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Released every Tuesday, the LOUNGE LIZARDS podcast helps listeners navigate the experience of finding and enjoying premium cigars (both Cuban and non-Cuban) and quality spirits. Episodes are normally around 90 minutes long and feature a variety of different topics including food, travel, life, sports and work.
The podcast features eight members: Rooster, Poobah, Gizmo, Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, Grinder and Bam Bam.
This is not your typical cigar podcast. We’re a group of friends who love sharing cigars, whiskey and a good laugh.
Join us and become a card-carrying lounge lizard yourself! Email us at hello@loungelizardspod.com to join the conversation and be featured on an upcoming episode!
Welcome to the Lounge Lizards podcast presented by Fabrica five. It's so good to have you here. It's a leisure and lifestyle podcast founded on our love of premium cigars as well as whiskey travel, food, work, and whatever else we feel like getting into. My name is Gizmo. Tonight, I'm joined by Rooster, Senator, Pagoda, chef Ricky, and Bam Bam.
Gizmo:And our plan is to book a cigar, drink some tequila, talk about life, and, of course, have some laughs. So take this as your two hundred and twenty sixth official invitation to join us and become a card carrying Lounge Lizard. We plan to be to see her once a week. We're gonna smoke a Nicaraguan cigar tonight, share our thoughts on it, and give you our formal lizard rating. Pagoda and I detail our first two days at the ProCigar Festival, discuss a new release from non Cuban h up, and we answer an email about a mysterious member of our lounge, all among a variety of other things for the next two hours.
Gizmo:So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, enjoy as we pair Volans Tequila Reposado with Plasencia Alma Del Cielo in Boreal. A Toro on the pod tonight, boys, from Nicaragua. It's the Plasencia Alma del Cielo in Boreal, and it's a 54 ring gauge cigar by six and one eighths inches long. And, boys, these are beautiful.
Rooster:Beautiful. Yeah. Nice wrapper.
Bam Bam:The blue and gold is beautiful.
Gizmo:Great presentation in the box.
Bam Bam:I think that color works great against the wrapper. Yeah.
Pagoda:No veins. Great contrast.
Bam Bam:The box is quite nice.
Chef Ricky:Difficult to open for some. Correct.
Gizmo:Yeah. Pagoda. What happened with the box? Pagoda almost didn't have a cigar type.
Pagoda:That's correct. Listen. I'm not an engineer. Alright?
Bam Bam:Struggled Neither is senator.
Gizmo:He struggled getting the box open. It was quite comical.
Bam Bam:Unbelievable.
Gizmo:Yeah. This is really nice. We have a footband on this. We have two bands at the top.
Bam Bam:So my footband still has the barcode sticker on it.
Gizmo:Yeah. All them
Rooster:You have to leave that on.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah. It's cool.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's cut this thing. See what we're getting on the cold draw and the wrapper. Senator looks apprehensive.
Chef Ricky:Mhmm.
Pagoda:It's his favorite brand.
Senator:Oh, man. The Alma Fuerte.
Gizmo:There has been, I will say, a disturbing lack of Plasencia on this podcast.
Bam Bam:That's true.
Gizmo:We have only done one other Plasencia in two twenty five previous episodes. That's because
Rooster:we're still
Senator:we're still smoking the Alma Fuerte that grinder gave us.
Bam Bam:The long finish is still working on for me. This is a very nice cold draw.
Gizmo:It's almost like
Bam Bam:I get berry. Like citrusy. Citrusy a little bit.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. I get raspberry. Me too.
Gizmo:Like a tart berry. Wow.
Bam Bam:Very good.
Senator:Like an extreme amount of raspberry.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's almost like a sour warhead kind of flavor.
Bam Bam:That will likely not translate when
Gizmo:we light up. I would hope. So let's remove the barcode and the Almaden Cielo footband here boys. My drawer's a
Bam Bam:little too open actually. Same with mine. Yeah. I don't like that.
Gizmo:And let's light this thing. The Plasencia Alma del Cielo in Boreal. And, again, it's a 54 ring gauge cigar by six and one eighths inches long.
Bam Bam:I'm feeling disgraced tonight not having my
Gizmo:This is two weeks in a
Bam Bam:row. This is not good.
Gizmo:That you have not filled your lighter. What's going on?
Bam Bam:I don't know. I just haven't thought about it.
Senator:Next, you're gonna be carrying around a Ziploc bag
Bam Bam:for That's your correct. Hey. That will never happen.
Gizmo:I find a Ziploc bag to be very convenient. It's not a Ziploc bag, though. It's a cigar bag. It has specific Uh-huh. Designated pockets for five cigars.
Senator:Made from the same material as a Ziploc bag. Correct.
Pagoda:Shake it up. Fuck.
Bam Bam:There you go. It's burning a hole in my pants.
Gizmo:Oh, very nice on the light.
Pagoda:You took those. Keep it a little further away.
Rooster:Jesus. Bam. It's like a
Bam Bam:This is like a acetylene torch here.
Gizmo:This is really nice on the light.
Bam Bam:I wouldn't know.
Pagoda:It's gonna be better for him for the next five minutes.
Gizmo:Yeah. What are you doing over there, man?
Bam Bam:Trying to get this thing lit. There
Pagoda:we go.
Rooster:Get a little baking spice right
Chef Ricky:on the bat.
Gizmo:Is nice.
Rooster:A little cinnamon, little spice.
Pagoda:Old spice.
Chef Ricky:Balanced, tingly spice here that I like.
Bam Bam:Savory sweet. Nicely balanced. Senator, you were skeptical.
Gizmo:He remains skeptical,
Bam Bam:I think.
Senator:I'm I'm This is my question.
Rooster:Just let the cigar.
Senator:It's it's pleasant. It's pleasant on the light.
Rooster:Very pleasant. It's pleasantly placentious.
Bam Bam:Pagoda, are you thinking?
Pagoda:Pleasant. Right? Absolutely.
Bam Bam:Very good. Giz, how much was this?
Gizmo:Just under $19. Not bad. I know the MSRP on this is higher. You know, MSRP on this is $25. Interesting.
Gizmo:We got them for under 19.
Bam Bam:That's because you're a global insider.
Chef Ricky:This thing's putting out some serious flavor right now.
Gizmo:And combustion.
Chef Ricky:Yes. Wow. Really creamy. Creamy Really creamy all of a sudden.
Bam Bam:I think it's quite good.
Gizmo:Yeah. Very pleasant on the light. I like it. It has a short finish though. Yeah.
Gizmo:That's a The good finish is kind
Bam Bam:of That's correct.
Gizmo:Like it falls off a cliff.
Bam Bam:Which does have its merits if you're smoking six other cigars after this. You kind of want to end it and move on.
Pagoda:Because the previous one had a very long finish.
Bam Bam:That's true. Oh, yeah. The one before ten.
Gizmo:Yeah. I don't I don't I'm not loving the abrupt finish. That's probably my only complaint right now. Like, it's like I almost feel like I wanna retrohale every single draw.
Bam Bam:But you gotta love more
Gizmo:out of
Bam Bam:it. You have to love the retrohale. The retrohale's amazing. It's almost like cotton candy for me.
Gizmo:Yeah, it's very good.
Bam Bam:It's so good.
Gizmo:It's very a sweet. Yeah.
Rooster:It's really well constructed.
Bam Bam:Good smoke out.
Pagoda:It's a beautiful cigar.
Rooster:The burn line
Bam Bam:is sharp. Decent burn line. Nice white ash.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, this is like creme brulee.
Bam Bam:Yeah, it's great.
Chef Ricky:It's like a vanilla custard burnt sugar.
Bam Bam:It's the opposite experience of that Sobremesa brulee that we smoked. It's kind of in that flavor profile to a degree.
Gizmo:You're saying the sweetness is there, but
Bam Bam:that flavor profile of that custardy thing that I'm getting, but that was just overtly sweet. Didn't feel Gotcha.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. There's a flavor note I'm getting. I know a part of it is because I read it.
Bam Bam:Oh, here we go.
Chef Ricky:But I'm not gonna touch it. I don't wanna be the one to say it because I don't want it to skew anyone's thoughts on this cigar because some may like it, some may hate it, and some might be You read it? I did, I did when I was doing some research.
Senator:Now you just got to say it.
Bam Bam:Well, so you're allowing yourself to be influenced by the written word.
Chef Ricky:Beat your protocol. I'm just coming out on the record. I don't wanna, you know, plagiarize and pretend, you know Yeah. It was my my Okay. But I'm getting it.
Gizmo:I like he brings attention to it.
Bam Bam:And then
Gizmo:Doesn't say what it is. But he's just in case.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Chef Ricky:Because it's a challenge to Ben because he's so good at this shit.
Gizmo:He is very good at this.
Chef Ricky:His palate is very I think he's gonna get it. I think he's gonna get it.
Gizmo:Alright. We'll see. So boys, this cigar line from Plasencia was launched at the twenty twenty five PCA show. We were there. The name of the line, of course, means soul of heaven in Spanish.
Gizmo:So some of this tobacco was grown in a farm in in the Condaga region. It's good price. That's a
Chef Ricky:am I wrong? Heaven dropped tobacco.
Senator:$19 for the pearly gates.
Bam Bam:Damn good price, sir.
Chef Ricky:No wonder it got here
Rooster:so fast.
Gizmo:The farm is approximately 3,500 feet above sea level. It's called Finca San Julian owned by Nestor Andres Nestor Plasencia's grandmother. And it was sold in 1961 and the family purchased it back three decades later in the nineties. So I guess they say that the combination of colder temperatures and higher elevation gives the Nicaraguan tobacco a unique flavor profile. Nestor Plasencia said, this cigar is more of a product.
Gizmo:It's a living memory, a symbol of our family, a reflection of our sustainable farming practices, and of nature at its most generous. So it is a Nicaraguan puro. They don't specify any of the other seeds. It's just Nicaraguan except for the wrapper, which we said is condega. They have three in the line.
Gizmo:The one we have in our hand is called the Boreal, 54 by six and one eighth Toro, MSRP $25. The Celeste, 52 by four and seven eighths inches, kind of a robusto size. And then they have a Gordo 60 by six called the Amonocerre. And that is the one that's like box pressed. You know, they have that unique
Bam Bam:Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:Six or eight sided box pressed. Octagonal. Exactly. And that one is right around $30.
Chef Ricky:I wonder
Bam Bam:if they have the patent on that.
Gizmo:I don't think so. I think the only cigar that is patented and I only know this because they put it in the ads, the La Flora Dominica Chisel. Is the only patented cigar Vitola. Interesting. I guess as of the last time I saw that.
Gizmo:Don't know if there's any more. I think it's a good cigar. I don't love the abrupt finish, but I think the flavor profile is interesting.
Bam Bam:Yeah, it's uncanny. It does dissipate pretty quickly.
Gizmo:It just goes away.
Senator:Yeah. Yeah, I think that's spot on. I mean, me, the flavor profile is really good, but it's just the way it sits on your palate, like smoke even is
Bam Bam:It's very light.
Senator:It's thinner, it's lighter, it's not like
Bam Bam:It's easy to smoke though, guys.
Chef Ricky:Well, what doesn't help with that is the open draw,
Bam Bam:fairly large
Chef Ricky:ring gauge on this too.
Bam Bam:Also true.
Gizmo:What's the
Senator:ring gauge on this?
Gizmo:54.
Senator:Wow, I don't know why it feels like 55. It feels bigger than a 54 ring gauge.
Bam Bam:Yeah. You know, if this were a bit of a tighter draw, I think the experience would be a touch better.
Gizmo:So what do you think you'd get out of that restriction, more flavor?
Bam Bam:I think you'd get slower smoking pace. I think you'd probably get a different flavor profile possibly because it's more concentrated. I don't know. You will get a bit more heat, which will require to slow down a little bit.
Gizmo:Yeah. There's something about the blend here. There's something missing for me that, you know, and we'll talk about this in a little bit, but Pagoda and I, when we were in the Doctor, we smoked some, you know, some tobacco leaves just rolled up. And you know, it's like single tobacco, right?
Bam Bam:Oh, we've done that.
Gizmo:One tobacco. Oh yeah, you guys did that. That's why you're laughing.
Bam Bam:Because it was a disaster. Yeah.
Gizmo:That's right.
Senator:That's right.
Bam Bam:Someone almost lit their tie on fire.
Gizmo:And you know, tasting the different tobaccos, it's like some of them were so mouthwatering and pulled so much out. It's like, clearly some sort of element like that in this blend would have improved it significantly and made that finish just last a little longer.
Bam Bam:Do you think it's missing some element of quote unquote lajaro or what lajaro can give to a cigar? Anything like that?
Gizmo:No, think it's just the recipe. I'm not looking for more strength or more you know, like more oomph. I'm looking for more of a strong flavor.
Bam Bam:I think the comment on the viscosity of the smoke, Senator, I think that's also spot on. It's I think if the viscosity was a little heavier, we'd probably get a longer finish.
Senator:It's like I've had And it's not enjoyable. I've had milder flavored cigars than this that have had, like, more density to the smoke. Yeah. That, like, the flavor, even though milder, it, like, lingered on your palate more and Yeah. Just kept you coming back wanting more where this is so thin.
Senator:It's like a thin wine. It doesn't really as much as I like the flavor profile of the blend, it doesn't, like, grab me and make me want a ton more. It's it's very odd.
Bam Bam:With all that said, though, like you said, the flavor profile is very nice.
Senator:It is.
Bam Bam:That's actually what's making me draw more and more and more and because that finish is so short, I can keep going.
Rooster:Do you think the cigar is a little woody?
Bam Bam:Not for me, not yet.
Gizmo:I'm not getting wood.
Bam Bam:No. No cedar or nothing like that.
Gizmo:There are elements of the flavor that are so nice.
Bam Bam:You know what I'm getting, chef? I don't know if this is what you're thinking about. Like a banana pudding or like a pudding that had like a graham cracker in it.
Chef Ricky:So I'll give you Something like that. I'll give
Bam Bam:you a clue.
Chef Ricky:That's all here.
Bam Bam:I'm getting banana. That's all
Chef Ricky:here, but I think the flavor the flavor that I've read about that I'm getting as well has a lot to do with the short finish and it's related to spice. Cinnamon? There's cinnamon present here, but it's not
Bam Bam:I'm getting cardamom, kind of.
Chef Ricky:So you're getting a little bit closer. It's not a baking spice though.
Bam Bam:Just the cardamom, like let the extreme finish.
Gizmo:For the next two hours we are going to guess the flavor note.
Chef Ricky:Right now, I'm just gonna be honest.
Bam Bam:He read about two hours ago.
Chef Ricky:It was about
Gizmo:I'll get my game show was you
Bam Bam:Correct. Oh yeah.
Chef Ricky:It has to do with tobacco that's in this blend that's grown at a high altitude. That flavor profile is unique to that tobacco and I think that's what's throwing us off a little bit. It's something we don't get often.
Bam Bam:Is it chalk?
Chef Ricky:It's horseradish.
Bam Bam:Yeah, not yet for me.
Chef Ricky:So on the tail end of the on the very tail end of the smoke on this very short finish here, there's a little, wiss jabby P ish.
Bam Bam:So how do you describe that flavor? Is it acidic? Is You it weren't far
Chef Ricky:in that there's a chalkiness to it and that it's a sudden sort of abrupt end, Now, sure, people think wasabi or horseradish, it's like, Oh, it gets all up in your nose, but it's a very quick sensation. Not something that sticks around forever.
Bam Bam:Okay.
Chef Ricky:Right? So That's why some things are like wasabi peas.
Bam Bam:The parallel for you is really the experience, not so much the flavor.
Chef Ricky:The flavor's present too, but it's not in that same sort of nasal clearing experience that you get, but the flavor's there. There you go, Gizmo.
Bam Bam:I'm still getting banana and berry and some cappuccino. Creaminess, quite nice.
Senator:No horseradish in your cappuccino?
Bam Bam:No, definitely a cardamom type thing on the end.
Rooster:He likes banana in the kombucha.
Bam Bam:Yeah, do. But it's too wide open of a draw. It's actually starting to bother me.
Gizmo:Really?
Senator:Yeah. Honestly, most of them in the box, if not all of them, when I got it looked that way. The feet looked wide open, loosely packed.
Bam Bam:Yeah. There's something to be said about fighting a cigar a little bit. It makes it better.
Gizmo:I don't know. I like an effortless cigar. But I think
Senator:So do I.
Gizmo:I think this cigar
Bam Bam:This is too effortless.
Gizmo:It's even it's not a matter of effort. It's a matter of what it's delivering is not aligned with the price of the cigar first.
Bam Bam:What you getting? I have yet to hear
Rooster:from No.
Gizmo:What are
Rooster:you missing? Like, is it a compart or
Gizmo:a I want a more mouth coating flavor profile that lasts longer. I want thicker smoke. The retrohale's amazing. The sweet notes that you've talked about, a little bit of spice. It's just all meaningless to me when it falls off a cliff like that, because I can't even enjoy it by the time it's gone.
Bam Bam:It lacks structure,
Senator:Like a wine.
Bam Bam:No legs.
Senator:The notes can be there, but if it doesn't have the structure to hold that all together
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Senator:So that that flavor is delivered in a concentrated way, it's very fleeting, and it it becomes disappointing even if you enjoy the flavor notes that are there.
Chef Ricky:Mhmm. You think it's an overcorrection from the Alma Fuerte?
Gizmo:It feels like that. I just think whatever they did here
Bam Bam:It feels like that because all their other goddamn cigars are pretty hefty sticks to smoke. I don't know if I would put that level of a blanket across
Gizmo:their I have heard a lot of really good things about
Bam Bam:All I really know is that I'm a forester, honestly.
Pagoda:I don't
Bam Bam:know So anything
Gizmo:the reason why I brought this in tonight is this was on the consensus list twenty twenty five that Half Wheel does where they put together all of the different media outlets, including ours and, like, 50 or 60 others or something. And this was one of the cigars that was actually closer to the top of the consensus this year. So like the Dunbart and Soleda Red we did a couple weeks ago, that's why I wanted to bring this one in and we had to get back to Plasencia. I mean
Bam Bam:Yeah, sure.
Gizmo:It is a little bit of a sin that for how big they are and how prevalent I would say they are now in the industry. I would argue, you know, a lot of folks are smoking Plasencia. They're doing very, very well.
Bam Bam:They're in every shop, everywhere. Everywhere.
Gizmo:So, you know, I pulled this. These were numbers from 2024 on FOH. They were talking about the size of cigar manufacturers by volume produced. So Plasencia falls right between Aleva at they are they're at 40,000,000, Arturo Fuente at 30,000,000. Plasencia falls at 35,000,000.
