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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 truffle food work and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo. Tonight, I'm joined by Rooster, Senator, chef Ricky, and Bam Bam, and I plan to smoke a cigar, drink some scotch, talk about life, and, of course, have some laughs.
Gizmo:So take this as your two hundred and thirteenth official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plan to be this year 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 return to the Lancero after a full year away. We share new releases from Bon Roberts and Habano Sassay, and doctor Bam Bam Scholes proves gullible with some unique lounge attire all among a variety of other things for the next two hours.
Gizmo:So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, enjoy as we pair the Dalmore Portwood Reserve Single Malt Scotch Whiskey with La Galera Habano in Lancero. Another Lancero on the pod tonight, boys. Of course.
Rooster:Another one?
Gizmo:First one in a year, if you believe it, from The Dominican Republic.
Chef Ricky:It's been a whole year.
Rooster:It's been a year?
Gizmo:Yeah. Fifty three weeks. This is the La Galera, the Habano series in Lancero, and it's a 30 ring gauge cigar by seven inches long. And, boys, before we even get to this, we have a hero in the room tonight. Chef Ricky.
Gizmo:Chef Ricky is battling a severe case of man flu.
Bam Bam:He made it in.
Gizmo:And instead of taking to his bed, he is here.
Rooster:Correct.
Chef Ricky:Thank you, guys.
Rooster:Thank you.
Gizmo:What did you say man flu?
Senator:What the hell is that?
Gizmo:A man flu? You've never
Rooster:heard that? What's a
Bam Bam:man flu?
Gizmo:A very serious thing. Man flu. It's a
Rooster:man bun with a man flu.
Gizmo:Chef, tell us how you're feeling. What's going on over there?
Chef Ricky:I'm a little congested and self conscious about having to breathe every once
Bam Bam:in a while. Yeah. Correct.
Gizmo:I was like, you know what? Let's smoke a cigar.
Chef Ricky:Other than that, I'm ready to go. I'm fired up. I'm happy to be here with you guys.
Bam Bam:I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw him pull in.
Gizmo:Yeah, man. Very nice. I'm very happy he's here. Yeah. So boys, we are back to Alancero.
Gizmo:This one is coming in from our tag team partners, Bam Bam and Senator Correct. Who we kinda called an audible on this last week when you guys, I guess, tried it in the lounge and said, hey, we should, you know, review this right away.
Chef Ricky:Yep.
Gizmo:So we have it in our hands tonight.
Senator:I was simply the tasting panel. This is this was Bam's treat at the lounge the other day.
Bam Bam:Well, I
Rooster:But you like it.
Gizmo:You said it
Senator:was It was Yeah.
Gizmo:He said it was outstanding, so I
Rooster:have How to out
Gizmo:to try much was it?
Bam Bam:If I remember correctly, that box was $178. It's not bad. Not bad at all.
Gizmo:Awesome. So it was like, what, $9 a cigar
Bam Bam:or something Something like like Yeah.
Senator:The crazy part of trying this cigar was that BAM has kept this completely silent from all of
Gizmo:us.
Bam Bam:Else is new?
Senator:What else is new? I immediately posted how on the impressed I was with this cigar.
Rooster:Did you
Bam Bam:have it first? So he had you had a different Vitola.
Rooster:No. Forget about him. I had exactly this. When did you have it?
Senator:And I kept calling it yes. When? You took out that very box right there.
Rooster:When did you have it first?
Senator:Forget about I'm having a conversation with The prosecutor is addressing you.
Bam Bam:We're gonna have a conversation over here.
Rooster:We'll have that conversation. We're back to you. When did you have it first?
Bam Bam:Jesus. And
Rooster:why are we hearing about it now?
Bam Bam:Well, ended the season in the tower. So it's been in a tower seasoning this whole time.
Rooster:Did you have it first?
Bam Bam:I don't remember. Honestly, bought Oh
Senator:my god. So I was there. He pleads insanity.
Bam Bam:No. I would say like maybe six, seven months ago.
Gizmo:Oh my god.
Rooster:It was that good and you didn't tell us?
Gizmo:That is obscene.
Bam Bam:I thought it was good, but I only had one out of the box. And honestly, I didn't smoke any since. That proprietors-
Rooster:You know, we love the size.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Mhmm.
Rooster:We love the lens size.
Senator:I've also only had one of them, and I immediately blew up our chat. We have to review this cigar.
Gizmo:Senator had it last week, and So we're reviewing it that's because Let's just be clear.
Bam Bam:Yeah. So, you know, it's because of his sentiment is why it's in this room right now.
Gizmo:Alright. We'll get back to that in a second. Let's cut this thing, boys. See what we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper. Love we haven't even lit the thing yet.
Gizmo:We're already fighting.
Bam Bam:But you have to admit, this is a very rugged It is. It's not a handsome looking cigar.
Gizmo:The wrapper leaf is actually pretty rough.
Bam Bam:Always feels
Gizmo:like a little sandpaper
Chef Ricky:kind of thing.
Bam Bam:Yeah. And I think that's reflecting the price.
Senator:And veiny. It's very veiny.
Gizmo:Yeah. You know what? The great draw. It's slightly resistant.
Bam Bam:Pretty sweet. Little bit of
Gizmo:a musty flavor in there.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. With my compromise palette, I'm getting a little a lot of cocoa.
Rooster:A lot of
Chef Ricky:sweet cocoa actually.
Bam Bam:I think it's sweet cocoa
Rooster:as well.
Gizmo:Almost wanna say umami. Like that mushroomy type of thing.
Bam Bam:Maybe.
Chef Ricky:You know? Yeah. It's musty.
Bam Bam:There's a mustiness to it. That's I agree with that. Poor guy.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's light this thing. The La Galera Habano series from The Dominican Republic in the Lancero Vitola, her first return to the Lancero since the Aladino classic Elegante on episode 153. Now Fifty three weeks ago.
Bam Bam:In my opinion, this is somewhat reminiscent of that cigar.
Gizmo:Okay.
Bam Bam:I think this is probably a touch sweeter. It's unusual, isn't it?
Gizmo:Nice on the white. What weird. I'm sticking with my umami comment. It has that kind of
Bam Bam:You ever have mushroom coffee?
Gizmo:No. Yeah. It's kinda like that. Rise?
Bam Bam:Yes. And there's a little sweetness to it Yeah. For
Chef Ricky:A little earthiness. Yeah. A lot yeah. A bit of earthiness here, a lot of sweet cocoa.
Gizmo:I do love the feel of a Lancero in the hand. I know that we've had a lot of up and down with the Lancero on this podcast. I got chastised a lot Yep. Which is why we've not brought it in for over a year now. But
Bam Bam:PTSD.
Gizmo:Yes. I have severe PTSD. But this it's delicious. Yeah. This is delicious on the white.
Gizmo:Unusually nice. Right? Pretty good.
Bam Bam:Now senators had other vitolas in this marker.
Senator:Okay. So the exact same day that BAM passed these out Mhmm. Someone had given me a La Galera Robusto. It had like a green like a light green and beige Yep.
Bam Bam:Band on it. But same text type, I think. Just different color.
Senator:Yeah. But it's a different line, I
Bam Bam:think, in
Senator:their portfolio.
Bam Bam:I think it was Lizard Ryan, maybe.
Senator:Yeah. It was from Ryan. That was that was good, but this was great. So we can do that at some point, but this was a standout. And for me that day, I had never smoked a La Galera cigar ever.
Senator:I wasn't even really familiar with the brand, and one was a solid performance, and this was a real standout. So
Rooster:So what what is this line called?
Gizmo:This is called the Habano line. And I was telling senator when he came in today, I'm very confused by La Galera because their website, it seems like it's updated, says copyright 2025. Right?
Chef Ricky:Mhmm.
Gizmo:But the Habano line is not listed anywhere on their site. Strange. The only stuff on their site is the Connecticut line, the Corojo line, Maduro's. There's a 1936 box pressed, which I guess maybe is a limited edition or celebrating an anniversary. They have quotes what they call the finest selection, quote unquote.
Gizmo:They have a couple lines there. Anamoy Imperial Jade. They have an eighty fifth anniversary limited edition. They have some minis, some tubos, etcetera. There is not one mention of the Habano line Mhmm.
Gizmo:On their website. Interesting. If
Senator:you Sounds want like BAM is managing the website.
Gizmo:Exactly right.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Senator:Doesn't wanna tell anybody about it.
Gizmo:It's a big secret.
Bam Bam:That's not nice.
Gizmo:It's a big industry secret. But you could find it pretty much anywhere. So it's
Rooster:not a small company then. I mean, they make quite a few different lines.
Bam Bam:Never? I've never heard of them
Gizmo:I'll prior to this go into a little bit of history here and a little bit about their story. La Galera is the flagship premium brand of Tabaclera Palma, which is one of the oldest tobacco families in The Dominican Republic, which they founded that that factory or that farm in 1936. So that's we just heard the 1936 celebratory cigar that they have, obviously, pointing to that. The company is led by Jose Hoci Blanco, a fourth generation tobacco grower, master blender, and one of the most respected behind the scenes figures in Dominican tobacco. He's known for serious farming.
Bam Bam:Name sounds familiar.
Gizmo:He's inventory.
Bam Bam:Yes. Heard that name.
Senator:Do you remember who told us the story? I'm pretty sure about that guy. Somebody did.
Rooster:Roberto Rodriguez in Cuba? No.
Senator:No. I thought the Sanparai guy.
Bam Bam:Yes.
Senator:Yeah. Do you remember when the Sanparai guy came and did a at our former North Korean lounge? He was talking about how he would ride all over Doctor with Ho Chi Blanco.
Bam Bam:Ho Chi Blanco.
Senator:Yes. And he tells this crazy story, like they almost got mugged once, and and there was a wild story behind it. But I think a lot of the Samurai tobacco
Gizmo:comes from
Bam Bam:Ho Chi Blanco's farm. Yeah. Interesting. Right?
Gizmo:So what's cool about this is Ho Chi Blanco is a farmer first. So when we always talk about, you know, folks who are running cigar companies, even if it's a family run thing, they're not the ones on the farm. You know, that's not their focus. Right? They're running the business, etcetera.
Gizmo:This the first and foremost thing that he does, he's a farmer.
Senator:That's like the Aladino father.
Gizmo:Yes. Right? Yes. Julio.
Chef Ricky:Yeah.
Gizmo:Yeah. Julio Roa. Well, he's like a legend in, you know, Honduran tobacco as well. Kind of like Ho Chi Blanco here. Wow.
Gizmo:So he's known, like I said, for serious farming, deep leaf inventories. He loves traditional aging and no frills classic blending, and I think we're tasting that here. Agreed. La Galera is Spanish for the rolling room. That's what they call the rolling room in the cigar factory as La Galera.
Gizmo:Obviously, we've been in a lot of of those rooms over the years. Most tobacco is estate grown in the Cebao Valley in Yakawa. Yeah. Goddamn it. Yakawa.
Bam Bam:Most Check.
Gizmo:Most tobacco is estate grown in the Cebao Valley.
Chef Ricky:In Yakoa. Correct.
Bam Bam:La Conella. According to you.
Gizmo:So the production is at Tabanclera Palma in Tamboril, and that same factory has produced cigars for aging room, villager, and a bunch of other cigar makers. So let's talk about the makeup of the cigar boys. The wrapper is Ecuadorian Habano. The binder is Dominican Piloto Cubano, and the filler is a combo of three, Piloto Cubano, Criollo 98 and Pello de Oro. And like we said, the price comes in somewhere around $8.09, $10 depending on where you find it.
Bam Bam:Interesting blend.
Gizmo:I like it.
Bam Bam:Oh, I love it. But the mixture of leaves is very interesting.
Gizmo:You know, the thing that we talk about and certainly we talk about this with Cuban tobacco, you you never know who the blender is. The person writing the recipe, making that recipe, right? The chef, let's call it. Even in New World Tobacco, a lot of the times you don't know who those folks are. Many times you do, but, like, let's talk about Davidoff who we talked about a few weeks ago.
Gizmo:Right now, they're kind of moving to a, nameless, faceless blending approach given the business.
Bam Bam:They're
Gizmo:pivoting now. Yeah, the business away from that being the focus. I don't know if they felt they were too reliant on the folks who were doing it before, Hanky Kellner and Lovatio Diaz, but
Bam Bam:No, I just don't think they have anyone.
Gizmo:It certainly tastes like that.
Rooster:Yeah. They must have a blender.
Bam Bam:They got a janitor rolling. They need to fill the candidate. They just don't have anybody.
Rooster:I think there's a woman as a blender right now.
Gizmo:That's what I've heard. So what are you guys getting on flavor notes right now?
Bam Bam:I think it's quite nice. I'm getting again that mushroom, a sweet mushroom coffee.
Rooster:There's definitely a sweet note. It's that sweet cocoa thing that's coming through. And it's earthy for sure.
Bam Bam:Yeah, a touchy of mustiness, but really nicely balanced.
Chef Ricky:The smoke itself to me feels very full. It feels very dense.
Rooster:Quite thick?
Chef Ricky:Very thick.
Rooster:Yeah. I think you said a word that really makes sense on this cigar. It's classic. It tastes like a classic Dominican cigar, like you know? And it it just I mean, it's it's a it's a good blend.
Bam Bam:Light and elegant. Yeah. But full full of flavor.
Gizmo:I think I'm gonna call on a word you said a few weeks ago, senator. I don't remember what cigar well balanced.
Senator:Okay. That's where I was gonna go next.
Gizmo:Alright. Sorry to steal your thunder. No.
Senator:No. No. No. You're not stealing that.
Gizmo:But, yeah, I mean, it's just it's got everything. It's kind of in the middle. If if we were to talk about that
Bam Bam:I did say that two minutes ago. It's okay.
Gizmo:No, I'm talking to senator.
Bam Bam:I want to interject.
Gizmo:Pipe down, baby. We'll talk to in about six, seven months. Okay? No. But it really is very smooth.
Gizmo:It has sweetness. It has a little saltiness. It's not Oh, yeah. It's kinda like right in the middle of that kind of flavor palette thing that Klaus Kellner drew up.
Bam Bam:Right in the middle of that diagram. It's kinda
Gizmo:dot right in the middle. Kinda hits everything. I think there's something here for everyone. And I think
Bam Bam:Pretty surprising.
Gizmo:That umami is present here. I think that kind of fifth taste Mhmm. I'm getting that. There is some sort of savoriness that is weird for
Bam Bam:me here.
Gizmo:A good Yeah. Laughing at me.
Bam Bam:In a good way.
Chef Ricky:No. Because I I I see you looking at me, and I I I can't get it.
