Ep. #166: La Flor de Cano Elegidos (w/ Volans Tequila Blanco, Senator and Pagoda in Panama, Box-Worthy Cubans in 2025, Short vs. Long Filler & New Cuban Releases)

Episode Transcript
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Gizmo (02:47):
Welcome to the Lounge Lizards podcast presented by
Fabrica 5. It's so good to haveyou here. It's a leisure and
lifestyle podcast founded on ourlove of premium cigars, as well
as whiskey travel, food, work,and whatever else we feel like
getting into. My name is Gizmo.Tonight, I'm joined by Rooster,
Senator, Pagoda, Chef Ricky, andBam Bam.
And our plan is to smoke acigar, drink some tequila, talk

(03:07):
about life, and of course, havesome laughs. So take this as
your 166th official invitationto join us and become a card
carrying lounge lizard. Play tomeet us here once a week. We're
gonna smoke at Cuban Cigartonight, share our thoughts on
it, and give you our formallizard rating. We discussed 3
new releases from Habanos.
Senator and Pagoda detailedtheir recent trip to Panama,

(03:28):
including the food and cigarscene, and we share Cuban cigars
we still consider box worthy,all among a variety of other
things for the next 2 hours. Sosit back, get your favorite
drink, light up a cigar, andenjoy as we pair Volans tequila
blanco with a La Flor de CanoElegidos. A Cuban Robusto
tonight on the pod from LaFlordecano. It's called the

(03:48):
alegitos, and it's a 50 ringgauge cigar by 5 inches long.
And boys, we don't say this verymuch, but this is the debut for
Floriducano on the pod tonight.
We haven't been saying that verymuch because we've done so many
of the Cuban maracas, but thisis the first floridicano on the
pod tonight. Wow.

Pagoda (04:07):
We like floridicano, so hopefully floridicano delivers
tonight.

Gizmo (04:11):
Hopefully hopefully it delivers like the rum does.
Yeah. No relation, but similarin name.

Bam Bam (04:15):
Correct. It's a handsome cigar.

Gizmo (04:17):
So when I opened the box, you know, Bam noted that the
cigars look very good.

Bam Bam (04:21):
I think so.

Rooster (04:22):
For being very rustic, though. Yeah.

Senator (04:24):
Yeah. I don't I don't know that I agree with that.

Bam Bam (04:26):
They look nice. I like them.

Senator (04:27):
They look rustic. Some of them were rolled, I think,
carelessly, like, tobacco comingout of the foot, I noticed on
one of them.

Bam Bam (04:35):
Oh, boy.

Senator (04:35):
On me. These all feel either wet or a little under
filled, and I'm gonna becharitable to Gizmo and say
under filled.

Bam Bam (04:44):
Are you getting any of that?

Gizmo (04:45):
So I have actually in the middle of mine, there's a pocket
here of

Pagoda (04:48):
Uh-oh.

Gizmo (04:49):
Of of, you know, softness like sponges.

Rooster (04:52):
These these are short filler cigars.

Gizmo (04:53):
They're short filler cigars.

Bam Bam (04:54):
I'm not getting any of that.

Senator (04:55):
I mean, I felt like 3 of them in that in that box, and
they felt soft or like they'reunder filled in certain pockets.
They're hand handmade,obviously, but they are

Rooster (05:05):
short filler cigars. So

Bam Bam (05:06):
Nice toothiness to the wrapper. Nice brown coloring.
Pretty nice.

Gizmo (05:13):
And I would argue, boys, even at $21, which these cigars
are now

Bam Bam (05:16):
That's a lot of money.

Gizmo (05:17):
You know, low twenties, it it is a budget Cuban, really,
from a Robusto standpoint. It'son the lower end of of Cuban
Robusto prices. So

Bam Bam (05:24):
Yes.

Gizmo (05:25):
We'll see how it performs tonight. But first, let's cut
this thing. See what we'regetting on the cold draw on the
wrapper. Any do

Rooster (05:30):
you have any idea what the price was, when they first
came out?

Bam Bam (05:34):
Prior to?

Gizmo (05:35):
It's gotta be close to $10. 7, $8 maybe? Yeah. I would
say so. My draw is very nice.

Bam Bam (05:42):
Mhmm. Wide open.

Chef Ricky (05:42):
Wide open draw. Get a little bit of dried fruit
here. The cold draw seems verymild.

Rooster (05:48):
You're not allowed to say those words.

Chef Ricky (05:50):
No. I am Bam Bam can.

Pagoda (05:51):
Oh,

Bam Bam (05:51):
okay. Apparently, that's correct.

Gizmo (05:54):
I'm getting a little cedar. Yeah. But not not not
much else.

Bam Bam (05:58):
It's pretty mild. Wide open.

Gizmo (06:00):
Mhmm. Mine too.

Bam Bam (06:02):
I think that's a byproduct, the short filler.
They are very light. And they'revery light. They're light.

Gizmo (06:06):
Yeah. They don't feel very packed.

Bam Bam (06:09):
Let's go for it.

Gizmo (06:09):
We'll see what happens. Alright, boys. Let's light this
thing. The La FlordecanoAlejidos. Again, it's a 50 ring
gauge Robusto by 5 inches long.
Its factory name is the LiriosEven though it shares an
identical size to most otherCuban robustos, I'm assuming

(06:29):
they give it a different factoryname because of short filler.
Most of the other Cuban robustosthat we do on the pod here and
we smoke are of long filler.

Bam Bam (06:43):
The aroma how it does. Aroma is beautiful. Yeah. It
smells good as we like.

Senator (06:48):
This took longer to light than I would have
expected. Mhmm.

Gizmo (06:52):
So the box code on these boys is s o r, December 2020. So
these just went over 4 yearsold. So Nice. What's cool about
that too is these are theoriginal release rolls of these
cigars. This is the earliest ofthe box codes is in this range
of late 2020.

(07:13):
They were released in early2021.

Bam Bam (07:16):
Yeah. So like many cigars, it's pretty pretty nice
right off the light. Mhmm.

Gizmo (07:21):
Actually, it's very pleasant.

Bam Bam (07:23):
It is. It's more flavorful than I was expecting.

Pagoda (07:25):
Mhmm.

Gizmo (07:26):
I'm getting a very nutty sweet nutty type of flavor.

Pagoda (07:29):
That sounds like nutty. Yeah.

Gizmo (07:30):
Like a pecan.

Bam Bam (07:31):
Yeah. No. Yep. That is dead on.

Chef Ricky (07:33):
Perfect call out. Yeah. None of that was in the
cold draw. It's insane.

Gizmo (07:37):
No. Yeah.

Senator (07:39):
Yeah. And this does not taste mild on the light. No.
This is like medium.

Gizmo (07:43):
There's this very strong touch of sweetness there.

Bam Bam (07:47):
Very good.

Senator (07:47):
Yep. It's very good.

Gizmo (07:48):
That's nice.

Bam Bam (07:49):
Surprisingly good.

Gizmo (07:50):
Yeah.

Chef Ricky (07:50):
Combustion's great.

Gizmo (07:55):
Wow. I'm I'm impressed on the light.

Chef Ricky (07:57):
So I went with the punch on mine because of the
short filler. I was afraid ofgetting

Senator (08:01):
Oh, that's smart.

Chef Ricky (08:02):
That's very smart. Some clippings in my,

Bam Bam (08:04):
clippings in my Kinda sore in the corner.

Gizmo (08:07):
How are you feeling about the draw with the punch? We're
talking about ours all beingvery open as

Senator (08:11):
yours So

Chef Ricky (08:12):
is mine. Yeah. Super wide open. Yeah.

Gizmo (08:14):
I feel like this is a cigar we're gonna have to be
very diligent to smoke slowlybecause I think this is one
that'd be very easy to

Bam Bam (08:22):
Go through.

Gizmo (08:22):
Rip through, and then in the last 3rd, get beaten down
for it.

Rooster (08:30):
When you hold the cigar, you can see the smoke
coming out of the out of thehead, out of the, you know, the
part

Gizmo (08:37):
you smoke.

Bam Bam (08:37):
It's a pretty cool photo.

Pagoda (08:38):
Are you smoking the wrong one again?

Rooster (08:43):
That's what happens when you take the bands off.

Pagoda (08:46):
Correct.

Gizmo (08:46):
So these cigars come in slide lid boxes of 10. Like I
said, they were announced in2020, started being rolled in
that year, and they werereleased in early 2021. Also, in
2023 sometime, they startedputting these cigars out in
aluminum tubos in the classicdisplay box of 15 cigars, 5

(09:07):
cardboard packs of 3. And like Isaid, most of the Florida Cano
cigars are short filler. A lotof the preembargo cigars from
the brand, and we'll go throughsome of their history, were
actually machine made, whichwere discontinued by Habanos,
but, these are short filler.
I guess focusing on the budgetend of the Habanos catalog.

Pagoda (09:30):
So so what's the issue with the short filler? Is it
uneven burn burn lines?

Gizmo (09:35):
Well, I think it's just a matter of quality. Right? I
think, you know, when you thinkabout a quality cigar, you're
thinking about longleaf

Bam Bam (09:41):
Correct.

Gizmo (09:41):
Wholeleaf. Wholeleaf throughout the entire cigar.

Bam Bam (09:44):
This is

Gizmo (09:45):
is not that. So, you know, you wonder what what are
they doing with the shortfiller? Is this scrap from some
other type of cigar that

Bam Bam (09:51):
they're floor. Swept up. From the bathroom.

Rooster (09:55):
It's like what's left over after they make the
bajikas? Correct.

Pagoda (10:00):
But still $21 for so called short fillers, kinda
pricey.

Bam Bam (10:04):
Yes. Yeah. Agreed. Not a value play.

Rooster (10:09):
But it you know, the flavor is pretty good so far.

Bam Bam (10:12):
Very good. It's pleasant. No complaints. It's
surprising.

Gizmo (10:17):
Combustion's fantastic too. Oh, yeah. I'm pretty
impressed.

Bam Bam (10:20):
You know, if this continues, we we we have so many
cigars in our in our towers, inour collection. It's nice to
have something to change up yourgame from time to time, and this
would definitely be a candidatefor that. It's different. We
don't ever smoke the cigar.Let's see.
Hopefully, this turns out to besomething good.

Gizmo (10:39):
Here's the question for the room. Has anyone in the room
smoked a floridicano cigar?

Bam Bam (10:43):
Never. From Cuba?

Gizmo (10:44):
Because this is my first.

Rooster (10:45):
Anytime. I have. Remember, I think it was, Monte
Fortuna used to have, like, a itwas like a double like a La
Gloria.

Senator (10:54):
Yeah. Both had that. We both had that. Yeah. And they
basically tasted identical.

Gizmo (10:58):
Yeah.

Senator (10:58):
They had 2 different bands on it. They're, like,
running, like, joke was

Pagoda (11:01):
it was

Senator (11:01):
not joke. People really thought that it was the same
thing, basically, same blendwith different bands.

Bam Bam (11:05):
Was it real?

Gizmo (11:06):
It was a short Oh, yeah.

Rooster (11:07):
Short Robusto. Kinda right? Yeah. Little shorter than
a regular Robusto, but not Were

Senator (11:12):
they regionals or what?

Rooster (11:13):
I think it was a regional. Yeah.

Gizmo (11:15):
Yeah. And most of the Florida Cano I see are actually
have regional bands. Like, whenyou see them people smoking them
or shared somewhere Mhmm.

Pagoda (11:22):
Or on

Gizmo (11:22):
a retailer,

Bam Bam (11:23):
a lot

Gizmo (11:23):
of the times what you're seeing is the regional bands on
them, which is interesting tothrow a regional cigar to a
distributor that is from a brandthat only makes cigars from
short filler. Like, the name onthis brand is not one that's
celebrated inside the catalog.So it's interesting to me that
they use it for, for regionalreleases.

Senator (11:43):
So is everything they do short filler or just this
cigar?

Gizmo (11:46):
So they have 2 cigars in regular production. They have a
petite Corona 40 by a littleunder 5 inches long, which is a
short filler, and this Elijitos,also short filler, the Lirios
factory name, and they have afew regional editions which are
not short fillers. So theregional editions are actually
long filler cigars. Again,wondering why they would put

(12:08):
this band on on regionals. Itdoesn't make sense to me, but
maybe they're trying to do a alower budget regional for some
of these regions.
I'm not sure.

Senator (12:15):
The regional that, Rooster and I had, it was pretty
good from what I remember. Weliked it.

Rooster (12:20):
Bad. Yeah.

Bam Bam (12:21):
Anyone getting a for those that retrohale, a little
peanut butter on the back end ofthat? Definitely. Right? Very
different. Almost like a short,the punch type thing for me.

Senator (12:31):
It's a good call out. Yeah. I feel like the flavor
profile

Pagoda (12:34):
of this

Bam Bam (12:34):
as a whole is similar. Kind of like that.

Rooster (12:38):
Yeah. I think on the short, the punch, you get a
little bit more peanut forward.Sure. You know, the note is more
prominent than this. Yeah.
Here it's

Pagoda (12:45):
here it

Chef Ricky (12:45):
leans a little sweeter.

Rooster (12:47):
Yeah. Yeah. I think it's a little fruitier.

Bam Bam (12:49):
Yeah. This?

Chef Ricky (12:50):
Yeah. I think compared to the short to punch
was perfect.

Bam Bam (12:53):
I think it's just more nutty than any fruit. I'm not
getting any fruit on this forme.

Senator (12:58):
Yeah. I think this is, like, 90%, like, nut nutty
flavor notes that you wouldexpect. And I think, like, Bam
mentioned that short to punch,that's another one that's, like,
very nutty. It's not like

Bam Bam (13:11):
I do get dried a lot of dried fruit on that short to
punch, though. A lot of raisinand nut which I have which is
why it's one of my favoritecigars, one of my favorite go
to's.

Senator (13:20):
I gotta say, this is pretty good. It is. Surprising.
I'm really shocked.

Gizmo (13:23):
The sweetness is really a standout for me here because I I
don't feel like you know, wetalk about sweetness here or
there with Cuban cigars. A lotof of course, a lot of the time
in Nicaraguan cigars, we talkabout sweetness. But in Cubans,
I mean, for this being as sweetas it is, it's it's kind of an
outlier in that way. Like Yeah.That is to me the dominant note

Pagoda (13:43):
Mhmm.

Gizmo (13:43):
In this cigar right now, which is surprising.

Bam Bam (13:47):
Also, we're all smoking at a pretty nice pace. No one's
rushing through it. Proud of youguys.

Gizmo (13:52):
Thanks, Pam. New year to us.

Bam Bam (13:54):
It's very easy to go through this thing.

Gizmo (13:56):
It is. So, boys, because this is the debut of La Florida
condo on the pod, let's talk alittle bit about their history.
The brand was founded in 18/84,which is wild. It's been around
for a very long time by thebrothers Tomas and Juan Cano,
and it was registered as FloridaCano on behalf of their company
Cano y Hermano. They were listedin trade directories at the time

(14:17):
as a leaf tobacco warehouseownership.
So the implication from all thattime ago is that Rolling Cigars
was actually a subsidiary, asecondary business to them. They
were first a warehousingbusiness, which is interesting,
and and we'll talk about why ina second. So this cigar became
very, very popular in the 19thirties, and that's when the

(14:37):
brothers' descendants consideredthat the cigar market provided
them with a better opportunityfor growth than warehousing. And
in 1932, they created thecompany, Juan Cano Saenz, ISIA,
and that's when they startedproducing, 1st class Habano
cigars. And they also boughtsome other other brands and
whatnot, and they founded acompany called Carousel.

(15:00):
And what's interesting aboutthat is I guess it's Cara Cole,
really. That is the current nameof the Galleza, which is the
government owned business kindof, operation in Cuba. Caracol
operates all of the tourismshops and tourism activities in

(15:21):
Cuba. So for example, when yougo to the Habanos Festival, it's
run by Caracol. You go to thethe Amigos de Partagas Festival,
it's run by Caracol.
So that

Bam Bam (15:30):
I had no idea.

Gizmo (15:31):
Company has a direct line to nearly 200 years ago to this
brand that we're holding in ourhand tonight. So even though the
the cigar is not one of the mostpopular markets, not really
celebrated per se, their legacylives on in one of the most
important, aspects of tourismfor Cuba

Pagoda (15:48):
Mhmm.

Gizmo (15:49):
And, you know, especially with cigars, rum, and coffee
Wow. In in Caracol. So I foundthat very interesting that
that's where that thatoriginated. It's pretty wild. So
the factory of Florida Cano wastaken over, of course, by the
Cuban government during therevolution in 1960.
By the end of the 19 sixties,the Jijos de Cano production was

(16:09):
transferred to the El Rey delMundo factory, and that is where
it remains today. So thatfactory code SOR, we see a lot
of Schwa Supreme and other ElRey del Mundo coming out of
there. This is a sister brandnow. Yes. It's sister brand now
to El Rey del Mundo.
And that's pretty much the storyof, Florida Cano. 200 years

(16:30):
summed up in about 90 seconds.

Bam Bam (16:31):
It's pretty cool.

Chef Ricky (16:33):
The the nut flavor is now becoming a lot more,
almond, forward for me.

Bam Bam (16:38):
Mhmm.

Chef Ricky (16:39):
I'm getting some of that, like, you know, you bite
into a whole almond, and you getthat floral component of the
almond nuts kinda creamy. That'swhat I'm getting here now. The
nose, the burn line on thissmells great. Yep. But it is
burning a little fast, which Iguess with short filler, severe.

Rooster (16:56):
Yeah. I was afraid I would ash. You know, would fall
on me, so I just asked itbecause it's short filler. You
don't know how Mhmm. How longthe ash was.
Yeah. Let it build.

Bam Bam (17:07):
It's okay. You're a nervous guy. Got it.

Senator (17:14):
Yeah. But it is surprising. I mean, it's holding
on really well.

Pagoda (17:17):
It is. Yeah.

Bam Bam (17:17):
Yeah.

Pagoda (17:17):
Yeah.

Gizmo (17:17):
Surprise. Is very good. Yeah.

Bam Bam (17:19):
For a short filler cigar, it's gonna end up in my
lap for sure. Give it a minute.

Chef Ricky (17:24):
Did you get your, cigar, babe, I guess?

Gizmo (17:27):
I did, and I'm waiting on it. It's being, embossed now. So

Senator (17:30):
You should've seen him the other day.

Bam Bam (17:32):
With the Gizmo face on?

Senator (17:33):
Smoking a great cigar, Ed,

Chef Ricky (17:36):
all over.

