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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 Grindr.
Gizmo:And our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink sparkling wine and scotch, talk about life, and, of course, have some laughs. So take this as your two hundred and fifteenth official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plano Minas here once a week. We're gonna smoke a Cupid cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating. We ring in the New Year with one of Rooster's favorites.
Gizmo:We review the best and worst cigars and pairings of the year, and we learn from a on how to properly taste whiskey, all along 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 French bloom LeBlanc nonalcoholic sparkling wine, and the Dalmore king Alexander the third single malt scotch whiskey with the Cohiba Bijique 54. A Robusto extra on the pod tonight, boys, from Cuba for our New Year's Eve twenty twenty five extravaganza, and we have a big one tonight, boys. We have the Cohiba Bihike 54 in our hands, and it's a 54 ringgauge cigar by five and five eighths inches long. And can you believe it?
Gizmo:This is our fifth New Year's Eve special.
Chef Ricky:Wow. Wow. Wow.
Gizmo:We are in our fifth year, as you know.
Rooster:It's wild.
Gizmo:This is our fifth New Year's Eve special, and I'm hoping Have you told the listeners this is our last? I haven't. Alright. You I was gonna wait till the end. I'm hoping that the cigar lives up to the hype tonight.
Gizmo:Yes. Now this cigar has appeared on this podcast before. We did not rate it. We'll talk about that in a little bit. But I don't know if there's a line of cigars more coveted, more counterfeited, more praised, more condemned than Cohiba's Bihike.
Grinder:Most popular brand probably in
Rooster:the world. In the world.
Gizmo:Yeah. And certainly the most counterfeited as well. For
Rooster:sure. So So how much are these going for now? What have they gone to?
Gizmo:Rooster, if you're looking for them, you could find them somewhere between 240 and $350 apiece.
Pagoda:that's chump change for Rooster.
Gizmo:I've seen boxes. Actually, I was I was looking today. I saw some boxes recently sold on Bon Roberts for like $2,500. And I've also seen them on legitimate sites that you could purchase right now for $3,500.
Gizmo:So there's quite a big swing there in the value of these cigars. So let's see what happens, boys. Let's cut this thing. See what we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper. Perfect draw for me.
Grinder:Wide open.
Gizmo:Mhmm. Feels good. A little saltiness, little grass. Tell you what,
Grinder:a little surprised how perfect it is.
Gizmo:I would hope so for that price grinder.
Grinder:Yeah. The grass is spot on.
Rooster:Like a Cohiba hay. Little hay,
Gizmo:yeah. Absolutely.
Chef Ricky:Barnyard. I'm getting a little fruit note here as well.
Gizmo:I am. Almost like a little minty.
Grinder:Yeah. And there's also a faint bit of sweetness, and I hate to say it because of kids, but it's honey.
Rooster:That's what I'm getting.
Gizmo:I'm not getting the honey. I'm happy.
Chef Ricky:I thought
Pagoda:you were going
Chef Ricky:in the dried fruit direction there for a second.
Pagoda:I'm I'm
Grinder:on the citrus side.
Grinder:It's appropriate that he's in Bam Ceti.
Gizmo:Correct. He's inspiring me. Alright, boys. Let's light this thing for our New Year's Eve twenty twenty five special, the Cohiba Bihike 54 from Cuba. Again, it's a 54 cigar by five and five eighths inches long.
Gizmo:Its factory name is the Legito number five, and the box code on these cigars tonight is G e S November 2023. So they just hit two years of age. Of course, Bahike only comes in boxes of 10 cigars unless you're looking on Bon Roberts at a festival gift pack where you get one of each of the four or when they were released. I think there are two or three in there. So no 50 cabs?
Gizmo:No 50 cabs, Brewster. Bummer. We've had a lot of requests to review this cigar. This, I would say, alongside some of the other Cohiba, Siglo six, Esplandidos, Robusto, this is one of the most talked about Cuban cigars for sure. People love it.
Chef Ricky:Oh, yeah. There's the honey. Nice salty honey.
Grinder:Graham cracker?
Chef Ricky:A little bit there.
Gizmo:Yeah. That's off to a great start.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I don't. It's a beautiful cigar. Absolutely beautiful. Great pigtail.
Chef Ricky:Lovely, lovely. Love,
Rooster:love, Yeah.
Gizmo:I saw you light up when you came into that rooster.
Pagoda:Told her the tenfer rooster with the pigtail.
Rooster:Caramel. Always gets some extra points.
Pagoda:It does. Right?
Rooster:Yeah. Automatic. This is fantastic. It's a star.
Gizmo:Hopefully, it continues that way, but off to a great start here on the light. Senator, how's it for you?
Grinder:I mean, I've got a lot of complaints.
Grinder:I'm just kidding. It's
Pagoda:excellent. In
Rooster:in general.
Grinder:Excellent start.
Gizmo:Fantastic. I heard some of
Chef Ricky:you guys say that you had a wide open draw. Mine's a little resistant, but I don't mind that. I'm I'm okay with that. I have a little resistance in my drawer, but I like that.
Gizmo:And mine has a very little bit of resistance. Yeah. It's not like a wind tunnel Mhmm. For me. You know, there is a little bit of something there, but it seems perfect for me right now.
Rooster:The cigar also feels very well balanced, like not flavor wise, but when you hold it in your hand, it's not too light, not too heavy. There's a perfect amount of tobacco in it,
Gizmo:I feel. So of course, boys, this is one of four cigars in the Bihike line, the Bihike 52, the Bihike 56, the Bihike 58, which we reviewed, of course, this one in our hand, the Baique 54. The first three sizes, 52, 54, 56 were launched in 2010 together, and it was the first line of cigars that had appeared since 2007, which was the Maduro line. And then, of course, the classic line that we know is Robusto and some of those other cigars, the cigo lines came out in the late nineties, and cigo came out in 1994. So Bahique in 2010, that's the most recent line of Cuban cigars.
Gizmo:And, of course, since then, this has been the star of the show for Habanos. They're making more of these than ever, and they are as scarce as ever. There are just folks out there who like a vacuum cleaner, just
Pagoda:Load them up. Yeah. Load them up.
Gizmo:You know, so they're not terribly easy to find, I
Pagoda:even at that could see, you know what it is, is that if you have the money, let's say, and you know you're gonna get a consistent experience and get exactly what you're seeking, then I can see people just, you know, cleaning it up, like the way we do New Worlds. I'm just kidding.
Gizmo:It's true.
Grinder:You know what? There's that listener out there who is that guy. He's Oh, like laughing because he's bought
Gizmo:He's got these quartered 20 boxes of these. It's true. Those folks definitely exist, and I've seen them when we were in Cuba, folks loading up these cigars, like almost taking pallets of them out of LCDHs and stuff. It was it's pretty wild. So boys, before we go too far, we have a lot to get to tonight.
Gizmo:Of course, it is New Year's Eve, So we have to break open some bubbly. And we have a special one tonight in honor of our friend Rooster here and all of our lizards out there who do not drink. We are celebrating for the first time tonight with a nonalcoholic bubbly, the French bloom that you were talking about a few episodes ago.
Rooster:That's right.
Pagoda:Alright. I'm packing up and leaving. No. I'm just kidding.
Gizmo:We'll get to the scotch in a minute, Pagoda. But while senator prepares this, Rooster, why French bloom? Like, what brought you to French bloom?
Rooster:So French Bloom is, I think, one of the only one that I know that's actually started by these two ladies who have a champagne. Mean, their lineage one of the ladies belongs to the Tattinger family.
Gizmo:So she has He's not waiting.
Grinder:Sorry, I heard Tattinger, and that inspired me that maybe there's some hope for this.
Rooster:So this is the this is the blanc, right, not the rose?
Gizmo:Correct.
Grinder:Certainly looks rose ish.
Grinder:I mean, it looks like a rose.
Rooster:What does it does it say on it? It says blanc, but
Pagoda:Yeah.
Grinder:It's literally a rose. All right, now I'm not as inspired. Actually, believe it
Rooster:or not, I've had both. The rose is a little bit drier than the blanc, and you would think it's the opposite. But for me, it's like the closest to the real thing. So try it.
Gizmo:Yeah. Let's pour it out.
Grinder:Rooster, you'll do the first.
Pagoda:It does bubble up. It's very effervescent. I was expecting it
Chef Ricky:to be flat.
Pagoda:Yeah. I really was. I was like, oh, damn. It's another one of those.
Rooster:And you notice there's even a cork in it. Yeah.
Pagoda:I'm looking forward to it. It has something to do with my New Year resolutions.
Grinder:Pagoda went all out with the stemware. Yeah. Probably have red Solo shot glasses. Thanks, Pagoda.
Pagoda:Yeah. I it was I thought it's a nonalcoholic place.
Grinder:I looked at it. Was like, you want me to take these? He's like, yeah. Why not? No one's gonna drink much of it.
Pagoda:You kind of had
Rooster:a hard time finding a bottle
Gizmo:of this. I had a hell of a time. You made it seem on that episode that it was pretty easy to find, man, and I really had a hell of a time finding It was I think
Rooster:it's the timing. It's this time of the year. It's the holidays. A lot of people who are not drinking are getting these or finding these and stocking them.
Grinder:Does Costco sell it?
Rooster:No. I wish that that Oh, rooster.
Gizmo:Wish they did. Know what, though? That is an opportunity as a shareholder.
Rooster:You know what they do sell is some nonalcoholic beers they're starting to sell, even at the places that don't have a liquor, you know, like a liquor store in it.
Gizmo:Yeah, because they can sell that obviously anywhere.
Rooster:Athletic brewing, like by the pallet. It is
Gizmo:odd that, you know, the Costco thing with the alcohol, it's only I think there's only two or three stores in the state of New Jersey that have a liquor license to sell.
Rooster:That's right. That's right.
Grinder:Cheers, boys. Happy New Year.
Pagoda:Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Cheers.
Rooster:Thank you.
Gizmo:A great year, boys, 2025 to 2026. To all our lizards out there, so glad you're with us. Delicious.
Grinder:Refreshing.
Gizmo:Complex. A little sweeter than I was
Pagoda:Yeah. It's it's a bit sweeter.
Grinder:The rose is drier. It's sweeter and it's viscous.
Gizmo:It is. It's thick. It's almost like an apple juice type of viscosity.
Grinder:Honestly, I love
Rooster:it. Like it?
Gizmo:See how that goes with the
Grinder:Beheeket I could 50 drink this like during the day. Just like, you know, working. This would be a good sidecar. Very refreshing. I love it.
Pagoda:It's a bit juicy.
Gizmo:Yeah. It tastes like fresh fruit. It does. You know, it's like freshly squeezed fruit or something.
Rooster:You get that green apple note. Yeah. Right? It's crisp.
Grinder:I think the juicy descriptor is spot on. What
Gizmo:do you think of the center? For non alcoholic
Grinder:sparkling wine, it's it's good. It's drinkable. The things I think I'm having a little bit of a hard time with, I was expecting it to be a little crisper. So, like, there's a viscosity that, like, makes it very soft and supple, kind of the sparkling wine. I just wish there was a bit more acidity like a champagne
Chef Ricky:has.
Rooster:So the rose is like you describe it, it's a bit drier than this, which I prefer. And when Gis went looking for bottles, I said, Get the rose, which was completely sold out everywhere. It
Gizmo:wasn't in the state.
Rooster:Wow. Yeah.
Chef Ricky:So this isn't the first time I've had this. And this time I'm getting that same thing where the first time I found that there was an odd acidity, not acidity and dryness, but acidity in the form of vinegar that I get on the back end of this that I think adds to the juiciness, if you will. It's like a bright vinegar. I don't know, you know, I feel like it's been added in there to kind of give it some complexity and give it a little bit of that sort of yeasty note that you may find in a champagne. That throws me off a little bit, but I think for what it's doing or what it's trying to do and for who it's serving, I think it's it's a great offering.
Grinder:I mean, the thing I'm at least happiest to see on the back, it it very declaratively states that there is no added sugar, which I feel like any nonalcoholic attempt at wine or especially spirits, like they add a bunch of sugar to mask the taste. So I'm at least glad to see that. But of course, it's really hard to replicate, you know, a true alcoholic champagne, but it's not bad. Know, I would drink it. It's just different.
Rooster:As far as non alcoholic goes, think this is the closest I've found to the real champagne with alcohol in it. I believe that. The bottles are not cheap. Mean, they're probably about $30 for that bottle. Rose is a bit more.
Rooster:Yeah. But you would think that the rose would be sweeter, no? Traditionally?
Grinder:You would think. Yeah. But it's I also pretty am very confused why this has a rose hue.
Rooster:But look at the glass. The bottle
Grinder:Yeah, looks more even that glass, that's like a light rose. There's a
Gizmo:little blush there too.
Rooster:Their rose is a deeper pink.
Chef Ricky:I think it's a nice sophisticated offering, and it's definitely a way to elevate the non alcoholic experience in this segment. Think it's really good.
Grinder:It actually works with the cigar.
Gizmo:I was going say, I think with this Bahike it's actually pretty good. What do you think of it with the Bahike? Is it adding to the experience for you?
Rooster:I'm gonna have to take a few more sips. But
Grinder:Yeah. Rooster's already drunk. He's
Pagoda:getting out tonight.
Rooster:Getting an Uber.
Chef Ricky:I'd love to, but I just got a shot.
Gizmo:You need another shot. Thank Pagoda for that. So boys, we have a lot to get to. Like I said, we're gonna go through all our data from the year, talk about our top cigars, worst cigars, all that stuff. But, of course, we're missing two lizards tonight.
Gizmo:Obviously, Bam and Pooba are not here. Bam had some family stuff that he's dealing with, And Pooba, unfortunately, is in Florida, and he sent over a voice memo for our lizard listeners.
Grinder:Oh, boy.
Gizmo:So I'm gonna play that right now. Is a minute. From He can't win the lizard of the week. No. He's not wizard of the world.
Gizmo:Don't get nervous. Don't get nervous. Here he is.
Pagoda:Hey. I've trying Pooba. For years.
Poobah:Wishing everybody a happy New Year, a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah. I miss you all. I'm splitting time between Florida and New Jersey. And that kind of prevents me from from from being in the studio and and recording. But I would just want to wish everybody a great 2026.
Poobah:I love you all and and really wish I could be in this New Year's Eve podcast. But unfortunately, I'm out of town. Enjoy your cigars. Enjoy life and wish everyone again a great 2026 happiness, health, great health and wish everyone and their families good wishes. I miss you all.
Poobah:Peace and love. Awesome.
Gizmo:Nice message from Pooba there.
Chef Ricky:Sound great, Pooba.
Gizmo:Yeah. He sounds great. Every all the listeners I get emails from listeners like, where's Pooba? What's wrong with Pooba? Where'd Pooba go?
Gizmo:There he
Grinder:is. He sounds so refreshed. Like, he's fresh off that g six. Right onto the yacht.
Gizmo:Right onto the yacht. This is a good cigar, boys. We're off to a nice start here. What's everybody thinking right now? The cigar is also very
Rooster:it's a little bit earthy, I would say. Earthy. And you also get, I don't know, like a faint I don't know if it's chocolate or coffee maybe.
Grinder:Everything about it is like everything I love about cigars. It's not too strong. It's got that very mellow, barny taste, the grass flavor. It's also rich and complex at the same time. It is.
Grinder:It's changing to the sweetness, but also like that kind of dry bitter, not bitter, but dryness. It's pretty impressive.
Chef Ricky:Almost hay like. It's a little green.
Grinder:I think it's incredibly balanced. I think that's what I enjoy most about it. You know, when you have younger, fresh Cohibas, they definitely lean drier and grassier and kind of those traditional notes. I think, you know, whether this needed a couple years to get what we're getting or not, The sweetness is there on the finish. Some of those fruit notes are very faint in the background.
Grinder:So I think it's just really nicely balanced. I love it. The construction is great.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Yeah. Everything about it's subtle but complex and still
Gizmo:rich. Feel like I'm getting like a I want to say the word graham cracker.
Pagoda:Yes.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. It's definitely that. Called that out earlier. Yeah.
Grinder:Yeah.
Gizmo:I missed that. But that's really what I'm getting here. And because Bam is not here, it's carbohydrate, just
Grinder:so everybody's aware. That's right. It doesn't oxidize.
Pagoda:You know, for me, it's the graham cracker y note, you know, I talk about the Indian biscuit. Yeah. Yep. Exactly. And it's so good.
Pagoda:It just gives a very balanced, very balanced flavor.
Gizmo:I don't know. This is one of those cigars, I mean, we've been on a bad run of cigars to end 2025, unfortunately. A couple couple rough ones, but this is one of those ones where you can hear it in the room. Like, you can just hear kind of the heart rate slowing down, the relaxation take effect, the cigar doing its job. You almost don't want to talk.