Bam Bam:He upsneeds tonight, by the
Chef Ricky:It's not because I don't
Gizmo:Is he because of the man flu?
Bam Bam:Yeah. Exactly.
Senator:He's begging for your approval.
Gizmo:I want your approval. I'm groveling at your knees.
Chef Ricky:I I want to I want to taste it. I want to taste it. I'm getting a couple notes here and there, but, yeah, it's definitely
Bam Bam:Tough tonight. Yeah. It's tough. You may have to abstain tonight.
Chef Ricky:I I will. I will. I was thinking about that.
Bam Bam:But, you know, we're glad you're here.
Chef Ricky:I'm glad to be here
Bam Bam:big time.
Senator:So I'm glad you said balance. I mean, I've intentionally been quiet because I've smoked this before. I'm kinda curious what everybody's getting. But balance is like the thing that struck me. I mean, when BAM told me the price point of this cigar and me being entirely unfamiliar with this marca, I wasn't expecting a complex experience.
Senator:I mean Correct. Several notes have been called out, and it's so well balanced that it smokes like a refined cigar that is honestly higher than this price point. So that's what kind of immediately grabbed my attention of, okay, wow, this is this is serious cigar, not just like a cheap yardstick.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:Yeah. So I wanna go back to what we opened with your BAM. So you had this cigar Mhmm. Six, seven months ago. You tried it.
Gizmo:It was brilliant. You loved it. And then you threw it in your tower and didn't talk about it. Correct. So what goes into that line of thinking exactly?
Bam Bam:Well, I didn't take the market seriously. I didn't know anything about it. I didn't bother researching it. I didn't think it was something anyone would wanna try. I thought it was good.
Gizmo:So what prompted you to then later reach in and grab it and hand it out? Seriously.
Senator:Oh. His photographs. That's right. I sent a photo of the La Galera Robusto I was smoking.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Senator:And then Bam mentioned
Bam Bam:that I'm he had it on on my way. I'm bringing a box.
Gizmo:Oh, okay.
Bam Bam:That's why we're
Gizmo:here. Well, I'm glad you had these. So here's what I'm wondering now is for all the compliments we're giving this cigar, you said it's been in your tower for over half a year.
Bam Bam:Right? Yeah. I went from it was in the tower for two months and then I ran out of room because I was moving things around and I put it in the Tupper door with the other new worlds.
Gizmo:So I'm wondering how much time has benefited these cigars. I don't know. You know, how how did they taste fresh versus how they Honestly,
Bam Bam:they're better now. I think they're better now.
Gizmo:Put some time on them.
Bam Bam:I think they're better.
Senator:I mean, in fairness, that's the case for 90 plus percent
Chef Ricky:Totally. Of
Gizmo:I'm just curious how wide the delta is.
Rooster:So do we know what other sizes this comes in?
Gizmo:This exact one? They have a La Galera Habano Bonchero, which is a 42 ring gauge cigar by five and one half inches long. It's called the Banchero number four. They have the Cabeza Carisol Churchill 47 by seven. They have the Chaveta Robusto 50 ring gauge by five.
Gizmo:They have the Cortador Torpedo 52 by six and a quarter. They have the El Lector number two Tubo 52 by five and three quarters. They have the Toro 54 by six. They have the Pilon Gordo 60 by six and a quarter, and they have the Perias Lancero that we have in our hand tonight, 38 by seven and a quarter.
Bam Bam:This is not a small line of cigars.
Gizmo:They also have what looks like a half Corona tin, 46 by three and a half inches those. There's also a bunch of samplers, etcetera. So Interesting. Again, I don't know Interesting. I don't know what's going on with this line, but it's weird that it's not on the website, but it's all over the Internet.
Gizmo:So I'm very confused. That's not good.
Rooster:So is it available in a lot of different stores? Yes.
Gizmo:Really? Okay.
Bam Bam:It's nice. This is one time where espionage pays off.
Chef Ricky:I'm getting what feels a little bit like a marshmallow or maybe toasted burnt marshmallow. Anyone else getting that?
Senator:There's a creaminess about this cigar Definitely. That could be marshmallow or some other kinda creamy
Gizmo:Mhmm.
Chef Ricky:Cappuccino or
Bam Bam:Mushroom coffee.
Gizmo:Mushroom yeah. It almost has like like almost like a lemon Zest? Like a lemon pudding or something that has like just a little bit of a zest or a citrus zest
Senator:to it.
Gizmo:Citrus? Citrus bam. Lemon pudding. But there's some sort of like, not sour, but that citrus thing. Citric, let's When's call
Chef Ricky:the last time you had a lemon pudding? I would love some now.
Senator:Maybe never?
Chef Ricky:Never. Yeah. That's what I was
Bam Bam:You ever had lemon pudding before? You ever had what is lemon?
Chef Ricky:Where the fuck did lemon pudding go from?
Gizmo:I I don't know. Like, you you like
Senator:That's two strikes with chef today.
Bam Bam:And he ain't feeling it.
Senator:Oh, Bobby and lemon pudding.
Rooster:So so check this out. I mean, we're only smoking this cigar because Senator had the Robusto in a different Vitola, in a different right? Totally different line. Yeah. Because BAM would have never told us about this.
Rooster:No.
Gizmo:We would have sat for eternity.
Senator:For another three years.
Gizmo:Correct.
Bam Bam:Wow. So then when I brought it in, I I think I gave everyone in the room one of these. You did? And you had it right away. I think Lizard Johnny had it.
Bam Bam:Idiav kept it for another day. And someone else tried it. I think everyone that and Lizard Henry had it. I think they all had very positive things to say about it. I think,
Gizmo:you know
Rooster:I'm sure everybody loved it.
Bam Bam:It takes, you know A village?
Gizmo:A test. A group. Takes a village to get BAM to bring cigars for the pot.
Bam Bam:Oh, you know, it's good to have a few people raving about it before
Rooster:bringing it into the senator tried one. Correct.
Senator:The best part was I took a photo of this exact cigar when Bam gave it, and I was smoking it. And I guess Bam was in the background of the photo, and Giz immediately comments, I think you could have just said that to Bam, and he would have heard you right across from you. And I said, I wanted to memorialize Bam handing out cigars.
Bam Bam:That's not that's also not nice. And I also think Rooster's fishing for a fight. Yeah.
Gizmo:He might get one tonight.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's go into some news here before we go into our pairing. We have to start with this one. I'm very excited to announce that Bon Roberts is having their world premiere of the two new cigars that we talked about all those months ago. Mhmm.
Gizmo:The Dahlia Linea b number three and the Phenomenos Linea e number one in Kuwait at the November.
Bam Bam:In Kuwait?
Gizmo:Kuwait. In Kuwait is gonna be the launch of this. The launch will take place at the cabinet club in Kuwait City followed by tasting events throughout the region. Hamlet Paredes will be there. Rob Fox, Rob Ayala will all be there.
Gizmo:So the dahlia is a 43 ring gauge by six and three quarters Vitola offered in 50 count cabinets, 25 count boxes, and 10 count boxes. And the recommended retail on that is $15.35 per per cigar. By the way, we had that cigar. It was unbelievable.
Bam Bam:I love the Phenomenos.
Gizmo:And the Phenomenos is Linea e number one. It's a big boy. 54 by seven and three quarters inches long. Also available in 50 count cabinets and 10 count boxes. The recommended retail on that is 23 and a half per cigar.
Gizmo:The wrapper is Honduran, binder is Honduran, and the filler is Nicaraguan and Honduran. So very excited to get those cigars in our hands. So look out. I'm sure they're gonna be coming out in the next few months, and they'll be on all of the Fabrica five
Bam Bam:Interesting choice of location for their debut. Yeah? I've been to Kuwait. I can guarantee you they're not gonna find a drop of alcohol in a 100 mile radius around that spot. Really?
Bam Bam:100%.
Senator:I wonder if they know that. I don't know I don't
Bam Bam:they're gonna have a problem.
Rooster:Can you picture Hamlet? No. I
Bam Bam:couldn't find a drop of alcohol my entire time there. It was unreal. Think there'd
Gizmo:be some underground way to get it.
Bam Bam:Maybe you go to prison. I'm just a visitor.
Chef Ricky:Sounds like you'd have to make your own out there.
Bam Bam:Kuwait's cool. It's a very cool, a little restricted, but very cool.
Rooster:Didn't they launch something else in was this Cyprus? Yeah. They did a launch in Cyprus for
Gizmo:I believe the Winnie a D number one, the big one. The big one zero nine as opposed to the petite one zero nine. We actually have a question about Bon Robert cigars from a listener in a little bit, so we'll get to
Bam Bam:launch in New York, Rob. Talking to you. So
Gizmo:let's talk about two more new cigars. These are from Habanos, The new Hoya de Monterrey from Habanos debuted in Germany. This is the La Hoya de Saint Louis, and it's a 52 ring gauge cigar by six and three eights inches long. Suggested retail price is only $28 per cigar. So I I think that's pretty reasonable, honestly, for the size of that cigar.
Gizmo:It's not too bad. So the cigar is named for San Luis, which is one of the two most prized growing regions within Pinar Del Rio. This is the home of Cuba's most famous tobacco farm, Cuchias de Barbacoa, better known as the Robania Farm. So that is obviously a name that has meant a lot to the folks in this room with our love of the Vegas Robania Classico and some of the other cigars that have come from that farm over the years and from the Rubania family via Habano. So that's one.
Gizmo:And then another one, boys, is a Trinidad that has been launched, the new Trinidad Via, which is a
Rooster:I don't think it's Via.
Gizmo:V I L L A? Via.
Chef Ricky:Via. Via. Remember, two l's or a y.
Bam Bam:He said that.
Chef Ricky:Oh, I heard Via. Sorry.
Gizmo:Via. Via.
Chef Ricky:No? Sure. Villa.
Senator:Sure. It was great. Sure.
Bam Bam:It's being hard on you.
Chef Ricky:No. I'm not. I heard villa. That's why I didn't
Senator:I heard villa too.
Bam Bam:How are you isn't it pronounced Villa?
Senator:Villa. Via. Yeah. It sounded like he was saying V I a. Via.
Senator:Uh-uh. Via. Instead like Instead of v. Via. So that's strike three by the way.
Senator:Vizia. Vizia.
Gizmo:I thought I said it right. Vizia. Alright, boys. Another one is the new Trinidad Vizia, 47 ring gauge by six and three quarters inches long. That's not $28, I'm sure.
Gizmo:Created no way. Created exclusively for the La Casa del Habano network and Habano specialists. It comes in a beautiful package. It's the Julieta number three factory size. I'm not sure what the price is gonna be.
Bam Bam:Does it have an LCDH band? But of course, it does. Yeah. Probably.
Gizmo:It actually has a third band on the foot.
Bam Bam:Oh, then it's even worse.
Gizmo:When you see the third band, you know it's probably over a $175.80 bucks. For sure. So these come in 12 count boxes specifically designed for this release. So you can look out for that. That is launching as we speak.
Gizmo:Apparently, it's a tribute to the elegance and cultural heritage of Cuba, the new Trinidad.
Chef Ricky:Three beds and a 12 count box.
Rooster:My guess $1,212.12 to 40 something.
Gizmo:I would say even more than
Bam Bam:that. Yeah.
Gizmo:I mean, it's a pretty fancy box, honestly. Alright, boys. I'm thirsty. Let's go to our pairing. We are back to Dalmore.
Gizmo:This is the fourth Dalmore we're doing on the podcast tonight. This is the Portwood Reserve single malt scotch whiskey from the Highland Region in Scotland. Cheers, gentlemen. Good to see you all. That's actually pretty nice.
Bam Bam:It is good.
Gizmo:Yeah. I didn't put any ice or water in it.
Bam Bam:Neither did I.
Gizmo:I do wish that it was a little cooler in temperature. Mhmm. Just temperature. I wish it wasn't room. I think I'd like it a little more, but it's very good.
Senator:If you smell the nose, like, you literally smell port. It's, like, rare that I have something in a port cask where, like, the nose smells so much like port.
Bam Bam:It's true. Honestly, the first sip I took, it was okay, but as it's opened up, it's actually gotten very good. Very nice. I may try a chip for temperature.
Chef Ricky:I like it.
Gizmo:It's really nice.
Bam Bam:Did you put a chip in?
Gizmo:I did not. No. I think it's got it's a very rich tasting It may open up your scotch. And I think it's also I don't want to say sweet but it does have the perfect amount. Yeah.
Gizmo:Again, going back to well balanced. Feels very well It's good. It's not too hot. It's not too sweet.
Bam Bam:How do you like it with the cigar?
Gizmo:I think it's very good with the cigar. I actually think it's a really nice pairing with the cigar. Agreed. I think it's very complimentary. The
Bam Bam:retrohale in this is exquisite. It's really good.
Gizmo:Actually, think sipping this scotch has kind of opened the cigar up in a A touch. It's like that umami for me is going even a little further. You know, I really am liking it. Yeah. It's a unique cigar.
Gizmo:I
Chef Ricky:love the umami call out on this because the mushroom is really Like if there's anything that's really sticking throughout this entire, even there's some slight nuances that I can and can't pick up on, but the mushroom is staying consistent.
Bam Bam:Are you having a hard time pacing yourself
Gizmo:with this? I want to smoke it faster than I probably should.
Bam Bam:I'm smoking it a little too fast. It does go quick. You can get through it pretty quickly. Because I don't think it's heavily packed.
Gizmo:I think it's packed like a normal Lancero is. It doesn't feel light nor heavy for the Vitola. I think it feels fine.
Senator:I I think you're just smoking really fast. I am. I am. Because I've got a lot more left.
Bam Bam:It's really quite delish I know. I gotta I gotta chill.
Chef Ricky:It feels nothing like the Olivavy. Love No. The
Bam Bam:Yeah. Thing's like a sponge.
Gizmo:Actually, that's a great call out, chef, because we have not really talked about that since we've kind of discovered that things have changed with the Aleve of Elancero. So keen listeners or OG listeners will remember that when we first kind of went down the rabbit hole of Lancero's where I was bringing in two or three Lancero's every month for about six months, We really fell in love with the Eliva V Lancero and we rated it Was it a 10 or it was pretty damn close if It it definitely in the nines, mid to high nines I would say. And we loved that cigar. We all ran out and bought them, etcetera. And the more recent boxes of those cigars, almost every one of those cigars feels to me severely underfilled, almost like they took a leaf and a half or two leaves out of the cigar.
Gizmo:It feels that poorly packed.
Bam Bam:Tariffs.