Gizmo (17:36):
As I took a draw, it just dropped on me. It was, it was
about 3 inches of ash, I think.It was just all over me.

Bam Bam (17:42):
Were you smoking

Chef Ricky (17:43):
Oh, was that with the padrone?

Gizmo (17:44):
We were smoking the, the new padrone

Bam Bam (17:46):
60 old.

Gizmo (17:47):
Yeah. Senator and I. Yeah.

Bam Bam (17:48):
Look at you. It was killer. With the oysters and
all. Yeah.

Gizmo (17:51):
Oh, yeah. We went for

Pagoda (17:52):
it. Yeah.

Bam Bam (17:52):
I, You know, it's so cool. Man.

Gizmo (17:54):
I went hard.

Rooster (17:56):
You know, I I got the I got the box before you, and I
wanted to wait and smoke witheveryone. And you guys got You.

Bam Bam (18:03):
They they preempted your your parade.

Gizmo (18:06):
You're the reason Gizmo must kill this over the oils.

Bam Bam (18:08):
See? Look at this. Exactly. Rooster, these guys
clipped your wings.

Rooster (18:12):
I wanted, like, all 8 of us in a room and have that
together.

Bam Bam (18:15):
Me too.

Rooster (18:15):
We need to do that.

Bam Bam (18:16):
We do.

Chef Ricky (18:17):
Then we could

Gizmo (18:17):
recreate that

Chef Ricky (18:18):
picture with a fish.

Gizmo (18:19):
We're gonna do that on the pod for sure. It'll be a
special episode probably downthe road, but, definitely gonna
do that cigar. It's a highdollar cigar. You know? I mean,
you're talking $75 a piece, youknow, and and very few you can
find on sale.
But, but, anyway, good

Rooster (18:33):
cigar. Right?

Senator (18:34):
Oh, yeah. Incredible. Incredible.

Bam Bam (18:35):
Nice. Wow. Can't wait. I mean

Rooster (18:37):
Don't wanna talk too much

Gizmo (18:39):
about putting a cigar on this platform.

Rooster (18:40):
That's gonna

Senator (18:41):
be a 4 hour episode.

Gizmo (18:42):
Oh, yeah. Wow. Oh, yeah. It was a good one. So boys,
let's talk about some newregionals coming out.
Appropriate because one of themis a Florida Cano. There's 2 new
issues coming out for the AsiaPacific territory. The first is
the floridicano diademas, aChurchill size 7 inch long cigar
47 ring gauge, course known asthe Julieta number 2, very much

(19:05):
in line with the CohibaAsplendidos we did. Same exact
size as that, the Sir Winstonand the Romeo y Julieta.

Bam Bam (19:11):
Is it chill? Is it all short filler?

Chef Ricky (19:14):
I don't think so.

Gizmo (19:15):
I don't think it's short filler. It's long filler. That
was a very famous cigar fromFlorida Cano, the Diademas, but
was discontinued in the 19nineties. And the crazy thing is
guess how much that cigar isgonna be, boys? Sixty.
Eighty 5 a stick.

Bam Bam (19:32):
Oh my lord.

Chef Ricky (19:35):
Definitely not short filler.

Gizmo (19:36):
Definitely not short filler on that. The second
regional edition coming out justannounced is the poor warrenaga
lotus, a short robusto, 54 ringgauge by 5 and 3 quarter inches
long, same exact Vitola as the hUpman magnum 54. And this one's
pretty wild. That's for Macau.$71 a stick.

Bam Bam (19:56):
What an unusual dimension for Port Laranaga.
Yeah. That's gonna beinteresting. Not not for that
price, though.

Gizmo (20:01):
Just amazing they throw that second band on in $71 a
stick. So because

Rooster (20:05):
it'll have the gold band and then a secondary band?

Gizmo (20:07):
It does. Yes.

Bam Bam (20:08):
It's gold band.

Gizmo (20:09):
The it has the classic, Port Laranaga band and then an
exclusive, Macau on it. And thenthe same thing with the new
floritocano, the Diademas, theclassic floritocano band. And
this band, by the way, has beenthe same since prerevolution.
They have not changed this atall since before the 19 sixties,
and that's that cigar has asecond Exclusivo Asia Pacifico

(20:32):
band on it for the regionals. So2 new regionals coming out from,
Habanos.

Rooster (20:38):
Prices are just going insane.

Gizmo (20:39):
Absurd price. $71. I mean, for a poor Laranaga, 80
what is it? 85? The poorLaranaga is 71.
It's 71. The Florida Cano,Diademas is 85.

Rooster (20:51):
Oh. That's insane. Wow.

Gizmo (20:53):
It's absurd.

Senator (20:54):
I just don't know who's gonna buy that. The obvious
answer is always China, butthat's not those are not markets
that they care about.

Gizmo (21:00):
That's true. You know, I guess I don't I don't know if
that that market likes theregional bans on them. I don't
know. I the whole thing isconfusing to me.

Bam Bam (21:08):
That's a pretty a lot of affluent pockets there that
they may buy that. Who

Gizmo (21:13):
knows? They may be shuffling it into duty free and
hoping that people are pickingit up on their way to way
through the airport orsomething. You know?

Rooster (21:21):
I think what they've done is they've made the
packaging smaller, and they'veincreased the prices. So they'll
come out with, like, 5 packs or10 packs, you know, instead of
coming like PLPC is a is a 50cab. Mhmm. Right? And I mean,
that's kinda what they're wherethey're going with this.
Yeah. Smaller packages and youknow? And both

Gizmo (21:42):
of these at those prices come in slide lid boxes with no
dressing on them, just cedarslide lid boxes.

Bam Bam (21:49):
That's ridiculous. You know? I mean,

Senator (21:51):
that's taking a page out of Davidoff's book.

Bam Bam (21:53):
Correct.

Senator (21:53):
Davidoff is famous for those little 4 packs. Like,
almost everything they make,they sell in 4 packs. Yeah. You
don't see that in Padron or evenOliva. I mean, many of these
other brands don't do that.
Sure. And it's usually thesmallest.

Gizmo (22:05):
Yeah. So another one, boys, I thought this one was
interesting. New h Upman numbertwos have been launched just for
Spain and check this out. Sothey took, I guess, because
cigar aficionado gave them cigarof the year in 2022, Tabaclar in
Spain decided to hoard all ofthe h up and number twos from

(22:27):
that year and repackage them andput a second band on the cigars.
Of course, nothing changed aboutthem.
And they got a new fancy box of20.

Bam Bam (22:37):
That's a beautiful box.

Gizmo (22:38):
And they are now selling the exact same cigars

Bam Bam (22:40):
For $2,000. For double the price

Gizmo (22:42):
of a normal h uppin number 2 simply because that
year and that's that code wasnamed cigar of the year in 2022.
So those cigars

Pagoda (22:52):
How creative, I must say.

Gizmo (22:54):
Yeah. Are normally about $25. I think these are gonna go
for somewhere in the fifties.Jeez. And, of course, on the
secondary market

Bam Bam (23:00):
Much higher.

Gizmo (23:01):
People wanting to collect the box and everything else,
probably gonna be in the 60 to70 range for the same exact
cigar.

Bam Bam (23:07):
Marketers selling for 20 5. Aftermarketing scheme.

Gizmo (23:10):
It's pretty amazing.

Chef Ricky (23:11):
Wow.

Gizmo (23:12):
So what's everybody think about this car? I think it's
pretty damn good. Agree.Impressed.

Bam Bam (23:17):
Yeah. I'm very happy with it. Still very nutty. Still
getting good peanut, walnut.Smooth.
A little creamy. A bit creamy.Yeah.

Chef Ricky (23:26):
Mhmm. Yeah.

Gizmo (23:27):
Pretty relaxed. I feel really good. Yeah.

Bam Bam (23:29):
Yeah. It's very satisfying. $21 so far is not a
bad deal right now. Yeah.

Senator (23:35):
Yeah. I mean, I won't lie. When you said short filler
in $21, I'm like, I mean, that'sdisgraceful at $21. Why would
you need to put short fillertobacco in any cigar

Gizmo (23:43):
at that

Senator (23:43):
price point? But the flavor is very good. It it
hasn't sacrificed anything inflavor.

Bam Bam (23:48):
And it's smoking like a long filler cigar. Yeah. Yep. No
pockets. No

Senator (23:52):
I mean

Bam Bam (23:53):
dead ends here.

Senator (23:54):
This short filler cigar, the Ash has held on
better than some long fillercigars, I assume. Yeah.

Gizmo (23:58):
Yeah. So that that's what

Rooster (23:59):
I was gonna ask the group. When you're smoking the
cigar and had you not known thisis a short filler cigar, could
you tell that

Gizmo (24:07):
this is a short filler

Senator (24:08):
cigar? No. No. No way.

Bam Bam (24:09):
No. No way.

Pagoda (24:10):
No. I wouldn't even know what the real difference is
between short filler and

Gizmo (24:13):
Yeah. Not on this. You can't tell.

Bam Bam (24:15):
Well, let me first check your shirt. Your shirt's
clean. Yeah. That's all longfiller in your mind.

Pagoda (24:20):
Filler. Right.

Gizmo (24:23):
So, boys, let's go to our pairing. I'm very excited to try
this tequila blanco tonight. Wehave Volans, which is a tequila
that we first tried at thetequila event at Anejo quite
some time ago, and they had anice, presentation. What was the
event called? I'm,

Chef Ricky (24:41):
For the love of agave.

Gizmo (24:42):
For the love of agave.

Chef Ricky (24:44):
Yep. We do it, every summer at Anejo Tribeca and in
the wintertime at, in Anejo,Philadelphia. In fact, I think,
we settled on March 12th thisyear.

Gizmo (24:54):
So so any lizards in Philadelphia, look out for that
at Anejo, Philadelphia. It's agreat event. There's how many,
how many vendors are there,Ricky, handing out tequila? 40,
50?

Chef Ricky (25:04):
Yeah. Anywhere between 30 to 50 vendors, and
some vendors have multipleexpressions because they
represent multiple brands. So,yeah, there's quite a bit there
to be had.

Senator (25:13):
Yeah. Moral of the story, take an Uber.

Bam Bam (25:15):
Yeah. Definitely don't definitely don't drive yourself.

Gizmo (25:18):
So let's

Pagoda (25:19):
try the next day off as well.

Chef Ricky (25:21):
So I'm I'm super excited about this. These guys
do so much right, and it'sbecause it's, distilled by
Felipe Camarena, which is thecreator of g fault g 4 tequila.
And as we said many times on thespot, anyone from that Camarena
bloodline just really knows whatthe hell they're doing when it
comes to distilling tequila. Sowhile this one is not made at La

(25:44):
Tena, which is Carlos Camarena'sdistillery, it's made at
Barradillo, which is still ahighland factory or distillery.
Sorry.
Not factory. That's a horribleword because these places are
far from that. But what makesthem special is they're super
deep well water. So this Blancois very, you know, has lots of
minerality, little brine. Youshould find Senator

Bam Bam (26:06):
is knocking on a glass, fellas. It's a

Senator (26:08):
it's an oddly heavy bottle

Bam Bam (26:10):
for its

Chef Ricky (26:10):
size. Yeah.

Bam Bam (26:11):
It is. Yeah. There's a

Pagoda (26:12):
little weight

Senator (26:13):
to it.

Bam Bam (26:13):
Walls are thick. Yeah.

Chef Ricky (26:14):
The you know, these agaves are cooked for 3 days in
in stone ovens. They're stillin, copper pots. And one thing
that they do here that otherbrands do, but these guys have
gone out of their way toactually talk about it, is they
remove the which is the center,you know, on some agave if you
allow them to. A forms, which isa a large stalk that pops out of

(26:37):
the center. And oftentimes, whatyou wanna do is remove that
quixote before it blossoms fullybecause at that point, all of
the sugars have left the agavebecause the energy went to
creating the quixote.
But there's still a part of thatquixote that is forming in the
very innermost part of theagave. And sometimes if that's

(26:58):
not removed, it creates a bittertequila. So here, they make sure
to remove that.

Bam Bam (27:04):
This is the exact opposite of any of that. This is
really quite delicious.

Chef Ricky (27:08):
So yeah. I mean, this is this is and it it's 40
proof. They also have a highproof that I'm super curious
about because I know the flavoris just gonna be punched up a
little bit more on that one. Butthis should be a treat, and it
should go amazingly well withthis cigar.

Bam Bam (27:21):
How much is this bottle? $50. I'm gonna get that
tomorrow. It's really good. Youknow, on the finish, if you let
a little bit sit on your tongueand then take let it go down and
then take a breath, I get thissalty caramel finish way at the
back.
It's got a long very nice longfinish. Salty caramel on a
blanco, very unusual.

Gizmo (27:42):
Yep. I like this subtle too. It's it's

Bam Bam (27:45):
It is.

Pagoda (27:45):
It's not it

Gizmo (27:46):
doesn't have a lot of oomph to it, which is nice.

Chef Ricky (27:48):
Yeah. Especially when it hits the back the
backsides of your palate there.It it took gets really rich and
almost fatty like with thecaramel. But it's not that it's
caramel forward. You know, itstill is very briny, very
mineral forward.
Buttery? Buttery. Yeah. It'sit's but it's well rounded. It's
delicious.

Senator (28:04):
I think it's excellent. The finish to me isn't that
long. I feel like this is soeasy to drink. Very Too volume.

Gizmo (28:11):
Arguably too easy.

Senator (28:12):
Like, it's like water. I mean, like, it's so smooth.

Pagoda (28:14):
If you

Bam Bam (28:15):
were to put just a cube I know you don't like that,
chef.

Pagoda (28:18):
No. What? It already feels dilutive. I don't know
what you're talking about.

Senator (28:21):
Just a tiny cube? No. Oh, I feel the opposite.

Chef Ricky (28:24):
I would say.

Bam Bam (28:25):
I'm just saying from the point of view of copious
consumption, I would take glassafter glass.

Chef Ricky (28:30):
No. I don't get it.

Senator (28:31):
I I can do that without ice with this. I'd be afraid.

Bam Bam (28:33):
I'm a little afraid to because Yeah.

Chef Ricky (28:35):
One of the things about this tequila is that it's
known for being able to go downrather easily.

Senator (28:39):
It's ridiculous.

Chef Ricky (28:40):
So it's I think putting ice in there, you're
gonna lose some of thecomplexity. Yeah. Okay. Because
it's already 40 this bottle says42 proof, but they're usually
still at at about 40. But, youknow, it's I

Pagoda (28:52):
totally agree with you, chef.

Bam Bam (28:53):
Totally angry because

Pagoda (28:56):
It already feels diluted. That's why I'm

Bam Bam (28:58):
saying Beat the usage of ice out of him.

Pagoda (29:00):
Poor guy.

Gizmo (29:02):
I gotta say, I I think this is a tequila that if you
have someone in your life thatyou smoke cigars with or even
outside of cigar smoking, butthis is something, like, I I
think for someone who doesn'tdrink tequila, this is a really
good starter. Like, this is areally good, hey, try this
tequila. Forget about what youremember from college. Try some
really high quality tequila. Ithink this is a great entry.

Senator (29:25):
I agree.

Rooster (29:25):
This is a good gateway tequila.

Bam Bam (29:26):
It is a good gateway. Yeah. This A lot of the guys I
drink with this is another petpeeve I have. They just take
they don't enjoy it. They gulpit down.
And you look at their face, andthey cringe a little bit because
they should have savored it andtaken the time with it. If you
continue to do that with this,it's for me unenjoyable. Like,
it's the time that you spendwith it that makes it great.

Chef Ricky (29:47):
Those those are my least favorite people to drink
with because I'm absolutelycorrect.

Bam Bam (29:51):
Plastic bags and Guys, let's chugging back alcohol.
Your spirits.

Pagoda (29:56):
Can't let's be positive. Focus on the positive, guys.

Bam Bam (29:59):
That's item number 2 on the list. Yeah. That's great.

Chef Ricky (30:01):
No. Clearly, if you're drinking that way, you're
just you're going after theresult of what the alcohol is
going. You know, you're lookingfor intoxication. You're you
know, and sure. Do that withyour vodka or do that with some
crappy entry level spirit orsomething.
But like, not this Correct. Highquality crafted stuff that is
Yeah.

Rooster (30:20):
But they are they drinking, like, Jose Cuervo with
a lime and salt?

Bam Bam (30:23):
Whatever I hand them, they gulp it down.

Rooster (30:25):
Yeah. It's It is very frustrating. Matter.

Bam Bam (30:27):
Yes. Like

Pagoda (30:27):
I think you hang them you hand them to the wrong
people.

Senator (30:30):
That's true.

Bam Bam (30:31):
No. You're not wrong.

Chef Ricky (30:33):
No. And and

Bam Bam (30:34):
look. Pecot is cracking

Rooster (30:35):
himself up.

Bam Bam (30:35):
I think he's drunk already. Cut him off.

Pagoda (30:39):
I don't think he was ever sober. Oh, but God love
you.

Gizmo (30:45):
I gotta say too, and this is a call out of some listeners
out there who don't love howdeep of a dive we've done on
agave. This if there's anytequila that I would say, if
you're hesitant to trust us andtrust chef Ricky, to forget
about those old memories oftequila and you're not a tequila
drinker, you don't like tequila,it doesn't go down smooth, this

(31:07):
is a perfect try this one. Thisis a great one to try,
especially smoking a nice mildcigar like this. This is
excellent.

Senator (31:16):
This is absurd. Yeah. You should not chug any alcohol.
You could chug this and not feellike you're

Bam Bam (31:23):
drinking alcohol. To say thank you. Like no. I mean,
it's just it's

Gizmo (31:28):
you know, pagoda said, like,

Senator (31:29):
I I feel like it's already diluted. Like, it's that
smooth

Bam Bam (31:32):
true.

Senator (31:32):
That you would think like, perfect example. If you
first pour this in a glass andthis sat there for 30 minutes
and I came I I saw the glassthere

Rooster (31:40):
Looks like water.

Senator (31:41):
I would think that ice melted in the glass Yeah. And
that what I was drinking was adiluted version of the original
product because it's that smoothand mellowed out.

Pagoda (31:51):
It's like vitamin water.

Gizmo (31:53):
But it's very flavorful. It is. Yeah. Like, you when you
say that, you think, oh, theflavor must be weak or

Senator (31:59):
or No. No. Just on the strength side.

