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The lizards discuss the Cuban Partagás Maduro 1 while watching tennis and drinking scotch.
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 range from 60 to 90 minutes 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 it's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars as well as whiskey travel, food work and whatever the hell else do we want to talk about? My name is gizmo tonight. I'm joined by rooster Poobah, Senator grinder and bam.
And our plan is to smoke some cigars, drink scotch, talk about life and have some laughs. So take this as your formal invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard plan to meet us here once a week, we're going to smoke a Cuban cigar tonight. Share our thoughts on it and give you a formal lizard rating.
We'll also chat about a variety of other things for the next day. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar and enjoy as we light up the part Agus Maduro one.
What'd you guys call this a robusto [00:01:00] 52 ring guage by 5.1 inches long double Torah, double sword. Uh, this is a pretty rare stick. I mean, it's, I would argue that this is harder to find. Lusitania is sella Mona's. Are you serious? I think so. That's not good news. I think this is a very hard stick to find and him back.
I want them back.
**Rooster:** Is this aged? These are aged. Do you know what a year I'll check
**Gizmo:** right now? Um, they were originally released in 2015. There's the Maduro number two. And then Maduro number three, we have the Maduro number one. So, so good call draw. And the, and the white. What, what were you guys getting?
**Grinder:** Yeah, I'll be honest. Like my, so I went out of protocol and Lyft before we went on air here and my reaction was like to use, to use a word often cited by my Bam-Bam. It was orgasmic in that. [00:02:00]
**Poobah:** Getting looks like, see told because it's the most metal orgasm I've ever seen. You didn't hear me. You didn't hear me.
You didn't hear me,
**Grinder:** but I would say it's very different from anything I've ever tasted before. I truly believe that it's very, like, I can't compare it to a cigar I've ever had, well, these are,
**Bam Bam:** these are 2015
**Gizmo:** cigars. There's not a lot of Cubans that come in a material wrapper. There's only a few of them. So I know that the Maduro in Cuba is a rare rapper probably which drives its its scarcity.
Um, it's such a delicious stick. And I think for part, I guess, is very different than anything else that they do. I mean, you can kind of draw a line through their other cigars. I would, I would say, but I think this is very different, but very deep
**Rooster:** complex. I'm getting a little bit of sweetness to it, to a little bit of like maybe raisin or nuttiness.
Uh, on a Coke, a little bit of cocoa flavor, but definitely, and the berm
**Gizmo:** is fantastic and the draw is great too. All right. Great combustion.
**Senator:** This is a phenomenal cigar. I mean, [00:03:00] it's not only different than anything part of gets does. It's different than anything Cuba does, right? I mean, there, as far as I know, there's only two Cuban Madeiros the party gets Maduro and I think Cohiba makes him a Duro.
That's really it. I think this is one of the few examples of. The old world in Cuba doing justice to the new world in a way that we really like and are used to, um, a lot of, you know, almost a drone or off like flavors in a Cuban cigar, which to me is really, you know, interesting. I remember the first time.
I looked this up. We were at another cigar lounge, special place, a special place. And, um, similar to Grinder's reaction of having an orgasm on the light. I'm sitting there in my chair with a huge smile on my face, letting this cigar up. And bam immediately says to me, what the hell did you just light up?
And it was this cigar. Now I probably shouldn't have told them what I lit up because he bought out everyone's cigars. So absolutely cool. Thankfully he's [00:04:00] sharing today.
**Grinder:** We are witnessing the fruits of his labor right now. That's true. But now
**Gizmo:** more, he had to be pursued to share this burn, guys, not to phenomenal.
These are drama
**Rooster:** where you have to kind of, uh, you know, break it. Wasn't a, it wasn't easy or we got it done, but I bet he still has some more left.
**Gizmo:** Okay. He definitely counted. He missed a couple when he was counting, how many I can all come downstairs tomorrow.
**Rooster:** You probably got 140, not 14.
**Poobah:** I
**Gizmo:** wish what, where we going to say?
Oh,
**Poobah:** it's dark chocolate. Yes. Yeah, I know. That's kinda like, that's what I'm getting Buba did stereotypically say about a Maduro, but it's, it really tastes like one of those Jered Ellie, uh, Uh, chocolate bars, dark chocolate bars. You pull out of a hotel. It's more like a postcard.
**Gizmo:** The Burchard. I used to eat
**Poobah:** a little bit for sure.[00:05:00]
**Gizmo:** I used to eat a chocolate with cigars all the time, and the guys used to bust my balls. What's it called? But chocolate. That's when, uh, grinders said that, uh, I had a primitive pallet and that's where primitive pallet came from was my, I think that
**Senator:** came from your scotch,
**Gizmo:** but it started with the chocolate.
And then that same day. Was when I didn't like the Freud or
**Grinder:** when I made, when I made that cargo bulletin, I was not referencing your chocolate. It was a scotch proclivity for chocolate consumption during cigar tastings. It was just on your reaction to of wonder. ELA scotch that I was kind
**Poobah:** of perturbed by the stuff that tastes like.
I don't love the stuff that tastes like the grass trimmings.
**Grinder:** No, it tastes like, it tastes like ethyl. Alcohol
**Gizmo:** tastes like Hyde test gasoline.
**Grinder:** It tastes. Yeah. No, it tastes like medicine costume. No. So the one we were, we tried one of my why, like Eli scotch, but in PDs gospel, we tried Kalila. That was traditional.
[00:06:00] Like they're there they're Marquis . Which I like a lot, but then, you know, my C my scotch tasting is more around PD log of Owen, which to me, the log of Olin is the smoothest of all the PD scotches the 16 year. And you were like shitting on the 16 year and I was
**Senator:** just sitting on it. I just don't love
**Gizmo:** the scotch.
**Senator:** Yeah,
**Grinder:** well, that's when I was like, well, you gotta, you gotta refine your palette. It's primitive. So, so, uh,
**Bam Bam:** try the. I think
**Gizmo:** I'm waiting to the log of a one. Now there's no question about that. I really liked the luggable one, but, um, somebody other stuff's a little tight, but then I got you a bottle for your birthday and she did.
