Ep. #180: Cohiba BHK 58 (w/ Ron Santiago de Cuba 8 Años & 11 Años, The Brand New $700 Cohiba Behike, Bam and Gizmo in Havana, "Selling Cigars to Friends" Debate Redux & Current Lizard Cuban Cigar Buying Habits)

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

(03:08):
about life, and, of course, havesome laughs. So take this as
your one hundred and eightiethofficial invitation to join us
and become a card carryinglounge lizard. Plan to meet us
here once a week. We're gonnasmoke a Cuban cigar tonight,
share our thoughts on it, andgive you our formal lizard rate.
We smoke the new high dollarflagship cigar from Cuba.
Bam and I discuss our latesttrip to Havana, and listeners

(03:28):
prompt a revisit to the sellingcigars to friends debate, all
among a variety of other thingsfor the next three hours. So sit
back, get your favorite drink,light up a cigar, enjoy as we
pair both eight and 11 yearsaged from Santiago De Cuba with
the Cohiba fifty eight. Thebrand new Legito number seven
from Cuba on the pod tonight.It's called the Cohiba Bajique

(03:51):
58 boys, and it's a 58 ringgauge cigar by seven inches
long. And I feel tonight, boys,that we are celebrating the fact
that baseball is back in season.
Correct.

Chef Ricky (04:00):
Oh, yeah.

Gizmo (04:01):
The Yankees are doing well. Well. The Mets are doing
okay.

Bam Bam (04:05):
Yeah.

Gizmo (04:07):
And we have a baseball bat in our hands.

Bam Bam (04:10):
We do.

Rooster (04:11):
It feels more like a 72 ring gauge.

Gizmo (04:13):
It feels massive.

Chef Ricky (04:15):
Yeah. This is not only the largest cigar I've
smoked on this pod, it's thelargest cigar I've ever smoked.
This thing is massive.

Rooster (04:22):
Think some dental work

Bam Bam (04:23):
to Yeah. I think we would all say the same.

Gizmo (04:25):
Yeah. This is ridiculous. I think the narrative that we
don't smoke big ring gaugecigars on this podcast has
officially been eliminated.

Bam Bam (04:31):
Yeah. Shattered that.

Gizmo (04:32):
Yeah. This has been shattered early in 2025 here.

Rooster (04:35):
We're going back to petite

Bam Bam (04:36):
colonized slacks. What do you think of the wrapper?
What's your take on it?

Gizmo (04:40):
I mean, looks okay to me. It's a little bit rougher than I
would have expected.

Bam Bam (04:43):
For a cigar of this caliber.

Gizmo (04:44):
For a cigar of this caliber and price. We'll talk
about that in a little bit, theprice on it.

Bam Bam (04:48):
The color's nice.

Gizmo (04:49):
It looks good.

Bam Bam (04:50):
But it's pretty It's not even veiny. It's just
there's unevenness. There's atouch of sheen, which I love,
but it could be better.

Gizmo (04:59):
The wrapper's definitely oily.

Bam Bam (05:01):
Yeah. Yeah. And it's got a pigtail.

Gizmo (05:04):
And it has a pigtail of course, like all the Bihiques
do.

Bam Bam (05:06):
Correct.

Gizmo (05:07):
Rooster's very happy about that.

Chef Ricky (05:08):
Is this what my man bun looks like on my head? It
does. Such a massive head with a

Bam Bam (05:12):
small ball that commentary before. So correct.
You have a bijique head. Abijique 58?

Gizmo (05:20):
Alright, boys. Let's cut this thing. See what we're
getting on the cold draw and thewrapper. So we are very, very
lucky, and we'll tell the storyin a little bit, but we're very
lucky to be one of the firstoutlets in the world to review
the brand new Bahique fiftyeight.

Bam Bam (05:34):
That's right. Pretty cool tonight. Draw is wide open
for

Gizmo (05:37):
me. My draw is perfect. Very happy with this.

Pagoda (05:41):
Yep.

Chef Ricky (05:43):
Getting oatmeal.

Bam Bam (05:45):
Can I get

Gizmo (05:45):
a little salt, which I'm liking?

Bam Bam (05:46):
Yeah, think oatmeal is pretty accurate. Pretty mild,
not much on the cold draw forme.

Gizmo (05:54):
Tastes good. Yeah. Tastes a little fresh, of course.

Bam Bam (05:58):
Tastes good.

Gizmo (05:58):
Tastes good. A little fresh.

Pagoda (06:01):
What are getting Pagoda? Well, that's a big ring gauge.
Even for me, because I wish

Bam Bam (06:05):
you good luck. Yeah. This is

Gizmo (06:07):
this is gonna be something tonight. This is
definitely gonna be a challenge.

Senator (06:10):
I would just love to know who's ever sat there
smoking a cigar and said, youknow, I wish this were 58 ring
gauge. Mean, this is ridiculous.

Gizmo (06:16):
Maybe next year for Cohiba's sixtieth, they'll do a
60 ring gauge. They can bump itup a little more.

Bam Bam (06:20):
I know we're gonna light it in a moment, but
there's definitely a market forcigars of this size. Right?
Isn't it primarily Asia, partsof other-

Gizmo (06:28):
And people in America love big hammers of cigars, man.

Rooster (06:32):
Yeah, yeah,

Gizmo (06:32):
yeah. I mean, think we're outliers in a way.

Pagoda (06:35):
Yeah, because six year engagement, a lot of people have
that, right?

Gizmo (06:37):
Gordo's, six by 60,

Bam Bam (06:38):
It's just uncomfortable I just say

Senator (06:41):
this because, yeah, we say this and sure, there's some
data, I guess, to support this,I've just still not met these
people, and we travel, we'vebeen in lounges all over the
world, I've yet to encountersomeone who on a regular basis
smokes a 58 or a 60 ring gauge.Correct. Plenty of guys who
smoke Toros, fifty four, even55.

Chef Ricky (06:59):
It's cause you don't belong to a biker club.

Bam Bam (07:01):
Yeah. I'm going to go to Shet. Thank you for that.
I'll be in Shanghai next week.Oh, perfect.
I'll take a look for you guys.Excellent. If you

Chef Ricky (07:08):
were a member of a bike club, you encounter these
cigars all the time. Remember myuncle I was telling you guys
about and this is all he prefersis smoke are cigars of this
size. For him it's

Bam Bam (07:19):
he's on a bike riding at 70 miles an hour?

Chef Ricky (07:21):
No, no, But for him it's all about bang for the
buck. Mean Great. Value.

Gizmo (07:25):
It's a value play.

Senator (07:26):
At least they know their market is $700 cigar for
the biker club. Correct.

Rooster (07:30):
Well, this is a big bang.

Gizmo (07:32):
Alright, boys. Let's light this thing.

Bam Bam (07:33):
For your buck.

Gizmo (07:34):
The brand new Cohiba Bihike 58, and it's a 58 ring
gauge cigar, of course, by seveninches long, an absolute massive
cigar, the biggest cigar we'veever smoked on this podcast for
sure. And we are very, verylucky. The cigar was announced
in March at the Habanos Festivalin Cuba, and we are one of the

(07:57):
first people to be smoking thiscigar and reviewing it tonight.

Bam Bam (08:00):
And just, folks, give us about ten minutes to light
this thing, and we'll be on ourway.

Gizmo (08:04):
We'll be right back. So this is actually the second
Bajika 58 that Bam and I havehad. Bam and I both had one in
Cuba. So we'll see how this onedoes tonight.

Bam Bam (08:15):
I'll reserve my commentary. I gotta

Gizmo (08:18):
say mine has lit pretty effortlessly.

Bam Bam (08:20):
I'm almost there. So I have a pet peeve of completely
toasting the foot that it'stotally red. I don't like cool
spots. Agree with you 100% onthat one. Yeah, you got to do

Gizmo (08:34):
a complete light. Especially on something like
this.

Chef Ricky (08:37):
This size,

Gizmo (08:37):
yeah. Because it's from one side to the other, it's like
walking across the footballfield.

Bam Bam (08:44):
This is pretty good off the Pretty good off light. I'm
actually surprised.

Gizmo (08:49):
Yeah. This is

Bam Bam (08:50):
nice. Wow. Gizmo seasoning does wonders for a
cigar.

Rooster (08:57):
Does it taste like a bajika on the light, though? No.
It tastes a little different,doesn't it?

Gizmo (09:04):
I would say it's it's in the family of of what I know of
bajika 54, especially. I'm notgetting the the twanginess that
I get. There's a little bit of abite that I get on a Bijicay 54
that's not like pepper. It justhas, like

Rooster (09:18):
It's the Medio unique Medio Tiempo.

Gizmo (09:20):
Yeah. I'm assuming it's from the Medio Tiempo, but it's
a unique flavor on the tongue.I'm not getting that here, but
this is in the family for me ofof what I would expect right now
from Bahike.

Bam Bam (09:29):
I have no complaints right now.

Senator (09:32):
I think it's in the family, but to Rooster's point,
I'm not sure that if you were todo this blind that, like, the
first thing would scream at you,Behike.

Gizmo (09:40):
I agree with you on that.

Bam Bam (09:41):
It's true.

Gizmo (09:41):
Yeah. Certainly being biased by knowing what it is.

Bam Bam (09:44):
Check the aroma on the foot. It's delicious.

Gizmo (09:46):
Yeah. The foot aroma is really nice.

Bam Bam (09:48):
I'm getting a slight anise on it. Very good. Spot on.
Although my eyes are wateringnow. I took a little too much
in.
So what do you do with thesecigars?

Pagoda (10:00):
Do you smoke them faster? Because if you smoke
them really slow, you could behere for hours.

Gizmo (10:04):
Yeah. We might be here for four hours tonight, Pagoda.

Bam Bam (10:06):
Yeah. I think there's always a risk of canoeing a
larger cigar like

Rooster (10:09):
this if you go too quickly. Well, it also depends
how packed it is. I mean, thisfeels doesn't feel light, but
doesn't feel overly heavyeither.

Bam Bam (10:20):
Yeah. That's a good point.

Senator (10:21):
No. It's not tightly packed. I mean, mine, honestly,
I didn't cut a ton off.

Gizmo (10:25):
I didn't either. Same.

Senator (10:26):
And, honestly, there was, like, filler falling out
even with this small cut I made.

Bam Bam (10:30):
Yeah. Well, the the cigar didn't fit through the
cutter, which is a great tip.

Gizmo (10:36):
I'm very happy with this on the light. Me too. I have no
complaints. It's pleasant,little earthiness. You know,
we've only had these.
I've only had these a coupleweeks since we got back from
Cuba. We're gonna talk about ourtrip. So I've had these for
about two weeks. I had them fora week in the top area of my
humidor right around 62 r h, andthen I've had them dry boxing in

(10:59):
my very dry home, my my basementoffice for another week. So
these have really been onlyconditioning for a little over
two weeks.

Bam Bam (11:08):
What are guys getting?

Senator (11:09):
Are you getting, like, butter?

Bam Bam (11:10):
Mhmm.

Senator (11:11):
Almost like a butteriness about the smoke when
it's in your mouth.

Bam Bam (11:15):
I'm get I was about to I'm I'm getting butter at the
very tail end on the finish forme. On the front, it's like a
little bit of like a nougat orbiscuit with earthiness and some
minerality.

Senator (11:26):
For me, the smoke just coats your It

Gizmo (11:28):
does. It does. And I'm getting a little salt too. We
talked about that salted butterin the Portagos Linea Maestra
Rito, which was also a bigcigar. That's here too.
I'm getting that salted butterthing. Not as pronounced. It's
not like movie theater popcornhere, like we talked about on
that, but definitely getting a

Bam Bam (11:43):
little butter. This is a completely different
experience than what we had inCuba. That cigar was rough to
smoke. I actually was ready toput it down halfway through, but
I didn't.

Rooster (11:53):
Was definitely wet. The smoke from the foot when you
smell it has a lot of strength,but not the cigar.

Gizmo (12:01):
That's true. Yeah, like if you really take it a lot, you
feel it flaring your nostril.Yeah.

Chef Ricky (12:07):
Agreed. It's almost like by the time it makes its
way through all this tobacco upto the cap and then to your
mouth it chills out, you know?It cools down and I mean for me
I'm getting everything you guysare saying salted butter, I'm
also getting some dried fruit orthat sweet nougat. I'm really
enjoying this. I think it'samazing.

Bam Bam (12:28):
Yeah. You know, this just goes to show you gotta you
gotta bring your cigars down.You can't smoke anything that's
over 62 in something like this.You can't.

Gizmo (12:38):
And think about how much tobacco is in this thing and
adding or not taking away excessmoisture. How much, you know,
percent moisture content of theactual cigar is being held in
there by those tobacco leaves.Think about how much this can
swing with a lot of humidity init. Yeah. Like from a weight
standpoint.

Rooster (12:54):
Yeah. It must have felt heavier when you smoked it too.

Gizmo (12:57):
It definitely did.

Bam Bam (12:57):
It did. It definitely did. It was okay. It was okay.
It wasn't great.
This is starting off great. Didyou dry box these?

Chef Ricky (13:07):
I did for about a week. Oh, you left?

Gizmo (13:09):
Yeah. I left these off for about a week knowing how big
they were. I was gonna cut thecaps off, but I figured that
wouldn't go over well in theroom here.

Bam Bam (13:16):
How many weeks have we been back? Three weeks? Two
weeks? So what did you do theother two weeks of these?

Gizmo (13:20):
I did say it a minute ago.

Bam Bam (13:22):
Oh, I'm sorry.

Gizmo (13:22):
You guys didn't listen to me.

Rooster (13:23):
Yeah. Were. Will say Put it on this top shelf.

Bam Bam (13:25):
Okay.

Rooster (13:26):
Top shelf. 62.

Gizmo (13:27):
Top shelf for a week. Mhmm. Dry box for

Bam Bam (13:29):
a week. Okay.

Gizmo (13:29):
And so, you know, two weeks, two and a half weeks.

Bam Bam (13:31):
Good protocol.

Chef Ricky (13:32):
I'm gonna send a listener email next week asking
the question all over again justto piss you off.

Gizmo (13:41):
Pagoda, what do you think so far?

Pagoda (13:43):
Yeah. For me, I I got the buttery saltiness, and
that's really it. Rest all hasbeen mild. I thought it was a
bit of cedar initially in thebeginning of the thing when I
lit it up. Yeah, but it's, youknow, just very pleasant and
pretty mild, though, on the mildside too.

Bam Bam (14:02):
It's a mild cigar. I

Senator (14:04):
think it's super mild. Honestly, I really hope this
builds. This is way too mild formy palate. I

Bam Bam (14:11):
think it's going to build.

Rooster (14:12):
That's why the smoke on the food is much heavier.

Bam Bam (14:15):
It is and the retro is nice. But if it stays like this,
it'll have to be complex. It'llhave to be velvety and remain
that way for it to beinteresting.

Gizmo (14:26):
I'm just hoping that that's an intentional part of
the journey here. Start a littlemild and work your way up. You
know, that I'm hoping that to bethe case.

Bam Bam (14:33):
This is

Gizmo (14:33):
an odyssey. Yeah. But we'll see. But like you said,
Senator, I think if it maintainsthis level of mild all the way
through, it's going to getpretty boring.

Pagoda (14:41):
Yeah. The one thing I do like about it is, you know,
you're holding the smoke output,everything is up to expectation.
You know, sometimes you getthese larger Ring Gate cigars,
and they don't ride up to theexpectation. Think it's been
very, very easy to smoke, Ithink. You know, the flow
through is great, and the smokeoutput's fantastic.

Senator (15:02):
How's the draw on your cigar pagoda?

Pagoda (15:04):
It's great. Don't look at my cut, please.

Bam Bam (15:06):
Look at his cut. All 58 ring gauge he's got fully cut
and exposed. I mean, Jesus. Howdid you

Pagoda (15:14):
No wonder. No wonder.

Gizmo (15:16):
He's got an abundance of smoke.

Bam Bam (15:18):
Difference on this. Oh, wow. Look at that. Oh, he shoved
that in there.

Gizmo (15:21):
He took a flat cut.

Bam Bam (15:22):
Oh, yeah.

Pagoda (15:22):
I had to I had to go around it.

Gizmo (15:24):
I took a very little bit off

Bam Bam (15:26):
Me too.

Gizmo (15:27):
Of mine.

Rooster (15:27):
Mine looks like a Yeah.

Gizmo (15:29):
Yeah. So does mine.

Pagoda (15:31):
That's impressive because I would never ever do
that for a larger ringgit cigar.I'd always be worried. I don't
know. Well,

Rooster (15:39):
The problem is you can always cut more.

Pagoda (15:43):
You can always cut more. Can't no. Fair enough.

Rooster (15:45):
Yeah. It's like cooking. You can always add more
salt.

Bam Bam (15:48):
Correct. Measure twice, cut once.

Pagoda (15:51):
The way I look at it is I can still see the edges
curving in, so I'm good.

Rooster (15:55):
On the cigar? Yeah.

Senator (15:56):
Right

Gizmo (15:56):
there. Right there. So like we said, boys, this cigar
was announced at the HabanosFestival this year, just a few
weeks ago in March in Havana.This cigar is the fourth in the
Baejike series following the'52, '50 '4, and '56. All of
those were launched in 02/2010.
This year is the fifteenthanniversary of Baejike. And as

(16:19):
we can see here on the bands, Iactually have one of each with
the bands on them. They'redouble banded. The main band is
a unique special Cohiba bihikeband with the number 15 on it,
and then there is a foot bandunique to each of the four
cigars. Mhmm.
So this cigar has a Baquiquefifty eight foot band, 56, 50

(16:39):
four, 50 two. And what I'mholding in my hand is
effectively the gift that wasgiven to the gala dinner
attendees in Havana without thefancy box. So I have one of each
of these with the new band. Andthis band, I'm told, is only
going to be on for this year. Sonext year, they're gonna return
to a more normal looking bihikeband, but I believe that they'll

(17:02):
probably be updating all of theboxes ongoing with the new NFC
chip technology.
So trying to limitcounterfeiting and whatnot with
that NFC chip.

Chef Ricky (17:12):
So Giz, what would you say the value of all the
cigars in that bag are?

Gizmo (17:16):
Those four cigars, the 52, 50 four, 50 six, 50 eight,
as they sit right there areworth about $2,500

Chef Ricky (17:22):
Do you still not like the ziplock when it even
when it hosts 2,500 worth

Bam Bam (17:25):
of cigars? I do not like this.

Gizmo (17:27):
Well, this is how I brought it home from Cuba.
Correct. Because that was theonly way to do it. No. And I
haven't taken them out.
So that's why I've traveled

Senator (17:34):
with This is when your indestructible I'm shocked

Chef Ricky (17:36):
they fit there.

Senator (17:37):
This is when your indestructible Home Depot case
would have

Bam Bam (17:39):
come to end the true.

Gizmo (17:41):
But you know, space is limited going to Havana. Yeah.

Bam Bam (17:43):
And that bright orange box that will notify everybody.
I have a curiosity.

Gizmo (17:48):
Yes.

Bam Bam (17:48):
So we are looking at the toothiness of this wrapper.
If you could take that out andcompare it to what you're
smoking. I'm just curious whatit looks like. If it's a better
quality, if it's smoother.

Gizmo (18:05):
No. It's about the same. Right. Yeah. It's about the
same.
Okay. You know, I would think toyou know, and we talked to
Daniil about this. We'll talkabout this a little bit, Bam.
But, you know, Daniil, theproduction manager of Cohiba,
who was so kind to get us thesecigars for the review. These
actually did come out of ElLegito.
These were rolled at the sametime the factory gift cigars
were rolled direct from ElLegito. These were not

(18:27):
secondhand cigars. I did notpurchase these online. I got
these handed to me by theproduction manager of Cohiba.
Bam was there.
He can witness that.

Bam Bam (18:33):
I corroborate the story.

Gizmo (18:35):
And he asked us to review these sooner rather than later
because he wanted to hear whatwe thought. So we have to first
thank our friend Danilo for hiskindness and generosity. Yes,
sir. In sharing these, whatseems like awesome cigars so far
with us tonight. So like wesaid, boys, the cigars, the
bijiques were launched in02/2010.

(18:56):
This is the second bijique we'redoing on the podcast. Actually,
it's the first one we're ratingbecause we did the Bahike fifty
four with Danilo early last yearin 2024. We did not rate it
because we were sitting withhim. So in legend, according to
Habanos and Cigar Aficionado,Bahike was the name of a doctor
or chieftain of the Tainos, theindigenous tribe of Cuba. The

(19:18):
original Bahike, which was thecelebrating the fortieth
anniversary of the Cohiba brandin 02/2010 was the first time
the Bahike name had been used ona cigar.
Habanos made only a hundredhumidors, each containing 40
cigars of the original bihike.And as of 02/2011 this is
02/2011, these numbers, not2025, '2 thousand '11. The

(19:38):
humidors sold with thoseoriginal bihiques containing 40
cigars between 65 and 73,000 ormore than $1,500 a cigar. Now I
would imagine that those priceswould probably be close to 7,500
or 10,000 per cigar. So at thetime, Jorge Luis Fernandez
Maique was the president ofHabanos and is credited with

(20:02):
launching Baique in 02/2010.
And, of course, as we know, youknow, Baique has been the creme
de la creme of the creme de lacreme, which is Cohiba. You
know, that's the highest level,you know, global brand for
Habanos SA, certainly the mostfamous cigar brand in the world.
Bihike is the top of that line,and this is the first time in

(20:24):
fifteen years that there's beena new entrant into the line of
bijike. So very happy

Bam Bam (20:30):
to be smoking these tonight. Well, it's performing
very well.