Gizmo (32:01):
Correct. Super smooth. Yeah. So I

Chef Ricky (32:02):
think what we're seeing is that there's not very
much heat to this current at alleven though we're drinking it
neat and, you know

Senator (32:08):
Huge merit. Yeah.

Rooster (32:08):
Huge. So how do they accomplish that?

Chef Ricky (32:11):
Well, it's distilled to 42%, so it's not very hot.
You know? I think, especiallyfor us, we've kind of grown
accustomed within the past fewmonths to drinking higher proof
spirits. There's not very manyspirits we drank that have been
40%.

Bam Bam (32:26):
I'm gonna be very enthusiastic with my rating on
this one. So Just get ready.

Chef Ricky (32:31):
Well, you're not the only one. I mean, even on
tequila matchmaker, this gets,like, an 89 or a 90.

Bam Bam (32:36):
That's low.

Gizmo (32:36):
Yep.

Bam Bam (32:39):
So price? Yeah. It's outrageous.

Senator (32:41):
I have a question, Ricky. This tripped me up
because there's another tequilaVolcan. Mhmm. What's the I just
feel like the names are soVolans Volcan. They're very
similar.

Chef Ricky (32:54):
I think Volcan is more of a reference to, man,
you're gonna quiz me on mySpanish. Volcano? Yeah. It's a
volcano. After

Gizmo (33:02):
some reason, Spanish guy over

Senator (33:03):
your the meaning? Just more so, like, is that another,
like, premium additive free You

Bam Bam (33:08):
are taking less. Brand?

Chef Ricky (33:09):
Volcan is I don't know if it's additive free, but
it is a premium it is a premiumtequila. They I wanna say that
is owned by Hennessy. Okay.Interesting. Yeah.
Or whoever owns Hennessy. I'mnot that, well versed on all of
that stuff. But, yeah, I Iremember doing an event with
those guys, and they came handin hand with one another.

Senator (33:30):
Yeah. It tripped me up because I'm I'm going to Mexico,
on the weekend, and I waslooking at some menu, and it had
Volcan as one of the tequilas.So when I saw we're doing this,
I was like, oh, great. We'regonna review one of the
tequilas. I'll know if I wannadrink it there.
And then I realized that it'sactually a different

Chef Ricky (33:42):
brand. Yep.

Bam Bam (33:43):
Nice. Send photos.

Chef Ricky (33:45):
Yeah. This this tequila was created by a couple,
you know, the woman, being fromMexico. She just wanted to bring
the highest quality tequila theway she thought it should be
here to the States. And,obviously, she went to one of
the greatest master distillersand, you know, tasted his
product, and they worked theydid this collaboration, and he's
making her juice.

Senator (34:06):
Another question, Ricky. Have you met anyone in
the Camarena family?

Chef Ricky (34:10):
Yeah. Yeah. I've met Carlos Camarena. I've met his
daughter. Yeah.
When you go to the, distillery,they're often there, and they'll
give you, site tours, and yousit down, have a formal tasting
at this very long dining table,on on the hacienda, and it's
it's quite the experience. Andthey're awesome people, super
intelligent. I mean, Carl'scoming in as a freaking

(34:31):
engineer. You know, like, thesepeople are you know? So they're
they're you know, they know whatthe hell they're doing.

Senator (34:38):
I'm just glad to hear this because if not, we were
gonna need to curate a lizardtrip just for you to meet them
because I have not heard chefRicky speak more passionately
about any individual but thecamera is.

Bam Bam (34:50):
Can we please go to Oaxaca

Gizmo (34:52):
as a group? Yeah. We have to. I mean,

Bam Bam (34:53):
that would be an intense, incredible, interesting
trip.

Chef Ricky (34:57):
It's it's a beautiful city, and, it's a lot
more modern than I think anyonerealizes, because it they're
kinda seeing,

Bam Bam (35:05):
What's the nearest city? Nearest larger metropolis?
Waha City. Waha City? Yeah.
K. Alright.

Senator (35:13):
So Well, if there's electricity, it'll be easier
than our Cuba trips.

Bam Bam (35:16):
Yeah. That's correct.

Pagoda (35:17):
Well, every time

Chef Ricky (35:18):
every time I've been there, there's been electricity
and you know? So and it's been avery pleasant stay. The street
food's amazing. The artwork onthe, you know, this the
graffiti, the artwork, museums,the sightseeing.

Gizmo (35:33):
I think we gotta go.

Bam Bam (35:34):
I recommend p c after right after PCA, we go right
down to Oaxaca. I like it. I'mall

Chef Ricky (35:39):
I'd be all in on that. Just remember Oaxaca's
mezcal, so we're definitelygonna be in for a a treat with
I'm just just saying way.There'll be tequila there too,
but if we're gonna go to Oaxaca,

Bam Bam (35:50):
we're gonna go from Mexico.

Pagoda (35:51):
Let's let's take bags and bags of liquid IV.

Senator (35:53):
I was thinking exact

Bam Bam (35:55):
same thing.

Gizmo (35:56):
We need a new sponsor, liquid IV.

Senator (35:58):
Let's bring an actual IV drip.

Bam Bam (36:01):
Well, lizard Genarito will give us all that. He'll
bring it along.

Rooster (36:04):
It's funny because when Ricky said street food, I
immediately thought about pooba.He would be all in. Oh, or or
all out.

Bam Bam (36:14):
You're being very facetious right now.

Rooster (36:16):
Street food in Oaxaca?

Bam Bam (36:18):
Eating snakes on the beach?

Chef Ricky (36:20):
No. The street food is delicious, and it's and yeah.
I mean, you get it at anywhere.At certain times of the night,
people just camp out in front oftheir homes and stuff. Right on
the street.

Rooster (36:30):
Tacos, pasta?

Chef Ricky (36:31):
Yeah. You'll see some more pasta tacos, but
Oaxaca's known more for their,which they, you know, very large
corn tortillas. They're usuallyabout 12 inches big, and they
put, like, unrefined pork lardon top, some refried beans, and
then some queso oaxaca, which isbasically, string cheese. It's
much it tastes like mozzarella.It looks like it.

Rooster (36:52):
So is it flat or is it rolled?

Chef Ricky (36:54):
It's flat, but oftentimes people kinda just
fold it. It's crispy, but, youknow, you fold it, and it
ultimately ends up looking likea quesadilla. And they'll put,
you know, char you know, somegrilled steak or some crumbled
up chorizo and some cactus padsand, you know, a little bit of
everything in there, and it'sreally, really good.

Gizmo (37:12):
So boys, let's talk about some housekeeping. So we
discussed this as a group, lastweek, and I think it's time to
bring the listeners into theconversation. And this being our
1st Cuban cigar podcast of theyear, this is our first one. We
obviously did, the Davidoff lastweek. This is our first Cuban.
We have come to a point nowwhere we are starting to run out

(37:36):
of regular production Cubancigars that are readily
available that we have reviewed.And I think that 3 years is kind
of the mark at which we need tokind of hit reset on a lot of
those cigars and start torevisit some of the stuff that
we reviewed early, early on. Andand I believe senator had a good
recommendation when we werediscussing this about going back

(37:58):
and looking at some of thecigars that didn't rate as well
as we remember,

Senator (38:03):
you know, them performing or that perform
today. Cigars that we maybesmoke a lot of, but didn't
perform as well when we ratedthat might be worth revisiting
for that reason.

Bam Bam (38:13):
Well, top of the list for me is the Schwa Supreme.

Gizmo (38:15):
Schwa Supreme.

Bam Bam (38:16):
That was a colossal disappointment.

Senator (38:18):
Juan Lopez number 1. The RAS for me. The RAS

Bam Bam (38:21):
had that rated an 8.2. Right?

Gizmo (38:23):
It was it was in the eights, I believe. It

Bam Bam (38:24):
was. Really? Yeah. It It should be higher, though,
honestly.

Gizmo (38:27):
That's There's a there's a there's a lot of the the
standard The

Senator (38:30):
j l one production cigars.

Bam Bam (38:31):
Poor rated cigar. I don't remember what the rating
was.

Gizmo (38:33):
And it's almost 3 years ago.

Senator (38:34):
Well, the j l one got what it deserved.

Bam Bam (38:35):
No. That's

Gizmo (38:37):
the j l one. Another one too. Ugh. So I know that there
are a lot of regular productioncigars from Habanos that we
haven't done yet, and we'regetting to them. But as far as
the standard issue stuff thatyou can go on any website and
get pretty regularly, a lot ofthose we did almost 3 years ago
now.
And, you know, approachingdifferent box codes and and
finding new production of thosecigars, I think it would be a

(39:00):
value add, not only to ourlisteners, but to ourselves and
our ratings to start to revisitsome of those and start to
pepper in some of the ones thatwe've done. So I think the idea
here is that you're gonna startseeing some cigars you may have
heard if you're an OG listenerfrom day 1. We're gonna start
bringing some of those back hereand there. So I

Bam Bam (39:16):
think it's a good idea to revisit the cigars that
performed poorly. It's a greatidea. It's gonna make for
interesting conversation forsure.

Rooster (39:24):
Right. And and if there's, you know, listeners who
wanna recommend, like, somethingthat we should revisit, that
would be cool. Oh,

Bam Bam (39:30):
that's a great idea too.

Gizmo (39:31):
Yeah. Even if the rating was right and there's something
different about them, or maybethey're performing worse now
than when we rated them to youryou know, when you taste them
and we rated it a 9 something,and now they're smoking like a
7, You know, send us somecomments about stuff that you're
smoking that might not alignwith how we rated them all that
time ago, and, we're gonna startto revisit those.

Senator (39:49):
Yeah. I I also think it it will test our theory a little
bit around the quality beingbetter of late.

Bam Bam (39:58):
Like That's right.

Senator (39:59):
Most of the cigars were, what, 2020, 2021?

Gizmo (40:03):
Some even earlier.

Senator (40:04):
Right. And so I feel like I mean, when I was in,
Panama recently, like, I lit aRAS at an LCDH that literally
had, like, 3 months of age onit. That's how young the cigar
was, and it was fantastic.

Bam Bam (40:17):
Did you buy that there?

Pagoda (40:18):
Yeah. Oh, you did?

Senator (40:19):
Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. Wow. And it's like, years ago, if I
had a wrasse with just 2 or 3months age, I don't recall a
young wrasse being that good. SoSure.
It'll just be interesting totest whether a lot of the more
recent production is more readyto smoke than maybe what we're
what we've been used to in thepast.

Bam Bam (40:36):
Great conversation, Nym.

Gizmo (40:38):
Yeah. So, again, this is an, you know, FYI to the
listener out there, you seesomething pop up we've already
done, this is why, but also acall out. Please let us know if
there are, you know, our regularproduction Cuban cigars you'd
like us to revisit in the comingmonths year years, because we're
gonna I think every 3 years,we're gonna start recycling
through those. And, you know,for me I mean, for how much we

(40:59):
love a Particus d 4 in here, werecorded that probably. That's
probably the 7th episode we everput out was a Particus d 4.
So that would be deserving to meof a revisit.

Bam Bam (41:09):
Of a regushing?

Gizmo (41:10):
A regushing. A reloving.

Senator (41:12):
I mean, if we can rate a single malt scotch 3 times,

Rooster (41:15):
we ought to at least rate a d 4 3 times.

Gizmo (41:17):
Because I screwed up.

Bam Bam (41:19):
Three different ratings, by the way.

Chef Ricky (41:23):
And I'm super excited for this because I
wasn't here for much Yeah.That's true. I get to experience
this, and now I get to We livethrough you.

Pagoda (41:32):
We live through you guys.

Rooster (41:34):
You get to pay for

Gizmo (41:35):
the box.

Bam Bam (41:35):
Right. That's also true.

Chef Ricky (41:38):
Maybe now I get to kinda create these core flavor
memories and be able to, youknow, contribute to the
conversation a little bit more.

Gizmo (41:47):
And the other thing that needs to be mentioned too, and
we talked about this at our endof the year episode, the with
the Asplendidos, is that 60 pluspercent of our listeners right
now found us in the last year.So I think that, you know, for
us and for those listeners andour entire audience, I think
going back and revisiting someof these core cigars that come
out of Habanos, it's a it's agood thing to

Rooster (42:06):
do. So There's only one problem with that. We're gonna
pay twice

Gizmo (42:10):
as much for those.

Rooster (42:11):
Yeah. That's that's gonna hurt

Gizmo (42:13):
a little bit.

Pagoda (42:14):
Maybe 3 times as much. True. And that

Gizmo (42:16):
might impact

Bam Bam (42:16):
ratings again. That's also true. Yeah.

Pagoda (42:18):
That's a good point.

Bam Bam (42:20):
Says the value guy.

Gizmo (42:22):
So, boys, we're coming to the end of the first 3rd here on
the floriticano, ellajitos.What's everybody thinking?

Bam Bam (42:28):
Still delicious. I'm loving it. I think the pairing's
really quite nice.

Gizmo (42:31):
I actually think the salty simplicity of this I
shouldn't say simplicity becauseit's not a simple flavor
profile, but the mild flavor ofthe tequila

Bam Bam (42:41):
There is a salty

Gizmo (42:42):
The saltiness to it really pairs well with the
nuttiness. Totally. And thesweetness of the cigar for me.

Bam Bam (42:47):
Totally.

Pagoda (42:48):
So for me, I think the cigar tasted a bit more salty
and a bit more, I thought itjust enhanced a little bit of
those flavors within the cigar.

Senator (42:57):
I'm just shocked because flavor wise, I have not
one single complaint about thiscigar. In my wildest dreams, I
didn't think that was possible.

Bam Bam (43:05):
With this marker?

Senator (43:06):
With this marker. Totally, dude.

Bam Bam (43:08):
I think I I don't know. I came in very pessimistic.

Senator (43:11):
Me too. Yeah.

Pagoda (43:13):
I mean,

Bam Bam (43:14):
the flavors taste giz.

Senator (43:20):
Totally in.

Bam Bam (43:20):
Totally. Oh, you gotta

Pagoda (43:22):
the 2 hands.

Bam Bam (43:23):
You gotta do the 2 hands. Totally in.

Rooster (43:26):
Wait till you guys try this.

Gizmo (43:29):
I was nervous too. I'll be honest. I've had them for
quite some time. They had 4years of age on them, so I was
hoping that they had matured toa point that that they would be,
you know, reasonable. But theseare turning out to be very
delicious.
You know?

Bam Bam (43:40):
So what drove you to buy these? Not for the pod.

Gizmo (43:43):
It was for the pod. I only bought these for the pod.
I've never had a a Ford

Bam Bam (43:46):
Ocado before. Did you buy those?

Gizmo (43:47):
Probably about 6 months. Yeah. Did

Senator (43:48):
you buy these for your father-in-law ones?

Gizmo (43:50):
I did, but I never tried one. I got them to frame as a
gift. Gotcha. But they wereyounger than these. I just
bought them on Ihavenas orwhatever.
But, these these having a littleage, I figured these were
appropriate. You know? Becausethis is a cigar that anyone can
go out and buy either a 5 packon a forum or something or buy
the box and let them sit for awhile because it's not a huge
amount of money sitting in yourhumidor. So Mhmm. It's worth

(44:13):
considering aging them a littlebit.
Yeah. You know, getting them tothat at least that 3 year mark.

Bam Bam (44:18):
Beautifully flavored cigar.

Gizmo (44:19):
Yeah. So, senator, you mentioned very briefly that, you
were in Panama, and your friendto your left there, Pagoda, was
also there and got home thismorning. At what time, Pagoda?

Pagoda (44:31):
Early in the morning.

Gizmo (44:33):
Did the red eye overnight.

Bam Bam (44:35):
Oh, yeah.

Gizmo (44:35):
So this is, you guys have gone a few times to Panama now.
And, senator, I know yourholiday plans changed. We talked
about some other plans you had,and things changed a little bit.
So you ended up in Panama, andhow was it? It was incredible.

Senator (44:49):
I I mean, I have to say, you know, I went for the
first time last year withPagoda, and, I'll give him
credit because number 1 aboutPanama, nobody talks about or
knows anything about Panamaother than there's a canal
there. I mean, you never hearpeople talk about, oh, I want a
vacation at Panama. When Pagodalast year mentioned Panama, I'm
like, this is such a bizarreplace, but it sounded like a

(45:11):
great time. So the food wasawesome. People are great.
They have a nice cigar lounge.There's an LCDH. And so we had a
great trip, but last time it wasso last minute. I didn't really
do any homework or prepare,like, structure things that I
would have wanted to this time.With some more time, I
definitely did homework.
And then I had just such anoutstanding experience. So, both

(45:36):
times, we kinda stayed right inthe the heart of, Panama City.
You've got everything you needright at your fingertips. I
mean, there's hotels, casinos,restaurants, shops, lounges. I
mean, everything is soaccessible.
It cracks me up. You take anUber somewhere, your average
Uber price is between $3.5anywhere you can possibly need

(45:59):
to go. Wow. Wow. It's insane.

Gizmo (46:01):
I can't go from my house to my direct neighbor's house
for under $20 in an Uber.

Bam Bam (46:07):
That's true.

Senator (46:07):
I mean, it's just wild. Like, everything is right at
your fingertips. Weather ismade.

Bam Bam (46:13):
City as well. Right?

Senator (46:14):
Super modern. It is these Very well developed.
Beautiful, giant, you know, highrise buildings. And I give them
credit because, you know, we'reused to cities with large
buildings. We're right in theNew York area.
And the architecture even ofsome of these buildings, like,
they're not just traditionalskyscrapers that are just, like,
straight up. Like, they havethese cool, elaborate

Bam Bam (46:34):
designs. Ornate in shape.

Senator (46:36):
They've done a really nice job with

Bam Bam (46:38):
that city. Those are very, very expensive buildings
to build.

Gizmo (46:41):
Oh, I'm sure.

Bam Bam (46:41):
They require a lot of structure.

Senator (46:43):
But, yeah, it's just a beautiful city. The food scene,
I have to say, the food inPanama is honestly some of the
best food I've had anywhere inthe world.

Bam Bam (46:52):
Really? That's pretty freaking high praise. For you to
say that

Gizmo (46:55):
is pretty wild.

Senator (46:56):
Crazy to say. I I I this one night, I felt like this
is the first time I felt alittle bit like Anthony
Bourdain. I had looked intorestaurants, and there's this
list of, like, 50 greatestrestaurants in Latin America.
And, there's this one placeRicky would love this. You would
I mean, this is like you'didentify, I think, with the
ethos of this place.

(47:17):
It's someone's home that theyconverted to a restaurant. The
restaurant inside has 4 tablesand bar seating. I make a
reservation for a seat at thebar. I show up to this place.
It's in the middle of this superresidential neighborhood.
It's called San Francisco.

