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Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
Welcome to the Lounge Lizards podcast presented by Fabrica five. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars as well as whiskey travel food work and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo. Tonight, I'm joined by Rooster, Senator, Pagoda, chef Ricky, and Bam Bam.
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 twenty third official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Planet 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 discuss the validity of unbanded Cuban cigars on social media.
Gizmo:We share ideas for estate planning for your cigar collection, and a listener calls us to task on rum additives, all among a variety of other things for the next two hours. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we pair 11 year age Laugevil and Offerman edition single malt scotch whiskey with the Avowed, the Vow six two nine. A Toro from The Dominican Republic tonight on the pod, boys. It's from our friends at Avowed. It's called the Vow six two nine, and it's a 50 ring gauge cigar by six inches long.
Gizmo:And boys, we are back to a Klaus Kellner production.
Bam Bam:Beautiful cigar here tonight.
Gizmo:I was looking at these in the box, and even though they were in cellophane, the wrapper on these is Beautiful. Impeccable.
Bam Bam:Well, the color's beautiful, but there's some veininess, some texture coming through. But still, with all that said, I think it's pretty handsome.
Senator:The color's nice, but like Bam said, this is a very veiny wrapper.
Gizmo:Mine feels pretty good.
Bam Bam:Which I don't mind. I do. As long as it Apparently.
Gizmo:It feels very good in the hand as well.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's
Gizmo:nice. Like, it feels like there's quite a bit of tobacco in it.
Bam Bam:A little dense.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah.
Bam Bam:And the the aroma on this is fantastic.
Gizmo:Well, let's cut this thing, boys. See what we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper. I'm gonna put it to my nose, Bam.
Bam Bam:I'm getting berry on the cold draw.
Chef Ricky:I'm getting berry on the aroma.
Bam Bam:I'm getting a little dried fruit on the cauldron and kind of like a creamy sweet cream thing.
Gizmo:Wow. Mine's a little tight.
Senator:Mine too. It might be okay, but I'm worried it might not. So I might take a little bit more.
Gizmo:I think I might wait to light it. That's good idea. See if the combustion does anything. But it does feel tight. Yeah.
Gizmo:But it's it's almost like it feels almost like Cuban tight where it it's like that extra bit of resistance.
Senator:Mhmm. And it could be right, like you're saying. It could just open up perfectly. It it's like right on
Gizmo:the border. Alright, boys. Let's light this thing. The Avowed The Vow six two nine. Again, it's a Toro 50 regauge cigar by six inches long coming out of the Kellner cigar factory in The Dominican Republic.
Gizmo:Three Vitolas in the line right now. We'll go through those in a little bit. Some cool stories about the tobacco here. And, of course, listeners will remember that we did the New Dawn, I guess, in the middle of last year. Yeah.
Gizmo:September.
Bam Bam:Another delicious cigar.
Gizmo:And that was fantastic. So we'll see how this does tonight.
Chef Ricky:Wow. It's been that long, I was literally just sitting here thinking to myself, wow. We really like this this line because we've smoked one not too long ago, but September is quite a bit away.
Bam Bam:I'm so happy with this right now because I was in a bad mood all day.
Gizmo:How come?
Bam Bam:And if this was a shit cigar, I'd get up and walk out of here if this wasn't good. Tell us about it, Ben. This is fantastic.
Gizmo:Will you process that?
Bam Bam:No. No therapy tonight, boy.
Gizmo:This is nice on the light.
Bam Bam:This is very good.
Pagoda:Mhmm. Easy flow. Great combustion.
Bam Bam:Oh,
Gizmo:yeah. So, senator, how are you feeling about your draw after whiting? Because I'm feeling okay about mine.
Senator:I'm feeling okay, but the jury's still out where I'm it could become an issue. It might open up. I'm still not positive yet.
Bam Bam:The flavor's really quite nice.
Rooster:Mine's a little tight too, I think I think it will open up.
Bam Bam:Chef, I'm getting a little cereal thing happening here.
Senator:Oh, here we are. Carbohydrates.
Gizmo:Carbohydrates. Lizard bingo.
Senator:That's right.
Bam Bam:It's a little different. Little cereal, little kind of like a sweet milk Like type thing
Chef Ricky:a malted What do party mean cereal though?
Rooster:Raisin bran type of thing
Chef Ricky:or Raisin He's
Senator:not far off from
Chef Ricky:the Raisin Bran because
Gizmo:Fruit of dried
Chef Ricky:loops? And I think what you're is referring that sort of caramelized flake
Bam Bam:oat I just remember as a kid when I would love my cereal every Saturday and Sunday. I have 10 different boxes, I could choose two.
Rooster:What was your favorite? Cheerios?
Bam Bam:I loved all the I love Fruity Pebbles. I love Cocoa Pebbles, the best.
Gizmo:The problem with those, and I agree with you, they're fantastic. They are fantastic. The problem with the Fruity Pebbles, can't understand
Bam Bam:I know what you're gonna say.
Rooster:Why they
Gizmo:haven't figured out, they go soggy in about six seconds.
Bam Bam:And all the flavor leaches into the milk.
Gizmo:And then it's a milk party.
Chef Ricky:That's kinda what makes it great
Bam Bam:end of the meal Yeah. You get to drink all that sweet milk.
Rooster:Do you know how lucky you guys are to have all these cereals when you were young? We grew up with one cereal.
Gizmo:It was called Cornflakes. Cornflakes.
Bam Bam:Cornflakes.
Rooster:But no No sugar. No yeah. Not like, one fucking cereal.
Pagoda:Yeah.
Rooster:Am I right?
Pagoda:Yep. Cornflakes. And a wooden frosted.
Bam Bam:Was that back on the rock of Gibraltar? Oh, boy. We're like,
Gizmo:His last name's Kellogg,
Pagoda:by way.
Rooster:Pagoda. Apparently Pagoda remembers it.
Pagoda:I do. Know it.
Rooster:It. That's what we grew up with.
Pagoda:And then we had, did have oatmeal though.
Gizmo:Right. My mom always hated when I somehow found a way to get sugary cereal in the house. Mhmm. Drove her insane.
Bam Bam:Know the
Pagoda:crazy She's not
Rooster:like it.
Bam Bam:My kids don't touch it.
Gizmo:Don't It's great.
Bam Bam:They don't want it. They have no interest in it. It's so strange.
Gizmo:You said your kids don't drink soda either, right?
Bam Bam:They don't they don't even want it. I've offered it to them.
Pagoda:Wow. Only
Chef Ricky:do those really sugary cereals the Christmas week, the week they're off from school. It's kind of like a little treat for them. Otherwise it's like, no, we don't really do a whole lot of cereal.
Gizmo:I feel like I've aged out of cereal. The Captain Crunch now rips up the roof of my mouth and I smoke cigars. It doesn't work, so I'm out.
Chef Ricky:Cinnamon life always has a special place in my heart for some reason. I love that stuff.
Gizmo:Speaking of cinnamon, I'm getting a touch of it here. Mhmm. Just a touch. Especially on the burn line.
Senator:Little cinnamon toast crunch. Mhmm.
Chef Ricky:I tell you, man. Right now, everything this thing's sitting on every cylinder at the moment.
Bam Bam:It's more than nutmeg for me, honestly. Okay.
Chef Ricky:Getting a lot of that dried fruit, that berry carbohydrate you're
Bam Bam:talking Those are still present for me.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Big time.
Senator:The thing that impresses me is just right away, this presents as like a really elegant, refined, complex cigar. Like, some cigars, like, you get some nice notes and you kinda gotta wait for the flavor to develop to get there, but, like, right off the bat, this says, like, premium, really refined, elegant smoke.
Bam Bam:You know, for me, what what how that's delivered to me typically is a smooth, effortless experience. When I can experience that, what he just said is what I'm actually getting. I get that experience if it's smooth and effortless, and that's what this is.
Senator:And also It's velvety. Subtle yet rich flavor. Yeah. Right? Like Yeah.
Gizmo:It's not trying too hard.
Senator:Nothing is really powerful flavor wise, but yet there's so many flavors you're getting that there's a richness that marries them all together into something memorable.
Bam Bam:Alright. How much is this thing? $19.
Pagoda:Out of my budget. Damn.
Bam Bam:No way. So far worth every dollar.
Senator:I agree. I think that's fair.
Gizmo:Yeah. I'm not complaining about the price here.
Bam Bam:That's awesome.
Gizmo:Even Listen. It's performing really well right now. But even before we lit it, it feels Mhmm. Like you're it almost feels like I wanna like I wanna use a term getting your money's worth, but it it feels substantial. Agree.
Gizmo:Because obviously, you don't know that until you smoke it. Mhmm.
Bam Bam:It's kinda developing into a slower smoke.
Senator:And my draw is good. It opened up.
Gizmo:Mine did too.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Rooster? How's yours?
Rooster:Yeah. It's gotten better. I did take another cut, though.
Senator:It is
Bam Bam:light. Pagoda rooster, how are getting along with your flavors on this thing? What are you getting?
Rooster:So I think it's I think it's creamy too. It's you're getting that I think you mentioned the sweet cream that's coming through.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I get that.
Gizmo:I actually like the nutmeg thing.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's more nutmeg than cinnamon. Right? You know, the funny thing is I'm having it with tea because I'm so cold. It pairs quite nicely, actually.
Bam Bam:Little tea with some sweet cream in there.
Chef Ricky:I'm getting a nice hibiscus note on here. That's a new one. If you it's it's hibiscus is somewhat acidic, like in a current rate, like in a red current manner. I get a little bit of that here. It's really pleasant.
Chef Ricky:I don't know if it's because I'm craving tea right now or what it is, but you mean like the hibiscus flower, dried up. Yeah. And you steep it in some water and that, you know, or in Jamaica, sirl. Oh, yeah. Right.
Chef Ricky:So just that sort of that bright, fruity note. What's Searle? It's a hibiscus tea and usually in the West Indian in the West Indies, they make it they steep it with the tea and hot water, add sugar, cinnamon, some at star anise, some at orange peel, some at rum to it. Alcoholic version.
Bam Bam:That's a hibiscus based tea.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. But usually a ton of sugar and it could be had cold or hot. But, yeah, it's usually really nice.
Senator:Usually, there's so much sugar that like Yeah. When I've had it, I need to add water
Chef Ricky:to It's like
Bam Bam:Break it down.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. It's syrupy.
Gizmo:You know what's interesting? There was a Mhmm. A tea at Starbucks many many years ago, like when I was in college. And it had a it was pink or red. It had a hibiscus thing in it.
Gizmo:They changed it all. I guess they bought a tea company or something. But what was interesting about it is I didn't feel the need to sweeten it at all. Like, all of the flavor was delivered by whatever kind of berry thing they had in there, the hibiscus, whatever they had
Rooster:going on. But hibiscus is not sweet on its own.
Gizmo:No, it wasn't sweet. It was like you're saying. It was almost like
Chef Ricky:Yeah. It's it's not sweet, but it presents a sort of sweetness, acidity, a sweet acidity to it.
Bam Bam:Sounds interesting. It's good.
Rooster:What do they have at the Mexican restaurants that's a hibiscus drink?
Chef Ricky:Jamaica. Jamaica. It's yeah. It like, it's the Spanish for Jamaica, and it's referencing sorrel. The
Rooster:But that's more like a soda. Right?
Chef Ricky:Or a No. It's an agua fresca. Okay. Yeah. They just don't make it as sweet.
Bam Bam:Any of you guys, tea boys? Do you like tea?
Chef Ricky:I do like
Gizmo:tea. I used to
Bam Bam:be. Yeah. Every day.
Rooster:Every day we drink tea.
Bam Bam:Yeah. So in the winter for me, I'm drinking it every night. One or two cups, usually decaf or green tea. I love it. It's great for the digestion.
Bam Bam:It kind of settles me down for the night. Not so much in the spring or summer, but the evenings in the winter. Love the tea.
Rooster:My first cup in the morning is always a tea. Black tea with a little bit of milk. Nice.
Gizmo:By the time my eyelids go from closed to open, I already have my Americano, like, touching my lips.
Bam Bam:I need coffee in the morning, but tea is an evening thing for me, for sure.
Gizmo:I'm instantly into my coffee.
Pagoda:A lot of Indian, that's the first thing.
Bam Bam:In the morning? Yeah. Interesting. Not enough caffeine jolt for me, I don't think.
Pagoda:Yeah. We just grew up with it. Think even there's a daddy, that's what he has
Gizmo:all the time.
Bam Bam:A lot of you English A boys of the English boys
Rooster:But love that tea in the it's like, it's strong tea. It's black tea. Uh-huh. And it's
Pagoda:We boil that, yeah. Nice.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's talk about the makeup of the Vow. And what I find really interesting about what the guys at Avow did with these cigars is there are three Vitola. We're gonna go through them really quick, but what's interesting is they all were blended individually and purposefully. So like we said, we have the six two nine Toro in our hand, 50 ring gauge by six.
Gizmo:This cigar has a special katouille tobacco that is included in it, a full leaf of that that is not present in either of the other two blends in this line. I'll go through the full blend in a second. The seven zero five Corona Gorda has so this one doesn't have a special different tobacco in it, but they say the expression begins with a spicy introduction before sweet and savory sensations take over alongside a creamy core for a well balanced experience. And finally, the eleven two five grand robusto. So they're paying homage to the robusta grande vitola 55 ring gauge by five and a half.
Gizmo:Nice size. Big ring gauge on that. And they add a kubra leaf imparting mouthwatering sensations, they say. So all three of those have a different blend. Now let's talk about the core blends of these.
Gizmo:The wrapper is Ecuadorian Habano. The binder is Ecuadorian Habano. The filler is Piloto Cubano Criollo 98, Criollo 99, San Vicente. And like we said in the 06/29, they have Cottui. And in 11/25, they have the Brazilian Cupra.
Gizmo:So those two have an extra special leaf.
Rooster:There's some Davidoffs that use San Vincente. We've had other cigars that use San Vincente.
Gizmo:Yeah. I've never heard of Qatui until No. This specific cigar. Now it might be present in other cigars we smoke, they may just say that the, you know, the filler is Dominican.
Chef Ricky:Or it's undisclosed.
Gizmo:Or it's undisclosed or something. But I'm sure that we've had it somewhere.
Rooster:They mention like what does it really impart to the flavor? Sweetness. Sweetness. Yeah. Okay.
Gizmo:We have an expectation here of sweetness.
Bam Bam:Oh, we're getting it. And it's very subtle, as you guys have noted. Really well done. It's delivered really
Pagoda:well, yeah.
Rooster:It's a very elegant smoke.
Gizmo:Klaus
Bam Bam:must have sold his soul to the devil because I don't know how you can He
Rooster:can't do no wrong.
Bam Bam:He can do no wrong. This is exquisite.
Gizmo:It almost feels like a celebratory cigar.
Rooster:It does. He kind of learned it from the best, right? His father was an exquisite blender.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:So these come in 10 count boxes. And what I love about these cigars is that each of them, all three Vitola, are aged at the Kellner factory for at least nine, but up to eighteen months before they are released, which is awesome. So they only have one pair of rollers on each size. So
Pagoda:Lot of overtime.
Gizmo:Pay more consistent experience in these cigars. And what's you know, we're experiencing here is every one of the cigars we have in our hand was made by the same two pairs.
Bam Bam:Two pairs of hands. Four hands.
Pagoda:Yeah. You have a son to do the math.
Senator:We've mathematician. Twenty twenty fingers.
Bam Bam:There are a lot of lot
Senator:of Two times two is four.
Bam Bam:A lot of other things you could do with those forehands. That's an edit.
Senator:Jesus Christ. Stop.
Bam Bam:Trying to make
Senator:you guys laugh. Stop it. That's
Gizmo:so funny.
Pagoda:I'm trans boy.
Gizmo:You're funny. So like we said, boys, these cigars are $19 apiece. They come in boxes of 10. So you can find those at Small Batch Cigar and retailers all over the country. So they're starting to pop up in brick and mortar, which is awesome.
Gizmo:So let's talk about the present the presentation, the the box here.
Bam Bam:Beautiful, very handsome, elegant, yet simple box.
Gizmo:So describe it for the for the folks here.
Bam Bam:It it's a brown leather box. It looks like a brown leather box, but it's painted. A little gold embroidery. Very simple, clean, elegant. I mean, it's fantastic.
Rooster:What do you mean by leather box?
Bam Bam:It looks like a leather box.