Rooster:You just want to enjoy the cigar.
Grinder:Exactly. Pipe down, rooster.
Gizmo:You just
Rooster:want to sit alone and just enjoy the cigar.
Pagoda:No, but that's, you know, we were talking last week with a couple of friends, and you know, you go through these experiences of cigars, and sometimes, you know, every few cigars, you end up with this one cigar when you're just quiet and you really enjoy every minute and every smoke. You know, it doesn't happen all the time. When we're in the lounge and we're talking or when I'm at Carnegie and just talking, you're not paying attention to the cigar. And oftentimes you feel you're just smoking through them, and you're enjoying the smoke output. But then there again comes that one cigar, which gives that experience where you say, all right, you know, you're kind of hooked again kind of a thing.
Pagoda:This feels like one of those experiences for sure.
Chef Ricky:It's great. Any image I have of Pagoda in Carnegie is just him signing autographs. I don't know how he even gets a smoke.
Gizmo:He's a celebrity
Rooster:there. You walk
Chef Ricky:in and you get bombarded with guests and requesting autographs.
Grinder:He's a regular.
Pagoda:Yeah. I'm just a regular.
Grinder:I think it's pretty impressive to be a regular at such a stalwart, like, New York City cigar shop. So kudos to you, Vergara.
Pagoda:No, it's great. I I think what's been great in Carnegie, at least this winter, been, it's been busy. You know, the holiday season's there. It's festive.
Rooster:That's good
Gizmo:to hear.
Pagoda:Yeah. And you know, I've gone there at 02:30. It's kind of really busy.
Rooster:8AM or PM? Five. Both. The same day.
Pagoda:It's just been very festive, and I think I've been really enjoying this holiday season, you know, smoking a few cigars over there.
Rooster:Is it a place all decked out for Christmas?
Pagoda:Yeah, they do put lights up, and yeah. It just feels festive. It's very different from the experience, you know, in January. Suddenly you'll see that it'll be completely, it's a completely different experience.
Grinder:The thing that surprised me with Carnegie, I was in the city a few weeks ago for like an awards lunch, and I had chatted with Pagoda, and the plan was after I was gonna try and meet him for a cigar at Carnegie, and the entire place was rented out at like, I don't know, three, 04:00.
Pagoda:For a private property? Really? For the whole evening.
Grinder:For the whole evening. And Pagoda said that they were telling him that they have several dates in December where the entire place is booked up for corporate events, and I'm just sitting there like, how many companies or firms have enough people comfortable being in a cigar lounge for hours that they can have an entire company wide event
Rooster:And in a cigar you know, they're Yeah. Are they hiring?
Pagoda:I'd like to know the names of those companies. I think I'm working for the wrong one
Gizmo:for sure. I mean, it is nice to hear though because we have talked about times in the past right after COVID and stuff how Carnegie wasn't, you know, these lounges weren't very busy like this. So it is nice. Like, you want these places to stay open. We wanna have a place to go in New York City and smoke.
Gizmo:I know there's some other options, but Carnegie is certainly the one that I think most of us have been to.
Pagoda:And it's very comfortable. You know, the cocktails are
Grinder:Well, chairs aren't, The
Pagoda:good. Chair
Gizmo:Senator and his chairs.
Chef Ricky:Some of those weird ottomans that they call chairs with no backs.
Grinder:Thank you. They're horrible.
Pagoda:Yes, some of the chairs are really bad, by the way. Hey, no, I'm not saying anything negative today. Is,
Gizmo:well- Starting a new year right.
Pagoda:Yeah.
Rooster:Life. Life. Life.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. So let's go into our year in review. I wanna start here because this is obviously what we've all come here to talk about tonight is the best and worst of 2025 as far as what we've reviewed. And I'm gonna start tonight with our pairings. We're gonna start with pairings, then we'll go to cigars.
Gizmo:So we had quite a few tens this year. Actually, 11 of them as we reviewed. So if you think about putting out 52 episodes and 11 tens
Rooster:20%.
Gizmo:We've been it's a pretty good batting average on choosing pairings.
Chef Ricky:Camera just for Grindr's facial expressions today. Everything's a surprise.
Gizmo:Statistically, it doesn't Well, he always shows
Rooster:up when it's a bijike.
Gizmo:You heard bijike. It was here.
Pagoda:They've gotta be at least 50% tequilos. I'm just throwing it out there.
Gizmo:Honestly Yeah. Pagoda, we're gonna go through them right now. It's quite a run of of variety here.
Pagoda:Oh, really?
Gizmo:I'm pretty impressed.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I feel like we did, like, six or seven tequilas.
Gizmo:So let's let's go through these boys. So first up here, two on the same episode, 164, which was actually a year ago, the episode that we did for New Year's Eve last year, which obviously wasn't included in our data last year. The Heinz cigar reserve XO and the Vuve Clicquot La Grande Dame twenty fifteen. Both of those scored perfect tens.
Chef Ricky:That was a good one.
Gizmo:Eleven weeks later on episode 175, we did wine, the Cade Howe Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon scored a perfect 10. Then our first scotch entry, the Glen Moran g 10 on episode 201 scored a perfect 10. Then tequila, the g four tequila reposado, which I brought in because I thought Pooba was gonna be here because he always talks about g four. He wasn't here on episode 209. Scored a perfect 10.
Gizmo:So that was the one of three tequilas that scored a perfect 10 this year. Back to wine on episode 211, the Gurgich Hills Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. We did that a couple weeks ago. That was really a special wine. How much was that wine again, senator?
Gizmo:Do you remember?
Grinder:I wanna say between, like, 80 and 100 a bottle. Or sorry. Maybe, like, 75 to just under 100, depending
Gizmo:on Whatever it was, I think it was worth it.
Grinder:I Great bump.
Gizmo:I've still been thinking about that. Then our first bubbly entry on episode 186, the Kav LaRance Cremant scored a perfect 10. Then, of course, the Paul Roger, sir Winston Churchill from 2015 on episode 200, celebrating 200 episodes scored a perfect 10. Then the Cascahune tequila reposado on episode 188, perfect 10. Episode 194, Bill Carr Salmon, Les Rose champagne scored a perfect 10.
Gizmo:Another one from senator, 196. Domaine Segales Santorini, Assertico from 2020, perfect 10. 172, the Glen Fiddick, 12 years age, single malt scotch whiskey, perfect 10. Another tequila, the Valens tequila blanco episode 166, a perfect 10. Then on episode two zero three back to wine, the Pascal Jolivette Sancerre 2023 from senator Perfect 10.
Gizmo:Then we did the rum, and this might have been my favorite of all of them this year. 210, episode 210, the La Merriolita, 18 years age rum. And finally, another rum to round us out on episode 189, De Pugal eighteen eighty eight, Doblemente Anya Haro. So that's a pretty damn good list, boys.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. And they're all very well deserving of those times.
Gizmo:Does anybody feel that any of those countering what you're saying, do any of those not belong in that category?
Pagoda:Why would you ask us that?
Chef Ricky:Those tequilas to me were grand slams. Every single one of Senator's wine and champagne picks were grand slams.
Rooster:Are you trying to second guess our ratings?
Chef Ricky:Maria Lita was amazing. I remember that you know if I were to pick one maybe and just because it's it was maybe the fur furthest in my memory is the Brugada eighteen eighty eight.
Gizmo:Okay.
Chef Ricky:But yeah. I mean, I I remember every single one of those bottles extremely vividly with the exception of of the Brugada.
Grinder:I think they're all pretty deserving. Mean, the ones that jump out are like the lower price point single malt scotches, like the Glenfiddich 12, the Glenmorgen But at their price point, that's what's really hard to argue with. They were such a tremendous value that for those reasons, they were deserving of that 10. So I think it's a pretty strong list.
Gizmo:Out of all those spirits, if I were to make you choose one that would be your spirit of the year here on this podcast, the one that hit you the hardest out of that entire list that I just named, which was your favorite spirit that we did what your favorite pairing we did in 2025? I'm gonna start us off. Mine is the La Merialita 18 years age rum from Panama. I love that spirit. I've purchased two or three bottles since.
Gizmo:I've given some as gifts. I really, really love that rum. So that one stands at the top. Right below that would be the Paul Verget Sir Winston Churchill from 2015, the champagne.
Grinder:Ironically, I think I'm in the same camp. The Maralita for me was just a huge surprise. I've been to Panama several times. I'd never heard of that. It's a small niche brand with an amazing story and the tie to Cuba and Havana Club, and that stuff is absolutely delicious.
Grinder:I mean, I remember a group of us were drinking that in the lounge recently within like the last month or so, and guys who don't even drink rum, who are more, you know, bourbon drinkers had a pour and loved it. So I think that was the most surprising to me out of that list, which is why it stands out. And of course, I mean, that Port Roger Sir Winston, that's one of the greatest champagne bottles you can buy. That was incredible.
Gizmo:Yeah. I I can't wait to have that again for some celebratory moment. That was really special. I mean, that's a how much was that bottle?
Grinder:It's like
Gizmo:350 Yeah. $3.50. It's a lot
Rooster:of money.
Gizmo:Pagoda, out of the list, what was your favorite?
Pagoda:You know, I would just stick to champagne. Firstly, I don't have a memory.
Gizmo:Like, I can't remember. Well, I did just list them for you.
Pagoda:Yeah. You know, I do remember the experience with the Paul Roger, the champagne. You know, I'm a big champagne lover, and that was fantastic. And I would go and, you know, like for something which is outstanding, obviously, you know, it's not something you can, like at least I can afford to have every day. But yeah, for a celebration, it stands out for me because it was definitely a wonderful experience when I drank it, and I enjoyed it to very end.
Pagoda:You know, that's my pick.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I'm not going to pick a tequila because I think people expect that, although I was very, very happy with the 10 on the Cusco wing. Obviously it deserves it, but the fact that you guys all went there and you loved it, really warm my heart because I think it's a great tequila and it deserves that. But what I actually got out of that list that you mentioned that I don't have already, which are all the tequilas was the high in XO. I absolutely love that.
Chef Ricky:It's been a great winter drink for me, you know, coming in coming out of that episode and lasting through that winter. I still have a very small amount left that I'll probably finish up this next week.
Grinder:But so I'm actually really glad that you said that, Jeff, because I was going to add as the third on that list. The bottle that I've bought the most of since we did it on the pod was that Hein Really? XO cognac. I bought a case of that. I probably have maybe three bottles still left.
Grinder:It's awesome, and it's honestly at, like, a reasonable price point. Like, for something that drinks like that refined and and kinda high end, I think when I bought a case of that, I probably paid 80 something a bottle, which is a steal. For an Ekso cognac, you normally have to pay 200 and something dollars for a cognac like that, so that definitely I
Gizmo:think the problem was the scarcity of it, right? It's not easy to find. Correct. When you found a case, I mean, that's pretty awesome.
Grinder:You can find it online, and you'll need to find somewhere that'll ship to your state. But to like walk in a random liquor store, even some of the larger liquor stores like a Total Wine, you're not necessarily gonna find it on a shelf.
Pagoda:Yeah. I think Heinz just as good, right, because even the Heinz rare scored a 10, didn't it? It scored very I remember that cognac. Yeah.
Grinder:You know what's funny? I think I was actually present for a good portion of those tens.
Rooster:So what was your favorite?
Pagoda:You only come in 10s?
Gizmo:He comes from Bahike and 10s.
Pagoda:I thought the vola
Grinder:I was If wasn't at the Volans, the tasting after when you guys had shared it was, I thought that was a great one. Obviously the Winston Churchill, like not to steal anyone else's thunder, but that was quite an exceptional experience.
Pagoda:And I
Grinder:was there for that. I think the Costco weed, yeah, I think that was another good call.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I'm trying to remember which of those tequilas were tequila episode for you.
Grinder:Oh, is the one that messed up Greg. Might have been G4. Wonderful.
Gizmo:Think it was G4. Was wonderful. That in last week's best of. That was a highlight moment. Oh.
Rooster:Yeah. We did get a lot of emails after
Gizmo:that Yeah.
Grinder:And then I I resurfaced. I'm a I'm a porpoise.
Grinder:Grindr's keys were taken away from me. So
Gizmo:I'm gonna list out a couple more really highly rated pairings that we did this year. I'm gonna list out some nine point eights. The Flor de Cana 18 years aged rum, the Cantera Negra tequila anejo, the Mijenta tequila blanco, the El Tesoro tequila blanco, Lagaville and Distillers Edition, single malt scotch, and Sierto Platinum tequila blanco, all scoring a 9.8. Two of
Grinder:those really jump out for me. One is the El Tesoro Blanco, and that was simply because we had been drinking the El Tesoro Anejo for a while. Mean, Long time, least probably a couple years since chef had introduced us to it, and that was so delicious, I never it didn't equate for me that they would make a blanco that would be that spectacular. And I remember drinking that the whole time, like, actually questioning which I liked better, the blanco or the anejo, which is not, you know, what I was expecting. So that was amazing.
Grinder:And the other one was that Lagavulin distillers edition. Killer. That was one of the best single malts I've had. I mean, I've always liked Lagavulin, but it's something that I reach for infrequently. It, like, has specific moments that I want something with that kind of peat.
Grinder:But the distiller's edition, it was like the perfect balance between, like, peat and some sweet notes and something I felt like I could drink year round. Excellent bottle. And a big surprise also because we've talked about, I think and Gizmo's been very critical about this, you know, bottles without an aid statement. Yeah. I mean, that showed you you certainly didn't need an aid statement there for that to be spectacular.
Gizmo:We did we had a great year of pairings, boys. I'll go through a couple of the ones that did not do well this year, but even still, the lowest score that we had this year on a pairing was only a 6.2. We did not get under six. Now that's not a great rating.
Grinder:Yeah. That's rough.
Gizmo:It was it there weren't a lot of them, though. There were only two under a seven. One was on episode 167. The Will It Pot Still Reserve bourbon scored a 6.8. On an episode 212, the Larceny small batch bourbon 92 scored a 6.2.
Gizmo:That was our lowest. That was hard. Scoring
Grinder:That was with that terrible Yes. Oh my goodness.
Pagoda:It was about like 190 proof or something.
Grinder:No. Don't even think it was the proof. It was whatever cigar we were smoking was incredibly dry, and we thought that that larceny bourbon, because it's a bourbon, would have some sweetness to help counteract it, and it was like this spicy bourbon with no sweetness to it, and none of us really enjoyed it.
Gizmo:The other two that came in under a seven five, I'll just list these out. The red breast Lucedo edition scored a 7.2, and the Russell's Reserve 10 years aged scored a 7.2 episode 171 and episode 173 respectively on those two. Aside from that, boys, everything else was a 7.5 and up. I mean We're stepping our game up. That's a pretty damn good year of pairings right there.
Gizmo:So we'll see what 2026 brings for our pairings here on the pod. We'll get to our cigars in a moment, boys. But I think it's time to go to our other pairing. And this one is a hammer, and I'll Yes. Read an email that actually prompted this.
Gizmo:We did a Dalmore Portwood Reserve pretty recently, and Lizard Luigi wrote us right after that. He said, hey, guys. If you need a suggestion for a luxury luxury New Year's Eve spirit, I suggest the Dalmore king Alexander the third. It's a single malt aged in six different casks. We'll go through those in a minute.
Gizmo:However, the real reason I suggest this is not only because it's a fantastic spirit. The man behind the spirit is one of a kind. Richard Patterson, the Dalmore master distiller is the Rafael Nadal of Scotch. He said just find a video of him and you could see why he and senator would instantly fall in love. Enjoy lizard Luigi.
Gizmo:So we're gonna get back to that in a moment. But first, boys, let's try the Dalmore King Alexander the third single malt scotch whiskey. Cheers, boys.
Pagoda:Happy New Year.
Gizmo:Cheers. Happy New Year.
Chef Ricky:Can't wait to get rid this noise. This. Wow.
Rooster:This French bloom is delicious. You know, I don't want to kind of cut in, but I will. The French bloom, you guys often mention when it's sitting in a glass and it becomes closer to room temperature, it gets even more delicious. And this is, you know, it's nonalcoholic, but it almost got very buttery. It opens up.
Rooster:Yeah, it's delicious. It's even more delicious than it was in
Pagoda:I the previous totally agree.
Grinder:After probably my third pour in these small glasses His third shot. Yes. My my third shot, it it started to grow on me, and I think it was because it was opening up. So I'm with you.
Gizmo:So, boys, what is your first impression of the Dalmore King Alexander the third?
Grinder:I think it's silky smooth.
Pagoda:Smooth. Silky smooth.
Grinder:It's very complex. I think on the palate, there's this rich cherry, this tart cherry on the finish that is all enveloping.
