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Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
Welcome to the Lounge Lizards podcast presented by Fabrica Five. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars as well as whiskey travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo. Tonight, I'm joined by Rooster, Bubba, Senator, Pagoda, chef Ricky, and Bam Bam, a full house of lizards.
Gizmo:And our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some scotch, talk about life, and, of course, have
Senator:some laughs.
Gizmo:So take this as your one hundred and seventy ninth official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard.
Bam Bam:Plan to
Gizmo: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 Steve Saka's unique branding decisions. We learn of a recent factory fire in Nicaragua, and we answer a listener email on cigar lounge etiquette, all among a variety of other things for the next two hours. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and enjoy as we pair Brooke Lottie, the classic Lottie, with Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust Umbagog bronze back.
Gizmo:A Nicaraguan Corona extra tonight on the pod from Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust. This one's the Umbagoge in bronze back, and it's a 40 ring gauge cigar by five inches long. And, boys, I am very, very excited to smoke this cigar because there has been a lot of hype around this release. That is correct. Apparently, I I don't if it was a retailer or a journal put out this was their number one cigar of the year.
Gizmo:Mhmm. I think either Senator or Rooster saw it somewhere online, and we decided to review it as our next Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust. But definitely a little honestly, beautifully made cigar.
Rooster:Yeah. A little rustic though.
Gizmo:Yeah, it's rustic.
Senator:Yeah, I would say rustic. I think rustic is beautiful.
Bam Bam:Isn't there a glistening to the very little sheen I'm getting on the wrapper, I think.
Chef Ricky:Very Liga Provada esque
Bam Bam:to
Chef Ricky:Even the smell on the wrapper smells a lot
Bam Bam:like The seams are pretty tight.
Senator:This is a very veiny wrapper. Veiny. This is not pretty.
Gizmo:I was a little disappointed, honestly, when I got these cigars in. They feel small in your hand. They are. They don't feel significant. Obviously, it's 48 ring gauge by five, but I think I was hoping for something a little bit bigger, a little bit more than this 48 by five we have in our hand tonight.
Bam Bam:It feels a little light.
Chef Ricky:There's a slight box press to it too.
Bam Bam:I think it's pretty handsome.
Gizmo:I'm looking forward to trying it. People love this cigar. Let's cut this thing, boys.
Rooster:See we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper. Isn't the name Umbugak named after the fishing spot that Steve Sokka used to go to? Right? That is correct.
Bam Bam:Rooster does his research.
Rooster:I think. And
Gizmo:it could be Toro. No. It's a nickname for a smallmouth bass. Oh. Toro nickname for
Bam Bam:Giz does his research.
Rooster:I mean, I do something something about fishing.
Gizmo:Well, that's the bronze back. I don't know what Oombegog stands for, but Coco puffs. Bronze back is a
Bam Bam:fishing word. I don't think you're you're far off. It's got this kind of cereal y
Gizmo:It does.
Bam Bam:Cocoa type thing happening. Chocolate cereal. Yeah.
Chef Ricky:Chocolate cereal notes.
Poobah:The the aroma on the wrapper is terrific.
Bam Bam:Yeah. And if you pull hard enough, you're getting some pretty nice fruit notes
Gizmo:on that cold draw.
Chef Ricky:This isn't a rush. What are we doing here?
Pagoda:Well, I don't know. I'm I'm sorry.
Bam Bam:How many episodes are we in?
Gizmo:This is episode 179.
Pagoda:That's correct.
Bam Bam:I've been zoning today. So I'm sorry, I gotta come Yeah, earlier he, someone asked him a question. He was trying to guess the color of the paint on the wall. All right, all right, I gotta come I
Gizmo:think it's small.
Bam Bam:Correct. Look at it. What are getting at the end of the first third?
Pagoda:I was like, I think I'm done.
Bam Bam:I'm ready to go.
Gizmo:No. The cold draw is very nice. Yeah. Nicaraguan, though.
Bam Bam:I I think this will be great.
Gizmo:I hope so. Yeah. Alright, boys. And Pagoda, let's light this thing.
Pagoda:Alright. Light it again.
Gizmo:Be done pardoned tobacco and trust. Umbugog bronze back. Again, it's a 48 ring gauge. Corona Extra or Robusto or Rothschild. Mhmm.
Gizmo:Three different Vitolas. You see it named different things around the Internet. And it's a Nicaraguan cigar. And the price on these is just under $11 each. I got them for $10.80 online.
Gizmo:And they were released just about a year ago at PCA, April sixteenth, twenty twenty four according to Half Wheel.
Bam Bam:That's pretty nice
Gizmo:on the light.
Chef Ricky:That is beautiful off the light. It's amazing to me how he could consistently make great cigars at that price point.
Gizmo:Yeah, it's very reasonably priced.
Bam Bam:Getting like a chocolate covered berry of some kind.
Gizmo:Oh, that's nice. I would definitely say it's full flavored.
Pagoda:Yeah. Full flavored.
Gizmo:There's a lot of flavor.
Bam Bam:Yeah, but medium bodied.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's not kicking you around.
Bam Bam:The flavor's full, yeah.
Pagoda:I'm getting the dark, dark chocolate. Yeah. Yeah. Very deep cocoa. Semi sweet for me.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Semi sweet. Mhmm.
Senator:To Bam's point about, like, a chocolate covered berry, it's kind of like a dark chocolate covered strawberry.
Chef Ricky:You ever had like those
Pagoda:A raspberry.
Chef Ricky:Is it Brookside? Those Brookside chocolate covered berries?
Gizmo:Oh, I've had those. Yeah.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. That's what it reminds me of.
Senator:Flavor's good.
Rooster:That's a that's a blueberry, isn't
Bam Bam:it?
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Yeah. The blueberry. Yep.
Gizmo:Is anybody getting a little bit of a salty thing? I am. I'm getting a salty thing on the front of my tongue. Not yet. I like it.
Chef Ricky:I'm getting a tingly sensation, I'm guessing, you know, from the nicotine or whatnot. There's definitely, I think, going to be a little nicotine hit here, obviously, with it being in Nicaragua and all.
Bam Bam:You know, there's something nourishing about this.
Chef Ricky:Oh, yeah.
Bam Bam:Yeah, really. It's very good.
Gizmo:Yeah. I really like this on the light.
Bam Bam:Someone has some indigestion I can hear there.
Pagoda:That's bug me.
Bam Bam:It's from the corner. What did you eat earlier?
Rooster:Lamb Broganjosh. Broganjosh.
Bam Bam:Hey. Hey. Hey.
Gizmo:So this cigar features a very unique band. Of course, a one off here. It simply says Oompa Gog on it, and it's green with gold text and a gold band on it, guess. Yeah. Right?
Bam Bam:There's a top gold edge, bottom edge of gold. Handsome green color.
Senator:I just don't understand. This is a Dunbarton cigar, right? Yeah. I mean, his other Dunbarton cigars have like a Dunbarton branded label
Bam Bam:on There's seal of some kind, yeah, a logo.
Senator:Yeah, and like, I I thought there was some uniformity to their bands, but is it like every line he makes like a totally different band? Apparently.
Chef Ricky:It seems that way, because he has the Muesta de Saca. I think that's also a very different band from or the Dunbarton stuff.
Gizmo:The Soper Masons all have
Bam Bam:a different band altogether.
Senator:Yeah. I'm kinda curious the next time we see him. I just don't really understand why. I mean, it's cost him more money
Bam Bam:to
Senator:produce all of these. And if someone picked this up, they wouldn't even know it's a Dunbarton cigar. It doesn't say Dunbarton anywhere.
Bam Bam:It's a great point. Yeah.
Gizmo:Especially if it's laid out like it's singles in a retail shop or something, you would never know even if you like Dunbarton that this is one of those. Yeah. But it's also the same like you just said about the Muestro de Saka. That comes in a coffin, if you remember, and it's individual coffins. The red meat lovers says red meat lovers, kinda like this says oombegog.
Gizmo:No markings on a friend of Barton. So it is an interesting marketing choice. You know?
Poobah:But it wouldn't but it wouldn't be stocked loose. It would be stocked in a box with the logo and the box open. Right? You would think.
Senator:You would think.
Gizmo:You would think. Not always. Yeah.
Bam Bam:Not a great branding idea if you want to create consistent branding across all your products.
Senator:Yeah. Just know, there's something the reason I say it, you know, it's like I love when you become a fan of a particular brand, like, you appreciate that Padron band that you see across, you know, their lines, or, you know, Fuente, if you're a Fuente guy. I just wish that Dunbarton had, like, a consistent kind of branded
Bam Bam:I'm with you on this.
Senator:Band that they use that you know that's a Dunbarton cigar as soon as you see one.
Bam Bam:It's gonna be interesting to hear his answer.
Poobah:Well, there's always an internal struggle with branding and marketing where everybody thinks that everybody's got an opinion, you know, because you're dealing in the subjective. So who knows what internal arguments went on about why to make this ban the way it is. To reinforce senator's point, I mean, I believe in having a consistent trade dress.
Bam Bam:Mhmm. These come in a box
Rooster:or was it a bundle?
Gizmo:This came in a 10 pack bundle for me. There was no box or branding or anything. I ordered a 10 pack. They came like that. It's like a cellophane.
Gizmo:Yeah. Cellophane kind of wrapped bundle of 10. There was no box. There was no branding on it or anything.
Poobah:Oh, I see.
Gizmo:I looked at it and I was like, there's literally nothing there. It just And it looked like it was packaged like that from the manufacturer. It's not something the retail shop did, you know? I see. So I don't know.
Gizmo:I find the whole thing very odd.
Bam Bam:Yeah. We'll have
Gizmo:to ask them about it.
Poobah:Yeah. Maybe ask them about it because it's smart to have consistent trade dress on your retail goods because it just reinforces the brand in, you know, on an ongoing basis becomes familiar to
Senator:the customer. Make it easy on the customer. If you love one Dunbarton cigar and you walk in a shop and you see other cigars with a Dunbarton brand a band on it, you're probably going to try them and buy them. Yeah. If you love Dunbarton and saw this, you'd have no clue he even makes it unless you did some homework.
Gizmo:Honestly, when we first spoke with him and we enjoyed his cigars, I didn't even realize he made that red meat lovers, which a lot of people talk about. I didn't even realize that was one of his cigars until, you know, sometime later. Yeah. You know, similar to
Rooster:He makes a lot of cigars.
Poobah:There's a
Gizmo:lot of
Bam Bam:different method in his madness with this, so we'll talk to him about it. It's gonna be a great question to ask.
Gizmo:Yeah. But this is off to a great start for me.
Bam Bam:What are you getting on a retro?
Gizmo:Little like a nuttiness of some kind. I don't know if it's it almost tastes like roasted Roasted.
Poobah:Exactly. Like
Gizmo:a roasted almond or I wouldn't say it's sweet.
Bam Bam:It's like a roasted pine nut
Gizmo:for me. Pine nuts. That's fair. Okay.
Bam Bam:And it's sweet on the finish for me.
Gizmo:I'm getting more sweetness in the traditional draw than I am through the retrohale. Yeah? Yeah. I think the retrohale I would call more savory for me.
Bam Bam:I think the aroma is on the savory side for me.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Aroma savory, the retrohale, especially on the finish, and it might be because I've gone a while without a cigar that everything feels really fresh right now for me. There's a sweetness on the end of the retrohale.
Bam Bam:That's exactly what I said.
Chef Ricky:That's reminiscent almost to like it reminds me of hookah, like a berry hookah, but a berry faint. It's not that profound where and, you know, hookah, it's like, you know, the flavor is so forward. Wow. But there's a lot of sweetness here. And I don't smoke hookah.
Chef Ricky:Haven't smoked hookah in years.
Bam Bam:I smoked hookah last week. Yeah.
Senator:Was gonna say Bam's our resident hookah expert.
Bam Bam:I do like a good hookah from time to time. Great. I know I do.
Rooster:What'd you get? Grape mint?
Bam Bam:It was mint.
Rooster:Just mint.
Bam Bam:Just mint. Double
Senator:mint. Bam's signature is double fisting a hookah in one hand
Gizmo:and a cigar in the other hand. Are you serious?
Senator:I've personally witnessed it through this. You did that.
Bam Bam:Wow. Double fisting the hookah. Was awesome.
Gizmo:So do you inhale the hookah?
Bam Bam:Yes.
Gizmo:Okay. So how do you discern when you're having some drinks and you're smoking a hookah in one and a cigar in the other?
Bam Bam:That's costly.
Gizmo:That's that's really some work
Bam Bam:right there. Need to
Poobah:be skilled. Is that like bong hitting tobacco kinda?
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's more vain. I guess so. But you know, I've never ever gotten high in hookah,
Poobah:but I do Well, not high, but I mean, doesn't it go through water?
Bam Bam:Yeah, it does. Yep. Or milk. And they have charcoal on top and that it heats from the top down. It's interesting.
Bam Bam:And you have to fully inhale it, so you're taking it all the way in, and the mark of a good hookah smoker is how far you can billow your smoke out.
Chef Ricky:Yep. And how
Bam Bam:white And you really need to inhale
Chef Ricky:white and cloudy it is, yeah.
Bam Bam:Satisfying.
Senator:Yeah. I'm not a good hookah smoker because I've had it maybe twice, and I smoke it just like a cigar. I do a smoke in my mouth, and I blow it right back out.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It does take some some practice.