Chef Ricky (47:35):
It's

Rooster (47:36):
Sounds very Cuban.

Senator (47:37):
I mean, honestly, there's a lot of parallels to
Cuba. I'll go there next. I showup to this place. It is not at
all obvious where you enter thisrestaurant. You're just, like,
staring at someone's home.
There's, like, a a little doorslightly creaked open. I, like,
peek inside there. It'ssomeone's house. I'm like, well,
that's definitely not therestaurant. Then

Pagoda (47:57):
there's like

Bam Bam (47:58):
You might lose a kidney if you go there.

Senator (48:01):
Then there's, like, a metal gate. I'm going to open
it. It's locked. I'm like, okay.That's maybe not the restaurant
either.
So the only thing I see is adoorbell next to the door to the
home that I peeked in that'sclearly where people live.

Gizmo (48:15):
So I just rang the doorbell. Next thing go to
answer?

Senator (48:21):
Next thing I know, someone comes and opens the
metal gate, and it does buzz therestaurant.

Gizmo (48:26):
Wow.

Senator (48:26):
And then you go through there. They have a little
outdoor patio, and it's like asliding glass door to the house
that is the entrance to therestaurant. I did the chef's
tasting menu there. It was 5courses, $62. I mean Oh, wow.
What a steal. Wow. The food wasunbelievable. 1st course was
like this, like beef tartare.2nd course was a tuna crudo.

(48:50):
There's ton the the seafood inPanama is excellent. There's
every menu. Ceviches, tons offish. The 3rd course, was this
clams dish. Oh my god.
And, like, this broth with this,like, bread they wanted you to
dip in the broth. Oh my god.Unreal. 4th course

Gizmo (49:10):
My mouth is watering.

Bam Bam (49:10):
I know. Me too.

Senator (49:12):
4th course, course was like this kind of like a risotto
with, squid. Oh my god. Wow. Sogood. At this point, I had
completely tapped out.

Pagoda (49:21):
Like, I

Senator (49:21):
thought I was marketing the tasting menu. I'm like, I'm
gonna get these tiny littleportions and try everything. I
won't feel too full when Ileave. By the 4th course, I'm
like, there's no chance I caneat dessert. Just please take it
to go.
Even the dessert I took to goand but Go does a big dessert
guy. He knows I'm not.

Bam Bam (49:37):
Even the dessert

Senator (49:39):
was fantastic. Wow. Every I've I can't remember the
last time I did a tasting menuanywhere where every single
course I thought was excellent.It's, like, usually, 2 of the
courses are amazing and the restare just okay.

Gizmo (49:53):
Yeah. A couple are throwaways and couple are great.

Senator (49:55):
Exactly. Every single thing at this restaurant. It's
an open kitchen. You're watchingthe chefs cook. The chef when
you do the tasting menu, like,the chef himself brings you the
food where, you know, thewaiters usually bring for anyone
else who's not ordering the, thefull tasting menu.
Just such the wine was great. Imean, this place was so small,
so dark, candle lit, like,candles everywhere. It was a

(50:17):
real honestly, one of thecoolest dining experiences of my
life, and it only cost me $62,which you would never be able to
say anywhere in the UnitedStates.

Bam Bam (50:26):
So, did you hold hands with Pagoda?

Senator (50:28):
No. This was before Pagoda got there, actually. I I
was, dining by myself. But,

Chef Ricky (50:33):
I was hoping

Pagoda (50:33):
he would save the dessert for me. But well, he
did. So when he told me that hehe got it to go, I was very
excited. And then I took

Rooster (50:43):
a bite. I was like, oh, this

Senator (50:44):
is dessert. Even I'll finish. But, yeah, food was just
outstanding. The, there's somany places to smoke. That's
another thing I love withPanama.
You know, we're like ostracizedin most cities. In Panama, most
restaurants will let you sitthere and eat and smoke in some
area of their patio. Therethere's a lot of there's a

(51:06):
beautiful cigar lounge there.This place, Valentino Siesto,
it's members only. For yourfirst trip or 2, they may let
you in as a nonmember.
There's an LCDH there that'sgreat in Costco Viejo, and this
is where the Cuba comparisonscome in.

Chef Ricky (51:19):
Did you say Costco Viejo?

Senator (51:21):
Yeah. Costco. We gotta go.

Bam Bam (51:23):
Costco. We gotta go with you.

Rooster (51:25):
Have you noticed how Costco reference is made

Chef Ricky (51:28):
in every bottle? Those are your two favorite
words.

Bam Bam (51:30):
It's part of your business plan, Brewster.

Gizmo (51:32):
Hey. I wanna ask

Rooster (51:33):
you about the restaurant. Yeah. Was this
typical Panamanian food, or wasit Peruvian, or is there a huge
Peruvian influence in

Senator (51:41):
Yeah. So the thing I like about Panama I mean, there
there's traditional Panamanianfood, but Panama is like a
melting pot.

Gizmo (51:47):
That's one

Senator (51:47):
of the things I really love about it. Like, when you're
in when we're in Cuba,everyone's Cuban, and all the
food is Cuban.

Rooster (51:54):
Correct. Yep.

Senator (51:55):
You're not getting anything else. When you're in
Panama, you're meeting somePanamanians, but people from
Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica,I mean, from all over the place.
So it's kind of this melting potof cultures, and I think that
that definitely shows up in thefood. But for traditional
Panamanian food, I mean, it's aton of seafood. They're, like,

(52:15):
huge on ceviches.
In Cuba, what we know astostones that we love are
patacones in Panama. It'sbasically the same thing, but
they're just larger. They're notas small as tostones. So
there's, like, a lot of thingsthat we would be familiar with,
but it's just much, I think,even more seafood heavy,

(52:37):
honestly, than Cuba is. Like,you don't see like, octopus is
big when you're in Panama.
You don't see that everywhere inCuba. You see it some places.

Bam Bam (52:45):
Mhmm.

Senator (52:45):
It's on every single menu in Panama. It's, like,
impossible not to find it. Wow.So, I think the food is just a
plus. I mean, I had I I rememberthe first night I got to the
hotel, there's this steak house,forgetting the name.
It's with a c. But, I had askedthe guy I had gotten a steak
there once last year, and,honestly, it sucked. I was

(53:05):
really disappointed. But I needa convenience. I had just flown
in.
So I I was very blunt with theguy. I said, look. I've ordered
a steak here before. It wasn'tgreat. What else is good here?
And he laughed, and he goes,honestly, the seafood is better
than the steak here. So herecommended this appetizer, and
he goes, this is verytraditional Panamanian. It was
like shrimp in this kind of,like, sauce, that was very

(53:31):
creamy, like coconut cream andsome other things, like finely
diced, like red onion andpeppers and all this stuff. The
flavor profile of this was Iwanted to just drink the sauce
after I, like, ate all theshrimp that was, like, chopped
in here. There was patacones onthe side.
You'd, like, take a little, putit on top. Mind blowing.

Gizmo (53:53):
If anyone My mouth is watering. I I

Bam Bam (53:54):
this is something ridiculous, this whole thing.

Pagoda (53:56):
Unbelievable. I can't. It's about time you come and see
the canal.

Bam Bam (53:59):
I know. I need to.

Pagoda (54:01):
Wasn't that one of your

Gizmo (54:02):
I yes. The Hoover Dam and the Panama Canal. Big fan. The

Bam Bam (54:06):
Hoover Dam.

Gizmo (54:10):
Oh my god. I love the Hoover Dam.

Bam Bam (54:12):
The Hoover Dam.

Gizmo (54:13):
I love listen.

Bam Bam (54:14):
It's a feat of engineering. Yes.

Gizmo (54:15):
Man made feat of engineering. Like, the thing you
could think is that you wouldthink is totally impossible.

Bam Bam (54:21):
I have a fact about the Hoover Dam.

Gizmo (54:22):
What is that?

Bam Bam (54:23):
There is

Gizmo (54:24):
Senator, we'll get back in a moment.

Pagoda (54:25):
Yeah. Yeah.

Bam Bam (54:26):
Well, here's something fascinating about the Hoover
Dam. So that was that concretewas poured when? In the forties?

Gizmo (54:35):
No. I think in the twenties or thirties. Right?
Still not cured.

Bam Bam (54:37):
So, yeah, there's so there's still concrete in that
entire cast that has yet to tocure. Wow. It's incredible.
Because of the how thick anddense it is. Yep.
Anyway, go back to the food.

Senator (54:49):
No. No. So food a plus. The cigar scene, you can smoke
most places. I mean, evenOutdoor bars.
Exactly. There are outdoor barswith nice rooftops that let you
smoke cigars. Hotels have, like,smoking areas that are beautiful
outdoors. So just for any cigarsmoker, I mean, it it's
paradise. It's really not hardto find a good place to light

(55:10):
up.
And even the LCDH there, you cansit inside. You can have some
Cuban rum or whatever kind ofrum. I'll also say Panamanian
rum. Abuelo. Ironically, Abuelois their, their local brand.

Bam Bam (55:24):
Say that again? It's called Abuelo?

Pagoda (55:28):
That's right.

Gizmo (55:29):
Alright. We gotta review it.

Bam Bam (55:32):
That's gonna be a crazy night.

Pagoda (55:34):
Roosterhood, Costco, and. Oh, do I see brother?

Bam Bam (55:38):
Gonna have an executive meeting with Costa. We gotta get
this rum. Yeah.

Rooster (55:43):
Let me work on it.

Bam Bam (55:44):
Alright. I wonder

Rooster (55:46):
how was the weather?

Senator (55:47):
Oh, weather was great. I mean, the funny thing, it's in
the Caribbean. And so, you know,you look at the weather forecast
when you're going, it shows rainevery day. Anyone who spent a
lot of time in the Caribbeanknows that doesn't mean
anything. It literally, everyday, it rained for no more than
5 minutes the entire day.

Bam Bam (56:02):
That's crazy.

Senator (56:03):
It was perfect. The weather was, like, 82. Really
nice. But just to close the loopon the the rum there, you know,
we drank plenty of, Abuelo, 7year. Very similar, honestly, in
flavor profile to, like, FloridaCana and Havana Club.

Bam Bam (56:19):
No way.

Senator (56:20):
It's a little different. There's like this I
would call, like, a nuttiness toit that both of those rums don't
have that, like, makes itdistinct and unique, but it's
smooth, easy drinking. You feelgreat when you have it.

Bam Bam (56:33):
Do you remember what you paid for that? About $18
maybe?

Senator (56:35):
Oh, the bottle of that stuff is cheap, like, $20.

Bam Bam (56:38):
$20. Great.

Senator (56:39):
Yeah. Nice.

Gizmo (56:39):
We gotta try that.

Pagoda (56:40):
Yeah?

Senator (56:40):
Yeah. It's definitely pot worthy. We should review it.

Rooster (56:43):
Ouelo knows best.

Bam Bam (56:44):
Correct.

Chef Ricky (56:46):
I wonder if that's the rum. So, which is a very
popular tequila, and and I thinkwe did it on

Gizmo (56:53):
the podcast. Yeah. Yeah.

Chef Ricky (56:56):
In Mexico, it's called Los Abuelos. But because
of a patent here in the States,they have to change the name. So
that's where La Fortaleza camefrom. It's named after the
distillery. I wonder if that'sthe rum that is Interesting.

Bam Bam (57:09):
Abuelos brand know knows knows no bounds. Yeah.
Yeah. Global.

Pagoda (57:13):
He he's willing to negotiate.

Bam Bam (57:17):
Hey. We gotta cut of that.

Gizmo (57:19):
So, senator, I gotta ask for the smokers out there. You
talked about how great thesmoking scene was. How was the
stock situation at the LCDH? Youshow up. You don't have any
cigars.
Like, what was that scene like?

Senator (57:30):
Great question. So I was really, really surprised
because you walk in any LCDHglobal, you don't see much. This
LCDH in Panama, in Casco Viejo,they had almost every standard
production from the big marketsthat you would expect. So, like,
Partagas, I remember seeing dfours, e twos.

Pagoda (57:50):
Wow. P twos.

Senator (57:52):
P twos. Oh,

Pagoda (57:55):
the big one.

Gizmo (57:57):
Oh, yeah. Lucy's.

Bam Bam (57:58):
There was Lucy's.

Senator (57:59):
They had a whole box of Lucy's. Wow. Bolivar. They had,
Belicosos Finos. They had thePetite Corona.

Bam Bam (58:06):
Any QDs?

Pagoda (58:07):
Punch Punch, QDs. They had Did they

Bam Bam (58:09):
have QDs?

Pagoda (58:10):
Yeah. They didn't have 50 twos. They had fifties.
You're right. And 54 and 54coronavirus.

Bam Bam (58:15):
Corona scrub.

Rooster (58:16):
They didn't have corona scrub.

Pagoda (58:17):
They didn't. Yeah. Oh, really?

Senator (58:18):
Dad walked in there. They didn't. They They did. Got
that. Jesus, I would have boughtthat.

Bam Bam (58:22):
Oh, yeah. Wow. So tell us about the rats that you
smoked.

Senator (58:25):
Oh, the rats was great. So, yeah, like, Ramon, they even
had the Gigantes. Like, theyReally? They serious? There was
serious range to this humidor.
And it's not huge, this walk inhumidor, but they have all the
essential stuff

Bam Bam (58:37):
to cover. Getting goosebumps.

Senator (58:38):
They're not ship to the US? It's possible.

Bam Bam (58:41):
Yeah. Do you think

Pagoda (58:42):
do you think Humana ask

Gizmo (58:43):
you a question. Didn't ask? No. Do let me ask you a
question. Do you think that thesupply there was is it and this
may seem like a dopey questiongiven what you just laid out.
Is it that there aren't a lot ofpeople going there to buy
cigars, or are they just somehowwell supplied by Habanos
Interesting. That other areas ofthe world aren't? Like Yeah.

Bam Bam (59:01):
It's an interesting

Gizmo (59:02):
question. This place in Panama have everything.

Bam Bam (59:04):
That's unusual.

Senator (59:05):
I'll say this. I was in there on Christmas day, which I
couldn't believe they were openChristmas day. There was there
were people coming in and outthe whole time, and that's a
major holiday. So on a normalday, I have to imagine they do
some decent business. Wow.
Somehow, they must get justsome, you know, pretty good
allocation. Now do I think that,like, Panama City is one of,

(59:26):
like, the, you know, biggest,you know, global markets for
LCDH? No way. So that definitelyhelps. I mean, the demand can
only be so much in a market likethat.
But it's not like they'resitting around, you know, with
no customers. There aredefinitely people

Gizmo (59:38):
Yep.

Senator (59:38):
Coming in and out.

Gizmo (59:39):
And my other question there is, were there non Cuban
cigars in that LCDH? Because weheard question. We've heard
stories around the world of LCDHstores stocking other

Bam Bam (59:48):
New World brands.

Gizmo (59:49):
Yeah. New World brands because of the lack of supply.
Did you see any non Cubans or

Pagoda (59:54):
anything there?

Gizmo (59:54):
Not one. That's really amazing.

Senator (59:56):
Not one.

Bam Bam (59:57):
Wow. Was there a place to sit there?

Pagoda (59:59):
Yeah. Yeah.

Senator (59:59):
They had, like, maybe 3 seating pods with, like, chairs

Bam Bam (01:00:03):
or, like, little sofas. It's great.

Senator (01:00:05):
Good rum selection behind the bar. Wow.

Pagoda (01:00:07):
I was talking to about a 7 new.

Senator (01:00:09):
Yeah. That's exactly what I got when I was there.

Chef Ricky (01:00:11):
They had

Senator (01:00:11):
the selection Maestro. They even had Emanente from
Cuba. Wow. Like, they had

Gizmo (01:00:16):
this is a

Senator (01:00:16):
serious place. Like, it was really impressive. It's
small but mighty.

Bam Bam (01:00:19):
Awesome.

Gizmo (01:00:20):
So, Begota, you stayed, quite a bit after senator did.
You actually did New Year's Eveand and New Year's Day there.
What was New Year's like in, inPanama?

Pagoda (01:00:29):
It's fantastic. It's, you know, I spent New Year's Eve
in last year. So for me, it'sone of the places I really enjoy
going to, especially becauseit's so cold in the northeast.
Mhmm. You know, you're hangingout in 80 degrees weather on a
rooftop.
People are hanging out andpartying. And, you know, it's
relatively cheap. Like, for$100, it's an open bar scene,
but food. And you can smokecigars. And we're smoking cigars

(01:00:53):
and fireworks all over theskyline and, you know, beautiful
weather and really good craft.

Bam Bam (01:01:01):
What the hell are we doing?

Food. Paradise paradise. What are we doing?

Pagoda (01:01:04):
Good drinks. It's, it's just, you know, a really way a
really great way to welcome theNew Year. So And, so it's it's
it's fantastic.

Bam Bam (01:01:14):
So you you brought your buddy with you?

Pagoda (01:01:16):
Yeah. Was that his

Bam Bam (01:01:17):
first time there?

Pagoda (01:01:18):
3rd. 3rd

Bam Bam (01:01:19):
time. I was gonna ask a line of questions, but I'm sure
he loves it there.

Senator (01:01:22):
There's a clear theme here. People visit Panama and
come back.

Gizmo (01:01:26):
Yeah. I

Senator (01:01:27):
mean, this is my second time.

Gizmo (01:01:29):
This is

Senator (01:01:29):
pagoda's what? Like, 4th?

Pagoda (01:01:31):
You know, total for 3rd

Senator (01:01:32):
or 4th. His buddy's 3rd.

Gizmo (01:01:34):
It just it just sounds like the amount of cigar
friendly options, the quality ofthe food and the drink, the
hospitality, the services.There's obviously no electricity
crisis. Yeah. There's Panamaright now. The casinos.
There's casinos for

Pagoda (01:01:50):
people like them. Vegas, really.

Gizmo (01:01:52):
It's pretty amazing. Wow. And to get a tasting menu for
$62 or rum for $20 a bottle.

Bam Bam (01:01:58):
It sounds awesome. Yeah. The

Senator (01:01:59):
treats are amazing. Like, they they also their local
beer, Balboa is excellent. It'slike compare it to? Like, a a
maltier, more flavorful Cristal.And Cristal is, like,

Gizmo (01:02:14):
the national beer of

Bam Bam (01:02:15):
Cuba. Cuba. Yeah.

