Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
**Gizmo:** [00:00:00] Welcome to the Lounge Lizards podcast presented by Fabrica 5. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars, as well as whiskey, travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo. Tonight I'm joined by Rooster, Poobah, Senator, Pagoda, Grinder, and Bam Bam, a full house of lizards.
And our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some bourbon, talk about life, and of course, have some laughs. So take this as your 134th Official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plan to be this year once a week. We're going to smoke a New World cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating.
We discuss the storied history of J. C. Newman, we learn how horse racing influenced our pairing, and Bam gets taken to task by a listener voice memo, all among a variety of other things 90 minutes. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar and enjoy as we pair Calumet small batch Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey with the J.
C. Newman Diamond Crown Julius Caesar Toast Across America 2023 Shark. Our first [00:01:00] JC Newman on the pod tonight. It's called the Shark Toast Across America 2023. It's a 54 ring gauge cigar by five and five eighths inches long. And boys, I got to tell you, I am very, very excited to smoke this cigar right now.
So
**Bam Bam:** have you had this cigar?
**Gizmo:** I have never had a JC Newman cigar before. I
**Bam Bam:** had this once. And, uh, it's going to be a full flavored experience. I had this once too. But very smooth. No, I didn't find any rough edges ever. I think it's a pretty damn good cigar.
**Gizmo:** I'm obviously very hyped because it's identical in shape to the Arturo Fuente, Don Carlos, Eye of the Shark and the Opus X Shark.
Uh, the Don Carlos version we love so much. It's rated a 9. 9 on the podcast many, many moons ago. But, um, I have very high hopes for this. So, and you know, it was blended by Arturo Fuente, Carlito Fuente. Made by them. And, uh, we'll talk about what's going on with the cigar and why they release it like this.
But first boys, let's cut this thing. So we're getting on the cold draw on the wrapper.[00:02:00]
Man, it is a well constructed cigar in the
**Bam Bam:** hand. You're gonna find that it performs a lot like the Don Carlo Shark. I'm very, very hopeful.
**Gizmo:** Getting petrichor.
**Bam Bam:** Haven't heard that word in a while. It's a pretty clean cold draw for me.
**Gizmo:** It is. The foot of the cigar smells great, too.
**Bam Bam:** Nice draw.
**Gizmo:** Draw's great. Draw's wide open.
Almost too open,
**Bam Bam:** but. Yeah. A bit. Beautiful bands, too. A bit much, maybe over the top, but. I
**Rooster:** like the wrapper on this.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, it's awesome. Beautiful wrapper.
**Rooster:** Beautiful, yeah.
**Gizmo:** Alright, boys, let's light this thing. The diamond crown Julius Caesar shark toast across America, 2023 from JC Newman. Again, it's a 54 ring gauge cigar by five and five eighths inches long.
**Grinder:** Kind of a hodgepodge of branding. If I say so, like, what are they going for here? So Julius Caesar toast across America shark and [00:03:00] above it, diamond crown and diamond crown as
**Gizmo:** well. What's the stick? So I can answer those questions. So Julius Caesar is actually the name of JC Newman, Julius Caesar Newman, the founder of the company toast across America is the charity.
Uh, release that comes out every year. This comes out next to an Arturo Fuente Opus X Shark in a charity box that they release every year, which we'll talk about that.
**Bam Bam:** So, not to interrupt you, the challenge in toasting the foot of this cigar is it's got a very Pretty wide foot and depending on the type of lighter that you have, you're going to spend some time.
I don't know on this for me, I felt it lit
**Senator:** very quickly. Not for me. This is
**Poobah:** insights from Encino man. Yeah. Creeper.
**Bam Bam:** What did you say? Biodome. Biodome
**Poobah:** with Bam Bam. [00:04:00] What are we talking about now?
**Bam Bam:** It is very strong. It's a full flavor. It's got a lot in there. But honestly, I think it's very smooth. Yeah, I wouldn't say it's strong.
**Rooster:** I think it's mild.
**Senator:** Trying to live up
**Gizmo:** to your reputation here.
**Senator:** I'm just going to say the draw in mine is way, way too open. Yeah, mine's, mine's way
**Pagoda:** open. Right, you almost wish there was a bit more resistance.
A
**Senator:** little bit, just. And I'm fine with an open draw. I think I'm, in the minority, usually, I don't like a resistant draw at all. This is like insane. It is open. Mine's perfect.
**Rooster:** It's not, it's not wide open. It's, it's got a little bit of resistance. Yeah, it's not bad.
**Bam Bam:** Already a lot of combustion. Yeah. A lot of smoke in the rooms.
**Gizmo:** So let's talk about the shape of this cigar for any listeners who don't have it in their hand right now, who don't know what a shark is. So this cigar comes to [00:05:00] a full square of 54 ring gauge tobacco at the foot. And then goes down to, I guess, like a A pyramid type. Yeah, a pyramid torpedo type shape at the head of the cigar.
Across, it's a little over five and a half inches. I guess the mouth feel is probably closer to like a 44 with a proper cut. Makes sense. You know, just taking a little bit of the, uh, the cap off there.
**Bam Bam:** Yes, sir.
**Gizmo:** And even with a little bit of a cut, it really It's wide open. It's, the draw is just wide open. Oh, yeah.
Arguably, like Senator said, too wide open.
**Bam Bam:** Mm hmm. The room's already full of smoke. It's unreal, the combustion. It's woody. It's very woody. It's very woody. That's a great descriptor. A
**Gizmo:** little spice. I'm not getting any
**Bam Bam:** sweetness at all. None. On the retro, I'm getting a touch of white pepper for me. On the typical draw, I don't get much pepper for me.
It's pleasant. I like it. I get some pepper.
**Senator:** Yeah. On the draw. And dare [00:06:00] I say, I
**Poobah:** just read
**Bam Bam:** my
**Poobah:** man. This is a monumental event.
**Bam Bam:** You've just been baptized. This is the first, the first JC Newman. The
**Gizmo:** first time we're doing this bourbon, the first time Senator has retro man. How exciting. Tell us how that experience was for you.
**Senator:** It was good. I told you it just happened spontaneously. It's not something that I. Seek out or intentionally do but it accentuated the spice note that I was getting faintly I got a little more on the retro. Bam. You heard
**Poobah:** one of the key words that I got chastised for accentuated.
**Senator:** Correct.
**Poobah:** Yeah. It's like the first time you hold the pillow.
**Bam Bam:** Speak for yourself. We're talking bio
**Poobah:** dome.
**Bam Bam:** I know exactly what you, what are we doing here today?
**Rooster:** It
**Poobah:** just happened spontaneously. Rooster, what do you think of the cigar?
**Rooster:** I like it so far. Yeah. I mean, I like the woodiness. I mean, it's earthy, woody, a little bit of leather.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. Weather's [00:07:00] definitely a good word for it. Rooster, you took the bands off.
**Rooster:** Yeah. I like, uh. I don't see you do that often. I like, I like a cigar naked.
**Grinder:** He, he heard about humping pillows. Yeah, so I took the pillows off. He, he's just,
**Pagoda:** he's just into unbanded cigars. That's what it is. I mean, the
**Rooster:** wrapper is so beautiful that it's being hidden by the, by the bands. Yeah. It's a, it's a beautiful cigar.
**Poobah:** It is a lot of bands and I like kind of the soft, oh, it's for me, it's like a soft opening, which I, which I like.
It's kind of easing me into it.
**Gizmo:** I got a little bit of pepper at the very, just as we lit it and it's kind of faded now. It's a, it's a very, I would say it's a medium experience, not a lot of pepper, but I'm not getting a lot of like, I'm not getting a lot of much. I'm not getting much at all. At this point.
**Senator:** So I felt the same way, but as I've, I'm not sure if I'm ahead. No, I guess at least BAM and I are the same. I'm getting a little bit of sweetness now, like a slight vanilla note and [00:08:00] some, some fruit, like possibly not dried fruit. BAM's already looking at me. Not a big smile. He was waiting for the word dry, but this is not dried fruit.
This is wet fruit. This is like a, like a berry note. I'm
**Bam Bam:** getting.
**Gizmo:** So this cigar is exclusive to the Toast Across America release, which, like I said, it comes in a coffin of two cigars with the Arturo Fuente Opus X Shark next to it. They released this annually. It's a charity release. So these cigars are sold as a pack.
Generally for between 50 and 60 created by the Fuente family and the J. C. Newman family to support the cigar family charitable foundation, CFCF, which we've talked about many, many times on the podcast as it relates to, you remember, we talked about our, uh, Carlito going up to Connecticut, raising a ton of money at the raised three or 400, 000 in a night.
And it's a Dominican charitable foundation. Best known for its school operated in [00:09:00] Bonao close to the Fuente farms, which obviously known as Chateau de la Fuente. The school opened as a primary school in 2004, but now offers education all the way through high school, entirely free with admission determined by a lottery system and the school has earned a ton of accolades.
In addition, the campus offers a medical clinic and the school routinely gives out food and other essentials. Ranging from water filters to roofs, to families in the surrounding areas. So toast across America is the designation of this release of these two cigars. Now when you see this released often at retailers, it says Toast Across America or TAA with a year designation, which is not to be confused with the Tobacco Association of America releases that we see so many in many markets, manufacturers do each year.
You know, padron, so many manufacturers do TAA releases. It is totally separate from that even though the, uh, the letters are the same. [00:10:00] And so this is
**Senator:** released annually, and I asked that, I was surprised to see on the side of the secondary band, it has the year 2023 on it. Yeah, so
**Gizmo:** every year it's a little different.
Sometimes it's this cigar, they do different Fatolas here and there, but they've been doing this, I think, almost 20 years. Yeah. Releasing these cigars side by side, so. So this is considered a standard production cigar? Technically, this is not a normal Diamond Crown cigar from JC Newman. This is only available in this release each year.
What I like about the 50 or 60 price point on these cigars for the two of them is JC Newman and Arturo Fuente covered the administrative costs of dealing with the, the, the cigars and the money and all that stuff. And they sell the, to the retailers for 50 and they ask that the retailers sell them to the consumer at 50.
So there's, they ask that there be no markup on these cigars at retail, obviously aside from tax.
**Bam Bam:** So where we purchased these, these were 30 bucks. Individually,
**Gizmo:** so that's the tax coming into play. I would assume the New York state tax and New Jersey tax. So that's the [00:11:00] um, That's the story with this, uh, with this charity release So this cigar like I said was blended, uh by Carlito Fuente and the the JC Newman company and is manufactured by Carlito Fuente Uh, and is distributed like all Fuente is by J.
C. Newman. So we'll get into a little bit of the history and the collaboration that they have there, but they have been in business together for quite, quite a long time.
**Rooster:** You talk about the wrapper.
**Gizmo:** So the wrapper is Ecuadorian Sumatra and the binder and filler are both Dominican.
**Bam Bam:** It's a very enjoyable experience right now.
**Gizmo:** Honestly, this is very good. Yeah. And it feels great in the hand too. Sure. I love how the shark does. Yeah. You know, I don't really, I don't reach for the dark Don Carlos eye at the shark as much as I'd like to just cause I don't see them very much.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Very hard to get your hands on the Opus X shark, obviously even more than that.
But, um, it's nice to have a shark in the hand again, cause it just doesn't happen very much.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. And you'll get a nice long ash on this. It's very structural and you're stacking dimes. I know we hate that, but it's [00:12:00] really beautifully made.
**Senator:** I'll say, so, I mean, this is not at all reminiscent of the Don Carlos Eye of the Shark.
No, not at all. But what this does remind me of a bit is the Opus Shark. For me, the Opus Shark is stronger and fuller than the Don Carlos Shark. This leans much closer to that than it does Don Carlos. And I'm telling you, I get this berry note in this that I vividly remember in the Opus Shark. That's not at all in the Don Carlos Shark.
