for the people. Things are different for as a U S tourist and anything can change [00:27:00]
**Senator:** at a moment's notice. Yeah. Right. I mean, even geopolitically things change so fast. I mean, the fact that when we went in March, all we heard about was growing Chinese influence in Cuba, that was really kind of the talk of Havana.
Then you fast forward. And now everybody's talking about Russian. It's true. It's exploding in Havana and Russian investment as well. Exactly. They're allowing them to transact in the ruble. They're giving out these decade, multi decade leases to put up buildings. These, these Russian
**Gizmo:** investors are building Russian banks.
Yeah. Yeah.
**Rooster:** I mean, somebody was saying a Cuban national that you're not going to recognize Cuba because Cuba is not going to own Cuba. No. China and Russia will own Cuba.
**Gizmo:** That's exactly
**Bam Bam:** right. And that's a, it's a, it's
**Senator:** a crime. That's a shame. It's a crime. And the sad part, you know, to Gizmo's point of the United States could really do a whole lot of good there.
Is you talk to all these Cuban nationals and they have such an affection for America and they would much rather American investment be made there and [00:28:00] us treat them decently than Chinese or Russian investment that the track record thus far has not shown. I mean, none of this money is getting funneled back to the Cuban people.
I mean, we heard stories of talking about these buildings and things that are going up, the labor that they're even using. They're not hiring Cuban nationals to build these buildings. They're importing labor.
**Gizmo:** That's right. They talked about, I think, they say some from India. Someone said Pakistan. Pakistan,
**Senator:** they were bringing workers.
I mean, that's just fucked up. It's unbelievable. These people need money. This is their country. And they won't even give them these jobs.
**Gizmo:** Right. Why can't the Cuban government do something about that? The Cuban government Making the law that you have to hire
**Rooster:** Cuban
**Bam Bam:** The Cuban government is partnering with these Entities that are coming in to invest in Cuba.
**Senator:** Here's why partnership. Here's why there, there is no competition, right? So the United States has an embargo. If you're China, Russia, all you're saying to them is this is how we're going to do it. You don't like it. Who else is going to invest here? Right? No one. And so they dictate all the terms and this is how the Cuban people get screwed over.
**Rooster:** But why bring [00:29:00] outside labor when you have labor in
**Gizmo:** Cuba?
**Senator:** I mean, what they were telling us is that somehow it's even cheaper.
**Gizmo:** And they might be more skilled. No, skilled. It might be a skilled thing too.
**Pagoda:** Because construction, they look for engineers and, you know, people with a certain amount of skill.
**Rooster:** But how could it be cheaper than 30 a month?
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, I'm not sure about the factor of being less expensive, but Pagoda makes a good point. Maybe the level of skill. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** that's there's a point there that the thing that that same person said to that really hit me hard was, and he said it very simply, was that Cuba's always had an abusive husband and, you know, an abusive drunk husband.
And unfortunately, what the United States could offer would be the hopefully the opposite of that, a supportive partner, a helpful partner, but the geopolitical nature of what's going on is, um, Right now prohibitive and it doesn't look like there's any end in sight to this. And unfortunately, every day that goes by, there's more.
Non US influence happening there 90 miles from Miami. So [00:30:00] that's a, it's a real tragedy. It
**Bam Bam:** doesn't seem possible for US influence to take hold there because of what's happening. And as you said, it's growing by the day. Yeah. So as that grows more and more, how could the United States have any influence?
It's impossible. And, and
**Gizmo:** Damage is done. And, and the thing that we keep hearing too is that the Chinese and, and, and the Russians and the other national influences who are moving in there, Do not have a care or regard for the betterment of the Cuban people. And that is the saddest part of all of it, you know, and, uh, you know, so that all must be said, and unfortunately for everybody smoking along with us tonight, that is an important part of this conversation is the reality.
Of what's happening there with these people that we've really come to love. And this culture, we've really come to love and feel at times, even on a very small level, a part of. Uh, and feel very welcomed at, not in a transactional way. So, I think that those things are very important, and we feel those things are very important to be shared on the podcast.[00:31:00]
Agreed. So boys, we're coming to the end of the first third here, on the Punch Double Corona. How's it, how's it going for everybody? I want this box. This is unbelievable. I want the rest of your cigars. No. Okay. How about somebody else? Okay, I'll take it.
**Bam Bam:** I think Senator hit the nail on the head earlier. It's a sophisticated cigar.
There are notes, there are, there are sweet notes. There are savory notes. It delivered in this beautiful, smooth vehicle. It's, it's, it's incredible. Fantastic smoke.
**Senator:** I'm blown away, honestly. Really? It's just so refined. It's complex. All the flavor notes are notes that I pursue in different cigars, that this is kind of brought together in one.
That's true. I'm really shocked. I love this cigar.
**Rooster:** Yeah. To me, this is, right now, better than the best Lucy
**Gizmo:** I've ever had. Oh yeah. I'm happy to hear that. Oh yeah.
**Rooster:** And maybe I have not had a lot of Lusitania's or have had not a great experience, but this is better than any, any
**Gizmo:** Lusia I've had.
**Bam Bam:** Outstanding.
**Senator:** [00:32:00] Yeah. I mean, it pains me to hear
**Rooster:** I'm sorry, but it's the truth for me.
**Senator:** No, I mean, what I'm going to say is it pains me to hear that because everybody knows my affinity for Partagas, so it's hard to hear that, but you're not wrong. This is spectacular, right? Yeah,
**Bam Bam:** it's difficult to smoke this slow because it's so good.
I'm a little bit ahead of you guys I need to ratchet back.
**Gizmo:** So you guys mentioned the Lusitania I want to go through some of the other double Coronas that are available, uh, from Cuba. There's not many of them. So right now in the catalog, the Hoyo de Monterrey double Corona, of course, the Partagus Lusitanius, which Brewster just mentioned, we did that on the podcast with Rob Islet, did not perform well to pretty much everybody's point here tonight.
We have the Punch double Corona in our hand and the Ramon Iones Gigantes. Are the only ones left. Some of the notable ones that have been discontinued include the Vegas Robbenia Don Alejandro, which is very similar to the Classico in its elusiveness and the way that [00:33:00] collectors chase it. The St. Louis Ray double Corona was discontinued in 2013.
And there have been some other double Coronas along the way. Uh, Edicion Limitada from, uh, Cohiba, from Monte Cristo, some other things, but, uh, those are the ones that have been notably available through the years as a, uh, as a double Corona. So. What year did you say this cigar is? This is a December 21. So it's just over two years old.
**Senator:** Just over two years old. You would have told me that this had five more years of age on it, I would have believed you. Yeah. That's how smooth and refined this is smoking.
**Gizmo:** I think there's something about the punch blend. You know, the, the way that they construct punch that if you think about the experience, especially Rooster has had with some of his punch punches that are only six, seven years old.
The, my, how
**Bam Bam:** about mine that are two,
**Gizmo:** three years old. There is something about those blends that, and I, I don't know if, are you a huge fan of punch punch? I love the
**Senator:** short to punch. I like
**Gizmo:** the punch punch. See, I love the punch punch, not as much as [00:34:00] Rooster. But I love both cigars. This is definitely in line with how those perform.
And I just think this is, Those cigars on steroids, but yeah, and a little more, this is an elevated
**Senator:** experience. Can I just say quickly on the punch punch, the thing for me, so I've had some age ones from rooster that have been spectacular, exactly the flavor profile would chase and expect. I've had some others that have like a much bolder flavor profile that are dramatically different.
And so I just have a hard time with reconciling. Like, I don't feel like I always know what I'm going to get. If I pursue a box of them, unless I buy an age box, it's just like the one from I had from rooster that I know is amazing. But for some of the newer ones, it's just the variations too significant for me to trust.
I'm always getting what I'd be looking
**Gizmo:** for, but also the last couple of years, I think,
**Rooster:** you know, case in point. 19, 20, 21, 22 boxes
**Gizmo:** that are smoking great. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** You know, labeling this entire marca as a value brand, I think is a [00:35:00] mistake.
**Gizmo:** I don't agree with it. I think this should be elevated. I agree. You know, punch should be elevated.
And like I said, this is the flagship of the marca. And this should be a premier. Double Corona release off the charts. I disagree. I'm
**Rooster:** actually okay. The way it is
**Gizmo:** because the prices
**Bam Bam:** will be double prices are still awful regardless of it being called a
**Senator:** value brand or not. It's not. He just said this is a 30 something dollar stick.
This is a double Corona. This is a huge cigar for 30 something bucks. That's a great value. We smoke certain Davidoff cigars that are half the size that are 30 something dollars. So This is one of the rare Cubans that I actually think we would call a good value in terms of what you're getting for what you're paying.
So I hope they keep it like this. Like Rooster said, this fucking cigar sucks,
**Bam Bam:** man.
**Rooster:** I'm totally okay with a value brand over
**Gizmo:** delivering. Oh, I
**Rooster:** agree with you. That's what this is doing. Keep it that way. Good point.
**Gizmo:** Totally. Keep it in the value. The other thing too that I want to say is, you know, we're inside a Cuba recap episode right now.
So it [00:36:00] is important to note that we've thrown a couple of different prices around, uh, you know, Pagoda was able to, you know, I think you guys saw some of these in Havana. They were like 25 bucks. 10 swing is the. Premium that you're paying to get it inside the United States from, you know, from a retailer, from a secondary seller or something like that.
So there is a 10 swing. They're 25 bucks in Havana from an LCDH. You might find them like that elsewhere, but most of the listeners on this podcast who find it from a legitimate source are going to be closer to 35 to 40. And we
**Rooster:** only saw it at Habana Libre on one of the lounges. We did not see
**Gizmo:** this anywhere else.
**Senator:** Yeah. I mean, we didn't see much anywhere else. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** there was hardly any
**Bam Bam:** inventory was low everywhere.
**Gizmo:** Yeah.
**Senator:** Which I'll be honest, I was surprised by just because it's not like we went after the festival when Havana's flooded and people are just buying stuff left and right. I would have thought the inventory would have been decent, but it was better in March after the festival, the first time we went than it was before us going
**Gizmo:** in January.
The thing I've, the thing I've learned though is I do think that [00:37:00] actually Habanos festival, that's when they're going to make serious allocation happen inside Havana. You know? Because. Why let it sit in Havana and wait for a tourist to show up if you can move it to PCC or hunters and Frank or whoever, and it's sold almost the same day, you know, Oh, Dallas
**Bam Bam:** at the part of the shop said exactly that.
Yeah. So they're waiting for that and they'll start to bring inventory in. Yeah. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** So boys, let's talk about our pairing really quick before we go into some of our other lounge and, uh, LCDH experiences in Havana. Tonight we're drinking the Glenn Livet 14 year age single malt scotch whiskey. This is the third from the Glenn Livet offering we've done on the pod.
We did the 12 and the 18. And, uh, I'm very excited. I've never had the 14 before. How is it? I like it. Oh, that's pretty good.
**Bam Bam:** I like it. Mmm.
**Senator:** I mean, I'm just gonna say this is another one of those [00:38:00] fortuitous pairings in that. Yes. Rooster used the words of value brand over delivering to describe the cigar. And I think that's exactly how I would describe this scotch. Glen Levitt is the biggest producer of scotch in all of Scotland. It's a value brand for the most part.
This drinks like a premium spirit.
**Bam Bam:** Absolutely. This is actually very, very good.
**Gizmo:** How much was the bottle? So this was 68 bucks. Yeah, 14 year
**Senator:** age scotch. 14 year. Under 70. Most 12 years are that price. That's true.
**Gizmo:** So this is finished, a portion of the whiskey is finished in cognac casks. Mmm. Cognac. Cognac.
Which we like. Um, I, I think that for 68 bucks, this is a really delicious spirit. It's, it's awesome. And I, you know, to your point, Senator, I think some of the other scotches that have like a very Heavy Sherry finish. I don't know how well they would have paired with this cigar tonight. They might've overpowered it a little, but I think for 14 years, this is really a nice match.
**Senator:** [00:39:00] I'm glad you mentioned other Scotches with a heavy Sherry finish. We love Sherry, but the thing is a word I would use to describe this Scotch is incredibly balanced, which is, I think also very similar to the cigar. As much as we love sherry, there's so many scotches we have and we're like, it's just a sherry bomb.
Yes. And that can sometimes, unless you have a full cigar to hold up against it, it can take away from the flavor you're getting of the cigar. And I think this is just really flavorful, but so nicely balanced. Very, very mellow. You can, I would drink this with any
**Bam Bam:** cigar. Yeah. Dare I say, there is a hint of like an orange peel.
I'm not using the word citrus. Orange peel in this, on the finish
**Gizmo:** for me. The listener isn't dumb though. They know that orange peel is citrus.
**Bam Bam:** Well, I'm not saying the word. It finishes beautifully.
**Gizmo:** So let's talk about some of the flavor notes because I love doing this on the back of the box. The nose is supposed to have a sweet and fruity aroma followed by a subtle spice.
Is that [00:40:00] accurate? Let's give it a whiff.