Senator (01:02:15):
Like, they're both lagers. This just has a bit more
flavor to it, but it's, like,very smooth, very easy drink. I
mean, you can and you feel greathaving it, like, with Cristal.
It it's awesome. You goanywhere.
It's like a Balboa is $3.

Bam Bam (01:02:28):
Wow. What the hell?

Pagoda (01:02:32):
How much

Gizmo (01:02:33):
is a beer in New York City, Pagoda?

Pagoda (01:02:35):
Oh, I, I can't afford them.

Gizmo (01:02:39):
More than this cigar. Darn this.

Pagoda (01:02:41):
It's an average $9. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Wow.

Rooster (01:02:44):
Why is the flight prices so expensive?

Gizmo (01:02:47):
Because there's

Pagoda (01:02:47):
so many people there. To, South America. So there's a
lot of, flights that'll be fullfrom here to there and

then the

Pagoda (01:02:55):
connecting flight from there.

Senator (01:02:56):
It's also when you book it late, like, last minute for
the holiday because it's verypopular there, it's much higher.
Because someone I was talkingto, a member of our lounge,
who's been to Panama before,he's like, if you would book,
like, 6 months out, it'd be halfthe price. But the closer you
get, it they really it it getspretty steep.

Rooster (01:03:13):
Yeah. I wanted to go to Panama, but I ended up in Panama
City, Florida for some reason.

Gizmo (01:03:19):
Typed the wrong airport for a

Rooster (01:03:20):
different scene.

Senator (01:03:21):
How was the LCDH there?

Gizmo (01:03:24):
So, boys, we're into the last third here on the
floritocano Alajidos. What'severybody thinking?

Bam Bam (01:03:30):
Delicious.

It's been delicious for

Bam Bam (01:03:32):
us. Incredible really incredible experience with this
cigar.

Gizmo (01:03:35):
I'm shocked Shocking. I'm shocked at both the cigar and
how well it's performing and howit tastes with the tequila. It's
pretty amazing.

Bam Bam (01:03:44):
Oh, yeah. Where's the tequila?

Gizmo (01:03:45):
It's right here.

Pagoda (01:03:46):
Yeah. No. We've been looking for it. I kept no. I'm
just kidding.

When you blow your smoke into the glass, which is
one of my favorite things to donow, and you get the nose of the
the smoke with the tequilaitself I did that earlier. It's
so dreamy. It is delicious.

Pagoda (01:04:03):
What did

Senator (01:04:03):
we do that with? We were all blowing smoke into a
glass one episode and, like,laughing like school kids.

Rooster (01:04:08):
Yeah. I don't remember. What was it?

It was,

Pagoda (01:04:10):
I'm gonna say it

was a it was a Scotch or a cognac. It was
definitely a brown, so it couldhave been a little too for all
that.

Pagoda (01:04:15):
But I'm I'm glad So

Gizmo (01:04:16):
I just blew my smoke into my tequila. It was so different.

Pagoda (01:04:20):
Oh, really? How they become mezcal? Meaning a bit
smoky? I'm just kidding.

Bam Bam (01:04:24):
No. It's actually on the nose, chef, it's very
floral. I agree. When you blowthe smoke into the cup, it
becomes a floral aromatic,thing. Wow.
It's

Gizmo (01:04:34):
really good. So, senator, what are you thinking about the
pairing right now?

Senator (01:04:40):
I think it's a perfect pairing. I mean, this tequila is
so versatile. It could work with70% of things. Nothing
aggressively full. But anymedium bodied or mild cigar, I
can't think of where you'd gowrong.
And with this cigar that I thinkis, like, medium for the most

(01:05:00):
part Sure. It's, it's reallynice. And I think there's
something that this tequila doesto, like, cleanse your palate
that, like, each draw of thecigar, you're you're able to
extract even more of the flavor.Yeah. I really like it.
And and this cigar, I'm shocked.I mean, all the way down,

(01:05:21):
nothing harsh. The flavor hasactually held through. I mean,
we talked about how, like, thefirst 2 thirds, it's nice and
flavorful, and that last third,it gets totally muddled. It
overheats.
I haven't experienced that yetat all, and so I I'm very
impressed.

Bam Bam (01:05:36):
And

Gizmo (01:05:37):
I think it's changed a little bit

Bam Bam (01:05:38):
for a short filler cigar to be performing this way.
It's absolutely shocking.

Rooster (01:05:42):
I mean, you just can't tell it's a short filler cigar.

Pagoda (01:05:45):
No. You can't. No.

Gizmo (01:05:45):
You would never

Pagoda (01:05:46):
be a

Gizmo (01:05:46):
You would Anybody who says they could tell is full of
it because Correct. There's noway you could tell.

Bam Bam (01:05:50):
The structure of the ash is a giveaway.

Gizmo (01:05:52):
Okay. How this has held up,

Senator (01:05:53):
though. That's not on this. That's the thing.

Bam Bam (01:05:55):
That's right. Yeah. That's right.

Senator (01:05:56):
I mean, this has performed better than many long
filler cigars

Gizmo (01:06:00):
we smoked.

Totally. The structure of the ash almost
looks a little bit moreemulsified where I think when
it's long filler, you have morestacking happening Yeah. On your
ash.

Bam Bam (01:06:10):
Right.

And then you have a little bit of, like, fraying of
the edges that happens here.

Bam Bam (01:06:15):
But not on the cigar.

Yeah. So, you know, I I don't know. I I don't I
would I mean, I'd have to smokeother short filler cigars to
kinda understand it more.

Pagoda (01:06:26):
No. Maybe. But

Bam Bam (01:06:27):
But if

if they're as good as this, I

Bam Bam (01:06:28):
have problems with this.

Rooster (01:06:30):
Yeah. There's not too many. No.

Gizmo (01:06:31):
Yeah. There's not a lot. No. So, Pagoda, what are you
thinking about the pairing rightnow?

Pagoda (01:06:35):
I'm really enjoying this. You know, I've I'm really
enjoying the tequila a lot, butI think I've just been biased
towards tequila for the at leastthe last few tequilas we've had.

Gizmo (01:06:45):
You're a tequila man now. No.

Pagoda (01:06:46):
I'm a tequila man. You know?

Rooster (01:06:48):
With or without ice.

Senator (01:06:49):
I love that, like, the last tequila we did, Pagoda, was
like, I buy a lot of tequila,but just for my friends.

Gizmo (01:06:53):
I don't drink any

Bam Bam (01:06:54):
of it.

Pagoda (01:06:56):
I think this summer

Bam Bam (01:06:57):
The tequila's have changed.

Pagoda (01:06:58):
Yeah. This summer, I think I'm gonna drink a lot more
tequila. So, but yeah. No.Really enjoying it with the
cigar.
And, yeah, for me, I I think,like I mentioned earlier, it did
bring about. I don't know whatit was, but that, I did feel
that it had somewhat made meexperience a salty flavor

(01:07:20):
profile in the cigar, but that'skinda dissipated. So I had it
even back to its nuttiness andsweetness, so I'm really
enjoying it.

Bam Bam (01:07:26):
There is a saltiness to the tequila we're drinking, and
I think that's a greatcompliment.

Gizmo (01:07:30):
And I

Rooster (01:07:30):
think any saltiness in the cigar.

Gizmo (01:07:32):
I actually think of it. The back half of the cigar, my
cigar started very sweet andnutty as we talked about. Mhmm.
And I think at the halfwaypoint, even now into the last
3rd, it's moved to more towards,like, a more mineral Savory.
Saltiness.
Savory.

Bam Bam (01:07:45):
It's pretty savory.

Gizmo (01:07:46):
And I think it's changed, which is actually shocking.

Bam Bam (01:07:48):
Yes. I agree. In a good way.

Gizmo (01:07:50):
It's it's very good way. It's taken us on a little
journey. It's not heated up,which I expected. Pretty savory.
Smoke it slow.
Yeah. I'm I'm really impressedwith this cigar right now.

Rooster (01:08:00):
It's like a salted nut. Yes.

Gizmo (01:08:01):
Yeah. Right? It went from a sweet nut to a salted nut.
Correct.

I'd I'd love to do an exercise here, and, you know,
I know Rooster does not drink,but there's probably no better
tequila to do this with. Can yougrab my glass and just take in
the nose and see what you get inthere? Maybe describe it.

Pagoda (01:08:18):
Oops. Oops. That's not as glass, but I'm dumb. No.
Don't drink it, rooster.

Bam Bam (01:08:23):
Just tell it. Oh, heaven forbid.

Smells delicious. No?

Rooster (01:08:28):
It does.

Pagoda (01:08:29):
It does.

Yeah. This is you know, it I guess this is going
back you said earlier about howsome listeners haven't been
happy with our deep dives andagave, and you're missing out. I
mean, there's no better timethan now. Like, you know,
there's an amazing variety oftequilas hitting the market that
are additive free, that are youknow, just stay away from the
celebrity stuff. And, you know,you're you're gonna find

(01:08:52):
yourself falling in love withthe spirit, with the new
category, and you're gonna fallinto this rabbit hole that we've
all fallen into, and you'regonna enjoy it.
You know? This is there's nobetter time to get into agave
than right now. I mean, the thenumber of agave distillates from
mezcal to tequila to ricea tobuccanara to sotal, They're all

(01:09:12):
hitting the market now, andthat's because there's a demand
for it, and a lot of it isquality stuff.

Pagoda (01:09:18):
Do you anticipate the price is going down with the
supply increase? No. No. I'mjust sorry. That's that's just
me.

Rooster (01:09:24):
We might have just lost George Clooney as our sponsor.

Bam Bam (01:09:28):
You know, the only knock is it doesn't have much
viscosity.

Gizmo (01:09:33):
Yeah. It's a little thin. It's

Pagoda (01:09:34):
a bit.

Bam Bam (01:09:34):
Yeah. Which for me, it it doesn't affect my my love for
this because I really fall inlove with this thing.

Rooster (01:09:40):
The note the nose is a little bit different than most
tequilas.

Yeah. You know, it it doesn't the appearance isn't
viscous, but the way it hitsyour palate, it hits your palate
like a rich and creamy tequila.

Senator (01:09:52):
Yeah. Because butter is better

Bam Bam (01:09:53):
than that. Drink it that way.

Yeah. Exactly. Again,

Gizmo (01:09:56):
when you gulp

Bam Bam (01:09:56):
it, please, ladies and gentlemen, don't gulp your
booze. Let it sit in your mouthfor just a second or 2. Take it
down. There's you'reexperiencing such a variety of
flavor that you're not gonna getwhen you just chuck it.

Gizmo (01:10:08):
Yep. No gulping. No plastic bags. No plastic bags.

Pagoda (01:10:11):
Lesson one over.

This isn't like, you know, people that are trying to
to force themselves to likeoysters, and then, you know,
they they take they gulp it downand swallow it whole, and, you
know, you're trying to get getit through as quick. This is
something that you wanna let sit

Rooster (01:10:24):
on your

tongue and, you know, let it run down the sides
of it and and experienceeverything that's happening.

Pagoda (01:10:31):
It's You mean to say be romantic with it?

A 100%. Exactly.

Gizmo (01:10:34):
Yeah. So I have a question for senator because you
mentioned something that youthink this would work with about
70% of the things we smoke. I'mcurious. Cuban. So I Cuban.

Senator (01:10:43):
I think I think even there

Gizmo (01:10:44):
are so

Senator (01:10:45):
many new roles too.

Gizmo (01:10:45):
Where I'm going. I think Cuban and Honduran Honduran.
Check both of those boxes. Onceyou get into Dominican and
Nicaraguan, where do you thinkwhere do you think the cutoff is
for this specific blanco? What'sthe cutoff for you?
And and open up to the roomafter that. Like, what's the
cutoff there with this tequilapairing?

Senator (01:11:03):
So I think for Nicaraguan tobacco, like, only
Padron natural

Gizmo (01:11:09):
Mhmm.

Senator (01:11:09):
Wrapper cigars would work with this. Like, that
Padron 50th that Grindr loves,that was a very nutty, like,
mild, medium ish cigar. I thinkthat would pair perfectly with
this. Any of the Maduro stuffhas got too much

Rooster (01:11:22):
Or the the Damaso.

Senator (01:11:23):
The Damaso is a

Pagoda (01:11:24):
good example.

Senator (01:11:26):
I think there are a number of Davidoff cigars. I
mean, certainly, all of their

Rooster (01:11:30):
Grand Cruisers.

Senator (01:11:31):
Well that

Bam Bam (01:11:32):
I'll go out and say the the Millennium Pyramid.

Senator (01:11:35):
I think that that could work.

Bam Bam (01:11:36):
That is not a super full bodied cigar. I think that
would be beautiful with this.

The white label Churchill Balicoso will go on

Pagoda (01:11:43):
later this year.

Bam Bam (01:11:43):
Yeah. Absolutely.

Gizmo (01:11:44):
So are we saying the so the cutoff would be, like, in
strength. You have Cuban,Honduran, and then as far as
Dominican goes, kind of theprofile of what a white labeled
Davidoff would be

Pagoda (01:11:54):
I think

Gizmo (01:11:55):
and other Dominicans around that.

Bam Bam (01:11:56):
I think any of the white label, Davidoff products,
the Churchill, the Belicosowould be fantastic with this.

Senator (01:12:01):
And another Dominican market that would go well, Don
Carlos, the eye of the shard.

Pagoda (01:12:06):
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Senator (01:12:07):
They're regular like Belicoso. I think they would
yeah. Correct. They'd all

Gizmo (01:12:11):
go great.

Pagoda (01:12:11):
I

Gizmo (01:12:11):
think the Hemingway series would be great with this
too from Fuente.

Senator (01:12:13):
Yeah. Yeah.

Gizmo (01:12:14):
For someone who loves to smoke a a short story or a
signature

Bam Bam (01:12:17):
You know? This is a great

Pagoda (01:12:18):
entry to

kill if

Bam Bam (01:12:19):
you have a sweetness to it, and the saltiness would
kinda give you a nice balanceand experience. I think it'd be
great.

Gizmo (01:12:26):
Alright, boys. Let's go to some listener comments and
email. We're gonna start withone commenting on our New Year's
Eve episode with our CohivaAsplendidos. I love this
comment. This is from blizzardShawnee bro.
On YouTube, he wrote, listeningto this podcast is expensive. I
just bought bottles of the HeinXO and the Bolivar gold medals.

(01:12:47):
I'm fighting the urge now to buya box of A Splendidos to lay
down as well. Oh, boy.

Bam Bam (01:12:51):
Let those Bolivar gold medals sit. Yeah. 6 months

Gizmo (01:12:55):
At least. With some good humidity Yeah. And they'll
they'll pour it as

Bam Bam (01:12:58):
we have. Months, see what it's like.

Gizmo (01:13:00):
Yeah. Yeah. Did so, actually, Ben, let's comment on
that. Yeah. So you actuallypurchased we finished the pod.
We all bought boxes of ofBolivar new gold medals.

Bam Bam (01:13:08):
Correct.

Gizmo (01:13:09):
Price was a little under $60 or whatever it was, a cigar.
Yeah. You smoked one prettyclose to off the truck.

Bam Bam (01:13:15):
So I I

Gizmo (01:13:15):
was How how different was that cigar from what we smoked
on the

Bam Bam (01:13:18):
So I didn't smoke 1.

Gizmo (01:13:19):
Oh, you didn't?

Bam Bam (01:13:19):
I got 2 boxes. I gave one to Pagoda, and I gave 1 to
lizard j. I

Pagoda (01:13:26):
Yeah. So the post to have with you smoke 1. Yes. I'm
sorry. So from a flavor profileperspective, excellent.
Exactly the same thing. But Ithink the burn Yes. You know how
we really enjoyed, the one wedid in the episode?

Gizmo (01:13:40):
Yeah. The construction. Yeah.

Pagoda (01:13:41):
The construction, the burn, the smoke out, but I think
the second half was it wasreally struggling. Right? The
first half was still prettygood. The second half was,
pretty difficult.

Bam Bam (01:13:51):
And it started to come apart a little bit.

Pagoda (01:13:53):
It did. It it did the you remember what the Lucy did
years ago?

Gizmo (01:13:56):
Sure.

Pagoda (01:13:56):
Yeah. It started to, let's say, flower.

Rooster (01:13:59):
Blow up a little bit.

Bam Bam (01:14:00):
Yeah. That's also a product of the speed or the rate
of the smoke. So you take yourtime, less chance of that.

I just realized, isn't that, White Label by the
Colso Davidoff a short fillercigar too?

Gizmo (01:14:11):
Very well could be.

Pagoda (01:14:11):
I think that's very short anyway.

Yeah. I think that is too. Yeah.

Bam Bam (01:14:16):
That's true.

Churchill. I I bought a a box of those too.

Bam Bam (01:14:20):
So The big Churchill's?

No. No. No. I've had the big Churchill's before.

Rooster (01:14:24):
Oh, as opposed to the

small Churchill's. Bought a box of the t p handles.

Bam Bam (01:14:28):
You know what I mean?

Senator (01:14:29):
I will say on this cigar, when you get down the
stretch, I'm regretting nothaving the foresight that Ricky
did in using a punch. Yeah.Because, I mean, the short
filler, you start to get piecesfalling in, out of the cigar.
Yeah. It's kinda

Bam Bam (01:14:43):
it's kinda happening. I mean, I'm down to where most
people don't usually smoke.

Gizmo (01:14:47):
I took a very little cut. I didn't take much off, so I'm
not experiencing that.

Senator (01:14:51):
Yeah. I I took a a healthy cut. It was not a good
idea.

Bam Bam (01:14:54):
Took an old school Gizmo cut. Oh, not

Pagoda (01:14:56):
a Gizmo.

Gizmo (01:14:57):
Can I say thank you for saying old school? Thank you.
That's old school. I appreciatethat. New school.
You very much.

Bam Bam (01:15:02):
Not old, but new.

Gizmo (01:15:03):
It's a new year. Correct. This is beautiful. That's right.

Senator (01:15:05):
He's got his scissors now.

Bam Bam (01:15:07):
That's true. Very precise.

Pagoda (01:15:09):
Hey. By the way, I, you know, I was at the LC DH in
Panama, and we I was smoking,the punch double corona. And,
Look at you. And,

Gizmo (01:15:19):
Big dog.

Pagoda (01:15:19):
And no. No. And and little child had done the cut.
He had done exactly a kiss cut.So I was afraid to send a
photograph.
An old school kid. An old schoolkid. Old school kid. Old school
kid. Old school kid.
I said, oh, my lord, before

Bam Bam (01:15:32):
Hold on. Did you get that there? Yeah. Really? No.