Gizmo:You're saying it looks like a leather, like almost like a leather briefcase type
Bam Bam:Yeah, of it's got that Which it
Gizmo:does kind of have that
Rooster:kind looks of like has a leather It's almost
Gizmo:like Davodoff would sell this for like a thousand dollars with six cigars
Bam Bam:on Beautiful hinges, nice clip, and it's about, it's not even an inch thick. It looks like it's a maybe eight by nine box. Simple, beautiful, elegant little thing.
Rooster:It's eight by 10.
Bam Bam:Okay, thanks. Nice old boy.
Pagoda:I see a lot of people carry those kind of boxes, carry cigars and those kind of boxes when they come to the lounge, more importantly, at least in Carnegie, I've seen them.
Rooster:Yeah, guess you could put a Boveda in it and use it as a-
Bam Bam:Yeah, it's comfortable to carry.
Rooster:As a case. Yeah. Put a belt on it, strap, shoulder sash, shoulder strap.
Pagoda:And don't forget the air tag, please.
Chef Ricky:I was going to say Pagoda's case in air tag.
Rooster:Yeah, Pagoda, I mean, won't mind losing this if you, you know.
Pagoda:Oh, yeah.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Pagoda:Maybe that's what I should
Bam Bam:be doing. Where is your case?
Pagoda:Yeah. Right next on me.
Gizmo:So, boys, let's talk about some news. And, actually, we're gonna talk about a vowed news because as we are recording this episode tonight, they have a new line of cigars coming out. It's called the hallowed hands celebrating the first year of avowed cigars. It is also the first blend where they're using Ecuadorian corojo wrapper leaf and their first box pressed cigar. Interesting.
Gizmo:And this is also the first debut with three Vitolas coming out at launch. So the vow came at different stages. This one is launching all three Vitolas at the same time. So let's talk about these cigars. So they say that the hallowed hands honor the tireless efforts of the individuals and families that have perfected the craft of cigar making over many centuries to celebrate the profound impact a single set of fingerprints can achieve over a lifetime.
Gizmo:Each Humidor inspired box displays 15 unique bands. Each Vitola, of course, crafted by a single pair of dedicated rollers. So those are four hands there, Bam. At Kellner cigars in The Dominican Republic, like all of the other avowed cigars. So let's talk about the makeup of this.
Gizmo:Wrapper, Ecuadorian Corojo, the binder, Ecuadorian Habano, the filler Corojo 99, San Vicente Piloto Cubano, Criollo 98, and Pennsylvania Broadleaf. So they are releasing the Corona Gorda, 46 by five and three quarters inches. The box pressed Robusto, 50 by five and three quarters inches. And their Toro, a little bit bigger than this one that we have in our hand, 52 by six. Coming out at MSRP ranging between 17 and $19.
Senator:Is the first box press that they've come out with? Yeah. First one? Yeah. Was going say I don't feel like I've
Gizmo:seen that. Box press for Busto. That should be pretty cool. I don't know if it changes anything aside from the feel and the hand, but we do love box press cigars in this room. So congratulations to Avowed on their first year of releasing cigars because they started in February '25, and now these are gonna be shipping out.
Gizmo:So if you're looking for them, you can find them at your favorite Avowed retailer or at smallbatchcigar.com.
Bam Bam:Now I'm sure you'll answer this question later, but how many of Colossus cigars have we done so far? Four?
Gizmo:No. So we've done two Stoic. We did the Kellner. We did this is the second avowed, so that would be five. Five.
Gizmo:Okay. This is the fifth tonight. All home runs.
Senator:I gotta say, the construction on this is A plus. Agreed. Look at the burn line on everyone's, like Yeah. Razor sharp.
Bam Bam:Yep.
Senator:Ash is holding on nice and tight. This is I'm really impressed.
Chef Ricky:And it's a beautiful
Bam Bam:And it's so it's just so delicious. I'm it's kinda hard to there isn't enough you can say about this thing right now.
Pagoda:And very easy to smoke. Great combustion as well. Great smoke output.
Gizmo:I actually am enjoying now Senator and Rooster. We talked about the the tighter a little bit tighter draw. I actually think it does work for the cigar and the Vitola. I almost feel like if it was wide open, I feel like you'd blow right through it.
Senator:Yeah. Agree. It's gotten better.
Rooster:Yeah. Right? So the beginning was a bit too tight, and now it's like perfect. Alright, boys. Let's go
Gizmo:to our pairing now. We are going back to Lagavulin, and this one's an odd one. We have an eleven years aged single malt scotch whiskey from Lagavulin, the Offerman edition. Cheers, boys.
Senator:Cheers. Cheers.
Gizmo:With the sea wall. Yes. I'm curious how this is gonna do with this cigar.
Pagoda:You know what's really interesting is when I smelled it initially, it was very peaty. Now it's got the it's a little fruity and sweeter.
Bam Bam:This is fucking delicious.
Gizmo:Isn't it? So this is a crazy story. We'll go into tasting notes It's in a ridiculous how good this is. So I purchased this box for review when I purchased the other La Guevulin, the distillers edition we did, I don't know, three months ago, two months ago, five months ago, whenever I purchased it. I forgot I had this box.
Gizmo:Last you know, a couple weeks ago, the senator and I are in the lounge for the Super Bowl, and one of the guys there brings out the Offerman edition. I said, oh my gosh, you know, senator, we have this for review. I forgot. And he sipped it, and he said, you gotta try it. It's awesome.
Gizmo:And so we brought it in tonight.
Bam Bam:How much is that?
Gizmo:You're not gonna believe it.
Bam Bam:$68.
Gizmo:55. What? An 11 year age log of $155.
Bam Bam:I'm gonna get that this week. That is look, I hate
Rooster:You say that on every single pod.
Bam Bam:That's not true. No. Usually it's turpentine.
Senator:He he was done drinking scotch.
Bam Bam:I know.
Pagoda:That too. This is outstanding.
Rooster:He says a lot of things.
Bam Bam:You what I love about this? There's just this slight hint of peatiness. It's not overwhelming at And there's, for me, a little vanilla and honey, kinda like a butterscotch thing happening with that touch of peatiness. This would be, I think, excellent with almost any cigar that you can possibly find to smoke with this.
Rooster:So it's better than the regular Lagavulin 16, is it?
Senator:Don't know if I'd say better. Different, but I think that for the palates in the room, for easily the majority of them, that this is probably preferable.
Bam Bam:100% It's so much more accessible. 100% correct.
Rooster:Less peaty and cheaper.
Bam Bam:And and it's got that those strains of honey and butterscotch, which is, you know, it's incredible.
Senator:So do you know where the sweetness is coming from? No? It's finished in a rum cask. Really?
Pagoda:Yeah. That makes sense.
Gizmo:Rum cask.
Bam Bam:You don't say. You don't fucking say.
Senator:Thank you.
Gizmo:You say.
Senator:The other thing I'll just say about this, when I first had this, it it immediately reminded me of the distillers edition that we loved, but this is like the poor man's distillers edition because this is less than half the price. That thing was 110, $120 a bottle, and It was
Gizmo:delicious though.
Senator:It was excellent.
Pagoda:Come on, Pagoda.
Bam Bam:Give it No, to me,
Pagoda:I really like it. I think it's really, like when you try and smell the aroma, you can recognize the rum. There's a little bit of the rum effervescent.
Bam Bam:You're not getting any of that on the finish? Because I get a ton of that sweetness on the finish for me. Rooster, you gotta try some tonight.
Gizmo:Yeah, I need a glass.
Pagoda:And this is
Gizmo:You want another glass?
Pagoda:There is an extra glass.
Bam Bam:I'm not kidding.
Gizmo:So what's cool
Pagoda:about He's in.
Gizmo:He's in. He wants to try it. What's cool about the Offerman edition of the Loguevulin is, first off, of course, it's named for Nick Offerman, who famously is Ron Swanson on the television show Parks and Recreation. Of course, he is the character is the man's man, and now Nick Offerman has kind of taken on that role in his actual life. He's a, you know, he works with wood and he's building stuff outside and scotch and fire, and and he's kinda like the man's man.
Gizmo:Kinda like what they demonstrate on Old Spice commercials are like the most interesting man in the world. So Lagevuen, I guess because of his love of single malt scotch on TV as characters and in his in his own life, did the Offerman edition. And what I find interesting about this is it's it is released in in different types of editions. So the first edition was a straight 11 year old Lagavulin with no extra finish on it in 2019. In 2021, they released an 11 year aged Guinness cask finished.
Gizmo:And then the third one, a couple years ago, charred oak cask, eleven years aged, heavily charred oak American and European oak barrels, emphasizing smoke, charred, vanilla, and spice. And finally, the one we have in our hand is the eleven years aged that we have tonight, finished for about eight months in Caribbean rum casks. Wow. So I have a question for you on the peat thing, and I really believe that this is kind of a great gateway for someone getting into peat. I think we've said that about Oban potentially before.
Gizmo:Mhmm. I actually think this is a better selection for folks who like single malt scotch and and wanna get into Pete. Potentially. Senator's kinda giving me an eye.
Senator:Yeah. I don't agree, but I I agree that it is a good gateway. I don't know that I agree that it's better than Oben as a gateway.
Rooster:Or Talisker.
Pagoda:Talisker 10. Talisker Talisker two. I was thinking about the Talisker 10 when, you know, I started having a few sips, but Talisker 10 is slightly more peedy and a little more I agree. Viscous, I think,
Rooster:also like sweeter.
Senator:Yeah. I'm telling you, I think of those three that the least PD is Oban.
Bam Bam:I agree. Yeah. I would put this ahead of Oban as far as my reaching for scotch, personally.
Pagoda:Like in the winter, this For what I'm
Bam Bam:experiencing right now.
Senator:The thing I just that impresses me about this, it's so smooth. Like, the difference between scotch and a lot of the other stuff that we've been doing recently, everybody in here throws a few chips of ice when they have scotch.
Rooster:Mhmm.
Senator:Like, whether it's Balvini, Macallan, almost doesn't matter. Almost none of us drink that neat consistently, and that's because it it has a little bit of a bite. This is so smooth. You do not need or I feel like even want to reach for ice or water or anything to tame it. It's like perfect.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Chef's not feeling it, but I'm loving it.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I'm not. I'm not. I'm having a hard you know, it's
Gizmo:I'm honestly surprised to hear that.
Chef Ricky:Me too. Well, the p brings a whole iodine background.
Pagoda:But it's
Chef Ricky:it's hard for me to get behind. It's subtle. And it's interesting that no one ever points that out because
Pagoda:It's subtle though.
Gizmo:Because we didn't go camping and sterilize water with iodine. No,
Chef Ricky:but everybody's always quick to point out medicinal notes in some other spirits that are concentrated. To me, peaty scotch is more medicinal than anything we've
Rooster:ever had.
Pagoda:What if we told you that it
Senator:was H in ex Agave. No, no, that's not where it's going.
Pagoda:In a mesquite barrel.
Senator:Jesus Christ. I was gonna say, what if we told you that it was aged in an ex mezcal barrel? That'll give us No. A
Chef Ricky:I would drink it less because mezcal shouldn't be aged. But, you know, it's just, look, it's good. It's good, but it's hard for me to fall in love with especially, I guess, Eilie this is an Eilie Scotch. Yeah. Right?
Bam Bam:Have a question.
Chef Ricky:That background, the peatiness that I know that comes from burning kelp or moss and the flavors that it introduces to the spirit.
Bam Bam:Have you had the traditional standard production log of all in where you've got really peat forward
Chef Ricky:Like 16?
Bam Bam:Yeah. So you have
Chef Ricky:had that.
Senator:And that you definitely must have.
Chef Ricky:That is soup, yeah. That's on steroids.
Senator:But my question is gonna be, did he have the distillers edition us?
Bam Bam:That's another question.
Chef Ricky:I like distillers edition.
Senator:Okay, so then maybe this is bit peatier.
Chef Ricky:Did like the Oban. I think this is peatier than those two.
Bam Bam:More peatier than Oban, but I'm not sure about the distillers edition.
Chef Ricky:Presents like Lagavulin still, but it's still tame. Interesting. But it still presents like Lagavulin and it gives you that Yeah, the iodine, the medicinal notes behind it. I'm not at a point yet that like that gives me, that gets me excited.
Gizmo:I will say this about our medicinal callouts. Think the thing that when, certainly when I call out medicinal on a spirit, when I call that out in a negative way, it's because it almost feels synthetic. Yes. Like we talk about cough syrup. Cough syrup.
Gizmo:Robitussia, cough drops. Whatever you want to use.
Chef Ricky:And this is just a byproduct of I the
Gizmo:don't think that this tastes therapeutic. This tastes organic to me. Agreed. Yes, it has those elements you're talking about in the spirit, but I wouldn't say this is like a negative type of medicinal, the way that we classify other spirits. We talk about.
Pagoda:And to be fair, right, a lot of people don't like peat. Meaning it's Right,
Rooster:100%. Think that's the thing. If you don't like peat at all, you're not gonna like this.
Pagoda:You're not gonna like this.
Gizmo:The only reason- mister, what do you think of it?
Rooster:I think it's the first sip, like chef said, it is kind of medicinal. Really? But I think the second sip, as you swirl it around your mouth
Bam Bam:Yeah, noticed you do that.
Rooster:The heatiness kind reduces. Try it. No, I have.
Bam Bam:No gulping.
Senator:You No. Might need to gulp.
Chef Ricky:What I do like is that this is bright. What's the alcohol content on here?
Gizmo:Forty six percent ninety
Chef Ricky:two proof.
Gizmo:Yeah. Which, by the way, it drinks like a forty, forty two.
Bam Bam:I would
Senator:have thought 40.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. It's definitely very bright, so that helps distract a bit from the peatiness for me.
Bam Bam:You have to give it to them, though.
Pagoda:And a long finish.
Bam Bam:Yeah, delicious finish. I love the creativity. The Guinness Barrel, as good as this is, I'm now intrigued to want to try that. I'm gonna buy this. I just love that a storied brand like this is kinda going outside their boundaries.
Bam Bam:It's pretty cool.
Senator:Yeah. I agree. I think the huge thing is, you know, Lagavulin 16 is not a particularly versatile scotch. Like, there's a specific time and place that you wanna reach for it, and if you don't like a lot of peat, you categorically will hate it.
Bam Bam:Deep winter stranded in a cabin.
Senator:And so it's like, to see them coming out with that distillers edition, the eleven year, and now showing more range in the line, like Totally agree. Lagavolins becoming a brand that can appeal to most, if not, you know, almost all scotch drinkers, which is really cool.
Bam Bam:It's a great plan, it's intentional, very smart on their part.
Pagoda:No, absolutely. They're trying to widen their range. So this is and they're sticking to the pittiness. Like, haven't totally given up Yeah. On Mhmm.
Senator:The only thing that's odd is the first night I had this when we drank this
Rooster:Yep.
Senator:It was less peaty, that bottle, than this. So I I'm How many drinks
Bam Bam:in were you?
Gizmo:That is a good point. It was like the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl.
Bam Bam:I got a point.
Pagoda:I got Was a
Rooster:the bottle open for a while?
Senator:Was it like No. I actually was the first to drink from that bottle. Because Lizard Geo came over and he said,
Rooster:he had your first drink the day. Definitely not.
Gizmo:There you go. I think that's probably why. And you were drinking rum too, so I think your palate was
Chef Ricky:gonna ask if
Senator:your palate was, let's say, sweetened. But if anything, would think if I'm having a sweeter drink like rum, that something peaty like this would, like, be off putting for my palate because it'd be the complete opposite of what I was getting. Yet, it tasted more sweet than I would have ever expected a laggabalin to be the case.
Chef Ricky:I think if you're starting with rum and you're having a good amount of it, there's a good chance that your palate's kind of coated in that. So it's probably shielding it just a
Rooster:little bit. Think as you take like the second sip or the third sip, the pettiness, like your palate pettiness is there, but your palate is adjusting to that peak.
Chef Ricky:See, to me, I don't get adding water or ice to this because it will only bring the heat down and then enhance the peak.
Bam Bam:And the interest dissipates in
Senator:the cabin. Also think that this is not particularly viscous, so adding water or ice to this I think would really water this down to a I point that it's nothing
Chef Ricky:could see myself really digging this, like you said, Bam, in a cabin or like in a Siding by the ocean. An ice fishing tent. No, like somewhere really cold and you're ice fishing with a cigar. Not
Bam Bam:this one. This one I can drink almost any time. It's the traditional La Gavola where I need to be, you know Ice fishing. In Alaska somewhere.
Pagoda:You have a dad also after, like, three or four steps, it kinda works.
Bam Bam:That's true.