Rooster (20:35):
Yeah. Mean, the construction is spot on. I mean,
no issues. The burn is good.Good smoke output.
Flavors are there. I'm not quitegetting the bajique oomph that
you usually get because of theMedio Tiempo so far, unless that
might change. Maybe. But usuallyyou get a little bit of a

(20:55):
strength from the Bejiques thatyou don't get on the Sea Glows,
the other series, you get thatMedio Tiempo that gives it that.

Bam Bam (21:03):
Yeah. So we had the Bejique 54 after this and that
was much more flavorful. It wasdefinitely there right from the
beginning. I mean,

Gizmo (21:11):
is there less Medio Do you know anything about that?
Did you talk about the blending?He didn't want to say too much
about the blend of the cigars,of course, but I do know that
there is a sufficient amountapparently of Medio Tempo in
this cigar, but like I said,maybe it's staggered so that we
have a little bit of a journeyhere. I'm not sure.

Rooster (21:28):
And is the wrapper the same throughout the Bajique
line,

Gizmo (21:31):
I would Yes. Of course, the challenge is getting wrapper
that is big enough to Sure. Youknow, make a seven inch cigar.

Bam Bam (21:37):
I said, why don't we cut it up and see what all

Pagoda (21:39):
the leaves are there? I'm just

Rooster (21:41):
gonna slice one open. Yeah. Take one out of that bag.

Gizmo (21:43):
Yeah. So let's talk about the price of these cigar boys.
Obviously, we didn't pay forthese again. We were handed
these by Danilo for review.These cigars are going to be
launched in May at $700 apiece.
Yikes. Box of 10 MSRP is goingto be 7,000 US dollars.

Bam Bam (22:06):
There's really nothing to say.

Chef Ricky (22:07):
If this goes on split wise, I'm gonna have to
start an OnlyFans.

Bam Bam (22:12):
You would do well.

Gizmo (22:14):
Do you know how many they're producing? How many
boxes would be introduced? Theyyeah. That hasn't been said. I'm
not sure how many boxes ofBaehike 58 they're gonna make,
but I I have to imagine it'sgonna be in pretty limited
quantity.

Rooster (22:28):
Would I would say $7,000 for a box. I mean, who
can afford these? I mean,there's gotta be such a handful
of people who could really wannapay. Even if you could afford
it, who would really wanna

Gizmo (22:40):
pay this? The

Bam Bam (22:41):
Amir of Dubai. What are

Senator (22:43):
what are you talking about? The market's been doing
great.

Bam Bam (22:45):
Correct. The oligarchs of the former Soviet Don't

Rooster (22:50):
start with the market.

Bam Bam (22:51):
I would leave. Okay.

Chef Ricky (22:54):
All of a sudden cigars as an investment is
looking like a genius move.

Gizmo (22:59):
No, I, you know, again, you know, we've talked it seems
like this is a recurring themefor us here is talking about
these new cigar launches thatcontinue to creep up well now
into the triple digits, touchingalmost quadruple digits. I'm
sure that's where this is goingto be in two or three years. You
know, some of the other cigarswe've talked about, some of

(23:19):
those Davidoffs that are crazypriced, etcetera, but

Senator (23:22):
This is beyond absurd, though.

Gizmo (23:23):
It is. It's worse.

Senator (23:24):
We've been talking about price increases, all that.
This is a whole otherstratosphere Correct. Of
ridiculousness.

Bam Bam (23:30):
Well, they're trying to catch up to Gurkha, you know?
You know, the most expensivecigar. There's something
satisfying about the velvetinessof the smoke. I I kind of like
that. Although the flavor, youknow,

Chef Ricky (23:44):
I feel like mine's starting to pick up a little
bit. It's starting to get alittle zesty, if that makes any
kind of sense. Not peppery, but

Bam Bam (23:53):
Olive oil and garlic?

Chef Ricky (23:55):
A little bit. No, but I think it's important to
point out, you mentioned thevelvety of the velvety ness of
the smoke. When we mentionedbutter and the flavor profile of
butter, I think it's importantthat for me, it's it's cold
butter. You know, cold butterhas a different flavor on the
palate than warm, the drawnbutter or warm butter. It's

(24:16):
thicker, creamier, obviously,and just kind of more lactic
feeling on the palate.
That's what the smoke is feelinglike.

Bam Bam (24:23):
I don't disagree with that.

Rooster (24:24):
Would you say it's grass fed?

Chef Ricky (24:28):
I'm thinking more Irish Irish butter. A little bit
of

Rooster (24:32):
a funkiness. I'm serious about that. Kerry Gold
butter has that funkiness.

Chef Ricky (24:40):
Cultured butters are great for that too.

Bam Bam (24:43):
Yeah. Beautiful bright white ash. Mhmm. Really nice.

Gizmo (24:47):
I'll be honest. I'm sensing in the room you guys
aren't loving the flavor. I'mfairly happy with this at this
moment. Like, I'm I'm good withit right now.

Bam Bam (24:55):
I think fairly happy is pretty accurate. Was

Senator (24:59):
the part I guess we're talking about that was super,
super buttery?

Gizmo (25:02):
The Linea Maestra Rito.

Pagoda (25:03):
The

Senator (25:04):
new blue So honestly, blind. It blows it blows the
sour. No. No. I didn't wanna gothere.
Yeah. I just mean on the first,you know, inch of

Gizmo (25:13):
the cigar,

Senator (25:14):
they're I think very similar. Mhmm. Like, honestly,
the first inch of that cigar andthe first inch of this, I'm
blind. The buttery notes. Yes.
I wouldn't be able todistinguish the two. Is so like,
my I literally feel like I'vejust eaten buttered popcorn or
something super buttery, andit's just lingering on my
palate. And the flavor is verypleasant. I I there's nothing

(25:37):
that I'm overly upset about, butkind of like when that Partagas
started, we were all a littleconfused, and we said this
didn't seem as much likePartagas DNA. With this, this
doesn't seem as much like thejicke DNA.

Bam Bam (25:48):
Exactly what we're going through right now.

Senator (25:50):
Yeah. We're a little confused. The parallels are
super similar for me. I'm justpraying that like that cigar, it
builds and picks up because ifthe next inch of this is going
to remain like this, I'm goingto get bored.

Gizmo (26:02):
That's the problem.

Rooster (26:02):
The problem is that we are not smoking this blind, so
when you pick up a bajique ofthis size, you're expecting the
bajique DNA, which is what I'mnot getting from this so far. I
mean, that could change. Thebuttery flavor, all of that
stuff is there. But that usuallydoes not correspond with the
bejiques. Bejiques it's adifferent animal.

Gizmo (26:25):
As of right now, you know, this far into it, an inch,
inch and a half, whatever wewant to call it.

Bam Bam (26:29):
About an inch.

Gizmo (26:30):
Like to me, at this point in the bejique 54, I'm generally
completely satisfied.

Bam Bam (26:36):
Yeah, it's pleasant.

Gizmo (26:37):
You know, I'm not necessarily searching for more
when I have a great one.

Bam Bam (26:41):
Mhmm.

Gizmo (26:41):
Right? Here, I'm still wanting a little more.

Bam Bam (26:44):
Mhmm.

Gizmo (26:45):
And for $700

Bam Bam (26:47):
But there's no complaint. You know, it's
smooth.

Senator (26:49):
Sorry though, my only complaint is like the flavor
profile on this at this point,don't think is very complex. No.

Bam Bam (26:56):
Not at

Senator (26:57):
all. I think none of us can pick out more than maybe
three distinct notes we'regetting.

Bam Bam (27:02):
Right. But it's not off putting in any way. It's
performing nicely.

Senator (27:06):
But for $700, I mean.

Bam Bam (27:07):
Oh, dude. You know what's interesting? I was
starting a canoe and it's coursecorrecting as I rotate it and
take draws in differentpositions. It's pretty neat. I
think it's a sign of a well madecigar.
Beautiful ash.

Rooster (27:21):
I mean, I'm sure it's I mean, how many rollers really
roll a bajique? There's not

Gizmo (27:26):
a lot of pairs of hands rolling bajique 58. Daniela told
me it's very, very few. Yeah. Soeven on that, you know,
information he gave me, the theamount of boxes they're gonna be
producing every year of thiscigar, it's gonna be very
limited.

Bam Bam (27:38):
You know, I'm impressed with the rate of smoke of
Pagoda. Look how nice andmannered he is. Slow.

Pagoda (27:44):
Very Yeah, know, was deciding should I go a little
faster

Bam Bam (27:46):
or slow? No. Impressed. Look at roosters ahead of all of
us, which is a shock.

Gizmo (27:49):
Wow, look at that.

Pagoda (27:50):
You must really love it.

Bam Bam (27:51):
What is going on in the room? Can you play the Twilight
Zone theme?

Senator (27:59):
It's a testament to the construction though. I mean,
everyone's looks like it'sburning perfectly. It's nice.
It's nice.

Rooster (28:06):
At what point do we ash?

Bam Bam (28:09):
Big question. When Pagoda wears it?

Gizmo (28:12):
Pagoda's always the the tell on that one. Correct.

Pagoda (28:15):
Oh, yeah. Really? Coming from Giz.

Bam Bam (28:22):
Good retort. I don't

Gizmo (28:22):
know what you're talking about there, Peyono.

Pagoda (28:26):
You know, I always hesitate to say it, but I don't
know, somewhere over there, inthe aroma, I was like, I was
getting like red cayenne pepperkind of aroma. It's like, it's
counterintuitive to what I'm

Rooster (28:42):
tasting. Are

Gizmo (28:43):
you saying the smell at the burn line? The burn line.

Bam Bam (28:45):
It's a little peppery. Around the burn

Gizmo (28:46):
line, Yeah, yeah. I like it too. Yeah.

Senator (28:48):
Yeah. But not on your palate at all.

Pagoda (28:50):
No. Not in my palate. No. Oh, just

Gizmo (28:52):
got a lot of pepper.

Rooster (28:53):
It hits your nose.

Pagoda (28:54):
Yeah. Yeah. That's what

Rooster (28:55):
I was saying before. Like, the aroma on the foot is
has some strength.

Bam Bam (28:59):
It's a spot on comment.

Gizmo (29:00):
Yeah. Actually. I'm actually getting white pepper.
Yeah. On the on the foot.

Bam Bam (29:06):
It's it's nice. I I won't discern pepper to pepper,
but it's good.

Senator (29:10):
That's what chef is for.

Pagoda (29:11):
Chef. Ladies.

Gizmo (29:13):
Chef, chime in here. What kind of pepper are getting?

Chef Ricky (29:15):
Agree with I agree with Pagoda on the cayenne
pepper.

Gizmo (29:17):
Cayenne pepper.

Chef Ricky (29:17):
There's a little sweetness to the pepper.

Rooster (29:20):
Let me ask you a question. How many of you guys
actually have white pepper athome?

Chef Ricky (29:24):
No one. I do not but I've cooked with white pepper
often.

Rooster (29:28):
Because there's a lot of white sauces that you would
use. Or in

Chef Ricky (29:32):
professional settings you're encouraged to
use white pepper when seasoningfish.

Bam Bam (29:36):
Really?

Chef Ricky (29:36):
Right. To not leave black specks.

Bam Bam (29:37):
And have

Rooster (29:38):
veloute sauce.

Chef Ricky (29:39):
Or veloute. Yeah. Cool.

Gizmo (29:43):
So boys, let's talk about some new Cuban cigar releases.
We always highlight the newstuff coming out. I believe we
talked about this first onealready, the Ramon Ionis
Absolutos, which is the AddisionLimitada from 2024. And it comes
in this really awesome lookinggreen box. I think we looked at
this already

Bam Bam (30:03):
We did.

Gizmo (30:03):
With the wood grain but it's launching in a couple weeks
in Switzerland and it looks likethe price on it is going to be
about $52 a cigar or about athousand bucks for a box of 20.

Bam Bam (30:15):
It's a bargain.

Gizmo (30:16):
It's a bargain compared to the one we have in our hand.
There's no question about that.And then I'm curious what you
think about these two. Theseones we haven't talked about.
Number one, the Juan LopezCincuenta y Cuatro is going on
sale in Spain this week, Ibelieve.
I love this. It's a 54 ringgauge cigar by four and three
quarters inches long. SameVitola as the Magnum 54.

Bam Bam (30:37):
Mhmm.

Gizmo (30:38):
And the MSRP on this is $24.

Rooster (30:41):
There you go.

Bam Bam (30:41):
Yeah. Like to

Rooster (30:42):
see that.

Bam Bam (30:43):
Oh, yes. Love that.

Gizmo (30:44):
I love to see a new release from Juan Lopez even
though it has the additional theregional band on.

Bam Bam (30:50):
Yeah. Sorry. Especially with dimensions like that for
that market. That's cool.

Gizmo (30:54):
Yeah. So I was happy to see that. And then finally for
tonight here, there is a asecond Juan Lopez, Edision
Regionale for the Nordic region.It's called the Valkyria and
it's a 52 ring gauge by five anda half for Busto Extra with a
price range of around 30 to $35.K.

(31:15):
So that's also not too bad.Yeah. And so I guess that's a
little bit shorter than the QD52 that we did on the pod. 52
ring gauge by five and a half.So I like seeing cigars coming
out of Habanos, especially withthis monster we have in our hand
right now at a at a reasonableprice point.
You know, we may need to do afew regionals. Yeah. We've done

(31:37):
a few, but we'll bring some morein.

Bam Bam (31:39):
We should.

Gizmo (31:40):
The problem now is getting them banned.

Bam Bam (31:41):
I know.

Gizmo (31:42):
I know. And we talked about two weeks ago. Yeah. It's
it's been a challenge withcigars of Habano c o h and
iHavana stopping shipping.Gotten a lot of emails from
listeners asking how they canbreak through that and get Brian
and iHav to ship here.
And unfortunately

Bam Bam (31:59):
You can't.

Gizmo (32:00):
Old customers, new customers, customers that spend
a ton of money, the the shop isclosed

Bam Bam (32:05):
Yeah.

Gizmo (32:05):
For Cuban cigars.

Senator (32:06):
I get it. I I just I wish that they would make it at
the buyer's risk. What do theyhave to lose if that's the case?

Gizmo (32:13):
Yeah. At this point,

Senator (32:14):
I mean, I I will happily take the risk because
You need your cigars.

Bam Bam (32:18):
I don't know that I've ever gotten

Senator (32:19):
a box confiscated through them.

Bam Bam (32:20):
I haven't either. I'd take the risk for one or two at
a time.

Senator (32:24):
And even if I lost one box, honestly, it'd be worth it
to just get all the other stuffthat I want.

Bam Bam (32:28):
Mhmm.

Pagoda (32:28):
If it gets caught, don't you lose your global entry
there?

Gizmo (32:31):
If you have global entry and it's under your name and it
comes to your address, haveeverything has to line up and
you will lose your global entry.Yeah. You have to be smart about
that. So boys, it's time to tryour first of two pairings
tonight. We specifically broughtin two because it's such a big
cigar.
Bam had a great suggestion. Wewere debating between doing the
eight years and the eleven yearsof the Ron Santiago de Cuba, the

(32:54):
rum, which we love so very much.And we're gonna start with the
Ocho, the eight years aged, andthen we're gonna do the eleven
in a little bit, but we're gonnarate Yeah. Both of them tonight
here on the pod.

Bam Bam (33:06):
Cheers. Cheers.

Gizmo (33:07):
Cheers, gentlemen. Good to see you all. Good Cuban
evening.

Bam Bam (33:12):
Jesus Christ. This isn't mouthwash, Ben. I'm
following chef's lead.

Gizmo (33:21):
I do love the eight. Yeah? I really like that. Yeah.
Well It's a little hotter thanHavana seven.
Yeah. No question about that.

Bam Bam (33:29):
I'm not getting that. It's smooth, but it's pretty
from the point of no. Yeah. It'snot it doesn't have much flavor
for me. Really?
It's it's smooth. It's prettyeasy to drink. I'm not getting
any heat, but it doesn't have

Senator (33:44):
I think I think with this, you need to take a few
sips. Yeah. Because I cheated. Ihad one early, and I got a lot
of heat and not that muchflavor, and so I was immediately
kind of put off by it. But themore I'm drinking it, what I'm
really starting to appreciate,and it addresses a complaint
that I have with the 11 thatwe'll get to.

(34:04):
It's got a drier finish. Itdoes. And there's like a walnut,
like, nuttiness about the flavorprofile that I actually really
like.

Bam Bam (34:14):
But isn't that different than what you remember
this to be when we first had it?

Senator (34:18):
I've never had the eight. I only had the 11 and the
12.

Bam Bam (34:21):
Oh, wow. The 20. Had the 20.

Senator (34:24):
And the 20.

Chef Ricky (34:24):
Yeah. I'm I'm liking this a lot. I don't mind the
heat either. There is a littlebit of heat for me, but I I
don't mind it because I feellike it's enhancing the flavor,
the flavors that are coming ortrying to come through. And
because the cigar is leaningmild even still, I'm
appreciating the fact that therum's delivering a little bit
more.
And on the retrohale, coconut.Holy shit. Did I get coconut?

Bam Bam (34:47):
You mean on a finish of the

Chef Ricky (34:48):
On the finish of the rum, then retrohaling the cigar
after taking a draw of it. Thatwas pretty fun.

Gizmo (34:54):
That was pretty fun.

Rooster (34:57):
So you can use it for pina coladas. Mhmm.

Pagoda (35:00):
Yeah. It tastes like Malibu. Does that rum even exist
anymore? I remember when I was

Senator (35:06):
Yeah. Chef's not wrong. You get it, and even faintly on
the nose.

Bam Bam (35:10):
Faintly on the retro. Yeah. It's there. Yeah. Your
palate will adjust.

Chef Ricky (35:16):
I love how I need senators for you know, to verify
before a man could agree.

Bam Bam (35:22):
That happens from time to time. What

Gizmo (35:26):
do you think about the eight years aged Santiago with
the Bijike 58 that we have inour hand? How is this is
appearing for you right now?It's okay. Is it helping? Is it
hurting?
Is it just kinda coexisting?

Bam Bam (35:38):
I think it's coexisting. I

Gizmo (35:42):
think it's enriching it. Yeah.

Chef Ricky (35:44):
I think it helps a little bit. I think the heat on
the rum helped the cigar just alittle bit, just kicking up a
bit.

Gizmo (35:49):
I feel like the cigar is popping a little bit more for me
after having taken a sip.

Chef Ricky (35:53):
I agree.

Bam Bam (35:53):
I'm pretty indifferent right now. It's not giving me
much.

Senator (35:57):
I can't tell whether with this cigar because it's so
mild and that butter note andlike I'm not getting much beyond
that. Mhmm. I can't tell whethersomething drier like this or
sweeter, which I'll be excitedwhen we try the 11, is a better
pairing for this cigar. Becausethere's not like in addition to
that kind of buttery finish,it's not like I can say I'm

(36:17):
getting a lot of, like, fruitor, like, you know, floral notes
or I'm getting, you know,nuttiness and some other more
savory notes. I'm not reallygetting much else other than
salt and butter and tobacco.
It's just kinda odd. It's justreally even keeled.

Bam Bam (36:38):
Straightforward?

Senator (36:39):
Yeah. Very straightforward.

Rooster (36:40):
Yeah. There is like a toasted tobacco note, and maybe
a little bit of a nuttiness,like a walnut.

Bam Bam (36:45):
You mean when you like tobacco?

Rooster (36:46):
The cigar?

Bam Bam (36:48):
Yeah, I hope so.

Rooster (36:50):
Like a walnut

Bam Bam (36:51):
you get.

Chef Ricky (36:55):
Yeah, we're all just a bunch of assholes today.

Rooster (36:59):
I'm used to it. Oh, are you? I'm surprised how mild the
cigar is.

Senator (37:08):
Me too. Yeah. Agree. Even hasn't changed yet.

Bam Bam (37:11):
Pagoda, I am so impressed with the rate of
smoke. That's impressive. You'revery patient tonight.

Pagoda (37:18):
Yeah. Yeah. I've evolved.

Bam Bam (37:21):
Life. Life.

Chef Ricky (37:25):
I get a on the rum, I'm getting, like, a toasted
vanilla tea cookie.

Gizmo (37:30):
I like the

Bam Bam (37:31):
Eight. Yeah. You know, on the finish, there's a little
bit of vanilla. It's nice. Butfor me, it's very faint.
I'm not, again, still notgetting much on it. I can't say
that I don't like it. You know,it's pleasant to drink.

Senator (37:42):
What's the price point on the Eight?

Gizmo (37:43):
I got it for $29.

Senator (37:46):
So that's more than Havana Seven. Yeah.

Bam Bam (37:48):
A lot more.

Gizmo (37:49):
Wow. Yeah. Got it in the Havana Airport on the way out.

Senator (37:53):
Bam didn't break that one?

Bam Bam (37:54):
No. I did not. Man, that was awful.

Gizmo (37:58):
We'll tell that story in a little bit too. We're gonna
get to a lot of stuff. So like Isaid, keen listeners out there
will remember that we did theSantiago De Cuba Twenty Years, a
long time ago, actually, onepisode 76, over a hundred
episodes ago. That was one ofthe best rums we ever did. So we
wanted to do some of the otherentrants from Santiago to Cuba
tonight.

Senator (38:17):
I hope we didn't rate that so we can do that again.

Gizmo (38:19):
We can just keep doing it.

Bam Bam (38:21):
I thought we gave it a 10.