I didn't get
**Bam Bam:** any berry in the Opus Shark. For me, that was It was a sweet cigar, but I couldn't, I couldn't pinpoint what that note was, but this thing. Yeah, I
**Rooster:** don't think I'm getting a berry note. I am actually,
**Bam Bam:** honestly, I'm getting berry here. It's for me, berry forward. Oh, really? With, and it's, and it's a bit earthy as well, which I think is.
Yeah, I get woody,
**Rooster:** earthy, like, you know, some leather with a little bit of spice. With
**Bam Bam:** a hint of like a, for me, it's currant that I'm getting.
**Senator:** I get like a. Like a raspberry note, almost like it's like a little sweet, but then a little tart.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, [00:13:00] that's fair. Smoking very complex right now. Sponsored by Driscoll Foods.
Hosted by Dr. Scholz.
**Gizmo:** Tonight's broadcast. Back
**Pagoda:** to the feet.
**Gizmo:** I really like the bands on this. I know it's probably very similar in size and shape to the Arturo Fuente bands on the, on the Shark, the Don Carlos, but it's a really high quality band. Obviously a picture of. Julius Caesar on it. Julius Caesar spelled incorrectly.
We'll get into why that is in a little bit. But, and then there's the second band, as Senator pointed out, with Toast Across America and the year 2023 on it. So, um, I'm curious what the release will look like for 2024, but uh, we just got these a few weeks ago. Yeah. So, um, like I said, first Jason Neumann on the pod.
That
**Grinder:** strength that I initially got is, has like dissipated. It has
**Bam Bam:** dissipated. It's actually quite smooth.
**Pagoda:** And I'm really enjoying the open draw in a way. It's, uh, with the smoke out, but it's, uh, just so [00:14:00] easily. I think you've got to manage your pace on this thing though.
**Gizmo:** I agree. I think that if you rush this, it's, it's definitely intended to be smoked slowly.
I agree.
**Senator:** Yeah. I mean, with this open a dry, it would just overheat. Oh yeah.
**Poobah:** So many, so many times with the cigar. One of the things I look for is like, um, that feeling of, of relaxation where the cigar hits you and you just kind of go, okay, this is relaxing for me. Like I'm not. I think Poobah
**Bam Bam:** likes his cigar.
Yeah. I do. I think you do. So far
**Poobah:** I really do. Um, but I, I, I, I tend to lean towards Dominican and Cuban tobacco more than I do towards Nicaragua. Not that I, Hey, look, not that I don't love a Padron. I love it. Of course. But I do tend to lean in that direction. And, uh, I like this, I like this blend. Yeah, man.
Poobah, you're scaring me. Why? Why am I scaring you? Because it just Everybody else turn your mic off right now. The [00:15:00] enthusiasm for Padrone wasn't as, you know Oh, well, no. Hey.
**Bam Bam:** Hey.
**Poobah:** Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey, come on. It's not It. Please, you guys know my love for Petrona, but I do like Dominican tobacco.
**Bam Bam:** So it gives the aroma on the foot is actually fantastic. I think it smells great. It's, I agree. There's a little berry in that as well. Yeah. It's really coming
**Poobah:** from Dr. Scholl. That's, that says a lot getting mixed berry. Dr. Scholl over there. Bam, bam. The foot master.
**Bam Bam:** Oh Lord. Where are we going? No one knows the foot of a cigar like that.
Of
**Poobah:** a cigar. Of a cigar.
**Rooster:** Rooster, what do
**Gizmo:** you think of it
**Rooster:** now? Same. I mean, I like the cigar. I mean, it's, I'm getting, um, [00:16:00] I'm not getting the berry note that you guys are talking about. Me neither. I don't get the fruit. I'm getting it on the
**Grinder:** aroma. On the aroma for sure. Yeah. I'm shocked.
**Bam Bam:** I'm getting it. It's very pronounced.
I agree. It's, it's there for sure.
**Gizmo:** I wish it was a little more pronounced for me, but. Are you getting the berry note? No, just on the aroma at the foot. I'm not getting it on the draw.
**Poobah:** I mean, it's not super dynamic, but it's not, it's not like hurting my soul. No. Creating anxiety or like doing weird things to me where I'm like, the cigar is gonna suck.
Yeah. That's because the
**Bam Bam:** delivery is so smooth right now. Yeah. Very, very smooth. Yeah. But
**Senator:** it's
**Bam Bam:** good.
**Senator:** I mean, it's good. I'm enjoying it. A beautiful burn line. Yeah. For me, the best part of it, it's just like most new world cigars that we love, there's a really good amount of flavor in this, but the delivery is so smooth.
And I feel like that's what we chase and pursue, you know, every new world.
**Gizmo:** So this company has a pretty amazing history. So the founder Julius [00:17:00] Caesar Newman was born in 1875 in Hungary, and he sailed the cross with his family across the Atlantic in 1888. I like Hungary. Of course, in search of the American dream.
He had no middle name and Julius was required to choose one before workers could complete his entry paperwork. So he solicited help from the immigration officer who suggested Caesar After, of course, the great Roman emperor, Julius relished in the thought of being named after a historic leader. And conqueror, but due to a typo by the attendant, Caesar was spelled incorrectly.
So if you look at the band here it says Julius Caesar C A E S E R. It should be C A E S A R. So they spelled it incorrectly all those years ago. Rooster was the customs agent.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, he was all Hahaha! Hahaha! Hahaha!
**Gizmo:** He was all weirded out by the spelling, and we figured out what it was before we came on the show.
Correct. That's
**Grinder:** when he started smoking cigars.[00:18:00]
**Gizmo:** Next time we do this, he'll be on the boat with Columbus. He's a fucking vampire, dude. It's nothing else. That's
**Bam Bam:** all there is to it. So the
**Gizmo:** J. C. Newman Cigar Company, obviously, is one of the first Oldest family owned cigar manufacturers in the United States. It was founded in 1895. The company has been a significant player in the cigar industry for well over a century.
Julius Caesar Newman started the company in the family barn in Cleveland, Ohio with 50 in tobacco. And by 1910, the company had grown and Newman moved operations to a much larger factory in Cleveland. In 1954, they moved to Tampa, Florida. Obviously known as the cigar city. They took over the historic El Reylo factory built in 1910, which is where they remain headquartered today.
JC Newman was the first company to introduce cellophane wrapping for cigars. Wow. Which helped preserve freshness, which is really interesting how that has become, even in Cuba, you know, The it, that is everywhere. Cellophane on cigars [00:19:00] is pretty wild. They obviously have created several successful cigar brands, including Brickhouse, Diamond Crown that we're smoking tonight and Questor and Ray.
This is crazy. The company has remained in the Newman family since they started. Wow. It is the oldest family owned cigar company in the world since 1895. I have no,
**Senator:** I have to say, this is the most shocking marca history. Yeah. Period. It's very, very impressive. In, in Ohio. They started their Who would think that there'd be a cigar operation in Ohio?
I know.
**Gizmo:** It's crazy.
**Grinder:** At any point. I was gonna say, they make a lot of, um, machine made cigars, don't they?
**Gizmo:** They make a lot of stuff, there's no question about that. Um,
**Grinder:** I think they're the largest, like, machine They
**Gizmo:** have quite a bunch of marcas. So from the Dominican Republic, from Taba Clara Fuente, where they make these, the diamond crown, which has the diamond crown, Maximus and Julie Caesar, black diamond, Questra Ray [00:20:00] and La Unica, and then they also have cigars coming out of Nicaragua where they make them at the JC Newman Pensa Alcazar, Brick House, Bricktoberfest, Don Jose, Don Seville, El Baton, Gasparilla.
Perla Del Mar, Quorum, Yagua, and Havana Q. Unreal. They make a lot of cigars. There's no question about that. I just think it's pretty incredible that this, this company has been around for 130 years, almost still family,
**Poobah:** still family owned. Wow. It's pretty incredible. God bless America because you know, markets like Portland, uh, Port of Aranja, right.
They've been around since what, 1830. Something like that. Do you know what I mean? That marker. That's not family owned anymore. Right. Clearly. That's not family owned, but it's owned by the, uh, the God bless America. The Castro family. The family. Well, no, what I'm saying is, is, is God bless [00:21:00] America. You know what I mean?
Yeah. Um, exactly. Right. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** So at PCA, I think they had a, that barn you mentioned, they had a replica of that barn in that Carlito area.
**Gizmo:** And it was exactly, that's exactly it, Ben. They, they are quite, quite honestly, they're, they're sitting right on. Right. They do everything with Fuente. Sure. These companies are joined at the hip.
So the
**Bam Bam:** presentation, Carlito's booth and J. C. Newman's booth, they were, they were diametric opposites in the same area. Really nice presentation overall. So great, great area.
**Gizmo:** Who runs JC Newman
**Bam Bam:** now?
**Gizmo:** So it's, it's still run by the family. Like I said, it's now run by Eric and his son, Drew Newman currently run the company.
**Senator:** Are they out and about much? I just, I have not heard. And you know, even at PCA, right? Like you had Carlito there, you had George Padrone, you had, I don't think anyone from JC Newman was there. No,
**Pagoda:** they probably were because remember the radio host, those three women, Yeah. They there. JC
**Senator:** Newman. Yeah, that's true.
Yeah. But I, I mean, like [00:22:00] the old, I don't know of a face No. Today of JC Newman. It's not wrong. Like every other major brand has. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I don't think they have a personality
**Senator:** as the face. Correct.
**Bam Bam:** I agree with that. They, they
**Senator:** really ought to. I just say, I mean the family history there is so compelling. I mean, and that's one of the things we love about Carlito and, and George Padron, I would, they're out in front.
I would love to hear more about this and, and, and talk to, you know, the folks who actually are responsible for this operation now. Mm-Hmm. .
**Gizmo:** What's pretty crazy. And this is really what shocked me. And in addition to what you're saying about how shocking the history of the businesses, this blew my mind. So JC Newman, cigar company and Arturo Fuente.
Now, obviously this, what piqued my interest was a PCA. Why are they on the same carpet? Why are they on the same lot at the PCA show this year? I had no idea how long these companies have been doing business together. Since 1990, J. C. Neumann has been the exclusive distributor of Arturo Fuentes cigars in the United States.
I always understood and thought, [00:23:00] incorrectly, The opposite. That it'd be either the opposite or that, you know, that Carlito had his own distribution network. Mm hmm. But he exclusively uses J. C. Neumann in the United States. The partnership has been highly successful and mutually beneficial helping both companies to grow and thrive in the cigar industry.
Obviously both companies are family owned and operated with deep roots in cigar making tradition. They share a commitment to quality craftsmanship and the preservation of the cigar industry's heritage. The two companies have collaborated, collaborated on various projects and brands over the years.
Notably, they work together on the diamond crown brand, which we're smoking right now. The Julius Caesar, which is produced by the Fuente family and is distributed by JC Newman. So
**Poobah:** I bet you would, I bet you what happens is, is, is I'm hypothesizing now. If they're. If they're doing distribution for Fuente, uh, then they're doing distribution on behalf of Fuente and using, they have lines of [00:24:00] distribution downstream, which, so they may take paper for Fuente cigars, meaning.
You have JC, you have JC Newman, right? You ha as an, they make their cigars, they put them into the, into the distribution channel, but it sounds like to me, from what you're telling me, they have a distribution business. Well, they'll, they'll take title. They'll say, okay, you give me allocation. I'll we'll take title.
We'll write you a PO, we'll cut the check and then we'll put them into the channel for you. I mean, I mean, that's what a distributor wholesaler distributor does. You know, they take a, take it on and then they, then Fuente knows that, okay, I've got, I'm working with, it's not their only distributor, but I've got this district, this distributor, and I'm going to give them a certain amount of allocation.
Yeah. Do you know what I mean? They take a fee for doing JC Newman takes a fee for doing that. And then they just pushes them downstream for them. So they may have a whole JC Newman may have a whole [00:25:00] distribution business. That's a revenue source for them. And maybe they take on other and taking on other brands, you know, allocation from other, you know, boutique brands and things like that.
