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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!
**Gizmo:** [00:00:00] 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 Uba, Senator Pagoda, chef Ricky, and bam bam, a full house of lizards.
And our plan is to smoke a cigar, drink some bourbon, talk about life, and of course, have some laughs. So take this as your 173rd official invitation to join us and become a card carrying lounge lizard. Plan a meeting here once a week. We are gonna smoke a new world cigar tonight. Share our thoughts on it and give you our formal lizard rating.
We share some exciting lizard family news. Chef Ricky updates us on his tower and we answer a listener email on the podcast behind the scenes, all among a variety of other things for the next two hours. So sit back, get your favorite drink, light up a cigar, and join as we pair 10 years age. Rus Reserve, Kentucky Straight bourbon whiskey with the weather by Cohiba 2024.
A Dominican [00:01:00] Toro on the pod tonight. It's from Cohiba. It's called the Weller by Cohiba 2024, and it's a 50 ring gauge cigar by six inches long. And boys, when we say that, or I say that, I'm a cohiba slut. This is not what I'm talking about. Are you sure? Oh, no, I think this is exactly what you're talking, and I'll be honest.
Are you sure? Given the overdone presentation, given the box, given the tubo, given how this cigar looks right now, they're trying, I am
**Bam Bam:** very nervous. Yeah, they're trying really hard for you to like the cigar. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** And as Uba said, when he walked in, what was the, uh, presentation's A little overdone.
**Poobah:** Yeah, it's a little over the top.
**Gizmo:** Yeah, so this cigar comes in a big old box of 10 tub bows. Cigars are in cellophane inside the tubo, very ornate box. We'll talk about that in a little bit. But, uh, 300 bucks for that box of 10. Yeah. So these are $30 a piece and, uh, very special because we love weller. We do, which is a fantastic Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey [00:02:00] that we've really loved.
And we've done three of them on the pod. We didn't reach for one this time because, uh, they're very, very hard to find exclusive. So we're going with something a little bit more normal, fair, and we'll see how it does. So how are you feeling about this very rugged wrapper? I am shocked that it, it is as rough and rugged as it is.
Um, the cap is a mess on mine. Yeah, me too. The construction just seems to be not in line with a $30 cigar. The,
**Poobah:** the, the foot, the foot has a huge look at this gash. And this was in a tubo in the tubo. In, in, in plastic. In a tubo.
**Gizmo:** Yep.
**Pagoda:** That's no lido. Yeah,
**Poobah:** cellophane in a tubo. And there's a huge gash in this thing.
**Gizmo:** Alright boys, let's cut this thing. See we're getting on the cold draw on the wrapper. Has anyone in this room had a new world cohiba? New world Cohiba? Never. Never, never. I've never had one. I've
**Senator:** had one.
**Gizmo:** So as I sliced a very, very little, little bit with my super sharp scissors, I ha am literally holding the entire [00:03:00] cap in my hand.
Mm-hmm. It fell off. Mm-hmm. You're precise, your precision. No Nom saying the extra. Pieces of the,
**Rooster:** yeah, I think you could have just peeled it off with your nail.
**Senator:** Sounds like user error to me. Cold draw. It's those damn scissors. Scissors. I love it. I mean, might cut perfectly.
**Bam Bam:** See, you know, chef's trying to say something very important and he's being ignored.
I love these scissors.
**Chef Ricky:** There you go. I'm just codera right off the bat. It's like raisin nuts. It's delicious.
**Bam Bam:** I think the cold draw's very good.
**Gizmo:** That's, that's like you, you're at the movies as a middle schooler. Yeah, exactly. Chef is always ahead. We were still on the cut. Yeah, you jumped the guns. Slow down chef.
**Bam Bam:** It was just a cold draw.
**Chef Ricky:** Mm-hmm.
**Bam Bam:** That's very nice. I'm surprised. This is really nice. Little fruity. Maybe on the end of this, the cold draw's honestly delicious. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just hoping it translates
**Chef Ricky:** chocolate and raisin is what I'm getting under cold.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Not wrong. There's a little pepper there for me.
**Chef Ricky:** Draw was a little tight so I had to do a second cut. I'm using a V cut [00:04:00] here. What?
**Pagoda:** Alright,
**Bam Bam:** Veka, we'll talk to my draw.
**Poobah:** Draw is actually perfect. We'll talk, we'll talk to you later about that. Yeah. The ice as well today, by the way. That's true.
**Gizmo:** All right, boys, let's light this thing. The Weller by Cohiba 2024.
It's a Toro from the Dominican Republic. 50 ring gauge cigar by six inches long. Its retail price is $30, a cigar box of ten three hundred bucks. Made by General Cigar, owned by Scandinavian Tobacco Group in Dominican Republic at the General Cigar Factory. The wrapper is Ecuadorian Sumatra. The filler is Dominican, Nicaragua and Honduran.
And what's special about this one is the binder is a USA Connecticut broadleaf aged in Weller bourbon barrels. [00:05:00] Which is pretty cool. We'll talk a little more in detail about that in a minute, but first we're gonna see how this does Uh hmm. Not bad on the white.
**Rooster:** Yeah, not bad at all.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I could see getting queasy on the cigar.
I. Like a nicotine, uh, for me. Yeah. And also it's just so I'm not getting that at all. It's so flavorful. It's almost too much for me. Really? What? Yeah. It's, it seems not a big flavor guy. Overtly sweet. Like, it's almost like flavored
**Senator:** bam was moving in the right direction with the flavor. Now it's now too much flavor, heat into the subtle flavors.
I
**Gizmo:** You're not wrong. This is not bad on the light. And, and what I want to ask you, because I was reading about this cigar quite a bit online over the last couple months since I got them just kind of checking in as we were leading up to actually reviewing it. I read at so many places that the draw was ridiculously tight, tight and impossible to smoke.
Yeah. I am not experiencing that same, this [00:06:00] is pretty wide open. Nicely. A little, there's a little bit of,
**Chef Ricky:** yeah, a little resistance. Resistance, but
**Gizmo:** in a nice way, the right amount of resistance. What I'm wondering, and we've talked about this before, I. Other, other, other publications that review. I'm wondering if the fact that these came down a little bit in humidity.
Mm-hmm. Got rid of that. Some of that moisture in the tobacco leaves opened up, you know, the potential for air movement in there because I saw it at a lot of different places. Yeah, I'm sure you saw two there, rooster. It was everywhere. Talking about how tight the draw was, impossible to smoke, et cetera.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** But this is nice. It's interesting.
**Bam Bam:** Different.
**Rooster:** Yeah, I don't know. You get this, uh, get this sweetness, you know, right on the front. Yeah. I don't know if it's because of the, uh, the weller, like the bourbon barrels that you're getting that very, it's, this is not infused or anything, right? No, it's just, that's, it's just, uh,
**Senator:** oh, thank goodness.
Rooster can smoke it with us. Yeah. Oh, that's right.
**Gizmo:** So I'll, I'll tell you a little bit about this cigars. So, in 2021, general Cigar Company announced that it had [00:07:00] signed an agreement to work on collaborative cigars with Crac Company, which is the Liquor Giant that owns the Buffalo Trace Distillery, Myers Rum, gold Schlager, and many more.
Some of these releases have been cigars that just use a liquor brand's name, like there's other Buffalo Trace branded cigars, et cetera, and others have combined, uh, one of general's brands with one of RA's brands. However, with this one, each year General has released a new Weller by Cohiba Vitola utilizing a different blend.
Most, but not all of the blends have featured at least one tobacco that was aged in barrels that previously held Weller bourbon. This year it's a broadleaf binder, as I mentioned, that was aged in barrels that held, held Weller foolproof bourbon, which is a 114 proof whiskey that comes in bottles with the dark blue label.
So that is what, uh, I'm assuming we're tasting here on this unique sweetness mustiness thing coming off that binder.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, I'm getting a Dutch [00:08:00] of pepper in the middle. Um, finish is nice. A little short maybe. Definitely still sweet. I'm pretty happy with it right now. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** it's all right. It's light to medium.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. I'm not getting usually in, in flavored cigars or cigars that are somewhat influenced or have a flavored tip. Um, I kinda get like a aspart me. Feeling on my tongue. Uh, I'm not getting that here. I am getting flavor, just sort of in the sense of dried fruit, a bit of nicotine, some black pepper, maybe a little baking spice, like nutmeg.
Um, but that's it. I, I will say,
**Gizmo:** this is probably the first time I'm ever gonna say this, or it is the first time I've ever said it, I'm wishing there was a little bit more pepper here.
**Bam Bam:** Hmm. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I'm wishing there was a little bit more of a bite to it than there is. 'cause I'm just getting a rounded sweetness in my mouth.
**Bam Bam:** Mm-hmm. You're not getting any pepper at all? I'm getting a bit of pepper. I'm getting a very
**Gizmo:** little bit in the nose and the retro hill, but not a lot. Not in the draw,
**Bam Bam:** but in the middle. Not through the retro hill, but in a typical jar right in the [00:09:00] middle of my, of my mouth. I'm getting just a touch of pepper, which.
It's more than enough for me.
**Senator:** This is kind of an odd cigar. I mean, I'm getting a little bit of pepper. Mm-hmm. I think the right amount. I don't want any more pepper than I'm getting
**Bam Bam:** correct. That's, that's correct.
**Senator:** Um, but to BA's point earlier, I mean, there's a lot of flavor in this cigar and now a part of me is a little worried that maybe this is gonna be fuller than I might want out of a cigar like this.
But then the thing that's really confusing, I think Bam, described the finish as short. The, the smoke is not as, there's no viscosity, full bodied or viscous as you would expect, yet the flavor is so intense. Yeah. And I don't know that I've ever had like so much flavor with like so little viscosity or body to the smoke and the mouth feel.
So I'm just very confused. It's just odd. I've never experienced that. It's a
**Bam Bam:** great point. I'm watching pagoda right now. He took a draw, a pretty big one, but the smoke almost immediately just ev just evaporated. Um, didn't, didn't [00:10:00] hang in the air. I
**Pagoda:** also think it's a squa for whatever reason. Well, maybe,
**Bam Bam:** yeah,
**Chef Ricky:** it's almost good point.
Like how was that flavored transferred to the palate without the amount of smoke. Mm-hmm.
**Senator:** Actually the more I'm smoking it, the smoke output seems to be increasing, I feel like. Yeah, I think so too. It's the resistance isn't as strong as you go through it. Yeah, but I still just can't marry how much flavor I'm getting with like, it just isn't viscous.
The smoke.
**Poobah:** Do you like the flavor you're getting? I'm not crazy
**Senator:** about it. I am now. I mean, when I started, I, I, I said, okay, it's not offensive. Then I was worried as I started to get the pepper. The flavor was so intense. I thought this might be just too intense and maybe a little spicier. Yeah, that's what I said earlier.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah.
**Senator:** But now it's kind of balancing out as it's cooled probably a little bit from the light. I'm not hating what I'm getting. I'm getting some sweet notes. A little bit of savory and pepper. It feels, yeah, little pepper. It feels more balanced [00:11:00] now. So, uh, jury's still out for me, but I'm not. I'm not unhappy with where it's, I'm
**Rooster:** trying to think of what, what other cigar does this remind you of?
And I can't think of anything else. No, it's very different.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. So far, do you have a fear in the back of your mind that you're gonna get hit with a pneumonia bomb on this thing? 'cause I'm thinking that
**Gizmo:** I, I, I'm not feeling that I am because the draw is open for me. No, I'm not smoking it quickly. I'm, I'm not gonna overdo it.
I'm hoping that since it was barrel aged, a little extra time, hopefully anything that may be left in there ammonia wise is, is at least balanced out. Mm-hmm. So I'm hoping for, you know, to not get hit too hard with ammonia and tars. I'm actually more concerned about tar tar right now than I am, than I'm nicotine.
I'm with you. I'm with you on, or excuse me, than I am ammonia. Sure, sure.
**Poobah:** Yeah, I'm with you on that.
**Rooster:** The ashe is really bright
**Poobah:** white. Yeah. It's nice. You notice that.
**Bam Bam:** It's nice, it's nicely made
**Poobah:** right. But it's a little bit, it's strange. I haven't had anything that really tastes like this. Um, [00:12:00] so I'm not sure. I will say I, it's saving a little bit better here.
**Gizmo:** I definitely came in tonight with a preconceived notion about the cigar. Mm-hmm. Based on what I was seeing online, based on this ridiculous packaging that they've put this in. I mean, that thing probably weighs 15 pounds, 10 cigars in it, you know, when it came from the retailer. It's about as big as that box for the Padron six.
The padron 60th. It's like a
**Bam Bam:** coffee table.
**Gizmo:** It's, it's massive. How big, how can you describe that for the people there? Ben, what are we looking
**Bam Bam:** at? The box itself, it looks like it's 12 by maybe 15, and then the outer box looks like maybe it's 14 by 18 inches. That's a big box. It's a big box for 10. 10
**Gizmo:** Turbo cigars.
**Bam Bam:** So how do they infuse the weller? Is it the, the leaves are, are aged in the weller barrels that, yeah. So like we saw atto. Same thing. Okay. Yeah,
**Gizmo:** it's the same thing. The leaves are just sitting in there and they, they sit in there for a certain number of time. Do know, I'm assuming 30 days, 60 days, something like that.