Gizmo:I learned something about you tonight,
Bam Bam:man. Alright.
Rooster:You like hookahs.
Poobah:Correct. No. There's always there's there's always multiple things to unpack.
Bam Bam:That's also correct.
Chef Ricky:There's there's a lot to
Poobah:pack in. There's a lot to unpack.
Bam Bam:Yeah. There's a lot going on over there.
Poobah:Doing a lot of
Bam Bam:packing in.
Gizmo:So, boys, let's talk a little bit about the story of the Umbogog Bronzeback. Of course, this cigar was blended by Steve Sako, who's the owner of Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust. The cigar's makeup, it has a Nicaraguan binder, a Nicaraguan filler, and the wrapper is USA Connecticut Broadleaf. And the Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper is designated as what he calls two LS coming from a lower part of the stock than traditional wrapper. The cigar is advertised as less dark and less sweet than his original Umbugag, and that's what we're experiencing.
Bam Bam:Less dark than this?
Gizmo:Less dark and this is supposed to be less dark and less sweet
Bam Bam:Wow.
Gizmo:I guess than the other Umbugag that he released.
Chef Ricky:Interesting because I think it's it's pretty sweet and dark in a pleasant way. Yeah. Right. So
Gizmo:two l s is and I'm reading from Halfwheel here, so thanks to them. It's a designation for the leaves typically situated between the the third to the halfway point on the stock. They sit beneath what is called the mediums according to Saka in a post on his Facebook Facebook page. This section of the plant produces wrapper with a different hue and flavor profile rather than be those classic sweet, earthy, and cocoa notes exhibited by Broadleaf. The two LS leaves typically give the smoker a slightly less sweet but significantly more peppery smoking experience.
Gizmo:And like we said, the bronzeback is a fishing reference, a nickname for the smallmouth bass. Saka says that this cigar is his homage to the Henry Clay cigars that were sold in the nineteen eighties and nineteen nineties. Interesting. Anybody out there looking for some history on Dunbarton tobacco and trust, We have done three other cigars from Dunbarton, the Moestro de Saka, the Bewitched, the Cincompromiso Salexio number four, and the Sobremesa Cervantes Fino. So this is the fourth one tonight, and we did do some history on those other episodes.
Gizmo:And, of course, the highlight one is episode 128 when we actually had Steve Saka on the episode live from PCA. We cut him in to an episode while we were smoking his cigar here in this room, and people seem to really love our conversation with him, and I I really found it to be interesting. We reference him the time.
Bam Bam:Yeah. A lot of fun.
Gizmo:So check that out if you get a chance. The other two, one ten and one forty, have some history on Dunbarton. Of course, Steve is most famous for being the president of Liga Pravada, drew a state for a long period of time, brought Liga Pravada into the world with Nick Mello and who's now at Foundation Cigars, And they brought Liga into the fold and, of course, you know, have been very celebrated industry wide for their contributions to turning Drew Estate into really a premier, you know, high level brand with that with that line specifically. So that's that's what we got tonight on the Umbogog Bronzeback Boys.
Poobah:I'm impressed with the build. It's it's it's the con you know, outside looking in, I I think the group was kind of like, oh, it well, it's a little bit of a rusted wrapper, but I've got a pretty sharp burn on.
Gizmo:I do too.
Bam Bam:Same. Yeah. Beautiful bright white ash.
Senator:It's well constructed. I agree.
Gizmo:I love the smoke output too. I mean this thing is
Bam Bam:Nice.
Gizmo:Beating some of the big ring gauge expected chimneys that have failed us in smoke output. This thing is a little 48 ring gauge chimney.
Poobah:Yeah. The combustion I mean
Gizmo:it's crazy how much smoke I'm getting.
Bam Bam:One other thing. We were worried about this being a quick smoke. I don't think that's an issue here.
Gizmo:We just got to take our time.
Bam Bam:It's satisfying.
Chef Ricky:It's satisfying and I think it's a pretty intense smoke. I think if you try to blow through it, it's going to kick you in the ass a little bit.
Bam Bam:I just think it's so satisfying. You kind of savor the moment in between each straw.
Poobah:Yeah. I'm relaxing with it. It's very approachable.
Chef Ricky:Feels good in the hand too.
Senator:I agree. The thing I like most about this is just how much flavor you're getting with such an insanely smooth delivery. And that's Like, velvety, creamy smoke. Mhmm. Nothing harsh or nicotine heavy about it.
Senator:It's just super pleasant.
Bam Bam:And that's that's exactly why you're taking your time between each straw
Gizmo:Yeah. To experience that. And you're satisfied every time. Totally. Yeah.
Gizmo:The thing too, and I think we talked about this a little bit with Steve and we've talked about it after we met with Steve and kind of started to really dig into to what he does and who he is, I love that he creates Nicaraguan, primarily Nicaraguan blended cigars that don't punch you in the face. You know, so many Nicaraguan Mhmm. Puros. I know this one's not a puro. Okay?
Gizmo:But so many Nicaraguans heavy in Nicaraguan, the binder, the filler, and the wrapper. Oftentimes, you light it. It's a pepper bomb. It punches you in the face. He finds a way to deliver stuff that is smooth, has a touch of sweetness, and isn't trying to knock you around but is still giving you a really full flavorful experience.
Poobah:Yeah. And may be because of the Connecticut broadleaf. That may be just balancing out the blend a little.
Gizmo:Yeah. Very well could be. Or just whatever tobacco he's choosing in that filler. Yeah. It just kinda levels itself out that it's it's not knocking you around.
Gizmo:So let's talk about some news, boys. We have a good one and a bad one. We're gonna start with a good one. This one is celebrating the Foundation Cigar Company, their tenth anniversary with a new cigar coming out at PCA. It's a large Salomon made in Nicaragua by AJ Fernandez, which we're gonna talk about in a second.
Gizmo:Features a hybrid wrapper grown in Connecticut. Launching, like I said, a PCA, fifty eight ring gauge cigar by seven inches long. Dousa. Which is exactly the same size as the Bahike 58, except this is a Salomon and that is a Parejo.
Bam Bam:Two baseball bats.
Gizmo:Yes. Large baseball bats, of course. Pretty cool. The are apparently covered in a wrapper from the Connecticut River Valley that Nick Mello, who we just mentioned, was with Steve Socke at in their days at Drew Estate, Liga Pravada. He says that this is a hybrid between broadleaf and Habano seeds grown in the Connecticut River Valley.
Gizmo:Under that is a Brazilian matafina binder, and then it's an entirely Nicaraguan filler blend, combinations of tobaccos from Esteli, Jalapa, and Condega. And like I said, most of the stuff is coming from AJ Fernandez. This is interesting. The cigars are gonna be $35 a piece. Wow.
Gizmo:So $350 for the box of 10. Only 2,000 boxes will be available. And then there's an even more limited 20 count box geared toward true lovers of Foundation Cigar Company, which will be released for $700, 7 hundred and 50 boxes in total. And this is pretty cool. Look at the box presentation on that.
Gizmo:So the trays actually pop out of it. The two trays of five pop out of it and then there's 10 on the bottom of that humidor. So pretty, pretty cool there.
Bam Bam:That's what you're paying for.
Gizmo:That's what you're paying for. So
Rooster:It's like a humidor.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah. So like I said, this will be previewed at the PCA show that we'll be at and then will be available sometime later this year. So congratulations to Nick Mallelo and ten years of Foundation Cigar Company.
Poobah:Yeah. There's so much unlimited creativity, I think, that that these blenders can tap into. Almost like blending genres of music. You know, you can I know you and I, Gizmo, talk about Rick Beato
Gizmo:Yeah?
Poobah:And and which is a little bit everyone's not gonna know about him, but who's a sound engineer. But it's like almost like it's an art form. And I think that there's a lot of blenders out there who are really they're really trying. They're trying to push the limits. They're trying to take different Nicaraguan tobacco and and and, you know, use Connecticut broadleaf and do things.
Poobah:And and and I think the creativity in in new world cigars, there's a lot to discover.
Gizmo:I think also I think that the market has demanded, especially with the pricing, how things have gone both in the Cuban space and the new world space, there's a lot of opportunity for manufacturers to come in, make some good money, and, you know, have creative blending, try different things. We've tried a lot of these cigars in the pod that on paper maybe wouldn't be interesting to us, but then when we smoke them, completely blow us away. You know? And it just comes down to, like, you know, what chef does at his restaurant every day. It's like trying to come up with new unique things from the ingredients you have and Mhmm.
Gizmo:Hopefully put something great together.
Rooster:But you think it's more so now because the Cuban prices have gone up so much that they're trying to come out with, like, newer blends out of New York?
Bam Bam:We talked about that at the last
Rooster:I mean, the tobaccos have always been available to them. They're growing a lot of tobacco.
Bam Bam:But Steve said that at the last show, there's now an opportunity worldwide. So I think someone like him knows how to make cigars. He makes the every man cigar. Cigar for every guy at every price point.
Poobah:I think the Habanos essay prices price hikes have created some open space maybe potentially.
Gizmo:Well, certainly worldwide, that's definitely the case.
Poobah:There's no question. Open space for some creativity. I think there's open space for Cuban you know, lovers of of Cuban tobacco, Cuban puros who are looking for maybe more of a a medium experience but full bodied that there's open space, I think, there in the market potentially for blenders.
Senator:I think even broader. I I think just culturally, there's just a huge desire for creativity and innovation and a greater receptivity of doing things differently. I mean, you think about years ago in in cigars and like many products, like, everybody just wanted kind of a large mass produced brand that was consistent and that they were familiar with, and that's just what they bought every single time. I mean, we used to laugh at our former lounge, an older guy who would literally smoke the exact same cigar
Bam Bam:Every day.
Senator:Twice a day, and would never deviate from
Poobah:that. Correct.
Senator:And that I think represents kind of an old school way of consuming certain products. I think you look at now where, like, I've never seen in just my lifetime people more open to little boutique brands. I mean, I meet people all the time who tell me about a cigar I've never heard of, a brand I'm unfamiliar with. I mean, we just did in April stoic. I had never heard of stoic.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Off the charts.
Senator:News to all of us.
Bam Bam:Off the charts.
Senator:And like they're making a great product, so I just feel like anyone in the business has license to get more creative now than they really ever had, where you couldn't take those risks before and be rewarded, I feel like now people are very happy to reward those who are doing that.
Gizmo:And I think there's also been a lot of new entrants, not only just because of the price increases, but also what happened with COVID when everyone was forced to be home. You know, we saw the demand boom for cigars because people were at home and trying new hobbies. I mean, that's where really when we all came together as a group and connected. And and I'm imagining there's a lot of people out there that took that same opportunity, you know, and now it's a part of their lifestyle. So I also kind of parallel it to what you see with craft beer, what you see with, you know, new types of entrants into the whiskey market, both in America and outside America.
Gizmo:Like like to what senator was just saying, I think people are demanding more interesting things from boutique brands that they've never heard of, and they're more receptive to the idea that something great can be created by your neighbor. It doesn't have to be by the big conglomerate that you've been hearing about for fifteen, twenty, twenty five years, especially when that conglomerate puts the price at such a point that it's unreachable for you
Bam Bam:and the That's the key. It becomes much more affordable and available. Exactly.
Gizmo:And you feel good about supporting a small business.
Rooster:Correct. And they're doing a good job at it. Yeah. Mean, there's so many cigars that we have had lately.
Bam Bam:That's what we're smoking tonight.
Rooster:Yeah. Mean, right around $10 to between $10 and $15 and they really deliver. Yeah. And we're scoring them. They're getting very high scores between eights and tens.
Gizmo:Yeah. Even compared to when we started the podcast.
Poobah:I was just about to go there.
Gizmo:I think I think if you think about our track record as far as ratings and stuff, and we if you look at the trend there, I almost feel like we've found a way to bring what we're experiencing as better cigars into the podcast. Now, are people making better cigars? Are they blending better cigars in the last few years? I'm not sure, but it seems to me that more often than not, we sit down with a cigar we're unfamiliar with, and we're having a good experience.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Rooster:And it's also a big thanks to our listeners who are actually doing this recommendation for the new cigars that we would have never heard of.
Poobah:I agree. I I would second that. The I do think that there's there's more open space than ever for creativity. And I do think that I do think that blenders are leveraging that and and they should. You know, you had these you know, we're all Habanos oilists, and we'll always love the catalog and all the staples within.
Poobah:However, with all the price increases, it's good to keep an open mind. And and and I do think that there's there's opportunity right now that's unique. But I also
Gizmo:I also wanna say too, I think it's bigger than Habanos. I think we have seen so many of these catalogs
Bam Bam:Sure.
Gizmo:Ramp up their prices to a point that finding a 10 or a $7 cigar, $10 cigar, $12 cigar that you love like we did with the Aladino, like we have with Fabrica V, like we did with that stoic cigar, those are wins because A, they're giving you as good or better of an experience than some of these cigars that are priced in the twenties and thirties. And you can get them and they're cheap and they're good and they're consistent.
Poobah:Yeah. Sure. They're good. They're consistent. And it's a good thing.
Bam Bam:It's a fun journey, honestly.
Gizmo:Yeah. Alright, boys. It's time now to move into our pairing tonight. We have a scotch, a whiskey. It's called the Briclotti, and it's the classic Lotti and a very, very interesting bottle tonight from them.