Gizmo (38:22):
We did. It was a good one. Yeah. It was a good one. So
boys, Bam and I went to Cuba.
Correct. So we haven't talkedabout this yet. We were waiting
for a Cuban episode, andobviously with the BK58, we have
a lot of smoking to do here. SoBam and I went with Lizard
Henrito a couple weeks ago. Wedid not go for the festival.
We went after the festival atthe March, and we learned as we

(38:49):
were flying in on the plane thatonce again, the entire island

Bam Bam (38:54):
Was out of power.

Gizmo (38:55):
Was completely out of power.

Rooster (38:56):
We knew it the night before. We just didn't wanna say
anything. Yeah.

Gizmo (38:59):
I I appreciated these guys telling us while we were
flying in. Apparently, ithappened the night before and
none of us had noticed.

Bam Bam (39:04):
They wanna check my MacGyver skills. That's what
that's what they were doing.

Gizmo (39:07):
Exactly. Correct.

Senator (39:08):
This is a theme.

Bam Bam (39:09):
It

Senator (39:09):
is. The last time we found out on the plane on the
way

Bam Bam (39:11):
out Yeah.

Gizmo (39:12):
The pagoda was stuck there without With

Bam Bam (39:14):
a rum in his hand and a roof. Abundance.

Pagoda (39:19):
Time to get to Havana Seven. Thank God.

Gizmo (39:22):
For Havana 7.

Pagoda (39:22):
I mean, that would've been a really long

Bam Bam (39:24):
night. Correct.

Chef Ricky (39:25):
I mean,

Rooster (39:25):
at that point when you guys landed and you knew the
power was out on the island.Yeah. Was there a little bit of
thought about just getting onthe next plane and go back?

Bam Bam (39:35):
Honestly,

Gizmo (39:36):
no. No. Because on the plane, I had found a privately
owned hotel.

Bam Bam (39:40):
And that's the only reason why had a generator.
Nice.

Gizmo (39:43):
And by the time we landed, I had reserved rooms for
each of the three of us at theseprivate hotels, one in Vedado.
Correct. Near the home where westay normally, right on the
Malecon. And they had agenerator. So we were able to
stay at a privately owned hotel.

Rooster (39:58):
And that's

Gizmo (39:58):
a newer hotel, right? It is. Yeah. Barely new. Yeah.
It's called La Distancia andit's the sister hotel to another
one called the Klaxon.

Bam Bam (40:05):
Yes.

Gizmo (40:06):
Which we had seen the last time when we were walking
around Havana the

Bam Bam (40:09):
last time we were there. So I took

Gizmo (40:10):
a mental note, I'm glad I did. Yeah. Because I found their
WhatsApp and I was messagingthem while we were on the plane.
But, yeah, we flew in to whatended up being two, two and a
half day total blackout. It

Bam Bam (40:21):
our trip though.

Gizmo (40:21):
It saved the trip.

Bam Bam (40:22):
Completely saved our trip.

Gizmo (40:23):
Yeah. Were very

Bam Bam (40:24):
were lucky.

Gizmo (40:25):
That would have been tough.

Bam Bam (40:28):
Yeah. We had ice cold rooms, great meals, great
cigars. Havana Club was flowingall day long on the property. It
was great.

Gizmo (40:38):
Lucky. It kind of limited our ability to do other things
for the first two days. So itkind of cut back some of the
activities that we were tryingto do, some of the people we
were trying to see.

Bam Bam (40:48):
We got a little busy. It was good.

Rooster (40:49):
Yeah, we just picked up So what about lounges and
restaurants were closed?

Gizmo (40:52):
Everything was closed. Wow. Yeah, except if you were
staying at the hotel, therestaurant at the hotel was able
to serve us, so we had food,But, you know, all the
restaurants that we normally goto were completely closed
because they had no power. Yeah.Which was unfortunate because,
again, we lost a couple days ofseeing, you know, people that we
know and

Bam Bam (41:11):
Sure. Looking at places we like It's great option to
have. The unpredictability ofpower, having a place like that
to go to, that in a Claxton,it's

Rooster (41:19):
I mean, imagine with the power Power on. Power goes
out for a few days and therestaurants probably there's so
much food spoilage

Bam Bam (41:27):
that they to be thrown away. For sure. You would hope
it's thrown away.

Gizmo (41:31):
Yeah. Point senator.

Bam Bam (41:34):
No FDA there.

Rooster (41:35):
Just make a little rope up your hair, baby.

Pagoda (41:37):
Yeah. It's all well done.

Chef Ricky (41:41):
Aged. As long as you keep it hot. Yeah. Cook it and
keep it hot for two days.

Gizmo (41:46):
So, Bam, when you landed, when we got into Vedado,
obviously, we're in a poweroutage. But as we came out of
the power outage

Bam Bam (41:52):
Yep.

Gizmo (41:52):
What was your overall impression of Havana even versus
six months ago when we were lastthere? What what did you what
was your takeaway this time?

Bam Bam (42:00):
I'll be blunt. It was like I was there a week ago,
like prior to that trip. Nothingchanged. People were walking
about, surviving, doing whatthey do, resilient.

Senator (42:11):
That stadium I'm sure was still being painted.

Bam Bam (42:14):
Yes, almost finished by the way. Two bays left. I
counted. Two bays. Two bays.
For the listener, this has takentwo years to paint Yeah, this is
two and a half years. Yeah, Ithink there are 20 bays in this
massive concrete, I guess, preSoviet Union structure, and
there's two bays left to paint.Looks great.

Gizmo (42:31):
I think they're painting it with a toothbrush.

Bam Bam (42:33):
They are.

Gizmo (42:34):
I don't understand how it's taken them this long.

Bam Bam (42:36):
Yeah. Honestly, it felt like nothing's changed.

Pagoda (42:38):
Was there grass in the field now?

Bam Bam (42:40):
No. It was. But there are a lot of kids playing soccer
though.

Gizmo (42:42):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you know, it's amazing you go to
Havana, and we were talkingabout, you know, of course I ask
BAM all these questions aboutinfrastructure and all these
other things, and it's like tothink about how much money it
would take to, you know, quoteunquote normalize or bring the
infrastructure and thefacilities and the buildings up
to

Bam Bam (43:02):
It's almost impossible to calculate, you know? You have
to take it like per city blockand then multiply it over an
area and then do neighborhood byneighborhood.

Senator (43:12):
Well, is if BAM's doing the work, it's impossible to

Gizmo (43:15):
count the There's not enough zeros.

Bam Bam (43:18):
Gotta call those accountants in.

Rooster (43:20):
BAM's probably like 1,500,000,000,000.0 per block.

Gizmo (43:27):
He can afford the bajiques if he does that.
Correct. Yeah. So we did have anice time once the power came
back on. So we landed onSaturday, and power came back
on.
It was kinda normalized byMonday afternoon, I would say.
So we did lose Monday as far asbeing able to visit some folks
that we wanted to see, somefactories and whatnot, our
friends. We punted that to laterin the day and then we got into

(43:49):
our groove. We ended up visitingour favorite restaurants, of
course. We went to CincoCentidos, Five Centidos.

Bam Bam (43:56):
Yes sir.

Gizmo (43:57):
We went to Cha Cha Cha. Yep. We went to Maradentro a
couple times for breakfast andlunch.

Rooster (44:03):
Oh

Gizmo (44:03):
yeah. And then we ate at the hotel which had really good
food.

Bam Bam (44:06):
It did and we had breakfast at the Claxton one
day.

Gizmo (44:08):
That's correct.

Bam Bam (44:08):
That was delicious.

Gizmo (44:09):
Yeah, was really good too.

Bam Bam (44:10):
Very good.

Gizmo (44:11):
You know, as far as our reporting goes and and what we
normally would do, we wereactually attempting to go to the
beach one day, but we ended upcutting that out because of the
power concerns and everythingelse.

Bam Bam (44:21):
And Giz forgot to bring his wife beater, so that didn't
work out.

Senator (44:25):
You you mean

Bam Bam (44:26):
he didn't

Senator (44:26):
have his tie dye

Gizmo (44:27):
I always have my tank.

Bam Bam (44:28):
So he wears that at night. I I didn't wear it

Gizmo (44:31):
at all this trip, by

Bam Bam (44:31):
the way. Yes. You did. I saw you one morning. Yeah.
I would have thought used out ofyour room in the morning with
that thing on.

Chef Ricky (44:38):
I would've thought you just had a hoodie with cut
off sleeves or a beach or

Senator (44:42):
something. Yeah. Belichick style.

Gizmo (44:43):
That's smart. I should do that.

Rooster (44:45):
I should do that. So was the whole island out?

Gizmo (44:48):
Yeah. It was the identical situation to what
Pagoda experienced in October.It was identical. The entire
island was out for

Bam Bam (44:56):
two and a half But look, if he had access to this
property, it would have been ablip on the radar. Really,
didn't feel it at all.

Pagoda (45:03):
That's awesome.

Bam Bam (45:04):
Yeah. It was great.

Gizmo (45:05):
We were very lucky

Bam Bam (45:06):
to Creepy though.

Gizmo (45:07):
Make that connection.

Bam Bam (45:08):
You walk off the property and you're in pitch
black darkness.

Gizmo (45:10):
And there's also an element of guilt too because,
you know, we were talking aboutit. We're sitting there smoking
these cigars and we're drinkingrum and eating all this food.
And you look out on this thisthe city block.

Bam Bam (45:19):
It's it's

Gizmo (45:20):
And he

Bam Bam (45:20):
was like, I didn't feel any guilt. I felt the guilt for

Gizmo (45:24):
all of us.

Bam Bam (45:24):
Bam's like, What's guilt? Pass me the lighter.

Gizmo (45:31):
Kids, you

Bam Bam (45:31):
have any fuel for your lighter? Correct.

Gizmo (45:34):
No, you're looking around outside in the darkness and this
massive generator's running andwe're the only facility in
viewable distance that haspower, that was a little bit of
a bummer because you know thatthere's a lot of people and a
lot of children and everythingelse that are suffering.

Bam Bam (45:50):
Also a detail, there wasn't any security at the
hotel. It did feel safe. Iwasn't at all nervous. You kind
of look out from where you'resitting though, you couldn't see
a damn thing. A little creepy.

Pagoda (46:02):
No, but it must have been great to just have an
alternative to be able to go and

Bam Bam (46:06):
Yeah, and still enjoy yourself and be comfortable, you
know, yeah, it doesn't feel thatgreat.

Rooster (46:10):
Yeah. Bam doesn't like darkness.

Bam Bam (46:12):
I do not.

Senator (46:13):
Oh, he does not. Especially when there are
animals No

Bam Bam (46:16):
critters, no darkness.

Senator (46:18):
A squirrel would make Bam jump in the dark.

Bam Bam (46:20):
In the dark? Correct.

Gizmo (46:21):
Especially if the shadow makes it look big, Yes.

Bam Bam (46:23):
Or rustling in the leaves. I don't like that.

Pagoda (46:25):
Rooster this summer, you know, we already have a few
things planned, don't we?

Bam Bam (46:30):
I'm not sitting on your deck. Hell no. It's like
National Geographic back there.I'm not doing it.

Senator (46:40):
Question. When you guys moved to the Casa we normally
stay at, were there blackoutsfor periods of time during the
day like we normally have?

Gizmo (46:49):
We only had two blackouts

Bam Bam (46:50):
One or two.

Gizmo (46:51):
During the rest of the week. Very brief. And one was in
the morning for about threehours, and one was in the
afternoon for about three hourson different days. Okay, so

Senator (46:58):
they're still doing They're still

Gizmo (47:00):
doing the rolling rocking. Correct, Yeah, I think
that's gonna continue to go on.I actually spoke to a friend who
lives in Havana last week thatwe all know, And she was saying
this is O'Dallas, the lectora atLa Corona factory. She was
saying that this past weekend,they pretty much had no power
all Sunday. Yeah.
So, you know, she was withoutpower at home, you know, on her

(47:20):
day off from work. It's anunfortunate situation happening
there. Wish there was

Bam Bam (47:25):
something that could be done. Of course.

Rooster (47:26):
Were the factories also shut down?

Gizmo (47:28):
Yeah. So when there's no power, the factory is shut down,
and I don't know if it's aproduct of just there being no
light, but also the childcarecomponent because the school's
closed, that the children arehome from school when there's no
power. So and then, of course,they can't wash their clothes,
so the kids don't have cleanclothes to go to school. So it's
like this domino effect thathappens. So they keep them home

(47:50):
from they keep them home fromwork as well.
So the factories were definitelyclosed for a couple days. But I
think they resumed operation onMonday somewhat. Maybe some
rollers went

Pagoda (48:00):
in. Mhmm.

Gizmo (48:01):
And then Tuesday, they were back to normal.

Rooster (48:02):
Did the rest

Gizmo (48:03):
of the island get the power back also,

Rooster (48:05):
or were were they out?

Gizmo (48:06):
I think Havana definitely got it first, the rest were
definitely out for a few moredays.

Senator (48:10):
I mean, the reality is for the rest of the island, even
when power is on in Havana, theygo without power for days at a
time. Like Havana having theserolling blackouts of a few hours
during the day, other partsfurther out. Mean, you talk to a
lot of the people there, they'llgo entire days without power,
then they'll get some power,whole other day without power.

(48:31):
Mean, it's crazy.

Bam Bam (48:32):
Yeah. It makes sense. The grid is probably more robust
in the city. Right? And as itgoes out to the provinces, it's
probably not as not as robust.

Senator (48:40):
I don't even think it's that. I think it's just a
allotment. Choosing what toThey're prioritizing where the
tourists are.

Gizmo (48:46):
Exactly.

Senator (48:46):
And they're saying screw you to the rest of the
island.

Bam Bam (48:48):
That's the Yeah. That's true.

Gizmo (48:51):
So, you know, I I just wonder how, you know, we're
coming up on a a very hotsummer, of course, in Cuba.
Mhmm. You know, June, July,August, September, how difficult
it's going to be there withoutwithout electricity. So I would
caution any listener out therewho is planning to travel to
Cuba to I would have I I justwould avoid going in the summer.
That that's my

Bam Bam (49:10):
True.

Gizmo (49:11):
Feeling. I I I think that that's going to be a very
uncomfortable circumstance ifyou end up there without power,
without a generator situation.God only knows what the fuel
situation is at some of theseplaces. You know, even even the
hotel we were staying at, wetalked to the owner who was
Italian, believe. Right, Ben?

Bam Bam (49:27):
He was Italian. His wife was Cuban. They were saying
Very

Gizmo (49:29):
nice guy. They were saying they only had a day or
two of fuel at any given time.That's right. They did not have
some stockpile of fuel sittingaround. You know, they're
they're constantly having to

Bam Bam (49:38):
And a very old generator, so it wasn't
efficient. And that, you know,sounded like a tractor. It was a

Gizmo (49:43):
little rough.

Rooster (49:44):
So I guess the fuel situation still exists. I mean,
there's not enough fuel So

Bam Bam (49:48):
he said he'd be on lines with everyone else buying
fuel for his two hotels.

Gizmo (49:53):
And they have to pay people to wait online for twenty
four hours at a time. Know, it'sa really difficult situation.
Unreal. Yeah. So boys, we'recoming to the end of the first
third here on the Cohiba Behike58, the biggest cigar we've ever
done on this podcast.
What's everybody thinking rightnow as we get into the second
third

Bam Bam (50:12):
on

Gizmo (50:12):
this cigar?

Bam Bam (50:12):
Has it changed for anyone?

Rooster (50:14):
Not really. No. It's still the same.

Bam Bam (50:17):
Still pleasant, but it hasn't changed.

Gizmo (50:19):
I'm enjoying the cigar. It hasn't changed. And I'm
hoping it does, but as of rightnow, it's kind of plateaued for
me.

Chef Ricky (50:26):
Because I've seen you touch it up a couple times.

Gizmo (50:28):
Just because I've been talking, and every time I talk
it kind of goes out. I see. SoI'm trying to be more diligent.

Senator (50:34):
We've got a wrapper issue here.

Bam Bam (50:36):
I see that, yeah.

Pagoda (50:37):
Pagodas. Yeah, it started opening up, but you
know, it hasn't flowered yet, solet's see.

Bam Bam (50:43):
That's when you'll get the floral note. Oh, the
finally. I think the performanceoverall is excellent.

Senator (50:50):
Oh yeah, the construction's excellent.

Bam Bam (50:51):
I have

Senator (50:52):
no complaints I'm just bummed that the rum is providing
much more flavor than

Gizmo (50:55):
the cigar is.

Bam Bam (50:56):
That's right.

Senator (50:56):
And that shouldn't be the case.

Gizmo (50:57):
So Bam, the food, you know, in Cuba, the places that
we went, everything was kind ofstatus quo.

Bam Bam (51:02):
Outstanding, actually.

Gizmo (51:03):
We went to the lounges we like to go to. We kind of stayed
in our normal routine. Correct.Because of the circumstances, we
didn't really venture from ournormal routine, so we went to
the Parque Central severaltimes.

Bam Bam (51:15):
Mhmm. Now I was the only one Parque that smoked a
cigar that day. I wasdisappointed in you and Henrico.

Gizmo (51:20):
That's true. I did have a couple that morning.

Pagoda (51:22):
Yeah. But that's

Bam Bam (51:22):
all there is.

Pagoda (51:23):
It's it's a couple a day.

Bam Bam (51:25):
Well, if you don't have a cigar in your hand

Gizmo (51:28):
It was very hot in the Parquet Central. There was no
air conditioning. So I wasfeeling uncomfortable. Yeah.

Bam Bam (51:32):
My AI image is about to talk. Okay? Here's the AI
talking now. My 300

Gizmo (51:39):
pound He's embraced this AI image. I hope everybody has
noticed.

Bam Bam (51:42):
AI image was not sweating too much in that
parquet. It was very nice.

Gizmo (51:45):
You did pretty good.

Bam Bam (51:46):
I did pretty good.

Gizmo (51:47):
You did pretty good. Yeah. So we we hung out at the
parquet for that day, and whenthe power was up. That was I
think Sunday or Monday.

Bam Bam (51:55):
I think Sunday.

Gizmo (51:56):
And then we went back later when everything was back
to normal, it was as it usuallywas.

Pagoda (51:59):
It was excellent.

Gizmo (51:59):
Normal service, which was fantastic.

Bam Bam (52:01):
They're always great there to us. Yeah. Home away
from home.

Pagoda (52:04):
Now did they let you in into Parquet when the
electricity was out?

Gizmo (52:09):
We had a little bit of an issue.

Bam Bam (52:11):
Yeah.

Gizmo (52:12):
Yeah. I had a call on my friend who's at the concierge
there to help us, but we did tryto go in there and they weren't
letting us in

Pagoda (52:18):
Yeah.

Gizmo (52:18):
Until he showed up and said, oh, these are my friends.
Let them in, you know, on thatfirst day. But once the power
came back, they did Yeah. Theydid let us go in.

Pagoda (52:25):
Yeah. Because that's exactly what we experienced.

Rooster (52:28):
Did you guys buy any cigars?

Gizmo (52:30):
Not one. Yeah. I didn't buy any either.

Bam Bam (52:32):
Henrito Henrito bought a few. Just a couple.

Gizmo (52:35):
Yeah. He bought a box of h up and half coronas. Yep. And
he bought

Bam Bam (52:40):
D fours?

Gizmo (52:40):
Partigas D fours.

Bam Bam (52:41):
At a great price by

Rooster (52:42):
the way.

Gizmo (52:42):
Yeah. Think they were

Bam Bam (52:43):
Surprisingly good. 21. 20 1 or 22. Yeah. Shockingly
good.

Gizmo (52:47):
Yeah, that was a Cohiba atmosphere.

Senator (52:48):
Yeah. I love where I had two boxes. He just bought a
few.

Pagoda (52:51):
Yeah, I know. A few outside of the four or five.
Yeah. Like a couple of boxeshere.

Bam Bam (52:56):
Yeah, was a bundle. Just 50 cigars.

Gizmo (53:00):
Yeah. So we had a nice time at the humidor, then we
went to the Floridita. Yes. Wehad a couple daiquiris over
there.

Bam Bam (53:08):
That's right.

Gizmo (53:09):
And that was really the extent of our journeys this time
as far as shops and Yep. We didgo to La Corona. We visited
O'Dallas there. Yes. Saw ourfriend there.

Bam Bam (53:21):
We saw Abuela.

Gizmo (53:22):
Yes, we saw Abuela.

Bam Bam (53:22):
She's incredible.

Gizmo (53:23):
She's awesome. And we were then very fortunate to
spend some time with Danilo,which is how we ended up smoking
the Bahike 58 for the firsttime. So of course, anybody who
remembers Danilo is theproduction manager of Cohiba,
works at El Legito. He's incharge of that factory over
there. The production'scomponents of that, and he's
been a good friend of ours for along time.

(53:43):
We did an interview with himlast January. Yeah. And he was
very kind to give us all Bijike50 eight's.

Bam Bam (53:49):
Was the highlight home. Highlight of the trip.

Gizmo (53:51):
It was awesome.

Rooster (53:51):
That was a very special evening at his house, Even when
we went.

Bam Bam (53:55):
Of course, of course. I can't tell. I spent more time
with his dad for the first time.

Rooster (54:01):
He's such

Pagoda (54:02):
a sweet guy. And more of your age group as well. I'm just
kidding. Hey, just came out.

Bam Bam (54:10):
That's okay. I wanna see what your genetics are
thinking about for you.

Gizmo (54:14):
No. Just kidding.

Bam Bam (54:17):
Take a picture of this, buddy. Okay? This is just
standing right here. Right here.But he he was such a It was so
much fun to talk to him.
Yeah. It was difficult. I don'tspeak Spanish, but you know,
he's intelligent. We were ableto communicate for a while. It
was fantastic.