Oh, okay. And the tobacco leaves are just absorbing, absorbing, I'm sure, sure. What that wood is giving off. Mm-hmm. [00:13:00] You know, so I'm curious how much that's impacting the flavor that we're getting now versus it, you know, because it's only in the binder.
**Pagoda:** Mm-hmm.
**Gizmo:** It's not in the filler and not in the wrappers.
So,
**Pagoda:** but isn't it typical, like their age? Uh, the wrapper in, uh
**Gizmo:** mm-hmm.
**Pagoda:** Or it's always the binder?
**Gizmo:** Usually it's the binder. Like the Winston Churchill stuff is also the binder. In the binder. Yeah. I'm talking about, uh, Davidoff Winston Churchill. The late hour, the binder of those is aged in, uh, I'll make a definitive statement, barrel that
**Bam Bam:** the aroma off the foot is probably the best experience right now that I'm getting.
It's very good. The draws. Okay. The retro Hale is surprisingly very light, but the aroma here is actually quite nice. Yeah, it's
**Chef Ricky:** nice.
**Bam Bam:** That's really the only thing that I'm really, really liking at the moment. Oh my goodness. I'm sorry,
**Senator:** I just, the flavor notes online on the cigar for Half Wheel are absolutely hysterical From Half Wheel Honey Ale, can I please read this?
Oh, please, honey, you know, listen, we love, we love Flavor Note Honey Greens around here. This is kind [00:14:00] all time. Oh my goodness. Okay. They talk about,
**Gizmo:** wow,
**Senator:** it just keeps getting better. So first I'm going read you how they describe the, the feet of the cigars. Then they actually get into smok it in the flavor.
It says the feet have some of the soy sauce notes, but two cigars are more traditional chocolate smell, while the third smells like Dirty pond water.
**Bam Bam:** Oh, how nice.
**Senator:** The. Flavor-wise, the first cigar has an unsweetened ketchup flavor joined by earthiness grape juice, and some sourness. The second and third cigars are similar with plain granola leading leather, white pepper, lemon, some unripe, uh, unripe apple, and here's my favorite one of them all.
And a bit of dirty water flavor.
**Bam Bam:** Mm. Yeah. I stopped listening. When we talk, we're talking about dirty pond water. I just turned my mic off.
**Senator:** How much dirty water has someone drank to say, like, call that out as a note in a cigar. That's ridiculous. And unsweetened. Ketchup.
**Poobah:** Well, I [00:15:00] don't know if it's that. Can you imagine?
I don't know if it's that ridiculous the way this is going, but, okay. Oh, I, I, I mean, I'm not, I haven't been crazy about this since the light, so I'm, those are
**Chef Ricky:** super offensive flavors and I don't feel like I'm getting anything super offensive just yet. Me
**Senator:** neither. And I gotta say, I'm starting to get like a saltiness.
Salt. Salt. I'm just gonna say that. I just got it. I really like, yes. Where it is now. It's soy
**Gizmo:** yes sauce. That's
**Poobah:** correct. I could use a little more wasabi. I could use a little more wasa. No tamari tamari flavor. Bring over some, uh, ponzu sauce for Senator, please.
**Rooster:** Yeah. No dirty pond
**Gizmo:** here. So boys, this is the debut of General Cigars, Dominican version of Cohiba on the pod.
Obviously, we have to make very clear for the listener when you've seen other episodes where we've smoked Cohiba cigars or talked about Cohiba cigars. Uh, at the time of the release of this episode, they'll probably be a new Cohiba cigar on the market, the Bahi K 58. [00:16:00] That is a completely detached and, uh, separate brand from Cuban Cohiba, the Dominican Cohiba.
Thanks. The Lord is completely separate. Mm-hmm. So this is the debut of General Cigars Cohiba on the podcast tonight. Like I said, general Cigar Company is a subsidiary of Scandinavian Tobacco Group, commonly referred to as STG on on the internet. Cohiba from the Dominican Republic was first introduced in the US market in the 1980s, focused on premium non Cuban offerings.
Of course, uh, just a few years after the. Revolution in Cuba and the embargo that happened where those cigars were not able to be sold in the United States anymore. So let's talk about some of their blends. The most famous is the Cohiba Red Dot, which is their classic blend. It's a Dominican Grown p Otto Banno filler Cameroon wrapper.
The Cohiba Black, which you see a lot, full-bodied cigar, has a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper on it and Dominican long filler. The Cohiba Blue [00:17:00] is a medium body option with Honduran, Nicaraguan, and Dominicans. Similar to this, the Royale is the fullest body offering in the catalog. Nicaragua broadleaf wrapper and filler.
From Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. The Specter, which we laughed about, uh, when we saw this released in 2023, it's like a limited annual thing using the rarest of tobaccos. And that version used a 2008 Nicaragua Hal Leaf. The price on that of course, was ridiculous. And finally, the Siri m, which was the first cohiba, made the United States at the El Teton de Bronx factory in Miami, known for its Nicaraguan Roho wrapper.
So not much else to say about Cohiba other than it just creates a lot of market confusion here in the United States with folks who are not educated on Cuban cohiba versus the others. You know, it is a very different thing, unfortunately, and, uh, that's what we're smoking tonight, boys. All right.
**Poobah:** [00:18:00] Yeah.
There's just not a lot of smoke in the room. No, I'll tell you that.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. It's taken me a multiple small draws to get a decent mouthful of smoke. Same. Would you guys describe the flavor profile as muddled? Would you like, how would you describe what I've kind, I've, I've
**Rooster:** had more muddled than this. Than this, but.
Slightly, it's not distinct, but it's not muddled. Mm-hmm.
**Chef Ricky:** It's not Mudd. I agree. It's just very short. It's very short. So it, you know, it's, it's, uh mm-hmm. It takes a lot of dryness to it. Small. Yeah. It takes a lot of, just kind of small draws to get to a point where, as you said earlier, you very true could get enough smoke in your mouth to get this to actually linger and, and, and pick up on those flavors.
**Poobah:** Yeah. The viscosity of the smoke isn't really there. Like, was someone mentioned that before?
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. It's also lacking a little, there isn't a smooth, elegant experience here. No. It's a little, it's not
**Gizmo:** refined at all. No, no. Which I would put next to [00:19:00] elegant is the, you know, refined. Yeah. And at this price, at $30, it should be.
**Poobah:** It, it should be, it, it kind of like when you have a good cigar, it's almost like, it's like anything else. Having a good spirit, having a good meal. It's like putting, it puts a stake in the ground. It says, this is what I'm stand for. Like, like, like this is what. I, I'm representing now. You can like that, you can not like that, but at least it's, it's, it's trying to stand on its own two feet.
Maybe this is trying to be too much to too many people with the blend, but like, I would appreciate more something that's sent that's making a statement that's a distinct statement than, than this, and I'm not getting that from this, this, the, the smoke. Like, do you guys, what is it?
**Bam Bam:** Do you guys think this will age well in another two years in your humid or at the right humidity and temperature?
Will it mellow out? Will it gets a bit smoother? I, for me, tend to think maybe. [00:20:00] Because it's a pretty bolts experience now, but I,
**Gizmo:** I don't feel like I'm getting harshness. Yes. That I would normally, I'm getting a bit put, I would, that I normally put with like aged, like tamping down
**Bam Bam:** uhhuh.
**Gizmo:** I, I'm just, I don't know, maybe the flavor would kind of mellow, mature a little bit maybe,
**Bam Bam:** and become a bit creamier.
Maybe it
**Gizmo:** could be, maybe some of those oils would dry out, whatever's going on in that binder. Take some of this odd, sweet thing that's happening. Make, take that away. I don't know. Yeah.
**Poobah:** But it's like when you smoke a, when you smoke a davit off, even if it's not a blend that you are totally in love with.
That you'd buy again. But if somebody gave it to you, you'd be like, all right, I know what this like generally represents, like it's representing this, but it's not, it's either not strong enough for me, or it's too, maybe it's too strong.
**Gizmo:** Yeah.
**Poobah:** But at least it, like, you kind of know what they stand for. And this doesn't do that in my, in my, in my opinion.
**Rooster:** Well, I think Duff also uses a lot of, you know, [00:21:00] aged tobacco. I don't know how, how much that's, they say age like this. There's tobacco really has, there's not
**Gizmo:** a definitive age statement that I've seen about this release. Mm-hmm. You know, I,
**Chef Ricky:** I'm not sure. As I roll this smoke around my mouth, I'm really looking and, and searching hard for that ketchup note.
Wanna see if I can make this up? Retro.
**Poobah:** Retro. Hail it. You get a little bit of hunts.
**Chef Ricky:** I'm retro hailing. So slow. I'm retro hailing. So slow.
**Gizmo:** So boys, let's introduce some different flavors to our palette. Let's go to our pairing. We do have a Kentucky Straight Bourbon with us tonight. This is also a debut from Wild Turkey.
This is the Russells Reserve, 10 years aged Kentucky Straight bourbon whiskey. Cheers boys. Cheers. Cheers.
**Poobah:** Cheers.
**Gizmo:** And while we're cheersing, we must tell the listener some very exciting news in Lizard Land. Yes, our friend Grinder is very happy to have us announce to Lizard Nation that [00:22:00] misses Grinder. Just gave birth to their son Theodore, who is, uh, very happy and healthy, and they're everybody's good.
And, uh, he is once again, a very proud papa in lizard land.
**Poobah:** He is. Um, I stopped by the other day and said hello and saw the baby. And, uh, thanks for all the photos.
**Bam Bam:** It wasn't, it wasn't really a
**Poobah:** thing like that. Uh, very handsome boy. And, uh. I was very happy for him and his lovely life. Congrats, Grindr.
Congrats. And, uh, it's very, it brought back a lot of memories for me personally and having babies. It's, it's, it's How was your C-section? Well, uh, Grindr said his C-section was, uh, a success. Very smooth. Went very smooth. He said they were, they, they were playing some good music. They put 'em under twilight and, um, yeah, they extracted the, uh, they extracted.
[00:23:00] Theo, did you change your
**Rooster:** diaper while you were there?
**Poobah:** I did. Uh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I pass on that. Uh, as I did in
**Gizmo:** my own marriage. Well, listen, congratulations to our friend, uh, lizard Grinder. Uh, of course Mrs. Grinder and their entire family. It's awesome to have little lizards running around. That's our what, I don't even know how to count in the room.
Now. Uh, as far as toddlers go, there's three, but among all of us, there's plenty of, uh, younger lizards out there. But, uh, so yeah, Grindr's gonna be on paternity leave for a little while. He was actually supposed to be with us last week when we recorded the Monte Cristo wide edmundo, the Cuban episode. And last minute he canceled and didn't say anything.
And then the next morning we're getting pictures on our phones of, uh, a happy and healthy Theodore and Mrs. Grinder. So cool. And, and, uh, sorry I skipped the pod.
**Poobah:** So we're very happy for them. Like, I'm like, man, if that [00:24:00] happened, uh, two hours later I said You would've been showing up at, uh, at the hospital smelling like Yeah. Would've got started. Started early. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. They're now part of the, uh, junior lizard program. Absolutely.
**Poobah:** The nurses may have been like, you need to like go into like a hazmat chamber and teach Correct de sanitize.
**Gizmo:** So boys, what do we think about the 10 years aged Russell's Reserve, Kentucky Straight Bourbon. I think I'm drinking it Neat. It's 90 proof. 45% A BV. Mm-hmm. I think it's very good. It's nice. Very smooth. I do have a chip or two.
**Bam Bam:** I do not. You're a tough guy. Yeah, I know.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. I'm also drinking and eat. It's a little hot, but not, uh, nothing that's getting in the way of the flavor.
The flavor's great. There's lots of it there. I like that. It's not super sweet. I like that it's a little dry. Um, especially on the finish there.
**Bam Bam:** You know, I have two pieces of ice and I'm still [00:25:00] finding it to be pretty sweet for me.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Senator, what do you
**Bam Bam:** think? Yeah. What'd you eat before you come here?
Not, not a thing. No.
**Senator:** I, I, I don't love it. The flavor profile's just very traditional bourbon. There's really nothing distinctive to me about, like, Russell's Reserve. This is my first mm-hmm. Experience, you know, having this brand and it's a little bit hot. I, I, I can't say really anything jumps out that excites me about it.
Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I think it's easy to drink for me. That's what I'm happy about. Is it, it, it does have a little bit of a bite. It's not too harsh. I actually think the bite with how this cigar is performing right now, I'm actually ha happy it has a little bit of a bite. Neat. How much is a bottle? Uh, this was around 45 bucks, I believe.
40 bucks. Okay. Not too bad.
**Poobah:** But you, you know, you mix it up in an old fashioned and, oh, that'll work. You know, there are, could work. Are some citrus notes in here that I've been, that I picked up? Yeah. You're not wrong. Um, a little bit of orange, a little bit of citrus, but there's [00:26:00] nothing special about
**Bam Bam:** drinking it.
Neat. Or with their on the rocks.