Pagoda (01:15:34):
It was really

Senator (01:15:35):
I told you their stock

Pagoda (01:15:36):
is That's crazy.

Bam Bam (01:15:36):
I'm just so hard to find that cigar.

Gizmo (01:15:39):
I'm I'm impressed. Wow. Alright, boys. Another comment
from Lizard Annie. He saidpeople are absolutely not buying
at these prices, Giz.
Watch in a couple years howthese price hikes affect Habanos
SA. That's why they'reintroducing the crazy age series
because they know they have somany left over now, so they will
hold on to some regularproduction boxes and charge even

(01:16:00):
more. Habanos is going to have aproblem on their hands. Europe
is already turning to new worldcigars. Cohiba, sure, you can
charge a premium, but d foursand other cigars like that, come
on.
I think he's on the money.

Bam Bam (01:16:13):
Well, we've talked about this. Agree. Nausea many
times.

Gizmo (01:16:16):
Yeah. Yeah. That aging program, that new one from them
has gotten a lot of comments. So

Bam Bam (01:16:20):
He's on the

Senator (01:16:21):
money, but look. I'm sorry. Like, there are so many
parallels to this. Like, I'm nota cigarette smoker, but this is
a perfect example. I mean, theprice of cigarettes as they've
tried to regulate them out ofexistence, they're insane now.

Bam Bam (01:16:33):
Yeah.

Senator (01:16:34):
I mean, what's a pack of cigarettes? 12, $15 here?
Nobody, I'm sure, that smokescigarettes wants to pay whatever
crazy prices they are now, but,like, people still do it. And,
like, with cigars, I mean, theonly part that Habanos SA has
right is it is almost limitlesswithin reason. What people who

(01:16:55):
love certain maracas and certaincigars are gonna be willing to
pay to replicate thatexperience.
It's not like if a d four was$40, it's not like I'm gonna sit
there and say, for the rest ofmy existence, I'm not gonna buy
or smoke another d four.

Bam Bam (01:17:10):
That's right.

Senator (01:17:10):
I mean, it's impossible. Of course, I'm gonna
wanna have that experienceagain. Yeah. And that's the part
that, like, they know they haveus

Bam Bam (01:17:18):
Yeah.

Senator (01:17:18):
In in some way.

Bam Bam (01:17:19):
It's like we've said, if you've got a deficiency in
your collection, you needsomething, you're gonna get it.

Gizmo (01:17:24):
But here's the thing. I I mean, the comparison to
cigarette smokers. I mean, I Ifeel bad for people who smoke
cigarettes in that they're justchemically addictive. Right? So
you could wanna quit them.

Mhmm.

Gizmo (01:17:34):
And it's such a battle to do that. So they have them by
the balls because of the That'strue. The chemical nature of the
addiction in in in theirstomach.

Senator (01:17:40):
As different as we think.

Gizmo (01:17:42):
I was trying, senator. I was trying.

Bam Bam (01:17:44):
We are a room full of degenerates. I

Gizmo (01:17:46):
was trying. Yeah. But what

Rooster (01:17:47):
what about the new smoker? Yeah. You know, who's
who's just getting into theCuban

Bam Bam (01:17:53):
We've also talked about that

Senator (01:17:54):
many, many times. Yeah.

Gizmo (01:17:55):
That's very easy. Shortsighted.

Rooster (01:17:57):
Would he or she spend $40 on a d 4? No.

Senator (01:18:00):
Because you don't know what you don't know. If you've
never had that amazingexperience with a d 4, you look
at $40 and say, there's nochance I'm gonna spend that.
You're gonna buy a new rolledcigar for $10. That's also gonna
be very satisfying.

Pagoda (01:18:12):
You can't buy them loose. No. Right. That's the
other thing. Right?
So you need somebody to buy abox and

Rooster (01:18:17):
Unless you're traveling and you can pick single sub and
Yeah.

Pagoda (01:18:21):
But then then you're limiting the exposure
regardless.

Bam Bam (01:18:24):
But piggybacking what Senator just said, it takes time
to get into all these markersand understand them. And as you
start to learn about them andactually taste them, it takes a
lot of time to get into them. Soa new Cuban cigar guy or gal,
they're gonna takerecommendations, and maybe
they'll get a box to your point,Bruce.

Gizmo (01:18:42):
And the and the problem too is if recent history have
has taught us anything, we'regoing to see across regular
production in Habanos a 10 to15% increase in price every
single year. So what that wouldmean, and does that mean that
what we're paying for d fourstoday at 25 to 30 a stick, is it
going to be 50% more in 5 years?I mean, that's not an unlikely

(01:19:05):
scenario at this point.

Bam Bam (01:19:06):
It's unbelievable. Because

Gizmo (01:19:07):
that's how it's trending.

Senator (01:19:08):
I don't think that that that rate Well, we hope. Is
sustainable. I mean, I say thatbecause, like, they're they've
tried to, like, make up for thepast and course correct of them
realizing, oh, well, we can kindof classify this as a luxury
product. And so Oh, they'vetried. Price increases have been
aggressive to catch up to that.
Mhmm. They're firmly there.Sure. There's a little bit more

(01:19:30):
that they can go, but they willhit a point at which, like, you
can't keep going 15% everysingle year. I mean, you will
price out most of the market.

Rooster (01:19:39):
I think they already priced that up

Gizmo (01:19:40):
to 10 years. You know,

Rooster (01:19:41):
they they were, like, multiple pricing

Bam Bam (01:19:43):
pieces in any Can we actually count on Cuba for
reality to check-in and to havean understanding of what you
just said?

Senator (01:19:49):
No. When money's not coming in, that will be the
reality. Hope so. That that'sall I'm saying. I would hope

Bam Bam (01:19:53):
so.

Gizmo (01:19:53):
Yeah. With stuff sitting on the shelves.

Bam Bam (01:19:55):
Like the all the that entire line of Trinidad aren't
selling.

Senator (01:19:58):
Well, that's the thing. And and I'm sorry. Even beyond
Trinidad, we've commented how inthe past calendar year, you look
at the stock on a gray marketsite like Ihavenis. There is
most of what you would look foravailable on that site. Yep.
In years ago, we used toimmediately message each other.

(01:20:19):
Box of d four is up on Ihab, andit'd be gone in 10 minutes flat.
True. Now box of d fours onIhab, and 2 weeks later

Bam Bam (01:20:25):
Yeah.

Senator (01:20:26):
I can go and still find that box sitting there.

Gizmo (01:20:28):
Well, I'll get a listener email saying, hey. I see this
box of h up in number 2,Montecristo number 2, Partick is
d 4. What do you think about thewhat I what I'm sensing from our
listenership is that instead ofpulling the trigger kind of in
that instant gratification, Isee a box, I want it like we
used to do, there's a lot ofmulling over which box do I

(01:20:49):
wanna purchase versus anotherbox or 2. So there is this
pricing kind of Well, that thatdiscretion now that's happening.

Bam Bam (01:20:57):
The availability of inventory.

Gizmo (01:20:58):
Of course.

Bam Bam (01:20:59):
Right.

Gizmo (01:20:59):
Because people don't have as much money to spend Correct.
As Habanos is commanding forthese for these boxes. I mean,
because everything that we'rebuying is more than double than
what we were paying 5 years ago.

Senator (01:21:09):
And that's the thing. Like and that's where Habanos
says they will have to becareful. Right? Like, they've
been clever to increase theprice such that they don't need
to sell as much to make as much.Right?
Like, that's the the strategy.Makes perfect sense. However, if
they go too far, they will beselling so much less that even
with the higher price, they'llactually be bringing in less
revenue. So there is a limit toall of this, and I hope for

(01:21:30):
their sake and for us as theconsumer that they find it
before it gets to a point wheretoo many say no way, and they're
hurting and we're hurting.

Gizmo (01:21:39):
And they're gonna start not

Bam Bam (01:21:40):
to be not to beat the dead horse, but that interview
that we had with Steve Saka, itwe covered all these points, and
it opens just opens the door forall the new world makers. Right?

Pagoda (01:21:49):
And their quality is just improving with with all
these endurance. Absolutely. Ofcourse.

Gizmo (01:21:54):
And, good, plug there, Bam. If you wanna hear Steve
Sacca's interview, check out thebest of 2024.

Bam Bam (01:21:59):
Excellent, excellent podcast, gentlemen and ladies.
You have to take a listen.

Gizmo (01:22:03):
It was a good one. Yeah. Alright, boys. Let's go to a
listener email. This one's fromlizard Devon.
He says, Feliz Navidad, my guys.This is Devon from San
Francisco, and I'm catching upon this year's episodes. I love
the episode with the TrinidadEsmeralda with Rouenard Blanc de
Blanc pairing, and I'm quicklydeveloping a champagne
addiction. Senator, we justtalked about addiction. Fault.

(01:22:23):
This is your fault.Accountability. Guilty.

Bam Bam (01:22:26):
Accountability. That's a good one.

Gizmo (01:22:30):
One thing about the episode is when Gizmo mentions
the cigar aficionado interviewwith Fidel Castro refusing to
admit the existence of TrinidadCigars. This is a common
narrative with the recentemergence of Trinidad as a
highly marketed brand. I feellike a lot of people missed the
most important and fascinatingpart of that interview. When
asked about Trinidad, Fidel sayshe never gave them out as

(01:22:53):
diplomatic gifts, but he doessay that he supported the idea
of the Trinidad brand, which Ithink is a patent lie. Trinidad,
much like Cohiba, is a postrevolution brand with the
origins being in Cuba.
This is very interesting herefrom Blizzard Devon. Fidel says
that he told Cuba Tobacco yearsago after the revolution to get
rid of the brands that do nothave Cuban origins. Brands like

(01:23:15):
Romeo y Julieta, Dutch, Upman,Partagas No. No. Are brands
belonging to the capitalists andimperialists and are not Cuban
born brands.
Fidel stated that they shouldreplace the brands with names
like Subone, Guajiro, Taino, orTropicana, brand names that are
of Cuban origin. I found this tobe a shocking opinion by Fidel

(01:23:36):
and a huge part of thatinterview that stuck out to me.
Now I don't wanna live in aworld where there's no Cuban
partagus brand or there's noCuban punch brand, So I found
his opinion shocking, butsomething that I don't agree
with. I thought the lizardsmight find this interesting as
well. Yeah.

Senator (01:23:50):
I'd like to see Lizard

Bam Bam (01:23:51):
def I'd like to see a Tropicana d four.

Senator (01:23:58):
With a glass of OJANZ.

Bam Bam (01:23:59):
With a rainbow band on it.

Gizmo (01:24:02):
That is an interesting tidbit from that, interview, but
That's a

Bam Bam (01:24:05):
great email.

Gizmo (01:24:05):
Cigar Aficionado did not re reprint that part of it. We,
teed off on the party did, but,apparently, that was, one of the
original ones. And now, boys,for our lizard of the week. This
is for lizard Mike. He says,hey, lizards.
I've been a cigar smoker formany years, and at the beginning
of this year, I jumped headfirst into the Cuban world. What
are some of your favoriteregular production cigars that

(01:24:28):
you'd still consider box worthyeven after we just discussed the
heavy price increases? I lovethe podcast and I look forward
to it every Tuesday. PS, thankyou for exposing me to Paul
Roger Champagne. Again, anotheraddiction senator,
accountability.
It has opened my mind tochampagne, and it will be in my
rotation moving forward. Cheers,lizards. Wishing you all the

(01:24:51):
best in the new year. Lizard.

Bam Bam (01:24:53):
Mike. Very nice email.

Senator (01:24:54):
Paul Roger nation is going strong, and our fearless
leader, sir Winston Churchill,is very proud right now.

Pagoda (01:25:01):
What's gonna be, buddy?

Gizmo (01:25:03):
We might have to do a senator champagne podcast at
this point.

Bam Bam (01:25:06):
There'll be an episode where there'll be a a a little
bit of caviar and some kind of acracker, and he'll be, like,
ashing his d four on it andtaking that in.

Potato chip. Potato chip.

Bam Bam (01:25:16):
You're right.

Pagoda (01:25:16):
Any price hikes and I think senator need to be a
little contained.

Bam Bam (01:25:20):
I agree. But getting to the question

Senator (01:25:22):
Any price hikes, I wanna cut a freaking Paul Roger
sales at this point.

Bam Bam (01:25:26):
Yeah. Yeah. But getting back to his question, what's
boxworthy?

Gizmo (01:25:30):
Boxworthy regular production Cuban cigars right
now, boys.

Bam Bam (01:25:34):
What what haven't we talked about? Right.

Gizmo (01:25:36):
Yeah. There's there's a lot of good ones. I mean, let's
just say this. Let's go aroundthe room, and I want is if
someone says a box, the nextperson can't say it. We'll go in
reverse order, so we'll startwith Bam.
Name a box today, regularproduction cubit cigar that you
think and and for for lizardMike here and the other
listeners who are buying a box,something that can be smoked
pretty close to coming off thetruck. Regular production.

Bam Bam (01:26:00):
That's a good that's so I'd I'm immediately thinking
about an e 2. Partigas E2.Partigas E2. But they're not
always that great right off thetruck. They've gotta sit for a
little bit, but I'll I'll go E2or Schwab Supreme.

Gizmo (01:26:12):
Okay. Pagoda. Russ. Ramon Iona, specially selected. And,
of course, we like them in the50 cab, the slide lid

Bam Bam (01:26:19):
box. Absolutely.

Senator (01:26:21):
I will say this. When I was in Panama and I got harassed
at that LCDH

Bam Bam (01:26:25):
Dress box?

Senator (01:26:25):
It was a dress box with only 2 or 3 months of age, and
it was delicious. Shit.Delicious. Wow.

Bam Bam (01:26:34):
That's shocking.

Gizmo (01:26:35):
Alright. Chef Ricky, what's yours?

Each up and half corona.

Gizmo (01:26:38):
Each up and half corona. That's a good one.

Pagoda (01:26:40):
Oh, they've become very overpriced. $275 a box.

Bam Bam (01:26:44):
Value, guy. Me too.

Pagoda (01:26:47):
That that's like I'll have to have 1 a year for the
next 25 years.

Senator (01:26:53):
We'll get you some more short filler tobacco.

Gizmo (01:26:56):
Senator, what's a box worthy box for you?

Senator (01:26:59):
Easy. D 4.

Gizmo (01:27:00):
Alright. Aside from the d 4, that's an obvious one.

Pagoda (01:27:02):
I was about to say d 4, but I thought, alright. I'll
leave it for the senator.

Gizmo (01:27:05):
Yeah. That's too easy. That's too easy.

Bam Bam (01:27:07):
It is easy. I'm gonna go

Gizmo (01:27:11):
Bolivar Belicosos Finos. Really? I disagree with that
one. We know

Bam Bam (01:27:16):
you would. We know you'd just have to go off a

Gizmo (01:27:18):
lot, Gizmo. No.

Bam Bam (01:27:18):
That's not a surprise.

Gizmo (01:27:19):
You know why, though? Because I think those off the
truck, I think they need 3years. I think they need 3 years
arguably more than we

Bam Bam (01:27:26):
know that they need some time.

Senator (01:27:27):
Say this. Our experience with recent Cuban
tobacco has been really, reallygood. I mean, that RAS story I
just told, there's no way a fewyears ago, I would have bought,
I would have bought a RAS out ofa dress box with 2 months of age
and said it was good. That wasnever

Bam Bam (01:27:41):
the case. True.

Senator (01:27:42):
I think it's worth I actually I think they had
bellicose sphenos. I had someomni. It's why I didn't buy it.
But next time I see one young ina retailer Give

Bam Bam (01:27:52):
it a try.

Senator (01:27:52):
I'm gonna buy it and try it because I I think we may
be pleasantly surprised.Everything is just you know,
we've talked about how they'remaybe taming down Leslie Harrow.
Like Mhmm. Things are more readyto smoke now than they've ever
been out of Cuba, and I thinkthat would be a perfect
candidate since that tends to bea more flavorful cigar.

Gizmo (01:28:12):
Alright. So I'm gonna I'm gonna lean price higher because
we've kinda gone Oh,

Bam Bam (01:28:15):
we know where you're going. No way. We know where
you're gonna go.

Senator (01:28:19):
Alright. Have the listeners spend a $150 on a
Cojiba. Go for it.

Bam Bam (01:28:22):
Exactly right.

Gizmo (01:28:23):
Half that. But if you want something premium that's
smoking really good young, theCohiba Sigal of 5 right now, if
you can get your hands on a boxYeah.

Bam Bam (01:28:31):
They are It's a Cohiba.

Gizmo (01:28:33):
I knew it. They are really effing.

Bam Bam (01:28:35):
They're awesome.

Gizmo (01:28:36):
They are so good. They are. So that is on the higher
end of what we've heard so far.But as far as regular production
goes

Bam Bam (01:28:41):
You're a high end guy.

Gizmo (01:28:42):
Those cigars are just brilliant. Brilliant cigars.
Plastic bags? Correct. Alright.
Hold on. No. Hold on.

Bam Bam (01:28:49):
Do you have your case

Pagoda (01:28:50):
with you?

Gizmo (01:28:50):
Alright. Senator, you and I were here a couple nights last
week.

Bam Bam (01:28:54):
Don't tell me he brought in the plastic bag.
Yeah. Of course. Alright. See,that's that's what I'm talking
about.

Gizmo (01:28:58):
And and, senator, can you tell Bam what you witnessed from
your friend Gizier?

Bam Bam (01:29:03):
From your friend Gizier. I don't know.

Senator (01:29:04):
What did I witness?

Gizmo (01:29:05):
I didn't bring my plastic bag. I had my soda on.

Bam Bam (01:29:08):
Well done.

Gizmo (01:29:08):
And you said I'll I will note this for Bam.

Pagoda (01:29:11):
You can buy this soda.

Bam Bam (01:29:12):
With the blue? Well done. You know, from you,
especially, I don't expect youto walk into a proper cigar
lounge with a plastic bag.

Senator (01:29:19):
But he does it all the time. I know.

Bam Bam (01:29:21):
I just don't expect it. I wrap my hopes up every time.

Gizmo (01:29:24):
I like my cigar bags. Alright. I like my cigar bags.

Pagoda (01:29:27):
Who's next?

Gizmo (01:29:27):
Can I name my favorite? Well, we're getting to you.

Bam Bam (01:29:29):
Okay. I

Gizmo (01:29:29):
was like, I thought you forgot you. Skip me. Okay.
Abuela, go ahead.