Chef Ricky:For me, this is like a cherry pie with a buttery crust. This is so buttery and creamy and rich, and then it's cherry in the non offensive way, not the cough syrup note that we speak of in prior episodes, but this is very well delivered, really well balanced. The nose is extremely rich.
Grinder:The nose, yeah. The nose just, it primes you.
Gizmo:It's kind
Chef Ricky:of like butter pecan or it's just it's it's cream. It it it's a perfect pairing.
Grinder:It's a dessert. It's a it's definite it's a dessert.
Grinder:So I'm with you on all the notes. I'm glad you mentioned pecan. There's a nuttiness about this that is characteristic of a lot of different Dalmore expressions, but in this, it's, like, really concentrated in a nice way. It's like pecan or walnut that I feel like just balances well with, like, the sweet yet tart cherry note that you get. So it's really good.
Grinder:And I mean, like everybody said, the first thing you immediately notice, this has gotta be one of the smoothest single malts you'll ever drink.
Pagoda:Yeah. Absolutely smooth. It just engulfs in me. It takes a sip. It just goes all over your palate, and a reasonably long finish, I'm really good.
Pagoda:So no turpentine. No turpentine. No. This is great.
Gizmo:I will say, though, for a Cuban cigar, obviously a lot of the time in this room, we're not reaching for a complex single malt scotch to pair with a Cupid cigar. And I think tonight, this is an absolute home run with this cigar because it's really, really complex, but it's not there's not a lot of power to it. And I think the way it coats the palate, it's very complimentary to the bajique we have. I'm very, very happy with this pairing tonight.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Coming into where I'm at now on this cigar, I'm getting a lot of nuttiness, so it was the perfect time to really pull this scotch and and take a a sip of it because they're really complimenting one another, and it's fantastic.
Grinder:This is a very rich experience.
Gizmo:It is. And and none of us have ice nor water in our scotches tonight. And the one of the reasons why, boys, is this bottle is $320.
Chef Ricky:Oh, it's a rich experience already.
Gizmo:It is very much a rich experience.
Pagoda:It is. We're gonna be poor after it.
Gizmo:So it comes in a really, really nice matte black box that opens with a door here. Pretty cool. There's a picture of a horse. Obviously, the stag. It says the fury of the stag inside there, which I hear is the name of Bam's upcoming autobiography.
Gizmo:Fury of the Stag, the Bam Bam story. That was a good one, Kiss. Thanks. So the Dalmore king Alexander the third was first introduced in 2008 as a core expression from Dalmore, created to showcase their innovative six cask maturation approach and to honor the distillery's heritage. The initial launch marked the debut of the whiskey, which isn't defined by an age statement.
Gizmo:Senator, we should talk about that, but its complex blend of whiskeys finished across these six different types of casks. Bourbon barrels, Matto Salaam Oloroso sherry casks, Madeira casks, Marsala casks, port pipes, and Cabernet Sauvignon wine barrels.
Chef Ricky:Taste it all.
Gizmo:Pretty cool.
Chef Ricky:Taste it all.
Pagoda:Do you mean Madeira? Madeira.
Grinder:No. I'm just kidding. Did he say Madeira?
Rooster:Yep. I have
Gizmo:a lot of words.
Pagoda:Happy New Year.
Gizmo:Some things stay the same.
Chef Ricky:New Year's ingus.
Gizmo:So I wanna come back to this in a second, boys, but we're coming to the end of the first third now on the Cohiba Bihike 54 from Cuba. What's everybody thinking? It is so good.
Grinder:It is. And I'll just I wanna pick up on what chef said. So if I had one complaint in, like, the first inch of the cigar, I wanted a little more body in terms of the flavor that it was it was very light, and I was hoping it would transition. And when chef said the nuttiness that you sort of get in the cigar, it kind of picks up a little bit in strength, that's what I was hoping for and missing, and now it's here. So for me, it's like firing on all cylinders right now.
Rooster:It's in its sweet spot right now. It's perfect.
Gizmo:So going back to the Dalmore, and thanks to Lizard Luigi here who writes us a lot because this was a home run. So he pointed out that the master distiller of Dalmore would be Senator's best friend. So I took him up on it, and I went to YouTube and I searched and I found the video of the master distiller from Dalmore, Richard Patterson, demonstrating how he prefers to taste scotch and his experience with scotch. So I'm gonna try to
Chef Ricky:I love this.
Gizmo:I'm gonna share this with you guys
Rooster:Right now.
Pagoda:You better have ice.
Richard Paterson:Swirl the whiskey around in the glass, then you throw it on the carpet. And when you throw it on the carpet, what happens, you can see the lip of the glass is actually holding the whiskey. And people say to me, do you really throw it on the carpet? Does it show? No, it's not because the glass is still holding the lip.
Richard Paterson:You can see it still there. Well, there's quite a lot of odors that might be there, and when you flick it away like that, it actually removes any spices.
Gizmo:This guy is awesome. He's throwing the whiskey out of the glass.
Pagoda:He definitely retroholes. By the way, this reminds
Gizmo:me of the Definitely retroholes.
Chef Ricky:This guy's fucking throwing whiskey on the carpet. He retroholes. Oh,
Gizmo:no question.
Grinder:That's like the cigar version
Pagoda:of he fucks. You know, it reminds me of our experience in Cuba when we went there, and the guy would take the rum and throw it in the corner. Right.
Grinder:That's right.
Pagoda:Pour a
Gizmo:little out on the floor. Yeah. So here's another one, and this one's hilarious too.
Grinder:I just pray he's not doing that with a $320 bottle.
Gizmo:Well, to him, I don't think it matters.
Grinder:That's fair. I wonder
Pagoda:what his carpet looks like.
Rooster:Wonder what it smells like.
Gizmo:This one's even better. I was cracking up at this. I loved it. This is how to get all the notes out of a whiskey from Richard Patterson, the Dalmore guy.
Chef Ricky:You suck on the carpet.
Gizmo:This one is this one's a killer.
Grinder:Here's your retrohale, chef.
Richard Paterson:You must hold it properly and then just go, hello, but you must do it really slowly. It's not like this is very, very gentle,
Gizmo:and
Richard Paterson:then you see the top notes. You can see the chocolate orange. You can see the cinnamon, the spice, the crushed almonds. They're all there. Not doesn't mean we put almonds or oranges in the whiskey.
Richard Paterson:What it means is it's taken and that's its character that's been manipulated by the wood. But when it comes to drinking it, this is a 15 years old.
Grinder:This is like Ben when he smokes a cigar.
Gizmo:This is unbelievable.
Grinder:The hand gesticulations,
Gizmo:guys.
Chef Ricky:Is it more ED?
Grinder:He's orchestrating.
Rooster:He's ED up. He's ED up.
Gizmo:Let's see, he's still going. He's not done yet.
Richard Paterson:Wait for it.
Pagoda:For it.
Grinder:210-9876,
Richard Paterson:one, and then it comes up. And you're looking at the whiskey for the first time. We talk about Jackson Pollock with his drip paintings, people used to say, Jackson, that's a bit of a mess. He said, no, it's not. It's got an inner world, but what you have to do is look at my paintings and that inner world would open up.
Richard Paterson:And it's the same with this dull more. This is 15 years old. You've got
Grinder:to give it a little
Gizmo:I mean, this guy's one
Grinder:of I one kind love to see.
Pagoda:Yes, the
Grinder:American wine.
Gizmo:I mean, this guy had a television show, I'd watch it every week.
Richard Paterson:Been used to bring these flavors together. First taste is important, but Always the second taste. So if you really want to make it special, serve a creme brulee, then serve a coffee, Nicaragua Java coffee, two muffles of that.
Chef Ricky:What is it?
Rooster:Nicaragua Java a muffle.
Richard Paterson:Let it go over, serve a chocolate, 72% cocoa fat, and that chocolate will melt, combined with the whiskey, the coffee, creme brulee, you'll turn an ordinary dinner
Gizmo:into
Rooster:You a know what? He's not wrong. At that.
Chef Ricky:It's not wrong. That he said, I could taste it pairing amazingly well
Richard Paterson:with Whiskey makes ground.
Gizmo:I mean, this guy is definitely one of one. I've I've seen him on the Internet before. Had no idea he was from Dalmore, but I couldn't believe just some of the mannerisms and and some of the
Chef Ricky:Is that what I was like when I first introduced you guys to Agave Distillers?
Rooster:Jesus Christ.
Gizmo:Absolutely. You also had the sport coat on. So let's talk about the notes here on the box from the Dalmore King Alexander the third. The aroma, they're saying we should be getting red berry fruits and hints of passion fruit. On the palate, citrus zest, vanilla pod, creme caramel, and crushed almonds.
Gizmo:So we talked about the nuttiness. Finishing notes, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
Pagoda:No cherry?
Gizmo:Said red berry fruits, but they didn't specify. So do you think those are pretty accurate?
Chef Ricky:I think they're pretty accurate. I don't you know, some of those we didn't call out, but especially on the nose when he mentioned, you know the orange Chocolate
Rooster:orange.
Chef Ricky:Yeah the chocolate orange. That's definitely present on the nose a thousand percent. I think what makes it a little bit more difficult and not in a bad way, but what makes it a little more difficult to there's no sharp notes to this spirit. It's all very round. It's all very balanced.
Chef Ricky:It's very rich. It drinks very rich, very viscous. So, I mean, we're not drinking the same spirit he was there, but I could see how just allowing it to linger more on your palate and doing all the would really would really just kinda help you pull more notes.
Grinder:No. It it's true. If you literally just take some of the spirit, take a sip, and swirl it a little bit in your mouth and let it sit on your tongue, like kind of chef has talked about when we do tequila, like the citrus, that's for me when it suddenly really starts to come through. So you do kind of have to let it linger to get all those notes.
Gizmo:And you count it down. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
Grinder:But the funny thing to Chef's point about how rounded this is, this drinks for me more like a cognac than it does a scotch.
Gizmo:I agree with you on that. That is a great statement.
Grinder:Like, if I drank this blind, I would be more inclined to guess this is a cognac than a scotch.
Gizmo:And it's gotta be from the six barrels, right, of finishing. Even looks like a cognac. It's a dark strip.
Grinder:A deep, deep color. Like, I would guess this is an XO cognac. Yep. Like, this honestly reminds me of, like, Remy Martin XO.
Grinder:Yeah. I think that I think I think you nailed it. Yeah. Absolutely.
Gizmo:What do you guys think of the six cask maturation and and the price on this at $320? I mean, I'll just start
Grinder:by saying I think there's clearly some brilliance to the six cask maturation. Like, this is as unique a scotch as we've probably ever had. Like, the fact that I'm saying this drink's more like a cognac than a scotch, that has done something unique and special with this spirit that is very memorable. So, you know, we like a lot of scotches that have been in multiple casts, right? The balcony double wood, right?
Grinder:The American oak, and the sherry barrel. That's what brings out kind of the special flavor notes that we get in a lot of these things, but six, that's insane. Don't think we've ever drank anything quite like this.
Gizmo:Definitely the first time we've done that.
Chef Ricky:And that explains the price point.
Gizmo:Absolutely. Alright, boys. So let's move on now. Let's talk about some cigars. Our year in review 2025 in cigars, and we'll start with the best of the best.
Gizmo:We had nine cigars this year rate a perfect 10. So nine cigars.
Grinder:That's a good counterpoint to some who have said that we give every cigar a 10.
Gizmo:Correct. We're gonna go through a lot. We're gonna go through some of the other ratings that were certainly not tens. But first up, the New Year's Eve episode last year. One year ago today, the Cohiba Asplandidos scored a perfect 10.
Gizmo:On episode 175, the Padron's sixtieth anniversary cigar in Maduro, perfect 10. On episode 177, this one was a special one. Stoic cigars in courage. We did a blind review and Lizard Henrito came in and explained what it was. That kind of sent us down the rabbit hole where we were introduced to Vance Taylor and Klaus Kellner.
Gizmo:And then we've kind of gotten into this whole, you know, amazing Dominican story with those guys. Great interviews. Great conversation. That was awesome. The Aladino Cameroon in Robusto on episode 187 was a perfect 10.
Gizmo:On episode 193, the aging room quattro Nicaragua Concerto in Maestro scored a perfect 10. On episode 201, the avowed new dawn in Toro, another cigar from Klaus Kellner scored a perfect 10. And episode 209, the Caba Iguan by Tatawahe in Imperialis, the Churchill scored a perfect 10. On episode 211, we went back and revisited the Partagas series d number four that we did on the first New Year's Eve special, I think, in 2021, I guess it was. That scored a perfect 10.
Gizmo:And finally, this one was a big surprise, boys, on episode 213, the La Galera Habano Lancero scored a perfect 10. So those were the nine tens this year on the pod cigar wise. So there's one omission that I'm honestly surprised. The the Aladino classic Elegante didn't get a 10? I think that was in 2024.
Grinder:Ah, okay.
Gizmo:Yeah. That was last year.
Pagoda:Wow. Time just flies.
Rooster:Yeah. So
Gizmo:I'm gonna go through some more nine point eights. I do wanna ask you guys what your favorite cigar out of those those nine tens that I listed for you is. But let's go through some others that scored above a 9.5. The Monte Cristo number two, we revisited on episode 190 scored a 9.8. Also, the my father blue in Toro, the new cigar from them on episode 204 scored a 9.8.
Gizmo:The Sancho Panza Bellicosas, this one was a surprise for me on episode 186 scored a 9.7. The h Upman sir Winston on episode 200 scored a 9.6. The stoic equanimity in courage, another one from Klaus Kellner and vast Vance Taylor scored a 9.6 on episode two zero six. And then the nine point fives were the Juan Lopez Alexio number one Redux we did on episode 168. And the El Rey del Mundo, Schwa Supreme from Cuba, that Redux we did on episode 188.
Gizmo:Those were both nine point fives. And finally, I did miss one. On episode 194, the Romeo Ejolieta Churchill's was the other 9.5. So a bunch of Cubans in there this year, all above 9.5. I mean, we had a lot of cigars, guys, that performed nine and above this year on the pod.
Gizmo:So going back to my question, out of the nine tens that we reviewed this year on the pod, which of those cigars would you say is the best of the 10? For me, it's the Padron sixtieth in Maduro. No doubt. Preach. I am with you on that.
Gizmo:Yeah. 100% with you.
Grinder:I said at some point this year when I went to the Dominican Republic for my birthday in August, I lit up a bunch of great Cuban cigars and that Padron sixtieth, and that Padron blew everything I smoked that entire day on my birthday out of the water. What a spectacular blend.
Chef Ricky:I don't disagree with that, but I think the stoic courage just really deserves I mean, that was a complete surprise to all of us. It caught us all off guard and it really changed how we were smoking from then on. Know, brought us on to a whole new marker that we kind of just went down this rabbit hole with, introduced us or brought us into a great relationship with Small Batch as a result also. For me that that cigar, you know, and then the equanimity was just as great. Yeah, the whole Stoic line was a huge, huge surprise.
Grinder:I don't know how many of those again.
Pagoda:Can you repeat those please?
Gizmo:There was quite a few.
Grinder:I think the, I mean, one that I, I smoke the Aladino at least once a week right now. At least, well, probably twice a week. Okay. So that one was a rock star, but again, I don't think I was there for the actual because I remember I got that from you guys secondhand. Was like, this is amazing.
Grinder:No.
Grinder:I mean, to to Grindr's point, I mean, I bought eight boxes of that cigar right after we recorded it. I mean, that's how much I love that cigar.
Grinder:So it's so damn good, and it it hits the spot on any occasion. Like, I can smoke it in the morning when I have like Mhmm. There's like a ten to eleven slot that I always always have. Mhmm. And I can smoke it after work.
Grinder:It's like after dinner, it's everything. So
Chef Ricky:Yeah. If I wasn't sick for it, I'd probably say the Cabo Iguan. Oh, yeah. That's right. Though I was compromised, I knew it was a delicious cigar, and I haven't smoked the one that I took with me after that just yet, but I know that cigar is spectacular.
Pagoda:Pagoda. Yeah. You know, I was thinking about it. So three of the cigars you mentioned definitely came into my rotation, which was the Aladino, the Camaro, the Concerto, and the Stoic. With Stoic, I think there were few like, you have to really age them.
Pagoda:You know, with some of them, there were some construction issues. But having said that, I think I would've, like I would pick the concerto for me.
Gizmo:Okay.
Pagoda:It's really come into my rotation, and I've been smoking a lot of it. Me too,
Gizmo:I'm smoking one every day.
Pagoda:And you know, I tend to alternate between Sonatas and Concertos, and you know, they're reasonably priced, and they've definitely come into my rotation, so I would pick those. Now having said that, I missed a D4 episode. Now I'm sure if I was there, I would have picked that one for sure, Because I love the D4s, you know, among the rest.
Rooster:You can't beat a good D4.
Pagoda:You cannot.