**Poobah:** Yeah. You know, it's, but like, just buy a bottle of Woodford Reserve and make your old, old fashioned, you know what mean, let's move on. Well, no, I'm just saying it's not, I'm kidding. It's, it's, well, I mean, it's not one of these bourbons where it, it's not blowing, blowing my hair back, but it's not bad.
Mm-hmm.
**Senator:** I think why I'm not loving the pairing is just the cigar lacks refinement.
**Gizmo:** Yeah.
**Senator:** And so what I wish I had with this was a more refined drinking spirit that helped that along a little
**Bam Bam:** bit. Yeah. It, it'll take you to the end zone if you keep, uh, if you add something like
**Pagoda:** that and something with a longer finish, I would imagine.
Yeah. Yeah. Pagoda, what do you think of the bourbon? So on the nose, when I smelted it, it, it, it was a bit, it wasn't very pleasant for me. Um, but, you know, I added a gyp of ice. I know he added a
**Chef Ricky:** sheet of ice.
**Pagoda:** A sheet of ice. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, let's talk about that. Alright, so,
**Gizmo:** so pagoda, [00:27:00] so kindly, uh, offered to get us ice because we didn't know how the spirit was gonna drink tonight, and then bam.
Says, can you know, can somebody hand me the ice bucket? Right? And bam, you opened the ice bucket. Then what did you find?
**Bam Bam:** They're like four or five pieces of five inch by five inch blocks of ice. I'm like, it's a sabotage. I mean, what do you doing? Well, but
**Poobah:** you, he put, hammer it out. He, he saw, he saw me like gently trying to chop and with the plastic, uh, with the gently.
And then he just grabbed the ice bucket 'cause he's aggressive. And, uh, he just like grabbed the ice bucket and then all of a sudden he ran into the same problem. So yeah, the ice machine,
**Chef Ricky:** the ice machine must be full because clearly that ice didn't fall very long distance. So it didn't even break upon, uh, impact.
So
**Pagoda:** yeah. But the idea was really for everyone to get to the ice, you know, midway during the thing and then during the episode. Yeah. And then I would love to see G's reaction with everyone trying to break the ice,
**Gizmo:** hammering the ice out. Yeah. So boys, let's talk a little bit [00:28:00] about Wild Turkey because they, it is their debut on the pod tonight, and Russell's is very important, uh, to the Wild Turkey story.
The name Russells, so let's, I'll go through it real quick. The distillery dates back to the mid 18 hundreds, but became known as Wild Turkey in 1940 when a distillery executive shared his bourbon with friends on a Turkey hunt, earning it the now famous name. While Turkey is currently owned by Campari Group, do they own a bunch?
I guess they own a bunch of stuff, right? Is it a pretty big liquor company? But it has maintained its traditional bourbon making methods. They say, including a high rye mash bill, lower barrel entry proof, and aged in heavily charred barrels. The heart and soul of Wild Turkey lies with the Russell family who has spent decades perfecting their craft.
So this is named after a guy named Jimmy Russell, who is known as the Buddha of Bourbon. Oh, joined the company sounds like
**Poobah:** marketing.
**Gizmo:** Join the company in 1954. He is the longest tenured active master [00:29:00] distiller in the world over 60 years. And he is a staunch defender, apparently, of traditional bourbon methods.
He has resisted trends like flavored bourbons and short-term aging. His son Eddie, joined the company in 1981, became the master distiller in 2015, working alongside his father and introduced this expression, Russell's Reserve, uh, and others, including Wild Turkey, long Branch, rare breed, barrel proof to appeal to more modern, specialized bourbon lovers.
And this specific spirit, Russell's Reserve, 10 years age, was launched in 2001, again, created by Eddie as a tribute to his father. So this, uh, spirit is produced at the Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, and, uh, is a celebrated brand that Wild Turkey produces. And obviously Wild Turkey sells a hell of a lot.
Oh yeah. Of whiskey.
**Poobah:** Oh yeah, they do sell a lot. Oh,
**Bam Bam:** that's something It sounds like marketing. Well,[00:30:00]
**Gizmo:** wild. That was a shot.
**Poobah:** I dunno what that means. I love it. I, I'm, look, it's should be flattered. It's fucking hilarious. And it's a, it's a lot of hyperbolic talking. I know. A lot of illustrative, you know, a lot of embellishment. But anyway, I feel like the, uh, no, something just crossed my mind. I had a thought, like if we took a poll in the room, and I'm not saying this like universally.
This is a universal truth, but like I think for us in this group that bourbon doesn't, just in general, generally speaking, I'm not reaching for a bourbon with like with a cigar. It's probably like I. Sixth on my list as to what I'd reach for. I agree with you on that. I I agree as well. There's so many things.
I mean, like, I would put coffee or above it. I would put
**Pagoda:** What do you mean you'd put [00:31:00] coffee above it?
**Poobah:** Meaning I'd
**Pagoda:** rather have coffee. Coffee than a burger. I'd rather have a, no, I'd rather
**Poobah:** have a coffee than, in other words, like scotch and cigars have gone together for so long. I think that there's a salty and minerality, um, component to authentic tequilas that lend itself and rum and cognac and, and cognac and, and champagne and the armon yank, uh, yeah, everything but bourbon.
Everything but bourbon. So like, let's just list every spirit. He's not wrong, so No, I know he's not wrong. I guess what I'm saying is sometimes, like when we're, we're, we're like, when we pair up a bourbon, I just feel like every single time we do it, and maybe it's just. The way everybody's kind of thinks in this room with a cigar.
It's just, for me, it's never like the kind of balanced experience I want, unless I have a real craft bourbon, I mean a real craft bourbon cocktail that's been, you know, like a, a really good old fashioned or something that, that [00:32:00] that'll compliment it better than, you know, drinking bourbon straight out of a glass with no ice in a cigar.
It just, to me, never matches up that great for me personally. You know what's funny? I can name eight, nine different things I'd rather have with a cigar than bourbon.
**Gizmo:** Coincidentally, there is one bourbon that I think about and reach for often. We know what it is. And it's weller,
**Bam Bam:** correct? Yep. It's weller.
Well,
**Gizmo:** Weller is really good. Weller special reserve is fantastic. Weller antique 1 0 7 is amazing. Yes. And of course I think the highest score out of all of them was the 12 year aged, uh, Weller. So, you know what, I'd love to have this with. Some Glen Fiig 12 we did a couple weeks ago. That could work Well, that I've been loving that stuff.
Let's, well, listen, I heard that. Why not? I
**Poobah:** heard that this was like a new discovery for the group and I was like, what? Like, I've been drinking that for years. I just think it's
**Gizmo:** on a really good run. Right now's Because I had it a few years ago and I, it didn't [00:33:00] taste like it does now to me. I just think it's on a, a really good run right now.
**Chef Ricky:** In, in fairness to the bourbon, I've read some similar stuff about it in that, uh, two years ago or about two to three years ago, the Russell 10 release was a lot better than what we're currently tasting. So Interesting. But I'm just curious. I mean, I know we've done Weller on the pod before, but we're smoking Cohiba by Weller, or Weller by Cohiba.
Why not pair it with a Weller?
**Gizmo:** Because we've reviewed them all. Hmm. And the other ones are so hard to get. Don't ever challenge the moderator. You know, I tried.
**Chef Ricky:** Well, I'm sure every, everyone's
**Gizmo:** thinking. Yeah, but then
**Chef Ricky:** rather,
**Poobah:** but also I, I did want to, it's a good question, but like how much difference would that make?
**Gizmo:** I also didn't want to come in tonight with a pairing that was gonna be on the secondary market, probably 150 to $200 a bottle because the wellers we've done are really the only ones that are reasonably priced on the secondary market. If you're so lucky to get them in Kentucky, fine. Um, [00:34:00] but the other stuff is very expensive, just like the 12.
**Senator:** I just wanna say, I mean, I generally agree with everything that's been said. I think Puma's point's well taken around, you know, bourbon is definitely not something we're first to reach for, to pair with a cigar. I will say though, in defense of bourbon, I would not go as far as saying that Weller is the only outlier in bourbons as far as like what we would really reach to pair with, uh, a cigar.
I think the challenges is, is with bourbon. Because we don't want something aggressively, uh, strong in terms of proof. Yeah. You've gotta really be discerning about choosing the right bourbon. And I think like we have found some other bourbons that have done well. I think there was one, um, uh, like a seven year, was that like McKenna?
Yeah, Henry McKenna. I think that did pretty well. I think that we might've all drank that neat and we're like surprised how smooth it was. Eight around even the wood for double reserve. I mean, Woodford is good. Um, I
**Rooster:** think there was one, uh, four Roses, I think you guys Yeah, that was the small batch Select Small batch
**Senator:** select.
That [00:35:00] was good. That did well. The, um, what's the other, uh, super popular tenure? Um,
**Pagoda:** the widow Jane. Widow Jane.
**Senator:** No, no, no, no. It didn't do well. Eagle rare. Eagle Rare. Eagle Rare. Which is 10. That's actually very good. That's a very smooth, nice easy drinking bourbon. So like I do think there are plenty of options.
I just think like you have to be pickier about which you select to pair with a cigar in a way that like, you know, when UBA says scotch, you know, just pairs so naturally there's so much more breath to scotches that pair great with cigars. It feels more limited with bourbons. But I do think there are a number out there that, you know, we found that have been good.
It's just harder to find them.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. And uh, you know, sitting in a club to Gizmo's point, I don't see a lot of guys drinking a lot of bourbon in our group.
**Pagoda:** Overall, it's kinda strange because a lot of people love bourbon and they love bourbon with cigars overall because of the sweetness. You know, for me
**Gizmo:** personally with bourbon, I will say if I drink an equal amount of bourbon [00:36:00] or I choose to drink an equal amount of tequila or an equal amount of scotch, I wake up the next morning after drinking the bourbon, probably feeling the most groggy and kind of, you know, you know, foggy, that's personal.
Mm-hmm. For me, bourbon, it doesn't process the same way some of these other spirits do. So I, that also factors into it. It's proof though.
**Chef Ricky:** It's higher proof. I agree. A lot of, I agree, I agree with you on that. I mean, I, I don't feel that way with mescal, um, or even high fruit tequilas, but I do feel that with bourbon, um, you know, I can't go too much in detail about additives and you know, how they do their thing.
Uh, 'cause I don't know that much about it the way I do agave spirits, but I think that might have something to do with it.
**Gizmo:** So, poise, we're coming to the end of the first third here on the Weller by Cohiba 2024. Toro from the Dominican Republic. What's everybody thinking?
**Chef Ricky:** So I've come across a little bit of what they may have described as dirty pond water.
Um, but this is how I, I'll describe it, right? My, all of my kids had turtles at one point. And Did you [00:37:00] I was, sip that water. No, no. Never. I
**Gizmo:** think half wheels looking for
**Poobah:** panelists. I can't wait to hear this rabbit hole gonna come.
**Chef Ricky:** No. At he's
**Bam Bam:** digging right now.
**Chef Ricky:** No, I, I, I could, I completely understand people describing things that sound like who would ever consume that or taste that.
And it's not so much that you taste it, but just by smelling it, uh, sometimes you could kind of. Create what the flavor would be like. Uh, right. 'cause your nose and your palate are attached and you know, they work, they work together. Um, so I, you know, in cleaning a turtle tank, 'cause my kids never did. I always did it for them.
You know, we're all familiar with that sort of, it, it presents, it presents, it presents like a, a
**Gizmo:** splash
**Chef Ricky:** in
**Gizmo:** the
**Chef Ricky:** mouth or something? No,
never. Never. No, no. Not that. Just you, you know, when you come across a lake or, or something and maybe there's some algae in the water and you're getting that kind [00:38:00] of aroma, that, that hot, humid
**Bam Bam:** And are you getting that in your cigar right now?
**Chef Ricky:** I'm not getting it that strong, but I'm getting it in a way where it's presenting like, uh, it, it presents to me like Green Earth or like, like, like unripe banana peel or something.
You know, like, uh, the, the peel of a plantain, if you will, uh, some kind of green earth is, is how it's being presented to me. I could see if, you know, is that the Retro Hale? No, the retro Hale is actually kind of spicy, you know, and I really like the Retro Hale right now, by the way. I do too. I think the retro
**Gizmo:** hale at this point, yeah.
I don't mind it. It has proved it has improved tenfold from where it was 20 minutes ago. Yeah, I agree. The retro is pretty damn good right now.
**Chef Ricky:** The retro hale has smoothed up. It, it's leveled off a little bit, but there was maybe, I don't know, may a, a half inch earlier at, at the point where pagoda was, was sneezing, where like that retro hale, you know, it did kind of get in your nose a little bit and present like pepper and kind of created those reactions.
**Rooster:** Yeah. But the cigar is just boring. [00:39:00] It's boring. It's not, it's, I mean, it hasn't really changed much. And I'm sitting here looking at the, uh, looking at this ornate box, this velvet cover, you know, the beautiful tubo and it doesn't relate to the cigar that we are smoking.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. Yeah.
