Lounge Lizards - a Cigar and Lifestyle Podcast

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Recorded at Ten86 Cigars in Hawthorne, New Jersey, the Lizards pair the Byron 19th Century Poemas with 1933 Macleod's 15 Years Old Sherry Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky. The guys debate if retrohaling affects how we taste food and wine, Senator talks handling bad customer service and a listener asks them to reflect on their most cherished cigar memories.
PLUS: Gizmo vs. USPS, EDIAV Loves the Black Honey, Spanish Smoking Ban, New Cuban Punch, Nicaraguan Cigar Tariffs & More

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

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

What is Lounge Lizards - a Cigar and Lifestyle Podcast?

Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
​
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.​

This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
​
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!

Gizmo:

Welcome to the Lounge Listers podcast presented by Fabrica five. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars as well as whiskey travel food work and whatever else we feel like getting into. Name is Gizmo. Tonight, I'm joined by Rooster, Senator, chef Ricky, and Bam Bam.

Gizmo:

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 two hundred and sixteenth official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. By the news here once a week. We're gonna smoke a Dominican cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating. We debate if retrohaling affects how we taste food and wine, sender talks handling bad customer service, and a listener asks us to reflect on our most cherished cigar memories all among a variety of other things for the next two hours.

Gizmo:

So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, enjoy as we pair 15 years age 1933 McLeod single malt scotch whiskey with the Byron nineteenth century poemas. A Robusto on the pod tonight, boys, from Costa Rica. It's the Byron poemas in Robusto, and it's a 52 ring gauge cigar by five inches long. And, boys

Senator:

I'm sorry. Did you say from Costa Rica?

Gizmo:

Costa Rica.

Bam Bam:

Correct. Doc Felix would like this.

Senator:

As in this was made there, grown there,

Rooster:

or all

Senator:

of the above? Or it

Bam Bam:

just passed through.

Gizmo:

So this blend is from Costa Rica. I've seen different things that it was rolled in Nicaragua. I've seen that it's rolled in Costa Rica. The news out there is a little weird on this, but I'm going with Costa Rica because that's what I've seen.

Senator:

Tobacco's from there.

Gizmo:

So they're the wrapper is a Pedorean, the binder and filler are Nicaraguan and Peruvian.

Senator:

So what does this have to do with Costa Rica?

Bam Bam:

They printed the band. They printed the band in Costa Rica.

Gizmo:

Listen, we'll write an email later. Alright. So this is a 52 ringgit cigar boys by five inches long. And first we have to say, this is our first episode of 2026.

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Gizmo:

Wow. Look at us.

Rooster:

Let's go.

Gizmo:

Still here. Yeah. We are here with a nice cigar tonight and hopefully a good spirit. We'll see.

Bam Bam:

Oh,

Gizmo:

yeah. This cigar comes at a lot of listener recommendations asking us to go back to Byron. We did another cigar of theirs that rated very well, so it's a nice kickoff to 2026.

Bam Bam:

How much was this?

Gizmo:

$31.50.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. Was

Gizmo:

a Yeah. A little high.

Chef Ricky:

Who's in charge of the lighting today, Ben?

Bam Bam:

Expensive, full blown.

Gizmo:

He's always in charge of the in charge of the lighting.

Chef Ricky:

Extra romantic.

Gizmo:

Yeah. Extra romantic. A lot of romance in the air tonight,

Bam Bam:

I like it. Oh, yeah. More ways in one.

Gizmo:

Let's cut this thing. See what we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper.

Rooster:

Not getting anything on the wrapper.

Gizmo:

Mm-mm. I was smelling the foot before. There was nothing on it.

Bam Bam:

Cold draw is delicious.

Gizmo:

I have to take a little bit more. My first cut didn't do it.

Bam Bam:

Just skim the cap right off.

Gizmo:

Yeah. Mine did I did the same, and it wasn't good enough.

Bam Bam:

It's a I'm getting fruit. A little berry.

Senator:

Mhmm. Same. Yeah. Can I just say the secondary band on this says Reserva? Three anos.

Senator:

Three anos. Yeah. You never see, an age statement effectively, especially on a New World stick. I'm kind of impressed that they're planting a flag in the sand saying this has a minimum of three years on it.

Bam Bam:

I'm sure that's what's reflected in the price. $10 a year.

Gizmo:

Cold draw is really nice.

Bam Bam:

It's nice. I'm getting berry, a

Chef Ricky:

little cream. Yeah, I'm getting blackberry 100%.

Senator:

And a little bit of cream on the finish. The cold draw honestly is delicious.

Gizmo:

Yeah. And there's like like we said, there's absolutely nothing going on on the wrapper or at the foot. Correct.

Rooster:

Yeah.

Gizmo:

Maybe a little cedar. That's it. I'm hopeful. Alright, boys. Let's light this thing.

Gizmo:

The Byron nineteenth century Poemus in Robusto. Again, it's a 52 ring inch cigar by five inches long. Kicking off the New Year, returning to Byron. Folks love this brand. It is a sister brand to Atabay.

Bam Bam:

An expensive brand overall. Yes. So not for the budget conscious smoker.

Gizmo:

That's why I wanted to do it for our, you know, first one of the year. Kind of like a special occasion stick at that price.

Bam Bam:

Wow. That's very sweet for me. Off the light.

Gizmo:

Oh yeah, I agree with you. Right? It's unique. Are you getting a lot of smoke output? Not really.

Gizmo:

Okay.

Senator:

So it's not just me because I'm I'm not, and it's weird. I'm wondering if I needed to take more off, but it sounds like no one's getting billowing smoke when they draw the cigar.

Bam Bam:

It's billowing off your cigar right now.

Senator:

Off the foot. Yeah. Yeah. Not at the head of cigar when I draw it.

Gizmo:

Give it a second, Senator. It opens up? Yeah. It opened up real nice. I'm getting getting a lot more smoke.

Gizmo:

I will say the cigar does feel great in the hand. Yeah. For a robusto. Feels substantial.

Bam Bam:

It's a robusto. Right? So they all feel great. But I'd like to know what you think about the flavor profile you're getting right now off the light.

Gizmo:

It's unique. It's a little weird.

Bam Bam:

It's a little for me, it's strange. I'm not sure if I like it yet. It's a combination of sweet and cough med it's like a sweet cough medicine for me.

Gizmo:

I'm not getting cough medicine.

Rooster:

Think I think the creaminess is coming through. It's sweet.

Chef Ricky:

Getting that. Yeah. Sweet cream No. I'm I'm getting a little tannic kind of bitterness.

Gizmo:

I was gonna say there's a little bitter there.

Rooster:

That's what

Bam Bam:

I'm getting.

Chef Ricky:

I think that's what Bam's pulling on his.

Bam Bam:

The touch.

Senator:

Yeah. Feel the end of your cigar just to see if it's really hot because I'm not getting any bitterness

Bam Bam:

at all. Nice and cool. For

Senator:

me, the finish is creamy. Like, there's nothing sharp or bitter.

Bam Bam:

No. Nothing sharp for me, but a little bit of acid type thing happening.

Gizmo:

I will say the cigar, maybe this is to your point, Bam, it's kinda got me, like, I do.

Bam Bam:

Do you like it, Saddam?

Senator:

Right now, do.

Gizmo:

Yeah. I think it's unique. Nice open.

Bam Bam:

What about you?

Chef Ricky:

I think it just Oh,

Rooster:

we just we just lit it. You know? Give it time, I think.

Chef Ricky:

Yeah. I think it'll

Senator:

I agree.

Rooster:

Initial it's not I mean, it's I'm not blown away, but it's it's not bad, or it's not great so far, but it's early.

Senator:

Like the notes that are previewing are notes I'm prone to enjoy.

Bam Bam:

They're promising.

Senator:

They're promise. Just like faint right now, and I'm hoping that as this progresses and heats up, that they'll get more pronounced, and

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Senator:

I'm probably feeling really good about it.

Gizmo:

Yeah. So this cigar boys, and we talked about this on the other Byron twenty first century elegantes episode we did. This comes from Nelson Alfonso of Selected Tobacco. He was the creative mind behind the branding of Cohiba Bajique in Cuba. So his vision for this brand, and we talked about this quite a bit, was to bring to the American market a cigar reminiscent of the great Cuban brands.

Gizmo:

And his whole thing here is spanning the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty first centuries. So the other one that we smoked is the twenty first century. This is the nineteenth century. And like I said, it's called the Poemas, And there are four cigars in this line. The petite poem is 50 ring gauge by four.

Gizmo:

The poem is we have in our hand, the Robusto 52 by five. There's a grand poem is 56 by six and an epic Poemis 54 by seven. So there's three lines. Like I said, each of them have four cigars. Okay.

Gizmo:

So the twenty first century we did rated pretty pretty well. We'll talk about that a little later. So, see how this does.

Bam Bam:

I don't think I was here for that episode.

Gizmo:

I remember that. That was an expensive cigar too. I think it was in the forties, honestly.

Chef Ricky:

Wow. I do remember it being delicious.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. I have to say the retrohale is pretty good.

Chef Ricky:

The Retro Hills are omgrette and cream.

Bam Bam:

Very nice.

Rooster:

So this whole line is kind of priced

Gizmo:

that range? Yeah. All their stuff is pretty pricey.

Rooster:

So would you say it's a boutique brand? Definitely.

Gizmo:

Yeah. Yeah. There it's not available at a ton of retailers. I I know it's popping up more on in the online retailers. I'm not sure how, you know, easy it is to find in brick and mortar.

Gizmo:

Certainly, you can find it online. But, yeah, people really like this brand. People like Atabay too. I mean, we've not had success with Atabay. Probably should revisit the brand at some point.

Gizmo:

But, you know, I think Byron stands above Atabay based on what I've had. I've had some other Byron cigars. I've had a couple Atabays. I think it's definitely a level above Atabay. At this point, I'm just there's

Rooster:

a question in my head. Like, would you pay $31 for this cigar at this point?

Gizmo:

No. Right. It's hard for me to pay that for a Robusto. I'm sorry. Correct.

Senator:

I mean, in in fairness, the bar is so high at that price point. There are few cigars I would pay $31 for a Robusto.

Bam Bam:

What's a d four going for now? About 28 to

Rooster:

30 No. This I mean, compared

Gizmo:

to New World.

Bam Bam:

Yeah, I'd rather buy a D four than this, and I'd pay that number for that.

Rooster:

Yeah, but I'm saying in a in a New World, which is wouldn't pay $21

Bam Bam:

for almost

Senator:

any New World.

Bam Bam:

Except for that D four Cuban, of course.

Chef Ricky:

For a Cuban, I

Rooster:

mean, I'm not.

Bam Bam:

I give up. My point is that's the only Yeah. Booster worth the This is too much. Senator was, like, looking around. What are we talking about?

Gizmo:

So, boys, let's talk about some news. We've been a little harsh on Davidoff over the past couple of months, of course. Davidoff has announced the Winston Churchill, the late hour in Bellicoso, which is launching this month, and it's coming in those tins that we love so very much.

Bam Bam:

Wow. How interesting.

Gizmo:

But a a black tin, of course. We love the bellicoso in the white label

Bam Bam:

Yep.

Gizmo:

In the same tins, and it's coming out this month. It's the first non parejo vitola in the Winston Churchill, the late hour line. The bellicoso measures 46 ring gauge by four and a half inches long. The wrapper is Ecuadorian Habano Oscuro with a Mexican San Andres Negro grinder and five different fillers, three from The Dominican Republic, Olor, Piloto, and San Vicente, and leaves from Condega and Esteli, Nicaragua. And, of course, the Condega tobacco, as we've talked about before in that line on everyone that we've smoked here on the podcast, it's aged in barrels that have previously held Scotch whiskey.

Gizmo:

In the press release, Stavodov says the cigar is a medium filler, which means that at least some of the filler is short filler tobaccos. The wrapper and binder are long filler. So I guess that's similar to the Bella Cosa that we we like, but I believe they've reported that as being short filler. So medium filler, I guess, is kind of the in between of it.

Bam Bam:

But I

Gizmo:

mean, for how good that cigar is and how it performs for the price, I mean, it's worth it.

Bam Bam:

I would try that. I would too. Looks interesting.

Rooster:

Any idea on the price?

Gizmo:

The MSRP is $12.40, rooster.

Bam Bam:

For 10?

Gizmo:

Assuming no. Each cigar. It's Davidoff. Correct. Yeah.

Gizmo:

So I I would think that you're probably gonna see those for 8 or $9 online. That's a piece.

Rooster:

It's almost almost twice the price of the

Bam Bam:

Still

Rooster:

Well, now, I mean, the the white label, we get

Gizmo:

it for what? Like, 6? Yeah. $67. It's

Bam Bam:

interesting.

Gizmo:

So I'm hoping that, you know, that they do it right. I mean, obviously, we've talked about some of the Davidoff stuff recently not being great. The brand kind of pivoting away from tobacco is the main focus, certainly in my eyes. So hopefully, they nail it with this.

Rooster:

I think the timing is pretty good to come out with a short cigar in the winter months when, you know, people sometimes don't have a lot of time to smoke if they're smoking in their vehicles. Yeah. And they want a shorter smoke. So be interesting to try.

Bam Bam:

Looks good.

Gizmo:

This cigar is starting nice, guys.

Bam Bam:

It's actually very nice now.

Chef Ricky:

It's settling in for sure.

Bam Bam:

The retrohale is outstanding, I will say. And the traditional draw, very pleasant. Anyone getting vanilla bean?

Gizmo:

Vanilla bean? For

Rooster:

me, it's still creamy and you do get a little bit of that dried fruit thing happening.

Senator:

For me, it's like vanilla yogurt.

Chef Ricky:

Yeah, so you're tying in that acidity that

Bam Bam:

Yeah, Pam was getting definitely creamy and still getting a little bit of berry for me. I feel

Gizmo:

like I'm getting a little bit of espresso, and not so much the coffee coffee piece of it, but kinda like the finish of espresso. Yep. That that like that bitter moment that happens at the end of the set. What are

Bam Bam:

you getting on the retrohale? Have you tried that yet?

Gizmo:

Yeah. It's creamy. Yeah. You know, dried fruit. Vanilla bean I'm chasing though.

Gizmo:

I wanna get that.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. I'm getting like a cashew type thing on the retrohale.

Senator:

There is a nuttiness.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. I

Senator:

mean, I have to say, the flavor profile and the way this is smoking, this is smoking like a premium cigar. Absolutely. Not a $10, very excessively priced premium cigar, but something that commands a

Gizmo:

higher price.

Rooster:

The tobacco seem like they're aged

Bam Bam:

The for burn's beautiful. Ashes look pretty good. I need stick.

Gizmo:

The flavor profile is great. It's funny when we started, my burn was kind of wonky, but now it's Yeah. Same caught as up and evened out.

Senator:

Perfectly corrected. Mhmm.

Gizmo:

Yeah. Alright, boys. Let's talk about another cigar that is coming out from Habanos SA this time, The Punch Princessas, Odysseo Limitada 2025 has gone on sale in Cyprus, of course. Phoenicia, I believe, launched it. It's a 52 ringgit cigar by five and three tenths inches long.

Gizmo:

It's the same size as the Monte Cristo Edmundo. Each of these cigars is priced at $58.08 or just over $1,100 for a box of 20.

Bam Bam:

My jaw just dropped. Of Outrageous.

Gizmo:

It has the normal two bands on it, what I find interesting is there's actually a third band

Bam Bam:

Of course.

Gizmo:

On this Odysseo Limitada that has those punch kind of green colors, you know, that you've seen on, you know, different things.

Bam Bam:

And the tubos are always green.

Gizmo:

It's kinda like that. Exactly. It's exactly that. It's like that army green. Correct.

Gizmo:

But it's the first time that I remember seeing a third band on

Bam Bam:

On any

Gizmo:

punch? Limitada.