Chef Ricky (54:33):
What were you guys talking about?

Bam Bam (54:35):
Yeah, his guitars. Music. Music, how much he loves
music. Danilo's wife sat withus. They were having dinner at
the table.
Henrico, Danilo, Giz. I didn'thave dinner that night. I wasn't
feeling that great. But youknow, smoking my cigar, hanging
out with the two of them. It wasa pleasant evening.
Very, very nice.

Gizmo (54:53):
Yeah, so we had a great time and then we were fortunate
actually, Danilo came back toour house for the first time on
the rooftop a couple nightslater.

Bam Bam (55:02):
Oh, so very cool.

Gizmo (55:02):
Actually on my birthday. Yeah. Came over came over with
his wife.

Bam Bam (55:07):
On his motorcycle?

Gizmo (55:08):
Yeah, hung out on the roof and smoked some more cigars
and we had a great conversation.We learned a lot about his
history and his story, which waspretty amazing. Through the
military? Yeah, where he's beenthrough some of those amazing
stories. He really blew us away.
It was really, really a greatnight, and then of course he was
so kind, you know, we don't askfor cigars, but he was so kind

(55:29):
to bring these, and he said, theLounge Lizards need to review
the Bihike 58. So he brought usenough for the review that night
and that's why we're heretonight. So we have to send a
special thanks to him for makingtonight possible for us.

Chef Ricky (55:42):
I'm in. Thank you, Danilo.

Bam Bam (55:44):
I gave him a Bolivar gold medal that night. Yeah. I
think he enjoyed it.

Gizmo (55:48):
He did? Yeah.

Bam Bam (55:50):
Very nice.

Rooster (55:51):
Why would you not give him a New World?

Gizmo (55:53):
I gave him a we we gave him bunch of New Worlds.

Pagoda (55:55):
Gave him I don't know.

Senator (55:57):
Fairness, there are some Cuban cigars that he hasn't
had.

Bam Bam (56:01):
Don't think he's had that.

Senator (56:02):
When I was there with Lizard Henrito earlier last
year, I had brought a 2011 UpmanAnajados, and he had said and I
said, you know, I'm not sure ifyou've had this before. He goes,
it's funny you bring this to me.He goes, because I haven't had
this cigar, but I've heard it'sreally great. And he was
thrilled to have it. So, like,you'd be surprised.
You know, there are some Yeah.

Bam Bam (56:23):
Sure.

Senator (56:23):
I mean, there's you know, the catalog is bigger than
I think we give it credit for.It's like with limitatas and
regionals and the Anajados line,there there's really so much to
work through. So even someonewho smokes god knows how many
cigars Danilo does, it'simpossible to try it all.

Gizmo (56:38):
But don't forget too, he what he's focused on smoking is
what his factory is producing.

Bam Bam (56:43):
He's about 10 bijiques a day.

Gizmo (56:45):
Yeah. He's smoking a lot of bijique, a lot of Cohiba, a
lot of, you know, a lot of stuffthat they're making at the
Legito factory. That's what he'sfocused on, even at home. Mhmm.
You know, he's still smoking forwork.
So to bring him something that'saged, obviously he hasn't been
in the program for a long time.He's only been there five or six
years. So to bring him somethingthat's aged, something that was

(57:05):
made at the Partagas factory,which that Bolivar was, You
know, the upman you brought him,some of the other stuff that
we've given him, you know, thoseare new experiences even though
he works in the industry becausehe's kind of in his silo Mhmm.
You know, at El Legito smokinghis stuff. What does he think
about New World tobacco?
I gave him this you're gonnalove this. I gave him he want he

(57:25):
wanted something different, so Igave him a Fabrica five Trinity
Robusto. And I gave one to hisfather as well, and he smoked it
together. And he was totallyblown away Yeah. To the point
where I literally took a pictureand I sent

Bam Bam (57:37):
it to

Gizmo (57:38):
Rob Isla saying, Danilo is sitting here enjoying loving
your cigar because, you know,it's a totally different flavor

Bam Bam (57:43):
experience. Absolutely.

Gizmo (57:44):
He was totally blown away and asked him, next time we
come, he said, please bring memore of this.

Bam Bam (57:49):
Yep. Yep.

Gizmo (57:49):
Trinity Robusto.

Rooster (57:50):
He loved it. I mean, it

Gizmo (57:51):
was fun.

Rooster (57:52):
What did he think about the flavor profile of that
cigar? Did he think it was moreCuban esque?

Gizmo (57:56):
He was shocked at how Cuban esque it was, but he
obviously picked up on some ofthe stronger elements of it,
Nicaraguan that's in there,etcetera. But I think it was a
very unique flavor profile forhim. Right. You know? I also
gave him a Padron sixtieth totry that.
Lizard Henrito, I believe gavehim an eightieth from Padron. I

(58:18):
gave him a couple Davidoffs.Just some other stuff that he
could try Yeah. You know, aswell. But we smoked the Fabrica
five together.

Bam Bam (58:25):
Yep. And he really loved that.

Senator (58:27):
So I'm curious what he thinks of that Padron sixtieth.
That's a full bodied cigar.

Rooster (58:32):
I bet his father would like that. Yeah. Because I
remember giving him a fiftyyear, the Padron, the hammer.

Bam Bam (58:38):
Mhmm.

Rooster (58:39):
And I think he smoked it right there and he loved

Gizmo (58:41):
it. Wow. I told him, make sure you have a big meal before
you smoke it.

Bam Bam (58:44):
Oh, yeah.

Gizmo (58:44):
This Padron sixtieth. Maybe a couple of bajiques and
then this.

Bam Bam (58:48):
I remember Alexander way back when when we gave him
an exquisite bowl. Yeah. Helooked a little pale.

Senator (58:53):
Yeah. He he thought it was really strong.

Gizmo (58:55):
That's right. He smoked that at a laguarita. Right?

Bam Bam (58:57):
Yeah. Yeah. I handed that to him right on the spot,
he lit it right

Gizmo (59:00):
Yeah. So Alex, by the way, Alexander that Bam and and
Senator are referencing was theformer roller Master roller. The
master roller, the top roller atthe La Corona factory who is now
actually in The United States.He's been in The US for about
three or four years. So, youknow, he's he's living in the
Midwest now.
Mhmm. So a very, very talentedroller. But, yeah, gave him a

(59:22):
you guys gave him a PadronExclusivo, and he was a little
floored. That was after a steakdinner too.

Senator (59:27):
Yeah.

Gizmo (59:27):
We had a real serious meal that night.

Bam Bam (59:30):
Oh yeah.

Gizmo (59:32):
As far as Cuba bam, I think that kind of sums up our
trip.

Bam Bam (59:35):
Yeah, it was a

Gizmo (59:35):
Power outage at the start. And then trying to get
out of that airport was a littlebit of a hellish nightmare.

Bam Bam (59:40):
A little dicey.

Gizmo (59:41):
So we showed up at the airport on Friday. So we were
there for six days. Right? So weshowed up in the airport Friday
morning, flight leaving at10:30. We were at the airport
eight, checked our bags,everything.
And of course, right after weget through TSA, I rolled
through there with empty carryon bag

Bam Bam (59:57):
Mhmm.

Gizmo (59:58):
To start loading up at the duty free. So I made my
transaction. Bam was behind mein line, and I was already done
with my transaction. And we'restanding Lizard Henrico and I
are standing outside the dutyfree watching Bam Bam roll over
I was so excited. Five or sixbottles

Bam Bam (01:00:15):
I had three.

Gizmo (01:00:16):
Of of

Bam Bam (01:00:17):
had Let the exaggeration begin.

Gizmo (01:00:19):
Like a little kid on a little kid on Christmas.

Pagoda (01:00:22):
So he's hugging these bottles.

Gizmo (01:00:23):
Hugging them. Like, he's got them wrapped up in his arms.

Bam Bam (01:00:26):
I had two in my left hand, and I had the third one
here. I was very excited becausethis was my first rum purchase,
like of substantial quantity.

Gizmo (01:00:36):
He's only been to Cuba about six,

Senator (01:00:37):
rum purchase.

Bam Bam (01:00:38):
Yeah. Like, you know, I really haven't brought much back
from Cuba other than cigars. Sothis is really my first big rum
heist. So I'm walking up to the

Senator (01:00:47):
So your hands were trembling.

Bam Bam (01:00:50):
I was excited. And I tried to move my bag with the
other hand that's got thebottle. So I went like this and
it just elegantly fell out of myarm. Elegantly. And it smashed
all over the fucking floor.

Gizmo (01:01:03):
By the way, this is a liter bottle.

Bam Bam (01:01:04):
Yeah. It was a big one.

Gizmo (01:01:05):
All over the floor of the duty free glass, rum, and bam is
just standing there.

Bam Bam (01:01:10):
Was frozen. Devastating. And then I looked
at the cashier. I looked at thefloor again. I didn't know what
to do.

Gizmo (01:01:18):
So We snapped the photo.

Bam Bam (01:01:20):
Yeah. You did. Of course. And sent

Gizmo (01:01:21):
it to the group.

Chef Ricky (01:01:21):
Nobody shouted, bam bam. So

Rooster (01:01:24):
did you go back and buy another one to

Bam Bam (01:01:26):
complete your purchase? I did not. I just took the two,
and I had to pay for the onethat was destroyed.

Gizmo (01:01:30):
Sure. Yeah.

Bam Bam (01:01:31):
Yeah. I did that.

Rooster (01:01:32):
But why wouldn't you go back and get another one?

Bam Bam (01:01:34):
Well, I had a good amount in my

Gizmo (01:01:38):
You did buy the Santiago 11.

Bam Bam (01:01:39):
I bought I did go back and get that.

Gizmo (01:01:41):
Okay. So

Bam Bam (01:01:41):
he did he did get that. But I had a good amount in my
Did they

Rooster (01:01:44):
have Santiago 20 available at the airport?

Bam Bam (01:01:47):
I didn't see it.

Gizmo (01:01:48):
I didn't see that there. I did see it at some of the LCDH
stores. I saw it at

Bam Bam (01:01:52):
I think they had the eight and eleven in the airport.
Yeah. They had them at thecountertops, only two.

Gizmo (01:01:56):
Yeah. Not sure if they had the 20 there,

Bam Bam (01:01:58):
but I don't think so.

Gizmo (01:01:59):
Yeah, so we went back about that. And honestly, that
bam bam smashing the literbottle on the floor kind of set
up the rest of our day at thatairport. Of course,

Bam Bam (01:02:08):
that was your highlight of

Gizmo (01:02:09):
the day. It dude, it was the highlight compared to what
happened after that.

Senator (01:02:12):
Oh, yeah. Sounds like he cursed you guys after It

Bam Bam (01:02:14):
was a disaster.

Senator (01:02:15):
That was shall not spill and waste rum in Havana.

Bam Bam (01:02:19):
That's holy water, man. That's right. K.

Rooster (01:02:21):
Just when you smash that bottle, that's when that
bird flew into the fuselage.

Bam Bam (01:02:25):
That's exactly what happened. Exactly. Same time.
That's correct. So we Thebutterfly effect.

Gizmo (01:02:31):
We sit down and we're waiting for our flight and all
of a sudden they start puntingthe takeoff time back.

Bam Bam (01:02:37):
Yeah.

Gizmo (01:02:40):
Twenty minutes here, twenty minutes there, twenty
minutes here and no information.This is American Airlines. And
we're trying to get information.They don't speak great English.
Obviously, they use that as amechanism to just, you know, I
don't have any information.
No. No. No. We ended up, and I'mshort I'm I'm making the story a
little shorter, Bam. You couldfill in some of the details.

(01:03:01):
But through this whole puntingof this thing, they had a
mechanic fly in from Miami on adifferent flight to check out
the fact that a bird had struckone of the earlier flights.

Bam Bam (01:03:12):
And of course, the mechanic wasn't qualified to, I
guess, sign off on whatevermaintenance was So that plane
was disabled and was left.

Gizmo (01:03:21):
Yeah. So then there were two planes, which turned into
ours then. Two planes thatdidn't take off. So now two air
you know, airplane full ofpeople in the airport trying to
get out of Havana. And AmericanAirlines isn't being
communicative.
So we're not being able toswitch to another flight,
another airline because theykeep saying it's happening, it's
happening, it's happening, it'shappening.

Bam Bam (01:03:40):
And the airport's full of people sitting around.

Gizmo (01:03:43):
Yeah. And there's limited food, limited access to water
and everything else there.

Bam Bam (01:03:47):
And we're there for at that point, eleven hours. Yeah.

Gizmo (01:03:50):
Wow. We were there for almost twelve hours. Yeah. Was
awful. It was a nightmare.

Rooster (01:03:54):
Couldn't you go to the lounge

Gizmo (01:03:56):
at airport? The problem with the lounge rooster is
because they kept punting theflight every twenty minutes
inside the lounge, you don'thave access to information.

Bam Bam (01:04:04):
Mhmm.

Gizmo (01:04:05):
So if they did end up taking off, I was afraid that we
would have actually missed theflight because we're sitting
sitting in this detached loungesmoking cigars.

Rooster (01:04:13):
Yeah. There's no lizard lizard Henry stand outside while
the

Gizmo (01:04:16):
guys are doing smoking cigars.

Bam Bam (01:04:18):
He is pledging, so he should

Gizmo (01:04:19):
have that. Absolutely.

Bam Bam (01:04:20):
He could have done that.

Gizmo (01:04:23):
So we ended up because of American Airlines, we were at
the airport just over elevenhours.

Senator (01:04:29):
Not because of American because Bam broke the bottle.
Correct.

Rooster (01:04:34):
If it was United, you'd be there like another two days.

Gizmo (01:04:37):
Yeah. We ended up getting on the flight. And this is at
what, Bam? Eight fifteen?

Bam Bam (01:04:43):
Yes. Finally.

Gizmo (01:04:44):
Yeah. Because we had switched to a different flight.

Bam Bam (01:04:46):
That's correct. Flight number 230.

Gizmo (01:04:48):
Yeah. If I remember correct though. Yeah. We were
like really crazy on the apptrying to switch stuff. I was
taking their phones.
And you saved

Bam Bam (01:04:56):
seven people?

Gizmo (01:04:56):
Yeah. I tried to get a lot of folks on the

Bam Bam (01:04:58):
flight. Seven or people.

Gizmo (01:04:59):
At the airport, they would not put anybody else on a
different flight. You have to doit through the app.

Bam Bam (01:05:03):
That's You cannot do it

Gizmo (01:05:04):
at the airport.

Bam Bam (01:05:05):
Girls were crying. He was coming to the rescue. It was
unbelievable. Yeah.

Gizmo (01:05:08):
It was it was a total mess. But I have

Bam Bam (01:05:11):
to say though, at that point, the staff was very
helpful and proactive incommunicating with you and
helping you go on the app, askthis question. They were great.
At that point, were great. Priorto that,

Gizmo (01:05:22):
they were In the first eight and a half hours. They
were useless.

Bam Bam (01:05:25):
Yeah. But they realized the pressure was So

Gizmo (01:05:28):
we get on the plane and then we get a message from the
captain and we have a tightconnection at this point. I had

Bam Bam (01:05:34):
to come Well, don't forget. Before we left, you

Gizmo (01:05:36):
checked for rental cars. So we had switched our
connecting flight to a laterflight, the last flight out of
Miami back to the New York area,to Newark, right? We looked at
JFK, LaGuardia, everything. Sowe had gotten on the last one.
So we end up boarding the flightout of Havana to make our
connection in Miami to get backto New York.

(01:05:57):
And the pilot comes on and goes,we're waiting because there are
two people who are supposed tobe on this plane. Somewhere in
the airport, they're not on theplane.

Rooster (01:06:04):
So Bam Bam and Henry

They were in the lounge.

Gizmo (01:06:07):
They were in the lounge. So long story short, they kept
us on the tarmac for anothertwenty or thirty minutes, which
then caused us to miss ourconnecting flight in Miami.
Yeah. So then the problem wasthere must have been some sort
of weather issue, spring breakor something in Miami that there
were no flights out of Miami,Fort Lauderdale, or Palm Beach

(01:06:28):
until Sunday morning, thirty sixhours later, to get back to New
York. So I had to find flightsout of Fort Myers.
We had to drive from Miami toFort Myers Two Yeah. It was
about two hours.

Bam Bam (01:06:40):
About two hours, dodging alligators on the
street.

Gizmo (01:06:43):
And we got a United flight back loves nature. I can

Senator (01:06:46):
imagine this car ride.

Bam Bam (01:06:47):
This was pitch black through the Everglades or the
swamps of Florida.

Rooster (01:06:52):
The alligator rally. Correct.

Senator (01:06:53):
I would pay to have a camera to watch Pam make that
drive a load.

Bam Bam (01:06:57):
No. Oh, yeah. Well

Senator (01:06:59):
In the dark.

Bam Bam (01:07:00):
I didn't look up the entire time I was on my phone.

Gizmo (01:07:02):
Yeah. He let me do the dirty work.

Bam Bam (01:07:03):
Oh, very nifty driving, by the way.

Rooster (01:07:06):
Thank you.

Bam Bam (01:07:06):
Very good.

Rooster (01:07:06):
So how much extra did you end up paying for all these
for

Gizmo (01:07:09):
the other flight? The other flight was probably what?
400?

Senator (01:07:13):
4 hundred

Gizmo (01:07:13):
Something like that. $400. And then the rental car
was, I think, 301 Yeah.

Bam Bam (01:07:17):
Not single refund will be offered by the airline.

Gizmo (01:07:19):
Yeah. American Airlines so all the people at Miami were
saying, you know, American'sgonna refund you for United
flight, your your rental car,etcetera, and American has
completely denied all that. Sowe're still fighting that.
Anyway,

Senator (01:07:30):
this is what happens when I'm not there.

Gizmo (01:07:32):
The bookend of the trips, the power outage coming in and
these flights getting out endedup being a total nightmare. But
we did get home Saturdaymorning, a week later. Yeah.
Finally, after quite a was

Bam Bam (01:07:47):
an adventure.

Gizmo (01:07:47):
Yeah. So that's the story on Cuba Twenty Twenty Five so
far for us.

Rooster (01:07:52):
That's Cuba.

Bam Bam (01:07:54):
Correct.

Rooster (01:07:55):
Things happen.

Bam Bam (01:07:56):
Being Cuba.

Pagoda (01:07:57):
You know when you land in The US,

Bam Bam (01:08:00):
you still feel so good, don't

Gizmo (01:08:01):
Oh, totally. I said that to Ben.

Bam Bam (01:08:02):
When I walked in my door at home, never felt so
good.

Gizmo (01:08:05):
We went to Chipotle.

Bam Bam (01:08:06):
I had

Gizmo (01:08:07):
rented the I hate that food. We went to Chipotle. We
were We inhaled Chipotle atabout 11:00 at night.

Bam Bam (01:08:12):
Felt like a gourmet meal.

Gizmo (01:08:15):
It was awesome.

Rooster (01:08:16):
It was the Ropa Vieja burrito.

Bam Bam (01:08:18):
But funny enough, most of the staff, if not all of
them, were Cubans. They wereCubans.

Gizmo (01:08:23):
Yeah. They were listening to Cuban music and singing. And
yeah, it was was pretty cool.Oh, yeah. So that's the that's
the story on our Cuba trip.
We had planned, like I said, wehad plans for some more content
and some more adventures toshare with you, the listeners
out there and the other lizardsin the room. But given the
circumstances, we had to cutthings down a little bit this
time. That's alright. Overall,next time.

Bam Bam (01:08:44):
Yeah. It was a very nice trip.

Gizmo (01:08:46):
We wish you were there.

Senator (01:08:47):
For lizards after dark.

Pagoda (01:08:48):
Yes. Oh, yes.

Gizmo (01:08:49):
So boys, it's time now to move into our second pairing. We
have another Ron Santiago deCuba, the 11 years aged, the
Onse. Let's try this and see howit compares to the eight.
Cheers. Cheers.
Good to be back.

Bam Bam (01:09:06):
Salud. Cheers.

Oh, yeah. This nose is much sweeter.

Gizmo (01:09:11):
Oh, that's a great rum. That's really good. That's
really good.

Bam Bam (01:09:17):
Come on, man. That's delicious.

Gizmo (01:09:22):
What are you what's your first impression, Ricky?

Bam Bam (01:09:26):
Dessert. This is the first time you're having this,
right?

Yeah. Yeah. No. This is this is a little rounder, not
as much heat as the eight. And Ithought that was gonna mean a
little less flavor, but it's notless flavor.
It's kind of butterscotchyvanilla.

Senator (01:09:47):
Why would you think that the higher HD would have
less flavor?

I I just a lot of times, again, because of my
experience with agave spirits,higher proof spirits tend to
offer more flavor, at least withagave distillates. So that's why

Bam Bam (01:10:02):
I didn't mind the heat on the on the eight year.

I still don't mind it. I still like the eight year.
I do like this a little bitbetter, but I'm not I don't
dislike the eight year. I Irespect that it's, you know, age
less and a little bit hotter.

Senator (01:10:17):
I think these have to be both 40.

Bam Bam (01:10:19):
I I I don't know.

Senator (01:10:20):
Can I see the

Pagoda (01:10:21):
Yeah?

Bam Bam (01:10:22):
Eight. I left my reading glasses at home. I can't
see it.

Senator (01:10:28):
Yeah. The eight years forty, 40%.

Bam Bam (01:10:30):
Okay. Yeah.

He proof. Definitely drinks hotter.

Bam Bam (01:10:33):
It does. This is 40 as well. 40 as well.