**Bam Bam:** No spice on the nose, but they're fruity forward, yeah, on the nose.
**Gizmo:** On the palate, mouth coating whiskey, full of ripe poached pears, mandarins, there you go, Bam. Yeah, mandarins there. In syrup and chocolate coated raisins. In the finish, sweet and delicious. A glenlivet savour.
Savours? What the fuck? A glen, that sentence doesn't make sense. Sweet and delicious, a glenlivet savour. S A V O U R. What am I, what am I missing here? Savoie. Savoie? Is that a thing? I don't know.
**Bam Bam:** I'm, I'm done, I, you see how
**Gizmo:** quickly, you see how quickly I
**Bam Bam:** follow you? We love, we love Savoie. What a nightmare.
**Gizmo:** I love you. So this is the Cognac cask selection, selectively finished in Cognac casks to give a rich and intense flavor. Very, very good. I love the presentation of the [00:41:00] box. The purple, I think, is very cool. It definitely stands out when you're in the liquor store. You can find this immediately, but a great, great scotch for 68.
Delicious pairing. Yeah.
**Senator:** I'm glad we did it because I feel like the things that get attention from Glenn Leavitt, the 12 year because it's in every bar you can ever walk in, the States, an airplane, and the 18 is an outstanding premium spirit they make that we've, we've reviewed on the podcast, but I've never had the 14 until
**Bam Bam:** tonight.
Oh, same. You know, and before the recording you sent the list out, I was concerned that it may overpower this particular cigar. This entire market for me, it's, I would rather have a great cup of coffee with any punch cigar than a scotch, but this is quite a pairing tonight. It's working perfectly.
**Gizmo:** All right.
So let's get back to our Havana recap. Uh, we were in Havana last week. We're going to do three episodes on it this time. The first one tonight is our Havana recap. The second one in two weeks is going to be our recap of our trip to Vinales and some of the tobacco farms and what we learned out there and third [00:42:00] and most prominently will feature our two hour interview.
With Danilo Rodriguez, the production manager for Cohiba. Highlight of the trip. Highlight of the
**Rooster:** trip. I mean, both, even Vinales and, uh, the time we spent with Danilo and recording there, I mean, it was
**Bam Bam:** incredible. You're gonna have a lot of editing to do on that because I'm gonna keep talking. That was quite the night.
**Gizmo:** Quite the night. Yeah, it was amazing. We felt, uh, we were very, very lucky. So that's something to look forward to. So in two weeks, like I said, Vinales, uh, recap. And then in four weeks, a month from today. It's really
**Rooster:** a must for any listener who has the opportunity to make it to Cuba, must make a trip to Vinales.
Yeah,
**Senator:** I agree. I mean, even if you Even
**Gizmo:** if it's a day trip,
**Senator:** do it. If it's a day trip, but Even if you're not a big cigar person, it's so beautiful out there. It is. I mean, some of the photos I took, you guys saw [00:43:00] that one photo, it looked like a painting. Yeah. We're just looking out at just like all these mountains back there and just how lush and green everything was, just stunning.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, this is part of the trip that I missed. And I'm kicking myself for missing it. It, the photos were spectacular. And everyone you were encountering in the photographs seemed very friendly and. Oh, they
**Gizmo:** were. Just, you know. We had a wonderful time. Yeah, it's incredible. And I'm excited for you to experience this.
I can't wait. With us and also for the listener is we learned so much about the process. Yeah. Because we were standing right there. You know, very similar to when we've recapped our time in the factories. It's going to be a great, great episode. So much to see out there. Yeah. So for the listener, tune in, in two weeks, we're going to do our full recap of Vinalis.
And like I said, in four weeks, uh, you'll get to hear directly from Danilo with us. We did a two hour interview almost. We were like Tim Russert, asking all the hard hitting questions. We did. We did ask some hard questions. It's true. Yeah. And by
**Rooster:** the way, Danilo is the production manager at the El Laguito factory, Goheba
**Gizmo:** [00:44:00] factory.
Right. Yep. All right. So let's get back to our Havana recap. Back in downtown Havana, we mentioned the stock in the various shops that we saw was lacking. You know, what wasn't lacking was our smoking experiences at those same exact shops. Notably the amazing time we constantly have at the Partagas LCDH right downtown old Havana, right next to the Florida Detail where Hemingway frequented, that is such an amazing experience every single.
I'm
**Bam Bam:** shaking my head because it never gets old. It just never, ever gets old. You walk into that back room, you sit down in that beautiful chair, it's, it's always a great experience.
**Senator:** I think there are more than any place you can smoke in Havana, especially if you go there a few times, you, you, you frequent it.
They treat you like family and they are more hospitable than anywhere, period. True. That is true.
**Gizmo:** No question.
**Senator:** You feel like you're walking into your house and sitting in your living room and I [00:45:00] just, it's special, like man, it never gets old. It's just special every time. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** It is. And our first day there, we walked in, we opened that lounge ourselves, lights were off.
We had it to
**Gizmo:** ourselves. That is the nice thing and no offense to the folks who go down there for the various festivals and week long events where everybody kind of, you know, runs to Havana to see their friends. Totally great. And we've all done it. There was something special about being there at non festival time where we really felt, I don't want to use the word VIP because it sounds kind of, uh, bougie, but we were able to spend quality time.
With the people that we wanted to spend time with at the shops, namely the folks who run it, like Renee, who runs part, I guess, and some of the other folks we mentioned, and instead of spending Two minutes or five minutes, we were able to spend hours You know, learning from them and talking with them and sharing rum with them.
It was, it was really, really special.
**Pagoda:** It's interesting that when you walk in, everybody has this [00:46:00] assigned chair of sorts, like you go back to your own comfortable chair. Everybody just goes and sits in their little
**Gizmo:** It's like when we come here. Yeah, yeah. It's like when we come here and it's so comfortable.
And, how good is the coffee at the party? Oh, it's so good. Outstanding. So, Sonny makes a great coffee. Oh, yeah. She does. And, you know, the other thing too that was nice, we were able to experience 15 year aged Havana club there with our cigars, which was unbelievable.
**Bam Bam:** That was the first time I've had
**Senator:** it. Have you had that before?
No, I
**Gizmo:** don't think any of us. No,
**Senator:** we haven't had it. Nope. Renee was so generous and just came in and brought that bottle. And I think all of us were just blown away. Gave us a big
**Bam Bam:** Renee pour. Yeah. Just kept the bottle up there. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Fantastic. And I love he always, when he taps the bottle, he always throws some in the corner for those who've gone before us.
Yeah. It's like he doesn't even think about it. He just whips like a little half of the shot. Even
**Senator:** if it's a 250 bottle. You're just sitting there like in pain. I can't believe he just did that. I'm gonna start doing
**Bam Bam:** that in our club. Do it with your own spirit.
**Gizmo:** I
**Rooster:** love the [00:47:00] guayaberas that
**Gizmo:** they wear. Oh yeah.
The red ones, the men's linen shirt. How are you
**Bam Bam:** not wearing one of those on a daily basis? You of all people, look at you,
**Senator:** you're made
**Rooster:** for the guayaberas. Cause you know what? I actually have a couple of guayaberas. They're too long. I need like an untucket version. You're a little bit shorter.
**Bam Bam:** Get a hemmed.
I know. You're Mr. Garment, man.
**Rooster:** I gave Gizmo
**Gizmo:** one. I don't even know if he's ever worn it. I have. I wore it in Havana. He did? Yes. He threw it out. I
**Senator:** didn't see it. I didn't have a hoodie on it. Correct.
**Bam Bam:** No
**Gizmo:** logo on it. Watch,
**Rooster:** look out for Lounge Lizards Guayaberas coming. Oh,
**Gizmo:** we're going to do that at some point.
He
**Bam Bam:** wore it with those Under
**Pagoda:** Armour shorts.
**Rooster:** Custom embroidered Lounge Lizards
**Gizmo:** logo on a Guayabera shirt. That is not a bad idea. We got to do it. I love the idea. So just a short walk away from the Partagas LCTH is a refound, like we refound this place as a favorite, the second level at the Parque Central hotel, [00:48:00] uh, which is a very, you know, it's a high end, I guess you'd call it a European and Asian and, you know, worldwide.
Pretty much everybody but the U. S. Tourist destination, and on the second level you were able to smoke. And this time when we went, they not only replaced all the furniture, and significantly improved the furniture, but they also put up like a glass partition. Right. So it feels like a proper lounge.
Correct. And we had some really great experiences there this time. Outstanding. I'll just say,
**Senator:** the first time we went there, I honestly hated it. It was my least favorite place to smoke in Havana. I thought the chairs were super uncomfortable. I thought it was just too warm in there. There was not great airflow.
He's too picky.
**Pagoda:** He's too picky. I loved it.
**Senator:** I loved it. We started this conversation about the part of his shop, which to me is the exact opposite. Like, it's the perfect temperature in there. The chairs are comfortable. Like, I have no complaints when I'm there. Just in comparison, it paled in comparison. Like Gizmo said this time, clearly they figured out these were problems.
Those chairs, beautiful [00:49:00] leather seats, high backs. I mean, you could, you could nap in these chairs for hours and feel great. The, the glass partition helped they, because before it was open air with the entire hotel and it's a huge atrium. So there's just a lot of heat, especially up on the second level compared to down below that glass partition keeps the AC in that room, much more comfortable smoking experience.
better airflow. It's also a
**Gizmo:** bit quieter. It is. It is. You're not. Yes.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. It reduces the decibels from down
**Gizmo:** below. Pretty much the lobby of the hotel is right there. So that's everybody who's coming in with their luggage and coming off the street and coming with their kids. You hear it all. And now with the partition, it feels like a.
Proper lounge and the seating is just so much better outstanding than it was even a year ago so that we've that's gone from the bottom of the list to now really close to the top of the list as as far as our Experience goes and great
**Senator:** rum selection great
**Gizmo:** prices. Yes So
**Senator:** that's what's wow that [00:50:00] 15 year Havana Club is like a 250 bottle they had that for a single pour for I saw the
**Bam Bam:** first For 13
**Senator:** U.
S. dollars. That's right.
**Bam Bam:** That's insane. It's incredible. Now you can also get a meal there. I saw a meal being delivered Really? To people that were sitting on the opposite side of the lounge. Pretty good, pretty good experience.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Typically the hotels don't really have good food. Yeah, you don't want to eat, you know, if you're going to eat there, you know, as a tourist, you definitely want to find private, privately owned restaurants, you know, I
**Rooster:** mean, even, even in the highly acclaimed Hotel Manzano, which is the Kempinski, I heard that the food's not that
**Gizmo:** great.
Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. That's another great lounge. Speaking of the Kempinski, the, the, the lounge there, the cigar lounge there also improved. Somehow, they found the air conditioning button and turned it on. And this year, it was very, very comfortable and ended up being another great spot to smoke. And what's nice about that is the views of the Capitol and the park, because you're elevated, I think it's up three or [00:51:00] four stories in that building.
Um, it's such an amazing place to smoke and see all these views. And traditionally, folks at night like to go up there and take pictures on the balcony. With the big Capitol building behind them. It's a very common place to take a photo, but what did you guys think of a Kempinski this time? Definitely
**Senator:** better than the first time.
I mean, like you said, the first time was just too warm. The one thing that's a little odd about that place, they have great hours. They're open late, where a lot of these shops close at like three, four, five o'clock. Um, but it, it just always has felt dead in there. Like every time I've been in there, we're the only people in the entire place.
I don't mind. That's not a bad thing. It's, It's a merit, but also sometimes I don't know. I'm just like, you
**Rooster:** want to see more action. You want to see more people,
**Gizmo:** more action, or even, I feel
**Senator:** like when I walked in there, the lights are barely even on, you just feel like you're in a place that has closed and there may be just staying open a little extra for you.
But this time I didn't get that feeling. I felt like it was properly lit. Like it just felt like a, a warm inviting lounge where I think the first [00:52:00] time. It just felt a little cold and like we maybe shouldn't be there at that time. So, um, I think that also has definitely improved. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** They do have a beautiful rooftop.
Oh yeah. Yeah.
**Rooster:** They have a beautiful pool area. They have, they serve lunch and dinner up at the pool area, which is
**Bam Bam:** nice. So I've yet to see that lounge as well. Do they have a humidor?
**Rooster:** They do. Really? But no, they had nothing in it.
**Gizmo:** It's empty. Oh, it's empty. Okay. Their
**Rooster:** selection is like the least out of all the lounges that we went to.
It did feel a bit
**Pagoda:** sophisticated. Yeah. It was like a sophisticated kind of place.
**Bam Bam:** Photographs are beautiful.
**Senator:** It is. And that's where the most famous sommelier, um, in Cuba, uh, Jesus Machine, uh, he works there. They have a great rum selection and he'll recommend different rums to pair with
**Gizmo:** cigars. And if you're a cigar guy, like we are of your gal, and you're listening to this podcast and you have an opportunity to go to Havana, go meet Jesus machine and just sit down and talk to him, give him a cigar, have some rum with him and, and he'll give you a two hours of just immense education on cigars and [00:53:00] spirits and pairings.
