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Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features seven members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
**Gizmo:** [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Lizards podcast. 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, and Bam Bam.
And our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some whiskey, talk about life, and of course, have some laughs. So take this as your 124th official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plan to meet us here once a week. We're going to smoke a New World cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating.
We smoke our first candela and explore the production process needed to produce a green wrapper. We preview our upcoming trip to the PCA Convention and Trade Show in Las Vegas, and we debut a brand new interactive listener segment, all among a variety of other things for the next 90 minutes. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we pair Jameson Irish whiskey with the Padilla Candela in Robusto, a Nicaraguan Robusto [00:01:00] tonight from Padilla.
It's called the Candela in Robusto. So 50 ring gauge cigar by five inches and boys happy, I guess belated St. Patrick's day at this point. But this is our first green cigar on the podcast tonight. My first ever. My first ever too. It is green. Yeah. It's definitely green. This is gonna be a wild ride. It's kind of like Grinch green though.
It's like not like a Good for you.
**Bam Bam:** It suits you. Hahaha. You're alter ego.
**Gizmo:** Hahaha. Uh, it's an interesting looking cigar. Nice little band on it with a lion's head from Padilla. But yes, I'm, I'm a little, uh Pessimistic coming into this, I'll be honest. The wrapper
**Bam Bam:** looks like it's got a waxy finish. It's very, it's glistening.
**Pagoda:** Well, it's food color. Oh,
**Gizmo:** who knows? All right, boys, let's cut this thing. See, we're getting on the cold draw on the wrapper. Our first Candela. [00:02:00] Tonight on the pod wide
**Bam Bam:** open, honestly, not a bad cold draw.
**Gizmo:** I'm getting like earth Almost like like dirt. No, like in the garden. It's a bit sweeter for
**Senator:** soil. I'm getting what gives is I get soil I don't
**Gizmo:** get anything sweet.
I'm getting like a like a wet soil Honestly, God is nervous over there. Look at him. It's
**Bam Bam:** more potpourri for me than anything else. I'm not getting any dirt
**Gizmo:** The smell on the foot is interesting, too. It kind of smells like musty. Horse foot. It's very herbal. Yeah. Horse hoof. That might be the most accurate of all of them.
Here we go. Alright, boys. Let's light this thing. The Padilla Candela in Robusto. Again, it's a 50 ring gauge cigar by 5 inches long. [00:03:00] Made in Nicaragua at the A. J. Fernandez factory. As all Padilla cigars are, in honor of our Irish brothers and sisters
**Bam Bam:** around the world.
**Gizmo:** What do you got? It's very different. You lit your cigar fast.
**Senator:** Yeah. Mine's taking a long time to
**Gizmo:** light. Me too. I'm up and running. It's um, it's a little different. You know, and it makes me wonder, with that conversation we've had so many times about where the flavor's coming from in the cigar, how much is actually coming from the wrapper.
I wonder in this cigar, is there more coming, you know, from the wrapper because of the difference in material? Yeah. It tastes better than it looks. And it's not that bad. It tastes better than the cold draw too. Initially it's okay.
**Bam Bam:** And honestly, the retrohale is not that bad. [00:04:00]
**Gizmo:** I agree with you, Bam. I actually really like the retrohale on this.
Very, very interesting cigar. What are you guys getting? Hints of grass and pistachio. Grass and pistachio.
**Bam Bam:** Your opinion is skewed because of the color. No
**Gizmo:** oregano. It's not bad. No, not at all. It's just different. I think that's what's throwing me off. I'm getting a little salty thing on the front of my tongue.
Yeah,
but
**Bam Bam:** I can't pinpoint the note that I can
**Gizmo:** call out right now. You know, you see Candela cigars sometimes in a shop. Certainly you see sometimes the barber pole cigars. And sometimes they're green as well. And I know there's brands that have done like special releases with the green wrapper. The Candela wrapper, but it's, it's odd that it's never been something I've reached for.
And I don't think I've ever seen anyone that I'm smoking with smoking a Candela cigar. I've never seen it anywhere. Really? Yeah. [00:05:00] I think the color, the
**Rooster:** color,
**Gizmo:** you know, throws people off. A bit. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. It looks gimmicky, but you know, it's a pretty smooth. A little, the smoke is velvety, uh, can't complain about it, but it's pretty mild for me.
I, I do,
**Pagoda:** I do want to read a comment which I think kind of aptly describes it. It says, picture it, a green hue crafted by the alchemy of heat capturing chlorophyll's essence in the barn's embrace.
**Gizmo:** Wow. In the barns embrace. I think that's funny. Horse hoof. What kind of barn? Correct. This is a interesting, it has a musty thing that I don't love about it.
It's a, it's a mustiness in tobacco that I'm just unfamiliar with and, and, and, and almost a little uncomfortable with. I'm just
**Senator:** perplexed. It's, uh, it's mild. It's not offensive. The flavor notes are so muted that it's just [00:06:00] really hard to pick out, like, there's this You can't pinpoint the note. No, um, there is like a, a grassy hay kind of like light barnyard note that you
**Gizmo:** get.
I get that on the
**Bam Bam:** finish, for me. On,
**Pagoda:** correct, on the finish? Yeah. And I, I thought I was also getting it when I was smelling it a little bit, like, in the beginning.
**Gizmo:** You mean you were
**Bam Bam:** taking, you were taking in the aroma. I
**Gizmo:** don't know. The aroma is pleasant. It is. Yeah, it's mild. I think the smell coming off the foot is nice, the smell coming off the head of the cigar, the, the It's an easygoing cigar.
Yeah. Right? It's not offensive. It's just very different.
**Senator:** Right. There's even a slight creaminess about the
**Bam Bam:** cigar. Well, I said earlier, I thought the smoke was velvety.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. To me, it feels that way. How much are these? Ten bucks. And I ordered them direct from Padilla Cigars website. Okay. Is that comment direct from their website?
Yeah, direct from their website.
**Senator:** There are not many that you can, well, Davidoff does that actually,
**Gizmo:** but not Davidoff does, I think, I, I think this is one of [00:07:00] the cigars. I couldn't find this at a, one of our normal retailers. I don't know if just a lot of retailers don't stock these cause they're not in favor like they were a long time ago, which we'll talk about in a little bit.
But yeah, these, these were readily available on the site. So that's why I ordered them, you know, I guess maybe they just don't stock these and In, in most B& Ms. The burn is nice and sharp. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Very consistent
**Gizmo:** line.
**Senator:** We didn't talk that much about the wrapper, I mean, obviously the color. Yeah. And bam, I know you mentioned the sheen on it, but, um, It's an extremely veiny wrapper.
Oh yeah. Is that just mine or
**Gizmo:** everything else? No, no, no. Oh no, definitely. 100%. Very veiny. It looks nice though, but it's certainly, the flaws are not hidden. It's smooth though. So Padilla cigars was founded by a man named Ernesto Padilla, who is of Cuban descent, and he came to the United States in the wake of the Cuban revolution in the late fifties, early sixties.
And when old enough, Ernesto took his passion and knowledge with him. [00:08:00] To create a brand that would honor his heritage and celebrate the art of cigar making. And as they say, Padilla Cigars has become synonymous with quality and excellence, earning a loyal following among connoisseurs and casual smokers alike.
And I love this line from Ernest Hemingway. A good cigar is as great a comfort to a man as a good cry is to a woman. Wow. Ernest Hemingway.
**Senator:** He's lucky he said that when he did. He'd be canceled if he said that now. That's true. Yeah, he
**Gizmo:** would be, but I do like him. That's true. So, really, really interesting history here with Padilla, because his father, Gilberto Padilla, was a prominent poet in Cuba who drew the ire of Fidel Castro and the Cuban government.
So. You might have heard of the Padilla affair. It's a significant event in Cuban history around literature, politics, poetry involving Ernesto's father, Herberto Padilla. The [00:09:00] event occurred in 1971 and quickly became a turning point in the relationship between Cuban intellectuals and the government of Fidel Castro.
Herberto Padilla was a prominent poet who initially supported the revolution. However, as the government increased its control, Over artistic expression and demanded that all cultural work align with revenues revolutionary principles Which by the way still stands today padilla's work began to reflect his growing disillusionment with the regime in 1968 He published a poetry collection called fuera del luego out of the game which won a prestigious literary prize in cuba However, the book was criticized by the government for its Veiled criticism, as they say, of the regime's suppression of free speech and individual freedoms in March 71.
Herberto, Herberto Padilla was arrested by Cuban authorities on charges of subversion and espionage.
**Senator:** Oh, we, we have some here who know
**Gizmo:** a thing or two about that. That's bad. Espionage. I'm going to say that correctly. [00:10:00] So the listeners don't think I'm an idiot. Uh, so he was arrested on charges of subversion and espionage.
About a month later, after being detained and allegedly subjected to psychological pressure and torture, Padilla made a public confession at the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists, denouncing his own work and implicating fellow writers and intellectuals as counter revolutionaries. Unbelievable. The Padilla affair, as it was called, resulted in widespread condemnation from the international library and intellectual community, including many who had previously supported him.
The Cuban revolution and a bunch of folks signed an open letter condemning the his treatment and the Cuban government's repression of free speech Obviously, you know who knows what kind of situation he was in that he was then Yeah forced by the government to renounce his own work the affair marked a turning point leading to increased Censorship and marginalization of dissenting voices in Cuba, which still stands today, of course.
It has [00:11:00] also caused a significant rift between the Cuban government and the international community of artists and intellectuals. Pretty crazy story. That's intense. The son of that man founded the brand of cigars that we're smoking here tonight. That's an awesome story. Amazing story. And that's why I wanted to, I actually wrote that out.
I did some research and whatnot. I wanted to make sure that we. Nailed it because I think that that's a really powerful commentary on the state of Cuba in the late 60s early 70s and Kind of still today. Mm hmm.
**Senator:** And so the dead fled and came here. Yes I mean that had to be a pretty easy asylum claim. This guy sounds like he was Cuba's most wanted at that point Yeah, absolutely.
I mean boldly speaking out unreal
**Gizmo:** just terrible and you know, it's it's you know, it's uh, it really He's Sheds a light on what happens in Cuba when, when you're a Cuban national with a dissenting voice. Obviously the internet has changed a lot. Certainly since cell phones, I think were allowed in 2013 or [00:12:00] 2008, whenever that happened in Cuba, where cell phones were allowed and access to the internet, but still Cubans operate with VPNs.