Gizmo:So, Bam, we were talking before we hit record tonight. You were commenting on the packaging, and you were saying that you love loved the presentation Beautiful box. Of the box and the bottle. So can you describe that for listeners what
Bam Bam:Regionally, we have in your they're highlighting North America, South America, Africa, Great Britain, Scotland. So and and the partial map of the world is in blue with a very, very light faded blue background. Beautiful. Very handsome. Almost this gold, silver kind of embroidery that they're putting in there that's kind of threading the whole map.
Bam Bam:It's really beautiful. Very nice. Can I see that?
Gizmo:Yeah. So the other thing I wanna say while senator's looking at the box, I think this expression of Lagavone is easier to pair with a cigar that is not Nicaraguan.
Bam Bam:I think it can pair with or without a Nicaragua. I think it can pair with almost any cigar.
Gizmo:That's what I'm saying. I think Lagoval in '16, you we've talked about I feel like you need to be in Padron family reserve Agreed.
Bam Bam:This is very universal and versatile from the point of view of care.
Gizmo:Like, we have a I would not call this cigar more than medium at this point. We have a medium cigar from The Dominican Republic in our hand tonight. This is pairing perfectly.
Rooster:I think it's the sweetness that's complementing the cigar.
Bam Bam:That's true, and honestly And there's not a
Gizmo:lot of oomph to it.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I do like that there is like the Abuelo seven that we all fell in love with. That had a touch of heat. You said, chef, it kind of sprang you to attention. This kind of has that similar quality to it where it's just enough heat.
Bam Bam:It's not overwhelming. It springs you to attention with every sip. It's really it's exciting. It's fun to drink. This kind of shit makes me happy.
Pagoda:I would have to make is, how much is it? Over 42?
Gizmo:It's 46.
Pagoda:46, yeah. Oh, it doesn't.
Gizmo:It doesn't drink like that.
Pagoda:It doesn't drink like
Gizmo:that. Have we ever reached for 46% spirit without ice? Mean, I think we did it recently. Were talking about one. Don't know if it was a rum Yeah, or
Pagoda:just had one recently.
Gizmo:A yellow spot perhaps?
Bam Bam:Yes. Yes. Probably.
Rooster:Do you think the peatiness in a scotch helps or would it pair well with a salty cigar like a Monty two? Yes. Would it do well with that? Or a Ramona Jonas? Think for sure.
Senator:But I think the thing that's interesting to me is a lot of times when we've done a peaty or scotch, and this fits the bill, with a cigar that leans sweeter, I think the temptation is to expect that it will clash. And what I actually like sometimes when we do it is it accentuates the sweetness. Right. Yeah. Right?
Senator:You see, like, you take a sip of that the scotch, you get the peat, then you take a draw of the cigar, and it actually brings out some of the subtle sweetness that maybe you were missing initially. So I do like when there's that contrast as well as when it's a more natural Parallel,
Bam Bam:yeah, which is what we're getting tonight, more of a parallel experience.
Chef Ricky:To me, the ideal flavor comes after taking a draw of the cigar and then a sip of the spirit versus taking a sip of the spirit and then a draw of the cigar. Because I find that if I if I sip the spirit, I need to allow the iodine to sort of dissipate before I hit my cigar because then I feel it sort of just interferes a little bit with what I'm getting, you know, the the beautiful nuances off the stick. But if I go stick first and scotch, it's great.
Rooster:What if you dip the cigar?
Bam Bam:No. No. We would kick him out.
Chef Ricky:I leave that to Arnold.
Senator:Sorry, I just can't believe on the box, this is the one thing that I've been shocked by. There is nutrition info.
Gizmo:Yeah. There's a calorie information on the It
Senator:says there's 112 calories How many carbohydrates? Zero carbs, zero fat, zero protein. The fact that they even list this, I've never seen a single malt scotch
Bam Bam:That's cool. That actually lists nutritional information. What's the serving size?
Senator:One and a half ounces.
Rooster:That's great.
Bam Bam:You know, this is
Chef Ricky:So BAM's at about 500 calories.
Pagoda:It's half the caloric content of a corona, which is about 200 per
Bam Bam:bottle. Really? Yeah.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Yeah.
Rooster:Yeah. Is
Bam Bam:right. Interesting.
Chef Ricky:I thought it was more like 120, but yeah.
Pagoda:Pretty cool. This is great.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah. Pogoda, how are feeling about the spirit? I'm really enjoying the spirit.
Pagoda:You're a
Bam Bam:big Belveney guy. We know that.
Pagoda:No. I'm really enjoying the spirit. I like a little bit of peatiness as well, and this is working really well for me. It is, isn't it? And it's got, you know, a little bit of the sweetness that comes back, really long finish.
Pagoda:It's giving you the peatiness, and very good on the aroma as well. I think it's just working from all directions.
Bam Bam:I'm shocked how good it is.
Senator:I'm just most grateful for the price point because we did that distiller's edition, and I loved it. I think we all did. There's not a single one of us I've seen No. Consume a bottle
Gizmo:That's of that a special occasion scotch, man.
Senator:Exactly. It's just too expensive. Correct. And you know, the Lagavulin 16, it's like something that we just reach for so infrequently because it's a really not a particularly versatile scotch. So for this to be $55, like, I would buy this and actually have this more regularly than I certainly would as much as that distiller's edition was amazing.
Senator:I mean, it's just not something you can have every day.
Bam Bam:I'd wager a bet that you'd keep this in your locker here, and have it Yeah. At least once a week.
Gizmo:Here's my question. We talk about getting away from scotch, and, you know, we have been. I think all of us have been moving, maybe except Pagoda. Pagoda's still drinking scotch. I can't remember the last time I sat down and said, I want to drink scotch with my cigar.
Gizmo:It's really been rum for a good period of time. Does this, from a slotting standpoint we always talk about slot or rotation. Does this enter the conversation in a way that McCallan even or or Balvenie for most of us, you know, again, except for Pagoda, has kinda left the conversation, if even if temporarily?
Rooster:I would say in the wintertime.
Pagoda:I don't
Bam Bam:know. Can see myself drinking this in the spring and the summer and the fall.
Rooster:Really?
Bam Bam:I'm drawn to it because I'm loving the flavor. I'm just loving how it's working with the cigar tonight, but I can see it working with the Exquisivo. It could work great with my Millennium Pyramid. It'll work great with you mentioned the RAS. I've tried this with the RAS.
Bam Bam:I like it.
Rooster:But you don't think the peediness like, you would reach more for peedier such as in the wintertime more than in the colder months. Prefer it in colder months. I agree
Bam Bam:with that. For me, the peatiness is subtle, enough for me to be consuming it more often.
Rooster:So you would drink this in the summer?
Bam Bam:I'm going try it. I'll try it. It may need a chip for temperature or two. Now I don't know what that's gonna how that's gonna affect the experience. It could be negative, like chef said.
Bam Bam:I'm gonna try it out and see what happens.
Rooster:Chef is anti ice.
Bam Bam:True.
Gizmo:Put it in the fridge. So what's your answer to that question, senator, as far as slotting or rotation? I would definitely
Senator:reach for this more in the winter and the colder months than I would the summer. But I I see Bam's point that, like, you know, it's not so petty that I would categorically not at all reach for it in the warmer months. I would, but just definitely less frequently.
Bam Bam:To that point, I don't think I'll be doing this outside. But if I'm in the club and the air conditioning's on and I'm very, very comfortable, if I wanna pursue this particular flavor, I'll do it more often indoors than definitely outdoors.
Senator:The other thing I'll just say is I I really think I think we need to revisit Scotch a bit. And I say that, like like, I'll use an example. Have we done Macallan 15 yet?
Gizmo:No. That was I think that's the only one we haven't
Senator:done. Okay.
Pagoda:So
Senator:I have been I said this a few months ago when I had this at an event I was at. I used to hate McCowen fifteen. It's they definitely changed it. It is so delicious. Like, I drank this the entire night.
Bam Bam:Oh, We're gonna go back to scotch,
Gizmo:That's what we do on this podcast, by the way. We go on runs. We know, using Rob Iowa's word from 2021, we go on runs.
Bam Bam:The yellow spot was a home run. That was so fucking delicious. This is incredible. And now the 15 is coming making a comeback now.
Senator:Wow. I'm just
Gizmo:saying like We're moving back to whiskey boys.
Bam Bam:Maybe.
Senator:There are scotches out there that I think we've fallen so hard for rum that we've just completely forgot. There's a reason scotch is a traditional pairing with a cigar. Totally. And I I think it we would be doing ourselves a disservice not to go back and look at some single malts that I think would pair really well with a lot of stuff we smoke. Cool.
Gizmo:And I'd love, by the way, to hear from listeners who are passionate about single malt scotch. I'd love to hear some of them that we've not reviewed. So go please look at what we reviewed or if you've listened and you know. Like, Macallan 15 is obviously a standout that we need to do. There's any others that we haven't done that we should review, please send us an email.
Gizmo:It really helps picking the pairing.
Chef Ricky:It excites me a lot hearing this because I'd like to propose that maybe for every five scotches we do, we throw in a mezcal. Cause Mhmm. I think there's some parallels. We haven't had a mezcal in a long time. There's a lot of great things to
Gizmo:There's only one mezcal guy in the room.
Pagoda:And who's that?
Bam Bam:Giddy up chef.
Gizmo:Bring the mezcal and we'll do it.
Chef Ricky:We're gonna get it done.
Pagoda:No, but you know, mezcals are so tasty. It's just, my head goes the other way. That's the only problem. So what I wanted to mention with a lot of my friends who are really into PT scotch, you know, whether it's a Laphroaig or Ardberg or, you know, Lagerville and Succine, of course, I think this is going to be such a great addition just to even have it in the house where, you know, it is reasonably peaty in the sense that it's Like, open is very lightly. Yeah.
Pagoda:It is very light peat. A lot of people don't even catch it often. But this is peaty enough where somebody who loves peaty scotches can get a lighter version of it, and I think it's fantastic.
Rooster:It's a good entry point for somebody who wants to, you know, try the peat.
Pagoda:Absolutely. And and versatility for somebody who wants to try something different.
Gizmo:So based on what you just said, I still stand that I think this is a better gateway for a Scotch drinker to get into Pete than even the Oben. I really believe that.
Senator:Absolutely not. Think Pagoda was even just saying that with oben, sometimes you don't even realize
Gizmo:Well, that's why I'm saying that's not even it's not a gateway.
Rooster:No. You're so wrong, Gus. It's not
Gizmo:a gateway.
Senator:It is.
Rooster:If you're
Gizmo:telling me you can't even taste
Rooster:the peat, how's it how's how's it
Gizmo:a doorway?
Senator:Point is that it's in the background, not at the forefront. Like, the thing that's confusing me about having this for the second time, the first time I had it, I definitively felt that it was much more sweet than it was peaty.
Bam Bam:You had eight cocktails then.
Senator:And no. I I mean
Gizmo:He had more cocktails than the report scored in the game.
Senator:Knew enough to say to Giz, we must do this on the pod. It was that good. So, like, I I know my palate was working, and I'm telling you that that bottle now mind you, Gis said he bought this a while ago. That person just picked it up.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Senator:Who knows? Those are obviously very different batches, and I'm certain that that was a lot more sweet than it was peaty. And I think right now, this is like as peaty as it is sweet. So I don't know that, like, to me, equal parts peat to sweet is like the best gateway for someone to get introduced to peat. I mean, Chef is sitting here saying that, like, it's a little too peaty for him.
Senator:Yeah.
Gizmo:I don't know how
Senator:someone who doesn't like Pete is gonna find this to be, like, a great entry point.
Gizmo:Mhmm.
Senator:Where I think Obin, like, has always traditionally been like, Obin was the first single malt I had that's peated that got me to appreciate Pete and be able to then work my way through some, like, you know, much petier expressions. So I truly still think that Obin's
Bam Bam:It the perfect could be the case if someone hasn't ever had a petty spirit, then I can see that case working out because it's so subtle.
Rooster:I think nine out of 10 times, if you try a Petey Scotch, you don't initially like it. I think it's an acquired taste.
Senator:Yeah. Mean, Giz called Lackovalon 16 gasoline the first time you had it, and he pissed off Grinders.
Chef Ricky:It's like you're
Gizmo:chewing on
Chef Ricky:a Band Aid.
Bam Bam:So I'll be honest. I was always a hater of that peat note in these peaty scotches. I never gravitated ever toward them. What's happening tonight's pretty magical for me. Oh boy.
Gizmo:So boys, we're coming to the end
Bam Bam:of the first 30. You lack the panache, my man.
Gizmo:On the avowed. Avowed. Avowed. Two nine. And, of course, the Lagavulin 11 Offerman edition we're talking about.
Gizmo:What's everybody thinking about the cigar right now, where we're at in this journey? Because I'm getting a little saltiness on the cigar. It's it's gone on a little bit of a journey. I'm enjoying it right now.
Chef Ricky:So I'm I'm enjoying it still. I'm getting more minerality and saltiness, and I'm going to attribute that to the scotch. I feel the scotch pulled pulled me away from the sort of sweeter berry dried fruit notes I couldn't disagree more. Pulling me more towards minerality and saltiness. I'm sorry.
Chef Ricky:I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but I think that's a resolve of the pairing.
Pagoda:I agree with you.
Bam Bam:Yeah, I don't get any minerality here. It's more of a richer experience of my first half of the cigar, honestly.
Senator:Mine's having a bit of a construction problem right now. Really? Yeah. There's something about the roll right at this point where it's definitely I know it's gotta be starting to tunnel because it's hot, and I haven't taken a draw of this in I don't even know how long. I'm just letting
Gizmo:it I've been drawing mine quite a bit, and there's no heat for
Bam Bam:Yeah. Me
Senator:The whole rest of it wasn't like this, and Senator has a rounded
Chef Ricky:ash too. Usually that's like a Yeah. Sign of something
Pagoda:Actually, I think I suggest you stop smoking that. Wrap it up and send it to Mr. Klaus Kelvin so that he could actually really evaluate what really happened. Right.
Senator:All I'm saying is I'm gonna have to wait this out because the wrapper's not burning at the same rate that the filler is, so I just am hoping that this is a small portion, and then it'll get back to what it was. Oh,
Pagoda:damn it. So you know, like for me, what I felt was I do get a little bit of saltiness, minerality, but the first few puffs right after I had this sip of scotch, I thought it accentuated the flavors right away. And it just made them a little, because for me, I thought a lot of the flavors in the beginning were, for me, were reasonably muted. And I really enjoyed it after having a couple of sips and.
Rooster:Yeah, it's very creamy and.
Pagoda:Creamy, more creamier.
Rooster:Yeah, you still get that. Totally. Baking spice things are still coming. Correct But also a little bit of floral note that
Chef Ricky:I like. You think the flavors on the cigar were muted prior
Pagoda:to some shots? Initially, for me. Wow.
Chef Ricky:Oh no. No, mine was
Pagoda:think they've become so much It's better
Bam Bam:Polarizing cigar in the room at the moment. It's a scotch.
Pagoda:But now I'm really enjoying it.
Bam Bam:I don't know.
Pagoda:It's the scotch. I think scotch can really help.
Gizmo:I think it's really good. I think it's developing nicely.
Bam Bam:I agree. You know, I think what Rooster said just a moment ago, it's still very creamy. I'm still getting that fruity, creamy sweetness, and I'm not getting any minerality just yet. A touch of salt, which is actually quite nice.
Pagoda:A touch of salt. That's exactly
Bam Bam:But what really, really in
Chef Ricky:Salt a nice is a mineral, though.
Bam Bam:Thank you.
Pagoda:But not like the earthiness mineral. Wait,
Bam Bam:do you know what oxygen does? It oxidizes.
Pagoda:Wow, it's taken a while. Don't forget that.
Gizmo:That's one of my favorite episodes. So, boys, let's go to some news now. We learned a little bit about what's gonna be happening at the Habanos Festival. So, of course, we record our episodes a little bit before they come out. So the week that this episode is gonna be dropping is the week of the Habanos Festival, as it's scheduled as of today.
Gizmo:We'll see what happens. We'll talk about that in a little bit as well.
Bam Bam:Are you going this year?
Gizmo:I am not going. But we have
Pagoda:learned I heard it's gonna be lights out. No. I mean, it's a great, you know.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Literally lights
Gizmo:out. Wow.
Bam Bam:Shank. That's an So international shank right
Gizmo:we have learned that, I guess because of some packaging or band issues that the excellentis, the mitos, the adobe, the bajique 59 we've been talking about for, I guess, almost a year and a half or two years now that we first tasted coming up on two years ago. I think it was March or April '24 we tasted a prototype of it. We have now learned that that cigar is not going to be released at the Habanos Festival for Cohiba's sixtieth anniversary, which is really disappointing. And the other piece of this that we have learned is that Habanos changed. You know, we told you there was no Lihero in the cigar.