And he's just a wealth of knowledge. And he's a great chat. It's a master. The master saw him both in wine and in the cigars, which is. I think he's the only one on the island that's used both. Here's a
**Bam Bam:** quick question. So the first time we went, we couldn't get up there.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. You
**Rooster:** have to kind of know somebody to get up there because they don't, they don't accept dollars.
It's a key detail. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Yeah.
**Rooster:** But it's, it's typical, right? The whole country's like that. Okay. It's all about who you know. So every time you go there, you're going to make some contacts. You're going to find, find some people who will give you access to these people.
**Gizmo:** You're a
**Bam Bam:** Cuban insider now. So
**Gizmo:** the final lounge that we should discuss that we that we frequent when we're in Havana is the, uh, second floor lounge at the Hotel Malia Cohiba, which is another nice spot.
This time we didn't spend as much time there as we did in the past. I think because parquet delivered. And we were [00:54:00] able to hang at Kempinski, but, um, what did you guys think of Malia Cohiba this time?
**Bam Bam:** Again, I never get tired of that place. It's really comfortable. Um, it's bigger, not as cozy as part of the shop, but really quite nice.
Well, the back
**Rooster:** room is really nice. It's really quaint and, uh, you know, for four to five people, it's, it's
**Gizmo:** perfect. It is.
**Senator:** So, uh, maybe I have a slightly different take. I, Malia Cohiba, the first trip was my favorite place to smoke. Particularly the room Rooster's talking about. They have this little private room off to the side.
You have just glass windows. You're looking out at the melecon and it's beautiful. The other seating area, I mean it's, it's not nice. There's no other way to put it. It's like there's lawn chairs. Yeah. It's wide open. It just, it feels totally out of place. If they just replaced that with like proper lounge furniture.
That would make a huge difference and I think the thing also now that I've come to realize the ventilation in that private room is horrible. There is none. I mean, every time I walk out of that room and get back [00:55:00] to our house, I reek of cigars. And I don't mind the smell of cigars, but it's like so bad in there that it's just too much.
So I think the fact that like the Parque Central improves so much. That for me now is a much more ideal smoking experience where I'm not just limited to that one room at Malia Cohiba and the first time we went there, in fact, the room was occupied and we couldn't get in there and so we had to go to another place to smoke.
You kind of have to sit in there if you're going to enjoy yourself where I like with Parque Central. any of the seats you take there, you're going to have a nice experience. Part, I guess, same thing. And it's never crowded. Yeah. So for me now, Malia Cohiba someplace that would definitely return to, but it's not at the top of my list.
Like it was the.
**Gizmo:** So would you say
**Rooster:** part I guess, number one, parke central number two, this time around.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Milia, could have a three. It might be at the fourth. I would say Kempinsky third is
**Rooster:** Kempinsky and fourth, his milk.
**Gizmo:** I do. And the place that we should note that we [00:56:00] completely wrote off, we didn't even visit it once this trip.
Oh, the Cohiba Atmosphere. It's Cohiba Atmosphere. Yeah. In the really, really fancy, uh, mall area, I guess. It's too horrible.
**Senator:** If you wanna, if you could imagine sitting in an American shopping mall on a bench, effectively, smoking a cigar, that's what it feels like
**Gizmo:** in there. Yeah. It's
**Rooster:** actually, you can, when you look down from, uh, Kempinski, you could see Koheba atmosphere right
**Bam Bam:** from the elevator.
And when Giz sits on a couch there, he looks like a toddler. His
**Senator:** feet don't touch the floor. I mean, it was comical. These couches were massive.
**Gizmo:** I think Shaquille O'Neal would feel short on those, those couches. So boys, we're just around the halfway mark, maybe past it here on the Punch Double Corona. Every single draw for me has been nothing short of fantastic.
Agreed. What is, uh, what is everybody else's experience? It's just delicious,
**Rooster:** nutty, a little bit of [00:57:00] spice, and uh, I don't know, it's, it's, it's complete, it's a punch, punch DNA.
**Bam Bam:** The retrohale for me brings out the sweetness in the cigar.
**Pagoda:** Uh, just overall a very consistent experience, like, it's not one of those cigars which is developed into something new or different.
It's been a very reasonable. Excellent experience throughout and the combustion, I must say, has been fantastic for me.
**Senator:** Yeah, I, I think, um, Giz mentioned every puff just being spectacular. Even cigars that I love a lot that I smoke regularly. I don't know that there are many cigars that every puff I'm sitting there saying, wow, this is unbelievable.
It's most of the cigar is unbelievable. And there are some moments in it that. I'm losing a little bit of the flavor and then it comes back or whatever the case is. Truly with this, there's not a singular complaint I have so far. It's perfect. Excellent. Not
**Bam Bam:** tonight.
**Gizmo:** You know what I love too is that none of us have picked up our lighter to retouch this thing.
That's true. Not at all. None [00:58:00] of the five of us have touched our lighter and we're Almost an hour into this episode. Very true. That's unbelievable. Yeah. So boys, uh, Rooster mentioned food not being great at some of the hotel places, you know, the government owned or the government run places, but we had some incredible meals at some of the most fantastic restaurants, not only in Havana, but for me.
Take the nostalgia out of it or the feeling that we talked about of kind of feeling home. Some of these meals that we're able to get in Havana are just top tier. Compare with almost anything that I've had anywhere in the world. There is really some amazing food in Havana.
**Bam Bam:** Ropa Vieja.
**Gizmo:** Wow. So bam, of course, we'll start with our new favorites.
Five Sentidos, Cinco Sentidos over near, actually over near the Partiga shop in Parque Central. Little restaurant that is, is an absolute gem and we kind of got [00:59:00] obsessed with it. I think we went there like
**Senator:** three straight nights, three straight nights. And had the
**Bam Bam:** same dish every night. It's
**Gizmo:** the best Ropa
**Senator:** Vieja in Havana, period.
I mean, we've had it at a number of different restaurants. Nowhere even comes close. The presentation alone looks like something out of a Michelin star restaurant. Stunning. The food, the flavor. The everything's balanced. Like we were talking about the Ropa Vieja. It's like savory and a little sweet. Like everything was perfect.
I mean, I'm not a big dessert guy. I never ordered dessert at a restaurant. Usually when I'm with other people, they feel differently and everybody gets dessert. Pagoda. Big dessert guy. At that place, I mean, you know, I took a spoon. He's shaking his head in
**Bam Bam:** disagreement. No, not at all.
**Senator:** I took a spoon full of anyone's dessert and everything was incredible.
Yeah. That lemon cream thing that you got.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. That was excellent, by the way. Wasn't that great? And it was light too. Like after the Ropa Vieja, which is. [01:00:00] Significant. And it sits in your stomach. Like, there's a lot of food there, especially if you get rice and beans with it. I mean, it's, it's, it's so perfectly prepared.
Everything. The tostonis there. The tostonis. I, I had two orders myself. You were obsessed. Giz was out of control with the tostonis. He was. I mean, that's just the best thing in the world. The look on the
**Senator:** waitress's face when I had to say we want, like, Eight orders of Tostones for five of us sitting there.
I mean, she thought we were insane.
**Bam Bam:** Estupido Americanos.
**Gizmo:** It was, uh, that is a really, really special place. And like you said, I mean, if there's anybody out there who knows anybody who works at the Michelin. Rating place. Send them to Havana. This place should have at least one Michelin star. It is some of the best food I've ever had anywhere in the world.
And to walk out of there for the five of us and the bill is what? 180 bucks? 200 bucks? Total? It's ridiculous. I mean, that meal in New York would be five or six or seven times that.
**Senator:** The other thing we'd be remiss without [01:01:00] mentioning, the service there is incredible. I mean, every little detail, like we've talked about, obviously, I, I think stemware is important and they've got, they're, they're so, I mean, even the water, I mean, we were laughing, Giz didn't want to drink his water out of the bottle, but
**Gizmo:** it's like they were putting my water in like a fishbowl.
It was, I'd
**Senator:** call it more of a chalice or it was, uh, it was very elegant, but just every little detail, like from the stem where they chose for each, whether it's water, wine, whatever you're drinking to. My goodness. Like you, they, they bring in like a little, a moose for the table, you know, a compliments of the chef.
And then they literally, and it's in a tiny little shot glass. It's a gazpacho that we just basically put back in the shot glass. None of us used any silverware for it. No. And then they collect the shot glasses. They take. All the silverware off the table that we haven't even used, but it's unthinkable for them to have the same silverware per course.
They're tainted.
**Rooster:** It's, it's very unlike here where they tell you, can [01:02:00] you please keep the fork?
**Gizmo:** Like,
**Bam Bam:** no, I put
**Rooster:** the fucking fork on the plate so
**Bam Bam:** you can take
**Pagoda:** it. Tranquilo, tranquilo, rooster, tranquilo.
**Rooster:** My God, it annoys the shit out of me.
**Gizmo:** Isn't, isn't
**Rooster:** that annoying? It is annoying. Like you want the dirty fork taken away.
Right. Take it away. They, they take it and they put
**Gizmo:** it on the dirty table. It's
**Senator:** true. We're here, we have clean forks and knives, but the thought of like bringing a second course without fresh silverware, I just couldn't believe at every stage. I remember someone at some point, their napkin fell on the floor.
This woman darts over, grabs the napkin, doesn't let the person pick it up, brings a new fresh napkin immediately. I mean, things you would literally only see at like a five star Michelin star restaurant. Unbelievable.
**Rooster:** Attention to detail. The way they clean the crumbs from your table. Yeah. The way they wipe down the table in between courses.
I mean, that's,
**Gizmo:** it's incredible. The
**Bam Bam:** interiors of the restaurant's beautiful as well. Yeah. Very well done. Nice job.
**Gizmo:** Beautifully appointed space. And [01:03:00] I like too, that you kind of, you can see the kitchen from all angles. If you're on the first floor, if you go up the stairs and you sit on the second floor, you, you always have a view what's going on in the kitchen and they're so Precise, even when you watch them, you know, we were on the second floor.
So we kind of had an overhang. We could see directly down into the kitchen, the way they were dressing the plates for the Ropa Vieja, very delicately, very delicately, like an artist. Like this guy was so meticulous about where he was placing every aspect of that decorative. you know, plating that they were doing, again, it should have a Michelin star that place.
No question.
**Bam Bam:** Truly dispels the myth of where can I eat
**Gizmo:** when I go to Cuba? Yeah. Anybody who's worried about finding good food in Cuba, especially as an American or European or anywhere, anyone who's not living in Havana, you will find good food there. Yeah. We're gonna start guided tours by the way. So yeah.
Keep a, keep a lookout like,
**Bam Bam:** we'd like. Official lizard tour.
**Gizmo:** So. Right down the street from [01:04:00] five centitos is a comparable experience. As far as the food goes for me, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha, cha. What a restaurant love that. So this place is right across the street, literally from the museum of the revolution, where you can, you're literally sitting having dinner and you can see the grandma boat that Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, you know, began the revolution on the food in this place is another absolute stunner.
Best beans. The beans are amazing. Oh, yeah. Agreed. Amazing beans.
**Bam Bam:** From the point of view of ambience, probably a step down from the elegance of I agree. Yeah, but more
**Pagoda:** modern. Cinco centinos. Cinco
**Bam Bam:** centinos. But, but still a lot of fun and beautifully done.
**Senator:** Very cool space. I mean, it's a really cool space and I'll never forget the first time we walked in there in March and it hits you every time you're in there.
It looks like a place that could be in like Brooklyn. Yeah, it's true. There's like exposed brick, it's super trendy. It just defies every expectation you have visiting Havana for the first time. [01:05:00] Wine, the wine bottles
**Gizmo:** above you. Right,
**Bam Bam:** held within the flanges of the steel beam above. Yeah. Yeah, very cool.
It's a cool spot. It
**Senator:** is. The other thing there that's great is the service. Yeah. Yeah. Service is excellent. I mean, we had people that waited our, on us in March, immediately come up the first time we went in there, shake our hand. And I mean, they don't forget. That's what we talk about. It's like home and it's just like these people become family.
I, it was just so fun to walk in there and I couldn't believe they remembered us from a year ago. And what I love about.
**Bam Bam:** There's a reason for that. Yeah. Lizards leave an impression.
**Gizmo:** What I love about that, you know, going back to what we discussed when we first, you know, started discussing this in the episode is what I love about that is unlike in the United States when someone says, Hey, good to see you again.
I believe him in Havana. Yep. I don't believe folks when they say it here. Like, I, in Havana, like, I know when George, the host at that place. Oh, yeah. This, this, this well dressed, like, dapper dressed host of this restaurant. He's in charge of [01:06:00] rest, uh, reservations and seating and, and vibe. And he's like, he's like the, the maitre d of this restaurant.
And this guy looks you in the eye and he says, It's good to see you again. And I believe him. And give you a hug. Yeah, it gives you a hug. Like, we haven't seen them in what, 10 months or 11 months? They truly appreciate the business, right? And they do, yeah. Yeah. But they, you know, they are very in the moment.
So, let's talk about a negative, boys. One of the tourist hot spots.
