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The lizards pair the Aging Room Quattro in Espressivo with WhistlePig PiggyBack Rye 6 Years. The guys discuss Aging Room’s unique brand, their favorite products for smoking outside in the summer, Grinder explains smoking with a retrohale and Senator recaps his trip to Greece.
Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
**Gizmo:** [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Losers 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 and tonight I'm joined by Rooster Grinder, 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 35th official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge, lizard Planet. Meet us here once a week. We're gonna smoke a new world cigar tonight. Share our thoughts on it and give you our formal lizard rating.
We discuss aging room's, unique brand, our favorite products for smoking outside in the summer, and Senator recaps his trip to Greece, all among a variety of other things for the next hour. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we pair six year aged whistle pig. Piggyback rye whiskey with aging room.
Quatro in espresso though. A Nicaraguan robo tonight on the [00:01:00] pod, the Aging Room, Quatro. It's called Espresso, and it is a beautiful box pressed cigar, uh, double banded with the aging room band, and then the Orange Nicaraguan band on it. I'll tell you guys, Senator mentioned this before we came on. Yeah, it smells amazing.
Yeah, it
**Pagoda:** is a chocolate bomb.
**Gizmo:** Chocolate
**Senator:** bomb. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's really, really
**Gizmo:** nice. Beautifully constructed. Yeah. I mean, it certainly gives me, uh, high expectations for the flavor of this thing. Yeah. And given we could talk about it, that it was, uh, its sister cigar was rated number one a few years ago in cigar fish.
Right. Uh, and it's had a lot of hype. It's 2019. Yeah. It's had a, had a lot of hype around these scars. What's the vik? I'm not sure what it's a, it's a torpedo. Okay. Yeah, it's a torpedo. Okay. Yeah. So this is the rub Robusto, uh, in the same wine. Same. . Um, yeah. And I'm very excited. So let's cut this thing. See we're getting on the, uh, cold
**Senator:** draw here.
I feel like this is a slightly shorter
**Gizmo:** ribo. Yeah, it's listed as a, a rib robusto. I also saw that it [00:02:00] was called the Parejo a Box Press Parejo. But it is, uh, because an exci
**Senator:** is definitely a little longer than this. It,
**Gizmo:** it's five inches by 50 this cigar.
**Senator:** Okay. Maybe the next was five and a half. I, yeah, I think so.
**Gizmo:** I think so. So I've seen a couple different things. It's listed most places as a rib robusto. It's a Nicaraguan piro, all aspects of, of cigar from Nicaragua
**Pagoda:** getting, uh, floral, uh, on the dry note. Really? Yeah. Cold draw.
**Senator:** Good. I'm not getting floral. I'm getting dried fruit. Yeah, dried
**Grinder:** fruit. That's a negative.
I'm definitely getting floral . Thank you.
**Gizmo:** Rosta. Oh yeah. Not no floral little flo. A lot of dried fruit. Little floral, definitely. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. It tastes, it tastes like springtime. It does. And the draw is wide open for me. How's your draw, guys? Fantastic. It's great. Great draw. Yeah. Wide open. Yeah.
It's very nice. Cool. I'm, you know, this, this is a, uh, very confusing brand. We could talk about it for me, but let's light this thing first. , I'm very confused by this. I'll tell you in a second. Okay. , I'm very confused by the aging room brand. Um, but yeah, boys, let's light this thing. The [00:03:00] aging room, Quatro Nicaragua Espresso, a 50 ring gauge by five inch cigar.
And like I said, it's a Nicaraguan Piro. Do you remember what you paid for this? I do. I paid higher retail. I paid about 1275 for each of these. Okay. Uh, but you can get them, you know, find 'em on the internet about eight 50 a stick, $9 a stick, um, if you're buying in bulk. But I sub, uh, supported my, uh, local tobacconist and picked these up for tonight.
Wide
**Pagoda:** open draw. Yeah. Many. Yeah. Same. Smoke is pretty velvety, I have to admit.
**Gizmo:** Definitely could taste the Nicaraguan on the light. Mm-hmm. .
**Pagoda:** Ooh, great. Tosh. . Yes. Well, chocolate.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Yeah. Rich Woody,
**Grinder:** but not like, yeah, like, like a, like a deep dark. Yeah. It's got rich,
**Pagoda:** rich flavor. Yeah.[00:04:00]
**Gizmo:** It's not blowing me away on the light, I gotta tell you. Uh, I love it. I love it. I like it. I
**Senator:** think it's satisfying on the
**Gizmo:** light. Yeah. Smelly
**Rooster:** aroma that's coming off the smoke. Yeah. It's, uh, you know, tasty.
**Senator:** Just get really, like, I think Grindr was saying like, just really rich, deep cocoa notes throughout
**Grinder:** this cigar.
The, the, the, what did you call this? The line burn or something before the line? Yeah, the,
**Gizmo:** at the burn
**Grinder:** line. The aroma slash burn line is really unique to me. Like I don't, I don't, something that I don't smell.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. There's definitely something different coming off of it. Yeah. I wanna say it's kind of patron like, but it's also very much not.
Mm-hmm. , no, I,
**Senator:** I. Look, we, we say nothing compares to Petron and that's accurate, but it is petron like,
**Gizmo:** like, yeah.
**Rooster:** Well, because you know, you have the similarities between the Nicaragua tobaccos. Sure. I mean, this is
**Gizmo:** a Poro Poro Nicaragua. Right. So
**Grinder:** the construction is fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. Combustion, I mean, the seams are, are basically
**Pagoda:** invisible.
Is the binder [00:05:00] filler and
**Gizmo:** wrapper all nicaraguas hero? It's all Nicaragua. Yep. Comes in a, a bright orange. And when I say bright orange, I mean like orange box, Halloween, orange, yeah. Box. It's 20 cigars. Mm-hmm. . Um, and like I said, the torpedo was the number one cigar of the year in 2019, which I saw a lot of people that rave about this thing.
I know. Personal experience from senator. You can say it. Yeah.
**Senator:** So look, I, I wasn't excited about reviewing this cigar because the torpedo I found to be very harsh. And ironically, aging room needs age. It just needs age to mellow out. Uh, this on the light is way better already than that torpedo. Yeah,
**Grinder:** this is smooth.
**Pagoda:** So I bought a box of those just before the pandemic or early on into the pandemic, and I like this better. Well,
**Senator:** you, you still had a Covid palette at that point probably. Well have you,
**Gizmo:** is he still now ?
**Pagoda:** No, that was prev Covid before having Covid. [00:06:00] Yeah. Have
**Rooster:** you revisited the uh, the pyramid?
**Gizmo:** I have not. I have not.
I remembered this. I have
**Rooster:** some that I've been sitting for like since
**Gizmo:** that time. Maybe it's worth a try. Like two. Yeah. Oh wow. Yeah. I think they should be. Maybe they're better
**Senator:** with it. Yeah, they probably
**Grinder:** try, try this on the retro hail guys. Yeah, I have the retro is like, it's, it's really, it's great. It's chocolatey.
**Gizmo:** Hmm. You know, it's funny you mentioned Retro Hale because we haven't talked about this. I don't think it lent, but I did get an email from a listener once and I just replied and kind of explained it, but the listener asked, what does it mean?
**Senator:** Just don't spill another drink. Pagoda. .
**Pagoda:** I just got a new phone and I just dunno how bloody works. It's ridiculous. Well,
**Senator:** there's a little quicker on the side. On the iPhone there's a little button. . There's normal button. Oh, it's on the side, on the left. Every iPhone, the left side, the left side, there's a little, no, no, not the volume.
There's a little mechanical button. Yeah. That you, you switched to silence the phone. Oh my Lord. Oh shit. , [00:07:00]
**Pagoda:** you learned something new. Don't edit this. You learned something new every day. I'm
**Gizmo:** like, pagoda has met the iPhone . I'm technologically challeng. 15 years later. Wait, did you, did you go from an Android?
**Pagoda:** No, no. I have, I've always had an iPhone, but I had the one with a, I had an iPhone eight where you would press that button. Right. And now there's no more button and like, I'm like,
**Rooster:** I just
**Gizmo:** established there's still so button. I'm, I'm, I'm same button in the same place as 2007. I'm, I'm still confused. Anyway, retro.
Hell yeah. So back to the retro hill. So I, uh, I had a listener email saying, Hey, you guys mentioned the retro hell all the time. What the hell is that? And I just sent an email back, but as someone you, you often mentioned the retro hell. That's what is that? That's how I smoke
**Grinder:** cigars. So, so talk to us about that too.
Roughly. I, I retro hell, every time I smoke cigars, that's, you know, depending on the cigar, sometimes I won't retro hell enough or, or I will retro hell too much and I'll get a little sneezy because it really kind of overwhelms your, your nasal [00:08:00] passages. But basically you take it in your mouth and you release the air out of your nose.