They operate under anonymity. We operate under anonymity so that we can, um, Share the true stories of what's going on there. So it's, uh, it's a really interesting commentary that now has been going on over 50 years. Yeah. 60 years. You know, from the point of view of
**Bam Bam:** art and dissension, you know, I was surprised to see the amount of graffiti.
Yeah. In downtown Havana. Usually that's a sign of, you know, youth rebelling and leaving their mark. You know, subversive notes that only they and their group understand type of a thing.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, but the graffiti was kind of, it was kind of, it was more artistic though. It was beautiful. A lot of it
**Bam Bam:** was beautiful.
Yeah. Yeah. And we know someone that's putting a book together, right? Yep. Um, but I was just surprised to see the amount of graffiti in, in Cuba. I think it goes to show that it's got
**Gizmo:** to be a bit more lenient now. I think [00:13:00] so, but I also think that there's just way more people who are willing to speak up than were certainly 50 years ago before the advent of the internet and open information.
And I mean, think about it until really 2008, 2010, that kind of time, Cubans didn't really know what the outside world was like because it was really fenced off aside from if they talked to family members, but it was fenced off from the rest of the world. Okay. Obviously today it still kind of is in some ways, but the, the free flow of information has changed dramatically.
And I think, look at how many times we've talked to a cab driver, or someone on the street, or someone that we meet about what's really going on in Cuba. And it's very much in line with what we just heard about Padilla's father. That's true. Yeah, one of the biggest problems
**Rooster:** in Cuba is the youth leaving Cuba.
**Gizmo:** Oh,
**Bam Bam:** yeah. Brain drain, right? They're leaving.
**Gizmo:** That can't be good. Doctors and lawyers serving tables. Driving taxis. Yeah. So boys, what do you think of the cigar? Dude. I was [00:14:00] talking for a little
**Bam Bam:** bit there. Just catch the aroma on the foot. It's really very good. It is. It's really nice. It's improving in flavor for me.
It's, it's almost getting to the point where I'm just getting very slight fruit. I can't pinpoint what it is, but it's, it's not bad. So
**Senator:** for me, as this is heated up, it's gotten much better. Oh, yeah. Um, I mean, bright white ash, razor sharp burn. The flavor notes, while still not overly distinct to call out, it's like they've come together in a more harmonious way, where I don't know, before I just felt like You know what I'm getting?
I was fighting it, trying to figure out what it was, and if I liked it, and now I'm sitting here saying, It's
**Bam Bam:** pleasant. It is. It's, for me, it's almost like a bowl of sweet oatmeal. It's that oat type of thing that's very, I love that plain flavor of oats with a little bit of honey or something sweet on it.
That's kind
**Gizmo:** of what this is for me. There is definitely something sweet
**Rooster:** out of this. It's very faint. There's some sweet note, maybe
**Bam Bam:** like a [00:15:00] little nut. I think Senator hit it on the head. As this is increasing in heat, that's really drawing out that flavor for me. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** it's, it's there. I think it's
**Rooster:** creamy and a little bit of like a nuttiness also is coming through.
**Gizmo:** This
**Bam Bam:** is
**Gizmo:** crazy that we're talking about this cigar. Oh,
**Senator:** I know. I mean, even your oatmeal comparison, I don't disagree with it at all. It's weird. I can see like oats. I can see the nuttiness Rooster's talking about. There's definitely that like cream and kind of, you know, milk that might be an oatmeal.
**Gizmo:** I mean, it's crazy.
This is a weird, this is a weird flavor note. I'm kind of getting, you know, when you, you're making s'mores on the fire. Mm-Hmm. . And you take the marshmallow and you and the grand cracker? Just the marshmallow. Oh, okay. But it's like kind of burnt.
**Bam Bam:** Well, so you're talking about the skin on the
**Gizmo:** marshmallow? Yes.
I can see that. I'm kind of getting like a toasted marshmallow.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. And that goes back to the nuttiness that you were referring to earlier, guys. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** You know, I mean, if you think about it, it's surprising. It's the, the, the wrapper
**Rooster:** is different than what we have had, but the binder and filler. You know, it's
**Gizmo:** Nicaraguan.
The aroma is [00:16:00] nice, man.
**Rooster:** But it's really, really on the milder side to be a Nicaraguan. I mean, do we know
**Gizmo:** the blend? No, I do not know the blend of this. I
**Rooster:** mean, I assume
**Gizmo:** that it's a Nicaraguan blend. It's a great question. I mean, it'd be great to know. But it's surprising because
**Rooster:** it's kind of like on the milder side for Nicaraguan tobacco.
It doesn't taste, it tastes more Honduran
**Gizmo:** to me.
**Senator:** I agree. The funny thing is if you were to tell me that this cigar is a Nicaraguan, Has Nicaraguan tobacco in it. I would say no way. Cause it's the
**Gizmo:** mildest
**Rooster:** Nicaraguan cigar I've probably ever had. It tastes more Honduran. Honduran, you know, tobacco has that little, little bit of
**Gizmo:** sweetness to it.
**Bam Bam:** Connoisseur Corner's talking right now. That's not wrong. I'm enjoying it. I can't deny.
**Gizmo:** Great construction. The ash is beautiful. The construction's great.
**Bam Bam:** It's really quite nice. Razor sharp.
**Senator:** I mean, this would be nice in the morning. Yeah. Yeah. With oatmeal. Oatmeal. And a coffee. Or some green eggs and ham.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Green tea. So let's talk about Candela Boys. [00:17:00] Interesting story about the process that is done on these leaves. So first we start with, these used to be the most popular type of cigars sold in the United States of America. They were known as American market selection smokes. And the Connecticut Shade supplanted Candela started in the early 1980s and green cigars began to fade from popularity around that time.
So, JFK smoked them as well. This is one of JFK's favorites. What's cool about the leaf is that It's really not that different from other leaves. It's all about the process. So the common Brown color that we are used to seeing on a normal cigar comes after harvesting, curing green tobacco, uh, hung in a curing barn and allowed to slowly drive from a period of 30 to 45 days, as we know, and then it goes from green to Brown throughout that process.[00:18:00]
When a manufacturer is looking to make Candela wrapper, the farmer has to accelerate the curing process to lock in the green color. So what happens is the barn is sealed, the heat is cranked up really, really high, going from 90 to 100 and all the way up to almost 200 degrees. locks in the chlorophyll, which makes the leaves stay green.
And then apparently makes them as crispy as a potato chip. So careful rehydration then makes the leaf supple once again, ready for packing into bales. And instead of a month or more, Candela is ready in about three days. So farmers obviously love making this leaf because they can turn it around real, real fast.
So what's cool too, is. While it needs the heat to ferment in that way and lock in the color of the chlorophyll in the leaf, once it's done, it needs to be refrigerated. Wow. So, I'm assuming that that's maybe a component to [00:19:00] Cuban tobacco, not having this. You know, this is probably off sealed a chlorophyll, but it's everything's sealed in.
Yeah, it's quite the process. So they've, they're also known as double Claro. And like I said, American market selection and yeah, so this has had quite a story, especially in the American market. People used to love smoking these. I'm loving it. President Kennedy. I'm loving it right now. I know. It's,
**Rooster:** it's kind of like when you're, when you're cooking something and, and you want to keep that green flavor of a green
**Gizmo:** leafy vegetable, after you steam it.
You're blanching it quickly. You're blanching it quickly in an ice bath. Exactly. So that kind of keeps that color. And the, and the crispness,
**Bam Bam:** it keeps it from continuing to cook because
**Gizmo:** it'll continue to cook if you don't blanch
**Bam Bam:** it right. Very impressive. Correct. Would you expect anything less? No,
**Gizmo:** definitely not.
You know, what's interesting too is that all of those cigars that I was talking about being popular in the American market, most of them were machine made. Only in the last 10 to 20 years were cigars with [00:20:00] candela wrappers handmade. Wow. Exactly. And many, many brands use them. Arturo Fuente has them, Laforda Dominicana, Camacho, Ellucion.
Uh, there are, Mackin has one, there are a lot of Candela cigars available, but I guess you just, I don't think they make that many of 'em because I don't ever see people smoking 'em. We don't see it. 'cause they're weird. They're definitely odd . These could be really good start
**Pagoda:** of cigars, I think.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Could gateway drug into the hobby.
Yeah. There's no Cuban, no
**Senator:** cigar. Yeah. There has been really, when I was reading this, it says, uh, GIZ mentioned that JFK used to smoke these, uh, apparently. It was hard to tell obviously because a lot of the photos were black and white then, but they found that, um, he had purchased a double, double Claro, uh, Suridix, how do you, how do you say this?
S U E R D I E C K S, what brand is that?
**Gizmo:** Sure [00:21:00] Dex.
**Bam Bam:** For sure.
**Gizmo:** What
brand
**Senator:** is that? Sure Dex.
**Gizmo:** Sure Dex, I would say? He bought, uh,
**Senator:** Double Claro Sure Dex and a couple of Green Partagas Cigarrillos from Havana. Wow. Green Partagas.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Well, he used to smoke a lot of small Wingate cigars. Yeah. The T Coronas and smaller. And the Half Upmans he loved. Yep. So,
**Senator:** The funny thing is just reading in this article, it says that they all kind of tend to have the same mild flavor profile, which I'm just so surprised how the wrapper can have such a dramatic, almost universal effect that it seems like the binder and filler don't really matter all that much with this cigar.
I mean, this is most Candela's are mild. They tend to have herbal, grassy, creamy, and even minty tasting notes, which is almost exactly what we're getting.
**Bam Bam:** Exactly. Herbal for sure. Not mint, but this is seems like an herbal botanical type of a cigar.
**Gizmo:** Yes. I wondered from a blending standpoint, once you include the Candela [00:22:00] wrapper, if it kind of limits what you can do with the binder and filler, like maybe there's like, you know, a flavor profile that doesn't kind of, you know, mesh.
Cause I mean, think about some of these things that we're getting meshing with some of the other Nicaraguan cigars that we smoke. Yeah. Might not work too well. So maybe they're limited in the palette of what they can include when they're Right. Putting a Candela wrapper on. Let's
**Senator:** just hope that none of us get sick smoking this cigar.
There's a funny E. P. Carrillo story. Apparently, when E. P. Carrillo was 18 years old, he lit his first Candela cigar when he was on a long drive. He said, quote, I got into my Mustang and lit a Candela Panatella. I really wanted to get the aroma of the tobacco. He smoked the cigar, but about an hour later he got sick.
