A Post-Thanksgiving Chill Session

Are you ready to unwind after the holiday rush? Tony Katz and Fingers Malloy invite you to join them in a relaxed post-Thanksgiving episode where they're taking it easy just like you. The duo lights up Arturo Fuente Rare Pink "Sophisticated Hooker" cigars (named after a fishing boat!) and samples Tony's exclusive barrel pick from West Fork Whiskey.

Between puffs and sips, they dive into discussions about the rise of foreclosures, the absurdity of "influencer" culture, and the importance of writing thank-you notes in our digital age. The conversation meanders through Black Friday deals, the economics of streaming services, and whether a 98-inch television is simply too much (spoiler: Tony thinks not).

Key Takeaways:

Cigar review: The Arturo Fuente Rare Pink "Sophisticated Hooker" with its Ecuadorian habano wrapper and distinctive white pepper spice notes

The duo discusses the fraudulent "influencer" who's been arrested six times for dining and dashing at upscale restaurants

The lost art of thank-you notes and proper etiquette in the digital age

Tony unveils his barrel pick: West Fork Whiskey Old Hamer 11-Year Bourbon (127.6 proof) with notes of butterscotch, cinnamon, and oak

Economic discussion: Rising foreclosures and vehicle repossessions signaling trouble ahead

The overwhelming cost of streaming services and the decline of cable TV

Whether you're still in your turkey (or brisket) coma or just looking for some entertaining conversation to accompany your weekend relaxation, this episode delivers with the perfect blend of spirits, smokes, and spirited discussion. Pour yourself something nice, light up if you're so inclined, and join Tony and Fingers for this laid-back holiday weekend special.

All that, and more, on an all-new Eat Drink Smoke!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wow, it is just two days after Thanksgiving? Or is
it a day? Honestly, I don't know when you hear
the show, but we decided here to eat, drink smoke.
Everybody's in a turkey coma or for us, a brisket coma.
Must we be so aggressive with our reviews of bourbon

(00:24):
and cigars. Wait, are we ever aggressive? Fingers Molly aggressive aggressive? No,
We're just more laid back right now than normal.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
It's like we have three glasses of chill before we
start the show.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Seat, drink smoke. I'm Tony Katz and that is America's
favorite amateur drinker. Fingers molloy, A very happy Thanksgiving weekend
to you. I assume that if you're listening to us
on radio, this is the moment where you've decided, Hey, uh,
I believe we're running low on milk. I'll run to
the store and get that. No, no, no, mother in law.
I'll be back in just three hours, and you're enjoying

(01:01):
the show wherever it is you are. That's what I
assume is going on.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
See, I thought they would just be saying to their
mother in law, let's all rally round the radio and
listen to our favorite radio program.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
Honestly, that would be fantastic. So we decided we weren't
going to do something new this week, figuring a lot
of people might just be in a in a bit
of just slow down mode, and we decide to treat
ourselves with something that you don't see every day, something
we've done on the show before. This is the Arturo
Fuente rare pink sophisticated hooker.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
It's a sophisticated hooker.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
You say, I don't get a t he for that?
Oh t good lord Now, for those of you wondering
how you could say such a thing on radio, this
according to the legend Carl Delfuente naming this after seeing
a fishing boat called the sophisticated hooker. Get it, hooker fishing,

(01:56):
that's what it is. This is a seven to one
quarter by fifty three, which means seven and one quarter
inches long. There it is, and the ring gauge is
fifty three the diameter of the cigar, or how thick
it is around, good lord man, A sixty four ring
gauge would be a full one inch around. So this

(02:16):
is a dadima starts at a point, ends at a point.
The cap ends where you cut the foot ends where
you light. I have just lit this up. This is
an Ecuadorian habano wrapper here and then I think it
is Do I have it right? Let me double check
myself here on the binder and the filler, I did

(02:37):
a total blank. I know equadorin a bottle, Dominican in
the binder and the filler. I think there's some Nicaraguan
in there as well. There's a little bit of spice
to this. The rare pinks are certainly sought after. They're
there in some ways collected. Is it the best thing
that our turf Pointy does or Turlepointe does. I don't

(02:58):
think so. I think they've got some They've got a
really really nice pallett of things going on. But this
has become something unique and special for people, and I figured,
you know, after Thanksgiving, let's pull it out and relax.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
And I'm really happy that you decided to do this cigar.
But what I'm really curious about, Tony, is how many
cigars you had on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving because it's it's kind
of a weird holiday when it comes to cigar smoking,
because the families all around you want to spend as

(03:35):
much time with family as possible, but also it's really
a day of meals and then relaxation. Well, so you
have to peel away to smoke your cigars, So how
many cigars did you smoke?

Speaker 1 (03:49):
So first, a cigar smoking on Thanksgiving totally depends on weather, right,
how cold it is, So if you're in a place
it's cold, it's a much more difficult thing to do. Me,
I've got the studio connected to the house, very easy
thing to do. Second, I was smoking the brisket there
in the overnight Wednesday Thursday, So it's not that I

(04:10):
had to find the time. The time was provided to me.
But if I had on Thanksgiving with the people here
and the football and everything else, four on Thanksgiving Day itself, wow,
that's not that would not be surprising. But between the

(04:32):
start of the brisket and the actual meal, because we
do a lunchtime meal, so we do the meal, it
was like one thirty. So when we did it, six
six in a thirty hour period. God bless you. I know,
America's great, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
You're making up for the fact that I'm not having
any because it isn't because I don't want to. It's
just I'm at that point in my life where I
do not want to sit outside when it's thirty degrees out.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
It's focusing, and you're up in Michigan and doing ale
the whole thing. So we grab the sophisticated hooker. I
wanted a little bit of that spice that comes with
this as a compliment to you know what is a
very base, rich kind of meal depending on who you are.
The wrapper here is very very attractive. It is very smooth,

(05:27):
nice bit of oil, almost a touch of sueded. The
hef done this cigar seven and a quarter by fifty three.
I could use a touch more, but it still feels
good and it's got this at least this one. It's
not a box press, but it's this quasi kind of
what's happening here. I think because of that diadem of
shape right closed foot or closed in foot and close cap,

(05:53):
it gets this a little bit more oblong kind of
thing going. It could have been just how it was
in my human or it just feels great and not inexpensive.
And so this is where it gets weird. The question
I would ask your fingers, well, boy, is is this
in your humid or for what was an MSRP at
the time of seventeen dollars and seventy five cents.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
I mean, we just lit this, but if you have
to have an answer right now, yes.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
So I think the rare Pink is something that if
you haven't tried it, you absolutely try it and then
decide if it's in your humid or The problem is
you don't find them at that price. It's one of
those things that you find secondary market stuff and hey,
we happy to get something in and then it's thirty
two dollars or it's thirty five dollars and you got
to decide whether or not you want to play the

(06:38):
game on this. And I think that you should not
play it with box buying, buying boxes until you've actually
had the stick. Buy one, even if you feel it's overpriced,
then decide for yourself if the rare pink is rare
enough for you, then you could search it out right,

(06:59):
try and find deal uh maybe by it in larger measure. Now,
admittedly I do buy the hooker by the box, I
absolutely do. But I have an ur turf our turf
onete uh extra vie on yeho in there, which is
not the rare pink version. That is a less expensive cigar.
I would buy by the box and I would smoke

(07:20):
over this all the time, much more my flavor profile.
Uh this is. This has got a nice bit of spice.
I don't know about you. That is on the back
tongue working its way into the throat. It is it
is right now for me. Maybe it's just because of
the week. Uh playing a bit of white pepper. Uh there,

(07:40):
but a lovely smoke and well constructed and well put together. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
For me, it's the roof of the mouth going into
the back of the throat. That spice is there. You
mentioned white pepper. I would agree with you, maybe a
little bit of like Hay the handfiel you mentioned you
would like a little bit more halft. To me, it
feels almost perfect. I would always like the cigar a
little bit more on that, on the heavier side. But

(08:07):
this feels really good in the hand, and you know
I would. I'm just gonna be really interested to see
if that spice picks up as we move through the
first third of the cigar.

