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Lounge Lizards is a weekly premium cigar podcast covering Cuban and non-Cuban cigars, cigar reviews, cigar news, Habanos, spirits pairings, cigar culture, and the business of the premium cigar industry.
Hosted by Gizmo with Rooster, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Bam Bam and the rest of the Lizards, the show combines long-form cigar discussion with honest reviews, industry news, history, travel, spirits, collecting, and conversations with the people shaping the cigar world.
Each episode typically centers around a featured cigar and spirits pairing, with regular coverage of brands including Padrón, Davidoff, Arturo Fuente, Cohiba, Montecristo, Tatuaje, Foundation and more.
Lounge Lizards isn’t a traditional cigar review show. It’s a group of friends sitting around the table, smoking cigars, sharing opinions, telling stories and trying to make sense of the culture and industry around them.
New episodes are released every Tuesday.
Join Lizard Nation and become a card-carrying Lounge Lizard yourself. Email hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and potentially be featured on an upcoming episode.
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.
Gizmo: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 eightieth official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plan to meet us here once a week. We're gonna smoke a Cupid cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating. We wrap up the recap of our trip to Cuba this week.
Gizmo:We highlight our favorite cigar shops and lounges in Havana, and we discuss our experiences at the Havana's Festival and Amicoso's Departagas, all among a variety of other things for the next ninety minutes. So sit back, get your favorite drink, and light up a cigar and enjoy as we pair high west double rye whiskey with the Montecristo Edmundo. A Robusto tonight from Montecristo on the pod from Cuba. It's called the Edmundo. It's a little bigger than the Robustos we're used to out of Cuba.
Gizmo:It's actually a different size as well, but it's still a Robusto. It's a 52 ring gauge by five and three eighths inch cigar. So compared to a d four, it's got about a half inch on it, and I I think the ring gauge is about two millimeters bigger. So the factory name in... On this is actually an Edmundo, so it is a little different, but it's still classified as a Robusto in the retail chain.
Gizmo:So this is the, I believe, third... Fourth Montecristo we've done on the podcast. I can go through some of the other scores later on. But first, let's cut this thing, boys. See, we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper.
Bam Bam:Not the most elegant looking cigar.
Gizmo:It's not.
Bam Bam:It's a potato farmer grade.
Gizmo:Yeah. You know, I'm... I've heard wonderful things about these cigars, and I've heard terrible things about these cigars. You've never had it? I've never had this cigar.
Bam Bam:You're joking.
Gizmo:I swear.
Bam Bam:I've never had it ever. I've had a bunch of these.
Gizmo:My drawer is wide open.
Chef Ricky:Did anyone else catch that? I've had a bunch of these. Had some. Someone's tower is well stocked. Isn't that interesting?
Chef Ricky:I've never had one of these, actually.
Gizmo:Well, I'll get He says that quite often, these.
Bam Bam:I'll take you to the... You what you... You know what it is. I'll take you to the corn farm and they have a whole bunch over there. It is a rustic cigar.
Gizmo:It is. It's not pretty.
Bam Bam:It's my meaning.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's not pretty. So these are actually quite young boys. So we'll see if we taste the youth in them. These are GER, which is a provincial factory from July 22.
Gizmo:The cold draw is nice.
Rooster:It is. It's wide open.
Gizmo:Wide open for me.
Bam Bam:Tobacco and very slight hint of fruit.
Gizmo:Is anybody suffering on draw?
Chef Ricky:Should we Mine's got a bit of resistance, but it should hopefully not be a problem.
Pagoda:Same here.
Gizmo:You good? Okay. I feel like it does taste similar to like Amani too
Bam Bam:It's nice.
Gizmo:On the cold draw.
Pagoda:It's nice.
Gizmo:You know? I'm not getting much on the cold draw. Little dried fruit maybe at the most.
Bam Bam:Just a tiny bit.
Gizmo:Little cedar.
Bam Bam:Cedar. That's it. Well...
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's light this thing. The Montecristo Edmundo. Again, 52 ring gauge by five and three eight inches. It's a Robusto, a little bigger than the other classic d four Ras Epicure number two out of Cuba.
Gizmo:A little bigger than those, but still a Robusto. And like I said, it's
Bam Bam:our
Gizmo:fourth Montecristo from Cuba we're doing on the pod tonight. So
Bam Bam:Someone's flame is very loud.
Gizmo:Yeah. Coming in really hot. Is that mine?
Bam Bam:I don't know.
Chef Ricky:That's me.
Gizmo:Senator's flexing over there. Senator's flexing.
Bam Bam:It's pretty nice right off the light. Happy with that. Yeah.
Gizmo:It's a good start. I do like the extra half inch on it. Mhmm. I think that, you know, if it were to take a a Ras or a d four... You alright over there, Bam?
Bam Bam:Good.
Gizmo:A half inch? If, you know, if you were to take a Ras or a D four and add an extra half inch, think that would even make those cigars even more perfect to give you that extra fifteen, twenty minutes. But I do like the size. I do. So what are you guys getting on the on the light?
Gizmo:It tastes very Monty to me.
Bam Bam:Yeah, very Monty, but it's a very... Not extraordinary.
Gizmo:Like chocolate milk.
Bam Bam:It's not extraordinary.
Rooster:Not very coffee ish, but more like chocolate milk.
Gizmo:I got to say I'm getting that twang. I'm getting that Montecristo twang.
Rooster:It's the Montecristo twang.
Gizmo:The Montecristo is there. It feels like the little brother or stepbrother of the Montecristo for sure. Very different than the MontecDraw that we had.
Chef Ricky:I think both the notes are spot on. I mean, to me, it's it's milk chocolate and that Montecuban twang. Sure. Not a ton of complexity. To me, it's, like, very straightforward.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:I just did a double draw. Like, I pulled it in my mouth and pulled again, and I got a blast of twang that was really nice. Like, really nice.
Chef Ricky:I like that. I like the finish is actually smooth. I was worried when you said these are young that this might be a little harsh. Yeah. So far
Rooster:It's pretty
Gizmo:good. Not bad. Yeah. These come in a variety of different packaging. They come in a display box of 15 aluminum tubes, five cardboard packs of three.
Gizmo:They come in a display box of 15 cigars in five cardboard packs of three, and these came out of a semi boy nature box of 25 cigars.
Bam Bam:Oh. And
Gizmo:they were introduced in 2004. They also had, in 2010, a special ceramic jar, which are very nice. I know you have a jar in the Welles.
Bam Bam:I have jar in
Gizmo:the Welles. Ed Chapman. Yeah. The jars are very cool, man.
Bam Bam:The Do
Gizmo:you have jars, I
Bam Bam:like the jars.
Chef Ricky:These come in
Bam Bam:a jar?
Gizmo:They did. In 2010, they did a ceramic jar of 25 cigars for Western Europe. That would be
Rooster:a big jar.
Gizmo:It would be. Yeah. Thick jar. It would be. Yeah.
Gizmo:Unless maybe they double stack them or something?
Bam Bam:That'd be cool. But then the feet would get damaged, unless there's a cedar barrier.
Gizmo:There might be a little cedar thing in there. Yeah, I don't think that would.
Chef Ricky:The ones we're smoking did not come out of a dress box.
Gizmo:They did come out of a dress box. These came out of
Bam Bam:a
Gizmo:semi boy nature box.
Bam Bam:So the Edmundo's that I have
Gizmo:Not a dress box. A semi boy nature box. Like a d four.
Chef Ricky:That's that's what I'm saying. They did not come out of a dress box.
Gizmo:That's correct.
Chef Ricky:Okay. There are not many Montecs that are... Most Montecs come in dress boxes. Right?
Bam Bam:Except for these.
Rooster:Think that's correct. Monty one, Monty number three.
Chef Ricky:Three, two. They're all dress boxes.
Gizmo:Dress boxes.
Chef Ricky:So I'm just saying, to me this stands out. Obviously, of us, if not all of us, are not huge fans of dress boxes, so it's very curious to me that this is the one exception to that rule for MontecDraw.
Gizmo:It must because it was released so much later. I mean, those other cigars were what, nineteen sixties, nineteen seventies release.
Chef Ricky:And it's not even like... If this were the traditional Robusto size, I could see it's very easy probably to get those boxes, like the same boxes that Partagas would use or someone else. But this is longer, so they would have to special make these boxes. There are not a ton of Edmundo size or shaped cigars.
Bam Bam:So the Edmundos I have at home come in a cool, a different presentation. It's a yellow box. It's about six inches long, maybe five and a half inches tall. And inside that are four three pack boxes of these. It's kind of cool.
Gizmo:I think there's five boxes in there.
Bam Bam:Five boxes.
Gizmo:Five boxes of three. I mean 15. 15s. Yeah. MontecDraw's come like that too Yeah.
Gizmo:In the cardboard patch.
Bam Bam:I've never seen that.
Rooster:Yeah. So they also make a double Edmundo.
Gizmo:Yep. I've heard that's very good.
Rooster:And they make a petite Edmundo.
Chef Ricky:What I like about this cigar, the finish is sweet. The the thing I don't love about the petite Edmundo, and I think rooster's given me one, Giz has given me one. I find the finish on that to be a little bitter. I don't get any sweet notes in that cigar, which I I like. So this so far is more my speed.
Chef Ricky:I'm actually enjoying this to start.
Pagoda:I'm really enjoying it as well. It's really good. For under a year...
Bam Bam:It's a nice cigar.
Gizmo:And you know, it plays into, like we've talked about, we reference all the time what Rob said about run of cigars. The run that Cuba's been on and these factories have been on in the last three years has been spectacular.
Rooster:Yeah. I mean, I was a bit skeptical about smoking a fresh Edmundo, but pleasantly surprised.
Pagoda:Yeah, very good.
Chef Ricky:And it's smooth. I mean, I'm not detecting any ammonia or harshness.
Gizmo:Not yet. The finish is really nice. Very nice. But even on the light that doesn't surprise me, but a half inch in or a quarter of an inch in, it's still very, very smooth. The mouth feels really nice.
Gizmo:There's not that lingering thing that happens sometimes for me with the Mani two, where it kind of sticks around too long.
Bam Bam:Yeah, I get my dessert notes on the finish here.
Pagoda:Yeah, same here. It's on the finish.
Bam Bam:And it's on the tongue and you experience it for a little bit after your final draw out. It's nice.
Rooster:Yeah, and five of us are smoking this and there's no burn issues. It's like razor sharp issues.
Bam Bam:I'm having a little bit canoeing, tiny tiny bit.