Gizmo:It's they don't burn well. It's a constant touch up. Like, you can't detach yourself from the corrective need of the cigar. Like, you can't just, you know, go on autopilot. You know, you're constantly having to pay attention to it.
Gizmo:So what I would caution listeners is that the cigar we reviewed all those years ago at this point, I think it's a very different cigar than what is being sold today.
Senator:I think the most striking part of this is we all had this experience, and I won't name names, but we happened to meet a rep from Aleva, and he asked what Aleva cigars that we like, and we mentioned Lancero, and I couldn't believe he immediately says, like, oh, it's a great cigar. I mean, even if you have to relight it all the time, it's a great cigar. I'm sitting here like, I can't believe you just
Bam Bam:This a PCA.
Senator:Acknowledged that.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah. That was a PCA.
Bam Bam:Correct. I remember that. So I haven't bought a box since then. I still have a box from back in the day. So I haven't I haven't had it in a while, but I wanna revisit it.
Gizmo:I went through the first box that we got, that I got after we reviewed it. Then I bought another one maybe within three, four months after the review and it was Yeah. Through the floor in performance.
Senator:I mean, if you chat with someone for even two minutes without taking a draw It's cold. The cigar just goes out. It's gotta be lighted.
Bam Bam:It's insane. Wow.
Gizmo:I mean, honestly, I think that they want to, you know, probably they didn't want to raise the price on
Rooster:it. Mhmm.
Gizmo:They probably wanted to keep the price the same. So they put, you know, the then the method would be removing tobacco, you know, put less tobacco in it, maintain the margin, maintain the price as opposed to have to push the price up.
Rooster:How much how much do
Gizmo:think one leaf cost? Well, I mean
Rooster:I'm talking pennies.
Gizmo:Yeah. But at scale, it's a lot of money, you know, and you're talking about cost.
Rooster:Yeah. But you want to you want to keep the cigar consistent.
Gizmo:It's consistently inconsistent now, unfortunately. So I think that we should put an asterisk on that review from all those years ago. Mhmm. We had a
Rooster:good run with the Lancero's.
Gizmo:You know?
Bam Bam:We did. Did.
Rooster:We had the Don Pepean one.
Gizmo:See. That one. The warp, the Oliva.
Bam Bam:My the my father, the my father.
Gizmo:Yeah. No. Warp wasn't a lot. The warp was Lonsdale.
Rooster:Yeah. But, I mean, yeah.
Gizmo:Maestro del Timbo. Close enough. Yeah.
Senator:Yeah. Bam and rooster. Lonsdale, Lonsdale, Lonsdale, Lonsdale, same thing. Yeah.
Bam Bam:It's all the same.
Gizmo:So, boys, let's talk about this Dalmore Portwood. I have some information to share. I know we've talked about Dalmore before. This is the fourth one we're doing on the pod. I love this story, so I'm gonna read it again from the back of the box.
Gizmo:I just think it's so cool, their story. Bestowed in December by the king of Scotland, the royal 12 stag proudly adorns each bottle of the Dalmore, encapsulating the distillery's regal legacy. So what we're talking about there is, of course, the big head of a deer on the front of the box that we see on all Dalmore products that has 12 points of what do you call that? Antlers. Antlers.
Gizmo:12 antlers. Bam. Thank you. For over a hundred and fifty years, the Dalmore has set a standard in multicast maturation, carefully composed spirit and hand selected casks from the world's finest bodegas and wineries are expertly curated to create a sumptuous and layered whiskey of legendary finesse. For this portwood reserve, an indulgent smooth single malt, they say, matured in American white oak ex bourbon casks and then finished in aged Tawny port pipes.
Gizmo:They're telling us to expect on the aroma sweet red berries, Seville oranges, plummy fruits, and sticky coffee pudding. Nice.
Bam Bam:That's a reach.
Senator:On the palate Toffee or coffee? Did you say toffee?
Gizmo:Oh, I meant to say toffee. I'm sorry.
Chef Ricky:You say coffee.
Gizmo:I'm reading this on an angle. I mean, the font on this box is like a two. It's very hard to read. On the palate, we should be expecting nectarines, creamy caramel, roasted chestnuts, and Java coffee. I know
Chef Ricky:what he needs to get is a reading light. And
Senator:some reading glasses he can put at the bridge of his nose.
Gizmo:Or just like a, you know, one of those worker helmets with the light on it. Finishing notes here, rich plums, sultanas, sanguinello, blood oranges, and macerated cherries. A lot of big words
Rooster:there.
Chef Ricky:Very specific.
Gizmo:Are we getting any of that on the drink?
Bam Bam:A little bit of the cherry, can say, like muddled. You kind of get that a bit that that flavor note.
Chef Ricky:I got some cooked red fruits. I could agree with that a little bit for sure. I don't know about the very specific citruses.
Bam Bam:I'm getting a bit of vanilla. I also get some coffee. Yeah. That's kind of there, toffee, little caramelly coffee thing happening. Sure.
Bam Bam:It's very good.
Chef Ricky:I see the sticky toffee pudding. I feel like I get some date, some sweetness, molasses a little bit there, but that's all for me that all kind of runs parallel with the red fruit. How
Bam Bam:is it with the chipper too? Because I want So to try
Senator:my advice would be to put a little bit of water
Gizmo:Yeah, that's under the splashing.
Senator:When I put a chip of ice, it immediately made it so cold that the flavor closed up.
Bam Bam:Until it came down.
Senator:And then once it came down in temperature, it opened up again. It's actually great right now. Interesting.
Bam Bam:I think it's quite good. How much is this bottle?
Gizmo:That's the problem here,
Bam Bam:Bam. That's the problem.
Gizmo:$105.
Senator:That was a Oof.
Gizmo:105. So what I don't like about that 105 despite how it tastes is I don't appreciate the lack of an age statement. I was gonna ask you. I don't like the fact that you're spending a $105 on something that they don't even tell you any of the components of age. Obviously, it's a mature spirit.
Gizmo:But for a $105, I think that we're deserving as consumers to be told of the age statement. Correct?
Senator:I agree. What I suspect is the case, I'm pretty confident that this is twelve year as in everything, and this is twelve minuteimum. Cause I've had a lot of different Delmoors. Could it be blended? I think for them no, no, can't be a single moff,
Bam Bam:it's Oh, right, right, right.
Senator:I think that the challenge for them, why they didn't want to put a twelve year statement on this, is they already have two twelve year Scotches. And we've reviewed both. Exactly. They have the regular 12, then the Sherry 12. I mean, I guess it would have been interesting.
Senator:You could have a 12 port wood, and the idea of like you have 12 and all finished in these different casts.
Bam Bam:Each has an identity.
Senator:I take it back. They really ought to just add it. Agreed.
Gizmo:Thank you.
Bam Bam:Alright.
Gizmo:I think what they should do to distinguish, kind of like the Balvini does, is age it for another two years and call it a fourteen, or three years and call it a 15, and command that $105 price. But without an age statement, this looks to me on the shelf. Yep. And it did when I went to total one. It looked actually like a lesser Yeah.
Gizmo:Of the three as opposed to the best of the three that we're comparing to those other two True. Correct.
Bam Bam:Makes sense.
Gizmo:It was a little odd just seeing it sitting there because it is a classy presentation. I mean, the box is nice. It looks great, but the bottle, I love the shape. You got the stag on there. It's Mhmm.
Gizmo:It's a cool presentation of the scotch. I just I think that's my only knock
Rooster:on it.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's a big ding.
Gizmo:So, boys, we're coming to the end of the first third here on the La Galera Habano in Lancero. What's everybody thinking? Well, look. As good
Bam Bam:as the retrohale is, the aroma The aroma's amazing. It's like a baked cookie, like a sugar cookie.
Rooster:This thing sucks. Oh, it's really good.
Bam Bam:It's ridiculous.
Rooster:I was gonna say this is better than any of the other new world Lancero's that we have done in the past.
Bam Bam:For as young as this is, that's a big statement.
Gizmo:I don't think I I don't agree that it stands that far above the Aladino classic and Elagante. I think that is a special cigar. I love that cigar.
Bam Bam:I I do too.
Senator:I agree with with both statements, but Giz in the sense that I I would put this right alongside the Aladino classic Elagante as like two of the best blends
Rooster:I we've like the savory and the sweetness of the cigar and I think the Aladino goes more savory.
Gizmo:More savory, of course.
Rooster:I think so. I like this flavor profile more so than the others.
Bam Bam:But it has place. Mean, I think Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. It's true.
Bam Bam:Yeah. But they do have their place both. They can they're interchangeable. Think you can do both in a single sit and get two different experiences.
Gizmo:Yeah. I will say on the burn wine thing, Bam, this is a unique cigar in that you could quite literally hold the cigar next to your nose with no limit and just breathe it in. It smells that good. Like sometimes you smell a cigar, it's like, wow, smells good. But you can't just kinda hang out there.
Bam Bam:It's very
Rooster:delicate. There's no pepper.
Gizmo:I could just hang out here.
Bam Bam:Yeah, I think Rooster said there's no pepper on the aroma. It's very delicate.
Senator:Just stick it in your nose gizzard.
Bam Bam:You can take it in and leave it there for about
Gizmo:a I mean, it's incredible.
Rooster:It's almost floral. The aroma is like,
Gizmo:but it's not too floral. It's not like a potpourri type. No,
Senator:very faint.
Bam Bam:More cookie than floral, but a little bit of floral, yeah.
Rooster:It's even a little bit of baking spice kind of thing.
Chef Ricky:Unusual. Maybe it's because my sweet receptors are somewhat compromised. This cigar feels very meaty to me. It does feel very savory, very rich. Am I the only one getting that?
Gizmo:I don't know. Wouldn't say meaty. Would say it's rich in that it's really kind of hitting. It's a full flavored experience
Bam Bam:for It's satiating.
Senator:This is honestly, I think, the sweetest New World Land Syrup we've done, Wow.
Chef Ricky:That's that's enlightening.
Bam Bam:I hope they haven't added anything to it.
Senator:That's what no. No. No. It tastes natural. I I say that in a really good way of like, it's balanced, sweet, and savory, but as you smoke it, I'm curious.
Senator:Like, I think the sweetness picks up in a really, really nice way. Yeah. So I a 100% get where rooster's coming from. I I feel very strongly about how great this cigar is.
Gizmo:And I think this Tawny Port influenced scotch that we have tonight is actually perfect for this because number one, it's not hot that it's overpowering what I would call this to be a mild medium Dominican experience here, right, that we're having with this? Agreed. So it's kinda standing there. It's not, you know, like even I think you guys said on the chat, hey, what should we I said, should we pair with this? It was kind of resistant to scotch.
Gizmo:I listed a couple things, and this is the one you
Bam Bam:guys
Gizmo:That's made more of sense. But it's still like, I was a little nervous that it was gonna overpower.
Senator:Any scotch you see finishing a port cask is going to skew sweeter, and I think like the defining note is like the sweetness that you get on this Lancero, so I never doubt it.
Bam Bam:I mean,
Senator:anything with port on it would have probably
Bam Bam:It paired well with aligns beautifully tonight.
Gizmo:So senator, I gotta ask about this because I wasn't there, and you shared it on the chat. But you were in the lounge the other day, and you shared a story about Bam being quite confused What? About some footwear. Excuse me?
Senator:Oh, boy.
Gizmo:So our friend Bam is affectionately known as doctor Scholes. We kinda consider him the expert on all things I have
Bam Bam:sneakers on.
Gizmo:Feet. What's the problem? So what what happened in the lounge? I got one picture. I need to hear this story.
Senator:So I say this with love.
Bam Bam:Did somebody wear flip flops again? Because I don't remember that.
Senator:Oh my god. He doesn't even remember this story. No. Don't. This is unbelievable.
Chef Ricky:Must have been a long night.
Senator:I say this with love.
Rooster:He's looking at the ceiling.
Bam Bam:The calculations are now starting to churn. The gears are starting to wake up.
Senator:Bam may be the most gullible person that I Hey.
Bam Bam:I'm an I'm an innocent.
Gizmo:I'm an innocent This
Senator:night really took it to another level I was not quite expecting. So we're in the lounge, a group of us, and one of our friends, lizard JP walks in, and he brings his brother-in-law.
Gizmo:Oh, fuck.
Bam Bam:Bro, that shit should be outlawed.
Senator:Don't call
Bam Bam:Oh my god, bro. I'm not gonna ruin it, buddy. You guys I mean, this is crazy. I know.
Senator:I saw that.
Bam Bam:What the
Gizmo:fuck? So
Senator:his brother-in-law walks in wearing Crocs.
Gizmo:Now Well, let let's talk about this. We talked about going to a cigar lounge last a couple weeks ago. Wearing Crocs to the cigar lounge
Bam Bam:That's also a problem.
Gizmo:That's a problem.
Senator:As soon as he walked in, all I was thinking is Bam's head is going to explode. Absolutely explode.
Bam Bam:This was disgusting. It was and I felt bad for him. And, oh, that's the whole fucking thing.
Gizmo:Have a I
Rooster:have a question. Did he have socks on?
Senator:He did have socks So which makes it even more ridiculous that Babb thought this was happening. You know what?
Bam Bam:I didn't even see a sock.
Senator:So he had socks on and Crocs, and these were not just any Crocs because one of the Crocs where those little holes are, he had attached a fake big toe that was literally pointing directly upward toward the ceiling.
Gizmo:So wait. Hold on. You're you're saying, like, my wife wears Crocs, and she has these little, like, stupid, like, sayings and pictures, and there's, like, a dead head, and there's a rainbow.
Rooster:Call them? Ribbit ribbit something? Widgets? Widgets?
Gizmo:No. I don't know. I'm not a Crocs guy.
Bam Bam:I don't get the Croc world either.
Gizmo:Anyway, so you're you're able to customize your shoe.
Senator:Yes. So he has this one big toe that is literally 90 degrees with his foot, which obviously is not likely possible that someone would be walking around with their big toe 90 degrees from their foot.
Rooster:Almost like a rhino, Right?
Gizmo:Like a
Senator:rhino horn.
Gizmo:It almost looked like a rhino horn.
Senator:Yes. Like a rhino's horn just poking through the
Chef Ricky:top of
Senator:his thing.
Chef Ricky:They're called gibbets. Gibbets. Okay. Here
Bam Bam:we go. Alright.
Senator:So we're sitting there the entire night having a really funny conversation, And all of a sudden, it takes at least an hour, if not two hours into this conversation.
Bam Bam:I didn't say anything though at first. Someone JP, lizard JP gestured to the toe.
Senator:He gestured to the toe.
Bam Bam:Because I didn't wanna say anything.
