October 6, 2023 • 51 mins
Meet me at this address
@7204cigars #cigars
Co hosts : Good ol Boy Nathan, Good ol Boy Barger, Good ol Boy Benjamin, and Good ol Boy Mike SMOKES Episode – A cigar brand takeover with 7-20-4 from Manchester, New Hampshire. A fabulous brand story in the cradle of the industrial revolution. Lots of people use the term “Dog Walker” cigar and it was actually this brand that owns the trademark. You’re going to hear the term “spice bomb” quite a bit. Barger reveals his technique for solving a Churchill that has issues. We smoke and rate the following cigars from 1-3:
7-20-4 WK Series Robusto SMOKES - 3
7-20-4 Factory 57 Robusto SMOKES - 3
Dog Walker® SMOKES – 3
7-20-4 Original Series Churchill SMOKES - 2
Just a post production correction. GoB Mike was getting Manchester and Concord confused. Manchester was a textile factory town, not a logging town. Actually one of the largest in the country at the time.
info@sipssudsandsmokes.com @sipssudssmokes Sips, Suds, & Smokes® is produced by One Tan Hand Productions using the power of beer, whiskey, and golf. Available on Apple & Google Podcasts, PRX, Spotify, Stitcher, Soundcloud, and nearly anywhere you can find a podcast.
The easiest way to find this award winning podcast on your phone is ask Alexa, Siri or Google, “Play Podcast , Sips, Suds, & Smokes”
Credits:
TITLE: Maxwell Swing
PERFORMED BY: Texas Gypsies
COMPOSED BY: Steven R Curry (BMI)
PUBLISHED BY: Alliance AudioSparx (BMI)
COURTESY OF: AudioSparx
TITLE: Flapperjack
PERFORMED BY: Texas Gypsies
COMPOSED BY: Steven R Curry (BMI)
PUBLISHED BY: Alliance AudioSparx (BMI)
COURTESY OF: AudioSparx
TITLE: Back Roads
PERFORMED BY: Woods & Whitehead
COMPOSED BY: Terry Whitehead
PUBLISHED BY: Terry Whitehead
COURTESY OF: Terry Whitehead
Post production services : Pro Podcast Solutions
Advertising sales: Contact us directly
Content hosting services: Earshot, Radio4All, PodBean
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
It on the next episode of Sip Suds and
Smokes.
We are doing a takeover episode of
724 cigars.
Huge. Thank you. And shout out to Kurt Kindle for
supplying the cigars for today's episode.
Thank you very much.
Thanks, Kurt.
We actually myself and, uh, good old boy Benjamin
(00:21):
got to meet him. We got a little bit of time to speak with him at
the PCA. He was a bit apprehensive at first, but
knowing we're fellow bourbon
enthusiasts, well, that's a big word. I have a hard time today with
those. He opened up quickly about what he does
and why he's passionate about his cigars. He also shared
his willett single barrel family estate.
Pick with us where was in the
(00:44):
middle of that. And it was amazing.
There should have been a mass text sent out.
Yes.
We will be right back after this
breakup.
(01:17):
Brought to you almost live from the dude in the
basement studios. Why? Because that's where the
good stuff is. It sips suds and
smokes with your smoke and host the good old
boy.
(01:51):
Hey, man, got a light? It's
time for smokes.
Welcome to the Smokes episode, folks, where everything
good in life is worth discussing.
We'll have a good episode for you guys today
about 724 cigars.
But first I want to introduce our host, our co host. I'm
good old boy Barger. And to my left is good old boy Mike.
(02:13):
Am I in microphone left or microphone right? You are
never really quite sure. Wherever you want to be my
center today. It feels like I'm centered.
I think you need to talk to your hello, everybody. About that.
I, uh, know in spite of the injunctions that have been filed on
repeated occasions, I'm still here.
That's right. And good old boy Nate.
What's up? Good to be back.
And good old boy Benjamin. Welcome back.
(02:34):
Like I never left.
Thanks.
That's right. I know it's your second episode, so we're glad to have
you here and I'm really glad that could you put a lot into
these episodes? That's really helpful. So we are
the best thing on at 02:00 a.m. Just before speech therapy
with Bobcat Goldwood.
And right after Estelle getty presents today's
fashion trends.
(02:54):
And you put the belt on just like this.
Could you imagine watching her on a fashion show? Like, how
funny would that be?
Pass me some more rum.
Right.
So this is our Smoke segments here. We talk about
cigars and, well, anything that you can smoke.
Well, almost anything because we're in Tennessee.
Yeah.
But here's what we're going to discuss today. We are doing a takeover
episode of 724 cigars.
(03:20):
Huge. Thank you. And shout out to Kurt Kindle for
supplying the cigars for today's episode.
Thank you very much.
Thanks, Kurt.
We actually, myself and, uh, good old boy Benjamin,
got to meet him. We got a little bit of time to speak with him at
the PCA. He was a bit apprehensive at first, but knowing
we're fellow bourbon enthusiasts,
well, that's a big word. I have a hard time today with those.
(03:42):
He opened up quickly about what he does and why he's
passionate about his cigars. He also shared his
willett single barrel family estate pick with
us where was.
In the middle of that.
And it was amazing,
the curtain. He pulled us aside. I was like, you guys like
bourbon? I was like, yeah, uh, let's
(04:04):
go.
Okay.
There should have been a mass text sent out.
Yeah, well, I don't want to talk about it because these are small
things that we do for fun.
Was I in another building? I mean, seriously, was my
phone busted?
Honestly, we should have got somebody else involved, too, because it was just barger
that got to get on know?
Well, yeah, but I think Mike was, uh, stuck up the Rocky Patel
booth somewhere, probably. But hopefully we'll have
(04:26):
him in a future chats episode. So, Kurt, I'll be reaching out for
that. Be on the lookout for those episodes. They will be
coming out soon. We're going to do chats episodes where we'll
be diving into what makes people tick in the
cigar industry. We'll also be blinding them on
cigars they may or may not know.
I love bicycles.
It's going to be fun. And I love
blinds. If you guys haven't figured it
(04:49):
out, we've done so far two blind
tasting episodes, right? Uh,
we're at two now, right?
We just did ten.
Yeah, we did a $5 blind and we did a $10 blind and they
were tons of fun. And I never stay
within the budget, but that's another conversation for our
lawyers.
Okay?
So now remember, folks, if you are a cigar newbie,
(05:11):
fret not, we got you covered in our Cigar 101
episodes where we will unpack all of
the cigar speak will be decoded. Just search for
sip, suds and smokes on whatever platform you're using and look
up the Cigar 101 episode. And it should pop right up
for the link in our show notes. If you can't find it, ask your
parents for help.
Mom.
That's right.
Now off to business. Today, our safe
(05:33):
word is pompador.
Pompadour.
Pompadour.
So if you guys get a little out of your comfort zone, you can just say
pompadour and we may or may not stop.
So today, good old boy Mike's gets the honors
of going over our smokes ratings today. So take it away,
Mike.
We'll be smoking and discussing these cigars
from 724 and rating them with
(05:55):
our sipsuds and smoke smokes rating plus our
signature sounds. Here are those ratings
now. Number one, this sucked
before it was lit.
Smokes rating two, I'd smoke this
again.
(06:15):
Smokes rating. Number three, move out of the
way. I need a box of these.
That's a good rating.
Love that rating.
I'll be down with some boxes.
So today our product line is all
724 cigars, which you guys may or may
not be experienced with. I, um,
have experienced them a little bit in the past, but
(06:38):
just started revisiting them and I was pleasantly
surprised. But Benjamin, why don't you tell us a little bit about
724?
Yeah. So urban legend has it that 724 cigars was
so named because RG. Sullivan, who is the founder of
the brand, in 1874, got his start in business with
the winnings from a lottery ticket with the numbers 720 and
four. However, that's it. Uh,
(06:59):
that is a myth. Writer George Franklin Wiley offered a more
plausible explanation in this book, wiley's
semicntennial book of Manchester,
1846 to 1896, that Sullivan changed the
brand's original name, uh, from New Gold Dust
Cigars to 724 Cigars.
Uh, new gold dust just sounds fun.
Shouldn't that be like this is a WWE character.
Yeah. Like, Gold Dust breaks into your
(07:22):
room with a chair and, like, cigars, and.
You'Re going to smoke this a ring nickname,
right.
Dr hater on Twitter.
Floor 724 was the address of a
factory in Manchester, New Hampshire, at 724
Elm Street. The cigars, which sold for
Time, were handmade with Cuban tobacco fillers and sumacha
wrappers. The brand was so successful that Sullivan's
(07:44):
cigar factory became one of the world's
largest manufacturers of handmade cigars.
Didn't we talk about this in another episode,
Nate, or might have been Mike, where
companies in small
towns, uh, and states across America used to
grow tobacco and used to
manufacture their own states tobacco
(08:06):
in.
Yeah, yeah, for a long time, especially, I mean, we didn't have the
access to a lot of Central American tobacco like we
do now. And so a lot of the common man would
smoke cigars made right down the street,
rolled at their town's little M
factory that they had. And some were big, some were small.
Like, Grandma used to roll them down the street. Right.
(08:26):
Just like Grandma used to.
That man. I, uh, miss Grandma's cigars all the
time.
So what else about Kurt? Can you tell us?
Yeah, so, uh, actually today, Kirty Kendall, uh, the
entrepreneur and owner of two New Hampshire cigar
stores, uh, has always been an avid antique collector.
So over the years, he's displayed an extensive
collection of cola machines, gas pumps, and other artifacts
(08:47):
in his retail shop.
That'd be fun.
And one of his passions was to revive the
724 cigar brand. Uh, so
Kendall went ahead and acquired the then defunct
trademark and began reproducing the historic
cigars that now rank as one of the best boutique
cigars on the market.
Well, I don't think I was upset by any of
the cigars that we smoked. We actually met Kurt
(09:09):
at PCA, which, if you haven't listened to
that episode yet, go check it
out, because, um, if you're listening
on the radio, you're going to have to go online. I'm sorry. Because that was a
two hour long episode we did. And we went
over 16 or 20 cigars on that episode for
sure. It was pretty extensive, but we had a
freaking awesome time recording that episode.
(09:32):
So, uh, a little bit about Manchester, since
I know the town quite well.
So Manchester was a place
where the logs would actually float down the river.
And a lot of the lumber mills were
right there in Manchester.
Is that where they have Bonner?
Um, so it's very evident when you actually are
(09:53):
driving around Manchester itself,
you'll see basically the city is kind
of right on the river itself. And you'll see a lot
of the warehouses where they would
actually, uh, store a lot of the wood, um, that
they would actually take out of the river.
I think one of the lumber mills is actually still,
um, in operation. Um, they
(10:16):
don't float the logs down the river anymore.
I bet that'd be cool.