They may have a whole distribution arm that we're not even aware of. And I, it
**Gizmo:** clearly they must because Arturo Fuente is one of the biggest brands in the United States, not only United States, the world, but it is just, yeah, just focus the United States. Think about how much business JC Newman is doing and what points to your question about why is there no front facing personality doing interviews all over the place like Jorge Padron or, or Carlito Fuente or some of the others, it might be that they, their focus is on other things.
**Bam Bam:** They're facilitator, really. That's what they are. Yeah. And honestly, what we're smoking tonight is, right now, is still quite delicious. This is a
**Gizmo:** very, very good cigar. Very good cigar. I'm impressed. Yeah. So we're about, I guess, an inch in. A little over an inch. I'm smoking too fast. And I think, um, I think the cigar is really developing nicely.
Yeah, it's really quite nice. It's a nice blend.
**Bam Bam:** Yes. Great construction. There's that fruit, fruity sweetness, and I'm getting just a [00:26:00] very hint of coffee and cedar mixed in with that in a very smooth, elegant delivery.
**Pagoda:** Yeah, for some reason I feel like, just like you described, a little bit of, you know, the prevalent, um, I get the creaminess and the cedar kind of flavor in the front of my mouth with a bit of sweetness.
I was trying to figure out what it is. That's fruity sweetness. But you know, in the back of my palate on the top, there's a lot of really good. Go ahead, Poober. Go ahead. I'm just smiling. Dried fruit.
**Poobah:** It's dried fruit.
**Bam Bam:** No, it's not dried fruit. Go ahead. It's not, it's not,
**Poobah:** I'm just thinking of Bam Bam, fruity pebbles.
I used to
**Bam Bam:** love fruity pebbles. I love that area.
**Pagoda:** This is a good cigar. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, of course. I think in the back on the top, I'm getting a very, it's lingering, which is a little, I don't know whether it's [00:27:00] raspberry, but it's some kind of a very fruity flavor on top. It's pretty, it's pretty nice.
Enjoyable.
**Gizmo:** So, like I said, JC Newman just celebrated their 129th anniversary. And you guys are going to remember a story we told about JC Newman on the podcast, uh, probably a few months ago at this point. So they celebrate annually the company's founders day, which takes place. Every May at their Tampa, Florida headquarters, JC Newman headquarters.
And what they do, it's a free and a free event open to the public with attractions such as tours of the El Reylo cigar factory and museum. Keep that my, uh, that word museum in mind for a second lawn games, food trucks, live music, and more. One of the events will be a take on the hotdog eating competition with the Tampa twist, according to cigar aficionado, the Cuban sandwich eating challenge.
I
**Bam Bam:** would like to enter that, I would.
**Gizmo:** Among the contestants will be the hungry couple Miki Sudo and Nick Wehry. Apparently, [00:28:00] Sudo is a seven time winner of Nathan's famous 4th of July hot dog eating contest, uh, holding the women's world record of eating 48 and a half hot dogs in 10 minutes. That is something.
She weighs,
**Bam Bam:** she weighs like 80 pounds, she's tiny. But I think
**Poobah:** you could eat more.
**Bam Bam:** Maybe I think you'd win that one. How do you know that?
**Poobah:** Wow. So, you know,
**Bam Bam:** it's on ESPN, man.
**Poobah:** So what's, so what's interesting is that according to what I'm reading right here, is that JC Newman is this is the distributor for all Fuente.
Yeah. All that's not just the portion. I'm thinking huge business, the whole thing. Huge.
**Gizmo:** It's crazy.
**Bam Bam:** Huge.
**Gizmo:** That's why they're not personalities, man. They're busy.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Good for them. This is interesting too. So there were cigars on sale at this event, of course. And they sold Sanchez Ihaia cigars, which were a recreation of the first cigars rolled in Tampa in 1886 for the era appropriate price tag of just 5.
[00:29:00] Cents each. That's pretty cool. Now the, the thing I wanted to call back to was, do you guys remember that story? Famously BAM reminded us that oxygen oxidizes the, I did not remind you. Bad is scowling
**Bam Bam:** right now. I did not remember
**Gizmo:** the cigars found at the bottom of the ocean. Yes. Oh, you've seen that shipwreck.
**Bam Bam:** That's right.
**Gizmo:** JC Newman purchased it and put it on, put it on display at their museum in Tampa, at their factory and museum. As you said, Bam.
**Bam Bam:** I think I'll be taking a trip out there.
**Gizmo:** You should go.
**Bam Bam:** I need to visualize the oxidation of my stuff. Yeah, we need a picture of you
**Gizmo:** really studying the Correct.
Correct. The state of those cigars. How the oxygen has oxidized. Right. Is your wrapper peeling a little bit? My wrapper is peeling a little bit.
**Senator:** Not mine at all. Mine's not, but one thing that I've experienced, I've noticed a few others. The burn line's been very uneven for me on this cigar. A bit. And so I've had to touch it up several times to correct it.
I saw [00:30:00] Pagoda doing the same. Not yet for me, but I'll do it, sir. Which is a shame just because when you have a shark this shape, which you think of the Don Carlos or the Opus,
**Bam Bam:** You've never have to correct that cigar. You never have
**Senator:** to. I mean, the construction is outrageously good on those cigars, so I'm a little surprised with this.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, I certainly expect excellence when, you know, you pull out a shark. I mean, just because the Fuente version of this, and it's made in the same factory by the same people, you know, you expect it to be excellent. I
**Bam Bam:** will say though, that the experience right now in the flavor profile kind of makes up for it.
It's such an easy smoking cigar, I think, for me.
**Grinder:** I
**Bam Bam:** agree. The flavor is still great. It's really, really good.
**Grinder:** It's very smooth. It's a very, yeah, you know, it's elegant that it's an open draw and the, the flavor is definitely rich, but not overpowering. Um, the finish is a little light for me.
**Poobah:** Short, short
**Grinder:** finish short.
Yeah. That's the word.
**Poobah:** But at least there are notes in here that you can pick out that there's flavors in [00:31:00] here that are distinct. It's, it's, it's not smoking flat. For example,
**Bam Bam:** Honestly, there's
**Poobah:** smokes that we've had that are much more expensive that have smoked pretty flat and pretty muddled. So I appreciate the fact that we're actually picking it, picking notes out of this.
It's very medium. Sorry, just there's a
**Senator:** big observation right now. Giz, you're smoking that way too fast. Am I?
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, you are.
**Senator:** Look at the cone in the middle. That thing you can impale. No, I just knocked it off. But that's not ash that'll fall off. That's hard. Yeah, because you're smoking too fast. That's carbonized.
I was talking
**Gizmo:** for 10 minutes. How was I smoking fast? Look at that. You could kill someone with
**Grinder:** that. It's a carbonized weapon. It comes out to you. Look at that thing. It's oxidized. No, it's carbonized. It took 134
**Gizmo:** episodes to smoke too fast, I guess. I don't think I'm smoking that fast. Just
**Poobah:** look at the end of this cigar.
**Bam Bam:** He needs an ashtray. [00:32:00]
**Senator:** The problem with that is it will not ash. That's when it's hard. I mean I made this mistake years ago. It's literally hard. You won't be able to ash that.
**Gizmo:** So boys, let's talk about our pairing tonight. The Calumet Kentucky Straight Bourbon. My father actually gifted us this bottle. Uh, we had it in Pennsylvania.
Uh, really. Papa Gizmo. Papa Giz. Uh, had it in Pennsylvania with him. I thought it was really, really good. And it is apparently a little difficult to find. The price point on it was 39 bucks. Wow. That's reasonable. No way. 39. For a bourbon of that. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, I thought it was really damn good. Let's give it a try.
It's 15 and 8 year old blended.
**Bam Bam:** It, there, there's a floral note that, occurs in this that's really quite nice. And I think it complements a cigar.
**Senator:** I'm just going to say, I think it's great. I'm just shocked. I've never heard of this bourbon at all. Obviously I've said before, I'm not a huge bourbon guy. It's smooth.
I mean I had this first [00:33:00] neat and then with a little ice. Me too. Either way, it's
**Bam Bam:** so enjoyable. If you take a sip and then a draw right away after, it's really a great combination.
**Senator:** And what I like is that it's not overly sweet like a lot of bourbons. That's true. Like the floral note you're talking about, Bam, I get that a lot and it's like really well balanced.
For 39? The price point. I can't believe what. Crazy.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. So this small batch, like Pupa pointed out, is a blend of 15-year-old and 8-year-old Kentucky straight bourbon. And I gotta tell you the story of Calumet. And by the way, I looked up this, the pronunciation of the, the, the name of this. So you're getting it right tonight?
Yes. I was like, oh, this is CME is a Calumet, and I YouTubed it. And it's, it's actually ca uh, yeah, ca uh, . Calumet. Calumet. Calumet. Calumet. Calumet Bourbon. And people seem to love it, but they have an incredible history that I was shocked by. So Calumet Farm [00:34:00] Bourbon is a premium bourbon whiskey brand that traces its heritage back to the famous Calumet Farm, a historic thoroughbred horse breeding and racing farm in Lexington, Kentucky.
So it was established in 1924 by a guy named William, William Monroe Wright, who was the founder of the Calumet Baking Powder Company, gained fame as a prominent horse farm, and became synonymous with excellence in horse racing. This is crazy. Over the years, Calumet Farm produced numerous champions, including eight Kentucky Derby winners, and two Triple Crown wins.
Whirl away in 1941 and citation in 1948.
**Bam Bam:** Very impressive.
**Gizmo:** And by the way, that's before they started making bourbon.
**Poobah:** Yeah. , I mean, on on the, on the back of the bottle, it says, when breeding and training thoroughbreds, a fo is kept with its marere for months after it is born. [00:35:00] This allows the wise. Aged mare to imprint behaviors and practices of a winning foley of a winning lineage onto her foal.
In much of the same fashion, we've blended hand selected barrels of the most premium 15 year old bourbon to help guide the flavor profiles of this exquisite, small, old, Batch offering. Wow.
**Gizmo:** So as Poobah just pointed out, they leveraged the farm's rich history and legacy and Calumet Farm bourbon was launched as a premium bourbon brand.
The bourbon aims to embody the tradition, quality and craftsmanship associated with the farm's horse racing success. It's crafted in Bardstown, Kentucky, often referred to as the bourbon capital of the world. Bourbon is produced using traditional methods, ensuring a high quality product that Honors Kentucky's bourbon making heritage.
It's known, as Pupa just pointed out, for its meticulous aging process and is aged in charred American oak barrels, which develops its distinct [00:36:00] flavor profile. It's celebrated for its smooth and rich flavor, often featuring notes of caramel, vanilla, and oak with a balanced finish, which I think is pretty accurate.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, they don't mention any floral note, which is, I think, very distinct in this thing. But on the nose, I'm getting a little bit of vanilla and caramel.
**Gizmo:** I gotta say, I like the bourbon with two chips of ice. It's great. I tried it meat first. I think with the cigar, it needs a little bit of ice. Yeah. It's actually delicious with ice.
It's really,
**Senator:** I'm just blown away. The bourbon category, bourbon is so popular in the United States. I feel like I've heard of at least every, you know, major bourbon brand that's worth drinking. I can't believe I've never heard this, and I'm really enjoying it. I think it's great. It's very easy to drink, which is unusual.
**Rooster:** So it's hard, hard to find, right?
**Gizmo:** Yeah, this is, so I found this in a Pennsylvania state liquor store. So Pennsylvania has state stores for liquor. You have to buy it at a state controlled store. But they do get, You know, interesting allocations of, of hard to find [00:37:00] bourbon, I guess because the state controls it.
So they get the Pappy van Winkles, they get those hard to find really bourbons, and then they do a lottery system where instead of marking the price up, they sell it to people who get those lottery tickets at the price it's supposed to be sold at. Wow. So they totally, they don't mark them up. They don't create this like inflation driven grain market in Pennsylvania.