Gizmo:It was all Medio Tiempo. That's how it was originally blended. Habanos demanded that blend be changed to Lihero. There is no Medio Tiempo in the cigar. So the cigar we spoke two years ago is a very different cigar that is going to be released at some point in 2026, but it's disappointing that, again, this is not going to be seen at the Habanos Festival because it's it was a great cigar.
Gizmo:It's a unique cigar, and it's a it's a real shame.
Senator:It's a add this to Habanos essay's crimes against humanity. I'm sorry. Like, that blend was outstanding. I remember smoking it with Danilo. He knows I'm a Partagas guy.
Senator:I like Lihero in my cigars. I thought it was wild that this cigar could have no Ligero, and I was not expecting this to be something that I would appreciate. Like, this was more kinda made for, like, the European market. It had so much flavor despite having Nolijero. It it just such a cool blend.
Senator:I I like, fascinating they were able to pull this off, and the fact that no one's gonna get to even try this now, I mean, it makes no sense.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's crazy.
Senator:It was perfect.
Pagoda:Hey. Can you just ask him to at least ship us the ones which are not being used?
Bam Bam:I also heard the guests are coming in by boat.
Gizmo:Yeah. We're gonna talk about that in a minute. So let's let's talk about the cigars that are actually coming out at the festival. So the highlight cigar for Cohiba's sixtieth anniversary is a so called cigar called the Eternos 45 ring gauge cigar, which I like by seven and one sixteenth inches. So just a touch over seven inches long.
Gizmo:I like seeing that, you know, that 45 ring gauge. It's nice that they're not going with some crazy ring gauge size. Of course, the the Exelentis was a 59 ring gauge, but it's a torpedo. So the mouthfeel is actually closer probably to, you know, a 50 or a a 45, something like that. Then I guess these are gonna be in the auction humidor, the cigar called the Albarrata, 60 ring gauge by seven and nine sixteenths.
Gizmo:Of course, we will never taste that. And they're going to be putting the sublimis, the sublimes, the sublimis, the talisman, 54 engaged by six and seven sixteenths. I guess that's also gonna be in the humidor as well, but those are the cigars that Cohiba is working on for the sixtieth anniversary. And, you know, the Odysseo Limitada excellentes, I guess, is going to be announced after the festival once they get the packaging altogether in the band. So that is that's quite disappointing because I, you know, I was really as Sonya was saying, I was really looking forward to, you know, being able to have that again and and be able to hear what other folks think about it because we've been Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:You know, in the weeds on it for two years now. So it's it's a very cool cigar, so that's that's disappointing. So let's move on now, boys. Let's talk about the other issue going on in Cuba, which is that, of course, among many, the highlight issue as of this recording is that the Cuban government or the Cuban airports, the organization that runs the Cuban airports, put out a notification Who's run by the government? Of course.
Gizmo:But this is gonna be interesting. So there's what's called a NOTAM, n o t a m, and it's a communication broadcast used by the FAA and, you know, airlines and airports around the world to send crucial messages to each other. So the Havana Airport sent a NOTAM note out saying that there was no jet A one fuel going to be available, which means that planes coming into Havana are not able to refuel. Now BYOF. Now, what's interesting about this is it doesn't affect short flights.
Gizmo:So flights coming from close islands, flights coming from The United States. Of course, any flight from The United States coming from Miami or Houston, I think there might be some coming out of Tampa. They're not topping up fuel in Havana. First off, it's illegal because of the embargo. So they carry as much fuel as they need to get back.
Gizmo:But if you're coming from
Bam Bam:Europe?
Gizmo:Europe. You're coming from Dubai. You're coming from Hong Kong. You're coming from Australia. You're from China.
Gizmo:So either they're gonna have to make another stop, which doesn't seem
Rooster:stop in Miami or something.
Gizmo:It it doesn't seem economical.
Chef Ricky:No. It's gonna turn into military flights. They're gonna be refueling in midair.
Gizmo:Yeah. To get the Havana. It's it's it's a very odd thing. And then, of course, the organization that put this out that runs the airports in the country put that out. Again, I don't know if they expected that it wouldn't get out to national media or international media.
Gizmo:Right? Of course, then it did. It was big stories all over Financial Times, all over Reuters, AP News, etcetera. Then the Cuban government issued their statement saying that it's not true. There's plenty of fuel.
Gizmo:No problem. So it's this kind of you know, the Cuban government's doing their thing, the mixed message, but the fact is that that message exists. And I wanna read something to you that I I found really interesting. This was on FOH from a user there. So I wanna shout him out.
Gizmo:This is from user Chris twelve three eighty one. He says, Air Europa just announced that it's going to add a technical fuel stop in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. In a past life, I managed two airports for sixteen years, and one of my responsibilities was filing NOTAMs that, you know, notice we're talking about. A two to four week NOTAM is what you issue when a problem is open ended, when there is no near term solution. So the NOTAM that Cuba issued, the Cuban airports issued, was a month long.
Gizmo:So what he's saying is that's not the end date. That's just how they're issued as this is going to be an ongoing problem, and they don't have a solution. So he's giving examples. Think equipment you can't immediately repair because of parts availability, certification issues, supply constraints. Of course, that's what's going on with the fuel.
Gizmo:In Cuba, Empress Acubana de Aeropuertos y Cervicios Aeronauticas, E C A S A
Rooster:Nice job.
Gizmo:Operates and manages the airports. How long did you practice that? I'm sorry. I didn't even read this before. The Instituto de Aeronautica Sivelle de Cuba, IACE, they oversee regulation safety and policy.
Gizmo:So you're talking two different organizations. One is on the ground technical. You have to tell planes that they can't get fuel. The other is the messaging, the policy, and what you're putting out to the media. Right?
Gizmo:So ECASA, ICOSTA spoke only to the audience that matters for aviation safety, airlines, dispatchers. By by filing NOTAM stating jet a one fuel is not available, that is a hard technical admission. The other organization, meanwhile, is speaking to a different audience, of course, the domestic public and international media attempting to manage panic optics and diplomatic fallout by discuss by dismissing discussion about this topic as rumors. So he says this is a split between operational reality and political messaging. So what I find interesting about this and and, you know, we're this episode is gonna come out when the Habanos Festival is to begin.
Gizmo:It'll be in the second day of the Habanos Festival. I'm curious what just even a few days from now, a week from now, the situation's gonna be because it doesn't seem like there's a solution of of crude oil coming to this island to be refined or jet oil coming to the island.
Bam Bam:What when is the event?
Gizmo:It starts the twenty second, I believe. Twenty third.
Bam Bam:Okay. So which is right around
Gizmo:Twenty third.
Bam Bam:How do you change flight patterns so quickly? Is that a thing? Can you do that?
Gizmo:Yeah. I think if you, you know, you just tell your passengers that there's gonna be another stop or that, you know, there's some other sort of thing. Now Air Canada
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Gizmo:Has stopped flying to to Cuba now. Okay.
Rooster:Is that right?
Gizmo:They are flying empty planes to Cuba as of, yeah, as of this week. They're flying empty planes to Cuba to simply pick up the three or 4,000 Canadian people that are there on the island to bring them home. So they're flying empty planes down with a
Bam Bam:lot of fuel to get them back. Interesting. And
Gizmo:Because they fly into Guaradero. They fly they fly into multiple airplanes.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Too. So if they're adding stops for fueling purposes, I'm gonna have to assume they're not charging their customers for that additional stop.
Gizmo:Well, I would think people that have existing itineraries, certainly, but future itineraries, I would think that they're going to bake in those costs because there are landing spaces.
Bam Bam:Those numbers are gonna go up in the future. Of course. That becomes a semi permanent route.
Gizmo:But here's the thing though. Does it economically make sense to now be adding fueling spots? It just seems like it adds liability, safety issues.
Pagoda:You have
Gizmo:to land another time. Take off another time.
Bam Bam:As long as a customer's willing to pay for it and they wanna continue to come to Havana, I'm gonna assume the answer is yes.
Gizmo:I guess.
Bam Bam:But then you get there, and then you have another list of challenges the moment you land.
Chef Ricky:They're gonna siphon the fuel.
Rooster:Ultimately, it's not good for tourism. Right? No. That's and that's why that's already been hurting.
Gizmo:I think that's why the Cuban government is pushing back on the messaging here.
Bam Bam:But Yeah.
Gizmo:I'm really curious. I mean, this is every day, this is changing. It's it's wild. But Air Canada stopping flights was pretty
Bam Bam:It's a big deal.
Gizmo:Because there are a lot of Canadians go to Cuba for tourism. Obviously, a lot of the Eastern European tourists, that has dropped quite a bit since the Russian Ukrainian war started. Yeah. But tourism is down significantly, and that is, as you're saying, that's their main economic generator right now. That's how they get the hard cash they need, and it's not coming.
Bam Bam:Now you can edit this if you want, but, you know, we saw a video of a guy, boots on the ground. I'm not sure if he lives there or if he's been there for quite a long time. Few of us in the room have seen it. He seemed to the way he was behaving and his rhetoric, things are okay once you're there.
Gizmo:Well, think he's in a very touristy area, and I think he might run tours. So I think there might be an economic
Bam Bam:That's a different story.
Gizmo:You know, impact for him to say that everything's fine so that he doesn't drop all of his business for the next
Bam Bam:Sure.
Gizmo:Year or two or three or whatever. But it it's really a fascinating time what's going on there. It's really sad what's going on for the people in Cuba. But, I mean, for the Habana festival, thousands of people flying in. You know, the challenges that that they're having, gasoline, etcetera.
Gizmo:It'll be interesting to see what happens, so I'm I'm curious to hear the stories coming out
Rooster:of that. Mean, weeks ago, they said they only have fuel for, like, couple of weeks. Mhmm. Right? So where are they at now?
Bam Bam:As a country.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah. That at the time was like they had fifteen to twenty days according to some expert analysis. I mean, Cuba is always able to get out. We talked about this.
Gizmo:They're always able to figure out a way to get through. Mhmm. So I'm not counting them out yet, but it just seems
Bam Bam:different. Point because that is analysis from outside of the country. Right? So we don't really know
Chef Ricky:Right.
Bam Bam:What's happening there.
Gizmo:So interesting time. So we'll see how the Habanos Festival goes. Hopefully, it goes smooth for all the people who are going there for the festival. Mhmm.
Rooster:I'm sure the numbers are gonna be down. I would think so.
Gizmo:Right? I would think so.
Chef Ricky:I got to say, back to the cigar real quick. I haven't had any scotch for a minute and I'm making a conscious effort to not drink anymore because I'm liking where I'm coming back to with the cigar. It is like jam on toast right now. It's a berry jam. Really?
Chef Ricky:Beautifully toasted bread. It's intense. It's delicious.
Bam Bam:I love the toast. For me, it's more like a salted butter with a little bit of that cream still that I'm getting. I'm not getting any more berry.
Gizmo:I'm getting like a almost like a raspberry. Like a little bit of like I'm a getting a little bit sour. But I kind of I almost putting the raspberry on what you're saying because I am getting that salty buttery I
Bam Bam:love that.
Gizmo:On toast. I think that's a great call up.
Chef Ricky:I love salted butter on toast with a little jam. Oh, that that's same slice of bread. It's amazing, and that's kind of what this is right now.
Bam Bam:It's outstanding.
Gizmo:Carbohydrate. Pagoda, how's it for you?
Pagoda:Yeah, no, for me, I think since the second, third, I've been enjoying it a little more. I was getting a little bit of, a little of the berry ish flavor note for a moment there, but I think it's kind of dissipated. It's more creamy with a little bit of salt. That's all.
Gizmo:Now you're talking. Rooster, how's the score for you? Yeah.
Rooster:It's good, man. I think it's also picked up a little bit. It's got a little bit more strength now. It's got a little more body. I shouldn't say strength.
Rooster:It's got a little bit more body to it.
Bam Bam:Classes are like. You cannot do wrong.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. The aroma on the burn line
Bam Bam:is off
Chef Ricky:the charts. Yeah.
Gizmo:Senator, how's yours going? Has it
Senator:repaired at all? It did correct, which is good. Just everyone was talking about there's more minerality they were getting in the cigar. I I'm enjoying that, but I do want a little more of the sweetness that I got initially, so I think that's my only thing. I'm hoping that maybe in like a last third, I'd love to see that return.
Bam Bam:Yeah. The berry for me has dissipated, but it's more of a sweeter like a sweet butter or sweet cream, like you noted, chef, on toast, that's, I think, spot on.
Chef Ricky:I think it's gonna come back for you, Sylvain, or maybe in another half inch.
Rooster:Like instead of sweet cream now, it's salted cream. Yeah. Yeah. That's more what
Bam Bam:I'm getting.
Gizmo:It's still creamy, Fantastic.
Senator:But more savory than
Pagoda:Yes, savory.
Senator:Yeah. Where before, it was more sweet than savory.
Gizmo:Yeah. Well,
Bam Bam:it's a good journey. Mhmm.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. I wanna go back to a topic that we brought up a couple of weeks ago, and this was prompted by an email from Lizard Randy who ended up winning Lizard of the Week, and he was talking about a cigar friend that was very generous and all of a sudden passed away, unfortunately. And we got into a very quick discussion about what to, you know, how to prepare your cigars, your collection. And Senator said he had an anecdote about it. So I wanted to go back to that because I did have a few folks ask us, you know, hey, can you guys make sure you elaborate on this?
Gizmo:You know, my wife has no idea what to do if something happens to me. My family has no idea what to do. So I wanted to go back to it. Like, we all have large collections in the room. If something were to happen to any of us, there's a large amount of cigars.
Gizmo:There's a large amount of tobacco sitting in in the house. And, course, there's a lot of value there. Thank you, Habanos, you know, since they quadrupled their prices. Have you guys thought about any of this from a procedural standpoint, from a valuation standpoint, what you would do?
Rooster:I have. So I just redid my will, and I put all your names on it.
Gizmo:It's gonna be divided, like, equally. And Bam's in there too. Accept
Senator:that. Bam
Bam Bam:is out.
Gizmo:He's out. I
Bam Bam:thought I was gonna be first in line.
Gizmo:Bam's gonna resell it off.
Rooster:That's that's the problem.
Gizmo:He could get he could get missus Rooster the most money, obviously,
Bam Bam:from a
Gizmo:from an auction. It's
Rooster:equal equal distribution.
Gizmo:And, hopefully, I'll smoke them all before I go.
Pagoda:No. But but Rooster So
Gizmo:you're being dead you're being serious?
Rooster:I'm serious. Really? Wow.
Senator:You really wrote us all in? Yeah.
Rooster:Wow. I just did my will.
Gizmo:Dude, that's pretty cool, man. Kinda have chills a little bit.
Bam Bam:I gotta tear up now.
Gizmo:I didn't even
Senator:I know.
Rooster:I had to redo my will, and I said, you know what? What am I gonna do, you know, with all the cigars? I mean, you know, what if anything can happen anytime?
Bam Bam:You're scaring me right now. What's going on?
Rooster:No, nothing's going on. It's just, you know, you gotta do your will, right? I mean, it's just
Chef Ricky:No, he's scared because he's not in it.
Pagoda:And Rucha, can I suggest something? Why don't you establish a trust so that we all can avoid probate?
Bam Bam:Got a lot of minds in here thinking now.
Gizmo:I love that we're not worrying about his demise. We're worrying about getting the cigars quickly without having to deal with probate. So that's so that's a real thing, Wow. Obviously, I didn't know this bringing this up today, but that's pretty cool, man. Incredible.
Rooster:Yeah. I mean, I figured, you know, I mean, all of us have a pretty extensive collection. Yeah. And god forbid, if something happens, I don't want my wife to decide what is she going to do because she's not going to have a clue. Not only does she not know the value of cigars, but what better way to just, you know,
Pagoda:share it. Forget all this. Let's start smoking them. Correct. I think we should have like a
Bam Bam:At his house.
Pagoda:Yeah. We should have a weekly event and
Bam Bam:Of smoking his cigars.
Gizmo:We can avoid probate, right?
Senator:I gotta change my will again.
Chef Ricky:Guys, we all know rooster is immortal. I
Gizmo:don't know
Chef Ricky:anyone is getting excited.
Bam Bam:That's correct, old boy. So,
Gizmo:senator, what what do you what is your thinking as as it comes to your collection if something were to happen?
Senator:I mean, I I haven't given it that much serious thought. Like, you know, if my son were of age, that would be a natural person that I would love to be able to, you know, have enjoy my collection. But certainly, you know, well before that, like this crew would definitely be who I would want to smoke them. Even me?