**Poobah:** We'll just get some Winnie and some Kirkland, but I do love the
**Gizmo:** Shaun that I have with me tonight. Kirkland 12 year blend. Excellent. It's fantastic. Actually,
**Poobah:** it's actually, that's the value
**Gizmo:** for money? It's like $35 for a 1.75 liter.
**Poobah:** I mean, if you're like [00:07:00] out on the boat,
**Grinder:** it's great. We need to get that guy.
That guy who like blended all those Costco scotches,
**Senator:** I
**Gizmo:** think it's a chic
**Senator:** Alexander
**Grinder:** something and like, just like pick his brain.
to get us a scotch at discount price at some of the absurd prices we've seen for scotches at, uh, like a high quality scotch. He's doing something in the blending, obviously that is, you know, it's, he's a professional clearly
**Rooster:** we'll be and
**Gizmo:** Tupperware.
**Poobah:** Hmm. Well, it blows away. Like, not that this is saying. It blows away like a Johnny Walker red.
Oh. Or sometimes like that, maybe even the black, I mean, maybe definitely the black, but I kind of have a thing for maybe because I drank Johnny Walker black. Before single malts was single malt. Scotch was cool before, before I'm saying like, what's cool. Well, before we know there was a time when single malt scotch really wasn't [00:08:00] like a thing that's in the notes blend.
It's a bottle of Johnny
**Gizmo:** Walker, scotch or blends. That's right. Yeah. Even the same with
**Senator:** shivers every
**Bam Bam:** single day. Johnny Walker. That's right.
**Grinder:** Got it. But it doesn't make it a bad scotch. No.
**Gizmo:** How are you guys feeling about the cigar right now? Everybody's about a third of the way
**Senator:** as we're talking about right now, sort of pairings with a cigar.
This is perfect for an after dinner smoke. That was like a restaurant quality meal that grinder prepared. I can't think of a better cigar to have after a meal like that. We've all got a scotch, a beer or something with us right now. I mean, this is, I feel like the perfect exclamation point. I think it
**Grinder:** goes well with this meal.
It's like Oktoberfest, dark Amber, but still kind of light and sweet. It does. Yeah.
**Poobah:** Something sweet, something sweet would go well with this, like a Foursquare chocolate Barbados rum thing would go great. Like a [00:09:00] high test from that suite, that four square rooms. Really good. I got to bring some, um, something like that would pair nicely, you know, after dinner,
**Bam Bam:** by no means though what I consider this to be a dessert cigar, this I could smell.
**Grinder:** This isn't this isn't all the time cigar I would, I would consume this. Absolutely.
**Senator:** Just
**Rooster:** look at the burn line.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. So razor sharp.
**Poobah:** It's just, it's good. Yeah. I mean, it's it's and the interesting thing that I've seen just on Facebook groups on, on read online, it's, it's actually not believe it or not. It's not universally.
Really, it's not, I've seen the centers on this, um, in a number of places now, maybe, maybe Cuban nutritionalists well that, yeah, that could be, that's a good call. That could be, or there were the we're we're the [00:10:00] only ones that we've had are aged these 2015, I think, unless I don't want to speak for the group is some of these cigars that have laid down.
Six years and maybe, maybe younger, it doesn't smoke. Um, quite as impressively, maybe it does need some time could be, I don't know, I'm
**Grinder:** speculating. I'd be interested to understand how the market, this cause habanas markets cigars to specific regions, markets, brands, markets, cigars, and then they have the regionals.
I'm wondering where this fits in that
**Gizmo:** I saw about this cigar I saw about the cigar is that as a retail, obviously we got all our stuff in the green. Where it's the resellers, but for, for the first retail point, it has to be what they call a Habana specialist, which is not a LACASA they'll Habana. Like they get all the women totters and the regionals and stuff.
I guess the, the distributors, you know, work with them on the, on the regionals. But the limit Todd is go there first, but these are for a Habana specialist. So I don't know if that's the top [00:11:00] certain percentage of, you know, uh, hub, Banos dealers. I don't know how it works, but these don't go to every.
Retailer.
**Senator:** I mean, I'm not surprised to hear what boob is saying that this cigar can be polarizing because I feel like obviously they don't distribute in the U S but this is a cigar that's made for the U S market where we smoked a lot of Dominican and Nicaraguan cigars. Whereas these other countries great point, this is the complete opposite of the traditional Cuban profiles.
**Gizmo:** So that's exactly right. I think, like you said before, I think this was definitely the closest to what I would call a Cuban Patrona or. Davidoff Nicaraguan then I've said from
**Bam Bam:** the point of view with flavor profile.
**Poobah:** Yes. Totally agree. Yeah. But it does something interesting. It kind of gives you the, kind of gives you the best of both worlds.
You're kind of getting this Maduro wrapper, which delivers this kind of like punchy chocolaty. Um, I guess poke, if you want to call it, and then it gives you that it gives you the filler on the inside that. [00:12:00] Certainly it's pace Cuban. Right? So you're kind of getting a little bit of every little bit of a hybrid.
**Grinder:** The aroma from the, from us smoking, you know, six of these cigars right now is phenomenal. It is a chocolate factory. It's really,
**Gizmo:** I'm blown away by the smoke output on this. I mean, it's, it is like a bunch of round. It's like a prodrome. The thing
**Senator:** I like most about this cigar, there are a lot of cigars. I feel like that we've tried that we would say.
Are sweet in sort of flavor profile. And a lot of those, I call dessert cigars. I mean, we'll probably talk about this at some point, the prodrome black label, that's like a dessert chocolate bomb of a cigar that I would really only have in a dessert setting. What amazes me about this cigar is as much as there's this sweetness from the Maduro around.
It's versatile could enjoy this in the afternoon. That's what I can enjoy this after
**Bam Bam:** dinner made the same comment a moment ago. Yeah. It's droid
**Gizmo:** anytime then. Special. Yeah. What's funny [00:13:00] about you saying the prodrome 100 and not to parlay into a patroned discussion, but the first time I had, this was a rooster and I were in Miami, uh, separately, but we met up for a day and had some cigars.
We went to patrol. Uh, you will tell that story later, got to meet Jorge. I ended up getting a couple boxes of the on 100, which are the little torpedoes they only sell at Patrona HQ in Miami and a rooster. And I went to a cigar bar and the first cigar he gave me, there was the first time I had this Maduro number one.