**Rooster:** I'm sorry, what
**Poobah:** little, uh, dirt.
I don't disagree with you Dirty reptil water. No, this is, it's, it's boring. Come on. Let's call, let's call it out for what it is. It's a boring cigar. I'll,
**Gizmo:** I'll be honest. I'm, I'm, I'm gonna speak straightforward about it. I'm not saying I would say this, I'm not finding it to be boring if this cigar was $10.
Yeah. I think, yeah. You know, like it hasn't lost my interest. I haven't even thought for a moment about putting it down. I'm actually hoping in this second, third and into the last third that it gets exciting. I'm, I think there's a potential here. Yeah. But for
**Rooster:** $30, I mean, you, you expect
**Gizmo:** more. Of course. I don't, I don't disagree with that.
Boys, let's go to some listener email. First up, this is an email that's [00:40:00] representing, I don't know, 20, 25, 30 listeners who've emailed us with this exact question in the last two weeks. This one's from Lizard, Jared. I'm gonna read his, he says, Hey, big fan. I was curious if I could get more info on the humid order that Chef Ricky picked up.
Cool. I've greatly outgrown my King Chi. Thank you lizard, Jared. So let's kimchi be very specific. Gotten a lot of emails. I guess King Chi is a, uh, kimchi. It's a kimchi. Kimchi. It's, it's a brand.
**Poobah:** Is that, is that the one with he ferment his cigars? That's, that's not a flavor note you wanted. It's white vinegar.
It's that the Chinese cabinet that No, that's the aching.
**Gizmo:** That's the aching, yeah. Yes. Okay. So just to answer Lizard Jared's question and so many others who've emailed him and messaged us about it. Your elegant bar.com, your elegant bar.com. And we are not sponsored by these folks. This is free promo 'cause uh, lizard Chef Ricky loves it so much.
If you go under cigar humidor [00:41:00] cabinets, the EB dash 5 59, the EB 5 59 single door cabinet. Humidor and there's two colors you can get it in black and cherry. Chef Ricky got it in black. It's 1,495 bucks on sale right now. $400 off. Uh, that is what you got. And you ordered it on a Wednesday and it came in Tuesday, the following Tuesday, which is pretty awesome.
That's incredible. On a less than load truck with a liftgate on it, that's pretty fast. Mm-hmm. I think I order cigars sometimes and it takes two weeks from the coast, so I recruit my neighborhood
**Bam Bam:** to bring it to my house. Well, we know that story.
**Gizmo:** So, chef Ricky, quick update. Uh, this is week three now on the pod that you've had a humidor running in the house, A tower.
How is Tower Life treating you?
**Chef Ricky:** It's beautiful, man. I just love every, you know, checking in on it every once in a while. By that I mean every day. Uh, 'cause I'm obsessed with it. Did you sleep right there? Yeah. Staring at it in your bed. Install the Murphy bed alongside it. Pop [00:42:00] it out, and, uh, no, but it, you know, it's, it's, it's really elegant.
It's really beautiful looking. Um, you know, it, it holds humidity. Well, uh, you know, right now. My cabinet might be at 15 or 20% capacity, so it's nowhere near its capacity. Uh, so I'm adding distilled water maybe about every four days, uh, to the cigar oasis. But outside of that, you know, it's been, it's been doing great.
You know, the, the cigar oasis does its thing. Um, you know, the, the hydrometers are working beautifully. It's pretty frequent with the water though. It's just,
**Gizmo:** well, don't forget two things. Every time he opens that door, he doesn't have a lot of stock in there, so that air is escaping pretty quick. Oh, I see, I see, I see.
So there's a lot of air transfer every time that door opens, you know? Yeah. It does not take a lot for dry air to affect your situation. Mm-hmm. You know, so in, when it's in the winter months here in the us, if your cabinet's not full, like the rest of ours are, like when UBA opens his, it, there's not gonna [00:43:00] be a major change long term, but it goes down low capacity, it's going, it
**Poobah:** goes down seven, about 7%.
That, and es right back up. It catches right back up. But I. In the wintertime. Uh, I, I just, I put Bodas, you know, on every other shelf. I probably have four in there, the big ones, and they just keep it at homeostasis. It just never, it just never moves. I mean, it just never, ever moves.
**Chef Ricky:** You know, what I love about this is not, is having to never buy a boda again.
You know, um, just the, the gallons of the distilled water, they're pretty cheap until,
**Bam Bam:** until you fill up your tower.
**Chef Ricky:** Uh, really? Then you're back on the boda
**Poobah:** train. Well, yeah, because depending they last for so long. I mean, like, I've had the same bodas in there since September, October, and they're totally.
Like they're not Yeah. Dried out or anything like that. I don't need to replace them. They just, well, your tower's different. Yeah. It's different. And, but once you get so many boxes in there, you know, you got the [00:44:00] cedar, you got the cedar boxes. Mm-hmm. You've got the, you've got the, your loose cigars and everything.
Kind of just, I think it kind of levels out once, once once it gets more filled.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. That's a great point. 'cause right now all of my stock is, is essentially sticks and cellophane. I do have one cedar box from a box of, uh. Of QD fifties that I have in there. But outside of that, everything else is, is, uh, individual sticks and cellophane.
So there isn't much, uh, in just get
**Rooster:** six boxes of this weller. Yeah. Well, you know, the, yeah. It'll be full one on each shelf. It'd be good.
**Poobah:** Yeah. And you know, the other thing, 60 too, like when you have time, like, um, like in the summertime when it's a little more humid out, I'll, I'll do more organization than I'll do in the wi like in the winter, just because of what you're, you know, letting to, like, you, you, you don't wanna keep it open so long that Yeah.
To bring it back up. It's gonna be, yeah. But in the summertime, like it's nice to take like a ribbon, um, from maybe a, a, a semi boy [00:45:00] nature box that mm-hmm. You know, the cabinet that you had. Yeah. Yeah. And then just taking like, like, so if you have some loose ones bundle, the, I I, I bundle those up in a ribbon.
So if I have 10 or 11 of something and I sort through like stuff that I brought to the podcast, that's kind of nice that maybe like I didn't. That it didn't smoke, but I, I, I moved, I'll take it and I'll, I'll take those and I'll put 'em into, I'll tie 'em up into like little bundles and then I'll put those pretty good idea on the trays.
Well, so just
**Bam Bam:** so they're marrying up if you don't plan on smoking them Yes. If you're gonna age them and keep them for a while, I would do that. That's, that's a good idea.
**Poobah:** Well, yeah, but I mean, you, all you gotta do is pick a bundle out and just pull one out. Yeah, it's true. And tighten the knot. It's true.
It's, it's not that I'm just, if you wanna marry 'em up, you can marry 'em up. And they also don't slide around. Like they don't, it just secures them too. So sometimes I do That
**Bam Bam:** sounds like, uh, chef's gotta go
**Chef Ricky:** shopping.
**Poobah:** Yeah.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. It's, it's time to go shopping. Yeah. Yeah. No. And just to offer a little bit more context, my, the ambient humidity in my [00:46:00] basement right now is about 32%.
There you go. Uh, and temperature in this, in mid sixties, so about, well, about 67, 68. So I say if I keep that door open for about every second that it's open, I probably lose half a percent of humidity. But it recovers really quickly. Mm-hmm. Thanks to the fans that are in, in that, uh, cabinet. Oh, the builtin fans.
That's an advantage.
**Gizmo:** Yeah. And once you fill it up, it'll stabilize. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So if you do order, uh, chef Ricky or any other cabinet from, uh, your elegant Bartow that we sent you, Tom, chef Rick, he sent you, and, uh, that we've been talking about. Their products. All right, boys, let's move on to another listener email.
Now. This is going to be our lizard of the week. As you know, any lizard out there can win Lizard of the Week. We send you a little package, little gift package for writing us. Anybody can win. This one is from Lizard Scott. It says, dear Gizmo and the Lizards, I am a huge all caps fan of your show. I listen religiously each week, and I'm so glad that I found you guys.[00:47:00]
I love how you are able to weave in different topics with the cigars and the drinks you pair. I was wondering how do you guys decide what to talk about each episode? Do you plan it all out? Is it spontaneous? How do you decide what topics to bring up and keep the talk interesting. When one of you gets off track, I would love to know more about how you keep it feeling fresh.
Thanks for all the hard work you put into the show, and please keep it up. Well, look,
**Poobah:** it's all about, these are, we're, we all have tremendously dynamic personalities. I mean, so it just happens organically.
**Bam Bam:** I personally love, I'm joking. I hear a little, uh, I'm joking, joking. Jesse Ventura finishing that bit.
**Poobah:** You know, uh, look, we, we come on the podcast and we, we, we talk and we're our authentic selves, then that's what being an American is about. It's about, it's about authenticity.
**Bam Bam:** You're so
**Poobah:** good at this. You're so good at this, [00:48:00] so
**Gizmo:** stupid. And it's so good. Oh my God. So, to answer Wizard Scott's question here. How do you guys want to answer that?
How do we decide what to talk about?
**Bam Bam:** Well, how do you keep us on track? I just wanna hear that. Yeah. I think this is a question
**Pagoda:** for you, giz. We all get an electric shock if we wear off topic. I have a
**Gizmo:** little electric zapper button, like a dog collar that I zap everybody. If we get off, we're, we're gonna be using that on Gizmo this episode.
I know, I know, I know it's coming. Uh, so how do we decide what to talk about? So, um, I do a lot of, uh, looking around all the time. I just keep notes throughout the week of things. I wanna talk about. Other lizards do that as well. Uh, lizard Senator sends a bunch of stuff, uh, often, you know, that he finds on the internet.
All of us do that, you know, if we see an article or something interesting, we earmark it, uh, to discuss on the pod, obviously. And, and this is a shout out why I chose Lizard Scott tonight as Lizard of the Week. This is a perfect example of conversation starters, our great emails and comments from you out there on Lizard Nation.[00:49:00]
We only have seven of us in the room tonight. When grinder's here, there's eight. There are so many more of you out there with great ideas and great things that we could talk about. And so many of our great discussions, especially in the last year and a half, two years, have been prompted by good listener commentary and emails.
So that has been a big driver of this program is the feedback and the, and the conversation that we're having with each of you each week. Um, as far as like news and stuff, I try to keep Cuba related topics and news to the Cuba episodes. So very rarely I. Unless there's something going on that needs to be talked about urgently, uh, very rarely will you hear us on a New World episode, talk about Cuba and vice versa, unless it comes up in a comparison point or something.
But, uh, topic-wise, I try to keep them a little segregated. You know, a lot of it's also spontaneity, you know, somebody brings something up. You know, I think of a, uh, one of my favorite spontaneous things that happened was when we were discussing our, our holiday foods, you know, and Chef [00:50:00] Ricky was describing all the food he was making for his holidays, and then we got into rooster's, soy bowl.
Soy bowl. That was total, total spontaneity. We did not plan that. So that's a good example of something that just happened. We,
**Senator:** we also can't plan for when Pagodas gonna call the cops on himself or back into a poll. I mean, these things
**Gizmo:** just happen. He's self arrests himself. Sometimes pagoda is probably the most spontaneous of all of us.
**Poobah:** Yeah. And we, when we have podcast members who are. In love with Cher at 80 years old. We'll get there. We'll get there. No, we'll
**Gizmo:** get there.
**Poobah:** What
**Gizmo:** do you mean? We'll get there? We're gonna get there, we're gonna talk about, we're gonna get there, we're gonna talk about SNL 50. Yes. So, uh, so as far as, um, keeping blizzards on track mm-hmm.
I don't know how
**Senator:** to answer that. Oh, we're gonna keep Gizmo on track today as he deflect the share comment. Right. Very intentionally. That was
**Gizmo:** a good example of me trying to keep the conversation on track and, well, well, exactly.
**Poobah:** TI texted you today about share. Mm-hmm. And, and you, you, you kind of, you, there was a little pushback and I said, you don't make the rules.[00:51:00]
**Gizmo:** So, you know, we do our best to keep the topics moving, obviously. Uh, we, we try to be very open and honest with each other and, and you out there. So, um, that's what we try to do here, lizard Scott. So I think that's the, uh, best answer that I have for you tonight. Well,
**Poobah:** and also I'd like, just to add one, one thing too, we're all, we're all friends.
I mean, yeah. And, and that's, I think, you know, the tie that binds to, to quote Bruce Springsteen is I think our friendships and our, our relationships, we we're all from actually. Different backgrounds and, um, in almost every way to, in almost every way. And, and, and to some respect and, and to what Senator always goes back to is like, well, the cigars, the, the great equalizer.
And, and it is. So we're able to kind of come together and, and share things. And, and you can, you can. Be together. 'cause we, it's not like we do the podcast and then, and then [00:52:00] we just, just for some inside baseball for the listener. It's not like we do the podcast and we're like, all right, we'll see you later.
Do you know what I mean? We, we we're, we hang out afterwards. We talk about our families, we talk about our our lives. We talk about our jobs and every single day, every, you know, all the time. And, and, and we text every day. So the Lizard Chat is very active on
**Gizmo:** iMessage. Especially, especially especially the last 24 hours, especially the last 24,
**Poobah:** 48 hours.
Thank you for that. Yeah. It's been quite We'll get there. We'll get there. See how he's, let's, lets get there. Now he's, he keeps trying to control the narrative.