**Senator:** Don't make us angry. This cigar is too good right now. Correct.
**Gizmo:** Unfortunately, we had a horrendous experience and it's probably my second one now. So I'm writing this place off completely is the tourist trap. Apparently the formerly in my eyes, the best restaurant in, in Havana, La Guerrita, what a horrendous meal experience we had there.
Yeah,
**Senator:** it was straight out of a sitcom. It didn't feel real, honestly. I mean, everything [01:07:00] that could go wrong, went wrong there from
**Rooster:** top to bottom. Yep. Every single thing. I can't deny
**Gizmo:** it. Yeah, it was not good. Plus
**Rooster:** it rained. We were sitting outside. Beautiful. I mean, the setting is nice. The outdoor spot
**Pagoda:** is nice.
It's beautiful. Yeah, the deck is quite beautiful.
**Rooster:** So I, I mean, I got there at least 20 minutes before you guys did, right? I was sitting alone at the table. Not a single waiter or a waitress came by me to even offer
**Gizmo:** a glass of water. Wow. Wow.
**Senator:** That's
**Gizmo:** insane. Yeah, and that, well that perfectly sums up our evening.
Yep.
**Pagoda:** Well, what was
**Gizmo:** it, two hours? We were, so we arrived. To get a meal there? So, Rooster was a little early. We were on time. We arrived at seven o'clock. We placed, there was a little bit of a rain issue. We moved pretty quickly in five minutes. I think that frazzled everybody in the restaurants. For some reason, we moved to another table.
I'm sorry,
**Senator:** before we moved, it was the same thing. I had ordered a bottle of wine for the table before we moved. We were [01:08:00] out there for probably 15, 20 minutes. No wine, no water, nothing on the table. He's right. He's right. It was a disaster even before the rain. Yeah. I mean,
**Rooster:** even now, I mean, we're talking about, what, four years since COVID?
There's still, you still have to go through the QR code, and you have issues with data and the internet, and it doesn't load up.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, so what Rooster's referring to is they don't have physical menus. So they put this QR code on the table that you can only access by Connecting to their wifi, but their wifi doesn't have any internet access.
It's only for the menu. So your phone says, well, there's no internet, so I'm going to ignore this. It's like, you need to be like a tech wizard to access their menu. It's it's crazy. That was
**Pagoda:** the case the very first time we went as well. I mean, we kind of overlooked that because it was our first time there, but it's a,
**Gizmo:** you're bam, you and I were there in November 22.
I know. It's a year and a half ago, right? You're telling
**Senator:** me that years ago, they didn't have printed menus. Of course they did. No one was using QR codes. Why they're still using this when it doesn't even work in there. [01:09:00] It's just
**Gizmo:** ridiculous.
**Rooster:** Make it easy. Every single restaurant had a printed menu
**Gizmo:** everywhere.
It's a big deal. And by the way, Guarida is not changing the menu. Nothing changed since we were, it's all the same. That's true too. So there's no reason. It's the
**Senator:** same. They don't have half the stuff even that they did when we were there last
**Gizmo:** time. Yeah. So, we moved our tables, we sat down, and we ordered, which was chaotic, because they are intent, they're one of these restaurants that are intent on not writing anything down, which is always scary to me, especially when you have a party of five or seven or whatever people.
Something's gonna get messed up. And we ended up sitting there for almost two hours before our food was served. Right. We had a huge
**Senator:** order. And this clown is sitting there pretending that he's remembering everything that we're saying. And so I asked him, I said, how many orders of this? How many orders of that?
Every single time I asked him, he got it wrong. And then finally we're waiting and waiting probably an hour, you know, into this. And he comes over with this like phone or iPad to me and he's like, I just want to confirm. Why are you confirming first of all, [01:10:00] the order an hour after we've placed it, right?
You should have done that from the start. And he holds in front of me and it's still incorrect. It's like we're trying to change things on the fly as the food's probably already being prepared. Yeah, it was just a nightmare. They opened a bottle of wine, spilled wine on Bam's
**Gizmo:** shirt. Oh, that's right. I forgot about that.
I didn't want to remember that. I mean, it was amateur hour the whole time. So, by the way, so this is the. I don't want to use, what would you call this guy, what was his role there? He was a, he was a psalm. Psalm, was he a psalm? He was a psalm, really? So the psalm is walking around the table refilling our wine glasses, and spills wine on Bam's shirt while refilling Bam's wine.
So
**Pagoda:** here's what really happened. So when you pour a glass of wine, you should Clean the underside of the bottle because you've got always that drip capillary action continues to go down. Just wipe and put it down. He was holding a towel. He didn't do that. So what happened? It dripped. It caught on the edge of my glass and it went down to the bottom flange and it just hung out there.
So when, of course, when you pick it up and [01:11:00] you turn to drink it, it drips on your chest. That's what happened. Right. Awful.
**Gizmo:** I
**Pagoda:** thought he wiped it on his shirt. It's, it's poor practice. Yeah, right? He went like this with his hand. And
**Senator:** the problem with this experience, again, is this is not like some casual random restaurant in Havana.
This is regarded as like the nicest restaurant in Havana.
**Gizmo:** This is true. We were sitting next to pictures of celebrities who've been there. I literally looked over, like I'm looking at this light switch that's three feet from me, and I saw a picture of Derek Jeter. That's right. You know, having visited the restaurant, like this is not a hole in the wall place.
This is a place who charges New York prices for Havana food experiences. And it was some of the worst of the Havana experiences that we had food wise. It was really, really not good. And the quality of food has gone down. Well, I was going to ask you,
**Pagoda:** how was your lobster, Senator? The lobster. It looked
**Senator:** incredible.
The lobster is the one thing there that's actually excellent. Their lobster tail, flawless. But everything else, the steaks.
**Pagoda:** I enjoyed it. I can't say that I [01:12:00] hated the
**Senator:** steak.
**Gizmo:** Mine was good. I heard some low scores for the steak. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I don't think it, it wasn't worth the price. No. It was very edible.
It was fine. But it wasn't great.
**Pagoda:** No. It wasn't great. Yeah. I kind of agree. I wouldn't want to go back there. Because there are now so many options.
**Senator:** Everything. I mean, like some of these appetizers, they have this thing they call like fish tacos. And you're thinking, it's going to be like, Some kind of fresh, you know, like raw fish or something.
It's literally tuna fish on a fucking taco. I intentionally stayed away from that. And you know, again, if that's what most of Cuba and Havana was like, I would understand, but that's not it. The food scene in Havana is serious. You get. Outstanding food there. There's no restaurant that's putting tuna fish on a taco and charging like $25
**Gizmo:** for it.
Yeah, and I think the thing to, to, to double down on what you're saying, Senator, that's really important to note, is this is not Americans rolling into Havana having unreasonable expectations. This is us rolling into a restaurant that charges New York prices and we've been there three times and we've been there, I've been there four times now.
Okay. And [01:13:00] it's. It, it, the expectation is what they set, right? It's not what we set.
**Senator:** And for context, for the listener, any restaurant that we ate in and had an amazing meal for five of us, we never spent over 200 bucks total total at La Garita. Our bill was 800. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's
**Gizmo:** outrageous. That's right.
**Rooster:** 160
**Gizmo:** a person. Yeah. Obscene. For horrible service. True. Four times
**Senator:** what we paid anywhere else and the experience was
**Gizmo:** awful. Very true. Our meal at Cha Cha Cha was 55 a guy.
**Pagoda:** And that is an
**Gizmo:** incredible experience. Including alcohol. Including alcohol. And that was, you know, Senator was ordering this, this fantastic wine that we found in there.
Oh yeah. That we're going to do on the podcast at some point in the future, maybe in the, on the Vinalis episode. Nice. I mean, it's just, It, it, it really, really stood out like a sore thumb. And for me, I've completely written off Guarida.
**Senator:** And the last thing I'll say. You know, when, when you have a bad restaurant experience, the times that I have an easier time [01:14:00] overlooking it is when the staff is really great and apologetic and does everything they can to try to improve it.
The staff was rude,
**Gizmo:** straight up downright rude. Yes. A hundred percent. I
**Senator:** mean, spoke to us as if we were complete morons and didn't even know the English language, let alone Spanish, which is silly. I just. In every way, it was unlike any experience we had at other restaurants in Havana. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** For a fifth of the price.
That's right.
**Pagoda:** Can Garcon pass
**Gizmo:** the bottle? I need some more Glenlivet. This is excellent. Oh yeah. Excellent single malt scotch. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I'm very pleased. And you know, it's odd, you know, when you see, we drink so many 12s. Yeah. So when you see a 14 year age statement, and we had the Glenlivet 12. Yeah, it's unusual to see this.
And we'll, we'll do the number. I don't remember what the rating was when we did it. I usually save that for the end of the episode to not taint it, but I think it performed okay. I know the 18 performed very well. This was just two more years and the finish in the [01:15:00] Cognac casks. Um, I, I think is a really, really excellent spirit for 68 bucks.
It's outstanding. All right, boys. So let's move on from food. The other thing I found, uh, to be improved on this trip was the cell phone and power reliability, which, you know, for me on, on previous trips was a little bit of a nervous situation where I was like, unsure of how reliable the LTE network would be, how reliable the cell phones would be, and certainly how reliable the power would be.
You know, are you going to be getting ready for dinner? And all of a sudden the power goes out. It's not available. And you're, it's a problem. You know, it's like, it was way better this time. Yeah. The LT
**Senator:** network, the stuff that keeps gizmo up at night. Listen,
**Gizmo:** it's important to say, you know, you want to stay connected.
You're, you know, it's as if we got on a plane and went to Mars in the morning.
**Pagoda:** I need the equipment. Where am I going to put it? What am I going to do? His head starts to gloat. It turns blue.
**Gizmo:** Hey, the [01:16:00] podcast needs to come out every Tuesday, even when we're in Havana boys. Correct. So, uh, you know, I, I found it to be a major thing.
And I know that for a lot of listeners, that is a question I get a lot is, is how reliable is the cell phone network? Can I stay connected? Can I talk to my family, my friends in my, my work situation? When you're in Havana, I found it to be very, very reliable. I agree. It
**Senator:** was much
**Pagoda:** better. And our very first time there, we had fears of blackouts, losing power.
And
**Senator:** we
**Pagoda:** did lose power. We did. Yeah. Not, not very
**Gizmo:** frequently though. But this time we didn't lose it at all. Not at all. And I didn't hear of any outages when we were there. So I don't know if that's an improvement or time of year. I don't know, but it was much, much better this time. And the thing I'll say for the listeners too, that's really, really important to note, crucial to note, is if you do not have a phone with a SIM card, Meaning iPhone 14, 15 and above.
Physical SIM card. Physical SIM card. Cuba does not support [01:17:00] eSIM. Yeah, you're not communicating. You're not communicating. It's over. You're dead. It's over. So, if you don't have an iPhone 13 or earlier, In your possession and you go to Cuba, you will not be able to use your cell phone. They do not have eSIM technology.
You need to have a physical SIM tray in your device. So if that means you go on Facebook Marketplace or eBay and buy a phone. Critical, critical travel. Critical. You will not be able to use your phone. And the other thing I'll say for listeners too, and we did discuss this I think on a previous episode when we recapped this.
You got to make sure you go there with a VPN downloaded so you can use that to protect your internet traffic and access it as if you're in the U S and you have to make sure all your apps are downloaded because if they're not, as soon as you hit Cuba, the app store knows it. Apple will not let you transact even for free apps on the app store.
And I think it's the same for Google. So you got to be very, very careful about that. Great points. So boys, we're into the, I guess, into the close to the last third here on the cigar. I'm just bringing this up because I want to talk about it. But [01:18:00] you and I are close. Yeah, I'm finding that where it's getting now that would pass the halfway point.
It's picked up just a little bit. Probably because we've been smoking it for well over an hour, but this is really giving me a unique experience in that first off, we're what an hour 15 hour 18 into this episode. Now we still got a lot of time left on this cigar. So it's smoking slowly, which is nice.
Yeah. And second, every single draw is just impeccable.
**Pagoda:** It has picked up in a white pepper. It's not. abrasive in any way and that the retrohale has also changed where I was getting fruity notes all the way down to the final third. The moment you pass that line it gets for me nuttier and a little peppery which I do happen to love.
**Senator:** I think the final third is now medium full. Yeah. Agreed. It's picked up a little bit and strength in a nice way. Mm-Hmm.
**Pagoda:** and, um, but in a really nice way. Yeah. I'm loving
**Gizmo:** it. Paa how about you?
**Pagoda:** [01:19:00] Uh, pretty much same, you know, um, I still get a little bit of, uh, I would, I would say like the dried fruit saltiness, uh, it's very slight for me.
Mm-Hmm. , um, um, that's accurate. And um, and yeah, marry overall very.
**Gizmo:** Very good. So, while you were talking, Pagoda, I actually just did a preemptive second cut, um, just to prevent any sort of tar blast, which, I mean, we're an hour and 15, 18 something in, you know, just to prevent as we get into the, you know, deep into the last third, I don't want any tar blast cause we've been smoking this for a while.