Gizmo:And then Were you staring at it like
Bam Bam:I tried
Gizmo:not Powers in the bowl. No.
Bam Bam:Bam, you
Gizmo:know what, Austin in the
Rooster:something is wrong with his
Bam Bam:I thought something was wrong with his foot, so I didn't wanna even look at it and make him feel bad. So the best part is So I'm watching fucking NBA, and this guy's foot's hanging. His toe's got hanging out.
Rooster:Do you feel like taking cigar scissors and just kinda No.
Senator:The funniest part is that lizard JP, even early in the night when he went to cut his cigar, jokingly reached over like he was gonna cut the toe. It was like so clear it
Bam Bam:was missing So that's what kind of triggered his buddy or his brother-in-law. Right? His brother-in-law. Brother-in-law to say something about it. Then I was launched into go ahead.
Senator:Oh, so Bam, immediately he goes, Does that hurt? Are you gonna have surgery? And then his brother-in-law
Gizmo:Did you get it
Bam Bam:looked at? Did you fucking go to Did you go to the doctor?
Senator:He was dead serious.
Gizmo:You have
Rooster:not thought it was a toe.
Bam Bam:I thought it was a real toe.
Rooster:A toe sticking out of the croc. Yes.
Senator:Straight up to the ceiling.
Bam Bam:People have fucked up shit happen to them. You don't know.
Rooster:No. If you if you even have that, you would not be wearing something. Exactly.
Senator:It's like 30 degrees outside.
Bam Bam:Well, but if you if you
Rooster:I mean, you thought it was, like, a custom made croc for this 90 degree angle.
Bam Bam:He was he was an unusual guy. So I thought he didn't care. Thought he didn't care.
Gizmo:I did
Chef Ricky:not realize he bought into it that much.
Bam Bam:That's why
Senator:He did. He looks so worried for this person's well-being. I wasn't happy. And then the best part is that his brother-in-law then plays along with it. Oh, fucking And he goes
Bam Bam:I'm taking his ass down.
Senator:He goes, yeah. I mean, it does hurt. And then he rips off his croc, and the toe comes off with it, and Bam looks like completely freaked out. And then everyone bursts out laughing. It's fake
Bam Bam:and And
Senator:Bam goes, it's fake. And he's like, the whole time I thought it was real.
Bam Bam:I did.
Senator:We could not believe it.
Bam Bam:I wasn't happy.
Gizmo:So go back going back to what Rooster said. So you believed he was wearing a croc that was customized to accommodate his toe that was perpendicular to his foot.
Bam Bam:His condition. Yeah. I thought maybe he cut a hole. I don't know. I had no idea.
Chef Ricky:I think we need to put post this toe picture on Instagram just
Gizmo:so that the listener can understand. Yeah. Senator has it.
Bam Bam:Be my guest. I mean, have you have you ever seen a toe like that? No. Ever? And and
Gizmo:if anybody has, it would be him.
Bam Bam:Things happen
Senator:to This guy was walking around perfectly comfortably. It's like he was limping or anything straight.
Bam Bam:I thought this fucker's confident as hell, man. I couldn't believe it. I'm surprised that you guys brought that up, you bastards.
Gizmo:I got a I got a photo, and I just needed context because You bastards. I was completely blown away by the fact that you thought that
Rooster:was I mean, I saw that photo, and I was like, yeah. This is obviously a joke. This is one of those what'd you call them widgets?
Bam Bam:I'm a gibbet. I'm very gullible.
Gizmo:It's a gibbet.
Bam Bam:All right. Yeah. I'm an innocent.
Rooster:Nobody's toe grows like that.
Senator:You don't know that.
Bam Bam:Look it up on the internet. I bet you find somebody on the internet. No. Yes. Guaranteed.
Gizmo:I dare you to Google toes.
Bam Bam:I'll do my research.
Rooster:And you find it. Doctor. Scholl.
Chef Ricky:I love growing old with you guys, man. You fucking bastards. Fucking eyesight's going. Common sense
Bam Bam:is going. I need a refill.
Senator:Everything is just going.
Gizmo:Oh my god. I'm sweating from laughing so hard. We were in tears laughing. I can't imagine. I wish I was there.
Bam Bam:That's not nice. Oh, man.
Gizmo:Hey, you know, so one thing we didn't talk about with this cigar was the awesome band and artwork on this thing. So for a cigar that's priced as low as it is, and you know, listen, we're not artwork and packaging people, but you know, when you see a nice presentation on a cigar, like, it adds a little class to it, like, this is really nice.
Chef Ricky:I think the back of it is a little weird.
Bam Bam:It's nice?
Senator:Yeah. I've just not like it.
Bam Bam:No. I think the back of It's a lot it It's Sorry. Go ahead.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. The back of it where the seam is
Bam Bam:Not well done.
Chef Ricky:It's not well done. It looks a little sloppy. The gradient's not right.
Gizmo:I can't see anything over here, as you know.
Chef Ricky:The logo side looks better for sure.
Bam Bam:Yeah, it's an expensive print. It's embossed and there's money spent there.
Senator:Yeah, it has texture. Oh, definitely. I think it looks nice.
Bam Bam:But not unlike a lot of cigars that are coming out of Doctor. Very ornate Right?
Gizmo:Yeah. Wonder if it's like keeping up with the Joneses or something. Probably. Boys, let's move on here. Bam, thank you for that.
Gizmo:You're welcome. Thank you for that laugh. I needed that today. Okay.
Chef Ricky:I did not realize he thought he bought into it so bad.
Bam Bam:Yeah. We know. Right?
Chef Ricky:And to the point where
Rooster:when the guy
Bam Bam:You know? Thing off. Comes in here. He doesn't feel well. Scared.
Bam Bam:And now look how energized he is.
Gizmo:He's excited.
Chef Ricky:This is why he came. I needed this.
Rooster:And by the way, this is a black guy, and his his toe is white.
Gizmo:He was black? Are you fucking kidding me? He's not
Bam Bam:a black guy.
Senator:He's not black.
Gizmo:No. Oh, he's Puerto Rican.
Bam Bam:Say. He's Puerto Rican. Now they're spreading propaganda. Alright. He wasn't black.
Gizmo:I mean, the thing for me was sorry to go back to this, listeners.
Bam Bam:Of course you are.
Gizmo:You are you are the expert. If I had a a foot issue or I had a question about feet, there's one person in the thousands of contacts in my phone I'm calling. It's you.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Don't know about that.
Rooster:Not anymore.
Gizmo:Yeah. You're out.
Bam Bam:He's out. Good.
Gizmo:The doctor is out.
Chef Ricky:Good. Liz and JP is gonna love this.
Gizmo:Sorry. Special Crocs.
Bam Bam:Yeah. He's gonna get a visit paid.
Gizmo:So, boys, I wanted to share this with you. We got an email from our friend, Lizard Jose, also in The Dominican. Remember, a week or two or three ago, he won lizard of the week. He sent us some great emails from The Dominican Republic, and he shared with me a post on Instagram that I hadn't seen. He said, I thought this post in Instagram would be of your interest and enjoyment based on the many comments you have shared on your podcast.
Gizmo:So I wanna play this for you now. This is Lord Dominic Johnson, who's a member of the House of Lords, of course, in The United Kingdom. He's the former investment minister and a conservative party chairman.
Bam Bam:This is so fucking cool. So I heard this. This is off the charts.
Gizmo:So I wanted to share this with you and our listeners. This was awesome to hear in such a public
Bam Bam:Incredible. Forum Incredible.
Gizmo:From a, you know, lifelong politician. Here we go.
Lord Johnson of Lainston:You may think it's slightly bizarre that we should make special reference to a certain type of product, which is undoubtedly smoked. And yes, I have smoked an occasional cigar. And I must say, I think I'm a better man for it. It's called freedom, and I enjoy every one. In my own village, we gather every Friday to enjoy a cigar, to meet, to commune.
Lord Johnson of Lainston:In an age where we need to be brought together as a community, as a nation, it is through cigars, bizarrely, but importantly, that we achieve this. You have to actually take your time with the cigar. Those members of the committee who haven't enjoyed one, should understand it takes at least an hour to enjoy a proper cigar. You have to toast the foot, turning it slowly.
Gizmo:Think it's a
Lord Johnson of Lainston:splint or a match.
Chef Ricky:And then you
Bam Bam:puff at
Lord Johnson of Lainston:it gently, relishing it, savouring enjoying it, and reflecting whilst doing so. This is an act of a free and happy person. And we should carefully consider the loss to our domestic economy too.
Bam Bam:Amen.
Lord Johnson of Lainston:The industry made up almost entirely of small and micro businesses, as we've heard, mostly family owned, from Hunter and Frank House, the main Cuban importer, to the incredible Saharqian owned Davodos via foxesandcigars.com, all contribute to a legal and important industry, employing nearly 800 people and generating nearly £100,000,000 in taxes. By the time I visited the shops down St James's Street. It turns out that hundreds of people a week come to London, including non smokers who've never smoked a cigar in their life, simply to visit these stores. They go into Davodos to meet Mr. Saharkin or into Fox's because they want to see the heritage that we have.
Lord Johnson of Lainston:Indeed, and I don't want to land a minute, my own doctor has said there is simply nothing wrong with an occasional cigar. So all I'm asking for the noble barrister minister and the government to consider is for a proper fact based assessment of the difference between cigars and other tobacco products. Only then will we have the legitimacy for banning their sale, will cost many thousands of jobs, will destroy an important community of people whose mental health should be a priority.
Chef Ricky:It will
Lord Johnson of Lainston:end the fabulous tourist attraction of our specialist tobacco and cigar shops, and importantly, will reduce my freedom and happiness, both ambitions of which no government and this house should do without proper evidence. And if it shows that cigars are not the enemy, we think they are, remove them from the prescribed list.
Rooster:And that is why
Gizmo:I Fantastic.
Rooster:My amendments. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:I mean, elect this man by minister. Was I'm clapping.
Bam Bam:First time I heard this, I was totally floored.
Gizmo:So I never would bring in a political speech or anything like that to this podcast. It's not what we do. But that to me Extremely so on the money, and is so aligned with everything that we talk about here. It's it it touches on economics. It touches mental health.
Gizmo:It touches community, social. But you know, the positive nature of it, the sit, the ritual, the time. I mean, he hit everything in two minutes.
Chef Ricky:Giz, I don't know what he's lord of, but I wanna go to his church.
Gizmo:Was Lord Lord Manta.
Chef Ricky:That was incredible.
Bam Bam:Fantastic.
Gizmo:I wish there was more of that, and obviously The UK is under a lot of pressure right now from some politicians over there to ban generational tobacco bans or just banning cigars in general. We're experiencing a lot of that here in The States. Of course, there's other areas of the world that do have bans coming into place, or they're trying to put them in, and it's just it's good to hear that, and I wish we had more of that.
Senator:For a country that has had one of the most consequential world leaders in Winston Churchill that adored cigars to even be talking about banning something that is such a part of the fabric of that country's history is outrageous.
Bam Bam:It's a disgrace. Yep. You're right. But it's true. Mhmm.
Gizmo:So thank you to Lord Dominic Johnson, a member of the House of Lords in The United Kingdom, for that very great speech. I'm glad we were able to share it here on the podcast, and like I said, he nailed it. So I hope that more folks fall in line here.
Chef Ricky:There was absolutely no lies in that speech.
Gizmo:No.
Bam Bam:Zero. Worthy of a
Chef Ricky:future That is literally the reason why I'm here today.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Chef Ricky:Because of my mental health.
Gizmo:Greg, is my
Chef Ricky:mental health. Being with you guys, sharing this experience is one of the most important things to me throughout the week.
Bam Bam:Of course.
Gizmo:I agree with you 100%.
Chef Ricky:You know, can I do this on my own? Can I do this? It's not the same. You find amazing people to do it with, it feels incredible, and when you're down it's when you should do it most.
Rooster:And you're not 100%.
Chef Ricky:I'm not, I'm not. But you
Rooster:made a sacrifice to come here and be a part of this policy.
Chef Ricky:But you know what? I'm leaving here 15% more than when I came in. I'm leaving here better than that than when I came in.
Gizmo:And that's how it should be. Correct. Every time you you sit down with friends and smoke, you should leave better than when you you should.
Rooster:Need politicians
Chef Ricky:like this guy here.
Gizmo:I agree. Yes. Correct.
Chef Ricky:Shit. We need somebody to speak like that about what we love.
Gizmo:Can you imagine
Chef Ricky:Even once.
Gizmo:Can you imagine if something was presented in United States Congress of some sort like this, and they were threatening. Let's just say they were threatening our ability to even sit in this room and do this.
Bam Bam:You never know.
Gizmo:I mean, senator, I
Bam Bam:think You never know.
Gizmo:Would go to war.
Senator:I mean, I'm no advocate for storming at a capital
Bam Bam:under any circumstance. But
Senator:this may be one.
Bam Bam:Wear that croc with a toe out of it. They'll they'll part the seas for you if they'll open doors.
Gizmo:So, yeah, we do need more of that, and we need more of that all over the world. So I hope that that's an inspiration to other cigar appreciating folks who are in positions of power Yeah. To share the real story of what's going on here. It's not a vice. It's not a thing that we do to do it.
Gizmo:It is part of our lives. I wouldn't even call it a hobby, honestly.
Bam Bam:Ever an American politician that ever talked about cigars and the love of it other than Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was governor of California? I mean,
Senator:Lord knows JFK smoked plenty of them.
Bam Bam:Yeah. That's true way back in the day.
Gizmo:But again, kinda secretly. I mean, Kinda secretly. Yes. He threw the embargo down and then made them run out and chase all the up and sniffing.
Senator:Part was secret, and I'm sorry. We all would have done the same thing.
Gizmo:Course, we would.
Senator:But he's he's been photographed countless times at the White House with
Bam Bam:a That's cigar in his cool.
Gizmo:I mean, Bill Clinton, I think, liked cigars quite a bit.
Bam Bam:Yeah, and we
Gizmo:saw he never a wall
Chef Ricky:of them. Was the perfect thing because he never inhaled.
Gizmo:That's correct. That's correct. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Pretty awesome to hear it.
Gizmo:So we definitely need more of that. So, boys, let's go to another email now. This one is from Lizard Christophe in Belgium. He writes this all the time. We love hearing from lizards out there.
Gizmo:He says, hello, lizards. First off, thank you for answering my question regarding dry boxing. It clarified a lot to me and hopefully many other listeners. Secondly, I can't believe I am lizard of the week. I caught the pod somewhat later this week due to attending a trade show this week, but it's an honor and a privilege to be called a lizard, period, let alone lizard of the week.