**Chef Ricky:** He's like, we'll get there. Well, boys, we've come to the end of the night.
**Gizmo:** No, but p poop is totally right. I mean, when we, we, we all spend, uh, various combinations of each of us. I mean, rooster and I had lunch earlier this week. I saw Bam and Senator very late night last night. There's always something happening inside the lizard group here. There's always a combination of things happening.
We're [00:53:00] all trying to see each other
**Bam Bam:** very
**Gizmo:** dynamic as often as we can. And, and again, we're very lucky to have our home base here at 10 86, where exactly 24 7 something's going on. And
**Poobah:** also for the listener. So everyone knows, like we go to, we, like, we visit each other's homes. We, for the most part know each other's families, at least, you know, as acquaintances.
Um, we spend, we, so we do, you know, we spend time not just here in the lounge, but outside of the lounge. Um, and that's been going on for years. So when it comes to topics or the flow or whatever it is, if, if you like that as a listener, that's great, but we, we, we don't really. Plan stuff. Uh, you know, GIS is the producer teases up a lot of stuff.
Um, but at the same time, I mean, we just do our thing. It, you know what I mean? It's very organic. Yeah, yeah. It's in, is organic in a way. Yeah. There's, I
**Gizmo:** will say too, to piggyback on what you're saying, just so the listen is very clear, [00:54:00] there is nothing scripted about what we're doing ever. It's a loose bullet point on, from my perspective, uh, with my iPad here.
But otherwise, there is no script. You cannot script. Bam, bam. I know that's right. Not
**Rooster:** possible. You were gonna say something. Uh, no, I was just gonna say like, I mean also the fact that, you know, we were friends before this, Bob, and also, you know, we live very close to each other. We are all like within five miles of each other.
I mean, other than, except Gizmo. Except Gizmo is in Guam, sir. That's Ricky. And Ricky, he's in
**Gizmo:** Guam, plus I'm in Guam. He
**Rooster:** lives in like Rhode Island or some shit. Well, the Uber ride's gonna be like 120. So we do see each other pretty often. So.
**Gizmo:** Well, thank you, uh, lizard Scott for writing in. That's a great question.
That was the first time I think we've ever been asked that. And, uh, for that reason, you are going to be our Lizard of the week. And again, any lizard out there can win Lizard of the Week. All you have to do is email us, put a comment on YouTube, [00:55:00] Instagram, even on Spotify. Now you can comment on episodes on Spotify.
So please share your thoughts and, uh, and uh, please stay in touch with us. I
**Chef Ricky:** was just gonna say, and while not always necessary, a damn good cigar just sparks amazing conversation. Absolutely. Right.
**Gizmo:** All right boys, let's get to it. Now, I have to ask each of you, 'cause I don't know, but, uh, did any of you watch the, uh, I know some of you did, but, uh, who watched the Saturday Night Live 50th anniversary, homecoming concert on Peacock?
Because I thought it was one of the best television produced concerts I've ever seen. Hmm. Ever. I haven't yet. Well, you would know. It's awesome. You would know. Yeah. It, it, the, uh, it was, uh, headed up by the Roots. Roots from the point of view of production. Yeah. The production, the variety of artists, the surprises, the comedy.
I mean, it was, I think it was actually better than the actual SSL 50th show that happened on Sunday night. This happened on Friday [00:56:00] night at Radio City. Um, it was really brilliantly produced. Somehow they got Lauren Hilda show up, uh, on, on time, which is impossible apparently. Mm-hmm. In the music industry.
But they had everybody there. I mean, but it, it wasn't as good as the Han Zimmer show that you wrote. That was a good show. Thank you, rooster. That was a great show. Han Zimmers at Barker.
**Poobah:** Has anyone, so has anyone in the room ever, ever actually attended SNL Live? Not anyone. No. So I, I, I, I did it twice.
Really? Yeah. And, um, let's see. It was, I. It was Weezer and it was, was the, was the act and Christopher Walken was the host. Oh, that was a great episode. Had to be a classic. And he did the chomp. Oh yeah. You know, he, where he where are basically so like, it's like, so the cameraman has a glitter glove on and it, so you see the cameraman with, with the, um, the shoulder mounted camera that's on a, I forget what you would know what it's [00:57:00] called.
It's, it's, I've used them in photo shoots before that I've managed. But it's, it's like a. It's balanced. There's, there's like a balance in there. So, and then the cameraman has the glove and he just keeps blocking the cameraman who represents a woman who's not saying anything. He's like, no, no, no, no. Shade.
Stay for the Troon. We're gonna have champ. He is like blocking the woman into the room, who's fantastic. But the, my main point is that the sound stage, um, and I saw Blues traveler there as well. I forget who the host was, was for the Blues Traveler one. 'cause that was a before that. But the sound stage, the sound at, um, NBC studios there is legendary.
Yeah, it's really well done. I mean, it, it is like, if you ask any, you know, you, you're in the music business. If you ask anybody that playing on that stage is, it's, the sound in there is just unbelievable. But, uh, radio City of course is if not as good. It's one of [00:58:00] the best. Yeah. The best in the world. Yep. So I'm sure the sound was great and Yeah.
And
**Gizmo:** it, it was for me, it was the overall production. I mean, what's cool about Radio City is they actually, the stages are com almost like robotic. So they have various stages that can go in and out and up and down, and they have like almost elevators of stages. Wow. So orchestras can come up and down. It's, it's just incredible what they can do there at Radio City.
It's very, and of course they did that for the Rockette show around the holidays. There's a lot of movement there with the stages. Uh, but I really encourage. Everybody to check out SN L 50. So let's go through some of the artists that performed that I loved. Yeah, let's do that. Miley Cyrus, bad Bunny. Eddie Veter played the Backstreet Boys, which I'm, that's not my thing, but people went nuts for that.
Uh, Ms. Lauren Hill, like I said, uh, from the Fujis with wri, uh, Wyclef Jean came out, they did killing me softly. Uh, jelly Roll was there. Brandy Carlisle, Snoop Dogg Arcade Fire did a killer set with David Byrne. Bonnie Rai blew me away. She did, uh, I Can't Make You [00:59:00] Love Me with Chris Martin from Coldplay.
Hmm. And he played Bruce Hornsby's part who was on the original record. Love that. And, uh, Nirvana came out with Post Malone in the Kurt Cobain role. Yeah. That was really cool. And he sounded great. Yeah. Like I normally wouldn't highlight something like this, but it was. It blew me away. And of course then I posted on the chat that Cher performed and I was completely enamored with Cher.
Oh, you were? I had, I had these feelings in Mo in a moment of vulnerability, I'll admit
**Bam Bam:** hormones were
**Senator:** flowing.
**Gizmo:** That's right. In a moment of vulnerability, like
**Senator:** 78-year-old Cher I saw,
**Gizmo:** I remember of Cher when I was a kid, man. Well, yeah. And and that's what I see. It was 40
**Bam Bam:** years
**Gizmo:** ago. Oh, ooh. Yeah. And uh, and let me just say, I put it on the lounge chat some commentary on this topic and uh, and you were suspended from the lounge chat for 20 hours.
I got to suspend it from the lounge chat for 24 hours, even though I run the lounge chat. I don't know how [01:00:00] that happened, but the last 48 hours have just been. Lunacy regarding my commentary. Would Cher? 'cause I thought she looked fantastic. Kevin Costa was blown away. Billy Crystal was crying 'cause he just lost his house in the LA fires.
I thought it was amazing. It was so good to see her performing. Hmm. What else was
**Chef Ricky:** good? Yeah. What else? That wasn't much cleaner version of what we,
**Gizmo:** and it'll
**Poobah:** stay that way. Again. Con hashtag controlling the narrative. Yeah. Cher was legendary in her day. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** The, the listener can infer what happened here.
People, people like what they like, like Gizmo
**Senator:** likes, uh, mature, you know, very mature. Very, very. There's
**Rooster:** a certain affection that you have with Cher now. I'm not talking about before, like now, which is But did you, hard to understand. Did you see her, what she was wearing on that
**Gizmo:** [01:01:00] stage? I mean, wow. I watched it six times back to back.
I just kept rewinding six times In slow motion or no? No, it was full speed. I just,
**Poobah:** I almost just spit my drink. Dirty pond water. How many, how many bottles of baby oil?
**Gizmo:** Ah,
**Poobah:** Hey, that's a bam approved activity, correct? He, he, he, he like lined his room like Dexter, like, like beat the shit out of himself.
**Gizmo:** Oh my gosh.
Yeah. That was a brutal 48 hours on the, uh, lounge chat, let's put it that way. And the lizard chat, somehow it moved over to the lizard chat. Correct. Thank you. Bam. Bam. Alright. And, uh, yeah, it was, uh, I'm surprised you put it in the
**Senator:** lounge chat. I'm surprised you didn't go straight to the lizard chat. The wildest part of the whole thing was when this happened, the next morning, we all just assumed Gizmo, you know, enjoyed a little too much of whatever he was drinking and he immediately responded and said, I was stone cold sober.
I had only one drink, and that made it way worse. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Ex It [01:02:00] exacerbated. Didn't he say something else?
**Bam Bam:** He said something like, hashtag guf. Well, something, something like that. I did not, I did not,
**Gizmo:** don't
**Bam Bam:** put
**Gizmo:** words in my mouth. A
**Bam Bam:** couple other comments, I'm not sure if we should mention. Yeah, we'll,
**Gizmo:** we'll keep that, uh.
We'll keep that, uh, in the lounge, Jeff. But anyway, it was a great performance. I'm controlling the narrative and uh, I really enjoyed it. So I encourage everybody to go watch it. I encourage you guys to watch it. I'm telling you, it's gonna blow you away. It's some of the be most entertaining television.
I've seen them Once. Desert
**Senator:** Nation hides your grandmothers, correct? Correct. I
**Gizmo:** am interested in seeing Nirvana with, yeah, and Post was great. I would not be surprised. Yeah, I would not be surprised Tour if Nirvana goes out with Post Malone and some other artists and does a stadium tour. It was that good market.
I, I don't disagree. It was excellent. I don't disagree really. I don't
**Poobah:** disagree with that. Wow. Uh, totally. Um, but. Um, all nursing homes just for the listener have been put on alert. Uh, they, they've, they, uh, I just all out my ring. It's, it's called the alert [01:03:00] and, um, and, uh, is that like a mass test text message, like an Amber alert?
Right. So if you see a guy who looks like a little gremlin, walk, walk, walk into the, walk, into the, to, into a nursing home, to volunteer to take, uh,
**Gizmo:** with a black hoodie on. Well,
**Poobah:** well, to take, you know the folk, you know, the, the, the old folks from the day room to the chapel and wheel 'em in. And then you wheel 'em back to their room.
You gotta look out for, for, you gotta look out for this. Like, let take out for a walk, grandma. Yeah. Lemme take you out for the walk. Let's get to know each other a little bit. You get your walker or I'll get mine.
**Senator:** Let's watch some reruns of Golden Girls. Yeah. Hey, that's a great show. See?
**Poobah:** Oh, man. You guys are brutal.
You guys are brutal. Oh, it was so enjoyable. I was dying on that chat. I mean, I was, I had tears coming
**Gizmo:** outta my eyes. I did too. It was very, you guys were very, very brutal but hilarious and very creative. It was great. So let's [01:04:00] go to another listener email that actually ties into this. This one is from Lizard Marcus.
**Chef Ricky:** He's like, I think Share looked great.
**Gizmo:** This one is from Lizard Marcus. He says, Hey everyone, lizard Marcus here. I've been listening for a while now and I'm always having a blast with you guys and your episodes. I have a different kind of question for you this time. What is the funniest, blooper or unexpected moment you've had while recording that?
Never made it on the show.
**Bam Bam:** The list is long. I, oh
**Gizmo:** man. I bet there are some wild behind the scenes stories, especially from bam. Bam. And I'd love to hear one if you, excuse me. Don't mind sharing. Thank you for keeping things entertaining and real. I. Cheers. My friends lizard Marcus. Well, we, there,
**Senator:** there is lizards after dark for our
**Poobah:** premium subscribers.
Just, I was going there. That's correct. That's on our Patreon. That's a monthly, that's Patreon. A monthly subscription for that.
**Gizmo:** Correct. [01:05:00] Well played Senator. We doubled down on our anonymity. We actually use different lizard names on the lizard after dark, right? Yes.
**Poobah:** Look in the, uh, look in the gizmo goes by grandpa.
Uh, look, look in the link below to support our Patreon for 1599 a month for after hours. Again, that's a lizard after hours.com. Lizard after hours.com.
**Gizmo:** Lizards after dark, after dark. So I, you know, I saw this email and I wanted to throw it out to the group, but as far as bloopers or unexpected moments, I don't know if there's that many that we've not.