And then I went into the Padrone 100 and it was just a phenomenal, you know, one, two punch of a day, cigar wise, um, unquestionably. But this is the second time I'm having a cigar and it's just. Phenomenal cigar.
**Senator:** I talked about how the only other brand that has made a Cuban Maduro is Cohiba. I am just stunned when this cigar came out.
I think it's no secret part, I guess, is my [00:14:00] favorite Cuban brand period. When this came out, I was skeptical and didn't buy this for a few years because I said, there's no way. Part of us knows how to make a Maduro. I mean, that's just not in Cuba's repertoire. That's not what they did. And I can't believe it.
It's almost like part of this can do no wrong that I legitimately can't think of a single line within part Agus that I've tried, that I actually thought was a subpar cigar. I didn't enjoy everything they do. Somehow. I feel like produces greatness, which just strengthens how much I love it. Yeah. Yeah.
That goes
**Bam Bam:** back to what Poobah was saying when this was disparaged by a lot of people, maybe there's that misconception look Cuba. Doesn't do a good one.
**Poobah:** Yeah, or just doesn't agree with, with it's. Uh it's it's uh, you could argue that it's, um, that the flavor profile is a little bit of a departure from what a traditional Cuban cigar may taste like.
Um, and maybe that's, or maybe it goes back to the age that [00:15:00] maybe people were smoking these and they needed time. You see? And what should I can't answer? I'm just hypothesis. Yeah. But, so
**Rooster:** there are
**Gizmo:** three sizes of this. Is that right?
**Rooster:** Yeah. There's all, that's a Maduro one, Maduro number two, and also a Maduro number three.
It's a short torpedo number three.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. What's number
**Rooster:** two. Number two is a little
**Gizmo:** shorter than this. Ah,
**Senator:** you had any other ones? Cause I think rooster was the first one to try
**Gizmo:** this cigar.
**Rooster:** You had the one or the one ended. They're both very similar, but I think this one is a little bit better. I have not had the, uh, the petite, uh, pyramid.
Cool. For lack of a better word. Um, wonder how it, uh, you know, varies with this, but this is definitely
**Grinder:** the best. I'll be honest. I think this pairs. With the smoked meat flavor that we [00:16:00] had. Oh yeah. I'm getting like, this is like a second course of smoke spoke meat in my
**Poobah:** mouth. It's like a second
**Bam Bam:** meal, but it's not overwhelming though.
It's just, it's it's delicious, satisfying
**Senator:** extra thing. It's perfectly
**Bam Bam:** balanced. As far as I'm concerned. It is so fucking good.
**Grinder:** Oh, wait, I'm talking about the smoked meat flavor, but we're also talking about chocolate and cream and you know, all this other balance
**Gizmo:** here.
**Rooster:** Do you guys taste a little sweetness,
**Gizmo:** starting to
**Senator:** wrapper
**Poobah:** the oils heat up and start to both pull the better it's in the it's I'm right in the middle and the look
**Bam Bam:** at YouTube guys with the Ash. Wow. Somebody's got a photo of that.
**Poobah:** I clicked one. That was a it's.
It's a
**Gizmo:** lot.
**Rooster:** It's pretty good on today.
**Poobah:** Buy a box of these with the
**Gizmo:** [00:17:00] barbecue,
**Rooster:** with this awesome steak. We got tennis on. We got the football, the giants playing Denver.
**Gizmo:** Thank God. Football's back. Amen. Thank God. Football's back. We have about what? 20, 25 weeks now a football. So look forward to,
**Senator:** oh yeah, we got an extra week.
This
**Gizmo:** 17.
**Rooster:** Thank God. Yeah. And I think joker, which is ready to break another rocket.
**Gizmo:** How does he get, can somebody explain to me I'm not a tennis guy? How does he get away with being so a twat is the number one player in the world? No, but how does he get away with smashing a racket? It
**Rooster:** will get a point taken for the next time.
It does something like that. And then I think it's either the sec, two points or.
**Senator:** Disqualification. Yes, smart enough where that really never happens. And if you look at what happened to the Olympics, I mean, he's so clever. He smashed a racket during the match. He lost where he was ousted from the Olympic tournament, and then waited until he lost the match and then smashed [00:18:00] another racket along this whole holding up the net.
And at that point, the matches already over it. I mean, I, just, to me, he's got a lack of respect for a sport. That's given him everything he has in his life, which is disappointing to me.
**Grinder:** Also, I mean, I don't want to sympathize with the guy cause I can't sympathize on this level, but that, you know, when you're that good at something and you're that driven, you kind of have to have a little bit of a Dick in you to like, just be so exceptional and to get there and to get there and to be like completely singularly focused on one thing.
And it can also be somewhat narcissistic in a way, but that's his whole, that's any kind of deviation from perfection in that. Is unacceptable for him. And that's got him to where he is, but I'm not saying it's a good thing to break a racket. And it's like an act like an asshole, but at the same time we see this in other athletes.
**Poobah:** Awesome. You do. I mean, look, you see it, you see it throughout sports and it's particularly in individual sports can in [00:19:00] golf. Um, I was never a big fan of, um, of, of tiger woods dropping F bombs on the mic or. Nash and golf clubs, you know, he was, he, he did that more often than he should have particularly early on in his career.
Um, but it's something that looked it's Ben
**Rooster:** Stiller. I looked at role models. I mean, they got, you know, kids look up to these guys and, you know, they would think that that's the norm.
**Gizmo:** things. Don't go your
**Poobah:** way. What
**Bam Bam:** a, what a Charles Barkley. Oh, I am not a role model.
**Senator:** I'll say this. I think athletes obviously are, are viewed as role models. And I understand all that. You know, I, if I were a tennis, a professional tennis player at this level. Sure. I've got a temper. I can see myself breaking racket here and there.
What kills me is you have to have some self-awareness to at least [00:20:00] recognize if you're going to be a role model and say what I'm doing is not okay. And not to be in. And what kills me is when you watch interviews with Djokovich and they ask him about this, he doesn't think this is a problem. And he says, what problem?
And he sees absolutely nothing wrong with it. And this is a guy who two years ago, got disqualified from the entire us open from during a match, hitting a ball at a cheer empire in frustration. This time around he almost one of the little ball kids standing there on the side, you have to be self-aware enough to say what I'm doing is not accepted.