Gizmo:Where's Bam in this picture?
Senator:Well, it may not be equal distribution. Goddamn it.
Gizmo:You know, 1% is something.
Bam Bam:Correct. Not enough.
Gizmo:What about you, chef? Or you know what?
Senator:Maybe equal distribution, but I'm just gonna subtract $2,700 worth in honor of rooster
Bam Bam:getting screwed
Gizmo:out of
Bam Bam:his That's justice. There you go.
Chef Ricky:I think I think my son would do the right thing with him.
Bam Bam:There you go.
Senator:Give him dust?
Rooster:He's gonna smoke them.
Chef Ricky:I I no. I I think he'll smoke a couple, and there's no doubt in my mind that he would invite people that he knows were close to
Senator:me Actually.
Chef Ricky:To smoke with him.
Senator:Yes. I love this.
Chef Ricky:And that would include you guys.
Senator:Because your your son is a fan of mine. Me and him are gonna be lighting up your cigars. Love this.
Gizmo:Oh, yeah. Angled.
Senator:How self serving is that? I'm being supportive. One
Pagoda:person would be invited.
Gizmo:He is a big senator.
Senator:Just tell Ethan I'll bring the caviar.
Chef Ricky:Well, it's it's a very interesting time for him because he's he's in eighth grade now and he's going through these health classes. Right? And there's a lot of talk about tobacco and chewing. I feel like once a week, he comes to me with a question about tobacco. And in my head, I'm like, who are you talking to?
Chef Ricky:He's like, oh, this was in health class. I'm like, what the fuck? You know? I
Pagoda:love it.
Bam Bam:He's debating the health teacher in class.
Senator:That doesn't include cigars. No.
Gizmo:My dad's on a tobacco podcast. He says it's fine.
Chef Ricky:So that's what he doesn't say that exactly. He tells his teacher. He's like, my dad looks awfully relaxed when he smokes a cigar.
Gizmo:Correct.
Chef Ricky:So today he came to me asking about chewing tobacco and if I knew anyone who chews tobacco. I said, I don't know anyone outside of seeing ball players back in the day. But no, I think it's a pretty gross habit, I don't, you know, I don't think it's a good thing.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Chef Ricky:It's not anything like what I do, like what we do in this room. But yeah, think I've done a good job in representing this hobby to the point that if that were to happen and, you know, he's not of smoking age yet, and hopefully when I die, he's well over smoking age. But I think he would do the right thing with those cigars and he'll know exactly what to do with it. You know, and he'd probably go back and listen to however many hundreds of episodes I end up on. And I mean, this is every time we have this conversation being on this podcast, I'm so grateful for it because I went, you know, I have one.
Chef Ricky:I wasn't really close with my dad growing up. And when he was in the hospital prior to his passing, I didn't know this at the time, but he called me to tell me that he didn't feel that he had much time, so he wanted to see me. So at the time, I was, you know, juggling the restaurants, going to the hospital a few times a week to see him. And I'd never heard that message. I just happened to go to the hospital.
Chef Ricky:Now, maybe he thought I went because I got his message. But after he passed away, which is five days later, I was going through my messages because I wanted to hear his voice again. Right? And I don't have anything at you know, there's no, like, home videos or anything like that.
Bam Bam:And then you heard the message.
Chef Ricky:And I heard that message and I was like, man, thank God I went to go see him because if I didn't make it and this happened, I would have felt like crap. But to, you know, the other side of that is like, if there's ever, you know, this ever comes up in in, you know, for him, for my kids, there's a catalog of, you know, podcasts they could listen to to hear their dad's voice, to hear their dad happy, to hear their dad with friends.
Bam Bam:Being made fun of.
Chef Ricky:And, yeah, talking about ketchup. Being made fun of making
Gizmo:Being ridiculed.
Chef Ricky:Making fun of Pagoda, making, you know, just
Bam Bam:Being drunk through the
Senator:mud. To hear, oh boy,
Gizmo:every two minutes. That's correct.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. And that's it's an it's it's it's an amazing thing. God, I love this hobby.
Bam Bam:Great answer.
Gizmo:Great. We're killing it on answers so far. That's awesome. It's awesome. What would your answer be, Bam?
Bam Bam:Let me think about that.
Gizmo:We're not getting Yeah. I mean, we're out.
Chef Ricky:Someone pull up the muscle.
Bam Bam:So I know for a fact there are two possible scenarios in my life. So Mrs. Bam Bam will likely call I think she has the phone number for most of you guys in here. So she would make that phone call right away because she wouldn't know what to do and then talk about what to do with these and how to distribute them. I would want you guys to have my cigars.
Bam Bam:Of course.
Senator:Doesn't sound like he's writing that in the will, though. No.
Gizmo:He's letting he's letting missus Bam decide.
Bam Bam:No. No. She will.
Senator:I I it's a lack of accountability for his own device.
Bam Bam:You made it possible.
Rooster:I have an idea. Why don't you do a test one? Yeah. Practice. Can I do
Bam Bam:it? Can I continue, please? May I continue, please, old boy?
Senator:I'm sorry. All this reminds me of is Dwight Schrute in the office with, like, the the test fire drill?
Gizmo:Oh, yes. The fire alarm.
Bam Bam:Oh, god. So she would probably call one or all of you, at least one, two, three of you guys that she knows, and then get advice what to do. I would tell her if I were on my deathbed, I want the guys to have my cigars,
Gizmo:of course.
Senator:You know, you could tell her that in a will.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I mean, that's a great idea. I never thought about putting my cigars in a will, so that's a great idea.
Rooster:Are you gonna do it?
Bam Bam:The other possible scenario is Bring your will next week.
Senator:It's as if Rooster did just tell him that you could write this at a will. He's hearing it now
Bam Bam:from the You see Pikoto, they don't let anybody talk. No. It's very disrespectful.
Rooster:Alright, second option.
Bam Bam:The other scenario is my son.
Gizmo:Now he He doesn't smoke cigars.
Bam Bam:He doesn't smoke yet. And I'm prodding him from time to time. I go down to where he's going to college. Not often,
Rooster:but Has he ever had a cigar?
Bam Bam:He's not had a cigar. He's not had a drink. He's a very by the book kid. He wants to have a drink at 21.
Rooster:So unlike you.
Bam Bam:Very much unlike me. Yes. So we'll likely have a drink when he turns 21 together, and then hopefully a cigar will follow soon after. But he knows how much I love this cigar lifestyle, and I'm constantly tending to my cigars. He comes down.
Bam Bam:What is this? What is this? So we talk about cigars. He sees all the cigars in the tower, all the Tupper doors that are there. I open those up, I kind of burp them up, you know, and just kind of expose them to the air and close it up again, and I go over what I have.
Bam Bam:I think, and I'm hoping that there is the possibility, as you mentioned, senator, where he will begin to appreciate the time it took and expense, of course, to put this collection together and possibly
Rooster:Inherit it.
Bam Bam:Take it on himself and begin to enjoy those cigars. And as you guys have said, for him to enjoy it with the guys in this room after I pass away would bring me so much joy. It would make me I'm thinking about it now. I'd be tinkled pink about it. It would just bring me tremendous joy if he were able to enjoy cigars with you guys after I pass away.
Bam Bam:That would be the ultimate scenario. Know, ultimate scenario. It's interesting
Rooster:because we
Chef Ricky:stories we would have
Pagoda:for him. Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:We wouldn't be able to record that. Be careful.
Pagoda:All right.
Bam Bam:He ain't coming over here.
Gizmo:What's interesting, we we did kind of experience that in a way when when Lizard John passed away several years ago. His kids actually came here, and we had cigars with both of his sons.
Senator:That's not how that all went. That's not how that went.
Bam Bam:Alright. Senator's killing the vibe. I'm sorry, but
Senator:this is when this goes wrong. So I'm gonna tell the story. So I was the only one that was at his wake. And basically, what happened, his girlfriend was kind of responsible for figuring out what to do with his things, And she brought a big Tupperware with his cigars to the lunch after. And the the frustrating part for me was watching.
Senator:She kinda just put it down, and a bunch of friends, acquaintances Oh, boy. People he's probably barely seen.
Chef Ricky:They raided it.
Senator:Raided this thing. I mean, I sat back as the only person in that room who actually knew what everything was in there.
Bam Bam:You didn't take a single sign.
Senator:I wasn't gonna take anything.
Bam Bam:Right.
Senator:And I went to his girlfriend, I said, you know, what's going on with this? Because people are just kinda written. She's like, well, I don't really know, so I just left it for people. And she's like, if you know the stuff, like, please, like, don't just let random people take it. So like, I had taken some things that like, I know he really loved that like, I would want to smoke in memory of him, and I had handed some out at the lounge.
Senator:I know Giz got some, I gave some to Lizard Henry.
Bam Bam:The super parties.
Senator:Oh, there was a number. He had some great stuff actually in there, but it really made me realize what happens when you don't actually have a plan for these things. I mean, he went earlier than he should have. It was certainly not expected
Gizmo:Correct.
Senator:That that was going to happen.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Senator:And so there wasn't a plan, and it just it was really it still bothers me to this day just, like, watching these people that, like, did not even know him that well just I mean, just grabbing handful after handful and boxing. That's really not how that should happen.
Rooster:See, if I was him, I would have told my girlfriend or my wife, bring the Tupperware to the lounge. Yes. So at least guys who are at the lounge, they know him.
Bam Bam:And appreciate the cigars. Correct.
Rooster:They appreciate the cigars and let the sun stay buried out. Yes. That would have been ideal.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Senator:Well, that's also why I had told I had taken some boxes and gave them to the sons. Like, these are your father's cigars. Like, you ought to keep some of this stuff, not just have them all go to, like, random people. And then thank God, like, they did, and they brought some to the lounge. Like, we did have a cigar with them.
Senator:But, like, I'm just glad I was there because if not, I'm not kidding. Like, a bunch of people who barely smoke cigars
Gizmo:would have
Senator:just walked away with all of his stuff.
Bam Bam:So did she retrieve the box and close it?
Senator:Or No. No. Oh, boy. Just left it open and told me, well, like, you should definitely take some stuff then because, like, it shouldn't just and I'm like, well, you just put it out here. It's like a pack of wolves
Gizmo:right now. Certainly. I didn't know that happened when I brought this up. I was commenting on the fact that we spent a few hours just hanging with his sons Which was smoking cigars, telling
Bam Bam:the That whole was very nice.
Gizmo:I didn't know the setup to that was
Bam Bam:Right, and not the best.
Rooster:So that's why it's very important to have it in writing. Whether you just give it to your wife, hey, listen, this is what I want done with my cigars. Because it's too much. It's overwhelming for the person that's left behind to know what to do with everything. And there's so many other things to
Gizmo:deal with.
Rooster:At least this is one less headache. And it goes to the right people. Not saying you're the right people.
Bam Bam:Agreed.
Gizmo:So I have a question. For the listener out there who doesn't you know, who may not be as lucky as we are to have a community like this, doesn't have a bunch of friends, has a spouse, girlfriend, whatever, at home, and has a brilliant collection and would want the spouse to be able to monetize that collection after, you know, the partner's passing. Do you guys have any recommendations on how to set that up for the partner? Obviously, we're talking about quickly, you know, distributing to the friends kinda hands off for the, you know, for the wife to do that.
Bam Bam:Yes. Call Gizmo. I mean,
Rooster:we we have
Senator:a we have a PO box. Let's take it.
Gizmo:I would say for that listener, if if that's your MO, I would put a spreadsheet together. Right. And I would, as you were saying, you know Put a at your collection. Yeah. Each box.
Gizmo:Or at least catalog your boxes Yeah. Annually, semiannually so that, you know, your partner knows that this exists, knows the cigars are there. It's obviously not gonna be perfect if you're doing it once or twice a year. But get as close as you can and then, you know, either reference prices on Bon Roberts or, you know, if you have new world cigars that, you know, have some value, price those out
Chef Ricky:like What do you think who's the lizard whose wife whose wife came here?
Gizmo:Wizard X? Yeah. Why
Senator:do you think his wife's gonna do with his His collection's worth nothing.
Gizmo:He smokes
Senator:shit. True.
Gizmo:That's true.
Bam Bam:We need to help him out. He smokes diesel cigars. Yeah. Literally.
Pagoda:He does. I know.
Gizmo:So I guess the other thing too is if your, you know, if your wife is lost or doesn't wanna deal with it or you don't know what to do, I mean, you can find a community like FOH. I know some guys have passed there, and Rob has been helpful with them. Certainly email us. We're happy to point you in the right direction and help.
Bam Bam:Who handled MnRodney's transition?
Gizmo:He had a, I think it was a truss set up, but most of his stuff was auctioned, save for some really special boxes. I believe it all went to a serious auction house.
Senator:How many
Bam Bam:millions of dollars was that
Gizmo:I don't know where it ended up, but it was there was a lot of stuff in there. Yeah. I I would think that there was a lot given out to his acquaintances and stuff. I mean, obviously, he was pretty influential in the industry, so he knew a lot of folks. So so, yeah, I mean
Bam Bam:Who are you?
Gizmo:Oh, I didn't answer myself.
Bam Bam:What do you do?
Gizmo:I I would do exactly what you guys said. I I have I don't have a will. I probably should. Mhmm. I haven't even really thought about it like senator was saying, but that's exactly what I would do.
Bam Bam:K.
Rooster:You know, I would Even I would say even if you don't have a will, have it have something in writing just for your cigars so your spouse knows
Gizmo:Yeah. What to do with it. Yeah. Pagoda.
Pagoda:Yeah, actually, you know, I'm the least organized person over
Gizmo:here. Don't talk yourself out.
Pagoda:No, I don't even have a huge collection, so it's not a problem at all.
Bam Bam:Forgot the vacuum today.
Rooster:Yeah, just yeah, don't.
Senator:Oh my god, look at the case.
Pagoda:Oh, please. Know, I know, I know.
Bam Bam:That's gotta be photographed and put on Instagram. Put that on the gram. Nope.
Gizmo:Is he just ashing off of his leg there?
Bam Bam:Yeah, he doesn't wanna reach. Just look
Senator:at this. His ashtray is literally beak up in his case.
Bam Bam:Aw, that's good patina right there.
Pagoda:Yeah, know. I think I need to get a little more organized. But just, I don't have a large collection, but ideally what I'd like is everybody to get together at some point in time and just smoke as much. And you know, for the few additional boxes that I have, I think I'd need to just, you know, put the names down of the people I know really, you know, would enjoy it. You know, because I think the only thing for me what would be important is, of the better cigars I have, I want people who know what to smoke to really enjoy it, you know, and just appreciate it.
Bam Bam:That's the ultimate, I think. That's really super important, right?
Rooster:I mean, the last thing I want to do is monetize it. You know what I mean? I want it to go to a good house. I want my friends to smoke the cigars and share it and live in the memories.
Pagoda:Live in the memories. What could be
Rooster:better than that?
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Senator:Mean, to the Lizard John story I was telling before, he had a box of Schwa Supreme in there, and I'm just watching these people that have no idea what that
Bam Bam:cigar is. I would have spontaneously combusted if I saw that.
Senator:I mean, I was not happy.
Gizmo:Know what's funny? After all this time, Senator, I never heard this story
Bam Bam:from Neither did I.
Senator:Yeah. You know, it's like not a it's not a particularly happy story, so, like, it's not something I've tried to or wanted to tell that much, but it has stuck with me in a bad way for a while. I
Gizmo:do like the idea of everybody getting together. I think that's exactly what I would I love that. Ask Mrs. Gizmo to set up. I mean, or my step sons or whatever,
Bam Bam:but
Gizmo:So they don't smoke I think that I would just have her distribute. How old are they? 20 and 26. They don't smoke cigars.
Chef Ricky:They have time.
Gizmo:Yeah. The younger one probably will at some point.
Rooster:Yeah. Same age as Schisma.
Gizmo:Not nice, rooster. Young boy. Correct
Bam Bam:there, young boy.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. We are now well into the last third of the avowed, the vow six twenty nine, the Toro and the Lagavulin, 11 years aged, Offerman edition, Caribbean rum cask finished. What's everybody thinking? Obviously, we we got into the last third as we were talking through that last segment there, but what's everybody thinking now?
Bam Bam:I wanna hear about your final third, Senator. What's going on there?
Senator:It's very earthy now. Really? Yeah. The sweetness did not come back for mine, and it could be the role. Who knows?
Bam Bam:Pagoda, you too?
Pagoda:No. For me, I think it's
Bam Bam:because you're shaking your head.