He said, quote, it's not a regular smoke of mine.
**Gizmo:** Was he inhaling or the windows
**Bam Bam:** closed
**Gizmo:** was like, was like Rooster's car. I never thought I would be smoking a green cigar and here we are because of this podcast and liking it, [00:23:00] enjoying. Yeah. Yeah. It's shocking.
**Bam Bam:** It's just so smooth and creamy and velvety.
There's nothing
**Gizmo:** bad you can say about this. Like, if this kind of stays where it's at and improves, I would very much be comfortable and, and willing to smoke this again. For 10 bucks?
**Senator:** I'm really amazed by the construction. I mean, look at the, it's crazy. The construction. Perfect. Burning
**Pagoda:** really well. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Fantastic. And the ash is really holding on. It is. Yeah. Great combustion. Yep. So boys, let's move to our pairing tonight. Thank you. We're staying Irish, we're staying green, and we're drinking Jamison. Correct. A classic Irish whiskey. Triple distilled. Triple distilled. I happen to love the spirit. You've been talking about this a lot over the last, what, six to eight weeks.
And you've never had it. I've never had it. I have to have you take that sip and we'll talk. I've never had Jameson. You've never had Jameson in your life. Not one time. He's been, he's
**Bam Bam:** living in a closet.
**Pagoda:** Listen, you're going to be hanging out in bars for that,
**Gizmo:** so. [00:24:00] Oh, that's really nice. Isn't it nice? It's light.
Yeah. Thin. It's
**Bam Bam:** a perfect pairing with this very light smooth cigar. Senator's shocked. It's embarrassing.
**Gizmo:** I am still processing this. Honestly,
**Bam Bam:** it's embarrassing, right? It's puzzling that you've never had
**Senator:** this. I'm with him. I mean, this is one of the top selling spirits in the entire world. It's ubiquitous.
Everywhere. Everywhere. How could you never have had it in college? At a bar? Yeah. I mean, my
**Gizmo:** God. Gosh, never had Jameson. I have,
**Bam Bam:** yeah, I love this because it's affordable. It's well made and I've had it neat and with ice. They're both delicious. When my kids drove me crazy when they were little on vacation.
Honey, I gotta go do something. Two shots of Jameson. You're right after that. You're all right after that. Well,
**Pagoda:** even the Middle Eastern royalty loves us. So there you go.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, it's, I happen to love this. So I'm happy we're doing
**Gizmo:** it. It's a nice spirit. Yeah. I thought you were going to say you gave the kids some Jameson.
**Bam Bam:** And then put them to bed. There you go, a shot each. When, when my son was
teething,
**Gizmo:** I [00:25:00] did. Oh yeah, you're supposed to rub it on the gums, right? It worked. Really? It worked. Wow. Yeah. Now
**Bam Bam:** I'd be in jail for doing that.
**Pagoda:** Yeah, in India they do brandy, typically.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. So Bam, how much was this Jameson? I paid 32 for this thing.
That's a pretty good price. A very good price. You know, comparable to the other things that we drink on this podcast, it's certainly on the lower end price wise. You buy that bottle
**Bam Bam:** and you keep it in your locker, it's always going to satisfy you. It's, it's really a quite a good spirit to have. Yeah. On
**Gizmo:** hand at any time.
Not having known anything about the cigar coming in tonight, or even Candela, as we just learned a lot about that. It's really nice and light and pairs perfectly with a mild medium cigar like this. Yeah,
**Bam Bam:** now if you have this neat, of course it's richer. It's really quite good. It's got a honey finish, fruit forward for me.
**Gizmo:** Really very good. This cigar is kind of smoking fast. Is it? Well, it draws wide open. It's kind of burning fast. Yeah, I'm just coming into the second [00:26:00] third. Mm hmm.
**Senator:** Sorry something that just surprises me with Jameson so their whiskey is matured in bourbon and Sherry casks, but but not for long, right? I'd
**Pagoda:** imagine
**Senator:** No, it's so actually there are specific requirements to be an Irish whiskey And I actually got a kick out of reading this because one of them I think is Outrageous, but um, does an Irishman
**Bam Bam:** put his foot in it?
**Senator:** No, it's the the proof requirements. I couldn't believe so the Irish whiskey act of 1980 set the requirements for anything that can call itself an Irish whiskey. It needs to make the whiskey, it needs to make the whiskey with malted barley. It has to be distilled Nothing less than 40 percent alcohol by volume and not more than 94.
8 percent alcohol by volume. Holy cow. That's almost 200 proof. Why would they ever set an alcohol by volume? That's acceptable of [00:27:00] 94. 8.
**Gizmo:** One drink. You couldn't get out. Jamison Everclear. You're down. Let's see. I don't know if we're talking about. I'm
**Rooster:** just glad they kept it under 95.
**Senator:** Insanity. But, uh, from what I've read Jameson, uh, they typically age a minimum of three years for what we're drinking.
**Gizmo:** Okay. But there's, is there an age statement on the bottle or is it? No, that's
**Senator:** just part of the requirement. Yeah. But, um, I'm just really shocked about the Sherry. The reason I say that, I mean, bourbon casks, obviously, well, I think we all would have expected, but Sherry casks, it's just crazy because they're so hard to get and they're not cheap.
I mean, you know, that that's what distinguishes a lot of single malt scotch that they're, they're willing to pay the premium for it and, uh, age it in it for a while. So I'm just shocked for a bottle at 32
**Gizmo:** bucks to under
**Bam Bam:** 35 to use a Sherry cask. Yeah. It
**Senator:** says a lot. And it's just, you know, funny because I, I think all of us have a, a positive reaction drinking this and we know how much we love things aged in sherry cast.
So it's kind of bringing together why I ever, you know, would have been interested in, in drinking [00:28:00] this. How does it
**Rooster:** compare to the other Irish whiskeys
**Gizmo:** that you guys have had, like Red Breast?
**Senator:** I mean, I, I think Jamison prides itself on, on trying to be an arguably is like the smoothest Irish whiskey that you'll probably drink.
Like all the other ones are more robust in flavor profile. So I think for someone who likes a really robust spirit and wants, um, much more flavor and wants a little more of a punch with it. This might not be the spirit for them, but for someone who wants something easy drinking, flavorful enough, an accessible price point that you can find anywhere, I mean, that's why you would pick up Jameson.
**Gizmo:** Can have this for breakfast, dude. So good. I'm impressed with, number one, I would assume just because of the brand and how well known it is, I'm assuming that you could probably find this in 99. 99 percent of bars around the world. It's everywhere. For the amount of volume that Jameson produces of this spirit, the fact that they do have enough.
Bourbon and sherry casks to [00:29:00] process that kind of volume through it is really something and then and then to put it through I'm sure volume helps but to put it out at that price that's Accessible to every kind of right whiskey drinker is Really shocking. Yeah,
**Bam Bam:** this thing also makes great cocktails, you know a little a little ginger and a slice of lemon
**Gizmo:** And it's hot summer day.
It's, it's an extraordinary
**Bam Bam:** drink. Very good. Great
**Pagoda:** car bombs in the winter. Yeah. Oh yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. So good.
**Senator:** The other thing, Jamison's history is very serious. I mean, I can't believe they, they started in 1780. It's unbelievable. I mean, they've been doing this a long time. And the, the funny thing is, the guy who started it, John Jamison, uh, he's not actually Irish.
He's Scottish. So the guy was a lawyer, uh, from Scotland before he decided to come to Dublin in 1780 and start the distillery, um, that basically had his name initially. And was kept in the family for quite some time. I wish Puba [00:30:00] was here, because in reading, John Jameson, uh, was actually a Dublin Freemason.
Oh ho ho. Um, and, uh. He's
**Gizmo:** part of the Illuminati. That's right. Yeah, we'd be going out in left
**Bam Bam:** field right now. Ha ha ha. If he were here. Ha ha ha.
**Gizmo:** Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha
**Bam Bam:** ha ha. Ha ha ha.
**Gizmo:** Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha.
**Senator:** But apparently the, the first distillery was on Bow Street, which was apparently like the biggest area for distilleries in Dublin.
And um, it was kind of a family affair. It says that his son, John Jameson II took over the family business eventually. Um, some of the other kids, uh, John Jameson III in 1851, uh, was heavily involved. And, um, in 1901, the company changed its name and kind of formally incorporated as John Jameson and Son. And, um, from there, obviously, grew into what's now, you know, one of the biggest producers of whiskey, period.[00:31:00]
Um, the irony though right now is it's no longer, uh, owned by the family or, uh, anyone in Ireland. It's actually owned by Pernod Ricard, a French company. Oh, wow. So they own like Glen Levitt and a bunch of other, you know, big brands, Absolute, a lot of the different, um, spirit companies. But, um, it's, you know, it seems they've stayed true to the, the recipe.
It's, you know, as smooth as can be. And, and I, I've always enjoyed, um, Jamison. I don't think I've ever had any complaints with it. Uh, some interesting things that they do. I actually had this on a flight once. I flew Aer Lingus, the national airline of Ireland once. Intentionally, um, I was flying from Seattle to Paris, which there are very few direct flights, and I was supposed to fly British Air, it got cancelled, so I needed to get on any flight, so they paid to put me on Aerolingis, and sitting in business class on, on that plane, I had wanted like a scotch, but they said they only had Jameson cask mates.
And this all comes back because [00:32:00] I'm telling you, if you haven't had this, get a bottle and try it. It's basically Jameson, um, ages the whiskey in X beer barrels, uh, that had like a stout. It gives the spirit this creaminess like you get in like a Guinness or a stout. Does it have a black
**Bam Bam:** label?
**Gizmo:** Yes, I've had that.
Okay. It's actually very
**Senator:** good. It's really good. We should review it at some point on the podcast, but I was shocked. I mean, I was drinking this the entire flight and just loving it. It was so good. Um, so I'm also impressed. Like, I mean, one, I had, can't believe they mature this in Sherry for part of it. And two, just like the creativity and use of, you know, a stout barrel from beer companies.
And they partnered with, uh, even American brewers, uh, to make this. I read three different American brewers that send their barrels to Jameson in Ireland to then use for cask mates when they actually, uh, distill the spirit and mature it. Very cool.
**Gizmo:** And you said it's cask mates? That's right. Wow. It's that [00:33:00] bottle with a black label on it.
**Bam Bam:** Interesting. Now they also have a bottle with a green label that I've had as well. That
**Gizmo:** I don't like as much as this in the black label. And this is the standard Jameson that you can get everywhere. Yeah. Yeah. It's really, really good. It's really smooth. Definitely more smooth than, you know, the other, when I think Irish whiskey, I think Red Breast.