Okay. It definitely drinks hotter and it feels a
little bit brighter than

Bam Bam (01:10:39):
the 11 Chef, you've had the Havana Club seven, yeah?
Yeah. How do you compare that tothis? What's your opinion?

Well, trying to jog back to that. It's tough. I
haven't had enough as much asyou guys to sort of have it
ingrained in my memory. But Ifeel like the Havana Club drinks
a little bit easier. Yes.
But I don't think that's I don'tthink that's necessarily a

(01:11:09):
merit. I think this has moreflavor.

Bam Bam (01:11:13):
I will disagree with that.

I could be wrong again. I've had this a couple
times in the lounge.

Bam Bam (01:11:20):
What's so incredible about that seven year rum, it's
only seven years old, for meit's so flavorful and super easy
to drink. There is Do any

Gizmo (01:11:30):
of you have

that in your locker currently?

Senator (01:11:32):
I don't.

No.

Bam Bam (01:11:33):
But there's a lot of vanilla, a little bit of
butterscotch, but heavy vanillaand caramel. It's really a
unique seven year expressioncompared to this eleven year.
I'd rather have that than this.I'll say that.

Senator (01:11:45):
Think you're both right to me in the sense that I think
where Chef may be coming from, Ithink the Santiago 11 is richer.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I think toBam's point, like, I get more
distinct flavors in the HavanaSeven than I do the Santiago 11.

Bam Bam (01:12:02):
The notes are more pronounced, and it's just so
easy to drink.

Senator (01:12:06):
And the Santiago 11 has, going back to when I say
richer, like more viscosity thanthe Havana Seven does. And even
the Santiago eight has moreviscosity. I think that's just
the style. I mean, you think ofSantiago 20, that's like almost
syrupy. It's like really richand concentrated and intense.
And delicious.

You're dead on with that, Senator. I think if
there's anything that I rememberis that this is definitely
richer to me than the HavanaSeven for sure. And I like I
like that. I like that. I likethis because of that reason.

Senator (01:12:39):
Yeah. The thing that's strange that I can't figure out
is when Bam brought this elevenyear back, I think we tried a
little bit in the lounge, andour immediate reaction, which is
always what I know and rememberof Santiago Eleven was how sweet
it was. And to us, too sweet.Yeah. And I mean, it's a point

(01:13:03):
that Bam was kinda regretting hehad bought the bottle, we were
like, no.
It's great to do on the pod.

Bam Bam (01:13:07):
I almost felt like it's changed. The the recipe may have
changed. It tasted different forme.

Senator (01:13:11):
For me, it tastes identical to how I remembered
it, which is why, like, the 11,I always just found too sweet. I
like a drier, more balancedanything. That's how I

Bam Bam (01:13:20):
And you want that with me?

Senator (01:13:22):
Well, the Havana Club for sure. Correct. And I think
the Santiago Twelve, which Ihope we do on the pod at

some point,

Senator (01:13:28):
to me is more balanced, skews a little drier, not as
sweet as the 11. But what'sweird is right now, and I can't
think I I it almost has to bemaybe because we had the eight,
and maybe my palate is justacclimated to the Santiago
flavor profile. This doesn'tright now drink as sweet as it
did just a week or

Bam Bam (01:13:48):
two ago. It is weird.

Senator (01:13:49):
And what I've always known this rum to be. So I'm I'm
having a hard time as to whyright now that's

Gizmo (01:13:54):
Do you think it's because it had time to open up that you
poured it, you know, an hour andten minutes ago?

Senator (01:13:59):
It very well could be. I mean, if you think about it,
we're in Havana, we're orderingrum anywhere. Those bottles are
not sitting for a while. No. Imean, they're going through them

Bam Bam (01:14:06):
quickly. So

Senator (01:14:08):
any bottle they're pouring from has just been
opened probably within the last,twenty four or forty eight hours
max.

Bam Bam (01:14:13):
But he makes a good point. The moment we opened that
bottle of 11, we took oursamples from it.

Gizmo (01:14:17):
And tonight you did it.

Bam Bam (01:14:18):
That night in the club. Correct.

Senator (01:14:20):
And it was super sweet. Correct.

Bam Bam (01:14:22):
And it opened up in the room, so maybe that's the case.

Gizmo (01:14:24):
Yeah, that could be.

I will say on the eight, I was getting a lot more
vanilla and interestingly enoughhere I don't get as much
vanilla, I get more fruit andyou know being that it's spent
more time in you know aging inwood.

Bam Bam (01:14:40):
Get more vanilla on the nose with the 11.

Yeah. But I'm not getting it that. I was getting
vanilla on the palate on theeight. Here I'm getting more
fruit. I'm getting brighterfruits here than I am vanilla.
Yeah. I really enjoy it. I'mreally enjoying this.

Bam Bam (01:14:55):
I like the individuality of each. Sure.

Gizmo (01:14:58):
I like how different they are. With only three years of
age, I think they both offersomething. They're
distinguished, you know. And theprice is effectively double, by
the way. So on the 11, I thinkthe bottle was 59.
Yeah. On the eight, the bottlewas 29.

Bam Bam (01:15:11):
Yeah. I think I spent $52 if I remember correctly. 59.
Okay. It was $62.
MacGyver.

Drastic color difference between the eight and
eleven. I'm looking at the twohere side by side.

Senator (01:15:23):
Oh, that's only because I have so little in there.

Bam Bam (01:15:25):
And your glasses are tinted, by the way.

No. No. No. That's why I'm looking I'm looking at
Senator's.

Bam Bam (01:15:30):
Oh, okay.

Senator (01:15:31):
Reason I say that, when we poured here's the bottle
actually of the eight. The thething I'm surprised with the
eight, it's actually dark.

Bam Bam (01:15:38):
It is. Yeah. It's actually not that far off. It's
not far off.

Senator (01:15:41):
And and I was shocked by this because, I mean, Havana
7 is not this dark. It's moregolden. And, you know, you think
of even other seven or eightyear aged rums like Florida Cana
or others we've had. Mhmm.They're not this like, this is
the style of Santiago.
It's a richer

Bam Bam (01:15:59):
More amber in color.

Senator (01:16:00):
Yeah. Expression than really any of the other rum
brands that we drink.

Bam Bam (01:16:04):
The Havana Club I find to be more golden in color.
Agree.

Gizmo (01:16:08):
So let's just do a little quick history here on Ron
Santiago de Cuba. It's a Cubanrum brand, of course,
originating from the city ofSantiago De Cuba, which is
located in the Oriente region ofSoutheastern Cuba. The area is
renowned as the cradle of lightrum due to its significant role
in the development of Ron LiheroCubano style rum since 1862.

(01:16:33):
This brand was officiallyestablished in 1970 with the
launch of its Carta Blanca rum.In 1999, da Cuba was added to
the name, so now it's SantiagoDa Cuba, to emphasize its Cuban
heritage, and that coincidedwith the introduction of its
anejo expression.
It's produced in one of Cuba'soldest distilleries, which has a

(01:16:53):
history linked to the formerMatus Salem distillery. And I'm
wondering, senator, if this isthe old Bacardi distillery in
Santiago De Cuba that wasdismissed in the early nineteen
sixties. So I I don't have anyinformation on that
specifically, but I'm wonderingif what they're talking about
here is the Santiago De Cuba ismade in the old Bacardi factory.

(01:17:17):
And we did the Bacardi ReservaOcho a few episodes ago, I
believe with the Partagas cigar,the Partagas Linea Maestro Rito,
and it performed pretty well. Sothat's that for Santiago De Cuba
rum.
So we have the eight and the 11tonight. And like I said, we did
the 20 many moons ago, so we'llgo through that a little bit.

Bam Bam (01:17:35):
It's gonna be an interesting rating tonight.

Question for you guys. Anyone ever drink the the
I guess the silver unagedvariants of these rums?

Gizmo (01:17:45):
No. Never. No. Only aged steak Just

do the aged stuff? Mhmm. Yeah. P interested to try
the Blancos or Silvers or

Gizmo (01:17:53):
I do have some information on the Carta Blanco,
which was the first one theythey announced it's aged in
white oak barrels. They say ithas subtle notes of freshly cut
sugarcane and aged spirits, andit's ideally used for cocktails.
So I think without the agestatement on it, think it's
probably a little harsher, alittle bit more rough. Hi, I
think. With the time, obviouslyit helps.

(01:18:14):
And they also, as we know, havethe 12 years old that Senator
was referencing and the 20 yearsold Gran Reserva, which is, I
would say, the most luxurious ofthem all, and we rated that
quite some time ago. We lovethat.

Bam Bam (01:18:26):
I love alcohol. I do.

Gizmo (01:18:32):
Well said, Bam. I do.

Pagoda (01:18:34):
No comments.

Gizmo (01:18:36):
So, boys, it's time to go to some listener email now. So
we're gonna start with one thatactually ties to the
conversation we were having alittle earlier. This one's from
Lizard John from Boise whowrites us all the time. Always a
great email from him. We reallyappreciate him writing in.
He says, hi, Giz. I hope you andthe boys are doing well. I had a
question for you regarding yourcurrent buying habits. With some

(01:18:59):
of the online retailerssuspending shipments to The US
and others no longerguaranteeing delivery, have you
guys cut back or eliminated yourCuban cigar purchases? If you
are still making

(01:19:26):
Cuban purchases, what haschanged, if anything, in making
your choices? I e, are you justpurchasing your absolute
favorites, looking for gooddeals, etcetera? As always, best
wishes, lizard John from Boise.Good email. So where is
everybody at right now in theirCuban purchasing?

Bam Bam (01:19:28):
Well, are we talking about Johnny O or not talking

Gizmo (01:19:30):
about Johnny? We're not talking about Johnny O.

Bam Bam (01:19:31):
Well, if that's the case, I don't remember the last
time I bought a box of Cubancigars. Yeah. It's been a while.

Gizmo (01:19:38):
I'm in the same boat?

Senator (01:19:39):
Yeah. I'm in the same I mean, I I vividly remember the
last couple bucks I bought itwas the Bolivar Gold Medal.

Bam Bam (01:19:46):
Oh, that's right.

Gizmo (01:19:46):
That was the last one I bought too.

Bam Bam (01:19:48):
Same.

Senator (01:19:48):
And I think after that, the QD 52. And had I known this
was going to happen with I have,I would have loaded up. This has
been really shitty what hashappened because in many ways
I've become over the last coupleof years like an I Have loyalist
where I've never had an issuewith them. Everything's made it

(01:20:12):
through. I've never had aconcern around the authenticity
of a box, anything like that.
So I've exclusively really beenordering from I have. Now with
this situation, I haven'tpurchased anything since. I'm
going to have to eventuallyfigure something out. I mean, my
supply will at some pointdwindle enough that I'm gonna
need to, but luckily, thereserves are strong. They're

(01:20:35):
I'll

Bam Bam (01:20:36):
it for

Pagoda (01:20:36):
a while,

Gizmo (01:20:36):
but once that changes He's got healthy reserves.

Bam Bam (01:20:39):
Very healthy.

Senator (01:20:44):
This is where Tupperware comes in handy.

Bam Bam (01:20:46):
Oh, yeah.

Gizmo (01:20:47):
Rooster, where's your buying at right now?

Rooster (01:20:49):
I haven't bought any Cuban cigars for quite some
time. I think the last box thatI got was from one of the
Facebook groups, and that wasit. Haven't really bought
anything. Mostly new world.

Bam Bam (01:21:02):
Same, honestly.

Pagoda (01:21:04):
Mostly new world.

Bam Bam (01:21:05):
You were stocking up on our Davodol separate drones.

Gizmo (01:21:08):
Yeah. Halladinos, Fabric of Five, Stoic.

Bam Bam (01:21:11):
Stoic. Definitely Fabric of Five, definitely
Stoic. Aging rooms for sure.

Rooster (01:21:15):
I think fabric of five has really filled the gap
between buying Cuban cigars. Andit kind of delivers because the
Honduran tobacco is so close tothe Cuban tobacco, so it gives
you that flavor.

Bam Bam (01:21:31):
I can't wait to crack into my Trinity Rubusto water.

Gizmo (01:21:34):
So Pagoda, are you in the same boat, not really purchasing
a lot of Cubans at the moment?

Pagoda (01:21:38):
Zero, yeah. Because I tended to buy from IHabs as
well, and except for one or twoof the Facebook guys. But, yeah,
I haven't bought any Cubanrecently at all.

Rooster (01:21:51):
And I'm sure this IHAV thing is also impacting a lot of
the sellers on these groups.

Bam Bam (01:21:56):
Oh,

Gizmo (01:21:57):
market lot great market

Rooster (01:21:57):
guys to buy from I have.

Bam Bam (01:21:59):
That's true.

Gizmo (01:22:00):
I would actually caution any listeners. If you hear us
talking about Facebook groupbuys and you're seeing someone
that's selling a lot of freshboxes or has a lot of stock, I
would be concerned about thatbecause what I've seen is a
major fall off in theavailability of those, not

(01:22:21):
secondary, tertiary marketsellers on Facebook who buy at
these gray market vendors andthen transact elsewhere. It's
been a major fall off because ofwhat's happened here. A lot of
those sellers are gone. Theydon't even sell anymore.
So I would just be cautious outthere, especially on Facebook
and other social media. If yousee people selling high volume

(01:22:43):
of fresh Cuban cigars, would becautious about that because, you
know, things have definitelydied down a little bit, you
know, so be careful. Chef Ricky,what's your Cuban purchasing
been

like? My last purchase came from EGM. I got
some QD fifties. Prior to that,it was all I have, a couple
dives into Bon Roberts, butother than that, it's just been
your world. Thankfully, we'vecome across some really
delicious New World cigars, soI'm not sad about it.

Bam Bam (01:23:13):
Yeah, but there are still some sources like FOH. I
think it makes sense if you'regoing after standard production
and you need to stock I would bedoing that if I'm looking to
stock up. Yeah. There's no doubtabout it.

Gizmo (01:23:24):
Alright, boys. Let's go to another listener email. This
is from Lizard Bonos. He says,dear lizards, thanks for your
ongoing edutainment. I'menjoying having the pod to keep
me company during my workcommute on the tube.
Tonight, I went and bought ahalf bottle of Glenphidic twelve
after you're literally pouringover it recently. We love that.

(01:23:45):
He says, I've not been a fan ofthis. I've tried it a few times
over the years, and I never gotalong with it. I do I do enjoy a
scotch now and again, but I'vesettled on the NCF no color
added cask strength, sherrystyle finish, usually
independent bottlings, which canalso be of great value.
After trying the Glenfiddichtwelve just now, I've concluded

(01:24:06):
that you are all crazy. It'sokay, but it's not great. Quite
light, floral with not much of afinish, and at around £40 a
bottle priced about right, Iguess, these days. But this got
me thinking about regionalpalettes. Maybe I just don't
agree with the American taste.
I mean, Coke, McDonald's,Frosty's, all tailor their

(01:24:27):
recipes to the local region. I'msure the list is extensive. Even
Habanos produces cigars aimed atdifferent markets. Punch and
Ramon Ionis for The UK, QDO forFrance to pick on just a couple.
There's even regionalpreferences.
The Spanish generally preferfresh cigars I've heard a couple
of times over. What do you guysthink? From recent shows, you

(01:24:48):
all tend to agree with eachother, not wild opinion swings.
The US palette. Sure.
There's the likes of Pagoda, buthe's been there a while, so he
has a tainted palette. As muchas I enjoy your show, I think I
can't just go by your ratingsbased on this. They say to find
a reviewer with a palettesimilar to ones of your own, and

(01:25:09):
we may be just a world apart.Keep up doing the good work and
long ashes to you all. Yourstruly, lizard Bonos.

So is this just based off of the Glenfiddich?

Gizmo (01:25:20):
I think at this point, it's based off the Glenfiddich,
I know he listens a lot, somaybe he's tried a few other
things. But I think our glowingreview of how the Glenfiddich
twelve tasted to us, I thinkthat's what prompted that.

Bam Bam (01:25:31):
I do love I love the question of the palate and the
the quest the palate questionand how we each interpret
things. I don't think we allagree as to what our favorite
Cuban cigar may be. We all haveour favorites, and they differ
some differ drastically.

Gizmo (01:25:45):
I don't think it's got

Rooster (01:25:46):
anything to do with The US palate. Yeah, I agree.
Because you guys drink lots ofdifferent kinds of spirits. From
tequilas to cognacs tochampagnes to realms to
Tequilas.

Senator (01:26:01):
I think that's true. Honestly, think it's a shame
that the Glenfiddich is kind ofwhat this listener used as a
gauge of our palates, and I saythat because I'll speak for
myself, I think a number hadagreed with me on this. When I
drank Glenfiddich twelve yearsago, I never particularly liked
it.

Bam Bam (01:26:21):
No. It's different.

Senator (01:26:22):
You've all been to my house plenty of times. Have I
ever had a bottle of Glenfiddichthere? No. Never once. No.
And so I was shocked when we didit on the pod that something
seems like it changed, and Ialmost wonder, especially a half
bottle, those are not scotchbottles that move as quickly as
a full size bottle, that maybethat's an older bottle that's
been sitting at that store forsome time, and can be kind of

(01:26:44):
that old batch that I neverreally appreciated. And so I
would look at some of our othersingle malt reviews that scored
high, and I think probablyanything outside of that bottle,
I'd have to imagine if thisperson is a scotch drinker, that
they would very much align withmost of us in terms of what we

(01:27:05):
enjoy. So I think that's kind ofan outlier.

Gizmo (01:27:09):
That one, you know, and we have to point out too, and
that's a good point, Senator,that the Glenfiddich 12 was one
of the first Scotches that wespecifically pointed because of
the old experiences that not Ihad, you guys have had Yes. With
older, you know, iterations ofGlenfiddich 12, that whatever
this current run is, to quoteRob Isle, we always talk about
runs now, that whatever thiscurrent run of is of Glenfiddich

(01:27:32):
12 that we're getting here inThe States, it's a home run.
Yeah. It's a home run.

Bam Bam (01:27:37):
Correct.

Gizmo (01:27:37):
And I you know, like I said, I I didn't drink it prior
to us having it on the pod here.I know you guys have had it many
times. How much has it changed?If we gave that I don't know if
we gave that a nine or a 10.Forget what we gave it.

Bam Bam (01:27:49):
It was highly rated.

Gizmo (01:27:50):
It was very highly rated. What would you have given the
old iteration that you'vecomplained about? Where would
that have scored?

Bam Bam (01:27:56):
I would

Senator (01:27:57):
have given it a seven.

Bam Bam (01:27:57):
Yeah, that's seven. I mean,

Senator (01:27:59):
for me, I used to drink Glenphidic 12. American actually
at one point, respectably, hadthat as their standard

Gizmo (01:28:10):
Their single mile.

Senator (01:28:11):
Single mile on an airplane, which was great at the
time because most of theairlines, you'd get doers, white
label. Some of the really entrylevel blended scotch, not even a
single ball. And so when I wouldhave that on a plane, you know,
it was better than most of theoptions, and so I was somewhat
satisfied. But it was nothingcomplex, nothing particularly

(01:28:38):
pronounced or enjoyable about itthat I'd ever go buy a bottle
myself, which is why I had neverin my entire life purchased a
bottle of Glenfiddich twelve.The experience now, even now,
and that's also why I say tothis listener, I I wish I I
don't think that's really agreat gauge for Mm-mm.
Our scotch palate in the sensethat even now, I still don't

(01:29:01):
think it's a particularlycomplex single malt. It's not.
It's very straightforward, butit's definitely smoother and
more refined than I rememberGlenfiddich being. It's a bit
more flavorful than I rememberit being. And I think for the
price point and its ability, itsversatility in being able to

(01:29:21):
pair with such a range ofcigars, especially Cuban cigars
that are, you know, not as fullbodied as a lot of New World
cigars.

Bam Bam (01:29:27):
But also its versatility in drinking at a
certain time of year. It'd begreat for a summer drink with
ice. Totally. In the winter,neat.

Senator (01:29:35):
Which is also where, like, it's a lighter expression

Bam Bam (01:29:38):
of Yeah.

Senator (01:29:39):
A single malt. And that's why, you know, I don't
think any of us were scoringthat for its complexity to hold
up to like a really rich, robustexperience if you're having a
fuller bodied cigar. It was moreit can pair very nicely with a
lot of Cuban cigars, it doesn'tfight with anything that you're

(01:30:00):
smoking, It's smooth. It's easydrinking.

Bam Bam (01:30:03):
It's a pretty universal spirit.

Senator (01:30:04):
You feel good drinking it. I mean, we've talked about
certain single malts are notmeant to be consumed in volume.
They're meant to be appreciatedwith just a couple of glasses,
and that's a single malt that isso easygoing, you can enjoy
plenty of it throughout a longday that you're just smoking and
having a good time outdoors. Alot of merit there. And that's

(01:30:25):
more, I think, where we werecoming from on that rating, but
I think a lot of our othersingle malt ratings in the
twelve year and above range aremore reflective of true sipping
single malts that aren'tnecessarily designed for volume
or more to just have a completeexperience with a particular

(01:30:46):
cigar or something that you'redoing.

Bam Bam (01:30:48):
You know, like the Belvene 12 double cask, the
Caribbean cask, the Oban 14. Youknow, these are very specific
tastes And they differ fromperson to person and what you're
pairing it with.

Gizmo (01:31:02):
Good feedback for the listener. Yeah. To to kinda sum
this all up, try something elsethat we've rated really highly
that you can get in the marketthat you're in and and see if
you agree with us.