They've got a great football club, too, right?
Yeah.
Manchester.
Same one.
Glory. Glory. Man united.
But it's great town. And, uh, I think
that there's a lot of, uh, interesting things to do
around Manchester. Should definitely check out this, uh, uh,
shop, for sure.
So one thing that I wanted to, uh,
(10:39):
just talk a little bit about when we met Kurt
at the PCA in Vegas,
we hit it off, man. It was a good time. He
spent some time with us talking about what he liked about the brand. And he just gave
you oh, he did give me some willett, and I
am super thankful for that. And I'll take a bottle.
(10:59):
Yeah, right. Hook, line, and sinker. You had me at willett.
Uh, what do you do? Will it?
Well, I think one of the coolest things about meeting Kurt is
he definitely embodies that new, uh,
generation of cigar smoker,
right? Like, he's not the guy that's in the three piece
suit with the know and the
(11:20):
scarf, uh, hanging around his neck. Like that type of
vibe that you think about with cigar smokers.
Like, uh, tattoos, beautiful beard,
really kind of soft spoken fella. But you
could absolutely just pick up on every
bit of passion that he had for bringing this brand back and
keeping it historically accurate. And I think that's
(11:40):
a huge win. Right. There's so many people out there that just
want to create something, um, that only
speaks to what they're doing. It's,
um, kind of just like a one off
experience, um, for them. Right. They're really just trying to create
something new that embodies themselves in the cigar
market. And he's really tied to that sense of
(12:01):
history and bringing that brand back.
I like the branding that he does also, because
his labeling is
very, um what's the word
I'm looking for? It's minute details. It's
not flashy.
Yeah. Very classic style labeling.
(12:21):
And, uh, as we all know, me, I'm a sucker for
branding. So if you're consistent in your
branding, uh, I'm going to try your cigars. Nate, what do you
think?
No, I mean, I agree. And especially we'll get
to this, but I think he was super creative for
calling a size of the dog walker, because people have always
nicknamed short little Smokes the dog
walker. But it's cool to actually
(12:44):
I've actually in retail before, sold a
box specifically because some guy was like,
oh, that's great. I like to smoke when I walk my dog, and I want a
short amount. And it's like, okay, walk the dog
until he does his business, and I can smoke this.
So, if I'm not mistaken, uh, from my
conversation with him, I believe that 724, the old
brand, was actually coined the
(13:07):
phrase the dog walker.
I think Kurt takes credit for it.
Does he? Yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah, who knows? Good job,
Kurt. Cool. It was awesome. So we're
going to dive into these cigars pretty shortly. We might take
a short break here and talk about our
sponsors. Well, we're not going to talk about it. They're going
to talk about it to you. So enjoy those.
(13:28):
All right, welcome back from the commercial break. We're going to dive
into these we're going to
dive into these cigars from 724. The first
one up is the Wk series robusto,
and Benjamin is going to take it away. Good old boy Benjamin. What you
got?
Yeah, man. So, uh, this is a limited release,
a special series. It's, um, a, uh,
(13:48):
series, uh, that's actually really near and dear to Kurt. It's,
um, actually, um, in
remembrance of his late son, William, the
Wk series. So this is a five x 50 Connecticut
with Nicaraguan and Honduras filler, uh,
Honduras binder, and an Ecuador Connecticut
wrapper. Kurt Kendall actually released these to
honor his late son, uh, who passed away in 2011.
(14:10):
And as tributes go, a finer cigar
could not have been chosen. The 724 Wk
stands ready to suit almost anyone's preference
linear with smooth and well balanced flavors. I
really enjoyed this smoke.
Now, that's the one that says in every case on the band, is that
right?
It is, yeah. I think that that's their tagline for the
brand. Um, and I think that was something that
(14:32):
I immediately picked up on, uh, with this brand
724, uh, because the
duality immediately spoke to me sure. In
every case, meaning, uh, in every opportunity
that you have, or in every case that you would need to smoke a
cigar, 724 is the brand to do that. Right?
So whether it is sitting around with your buddies doing a podcast,
(14:53):
or if you all are sitting around celebrating a birthday
or celebrating someone's legacy in life, uh,
this is absolutely a smoke that you can
just, uh, grab a box and just hand
out. Right. You're not going to offend anybody with
this smoke. It's very welcoming. Um, for
sure.
I would almost interject and say that
(15:15):
I am interjecting. So I think
that in every case is
almost an invitation.
I interpret that as an invitation
to slow down
and to take a second
and really focus on the
(15:36):
little things in life.
Well, that's what a cigar does for you. Right. Like, a cigar
is a commitment. You're going to
take the time out. Right. Uh,
selfish may be the term that kind of comes to mind,
but in the best way possible.
Sure.
You have to commit that time frame like a
robusto. This probably took me an hour and a half to
(15:57):
smoke. And so you really, uh, have
that time not only to enjoy the cigar and dive
into all the nuances, if that's what you want to do, but you also get to
enjoy the people around you. You get to have those conversations.
Right. And that invitation is not
only to the cigar, but the
ritual around it.
Right.
And the camaraderie that comes with, uh, sitting down and
(16:18):
sharing a smoke with someone.
Yeah. I really commend you on making a
Robusto last an hour and a half.
I'll take my time, bud.
Uh, so this was, uh, a stick that I had
actually last in the product line. And,
um, it was, uh, my favorite out of
the entire product line. Really? Yeah, it really was. It was very
good. It was very well balanced. Um, I thought
(16:41):
the construction of it was really,
um, spot on and great quality.
Good burn line all the way through and through.
Um, yeah, I think the only thing I was just
like, wow, could I have this in a little bit
bigger? It was that good
lancero?
No, definitely
(17:01):
not.
Come on.
It comes on a chart.
Everything's better in Lancero.
I think it sucks. Yeah.
Uh, but really great, uh,
cigar. Um, I think that if you're
looking like I said, this is my favorite of the
product line. Um, really solid stick. I
have no idea what this costs, but I would say it's probably
(17:24):
good bang for Buck.
Yeah. His price points are really good.
Everything that he sells yeah.
Everything is between eight and 15 that he
sells. At least that I've seen. Now, he may have some
limited releases that I haven't seen yet that may be a little
more expensive, but I would say in every case, it's worth a
try.
Absolutely. So just to bounce off that,
(17:44):
the duality of that in every case is this should be
something that I would hope you'd be able to find in
every cigar case in humidor that you visit. I
think if you're a cigar retailer,
this is one of those brands that
you should carry.
Yeah, I think that's a good thing as
well. And definitely trying to keep
(18:06):
things like that in your humidor that you can just
split with your friend and say, hey, here's one. I'm going to smoke one.
We're going to have a good time, and just take and
have a good moment in life together.
Um, so what were your tasting notes?
Yeah, solid construction on this considerable spice off the
light and in the retro hell, uh, this was a
medium plus body smoke for me, medium to full strength.
(18:28):
Uh, it mellows out in the second, third, and through the end
with some nice leather and wood tones. Uh, but
the nuance really came through the retro for
me, which was really something, uh,
that I enjoy about a cigar to have that kind
of consistent, big leathery,
woody, almost like coffee like
tones through the smoke of the cigar. And then to
(18:50):
get some of that nuance. Uh, as you
retrohale, uh, it's a nice little
kind of cherry on top. It's a little bit of
excitement, uh, that you can expose
yourself to as you go through the smoke.
Yeah, definitely. I had a little pepper off the light.
Like it was kind of dusty and peppery and it
actually reminded me of an older Davidoff huh.
(19:13):
Which was interesting to me. And it could have just been my
setting where I was, but I really got those pepper
on the retro and really, I uh, thought after
that 1st, 3rd, it just mellowed out nicely to have a good
blend. So what was your rating upon that?
That's a three for me all day.
All right, so we're going to call it a three.
So next up, I had an interesting story to
(19:36):
share with you guys.
Yeah, go.
Because worthy of
discussion for sure. So, as, uh, I was
driving up to, uh, our, uh, studio for production
day, I got caught
in a little bit of traffic and I had to weave through some of the neighborhoods that are
around where our studio is. And
um, I was driving past the school and there
(19:58):
was a sign on the side of the road that
said reading Tutor. And then it had
a phone number on it.
Was it spelled, oh, you got to.
Give that phone number to Mike.
It was the irony of, uh, the whole thing. I'm like, well,
if you can't read, you can't read the sign,
man.
(20:20):
Seriously.
It's like, have you thought about this for a moment?
Am I the only one in the room going, uh,
hey man, I don't think the sign is going to work.
Well,
I do not think it means what you think it means.
It was sitting there, I was at a stop sign, I
was looking at the sign, I was just laughing my butt off. I
(20:42):
mean, it was hilarious.
I love those moments of just little irony that
you're like, uh, you may want to think
about that, right?
For sure.
So, uh, actually, good old boy mike, you're up next
with your, uh, factory 57.
Yeah, so, uh, the Factory
57 is a
(21:03):
robusto as well. Five x 50 as a
natural. Uh uh, the filler is
Honduras, Nicaraguan, Mexico,
Colombia, Costa Rica, and a
partridge and a pear tree. Uh,
the wrapper is high priming triple
fermented, not double triple fermented.
Nicaraguan, halapa
(21:24):
habano. So this is aged for three
years, plus an additional six months before
shipping. And according to 724
cigar owners, uh, Kurt Kendall, the factory
57 name, refers to the US. Government's
official designation of 724 as a
licensed and tax manufacturer of premium cigars.
(21:44):
Um,
uh, uh,
I'm trying to think when I smoked this in the lineup.
I guess this was ten minutes ago.
No, uh, this
was the third I had out of the four. And,
um, yeah, uh,
I was not very happy with this. Uh, so here
(22:05):
are some of my, uh, notes here about the
720, uh, four robusto,
uh, tad spicy. Very, um,
spicy up front. It was a spice bomb.
I got that too.
Um, it had a few burn line issues.
Just kind of an average draw. Um,
I wrote, I'm glad I'm done with this product line.
(22:26):
Well, man, what, did you pull that out of your shoebox humidor?
I was not, uh, happy
with finishing, uh, things off.
I had the opposite on that one.
Same.
Okay.
Oh, man. It was real creamy off the light for me, and
had a really good smoke. The burn on the flavor was great.
For mine, actually. This cigar
(22:46):
was fantastic. It's creamy, it's smooth all the
way. The flavors blended really well for
me, and I actually paired that with a good
rye whiskey, uh, which really helped.
Spice on top, a state that
you adhere to consistently.
Wasn't the will it but I can't talk about
it. But it was actually
(23:08):
delicious. And I put even the
last half of that ticks up even more spice.
Really?
Yeah. So for mine, it was just like, oh, you think the spice
is mellowing out? Forget it. We're getting
more spicy to you. But
I will definitely buy the cigar.
I wish to register a complaint.