Bam Bam:

Even on any punch.

Gizmo:

And punch too. Yeah. So pretty cool that they're actually coming out on time. As we know, most of the time the it is your limitatus come out a year or two later than they're supposed to. So it actually coming out close to 2025 here is is definitely a new thing for Habanos.

Gizmo:

And for $60, it's a bargain. The only other addition limitata announced this year is the Monte Cristo Elba addition limitata twenty twenty five fifty four ring gauge by five and three quarters, which we talked about went on sale about four months ago. And the Romeo y Juliette Amantes was launched for the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Romeo y Juliette. So usually they launch three. It is only metatas a year.

Gizmo:

This year, they've only done two probably. According to Halfwheel, they're saying likely because of the Amantis. Even though it's not branded like that, it's kind of a limited edition cigar from them. So that's the latest from Habanos and Punch, which is a marker I love. I do love Punch, man.

Bam Bam:

Me too.

Gizmo:

Haven't been smoking many of them, but I'm still thinking about that double corona that we smoked and we eat so highly. It was That was good. Freaking great. Really incredible. Yeah.

Gizmo:

When was the last time anybody in here smoked a double corona? I'm talking all from anywhere in the world, not just Cuban.

Bam Bam:

I had the I had that not too long ago. Sent you guys a photo. Remember? I do not. A month ago?

Senator:

I mean, for me, a little over a year ago.

Gizmo:

Yeah.

Senator:

Would have been late last year when we were in Cuba. Mhmm.

Gizmo:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I honestly think the last time I had a double corona was when we reviewed the punch.

Bam Bam:

Well, you got, like, eight boxes, so get in it.

Gizmo:

I don't. Actually, the box we smoked out of was the only box I have, so I probably only have about eight left or six left. Okay.

Senator:

That's perfect. One for everybody.

Bam Bam:

Correct. You know one weird thing we didn't chat about about this cigar? The open

Gizmo:

Oh, yeah. Bottom on the on the Dude, the cellophane is so weird on this. I'm so glad you brought that up. I haven't slipped my mind.

Bam Bam:

I mean, I just looked at it. I don't think I've ever seen this before ever on any cigar.

Gizmo:

So let's explain this to the listener. This is the first time I got these cigars and I the bag and they I grabbed the cellophane and the cigar flew out onto the floor. And I'm like, what hap what did I do wrong? And I grabbed another one. Same thing.

Gizmo:

Poof. Out the cell and I'm holding the cellophane. This the bottom of the cellophane, unlike normal where it's wrapped over and maybe sealed with Tape. You know, sticker or a barcode or something.

Bam Bam:

Something.

Gizmo:

It's quite literally open. The foot is open, like chopped off.

Rooster:

So that explains the crack on my cigar on the foot.

Bam Bam:

Maybe. You're so full of it. Oh boy.

Gizmo:

But I've never seen that before. Have you guys seen that?

Bam Bam:

No. It's kind of it looks kind of cheap. It just doesn't it doesn't for me

Senator:

I mean, I present well. I agree. It looks cheap, and it defeats the purpose. The whole point of putting self in is to protect the cigar

Gizmo:

Especially the foot.

Bam Bam:

Especially the foot.

Senator:

The fact that this is so uncommon that you would never even think that if you held it in the cellophane, it could ever fall out. The odds that people have picked these up and damaged their cigars, I

Bam Bam:

mean Very high.

Senator:

I'm sure there's tons of people that have done this by mistake.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. It's crazy.

Senator:

I don't get it.

Gizmo:

Yep. Yeah. I thought it was quite pointless. I was actually gonna take it out of the cellophane, but I figured you guys could have the same experience I did and Mhmm. And ruin the amount of confusion around the cut cellophane on the cigars.

Gizmo:

So boys, let's go to our pairing tonight. We have '19 33 McLeod. McLeod. Teen year aged single malt scotch whiskey.

Bam Bam:

That's me, chef. Thank you.

Gizmo:

Drinking it neat. Cheers, boys. Cheers. Happy New Year

Bam Bam:

Yes, sir.

Gizmo:

To 2026. Look

Rooster:

at us.

Bam Bam:

Correct. Salute. We survived.

Gizmo:

It's not great. Smooth.

Rooster:

Jesus Christ.

Gizmo:

Yeah. That's not good. I don't agree

Senator:

with that.

Gizmo:

I don't like it. I don't like it at all.

Bam Bam:

I mean, it drinks like a scotch. You know? Yes.

Senator:

I think it drinks like a It's a scotch. Decent, solid fifteen year scotch. I don't think there's anything offensive.

Bam Bam:

Is this a fifteen year scotch?

Gizmo:

Yeah. Yeah. I think it's a little thin. Thin? Yeah.

Gizmo:

I don't think it's a rich You know,

Rooster:

the color is really dark.

Bam Bam:

It looks beautiful.

Senator:

This is the identical viscosity to Macallan 12.

Bam Bam:

Yeah, disagree.

Gizmo:

I'm saying thinness in the flavor profile. It's just not doing a lot.

Bam Bam:

There is one thing that bothers me though. It's for me a little tart. There's a tartness to it. Just the touch of it.

Senator:

You mean like cherry tartness is

Bam Bam:

That's what I exactly what I'm kind of getting, and I'm not sure if I like that. But I think the viscosity is great, and overall, it drinks pretty nice. But there's a tartness there that does bug me.

Chef Ricky:

Is that tartness just like scotch character coming through more than the sherry?

Senator:

I get a cherry note in this, and I think that that's what's doing it. And for me, cherry is it's very polarizing because if it's done well, I like it, but if it's not, it instantly reminds me of cough syrup.

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Senator:

So this, like, just teeters on the line where my brain is saying, like, maybe it's acceptable, Cherry, but it's I'm getting a little

Bam Bam:

kind of a bit

Senator:

of a technical quality about it. Yeah. So it's not offensive because it hasn't crossed the line, but it's like right there.

Bam Bam:

See, now you got me thinking cough medicine. I don't

Gizmo:

think Well, me, has It's on the wall. Me,

Bam Bam:

on really don't like it the first

Gizmo:

few sips, it has actually crossed that line. It's not hitting my palate in a pleasant way. Like, I really don't like it.

Bam Bam:

Mhmm.

Gizmo:

Now, this is a $100 bottle of scotch, by the way.

Rooster:

Wow.

Gizmo:

A $100? $99.99. I've never even heard of McLeod. That's McLeod.

Senator:

They gotta start ad campaign with Bem. So

Gizmo:

the other thing about this too, for its price point, I I was really struggling to find some interesting facts about it. I mean, it's a pretty bland, basic, boring brand story. There's really nothing there. You know? Like, pretty much every other whiskey and scotch we've talked about on this podcast is there's something interesting about it.

Gizmo:

This is just they were founded in 1933.

Bam Bam:

Mhmm.

Gizmo:

And they make scotch. Alright.

Chef Ricky:

This scotch makes me miss tequila.

Bam Bam:

You know? I think it's that tartness that may be bothering you. That's that's kinda getting me.

Gizmo:

I'm I'm not enjoying it.

Chef Ricky:

Yeah. The finish is it's it's really

Bam Bam:

It's abrupt. Think I the finish is I don't it's not very long for me. It's kind of abrupt, and it's okay. It's okay. I can't say that I hate it,

Senator:

but Yeah.

Gizmo:

I don't

Senator:

think it's bad. I just don't think it's great.

Gizmo:

No. I think it pales in comparison to most of the 12 year olds that we drink.

Bam Bam:

I agree. I don't disagree with that. The Belveny blows this out of the water that you can drink in copious amounts.

Senator:

The only thing that I do like, there's a walnut like nuttiness in the background that brings some richness to this. And if it didn't have as aggressive a cherry note as it does, I would really like this. It's just the cherry is imbalanced. Mhmm. But there's this nutty richness in the background, which for me is the best part

Chef Ricky:

of this.

Senator:

Just wish there were more.

Bam Bam:

I wish I was getting that.

Gizmo:

Yeah. I'm I'm not feeling that, senator. Honestly, I I really just

Bam Bam:

What if a chip of ice was were dropped into this?

Gizmo:

Or a

Bam Bam:

splash

Gizmo:

of of water might be good.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. I might do that. Just a really small little splash.

Gizmo:

So while you guys are doing that, I'll read you what the box says. I always love reading these. So it says our fifteen year old Highland single malt scotch whiskey is a testament to friendships, boys. Friendships. Cheers.

Bam Bam:

Alright.

Gizmo:

Stretch back almost a hundred years reaching across the rugged highlands of Scotland.

Bam Bam:

Hop, skip, and a jump for you, Rooster.

Senator:

I knew

Rooster:

it was coming. I knew Good. I missed that.

Bam Bam:

I thought it was dead.

Chef Ricky:

You made it worse, in my opinion,

Gizmo:

though. Reaching across the rugged highlands of Scotland to the bodegas and cooperages of Spain, all in the name of hand selecting the rarest and most exclusive sherry casks in which to finish our exceptional single malt. On the nose, we are to expect cinnamon spice and toffee, apple mellow to vanilla custard with a wisp of warm oranges.

Bam Bam:

I get none of

Gizmo:

that. Zero. On the palate, a burst of candied citrus peel as embers of toasted pecans glow beneath plum jam.

Senator:

Pecans. That's what it is. It's not walnut. It's pecans. I'm sorry.

Senator:

They have nailed that. I I said the nuttiness in this before I've ever heard any description on there.

Bam Bam:

You're getting some PK.

Senator:

A 100%.

Bam Bam:

How do you like it with the water now?

Senator:

I actually think it's helped a little bit. But I put very little, so I Me too? If you put a lot

Bam Bam:

No. Just a drop or two.

Chef Ricky:

For me, it sort of toned down the sweetness, so now all I'm getting is cough medicine.

Gizmo:

On the finish, we're to expect baked pears. Never had a baked pear.

Bam Bam:

Oh yeah, I get that.

Gizmo:

And apricots, then the warmth of lingering spice.

Chef Ricky:

They just threw every fruit in the description there.

Gizmo:

Yeah. I'm not impressed.

Chef Ricky:

No. And the one fruit we all agree that we get is not mentioned, but every other fruit.

Senator:

Yeah. I'll also tell you what this reminds me of. I don't know if we reviewed it. I know we bought it back in the whole you and Rooster Giz with the Kirkland scotch battle days of the Kirkland twelve

Gizmo:

and all that. They were delicious days.

Bam Bam:

Those were fun days

Gizmo:

though. They were.

Bam Bam:

That was fun.

Senator:

Yeah. None of us are drinking that stuff anymore.

Bam Bam:

That's true, but it was good.

Senator:

Maybe at that point in some of our journeys. Correct. There was a higher age expression we did. I think it was like an 18 of Kirkland. And this honestly is very similar.

Senator:

And I will never forget that Kirkland 18 because it was very distinct. Like, it had nuttiness, like the pecan note you get in this. It had cherry like we're getting in this to the point that I also felt there was almost a cough medicine like quality about that Kirkland 18.

Rooster:

But it was one third one third the

Gizmo:

price.

Senator:

Correct? That's probably true.

Bam Bam:

That's right. Mister Costco speaking of.

Rooster:

For an 18 year old Scotch.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. They had a 23 year old too, didn't they? They did. Yeah.

Gizmo:

I think what it is for me with this is is when you sip it, it's fine. And as soon as you swallow it and it hits the back of your throat, it's like gone. Like, it's just it does not work at that point. I really don't

Rooster:

like it.

Senator:

Is not that short. I I for me, it lingers.

Bam Bam:

I don't know. I need more. Because I I'm I'm out. I've got water in there. I gotta refresh this thing.

Senator:

I don't know. I I think because this is a less familiar brand, this is getting more hateful.

Rooster:

Oh, come on.

Gizmo:

That we are not that podcast. No. I No.

Rooster:

That is not the case.

Gizmo:

That is not the case.

Senator:

So, Chef, you really think that this has a very short finish?

Gizmo:

I didn't say short finish. I did. I said when

Senator:

said once it hits the back your pellet, it's gone.

Gizmo:

That's a short finish. What I meant was it it's all the goodness leaves at that point for me. It's not a

Rooster:

Short finish.

Gizmo:

Short finish. I'm saying as soon as that happens, it like the way

Senator:

I don't know what that means. There are no words on it. What does that mean? That's a short finish.

Chef Ricky:

You know, for me, I think the notes, the qualities we like about scotches that tend to lean a little sweet and balanced that are, you know

Bam Bam:

Yeah. This is not a typical scotch.

Chef Ricky:

This isn't ending that way. We're not getting

Bam Bam:

It's very different.

Chef Ricky:

It it ends I don't want to say it's short but it's not long the flavors we

Senator:

enjoy.

Bam Bam:

It's an abrupt finish for me.

Chef Ricky:

I'm getting a lot of burnt orange if I'm getting any kind of orange. Feel like I'm getting

Bam Bam:

No orange for me.

Chef Ricky:

It's just yeah. Don't yeah. I'm not and then at a $100 a bottle, it's drinking like a budget scotch almost.

Gizmo:

It does.

Bam Bam:

Oh, yeah.

Gizmo:

It does drink like that.

Bam Bam:

I don't disagree with that.

Gizmo:

Plus, I don't love that there's really not a story around it. There's nothing really interesting about it. Know, I I think no. That stuff But I I think that that adds character. When you're spending a $100 on something, I mean, I It adds character,

Senator:

but it shouldn't be a reason to criticize the story.

Gizmo:

I'm not taking points off for it. I'm just saying it's

Chef Ricky:

Not yet.

Gizmo:

It is aligned with the with the experience that we're having on the on the palate tonight. Alright, boys. So let's go to another news story. This one I thought was really interesting. The United States government has announced future 15% tariffs for some Nicaraguan goods, but not cigars.

Bam Bam:

Yay. Y'all so

Gizmo:

So somehow cigars have gotten carved out. I know that a lot of manufacturers remember at PCA this year, it was a big rumble about There was a lot of talk about the potential of tariffs coming in, especially for Nicaragua.

Senator:

Yeah, but forget PCA. After PCA, they thought that they announced they were going to do a 50% tariff on goods

Rooster:

We talked about this on

Gizmo:

the pod. Yeah.

Bam Bam:

A couple weeks ago.

Senator:

We made a whole episode on this.

Gizmo:

Yeah, it's not happening, guess.

Bam Bam:

Good adjustment here.

Rooster:

And I think the tariffs were much higher than 15%. Yeah, it was 50. 50. Yeah.

Senator:

Don't know. I I sent an article even around. Everyone was like, Oh, welcome the $30 per drone.

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Chef Ricky:

I did have a $45 Padron yesterday, Tuesday. Well done. At Havana Dreams of Padron number two. Queens? Yeah.

Chef Ricky:

I had a meeting out there after

Bam Bam:

So what's that place like?

Chef Ricky:

It actually wasn't

Bam Bam:

bad. Lounge seating?

Chef Ricky:

They have some lounge seating. They have a basement with additional lounge seating that no one was in. They have a few rabbit ears on the wall.

Bam Bam:

Okay.

Chef Ricky:

A couple TVs.

Bam Bam:

Good humidor?

Chef Ricky:

Decent. Decent. They had a good Padron selection. They had some

Rooster:

Which Padron did you have?

Chef Ricky:

Actually, they didn't have exclusive, but What'd you get? I got a Padron number two. Caught me off guard.

Gizmo:

Number two. Nineteen twenty six series?

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Senator:

Alright.

Bam Bam:

Alright. So

Senator:

what you read is that cigars are gonna be

Gizmo:

According to Half Wheel, the United States government announced future 15% tariffs for some Nicaraguan goods, but not cigars.