I w I obviously let my emotions get the best of me and everybody makes mistakes, but it's the fact that he doesn't see anything wrong with how he's behaving. That's more, the part I have an issue with.
**Poobah:** It's a lack of introspection. You know, you make a mistake and you take responsibility for it, that gray, uh,
**Grinder:** I I'll say it again.
It's narcissism. If you're that self, self selfish, selfish. You didn't have no [00:21:00] conception of how others view you and you don't care.
**Gizmo:** Right? I mean, everything I've seen, he certainly seems like you've done. And
**Poobah:** one, this man Medvedev is no Saint either. No, but you know, this guy is, you know, he's got, he's got, yeah, he's got the microfilm in the, in the handle of his rocket.
The microfish ready to take the intelligence back to the Honda mother country. I'll
**Senator:** say I've never been different to that fan. And this, this is a guy. Egging on the crowd at the us open two years ago when they were billing him and say he likes to be the villain and he was happy to play that role, but I feel like there's a maturity process with him where he's learned how to conduct himself.
And I mean, these guys know I was at the U S opens, uh, the U S open women's final yesterday, and was lucky enough to meet, uh, Medvedev. And he was actually a really nice gracious guy taking selfies with kids. No fist bumping just, uh, just seem like a nice guy. We were even grinder and I were watching, I guess it was [00:22:00] probably the semifinals, uh, in the lounge here.
And, uh, they did a long interview with him and both of us kind of looked at each other and said, wow, he's oddly likable. It was
**Grinder:** almost, it was almost like this, this image of this like Russian douchebag was just completely obliterated. I was like, yeah, I can have a beer with that guy.
**Poobah:** Exactly. I saw the interview.
Um, and I was like, these rules. Coming off really quite well, actually introspective. Right. Um, and was coming off quite well, but you know, it just could be the KGB training and
now he can completely slip undetected into the American embassy and load up a USB drive.
Cause he's so nice. Now
**Gizmo:** send the season two. Directly to Poobah, please.
**Grinder:** Something out of burn after reading. Did you ever see that
**Gizmo:** movie? That's a great movie. It's such a
**Grinder:** fucking good show captain. [00:23:00] We're watching the us open and, uh, Brad Pitt is in the stands and it was just making me think of that. We sit next to what a great role he played there.
Like completely different from
**Poobah:** anything else he's ever done in his life. I think it's funny. He's sitting next to Bradley Cooper buddies, the damage that those guys could do on the town together, together
**Grinder:** there. Bradley Cooper got Brad Pitt, like got his life back on track.
**Poobah:** What do you mean? I don't know what happened
**Grinder:** to his life.
Like Brad, Brad was like, God, like spiraling with the Jaguars and the drinking and the smoking weed. And like the kids were taken away. And then he like had a, he had like a come to Jesus moment where Bradley Cooper reached out to. You know, let me show you the way. And like, I don't know how much of the same Bradley Cooper is.
He's a Georgetown law, mad respect twice AXA, but at the same time, you know, he just kinda took he's like, you don't have to do this. And they became best friends.
**Poobah:** And how do you hang out with the shit? Um, people, [00:24:00] Mac,
**Gizmo:** I don't know,
**Senator:** TMZ
**Bam Bam:** Georgetown, those Georgetown boys, they stick together like
**Poobah:** glue. It's interesting.
**Gizmo:** I had no idea. They were even friends until today. I just
**Poobah:** wanted Bradley Cooper and lady Gaga to like,
**Grinder:** because Brad Cooper is completely sober Cooper is that he doesn't drink. He doesn't do drugs. He's like he does yoga like 95% of the day. He's like, what? Yeah. He's like, he's like, he's like, Is this always the
**Senator:** case, or this was like, he changed kind of his,
**Grinder:** I don't know when, when this happened in his life, but no, go all day.
I don't know if he
**Senator:** does whole day. I hope he at least say it's time for cigars.
**Poobah:** We can worry about people like that. You know, if you have to do yoga all day to just stay sane from like, just take a Lexapro or something and move on with your life, you're going to do yoga all day. Maybe give me a break, have a scotch tickled.[00:25:00]
Yogurt drink. You
**Gizmo:** can't do the scotch.
**Grinder:** I think, I think he had a metanoia as it were. I think he, I think he had, I think Bradley Cooper was like, and was ready, was ready for rock bottom. And then he changed his life around and now he's like spreading the love and like passing it forward.
**Gizmo:** Gotcha. Okay. So let's go back to the, uh, party gets Maduro one for a second.
Where's everybody at on it? Um, I know for me, I'm getting a lot of the. Tobacco now kind of wrapped in chat, uh, chocolate, but what are you guys getting?
**Poobah:** Uh, top great cigar. It's just good. It's continuing on. Um, uh, it's it hasn't really changed up predominantly thing, meth, anything.
**Bam Bam:** It's a good point. It's a pretty consistent flavor. My, my retro is satisfying all the way through very smooth
**Gizmo:** and, and smooth and smoother. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Full but smooth. And. Um, I'm doing
**Grinder:** a lot of retro hair right now in this guy.
And it's, [00:26:00] it's picked up in spice on the notes, for sure. It was a little subtle
**Senator:** I'm actually with you, I'm with you. That's what, as I'm midway through this cigar, I'm getting a little cinnamon or spice, which is a nice way to, I feel like mixed up the flavors a little bit. It's not all just one note all the way through.
**Gizmo:** So it's a two act.
**Senator:** I think so far. Yes. But you know, I guess this is where, how I, my definition of a one act versus a two or three X cigars may be a little bit different. When I say a two or three acts cigar, I don't mean that the flavor isn't changing slightly while you're smoking it. I mean, three, two or three distinct acts where I've Litten up a Lusitania before.
And I, I couldn't believe the first. This is the only cigar I'll ever say. It's about you'll think I'm insane. I couldn't believe as I was smoking it, but legitimately got peach notes. I've never had that in a cigar. The second act of that Lusitania was nothing like [00:27:00] that whatsoever. And the third act was completely distinct.