Mm. And it takes, you know, I've, I've encountered like former cigarette smokers who just can't do that. They can't help it, they, it immediately goes into their lungs. But you just have to kind of push it out, um, and blow it out, out of your, no, out of your, you know, real out of your nose. And the, you know, the idea behind it is that there's so many other sc sense receptors in your nose that, you know, you're tasting.
When you taste a cigar, you're tasting it on your lips, you're getting the Cuban twang, you're getting whatever, you know, is on the, you know, the, the wrapper, if it's oily or not, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then obviously in the, in, when you first inha, take it into your mouth, there's flavors there, and then there's a finish.
And that's all well and good. But when you retro hale, it's just like another level of taste and it's like a tertiary taste receptor. And it's fantastic because you get so, so many different levels of, of taste in a cigar. And for [00:09:00] me, the retro hale is always the best way.
**Gizmo:** So when you, uh, when you draw your cigar right, how often are you pushing it out through your nose when you're smoking a cigar that you enjoy the most?
90, 90% of the time. So you're al you're often pushing it out through your nose? Yep. Because I just did it. And on this cigar specifically, I do it maybe once or twice a cigar. , um, on this cigar, I'm definitely getting more of a spice bomb through the nose, which is very, yeah, it's very satisfying. It's very
**Grinder:** good.
I I like to do the combo where you retro hale end out of your, out of your mouth. Hmm. And you get, you know, I
**Pagoda:** will admit I retro hail more on a Cuban than a new world cigar. Yeah. Yeah. And why is that? Well, I, because they're not as harsh Yeah. As the new world. Um, yeah. That's it. That's it. I would agree.
That's really it. I think you're, I think that's spot on. Yeah. My allergies don't help man. That's why I can't do it. Yeah.
**Rooster:** makes you snee. Not, not everybody can retro hail, right?
**Gizmo:** Uh, I mean, is it,
**Grinder:** it takes I think, I think a anatomically everybody can, but I [00:10:00] think the takes practice. It it, yeah, it takes practice and, and you have to learn how to do it.
You're right. Yeah.
**Senator:** I mean, it, it's not always easy. I mean, honestly when, when I have retro hail, it's always by accident. I'm serious. I, I like, I can't do it on demand. I'll just be smoking a cigar. I'm like, oh, wow. That just came outta my nose. Yeah. And you just get a, you know, different notes out of that.
Sometimes
**Gizmo:** it comes outta of my ears. , what's
**Grinder:** going on here? I'm, I'm really, I'm really digging this
**Gizmo:** cigar though. This is really good so far. I gotta say
**Senator:** this is nothing like that torpedo. This is, it really
**Pagoda:** is enjoyable. It's
**Gizmo:** a different cigar. It's a different, you know, that's so funny you say that because it's the same blend.
It.
**Senator:** That means that's every cigar we say that different shape. Like there's a reason that, you know, we love thei and not that there's anything wrong with the other violas of the 64. Don't forget the
**Grinder:** millennium. Yeah, the
**Pagoda:** millennium between a toro and a pyramid. It's, it's a totally different experience.
Only
**Senator:** scope the pyramid. That's it really is.
**Gizmo:** But,
**Rooster:** but I wonder if the blend, if the change, the blend, it's unlikely because with the size, I mean they're using different, uh, on
**Gizmo:** patron proportions.
**Rooster:** They do [00:11:00] proportions of,
**Senator:** uh, different leaf. Right. Even when they don't, we, we know this right? Like the, the proportion of the wrapper to the filler changes basically the size.
Definitely. I, I
**Grinder:** don't, and, and I don't think it's linear either. Like when you portor proportion up a cigar from like Rob Robusto to a church or, or a Toro, I don't think you'd just be like, okay, 10% of this leave, 20% of that and 30% whatever it is, and then be like, okay, a bigger size, we're still using 10% of it.
I think you st you, you, you, the right way is. , well, I don't know, I'm not a blender, but certain tobaccos have more rich flavor and maybe you keep that one at 10% or something like that and you know that that ratios don't, you know, they change. And simply just keeping that ratio static across the different violas is maybe that's not the right way to go, or that's maybe what they wanna do and change it entirely.
**Gizmo:** Who knows. Yeah. And I think the other thing that must be considered too, especially, you know, maybe when you're going from a Rob Robusto to a Churchill, the person who's sitting down and smoked that Churchill is committing quite a bit more time than a rub robusto smoker. Yeah. Maybe double. Yeah. So, you know, you, you have to take them on a little bit [00:12:00] longer of a journey.
Right. So that may contribute to it too. Yeah. There's not so much of a difference between this and I would say the time commitment in that torpedo, that gut number one that you guys were talking about. Right. Not, not really enjoying, but you know, that that could play into it as well. I, and I'm not quite sure, but apparently this is, uh, a very similar blend to the, the sister cigars in this, in this line.
**Pagoda:** It should also be personal preference, right. Because I've realized a lot of, uh, The people I know who love Touros. Right. Um, like late hour, uh, I know I love the Rubo and I love the Churchill. I'm not a big fan of the tos, but the guys who love the tos still prefer the Toros Yeah. To the other two, uh, Vitos.
So, uh, it could be personal preference. I, I, I don't know what really drives it. Uh, but I think among our group, it seems like we tend to, uh, prefer similar size Taggar. Well,
**Rooster:** I think in the US market, the people prefer a bigger range age, so I think there's more [00:13:00] tourists maybe being sold here than, uh, in the
**Gizmo:** European market.
Mm-hmm. ,
**Senator:** fair enough. Yeah. Yeah. I, but I, again, just going back to my point, I think for every cigar there is a vitola that smokes best agreed. It's just the perfect balance or ratio of rapper to filler. And on some cigars that's a smaller ring age. On others, it's a larger ring age, you know, like, . We don't smoke a ton of touros or a, a ton of 54 ring aid sticks, but like the part E two, whatever they do with that cigar, like at that large ring gauge, it's perfect.
Yes it is. It's a great smoke. There are many other cigars. I just don't say the same thing about in that same size. So I, I'm what I've learned already, just from, you know, being a quarter of the way through this cigar, the aging room, I think smokes way better in a smaller ring age, um, at this rib robusto than it does that torpedo.
That's right. And a bit of a larger ring gauge. That's right.
**Grinder:** Yep. The smoke output on this is really great. The room is foggy. Yeah. And, and
**Gizmo:** the burn is perfect. Yes [00:14:00] it is.
**Grinder:** I can't believe it. Yep. This flavor profile is like, it, it kind of brings me back to like, you know, when I first started smoking cigars in like the summer, this is a good summer ci.
**Rooster:** Yeah. And it's not, it's not that heavy. It's not like I, I could smoke this in the data. That's true. Can smoke this in the morning. Yep. Yeah. Yep. You know, it's not, the strength isn't there, like we would typically get from like Nicaragua and, uh, cigars. So this, I can see this with a, I mean, probably go great with coffee.
**Gizmo:** Do you remember coffee? Do you remember the
**Pagoda:** elsinor that we smoked? Yeah, I could kind of compare it to that a bit.
**Senator:** I, I can't, I, I mean, uh, so I'm a bit, I'm going a similar place. Yeah. I think this is Petron like, like I'm gonna stand by this the same way I said this. Elena AOR is padron like yes it is.
Nothing will ever be a petron, but similar flavor profiles and Exactly. I love how Rooster described. These are full [00:15:00] flavored cigars, but they're not strong, not heavy. You could smoke this in the afternoon and get a ton of flavor, but not a nicotine rusher buzz or anything like that. and, um, I, that's very much in I think a lot of our wheelhouse.
And so I'm pleased
**Pagoda:** so far. It's impressive so far. And the smoke is very
**Gizmo:** velvety
**Rooster:** and, uh, you know, for the price point. I mean, I think this, so far it's been, uh, yeah, behaving well.
**Gizmo:** I think,
**Grinder:** I think the word bam bam just used was velvety. And that is, I think that's so that's a great word for appropriate for this.