(23:29):
Yes.
Well, what's your complaint, sir?
I'm sorry, but there is no way this was
the same did you put different bands on my cigar?
No.
Is that it? No, not I don't write
down it's a spice bomb unless it is a spice bomb.
It was definitely a spice bomb. But see, as we all know at
Sipsuds and smokes, mike's opinion is
twice as much is not worth anything in this
(23:52):
opinion.
Benjamin, what do you think of it?
Be the, um mean, I
hate to jump on the bandwagon here, Mike,
but this is absolutely a killer for me.
Got him.
I love this smoke. This was a fresh pulled
espresso. The crema still on
top. Uh, that spice was definitely on the
(24:12):
retro. For me, though, it lingered on the palate a bit
more, uh, than the Wk series. I
would smoke this cigar again and again
now.
Absolutely.
That being said, it could have been the setting for
me. This was last night for me.
So sitting on the back porch, listening to the crickets,
reading a good book, like I was in the right
(24:34):
space for this smoke, if you will, we.
Were smoking the same cigar in the same evening.
Yeah.
Is this a pop up book?
Maybe you guys read there was pictures involved.
Oh, yeah, I'm sure.
Judge me.
Yeah, that's fine.
I saw the sun.
Uh huh.
It's trickery. Yeah, that's what it
is.
Telling you.
(24:54):
So let's give that our Sips rating. What do we got here, folks?
It's a three for me.
We're going to go with
three.
Yeah, bring me a box path.
So I just want to touch base. Nate, good old boy.
Nate just had to leave. Um, his wife's car
wouldn't start, so sorry, Nate. You're going to get to miss
out, but don't worry.
I hope you get the car fixed, though. Car problems are the worst.
(25:17):
That's right. But I'll read his cigar.
All of Nate's, uh, opinions
are really mine, so I
get
votes. Natal absolutely. Back me up on everything I'm
saying.
Can we call our lawyer for this one? No.
Okay. All right, so good old boy. Eight.
(25:37):
Hi, guys. All right.
No, I'm just kidding.
That was a poor
interpretation.
Uh, so he had the 724
dog walker. So actually, we had
talked about the dog walker earlier and how
724 is the ones that coined the phrase for that
can't confirm. But it's a great story, and I
(25:59):
enjoy hearing that. So
724 original series dog walker is a four and a
quarter by 40 maduro. Its filler is
a diverse blend of Nicaraguan, Honduran,
Mexican and Colombian long filler.
Its binder is Costa Rican, and its
wrapper is Brazilian
marafina wrapper. So it's
(26:22):
actually cedar aged for 120
days to Mellow. It says, on those occasions when
the time or weather may be an issue,
you may prefer a shorter smoking
experience. The dog walker is a perfect size for walking
the dog, washing the
car, anything that you want it to be.
(26:43):
These cigars smoke in a range of 15
to 48 minutes, depending on how you
smoke it. Uh, a double bonus of
smaller cigars is their price point.
So their price points are typically between
five dollars to eight dollars ranges. Now, I don't
quite know the price range because I didn't look it
up. Um, but I would suggest I think.
(27:04):
This was like 499.
Yeah, I would say you're in the five to $6
range. Absolutely. Depending on taxes
and taxation is theft, but we'll talk about that
in another podcast. Um, so the dog walker
for me, I had notes on that. Let me
pull them up here in my trusty phone.
So you missed the cedar age for 120 days?
(27:25):
No, I didn't. I said that
this happens every time. You don't listen to me when I talk.
Mike, why do we go through this? Rather a gloom over the evening,
hasn't it? It's like we're married
again.
Hold my hand.
Yeah, right.
Let me follow along.
That's right.
More rum at the end of the day.
That's right. More rum. Um, more rum. Um, so, uh, what
I got off that was man, that thing again,
(27:48):
just like the factory,
um, robusto. This thing was a spice bomb.
Yes, sir.
It was a flavor bomb. And I really
enjoyed the cigar. I said it mellowed out
great. It was bold off the light, but mellows out
real quickly. So, like, your first even
half of your 1st, 3rd is, like, super spice. And then it
just mellows out to blends those three flavors well.
(28:11):
And you almost can hit that cedar
halfway through that cigar, you can get that cedar taste.
What did you think about that?
Yeah, the cedar really came through for me. This one had a
really nice, uh, almost, uh, kind
of like, effervescent, uh, wood to
me. Right.
Yeah. Effervescent.
Right.
(28:31):
You walk into, like, a new cedar
barn or something like that. Right. And that almost
sweet aroma, uh, but it has that kind
of tinge of spice to it hits you. Uh,
and this is a first thing in the
morning smoke for me. This is that cup of coffee
smoke. Perfect time frame. Perfect, uh,
(28:52):
size. I do kind of lean into the barger method
as far as sizes go.
So Lancero right. That 48 ring
gauge.
Give it to me, baby.
So this one
fair.
So what would you prefer, Mike? What would you prefer this
in?
Um, I definitely love the name of this. It
(29:12):
really aligns a cigar with an
activity. And I think that's what I really loved about
this. I had the cigar when we got together for herf,
so we were having several cigars.
What's a herf?
Herf is when we just get together, um, and we
bitch about everything.
Oh, well, that happens every day.
And you guys realize that I'm right about
(29:33):
everything.
Least opinionated.
Yeah. Very humble as
well. But it's interesting. We
talk about pairing things, and it's usually paired
with a whiskey or,
uh, another beverage or sometimes with a
food. But I like this idea
(29:53):
of pairing an activity with a
cigar because it is spot
on for the amount of time for me to walk my dog.
I have a shih
tzu my bad shitsu.
Uh, selective hearing.
Yeah.
Thanks anyway. Um, um,
(30:15):
but it aligns definitely with the amount of
time usually that I am taking the dog for a walk.
And I just thought that from a marketing perspective,
it's a lot easier to do that and saying, Would you like
a petite Corona?
It's like, I'm into full
size
Corona.
Yeah. Uh, but the thing that I liked about it that
(30:37):
particular evening that we got together for the herf is it
actually was a good tune up for my
palate, uh, because I'd been sampling and
drinking a bunch of things through the day, working on completely
different episode. And, um,
I really had not had a cigar all day.
And that helped me just kind of set
(30:57):
myself into, I really need to smoke through these cigars
and pay attention. To what they're going to be. So it was really good, uh,
to acclimate my palate. And that was the other thing that I
really loved. I agreed that I
thought the cedar was, I thought,
very, um, present in a lot of the
flavor profile of this, but in a good way. I mean, sometimes
you can have cedar and it's almost like
(31:19):
rancid. Um, it can actually
overwhelm any flavor profile in it, but it was very complementary
and I thought it was working well. That was a
great stick. Um,
um, um, I like this a lot.
Yeah.
I like this cigar a lot as well.
What I like about the size of the cigar
(31:40):
is that, like you said, you can use
it for multiple things
if you just have limited amounts of time.
But also, I kind of did this one
with dessert. So
I was eating double, uh, chocolate ice
cream. Yeah. And it was
(32:01):
fantastic. Let's rate this up before we head out here.
So, uh, we're going to go three all across the.
Board.
So we're going to take a quick break for some sponsors
and then we'll come back and talk about one of the other cigars that came
and maybe some more shenanigans.
What kind of dog would you walk this
way?
Maybe, uh, mastiff, if I had
(32:23):
a mastiff.
And welcome back to our
724 takeover of Sipsuns and
Smokes Smokes episode. I hope you guys are having
as much fun as we
are. Thrilled. Uh, we are having so
much fun.
Uh, well, I have fresh whiskey now in my
glass.
(32:44):
I will not, sir. This is hot
in here. So we went over the dog
walker recently and we rated it a three because that cigar
is awesome. But what
other activities would you guys do with a dog.
Walker? Um, I think it's a
good, um, if
(33:05):
you have to go for a walk, uh, even without
an animal.
Um.
I think it's a good stick to take down to the golf
range. Um, that way you
take a larger stick and you're hitting
golf balls. You're constantly managing
the cigar instead of what you're doing at the range. Well, you
(33:25):
might be, um, it's a.
Really good slice game you got.
Yeah, I do. Thank, um,
you look I'm bringing out outside
in swing playing back
in motion.
There's not one golf swing as long as it works for
you.
He's out there weed whacking mhm.
It's not one two. It's one.
(33:49):
Two.
And we talked about the time commitment thing, right.
So wanting to spend that time, maybe you don't want to
spend a lot of time where you're going. Right. Maybe you do just
want to kind of hang out long enough to have a
short smoke and you've got some other commitments to get to and call.
It the break from the in laws.
Yeah, like a commute. Like you're going to pick up dinner and coming right
back home.
(34:10):
Right. If you're smoking in the car, right? Yeah,
that's exactly what I had in mind, Mike, where maybe some of
those family functions you don't want to spend a lot of time at.
Yeah.
You mean like, I've got a timer set on this
thing and it's about 45 minutes max and I'm up out of here?
That's an interesting question.
So do you pick the
size of the scar based on when you plan to
(34:33):
smoke it, and does it align with that
activity? I think we do,
because I think, well, there's a difference
between us smoking for the show and
probably me making those choices when I just have absolutely
no agenda. I'm just enjoying a cigar.
Wait, there's times you don't have an
agenda? Yeah.
(34:55):
Nailed
it.
Hang on a second. I wish to register
a complete I do,
yes, again. Uh,
but yeah, it just kind of struck me
that there are times
that even the way that I manage, uh, my
(35:15):
tupper doors are generally by size. Like, I have most
of the Robustos in one tupper door.
I have most of the Toros in another. I have all the
Churchills in another.
I thought they were alphabetized.
No. Um, so I find myself
going, well, I have an hour and a half to
kill, I'll take a Churchill, or I only
(35:36):
have, like, 30 minutes, and I'll grab a
robusto. Um,
I know that I tend to pick the size of the stick
based on the amount of time that I probably have to
work with to try and enjoy that, but at the
same time, sometimes, especially people I play
golf with, they take the same stick no matter
(35:58):
what, um, for 4 hours.
And it's like, oh, wow, they're searching for their golf ball.
Yeah.
Uh huh. Starting force fires out there.
Hey, man, I'm just telling you, we're.
Swinging for the trees. I can shoot 108 and smoke
four.
Sticks while we're here. That's all I care about.
Well, now that we're talking about size and we're doing a little bit comparison
here, boys, I want to talk about the Churchill. Yes.
So this Churchill we got from him was a
(36:20):
seven x
50 maduro, and I think
that it was fantastic.
I typically am not a Churchill guy because that is
a
time commitment. It is just as much length as
it is girth.
Today we're going to be demonstrating how to measure girth. Girth is
(36:42):
a very important measurement when
determining sizes. First, take your tape measure, place it
at the center of the shoulder, bring it down
through the crotch and
back up again,
making sure it's going over the
widest part.