Senator:

Yeah. So I mean, when they say future, basically, we talked about this within the last few months that the Trump administration was saying they were gonna impose a 50% tariff on goods out of Nicaragua, which obviously would be a huge problem. Cigars would be included in What they now are announcing is instead of a flat 50%, starting next year, there'll be a 0% tariff. It will rise to 10% in 2027 and then be capped at 15% in 2028. So they're gonna phase this in, but it's now capped at 15 instead of aggressive thing like 50, and it sounds like they've also carved out cigars, which is

Gizmo:

Which is awesome. Yeah. Somebody must have got to them. So hopefully that stands. I mean, it would be nice.

Gizmo:

You know, Nicaraguan cigars are the largest, you know, type of cigar imported into this country. And, you know, certainly

Bam Bam:

And we love them.

Gizmo:

We love them and a lot of folks in this country love them. So not seeing a crazy 50%, you know, tariff on the wholesale price is a very good thing. So hopefully that sticks and that's good news for sure. So let's go to some bad news. Around the world, we always talk about these smoking bans and stuff.

Gizmo:

Now Spain is another country in Europe that has moved forward with the smoking ban on bar and restaurant terraces. Not Spain. Including all public spaces, pools, parks, playgrounds. I don't know who's smoking a cigar on a playground, but you will not be able to smoke out outdoors anywhere in public in Spain,

Rooster:

which is crazy. On the swing. Late

Chef Ricky:

at night.

Gizmo:

It's crazy. I mean, when I think about some of these European countries, I mean, smoking is kind of part of the culture.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. It's ingrained.

Gizmo:

And I guess they're trying to get rid of that.

Bam Bam:

They smoke at six years old over there.

Gizmo:

So terraces have terraces have been one of the few places where smokers felt that they could light up in peace, but that could all be about to change according to Spanish news today. Most importantly, the ban doesn't just apply to traditional cigarettes, e cigarettes, hookahs, and heated tobacco are all included as well. In other words, everything they say.

Bam Bam:

So this is really all outdoor locations, Mark?

Gizmo:

All outdoors, pretty much.

Bam Bam:

So this could be a business opportunity for the lounge operators to expand, have more lounge spaces to smoke indoors.

Gizmo:

Why not? I hope so, but I just don't love that, you know, we continue to see these bands coming in. We talk about this almost every week. We're talking about a new band being introduced and pushed forward, and Europe definitely seems like they're going after this pretty hard. I know we talked about Italy, I think, a few weeks ago.

Gizmo:

Talked about Belgium.

Bam Bam:

France, you mentioned.

Gizmo:

Or France. Yeah. I don't yeah. A lot of a lot of different countries.

Rooster:

You know, the the number of people that smoke Italy. In Europe, outside on cafes

Bam Bam:

They smoke in church

Rooster:

smoke everywhere. It's true. Yeah. I mean, you know, I mean, what you sit in a cafe, get

Bam Bam:

a water. Hold on.

Rooster:

It's so nice to sit in a cafe outside in Spain, like have a cup of coffee, smoke a cigar.

Bam Bam:

Oh

Rooster:

yeah. And they're gonna take that away. That's insane.

Senator:

I mean, Spain is what? Habano says he's like biggest market. Yeah. One That's

Rooster:

of the biggest importers. Crazy. Yeah. Doesn't make sense.

Gizmo:

No. And here's another one. The Irish government has introduced new penalties for bringing in more tobacco than is allowed. So if you get caught bringing in more than you are supposed to, which in our case, specific to us, is 200 cigars, they will be fining you in Ireland for bringing in too many cigars. I guess I guess they're trying to protect their tax revenue.

Bam Bam:

Is that So what's too many? Anything over 200?

Gizmo:

Anything over 200 is Got too many it. So I guess if, you know, this is for the Irish folks who travel maybe to Cuba.

Bam Bam:

Or if you're a retailer, you're bringing in much more than that. I'm sure you have permissions.

Gizmo:

Yeah, sure. I mean, I'm assuming this is at Yeah, border points, you

Bam Bam:

yeah, yeah.

Gizmo:

But it's interesting. Like if you go to Havana as a European, a lot of those folks leave with like boxes and boxes of boxes of cigars.

Bam Bam:

Remember that guy from Hong Kong?

Gizmo:

Yeah, that was crazy. Taking like almost pallets out. Unbelievable.

Rooster:

Yeah. Yeah, but he was selling.

Gizmo:

He was

Bam Bam:

Yeah, he owned his business. I know,

Rooster:

but he He owns the stores.

Bam Bam:

Very cool to see someone buy that much.

Senator:

Yeah.

Gizmo:

He was just like, I'll take everything.

Bam Bam:

Mean, you were there. Oh yeah. It was incredible. The entire In the Parthagosh cashier area.

Rooster:

Shop, we saw him and then somewhere else, one of the

Gizmo:

other lounges, Cabo That's right.

Senator:

That's the one. Yeah. Yeah.

Bam Bam:

Cleaned house.

Gizmo:

Amazing. So interesting stuff. Governments are coming down on cigars, boys. So I like to I like this one from Lizard Enrique, and this one was specifically directed to senators. So we're gonna need your expertise on this one, senator.

Rooster:

He's from Doctor. Right? Lizard Enrique?

Gizmo:

Mhmm. He's in Texas.

Bam Bam:

Oh, boy.

Rooster:

Close enough.

Gizmo:

The subject is question for senator. And he says, hello, lizards. As someone who has dealt with recent poor customer service experiences, I would like to solicit senator's expertise and request he outline in as much detail as possible his tips for dealing with poor customer service both in person and by email, including his insight on how much hectoring, browbeating, and motherfucking one needs to do to unstick a difficult situation. Senator has all of the attributes to be a first ballot hall of famer of dudes who will get all up in your shit. Any insight would be very appreciated.

Gizmo:

Cheers, Lizard Enrique.

Bam Bam:

Well, don't go down that road if you wanna keep a relationship with them.

Chef Ricky:

I I was gonna say before this goes, can you lower the volume on my headphones? Senator's about to go off.

Senator:

The hardest part of this is I wish he explained what's his situation. Yeah. What is he dealing with?

Gizmo:

Yeah. He hasn't he did not out you know, he didn't lay it out.

Bam Bam:

It's difficult to comment

Gizmo:

on that. I don't know what it was, but what do you do when you have a bad customer service experience? I know you've had this in the airlines. You've had this at hotels,

Senator:

I'll say this. I think whenever this happens at a place that you have given a significant amount of business over any period of time, it could be over your lifetime, it could be over the last few years, whatever the case is, like, you're in the driver's seat as far as making needing to make clear to them how good of a customer, how loyal of a customer you've been, how disappointing that experience has been and the impact it's had on you, and how they have an obligation to make that right, or you will not return. And that tells them that all that you've spent with them over the course of your life ceases after that moment. And I have found that when you make that clear, you establish the length and volume of the relationship, your track record, and exactly what happened and the impact it's had, and why this needs to be rectified, nine times out of 10, someone's gonna address it in the right way. And in the 10% of times that someone does not, you need to talk to someone else.

Senator:

Don't give up. You say you wanna get so and so, and a lot of these places this happens to me in hotels a lot. Like, I'm not gonna name the hotel. It was in Europe. Beautiful place.

Senator:

I had a disappointing experience. I talked to this guy, and he tells me something like the manager, which also what you should do is look up, just Google it, try to find the name of the general manager of the entire property. They're always very cagey. They'll say like, oh, here's the manager. It's like the front desk manager.

Senator:

That's not that serious a person. And if you Google that person's name

Gizmo:

That's not serious a person.

Senator:

I mean, I'm sorry.

Bam Bam:

In that organization, it's true.

Gizmo:

They wanna

Rooster:

keep it in house.

Bam Bam:

There's a hierarchy.

Senator:

Totally. If you find that name and then you ask for them, they'll immediately snap to attention, and a lot of times they'll BS you like, oh, well, that person's not here yet. Okay. That's great. When will they be here?

Senator:

And they'll have to tell you when their next time is that they'll show up there. You tell them that they're to contact me as soon as they get here. And usually when that happens, that person is going to rectify the situation. So persistence is number one. As much as you can establish any track record with that business, it definitely helps.

Senator:

And then you gotta find the right person where oftentimes the person at the front desk, the waiter at the restaurant, like, they're not in a position to go above and beyond to make something happen. Like, you need a management level person who can do that. And what I have found is you don't need to feel bad when you're having that conversation. Like, you know, many of us in this room own businesses. Every time I've had a severely disappointing experience, and I've talked to the general manager of an entire hotel property, a restaurant owner, they've thanked me for sharing that feedback.

Senator:

Because they're like, if it's not for customers like you, this keeps happening, our business suffers.

Bam Bam:

They would not know.

Senator:

Usually they'll say to me like, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to actually fix it, and not just saying like, fuck you, I'm leaving, cancel the rest of my trip, my stay here, or I wanna leave the restaurant, basically not even finish the rest of the meal. So I don't think you need to feel bad when you're sharing that kind of feedback when you're literally asking them to try

Chef Ricky:

and fix it. A restaurant.

Senator:

Oh, because this happens at restaurants. No. It doesn't happen at Anejo, I'm sure, but it definitely happens at other restaurants.

Gizmo:

Occasionally. Yeah. Because I

Rooster:

think most people don't complain. They just don't come back.

Chef Ricky:

Yeah. Sure. 100%.

Bam Bam:

But that doesn't help the establishment.

Rooster:

No, it doesn't. So that's what I'm saying. The general manager or the manager needs to know that. So it's good to let him be aware of what the issue was and what happened.

Chef Ricky:

You know what, if there's an active manager on-site wherever a senator is and he's unhappy, it's easy to spot. You usually don't need to get as a manager, you don't need to let it get to that point. It's something that if you're a good manager, a halfway decent manager, and you're doing your job and you're observing

Gizmo:

what's You're seeing the pot boil.

Chef Ricky:

You're seeing people's body language and you're able to address these issues before they become major issues.

Rooster:

So you're talking as a business owner. Yes.

Bam Bam:

From a consumer perspective.

Rooster:

From a consumer perspective and also a management point of view, yeah, he should resolve that issue, but the owner is still he's going to take it a step above.

Senator:

And the other thing I'll say, as much as it should be the case that you pay for an experience, and it should be on the business to provide everything that they're supposed to. You do kinda have to own, unfortunately, as the consumer that, like, you have to create your experience. And when I say that, I mean, you know, when I've had really unfortunate things happen on a vacation at a hotel or even at a restaurant, when I've made clear to that manager what's happening, and I need them to resolve this if I'm gonna continue to give them any business, what they will often do, because they realize that they have some weak links in their staff that have really fucked up, and they know that they're not just overnight gonna make that person into an amazing, you know, waiter or, you know, service person in a hotel, they'll say for the rest of your stay, or for the rest of your meal, I personally am going to make sure that everything goes as smoothly as it should. Nice. And that's where you're creating your experience.

Senator:

You're telling them like, I'm not gonna deal with staff that don't know what they're doing anymore. If this is gonna work, someone needs to guarantee that my experience is gonna be what it should. And nine times out of 10, that manager's gonna say, I'm personally gonna be watching every single activity, everything that's happening on your reservation for the rest of your stay here, and they'll always make that right.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. I like it.

Rooster:

So who do I complain to at Habanos? Who's the CEO? I have a few issues.

Bam Bam:

It's a damn good question.

Gizmo:

So, boys, we're coming to the end of the first third here on the Byron nineteenth century Poemus in Robusto and the 1933 McLeod.

Bam Bam:

McLeod.

Gizmo:

Fifteen year aged single mod scotch whiskey. What's everybody thinking of the pairing right now? I like the cigar. I don't love the scotch.

Bam Bam:

I'm not thrilled with

Gizmo:

the I'm

Bam Bam:

not thrilled with the pairing. I don't hate it, but I'm it's very forgettable for me. I happen to like the cigar, and I think the spirit's okay.

Gizmo:

I'm with you on that.

Rooster:

It's okay. I'm not even thrilled about the cigar.

Gizmo:

I'm not thrilled. Think it's

Rooster:

good. It's good, but it's not phenomenal. It's not a $31 or $32 experience that I'm getting right now.

Bam Bam:

What are you getting right now, Brewster?

Rooster:

Same thing, like creamy and a little bit of dried fruit and maybe a little, like somebody mentioned, cashew, some kind of a nutty thing happening.

Bam Bam:

I get that on the retro.

Rooster:

That's about it. But it's not I'm not getting the flavor that you get out of Nicaraguan tobaccos.

Gizmo:

I get a very

Chef Ricky:

faint pepper. Getting along with everything else that you mentioned.

Rooster:

To me, the cigar is like a mild to medium at most. It's smoked. Barely medium.

Bam Bam:

It's so easy to smoke. I don't

Senator:

think there's any rough edges. Zero. Very I think it's a merit. I agree with you. I get Rooster saying that because he likes a really full cigar, and we all like a medium to full cigar.

Senator:

But I'm honestly impressed at how insanely smooth and easy smoking this is Correct. While still delivering enough flavor that my palate is satisfied. My palate is not overly stimulated like with a fuller cigar, but there's enough flavor here that I am satisfied in what I'm getting, so I do think they deserve some credit for being able to deliver that in, honestly, as smooth a way as exists. I'm even gonna go that far, this is incredibly smooth.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. And the performance is fantastic. I can go back and forth with a traditional and retrohale and with ease consistently. There's no burn, no pepper at all.

Gizmo:

Think right now for me, given I agree with everything you guys have said. I just don't think the cigar is very exciting right now. When you spend this kind of money on a cigar, especially a Robusto, a dollars 35 Robusto, it should be exciting your palate. It should be intriguing. It should be more than

Bam Bam:

So just the flip side, it does lack a flavor profile that you can kind of hang your head on.

Rooster:

It lacks complexity. You're looking for that oomph factor, the Nicaraguan tobaccos. It's a $31 cigar.

Bam Bam:

I want to get

Rooster:

more out of that cigar.

Gizmo:

I don't want oomph. I want excitement.

Bam Bam:

So hold on. So I it's I think it's a very sophisticated cigar. I think there's some complexity there in the way it's delivered. It's a mild cigar.

Rooster:

So for me, I mean, I'm having a burn issue and the wrapper is peeling.

Senator:

I'm sorry. Skismo dropped that one.

Rooster:

Oh boy.

Bam Bam:

He must

Chef Ricky:

have dropped mine too because I'm right with Rooster. I'm a 100% in lockstep with you, Rooster. It is smoking sort of mild for me. I'm getting some pepper notes.

Bam Bam:

But when's mild not a merit? I mean, that a demerit here?

Chef Ricky:

Think this is I'm disagreeing with Rooster.

Rooster:

I'm looking at the cigar.

Chef Ricky:

$31 it should deliver.

Bam Bam:

You're looking at the price.

Rooster:

Not only the price, I'm looking at the wrapper. The wrapper is really dark and oily.

Bam Bam:

So you're expecting something.

Rooster:

So I'm expecting more flavor.

Bam Bam:

That's fair. I understand.

Rooster:

I'm not expecting a mild experience.

Chef Ricky:

And you don't even have the scotch. In my case, I want the cigar to overtake the scotch, but it's not

Bam Bam:

If this were less expensive, I think this would be a great afternoon cigar. Yeah. You're not wrong. You have this with a this would be great with a cup of coffee in the afternoon in between work.

Senator:

I'll just say, the conversation around the price point, I disagree with the notion that it's not complex. I actually think there's a decent amount of complexity here. For me, it just lacks an edge. That's exactly it.

Gizmo:

I want excitement.

Bam Bam:

That's what they're saying.

Gizmo:

We're saying

Senator:

that's what I'm saying. Like, all

Bam Bam:

the same.

Senator:

At a 30 price point, there needs to be something that grabs you so

Bam Bam:

aggressively That's right.

Senator:

And says like, wow, that one extra note that's in there. You know, sometimes we've had a Nicaraguan cigar and we say, woah, I'm getting citrus in here. You'd never get that in a Nicaraguan. Like, it grabs you. That's the edge in that cigar.