Yeah. It's a velvety the way, even just holding it, the look of it, the smoke, the draw is fantastic. The burn is pure. I mean,
**Gizmo:** yeah. And I love the
**Rooster:** band on this, like the orange really pops on the dark
**Gizmo:** cigar does. Yeah, it looks great.
**Rooster:** It's true. Yeah. The, the black band and then the orange, it really,
**Gizmo:** you know, it sticks out.
So I, I mentioned as we came into this, that the aging room brand confuses me and it's because, um, there's so many different kinds and what [00:16:00] I've learned, so the founder of of the Line is a guy named Raphael Nadal. No relation to the tennis player spelled differently. But, um, so this guy, what's interesting about his story, you know, not only he had a music career and then he went into healthcare and then he decided to get into cigars.
But what's interesting about him is, unlike the other guys that have had similar, you know, Rocky Patel, you know, Pete Johnson, other guys that have have started, uh, cigar brands recently are fairly recently. He doesn't have his own factory. He doesn't have his own team of people. He pairs up with other manufacturers to jump in and create aging room cigars.
That's not that
**Grinder:** uncommon though. Like, for example, most of, like, of the tawa, most of the cigars that Rocky makes are not made by him. But aren't they made, made? Most of the cigars on the market are made by, but aren't
**Gizmo:** they made in one consistent factory?
**Rooster:** No. No, no. What what differ firsts, Raphael Nadal, is that he did not have a cigar background.[00:17:00]
He, I mean, he did, uh, come here from Cuba like 40 years ago. , but he got into the music business Yep. And he did something else. Yep. Healthcare. So he wasn't really a cigar guy per se. I mean, a lot of the other guys, like, were in the cigar field and they got into, you know, production of cigars, whether they rolled it or have somebody else roll it.
**Gizmo:** Uh, yeah. But what what's interesting specifically about this, this brand is that he pairs, like this one is made by AJ Fernandez. So what he does is he'll pair up with different manufacturers and different factories. So each of the aging rooms Oh, are, are made in different factories. I see what you're saying.
Like different, like, you know, Pete Johnson, I think all of his stuff is made in, um, Jamie Garcia's, uh, exactly. Yeah. Pep Garcia Pep is, yeah. Garcia's Factory Aging Room is just, uh, it's like a, like a strategic, uh, partnership.
**Grinder:** Well, it's could be private. It's not vertical integration. Yeah. It's not vertical private label.
So he's, so he's, he is, he is, uh, , you know, he has different [00:18:00] suppliers that, that manufacture the cigars. I'm sure he's very intimately involved in the selection of the tobaccos.
**Rooster:** Yeah. Well, typically he doesn't grow his own tobacco, so
**Gizmo:** he has to go to a
**Grinder:** source. So he, is he he's market, he's a marketing company, yes.
But with high standards. Yeah. I'm, I don't know anything about aging room. I'm just assuming that's probably the model he's going for, but who's blending
**Senator:** this? Yeah, so this is AJ Fernandez.
**Gizmo:** Okay. So aj,
**Grinder:** AJ blended this Yes. Blended. And they manufactured. So then it's a purely pure marketing
**Senator:** play. Yep. I'm just sur surprised.
I mean, just hearing if AJ Fernandez blended this, I mean, AJ Fernandez blends a zillion cigars, right. His name is on everything. And we've smoked a number of them. And I can't say I'm a huge fan of AJ Fernandez blended cigars. I, I, I, I can't even name one that I would regularly smoke. This is very good.
**Gizmo:** It is.
And this specific. , uh, partnership with AJ Fernandez, like we said, Juan Cigar the year, three
**Grinder:** years ago. Yeah. I I don't think AJ's ever gotten like, as high rankings for any of the cigars he's [00:19:00] manufactured as he has with, with, uh, aging
**Gizmo:** Room. I don't know. Yeah, I think you're right. And I, you know, it's, it is pretty, it's pretty impressive that, that, uh, Nadal, you know, said, I wanna make a, a cigar brand.
Went out, found these manufacturers, partnered with them, and has created a blend that has become very successful in the market. Yeah. Yeah.
**Pagoda:** This is, this is quite delicious. And I want to revisit the, um, cigar of the Year. The Pyramid. Yeah. And you have a few of those from a few years ago.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. It's called the Maestro
**Pagoda:** Myro, by the way.
Yeah. I would love to try one of those Yeah. And see what it's like. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Tomorrow morning. You got it. .
**Rooster:** So, look at the construction of this. The ash is really
**Gizmo:** holding well, it really is. It's about an inch long. Mm-hmm. .
**Senator:** Yeah. I mean, what does this look like right now in everyone's hands? It's a drone. Yeah.
Drone. That's, look, I, I, I, it's crazy. It's impressive that they're able to come. even in the same conversation as the pod. So now
**Grinder:** here's a
**Pagoda:** question. If you have a petron and you have this laying run next to ano, to each other, which, what are you grabbing?
**Gizmo:** Well, we know the answer. I'll take, I'll take the, I'll take
**Rooster:** the band, [00:20:00] take the band off and smoke this and say it's a padron.
**Gizmo:** Is this
**Grinder:** a, um, does it have a, like we've aged this for how many
**Gizmo:** years or something? I don't believe there's an age statement. No. Which you would think with the name, uh, that it would come with that. But there is no specific age statement that I've seen.
**Senator:** And that's also why the name's bullshit. Because I'm telling you, if you have that torpedo, this exact cigar and torpedo young, I, or they'll claim aged.
It's not aged. It is so harsh. Yeah, it's, I mean, I really remember just in the back of your throat, you just feel like this cigar desperately needs time and this is not like that. So I, I just have to think that maybe by getting more of the rapper, . Um, it does it a lot of favors. So
**Rooster:** this is a 52 ring? 50. 50, 50 by five.
So the
**Gizmo:** pyramid is a 52? Yeah, by six and a half. I think
**Grinder:** I get that a lot with AJ's cigars though, like the harshness. And I probably smoke more than more AJ's smoke more AJ's than you [00:21:00] guys or have?
**Gizmo:** Yeah. What else is AJ known
**Grinder:** for? What doesn't he, um, so he started, he started working exclusively through Cigar International and that's where he kind of built up his brand.
And he, he made a, a few different brands for, for CI that, that gained a lot of traction. And then when people realized how talented this guy was, everyone was flooding to him to like do partnerships. So like he did one with everyone under the Sun, Romeo and Julia, Monty Christo, all the legacy Cuban brands.
And then everyone, everyone and their mother came to him and said, you know, let's do a, a blend together.
**Rooster:** Does he do the Monty White
**Gizmo:** label? No.
**Grinder:** No. . Okay. He does Monty by Monte Christo.
**Rooster:** Thank you. And he just, that's a decent steak.
**Gizmo:** The white, did you just recently released the Ramon iis? Uh, yeah, he did. New
**Senator:** World.
He did. And did you try that? Uh, I did, and I didn't enjoy it. Yeah. . Um, so the, yeah, I guess the Ramon Ionis by [00:22:00] AJ Fernandez. Apparently there was some story that, I think it was his father, right? AJ Fernandez's. Father's favorite cigar was Cuban Ramon iis that we all know and love. And so I think in honor of his dad, he attempted to make a new World, Ramon iis for the brand.
And I did not enjoy that cigar.
**Grinder:** I think, I think it's impossible, honestly, to try to replicate Cuban tobacco. Anything outta Cub. With a Nicaraguan, you know, ter and soy, you know everything about Nicaragua. A
**Senator:** hundred percent. You know, and the funny thing is, when I tried that cigar, I didn't go in, I didn't go in expecting at all for that cigar to taste like a Cuban.
I expected it to taste like a new world, but hopefully just be enjoyable. Like this is is so far. And just using new worlds as a benchmark, nothing about that cigar was enjoyable to me. This
**Gizmo:** is a great stick so far. I gotta say. Yeah, I was just about to say [00:23:00] that. We're about surpris a quarter over the way in.
I'm really enjoying this. Yep.
**Senator:** It's, I'm getting saltiness right now out of the, this is shockingly really
**Gizmo:** good
**Pagoda:** and I'm getting raisin on the back end.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. It, it, it, you, you said velvety. It's, it's, it's very um, coats your mouth. Yeah. The coating of your mouth is really nice and it's not harsh at all.
**Rooster:** Yeah.
My ashe is almost up to
**Gizmo:** the orange band. Look at that. Yeah. Incredible.
**Senator:** I'll get that. And I love the shape. .
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Yeah. Great shape. Feels good in the hand.
**Grinder:** I, I, I'd I'm gonna go back to my statement earlier. This is gonna be, this is, this is a great summer cigar to pull out now. Uh, and just smoke late at night on your deck watching tv.