Speaker 1 (08:15):
Well, I will not ruin it for you. I will
not tell you what will happen between you and your cigar.
It is Thanksgiving weekend a good chance to just bring
it on down from a lot of insanity and family
and hard work. Take it easy, relax, great show ahead.

(08:39):
We told you here. First, it was Eat Drink Smoke
that told you that all these influencers are absolutely ridiculous.
If you follow influencers, you're guaranteed to be disappointed because
they're frauds, they're liars. Admittedly, there's some people who do
some things that are worthwhile, some people who do something

(09:00):
that are fun, and even we have a couple people
were like, yeah, they do some really good work, but
in the main, fingers.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
They're awful fraud Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
That's our take. Do E Drink Smoke. I'm Tony Katz.
That is Fingers molloy and find us on the Twitter
x go Eat Drink Smoke, Instagram, Eat Drink Smoke, and
Oh Eat Drink Smoke podcast on Instagram sorry, and Facebook
Eat Drink Smoke. Now, I want to say for the
record that we have never once referred to ourselves as influencers. Never, once, never, ever,

(09:34):
ever do you think we fall into the category of influencers.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
No, absolutely not.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
Is it because we don't have the cleavage You.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Just hit the nail on the head. I mean, how
many times we would go to some of these shows
and there would be a lot of cigar shows.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yes, I don't know what kind of show you were
talking about.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
There'd be a lovely woman that would show up and
say something like, oh my gosh, the cigar unity is
so welcoming. I just started my Instagram account six months
ago and I already have thirty thousand followers. And you
get on the Instagram account and it's bikini bikini, bikini, bikini, bikini, bikini,
which I've said for years, why aren't we doing the
show on a bikini?

Speaker 1 (10:15):
And I believe the answer is you tried on the bikini.
That's true. I'm not going to tell people not to
make a living. I'm gonna notice. And it isn't just
those kinds of influencers. It's all of these people who
engage in a level of outrage or in the world
of food, the people like, hey, we're at this great restaurant,
we're trying this now. There are some honest, decent people

(10:39):
doing some Hey this is a cool place. Hey check
out this stuff, and where I live and all that stuff.
This is a story of a woman by the name
of Pei Chung, first name pay Pei. She has been
going to restaurants ordering lavishly. She shows up dressed to

(11:01):
the hilt and the prod of this and the Gucci that,
and then she says, oh, after ordering all this food,
I'm an influencer and I'm going to give you a
good review, so you should give me this for free.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
And people bought into it, and I can go further
than that, just saying I can't pay. Yeah, no, I
can't pay. Oh she's done that if yes, and gets arrested.
The story from NBC New York. According to police records,
Chung has been arrested at least six times in the
last month for ringing up a bill at trendy restaurants
and failing to pay. Thirty four year old is known

(11:35):
for ordering multiple courses, snapping pictures of the food, and
later posting that content on her Instagram page. But every
time she gets arrested, Chung is charged with theft of services,
a class A misdemeanor. But that's like turnstile jumping in
New York. So she gets released.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
So so it didn't start with the Hey, I'm an
influencer and you should give me this for free. It
starts with I'm an influencer and I don't have any
money and I'm not gonna pay you.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yes, she starts like that, Yes, So what happened was
that this what true the attention of NBC New York
is this restaurant owner actually recognized her name because you
know her account and her profile. It's starting to, you know,
appear on the radar of these restaurant owners. And he's like,

(12:26):
I'm not No, you're not eating here, Get out of here.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Go.

Speaker 2 (12:29):
And so she tried to go to other restaurants, and
she's tried over time, because, like you said, she's dressed
to the nines and she has the Prada bags and
all that stuff where she'll try to barter after she eats. Well,
I got nice shoes on, I got I got a
beautiful per.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
At one moment, according to one of the stories, she's
at Peter Luger's right, steakhouse of steakhouses right, absolutely phenomenal place.
She's given the bill, she's like, no, I can't pay this,
but hey, let me see what I have in my bag,
like your grandmother offering up the sweet and low. She
stole from the local diner, or maybe a plum she

(13:03):
had wrapped in a paper towel. She's like, well, I've
got this, I've got that. At one moment, offered up
a set of kitchen shears, and she probably stole from
another restaurant. She's walking around with scissors that could possibly
have been used. What I have many many questions? How

(13:24):
are you arrested for theft six times and not in jail?
How are you not in jail? There comes a moment
where this becomes so serialized that you you don't you
don't get to just keep walking around and walking into places.
How is it possible that every restaurant doesn't have a
picture of her that says, do not serve this woman,
do not serve this thieving tramp? Wow? What you walk around? Tramp?

(13:51):
In there? You walk around stealing from restaurants.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
I get to say that it used to be where
wanted posts and there are guys who do this too.
It used to be wanted posters would be at the
post office. Now they have to be at upscale restaurants.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
They used to take the bad checks and tape them
to the cash register. Oh my god, Oh Tommy bounced
to check to you. Oh my gosh, I know Tommy,
we went to high school together. I can't believe it.

Speaker 2 (14:18):
But here's the problem with this is there are too
many people in society today that applaud this type of
behavior and say, yeah, another instance of someone sticking it
to the man's restaurants.

Speaker 1 (14:31):
Can you think that's happening. Oh, she's so great sticking
it to the man.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
Well, she has a Instagram account that I'm assuming. I
haven't looked up her account to see how many followers
she has, but if this is her thing, and if
it's known that she is basically stealing meals and getting arrested,
there has to be an audience out there. That's if

(14:58):
you're following her, you're condoning this behavior.

Speaker 1 (15:02):
She has twenty four nine hundred followers. I think I
think that's her. I'm looking at the pictures of food
and pictures of her in various levels of undress, and
because that that's yeah, that that that's her. So I
think that's it. Listen, that's the account. I'm showing a picture.

(15:28):
I don't think she got that lingerie from a restaurant.
I'm just I'm just pretty sure. I if people are like,
good for you, and you're sticking it to the man
that we've often discussed the end of civilization. That's that's
a great example of it. I don't think people are
like that, though, I think more people are like I
hope I'm there when she gets thrown out my local place.

(15:52):
My Peter Luger is an institution. That's who you take
advantage of. No no, no, no, no no, no no.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
Well, you know more about Peter Lugers than I do.
I'm assuming that Peter Luger is based on the conversation
we're having right now, if you wanted to go in
and get yourself a ribbi, you're gonna be spending one
hundred and fifty two hundred dollars for that ribby.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
I would assume you're going to spend a fair amount
of money.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
You don't think that there are people out there that
are saying to themselves, Oh, how dare they charge that
much for a stake? How dare they charge that much
for a meal? They must be making money. Hand over fist.
Good for her sticking it to the man.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
By the way, if you are on the website for
Peter Luger's Peter Luger lu g Er, Peter Luger dot com.
There is no price. If you have to ask the price.
I just want to say, for the record, you cannot
afford Peter Luger.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
Well that I freely admit that I can't afford Peter Luger.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
There could be some I guess it's New York, so
I guess there could be some Mom Donnie voters who
feel that way, you know, sticking it to that normal
people are like, throw this woman in jail and keep
her in jail.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
Well, she doesn't go to jail.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
And that's the part, man, that's the part that's most frustrating.
How is it possible that if I jwalk, I get
a nineteen thousand dollars ticket. She steals from restaurants and
she's prompting on her.

Speaker 2 (17:16):
Instagram New York City.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
Eat Drink, Smoke. It is your cigar, Bourbon Food the Extravaganza.
Look for the podcast wherever it is you get your podcasts,
just search for Eat, Drink, Smoke, and well download, subscribe,
do all the things. I'm Tony Katz. That is Fingers
molloy smoking the Sophisticated Hooker. It's named after a fishing boat.
People settle down. This from Artura point Day part of

(17:44):
their rare pink collection seven or a quarter by fifty
three that Ecuador and Habano. We're in the first third
of the cigar, and the spice is absolutely there.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
What do you think made that fishing boat sophisticated? Do
you think they had AMNFM radio on it?