So with this cigar, I don't even know that I call it to act. And I'm, I'm the guy who said I like consistency and a cigar. I just think the flavors are, are sort of melding together. And doing some interesting things, but not fundamentally judging where I'm just getting a little bit more spice. I think really, as the cigars heating up more as an enhanced
**Gizmo:** yeah.
**Bam Bam:** That's a great way of putting it. As you go through it, but it's building. Yeah. It's still a single act though, if you want to call it that, but it isn't glancing. I
**Poobah:** see this. I got to tell you, I see this like, um, that like little bit of like baking spice coming through here at the end, but it's spicy. It's getting spicier and, and, uh, this feels very much not a middle of the summer cigar I w I, I feel like by the fire, by the, you know, in the winter time, By the hearth.
Yes.
**Grinder:** And the tap and the
**Bam Bam:** description, you know, [00:28:00]
**Poobah:** uh, you got, you know, if we were up at the hotel, uh, or up, if I was up in the farm with the guys outside and, you know, after a hunt, after a shoot, after, uh, in your, or whatever, whatever you're doing outside after a hike or something, and you're sitting outside by a fire just in your backyard, this in it's.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
**Senator:** So I agree with all that. The only thing I'd add though, I think this cigar, even in the summer, after a big meal, like a steak shore, I would also work if I'm having a glass of cab or a scotch. It also works with this cigar after a nice steak dinner.
**Poobah:** No, no doubt. It's I guess for sure. It's um, can't wait for the rankings
**Bam Bam:** on this bad
**Gizmo:** boy retail.
These, these are. Like, if you get a direct from a retailer, not the gray, you know, not the private sellers like we do, but these are somewhere between 20 and 22 bucks a stick. And what did you pay for these 25? Let me check again. I think [00:29:00] there were 20 to 25.
**Poobah:** That's not bad. That's not bad for a cigar. This distinctive.
That's not terrible.
**Gizmo:** I'm going
**Senator:** to compare this cigar to adapt it off in flavor profile. Right. I mean a Patrona as well that I think like the construction on this is beautiful. The burn to me, for whatever reason, I guess, especially because it's not boxed press, which is really all, I think of a drone, but if I had to compare to something, I'd say a dab it off and you look at a millennium and if you're buying a millennium Turo or a pyramid, you're paying 25, 20 $8 a stick.
Right. So. 20 to 25 bucks is very fair for this cigar. Absolutely
**Bam Bam:** because it's so satisfying. Right. And you do get the co the, so for the millennium, I got coffee, roasted coffee. I get that here, but there's a more of a chocolate note, right? Coco picked up in addition to that big time, and then you're describing some baking spices as you go through it.
It's, it's quite the stick. [00:30:00]
**Grinder:** It's a touchdown. Is that.
**Poobah:** You know, joke of it's really getting his ass kicked.
**Gizmo:** This is
**Poobah:** wonderful. It's
**Bam Bam:** fantastic.
**Grinder:** This is he's getting they're handed to him. It's not his
**Senator:** love. I told him yesterday he could win this match. So clearly that extra boost
**Grinder:** senators came through. Did you
**Gizmo:** really straight sets?
I said to him,
**Senator:** good luck tomorrow. That's exactly what I
**Gizmo:** said. It's awesome. Senator went to the semifinals. Women's final women's final yesterday. What a great,
**Grinder:** what a great
**Senator:** match.
**Gizmo:** That was a great match. And that was awesome. You know, it's funny with this cigar, I'm kind of getting at that thing where like co coach the roof of your mouth.
**Grinder:** It was like, as Michael Scott, there's like an afterbirth as Michael would say, there's an afterbirth of spice that I, that I feel like is going to like
**Gizmo:** linger on to my next cigar. But it's like a nice, smooth coating on the roof of your mouth. Like your burn rate after taste on this, I'm really enjoying it.
Yeah.[00:31:00]
**Poobah:** After birth.
**Grinder:** So the office is, um, the offices, like just running the seasons back to back to back on comedy central. Incessantly. So I, and I work, we all, a lot of us work from home now. So I will literally just sit on my couch and have the office in the background all day. It's a fucking, you know, slamming on PowerPoint slides and, you know, just crushing models and stuff.
Right. And it's great. That's
**Gizmo:** my story. And focus more when you're on PowerPoint. I know that you and Grindr have a, it seems like it seems like crime has a bit of a focus problem when he's
**Poobah:** empowered. When I do, when I do. I have on Coltrane the entire time. Oh. I listened to John Coltrane over
**Grinder:** and over.
That's interesting. Cause I, I
**Poobah:** jazz over all the entire fucking time.
**Grinder:** Cause I'm, I'm like a Billy holiday slash miles Davis
**Poobah:** guy. I can do that too. Yeah. I can throw [00:32:00] the, the mix on I'll be seeing you. Yeah,
**Grinder:** yeah, yeah. It's got a little intimate there. Um,
**Poobah:** love that song, but um,
**Grinder:** Poobah. Can you just explain to me why you're qualified to go head to head with me on PowerPoint?
**Gizmo:** I'd like to, I'd like to start setting that up because we were going to do a competition. Let's set a date for that. We got to set a
**Poobah:** date because it's it's for many years, um, of, uh, of, uh, working and honing that honing my school. It's just lots of slide decks. I mean, um, I don't know what else to say. Trial and error.
I had
**Grinder:** asked, you know, you know, you're, you know, you're old school when you still call it a slide deck.
**Poobah:** Okay. Why is that?
**Grinder:** Because that's when slide decks were actually like [00:33:00] printed out and they used to have section all dividers on the big, like 200 pages. And there'll be different decks of the,
**Poobah:** yeah. So I'll tell you how old school I am on nine 11.
Okay. I got a net. This is a nine 11 story on nine 11. Uh, um, whatever I am, you know, 26 years old or however old I am working in the city. And, uh, the, the second tower goes. And at that point, I'm like, this is lunacy. I can't get through to any of my friends. I go down to the bodega and I buy a couple of beers, like a couple of tall boys and they bring them back up.