That's great. Like they, they sell it at what the actual MSRP is supposed to be. It's a great
**Poobah:** place to show sold that. Yeah, it is. Which is pretty cool. Cause you can, you can get great liquor there, which for sure. Um, amazing fireworks and you can get high capacity magazines all, all within like all in one location, like a hundred 50 yard radius.
**Grinder:** Quincy liquor, baby.
**Bam Bam:** Always within a stone's
**Grinder:** throw of a mine. I, my, my observation, having also grown up in Pennsylvania, The price variability is ridiculous. You can have really good stuff at [00:38:00] obscene, low prices and really trashy stuff at like a 20 percent markup.
**Rooster:** Really?
**Grinder:** Yeah.
**Rooster:** There's no tobacco tax in PA, right?
There's tobacco tax. Yeah, it's very low.
**Gizmo:** It's lower. So like I always, I've always compared it to people who have asked, like we're here in New Jersey and it's. Kind of New Jersey and Pennsylvania flip. Like here in New Jersey, the gas is less expensive. Fuel is less expensive. Cigarettes are more expensive.
And it's the opposite in Pennsylvania. As soon as you go across the border, fuel is more expensive and cigarettes are cheaper. What did you say? That's why
**Poobah:** you get the billboards, cigarettes, MIGs, 39
dollars. So by
**Senator:** us here at total wine, it's 50. Oh, that's still a good, still a great price.
**Gizmo:** It is. Yeah. Yeah. Quite the markup though, wow. So this is the small batch as we said, which is the blend of the 8 and the 15. They also offer a 10 year, a 14 year, a 15 year, and a 16 year aged.
**Bam Bam:** Is there an age statement on this bottle?
**Gizmo:** [00:39:00] It's blended 8 years and blended 15.
**Bam Bam:** Ah, 15, right, right. You said that. So
**Gizmo:** averaging out of, you know.
**Bam Bam:** I have to say the pairing tonight's delicious. I think so. This is really a delicious pairing. It's working great together.
**Gizmo:** Now here's my question on this bourbon, because I do wonder this. Do you guys see this?
I'll ask first, do you see this pairing with Nicaraguan cigars? Do you see this pairing well with other Dominican cigars? Did we get lucky tonight? That's my first question. What do you guys think about that?
**Bam Bam:** I don't see why it wouldn't
**Senator:** pair with a Padron nicely, I
**Bam Bam:** think.
**Senator:** So I'll say this, I actually think that this pairs best with a Dominican or a Cuban cigar.
**Gizmo:** That was my next question. Because
**Senator:** this is one of the lighter, easier drinking bourbons I've ever had. Yeah. And I think Nicaraguan tobacco needs something a little, with a little more structure than this has. But for what we're smoking, I think this works great. It does.
**Gizmo:** I agree. And I, I think, I, I don't think I would have brought this in if this was a Nicaraguan cigar tonight.
Having tried it that first time with my dad. Your hindsight is
**Bam Bam:** incredible. Thank you.
**Gizmo:** Uh, [00:40:00] but you know, the first time I had it, which was my second question is how do you think it pairs with a Cuban cigar? Is I actually had this for the first time when I was with my dad. Um, he went to bed and I went outside and I lit a Partagas D4 and it paired brilliantly with the Partagas D4.
Cause I do, I do think it has some of those kind of complementary flavor notes to Partagas. Sure. Uh, maybe some other Cuban cigars that might overpower, I don't know. But, the other cigar that it did very well with was that Davidoff Winston Churchill Bellicoso we did on the Short Smoke Special a couple weeks ago, uh, performed brilliantly with that.
So, I, I'm, I'm in lockstep there with Senator. I think Cuban and Dominican tobacco, I, I'm gonna try it with, with, uh, you know, with a Nicaraguan cigar, but, um, You know, I don't know how it would perform with a very
**Bam Bam:** strong cigar. It's so easy drinking, I can't see how it wouldn't pair well with almost any cigar.
**Pagoda:** It may have the cleansing effect, you know, the cleansing palate kind of effect. I don't know. Um, but, uh, yeah, I kind of agree with you. I think, uh, with a Dominican or a Cuban it would go better. [00:41:00] Delicious pairing. No Poobah.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Poobah:** Yeah. It's working great. Yeah. A hundred percent. I think all the commentaries pretty spot on.
It's a, it's an easy, it's a, it's, it's an easy going bourbon, but, but it doesn't lack complexity. It doesn't lack flavor. It's kind of like the cigar. It's, it's an easygoing cigar, but again, it, it doesn't, it's medium bodied, but it doesn't lack, it doesn't lack flavor, so. I'm about flavor, not about, not about nicotine and strength, uh, all the time.
Do you know what
**Gizmo:** I mean? And we had that discussion. Don't forget. We had that discussion recently. I don't remember what episode it was, but we were talking about how a lot of our pallets and I think it was, we were specifically pointing to Pagoda kind of teed off the conversation about our pallets moving from, and actually Steve Saka was the one that's exactly right.
We all start off the Steve Saka, you know, you run to the brick wall and you hit that brick wall of strength and, [00:42:00] and, and body. And then you start to back off of that. And then you really start to search out subtlety, complexity.
**Bam Bam:** He breaks through the break wall. Well, he did this a hundred years ago, as you know, 1887.
**Poobah:** But I mean, but. To me, there's a lot of cigars out there, like that have a tremendous amount of body, but not a tremendous amount of strength. And like, to me, that would be an up into tons of body. Right. But it doesn't deliver a ton, a ton, a ton of strength. Um, or like. And on a hottoe and on a hottoe, you know, it, it, it, it, it delivers like so much body and velvety smoke and structure to it.
Um, and distinctive flavor notes. That's just, it's, it's all body. Um, and to me, that's a fuller experience than, you know, a league of nine or something like that. That's not to take anything away from a league of nine, [00:43:00] you know, something that's stronger. Um, and that's a stronger cigar. That actually delivers, it like delivers strength and refinement, like all in one.
Do you know what I mean? It gives you kind of that, it gives you a balanced, kind of a balanced experience.
**Rooster:** But that's the beauty about Cuban tobacco. You know, you get the body, you get the flavor, but you don't get the strength. They're not nicotine heavy. Tobacco, you know, like Nicaraguan tobacco is right.
So you get the subtle nuances and you know, there's really no new world cigar that you get floral notes out of. No. Yeah, it's true. It's true. It's rare.
**Gizmo:** So with all that in mind, I'm curious where, you know, we're about halfway through here, right? Where do you see a cigar like this? If, even if it's not this one at a higher price point, a little, little scarce, where do you see this cigar lining up in your rotation?
Or if you, if [00:44:00] you have this in your, your, you know, your bag, your cigar bag, where would you put this in a lineup for an evening?
**Grinder:** I would, I would put this as a marquee. Like this is, this is phenomenal. This is giving me so many reminiscence to the shark, like the shark. There's a lot of art, the Don Carlos, the Don Carlos.
There's a lot of Arturo Fuente in here. The flavor profile is really rounded out. There's, it's, it's not got too much of one thing and the pairing, the pairing is phenomenal. Pairing is great. I mean, I'm glad you like the candy man, my dad's gonna be thrilled. I don't like bourbon, I fucking love this. Yeah.
This is, this is, this is my favorite bourbon I've ever had. It's so easy to drink. Wow.
**Senator:** It's really good. Yeah. I'll just say on the cigar question. I agree with grinder. The first thing that popped into my head is like the star of the show. Like for me, this is like after dinner, or if I'm going to like make a night, you know, have a night of smoking several cigars.
I'll start with something more easygoing and then I'll be excited to have this cigar. It's got a ton of flavor. Yeah. You'll ease into this thing. It's, [00:45:00] it's really, really well done. Um, the only thing I will say for me, I don't, I don't see the parallels with the Don Carlo shark in this. Same. Um, for me, this is only reminiscent of the Opus Shark in some ways.
But midway through in this cigar, what I'm getting now that it wasn't getting early, which is a nice build. I'm getting a little bit of like dark chocolate now. And there's like a, even more richness to this cigar halfway through than when it started. And so I feel like it's building in a nice way.
**Poobah:** Agree.
A hundred percent. It's building, it's changing. There's, it's like. Barry, Barry note is getting like, there's like chocolate coming in. I
**Bam Bam:** see it as deep coffee more than chocolate for me, like a nice deep espresso that I'm getting.
**Gizmo:** I also just got hit pretty heavily with like, raisin. It was very distinctly raisin.
Is that a dried fruit? That's a dried fruit. Oh boy. I didn't mean to do that I'm sorry. But no, but I really got [00:46:00] hit with, with raisin, but I think,
**Bam Bam:** Oh, hold on. I better not chuckle. There
**Gizmo:** is, there is, there is a, there is a little bit of a chocolate thing there. There is a little bit of a coffee thing. There really are some subtle complex flavors to it, but I will say, piggybacking on what Senator just said.
I think when I, when I think Don Carlo's shark, like that's like a shortbread, like dessert. It's shortbread. It's definitely way different. It's very different. Yeah. Yeah. I almost think, like, if I were to think about having those cigars, like, together, I think it would actually work really well. Well,
**Bam Bam:** I would start with the Don Carlo Charlie.
That's exactly what I was going to say. I would start with the Don Carlo. This would be my second or third cigar in a rotation for sure.
**Poobah:** It's a good cigar. Yeah. It really is. This is a good cigar for me. I, I, I'm enjoying it. Um, it's, it's changing. It's kind of like a two act play in the second half. It kind of was like something in the first half.
And then now in the second half, it's getting a [00:47:00] little deeper. It's getting a little richer. It's not getting aggressive. It's still very approachable. And, um, it's, you know, I'm definitely
**Pagoda:** enjoying this.
**Poobah:** You know, and I don't have any affinity towards, Jason. Jason Newman or the brand or anything. And, and this is the cigar I would, I would pursue this yeah.
Hard to find.
**Bam Bam:** No, I walked right into a local place. There's plenty of this there. I'm trying to find it on Atlantic right now. It is expensive though at 30 bucks. That's, that's not 30 bucks? It's 30.
**Senator:** So that's I mean the sharks though, they've all gone up
**Bam Bam:** in price.
**Pagoda:** This is true. Across the board. Yeah. Yeah.
All of them. Yeah. Look, I paid 72 bucks for the coffin. I remember For both cigars. In 2016, yeah. You gotta pair them, yeah. Yeah. In
**Poobah:** 2016, you know, it, it, it may warrant that price. I mean, this is like a, this is a pretty good cigar, dude. It is, you know, like I look at the bands. I don't [00:48:00] like the bands. Okay.
Thank you. So launch, launch right into this. I think the bands are not well done and all that stuff. I just ripped the bands off and smoke it and just, Forget about it. Just like we used to.
**Senator:** Just to pick up on what Poobah said, very seriously for me, I've obviously always heard about this, like these Julius Caesar cigars that exist.
Yeah. To me, the bands have always looked so gimmicky that I've had no interest in trying any cigar in this line, period. And if it wasn't for this pod, I wouldn't ever pick this up. I mean, I'm sorry. Just looking at it, it just feels like a gimmick. And there's no need to apologize.
**Poobah:** It's it's fucking terrible.
It's
**Senator:** like, you know, hearing the history from Gizmo. I'm like, you would never believe. That would be possible for there to be this much history with this, like, Julius Caesar esque, you know, silhouette on the band there. It's absurd. It's trying way
**Poobah:** too hard. The Cigar is better than that. That's exactly right.
It doesn't need to do this much. That's [00:49:00] a great point.
**Bam Bam:** The Cigar is better than the band. Yeah. Great point.
**Poobah:** You know, it's like, if I was their marketing guy, I'd be like, I'd be like, guys, listen, take it back. You don't need, you don't need to dial that. Let the cigar speak for itself. You are the marketing guy for this market.