Senator (01:31:12):
Now the American palate Coca Cola and some of the
things,

Bam Bam (01:31:15):
I mean Oh, that sounds like a Gizmo menu. More What?
More Frosties. I I dude, I can'ttell you the last time I had a
Frosty.

Senator (01:31:22):
More tariffs than make

Bam Bam (01:31:23):
little cold heading UK's way after that.

Who doesn't like

Bam Bam (01:31:28):
But he also mentioned cigar tastes and palettes on the
cigar, right? Yeah. Yeah.

Gizmo (01:31:32):
Yeah. So I would love some more feedback on this topic
from Lizard Bonos and hopefully,you know, he's able to do some
more comparison to our ratingsin reviews and see if more
things are not aligned than justthe

Rooster (01:31:46):
And maybe he has some recommendations

Senator (01:31:49):
for us. And actually, the last thing I'll say, because
I think this is helpful for alllisteners who are interpreting
our ratings, You know, we ratebased on every factor, and one
of those is price. And so, youknow, if that were a $90 bottle,
there is no way it would havescored the same that it did,

(01:32:10):
Right? For its price point,which was very accessible at the
twelve year kind of benchmarknow, which has obviously gone up
over the last few years and willcontinue to, it's competitively
priced. It delivers good valueat that price point.
And I think that's somethingalso to consider when you're

(01:32:31):
looking at rating. We're notsaying if we give something
that's a $40 bottle a 10, thatdoesn't mean that it can compete
neck and neck with a hundred and$60 bottle.

Yeah. That doesn't mean it's the greatest scotch
we've ever drank.

Bam Bam (01:32:43):
That's correct.

Senator (01:32:44):
That means in its category, is $40 spirits

Bam Bam (01:32:48):
Mhmm.

Senator (01:32:49):
It is at the top of that class.

Gizmo (01:32:51):
And in the moment in the room.

Senator (01:32:53):
Yeah. Totally.

Gizmo (01:32:54):
That we're all experiencing it together.

Bam Bam (01:32:55):
Correct. And

with that cigar.

Rooster (01:32:57):
Right?

So if he wasn't smoking the cigar we had that
evening with that scotch, thenhis rating may not be anywhere
near. That's true. A similarcigar.

Bam Bam (01:33:06):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So All right.

Gizmo (01:33:08):
Well, we appreciate the email and let's continue on here
boys. We did get some feedback.I was actually shocked about
this. So I actually held some ofthis feedback for when we did
the Bajique 58 because it's someof it is on the Cohiba Siglo six
review that we did. And thisone's from Lizard Luigi.

(01:33:28):
We got a few comments on this.Hey, guys. I'm listening to your
Siglo six episode now, and I'm alittle perplexed about the
scoring. I have no issues withthe guys who were fortunate
enough to get a good constructedcigar to give it a 10. My issue
is with Senator and Giz givingit an eight, which is still a
recommend given that theexperience was quote unquote

(01:33:50):
incomplete, which I think was myword.
This is not a con criticism ofanyone in any way. However, I
see it as me sparking theconversation of the ongoing
construction issue in relationto experiencing satisfaction. My
ultimate question is, are yourscores towards Cubans more
lenient knowing the probableconstruction issues, or are they

(01:34:12):
more strict knowing that theconstruction issues exist? It
seems as though you scored itwhat you did despite the
construction issues and notbecause of it. An incomplete
experience does not deserve aneight.
As always, I love the content,and I hope you don't take this
as a criticism. It's strictly atalking point. I love the Lizard

(01:34:33):
Luigi.

Bam Bam (01:34:34):
I do like this email.

Senator (01:34:35):
Yeah. It's a great email.

Gizmo (01:34:36):
Great email.

Senator (01:34:36):
I'm happy to start. On construction, the higher the
price point, the stricter I amabout construction. I cannot
expect a $5 cigar to beconstructed like a $40 cigar.

Bam Bam (01:34:46):
Although we've had some incredible $6 cigars that were
constructed beautifully. Wehave.

Senator (01:34:50):
And that's why they deserve a world of credit for
But you know, a $40 cigar, Iexpect to have perfect
construction.

Bam Bam (01:34:57):
It should be prime time.

Senator (01:34:59):
The whole idea, I'm always willing to pay more for
more. And so it's not aboutCuban or New World. You know,
Cuban cigars, because priceshave gotten up, tend to be more
than New World cigars. So ifanything, I actually have a
higher expectation as far asconstruction. I'm not gonna pay
$40 for a Cuban cigar and lowermy standard of wanting just a a

(01:35:21):
properly constructed cigar thatdraws and burns evenly, it
doesn't have ash flaking allover me.
I mean, those are basics that a$67 cigar can deliver. So for
me, I am never more lenient witha Cuban cigar. It's just a
factor of price point, and Ithink it's reasonable to expect
that a premium price ought todeliver premium construction.

Rooster (01:35:41):
A Siglo six is a hundred dollar cigar. Right.
Yeah.

Senator (01:35:44):
Right. It should be perfectly constructed.

Gizmo (01:35:45):
So I guess the question here is is and and I have
another one actually in the samevein that I wanna read. But I
guess the question is why giveit an eight given you're in my
commentary as opposed to a sixor a seven?

Senator (01:35:58):
Oh, because

Gizmo (01:35:59):
Because of the experience we had in the room.

Senator (01:36:00):
Yeah. I mean, again Well, there are other factors
That's exactly

Bam Bam (01:36:05):
right. For crying out

Senator (01:36:06):
loud. I think for all of us, we agree on this. I think
when we're all rating, I heareveryone at one point or another
say, you know, the mostimportant of those many factors
is

Gizmo (01:36:14):
flavor. Exactly.

Bam Bam (01:36:15):
And it was a delicious cigar.

Senator (01:36:17):
That's the thing. And it was the flavor profile was
excellent. And so I'm not gonnagive a cigar a six that I
thought the flavor was excellentand just had some construction
issues a six. I mean, no. It'san eight because the flavor was
so awesome that I knocked offclearly two points for
construction and the othercomplaints that I had, but that

(01:36:37):
doesn't mean that it completelydestroyed or ruined my
experience with the cigar.
No. The flavor was excellent. So

Gizmo (01:36:43):
I'm in the same boat. I mean, I love that cigar so much,
And I took off those two pointsbecause of exactly what you're
just saying. Yeah. Like, had Inot had construction issues, had
senator and I had a cigar thatwas similar to the rest of the
guys in the room, that compositescore would have been higher
than a nine. But because werated it, we had the cigars we
did, we rated it the way we did.

Bam Bam (01:37:04):
Sure. And every other cigar in the room was performing
beautifully.

Gizmo (01:37:07):
I agree. Yeah. So let me go to one more comment on this
same topic. This is from LizardTony. He says, Lizards, you
can't give an eight when you arethat displeased.
Never mind the name or the priceof a cigar is that disappointing
for house for some. How can yougive a personal score of eight?
It should have been more of asix based on your past scores.

(01:37:27):
Do better lizards, and senatorhas to retrohale or his opinions
are invalid. Accountabilityhour, boys.

Rooster (01:37:34):
Oh, boy.

Bam Bam (01:37:35):
Lizard Tony out. Yeah. He ended that

Senator (01:37:38):
perfectly. Lizard Tony is out.

Bam Bam (01:37:42):
He's so out. He's in.

Rooster (01:37:47):
It goes

Senator (01:37:47):
to my point. Flavor is the most important factor.

Gizmo (01:37:51):
Of course. I would have given that cigar a six or a
seven if it didn't taste great.

Senator (01:37:55):
Yeah. Exactly.

Gizmo (01:37:56):
And it did. I did. Was incomplete, and I took two
points off

Bam Bam (01:37:59):
for it. I I I kind of appreciate what you're tell
talking about because it justadds a level of detail and
experience that matters. Itmatters how it performs.

Rooster (01:38:07):
And also, guys have had other Seaglow 6s that have
performed well, and the flavorhas been spot on.

Bam Bam (01:38:14):
Like ours, like everyone else in the But

Rooster (01:38:16):
this particular one had construction issues, so you took
off a couple of points justbecause of the construction.
Totally. But the flavor wasstill there.

Senator (01:38:25):
And to be clear, you know, what's this lizard's name
again? Lizard Tony. And to beclear with Lizard Tony's comment
about a six, I'm not gonna givesomething a six where I would
recommend anyone smoke a Siglosix.

Gizmo (01:38:40):
I agree.

Senator (01:38:40):
I don't think that any type of smoker would like that
cigar and not appreciate theflavor profile that it delivers.
A six is a cigar that I wouldvery mildly recommend know,
recommend. Not even a recommend.I mean, not not actively
recommend. Like, in a pinch, ifthere was nothing you know, not

(01:39:01):
much available, is it smokeable?
Can there be something enjoyableabout a part of it? But I I
that's not the case for a SeaGlow six. It's like through and
through, the flavor profile isawesome. We just had some
construction issues. That's nota six rating, so I hope that
clears that up.
There should never be a world inwhich you sit there, you smoke a

(01:39:21):
cigar and say, I love theflavor, it's a six. I mean, that
doesn't make any sense.

Gizmo (01:39:25):
Yeah. And especially a cigar that you and I wanna try
again and have again.

Yes.

Gizmo (01:39:29):
And a cigar that we would absolutely demand a listener
need to try at some point intheir smoking journey.

Senator (01:39:37):
And to Gizmo's point there, I've smoked a Seagullo
six since we recorded thatepisode because the flavor's
excellent on that cigar.

Bam Bam (01:39:42):
That's right.

Senator (01:39:43):
If I rated that as six, I would definitely not pick that
cigar up again unless, again, Ihad no choice whatsoever, and
I'm in a random shop and I haveto buy a cigar, and that just
happens to be the only option.That's not the case with this
cigar.

Bam Bam (01:39:55):
Yeah. And if I remember correctly, our other ratings
were higher than the eight.

Gizmo (01:39:59):
Yeah. I think the composite on it was a nine.

Bam Bam (01:40:01):
Because of our was had a different experience. Yeah.
Yeah. And the composite alwaysworks. It

Gizmo (01:40:06):
always works.

Senator (01:40:07):
Always. Keep in mind, lizards, this is a hundred and
something dollar cigar. Mhmm. Imean, for for that price point,
it better be perfect.

Gizmo (01:40:15):
Mhmm. Yes. Exactly right. That's correct. So boys, we're
coming into the last third nowon the Cohiba Bihike 58.
What's everybody thinking as weget into the last third on this?
Uh-oh. Uh-oh. I see rooster'sface. Looks pale.

Bam Bam (01:40:30):
His eyebrows are furrowed.

Rooster (01:40:32):
Well, I I mean, I had a little bit of a construction
issue. I mean, the the thewrapper

Senator (01:40:38):
It's a 6.

Gizmo (01:40:41):
7 hundred or $700 cigar.

Senator (01:40:43):
It's a 6.

Rooster (01:40:44):
I'm not too I mean, there was a little bit

Gizmo (01:40:47):
of a crack that I thought might just resolve itself, but
it did, you know, the

Bam Bam (01:40:51):
crack Did it resolve itself?

Rooster (01:40:52):
No, it did not. The crack got a little bit bigger.
But, you know, for the pricepoint that you're going to pay
for this cigar, you expect acertain level that should be
there. It should be flawless.Not only flavor wise,
construction wise, everythingshould be flawless about that
cigar.

Bam Bam (01:41:13):
So I don't It's a cigar, and it's made like every
other cigar in Havana and inCuba. It's made the same way.

Pagoda (01:41:20):
Foundation price it.

Gizmo (01:41:21):
That bar price $700

Bam Bam (01:41:22):
So think about that.

Rooster (01:41:23):
Yeah. And I honestly don't know. I don't taste the
media tiempo in this cigar. Idon't get that.

Bam Bam (01:41:31):
How far down are you from the bottom? Did you not
experience any increase in bodyat all? Not really. Really?

Senator (01:41:41):
Really, I'm surprised.

Gizmo (01:41:42):
I have. Have.

Bam Bam (01:41:43):
Oh, I'm really, I have to say, I'm enjoying this now.

Gizmo (01:41:45):
I'm very, very happy in the back half of this cigar as
to where it's progressed to.

Bam Bam (01:41:50):
So look, the one I had in Cuba, this is like night and
day. I agree. This is delicious.There's an increase in richness.
Honestly, I'm getting a toastedlike a cedar type thing
happening way in the backgroundof my retrohale.
It is really quite good. It'squite good.

I'm getting tropical fruit still.

Bam Bam (01:42:10):
Is it pineapple or kiwi?

No. You know, I'm I'm gonna call one out here, and
I don't know that many peopleare gonna, you know, be able

Rooster (01:42:20):
to to relate to it because Durian?

No. I'm I'm getting guava.

Senator (01:42:24):
I was I wish you would have paused. Knew you were gonna
say that.

Bam Bam (01:42:30):
So I I don't I don't know about the guava, but
there's a pungent nature to thisthat I'm really liking.

Yeah. There's a little bit of a It's like that.
How can I describe guava?

Rooster (01:42:41):
I love guava.

Bam Bam (01:42:42):
It's pungent. It's a

straw of the There's a raspiness to guava.

Bam Bam (01:42:47):
Yes. I like raspiness.

No. I dislike it. I'm saying it's a merit.

Bam Bam (01:42:52):
If you have guava in your house and it sits out, it
starts to have that almost-Overripe sort of- Overripe
aroma.

Yeah. Just like passion fruit. It has something
similar.

Bam Bam (01:43:03):
I'm getting that. I can't say that it's guava, but
that's kind of what I'm getting.And I'm really liking it.

Yeah. It's picked up in strength just a bit. It's
gotten a little bit raspy forlack of a better term.

Gizmo (01:43:14):
I'm getting more papaya.

Bam Bam (01:43:17):
Papaya is the complete opposite because it has a
sweetness. Papaya has no. It'smy experience, dammit.

Rooster (01:43:23):
I'm getting papaya.

Bam Bam (01:43:24):
No, no, no. You're wrong. That's my idea. Have you
not

been listening to the emails? Yeah, no, I mean,
I'm enjoying it. I wish thishappened a little earlier on in
the cigar because now I don'tknow, after sitting here for
almost two hours with it, nowit's starting to deliver some
more pungent flavors, pronouncedflavors, if you will.

Gizmo (01:43:52):
I'm very happy with it right now. I I I would say it is
a departure from my my limitedunderstanding of what bijike is.
Cigars that I've had from youknow, that are bijike. But I'm
really enjoying this cigar rightnow. The back half has been
amazing.
I think the flavor right now hasa little bit more oomph than it
did in the first half, and I'mreally enjoying this right now.

(01:44:15):
I I don't want it to end.

Senator (01:44:16):
Yeah. So I'll I'll just say for me, the the first two
thirds were pretty much thesame, very mild. Nothing
offensive for a morning smoke,you know, would be somewhat
satisfying. The last third iswhere this transition to firmly
medium to me. The flavor profilegot richer.

(01:44:40):
I got more walnut at the startof the last third. We were
talking about a faint bit ofnuttiness in the first two
thirds. It really picked up inthe last third. And some of the
tropical fruit notes that thatchef's pointing out, I I don't
think are crazy.

Bam Bam (01:44:55):
I think

Senator (01:44:56):
they are present there. I say that in you know, the sad
part for me is if the first twothirds could have been much more
like the last third

Bam Bam (01:45:04):
Mhmm.

Senator (01:45:05):
I would have enjoyed this cigar a whole lot more.
Yeah. And that's where I'm justleft disappointed in some ways
at this kind of insane pricepoint. Every third should
deliver something supersatisfying and memorable, and
that's only happening in thefinal third, and I wouldn't say

(01:45:25):
that even the experience in thefinal third is among the best
Cuban cigars I've ever had,which is $700, It

Rooster (01:45:33):
lacks complexity. I

Bam Bam (01:45:34):
agree. Yeah, yeah.

Gizmo (01:45:35):
For me right now, I will say it is a little one
dimensional. Yeah. It's a littlebit more full, but to echo what
everyone's saying, it's not acomplex smoke.

Core flavor

Bam Bam (01:45:45):
has remained the same. Blending decisions are
bewildering then on a cigar.

It's No.

Pagoda (01:45:50):
Maybe it needs to be aged because

Senator (01:45:53):
at $700 a stick, it shouldn't Yeah.

Pagoda (01:45:56):
It should not should

Rooster (01:45:57):
be using some aged tobaccos in this. I mean, I
don't

Gizmo (01:45:59):
know what the if they talk about that, but

Bam Bam (01:46:02):
I don't think

Gizmo (01:46:03):
I don't think there's aged tobacco in this. I think,
you know, we're smoking a cigarthat's pretty fresh. I will say,
though, and I'm curious for theroom, are you guys tasting youth
at this point?

Rooster (01:46:12):
I would say a little bit.

Senator (01:46:14):
For me, only in the final third.

Bam Bam (01:46:16):
Really?

Gizmo (01:46:17):
You? I haven't gotten a lot. I've actually gotten less
than I expected at this point.Got a lot Knowing how fresh the
cigar is.

Bam Bam (01:46:25):
So in Cuba, I got a lot of use. Yeah. A lot of ammonia
backup.

Gizmo (01:46:28):
Yeah. Think there was just a lot of moisture in those.

Bam Bam (01:46:30):
Yeah. Yeah. Of course. This is a different experience
for me. You know, am impressedregarding the construction.
I was watching Pagoda cigar.It's course corrected. Know you
touched it up just a little bit,not much, but I feel like the
larger ring gauge cigars, itdeviates and it will eventually
get back to normal. I'mimpressed with the build of this
thing.

Pagoda (01:46:50):
It's a well made cigar. For me, you know what happened
was it got a little moresaltier, the, you know, the
black salt with the littlefloral thing, which I really,
really enjoy. I

Rooster (01:47:02):
was getting It goes well with guava, by the way.

Pagoda (01:47:04):
Yeah, no, just got a little bit of Absolutely,

Bam Bam (01:47:06):
absolutely. Never had black salt.

Pagoda (01:47:07):
Yeah. But I think for me, that's what, it just became
a little more enhanced in termsof a little bit of saltiness,
which I really enjoyed. Sothat's true. I think towards the
end, it's become a littlebetter. You know, a little more
robust and a little more Anyonecan

Bam Bam (01:47:27):
A little pepper at this point?

Yeah. Yeah. Little empty. It's transitioning

Bam Bam (01:47:31):
Which I kind of like. Yeah. I don't mind it.

Get a little of that numbing sensation on the tip

Bam Bam (01:47:37):
of your tongue. It's at least a different experience on
this

thing. Mhmm.

Bam Bam (01:47:42):
Right?

Rooster (01:47:44):
It's not your typical Behike flavors that you Totally
agree. That's where I'm

Bam Bam (01:47:49):
of you said that early on.

Rooster (01:47:51):
It's a little bit of a deviation from the Behike line.
But to Rooster's point, I mean,

Senator (01:47:59):
when we did that Partagas cigar, in the first
third, we all said it was almostunrecognizable as a Partagas. In
the last third, I feel like thatwas the point at which we said,
okay, we're starting to see someof that Partagas DNA. To
Rooster's point, I I even thelast third can't say that I see
a whole lot of Bahike DNA here.

Bam Bam (01:48:20):
Yeah. I agree. Yep.

Gizmo (01:48:23):
I agree with you guys. I still think as far as the four
of the cigars go, and I'llcomment like this because we
haven't rated the Bijique 54,but that still stands as the
king of the Agreed. King of thehill here Agreed. As far as the
the Bijique cigars go.

Senator (01:48:38):
But we did review that with Danilo.

Gizmo (01:48:40):
Yeah. But we didn't rate it. So that's why, you know, I'm
I'm I'm fair. I feel it's fairto comment on that before we
rate

Bam Bam (01:48:46):
because I still think the Bijicay That Bijicay fifty
four that we smoked with himwhen we were all there. That was
awesome.

Gizmo (01:48:50):
That was fantastic. Yeah. He gave us. So we spoke to fifty
eight and then we had a 54 afterthat and

Bam Bam (01:48:55):
the 54 blew it away. Oh yeah.

Rooster (01:48:57):
Yeah. I remember me and Bam had like the first Baehike
release like early on going backlike 12

Bam Bam (01:49:03):
In our North Korean lounge.

Rooster (01:49:04):
Yeah.

Bam Bam (01:49:04):
Yeah, you gave me one.

Rooster (01:49:05):
That was incredible smoke.

Bam Bam (01:49:09):
It was velvety. So honestly, I've never, as they
laugh, I've never experienced acigar that was so velvety and
creamy. It's kind of early in mycigar journey. I've never had
anything like that. It blew meout of the water.
It was great.

Rooster (01:49:22):
I remember the wrapper being like had such beautiful
sheen on it.

Bam Bam (01:49:25):
Was perfect. Perfect.

Gizmo (01:49:27):
Thanks for saving us one guys. Well, I don't think we
knew you then. That's true.Alright, boys. Let's go to some
more listener comments.
This now, we're moving to thePartagas Linea Maestra Rito
episode. Some more comments onour ratings. This one is from
lizard John Morris on YouTube.He said, it's a great review,

(01:49:49):
but don't you think you guysshould have given it at least
twenty four months beforereviewing it? And I saw that
comment and I wanted to bring itup.

Rooster (01:49:57):
It it was good just the way it

Gizmo (01:49:58):
was. Yeah. I I to me, you know, we've talked about recent
Cuban releases smoking better,regular production stuff. And
for us, it's like, we're tryingto review as close to what a
consumer is going to bepurchasing at retail as is
reasonable. So to sit on a cigarfor two years for the sake of it
and given the experience we had,I think it was perfectly fair.