Cause people were like fainting in the office. We don't have to go down this whole vortex, but there were people actually literally passing out. Like when we watched it happen, live on in a conference room, like a couple people actually like collapsed. Wow. You know what I mean? Because there were so, cause they knew it was.[00:34:00]
This, it was over. So, um, I was so stressed out. I went and I, I, I bought two tall boys and just brought them to my desk. And back in the day, this was drinking in an office was not unusual. And at this particular period of time concerning, it was world war three. It didn't matter. And especially
**Grinder:** on Madison avenue.
**Poobah:** Yeah, exactly. And I opened up the, I opened up my computer and I got an email from a client asking if that this is at around 11. And 11:00 AM asking when, if they were going to get the transparencies. So back in the day where there were people, you didn't project from a computer, you, you ha we, we printed off transparencies and then we would send the transparencies out of the presentation to the COVID.
When am I, are we getting our transparencies tomorrow? I wrote back. I'll never forget. I wrote back to this customer. I said, I'm really sorry, but in [00:35:00] case you haven't noticed it's a world war three and we're not going to be able to fulfill that request, stay safe, you know, best regards it's like that. It.
So people were actually in, I think, a little bit out of touch out of exactly what was happening. If, if you, if you weren't there. So anyway, back, so my PowerPoint goes back to the days of the transparency, right?
**Gizmo:** Yeah. That's a long time ago to roll
**Grinder:** in. You have to roll in the, a little bit. Yeah, the
**Poobah:** road cart.
Now you put the
**Gizmo:** transparent, turn the lights down, turn the lights down and put the transplants. Switch slides.
**Poobah:** Let's get let's
**Grinder:** get comfortable with each other.
**Poobah:** It's good.
**Gizmo:** That's right. This has been a long time lizard, a discussion argument, I guess, whatever word you want to use between Grindr and Poobah of who is the superior PowerPoint, uh, master.
And we're going to decide, we're going to,
**Poobah:** we're going to find a way to decide I can make a portfolio, you know? Well, I
**Grinder:** think we need a challenge and then you need [00:36:00] to like, judge the judge it on certain criteria. Okay. Right. You need like story, you need analytics, you need, you know, concision, which is important.
And then obviously aesthetics. Does it look nice? Yeah.
**Poobah:** Well, I, I think, I think I can be competitive. All right.
**Senator:** Well, we all need roles here. And I think, uh, Grinder's already established himself as the, the lizard Pitmaster. So that's for sure. I'm hoping that I'm hoping Poobah pulls this one out as the PowerPoint master
**Poobah:** who by the power
**Bam Bam:** point.
Never know when you'll
**Poobah:** meet a deck. Yeah. Made, Hey look, you never know. Jay can come in handy. Who is that? Yeah. Look at that. That was some sort of Eastern block. Uh,
**Bam Bam:** another microfiche carrier, maybe
**Poobah:** she's got
**Gizmo:** microfiche. All right. So are you guys ready to do a rating? I said, writing
**Senator:** into the mic into the mic, sir.
**Gizmo:** [00:37:00] I'm in the mic. What's her rating. Zero through 10, a whole number that we're going to average, we're going to get a wizard average and then decide if it's a recommend or a pass on the cigar. Rooster. What do you think? What's your number? I would say a solid
**Rooster:** nine. Ooh.
**Gizmo:** Wow. Because nine
**Grinder:** is nine is,
**Senator:** hold on.
That's not justified. I don't want to sway these ratings. Let's go all the way down then we can talk.
**Gizmo:** Totally agree. Can I just explain that
**Senator:** after, after?
**Gizmo:** Alright, so rooster nine Poobah,
**Poobah:** this particular 2015 and then the size I give it a.
**Senator:** Whoa. I am also giving it a nine. Wow. I can't believe this. I'm also a nine.
What
**Gizmo:** grinder?
**Grinder:** I hate, I hate not whole, like, not half numbers. I'm going to do.[00:38:00]
I'm going to give it an eight. Okay. That's
**Bam Bam:** exactly where I'm at eight I'm at eight. Okay. As much as I love this cigar it's
**Gizmo:** while
**Rooster:** I think it's a fantastic cigar. I mean, it's not a 10 and it's not an eight. So to me, a 10 would be like a robot in a classic NGO funded, or that's attend to me.
**Gizmo:** This 80th
**Rooster:** 80th is a 10. Most definitely.
**Gizmo:** This does satisfy at multiple levels. It's all the nine
**Rooster:** minutes. Yeah, it's fantastic smoke, but there are some cigars that are, maybe this would more age.
I mean, I'm talking about the classic goes from like 2001 or even 2011. So when this is about that old, maybe it will be. Right right now, this cigar to me is a [00:39:00] solid,
**Gizmo:** solid.
**Grinder:** Nice. So what's that? The average is one dash 8, 7 5 or something? 8, 7, 8, 7.
**Gizmo:** Why a
**Poobah:** nine? Um, I just really like it. I like it. I like it a lot.
Um, I like it. I like it a lot. Um, it looked for me out of it delivered on a lot of different things. Th the burn, the combustion, the construction of it, the tastes, uh, it's, it's different, um, in a great way. Um, it's differentiated from anything else, part I guess. And, um, And it gives you that Maduro wrapper, I think makes a big difference.
It's really, really, it's all those notes we talked about, which I don't have to restate that resonate with me. I, I, I would buy a box of these cigars. I would buy a box of them, you know, uh, I [00:40:00] wouldn't, I wouldn't smoke them every day, but, um, it wouldn't be like something in my everyday rotation necessarily, but I think it would be in a lot of good spots.
I w it, it wouldn't box when sit. I mean, but I I'd go through it. Yep. But, but I want, I'd like, I'd like a box of this
**Grinder:** is, um, can I just say I'm getting like sawdust,
**Bam Bam:** no grass or hay? No,
**Grinder:** none of that for me, bro. I'm getting sawdust right now. No grinders. Ex-communicated I like salt who doesn't like the smell
**Senator:** sounds like a COVID palette who doesn't like the smell of dust.
**Grinder:** When you go, when you, when you're like cutting wood, like what the. That's what I'm smelling. That's what I'm getting.
**Poobah:** I've never done that.
**Grinder:** It's got to kick out a guy to
**Senator:** chop
**Gizmo:** this. So this was a nine for me because it, to me, it's the perfect blend of what I love in a drone or that kind of, you know, Nicaraguan, dark rapper [00:41:00] Maduro, and what I love in a Cuban specifically party guests, you know, It's a it's like, it's like those two had a baby and this is what happened.