Gizmo:Wow. Wow.
Chef Ricky:That's lot.
Gizmo:So do you know what the biggest manufacturer in the world is? What company?
Bam Bam:Xeno.
Gizmo:It's not Davittoff. Backwoods.
Pagoda:It's all cities. Right? Drew Estate?
Gizmo:Drew Estate.
Bam Bam:Are you serious?
Gizmo:Dru Estate's number one seventy plus million cigars a year. Habanos at the time, I would say maybe not this year, 45 to 55,000,000. Davodoff is between forty and fifty. Aleva, 40. The ones we just said, Plasencia, 35, Fuente, 30, Rocky Patel, 20, and Padron between 3 and 5,000,000 a year.
Gizmo:Wow.
Rooster:It feels like Rocky Patel is around 200.
Bam Bam:200,000,000?
Gizmo:You see it everywhere.
Rooster:You see it everywhere.
Bam Bam:It's like a ghost for you.
Pagoda:Wherever you go, you see it. No, no, you know what it is? Omnipresent. For you it is He follows him around. You're seeing a load of the potatoes everywhere.
Bam Bam:That's correct. I thought Padron was closer to 9,000,000 last time we chatted chat with him.
Gizmo:All right. What are they?
Bam Bam:Between three and five.
Gizmo:Between three and five. Really? But I don't know if he's ever disclosed that. Okay. Alright, boys.
Gizmo:Let's go into some news now. Thought this was interesting. We talked about this on the group chat. The h Upman Nicaragua by AJ Fernandez, new line called Sunrise was announced. So I'm sure we'll see this at PCA twenty twenty five.
Gizmo:So they have four Vitola in this, the line using an Ecuadorian Connecticut seed wrapper over a blend of Nicaraguan tobaccos. So they'll have a Robusto, a Toro, a Magnum, which is a Gordo, and a Churchill 50 by seven. Interesting to see Churchill's at 50 instead of 48. Mhmm. But I do like seeing the Churchill.
Gizmo:I thought the presentation was pretty interesting, though. It feels to me like they are trying to look like Cuban cigars here. Yeah. A little bit, maybe. You know?
Gizmo:I feel like this is definitely in the spirit of what you'd expect
Bam Bam:Nice box.
Gizmo:From a Cuban cigar. So we'll see how they are. Maybe we can get our hands on them at PCA, blended of course by AJ Fernandez and Rafael Nadal for Upman, Tabaclera, AJ Fernandez, etcetera. So we'll see how those go. And another news story here, boys, Dunbarton I I do I'm highlighting this because of the size of the cigar.
Gizmo:Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust has announced the Cosmic Corona sampler. So each of these boxes will have two, each of seven different cigars, all in the same 44 ring gauge by five inches long format. So they have a Sobremesa Brule in there, a blue Corona, a Salida red Corona. So the cigar we smoke in Corona.
Bam Bam:That's a pretty cool Vitola.
Gizmo:It's cool. I'm glad to see Corona's.
Bam Bam:Yeah. You don't see that often. No. Very nice.
Gizmo:So the micarita blue Corona, the micarita tricky track of Corona, syncompromiso Corona, and then a couple more called the Corona Alpha and the Corona Omega. So the I'm sure we'll see that at PCA as well. But I like I like seeing Corona's being celebrated. I think that's cool. But we'll check that out at PCA.
Gizmo:By the way, I'm excited. We are officially booked for PCA. Correct. Hotels are booked. Flights are booked.
Bam Bam:His pagoda booked.
Gizmo:His flight is.
Bam Bam:Oh, so he's homeless for the trip. You better book, dude. It's gonna get full.
Pagoda:He's getting twin beds. Alright. For his
Bam Bam:room. For my room.
Gizmo:That's what he said to me. Said, can I sleep with you?
Bam Bam:No.
Gizmo:So yeah, we will be in New Orleans this year, Nice. The third week of At PCA twenty twenty six.
Bam Bam:I'm looking
Gizmo:forward to that.
Bam Bam:We're gonna miss Rooster. We're gonna miss Chef.
Pagoda:Wait. You're not coming again this year? What happened?
Rooster:Still a maybe.
Pagoda:Oh, really?
Bam Bam:That's a no.
Pagoda:He says he'll be driving all the way to Atlanta's the past two years.
Senator:I know. It's been two maybes the last two years.
Bam Bam:Oh, that's right.
Rooster:It's all of us a maybe.
Bam Bam:That's gonna be cool. It's exciting. Rooster, what are you getting on this cigar right now? How are you feeling about it overall?
Rooster:It's not offensive. Right? It's not offensive.
Pagoda:It doesn't doesn't suck.
Chef Ricky:I mean, you guys
Rooster:you guys have been pretty negative about the cigar, but the abrupt finish and stuff. Yes. That's there. But I think the construction is very good. You know, it's it's a beautiful wrapper.
Rooster:The flavor is good.
Bam Bam:It's delicious. Yeah. I think it's still delicious.
Rooster:I'm not getting a lot of sweet notes. Actually, it's more like on the savory side for me. Wow. Not that sweet.
Gizmo:I'm getting like a citrusy kind of feel at the front of my mouth.
Pagoda:Know, were talking about this in Doctor, like there's a lot more saliva, so it's a little bit more acidic, I would think, as an overall
Bam Bam:What are getting, Perla? Definitely.
Gizmo:But it's all in the front of your mouth, though.
Pagoda:All in
Gizmo:the front. The problem for me is that all of the flavor, if I don't throw it through the retrohale, is all in the front of my mouth. There's nothing in the back.
Chef Ricky:Front half of the tongue.
Gizmo:It's like, I would even say the front quarter of the tongue. Yeah.
Bam Bam:Well, I agree. The smoke migrate to the back
Gizmo:of No, but I am, Ben.
Senator:There's no flavor.
Gizmo:There's nothing going on.
Senator:No palate
Gizmo:back there. It's very odd.
Chef Ricky:If you hold it in your mouth, it's really only activated in that first half of
Rooster:the And the spice like kind of hits your nose, like your nasal passages more than your tongue.
Bam Bam:I'm not getting any spice. It is sweeter.
Gizmo:I'm getting a touch of spice.
Bam Bam:So it's definitely sweeter for me with a touch of savoriness, so it's pretty nice. Still getting everything I talked about earlier. Pagoda.
Pagoda:But Sweeter
Bam Bam:or savory for
Pagoda:you? So initially I was getting a little bit of sweetness, with a little bit of, I think, on the berry ish kind of notes. It's got a little bit of sourish, you know, how you have the sweet sour kind of a berry kind of thing. Raspberry. Raspberry.
Gizmo:And now?
Pagoda:Yeah, so now it's kind of dissipated a bit. So it feels like it's not sweet anymore, but I don't know whether it's savory in terms of
Bam Bam:That's confusing to me. Yeah,
Rooster:It's like sweet and sour chicken.
Chef Ricky:You know you're not far off.
Gizmo:I will say the cigar is smoking way too fast.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:For a $19 Toro.
Rooster:I think it's loosely packed too. Yeah, there's not
Gizmo:lot of tobacco.
Rooster:There's not a lot of weight.
Bam Bam:We're all kind of at the same place actually.
Pagoda:But I don't mind the smoke, meaning like it's a bit light. It's all right. The thing is while it has a short finish, it's not an unpleasant. No, it's not an unpleasant.
Gizmo:I just don't know what I meant.
Rooster:Like, it's not offensive.
Pagoda:I don't
Gizmo:know if I'm getting my money's worth. I don't think we're getting our money's worth here in the flavor.
Bam Bam:$19. I
Rooster:think if the cigar was packed a little bit more, that would improve the draw.
Pagoda:Like you said.
Gizmo:And the flavor
Rooster:would also you know, it would be would be better.
Bam Bam:100%.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's go to our pairing now. We are back to agave, chef. We have a tequila in the room tonight. The Volans Tequila Reposado.
Gizmo:Water.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah. We did the
Gizmo:it does look like water in the glass. We did the Blanco on episode 166 quite some time ago. Cheers, boys. Cheers. Good to see everybody.
Bam Bam:Solid.
Gizmo:Pagoda, welcome back.
Pagoda:Yeah, man. It's been a while it feels like.
Chef Ricky:This is going to help extend that finish and it does it beautifully. It even comes through there with a little citrus, vanilla.
Bam Bam:Really quite nice. Wow. Yeah. Good.
Chef Ricky:Very good. Very, very good. I mean, Volans is super high quality. Obviously, the time it spends in the barrel, even as a repo, it's probably on the lighter end, maybe just over three months, which is why it's so light. They're not going to almost a year, but they do that for the agave to shine and it's doing it here.
Bam Bam:This is a nice, minerally, also sweet balance for me. It's kind of nice. How much is this?
Chef Ricky:Let me guess $58 maybe?
Senator:He's very close. At total wine by us, dollars 57. Dollars 56.99.
Bam Bam:Okay. Not
Gizmo:bad. How do you guys feel about the price?
Senator:I think it's fair.
Bam Bam:I think so too. Yeah. It's really quite good.
Pagoda:I would have preferred it at half the price, no, I'm just kidding.
Senator:Now chef, you've I'm sure had this before. Is it the cigar or is it the tequila that there are some berry type notes?
Chef Ricky:I think it's both. Okay.
Senator:Yeah. Because I I actually feel like this pairs extremely well, and I am getting some, like, berry fruit notes faintly from the tequila, and I'm just trying to make sure that it's not
Chef Ricky:on the finish. Right?
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Chef Ricky:Yeah.
Senator:I think it pairs perfectly with this. The the sad part for me is just like, you know, this is lighter in color. Like, it's not a, you know, full tequila by any measure, but yet the finish is long enough that, like all those flavors linger on my palate, and I'm really enjoying them, and it's just like so stark in contrast to the cigar where I'm Thank like
Bam Bam:god. We're drinking this tonight.
Rooster:Yeah. So is that helping the cigar?
Senator:It is because I actually think the notes are so complementary Yeah. That it's giving me what I wish the cigar was It's like giving me on the the XBX.
Bam Bam:It compensates on the finish for what the cigar can't provide.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. So I was looking at three different bottles and the other two, while also delicious tequila's, I just thought that the age in them was a bit much and it would overwhelm the cigar.
Bam Bam:What other two?
Chef Ricky:What Candemitiera is a Reposado and then Wild Common, which I'm kind of excited to bring that in.
Bam Bam:Never heard of either one of those.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, Wow. And I almost leaned in that direction because they would be new to the pod but just based on what I read about the cigars from
Bam Bam:That's the cool. I can't wait to try those.
Chef Ricky:Yeah.
Rooster:It's got color on the tequila, it's very light.
Senator:Super light.
Pagoda:It's like water.
Chef Ricky:Reposado be anywhere from three months to three sixty four days At the March, then it officially goes into the Anya Horro.
Bam Bam:Interesting. I didn't know that.
Chef Ricky:There's a big variance in what you could expect from color and then obviously it's added free, so there's no coloring.
Bam Bam:That's a great detail. I had no idea.
Gizmo:I'm surprised at how my palate how long it's actually taken to adjust since we started sipping this because it's been so long
Bam Bam:You're still
Gizmo:getting since I had tequila. Yeah. Oh. Oh. It's been just so long since I had tequila.
Gizmo:So it hitting my palate again for the first time and probably since the last time we did one on the podcast, which has got to be ten, twelve weeks.
Bam Bam:Yeah. At least. Right?
Gizmo:If not more. I don't I don't know exactly, but it's taken a little bit of adjustment.
Bam Bam:It's a different experience.
Gizmo:Why I didn't I didn't jump in immediately on the flavor because I felt my palate kind of
Chef Ricky:We're coming off of some pretty hefty spirits in terms of like finish and body, right? Like a lot of rum, very peaty scotches.
Bam Bam:Bourbon.
Chef Ricky:Bourbon. Yeah. High proof stuff. This, like the cigar, has a very soft finish, but long much longer in the cigar, but a soft finish nonetheless.
Senator:Yeah. I I agree. Soft is, like, the perfect word for the finish. For me, it did I thought there'd be a big adjustment, but this is like so light and soft and smooth and easy drinking, like the second sip, and I was like right back into tequila world.
Bam Bam:It's very pleasant.
Gizmo:I think for me, I was just like Chef was saying, I was expecting like a little bit more of like Bite. Bite or oomph for something that wasn't there. So that was the calibration that needed to happen, but it's really damn good. I don't know if I prefer the Blanco or this yet. I do love that Valans Blanco, which we discovered at your, the event.
Chef Ricky:For the
Gizmo:one with Velvet. Yeah. That's where we discovered Valans. Well, we did that
Chef Ricky:in September. I think September 17 is a new date.
Bam Bam:Used to be
Chef Ricky:twice a year, but we're gonna cut it down to once a year.
Gizmo:Okay.
Chef Ricky:Because the winter one, it's hard to get the turnout or you keep everyone indoors, at least with the September 1, we're able to expand outside a bit.
Gizmo:So And have a couple cigars.
Senator:Yep. Yep. I'm just frustrated with this cigar.
Gizmo:Me too, man.
Senator:I I just say it because this is the first Plasencia I've had where the flavor profile, like, really checks a lot of boxes that I look for. And when I even compare this to, like, the few Plasencia cigars I've had, like, the Alma Forte for me was very one note, very monotone. Like, I couldn't enjoy it because it lacked complexity, and it was a big cigar to just have one or two notes the entire way through. I've tried that Green Label one that I always see people pick up. Yep.
Senator:Someone in our lounge was smoking that a while back and had handed me one.
Chef Ricky:The Alma del Campo.
Senator:Yes. Think that's right. Yeah. For me How was that? That lacked flavor.
Senator:Like, it was like smoking tobacco.
Chef Ricky:It was weird. The flavor, I couldn't put my finger on that.
Senator:I couldn't call out
Chef Ricky:notes. Exactly.
Senator:I don't understand why that's so popular. And then I think we had the white label one at PCA one year that they had given out.
Gizmo:Yeah. Which was a Honduran, right?
Bam Bam:I have to say You don't remember
Gizmo:the Honduran
Bam Bam:or something? Last year, I think, and I kinda liked it.
Senator:It was good, but again, it didn't grab you in a way that I was like, I would smoke this again. I wanna pursue this cigar. I was just like, okay. This is the first Plasencia I've had that doesn't upset me in some way. Like, it was fine.
Senator:It didn't have complexity, but this like, we've called out many flavor notes. So, like Yeah. They finally produced something with complexity in terms of, like, a range of flavors, but it just isn't brought together with enough structure, and I'm just this whole time sitting here saying, like, I want to love this cigar, and I just can't because they missed the final stage of this process that would have put it over the edge.
Gizmo:It's like they got 75% there and said, we're going home. Yep. Yep. So boys, with that, we have come to the end of the first third here.
Bam Bam:Now I'm gonna ask
Gizmo:you With Sensia.
Bam Bam:I'm sorry.
Gizmo:Alma Del Cielo and Boreal Voltoro. Bam, what was that?
Bam Bam:Now that I've interrupted you, you are flying through your cigar.
Gizmo:I'm not even trying. I'm like You're reading
Senator:really flying.
Pagoda:What did you say? You're first third or you have the last turdler?
Bam Bam:Yeah, he's in the middle of that second third now. We're just entering the second
Gizmo:third I guess I'm pulling it to try to get more flavor.
Bam Bam:What are you getting now?
Gizmo:Because I'm getting that's a different one. I'm getting it. No, I'm getting the banana thing. I'm getting a little bit of spice. I'm getting a citrus thing on the front of my tongue.
Gizmo:That's where it's very much sitting. The retrohale's nice. It's sweet. A little bit of spice. No viscosity?
Gizmo:The viscosity is Still Absent. Wow. It's absent. And I guess maybe I'm pulling I'm only doing double pulls
Bam Bam:Maybe.
Gizmo:To try to get more flavor out of it. Mhmm. Maybe that's what I'm doing.
Bam Bam:That's only natural though with this.
Gizmo:But it just doesn't it's not working for me, man. Yeah. Yeah. I really was expecting more out of this cigar tonight. Like, I'm I'm pretty disappointed right now.
Bam Bam:Yeah. The I mean, the dimensions are substantial. You're gonna assume that this is gonna be a nice sip. But I'm I can blow through this in less than an hour.
Chef Ricky:I bet you this cigar smokes better with a punch over a straight thought.
Bam Bam:Good point.
Senator:I agree with that. I also would I mean, when you've seen this reviewed, I assume this size is what people have been talking Because I think in a smaller ring gauge, this would be better.
Bam Bam:I think
Gizmo:it's this, I've seen the bigger one.
Bam Bam:Do they have it in the middle?
Chef Ricky:Bigger? Oh,
Rooster:no. This
Gizmo:needs to
Senator:go smaller. For me, there needs to be a smaller ring gauge to just concentrate the delivery of the flavor when it hits your palate.
Bam Bam:Imagine a corona.
Gizmo:The only other size they have in this that's is a fifty two, which is not that small. It's
Bam Bam:only small.
Pagoda:This is
Gizmo:a 54 or 52 by four and seven eighths inches. So you're really not differing too much on the ring gauge. It's just the length.
Bam Bam:It's kind of Aruba style.
Chef Ricky:This underland style.
Rooster:I think it just needs more more tobacco.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I agree. It's lightly packed, right?
Chef Ricky:You know what I will say is that this is a Nicaraguan puro and it's not the flavors that it's delivering are very baking spicy, they're very sweet And if it were not for that, that Wahikawa Iguan that blew us away with those similar flavor profiles, almost Cubans like this would probably surprise us a lot more. But because I think we've had it in that this isn't really we're not calling on this for that. But I think if not
Bam Bam:But
Gizmo:I listen. I don't the the Tatawahe, I think, is an outlier in what happened. But I don't pick up a Plasencia knowing it's a Nicaraguan puro, right?
Chef Ricky:Mhmm.
Gizmo:I don't pick this up thinking that it's gonna taste Cuban, or Honduran, or anything else. Sure. I'm looking for a solid Nicaraguan experience when I pick this cigar up, and it's just not complete.
Senator:Yeah. But I don't know. I wanna go back to what Chef said because I I completely agree with him. I think like when you hear that this is a Nicaraguan puro, this doesn't smoke like what you would expect a Nicaraguan puro to. And I say that in a really positive way.
Senator:Like, same thing with the Cabe Guan. Like, with both of these cigars, like, if we had this blind, I would guess there's Honduran tobacco in this. There's no chance I would say this is a Nicaraguan puro. And like That's fair. Where the blender does deserve some credit, it's like this is a great example of taming that intense aggressive Nicaraguan tobacco to deliver an experience that is
Bam Bam:use the touch of that. A touch for me.