Bam Bam (01:29:34):
What's available in Costco? What's available in
Costco? Saint Rooster. LGC,baby.

Rooster (01:29:40):
Oh, yeah. LGC is a good choice.

Pagoda (01:29:42):
Is it right? Can I make a guess? Can I make a guess?

Rooster (01:29:44):
No. I was gonna say punch

Gizmo (01:29:46):
punch double corona. That's awesome.

Rooster (01:29:48):
Actually, the double corona. Oh. Punch double corona.
Punch punch needs age.

Pagoda (01:29:53):
But the double corona?

Gizmo (01:29:53):
Punch punch

Rooster (01:29:54):
double corona that we add Oh.

Pagoda (01:29:56):
Those in Cuba, those pretty excellent.

Rooster (01:29:58):
Those fresh were very good.

Bam Bam (01:29:59):
Go ahead. What are you gonna say?

Senator (01:30:00):
Jesus. We missed another obvious one. A Monty
too.

Gizmo (01:30:03):
I was gonna say Monty too, but I find that they need
about 2 years.

Bam Bam (01:30:06):
Not the new ones.

Gizmo (01:30:07):
Yeah. See, I haven't had any, like, 20 20 t's

Bam Bam (01:30:10):
to current are pretty fucking good.

Rooster (01:30:12):
Yeah. But the other 2 Montys, the, the Petite Monty 2
and the Media Corona.

Gizmo (01:30:17):
Oh, yeah. The little ones.

Senator (01:30:19):
Oh, another one. Jesus. Upman, Mag 46.

Bam Bam (01:30:22):
Did Ricky 46 is over. Did Ricky pick?

Gizmo (01:30:24):
He did. Okay. You just weren't listening. Corona.

Bam Bam (01:30:26):
I wasn't.

Gizmo (01:30:28):
He did the half corona.

Bam Bam (01:30:29):
Got it.

Senator (01:30:30):
He was too distracted by the plastic bag.

Bam Bam (01:30:31):
H uppman Mag

Gizmo (01:30:33):
46 actually, it might be one of the better ones that
we've said so far that's kindanot the Particus d four classic
that we talk about a lot. TheMag 46 is one that delivers a
lot of flavor. If you bringthose down in humidity just a
little bit, just a little bit ofage, they're really, really
good.

Bam Bam (01:30:50):
They're great.

Senator (01:30:50):
Yeah.

Gizmo (01:30:50):
That's a good one.

Bam Bam (01:30:52):
Good, good one.

Rooster (01:30:53):
The Boulevard gold medal was fantastic.

Gizmo (01:30:54):
The new gold medal. The LG C Touchy Kinos.

Bam Bam (01:30:57):
But not off the truck, though.

Rooster (01:30:59):
Yeah. Well, he didn't the listener didn't say budget,
did he? He did not.

Bam Bam (01:31:01):
But he did say off the truck. Those are not that great
early, I think. You gotta

Gizmo (01:31:05):
I have to I have to say, we talk about the new gold
medal. We have to talk aboutsome of the new production out
of Cuba that we reviewed lastyear, and I recommend any
listener check them out if theyhave in the episodes on the
Liguria Cubana Turquinhos.

Bam Bam (01:31:19):
Uh-huh.

Gizmo (01:31:19):
The Pollo de Monterrey Epicure number 3. 3.

Pagoda (01:31:22):
Oh, the number 3 was really

Gizmo (01:31:23):
That those 2, I think, are standouts alongside the
Bolivar new gold medal as

far as And

Senator (01:31:28):
the Ramon number 3.

Gizmo (01:31:29):
And the Ramon Ionis number 3. Correct? Oh, yeah.
Great too.

Bam Bam (01:31:33):
Oh, I forgot about that.

Senator (01:31:34):
I I that is seared in my memory recently because at
that LCDH in Panama, I saw a boxThey have those 2. And there was
the problem. There was one left,and it was very damaged. Like,
clearly Do you know it's sounusual to see to just see that
shop.

Rooster (01:31:50):
Inventory in a shop.

Bam Bam (01:31:51):
That's insane. Wow.

Senator (01:31:54):
It's a great spot.

Bam Bam (01:31:54):
They must

Gizmo (01:31:55):
have some hookups at Habanos or something to get that
kind of supply. Socongratulations again to lizard
Mike, our lizard of the week.He's gonna win a package from
us. We're gonna send him somestuff. And any listener out
there, as you know, can winlizard of the week.
All you have to do is send us anemail, a voice memo, a YouTube
comment, even mention us onReddit. We'll find it. We're
happy to hear from all of ourlisteners, so please keep it up.

(01:32:18):
And, boys, we're coming to theend of our evening now with the
Volans tequila blanco and the LaFlorida Cano, Elajidos. Any
final thoughts now before wemove into the ratings?

Delicious. Absolutely delicious.

Bam Bam (01:32:32):
Great pairing.

Yeah. Great pairing. Cigar was phenomenal. Tequila's
freaking a banger all around.Mhmm.
Yeah. Just super deliciousstuff.

Gizmo (01:32:43):
I am, I am shocked at how well

Bam Bam (01:32:47):
So are we.

Gizmo (01:32:47):
Yeah. The cigar performed tonight Mhmm. And how good this
tequila is at its price pointand then how well they paired
together, I I'm really blownaway tonight.

Bam Bam (01:32:57):
How often do you think about this, Marco, really?

Senator (01:33:00):
Never.

Gizmo (01:33:00):
Never. Right. I would have never smoked it had it not
been for the podcast.

Bam Bam (01:33:03):
Seriously. It's so unusual. Yeah. Great surprise.

Gizmo (01:33:07):
Alright. Now it's time to move into the formal liquor
rating on the Volans tequilablanco. Bam Bam Europe.

Bam Bam (01:33:13):
So I'm at a firm 10. Wow. For a $50 bottle that's
buttery and salty and on thefinish, that caramel sweetness
that I get. Now we've had someincredible tequilas and mezcals
in this room. Thank you, chef.
But this for this price, I candrink this all night long, feel
great. And, honestly, I thinkwe've all mentioned it. It it'll

(01:33:37):
pair beautifully with almostevery single Cuban that you
wanna smoke and a lot of newworlds. I it's hard not to give
us a 10 for me. It's a 10.

Gizmo (01:33:46):
Alright. Chef Ricky.

Yeah. This is a 10, if not an 11. You know, this
tequila hits every note. It'svery full in flavor, not hot at
all. So everything that itdelivers is flavor.
That's what makes it so easydrinking and so fun to drink.
You know, the brine you gethere, the minerality, the

(01:34:09):
caramel you get on the finish,the butteriness on the body. You
know, don't don't let theviscosity of the liquid itself
fool you. It delivers somethingthat is really complex and full
in flavor.

Bam Bam (01:34:23):
So it's funny. I don't often look do you really look
for viscosity in a tequila?

Not necessarily.

Pagoda (01:34:30):
I do. But we've had some

so. We've had some that have been

Bam Bam (01:34:33):
That's it's true. It's true.

And I think in general, because of the spirits
that we do sip on the pod, youknow, they tend to be somewhat
viscous, and it's something weenjoy. And, you know, viscosity
in the body usually translatesto a rich flavor that helps
carry the flavor of the cigarthat you're smoking, and that's
what we genuinely have greatexperiences with. So this

(01:34:56):
happens to do all of thatwithout that That's true. Thick
mouthfeel.

Gizmo (01:35:00):
Yeah. And I think this is one of the rare ones that the
viscosity wasn't there, but itdidn't impact flavor

Bam Bam (01:35:06):
at all.

Gizmo (01:35:07):
Impact performance. And it's so extremely warm. Happy
with how thin the spirit isversus how it tastes. It's Yeah.
It's it's it's quite an anomaly,I think, as far as the spirits
that we drink.

Bam Bam (01:35:18):
I'm gonna take some before it runs out.

And this this makes me really look forward to trying
the high proof, to trying thereposado, the anejos. You know?
And, again, I mean, FelipeCamarena. And when you guys see
any any tequila made by ourCamarena, just jump on it and
taste it and and get to it, youknow, because it's gonna be
something worth drinking.

Gizmo (01:35:38):
Alright. Pagoda.

Pagoda (01:35:40):
Yeah. I'm debating, yeah, between a 9 and 10. Give
me give me a second. I I thinkthe only thing what I would have
wanted more would be a slightlylonger finish on the back of my
palette. I think it does leave agood flavor profile towards the
front.
But yeah. No. It's a 10. It'svery easy to drink. Don't need
ice at all.
It's, it's so easy to drink.Very, very flavorful. You know?

(01:36:06):
I I think from, the mineralityto the sweetness in the back,
which comes but the only thing Ithink which I might have sought
for is a bit like that. It wouldlinger a bit more in the back.
I think in some of the tequila,they've had that. But having
said that, considering the pricepoint, considering the flavor
profile, considering what isdelivered today, I think it's a

(01:36:28):
10.

Bam Bam (01:36:28):
Just don't cope it down and you're good.

Pagoda (01:36:31):
Oh, my lord. Bam, 101.

Gizmo (01:36:34):
So for me, it's also a 10. I I'm blown away by this
tequila tonight. I think howeasy it is to drink, how well it
paired with this cigar, for howmild medium this cigar was, and
then also how, like, we detailedhow much of the range of the
cigars we smoke, how well itwould pair. And then it makes me

(01:36:54):
wonder, how does the reposadotaste? How does

Bam Bam (01:36:57):
the

Gizmo (01:36:57):
anejo taste with some of the more full cigars we smoke? I
I just think it's a home run.The flavor was excellent. I love
the saltiness, the buttery, thecreaminess, the little caramel
that Bam mentioned. I thought itwas an a plus.
And I think too, for a newtequila drinker, I'm so happy
this is the first tequila we'vedone in 2025. For anyone out
there who has thought we'recrazy for going so deep into

(01:37:21):
agave, mezcal, tequila, forthinking we're crazy for loving
this spirit so much to pair withthe cigar. I mean, this is the
one, if any, to start with andto understand what we're saying.
This tequila is awesome. It's a10 all day.
Senator.

Senator (01:37:39):
No disagreement with the room. It's a 10. It is
incredibly versatile, and I lovethat with a blanco because, you
know, for the range of cigarsthat we smoke, a blanco is not
what we most often would pull orreach for. Absolutely correct.
And the fact that at the firstsip, I immediately thought 70%

(01:38:01):
of the cigars that I smoke Icould probably pair this with is
a huge testament to, whatthey've done with this tequila.
I think the flavor isunbelievably balanced. It's not
just smooth, but it's like allthe flavor notes that have been
called out. There's not one thatis so dominant and overtakes the
rest. It's, like, just veryharmonious, like, what they've

(01:38:22):
created in this. And for me,that just makes it incredibly
satisfying.
I I I've thoroughly enjoyedevery single sip. I would
recommend this. I think, youknow, Giz mentioned earlier and
I agree with, it it is somethingit's very much a gateway tequila
where for someone who isinexperienced with tequila and
only knows the mass producedstuff, this would be a great way

(01:38:44):
to get them in. And asexperienced a tequila drinker as
even chef Ricky, you know, canappreciate this. So that kind of
range and the price point at $50is unbelievably fair for the
experience this delivers.
I mean, it it's it's unreal. SoI'm glad we tried this because
when I land in Mexico, I'mdefinitely going to the duty

(01:39:05):
free in the airport, buying

Bam Bam (01:39:06):
a bottle

Senator (01:39:06):
of this to have for

Bam Bam (01:39:07):
you. Love it there.

Pagoda (01:39:08):
Make sure you don't get the volcano.

Bam Bam (01:39:09):
He'll be the senator will be sipping on us in bed,
drinking a bottle.

Senator (01:39:14):
In the shower.

Bam Bam (01:39:16):
The senator will be bottle piece.

Gizmo (01:39:19):
So, boys, the formal liquor rating tonight on the
Volans, tequila blanco is a10.0. Wow. What a home run. Wow.
What a home run.

Bam Bam (01:39:27):
It's great.

Gizmo (01:39:28):
I I wanted to ask a question.

Bam Bam (01:39:29):
Who recommended this? This was

Gizmo (01:39:31):
one we had at the, at at the for the love of the agave
event, and I've been just kindaearmarking just different stuff
we've tried and,

Bam Bam (01:39:38):
you

Gizmo (01:39:38):
know, I knew that the cigar would be mild to medium,
so I I sent Ricky 2 tequilastonight.

Bam Bam (01:39:43):
Look at you.

Gizmo (01:39:43):
Valens and Mihenta. Big earmark guy.

Bam Bam (01:39:46):
Oh, big earmark.

Gizmo (01:39:47):
Yeah. I'm an earmark earmark guy.

Bam Bam (01:39:48):
Are you a post it guy?

Gizmo (01:39:49):
Big post it guy. Alright. Big Post it guy. So I I did
wanna ask before we move intothe other rating here. What do
you think if you were the Volanspeople, what price point would
you put on this Oh.
Blanco? Forget let let's saynobody's answering questions.
Nobody's listening to this.

Pagoda (01:40:07):
Let's not ask you this.

Gizmo (01:40:09):
What what price point would you put on this if you're
the Volans people with how thisperforms?

Bam Bam (01:40:13):
What's a gallon of milk cost?

Gizmo (01:40:16):
The van price is right on tequila. Yeah. I think Don't

Bam Bam (01:40:18):
ask me.

Gizmo (01:40:19):
I think if this was 65 or 70, I'd feel exactly the same
about it.

Senator (01:40:22):
I agree. 65 for me is the, like, highest

Rooster (01:40:25):
Sure.

Senator (01:40:26):
That I I I think 65 would be fair.

Pagoda (01:40:28):
Yeah. My lord has to ask for us about inflation. I know.
You know what? You're out.

Gizmo (01:40:35):
Ricky, what do you think the the the fair price would be
on this?

I think, you know, it's definitely deserving of a
slightly higher price. 65 maybebeing maxed just because it's a
blanco. It's not super limitedin its production.

Pagoda (01:40:47):
Or Hey.

Bam Bam (01:40:47):
Hey. Hey. Chefs like he's pissed off at your brainer
up again. I love thatexpression.

Pagoda (01:40:54):
That was my point. Anyone supporting higher price
points, then what's going onwith this podcast? Come on,
listeners. Are you gonna supportme or what?

Bam Bam (01:41:04):
By the way, the short filler is showing it's,
sprinkling over here.

Gizmo (01:41:09):
So you're at 65. Bam, where are you at on this?

Bam Bam (01:41:11):
I think that's a great price.

Gizmo (01:41:13):
Yeah. I I think if this That

Bam Bam (01:41:14):
and under.

Gizmo (01:41:15):
I I if this was 65, I wouldn't change my rating at

Bam Bam (01:41:17):
all. Yeah. But I think the versatility comment,
senator, is right on. I would dothis all year round.

Pagoda (01:41:23):
Yeah.

Bam Bam (01:41:23):
I can see this in the summer, spring, fall, winter,
anytime. Really tremendous. It'stremendous.

Gizmo (01:41:30):
It's I I I think the point of all this is that
there's real value in how thisspirit drinks at $50.

Bam Bam (01:41:36):
And we're missing 2 lizzards tonight. I would love
to get their impression. I thinkthey would enjoy this.

Pagoda (01:41:41):
Kuba would love this.

Bam Bam (01:41:42):
I think so too.

Fact that it's made with the g sword like g four.

Rooster (01:41:45):
Oh, g four.

Bam Bam (01:41:46):
Oh, yeah.

Gizmo (01:41:46):
It's a g four fanatic.

Bam Bam (01:41:48):
But I know Grindr is not a tequila guy, but I think
he would enjoy this. I mean

Gizmo (01:41:51):
I agree.

Pagoda (01:41:51):
Let me

tell you. Giz had me drinking tequila at 9:30 this
morning.

Gizmo (01:41:55):
Hey. We got excuse me.

Bam Bam (01:41:56):
Because it's work.

Because I have a bottle of mijenta at home. So
when he sends me the textmessage, hey. What do you think?
Should we do that? And I'm andyou know what?
I haven't had for a while, soI'm like, oh, I have some in my
cabinet here. Let me try some.And I was like, yeah. This would
be good. And, you know, but, youknow, I I don't have Alans, and
I'd need to get a couple bottles

Pagoda (01:42:14):
out of

Bam Bam (01:42:14):
better believe it.

That was a It was a

Gizmo (01:42:17):
good choice.

I've never had tequila so early in the morning
outside of Mexico.

Pagoda (01:42:20):
So the chef this morning is saying, guess, you had me at
tequila. No. Quite a part

Bam Bam (01:42:28):
of your rookie responsibilities now. You gotta
you gotta drink at all hours ofthe day. He's gonna call you at
2 AM in bed. You better take yougotta have samples around you.
By the

Gizmo (01:42:36):
way, you're welcome.

Bam Bam (01:42:37):
7. Thank you.

Rooster (01:42:38):
Lizard pledge. I love it.

Gizmo (01:42:39):
Correct. Alright, boys. It's time now to move into the
formal lizard rating tonight onthe La Flor de Cano, Elijitos.
Rooster, you're up.

Rooster (01:42:48):
So who I would have never thought that La Flor de
Cano I mean, it's gonna get ahigh rating across this room.
When you think of La Flor deCano, I mean, I was like, it's
gonna

Gizmo (01:43:00):
you know, I I had a number

Rooster (01:43:02):
in my head, like, it's gonna get I might be a 6, a 7.

Bam Bam (01:43:05):
Before walking in.

Gizmo (01:43:06):
Yeah. Before walking in.

Rooster (01:43:07):
Then you read about the cigar, it's a short filler
cigar. I'm like, how good reallycan it be? But the cigar was
great. I mean, the constructionthe fact that you cannot tell
that this is a short fillercigar, that's a merit in itself.
The flavor profile, I mean, onthe just on the cut, on the
cold, cold draw, you got somedried fruit, which kinda

(01:43:31):
dissipated after a while, butyou get that salty nuttiness,
note going, and then you getthis creaminess out of the
cigar, sweet flavors out of thecigar.
And from the beginning to theend, it was a fantastic smoke.
It was a great smoke. It's not ayou know, I would say more like
a morning, afternoon kind ofsmoke. It's not a it's not a

(01:43:52):
full flavor. It's it's it's likea mild medium at the most.
So I'm I'm gonna give it a

Gizmo (01:44:00):
give it a 9. Alright. Excellent. Senator.

Senator (01:44:04):
I'm with Rooster. I'm at a 9. I I I am really just
shocked by the this entireexperience. I think the
construction you know, it'sfunny. I heard I commented
looking at the box that theydidn't seem wrapped or rolled
with much care, yet theperformance construction wise
was excellent.