Well, the filler on this one is a diverse
blend of Nicaraguan, Honduran, Mexican,
(37:04):
and Colombian. Long filler. The binder
is Costa Rican, and the wrapper is
a Brazilian matafina wrapper. And it is
also cedar aged for
120 days. So what I want to take a second about is
this is almost the same
blend as the dog walker. If you
guys notice and listen and pay attention to what we say when
(37:27):
we talk, correct.
It's prickery.
It's not. So if
anyone out there has had these
thoughts, when you get a cigar in a different size,
does it taste the
same? No.
Tell me why. Definitely not. In
this case. And I think part of it might have been
(37:50):
just the amount of time and
exposure to that filler and binder
itself. I have a feeling
that you're comparing
something between ten to 15 minutes versus something
that was an hour. And I just
think that, uh, my palate just flat out
(38:10):
was worn out and so fatigued after the
first third of
yeah, really? I was fighting all the way through.
Too much spice for you?
It was not working for me.
Yeah. Well, that's sad.
I had a lot of other issues.
But what do you think, Benjamin?
Well, I'm the same. Ah. Uh, so for this one, for, like, this
was something that I would absolutely revisit again in that
(38:33):
dog walker size. But the Churchill was a struggle
for me. I remember you sent me that
picture of you smoking and how much you loved it,
and it got me excited to light this thing
and go, because we tend to have a little bit of a
similar palette.
Right.
And I got about halfway through it and was like, this guy
is absolutely nuts. There is
(38:54):
no way this is what he's
talking about. Uh, and for me, I think
it was that Cedar Age, for me, definitely took
a hold of the dog walker in all the right ways,
and it did not do the same in the Churchill. Really,
about halfway through this thing,
I almost wanted to give up on it. It
(39:16):
was solid. It's something that I would smoke again if someone
handed it to me. Uh, but this would not be
a cigar, uh, that I would look for in a Churchill size. Maybe
in a robousto. Something that's got a little more
girth to it,
um, but in that Churchill size, man, I was not a fan.
Of this cigar, so
I actually really enjoyed the Churchill size of this
(39:39):
cigar. In fact, I enjoyed it so
much, I didn't even take
notes on literally, it was in an
every case moment. Like, I was in the
moment with the cigar, and
I was sitting in my basement.
Many moments. That's right. There were many moments with this cigar. But
(39:59):
you know what? To me,
in that moment, it was the experience of
the cigar for me. So it
wasn't, um aroma.
Yeah.
Right.
You are driving the Indy car.
Yeah.
Like the Formula One with you.
Uh, the Germans. Got to
love them.
(40:20):
Sorry.
Different company, different listen to the PCA
episode for that one.
You'll get it.
Well, I guess the question that pops up for
me would be, was
this the experience with the cigar, or was there something
else happening or something else that you were
doing that, number one, kept you away from taking notes. Right. So thanks
for not doing your homework.
(40:41):
Yeah. Right.
No gummies. Uh, was there
something that, uh, was an
attribute to that experience that made you enjoy it
that much?
So, for me, I paired it with a really
m malt forward
bourbon. And so the spice and
the cedar kind of blended with the
(41:03):
malt forward bourbon that I had,
and it almost turned into, like,
a chocolate. It was really weird how
it happened. I don't know that I can
replicate it.
You could smoke the same cigar and.
Drink the same whiskey. Yeah, but I know, but it's all
about your headspace, too, man. So it was
the experience. Yeah. It's just I had a long, exhausting
(41:25):
day at work. I was just ready to
just sit down and have a moment to
myself.
I was the same way when
I decided, I was like, Cool. You know what?
I really want to go back to this 18 year,
four square rum that it's been a long time since I had had it.
And.
I'm like that's moved to the back of the shelf in a way in which I
(41:47):
really want to come back and enjoy that.
I think it'll pair well with,
uh, a Churchill. Um,
even if between the two of them, one of them has got
to be good. Sure. And
yeah, then
that halfway through the first third of it, I was just
(42:07):
running into all kinds of construction
problems. Horrible draw. I mean, I was just like,
oh, my gosh, I was in dire
need of a good ram rod to try and get
through this.
We, uh, talk about ram rods.
So I was like, I am going to hang tough with this. I was enjoying
the rum by
(42:28):
then, but I was like, there's got to be something
here I'm missing.
And about the halfway point, I was like, okay,
you know what? This is just not going well
and not getting any better, and I hate that.
Uh, and I have to say, I gave up on it
at that point. I was like, okay, I've had enough of this.
(42:49):
I enjoyed another DRAM of
the rum and really kind of called it,
and I was like, okay, never, ever
again.
I had none of those construction issues, but, um,
all of the flavor, uh, issues
with it, and I think issues is, uh, honestly, maybe a
little terse, but it was one of those things, too, right,
(43:09):
where this is maduro. I
do normally enjoy
a Churchill, uh, size
or girth.
Yeah.
Uh, and so I was really excited to smoke this thing, but, yeah, it just
kind of fell flat, like, right in the middle, uh,
for me. And, uh, it never really
picked back up. It's also one of those smokes that you
(43:31):
think that, okay, maybe, uh, there's just a little
lull in the middle right. And it's going to kind of pick up
back on the end.
Right.
You're going to get a lot more of that spice that you got out of
the dog walker. Uh, you're going to get a little bit more
weight out of the smoke.
At that point, I did not know it never happened. I did
not know they were same binder and filler that
was in the dog walker. I didn't even look
(43:52):
at the specs. I just know they were
different sizes.
So you guys said that binder, filler.
And wrapper, same smoke.
Yeah.
When you guys all said that, I was like, there is no way. Those
are just, like, on polar opposites
for me.
Yeah. Well, I think that in
every case, there's a good one for you and a bad
one for you, so we'll give it a sips rating
(44:14):
of
a two. Um, anyway,
I, uh, really hate that for both of you that you
had construction problems and then you had spice problems. I would
encourage you to revisit it. No, I mean,
that's fine. You could say no.
I'll try anything twice.
Yeah, for sure. And I'm the same way. If I
(44:34):
don't like it the first time, change your environment, change what
you're doing. It's like the first time. I, uh, some
other stuff.
More rum?
Um oh, yeah. You could get some really good rums with
this, for sure. Yeah.
So we like to discuss everything good in life here on
this podcast. So how are you guys what are you
guys finding good in life at.
The moment, other than reading?
(44:56):
Uh, tutor? Yeah, the reading, uh, A Totor.
It was spelled T-O-O-T-E-R-I was waiting for it
to be spelled wrong. Why would somebody know that if they don't
know how.
To read? Reading is good.
Can we start the story
now?
Yeah.
Um, it's really great to enjoy a
(45:17):
brand like this. Uh, I
think the one thing that I found
myself, uh, when we were making our way through this
product line, I don't know how to describe it, other than I
just felt like it was, um,
very lackluster. Really?
Yeah.
I don't know.
I felt like
(45:40):
this was, uh, a manufacturing
decision that had been made a long time ago, and then they've just
been working their tail off to
try and maintain that taste profile for
a long time. And I don't know, I felt like it was
just a dwarf or whatever it was
originally. And I don't know why I got that. Uh, it's not like
I smoked 724s, like, ten years ago,
(46:02):
and now I'm smoking them again and going, wow, this is
not the same. This was the first time I'd had them,
but I don't was it didn't have
a lot of wow or pop to it, and
I just accepted dog walker.
Yeah.
Now he's got another cigar that we did not get to try this time,
but, um, it's a barber pole, and I believe it's
(46:23):
a Connecticut. And Maduro, if I'm not mistaken,
somebody can pull that up while we're
talking. Um, that cigar, Nate, um, was
actually talking to us about it before he had to
leave. Um, he said that's the best cigar they've got in
their lines. Huh. And so I'm going to encourage
you guys to seek it out and try it. Let's try it and see what
(46:44):
happens.
A lot of sticks in our lives.
I know it we have a lot of cigars in our lives. Oh,
my gosh. But as far as it's for me,
as it's concerned, uh, I'm really
liking what Kurt's doing.
Would you buy a box?
I would definitely buy a box.
That's the big question. Lay down the
big box.
20 sticks of one. Yeah, I would, because I
(47:05):
think that worst case scenario, if I didn't have time for a Churchill, I'd cut it
into a robusta.
That thought crossed
my mind. I was like, well, maybe instead
of a Ramrod, I'm just going to cut the Churchill in
half and relight it and see if I can
resurrect this.
I've actually shorter stick. I've had that happen
on multiple cigars before that. I have gotten
(47:27):
a Churchill.
And it has happened to me with.
You start smoking it, and you're like, man, this is really not
what's up. And then you cut it to a
Robusto five by whatever size, and it's
just like, man, this is a completely different cigar
at
this point. What about you, Ben? What are
you enjoying?
The wife and I just moved into a new house, moved, uh, out into the
(47:50):
country a little bit, so I've got the right
atmosphere to enjoy cigars a bit more.
Right.
The back porch and the starlit skies
and the ceiling fan,
it just sets.
The mood for do your neighbors have all
their natural teeth?
Yes, actually, uh, we just met a couple of the neighbors, and one of them
is a professor, and the other one's a
(48:12):
school
teacher. Um, 100% 724 is a
brand. That's boxworthy to me. And I would definitely
try out Hustler barber pole.
Yeah, that Hustler barber pole is going.
To be Montefina, ecuadorian, Connecticut.
That's what it is. Ecuadorian, Connecticut.
All right,
so, um, we're going to start wrapping this episode
(48:35):
up. That's right. So great
stuff today, guys. I'd like to thank our host, good
Old boy Mike.
Yeah.
Thanks for joining us for another exciting episode of Sipsuds
and Smokes. Check out all of our episodes online. I'll ask
you to keep on sipping.
And good old boy Benjamin.
And thanks for having me on the team, guys.
Smoke them if you got them. And, uh, for me, good
(48:56):
old Boy burger. Keep smoking whatever it
is you smoke. I.
Support you. Yeah, but would you still cut the
Churchill in half? I
probably would.
You know, cutting a Churchill in a half doesn't make it
a Robusto, right?
It doesn't matter. That's just,
(49:16):
like, your.
Opinion, man.
I wish to register a complete
yes, I do. We'll talk about it
in small group.
So it's a group therapy.
I don't like Churchills. That's great.
Oh, man, if only it were a
ah.
Uh, man, that cigar would have been awesome in a lancero.
(49:38):
You are not taking that from
me. No. Oh, my God. You better
stop it. Have a good night, folks. Thanks for
listening.
Cheers. We hope you enjoyed this episode. If
you're listening to us online, do yourself a
favor and tap just tap it in the subscribe
button.
Give it a little tappy, tap, tap, tap
(50:00):
a room.