Gizmo:Really?
Bam Bam:A little bit, but nothing to speak of.
Pagoda:There's definitely not a short finish at all. Mean this is like it's summer.
Gizmo:But it doesn't overstay its welcome. To me it's just It's perfect, and then it clears out.
Bam Bam:Crazy thing, I have a lot of these, and it never makes my rotation. I just never reach for this. I have to think about it. Oh, I have those. Let me try it.
Bam Bam:It's not one of those things that I remember to smoke.
Pagoda:I think if it continues this way, this is something I'll pursue.
Gizmo:So boys, we have done now three recap episodes of our trip to Cuba. First episode, we did food culture, first impressions, overall experience, Tropicana show, etcetera. Our second episode, which was, I guess, four weeks ago now, was the recap and telling of our time at El Ligito and with the production manager there, Danilo, the amazing education we got. Two weeks ago was episode three of of the Cuba trip, was our visit to La Corona and our experience there, which was fantastic. And tonight, we complete our Cuba recap with part four where we talk about the LCDHs, the different cigar shops we went to, the hotels, etcetera, and then we'll finish up with some festival business.
Bam Bam:Multiple base camps we had there.
Gizmo:Yeah. So, you know, it's interesting because I had somebody ask me, why didn't we start with the festival? Because that's what everybody talks about this time of year. All the media, all the publications, that's what they're talking about, is what happens at that Havana's festival. I was there for the last part of it.
Gizmo:We'll talk about this a little later, but this stuff that we're discussing tonight, it's not as important to me as the stuff we discussed in episodes one through
Bam Bam:three. Right.
Gizmo:All right, so let's talk about some of the shops we went to, some of those experiences. I found those to be some really wonderful memories, sitting in some of the shops in Havana. The very first day. Yeah, very first guys got off the plane.
Rooster:Guys got off the plane, and we were Well, had lunch.
Gizmo:Right in it.
Rooster:Yep. We got to the place, we checked in, left our luggage, got ready, went to that spot for lunch, which was really good. What was the name of the place again? Maradentro. Maradentro.
Rooster:And then from there it was walking distance to Melea Cohiba, which is a hotel.
Chef Ricky:In the sun, which bam, was not so happy about. That was great. I'll just take another shot.
Bam Bam:I lost
Pagoda:10 pounds
Bam Bam:on the way over.
Gizmo:I mean,
Rooster:was a half a mile. Not even.
Gizmo:It was like a quarter of a mile. It was a quarter of a mile.
Pagoda:Handing out balls on the way.
Bam Bam:No physical activity, please.
Rooster:That was an impressive We
Gizmo:were handing out balls on the way, actually.
Rooster:It was an impressive spot. The lounge was one of the better lounges that were in Cuba. I think it was quiet and we were able to access that back room overlooking the Malecon.
Bam Bam:Private room.
Rooster:And we tried the Santiago 20 Yeah,
Gizmo:one we did two
Rooster:weeks We had coffee, we had some espresso.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Now that was your first taste of the Santiago 20.
Chef Ricky:It was incredible. I mean, if you could... We're on a plane, we're tired. I mean, we got it. We had a very early flight.
Chef Ricky:And just the first cigar experience in Cuba is sitting there. I light up a D four, take a sip of Santiago 20, and I'm sitting there saying this is the best rum I've ever had in my life. I mean, think it got tens across the board when we reviewed it. Yeah. You have this amazing view Rooster's talking about just overlooking the water, and you're in a private room in Havana smoking a Cuban.
Chef Ricky:It just doesn't get much After better than
Bam Bam:his first sip, he said, I'm moving here. Yeah, that's right. That's all it took.
Chef Ricky:The other thing that impressed me is even just leading up to getting inside the cigar shop there and lounge, just walking through the hotel, I mean, Meerapfel, it's a nice hotel.
Gizmo:It's attractive. Was really impressed.
Bam Bam:That's nicely appointed. Yeah. Definitely.
Gizmo:What's funny is when we were there in November, Bam and I, that hotel was closed.
Bam Bam:Yes, we didn't get in
Gizmo:there. They were closed for COVID. I guess the better part of two, two and a half years, they were closed. And they just had opened, I think, a couple of weeks prior to us being there, which was the week before we were there was the Havana festival. So I'm assuming that that was part of it.
Gizmo:But yeah, like you said, the hotel was pretty dead. I mean, there really wasn't much going on.
Rooster:I'm surprised it was closed from 2020, was COVID-nineteen the end of twenty twenty two. The end of twenty twenty two.
Bam Bam:That's a
Gizmo:long time.
Bam Bam:Remember the humidor? How well stocked it was? Nice humidor. It was impressive.
Gizmo:It was one of the better humidors.
Bam Bam:I think so.
Rooster:We actually wanted to go back there. We just didn't make it and wanted to check out inventory and get a couple of boxes, but we just didn't have the time
Gizmo:or whatever.
Chef Ricky:Just didn't
Rooster:make it back.
Pagoda:I liked walking into the bar as well. It was very nice. It was open, large. For the soccer fans, they had English English Premier League on in the back.
Gizmo:That's right.
Pagoda:Yep. It was... Yeah. You know, so you felt like, alright. It's...
Pagoda:You know, coming into Cuba, you know, you have all these impressions in your mind. You don't know what to expect. And then you hang out in a very nice hotel, in a very nice bar. And then you go to a private room and have excellent room and great cigars. And service there is
Bam Bam:really spectacular. Very good. Honestly, it would have been great to go back for an evening there and experience that. That would have been impeccable, I think.
Gizmo:Especially in that private room.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah. Or even out in a big room.
Chef Ricky:We had to leave a reason to return. I can't wait.
Gizmo:This is true. So the second place that we went, which was very, very memorable, and I know for a senator was borderline, if not absolutely emotional
Bam Bam:Sure was.
Chef Ricky:Was absolutely emotional.
Gizmo:Was the Partagas shop over by the Flor De Dita
Bam Bam:Yes,
Gizmo:sir. Where Hemingway used to hang out. The new Partagas shop over there. We had a magnificent time there at the Partagas shop. So it's right downtown in Central Havana, very close to a lot of the happenings.
Gizmo:Like I said, right next to the Flor De Dea. It's right near the Parque Centrale, which we'll talk about. But that is the heart and soul of Partagas for retail buyers. For people in Cuba who love Partagas, that is the place to be. The people there, O'Dallas, Herbieerto, there's so many people there that are just...
Gizmo:Renee, who runs the place, Senator will tell us stories They're spectacular. It's just unbelievable service, they are genuinely just so happy to see you every time.
Bam Bam:They're also extremely hardworking. Yes. There's no dust collecting on anyone there. They're all active, restocking shelves, taking care of their customers. Renee walked in with a bottle of rum and just poured for everyone in our lounge where we were sitting.
Bam Bam:You can't beat that. Not just for everyone.
Chef Ricky:Met this amazing guy there, Roberto.
Gizmo:Yeah. He's a guy. We're going have him on the podcast.
Bam Bam:True Renaissance man.
Pagoda:He's incredible.
Chef Ricky:Just a world traveler. The guy was in his 80s. He didn't even look in his 80s. Crazy. Guy was a cardiologist, knows everyone in the cigar business in every country you can think of, and we just kinda hit it off.
Chef Ricky:And the funny thing is, so we're sitting in the Partagas Lounge and Roberto's sitting to my left, and I just remember looking over at him, and he's lighting his cigar.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Chef Ricky:And I just start saying to all the guys, like, at this. This guy's a lizard, and he's lighting his cigar with his watch.
Gizmo:It was the craziest thing. One of the most
Bam Bam:amazing It things we've was bizarre, a bit. But it was very cool.
Chef Ricky:It was... Well, I'm just sitting there saying, like, only we would be stupid enough to do something like this. Fact And that there's someone is dumb. I mean, it's like the fact that there's another person on this planet that would have, like, a watch lighter, I thought it was so cool.
Rooster:It's also the way he was smoking his cigar. That's right. Cigar was in a pipe.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:Wasn't like a special pipe. That's true. Cigar. For petite coronas or something.
Bam Bam:But for a guy in his eighties to flip up his watch like James Bond and light a cigar.
Chef Ricky:It's amazing. It's cool.
Bam Bam:It was just very cool. I wish we caught a photo
Pagoda:of that.
Chef Ricky:He was a lizard.
Bam Bam:Yeah. He was pretty bad ass. Big time.
Chef Ricky:I feel like we really hit it off with him, we were just talking about our passion for cigars and a little bit about the podcast, and he was telling us about all his global cigar travels. He got emotional.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yes, did.
Bam Bam:A moment or two there.
Rooster:I think he was talking about Abo for some
Gizmo:reason He at that was very close friends
Rooster:with When he got emotional. I was trying to
Bam Bam:think like, what
Rooster:was he talking about that he got so emotional? I thought maybe it was when the floods destroyed the crop, but I think it was about something about Abo. Yeah, was very close friends with Abo.
Bam Bam:He also owns his own factory. Yeah. Where he lives.
Chef Ricky:In Argentina. Argentina.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's amazing.
Chef Ricky:Really crazy. And then I feel like we kind of hit it off, I think Renee knew him. And, that sort of, I think, warmed Renee up to all of us. And like Bam said, he just walks in, and he just points at everybody and goes, Rum? We're all just...
Chef Ricky:Yes? We all just nod quickly.
Bam Bam:Can I just say something? If anyone would have said no, I would have punched that guy right
Gizmo:in the face.
Chef Ricky:Would have just punched him right in I don't think you would have had to. I think I think Renee would have. Renee is a no nonsense kind of guy. Absolutely. And then he just comes back in the room with a bottle of rum and a bunch of glasses, and he pours some rum out on the floor, I think in honor of like Partagas.
Gizmo:And people that have gone before us.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, that's right.
Bam Bam:That's cool.
Chef Ricky:And then he poured all of us a nice, very healthy pour, and we got to toast with him, which is really cool. I think the best part of our experience with Renee is just he's sitting there starting to chat with us and he talks about how he's always wanted there to be a guest book in the Partagas shop.
Gizmo:Oh, yeah.
Chef Ricky:And he finally went out and bought a book that he wanted people to sign. And he said it would be his honor to have us be the first to sign the guest book in the And Partagal so Roberto signs and all of us got to write a message. And that's honestly where I got a little bit emotional because I think for anyone who's listened to this podcast would know Partagas is my favorite cigar brand. And I wrote in my note to them, you know, Partagas has been part of every single special moment in my life. It's my wedding cigar, my birth of my son.