Speaker 1 (17:58):
I believe that the seats made a fine Corinthian leather. Nice.
That's that's what I believe. And and they had a
wide array of BoA's. That's so that's a that's the
that is the the telltale sign of sophistication.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
That is so true this cigar, the spice for me
has picked up a little bit, but not not as
much as I thought it would. But I'm sure it's
going to probably continue to pick up for me. Actually,
now that that hey that I was talking about's kind
of gone away and it's kind of morphed more into
a wood note, I'm not really getting any sweetness off

(18:36):
the cigar.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
I think that's accurate. No, No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't
say that at this point. And with everything we we
we've talked about this cigar before. We're just taking it
easy after Thanksgiving, just like you are. And we wanted
to grab something we we already knew, and a little
bit of celebration. It's been a long week, and it's
been a long year. Fingers Maloya. As we're starting to
gear up, Fingers reminded me that we have to start

(18:59):
gearing up for our top cigars and top bourbons of
twenty twenty five. And there were some flat out bangers
this year. There were some monsters this year, and I
am at a total loss of where I'm gonna be.
I think I've got a pretty good grasp on cigars.
I don't have any grasp on where I'm gonna be

(19:19):
on bourbons. There were so many things didn't agree with me.
So many things just made me say this is special
and fun and I'm not sure where to begin.

Speaker 2 (19:28):
I feel like a theme for this year, and to
the point where it's probably gotten to the point where
some of our listeners are yelling at the radio, you're
talking about this again. It was a value conversation where
we kept saying to ourselves, man, I wish this cigar
were about three or four dollars cheaper than it is.
I felt like that was a theme almost throughout the
entire year.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
It was I am not going to utilize that at
all in my decisions for what I thought was the best.
The value will not play a part in my decisions.
As per tradition, Yes, fingers went away. I picked the cigars,
and I picked the bourbon. Or if it's a rye
or something else. By the way, I'm pretty sure there's
something on my list that is not a bourbon nor

(20:08):
a rye. No kidding, oh oh oh oh. We will
get to it. But no matter what, with any cigar
that you're smoking, whether you're smoking along with us at eat, drink,
smoke or not, you want to get your notebook out,
any spiral notebook will do what did you eat today,
what'd you drink today? The weather that all affects your palette.
Then take the cigar and break it up into thirds

(20:30):
in your mind first, third, second, third, final third, and
then write down your flavors. What is it that you're
getting out of the cigar, And when you try that
cigar a month from now, six months from now, you
compare notes, get an idea of the through line. It's like, okay,
that's what I got out of the cigar. It is
so important to do that. We've got this show for that, right.
The show is my notebook in a way, but you
want to write it down. It's so important. You'll remember

(20:51):
it so well and you'll be amazed at how you
start building up your cigar knowledge. I think it's just
one of those clever tricks. It's like journal and writing
a diary. Right. This is something that's been going on
for forever. It's the same same concept, same same philosophy.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
There you bring that up. I really wish That's one
of the things I got into when I had our
first kid, was I wish I would have had some
sort of journal, yeah, to jog my memory, you know,
when I can look back and you know what it's
funny is now Facebook is that right? To be able
to back at Facebook memories?

Speaker 1 (21:28):
It really does help it. It is kind of amazing
because I'll get stuff like I don't remember that happening,
and I have to really go back and reasearch and
be like, oh, yeah, that it is very very cool.
Do you when? So this is the season of course
with Christmas cards and all that and gift cards, thank
you cards? Right? Do you write thank you cards? No?

Speaker 2 (21:47):
Because generally I don't really have anyone in my life
that gives me much to where I would send them
a thank you card.

Speaker 1 (21:56):
Wow, that's fantastic. Do you have your own stationary from
the desk of Maloy.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Now, I'm just trying to wrap my head about how
sad that sounds.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
I have stationary, do you. I think it's extremely, extremely important.
I gave stationary to both my kids. Oh, they're names
on it. The importance of the thank you note cannot
be understated.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
I agree with you. I have stationary. At the top
of it it says Hilton Garden in nicely done.

Speaker 1 (22:20):
But I whenever I write a card, I did it
at first. It came to me later. I put the
date on it because people save things and if it's like,
hey when was this? When did I get this? It
helps jog the memory. Just put the date on, I
put month and year. I don't know, sary, I put
the day. I put month and year in the top
right corner because I just I don't know. I think

(22:42):
it's a little bit of a touch, like it's a
little bit of this. This mattered to me. I think
it's I think it's incredibly important. Along with your notebook,
start that this holiday season, this Christmas season, I.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
Would really be curious and maybe people could, you know,
hit us on social media and let us know if
people still send thank you cards out anymore. Because everything's
so digitalized now, do people send emails and think that
that's the appropriate way to thank people.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
It is not. It is in no way appropriate to
send somebody an email to thank them. If it's a
simple thing with a friend, you send them a text,
that's fine. If it's a gift for an actual moment,
it's for a gift, it's for a recommendation, it's for

(23:29):
a lead in business. No no, no, no, no no,
say thank you like a grown up. I'm big on
the grown up thing.

Speaker 2 (23:38):
Oh you know, I like to send singing telegrams.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
If honestly, if you want to send a singing telegram
this we will allow. Singing telegrams will be alone.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
Do you think that still? You think it is easy
to send us singing telegram in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
I want to send you one right now. No, I
would prefer thee too late, too late, it's happening, singing telegram.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
It's gonna come back. I'm sorry, Grandpa. Those days are over.
That's what it's going to say.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
I found the website. It is the best singing telegrams.
Oh you know what I got, I got it. I
went with your town. I'm not gonna tell people where
you live, so I'll just larger Indianapolis where we come from, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
And they would they say to you, would you like
it sent on thirty three or forty five?

Speaker 1 (24:29):
Nice? It's one hundred and ninety nine dollars. It's one
hundred and ninety nine dollars to send a singing uh telegram.
And they've got I've got a song list you can
do just the way you are. We are the champions.
Foxy Lady by Jimmy Hendricks, Brown Eyed Girls, Sweet Child
of Mind. I'll send you a little sweet child I am.
I'm that's good. No, No, that's that's that's no, that's

(24:54):
no problem. Gonna reserve my Oh yeah, please reserve reserve it.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
I'm sure that they're booked up until at least June
of next year. Yeah, come on, do you want a
singing telegram? I'll send it to That sounds terrible. It
was just a throwaway joke, and now I wish it
would have went away about ninety seconds ago.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
But now it's something that everybody must see fingers belloy
single handily bring them back the singing telegram.

Speaker 2 (25:21):
Well, and what's the purpose of getting the singing telegram
if you don't have a phone nearby so you can
post it on the gram.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
That's true. That is true. This whole thing about saying
thank you, this falls into the category of wedding gift.
Do is a wedding gift cash? Or is wedding gift
to gift? It's cash? Okay, So I agree with you,
except I have a pair of candlesticks that we use
for Jewish holidays. I have a vase from somebody I

(25:49):
grew up with who I don't speak to anymore. We
use them all the time. These things last, and it's
very unique that they do last, that it's been years
and they're still there and they're still a part of
what goes on, and those people aren't for varying reasons,

(26:09):
not in every gaze, but in varying reasons. But I
think it's interesting. It has kind of turned me on
the idea of maybe there's something there. I get it.
Cash matters because things are purchased with the cash and
utilize it with the cash paying for the wedding, for example,
whatever the case may be, and it is helpful, but man,
the gift is something.

Speaker 2 (26:28):
I think that the art of sending a thank you
note is gone, or just being thankful in general. If
only we had a day of the year where people
just sat back and had these thoughts about being thankful
and really celebrated thankfulness.