Senator:Oh, I I agree with that for sure. But I just mean, like, the fact that someone could take all Nicaraguan tobacco and have this taste closer to honestly Honduran tobacco.
Bam Bam:It's a merit.
Senator:That's a merit. Like, the the guy deserves credit for that. We've obviously said, like, 75% of the way didn't finish the job, but that much at least I do think that they deserve credit for.
Rooster:Yeah. I think if you could take one leaf from one of the Padron nineteen twenty six
Gizmo:series cigars and put it in here,
Rooster:That would just completely round it off.
Gizmo:You know, if I had
Bam Bam:$92,000,000 in cash right now, that would also be pretty good.
Chef Ricky:92. Such a specific number. Very specific.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. So let's talk Pagoda about our time in Santiago in The Dominican Republic. We were at ProCigar, guests of La Aurora. So many thanks to them. They really, really treated us amazingly.
Pagoda:Great hosts.
Gizmo:Great hosts. The hospitality was fantastic. I mean, even from the moment we got to the airport, he and I immediately found President De Beers waiting for our ride, jumped in. They sent a car for us. It was awesome.
Gizmo:The hotel, brand new residence inn down there, had a kitchen in it, massive rooms. It's really, really awesome. Did Pagoda cook for you? He didn't. I was asking him to, but he didn't want to.
Bam Bam:He makes good eggs, hear.
Pagoda:Excellent eggs. But you know what was great with the Presidente? Didn't it taste so good?
Gizmo:The Presidente beer, it's like Cristal in Cuba. Presidente in Doctor is like a light beer. It's heavy, They taste but it's just so cold. Ice cold. It's so refreshing.
Gizmo:I love President Day beer.
Bam Bam:That's cool.
Gizmo:It's awesome. So we got to the hotel. We immediately checked in, got our credentials and stuff. And then the first night there was a welcome dinner at the hotel, and it was At
Bam Bam:your hotel.
Gizmo:At our hotel. That was like the main event hotel where
Senator:Can we were I take a step back? When you checked in, did you get a box with cigars?
Pagoda:We got a bag. Remember we got a bag?
Gizmo:We got a backpack?
Pagoda:Yeah, with a few cigars.
Gizmo:Were there some cigars in there? I don't
Bam Bam:remember it. Sedaner wants his cut.
Senator:No, no, no. It's just that I
Gizmo:have feel whole Macanudos for you.
Pagoda:No, no,
Senator:year when there's ProCigar, I feel like people that I know that have gone, or I've read online, they usually curate a pretty good selection of cigars. There'll be a Davidoff in there, some So nice stuff really, like we got that
Gizmo:every night.
Pagoda:Every night, yeah.
Gizmo:At every evening event that we went to, which kind of like the Habanos Festival, that's really what you're paying for. You pay for the welcome dinner, the white party, the gala. You you pay for those, so that's where you actually get the box of 10 or 12 cigars, which we got every night. Beautiful boxes. Oh, the presentation of those.
Senator:Yeah, that's what I've usually seen.
Chef Ricky:That's what I
Gizmo:mean. Yeah, so we got really nice boxes.
Bam Bam:So I saw Pagoda's box. He brought it here one night. Mhmm. Beautiful.
Gizmo:That was the final evening, the gala dinner box.
Bam Bam:How many of those boxes did you get during the
Gizmo:shoot? One for We every got three, but they were all different designs. Wow. So one was like a brown box that kind of flipped open.
Bam Bam:Very cool.
Gizmo:The one that Pagoda had was very colorful for the gala dinner, opened in the middle. It was kind of like a cardboard type of product, but had a bunch of cigars in it. How long did it take Pagoda
Pagoda:to open I open both of those.
Gizmo:He got both of those open real quick.
Bam Bam:He started smoking them right away.
Gizmo:So we go to the welcome dinner. We get our cigars that we're talking about. And I was in the hotel, and it was so loud. I mean, they had a great band playing. We saw a bunch of folks, said hello, had some food and a couple drinks, and then we ended up saying, you know, let's let's get out of here, and we went and had dinner with Vance Taylor from Stoic.
Gizmo:Cool. Who was happened to be in town, not there for the show. He was there blending cigars and getting some stuff ready for Stoic cigars. So we went and had dinner with him, which was awesome. Went home next day.
Bam Bam:Hold on. You're going way too fast.
Gizmo:Am I?
Bam Bam:Did you smoke at dinner?
Gizmo:We did.
Bam Bam:And you say, we gotta talk about that.
Gizmo:Yes, we did.
Bam Bam:What did you smoke?
Gizmo:We smoked, I smoked some Fabrica five. I gave Vance Fabrica five.
Pagoda:Oh, nice. And they handed us some Stoics.
Gizmo:We had some Stoics.
Bam Bam:That's cool.
Gizmo:Yeah. We had some equanimity. I believe it was in Toro, which was the first time I had the Toro because we had the courage here on the pod and we've really all of us have fallen in love with that wisdom.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Churchill. It looks great.
Gizmo:It's a great cigar.
Bam Bam:How many cigars at dinner did you have?
Gizmo:Probably four.
Bam Bam:At dinner?
Gizmo:Yeah, probably three or four. Were there
Bam Bam:for You're a just glossing over that detail. That's important shit.
Gizmo:Kind of a normal dinner. So the dinner was at the No, we left the welcome dinner. The welcome dinner was kind of like hand food. There was no like it wasn't a meal. It was kind of like a charcuterie
Chef Ricky:Cocktail party.
Gizmo:The cocktail party. That's exactly it.
Bam Bam:Here's another question.
Senator:Hand food.
Gizmo:Hand food.
Senator:Correct. Not finger food.
Bam Bam:Now were they were they smoking?
Gizmo:I'm trying, senator.
Bam Bam:So this is on the grounds of the hotel? Yeah. Outdoor? Indoor. Were you smoke could they smoke in it?
Gizmo:Yeah. We were smoking.
Bam Bam:In the in the hotel?
Gizmo:In the hotel and the windows were open. What? Is actually I will say this. Santiago, which is I've I've only been to Santiago and Puerto Plata, the beach. Okay?
Gizmo:Santiago may be more cigar friendly than Havana, Cuba. Wow. Every restaurant that we've been to in Doctor, I've been there twice now. Every restaurant we've gone to, you could smoke cigars.
Bam Bam:So you're walking around in the lobby of your hotel with a lit cigar?
Gizmo:No. Only at the event you could smoke in the lobby.
Bam Bam:But where in the hotel was the event?
Gizmo:I guess they had it, I think it was on the 12th Floor Oh, or was up, not down. Yeah, it was up. Okay, okay, yes. Got it.
Pagoda:And they had like, right by the pool area, had a huge seating area. Oh, sure, yeah. Which was on the 3rd Or 4th Floor where, you know, people were just hanging out and smoking, and it was pretty nice out there.
Bam Bam:How'd the bikinis look?
Gizmo:Pagodas looked great.
Bam Bam:Did it? Yeah.
Gizmo:This was really nice.
Bam Bam:Did you shave his legs?
Gizmo:I did, and his back.
Pagoda:I think we were missing Ricky there. We were missing chef there. I'm sorry.
Chef Ricky:Can I get my clippers back?
Gizmo:So the next morning, we got up late, a little late because we were at that dinner pretty pretty late. And then we went and had lunch with Elvis from La Aurora, just the three of us at this awesome restaurant. It's in a Beautiful. Yeah. It's amazing.
Gizmo:It's it's actually this is gonna sound crazy. You pull in and it's like you're pulling into a Wawa. There's like a gas station.
Senator:Yeah.
Gizmo:And then inside, it's renovated into two separate high end restaurants. It's wild.
Bam Bam:In the gas station?
Gizmo:In the gas station. I've never I have never seen
Bam Bam:anything concept for you.
Chef Ricky:I'm just looking outside.
Gizmo:It's this place called it's it's a place called Napa Valley.
Bam Bam:Wow.
Gizmo:It's called Napa Valley. And as soon as we sat down, this place is beautiful. You gotta Google it. Napa Valley in Santiago. The the roof is open.
Gizmo:Okay? Like, not open, but Open rafters. It's like open rafters, airflow, tons of greenery. Just like Tons. Tons of plants and flowers and everything all over the top.
Gizmo:And immediately when we sat down, they brought over an ashtray. I guess they assumed, because Elvis had a La Aurora shirt on, that we were gonna smoke cigars. As soon as we sat down I mean, the service culture of the Dominican Republic is
Bam Bam:Can't beat him.
Gizmo:Unbelievable. It's quite literally in their culture.
Bam Bam:That's
Gizmo:cool. Customer service is really important to them. Hospitality. Yeah. I was really, really impressed with everybody that we encountered there.
Gizmo:Even the Uber drivers are great. And by the way, Uber there is so ridiculously cheap.
Bam Bam:Did you smoke in the Uber? No, we did
Gizmo:not smoke in the Uber. We ask to. So we went back after having lunch Elvis. We got changed, and then we went to the welcome dinner, which was I guess in like a park, right? I remember
Pagoda:It was a park and the president of Doctor showed up.
Gizmo:No, he was at the gala dinner.
Pagoda:No, he was at the welcome dinner.
Gizmo:The first Wow, you are Wow.
Senator:Is razor sharp.
Chef Ricky:I'm sorry. My
Gizmo:brain is like, I've got so much going on.
Chef Ricky:Swap
Bam Bam:microphone. It
Pagoda:must be the tequila. I don't know.
Gizmo:Alright. Sorry about that. Thank you for correcting me. So we finished up lunch with Elvis. We went back, got changed at the hotel, and then we jumped on the bus because everything was bust around.
Gizmo:I mean, the organization
Bam Bam:That's great.
Gizmo:That these folks put together, it's so well put together. Not a single miss. Like, they are it's like militant. Cool. How good they are with the logistics and everything else.
Senator:Sounds like Cuba.
Pagoda:Yeah. Right. Yeah. Very well organized.
Bam Bam:Twenty minutes late.
Gizmo:So we went to the welcome dinner, was in a big park, like a big park, And it was a great dinner. They had Lido Gomes, who's the president of ProCigar. All of the members, the the, you know, the member companies of ProCigar, the head of Was he on a He was not on a horse. I was a little disappointed about that. So all of the eight member companies or nine member company CEOs were on the stage.
Gizmo:Lido Gomes, who's the president, was introducing everybody and welcoming everybody to the event. And we had a great meal. That meal there every meal was great. So what
Bam Bam:do they what do they serve at that
Gizmo:welcome dinner? That was like Okay. Buffet And you went up and got your stuff. What were some of the things that you had before?
Pagoda:They do have a lot of pork, by the way. Do, Great, they really
Chef Ricky:Caribbean Island style. Love it.
Pagoda:Yeah, they had a lot of seafood. Remember, I think one of the best dishes with the shrimp were-
Gizmo:It was like a shrimp risotto thing.
Pagoda:A risotto thing.
Gizmo:Wow. Yeah, was really good.
Pagoda:But I have to say something about the desserts. They could have-
Gizmo:Oh, Pagoda was devastated with They the lack
Pagoda:could have done something better about it.
Gizmo:All the desserts were like finger like size. Yeah. Little Mini everything. Everything was mini.
Bam Bam:I like that though.
Gizmo:Yeah. He was not happy.
Bam Bam:Okay. He wouldn't even want a big pie. I
Gizmo:think I I would remember we were at
Senator:PC in Vegas. He wanted a full dessert cart with like 16 different cakes on it.
Pagoda:There was no chocolate cake.
Chef Ricky:You know, chocolate's really fallen off, man. I have a chocolate dessert special at the restaurant, and it's amazing how many people don't want it because it's chocolate. Interesting.
Pagoda:It catches Yeah. Chocolate's out of favor nowadays. I've realized that. Alright. No.
Pagoda:I'm just kidding.
Gizmo:And then the president of the Dominican Republic showed up. Nobody it wasn't announced. I think they thought the vice president was coming.
Bam Bam:Cool.
Gizmo:But what was shocking to me was that they had let us all in, and they weren't, like, wanding us for like no metal detectors. There was no real security, nobody patting you down. And the president of Doctor is there.
Bam Bam:That's scary.
Gizmo:So I was like, if the president of The United States showed up, it would have been a six hour wait to get in.
Chef Ricky:I mean, it's very different.
Gizmo:No. But it's
Senator:still extremely different. I'm it's The president of any Caribbean island cannot be compared to the president of The United States, any European nation. I
Gizmo:mean, different. But it this the lack of security was interesting. He did have some kind of, like, special security surrounding him, but he sat at a table with Lido Gomes and Guillermo from La Aurora and all the heads of all the companies who are members.
Pagoda:And that was just a couple of tables away by
Gizmo:the Yeah. Was like two tables away. Two tables. It was almost like from me to the front of the story.
Chef Ricky:Were you expecting more security because Pagoda was with you?
Gizmo:Yes. Well, we had our own security detail provided by Lounge
Rooster:Lizards. Yeah.
Gizmo:It
Senator:sounds racist. Well, no.
Gizmo:Pagoda's track record
Pagoda:You got
Chef Ricky:a point. A year.
Bam Bam:You got a point.
Chef Ricky:Pagoda's track record at airports and security.
Pagoda:Oh, was absolutely on my best behavior.
Gizmo:That's true.
Pagoda:In that four days. I'm a good guest.
Bam Bam:No deer in headlights look.
Pagoda:No, that was always the case.
Senator:Only at airports.
Chef Ricky:So give me your best meal.
Gizmo:So the best meal was the next day. So we left the welcome dinner. Pagoda, is he right? Was it really the next day? Yes.
Gizmo:And he'll remember in a second.
Pagoda:Oh, at the lunch. Yes. At the lunch. At lunch
Chef Ricky:was right
Rooster:You said dinner.
Gizmo:I said lunch the next day. So we went home after the welcome dinner was great. It was a lot of mingling, saying hello. Like, you could watch a lot of old you saw a lot of old friends saying hello to each other who haven't seen each other since, you know, ProCigar or last PCA. But it was great.
Gizmo:We had a wonderful time. We met a lot of people.
Bam Bam:Did you see Klaus around?
Gizmo:Yeah, we saw Klaus every night.
Senator:I'm sorry. Yeah. He asked what your best meal was and all you said I'm was getting there. The next
Gizmo:So the next day, it was the La Aurora day. Right? So you get on the bus in the morning, you go to the La Aurora Fields, they give you a tour. And what was awesome versus the last time I was there in October '24, I guess, was the plants were just being planted then. So now being there in February, the plants are like blooming and they look great.
Gizmo:Everything's green. It was like really beautiful. So we were able to hang out and learn about the tobacco, about the seeds. We were smoking a lot. La Aurora were incredible hosts.
Pagoda:And by way, I really liked what they did. I think they gave us, once again, three or four different Seco wrappers, and they were trying to, from different regions, I think Brazilian tobacco, Dominican tobacco. It was really interesting, that whole exercise.
Gizmo:Yeah. So what Pagoda's referencing is after we went to the fields, we then went to the curing barn, and they actually had cleared out one of their curing barns and put tables for us to sit at
Chef Ricky:And that's where you ate.
Gizmo:Placemats and everything.
Bam Bam:In the barn.
Chef Ricky:It was a long meal.
Gizmo:You ate tobacco leaves? What Pagoda's referencing is that when we sat down, there were four puritos there of different tobaccos and a cigar and a notepad and everything.
Pagoda:Yeah, were blending our own cigars.
Gizmo:Yeah, Manuel, the blender of La Aurora did a presentation on how blending works and how things change. And then we smoked each of the four puritos, which is one tobacco leaf rolled up. And we kind of understood what each of those flavors were. There was two Dominican in there. There was a Brazilian.
Gizmo:And I think there was a Nicaraguan as well. We got to try all these different flavors, take notes on them, and then we decided right then and there what our blend was gonna be for the cigars we were gonna be rolling ourselves later. So we'll get to that
Chef Ricky:in a
Bam Bam:Wow, I wish I would've been there.
Gizmo:Hope there's
Senator:photos. I wanna see Pagoda's.
Gizmo:It was, oh
Bam Bam:yeah. I'm sure it was exquisite.
Gizmo:Actually So, mine came out pretty good.
Pagoda:Alright.
Gizmo:So we left the curing barn. We took a big group photo, which was nice. They had a little bit of bites and stuff. It wasn't anything crazy. Lunch was later, that's the one I'm gonna tell Chef about.
Rooster:But Hey. Go back to the tobacco for a second. Did you learn anything different about Dominican tobacco versus when we were in Cuba about their what do they use or their planting Methods. Kinds, methods, caring barn?
Gizmo:Everything's really very similar. The only thing that Doctor has is they have more resources. Know, They have more money and What
Rooster:about aging their tobacco? So they age them longer before they start rolling.
Gizmo:I think it is company by company or cigar by cigar or tobacco by tobacco. I don't think it's really that different than what is happening anywhere else.
Rooster:And has it grown in Santiago?
Gizmo:It is grown in Santiago.
Bam Bam:So Rooster's bringing up an interesting point. I'm curious about one thing. In Cuba, we all learned that the stem of the leaf is soaked in water, and they use that for pesticide control.
Gizmo:They don't do that there.
Bam Bam:So they use actual chemicals?
Gizmo:I would assume so, but I don't think they're taking the stems and reusing them for fertilizer.
Bam Bam:Yeah, I know they have more resources. I'm just curious how they control pesticides and that kind of thing.
Pagoda:I do have to mention, think my first impression of even just walking into La Aurora was, it's beautiful, and you know, you can't appreciate how massive that operation is
Gizmo:It's crazy.
Pagoda:Till the time you're there. And it's a vertically integrated, you know, tobacco company. Once again, there are not so many vertically integrated tobacco companies, and it's a really good experience overall. And they were great, very gracious hosts, and it was just a wonderful experience. You know, seeing the farms and It was awesome.
Pagoda:Factory.
Gizmo:I think the La Aurora experience versus some of the other tours based on what we heard, it seemed like the La Aurora experience was the most complete. Like, they literally took you from seed to packaged final cigars, and we were involved in understanding each piece of it, including to the point where, like Pagoda's saying, we we left the curing barn. We visited where they store tobacco. They have these massive warehouses in the in the the free trade zones, which are designated zones where it's like tax free. They're like fenced and everything.
Gizmo:And anything that's manufactured there is not taxed when it's exported. So it's a pretty cool setup. There's all those companies are there. Like Swisher's right there next to them. There's there's a bunch of different manufacturers right next to La Aurora, but they have massive facilities.