Chef Ricky:So many special memories. So it was so cool to be able to thank the people that make this all possible. And I mean, that book, I'm sure will live on for a very long time there. It's pretty cool. You'll see the Lizards on page one and two.
Gizmo:Yeah, we're right up front. Yeah, it was a very nice honor. And, you know, Bam and I had spent some time with Renee in November. It was during the festival week for Partagas, so it was a little chaotic.
Bam Bam:He was under pressure. He was under a lot of pressure.
Gizmo:Was a lot of people there and certainly a lot of heavy hitters that go in there and buy non Americans who go in there and buy, you know, dozens, if not hundreds of boxes at a given time and take them home. So, you know, for us, we don't do that because we can't. You know, we can't take that much stuff home. So, you know, it was nice
Chef Ricky:Gizmo to said because we can't. He would happily take 400 boxes of Partagas home. All Lucy's. Exactly.
Bam Bam:Absolutely.
Gizmo:By the way, how cool is it to sit in the Partagas shop and light up a Lusitania?
Chef Ricky:That was my first stick I lit there. No.
Gizmo:You lit up a Lusitania. I lit up an 898.
Bam Bam:I think I don't remember what
Gizmo:I thought. I think you might have had a P2
Pagoda:out of Dupont.
Bam Bam:Possibly. A P2. Yeah. Possibly.
Gizmo:What did you have, Rooster?
Rooster:I think it was an eight ninety eight.
Gizmo:I think that's true. I think you and I had eight ninety eights. But to sit in that Partagas lounge, drinking rum with Renee, having this wonderful conversation with Roberto, and smoking Partagas. Back
Bam Bam:in November when we went, it was hustle and bustle. Was crowded. People from all over the world were there. Canada, Japan, Europe, you name it. So I didn't get emotional when I first walked in.
Bam Bam:I was just enamored.
Gizmo:Was overwhelming. It was overwhelming because... Overstimulated.
Bam Bam:You don't get a chance to walk into a cigar shop and it's full of Cuban cigars and you're walking into the Partagas shop. It's a destination and it was very special. And honestly coming back in the second time with the rest of the group, just held back and I wanted to hear their experience and see how they reacted to it. It was pretty cool.
Gizmo:I just liked how much more chill it was this time. Oh, yeah. You know, how much more relaxed. Very You know, everybody wasn't crazy.
Chef Ricky:That's Very a big thing for me. So honestly, as much as I wanted to visit the Partagas shop, my expectation was that it was going to be very crowded. So I was never even... I wanted to go, but I wasn't that excited because I thought it would just be mobbed and that's not the experience I was looking for. And I remember the lounge, you kind of walk through the shop and it's tucked away in the back.
Chef Ricky:And as soon as we got to the back and just looked around the corner into the lounge area, I couldn't believe there was one guy, Roberto, sitting there, and it's like the whole place was ours. It was amazing. So I can't think of honestly a better experience we could have had, and I think that's what allowed us to have like a really meaningful conversation with Roberto, what allowed us to chat more with Renee. And it just made the experience.
Pagoda:The coffee was great as well.
Gizmo:Yeah. They make great coffee there.
Pagoda:Great coffee. Yeah.
Chef Ricky:Even the woman who was serving there, she's so nice. Amazing. Yeah. Just such a great shot. Everything there start to finish.
Chef Ricky:I just really appreciated how I think because we know in Havana, sometimes the service is great. In other establishments, particularly if it's government owned, it's not. And it's just such a welcoming experience, like start to finish there while a very intense one, in that you can see everybody there takes tremendous pride in the work they do. They don't mess around. It was just cool to see.
Rooster:And also what was cool was all the transactions there were done in dollars for us. And we actually got changed back in dollars, not in
Bam Bam:That's true.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, in
Gizmo:Cuban I
Rooster:didn't see that anywhere else.
Bam Bam:No, only there.
Gizmo:Yeah, well, a lot of the other LCDHs are government owned, you know, like government run, government owned. So I think they make an exception for Partagas because there's so many Americans that go there. I don't know why that is because it's all operated by the same company, but for some reason they make it a little easier. They don't need you to use the MLC card like they do at other places.
Chef Ricky:The other cool thing when you visit these shops, and we actually didn't see this at Meerapfel, where we kind of started this conversation, is that they'll have a roller sitting there rolling cigars. I forget who the roller is. Our friend who's been to Cuba many times had mentioned there's like a great roller at Meerapfel. Juanita. Juanita, who was not there
Gizmo:when she was not there that week. You know why? Because I think the week prior, her... She probably was rolling so many cigars for the festival folks that she probably took some time off.
Chef Ricky:That makes sense. But it was great when we were at the Partagas shop, the famous Latina
Bam Bam:was And right
Chef Ricky:for me, was very cool because I had just heard about her and they have a mural like painted on the wall of her.
Gizmo:Right behind where she sits.
Chef Ricky:Behind her. And it's just like, I mean, I have these photos, and it just felt surreal. You're like looking at this person in the flesh, actually rolling cigars, people surrounding her, tons of tourists taking photos and videos, and then right on the wall behind her is this, like, beautiful mural of her. It's very cool to see.
Gizmo:You know what? I think I said this to you guys when we were sitting in the shop, but she was at the top of Partagas for so long at the factory. She's one of the top rollers there. Just think about how many of the amazing Partagas cigars that we've smoked over the years that were probably or potentially rolled by her. And then you're sitting there with her, watching her roll at the shop, you know, making custom rolls with a custom Partagas LCDH band on them.
Bam Bam:Isn't she officially retired?
Gizmo:Yeah. She just does that at the shop. She only works on custom rolls at the shop now.
Bam Bam:Nice. Cool.
Gizmo:So, yeah, Partagas shop is definitely a highlight place. If you go to Cuba, absolutely get to The Partagas other interesting thing about it is that's actually the second Partagas shop. The first one was in the now defunct or abandoned Partagas factory. Partagas factory. The shop was actually in the factory on the 1st Floor.
Gizmo:But, you know, since they had to close that for safety reasons, the factory moved to a new location, and then the shop moved to an isolated location over by Flor De Ditta. So that's the second place. It's only a few years old. And the
Chef Ricky:last thing I'll say on the Partagas shop, I think even the bar is well appointed. They had everything we would need. The ventilation was pretty good. I don't remember it being overly smoky in there. Yep.
Chef Ricky:And I say that because you don't get that at every single place. Right? For as much as I love Malia Cohiba, I did feel that room gets a bit smoky. The bar was great. Obviously, we found Santiago twenty there, so we had no complaints.
Chef Ricky:But that's not the case necessarily everywhere.
Bam Bam:Did you guys find the Partagas shop to be on the smaller side, smaller than you anticipated?
Chef Ricky:It was. Right? It's surprisingly small. That is the one notch. When it's crowded, it would be, I think, So little
Bam Bam:when we were there in November, I also felt it was really tiny compared to what I was imagining it to be, but when it's not crowded though, it's very cozy.
Chef Ricky:We spent hours there.
Gizmo:We did. I think we each had two cigars.
Bam Bam:I think so.
Gizmo:You had a Lucy, we all had long ones and then...
Bam Bam:I had that LG... Which one was it? LGC number two.
Gizmo:Yeah, MDO number two.
Bam Bam:MDO number two, sorry.
Chef Ricky:And I had an eight ninety eight after the Lucy.
Gizmo:Yeah. Amazing. Alright boys, before we move on, how are we feeling about the Montecristo Edmundo right now?
Bam Bam:I like it.
Gizmo:Coming into the second, I think it's really, really damn good.
Pagoda:I'm really enjoying it.
Bam Bam:See Senator's got an ash about the same size as mine.
Chef Ricky:Have to say, we were talking about how rustic this cigar kind of looked, and the construction wasn't really that impressive pre light. It's burning flawlessly.
Bam Bam:It's a sharp burn,
Chef Ricky:It's been really good, the flavor... It is at best a medium cigar.
Gizmo:I think it's mild to medium,
Chef Ricky:That's where
Pagoda:I'm going.
Chef Ricky:I completely agree with
Bam Bam:that. I agree with that. It's very pleasant though.
Chef Ricky:It is. And I just love like there's like a dessert like finish about it that I really, really like that. I don't always associate with MontecDraw. Honestly, this smokes a little more like an Upmann to me, but I like that. This works.
Bam Bam:What are you getting on the Smoke Rooster? Because you're sensitive to that and I'm getting something specific.
Rooster:So this is a lot like the MontecDraw. It's like the same DNA. You get like the sweet notes from the MontecDraw that I'm getting out of this.
Bam Bam:Any floral on the smoke? I'm getting that
Gizmo:a little bit. I'm getting
Bam Bam:a little floral. At the burn line. Just a bit.
Gizmo:I would say it's primarily either chocolate or coffee.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Rooster:Yeah, would say milk chocolate. I mean, I can't really tell what floral note that you're getting,
Bam Bam:but maybe. Could be a sweetness of some kind.
Rooster:It's really, really good. It's very pleasant though.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Smooth.
Bam Bam:Have to say No edges on it.
Chef Ricky:Our pairing with this, I was critical of them.
Gizmo:I'll just own it. That's a very kind way to put it.
Chef Ricky:So for the listener
Bam Bam:To the listener, what else is new?
Gizmo:Senator was getting a little hot with Bam coming in here with this
Chef Ricky:We're bourbon smoking a Cuban cigar tonight, and Bam pulls up with a bottle of rye. Now rye pulls up.
Bam Bam:It's a double rye,
Chef Ricky:by the way. A double rye. Just rye can be Why?
Pagoda:Why? I don't know.
Chef Ricky:Rye can be a more aggressive spirit, something that I would more readily pair with a New World cigar,
Bam Bam:so
Chef Ricky:I was very skeptical to start. But I will say there's a sweetness in this rye With the ice. With the ice that opens it up Yeah. That actually works with this cigar.
Bam Bam:So I'm only going by recommendations of friends that love this spirit, and they said you can't drink it without ice, but you put a few cubes in and let it sit. It will get really nice and smooth and sweet, and it goes with practically any cigar. Let's Very easy to drink.
Gizmo:Let's tell the listener what we have here. It's the High West double rye blend of straight rye whiskeys. What I find interesting about this is it's made in Park City, Utah.
Bam Bam:That's right.
Gizmo:Which is pretty cool.
Bam Bam:Yep. And the guys that recommended it are big fans. They live there. They've got things happening there. They're here, so they go back and forth.