Gizmo:You just can't. You cannot.
Pagoda:And it's, you know, now I use it more as a set of episodes. Celebratory, Yeah, there was a time I was smoking every day. Yeah.
Rooster:Well, when there were $88 a steak, we
Pagoda:all were. Yeah.
Gizmo:You know what I love too about our 9 tens? It's a nice variety of cigars from Cuba, Honduras, Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua. There's not one leader and and one tailing. Like, all of the kind of major regions that we smoke cigars from are represented in the tens. And, of course, then beyond that, even more.
Gizmo:I think it's a pretty diverse list. So I'm happy about that. Looking at that this year, I think it's a really, really strong, you know, list for folks to go out and chase. I mean and and it has everything in here. It has a cigar that's $8 and it has a cigar that's 75.
Gizmo:I mean I
Rooster:think those were some of these surprises. Right? You kind of expect when you smoke a Padron sixtieth, it's going to get a high score. It's there.
Gizmo:Yeah, you'd certainly hope that's $75.
Rooster:A good D4 is going to score that much. But you smoke the first time, you smoke a Lagaler or a Stoic or the Aladino like the first time we had it, it just blew us away. Like how good these were or the new Dawn for Vaud. Just absolutely fantastic smokes and so well priced. And now you have a choice.
Rooster:You don't have to smoke a Cuban. You can smoke these and get, especially the Honduran ones, you get so much out of it, is so close to Cuban tobacco that it absolutely satisfies.
Pagoda:And that was a revelation, right, for 25, I think. The Honduran cigars, Although the stoics really surprised me because remember it was Dominican and, you know, with the one extra, you know, the secret- Country, yeah. But having said that, know, Hondurans a cigar that have been a pleasant, pleasant surprise.
Rooster:All the fabric of five cigars have so good. They've been
Pagoda:so good.
Rooster:Absolutely delicious.
Grinder:Oh, I agree on the Honduran piece. I mean, when we did the My Father Blue. Oh, yeah. I mean, the fact that that's a marker that none of us have particularly been in love with.
Gizmo:Stand by for some data on that.
Grinder:And it's like they take Honduran tobacco, and even they are able to do something really amazing with it.
Rooster:So I think That is a backhanded topic. I mean, I'm sorry. It's just
Grinder:it's not a market we've loved. You know? And I mentioned the classic elegante, that was '24, and I think that's when, you know, kind of the early days we were discovering Honduran tobacco through Fabrica five, through that classic elegante, and then to see it carry over even into other markets this year was really was really cool and just shows what a range of options now we all have.
Gizmo:And a lot of offerings for those Cuban cigar smokers like us who can't get Cuban cigars really anymore. I don't I don't wanna say forever, but right now, there's been a long period of time that none of us in this room are getting Cuban cigars. I'm having to chase them down to smoke one here every five weeks now. It's not easy to get them. So we've listed just in that list are a lot of great options for Cuban cigar smokers and non Cuban cigar smokers alike.
Gizmo:There's a there's a lot there. The other one I wanna point out too, like you're saying about the my father senator, is the Cabo Iguan by Tatawahe I was gonna say that. Coming out of Nicaragua.
Rooster:Yeah. And it didn't taste like a Nicaraguan cigar.
Gizmo:Had I would have thought it was Honduran. Yeah.
Rooster:It had the it had the sweetness, and it was it was almost like mild to medium smoke while you're expecting like a Nicaraguan strength, and you didn't get that.
Chef Ricky:It was very Cuban esque from what I remember.
Gizmo:It was one of the most mild Cuban esque cigars that we've smoked, and that's a Nicaraguan cigar from Katawaii. Old school label.
Grinder:Yeah. If we were given 20 guesses blind of the markup behind that cigar, none of us would have ever said tattoo
Gizmo:Never.
Pagoda:No. No tattoo high for sure.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Now let's talk about the worst cigars of 2025 here on the podcast. We're gonna read off here Can anything
Pagoda:we all take a guess which the worst one was for '25?
Gizmo:Yeah. Go ahead. What do you think it was?
Pagoda:Other was my father, right? It's definitely one of the lower. I rated higher than most of the year, so I remember that very clearly.
Gizmo:What do you guys think the worst of the year was? The Aganorsa leaf? Surprisingly, no. That was my guess. Pagoda's right.
Gizmo:Cigar Aficionado's cigar of the year 2024 was the worst cigar we smoked on the podcast.
Grinder:I wish my father was that.
Gizmo:The judge in Gran Robusto.
Chef Ricky:Jesus Christ.
Gizmo:Scored a flat four.
Chef Ricky:For some reason, I thought that was '24, not '25.
Gizmo:No. It was 2025. That was their cigar of the year. We reached for that because of that and performed pretty poorly. So let's go through some of the cigars that were under a seven in 2025.
Gizmo:I'll go backwards. On episode 169, the Paul Garamerian twenty fifth anniversary in Bellicoso scored a 6.7. On episode 189, man, we just have not had success with this one. Fuente Fuente Opus X Oro Oscuro in Robusto was a 6.6. Another one, episode 171, Arturo Fuente, Don Carlos, the man, 6.3.
Gizmo:Episode 205, the Romeo y Julieta, Dionas from Cuba, a 6.2. On episode 173. The Weller by Cohiba 2024 scored a 5.9. Then couple weeks ago, the Agonor Salif on episode 214, the anniversary of twenty five, Odysseo and Limitada scored a flat five, And then the warped black honey 2023 from episode 200 cut that. Scored a 4.3.
Gizmo:And like we said, the worst of the year was the my father, the judge, and Gran Robusto, a flat four point zero.
Rooster:You have to get one to Grindr.
Gizmo:As well.
Pagoda:Because if that No.
Gizmo:I think he should have to smoke every single one of those.
Rooster:He has smoke a whole bunch.
Pagoda:Every one. Right? Just to average the thing out.
Rooster:This is crazy.
Grinder:I'll come up with my own rubric.
Pagoda:The the black honey way, we kept seeking the honey all of us. Where's that honey?
Rooster:It was mostly black. Horrible.
Gizmo:So only 15 cigars in 2025 scored under an eight. So I think that's pretty good. Think I we had a pretty good run there. So we do have to talk about before we go to some other data that I have here, boys. Of course, couple of us named the Padron sixtieth anniversary and Maduro as the best cigar of the year.
Gizmo:It scored a perfect 10 for us on episode 175. And Cigar Aficionado agrees with us this year. They also have selected the Padron sixtieth in Maduro as their cigar of the year for 2025, which is pretty cool to see.
Rooster:It's about time.
Gizmo:It's about time.
Chef Ricky:It's listening to the pod.
Gizmo:Yeah. It seems like, you know, the list is a little wonky. We're gonna go through that the second or third week in January, the whole list. So, you know, stay tuned for that. But cigar of the year being that Padron sixtieth, I gotta give them kudos on that.
Gizmo:I mean, that is definitely the cigar of the year, I think, especially the stuff that they've reviewed. And for us here, I love that cigar. We have a lot of others there, but what a hammer of a cigar.
Chef Ricky:I'm sure they smoked that one all the way through.
Gizmo:So let's go to some other data boys. I like to pull some random stuff just to share. For the first time on the podcast, this is a random stat on episode 213, a participant in the room did not rate the cigar, and that was chef Ricky on the La Habano in Lancero episode. He was sick as a dog with the man flu.
Chef Ricky:I thought that was a Cabo Iguan episode.
Gizmo:It was the La Galera Habano in Lancero on episode 213 only a couple weeks ago. And only one cigar and one pairing we reviewed this year, and we didn't rate either of them. Do you guys remember which cigar and pairing that was from 2025 that we did not rate when we smoked and drank them? The Bond Roberts phenomenonos and the Dahlias.
Chef Ricky:I was gonna say it was pretty recent. Yeah.
Gizmo:And the Foursquare exquisite cast collection that we had with Rob Isle and Hamlet Paredes on episode 185. So the average ratings for the lizards this year in 2025, let's go through these. Roosters average was an 8.6 up from last year. Pooba was a 7.8. His was down.
Gizmo:Mine was about the same at an 8.3. Senator's was up a little bit, actually. 8.4 this year, senator. A little more optimistic in 2025.
Grinder:Well, we we did a little better with our selections.
Gizmo:That's true. Except the end of the year. It wasn't too good. Pagoda, 8.2 this year.
Grinder:Lower than me. Yeah. Wow.
Gizmo:Wow. Grindr, 8.8. Is it statistically relevant? Well, because you only show up for the bhikkos.
Pagoda:You only
Rooster:cover sample size of five. I'm I'm
Pagoda:surprised they're more than a 10
Gizmo:o. What's the end question? And Bam Bam, his was an average of an 8.6, and Chef was an average 8.4, same as Senator. So the highest scores are rooster and bam. Yeah.
Gizmo:Rooster, bam
Chef Ricky:And grinder.
Gizmo:And grinder. Grinder.
Rooster:Well, grinder is the highest. Small sample. 8.8?
Grinder:I'm I'm indexed to some of the top the the top shows there.
Gizmo:So, boys, I always love to share this because Spotify gives us great data at the end of the year with their wrap. They also give it to podcast creators and artists out there. So I pulled some of the numbers that they shared with us this year. I mean, I'm very, very happy with all this, and thanks to Lizard Nation for allowing us to to be in your ears every week. Our total new audience increased from last year 625%.
Grinder:Wow. Here we go.
Gizmo:Total followers on Spotify. Now this is not folks listening to the podcast. This is folks listening to the podcast and then manually clicking the follow button. That went up 50% this year. So even when I listen to podcasts and stuff, I don't go and follow it per se.
Chef Ricky:I only
Gizmo:need just chase it down.
Chef Ricky:That I truly enjoy that I wanna stick with. So that that's great.
Gizmo:So our total audience this year was up 60% Wow. Which is even more than last year. Our number one episode by volume this year, only on Spotify now, was episode 201, the avowed new dawn in Toro. And the interview with Klaus Kellner Mhmm. Was our biggest episode of the year this year on Spotify.
Gizmo:They told us that we were a twenty twenty five talked about show, which means we received more comments than 98% of other shows on Spotify. Wow. And we were a twenty twenty five most shared show. We received more shares from listeners than 93% of the other shows
Chef Ricky:on That's incredible.
Gizmo:It's cool. This is the stat I really love, and it actually, like, it's pretty amazing. For 1,401 lizards out there, we were a top 10 show in '25. So folks listening to us on Spotify, 1,400 people, we were in their top 10 of listening on Spotify. And then, of course, it goes down from there, you know, know, a couple 100, we were their number one and six hundred, we were there, you know, in their top five.
Gizmo:It's pretty amazing. So thank you lizards for for having us in your ears.
Pagoda:Yeah. Cheers to lizard nation.
Grinder:Yeah. Cheers to lizard Cheers. Which is rapidly growing.
Gizmo:Yeah. Amazing. I think the thing that's just
Grinder:so amazing about that, it wouldn't be a episode without chefs. Hit that glass.
Pagoda:Hit that glass.
Grinder:I think the thing that's so amazing is just like those numbers are across every category.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's not
Grinder:just cigars we're talking about or, you know, lifestyle thing. Everything. News, sports, entertainment, cigar. That's the most shocking part of that to me.
Chef Ricky:Well, you know, the Yankees haven't done anything yet this season. Surprise.
Gizmo:Your sports podcast are just down. Sorry.
Chef Ricky:Sorry. Just bitter Yankee fan over here.
Gizmo:Sorry. Always bring the Yankees into the conversation.
Grinder:We're gonna be at Wadsotos, dude. Babe's gonna have hives wherever
Chef Ricky:We miss you, Babe.
Gizmo:So I got some other interesting stuff here. This year, I was really happy about this. Our female listenership on Spotify this year rose to nearly 6% of our audience are women. Wow.
Grinder:Thank you.
Chef Ricky:So our wives.
Grinder:I'm sorry.
Gizmo:My wife doesn't wanna hear my voice this much.
Grinder:I'm very glad to hear that. I I feel like we've debated this a little bit on some episodes this year, and one of the things that was a revelation for me at a PCA in New Orleans this year was just how many women listen to podcasts like ours and and smoke cigars like we do. And I think we've all been places where we've seen women smoke a cigar. That that's not, you know, new, but to have spoken to some women who own cigar lounges, who are retailers when we were at PCA and them talking about, you know, them hearing of our podcast or they have their own podcast and and listen to a bunch, there's a bigger community than I think we sometimes expect or realize or give credit for. So I'm actually very glad to see that.
Gizmo:I am too, and I'm so glad that we have lady lizards out there listening to us each week. And I love to see that number growing like you're saying, senator. It's awesome. I think last year it was, like, 3%. So now seeing it close to six, it's that's pretty cool.
Gizmo:So we're still happy voice with memo. Yeah. We need some that would be awesome. We need some lady lizard voice memo.
Grinder:Wants a raspy voice mail.
Rooster:That would be cool.
Gizmo:Woah. So our top five countries this year by listenership and, again, we're just talking about Spotify. We're not talking about any other platform as most of the other platforms don't give us this level of data and summary at the end of the year. So Spotify makes it really easy for us with their wrapped. Our number five country this year was Spain.
Grinder:Very nice.
Gizmo:Number four was Australia. Number three, Canada. Number two, The United Kingdom. And number one was The United States.
Pagoda:I'm surprised with Spain because rest Yeah. Are Well, English
Chef Ricky:you can't smoke anywhere in Spain. I'm shocked they're listening to us.
Gizmo:Yeah. See how they do next year.
Chef Ricky:Think about think
Grinder:about Spain is the largest market for Cuban cigars. Exactly.
Rooster:That's true.
Grinder:Think about, like, the origin of Cuban cigars
Rooster:and, you
Grinder:know, how Spain and Madrid especially was such an epicenter of the distribution for Cuban cigars.
Gizmo:And still is? Still is. Yeah. So here's two more for you boys that I really am proud of. We created six thousand three hundred and forty one minutes of content this year on this podcast.
Grinder:Thank you,
Gizmo:Bam. Which totals out which totals out to nearly a hundred and six hours of content.
Grinder:That's pretty impressive.
Gizmo:In 2025.
Grinder:And every week.
Gizmo:Every week. Every
Chef Ricky:week. Not you. Sir, you
Pagoda:want me Chef of the fire. Right.
Gizmo:Ring the bell. That was a good one. We'll do
Rooster:it live.
Chef Ricky:You set it up.
Gizmo:I'm sorry.
Pagoda:We'll do it live. Fuck it. Do it live. I can I'll write it, and we'll do it live. Fucking thing sucks.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. We're coming to the end of the second third now on the Cohiba Bihike 54. What's everybody thinking?
Pagoda:Not thinking. Yeah. That's excellent.
Gizmo:Yeah. I'll be honest. Listen, the price point on this cigar is ridiculous. We know that. We talk about it.
Gizmo:I mean, the cigar of the year for Cigar Aficionado, one of our top cigars of the year is a $75 cigar. I mean, this being priced at 240 to $350 is obscene. We have to say that. We have to acknowledge that. None of us, no matter what we do tonight, how we rate this, are gonna run out and buy a box of this even if we could.
Gizmo:Even if it was on the shelf at $10.86 here, nobody would be buying a box of those cigars, right, to be smoking often. But with this cigar in our hand, well, Rooster.
Grinder:Yeah, Rooster doesn't look sold.
Rooster:I mean, each puff is $5
Pagoda:Correct. Most of us would buy one cigar and do two in pass.
Gizmo:Yeah. With all that being said, the cigar that we have in our hands tonight, at least for me, this is unbelievable right now.
Pagoda:That's excellent.
Gizmo:It's crazy how good this is.
Pagoda:It's lived up to the hype.
Gizmo:Which is amazing to say for the price point on this cigar.
Pagoda:I know. This is gonna be a tough rating.
Grinder:I think the final third amped up some of the intensity nicely in a good way.
Gizmo:But it's still so very smooth.
Pagoda:Still very smooth. Yeah.
Grinder:No, but Grindr's right. Mean, that's what I was looking for is just a continuous build, exactly like he said, it it definitely builds in the last third.
Chef Ricky:Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:And how are you guys finding the Dalmore King Alexander the third pairing with this, standing on its own? What what are you thinking with that? I think the three hundred twenty hour spirit.
Rooster:Bloom is better. The bloom. The French bloom is better.
Gizmo:I think
Grinder:the bloom does pair nicely with it though.
Gizmo:It does. I agree with you.
Rooster:Yeah. I
Grinder:love it. I think not to be repetitive, I think it's wonderful. I think that the tartness, the tart cherry flavor that I got on finish really resonated with like that. It's like slightly dry, slightly sweet with the barnyard because they're both like, have that duality, and I like that.