Of course. You know, and Red Breast is a phenomenal spirit. I would ask you to try it neat next time. Okay.
**Bam Bam:** Just a bit. Have another shot. Oh, I love, oh,
**Pagoda:** dude. No, no, typically, like, if you're in an Irish bar, You're getting Jameson shots all the way through. Of course, it's true. Really? Yes, you are.
**Gizmo:** Every fourth.
Yeah. I feel like I've been like, sheltered. I don't know any of this. Clearly. You have. I mean, it's kind of crazy.
**Senator:** We need to do a pub crawl with
**Gizmo:** Gizmo. Oh, dude, I'm ready for that. That would be good. Little pig
**Pagoda:** and whistle,
**Senator:** Molly Weas. We're not ending at my house, I'll just say that.
**Bam Bam:** My sink is heated up. Get that plumber on standby.
**Pagoda:** Yeah, but if you're an Irish bar, like, uh, [00:34:00] Jameson shots are just going all the way through, man. It's, you know, the bartender's gonna have a shot with you and it's,
**Senator:** it's very chill. So now I have to ask is, have you ever had a car
**Gizmo:** bomb? No, I don't even know what that is. Holy smokes. You believe this? I don't even know what
**Pagoda:** it is.
You know, if this episode were being done on a, towards a weekend, I would have definitely, definitely. Can you make those? Got a Guinness and yeah, yeah. You can make that? It's very simple.
**Gizmo:** Oh, wait, wait, wait. It's so easy. Is that where you put the, you drop the shot in the Guinness? Correct. Guinness and Baileys.
And then you drink the thing. And Baileys. Baileys and Guinness. You got to drink it fast because it curls? Yeah. That's exactly
**Pagoda:** it. It curdles.
**Bam Bam:** Curdles, yeah. But how much Baileys and? So
**Pagoda:** it's about, it's about a half a pint of Guinness. And then you throw in, uh, the Jameson and the Bailey shot. Oh, wow. And then it starts It's a delicious drink.
Becoming very milky, but you have to have it as a shot. Yeah, yeah. And you'd be surprised, it just goes down so easy. It's like, you're not sipping
**Senator:** that. No, and it literally tastes like chocolate milk. It's delicious.
**Gizmo:** It's delicious. I gotta try that. I feel like I've been like [00:35:00] Sheltered somewhere that I've never heard of.
Go to an Irish pub, dude. I should do it. Yeah.
**Senator:** Next time we're at the North Lounge. Mmm. Oh, yeah. We're gonna order Gizmo. Yes. A car bomb. This will be amazing. I want one. I want one. I haven't
**Gizmo:** had one in a while. Interesting. Mmm.
So, boys, we're about halfway through here on the Padilla Candela in Robusto. I gotta say, this is shocking me right now how good this is. For a 10 cigar with a green, green wrapper on it. I'm really, really impressed. It's good.
**Bam Bam:** It's, it's, for me, there's a slight, a very slight hint of bitterness on the front.
Just a touch. And it could be because my mouth's dry. Maybe I need to, I need a sip.
**Senator:** Or you could be smoking a little fast. I
**Bam Bam:** am.
**Gizmo:** I'm smoking this actually very fast,
**Bam Bam:** honestly, because it draws so wide open. That's possible. But it's really very enjoyable. But I agree
**Pagoda:** with you. I get the bitterness as well. So I get a little bit of You
**Gizmo:** and I are
**Bam Bam:** chimneys, so we
**Gizmo:** do
**Pagoda:** need to slow down.
Slow down a bit. Yeah. But I do get the bitterness. [00:36:00] And, you know, for a creamy, you know, kind of cigar, the finish is, I think, just medium for me. It's not, it's not very long. It's not very,
**Bam Bam:** very Are you finding this to increase in strength for anyone here?
**Gizmo:** Not really. No, right? I think it stayed about the same.
I think as it's heated up, I'm getting a little bit more concentrated. The salt is definitely picked up for me in the front. I'm getting salt. I'm not getting bitter. Um, I feel like the flavors have kind of really, really softened in their, you know, like they're all kind of working together. There's nothing really jumping out trying to be the star of the show.
And I think it's really working. It's just so easy to smoke. Getting a little spice, a little salt, a little sweetness. It's, it's working really nice. I'm
**Senator:** also glad that we have the pairing we do because Jameson, with how smooth it is, it's not overpowering this mild cigar. That's right.
**Gizmo:** Agreed. Yeah,
**Rooster:** I'm just very curious what the blend is.
Yeah, we want to know. [00:37:00] It's very odd that this is a
**Gizmo:** Nicaraguan cigar. That's so mild. And you don't get the Nicaraguan notes out of it. Yeah. Or that strength that you're used to.
**Senator:** I mean, this goes to, we've debunked this with Cuban cigars that, you know, the wrapper is not a significant source of flavor, but with New World cigars, the fact that it's suggesting that most Candela's smoke basically the same in terms of flavor profile, clearly a lot of the flavor is coming from the wrapper.
**Bam Bam:** I heard that La Florida Minicana Green Cigar is really a powerhouse. I've never had it. I've heard it's
**Gizmo:** really quite strong. Unique for this colored cigar, right? Yeah, so to answer your question, Rooster, I can't find any information anywhere on the internet about the blend of the Padilla Candela cigars, including on their website, retailers anywhere.
I cannot find it anywhere. So it's interesting that that's not published. We're going to have
**Senator:** to ask Padilla
**Gizmo:** at PCA. We'll have to do that. One, we have one question for you. [00:38:00] What's the blend of the Candela? Yeah. No, actually, I, I think what the, the history we went through earlier with his father, it's really interesting to, you know, he was born and they were born, they were from Pinar del Rio.
Yeah. where tobacco was grown, and then his father was a poet, not a tobacco farmer. It's amazing. It's a pretty incredible story for him to come to the United States and start a, uh, a brand that's successful. Yeah. You know who one of his, uh, favorite people is, Bam? Cigar Vixen. She has her own specials page on their website.
So he and I share, uh, you
**Bam Bam:** know, Yeah, kindred spirit, to a degree.
**Senator:** You'll be sharing plenty together in
**Gizmo:** Vegas.
**Bam Bam:** I think she might make a poet out of you. I may get arrested in
**Gizmo:** Vegas. So we are going to Vegas later this week, boys, for the annual Premium Cigar Association trade show. Yeah, 2024. And, uh, it's our first trade show that we're doing as the podcast [00:39:00] and looking forward to a lot of things that are going to be happening.
**Senator:** And after Bam Bam meets the Cigar Vixen, it'll be our last. Yeah, you'll never see me
**Bam Bam:** again, by the way. I will evaporate.
**Gizmo:** So really the headlining note about PCA, uh, 24 this year, the 60th anniversary of Padrone is going to be celebrated. I'm assuming with a new Padrone family reserve cigar. As they always do and a keynote address on the opening day, which is pretty cool.
I wonder
**Bam Bam:** if they'll introduce the
**Gizmo:** collaboration. Well, it's not been released and they've already talked about it so much. I would assume they'd have it there, but so you're talking for the listener. Bam is referencing the collaboration, uh, between Arturo Fuente and Padron celebrating each other's fathers.
We've talked about that quite a bit. It was delayed. Uh, about a year. Yeah. And then when it was shipping, it got delayed again because there was [00:40:00] some shipping errors and a bunch of boxes got damaged. And since then, what was that? November? December? Yeah. We haven't heard a peep about it. So hopefully at PCA, we're going to learn a little more, but I would assume Padron is going to launch a 60th anniversary cigar celebrating the brand.
They're going to do the keynote. Like we said, they're going to give 200 cigars away and, uh, they're going to do a keynote. The family's going to do a keynote. So that's going to be. Something to, you know, look forward to this year. Yeah, it's gonna be great.
**Bam Bam:** Will our credentials say our
**Gizmo:** Lizard names? They will.
Really?
**Bam Bam:** Yes. Are you serious? I swear. That's fucking cool.
**Gizmo:** I like that. I actually saw the previews today. I'm actually excited. That's great. So PCA has a lot of cool stuff going on. We were talking about some of the, some of the things that were happening. On the opening day, there's going to be. A new docuseries about hand rolled cigars, which is pretty cool.
Sponsored by Tatawahe. There's going to be a cigar pairing [00:41:00] seminar with La Aurora. This is something I'm really looking forward to, especially given our, uh, recent love. We, you know, we've really enjoyed foundation cigars. Nick Melillo of foundation cigars is going to do a presentation about Connecticut tobacco and the Connecticut river Valley, uh, followed by.
The keynote presentation by the Padron family and then a cigar panel featuring Ernesto Carrillo, Tim Osgener from Crown Heads and John Huber, uh, moderated by David Savona of Cigar Aficionado. And then there's a opening reception that night sponsored by Crown Heads and EP Carrillo. So, I mean, just on the first day, quite an agenda.
Yeah. A lot of stuff to get done. So what are you guys looking forward to? I don't know what
**Bam Bam:** to expect. I've never been to anything like this.
**Gizmo:** I mean, I think the Padron piece
**Senator:** for sure. Sure. We're all huge fans. That's right. Um, I'm looking forward to whatever they release and hopefully getting to spend a little time with Jorge Padron.
Um. Cigar
**Gizmo:** vixen. Ha. Of course, how can, how can we, uh, how
**Senator:** can we forget, [00:42:00] um, I think there's just a ton of stuff that's going to be released there. So I'm just kind of excited to see some of this. I know, um, my father has three new releases that they're coming out with their, uh, Monte Cristo. Oh,
**Gizmo:** this is an exciting one.
Has
**Senator:** as bold a release as anybody. They've decided to release a Monte Cristo 1935 anniversary edition, uh, Doble Diamante that is going to sell for 150 per stick. I'm excited. And this is a
**Pagoda:** New World Monte Cristo.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Where are we going? I mean, are the Cuban Monte Cristo 1935s even 150? No. No. They're about 80.
And I mean, how much shit do we give Havana's about the prices? Correct. You know, high level global brands. I mean, that is unbelievable. What is going on? It's
**Senator:** unbelievable. Yeah. Speaking of craziness, a cigar brand that definitely qualifies as crazy. Uh, San Perai. Oh yeah. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** You guys have lots of stories about him.