Just like zone, you know, vibing out by yourself. On the, on the
**Gizmo:** rover. On the rover. On the rover. How great is the rover? Oh, it's a game changer. We all have a rover. It's a game changer. The rover is a lifestyle. The rover's a lifestyle as Puba
**Rooster:** has said. Yeah. Thanks r thanks to Puba for introducing us to,
**Senator:** so we, we have to tell the rover's story.
Yeah, yeah. So let's [00:24:00] explain it. And the credit goes to Puba. And Puba I think first told me about the, I'm certain, actually first told me about this, and then they spread like wildfire. So, uh, prior to owning a proper rover, you guys would come over. Sometimes we'd have a fire pit out in my yard, and I would just have like a table that I put a TV on so we could watch sports while we're smoking around the fire.
The good old days and. Puba. One time he says to me, he's like, Senator, you're a rover. And I was like, what the hell does that mean? He's like, you're a rover and you don't even know it. . I'm like, again, what does that mean? And he's like, you have to get this thing called the rover. It's basically a TV stand on wheels, and you can just rove around your yard, your deck, the patio, wherever you want to bring this thing.
You just, the TV follows you. And he's like, now you're a rover. But it's stationary, right? Like I had it on just a table, so I can't just easily move this. I gotta lift it up everywhere I'm bringing it. And I remember he literally texts me. He's like, if you're not gonna buy this for yourself, I'm gonna order it to your house, so you have to get one of these.
So I'm like, [00:25:00] don't buy me one of these things. I'll just, I'll order one and I'll see how it goes. And it, it was life changing. Life changing. I mean, it's unbelievable. Just anywhere you need this thing to go, it's there. It's fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. So
**Rooster:** I mean, you have two.
**Senator:** I, I have two Robers, two robots, . And, and the funny thing is even, you know, we have friends and, and I didn't know that, by the way.
You have two . They've got, they've got, uh, just a great backyard, great setup. And um, I remember we had them over for dinner and they saw the rover for the first time. And it was just out in like the corner of my deck. You know, we're eating dinner at a, a table and, uh, the, the husband, he's like, what, what is that thing?
And it's like so many people have come over. Like, they always ask when they see them over, what is that? They're like, this is genius. Like I stupidly mounted a TV that you can from some angles in their pool. Like see, but the fact that you would just be able to move this anywhere around your yard, around the pool, whatever you're trying to do.
Countless people have [00:26:00] come by, uh, my house, seen the rover and literally bought one on Amazon on the spot. , they're like $60. They're not expensive. They're life-changing. I will forever be
**Gizmo:** grateful to Poopa and as Poopa said, It's a lifestyle. Yes, it is. It
**Grinder:** is. It's a lifestyle. It's like, you know, you know, like I said, late night, it's kind of heavy air, but then the cool, you know, it gets cooled off at at night.
It's just, you know, smoking a cigar at that time. Watching, watching, you know, a ball game or something. It's,
**Senator:** it's, it's, and
**Rooster:** it's, and it's easier now to mount those TVs. I mean, imagine like, you know, like 10 years back, those TVs were so, so heavy, big and heavy. Yeah. That you couldn't mount those. I mean, now, I mean, you could, one person can lift a 50, 60 inch, 65 inch TV by themselves and just mount it on the rover and just move it around
**Gizmo:** there.
There
**Grinder:** is some protocol on, on the adequate size of
**Gizmo:** of Oh yeah. You to,
**Senator:** so this is where we need to return the favor to Puba. Yeah. I mean, I went to his house. Okay. And I think, oh, we've all seen it. [00:27:00] Yeah, we've seen it. We've all seen
**Gizmo:** it. . Have you ever seen the episode of the Office where Michael Scott invites Jim and Pam over for dinner?
And he goes to show up, he goes to show them his new, I think it's like a, a plasma tv. It's a plasma
**Senator:** tv and it's, and it's built. And he, he says it's built into the wall . And look, it
**Gizmo:** extends, it
**Pagoda:** extends
**Gizmo:** like two inches. , it's about 13 inches in, in, uh, it's about 13 inches long. And then he just ded in front of it.
it's so awkward. And Puba, if you're listening, I'm sorry, but it's a sin how big his TV is on his ro his rover. How, how little his, how is, yeah. Excuse me. It's, it's so tiny. It's, it's atrocious. His rover is bigger than the tv. Yeah. We gotta get him by tv. My, my,
**Grinder:** I I can't, I, I mean I can't speak cuz my, the TV I have on my rover right now is also inadequate.
I need to kind of level
**Senator:** up. So I'm gonna recommend, I think that the optimal rover size is 55 inches. Agreed. And I will say this to all listeners who are [00:28:00] considering roving. We're gonna need to find a way to like send out the link to this rover, cuz truly everyone, I mean, we'll put the link below . I'll put the, I'll put the link in the description.
I mean, truly let, let's just go around right? Rooster has a rover. Reiner has a rover. Um, gizmo has a rover. I have a rover. And I think that somehow Pubah has a rover. Yeah. Bam. I somehow bam. Bam. Does not, does not have Bam. And
**Gizmo:** pagoda have not yet. Bam. Ordered his months ago. He's waiting for it. . It's coming.
It's
**Rooster:** coming. Bams waiting for the electrician. A couple wire. Yes.
**Gizmo:** The string lights first. for two and a half grand .
**Senator:** But seriously, the vast majority of us have this rover. Yeah. Por needs
**Rooster:** one pa. You could get one on Jack. Yeah, you could
**Pagoda:** actually, we've been talking about it. So, uh, , but, uh, my wife is worried about the aesthetics, so right now she's
**Senator:** gonna, no, the aesthetic is fantastic.
It looks great. I know.
**Pagoda:** Fantastic. I, I understand. I, she hasn't seen one yet, , but I also, it's just like I need approval from her, you know, just to [00:29:00] carry on , but, oh my
**Gizmo:** Lord, .
**Senator:** Oh my Lord. But to your point, I mean, even my wife thought I was crazy when I first bought one of these. She's like, why would you possibly need this ridiculous thing to put a TV on?
And as soon as she saw it, like out on the deck, the number of times like, we'll wanna watch tennis, but like, sit outside and we'll just rove around. I mean, it's perfect. But we seriously need to put a link to this for people to be able to buy this. I will,
**Gizmo:** yeah. I'll put it in, I'll put it in the episode description.
The other thing I think is a necessary accessory, hold on, hold on. Okay, sorry. Hold on. All right.
**Senator:** Sorry. I wanna get back to the TV size. So I said 55 inches, the optimal TV size. What I need every listener to understand best value, Roku TVs. You can get a 55 inch Roku for no exaggeration, like, 250 to 350 bucks.
Awesome. 4k, full smart tv. Cheapest, I think best setup you can have at a good price. Get a Roku TV in a rover.
**Gizmo:** I'll put that link in the description too. And
**Rooster:** do not [00:30:00] spend extra for those TVs that are made for outdoors. Yes. They're like two grand. Yeah, you don't need to do that. I mean, there're the pictures, not even pictures.
Not that great.
**Senator:** The, the glass has to be so thick for that to be able to withstand outdoors. It completely distorts and
**Grinder:** ruins the picture. I leave, I leave mine on my deck and, and if it's, and after I'm done. If it's gonna rain, I put it underneath the, you know, the, on the overhang? Yeah. Or I've just, my deck is right there.
Slide it. I have a cover, I just bring
**Gizmo:** it right in. I have an Amazon basics cover. It was 18 bucks and it's great. It, it actually is built for the rover, like it has a pocket in the back so you can seal the whole TV that has a little, uh, little pocket for remotes and stuff. And I'll leave it outside with the cover on it.
It takes 10 seconds to put the cover on. And if I know it's gonna like crazy storm or crazy wind, I'll just pull it in the house. Right. But it's on my deck in the summer, 90% of the time. The other
**Senator:** beauty that I discovered in this indoor roving.
**Gizmo:** Really? Yeah.
**Grinder:** Awesome. I haven't done this. I do, I do the indoor rob.
Oh, I love hearing that. Yeah. [00:31:00] So I do the indoor rove because I, I'll be working in different parts of the house and like my office, sometimes I'll put the rover in my office and I'll have it in the background as I'm like banging out emails and shit. It's phenomenal. Mm. I haven't done that. It,
**Senator:** it roves all over, man.
The utility for me, so like when I bring this in, if it's gonna rain or something, like the family room is right adjacent to the deck. , I'll bring it in the family room. And if my wife and I are watching something together that maybe is not my first choice of what I would like to watch and there's like a big sports game on, I'll just have the rover right next to the TV in the family room.