It's fantastic. I like, like poopoo said, I, I, to me, I would, I wouldn't smoke these every day, but if I had a box of these, it probably last me a year, you know? Oh, it wouldn't not
**Bam Bam:** me. Not me,
**Gizmo:** not me. Maybe one every couple of weeks, other day.
**Poobah:** I think I'd go through it a little faster than that. Absolutely.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Senator.
**Senator:** So I don't disagree with much of what's been said for me, this is like a Cuban Padrone, which I love full flavor. Um, fairly complex, really smooth, just a delicious smoke. The only reason this cigar didn't get a 10 for me is because similar to what some of the other lizards have been saying, I wouldn't smoke more than one of these.
And I may sound insane, but [00:42:00] cigars, I will rate a to know on this podcast are cigars that I won't smoke one 40, not even two for three or four, I could smoke in a sitting and absolutely love that cigar. And this for me is I would definitely smoke plenty of these if I a box would not last a year in my humidor.
That's for sure. But I'd have one of these maybe every week or. Hm, where for other cigars that would get a 10. I mean, they'd be in the rotation and I I'd have a hard time. You've been smoking just one at a time.
**Grinder:** Grindr grinder, grinder. Why eight. So why? Because I think I'm approaching this from like a what's my grading skill slash rubric.
What's my rubric, because I think 10 for me. I'm never going to smoke a 10, like, and I'm not going to know. I smoked at 10 until like, I'm like 95 or on my death bed. I'm like, oh, of all the best cigars that was the 10, [00:43:00] um, number nine would probably be, you know, those exceptional cigars that I would go out of my way for.
And he, you know, added anything to have, right. Just to, just to smoke incessantly, um, or as truly complex. And that can truly appreciate. And even if I can't get my hands on it, I like acknowledged that this is, this is almost there, but it's not, it's like really fantastic. I would buy two boxes and I would smoke two boxes in a year.
And I would, I have, my enthusiasm is probably the same as for this cigar cigars as is yours everyone here who rated at nine, but I just. I think my migrating scale is a little different. That's all
**Poobah:** it look. If, if I couldn't give it an eight, because I felt like it was closer to nine than it was to eight.
But granted, I got
**Gizmo:** a question for you.
**Grinder:** If you, if you say something about the Sensia, I'm going to walk out this fucking
grass.
**Gizmo:** Now you have to ask some
Now I'm just
**Rooster:** going to say, you [00:44:00] mentioned something about, you know, you said about it like a ten second. But there doesn't have to be a one cigar that you would wait to 10. There could be many cigars could be. That could be
**Gizmo:** 10. Yes. Yeah.
**Senator:** I agree. Yeah. Cigars that you love more than anything else. I always use the analogy, right?
Like if I'm dying and I have to tell my wife, I need one last cigar. I know exactly what I'm asking for. And there are even a few options that you'll have to, to, to find and procure in time for me to smoke. So my point to you is there are cigars. We know you love. That you smoke a lot of that you enjoy.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. I'm just curious what
**Senator:** is a tendency to car, which is going to be different than a 10 for me or anybody else. Right,
**Gizmo:** right. Or you're asking the group, or
**Rooster:** I'm asking a Grindr
**Gizmo:** about, uh, what's his,
**Grinder:** I think a 10 is, is like, as Google would say, it's the trifecta you've got, you know, which
**Gizmo:** cigar in
**Grinder:** particular or I don't, I don't know.
I don't know if I have. [00:45:00]
**Senator:** Something that checks all the boxes of things. You like, the flavor you like, it's
**Grinder:** like, it's the flavor. It's the construction. It's the presentation of the cigar, the construction, obviously. And I would say, I would also say the exclusivity, not saying that this is, this is a very exclusive scar, but I don't know.
**Gizmo:** I'm not sure if you saying you have not had a
**Rooster:** 10 cigar.
**Grinder:** I may have, but I'm saying that now that 10 bracket is like, for me, it'd be, it'd be post-hoc, it'd be on my deathbed when I'm reflecting. These are the best cigars I've ever smoked.
**Gizmo:** Bam, bam. Bam. So I think, I just want to say, I think Bambam's rating was the most surprising to me. I
**Bam Bam:** know I've got a story.
I've got a whole story.
**Gizmo:** I'm interested. Why, why he was chosen. It was an eight.
**Bam Bam:** It was an eight now. No citrus. No,
**Gizmo:** no citrus. That's it. [00:46:00]
**Bam Bam:** That was it. The citrus took me down. So I want to backtrack a bit, you know, I bought this cigar on blind. I respect the opinions of everyone in this room. And I actually rely on your opinions.
What cigar should I try? Which one should I try? Senator had this one night. I bought it at a blind faith and I'm so fucking happy. I did that because they're so delicious. Now this, this cigar could easily be a nine for me, but so could a millennium, but it's not. And you all know how much I love the millennium when I compare it to.
The ultimate quality of a cigar. And I've said it in this room just a moment ago, for me, a 10 is the 80th family reserved for drone. A nine is an exclusivity prodrome. That's not
**Senator:** family reserve now.
**Bam Bam:** I'm sorry. You're right. So it's 12, six. I can't put this in this exact same league as the exclusivity. It's a step down, but the quality of this is [00:47:00] incredible.
And so as the flavor, it's so delicious. So for me, it's, it could easily be another. But it's an eight, just for the fact that I've got the 80th at 10, my ex an exclusivity at nine. And this fights with the millennium between the ex-co CBO, all three of these cigars rotate from the point of view of what, of a rating for me personally.
But if I have to give it a number, I'm giving it an eight
**Gizmo:** today. So can I ask you a quick question? Yeah. Are there, what Cubans would you put at nine? And are there any Cubans you would put in. 'cause you said two non Cubans. I'm curious where this ranks in other versus other Cubans you've had. What Cuban would you give a nine?
What Cuban would you give a 10, the Cuban that weed, that
**Bam Bam:** Poobah introduced us to. That we're Maina Robina, that's it? That's a fucking 10 all goddamn day long. So that's a time. No doubt about it. Yeah. Yeah.
**Senator:** It's a good thing. We're going to be reviewing that cigars because I've reserved procured some that he's going to gladly share.