Speaker 1 (26:44):
Isn't that Ruth Buzzy Day.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
Ruth Buzzy Day for some of us is every day.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
That's true. By the way, that's a holiday that we
should put together. We should, on the anniversary of her death,
celebrate Ruth Buzzy Day, and everybody hits everyone with a purse.
It used to be the Black Friday was a moment
of coming together, of planning and of excitement, and you

(27:11):
wake up early and you get to your favorite store
because there were doorbuster deals Fingers maloy Doorbuster deals. And then,
of course came the advent to the cell phone, and
Black Friday became that day where you sat home and
watched videos of really overweight women or unbelievably stupid men
beating a living crap out of each other over a toaster.

(27:31):
Shalla la lah. I missed those days too. See Drink Smoke.
I'm Tony Katz, that is Fingers Maloy. Don't forget our books.
Let's go Bourbon, Let's go bbq, Let's go barbecue. They're
available at Amazon dot com. Perfect gifts for Christmas, Hanukkah,
anything that you should celebrate.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
So you know we mentioned earlier about where we discussed
earlier Facebook memories, right, and I had some Facebook memories
from Black Friday twenty twelve. You want to hear some
of them from?

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Yeah, I do.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
I didn't have to stand in line at Walmart to
save on this Xbox game. I hit it behind an
Alan Colmbs book three weeks ago.

Speaker 1 (28:11):
You did an Alan Colmes joke. It's twenty twelve. Alan
Combs was half of Hannity and Combs, the original show
on Fox News Channel. Alan Combs was on the political left.
Sean Hennedy was on the political right. Alan Colmes passed
away some years ago. I disagreed with him vehemently politically.
Everything I ever heard about that guy, most unbelievably decent

(28:32):
cat you would ever meet. I'd be curious to hear
his thoughts about today's political Insanitay and Alan Colmes reference as.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
A poll man just shoved an old man aside at Walmart.
I saved fifteen percent on a Wei game and he
got five stitches. I never felt so alive.

Speaker 1 (28:49):
You something tells me we have our next book. Everybody,
But there are Black Friday deals now that go on
all week right They started at the beginning of the week.
They're still going on right now. I believe the Black
Friday deals now extend into May, right right before the
beginning of summer. So here's a list. If you haven't

(29:11):
gotten your Black Friday deals yet, let me bring this
to you. This is a list where the people over
there at CNN, who are known for their Black Friday expertise,
they hand picked fingers maloy. Oh they did not use AI.
We're gonna find out. They handpicked a list of the
ninety best Black Friday deals to beat the holiday rush.

(29:34):
I want you right now to go to your local AI,
and I want you to put in give me a
list of the best of the ninety best Black Friday deals. Okay,
I want to see if AI's list is better than
the list from the experts at CNN. Wow. I don't

(29:55):
know who it was. I think you may have told
me this, But there are people who are posting on
so social media. I don't need any more deals on
big screen TVs. But if I could have a cheaper
price for milk, that would be great. No, I did not.
If the groceries could just be less, that would be terrific,
Thank you so very much. And they're they're they're not wrong.

(30:17):
Some of them are the basics. The Apple air Pods
on sale for two hundred and twenty dollars, some chargers.
Here's Hokahs, Hokah sneakers. Do you wear the hookahs? Hoka
they're big? The on clouds are big. Do you wear
any of those? Do you wear the Are you wearing
designer sneakers right now? No?

Speaker 2 (30:38):
I'm not, But I've never heard of Hokah before. No, No,
they make designer stuff. You can get those for one
hundred dollars at foot locker. One hundred dollars right now
at foot locker. That's the thing, though, that is, that
is a thing.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
I have seen some completely insane deals on laptops and
you who came across a ninety eight inch television.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
I couldn't believe it. So I walked into one of
these big box warehouse stores.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
It was a warehouse store, so it wasn't the best
you're buying wasn't the best?

Speaker 2 (31:14):
No, And there was this beautiful ninety eight inch TV.
Did your cost come with a co No?

Speaker 1 (31:20):
It did not. Oh but it was a bj BJ's warehouse.
Ah yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:26):
Uh so I went in there and there was a
TV ninety eight inches, a TLC TV TCL No TLC.
That was a chasing waterfall there. It is TCL television.
Now the price tag said normally tony two thousand dollars TV.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
Before you go any further, okay, ninety eight inches of television. Absolutely.
I'm going to now say, for the record, there is
such a thing as too big.

Speaker 2 (31:58):
Okay, now you're just talking crazy talk.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
You're talking crazy talk. I will admit to you that
I have in the studio here a seventy five inch
T Yes. And when I first got this and put
this up like you know it, it's too big, it's
too much. I'm gonna take it back and get a
sixty five inch TV. And I believe it was Fingers
malloy who said, nah, it's fine. I said, give it
a week, it's fine. Oh my gosh, it is the

(32:21):
most And by the way, this wall could handle a
ninety eight inch. Yes, this could absolutely handle a ninety
eight inch TV. Now I don't buy TCL. Yeah, I
have my rules. That is made in China, and I
do everything I can not to buy it from China,
not to bring politics into it. But boy's got to
have some standards, and that's mine. So this TV ninety

(32:44):
eight inches of television, yes, normally nineteen hundred and ninety
nine dollars.

Speaker 2 (32:48):
Yes, and it was on and now again, I don't
know if this is like Cohle's, where you know, everything's
on sale and oh it really was never two thousand dollars, uh,
nine hundred and ninety eight dollars under a thousand dollars.
And I'm looking at this and I'm having flashbacks to
when I purchased my first big screen TV. It was
a fifty five inch Mitsubishi sixteen x nine screen format

(33:12):
and it was twenty six hundred dollars and that was
on sale. And now you can get a ninety eight
inch TV.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
For I believe my first big screen was a Panasonic
and I think it was forty eight inches, but it
might have only been forty two inches, and I think
I paid somewhere between twelve and fourteen hundred dollars.

Speaker 2 (33:29):
It's crazy. Yeah, even more of a flashback. I was
a college student early nineties, and I had a Sears
charge card right and it was getting right at the
beginning of football season, and I ran out and I
got the biggest TV I could afford. It was I
can't remember my credit limit was on the Seers charge card,

(33:51):
but I got a thirty two inch TV Tube TV
and it seemed huge. It weighed seven hundred and five
pounds tony if I remember correctly. This was in nineteen
ninety two or something like that. I paid eight hundred
dollars for it for thirty two inch TV. My how
times have changed.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
You paid eight hundred dollars for it. Yeah. Wow, sounds
like a lot. No, But the prices, of course on
tech always come down amazing, and there have been deals
on laptop. So this is a Microsoft thirteen inch surface laptop.
It's five hundred and fifty bucks at best Buy, and
I saw I have seen stuff with like the Chromebooks
and things like that. It's one hundred and ninety nine dollars.

(34:33):
It is unbelievable how easy it is to access the
world for what is seemingly a very inexpensive number in today's.

Speaker 2 (34:41):
World, you get down to that price, I have to
ask you. You know you're a Mac guy, so I am,
and I'm We're not going to get in this whole
Max snobbery thing. But I've been a Mac guy for
so long, I don't know how difficult of a transition
it would be to go to a PC.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
So in the work that I do, the radio work
that I do, do you guys know we do other
radio work fingers as a show in Michigan. I have
a morning show in Indianapolis. I have a nationally syndicated
radio show. And I have a work laptop. It's right there.
It is right there. It's an HP laptop right there.

(35:17):
I use that to make sure that the live stream
looks good, and that's it, okay. I don't use it
for anything at all.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
So you're using Windows.