Senator:

This doesn't have that, but that to me does not take away from the fact that it is relatively complex, it is outrageously smooth, and I do think while it's not exciting, it is satisfying in the

Rooster:

sense Would you buy that you it?

Senator:

If this were

Rooster:

That's the thing. If this was

Senator:

It's the price.

Chef Ricky:

It's the price. If

Senator:

this were, like, $18, would I buy this? Yes. I can't actually think this smokes like a more premium cigar than, like, a $10 New World.

Bam Bam:

Even if for $18, you wanna buy this? No.

Gizmo:

I think for for $10, I might consider it. I agree. But, I mean, it's just the the it's just it's a smooth cigar. But I look at the Tatawaje Cabo Iguan we did a couple weeks ago. Yeah.

Gizmo:

That is as mild a Nicaraguan cigar as we as we've ever smoked probably.

Bam Bam:

And compelling.

Gizmo:

And we have said that it is probably, you know, more mild, let's say, than than a lot of the Honduran stuff we love, From Faber Caffire, from Aladino and others.

Bam Bam:

And great flavor profile.

Gizmo:

The flavor in that, the wow factor in that edge that Senator's talking It's all about strength.

Chef Ricky:

It's mild in strength, not flavor. Correct. Right, this is mild, period.

Senator:

I'm not sure that I agree with that. Hang on. Said it's

Bam Bam:

a ding ding ding ding ding.

Rooster:

It has flavor, but it doesn't quite have that strength. Mean, Cabo Iguan had a sweeter, like a very balanced it had a

Senator:

wow factor. But that cigar is a lot harsher in delivery than this is. This is as smooth of a cigar as you would ever put in sanshell. Think I smoke plenty of them. There are moments in that cigar that you do get a little bit of a bite, and I excuse it because it's like a $9 Churchill.

Senator:

I'm never gonna fault for that.

Gizmo:

Senator, the one that we smoked on the pod, all of us had is we none of us had that experience. There was no roughness. There

Senator:

Everyone was no I've had

Gizmo:

that. Since then But I think the has fact that I had them for like two months,

Bam Bam:

well, it it

Senator:

was was longer special than that. I thought it was like six months

Rooster:

or something.

Gizmo:

Yeah, you were saying like, I'm worried

Senator:

about how it would smoke after.

Gizmo:

Yeah. I don't even remember how long it was now. It's like an eternity ago.

Bam Bam:

It sounds like you guys are kind of saying the same thing.

Gizmo:

I

Bam Bam:

do like how smooth and sophisticated this is. It's not compelling enough to hold your attention and it's easy to forget because there isn't that what you're saying, what you're calling the oomph factor. But honestly, though, I love I'm retrohaling every draw. That is a huge merit for me.

Senator:

Yeah. I'm just saying the biggest merit to me of this cigar this is literally the smoothest cigar I've probably ever had that delivers like any meaningful amount of flavor. Are you retro ing yours?

Gizmo:

Like ever. You? Lot.

Chef Ricky:

You? Chef? Every single day.

Bam Bam:

You have to admit, it is effortless. Yeah. And that's really, I think, says something about

Gizmo:

I think the wall biggest merit right now is smoothness, like Senator's saying. For me, the biggest demerit is the wow factor is missing.

Bam Bam:

Okay.

Gizmo:

That's all. That's where I'm at.

Senator:

Like, you could smoke one of these, and the mouthfeel even after the aftertaste it would leave, you might not remember that you actually smoked a cigar. That's how clean the delivery is on this cigar. And I do think that deserves credit. That's the only thing I'm saying is. I'm taking nothing away from the fact that it could and should deliver even more flavor, it lacks the edge, all of that.

Senator:

I'm just shocked at how smooth this is for something that actually gives you some flavor.

Chef Ricky:

Lizard Enrique, are you taking notes? So senator,

Gizmo:

I want to get back to his question really fast because I want you to tell our listeners about a crazy customer service experience you had where you did get past the point of everything you explained before.

Bam Bam:

There's an attempt psychopedia those moments. Let's go.

Gizmo:

Trying your best, talking to the right people, and still the job not getting done, and then your head exploded. What is an example of that that you can give us, and how did this the situation end up resolving itself?

Chef Ricky:

Guarantee you it was Our

Rooster:

X lounge.

Bam Bam:

Our current lounge.

Senator:

Fucking glasses. Our current lounge has been great. Don't don't say that.

Gizmo:

Don't compare that to North Korea. Our our X lounge. Yeah.

Bam Bam:

I break your hand.

Senator:

Yeah, our X lounge is the best example, honestly. At the time, I went to the proprietor and said, Here's what I spend here every month. You know that there's five, six other guys that spend around the same thing. All that needs to happen here is Saturday, this place cannot close at 5PM, that's outrageous. I can't even get a meal, I can't even have dinner in my own town, and come and have a cigar on a Saturday get

Gizmo:

an early bird special at like At 03:00? A barrel.

Bam Bam:

Correct. With the Seinfelds. With the Seinfelds. So

Senator:

all I said to him is, the Saturday 05:00 thing needs to change. I said to him, it's ridiculous this witch hunt that you you're on about Cuban cigars. Like, if I'm spending more than your average customer here, who cares if I smoked a 100 Cuban cigars? You're making more money from someone who smokes Cubans. That whole thing needs to stop.

Senator:

And I said the last thing is if we're here on a weeknight, and a cigar that I bought from you at like $30 a stick, if I need an extra ten minutes to finish the thing, I shouldn't be hassled that I need to get out at exactly ten on the dot. And he said, No, we're not gonna change those things. And I said, Okay, great. Then I quit, and you're gonna see five, six other guys do the exact same thing within twenty four hours. And he didn't believe it, and obviously, every single one of us quit right then and there.

Rooster:

So the point is the business lost. A lot? They lost. They lost our business and multiple other people that we know that come here that were thinking about joining that place and didn't join because of everything that Senator just pointed out.

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Rooster:

So if willing you're to make the changes that are needed, you're going to lose out.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. But some proprietors are set in their ways, and he just didn't care.

Rooster:

Which is micromanaging or short mindedness that you're kind of thinking about your business like you're limiting your client base, your customer base. You're not relating to them. If the customer is asking for you to stay open a little bit later,

Gizmo:

They're literally saying, I would like to spend more time at the place you've

Rooster:

created. Money.

Gizmo:

And at the same time, spend more money and bring more friends who are gonna spend more money. Like, you're literally saying, you've done a great job. You've built this place. It's perfect. I wanna spend more time here.

Gizmo:

And he goes, you know what? We're not into that idea. No.

Rooster:

It's anti business.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. That's correct.

Gizmo:

Mhmm. I could think of the I don't know if I told you guys that story the one time at the United States Postal Service a few months ago where that box of cigars got lost.

Senator:

There's still a warrant out for Gizmo services.

Gizmo:

I'm not gonna tell the whole story because it was not good. I I I really kinda lost my mind in a in a way that I'm not proud of.

Rooster:

You're gonna go after the Postal Service now?

Gizmo:

I I was. Yeah. No. The the the box so I had a box of Cupid cigars coming, and it was a box for the pod. And, of course, when it's a box for the pod, that amplifies my intensity.

Gizmo:

Seriously. I yeah. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you.

Gizmo:

Happy New Year. So the box was like bouncing around on this truck saying that it was, you know, out for delivery back at the back at the local place. Out for delivery back at the place. Like, three, four days. So what do I do?

Gizmo:

I get in my truck as I do. I go to chase down my mail carrier. Nothing. I go chase down the other one in town. No idea.

Gizmo:

She says, hey, I think it's on this other guy's truck, Stanley. He's the guy that drives all the packages around and gives them to the local spots. Right? So I get on the horn with this guy, no package. I go down to the post office, no package.

Gizmo:

I have a really nice conversation, give him my phone number. Yes, the postmaster general is going to call like senator was just saying, no phone call. Right? Day goes by, no phone call. I call this phone number that they have.

Gizmo:

Rings and rings and rings. You could call this twenty four hours a day and nobody's ever going to pick it up. Right? So I go back two days later and the postmaster general lady's not there. And I get this other guy who is a complete asshole.

Gizmo:

And I mean, certainly he's not like an MIT graduate, okay, this guy? But I mean, he has the brain cells of like, you know, a squirrel. And he's literally like fighting my information that I have been given and I have about my package and where it is. I'm like, it's literally saying it's here, then it's on the the truck to my house, then it's back like, going on a week. Mhmm.

Gizmo:

And these are expensive Cuban cigars. Yeah. And he eventually got to the point because I was getting so heated that he looked me right in the face and said, sir, I really don't care. Wow. Like, flat out.

Gizmo:

And then I went fucking ballistic. I went bonkers. And I'm not proud of it.

Bam Bam:

What did he do?

Gizmo:

He was not happy. I mean, I threw a pen and smashed it off the back of the wall behind the counter. Woah. Alright. And then I almost kicked the door off as I was walking out of the post.

Gizmo:

I have not been that angry

Senator:

at like

Rooster:

a Federal Building? Honestly honestly,

Gizmo:

I went home, and I said to my I said to missus Gizmo, I was like, I would not be surprised if the local police from that area actually show up at the house because I

Bam Bam:

That could happen.

Rooster:

So it sounds like a Guam issue.

Gizmo:

So I end up going I leave that place, right? I go thirty minutes away for an appointment and I get a phone call. Hey, we found your package. It'll be delivered in ten minutes. We're gonna personally drive it up to your house.

Bam Bam:

Wow.

Gizmo:

Why did it take me having to go absolutely ballistic? Ten minutes later, the package is found and it's at my house.

Bam Bam:

It's your life.

Rooster:

You know what

Gizmo:

I mean? But this customer

Bam Bam:

service It makes

Gizmo:

sense. It

Rooster:

makes sense.

Bam Bam:

It adds up.

Gizmo:

So have you ever had a moment like that, where you like

Senator:

The USPS is the single worst institution in this country. The worst. Yeah. I will oh my one of the greatest joys of moving to the suburbs is that the USPS people at least are more decent

Bam Bam:

They are.

Senator:

Than the USPS in urban cities. Mhmm. When I lived in Manhattan, I'd go into the USPS on the Upper West Side just to mail a package. I'm just a person standing in line waiting to mail a package. And the person at the window ahead of me, they leave, they finish, so what do I do?

Senator:

I walk up to the window. Sir, step back. I did not call you up to the window.

Rooster:

I'm like,

Senator:

what the hell are we doing? I mean, I'm just trying to mail a package. Even if I stood there, I'm happy to wait, but what difference does it make if I'm in front

Chef Ricky:

of the

Senator:

plexiglass or five feet behind

Rooster:

the yellow line.

Bam Bam:

It's a lot of pressure.

Senator:

It's pretty cool.

Rooster:

They sit behind a bulletproof glass.

Bam Bam:

Yes. Yeah.

Senator:

And then the person, like, you know, just motions for me to come up. Okay. I've walked up It's you're entering

Bam Bam:

a new country.

Senator:

Yes. Then

Rooster:

then the person office.

Senator:

Correct. I, like, put the package on the thing. Sir, that is not a USPS authorized box. You need to take that out. Go put it in the box over there, and get back to the end of the line.

Senator:

And I'm like, and they're not saying this, like, kindly. They're yelling it at me through the plexiglass. System. And I literally said to the I got so agitated. This is like, first, I'm not, you know, going up to the window at the right moment.

Senator:

Now the box isn't good enough for this person. And I said, guess what I'm gonna do now? I'm gonna walk three blocks further just to mail this for more money with UPS. And guess what? When you keep treating people like that, everyone else is gonna do that, and you're gonna be out of a fucking job.

Senator:

And I walked out, and I've never shipped anything out of that place since. Mhmm. Now in the suburbs at least, they treat you, at least here, with more respect.

Gizmo:

It's because they live in the town, they're friends with people, they actually know People people get to

Senator:

know them. And it's everywhere. When I lived in DC, exactly the experience I just described, I've had the same thing happen there. These people power trip like crazy. It's awful.

Senator:

Wow. I mean, my goodness. That's that's terrible.

Chef Ricky:

It's like you're a cashier at the post office.

Bam Bam:

That guy that guy had a gizmo day.

Senator:

We pay your salary. Our tax dollars are paying you. Correct.

Rooster:

Apparently, they're losing money every year.

Gizmo:

Oh, but no. No. But but but no. But the thing about the United States Postal Service and it losing money, it's like saying the defense department loses money. It's not a business.

Gizmo:

It's a service that we pay for. But the key So they the

Rooster:

money on the the price of stamps.

Gizmo:

That's a good point. I mean, the stamp is 70¢ now or something. That's crazy. But so that's a good answer to lizard Enrique's question about customer service. I would love to know, though, some detail on what he's dealing with here.

Gizmo:

Yeah. Maybe we could we could dive in a little deeper for him.

Senator:

I could make a phone call for him.

Rooster:

For a small fee.

Bam Bam:

Send me my invoice.

Gizmo:

Alright, boys. Here's another email here. This one is from Lizard Luis. And he says, hello, lizards. Lizard LB here.

Gizmo:

I've been a listener of the podcast for approximately one year. Welcome in. Over the course of this year, I've been catching up on the older episodes, and it's been a truly fascinating journey. In episode 113, you mentioned a champagne saver, and you've included a link to the product in the YouTube episode description. And it would be on every episode description on any platform for anybody who's looking.

Gizmo:

The product appears to be discontinued in Europe, which left me uncertain as to whether it was indeed the exact item you were referring to, particularly since the primary purpose of the aerator seems somewhat different from preservation. I am looking for a reliable product to preserve both open wine and champagne, and you guys seem like the ideal group to assist me with this. If your reply arrives in time for me to order the product before Christmas, that would be perfect. Sorry about that. LizardLB, thank you, and please continue producing the finest content available in the world of cigars.

Gizmo:

So senator, we've talked about this many times, but it's been a long time. Are you still using the same pump, you know, preservation thing with bottles? So they work well, but my experience has been the longer I've had these, the seal

Senator:

can Fade. Fade and get off. And so this happened to me a few times where I had a bottle of Pol Roger or something that I want to save and be able to drink, I don't wanna waste. And, you know, I use the pump to vacuum seal it and all that, and then I go back in the fridge the next day. And I usually, you have to, like, depress this little kinda button on the top, and all the, like, air comes out.

Rooster:

Mhmm.

Senator:

And I go to do that, nothing comes out of it, and it never actually sealed it. So I've moved away from them just because my latest experience has been they can be finicky. When you first get them, they're amazing. Like, so good. I've put that in a bottle of champagne, and literally, like, four days later, it's crisp.

Senator:

Really? Four days? I'm not kidding. But that's early on. When you have them for a while, they definitely start to fail.

Senator:

Wow. So there are other ones that are usually like metal. They'll have like Rubber. Plastic or rubber kind of piece the inside.

Bam Bam:

There has to be some flexibility so you can compress it. Then you just

Senator:

close it real hard. It creates an airtight seal. You don't need to pump anything. And that's just been more foolproof for me, so that's most recently what I've been using. And there's a lot of different kinds.

Senator:

You don't need to buy any fancy ones like La Cruce, like they make one of these things that's like, I don't know, $50,100 dollars for this. Amazon, 10 to $20 at most.

Bam Bam:

Can't be done.

Senator:

They all work well.

Bam Bam:

Can't be done.

Gizmo:

So we will I'll get that link from you. We'll put a link in the episode description of any of these products, so look out for good

Senator:

European one that's probably $20 that that listener would definitely be able to get there because we import and and they get, you know, shipped to The US. So we'll throw that in there.

Chef Ricky:

Awesome. In the restaurants, we do use a wine pump for any open bottles of wine, but we can't use them for champagne because the the pump actually sucks out the CO two and it flattens the wine. So that's probably why you're losing

Senator:

No. I've done it where literally four days later, I've had Pol Roger that is so crisp. Like, I did it first as an experiment, and I was blown away.