Pagoda:No, no, no. I was just thinking about it. I don't know. Okay. That's the Indian thing.
Bam Bam:That's the
Pagoda:Indian bauble. So
Gizmo:you're not getting any No, sweetness right yes.
Senator:Really? It's like salty and earthy.
Gizmo:I'm getting salty, sweet.
Pagoda:Salty,
Gizmo:sweet, Not much earth,
Pagoda:and still that Salt Creaminess.
Gizmo:Sweet creaminess. Yes.
Senator:I'm telling
Chef Ricky:you, it's something we're berry sweetness.
Bam Bam:Did you try purging? That's rare.
Senator:Oh, believe me, have several
Gizmo:Yeah, was doing a bunch of different things. You actually stopped smoking it for a minute.
Senator:I stopped smoking it. I purged, I relit it, I've tried everything.
Pagoda:That's a bummer. Yeah. Yeah, think I've enjoyed this cigar a lot more as it's developed.
Gizmo:Yeah. I think it's taken us on a nice journey.
Bam Bam:I think from beginning to the inch and a half mark's been fantastic.
Gizmo:And I keep smelling the burn line. I know I do that a lot, but it is really nice.
Rooster:Aroma is fantastic.
Bam Bam:Chef, what's up?
Chef Ricky:I absolutely love it. I'm still getting that sweet berry note. I'm getting some creaminess, getting some saltiness. This this is still delivering on every cylinder for me. Ash is still beautiful.
Bam Bam:It's almost like a sweet latte kind of a thing.
Gizmo:So how is the scotch working for you guys at this point? Outstanding. Outstanding.
Pagoda:Me too. Think I'm enjoying the pairing.
Gizmo:I'm I'm with I really enjoy the pairing. I can't believe it's $55 Neither can I? It tastes like what we would expect, the $70 $80 I
Bam Bam:scotch to taste know, chef, you differ in your opinion tonight, but this is such a home run. It's an epiphany like the Abuela seven was for me. It's been
Rooster:And it's much less peatier.
Bam Bam:Yeah, it's eye opening how
Pagoda:good it is. Yeah. Now it doesn't even feel peedy at all.
Chef Ricky:Right. See, now you're gonna make me pour
Gizmo:one day.
Rooster:Well, just trying to get
Bam Bam:you need to continue to drink.
Rooster:You do. You need to.
Chef Ricky:Well, I had a hefty pour to start.
Rooster:But your palate keeps adjusting to it.
Chef Ricky:But I really like where the cigar is, and I didn't like where it was with the pairing.
Gizmo:Senator, is the drink the highlight for you right now, or are you kinda checking out?
Senator:No, because the tough part for me is because I'm not getting the sweetness on the cigar, I actually wish that the spirit were sweeter right now to help compensate
Gizmo:for So you're looking for a more Sherry cask finished type
Senator:of stuff? I'm just getting peat and dry earthiness, and it's it's not ideal.
Gizmo:Wow. That's disappointing to me. Yeah. Very I'm loving mine.
Chef Ricky:Me too. This cigar with a don't punch a rum would have been Sure.
Pagoda:Yeah.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's go to some listener email now. And I wanna start with one here from Lizard Kristoff. This one's a voice memo. He sent us a note, because we were helping him with some cigars that his wife was ordering for Christmas.
Gizmo:So I wanna share that with you guys now.
Lizard Christophe:Hey, Lizard. Lizard Kristoff here. I just wanted to send you a quick thank you because your podcast ended up being incredibly helpful to me recently. My wife ordered me a box of Particus d force for Christmas online. And because the things you covered on your show and stuff that I learned from FOH, I was able to spot that something was off.
Lizard Christophe:The seal was a photocopy without UV features. The bands didn't have the proper embossing. Cigars themselves didn't have triple caps. So without that shared knowledge from both you guys and all the people on FOH, I probably would have just second guessed myself and written it off as cube and inconsistency, but I know exactly what I was looking at, so thank you for that. I posted a thread about it as well on FOH to share what I learned, hopefully help others avoid the same situation.
Lizard Christophe:I've been careful about naming the source, because I'm not entirely sure where the line is with regards to defamation loss for you guys.
Gizmo:I'm gonna be defaming.
Lizard Christophe:But the educational side of it really mattered to me. And in the end, I did get my money back, which was a relief. That's awesome. Also, just to say, I started listening in October to your podcast. At this point, I've gone through all the episodes and I'm relisting some.
Lizard Christophe:That should tell you how much I'm enjoying it.
Gizmo:That's incredible.
Lizard Christophe:For everything you do for the cigar community. All the best. Liszt Kristof.
Bam Bam:Does he work?
Chef Ricky:I sent
Pagoda:the words
Gizmo:out of my mouth. Correct.
Bam Bam:I mean
Gizmo:That's incredible. 220 some odd episodes he's listened to since October.
Pagoda:That's insane.
Gizmo:Be a truck driver. Yeah. That's a lot of hours with our with
Bam Bam:our voices. Impressive.
Gizmo:So It's shame what happened. Yeah. At number one, I'm so glad that that that we were able to, you know, with our knowledge and FOH, help him discern that the box he ordered from swisscubeandcigars.com, folks. Swisscubeandcigars.com.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:One of the notorious a list worst of all time Yep. Cigar sites, swisscubancigars.com. They sell nothing authentic. It's all fake. Yep.
Gizmo:I don't care if they send me a letter. Do not buy anything from swisscubanscigars.com. So he did purchase there. He didn't want to name it. I'm happy to name it.
Gizmo:But you know, you gotta know who you're buying. You gotta know where you're buying. Yeah. Exactly. Yes.
Bam Bam:So here's a question for all of y'all. I know what my answer's gonna be. If Mrs. Rooster, Senator, Gizmo, and so on
Rooster:It would never happen.
Bam Bam:Well, no, if they come to you, Honey, I wanna buy you a box of Cuban cigars.
Senator:No. Hell. It's pretty simple.
Gizmo:I would say, at this point, it won't happen. At this point, I would We can barely get That's true. So why
Senator:would we ever allow
Bam Bam:Where would a common Where would a citizen buy? I mean, It's it's it's in The United States where
Gizmo:right. We are You're right.
Bam Bam:You're right.
Gizmo:Now if if you know, obviously, Lizard Kristoff is not in The US.
Bam Bam:That's also true.
Gizmo:So, you know, in Europe, these other places, you You can get your own cars.
Senator:Yeah. The only way would be like
Bam Bam:if LCDH.
Senator:If, you know, a significant other or a spouse was in a country with an LCDH There you on
Bam Bam:a trip Correct.
Senator:And asked the question, okay, you can say, you know, go to this LCDH, and if they have one of these boxes, I would love that. But anything online, you there's no way.
Pagoda:To Mr. Bambam really wanted to buy you one No. She would go to Rooster.
Bam Bam:Yes. She would actually make that.
Gizmo:La Casa del Rooster.
Pagoda:And he might charge $2,700 for it.
Bam Bam:And she'd be like
Gizmo:Boxesinos.
Bam Bam:That's not bad.
Senator:That's her dad tells me milk
Bam Bam:cost. Here's my husband's credit card.
Rooster:I'm gonna say, listen. I'm gonna give you a break.
Gizmo:Friends and family
Senator:discount. Only 2,600.
Bam Bam:That's a good whoop of go to.
Gizmo:Oh, boy. I mean, that has happened. We've talked about that before. I've I've procured cigars for chef.
Chef Ricky:My my wife's my wife's smart. She's a smart cookie because every every time she's gone to Gizmo and
Bam Bam:Like the problem.
Chef Ricky:Gizmo's made it happen. But that swisscubancigars.com site or whatever it was, they got my buddy that we spoke about on this pod a while back.
Senator:Weren't those d fours also?
Chef Ricky:Those were also
Gizmo:d fours. Same d fours. I forgot that that was Swiss Cuban cigars. Yeah. Swiss Cupid Cigars dot com, folks.
Gizmo:Swisscupidcigars.com. Do not buy stuff there. Mhmm. And there's so many others, but do not buy there. I forgot that that's where he got those.
Gizmo:Yep. Because we had talked about that.
Rooster:Mhmm. I'm sure people are attracted to the price.
Gizmo:And also, it's a legitimate looking website. Like, they have all the information. It looks legitimate. It's probably the best looking fake website.
Chef Ricky:They throw Swiss in there, so it's like, oh, yeah, well, you know, it's not an American site.
Gizmo:And I think they own a lot of the SEO on Google. You search it. Like, I think they're coming up at the top most
Bam Bam:Interesting. Of the Yeah. That's a shame.
Gizmo:So I'm glad that we were able to help Lizard Kristoff, and thank you for listening like that. I I just every time we hear a listener say that, I think it's incredible. Awesome. Alright. Lizard senator, we have one coming at you here.
Bam Bam:Get ready. Buckle up, everybody. Bring it.
Pagoda:Alright.
Gizmo:Lizard j writes, hey, lizards. In the most recent episode I listened to, senator claims Ron Abuelo seven has no additives. Just for your guys' awareness
Bam Bam:break my fucking heart now
Gizmo:because I love that added sugar. Hydrometer tests have shown it to have 15 grams per liter. I'm not saying it's a bad rum, but it is sweetened. So it's a little frustrating listening to you guys gush about the richness and viscosity, qualities enhanced by adding sugar, and praise the supposed lack of additives. So he's looking at the fatrumpirate.com, and they do hydrometer tests there, I guess.
Gizmo:He said the site may have a silly name, but it is a well respected source in the rum enthusiast community. Senator is clearly a wealth of knowledge on many subjects, but I wish he wouldn't speak so authoritatively about rum when he hasn't done his homework.
Bam Bam:Oh, boy.
Gizmo:Oh, boy.
Bam Bam:Oh, boy.
Senator:Accountability. This lizard's out of the will. And
Gizmo:sadly, with rum, you guys have to do some homework compared to other spirit categories. Rum is largely unregulated, so simply reading the marketing copy rarely gives the full picture. Another example is Fortacanya's age statements. This was actually the surprising piece of this email for me. Up until recently, the number on the bottle only represented a supposed average age of rums in the blend.
Gizmo:They only started using actual age statements representing the minimum age of rums in the blend after a class action lawsuit in 2021. Again, it's not bad rum, but it's very shady marketing slash labeling. I hope that this email doesn't come across too negatively, but rather as a constructive feedback. As always, I love your show. Keep up the great work.
Gizmo:Also, please don't change the rating structure. I think the way you guys do it is perfect as is. Thanks, and sorry for the rum nerd rant. Lizard j.
Chef Ricky:Love it.
Gizmo:That's a great email. I agree. I have
Senator:no problem with
Bam Bam:that at all. Not happy about Listen,
Gizmo:I don't get many emails of folks No,
Senator:no, it's not an indictment because I know. There is no easy science on what's in all these spirits at all. We literally have been historically using a site like that. I didn't see a while back Abuelo on there, so I don't know if that got added or I missed it, that's entirely possible.
Gizmo:I feel like that's a different site though.
Senator:Okay. The fact that you're pirate, which not you're Yeah.
Chef Ricky:So no.
Senator:The the one we were using historically, Abuela was not on there because that's what I looked.
Bam Bam:I don't care. I don't care.
Senator:I mean, look
Gizmo:I love that rum.
Senator:Do why? Because I
Bam Bam:have to
Pagoda:drink that rum.
Bam Bam:I'm not gonna stop drinking that rum. Poetry tonight. It's not happening.
Chef Ricky:15 grams isn't the worst. Right? It's not, excuse me, it's not worst case. It's, you know, it's not 32 or in the thirties or high twenties or whatnot. Something that's 50.
Chef Ricky:Yeah.
Senator:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'll just say
Rooster:to that Well, that's in a liter.
Chef Ricky:A liter, exactly. So not like what we're consuming. We can't buy a hygrometer and just throw all of our spirits in that. Oh, that sounds great.
Senator:We're gonna get a lab coat for
Bam Bam:Chef. Correct.
Chef Ricky:Well, used to use one at one of my first restaurants where I worked
Bam Bam:Did you have a top knot, I did not.
Gizmo:I did not
Bam Bam:yet. You have white smocks now with the top knot?
Chef Ricky:The top knot happened after I broke my ankle and I wasn't making it to my barber for three months.
Bam Bam:There you go.
Chef Ricky:But yeah, no, you use hygrometers to make sorbets and ice creams in kitchens just to, you know, get sugar content. Wow. So it could be a fun exercise.
Gizmo:So I just sent you guys that website so that moving forward we can use that. So you know-
Bam Bam:can I just ask a question?
Pagoda:But I don't mind the average age as opposed to the minimum age for flodecanya.
Senator:No, I don't like that at all. I'm sorry. The reason I don't like that is with almost every spirit, it's meant to be a minimum age. So it is deceptive for them be one of the only ones that's using it. That's like a Davidoff marketing move.
Senator:Yeah. That's like Davidoff saying the the combined age of the tobacco is two hundred years in the cigar. I mean, that's a ridiculous way to do it. So I don't love that because it's It's not industry just not industry standard. The only thing I'll say on the rum, so very helpful, obviously, what the listener sent.
Senator:I think for a lot of us, if not all of us, given that we don't have a way to scientifically measure all of our spirits ourselves, very much go by how you feel after consuming that spirit. And for me, when I've had a spirit, and I have felt horrible just even drinking it in a small quantity, you know there's so much added sugar, and that's why you would wake up with a headache and a hangover. It's pretty simple. That Abuelo rum, I feel great every time I drink that.
Bam Bam:Me too.
Senator:I have never once felt bad drinking that rum.
Bam Bam:Right.
Senator:And so that's where, you know, for me, okay, there's some added sugar. It's clearly not at a level that harms you, or that the spirit tastes artificial or syrupy like friggin' ranzacappa or some of these others. So, you know, some of it is also just kind of qualitative just based on the experience that you have and how your body responds to it. I mean, you
Rooster:think the Hermanic Club seven has some additive sugar?
Senator:I don't think they have enough sugar in Cuba to add it if they wanted to. I mean, seriously.
Bam Bam:Wow.
Gizmo:So a great email from Lizard Jay. It's very helpful. Obviously, we didn't we didn't know about that site. It it's a great chart. We're gonna go through that, and we'll mention that on future episodes that we do rum on.
Gizmo:Let's go now, boys, to our lizard of the week presented by Bon Roberts. And our lizard of the week this week is lizard Aaron, a first time winner. He's gonna win a 10 count box of Bon Roberts cigars from our friends at Bon Roberts. Awesome cigars over there. The one zero nine, the petite one zero nine, the dahlias is coming out, the Phenomenos, the Bam Bam is Mhmm.
Gizmo:So eagerly anticipating. Mhmm. So he's gonna win a 10 count box of one of those. I don't know which one from our friends at Bond Roberts. Alright, boys.
Gizmo:Lizard Aaron says, hello, gentlemen. Aaron here from Memphis, Tennessee, where we're about to get blasted with an ice storm that'll probably shut the city down for a week. By the way, some of these cities that, like, are not prepared for
Bam Bam:southern cities. Yeah.
Gizmo:One of my friends in Maryland, his kid was out of school for a week and a half. Maryland.
Senator:Oh, DC's the same way.
Bam Bam:That's crazy.
Senator:So you know, obviously,
Gizmo:my firm, we're headquartered in DC.
Senator:Literally, they closed the schools for a week and a half in DC. For ice? So basically
Gizmo:How do they not combat
Rooster:the campground?
Senator:To have salt.
Bam Bam:No. They don't.
Senator:And and literally in DC, like, everything was just covered in a sheet of ice. It was insane. And so, like, kids basically, it was too much of a liability for the schools. Like, they couldn't safely even walk on sidewalks to go to and from school.
Bam Bam:Wasn't there snow in Florida?
Gizmo:Yes. Yeah, there was in the Northern part of Florida.
Bam Bam:And I have a buddy in Texas. They haven't had cold weather in, I don't know how many, many, many, many years. They don't know how to react.
Gizmo:There was a weather warning in Cuba because it was so cold Wow. During that stretch. I mean, you know, you think about obviously, in The US, you run out and buy a space heater, right? In Cuba, if you don't have the right clothing, like, you're gonna have a real problem at night. That's what was telling you.
Senator:Was reading, like, people were begging to bring hoodies and just warm weather clothing. They were freezing down there.
Gizmo:So he continues, First, I want to thank you for your guidance through the engaging and sometimes confusing world of luxury cigars. I appreciate you sharing your own experiences so freely. I don't actually like podcasts, and this is the only one I actually listen to every week for the past three or four months. Giz does an excellent job of balancing ease and spontaneity with structure and linearity. There's an elegance or grace to it, which I find pleasing.