Rooster (01:50:21):
But what do you think of that Maybe we review it in
two years. Yeah. Again.

Gizmo (01:50:26):
Yeah. What do you guys think of

Senator (01:50:28):
that comment? I mean, think there's nothing wrong with
revisiting a cigar after twoyears, but I think it's it's a
little crazy to me for a cigarat any premium price point to
not be enjoyable enough to smokeyoung. I mean, pay that
outrageous price point to haveto sit on it for at least two

(01:50:49):
years to even have a at allsatisfying smoking experience?

Bam Bam (01:50:53):
That's right.

Senator (01:50:54):
And I think, you know, we do this with almost any box
we get. I think even ones thatwe know from others or our own
experiences with it that dorequire some more time and age
to develop into something reallyspecial, you still try it
because for some of them,they're surprisingly ready to
go, you know, young. And forothers, you try that and you say

(01:51:16):
there's a lot that I like aboutit, but there's some rough edges
and some things that time needsto solve for. And with that
cigar, what was so remarkable istime doesn't need to solve for
anything with that cigar.

It's excellent.

Rooster (01:51:28):
There's so many fresh boxes that we have smoked cigars
lately.

Bam Bam (01:51:33):
They were great.

Rooster (01:51:34):
I mean, 22, 20 three's, 20 four's, and they have been
spot on. There's been somethingabout the blending decision
that's being done at Habanos.

Senator (01:51:42):
And you know you laughed

Gizmo (01:51:43):
at me once

Bam Bam (01:51:43):
with my 20. Do you remember?

Gizmo (01:51:46):
Well, that was in 2020.

Bam Bam (01:51:47):
Oh, yeah. Clairvoyantly, somehow I got
those cigars in advance. Yeah. Itravel time.

Rooster (01:51:53):
Sometimes you do that.

Listen. After the week I just had, I don't know
that I'm gonna be alive in twoyears. So I'm glad that we
smoked that cigar, but

Bam Bam (01:52:03):
we did. Tranquilo. Tranquilo, chef.

Gizmo (01:52:05):
Don't be morbid, chef. Alright. So another comment now.
This one's from Lizard Seanwrites this all the time. He
says, I just wrapped up thePartagas Linea Maestra episode.
I know you guys rated it a 9.2,but that seems low to me. From
what you all described, thegreat flavors, the construction,
and the burn, excluding price,it seemed like that was one of

(01:52:27):
the best cigars you guys haveever had. And to rate it at 9.2,
which is pretty equivalent to ad four and an e two, this one
sounded like it was much betterthan those. I don't know, maybe
it's just me, it just seemedlike the rating was a little
low. Mister Partagas, senator,I'd love to hear your commentary
on

Senator (01:52:45):
I mean, I'm sorry. For me, this is very simple. Look,
when a cigar gets a 10 acrossthe board, many of us will go
out and purchase that cigar, andalmost at any price point. I
mean, I I definitely you know,admittedly, I broke my own rule,
the $40 rule on the Bolivar GoldMedal. That cigar was above that

(01:53:07):
price.

Bam Bam (01:53:07):
You bought two boxes of those.

Senator (01:53:09):
I bought one box. If they knew I was gonna go on
would've stopped, I would'vebought more than two

Bam Bam (01:53:13):
for that. I bought two.

Senator (01:53:14):
But that was a perfect example where I think that if
not everyone, almost everyonegave it a 10. Correct. And I
immediately went out andpurchased a box the night or the
next day. Now with that Partagascigar, that was excellent, but
it didn't prompt me to go outand purchase it right away.

(01:53:35):
Yeah.
And that's why I think, youknow, a 9.2 is a very fair score
in that it's an excellent cigar,but it is not, oh my goodness,
this is one of the greatestCuban cigars of all time. I have
to have it at any price point inmy humidor. That wasn't the
case. And that's not a knocksaying it's a bad cigar, but a
10 is perfection. Sure.

(01:53:57):
There are few cigars, you know,those episodes where we all feel
something's deserving of a 10,at its price point, are few and
far between, and those are theones that we all chase and
pursue right away after wefinish recording.

Gizmo (01:54:12):
And smoke almost daily.

Bam Bam (01:54:13):
Exactly. Not to mention the fact that a nine two is

Gizmo (01:54:15):
an elite rating. Yeah. That's a great rating. Come on.
Yeah.

Bam Bam (01:54:18):
We're splitting hairs.

Rooster (01:54:19):
Yeah. We only go up to 10. Yeah.

Senator (01:54:21):
And also, I'm sorry,

Bam Bam (01:54:22):
you know, for the listener, like, this

Senator (01:54:23):
is not cigar aficionado. We're not just
handing out nine point twos toevery single cigar and bullshit
cigars.

Bam Bam (01:54:29):
Like, if

Senator (01:54:29):
we give a cigar a 9.2, that is super high praise. So I
I think we need to not besplitting hairs over a 9.2
versus a 10. A 10 is one of thegreatest cigars we've had,
period. Must purchase, mustsmoke on a regular basis, and
that cigar was excellent, butnot necessarily something that

(01:54:50):
we all need to chase and pursuecrazily.

Rooster (01:54:53):
I mean, for that cigar to get a 9.2, that means a
couple of the lizards did giveit a 10. Yeah.

Gizmo (01:54:58):
Yeah. So now, boys, it's time to go to some commentary on
our selling boxes to friendsdiscussion.

Senator (01:55:06):
Alright. Can I finally retire as the attorney on on our
listener emails? I hope this isa nicer email.

Pagoda (01:55:12):
Must we do this?

Gizmo (01:55:13):
You're gonna like these. Oh, boy. So Lizard John in
Cleveland wrote, this was quitepossibly the best ever episode.
I love the spirited cigar markupto friends debate.

Bam Bam (01:55:27):
He's

Gizmo (01:55:27):
out. Senator was spot on in his analysis, and I'm happy
to hook up my friends at costfor personal consumption only.
But if you're gonna monetizewhat I sell you, that's a whole
different ballgame. The Rolexcomparison was also spot on. If
you gave me a $20,000 watch andtwo years later sold it for
25,000, if you're my friend, I'dexpect you to approach me about

(01:55:50):
it.
It's the gentlemanly thing todo. At least offer me the right
of first refusal.

All right.

Gizmo (01:55:56):
You guys need to go at it more for my amusement.

Bam Bam (01:55:59):
You want the Fundy's at what? $1,100? That what you
want? $6.85. Oh, that's just notgonna happen.
$6.85. It's just not gonnahappen. Correct.

Rooster (01:56:09):
What I sold it to you for.

Gizmo (01:56:11):
It's a

Bam Bam (01:56:12):
it's a different box.

Gizmo (01:56:12):
I have

Bam Bam (01:56:13):
a broker involved. You It's a

Gizmo (01:56:14):
different box.

Pagoda (01:56:14):
I bet $6.90.

Gizmo (01:56:17):
And he finishes here saying, I'd love to try one of
these Partagas cigars, but ahundred and $10 seems completely
nuts to me. Then Lizard Greg whoprompted that question starting
the quest yeah. This thediscussion about selling to
friends. He said, I'm glad theselling to friends question
sparked such an interestingdebate. It was a ton of fun to
listen to.
I wish Pooba was there for it,though.

Bam Bam (01:56:36):
Oh, no. I don't. Also I do.

Gizmo (01:56:39):
Also I do too. Also, if the lizard of the week prize is
a sweatshirt, I'm a two XL. DidI hear senator question why the
Monte Cristo Humidor in thefestival auction had a fleur de
lis on it? The same fleur de listhat's in the middle of the
money band and on every logo ofevery box. Maybe he was blinded
by all of the yellow, but butfor a moment, I thought it might

(01:57:00):
have been a question from Bam.

Bam Bam (01:57:03):
Thank you.

Gizmo (01:57:05):
This one's a good one too.

Bam Bam (01:57:06):
Thank God for my AI image.

Gizmo (01:57:08):
You have a new AI image right here.

Bam Bam (01:57:10):
Uh-huh.

Gizmo (01:57:11):
This one's from lizard Enrique. He always sends us a
great email. He says, lizards,Bam deserves credit for for
Shit. For his relentless abilityto create content for this
podcast. Most recently for hisrobber baron philosophy of
profiteering off of cigars hewould purchase from a fellow
lizard after the fundador'sreselling caper of 2025.

Bam Bam (01:57:33):
That. Robber

Gizmo (01:57:34):
baron. He deserves his flowers for always walking into
the manhole. What a completelegend.

Bam Bam (01:57:40):
Let's

Gizmo (01:57:41):
see. I've also taken the liberty of using AI to develop
this image of Bam with his listof rules. Great episode this
week as always, lizard Enrique.And here is Bam Bam Boys with
the 10 Bam Bam manments.

Bam Bam (01:57:55):
Oh my lord.

Pagoda (01:57:57):
Which one do you which one do you prefer?

Bam Bam (01:58:00):
Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.

Gizmo (01:58:03):
No. It's an old man in the desert with cigar in his
mouth.

Pagoda (01:58:06):
That guy looks Arabic. There 10 There are Arab
Christians out there.

Gizmo (01:58:09):
Bam Bam manments.

Bam Bam (01:58:10):
He's got a little bit of gray.

Pagoda (01:58:11):
I don't know. It.

Senator (01:58:12):
Take it. What's the correct term for the thing on
his head?

Bam Bam (01:58:16):
Oh, I don't know what that that's

Senator (01:58:18):
The turban?

Pagoda (01:58:19):
No. Not a turban. That's the Arabic whatever It's

Gizmo (01:58:22):
a hair covering.

Bam Bam (01:58:23):
It's a babushka. No. Hijab what do you call that?
Hijab is what the ladies wear. Idon't know what that

Gizmo (01:58:28):
male version of that.

Bam Bam (01:58:29):
They don't wear them. That's

Rooster (01:58:32):
It's like he's like a saint. Yes. He's a priestly
figure.

Bam Bam (01:58:36):
Bam Bam Bam is definitely not a saint. So I
figured you might like- How dareyou? I figured

Gizmo (01:58:43):
you might like this one better than your other AI image.

Pagoda (01:58:45):
I don't know.

Gizmo (01:58:46):
That's a little more holy.

Pagoda (01:58:47):
I can him and a camel right there. Correct.

Gizmo (01:58:50):
Well, he gave you your flowers, Bam. Yeah. I love it.
So take them. Alright.
Finally on this issue.

Bam Bam (01:58:54):
Sorry. Can

Senator (01:58:55):
I quickly go back to the listener that mentioned the
Monty episode? That was actuallya really great flag. It is
amazing. I mean, first of all,when I made that comment, no one
in the room corrected me to sayrealize it. That there's a fleur
de lis in the center of everyMonty band.
I'll be honest. I to this untilthis listener's email, I had
never recognized that that was afleur de lis in the center of
the band. Wow.

Gizmo (01:59:15):
Neither did I. None of What's funny is when I saw that
email, obviously I had been inthe episode and edited it, I
didn't even remember or thinkabout the fact that you had said
that. Like, didn't even flag forme that that was the case, so
I'm right there with you.

Bam Bam (01:59:31):
That's a great email.

Gizmo (01:59:32):
It happens. And finishing up on on the selling to friends,
this one's from Blizzard John.He said, I love the intra lizard
debate at the episode's end. Itend to agree with Giz that both
time and intent are key.Correct.
Given that Bam did notoriginally intend to resell the
box and several years had goneby, it absolves him of any guilt

(01:59:53):
in my courtroom.

Bam Bam (01:59:54):
Lizard of the week.

Gizmo (01:59:55):
Nor nor do I think he should have to give up any money
he might make on the resale.It's just my 2¢. Great episode
per usual.

Senator (02:00:05):
2¢ is correct.

Bam Bam (02:00:06):
Good 2¢.

Pagoda (02:00:07):
Ridiculous. Well, finally, have a capitalist over
here.

Gizmo (02:00:12):
Alright, boys. Before we get to our ratings, it's time to
do one more email. This lizardis going to be our lizard of the
week. This one is lizard Bill.He says, hello there, lizards.
First off, congratulations onsurpassing episode one hundred
and 70 We

Senator (02:00:26):
have to go back to that last

Bam Bam (02:00:27):
No. We don't.

Senator (02:00:30):
I'm sorry. This whole notion at the time at which
someone bought the box in Bam'scase, he didn't know that he was
gonna sell it. That's correct.No one could know that the
prices of these cigars wouldexplode the way they have.

Bam Bam (02:00:42):
Oh, we knew.

Senator (02:00:43):
But once No. We did not, though. If we did, we'd all
have five towers. And so giventhat, I'm sorry, as soon as then
you're operating in, the realityof the situation, which is,
woah, now this box that I boughtis worth three, four times what
I bought it for, your optionsare, do I sell it at a profit,

(02:01:04):
or do I go back to my friend whovery graciously sourced this for
me, and now I'm looking to justmove it, and offer him an
opportunity to buy it back atthe price he did, or say,
Actually, I feel a little badabout this. Thought I wanted the
box, I don't anymore.
If we sell it, do you want theproceeds? Do you want to split
it? The fact that thatconversation doesn't happen, I

(02:01:25):
think, is the problem. So I Ithink it's ridiculous to suggest
at that time we didn't know. Weknow now.
And what do

Bam Bam (02:01:32):
you do about it? Are you are you done? Are you done?

Pagoda (02:01:34):
No. You just split the profit.

Rooster (02:01:36):
No. Can I can I add add to that?

Bam Bam (02:01:38):
$980.

Rooster (02:01:40):
I'm just saying I should have the first right of
refusal.

Senator (02:01:43):
For sure.

Rooster (02:01:44):
That's that's all

Gizmo (02:01:44):
I have.

Rooster (02:01:45):
Let me

Gizmo (02:01:45):
just say for everybody

Pagoda (02:01:46):
in this room At the same price you gave it at.

Gizmo (02:01:48):
And for the lizards and for the lizards in the email,
the box that Bam is selling, andI confirm this to Rooster with
the box code It was is not the

Pagoda (02:01:56):
same box.

Gizmo (02:01:57):
It's not his box. Correct. So the foundation of
the argument is accurate. Itsounds Sounds

Rooster (02:02:02):
a bit shady.

Bam Bam (02:02:03):
It's a baseless it's a baseless argument.

Gizmo (02:02:06):
Bam, I appreciate the profit you're sharing with me on

Bam Bam (02:02:08):
the Fox, by the

Pagoda (02:02:09):
You got it.

Gizmo (02:02:10):
Alright, boys. It's time now to move to the final email
of our evening and this emailfrom Lizard Bill. He's gonna be
our lizard of the week. Everyweek, we give away lizard of the
week, of course, boys. And allof these emails, of course, were
eligible.
But tonight, Lizard Bill is thewinner. He says, hello there,
lizards. First off,congratulations on surpassing
episode 175. It's crazy to thinkhow many years have already

(02:02:34):
passed. It really feels likejust a few weeks ago when I
stumbled upon your podcastbecause Giz and I met on a
Discord.
I have a question andsuggestion. Has the idea of
adding box codes and years tothe ratings archive ever been
discussed? As we all know withCuban cigars, the code and gear
are almost as important as themarca and vitola itself. I'm

(02:02:56):
sure a lot of people are like meand try to hunt down well
reviewed cigars and to have aframe of reference of a specific
boxer year and the factorycombination, e g, the famous lub
14 to either seek or avoid mightprove very beneficial when going
back through the archive. Itcould also provide a useful
reference for what is ready toroll right now and what might

(02:03:16):
need to sit and marinate for alittle while based on review,
especially if when previouslyreviewed cigars getting
revisited like we're doing withthe Redux on some cigars.
Two weeks ago, we did the punchpunch punch. Are from the same
box as the original review ornot? Just some food for thought.
Again, congratulations on thesuccess of the pod. It makes
Tuesday mornings one of the morepalatable mornings at work for

(02:03:39):
me.
My only complaint is that I wishit were two or more times a week
instead of one. Take care, myfriends, and here's to many more
years and many more episodes tocome. Cheers, lizard Bill. Wow.
Great email.

Bam Bam (02:03:53):
Are you gonna get on that? I knew

Gizmo (02:03:55):
it was coming.

Bam Bam (02:03:56):
That's a workload issue.

Gizmo (02:03:57):
I saw this email. Was like, this is definitely some
work for me with 180 episodesunder our belt.

Bam Bam (02:04:01):
It's a

Rooster (02:04:01):
bit Before you begin, I have an idea about, you know,
gifting the lizard of the week.You should get a fundy from my
box.

Bam Bam (02:04:11):
Bad ass. Well, funny thing. I'm like smoking through
that box. I got like.

Gizmo (02:04:18):
He's not selling it, though.

Bam Bam (02:04:20):
That box I kept.

Gizmo (02:04:21):
It's for personal consumption only.

Rooster (02:04:23):
Correct. He sold that box long time ago.

Bam Bam (02:04:25):
Oh, no. No. I stared at it this evening before I came
here.

Gizmo (02:04:30):
So, yeah, I mean, what do you guys think about adding
codes? Do you think that that'ssomething that we should do? You
know, the workload,

I think in the tequila mezcal world, lot
numbers are important. So whenyou're able to source tequila or
mezcal, most mezcals have it,especially any any that we
recommend and most tequilas haveit as well, but not all. I do
think it's an important factor.

Bam Bam (02:04:53):
I have a question, though. Does the average tequila
or mezcal buyer actually go and

The average? No. Nope. The average, no, but I
think if there's somebody thatis an aficionado just like the
person who's writing this aboutthe cigars

Senator (02:05:07):
And you.

Bam Bam (02:05:09):
Yes. It's rare, but in the world of cigars, it kind of
makes sense.

Rooster (02:05:13):
Sure.

Senator (02:05:15):
Yeah. I'm sorry. I feel like we've talked about box
codes a number of times, and Ithink in the early days of our
podcast, I think we were reallyobsessive about box codes, and I
thought we got to a place wherewe got away from a lot of that.

(02:05:35):
And my experience has been mean,you know, we've had Cuban cigars
with great box codes that havenot performed well, that have
even had construction issues,and we sit there surprised.

Bam Bam (02:05:46):
Not the Lub 14.

Senator (02:05:48):
That that's an exception. It's an anomaly. But
I'm at a place where I reallydon't care that much about box
codes anymore. To me personally,that wouldn't provide a whole
lot of value. I don't, in anyway at this point, chase certain
box codes.
To me, it's kind of luck of thedraw, and recent runs, the box

(02:06:09):
code doesn't really seem tomatter. You're you're almost
guaranteed

Bam Bam (02:06:12):
They've all been great.

Rooster (02:06:13):
Yeah. A well constructed cigar.

Gizmo (02:06:14):
I think the difference now versus then, and I'm saying
now in the twenty twentiesversus prior to that, you know,
when you had a great box coat ora great cigar coming out of this
specific factory at a specifictime, there was an outlier
potential or an element of apotential greatness when the
rest of the run around that timewasn't great. Especially when

(02:06:35):
you talk about mother factoriesversus provincials, etcetera,
which is why the factory codedocument is so powerful for
people buying on Bon Roberts,etcetera, going back and buying
stuff in time.

Senator (02:06:46):
Also though, keep in mind, we've talked about some of
the most highly regarded Cubancigars are actually only rolled
at provincials.

Gizmo (02:06:53):
That's right. So that's where now I agree with you, and
I'm the guy that put thatdocument together, right?

Bam Bam (02:07:00):
Yeah.

Gizmo (02:07:00):
I agree that now I'm not even as focused on box coats
because the stuff recently hasbeen so good over the last five
years that, you know, you'regetting anything 21, you know,
and newer, everything's smokinggreat. I mean, production is
lower. The quality has improvedoverall. I don't think anybody
out there buying Cuban cigarstoday is going to say that a

(02:07:23):
provincial cigar is smokingpoorer generally than what
you're getting out of a motherfactory.

Bam Bam (02:07:28):
I

Gizmo (02:07:28):
think it's just different. I don't disagree with
Lizard Bill here that thatearlier stuff to to Ricky's
point, you know, that stuff thatwe were smoking earlier on that
has a lot of age on it, addingfactory codes. But some of the
stuff now, I just don't thinkit's as relevant as it used to
be.

Bam Bam (02:07:45):
There is something to getting a Mother Factory code on
your box that you buy. There'ssomething interesting. You see
that. It's a differentexperience when you buy it and
you look at it, but then you doforget about it after a while.
It's not really effective.
I don't

Senator (02:07:59):
know if it's a different experience. Think, you
know, your mind is kind oftrained to think that that's
gonna be better in

Bam Bam (02:08:06):
some way. A better experience.

Senator (02:08:07):
And I think Gizmo's point is a really good one. I
mean, I mentioned our evolutionas a group. We went from being
obsessive about these codes tonow feeling like they're not as
important. Mhmm. Yeah.
And you think about, you know,when we started this podcast, a
lot of the boxes that we weregetting at that time were pre
2020. Yeah. And when they didactually mean more, and now, you

(02:08:28):
know, there's more parity inkind of the construction across
factories and that's a that's agood thing for all cigars.

Gizmo (02:08:34):
Absolutely. And they're not trying to bum rush as many
cigars out of Cuba as they usedto.

Bam Bam (02:08:38):
Mhmm.

Gizmo (02:08:39):
You know, they're making a significantly lower percentage
of cigars by volume than theyused to make Yeah. Five or ten
years ago. I don't think that'sever gonna go back up. There's a
bunch of reasons why, but it'sjust things have changed.