Bam Bam:

That's crazy.

Senator:

Because I forgot I even did it and had it in the fridge, and then I came in four days later, I'm like, oh god, this has gotta be terrible. And I said, well, I'm gonna pour it out, let me at least try it. It couldn't believe how good like, crisp. Wow. That when these were brand new, like when I first got these.

Bam Bam:

I wouldn't mind some Paul Roger right now.

Gizmo:

Yeah. Not a bad idea.

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Gizmo:

Alright, boys. Here's another one. We're gonna stay on wine here, senator. So this one's gonna go to you again. This one is from Lizard Carlos.

Gizmo:

Greetings from Puerto Rico. I ran across your podcast recently, and I am hooked. How nice is that? You guys are a great enabler to my Cuban cigar acquisition syndrome. I've been struggling with a question, and maybe you all can help.

Gizmo:

One's a good one, and we've been talking about this tonight. I'm a wine professional by trade, and I have always been afraid to retrohale in fear of it diminishing my ability to smell wines. Am I being a hypochondriac, or do you think the retrohaling can interfere with wine aroma appreciation? Cheers, lizard Carlos.

Bam Bam:

Well, senator doesn't retrohale, so

Gizmo:

You know, that is good point. But new year, new senator.

Senator:

Correct. You tell me who you want to answer this.

Gizmo:

I wanna I wanna hear from everybody. Honestly, do you want me to go? You go.

Senator:

Alright. I'll just say, I think it's dependent on the person. For me, again, you know, why I don't even try to retrohale with regularity like I said, I have a very very sensitive palate, so I don't need to retrohale to pick up all the notes. If you don't have a sensitive palate, it can absolutely help doing that. That's why I'm not knocking the retrohale.

Senator:

I just think it should never be, you know, one size fits all. Like, everyone must do it to get them. That's not true.

Bam Bam:

That's never the case, I think.

Chef Ricky:

Totally.

Senator:

Now what I will say for me, I don't I mean, luckily, I I don't have to do it to get the notes. Also for me, kind of to the same point that that person said, I don't love the idea of in any way, like, you know, impacting my ability to pick up the nose of anything, wine, champagne, spirit, anything. It can't help. I mean, I I guess that's the best way I would say it. Like, there's no way that, like, constantly running smoke through your nasal passages is helping your, like, ability to pick up, like, the nuance in really, really subtle notes.

Senator:

For me, if that person is that concerned about it, they shouldn't.

Bam Bam:

I think it's a good theory. It sounds like it makes sense.

Gizmo:

But I think the chef

Bam Bam:

does I'm

Senator:

not saying it definitively hurts, I'm just saying there's no way it

Rooster:

can help.

Gizmo:

But the same smoke is hitting your tongue as it's going through your nose.

Senator:

The chef's hitting your tongue and going out of your mouth. It's never going through your nose if you're not retrohaling.

Bam Bam:

Let me just set this up here. So we have a chef sitting to my right.

Chef Ricky:

I'll say this.

Bam Bam:

He retrohales consistently. Yes. Has this affected your palate in any way?

Chef Ricky:

I can't say that it has, but I will say there is scientific evidence out there that says that smoking in general

Bam Bam:

In general.

Chef Ricky:

Kills your palate. Right?

Bam Bam:

So for

Senator:

me it's like I do like the idea of preserving my nasal passages for that part of the tasting experience of something, and I accept that maybe I'm in some way impacting my

Chef Ricky:

I'll also say this, as a chef, I retrohale everything.

Bam Bam:

Including your cigars.

Chef Ricky:

Including tequila. Cigars, my spirits.

Senator:

I love when tequila's dripping

Gizmo:

out of No, Ricky's

Chef Ricky:

it's not about kicking the liquid up your nose, but the aroma, the nose that you know, the aroma that's coming on your palate in through your mouth. If I'm tasting something, whether it be an oyster, foie, a cigar, a certain spirit that I've never had before, a new mezcal, a new tequila, I'm always kicking up some of that aroma through my nose to get more of the flavor. So, and it's the same thing with me for cigars. Is my palate as strong as a non smoker? Maybe not.

Bam Bam:

Yeah, so you noted smoking in general.

Chef Ricky:

Yeah, but I do enjoy retrohaling. I do enjoy retrohaling everything. It offers another layer of the experience to me regardless of what it is.

Rooster:

Whether it enhances your experience

Chef Ricky:

Whether of it's food spirit, a cigar, right? And this is why we make sure to smoke good stuff because we want to have good experiences. And it's the same thing with anything I'm consuming. Sure. It's a tough one.

Chef Ricky:

I couldn't imagine my life without it. I couldn't imagine this hobby without it.

Bam Bam:

Happy that I So you're not afraid of the potential risk of losing your palate? I'm not. Or your palate being affected?

Chef Ricky:

No. Mean, there's all tons of risks associated with smoking in general, in cigars, right?

Gizmo:

Allegedly. Let's not

Senator:

get crazy. I'm not saying lose your palate or anything like that. I'm just saying like it can't be the case that it helps to, you know, retrohale to enhance the sensitivity in your nostrils. There's no way it would enhance that. So I'm saying like at best case, it has no impact, and at worst case, it has some negative impact.

Senator:

That's all I'm saying.

Gizmo:

In

Bam Bam:

theory, it sounds like it could make sense.

Rooster:

But you're not using your nasal passages for wine tasting per se, are you? Of course

Senator:

you course you where you first pick up notes. Absolutely. When you pour wine in a glass, the first thing you're doing is putting your nose right in there, and you're able to pick

Chef Ricky:

up so much of the flavor spirit.

Gizmo:

You should try that with the bloom, the nonalcoholic Yeah. Champagne.

Bam Bam:

We gotta do that.

Chef Ricky:

Any spirit, turpentine, anything.

Gizmo:

I have one more from lizard Luigi on wine, and of course, we did the Dalmore, the Portwood Reserve pretty recently. Yep. He says, hey, lizards, any chance you can do a port wine soon? A port wine itself. We have not we've never done a port.

Bam Bam:

True.

Gizmo:

This is episode 216. We're in our fifth year now.

Chef Ricky:

We not do a Tony port? Why do I remember

Rooster:

that? No.

Gizmo:

We have not.

Bam Bam:

We've never? We've chatted back. Yeah. Just to chat. Okay.

Senator:

Yeah. No. Pagoda's wanted to do Graham's for a while. Yeah. He always has that at his place, but we've definitely not done it on the pod.

Gizmo:

We gotta do a port wine for sure. Alright, boys. We're coming to the end of the second third now on the Byron nineteenth century Poemus in Robusto and the 1933 McLeod. McLeod. Fifteen year aged single malt Scotch whiskey.

Gizmo:

What's everybody thinking right now?

Bam Bam:

What are you thinking?

Gizmo:

Mine has taken a major dive.

Bam Bam:

I'm not happy.

Gizmo:

The cigar. The cigar is not good right now. It's disappointing. It has fallen off in smoothness. It's fallen off in smoke output for me.

Gizmo:

It's uninteresting.

Bam Bam:

What about you, old boy?

Gizmo:

It's boring. Senator, how about you?

Senator:

For me, it's consistent. Mine has not fallen off. It's still smooth. It hasn't changed. You know, I think to our conversation earlier, we were all in agreement that, like, it lacks an edge.

Senator:

One way this could have had an edge is just like a nice transition in kind of flavor.

Rooster:

Mhmm.

Senator:

That hasn't happened. It's still pleasant. It has been consistent all the way through. But again, nothing has, like, grabbed me where I'm gonna go out and buy this cigar. But if someone handed this to me, it's it's a satisfying enough smoke.

Senator:

I would definitely smoke it again if someone gave it to me.

Bam Bam:

But I

Rooster:

won't remember the other Byron cigar that we

Gizmo:

did had more flavor. Oh, definitely. That would I honestly, I think the only reason I have not gone out and and pursued that cigar was just because of the price point. Price point. I mean, it's just so so expensive for a Toro, but it

Senator:

was so delicious. The one thing I do wanna say about this cigar construction wise that at least not justifies its price point, but at least helps so you don't feel as bad at this price. The cigar burns slowly.

Rooster:

Mhmm.

Senator:

And I say that, I mean, gives you again, we're smoking fast because there was a point where, like, I had everyone had more on their cigar than you did.

Gizmo:

I'm trying to get some flavor, senator.

Senator:

I hear you. I'm just saying that for most, this would smoke you could feel the cigar when you first lit it. Like, it is pretty densely packed. Yeah. Mean, so much so that I wasn't getting much smoke output initially, and then it was able to open up.

Senator:

So I'm at least glad to see at any price point, they've packed a lot of tobacco in here, and it burns slowly. I'm not saying that justifies the $31 price point or whatever it was, but it at least makes you feel a little bit better that this is gonna last and it's not gonna you're

Bam Bam:

not gonna

Senator:

blow through this like some robustos. Even some robustos that I love that may be $10, I mean, you do blow through them. Mhmm. Like an Aladino would smoke literally

Bam Bam:

Yes.

Senator:

A lot faster than this.

Gizmo:

Way faster, but

Bam Bam:

a lot of flavor.

Gizmo:

Very good flavor, yes.

Chef Ricky:

I'm just getting a very consistent creamy nutty note and that's about it.

Rooster:

Yeah, that's basically it. That's one dimensional.

Senator:

I still get the fruit all the way down

Chef Ricky:

to this point.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. It's more nutty and creamy for me right now. Still extremely smooth.

Gizmo:

Alright, boys. Let's go to another listener email now. This one is from Lizard Ed, and he's talking about our warped black honey review. Idiav. And he says, hi, guys.

Gizmo:

I hope you're all let's let's explain this for a second. No. So we leave this podcast, and we we Are

Bam Bam:

you really gonna do this?

Gizmo:

We gave Idiav the cigar, and he told us he rated it a perfect 10. He loves the warped black honey. Oh. So I gave him the rest of the box. He loved it.

Bam Bam:

Oh, that's great.

Gizmo:

We gave it we I I honestly, I swear to you, I I said in that review that I didn't think anybody could love it like that. Idiav proved us wrong.

Rooster:

I mean, you have to give a little bit of a background about Idiav, who he is, what he does. Alright. Not not that. But what kind of cigars he smokes? I mean, the man smokes an eightieth in the morning.

Rooster:

Five forty five in He smokes some, you know, good cigars.

Senator:

Hammer. Listener, that's a Padron eightieth.

Bam Bam:

That's correct.

Gizmo:

At 05:45 in the morning, we'll take pictures

Bam Bam:

of it.

Gizmo:

In the car. In the car on the way to work. The rolling ashtray.

Senator:

On the way to school. Correct. Hey, kids.

Gizmo:

Alright. So Lizard Ed here says, hi, guys. I hope you're all well. I wanted to reach out to you after the review of the warped La Colmena black honey and also provide some booze info as partial payback. For reference, I'm now about two years into my cigar journey, a neophyte pipe enjoyer on the way and well on the way to understanding my likes and dislikes.

Gizmo:

In no small way, you guys and my WhatsApp group are responsible for all of this. And it's he says, apologies to my bank manager. I'm a UK based and price conscious lizard. And as such, it's really important to get favorable imports of excellent cigars. So let me set a scene for you.

Gizmo:

It's my first six to twelve months of serious cigar smoking. I'm refining my palate and being interested in bolder wines and spirits. I'm still of the impression I want bolder flavors. I've had a good sample of various New World cigars, enjoyable cheap Arturo Fuente, more moderate, and some pricier Davidoff, and briefly dipped into the odd Cuban here and there. Smoking pipes, that's a a vendor, I guess, are at the time serving customs in The US.

Gizmo:

Smoking pipes at the time are swerving customs in The US. Having enjoyed a raft of different New World samplers,

Rooster:

warped Isla Dei

Senator:

We went from Isla to Isla. Isla no.

Chef Ricky:

But that was an improvement. Keep going. Isla Dei Isla Dei

Gizmo:

Cocoadrillo. Cocoadrillo. Yeah. Crocodile. Crocodile.

Bam Bam:

Yeah.

Gizmo:

Is a mind blowing Corona Gorda, and I strongly rate the La Comena. And I opt for a five pack of the La Comena black honey as a treat to myself. Mhmm. So he's going through the warp catalog and orders the black honey. I felt so entirely vindicated by your scathing and entirely justified review of that cigar.

Chef Ricky:

He could send his cigar CD off.

Gizmo:

My experience we'll give him the address. My experience of the five, because, dear reader, I smoked them all, was almost entirely confused, excessively aggressive and overwhelming, and in no way enjoyable. Mhmm. This guy's harsh lizard here.

Bam Bam:

Mhmm.

Gizmo:

I was in danger of gaslighting myself, but each experience was the same wavy burn, weird, and unpleasant flavor notes on top of a $19 per stick cost and fawning, presumably incentivized reviews on the Internet. I had essentially your exact experience with this cigar, but perhaps unlike you guys, I continued to hold warped in high regard purely for the Cocodrillo and Colmena lines. I also love the coffee pipe tobacco, the Saint espresso. Do with this info what you may. Thanks so much for your selfless sampling on the pod.

Gizmo:

I want to recommend the following whiskey. Edrador Caledonia 12.

Bam Bam:

I

Gizmo:

guess at 12 year age, a sherry matured balm of a whiskey that absolutely sits alongside fuller Cubans and medium full New World sticks with a plum. A cheaper option might be Abilor 10, which we've done, I think, four times because remember I forgot

Senator:

No. We've done Abilor 12.

Bam Bam:

Oh, really? We haven't done a 10.

Senator:

I didn't even know they had a ten year.

Gizmo:

There you go. Alright. My mistake. A cheaper option might be Abilor 10. I suspect this is half the price and twice as affordable, but way less exciting.

Gizmo:

Keep doing what you're doing, champs. Do you know if small batch cigar or anyone else for that matter will ship internationally with friendly shipping? Best wishes in the New Year,

Bam Bam:

Lizard Ed. Alright. That's a good email.

Gizmo:

Great email. So, you know, it is nice. Not that I like to keep piling on a cigar that we didn't love, but I'm happy that our review brought some sort of, you know, vindication in his mind of guilt or whatever he was having or validation.

Bam Bam:

There's value.

Gizmo:

There's value there.

Bam Bam:

To avoid something that won't smoke.

Gizmo:

Exactly. And him smoking five of them and being told that it's great all over the Internet.

Bam Bam:

Correct.

Chef Ricky:

And that works the other way too. I mean, how amazing is an episode when we all agree that a cigar is freaking phenomenal, right? And so, yeah.

Gizmo:

So great email from Lizard Ed. Thanks to him. And let's go now to our friend Lizard Christophe, who writes us a lot, a voice memo. Nice.

Lizard Christophe:

Hey, Lizard. It's it's Lizard Christophe here from Belgium. Just wanted to give you a short update on my venture into Cuban since my last email. So the same week that you reviewed the Partagas d four, I ended up in the lounge in Aachen, which I've never been to before, and they had d four. So I picked one of those up, lit it up with some coffee and cream, and humidity issues aside because it came straight from their humidor, it absolutely blew my mind.

Lizard Christophe:

So now I get now why you chase Cubans. It's milder than what I usually smoke, but it was much more flavorful, much smoother, much more complex. I get it now. So on the way out, I grabbed the last two singles they had plus two Monty twos, and they're now resting at 62 to 63% at home. Thanks again for the guidance there.

Lizard Christophe:

I went back last week, picked up another 15 Tubos because that's all they had, and I'm hunting down everything from your new Cuban Cigar Smoker five pack from episode one ninety two. And since the holidays are coming up, I also grabbed a few bottles of champagne. My favorite is Lanza. I'm curious if, senator knows that one. And some Paul Roger and Bollinger for the first time, thank you for your recommendations.

Lizard Christophe:

Can't wait to try them. Yeah. Thanks so much. Best from Belgium.