I [00:48:00] changed my mind, so,
**Bam Bam:** and a Cuban. See, I can't, it's hard to rate a Cuban that high, but. This has such a strong flavor profile. And for me, I pursued that flavor and I love a fuller cigar. And honestly, before I met the lizards, I wasn't a Cuban guy because of that fact, I assumed the Cubans were all mild. I wouldn't be interested in them, but I learned so much about them.
The flavor profiles are so complex and stuff. You chase it and it's through that chase work for me. It's what's exciting about Cubans.
**Gizmo:** I do wonder though, sorry to interrupt you, but I'm curious if you had an amazing day before, would you give that a seven? No, absolutely not. No. I'm just asking. Bam,
**Bam Bam:** I'd see that a D for right up there with the exclusivity, the millennium and this guy, they're all fighting for that number nine spot for me personally.
They're all, they're all in the ring fighting the ex-co Siva, the millennium and this guy, and he can put the default right along with these.
**Gizmo:** We should come know there are
**Rooster:** different stakes. The ratings should be [00:49:00] based upon
**Gizmo:** just, I
**Bam Bam:** knew someone
**Gizmo:** was going to say that I know not
**Rooster:** based upon the other cigars and you know, not every cigar of the same thought.
Yeah, but if you're comparing it is
**Senator:** so hard. I mean, even your benchmark for 10 is a funny, and some of these others, we do have sticks in mind. And I think it helps. I mean, honestly,
**Bam Bam:** from the point of view of perspective, it helps a lot.
**Senator:** The more we try, the more we've had, the more we have the better we understand what really means a spectacular Cuban or a spectacular Nicaraguan or Dominican.
I think it, you know, some of these cigars really set the benchmark for what outside you're creating. You're
**Bam Bam:** creating a precedent between these cigars and in your mind, if we're going to rank them, the number plays a big role, depending on the cigar
**Gizmo:** that you have. But this cigar another five
**Rooster:** years, it could be, it'll be a 10
**Bam Bam:** for me.
It could jump to a nine
**Gizmo:** or 10, maybe even more than five years. I mean,
**Senator:** look, you know, we [00:50:00] don't know, we don't know that I'm going to say, I think. Part of the beauty of the aging processes. You don't know what you're going to get. I think there are some cigars that with age get even more spectacular and reach Heights you didn't even know were possible.
But I think there are other cigars that with age, you actually light up and say, this is still a very good cigar, no question, but this isn't anything spectacular. Like I was expecting. So I'm, I'm not necessarily as convinced that this would be a. I do think with the amount of flavor this cigar already has with the Maduro wrapper.
I don't, I mean, here's the example I'll use. If we think of a lot of prodrome materials that we smoke and those already aged five years, do I really believe that if I left a Padrone 80th or an SDC VO in my humidor for another five years, that that would be that much dramatically better? No, I honestly don't know.
That's where I think some of these already really full flavored cigars. I'm not sure. That much more [00:51:00] impressive with the
**Grinder:** depends on the agent too. Cause like Madrone, when they talk about aging, it's not like aging in a cabinet or aging in new human life, aging in Polonia. Polonius like piles of leaves in a fucking humidifier control.
Like they're trying to ferment different cultures and all this kind of shit, as opposed to this is a new, a fresh Cuban fresh off the farm. Maybe. That you put into your cabinet, that aging, that you, you know, if you put it in your cabinet, you wait a couple of years from
**Poobah:** look, it's a role. Look, it's, this is, uh, this is, uh, maybe we can some, maybe I can try and sum it up.
I it's, uh, to me, it's, it's, it's a role player, you know, it's a role player that cigar it's got our nine ranking is pretty high for what it is, but it is, but that doesn't mean.
**Bam Bam:** That's true. There are a lot of doesn't mean that
**Poobah:** doesn't doesn't doesn't mean [00:52:00] that it's something, I wouldn't smoke this in my let's say I had 10 boxes, hypothetically or five boxes.
What I put it in it, would I put it in my daily? No, I wouldn't. But would I put it in? It's there a spot for that? Definitely
**Gizmo:** for
**Bam Bam:** me, I'd smoked this week, at least two a week I could do with no problem, but not
**Gizmo:** daily. No. And I
**Senator:** actually love Pumas analogy of a role player. I mean, you think of in sports, right?
There are some unbelievable players. You look at Robert Henri for any basketball fans out there. The guy has more championship rings than most players ever achieve in their entire. He was a phenomenal role-player you take nothing away from a guy like that. And I think with this cigar great. And it doesn't have to be a starter.
It doesn't have to be part of the daily rotation, but when you like this thing up, oh, you know, it's going to, it's a special
**Gizmo:** cigar.
**Poobah:** It's got a spot like that. I don't think that that's detrimental to what. It's it's something that you put in, you can look [00:53:00] forward to when it's got a spot and it's got a place and it's got a lot of character.
And I think that plays into the reason why that's what it is. Right. It's got a lot of character it's different in it's something. I think that you, you, you, you go, you know what, I'm going to do that today. And maybe that's three times a month, you know, maybe that's once a week, but it's not, it's not a.
**Gizmo:** No twice a week for me.
And I think, you know, with an 8.7 as the lizard rating, I think that's a very fair score. I think that call goes to everything. The great averaging, I think. Yeah. And I think that's definitely a solid recommend 8.7 that's I think 8.7 is a perfect score for that circle. A hundred percent.
**Senator:** Look, I just want to be clear.
I think that's very high praise. Yeah. I think this is a tough group typically. And I am thrilled to see, cause I love this cigar. I obviously, bam really loves this cigar. I wouldn't get rid
of
**Bam Bam:** me. I want more. Well, I gave you
**Senator:** my reasons. [00:54:00] That's true. Next time. We're trying to source these. I'm going to tell our source that I gave it a nine and Bev gave it an eight, so we know where he's sending it to.
I know the source.
**Gizmo:** All right, bam. Bam. Thank you for the party gets Madora one love sharing grinder. Thank you for the. Brisket and all the food and, uh, guys, thank you. And we'll see you next time. Nice. Keep smoking.
Thanks so much for joining us tonight. Hope you enjoyed it. If you have any comments, questions, if you want to reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking. Email us lounge, lizards pod. Lounge lizards pod@gmail.com. Really appreciate your time and we'll see you next week.