So. I'm, I'm going to do a preventative cut so I don't get blasted. You may be, uh, jumping the gun Giz. Just a little bit. You may be re
**Pagoda:** entering the land of the gizmo
**Gizmo:** cut. No, it's very little. Very little.
**Pagoda:** The combustion's been great there, and the ash, if you look at the ash. Beautiful. I'm sure, like, I've been, you know, dropping the ash, uh, every couple of inches, but [01:20:00] I'm sure that if I let it smoke, it would, it would stay.
It's, you know, quintessential Cuban ash, marbled grays and whites.
**Gizmo:** It's a well rolled cigar, I must say. Rooster, how's your flavor wise, you know, coming down into the, I guess you're just a little bit past halfway, coming into the last third. Yeah, I'm
**Rooster:** also getting a little bit of cedar. I don't know if anybody else is, but a little bit of cedar at the, uh,
**Gizmo:** I've been getting cedar the whole way through, honestly.
It comes, it kind of comes in and out as like prominent. It goes from prominent to the background, prominent to the background, but it's definitely there. Still so enjoyable. It has picked up in strength, though. Yeah, it has a little bit. But in a nice way, like not in a harsh way. It's not overpowering.
**Pagoda:** This is great, though.
You know, this is what I like in a cigar.
**Gizmo:** So, boys, another big question that we get from listeners in it. I almost feel having experienced it like we have, I almost feel silly. Asking this, but I think it's really, really important. And that is [01:21:00] the number one question I get asked on the email. And it's probably 50 percent of the emails we get about traveling.
The Havana is, is Havana safe for me to travel to and. You know, before I throw my opinion out, I'd like to hear from you guys. What do you feel about the safety when you go to Havana? Well,
**Pagoda:** it depends on who you are. I'm just kidding. When Pagoda walks down the street, the crowd parts. It's just that. No, but, uh, I'll tell you, it is one of the safest places I've been to.
And, you know, you know, we all travel a lot. And, uh, uh, very easy, uh, to travel. Uh, they're very respectful and friendly people. You can get anywhere. Um, you know, uh, whether you're taking a cab or walking, feels very, very safe. Um, although, uh, Rooster and I did have an interesting experience in a cab where, uh, he avoided a traffic cop [01:22:00] and backed out and then drove
**Gizmo:** away
**Rooster:** from him.
He
**Gizmo:** was driving like a maniac to begin with. And
**Rooster:** uh, You know, he was stopped at a light, a cop comes and pulls right in front of the taxi cab. And he's on a, he's on like some sort of a
**Gizmo:** scooter. Scooter moped. And he's like inches away from
**Rooster:** the cab. And we're like, what is going on? So we're like, oh, you know, he was obviously speeding, so he got pulled over.
The cop like kind of like puts the thing on a kickstand and he gets up and he's walking around and this guy decides to not engage with the cop, backs up and takes
**Gizmo:** off. With you guys in the backseat. With us in the backseat. So
**Pagoda:** for a moment there we looked at each other we said oh my lord we're in for a ride.
**Rooster:** So I was, I mean that was just for a brief moment. Yeah. But you
**Gizmo:** know everything was fine. Fine.
**Pagoda:** Yeah. I was jonesing for a walk. the entire time. And, um, you were at Melia
**Gizmo:** Cohiba Rooster. No, I was at Kempinski and I walked to Lagorita. Yeah,
**Pagoda:** and [01:23:00] I walked to, from our Oh, we
**Rooster:** went to Melia Cohiba.
**Pagoda:** Yeah, so from our house to Melia Cohiba was like six or seven blocks.
I was alone. I felt
**Gizmo:** perfectly safe. Yeah. Uh, that was like at 2. 30 in the afternoon. It was.
**Pagoda:** I'm sure you'd be safe. But it was, I loved it. I enjoyed the walks there, the strolling, even at night. And then we go to a short walk to get our taxi, but it feels great.
**Senator:** I think for me, very simply, walk, no walk, it's incredibly safe there.
Like, I, I have never once worried about my safety or anybody else's safety there. Agreed. You know, they tell you that. They do not mess with tourists at all and it holds, I mean, the first time I went there, I was very cautious, certain, uh, you know, a watch that I might normally wear, I didn't bring there, just certain things like that, you can wear a Rolex in Havana, you don't have to even think twice, you don't have to worry, it's just culturally different, and the reality also, I mean, you know, why the crime is not rampant there, I mean, There's, there's no [01:24:00] gun ownership there.
There's, there's not, there's not much drugs that make it around Cuba. And so, you know, it's a relatively safe and harmonious
**Gizmo:** environment. I always tell people that ask in my personal life, I feel safer anywhere in Havana, Cuba, or in Cuba period than I do in Manhattan. Yeah, you know, I just feel safe. I don't even think about it.
I know that those people are not going to mess with me because the consequences if they do for them are drastic, um, and obviously that's a penalty situation. But like you said, culturally, Senator, culturally, it's just not. In their DNA to mess with tourists. They're so happy we're there. And even when you walk down the street in Obispo, as you're talking about, and someone's coming up to you, Hey, do you want cigars?
Hey, do you want rum? Hey, do you want this? Hey, do you want that? And you just say, no, they go, Hey man, good to see you. Where are you from? Have a great day. It was very polite. And once you tell them you're from New York, the U S like they [01:25:00] light up like a Christmas tree, even transacting with them, they're just so happy that you're in Havana.
I have never in all my time there, I've been there several times now. I have never had a moment. Where I felt unsafe. I
**Pagoda:** totally agree because they don't even follow you. So they'll come and once you say no, they back off. It's really interesting. To
**Senator:** Gizmo's point, you walk down the street in Manhattan and some guy, you know, is haggling to try to sell something.
They'll follow you for like three, five blocks. Oh yeah. Not in Havana.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. And even like my stepdaughter or my wife, when they're going to Manhattan to see a show or do something, I'm always like trying to escort them in and be around them and make sure they're okay because I don't trust my stepdaughter walking around Penn Station going to the train like I do if she was in Havana with me.
It's a totally different world. So. For any of the listeners out there who are thinking about going to Havana, safety is not something to worry about. You know, if you're smart, you're good, and you're not going to have any problems in Havana.
**Pagoda:** Just take a load of [01:26:00] cash, that's all.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, well, you have to take cash, because obviously you can't transact.
Uh, in credit card or debit, but um, as an, as an American, as an American. Yeah. Obviously if you're European or somewhere outside the U S you can, but, uh, um, you're totally safe. So boys, one exciting thing that happened in Havana when we were there is our friend rooster here had a birthday. Ah, and we celebrated.
We had a great night. We went to cha cha cha, we had dinner and then we all went to the Tropicana show as we detailed on a previous episode, which is arguably for me, one of the best entertainment experiences I've ever seen in the world. Music, Broadway, concerts, anything. It is unlike anything else. It is so great.
We went there twice. We went, yeah. Well, that's the thing, regardless. This is our second time there. It's always a different show. Yeah, it's always changing. It never
**Rooster:** gets old. On this trip, we went to Tropicana twice, but watched the show
**Gizmo:** once. That's right. So we went there the [01:27:00] La Guarida night and it had rained and they had moved because it rained.
So the Tropicana show normally is in a big outdoor amphitheater. So if it rains, obviously everything gets wet. So we didn't know this. They moved it inside into the salon. They call it, which I think is probably about a fifth of the size. So we walked in there and they're seating us. And I was like, no way.
Went back out, got our money back, bought tickets for Thursday. A few days later, we went back, had the experience in the big room for roosters birthday, and it was. As spectacular as it was, you know, the previous times I've been there. That's incredible. And there's nothing like watching amazing entertainment, sitting there and they're bringing Havana Club rum, and you're sitting there with a cigar in your hand.
**Senator:** That's the operative thing. I mean, the cigar is really what makes it. I mean, you know, you can see shows plenty of places in the States and you can have a drink and enjoy yourself, but the fact that you're sitting there. Smoking a cigar throughout the entire duration of that show. There's nothing like it.
There's nowhere else that you can do that. It's Cuba. Yeah.
**Rooster:** That's [01:28:00] a world class production. I'm sure it is. Oh yeah. I couldn't have asked for a better
**Gizmo:** birthday.
**Rooster:** Absolutely not. It was fantastic. Oh yeah. Being in Cuba, having a great meal at Cha Cha Cha, followed by Tropicana. I mean, what else can you ask for?
Nothing. It's true. And Gizmo gave me a Cohiba Robusta from 2014. Love 14. My favorite, favorite beer. I mean, it was, it was fantastic.
**Gizmo:** How was that cigar? The whole day was great. Co ro, baby. Co ro from 14. Cigar was okay. Let me guess, you need another one to make sure. So,
**Rooster:** and
**Pagoda:** what we did was we did get a gift for you in Cuba for you.
For your birthday. We couldn't, uh, hand it out on the same day for, uh, for, uh, different reasons. We wanted to do it on the podcast, but
**Gizmo:** here it is. So we have a gift for Rooster Pagoda procured this, of course, passing it down. So, um, I'm really excited for him to see this. It's even in the La Corona bag. It's in a La Corona [01:29:00] bag that I was gifted at La Corona.
Incredible. I can't wait for him to see this. This is exciting.
**Pagoda:** Yeah. It's a beautiful
**Gizmo:** ashtray. I see. It's a, it's a rse ashtray now. Don't throw it at anybody. Can you tell the people what you're opening? Who are not here with us. It's a yellow box and it's got a big Z on it. It could only mean one thing. It's the box says Zeno
**Rooster:** on it.
**Pagoda:** Your favorite cigar.
**Gizmo:** Oh yeah. It's
**Rooster:** big, it's, it's an ashtray.
It's it's, it's a Z
**Gizmo:** the whole ashtray is a Z it's a big, like, you know, Caterpillar, like the construction equipment, it's true. It's that yellow and it's a Z for Zeno, which is obviously, as you remember from previous episodes, when Pagoda and Puba [01:30:00] pranked them, actually, I love this ashtray. Yeah, it's very cool.
And you love that cigar. Yeah, the kydor say 50.
**Pagoda:** Happy birthday. Happy birthday.
**Gizmo:** Thank you. Thank you very much. But seriously, we, you know, we had a really, really great time celebrating your birthday in Havana. And I told you this then. And I'll tell you this now. I am incredibly envious that I have not yet had So if you have any questions, you
**Rooster:** can find us on Facebook at And I'm not big into celebrations of birthdays and, uh, I don't like the whole pompous, you know, the whole show thing, but, uh, it was well done and it was just a great, great, great day.
And I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, we were happy to be there, man. And thank you for this wonderful gift. [01:31:00] Big Zeno guy. You know, the other thing I will say, and I don't mean to take away from your birthday, I was a little disappointed. So at the end of the Tropicana show, when the show proper ends, they have a big.
Cumpleaños celebration for the birthdays and our friend here, Rooster would not get up and go on the stage and dance around for his birthday. I was a little bummed out about major downer. Wait a minute. Would you have? Absolutely not. But we're talking about you.
**Rooster:** I don't think any of you
**Gizmo:** guys would have except, except Pagoda. Pagoda would have done it.
**Rooster:** Pogoda would have got on the stage even if it wasn't his
**Pagoda:** birthday. It's true. It would depend on the amount of, uh, amount of drinks I would have had by then.
**Gizmo:** So anybody going to Havana, we said this a year ago, we're gonna say it again, you gotta see the Tropicana show when you go to Havana.
It is amazing. Unlike anything else, a fantastic night. And of course, if someone in your, in [01:32:00] your party, somebody you're with is celebrating a birthday, it makes it that much more special. Cause what's nice is when you buy one of the better tickets, I think the most expensive tickets, like a hundred bucks, but you get every table, you know, gets a bottle of rum and those table or four people.
So with us, we were able to get two bottles of rum because there were five of us. It was. Absolutely fantastic. Of course, we took the rest of ours home. I tried to grab one from the table behind me. I got stopped by the guy who was running the, uh, the section. He was not into that, but, um, it was, uh, it was just a fantastic night, you know, and that, you know, boys, there's nothing better than drinking rum and having cigars in Havana, Cuba.
Correct. So let's talk about that. So some of the rum that we had. I, you know, we, we, we had some Havana Club 15, we had, uh, Pacto Navio, and a newer one that we had, Gran Reserva Eminente, which I think was a limited run, right? It was only available for a specific amount of time. And that's the black
**Pagoda:** label bottle.
Right? No, it's got
**Gizmo:** [01:33:00] a white label
**Pagoda:** on it. There's a white and a black label on that bottle. I thought it was
**Gizmo:** green. Maybe green. Yeah. I think it's green beer. Probably green. Yeah, yeah. So what did you guys think of that rum? Because that was my first time having it. I found it to be very maple forward. Yeah, very, yeah.
Very syrupy almost.
**Senator:** Yeah. To me, we've tried so many rums. You know, you mentioned obviously Havana Club, we've had the 7, the 15, Pacto Navio, um, Santiago. We've had the 11, the 12, the 20. They all drink similarly but have different qualities about them. That eminente 10 year, not the regular eminente, the 10 year was the most concentrated, robust, yet smooth.