Pagoda:It's rich and smooth. Yeah. You know, that's the way I look at it. And you know, ever since Senator mentioned, you talk about the power of suggestion, and he, you know, brought in cognac, and I'm like, oh my God, where am I? Is it between?
Pagoda:It doesn't even matter what it is. It's so good. It's so good.
Gizmo:I mean, the cognac callout was great because when I first sipped it, it was a confusing scotch to
Pagoda:me. Gotcha.
Gizmo:Because it didn't taste like any other scotch that we've had or what I expect from a scotch.
Grinder:I'll be a 100% honest. When I saw that, I wasn't and I saw the Delmore, I'm like, I'm not sure this is a scotch. And not sure it's a cognac either, but it looks like a cognac It's so dark. You don't
Grinder:see That is Delmore though. Really weird. We did the port cast that they have. Portwood Reserve. Portwood Reserve, and it's super dark also.
Grinder:But then
Grinder:you hit it on the nose, and it's so warm and sweet and you taste it. It does taste like a cognac, like you said, an XO.
Chef Ricky:This isn't a complaint from me, but little wish because now the Cohiba is picking up in strength and and it's spiking and it's almost it's it's it's taking over the Dahmore. So a part of me wishes the down more had a slight higher alcohol content. Know, what are we at 40%?
Gizmo:It's 40%.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. So maybe if we were like at 42, 43, there'll be just a little bit of a spike there where it could keep up with what the Cohiba is giving us now, because I think now the Cohiba is kind of surpassed the Dalmore and it's taking over and not and it's still complementing it.
Gizmo:But let's acknowledge, though, how how crazy of a reality that is that We have a single malt scotch that is being overpowered by a mild to medium Cohiba cigar from Cuba.
Grinder:But not in the way that you might think. If you heard that narrative about a scotch being overpowered by a cigar, you're thinking some super light, bready, like soft scotch. No, this is like heavy as fuck. It's rich
Pagoda:in scotch.
Grinder:It's rich, very
Chef Ricky:rich, yeah.
Pagoda:You know, the other thing I would have mentioned is for it to be in six different types of barrels. There's none of the barrel which is overpowering. It's so well balanced. And I'll give you an example like Madeira, right? Madeira is very recognizable.
Pagoda:When you put alcohol in the Madeira cask, it's so recognizable. You can't, this is very, very well balanced. So I don't know how they've been able to achieve it. You know, just trying to make sure that it's being able to gather these flavors from these.
Gizmo:It's like the right amount
Pagoda:for Yeah, it's just, yeah. I like, I'm really enjoying it. This is, but I'm very, like it's a sipping thing, you know? Yeah. When Senator has his, you know, private lounge made in his thing with five or six leather couches, you know, I can imagine myself sitting over there on some He just invited himself over, by the way.
Rooster:Of course. Of course. Him being sip of this bitch. Idiav lives there.
Pagoda:He's the He's
Grinder:the mayor. Honestly, this is as refined a spirit as you may find. I mean, you just think about, like, a momentous occasion, you want something special and memorable, and how just it's luxurious, just the whole experience. To have any spirit drink this smoothly yet delivers so much flavor, it's
Pagoda:awesome.
Grinder:I mean, there's really nothing I can say as far as a complaint. It checks every box. I do think, you know, chef makes a good point that if if we were to have a cigar I mean, it's only really the last third of this Cohiba where it picks up enough in strength that because this scotch is so smooth, it feels like it's overpowering it. You know, this is a rare scotch where if we had a full cigar It would be. It would overpower the the scotch.
Grinder:You you would actually want something different to pair with it, so that's something to be mindful of. But any mild, medium, and medium full but smooth, like Padron smooth cigar would pair well with the spirit. Mhmm.
Gizmo:Agreed. It's a good pairing tonight, boys. I am very, very happy with this. Great way to start the new year. Finish 2025 heading into '26.
Gizmo:What a great cigar and drink.
Chef Ricky:Believe it. Time is flying.
Gizmo:I know, man. I can't believe the year is over.
Pagoda:I can't believe it's been five years since we've been doing this.
Gizmo:Yeah. We're in our fifth year.
Pagoda:Wow. That's
Gizmo:nuts. I mean, next year in, like, early November twenty six, we're gonna have we're gonna celebrate completing five years on Yeah. The Wow. You know, we just did year four effectively with two episode 200. We celebrated fourth anniversary, you know, kinda briefly.
Gizmo:But next year is gonna be a fifth anniversary celebration on the pod.
Grinder:Brick by brick, I guess.
Gizmo:Exactly. Let me ask you this. Now that we're getting introspective for a second. When when you think about the podcast coming up on what will be its fifth birthday next year, doing our fifth New Year's Eve episode, what that feel like to you?
Rooster:I think the time has really flown by. It doesn't feel like it's four years or five years because it's not hard work. We're down there, we enjoy smoking cigars. We're just talking about cigars and these wonderful pairings that you guys have.
Chef Ricky:How do feel about that, Giza? Is it hard work?
Rooster:I mean, for Gizzard, it's hard work
Gizmo:for us.
Rooster:That's why he's funny.
Gizmo:I didn't wanna say it. I don't know. I mean, for me, it's like this is just such a constant for me. It's like, you know, it's kinda like a barometer. Like, no matter what else is going on, it's like, this is going to happen.
Gizmo:We are going to put an episode out. We are going to record an episode. Like, this is a constant part of the week no matter what else is going on. And I think for me, it's like, that is a good kind of, you know, north star for me every week to get ready for it, focus on it, do it, prepare the episode. I mean, for me, that's just how I think about it.
Gizmo:I mean, I know for you guys it's different, you know, that it's just kind of a component of our smoking experience. But
Rooster:Do you feel like a certain amount of pressure that you have to put out this pod every Tuesday morning? It's gotta be done. I mean, obviously, it does have to be done.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I do. I mean, there's been nights where I'm printing the episode at 04:15 in the morning, you know, and it's going up at five.
Gizmo:So I mean, I mean, that's just a reality of it, but it's self inflicted. It's not anybody out there or you guys saying it has to be done or whatever. I do it to myself. Right. But I I kind of feel like I have a streak now.
Chef Ricky:It's an obligation to lizard nation. It is. And it's showing that it's paying off.
Gizmo:I've had two times I've in, I guess, over four years now, in our fifth year, two times that there's been an issue with the upload or something. And, I mean, within fifteen minutes, I'm getting an email. Like, where the hell is the episode? You know? Like, 05:15 in the morning, I'm getting an email.
Gizmo:So, I mean, Lizard Nation is awesome for that, and it it it makes me very proud that we've built something that
Grinder:Lizard nation is big on accountability. Accountability.
Pagoda:We are. What's people. What's your response? I I got payroll this morning. Just come back.
Grinder:Oh, the payroll.
Gizmo:No, it wasn't my fault. Was the The episode was done, Pagan. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty amazing.
Gizmo:So what are some of you other guys think about coming up on five years next year, this being our fifth New Year's Eve?
Chef Ricky:I mean, I haven't been on five years, but it's been a minute for me.
Gizmo:You're on what? A year and a half now?
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I can't believe it's been that long. It's crazy.
Grinder:He's still in his trial period.
Gizmo:Yeah. His Sam still has you
Chef Ricky:on a pip. Look, outside of my marriage, being a parent and my career, this is the next longest thing I've ever done. So that's it's awesome, and hopefully it keeps going.
Grinder:I think, you know, what's been fun this year, we've probably read and covered more listener email than we ever have. Absolutely. And I think we've all talked about, you know, the thing that kind of inspires us to keep this thing going is all the feedback that we get and, you know, the amazing stories we hear and the impact that a podcast and and cigars have on other people's lives. I mean, we know what it means to us in this room, but to hear from people not just in The US, but around the world what this does for them and what this means to them, I think that's why we obviously keep doing it. So, you know, I'm excited to hear from even more listeners, from even more places next year, and, you know, I I hope and think we'll do some some really special things to find even more meaningful ways to engage listeners beyond them putting in their earbuds or playing us in the car.
Grinder:I think we'll have a lot of exciting opportunities for for listeners next year.
Gizmo:Nice tease, senator. Nice tease. Pagoda, how about you?
Pagoda:Yeah. Like, I can't believe it's been five years. I still think I'm getting younger by the day, and over here, it's five years gone. What? I've hit 50 already?
Pagoda:Wow. No. No, just overall, it's been wonderful. Obviously, I think when we kind of started, you know, we didn't know where it was going. And, you know, a part of me still feels like we have no I just can't believe that so much time has gone.
Pagoda:And I must say one thing, you know, to the friendships, to the experiences, to the global travel we've done together.
Gizmo:Lost cases. May they all rest in peace.
Pagoda:All 10 of them. But you know, we've grown and evolved. You know, we are a family. And it's, I think I've enjoyed that the most. And the engagement with the lizards, you know, through the email has definitely added a very, very interesting and good dimension.
Pagoda:And, you know, I hope, you know, we can continue this in terms of delivering and being a part of the whole community because at the end of the day, you know, we're a part of the larger community. So looking forward to more years and fantastic, and thank you, Gert, for always taking on the responsibility.
Grinder:Think about, again, how fast it's gone. It seems like there's a lot that's happened in everyone's life together as well, and we've all kind of tracked along with that. I think there's, you know, I wish there were more like, I don't think there's anything like this else in my life that we get to hang out and smoke cigars, and it's something that I really appreciate and I'm grateful to have to hitch, you know, to be a part of. So thank you guys for for that. You know, that's I'm I come every time I come here, I wish I could I could be involved more over the especially this past year.
Grinder:It's a good time
Grinder:for New Year's resolutions.
Grinder:Yep. Exactly.
Gizmo:We're not doing any bijiques next year.
Grinder:Fortunately, we're in a good run with the one year. He's coming up on one year, so I think we're getting in a nice sweet spot.
Rooster:But yeah, Please show up for the black honeys and the last colorful years.
Gizmo:And the agonorses. Right?
Pagoda:Kids. Let us know when he's coming because we know it's going be a tenten episode.
Grinder:No, like I said, I'm grateful be to have my role in this wonderful play.
Rooster:Well said.
Gizmo:Yeah. I like that. Oh, Shakespeare. Boys. So we ran a contest a couple weeks ago on our Thanksgiving episode, and we all listed out our perfect Thanksgiving plate which included an appetizer, side of Maine, a cigar, and a pairing.
Gizmo:We asked listeners, lizards out there, you, to go onto our Instagram and cast a vote and also to share it to some of your friends. So I've summed up Pigs
Rooster:in a blanket.
Gizmo:What happened. By the way, pigs in a blanket, huge hit on Thanksgiving. Thank you.
Rooster:And by
Gizmo:the way, can mustard. Post
Pagoda:Can you post a picture of the new pigs in a blanket
Gizmo:for Chef the found. By the way, were supposed to bring me
Chef Ricky:a I massive totally forgot.
Gizmo:So explain what we're talking about.
Pagoda:Yes. And you gotta put it on Instagram.
Chef Ricky:So next to Anejo and Tribeca, a new cafe opened up a Greek bakery. And every once in a while they put up, it's called Ardean Cafe or something like that. They put up new pastries and I walked in there for a cup of coffee and lo and behold, there was a massive pig in a blanket.
Gizmo:Was The people were looking
Chef Ricky:for it. It was an entire hot dog wrapped in in pastry. And I sent you a picture, I totally meant to bring you one that day.
Rooster:Isn't that a corn dog?
Chef Ricky:No. No. No. No. No dog is Corn dog is dipped in batter
Gizmo:and Yeah. We don't want that.
Pagoda:I actually chef Lentin asking for a. Honey, I can never
Gizmo:I've never had a corn dog. I'm not a corn guy. I don't like a corn
Chef Ricky:dog. No.
Rooster:No. I like the texture. No.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. No. No. A good mustard? Are you kidding me?
Chef Ricky:You're a big mustard guy.
Gizmo:Nope. I like it on a very spicy mustard. I do not want the corn thing on the hot dog. I want classic. Could not
Grinder:be more anti corn dog.
Gizmo:Really? I'm with you on that. I hate corn dogs.
Grinder:I actually especially hate the texture. Really?
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I like it. I like it. Well, thanks for
Gizmo:bringing me that pigs in a blanket.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. It can't be a shitty hot dog. Has to be like a nice snappy beef hot dog. Don't give a
Pagoda:I was about to say, Don't give it depends
Rooster:me on what turkey you hot do with dog.
Chef Ricky:Bam was here.
Gizmo:Yeah. So we got a we got a bunch of votes here and I tallied it up. So we'll go from the bottom. Chef got one vote. Chef, he's a professional after all, was the vote.
Chef Ricky:I got less votes than rooster?
Gizmo:No. You got the same amount of votes as rooster.
Rooster:Oh my god.
Chef Ricky:That's I I'll
Gizmo:go with roosters if I could swap to real beef Wellington and Paul Roger. And then lizard Enrique said, I'm gonna go with rooster so I can be the one. So I discounted that one. I had four votes. I have to go with Gizmo's lineup.
Gizmo:Gizmo's lineup for me. My win has to go to Giz. And
Chef Ricky:Pigs in the blank.
Pagoda:Senator wins.
Gizmo:Senator with eight votes. Henrito wrote, I'm going with my QB. Senator for sure. Senator gets my vote. It's senator without a doubt.
Gizmo:Gizmo's a close second. Senator is the winner by a country mile.
Grinder:Sounds like a far second.
Gizmo:Yeah. That's my fifth. I'm just reading comments.
Pagoda:Alright. Alright. Wizard comments. Alright. Alright.
Gizmo:Senator gets my vote and senator for sure. So senator wins with eight votes on our Thanksgiving lineup.
Chef Ricky:In the
Gizmo:land. I know. I know what's
Rooster:going on.
Gizmo:I know what's going on.
Grinder:I got last pick at the main course. But you also had a
Gizmo:d four Paul Roger and caviar. I mean I
Grinder:didn't get the first pick
Gizmo:out the violin out What for
Grinder:else do you want? People went before me on all those. You could have picked them. That's true. But some of us chose pigs in a blanket somehow.
Gizmo:Listen. I had pigs in a blanket on Thanksgiving with a very high positive Excellent.
Grinder:Grinder wasn't here for this. Just imagine this. I pick caviar to start Thanksgiving, and fucking Gizmo picks pigs in a blanket.
Gizmo:I mean, what are
Grinder:we doing? There's a difference. He's from Northeast Pennsylvania. Correct.
Gizmo:You're from Bougie, New Jersey. There's a bit of
Grinder:a cultural dynamic going on.
Pagoda:That's correct. And mind you, on Thanksgiving, Giz wears a jacket to eat that pigs in a blanket.
Gizmo:I do. I put my sport coat on. His hoodie. And my shorts.
Chef Ricky:A sport coat with
Pagoda:a hoodie.
Gizmo:And my shorts. So we did say that any listener who voted and tagged two friends on Instagram was gonna win a 10 count box of cigars. So I put it in the randomizer. I put every lizard's name who commented in the randomizer. And user Matts fan one, Lizard Ed has won himself a 10 count box of Bond Roberts cigars.
Gizmo:Wow. So, of course, thanks to Bond Roberts cigars for sponsoring us and helping us out with our lizards of the week and this contest here. And congratulations to Lizard Ed for winning his 10 count box of Bon Robert cigars.
Chef Ricky:We don't have a clapping song bite there
Gizmo:on that? I don't have a clap. No.
Grinder:Sorry. Congrats, Lizard Ed.
Gizmo:Next year. Congrats to Lizard Ed. Maybe next year, chef. Alright, boys. Let's go into some listener email now.
Gizmo:First up, this one is from Lizard Anthony. He sent us a picture of the same exact bottle Yeah. Of Paul Roger Winston Churchill 2015 that we had. He said, hi. I was for business in Dubai, and I was invited for dinner at Nobu Dubai place.
Gizmo:Oh. I would love to know what the bill was there. I saw the name Paul Roger that I know through the lizards and that you guys like it. Mamma Mia, it was the best ever. Also, the cigar related story was amazing.
Gizmo:I smoked a Cohiba Siglo one.
Chef Ricky:I bet you his amused booj was a fucking pig in a blanket.
Grinder:Not not with the budget he's got.
Gizmo:Oh, correct. Lizard Anthony from Belgium from Dubai with love, and he sent us this awesome photo of the Winston Churchill sir Winston Churchill 2015 from Paul Roger.
Grinder:I mean, can you imagine Dubai what that must have cost?
Rooster:At Nobu.
Gizmo:Imagine. Mean, it's gotta be $1,500. Right?
Pagoda:Yeah. Exactly.
Gizmo:It's gotta be a five x, right, on its value? Insane. I would think so. At least. Alright, boys.