Gizmo:

Cool. And he says, PS, if I can offer a cigar suggestion, should you guys run out of those? You've done one or two fused sticks from Placencia in the past, but my personal favorite is their Alma del Campo. It's a very creamy coffee, nuts, and spice forward smoke, but not a pepper bomb. I personally think it's their most complex and standout offering.

Gizmo:

So I'm gonna put that in the pile because we definitely need to do more Placencia because they are one of the biggest brands The United States and in the world.

Bam Bam:

Is

Rooster:

it hard for the Europeans to get Padron cigars? Yeah. It is. Because none of them mention Padron. Yeah.

Rooster:

Well, I mean, we

Gizmo:

talked to George Padron at PCA.

Rooster:

I don't know if it

Gizmo:

was in the interview or

Bam Bam:

Before the interview.

Gizmo:

Before the interview. Yeah. About his but, you know, are you going be expanding to Europe and beyond? He really made it seem that there was no plan to expand production.

Bam Bam:

Or sales distribution.

Gizmo:

Or sales and distribution. I would assume they're starting to maybe migrate some of their tobacco to Europe.

Rooster:

So they don't sell any. They do some, but it's not at Yeah.

Gizmo:

So I would think that folks who want to get it would have to order it from The US or someone that

Bam Bam:

has It's too bad for them. It's quite the cigar. Sure. I can't live without it, actually.

Gizmo:

So senator, he said Lanson was a bottle of champagne that he'd like you to try that's his personal favorite. Have you

Senator:

ever heard of that? No, I haven't. It's a grower champagne. Grower not a shower, Bam.

Bam Bam:

I like the grower. Jesus.

Senator:

Ninth generation grower, they've got a lot of history. Aster, which for any lizards in the New York area, you know, very famous, great wine shop and liquor store, they carry it and it's a staff pick of theirs, dollars 65 a bottle. Yeah, I'd be very curious to try it, so I'm glad he recommended it.

Chef Ricky:

They have one of the greatest selections of agave distillates as well there.

Bam Bam:

Wow. Oh, yeah. Cool. I'd like to try that too.

Gizmo:

We should review it. Alright, boys. Let's go to another email now. This one's from Blizzard John from Boise. He says, Hi, Giz.

Gizmo:

I just have a quick note for you today. I'm sitting in my garage enjoying my first Liga Pravada h 99 in Papas Fritas, and it's pretty fantastic. I'd respectfully respectfully nominate it for your next short smoke special. I've enjoyed the original Papa's Fritas, but I think the h 99 is even better. Cheers, Lizard John from Boise.

Gizmo:

You know what's funny? I saw a couple folks smoking these Yeah. On one of the groups, and I guess people are loving them. And I think it's really, you know, it's one that people are reaching for because it's gotten so cold here in the Northeast that, you know, fifteen, twenty minutes is really all you can tolerate in some of these weather days.

Bam Bam:

Very affordable too.

Gizmo:

And very affordable. So maybe we have to add that into our next short smoke special. So thanks to him for writing. Here's another one from our resident philosopher, Johnny the Greek. He says, hello, boys.

Gizmo:

Johnny the Greek here. Your newly crowned Lounge Lizard's resident philosopher. Also love his Self crowned. No. I crowned him.

Bam Bam:

Oh, you did? I crowned him. You're fired.

Senator:

You wanna crown his ass?

Bam Bam:

Crown him.

Senator:

Correct. Who's the NFL coach that said that now?

Gizmo:

It's not Herm Edwards. It's

Senator:

He he was the coach of the Cardinals.

Gizmo:

Yes. I could see his face, but

Chef Ricky:

I don't

Bam Bam:

remember his name. You wanna

Senator:

crown their asses? Crown them.

Gizmo:

Yeah. I don't remember. He says, of course, they picked the Greek guy for philosophy. It's either that or plate smashing, and cigars don't mix well with broken dishes. Here's today's humble scrap of wisdom for whatever it's worth.

Gizmo:

Quote, the man who shares his last cigar understands generosity. The man who asks for it tests your character, end quote. Look at rooster over there. Now we all love to say, quote, sharing is caring, and most days that's true. But that changes fast when you open the humanoid and see it looking a little lighter than you'd like.

Gizmo:

Suddenly, generosity becomes a philosophical workout. I still love giving a genuinely good cigar to friends, family, even the occasional newbie. And make no mistake, you don't have to hand out your favorite cigars of all time. We're talking generosity here, not sainthood, Bam. And, yes, some people swear turds have a purpose that a bad cigar builds character.

Gizmo:

It's a cute theory, but we're not running a boot camp. And, honestly, most of us don't even have bad cigars lying around anymore. So good luck finding a lesson stick to hand out. If I'm giving, it has to be honest because imagine your first cigar handed to you by a seasoned smoker, and years later, you learn you were puffing on a rolled turd. That's not mentorship.

Gizmo:

That's hazing.

Bam Bam:

That is correct.

Gizmo:

That is rookie hazing.

Chef Ricky:

That is very true.

Gizmo:

So here's the takeaway.

Senator:

That's what Gizmo did to lizard EDF.

Gizmo:

Be generous.

Senator:

Cut eat.

Gizmo:

No. He said he wanted to try it.

Bam Bam:

Well, he loved it.

Gizmo:

And he loved it. He rated it a 10. Now here's the takeaway. Be generous, but be thoughtful.

Bam Bam:

Sorry. Go ahead.

Gizmo:

Share good cigars, and you become unforgettable. Cheers, fellas. Johnny the Greek. I love a Johnny the Greek email, a resident philosopher, saying, hand out good cigars because you will be remembered for it.

Bam Bam:

When you gave Edie out that cigar, did you tell him

Senator:

what we rated

Gizmo:

it? I did not. Okay. I actually did not color it at all. I just said, I have a cigar I want you to try.

Bam Bam:

So you were hazing.

Senator:

You were hazing.

Gizmo:

No. I really wanted to know what he thought.

Bam Bam:

I mean Hazing.

Senator:

That's mild hazing. Correct. Because he had to think if you gave it to him that it was a cigar that we would have rated really

Bam Bam:

high. I

Gizmo:

don't know if it could

Rooster:

have been.

Senator:

I don't think he ever contemplated, like, oh, he probably gave me a really shitty cigar that he hates.

Bam Bam:

I think Well, you know what? I think EDF's got a voodoo doll of Gizmo. After Probably. Experience poking needles in there.

Chef Ricky:

There's a good chance that that cigar was a 10 for him. He smokes half of his cigars in the hot tub.

Gizmo:

That's true.

Chef Ricky:

So that has to kind of amplify it. It's a

Rooster:

perfect cigar for the hot tub. Is it? While you dip it.

Bam Bam:

I dip, you dip, we dip.

Gizmo:

Alright, boys. Let's go now to our lizard of the week presented by our friends, of course, at Bond Roberts cigars. All of our lizards of the week now win a 10 count box of cigars from Bond Roberts. And, of course, they're now offering the dahlias, the Phenomenos, which were launched in Kuwait. Unbelievable.

Gizmo:

The petite one zero nine, the one zero nine, so many great cigars coming from Bond Roberts. So we're really excited that they are providing all of our lizards of the week with a 10 count box of cigars. And this week goes to our friend Lizard Julio, and he sent us a voice memo. And I really, really like this, so I wanted to share this with you. Our lizard of the week, Lizard Julio.

Lizard Julio:

Greetings, gentlemen. Lizard Julio here reporting in from Japan. Just been here for the last week, some beautiful fall foliage and colors and great food. And I capped it off last night with an amazing Ramona Jonas, specially selected and with some Hibiki Harmony spring blossom special edition whiskey. And I was thinking as I was looking at this wonderful drawing on the wall of Winston Churchill and thinking about so many of the great memories that you all share with all of the listeners out there.

Lizard Julio:

And I think anyone who is part of this hobby always thinks about those special moments. And, you know, for me last night, having this incredible kaiseki meal private with this wonderful chef talking cigars at the end of the meal and then going to a very intimate lounge to enjoy a stick to cap off a wonderful trip, reminded me of just why we we do this, to make these memories. And so I was hoping to ask all of you, what is your most cherished memory of smoking? And, you know, what were you smoking? And why why does it mean so much to you?

Lizard Julio:

I think we can pick out those moments in our head. And I can say last night for sure, I had that cigar, I just thought to myself, it doesn't get any better than this. So I wanna say thank you to all of you for the great memories, and I'm looking forward to hearing what it is that all of you enjoy the memory of so much. Take care, guys.

Gizmo:

Great. Very nice. Great voice memo.

Bam Bam:

Come on. Voice memo.

Gizmo:

Excellent. Yeah. I love the question. So I have a couple, but I think I'll go first here because obviously I heard this before you guys, so I had an opportunity to think about it. But I think for me, know, Bam and I went to Cuba and kind of got the lay of the land and understood how things work.

Gizmo:

We kind of went through our Talk about hazing. We went through the hazing. Correct. With Lizard Phil and Lizard Bruce.

Bam Bam:

Like I had a leash on my neck. Being dragged around in La Havana.

Gizmo:

But the next time we went with the lizard group, you and I had been there. We kinda knew what was going on. We were kinda shepherding the rest of the guys into, you know, into that Cuban experience kinda. It's, you know, I've always said it's kinda like you go to Mars. It's such a different place than here.

Gizmo:

I You think

Senator:

have no idea.

Gizmo:

Think that sitting down for that first cigar after we kind of settled in

Bam Bam:

At the Partagas shop.

Gizmo:

At the Partagas shop. Correct. Was one of the best memories I have ever had because

Bam Bam:

As a group, we were all there together.

Gizmo:

Yeah, it felt like we had really accomplished something that we were, you know, doing what we said we were going to do, smoking great cigars. We were together. We had talked about it quite a bit. You know, listen, a lot of people say a lot of things, but we make stuff happen So as a I really think that first cigar sitting in the Partagas shop going like, you know, we did this. Like, we're here.

Gizmo:

It's It was the two

Bam Bam:

of us, Rooster, Senator, and Pagoda was there too, right?

Chef Ricky:

Yeah.

Gizmo:

Yeah.

Bam Bam:

And there was a moment where we had complete silence, and we were the only guys in that lounge. Yeah, we turned the

Gizmo:

lights on when we walked in.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. So that moment of silence as we were smoking, sitting in Havana, ground 0, that was very special. So I I agree with you.

Gizmo:

And I think too, I'll piggyback on my own comment here. I think the first time that, you know, we were lucky to find this house in Havana, in Vedado. We had the whole thing to ourselves. It was like seven bedrooms or something, eight bedrooms, and there was this amazing rooftop. And we would end every evening there.

Gizmo:

We'd start every morning there with breakfast. And that first night when we were sitting up there listening to, you know, Buena Vista Social Club, drinking Havana seven, smoking great cigars together, I mean, that stuff that's like stuff that will stick with me for the rest of my life. Sure.

Senator:

You know?

Rooster:

For me, I think it's the, like you mentioned, the rooftop in Havana and Guadalu, the Cohiba Lancero in the morning and then having a cigar at the Tropicana while you're watching a show, you're sitting outdoors and you're lighting up a Cuban cigar. I think you had given me one of the LUB 14 It's Cohiba such a memorable experience that I can never forget that you can't experience that any place outside of Cuba. It's special. Smoking a Cuban cigar, whether it's at a lounge in Cuba or at Tropicana or at your rooftop, I mean, is absolutely special.

Senator:

I mean, I'll I'll go next just because it it piggybacks off of the Cuba trips. It wasn't the first time we went to the Partagas shop, but it was the time that we spent a lot of time with Renee there.

Gizmo:

Who's like the shop manager?

Senator:

And he brought out this guest book, and he had said, you know, there's so many people that pass through that place all with like amazing stories. And he had bought this guest book that he wanted us to sign it. We were one of the first people ever to sign that thing. I mean, we're we make up like the first probably like three pages of that book. And for me, I don't know that I ever got particularly emotional smoking a cigar, but in signing that guestbook, it made me recount every major milestone in my life that Partagas was a part of, and to be enjoying.

Senator:

I had a Lucy that day, the Lusitanius right there, filling that out, having rum with Renee, with this group. And that for me was like one of the most surreal experiences of just like a brand that I have revered and admired for so much of my life. And to feel like I'm right there to be able to appreciate it where it all comes from was so cool. So for me, that will always stick out in my memory as one of my best smoking experiences.

Rooster:

And sometimes it's not you smoking a cigar. Sometimes it's actually sharing the cigar that you're smoking with a person that has not had that cigar before. I think that's a very special

Senator:

To your point on that, a second memory for me that really sticks out is after the birth of my son when I had brought that box of Padron eightieth that I had aged for four or five additional years in my tower, and I had previewed one, I knew how great they were.

Rooster:

I don't remember that.

Gizmo:

We reviewed them again. We

Bam Bam:

reviewed that.

Senator:

We we did. And and again, for me, I you know, you guys obviously know how much I love that cigar, so there was a part of me even that thought like maybe, you know, I'm I have kind of a skewed perspective of it, and like the group to say, like, we've all smoked plenty of eightieths, but like that box was so The yellow solo. Yes. Like, so leaps and bounds better than any eightieth we had ever smoked. It got a perfect 10.

Senator:

Mhmm. Like, for me, it was more enjoyable to even see how much everyone enjoyed that. Like, that was, you know, at the time, like, a cigar I wanted to share after the birth of my son. So that's exactly like you're saying, Rooster. Like, sometimes it's the enjoyment of the group that really makes the experience for you, and that vividly sticks out for me as a moment that I I really love.

Bam Bam:

True. Nice. Chef? You know,

Chef Ricky:

for me, it was actually more of a hazy.

Bam Bam:

Was it Gizmo?

Gizmo:

No. Was it the Warped?

Chef Ricky:

I have a couple, right? But I'll this one as my first one because it was my first. Obviously, you guys all are familiar with my experience here at the lounge with Sarah Winston from Rooster.

Gizmo:

Remember that day. Two years ago.

Senator:

You wanted to eat the ash. Yes. That was literally your words.

Chef Ricky:

It's because I have a dead power.

Gizmo:

You wanted to make that. You retrohale too much.

Rooster:

You wanted to make a dessert and use some of the ash.

Bam Bam:

Yes. Sprinkle it on top.

Rooster:

That thing

Chef Ricky:

blew my mind, right? So that that And and that was a great For me that day, that the lounge was maybe the busiest I've ever seen it. But I felt I was alone in that moment and for a good reason. And then there was a cigar with my son, with my oldest son and him realizing why I do it. It's because we were able to sit down for an extended period of time and have conversations and not be distracted and just focus on one another as we were smoking.

Chef Ricky:

But this first experience was with my uncle Jimmy that I've mentioned here on the pod too. And it was a camping trip. It was a family camping trip. We went up to the Catskills. There was a bunch it was like a boy scout land and there was a ton of cabins and every member of the family had their own cabin with their family.

Chef Ricky:

And we've had about eight or nine cabins, but he was the only one smoking cigars in front of his. And this is also the same uncle that as a kid, he would get together with

Gizmo:

my other

Chef Ricky:

uncle and they'd smoke cigars. Crappy machine made cigars, but nonetheless, it was a cigar. And so I sit next to him and I'm like, hey, you have another one? He's like, well, yeah, but before I give you any of the good stuff, I'd, know, quote unquote good stuff I smoke. I'm going give you some of this stuff.

Chef Ricky:

It was a quorum. Alright? A little $4 stick, $3 stick or something like that. It didn't fucking matter how much it cost, what it tasted like. I was just happy to to finally be sitting next to Marco as a grown man smoking a cigar with him and sharing his

Rooster:

coffee. Was that your first cigar ever?

Chef Ricky:

Maybe my second or third. This was maybe fourteen years ago. Right? My first cigar might've been like an It's a Boy cigar that I bought when my son was born or something, you know, but it wasn't a part of the hobby yet. This was what kind of got me in to the hobby.