Gizmo:So we went and visited a big room full of ladies who were sorting tobacco by color, size, etcetera. And then quickly, we jumped back in the bus, went over like Pagoda saying to the main manufacturing facility of La Aurora. And the first thing that we did was we went and got our tobacco based on the recipe we had made at the Yep. In the curing barn of the different fillers that we wanted to use. So each of us got a different amount of tobacco.
Gizmo:So once we had that, we took our recipe in the tobacco, went into the rolling room like Pagoda was saying, which is massive. I mean, how many how many rollers do you think they have there? A couple 100?
Pagoda:Yeah. Definitely.
Gizmo:Couple 100 in a room. And the music's going. They seem jovial, right? And what was cool It
Pagoda:reminds me of the La Corona Floor in Havana. Exactly.
Bam Bam:The whole floor.
Gizmo:But bigger and air conditioning.
Bam Bam:And air conditioning, sure.
Gizmo:And it seemed like everybody was really taken But care what was cool is when we walked in, we were designated to a specific pair of rollers, right? So you have the buncher, of course, and then you have the person next to him or her who actually, you know, puts the wrapper on the cigar, rolls the cigar. So we were designated. Our name was actually printed out on a La Aurora piece of paper laminated at different tables. So we had to go find our table and then we sat down and we bunched the cigars and put them together with the pair of hands that
Bam Bam:Did they have Yorksh for you?
Gizmo:I knew it was coming. I knew it was coming. So then we sat down. We they rolled so we had the amount of tobacco, the amount of filler for five cigars. They rolled two or three, depending on what you wanted, and then you bunched two yourself.
Gizmo:Then they pressed them in the press. We went and sat down and had
Bam Bam:This lunch that we're gonna hear about? No, no, no.
Gizmo:No. No. We went we went that was when we had the tasting with Manuel.
Chef Ricky:Now I see why it was so Because they were starving.
Gizmo:No. Yeah. So lunch was late. So we left that. We went now to the conference room area where they had a bunch of tables, we sat down and smoked a new cigar that's gonna be coming out.
Gizmo:I don't even know the name of it. It's gonna be in the Family Creed series for sure. If you remember, we did the Fuerte Sol last PCA, which was really nice. I think this one was actually even better. We'll see how it goes when it's in production, but we had a rum and cigar pairing.
Pagoda:By the way, Leon Jimenez, the
Gizmo:rum The Leon Jimenez rum is awesome. We did do that at the PCA show. It's really, really good. Yeah. I wish we could have come home with more of that Pagoda, but it was it was really, really good.
Chef Ricky:You you, by the way,
Senator:can get that up by us now.
Gizmo:Really?
Senator:I saw it at wine traders.
Bam Bam:Wow. Interesting.
Gizmo:Do you know how much it was?
Pagoda:130?
Senator:I think like $1.10.
Pagoda:Yeah. Alright.
Gizmo:Yeah. It's an expensive rum.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It was a
Gizmo:Yeah. After the tasting, we gave Manuel some notes. We had some rum and then we went back to the rolling room after our cigars were in the press and shaped and then we rolled our cigars, which was
Pagoda:Now, we do have them. I have them.
Gizmo:Them I Yeah.
Bam Bam:Oh, so you do are you gonna bring them in for us to inspect?
Pagoda:No. Not inspect.
Rooster:You will not be inspecting No.
Gizmo:You will not be inspecting anything. That's We an we watched the the other pair of hands, the other person. We watched them do two cigars, and then we rolled three, and it was quite daunting. That's cool. It's it was it's very difficult.
Gizmo:Like, the tobacco has elasticity and it's humid, so it's easy to rip. Like, it's it's quite an art these folks do, especially to roll 300 or 400 of these a day.
Pagoda:And you know what's really interesting, this could answer at least one of the questions I've had all along, is sometimes we'll all have the same cigar, and we're getting a different experience, slightly different experience. It could be, what ends up happening is when they're rolling and they're bunching a lot of the leaves in the middle, just to get the even consistency, they're taking small pieces of the extra tobacco and putting them in. Now it depends, and they could come from different leaves, which have completely different flavor profiles. So you know how sometimes one's experiencing a little more, the other's experiencing a little less, or whatever particular flavor. I think that could really answer the question because in the middle of how they bunch the cigars, it's, you know, it could be pretty
Gizmo:And every buncher has his or her own process to make that happen. It's not quite scientific. Right? So because everything in the cigars that we get is they're color matched, that's why these thing these variations happen because you're getting you know, each of those cigars is made by a different pair of hands.
Bam Bam:Interesting. You know? You know, the sorry.
Gizmo:Go ahead.
Senator:I was just gonna ask, when you went through the factory, did you see the draw machine?
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah, right.
Gizmo:I didn't see a draw machine. I don't know if they have draw machines there. Do they? Maybe?
Pagoda:I'm not
Bam Bam:sure. Maybe that machine's propagated.
Pagoda:They didn't even talk about it. Interesting. Yeah? Mhmm. They didn't even talk about it.
Gizmo:Yeah. They didn't talk about them at all.
Senator:So what did irony of like, it's it's rare that you get like a plugged Nicaraguan or Dominican or Honduran cigar.
Bam Bam:And there's a draw machine.
Senator:So and then you're saying no draw machine. Yeah. And this is a dime a dozen in Cuba, and they allegedly, you know, use the draw machine.
Bam Bam:I just find that very funny.
Gizmo:Every single cigar. Yeah. Quote unquote.
Bam Bam:It does make you respect how difficult it is to make cigars in Cuba.
Gizmo:It is so hard, man.
Bam Bam:Because they don't have air conditioning.
Gizmo:They don't have that. Uncomfortable.
Bam Bam:How do they do it? Yeah. And they're in kind of in the lap of luxury in Doctor with these beautiful new facilities and air conditioning and very clean floors.
Gizmo:People are really treated well there.
Pagoda:Crazy. But I don't think every factory, that's what I was trying to say.
Bam Bam:But regardless, the worst factory in Doctor is probably a luxurious facility in Cuba.
Gizmo:100%. There's no doubt
Bam Bam:about So think about that. It's amazing.
Rooster:They also don't get paid in eggs.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Correct. Yeah.
Rooster:Like in Cuba.
Bam Bam:So lunch? So
Gizmo:after we were done rolling our
Pagoda:cigars By the way, sorry. That'll be after the intermission.
Gizmo:Exactly. Jesus. After we're done rolling our cigars, we then took them and we banded them. We actually went to the ladies who banned the cigars.
Senator:That sounds delicious. And we put We finally hit lots of
Gizmo:on the cigar. We packaged them.
Bam Bam:Did they print lizard bands for
Gizmo:you? They our names are on the bands.
Pagoda:Oh really?
Gizmo:Yeah. Very
Bam Bam:cool. Right on the cigar.
Gizmo:Your turn on the cigar. Yeah, exactly. So after that, that was the end of our process, manufacturing the cigars, making the cigars with them. They got us boxes with our name on it, which was really cool.
Bam Bam:Nice.
Gizmo:And then we walked outside, and we walked down what, half a block? And we went to the restaurant for lunch. And that was the best meal we had in Doctor.
Pagoda:Wow. And I do have to say
Senator:that Which was what? What did you eat? Correct. I mean, Jesus.
Pagoda:A fucking sorrowful here.
Senator:This is the most ridiculous.
Chef Ricky:Next year, we have to go. We cannot rely on
Bam Bam:these Hold on.
Gizmo:I'm gonna tell you the story. We're not there.
Bam Bam:We're trying to have a moment.
Pagoda:Yeah. We smoking the 120, and I'll tell you, they were smoking fantastic. Really?
Gizmo:Yeah, the La Aurora 120 was awesome. Really?
Pagoda:It was excellent. Oh wow.
Gizmo:They were great.
Pagoda:Like excellent.
Gizmo:The best meal we had in the Dominican Republic was immediately after this, next to the La Aurora factory in a little restaurant, outdoor restaurant. It was unbelievably good. The highlight of it for me was this skirt steak, which you wouldn't think is like this highlight thing. It was so perfectly prepared that I couldn't get enough of it.
Rooster:Medium plus.
Pagoda:So
Gizmo:It was awesome.
Bam Bam:I find skirt steak.
Gizmo:The flavor was great. To be chewy. It wasn't chewy and it Wow. Wasn't
Chef Ricky:I think some people feel it's chewy because they tend to treat it like a normal cut of steak.
Bam Bam:Uh-huh.
Chef Ricky:And they want to get it rare. And for me skirt steak is best seen in medium, because you allow it to become tender. It's not like a strip or a tenderloin, skirt steak, it's fibrous, it has-
Bam Bam:It is.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, so the the grain
Pagoda:is- And when marinated well, it is delicious. Oh,
Chef Ricky:that is the beauty The flavor was it.
Bam Bam:Okay, so when you first sat down, did you order a cocktail? Did you order a drink? Walk us through the whole meal.
Pagoda:So they had these carts as soon as you walked in, which had like a lot of these, like we had mojitos. Remember they had mojitos and a lot of different things, and they were pouring rum and
Gizmo:It was a free for all.
Bam Bam:It was awesome.
Pagoda:It's They had a little mini bar, but you know, tropical Caribbean kind of
Gizmo:They even had shaved ice at the front.
Bam Bam:So you
Gizmo:could get like a flavor of shaved ice and put rum in it. Were the drinks
Rooster:already made or were they made in
Pagoda:of No. Were making in front of you. It was like, okay. It nice. It was great.
Pagoda:And then beer was available.
Bam Bam:Yeah. You guys have
Gizmo:So it wasn't again, was buffet style. So once the food was out, you went up and got it. Okay. The highlight was the skirt steak. They had a great pork dish as well.
Gizmo:Nice. Rice and beans were fantastic. Tostones. A great salad with great dressing. I was he and I were both like, this is unbelievable.
Bam Bam:Yeah. So you love the freedom of getting what you wanted and
Gizmo:I mean, I do like, I like a sit down dinner, but I did like the ability to go up, get what you I thought that both
Pagoda:of us perfect.
Chef Ricky:Nice. I think after a day like that, what I'm getting out of it, it would have sucked to have to wait, you know, to place an order, do all these things and wait for your meal. There is something to say about just after that long day that you described, I felt like
Gizmo:Yeah. By the way, this is like 02:30 in the afternoon.
Chef Ricky:Three hours of the podcast. You finally get to just walk up to your food and grab it and go sit and eat. That's awesome. Great.
Pagoda:And everybody's smoking, and it was like the island vibe. Sure. It was a beautiful restaurant as well. Was great.
Gizmo:Yeah, it was very relaxed. And it was, after a long day, like I said, we got there probably about 02:30. Like how we made you guys wait to hear that story, they made us wait to have lunch because they packed the day so heavy.
Bam Bam:How big is your group?
Gizmo:Our group was probably 20 or 30 people.
Pagoda:They have
Gizmo:big, yeah. Would say.
Bam Bam:Pretty Pretty small.
Gizmo:And Carl Malone was there, the
Bam Bam:In your group?
Gizmo:Hall of Fame basketball player. He wasn't in our group, but he did come to the lunch because he's friends with the folks at La Aurora. Oh, wow. And it was cool to see Carl Malone.
Chef Ricky:Does he have a cigar?
Gizmo:He does have a cigar.
Senator:They make
Gizmo:his cigar. Oh, look at that. They make his cigar.
Bam Bam:That's awesome.
Senator:Which if you recall, I do smoke that at PCA, I'm sorry, it was pretty good.
Bam Bam:Really? Really.
Senator:It's a milder smoke, but it was enjoyable.
Bam Bam:Interesting. What's the band look like? Is it purple
Chef Ricky:No. Or
Senator:No. It's like an orange band.
Bam Bam:No Utah jazz? No. No. There's no purple. No.
Gizmo:So yeah, we wrapped up their amazing meal. Again, what we just said sounded so simple but it was really delicious. Like he and I were talking all week about that meal.
Bam Bam:That's great, man.
Gizmo:And we actually went back the next day which was awesome. But we'll talk about that I'll next finish up with the Wednesday evening. Went back to the hotel, changed and then we went to the white party.
Bam Bam:No nap?
Gizmo:No nap.
Bam Bam:Showered a whole nine hour and get ready Yep. To
Chef Ricky:No shower.
Bam Bam:So now where was the was the white party?
Gizmo:So the white party is at a beautiful monument in the middle of Santiago. And it's it's kind of up a couple flights. The monument's gorgeous, lit up all the time. You can see it from anywhere. And this is the only party.
Gizmo:This is the only event that is allowed to happen there each year. Because Hanky Cielo Boreal Volans, who was the founding member of ProCigar first president until Ledo Gomez came in when he stepped away, He was involved in the planning of that monument and I guess he was on the town, the city planning board or whatever.
Bam Bam:Wow. Look that. That's gorgeous.
Gizmo:The monument's amazing. I would recommend everybody right now Google, you know, the Santiago Monument. It's incredible that we were able to go in there and
Bam Bam:Very nice.
Gizmo:And have a party. So it was the white dinner. So very famous white party. So the the evening before was a little bit more formal, like shaking hands, good to see you, how's things? The white party's more of a party vibe.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Remember that photo.
Gizmo:You know, it's definitely more of a party
Rooster:vibe. Nice.
Gizmo:So and wearing white, by the way Mhmm. That was the first time I ever wore pretty much anything white.
Bam Bam:You look good.
Gizmo:And I did good. Right?
Bam Bam:I saw well, it's from the back. I can't see the bottom Oh, of the he is ready for prime time
Gizmo:right now. I did I had white pants on. I had a long sleeve long sleeve guayabara. Nice. Pagoda did as well.
Gizmo:We did good at the white party, man. We had a great time. Food at the white party was okay.
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:Yeah. It wasn't good. What's that?
Chef Ricky:I've never seen a long sleeve guayabera.
Gizmo:Yes. Rooster got me one.
Bam Bam:Wow. Oh, they're common.
Gizmo:You want one?
Bam Bam:Yeah. I want too.
Gizmo:Most of the folks I saw there were wearing long sleeve guayaberas, not short sleeve.
Chef Ricky:Mosquitoes? Were there mosquitoes there?
Gizmo:No mosquitoes. No,
Chef Ricky:it's a formal
Gizmo:I think was more formal. I think wearing a short sleeve was a little less formal, you know? Sure, totally. But it was a great night. The food was okay.
Gizmo:I would say that was probably the weakest of the food.
Pagoda:Actually, you know, overall, I enjoyed the food because Doctor food, overall, I've never been very, very impressed. The food quality in Santiago was definitely a bit higher.
Bam Bam:Were there any tents set up, or was it all open air?
Gizmo:So it was kind of like 90% of it was indoors, and then there was like an extended platform they made that was outdoors, and that's actually where we sat, because it was away from the music and the noise.
Bam Bam:But wait a minute, indoor where, if it's at the monument?
Gizmo:So the monument, it was like indoors inside the monument. In the monument. Yeah, were in the Wow, okay. Whole night, we were in the monument.
Bam Bam:Very, very nice.
Gizmo:Yeah, and then they extended it with like a little patio.
Bam Bam:Interesting.
Gizmo:And that's where we sat to get away from the noise and stuff. Had a
Pagoda:great They're beautiful fireworks.
Gizmo:White actually, that night, they had a DJ. They had a DJ that night. Was awesome.
Pagoda:Beautiful fireworks.
Rooster:And they lit
Gizmo:off fireworks kind of right next to us. Like, we were the closest table to the fireworks. It was wild. The fireworks were extensive, very impressive. I'm not a fireworks guy, but it was pretty cool.
Rooster:And the president of Doctor was there as well?
Gizmo:No. He was only at that Just the at the welcome dinner. Okay. Yeah. So, yeah, White Party was great.
Gizmo:I recommend any listener who wants to enjoy Doctor, enjoy cigars. I mean, ProCigar is amazing. La Aurora made it super amazing for us. I recommend everybody check out the La Aurora. They have a, you know, a cigar institute experience you can you can go to.
Gizmo:It's it's really amazing. And they have a shop there too. They're one of the only ones that actually have a shop for their own cigars in the facility you can go to.
Chef Ricky:So I think senator, when we go, we need to take a lunchbox of caviar and some chips or something.
Rooster:Does does Fuentes do the same thing?
Gizmo:Yeah. So all of them have it off. All of the members do. Every single member company offers their factory and farm for tours, and they're often split. That was what's what was interesting about ours.
Gizmo:Like, if you went to the Davidoff farm, you didn't go to the factory the same day. That was another day. Day. So the La Aurora one, while it sounded like a long experience, it was nice because it was from seed to, you know, finished product. One day we got to experience it all.
Gizmo:Everything else was not as I would argue none of them were as hands on as ours. So it was pretty cool.
Bam Bam:Very nice.
Gizmo:And then we wrapped up that night. So I'm gonna wrap it there for this week. We'll talk next week about the gala dinner and our time with Klaus Cielo. We'll talk to you guys about that next week. I don't wanna continue on for another hour here.
Bam Bam:Awesome.
Gizmo:Talking about ProCigar. But boys, we are coming to the end of the second third now on the Plasencia Alma Del Cielo Boreal. What's everybody thinking? Well As we talk about ProCigar.
Bam Bam:For as thin as the cigar is, the room is full of smoke.
Senator:Eyes are burning.
Gizmo:It's Nine or two, and it doesn't align with the flavor.
Bam Bam:It's really unbelievable. The combustion's incredible.
Chef Ricky:The tequila's really extended the flavor me. I don't really have a complaint right now on the flavor. I think it's delivering well. It's doing good. The ash is a little weird and wacky at times, but I like it.
Senator:So for me, in the second third, especially at the end of the second third, it's gotten more savory than sweet. Definitely. I wish that some of those sweet brighter notes were still present. I Dare I say the flavor profile feels a little muddled for me right now, so I'm not loving this as much flavor profile wise as I was the first third and maybe half of the second third.
Rooster:There was a fruit note about the halfway point that I'm not getting now.
Senator:Don't if
Rooster:you guys ever got that.
Bam Bam:Do you know what
Chef Ricky:it was?
Senator:Well, for me, was raspberry from the start.
Bam Bam:Yeah. That I got all the way through to the end of the Yeah.
Senator:I don't have that right now much at all.
Bam Bam:No. It's gone for me now. I agree with you. I am actually full on savory mode right now.
Pagoda:And you know what? I thought it was a tequila that was making me feel better the cigar was a bit more savory, but it has become very savory.
Bam Bam:I think that tequila is the star of the show at this point.
Gizmo:I agree with you on that.
Bam Bam:Right.