Gizmo:Now does that not align with what Lord Johnson was saying? That's I mean, come on. I attended the World Tobacco Middle East Trade Fair for non cigar related business reasons. They also hosted the World Cigar Show by PCA for the first time. So I'll talk about a news story.
Gizmo:I have something related to that so we could talk about the new World Cigar Show by PCA that was held over there. It was relatively small, certainly compared to, for example, Intertobac in Dortmund or PCA in The US, but it drew a sizable crowd. Oddly enough, the big names only had tiny small effort booths, whereas startups and boutique brands tried to go a bit more all out. Though shisha is king here. Dubai is an obvious growth market for products like premium cigars.
Gizmo:Hopefully, they'll expand next year. And so it happens. I had the opportunity to speak with one of the daughters representing Aladino in Europe and her husband who owns a cigar lounge in Belgium at the fair. As you know, these folks are up against a lot in the current political climate, and they deserve all the support they can get. They were kind enough to hand me some cigars even though I'm not in the cigar business, and I'll consider their the fact their brand was name dropped this exact week in the pod again as Good Karma.
Gizmo:I'll make sure to mention it as I promised to the guy to visit his lounge soon. Also, talk to the extremely friendly owner of Garo Cigars and a startup brand called Capello Cigars among others. Lots of Dominican and Honduran representation. Anyway, sorry for the long email, but I wanted to just follow-up on that. And thank you again for being made lizard of the week.
Gizmo:Thank you for the countless hours of content, entertainment, and cigar comradership. Best, Lizard Christophe from Belgium.
Bam Bam:Very nice.
Gizmo:Wonderful email. Yes. So congratulations to the folks at PCA for launching the World Cigar Show in Dubai for the first time. And I guess this is gonna be a new effort from PCA. There's actually a picture here on Cigar Journal of Christian Airoa, Josh from PCA, and some other folks at the trade show.
Gizmo:So the inaugural World Cigar Show made a commanding debut in Dubai last week according to Cigar Journal, establishing a new global benchmark for premium cigar events. Across three exceptional days, the show welcomed thousands of visitors, top international brands, industry leaders, diplomats, media, and cigar professionals to a series of world class venues in one of the world's most dynamic cities. So attendees to the World Tobacco Show for the first time exceeded 6,000 people, and 1,700 of them were dedicated visitors attending the World Cigar Show for the first time. Lot of awesome stuff that's happening there. So congratulations to all those folks, and I'm glad it was a success.
Gizmo:We need more of that.
Bam Bam:I'm curious what brands were represented.
Gizmo:Well, certainly the ARO's were because I see Christian there, obviously, one of the Aladino daughters from Right. From the Justo AROA family were there. So it's great to see it.
Rooster:I'm sure the Fuentas were there.
Gizmo:I would think so. I would think Padron was probably represented in some way.
Bam Bam:I mean, I can see products like Opus taking off there. Yeah. Their spending power is limitless.
Gizmo:Well, sure. Got the Opus to buy. Oh, of course, I guess. That's Dab it off.
Rooster:Dab all the big big names. Probably.
Gizmo:So thanks to Wizard Kristoff for writing in. Like I said, it's always good to hear from listeners. We we love hearing from, you know, repeat writers of listeners out there, especially around the world, sharing news with us that we have not, we've not been able to get to that show yet, but, hopefully, we will. Here's another one from Lizard Blake. He said, hey, lizards.
Gizmo:Just wanted to check-in since I haven't written in a while. I was busy getting married. Woot woot. I had an amazing cigar six the night before with her aunt who was our who was our officiant. I thought that was an interesting line.
Bam Bam:It's quite the cigar.
Gizmo:Stay warm over there on the East Coast. We're about to get slammed with some crazy rain over here in SoCal. It's not ideal for smoking. Anyways, keep up the good work, everyone. I still listen to the pod every time I get a chance.
Gizmo:Until next time, Lizard Blake. So congratulations to him for getting married.
Bam Bam:Cool.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's
Bam Bam:awesome. Any Paul Roget served, I wonder?
Gizmo:Good question. Likely. I hope so. My stepson got married two weeks ago now. And?
Gizmo:It was awesome.
Bam Bam:Paul Roger?
Gizmo:Actually, I had Bollinger.
Bam Bam:Very good.
Gizmo:I had Bollinger at our table. Excellent. You know, it was unfortunate I brought a bunch of cigars, man. And I knew it was going be cold. You know, I'm saying for the attendees, any of the other folks who wanted to smoke, but it was so cold.
Gizmo:It was a little rainy and it was like I brought half coronas. Brought small cigars. I brought some FOH half Coronas. I brought H. Upman half Coronas.
Gizmo:I brought Padron nineteen thirty five.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah. The The number 3026,
Gizmo:number 35. Correct. But unfortunately, the weather just wasn't working. It was too windy or anything.
Chef Ricky:Needed that cigar bus.
Gizmo:Yeah. I wish I did get the cigar bus. Yeah. But it didn't work out unfortunately. Or a 10 by 10 tent with a propane heater in it.
Gizmo:I think that would have been a little weird if in front of the venue there was like a tent with just a bunch of smoke pouring out of it at the wedding, you know, making it all about me.
Chef Ricky:But Weird no weird no selfish yes.
Gizmo:So, boys, I forgot. I do have another email here from lizard Blake that we just read. I I didn't organize myself properly. He says, how's it going, fellas? After listening to the double Edmundo episode with the La Marialita, a thought popped into my head.
Gizmo:What is your guys' process for choosing the drink pairing? Do you try and pair certain types of spirits with specific cigar profiles? Do you pick a cigar first, then the spirit, or vice versa? Are you trying to find spirits with the same type of flavor profiles as the cigar, or is it not that in-depth at all? On that note, what goes into choosing the cigar lineup for the month?
Gizmo:Keep up the good work, guys. Wizard Blake.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Gizmo:So I I would say this number one, unless we have some sort of. Hammer of a, you know, pairing that we want to do, the cigars generally leading the way here on what we're drinking here, right?
Senator:Correct. I would go as far as saying always.
Gizmo:Yeah. Mean, aside from if we have a wine you want to try or we're going to do some sort of champagne that we're going to pair to a cigar. I mean, aside from that, the cigar's always leading the charge. Of course.
Rooster:Yeah. To the listener, we are told the day off what cigar
Bam Bam:we're smoking.
Gizmo:What what would that change?
Rooster:What We have no idea what we're going to
Bam Bam:First off. Off Rooster's disgruntled.
Gizmo:First off, what would first off, my question is, what would that change? Second off, if you listen to any of our episodes, it does list what's coming up in the next two months at the beginning. I read that out. Every month, I change it. So you could listen to that.
Rooster:We don't listen to it.
Bam Bam:You could listen to that.
Rooster:We don't listen to the episodes. So
Gizmo:do we try to pair a certain type of spirit with specific cigar profiles? I would say definitely.
Senator:For sure. I mean, I I think the simplest way to explain it is the strength of the cigar always dictates the strength of the pairing, whether that's a spirit, whether it's wine, champagne, you name it. So a full bodied cigar, you know, a fuller bodied spirit, something higher proof, milder cigar, something much lighter. I mean, we were talking about this cigar is like mild medium, you know, this being a scotch aged in a pork cask, it's not, you know, very hot, it leans sweeter, so that's the other thing, like we know this cigar is going to be sweet and savory, having something sweet, you know, bring that out even more is obviously helpful. If the cigar was, you know, very savory, maybe something that leans a little bit more savory.
Senator:So I think the the two decision points are always like the strength of the spirit, and then the flavor profile, is it gonna lean sweeter or more savory?
Gizmo:I would say though, I do think we've gotten better at it.
Senator:Oh, for sure.
Gizmo:I I think we've gotten better at at even if we're guessing because we've not had the cigar before. Obviously, tonight we had the cigar. So Mhmm. We had a little you guys had it, so you had a little bit of a head start on the profile. But when we're smoking something for the first time altogether, we're just doing our best to kind of understand what we're getting into based on the tobacco, the profile, maybe other reviews that we're seeing as far as, you know, what kind of intensity to expect.
Gizmo:I find a lot of those reviews are often wrong. I think a lot of these reviewers are smoking their stuff way too wet. But putting that aside
Chef Ricky:And not the whole thing. Correct.
Gizmo:Yeah. Not the whole thing. Exactly. So we're I I feel like we're missing less on the pairing than we have years ago. Right.
Gizmo:You know, there have been times in the past where it's like, why did we even bring this in with this cigar? That doesn't happen so much anymore.
Senator:And there were also times that like, literally, someone would just bring something in, like, kinda dealer's choice at a, you know, wine shop or liquor store, and and that's not necessarily helpful. So I'm glad we're more intentional now.
Gizmo:So, boys, we're coming into the last third now on the La Galera. Lancero in the Habano line. What's everybody thinking? And how's it pairing, by the way, with the Dalmore Portwood? It's delicious.
Gizmo:I think it's amazing.
Bam Bam:I think it's fantastic.
Gizmo:We we definitely have a home run here, I think. Agreed.
Bam Bam:I just wish this was so expensive.
Gizmo:Yeah. $105 is the price he's Well, gonna
Chef Ricky:the cigar makes up for it. You know? It's true. The overall pairing balances well. Yeah.
Bam Bam:So that's true.
Rooster:The cigar is delicious. Yeah. Absolutely delicious.
Chef Ricky:And then $9 a stick, know, the the spirit pairing is a little high, but overall it balances out. Think it's a great experience.
Gizmo:Rustom, I named a lot of Vitolas before. I know you like to try stuff in different Vitolas. What kind of rang your bell as we were going through that?
Rooster:So you mentioned there was a cigar. Well, obviously, said the half corona would be interesting to try. I'm not sure about the Churchill, but I think there was a Corona size and a Robusto that would be interesting to see how that what kind of a blend Yeah. You know?
Gizmo:The Corona, by the way, is a Bonchero number four. It's kind of like a 42 by five and a half.
Rooster:Right. So that's kind of
Gizmo:like a Corona Gorda ish size. And the Robusto? Yep. 50 by five. Yeah.
Gizmo:Be interesting.
Rooster:There's a quite
Gizmo:a few leftovers. The half corona in tins. It's nice to see a five pack of half corona in tins. I mean, that calls back to our love of the
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:H. Upman half corona in tins, which, by the way, obviously, we're not getting a lot of Cuban cigars right now. But,
Rooster:mean, especially in the winter months, I'm always looking for short smokes. And that would be if you can get this blend, this flavor in a short smoke
Bam Bam:In a tin?
Rooster:In a tin.
Bam Bam:That's fun. It'd be awesome. Oh yeah.
Rooster:But sometimes the Lancero, it just works in this blend. So you don't know how it's going to be in a different size. Yeah. But it's worth a shot.
Bam Bam:Correct, old boy. All
Gizmo:right, let's go to an email now.
Rooster:That's a minute.
Gizmo:From Lizard John from Boise. He says, hi, Giz. I know you're a big fan of both Bon Roberts releases. He's talking about the petite one zero nine and the one zero nine, obviously. Now the Dahlias and the phenomenas are coming It says both have been reviewed on the pod, but I'm wondering what your personal favorite is of the two.
Gizmo:I can't afford both, so I'm left to choose one. And hopefully, my lizard of the week title from episode 201 applies retroactively for the other l o l. I trust your palate and appreciate your response. As always, cheers, and thanks for all you do with making this pod possible. Lizard John from Boise.
Gizmo:So I would say that my personal favorite between the one zero nine and the petite one zero nine is the bigger one zero nine. That is that cigar
Chef Ricky:I agree.
Gizmo:Was my favorite cigar I smoked in 2023. I wrote extensively about it on FOH if you want to check out my review there. I was obsessed with that. Every time I've had it since, I just absolutely love it.
Bam Bam:I gushed when I had it.
Gizmo:You know, the only the only thing about the one zero nine though, it's a time commitment. You know, the petite is more kind of like a, you know, a Toro type of time. Beauty.
Chef Ricky:It's it's a beautiful thing, right?
Senator:Like
Gizmo:I'm not complaining.
Chef Ricky:You have the time for it. Because I I've had two of those in the last two weeks and I've been blown away every single time.
Bam Bam:Yeah. They're so good.
Chef Ricky:It's incredible. I had a whole conversation with Cigar Soldier about it on Instagram. Because his was tunneling a bit, and I noticed his cut was just a little short. And I said, just try cutting it a little bit more and see what happens. And he said it opened up and it went well.
Chef Ricky:But, man, is that cigar like, I felt great smoking it. I felt great holding it. I felt great looking at it. Everything about that fucking cigar makes me feel great.
Gizmo:Yeah. I It's outstanding. And now that you can get them in 10 count boxes, I mean, it's not that big of an investment to try it, and then, of course, if you love it, try to get a 50 count or or, you know, whatever. You know, order some more tens, but, of course, it's important to mention you can get them at fabrica005.com now. Senator, what's your favorite of the two?
Senator:So I also lean the the full one zero nine. I think each delivers a slightly different experience in that the full one zero nine for me is like a little bit lighter, like creamier you know, I think both are medium cigars, but if you were to say like one leans more toward mild, and the other leans a little bit more toward full Mhmm. I think the petite one zero nine has a bit more body and and flavor, and leans a little fuller, and the full size one zero nine leans a little bit milder. I like the complexity that that medium, but mild medium almost smoke delivers. Yeah.
Senator:So that would be my preference, but there are plenty of times that I want more flavor and a little bit fuller an experience, and I'll reach for the petite one zero nine, and I think time factors in. Ironically, I brought with me today a full one zero nine, and I got here earlier than I usually do, so I was gonna have a cigar before we hit record. I had to It's a big Ben. Oh, Ben's never done that. And I had to look at the time and say, like, I've got an hour.
Senator:Am I gonna finish that full 01:09 in an hour? Probably not. So that's where, you know, you need both have a time and place is basically Oh, yeah. You know, my take.
Gizmo:So thanks to Lizard John from Boise for asking. Again, try the 10 count of either of them depending on what your budget is, what your time allotment or availability generally is, and see how it works for you. And, of course, if you write great emails here, you might win lizard of the week. And now that the dahlias and the phenomenos are coming out, those are in the pile too. So you could win Incredible.
Gizmo:Who knows what you're gonna win Incredible. If you win loser of the week.
Chef Ricky:And voice memos?
Gizmo:Voice memos are my favorite.
Chef Ricky:Do we do videos?
Gizmo:I pulled the audio from videos.
Chef Ricky:Video could be fun.
Gizmo:But we are an audio only podcast. Are you familiar with that?