We love him.
**Senator:** Uh, they're coming out with a new, uh, green [00:43:00] line, which I feel like they haven't, no, no, just the, just the band on the, on the, uh, cigar will be green. But, um, I feel like they haven't come out with. Anything new in years. No, that's
**Gizmo:** true. And everything, as I remember, I've never had them. I know you guys did because there were events at Earl's Lounge.
Yes. I've never even had one of his cigars, but weren't they incredibly expensive? Very
**Bam Bam:** expensive, but they were, but they were very good. They
**Gizmo:** were very, very good. They
**Senator:** basically their core line. Most of those sticks are like 50 a cigar. And then one thing I did appreciate, they had kind of a more budget friendly, more accessible line.
Remember with those like funky wrappers, there was like a black one that had like a pigtail.
**Gizmo:** And there was one that was marbled red with black. Yeah.
**Senator:** Rosado. That was actually very good. They were, I remember I, I had bought some of those. They were, they're probably like 15 a stick, more of the price point that I think most people would expect to be looking for.
So, um, cigars were good, but yeah, the price point is just silly. I mean, people are not going to smoke [00:44:00] 50 sticks on a daily basis. That's
**Gizmo:** just silly. Yeah. I mean, when you look at, I mean, prior to they're not out yet, but I mean, Padron's highest cigar as of this moment available in the market is a 50 cigar.
Yeah. You know, the hammer. I mean, obviously that's going to change with the collaboration. Some of these other things, but to be offering cigars at that kind of high price point, and that's your core line. Sure. Yeah. That's a bit challenging, I think. That's a
**Rooster:** phenomenal steak by Padrone. Oh
**Gizmo:** yeah. It's incredible.
So we also saw that Foundation, we were just mentioning Nick Melillo, he cancelled the El Wawense and the Wise Man lines. I'm heartbroken. Pagoda is pretty bummed out about it. And we enjoyed both of those cigars on the podcast. They were good. And they're launching a new Wise Man line which will be manufactured by my father.
And he says that the blends are going to be completely different. There's going to be no overlap in the blends. So I would assume either they weren't selling well or weren't, you know, were [00:45:00] disappointing maybe versus the Olmec or some of the other, you know, core lines that they sell. But, uh, yeah, it's, it's interesting to see two lines getting canceled to be replaced by another one manufactured at, uh, my father.
What I've heard though, is that with that transit, you know, transition, they will no longer be having any of their cigars made at Agonor, uh, Agonor Salif. So we talked about their cigars were made at that factory. So everything I guess is moving away from there and these are going to be made. At the My Father Factory.
Okay. So. Makes sense. That should be interesting. So yeah, we'll see. I'm sure there's gonna be a lot of surprises. A lot of interesting stuff. It'll be nice to meet a lot of the people we've been talking to over the years. Uh, in person. Uh, I'm excited to meet the people from Cigar Oasis because we've, we love them.
We all use their stuff. Of course. I mean the best. Excellent product. Best humidification system on the planet. No doubt about it. So excited to meet them. Boveda. Yeah, Boveda. Excited to meet all these, uh. Yeah. Accessory manufacturers can be it's gonna be a really really good event and hopefully we get to [00:46:00] smoke some great cigars Yeah, maybe a vigilante.
Hmm. They'd be there. Yeah vigilance should be there. Yeah. Yeah, so boys I don't know if you guys heard the news. I know senator is probably thrilled about this Did you guys hear about the troubles that United Airlines has been having the, uh, last few weeks? Didn't the tire
**Bam Bam:** fall off or
**Gizmo:** something? Senator came into the lounge as if I was the technician that was supposed to take care of that tire on the, on the plane.
What are we doing? Gizmo has been the
**Senator:** biggest United evangelist.
**Gizmo:** I'm just saying, and I wanted to bring it on the payroll. Because they've had quite a string of issues over, what, the last two weeks? Three weeks? Quite a string is an understatement. So, let's run through some of them, Senator. So, number one, a plane taking off in, at LAX.
Yeah. I believe SFO, I thought. Was it, uh, San Francisco? San Francisco, a wheel fell off during takeoff. Literally crashed through a car. Dude. That was, that's terrifying to see on video. That's terrifying. It's crazy. How [00:47:00] do you, how do you land a plane without the wheel?
**Senator:** Well, they landed. They, they had an emergency.
And I think that the emergency landing happened in LA. That's where that's from. And, uh, yeah, they, I mean, you know, they have to train these pilots for these kinds of situations, especially when you're flying a United plane, clearly a
**Gizmo:** lot of sparks. Yeah. Well, I think, I think it fell off the back wheel where there's probably 10 or 12 tires.
God knows, one of them fell off. So it wasn't the whole mechanism. Yeah. But obviously it's still a major problem. It did fall in the
**Pagoda:** employee parking lot, if
**Gizmo:** I remember. Yeah. Went right through a car. They're lucky. Lucky it didn't hurt anyone. That's wild. Oh, and then there were two other planes that went off the runway.
Yeah. One in Houston, one in Houston, and one in, uh, at LAXI believe. Unbelievable. Yeah. Like I don't understand what's going on with air travel. It, it, it's terrify. Terrify. Sorry. The
**Senator:** scaries one terrify. Honestly, the scariest one. This was from February. Uh. A United plane that had to make an emergency landing for God knows what other problem.
The wing of the plane started to come apart. There's, look at, look [00:48:00] at this photo. Oh my God. This is a passenger took this while the plane's trying to land that the wing is literally breaking into pieces and coming apart. While it's landing. Yeah, look at that. That's scary, man. Can you imagine looking out of your plane window and seeing that?
**Pagoda:** No, no. I don't want to fly. I don't want to fly anymore.
**Gizmo:** So, all I'm going to say is But we're flying on Thursday. I rest my case. United?
**Bam Bam:** United. I'm United, that too. Are we? I thought it was American.
**Gizmo:** No, United. Oh, no.
**Pagoda:** They're performing
**Bam Bam:** really well. I'm taking a train.
**Pagoda:** They're performing really well as a stock.
They're just, they're cutting, they're cutting the labor in the wrong bloody, probably in maintenance or something.
**Gizmo:** I
**Bam Bam:** don't know what's going on. We're
**Gizmo:** laughing, but it's terrifying. It's terrifying. Plus with that Boeing 737, where the door flew off mid flight. Yeah. There's been a bunch of other problems. I saw a Delta flight landed somewhere and took out the.
The fuel truck or like the, the luggage cart the other day completely knocked it over and destroyed the wing. What is going on? I just, it's a little scary what's going on with air [00:49:00] travel right now. It's been great on
**Senator:** American airlines. No complaints.
**Gizmo:** Why
**Bam Bam:** did we book United?
**Senator:** Yeah, all I'm going to say is everybody better, uh, write a will before we get out.
**Bam Bam:** Oh, that's bad luck. I got to knock on some wood, man.
**Gizmo:** So boys, we're well into the second third here. On the Padilla Candela in Robusto. I'm enjoying it.
**Rooster:** I've had to relight mine like a few times. I
**Gizmo:** only had to, I only had to do that when I was talking a lot. You take long breaks, Rooster. No, no, no. Okay. I enjoyed the first half more. Um, I don't know what's going on.
It's still not bad. To me it's
**Senator:** been pretty consistent. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** That bitterness went away. Mine has like a nice potpourri scent on the foot. Yeah, I agree with you. Nice spicy sweet on the draw. The retrohale is fantastic. You're getting a good potpourri and a retrohale. Yeah. [00:50:00] I think this is a pretty good cigar.
See how it finishes here, but I'm really enjoying it. Alright boys, I'm excited about this. We have a new segment alert. New segment alert tonight on the podcast. Ding, ding, ding, ding. So we've been talking about how to involve listeners more, how to bring listener voices into the room with us. Because we always talk about every, every time we do an anniversary episode or a holiday episode, and we kind of reflect on our nostalgia of starting this thing a few years ago and sitting here with each other every week and smoking cigars like this that we would have never reached for had it not been for this podcast.
Or the listeners. Or the listeners. And through all that, we've made this incredible, we've helped kind of create this incredible community of human beings out there who listen to us every week, smoke along with us, get really passionate, send emails, make their own messages, bumper stickers, hold Bam Bam accountable, they hold Bam Bam accountable.
That is a, yeah, that is really a nice thing. I don't like that. Thank you [00:51:00] listeners, you know, cause we always say that there's that extra, we always, it's like we operate with an empty chair in the room. Because the listener is part of the conversation, right? Well, that's how we operate. And that's how that's kind of a major part of our ethos here.
So the idea was, how do we involve listeners more in this podcast on a week to week basis? And I think that we have found an interesting way to do it. And I wanted to share with you a message that came into our email, a voice memo from one of our listeners asking us a question that he has, uh, that he has some interest in us answering.
So check this out from lizard, Sean. So we have no
**Rooster:** idea that. What's going on? Yeah. By
**Gizmo:** the way, this is the listener. We know this is Sean.
**Rooster:** No, I know, but we don't know what's about
**Gizmo:** to happen. Correct. Yeah. I didn't prep the guys on this. So let's check this out. I feel an ambush coming
**Bam Bam:** on.
**Lizard Sean:** Hey lizards, Lizard Sean here from Southern New Jersey.
Wanted to get your guys feedback and thought on custom roles. I know you guys don't talk about them a whole lot. [00:52:00] Actually just heard you talking about the ones from FOH, uh, last week, but want to get your overall thoughts. Do you guys smoke them on a regular basis? Do you think it's a good substitute for the regular production and you see it as a viable substitution, uh, as prices continue to skyrocket.
So, uh, keep up the great work. Uh, you have a lot of fans out there. And, uh, look forward to hearing more. Take care.
**Gizmo:** How awesome is that?
**Bam Bam:** That's very cool. Lizard Sean. I'm getting goosebumps. I love that piece. Lizard Sean coming through.
**Gizmo:** So before we answer Lizard Sean's question, the great questions, a few really good questions in there, actually, uh, really important for listeners out there, please send us your voice memos with your questions and we'll answer them.
Make sure the quality is really good. Record it well into your phone and we'll play them on air here and answer your questions. Very cool. Senator snickered when I said, make sure they're good quality. Gizmo is the tough critic. Oh
yeah.
I'm I'm impressed
**Senator:** that Lizard Sean [00:53:00] met your standards. He
**Gizmo:** did. So I'm looking forward to more listeners, uh, being podcast with great questions like that.
So I'll pass the questions to you guys. First off, what are your impressions of custom roles, both new world and Cuban?