Very smooth. Unlike any other rum I've had in Cuba, period. It was delicious. It was delicious. It's like a meal. Wow. In a good way. I haven't had
**Gizmo:** that yet.
**Rooster:** We had it at Nino's place [01:34:00] in the afternoon.
**Gizmo:** Okay. Our friend Nino does. Nice.
**Pagoda:** In the afternoon. And we, and we did finish it. You know, we heard a disappointing story about the whole Santiago
**Gizmo:** line of spirits.
Yeah. So we heard from, uh, one of our friends at the Partiga shop that, uh, Santiago was purchased You by another company in the UK and they're expecting that the things are going to change, you know, in the flavor of it, which is a disappointing thing. Cause that's a disappointment. Santiago 20 is just, we did it on the podcast.
I think he got a flat 10. It's a Holy grail of from phenomenal farm as far as I'm concerned. And we also liked the 11 and 12. We dispute that in the group, you know, but the preference is there. I liked the 11, 11 is much better than 12th, I think. Senator vehemently disagrees. In your opinion.
**Senator:** I'm sorry. I asked just time out.
I don't think Bam was there for this. We were poured the 12 year at Kempinski. Every single person took a sip that was like, wow, this is amazing. It [01:35:00] was so smooth, but flavorful and rich. And we had the 11 year when we were out at the farms in Vinales and outside of Gizmo. Every other person I asked had said that the 12 year we were poured was better than 11.
So the only reason I say false, the majority sided with
**Gizmo:** me on that. So what I'm, I will say what I said to you was I want to do them next to each other. Back to back because the 11 I had out in Vinales was amazing. Okay. But I wasn't having it back to back. I was at a tobacco farm. We were in the car for two and a half hours.
That was like the nectar of the gods after that ride. You're couching it now, by the way. No, but that's, that's what I said to you. Correct? Yeah, that's what
**Senator:** you said. You know, But it doesn't change that the 12 year, even your reaction, you couldn't believe what you were drinking. Yeah, it was
**Pagoda:** excellent.
Honestly, the two trips ago, we had the 11 I, I at that time
**Gizmo:** loved the 11 over the 12. The thing I did say to Senator Toobam, to your point, is I did say, I [01:36:00] think the 12, in the, whatever we were drinking, maybe, you know, like Rob Iles said about the runs, I think the current batch of 12 is actually better than it was a year and a half ago.
That's, that's probably what it is.
**Senator:** The big difference. I would just say, I mean, this is where it is a matter of personal preference. I'm, I'm joking. There's obviously no factual statements here. The 12 year, do you know how happy it
**Pagoda:** makes me to hear that coming out of his
**Senator:** mouth? That's the reality with everything.
That's why we rate among the group. I mean, we've all have different palates, but what it comes down to is if, if you like a. If you prefer a sweeter rum, I think the 11 year is objectively, this I would argue is fact, sweeter than the 12, and the 12 I think is drier in terms of the finish. I like a drier, almost any spirit.
I don't like anything that's overly sweet, so for me, the 12 year It's just more suited to my palate. And I think drinks a little bit more refined, just it's more balanced. That's why I use that word [01:37:00] refined, but that's personal preference. If you like a more traditional sweeter rum, then sure. You're going to like the 11 more than the 12 for me.
I just think the 12,
**Gizmo:** but
**Rooster:** you like that M and N day, which was a little bit on the sweeter
**Gizmo:** side, but not as
**Senator:** sweet as Santiago 11. That's why like, uh, from a sweetness perspective, that's more my
**Pagoda:** speed. I've only had the 12 once. I think it requires another try.
**Gizmo:** I think
**Rooster:** still the Santiago 20 is still on the top, right?
Of
**Pagoda:** course, but now future runs are suspect,
**Gizmo:** right? Yeah, who knows what's going to happen. I don't know why, why would that change? Cost cutting. Yeah. You just never know. Cost cutting. You know, you never know. What, what cost are they going to
**Pagoda:** cut from
**Gizmo:** Cuba? I don't know. Well, I mean, is this going to age it less?
Who knows? We'll try it, I guess. Yeah. The, the other thing I want to mention too to the listener is I, I think a big revelation I had on this, this trip versus previous ones was, and we mentioned having the Havana Club 15 is how consistent and, and really perfect for our experience, the inexpensive. [01:38:00] Havana Club 7 was in comparison to the 12 and the 15, like for 22 bucks, we drank more of that than almost anything on the trip.
And it delivered every single time. It was outstanding.
**Senator:** Outstanding. This was the funny thing. Every single other rum that we had there, we, we Had it. We enjoyed it. We said, this is very good, but for the price, because all of those other rums were naming Santiago, 11 and 12 are actually very affordable. Now we'll see what it becomes, but they're like 30 something a bottle, but everything else like Pacto Navio is like 60 bucks a bottle, the 15 year Havana club, right?
That's two 50 a bottle. Those are higher priced spirits. And we're sitting there saying these are really good from a price point of value standpoint. Nothing beats a 20 Havana Club 7, we all like, we would have one glass and we're like, okay, let's go back to the 7, you know, it just, it's so satisfying at such an insanely low price.
You don't need to spend more to have an enjoyable
**Pagoda:** rum there. It drinks so smoothly and easily.
**Gizmo:** [01:39:00] It's delicious. And, and to use a word we referenced earlier, when I drink 7, it's like, I'm sitting at home with a cup of coffee. Like it is, that is the flavor of Havana to me. It's Havana Club 7 with a great cigar.
Yeah. I, for price, for value, and even compared to something that's 10 times more expensive in the, in the Santiago 20 or the Havana 15. Yeah. It, it, it really feels amazing. Price, disregarded. Yeah. It's
**Senator:** perfect.
**Pagoda:** It improves your mood immediately. It's great for a pre evening drink. It's fantastic.
**Gizmo:** It's excellent.
So the other thing I want to talk about, boys, you know, certainly for anyone traveling to Havana, is the customs experience. So, we mentioned, you know, I don't know how many episodes it goes, so Well, you know, we're all New York based. So we fly out of Newark LaGuardia or JFK. Certainly there's a lot of listeners around the U S who were connecting either through JFK LaGuardia, Newark, or we're [01:40:00] going right to Miami.
Unfortunately, both United and JetBlue have stopped traveling direct to Havana. Actually JetBlue is done traveling to Havana period. So we, this time we had a fly out of LaGuardia and then we flew into my, we all connected through Miami is the point of this. So. From a customs experience, what was, what did you guys feel this time compared to flying the direct flights?
And what did you feel about flying through Miami? Before we, we should
**Senator:** also note, we all flew
**Gizmo:** American this time. I didn't mention that on purpose. We
**Senator:** all had a very nice experience.
**Pagoda:** It was an excellent experience. I have to admit, it was awesome. It's great. It was really good. I'm, I'm hooked. I'm hooked.
Thank
**Gizmo:** you. I gotta say, American was very good. The service on the flights was impeccable. Very similar to what we were saying about, uh, Cinco Sentidos.
**Pagoda:** I need to build up my frequent flyer miles so I can
**Gizmo:** take advantage of that. By the way, Senator yelled at me. He said I ruined his life. Direct quote. He did.
He [01:41:00] said I ruined his life because he now Because he now has United status and lost and lost his American status. I
**Senator:** have American status. It's I lost the highest
**Gizmo:** because of me. He's saying it's I ruined his
**Senator:** life because listen, the Lister can go back and play the tape. I. As, as strong as I am in my opinions, right?
We've all learned something from each other and I wrote United off years ago. And so I had not flown them much in the last few years. And Gizmo was so bullish that United's good, United's good. And I sat there, I said, okay, look, you know, I, I can learn something. Maybe he's right. So I committed to starting to fly United a whole lot more last year.
So much so that I earned status on that shit airline and I'm, I'm disappointed every time. I mean, it doesn't matter where you sit on their plane. You can buy a first class ticket and you're still treated like shit there. You flew first on American. It's an entirely different experience. The fucking seats are beautiful.
They're comfortable. The [01:42:00] stat, the service on the plane, they actually treat you with respect. I mean, to me, it's night and day. And I asked every guy that was on the trip and every single person said they were very pleased with the American
**Gizmo:** experience. It was excellent. By the way, he sat in front of me on the flight home and he, I see him peek through the seat and he goes.
How comfortable these as if he's so you should have
**Senator:** recorded that, by the
**Gizmo:** way, as if he's sown the weather himself, of course he did. Like he was the guy that put the seats together. He goes to stitching out. Yeah. He, he set
**Rooster:** the whole thing up. Just having access
**Gizmo:** to that beautiful lounge. It was incredible.
Yeah. The lounge at LaGuardia was very nice. Yeah. The avocado
**Pagoda:** toast.
**Senator:** Yeah. With salmon. Yeah. Smoke salmon. And for, again, this is only for listeners who are like Very frequent travelers and geek out over stuff like this. And this matters to them in the way it does to me. I travel a lot for business, the United lounges.
They're fine, but there are factories like it, it feels like almost like a Lufthansa lounge or something like it's very German. It's there's a huge like [01:43:00] cafeteria and there's a zillion people flooding the place. And they have things that you need there. It just, it, I pursue an airport lounge to get away from the craziness, right?
It's the alternative to standing out in the terminal with people screaming and stressed out and all the just nonsense that happens out there. So for me, the United lounges, I'm never all that relaxed in it. Just, it still feels crazy. The American lounges. There's always a lot less people. They have a more stringent, I think, requirement just to even have access to lounges than United does.
And so it's just calm. It's peaceful. It's not cafeteria factory style. It's, they have a, a woman who stands there with fresh made Um, avocado, not like you see in some of these joke lounges or places where they're taking avocado out of a plastic bag and squeezing it out and it's not even fresh. This is like fresh mashed avocado, they're putting smoked salmon, they had prosciutto, I mean every, it's just more bespoke, it's like made to order.
And I, I just like that about the [01:44:00] American lounges. Big
**Gizmo:** bespoke
**Pagoda:** guy. Well, yeah, the coffee was great. La Colombe. I'm telling you, man. It was, and they had a, so what's cool is if you're traveling with a family, with little kids, they have an arcade center
**Senator:** for the kids. I didn't see that. All the American lounges have playrooms for kids.
Yeah, it's very
**Gizmo:** cool. The one thing I will say, the one thing I will say that Senator agreed with me, I do, at the moment, Was that the bar so we were there early. I think our flight was 745. The bar doesn't open till 8 a. m So we couldn't even have a pre flight Bloody Mary. You were marking you were taking marks.
I was taking notes You were keeping
**Senator:** receipts. I looked into this because I was just as upset. It's not acceptable It depends on the airport, and that was a LaGuardia thing. So when we left the lounge and we were in the terminal going to our gate, there was a big bar there. It was closed. They were closed, too.
That's right. You're right. You're in other airports. At seven in the morning, you see people drinking at the bars and the airports. For some reason, LaGuardia is very weird about the start time for serving alcohol. So. It's not just American. It's a [01:45:00] LaGuardia thing.
**Gizmo:** This guy runs defense for American Airlines.
No, no, no. You have to understand. Am I wrong, Bam? You are absolutely
**Senator:** correct. I'm sorry. You're both incorrect.
**Pagoda:** Here's why. I don't know. You're like a spokesman, man. No. When
**Senator:** Giz said this,
**Gizmo:** I A bespoke
**Senator:** Bespoke. Bespoke spokesman. Get it out. Get it
**Gizmo:** out.
**Pagoda:** Are you ready? We're done.
**Senator:** Go ahead. When Giz said this to me, I literally was Equally upset, I was going to write a letter to American about this, and I've done this in the past.
I've told you a story with the eggs there. Yeah, you
**Gizmo:** did fix the
**Senator:** eggs. Frequent business traveler, I think it's silly. If you're sitting in an airport lounge, you're in a suit, you're going to a meeting, you're trying to have a quick breakfast. At the American lounges and many other lounges, they'll have like, boiled eggs and some other things.
I couldn't believe it. The American lounge, these boiled eggs, they have these shells on and you're just sitting there picking apart piece after piece to just get to the egg and I'm like, this is ridiculous. I'm wearing a suit. I don't want eggshells all over me. This would be [01:46:00] solved so easily if they just pre peeled them like I've seen other places do and put them out.
I wrote a letter to American. I got you. A very nice response. An apology. They completely agreed and they said that they were going to work to implement across all their lounges, the eggs being peeled. And now if you go in any American lounge, they're peeled. So I'm fine criticizing American when they're wrong.
On the time though, unfortunately, it's an airport thing. Say
**Gizmo:** it Bam. Say it Bam. Bespoke
**Pagoda:** spokesman.
**Gizmo:** Global. Global travel insider. Global
**Pagoda:** American Airlines insider.
**Gizmo:** I like, by the way, that when a lizard speaks, American listens. That's true. That is a good mark on their side. If I
**Senator:** sent that to United, they'd tell me to fuck off.
**Gizmo:** I mean, they would. That's because I would tell them to.
**Pagoda:** No, but I do agree with the Senator on this, right? I got, I don't know why, but I got some complimentary upgrades on the way there and on the way back. And I have no idea why. Well, welcome to American. Lizard Pagoda. That's why. Because they [01:47:00] lost his luggage.