The easiest way to listen to our show is to ask
Siri Alexa, Google, Uncle Larry, or whoever it is that talks
to you on your phone play podcast,
Sipsuds and Smokes. Um, we love your feedback, and
you can reach
us
at info@sipsudsandsmokes.com. Our tasting notes flow out on Twitter and
Instagram with our handle at sipsudsandsmokes,
(50:22):
and our Facebook page is always buzzing with
lots of news.
You'll also be able to interact with
the thousands, millions of other fans on those
social media platforms. Do us a favor. Take
the time to rate this episode. If you're listening to us online,
that's a big help to us, and we get to see your
(50:42):
feedback as well. Come back, join us
for another episode, and keep.
On sipping. This has been a one tan hand
production of Sip, Suds and Smokes, a
(51:05):
program devoted to the appreciation of some of the
finer slices of life from the Dude in the
Basement studios. Your host. The good old boys will see
you all
next.
It on the next episode of Sip Suds and
Smokes.
We are doing a takeover episode of
724 cigars.
Huge. Thank you. And shout out to Kurt Kindle for
supplying the cigars for today's episode.
Thank you very much.
Thanks, Kurt.
We actually myself and, uh, good old boy Benjamin
(00:21):
got to meet him. We got a little bit of time to speak with him at
the PCA. He was a bit apprehensive at first, but
knowing we're fellow bourbon
enthusiasts, well, that's a big word. I have a hard time today with
those. He opened up quickly about what he does
and why he's passionate about his cigars. He also shared
his willett single barrel family estate.
Pick with us where was in the
(00:44):
middle of that. And it was amazing.
There should have been a mass text sent out.
Yes.
We will be right back after this
breakup.
(01:17):
Brought to you almost live from the dude in the
basement studios. Why? Because that's where the
good stuff is. It sips suds and
smokes with your smoke and host the good old
boy.
(01:51):
Hey, man, got a light? It's
time for smokes.
Welcome to the Smokes episode, folks, where everything
good in life is worth discussing.
We'll have a good episode for you guys today
about 724 cigars.
But first I want to introduce our host, our co host. I'm
good old boy Barger. And to my left is good old boy Mike.
(02:13):
Am I in microphone left or microphone right? You are
never really quite sure. Wherever you want to be my
center today. It feels like I'm centered.
I think you need to talk to your hello, everybody. About that.
I, uh, know in spite of the injunctions that have been filed on
repeated occasions, I'm still here.
That's right. And good old boy Nate.
What's up? Good to be back.
And good old boy Benjamin. Welcome back.
(02:34):
Like I never left.
Thanks.
That's right. I know it's your second episode, so we're glad to have
you here and I'm really glad that could you put a lot into
these episodes? That's really helpful. So we are
the best thing on at 02:00 a.m. Just before speech therapy
with Bobcat Goldwood.
And right after Estelle getty presents today's
fashion trends.
(02:54):
And you put the belt on just like this.
Could you imagine watching her on a fashion show? Like, how
funny would that be?
Pass me some more rum.
Right.
So this is our Smoke segments here. We talk about
cigars and, well, anything that you can smoke.
Well, almost anything because we're in Tennessee.
Yeah.
But here's what we're going to discuss today. We are doing a takeover
episode of 724 cigars.
(03:20):
Huge. Thank you. And shout out to Kurt Kindle for
supplying the cigars for today's episode.
Thank you very much.
Thanks, Kurt.
We actually, myself and, uh, good old boy Benjamin,
got to meet him. We got a little bit of time to speak with him at
the PCA. He was a bit apprehensive at first, but knowing
we're fellow bourbon enthusiasts,
well, that's a big word. I have a hard time today with those.
(03:42):
He opened up quickly about what he does and why he's
passionate about his cigars. He also shared his
willett single barrel family estate pick with
us where was.
In the middle of that.
And it was amazing,
the curtain. He pulled us aside. I was like, you guys like
bourbon? I was like, yeah, uh, let's
(04:04):
go.
Okay.
There should have been a mass text sent out.
Yeah, well, I don't want to talk about it because these are small
things that we do for fun.
Was I in another building? I mean, seriously, was my
phone busted?
Honestly, we should have got somebody else involved, too, because it was just barger
that got to get on know?
Well, yeah, but I think Mike was, uh, stuck up the Rocky Patel
booth somewhere, probably. But hopefully we'll have
(04:26):
him in a future chats episode. So, Kurt, I'll be reaching out for
that. Be on the lookout for those episodes. They will be
coming out soon. We're going to do chats episodes where we'll
be diving into what makes people tick in the
cigar industry. We'll also be blinding them on
cigars they may or may not know.
I love bicycles.
It's going to be fun. And I love
blinds. If you guys haven't figured it
(04:49):
out, we've done so far two blind
tasting episodes, right? Uh,
we're at two now, right?
We just did ten.
Yeah, we did a $5 blind and we did a $10 blind and they
were tons of fun. And I never stay
within the budget, but that's another conversation for our
lawyers.
Okay?
So now remember, folks, if you are a cigar newbie,
(05:11):
fret not, we got you covered in our Cigar 101
episodes where we will unpack all of
the cigar speak will be decoded. Just search for
sip, suds and smokes on whatever platform you're using and look
up the Cigar 101 episode. And it should pop right up
for the link in our show notes. If you can't find it, ask your
parents for help.
Mom.
That's right.
Now off to business. Today, our safe
(05:33):
word is pompador.
Pompadour.
Pompadour.
So if you guys get a little out of your comfort zone, you can just say
pompadour and we may or may not stop.
So today, good old boy Mike's gets the honors
of going over our smokes ratings today. So take it away,
Mike.
We'll be smoking and discussing these cigars
from 724 and rating them with
(05:55):
our sipsuds and smoke smokes rating plus our
signature sounds. Here are those ratings
now. Number one, this sucked
before it was lit.
Smokes rating two, I'd smoke this
again.
(06:15):
Smokes rating. Number three, move out of the
way. I need a box of these.
That's a good rating.
Love that rating.
I'll be down with some boxes.
So today our product line is all
724 cigars, which you guys may or may
not be experienced with. I, um,
have experienced them a little bit in the past, but
(06:38):
just started revisiting them and I was pleasantly
surprised. But Benjamin, why don't you tell us a little bit about
724?
Yeah. So urban legend has it that 724 cigars was
so named because RG. Sullivan, who is the founder of
the brand, in 1874, got his start in business with
the winnings from a lottery ticket with the numbers 720 and
four. However, that's it. Uh,
(06:59):
that is a myth. Writer George Franklin Wiley offered a more
plausible explanation in this book, wiley's
semicntennial book of Manchester,
1846 to 1896, that Sullivan changed the
brand's original name, uh, from New Gold Dust
Cigars to 724 Cigars.
Uh, new gold dust just sounds fun.
Shouldn't that be like this is a WWE character.
Yeah. Like, Gold Dust breaks into your
(07:22):
room with a chair and, like, cigars, and.
You'Re going to smoke this a ring nickname,
right.
Dr hater on Twitter.
Floor 724 was the address of a
factory in Manchester, New Hampshire, at 724
Elm Street. The cigars, which sold for
Time, were handmade with Cuban tobacco fillers and sumacha
wrappers. The brand was so successful that Sullivan's
(07:44):
cigar factory became one of the world's
largest manufacturers of handmade cigars.
Didn't we talk about this in another episode,
Nate, or might have been Mike, where
companies in small
towns, uh, and states across America used to
grow tobacco and used to
manufacture their own states tobacco
(08:06):
in.
Yeah, yeah, for a long time, especially, I mean, we didn't have the
access to a lot of Central American tobacco like we
do now. And so a lot of the common man would
smoke cigars made right down the street,
rolled at their town's little M
factory that they had. And some were big, some were small.
Like, Grandma used to roll them down the street. Right.
(08:26):
Just like Grandma used to.
That man. I, uh, miss Grandma's cigars all the
time.
So what else about Kurt? Can you tell us?
Yeah, so, uh, actually today, Kirty Kendall, uh, the
entrepreneur and owner of two New Hampshire cigar
stores, uh, has always been an avid antique collector.
So over the years, he's displayed an extensive
collection of cola machines, gas pumps, and other artifacts
(08:47):
in his retail shop.
That'd be fun.
And one of his passions was to revive the
724 cigar brand. Uh, so
Kendall went ahead and acquired the then defunct
trademark and began reproducing the historic
cigars that now rank as one of the best boutique
cigars on the market.
Well, I don't think I was upset by any of
the cigars that we smoked. We actually met Kurt
(09:09):
at PCA, which, if you haven't listened to
that episode yet, go check it
out, because, um, if you're listening
on the radio, you're going to have to go online. I'm sorry. Because that was a
two hour long episode we did. And we went
over 16 or 20 cigars on that episode for
sure. It was pretty extensive, but we had a
freaking awesome time recording that episode.
(09:32):
So, uh, a little bit about Manchester, since
I know the town quite well.
So Manchester was a place
where the logs would actually float down the river.
And a lot of the lumber mills were
right there in Manchester.
Is that where they have Bonner?
Um, so it's very evident when you actually are
(09:53):
driving around Manchester itself,
you'll see basically the city is kind
of right on the river itself. And you'll see a lot
of the warehouses where they would
actually, uh, store a lot of the wood, um, that
they would actually take out of the river.
I think one of the lumber mills is actually still,
um, in operation. Um, they
(10:16):
don't float the logs down the river anymore.
I bet that'd be cool.
They've got a great football club, too, right?
Yeah.
Manchester.
Same one.
Glory. Glory. Man united.
But it's great town. And, uh, I think
that there's a lot of, uh, interesting things to do
around Manchester. Should definitely check out this, uh, uh,
shop, for sure.
So one thing that I wanted to, uh,
(10:39):
just talk a little bit about when we met Kurt
at the PCA in Vegas,
we hit it off, man. It was a good time. He
spent some time with us talking about what he liked about the brand. And he just gave
you oh, he did give me some willett, and I
am super thankful for that. And I'll take a bottle.
(10:59):
Yeah, right. Hook, line, and sinker. You had me at willett.
Uh, what do you do? Will it?
Well, I think one of the coolest things about meeting Kurt is
he definitely embodies that new, uh,
generation of cigar smoker,
right? Like, he's not the guy that's in the three piece
suit with the know and the
(11:20):
scarf, uh, hanging around his neck. Like that type of
vibe that you think about with cigar smokers.
Like, uh, tattoos, beautiful beard,
really kind of soft spoken fella. But you
could absolutely just pick up on every
bit of passion that he had for bringing this brand back and
keeping it historically accurate. And I think that's
(11:40):
a huge win. Right. There's so many people out there that just
want to create something, um, that only
speaks to what they're doing. It's,
um, kind of just like a one off
experience, um, for them. Right. They're really just trying to create
something new that embodies themselves in the cigar
market. And he's really tied to that sense of
(12:01):
history and bringing that brand back.