**Rooster:** Yeah, I've had, I think all of us are smoking more custom role. I mean, just like the way Sean said, the prices are keep going up. And I know for myself, I'm, I'm smoking less of the bandage stuff because it's just harder to replace.
And especially the age stuff, I see less and less of that coming up. And when it does, I mean, the prices are so high that the custom rolls are a great alternative
**Gizmo:** to
**Bam Bam:** that. And I'll say this, you know, the quality of the, of the custom rolls for me, where it was, I think for all of us was probably always a little suspect because we didn't know what it was, where it came from, no band, but they're surprisingly good and they're an [00:54:00] excellent substitute for your, your collection.
I mean, on a, on almost a weekly or daily basis, excellent option.
**Senator:** I'll say this, that maybe I look at this a little bit differently. I, full disclosure, was very anti custom role for a long time. We know. And for me, it's, it's, it used to be a matter of there's no band on it. I don't, I can't be absolutely certain where it's coming from or what's in it.
It just doesn't have the same standard. And so, I always worried about the quality, um, of what I was smoking. What I will say is, Try everything. And I say that because as I have finally not been as stubborn and tried some of these custom roles, I have found ones I really like, but the thing I view differently, I don't view them as a substitute to me.
You know, when you're looking for a substitute, it's like, well, what can I find that? Isn't maybe exactly what I'm looking for, you know, that banded cigar, but it's just good enough to [00:55:00] replace it. And my experience with custom roles has been, you know, the ones that I smoke regularly and that I've grown to appreciate, I enjoy just as much as anything with a band.
So to me, it's like not even a substitute. It's an, and in my rotation, it's not because I'm worried about running out of a certain banded cigar or. The I'm doing it solely based on price. They are cheaper and they happen to be many of them, not all, of course, just as good as some of the bandit stuff that I smoke regularly.
So for me, it's been a huge revelation recently. And I think that the only way you're going to find it is if you just try a lot of these different custom roles. And I think it's impossible that you won't find something that that you will want to add to your daily
**Gizmo:** rotation. They're just,
**Bam Bam:** they're delicious.
And honestly, you have to know your sources. Our procurement manager that I'm looking at now does his research, he knows where they're coming from. It matters, right? So where you're getting it from really does matter. I think that's a
**Gizmo:** big factor. That's true. In this, in this approach.
**Pagoda:** And it seems [00:56:00] like we're all discussing, you know, Cuban custom roles.
Um, there are a lot of custom roles that have been, you know, in the new world arena. And over there you might find greater variations, but once again, Um, if you do have a good source like Bam just said, Um, you know, you're likely to enjoy them and it's definitely, In addition to, uh, your overall, uh, collection?
**Rooster:** Yeah, I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I have not had any new world
**Gizmo:** custom rolled cigars. I've never had those either. There's so many, so I don't know what to expect from, from that. Yeah. That perspective or where do you even
**Senator:** get them? Well, I, I have from, I mean, GIZ and FOH.
**Gizmo:** All right. Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't call them custom.
I mean, they're just un banded. Um, I've been, I think I've mentioned this before in the podcast, but in the new world space, I mean, I, I've been very lucky a little over a year now. Right around a year, I guess, uh, Rob Isla, who owns friends of El Habano invited me on the tasting panel. So I've been trying all of the [00:57:00] stuff they've been manufacturing production.
A lot of them have now been released. I think we talked about that in September, October, November, somewhere around there that those cigars had started coming out, but they're ramping up production and you know, the cigars are really, really good. Like it's something that I'm like proud to say that I tasted early on.
And I'm proud to say that I actually enjoy smoking them. It's awesome. And it's. What I like about it, you know, is those cigars for me are comparable to the Cuban cigar experience. And that's where custom roles for me really do play a, you know, a play a part in my rotation and in my smoking habit is maybe unlike what Senator said.
I do, I do factor in value when I'm reaching for cigars. I do. You think about that a little bit. I walk up to the humidor and it's just easy for me to reach for these customs that I have so many of. that are really providing me a very similar or sometimes better experience than a lot of the cigars that I can get banded from Cuba at a very high price, maybe three or four times the price.
[00:58:00] Yeah. So that's where value, you know, comes into play here is I know that when I buy cigars from a guy like Rob, And, and Hamlet, who are making amazing cigars are friends of El, uh, uh, El Habano and Bon Roberts and the Nudies program. I know every one of those cigars is not going to have a draw issue. It's not going to have a construction issue.
Maybe the flavor profile would be better or worse or. Aligned with my palate or not. And there's certainly preferences I have across the line, no question about it, but they're fantastic. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** I think the variety play that Senator mentioned earlier adds, it just makes your whole cigar rotation interesting.
When you have a sit, if you're going to do five or six cigars, you got a really good custom roll that's integrated with your banded stuff. It's really, it's, it makes it a pretty interesting sit. I
**Gizmo:** think for me. I mean, for example,
**Rooster:** if you have a custom rolled Cohiba Siglo 5, for example. that you're paying a fraction of the price, how can the price not come [00:59:00] into play?
I mean, of course, regular, especially if it tastes good, five, especially if it tastes like close to 80 to a hundred dollars per cigar. That's right. And a custom rolled is maybe like 15, 16, you
**Gizmo:** know, under 20.
**Pagoda:** Yeah. No, but what ends up happening is for a lot of the guys, for the listeners, where do they procure something?
And where do they get the validation that these are from Cuba, in effect, or from a particular factory representing a certain market? I think what ends up happening, we hear, and that's the thing, custom roles, the definition is so broad. Um, a lot of the guys will go to a particular cigar store often, and the cigar stores will have their own custom roles.
You know, so it's very difficult to really gauge what kind of custom, custom roles. It's a good point. And the other thing I think is a lot of the custom roles are often very fresh, right? They'll take the leaves and they'll do it. So they're not aged into, you don't know what the real effect is. So at the end of the day, it's like, if you do come across a [01:00:00] custom role that you enjoy.
Yeah. Meaning it's, it's just, uh, you know, you got to get lucky with the procurement once again.
**Gizmo:** I think you have to get as close to. The person who's making the blending decision and actually rolling the cigar as possible. Cause the, the more steps away from that human being you get is where you get what Pagoda's saying, which is this lack of understanding of what you're really smoking.
Is the person at the cigar store really telling you the truth? Are they ordering these on Cigars International for 2 and, and selling them in their shop for 10 and telling you there's some sort of custom roll. So as close as you can get to the source is that's really the difference maker for me. So New World Cigars trusting someone with like Rob Isla and Hamlet Perides to make cigars that are shipping out of Miami and they're.
10 a piece and you know what you're getting, you know, you can order fivers and you can go on his forum and ask him questions about it. You can send him an email. Those things really matter. And that's where, for us [01:01:00] with our, you know, our Cuban connections now, having gone to Cuba as many times as we have over the last two years, that's why it's turned around.
And I think senators had a bit of a different experience because we're interfacing directly. Yeah. With the human beings that are making these cigars. For sure. And
**Senator:** I also think that's why, you know, when I say try everything, uh, it's really important that you experiment. early in small quantities and that you don't just dive in headfirst where someone offers you some custom role and you say, sure, I'm going to take 40 of those.
And, you know, sometimes you're not going to be happy with the experience. And sometimes what you're being, what's advertised to you is not really what it is. And so, you know, I think of, we've had members of our own lounge here who were well intentioned in wanting to pursue some custom roles and I'll never forget.
And the way to protect against this would have been to just order Transcribed A very small quantity at first and try. And if you realize that you got something that was not what was advertised, you just [01:02:00] move on. You cut your losses at a very minimal cost. The problem is when you order, you know, in volume right off the start, I'll never forget these guys lighting up these cigars that they thought were Cuban custom rolls.
And I'm watching one of the guys try to smoke this cigar and the ash is literally crumbling like sand as he's smoking it. Which tells you it's all short filler garbage from the floor. And it's not a real long filler custom rolled cigar. So in those instances, you know, had you just bought a Fiverr, okay.
Not ideal, but you're out 50. But I think, you know, anybody would be upset. They're out 500 when they made a more serious investment in it. So that's where I really think you have to try first in small quantities to validate the quality of what you are or are not getting. And once you find something that meets your flavor profile.
That, you know, passes the standard test of showing that it's long filler tobacco. It's well constructed. You don't have draw issues. Um, and it checks all those boxes, then [01:03:00] stock up. Sure. And, and the last thing I'll say, I think Pagoda also brings up a great point is around, you know, how young and fresh a lot of these are.
Try one early and let the rest sit. And I think for any of the stuff we've gotten even out of Cuba, Having it sit in our humidors for, you know, at least a few months has improved it dramatically where it's come down to the right humidity level. It's got some, at least age, it's not literally just fresh, like, you know, rolled a week ago.
And I think that only helps with the experience.
**Bam Bam:** Know your source
**Gizmo:** at the end of the day. The other thing that's important too, and it goes back to what Pagoda was saying about the var the variation in quality in this thing under this umbrella of custom roles is that, and we've talked about this before, certainly in our group, but construction and, and good tobacco is one thing, but it's the person, it's that blender Making that recipe decision, making sure it's consistent, watching over it to make sure the quality is there, [01:04:00] doing a process like Rob is doing at FOH, maybe not having a panel of, you know, uh, people, you know, he has obviously a huge community he can reach to for feedback, but, you know, you have to imagine any of these manufacturers, Padron, Fuente, whoever, They have their own tasting panels.
Maybe it's in the factory. People are constantly trying things. This is working. This is not just quality control, knowing that your recipe is right. And then making sure that the, that the, the ingredients are consistent and the construction is consistent, right? So, if you're dealing with bad actors, you might have a good, well constructed role, but it may not be what they say it was, or where it came from, or who rolled it, or who didn't.
Or it could be someone who's just very good at rolling cigars that has no idea how to lay out a role. How to blend. You know, how to blend and how to lay the, the tobacco leaves into the cigar properly so that it burns and tastes well. Think about what happened when we sat with De Nilo. Right. Right? We finished the interview that we [01:05:00] released a few episodes here, a few episodes ago.