Included on the pod. You like that? You like that? Do you like that? That's a Do you like that? Do you like that? Yeah. There was an X-rated intro that we recorded one time we did around that quote, which you, we say a lot. It's a little bit of an inside joke that, uh, certainly will never be aired, but that would probably be the blooper or unexpected moment that, uh, actually there was a point early if in recording, if you guys remember this, [01:06:00] where.
I would play that before we came on just to kind of
**Bam Bam:** mm-hmm.
**Gizmo:** Boost our energy and get excited about recording. I would play that intro. Correct. So it was over the intro music and the guys were kind of riffing around the, the stuff I say, you know, and then it got, it took a couple steps further, let's say.
And, uh, it was a very, very funny recording. Oh yeah. And we haven't listened to it in a while, so maybe I'll play it for us after we stop tonight.
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah. I, I think one that'll, you know, it's hard to come across, uh, the air because there's no video. Uh, but my very first appearance on the pod where we In a blazer.
Yeah. I thought I was coming on. He came in a, he, he came in, he came in a blazer in a,
**Poobah:** in a, in a white button down like he was getting a class photo. I thought I was,
**Chef Ricky:** you know, you guys sound so distinguished on the podcast. Mm. I was like, oh man, you know, I, I thought I was going on the set of the Charlie Rose Show or something, and I was gonna sit around a, a big round table with you [01:07:00] guys and then reality hit and I show up and I'm show up at, at that senator's, uh, garage lounge in my blazer and my shirt dressed up pretty spiffy, carrying all my bottles of tequila and paraphernalia to, to drink it and whatnot.
And some gifts for you guys and. I walk in and poop was there with his fucking belly hanging off.
**Gizmo:** No
**Chef Ricky:** belly
**Gizmo:** anymore though, right? That's true. That's true. Slim and trim. He was in his lawn chair because poop always had a lawn chair in Senator's garage. He was in a lawn chair. The buck crack didn't
**Bam Bam:** make it appearance too,
**Poobah:** and I was like, and by the way, by the way, I broke that Aron deck chair. Yes, you did.
**Gizmo:** Correct. That's why you went to the lawn chair. That's a good example actually. That's a very good example for the listener.
**Chef Ricky:** So, yeah, I think, uh, that, that was one of my favorite moments and I definitely got there. I'm sorry for the listener. He broke the
**Senator:** chair. I'll just never forget that episode. Every like 10 minutes you [01:08:00] looked at uba, he was required and further and further until he
**Poobah:** basically sunk into the floor.
It was
**Gizmo:** amazing. He was a good sport. He was. He was. And he kept recording. Oh yeah. Like he didn't say anything like a pro. We were just watching him just like drop into the floor, descending toward the floor,
**Senator:** and then he gets after recording, he's sink
**Gizmo:** hole in
**Senator:** my garage. It's like, where is UBA going?
**Gizmo:** That was great.
By the way, pu is very slim and trim these days. Oh, you gotta give him credit. Yeah, there you go. He's put the work in. So good for you guys. Yes sir.
**Poobah:** Thank you.
**Gizmo:** Alright boys, we are in the last third now in the weather by Cohiba 2024 and the Russells Reserve pairing tonight, the 10 years old Kentucky, straight Bourbon whiskey.
What's everybody thinking right now?
**Chef Ricky:** I'm great. Pretty before the conversation, I think the cigars okay. You know, it's not, it's not. Upsetting me in any way. Um, so more the same, wait until Splitwise. Yeah.
**Bam Bam:** You're not gonna wanna pay that bill? No.
**Gizmo:** What's everybody else thinking? Senator, what do you [01:09:00] think right
**Senator:** now?
Yeah. I'm, I'm in the same boat. I mean, there's been no point at which this has been offensive or I've been like mm-hmm. Overly upset with it. I think the, the thing I'm just disappointed in is there have been moments where I've really enjoyed the flavor notes I'm getting, but they've been so fleeting.
Like when I got that saltiness all of a sudden. That like, you know, immediately you think like Cuban cigar, like you, your mind just starts to get really excited. Mm-hmm. And it lasted for like all of two minutes?
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, it came and went very, if that, very quick, if that, yeah. That's what happened to me with the, uh, pond water and I'm happy it did.
Oh, how about the, uh, reptilian dirty water moss thing that you were doing? Is that gone now? Green Earth lasted about
**Chef Ricky:** 30 seconds.
**Bam Bam:** Um, I, I think it's pretty enjoyable. It's not. You can't really pick anything out. Yeah, it's still very muddled, but
**Gizmo:** it's not a bad cigar. It's, no, it's, I would, I would say it's not a good cigar
**Bam Bam:** at this point.
It's pretty easy to smoke and it's, I'm still getting a decent amount of sweetness. It's not offensive like a [01:10:00] few guys have said,
**Rooster:** I don't know. The best thing about the cigar is the tube that it came in. How about this? That's about it. The box. That's box too. Yeah. The box
**Gizmo:** pagoda. What do you think?
**Pagoda:** Yeah, pretty much the same.
It's, um, you know, it did not develop into anything, um, you know, in the second half as, um, like I might have even anticipated. Um, but yeah. But overall, you know, I think it's a very, very short finish for me in the front of the pallet. Typically. I really like it when, you know, good cigars with envelope, the top of a pallet.
But this is just, you know, hovering around the front of my palette. It, it's pleasant though. Yeah. Um, a little bit. Um, yeah, I did get the saltiness as well, but, and it went towards the side of my tongue and then it just dissipated immediately. But it's easy to smoke at this point. It's, it's easy to smoke.
The smoke output is increased.
**Gizmo:** Yeah,
**Pagoda:** it has. Yeah. So I'm
**Gizmo:** not having to pull as much to get a decent amount of smoke output right
**Senator:** now. I agree. The, the last third of this is like the most effortless. It's true. Part of it. [01:11:00] True.
**Pagoda:** Yeah, but nothing very, you know, uh, significant in terms of uh, improvement in flavor.
Yeah.
**Gizmo:** Alright, boys. I wanna do a, an update on the battle for the trademark between, uh, Haos SA and General Cigar Company, Scandinavian Tobacco Group over the name Cohiba. 'cause we talked about this a couple years ago. I just wanna give a quick update in the Cuba versus Dominican, uh, releases of these worldwide.
So as of February, 2025, the legal dispute over the Cohiba trademark between Cuba's State-owned tobacco company and General Cigar Company remains unresolved in the United States. This protracted battle spanning over 25 years now centers on the rights, of course, to the name Cohiba in the United States, where General Cigar produces and sells its own line of Cohiba cigars distinctive course from the Cuban version.
Which is subject to the embargo that is now 60 plus years old, where Cuban products are not able [01:12:00] to be sold in the United States. In December, 2022, the United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled in favor of UBA tobacco and Habanas sa, and decided to cancel general cigars registrations of the cohiba trademark in the us.
The decision was based on a violation of the inner American. Convention for Trademark and Commercial Protection, commonly known as the Pan-American Convention Dating all the way back to 1929. This board concluded that General Cigars knowledge of the existing Cuba Cohiba brand prior to its US trademark filings constituted a breach of this international agreement.
They filed a lawsuit. General Cigar filed a lawsuit in January, 2023 in a US District Court seeking to overturn the decision. The company argued that the ruling improperly revisited claims previously settled in general cigars favor by the US Court of Appre uh, appeals. At one point more than a decade [01:13:00] earlier, general Cigar maintains that the board's decision contradicts.
Established US Supreme Court precedent and has vowed to continue manufacturing and selling its cohiba cigars During the appeal process, as the case proceeds through the legal system, the resolution of the Cohiba trademark dispute in the US is still pending. So well, little 25 years plus, uh, it's still ongoing.
**Senator:** Mm-hmm. Little does, Banano says, say, no, by the end of this year, doge will get rid of that board. So they're not gonna, that's have to worry. That's it's not gonna exist. That's a good point. Likely. That's a good point.
**Gizmo:** So that's a little update on that boys, and we have one more listener email before we get into our ratings tonight, and I really like this one.
This is from our friend lizard, John from Boise. He's one of those emailers that always sends us a great question, and I really love this question this week. He says, hi giz. Hope you and the boys are well. I love that you guys are revisiting some sticks from earlier episodes. He's ref referencing us going back to some Cuban cigars that we've done in the past, [01:14:00] revisiting later runs, different years, different boxes, et cetera.
Seeing how they, uh, or the pal may have changed over time. This got him wondering, which is a great question for the group. What is one thing that each of you know now about cigars that you had wished you knew earlier? So what is one thing about cigars that you wished you knew earlier that you know now
**Chef Ricky:** that
**Gizmo:** five years ago was the time to buy
**Chef Ricky:** Cuban cigars?
Yeah. Other than most of us would say that. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** As usual, love and look forward to the pod each week. Cheers. Lizard John from Boise. Great question.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. Stocking up when it getting was good. Yeah.
**Rooster:** I think for me, I mean, I, I don't think I was too familiar with so many different Cuban brands that there are, that, uh, as we started recording the podcast that we came across and we had done so many different markets that I really wasn't that aware of.
You know, like Vegas, Robina, uh, [01:15:00] so many other ones like the, uh, what else have we done? Uh, Rafael Gonzalez. Yeah. That comes to mind. Ones Juan Lopez. One. Juan Lopez. Yeah. Juan Lopez too. Yeah, you're
**Gizmo:** right. Yeah. I think for me, I, that also kind of parallels with the new world journey that we've been on, like how many New World cigars have, have entered our rotations.
Each of us, I think. Yeah. Especially from Honduras, you know, namely the Aino stuff. Of course. The fabric of five stuff, which has been performing brilliantly bam. By the way, can you tell the listener what happened last night about that Mofo Trinity reus fabric of five? I
**Bam Bam:** experienced a revelation, uba.
Senator handed me the re robusto, the Trinity re robusto.
**Senator:** Can you believe this, Rob? All this time. This is the first time he's had the Trinity reo it it, that's offensive, by the way. I've had the
**Bam Bam:** Trinity reo. It's so good. I smoke like three a week, hate five a week. I have to say, it's one of the most delicious cigars I've ever fucking had.
Wow. It was so good [01:16:00] from beginning to end it. It was, but that's a new
**Poobah:** release though.
**Bam Bam:** But it was, it was shockingly good. Not a single rough edge. The, it, it was just delicious from beginning, literally down to my fingers burning.
**Senator:** Unbelievable. That's a great smoke. Yeah. And then BA went to go purchase them.
**Bam Bam:** Oh, and they were, they were outta stock. Yeah. They're sold out. Oh yeah. Good for them. Yeah. This was at, what 2:00 AM
**Gizmo:** I think it might
**Bam Bam:** have been 3:00 AM Yeah. Maybe. But an incredible experience. Yeah. Yeah.
**Gizmo:** I think the one thing that I wish I knew was the. The way we used to kind of set up our, our, our sits when we would line up cigars.
You know, Honduras didn't come into the picture
**Bam Bam:** very big probably
**Gizmo:** until about a year ago, and I think it's really solidified a solid place as kind of the number two slot or number three slot in my rotation. And I'm smoking so many Honduran, Piros and blend, you know, cigars now that, you know, I'm smoking a Cuban, a Honduran, a Dominican Nicaraguan generally in that order and how much that's [01:17:00] elevated and kind of bridged the experience between Cuba.
The Dominican for me. Yeah. You know, I'm disappointed '
**Senator:** cause I was expecting one word, Landrow. I'm shocked that you didn't say that. That was your I got a lot of
**Gizmo:** shit for the Sero on this podcast, so I, it's, I'm, I'm, uh, I'm tormented by the landero.
**Senator:** I'll just say for me, I think similar rooster, but broader for me in the sense that I, I think I was a lot more close-minded, you know, years ago in terms of different brands, different cigars, even within them.
I mean, I could have smoked a D four and an ex exclusive every day for the rest of my life. Mm-hmm. And I think the podcast has helped me, and I'm sure all of us just broadened the range of cigars that, um, we try and as a result we've found so many gems. Sure. I mean, I smoke an aging room almost every day.
That's Sonata. I mean, there's so many just random cigars we've kinda stumbled across Yep. That have become part of our rotation. So I. For me, I wish I knew [01:18:00] earlier to just try more.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. I think that echoes all of our sentiments too,
**Gizmo:** and it's almost like, I think that we, through our community, through Lizard Nation, going back to that conversation we had a, a few minutes ago, the recommendations that have come in that have, you know, peaked this discovery, you know, that it really kind of, you know, fire started this discovery where it's not like we joined a retailer cigar club or something and you're getting a bunch of new cigars every month that are hit or miss.
Certainly we've had some real stinkers that we've reviewed, but we have found so many great cigars over the years here by doing, you know, a new cigar each week that it's like, it's pretty amazing. Yeah. And how our rotations have changed over time. Sure. Just like Senator was saying.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah. More to the point with that question.
I think Chef and pagoda hit it on the nail for me, not buying more. At the time. Yeah. That's something I think about from time to time. It's, you know.