I like the branding that he does also, because
his labeling is
very, um what's the word
I'm looking for? It's minute details. It's
not flashy.
Yeah. Very classic style labeling.
(12:21):
And, uh, as we all know, me, I'm a sucker for
branding. So if you're consistent in your
branding, uh, I'm going to try your cigars. Nate, what do you
think?
No, I mean, I agree. And especially we'll get
to this, but I think he was super creative for
calling a size of the dog walker, because people have always
nicknamed short little Smokes the dog
walker. But it's cool to actually
(12:44):
I've actually in retail before, sold a
box specifically because some guy was like,
oh, that's great. I like to smoke when I walk my dog, and I want a
short amount. And it's like, okay, walk the dog
until he does his business, and I can smoke this.
So, if I'm not mistaken, uh, from my
conversation with him, I believe that 724, the old
brand, was actually coined the
(13:07):
phrase the dog walker.
I think Kurt takes credit for it.
Does he? Yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah, who knows? Good job,
Kurt. Cool. It was awesome. So we're
going to dive into these cigars pretty shortly. We might take
a short break here and talk about our
sponsors. Well, we're not going to talk about it. They're going
to talk about it to you. So enjoy those.
(13:28):
All right, welcome back from the commercial break. We're going to dive
into these we're going to
dive into these cigars from 724. The first
one up is the Wk series robusto,
and Benjamin is going to take it away. Good old boy Benjamin. What you
got?
Yeah, man. So, uh, this is a limited release,
a special series. It's, um, a, uh,
(13:48):
series, uh, that's actually really near and dear to Kurt. It's,
um, actually, um, in
remembrance of his late son, William, the
Wk series. So this is a five x 50 Connecticut
with Nicaraguan and Honduras filler, uh,
Honduras binder, and an Ecuador Connecticut
wrapper. Kurt Kendall actually released these to
honor his late son, uh, who passed away in 2011.
(14:10):
And as tributes go, a finer cigar
could not have been chosen. The 724 Wk
stands ready to suit almost anyone's preference
linear with smooth and well balanced flavors. I
really enjoyed this smoke.
Now, that's the one that says in every case on the band, is that
right?
It is, yeah. I think that that's their tagline for the
brand. Um, and I think that was something that
(14:32):
I immediately picked up on, uh, with this brand
724, uh, because the
duality immediately spoke to me sure. In
every case, meaning, uh, in every opportunity
that you have, or in every case that you would need to smoke a
cigar, 724 is the brand to do that. Right?
So whether it is sitting around with your buddies doing a podcast,
(14:53):
or if you all are sitting around celebrating a birthday
or celebrating someone's legacy in life, uh,
this is absolutely a smoke that you can
just, uh, grab a box and just hand
out. Right. You're not going to offend anybody with
this smoke. It's very welcoming. Um, for
sure.
I would almost interject and say that
(15:15):
I am interjecting. So I think
that in every case is
almost an invitation.
I interpret that as an invitation
to slow down
and to take a second
and really focus on the
(15:36):
little things in life.
Well, that's what a cigar does for you. Right. Like, a cigar
is a commitment. You're going to
take the time out. Right. Uh,
selfish may be the term that kind of comes to mind,
but in the best way possible.
Sure.
You have to commit that time frame like a
robusto. This probably took me an hour and a half to
(15:57):
smoke. And so you really, uh, have
that time not only to enjoy the cigar and dive
into all the nuances, if that's what you want to do, but you also get to
enjoy the people around you. You get to have those conversations.
Right. And that invitation is not
only to the cigar, but the
ritual around it.
Right.
And the camaraderie that comes with, uh, sitting down and
(16:18):
sharing a smoke with someone.
Yeah. I really commend you on making a
Robusto last an hour and a half.
I'll take my time, bud.
Uh, so this was, uh, a stick that I had
actually last in the product line. And,
um, it was, uh, my favorite out of
the entire product line. Really? Yeah, it really was. It was very
good. It was very well balanced. Um, I thought
(16:41):
the construction of it was really,
um, spot on and great quality.
Good burn line all the way through and through.
Um, yeah, I think the only thing I was just
like, wow, could I have this in a little bit
bigger? It was that good
lancero?
No, definitely
(17:01):
not.
Come on.
It comes on a chart.
Everything's better in Lancero.
I think it sucks. Yeah.
Uh, but really great, uh,
cigar. Um, I think that if you're
looking like I said, this is my favorite of the
product line. Um, really solid stick. I
have no idea what this costs, but I would say it's probably
(17:24):
good bang for Buck.
Yeah. His price points are really good.
Everything that he sells yeah.
Everything is between eight and 15 that he
sells. At least that I've seen. Now, he may have some
limited releases that I haven't seen yet that may be a little
more expensive, but I would say in every case, it's worth a
try.
Absolutely. So just to bounce off that,
(17:44):
the duality of that in every case is this should be
something that I would hope you'd be able to find in
every cigar case in humidor that you visit. I
think if you're a cigar retailer,
this is one of those brands that
you should carry.
Yeah, I think that's a good thing as
well. And definitely trying to keep
(18:06):
things like that in your humidor that you can just
split with your friend and say, hey, here's one. I'm going to smoke one.
We're going to have a good time, and just take and
have a good moment in life together.
Um, so what were your tasting notes?
Yeah, solid construction on this considerable spice off the
light and in the retro hell, uh, this was a
medium plus body smoke for me, medium to full strength.
(18:28):
Uh, it mellows out in the second, third, and through the end
with some nice leather and wood tones. Uh, but
the nuance really came through the retro for
me, which was really something, uh,
that I enjoy about a cigar to have that kind
of consistent, big leathery,
woody, almost like coffee like
tones through the smoke of the cigar. And then to
(18:50):
get some of that nuance. Uh, as you
retrohale, uh, it's a nice little
kind of cherry on top. It's a little bit of
excitement, uh, that you can expose
yourself to as you go through the smoke.
Yeah, definitely. I had a little pepper off the light.
Like it was kind of dusty and peppery and it
actually reminded me of an older Davidoff huh.
(19:13):
Which was interesting to me. And it could have just been my
setting where I was, but I really got those pepper
on the retro and really, I uh, thought after
that 1st, 3rd, it just mellowed out nicely to have a good
blend. So what was your rating upon that?
That's a three for me all day.
All right, so we're going to call it a three.
So next up, I had an interesting story to
(19:36):
share with you guys.
Yeah, go.
Because worthy of
discussion for sure. So, as, uh, I was
driving up to, uh, our, uh, studio for production
day, I got caught
in a little bit of traffic and I had to weave through some of the neighborhoods that are
around where our studio is. And
um, I was driving past the school and there
(19:58):
was a sign on the side of the road that
said reading Tutor. And then it had
a phone number on it.
Was it spelled, oh, you got to.
Give that phone number to Mike.
It was the irony of, uh, the whole thing. I'm like, well,
if you can't read, you can't read the sign,
man.
(20:20):
Seriously.
It's like, have you thought about this for a moment?
Am I the only one in the room going, uh,
hey man, I don't think the sign is going to work.
Well,
I do not think it means what you think it means.
It was sitting there, I was at a stop sign, I
was looking at the sign, I was just laughing my butt off. I
(20:42):
mean, it was hilarious.
I love those moments of just little irony that
you're like, uh, you may want to think
about that, right?
For sure.
So, uh, actually, good old boy mike, you're up next
with your, uh, factory 57.
Yeah, so, uh, the Factory
57 is a
(21:03):
robusto as well. Five x 50 as a
natural. Uh uh, the filler is
Honduras, Nicaraguan, Mexico,
Colombia, Costa Rica, and a
partridge and a pear tree. Uh,
the wrapper is high priming triple
fermented, not double triple fermented.
Nicaraguan, halapa
(21:24):
habano. So this is aged for three
years, plus an additional six months before
shipping. And according to 724
cigar owners, uh, Kurt Kendall, the factory
57 name, refers to the US. Government's
official designation of 724 as a
licensed and tax manufacturer of premium cigars.
(21:44):
Um,
uh, uh,
I'm trying to think when I smoked this in the lineup.
I guess this was ten minutes ago.
No, uh, this
was the third I had out of the four. And,
um, yeah, uh,
I was not very happy with this. Uh, so here
(22:05):
are some of my, uh, notes here about the
720, uh, four robusto,
uh, tad spicy. Very, um,
spicy up front. It was a spice bomb.
I got that too.
Um, it had a few burn line issues.
Just kind of an average draw. Um,
I wrote, I'm glad I'm done with this product line.
(22:26):
Well, man, what, did you pull that out of your shoebox humidor?
I was not, uh, happy
with finishing, uh, things off.
I had the opposite on that one.
Same.
Okay.
Oh, man. It was real creamy off the light for me, and
had a really good smoke. The burn on the flavor was great.
For mine, actually. This cigar
(22:46):
was fantastic. It's creamy, it's smooth all the
way. The flavors blended really well for
me, and I actually paired that with a good
rye whiskey, uh, which really helped.
Spice on top, a state that
you adhere to consistently.
Wasn't the will it but I can't talk about
it. But it was actually
(23:08):
delicious. And I put even the
last half of that ticks up even more spice.
Really?
Yeah. So for mine, it was just like, oh, you think the spice
is mellowing out? Forget it. We're getting
more spicy to you. But
I will definitely buy the cigar.
I wish to register a complaint.
(23:29):
Yes.
Well, what's your complaint, sir?
I'm sorry, but there is no way this was
the same did you put different bands on my cigar?
No.
Is that it? No, not I don't write
down it's a spice bomb unless it is a spice bomb.
It was definitely a spice bomb. But see, as we all know at
Sipsuds and smokes, mike's opinion is
twice as much is not worth anything in this
(23:52):
opinion.
Benjamin, what do you think of it?
Be the, um mean, I
hate to jump on the bandwagon here, Mike,
but this is absolutely a killer for me.
Got him.
I love this smoke. This was a fresh pulled
espresso. The crema still on
top. Uh, that spice was definitely on the
(24:12):
retro. For me, though, it lingered on the palate a bit
more, uh, than the Wk series. I
would smoke this cigar again and again
now.
Absolutely.
That being said, it could have been the setting for
me. This was last night for me.
So sitting on the back porch, listening to the crickets,
reading a good book, like I was in the right
(24:34):
space for this smoke, if you will, we.
Were smoking the same cigar in the same evening.
Yeah.
Is this a pop up book?
Maybe you guys read there was pictures involved.
Oh, yeah, I'm sure.
Judge me.
Yeah, that's fine.
I saw the sun.
Uh huh.
It's trickery. Yeah, that's what it
is.
Telling you.
(24:54):
So let's give that our Sips rating. What do we got here, folks?