He sat down and he pulled out some cigars that had been confiscated at the Havana airport that were supposedly Behicke 54s and he took a knife to it. Cut it open and literally started picking apart the inconsistencies and the problems of where these leaves were, you know, the quantity of each leaf that was wrong, how they were laid in the cigar was wrong, how there was too much pectin on the wrapper, you know, the wrapper, keeping it on and it didn't pull the binder apart, I think, you know, when he was taking it apart and he's, he named like 10 things, a ton of short filler in there, a ton of short filler too, you know, and he named like 10 things that were wrong with the cigar, but obviously, you know, If you're not an expert, you're not going to be able to cut a cigar open and know that.
So it really, it comes down to knowing your source, knowing who's making those recipe and blending decisions and making sure that they keep it consistent. So that's where, you know, if you're looking for something that's unique and different, maybe something that [01:06:00] touches Cuban tobacco, go to FOH, Friends of El Habano, check those out.
You can buy fivers. They have a bunch of different sizes, um, that are excellent. And like Pagoda said, you know, if, if, if you find a. You know, custom roll somewhere at a shop at, you know, to Senator's point instead of buying 25 or 50 or 100 buy three. Yeah Just try them and if they suck you're good. Yeah, and if they're great, you're good, too.
Correct, you know instead of Diving headfirst in thinking that you're, you know, catching a, a, a whale, right? Yeah,
**Senator:** I mean, perfect example. When we released the, um, the Vinalis episode and we went out to Pinar del Rio, when we were at Hector Luis's farm, they had a bunch of custom rolls and we bought small quantities, tried them.
There was some that I did not like that I would not purchase any more of and some that were better. And so. So. You know, even there, it's just experimenting and you'll quickly find what doesn't, you know, hit your pallet in the right way and what does and just stock up on the stuff that you
**Gizmo:** like. Yeah. [01:07:00]
**Pagoda:** Um, this is just an open ended question to the custom agent who confiscated my custom robes.
**Bam Bam:** How are you enjoying
**Gizmo:** them, buddy?
**Bam Bam:** They're all, they're all fake, by
**Gizmo:** the way. Did you give him a card with, by the way, so he could listen to the podcast while he was smoking them? For the listener, for the
**Senator:** listener, some customs agent in Miami airport is smoking his way through 20 Cohiba Pyramides Extras custom rolls that Pagoda rolled through the airport with.
**Pagoda:** Which incidentally were bought in the US, by the way.
**Gizmo:** So let me ask you guys this. I know, you know, we have some FOH cigars that are going to be trying now that those cigars are rolling out. Have you guys had custom role experiences with new world custom roles that you thought were good? And again, I'm, I'm kind of eliminating FOH. I don't like to put the custom role.
Label on what foh is doing because it's really not it's just unbanned ever in the
**Senator:** world I [01:08:00] haven't but one of you and I think maybe it was BAM Someone recently said that they had either the house blend here our lounge here. That's right And that it was actually
**Gizmo:** good. It was I actually enjoyed it. Not a
**Bam Bam:** bad cigar here.
I think
**Gizmo:** 1086
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, we're at 1086 here, you know, our second home, and it was actually pretty good. No complaints. There you go.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. It was okay. And a lot of, a lot of guys
**Bam Bam:** in point though, look, I would not, I wouldn't go in and buy 10. I bought one just to try it. And if I'm stuck and if I, if I'm, if I'm at work or if I'm on a site and I'm going home and I don't have anything on me, I'd buy one of those and sit down and have it.
I
**Gizmo:** mean,
**Rooster:** for six bucks, you can't go wrong. You can't. You don't try it. And you kind of liked it, so. It was
**Gizmo:** good. Yeah.
**Senator:** Smokable. Yeah. And whoever was there when we were having this conversation, there was a lot of enthusiasm among. It's true.
**Bam Bam:** Several people. It's true. Yeah.
**Pagoda:** I was at a wedding recently, and they had one of these fresh cigar rollers come up there.
It wasn't bad, but you know, it's the night, you're, you're kind of [01:09:00] drunk, you're having a good time, you're smoking, and as long as it's puffing away, it's all good.
**Bam Bam:** This is a huge departure
**Gizmo:** from where we were. Just a year ago. Oh, it's crazy.
**Bam Bam:** Like, we would never consider this as an option for us, right? We were, we were very strict, we were very
**Gizmo:** particular
**Bam Bam:** about our selections, they have to be banded.
This is really incredible that we've gone so far.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. It's, and it's fantastic, I think. It's a great journey. And I do think, you know, to, to tie Lizard Sean's question back into this, it really now has expanded beyond, you Yeah. Cuban intention with the price increases, obviously none of us can deny that looking for value in Cuban cigars is, has become more important to us because the prices have tripled in some cases quadrupled.
I mean, it's, it's, you know, it's, it's been crazy the, the, the way the prices have gone. But we have, we
**Rooster:** have also found some really good cigars in the new world.
**Gizmo:** We have. They're like
**Rooster:** gems. I mean, we've found so many and the price point is so good. Yeah. [01:10:00] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, some of them are like under
**Gizmo:** 10 bucks.
And a few are in our daily, weekly rotation. Yeah, like the Oliva, Lancero. Oliva Lancero. I smoke probably five a week. You know, Dom Pepin, Lancero. That Warped Cigar is still excellent. I had that last week. It was so good. Yeah. The Foundation Lancero was great. Oh, the Tabernacle. Yeah, the Tabernacle was Illusion that we had.
**Bam Bam:** The Illusion
**Gizmo:** was good. Yep. Yeah. So many good ones. It's true.
**Senator:** And the one thing I do want to clarify, when I say, you know, You know, I'm not, I'm not looking at this about price primarily. I don't mean that I don't retract your statement. No, no, no, no, no. Cause it's an important distinction because some may identify with this.
I don't, I don't, I don't mean in any way, um, I'm not looking for value or I'm, I don't care that prices have gone through the roof with Cuban cigars. I'm just as frustrated as anybody. But the reality is that the Cuban cigars that we all have, we purchased at a much more reasonable price [01:11:00] point. And my only distinction is like.
I'm not squirreling these away to like last until I'm old and gray, like I'm happy to smoke them now at a price point that I was extremely comfortable buying them with. And I'm finding so many other great cigars. I like that. I'm not worried about like running out of something and like, Oh, well, man, what am I going to smoke now?
It's like, I have so many other great options to smoke that when I do run out of something, I'm not going to smoke it. Or I'm going to pay a bit of a premium, but there's just so much more. Like when we look at what our rotation looks like now to the discussion we're having about how far we've come, I mean, it's doubled, tripled,
**Gizmo:** quadrupled what we
**Bam Bam:** smoke now.
It's tremendous.
**Gizmo:** And back to Rooster's point, it's like open the repertoire,
**Bam Bam:** right? Right.
**Gizmo:** Yeah.
**Rooster:** Yeah. I mean, we're, we're kind of just mixing in the customs with
**Gizmo:** the regular stuff. And the new world. We're still smoking guys. As many D4s and RAS and all
**Rooster:** of that. Sure. Sure. We're
**Gizmo:** just adding some of the [01:12:00] custom roles with it.
**Senator:** That's why, like, I don't see myself running out of like a bellicose of Sphinx that I bought at a very reasonable, you know, let's say 15 bucks a stick and saying to myself, well, oh man, now I have to smoke this Cohiba C glow five. It's like, no, I love that cigar just as much. And so I'm not going to be distraught when I run out of something.
That's my point. Like, I'm not trying to nurse this as long as possible. I'm going to smoke them as I enjoy them. When they run out. I'm, I'm fine with that. There's so many other great things.
**Gizmo:** I typically
**Rooster:** meant about the Cohiba cigars in particular and the Trinidad's. Yeah. Like if you were buying the Fonda doors, uh, you know, for like 685 for a box of 25 and now they're like 1, 900.
So I, I would not want to spend that much. Yeah. On a box of those.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, of course. So for
**Senator:** me with that cigar, I'm, I'm not going to, I'm not going to want to replace them when I'm done with them, so I'm going to happily smoke through them. I mean, I enjoy them, but I don't enjoy them enough [01:13:00] where I would, I want to pay even a slight premium over what I paid before.
Correct. That's true. It's a very good cigar, but it's not like a top five cigar for me, so. Yeah. For me, it's easier to part with stuff like that because I, I wouldn't be tempted to replace
**Gizmo:** it. There are staples in our rotation
**Bam Bam:** that you're going to replace, like D4s and RAS. I'm at a point where Those are the only
**Senator:** ones.
Correct.
**Bam Bam:** You're willing to pay a premium for those
**Gizmo:** because you want those. I like the Colonialis.
**Senator:** You know I love that cigar. Oh yeah, but I'll never smoke that at that price now. I'll never
**Gizmo:** pay that for that. It's 42, I think, for that little guy. Um, it's ridiculous. I saw that recently. I'm trying to think what the price was.
And don't forget too, I mean, you know, Trinidad is about to do a whole, they're, Habanos is about to do a whole relaunch in May of Trinidad because the brand is not, you know, the consumer has not accepted that the brand is a high price, high profile brand. So they're doing a whole relaunch of that in London.
You know, it's like, I wouldn't be surprised. It's going to collapse. It's going to, it's not going to do well. I don't think so either, but we'll see, you know, who knows, you know, what, [01:14:00] what the pivot attempt is here, but you know, the cons, you know, just like in this room, the consumer is trained that Trinidad is not a brand that's in line price wise with Cohiba.
It's just not accepted. At, at, at, you know, being a Cohiba type brand, but I'm
**Rooster:** already starting to see discounted pricing on Cohibas and Trinidads on certain sites. I saw a box of colonialis just come up and it was 6. 90, I believe for a box of 24.
**Gizmo:** Oh, wow. It's still way too much. Yeah, it is. That box should be 400.
Yeah.
**Senator:** I mean, it's a small cigar. It's not a
**Gizmo:** big smoke.
**Bam Bam:** Delicious, but way overpriced.
**Gizmo:** Right. So, to answer Lizardshawn's question, um, I hope we did answer it. I hope we did answer Lizardshawn's question, uh, you know, sufficiently. Um, but yeah, custom rolls, it's really all about knowing your source and getting as close to the person blending and rolling that cigar as possible.