Pagoda:How's that have been possible? I thought Utah was a dry state. I don't know.
Gizmo:Very interesting.
Rooster:How much was that?
Bam Bam:It's cheap. Very. It's $32 Wow.
Chef Ricky:Really It's cheap.
Gizmo:It drinks very well.
Bam Bam:It does. It really does.
Gizmo:So the flavor notes that they call out on the back, unique balance profile of cinnamon, ginger snaps, juniper, mint sprigs, and fresh wildflower honey.
Bam Bam:I get some of those.
Gizmo:Don't know. Think that's a little bit of a stretch. I mean, it's pretty good, but It's good. You know, for $32. It's definitely good
Pagoda:with small steps. I think when you take a slightly bigger swig, it's like It's does get a bit harsh, but it's all good.
Bam Bam:It's true.
Pagoda:I'm enjoying it.
Bam Bam:Can't take it. So the usual Pagoda swig can't go here?
Pagoda:No. Not at all.
Chef Ricky:Well, the thing that's also crazy, it's forty six percent Ninety two proof. Mhmm. So, mean, obviously it packs a punch, but when you put some ice in this, it really mellows out in a way that some higher proof spirits, even with ice, still kind of keep a bite, and this doesn't do
Bam Bam:that It's at
Gizmo:true. I think it's actually a really nice pairing for the cigar tonight.
Chef Ricky:I agree.
Gizmo:Nice job, Bam.
Chef Ricky:Bam, I
Pagoda:take it back.
Bam Bam:Once in a while you get a gem.
Gizmo:You mentioned Upmann as a potential flavor match for what you're getting out of this cigar. What's interesting is one of the other cigars that comes in this specific size, and I think it might be the only other one out of the regular production Havana's catalog, is the H. Upmann Royal Robusto that comes in those 10 count boxes. I think that's an LCDH. It is.
Gizmo:It has the second band.
Bam Bam:Have you ever had that?
Gizmo:Yeah. I have a box. The two I've had out of it are I've hit or
Bam Bam:been very curious about that cigar.
Rooster:A box of 10.
Bam Bam:I've never had
Chef Ricky:it. I think I've had it, and I actually wasn't crazy back then.
Gizmo:It's hit or miss from what I've had. I've had two, and they were both... One was pretty good and one was not. Interesting. So maybe they just need some time.
Gizmo:Back to Havana. The next place we went was the Parque Central. Parque Central, which is an Iberostar property. It's actually not... They don't actually have a lounge there.
Gizmo:They just allow you to smoke on the second... Or I guess the The balcony. Balcony. Mezzanine. When you come in, you're not allowed to smoke on the Ground Floor where they have a little restaurant, and you can get some bar drinks and coffee and whatnot.
Gizmo:So on the mezzanine, you're able to go up there and smoke, and we actually spent quite a bit of time there during the week. It was very comfortable relaxing. I like that spot.
Pagoda:Was a beautiful entrance. Me too. So you walk in with the spiral staircases going up, you felt like you were in a really nice hotel. Was music playing, there was a good vibe.
Bam Bam:Service was very
Gizmo:good. Yeah, very European vibe.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I agree. That was the coolest part. Are not many hotels, it doesn't matter where you are, like in a lobby essentially, even though you're in the mezzanine raised up, obviously, that you can smoke a cigar. So it felt unique to be able to sit there looking down at all these people doing whatever they're doing in the lobby area and not getting yelled at for it.
Chef Ricky:You know? Just be able to enjoy yourself.
Bam Bam:It was great. True.
Rooster:Yeah. We all had agua de gas.
Gizmo:Agua con gas.
Rooster:Agua con gas.
Gizmo:Agua con gas. No. I I
Chef Ricky:Can we translate that for listeners?
Gizmo:It sounds so weird. It's it's gas. It's sparkling water.
Chef Ricky:Sparkling water.
Rooster:Carbonated water.
Pagoda:The cappuccinos were good.
Bam Bam:Oh, boy.
Gizmo:Yeah. And the drinks were fine too, you know? Yeah. The one thing that was disappointing is that every time we ended up there, the LCDH that's there was closed.
Bam Bam:Now we did get in there in November.
Gizmo:We went twice in November.
Bam Bam:And that's a pretty good shock.
Gizmo:It was okay. You know, the stock was decent.
Bam Bam:They had a lot of things you can look at.
Gizmo:Yeah, it was pretty good. Actually, that's where we ended up with this pretty reasonably priced Cohiba Robustos.
Bam Bam:Yes.
Gizmo:They were like $25 or something
Bam Bam:in
Gizmo:November. But yeah, I mean, that's one of my favorite places to smoke in Havana, even though it's not a designated place to smoke.
Bam Bam:It's just so comfortable and
Gizmo:wide Yeah, the couches are great, it's just fun up there, the vibe is good, and the ventilation
Rooster:is surprisingly good. That's not a state run hotel?
Gizmo:No, it's run by Obierostar.
Chef Ricky:Which you can tell the minute you walk in that place. Exactly. Everybody's so friendly. Ironically, our translator for a part of the trip Works there. We met there.
Gizmo:He works at the concierge desk. Which was very helpful. So then after the Parquet Central, the next stop was the Cohiba Atmosphere, which is in the strip, I guess, of the high, high end tourist attraction mall thing, which I guess has, what, six or eight stores? Yep. Mont Planc and some others.
Gizmo:So Cohiba Atmosphere is definitely the nicest and newest looking. Yeah. But man, we walked in there.
Bam Bam:The air conditioning was broken.
Gizmo:Air conditioning wasn't working. It was a 100 degrees in there.
Bam Bam:Yeah. What'd guys think of the humidor?
Chef Ricky:They also had no water.
Gizmo:No water. No water.
Chef Ricky:That's true. They were out of water.
Rooster:Yep. The humidor was decent. We actually all bought some cigars there.
Chef Ricky:That was the best part of that place.
Bam Bam:Like that little humidor.
Rooster:You guys got boxes of Cutie Claros.
Chef Ricky:I bought singles there. Got the Claros at the next place we're gonna
Bam Bam:talk to. And that's where I bought mine too.
Pagoda:But I did buy a few
Gizmo:of the
Pagoda:singles too. Yeah, Pagoda.
Bam Bam:Great singles.
Chef Ricky:They had a lot
Bam Bam:of stuff. A lot of stuff. Absolutely.
Chef Ricky:They smoked
Rooster:great. They smoked well.
Chef Ricky:They did. I mean, your point, I bought singles of QD50s that I was lighting up every morning on our trip. Used to smoke them every night.
Gizmo:I love those. I think
Bam Bam:I grabbed one of those from you. They're really good.
Gizmo:They're good.
Bam Bam:Yeah. That was the first time I had that, by way. Delicious. On that trip.
Gizmo:Yeah. So could you be on atmosphere? We had a nice experience there in November.
Bam Bam:Oh. Oh, it was great.
Gizmo:It's just
Bam Bam:the I'm sorry. It was great.
Chef Ricky:It's so funny. So Gizmo mentions, the new... Newest, nicest lounge. I don't think it's a very nice lounge. No.
Chef Ricky:And the funny thing is
Bam Bam:Oh, is that a surprise?
Pagoda:I agree with I agree with Senator. No.
Chef Ricky:No. But look. We were just talking about the Parquet Central. That's not even supposed to be a cigar lounge, and that upstairs is set up in a way that is, like, perfect for cigar smoking. Mhmm.
Chef Ricky:To me, when you walk in Cohiba atmosphere, and I said this to our friend who has been there many times that helped us with some of the trip planning, and he's had the same reaction. It feels like you are walking into a shopping mall, and there just happens to be seating there. It does not feel like a dedicated cigar. It's it's like this little strip of seating, and the funniest part is it's like a 100 degrees, all that. There's no water.
Chef Ricky:Okay. If we overlook all of it, we attempt to sit down in these chairs, and all I remember is this couch that Gizmo sits on.
Bam Bam:I have a photo I've
Pagoda:never missed it. I have
Bam Bam:a photograph of that.
Chef Ricky:And his feet can't touch the floor.
Bam Bam:No, they're two feet off the floor.
Chef Ricky:It's not that Gizmo is like tiny short guy. I'm
Gizmo:five nine. I'm five nine. I felt like I was two feet tall.
Bam Bam:Yeah, in that chair you were
Pagoda:It was hysterical. And it was a huge sofa. They had, I think, three or four in a row.
Gizmo:Yeah. Was a big long sofa. Of us could have sat on the cushions couch
Chef Ricky:could fit a 700 pound... They were just so wide in every direction. You were so far back into the couch. Your feet were anywhere nowhere near the floor. The the whole setup was just very funny.
Chef Ricky:So even sitting there, if if I was gonna tough it out and sweat to enjoy a cigar, nothing was to me conducive to really enjoying anything, but the shop was at least good to purchase.
Rooster:It actually looked like seating in a mall, you know, like inside the mall when you walk around, there's like little seats and stuff. That's kind of what it felt I'll
Bam Bam:be honest though, back in November, the air conditioning was working great and we were tucked away in a corner to the left of the bar.
Gizmo:We had a better experience.
Bam Bam:We did. You don't have visual access to the storefront, which eliminates that whole retail type experience. It was great. Was very nice.
Chef Ricky:It doesn't feel like a cigar lounge.
Bam Bam:That's No. I think
Gizmo:you're right.
Bam Bam:Overall, you're right.
Chef Ricky:When I heard you guys describe it as new and modern, I was thinking of a Davidoff lounge. I would describe a Davidoff lounge as new, modern.
Gizmo:It's not old now. Fair That's
Chef Ricky:point. That's kind of what I expected to get. You think of the Davidoff lounge in Brooklyn or any of these places, it just totally threw me off walking in there. It just didn't feel like a lounge. It felt like I was in a mall.
Chef Ricky:That's true.
Gizmo:Yeah. So our our best experience there was certainly the humidor. They were very accommodating even though we didn't have MCL cards. They made it happen for us, which was very nice, but we walked out of there pretty quickly. So then we went to the government owned Havana Libre, if you remember, which was...
Gizmo:We had to get in the car and go across town. But... So that is the former Hilton that was taken over during the revolution, and I don't think a single thing has been done to modernize or improve that hotel since the revolution.
Bam Bam:No, absolutely not.
Gizmo:No. I mean, the LCDH there is pretty nice, and they have a stacked humidor. Yeah. And the lounge is great.