It's a three for me.
We're going to go with
three.
Yeah, bring me a box path.
So I just want to touch base. Nate, good old boy.
Nate just had to leave. Um, his wife's car
wouldn't start, so sorry, Nate. You're going to get to miss
out, but don't worry.
I hope you get the car fixed, though. Car problems are the worst.
(25:17):
That's right. But I'll read his cigar.
All of Nate's, uh, opinions
are really mine, so I
get
votes. Natal absolutely. Back me up on everything I'm
saying.
Can we call our lawyer for this one? No.
Okay. All right, so good old boy. Eight.
(25:37):
Hi, guys. All right.
No, I'm just kidding.
That was a poor
interpretation.
Uh, so he had the 724
dog walker. So actually, we had
talked about the dog walker earlier and how
724 is the ones that coined the phrase for that
can't confirm. But it's a great story, and I
(25:59):
enjoy hearing that. So
724 original series dog walker is a four and a
quarter by 40 maduro. Its filler is
a diverse blend of Nicaraguan, Honduran,
Mexican and Colombian long filler.
Its binder is Costa Rican, and its
wrapper is Brazilian
marafina wrapper. So it's
(26:22):
actually cedar aged for 120
days to Mellow. It says, on those occasions when
the time or weather may be an issue,
you may prefer a shorter smoking
experience. The dog walker is a perfect size for walking
the dog, washing the
car, anything that you want it to be.
(26:43):
These cigars smoke in a range of 15
to 48 minutes, depending on how you
smoke it. Uh, a double bonus of
smaller cigars is their price point.
So their price points are typically between
five dollars to eight dollars ranges. Now, I don't
quite know the price range because I didn't look it
up. Um, but I would suggest I think.
(27:04):
This was like 499.
Yeah, I would say you're in the five to $6
range. Absolutely. Depending on taxes
and taxation is theft, but we'll talk about that
in another podcast. Um, so the dog walker
for me, I had notes on that. Let me
pull them up here in my trusty phone.
So you missed the cedar age for 120 days?
(27:25):
No, I didn't. I said that
this happens every time. You don't listen to me when I talk.
Mike, why do we go through this? Rather a gloom over the evening,
hasn't it? It's like we're married
again.
Hold my hand.
Yeah, right.
Let me follow along.
That's right.
More rum at the end of the day.
That's right. More rum. Um, more rum. Um, so, uh, what
I got off that was man, that thing again,
(27:48):
just like the factory,
um, robusto. This thing was a spice bomb.
Yes, sir.
It was a flavor bomb. And I really
enjoyed the cigar. I said it mellowed out
great. It was bold off the light, but mellows out
real quickly. So, like, your first even
half of your 1st, 3rd is, like, super spice. And then it
just mellows out to blends those three flavors well.
(28:11):
And you almost can hit that cedar
halfway through that cigar, you can get that cedar taste.
What did you think about that?
Yeah, the cedar really came through for me. This one had a
really nice, uh, almost, uh, kind
of like, effervescent, uh, wood to
me. Right.
Yeah. Effervescent.
Right.
(28:31):
You walk into, like, a new cedar
barn or something like that. Right. And that almost
sweet aroma, uh, but it has that kind
of tinge of spice to it hits you. Uh,
and this is a first thing in the
morning smoke for me. This is that cup of coffee
smoke. Perfect time frame. Perfect, uh,
(28:52):
size. I do kind of lean into the barger method
as far as sizes go.
So Lancero right. That 48 ring
gauge.
Give it to me, baby.
So this one
fair.
So what would you prefer, Mike? What would you prefer this
in?
Um, I definitely love the name of this. It
(29:12):
really aligns a cigar with an
activity. And I think that's what I really loved about
this. I had the cigar when we got together for herf,
so we were having several cigars.
What's a herf?
Herf is when we just get together, um, and we
bitch about everything.
Oh, well, that happens every day.
And you guys realize that I'm right about
(29:33):
everything.
Least opinionated.
Yeah. Very humble as
well. But it's interesting. We
talk about pairing things, and it's usually paired
with a whiskey or,
uh, another beverage or sometimes with a
food. But I like this idea
(29:53):
of pairing an activity with a
cigar because it is spot
on for the amount of time for me to walk my dog.
I have a shih
tzu my bad shitsu.
Uh, selective hearing.
Yeah.
Thanks anyway. Um, um,
(30:15):
but it aligns definitely with the amount of
time usually that I am taking the dog for a walk.
And I just thought that from a marketing perspective,
it's a lot easier to do that and saying, Would you like
a petite Corona?
It's like, I'm into full
size
Corona.
Yeah. Uh, but the thing that I liked about it that
(30:37):
particular evening that we got together for the herf is it
actually was a good tune up for my
palate, uh, because I'd been sampling and
drinking a bunch of things through the day, working on completely
different episode. And, um,
I really had not had a cigar all day.
And that helped me just kind of set
(30:57):
myself into, I really need to smoke through these cigars
and pay attention. To what they're going to be. So it was really good, uh,
to acclimate my palate. And that was the other thing that I
really loved. I agreed that I
thought the cedar was, I thought,
very, um, present in a lot of the
flavor profile of this, but in a good way. I mean, sometimes
you can have cedar and it's almost like
(31:19):
rancid. Um, it can actually
overwhelm any flavor profile in it, but it was very complementary
and I thought it was working well. That was a
great stick. Um,
um, um, I like this a lot.
Yeah.
I like this cigar a lot as well.
What I like about the size of the cigar
(31:40):
is that, like you said, you can use
it for multiple things
if you just have limited amounts of time.
But also, I kind of did this one
with dessert. So
I was eating double, uh, chocolate ice
cream. Yeah. And it was
(32:01):
fantastic. Let's rate this up before we head out here.
So, uh, we're going to go three all across the.
Board.
So we're going to take a quick break for some sponsors
and then we'll come back and talk about one of the other cigars that came
and maybe some more shenanigans.
What kind of dog would you walk this
way?
Maybe, uh, mastiff, if I had
(32:23):
a mastiff.
And welcome back to our
724 takeover of Sipsuns and
Smokes Smokes episode. I hope you guys are having
as much fun as we
are. Thrilled. Uh, we are having so
much fun.
Uh, well, I have fresh whiskey now in my
glass.
(32:44):
I will not, sir. This is hot
in here. So we went over the dog
walker recently and we rated it a three because that cigar
is awesome. But what
other activities would you guys do with a dog.
Walker? Um, I think it's a
good, um, if
(33:05):
you have to go for a walk, uh, even without
an animal.
Um.
I think it's a good stick to take down to the golf
range. Um, that way you
take a larger stick and you're hitting
golf balls. You're constantly managing
the cigar instead of what you're doing at the range. Well, you
(33:25):
might be, um, it's a.
Really good slice game you got.
Yeah, I do. Thank, um,
you look I'm bringing out outside
in swing playing back
in motion.
There's not one golf swing as long as it works for
you.
He's out there weed whacking mhm.
It's not one two. It's one.
(33:49):
Two.
And we talked about the time commitment thing, right.
So wanting to spend that time, maybe you don't want to
spend a lot of time where you're going. Right. Maybe you do just
want to kind of hang out long enough to have a
short smoke and you've got some other commitments to get to and call.
It the break from the in laws.
Yeah, like a commute. Like you're going to pick up dinner and coming right
back home.
(34:10):
Right. If you're smoking in the car, right? Yeah,
that's exactly what I had in mind, Mike, where maybe some of
those family functions you don't want to spend a lot of time at.
Yeah.
You mean like, I've got a timer set on this
thing and it's about 45 minutes max and I'm up out of here?
That's an interesting question.
So do you pick the
size of the scar based on when you plan to
(34:33):
smoke it, and does it align with that
activity? I think we do,
because I think, well, there's a difference
between us smoking for the show and
probably me making those choices when I just have absolutely
no agenda. I'm just enjoying a cigar.
Wait, there's times you don't have an
agenda? Yeah.
(34:55):
Nailed
it.
Hang on a second. I wish to register
a complete I do,
yes, again. Uh,
but yeah, it just kind of struck me
that there are times
that even the way that I manage, uh, my
(35:15):
tupper doors are generally by size. Like, I have most
of the Robustos in one tupper door.
I have most of the Toros in another. I have all the
Churchills in another.
I thought they were alphabetized.
No. Um, so I find myself
going, well, I have an hour and a half to
kill, I'll take a Churchill, or I only
(35:36):
have, like, 30 minutes, and I'll grab a
robusto. Um,
I know that I tend to pick the size of the stick
based on the amount of time that I probably have to
work with to try and enjoy that, but at the
same time, sometimes, especially people I play
golf with, they take the same stick no matter
(35:58):
what, um, for 4 hours.
And it's like, oh, wow, they're searching for their golf ball.
Yeah.
Uh huh. Starting force fires out there.
Hey, man, I'm just telling you, we're.
Swinging for the trees. I can shoot 108 and smoke
four.
Sticks while we're here. That's all I care about.
Well, now that we're talking about size and we're doing a little bit comparison
here, boys, I want to talk about the Churchill. Yes.
So this Churchill we got from him was a
(36:20):
seven x
50 maduro, and I think
that it was fantastic.
I typically am not a Churchill guy because that is
a
time commitment. It is just as much length as
it is girth.
Today we're going to be demonstrating how to measure girth. Girth is
(36:42):
a very important measurement when
determining sizes. First, take your tape measure, place it
at the center of the shoulder, bring it down
through the crotch and
back up again,
making sure it's going over the
widest part.
Well, the filler on this one is a diverse
blend of Nicaraguan, Honduran, Mexican,
(37:04):
and Colombian. Long filler. The binder
is Costa Rican, and the wrapper is
a Brazilian matafina wrapper. And it is
also cedar aged for
120 days. So what I want to take a second about is
this is almost the same
blend as the dog walker. If you
guys notice and listen and pay attention to what we say when
(37:27):
we talk, correct.
It's prickery.
It's not. So if
anyone out there has had these
thoughts, when you get a cigar in a different size,
does it taste the
same? No.
Tell me why. Definitely not. In
this case. And I think part of it might have been
(37:50):
just the amount of time and
exposure to that filler and binder
itself. I have a feeling
that you're comparing
something between ten to 15 minutes versus something
that was an hour. And I just
think that, uh, my palate just flat out
(38:10):
was worn out and so fatigued after the
first third of
yeah, really? I was fighting all the way through.
Too much spice for you?
It was not working for me.
Yeah. Well, that's sad.
I had a lot of other issues.
But what do you think, Benjamin?
Well, I'm the same. Ah. Uh, so for this one, for, like, this
was something that I would absolutely revisit again in that
(38:33):
dog walker size. But the Churchill was a struggle
for me. I remember you sent me that
picture of you smoking and how much you loved it,
and it got me excited to light this thing
and go, because we tend to have a little bit of a
similar palette.