Speaker 1 (35:34):
I go to Microsoft Edge, which is their browser, okay,
and I go to YouTube just to make sure everything
is looking appropriate. And that's all I do. That's the
only thing I use that for. I don't even know
why I have it there. I don't even know what
Windows are they up to now? Do they still call
it Windows? I assume. Yeah, I assume they still call

(35:54):
it Windows Windows fourteen thousand. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
I haven't used a PC. I haven't had a PC
since I had a IBM think pad.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
Right. It weighs seventy four pounds, Yes, exactly the max
snobbery is. It's not snobbery. I'm in that ecosystem. I'm
not moving from that ecosystem. I just don't want to learn.
I don't want to have to engage the people who
have Android or Google phones. They seem very happy, they
seem like very like it somehow works better, and I

(36:24):
just I don't know what better is? How much time
do I have to spend with it to be like, oh, yeah,
that uploaded half a millisecond faster.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
Now my life's complete. It's been ten years since I've
had an Android phone.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
We're gonna compare Black Friday deals between CNN and AI
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(37:20):
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(37:43):
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Thanksgiving weekend is upon us, and man, this is the

(38:07):
time to take it easy. It's Eat Drink Smoke. I'm
Tony Kats, and that right there is America's favorite amateur drinker,
Fingers Maloy. And that's exactly what we decide to do
this weekend. There was a tremendous amount of food, a
tremendous amount of family, and like you, we just need
some time to relax and you know what trying engaging

(38:27):
the standard reviews and really digging in. Aren't we allowed
to take a small break, Fingers MALOI.

Speaker 2 (38:34):
Yes, and I'm taking a break right now, as if
I haven't stuffed in my face enough. I come here
for the radio at Eat Drink Smoke Studio, but I
stay for the popcorn.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
Yes, because I do make my own popcorn. That is
avocato oil and sea salt and puppet, not in microwave,
that is fresh popped by these hands. It's Eat Drink Smoke.
I'm Tony Cats. That's America's favorite amateur drink, Fingers Malloy.
We said, you know, we picked the cigar that we've
we've done before. We went with the Arturo Fuent, a

(39:08):
rare pink sophisticated hooker, which is named after a fishing
gustle hooker. That's please don't send any emails, but we've
said what to drink, and I said, this may be
a good time, Fingers malloy, to introduce to you a
barrel pick that I have done with a local distillery
here we've talked about before called West Fork Whiskey. They're

(39:29):
relocated here in Indiana, and they've got a whole host
of things they do under their name West Fork Whiskey.
And then they've got a whole host of things that
they do. You can you can buy it in a
lot of places around the country called Old Hamer h
a m e r. It's pronounced Hamer, not Hammer. And
they've got an eight year and they've got a ten

(39:49):
year expression and they have a really interesting mash bill here.
It's ninety nine percent corn. Wow, Yeah, it's it's it's
pretty nutty in how they do it right. So instead
of a corn rye barley or adding wheat, it's ninety
nine percent corn. The more corn you have, the sweeter
that it's it's going to be and bourbon by law

(40:12):
has to be fifty one percent corn. I did a
barrel pick for them. You offen see barrel picks everywhere.
Everyone's got a barrel pick. I did this barrel pick.
I went and I and I spoke, and I looked
at barrels and I tasted things directly out of the barrel.
I said, this is fantastic. I will be putting my name,
the Tony Katz name, to the old Hammer single barrel

(40:36):
eleven year bourbon whiskey coming in at one hundred and
twenty seven point six proof fingers. I am incredibly, incredibly
happy with what has happened here. That's wonderful. So this
what you're about to drink, and soon what the world

(40:59):
will drink. It's gonna be out. Honestly, I think it's
gonna be out in the next week or so. To
bet right, we're talking after the weekend of Thanksgiving. So
I think in the next week or so, so plowed
people are gonna be able to get this for for
for Christmas, get it for Hanukah, get it for uh,
get it in time for Valentine's Day. You know, just
think early, think ahead. Nothing says I love you like
a Tony Katz picked bourbon.

Speaker 2 (41:21):
So what's the the actual name of this?

Speaker 1 (41:24):
Then the old Hamer eleven year okay, right, selected by
Tony Kats. That's what we've got right here.

Speaker 2 (41:31):
So this also has for the mashvill ninety nine percent corn.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
Ninety nine percent corn. So what's the other one percent? Love?

Speaker 2 (41:40):
Oh, there it is?

Speaker 1 (41:41):
That is right?

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Then it's perfect for the holiday season.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
That's what I say. Uh, it's it's a very very
interesting expression. First things. First, I am a fan of
the look right, it's it's not into the ambers, but
it definitely is in see some darkness there. That is
a very nice it's a little caramely looking, very nice

(42:07):
presentation there of of of the bourbon. Nine nine percent
malted barley is what we're talking about here. And fingers,
you're doing the nose on this and by the way,
there are a lot of barrel picks. Try them at
your local places there, you know, it could be a
very unique expression that works exactly for your for your
flavor profile. You're doing the nose, right, he's got his

(42:28):
nose in their fingers, biloy, what are you getting fingers?

Speaker 2 (42:31):
Well, I'm getting oak. But then also I'm getting.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
Now.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
There is a touch of ethanol alcohol on the nose
as well, and then a little bit of caramel, a
little bit of vanilla. Am I crazy?

Speaker 1 (42:48):
Oh? Would you like to see my tasting notes?

Speaker 2 (42:50):
Sure?

Speaker 1 (42:50):
Caramel, oak and cocoa. Okay, that's what's on the nose. Right,
they're well done. Look at you, Look at you.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
But you know, Sniffin is for suckers. Sniffin is for suckers.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
That's that's how I keep kids off drugs. Okay.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
So yeah, I'm really anxious to try this, especially one
hundred and twenty one, for it's been a while, one
hundred and twenty seven point six, one hundred and twenty
seven point eight, it's been a while since we've done
a bourbon that has gosh, have we done anything recently?
It's been over one hundred and ten. I don't I
don't think.

Speaker 1 (43:24):
I don't recall at the moment, I don't recall. But figures,
are you ready for this? Oh? Yeah, sure thing? But
you're ready for this all holiday weekend. This is the
West Fork Whiskey Oldhamer eleven years selected by Tony Katz.
He was doing what's known as the Kentucky Chew. He's
moving the juice around the palate getting an idea of
the flavors. I'm a believer in the two SIPs. The

(43:45):
first sip to set the taste buds, second sip to
really get an idea of the flavors. Think, Fingers took
a sip of water afterwards, I need to take another
sip of this. Oh is that right? Is that right?
For too much popcorn? Oh? Is that it? Maah, that's
a problem that will that could mess with your palette? There,
Fingers malloy, he has taken the second sip, moving it around.

(44:08):
What say you, Fingers ratio maloy? Wow.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
So that cocoa that you mentioned that hits harder than
the caramel. That caramel is there?

Speaker 1 (44:24):
Oak? Is there?

Speaker 2 (44:25):
That chocolate? Boy, There is a nice bit of sting
on the tongue. But I have to say, as far
as any kind of warmth, in a gentle warmth, this
plays on the palette like one hundred and twenty proof,
but it doesn't play, you know, in when you get
into the chest. Correct, it's not overwhelming, it is It

(44:50):
is a nice winter bourbon.

Speaker 1 (44:54):
So I absolutely agree there's an absolute hot finish here.
There's definitely a cinema overtone that takes place in that
there's definitely a sting on the tongue, sting on the lips.
Then there's the oak is present, which made me super happy.
But the thing that I liked is that this is

(45:15):
I think a fantastic presentation of butterscotch. That's the flavor
that for me. There's my tasting notes right there. It's
over here and there in position number one. That's what
took me over the edge. It's this nice mix of
sweet but not overwhelming, mixed with that little bit of cinnamon.

(45:37):
You definitely have that oak underneath that that ties it
it well together. I said, this is something that you
can absolutely enjoy. You can put this on the cube.
You can add a little bit of water to this
as as we will. What's interesting and I think fingers

(45:58):
might be curious about it's a little sweeter than I
normally go.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
Well, you said ninety nine percent corn right away, was well,
I'm I'm surprised that you would sign up for something
like that because you normally are not one for a
very sweet bourbon.

Speaker 1 (46:12):
I don't think this is overly sweet, and that's what
it is, sweetness in a very nice, controlled degree. But
the heat of that cinnamon and the oak undercurrent, I
think is that is the perfect levels of balance here,
and so I am overjoyed we have any idea on
an MSRP. Yet, oh, I'm not going to be sharing that.