I'll have sports going and whatever show my wife and I are watching. Perfect.
**Gizmo:** You're checking all the boxes, every box. Absolutely. Very nice. Very. So yeah, folks, you gotta get a rover. I'll put the links to everything in the, uh, episode description, the tv. I'll put the Roku TV 55, I'll put the rover and I'll put the, uh, the cover.
**Grinder:** It's just one, it's, it's one of the necessary elements of, of summer smoking, you know?
**Senator:** Yeah, yeah. And just [00:32:00] don't mount to TV on the side of your house or the back of your house. You, you, you will have such limited utility with that. Yeah. Limited
**Rooster:** viewing angle. Yep. You know?
**Gizmo:** Yeah. It's nice too. Like you, you know, to your point, when you have fir uh, you know, when I'm sitting out there by myself, I have one setup, but when I have people over, , I can move it around and I can rearrange the deck so that everybody has a great view of the, of the screen and it's, it takes no effort.
Yeah.
**Senator:** Or you have two rovers with two TVs side by side. . It's amazing. .
**Grinder:** It's amazing. .
**Gizmo:** So let's get back to summer smoking in a second. I want to try the, uh, whistle pig rye whiskey that we have six year age. Yep. Let's try this thing, boys. It's not a scotch. It's not a scotch, a whiskey.
**Senator:** It's pretty sweet. Yeah. I think it pairs well with this cigar. Yeah, it
**Pagoda:** does. I think you need something sweet with a stick like this. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I think it's very good. Yeah, I agree. [00:33:00] I don't reach for, uh, rye whiskey a lot, but I, I, I do dig this. I'm curious what Grindr thinks. He's very quiet.
**Grinder:** I did not like it. . I don't know. Well, grinder, not a rye guy. Never
**Senator:** seem predisposed to dislike
**Grinder:** rye. I think, I think I need to like, I think I need to. Continue on with, you know, it's kind of like the tequila conversations we had.
I just need to suck it up and keep trying, take it down. And then I
**Senator:** think you need to try to retro hail it.
**Grinder:** If I
**Senator:** could,
**Gizmo:** I would. So this is six year aged. I know they have other, they have a 10 year, right? Yep. And they have some others. Have you guys had any other uh, ages here? I haven't, but
**Pagoda:** I've had the 10 year. It's not as sweet as this. It's dryer. Mm-hmm. . It's nice. It's
**Senator:** nice the 10 year people are obsessed with
**Grinder:** Yeah, it's really quite nice.
It's very
**Senator:** dry. We had a listener write us suggesting the whistle Pig 10. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. So what, what does this go for, price wise? Do you remember?
**Grinder:** Again, um, I think it was like maybe $67. [00:34:00] Everything. I'm, I'm benchmarking everything with 66, 67 .
**Pagoda:** Hey,
**Grinder:** it could be 76. It stuck out in my mind for some reason. I
**Gizmo:** don't know.
To me this tastes more like a
**Senator:** $40. Yeah. Yeah. It's lower. It's lower than that. . It's, uh, $47 on total wine.
**Gizmo:** It was a seven. There you go. Impressive gu. Thanks, . My, uh, pallet is becoming refined, as you know. Indeed.
**Grinder:** I think, I think it's well refined.
**Senator:** Did we tell the wine story? No, because that's what just made me think.
You, you
**Gizmo:** remember? Wow. We did not tell the wine story. Okay. Can I set this up? Oh, yeah. All right. So we're at the lounge, at our clubhouse and, uh, one of our friends there brought out some wine and he's a wine connoisseur. Travels to Napa a lot in other areas, wa nice wine collection like Senator has. And he brings out a wine and he wants Senator to try it without judging it, without knowing anything about it.
Blind taste, blind taste. So here I'm thinking that, [00:35:00] you know, senator's gonna call out, you know, is it a cab, is it a merlott, a pinot, whatever it could be. This dude not only calls out exactly what it is, he calls out the specific small region of California what that the wine was
**Senator:** made in. What? So I'll, I'll tell the, the, the note.
So basically he pours this wine and he won't tell me what is, I want you to just try and you tell me what you think. I smelled the nose of the wine. I said, it's definitely California. He said, correct. I take a sip of it and I say, tastes just like Paso Robles. And he doesn't actually know what region in California it's from.
So he's then reading the bottle and he goes, holy shit, it's from, has a robot . He's like, how did you know that? Like, you gotta drink a lot of wine. . No, I mean, you know, spoiler alert, obviously I've drank a lot of wine. And then later on we're, we're enjoying it. And he goes, how much do you think this bottle goes for?
Take another sip. I said about 60 bucks. Looks [00:36:00] it up. 59 99. .
**Gizmo:** What? . We have a Somali Hail Futures,
**Senator:** Somalia. This validated for me, one of my life goals has become in retirement. Mm-hmm. to try to actually like, take the SOM test and become a som this validated. Like, I I can do this. Nice.
**Gizmo:** It was, I was completely blown away.
That's cool. It was
**Senator:** very impressive. I have to understand in California, right? Like this isn't, first of all, if I would've said it's a Napa wine and it happened to be Napa, well, anybody can guess that, that would've been too easy, right? Paso Robles is south of Napa. That's a very specific region with a very specific taste.
Um, there's, there's so many right? Sonoma, there's Santa Barbara, um, you know, Napa Stag sleep, there's so many different places. . It was just very characteristic of that region. And I actually don't particularly love wines from Paso Robles, but this wine was not an insane fruit bomb. Like most in Paso Robles.
It was more balanced. So very much my speed. But, um, [00:37:00] it, it was, it was very encouraging. It gave me a little added motivation.
**Gizmo:** There you go. Wow. Yeah, it was, it was very impressive. Turn off, turn off his
**Pagoda:** mic now. . He's done.
**Gizmo:** That's tomorrow's that as us today.
**Pagoda:** Your recommendations have all have been spot on,
**Gizmo:** so Yeah. You've never misled us. So, uh, going back to the summer thing, smoking cigars in the summer, you know, I, I think we're getting to that, that point now where, you know, the wind dies down at night, sitting outside having a nice cigar.
I mean, there's nothing better. Yeah. There's
**Pagoda:** nothing
**Grinder:** better. It's the smell of summer to me. Oh yeah. Is like pills in her beer and cigars
**Pagoda:** and Petco in the morning after a nice. That's wrong right
**Grinder:** after the rain. You're not wrong. I'm not wrong. ,
**Pagoda:** Kush, . I'm just kidding. . I'm sorry. .
**Gizmo:** So do you guys, does, do you guys prefer in the summertime, obviously, let's take wind out of the equation, right?
Let's [00:38:00] assume zero wind it. Would you smoke outside in the summertime? Well, it
**Pagoda:** depends on the humidity or inside the humidity. It really is. Humidity is your difference maker. Okay. I mean, it's hard to smoke a cigar when it, when it dew points at 90.
**Grinder:** The cigar changes composition when it gets that humid.
Yeah. Like it literally you're out there for half an hour and you, it, it, it, it, the construction
**Gizmo:** literally
**Rooster:** changes. Yeah. I, I think wind is a bigger factor to me. That's true. I mean, if it's, if it's not windy, I enjoy a cigar outdoors. I do too. Um, I get, you know, I would rather smoke one outdoors than indoors.
I mean, if it's, uh, if there's no wind, it's comfortable out and it's, there's no wind. , uh, less, you know, not a lot of humidity. I mean, I really love that. Enjoy that. Especially in the morning when the sun's, uh, suns out and have a cup
**Gizmo:** of coffee. Great cup of coffee.
**Pagoda:** Yeah.
**Grinder:** Yeah. Rooster's a big, big
**Gizmo:** morning guy.
You enjoy that?
**Grinder:** Yeah. Enjoy that big morning cigar guy. Yeah. Oh.
**Senator:** Which I appreciate. Morning, morning
**Grinder:** when you, when you get out in the morning, you have that cup of coffee and you're like, you just fresh off the day and you're [00:39:00] like, let's go kick some ass. And you have that cigar. Yep. Just really hits the spot.
Especially now
**Pagoda:** that the summer season's coming. When you make that coffee and you sit in the living. . God, I want a cigar right now. Yeah. Oh totally. Yeah, let's go right
**Grinder:** outside and light
**Senator:** up. I mean, I think this summer is just so ideal because first of all, I think this summer is just generally a lot less windy than any of the other seasons.
So yeah, there are some summer days or nights where there's some wind that's not ideal where we are cigars where we are, but most of the time it's great. The wind is minimal, it's perfect for a cigar. I think the only question just becomes like, if it's 95 degrees or I wanna sit there in 95 degree weather and smoke, no.