Gizmo:Let's go now to a voice memo. This one is from our friend, Lizard Rob. He said, I've got a voice memo about Sonata issues, and I need some new tower advice. I forgot to mention in the memo that I'm gonna be using a cigar oasis in my tower. Also, if it makes the cut for the podcast, the other lizards lizards should know that there won't be any more gizmo praise in this voice memo, so there's nothing to fear.
Gizmo:Here's lizard Rob's voice memo.
Rob from Houston:Hey, Lizard. It's Rob from Houston again. I just got done listening to the Aganorsa episode. And in light of how bad your experiences were with that cigar, I'd like to recant my suggestion to try the Aganorsa fumapack. I don't wanna be held guilty for another bad experience for you guys, so I like to take that off the books if that helps.
Rob from Houston:But I was listening to chef Ricky's issues that he's having with sonatas and his U tower. I'm having issues with my Sonatas as well. And I also bought the same tower that Ricky bought, but I haven't received it yet. So my issues are with the Tupper doors, and I've been using 62% Bovitas in the tupperdors. And the Sonatas just haven't had the same flavor that they have, like, in the lounge when I bought them when I bought them fresh.
Rob from Houston:They just lack the citrus notes, and they're just dull. And I thought maybe it was because the humidity is so high in Houston that whenever I smoke outside, the humidity hits the cigar, and it just loses all that flavor. So what I tried to do is I experimented and I took one of the ones on my tupper door, took it to a lounge and smoked it there. And it's same thing. It was dull, no flavor.
Rob from Houston:And a week later, I went to the same lounge and bought a Sonata from their humidor and smoked it, and it smoked great. It had all the citrus notes. So I don't know if it's because the Tupperdors don't get the same airflow or if my humidity is too high or too low. I've been having a hard time figuring it out. But also because I'm getting the same tower Ricky has got, my question is, what humidity do you guys think I should run it at being living in Houston?
Rob from Houston:And right now, you know, the humidity is not too crazy, but do I should I run it at 63, 64%? And and if you have any other suggestions for the sonatas, I'd love to hear it. And I appreciate it, and I'll I'll keep listening. Thank you.
Gizmo:So thanks, Lizard Rob, for sending that voice memo. I gotta say, I've not had that experience with Sonata, so I'm curious what you guys have experienced with that.
Grinder:So I'll say this. I I obviously probably smoke as many, if not more Sonata as anybody here. That cigar, if it is too humid, particularly in Tupperware, does not smoke properly. Really? Does not.
Grinder:It needs airflow. So first of all, him getting a tower is gonna help dramatically improve that situation.
Gizmo:Because it has the fans in it. Remember Ricky, there's like a push I button fan
Grinder:mean, I don't have fans in my tower, and even without that, it is dramatic the difference. Like, I will never smoke a Sonata out of Tupperware. I will move it to my tower, and that's gotta sit for like a month, and then they're dialed in and ready to go. I would say first of all, I mean, to be in a hot place like Houston, I would probably use like 58 bovadas in those Tupperware that he has. You know, if he was in the Northeast, 62 might be fine, but I think he should do 58.
Grinder:And I think the tower, he should take them out of the box, let them be loose in the trays that will come or he can buy in addition to that tower, and the smoking experience will be completely different. I mean, fact that he's saying he's going into retailers in Houston and smoking it, and it's great. There's airflow. Right? There's constantly I mean, first of I'm sure these
Gizmo:are very humidity is imperfect, there's something happening.
Grinder:Exactly. Exactly. So I I really think it's as simple as that. He needs to bring down the humidity in his Tupperware, use a 58 Boveda, and then having actual airflow with a tower will dramatically improve it. But that cigar is very sensitive.
Grinder:I I can't emphasize it.
Grinder:I think there's something to be to be said there. I think you're I think you're I think you're right. I'm smoking a Sonata right now. I was smoking one before. I I've never had a problem with a Sonata that got a little too dry.
Grinder:I've only had a problem if it got a little too wet. Yep. So if it gets a little dry, there's like a lot of it seems to me there's more room for error on the drier side. The air thing is interesting. I didn't you know, I wouldn't even think of that.
Grinder:But
Chef Ricky:I'm on the other side of Lizard Rob in that, you know, a a few weeks ago, I had mentioned how my tower might have gotten a little dry or on the drier side. And those the Sonatas, I mean, they've been in my tower since since I got them, since I got the tower pretty much. So a year, you know, and initially they were they were smoking great. As they sat in my tower, they just have not been the flavor has been kind of muddled. I haven't been getting citrus.
Chef Ricky:It's not been a cigar that I've been going for, honestly, because it's just not been what I remember. It's what I remember in the beginning. So I don't know. It seems like if it's too wet or if it's too dry, in my case, too dry might have been 58 or just below that because it took me a minute before I realized that I was drying out a little quicker than I was anticipating in my tower. So I don't know.
Chef Ricky:In my case, I keep my tower at about 63. When I did realize it was drying out a little bit, it was probably at 54 when I caught it.
Gizmo:Which we did talk about on a recent episode that you were catching some light issues.
Rooster:Yep.
Gizmo:Some potential leakage issues that you had to repair.
Chef Ricky:And since then, I've gotten, you know, to senator suggestions, some very thin insulation. It's a very thin foam, like eighth of an inch, you know, the thinnest I could get, And I just put it along the areas where I saw, you know, some light coming through. So it seems to have to be retaining humidity much better now. But, you know, maybe the Sonatas need more time to acclimate. But from what I've been getting, I think I tried one last week or a week and a half ago sitting in my garage.
Chef Ricky:And it's it. Yeah. It wasn't it wasn't hitting on all cylinders
Gizmo:for sure. I think Senator's point, by the way, about high humidity situations, running a lower Boveda to make sure that because if you here's the point with Tupperware or anything else. Wherever you are, when you open that door and you introduce whatever the ambient air is with that humidity into the tower, Tupperware, desktop, whatever you have Especially a Tupperware. It's It's quite a blast because once you do that, you capture that air. So every time you open that Tupperware to grab some cigars, you're capturing that very wet air in if it's Florida, if it's in Houston, wherever, you know, if it's in Texas, wherever it is.
Chef Ricky:Northeast in the summer.
Gizmo:In the summer in the Northeast, you're capturing that very wet air. So that's great advice from Senator. And also, in Tupperware, Boveda runs hot, as we always say. So a 58 Boveda in an airtight Tupperware is gonna run closer to 61, 62. In a humid situation, you need to be erring on that side as opposed to over humidifying.
Gizmo:So I think that Grindr and Senator's point about, you know, drying it out too much, I know you're having a different experience.
Chef Ricky:Maybe it's just Chef, but bad boxes.
Pagoda:Could be. Could be.
Grinder:Think that the vessel matters. You're right. Because it it like like you said, it traps it, and there's nowhere for it to go, and it doesn't move.
Gizmo:Yeah.
Grinder:The airflow thing I think the airflow levels out the shock, and in the absence of the airflow, the shock in a place like Houston is too much maybe.
Grinder:And and I would say to that listener, wherever he keeps his Tupperware to just find like the coolest, driest part of
Gizmo:his home
Grinder:that he can keep it in. And I say that because like, my tower is in like my finished basement. My Tupperware, I actually keep in an unfinished storage closet that is also my wine cellar because it's cooler and drier there. So it's not fighting, you know, higher humidity in there. If anything, like, it's lower, and the bovod is able to actually be closer to what it should be than if I moved it into a finished part of my house that might be a little bit higher in humidity.
Grinder:So wherever he can move that that is at all cooler or drier, whether it's in a home, an apartment, whatever the case is, will help make sure that that humidity is not rising much higher than the actual boboda is supposed to
Gizmo:be at.
Rooster:I think once he gets the tower, will be his solution. Once it comes out of the Tupperware and it has more area to breathe, those cigars will just come back to life.
Grinder:And I'll just quickly say on chef's point, a Sonata, when it gets too dry, will lose its intended flavor. I came home, I had, let's say, a Sonata in my cigar case, I left it out for days and forgot about it. Yeah. And then just lit it thinking, oh, maybe it'll be okay. And no, it's not.
Grinder:Like, said, like, it kinda lost the oils, yours, all I've had that experience, so I don't think it's a bad box. I think that you kind of got to hydrate those cigars and hope that they can come back to where they should be.
Rooster:And temperature too. Mean, I have left cigars in a case in the car when the temperature drops to like 35, 40 degrees out, that cigar does not taste the same. You have to take it out, put it back in the tower, and smoke something else because it's going to take some time for it to get back to life.
Gizmo:As a reminder to listeners, humidity, as we read it here, is relative humidity. It's relative to the temperature. So temperature is very important to the experience you have with your cigars. It's you know, if you wanna consider the amount of moisture in the cigars, the delta between the relative humidity and the temperature that it's relative to. So temperature's very important.
Gizmo:I mean, the baseline is room temperature. 68, 70 ish on temperature, and then comparing your humidity to that.
Chef Ricky:Temperature is tougher for me to regulate. My tower is in my basement, so during the winter, basement's at 63 all the time. Summertime, I don't have air conditioning down there, but it never really goes above 80 degrees. So I'd say the towers anywhere between 63 to 79, 80 degrees throughout the year. But for Lizard Rob, you're in for a treat with this tower.
Chef Ricky:It's really fun to put together and assemble and it's an awesome experience. What I would say is make sure, obviously, you're on level ground. I have some wobble wedges just propped under wobble wedges for those that don't know in the restaurant.
Gizmo:Is that what you put in the Crocs, a wobble wedge?
Chef Ricky:No, no. Wobble wedges like plastic shimmies and we use them in the restaurant business to prop under tables that are maybe a little wobbly. So I had some at home and we put them, Giz came over and helped me assemble my tower. Not that I needed much assembly, but he helped me tune it in. And we put some wobble wedges under some of the corners because that corner of the basement was just slightly off level.
Chef Ricky:So that probably has something to do with why I see some light or saw some light in areas of the door. So just make sure you're on a level surface near a plug and you have everything ready to go. All of your humidification devices, all six of them that Gizmo will tell you to buy.
Gizmo:I was going there right now. Nice tee up, chef. The most important thing in this discussion is having accurate data. Obviously, we did a whole episode tonight on data. Right?
Gizmo:But you've gotta have calibrated hygrometers. You have to. If you have a Pagoda doesn't have any idea what I'm talking
Grinder:about. Nope.
Gizmo:Five years in. Five five New Year's Eve episodes. Have you ever put a hygrometer in your tower?
Pagoda:No. I do have the Gobies. Are they calibrated?
Gizmo:No. Okay. So you have to calibrate your Gobies.
Pagoda:No advice to me.
Gizmo:You have to calibrate your hygrometers and have accurate data. You cannot pull them out of the box and trust them. You have to calibrate them. So tune into a you know, I don't know what episode it was, but we've done a couple conversations about tuning up your you know, calibrating your hygrometers on episodes past. So definitely tune into that.
Gizmo:And, you know, great conversation here, boys. Thanks to lizard Rob for sharing that voice memo with us. We really appreciate it. Alright, boys. It's time now for our lizard of the week presented by Bond Roberts.
Grinder:Bond. Bond Roberts.
Gizmo:I still think it's hilarious that we're doing that every week. But our lizard of the week this week, boys, is lizard John in Cleveland, and he has an email for us with the subject line white whales. And he starts gentle
Pagoda:rocks. Cleveland rocks.
Gizmo:Wasn't that the theme song for the Drew Carey show? Yeah. Yeah. He says, longtime fan of the pod. I listen every week.
Gizmo:While I'm not a huge proponent of the gravitation to more non Cubans than Cubans, I understand why it makes sense. Difficulty in procuring Cubans, price, plenty of reasons to branch off into more readily obtainable options, and non Cubans have been experiencing a bit of a renaissance. With that being said, you guys need to smoke more white whales. You know, hard to find Cubans, rarity, special cigars in your humidors. I don't mean regularly, of course, but what's the point in acquiring all these unbelievable cigar collections to let them collect dust forever?
Gizmo:I believe if everyone found a special cigar in the humidor and contributed one selection to the cause, you guys could have some legendary all caps smokes. But please, let's be honest. Who wouldn't be excited to hear an episode where you smoke something rare and special? Maybe sprinkle it in once a quarter. As a guy who has a cigar aficionado subscription, just so I can thumb through to the review page for aged cigars, I don't think I'm alone in wanting you to sprinkle in a connoisseur's corner if you will.
Gizmo:Cheers. And please stop giving things to Johnny the Greek. He's already got a big head as it is. Lizard John from Cleveland. So he's gonna be our lizard of the week, boys.
Gizmo:And he's gonna win exactly. He's gonna win a 10 count box of Bon Robert cigars because of this hilarious email. But I'm curious what you guys think about smoking more white whales.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Oh, I'm on board.
Gizmo:I mean, we're smoking one tonight.
Pagoda:One tonight for sure. I you know, I could get used to this life. The amount of ash the amount of ash
Rooster:I know. It's going up
Chef Ricky:this every week. Unbelievable.
Gizmo:By the way, this Cohiba, the AK 54. The ash and the construction was, like, impeccable.
Pagoda:Look at this.
Gizmo:What am I looking at?
Pagoda:It's like to the nerve.
Gizmo:What does it have to do with the ash on your belly?
Pagoda:I don't know.
Gizmo:Life. So what do you guys think about smoking more white whales? I mean, rooster, you All All in. In. I know you would love to.
Gizmo:I mean, the problem is is the acquisition. And and for me, here's the real reason for me. And you guys could agree or disagree on this. I, you know, I know that listeners like to hear us do something that we really rave about or or that we love and is rare, it's special, etcetera. But to do that on a regular basis, to do something that another listener, a lizard out there can't acquire, that's where I question the value of smoking something that is unobtainium,
Chef Ricky:Well, let's call he'd once a quarter. So if that's four cigars out of the year, it's not, you know, it is something to look
Rooster:forward Or even less.
Pagoda:And Russo can sponsor it. Don't worry about it.
Gizmo:I agree with you on that.
Pagoda:Just from his towers. The nineteen fifty tower, 60 tower, 70 tower, 80.
Chef Ricky:This has officially become an aging room podcast
Pagoda:all of
Gizmo:a sudden. Yeah. Of us, by the way, put down We have finished our bajitas. We're about to get to our ratings, but we've all lit aging room cigars. I mean, I
Grinder:agree with the listener in terms of you know, a few times a year, and I think we do try to do that. I mean, every New Year's, we try to do a celebratory cigar. When we have a milestone episode, you know, 100, 200, 300, something like that, we're gonna light up something, you know, pretty special, you know, a annual milestone, you know, the fifth year of the pod to the day. I'm sure we'll do something special for that. But to do it with any more regularity than that, you know, for me, the the cigars that I get most excited about, and I think this is true of the overwhelming majority of our listeners, are things that are at a price point and that are obtainable that they can become part of our daily rotation.
Grinder:You know, I love we did, you know, a a $2,300 cigar tonight. That's great. Am I gonna go out and buy this and smoke this, you know, at all with any regularity? No chance. So I think for things that are gonna be the most useful for our listeners or really any cigar smoker are things that people can go into a shop, can pick that cigar up off the shelf, or can order it online and make that part of their kind of routine.
Grinder:So I think that's where we're just trying to strike a balance, but it takes nothing away from, you know, the listener's commentary that on special occasions, we obviously want to do stuff like that. But I don't think it can be much more often than that.
Rooster:I mean, what is the data behind when you do a connoisseur's corner? Like, do you get more listeners? Do they listen more? I mean
Gizmo:The problem is, Rooster, even like we talked about what our biggest episode of the year was, the problem every week, it's more. You know? So it's hard to compare apples to apples because it it's actually, I don't think, representative of what's actually happening because, you know, new folks are finding us and new folks are they're having it hit on their Discover page or whatever it is, and more folks are listening. So I don't know how to answer that question, honestly.
Grinder:I think the comment about access is probably the most important one underlying all the programming is because it has to be operationalized. We're here to talk about cigars that our listeners can enjoy. That's been the raisin des terres since day one.
Gizmo:Oh, it that's a big word.
Grinder:Will continue to be so.
Grinder:Grinders back.
Pagoda:I love to look it up, by the way. Pull out your dictionaries. Tell you
Chef Ricky:how many times I've chat GPT whatever Grindr says today.
Grinder:No. But seriously, you know, I think it goes to the spirit of what the podcast is, and, you know, we're going to smoke what we have access to. For a while, we had access to a lot of Cubans, and now we don't. So we're going to smoke what we have access to, and it's opened up a whole new world that we're grateful for.
Gizmo:And I want to point one more thing going back to the data. If you think about 1,400 people just on Spotify, not on Apple, Google, elsewhere, wherever else. Apple Podcasts. Apple Podcasts is probably the biggest of all of them. But if 1,400 people on Spotify were in their top 10 of shows or content they consume there, The idea that 1,400 people can't go out, even half of them or a third of them or 10% of them can't go out and find that cigar that we're reviewing, that's a challenge for me.