Chef Ricky:

And for not because the cigars are great, but it was just what it meant. Right? So here I am, I don't know, three quorums and now in front of his cabin and every day we do the same thing. And then I graduated and he gave me a R and J 1875. Right?

Chef Ricky:

That's again, nothing's phenomenal. But for him, this was a step up. This was his every day. So I graduated from one to the other. So for me, that was just a very look, I have a as we all do very busy lives.

Chef Ricky:

And this is one of those few moments in my life that I remember I was able to just take three days, be in the wilderness with my family. And although there was a bunch of kids running around and things happening, whenever I sat in that beach chair with him in front of his cabin smoking these cigars, it had a different feeling. And that's sort of what hooked me and made me want to continue to do this. And then, you know, four years ago, meet you guys get introduced to more of the premium side of things and really experiencing the flavors of what premium tobacco offers. But that experience with him and just sharing that and feeling like I reached a point in my life where I'm at a point where I could enjoy this now.

Chef Ricky:

And so I don't know, maybe it's not as a high end or fancy, but

Rooster:

No. So your uncle gave you a quorum and I gave you a sir Winston. Which one was better?

Chef Ricky:

Without a doubt, the sir Winston.

Rooster:

No. But it's the setting.

Gizmo:

Right? Mean, you

Rooster:

decided it was

Chef Ricky:

your

Rooster:

first

Chef Ricky:

moment, second star. Exactly.

Gizmo:

It's outside.

Chef Ricky:

It's all about the moment. Absolutely.

Rooster:

It's all about who you

Chef Ricky:

share it with as And yeah, so there's nothing but good stuff to talk about with

Rooster:

I know what to get

Gizmo:

you for your birthday. A '25 counter of a quorum. Maybe a 50 cab. Oh, a 50 cab

Rooster:

of matching ash right now.

Gizmo:

Very nice.

Chef Ricky:

Don't say cigar shame. You know what's funny? Maybe six years ago, was like, let me go back to this and see if it's what and I was like, oh my god, this is a shit cigar. But I understood why he did it.

Gizmo:

No. It's cool, man. Yeah.

Chef Ricky:

It was just a cool experience. And now when he comes to the city because he lives upstate, but whenever he usually comes to the restaurant for his birthday, I always take him to a lounge. I treat him to a cigar. He's always getting on me because they're so expensive.

Senator:

Was it

Gizmo:

a quorum?

Chef Ricky:

No, no. But he's always like, this is a really good fucking cigar,

Bam Bam:

you know? That's cool.

Gizmo:

That's awesome.

Chef Ricky:

I don't know that he'll ever adopt those habits, but he knows enough to appreciate.

Gizmo:

When he's with you, he knows he's having.

Rooster:

Exactly.

Gizmo:

A great cigar. That's awesome.

Bam Bam:

Well, he loves to smoke, so that's

Chef Ricky:

It's good just great to pay it back.

Bam Bam:

Correct. So my most memorable moments are when I'm alone, usually.

Senator:

Oh, we know. King of espionage.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. So this was two years ago, and two weeks ago. Two moments that I really, really enjoyed.

Gizmo:

Two weeks ago? That's awesome.

Bam Bam:

Two different places. So the one two years ago was in the North Lounge. Some of us were members. I'm still a member there. I had a meal.

Bam Bam:

The place was completely empty. Fireplace was crackling. I was near the fireplace at that lower level seating area. Very warm, crispy room. I had a late hour that was about a year old.

Bam Bam:

I had a great glass of scotch, and I just lit that late hour, and I completely it felt like I had a outer body experience, and I do that a lot when I try to smoke. I disassociate what I went through that day as an effort to kind of de stress myself, and the cigar always helps me do that more than anything else. That, for me, was a special moment there. I was completely alone. I had great service.

Bam Bam:

The music was very, very casual and very soft. It was a perfect setting for me alone. It was ice cold out. I was warm inside. And that dichotomy from interior to exterior, I kind of liked that feeling.

Bam Bam:

So I felt like I was in a cocoon all by myself with a cigar and a drink. It was outstanding.

Gizmo:

And just being

Rooster:

able to

Gizmo:

let everything go.

Bam Bam:

And I had an awful day that day. So it was a great opportunity for me to unplug. And then two weeks ago, down the street, at my true espionage location, again, the place was totally empty. The light was subdued. The chairs there I think are really, really comfortable.

Bam Bam:

Had Graham's

Chef Ricky:

a big lighting guy.

Bam Bam:

Light is important. Yeah. If you smoke a cigar in a bright room, I don't think it's pleasurable.

Rooster:

Light and feet.

Senator:

Oh, agree. I hate it. Light feet.

Bam Bam:

What? Trying to have a moment here.

Gizmo:

Blame Rooster.

Bam Bam:

That's an edit, old boy.

Senator:

Edison and Doctor. Scholes.

Bam Bam:

Yeah, so down the street it was another exquisite moment. I had a great drink. I think I was drinking a tequila, I don't remember what it was. But I did have a Ramon Alonis with me that night. The lighting was perfect.

Bam Bam:

And in that place, the colors, the textures that they have in that particular space, you were there. If it's lit just right and you're alone, and the music was really beautiful soft jazz, again

Senator:

And no dominoes are being spent No, on the

Bam Bam:

it was so peaceful.

Rooster:

You sound like ADF.

Bam Bam:

It was incredible. Those moments, those leave imprints So for

Gizmo:

what about that experience two weeks ago? I mean, you said two years ago, that one was because you had such a It terrible

Bam Bam:

was a rough day.

Gizmo:

And the cigar helped you get out

Rooster:

of it.

Gizmo:

That's correct. And the mood

Bam Bam:

and It the truly did.

Gizmo:

And the isolation.

Bam Bam:

Right. And the isolation here was more of a reward for me because I did have a great day. I felt like I earned it. And days like that, I really appreciate what I'm consuming.

Rooster:

Sure.

Chef Ricky:

Oh yeah.

Bam Bam:

Big time. Big time.

Gizmo:

There's nothing better than having Actually, amazing how it does work with both extremes.

Bam Bam:

It does.

Gizmo:

The worst day can be fixed by a cigar, and the best day can be celebrated with a cigar. And it could be that same cigar.

Chef Ricky:

They're both victories. Exactly. In their

Bam Bam:

own race. And what's incredible about what we do, it doesn't have to be at a fancy destination. Nope. If you're enjoying what you're doing and you find peace, it can be in your yard, your garage.

Gizmo:

Yeah, it doesn't need to be fancy. Doesn't matter.

Bam Bam:

And that's the beauty of what we're doing here.

Gizmo:

So I'll give you one more that I wanted to share because I think the four of us Ricky, sorry, but the four of us sitting here share was in Havana, and our listeners talk about this episode all the time in email and

Bam Bam:

Oh, I know what you're say.

Gizmo:

To reference the conversation we had. But the moment when the production manager of Cohiba in Cuba, our friend, Danilo Rodriguez, invited us to his home. Yeah. His home. And his family was there, and we got to know them, and they made us dinner, which we did not ask for and did not know what was coming.

Bam Bam:

And it was very good.

Rooster:

We wanted to take them out. I know.

Gizmo:

I was begging him to let us take them out, they said, No. No. No. You come here. We didn't know we were gonna eat, and then all of a sudden, a meal was prepared and served.

Gizmo:

It it was amazing. But the

Rooster:

Hospitality.

Gizmo:

The hospitality, but also the acceptance of us as a bunch of American guys who showed up in Cuba. I had known him for only a few months at that time, really. Know, about six That's yeah, exactly. It was a validating thing like, this guy sees who we really are, not as these guys putting together a podcast or a media thing or we're trying to get information out of him or use him or take. He saw us for who we are, and I think that was the validation was he knows what we're really in it for.

Gizmo:

He knows why I'm asking to get together with him and why I wanna have a conversation with him. It's not because I wanted anything other or that we wanted anything other than information education.

Rooster:

That's all we wanted.

Senator:

I think he knew that whether we had this podcast or not, we would have wanted the exact same thing even if it wasn't broadcast to the world. Correct.

Rooster:

Exactly right. It felt very genuine, and it was a very special night.

Gizmo:

Extremely, You very know, I

Bam Bam:

remember sitting with his father.

Gizmo:

He's the man.

Senator:

Great guy.

Bam Bam:

You guys were kind of off on a tangent.

Gizmo:

Having dinner.

Bam Bam:

Well, Yeah, sorry.

Chef Ricky:

Yeah, okay. There was no wok steal

Rooster:

that night. That's true.

Senator:

Now, I

Bam Bam:

don't speak Spanish. And his English is very broken. But the entire time I enjoyed my entire time with him.

Gizmo:

He's such a great guy.

Bam Bam:

Talking about music, talking about Cuba. Hunting. Yeah. His gun collection. Really, really special.

Bam Bam:

And Del Nino's wife is a sweetheart.

Gizmo:

Yeah. Adriana.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. Having his whole family there is what really made it special.

Gizmo:

Yeah. And and like, you know, Ricky used the word validation. The idea that that we were invited in, I mean, that's that's a very intimate thing to have happen. You know? Yeah.

Gizmo:

Not invited to Legita. Let's sit in the conference room or something, but we were invited to his home, which I did not ask for. Mhmm. I never ask or, you know, we don't do that.

Bam Bam:

Let's see Kirby Allison pull that off.

Gizmo:

It was it was really an amazing night. So I wanted to add that too because I will that's another one that I that really sticks with me, and when I'm thinking about what we do and why we do it and and how we do it, that is an absolute bullseye moment for me of, like, is exactly why we do what we do.

Rooster:

And we recorded a podcast at his house.

Gizmo:

Unheard of. His backyard.

Bam Bam:

Very smart.

Senator:

Marvin Shankin's never done that. Correct. No one has ever done that.

Bam Bam:

Not even Kirby.

Gizmo:

So we have to shout out Lizard Julio live from Japan. Kyoto. With that amazing question, and I think that I I saved that one for this episode because I think it was a great way to kick off the New Year reflecting, thinking about why we love what we do, why we think the way that we do about what we do, and and how amazing cigars are for our experience every day, every week together here with our lizard listeners out there. So we're very grateful for all of you and congratulations again to Lizard Julio for winning lizard of the week. Of course, any of our lizard friends out there who are listening can win Lizard of the Week.

Gizmo:

And here's an here's an idea. Tell us what your memory of your finest cigar experience, your most memorable cigar experience is. I really would love to read some more emails as we get going into 2026 here and understand some of those moments for you guys. We've had some amazing stories that have come out, especially with, you know, family and parenting and, you know, fathers and sons. And it's it's it's really an amazing thing.

Gizmo:

So please share that with us, and you can win lizard of the week. Alright, boys. We're coming to the end of our evening with the Byron nineteenth century Poemus in Robusto and the 1933 McLeod, 15 years age, single malt scotch whiskey. Any final thoughts before we go into our ratings?

Chef Ricky:

Thank God for Lizard Julio's email. Why?

Gizmo:

The pairing stunk for you,

Chef Ricky:

The conversation was amazing. Yeah. And it it it really, you know, it made tonight better for me.

Bam Bam:

Right? Thank you. It made

Chef Ricky:

me No, you guys are always a 10.

Bam Bam:

Always. Oh, thanks.

Chef Ricky:

I've had an insane week and this is literally the first

Bam Bam:

Good course correction there.

Gizmo:

This is the first break I've

Bam Bam:

had in

Chef Ricky:

eight days, so it's

Gizmo:

I'm with you on that.

Chef Ricky:

It's amazing. But yeah, you know, the cigar and the spirit were definitely sort of in the background for me all I'm sorry.

Senator:

I'm just gonna say it. Where I am right now in this cigar, I don't know, this is like half an inch. I'm like down to the nub. This is the best part of the cigar for me.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. I was about to say

Senator:

I'm literally getting cappuccino right now. It's delicious.

Gizmo:

I regret putting mine down.

Bam Bam:

Don't put yours down.

Senator:

No. It I regret putting it down.

Rooster:

Have to read

Senator:

it This would have been the rest of this cigar. It's like cappuccino with sugar. That's the problem. I'm getting sweetness. Yeah.

Senator:

Coffee Correct. Cream. Like, this is every note that I would chase and pursue.

Gizmo:

Can I ask you a

Bam Bam:

crazy question? But that's part of the problem with the cigar.

Gizmo:

Why why did that not happen in the in the beginning of the second third?

Bam Bam:

Too little, too late.

Chef Ricky:

Correct. It's because we retrohale. And honestly, I'm not gonna retrohale.

Bam Bam:

There's a demerit there because you have to go through all of that to get to this point. In my opinion, it's a bit of a demerit.

Gizmo:

Of course. I mean, I'm I'm relighting my cigar based on your recommendation right now. It's been totally out. I'm gonna see what happens cappuccino.

Senator:

This is honestly right now It's rich. Awesome. Yeah. If the rest of this cigar could have been this way, this could have gotten a nine or a 10. That's how good, like, just this last half inches.

Rooster:

We should have lit the cigar from the other end.

Gizmo:

Good point.

Rooster:

Get the cappuccino first.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. Correct.

Gizmo:

Alright, boys. It's time now to do the formal liquorating tonight on the 1933 McLeod fifteen years age single malt scotch whiskey. Bam bam. You're up. So

Bam Bam:

I'm gonna go opposite of the general sentiment of this bottle. I think I'm at an eight. My last few sips, much like the cigar toward the end of it, was really, really delicious. I regret putting water in it. I think that was a bad move.

Bam Bam:

I would have just I should have just kept it natural without any additive in it at all. I think there's the nose is delicious. I got faints of honey, which I know you hate. Hate it. But the palate was actually very enjoyable.

Bam Bam:

I think you do need to go through a palate adjustment as you drink this scotch. It's unlike other scotches. It'll take a little time. If you have the patience, think it's worthwhile. So I'm at an eight.

Rooster:

Even at $100 Yeah.

Bam Bam:

I'm not sure if I'll buy it, but I think it's delicious and different.

Senator:

It's like fifteen year scotch. Most fifteen year single malts are like 150.

Gizmo:

How much is a Macallan 15 right now? One

Bam Bam:

much more and

Senator:

50 to 170.

Bam Bam:

Yeah, correct.

Rooster:

Not the Costco one.

Gizmo:

All right,

Chef Ricky:

chef. Listen, you could chalk this up to me not being a Scotch guy maybe. I'm at a six.

Bam Bam:

It's fine.

Chef Ricky:

I think the price point is high. The Sherry's not coming through the way I want it to. I I I'm I'm okay with it. I'd maybe drink it again if it was given to me, but I wouldn't look for this. I wouldn't buy it.

Chef Ricky:

I'd love to hear Bamsey McLeod over and over again.

Gizmo:

That's McLeod. That's great.

Chef Ricky:

That's amazing. That was the highlight of the spirit for me.

Bam Bam:

It's like a, you know, it's like a soldier on the front lines.

Gizmo:

It's amazing how every time you say it, it's exactly

Chef Ricky:

the same thing.

Gizmo:

It's great. It's freaking phenomenal.

Bam Bam:

It's called time.

Chef Ricky:

But yeah, I will say this about it. I'm not getting that strong cherry cough syrup finish that I was prior. That did dissipate

Senator:

for me. It did.

Chef Ricky:

Yeah. And my second pour, because

Bam Bam:

I But like I said, you do need a pallet adjustment for this particular scotch.

Senator:

It's kind it needs to open up.

Bam Bam:

Yeah, you need time, it needs time.

Chef Ricky:

Yeah. I would like a refill. Isn't my favorite spirit,

Bam Bam:

so I'm at a six.

Gizmo:

So I'm at a seven, honestly.

Senator:

Alrighty. Came around.

Gizmo:

I did. You know what's funny about this? I'm

Bam Bam:

happy You did you pour a second glass.