You know? But typically
**Rooster:** in the morning it doesn't quite get that
**Gizmo:** hot.
**Senator:** No, not at all. That's true. Not at all. And even sometimes in the afternoon, the highs only 80, you know, degrees or 85 and Yeah. That's doable. Yes. Yeah. Even today over that, that it gets to not be, yeah, I
**Rooster:** mean it hit, it hit like in the nineties today, 93 today, but yeah, early.
Pretty early. Yeah. But I had one this morning and I Of course you
**Gizmo:** did. Totally enjoyed it.[00:40:00]
Yeah. I love, I love smoking outta my deck. The one problem I have, just cuz there's a lot of woods around me, I dunno if you guys have this problem, but the bugs kill me. Um, you know, and, and I'm up about 12, 15 feet in the air, in my neck, notnot. So in the
**Senator:** morning. Alright, here's another product
**Gizmo:** that you need.
I have a great product. I'm curious what yours it is. I also have a great product, thermic cell. That's what I have. Bingo. Yeah, the thermic cell. All right. There we go. I love the thing. It's amazing. It's great. So we're talking about, are we talking about the same thermic cell? So this is the one the butane contain with the butane little thing and the blue little discs.
Yes. Yes. All right. So here's, I'm gonna put that in the link too. We're gonna set everybody up that, what does this tell me more about? Awesome. So if you plug it in, no. Okay. It's a little butane tank. Okay. And I'll tell you, I've had the same tank, I mean, the second summer of the same tank. Like it does not burn through last, right?
Yeah. It does not burn through mine. I
**Senator:** mean, I spent a lot of time Yeah,
**Gizmo:** that's true. You smoke more outside than I think, than I do. Yeah. Like a lot. But, uh, so what it is, is it, it's a little unit that, that screws onto the butane tank, and then there's these little, uh, uh, rectangular. , [00:41:00] uh, I wanna say a disc or a some disc.
A strip. Some sort of strip. It's like a mosquito repellent. Yes. Yes. Okay. And you, you stick it in and it, it just, it's not very hot, but it heats up this, this, uh, this uh, disc that has this, uh, you know, repellent in it. Right. And it's very subtle. You don't really smell it too much. It doesn't let off a lot of smoke.
But I'll tell you, the bugs disappear. Do you, do you put it on the floor or right when No, I put it right next to me on a table or I put it on a stool or something next to me and I don't get bit, cuz I'm very prone, I don't know what it is about my skin when the Nats are out. Like when I'm in Florida, if I don't have that thing, like it's a nightmare.
What's for me Radius like? Is it, I think it's like six or 10 feet, maybe a little more
**Senator:** than that. I think it's more than that. It could be more than that. No, it, it's a pretty wide radius. Yeah, it works great. And you literally need like just one of them, my whole deck.
**Grinder:** Yeah. That's great. I have, I have a product called the Dyna Trap.
**Senator:** Oh
**Gizmo:** yeah.
**Rooster:** And that works pretty well. So that. Attracts the bugs. Yeah. Right. So you kind of have to [00:42:00] keep it away from your Yeah, that's what you're supposed to
**Senator:** property. Keep it away from us. Keep it away.
**Rooster:** That's that blue
**Gizmo:** light, right? Yeah. Yeah.
**Grinder:** And, and I, I put it like in the other end of the yard, away from the deck and just to get 'em away
**Gizmo:** from the patio, the bugs.
So I
**Rooster:** had that and I returned it. Yeah. Because it was attracting a lot of moths and everything else. And not does it does . I mean, so when you clean it out, like you're probably disgusting killing a lot of the good bugs as opposed to bad bugs. You know, you just want to get rid of the mosquitoes essentially.
That's what
**Gizmo:** you
**Senator:** don't, I'm telling, telling thermic cell amazing Amazon Target. So easy to find. It's
**Gizmo:** awesome. Yeah, Ben. Ben. So I will, I'll put that in the episode description too. But, um, that I think is a crucial element to smoking outside. I take it to Florida with me too, which is way worse than it is here in the Northeast as far as bugs go.
Um, you know, to, to BA's point when I'm in Florida in the summer, um, cuz I go for some time with family. I actually don't enjoy smoking outside as much as I do when I'm home here. Because of the humidity. It's just so intense at night even. Um, and the bugs are another thing, but [00:43:00] I get rid of that with the thermic cell.
But, you know, I think we're fortunate up here that even in a, you know, July, now August, um, you know, when the humidity is not crazy, it's really pleasant to smoke outside. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. And I, you know, I, I gotta say, even in our group here in the lizards, I think some of the most memorable nights that we've had are these summer nights outside on the deck.
I love
**Grinder:** karaoke with the lizards,
**Gizmo:** grinder. And I go off, we know ,
**Grinder:** if you put on some, some sticks or Fleetwood Mac, we just kind of get, get on piles. Oh yeah.
**Gizmo:** We go off. We go off. But yeah. So how much, how much does the thermostat Oh, it's like 30 bucks. Yeah, 30 bucks. And then the little refills are actually, they, they're not cheap, but yeah, they're not, they're like 20 bucks for,
**Senator:** yeah, that's actually very good.
But it's so worth it. It, it, it, it's, it's the best product out there. That's good. I've
**Rooster:** been looking for something
**Gizmo:** great advice, just like that. Great advice
**Senator:** for me. It's just so handy. Like, we like to entertain, like outside a lot, like during the summer. and you know, you're having like dinner with people.
Like, it just attracts like all these bugs. You put that thing on, you're in the clear
**Gizmo:** the whole night. That's great. I gotta tell you too, [00:44:00] I, this is very deceptive. I, I forget what brand it is. Um, it may be off for other brands. They sell those citronella candles. So I had purchased them before this thermostat.
You suck. Not only do they suck senator, but there's one that's good. I'll tell you, there's a line on a lot of them that says, not intended to repel insects. . Like quite literally. It's the point. It's point of it. That's exactly what it's for. It's like you're buying a canal, you know, a scented candle. It doesn't repel.
It's like, it's not the purpose of it. It's, it's a little deceptive.
**Senator:** So there is, don't buy candles. There is one candle. That's fantastic. I discovered this either last summer or the one before. I've told many people about this. They've bought them, they have validated the exact same thing. It works extremely well.
You know the brand tiki that makes like the tiki torches. Yeah. Yep. Yep. They make these candles. They're in like a steel canister, really thick. Like, uh, like wick in the middle. Not that, that's also what I hate about the citronella candles. That's like a candle. It's like a tiny [00:45:00] little candlestick wick that like the wind blows and it just goes out.
This is like a thick, like a torch wick. You light that thing, the bugs go away. Or if they're so stupid, they'll just fly straight in and die. works
**Gizmo:** wonders. That's a good idea too. I haven't tried that one. The only ones I've had are the shitty
**Senator:** cameras they sell out though. That's the problem with them.
Like aggressively sell out. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Good to know. Yeah. Yeah. Summer Smoking Boys. It's here. So did you, uh,
**Rooster:** did you see any bugs in Greece?
**Gizmo:** Senator? Yeah. Tell us about your trip. Yeah,
**Senator:** so Greece. Greece is a phenomenal place. Uh, so my wife and I, we went to Santorini last summer. Had such an amazing time and, uh, we knew immediately we wanted to come back to Greece.
And we said at some point, we'll, we'll come back here. And, uh, fast forward, less than a year later, uh, we were trying to figure out where to go and uh, sure enough, we said, now's a better a good time as any. And we went right back to [00:46:00] Greece. This time we went to Crete, um, such a beautiful island. Um, we stayed at this great place, highly recommend the Blue Palace, um, near, uh, a Luda Beach in in Crete.
And, uh, I mean Greece, I love, I mean, Europe is, is fairly cigar friendly, but uh, I feel like Greece especially, I just love, I mean last year we went to San, I remember sitting out by the pool and I'm smoking my cigar and I ask the guy for an ashtray. And usually when you're in Europe and you ask for an ashtray, they give you like a cigarette ashtray cuz so many Europeans smokes cigarettes at this hotel.
The guy brings out a proper cigar ashtray like any of us have at home. I was like, okay, that's a good sign. And when I was in Crete, sure enough, like they have this great patio, uh, that overlooks this, uh, island, uh, spina. And, um, every table has an ashtray already on it. I'm just, oh man. Like this is perfect.