Bam Bam:Looked like a tequila bottle
Gizmo:to me. It does look like a tequila bottle.
Bam Bam:The turquoise bright turquoise color.
Gizmo:Bold white text. So this is a single malt scotch. Cheers boys. Cheers. See how this is.
Gizmo:I haven't sipped it yet. I know Bam Bam's been nibbling on it. That's a little hotter than I expected.
Senator:It's so I'm gonna warn everybody. Yeah. You need ice for this. Wow. And it opens up very nicely with ice.
Senator:Really?
Gizmo:Can you pass it around, please, senator? I'm sorry. It looks like one of the Jenner's tequilas. Looks like an agave that you'd find at on the bottom row at Anejo restaurant in Tribeca.
Chef Ricky:No. No. Not even. You wouldn't even find that on the bottom row. You'd find that hidden in the basement because the distributor insisted that we take a bottle just so we could try it, but no one ever dares bring it bring it out around me.
Chef Ricky:So it just stays hidden in the cave somewhere until we decide to clean clean house, and it becomes a gift to somebody we don't like.
Gizmo:Alright. So you're saying you don't judge a book by its cover. Brutal. That's a brutal take. So boys, we did, we did pause for a second and put some ice in the drink because senator had sipped it and recommended it.
Gizmo:This is a hundred proof single malt scotch, 50% ABV. So I'm gonna try it now and see what we get.
Poobah:I I like it with the ice in it.
Gizmo:Oh, it's definitely good with the ice in
Bam Bam:it. Really?
Gizmo:Yeah. I like it. I like it with the ice.
Bam Bam:Chef, you stay in Isleas tonight? Me.
Chef Ricky:I'm staying Isleas.
Bam Bam:Me too. Yeah. I kinda
Poobah:I don't mind it. The branding is really divergent, and and somewhat misguided. I would not, not somewhat, I would I would have killed this trade dress in three seconds. I don't know about you guys, but it's a so for the listener, it's a matte bottle painted turquoise. And it just it seems divergent from really what Scotch is about.
Poobah:Exactly. And so for me, it has this modern all caps topography. Just seems divergent from the category. And I they're probably trying to be disruptive, but it it it doesn't align with the tradition of of single malt scotch.
Chef Ricky:It almost feels like scotch that's marketed to a more feminine side of the demographic or something or or maybe hipper
Rooster:or Then why make it so hot, though?
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Know. It it goes against everything that's
Bam Bam:It doesn't even look like a scotch bottle. No. It looks nothing
Senator:like a So I agree with all the commentary. I mean, obviously, this wouldn't be necessarily my first choice for designing a bottle of scotch, but I will say, it definitely stands out.
Bam Bam:It stands out.
Gizmo:Oh, there's no question about
Senator:Whenever I've seen this in an airport, it's the first thing my eye is drawn to. And I don't know. There's something I don't fully hate about it. It's hard to explain.
Rooster:Yeah, but do you like it? It's disruptive.
Senator:You like the scotch? Yeah. I think it's actually very good. So ironically, I had this do you all remember a good friend of mine, Lizard Ross, who had recommended I I spent some time at his place in DC, and he loves scotch, and I said, just pour me things I haven't had before. So one of them we reviewed was the Buna Haben.
Gizmo:Yep. Buna
Bam Bam:Haben. Buna Haben. Yep. Buna Haben 12.
Senator:Yep. And we really like that, and he had recommended I had never tried it before, and that did well. This was another one that he had poured, and I remembered it was high proof, and I just had a little bit of ice, and it opened up beautifully. Like, you know, we're getting to warmer weather. This is a scotch that like, there's some sweet notes that you get.
Senator:Sure.
Gizmo:I would say, Senator, while you're sipping, it's very thin.
Senator:It is. It is. There's like citrus you get
Bam Bam:in this.
Senator:It's a really nice kinda bright flavor profile for a scotch that I would absolutely drink this in the spring and summertime, and I think it's like a nice departure from a lot of the traditional single malt scotches that are out there. Like, to me, this is a better version of, like, a Glen Leavitt twelve that skews, like, fruitier, lighter. So I I really like actually what they've done. I think it's pretty unique.
Bam Bam:You know, we're drinking this without ice, chef and I. I'm getting butterscotch on a finish.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I was gonna say I'm getting vanilla butterscotch here.
Bam Bam:Something like that. Me too. Me the heat up front, it dissipates pretty quickly.
Poobah:It
Gizmo:does. How many sips did that take you for the heat to kinda
Bam Bam:About three.
Gizmo:Three to four. Like your mouth to adopt.
Bam Bam:It's more comfortable. It takes a while, but it kind of keeps your attention, little bit of a punch initially.
Poobah:Don't mind it. And I think it's pairing well, actually quite-
Gizmo:I think it's pairing very well with the cigar. There's no question about that. Correct. I actually think they're standing up very nicely next to each other.
Poobah:Yeah. So, I mean, the branding in the bottle aside, I can put that aside. That's good. But as an advertising guy, it bothers me. You know?
Poobah:I would have killed it.
Chef Ricky:My daughter loves the color teal and I feel like she'd asked me to make a lamp out of this bottle at some point.
Gizmo:You can take it home with you tonight after we finish it. Correct. So boys, let's talk about the classic Lottie for a second here. This is their flagship unpeated single malt scotch. It's designed to showcase the distillery's commitment to terroir and transparency which I have a question about.
Gizmo:I'm curious what you can see that transparency. And there's another component too that's not transparent. So like we said, this is unpeated, completely unpeated, trying to offer a floral, fruity, and maritime character. It's made with 100% Scottish barley. They source their bar barley from various Scottish farms emphasizing regional differences.
Gizmo:It's bottled at 50% ABV, 100 proof, and it has its natural color and is non chill filtered preserving its full character. What's interesting about the classic Lottie from this maker is there's no age statement on it. So that's something that kind of irks me, I guess, when I have a single malt scotch is I like to know at least some sort of component of age as opposed to having to guess. And then I throw it to you guys, is what age do you think this is sitting at based on how it's drinking right now?
Senator:So I'll just say, I think most of this is 12.
Pagoda:You know, 10 to 12, right?
Senator:Yeah. Like, you know, the fact that these guys have this with no ice, and this is hundred proof, I mean, most single malts that we drink are, you know, 80 proof.
Pagoda:80 proof. Yeah.
Senator:And a lot of them, meat can drink a little hot. Like, a lot of us with a single malt will have like a chip of ice just to mellow it out a little bit. So I think for to be able to drink a hundred proof meat, and I think the fact that I put a little ice, honestly less than I put in certain other single malt scotches, and it is smooth and has opened up beautifully, I think this has got to be mostly twelve year. I'll also say, you know, I share the same sentiment around you expect an age statement with single malts. Yeah.
Senator:But ironically, like, I was just looking at my bar just the other night at, like, random bottles I haven't touched in a long time, and I was really shocked. There are a number of scotches that don't put age statements. Like, there was a Dalmore Portwood that at some point I was gifted, and there's no age statement on it. I was like, shocked, because Dalmore, they have like very regimented twelve,
Bam Bam:fifteen That must be why you got it as a gift.
Senator:Clearly. And and clearly from no longer a friend.
Poobah:On sale.
Bam Bam:By the way, he puts the all the gift bottles with their name, the
Gizmo:Oh, yeah.
Bam Bam:You definitely do you
Gizmo:have a
Bam Bam:spreadsheet in there? He classifies them based
Senator:on I wish I did because I couldn't figure out where I
Poobah:got this.
Senator:But That's funny. And then even some higher end bottles. I mean, Glen Marengi, the Signet, that's a 200 and something dollar bottle. There is no age statement on that. So, you know, you see it, I think, more than we realize in the single malt world, but we're of course accustomed to most of the time seeing the age statement.
Gizmo:So what's interesting having said all that is that there's actually a code on the bottle called the recipe code, which is a unique code printed on each bottle that allows drinkers to look up specific cask composition online. Obviously, I don't even know if there's another manufacturer that does that. But having said all that, they're going to that level but they don't reveal the age. So you can go in and understand every aspect of the cask except the age on
Poobah:it. K.
Pagoda:So does it tell you what barrels these are in?
Poobah:Yeah. Are they sherry or are they American?
Gizmo:Not sherry. You'd have to look at the bottle. I'm not sure.
Bam Bam:Oh, alright. Oh, okay. While he's doing that, do we know how much this is?
Gizmo:This bottle is $60, Bam. Alright.
Chef Ricky:Wow.
Gizmo:Really cool. Bucks of total wine. I got it.
Pagoda:What's about typical Scotch bottles right now? Mhmm. Winning the average 12 year old.
Bam Bam:So, Pagoda, you're a big Scotch guy. Pooba, so are you. Would you pursue would you have a bottle of this in your cabinet?
Pagoda:I'd have it, but I wouldn't pursue it.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah.
Poobah:Yeah, it's the same.
Pagoda:Mhmm. Okay. The thing is, you know, I like scotches in the sherry cask mostly.
Bam Bam:A lot
Pagoda:of them.
Bam Bam:You've put ice in your glass, right?
Pagoda:Yeah, it is definitely. It's opened up quite a bit. It's definitely a lot more drinkable. I think for me, knee, the first few sips just got a lot of heat all the way down in my chest, and I thought it was a bit hot. So I was, I knew that it was definitely over 80.
Bam Bam:If there's enough for a second glass, I'm gonna try it with the ice. I can imagine this being a great springsummer drink.
Senator:Yeah. I mean, I'm not kidding. With ice, this is so smooth. Yeah. You could just guzzle an entire glass of this and not even think It's chilled.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's interesting though for how how it's it's not viscous at all. At 50%, like, it's it's, like, disconnected for me. Like, I would think that how this drinks and how it looks that it would be closer to 40. Of course, without the ice, you you realize the heat that's on it, but it's just there it's a little disconnected for me.
Gizmo:I'm not sure I agree that I would reach for this in the summer because of that 50%
Bam Bam:Even with ice?
Gizmo:Number. Even with ice. Like, I'm not sure I would go for this. I want something I think a little
Bam Bam:You wouldn't turn it down at a party though.
Gizmo:I wouldn't turn it down, but I'm not gonna be buying it. Okay.
Senator:Why does the percent matter as far as the season?
Gizmo:I'm just saying the heat
Chef Ricky:Well, because I no. No. I think that when it when it warms up, you want something a little bit a little bit longer. Why do you keep your
Bam Bam:food separate on a plate? That's one of those questions. No. No. The only question should be why do you order shit rare plus?
Bam Bam:That's also true. Correct.
Gizmo:Keep you on your toes.
Bam Bam:All in the same vein.
Poobah:Rare plus. That's not even an order.
Pagoda:But that's right.
Bam Bam:But that question warrants an answer, though.
Poobah:Does does that happen? Is that what he does?
Bam Bam:I just can answer.
Chef Ricky:That's what the giz does.
Poobah:It's called medium rare.
Chef Ricky:Eats the So
Gizmo:for me, like this spirit, I don't know if I'm gonna reach for a hotter spirit in the summertime. I'm gonna try to reach for something that's a little lower ABV, generally.
Senator:Why does the percent matter? It doesn't drink hot.
Gizmo:It does without the ice.
Senator:Every Scotch does without ice.
Gizmo:I have this for you.
Poobah:I don't
Gizmo:know if I agree with that. Because I can drink there are some Scotches like the Glen There are
Senator:some. Sorry.
Gizmo:Shouldn't say
Bam Bam:I have 12.
Senator:It's true. I would say most single malts drink hot meat. I will say is
Gizmo:the Glenfiddich 12, which we loved. We reviewed pretty recently.
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Gizmo:That to me is a great summer scotch. Yeah. Right around 43%. I don't remember exactly with or without ice. It's light.
Gizmo:It's not very viscous.
Bam Bam:I like the merit of a higher proof spirit that I'm putting ice in so that it stands for a while longer
Gizmo:Yeah.
Bam Bam:As it dilutes.
Senator:I mean, the reason I'm asking this question, to me, the the alcohol percentage has no bearing on what season I drink it, it's the flavor profile. So for me in the spring and summer, I want something lighter, brighter, citrus fruit notes, you know, it's when it's hot. Right? Like when it's hot, I'm not looking for like a really viscous, heavy, intense, rich like spirit, or like something super peaty. That's like a fall winter thing to Definitely.
Senator:So like in the summer, you know, I would reach for like a lighter scotch like a Glen Leavitt, or something like this, or some of the other lighter scotches we've done. Mhmm. Because I feel like we all you know, we don't we drink more single malt scotch when it's cooler and cold outside than we do in the summer months.
Rooster:Like some of the Japanese whiskeys, like the Hibiki. Yeah. Hibiki is nice. In the glass,
Bam Bam:it almost looks like Hibiki. Kind of. Because
Gizmo:the hibiki is lighter. I wonder if they're putting the matte on the bottle. If they're coloring the bottle so you can actually see the spirit because when I poured it for all of us earlier, I was like, wow, that's really not a nice amber looking spirit. Like, it looked a little thin when I poured it in the glass. So I wonder if that's intentional as far as the branding here.
Senator:Well, ironically, Glenn Levy twelve that I mentioned comes in a green bottle. You wouldn't be able to tell what the spirit looks like either. Yeah. Where there are other, like, Glenlivet 18, it's clear glass, you see exactly the color of the scotch. So it's totally plausible.