(46:35):
The Old Hammer eleven years selected by Tony Katz coming
out soon. So, as we sit after Thanksgiving and the
Black Friday is ringing in our ears, and there's still
deals out there and we will get to it. Can
AI pick a deal better than the experts out there

(46:57):
who pick Black Friday deals? The very best Black Friday deal?
We are aware that I'm curious to see where spending
is going to be this holiday season. The economy is
not great, as we have discussed. Sorry to bring reality
crashing down in the middle of your turkey or brisket, food, comade, drink, smoke,
I'm Tony Katz. That is America's favorite amateur drinker, Fingers molloy,

(47:18):
And the story out of Yahoo Finance foreclosures are up
twenty percent, and some people saying, I've seen two thousand
and eight and I've seen this movie before, I know
how it ends that that's what we're getting into. Thirty
six thousand Fingers thirty six thousand, seven hundred and sixty
six foreclosure filings in October twenty percent increase year over year,

(47:41):
along with thirty two percent rise and completed foreclosures Florida,
South Carolina, Illinois reporting some of the highest rates since
the end of COVID is what they're seeing. I find
this to be not surprising. It's not rude or it's

(48:09):
not what's the word I'm looking for negative To say
that things are not great out there, They're just they're
just not is the only way to explain it. What
I cannot do the math on is we have seen,
although we haven't had numbers recently because of the government shutdown,
we've seen retail spend up across the country and it

(48:30):
has been very vexing. How can things be as problematic
as they are, yet spending still goes up. We've talked
about this. People are still in restaurants. Okay, maybe there
are less restaurants because some closed, but they're still out.
They're still spending. I want to see where credit card
debt has gone to.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
But does this number shock you fingers No, because it's
happening in other industries as well. I just came across
the story from w LWT NBC LOCALCIET in Cincinnati, Yeah,
saying recent data shows a sharp rise in US vehicle repossessions,
with seizures climbing due to record high prices for new cars.

(49:09):
So you're seeing this in the car market as well.
People aren't able to make their car payments. You're seeing
it with homes now with the foreclosures. You know, I
don't have the data in front of me, but I
feel like we've done stories recently about credit card debt,
how that's increased. People are struggling, you know, because we've
had several years of prices that continue to climb and

(49:33):
what seems to be with not much relief. So no,
none of this surprises me.

Speaker 1 (49:38):
The I'm always amazed by the cars because when people
don't pay their mortgage, it's a stupid thing to say,
but go with me. One could argue that that's rational,
that if something has to go, it's the mortgage payment.
You're going to stay in the house as long as
you can, and eventually you can get an apartment. But

(50:00):
if you don't pay for your car, you can't get
to work, you can't engage other opportunities. So it's very,
very limiting. It's a very strange thing to do, and
I think it is a sense of proof on this
forward and at full disclosure, I work with a local
Ford dealership here in Indianapolis. I always I'm a big
believer in disclosure. I always identify if there's some level

(50:21):
of connection. And they had done after the tariffs, they
immediately jumped on employee pricing. They were going to take
advantage of the fact that this American made and you
wouldn't have the tariffs here, and we've got even better
deals in it. It was very helpful. They're moving out
of that, and now they're moving into zero percent financing,
zero down, zero percent financing, and wait, what's the other one? Wait?

(50:49):
What else? Was zero down, zero financing and zero payments
for the first ninety days and the zero percent interest
is for the first forty eight months. Now they exclude
a bunch of vehicles, the Raptor. No it's only twenty
twenty four or twenty twenty five models. No Raptors, no Mavericks,
no Rangers, no super duty trucks, no transits, the Bronco,

(51:11):
the Bronco Sport, the Expedition Link Navigator. No no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no no. And if it's a twenty twenty four Lightning,
which is the Electric or the Mustang Mokey No, but
the twenty twenty five Lightning, you can get zero percent
financing and no payments for ninety days and zero down.
You know way more about cars than I do in
the car market. Is that a turn on to people? Yes?

Speaker 2 (51:35):
Absolutely?

Speaker 1 (51:36):
Is it? Is it a sign that things are problematic?

Speaker 2 (51:38):
Yes, because you know it costs automakers through financing companies'
money to offer these rates, and then on top of it,
the other problem is if you have people that bought
cars recently and they didn't put a lot of money down,
they may still be underwater on their loan to where
they would have to add much more to their new

(51:59):
car loan to cover paying off their old car if
they're trading it in with trade in values. I found
something interesting the other day. I was on YouTube and
some weird things will pop into my feed every once
in a while, and one was an old commercial for
Melfar Ford. Melfarr was a Detroit Lion in the seventies.

Speaker 1 (52:20):
Everything goes back to the Detroit Lion, that's true.

Speaker 2 (52:24):
Well, anyway, then he had a few Ford dealerships, and
he was doing a commercial and he was talking about
nineteen seventy seven Fords, and I can't remember the models,
and I don't know the interest rates back then, but
he said, oh, get this new Ford seventy seven whatever
it was for one seventy seven a month. And I

(52:46):
thought to myself, Wow, So I asked our good friend
chat GPT, oh, did you know, yes, what one hundred
and seventy nine dollars in nineteen seventy seven, what that
would convert to to twenty twenty five dollars nine and
seventy dollars a month.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
Now.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
I don't know if that's true. I'm only going by
our friend chat GPT. But you see what people were
paying back then, you know, as far as what the
dollars were back then compared to what they are now,
and it's like wow. But of course, you know, people
back then weren't They didn't have cell phone bills and
internet bills and all the other bills that people have

(53:24):
right out door dash. But what you're seeing is for
some car manufacturers access inventory. That's when you'll see these
zero percent financing deals come out. When the dealerships are saying, hey,
we got a lot of cars we got to move out.

(53:46):
Sales aren't what they what they have been, and so
they need an incentive to get people to buy vehicles,
and that's where you'll see the zero percent stuff come out.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
But the bigger issue is that everyone agrees nothing is
looking great now. I am optimistic that I think that
the not great is short term. You've seen the layoffs
from ups, You've seen the layoffs from Amazon, seventeen thousand

(54:16):
from Verizon get Ready. According to my sources, more big
tech layoffs are coming because also people are relying on
AI more, even though it may not be reliable, they're
gonna give it a go and they're gonna go down
that road. I think that all this talk about all
the investment coming to the US, if we actually start

(54:37):
seeing money flow, things turn around very very quickly. So
I think that the next six months really until let's
call it June twenty twenty six, I think that's not fun.
It might it might go earlier, it might go longer,
but I think that's where the real key pain is.
It could be.

Speaker 2 (54:55):
I think also that because there's been just so much
bad news recently, you know, in the in the news
cycle that people just aren't feeling very good in general
about anything, and that usually translates into spending. Hopefully, you know, holidays,
we'll change people's mood a little bit and we will
see better spending numbers.

Speaker 1 (55:12):
Consumer spending.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
Then maybe we were we were thinking originally.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
Eat Drink Smoke. You did your cigar bourbon foody extravaganza.
I'm Tony Katz, that is fingers. Will I find everything
at Eat Drink Smoke show dot com. We have taken
it easy this Thanksgiving weekend. It was a long week
and a lot of food cooked in, a lot of
food and a lot of family dealt with, and we're
taking it easy this weekend, just like you are. So
we picked a cigar we already knew. This is the

(55:43):
Artora Fronte rare pink sophisticated hooker seven and a quarter
by fifty three ring gauge. You could argue a retail
price on this, but it's very hard to find retail price.
You're gonna spend twenty five thirty thirty five bucks for
this day. That's what you're gonna find when you find it.

(56:03):
If you have a chance. They come out once a year.
Try it, see if it works for you. There's a
bunch of different looks to this, a bunch of different
shapes Vitola's of this cigar. I happened to like this
one with the Ecuadorian habano rapper. Nice bit of spice
which is still their fingers. Molloy, The spice is still there,
mellow to touch. You had mentioned, Hey, I get a
little bit more of a wood, but there there's there's

(56:25):
a there's a there's a big miss to this cigar,
but not overwhelming. I think that the spice on this
is worthwhile. It isn't pepper bomb. It's playing more than
that white pepper. I enjoy. I happen to enjoy the stick.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
Yeah, I do as well. Uh, you're right, the spice
picked up, that wood is there. The we're what midway
through this, the second third of this cigar. We lit
this up a little over in an hour nine years ago, correct,
so we may get two hours out of this. Yeah.
So yeah at seventeen dollars. If you can find it

(57:03):
for seventeen dollars a stick, you jump on it.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
Yeah, because that was the original MSRP on this thing,
seventeen seventy.