Gizmo:Yeah. I actually think for me, for the cigar, the star of the show is the retrohale. That's really the only place that I'm getting
Bam Bam:Still good.
Gizmo:A complete experience right now. Everything else, I think, as we talked about, short finish, I think muddled is a perfect word for what I'm experiencing right now.
Bam Bam:A bit aggravating.
Gizmo:It is. For a near $20 cigar of this size, of this combustion, which are things that we really appreciate.
Bam Bam:Retro is actually quite nice.
Gizmo:The flavor profile on the draw is just not there.
Senator:Yeah. Yeah. And especially given, like, this is a market that none of us have been able to really fall in love with. No. And I remember when we talked about doing this cigar, like, you you read online, and people who are Plasencia smokers are like, this is the best thing they make.
Senator:And, like, there there's all this hope that, like, there'll be one stick they produce that we could, like, rally behind, and
Bam Bam:Not yet.
Senator:I'm not there. That just disappoints me.
Rooster:Especially at the MSRP for $25 I mean, you to you you should get a lot more out of the cigar.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Yeah. If you're paying that.
Rooster:Paying that much. Yeah. Even at $20 I mean, there's so many better cigars that are between like the $10 and $20 range that'll blow the cigar away.
Bam Bam:Sure.
Rooster:The biggest thing going for this cigar is the combustion.
Gizmo:Yeah, the combustion is amazing. Actually, it's too good right now.
Bam Bam:I will say though that flavor profile in the first two thirds, especially that first third as they entered the second third, that was really quite good.
Chef Ricky:And that's still presenting in the ritual.
Bam Bam:Yeah, it was like a potpourri of berries and I had a banana going for a while. That's kinda unique. I I don't get that on very many cigars. So
Chef Ricky:For me,
Pagoda:it's not even unpleasant now. It's still
Bam Bam:It's not unpleasant. But it's
Senator:not great.
Bam Bam:No. No. What what are you getting, Giz?
Gizmo:As I was saying before, it's muddled. The retro hale's really the highlight right now.
Bam Bam:It's nice.
Gizmo:Retro hasn't actually changed that much, which is odd because for me, the regular draw has gotten more muddled, but I'm still getting the banana thing, a little bit of spice
Bam Bam:Definitely banana on the retro.
Gizmo:Through the retro, which is pleasant. It is. I actually think the retro is very pleasant.
Bam Bam:That's
Gizmo:awesome. Main draw isn't great. The aroma at the burn line's nice. Yeah. I think like Rooster said, it's all about the combustion.
Bam Bam:Any minerality that you guys are getting? Because I'm getting a bit of that now for me.
Chef Ricky:Entering the second third a bit. I'm sorry, at the end of the second third a bit.
Rooster:Do you guys know what sandalwood smells like?
Bam Bam:Yeah. No.
Rooster:I'm getting a little bit of like a sandalwood kind of aroma out of the cigar.
Chef Ricky:I see that totally.
Bam Bam:Can you explain what that is?
Rooster:Sandalwood, it's like a perfumey wood.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah?
Gizmo:Yeah. They make candles flavored in that soprit.
Bam Bam:It's wood. Yeah. Yeah.
Gizmo:But they I've seen sandalwood candles.
Chef Ricky:I think some pretty popular colognes now have that.
Gizmo:Have sandalwood. Yeah.
Bam Bam:Interesting. By the way, the
Pagoda:aroma, you're right, Russo. Right? Get the most sense. The
Senator:only thing interesting I'm getting a little bit on the palate is like a faint toasted coconut.
Chef Ricky:I got that really, really bright coconut right at the middle of the of the cigar, right at the halfway point. Fairly early on when we started first sipping on the tequila. It was really bright and present. I'm disappointed.
Bam Bam:First two thirds are so promising.
Chef Ricky:For price point, yes.
Senator:I'm sorry, price point aside, there are $10 cigars that are better than this.
Bam Bam:Putting aside all the elements we discussed just from the point of view of flavor, it was fantastic. And now, I'm not getting anything that I like.
Rooster:I mean, the first third was pretty good.
Bam Bam:The second third for me was great, honestly. I
Rooster:think about the halfway point it was good.
Bam Bam:Past that for me it was fine and then it started getting more minerally and earthy and savory. Savory I love, but it's getting minerally for me.
Pagoda:Yeah. But, you know, like in Toros, we often find that the last turn is a hit or a miss.
Bam Bam:You know, I don't remember the last time I smoked a Toro.
Senator:Oh, of course you do. The My Father Blue. Is that well, we've I have the robustos.
Bam Bam:We smoked the robustos in those.
Senator:We reviewed the Toro.
Rooster:We did the Trinidad Asperidu.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Okay. You've actually been smoking
Gizmo:a lot of Toros.
Bam Bam:Yeah. That's so like
Pagoda:Shorter Toro. I think he's been looking for the double Toro. That's correct.
Bam Bam:Oh boy. Relax,
Pagoda:old boy. You crack me up. I love the way you say it.
Bam Bam:Very sexy.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's go to some listener email now.
Bam Bam:Now that we're done with our cigars.
Gizmo:We're going to talk again about the end of ProCigar, the gala dinner, the auction. We'll talk about the day we had with Clascano. We'll do that next week, Pagoda and I. It was it was an awesome trip again. Thanks to La Aurora.
Gizmo:So now for some listener email, let's go to Lizard Tyler from Pittsburgh. He writes us a lot. Says, Lizards, I must say that I was honored that after a number of emails that I've heard read about the rating system, that my simple suggestion to lock in the numbers before giving a rating was received so positively by the group. Oh, yes. Actually, the first email that prompted a procedural change Correct.
Gizmo:To the Lizard rating process.
Bam Bam:Pagoda approved.
Gizmo:Yeah. I will be curious to see if that has any impact on the discussion on the ratings and the overall final score. Selfishly, I feel like the last couple of ratings have had a touch more variance than in the recent weeks prior, but that might just be being called a genius going to my head. I think somebody I think senator called him a genius. He is.
Gizmo:Someone with better access to the raw data could do some number crunching over time to see if there's an impact. From a purely entertainment perspective, I do hope for the day when someone gives a different rating than what they were locked in and see what the type of accountability comes from such a transgression.
Senator:That's gonna be Bam's next accountability That's
Bam Bam:not true, but someone almost did that. Who was it?
Gizmo:Him? I think it was Chef. Maybe it
Bam Bam:was Chef.
Gizmo:I think it was Chef.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I think it was I
Senator:think that's right.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was funny.
Gizmo:He continues here. I feel like I heard once on the podcast mention why this is an audio only podcast, only being that the lizards prefer some of the anonymity. Have you guys considered doing an occasional video podcast maybe for special events, like when you head to PCA or anything similar? Thanks as always for the knowledge, guidance, and laughs that I look forward to regularly. Lizard Tyler from Pittsburgh.
Gizmo:So he's asking about if we're gonna do video, and I think the answer is probably not. No. It's just not possible to do video with us in it at this point. I'm exploring some kind of video stuff to do with clips that doesn't involve, like, you know, putting our faces on screen. I mean, obviously, I've been seen on the FOH stuff.
Gizmo:Like, I'm not afraid of it, but a lot of the guys in the room, it's just not possible to not be anonymous. It would I would I think it would challenge their ability to, you know It'll continue with the podcast.
Bam Bam:Put those
Chef Ricky:guys in a shadow, like the old school 2020 interviews, you know?
Bam Bam:It'll upset my it'll upset my suppliers. My steel fabricator will run away from me.
Gizmo:But does anybody else have a a differing opinion on doing video? I mean, I just
Rooster:We can barely do audio, dude.
Gizmo:What does that mean?
Chef Ricky:This is the best audio podcast there is.
Rooster:That's correct. Being humble.
Gizmo:So, yeah, I don't think I don't think we're gonna be doing video. We might put some clips up of stuff we see, but I don't think there's gonna be anything of us on video. And maybe we'll do some AI things or something like that. Maybe maybe
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah. AI images are great. Especially
Senator:BAMs.
Gizmo:He's so accurate. I love BAMs.
Bam Bam:Oh, they're accurate. Well, and
Chef Ricky:my my AI guy had six fingers and a and a backwards cigar.
Rooster:We might do a live event maybe one day.
Gizmo:Yeah. We'll do a live event. A podcast.
Pagoda:Pagoda a
Gizmo:whole new video.
Bam Bam:Pagoda had rippling abs in
Pagoda:his AI. He
Gizmo:does right now too. Correct.
Pagoda:I really do.
Gizmo:Alright. Here's another one here. This one is from Lizard Tony. He says, hi, Lizards. I really enjoy your pod.
Gizmo:The information you share has been very helpful for me. You guys have me interested in trying out some of the Cubans that you have reviewed.
Bam Bam:Good luck.
Gizmo:Not a good time, Tony. Can you please help me help provide me with legitimate and fair sites to start expanding into the Cuban world?
Bam Bam:Good luck again.
Gizmo:I don't know what to say to Lizard Tony here. Yeah. Now is probably the worst time to be getting into Cuban cigars.
Bam Bam:Mhmm.
Gizmo:Right?
Senator:As Lizard Jay would say, grand opening, grand closing.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:Well said. Yeah. It's just not honestly, I I don't even know where I would recommend someone go other than FOH, but, you know, it's it's just tough to get Cuban cigars right now. Like, even for us, I mean, you know, we know a lot of folks now after all this time. And for us, it's like getting Cuban cigars is kind of out of the picture for us.
Gizmo:Yeah. I mean, we're going to be doing a lot of stuff out of the towers, you know, over the next six months or a year, I'm assuming. But who knows what Cuban tobacco is gonna look like after that. But I don't see like for me right now to order a cigar for this podcast, it's FOH. That's it.
Bam Bam:Right.
Gizmo:I I don't know where else to go. Mhmm. Because a lot of websites have dropped their guarantee that it's going to be delivered to your door. They have dropped that because there have been so many customs seizures here in The States that they can't do business losing significant percentages of their shipments. Yeah.
Gizmo:I don't remember. You know? And then replacing them.
Bam Bam:The last time I ordered a Cuban cigar.
Gizmo:When was the last time everybody in this room ordered a Cuban cigar? When was the last time you you did?
Bam Bam:I don't remember. It's been a very, very long time. Senator?
Senator:Years. Yeah. I would
Gizmo:think mine's probably a year or eighteen months.
Rooster:Yeah. Twenty four.
Chef Ricky:Three and a half years ago for me when I lost my global entry, didn't.
Bam Bam:Do I do it again? Since
Pagoda:my Miami customer experience.
Bam Bam:Well, now that you lost your global entry, just
Senator:go hog wild. The problem is the guarantee.
Chef Ricky:They won't guarantee it. Yeah.
Gizmo:Yeah. Stinks. Yeah. So Lizard Tony, would say f o h. That is probably the only place that I would go.
Gizmo:So check those guys out, become a member, and look for 2424. Alright, boys. Let's go to another email now. This one is from Lizard Julio. He says, dear lizards, building on Lizard Chase's email couple weeks ago that led to a discussion about lounge hospitality.
Gizmo:I wanted to share an unusual experience that raises some relevant questions for your group. A couple of months ago, I went to a lounge I don't frequent regularly, and on this particular occasion, I didn't bring my personal cutter or lighter, Bam. The shop owner asked what type of cut I wanted, but without asking, he continued to light the cigar. Oh. I was horrified when he took a triple flame torch to my Davidoff Millennium Pyramidis
Chef Ricky:No way.
Gizmo:And charred the foot as if he was trying to set a record for how fast he could light a cigar.
Bam Bam:Hold on. That's the proprietor doing this?
Gizmo:So the lounge host, the shop owner, took the cigar that he brought in, forgot the lighter and cutter, and then took the Millennium Pyramid and charred the foot.
Bam Bam:What a complete imbecile. I'm sorry. When I'm smoking cigars with other guys, there's one guy in particular that I know that consistently does this. Three quarters of an inch over the bottom of his cigar is black. And I look at him like, you're a you're a fucking idiot.
Bam Bam:This is not how you you're supposed to smoke a cigar.
Pagoda:That's a bit of tasting cigar.
Bam Bam:Toast that foot, man. Don't char it. And the proprietor's doing that. That's awful.
Gizmo:He says, I was in shock. The damage was done, and I didn't feel like starting drama by complaining. I went to my seat and found the cigar almost impossible to smoke. I've had plenty of Davidoff's and knew this was a result of this man's horrible treatment of a very delicately made stick. After enduring a one third of pure ash flavor, I hit eject and switched to a Tatawahe Cabo Iguan, lit my own patient way this time, and had a great smoke for the rest of the evening.
Gizmo:This brings me to my question to all of you. I know in past episodes, I've heard Pooba talk about lighting with long matches or cedar spills, but it's pretty obvious from the sound that everyone uses a torch. I'm wondering, for consistency of experience, do all of you agree on the type of cut and style of lighting before hitting the record button, or is there personal variation among the lizards? Seems like most of you use a straight cut, but I've heard chef Ricky bring up the v cut more than a few times. Does the flavor change for Pagoda when ash is on your shirt?
Gizmo:It would be great to hear what everyone's preferred quirks are about cutting and lighting so we have the best experience possible, especially when we have a rare Cuban or an expensive New World in our hands. Plus, think it's good for the ratings that everyone in the room has a unified experience and that your scores are based on to avoid any unintended perceptions. Thanks as always for everything you guys do and long live the leaf wizard Julio. Great email.
Bam Bam:This is gonna be
Chef Ricky:a good Cielo, we need a lighter sponsor so we could all use the same lighter for that.
Bam Bam:I think more than a few guys would agree, a single flame torch is ideal for detailed lighting at a distance, toasting the foot, letting it sit. Make sure the whole foot's red, but don't dare char any of the wrapper. And you can only you can only do that with a single flame.
Rooster:Don't let the flame touch the cigar. Exactly.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Yep.
Rooster:And I think for most of us, it's a straight cut.
Gizmo:But we don't talk about preference of cut. Like if somebody in the room pulled out a V cut That's fine. I don't think that that would change my feeling that we're giving the cigar a fair rating versus another guy who did a straight cut.
Bam Bam:True.
Chef Ricky:So I think early on my tenure here, there was, you know, it was like fresh after the Danilo interview and he had mentioned the V cut and for for some reason that was the only cutter I could find on me at the time at all times. And now because of this team, I just realized I haven't seen my V cut in quite some time. Sam, that might have that might have something to do with why I haven't used it.
Bam Bam:What is this tonight?
Chef Ricky:I'd the last, I don't know, 30 episodes maybe, I've been exclusively straight cut. But we've also done a lot more New Worlds.
Gizmo:It's true.
Senator:So I think everybody except chef Ricky is straight year.
Bam Bam:That's correct. Well, excuse me Not
Gizmo:that there's anything wrong with that. That's correct as well.
Chef Ricky:Excuse me for liking the v cut.
Gizmo:So we're gonna hear from Lizard Julio again before we wrap up tonight, boys. But let's go on to another email now. This one
Chef Ricky:Giz, out of curiosity, where's your scissors? Are you still using scissors to cut?
Gizmo:Use them tonight. Nice. Nice. I use them all the time. It's the best cut.
Chef Ricky:And they're still sharp?
Gizmo:Oh, because they sharpen every time you cut. Sure.
Chef Ricky:Well, a lot of people claim that that's what happens, even with our straight cuts, but
Gizmo:I've been using these for a long time, and they're fantastic. They're bulky. Like, I didn't take these at Doctor, obviously, because I'm not getting through TSA with
Bam Bam:those. Chef's calling your
Pagoda:shit out right now.
Gizmo:But I used a straight cutter, actually a Plasencia straight cutter that I got with this box. I used it in Doctor with the back, which was
Pagoda:On the contrary, if you put that in the toiletry bag, I think you'd be able to get away with
Gizmo:I agree. I probably would get away with that one. But we did, by the way, get through with all our lighters, but we'll tell a TSA story next week.
Bam Bam:Straight
Chef Ricky:cuts with backs are so annoying.
Pagoda:Please. Excuse me, his
Bam Bam:favorite cutter. Sorry. Are they annoying?
Chef Ricky:It just you it usually your par is more than one cut.
Senator:Sometimes. Yeah. Especially on a torpedo.
Bam Bam:Yes.
Senator:Yeah. Pellicoso. Mean, you gotta you gotta go out that thing like 10
Chef Ricky:times. Slicers and dicing.
Bam Bam:Yeah. It's you're slicing a hot dog. Yeah. It's
Senator:good practice for Bam's Bolognese.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Chef Ricky:Orgizmo gives us pigs in the blanket.
Pagoda:Oh, you
Bam Bam:made rooster really happy with that comment.
Gizmo:Alright, so this one is from our friend Lizard Enrique, and I actually saved this email. I kind of I had this one I was saved, and he sent a voice memo. So we're gonna do these back to back because I think they're pretty similar. So we're gonna start with the email here. He says, hello, Lizards.
Gizmo:We often hear about the patrons of your home lounge like Lizard Henrito. What can you tell listeners about Idiav? Is that his real That'll be quite a long discussion. Is that a real
Bam Bam:We don't have enough time. No.
Gizmo:Is that his real name? What is his connection to the lizards?
Bam Bam:Idiav.
Gizmo:Any good Idiav anecdotes you could share to shed light on this person that we hear referenced so often? Cheers, Lizard Enrique.
Pagoda:Oh, I love it.
Bam Bam:Fantastic. Spends
Chef Ricky:more time in a hot tub than legit Idiav.
Gizmo:Idiav is one of one.
Bam Bam:Yes. He has a 100 rules of life. And we can define every single one of them. Yes. We'll go through them if you'd like.
Senator:Can I paint a general profile? Please.
Chef Ricky:Church. Church quote. By the
Gizmo:way, when this question was read, senator was bent over laughing. He moved the mic out of the way.
Bam Bam:Now before senator gets into it, he's an endearing character.
Gizmo:We
Rooster:He's a man of few
Bam Bam:words, but more gestures. Gentle soul. He's a sweetheart and a gentleman.
Chef Ricky:We love you, EDF.
Rooster:Correct. He's BAM's neighbor too.
Bam Bam:That's an edit.
Pagoda:No. EDF is an acronym for what? Well, that's what
Senator:I was gonna start with.
Pagoda:So Go ahead. Oh, you're alright. Go ahead. It's actually cool.
Senator:That's cool. Pain up profile. EDF gave himself effectively this name because this is his kinda life mantra and moniker. Moniker. And EDIEV stands for every day is a vacation, which is how he lives his life, which is very admirable and I think all of us really love about him.
Senator:It's great.
Chef Ricky:Time out. I thought that was his last name.