Gizmo:And I learned from that too. I just heard Pagoda make a noise over there.
Pagoda:Yeah. Of course.
Gizmo:As I host a group of guys in discussion of philosophical articles, moderate our topics, and gently turn people from pet issues or rabbit trails. Except my own, of course, which are more interesting than everyone else's. Anyway, I am I have only smoked cigars for about six months, and your podcast has helped me immensely to learn a lot in that short space. Saved me a lot of time. And I was about to say money, but I think overall, I've spent more than I would've because I have a better sense of what to get.
Gizmo:So thanks for costing me money in a good way probably. Correct. A couple items before I get to a question I have. First, I felt so vindicated when you all talked about how much you liked the les Bijou nineteen twenty two from my father last week, but you did not like the judge. I smoked the les Bijou in Toro, which is good by the way.
Gizmo:Loved it, and then smoked a judge in Toro, I think, a day or two later, and I hated it. It's one of those things when you're a noob where you doubt your own taste. It was nice to know that I had aligned with some experienced palates. I'm with senator on it. It's a 10 for me.
Gizmo:Someone said they got molasses at some point, and I exclaimed, yes. All caps, exclamation point. There was a molasses note in there, but it didn't last that long. Next, while I am new to cigars, I am not new to spirits. I have hundreds of bottles and I've collected for over a decade.
Gizmo:Last night, it I had an LFD Cameroon cabinet number one, and it paired really well with the Deanston 12. We've not done that one. It's a Scotch. I think it would also go well with the Dalmore 12.
Bam Bam:You doing alright over fucking up the recording, Russo, with your crackling.
Gizmo:It's like it's like the guy in the movie theater with the with the candy.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah. That's him.
Senator:I have I have no problem with what he's doing. I wanna stay in the will, unlike some of this room.
Bam Bam:Oh, I apologize.
Gizmo:I think it would also go well with a Dalmore 12. Lots of spirits nerds like to crap on Dalmore because it's obviously colored and chill filtered and proofed down. All capital offenses, of course. But I don't care. I still like it.
Gizmo:Also, if chef hasn't had any carcavallos, and he probably has, you should try it. Have you had that? C a r c a v l o s. I have not. What is it?
Gizmo:It's a fortified wine like the grahams you all just had. It's also from Portugal. Just a different smaller region, and it's a sleeper hit. You can pick up vintage carsevelos from the early nineties if you know where to look, and it is stupid delicious, he says. There are different producers.
Gizmo:My favorite, Quinta dos Pesos, doesn't exist anymore, unfortunately, but you can still find their bottles around. One other spirit recommendation for the more adventurous, you might try Louis Roque La Vie Prune, which is a plum brandy. Every cigar I've had it with has been great, but it might not be as accessible for some. It has a super annoying wax top with a regular wine bottle cork under that. When I open one, I have to swap the cork out with old with old Scotch corks I keep in a box.
Gizmo:I'd be very curious to know what the group thought about that spirit. Oh, and a nub Maduro with Klein ish 14 is really quite nice. Okay. I'll stop. There will not be nud on this pod nub on this podcast, ma'am.
Gizmo:Now a question. I had a friend try to get me into cigars for over a year, but I kept not getting it. Finally, I smoked a Rocky Patel decade. I can't remember if it was a Robusto or a Toro, and something finally clicked. At the time, it was just, I like this more than when I started.
Gizmo:I wonder why that is. That was new, and things snowballed from there. I like the decade, though I don't smoke them all the time that much. But I think no matter how much I, quote, graduate into different cigars, that one will always hold a distinguished place in my memory just because of what it started for me. And I wanted to ask you all if you have a similar, quote, enlightenment cigar, one that gave you the initial moment.
Gizmo:And also if you have a cigar that, while not something you necessarily reach for often, still obtains a privileged estimation because of something it accomplished for you in your journey. I apologize if this question has been asked already. It hasn't. I haven't done a deep dive into the vintage lizard episodes. If it has, you don't feel like going through it again, disregard.
Gizmo:And I thank everyone for the great content. Best lizard Aaron. Nice email. Great email. Thank you, lizard Aaron.
Gizmo:So, boys, do you have an enlightenment cigar? What was your enlightenment cigar? The one that kinda made your the back of your head explode, that moment.
Rooster:Senator is still waiting
Senator:waiting. For the Hasn't happened yet. Mean, mine's very easy. I've mentioned this before. The Pedronix placebo, the first time I had that, that's when the true world of premium cigars I had opened my eyes to.
Senator:Before that, I was buying some simple stuff. I was newer in my cigar journey, and all it took was a Padron to kinda set me straight.
Rooster:That cigar enlightens me every night.
Senator:You went from, I've never been enlightened to every night.
Bam Bam:You were smoking them in the twenties.
Chef Ricky:It took a lot more for me for that light bulb to turn on.
Gizmo:So what kept you in it if that's the case?
Chef Ricky:Well, you guys. Comorality. But it was also that cigar, and it was that 2014 Sir Winston that Rooster gave me. That was the cigar that forced me to pay attention every single time.
Rooster:So one less on the will.
Bam Bam:Done. I was fortunate early on. My very first cigar was the Davidoff Millennium Pyramid. That's a great starter. Yeah, the very first cigar.
Bam Bam:My brother-in-law gave it to me.
Senator:Spoiled bastard.
Rooster:I know. Very first cigar was a pyramid.
Bam Bam:Correct. My son was born, and my brother-in-law is a big Davidoff guy, so he brought them to the house.
Rooster:Lizard Eric?
Bam Bam:Nope, Lizard Yanal. This is my wife's direct brother, and he's a big cigar guy, loves Davidoff. He's a Liga guy. I'm trying to steer him into Padron, but it's been a little bit of a challenge, but I think he'll get there. Yeah.
Bam Bam:So that's where I started. And honestly What year was that? Did you say, like, 2006?
Rooster:'5, '6?
Bam Bam:2006. That's when I first started smoking. So I'm a fairly new cigar smoker. Right?
Gizmo:More Dude, you're twenty years in. Stop it. Whatever. Come on,
Bam Bam:okay. Rooster's going on Stop two
Gizmo:it, 100 boy. You're trying to not be an old boy, but you are.
Bam Bam:Use more panache on that, senator.
Pagoda:Old boy.
Rooster:Nobody does it like you,
Bam Bam:Ben. Correct. And I didn't have my Padron until Senator gave me one in our North Korea lounge. That was my very first Exclusivo. Prior to that, I was doing the eightieth pretty consistently.
Gizmo:And family reserves. I was
Bam Bam:deep into the flaming reserves because again, I think we all start out with a much more bolder expression of a cigar. Over time, you kind of get a sense of what the nuances of a cigar are, and for me, start to appreciate that medium bodied cigar because I captured more flavor. And that's what kept me hooked.
Gizmo:Pagoda. Goyno.
Senator:Zeno. Old
Bam Bam:boy's on point tonight.
Pagoda:It was actually a Cohiba. Hello.
Bam Bam:Oh, hello.
Gizmo:Red Dot.
Pagoda:New world. Happy birthday. I don't know whether Red
Gizmo:Dot Cohiba.
Pagoda:I don't I'm 14.
Chef Ricky:What are you trying to say?
Pagoda:By the way, I don't know
Gizmo:that 14 red Dot.
Rooster:Hold on 14. That was my first cigar. I don't know think
Gizmo:I got enlightened that night.
Pagoda:I got enlightened right away because
Senator:I was racist. I think so. Oh.
Bam Bam:I think so. Great. It just got it.
Pagoda:He just
Gizmo:got enlightened. Even think about that. I apologize. That is racist.
Pagoda:But it was Lilith Shyde's birthday, and one of his buddies got him a box of Cohibas. I don't know whether it was real or not, but it was an experience. We were hanging out in South Street Seaport at a Barco La Sequoias. And you know, you're right between the Brooklyn and the Manhattan Bridge. You can see over there.
Pagoda:Beautiful. It was a beautiful night. It was just the experience.
Bam Bam:Was that your first cigar? That was your very first cigar?
Pagoda:It was actually my second cigar, but my first real cigar from where I just, you know, from So there
Rooster:it wasn't the $8.98 that I gave you?
Gizmo:Remember, the will is on the table. Correct. The ink is wet.
Rooster:02/8899.
Pagoda:That's when I got enlightened.
Rooster:That's what we're talking about.
Pagoda:But like the very first cigar which really kicks you off into really smoking cigars. Then Lilith Shyad and I, we both got into it so much that we just started going, and then we went to a lot of these different places, and we used to go to the merchants. And there was a Della Concha, which was in a, these are like old day cigar places in the city. Obviously, Nat Sherman. Yeah.
Pagoda:And then the rest is history.
Gizmo:Both of mine were at North Korea, which I hate the venue.
Bam Bam:It's okay.
Gizmo:But the experiences were great. Of course, the Exquisiva, we talk about that all the time. Senator gave me the Exquisiva. That was a moment where I literally had a tray of cigars, and I ran back down the stairs, two flights, and traded them all back in and bought other stuff.
Senator:The best was Gizmo looks at and goes, what do I do with all these? Which,
Gizmo:by the way, the proprietor were both.
Bam Bam:Too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:And they weren't good. So I I just don't understand the thinking. But anyway
Bam Bam:I'd love to know what those cigars
Rooster:were.
Gizmo:It was not good stuff, was not good. It was, like, it
Senator:was The only like reason I didn't give him any shit.
Gizmo:Shelves kind of stuff.
Senator:Yeah. The only reason I didn't give him any shit is because
Bam Bam:You just met him.
Senator:Oh, it doesn't matter. I could have just met him. If he would have sat there and said like, oh, you know, I have all these great cigars. I love cigars. I'm a big cigar smoker.
Senator:I would have given him shit. He literally said to me, he's like, I'm a novice cigar smoker. No idea what this shit is. So, like, he was learning.
Rooster:Mean, it still is. It still is.
Gizmo:And I maybe I should take this back, but the second one was seriously at North Korea when you
Rooster:gave me the anything back.
Gizmo:The Vegas Rubini Classico. That that Oh. Those two Wow. Were both like, senators giving me the exclusive was like, oh my god. I can't believe this is possible.
Bam Bam:You having that Vegas Rubinia so early Dude, It's changed pretty incredible.
Gizmo:But I think I've chased that Of since then course. That which has driven all of this. For me,
Rooster:it is That's the same cigar that BAM called a Rasa.
Gizmo:I know. I remember. Said it prefers the Rasa.
Pagoda:Categorically incorrect. No. But the eight ninety eight and RAS. Correct.
Rooster:'8 98 was a RAS.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Your
Bam Bam:eight ninety eights were over him. He's got a
Gizmo:good number, boy. Oh,
Senator:he's definitely out of the wheel now. More cigars for us, boys.
Pagoda:Was never Yeah. Really
Gizmo:But that so the Exquisiva was like, wow. I can't believe cigars can be like this. And the Vegas Romanian Classico was so different from what I had been smoking for I guess it was probably two months after I had joined the lounge when you gave me the exquisite that you had given me the the Classico that I couldn't believe the Cuban tobacco existed, that it tastes so different, that that I'll I'll never forget that.
Rooster:I mean, that's that's for that cigar, we have to give credit to Puba. Puba is
Gizmo:Puba is correct. But you handed me the first one. Yeah. I I I gave you that much.
Senator:One he gave me in my garage lounge. Yeah. And I will never forget it. Like, the size, like, I wasn't smoking many Lonsdales at that point. Vegas Rubena was not a brand that I was particularly familiar with.
Rooster:I had no idea what that is. Yeah.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Senator:I was so skeptical, and I honestly like, I had to apologize to him because I felt so bad. Like, he gave it to me. I'm like, you know, I don't I was almost turning it down. Like, I don't wanna waste this cigar of his that, like, I'm not gonna enjoy. And he's like, I'm telling you, you just have to try this.
Senator:I think you're gonna love it. And exactly like you're saying, like, it was a huge light bulb. For me, not of Cuban tobacco. I had already fallen in love with Partagas before that, but it opened up my mind to like, wow. There are these lesser known marcas in the Cuban catalog that I'm not as familiar with that produce some incredible cigars.
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Rooster:And that was a 2011.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah. Alright, boys. We're coming to the end of our evening now with the Lagavulin 11 years age Offerman edition and the avowed the Vow six two nine, the Toro. What's everybody thinking of the pairing before we get into the ratings?
Bam Bam:I'm sending you my numbers right now.
Gizmo:Great. Everybody should send their text of their two ratings to me, and I'm going to actually, before you do that, before you hit send, I'm going to send mine to senator, and we're gonna all hit send at the same time and put our phones down. Send. Everybody has them in. So any final thoughts before we get to our ratings tonight?
Gizmo:Wonderful evening. Yeah. I mean, for me, the pairing was excellent. I'm very, very happy with both. I'm, you know
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:Really impressed.
Chef Ricky:I'm I'm coming into, I don't know, the last half inch of the cigar, and I'm getting this very super delicious, just this sweet lactic note that reminds me of I mean, we we're all in Jersey. Right? So you guys have all probably had fresh mozzarella at some point. Right? Like, just and it's still sort of kind of slightly warm, and it's sweet, and it's creamy.
Chef Ricky:That's exactly what I'm getting on this cigar at this moment.
Bam Bam:Usually, I would disagree with you.
Gizmo:That's not true. That is not true. This is a patent. I
Bam Bam:kind of a sweet for me, was a sweet dairy that I mentioned a while ago, and it continued all the way through for me.
Rooster:So you're saying the cigar is kinda cheesy. Jeez.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. It's time to move into the formal liquorating tonight.
Bam Bam:Good move, sir.
Gizmo:On the Lagovole in eleven years aged, Offerman edition, Caribbean cask finished. Bam bam,
Bam Bam:you're up. This is an easy one for me. Like the cigar that I had tonight, it was such a flavorful experience. It was very well balanced. I love the subtle peatiness in this, and that butterscotch.
Bam Bam:For me, as I drank it more and more, that became the primary experience for me. With that touch of peatiness, I'm gonna buy copious amounts of this. I'm at a 10. It's unfortunate that we got that voicemail regarding the Abuelo seven and the sugar content. I don't care.
Bam Bam:I'm going to continue to drink that shit because it's delicious, and it gave me a similar experience in the amount of flavor I was getting in every sip, and it kept my attention. It actually took me over, and it worked so beautifully with the cigar. I can't wait to try that with an Exclusivo. I'm going to try it with a Roman Alona specialty select. It is quite the experience.
Bam Bam:Very versatile for me, and I will be experimenting with that in the warmer months. I'm at a 10.
Gizmo:Alright, chef.
Chef Ricky:We're on the spirit. Yeah. I'm at a seven.
Rooster:Oh my.
Gizmo:Wow. Wow. I That's that's a little low. I quit.
Bam Bam:I don't know what to do.
Chef Ricky:I'm I'm so okay. The scotch on its own.
Bam Bam:That's all we're rating is the scotch.
Chef Ricky:No, no, no. But I'm taking into account how it pairs with the cigar. I so number one, I wasn't getting much butterscotch, although the peat was mild pushing medium here, that's for you to use cigar vernacular. I think I felt like Grindr saying that word. I think that the the Pete took away from the cigar, at least took away the the the flavors that I was enjoying from the cigar, which were the sweeter berry notes, some of the creamier notes that, you know, no coincidence that after I stopped drinking the Scotch, I was I started to get back into that sweet spot.
Chef Ricky:I just felt the Scotch was sort of contradicting what I was getting from the cigar. So, you know, because of the how it paired with the cigar, it knocked it back another point. Price point is great on this. You know, if you want to dive into Scotch, I'd probably go stick with the Oban over this. And yeah, it's just, you know, Scotch is still sort of not entering my wheelhouse.
Chef Ricky:It does get me excited, like seeing you guys gush over it because I'm like, okay, maybe I could bring in some mezcals that line up with this a little bit more. But mezcal's don't present that sort of iodine quality that, you know, Eilish Scotches present with the peat. That iodine, though, makes the cigar experience for me unpleasant. So for that, it's a seven.
Gizmo:So for me, it's a nine on the spirit. It it wasn't a perfect spirit for me. I did rave about it. Uh-huh. I think I was raving about it mostly as I was considering my rating tonight because of the price.
Gizmo:I I think it delivering it this this flavor at $55 is excellent. Mhmm. Am I gonna run out and buy a case of this? No. Am I gonna run out and buy a bottle?
Gizmo:Maybe. But I don't see it entering my rotation. That question I asked of you guys tonight, I don't see it jumping into the rotation alongside the rums and the other things that I'm drinking with my cigars. I really enjoyed it. I I still stand by this being an excellent gateway into Pete for folks who love scotch.