Pagoda (01:44:23):
Mhmm.

Senator (01:44:24):
I mean, like, everyone commented, you wouldn't have
known this is a short fillercigar

Rooster (01:44:28):
You can't tell. Even burn.

Bam Bam (01:44:31):
Good structure on the ash. Good structure on the ash.

Senator (01:44:34):
I mean, open draw, but not like crazy where the cigar
was heating up and I was losingflavor. Like, it performed
really well. The flavor, therewere a lot of Upman like notes
for me in this cigar. And Upmanis obviously a mark I love. Had
you asked me blind what thiswas, none of us know Flora
Dicana Dicana very well well.

(01:44:55):
We wouldn't have never guessedthat. I would have probably said
Upman if I had to guess. That'sshocking that a budget market is
capable of producing anything inthat realm of flavor and smooth
delivery where not even at theend did I get any harsh
stringency, anything like that.So for all those reasons, I

(01:45:16):
think the flavor's excellent.The only reason I'm a 9 and not
a 10 is, you know, given whatthis cigar delivers, which is a
really tasty flavorfulexperience, Not overly complex.
I mean, I I don't think therewere a ton of flavor notes to
call out in this. At the pricepoint, I mean, 20 something

(01:45:38):
dollar even $20, that's notcheap. No. $21. We talk about
budget sticks.
Those are usually 10 or under.Even premium cigars are like, a
Petrone Exosivo is 14, $15. Is$7 more

Rooster (01:45:52):
than Exosivo. Yeah.

Bam Bam (01:45:53):
It's So, like Think about that.

Senator (01:45:54):
That's what precludes it. Like, if this cigar were
priced at, like, $12, yeah, I'dprobably give it a 10. So, like,
that for me is the biggestfactor why I couldn't give it a
10, but it's definitelydeserving an of a 9 because by
every other measure,performance, construction,
flavor, it checks all thoseboxes. It's just priced a little
high for what it delivers for meto give it a 10. So firmly at a

(01:46:17):
9, and I think almost any Cubancigar smoker, if not any, would
enjoy this cigar, which I neverimagined I'd say before lighting
it.

Bam Bam (01:46:26):
For this marca Yeah. That we never ever think about.

Gizmo (01:46:29):
It's crazy.

Rooster (01:46:30):
And I think 4 years of age definitely helped.

Bam Bam (01:46:32):
Oh, I I agree. Yep.

Senator (01:46:34):
For sure.

Gizmo (01:46:34):
Yeah. So I'm also at a 9. I I thought the cigar was
really, really great. You know,I I love the sweet, nutty open
and how it moved to kind of asalty, nutty thing, a savory
profile. I thought it was I I Ithought it was actually shocking
how it didn't heat up in thelast 3rd.
It didn't get harsh. It didn'tbite you. I didn't have any of

(01:46:54):
the tobacco remnants that wereaffecting senator as he smoked,
and I think some of the otherguys. I I was really happy with
it. The performance was reallygood.
It wasn't perfect, and then Ihad to touch it up 3 or 4 times
throughout the smoke. I do thinkthe price is a little high.

Senator (01:47:09):
You had to touch it up or relight it?

Gizmo (01:47:11):
I had to relight it once, and I had to touch it up 3 or 4
times.

Bam Bam (01:47:14):
He does

Gizmo (01:47:14):
I was talking a lot, though.

Pagoda (01:47:15):
You do talk

Bam Bam (01:47:16):
a lot. I mean, that's your job. Yeah. I didn't have to
touch it up at all. You,senator?

Senator (01:47:21):
I I had to relight, but not touch up.

Gizmo (01:47:24):
Okay.

Senator (01:47:24):
As in, like, it was burning evenly.

Bam Bam (01:47:26):
I didn't

Senator (01:47:26):
need to touch anything up.

Bam Bam (01:47:27):
Alright.

Senator (01:47:28):
But there were times that with some conversation and
it being short filler tobaccoYeah. I needed to relight.

Rooster (01:47:33):
Same. I had to relight a couple of times. You talk

Bam Bam (01:47:35):
too much, Rister. I know.

Gizmo (01:47:38):
You guys don't let me talk.

Senator (01:47:42):
Babs, why didn't you say that for a while?

Bam Bam (01:47:45):
Which is the exact opposite, obviously.

Gizmo (01:47:48):
So I I thought the cigar was excellent. It wasn't
perfect. It wasn't you know, asI compare it to other Cuban
Robustos, maybe it isn't fairgiven that this is short filler.
Maybe it isn't fair given thisis kind of a a a volume brand
from Habanos compared to some ofthe other global brands. Is it
fair to compare this to a d 4 orRamon A1, especially selected,

(01:48:08):
Cohiba Robusto, whatever it maybe?
Probably not. It was a reallygood cigar. It was not perfect.
Mhmm. It does not deserve a 10,but I am very, very happy at a
strong 9 on this.
Pagoda.

Pagoda (01:48:21):
Yeah. For me, it's an 8. I I think I agree with a lot of
the commentary out here. Like,what I did find is the flavor
profile was fantastic. I reallyenjoyed it in the beginning.
But once again, you know, Idon't think it did a lot. It did
transition once from, you know,the sweetness to the bit of the
saltiness, especially afterhaving the first couple of sips

(01:48:43):
of tequila. I think I might havementioned it earlier as well.

Gizmo (01:48:45):
Mhmm.

Pagoda (01:48:46):
Having said that, I had to not only touch it up a few
times, but also relight it. Butthat may be a consequence of the
short filler. I'm not surewhether that's what drives it
because I've never really goneand bought a cigar thinking
whether it's a long filler or ashort filler per se. So, you
know, in the absence of thatinformation, I think touching up
the cigar quite a few times inthe end, it's really just, I

(01:49:09):
think, flowered for me a bit.Just overall not quite a cigar
left.

Bam Bam (01:49:14):
Flowering right now. It's a beautiful brown rose.

Pagoda (01:49:20):
And and then and then paying, you know, $21. I you
know, I always think that, youknow, I was at the LCDH, in
Panama just, you know, a coupleof days ago up until, like, this
morning, really. And when Iwould go into LCDH, you know,
you go and you look at cigars.And a lot of the cigars, even in
the Cuban, you know, like,regular cigars, which we know

(01:49:44):
for as regular production,they're available between the
prices of $20.30. And soconsidering that, you know,
would I pay $21?
Would this name draw me to it?No. But it was a very, very good
cigar, and I think for that,it's an 8.

Gizmo (01:49:59):
Alright. Chef Ricky.

Well, I'm gonna be at a very firm 9 here. I almost
wanted to give it a 10 justbecause Begode gave it an 8. But

Bam Bam (01:50:10):
You know what? I was thinking the same thing.

If it wasn't because I had to relight a couple times
and a few touch ups here andthere, I probably would have
done it. But I just in goodconscious, I feel like I
couldn't do it because of that.There were some moments where I
was talking, you know,especially about the tequila
itself, so that that led to arelight. But, you know, there
were times that, you know, theburn line got a little bit

(01:50:35):
wonky. It didn't get too out ofhand, but, you know, just a
quick touch up, fixed it.
But that aside, I mean, theflavor from beginning to end,
you know, the the the thevarious amount of of of nuts
from pecan, almond, to peanutsthat we got in there, the
sweetness, the cedar start, Youknow, I'm no wood expert, but

(01:50:56):
maybe some sandalwood orsomething along those lines.

Gizmo (01:50:58):
He sounds like a wood expert. Yes.

Rooster (01:51:00):
True does.

Bam Bam (01:51:00):
He sounds like an expert on the many things.

Pagoda (01:51:04):
Sandalwood. Sandalwood. Alright. Alright. I'm not saying
a word.
I think you should give it a 10,buddy.

Bam Bam (01:51:13):
Alright.

I'll give it a 10. No. No. You know, it was a very
enjoyable cigar, and, you know,while $21 is a high, high price
point for a budget stick, Ithink it's it's a good
approachable price in the Cubanmarket. Mhmm.
So it's a good entry levelcigar. We have a great entry
level tequila. I think this is,like, a night worth repeating or

(01:51:37):
seeking out. You know, if youcould recreate this night at
home, this is probably the besttwo products to do it with.

Pagoda (01:51:43):
So Just a quick question. On the short fill of
cigars, now that we've smokedit, at least in my case, this
would not be recommended smokingoutside then. Right? Because
they would

On a windy day, I would say no.

Pagoda (01:51:55):
No. Right? Not at all. Yeah.

Rooster (01:51:56):
But it's a good cigar for a first time cigar smoker

Gizmo (01:52:00):
Oh, yeah.

Rooster (01:52:00):
That wants to get into a Cuban markup. Cuban cigars,
you know, I mean, this is a goodprice point. It's, it's a mild
to mild cigar.

Bam Bam (01:52:09):
This an entry level cigar, though?

Gizmo (01:52:11):
Yes. Yeah? I would so.

Bam Bam (01:52:12):
Are you looking at it from the point of view of the
markup? It's not celebrated, oris it just the

Senator (01:52:17):
I think

just the Cuban catalog. No.

Gizmo (01:52:18):
I I think from the catalog perspective, from
Robustos, etcetera, I thinkYeah. Okay. Accessibility on the
flavor of this, I think anybodycould enjoy this cigar.

Bam Bam (01:52:27):
I agree. I think the most sophisticated Cuban cigar
smoker would appreciate this.This. I agree. If it was kept
properly and it's aged for 4years, it's I don't necessarily
agree with that.

Senator (01:52:37):
Just quickly going back to the question about smoking
this outside, I actually thinkthis is an exception to the rule
of short fillered cigars.

Bam Bam (01:52:44):
I agree.

Senator (01:52:45):
I I again, the performance of this was
shocking. It's

Bam Bam (01:52:48):
shocking, the whole thing.

Senator (01:52:49):
Most short filler cigars are falling apart as
you're smoking them, basically,the ash. Correct. You would
never wanna smoke that outdoors.This cigar, we all said we
wouldn't even know it's a shortfiller cigar.

Gizmo (01:53:00):
It's true.

Senator (01:53:00):
I actually think this would be fine outdoors. Yeah.

Bam Bam (01:53:03):
Alright, Bam. Your rating. I'm very unhappy with
your rating, Pagoda.

Pagoda (01:53:07):
That's fine. It's only you.

Bam Bam (01:53:11):
Oh, no. I don't think it is. I think there's

Rooster (01:53:15):
I I

Bam Bam (01:53:15):
I think the cigar is worthy of of 9 point o and
above. I don't wanna ratesomething just to get the
average up.

Well, ma'am, if anybody could do it,

Bam Bam (01:53:24):
it's you. Fucking tempted. Yeah. Because you

had no burn issues.

Bam Bam (01:53:26):
Well, because I'm the comic corner of the room. No.
No. No.

You had no burn issues. You had no

Bam Bam (01:53:31):
real life.

Senator (01:53:31):
He'd give it a 10, you baby.

Bam Bam (01:53:32):
Yeah. It was per no. I know. I know. That's the thing.
It's not worthy of a 10, but itshould be a 9 overall in the
room.

I agree.

Bam Bam (01:53:42):
It's disappointing that you gave it an 8.

Pagoda (01:53:44):
Hey. Listen. Different people have different opinions.

Bam Bam (01:53:46):
I know. I know.

Rooster (01:53:47):
I'm gonna defend

Pagoda (01:53:48):
I'm not paying I'm not paying $21

Bam Bam (01:53:50):
I hear you.

Pagoda (01:53:51):
In the LCDH. They're they're like, the cigars are
cigars are $23, $10,000,000.

Senator (01:53:55):
Can I give a quick example?

Bam Bam (01:53:56):
I know with you.

Senator (01:53:57):
Here's my singular defense of Pagoda on this. When
I was in Panama, I bought a raspat an LCDH

Pagoda (01:54:03):
For 21.

Senator (01:54:04):
Ironically, $21 exactly. There you go. Wow. And
so to Pagoda's point, for

Gizmo (01:54:10):
a rasp to be $21, look at Gizmo's face.

Bam Bam (01:54:14):
You look like my uncle. For the listener, Gizmo's
looking at me shaking his headon an angle like this, looking
at me. That sounds amazing. Fromthat

Pagoda (01:54:22):
perspective, I

Senator (01:54:23):
have to you know, for me, price factored in
Unrachelors, it's

Pagoda (01:54:26):
a great dividend. What? 8? 8 point something? So, you
know, my thought is, hey.
I hear you. Yeah. I think we'vebecome very liberal in terms of
scoring.

Bam Bam (01:54:34):
Yeah. It's true.

Pagoda (01:54:35):
We gotta draw a bell curve.

Rooster (01:54:36):
So

Pagoda (01:54:37):
It's gonna be weighted towards 8 and 10ths. For

Bam Bam (01:54:40):
for the experience tonight is I'm at a firm 9.

Rooster (01:54:42):
Alright.

Bam Bam (01:54:42):
It was Alright. Honestly, it was shockingly I
can't comment on what everyoneelse said. I echo what everyone
else said in the room. I'm justsurprised at how good this cigar
was from beginning to end. Itwas just so satisfying.
The performance was perfect. Notan issue at all. I didn't touch
it up at all. I don't talk thatmuch. So I was just smoking my

(01:55:03):
cigar.
It was delicious. 9. I think our

Rooster (01:55:07):
expectations were very low to start off.

Senator (01:55:10):
We all Yeah.

Rooster (01:55:10):
I walked in late didn't know what to expect.

Bam Bam (01:55:13):
Happy about this this choice for tonight, but,
honestly, this was really a homerun.

Gizmo (01:55:17):
So, boy, the former lizard rating tonight on La Flor
de Cano Elijitos is an 8.8.Okay.

Rooster (01:55:24):
Way higher

Gizmo (01:55:25):
than I ever thought this was scored tonight walking in
even with 4 years of age.

Bam Bam (01:55:29):
Tonight score. Tonight.

Gizmo (01:55:30):
I have a question for you guys. What do you think this
cigar would perform at or wouldhave rated with a year or 2 of
age versus the 4 we smokedtoday?

Senator (01:55:39):
I mean, we wouldn't know that, but, we know the DNA
now of this cigar. And so, youknow, I would imagine that this
would still probably, at worst,get a 7 Yeah. And likely get an
8.

Bam Bam (01:55:51):
An 8. Probably an 8.

Gizmo (01:55:52):
I think so.

Senator (01:55:53):
I mean, the cigar in 4 years, it doesn't go from, like
clearly, this was a great cigarif almost everyone in the room
gave it a 9. Yeah. It doesn't gofrom that. It just started
Almost almost everyone gave it a9. It doesn't start at a 6 or a
5 to get to that 9 in thatperiod of time.
So, like, it would have to be,you know, a a pretty decent, if

(01:56:13):
not, you know, moderatelysatisfying service.

Rooster (01:56:15):
And the way the new cigars are coming out and
they're smoking so good, maybethis you know?

Pagoda (01:56:20):
So so quick so quick question. Right? A box of brass
of the LCD 8 was about $500 overthat plus tax, which would put
in a 5.75. So it's about $20 acigar, and, you know, if you pay
cash, you might get it a bitcheaper. This is around the same
price.
How many of you would be buyingboxes for this?

Rooster (01:56:37):
It's gonna get taken by customs anywhere. What do

Pagoda (01:56:39):
you think? Well, from here, I'm not

Bam Bam (01:56:42):
here, sir. Correct. The word 0.

Pagoda (01:56:45):
No, but leave. By the

Bam Bam (01:56:46):
way, for the listener, if you're ever in customs line
with Pagoda, stay 20 peoplebehind.

Pagoda (01:56:53):
By by the way, I do have to tell you another story. So
Oh. Oh. Oh, no. So me me me andthe other child, we're walking,
and we're coming to, you know,these, so the way it works in
Panama, you have a securitycheck.
You go through immigration, andthen you have a security check
right at the gate as well. Soyou have to go through an
additional security check at thegate. And over there, they

(01:57:15):
randomly pick people, and Chadwas telling me he said, oh,
they're gonna pick me. Nope.They picked me.
Of course. And by the way, therewas nobody else who had a random
check except for me. Oh, no. Ithink, what's going on over
here? You gotta you know

Bam Bam (01:57:28):
what you gotta do? You gotta dim your eyes a little
bit. When you're, like, wideeyed

Gizmo (01:57:31):
And you gotta bring your blood pressure down. Problem.
They can have scanners that canread the temperature of your
head.

Bam Bam (01:57:37):
Could do that before you go

Pagoda (01:57:38):
in. I'm a nervous flyer.

Gizmo (01:57:42):
So how many cigars did you give them this type? Oh, no.

Pagoda (01:57:45):
Hey. Listen. Will not disclose any information
Alright. On a public podcast.

Rooster (01:57:51):
The box over ass is gone.

Gizmo (01:57:53):
It's gone. So, boys, I gotta say, given both of these
ratings with both the Volans andLa Flordecano from Cuba, I think
this is a great start to ourCuban cigar journey of 2025 in
that we've said with both ofthese, with the cigar and the
pairing, how great these are forpeople coming in new entrants

(01:58:13):
into both Cuban cigars andtequila and also for the
experienced consumers of both.Yeah. I mean Agreed. What a
shocking experience tonight onthe pod.

Bam Bam (01:58:23):
Very surprising.

Gizmo (01:58:24):
I mean, I I could have never expected either of these
ratings from from from thepairing. I'm I'm really
impressed.

Bam Bam (01:58:30):
Delicious overall.

Gizmo (01:58:31):
Alright, boys. One more time. The Volans tequila blanco
scored a 10.0, and the La Florde Cano from Cuba, the Elijitos,
scored an 8.8. Shocking. Both ofthose were debuts on the pod
tonight.
We, of course, have to thank oursponsor, Fabrica 5. They're a
great partner to us.Congratulations again to Lizard
Mike, our lizard of the week.He's gonna win some stuff from

(01:58:53):
us. And, we'll see everybodynext week.
Hope you enjoyed this episode.Thanks for joining us. You can
find our merch store and ratingsarchive at our brand new
website, loungelizardspod.com.That's loungelizardspod.com.
Don't forget to leave us arating and subscribe on your
favorite podcast platform.
If you have any comments,questions, do you wanna reach

(01:59:14):
out, say hello, tell us whatyou're smoking, email us
hello@loungelizardspod.com. Youcan also find us on Instagram
atloungelizardspod. We reallyappreciate your time, and we'll,
we'll see you next week.

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