Gizmo:Yeah. So, boys, we're coming to the end of the first third here on the Dumbarton Tobacco and Trust Umbogog Bronzeback. What's everybody thinking, especially now as we have the single malt with it?
Rooster:There's a little bit of spices coming through now. Yes. A little pepper. Some pepper. Really?
Rooster:I'm not Or a little earthy spice.
Gizmo:I haven't gotten a pepper thing.
Chef Ricky:The sweet's dissipated for sure for me. It's definitely getting a little bit more savory. I'm getting some black pepper notes and even some bell pepper, like roasted pepper notes.
Senator:Really? The funny thing is, so, like, I I got some of the pepper that Rooster was talking about, actually, like, kind of at the back of my throat, But then oddly, it, like, shifted back to now I'm getting some more sweet notes than I
Rooster:am Sweet and spicy. Intermangled almost.
Senator:But for me, it was like most of the the first third was, like, firmly sweet. Sweet. Then the start of the second third for me got spicy, but now No. It's calming into the second third exactly like Pooba. It it's calmed down, now I'm getting more sweet.
Bam Bam:I have that exact experience, but instead of the pepper, it's more the minerality was coming in. And right at the end of that first, third, beginning of the second, third, there was more of a minerality for And
Pagoda:why I said like Maduro ish.
Bam Bam:But he's right though. I'm right back in that sweet vein, almost like a molasses, like a deep raisin type thing happening for me.
Poobah:I believe the sweetness the the sweetness that's coming out in the cigar, and then there's there's a fruity notion to the scotch Mhmm. That it it's one of these serendipitous kind of moments that happens on the podcast all the time, which isn't planned. It's it's not
Bam Bam:You're you're discounting his genius.
Poobah:What what what like, I'm getting, like, body gestures and, like, all kinds of body language.
Rooster:I feel dismissed.
Senator:Alright. So I have to ask
Bam Bam:credit him. Gizmo, have you had this gush before today?
Gizmo:Never, but I read about it.
Bam Bam:Right. Poopa's point stands. I'm with you, bro.
Gizmo:Yeah. Thank you, Bam.
Poobah:Okay. Well, okay. You're a genius, Like, duly noted, bro.
Bam Bam:Delicate genius.
Poobah:Yeah. Right? It's this was all predetermined. Anyway, I just think it's one of this like, again No.
Rooster:It's a good match.
Poobah:I think it's I think it's these things, like, kinda happen. It's a little serendipitous where this this scotch, as much as I hate the branding in the bottle, is really pairing well with with with this cigar.
Senator:Yeah.
Gizmo:I will say one one element of of my intention with this pairing tonight is having sat with Steve Saka at PCA last year and seeing what he was drinking as he was smoking his cigars was a higher proof Noah's Mill
Bam Bam:Bourbon.
Gizmo:Bourbon. So when I was looking at a pairing for this, that's why I reached for something that was 50% because I was trying to think along the lines of how he drinks and get something that had a little more heat on it. That was my only component to the my intention. Mission not accomplished.
Pagoda:And maybe a bourbon would have been a good idea.
Senator:Because this doesn't drink like any of those things.
Gizmo:Just telling you my I'm telling you my intention here, Bam.
Bam Bam:I will say on the on the nose Delicate. Delicate genius.
Chef Ricky:On the nose, not so
Bam Bam:much on the palate because on
Chef Ricky:the palate, it does drink very scotch like. But on the nose, I almost feel like I'm sipping an Anejo tequila. Right? Like on the nose, there's a lot of butterscotch, the Bam's point and vanilla that I'm getting here.
Senator:It's true actually.
Chef Ricky:And when I combine the two and I get some aroma from the burn line and I stick my nose in the glass, it feels like an egg cream almost. Like there's this like
Bam Bam:I have
Chef Ricky:to and that goes around the serendipitous
Poobah:There's an inter there yeah. I agree with you. There's, like, some there's actually, like, a little bit of interplay here Mhmm. That I think is And I It's one of these moments where it's working.
Chef Ricky:But that's a benefit that you get from drinking higher proof spirits. That's why a lot of mezcals and some you know, a lot of people are going ape shit over higher proof tequilas now, because they're more flavorful. Right? So that's why even though the proof is higher, I'll drink less rather than put ice because now I'm
Bam Bam:pulling away flavor. Makes sense.
Poobah:Well, that's like g four. Yeah. You know, I was I was out well, g.
Chef Ricky:Poop no. Poopa, we just miss you. And we
Bam Bam:we we we love
Chef Ricky:we love how much you love g four.
Bam Bam:We love it.
Poobah:So it's yes. Well, I mean,
Rooster:do you
Chef Ricky:like amazing tequila. I love it.
Poobah:I love it. Love Well, g four is a high proof tequila, but it doesn't drink like a high proof tequila.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. No. G four Fortaleza has a still strength. Magenta has a high proof now. Volan's has a high proof.
Chef Ricky:I mean, they're they're all releasing
Poobah:I mean, they're all really good. Like, the g four Blanco is phenomenal. Yeah.
Senator:This entire conversation is why the first time I had this scotch, I was super intrigued by it. There's never been a scotch that I've taken a sip of that I mean, what chef just said is spot on. Like, there are oddly tequila agave type qualities or notes that you get in this. We've never said that drinking a scotch.
Gizmo:That's true.
Senator:And so I just give them a world of credit. Like, this was so unique and differentiated in the scotch category. Like, I still remember. This was a while back I had this. I think it's really cool what they've done.
Senator:There's nothing like it. Yeah.
Poobah:And maybe and, know, and senator, maybe that explains why they they they they did what they did with the branding.
Gizmo:It's true.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. You think the bottle's colored to avoid oxidation? That a thing in the scotch world?
Bam Bam:I don't think I doubt it. Because a lot of scotch brands
Gizmo:just trying to stand out on the shelf.
Chef Ricky:Uh-huh. Yeah. I mean, they definitely do that.
Gizmo:So I want to get to some Brooklotti history in a second. I want to make one more commentary on the cigar at this point. I am shocked that we're about forty five minutes in. We have a 48 by five cigar in our hand. Corona Extra, Rothschild, Robusto, whatever you want to
Poobah:call it.
Gizmo:I can't believe at 45, I'm just hitting fifty minutes almost. Just hitting the halfway point on this cigar. There's value
Poobah:there. Not one touch
Gizmo:up. No. Not one lighter has come out.
Bam Bam:That's why it's because of what you said very early on when we first hit this. It's full flavored but not full bodied. Right? So it's very smooth, but you're getting a lot on each draw.
Gizmo:But also in the blend, he blended it such that he was gonna give someone who smokes this properly probably an hour and a half to an hour forty minutes of an experience.
Bam Bam:It's a great value.
Gizmo:Someone who smokes slower even might even get two hours out of this little cigar.
Bam Bam:Like Richard.
Gizmo:A five inch by 48 ring gauge cigar, that's pretty amazing. You know, that's pretty amazing.
Poobah:I agree. I've been just taking my time with this and just enjoying it.
Gizmo:Yeah. Let's talk about Brooklotti history. Brooklotti is a Scottish distillery located on the Isle Of Islay known for its progressive approach to whiskey making while still respecting traditional methods. Founded in 1881 by the Harvey brothers, William, John, and Robert, who came from a long line of Glasgow Distillers. Unlike many distilleries in the region that focus on heavily peated whiskey, Brooklotti was designed to produce a lighter, unpeated style of whiskey using state of the art Victorian era equipment.
Gizmo:The distillery operated successfully for decades, but then changed hands several times during the twentieth century, including ownership by such companies as Invergordon distillers and White and McKay. This is interesting. In 1994, Brooklotti was closed seemingly for good. However, in two thousand, six years later, it was revived by a group of investors, and the legendary master distiller formerly of Balmoor, Jim McEwen. Under their leadership, the company took a bold new direction focused on terroir driven whiskey, transparency in production, and as we mentioned earlier, the use of 100% Scottish barley.
Gizmo:Their new approach emphasized slow distillation, no chill filtration, and no artificial coloring, setting them apart in the industry. They also reintroduced heavily peated expressions, which they call the Port Charlotte, and super heavily peated expressions called the Octamore, which are among the most peated whiskeys in the world. In 2012, Remy Cointreau acquired the company, and the brand remains independent as far as production philosophy and whatnot, but it is owned by the company that owns Remy. So flavor profile wise on this, the classic Latias we know we're drinking tonight. I'm just gonna read some of theirs, see if we're getting these.
Gizmo:On the nose, floral citrus honey, malted barley with a hint of sea breeze. On the palate, green apples, vanilla, creamy oak, and sweet malt balanced by a slight saltiness. And on the finish, long, clean, and refreshing with a lingering malt sweetness and soft spice.
Bam Bam:The malt sweetness is definitely there. No apple for me.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I was going to say I agree with everything there above
Bam Bam:the Vanilla for sure, and for me it's more of a butterscotch on a finish. I I will say the addition of
Chef Ricky:the ice for me brought out more citrus, but it muted the butternut and vanilla of the the butter.
Bam Bam:It actually elevated the sweetness for me a bit.
Senator:Yeah. For sure. It's crazy. I I honestly think that's one of the more accurate descriptions we've heard from a manufacturer.
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Senator:And for me, like, the floral and citrus was, like, the first notes I got, like, on the front of my palate, and then, like, on the finish, the butterscotch and some of those other notes we were talking about.
Poobah:I mean, it's like as much as I dislike, it's almost like on this is like on steroids
Senator:On steroids.
Poobah:Times on I agree. Dowany on steroids times two. It's almost like what Dowany was trying to do with, like, that fruity, light, citrusy But they fell short. But they fell short because of the proof in the body. And this just it's kind of an feels like almost an elevated on steroids version of that maybe.
Chef Ricky:I think
Senator:it's a perfect comparison.
Bam Bam:Totally agree too.
Chef Ricky:Give Darwin a used torpedo shaped bats.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Like the yanks. Like the yanks.
Senator:And you know who actually I think would really enjoy this grinder? And I say that because where he and I disagree, he actually, for a lighter Scotch, likes Dalwynnie. I I really hate Dalwynnie. But I think exactly what Pooh is saying. This is like what that could have been.
Senator:Is Dalwhinnie steroids. It's despite being higher proof, smoother than Dalwhinnie. I find Dalwhinnie have a bite even with ice. There's like a harshness to it. But this man opens up beautifully with ice.
Bam Bam:That's awesome. It is a completely different experience with ice. Yeah. It's a little sweeter. It's definitely cooler,
Poobah:more It's really it's actually a really nice option
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Poobah:To have in a rotation where you want something maybe a little bit fruity, a little bit sweeter, a little bit to offset maybe a Nicaraguan balm or, you know, or something.
Bam Bam:It'll have a cleansing effect on a cigar
Pagoda:like
Bam Bam:that,
Gizmo:I think.
Pagoda:Yeah. It does. I think you're absolutely right about this.
Senator:Like a tequila, like Shepard's talking about before. Like, I think the comparison's
Bam Bam:The crazy thing about this, when you add ice, you don't lose the aroma on the nose. It's still there.
Pagoda:No, it's there. Yeah.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. It's funny because I put one small cube and I was trying to let it melt, and I thought it fully melted and the ice touched my lip and I almost gagged.
Pagoda:It's water. It's water.
Chef Ricky:I know. I know.
Bam Bam:I know. It's just such a such
Chef Ricky:a foreign concept for me.
Senator:We gotta get chef in a pool. Off ice. An ice bath.
Bam Bam:Can't get the top knot wet.
Poobah:Come over come over the summer. You can jump in the hot tub. Sounds good.
Gizmo:So, boys, let's go to another story actually tied to that foundation story we talked about earlier. This one's an unfortunate one. There was a pretty big fire at the AJ Fernandez factory in Nicaragua consuming, destroying millions of cigars in Esteli. What happened? So apparently, a blaze broke out in their factory in the finishing area.
Gizmo:So where cigars were already done and being packaged, damaging millions of finished cigars. According to Rafael Nadal, who of course we mention all the time because his brand is Aging Room and he's also the vice president of product capability of Altadis in Tabaklera, USA. The fire began in the packaging department, an area of the factory where finished cigars are labeled, put into cellophane sleeves and boxed for shipment. It is unclear exactly which brands were consumed by the fire, but AJ Fernandez, of course, has such lines as Aging Room, Monte Cristo, Romeo Jolieta, the non Cuban version, Diesel, and Manowar, and as well as his own cigars, including New World Series, Enclave, and San Latano. And then there's other brand other brands that are manufactured there, including Foundation Cigar Company who we just talked about before.
Gizmo:So I'm you know, I can't imagine how devastating this is gonna be leading up to PCA. Yeah. A lot of finished product has been destroyed by this fire
Gizmo:at
Gizmo:this
Poobah:You know,
Gizmo:I can't
Poobah:imagine as a business owner, this isn't the first story we've heard about.
Gizmo:No, there's been a lot. There's been a lot. But usually it's not in the finishing area where it's usually in the fermentation and Yeah, exactly. It's in those the barns and whatnot.
Poobah:The barns and whatnot. But but but regardless, you're losing raw material or or whenever you lose raw material or finished goods, it's it's devastating for your gross to net. I mean, it's devastating for a business.
Gizmo:And don't forget too, Pooh, but particularly bad right now because PCA is in a week and a half.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:You know, like, we're talking about, you know, these are finished goods that we're probably just being prepared to ship to be distributed and previewed at PCA, and now a lot of those cigars have been destroyed.