Bam Bam:Holy shit.
Pagoda:David Edioff. Thought David.
Bam Bam:Last name. Thought it would thought that was his number.
Gizmo:I'm gonna send that to him.
Senator:That's where he's a very popular Jewish last name.
Gizmo:Yeah. I'll leave
Chef Ricky:it up to the Puerto Rican to figure it out.
Gizmo:Oh, god. That's hilarious. Love that idea.
Senator:That sums up kinda his approach to life, which is awesome and and all we'll subscribe to. Now if you can imagine someone who is I won't get too specific. So let's say an educator Mhmm. And someone who on his drive
Gizmo:to a school He has a long commute.
Senator:He has a long commute on his drive to school to be around children all day. Correct. He tends to, at six in the morning, of all cigars, light up a Padron eightieth. Yes. Makes a Maduro.
Senator:Maduro makes a very regular appearance.
Pagoda:Oh,
Senator:yeah. And so he smokes that all the way on that long drive, and then he sometimes leaves his cigar if he hasn't finished it in his car, rolls into school, of course, not at all reeking of It's
Bam Bam:it's an aroma.
Gizmo:It's like sandalwood. It's a perfume.
Bam Bam:Correct. Correct.
Senator:I mean, I remember him telling stories of a kid in his office asking him, like, is someone smoking in here? He said, no. No. No. No.
Senator:Nobody's of course, nobody's smoking in here. So every day is a vacation, even a school day.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Senator:This is a guy who also has historically kept very odd hours at our lounge.
Gizmo:Oh, The oddest hours.
Bam Bam:Oh, yes.
Gizmo:I've never seen anything like it.
Senator:There was a period where he was effectively nocturnal where he would arrive at the lounge to start his smoking for the evening at like two in the morning.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Rooster:Post workout.
Chef Ricky:Yes. Before before school.
Gizmo:Yeah. Before school?
Rooster:Post post workout.
Bam Bam:With the Hitchcock film. Yeah.
Chef Ricky:John Coltrane piping through the speaker.
Senator:Oh, yeah. I mean, if you happen to walk in at some crazy hour while he was here, you would basically walk into a pitch black dark lounge. Like, he would intentionally turn all the lights off. He would there's gotta be 10 TVs in our lounge here. He would have a fireplace from Netflix going on
Bam Bam:Well, during during holidays.
Senator:Oh, no. No.
Bam Bam:Oh, is that right?
Senator:Way outside of holidays. Wow.
Pagoda:All the time. You log.
Senator:He'd have them going on the TVs, then he'd have one TV with a black and white film, whether it's Hitchcock something.
Gizmo:Yeah. It has to be pre 1950 or
Bam Bam:so. Mhmm.
Senator:And he'd always sit in this chair in the corner that has an ottoman, just totally sprawled out like he's at home in his living room.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Senator:And, I mean, he'd send a photo on our, like, lounge chat at, like, 3AM, like Right. Lighting up my second padrone, and we we just were so baffled of all times of day to choose.
Bam Bam:Well, he's like a marsupial. You know? They stay they have odd hours. I
Gizmo:mean, he would he would come here. There was a point where he would come here after work, have a cigar, say, alright guys, I gotta go. And, oh, what are you having for dinner, Dave? I'm gonna eat dinner quick, but I gotta go to bed around six. He'd go to bed at six, wake up at one or two, and immediately come here after the gym, course.
Gizmo:Go to the gym, come here, and then jump in the car and drive to
Bam Bam:work That's correct. From here. No. He's still getting seven hours of sleep with that
Gizmo:He's yeah. Oh, no. He's getting his sleep. Yeah.
Bam Bam:That's unusual.
Senator:Very odd hours. Correct. So he's an awesome guy. He's one of our favorite guys at this lounge. Oh, yeah.
Senator:But that's why there's the he just he's such a unique character here, and we love him for it.
Rooster:There's only one EDF.
Bam Bam:Alright.
Chef Ricky:That's it.
Bam Bam:There would be only one.
Senator:I left out another important detail. He is known to speak more with his hands than to use words.
Bam Bam:How could we forget that?
Senator:So you can be sitting right next to him, and he actually can be speaking words, but he will speak in such a low, soft tone and mumble that you will not be able to make out a single word he's But
Bam Bam:through his hand gestures, you kinda know what he's thinking.
Senator:Oh, hands are moving like a 100 miles an hour. Oh, yeah. It's very funny.
Rooster:And never ask him for a family pic.
Gizmo:Oh, this was the craziest story.
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:Because that would take him like four hours to look So through his
Bam Bam:And never take a photograph of him when he doesn't know it anymore.
Gizmo:That's true. So Rooster and I are sitting It was around the holidays.
Rooster:It an afternoon. Yeah.
Gizmo:Was an afternoon around the holidays. Like, off of work, we're all sitting there, right? And Idiav is talking about his family. He's talking about his kids, his wife, and family, and everything else. And I said to him, Idiav, I've actually never seen a picture of your family.
Gizmo:Can you pull up a picture of your family? And Rooster said, You know, I haven't seen one either. I'd love to see that. It's as if I asked him to like deconstruct a nuclear weapon.
Pagoda:He was wondering which family.
Gizmo:No, that's Lizard X.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Chef Ricky:So
Gizmo:he starts digging through his phone. And Hours. It got to the point that we were timing it, and it was over an hour of him leaving the conversation Mhmm. Still sitting there, leaving the conversation, scrolling through his photo deck.
Bam Bam:I saw the photograph.
Rooster:To He find kept he kept saying, I have it. I
Bam Bam:have it.
Senator:Which, by the way, for those of us who were not there, we were getting a live play by play of this as it was happening.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Senator:So, like, I'm receiving texts from Gizmo ProCigar.
Bam Bam:Me
Senator:too. Like, in twenty minute intervals, and it's like, still hasn't Still found
Chef Ricky:looking. That's right.
Senator:Minutes later, still looking.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Gizmo:I think it was I think it was almost an hour and a half.
Rooster:I don't think we ever saw it.
Gizmo:No. We did. We we saw one from, like, 2010.
Bam Bam:2010.
Gizmo:He's, like, texted his
Pagoda:wife Like as a
Gizmo:like his kids are like older now. And I've never seen a picture of
Bam Bam:them still.
Gizmo:Beautiful. We never
Bam Bam:got one. Beautiful family.
Gizmo:So how do you know EDF?
Rooster:He shovels the snow.
Senator:Yeah. He lives in his house.
Gizmo:Yeah. No, he lives in your house.
Pagoda:Oh, that's correct. No,
Senator:no, My backyard.
Gizmo:He lives in
Senator:your backyard, in his house.
Bam Bam:Oh, has often I'm in my office in the basement snuck down. Hey, what's up?
Chef Ricky:I know. Really?
Bam Bam:Yes. So
Gizmo:you guys live close by. How did you actually meet EDF?
Bam Bam:Through our kid's school. There's like a dad's thing that they have every year and we kind of met in that group. Ever since then we kind of connected.
Gizmo:And he's only really seriously been smoking cigars for the last- four years.
Bam Bam:According to Idiav, he in the past smoked cigars for a long time and then stopped. I think at the behest of the family. So he respected their wishes and stopped smoking. This is what I was told. And then I'm in my side yard, he comes by a lot, I give him a cigar, he smokes, I was like, why don't you just start smoking cigars?
Bam Bam:You love them. You know where we buy them, just start buying and collecting and smoking. And he
Chef Ricky:was like, stop smoking my shit.
Bam Bam:No, it's fine. It was perfectly fine.
Rooster:Is it?
Gizmo:Caught me off guard, old boy.
Chef Ricky:I was like, that'll be $2,700.
Bam Bam:But over time, I think he started to really get into it. Senator, you probably talked to him a lot about buying cigars, where to buy them. I did. Gizmo did the same thing. So, you know, I think he's got a little wine door, I think.
Bam Bam:And he keeps that full. He does smoke through his entire inventory.
Gizmo:Too fast.
Bam Bam:Yes. And then in a couple of weeks and then replenishes over time.
Senator:Well, the promise he doesn't buy in volume enough.
Bam Bam:That's
Gizmo:right. And he doesn't save the stuff that he that he that is rare to get.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Gizmo:When he's gotten Cuban cigars, he blows through a box in a month. It's like, dude, they're not
Bam Bam:Yeah.
Gizmo:You can't get them right now.
Bam Bam:He does believe in the mantra, if you got them, smoke them.
Rooster:He lives in the moment.
Bam Bam:Yes. Correct. EDOV is one
Gizmo:of one, and he is your groundskeeper now, right? He's
Bam Bam:done practically.
Gizmo:That's right.
Senator:By a backyard. He does a great job.
Bam Bam:Security detail, all of it.
Gizmo:All I know is that I'll get we'll get random pictures on the lounge chat, and you could tell that the pictures taken at Senator's
Bam Bam:Correct.
Gizmo:Backyard. We weren't invited.
Bam Bam:That's correct. We weren't More often than not. Correct. That's correct.
Rooster:And sometimes Sandra's not even home.
Pagoda:Yeah. He'd be out
Gizmo:to show
Senator:up. Correct. I look at my cameras. There he is.
Bam Bam:Thing he does Passed
Senator:out on my sofa.
Bam Bam:He will get into a zen moment in the lounge, full of guys smoking, and he's like this. His hands
Senator:Eyes closed.
Bam Bam:Eyes closed. Prayer position for the hands, and he's kinda just meditating. He does that a lot.
Gizmo:So that's Ediav, man.
Chef Ricky:He is a very peaceful man. I'll give him that. Wow. At least the lounge I
Bam Bam:think there's a storm brewing underneath that.
Gizmo:Alright. So now, let's move on to a voice memo we got from Lizard Enrique, which is kind of in line with this. He has some questions. So here we go. Hello, Lizards.
Gizmo:I wanna know all the dirt about Gizmo. What would is he like off mic as a producer? In the early years, did y'all have debriefs? Did he give y'all notes? Did he lecture y'all?
Gizmo:Did he ever get salty? What about when you hit the mic?
Pagoda:He's salty with us.
Chef Ricky:Or Early years.
Gizmo:Sneezes or coughs? What is Gizmo like as a producer, and how has he evolved since episode one? Alright, Lizards. Over and out. So that's Lizard Enrique.
Gizmo:So what's the answer?
Pagoda:Well, he's not evolved. Lizard?
Bam Bam:Don't know. I think you've been pretty consistent. I'm straightforward. Like- Well, he's definitely evolved. Now, do you remember the very, very Wait, first first time
Rooster:I met him?
Bam Bam:No. The first episode in the garage, the garage tape years. Right. I remember him setting up, it's almost like it was yesterday. Honestly.
Senator:Well, he didn't have to set up much because you guys were able to keep the stuff at my place. That was the nice part of
Bam Bam:Oh, I forgot about that. Mike's permanently That's That's right.
Gizmo:Set up.
Bam Bam:That's right.
Gizmo:Which was nice.
Bam Bam:Okay. I take it back. Yeah. Great job. I don't know.
Gizmo:I feel like No. I feel like
Bam Bam:haven't changed. I mean, honestly, you're pretty consistent.
Rooster:No. I think my earliest memory of Gizmo is about with the Bouchard chocolates.
Bam Bam:Oh, at North Korea lounge.
Rooster:Chocolates at the North Korea lounge to everybody. He loved carrying chocolates.
Bam Bam:Yeah. That's gone.
Senator:And this is housing chocolate while eating cigars.
Rooster:Yeah. Handing them out.
Bam Bam:You all shamed him out of that.
Gizmo:Yeah. I was shamed out of that.
Bam Bam:Yes. Not by me, by the way.
Gizmo:And the Giz cut.
Bam Bam:Yeah. That was a problem.
Rooster:Yeah. The
Pagoda:Giz Yeah.
Rooster:A problem.
Bam Bam:You've come a long way.
Pagoda:We still see that time to time.
Gizmo:Well. Alright. So his answer his question about
Chef Ricky:if You can't you guys answer his question.
Gizmo:No. No. I'm not gonna answer I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you guys. So about coughing, sneezing, hitting the glass on the mic
Bam Bam:That's chef.
Gizmo:Knocking the mic. I don't really care.
Pagoda:You're very tolerant.
Bam Bam:I've improved. I was guilty a lot of a lot of that early on. I don't think anyone here really lectured me. I just kind of followed in suit, I think. I don't think I got any lectures or brow beatings about that.
Senator:I mean, not to your face.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Oh, I already know what's going on behind my back.
Gizmo:I don't fucking know. It's so
Senator:easy. You
Gizmo:have such a conspiracy theory. The best. Oh, really?
Bam Bam:Oh, oh, really? Really? I'm gonna set up a tape recorder.
Rooster:Please do.
Gizmo:Oh, I know. Please do. You're gonna be severely disappointed. Uh-huh. I think you'll no.
Gizmo:I do think there is
Pagoda:something to change. Clothing style is completely changed
Bam Bam:Except for tonight, but yes.
Senator:Well, not
Chef Ricky:Except for the jeans.
Senator:Just when he's out in more public settings
Gizmo:with us.
Pagoda:Yeah. It's improved. Pretty sharp.
Senator:He's still a black hoodie every day in jeans.
Bam Bam:That hasn't changed. Yes.
Senator:But now when he's out somewhere with us, or if we travel
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Senator:He doesn't wear a hoodie to like a nice dinner, which That's is true.
Bam Bam:Jacket and Listen, I
Gizmo:always have the jacket on me.
Pagoda:We we were out for four events. He had four different suits. Oh, that's fantastic.
Bam Bam:There you go.
Chef Ricky:Yeah. Wow.
Pagoda:And shoes, by the way. The shoes the shoes were spot on too. Cole Haan.
Bam Bam:Well and your global presence in the cigar world has escalated dramatically. It's I mean, it's a sign curve. It just goes up, and it's continuing to rise.
Rooster:He's the cigar man of the year.
Bam Bam:That's correct. So that has almost required him to step up every other
Pagoda:Sine curve? Bam, you impressed me. Day by day. That's racist.
Bam Bam:That's how we calculate loads. Anyway. Yeah, so I think your uptick in your cigar profile in the world of cigars has improved, and I think you followed suit.
Gizmo:No, I think that my improvement is the ball busting that you guys did and me wanting to end that.
Bam Bam:Also true.
Gizmo:That is I think what caused the change in the wardrobe.
Bam Bam:Yeah, no more graphic
Senator:Rooster loved the Vans shorts.
Gizmo:Yeah, those things I burned.
Bam Bam:Like the graphic
Gizmo:Under Armour. No, they were Vans.
Rooster:Vans? Yeah.
Bam Bam:No adult beyond the age of 18 should ever be wearing a graphic t shirt.
Rooster:Or shorts to dinner. Or Vans shorts to Yes.
Chef Ricky:Yard day or Yeah. Home. Talking
Rooster:we're talking
Bam Bam:about We're out for dinner. Chef. The moment your foot steps off your property, no fucking graphic tees, man. Can't be done.
Chef Ricky:Gotcha.
Rooster:What about tie dye?
Bam Bam:No. No tie dye
Senator:That we still haven't fixed.
Gizmo:I love my tie dye tank. That's my beach
Bam Bam:Oh, that wife beater. Yes.
Gizmo:Yeah. That's my beach one. Yeah. Yeah. I love
Bam Bam:that. You wear that in Cuba a lot.
Senator:I do. Ready for prime time.
Bam Bam:That's correct. Well, actually that was a different outfit.
Senator:No. It was the tie dye take down.
Gizmo:No. No.
Bam Bam:It wasn't. I distinctly remember. That was a long sleeve cream colored long tee.
Gizmo:No. It was a black tee.
Bam Bam:It was cream colored and your shorts are
Rooster:Man shorts. Brutal.
Chef Ricky:I'm going say something nice.
Gizmo:You're extremely Oh, this hasn't been nice?
Chef Ricky:You're extremely humble and a man of habit, and I think it shows in this podcast. Yeah. And the quality behind it
Bam Bam:and The dedication.
Chef Ricky:Listen, I've been on I don't know. Has it been a 100 episodes yet?
Gizmo:Yeah. Definitely, man.
Chef Ricky:I just finally plugged in a mic today. What do you what do you mean?
Bam Bam:I graduated. True.
Rooster:Do you mean by man of habit?
Chef Ricky:He's very consistent, and you guys touched on that. He's very consistent. You know what to expect from Giz. You know know, he's he's not up and down emotionally. You know?
Chef Ricky:Even if he has a bad day, he'll tell you upfront he had a bad day, but
Bam Bam:Excuse me?
Chef Ricky:He's very much No.
Senator:He's A 100 episodes isn't enough.
Bam Bam:Stop it. Have you hung out in a lounge for a while?
Pagoda:What relationship do you have with them?
Chef Ricky:No. He's a he's a he's a gem.
Bam Bam:I gotta call Rob at 4AM, guys. I gotta go.
Gizmo:He lives in Australia. Correct. I I do think there is one thing as I thought about this now that we're talking. There is one thing that I changed. I used to give I used to send like a text recap after we recorded.
Bam Bam:Correct. And
Gizmo:notes. And notes and stuff.
Bam Bam:That's dissipated, yeah.
Gizmo:And I've stopped doing that. Yeah. Remember I used to send her, like, we would record, and when I got home, I would send my notes on what I thought of the recording and what was good and what wasn't. Yeah. And I stopped doing that.
Bam Bam:That was helpful early on.
Gizmo:Yeah, but I think I think I mean,
Senator:the reality was we never needed it. You know, we're pros.
Rooster:We're pros
Senator:We're the talent.
Bam Bam:That's good. We're the talent.
Senator:It's
Bam Bam:true. You're the manager. It's true. Okay.
Gizmo:It's true. But I stopped doing that. I discovered that not doing that was better
Rooster:because we got better or you
Gizmo:just stopped doing it? No, I think I think what I discovered is the more I talked about it, the less of an improvement or whatever I want to call it. Like, it was almost like the more I talked about it, the less it mattered. You know what I mean?
Bam Bam:The worse it got the more you talked
Gizmo:about No, not like that.
Pagoda:It was
Senator:like a nagging wife.
Gizmo:Correct. No, that's seriously
Chef Ricky:what mean.
Gizmo:That is what I mean. So I feel like the less that I've done that, it's been better. But I think we've also just gotten better over time. Like, the kind of passing the basketball thing, I think, has gotten better.
Rooster:But sometimes you would give us early on pointers about don't do this, don't do It makes it easier for you to edit. So hopefully, we have listened. And I think
Gizmo:for the listeners, I mean, you know, like, when we're not talking over each other
Bam Bam:Well, that was a big
Gizmo:there is plenty of time
Bam Bam:Early on.