That's awesome. And, uh, that's great. The hospitality is just top notch. Top notch. I feel like for whatever reason, um, you know, people don't [00:47:00] assume in Greece that the hospitality would be as exceptional as it is, and it really is. The food obviously great, the wine. Um, I've only more recently, as in like within the last, you know, roughly five years, started drinking white wine.
I was exclusively a red wine drinker. My wife, when I met her was exclusively a white wine drinker, and we've each rubbed off on each other now. My wife appreciates red wine. I appreciate white wine and uh, Aerco is a native grape in Greece. Absolutely fantastic. . Um, I don't like a sweet white wine. Um, it's very ba and you guys know my pellet with wine at this point.
It's very balanced, minerality, um, just really great on a hot summer day. And, um, we visited a number, I think the, the best of Sirico has made on Santorini. So last year we went, we visited a number of vineyards, um, uh, domain, Sali Santo, and a few others. Domain Cialis. They're aerco if you can find it.
Awesome. And I know it's [00:48:00] great because we have neighbors that are both Greek and, uh, we had them over once for, for drinks and some borsos and stuff. And, um, they had brought, I think an aerco. And I've had that aerco. I don't, I think it's, it's a good aerco. It's not a erco. And, um, I said, well, you know, I have an aerco.
I'd love for you to try it. And, uh, both of them tried it. And, and immediately the husband says, , senators of Cerico is much better than the CCO that, that we brought it. It's really, uh, an awesome bottle of wine. So, um, I can't speak highly enough of Greece, and at this point we already know we want to go back so many more times.
So, um, hopefully I'll be reporting, um, in future episodes on , many other Greek islands, but they're all fantastic. Uh, I cannot recommend visiting Greece
**Gizmo:** enough. I, I gotta say every photo that you sent Yeah. Could have been a desktop background for look at the postcard. Like incredible. It's amazing. Yeah, just incredible.
Every, every view you have. Beautiful. It's just amazing and it's nice that, you know, there's a, a d [00:49:00] four or pager or in the for late hour in the sitting on a glass of champagne or something, so it was
**Senator:** great. I also recommend, like, I mean, the Mediterranean, it's so beautiful. Like we had, um, we had rented a, a boat for, uh, sort of like a sunset cruise.
Um, the Greeks call it like a kayak, and it's, uh, like a sailing sailing boat, a sailing yacht. And, um, Just went out in the Mediterranean and oh my God, it was just so beautiful. Um, uh, there's, there's not a single negative thing you could possibly find about Greece. Did you have a cigar on the boat? I did not.
Could you, could you have fire on the boat? Is is bad, right? No, no. They would've let me. They are you kidding me? In Greece, they let you do whatever you want. Um, outta respect for my wife, I did that. .
**Gizmo:** Well done. Awesome. I am very envious. I wanna go to Greece for sure. Me
**Senator:** too. Yeah, we should do a lizard trip there.
I'm not even kidding. I would love to, and I say that because I think the cigar prices in Greece are much, much [00:50:00] more reasonable than almost anywhere in Europe. I mean, you go to like London, Paris, anywhere, and you try to buy a cigar. We've talked about this. A D four, no exaggeration. You'll pay like $40 Us Oof.
A Monty two. Same thing in Greece. I couldn't believe it. The hotel. and these are the, the hotel prices. They, they, they're always double like what you would find in a retail shop that you go in any of these countries, I couldn't believe they had a D four for 24 euros, which at this point is $24. The Euro in dollar or one to one almost.
And wow. So you're, that's at a, a really nice hotel. If we were in some, you know, tobacco shop in Greece, that, that means it would've been half that, which is roughly what we get that stuff for online. Right. So I also think for procurement purposes, it would be very good for us to visit Greece and just stock up on a bunch of Cubans
I
**Gizmo:** like the way you think. I like that. Just a
**Rooster:** 19 hour
**Gizmo:** plane wood though, right?
**Senator:** No, no. So the plane ride itself, I mean, JFK to Athens is, uh, a nine to 10 hour flight. Depending on it, [00:51:00] it's quicker. When you're going there, it's nine hours, it's 10 hours. When you're going back, you don't have the same tailwind.
Uh, but when you factor in like an hour and a half the island jk right? Then you've gotta transfer and take a flight from Athens to the island. . And then from there, you know you have the car take you to the hotel. So all of that is what factors in the extra time. But the flight to Athens is fine. It's just everyth.
**Rooster:** So you need like two weeks, at least 10 days.
**Senator:** Honestly, I really think you need a week. And I just say that cuz it's like so out outrageously relaxing. Like after a week I'm like okay, like what do I do with myself at this point? like I can only wake up in the morning and drink champagne at 9:00 AM like oh
**Gizmo:** that sounds terrible,
So how do you do that for more than a week? . Jesus .
**Senator:** But the routine there is fantastic. I mean you, you have to love it. You go to breakfast and Greece, it's like 10:00 AM It's like they just are bringing you, you know, glass after glass of champagne. I did appreciate most hotels I've stayed at in Europe, you know, you're like at breakfast and you say, oh, I'd like [00:52:00] a glass of champagne.
It's not real champagne. It's like some sparkling from a different part of France or it's Prosecco or something else. . I really appreciate it as a wine person, this hotel, I did not know this before going there, but I taste it. And as you now know, when I my palate, I, I know what I'm drinking. I taste this and I said, holy shit, this is definitely real champagne.
I didn't order anything in particular. I just said, bring me a glass of champagne. The hotel has partnered with a champagne house in Champaign, France, and they have their own champagne that's made that serves the whole hotel, which was very cool. That's very cool. So, um, their, their house, you know, champagne or sparkling was actually really good.
And then obviously I had funny about
**Gizmo:** it. How was, uh, I've heard
**Rooster:** you know a little bit about Greek coffees too. I mean they,
**Gizmo:** oh, it's
**Senator:** strong coffee, right? Oh, that stuff will keep you up. . Yeah. I've mistakenly, I'm very caffeine sensitive. Uh, I've mistakenly had caffeinated, like real Greek coffee. . It's super like, robust, full [00:53:00] thing.
It's like rich, right? It's
**Gizmo:** like very rich. It's like, it's not,
**Senator:** is it like Turkish? So I was just gonna say like, Turkish coffees like the most aggressive, right? Right after that though would be Greek coffee. The Turkish
**Rooster:** coffees, the, you know, the, the grinds are on the
**Senator:** bottom. The bar. Yeah. I've made the mistake.
I, I'll never forget when we were, we went to the Maldives one year and I flow through, uh, Doha, Qatar, and uh, when I was in Doha, I got, uh, like a Turkish coffee and Oh, I didn't know any better. Right? So here I am, I'm just sipping this coffee and I'm just going to lift the, you know, cup up to get the last drop and holy shit.
It's like smudge my back. It's like sand. That's right. It's really like sand. I like That's right. Believe it. Yeah. So that's the furthest end. But Greek coffee's not far off in, in strength. It, it'll, it'll keep you up. Awesome. So very much Your speed Rooster.
**Gizmo:** That's great. leaving tomorrow. . So boys, we're coming in the last third here of the aging room, Quatro.
Yeah, no complaints. I think it's pretty damn good. Get any [00:54:00] hints
**Rooster:** of like Carmel caramel?
**Pagoda:** I'm still getting pretty good raisin, deep ra,
**Gizmo:** tiny
**Rooster:** hints of like, I can hear, I can see that. Yeah. You
**Gizmo:** know? Yeah. I'm curious, um, you, we mentioned the El Centor before. Yeah. How does this compare to the El Centor in the last third?
Because I think right now I do think the last third is more satisfying to me than the EP Carillo El Centor. I, as of right this second, I think I have to agree with you. Yeah. I'm enjoying it more here. Yeah. It's smoother. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a very satisfying smoke all the way down. All the way
**Pagoda:** down. Very surprising.
Yeah. Totally surprising. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I'm shocked. Yeah. I think this is very good. I, I'm interested, you know, I, I, I would think that where I bought these, I think they've probably been sitting there a little for a little while. Um, I'm curious what they, if we were to buy a fresh box that was made yesterday, , it dropped in the tobacconist yesterday.
If they would taste the same, that that wasn't placed in an aging room, that was not placed in an aging room. . Yeah. I think this is, uh, very, very good. [00:55:00] So what do you guys think of the whistle pick as we're coming down to it? We haven't been. That's pretty drinkable. Yeah. It's not, not bad.