Poobah:Yeah. And I can just as a business owner, sympathize with these business owners because I have no idea what the insurance on like, how do you underwrite this? Can they get insurance in these countries?
Rooster:I'm sure they're insured.
Poobah:Well, yeah. I'm I'm I'm well, at what premium, though? And there's variables. And and I I I don't know the details. I'm speculating.
Poobah:But boy, oh, boy. Look. Just in Florida to get insurance on residential homes because of hurricanes, just to get insurance on commercial facilities in Florida and the wildfires in California and all that downward pressure, that's gotta be putting a lot of pressure on, you know, on general cigar, on Altatus, on all these companies because you can you could lose inventory in a snap, which just happened Yeah. Because of one person being dumb.
Senator:Yep. Yeah. I think the sad thing is, I mean, every major new world manufacturer has dealt with exactly this at some point in their history. Like a fire is a huge I mean Fuente just went
Gizmo:through Fuente just
Bam Bam:went through it.
Senator:That's right. That's why they had to delay the release of the Padron Fuente collaboration, and he lost apparently a lot of like some of their premier, you know, crops. We've talked about Padron, that was a big part of their history when everything burned down, they had to restart. I mean, you wouldn't expect with a product that shouldn't really require things that involve much fire.
Bam Bam:That's so damn combustible. You would think they take precaution.
Gizmo:Well, totally. So an unfortunate thing that happened there, boys, with the AJ Fernandez fire. I'm sure we'll learn a little bit more about that at PCA, and certainly we'll see the impact of which cigars were destroyed and which cigars are gonna be available.
Bam Bam:Well, I'm hoping pricing impact is minimal.
Gizmo:And I'm curious too if that new aging room that's Honduras made, the one that's actually very similar in color to the Scotch we have, that Which like teal box, which
Bam Bam:I really wanna We're
Poobah:gonna we're gonna have that
Rooster:in PCM.
Gizmo:Label him. Yes. Exactly. So we'll see if that's affected. But alright, boys.
Gizmo:We're coming to the end of the second third now on the Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust Umba Gog in Bronzeback. What's everybody thinking?
Bam Bam:Well, Pagoda's favorite thing. The room is full of smoke right now.
Pagoda:It is full of smoke. I'll tell you.
Bam Bam:Right?
Pagoda:That's why I love Steve Sakha, meaning from Liga Pravada to a lot of his other smokes. Great construction, great smoke output. Even to begin with, you can pick up a cigar and you can feel really good about at least having the feel of smoking a cigar. And then obviously, in terms of flavor profiles, of course, and strength, and you know, that's obviously subjective.
Bam Bam:I'm not surprised at how good this is because every cigar of his that I've ever had has been so freaking satisfying.
Pagoda:Sure. Although I tried to smoke really slow, but I did come to the end.
Bam Bam:Yeah, but it's been over an hour.
Pagoda:Yeah. And I think, like, a lot of the guys in the lounge would power through it, you know?
Bam Bam:So that's, I'm glad you said that. This cigar, it's like, Senator said it earlier, Giz initially made a comment, you have to you take a draw and it gives you so much satisfaction between draws. You have no choice but to enjoy it and savor it and then take another draw. That takes time.
Gizmo:So you're saying that if we're not on the podcast under the microscope, you think you'd blow through this? Hell no.
Pagoda:I would.
Bam Bam:You would. But I think
Pagoda:a lot of I'm definitely gonna go faster.
Bam Bam:Guys that haven't smoked cigars long enough will power through a little cigar like this.
Pagoda:No, it's easy. You just wanna bring it back and just take another, you know, if you're getting a good smoke output, you wait for a bed, and then it's a short cigar and 40 a drink gauge, meaning it's not like, I think today, you know, we are talking, so it slows our pace down. But when we're out, I don't know, I tend to smoke cigars faster when I'm in the lounge.
Poobah:I didn't have a single correction, really.
Gizmo:No correction. Yeah.
Poobah:Zero. Which which is a merit. And I thought the finish was was long enough, and that's a that's a merit too. There were no unpleasant notes for me. The blend was The
Rooster:blending is good.
Poobah:Very good. Was really good. Yes, rooster. It was very good, and and and it was balanced for me. It was a very balanced experience.
Poobah:And I think that paired with this unique scotch, which really I haven't had a scotch like this ever. It's very unique. And I thought the cigar was very unique. And and and and, again, not to be repetitive, but I thought it was very, very, very nice a very, very nice pairing, which which on this podcast happens more often more often than we think.
Bam Bam:Don't hurt the delicate genius.
Poobah:No. No. Don't know I don't know if that's by design or or luck or a combination of both, but it probably is a combination. It's all of
Pagoda:by design.
Gizmo:I think it's more by luck, but I'll take the compliment. Yeah.
Poobah:But I thought it was very nice. It was really a very nice pairing, and for me, it really matched up well. And it was a tremendously enjoy enjoyable experience for me and money for value I have to say at $11 or whatever it is.
Bam Bam:Not to interrupt you, but as this is sitting with the the ice is diluted, it it actually is very reminiscent of a tequila right now. Yeah. I you know? It's ridiculous.
Chef Ricky:I'm I'm here. Must be at a quarter inch. I think I'm a little ahead of you guys, but I'm this cigar. I'm getting now some apricot and passion fruit. Some very light notes of like tropical fruit that's happening here.
Chef Ricky:It's fucking awesome. And I put the scotch down for a little bit. I just took a sip now. But yeah, I mean, the journey the cigar is taking us on, it's it's it's Pretty nice. Right?
Bam Bam:Love the pairing. It's well packed.
Chef Ricky:The pairing's on point. I mean, I I have no complaints.
Poobah:No complaints.
Bam Bam:It's not tequila like to use, chef? I'm disappointed.
Chef Ricky:No. No. No. It is. No.
Chef Ricky:I I agree with you.
Pagoda:Yeah. Where do you think he's getting the apricot from?
Bam Bam:Yeah. I'm just Well, it's coming from knows. Because I don't know what the hell he's talking about.
Poobah:Because it has a little bit of that fruity forward thing, but it also has this high proof notion to it.
Bam Bam:And because of the ice,
Chef Ricky:it's brought down like I said earlier, for me, adding the cube of ice just kind of brought out more of the citrus notes. And citrus is something that's present in
Gizmo:abergine pattern.
Rooster:Are you getting the fruity note out of the scotch or out of the cigar?
Chef Ricky:I think the pairing. Put the scotch
Bam Bam:on for a and
Chef Ricky:I was getting that fruity note, that tropical fruity note out of the cigar, but even now just taking a sip of the scotch, it complemented it well.
Poobah:It's really a nice pairing.
Senator:Oh, think the pairing's excellent. I mean, the the fruity notes like we're talking about in the scotch, I think pair with some of what you get out of the cigar, which is kinda unexpected. I mean, you see a dark wrapper like this, you expect cocoa and nuts and chocolate, but you're also getting
Chef Ricky:And you got some of that in the beginning. You did.
Bam Bam:That's for sure.
Senator:For sure. But you get a whole lot more, and that's why I think the the two really just marry nicely.
Pagoda:Correct.
Rooster:It's really well balanced
Poobah:cigar. Yeah. It was really Steap story. Surprising.
Rooster:Yeah.
Bam Bam:It's like the guy knows what the fuck he's doing.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's go into some listener email now. This one is from Lizard Rigsey. He says, hey, guys. I'm curious as to your thoughts on the best everyman cigar.
Gizmo:I think the one we have in our hand is a good
Bam Bam:I said that earlier.
Gizmo:Good example of that. I love a high quality cigar when I can get one, but pairing an old school Alcazar or a new school Chill and Moose, which I guess are some cigars that he's been smoking, with soda have been my modus operandi for the last couple of years. I've wondered about finding a new world cigar that's a little nicer for special occasions, but I'm mainly looking for a nicer smoke for the end of the day, and my budget is very tight. Do you guys have any recommendations for me?
Rooster:This one. So many.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I mean, this cigar, the stoic that we smoked recently on the pod was phenomenal.
Pagoda:Well priced also. Sonata. Sonata.
Rooster:Mean, not knowing his budget.
Bam Bam:Maestro del Tiempo.
Gizmo:I'm I'm thinking it's Aladino. Correct.
Pagoda:Aladino. Aladino. Aladino.
Gizmo:I mean, to me, if you're gonna get something that's, like, not crazy, like a special occasion cigar, I would say the eightieth Amaduro from Padron would be a good special occasion cigar and the $30.30 dollars range.
Rooster:Not a budget at all.
Gizmo:32. Right? Yeah. 32 ish? No.
Gizmo:It's 36.
Bam Bam:Is it more?
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Yeah. I'm guessing he's at the 15 to $20 price point.
Bam Bam:So anything under 20 is there's so many options.
Gizmo:You can get a you can get the Churchill from Padron nineteen sixty four. The Diplomatico Yeah. Is a good one in Maduro or Natural, whatever you Just refer to our ratings. Yeah. Check out the ratings guide for sure.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Another one here from Lizard John from Boise. He writes us all the time. He says, hi, Giz. Hope you and yours are all doing well.
Gizmo:I had a question for my fellow lizards apart from the pod, of course. How often do you guys try out new brands when purchasing cigars? I know I often feel like I should branch out from my personal favorites and grab something new from my local brick and mortars humidor, but I often stick to the brands that I know and love. Do you guys experience something similar? There are so many great new world sticks out there now, but sometimes or most of the time, you just wanna get what you know you're going to get.
Gizmo:Cheers, lizard John from Boise. So outside of this podcast
Bam Bam:It's a good email.
Gizmo:How much do you guys venture out from what you know?
Chef Ricky:Not at all.
Gizmo:I know what the answer I think is for
Pagoda:every Not
Gizmo:at all. Never.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Rooster:You know why? Because we look forward to the pod, and most of the time we are doing a new new world cigar on the Correct.
Bam Bam:So We're fortunate that way. Yeah.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah. We're trying 50 plus cigars a year, a lot of which we've never had. And as we've been talking about tonight and with this cigar that we've not had, I mean
Bam Bam:So many of pretty lucky. Many of them become standards in our rotation.
Gizmo:Sure. Yeah.
Pagoda:Yeah. Just check the ratings and go through the new worlds and, you know, try different cigars.
Gizmo:Exactly. So this one's interesting. We had talked about this on the Padron sixtieth anniversary in Maduro, I think I mentioned this at one point, but a listener wrote, and I can't even read the username on YouTube. But he says, I bought my box in early December of the Padron sixtieth anniversary in Maduro that you guys reviewed. And while it is beautiful, the lacquer smell is very overpowering.
Gizmo:I took the cigars out and stored them in my humidor. I've had the box airing out for almost four months now, and it still reeks of lacquer. So I've not purchased one of these boxes. I know Senator has, and I know that Rooster has. I'm curious if you guys have had the same experience with the box smelling of lacquer after a certain period of time.
Gizmo:I've seen this online a couple times.
Bam Bam:Well, know for sure Senator keeps his outside under the deck.
Senator:Yeah, it's a display piece at
Gizmo:this point. Did you take the cigars out of the coffins?
Senator:No, no, they're in the coffins.
Gizmo:They're in the coffins in the tower?
Senator:Yeah. Okay. And just the box itself I had on display, but the box doesn't have a funny smell. The cigars don't have a funny smell. That has not been my experience.
Rooster:Yeah, same. Same.
Gizmo:Yeah. Oh, you bought them too, that's right.
Chef Ricky:I have the lacquer coffins in tower, and the box is sitting outside because it doesn't fit in my tower, but I haven't noticed any off putting lacquer smell.
Gizmo:Yeah. So I've seen that online a few times. I I've not purchased the box, so I'm not sure. But I know that the coffins themselves, I did take the cigars out of the coffins just to put them in my tower just
Bam Bam:to
Gizmo:take up less room.
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Gizmo:But I've not had a negative experience with the lacquer smell affecting flavor. Alright, boys. Our last one tonight is our lizard of the week. This one is from Lizard Phillip from Southern Germany, First time writer. He says, dear Lounge Lizards, first of all, thank you very much for your podcast and for being awesome.
Gizmo:I stumbled on your podcast in early January and was able to listen to some of your episodes already, mostly the ones where I already had a fitting cigar in my humidor to smoke along with you. I really enjoyed discovering the flavor notes with you as I listened to you talk. I recently listened to episode 82, the Partiga series e number two with the Belgian beer pairing. It was excellent. However, during the episode, you guys talked about warm beer from Southern Germany, which being a southern German really got to me.
Gizmo:Please, nobody in Germany likes warm beer. It is absolutely disgusting. I also got the feeling that you do not like German beer that much, which is fine. No peer pressure. I don't think that's true.
Bam Bam:That's not we love. I love braai
Pagoda:German I love
Bam Bam:Bittberger. Bittberger. Bittberger. Bittberger. Bittberger.
Bam Bam:Bittberger.
Gizmo:My father growing up had Lowenbrown on tap. Lowenbrown, yes. He had Lowenbrown on tap at the house. However, if you ever find yourself coming to Germany, contact me and I will prove you wrong about German beer. Let's go there for Oktoberfest.
Gizmo:He says, I have two questions for you. I guess most of your audience is from The US. Do you see and follow, and did you ever discuss where your audience is generally from? It's a great question. It's actually ever increasingly more
Rooster:Yeah. Where?