Speaker 2 (57:10):
Five thirty if it's you see it for thirty dollars
a stick, what do you think me?

Speaker 1 (57:14):
I pick it up. I pick it up. But admittedly
I do buy this by the box. When I see
a box, I buy the whole box.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
I'm like, yes, please hold And like you said for
the best of lists of twenty twenty five, for our
cigar and bourbon picks, one of your main themes.

Speaker 1 (57:31):
You say it all the time. Money money when it
comes to the best of which we will do at
the end of December, actually the beginning of January is
when we do our best of lists. I do not
look at value. We've talked a lot about, as you mentioned,
value in bourbon and cigars this year and the cost
when wear prices have gone. When I decide what is

(57:53):
the best thing to be smoking and drinking, I don't
worry about the dollars. I'm like, this worked, so I
don't pay attention to that when it comes to the
best of list and what we're drinking. I have a
bourbon coming out West Fork Whiskey, which is located here
in Central Indiana where I live. West Fork Whiskey dot Com.
I have done a barrel pick with them. I've done

(58:13):
one of these before with a good group called Hotel
Tango Tango Dissillery. And so this is West Fork Whiskey
and part of their old Hamer line. This is an
eleven year bourbon coming in a one hundred and twenty
seven point six proof. Absolutely thrilled with it. Can't wait

(58:33):
to see it on the shelves, which should be in
a couple of weeks from now. So absolutely there for Christmas,
for the holidays to enjoy. I don't have a price
to give anybody yet on this per bottle. I just
cannot wait to bring this to everyone, bring this presentation.
I'm a fan. You had a little bit of water
to yours, Yes, go right ahead, give that a little

(58:57):
sip right there. Now. Water will bring down proof and
this is one hundred and twenty seven point six. Water
also opens it up some flavors, more pronounced, some more muted.
That's that's what you get by adding a water to it. Oh,
it added to it. Added to the heat. You it's
too much heat for you? No, do you need to
burn you? No?

Speaker 2 (59:18):
I won't subject to eat drink smoke nation to my dulcin.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
Tones if that's what you want to call it.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
Yeah, But here's what I will say. This pairing is
not for the faint of heart.

Speaker 1 (59:31):
No, no big cigar, big bourbon. Uh.

Speaker 2 (59:34):
That brought out for me even more of the sting.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Tongue.

Speaker 2 (59:40):
Yeah, it's interesting because you say butter scotch, and I
can see that. To me, it's a combination of chocolate
and oak. Okay, but you can if I sit here,
you could talk me into butterscotch.

Speaker 1 (59:56):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
This hits you in a way that I I told
Tony off the air. It actually made me tear up
a little bit. But I would argue it's not because
it's one hundred and twenty seven proof that sting hits you.
But it's not like an ethanol sting to the tongue.
It's just it's it's there, and it's lively and it's

(01:00:19):
really enjoyable. Now could I drink more than one of these?
I could. I probably wouldn't, but I could. I really
like it. I like stuff like this. Is this an
everyday drinker for me? When you start getting into one
hundred and you know twenty one hundred and thirty proof, No,

(01:00:41):
it's not an everyday drink for me, But yeah, it
would be in my liquor cabinet. And I'm not just
saying this because it's yours. I yeah, I don't care
if you are. I think I'm totally fine with that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:52):
There are Black Friday deals, as we discussed, and one
of the one of the best places to get your
Black Friday is to go to Defiance Beef. Defiancepeef dot
com our proud sponsor, where you can order a quarter cow,
at half cow, a full cow delivered directly to your door.
Everything individually, vacuum packed, frozen. Just put it in the

(01:01:13):
chest phreezer you're ready to go. The strips, the tenderloins,
the ribbis, all the different cuts are there for you
and you get to decide how thick you want them,
how everything else you want to go definan speF right
here in Indiana, delivered directly to you. You use promo
code Eat Drink Smoke. You'll get one hundred and fifty
dollars off your order. One hundred and fifty dollars off

(01:01:33):
your order, and you are going to love it. Your
family's going to love it. Go to Defiance Beef dot com,
use promo code Eat Drink Smoke and get one hundred
and fifty dollars off your order. That's what you should
be doing this Black Friday Thanksgiving weekend. That's the gift
that keeps on giving. Sounds like every day is Black
Friday DEFIANCEPEF dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
You looked, I looked, and there are a couple of
deals when you compare it, or at least one I'm
seeing right off the bad.

Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
Yeah. So CNN said they had hand picked Black Friday deals,
and we said, could these individuals, the so called experts,
do it better than AI and fingers will always gonna
find out.

Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
So from retailers and tech guides from chat GPT, number
two on the list here. First, number one on the
list was AirPods Pro second Gen for one thirty nine
at Walmart. Then number two on the list is AirPods
Pro three all time low two hundred and twenty dollars

(01:02:32):
at best Buy. So at the CNN piece, it was
two hundred and twenty dollars on Amazon. Now a lot
of these places they will do a price match and
they know that that's going to happen. Some of the
other deals that chat GPT brought up was a MacBook
Air thirteen inch with the M four chips seven hundred
and forty nine dollars early Black Friday deal at Yahoo

(01:02:55):
Shopping Samsung.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
Wait, it was a thirteen inch MacBook air M four.
How much was it? Seven hundred and forty nine dollars. Yep,
that's what they've got here. I think they made this
list with AI. Could very well be that. I don't
I don't want to disparage you CNN. I'll let others
do that. But that's exactly what they've got right here.
Seven hundred and fifty bucks for a brand new laptop.

Speaker 2 (01:03:19):
So going down this list, see if anything matches up.
Ninja appliances at Walmart, they're offering up to fifty percent
off certain categories.

Speaker 1 (01:03:28):
By the way, can Ninja do no wrong? It's unbelievable
what they're doing with the air fryar there, the crispy
and now they've got so they've always had a good
coffee maker. I used to have a Ninja coffee maker,
and now they've got a Ninja'spresso machine, the full thing.
And I seriously considered getting one because I do. I

(01:03:48):
absolutely trust the Ninja brand one thousand percent.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
Well, the other thing we're talking about, you know, we're
finishing the basement. Yeah, and we're talking about getting one
of those slushy machines that I believe Ninja makes.

Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
Though. Stop, you're now officially in the new house. You're finished.
You're gonna have the basement all done up. And the
thing that you're going to add is a slushy machine.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
One of several things we're going to add, shuffle board table,
poker table, maybe even a couple of poker machines.

Speaker 1 (01:04:18):
Wait, hold on, you know this is a poker table.
You flip this over, it's a poker table. Oh, the
table we use for you drink smoke if you turn
this over. I have not done a poker nute should do?
You want to do one?

Speaker 2 (01:04:27):
I would be all for that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:28):
All right, we're gonna need some electronic card shufflers.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
But the slushy machine I believe Ninja makes that you
do where you can put alcohol in it, and but
you can also make virgin slushies. All you have to
do is push a button to add the booze. I
believe is how it works. We're talking about getting one
of those. You're right, Ninja can do no wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:04:48):
The Ninja slushy with rapid chill rapid chill technology.

Speaker 2 (01:04:53):
In twenty twenty five, that's the key tone.

Speaker 1 (01:04:55):
How are they not a sponsor? It's me. We've discussed many,
many times that the streaming costs are radical, and part
of the issue is you have every streaming service known
to man and beast, and it's no longer cheaper than cable.
But the amount of people who have cables down to

(01:05:16):
fifty percent of it is it of the country or
fifty percent at the height, we're now fifty percent.

Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
No, now we're at fifty percent. It was much higher.