That's right. And they brought it the same day. Same day. So listen, Listen,
**Gizmo:** After hours at night, it was like seven having,
**Rooster:** having said that, that lounge is superb. It's a 20, 000 square foot lounge, which is better than any other. Well, there might be, I mean, maybe some of the Centurion lounges are, are, you
**Gizmo:** know, comparable or better than any other airline.
Yeah. The, the Amex loungers are nice. So I want to get back to briefly, uh, the customs experience for the listener on Miami. The Miami customs experience. I found customs to be actually a little bit smoother just because with the connection, I think it was a little bit squeezed on time and they recognize that.
So we didn't have to waste as much time, but I know Pagoda specifically, you know, unfortunately it was the one out of all of us that got picked off to have his bags inspected and he lost some cigars.
**Pagoda:** The Hispanic looking one. This is ridiculous. Well, I'm just kidding. We all have a little patina on his skin.
Yeah. No, but overall, uh, you know, when you're,
**Senator:** when you're a nervous traveler, you can be an easy target. [01:48:00] When your
**Pagoda:** eyeballs are like binoculars. Go through there.
**Senator:** I mean, can you just imagine like, I'm sure they can tell like your heart rate as you're like walking through there. You're sweating. Pagodas like fucking beating so fast, sweating, like
**Gizmo:** we're getting this guy.
And again,
**Pagoda:** it's really interesting that three people spent about an hour and they took 20 cigars from me. So that's great. Yeah, what a great use of their time, right? It's true. Listen, you know what? Hey, how about just leaving those 20 cigars from personal consumption? No,
**Gizmo:** no. These were the ones that you brought with you into Cuba.
You didn't buy them there. No, I didn't
**Pagoda:** buy them. Yeah, I did not even buy them there. And that's, but it is what it is. Listen, overall, it was an experience. I think I've learned through it and I'll handle them better next time. So
**Senator:** the customs experience when you're flying to Havana through Miami is pretty damn seamless.
I was actually shocked. It was fine. I mean, they have it such that you don't have to Your bags automatically [01:49:00] go on to Havana. You don't have to collect them at Miami and then recheck them. None of that, which was great. You just go right into the same. You're in the same terminal that you land. You're connecting flight.
They have a person at the gate selling the visa. So you don't have to go to a separate place like other airports to get it. That part was pretty easy. I know for most of us, our gate was literally two gates down. Mm-Hmm. Close our connecting flight. So close, not mine. Rooster got unlucky. His was further.
**Rooster:** Yeah, I was, I landed on D seven and I had to make it to D 47 and the flight was already late, so I had literally had about, I don't know, about half an hour to make it to the gate.
**Gizmo:** You were sprint.
**Senator:** Yeah. But the reason I say that is going in, I feel like that was as seamless and experience as you can possibly have, but coming out, that's where Miami clearly has not really figured that out.
Absolutely. No,
**Pagoda:** because they, they want to check your bags and you know, it is ridiculous. So
**Gizmo:** to elaborate on what Senator was saying. So when you get off the plane in Miami, coming back home, connecting, you had to go through, you know, you had to get off the plane, go through customs, collect your [01:50:00] bag. Go through the secondary customs where they pick some people off.
And then re check. It takes an odyssey to get there. And then you gotta re check your bag and then go through security again to go back into the terminal to get on your domestic flight to come home. And that's where Pagoda unfortunately got picked off. And you,
**Pagoda:** you know, and the thing is, the timing difference is about an hour, hour and a half.
And now you're stuck in customs for about an hour. So now you're rushing. I, like, I don't understand. The overall, uh, an idea
**Gizmo:** behind,
**Rooster:** you know, what I don't understand is the TSA. It's the, the thing is not uniform. Some airports, you have to take your shoes off and some you don't
**Gizmo:** who dictates that. Yeah. Yeah.
They do what they want. And it, it was, it did not have in my like having TSA pre check a global entry did not factor into that. Yeah. He's
**Senator:** right. Yeah. I mean, for me, that's very simple. You, if you don't have global entry or TSA pre check, you have to take your shoes off everywhere. The difference was that, that route we [01:51:00] took was specifically for connecting flights through Miami.
And so they obviously recognize in the interest of time, people are going to miss flights if they have to take their shoes off, do all this. So they treated everyone as if they were a pre check traveler and you could keep your shoes on, keep your laptops in the bag, which was the one smart thing they did.
The rest is a mess, but that was
**Pagoda:** my exact experience. No shoes off. I kept my hat on walk right through. Yeah. So that was, that
**Gizmo:** was a courteous. Yeah. So I think our collective advice to anybody who's listening to this podcast is to go to Havana with the intention of not buying cigars. And I say that because as we just detailed, there's really not much stock there.
No. So to go down there and to load up on what you can actually get in the country. With maybe a little bit of a premium, get what you want from certain retailers. The risk going through Miami, which is generally a very intense customs experience. We've all heard horror stories of people traveling through Miami.
To me, it's not worth the risk. Don't go to Havana with the intention of buying [01:52:00] cigars. Go with the intention of, you know, giving stuff away, get some cigars if you're able to get some fine, but don't load up for the, the, you know, for the sake of it, do that when you're in the States, just pay a bit of a premium, 10%, whatever you're going to enjoy the experience.
**Senator:** I agree. But if, if you are, for some reason, intent on buying cigars there, don't go through Miami. There you go. Right. We heard from people that we sat with in Havana saying they fly through Houston, Houston.
**Gizmo:** No problem. Yeah, really? Really? And that's a United flight. You gotta go through Houston. Oh. Okay.
**Rooster:** Now I was just gonna say that it's easier said than done because, you know, all of us have a lot of, a pretty extensive collection.
It's true. But being, you know, going to Havana as a first time listener and going there, you're gonna be tempted. Of course. You're
**Gizmo:** gonna wanna buy stuff. We all were tempted the first time we went. And we still did. We actually still did buy stuff. Yeah.
**Senator:** And the other thing I'll say, you know, going through Miami, can you get through there with a little?
Sure. I mean, I had [01:53:00] 50 Cuban cigars on me. I wasn't stopped. I had, you know, some rum, wasn't stopped. I'd all made it through. So it's just, you, you can't be excessive and you have to be very
**Gizmo:** calm. You have to use your.
**Pagoda:** Listen, you know what? I don't mind everything. It's just that it make you feel like a criminal as if what is it that you've done? You've got something from Cuba, meaning like. Hey listen, you go over there, you're going to buy something for your personal consumption. Neither don't allow us to go there completely.
But if we're going there and we're allowed to come back, let us get a few cigars, even for guests, you know, like for gifts or whatever, it's small. So the interesting thing is now you can get Cuban cigars from anywhere in the world for personal consumption. And you're allowed up to a limited amount, like I think it's over a hundred by the way.
A couple of hundred cigars or something. And the only place you're not allowed to get the cigars from is Cuba. And I just don't understand the reasoning [01:54:00] behind it. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** It's the damn embargo. Correct. Life's not fair, Pagoda.
**Pagoda:** I'm back to my new world. Where's my ALR?
**Gizmo:** So boys, it's time to move into the ratings portion of our episode tonight. Yeah. We're going to start with the formal liquor rating of the Glenn Livid 14 year aged single malt scotch whiskey. Bambam, you're up. So,
**Pagoda:** you know, our, the second pour I had this neat, I think the rest of us did as well.
Honestly, it's drinking deliciously and smooth. For the price of 14 year aged whiskey or scotch, I'm gonna give this a 10. Alright. Wow. Really, the experience for me is just, it's, it drinks like a sophisticated spirit. It's delicious. No harsh edges at all. 10 for me. Pagoda. Well, you know, you've just raised the bar.
I, you know, I was, I was at a nine. Um, so, um, I think I'd stick to a nine. I, I think I really, really like it. I really enjoy it. I've just been a little averse [01:55:00] in terms of buying the Glenlivet for whatever reason, because it's just so omnipresent often. And, uh, so you're stigmatizing the spirit.
**Senator:** Not fancy enough for Pagoda.
Oh,
**Pagoda:** no, I didn't mean to come across that way. But, um, Yeah. Oh, but this, uh, drink has been delicious. I have really enjoyed it. Um, I really can't complain.
**Gizmo:** Senator.
**Senator:** This is tough in that I'm at a minimum of nine for sure. I've been the entire way. This is why I'm going to talk this out until
**Gizmo:** I'm certain.
Rooster, we left that argument in
**Pagoda:** 2023. Those days are over.
**Senator:** I'm going to exhaust this until I'm very comfortable with the rating. Um, it's definitely a nine. The 10, I can't fault Bam for giving it that because the funny thing is, is I'm drinking this, I'm sitting here. I can't find anything wrong with it.
You're drinking it neat now. I'm drinking it neat. There are not many scotches that are this smooth, [01:56:00] yet this flavorful, neat. Consistent
**Pagoda:** sips, one after another, and they're going down so smooth. I'm not trying to couch your, uh, your rating, but wow.
**Senator:** Yeah, this is, um, this is
**Gizmo:** tough. He's stumped, Bam. Do you
**Senator:** know what I'm saying?
I'm just trying to, the thing I'm trying to think of is other 14 year cinema movies we've had. The Caribbean Cask, Belvini.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, Belvini, Caribbean Cask.
**Senator:** This need is smoother than that. It is much smoother than
**Gizmo:** that. And the price point. The
**Senator:** price point is much cheaper. 68. Yeah. Yeah. That the Caribbean cast, what?
80, 90? I
**Pagoda:** think it's like 80. No. Uh, yeah. 70, 80. 75,
**Senator:** 80. Um, what other 14 years? Uh, Oban 14. Oban is a good
**Gizmo:** one. That's a 90 bottle. It's a little bit more peaty though, of course. It is. Slightly. And I don't think that would pair as well with the Cuban cigars this did tonight. This,
**Pagoda:** yeah. This would pair really well.
**Gizmo:** It's okay. I'm going to round up. I'm going to
**Senator:** give it no brainer. I'm going to give it a 10 when you fact, wow, everything into it. It's, I mean, it's undeniable. I'm [01:57:00] stunned. I never imagined I would give this a 10, but the price point is ridiculous for what this delivers. I would absolutely buy this. I would absolutely drink it again.
There's no reason for me not to give it a 10. This could easily crack right into my rotation.
**Pagoda:** We're going to fight over the rest of that bottle tonight. Oh no, we're not. It's going to happen.
**Gizmo:** It's going to happen. So I'm also at a 10. I wrote it down even before we started. This is a superior Scotch for 68 bucks, 14 years aged.
I'm really, really impressed. I don't even know what the rating of the 18 year age Glenn Livitt was. I'll look as soon as we finish here, but it was, it was really. Really, really good. Um, I'm like, I'm super impressed with this, uh, with this spirit tonight. And boys, the formal liquor rating is a 9.
**Pagoda:** 8. Wow. So for the, for this maker to get that kind of a rating in this room, that's really rare and unique.
It's huge. It's huge. Glenn Leavitt?
**Gizmo:** So let's look at the other ratings we've done. Like I said, this [01:58:00] is Sorry, sorry,
**Senator:** just quickly. We can't say Glenn Leavitt. Like, Glenn Leavitt is some I know. Bargain basement, you know, garbage bag. Glenn Leavitt, sorry, I just, there's a reason that Glenn Leavitt produces more scotch than anybody.
It's one of the older distilleries in Scotland. Their 18 year is outstanding. I've had their 25 year, which is a very expensive bottle. Haven't tried that. Excellent. Wow. Spoke. Excellent. You all benefit because I tried to let us not forget. Correct. By
**Rooster:** the way, the surf that at the United lounge. Do they?
**Senator:** That's exactly where I did not have.
**Pagoda:** Well, Senator now has United status. So you'll get
**Senator:** advantage of this. I'll have some great Ballantyne's. Uh, Blended, uh, whiskey there, but I think you're right. We take it for
**Pagoda:** granted because it's so available. That's the
**Senator:** thing. That's the only reason people say that. I mean, Glenn Leavitt makes some real, their higher end stuff competes with anybody.
Yeah, they're 18 and 25. I'd put against anybody's 18
**Gizmo:** or 25. So let's talk about it. We did the [01:59:00] Glenn live at 18 on episode 26, which got a 9. 3. Wow. And on episode 60, we did the Glenn live at 12, which got an 8. 0. Still a very good score. It is the highest rated. Uh, Glenn Leavitt that we've done. And I think that value factors into that for sure.
Sure. You know, how much is the 18, you know, your age bottle? It's gotta be probably close to one 50. I would know. So the,
**Senator:** I mean, that's the one thing that's nice about Glenn Leavitt because they produce at the level they do, they can be really competitive on price. So they're 18 year. You look at any other brand 18, it's over 200 Glenn Leavitt, 18, you can get for.
160? It's not bad. I mean, it's a very good price for an 18 year spirit. And the
**Pagoda:** 12 year is so affordable. You know, we have it at larger gatherings. And it's like I said earlier, we take it for granted, so we don't consider it a high level spirit. But this, this is something special. No, this was great actually.