Grinder:And the only other thing I just wanna add and maybe challenge kind of the premise of the listener's question is, it is not the case that the most expensive cigars are the best cigars. Yeah. We've proven that over five years. I mean, we're smoking a bihike now, and I'm sorry. There are cigars at a dramatically lower price point that I'd still pick over this cigar if I had to choose one of the two to smoke.
Grinder:So I also just don't want it to be at all an implicit assumption that just like, oh, well, you know, any of these higher, crazily priced cigars that we do are like these grail cigars everyone should go out and pursue. That that's really not the case.
Rooster:True. I mean, even when we did the Baixe five eight, it didn't rate that well.
Gizmo:Yeah. Rated a seven three. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:It did not do well. So I'd love to hear what other listeners think about this. Of course, we're in the room here. We're doing this every week, but I'd love to hear what you listeners out there, whether you can access these cigars or not. You know, a lot of our audiences outside The US, they have an easier time finding these, you know, Cuban cigars that are more rare or hard to find than folks in The US.
Gizmo:But I wanna hear from folks. What do you think about us smoking cigars that are really not obtainable? As as as Lizard John from Cleveland is presenting here, that idea of us smoking more of them, I'm curious what you think of that. So please, do send us an email and share with us what you think. And, again, congratulations and thanks to Lizard John in Cleveland for being our final lizard of the week for 2025, and he's gonna win a 10 count box of cigars from Bon Roberts.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. We're coming to the end of our evening now with the Dalmore King Alexander the third single malt scotch whiskey and the Cohiba Bajique 54 from Cuba. Any final thoughts here before we get to our ratings? I'm really curious how this is gonna go.
Pagoda:My only complaint is that it should have been double the size.
Gizmo:And I almost forgot. We did do the French bloom blanc nonalcoholic champagne. So we also have to rate that.
Pagoda:Oh, do we? We do.
Gizmo:So we are gonna start there and grinder, you're up. Good luck. Welcome back.
Rooster:How am I supposed
Pagoda:to rate this? It's have another shot.
Grinder:It's it's It's juicy. It's mineralized like juice. I don't know. It's very refreshing. I would drink this on a Didn't you say
Gizmo:you were gonna drink it on conference calls?
Grinder:On a conference call. It's great for a conference call. I'm gonna give it a nine.
Gizmo:All right, Chef.
Grinder:Why? I don't know.
Gizmo:We're trying our best, folks. All right, Chef.
Chef Ricky:Listen, I've had a few non alcoholic sparkling champagne and various in the category. For me, this is by far the best one. So I'm giving it a 10. You know, I think it's it's a great it's a great bottle to bring to a celebration. It's a great bottle to bring to a group of sophisticated nonalcoholics and they'll enjoy it.
Grinder:Wait, wait, does this go on the same list as like all the other stuff we reviewed?
Gizmo:Oh, Can I resend my score?
Pagoda:No. Want you want it to be a 10? No. Because you you only come in for tens. Alright.
Grinder:I'll keep my streak alive.
Gizmo:Alright. Pagoda.
Pagoda:Well Be honest, Pagoda. Alright. You know what? I'll give it an eight. I don't think I'll pick it up, being very honest.
Pagoda:I also think that, you know, it was, what do you call, effervescent? You know, the bubbly like, once it sat down, it did become a little tasty. It was refreshing in a way. But it doesn't it doesn't feel like alcohol. It's like, you know, if you go to Trader Joe's and you pick
Gizmo:up
Rooster:one It's of these supposed to feel like alcohol.
Pagoda:Yeah. But, you know, Trader Joe's are these lemonades and, you know, the effervescent Effervescent. Effervescent lemonades
Rooster:You're couple of different good. Yeah. Let's go next. Next.
Pagoda:I I thought I was I thought I was being very generous.
Rooster:Starts comparing this to a lemonade.
Chef Ricky:Mean, come on. And you have a Puerto Rican correct Yeah.
Pagoda:It's not juice at the end of the day. It's a juice at the end of the day. What makes there's nothing champagne
Gizmo:about it.
Rooster:It's a $30 bottle
Gizmo:of juice.
Pagoda:I would rather pay $4 and get a lemonade. I'm just saying. I'm kidding. No. No.
Pagoda:I've listen, guys. I, you know
Rooster:You know, the value is not to somebody who drinks alcohol. Value is not somebody who does not
Pagoda:drink Exactly.
Rooster:And is looking for It
Grinder:should be its own category.
Pagoda:Should be its own category. And then we can compare with those. Because, you know, the thing is if you have nonalcoholic beer, some of them are fantastic. It didn't feel fantastic for me, and that's what it had. But I think it was pretty generous.
Rooster:Yeah, but out of all the champagnes that are out there, I don't know how many sparkling, I should really say sparkling, This is probably one of the best that's out there. And the rose version of this is even better than this because it's a little bit drier and it's closer to the real champagne.
Pagoda:No, I'll definitely try it for sure.
Rooster:It is what it is.
Pagoda:It is.
Gizmo:So for me, it's a nine. I think it's a really nice entrant. I I I totally would drink this. I'll totally buy it. So Why are
Rooster:you guys laughing?
Pagoda:Oh, lord.
Gizmo:I feel like I started a a trip. No. I I'm very I thought I meant was
Pagoda:Twilight seven. Couldn't go to seven or five because you guys were giving it 10. When chef Ricky gives it a 10, how could he give it a five? I I think You know, the
Grinder:pressure. And it's category.
Gizmo:No. I think for what it is, I think it's very good. I think it's very accessible. I think for someone who doesn't drink, this is a really, really awesome option.
Pagoda:Would you pay 30 This bucks for
Chef Ricky:is a bottle I would be excited to bring to someone who doesn't drink.
Gizmo:I agree with you.
Pagoda:Like Rooster. Yeah. On his birthday.
Chef Ricky:A 100%. He would be extremely grateful for it.
Gizmo:I agree with you. So for me, it's a nine. I I thought it was a really nice pairing tonight. I thought it paired great with the cigar, the Cuban cigar we had tonight. I I I'm I'm very happy with it, so it's a nine for me.
Gizmo:Senator,
Grinder:who's shaking his head? This is actually the most frustrating rating we've ever done Right.
Gizmo:For me. Really?
Pagoda:Do you
Grinder:agree, Mark?
Pagoda:Easily. You you understand what
Grinder:I'm This is outrageous, so I'm just gonna break down my pain points here.
Gizmo:Can you just give it a
Chef Ricky:one to level out
Grinder:this? No. It's not a one. No. No.
Grinder:Because because in fairness, I'm not gonna give it an awful score. It's not it's not bad.
Pagoda:Bad. It's not bad.
Grinder:But my problems are I mean, number one, I'm hearing things like, for what's out there? Who cares what's out there? We know what champagne is meant to taste like, and if someone doesn't drink, they want as close to an experience as they can get to that, and that's what we're really striving for. And, you know, years ago when there were not many nonalcoholic beers, that doesn't mean we give O'Douls a 10 because there was nothing else really out there. Like, if it's not great, it is what it is.
Grinder:And I think beer is like an important benchmark because you look at, you know, athletic. Club Obviously, really I do drink alcohol, and athletic beer, some of those drink like an alcoholic beer. I can have that the blue can, the Summer ale or something? No. No.
Chef Ricky:IPA. The wave Well,
Grinder:I think the wave runner IPA. The blue cans, that tastes like a beer. Like, it's it's so gross. Do It took so many years. It's that they were trying for longer than they have in this category.
Grinder:People haven't been seriously trying to make a nonalcoholic champagne until recently. Beer, they've been trying for ages and finally now have have found a way to do it that actually tastes like a beer. So, you know, when I compare again, this is meant to be an analog to the alcoholic version. For me, problems I have, it's drinkable, it's fine, it's probably the best option for someone who's looking for a nonalcoholic
Pagoda:You mean to say someone like Rooster, yeah.
Grinder:Yeah. Yes. Correct, Fagoda. The the problems for me are it's too sweet. They really should have made this drier.
Grinder:Like, for this to be a blanc and not meant to be their rose, I have no idea why they went as sweet as they did. Now it's not extremely sweet, which I would have taken several points off if that were the case, but it's still too sweet for what's meant to be like the closest analog that they can make to a like bruit champagne. The other thing, you know, the the flavor profile of this, like, several people said it. Like, it it drinks like sparkling fruit juice.
Pagoda:Fruit juice.
Grinder:And that's not what champagne or sparkling wine has meant. It needs more acidity there. It doesn't have that. That being said, is it drinkable? Absolutely.
Grinder:Are there some pleasant characteristics about it? Definitely. So for me, I'm at a seven, and I can understand a seven or an eight, but a nine or a 10 is just absurd. I'm sorry.
Pagoda:Agree with the alternative.
Grinder:You drank champagne sparkling wine, like, you can't say that this is that anywhere near close to that experience, and I'm reserving the day that I can award a nine or a 10 for a sparkling that truly gets as close as athletic has been able to now do with beer. It took a long time, but they got there. Someday someone's gonna figure this out, but I I have to give it a seven. I I think it's outrageous to give that a nine or a 10.
Pagoda:And chef Ricky, I hope you're taking notes.
Chef Ricky:I am. You know what? And I'm sorry, senator. I do not disagree with you. You're 100% right.
Chef Ricky:It takes me back to the very first episode I've ever heard of this podcast, which was you guys reviewing Don Julio, Anejo or Reposado, and you gave it a nine. And I was talking about. And it started this. It started my whole journey with you guys. So it makes sense that the resident wine expert of the group gave it the lowest score.
Chef Ricky:And that's probably the truest score among us because he is the expert of that category. So you're 100% correct.
Gizmo:With that being
Chef Ricky:said, you used
Gizmo:to hear rooster.
Rooster:So I actually prefer the rose over the blanc. And I think the rose would score a bit higher because it's a bit drier. It's closer to it's not a champagne. It's a sparkling wine. So let's call it what it is.
Rooster:Yes, it is for most people. This is sweeter, but I think somebody who drinks like Proseccos, they would appreciate this. A lot of women would like this. And I think it pairs well enough with a cigar or for somebody who does not So want it's a good choice. So for the LeBlanc, I think I'm at an eight.
Rooster:I do prefer the rose just because it's a bit drier.
Chef Ricky:Can I change my rating?
Pagoda:Oh, there you go. No, chef.
Chef Ricky:Grander fucked me up.
Pagoda:We'll remind you of.
Gizmo:I felt bad. Alright, boys. The formal liquor rating tonight on the French Bloom nonalcoholic blanc sparkling wine is an 8.5, which I think is a fine rating. Senator is stressing, but it's a bit I think it's a fine rating.
Grinder:I think it should be over an eight.
Gizmo:I'm sorry. I I think it's a really, really well drinking. I I think it's a nice pairing And it paired great with cigars. I mean, that
Pagoda:is It did. It did.
Gizmo:One for me on this podcast when we pair something is how does it pair with the cigar? I think it paired brilliantly with the cigar tonight. Alright, boys.
Pagoda:So does Coke.
Grinder:I will just say I'm very first of all, Rooster, like, outstanding rating. As a non alcoholic drinker, and obviously not a wine guy in the sense of you don't drink alcohol, to give that an eight is a very fair score. But to hear you say that you prefer the rose, which then obviously would score even higher for you, like, gives me hope that there is, you know, another expression in this of this brand that like, you know, could get me to an eight. And you know, maybe for rooster as a non as as not an alcoholic drinker, like, to a nine, that's awesome. Like, that could be there.
Grinder:But again, a nine or a 10 on this.
Pagoda:No. But thank you, Rousseau, for introducing us to these. You know, drinks, bourkeys. I'm not going and picking this up. We're no.
Pagoda:Don't want questions.
Grinder:I don't blame you. Where where is this made? France.
Pagoda:France.
Rooster:That makes sense. That's cool.
Grinder:It's called French bloom. So it's French sparkling bloom.
Grinder:No. I'm curious if it says where in France.
Pagoda:That's gonna be French sparkling wine.
Grinder:Made in France.
Rooster:It's made in France.
Grinder:I just say that because it would be cool to see, like, a champagne house or grower come out with their own nonalcoholic champagne, like a true champagne.
Rooster:Right. Mean, it was it was started by
Pagoda:Is it made out of grapes? Just wanna make sure.
Rooster:Yeah. It's it's d
Pagoda:how you know, it was
Grinder:we're gonna start off. Alright.
Pagoda:Okay. Okay. I'll just keep
Rooster:I mean, this this sparkling wine was really started by two women who happened to be pregnant at that time and they wanted a non alcoholic version to enjoy. I mean, just the fact that the rose is sold out everywhere, that tells you that people are going for it. You know, it's funny, they also have a vintage version of French bloom available.
Pagoda:Oh, really? Yeah. I think Senator would
Grinder:love that. Vintage grape juice and lemon juice. Can I read the ingredients out here?
Rooster:Go ahead.
Grinder:Are you ready? French sparkling gensac spring water, organic white grape juice, de alcoholized wine, organic lemon juice, natural flavor of grape.
Pagoda:It's artificial.
Gizmo:It's an 8.5.
Pagoda:It's out.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. It's time now for the former liquor rating on the Dalmore King Alexander the third single malt scotch whiskey. Once again, grinder, you're up.
Grinder:I think I'm gonna give it an eight.
Gizmo:What? Jesus Christ. He's balancing.
Pagoda:No. I'll get I'm I'm
Grinder:giving it like it's I was dancing between a nine and a 10. If I were to consider, like, where single malt scotch is in my whole ecosystem, I reserve the 10 for the top tier. The nuance of this is that it's very complex and it's different from what I was expecting. And I think that there's some points that it gets. There's some bonus points that it gets for that.
Grinder:I think pairing with the cigar, tremendous amount of balance on the sweetness and the dryness. I like the tart of the cherry and I liked how it really enveloped my whole palate. That coupled with the dryness of the cigar was a great pairing. I could also drink this salt like without a cigar. I think this would be an excellent, I think it's an excellent after dinner drink.
Grinder:Yeah. Just solo, just hanging out. So for me, it's a nine. I think I look at like top tier single malts. It's not really there.
Grinder:This is kind of, again, it's its own little sweet spot, but it is what it is. It's still a single malt and it's delicious. So it's a nine.
Gizmo:All right, chef.
Chef Ricky:Can we do senator?
Pagoda:That got Please be expeditious here.
Chef Ricky:So after flicking this on the carpet, I'm gonna say
Grinder:It's got the guy playing.
Chef Ricky:I thought that was I thought that was Pagoda. Was like, wow.
Pagoda:I just thought it I just thought it was me, but then he played it. Think
Richard Paterson:Wait for it.
Pagoda:Please be expeditious here.
Grinder:That was perfect.
Gizmo:I love that.
Chef Ricky:Oh, man.
Pagoda:Alright. Five.
Rooster:Give it a ten. Be done with.
Chef Ricky:No. No. No. No. No.
Chef Ricky:I I alright. So it's New Year's So this is a celebratory spirit, right? Yes. Thinking of $300 price point. So I'm not going to knock it for that because if there's any day you do that, it's the day.
Chef Ricky:So price point aside, this is a very strong line for me. I'm not out of 10 because a part of me felt it was almost too buttery. Right? I wanted little spikes. I wanted a slightly higher alcohol content maybe or a little brightness.
Chef Ricky:It was very round, very rich, all great qualities. You know, the nose, great amounts of of nuttiness, pecan, some cherry, some citrus, some cocoa, all there. Delivered everything. I think the master blending and the aging processes between the six different cask, it was done masterfully. This is an amazing, amazingly delicious spirit, great after dinner drink, great anytime drink, you know, as rich as it was, it's still pretty light where it's not too heavy to drink at any point throughout the year.
Chef Ricky:I enjoyed it a lot. I think I thought it was great. This is my kind of scotch. You know, it's it drinks a little bit sweeter but not sweet. Know, it's it just drinks it.
Chef Ricky:There wasn't very much peat there or anything like that. Yeah, this is a good nine for me, a very good nine for me.
Gizmo:All right, Pagoda.
Pagoda:It's a By the way, I've been debating between nine and ten, and I think it's a strong nine for me. And I'm gonna give you a few reasons for it. One of them is so we're not gonna consider price here. Like, so I'm not considering price as an option. But having said that, you know what it was was that it tasted a little more so for me as opposed to, you know, chef Ricky, I don't think I would drink it.
Pagoda:Like, it's not versatile for me. For me, it's more of a sit down, very rich, smooth, you know, like an after dinner drink or have that one cigar. It was very, very satisfying for what it is. For me it was like, do it somewhat like one dimensional in the sense that you come in, you have a really nice, really good scotch, very smooth, very, very rich, very, very flavorful, and a really, really good experience. No question about it.