Gizmo:Outside The US than it is inside the senate.
Bam Bam:Global recording.
Gizmo:Global recording. We have a lot of folks inside or in a room.
Bam Bam:Nothing's a surprise here.
Gizmo:We have a lot of folks from outside The US listening, which is really nice. We love hearing from everybody. And his second question here is, as one of the youngest persons in my local cigar lounge and shop, I sometimes feel a little bit insecure regarding topics to talk about with other lounge members.
Chef Ricky:You're not alone. So are
Gizmo:there any no go topics
Bam Bam:Yeah. She's a youngster.
Pagoda:Ping pong.
Gizmo:Apart from the real obvious ones, do you think are not suitable for a cigar lounge, and what are your favorite topics to talk about with someone you've never met prior? Keep up the amazing podcast. Thank you, guys. Best wishes from Southern Germany, Lizard Phillip.
Pagoda:He should talk about the pod. He says he listens to the pod. This is where you get good recommendations, good ratings. And I think it's a fantastic icebreaker. Yeah.
Pagoda:Know, talk about cigars.
Senator:Jeff, do you know anything about no go topics
Bam Bam:to bring up in the cigar lounge? Ice? No. Ice. Alright.
Bam Bam:I take that one.
Chef Ricky:You know what? As as your ring of friends gets tighter and closer and and you develop that sort of confidence in everyone and and, know, the conversation is just.
Bam Bam:Yeah, let's just say nothing's off limits. Exactly,
Chef Ricky:they take a life of their own.
Gizmo:Oh, I forgot about that one. Oh, I'm just remembering now what you're I
Pagoda:think we like fades in this podcast. The Norelco is a great, great, great instrument.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I tell you, Mondays where where the kids are home from school, it's not ideal. But, you know
Pagoda:You still need to break that
Bam Bam:up. Yeah.
Poobah:I mean, like like like anything else in social situations, I I always try and stay away from from from anything divisive. So, you know, when you're when I go to a lounge and I'm by myself, I I I don't.
Bam Bam:That's that's a good that's a good point.
Chef Ricky:I would say politics is probably enough.
Poobah:Yeah. I don't bring up politics because I don't care about any religion.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Correct.
Poobah:Yeah. I don't care about it's like a Thanksgiving dinner. I don't care about anybody's politics. I don't care about anybody's religious point of views. I don't care about it.
Poobah:What I care about is is what I find interesting about the other person or what their passions are.
Senator:Or what they think of g four.
Poobah:Correct. Sure. I mean yeah.
Chef Ricky:Or marketing.
Poobah:Yeah. Or G four.
Bam Bam:Or how much your house costs.
Poobah:Well, no. I don't care about that.
Chef Ricky:No. I I think business like, what do you do for a living is natural conversation starter. You know, it kinda gives you some insight about what the person's into and what some of their passions are.
Poobah:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think I think most folks in cigar lounges, they just they just wanna have conversation about, you know, what what what drives you or or what what what do you like? And and and we all have challenges and and and things in our life. And and and and over cigar, it's it's great to share those things.
Poobah:And and and it's it's the senator's point. It goes back to what he said years and years ago, which is cigar the cigar is kind of a great equalizer. So when you when when you just you know, you wanna just connect with people. And I think connecting with people on a on a on a neutral level and and and connecting and listening and appreciating what the other person is saying is is what it's all about.
Pagoda:Yeah. Get some beer and share it with people.
Bam Bam:Yeah. You know, the great thing about once you get close to guys in the cigar club, you're talking about relationship issues, business issues. You can talk to your buddies about those things. Get some advice. That's what I love about this place.
Rooster:And sports. Of course.
Gizmo:Of course. Of course.
Bam Bam:That's the easiest topic. But from the point of view of supporting each other, that happens.
Rooster:But after after a while, you get to know them.
Bam Bam:That's right. Right. That's right.
Senator:To Rooster's point, sports is the easiest topic.
Bam Bam:Oh,
Senator:yeah. Every cigar lounge that I've been to on the road where I don't know people there
Bam Bam:Correct.
Senator:How everyone is starting to kinda get to meet each other, it's always Correct.
Poobah:Sports is great because it's surfaced and it's a way to connect.
Chef Ricky:I'd stay away from polarizing topics. Like if you're visiting a lounge that's not your home lounge and you know, you're going to ask about some local event that's happening or current event that happened recently in the news that might create some divisiveness. I'd stay away from that. Yeah, I think if you have a passion, especially something that revolves around food, spirits, beer, or anything that has to do with things you consume that you could taste and smell and things like that, I think those are great topics.
Bam Bam:Talk about cigars.
Gizmo:I was going to say, yeah, the best thing to do is what kind of cigars do you like? Exactly. Well, how often do you smoke? How much do you smoke? Where do you smoke?
Bam Bam:When someone tells you what they like, it opens up an entire conversation.
Chef Ricky:That could be tough because that person could be early in their journey, right? When I joined this lounge, I hadn't smoked a Cuban yet.
Bam Bam:But that makes it interesting, I think.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, for some, but some people could judge you and maybe decide like, this guy is not worth talking to or something like that. My icebreaker was tequila in mezcal. And I made sure that every time I came to the lounge, because we have the privilege of bringing our own bottles and our own lockers here and storing it. I made sure to always bring a good spirit that I could share and talk about with confidence and knowing that a lot of people may not know about this stuff yet. So that that was sort of like, how how can you contribute to your local lounge?
Chef Ricky:Yeah. And that was my contribution.
Poobah:Precisely. It's it's almost like but I do think cigar smokers are curious about other people's opinions about cigars and spirits. And and and I think sharing those opinions is is is is kind of a good foundation to to communicate. And and that's always a nice nice way to to to, you know, to connect. And then generally, in my experience, when traveling and going to cigar lounges, it's it's and then once that connection is made, other things open up.
Poobah:Then it's kind of like, well, what do you do? And and, you know, you share what you do and that person shares what you do. And guess what? Like, so many times you're like, wow. Like, that's very interesting.
Poobah:You either learn something or you have, like, a common connection and you're like, well, wow, I'm in that space too. And then you learn something from the other person and and that's nice.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I think the way you approach any relationship that you want to build is how can you contribute to that, not pull from it. Totally. So just think about
Bam Bam:how you're
Chef Ricky:going to contribute to something and what that is.
Bam Bam:Don't sit down with an investment idea and try to get everyone to come back.
Gizmo:Don't ask anybody for money.
Senator:Don't hand out business cards.
Bam Bam:Absolutely correct.
Poobah:Never. And like listening
Chef Ricky:Just hand out chocolate.
Poobah:And like actively Bouchard. Exactly. And like actively listening to someone is, you know, is is a good practice I found in my personal life.
Senator:Just going back to cigars being an easy entry point, I don't view it as like someone's a novice cigar smoker, and all of a sudden, that's hard if you're a more experienced cigar smoker. I think like those are the situations where I've met countless people in lounges who you could tell in talking to them, okay, they're a novice cigar smoker. If you have a good conversation, then you wanna share
Rooster:Of course.
Senator:A cigar that you think
Gizmo:that they would Give them some sugar. Exactly.
Senator:I mean, the first time I met Gizmo, it's exactly what happened, right?
Bam Bam:He was smoking a purchase. I don't remember what it was,
Poobah:but It
Gizmo:was like monocrystal white label or some And
Senator:to his credit, he said to me, he's like, you know, consider myself a novice cigar smoker. I said, have ever had an ex placebo? No. He smoked one, and he's like, holy shit, this is life changing. Random people on the road, I've done the same thing with.
Senator:So I think and I've also been on the receiving end sometimes of So I just think like that's a really easy way to like, show something you appreciate, see if someone else does, and it like immediately deepens the relationship with that person, where they're like, oh, wow. You've clued me into something I never knew about.
Rooster:Yeah. Who doesn't like a free cigar?
Gizmo:Totally. A free good cigar.
Pagoda:Correct.
Gizmo:Or a great cigar.
Poobah:Well, yeah. And and and and and I think cigar smokers are are curious people by nature, and they're social animals. And generous. And generous. I think most are
Chef Ricky:And if they're not, this hobby will make you more social.
Rooster:Most cigar smokers are
Bam Bam:journalists. Oh, no. I'm gonna throw this lit cigar right at your head. How
Gizmo:do you know I'm talking
Bam Bam:to you? Oh, I just don't know. Are you are you are
Poobah:you guys suggesting I make a generalization based on
Chef Ricky:No. On Bam Bam's accountability? Well,
Poobah:no. But I This this
Bam Bam:is a crime that's taking place right now.
Poobah:No, but I do think
Gizmo:I disagree with them, Bam, I will say.
Poobah:Thank you. Do think
Bam Bam:great. Wish rooster would call this restitution.
Pagoda:What have I not given you?
Rooster:Everything. Everything I have is from you. You're very generous. Of course you are. Everybody is.
Rooster:I'm just making a general statement that most cigar smokers are usually very generous.
Poobah:They're generous, but I also think they're very curious. If they're into the hobby, they're curious to learn more. They're curious to journey out. And I think sharing those experiences and doing it in an authentic way. Yeah.
Poobah:It's like a cool thing to do.
Bam Bam:You know?
Chef Ricky:It's obviously the case with this listener because he's curious about how he could further, you know, his his knowledge in a in a cigar lounge and how he could enhance his relationships and
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Rooster:You learn from each
Bam Bam:other. Yeah.
Gizmo:And I think the senator's point too, if you're fortunate enough to be able to not only pack what you're gonna smoke, but also to bring a few extras. If you were to make contact with someone that you could share something with that you feel is worth the time and effort and the conversation about it, then that's worthwhile and you've given more than you've taken. I think that's worthwhile.
Bam Bam:What a great email.
Gizmo:Yeah. Very good. Absolutely.
Pagoda:Quick question. Was it in German or English? Just checking.
Gizmo:I didn't have to translate.
Bam Bam:All right.
Poobah:Fair enough. Fair I mean, ultimately, at the end of the day, I do think cigar lounges facilitate authenticity. You know, for the most part, for people who are really love cigars and love spirits and do this stuff. If if you're gonna have a constructive conversation with someone, it's got to be authentic.
Chef Ricky:One of my favorite cigars I've ever smoked was with my son, my older son. And when he turned 18, we had a cigar together. And, you know, this day and age with cell phones and everything, it's hard to sit down with your kids and have uninterrupted time. And I invited him out for a cigar in the backyard. One night he came out.
Chef Ricky:We sat there for an hour and a half and we had a conversation and that, you know, he always would ask me, why do you smoke cigars? So when we were done, I said, Well, now do you know the answer to your question? And I had to remind him what his question was. And I said, Look at what just happened. We sat down and we had a conversation, just you and I, for an hour and a half.
Chef Ricky:We've never done this. You know? And he's like, Wow, you're right. And to me, that's what a cigar is
Bam Bam:for.
Chef Ricky:That's what a cigar does.
Poobah:Yeah. The equivalent.
Senator:What cigar did you choose?
Chef Ricky:I don't remember what we smoked, to be honest with you, but I know it was a good cigar.
Bam Bam:Was gonna
Rooster:say means
Senator:you had a great conversation then.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Yeah. Correct. No. Didn't have a plastic
Poobah:Think about how many authentic conversations that we've had together and how much we've shared together. I'm not talking on the podcast. I'm talking outside.
Chef Ricky:After hours. Yeah.
Gizmo:Podcast after hours. Yeah.
Bam Bam:Gets dicey after hours around here.
Poobah:Yeah. No. Well, it doesn't get it does. But, I mean, it it but but but it also I think there's a level of authenticity to to the dialogue that the cigar is a catalyst for.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. You know, I I actually I I'm going to go back. I I kind of want to say so. This was early on in me joining the lounge, and I think it was Bam that shared a interestingly enough, even you're like perplexed by that. Yes, you shared this.
Chef Ricky:What
Bam Bam:did I share?
Pagoda:You said
Chef Ricky:I did.
Bam Bam:I shared my style. No,
Pagoda:Ben. I am speechless. Like, I did what? What?
Bam Bam:I'm calculating right
Gizmo:now. Yeah. Ben's head is like Zach Galifianakis in the Hangout.
Chef Ricky:No. Bam gave me my first eye of the shark.
Gizmo:Oh, very nice.
Chef Ricky:And I remember What was
Senator:that like? Wow.
Bam Bam:I remember
Chef Ricky:I remember after that.
Poobah:I don't know. I've never gotten an eye of the shark from Bam.
Chef Ricky:It probably the first week I joined here. Bam gave me an eye of the shark.
Senator:I paid for my last eye
Chef Ricky:of the shark from Correct. I did pay for And you
Bam Bam:always will.
Pagoda:You probably paid a premium.
Bam Bam:I gave you guys a deep discount.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. And I probably didn't give him a great cigar because it was his first. It wasn't a bad cigar.
Bam Bam:I don't remember.
Chef Ricky:Was, not you, my son.
Poobah:Oh,
Chef Ricky:okay. I didn't give you anything other than sharing tequila at
Bam Bam:that point. That was very generous as well.