**Bam Bam:** You'd be smoking the cigar and you know what it's about.
**Poobah:** Well, right. This is that we don't need to do all this. This is too much, too much, too much cowbell here. Just relax with the cowbell and just bring and just tone it back a little bit. Put one band on it. I would eliminate the second
**Rooster:** band.
**Poobah:** Yeah. The
**Pagoda:** second
**Poobah:** band.
Put one, put one. Nice band on it and just be done with it. But I'm saying the primary band alone needs
**Senator:** to change. This is the reason that I have not picked up any cigar with this band on it. It just looks like a marketing gimmick that is not going to be a great cigar. And it's such a shame because this is excellent.
**Poobah:** Yeah. You know, purple's a regal color. So if, if they, okay, fine. It's Julius Caesar, but I would take it and cut the [00:50:00] band with on the primary band that I'm holding in my hand in half and just have purple. Purple with the medallions on the left and the medallions on the right and just have it say Julius Caesar and that's it.
You know, and, and be done with it. You don't need to have portraits. And then the second band, I mean, it's too much. Uh, maybe that works for the mat. You know, maybe that's guys, can you
**Bam Bam:** get that lizard memo out to them, please?
**Poobah:** I will.
**Gizmo:** I'm I'm typing it right now. Well, maybe, maybe
**Poobah:** it works for the mass market and that's in that.
Maybe that's a status thing that people look at. That's a fancy band or something. But. To me, um, it's, it's a gaudy smoking this cigar. It's a gaudy band
**Grinder:** for this price as well, by the way. I think because I think because it's an annual release and it changes every year, supposedly, right. That's probably why.
Cause they have to get that across America.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. And the, and the year
**Grinder:** I can, I'm trying to find the cigar on, on Atlantic. I can't find it, but I see it at other places.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. I don't think Atlantic has it. [00:51:00] I think for some reason, I feel like it goes to smaller retailers, but I don't know. I don't know if it goes to the big guys.
Yeah. Like Atlantic. All right, boys, it's time to do some listener email here. I got a good one. This, this one shocked me because there's just so many subtle little things, you know, poking at the podcast here. So it opens with gif.
**Bam Bam:** Let me just close my eyes right now. It opens
**Gizmo:** with gif. You know, giz, giz.
**Bam Bam:** Uh, I'm leaving now.
**Gizmo:** It says, if I had to smoke any non Cuban, it would be casdically. You guys haven't reviewed any of these yet on your podcast. So give these a try and buy some from our good friend, Kyle at LACC. So by the way, this letter was unsigned. I don't know where this came from. Kazdigli? Kazdigli is the brand. Came from someone that's unsigned.
There was no name on the return address. Kyle at LACC. That's already suspect. Out. Also, also, we all know you're a Lancero slut, so here are some new ones for you to try. So I open up this package, [00:52:00] and there's like 15 Lanceros in there. Oh, wow.
**Bam Bam:** That's very generous. Unbelievable.
**Gizmo:** I couldn't believe it. It's very cool.
That's cool. And it says, Gith, we all know Lounge Lizards Pod wouldn't exist without you. You'll never take any credit. But we all know you're the brains and know how behind the pod. How about that boys?
**Senator:** Did you write this? Clearly we can put no stock in this.
**Gizmo:** And we all know you're the only, and we all know the only thing we'll get out of BAM is some dried fruit on the cold draw and the BAM chuckle throughout the podcast.
**Bam Bam:** Thank you. Whoever you are.
**Gizmo:** So this was unsigned. I'm assuming it came from our friend Kyle at LACC. And, uh, yeah, so he sent us some, uh, cause doggly castigly. Uh, Lanceros. I'm going to figure out how to say that before we review it. Uh, but, uh, really, really nice to get, uh, nice packages of cards. That is actually very generous.
Completely unsolicited. I don't know where they came from. So, I'm, I'm very appreciative.
**Bam Bam:** Are they all identical or are they different? They're all
**Gizmo:** different, you know, different Vitolas from that brand. Wow, wow.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah,
**Gizmo:** it
**Bam Bam:** was pretty amazing. [00:53:00] Enough for all of us to smoke? Oh, yeah. Is that just for you in your garage?
**Gizmo:** Well, you know, he said I'm the brains of the operation. That's true. You are.
**Bam Bam:** You are. Take it easy, GIF. GIF. I like GISS better. Hey, GISS. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** GISS. All right. So, uh, before I tee up, uh, the next listener email here, I wanted to get your thoughts on the halfway point. I guess we're well past halfway now. On the J.
C. Newman Diamond Crown Julius Caesar Shark TAA 2023. What's everybody thinking?
**Bam Bam:** It's, it's still quite tough. It's very, it's delicious. It's very smooth and creamy. I'm still getting that berry sweetness in the background and a little bit of coffee and a touch of cedar in the foreground
**Gizmo:** for
**Bam Bam:** me.
**Gizmo:** I think the second half is setting up to be even better than the first.
It's very good. I agree. It's not setting up. It is. It's very good. It's just keeps building. It's an
**Bam Bam:** intensification of those earlier notes that we got from me. Yeah, it's really great. I, I
**Grinder:** think, I'll say it again. The pairing with the caramel. Bro. In this, in the, in the, in the, uh. It's right on the money. The [00:54:00] bourbon.
It's, it's, it's right on the money. It's awesome.
**Rooster:** And the delivery of the notes is very smooth
**Senator:** and distinct. Yeah. Every note is very distinct, very defined. There's nothing muddled and it's just getting better and better and better. And when, you know, I was mentioning the, the, the chocolate or cocoa that you're getting, I think Poobah said it best.
Cause I'm like really experiencing it now. It's like a chocolate covered berry. Like, that's literally what I'm getting right now. Makes sense.
**Poobah:** Yeah, it's super. I mean, I'm enjoying it.
**Bam Bam:** Worth every dollar at the moment. Yeah, very good.
**Poobah:** Just take the bands off it and just ditch them. And like, which Rooster did immediately.
He did. So, kudos to you. Correct. He's smarter than all of us. He has
**Grinder:** been smoking cigars since 1887. That's true. That's
**Poobah:** true. They didn't have bands back then. He just ripped the bands off and went right for it, which is what you need to do with the cigar. But it's, I had a couple of corrections, [00:55:00] very minor.
Um, You know, is the, is the construction like a shark? No, no. Um, but is it, uh, is it, is it good? Yeah. I mean, the building, the combustion's great and the taste is really, really good. It's complex. It's all the notes everybody talked about. So I'm down. I'm down with the smoke. Yeah, I had a little bit of a construction
**Rooster:** issue with the wrapper was peeling a little bit, but it's kind of self corrected.
Mine's corrected as well. Yeah.
**Poobah:** I'm getting like a little bit of a thing going on, but nothing major. Nothing to be too concerned about. So
**Gizmo:** boys, before I tee up our next listener email, I wanted to play a clip from our own podcast that I think sets this up perfectly. So Pam is getting stressed out. Let's play a clip of our own podcast and see what this turned into.
Obviously we're looking for voice memos. I loved playing that voice memo a few weeks ago from blizzard. Sean, Timmy, do not send a voice memo. [00:56:00] Timmy, send a voice mail.
**Poobah:** No, Timmy, please send the voice.
**Bam Bam:** So, you know, what's going to happen. This is going to be a thing. Now we encourage
**Poobah:** you. To send a voice memo.
Every week. Every
**Senator:** week.
**Poobah:** Every week.
**Senator:** Every week. That way Bam Bam can't misconstrue what you're saying. Just, just really let him know exactly what I think You know, I think clarity, will
**Gizmo:** ya? I think tone is important. I agree. You know, so be nice to hear it straight from him. That way Bam
**Senator:** takes it seriously. I mean, he's just dismissing
**Gizmo:** these emails.
He thinks I
**Senator:** write them.
**Bam Bam:** You do! It was a plan.
**Gizmo:** All right. So I think that perfectly tease it up because Bam Bam himself really brought this up, tuxedo, Timmy, don't send a voice memo. And what do you think happened? Did
**Poobah:** tuxedo, Timmy send a voice memo? Oh, we have a voice memo. You know what I
**Bam Bam:** did? I incited.
Let's go, Timmy. The peanut gallery has been now invigorated. Okay, here
**Gizmo:** we go.
**Bam Bam:** Big mistake.
**Gizmo:** So, uh, listen, we love voice memos because you know, it, it, it's not me reading your [00:57:00] email, it's your voice, what you have to say, and I'm very excited. To play this voice memo for you all. I can't wait to hear what this is.
I am
**Bam Bam:** upset that I didn't get to preview this.
**Tuxedo Timmy:** What's up my lizards? It's Tuxedo Timmy checking in. I just cut a Padron 90th and I'm gonna, I'm gonna test the cold draw right now and see what, see what kind of notes I get out of it. You know, get some raisins, some nugget, uh, a little chocolate. But, you know, definitely not dried fruit like our Dear friend, Bam,
**Bam Bam:** who is a
**Tuxedo Timmy:** professional at getting dried fruit out of every single cigar that he takes a gold draw on.
You know, it could be a Partiga Ciri D4. It could be a Siglo 5. It could be an Oliva V Lancero. It could be a Macunta.
**Bam Bam:** I
**Tuxedo Timmy:** love his enthusiasm [00:58:00] for the podcast, but BAM needs to be taken to account.
**Bam Bam:** There's no
**Tuxedo Timmy:** way you're going to get dried fruit on a Padron 90th. There's no way you're going to get dried fruit.
Correct. I've
**Bam Bam:** never said that.
**Tuxedo Timmy:** There's no way you're going to get dried fruit On a lot of the cigars that you guys smoke. That's incorrect. And a fellow lizard, I appreciate you guys for having a mini accountability hour with Bam on his, uh
**Bam Bam:** Thank you, Timmy. cold
**Tuxedo Timmy:** draws. I just think it's, uh, just impossible to Ha ha ha ha ha!
threaten him every time. Anyway, guys. You know, I'm a big fan. Love what you guys are doing. And, uh We'll chat soon.
**Poobah:** Oh, I'm
**Tuxedo Timmy:** dying. I'm dying. So, by the way,
**Gizmo:** the, by the way, the unwritten, the unsigned letters that we got with all those cigars [00:59:00] also mentioned
**Bam Bam:** your
**Gizmo:** dried fruit situation. I am
**Bam Bam:** happy to entertain the fans.
Very happy.
**Poobah:** I'm tearing, I'm tearing up. That was so funny. Poop is collapsing right now. This is, this is hilarious. I'm so happy. So when have I, we introduced the
**Gizmo:** accountability hour on hold on that it's a recurring, we have, we have for a year and a half, by the
**Bam Bam:** way. So tuxedo, we've never reviewed the 90th.
We haven't done that. I've never called a dried fruit nut on that cigar and never will. I
**Rooster:** don't think he said you did not on that one. I he did.
**Bam Bam:** I
**Rooster:** think you got it on every other one. These are baseless claims. , baseless. Did, did you hear? Did you hear that? Timmy? I think we need another, uh, voice memo next week from you.
Timmy's
**Poobah:** gonna, FedEx a shovel bring it on. So, so bam could just dig his hole deeper. . He's gonna like go to Home Depot and get an army shovel and FedEx it. Put bam, bam on, bring
**Bam Bam:** it on. .
**Gizmo:** So, bam. I gotta say. I'm happy that there's a full house here tonight because your attorney is present as a grinder is, as am I, I'm very happy [01:00:00] that there's a full house.
You put, I hope you put him on retainer homeboys on retainer because I mean, these are serious accusations here by the way,
**Bam Bam:** and they are baseless, but it's okay.
**Gizmo:** Timmy Timmy
**Bam Bam:** was never reviewed here. I'm not sure what he's talking about.
**Gizmo:** He's not the first, the second, the third, the fifth, the 10th.
**Bam Bam:** Well, I wouldn't know.
I'm going to insist you plead the fifth done. Turn off my mic. By advice of counsel, turn my mic off.