Pagoda:But there are two things that which came into my mind, and I don't know whether it's a power of suggestion or how I've been thinking about it. I would've liked a little bit more, a little bit more bite. I think it was mentioned earlier by somebody else. Just a tad bit Bombayed.
Chef Ricky:I've only said it four times. Yeah.
Pagoda:And I haven't heard it. And in terms of It didn't feel very Scotch like. It was obviously Scotch, but the cognac thing I think kinda shifted my mindset about it. And I was just looking for a little bit more sharpness. But overall, I'll tell you, was very difficult between nine and ten.
Pagoda:And maybe I should have rated it as 10. I like it one of those. Correct. And it should be for a New Year's episode. Ten, ten wins.
Pagoda:Now I can't change my rating, so I'll leave it at a nine.
Gizmo:Correct. So I am gonna factor in price. Okay? And it's still a 10.
Grinder:Thank you. I I think Thank you.
Gizmo:This is one of the best spirits we've brought into this podcast ever. I think pairing this with a Cuban cigar, it's one of the best ever. And I think to give our friend who's counting down and doing the mm-mm to give him credit on finding the perfect amount of influence from six different casks
Chef Ricky:Yeah.
Gizmo:To put this together, to put something so smooth together, so easy to drink, not even thinking about water or ice or some sort of component to change it. It is excellent out of the bottle as it is for a cigar smoker for what we had tonight. I do think though, and I'm not gonna take points off for this clearly, but if it was a stronger cigar in Nicaragua and something pretty heavy, I it might not have worked. Right? But for what we had tonight, for the cigar we chose tonight, this was an excellent perfect pairing.
Gizmo:I love this spirit. I wish it wasn't $320. I kind of understand why it is with those six casts and the time and the effort there, but I really, really thought this was excellent. It's been a 10 since the first sip for me, it's carried all the way through. So I'm very, very happy with the spirit tonight.
Gizmo:Senator.
Grinder:Alright. Gizmo, we're finally on the same page.
Gizmo:It only took five years. Took five years.
Grinder:I am definitely at a 10. Look. You know, price absolutely should be factored in, and I'm still at a 10. And this spirits category, single malt scotches that are 300 to $350 a bottle, Balvenie, the twenty year, the portwood, we've done that on the pod. Outstanding single malt.
Grinder:That has definitely more of a bite than this does. You know, Macallan 18, another spirit, you know, priced similarly, that has more of a bite than this does. For me, I've always been in pursuit of, like, if you're gonna pay top dollar for any type of whiskey. I do want it to be incredibly smooth and refined. Like, that's what I'm paying for.
Grinder:I know when I'm spending $50 on a bottle of alcohol, it's gonna have, you know, some bite. That's okay. You know, with the right cigar, that pair as well, and you're kinda calibrating based on that. But if I'm gonna spend 300 and something dollars on a bottle, I wanna be able to sip that in the morning even as well as I am at night. Like, that should be what you're paying a premium for, like tremendous age to just smooth out every edge and have like such a refined experience, and I think that that's what this delivers.
Grinder:So for me, that's one of the reasons that I would give this a 10. The other, it's super balanced.
Richard Paterson:Very balanced.
Grinder:I mean, we talked about some of the fruit notes that you get and some of the sweetness. There's some dryness that the nuttiness that's present here, I think, really helps kinda just bring this whole thing together. It's memorable. You know, obviously, I compared this to a cognac. We know it's a single malt scotch.
Grinder:The fact that through aging this in six different barrels, like, it has done something so unique in the single malt scotch category that none of us have compared it to another scotch, that's a merit. I don't in any way subtract for that, I think there's something brilliant and innovative about what they were able to do there. So for all those reasons, I'm at a strong 10, I think this is as refined a spirit, and as refined a scotch as, you know, really you can find and buy. Don't take anything away from I get the points others have made around, you know, wanting maybe more of a bite, maybe for another cigar, but I think for this bahique, most of the way through, this was a perfect pairing, and even where it wasn't, this spirit stands on its own in such a, like, beautiful, refined, elegant, luxurious space that I don't want it to change. I don't want it to be any different than it was, so I'm in a strong 10.
Pagoda:It's beautiful. You know, I agree with you. The balance, especially after you begin to realize that it's been aged in six different casks, And none of those cask flavor profiles were overly, you know, overpowering. And it is one of the most balanced drinks I think we've had, maybe. Agree.
Pagoda:Yeah.
Gizmo:So boys, the formal liquor rating tonight on the Dalmore King Alexander the third single malt scotch whiskey is a 9.4. Let's compare that to the other Dalmore we've done on the pod. We did the cigar malt on episode two if you believe it. We did not rate it, of course. The 12 years aged Dalmore single malt scotch whiskey on episode 22 scored a 6.2.
Gizmo:On episode 193, we did the 12 years aged Sherry Cass select scored a nine point zero. And pretty recently, on episode 213, we did the Dalmore Portwood Reserve single malt scotch whiskey scored a nine point zero. So right now, this is definitely the best Dalmore we've done on the pod by about four points. And now it's time to move into the formal lizard ring tonight, boys, on the Cohiba Bihike 54. Rooster, you're up.
Rooster:This cigar is absolutely perfect for a special night like tonight for a New Year's Eve episode. The cigar is very rich. It's complex. It's also very balanced. It's creamy.
Rooster:It has the Cohiba hay notes, the grassy notes that you get out of Cohiba. But you can tell, I mean, this thing has the media tiempo leaf in it. So it's got that extra oomph. It's got a little bit of spice. It's creamy and woody and earthy.
Rooster:And you also get a little bit of a coffee note. The beginning of the cigar was a bit on the milder side. But as you smoked through the cigar, the cigar got more it had more body at it as you smoked it. And the last third was absolutely a delicious smoke. So I'm at a 10.
Rooster:I mean, price point is what it is. But this is a very special cigar. I'm not going to be buying boxes of this cigar. But for a very special occasion, I mean, this definitely does the job. Completely delivers.
Rooster:And so I'm at a 10.
Gizmo:All right, Senator.
Grinder:I'm at a nine. And I'm at a nine whether I factor in price or I don't factor in price. So I wanna make that very, very clear. Obviously, factoring in price, it's an absurd price point, so it's easy to understand why I would knock off a point. So I'm just gonna answer this from the perspective of if I were to actually remove price.
Grinder:For me, the cigar starts milder than I would like, which is okay. It then builds to you know, I think we we all hit a point, and said like, that's the sweet spot, and I was like, you know, now it's firing on all cylinders. Like that was the best part, and that was the second third for me.
Chef Ricky:Agree. Yeah.
Grinder:If the cigar would have been that experience, that second third, all the way through, it would have definitely been a 10. For me, the last third, it started nicely, but when you get down to the nub on this cigar, there's a little bit of harshness that picks up. Like, it's not quite the same refined, elegant experience that you get for most of the way the rest of the way of that cigar. And at that price point, I'm sorry. Like, it needs to be perfect all the way through.
Grinder:We've smoked cigars that are a fraction of the price point, where my fingers are burning, and I'm never the one to like smoke it as far down to the nub as you can get, but there have been some sticks that have really made me wanna do that, and I didn't have that same level of enjoyment when I got down to the point that my fingers were burning. So it's it's a delicious cigar. It's a great blend. The construction was excellent. The flavor profile is complex.
Grinder:I just wish that my experience in the second third would have been every third of that cigar, and for that reason, I'm at a nine, and I say that also because, you know, we did a d four this year, we talked about on the pod. I would take that d four any day over this cigar, me personally. And that's why I can't give it a 10.
Gizmo:So I'm at nine. I didn't have the harshness experience. It's a 10 for me. This is probably the best Bajique 54 I've ever had. I loved my cigar tonight.
Gizmo:Maybe I got lucky. I had zero harshness. I had zero youth. The retrohale from the first puff to the last puff was brilliant. I loved every moment of this cigar tonight.
Gizmo:I think it absolutely lived up to the hype. It was perfectly balanced. It was perfectly constructed. It burned well. It tasted great.
Gizmo:Even the ash was, you know, strong. It didn't fall off unless I really asked it to. I I I am absolutely blown away by this experience I had tonight. I love this cigar. I've not had another pajiquette that was to this level, and I hope to have it again for me tonight.
Gizmo:This is one of those cigars that I'm gonna be thinking about and chasing. Obviously, at this price point, you know, you're not running out and buying boxes like Rooster said, but I I'm absolutely blown away. It lived up to the hype tonight. For me, I'm very, very happy with my cigar as a 10. Pagoda?
Pagoda:It's a 10 for me all the way through. And just like you, I didn't feel any harshness at all. In fact, I smoked it all the way down to the nub, and I still wanted to relight it. There are a few things I always seek in a cigar. Obviously from a construction perspective, it was fantastic.
Pagoda:The smoke output was fantastic. It was very, very easy to smoke. So you know, once it completes the basics, now you go into the flavor profile. I love that, you know, a little bit of the graham cracker or the biscuity, which is, you know, the flavor which I really enjoy. I thought the finishes were like medium.
Pagoda:It got longer in between, so it left a really pleasant flavor in my mouth, and I just enjoy that experience. And it was one of the things where in my own right, felt it was smoking reasonably slow, and I really enjoyed and savored every moment. And for me, when you're experiencing that, it's a 10. My only now thing is I wish I could change the rating on the drink as well because really it's a ten ten experience tonight. But having said that, wonderful experience for me.
Pagoda:It's a 10.
Gizmo:Alright, chef. Can I just quickly one thing
Grinder:I forgot to mention? Sure. The the last thing I'll say, for me, I thought the cigar actually smoked a little quicker than I would have expected.
Rooster:A little bit. Yeah.
Grinder:I mean, I saw Grindr first pick up a Sonata that he was smoking prior. That inspired me to light a Sonata, which I'm two thirds of the way through in this recording. Rooster picked up a cigar that he was having before. Like, For a cigar that size, I mean, it's 54 ring gauge cigar, it feels like it smokes quickly, and my draw was wide open. It was not like it was heavily packed, so that was another thing that had factored in I had forgotten to mention, so I just wanted to say that.
Pagoda:It was still about forty
Rooster:five minutes or almost close to a two hour
Pagoda:smoke Yeah, it's not a demerit,
Grinder:No, did not for me. The fact that I'm two thirds of the way through my next cigar, I think for me was like an hour and half at most.
Pagoda:Is it a demerit?
Grinder:Yeah. I don't think that it should have smoked that quickly.
Pagoda:I mean,
Grinder:there's plenty of Cubans at 54 ring gauge that I smoke.
Gizmo:It's almost six inches long.
Grinder:Yeah. Like, honestly, I think a QD 54 smokes slower than that cigar does. I think there's more tobacco
Pagoda:packed in All
Gizmo:right, Jeff.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, I'm in lockstep with Senator with his findings on the bajika here. The first third was mild for me. The second third was my sweet spot. You know, just really getting into the nuttiness and some of the baking spice. The nuttiness got really rich in that second third.
Chef Ricky:Coming into the final third, I started getting a bready note. But then as I got into that final inch, it started to get a little harsh for me as well. Now, I was smoking slower than all of you guys. You guys all went into second cigars. I just put mine down maybe fifteen minutes ago.
Chef Ricky:I took it down to the nub. But at that point where I was getting there, at the nub there, it was just getting somewhat bitter. And, you know, I wouldn't say that it, you know, it made the cigar unpleasurable for me, but if it continued the way it started in that second, third throughout the rest of the cigar, I probably would have given it a 10. But because it kind of just got a bit harsh there towards the end and then that's that final third wasn't giving me that sort of sweeter, nuttier note that I was really coming to enjoy, I'm at a nine. So Alright, Grindr.
Grinder:I'm at a nine. I thought Senator's description was actually a good foil for the reasons I did like it, because I thought it started off on the milder side and then it gradually picked up pace. There were a lot of those notes that I attribute to very much a Cuban cigar that I love that are nice and smooth and mellow, like the bready notes, the graham cracker notes, the hay, the barnyard. I didn't get much. There was no floral.
Grinder:I think someone may have mentioned floral. I didn't get any floral, which would have been nice, but I also noticed that it was an open draw. And, you know, to your point, I did smoke mine pretty quickly. I had to really temper myself with my pace, which I don't like to do, as you guys know. So I think generally it was really delicious.
Grinder:I think it's a special cigar. I think it's really up there. I have had so many other really great cigars, Cubans that and even Cohibas that I would say were just a little notch above, I think. So I think there's just a little more that I would have been seeking because even though it's on the it's in my like sweet spot for taste, it just still wasn't giving me as much as I wanted.
Gizmo:Yeah. Alright, boys. The formal lizard rating tonight on the Cohiba, Bihike 54, is a 9.5. So let's compare that to the other Cohiba we've done on the pod. We did this Cohiba Siglo two on episode 24 scored an eight point zero.
Gizmo:The Lancero on episode 78 scored a 9.6 just above this. The Pyramidis Extra on episode 115 scored a 9.4, one point below this. On episode 121, we did this exact cigar in Cuba with Daniela Rodriguez, the production manager of Cohiba. We did not rate it. That was a great episode.
Gizmo:One of the one of my favorites we've ever done. On episode 129, we did the cigua five nine point two. Last year on New Year's Eve on episode 164, we did the Esplandidos, scored a perfect 10. Definitely the best Cohiba we've done in the pod. On episode 174, Siglo six scored a nine point zero.
Gizmo:On episode one eighty, the sister to this, the Bijike 58 scored a 7.3. And finally, on episode 196, the Siglo two, we did a redux. We revisited that, scored a 9.3. So this one is just below the Esplenidos at a 10 and the Lancero at a 96 tonight at a 9.5. Great night, boys.
Pagoda:Great night. Yeah. It's a fair score, I think.
Gizmo:Right? Great night. Yeah. We have to congratulate our lizard of the week one more time, lizard John in Cleveland. Thanks to Bon Roberts.
Gizmo:He's gonna win a 10 count box of cigars. And our thanksgiving contest winner. And our thanksgiving contest winner, Lizard Ed, because he's one of the guys who chose senator. Thanks for reminding me, senator.
Grinder:We love you, Ed.
Pagoda:Ed's in the blanket. Ed's in the blanket.
Gizmo:So because we're finishing our year, boys, we have to thank a bunch of folks. Of course, John Carlo, the proprietor here at ten eighty six cigars Johnny. For allowing us to Good, Johnny. Record our episodes here each week. We really appreciate his hospitality.
Gizmo:Great lounge. Great great humidor here in Hawthorne, New Jersey. We have to thank Lizard Max who helps us on social media each week. Great dude. A lot of fun working with him.
Grinder:We love you, Max.
Gizmo:We have to shout out cubancigarwebsite.com. I I look at that almost every time we do a Cuban cigar like tonight and half wheel. Always looking to half wheel and FOH for their news and and sharing stuff that's going on in the industry. Rob Isla, Hamlet Paredes, the Fabric of Five and Bon Roberts teams for being an incredible partner to us in 2025 as as they've have been Part of our family. Correct.
Gizmo:For a couple years now, and I can't wait till they come back to The US next year. We're gonna have them on again. And Small Batch Cigar for joining us this year as our exclusive retail partner, and they're gonna continue with us through all of 2026. We have a lot of fun stuff coming up with small batch cigars, so we, we appreciate them coming on. And, boys, we have to thank Lizard Nation.
Gizmo:Our folks out there who are listening right now who put us in their ears each Tuesday, We really, really appreciate you tuning in and and celebrating what we do and smoking cigars with us and sharing us with your friends and sending voice memos and sending emails and all the comments and and and and. We are unbelievably lucky to have an incredible community of folks out there, our lizard nation, who tune in each week and share this with us. We really, really appreciate it. And finally, we'll see everybody next year, boys. 2026 coming in.
Gizmo:We'll see you next week with that, and a lot of great stuff coming up. Happy New Year. New Year. Happy New Year.
Pagoda:And we'll be smoking a lot of wild whales. Thanks for going my rooster.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. One more time. Let's go through the ratings. The French the French bloom blanc sparkling from France scored an 8.5 tonight. The nonalcoholic, the Dalmore King Alexander the third, single malt scotch whiskey scored a 9.4.
Gizmo:And finally, the Cohiba Bijike 54 tonight scored a 9.5. A great night, boys. Another great year. Great scores all around. Actually, I think all of those scores are appropriate.
Gizmo:Honestly, I do. I know you guys think
Grinder:What a way to close out the year of the horse. I'm actually impressed that the horse didn't make an appearance tonight, because Maybe next week.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. A great night, a great year, and, we'll see everybody next week. 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.
Gizmo:That's loungelizardspod.com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us. Hello at loungelizardspod.com. You can also find us on Instagram at lounge lizards pod.
Gizmo:We really appreciate your time, and we'll, we'll see you next week.