Maybe we need a
**Rooster:** lounge lizard custom roll. [01:15:00]
**Gizmo:** That's not a bad idea. I like it. That's not a bad idea. We need to create our own blend. Now we cooking. We're going to start working on it. A double Toro. I hope it's not
**Bam Bam:** green.
**Gizmo:** If we make them green, we can get them out faster.
**Senator:** It would be a true lizard cigar if they were green.
That's
**Gizmo:** very true. I'm already thinking
**Pagoda:** about the band.
**Gizmo:** Get the
**Rooster:** lounge lizard band on this. Black and white. Yep. Let's do it.
**Gizmo:** Look for those in 2026. All right, boys, are you ready to move into our ratings tonight? Let's do the formal liquor rating on the Jameson Irish Whiskey. Bam Bam, you're up. So
**Bam Bam:** this for me could be a 9 or a 10 because of its price and how available it is and how delicious it is.
I'm going to give it a 9 because I can drink this on a weekly basis every other day and be very happy with it. 9.
**Gizmo:** Okay, Pagoda. [01:16:00]
**Pagoda:** I'm at a eight. Um, it's not something that I drink that often. My memories attached to this are Morris shots. It's not like if I were to go to a bar, I'd say, Hey, listen, can I get Jameson on ice?
That's not what I do. Um, so, uh, it's an eight for me, but it's, it's a very, it's a very, uh, I think very, um, it's very clean and light bodied. It's, uh, It's somewhat one of those, uh, drinks that whenever you want to have it, like whether it's the summer or the winter, I think you can have a little bit of it, for sure.
**Senator:** Senator. I, I'm also at an eight. I mean, I think the price point is obviously great. The spirit itself, I think, is straightforward. enjoyable. Um, it's kind of just like an old reliable spirit that you're in an airport and there's not much selection. You're never going to be disappointed having some Jameson.
You know, it's so straightforward that to me, it lacks [01:17:00] complexity for me to give it a nine or a 10. Um, I would want a little more body in something that I would, I would score higher than an eight, but, um, it's still definitely a recommend. And if somehow you're like Ismo and you've never had Jameson, I think you would have to have, you have to try Jameson.
Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Like I said, I feel like I've been on Mars or something. I've never had Jameson before, but tonight was the first and I thought it was really good. I didn't think it, you know, it was incredible. I really liked the pairing with this mild cigar tonight. And I think that that's where this has utility for me is if you're sipping something and you're not smoking a cigar, I think it would suit suit well in that case, but with a.
You know, more full Nicaraguan or a Dominican cigar, I think it would kind of pale in comparison, flavor wise, I think it'd get Try it neat, if you have it neat
**Bam Bam:** with a Nicaraguan, it's
**Gizmo:** quite nice. So, for me it's an 8, and I'm very comfortable with that score. I actually thought you guys were going to be closer to 9s.
Well, I'm at a 9. You were at a 9. But, uh, that puts the formal liquor [01:18:00] rating on this, boys, at an 8. 3. Nice score. Which I think is a very fair score. That's a nice score. 32 bottle, 32 bottle of Irish whiskey. And
**Senator:** I will say, as I mentioned before, we should do the cask mates at some point, because when you describe pairing something with a Nicaraguan cigar with a bit more body, I do think that that would hold up better.
**Bam Bam:** That Blake label would do a great job with that, with the Nicaraguan,
**Gizmo:** for sure. All right, it's time to do the formal lizard rating on the Padilla Candela in Robusto. Rooster, you're up. Yeah,
**Rooster:** I mean, I didn't know what to expect with this cigar. All right. You know, you kind of have a perceived notion. Well, Candela, it's a green wrapper right away.
You're thinking like, well, it's not going to be great, but it started off. I mean, like very pleasant. There was really nothing wrong with that cigar. It was not offensive. It was very smooth. But having said that, I mean, I was expecting when Giz said it's Nicaraguan. Cigar. I was expecting more out of it. I [01:19:00] didn't really expect it to be that mild.
So I enjoyed the first half. I didn't really care for it in the second half. I had to relight it quite a few times. My cigar was kind of tunneling a little bit. So because of all of that, I'm going to give it a seven.
**Gizmo:** Okay. Senator. Uh,
**Senator:** I'm going to be generous here. I'm shockingly at an eight, and I say that because construction wise, for me, it was flawless all the way through.
Um, it burned even, the ash held on, um, it smoked like a premium cigar, and yet it's only ten dollars, so, uh, that, uh, Definitely checked all the boxes. The flavor, obviously milder than something I would normally pick up, but of mild smokes that I've tried to wrap my head around, you know, can I enjoy this? Is there a time of day, you know, day I could slot this and enjoy it?
Um, it's one of the better mild smokes I've had. Um, I, nothing was offensive at any point for me. And, um, there [01:20:00] was a creaminess and, you know, a somewhat refined. character about it that made it smoke not like a, you know, budget cigar. So I think for someone who appreciates a mild smoke, I, I find it hard to imagine they wouldn't enjoy the cigar.
And um, you know, for me, if someone handed me a cigar in the morning and I didn't have any on me, would I smoke one of these again? I would. So I'll, I'll give it
**Gizmo:** an eight. So I'm also at an eight. I came into this tonight with very low expectations to the point where I thought there may be a possibility that we didn't even want to record the episode after five or 10 minutes in, like I really was, it's gimmicky, right?
Yeah. And it's, it was, you don't see many people smoking these. I mean, it's hard to find them in retail stores or online. So when I had to order it direct from the manufacturer, I was like, is this something specialized that is going to be totally opposite of what our pallets going to accept and.
Thankfully, it wasn't the case tonight. Is this a cigar that I'm going to run out and buy? No. Uh, would I be happy to smoke this again if it was [01:21:00] handed to me or if I ran into it at a store? Certainly. I think from a slotting standpoint, it's an early in the day cigar, a Saturday morning with a cup of coffee, maybe not even espresso, uh, something lighter.
I don't think it's going to touch my rotation. I don't think it has any. Point or part of, of entering my rotation. I don't think that'll ever happen at 10. I think it's a good price for the cigar. I think if it was 15, that would be factoring into my, my rating a little bit more, but I'm very, very comfortable in an eight.
I thought it was a really good cigar. Definitely a soft recommend for me and uh, yeah, very happy with that. Pagoda. I'm
**Pagoda:** at a seven. I, you know, I think, uh, for me, the smoke output was great. The burn was great. Uh, the first half was excellent. I thought very, there was a bit of herbal, um, I guess, herbal, flory, um, floral creaminess.
I don't know how to describe the flavor. It was really enjoyable for a bit, but [01:22:00] I did get two blasts of bitter tastes and that could have been because I think for some reason, uh, I had to relight my cigar a couple of times. So, um, but having said that, um, you know, I did, uh, not really complete, uh, completely finished my cigar as well.
Um, it's a seven
**Gizmo:** for me. All right, Bam Bam.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, um, I think I'm at an eight. I think that's a fair score for this. It's such a well made cigar. It started off a little savory, and as it warmed up, as we all mentioned earlier, it got a little sweeter. So that, for me, that transition, you know, in conjunction with that beautiful velvety smoke, it was a pretty good experience.
Surprisingly good experience. Eight.
**Pagoda:** It was also very mild and muted for me, just overall, in terms of the overall flavor profile, nothing very distinctive. And, um, yeah, it's just another smoke. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys, that puts the formal lizard rating on the Padilla Candela in Robusto at a 7. 6. I think it's a fair score for that.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't think [01:23:00] any one of us is running down to
**Rooster:** get a box of these. No, I mean, if you're given one, we would smoke one, but I don't think, you know, or even at
**Pagoda:** a store, you know, when, when you walk into a store with multiple choices, it's very rare that you, you know, I would pick this up. I would pick this up.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. I'd pay money to see you.
**Gizmo:** I, I, the, the, the takeaway for me tonight is the change in my perception of clean cigars from Candela cigars, from being a joke or a gimmick to something that is very, very respectable and approachable. I was about to say that there's something to respect about the cigar.
It's such a well made cigar. And I think there are smokers out there who really, I understand why. Mm hmm. Years, years past, people love this kind of profile. I get it. It was, it's very accessible. There certainly were a lot more smart cigar smokers in, you know, the fifties and sixties, um, I get that. And I also understand why people would love it.
I think my father in law as someone who loves mild cigars would probably [01:24:00] really find this interesting. I think you'd find it real interesting. And I think that, you know, there was like a, there was like a mustiness to it that turned me off a little bit. That was very unique to the cigar, you know, and for all the reasons stated, I think that that's why none of us are going to be going out and, and, and reach it for it again, but overall a good
**Senator:** start.
But I think again, the part that resonates with me is I came into this thinking this was just a marketing gimmick and I've come out of it thinking There is a consumer that this product is for. And so anybody who appreciates a mild cigar, I think would
**Gizmo:** enjoy this. So I have to shout out lizard Luigi, who was the listener who recommended this specific cigar for us.
When we mentioned a few episodes ago that we wanted to do a green cigar, a Candela cigar for St. Patrick's day. So thanks to lizard Luigi for, you know, keying us into the Padilla Candela Keying me into the Padilla Padilla affair that we talked about early on great record. So, you [01:25:00] know again lizard Luigi and lizard Sean with his voice memo tonight This listener impact is, is huge, huge, and it keeps on growing huge.
So if you're a listener out there who wants to submit a voice memo, send us an email. You know, we say it on every episode, I did the tag at the end, you know, write us an email, tell us what you're smoking or what you want us to smoke. Now you can send us a voice memo. We'll play it on air. So. Please, uh, please take that to, uh, take that to heart and, uh, send us something.
And we
**Bam Bam:** want to ask the Cigar Vixen to leave a voice memo as
**Gizmo:** quickly as you can. A
**Rooster:** special
**Gizmo:** one just for Bam. I'll send her your cell phone number, Bam. Have you ever had a woman listener send us any comments? I've had Listeners send us emails saying that their wives like to listen with them, even though they're not cigar smokers, because they like to hear the banter.
And I
**Senator:** thought we had an older woman write us how she listens with her husband. Yes, we have. Yeah. Like in her
**Gizmo:** seventies. Yeah. Mature, mature woman.
**Bam Bam:** Mature
**Gizmo:** for you. Mature. [01:26:00] No, it's yeah, it's awesome. And we have a great, great community out there. And I'm hoping we get to meet a bunch of them later this week at PCA.
It's awesome. All right, boys. A great night. At the Jameson Irish Whiskey we had an 8. 3 and the Padilla Candela in Robusto was a 7. 6. And uh, everybody say your prayers for our United flight to PCA on Thursday. We're gonna need them. Oh brother. Alright boys, great night. We'll see everybody next week. Hope you enjoyed this episode, thanks for joining us.
merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website. Lounge lizards, pod. com that's lounge lizards, p o d. com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, do you want to reach out? Say hello, tell us what you're smoking. Email us.
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