**Gizmo:** So what are your, what are your thoughts on him suggesting that getting dried fruit on every single cigar, every type of cigar, every kind of cigar, every cigar you've ever had? What are your thoughts on him saying that about your, uh, Gizmo's a prosecution.
Yeah, he is.
**Bam Bam:** He is. You know, honestly, for me, a lot of the Cuban cigars, I get various notes, but predominantly it's dried fruit. A dessert spice of some kind and a coffee and espresso and that's kind of where I'm at, but what about citrus? Yeah, and I haven't had citrus in a very long time. I wish I wish I [01:01:00] would love to get that.
I mean, would
**Poobah:** you agree that would you agree that you call out dried fruits and citrus a lot? Um,
**Bam Bam:** not citrus, but dried fruit. Yes.
**Poobah:** Dried fruit.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. The first a hundred episodes of the citrus. The citrus, the last 31st. See, this is an inside job. Would you, this is an inside job. I mean, would you agree? I can't deny it.
**Poobah:** I don't, he did not take counsel's advice. He incriminating himself. Because I'm going with the, the, you know, the lead, the lead attorney standard thing. Would you agree? You know, it's something
**Bam Bam:** I get. I get an apricot or a date. Or a raisin from time to time. And for me, that's all in this family of dry fruit.
Yeah, I get that. I prefer
**Grinder:** the wet fruit. So we'll have to, we'll have to temper your, you mean the fresh fruit? Yes. Fresh. They are the same. I know we're dry [01:02:00] and we're, we're making it happen to be, you know, you
**Poobah:** know, we should really, we should take, uh, we should take them out to a farm. Do it. Do it. A dried fruit farm.
Yeah, we should take him. Well, we should take him out to a farm and do some power development. Yeah, you
**Bam Bam:** have no idea. I'd like to do blind taste test with this group right here in this room. Let's do that. On what? What's
**Senator:** that gonna sell for? You'll learn
**Bam Bam:** about my Extensive ability to pick out notes. How about this?
When you call a drive thru for every cigar? I smoke a cigar
**Grinder:** every week. We hear your extensive spectrum. His attorney's even turned on him. Exactly. You're looking fired, dude.
**Bam Bam:** Would
**Poobah:** you agree that you have a dehydrator, a fruit dehydrator at your home? No,
**Bam Bam:** but I wish I did. I wish I did. Huh? [01:03:00] Oh, gosh. You motherfuckers.
**Grinder:** Motherfucker. Motherfucker. Fucking
**Poobah:** guy's never had a dried apricot in his life. That is not true. He's never had a dried, dried cherry, a dried, dried, what have you had in your life that's dried? Fruit. Never. Dried
**Bam Bam:** dates, dates, raisins, apricots.
**Poobah:** Now, if I audited your pantry, there'd be none of that shit, man.
Come on over. Pantry on it. Pantry on it. Let's just do like a, bring Mike's and let's just go over to his house and just be like, we're coming in. We're going to look at your pantry. There'll be no dried fruit in there. He'll be coming in. He'll
**Grinder:** be cooking the bullion a's in the, in the corner.
**Poobah:** Oh, we're going to go to bullion a's.
**Grinder:** That's an ancient joke. That's pre
**Poobah:** pod, the chunky bolognese. I've learned
**Bam Bam:** to chop my onions very finely because you have, I have because of you post a video. Correct. No.
**Gizmo:** So the listeners have taken Bam to task on the dried [01:04:00] fruit. There's no question about
**Bam Bam:** that.
**Gizmo:** And I'm grateful. I'll be honest. I love hearing from listeners on this topic.
**Senator:** I do too. Yeah. So more voice memos. This is fantastic. The real, the real question is if you, if you think about the timeline here, It was citrus for about the first hundred episodes.
**Bam Bam:** Oh, that is so not true. It is so true. And then we took him Exaggeration is off the charts. We took
**Grinder:** him
**Bam Bam:** We took him to Fucking off the charts is ridiculous exaggeration.
**Senator:** We're going to be more precise. 97 episodes. Yeah, okay. And then we gave him so much shit for that, that all of a sudden it morphed into a new note of dried fruit. Now that he's been taken to account, there's going to be a new note for the next hundred episodes. So we just need to figure out what that's going to be.
You'll have to wait and see. Well, you know what?
**Rooster:** After 97 episodes, the fruit does get dry. Correct. That's true. That's what it is. That's right.
**Grinder:** That's right, Sensei. Wow.
**Gizmo:** So we will see what's next. Correct.
**Bam Bam:** Stay tuned.
**Gizmo:** So, I didn't mention that there's a part two to the [01:05:00] voice memo.
**Bam Bam:** Oh. No. No. For fuck's sake.
**Poobah:** There's more from Tuxedo Timmy? I, I forgot to mention
**Gizmo:** it. Here we go.
**Bam Bam:** I can't
**Tuxedo Timmy:** wait. Oh, Gizmo, one more thing. How could I forget? So, Couple months before, Uh, PCA, I'm in a chat with, uh, Rooster and, I'm And bam on Facebook.
**Poobah:** Oh, would you look at that?
**Tuxedo Timmy:** I'm giving bam a hard time because somehow he ended up with that Arturo Fuente Opus X Dubai box that you guys Tried to hold them accountable for this is
**Bam Bam:** absolutely an inside job.
I'm looking right at you rooster
**Tuxedo Timmy:** Inside job one of those Opus X Dubai's What what a beautiful cigar what a what an amazing Set of bands, those have on them.
**Bam Bam:** That's true.
**Tuxedo Timmy:** And Bam says to [01:06:00] me, dude, I'll bring you one to Vegas. So lo and behold, I
**Bam Bam:** show
**Tuxedo Timmy:** up to Vegas, you guys know how I roll.
**Bam Bam:** He was very generous that night.
Very generous. Timmy, Tuxedo Tim. Just say the
**Tuxedo Timmy:** exchange was very one sided, Bam. And, uh,
**Senator:** Welcome to the club, Tuxedo Timmy. Even
**Tuxedo Timmy:** your fellow lizards there showed up and Not true. And showed the love. I mean, Senator of all guys Of all guys Showed up and gifted me like four amazing New World cigars.
**Senator:** He says that because I hadn't met him until that day.
It's a team effort.
**Tuxedo Timmy:** It's a team effort. I gave him, shook his hand, gave him a hug. It's I did not leave our hearth with an Opus X Dubai. And I just think as, uh, as the committee of lizards that you all are, you would be doing fellow lizards a disservice if you did not make the community aware of this egregious [01:07:00] act.
Don't send me anything. Don't send me anything. Just remember our little Facebook page. Conversation, uh, Gizmo has the proof. And yeah, man, first impressions are everything.
**Grinder:** All right.
**Bam Bam:** So
**Poobah:** this is unbelievable. I
**Bam Bam:** don't remember this conversation at all,
**Poobah:** but
**Bam Bam:** hold on.
**Rooster:** I have it.
**Bam Bam:** Tuxedo, Tim, you said, hold on. Tuxedo, Tim, you send your address to Gizmo. I'll get you a Dubai. He
**Gizmo:** just said he doesn't want you to send him anything.
**Rooster:** You
**Gizmo:** said
**Rooster:** you get
**Gizmo:** one chance to
**Rooster:** make a first impression. I don't remember that.
He said, or you said, are you coming to PCA? And you said, yes. He goes, he said, I'm going to bring you a couple of good, like sticks. And you said, I'm going to give you an Opus Dubai.
**Bam Bam:** Well, he promised me an LGC number four, which he never gave me. [01:08:00] Oh, he did say that. And what did he give him? He only
**Poobah:** gave him like four.
Four amazing cigars, but that's not enough. What did
**Rooster:** you give him?
**Gizmo:** So here's what I'm looking at, by the way, I'm looking at the chat. Send me a screenshot of it. Of course he did. And he said, um, Tuxedo Timmy says, send me something. I'd love to try an Opus Dubai or better yet. Just bring your best to PCA. And so will I, and.
Bam. Our friend here goes, dude, if you're going to PCA, I'll see you there with a Dubai in hand. Did I actually say that?
**Poobah:** Oh, did I say that? We have proof. My Lord. I actually don't even
**Bam Bam:** remember any of that, but I we've heard that before. Send gives your address. I got to Dubai. I have to say with the introduction of this new evidence,
**Senator:** reparations will be made.
I also bam. And vindicated my friend with you are, I had never spoken to tuxedo Timmy online or in person before [01:09:00] PCA not once months before you, my friend, we're messaging with him. Wow. So when he says even Senator, as in, we have never spoken, we have never met, we have no clue who each other is
**Bam Bam:** some intimate conversations.
And
**Senator:** all we did is chat at PCA and I, as any gracious lizard should, he. Unexpectedly gifted us some cigars and I wanted to give him some cigars that he had the way I also came in hot as well Yeah, you know, I came gizmo did as well. Now you know that I came unprepared to Vegas You were chatting with him for months prior.
You actually knew who this person
**Bam Bam:** was
**Senator:** I read not
**Bam Bam:** correct and you came empty handed, you know tuxedo Tim you're putting me on the spot But I would like I would make reparations to any of our listeners at any time
**Gizmo:** So that also opens the door. There might be more listeners out there. You can start with the lizards.
There might be other listeners out there. That is not
**Bam Bam:** let down. [01:10:00] Historically untrue. I gave him a,
**Poobah:** I gave him a Vegas for Bania. I, I, I 2011. You did? Which is the greatest cigar in the world? In the world. I gave him an lg. What did I give him? An lg. I gave him an 8, 9,
**Rooster:** 8 on my
**Poobah:** deck. I gave him a vr. I gave fucking nothing.
I don't, I gave this first classico of his life at my house. The famous night. Yeah. I have to say, I gave him
**Grinder:** a classico too. What's hear from his attorney? I have to say, with the introduction of this new evidence. I sit in silence with the introduction of this new evidence. It's, it's pretty damned and, and the, it's, I'm declining.
I'm declining counsel forthwith. I've paid you the retainer. I'll
**Pagoda:** Venmo
**Grinder:** you.
**Pagoda:** I thought you were going to say, Hey, you better plead guilty. I just, I
**Poobah:** mean, this is a case. This is a legitimate
**Rooster:** case. I mean, you did say we're going to do the Opus Dubai on the pod. What you just
**Grinder:** said about giving cigars to every other listener.
The damages are insurmountable at [01:11:00] this point.
**Rooster:** I'm out. Didn't you say that? I just, I just, by the way, by the way, I
**Gizmo:** don't have the Opus Dubai on the calendar. We do have, we do have a Magnum R in the short smoke special next week. I don't have an Arturo Fuente Opus Dubai on the calendar.
**Senator:** It's ready and available.
I just want to say, I'm happy to do a public service and serve as the claims administrator. So for. All lizards who want to submit a claim for some cigars that Bambam owes them. Who are you
**Bam Bam:** now, the new lizard administrator? Senator, I'm
**Senator:** talking about a class action. Class action, that's right. And I'm going
**Poobah:** to be the claims administrator.
**Rooster:** Class action, all the listeners are involved. It's my birthday,
**Poobah:** giving MDL number two, like 2008. Fucking guys, what did I get? I got a fucking Hemingway at 2 a. m. We tossed it across
**Bam Bam:** the room. This is unfair, blindsided tonight,
**Gizmo:** blindsided. So [01:12:00] I am asking any other listeners out there who have any claims.
Against BAM. It's gonna be
**Bam Bam:** very silent.
**Gizmo:** For unfulfilled orders. You didn't even know this. Orders? You don't even remember what you promised. What am I running a
**Bam Bam:** fucking retail establishment here? Sounds like it.
**Rooster:** I mean, there is, there is one person that he does give a lot of, he's very generous towards them.
Oh, who's that? EDF.