Pagoda:But the more important part is he sat with you and had a conversation
Chef Ricky:with Yeah, no, it was amazing. And for me, that's what this hobby does. I mean, every single, you know, all of you being able to sit with you and smoke and have conversations and get to know you all. And yeah, anyone that I sit outside with, you know, even in a random lounge, bringing a Soho cigar bar, one sitting and smoking and a guy's asking me why I'm smoke, but I'm what was it that I was smoking? And he shared one of his cigars with me.
Chef Ricky:Complete stranger turned out to be a casting agent for reality shows. And then he was trying to get me on some food shelves. Don't know. I'm good. Thanks.
Senator:And then he cast you for the podcast. Correct.
Chef Ricky:So, yeah, I mean, you just never know where this is going to, you know, I never would have thought I'd be on this podcast. Well, sort of. But I knew once I adjusted your opinions on Don Julio, it was it was all over.
Gizmo:And ice.
Chef Ricky:And ice.
Gizmo:And ice.
Chef Ricky:And ice.
Gizmo:Alright. So that was a great email from Lizard Peter from Germany. We really appreciate it. Any lizard out there can win lizard of the week. All you have to do is write us an email.
Gizmo:Tell us what you're smoking. Write us on Instagram, YouTube, Spotify, whatever you choose. Just reach out and contact us, and you can win lizard of the week. So lizard Philip himself is going to win a little gift package from us that I'm gonna send him. And, of course, boys, we are coming to the end of our evening tonight with the Brooklotti Classiclotti and the Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust Umba Gog in bronze back.
Gizmo:Any final thoughts before
Bam Bam:we move into the ratings tonight? Surprisingly delicious pairing.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Great pairing.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah. I thought the pairing was excellent top to bottom.
Pagoda:Fantastic. Yeah. You did a good job.
Chef Ricky:I'm looking at that bottle and I can't believe that what we drank and enjoyed came out of that fucking bottle.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Rooster:I
Gizmo:agree. It's it's definitely an interesting bottle for $60. 60 dollars.
Chef Ricky:This thing looks like some cream liqueur comes out it. Just it doesn't look like a scotch bottle.
Gizmo:It does.
Chef Ricky:It looks like I don't know.
Gizmo:But it was good. Alright, boys. It's time now to move into the formal liquor rating tonight on the Brooklotti. Classic Lotti. No age statement on this.
Gizmo:The single malt scotch. Bam, bam, you're up.
Bam Bam:So my first few sips, I hated it. The heat just took me completely by surprise. And then, you know, and I had it neat for my first glass, and it got better and better. And I was as I mentioned earlier, I didn't get much vanilla, but a ton of butterscotch on a finish. Then I added ice for the second glass.
Bam Bam:It ramped up the sweetness for me, and it became very refreshing. And as I just sat with it, honestly, the very, very end was very tequila like. As the ice completely melted, was surprisingly for me, there's a bit of a journey, and for the price, I'm giving this a 10. Wow. Wow.
Bam Bam:I'm surprised to hear that. Can't Awesome. This is unique. Excellent. I don't think I've ever had anything like this before.
Bam Bam:We've had those experiences before, and those are usually very highly rated spirits. 10.
Gizmo:Okay. Chef Ricky?
Bam Bam:I feel the need to
Chef Ricky:give this two ratings, and I know formally I can't, but I'll do it anyway.
Bam Bam:Pagoda is gonna Pagoda,
Gizmo:are you ready? Oh, boy. Pagoda's pissed.
Bam Bam:I'm I'm gonna get disgruntled. With ice
Pagoda:and without ice, I'd imagine. Yes. And I get to pick. So
Chef Ricky:with ice, I'm gonna give it a name. Felt that with the ice, I lost what I was So let me preface this conversation by saying that I enjoy high proof spirits.
Bam Bam:No need to couch.
Chef Ricky:I understand why they're made.
Senator:You do realize that you can rate it based on the way you prefer it with or without ice.
Chef Ricky:Sure. But I think for the listener, you know, I'm I'm gonna my my my actual rating, my formal liquor rating will be a nine. I'm at an eight with ice just because I felt like some of the while the citrus notes were highlighted, what I was actually enjoying was the butterscotch, the vanilla. Vanilla is a key component in butterscotch, just so they're not that far. They're not that far off.
Senator:But Bam bam's going to culinary school.
Bam Bam:This is an education.
Chef Ricky:But, yeah, it's it's something that is you know, I I thought the ice just kind of muted it a little bit. And again, I don't mind the high proof. I look forward to it. So but yes, I think, you know, if you're going to drink it on a warmer day, you're looking for that longer drink. This could be great with ice.
Chef Ricky:This may be an appropriate scotch to drink with water. So, yeah, either way it's delicious, but I preferred it without ice. So, yeah, I'm at a nine.
Bam Bam:You know, honestly, just a quick comment that as I noted earlier, the ice did not mute the aroma.
Chef Ricky:No. It did not. It did not.
Bam Bam:That's pretty unique. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:All right, Pagoda.
Pagoda:I'm at an eight, and you know, I started off obviously without ice, and it was a bit too overpowering for me. I felt the heat throughout my chest, and I typically don't drink a lot of really high proof just liquor, just generally. Life. The other thing is, you know, I think in single malt whiskey that I Just high volume. Just high volume.
Pagoda:And I also tend to prefer things, you know, like my favorite scotches are typically in a sherry cast, which I feel rounded off. And this, if you're looking for a cleaner floral experience with kind of essentially, I don't know, for me it felt like, I think we talked about it earlier, was cleansing the palate. Yeah. It kind of really complemented the cigar, but you know, it's a slightly different take on, you know, single malts. But overall, a very, very pleasant experience.
Pagoda:I would drink it with ice, thanks to Senator's recommendation on that. And, I could see maybe, you know, having a bottle this summer, but whether I'd go and buy it and put it on my shelf, I'm not sure. It's not something that I would gravitate towards to just, you know, there's certain scotch that we have, and we say, hey, listen, I'm just gonna go and put it on my shelf. But this, you know, I'm kind of on the fence.
Bam Bam:This won't be a staple for you.
Chef Ricky:No. I honestly wanna buy it and put it on the shelf because it's so out there.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Know? It's so And it's
Chef Ricky:gonna create a lot of just curiosity. Mhmm.
Bam Bam:Good commentary though.
Gizmo:Yeah. Senator.
Senator:So I'm definitely at a nine. And wildly, I mean, Lizard Ross is batting a thousand right now because the Buna Habain we all really loved, and none of us had had before that. And I just think this is easily one of the most unique single malts I've ever had. I think that it has carved out such a distinct niche that like nothing else comes close to being as satisfying in this category, what it's trying to do, which is to be a lighter, more floral, fruit forward scotch, not like your typical richer, more intense single malt. And again, for summer months, the summer is when I pull for scotch the least, the fall and the winter is when I pull for it the most.
Senator:And the fact that this drinks tequila like, I mean Mhmm. That I would reach for this during the summer regardless of even the proof. I there's a ton of merit to this. Yeah. I think anyone would be intrigued, and I vividly remember when I first had this, like this was the biggest surprise of the things I had tried that night, and all this time later, I feel just as shocked of like, wow, I can't believe this is even a scotch.
Senator:So I think they've done something really really cool with this. I I'm at a strong nine. I would definitely recommend it. And I think some of the hardest scotch to make is lighter scotch. Like, all of us, like, we love Macao, and we love Balvini.
Senator:Those are richer, fuller expressions.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. You can't hide behind the age here.
Senator:Totally. And it's like the lighter stuff is where it's very polarizing. Like, I hate Dalwhinnie 15, Grindr likes Dalwhinnie.
Gizmo:Mhmm.
Senator:You know, Glenn Maranje ten can be polarizing. There's like a lot of these lighter bodied ones that you love or hate, and this is one that I I really love, and I think everybody so far has found something to appreciate.
Bam Bam:It's hard to make something this light this interesting. Exactly. It really is. I think that's what's compelling about this.
Gizmo:So for me, it's also a nine. I'm not going to repeat everything everybody has already said. I'm completely surprised by the scotch. Looking at that bottle, bringing it here tonight, I was totally ready to rip this apart based on the presentation of it. But how it drank and how it paired with this cigar tonight, I thought it was excellent.
Gizmo:I think the $60 price point is very, very fair for this. I do wish it had an age statement. I think when I think about single malts, despite what senator said some of the others we've done or some of the others that we might have in our cabinet that don't have an age statement on it, I I I often think about a lack of age statement being with a blended, you know, a a blended whiskey. But on a single malt, it's weird that it's not there for me. But overall, I was very, very happy with this tonight.
Gizmo:The ice was definitely necessary. Absolutely necessary. I think drinking it neat was a little too hot for me. I know you guys started like that.
Bam Bam:Three or four sips in it leveled out beautifully.
Gizmo:But I'm very very happy with the scotch, and so for me it's a nine.
Senator:One last thing that I forgot to mention, I think is worth noting, the versatility of this is outrageous. It is. The reason I say this, we're smoking a full bodied cigar. We're talking about a lighter in color and bodied Tequila,
Chef Ricky:snouts, Correct. Yeah.
Senator:You would never think that this could hold up. The only reason you would suspect maybe is the alcohol content.
Chef Ricky:Mhmm.
Senator:Outside of that, the flavor profile is way lighter than most single malts. And in terms of other cigars this would pair well with, I think there are countless Cuban cigars this would be amazing with, like a Corona's Claro, any of the LGCs with those floral notes would pair beautifully with this.
Bam Bam:With ice. For For the Cuban. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:For sure.
Chef Ricky:Pull out some citrus notes. I'll also say this. I have a lot of respect for a brand when they are releasing a higher proof spirit at a decent price point because they're not adding water or as much water as someone who's going down to 80 proof. So, you know, we're getting a pure spirit and it's still at an approachable price point and it's and it's a great quality. I I love them for that.
Gizmo:Absolutely. Alright, Pooba. I'm a
Poobah:little bit torn. I mean, part of me really loves it, and then part of me
Chef Ricky:Don't look at the bottle.
Poobah:Part of me really think like, was really impressed by it, but it's this is a tough one for me. Like, I don't feel like I can give it a nine. I don't feel like I can give it a nine like I give a balcony.
Rooster:What about a 10?
Poobah:No. I'm not it's not a 10.
Chef Ricky:Hey. And they can still a respectable score.
Poobah:But it really was it was surprising. It was fruity. It it was it had body. It had a long finish. All these merits that everyone
Chef Ricky:So can I help you here, Pooba? Yeah. Between the eight and the nine, would you buy this bottle for your bar?
Poobah:I don't know.
Chef Ricky:Damn. So I was gonna say if if you would buy the bottle, then I think it deserves a nine. But if you say you wouldn't buy a bottle
Bam Bam:But he doesn't he doesn't know. So there's
Senator:Go to this sounds like some influencing of the rating.
Bam Bam:Well,
Pagoda:I don't know. You know, I was thinking about that.
Bam Bam:I you know? I'm thinking about that.
Pagoda:You're on your first notice there, buddy. Sorry.
Poobah:Yeah. It's a it's a really good question, and I can't I I I can't totally answer it. I mean, the way alright. Here's how I'm gonna
Bam Bam:rate it. Sounds compelling.
Poobah:Here's how I'm gonna rate it. The way it paired with the cigar tonight and the way it presented itself tonight That's what matters. I'm gonna give it a nine.
Rooster:Alright. Here you go.
Pagoda:Sent some influence. But
Poobah:I was teetering. You know what I mean? If I really had to handicap it, I'd probably give it like an 8.6, you know, or something like that.
Pagoda:So you're
Poobah:rounding it up, and I know that's not how we score things.
Bam Bam:But
Chef Ricky:But I think at the end
Poobah:the day But I think it was really The only
Senator:chef is okay with your rating.
Chef Ricky:That's all
Poobah:I have.
Bam Bam:And Pagoda. Chef, by the way,
Chef Ricky:chef the lizard rating is gonna prove true. And, you know, it's gonna
Pagoda:Yeah. Chef, I do wanna tell you one thing. Today you gave two bloody ratings. I gave one And then you another. So you have three ratings tonight.
Bam Bam:He's on a pip. You gotta put him on a pip.
Pagoda:That's it. Your notice, one. Yeah. Three strikes.
Poobah:I'm gonna give it a nine because I I can't deny that I did really enjoy it. The the the branding is troubling, so I'm, like, having a tough time connecting. But at the same time, on its merit, I you can't deny
Senator:it. Your wife could make a great lamp out of this. Correct.
Chef Ricky:You know, I'm thinking if this bottle's on my back bar, this will be the first bottle that my younger son tries to, like, take a sip of just because of what it looks like.
Gizmo:You know? It's a
Poobah:It's you know, it it it it I I found it very unique. I found it differentiated, and I think that's what they're trying to do here.
Bam Bam:I think
Poobah:that's what they're trying to do with the branding and the flavor profile.
Bam Bam:And they
Poobah:said they did a great I I don't love no age statement. That kinda is a little bit weird for me. But the way it presented itself tonight, it's hard for me not to give it a nine, so I'll round it up.
Chef Ricky:The more I sit here, I'm like, I'm buying a bottle of this shit. I'm gonna put it
Poobah:on there. I As much as I hate the bottle Alright.
Pagoda:Let's get to it, buddy. Nine.
Poobah:No, no, no, nine. Gave it
Bam Bam:a nine. I
Poobah:gave it a nine, but it's like
Gizmo:an Most belabored nine ever. But
Poobah:like an 8.6, eight point seven.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. The formal liquor rating tonight on the Brooklotty classic lotty is a nine point zero. Very, very strong.