Gizmo:I know that, you know, you said Oban was a better choice. You said Talisker Pagoda would be a better choice. I think this is an excellent $55 choice to try some peat if you're into scotches. I still you know, you compare. Probably not a fair comparison.
Gizmo:We have to, you know, factor in price to the distillers edition, which was a perfect, you know, peaty spirit for me. That was a 10. Really, really like this. It wasn't perfect for me.
Bam Bam:A nine's a great score. So it's a nine.
Senator:Senator. So I'm I'm also at a nine. I thought it's excellent. The price point's fantastic. It's balanced.
Senator:It's smooth. You would never, in your wildest dreams, guess that this is over 40%. I like that it leans a bit more sweet than it does peaty. Correct. The distiller's addition is this on steroids.
Senator:Like, that's for me a perfect 10.
Rooster:I agree.
Senator:It's even more complex. It's more refined. Exactly. Yeah. I think that it looks definitely well, no.
Senator:The distiller's dish is sweeter than this is. Really?
Rooster:For sure.
Chef Ricky:The chef even loved that. Mhmm.
Bam Bam:Even chef. No. Just because he
Senator:doesn't like Pete. I'm just saying, like, for him to give that, you probably give it a nine or a 10. Like Yeah.
Gizmo:I think that got a perfect No. It didn't.
Chef Ricky:We'll go through that give it
Bam Bam:a nine.
Senator:Alright. So for him to give that a nine, like, that's my point. It's definitely more sweet than it is PD. I love that Lagavulin is showing. They have a ton of range in their line.
Bam Bam:Big time.
Senator:And I also like you know, Lagobulin has historically been one of the pricier single malts. Like, they didn't have an eleven year. There was no 12. Like, sixteen was kind of the starting point there, and that would go for like $90 a bottle. So to finally have something in the $50 price point that is really delicious and and I think would appeal to a lot of people, I think there's you know, they deserve a lot of credit for that.
Senator:And again, the only reason for me it's not a 10 is it's just not perfect like the distillers edition, but I would absolutely drink this again. I think they did a hell
Chef Ricky:of a job with it. Now excuse my ignorance on this, but I I would assume that a 16 will present less Pete. Does that have nothing to do with It's much more I know it is. Yeah. For so
Senator:This is finishing a rum cast. That's why. So it's it's
Chef Ricky:Got it.
Senator:Yeah. Counterbalancing the Pete. Mhmm.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. The former liquor rating tonight on the log. Pagoda. Oh. Oh, Pagoda didn't ring.
Gizmo:I'm so sorry.
Bam Bam:He did that to me many times. So don't forget your feelings, sir.
Pagoda:I have feelings.
Bam Bam:Know why? I do.
Gizmo:You know why? Because I already wrote down the ratings
Senator:Yeah. That you guys texted
Gizmo:Pagoda.
Pagoda:Yeah, so it's a nine for me. So I do have to say the merits of the drink is, of course, it's peaty, sweet. I really like the long finish as well, which was much sweeter. Overall, I think it brings about a lot of versatility within the Largovillain brand. I think we've mentioned that before.
Pagoda:And definitely something I would carry my, you know, I'm definitely gonna get a couple of bottles of this. But you know, like I think, Giz, you said it, I don't know whether it'll enter my daily rotation. Is it that good that
Gizmo:Or even weekly for
Pagoda:me. Yeah. Weekly. And so you know, I was thinking about all these things. And you know, from my perspective, it's really good.
Pagoda:And while it wasn't, you know, I know there was pretty high proof. For me, I think, I don't know whether it was psychological or not. It did get a bit, like I felt a little bit of heat towards the end.
Gizmo:I had zero
Pagoda:at the And I, you know, I would've liked it maybe with a chip of ice after having
Gizmo:Everybody loves the chip.
Pagoda:I don't know. I hated
Senator:rooster chicks.
Gizmo:All the heads.
Bam Bam:The heads synchronicity just turns in a corner.
Pagoda:So I don't know. So for there was that, you know, little question within my own mind. And I think it's but it's a really, really good drink. And nine's a very strong score. Let's not forget that.
Pagoda:Oh, sure. Yeah, Great it's a strong nine for me.
Rooster:Just remember, no ice. Yeah.
Pagoda:I'm trying. No more ice.
Chef Ricky:Nine is such a strong score. I would think that with that score, it would enter your rotations.
Gizmo:It's gonna enter my monthly, and
Pagoda:not a
Gizmo:couple times a month. That's where I'm Before you give the rating,
Bam Bam:I don't know about you guys, I don't drink every day. I try not to drink every single day. But if I'm smoking a cigar three to four times a week, I'm definitely having a drink with it, and that's probably my limit. So the question of rotation, I think it's much easier to kind of integrate some new bottles that we discover here.
Rooster:Yeah.
Bam Bam:Because I don't think everyone here drinks every single day.
Rooster:You don't smoke a cigar every day?
Bam Bam:I do not. You're the only one. That probably that's probably the I
Rooster:mean, not a fuss.
Gizmo:No. I I have a cigar every day.
Rooster:I don't smoke every day.
Chef Ricky:Me too. I don't smoke. I do not.
Senator:I have one a week.
Bam Bam:This guy's got four a day.
Chef Ricky:I told my doctor today, one a month.
Gizmo:Exactly. Oh,
Pagoda:that's what I said.
Gizmo:I asked my dentist last week. Got a cleaning. I said, how how many cigars do you think I smoke? She goes, maybe one every two or three weeks.
Bam Bam:I said, yeah.
Gizmo:Correct. Oh, yeah. You know, the thing about rotation here is the thing I wanna say, Bam, is that if you look at some of the other stuff we've given tens over the last, say, three months
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:Those have really inserted themselves into what I'm calling the rotation here.
Bam Bam:Weekly. Let's say weekly. Weekly.
Gizmo:Yeah. Like, often.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:And and I think that goes for all of us when we hit a 10. The only exception, I think, would be the distillers edition here of the Lager Volt just based on price. You know, they're very expensive, a little bit of a pedestal. What were you saying, Pagoda?
Pagoda:I'm sorry. No. What I meant to say, like, I totally agree with you. Because if they're very expensive, they're excellent, excellent.
Gizmo:They're special occasions.
Pagoda:And they're very special occasions. But like for us, like, you know, the way Flo de Carne had the rotation, Abuelo had the rotation.
Gizmo:For me, Don Pancho.
Pagoda:Do you remember even when we went through the cognacs? I remember Hyatt did the rotation. You know, the
Senator:Remy Martin, Remy Martin, 70
Pagoda:Did they hit
Gizmo:the rotation immediately? Went off. That might've gone on the greatest run of all time.
Bam Bam:Big But
Pagoda:they hit the rotation immediately. I think for me, this is not gonna hit my frequent rotation. It's definitely gonna be there. It's gonna be present.
Gizmo:But I think the accessibility of the price Yeah. Yeah. Makes it so easy to have the bottle that it's there and you reach for it when you want.
Chef Ricky:When you want
Bam Bam:I'll keep a bottle in front of you.
Pagoda:Yeah. Absolutely. I'll I'll drink it.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. The formal liquor rating tonight on the Lagaville in eleven years aged Offerman edition, Caribbean cask finished, single malt scotch whiskey is an 8.8.
Pagoda:That's a really good score.
Gizmo:So let's compare that.
Bam Bam:No. It's not.
Gizmo:That's a good Bam. I wanna I wanna hear your thoughts on on what I'm about to tell you. Let's compare that to the other Lagavulin ratings we've done on this podcast. Now we've accidentally rated the 16 year aged spirit from Logavalin three times two times. We did it on the pod three times.
Gizmo:First was on episode nine. We didn't rate it. That was the early days. Then we reviewed it on episode 81. We gave it a score, an 8.8, same as this.
Gizmo:And on episode 183, accidentally, I didn't even realize we did it again. We did it again. We we gave it an 8.8 again. Wow.
Rooster:It's so accurate. We're good. And then on
Gizmo:episode 8.8 too. Yeah. And then on episode 207, the distillers edition we're referencing tonight scored a 9.7. Yeah. Which I think all of those are I think it's appropriate.
Rooster:Yeah. So I guess chef was at at nine. Yeah. He went nine.
Bam Bam:I would like to have seen this crack that nine point o. Just chef, damn you.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. It's time now to move into the formal. This is rating tonight on the avowed. The Vow six two nine, the Toro. Rooster, you're up.
Rooster:So I gave the cigar a nine. I think it's a really well blended cigar. The construction was very good. Initially, when I cut the cigar, the draw was a bit tight, But that really improved almost right away. I did have to make another slight cut to it, but it really opened up.
Rooster:The creaminess was one note that was throughout the cigar. I mean, it just lasted till the end, and I'm still smoking it. The baking spice also lasted. There was that berry fruit note. I even got a little floral note, and I might be the only one who got that.
Rooster:The aroma was delicious. The construction, the combustion, everything was pretty flawless. I think Klas has done absolutely a fantastic job on this cigar. It's really a nice cigar. It doesn't have a lot of strength, but sometimes you don't need that.
Rooster:It's a really nice cigar. I think a nine is a very fair score for this, at least
Gizmo:for me. All right, senator.
Senator:So based on my experience, I had to give it an eight. I'm not surprised.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Had some challenges. Yeah.
Senator:Yeah. I did. And it's a shame because the blend is definitely a nine. The first half of that cigar was excellent. It was complex.
Senator:It was refined right from the light, definitely deserving of its price point. The the sweet notes that you got, the the berry, the creaminess that was there, which sadly for me was really just like the first half or at most maybe the first two thirds. But I knew as soon as it was happening, I had a construction issue midway through that was significantly impacting the flavor, and so the flavor profile just got way more savory than it was sweet, which bummed me out because I was in heaven with the blend to start. So like I said, the blend itself is not the issue. The blend is definitely nine.
Senator:The construction, I just got an odd one that, you know, didn't perform the way that it should. Nonetheless, you know, the the burn for most of the cigar for me was was razor sharp before I started having issues. The combustion was great with the cigar. The draw, you know, ironically was perfect. Like, I was worried early on it was too tight.
Senator:It it was exactly as it really should be for
Gizmo:that cut or no?
Senator:No. Okay.
Rooster:I didn't And
Senator:it just opened up in just the right way. So I would absolutely smoke it again. You know, I've had I've had one of the other Green Label avowed cigars, and it was excellent. So I have no reason to believe that if I pulled another one from this box or another box, I'd have the same experience that I'm sure everyone did in the room.
Pagoda:Mhmm.
Senator:But for the cigar that I had tonight, I had to take a point off for the experience I had in the second half of the cigar. So I'm at an eight, but still a strong recommend.
Gizmo:So I'm at a nine. Obviously, I didn't have the construction issues, but I I thought it was a very, very good cigar. It did have a moment in the in the second, third. I think maybe the draw was impacting it, actually. It did tighten up a little bit for me.
Gizmo:Same. The second, third. Yeah. And then on the last third, it kinda opened up again. Mhmm.
Gizmo:And I do think that was impacting my experience. I actually did put it down for a little bit as I Interesting. Was reading some Wow. And then I lit it again. It was very, very good.
Gizmo:But it was not a perfect cigar. It was not a perfect cigar for me tonight. I thought the flavor was excellent. I thought the retrohale was creamy. I thought the burn line might have been my favorite part.
Gizmo:I couldn't stop putting that to my nose. It was excellent. Listen, this is an expensive cigar. It's $19. Right?
Gizmo:I I know we you know, for us, maybe we reach for $19 cigars quite a bit, but we've been rating a lot of cigars that are $8.09, $10.12 dollars that, you know, were better cigars. And I really enjoyed the cigar tonight. I thought it was very good. It wasn't the best I have. I've had.
Gizmo:It wasn't the best Kellner cigar I've had. So for me, it's a nine. Pagoda?
Pagoda:It's a nine for me as well. I think for me, the flavor profile, and I'm not quite sure why, but it was pretty muted in the beginning. So for me, the cigar really took off from the second, third on, and I really enjoyed it. And, you know, I did get blasts of a little bit of berry in the beginning, but then it was reasonably creamy with a slight bit of salt in it, which was the predominant flavor I got throughout. The construction for me is perfect.
Pagoda:Like, I like these kind of cigars, which are very easy to smoke, great smoke output, the burn line was great. And, you know, from my perspective, for my cigar, the construction was great. I think it's a nine for me.
Gizmo:All right, chef.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. This cigar for me was a 10. You know, burn line right off the light, cold draw, everything was, you know, maybe the strength wasn't up there, but this thing packed a lot of flavor. Lots of berry notes, really bright berry notes that almost came across as hibiscus for me. And then towards the second, the second and the final third, it started developing to this creamy salty and then finally into this sort of creamy warm lactic note.
Chef Ricky:And I really, really enjoyed the cigar so much so that I didn't need the Scotch. I felt like the cigar really stood on its own. Counter delivers again for me. I mean, Sky, like you could tell that what he says he he actually does it. And I respect that.
Chef Ricky:It comes through in his blending. It comes through in his final product. And it's an absolute absolute pleasure to smoke.
Rooster:Don't forget the jam.
Chef Ricky:Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, look, that that bright berry jam and that sort of toasted bread and that all those creamy buttery notes, for me, that's like a sweet spot. It reminds me of my wife makes these delicious Pop Tarts that she sells to the local coffee shops in our town. Excuse me, in our town.
Bam Bam:Don't know. We ordered now. Need to try one
Rooster:of those.
Gizmo:Thanks for bringing those in.
Chef Ricky:It reminded me very much of that. Was it was great.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah. Alright, Bam. Yeah. So I found this cigar to be extremely flavorful. I had a rollercoaster of experience.
Bam Bam:I didn't have a single construction issue. From beginning to end, Rooster, you mentioned it, chef, you too. That creaminess, for me, was a sweet cream. It started right off the light, and it took me down to the half inch of the cigar, right to the bloody end. It was off the charts.
Bam Bam:I did get in that first half berry, which dissipated, but then it became that, I mentioned earlier, a toasty salted butter experience, but with that sweet cream still continuing, I don't know how you can ask for anything more. Without any construction issues on my part, I'm giving this cigar a 10.
Rooster:You know, also that baking spice was there.
Bam Bam:Yeah. And I had nutmeg. On the burned note. Yeah. I had nutmeg there.
Bam Bam:Yeah. So I'm at a firm, firm 10.
Gizmo:Yeah. Alright, boys. The former lizard rating tonight on the Avowed. The Vow, six two nine. The Toro is a 9.2.
Gizmo:Fantastic.
Chef Ricky:Great score.
Gizmo:Let's compare that to the other Avowed cigar we did on the pod on episode 201. We did the new Dawn in Toro, scored a 10. Perfect, perfect 10. What a great night tonight, boys.
Bam Bam:Need to do more of these.
Gizmo:Need to do more. Oh, yeah. Looking forward to trying the hallowed hands that just just came out. We have to congratulate Lizard Aaron again, boys, our lizard of the week. And, of course, we have to thank Bond Roberts for helping us out, sending lizard Aaron a 10 count box of cigars for winning lizard of the week.
Gizmo:Smallbatchcigar.com boys. They're a great partner to us. The preferred retail partner of the Lounge Lizards podcast. Use our code lizard 15 to get 15% off
Rooster:They are awesome. Order. Their shipping is so quick.
Gizmo:So quick. It's like two days from California.
Rooster:Yeah. It's unbelievable.
Bam Bam:Great packaging.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah. And of course, you can get the Avowed cigars at Small Batch. Some of the guys who own Avowed own Small Batch, so you can check those out there. Our code does not work on Avowed.
Gizmo:There are no codes, no discounts there, but you can check out Small Batch for Avowed. Of course, boys, our presenting sponsor, Fabrica five. Been with us so long. We love their cigars.
Bam Bam:Love you, Rob.
Gizmo:Smoking so many of those cigars. We really appreciate those guys. And one more time tonight on the pod boys, the 11 years aged Lagavulin, the Offerman edition, Caribbean cask finished single malt scotch whiskey scored an 8.8, And the Avowed, the Vow six two nine, the Toro scored a 9.2. Fantastic. What a great night, boys.
Gizmo:Delicious night. Excellent. I'm really impressed with with both entrance tonight. They weren't perfect
Pagoda:Mhmm.
Gizmo:As far as the ratings go
Bam Bam:Not for you.
Gizmo:No. But as far as the ratings go, they weren't perfect, you know, in the room, but they were excellent. Both were really, really good. Top notch. Great night tonight, boys, and, 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, you if 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.