**Poobah:** Yeah. But that kind of hindsight is, is [01:19:00] 2020. It is, in my my view it is. I'm not sure that, you know, you could predict because you who could have
**Gizmo:** predicted haos increasing their prices 400%.
**Poobah:** Yeah. It's, it's a really kind of tough thing to, to look back on and I'll tell it's Chinese and have, and have regrets. I mean,
am I wrong? That's a fair point. That's a check mark,
**Rooster:** correct? Yes. Fair point is bam, bam saying that he doesn't have enough cigars?
**Bam Bam:** No,
**Rooster:** I'm
**Poobah:** not
**Bam Bam:** saying that. But you Is the tower not full? Look, if you have one tower full, you don't want another tower full. Sure. If you've got two towers, you don't want four towers.
Of course, in this thing that we're doing it, it's never enough. It just isn't.
**Poobah:** Yeah. You know? Yeah. Say to Goda, I spent a
**Senator:** lot of, I'm never done. Never
**Pagoda:** done.
That was a great night, by the way. Yeah. That was a, [01:20:00] that was a great night. It was awesome. By the way, that's the night, uh, got introduced to, uh, the North Corona. Yes. That was in the, yeah, in the North Lounge. Yeah. Yeah. That's right.
**Poobah:** I mean, I don't know. I don't know if I'd, what
**Gizmo:** did you wish you knew before?
That you know now. What did you wish you had knew a few years ago that you know now about cigars, cigars, smoking, the lifestyle, whatever it may be.
**Rooster:** Yeah. Kanye.
**Poobah:** It's a great cigar. Oh, yes. It's are we now? Thanks to you. Yeah. I, I like the cigar, um, lizard bingo's hitting tonight. But, but the, um, I don't know, I think I, you know, you can get caught up.
I guess one thing to be careful of is, and as you listen to this podcast, there's certain, there's certain markers within the Habanas essay PO portfolio that just aren't good. Oh,
**Bam Bam:** I knew we were going here,
**Poobah:** and so, so it's very easy. I, I, I, I'd refer you to the rating sheet and then. Not kind of get caught up in Romeo and Julietta [01:21:00] or, or you know, some of the hoyo stuff.
You're taking chances, like if you're not getting, and also sourcing, I got smart early on about who I was gonna, who I was gonna procure cigars from. And there were certain guys who had the best stuff and I loaded up, I, IIIW you know, early on I would say, okay, well I'll, I'll buy this, I'll buy that because I'm, I'm you're trying to try stuff.
But at the end of the day, there's only, there's, there's only a handful of markets really that put out like consistent, consistent, good stuff from, you know, at, at, at a, at a qubit that's in that catalog. That's my opinion. Like I have a certain palette and I like, I. Certain things. I like Mann, I like Parus.
Do you know what I mean? And I like up men and I like Parus. Uh, okay. You know what I'm saying? So I missed
**Gizmo:** those. [01:22:00] What were those again? Up
**Poobah:** and the record.
**Gizmo:** Stuck,
**Poobah:** you know, record stuck. It's like, do the impression, you know, I dunno what to say. Play your favorite branch, but, but dial in. Dial in on what I mean, dial in on what you like.
If you like a Romeo, Julietta, Kanye, the record stuck. If you, I mean if, if, if, if you like an r and j short Churchill smoke it, I, I mean, fine do it. But I, I'm just saying there's a lot of ex, you can cut to the chase by maybe buying more singles, not buying as many boxes. You know, I have some Bo I have a few.
I, I would've not have. I. Ventured out as far as I ventured out, sure. To, to in buying full boxes of certain smokes that I bought on, you know, on a whim. But again, retrospect is, you know, it's 2020, you, you, you look back there were more accessible too, so you weren't taking as much [01:23:00] risk. Now with the prices, really dial in on what I, I, I guess on, on, on what you like and go for, go for that and don't try and.
Get all nuts. I, I I I at the prices that are net I
**Bam Bam:** kind of feel a, a little bit differently. I enjoyed the journey of learning about what I like and don't like by buying cigars that I'm not familiar with. Yeah. From Habanas. That's fair. That's fair. Like as an example,
**Poobah:** no one knew you had those. Yeah,
**Bam Bam:** yeah, yeah.
**Poobah:** But sure. We were trying in private. It's good to know now. Yeah. I don't understand a reference, but
**Bam Bam:** like, let, here's one example. Kba, that's the Marco. That's horrible. Well, I I wouldn't say that. No. I, I think they're very good. Yeah. That distinct Guido that we had was very nice. Solomon. We did. Yes. You know, try, I, I, we said this countless times.
If you're just getting into the whole Cuban cigar hobby, you have to. Try a spectrum of cigars and it's tough to get singles, so you're gonna put money into a box. You learn, you're [01:24:00] learning. It's a learning process.
**Senator:** I would just flag one more thing for listeners that hasn't been mentioned and I've, I've obviously was shouting this from the rooftops, but I think some definitely, um, learned this firsthand.
Standard production stuff is the best stuff out of Cuba. Yes. Oh yeah. Hard. So that's
**Bam Bam:** also that. That's a great point. And so there are
**Senator:** many people, many in H cigar smokers. That's a great point. That waste so much money on regionals and limit and tatas. There are some very good tatas regionals. I have yet to have a single regional that I, one.
We had one procured a box we had and said I need
**Bam Bam:** these. We
**Gizmo:** had one, didn't we have just one that we really liked? There were a couple that reviewed well, but not to the point that we chased him that he's, he's referencing the Ramona ais number two, the 2019 Oh el. Oh yeah. That was a
**Poobah:** 10. You know, that was one of the rare response.
That was 10. That was a 10 rare. I was the first person to get that box. We know. Congratulations. I got you one. You're welcome. I know. Thank you as well. Um, anyway, I, I, I gave it to [01:25:00] you outside the David office and the
**Rooster:** Vegas Robina, classical,
**Poobah:** the Vegas for being a class. I wish we got so many more boxes.
Probably, probably, probably two, probably two of the best boxes that we've ever sourced, ever sourced on the podcast and rated the highest true along with the H hutman. Number two, love 2014, which I also discovered, so I'm just, I don't want to take check credit. That's a check mark, but check. That's, check, check, check.
UBA knew it all. There's nothing he wishes he knew. No, but, but, but Dr. Joe, but it, Dr. Joe, well, he knew his stuff. Love 2014. Once you dial into what you like. Um, you know, stick with what you like. There's a lot of traps out there, I think, in that catalog. That's what I'm, I'm saying, saying. I would say there's a lot
**Gizmo:** of
**Poobah:** traps
**Gizmo:** in the new world.
Catalog's too true. With these special releases. Yeah. The new world manufacturers are tracking in the same direction, not to the. Egregious degree. Mm-hmm. But they're, we're tracking in the same direction with these high priced specialty releases. [01:26:00] 111 year age stuff from doff, crazy, ridiculous cigars and prices we're smoking one right now.
Well, this one's $30, not 750. But you know, I think the thing that I would say. And, and this only comes with time and being under the microscope, is I, I wish my palate knew then what It knows now. You know, and I, like, we have all developed our pallets in such a, you know, a, a serious way because of what we do here each week that we sit down.
Who, who
**Senator:** knew? You don't need to eat chocolate every time you smoke a cigar. Well said.
**Rooster:** That's true.
**Senator:** Well said. Well, that's true. That's, that's, that's a, that's a dig. That's a good dig.
**Gizmo:** Brutal but true. But, you know, I, I, I think this exercise, and I encourage the listeners out there, when we sit down together under this microscope, no distractions.
There's nothing else going on. We're focused on what we're doing here. I think that's really been an important part of this learning that we've done, that has developed our palette to the point that we know if we sit [01:27:00] down and smoke a great cigar in this room and we run out and buy a box, our palette is not deceiving us.
Maybe the in the way it has in the past. You know, I think that's a huge learning too for, for all of us. The tough
**Bam Bam:** thing about that though, your palate develops over time. Absolutely. And early on in the journey. No question about that. Yeah. You can't expect to have that, that development.
**Poobah:** Well, yeah. We all, we all trashed, uh, qd.
Everybody was and down on qd and now, and, and, and Grinder loved Qds. Yeah. And now, now can't have enough of them then. Then you have a cor s claros and you go, wow, that's one of the better. That's, that's better than any limit Todd I've ever had ever. Am I
**Gizmo:** wrong? You're not wrong. All right, boys, that's another great email from Lizard John from Boise.
Thanks as always to Lizard John or lizard of the weak Lizard, Scott. Lizard, Jared and Lizard Marcus for writing us tonight. We really appreciate hearing from all of our listeners, so please keep it up. And boys, it's now time to move into the ratings portion of our program. Tonight we're [01:28:00] gonna start with the Russells Reserve, 10 years aged Kentucky.
Straight bourbon whiskey. Bam, bam. You're
**Bam Bam:** up. Yeah. So I think I'm at a seven. Um, it's a little too sweet for me. A touch hot with the chip of ice. It got a little bit better. Um, but Senator said it. A few of the other guys said it. It's un it's like many, many other bourbons. So it's not, it doesn't distinguish itself in any way.
It's as drinkable shore. Is it affordable? Yes, but it's not memorable. So I'm at a seven.
**Chef Ricky:** Okay. Chef Ricky. Same. I'm at a seven with it. It's drinkable. I echo everything. Bam said I'm at a seven.
**Senator:** Don't get too
**Chef Ricky:** excited.
**Pagoda:** Don't fall asleep. All right. Pagoda. Yeah. It's a seven for me as well, I think. Um, yeah, just like it's very serviceable, I guess.
You know, it's one of those things you could have if it's in front of you. Um, I think, um. [01:29:00] Even in terms of the body, I didn't know, like maybe 'cause the ice, it felt very light, uh, light and sweet. I like, for me, it was nothing extraordinary or something that I would go and buy other days. I think, uh, we've discussed before in the port earlier that, uh, you know, we don't typically reach out for bourbons, uh, to, uh, you know, as a pairing on a day-to-day basis.
Uh, so when we do, you know, we, we like something which really just leaves an impression on us. And I don't think this did. All right.
**Gizmo:** So for me it's an eight. I actually thought this bourbon was pretty damn good. Um, I, I think comparative to other bourbons in the same price range. I think that the value component of this, I'm factoring in what, what was the price on this 40, like, like right around 40 bucks.
Okay. So I, I thought it was very good. I enjoyed it from the first sip I drank. May a neat, uh, I thought it paired very well with the cigar, which didn't perform very well tonight. For us, it was okay. Uh, so I actually thought it elevated the evening for me. Uh, I think if I [01:30:00] drank a decent amount of this, I'd feel pretty good after whole bottle, the whole
**Bam Bam:** bottle inebriated enough to give a rating.
**Poobah:** Hey, this dub keeps getting better, inebriated enough to Google share.
**Rooster:** She keeps getting younger, so you fucking whole back time.
**Senator:** Thank you boys. For me, it's an eight. Alright, Senator. Um, I'm, I'm definitely at a seven. I mean, what's just frustrating is if I were to drink this blind, I, I would, even after having this, not guess it's Russell's Reserve. I, I, I know nothing more about this brand than I did before I drank this. The, the flavor profile is just very generic to me.
I, I, there's no note or characteristic that I would use to describe a Russell's Reserve [01:31:00] Bourbon based on this tenure. Maybe some of the other stuff that they make might be more distinctive. Um, it's not offensive. I, you know, I didn't hate it, but I can't see myself buying this or even serving this to someone, um, you know, with a cigar.
I, I don't know what they're supposed to take away from this other than their drinking bourbon. So for that reason, I'm, I'm at a seven.
**Chef Ricky:** It's just not memorable.
**Senator:** Exactly. Alright, UBA.
**Poobah:** Yeah, I'm in lockstep with the, the, the, uh, the other commentary. It, it, it's, it didn't really do a whole lot for me, so I'm, uh, I'm at a seven.
It was, it, it, it wasn't bad at all. It just wasn't very good. So it was kind of pedestrian. So it, but it wasn't bad. I mean, it wasn't
**Bam Bam:** good, but it was bad.
**Poobah:** It, it, it really wasn't, it was kind of like, like, well, I mean, am I wrong? No, you're not wrong. You're drinking it and you're kind of like, well, it's not offensive.
No, it was a something. Okay. You know, you mix it up and you make it into something, it would be totally [01:32:00] fine. At the net price point, it's probably relatively fair. I don't know.
**Gizmo:** Seven. All right, boys, that puts the formal liquoring tonight on the Russell's Reserve. Kentucky Rai bourbon whiskey at a 7.2. Like we said, that is the debut tonight from the Wild Turkey Distillery.
So we don't have any other ratings to compare that to. And now it's time to move into the formal lizard rating on the Weller by Cohiba 2024. The Toro from the Dominican Republic. Bam. You up
**Rooster:** Rooster. You're up. Alright. I'm at a six. This cigar. I would never smoke the cigar again. If somebody even gave me one, I don't think I would, I would pass on it.