Bam Bam:Very good score. Good for
Gizmo:this debut
Pagoda:on the pod tonight.
Bam Bam:Perfect score.
Gizmo:And now it's time to move into our formal lizard rating tonight on the Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust Umbugog bronzeback, Rooster, good luck. Roosters
Bam Bam:are finally a good talk. This
Rooster:is another great Product. Very good Steve Sokka production. Correct. I think it was really well constructed. Not a single one of us had any burn issues, had great smoke And I think the cigar was really blended well.
Rooster:I think it would satisfy a lot of different palates. And I think even a novice cigar smoker can handle the cigar no issue. You feel at ease recommending this to somebody. And the price point is fantastic. It's right around $11
Bam Bam:Just under.
Rooster:Just under. And for that reason and I loved all the flavor notes that we were getting from the beginning to the end. It kind of was like a two or three act play. It kind of changed in the middle.
Bam Bam:No harsh notes at all.
Rooster:No harsh notes.
Senator:No touch ups, Steve.
Rooster:Yeah. I think you got a little bit of spice, a little bit of fruit note at the end, got a little pepper, got a little leather. So for all those reasons, I'm at a nine.
Gizmo:Alright. Very nice. Poobah. Oh, I'm
Poobah:in a nine. I really enjoyed this cigar. I thought the I thought it was very balanced in its delivery for Nicaraguan filler and the Connecticut Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. I thought that maybe balanced it out and gave it a nice harmonious kind of delivery. So for me, it delivered some sweetness.
Poobah:It delivered. I smoked it down to the end. I got no rough edges on the cigar. I I had no no harshness down the stretch. You know, there was sweetness in the beginning.
Poobah:Then there was some pepper. I I I think it was basically like a two a two act play. And I I really enjoyed it, so I'm gonna give it a nine.
Gizmo:Alright. Senator. I'm in
Senator:lockstep with, the lizards before me. It's definitely a nine. I thoroughly enjoyed this cigar. I think, balance is spot on. You get just it it it leans more sweet, but you get savory notes.
Senator:The spice in there, it's you know, spice is not a note that I ever chase in a cigar, but it was done, like, artfully in this. It's faint. Exactly.
Pagoda:Very faint too. And it
Senator:was at like just the right moment where I got like so much sweetness that then I actually wanted something to kinda balance that out, and then it got back to the sweetness, but just dialed down a bit. It was just that whole journey for me was perfect. I thought there was complexity to the flavor profile. It wasn't like, you know, a traditional Connecticut broadleaf where you're just expecting like a lot of cocoa notes, like, all the way through basically. Got berry.
Senator:We got a lot of different flavor notes throughout this, so the complexity was definitely there. The construction was excellent. Excellent. I mean, I called the wrapper rustic because at least mine was very veiny. I saw some others definitely had a nicer looking wrapper than I did.
Senator:Yeah. But the construction itself, I mean The build
Poobah:was flawless burn.
Senator:Dude. Flawless burn.
Bam Bam:We didn't have to
Senator:touch it up at all. The combustion was great. My only complaint honestly is I wish this were bigger.
Gizmo:Yep.
Senator:I just you know, for as satisfying an experience as this was, this is something that I actually would slot into moments in my rotation, but at its size, it's just a bit too small to be like a regular participant in my rotation where I'd want it to be. So that's really the only complaint, and I again, when we see Sokka next, I just I'm very curious why not a bit bigger because I think this can be like a, you know, a kind of star in the lineup. It doesn't need to be like a smaller kind of finisher or, you know, you're in a a time constrained moment. I want this to be like the whole moment.
Bam Bam:So see, this is an interesting thing. I often ask myself, would it change the experience, the flavor profile, the combustion, and the performance if it were a bigger cigar? Because we had such a great I think
Senator:an inch extra of length, I don't think it really ought
Bam Bam:not It's a curiosity that I've had.
Chef Ricky:Sure. In general. You're further away from the burn line. You're further away from the cherry combustion, whatever. Is that affecting the smoke, you know, the flavor you're getting and and everything?
Senator:I just say that. I get what you're saying. It's like it's in an awkward size where it's not a short smoke. It's just undersized. But it's not like a full normal
Bam Bam:smoke.
Senator:But how many So it's in this weird in between where I really never find myself in. It's like either I want like a full smoke, and I'm gonna spend like a good hour, hour and a half with it, or I want a short smoke, and I wanna spend a half hour. I don't ever really find myself where I'm like stuck in between wishing I had something in the middle of that. So that that's just the only thing I have a hard time.
Bam Bam:We'll mention it to Steve in a couple weeks.
Gizmo:Exactly right. So for me, boys, it's also a nine. I'm blown away by this cigar, first and foremost, by the value and the amount of time we got out of the smoke. I mean, when I brought this cigar in, if we had smoked this for forty five minutes or an hour, I would have not have been surprised.
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Gizmo:But it was a slow burning cigar. It was a well blended cigar. The construction was great. The burn was great.
Bam Bam:Full flavor.
Gizmo:As everybody's already mentioned. And the flavor was just off the charts. Incredible. Completely blown away. I love the journey of the cigar.
Gizmo:Yeah. From the first light, the questions about what we were getting all the way into the first third, into the last third. I thought it took us on a really nice journey. It was a little linear, but, you know, there were some moments that kind of popped, you know, here and there, which I thought was great. Really love the blend on this just being a really smooth, easy easily digestible Nicaraguan cigar.
Gizmo:Mhmm.
Bam Bam:You know, a lot of times we spoke a
Gizmo:lot of Nicaraguans. That's not the case. It was the case tonight. And like I said, you know, the value at $11, there was a lot of quality time here for $11. We got a lot of quality time here.
Bam Bam:How long have you had those?
Gizmo:I've probably had them for three months.
Bam Bam:Really?
Gizmo:Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah, they've been in the tower for a while.
Bam Bam:And they felt great.
Gizmo:Yeah, they were definitely well conditioned because I've had them for quite some time. Okay, cool. Yeah, so for me it's a nine. Pagoda.
Pagoda:Yeah, I'm at a nine as well. I was toying between a 10 and a nine. You know, these are the kind of flavor profiles I really like. For me, I like initially in the beginning when I lit it up, I felt like this dark cocoa chocolate with a little bit of salt on it. You know, it reminded me of like, you know, how you get those dark chocolates with some sea salt on it.
Pagoda:And then I got a little bit of the berry, which, you know, really like in the front on top of my palate, I felt the berry was, you know, which I felt a few times, and especially with a sip of, you know, the whiskey and all. I don't think, like, for me, the other thing what I really enjoyed was just the overall combustion, the experience, the feel. You know, it's like
Bam Bam:It sounds like a 10. It does. It does.
Pagoda:That's what I'm
Bam Bam:saying, sounds like a 10.
Pagoda:The the only thing the only thing Tell
Senator:them, chef.
Pagoda:The only thing the only thing
Chef Ricky:I'm a fix this.
Pagoda:The only thing is You remember, you only
Bam Bam:have two more strikes, chef. Be careful. Dread lightly. The only
Pagoda:thing is, you know, there were times that got a little bit of a little unpleasant bitter flavor in the back. And that may be my own fault because I may be, you know, there were a couple of times I got overly enthusiastic and puffed a bit quickly.
Bam Bam:Sucking it down.
Pagoda:Yeah, so, like I don't know, you know, you know, two centers point, is it the size which got affected it, where I was really enjoying the flavor and then smoking it too quick? There was something that made me feel that I want a little more out of it, and I couldn't really pinpoint what it was. So there was, And I was really trying to analyze that, but I couldn't get to it. But it could have been the size. It could have been me, you know, rushing through it.
Pagoda:It's a nine for me, but it's a great cigar. And I think I will definitely pursue it a bit.
Gizmo:Alright. Chef Ricky. Alright. Are you torn?
Chef Ricky:No. I'm not torn at all. It's it's it's a ten for me. Wow. Cool.
Chef Ricky:And, yeah, I I think at
Bam Bam:this point, I'm just gonna have to get
Chef Ricky:a jersey with the number 10 on it. Oh, you're you're making
Bam Bam:my unbridled enthusiasm.
Chef Ricky:But yeah, so here's the thing with the cigar for me. Two or three act play, not super clear in the way it delivered it because it did bounce back and forth, But I enjoyed it, right? It was somewhat linear because those acts weren't weren't clearly delineated, obviously. But what I did enjoy about the cigar is how it delivered everything that it did in a delicate manner and so much so that, you know, on my retrohales, when I'm really enjoying a cigar, I retrohale so slowly. And then I almost want to I almost want to bring that smoke back in.
Senator:I do that.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. And and in doing that, you get so much flavor. And that's when I was getting those sort of sweeter hookah notes. But the way this thing delivered cocoa, you know, semi sweet chocolate and slight coffee in the beginning and then went into this kind of fruity blueberry berry node. Then I got apricot and passion fruit towards the end, some leather, some pepper here and there.
Chef Ricky:The only complaint I had about the cigars like Senator, I wish it was bigger. All right. But then I think about how you guys love Millennium Pyramids. But then you may not love the double corona or, you know, the larger engage or the longer stick. And, you know, so yeah, to your point, Ben, there's probably a possibility that if this thing got bigger, it might change the flavor and we may not enjoy it as much.
Chef Ricky:But I think what he did for the price point at 10, 10 to 11 dollars fully packed cigar, deliciously delivered. Then the way it paired with the scotch, it was freaking insane. So, I love it. I love it. I think it was a 10.
Chef Ricky:And I love when we come across a cigar that I could fill my tower with without any guilt and and just have fun with it.
Senator:I think the thing that's funny about we're all talking about the the kind of size of the cigar. I mean, Sokka had posted something shortly after this cigar was getting rated highly saying that he was surprised. Like, he gets feedback that this is like some of his, you know, top customers, most loyal kind of Dunbarton smokers, like their favorite smoked. Wow. And he didn't seem to expect that, which would make sense.
Senator:I mean, he's made one Vitola in this cigar. In most of his lines, there are several to choose from. So I think that's probably also a bit of the product of this size. Like, I don't know that he thought people would love this as much as they did to, you know, give some more range to the line, but we'll see obviously when we talk to him.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. And actually, the point I wanted to make that I lost in everybody's enthusiasm behind this was, you know, you ever go have a tasting at a restaurant or multiple courses, and maybe it's 20 courses or 19 courses per se, but there's that one course
Senator:that you just wish you had every weekend, Ricky.
Bam Bam:Right? Well, for you.
Chef Ricky:And there's just that one course that you wish you had more of or that leaves you remembering that dinner. Right? You may not remember all 19 courses or whatever the case is, but you might remember one or two. And to me, this cigar kind of was like that, you know, like it's going to it's going to leave. You're going to leave wanting another one or wishing it was bigger or wishing you had more of it.
Senator:This is, by the way, what I hate about most tasting menus. The fact that you would have 20 courses and you only remember one or two of them.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, that's what happens. And it doesn't have to be a tasting menu. Oftentimes you go to a restaurant, the appetizer is great, the entree is okay, so it happens. All
Gizmo:right, Bam Bam.
Bam Bam:Yeah, so for all of the positive commentary in this room, I can't give this less than a 10.
Chef Ricky:Honestly,
Bam Bam:it was a linear cigar.
Pagoda:Say it Pagoda. Life. Ten, ten wins.
Senator:He gave two tens today.
Bam Bam:There's linear quality to this, but after that first third, I got minerality. A few guys got pepper, which I never really got. But I had a ton of molasses, a lot of raisin in that final third. I loved the cigar. It just was it was delicious from beginning to end.
Bam Bam:None of us lit the cigar at all. I mean, everyone made so many incredible comments about it. And for under $11, you know, it's it's another unicorn. Like, we it's rare to find a new world in the vast world of new world cigars that we're all afraid to try because we don't wanna waste our money. This has got incredible merit.
Bam Bam:I'm at a 10.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. That puts the formal lizard rating tonight on the Dumbarton Tobacco and Trust Umbogog in bronze back at a 9.3.
Bam Bam:That's a great score for this.
Gizmo:Great score. So let's compare that to the other three Dumbarton Tobacco and Trust cigars we've done on the pod. On episode 110, the first one we did was Muestra de Saka, The Bewitched scored an 8.7. On episode 128, the Cincompromiso Celexio number four scored a 9.4. And on episode 140, the Sobremesa, Surbantis Fino scored a 7.8.
Gizmo:So this is just a touch below
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:The Cincompromiso, Silexio number four we did. Doing a
Bam Bam:seven point Absolutely
Gizmo:right. So great night tonight, boys. Of course, we have to thank Lizard Peter, our lizard of the week, and all the lizards out there who write us every week. We love hearing from you. We have to thank our sponsor, FabricA5.
Gizmo:They are great partners to us. We have some great stuff coming up with them. And, of course, a great night, boys. One more time on the ratings, the Brooklotti Classic Lotti scored a nine point zero, and the Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust Umba Gog Bronzeback scored a 9.3. A great night, and, we'll see everybody next week.
Poobah:Keep smoking.
Gizmo:Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You could find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, loungelizardspod.com. That's loungelizardsp0d.com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
Gizmo:If you have any comments, questions, do you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us. Hello at loungelizardspod.com. Can also find us on Instagram at lounge lizards pod. We really appreciate your time, and we'll, we'll see you next week.