**Senator:** EDF. Do you know how many times I go in the lounge and Edaf has this crazy cigar? I say, where did you get that? His bam gave it to me. I said, well, apparently I need to change my name to av. That's not true. That's what I say to him every time. So, you know what? You know what
**Bam Bam:** I, yes. You know what I tell iaf and I tell everybody, tell me what you want.
**Poobah:** I've been telling you what I tell me. You know, Timmy, did he
**Bam Bam:** told you what
**Poobah:** he wanted? Tux He did. And you said you'd bring it in hand. So
**Bam Bam:** I completely forgot about that conversation. So Tuxedo Tim, I owe you.
**Gizmo:** So I, I stand with Senator here as our claims administrator. I would like to hear from any other listeners who have been
**Senator:** slighted.
I don't in any [01:13:00] way. I don't send them to Giz. I will judiciously process through all of them. We'll make sure that reparations are paid in a timely manner with interest. That's right with interest. Judiciously. You're not a judge. You're the clerk. That's
**Poobah:** basically the judge. He's the fucking
**Bam Bam:** clerk. There won't be any of that.
I assure you, Rooster, take care over there. It's getting crushed.
**Gizmo:** So, uh, yeah, you got taken to task tonight, my friend. Correct.
**Bam Bam:** Like I said, I'm happy to entertain. Can I just say, Bam, we fucking love you. I love you. I love you.
**Gizmo:** I got to tell you, Bam, your ability to create content for this podcast is unmatched, unprecedented.
It knows no bounds. It has never been seen quite like this. No, and it's called true
**Bam Bam:** sacrifice. True sacrifice. With a fist.
**Rooster:** And we implore Tuxedo Timmy to Keep, uh, [01:14:00] keep those, uh, voice memos. Yes. There's nothing else to talk about. It's done. Well, we don't know that. No, no, no, no. There's an avid listener of the pod.
There could be more, there
**Poobah:** could be more there. His voice memos are exemplary in the delivery. When I get a working phone, I'll be talking to him a lot. By the way, this is amazing.
**Gizmo:** Bam Bam doesn't have a cell phone right now. He
**Bam Bam:** was texting us all day from his Mac book. Like a dinosaur.
**Rooster:** We're what we might go
**Grinder:** from dry
**Rooster:** my cell phone's
**Bam Bam:** disabled.
It's not working. I dropped it. It's not working.
**Grinder:** Did you back up all that shit onto your air apple air pod or whatever? I don't
**Gizmo:** know. Texting from his
**Grinder:** Mac. He's texted
**Gizmo:** us all day from his Mac. You're at risk
**Bam Bam:** right now, man. Yeah, from the car. It's just run a bad luck here. Run a bad luck. So I
**Senator:** think we also, you know, just to put this run of bad luck, there's a thing called karma.
Yeah. You may want to just, you know, distribute some of those cigars and everything will be better.
**Poobah:** I think he needs to spend more time up in Goshen [01:15:00] digging ditches.
**Gizmo:** I think, you know, listen, to, to put a bow on this whole discussion, I think we need to come together. As, as an operation, as a podcast, as a community, as a supportive
**Poobah:** group.
**Gizmo:** And, and, and as we did a year and a half ago, very different than now, we need to find a way to come together and lift our friend.
**Senator:** I love you said very different than now. I was trying, I was
**Gizmo:** trying, we're trying to lift our friend. Very dramatic. Well, I didn't create this situation. What's,
**Grinder:** what's the next, uh, uh, fruit that we're going to equate?
A rotten fruit. I'm thinking about it.
**Bam Bam:** I think it's cream and honeysuckles coming, coming up. I love it. I love it, boy.
**Pagoda:** Bam's eyebrows just went up. I think you did use that. I think that's a
**Rooster:** sophisticated palette. If you can get honeysuckle notes, you
**Gizmo:** know, when I think back to the original Bam Bam accountability hour, I [01:16:00] think about what happened here today.
I think the world is going to be a better place after this discussion.
**Bam Bam:** Aren't we ready to do the ratings?
**Poobah:** We're getting there. Oh, the cigar, well, the cigars, 10. Can
**Grinder:** we just skip it? You know, the cigars, the cigars, the cigars, a 10, the
**Poobah:** bourbons, a 10. I just love the cigar. Everything's a 10.
**Bam Bam:** Very high praise from the, uh, it's a, it's
**Poobah:** a 10 for me.
It's a nine for me. It's a 10 for me. It's a nine for me. Come on. I can't help
**Gizmo:** it. I will say that was, I feel, I feel better now. I feel like there's a weight on my
**Grinder:** shoulders. I'm glad you do. You know,
**Gizmo:** I feel great.
**Grinder:** He's the one that got crucified.
**Gizmo:** But I feel good. This is good for the community. You know, the listeners are going to benefit from this improvement.
Correct. Tuxedo Timmy. I hope you keep sending voice memos. You sacrificed him
**Grinder:** on the altar. of tobacco. Get
**Bam Bam:** his,
**Grinder:** your
**Bam Bam:** address. I'll take care [01:17:00] of you, buddy. All right. We'll make that happen. I love you, bro. That
**Grinder:** weight off your shoulders are the sins of the world. 2035.
**Senator:** He's going to get those cigars. No, at the next, at the next PCA, right?
Once the next,
**Bam Bam:** I'll bring it with me to Louisiana. In
**Poobah:** hand. We'll see you in New Orleans, Timmy. Correct. He'll have it for when PCA's in Dubai. Exactly
**Bam Bam:** right.
**Gizmo:** Once the string lights are up. All right, boys. It's time to wrap our evening here. Any final thoughts on the JC Newman diamond crown, Julius Caesar shark, and the Calumet small batch bourbon.
Any final thoughts here before we move into the ratings? Oh, let me put my emotions aside. Put your emotions
**Bam Bam:** aside. Bam. We need, uh, I'm down to three quarters of an inch. This is awesome. Delicious. Right down to the end. Undeniable. Pupa. Do you guys think it picked up? Man. I'm not sure about a 10, but
**Gizmo:** do you guys think it picked up toward the end?
**Grinder:** I,
**Gizmo:** I do.
**Grinder:** I
**Gizmo:** don't,
**Grinder:** I think, I think it was, I think it [01:18:00] was like consistent throughout. I agree. Yeah, I definitely, I don't think it changed.
**Rooster:** It didn't change much.
**Senator:** Yeah. Yeah. I think if it picked up it just by a hair, not really much, but what's amazing is it's just at the very end, the fact that the flavor notes still are defined, nothing's muddled.
Yeah. Um, it's, this is a great cigar. Absolutely.
**Gizmo:** What do you guys think of the bourbon?
**Senator:** Wonderful. Great pairing, dude. Great pairing. Yeah.
**Grinder:** Yeah. Delicious.
**Senator:** Yeah. I was shocked when I had it. Dare I say that Papa Gizmo has a better palate. Whoa.
**Grinder:** What? How am I
**Bam Bam:** taking strays? Well
**Senator:** deserved.
**Bam Bam:** Let him have it. I'm just saying
**Senator:** he's, he's batting a thousand.
He's one for one. Gizmo has delivered. That's correct. His most batting average, you know, more like a 200 hitter. What the hell? Well, you, you started with Kirkland Scotch. We've come, this is a long journey. It's been a long journey. [01:19:00] And
**Gizmo:** you know what? We've taken the listeners on this journey as we've developed our parents.
So we did love
**Bam Bam:** that at the time. We did love that. Hey, it's
**Gizmo:** a good, it's a good blended. Actually started with Bouchard. It did. Chocolates. Which are also
**Grinder:** delicious. They're delicious. Come on. I want to have a good, a good, uh, Kirkland, Kirkland scotch night soon. It's been a while. I'd love to do that. Yeah, we should do that.
As long as it doesn't involve my sink. Poop. Poop. Poop. Poop is shaking his head right now.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, I'm done with Kirkland,
**Grinder:** dude.
**Senator:** Well, it's. We've
**Rooster:** learned so much. I think it would pair well with the Opus Dubai.
**Gizmo:** Hey,
**Bam Bam:** you
**Gizmo:** know what? So we're never going to do that. Okay. Uh,
**Rooster:** all
**Gizmo:** right, boys. Let's move into the formal liquor rating now on the Calumet small batch, Kentucky straight bourbon.
Bam, bam, you're up.
**Bam Bam:** How much was this? 39? We're 50 here. 50 bucks is a lot of money for this, but, uh, you know. What? Is it? What? I don't know. That's what every
**Rooster:** spirit
**Poobah:** we
**Rooster:** buy costs. The other day
**Bam Bam:** you
**Rooster:** said 90 bucks. That's not bad.
**Bam Bam:** That's not bad. [01:20:00] I really, really enjoy this bourbon. Um, with the, I had three chips of ice.
It was so easy to drink. It was delicious. It paired beautifully with the cigar. It was very floral, but very light and smooth.
I'm at a nine. I'm at a nine with this spirit. Excellent spirit tonight.
**Gizmo:** Okay, grinder.
**Grinder:** I'm at a 10. This is the best bourbon I've ever had. The caramel flavors had definite hints of like the kind of caramel I get with a good scotch. Um, like vanilla caramel and it was soft and subtle and I think the ice helped for sure for me.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Grinder:** Um, it just kind of muted it a little bit. I don't like all that fire and, uh, I loved it. I thought the paired wonderfully with the cigars. I think that really, I think they, you know, I think they brought each other up to continue the analogy. Um, yeah. So, I would say this is, this is, this is a great, this is a great [01:21:00] bourbon.
So,
**Pagoda:** 10 for me. Okay, Pagoda. It's a 9 for me. It was excellent bourbon. Um, I'm not a big bourbon fan, but, uh, really enjoyed it. Very light bodied, uh, for me. I, you know, I just had the wella the other day. Um, which I really enjoyed as well. Um, very different. Um, This is much easier to drink. Much easier to drink in its own right.
Um, I also think that it had a quality, which really like made my palate feel very, um, I can't express it. It's like a very light and very, uh, I don't know. I think you use the word floral and, you know, it was very light bodied. Very nice. Um, it's a nine for me here. Senator. Let
**Gizmo:** me try that again. Um, [01:22:00] Senator,
**Senator:** this is a tough one. I'm between a nine and a 10. There's no question. It's an outstanding bourbon. The thing that stands out for me is it pairs really, really well with a cigar. Exactly right. And, and that's where, you know, I think if I were just looking at this as a bourbon to drink and sip.
I would probably give it a nine, but to enjoy with a cigar, the flavor profile is just perfect for so many cigars. Um, I'm gonna round up and give it a ten. There you go, wow. I think the price point is very fair. Even at 50 bucks. I mean, most spirits that we drink are, you know, 50 plus a bottle. The overwhelming majority, right?
You think of Remy 1738, that's like 65 a bottle. You think of any 12 year scotch, that's obviously even more than that. So, um, I, I feel, I feel good at a 10. I would definitely drink this again. I would always. Happily pair it with a cigar, and [01:23:00] um, yeah, I, I, I love about this pot, I, I've, this is something I never in my wildest dreams would have picked up in a liquor store if it weren't for this.
I didn't even know
**Gizmo:** it existed until my dad said, try this bourbon. What's the
**Pagoda:** name of the bourbon again?
**Gizmo:** Calumet. Alright, alright, just,
**Pagoda:** just testing you. Oh,
**Gizmo:** Calumet. No, I agree with you, Senator. You know, for me, it's a 10 as well. I came in thinking it would be a nine or a 10 based on my experiences at home.
I was sipping it with ice with my dad. Then I had it with a D four. The next night I had it with that Davidoff Bellicoso as I was talking about, and tonight now with this excellent shark from JC Newman, I just think it's a perfect pairing. For most cigars. And I think for the cigars I've had with it, it's been brilliant.