Right.
And I got about halfway through it and was like, this guy
is absolutely nuts. There is
(38:54):
no way this is what he's
talking about. Uh, and for me, I think
it was that Cedar Age, for me, definitely took
a hold of the dog walker in all the right ways,
and it did not do the same in the Churchill. Really,
about halfway through this thing,
I almost wanted to give up on it. It
(39:16):
was solid. It's something that I would smoke again if someone
handed it to me. Uh, but this would not be
a cigar, uh, that I would look for in a Churchill size. Maybe
in a robousto. Something that's got a little more
girth to it,
um, but in that Churchill size, man, I was not a fan.
Of this cigar, so
I actually really enjoyed the Churchill size of this
(39:39):
cigar. In fact, I enjoyed it so
much, I didn't even take
notes on literally, it was in an
every case moment. Like, I was in the
moment with the cigar, and
I was sitting in my basement.
Many moments. That's right. There were many moments with this cigar. But
(39:59):
you know what? To me,
in that moment, it was the experience of
the cigar for me. So it
wasn't, um aroma.
Yeah.
Right.
You are driving the Indy car.
Yeah.
Like the Formula One with you.
Uh, the Germans. Got to
love them.
(40:20):
Sorry.
Different company, different listen to the PCA
episode for that one.
You'll get it.
Well, I guess the question that pops up for
me would be, was
this the experience with the cigar, or was there something
else happening or something else that you were
doing that, number one, kept you away from taking notes. Right. So thanks
for not doing your homework.
(40:41):
Yeah. Right.
No gummies. Uh, was there
something that, uh, was an
attribute to that experience that made you enjoy it
that much?
So, for me, I paired it with a really
m malt forward
bourbon. And so the spice and
the cedar kind of blended with the
(41:03):
malt forward bourbon that I had,
and it almost turned into, like,
a chocolate. It was really weird how
it happened. I don't know that I can
replicate it.
You could smoke the same cigar and.
Drink the same whiskey. Yeah, but I know, but it's all
about your headspace, too, man. So it was
the experience. Yeah. It's just I had a long, exhausting
(41:25):
day at work. I was just ready to
just sit down and have a moment to
myself.
I was the same way when
I decided, I was like, Cool. You know what?
I really want to go back to this 18 year,
four square rum that it's been a long time since I had had it.
And.
I'm like that's moved to the back of the shelf in a way in which I
(41:47):
really want to come back and enjoy that.
I think it'll pair well with,
uh, a Churchill. Um,
even if between the two of them, one of them has got
to be good. Sure. And
yeah, then
that halfway through the first third of it, I was just
(42:07):
running into all kinds of construction
problems. Horrible draw. I mean, I was just like,
oh, my gosh, I was in dire
need of a good ram rod to try and get
through this.
We, uh, talk about ram rods.
So I was like, I am going to hang tough with this. I was enjoying
the rum by
(42:28):
then, but I was like, there's got to be something
here I'm missing.
And about the halfway point, I was like, okay,
you know what? This is just not going well
and not getting any better, and I hate that.
Uh, and I have to say, I gave up on it
at that point. I was like, okay, I've had enough of this.
(42:49):
I enjoyed another DRAM of
the rum and really kind of called it,
and I was like, okay, never, ever
again.
I had none of those construction issues, but, um,
all of the flavor, uh, issues
with it, and I think issues is, uh, honestly, maybe a
little terse, but it was one of those things, too, right,
(43:09):
where this is maduro. I
do normally enjoy
a Churchill, uh, size
or girth.
Yeah.
Uh, and so I was really excited to smoke this thing, but, yeah, it just
kind of fell flat, like, right in the middle, uh,
for me. And, uh, it never really
picked back up. It's also one of those smokes that you
(43:31):
think that, okay, maybe, uh, there's just a little
lull in the middle right. And it's going to kind of pick up
back on the end.
Right.
You're going to get a lot more of that spice that you got out of
the dog walker. Uh, you're going to get a little bit more
weight out of the smoke.
At that point, I did not know it never happened. I did
not know they were same binder and filler that
was in the dog walker. I didn't even look
(43:52):
at the specs. I just know they were
different sizes.
So you guys said that binder, filler.
And wrapper, same smoke.
Yeah.
When you guys all said that, I was like, there is no way. Those
are just, like, on polar opposites
for me.
Yeah. Well, I think that in
every case, there's a good one for you and a bad
one for you, so we'll give it a sips rating
(44:14):
of
a two. Um, anyway,
I, uh, really hate that for both of you that you
had construction problems and then you had spice problems. I would
encourage you to revisit it. No, I mean,
that's fine. You could say no.
I'll try anything twice.
Yeah, for sure. And I'm the same way. If I
(44:34):
don't like it the first time, change your environment, change what
you're doing. It's like the first time. I, uh, some
other stuff.
More rum?
Um oh, yeah. You could get some really good rums with
this, for sure. Yeah.
So we like to discuss everything good in life here on
this podcast. So how are you guys what are you
guys finding good in life at.
The moment, other than reading?
(44:56):
Uh, tutor? Yeah, the reading, uh, A Totor.
It was spelled T-O-O-T-E-R-I was waiting for it
to be spelled wrong. Why would somebody know that if they don't
know how.
To read? Reading is good.
Can we start the story
now?
Yeah.
Um, it's really great to enjoy a
(45:17):
brand like this. Uh, I
think the one thing that I found
myself, uh, when we were making our way through this
product line, I don't know how to describe it, other than I
just felt like it was, um,
very lackluster. Really?
Yeah.
I don't know.
I felt like
(45:40):
this was, uh, a manufacturing
decision that had been made a long time ago, and then they've just
been working their tail off to
try and maintain that taste profile for
a long time. And I don't know, I felt like it was
just a dwarf or whatever it was
originally. And I don't know why I got that. Uh, it's not like
I smoked 724s, like, ten years ago,
(46:02):
and now I'm smoking them again and going, wow, this is
not the same. This was the first time I'd had them,
but I don't was it didn't have
a lot of wow or pop to it, and
I just accepted dog walker.
Yeah.
Now he's got another cigar that we did not get to try this time,
but, um, it's a barber pole, and I believe it's
(46:23):
a Connecticut. And Maduro, if I'm not mistaken,
somebody can pull that up while we're
talking. Um, that cigar, Nate, um, was
actually talking to us about it before he had to
leave. Um, he said that's the best cigar they've got in
their lines. Huh. And so I'm going to encourage
you guys to seek it out and try it. Let's try it and see what
(46:44):
happens.
A lot of sticks in our lives.
I know it we have a lot of cigars in our lives. Oh,
my gosh. But as far as it's for me,
as it's concerned, uh, I'm really
liking what Kurt's doing.
Would you buy a box?
I would definitely buy a box.
That's the big question. Lay down the
big box.
20 sticks of one. Yeah, I would, because I
(47:05):
think that worst case scenario, if I didn't have time for a Churchill, I'd cut it
into a robusta.
That thought crossed
my mind. I was like, well, maybe instead
of a Ramrod, I'm just going to cut the Churchill in
half and relight it and see if I can
resurrect this.
I've actually shorter stick. I've had that happen
on multiple cigars before that. I have gotten
(47:27):
a Churchill.
And it has happened to me with.
You start smoking it, and you're like, man, this is really not
what's up. And then you cut it to a
Robusto five by whatever size, and it's
just like, man, this is a completely different cigar
at
this point. What about you, Ben? What are
you enjoying?
The wife and I just moved into a new house, moved, uh, out into the
(47:50):
country a little bit, so I've got the right
atmosphere to enjoy cigars a bit more.
Right.
The back porch and the starlit skies
and the ceiling fan,
it just sets.
The mood for do your neighbors have all
their natural teeth?
Yes, actually, uh, we just met a couple of the neighbors, and one of them
is a professor, and the other one's a
(48:12):
school
teacher. Um, 100% 724 is a
brand. That's boxworthy to me. And I would definitely
try out Hustler barber pole.
Yeah, that Hustler barber pole is going.
To be Montefina, ecuadorian, Connecticut.
That's what it is. Ecuadorian, Connecticut.
All right,
so, um, we're going to start wrapping this episode
(48:35):
up. That's right. So great
stuff today, guys. I'd like to thank our host, good
Old boy Mike.
Yeah.
Thanks for joining us for another exciting episode of Sipsuds
and Smokes. Check out all of our episodes online. I'll ask
you to keep on sipping.
And good old boy Benjamin.
And thanks for having me on the team, guys.
Smoke them if you got them. And, uh, for me, good
(48:56):
old Boy burger. Keep smoking whatever it
is you smoke. I.
Support you. Yeah, but would you still cut the
Churchill in half? I
probably would.
You know, cutting a Churchill in a half doesn't make it
a Robusto, right?
It doesn't matter. That's just,
(49:16):
like, your.
Opinion, man.
I wish to register a complete
yes, I do. We'll talk about it
in small group.
So it's a group therapy.
I don't like Churchills. That's great.
Oh, man, if only it were a
ah.
Uh, man, that cigar would have been awesome in a lancero.
(49:38):
You are not taking that from
me. No. Oh, my God. You better
stop it. Have a good night, folks. Thanks for
listening.
Cheers. We hope you enjoyed this episode. If
you're listening to us online, do yourself a
favor and tap just tap it in the subscribe
button.
Give it a little tappy, tap, tap, tap
(50:00):
a room.
The easiest way to listen to our show is to ask
Siri Alexa, Google, Uncle Larry, or whoever it is that talks
to you on your phone play podcast,
Sipsuds and Smokes. Um, we love your feedback, and
you can reach
us
at info@sipsudsandsmokes.com. Our tasting notes flow out on Twitter and
Instagram with our handle at sipsudsandsmokes,
(50:22):
and our Facebook page is always buzzing with
lots of news.
You'll also be able to interact with
the thousands, millions of other fans on those
social media platforms. Do us a favor. Take
the time to rate this episode. If you're listening to us online,
that's a big help to us, and we get to see your
(50:42):
feedback as well. Come back, join us
for another episode, and keep.
On sipping. This has been a one tan hand
production of Sip, Suds and Smokes, a
(51:05):
program devoted to the appreciation of some of the
finer slices of life from the Dude in the
Basement studios. Your host. The good old boys will see
you all
next.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Charlie is America's hardest working grassroots activist who has your inside scoop on the biggest news of the day and what's really going on behind the headlines. The founder of Turning Point USA and one of social media's most engaged personalities, Charlie is on the front lines of America’s culture war, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of students on over 3,500 college and high school campuses across the country, bringing you your daily dose of clarity in a sea of chaos all from his signature no-holds-barred, unapologetically conservative, freedom-loving point of view. You can also watch Charlie Kirk on Salem News Channel