Gizmo:In the episode. I mean, that's that figuring that out, even for me and all of us, I think that was really crucial.
Chef Ricky:Well, the episodes have gotten longer over time.
Gizmo:They have. Yeah. We're over two hours almost every week
Bam Bam:now. Crazy.
Gizmo:We used to do an hour five. A couple of them were less than an hour
Pagoda:early on.
Chef Ricky:I think ever since I've come on, everybody's gotten better.
Bam Bam:Yeah. All you. It's
Rooster:all you.
Pagoda:No, no. It's all relative. It's all relative, chef.
Chef Ricky:Make everybody else look great.
Senator:Chef's like, I now know how to set up the mics. Kiss, we don't need you next week.
Gizmo:I would love, you wanna edit? It's all you.
Chef Ricky:Sounds like fun.
Gizmo:It is fun. Yeah. It's a lot of
Chef Ricky:fun. In the beginning. Right?
Gizmo:Yeah. I think that's I think that's the answer. Right?
Bam Bam:Yeah. Good voicemail.
Gizmo:Yeah. Thanks to a Lizard Enrique there. And, boys, it's time now to go into our Lizard of the Week presented by Bond Roberts. And tonight's lizard of the week is Lizard Cannoli Oh. Which I thought was interesting to get this email, and it's in theme
Bam Bam:Is he in Brooklyn?
Gizmo:It's it's in theme with what we've been talking about tonight with Idiav, with me, with Lizard Henrito that was mentioned. Hi, Lizards. I just wanted to send a quick note to let you all know how much I've been enjoying the podcast. I've been smoking cigars since I was 21. I'm now 46.
Gizmo:I'm a recently new listener, and I just recently became a member of ten eighty six. Oh. I was a member for many years at another local shop, but it just recently changed ownership, and the new owner was horrible. Not customer friendly, etcetera, but that is not the reason for my email. The reason for my note is to say thank you to Lizard Rooster, old boy.
Chef Ricky:Oldboy. And
Gizmo:Lizard Pagoda for making me feel really welcome to the club. Alright. They have been nothing but amazing to speak with, and I enjoy all of our conversations with them. It's not easy moving from one shop to another, but they made it feel real easy. I can't wait to meet the rest of the gang as well and enjoy some great sticks and conversations.
Gizmo:Cool. Keep up the great work, gentlemen. Long ashes, wizard cannoli.
Chef Ricky:Nice. Can't wait to see how long it takes for him to get his lizard of the week.
Gizmo:Oh, his box? Yeah.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Right?
Gizmo:He'll get sometimes. He'll get it sometime in 2028. So that is a first tonight, boys. Yes. A lizard from October 6 has never won lizard of the week.
Gizmo:Because they're
Bam Bam:all bums. They don't bother sending emails.
Gizmo:And I haven't I haven't gotten an email from one of our friends here. Correct. I actually haven't met Lizard Cannoli yet.
Bam Bam:But Neither have I.
Gizmo:But I look forward to it. But I thought that was a nice email about lizards, rooster, and pagoda We love you, Okanoli. Hospitality. So very nice to get that email. And congratulations to him.
Gizmo:He's gonna win a 10 count box of cigars from our friends at Bon Roberts.
Chef Ricky:Awesome.
Gizmo:As all of our lizards of the week do, so congratulations to him.
Bam Bam:Awesome.
Gizmo:So I said I had another email from Lizard Julio. I'm gonna save that for next week because it's a long one, but it's a good one. So we'll save that for next week. And, boys, we are coming to the end of our evening now with the Plasencia Alma Del Cielo, the Boreal, and the Volans Tequila Reposado. What's everybody thinking?
Pagoda:Miserables. As we
Gizmo:come to the end of the evening. The smoke has been something tonight.
Bam Bam:Yes. Has Like, crazy,
Gizmo:Yes.
Bam Bam:Surprisingly.
Gizmo:I'm disappointed in the cigar. I know we're gonna go into the ratings, but I'm disappointed.
Bam Bam:I have a question for the old boy right here. You put your cigar down for a while.
Gizmo:Pointed to you, senator.
Senator:By the way,
Gizmo:Please go ahead. Senator is
Pagoda:a miff.
Bam Bam:That is not a term of age. It's a term Oh. It's a term of endearment. Yeah. You're a UK government, sir.
Senator:It's gonna come talking you this whole time.
Bam Bam:Now, look, may I? Let me corroborate with the guy that used to live in The UK, Pagoda. Yeah. Isn't that true? Absolutely.
Bam Bam:It's a it's a term of endearment between friends.
Senator:Chaps, old boy. You've you've exclusively reserved this term for rooster
Bam Bam:there for some reason. I knew you talked about the rooster. Gibraltar. Because I knew that's how he would take it.
Pagoda:It can also be sarcastic, depending on the draw.
Bam Bam:That's how I take it.
Senator:Alright. Your your question,
Bam Bam:sir. But you put your cigar down, so how was it now?
Senator:It's I been there for had to put it down because the draw is just it's been too open since we lit this It's
Gizmo:like a wind tunnel.
Senator:And when you get down to the final third, it was heating up so much that like, it totally ruined the flavor. So I put it down. It's it's better now than it was, but I'm still not happy with the flavor.
Bam Bam:Alright. No improvement. No improvement for sure. Okay.
Senator:It's smokable. I mean, I put it down because it was to the point of really not being smokable, but is this what the first third of this cigar was like? Absolutely not, and that's why I'm disappointed. Yeah.
Gizmo:So we're gonna rate both of them separately, but what did you guys think of the pairing? How did the tequila work with the cigar and vice versa?
Bam Bam:Well, I I I again, I thought after that halfway point that tequila was the start of the show. It completely took over because the rest of the cigar was uninteresting. That first two thirds, and as Rooster clearly pointed out, halfway through that second half or a second third, it changed. And at that point it became uninteresting, difficult to find.
Rooster:That's when it got savory for me.
Bam Bam:Yeah. I loved the banana and then berry, that first part of the cigar was just fantastic.
Rooster:I don't know, banana is a very tough note for me to really get out of a cigar.
Gizmo:Feel the opposite.
Pagoda:I'll tell you, it was in the retro hale. The berries and stuff, is
Rooster:that on the retro hale?
Bam Bam:No, I
Pagoda:don't know. Me, I felt that.
Chef Ricky:Retro hale offered a
Senator:lot of flavor.
Bam Bam:Yeah, was getting it both on the traditional drawer and the retro. The retro on this actually custody, it outpaced the traditional drawer from the point of view of flavor.
Gizmo:Yeah. But you know what's funny about you saying that about banana, just quickly? I actually think banana for me is a really easy one to pick Me too. Because it's so different and distinct, and it's unlike anything else. Like it's not in a family of any other flavors that it's like, oh, it's kinda like this.
Gizmo:Like spices for example. We often say, is this cinnamon or nutmeg or something like that? I think banana kind of stands as a solo flavor note unlike any others.
Senator:Yeah. I agree with all that. I just think it is a very rare note. A 100%.
Bam Bam:It's also rare. Very rare.
Rooster:Can pick up like citrus, Mhmm. You know, some berries. Oh, you don't say. Fig now.
Bam Bam:You don't say.
Gizmo:Dried fruit. Carbohydrates?
Rooster:Dried fruit.
Chef Ricky:Do you eat bananas often?
Rooster:I do.
Bam Bam:Yeah. That's strange. Alright, boys. It's time now to
Gizmo:go into the formal liquorating tonight on the We
Bam Bam:gotta send ratings.
Senator:Send our ratings.
Gizmo:Tequila. Oh, yeah. Shit. Oh. Everybody put in your ratings.
Gizmo:Know it's a lot. Protocol. I almost forgot.
Pagoda:Who are we sending it to?
Bam Bam:George. Me.
Gizmo:Okay. Are all of our ratings in, gentlemen?
Pagoda:Not yet, but talking. Mhmm.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. It's time now to go into our formal liquor rating tonight on the Volans Tequila Reposado. Bam bam, you're up.
Bam Bam:I'm at a firm nine. I really enjoyed this. I haven't there's yet a tequila chef that you recommend that I haven't enjoyed. They've all been great. They've all been unique.
Bam Bam:This for me was a little buttery, a little salty. There was a botanical effect that we get on a lot of tequilas. I did get, for me on the finish, it's strange, just a little bit of vanilla.
Chef Ricky:No, no.
Bam Bam:Oh my God,
Chef Ricky:who was that?
Senator:Wouldn't be an episode without it, Pagoda this time.
Bam Bam:Let me let me let me catch up.
Gizmo:There's your answer, Lizard Enrique. It's cold.
Bam Bam:It's cold. That's right. It's the angle. It's the angle. I'm telling you.
Bam Bam:A little vanilla for me on the finish. And I think that's pretty unique with for most tequilas that I've had. This is really quite good. And it's well priced, easy to drink. Yeah.
Bam Bam:The viscosity is a little thin, but I don't care about that. I think I really enjoyed this a lot. And I can smoke this I I can drink this with many, many, many cigars. So, Firm nine. Alright, chef.
Chef Ricky:I'm at a 10. I absolutely love this brand. I love everything they make. They're single barrel expressions. They're normal.
Chef Ricky:They're regular expressions. I love the fact that this is a repo that doesn't have much color. It reminds me a lot of a Fort Alyssa. And that's where some of that minerality comes from. The vanilla isn't all that odd because of the barrel toasting here.
Chef Ricky:I just think these guys age things really well and they allow the tequila to shine. Everything you said about the butteriness
Bam Bam:A little salty.
Chef Ricky:The salt there, the minerality that's present, it's delicious, it's balanced.
Bam Bam:And that buttery note has come through on several tequila's that we've had, and that's really something to pursue.
Chef Ricky:And I would love the day that these guys come out with a high proof or still strength. I think that would be super delicious. For me, you know, every once in a while I get a couple of lizards that reach out to me via Instagram asking for tequila recommendations. And Volans is always at the top of my list. To me, this is like a great gateway tequila.
Chef Ricky:But unlike some others, this is a high quality gateway tequila. Yeah. And you know, the price point shows that at $58 for a Repos, not offensively expensive, but you know, it's not the cheapest thing either.
Bam Bam:So
Chef Ricky:yeah, for me, the Volans is a 10. It paired great with this cigar. I think it extended a lot of the flavor that the cigar wasn't offering. Yeah, that's not much more I can say.
Bam Bam:All right, Pagoda. It's a
Pagoda:nine for me as well. You know, it's really interesting, and you know, chef, maybe you can help me with this. When I started drinking this tequila, it tasted slightly different. I felt that when it really came down, I'd let it just sit for a while, it became so delicious. I don't know whether the flavor profile increases or I'm just getting used to it, or my palate's getting used to it.
Pagoda:It was so much better. Like initially, it was probably at an eight, like in the beginning when I just started the first one. The second one is amazing. And you know, you let the tequila sit for a while, and I've been sipping very slowly. I've really, really enjoyed It's really, you know, I think I'd mentioned this last year.
Pagoda:Oftentimes, you know, when I have tequila, I think most of my tequila ratings have been very, very high. And maybe because of the flavor profile. But yet, I've not made it like my summer of tequila, you know? I haven't really dived into it with cigars and, you know, hopefully this summer, yeah, yeah. Hopefully this summer, you know, really
Bam Bam:dive Summer of George.
Pagoda:I'm looking forward to it, you know? Because I think last year rum just took over. But you know, hopefully this year I'm really looking forward to diving into tequila a bit more. This is great.
Chef Ricky:Yeah, and I think it's all of the above, Pagoda. I think as the spirit sits on your palate and you sip more of it, you're able to pull out more nuance and, you know, some of those sweeter, lighter notes, you know, obviously you get accustomed to the heat. Not that there was much present here, but you're able to, you know, those flavors become saturated on your palate and it's really like, wow, that butteriness, that saltiness, those vanilla notes, those caramel notes, the slight citrus, it just all gets concentrated.
Rooster:The more
Pagoda:you drink,
Rooster:the better it gets. Well,
Pagoda:in most That's most drinks.
Chef Ricky:Did you enjoy your
Bam Bam:drink or something?
Rooster:Yeah. The coffee was great. Oh, yeah.
Gizmo:So for me, it's a nine. I I I thought it's a great expression from Volans. I will say that I prefer the Blanco by far. I I think the Blanco expression from these guys is superior to this. I I think we I gave that a 10, obviously, because it rated a 10, I think.
Gizmo:But this is an excellent Reposado. I will say it's a step down from some of the other Reposados that we've enjoyed on this podcast, especially Don Folano, Fortaleza. Mhmm. I think those Reposado stand a little bit above this. I thought the buttery note that you guys were talking about was great.
Gizmo:The flavor profile is great. I thought it paired wonderfully with the cigar. It actually, like you said, was the star of the show. No question tonight. But I think it would stand well next to most cigars that are not super strong.
Gizmo:Mhmm. Right? Obviously, something like a Nicaraguan that is stronger than the one we had tonight, you know, obviously an Anejo might be better for that. But this kind of falls right in the middle. But I think this will work very well with a mild cigar like a Cuban or Yeah.
Bam Bam:Not all of them, but a few of them.
Gizmo:Yeah. Yeah. So all in all, great tequila, very very nice, but it's a nine for me. Senator? So I'm also at
Senator:a nine. I thought it was excellent. I mean, I mentioned, I think what I really enjoyed about it, I talked about that faint berry note, Mhmm. Some of the fruit that it gave with the buttery finish worked really, really well. I think this would pair with many cigars.
Senator:I actually think most Cuban cigars, and plenty of medium bodied Dominican, or even Nicaraguan cigars.
Bam Bam:I think both of our aging room cigars that we love would be a fantastic pairing with this.
Gizmo:For sure. No doubt.
Senator:The reason for me I couldn't give it a 10, this drinks to me more like a Blanco than it does a Reposado, and that's why mentally, like, my kind of reference point was like other Blancos that I absolutely thought were perfect in every way, and I can't say that this matches that. And I think even within Volans, I do agree with Giz. Like, I prefer their Blanco. You know, it's like a a lighter Reposado than some others that I think just like the I I think it's a product of the aging. I mean, Chef was talking about this, like, three months in the barrel versus closer to a year that, like I think there are other Repos, like, even Fortaleza that may be lighter in color like this.
Bam Bam:Wow.
Senator:But I think it's a lot more flavorful in like, a little richer in what it delivers. Like the El Tesoro Rebo is for me off
Bam Bam:the charts.
Senator:Yeah. That could be another example. So charts. That was the only thing that precluded it from the 10, but would I absolutely drink this again? There's no question, and I think it would pair great with so many smokes, so I'm at
Gizmo:a strong nine. Alright, boys. The formal liquor rating tonight on the Volans Tequila Reposado is a 9.2. Nice. Great score.
Gizmo:Yeah. Compared to the Volans Tequila Blanco that senator and I were just talking about, rated we that on episode 166 scored a perfect 10. Correct. So I I mean, I think that's an accurate score for this and for that. I do think this is a step above
Bam Bam:That Blanco
Gizmo:was incredible. I think their Blanco, excuse me, is a step above what we had tonight. All right, boys. It's time now to move into the formal lizard rating on the Plasencia Alma del Cielo in Boreal. First of Europe.
Rooster:The cigar, I mean, the presentation, the box, the cigar is beautiful. It looks great. The wrapper was awesome. But for this size, it is definitely under packed. It felt light in the hand.
Rooster:And I don't know, maybe it would do better with a punch cut, that the draw was a little bit too open. The combustion was really good. It was too good. I mean, the room was just absolutely full of smoke. As far as the flavor goes, I think all of us really enjoyed the first third of the cigar.
Rooster:After maybe about the halfway point, it kind of got dull and more savory. And I was looking for that sweeter note to kind of carry through the cigar, and it didn't. So the first thought was really good, very pleasant. There was a berry note. After the halfway point
Bam Bam:Savory is a merit, though. Savory is
Gizmo:a I think
Bam Bam:When done right. Yeah. There's a dryness and a chalkiness that I got here that I wouldn't necessarily call savory. It was very minerally forward for me. Savory when done right correct is a true match.
Rooster:You know, like the Aladinos. They're savory cigars,
Bam Bam:but they're
Rooster:very pleasant and balanced and complex and very flavorful and delivered at under $10 I mean, this is a $25 cigar, so you're expected to deliver that. So this is another disappointment in the Plasencia cigar that we were looking forward to, and it was recommended by a lot of different listeners. So for all of those reasons, I'm at a 7. I mean, at the last third, I did get this odd, like a sandalwood aroma. Maybe it was more out of the smoke than the cigar itself, which was kind of pleasant.
Bam Bam:The aroma was nice.
Rooster:Yeah, aroma was really nice.
Bam Bam:The retrohale on our side was great.
Rooster:Yeah. Yeah. So for that reason, I'm quite a bit disappointed in this cigar. So I'm at a seven.
Gizmo:All right, Senator.
Senator:So I'm also at a seven, but an extremely disappointed seven. I think the first third, as I had mentioned, the flavor notes were great. They were all things that I was sitting there saying to myself, maybe, finally, we
Rooster:have You know, found promising.
Bam Bam:Very promising.
Senator:I'm like, Beautiful maybe there's a Plasencia out there for me. But even in the first third, my big complaint was how thin the smoke was. It it it lacked structure. It lacked body. It lacked viscosity.
Senator:And so, you know, you have this big ring gauge cigar that you know is gonna be a chimney, and you want that smoke to really, like, coat your palate and just totally draw you in and immerse you in the cigar, and it was not capable of doing that even from the start, then you get to the second third where halfway through the second third, I feel like it really started to get a lot more savory, which would be fine if done well. But for me, I lost the sweetness, and the savory notes were nothing particularly prominent. I mean, we were all saying that the cigar got more savory. No one was calling out any desire particularly desirable savory notes. No.
Senator:And for me, that's like a big problem. And when I got down to the final third, that's where the flavor was just so muddled and disappointing. And so, you know, I'm at a seven because for half of the cigar where there are notes that I thought were really good, there were, they just didn't lack the body and structure it needed to kind of keep those all together, but for the other half of the cigar to be a completely different story, I don't think leaves, you know, enough to desire going back to this cigar. I I would not seek out or pick this up. If I had absolutely nothing to smoke and someone handed me one of these, could I smoke it?
Senator:Sure. Would that be my choice? Would I be excited? Absolutely not. So I'm giving this, I think, a generous seven.
Senator:I think what's also kind of factoring into my head here is this is the best Plasencia cigar I've had, and yet I'm sitting here saying that this was a disappointment. Yeah. That's not great. I'm out on Plasencia as a brand. I frankly have no interest in smoking anything that they make.