Bam Bam:That's where I had my first Cohiba Lancero That's in true.
Chef Ricky:We definitely didn't see that when we were there.
Bam Bam:I also had a Sir Winston there.
Gizmo:It was like $25.
Bam Bam:Both were priced under $25. I kick myself to this day for not getting a box of each.
Chef Ricky:I will say until you said that, I completely forgot that that was government owned because that is the one place that I will say, despite being government owned, I think we had a very nice experience.
Bam Bam:We did.
Gizmo:The lounge is great there. You know, we were able to go into a back room, which was They actually stayed open for us, if you remember. They were actually closed. We were knocking on the door. We saw a friend in there, and they let us in, and then we stayed quite a bit longer.
Gizmo:But there's like a separate back room through double doors that they open for you VIP. They're Blizzard Lounge. L I P.
Bam Bam:L I L I E.
Gizmo:And, yeah, there's an amazing bust of Don Alejandro Romania's head that I just love. A beautiful statue bust of him.
Bam Bam:Yeah, that's cool.
Gizmo:And very comfortable. We had a great time in there.
Pagoda:Yeah, they had a couple of private rooms over there. I think the inventory was ready. Probably the most, right? I think of all the shops we
Gizmo:went I would say so, I think that and Meerapfel and Cohiba were probably neck and neck.
Chef Ricky:I agree with that.
Gizmo:But Havana Libre, I mean, we were there when a guy was clearing out with like 300 boxes back to Hong Kong. Literally. Oh yeah. He was buying
Bam Bam:a ton.
Gizmo:Buying a ton of stuff.
Bam Bam:Oh yeah.
Chef Ricky:And that's where I got a box of QD Kronos Claros. Yep. Same. Great price.
Bam Bam:Me too. Excellent. It Got a box of short to punch there too.
Gizmo:The thing that's interesting when you talk about price is despite the worldwide leveling of prices, we've discussed, you know, so many times on the podcast from Habanos, in Havana itself, the pricing is actually quite inconsistent from shop to shop. I mean, especially in November when we were there, we would see at one shop a Cohiba Robusto 60 or 80, and then you go to another one that was an LCDH and it was 20.
Bam Bam:It was very unusual.
Gizmo:It was odd how inconsistent they were even inside Havana.
Bam Bam:Yeah, and at that location, there weren't any Lanceros or Sir Winston anywhere except for this place where we were.
Gizmo:Yeah. So yeah, that hotel is a mess though. Mean, it's
Bam Bam:Old terrazzo floors.
Gizmo:I mean, kind of... Can you give some perspective, ma'am?
Chef Ricky:This sounds like a great client for you.
Bam Bam:Oh, I would love that client.
Gizmo:He would never get paid. He'd never get paid. True.
Bam Bam:Unless I moved... I would live there. I would live. I'd have my entire team there. They would love to be there.
Gizmo:Bam would just wanna be paying cigars. He'd be fine.
Bam Bam:Many other things too.
Gizmo:You mean rum. Anyway.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:You kind of paint a picture of the Havana Libre from an architectural standpoint? It's whole because it's just run down.
Bam Bam:I don't even
Gizmo:know how to describe it.
Bam Bam:So if anyone's out there that really cares about this and wants to look up on the internet what a postmodern building looks like, so it's a postmodern building, very old and dilapidated. The floors are terrazzo. The stairs, they got a central stair, a steel spine with treads that are built into it. You don't really do that anymore. The terrazzo is out of date.
Bam Bam:And a
Pagoda:lot of
Bam Bam:old sculptures, some architectural sculptures, it was, you know, it's very dated.
Gizmo:That to me, from a timestamp, it's
Bam Bam:True very clear timestamp.
Gizmo:When it was built and when it was forgotten.
Bam Bam:Probably built in the Yeah.
Gizmo:I know, way before that.
Bam Bam:Well, that building's a bit newer than the other ones. Really? I think so.
Gizmo:I wonder when the Hilton thing happened, because it must have been, I don't know what the Well, year a
Bam Bam:branding change, guess.
Gizmo:Yeah, well they took the hotel from the Hilton. Right, right. Yeah, so now this one's going to upset some listeners. Our experience at the Hotel Massy and L.
Bam Bam:Oh boy, you guys are picky. Geez.
Chef Ricky:Listen.
Bam Bam:When in Rome, guys.
Gizmo:It's a beautiful place from the outside and that's about it. Grand entrance. It looks beautiful. It's incredible. But then when you go and you want to sit down and have an experience there, to me, despite what again, this is going to upset listeners who've been to Havana, or want to go, I just think that experience is the weakest of everything we've discussed so far.
Chef Ricky:It's a dump. It's a dump. There's no other way to say it. I'm sorry.
Bam Bam:Well, it's in better shape of the spot that we were just at.
Gizmo:Yeah. Well, it is the government's Primo Hotel.
Bam Bam:I guess.
Gizmo:But they don't have
Rooster:It's in better shape, but the service sucks
Gizmo:and the scenic furniture sucks.
Bam Bam:The furniture's awful. Awful. Yeah.
Pagoda:That's The pours are bad.
Gizmo:They don't have anything. No. They have ham and cheese sandwiches with no ham. No ham. And that's it.
Gizmo:You listeners think that we're joking. We're not.
Bam Bam:No. It's... But honestly, we didn't take it. So you and I walked the grounds when we were there in November. That was actually quite nice.
Bam Bam:Come on.
Gizmo:Yeah. But I walked
Chef Ricky:around the whole place. Was in some ballroom with like a private party going on. Wasn't even supposed to be in. I checked out everything.
Bam Bam:Did you toast the bride and groom? I sure did. The backyard, that yard area, if you walk further down, the views to the Maleconos are actually perfect.
Chef Ricky:Oh, That's the thing. The location of it is great. I'm sure there's nice views back there. The setup could be perfect. That's, like, the most disappointing part.
Chef Ricky:If, like, structurally, it didn't work, that would be one thing. It's beautiful from the outside. Its location is perfect.
Bam Bam:The structure itself is actually very nice.
Gizmo:It is.
Rooster:It's bad use of space.
Chef Ricky:Space. That's the thing. Like, that outdoor patio we're sitting on. I'm sorry. You you're
Bam Bam:not you're not wrong.
Chef Ricky:Even cheap outdoor furniture out there, not anything expensive. We... We're not expecting something crazy there, but just a a... I mean, honestly, those little folding chairs that people sit in at, like, ball games at parks are more comfortable than the shit we were sitting on.
Gizmo:I agree.
Chef Ricky:It's like these massive wicker
Pagoda:Very bulky.
Chef Ricky:Massive. Like, one chair the size of, like, a love seat, basically. And these cushions that shouldn't... Did nothing, basically. I'm not even sure why they were on there.
Bam Bam:Anything government run there is really not a place to be.
Gizmo:To me...
Pagoda:And that's the problem. But you gotta check out the national national
Gizmo:That's my point to go to. You have to... If you're going to Havana, you have to go to the Hotel Nacional. I think it's really interesting that the back of of the Hotel Nacional is right on the Malecon, and that's where the Bay of Pigs incident happened.
Bam Bam:That's
Gizmo:right. They have the cannons back there. You can take a tour in English. The history, the view, the beauty of the actual hotel, you've got to see it. If you can find an ashtray at the ashtray desk and get a Hotel Nasty N Out ceramic ashtray, great.
Gizmo:As far as a smoking experience, sitting down and enjoying your time there, that is really, as Senator so eloquently said, it's a dump.
Bam Bam:You're not wrong.
Chef Ricky:And I think the biggest problem with it, arguably, is what Rooster said a minute ago, the service
Bam Bam:is atrocious.
Chef Ricky:I mean, it's like, look, we went to a few government run places while we were there, we had breakfast at that place.
Gizmo:The Presidente.
Chef Ricky:Horrible. We know what to expect, right? It's not gonna be the most friendly service, but they weren't outright rude when we were at that hotel. No. At National, I mean, our server was
Bam Bam:Very rude.
Chef Ricky:Completely rude. The entire... He had no desire to serve us whatsoever. I just couldn't... It's just hard.
Chef Ricky:It ruins the experience.
Bam Bam:Giz, did you take them up to the cigar lounge? Did you go up there?
Chef Ricky:Yeah. She's say I everything there. I did explore everything. Giz and I walked up there.
Bam Bam:What did you think of that space?
Gizmo:But they wouldn't let us in. In there. We were not allowed in there at time.
Bam Bam:So when we were there in November, I went in and I sat down with our European people that we met on our first November trip. So I sat there for twenty minutes. I thought the space was actually very nice.
Gizmo:Yeah, we were gonna try to go in there as a replacement for sitting outside in the back, but they wouldn't let us in.
Chef Ricky:Well, I think they told us
Gizmo:they took... Was it credit card only? It was MLC only.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, which we don't have, so we weren't able to go up there.
Gizmo:So they also have an LCDH at the Hotel Nationale, to... Yeah. In the basement. That's right. Not great weird.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's not stocked. It's definitely weird. It's not stocked well. Yeah.
Gizmo:Yeah. You know, it's just... Again, if... Go there for the history and to say you were there and to check it out, but it's not a destination to smoke.
Chef Ricky:Even that indoor cigar lounge there that Giz and I walked in, had we been able to go there, it was dead. It was sterile. There was nothing interesting about
Bam Bam:anyone in there?
Chef Ricky:No? No. Two people followed behind us and maybe they were going to sit That's down. Was strange.
Rooster:I think the best part was leaving the Hotel Nacional and getting into that Black Thunderbird from 1950. That's right. That was a really cool experience.
Gizmo:That was the same
Rooster:car that Michelle Obama and John Kerry wrote
Bam Bam:in. Supposedly. That was cool. That was great.
Gizmo:Nostalgic. It's awesome.
Chef Ricky:Even the drinks, do you remember? Some of us got beer. The beer was warm.
Bam Bam:It was warm.
Chef Ricky:The beer was warm. How hard is it to just bring out a cold beer?
Bam Bam:It's strange in November. What
Gizmo:what does Juan Moyes say?
Bam Bam:He says a lot of things.
Rooster:Don't
Gizmo:know. And Havana Hey.
Bam Bam:You and Havana man. I
Rooster:love that.
Bam Bam:I fucking love that guy. I miss that guy. I gotta see that guy. I got it.
Gizmo:He's great. Cuba is as they say. Very complicated. Expecting a cold beer. I'm sorry, senator.
Chef Ricky:Everywhere else?