Yeah, to be very honest, uh, this, uh, could have been easily rated, uh, 10, dude, A nine is still in [02:00:00]
**Senator:** score. Yeah. Nine, eight. Yeah. That's very good. Yeah. Sorry, you I stand corrected Glen. 1118. You can get for one 50 a total wine. There you go. Wow. There you go. The
**Gizmo:** price point's incredible. That's ridiculous. So it's about double what this is, but I think if I'm a listener out there and I'm hearing this rating, I, I'd skip the 18 and go right for the 14 for value.
This is an excellent, excellent scotch. Amazing.
**Senator:** Yeah. And you can drink it every day. I mean, it's that
**Gizmo:** price point. That's what's great about it. Yeah. And it, what I love about it too, is it paired really, really well because I think, like I said, because I think it's finished in the cognac casks, it really paired well with the Cuban cigar.
Yeah. It
**Pagoda:** doesn't overwhelm the Cuban
**Senator:** cigar profile. Exactly. It doesn't, but what I will say is it has enough flavor that I think this will hold up against any cigar.
**Pagoda:** What are the other casks? It's an, uh, He makes, Senator makes a good point. I can have this with a Millennium Purity, uh, Pyramid
**Gizmo:** Iza. I'd have it with Padron too.
Of course. Of course. Of course.
**Pagoda:** Is this with sherry, uh, sherry cask as well, or? No.
**Gizmo:** I [02:01:00] think it's oak and then cognac. It's oak and cognac? Yeah, I think so. Alright boys, it's time to move into the formal lizard rating tonight of the Punch Double Corona from Cuba. Brewster, you're up. So I'm
**Rooster:** at a solid 9 with this.
I think with a little bit more age, I think it's definitely a 10. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this cigar. It's a great cigar. It's very balanced. We had no, absolutely no issues with the cigar from the beginning to the end. So, I mean, I just can't take any points away from this. I mean, having said that, I think with a little bit more age,
**Gizmo:** I think it's a point away.
You did. Let me take a
**Rooster:** point away
**Gizmo:** because
**Pagoda:** of the age. That's
**Gizmo:** correct. Because of the age.
**Rooster:** Because, you know, what if I do get a 50 cab of 2014 and what am
**Gizmo:** I going to rate that? Well, we're going to come over and try. Maybe they're both 10s. They might both be 10s. Yeah. For now, at this point, this is a 9 for me.
Okay. Senator.
**Senator:** All right. So, I agree with. Half of what Rooster said in that, I can't find anything wrong with it. What else is
**Gizmo:** new?
**Senator:** I can't [02:02:00] find anything wrong with it. Yeah. I can't. I know. It's not showing youth for how relatively young it is. It smokes older. The construction, this is the best constructed double corona I have ever had by far.
It's not even close. The burn was razor sharp the entire way through. Minimal touch ups. I'm going to give it a 10. I mean, the flavor profile was delicious. It's not a simple, basic cigar. There's enough complexity here. I would absolutely smoke this again. I wish I saw this come up more and it were easier to attain a box of these.
It's spectacular.
**Gizmo:** It's a 10. So for me, just like I did when I wrote down the score for the scotch, this is also a 10, just like the scotch was for me. I agree with everything that you said, Senator. I think this was one of the best, if not the best, double corona I have ever experienced. Are you ready, Rooster?
**Senator:** What's new? I'm going to agree with everything I said.
**Pagoda:** That's also correct. [02:03:00]
**Gizmo:** No, it is not. This is episode one 17. That is not, he's even come around at American. That is not the case. So Gizmo
**Rooster:** is going to unload the Lucy caps that he has. I'm going to buy them at
**Gizmo:** half price. I don't think so. I'll take one. I don't think so.
No, I mean, guys, this was just a spectacular. Yeah. Constructed cigars. Top to bottom. I took it all the way down to like a half an inch. I mean, it was phenomenal. Every single draw was perfect. And to think that this is only two, two years aged, a little bit more than two years aged. I can't even imagine what this box is going to be like in five or seven years.
It was excellent. It's a 10 all Pagoda.
**Pagoda:** 10. No question. Um, you know, uh, For a double Corona excellent draw excellent combustion. In fact, if you look at the room, it's smoky Yeah, it's like a new world really in a way Yeah So if you like the smoke output coming out from a Cuban for such a long cigar with great [02:04:00] draw great flavor profile It picked up towards the second half, which I really enjoyed as well Just a fantastic experience All night.
And it's been a 10 from the very beginning. And I didn't even waver. It didn't even go down a bit. Uh, this has been a fantastic experience. I agree. A 10 for me. I agree. Bam Bam. I can't disagree with a 10 rating, so I'm right there. You know, at 35, it's worth every dollar. Agree. So the value of the experience that you're getting from this and the, everything you've all said, the performance, the draw was fantastic, combustion of course was off the charts, but the flavor profile.
That fruit note for me continued all the way down into the first and second third and then slight white pepper and the body built up for me, it was velvety smooth all the way down to the end.
**Gizmo:** I, I love it. Yeah. The former Lizard Rating Boys is a 9. 8 matching the Glenlivet 14 that we had tonight. Can you believe it?
That's lunacy. That's a perfect pairing. [02:05:00] Dude. A 9. 8. No, no boxes for rooster. I said 2014,
**Rooster:** 50.
**Gizmo:** So boys, let's compare this to the other punches we've done. We've done five now on the podcast. The first one we did, we did not rate. It was on new year's Eve, 2021. We were very young and green at that time. Now, hold on.
**Pagoda:** I got to interrupt you. Go ahead. For a value brand. We've done five punches on this podcast.
Five, five. Think about that. Yeah. This is not a value marker. No, this is, this is a high end exclusive, according to them, of course, of course, something to say. I hope nobody from Havana is listening to this episode. Agreed.
**Gizmo:** So, New Year's Eve 2021, we did the Mantua, which was a regional edition from Italy. We did not rate it on that episode.
On episode 20, we did the Punch Punch, as we discussed earlier, did not perform as well as I hoped. I think all of us would have liked, it was a 7. 7 on episode 58. We did the punch [02:06:00] Duke, which was another regional from Mexico that did not perform well, if you remember 6. 6 and on episode 102, we did the punch short to punch as part of a short smoke special.
Which got a flat 8. 0. So this as the flagship of the punch marker from Cuba, getting a 9. 8 tonight is the far and away winner of what we've done on this podcast. So, so far from punch. It's a very elegant experience. I can't believe how good the construction was. I mean, top to bottom, like I didn't touch it up at all.
I
**Pagoda:** would consider this a celebratory cigar for a special event on a holiday. I think it would hit the mark.
**Gizmo:** And for the listeners out there, if I'm you, I would chase a 25 count box of this over Lucy's right now. I think Lucy's people are chasing every day, Bon Roberts, the, the numbers are through the roof.
I think these are kind of under the radar. Rooster's yelling at me. Rooster's
**Senator:** pointing to Gizmo.
**Pagoda:** Please edit this. He's got them all. [02:07:00]
**Gizmo:** No, but I mean, you know, this is a cigar that's under the radar, certainly from a double Corona sitting well behind Ramone. Gigantis, Hoyo, Double Corona, and Partagus Lusitania.
This is number four as far as what people chase, right? I mean, widely, this is not what people are looking for.
**Senator:** Last thing I'll say on this, number one, I'm smoking this all the way down to the nub, and it's notable particularly because this is Double Corona. This is as big a cigar as you would ever buy or smoke.
Usually I have a double Corona, even a Lucy. When I'm down to the last fourth, you get a little tired of the cigar. I mean, you've been smoking the thing for almost
**Pagoda:** two hours. And you get potential tar buildup in the cigar like that. Exactly.
**Senator:** So I honestly, I don't know that I've ever taken a Lucy. This far down.
I don't remember seeing him with a cigar that far down. Look at Pagoda. We both laughed. I mean, he's in the exact same boat I am. The flavor is still so spectacular with this little left of the cigar. Not harsh. I mean, bam.
**Pagoda:** Half inch. [02:08:00] This is a usual thing for me, but this is just an incredible
**Senator:** stick. It's, uh, it's unreal.
And I'll, the last thing I'll say is it, I'll, I'll make a definitive statement for me. This is the best double corona I've ever had. That's
**Pagoda:** quite a statement, dude. Yeah.
**Rooster:** I have yet to go beyond the one third of a Lucy.
**Gizmo:** Wow. Wow. Wow. That's how
**Rooster:** bad of an experience I've had. Geez. I mean, I've had like maybe seven or eight lusitanias from all different ages, but I have not.
I mean, that's just
**Pagoda:** my personal experience. Is this an overrated, is it an overrated cigar? Is that controversial
**Gizmo:** statement? I don't think so, but it's just
**Senator:** my experience. I gave you the, the famous caviar night and champagne at my house. I gave you a Lucy that night. That might've
**Rooster:** been the
**Gizmo:** only good Lucy I've ever
**Senator:** had.
That cab, I'm just so, it's an amazing cab. And that was from Cigar Terminal, believe it or not. What year was that? I think it's 2020.
**Pagoda:** Here's a question, and this is, you know, not that I'm an expert on how to keep a humidor at certain [02:09:00] percentages based on the cigar itself, but maybe a larger cigar requires a drier environment.
Maybe much drier than we think, possibly.
**Gizmo:** I'll say the degree. I'll say this about the cigar we had tonight. This has been at probably 6162 for about a year and a half. Wow. That's pretty low. So I'm, I'm happy with the experience we had tonight in the way that each of these cigars burned. I do think that affects it.
No,
**Senator:** it does. But the thing that's just funny, I noticed on the wrapper and bam, call this out while we were, when we first started smoking it, it reminds me of my 50 cab of Lucy's. I'm not sure exactly. I mean, who can be that precise to know inside that cab exactly what it is. But when I opened my Lucy, uh, 50 cab, there's a sheen on.
All those wrappers in a way that for some other D fours I have, or other cigars in my tower, there's not quite that level of sheen on that. I don't associate many Cuban cigars with having a strong, really notable sheen on the wrapper. Like you have in some thicker new [02:10:00] world wrappers, but this cigar similar to that Lucy cab, as soon as I held in my hand and bam, called it out and we started lighting it.
There was just this beautiful sheen on the wrapper. And I don't think that those oils come out at a very aggressively low RH. There's got to be a decent enough amount of humidity for that to happen. So, whether it's 61, 62, even 63, I think it's got to be at least there to enjoy the best of what a large format cigar like this has to offer.
I
**Gizmo:** mean, my
**Rooster:** whole tower is at like between 63 on the bottom, about 62 on the top. Yeah. So, I don't think that's an issue. The lucid. Problems that I've had are mostly draw issues. Could be
**Pagoda:** a factor of humidity.
**Senator:** You just never know.
**Gizmo:** I also think they make a lot more lusitanias than they do this. It's true.
**Pagoda:** But they're also in 50 cab boxes.
Maybe they need to be separated. Maybe they need to
**Senator:** breathe a little bit. No, I disagree. I don't know. Mine have all stayed in that cab. Okay. And why I say I'm lucky, again, I, there's nothing more exciting. When any of us gets a 50 cab, when you pull it out by the bend and [02:11:00] Nothing like that. And I have a photo I had sent when I got that cab.
Every, it's the only 50 cab I've ever bought. Every one of them, the draw, the feet look incredible. I haven't pulled one
**Gizmo:** bad one from that. Some of the best
**Rooster:** cigars that I have in my tower are out of, out of a 50 cab. Be punch, punch the Mantua. Yeah. Um, any, any other 50 cab? I mean, they, even the Hoyos, I mean, they, they all spoke.
What
**Pagoda:** other 50 cabs do you have?
**Gizmo:** We should go over there and do an inventory. We need a, yeah. Well, boys, what a perfect cigar tonight for our Havana recap episode for 2024. I mean, to give us over two hours of this kind of experience is just unmatched. And honestly, I'll be honest. I was a little. Nervous bringing the cigar in tonight for the length of it, for what kind of investment of time this cigar is.
And now I feel very confident [02:12:00] recommending this to any listener out there. So boys, what an excellent start to our Havana recap. Like I said, next, uh, in two weeks, we're going to have our Vinalis, uh, trip recap. We went out to visit some tobacco farms, learned about that process, the growing process, the fermentation process, et cetera.
And then in four weeks from today, our interview with Danilo, uh, in Havana, two hours with the production manager of Cohiba and El Aguito. What a special time. So this is the first of three, so be sure to tune in in two weeks and then in four weeks. We'll need
**Pagoda:** to smoke a Cohiba
**Gizmo:** that night. Ooh, we should.
While we listen to it, Bam. Correct. While we listen to it. So boys, on both the Glenn Livett 14 year age single malt scotch and the Punch Double Corona from Cuba, we had a 9. 8 tonight. What a perfect pairing. Spectacular night. Couldn't have been better. Oh yeah. And, uh, we'll see everybody next week.
Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You can find our merch store and [02:13:00] ratings archive at our brand new website, loungelizardspod. com. That's lounge lizards, P O D dot com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, if you want to reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking.
Email us. Hello at lounge lizards, pod. com. You can also find us on Instagram at lounge lizards pod. We really appreciate your time and we'll, uh, we'll see you next week.