**Rooster:** No. I'm afraid to hear Grinder
**Gizmo:** score on this one.
**Pagoda:** Yeah, he's, he's, uh, nodding his head. ,
**Gizmo:** bam. You ready to give it the, uh, formal liquor rating? Sure.
**Pagoda:** Uh, I will give it, I'll give it a seven. Okay. I think that's a respectable score for this, this spirit.
**Gizmo:** Okay. Pagoda seven for
**Senator:** sure. Yeah. Okay. I'm in the same campus seven. There, there's, there's nothing great about this to me, but there's nothing offensive.
It, it, it just checks enough
**Gizmo:** boxes. Yep. Exactly right. I agree. I'm with you a seven. I was thinking that from the first sip, um, hit me right as a seven. Yeah. I don't know if I would buy it. Um, I think it's fair at that price, but yeah. Um, grinder, .
**Grinder:** Um, I'm giving it a six. I would've given it a five, but, um, it's, there's nothing bad about it to previous points.
I just don't like, I don't think, I just, I just don't like this kind of whiskey [00:56:00] that much.
**Gizmo:** The composite lizard score boys is a 6.8,
**Senator:** and that's also why, you know, guess when you were saying what you were, I, I think if you're someone who likes rye, you'll definitely like this. I, there's nothing offensive, nothing or wrong with this.
Right. Um, I don't really seek out rye. So for me, if someone, if this was all someone had and I was smoking a cigar, would I have this with it? Sure. I, I, that would be fine. I wouldn't have a problem with it, but there's nothing that brings me back wanting to pick this bottle up again.
**Gizmo:** Right, right. I do think it was a, a good pairing though, with the cigar.
I do too. Like, uh, it wasn't, it didn't, uh, clash with the cigar for me. I thought it was perfectly fine. Agreed. So we're coming to the end here. Boys of the cigar, the aging room. Quatro taking espresso o taking it down, taking
**Pagoda:** it away, down. Oh
**Gizmo:** yeah. I'm, I'm enjoying it, man. I'm curious what this score's gonna end up like.
The good is done with
**Pagoda:** his, I think. Is he? No, I have a cup. You're there?
**Grinder:** I have an [00:57:00] inch. He's never
**Pagoda:** done . I'm never done .
**Gizmo:** You guys ready to do the, uh, formal lizard rating? Rooster? You're up. Um, I'm gonna give it a line.
**Senator:** Wow. Whoa. I love that.
**Gizmo:** Look at that. I can't believe this. It's a, it's a really good stick. It is really good.
**Rooster:** I mean, could be, I'm considering the price point and I'm smoking this all the way down. I really enjoyed it, and it's a cigar that you can enjoy any time of the day. Yeah. It's not overly powerful. It's got great notes, you know, it's like rich, woody, chocolatey. Yeah. Getting a little hints of, uh,
**Gizmo:** caramel. I mean, it's, that's, wow.
It's, it's taste twice a score.
**Rooster:** I wanted to give like an eight point something, but I think it's, uh, it's, I'm like in between, so I'm like, all right, sure. Give it a nine.
**Gizmo:** That is the most surprising score in 30 something episodes of the pod, but it's not
**Pagoda:** shocking because of how surprising the C is tonight.
Everything
**Senator:** ISN history said, I agree with you.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Yeah. Amazing.
**Grinder:** [00:58:00] Grindr, I'm giving it a nine and it, I think, I think I'm giving it a nine because I know I want a box of these and I know I could, I've never smoked a cigar before and I can see me myself smoking this, uh, on a
**Gizmo:** regular basis. I'm, I'm having a difficult time because I'm enjoying it.
Um, I'm gonna give it an eight. I'm gonna give it an eight. I don't think I, you're, you're prejudiced. No, I'm not because, yeah, because of the other cigars that I would rate a nine and have rated a nine. Um, I think that this one is just a step below that. I think it's a high eight, but it's an eight for me.
Senator,
**Senator:** you made this harder for me. Kids , because I'm in between an eight to nine, right? I think a lot of So
**Gizmo:** was, so was I, so
**Rooster:** was I. But, but you know, to me, like for a new world stick and for the price point, I mean, this just checks all the boxes. It's
**Gizmo:** pretty damn good with you And I as I have two kids going into college.[00:59:00]
**Senator:** ah,
**Pagoda:** your score is tainted. ,
**Rooster:** no. Keeping all of that aside. And I think that's
**Senator:** now when you have the flavor notes in this, I, I, you know, this is exactly what Rooster would look for in a new world stick. . Um, and I think I leaned in exactly the same direction in the sense, and I think I probably gave the Elena a nine.
You did? Yeah. And I would put these both next to each other. Yep. I think there's a ton of merit in both cigars. Um, and I said this about the El Centor, and I'll say this about this cigar. You know, I feel like all of us for years have chased other new world cigars that smoke, similar to patron, similar flavor profile.
We know we like that. And I think this does. Um, and the price point is outrageous. I think the construction I think is excellent. I think, you know, Grindr said earlier, like, you know, invisible seam, I mean, it, it's really, really well done. The burn [01:00:00] razor sharp. I mean, some of us have had a, you know, inch or two of ash just hold on.
Um, and even in the final third, which is always the decisive point in a cigar for us. There's nothing offensive here. This is very good. So I'm at a nine. All right.
**Pagoda:** Same here. Uh, in fact, uh, you know, uh, Senator, I, we've discussed this before in the Patone episode maybe. Um, I've always found like, and maybe because I've tried, uh, different violas of the aging room, which I've always found to be slightly loosely packed.
Um, for some reason this is just, just right. I think in the, in the robusto, I think it works really well. I, uh, have really enjoyed the cigar from the very beginning. And, uh, uh, really good flavors are definitely a nine for me. Yeah, it's also a nine for me. Uh, I think it's worthy of that score and for the listener, I think it's, it's an absolute purchase.
Definite recommend. Absolutely.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. [01:01:00] Composite Lizard Score Boys is an 8.8. Fantastic. I
**Senator:** think that's
**Gizmo:** perfect. Shocking. It's outstanding. Yeah. Yeah. Very good cigar. Yeah. Strong recommend. Absolutely.
**Senator:** I'm so glad we did this because I cannot say enough bad things about this in the torpedo . I mean, it, it was all to the, I I didn't enjoy that so much.
I said I would never smoke another aging room and, you know, we're, we're sort of, we're forced to, to give this a go, and I'm really glad we did because I would absolutely smoke this again. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. You know, the one thing I will say about this is that from the beginning, it, it started for me, the, the journey through the cigar kind of picked up, you know, all the way through into the last third two, everybody's point really held its own.
It, it, it really stayed strong through, you know,
**Pagoda:** through the end. So yeah, my experience was a little different. I really had great flavor right from the
**Gizmo:** get-go. I'm not talking, I'm not saying it was bad flavor, I just think it as the, it picked up in strength and got a little more full as it went along, you know, and it never got hot.
**Grinder:** Yeah, that's true. I'm one of, I'm, so, I'm one of the. [01:02:00] When I smoke a cigar, I invariably do not take it this low. Ever look at you and, um, I can't help it. Yeah. I just want more and more.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Yeah. We'll have to get
**Pagoda:** some of these by the way. Just, uh, one more comment. You know, we were talking with AJ Fernandez earlier, you know, the Monte Crystals 1935, which we did that was also collaborated with aj.
And if you think about the flavor profiles, they're very similar to
**Senator:** this. I'm glad that you mentioned that cigar because I, I think it was actually a friend of ours. We were having this conversation at the lounge who, uh, described I think with all the hype that, that Monte Christo, 1935, uh, by AJ Fernandez was dubbed the Padron killer, that that was meant to be the most patron like cigar.
And that is not, this is as close to a patron as I think I've probably ever had. Yeah. For
**Gizmo:** how. . I I, you can find them anywhere between eight and a half bucks to 12, 13. It's absurd. I mean, it's great. It's great. That's absurd. Yeah. Yeah. Great price on the cigar. Yeah. Love discovering a [01:03:00] cigar like this. Yeah.
That's great. You know, to Senator's Point, we probably, I would probably have never tried the cigar had it
**Pagoda:** not been for the pod. Yeah. And they, from everything from the price point and availability makes it very approachable for many, many cigar guys. Absolutely.
**Gizmo:** Absolutely. I will definitely be picking some of these up a hundred percent.
All right, boys, an 8.8 for the Aging room, Quattro Espresso, o and uh, awesome. Thanks so much Grindr. Thanks for the, uh, whistle Pig and, uh, we'll see you guys next week. Thanks so much for joining us tonight. Hope you enjoyed it. 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 Lounge lizards pod, p o d, that's lounge lizards pod gmail.com. You can also find us on Instagram at Lounge Lizards Pod. We really appreciate your time and we'll, uh, we'll see you next [01:04:00] week.