Chef Ricky:I know
Rooster:that. I
Bam Bam:know that. We
Chef Ricky:could watch the video and they
Gizmo:could hear it. So boys, I wanna go to an article now, and I'm not gonna go crazy on this, but I do wanna point our listeners to it. We talk all the time about Cuba and what's going on down there, but The Economist and and when I see something from The Economist, I take that pretty seriously. I mean, they're it's just a fantastic kind of neutral politically neutral, just fact based. And they put out an article.
Gizmo:This is what it's called Cuba is heading for disaster unless its regime changes drastically. That's the headline. Came out on November 18. And what I the reason why I wanna share this and I wanna point our listeners to it it kind of runs through everything that we've talked about what's going on in Cuba. And what I love about what they do over there is it's all data driven.
Gizmo:It's all data. There is just so many different points of data that they point to as to how and why the country is failing. So I really would encourage anybody who's interested in what's going on in Cuba, you know, check out that article. I mean, it goes through, you know, the issues with wages right now. By the way, from a conversion standpoint, effectively, the average Cuban wage is somewhere around $14 a month.
Gizmo:So when you consider the fact, you know, that there's no food, you're generally having to buy that from private businesses. It's just it's a very, very difficult situation going on there. So they talk about food prices, fuel rations, inflation, depreciation. There's the structural collapse of the industries from sugar and tourism. I mean, tourism, which we've talked about is they kind of put as the, you know, the rock for them economically has fallen through the floor.
Gizmo:Obviously, as these news stories get out. The hunger stories, you know, they said that seventy percent of Cubans are missing at least one meal a day. The elderly are having to go back to work to pay their bills. Only 3% of Cubans are able to access the medicine they need at any given time. Social and demographic fallout.
Gizmo:Doctors and professionals have left. Fertility is down. I think it's one point two four children per woman in the country, which is, I guess, a disastrous number. Mhmm. The state's ambivalence towards private business, fear of foreign capital, ideological rigidity of the party.
Gizmo:There's so much in this article that kind of ties together all of the episodes that we've talked about what's going on in Cuba and we've experienced going on in Cuba. So I would really recommend everybody go and check out that article from The Economist dated November 18. So I posted this article on FOH because I was really floored by it. There was a great discussion there. And specifically, one comment I wanted to read from our friend Johnny O.
Gizmo:This is Johnny O who goes to Cuba a lot. And he added some more context to this that I wanted to share on the pod tonight. So he says, there are several points here that the article fails to mention that's not helping the economy. The MLC. So what the MLC was was the government's trying to con the government trying to control the spend of dollars as opposed to it being an underground thing where businesses were accepting cash.
Gizmo:They really wanted all of the state run businesses to accept an MOC, which is a glorified debit card that you had to load. I don't think any of us have ever gotten an MOC when we're down there, but a lot of tourists do. So this was created to be used as a digital monetary instrument parallel to the coupe, which is the the Cuban peso. Although it still exists, there are no stores where you can purchase anything in MLC. It's Cuban pesos or US dollars that run the market.
Gizmo:Cuba barely has any government owned stores that sell products to the locals. They have been replaced by small convenience stores that are owned by locals usually with some government ties. The prices of products are higher than in The US and the quality is suspect. There are no price controls, so they're gouging the locals. There's no medicine in the hospitals.
Gizmo:And I've heard of locals buying expired Tylenol and Motrin at twice the price that we pay in The US. Those owners have to pay taxes on their earnings. If you've cooked your books, they take you everything you have, put you in jail, and he says it ain't no weekend stint at Club Fed. COVID affected many locals mentally resulting in a lot of heart attacks and suicides. The power outages are driving more locals to the brink of madness.
Gizmo:There's a virus phenomenon, and we've been talking about this on a few chats. Yeah. There's a virus phenomenon right now with the mosquitoes, Zika, dengue, orapuche, chica I can't even pronounce that one. Chingungunga in Cuba right now. Gunya.
Gizmo:Chingungunya. It's a I it's so bad I can't pronounce it like everything else. In Cuba now that it's affecting the whole neighborhoods, many are bedridden for a week, some as long as a month. The government doesn't fumigate anymore. He says he has to lather lather up in deep woods off and wear long sleeve shirts and pants just to keep the mosquito bites at a minimum.
Gizmo:When I hand out this freaked me out, man. When I hand out the off repellent, locals kiss the bottles and give thanks to God like they're bars of gold. Mhmm. There is much talk about the Cuban government buying commercial poultry at a discount from Brazil. This is freaking me out as well.
Gizmo:That was infected with avian influenza bird flu that was being banned by importers worldwide. So now here comes another virus that magically has no explanation. Most of most of my wife's family got it and the whole neighborhood. The icing on the cake is the immigration situation. Since Cubans are classified as terrorists by the current US administration, they are no longer allowed in The US as visitors or on humanitarian visas even if you have another foreign passport.
Gizmo:Also, are millions that enter The US under these humanitarian visas, and The US wants to send them back to any country that will take them, which is mostly Africa. The ones that had money, cars, houses left the country. So what is remaining is old folks and the poorest of all. Their state of mind is at its limits, and the Cuban government will find another way to screw it up even further.
Rooster:Mhmm. I mean How depressing.
Gizmo:Yeah. What What a brutal account.
Bam Bam:What can you say? There's nothing to say.
Gizmo:And, you know, we've we've we've been lucky. We've had some amazing times when we've been in Cuba. We've met some amazing people. And to think that those folks are experiencing this every day and all the other things that we talk about and that article talks about, I mean, it is just such a brutally bad situation. Yeah.
Gizmo:I just hope that there's some sort of possibility for change for these folks. I mean, I don't know how it would come or what it would look like. I'm not even gonna posit an idea, but, I mean, it's just it's just brutally bad right
Rooster:So downward spiral. It's just
Gizmo:I I every time you think
Rooster:it can't get worse Just gets more.
Gizmo:It gets worse. I I don't even understand it. I don't even get it. You know? And now it's like those folks that are experiencing this, going back to cigars, of course, that's what we do here.
Gizmo:I mean, those folks are having to go to work every day and roll cigars. When you're when you're feeling like this and being treated like this and you can't eat, you can't feed your kids, how good is the work you're doing? You know? So it's a it's a brutal situation. So I wanted to share that from our friend, Laser Johnny O, and and that article from The Economist.
Gizmo:I encourage all of our listeners who are interested in this to go and check it out. So, boys, let's get positive again. Alright. I know every
Senator:It's gonna it's gonna take a lot to do now.
Chef Ricky:That was a rough one.
Gizmo:It is. Let me me take a swig. But you know what, though? I think it's important to share that. Yeah.
Gizmo:I because we've talked so brilliant you know, we've talked so beautifully about Cuba and our time there in Havana and Pinar Del Rio and all the people we've met. I mean, it's just it's incredible how different of a picture it feels right now versus even two years ago.
Chef Ricky:It feels like it's getting worse really quick.
Gizmo:Alright. So let's go to one from our friend Lizard Luigi. This one ties back to Habanos, and he has a challenge to one of our points here. He says, hey, guys. I'm listening to your episode about Habanos possibly reprogramming their portfolio.
Gizmo:If you remember, we talked about different markers that could possibly be relaunched or how they would handle stuff that wasn't being sold, etcetera. So he says, I found it curious as to why anyone would think Habanos would drop their prices on anything. Discounting cigars would be seen as a cheapening of the brand, and Habanos is too self centered and arrogant to do anything that would possibly put forth that notion. Also, senators stated that Habanos needs revenue desperately. They recorded record revenues in 2024, a 16% increase over 2023.
Gizmo:Habanos SA is not hungry for money. Your thoughts?
Senator:I'm sorry. Read The Economist article. The entire country is hungry for money. Of course. I mean, tourism is down dramatically.
Gizmo:Tobacco By the is sugar industry, they they, at one point, were producing 8,000,000 tons of sugar. Last year, they did a 150,000.
Senator:Outrageous. All they have is tobacco. Correct. So I'm sorry. They need to do anything they humanly can to generate revenue from tobacco.
Senator:That's all
Bam Bam:they have. Yeah, but that revenue is not disseminated into the general population. It stays in the coffers of the government.
Gizmo:That's the problem. Apparently. Clearly. He says here, why on earth would they provide more cigars? The scarcity is what keeps them going and is what keeps people paying the premiums.
Gizmo:And those, quote, secondary less luxury brands, Vaguerros, Jose Al Piedra, are a rounding error for Habanos. Partagas, Hoyo, Monte Cristo pay for all of the other brands, Tenfold, Lizard, Luigi. So there have been a lot of, you know, back and forth on that discussion and what, Habanos could do. I mean, at the end of the day, I don't think they're gonna do anything other than continue to release exclusive stuff with three bands on them for crazy prices and continue to slowly year over year raise the regular production you know, costs probably 10 to 15% to the end user. I mean, I would I would assume in the next two years we're gonna have a $35.40 dollar D4.
Gizmo:That's my assumption. You know, unless something, you know, drastically changes. Because, of course, what we just heard about Cuba, what that economist article says, the talent is leaving. They're they are going to have a supply problem. They're resorting to the prison labor to solve for that.
Gizmo:They can't they don't have labor. So I know, to your point, senator There's no way to scale what they're doing. Nope. You just have to raise the price. Rollers.
Senator:All they can do is increase prices. It's exactly it. Exactly.
Bam Bam:Good thing we have the La Galera.
Rooster:Yeah. Correct. Correct.
Gizmo:What a great cigar, man. Yes. All right, boys. Let's go to another one. Here's another positive one from our friend Johnny the Greek.
Gizmo:This guy is like our resident like philosopher.
Bam Bam:Like my friend Vinny the Neck.
Senator:I was gonna say Vinny the Chin is next.
Bam Bam:Vinny the Chin.
Gizmo:I think Johnny the Greek is our resident philosopher on cigars. I love this email. He says, hey, lizards. I'm grateful that we can share our passion for cigars openly and without judgment. In times like these, when life feels heavy for so many, the simple act of lighting up a beautiful cigar becomes something far greater, slows us down, grounds us, and strengthens the bond we've built together.
Gizmo:We may be a small group, but what we have is rare, a circle of individuals who found brotherhood, solace, and a sense of belonging in this craft. Cigars aren't just a hobby for us. They're a tradition. I said that earlier. A link in a chain that stretches back generations.
Gizmo:And by sharing our experiences, knowledge, and enthusiasm, we're helping ensure that chain continues long after us. After thirty five years of loving the leaf, I've come to realize how important it is to appreciate the people who walk this path with you. So thank you, all of you, for what you bring to this community. Wishing each of you continued success, peace, and many unforgettable smokes ahead, Johnny the Greek.
Chef Ricky:Very nice. Love it.
Gizmo:He's our resident philosopher. I I wanna read an email like that every week from Johnny.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Chef Ricky:I love it. Especially after all this shit you just told us.
Gizmo:Sorry. Oh, yeah. Sorry, chef. I apologize. Alright, boys.
Gizmo:It's time now for lizard of the week presented by our friends at Bond Roberts.
Bam Bam:That gets me going. Bond. Bond Roberts. Oh, James.
Gizmo:This one is from lizard Sammy. Oh, Rob. He says, hey, Gizmo and crew. Lizard Sammy here. As a relatively young person that started taking cigars seriously about two years ago, I don't fit the cigar smoker archetype.
Gizmo:Outside my local brick and mortar, am often ID'd the moment I step through the door. Followed closely inside the humidor, I receive odd looks by patrons and get given dismissive answers by staff. This has led me to online engagement as a means to continue participating in the hobby rather than frequenting lounges and stores.
Bam Bam:I don't like that.
Gizmo:What I mean, don't proprietors drive me insane.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:To get to the point, my question is what can we do to better help new smokers feel welcome and engage in the community? Is it our duty to evangelize the hobby or should it be left to the old guard and slowly fade away? Of course not. Get it wrong. Apologies if these are questions that have already been asked or discussed.
Gizmo:I've been slowly working my way back through the catalog of episodes. PS, I've never wanted a glass of Paul Roger and a Robusto Trinity more in my life. Thanks, lizard Sammy. So before we answer that, congratulations to wizard Sammy. He's gonna win a 10 count box of cigars, boys Nice.
Gizmo:From Bon Roberts. Awesome. And who knows what he's gonna get? There's four four cigars up in the
Bam Bam:Could be the phenomenos.
Gizmo:Who who knows? But he's gonna win a 10 count box of Fabrica five cigars. So thanks to those guys for sharing those amazing cigars with our listeners. We really, really appreciate it. And everybody out there should go to fabrica005.com and pick up some Bon Roberts cigars right away because they are fantastic.
Rooster:So does he mention how old he is?
Gizmo:I'm assuming he's probably early twenties. That's the vibe I'm getting here. I mean, how many times are we seeing a guy in his thirties or forties be treated like this? It's clearly an age thing. I know it's
Bam Bam:a disgrace for a shop proprietor to turn his nose up at a young smoker that's interested in the hobby and the lifestyle and the product. I would relish that opportunity to educate and
Rooster:Look, as a business owner and you run a cigar store, you want somebody younger to start
Senator:Of course.
Rooster:So you can have him for
Gizmo:long period
Rooster:of time.
Gizmo:Correct. For life.
Rooster:You know? So so we should encourage that.
Bam Bam:We sit here. We love talking about what we're smoking. Hey. What are you smoking? I'm gonna smoke this.
Bam Bam:What are you what are you getting? What kind of notes? I mean, I love to discuss the cigars that I'm gonna smoke, that I'm smoking, that I wanna smoke, that I wish I can get my I mean, it's I just don't understand other human beings that run cigar shops that don't want to have that conversation. It's outrageous. It's lazy.
Bam Bam:I don't think it's laziness. I just think they're just crotchety, they're stuck in their ways, and they just don't want
Chef Ricky:to It's move just work for them.
Senator:It's shortsighted. Fair I mean, is like our old North Korea
Gizmo:Two weeks ago we had that discussion about our former lounge, we call it North Korea because of this exact experience where we were patronizing a business, and we were treated poorly for it. Correct.
Senator:Totally. And that shop owner, if an older person walks in, that shop owner is saying to themselves, like, oh, they're probably an experienced smoker. They're gonna buy a lot. They probably have more disposable income right now. But exactly like Rooster's pointing out, it's actually more valuable to have that young smoker that comes in that's gonna be a customer there for far, far longer.
Senator:Yeah. And they have an opportunity to even mold and shape their buying It's habits to that humor incredible. I mean,
Rooster:an older person is kind of probably set in his way, like, this is what he likes, and this is a new person that you can find out what he likes. He can try a lot more different cigars.