The, the last third of the cigar is actually okay. It's kind of decent. Mm-hmm. I mean the, uh, the smoke potential, it's,
**Bam Bam:** it gets better. I found that last third to be the best part of the cigar. Correct? Yeah. Agreed.
**Rooster:** But, but the price point, I mean, at $30. This is a [01:33:00] hard pass for me. Yeah. It should be more
**Bam Bam:** than like an inch and a half of enjoyment.
**Rooster:** Yeah. I mean, this is, at, at best it's a $10 cigar. I would do away with the fancy box and just present it in a regular box and, uh, lower the price. But even, I mean, at this price point, it, it's really is a hard pass for me. So I'm at a, I'm at, I'm at, I'm at a six.
**Poobah:** Okay. Uba, I, I dropped mine a little while ago.
I, I thought the cigar was. It lacked a lot of merit for me, it just, the flavor profile, the short finish, it didn't have any distinctive flavor notes that really, that jumped out at me where I was wanting that much more. It started out really bad for me. Then it settled in for a little bit and uh, got better.
Uh, but then it became a snooze fest. And as far as I'm concerned, this is a lot of time. So we've, we've spent, you know, you're asking me about my time. My time is worth [01:34:00] more than $30 an hour. Okay. And, and, and so at an
**Gizmo:** hour 40 we're talking, you know, your rate right now is about 12 bucks. You're
**Poobah:** giving a pretty good discount.
No, my, my, my, my hourly rate versus this cigar is just in terms of my time, I'm not putting any more time into this thing. Sure. I mean, like, we're on the podcast, like, I put in much as much time and, and on it as I could. It's not interesting. The, the, the, the build of it was okay. Um, but, but the cons, the combustion was mediocre at best.
The, the, uh, the construction was, was okay, not terrific. And. The, the, the overall flavor profiled was somewhat muddled, non distinctive, and not, not particularly memorable at all, and at, and at times not particularly pleasant. So [01:35:00] I would never smoke this cigar again. I'm gonna, maybe this is harsh, but I'm gonna give it a five.
Why should I give it, why should I give it anything higher than that? It's really not. At 30 bucks, the stick should do something for you. And it really, it was, it's, I'm agnostic on it. Like to a point where I could care less about it. I would never smoke it again, ever, or recommend it to anybody or even give a one away.
You know, I really wanted to be the lowest score. The, in the room. I wouldn't, I mean, I'm just being honest. It wasn't, it wasn't particularly good. Yeah. So in my view. Senator,
**Senator:** I'm, I'm gonna give it a six. I think, you know, everyone has said it's s smokeable. There, there was no point at which I found the flavor to be outright offensive or anything like that.
I think we all just wanted a ton more out of a cigar at a $30 price point that's a adorned in this ridiculous fancy box and all of [01:36:00] that. So, um, I think it was very linear. You know, what's, what's strange is the, the last third might've been the best part of the cigar, but for the wrong reasons. It, it was the best part because the draw was finally effortless and you were able to get more combustion, more smoke output.
It almost felt like the smoke started to have some more body, but the flavor was just really linear and muddled. You weren't, I. You just, you could have forgotten what you were smoking. I mean, there, there was no character about it. So I think the, the first third, I didn't love that salty part in the second.
Third is when I started to think maybe there was some hope and it just was too fleeting for it to ever reach a seven or higher than that. I think I would agree with poop. I mean, I would never give this cigar to someone. I certainly wouldn't buy it if I had absolutely nothing to smoke, could I get through [01:37:00] it?
Sure. But that's not good enough for a cigar to be, you know, something you'd recommend, let alone hand out to someone. So, um, I mean, a very disappointing, I think, debut for New World Cohiba.
**Gizmo:** So I'm also at a six, I mean, I, I walked in tonight. I would say with a pretty negative expectation of the cigar, and it was from the ratings that I had seen online and now given the ratings that we're doling out so far, three sixes and a five with three ratings to go here tonight, you know, it tells me two things.
Number one, that I think that the other ratings out there that probably rated this high eighties, low nineties, you gotta, you gotta really put those scores into perspective versus what we're doing here. You know, those are sponsored, uh, sites by all of these manufacturers are sponsoring there, there's no question about that.
Can they really give one of their sponsor cigars a a six? I don't think so. And then I also think there's another component too. I think a lot of those reviews, they were smoking the cigars very humid. So, uh, we, ours fortunately came [01:38:00] down in humidity. We didn't have the draw problems that we saw online, et cetera.
So I think that my negative perception coming in was a little distorted. So I actually kind of regret reading some of that stuff coming in. 'cause uh, for me, I think it actually performed better than what I was reading. However. Our ratings are quite, uh, dissimilar. I thought it was a decent cigar, but I will never smoke the cigar again.
I'm not gonna repeat what everybody said, but there will never be another one of these cigars in my humidor. I'm gonna give the two that are remaining to other people in the lounge. I have no interest in even having these take up space in my tower. The retro got better in the second third. I think that was the highlight for me was the retro hale and the second third, and the last third.
Uh, the burn line was good, but otherwise I thought the cigar was okay. Uh, pretty, pretty down the middle. Um, it kept my interest, but uh, it certainly wasn't great. I thought the price was absolutely ridiculous. The presentation was frustrating. Uh, storing these cigars, uh, uh, you know, prior to review was a pain in the ass.
I think to put these cigars at this quality in that box at [01:39:00] that price is absolutely ridiculous. Them leaning on the Weller name, I think is deceptive marketing. I think it's complete bullshit, and I think they're trying to get this bourbon. Secondary market. Chasing the scarcity, playing into the, you know, pretty average.
It's, it's a bit of a gimmick. Dominican tobacco, it's a, it's a joke.
**Senator:** The whole thing is a, a joke. Can we just say, because none of us have really said this, and it needs to be said, it's not just a gimmick, it's a complete fraud. It's a fraud. One of us said that we got weller like notes No, no way. Or really any bourbon like notes out of this cigar.
No, that's true. No. Where you look at the, the late hour, you know, by davidov, that's age in single mauled scotch barrels. There are moments in that cigar that you get, like some of the minerality that is part of a, you know, many single malt scotches. Like Yeah. You can see some of the character that, that aging has imparted that was completely absent here.
True. I,
**Gizmo:** I think the whole thing I, I think is, uh, a very unreasonable release. I think they should be [01:40:00] ashamed of themselves. Mm-hmm. And pricing this cigar, the way it was performed, the way it was built, the look of it, the whole thing, it just does not align with a $30 price point. I'm giving it a very generous six because the cigar performed okay for me tonight.
But otherwise, uh, this is an absolute stinker as far as the marketing and the naming and the weller buy the whole thing. Well, you
**Poobah:** know, it's very commercial. I mean, you know, they get into an agreement, you get executives into a room, they start to talk and one thing leads to another. And there the odds are there's a disconnect between, um.
Between maybe the folks at Weller who aren't cigar smokers or cigar aficionados, I don't know, and they're not able to like really accurately evaluate. Associating their name, which is, which is an exemplary, exemplary product with something like Cohiba. Like if I was in the room and I was in [01:41:00] that meeting after the meeting broke, I'd, I'd, I'd say to my teammates.
I, I would say, I think these brands are a little bit divergent. Like I agree. I don't think they're on like the same level in terms of exclusivity and quality. Like, okay, it's cohiba, but it's not Cuban cohiba. This is. General tobacco cohiba, and honestly, as a cigar smoker, I wouldn't recommend, um, getting into, into a, into, you know, a joint venture co-marketing agreement with, with this brand.
It's below us. I, I, I would've said that and said it with confidence. Um, you would've been right, and, and, and, and, and you know, if that they're, they're dragging us down by associating us, associating ourselves with them. That's my my opinion.
**Gizmo:** If I was, if I was weller or Kohe making this meeting to me, it would not be trying to commingle the products, putting the tobacco in the barrels, et cetera.
It would try, [01:42:00] I would try to blend a cohiba cigar. Paired with a Weller bourbon or another bourbon was like, lights out delicious. Which I think is way more, you know, easy to accomplish than trying to incorporate there more integrity, there's more integrity, there's more integrity. More integrity. And
**Poobah:** also too, they could have gone into the agreement.
Maybe they thought about this, maybe they didn't, I don't wanna go down a huge rabbit hole on this, but, but I would've said, well, let's see. Fine, we'll get into an agreement with them, but let's see how this blend comes out once they do it. And I'd have an agreement in that, in, in that deal where I put a panel of experts up and say, is this, taste it and tell us if this is accurate and tell us if this is accurate.
Yeah. Because the, the, the odds are you may not have guys who are making these decisions at Weller who are, you know, who are really understand cigars.
**Gizmo:** And at Cohiba you may not have people that understand, you know,
**Poobah:** the bourbon
**Gizmo:** drinker. Mm-hmm. These are two totally. You [01:43:00] know, separate lifestyles. I think it's,
**Rooster:** it's more the Weller name that's being degraded.
Hundred percent. Oh, well that's my point. That's my point. Cohiba, if I'm weller, I'm
**Poobah:** protecting my brand. You know, Cohiba has nothing to gain by, by, by, by, by, you know, hitching their wagon. The Weller, it just seems That's a good point. Yeah. On balance a point. Sorry. Weller has
**Senator:** nothing to gain by hitching its name to Cohiba.
No. Well, that's what I was trying to say. That said,
**Poobah:** oh, I said the opposite. I'm sorry. Yes. Um, but yeah, Weller Weller has
**Gizmo:** nothing. I mean, listen, Weller sells every bottle they make. Probably before it's probably before it's even produced. There's no question about it. It's one of the most sought after bourbons in the world.
Cohiba is a kind of, uh, you know, tossed aside, you know, new world's, you know, cigar. It just is. Yeah. It's not in the conversation as far as premium cigars go,
**Bam Bam:** not ever. No. Like, and certainly after
**Gizmo:** tonight, it's gonna remain that way in this world. Like if Weller
**Poobah:** connected with Ddo or Perone weller's on that level.
Absolutely true. Agree with that. Agreed. Good point. I [01:44:00] mean, you
**Rooster:** really don't see anybody smoking a Cohiba cigar. No, I haven't seen anyone pick up a Coba cigar. No. I've never seen anyone smoking a coba. I smack
**Poobah:** them if I saw 'em. I've, no, neither have I, I've never seen anyone smoke smoking a co new world.
Never in a lounge, ever.
**Bam Bam:** Mm-hmm.
**Gizmo:** Alright,
**Pagoda:** pagoda, you're up. Yeah. Meaning after all the long drawn explanation, I have nothing to say really. You're exhausted. Um, yeah. No. Six is a, I think, a fair score in the sense that it's really not a recommend considering the price, uh, the smoke output, um, the flavor profile.
Um, I think six works. All right. Chef Ricky?
**Chef Ricky:** Yeah, I, I, six is perfect score for this. You know, it, honestly, coming into it and seeing the construction, seeing the condition of the wrapper and just how everything looked, you would've thought right off the bat this thing was gonna get five, five or or less, but.
The flavors were serviceable. The final [01:45:00] third was somewhat enjoyable. Uh, you know, dirty reptilian water aside. Uh, you know, that, that I got for, for maybe 30 seconds to a minute. Um, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't a bad flavored cigar, it was just kind of a snooze fest, you know? It was, uh, it was a one trick pony.
It was really linear. There wasn't a whole lot to it. And, uh, yeah, 30 bucks a stick. That's pretty steep. It's pretty steep, so, yeah. And it's, it's a shame that Willers put their name on this 'cause the bourbon is amazing. Uh, so yeah, with that, uh, six is, is a good score for it.
**Gizmo:** All right. Bam, bam.
**Bam Bam:** Yeah, I, I said this earlier about the bourbon, and I'll say it about the cohiba.
This was not a memorable experience. Um, it's a six for me. I. I'm on lockstep with what everyone has said here. You know, that final third, I will say a bit of earthiness kind of came into to focus and it became a bit more balanced. [01:46:00] Pretty tasty, but that was what, a just over an inch of time, so not a good cigar.
Six.
**Gizmo:** Alright, boys, that puts the formal lizard rating tonight on the Weller by 2024. At a 5.9. All right. Where definitely not a recommend where it needs to be. Alright, boys. So both of those were debuts on the pods. We have nothing to compare them to. Both, uh, general Cigars, uh, Cohiba, Turkey. When are we doing the next Wild Turkey World?
Cohiba. Oh, I'm gonna, I'll slot it for you then. Right? I'll let you know. I but over boys a great night tonight. A great conversation. Unfortunately, the p both, both, uh, entrance and the pairing did not perform very, very well, but, um, it happens, you know. Yeah. And, uh, of course we have to thank Lizard Scott, our Lizard of the Week and all of Lizard Nation who wrote us.
We really appreciate it. Please keep it up. Of course, we have to thank our sponsor, Fabrica five as bam noted earlier, some great cigars coming out of Fabrica five. So off the
**Bam Bam:** charts,
**Gizmo:** go to Fabrica zero zero five.com. Use our code, of course, lizard Pod, get yourself 10% off your order. End up. We'll see everybody next [01:47:00] week.
**Poobah:** Keep smoking.
**Gizmo:** Hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for joining us. You can find our merch store and ratings archive at our brand new website, lounge lizards pod.com. That's lounge lizards p d.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 hello@loungelizardspod.com.
You can also find us on Instagram at Lounge Lizards Pod. We really appreciate your time and we'll uh, we'll see you next week.