You know, I compare it to some of the cognacs we've done, some of the rum we've done, you know, in, in the way that it pairs with the cigar. It just, it sits in there perfectly. It doesn't try too hard. It doesn't overpower. I think it's light. It's not thick. [01:24:00] I, I, I just, I think it's a great bourbon
**Bam Bam:** for what we do here.
It doesn't drink like a cognac because it's very floral, but it's so easy to drink. I could see the comparison. I'm just saying from the point of view of pairing
**Gizmo:** a spirit with a cigar, I'm not comparing it directly to the flavor and viscosity or whatever. I also liked that. It's just a, uh, um, kind of, um, uh, uh, a lighter bourbon that goes great.
And I just think the flavor profile of it is excellent. So I'm very happy to 10. And honestly, I, I came in thinking that, You guys might hate this for some reason. Who knows? Cause we've never, I've never heard of it, but, uh, it, it, it went really well. I don't forget. This is a Papa
**Bam Bam:** Gizmo.
**Gizmo:** Okay. Good point.
**Bam Bam:** It's a great discovery.
Great discovery for us.
**Gizmo:** All the credit to Papa Giz.
**Poobah:** All right, Poobah, you're up. I really, really enjoyed the, the, the, the, uh, the bourbon. Um, I'll reiterate some of the notes. There was vanilla. There was caramel. I can't give it a 10 because. Like a, a, b, a bourbon, like the Weber 12, which to me is a 10. [01:25:00] That's a a 10 and a 10 and a 10 all day.
That really exemplified to me, that was the best bourbon that I ever had. I mean, that's hands down. Uh, there. Maybe they're better out there. I'm sure there are. I haven't had them all. I'm not. A bourbon aficionado in any way, shape or form. But, um, to date, that's the best one that I've ever had. Um, price aside, uh, you know, bang for the buck.
It's, it's, it's a nine for me all day. I think everyone else's commentary is in line with, you know, what I think. Um, it's approachable. It's a little bit on the lighter side, but it doesn't lack body. It doesn't lack character. It's got, it's got flavor notes that are distinct. And, um, and I really enjoyed it.
So it's a nine for me. All
**Gizmo:** right, boys, that puts the formal liquor rating on the Calumet farm, small batch, Kentucky straight bourbon. At a 9. 5. Excellent score. [01:26:00] That's a great score. That's an excellent score. Wow. I think it's an appropriate score for that. I agree.
**Bam Bam:** I agree.
**Gizmo:** For how it, how it paired tonight. I thought it was
**Bam Bam:** excellent.
It's perfect.
**Gizmo:** I'm really curious how this is going to go, boys. It's time to do the formal lizard rating now on the JC Newman diamond crown, Julius Caesar shark. T a a 2023 just everyone's
**Bam Bam:** stare at rooster rooster. You're
**Gizmo:** up. Do
**Rooster:** it. So let me start with a tuxedo. Timmy, uh, keep those voice memos coming and don't hold your breath on that.
Opus Dubai, buddy.
**Pagoda:** You might have to go to Dubai and get one. That's not coming. I like how he starts his
**Rooster:** rating with this, by the way. So by the way, that voice memo was a 10. On the, on the cigar, I give it a seven.
It's a soft recommend. So on the cigar, I'm at a nine. I did have a little bit of a construction issue with the wrapper peeled off, but it did self correct, but the cigar was very smooth, [01:27:00] great flavor. I smoked it to the, almost to the very end. Um, Definitely a great cigar. Uh, I would buy more of these cigars.
If, um, apparently they are readily available. So, but I'm at a nine on this.
**Poobah:** Poobah. Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm in lockstep with rooster. Um, I'm going to give it a nine. I, I, I enjoyed the cigar very, very much. Um, I, I would buy the cigar. Um, not sure I'd buy a whole box, but I would definitely buy a five pack or maybe 10.
Do you know what I mean? If, if split it up and put it in a rotation, um, I just, it was smooth. It was delicious. Um, at the price point, you know, at 30, it's a premium cigar. I really liked it and it, and it, and it paired up well, uh, with the bourbon. So for me, it's a nine. I really enjoyed it. Really, really enjoyed it.
Smoked it down to the [01:28:00] end.
**Gizmo:** So I'm also at a nine, same reasons that these guys just said, I thought it performed very well. I think it opened a little, it had a little bit too much oomph, but it really balanced out for me. Why am I not giving it a 10? It's just because I think even in this format at 30, I still want to go for the Arturo Fuente shark.
I still think that, you know, from a comparison standpoint is a much better cigar than this. I think this is very, very good. It's
**Bam Bam:** also, it's a completely different cigar. It
**Gizmo:** is, and that just aligns with my palate more. You know, I think the Arturo Fuentes Shark is, is a better cigar than this. I thought it did great tonight, but I'm very, very You mean the
**Senator:** Don Carlos, the Opus?
**Gizmo:** The Don Carlos. Correct. The Don Carlos, yes.
**Senator:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** You know, I, I just think that's a better cigar. So, uh, that would be a 10 for me. It was a 10 when we reviewed it all that time ago. Uh, but tonight, this JC Newman is a 9. Senator?
**Senator:** I'm, I'm also at a 9. This was a surprise for me. I, I've obviously never had any, uh, Um, I haven't had many J.
C. Neumann cigars, let alone, uh, anything in this Julius Caesar line. [01:29:00] Excellent flavor, complex, the construction Left some to be desired, you know, when you pick up a shark, you expect every time that you could literally smoke that cigar all the way down to the end without ashing at all. That's how crazy the construction is.
I did that
**Gizmo:** at the North Lounge, if you remember. Oh, countless times. We've done it a zillion times with the Don Carlo
**Senator:** Shark. It's like an expectation when you smoke it. And so the fact that I couldn't even get through the first third without having to touch it up, I do have to ding the cigar there. Um, and the last thing why I didn't give it a 10, while I very much enjoyed the flavor profile, I would definitely smoke this again happily.
The flavor profile was familiar to me in many ways. And there was nothing that I said, like, this is unlike anything else out there or unlike anything else I've had. Like, I started drawing some parallels to the Opus Shark, which I think delivers some similar notes, but in a, um, [01:30:00] bolder, um, arguably more complex way.
So because of that, there's nothing in it that's leaving me saying, oh my gosh, I absolutely have to have that cigar. Where I think the Don Carlos Shark, there are notes in that cigar that I don't get in any other cigar. No. Like all together, right? Yeah. There's even citrus with that shortbread and all those other things.
So strong. What was that concern? He tried citrus. That was one of the few cigars we've had.
**Bam Bam:** That is not true, but okay. Not, not one of the 97.
**Senator:** That's not fair, but I'm strong recommend. And I'm really glad we did it. It's a nine. Okay,
**Gizmo:** Pagoda.
**Pagoda:** It's a nine for me. I, I think the first time I tried one of the J. C.
Newman cigars was at an event at Nat Sherman. They'd come down and that was a time I think we all ended up buying the two cigars in the coffin. And, um, really enjoyed it then. And, you know, it's like out of memory, I remember really, really enjoying the cigar. And today when [01:31:00] I started smoking cigar, what the draw was so open wide, it was great smoke output.
It felt the construction was great, but as a cigar continued to burn, you know, I had to touch it up quite a few times. I think leaving the construction aside, the first half I thought was woody, creamy, you know, wasn't getting. A lot of the no's till the time I think, and I don't know whether it's psychological, but I did feel a little bit of, you know, uh, I guess the wet fruit kind of flavor, which was left lingering on my palate, on the top end of my palate.
It did. And uh, Bam hates that term and I love, we're just going to keep using it. What the fuck is wet fruit? The opposite of dry fruit, which is why we're using it. Fresh fruit. No, today. Fresh. Fresh fruit.
**Grinder:** Fresh fruit. He's so frustrated. But it
**Pagoda:** did. It's too close to dry fruit. I like
**Rooster:** wet fruit.
**Pagoda:** But, you know, it left that lingering taste in the back and it was really interesting because when [01:32:00] the cigar reached the halfway point and you started getting a little bit of those dark chocolatey cocoa kind of notes, I think I really started to enjoy the cigar a lot more.
Um, definitely a nine. Uh, for me, um, uh, we'll definitely continue to smoke this, but it's not, it's an occasional cigar for me. It's not something I'm going to go out and smoke, uh, you know, frequently, uh, nine for me.
**Gizmo:** Okay.
**Grinder:** Grindr.
**Pagoda:** It's
**Grinder:** a nine for me as well. Um, I thought this cigar was wonderful and Senator's comment about familiar notes.
I think that's probably the reason why I'm not giving it a 10 because it didn't, it wasn't so unique that. It was on an Island unto itself. Um, there were familiar notes that I, that I was reminiscing with, with the other kind of Arturo Fuente DNA, you know, and the construction thing was a bit of an issue, especially at the end when things kind of started to come unraveled.
And I was trying to eke out as much as I can from that. Um, which is fine. Right. [01:33:00] It was still very enjoyable smoke, very consistent, which I also like. So it wasn't, it started off very strong. I think someone else mentioned that and it was a little. It was a lot for me at first, but it just rounded out nicely.
It's all a nine for me.
**Bam Bam:** Bam, bam. You know, I didn't have any construction issues at all. I took it right down to the end. Um, I'd love the combination of, of that fresh fruit, not wet fruit. Um, and as I got deeper into the cigar, I got a little coffee, a little chocolate, but really that coffee and fruit combo delivered in a really elegant, beautiful velvety smoke experience.
It's a nine for me for sure, but I would have give it a 10 if it was a little less expensive. It is quite expensive for what we're getting. And more dried fruit, not wet fruit, correct? Yes, of course.
**Gizmo:** So boys, that puts the formal lizard rating tonight on the J. C. Newman Julius Caesar Shark TAA 2023 at a flat 9.
0. Overall, a great cigar. Excellent. I would
**Bam Bam:** have this [01:34:00] again and again.
**Gizmo:** And that was a great start to JC Newman on the podcast. I can't believe it took us 134 episodes, but you know, really the only other comparison point that we talked about tonight quite a few times is the Arturo Fuente, Don Carlos, Eye of the Shark, which we did on episode 12, quite some time ago, and that got a 9.
9. So that edged this out almost by a full 10 points. And, uh, yeah, that was a very, very long time ago. I'm wondering who
**Poobah:** gave that cigar a nine. I'll tell you right now.
**Gizmo:** Oh, accountability. Oh, I, I think it was You ready? I know exactly who it was. Pagoda. Pagoda gave it a nine. Oh. Everybody else gave it a ten except Pagoda.
**Pagoda:** And listen, I have no memory. Please excuse me. That's why we have the
**Gizmo:** ratings chart. This is a familiar excuse today.
All right, boys. A
**Senator:** great night. So first off, we don't get to rate tuxedo. Timmy's voice memo. We should do that. already
**Rooster:** gave him a 10.
**Bam Bam:** It's all tens
**Gizmo:** around.
**Bam Bam:** I know it. [01:35:00]
**Gizmo:** It's a 10 tuxedo. Timmy's voice memo was fantastic. And you listen, listeners out there, please send us voice memos. We love playing them. It's so much more dynamic than me reading an email.
So please, uh, please feel free to do that. I can't wait to
**Senator:** see tuxedo Timmy again, just cause Bam gets so jealous when I just chat with him. I'll see what new Orleans next year, but
**Grinder:** cigar in hand. Correct.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys. A great night tonight on the Calumet small batch, Kentucky straight bourbon. We had a 9.
5 and on the JC Newman, Julia Caesar shark T a 20, 23, we had a 9. 0 and we had a fantastic voice memo session. From tuxedo Timmy. So thank you for that.
**Bam Bam:** Well, put me putting that aside. It was a delicious, delicious night. It was a great, great pairing. Great, great pairing. There's no putting it aside. No caveats.
I'll take you out back at a moment.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys. Great night. Thank you to fabric of five, of course, for supporting the [01:36:00] podcast. We really appreciate it. Go buy some stuff on fabric of zero zero five. com. We really appreciate you supporting them. Which in turn supports the podcast and we'll see everybody next week.
Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You can find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, lounge lizards pod. com. That's lounge lizards, P O D. com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, We'll If you want to reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us.
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