Bam Bam:I hear you. Regardless if a guy that walks in and he's 60 and he's never smoked a cigar, or 26 and he's never smoked a cigar, doesn't matter for me. I it's it's like you're clipping someone's wings. Right? You're not giving him
Gizmo:opportunity Why to
Bam Bam:why do that? It's awful. You know, like, I have a son. He's 19. Is he gonna smoke a cigar with me soon?
Bam Bam:I hope so. I'm dying to have that conversation with him. And if I owned a shop, I would look at every young person that walks in like a son or a daughter. And, yeah, let's go through the humidor. I'll describe we'll describe every cigar, the whole collection.
Bam Bam:What do you like? What do you think you like? Do you want a heavier smoke? A lighter smoke? These are the different types of cigars that you can try.
Bam Bam:I would recommend this. I would it's a huge
Chef Ricky:It's an opportunity. Take note. Book.
Bam Bam:Yeah. You know? It's it's an awful habit to have.
Rooster:Does he mention where
Gizmo:he lives? He did not mention that, nor did he mention the lounges that he has experienced this at.
Senator:Sounds like Northern New Jersey.
Gizmo:Yeah. So his question here, and I want to be specific on this, what can we do better to help new smokers feel welcome and engage in the community? Is it our duty to evangelize the hobby, or should it be left to the old guard and slowly fade away? So, I mean, obviously, the second part of that, I mean, we in this room feel it's our duty to evangelize the hobby. We do this very diligently every single week.
Bam Bam:How many years?
Gizmo:A lot of effort in. We're in our fifth year now, Bam. Correct. Two hundred and thirteen weeks at this point. I I feel like, you know, I mean, obviously, the reason why we started this podcast, not just because of our friendship and we thought we were having, you know, great conversation with each other, but it's also like this experience didn't exist.
Gizmo:And that's why I I was I was looking for an experience like this in some sort of format. And that's why we started this because I felt like there was an opportunity or a hole in the market for us to talk to smokers the way we would like to be talked to. You know? And I think treating everyone with respect, you know, no matter where they're at in the journey, no matter how much money they have or don't have, no matter what they do or don't, we treat everybody equally. You know?
Gizmo:As you always say, Senator, the great equalizer is the cigar.
Bam Bam:So Correct.
Gizmo:For us, I don't care if you're a plumber or you're the CEO of like a Fortune five company. I don't care. Like, are you a good hang? That's really what it's about, you know, for us.
Rooster:I feel like if you're a new cigar smoker, our podcast is like an education on cigars. New worlds, Cubans, look at our podcasts, look at our ratings, listen to the episodes, and then go to the cigar store. And you already know what you want or what you want to try. Even if the cigar store owner doesn't help you, you know what you want to try.
Chef Ricky:Educate them with what you learned here.
Bam Bam:But here's a question. Everyone in this room right now owns their own company. If you have someone that's younger in your company that comes to you with a question and it's an opportunity to teach them. It feels to me, when I have that experience, I feel so much joy. Sure.
Bam Bam:I relish, I crave that because I know that youngster, they're asking questions because they're interested and they're into the business and they wanna improve themselves. That's huge. Yeah. As a retailer, I don't know how you don't want to do that. I just don't get it.
Gizmo:So what can we do to better help new smokers feel welcome? So let's say we We? Here in this room, as cigar smokers, as folks out in the community, what can we be doing better? What can our listeners
Bam Bam:yell at every provider.
Gizmo:We'll do a little we'll do like a bus
Bam Bam:tour. We know where we're gonna start.
Gizmo:We might start and finish there.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Rooster:Well, I think if he had a bad experience at once, you know, one cigar store, go to a different one.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Definitely.
Rooster:They're not all the same. You know, maybe he went to the wrong one, so try a different store.
Chef Ricky:I think if I could give even the proprietor of a shop some advice or someone that's working for a cigar shop, When you encounter that individual, give them a handshake. Say welcome. You know, I think that's the first step. The next step is what have you smoked before? You know?
Chef Ricky:And and just kind of walk them through the experience and and and and have that that joy with them because obviously that person is excited because they're there to spend their hard earned money right now to get further into this hobby. So, yeah, like Bam said, that's that's a freaking amazing opportunity. That's like people someone walks into a cigar lounge or a cigar shop, they're ready to spend money. They're ready to spend money and they
Bam Bam:just need your I'm gonna cite one example. Lizard Obey Yeah? In the club that night. We were here late. I think I left at 01:30 in the morning.
Gizmo:Yeah. I stayed till about 02:30 with them.
Bam Bam:And you were talking what was the topic?
Gizmo:So we were running through various cigars and and cigars that we appreciate Yeah. Rotation, the difference between Cuban cigars, Honduran, Dominican, Nicaragua. I was giving him, like, a full rundown of everything. He just wasn't
Bam Bam:hasn't been exposed to many cigars, and now you see him in lounge, he's actually taking up a lot of the advice. I think it's a beautiful thing to see someone learning and taking advantage of it, and improving their cigar hobby.
Gizmo:Yeah. And I think to me, to answer this question, I think number one, if we're going talk to retailers or folks working at retail shops, it's like you've got to find a way to disconnect whatever else is going on in your life or your day and put on a different hat when you're faced with a new customer or someone that's walking into your shop very green and give them the best experience possible. Like, it seems so no brainer to say it, but I've experienced so many different times where I've walked in a cigar shop and you're treated like shit. Yeah. And you don't wanna go back.
Gizmo:I mean, forget, you know, the North Korea's experience, which we talked about at length a few weeks ago. I mean, how many times have any of us traveled and had a shitty experience at a brick and mortar store to the point where it's like just like Lizard Sammy is saying here, like, I don't want to deal with this anymore. You know? Like, it's it's unfortunate. But for me, the other thing too, to your point, is I think all of us in this room, we obviously do this on the podcast every week, but when we're not off mic, any of us, of course, we told that story of Senator and I when I first walked into North Korea and met Senator.
Gizmo:It's the willingness to give a shit enough to help someone you don't even know yet further themselves along in the journey because they're gonna remember that, they're gonna have a better experience, and they're gonna join this brotherhood that we have and sisterhood that we have, right, in this thing. And they're gonna have a better experience long term.
Bam Bam:And I think proprietors that have been doing
Gizmo:it
Bam Bam:for a very long time have lost sight of that. Think they're
Gizmo:Yeah, I think the time thing
Bam Bam:lost sight of And they don't have the patience any longer. They don't see it any longer. It's a shame.
Senator:I agree. And the other side of this coin is for the young smoker, you know, they overcome what is probably a very intimidating experience when you walk in a cigar shop, you don't know a whole lot about the product, but you're interested in it. You know, I think for them, it's important to understand that this is a lifelong education process. Mean, we're all sitting here, we've all been smoking cigars for God knows how many years, and none of us had even heard of La Galera. Mhmm.
Senator:We're smoking a cigar that they make that I'm pretty sure is gonna score very well.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Senator:And we learned something, you know? Bam had a conversation with a proprietor at a random lounge.
Gizmo:Seven months ago? Just one Seven months ago.
Bam Bam:Alright, alright.
Senator:The guy's wife happened to work for the brand. I mean, that just by chance, he stumbled upon that. It's not like Ben sat there and said, with all my, you know, experience smoking cigars, I am confident that this Lagalera is gonna be great.
Bam Bam:So that's a great point. It came with a story. And if he didn't take the time to tell me the story, I probably wouldn't have bought it or even tried it.
Senator:But my point is, you know, that guy could have been smoking cigars for half the length of time that you have, but turned you on to something really awesome.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Senator:And I think it's important for young cigar smokers to understand that. You need not fear not having a certain amount of experience or knowledge to first start being curious and trying a lot of different cigars that exist out there. And then also, you'd be shocked that, especially a young person that may be familiar with and experimenting more than frankly we are, we know what we like, that person may someday actually turn an experienced cigar smoker onto something they've Oh, never heard that's
Bam Bam:the beauty of this hobby.
Senator:It goes both ways, and I think it's important that they understand that.
Gizmo:I think that's well said.
Rooster:Yeah. And I think we should somebody actually asked us this a couple of emails back or a few weeks back. Why don't we put out a sampler? We don't have to sell it, but we could suggest a sub-ten dollars five pack or a sub-fifteen dollars sub-twenty dollars five packs that it would be easy for a listener to just go in and say, hey, these are the cigars that I'm looking for, whether it's online or a brick and mortar store
Bam Bam:and just Yeah. Starting
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Great idea.
Gizmo:I think too, other thing I want to say for a young smoker out there who's experienced this at a brick and mortar, I think that's the exception, not the norm. You know, I think
Bam Bam:You would hope so.
Gizmo:Most of the community I mean, think about our experience meeting so many people at PCA around the country, etcetera. Like, there's a lot of good people in the hobby. So don't be turned off by having a bad experience or being treated inappropriately because you're too young.
Senator:And let's be clear, this is not unique to cigars.
Gizmo:No, it's It's true in restaurants. Oh, This
Senator:is true in retail stores of all kinds.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Senator:Some proprietors get it and others do not.
Bam Bam:Also, like, if you if you don't wanna have a long lengthy conversation with a retailer, just pick a few cigars, ask the proprietor, what do you recommend as far as maybe three or four light cigars that I can start with? And just start.
Senator:I mean, a great example is, I'm sorry, we're in the New York market, Aaron Judge was turned away from the Louis Vuitton store in Manhattan on 5th Avenue. He's Aaron Judge. Imagine what that felt like.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Senator:So it happens to everybody
Bam Bam:Probably every every time time it's like I could buy you five times over. Yeah.
Gizmo:Plus he's like seven foot, so everybody saw it. That's correct. Yeah. So a great email from Lizard Sammy, and congratulations to him on winning our lizard of the week presented by Bon Roberts. Again, we appreciate those guys, and we love hearing from all the lizards out there.
Gizmo:All you have to do is write us an email like lizard Sammy did, send us a voice memo, comment on YouTube, Instagram, even on FOH, DM, whatever you choose. We're happy to hear from you. We wanna hear from you, and you can win a 10 count box of cigars from our friends over at Bon Roberts. And boys, we're coming to the end of our evening now on the Dalmore Portwood Reserve single malt scotch whiskey and the La Galera Habano series in Lancero. Any final thoughts before we get into our rating tonight?
Bam Bam:Delicious evening.
Gizmo:Yeah. I'm pretty impressed with both.
Bam Bam:Very satisfied.
Gizmo:I'm curious how these ratings are gonna go because, like, it could go either way. I have no idea.
Bam Bam:You got EDOF hands tonight.
Gizmo:Yeah. EDOF hands over here.
Bam Bam:Some good shit, I
Gizmo:love it. It's great. It's it's a nice entrant that's that's different from the other stuff you drink. Like, it does have its own
Bam Bam:It's quite a pricey spot
Gizmo:in the lineup. You know?
Rooster:I mean, a bottle of Macallan is what? 85? Yeah. Right?
Senator:Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. It's time to do the formal liquorating tonight on the Dalmore Portwood Reserve single malt scotch whiskey. Bam. Bam. You're up.
Bam Bam:So I love the spirit. I think it's delicious. I love that coffee cocoa finish. It's pretty unique. This keeps my attention.
Bam Bam:I kept my attention the entire night. The price is tough, though, at a $105, but I have to say this is one of the most unique scotches I've ever had. I'm gonna give it a nine. I think that's a very respectable score. I'm happy with that.
Bam Bam:Nine.
Gizmo:Alright, chef. I know you're not feeling well. You're not gonna rate the cigar nor the spirit tonight, but how did you feel about the Dalmore as you were drinking it?
Chef Ricky:You know, from what I could get from this Dalmore, I thought it was absolutely delicious. I think the ripe red fruit notes were great. It drank very rich. I enjoyed it. I really did.
Chef Ricky:So I as much as I wanna rate it, I think that if I did, I would give it a very high rating. I'll keep it at that.
Gizmo:Awesome. So for me, it's a nine. Mhmm. I I think what's hesitating me like getting to that 10 are two factors. Actually, three, really.
Gizmo:I number one, the price, like you said, Bam. Number two, I hate that there's no age statement And on I think that, you know, despite its ability to sit in a unique spot on your bar shelf, I think this does have a unique place. I don't know how often I would actually run out and buy this. I don't know how how often I would actually wanna be drinking this. I thought the flavor was really, really good.
Gizmo:It paired brilliantly brilliantly with this cigar, but it wasn't a perfect scotch for me tonight. It wasn't perfect. It was different. It was unique. I really, really enjoyed it, but it was not perfect.
Gizmo:I wanted something more. I don't know quite Yeah, what it I'd
Bam Bam:like to know
Gizmo:that But wasn't perfect. I can't point it out to you.
Bam Bam:Because for me, if this was a $85 bottle, it'd be getting a 10 tonight. I agree. I mean, it's a it's and I kinda disagree. I want this. I can drink this weekly.
Bam Bam:Anytime. It's actually it tastes like the big brother of the Flor de Cano. There's reminiscent elements of that rum in this for me. I can go back and forth one day have that, another day have the other. I happen to think this is really quite good.
Gizmo:I mean, I agree with you. I gave it the same nine
Senator:I know that. But as usual for the wrong reason. With
Gizmo:that said,
Senator:senator. So I'm also a nine.
Gizmo:But for the right reasons.
Bam Bam:But for
Senator:the right reasons, which are Bam's reasons instead. No. I I honestly, I think Bam and I are, like, fully aligned on this. It's rich. It's delicious.
Senator:It's not aggressive. It's smooth.
Bam Bam:Honestly, rooster, you gotta try some of this, man. Okay.
Senator:It's balanced. I like that it has both the brighter notes of fruit, but also like caramel and toffee and Vanilla? Coffee. Yeah. Like Yeah.
Senator:It's complex. It has what you want in a refined spirit. The reason the only reason I didn't give it the 10 is the price point is steep. I mean, you know, at a 100 plus dollars for a bottle like this without an age statement like Gizmo said, like, that's really the only thing that precludes this from being like something I would reach for daily and drink all the time. But absent that, I I think this is very versatile.
Senator:I think this would pair with many New World and Cuban cigars.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Senator:I think it's really delicious. Think Delmore hit a home run with this, so I'm on a strong nine.
Bam Bam:Yeah. And it's not like we can't afford it. Can we get a bottle and drink this weekly? Yes. Can you justify it every single week?
Senator:I don't know. No. And especially when we have found so many other great spirits at much lower price points.
Gizmo:Well,
Bam Bam:like the I brought up floricano earlier. That is a staple. We can drink that every day with cereal. Okay?