Gizmo:Not at the hotel
Chef Ricky:restaurant. Cold. Everywhere else. Yeah?
Rooster:Didn't somebody get a pina colada?
Gizmo:Yes. Did. I guess they did.
Chef Ricky:How how was
Gizmo:that? Was horrible.
Rooster:Very sweet. It's horrible.
Gizmo:So sweet. It was terrible. So, yeah, the government run places were not great. No. They were not great.
Gizmo:I think we covered all of the different smoking spots that we hit, correct? Did we miss any?
Bam Bam:Don't think so.
Gizmo:Think that's it.
Chef Ricky:Other than our rooftop, I think that was all of them.
Bam Bam:Which was fantastic, too.
Gizmo:So the rooftop is where, certainly, I think we smoked the most cigars consistently. Breakfast, and then we'd go up there at the end of the night and have a few cigars. We were lucky that we were on were on the Malecon where where our house was. So the view at night, it was very cool. It wasn't a terrible amount of wind.
Bam Bam:Great breeze, though.
Gizmo:Yeah. Were... Yeah. Just a perfect amount of breeze, And we were able to really enjoy the rooftop.
Bam Bam:Yeah, it's a different experience from staying downtown Havana. Yes. It's quiet, more suburban.
Gizmo:Yeah, so we stayed in Vedado and the first time we went, we stayed in Old Havana.
Bam Bam:That's
Gizmo:right. Actually kind of closer to the Partagas shop and some of the restaurants
Bam Bam:we Four talked blocks from the Havana,
Gizmo:from the Partagas shop. Yeah, and some of the restaurants we talked about on the first of these four episodes. So how was
Rooster:it different? I mean, was just kind of loud, like hustle and bustle.
Gizmo:No, the difference was in Old Havana, you could walk out your front door and quite literally walk to almost all of the places that we just talked about today.
Bam Bam:It's more of an urban setting where this was suburban.
Chef Ricky:Well, that's why I said this on a prior episode, but for the listener who didn't necessarily listen to that, my take on on that experience, not having stayed where you have, but obviously of being there and knowing what that would be like, if I were traveling to Havana by myself or maybe with just one other friend, I would stay Old Havana. In Old Havana where these guys did in November. Your... Everything is right there outside of your apartment or flat. It's easily accessible, and it's more lively.
Chef Ricky:You're not there with a big group or anything, so you kinda wanna be part of the action. If you're going with a larger group of friends, you kind of want at the end of the day, you've been doing all this touristy stuff, you just kind of want to get back to your place and just have a cigar among that group. That's where I think Vedata was absolutely perfect.
Bam Bam:It was perfect.
Rooster:Yeah. So maybe next time we go, or even if a listener wants to go, they should try to go to the tobacco growing area of Vinales. That would be an interesting tour.
Gizmo:Which we haven't done. In Pinar Del Rio? The
Rooster:whole region is called the Pinar Del Rio. And also some of the beach areas like Guadalaje.
Bam Bam:Another thing we haven't done.
Gizmo:I'm not into the beach scene. Not going with Havana.
Bam Bam:No speedo fee?
Gizmo:No? Okay. And apparently you can access,
Rooster:there's some LCDH stores there as well, that they might have more stock. On the beach? Yeah, the beach towns might
Chef Ricky:He's have saying basically the further you get outside of Havana, right, Because the better tourists don't
Rooster:stock really make it there, so they
Chef Ricky:It's
Rooster:just have
Chef Ricky:a better like, think of the festival, right? Everybody who comes in for the festival, they're all just buying everything up and But if you get outside of there, there's going be more inventory. Interesting.
Pagoda:So boys, few more trips to Havana.
Gizmo:No doubt about it. Going back
Chef Ricky:to our first episode where we talked about this trip, the cigar is obviously a reason to go back, the rum's a reason to go back, the experience is a reason to go back, but the people, we made so many friends in such a short amount of time. Bam is sitting there saying, I miss that guy, talking about Juan Moyet. There are people there that we need to see again.
Bam Bam:I miss Yvonne, our host, tremendously.
Rooster:And I think there's a misconception about Havana that it's maybe not safe. Yeah, that's just not true. We felt very safe. I've never felt safer.
Bam Bam:Maybe there was no food or resources.
Gizmo:That's I more for the local people, but not
Rooster:the restaurants. I mean, was
Gizmo:no shortage of food or
Rooster:drinks or anything else.
Bam Bam:Going back to what Senator said, the people, I think when you leave there, you really appreciate what you have when you come home. There's no reason for any of us to really ever complain about our lives. When you go there and you see what they don't have, it's tremendous.
Gizmo:And you see how resilient they are. Yeah. How... We've talked about this in
Bam Bam:Nauseam, but it's important
Gizmo:But it's important. I think we should say this almost in every episode It's that we talk about Cuban a culture of need, not a culture of want, which I think is really something that we can learn from. We talked about our friend Elias, who's part of the Santeria movement, and some of his comments about Americans think they have everything, but we have so many problems here that they don't have there. Everybody has their own unique set of problems, but they're just incredibly resilient, powerful people.
Bam Bam:But they have culture, they have access to certain arts, they have access to music that we'll never see here in The States, and that enriches their lives in a different way. Totally. It's tremendous.
Gizmo:So we held off, I held off on talking about my experience at the Habanos Festival simply because it's probably the least important thing that I experienced in my trips to Cuba ever. It's... Honestly, I'm kinda glad that we're anonymous, that we don't use our real names so that I can confidently and honestly and confidentially talk about my feelings on the Habanos Festival, because it's an absolute travesty. It's a joke. They should be embarrassed and ashamed of themselves.
Bam Bam:Well, Partagas Festival, I'm sure, wasn't much better, comparatively speaking. The Partagas Festival... That was awful.
Gizmo:But I'm saying, my point is that the lunacy of this event inside these walls of these of these... You know, the Wednesday night event where they announced the Bolivar new gold medal cigar was at El Deguito. Okay? The Friday night event where they announced the Partagas Linea, the new cigars that are coming from Partagas, three new cigars, which is kind of like the Montecristo Linea and the Romeo y Julieta...
Rooster:What are those called? The Nobles and Dianas.
Gizmo:Yes. Nobles, Dianas. It's a higher level regular production cigar than the normal stuff we're used to.
Bam Bam:And they're blue banded, is unusual for Partagas.
Gizmo:Yeah, it's a different color band on Partagas. But it's just a disgusting display of capitalism inside these walls where outside is just absolute suffering. I mean, they can't provide food for their people, you know, and they're charging people to come in and spend $3,250 for a week of events. Yeah. If you go to all of them, that's how much it costs.
Gizmo:Yeah. I mean, it's absolute lunacy.
Chef Ricky:How much was the dinner alone, the last dinner?
Gizmo:So the dinner on Friday night was $12.50 dollars
Chef Ricky:It's insane.
Bam Bam:It is.
Gizmo:It's insane. So the Bolivar event on Wednesday night was $700, and you got two cigars, and it was standing room only. The food was all entrees. Yeah. It was at El Legito.
Gizmo:I was very disappointed that night. And then the only other event I did was the Friday night gala event, where it was Partagas themed, which I was excited to go to just because it was Partagas, and as senator, and we discussed going to the shop and our feelings about Partagus, I was very excited to be there and try those new cigars, and I was in great company. My table was wonderful. I was very happy with the people I was around, but it's hard to ignore the lunacy of this event.
Bam Bam:We experienced that in November the first time you and I went because the irony of what you see is on a daily it's really tremendous, and you grapple with that as you're enjoying this decadent meal and a glass of wine and a cigar that no one else in that country really is going to experience. It's lunacy.
Rooster:I didn't see a single person in Cuba, a Cuban national smoking a cigar.
Bam Bam:No, because they can't afford it.
Rooster:It felt so odd that the cigars that are coming from Cuba and not a single person was smoking. Cuban cigars.
Gizmo:I gave our host when we were leaving, I gave him five or 10 cigars and he had never had any
Bam Bam:of them. That's crazy.
Gizmo:And I'm talking regular production like a Romeo Y. Churchill, a Partagas D4, a Hoyo Epi two, a Bolivar Royal Corona. He'd never had any of these
Rooster:But that's understandable. You make $30 to $50 a month, how are you going to afford a $20 cigar? You can't. You just can't.
Gizmo:And that's the comment on the lunacy of all this. The fact that when you go to New York, let's say you're in New York, and you go to a fancy gala dinner that's expensive, the people who are serving you, the people who are bussing your table, the people who are doing any sort of service type job there, when they go home at night, could feed their family.
Bam Bam:Of
Gizmo:course. They're not worried about feeding their families. The people who were bussing our tables at this event were no older than 15 years old. Oh, man. Were kids.
Gizmo:They were children. These people go home at night, and I don't know if they have food. They probably don't. They have to stand in line all day begging and hoping that they can put food on the table at night. You know, it's an absolute travesty.
Gizmo:And then to watch these people announce this new Partagas line, and they have this big... Kinda like Taylor Swift. This big... You know, we're in a massive convention hall of thousands of people have paid for this event. I can't imagine how much money they grossed on this event.
Gizmo:There's like a catwalk down the middle of the thing, and they're... You know, they have choreographed dance and music and all these things. And they're doing almost like Lion King. You know in Lion King when Rafiki holds up Simba? Like, here's the new Christ child in the Lion Kingdom?
Bam Bam:Senator did that when Senator Junior was born.
Gizmo:I was there. They had a choreographed dance. I'm not kidding. They had a choreographed dance where 20 or 30 Cuban dancers held a box of the new Partagas cigars and did this symbol like thing, like holding these new cigars up to the heavens, parading down this catwalk. It took like ten minutes.
Gizmo:And I'm just sitting there, and I can't help but think, like, I cannot wait to talk to these guys about this on the podcast because it's such bullshit. It's such bullshit. Yeah. I was embarrassed. It's embarrassing.
Bam Bam:It's hard to know what to say, really. I mean, because we are patrons of this cigar. We spend a lot of money on this Cuban product. Havana S. A.
Bam Bam:Is owned by the Cuban government.
Gizmo:And China. And China.
Bam Bam:So there's a lot to think about there.
Gizmo:So the craziest part of the whole night, as you guys saw a thousand times from every other media source that was at this event, was the celebration of the big auction that they do every year. And this year was by far and away the craziest auction that they had, which was highlighted by this Cohiba Humidor, I think it would have 500 cigars in it, that hammered for $4,400,000 US, which is just lunacy, to think about spending $8,000 on a cigar.
Bam Bam:That's insane.