Bam Bam:Well, we're gonna have to do more of them.
Gizmo:This is the second one we've done in 221
Senator:episodes. I challenge a listener to send That's actually
Gizmo:a great
Bam Bam:call out. Yes.
Senator:Like, you know, I've mentioned, I've had the green label one. I'm sorry. That's, like, close to smoking a cardboard for me. I think it really lacks flavor. Oh, you don't like that?
Senator:We've done the Alma Fuerte
Bam Bam:Oh, which is paper.
Senator:Is a fine cigar, but it lacks complexity. This cigar had complexity in flavor, but fell apart in a number of other ways. The white label one, a fine smoke, but nothing that grabs you. So, like, if there's something else they make out there, please write in. I mean, we're open to trying it.
Senator:But based on my experience, when you try four different lines from a brand, and not one of them rings your bells in a way that you say, I wanna go back and have another of these, that's a huge problem, and there are a few markets that I feel that way about. So for that reason, I'm out on Plasencia, and I'm at a generous seven.
Rooster:And I think the cigar was a two act play, but the first act was much better than
Chef Ricky:the second
Bam Bam:course. Act. Of course.
Rooster:Yeah. Correct.
Gizmo:So I'm also at a seven. I'll start with the positives. It was a beautiful cigar. Mhmm. I loved the presentation in the box.
Gizmo:They look so good. The wrappers were beautiful. Loved it. Right? Great combustion.
Gizmo:Almost too good to the point where we paused for a second and turned the air cleaner on because the cigars were burning so well and there was so much smoke. The cigar was mediocre, disappointing. I I I certainly I think all of us were hoping for a little Plasencia redemption tonight as senator just detailed so well. It didn't come, and and finding another cigar from Plasencia to to review on this podcast that could promise that redemption, we're starting to run out of lines. I mean, you've tried more than we've smoked.
Gizmo:I think other guys here have as well. So we'll have to see, you know, what we can do next. So, again, listeners, please write in and tell us what you think. The cigar is too expensive for the experience. I mean, this is an $8, $10 cigar.
Gizmo:I mean, it looks better than that, but its performance, its flavor, it's just not there. The blend was missing the final piece. It's you know, we talked about chocolate. We talked about desserts. I'll compare it.
Gizmo:It's like you're making a chocolate chip cookie and and you forget to put the chocolate chips in. The cookie's good. There's a lot of flavor, but that last piece to push it over the finish line is completely absent.
Bam Bam:Well, chocolate's not in favor anymore.
Gizmo:Correct. To chef. And Plasencia.
Pagoda:Correct.
Gizmo:The other thing too is only the front of the palate was invited to the party tonight. It's like the back half of your palate, the back even three quarters of your palate was left out.
Chef Ricky:We got spoiled by count by Cielo cigars.
Rooster:Mhmm. By linear.
Gizmo:A lot of cigars.
Senator:We've been spoiled by everyone else's cigars. Yeah, it's not Cielo. Mean,
Gizmo:we get spoiled by a lot of cigars, but I think this is one of those cigars that I was surprised to have gotten through, and I really want another cigar. Mhmm. Like, I am completely
Senator:Dying for something. Unsatisfied.
Gizmo:Correct. I'm completely unsatisfied, and I just I think it's a big miss to have, as Rooster said, a $25 cigar that performs like this. So I'm absolutely a seven. I think it's a generous 7. Probably should be a 6 given the price, but I I think a seven is fair tonight.
Senator:I just wanna put a really fine point. Like, a CAO Brasilia. Oh, a sub $10 cigar That was delicious. Which I would smoke any day of the week over this, and this is a $25 stick. Like, that's the problem And that actually stimulates your palate way more than this cigar does.
Bam Bam:Oh, yeah.
Rooster:Dude, even the Cabay Guan, which is a is a Nicaraguan cigar. Yeah. It's $8. Well priced.
Gizmo:Yeah. $7. $8.
Bam Bam:Preferring much better than three.
Rooster:It scored very high.
Gizmo:Yeah. All right, Pagoda.
Pagoda:So I give it an eight. You know, I was debating between a seven and an eight, but there were a few reasons where I thought, you know, it kind of, it's a generous score to be given.
Bam Bam:Well, maybe not. I mean,
Pagoda:what's your like Yeah. But having said that, so one so firstly, thought it was about $18 of what I was pricing in for the cigar. It's a beautiful looking cigar. The box is kind of really complicated, but hey.
Gizmo:Did you take a point off for that? I forgot about that.
Pagoda:Took right a But off you know, the thing is, at the light it was really, really pleasant. I got creaminess, a bit of sweetness, and then went into the berry mode. And I think that berry mode continued for a reasonably amount of time for me. For me, I thought it went all the way till the end of the second, third. So I had reasonable flavors.
Pagoda:I think Rousseau had asked me, are you feeling the savoriness right now? I hadn't experienced it right then. I I think I got that right towards the end. I also think that maybe the tequila really helped because it brought about I do agree with you guys that this was a reasonably short finish, you know, maintained itself in the front of the palate, which is very, very evident. Like if you smoke the cigar, you're gonna find that.
Pagoda:I think with the tequila, it kind of rounded it for me. There was a reasonable amount of sweetness. I kind of overall, it was a very pleasant cigar. It did not leave any foul taste in my mouth. It was, you know, reasonably pleasant.
Pagoda:I wish the finish was a bit longer for sure. Know, an eight's not the best score from that perspective, but, you know, there's certain demerits. But the combustion's great. You're sitting down having a cigar in a lounge, you know, you're smoking a cigar with great smoke output. You know, from all that perspective, thought it was an eight, yeah.
Gizmo:All right, chef.
Chef Ricky:For once, I agree with Pagoda on everything he said.
Gizmo:For once?
Bam Bam:For once? Only time.
Gizmo:Wow. Well, you know Hundreds some odd weeks. I'm First time.
Chef Ricky:I'm also at an eight with the cigar.
Gizmo:Alright.
Chef Ricky:I enjoyed it. Yes. I agree. The finish was short. The smoke wasn't, you know, viscous and it didn't envelop you in experience.
Chef Ricky:But the flavor that it delivered for the first two thirds for me were very, very pleasant. And then once the tequila was introduced, it helped round it out and extend that finish for me, which any good pairing should do unless you're going for a contrasting
Gizmo:But you're
Bam Bam:rating the cigar only?
Chef Ricky:Yes, yes. So I also was going off of the $18 price point.
Bam Bam:I know.
Chef Ricky:So I'll make it a point to only buy this cigar again at that price point, because I think I would buy
Bam Bam:this cigar again.
Gizmo:Would. There are so many other cigars.
Chef Ricky:Is it?
Gizmo:Just like There is. Is.
Chef Ricky:But this was a very handsome cigar.
Gizmo:I'm gonna stop recording right now.
Bam Bam:Disaster. Bet.
Chef Ricky:Comment. This was a very
Senator:handsome cigar. This
Gizmo:is a catastrophe. What a nightmare.
Pagoda:Hey. The one time he agrees to Pagoda, and he's out.
Bam Bam:He's out. I mean, there's
Senator:no this is not worth $18.
Chef Ricky:Pagoda, I'm going on your backyard. You
Gizmo:better have a box this week to make that statement up.
Chef Ricky:I'm not buying a box.
Pagoda:Not a
Bam Bam:box. I'd buy a box.
Chef Ricky:I'd buy a fiber, you know, something like that, have it on hand because I do think it's a unique Nicaraguan cigar. Of course, there's a Cabay Gwan that was like the unicorn, and it's super affordable, and it offers some of this flavor at a much longer in a much longer profile. But there's four there's
Gizmo:four left in the box. You owe me $100.
Chef Ricky:I'll take it.
Bam Bam:All right.
Chef Ricky:But maybe, you know, look, the senator had a great point. This is the best plus since you have smoked. And I've had all the ones that he mentioned.
Rooster:Is that what he said?
Chef Ricky:He did. He did. He said it was the best one. Yeah.
Bam Bam:And it was a seven.
Chef Ricky:And it was a seven. Or eight for me. So, but look, I maybe, I don't want to justify my score because I think it deserved it. Maybe it's a little generous, but we don't do decimals, and if I were to give it a decimal, it might be a 7.6. So that comes up to an
Senator:eight. Still
Chef Ricky:too high, Kyle.
Pagoda:Alright, man. But you know, overall, alright. No. No.
Gizmo:Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Pagoda:No. I, you know, I just thought
Chef Ricky:I I was think gonna
Senator:give it a 10. Tell us tell us how many boxes you're gonna buy from me.
Pagoda:I'm drinking tequila. So you know, the thing about the smoke, I know you guys were saying the smoke felt very light and
Senator:Thin.
Pagoda:You know, but thin. For me it was all right. Like it wasn't like, you know, when I was smoking and you know, was having a good puff, it was good. Like I didn't have the issue with the smoke, and the flavor profile was really good two thirds of the way for me. And you know what ends up happening is, you think about a Toro, and we can go and I think, I think I've mentioned it before, fifty fifty, either it's a hit or a miss for the last third in a Toro.
Pagoda:There's so many Toros we haven't liked. We haven't liked a lot of Davidoff Toros because the ending's very, very, you know, it typically will get muddled or the main flavor will dissipate. So, you know, having that in mind, I think it's not a bad cigar for $18.
Rooster:But there's a lot of Toros that have done well.
Senator:Very well.
Pagoda:No, I totally agree. Have But then you're rating those as 10, right?
Bam Bam:I have a record
Pagoda:You're rating those as 10.
Rooster:And they're much cheaper.
Bam Bam:Can you please
Pagoda:No. But that's why you're
Chef Ricky:rating 10. 10.
Pagoda:Giz. That's
Rooster:a this cigar, if if if even if this was $10, it would still be a 7.
Gizmo:Agreed. Agreed. It sucks.
Pagoda:We need
Rooster:It's not just the price.
Chef Ricky:Nobody rated it a 10. We need a seven or any.
Bam Bam:The Twilight Zone soundtrack on that machine right there. And I want to control it.
Pagoda:What is the twilight zone?
Bam Bam:No. No. No. No.
Gizmo:No. Alright, Bam. Are you still in the twilight zone, or are you getting this out of? I'm getting out.
Pagoda:I'm getting
Bam Bam:out. Alright. Let me compose my thoughts.
Senator:10. You would be my hero if you gave it a six. Because after hearing all this nonsense, I wish
Chef Ricky:I would've done it. Bam has to be at a seven if he's given
Pagoda:a shit. Way we were going, we needed be at seven anyway. It's
Bam Bam:like Alright. So here.
Pagoda:I That's for you.
Bam Bam:There were two, holy shit. Two primary factors that were disappointing.
Pagoda:Totally agree, totally agree.
Bam Bam:The fact that they were so under packed. Oh yes. And the draw was so wide open
Pagoda:What smoke output?
Bam Bam:Senator Giz, you guys nailed this on the head early on. I couldn't appreciate or get enough out of the cigar because it was just so light and way too easy to smoke. The first third however, the notes I was getting in the first third were extraordinary. The berry and banana, and that carried into the second third.
Gizmo:I think extraordinary was a little bit of a Extraordinary. Extraordinary.
Bam Bam:For me, they were very pronounced and very distinct and really quite delicious. But I the problem is, it was just too easy to draw the smoke through the cigar, so it dissipated very fucking quickly. And then you get into that final second third, and then that whole last third of the cigar. I don't want to use the word savory for what I'm describing. For me, it was chalky and minerally, and it was a colossal disappointment.
Bam Bam:I don't care if this was a $6 cigar.
Gizmo:I agree with you on it. Really? Price honestly doesn't factor. Didn't find
Pagoda:a lot of minerality. Yeah. It wasn't very salty or mineral. When
Bam Bam:I say minerality, it was almost, I was getting metallic type of a thing, a little chalkiness happening. And when you say earthy- I think that was user error. Earthy to the point of where it's almost chemically, if that makes sense. It wasn't it wasn't enjoyable. Did you taste like ammonia?
Bam Bam:Like you? A little bit of ammonia for me.
Senator:Mine was astringent. When I even put mine down and then relit it, like, ten minutes later, the first puff, I was like, okay. Maybe this is getting better. And the second one, that astringent note came back.
Bam Bam:And that, for me, that astringent experiences comes through an ammonia. So it had a very
Rooster:youthful Unpleasant.
Bam Bam:It was very unpleasant. Interesting.
Pagoda:I didn't know.
Bam Bam:Wow. An unusual cigar to have those notes in the beginning, and then it just becomes this extraordinary disappointment toward the end. I'm at a seven because I'm hanging my hat on those notes, which I don't get very often. Like, a very strong berry and banana combo was very, very cool.
Rooster:So do you think
Bam Bam:But I will never smoke this cigar ever again.
Rooster:But this cigar
Bam Bam:has a smaller format maybe. So senator mentioned that earlier. I think
Gizmo:I don't think so. But they
Bam Bam:don't think so. You don't know after
Senator:this. No.
Gizmo:I don't think so.
Bam Bam:We don't know, guys. If it was more densely packed, maybe a smaller format could be an interesting experience. You ever
Gizmo:hold on. Have you ever had a cigar and then smoked the Vitola that was two factor of ring gauge smaller Mhmm. And had that much of a difference? No.
Senator:No. Not to that extreme. There's not a seven to a nine or anything No. Close to
Gizmo:No. There's it's never gonna be that crazy. Now if you're smoking something like a Gordo maybe versus a Corona, the only other option here is a 52. Yeah. It's nearly the same ring gauge Yeah, as
Pagoda:but you know, we've talked about this multiple times. I think the variance is 100 bps, so one point, whatever you call it, right?
Bam Bam:I don't want to be judgmental, I think the eights are extraordinarily generous.
Chef Ricky:They're generous. Generous.
Bam Bam:They are very, very generous.
Pagoda:We mentioned. Like I could have, I knew you guys were going to rate it a seven because it would be very difficult for you to rate it a six. I would Considering two thirds of the cigar was great.
Gizmo:But you all it wasn't great. It was good. But you also enjoyed the cigar more than we did. I did. I did.
Gizmo:I did.
Bam Bam:So Yes. That's true.
Gizmo:Yeah. It is what it is. So, boys, the former lyncer rating tonight on the Plasencia Alma del Cielo in Boreal is a 7.3. So let's compare that to the other
Chef Ricky:was a 91.
Gizmo:91. The other Plasencia we've done on the pod, the Alma Fuerte generation five in Salomon was a flat six point zero. Yowza. So this did score better than that one.
Bam Bam:But still a 7.3, that's a very pedestrian, very un extraordinary cigar.
Gizmo:For this price
Bam Bam:It's almost invisible. Like, you're even gonna notice.
Senator:Now one person sat here and said they would buy
Pagoda:this week. No way.
Gizmo:Well, that's all anybody Well, he just bought a box
Bam Bam:for a 100.
Chef Ricky:A 100. It's $18 and
Gizmo:$50 Are
Bam Bam:you actually gonna make him buy that?
Gizmo:5 MSRP. He's gonna give
Bam Bam:it back to you. He's not buying that.
Chef Ricky:No. 25 MSRP.
Rooster:You can
Chef Ricky:buy it at $18.50.
Gizmo:You can have it, I just need one.
Chef Ricky:Why why do you just
Bam Bam:oh, social media. Social media. That's correct. Yeah. We're gonna torture him.
Bam Bam:I
Chef Ricky:bet you he likes it.
Gizmo:No. Lizard Max. We'll see.
Pagoda:It'll be a great cigar for a photograph. It's a beautiful cigar.
Gizmo:It's a beautiful cigar.
Bam Bam:That's correct.
Gizmo:That's the highlight
Bam Bam:of it.
Chef Ricky:Don't Lizard Max ever give you a rating? No. That would be fun.
Bam Bam:Why don't we
Gizmo:talk about it, bud? What are gonna say?
Bam Bam:Download that twilight zone.
Gizmo:I will get it
Bam Bam:for you. We need that.
Gizmo:I will get it
Bam Bam:for And I want control of that.
Gizmo:I'll get you your own
Pagoda:If little he's gonna suggest one thing, then I'll have something to suggest Because as I'd want to play it every time Pat goes. And I have some really interesting
Bam Bam:I think we should all get a box. Right. We all get the soundtrack.
Gizmo:You'll be back you'll be back to getting notes from me every week.
Bam Bam:Yeah. Correct.
Gizmo:Alright, boys. Let's recap one more time. The Volans Tequila Reposado got a 9.2 tonight, and the Plasencia Alma Del Cielo And Boreal scored a 7.3. We have to congratulate again Lizard Cannoli, one of our members here at ten eighty six sending that great email, and all of the folks who emailed and Lizard Enrique with that great voice memo. We have to thank Bond Roberts for providing Lizard Cannoli with his lizard of the week prize, winning a 10 count box of cigars.
Gizmo:So check out Bon Roberts cigars. There's a lot more great cigars from them coming, so keep your eye out for that. What a treat. We have to thank small batch cigar boys. Use our code lizard 15 for 15% off your entire order.
Gizmo:Always free shipping. They are amazing. I don't know how I get stuff from them in two days from California. It's absolutely ridiculous.
Pagoda:And the lizard
Gizmo:pack is back. And the lizard pack is back.
Bam Bam:Is that right? Yes. It is. Awesome.
Gizmo:It's It's back in stock. I don't think it will be for long. Correct. So check that out. There's some great cigars in that, and it's a great price.
Gizmo:And use our code and even save on that. And our presenting sponsor boys, Fabrica Five. They've been with us for so long. They're so great. We appreciate them and their cigars.
Gizmo:We all smoke them very regularly. So use our code lizard pod to get 10% off your entire order. And, again, free shipping. They're coming from inside The US, so you don't have to get them from outside The US. You can get those great Honduran cigars from them.
Gizmo:And our ProCigar recap will conclude next week, boys. A lot of great stuff to talk about, including a crazy airport story that that we will share. It was unbelievable. So tune in.
Bam Bam:To be a recurring theme when this group travels.
Gizmo:No kidding. So tune in for that, and a great night, boys. We'll see everybody next week. Later. Hope you enjoyed this episode.
Gizmo:Thanks for joining us. You could find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, loungelizardspod.com. That's loungelizardspod.com. Don't forget to leave us a rating and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. If you have any comments, questions, if you wanna reach out, say hello, tell us what you're smoking, email us.
Gizmo:Hello at loungelizardspod.com. You can also find us on Instagram at Lounge Lizards Pod. We really appreciate your time, and we'll, we'll see you next week.