Gizmo:

Well, that's exactly it, Bam. And I'm happy you said it because as it opened up, as my palate adjusted, it kind of like the cigar became secondary to the scotch for me in the last third. I actually kind of came around a little bit. Not that I'm going to go out and buy this. I think it's too pricey.

Gizmo:

It's really not for me. I'll probably never have this again, but it isn't a bad scotch.

Rooster:

Mhmm.

Gizmo:

It's just it's not in line with what I'm But looking for I think a seven is a very fair score for this expression. I I think it was it was it was pretty decent. And and and as that second pour, I did not put any water in mine. There was no ice. I drank it neat all night.

Gizmo:

As I kept sipping it, it did get better. So for me, it's a seven. Senator.

Senator:

So I'm also at a seven. There there's a lot of things that I do like about it. Like, it has the right amount of viscosity. There's richness in the flavor that it delivers. And I'll say this, all of us drank this neat.

Senator:

At one point we tried it with water, and I think every person here agreed that it's best neat without anything added. Oh yeah. Say, okay, sure, it's not as ideal of a flavor profile as Balviny 12 or Macallan 12, but every single person here puts ice, at least a chip, or some water when they're having Balviny 12 or Macallan 12. And the fact that this didn't need it at all and actually drinks better without it, that's that's a refined spirit. Like, they've done their job in that regard.

Bam Bam:

Yeah.

Senator:

It needed to open up the the cherry that was on that, you know, walking that fine line between cough syrup or just like a fresher cherry note, that dissipated. The pecan nuttiness, the toffee, like, all of that comes through much stronger when this sits for a bit and just opens up. The only reason I didn't give it the 8 is the $100 price point. Like, if this were, you know, 60 to $80

Gizmo:

I'd even say 85, senator.

Senator:

Yeah. For me, then there would be no question it's innate. That was really the only reason, and that's what would preclude me from like, picking up a bottle of this because at that price point, I think there are much better single malts that are out there.

Bam Bam:

Mhmm.

Senator:

But if someone poured me this at, you know, their home, I would happily drink it. I there there's definitely merit here.

Bam Bam:

Yeah.

Senator:

It's just not, you know, delivering as complete of an experience as it should at a $100 price point, so that's why I'm at a seven.

Gizmo:

Alright, boys. The formal liquor rating tonight on the 1933 McLeod's fifteen years age single malt scotch whiskey. McLeod. Is a seven point zero.

Bam Bam:

Okay. That's a fair score.

Gizmo:

Honestly, think it's a fair score given price or experience.

Chef Ricky:

Yeah. I think

Gizmo:

it's Honestly, I think it took me an hour and a half

Chef Ricky:

to get

Gizmo:

to the point that it was that I was getting to a seven. Honestly.

Senator:

Well, some of our palettes are able to pick that up

Bam Bam:

a lot.

Gizmo:

Well, it's because I retrohale too much

Bam Bam:

shoes. Correct.

Chef Ricky:

Correct. I would have been at a seven if it weren't for the price point.

Gizmo:

Alright, boys. It's time now for the formal lizard reading tonight on the Byron nineteenth century Poemus in Robusto, Rooster Europe.

Rooster:

I'm at a seven on the cigar. But I do agree with Bam and Senator about the cigar getting much better towards the very end. And we were talking about an inch, half an inch. It does pick up what I was looking for, like with the Nicaraguan tobaccos, you don't get that throughout, but you get it at the end. So I wish you would get more of that throughout.

Rooster:

For a $30 $35 stick, you expect more from this cigar. It's a beautiful looking cigar. I did have a little bit of a construction issue, but putting that aside, the flavors that you get, it's creamy, you get a little bit of nuttiness, you get a little bit of the dried fruit. The creaminess was the one constant throughout you got that. But again, I wish the flavor that you get at the end, you would get more of that, and it would score much higher.

Rooster:

So for all those reasons and the price point, I'm at a seven.

Bam Bam:

Yeah, that consistent creamy experience, that is a huge merit in any cigar. If any cigar can achieve that, that's pretty massive. It's just a couple of other things here we're missing.

Gizmo:

Honestly, I think that was a band aid in some ways on this cigar. I think the cream covered up a lot of the flaws of it for me. We'll talk about it. Senator, you're up.

Senator:

So I'm also at a seven. The price point is a problem. This should not be priced at $30. There's no question. At that price point, there needs to be like a defining characteristic about that flavor profile that makes you say it's worth paying that much of a premium for, and it doesn't quite have that.

Senator:

Again, for me, if this were, like, 15 to $18, I do think that it would be deserving of that price point. The the merits of this cigar, the construction was excellent. I mean, the fact that I'm smoking this less than half an inch, I rarely Rare

Bam Bam:

for you.

Senator:

Ever do this, and it has burned perfectly all the way through. The ash holds on and has great structure. Mhmm. The smoke output's been good. The smoothness of this cigar, even this far down the stretch.

Senator:

Sure. I maintain this is one of the smoothest, if not the smoothest delivery of any cigar I've ever had. The flavor notes that it delivered are are ones that I like, but they were not pronounced enough in the first, like, three quarters of that cigar. The very end is delicious. It could have gotten an eight, a nine, I mean, even a 10 if this were my experience all the way through the cigar.

Senator:

The age definitely shows the creaminess that it brings out in this cigar, obviously, the smoothness. So there's a lot of merits here. It's just at that price point and the fact that the best of this cigar is really just the last, like, three quarters of an inch, that's a problem. So that's why I'm at a seven. It's not something I can enthusiastically recommend someone have unless they're gonna cut off most of the cigar and just smoke the last three quarters of an inch, which is obviously not worth a 30 something dollar experience.

Senator:

So that's

Gizmo:

why I'm

Senator:

at a step.

Gizmo:

I mean, it's good logic, honestly.

Rooster:

The richness It's

Bam Bam:

about $8 there.

Rooster:

The richness that you look for that comes from Nicaraguan tobaccos, you don't get that till the very end of the cigar, which is a problem.

Gizmo:

All right, boys, so for me, it's also a 7. Honestly, I thought you guys were going to be at 8. I I'm very happy to 7 on this cigar.

Bam Bam:

Do think score.

Gizmo:

I do think the price is absurd. Let's start there. The price is absolutely absurd for the experience we had. I I mean, for the cigar that we had tonight at $35.30 $30 $35, it should have absolutely blown all of our socks off. It should have been perfect all around.

Gizmo:

I mean, the construction, as we've said, was perfect. I do think it was a one trick pony, but it was very smooth, you know, and easy to smoke. It fell off for me in the last third. I did relight. We were just talking about I did let it go.

Gizmo:

I did relight. I did not have the experience, the cappuccino thing that you guys were talking about. At the end of the day here on this $30.35 dollar Robusto, there was no wow. Zero wow. Nothing.

Gizmo:

No wow factor. Nothing. It was just okay. It was a decent, very smooth, very well constructed $35 Robusto tonight. And I can understand the blending that happened here and the aging that happened to give us such a smooth experience, to give us something that tasted really, really creamy and smooth the whole way through, but didn't have any pop.

Gizmo:

There was zero pop. So for me and all those reasons, it's a seven. Chef?

Chef Ricky:

I'm having a hard time processing the sevens in the room. Why? Because I think it's a six. Okay.

Senator:

Mean, you're wrong, but go ahead.

Chef Ricky:

I'll get the general manager for you. It's on

Bam Bam:

lunch break.

Chef Ricky:

We really appreciate your feedback. Thank you for it.

Bam Bam:

Like it.

Chef Ricky:

And I'll get the manager.

Gizmo:

We're going to be better.

Chef Ricky:

We'll get better. But at $31 we should have delivered a better cigar. And I sincerely apologize that it took you to get to the last 5% of the stick that you smoked

Bam Bam:

That's that's

Chef Ricky:

to finally get something that I mean, is true. That was memorable. Of course. You know? And, you know, to Rooster's point, that that final I don't know.

Chef Ricky:

It wasn't even 5%, maybe 2% is where it picked up in strength and it finally started to deliver something that was okay. Know, for me it just, it was cream, right? And I've had hot cream as a chef, right? You use cream a lot, you use butter a lot. You've probably all had hot cream and it's very one note.

Chef Ricky:

And that's what this fucking cigar was.

Gizmo:

Big hot cream guy.

Bam Bam:

Giving a lot of hot cream. That's a fucking edit.

Chef Ricky:

Fucking scotch. I believe it. It on my

Bam Bam:

clown. It is. Gizmo will email me like two days later. Is it okay if I leave this thing? Correct.

Bam Bam:

No.

Chef Ricky:

He'll put it in the group chat. Yeah. No. Listen, I you know, it hurts to give it that rating because the last brand we smoked was phenomenal. Are you gonna lose sleep tonight?

Chef Ricky:

Yes. I am. I am. Because you know what? I worked hard this week.

Chef Ricky:

I really wanted a 10. And I wanted to be generous with the cigar. But, yeah, it was a one note cigar. Listen, the wrapper didn't give a lot of aroma off the bat. I got some funk, I got some cedar, I got some dried fruit in the very beginning.

Chef Ricky:

But the only consistent note throughout this entire cigar was a creamy nuttiness and it wasn't necessarily pleasant. It was kind of bland. Right? And I think they could have nailed it and they could have offered some kind of peaks and valleys, but it just never happened. So yeah, maybe it's because you dropped it.

Chef Ricky:

You know, it was maybe the one cigar that you took out the box and it fell on the floor.

Gizmo:

I put that one aside,

Rooster:

but go ahead.

Chef Ricky:

Well, there was three of them. But no, you know, yeah, for $31 we should I think we should have got a lot more for this. It's not a recommend for me. It's not something I would give to anybody.

Gizmo:

All right, Pam.

Bam Bam:

So there's no way I can give this a six. It's just way too creamy and smooth and elegant, even in my opinion.

Chef Ricky:

Even at the price point?

Bam Bam:

Yeah. It's just not possible. I can see even on a day like this and it's pretty chilly, if I'm at the North Lounge and I'm alone again and I have this cigar,

Gizmo:

was that time. Remember when I was here at the lounge? Oh, yes. And I burned over. And he swerved the parking lot and drove to the North Lounge and never texted?

Bam Bam:

Not true.

Gizmo:

Remember that?

Senator:

Oh, we all remember that. I remember that.

Bam Bam:

That did not happen.

Senator:

Gizmo sent a photo that he was at the lounge. 30 later, Bam sends a photo from the North Lounge. No interest in smoking with anybody here.

Chef Ricky:

He wanted one of those Alone Moments. He said his best cigars come alone. So But one thing Rooster didn't even touch I'm sorry, Bam.

Bam Bam:

Go ahead.

Chef Ricky:

You didn't mention the construction of your cigar in your rating. You're right. My construction was also bad.

Bam Bam:

He mentioned it. He had some unraveling happening.

Chef Ricky:

Yeah. He didn't say it in his rating.

Rooster:

Maybe not in the rating, but I mentioned it earlier that the But that was also

Chef Ricky:

that also did look like it corrected

Senator:

down the stretch.

Rooster:

Towards the end, it did. I mean, I'm saying, like, the best part of the cigar was, like, the last last thing.

Bam Bam:

Look. I didn't have any performance issues. My cigar was flawless. I loved the way it performed. So it's in a six is an impossibility here.

Bam Bam:

So it's an eight. For me to give this an eight, and I think everyone here would agree, it have to have that flavor profile that you can kinda hang your hat on for an hour and identify and capture it, and wow, this is delicious. We didn't get that.

Senator:

Well, we did just at the No. Did. Final It was

Bam Bam:

Which is a huge demerit.

Chef Ricky:

It was screaming nuts.

Bam Bam:

I do believe a seven is a perfect rating for this for all those reasons. It kind of falls in between those two experiences. So I think it's a great rating, I'm

Gizmo:

gonna say. So at

Rooster:

the very end, did you also have the same experience?

Bam Bam:

It was delicious. It was actually really quite delicious.

Senator:

I could have had that the whole cigar. This would have gotten like a nine. It was so good in the final half inch.

Bam Bam:

It's reminiscent of a really delicious espresso at the end and still creamy. That's a beautiful For me cappuccino.

Chef Ricky:

Yeah. Yeah. It didn't get cappuccino.

Bam Bam:

Yeah. So a seven.

Chef Ricky:

It's because they're retrohale.

Gizmo:

Mhmm. Alright, boys. The former lizard rating tonight on the Byron nineteenth century Poemus in Robusto is a 6.8.

Bam Bam:

Chef weighing us down tonight.

Gizmo:

So let's compare that to the other Byron we've done on

Bam Bam:

the tonight, dude. You fixed

Chef Ricky:

it. You

Rooster:

fixed it.

Bam Bam:

You gave it Trying to push the tugboat forward, but he got the anchor in there.

Chef Ricky:

Gave it an eight.

Gizmo:

Well, you gave it an eight. Seven.

Chef Ricky:

You corrected it.

Gizmo:

Yeah. You gave it a seven.

Bam Bam:

I'm at a seven.

Gizmo:

Okay. Alright.

Bam Bam:

He's at a six.

Senator:

Okay. I thought he gave it a The retrohale's affecting Jeff's brain right now too. Chef wasn't Not just spell it.

Bam Bam:

So what I was saying was it's impossible to give it a six or an eight for specific reasons. And seven falls right

Gizmo:

where it Perfect should score.

Bam Bam:

Chef Wayne is down.

Gizmo:

So let's compare that to the other Byron we've done on the podcast on episode 144. I can't believe it was that long ago.

Chef Ricky:

Wow.

Gizmo:

We did the twenty first century Elegantis scored a 9.2. That's what I'm talking about. Performed very, very

Bam Bam:

well. I was not here for that episode. It was

Gizmo:

very, very good, ma'am. I have one for you if

Bam Bam:

you want. I would love it.

Gizmo:

Thank you. Very, very good cigar. Nice. So, of course, the 1933 McLeod, that was a debut on the pod tonight.

Bam Bam:

McLeod.

Gizmo:

I'm sure we'll be coming back to that one very soon. But, boys, what a great night tonight.

Bam Bam:

Good night.

Gizmo:

Of course, we have to thank and congratulate congratulate Lizard Julio for winning lizard of the week with that great voice memo asking about our favorite cigar memories. And, again, I really would love listeners to share your favorite cigar memories with us as we get into 2026 here. Tell us what you're thinking. Tell us what, sticks with you from your history smoking cigars. Of course, we have to thank Fabrica five, our presenting sponsor.

Gizmo:

They're great partners. They're so supportive of us. So please turn that around, support us, and go and purchase and try some Fabrica five cigars. You will not be disappointed. Fabrica005.com.

Gizmo:

Use our code lizard pod. Of course, we have to thank Small Batch Cigar, our exclusive retail partner. They've been amazing for us. We're we're gonna have them all of 2026. We have great codes.

Gizmo:

We have great stuff coming up. Use our code lizard 15 for 15% off your entire order. Free shipping on everything, and you get 5% back in rewards. There are some exclusions, so watch out on the products you're you're putting in your cart. Some of them do have no promos attached to it.

Gizmo:

And we have to thank Bon Roberts boys who are presenting our lizard of the week, sending all of our lizards of the week a 10 count box of cigars. So we're very grateful for that. And, man, that has taken a load off of my back, BAM.

Bam Bam:

Oh, yeah.

Gizmo:

Getting those cigars out. And, boys, happy 2026 to our listeners. Well done. We have a big year ahead. PCA is coming up soon.

Gizmo:

Some travel. We got some good things coming. So we we look forward to sharing that with you. And, boys, great night. We'll see everybody next week.

Gizmo:

Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You could find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, loungelizardspod.com. That's loungelizardspod.com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.

Gizmo:

If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us. Hello at loungelizardspod.com. You can also find us on Instagram at lounge lizards pod. We really appreciate your time, and we'll, we'll see you next week.