Gizmo:And this demonstration of, you know
Chef Ricky:I would never spend 8,000 on a cigar, but I would happily smoke an $8,000
Bam Bam:cigar.
Pagoda:Me too. That's my budget for ten years.
Bam Bam:Are you joking? You guys have spent I'm not gonna go there.
Gizmo:But I mean, it was crazy to be in the room. It's crazy to see the news reports on it. You know, they raised $11,000,000 boys, which is, of course, as you know, is going to the medical system of the Cuban people.
Bam Bam:Supposedly, yes. Yes.
Gizmo:I'm happy I was there, but I don't know if I would go
Bam Bam:back. Well, you have mixed feelings as an American citizen, seeing what you see on the street and seeing what you see behind closed doors and decadent events like this.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Forget as an American citizen, I mean, as a global citizen,
Bam Bam:I mean,
Chef Ricky:can be from any country.
Bam Bam:That's right.
Chef Ricky:That's right. Giz is describing is very valid in that. Like, there's just this ridiculous kind of irony, and it sounds like it's completely divorced from reality of like, okay, we're we're doing this thing. It's supposed to be for this good aim. But I mean, how much good are they really doing if there are all these people that are starving on the streets and like, It almost feels as though the five of us in a week there did probably more than this organization does in a calendar year.
Bam Bam:That's a great point, and I think that's a great way to sum up this portion of the podcast where we will continue to go, and we hope listeners go, you said so beautifully, Giz, a few recordings ago about our Cuban trips. You go in the spirit of giving, not in the spirit of taking. So when you go, you support the people, you bring things to help the people. It's a tremendous gesture. And they love it and appreciate it.
Bam Bam:They continue to do that.
Gizmo:And I think that someone who's thinking about maybe going to the festival and spending $3,250 on a week at that festival, the impact you can have with a quarter of that money, you know, hitting the Cuban people, you know, meeting Cuban people, helping Cuban people, that's the magic of the trip. Sure. You know, and I'm glad I went, and I'm glad I could talk about it, and like I said, be anonymous.
Bam Bam:Well, look, we had the same feelings at the Partagas Festival as well. It was very expensive, very decadent. Disappointing, right?
Chef Ricky:I think there's even a bigger point here that we're kind of arriving at. And that's like the beauty of this hobby in the sense that every experience that we have gushed about from this trip cost us nothing.
Gizmo:Exactly. That's true.
Chef Ricky:And Giz and Bam were talking about an experience they had to actually spend a lot of money to be a part of, and that brought the least enjoyment
Gizmo:Very for
Chef Ricky:true. And I think that's like what's so magical about, right, we talk about, you know, we can find a $7 cigar that can be so satisfying to us. You don't have to spend some crazy amount of money to have it. We talk about, obviously, cigar being the great equalizer. Doesn't matter what your job is.
Chef Ricky:It doesn't matter how much money you have. If you're enjoying what you're smoking, that's what this is all about. And I think that that's what was so cool and refreshing and even a learning experience in Cuba of just talking about how content these folks are with so little. And I think all the experiences that I'm gonna remember cost me nothing. Right?
Chef Ricky:Walking in the Partagas shop and Renee saying, I want you to be one of the first to sign the guest book there, that cost us nothing. That was an experience. Sitting down with Roberto, a guy who's 80 years old, a cardiologist, has traveled the world more than any of us in this room. Yeah. That cost us nothing.
Chef Ricky:That I will never forget. And those That's what this is about.
Bam Bam:And those experiences are so much more valuable than anything that you and I got at either one of those festivals.
Pagoda:100%. You know the smile on the kids when you hand them the ball. Yes. Just makes you feel very happy.
Bam Bam:Personally, I don't think I'll ever go to another festival, but I'll go and I'll bring as much as I can. And it's like you said, Senator, when you light up the cigar, it all culminates in this habit. The moment you light that cigar, you enjoy that $15.20 dollars cigar. That's what it's all about.
Gizmo:And to me now, when I light these cigars or I think about what we're smoking, I'm thinking about the people that we met. I'm thinking about the connections that we made, the people we were able to help with so little,
Rooster:who rolled
Gizmo:it, Who rolled it? The people we met that roll it. Awesome. You know, that's the magic of it. So the Habanos Festival to me is a joke, and if you're going to Cuba, I wouldn't spend my money doing No.
Bam Bam:It's not recommended. You're gonna bring that money, donate that money. Absolutely.
Gizmo:A lot
Rooster:of people go to it.
Gizmo:You know, industry guys. It's a trade show.
Bam Bam:Leave it to the industry folks. That's fine for them, in my opinion.
Rooster:But there's a lot of people who are not in the industry also and they go every year.
Gizmo:The two guys you're talking
Chef Ricky:to right now, they went assuming that this would be maybe a life changing experience.
Bam Bam:That's why we paid that money to go to those... Well, I went to the Partagas and he went to the Cohiba. He went to both the Partagas and Cohiba. We thought we would meet people that were like minded and of a giving nature, and it really didn't amount to that. So for me,
Rooster:I'm out.
Bam Bam:I'm a shark, I'm out.
Chef Ricky:Okay.
Gizmo:How were the people dressed at the gala? It was very formal. It was a gala dinner, yeah. Everybody So had we have to
Chef Ricky:hear this now. So Gizmo, what were Oh, you
Rooster:black tie?
Bam Bam:Were you wearing a hoodie with buttons?
Gizmo:No, I had a button.
Chef Ricky:A hoodie with buttons.
Pagoda:No, he had a t shirt with the...
Gizmo:I was very well dressed. I had a jacket and everything.
Bam Bam:Oh really? Yeah. So at the Partagas Festival, he looked really dapper. I'll tell you, black button down, very appropriate senator for that type of an event. Now, Black may not have been the right choice, but he had a great pair of jeans on, great shoes and a great shirt.
Chef Ricky:You just said formal. You can't wear jeans to a formal
Bam Bam:No, This is Partagas.
Gizmo:Partagas Galla Dinners,
Chef Ricky:the Walkman Street and the Behike.
Gizmo:Yeah. I had a button down shirt on tucked in. I had a jacket, and I... My button was open.
Pagoda:Didn't even
Bam Bam:tie on. What color was your shirt?
Gizmo:It was a white shirt.
Bam Bam:Well done.
Gizmo:And it was black black. Well done. It was a matching top and bottom.
Chef Ricky:Nice shirt. Your shoes?
Gizmo:They were dress shoes. Black?
Bam Bam:Yeah. Good.
Rooster:Semi boy.
Bam Bam:They were varnished, though.
Gizmo:They were varnished. They were definitely varnished. I varnished them. But yeah, you know, Havana's Festival is for me, I think it's gonna be a one and done, but we'll see. I like talking about it.
Gizmo:I like reporting on it. Yeah. And I like telling the truth.
Bam Bam:That's cool.
Gizmo:You know, I think there's lot of media that celebrate this thing
Bam Bam:No, absolutely.
Gizmo:Unnecessarily, and I don't think that we Yeah. That's not my take.
Bam Bam:You know, had a whole conversation with our interpreter.
Gizmo:Yeah.
Bam Bam:About people that he knows that right now at that very moment after our decadent dinner, you know, they didn't have food and they were struggling. It's part of what happens there. But they're so resilient and happy regardless of what they're going through. It's a sin for us to complain about our lives in any way.
Pagoda:They are a happy community overall. They
Bam Bam:are. They're
Rooster:very content.
Chef Ricky:But that's the thing. It goes back to what made that trip special for us. It's because they define their life and their happiness based on their experiences, their interactions, the people that they're around. They don't define it based on how much they have. That's not what it's about.
Chef Ricky:The same way that we talk about when we're going to these places, we're not defining our experience by how many cigars did someone give us, or did we find or get at these places. I mean, we came back with very few cigars, in fact. That wasn't the purpose of the trip. No. All the experiences we had, it was the people we met, the interactions, the experiences.
Chef Ricky:That's what makes it.
Gizmo:Absolutely. Yeah. Love it. So that's the Habanos Festival, Partagas Festival in the shops. What a great trip to Cuba, boys.
Gizmo:Yeah. And I can't wait to go back and have many, many more
Bam Bam:of these I'm very happy to have experienced that with everyone in this
Gizmo:Yeah, I'm glad that we
Bam Bam:did it. It was awesome.
Chef Ricky:Couldn't have been better.
Bam Bam:Brothers in arms, lizards in Cuba. You can't beat that. Great experience.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, and I think it just affirms anyone who considers himself a lizard and listens to this podcast, you love Cuba. There's no other way to put
Bam Bam:it.
Gizmo:And if you go with the right mentality like we've talked about so many times, if you go down there not expecting lush accommodations and
Bam Bam:Go in the spirit of giving. Exactly. You're golden. Yep. And you get back so much in return.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. So we're coming to the end of the evening here, the end of the Montecristo Edmundo. What are you guys thinking on this thing?
Bam Bam:I gotta say, I'm about an inch away. I'm still enjoying this cigar.
Pagoda:Me
Bam Bam:too. It's quite delicious.
Rooster:It's very pleasant. It stayed like mild to medium. It didn't really pick up in strength.
Bam Bam:And no sharp edges.
Pagoda:No sharp edges. Construction was great. Combustion was fantastic.
Bam Bam:I have to admit, the last minute pairing works. It was. It's working well. I'm on my second glass.
Gizmo:Yeah, the High West did well. I'm gonna have a little bit more.
Bam Bam:There you go.
Gizmo:But I'm very happy with it.
Bam Bam:It'll make my friends very happy to hear that.
Gizmo:Kind of like senator said, mean, double rye... Expecting the double rye was gonna go well with a Cuban cigar was a surprise, and it it was a really nice pairing tonight.
Bam Bam:Sure. Worked.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I'm glad we did this stick because I've been very aggressively opposed to the Petite Edmundo. Not that it's a bad cigar. I just think people really acclaim it as a great cigar for my palate. It's never quite struck me that way.
Chef Ricky:Maybe with a lot of age, different story, I don't think I've had a heavily aged one. But this cigar, all the way through, just really enjoyable. Not the most complex stick, but for what it is, good.
Bam Bam:Pagoda, did you find that it built in body as you get closer to the end? For me, it did.
Pagoda:Yeah, I thought so. But it was still mild to medium, but, you know, I did really enjoy the pleasant feeling, you know, very milk chocolatey, very comfortable, very easy smoke, meaning the construction was great, of course, the combustion was great. And I, you know, for me, the more and more I think about cigars, I often think that the combustion really also adds to the value, at least, when I smoke cigars. And for me, for a Cuban, I thought this was very, very
Gizmo:I think
Rooster:this cigar would also fit in just like a QD50 in the morning.