Gizmo:Carbohydrate. Correct.
Bam Bam:It's a carbohydrate.
Senator:It wouldn't be an episode without it.
Gizmo:We did get almost two hours in without saying carbohydrate, but thank you, Bam.
Bam Bam:Thank you. You said it.
Gizmo:I know. Alright, boys. The formal liquor rating tonight on the Dalmore Portwood Reserve single malt scotch whiskey is a nine point zero. And now for the formal lizard rating tonight on the La Galera Habano, the Lancero rooster Europe.
Rooster:So, senator, thank you for introducing this cigar.
Gizmo:Yes. I agree. Thank you. Listen Listen, very oh boy. Putting this if he was up to
Rooster:if he had left it up to Bam, he would have never smoked the cigar.
Bam Bam:That's
Gizmo:true. Right? It could have
Rooster:been like another five years, so we would have never known how. I mean, is a delicious cigar. How could you keep this from us, Ben?
Bam Bam:Well, that's what I do.
Rooster:How could
Gizmo:you do
Rooster:this? I mean, the cigar is absolutely
Gizmo:Are you surprised, honestly?
Rooster:I'm not. But, you know,
Gizmo:what what can you say? But you're disappointed. I am. I am. What else is there?
Rooster:But this cigar is absolutely delicious. I mean, it's fantastic. I mean, it just hits everything I look for in a cigar. And at this price point, it's savory and it's sweet and it's earthy. I mean, it's just the blending, the construction, the smoke output, how long it lasted.
Rooster:It's a Lancero. And I'm curious to dive deeper into this marker and maybe try not only other Vitolas of the La Gallera Habano but even other cigars they make. I mean, I'm very curious because this is So
Bam Bam:before you give your rating, at the other place, guys have tried the Robusto after having this, and they say that this is better in their opinion
Gizmo:Right.
Bam Bam:Than the Robusto.
Rooster:That's why I'm curious. Try different sizes because the blending is gonna know, it's the blend might be the same, but the quantity of different tobacco And different lengths.
Gizmo:Leaves is gonna change.
Rooster:It's gonna vary the flavor.
Bam Bam:Of course.
Senator:A great example, that's the Aladino Classic Elagante. I've had that in Robusto. It's much better in Lanceros.
Bam Bam:I agree. I
Gizmo:actually don't like it in Robusto. So you flat out don't like it.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Interesting.
Rooster:Yeah. So I mean I mean, this cigar, I mean, at this price point, how could you not I mean, I can't find anything wrong with this cigar. This is one of the best Lanceros I've had in the new world.
Bam Bam:Delicious.
Rooster:It's absolutely delicious. So I'm at a 10. There we go.
Gizmo:All right, Senator.
Senator:My man, Rooster, also a 10. I was blown away. When Bam handed this cigar out, I was I had a healthy level of skepticism. I mean, at that point, I had one La Galera cigar. Yeah.
Senator:And as I described, that one was good, not great. This cigar, from the moment you light it, I think everyone sat here and said in their own words, there's something different about this cigar. It's it's giving me notes that I don't always get. It's a very distinct blend. It's complex, which you don't expect at that price point.
Senator:It's unbelievably balanced. Like the blender here, like Rooster said, I can't find one
Rooster:flock. It's perfect.
Bam Bam:It really is.
Senator:It's a perfect Lancero.
Bam Bam:What's so unusual is the variety of leaves that go into this. That's really
Senator:I wouldn't say that's unusual. I think it's actually great that they're transparent
Bam Bam:about I agree. Yeah. It's interesting.
Gizmo:A lot of folks just say Dominican, Nicaraguan, Honduras.
Bam Bam:Oh, Exactly.
Gizmo:That's what specifies.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Senator:And what I really liked is, you know, I think it initially starts more savory than it does sweet. Then I think most of the cigar is more sweet than it is savory, and then at the very, very end, I think it goes back to being more savory than sweet. So there is a bit of a journey for this cigar, which I really like. It's it smokes like a cigar with age. There's like
Bam Bam:That's where the
Gizmo:mustiness months on it. Don't forget.
Bam Bam:That's correct. In my tower. The the mustiness I think is what gives it that that quality.
Senator:It's like That mushy creaminess that's there too.
Gizmo:Correct.
Senator:Like, there is no sign of youth at all in this cigar. And again, you just don't really expect this is not a premium price point. You don't expect that experience here. This coulda had a little bit of a bite, and I still would have been so enthusiastic because of the flavor and the fact that all the way through, it's so smooth and perfectly balanced. I think there's something to appreciate in this cigar for almost any smoker.
Senator:If you like a milder cigar, I think this still can be something you can enjoy. And if you like a medium or even a full cigar, it's complex and flavorful enough that I think it will satisfy anyone's palate. So for all those reasons, I'm at a strong 10. I will definitely pursue a box, and I can't wait to smoke another.
Rooster:You know, this would be a great cigar for Lizard Sammy to go out and try this. Yeah. Great one to find.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:And a reasonably priced one. Very affordable. All right, boys. So I started really loving this cigar. Mhmm.
Gizmo:Oh, jeez.
Chef Ricky:Here we go. Someone help us. And all
Gizmo:I have to say is this. Another Lancero, boys. Alright. Come on. A perfect 10 tonight.
Bam Bam:There you go.
Gizmo:This cigar was brilliant. About Lancero's another right.
Bam Bam:Big dog.
Gizmo:So the flavor on this was so unique. Yep. I don't I I know we've talked about umami in the past, but the idea that this hell and and chef, I really wish you didn't have this man flute tonight because I know you'd be with me on this, you know, with a clean palate, with a clear palate. But the umami that that that tracked the entire way through has never been I've never experienced that in a cigar Not present. On or off podcast.
Gizmo:It was so different and unique to this cigar. It was brilliant, and it went all the way through. I really, really love that. It even rode the waves the senator talked about, earthy into sweet, back into earthy. Think that that journey that it took us on, it was not a one trick pony.
Gizmo:I would argue it was a three, four, even five trick pony. It was that complex and interesting of a cigar. It was perfectly balanced, effortless. I always use that word when I love a great cigar. If it it was effortless, perfect construction, great burn, great price.
Gizmo:Now to put an asterisk on the 10.
Senator:You were you were so close. Question.
Gizmo:Question. What I'm wondering is how much time does it require to get to this point? And what I'm saying is if a listener runs out right now
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Gizmo:And buys this cigar at, you know, an online retailer at a brick and mortar Mhmm. Are they gonna have the same experience? That's what I'm wanting.
Senator:Say this.
Gizmo:That's what I'm wanting.
Bam Bam:Go ahead.
Senator:When Bam brought this box in Mhmm. You had said you you smoked one, you know, pretty soon after purchasing the
Bam Bam:box. It was good.
Senator:And he thought it was good and good enough to bring a box to go pass around other people.
Gizmo:I mean, if that later, that's a seven month split. No. No.
Senator:But understand, you would never bring the box in after you tried a cigar fresh. That's it awful. So my point is, like, it was good enough fresh that he brought the box to lounge and passed them out. All I'm gonna say is not a single one of us would even think of bringing a box of cigars and handing them out to the whole lounge if when we tried it fresh, it was bad or disappointing.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Senator:That cigar was was satisfying enough for BAM to think it's worth actually sharing that and smoking another. So Yeah. I'm not in any way pessimistic about what this cigar would taste like, you know, from the time it lands and you have it delivered, and you let that sit for a week or two in your tower, which for any cigar we would do. Sure. I I have absolute faith and confidence it would still be great.
Gizmo:Alright. So for me, it's a 10. I loved it. It was brilliant. No asterisk.
Senator:That's right.
Gizmo:Little bit of an asterisk. A small one. Half. A very small one. Alright.
Gizmo:So chef, again, I know you're not raining tonight, unfortunately, with the man flu, but tell us what you thought of the cigar.
Chef Ricky:I thought for what I was getting, it was a absolutely delicious cigar. It was a very pleasant smoke. And I wanted to get more of the flavor that you guys were getting, but I absolutely did get all of that mushroom, some of that toffee, all of that sweet cocoa on the cold draw. But there were definitely parts throughout the experience that were falling flat for me because of my compromised olfactory. Well, you'll take one home.
Senator:Thank And
Bam Bam:when you get better, you'll
Rooster:Thank you.
Bam Bam:Have it proper.
Gizmo:I'm taking one home too.
Bam Bam:Well, there's only, like, four left.
Gizmo:One of Okay.
Senator:Well, since I since I introduced
Gizmo:Exactly. Wait. I love that you introduced Bam's box. Alright, Bam Bam.
Rooster:Wait, I want to go back to your asterisk.
Gizmo:What's what's the asterisk?
Bam Bam:Yeah. Correct.
Gizmo:How much time does it take, you know, four or six months to get to the point
Rooster:of perfection? Rating this cigar.
Gizmo:No, but I'm saying for a listener out there, I don't want a listener out there to run out put an asterisk
Senator:next to a 2019 d four that we do because it's sad for years?
Gizmo:No. But we give them the age on the box. What I'm saying is
Senator:We gave them seven months?
Gizmo:Okay. So what I'm saying is is does it take this amount of time? I'm just saying to the listener It's a great question.
Senator:Does it not take a Cuban cigar an amount of time to get to a certain point
Bam Bam:of greatness? I think
Gizmo:But we well acknowledge that then.
Bam Bam:From the point of view of practicality, whenever you buy a box, we've all discussed this, let it acclimate to your environment, your setup, whatever it may be. That's usually two to four weeks.
Rooster:Yeah, so just to be safe, like let's say thirty Yeah, days a
Bam Bam:it Right? And let it evolve, which it will. Like every other cigar Every cigar,
Senator:every cigar we've done in Aladino, in aging room, all those, we let acclimate for a number of weeks, if not even a few months.
Bam Bam:But I will say, when And they get better. When I had this at that other lounge, I had it with three or four other individuals, and they all said the same thing. It's unique, it's different, and eyes kind of lit up. And that's got that factor.
Rooster:Right, so no asterisk required.
Gizmo:No, agreed. Little asterisk.
Bam Bam:Yeah. And for a marker, I'll just go into my rating. So for a marker that's really unknown
Senator:Can't Gizmo be right just once.
Bam Bam:Have you ever heard of this marker? No. I honestly thought it was an obscure cigar maker, and I'm doing the shop owner a favor by buying a box because I happened to love it that night. You know? And it took a photo of Senator, and I know Lizard Ryan smoked these as well.
Bam Bam:So I'm like, you know what? I like this. Let me bring it in. It's good to have that kind of backup where other people are having the same product. Yes, a different Vitola, but still helps.
Bam Bam:I'm at a I'm at a strong 10. I've loved this from the beginning. I'm still loving it. I think it's outstanding. I think I would smoke this in the morning.
Bam Bam:I would have it at lunch and I would have it at dinner. I think it's very It's
Gizmo:very versatile. That's a good Very versatile. Versatile.
Bam Bam:But it's and it's so unusual. It's captivating. It captures your attention and it keeps you there. Can't say that about many, many cigars. So very strong 10.
Bam Bam:And all of that, all of that for $9.
Rooster:In the future, don't be shy
Gizmo:to release.
Bam Bam:Release. Bring.
Gizmo:Bring it.
Bam Bam:Well, you know. Bring.
Senator:Don't doubt your palate, Bam.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:Yeah. We are big fans of your palate. You're being facetious when I say that. I appreciate it. We are not.
Bam Bam:Thank you.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. So the formal lizard rating tonight on the La Galera Habano in Lancerro is a perfect 10.
Rooster:With no How about it?
Gizmo:No. Just a small one. Just a very small one.
Senator:Nope. Mute his mic. Correct.
Gizmo:So, boys, we did the Dalmore Portwood Reserve. Let's go through the other ratings really quick before we get out of here tonight. We did three other Dalmore spirits on the pod. The Dalmore cigar malt. We did that, by the way.
Gizmo:Can you believe this on episode two? We did not rate it. That was a I mean, that was a brilliant spirit, but I can't believe it's that long ago.
Bam Bam:Revisit that.
Gizmo:The twelve years aged Dalmore single malt scotch scored a 6.2. Brutal. And then we did the 12 years aged Sherri Cass select
Rooster:Mhmm.
Gizmo:On episode 193, twenty weeks ago, scored a nine point zero. Same as this tonight. So I think that that 12 without the Sherry cask, that I mean, that's a pretty big delta there. That's, you know, 28 delta.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Senator:It needs to be finished in a cask from a sweeter spirit.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:So boys, what a great night tonight. Excellent. Of course, we have to thank our friends at Bon Robert cigars for sponsoring our lizard of the week segment. We really, really appreciate it. Thanks to our friends at Small Batch Cigar.
Gizmo:Go check out small batch cigar and get yourself some cigars for the holidays. Use our code lizard 15 for 15% off your entire order. Every order ships free, and you also get 5% of every order back in small batch rewards that you can use at any time. Of course, we have to thank our presenting sponsor boys, Fabrica five. Go to fabrica005.com.
Gizmo:Use our code lizard pod. 10% off the entire store. Free shipping for all orders over a $125 US. And, of course, you can get the Bon Robert cigars there as well. Two more lines coming out, so watch out for those.
Gizmo:Congratulations again to our lizard of the week, lizard Sammy. And, of course, thanks to all the lizards for writing us. We really, really appreciate it. And I'm gonna say this one more time because we're coming up on it. Best of 2025 is coming out in just a few weeks.
Gizmo:I need suggestions. I need ideas. I need to hear what you loved, what you laughed at, what you hated, the interviews, whatever you thought was great or bad or whatever it is this year, please share it with me and help us create best of 2025.
Senator:Something tells me the toe is gonna make it in there.
Gizmo:I I feel like that's gonna be a late entrant. I'm sure
Bam Bam:it will. No. It's gonna
Gizmo:be a late entrant.
Chef Ricky:As soon as you started, that bam started stretching.
Bam Bam:Like, this is my time to shine. Yeah.
Gizmo:No. By the way, Bam out of like, I think last year was about four hours in the best of or three and a half. I think he got about an hour and a half of that himself. This ain't shining. Alright, boys.
Gizmo:One more time. The Dalmore Portwood Reserve single malt scotch whiskey scored a nine point zero tonight, and the La Galera Habano in Lancero that senator brought in scored a perfect 10. Yes. How about it? Boys, what a great night.
Gizmo:What a great conversation, and, we'll see everybody next week. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You could find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, loungelizardspod.com. That's loungelizardspod.com.
Gizmo:Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us. Hello at loungelizardspod.com. You can also find us on Instagram at loungelizardspod. We really appreciate your time, and we'll, we'll see you next week.