Speaker 1 (01:05:25):
Okay, fifty percent of the country or okay, fifty percent
of the country. It's eat Rink Smoke. I'm Tony Katz.
That's fingers from the while. You find it all at
Eat Drinks Smoke show dot com. How many more people
will stick with cable as they start losing channels because
they're channels that are just they're going to go away.
And one of the biggest one is MTV, the juggernaut.

(01:05:48):
The thing that changed everything, quite the disruptor of disruptors
was MTV changed music. And if you listen to there's
a fantastic doctmentary about yacht Rock. Yacht Rock Documentary. I
think it's on Amazon. It's so good, really it's so good.
It's so good. And one of the things they discuss

(01:06:09):
is when MTV came around, it no longer mattered what
the music was. It mattered what the look was. And
a lot of these guys who were these seventies and
early eighties musicians, they you couldn't put them on TV.
They looked weird, they weren't rock and roll in that

(01:06:29):
in that kind of way, and so it was all
about the performance of the video and not so much
about the music itself. So changed things. But this is
going away. Paramount, which owns MTV, might put them into
smaller channels on Paramount Plus Right, less and less, Team

(01:06:53):
Nick and Cartoon Network most probably going away. Direct TV
didn't have it in its new entertainment package, but they
did include adult Swim. And there are so many places
now to see the stuff. You don't you don't need it,
you don't want it. It doesn't have the value that

(01:07:14):
it had. I guess I'd wonder whether or not cable
still holds any value for people. But again, this is
about the money. Is it's it's we've decided that it's
not about choices. It's about the choices you want to make.
I still have not seen that there's any slowing in
the streaming services of I had to make a decision,

(01:07:38):
and these these are the ones that I chose. I
went through and I looked, and part of it's because
of what I do. I keep tabs on things. Part
of it is because this one likes this and this
one likes that I do. I have Hulu, Disney ESPN,
I have Netflix, I have Peacock, I have Paramount Plus,
I have Apple TV. I think I have another on

(01:07:58):
I have Amazon Prime. So that's six. I have these
six things. And it's that's dumb, right, Like that's just crazed.
It feels like you have.

Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
To, though, if you because there are these streaming services
have just enough exclusive content that are big hits where you, oh,
you can only watch this on you know, you name
the show that's only on Apple TV, or that's only
on HBO and.

Speaker 1 (01:08:28):
So HBO Max. I have Hbo Max. Oh, that's what
it is.

Speaker 2 (01:08:31):
So it feels like you have to if you want
to keep up on television shows that are popular, especially
if you're you want to stay topical and actually know
something about pop culture. You know, it feels like you
have to. But I wonder with some of these networks
like and I freely admit I have not turned it

(01:08:51):
tuned into cartoon Network in a long time.

Speaker 1 (01:08:53):
Oh, you're missing out.

Speaker 2 (01:08:54):
But some of these networks where they're not getting as
much revenue from cable TV as they used to. If
because these streaming services have deep pockets, if they're stealing
the best talent and the best content, where it's making
these networks useless to where all they're running is repeats
of shows that were made fifteen years ago. Well, you

(01:09:16):
don't need that anymore. You can pill it most of
that up stuff on demand.

Speaker 1 (01:09:19):
Does streaming really have the best content? They have nine
million pieces of content, and there are really good shows
that don't get a second season. The amount of times
my wife and I've been like, what do you mean
there's not a second season of named the thing coming out?
Really good stuff because the cost is too much. It's

(01:09:40):
not a viewership to it. So I don't know. I
don't know if they're getting the very very best stuff.
But this one has this, and that one has that.
But how many people are getting streaming because well, the
streaming is where I get Thursday night football on Peacock
and oh, my gosh, look look how angry you.

Speaker 2 (01:10:01):
And that's only gonna get worse. Oh, yes it will,
because you've got networks that are struggling to come up
with the cash to cover these ridiculously high broadcast contracts
for the NFL, where streaming services are are standing on
the sideline saying I've.

Speaker 1 (01:10:16):
Got the money. I've got the money.

Speaker 2 (01:10:17):
And so you know, I know we brought this up before,
but my poor father, you know, having to navigate through
the NFL season. Say okay, well this game dad, that's
not on locally on the on on cable, You've got
to go to Prime Video or you that's exclusively on Peacock,
and you go down the list. For the people who

(01:10:40):
are traditional cable consumers, especially seasoned citizens, it's this is
there are going to be some tough waters to navigate.

Speaker 1 (01:10:49):
The sports thing. So you have you have the YouTube
stuff where you watch football.

Speaker 2 (01:10:54):
Right, Yeah, I've got NFL Sunday tickets.

Speaker 1 (01:10:56):
So don't you have to have YouTube TV in order
to get a NFL Sunday tickets? You don't, Okay, I
thought you did, because YouTube TV is like eighty two
dollars a month.

Speaker 2 (01:11:07):
Now they give you a discount I believe on Sunday
ticket if you have YouTube TV, but you can pay
full price for NFL Sunday ticket and watch it on YouTube.

Speaker 1 (01:11:19):
And how much is NFL Sunday Ticket?

Speaker 2 (01:11:22):
Oh, good lord, it's I think it was five hundred dollars. Yeah,
but see maybe even more than that. That's insane five
hundred dollars.

Speaker 1 (01:11:33):
I was gonna try and rationalize, and then I realized,
I can't do that. That's a crazy, crazy amount of loot.

Speaker 2 (01:11:42):
Well, I understand what you're saying.

Speaker 1 (01:11:46):
Oh, and I have fan Dual Sports Network for the
Indiana Pacers for my kid. Wow. Yeah. Absolutely become a
sponsor of EA Drink Smoke so I can afford all
these streaming services. If you're a non.

Speaker 2 (01:12:05):
YouTube TV subscriber, I think it is close to five
hundred dollars, And like I said, they give you a discount.
But if you're the type of person that loves your
football team and you're an out of market fan like
I am. Even though because my Detroit Lions are are good,
not as good as they were last year, but they're good,

(01:12:27):
I could see probably eight to ten games a year
locally here in Indianapolis either because they're a national game,
they're on Monday night football, Sunday night football, Thursday night football,
or because we're regionally in the area, you know, they
may choose the Lions game in the early window if
the Colts aren't playing. But yeah, the alternative is, if

(01:12:50):
you're a huge football fan, you go to a bar, right.
You know, if you go to a bar twelve thirteen
times a year to why your team, you're gonna spend
more than five hundred dollars by the time you have
some beers. But you're just gonna sit in the beer
and sit in the bar, watch your game and have
one beer. You're gonna order some drinks. You're gonna order

(01:13:13):
all the bar food. Fried fried with a side of
fried right, and does.

Speaker 1 (01:13:17):
That sound delicious? This post Thanksgiving? Right now?

Speaker 2 (01:13:19):
Sure I could go put a basket of fried mushrooms
in front of me right now, or some fried pickles.

Speaker 1 (01:13:24):
On your rings. By the way, fried pickles are the
thing like like, that's like a fifty to fifty thing
people love or people hate. Yes, I love.

Speaker 2 (01:13:33):
I love the other thing too, I feel like is
the fried mushrooms too. People either love those or they
absolutely can't stand them.

Speaker 1 (01:13:41):
It's the mushroom is in and of itself watery, and
sometimes that that feel is not so not so great. Man.

Speaker 2 (01:13:48):
We got I won't mention the name of the restaurant,
but we got chips and queso from this restaurant, and
some leftover chips were left in the bag and the
next day they around the counter and the amount of
grease that was on the bottom because they make their
own chips at this restaurant, I wept. It was beautiful.

Speaker 1 (01:14:11):
I really hope everybody had a magnificent Thanksgiving and we
get into the holidays and enjoy every bit of it.
We picked the Arturo Fuente rare pink sophisticated hooker for today.
Just wanted to take it easy with something special. Check
it out for yourself. And I do have a barrel
pick bourbon that is coming out. I'll give you more

(01:14:33):
information about that from the guys at West Fork Whiskey
dot com. I hope it was a wonderful Thanksgiving. This
is the drink Smoke