Pagoda:Yeah, it's morning. Yeah, morning to afternoon.
Gizmo:A of
Rooster:coffee after breakfast maybe.
Chef Ricky:I agree with that in flavor profile. It's a little too long for me for a morning smoke. Like, a traditional Robusto is as long of a morning smoke as I typically would want, like a d four I love in the morning. So that's my only thing. But flavor profile wise, I 100% agree.
Rooster:Saturday morning. There you go.
Gizmo:It would be nice with a cup of coffee.
Pagoda:Yeah. Oh, it'd be great, I think.
Gizmo:Yeah. Because the QD 50 for me is a little light. I think I'd I'd actually like this with an espresso. That that QD 50 in the morning.
Chef Ricky:The QD 50 has more flavor than this cigar.
Bam Bam:It does. Would put it Did above
Gizmo:we rate this cigar? We have not. We got to do that cigar.
Bam Bam:We haven't tried it yet.
Gizmo:Because we've done the Corona's Claro and we've done the QD50, but we haven't
Chef Ricky:heard I say that because the QD50 is firmly medium.
Bam Bam:Yeah. We've done the 54, not the 50.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah. Right. We gotta do the 50. Yeah.
Gizmo:Alright. So you guys ready to do the formal liquor rating on the High West Yeah. Double rye? Yep. Alright.
Gizmo:Bam. Bam. You're
Bam Bam:up. I am gonna go with an eight. Eight. You know, it's easy drinking. I didn't try it without the ice.
Bam Bam:Senator did and he cringed a little bit. So I... But I think after the ice went in, it just... The sweet notes came out, easy to drink, really nice flavor, I think went great with the cigar. Good pairing.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Pagoda:Yeah. Pagoda. I think it matched with the cigar pretty well. It did go, you know, with the ice. It was pretty smooth except for...
Pagoda:As like I think Ben mentioned earlier.
Bam Bam:It's not a pagoda sip.
Pagoda:It's not a... Yeah. With that, you do get a little bit of harshness, but having said that, you know, I've been between a seven and eight, seven and eight. You know, I'll give it an eight. Because I've enjoyed the cigar so much and the pairing so much.
Pagoda:Mhmm. Yeah.
Chef Ricky:Senator. This is easier than I thought. I'm in lockstep with these guys. I'll give it an eight. I think even when I had this neat, it wasn't overly aggressive.
Chef Ricky:It just had a bit of a bite. But with ice, it really opens up in a nice way. I like the kind of sweet finish that worked well with the cigar and the price point honestly is absurdly good. I mean, for $30 it's not easy to find a quality spirit at that price point. And I think that this definitely classifies as that at that price
Bam Bam:point. True.
Pagoda:Yeah, that's how much you get a drink in the city nowadays. One drink. One It's ridiculous. For that, I think it should be a 15, but
Bam Bam:I haven't said that, you know. That's true.
Gizmo:So I'm between a 7 and 8. I was, you know, having not considered price. But considering the price is $32 it's definitely an eight for that value. Wow. Now, if it was $60 or $70 I'd put it at a 6 or $7 But at $32 I always factor in value.
Gizmo:I definitely think it's an eight. Awesome. Awesome.
Pagoda:Look at
Bam Bam:this band. Eight point o.
Gizmo:Eight point o band. Look at
Bam Bam:you. My lord. Alright.
Gizmo:So we've come to the end of the Montecristo Edmundo tonight. You guys ready to do the formal lizard rating hunt? Alright. Brewster, you're up. Yeah.
Rooster:It's an eight.
Gizmo:Ocho. Ocho. So it's also an eight for me. I think that... You know, I don't know if I gave the MontecDraw an eight or a nine.
Gizmo:I think I'd place that at a nine.
Chef Ricky:Mhmm. I mean, for as much as you smoked that, I'd hope you gave
Gizmo:it a nine. But the one that we did on the pod, I don't remember what I rated it. But this is definitely an eight for me.
Bam Bam:No. You gave it a nine.
Gizmo:Yeah. This is definitely an eight. Definitely performed better than the Mani one, no question. And then the Mani nineteen thirty five that we did very early on in the podcast. That cigar was phenomenal.
Pagoda:The linear. The linear. Yeah.
Bam Bam:That's true.
Gizmo:That was
Chef Ricky:great. Eight for me. Senator. I'm also at an eight. I'm just glad the Edmundo line, this has finally given me something that I'd be interested in smoking again.
Chef Ricky:The only things that precluded it from a nine or a 10, I think it's a very straightforward cigar. I would not say it's a complex cigar, but it's a very enjoyable one. Young, I'm amazed that I never at any point really in smoking it felt that I got a ton of rough edges or ammonia. So it's... I I especially appreciate when you can smoke a cigar young and enjoy it and enjoy it even more as it ages.
Chef Ricky:So, it's firmly innate. Definitely recommend for me. Okay. Pagoda.
Pagoda:Same here. I think I've enjoyed the cigar more than I thought I would. Very simple, though. Very easy smoke, I think. Even when you get friends over and who have not really got into cigars, I think this could be an easy one to present to them as well.
Bam Bam:That's a great point.
Gizmo:Yeah. We didn't talk about that.
Chef Ricky:That's excellent.
Bam Bam:It really it really is. Point.
Pagoda:Yeah. And and what's the price point on these? They're right around $20. Yeah. Alright.
Pagoda:No. That's absolutely fair then. I I I think it's a it's a definite eight for me.
Bam Bam:Yeah. That's a great point. Know, if you've got guests over, if you want to give them a Cuban, this is a good cigar to hand them. Yeah. I'm at an eight as well.
Bam Bam:I'm at an eight. It's an enjoyable cigar. I've had five of these before. I've got a bunch at home. They weren't always very memorable to me, but when I had them, I liked them.
Bam Bam:I just don't think about it often enough, but it's a good cigar.
Chef Ricky:Eight. Well, that's thing. I think it's not the most complex, and it's not something maybe you wake up the next morning thinking about. But... And I love Pagoda's point.
Chef Ricky:I mean, someone at any stage in their kind of smoking journey would appreciate this cigar. You can give this to a novice. You can give it to someone who's experienced, and it slots in at a number of different points during the day. I mean, we're smoking this in the evening saying it's mild medium. That's in strength, but there is flavor.
Chef Ricky:It's not like this is so light and flavor that you couldn't enjoy this in the evening. So I love the versatility of it too.
Bam Bam:It's very versatile, and I think your point of the lack of complexity, that's not a negative thing, but it's something that doesn't linger in your mind where the very complex cigar... I think about that for weeks after I have it. Yeah. Yeah. But a great cigar tonight.
Gizmo:So that's an 8.0, boys, for the Montecristo Edmundo. It does make me want to try the Double Edmundo now because I haven't had that. I don't know what the size on that is. I'd have
Bam Bam:to look. I'm sure Rooster has had it.
Gizmo:Yeah. I I definitely wanna try it. Have you had that Cigar Rooster? Yeah. And what's...
Gizmo:What what does that... How does that compare to this?
Rooster:It's double the pleasure.
Pagoda:So it's a 16. Say double the size because they're double the pleasure. I like that. So it's a 16. I like that.
Bam Bam:I like it a lot.
Gizmo:You know, and the other thing too is I think what's interesting about what Pagoda said is not only for folks who are novice to expert smokers who smoke a lot, but I think also people who prefer a lighter cigar versus a stronger cigar. It kind of, I think, serves a lot of those folks, maybe not second, third, fourth cigar of the night, but if you're giving this... I think this would work in a room full of people that want to try a Cuban. I think this is a perfect fit
Bam Bam:Good point.
Gizmo:For this cigar. Think it's perfect for anyone who has any kind of preference, mild, medium, or full.
Rooster:Yeah, I must say for a short Monti, I love the Mediasiglo. Is Mediasiglo? Mediasiglo?
Bam Bam:Mediasiglo? Mediasiglo.
Rooster:Mediasiglo. Mediasiglo. Mediasiglo. That, I had it this morning. Dude?
Rooster:Fantastic.
Bam Bam:You and I love that cigar. I like that. I wanna bring one for senator.
Chef Ricky:Someone's gotta share that.
Gizmo:Mean, Bam Bam has the corner... The market cornered on Montecristo.
Bam Bam:I'm looking at Rooster right now.
Gizmo:I'm looking at you.
Bam Bam:That's a great little cigar.
Gizmo:Is that... What size is that? Is it close to the half Corona?
Bam Bam:It's exactly the same size as the half Corona. Really? Yeah.
Gizmo:Oh, we need to try that.
Bam Bam:It's a different place.
Gizmo:You see what's happening,
Bam Bam:Shannada? Little different. It's different. It's different. Like, the up and are waiting.
Gizmo:You're keeping secrets, boujee bam.
Bam Bam:No. I'm boujee.
Rooster:Yeah. I think. And also a boujee.
Bam Bam:I don't have connoisseur corner over there. He's boujee.
Rooster:You are there. You've been there
Gizmo:for a while now.
Bam Bam:You know what? That warms my heart.
Rooster:And also the petite number two.
Bam Bam:I've never had
Gizmo:that. That's a good cigar.
Chef Ricky:That, wanna try. I've had that.
Bam Bam:See, now he's more bougie than I am. I don't have that. You might. No. I don't.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. So an excellent trip to Cuba again. This was a wonderful experience with you guys. As Bam said, I'm so glad we got to experience it together and tell these stories. I hope you listeners out there enjoyed our recap over these last four Q and back?
Gizmo:That's a good question.
Bam Bam:Good question.
Gizmo:We have to figure that out. We'll let everybody know. Can't wait. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.
Gizmo:Alright. So an 8.0 for both the high west double rye out of Utah, which is crazy. Yeah. And the Montecristo Edmundo.
Bam Bam:Haven't been many pairings that scored evenly like that.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's... It it it was a good match, though.
Bam Bam:It's a it's a good sign.
Gizmo:It was a great match. Yeah. Yeah. Alright, boys. Excellent night.
Gizmo:We'll see you all next week. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You could find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, loungelizardspod.com. That's loungelizardspod,.com.
Gizmo:Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us. Hello at Lounge Lizards Pod dot com. You can also find us on Instagram at Lounge Lizards Pod. We really appreciate your time, and we'll, we'll see you next week.