Senator (02:08:51):
And I also think, you know, to my earlier point around
price point, when we weretalking about years ago when box
codes mattered, I mean, this iswhen you were buying Cuban
cigars for 8 to $12.15 at mostdollars a stick, and the
expectations around quality at$8 a stick are certainly
different than the expectationsat $30.40 dollars a stick. And I

(02:09:14):
think even Cuba has had toreconcile with the simple fact
that at these higher pricepoints they just keep
increasing, and and thatexpectation is now much higher.
They know people are not goingto be buying Cuban cigars at
$20.30, $40.50, a hundreddollars a stick Mhmm. If you
can't get a well constructedcigar.

Bam Bam (02:09:35):
Regardless of where it's made.

Senator (02:09:36):
Where I think we were all more forgiving. I mean, when
we were smoking Cubans yearsago, they were cheaper than New
World cigars, and so we were waymore forgiving where if a third
of the box was tightlyconstructed, a little
frustrating, and two thirds weregreat at that price, we weren't
all that But now at this price,it's a whole different ballgame.

Bam Bam (02:09:58):
Yeah.

Gizmo (02:09:58):
And to your point, we're just experiencing that most of
the stuff that we're gettingwith newer codes has been
smoking great. Correct. I Ican't tell you the last time
that I've really fought with abox of Cuban cigars

Bam Bam (02:10:10):
That's true.

Gizmo (02:10:11):
Made in twenty one, twenty two, twenty three, twenty
four.

Rooster (02:10:14):
And how are you going to source these box codes? I
mean, as it is, they're not evenshipping them to us. So the only
way you can find them is eitheron Bond Roberts or the Facebook
groups. Private sellers. Right.
Which is hard.

Bam Bam (02:10:28):
Yeah.

Gizmo (02:10:28):
It's tough. The whole dynamic has changed. By the way,
coming out of Cuba, I've heardfrom a few different sources
that the whole box code thing ischanging and going away, which
comes to the question I get alot as to why codes haven't
changed in over three years.

Bam Bam (02:10:43):
Well, they're changing soon. I

Gizmo (02:10:44):
think they're moving away from actually marking the boxes
with codes, and they may justmove to dates or some sort of
NFC technology. So I thinkthat's why they've hesitated
changing is because that wholesystem is gonna be either going
away or changing entirely.Because obviously, I get a lot
of emails like, hey, why haven'tthe codes been updated? And it's

(02:11:05):
simply because the codes haven'tbeen updated. And we've asked
the

Bam Bam (02:11:08):
last two times we were there.

Gizmo (02:11:09):
We ask every single time. I ask every single person that
matters at any of thesefactories or in the industry
there when we go to Cuba. Yep.What's going on? And nothing's
changed.
So it is what it is. Alright,boys. We're coming to the end of
our evening tonight with boththe Santiago eight years aged
and the 11 years aged and theCohiba Behike 58. What is

(02:11:31):
everybody thinking about ourcigar, about the two pairings?
Give me your your summaryjudgment before we move into the
specific ratings.

Bam Bam (02:11:40):
I can't get enough of this 11. Right now, it's
drinking so good. It'sdelicious. It's kind of
overtaken the cigar for me. It'sprobably the best thing that
I've experienced tonight.

Rooster (02:11:53):
And the best part about this cigar is the last quarter
inch.

Bam Bam (02:11:56):
Yeah, it's good.

Senator (02:11:57):
Are you serious? Because I actually feel that
way.

Gizmo (02:11:59):
Yeah, good. I'm loving the end.

Rooster (02:12:01):
Last quarter inch is

Bam Bam (02:12:02):
the whole Totally agree.

Rooster (02:12:03):
Whole cigar.

Bam Bam (02:12:04):
Totally agree.

Senator (02:12:05):
For me, the last quarter inch, and it's really
bizarre because the last inch isdifferent. The last quarter inch
marries together the richer,medium bodied flavor notes that
I started to get in the finalthird with that like butteriness
of the first two thirds of thecigar into something that like

(02:12:26):
if this were all the waythrough, I would have enjoyed a
whole lot more. So I I Rooster'sspot on. For me, this is easily
the best part of the cigar, andit's just odd because I don't
know that I've ever smoked acigar and it needed to get to
the final quarter of an inch tosay, wow, this is the best part.

Rooster (02:12:45):
Like, finally, it's there.

Bam Bam (02:12:47):
Have to say, chef, you have to say the retro right now
is outstanding.

Yep. Just piggybacking off of Senator
there with everything kind ofenhancing and that butteriness
still being present, but not forme, it's all toasty, brown
butter, nutty, Savory. It's it'sit's it's yeah. Mean The last
the last more of this quarterinch. Oh,

Bam Bam (02:13:13):
you're you're doing the fingernail move, see. I

Rooster (02:13:17):
was gonna say the last $27 of the cigar is

Bam Bam (02:13:19):
really tasty.

Gizmo (02:13:23):
Alright, boys. It's time to move into our first formal
liquor rating tonight on theSantiago De Cuba, Eight years
aged. Bam, bam, you're up.

Bam Bam (02:13:32):
I'm at a firm seven. Seven? Yeah. I liked it. I can't
say that I hated it.
It was pretty smooth and easy todrink. I didn't get the heat
that some of the guys in theroom got. It just wasn't
interesting enough for mecompared to what I'm drinking
now. Seven. Okay.
Chef Ricky. I'm at an eight onthe eight.

I I liked it. I thought it was a little brighter
than the eleven. I didn't mindthe heat. I I like that a little
bit. Yeah.
I think it was a delicious rum,delivered well, paired well with
the cigar. I'm at an eight.

Gizmo (02:14:08):
Okay. Pagoda? I'm at

Pagoda (02:14:10):
an eight as well. I think for me it was, you know,
now that I'm comparing betweenthe eight and the 11, there was
something I really enjoyed aboutthe eight in the sense that it
was lighter, a little more, youknow, more reminiscent of the
lighter rums in terms of, I likethe seven, I like the Havana
Seven, I like the Flodo Canaseven. Closer to that thing. The

(02:14:33):
issue was that I did feel theheat, and otherwise I would have
rated it even slightly higher,

Bam Bam (02:14:40):
Higher than an eight?

Pagoda (02:14:41):
Yeah. It was an eight for me. I enjoyed it.

Bam Bam (02:14:45):
You

Gizmo (02:14:47):
want that Twilight's on So for me, it's also an eight. I
really like Santiago eight.

Bam Bam (02:14:53):
Alright.

Gizmo (02:14:53):
Thought it was very good. I don't think it's the best of
Cuban rum. I don't think it'scertainly the best of the
Santiago offering from Cuba, butI thought it was very, very
good. I loved it from the firstsip. I think it's a versatile
spirit.
I think it could work with a lotof different types of cigars
inside Cuba and outside Cuba.Certainly, it's not as refined
as the 11, which I think all ofour ratings will reflect, and

(02:15:16):
we'll talk about that in aminute. But I'm very happy with
this rum tonight. So it's aneight for me. Listen, at $29, I
I don't think that's a badprice.

Rooster (02:15:24):
I don't

Gizmo (02:15:25):
think that's a bad price.

Bam Bam (02:15:25):
Let me ask you a question. If you're if you're at
the Parquet Central and you'vegot a choice between the eight
and the 11, you're gonna go tothe eight?

Gizmo (02:15:34):
No. I'd probably go to the 11, and my rating

Bam Bam (02:15:35):
will reflect that.

Because eleven is probably gonna be rated higher.

Pagoda (02:15:38):
Okay. Alright. Same here.

Gizmo (02:15:39):
Alright. Senator.

Senator (02:15:40):
Yeah. So I I'm in lockstep with most. I'm at an
eight. Unlike his, I did notenjoy this on the first sip. It
took some time for me toappreciate this.
What I like about it is this isprobably the driest in the
Santiago line. That's It'sentirety. Eight, eleven, 12, 20.

Bam Bam (02:16:02):
Mhmm.

Senator (02:16:03):
And that's more my style, so I like that. You know,
it's definitely lighter likePagoda said. That's commensurate
with every seven or eight year,you know, rum period. But I I
also appreciated that at what istypically a lighter bodied rum
at seven or eight years, itstill has it has some more

(02:16:25):
richness that a lot of othersdon't. Wow.
Honestly, this is a richerprofile at eight years than Flor
De Cano Seven Definitely. Thaneven Havana Seven. Havana Seven
is more complex, BAM. That'swhere I agree

Bam Bam (02:16:39):
with you. But the Flor de Cano for me is a much more
robust experience than this andmuch just my opinion.

Senator (02:16:47):
I think because you can probably Wow. Appreciate more
flavor notes

Bam Bam (02:16:51):
That's correct.

Senator (02:16:52):
Which is where I'm going with complexity. So I
agree with you there. Oncomplexity, at the seven, eight
year category, I would takeHavana Seven Hakanya. Oh yeah.
And I've rated both of thosehigher than

Bam Bam (02:17:06):
Hakanya. Correct.

Pagoda (02:17:07):
In fact, we rated it a 10 I think.

Bam Bam (02:17:09):
Correct. Correct.

Senator (02:17:10):
So I I think for me that's why I'm comfortable on
eight. I don't have a problemwith your seven. I I definitely
debated between

Pagoda (02:17:16):
the Sure. Same here. Sure.

Senator (02:17:17):
Did. But what edged it to the eight for me is I like a
drier flavor profile, and I wasthrilled to finally find
something in the Santiago linethat is much drier than most.
And and I think it it pairs wellwith this cigar. I think it
would pair well with a verybroad range of cigars. I think

(02:17:38):
it's versatile.
So, you know, at its veryaccessible price point, I think
it's a really solid rum and anda recommend.

Bam Bam (02:17:46):
Alright.

Gizmo (02:17:47):
Alright, boys. So that puts the formal liquor rating
tonight on the Santiago De Cuba,Eight Years aged at 7.8.

Bam Bam (02:17:55):
Well, I think that's pretty fair.

Gizmo (02:17:56):
I agree. It's a good score. And now it's time to move
into the eleven years agedSantiago De Cuba rum.

Bam Bam (02:18:01):
Mhmm.

Gizmo (02:18:02):
Bam bam,

Rooster (02:18:02):
you're up again.

Bam Bam (02:18:03):
I'm at a firm nine. On this.

Gizmo (02:18:05):
You're jumping two points.

Bam Bam (02:18:06):
Yeah. I love the richness of this. There's a
touch of sweetness that I didn'tget in the eight. It's a more
complex experience. There's morebody to this than the eight.
And as I drink more and more ofit, and it's not because I'm
inebriated, it gives me it givesme more of a richer experience.

Senator (02:18:27):
If you have to say that.

Bam Bam (02:18:28):
I might be. For any lizard out there,

Gizmo (02:18:31):
the email is hello@loungelizardspod.com.Dotnet.com.

Bam Bam (02:18:40):
I'm right there with you, buddy. Yeah. I'm at a nine.
I I love this. Early on, youknow, both weren't tasting what
I remember it to be, but as Idrink more and more of this, I I
I remember why I love this.
I'm at a nine.

Senator (02:18:53):
You remember why you love this. Isn't this bizarre?
We both had from this bottle Iknow. A week ago

Bam Bam (02:18:59):
I know.

Senator (02:18:59):
And we both hated it. Dude, totally different. For
context, Bam literally was sodisappointed.

Bam Bam (02:19:04):
I was really fucking disappointed with He

Senator (02:19:06):
said to Lizard Henry, I'll trade you one bottle of
Santago 11 for two bottles VannaI thought Vanna seven.

Bam Bam (02:19:13):
Seven. I was ready to do that deal.

Senator (02:19:15):
And I honestly I I had one pour of it, and I I didn't
even want another. It was sweet,so it's wild how this has
changed.

Bam Bam (02:19:22):
It's just more as I drink it more, you kinda get
settled in your palate, and forme, the adjustment was perfect
for tonight. Nine. Alright, ChefRicky. I'm also at a nine.

Here with the Santiago 11, I thought it
presented more fruit forwardrather than vanilla. I thought
it was a lot more complex androunder in flavor, fuller in
flavor. Didn't have the heat orthe brightness of the of the
eight, but it still deliveredbecause for me, the profile
changed from vanilla to brightfruit. It delivered some

(02:19:57):
brightness and some, you know,more vibrant notes that I I
enjoyed. So, yeah, for me, it'sa nine, and I still think it you
know, I mean, the eight at 29was a bargain.
The 11 at double the price isstill a bargain. I'd happily
stock both of these rums.

Gizmo (02:20:12):
All right. Pagoda?

Pagoda (02:20:14):
It's a nine for me, and I think, you know, it's really
interesting. Like, you gothrough the eight, and then you
go through the 11. The 11 didprovide a little bit of
sweetness, which I think I wasseeking. I don't know whether it
was because of the cigar orwhatever the experience I was
feeling. I really enjoyed theway it was delivering on the
palate.

(02:20:34):
It was very smooth in its ownright, and no harshness at all.
I just drank very smooth and abit sweeter. Just enjoyed it a
lot more, more than the eight.So it's a nine for me.

Gizmo (02:20:47):
Yeah. So it's also a nine for me. I think this is a step
up from the Santiago eight. Ithink it's a step down from the
20. I'm curious how I would feelabout the 12 under the
microscope here.
I I just love the spirit. Itdrinks so easily. It drinks so
smooth. It pairs great withcigars. I've enjoyed it from the
first moment I ever had it inCuba many, many moons ago.

(02:21:08):
Tonight, under the microscope, Ithink it performed very, very
well. It was definitely anelevated experience versus the
8, and at $59 I think it's just,I think it's a great bargain for
an eleven years aged rum. Youknow, I really love it.

Bam Bam (02:21:23):
We're just so used to buying that Havana Club seven.

Gizmo (02:21:25):
I know, the Havana Club seven's great. But really
enjoyed this spirit tonight, soit's a nine for

Bam Bam (02:21:30):
me.

Senator (02:21:30):
Senator. Yeah, so it's wild for me. It's also a nine,
and I say wild because I've hadthis many times, and it's never
been a nine for me until thisbottle tonight.

Bam Bam (02:21:44):
We've had a lot of interesting nights with this
bottle.

Senator (02:21:46):
Yeah, it's just strange. I've always found it to
be extremely sweet. I've neverreally understood. And you know,
when you're in Havana, a lot ofpeople love Santiago Eleven. At
this point, I'm gonna bring likea decanter with me to Cuba just
to decant this because that'sthe only thing that has happened

(02:22:07):
here.
Yeah. We opened this a week ago.

Bam Bam (02:22:09):
So that's exactly right.

Senator (02:22:10):
And it somehow was opening up that overly sweet rum
taste is gone into somethingthat's more refined and
Disappates nicely. Mhmm. You'reable to pull out more distinct
flavor notes. But I'm I'm veryglad that I had this experience
because I could this is for mehas always been the most

(02:22:31):
polarizing rum in that I'vedebated plenty of times. I mean

Gizmo (02:22:35):
You and I had a serious argument over eleven versus
twelve. If you remember in PinarDel Rio, we had a major argument
of about eleven versus twelve.

Bam Bam (02:22:44):
I still

Senator (02:22:45):
stand by.

You didn't find any reason

Bam Bam (02:22:47):
for arguing. Sidelines for that one.

Gizmo (02:22:49):
I still stand by. Again, for my my tank top on.

Bam Bam (02:22:52):
Correct.

Senator (02:22:52):
Well, that was part of

Gizmo (02:22:54):
the argument.

Bam Bam (02:22:56):
That's always part of the argument.

Senator (02:22:59):
But I still stand by. I mean, for my palate, you know,
the 12 is drier. That's why theeight was a revelation for me in
the sense that that's the driestI've had in the line, and it's
nice to see that that's kindawhere this all comes from. And
so like that's that's there andwith more time I mean, truly, as
you go up the line well, I guessthe 12 is what I can't explain.
Why the 12 is drier than eleven?

Bam Bam (02:23:20):
Because the

Senator (02:23:21):
20 is sweeter than all of these.

Bam Bam (02:23:24):
That makes sense. It's

Senator (02:23:26):
complex in flavor that like it helps balance out that
sweetness in a good way. So I'mjust glad. It's hopefully added
something to my Cuban rumrepertoire that like I would
actually order this in Havanawhere wherever we go, we're
always just drinking reallyHavana Club. So it's definitely
a strong nine and it's a greatrum. I really have not one

(02:23:50):
complaint.

I think that the cantering has a lot to do with
it, but I think maybe somethingwe're not talking about is
really how the cigar paired withthe rum and maybe how the cigar
may have influenced the flavorjust a bit. You know, the
butteriness of that of thebajique coconut, coconut. Yeah.
% like while the truck. Hey,listen, this is it's a Cuban
cigar with a Cuban roe.

(02:24:12):
I mean, tropical fruits, youknow, on the palate isn't a

Bam Bam (02:24:16):
perfect fruit.

Gizmo (02:24:19):
Technically, that's wet fruit.

Bam Bam (02:24:21):
That's true. Correct. You motherfucker.

Gizmo (02:24:28):
No. You're totally right, Ricky. And that puts the former
liquor rating tonight on the 11years age Santiago De Cuba rum
at a nine point zero. So let'scompare that to the other two.
Of course, we just did theSantiago Eight, scored a 7.8.
And on episode 76 over a hundredepisodes ago, we did the
Santiago De Cuba Twenty Yearsthat senator was just talking

(02:24:49):
about rated a 10. So 7.8 for theeight, a nine point zero for the
11, and a 10 perfect score forthe Santiago Twenty. Makes
sense. So now it's time to trythe 12 years aged Yeah. Santiago
De Cuba the next time we

come back I wonder why they went from 11 to 12,
maybe not do a 15.

Gizmo (02:25:10):
We've always wondered that. We we've always talked
about that. I don't understandwhy they do an eight, eleven, a
12, and a 20.

Bam Bam (02:25:15):
You know, I had one glass of the 12. I can't comment
enough on it. I need to have itagain. I haven't I I can't
remember.

Rooster (02:25:22):
I mean, the

Senator (02:25:22):
thing I give it credit for, you would think that that
year wouldn't do anything ofsignificance.

Bam Bam (02:25:28):
In

Senator (02:25:29):
the past, there's been a pretty stark difference in the
two, which is why I think it'sdefinitely worthwhile. I

Bam Bam (02:25:36):
mean Agreed.

Senator (02:25:37):
They clearly knew that extra year did something.

Gizmo (02:25:40):
Sure. Alright, boys. Now it is time to move into the
formal lizard rating tonight onthe Cohiba Bihike 58, the
biggest cigar we've ever done onthis podcast, the most expensive
retail price we've ever done onthis podcast.

Bam Bam (02:25:57):
You gotta put the price aside tonight, boys.

Yeah. You

Pagoda (02:26:00):
have to. You almost have to

Bam Bam (02:26:01):
do the

same thing. I think at most, you can knock at one
point for the price.

Rooster (02:26:05):
How can you do that?

Gizmo (02:26:06):
$700. Unbelievable. All right, Rooster. Good luck. You
are

Rooster (02:26:12):
off. Here we go. So every Tuesday morning, almost
everybody looks forward to a newepisode that comes out. I cringe
because I know the split wise iscoming. I am

Gizmo (02:26:30):
so glad that tomorrow there's gonna be

Rooster (02:26:32):
a big fat zero in the split wise.

Bam Bam (02:26:34):
So

Rooster (02:26:37):
but but this cigar

Senator (02:26:38):
That's because Bam picked it up.

Gizmo (02:26:39):
Yeah. Bam Bam's buying. Correct. Our $4,900 night
tonight.

Bam Bam (02:26:43):
That's correct.

Rooster (02:26:44):
You can keep the Funda Dora.

Bam Bam (02:26:46):
Done. Done.

Rooster (02:26:49):
So this cigar, I mean, just on the light, it was so
hard to tell for me at leastthat this even was a Behike. It
was very fleeting, the notesthat I was getting from this
cigar, almost throughout thecigar, that it did not feel like
a bejique should be. The flavornotes on the bejiques, it's got

(02:27:09):
a lot more flavor, a lot moreoomph. You taste that
mediatiempo. That did not comethrough for me almost till the
very end.
Very end. I mean, I'm talkinglike a quarter inch of that
cigar.

Bam Bam (02:27:21):
Right there with you.

Rooster (02:27:22):
Yeah. I mean, that's when it really got delicious.

Senator (02:27:26):
I

Rooster (02:27:26):
mean, that's what you want out of a 700 bejique to
come throughout. From thebeginning to the end, that
should come through. And it didnot for me. I had minor
construction issue with thatcigar. The flavor, I mean, it
was buttery, like you all said,like buttery and salty.
There was a little bit of anutty walnut note that came

(02:27:47):
through. I didn't quite get thetropical fruit thing happening.

Just in this corner.

Bam Bam (02:27:55):
Yeah, I guess.

Rooster (02:27:57):
So for all of those reasons, I kind of have to keep
the price point intoconsideration. For a $700 cigar,
it should just absolutely blowus away. And honestly, did not.
So I'm at a 7.

Gizmo (02:28:13):
Alright. Senator.

Senator (02:28:16):
Oh, man. The entire night, I've been, like, one of
the last

Bam Bam (02:28:19):
to get to go, and now I get to

Senator (02:28:21):
go early. I I had

Bam Bam (02:28:22):
such strong opinions on everything else. Jesus. Hit the
launch button now. Oh, boy.

Senator (02:28:29):
This is It's hard. Really hard for me

Gizmo (02:28:31):
It is

Senator (02:28:32):
hard. Ironic this last quarter of an inch Bro. Is
outstanding. I just relit thecigar at this point, and I've
never I I really don't like thewhole roach clip thing.

Bam Bam (02:28:49):
Mhmm. I really

Senator (02:28:50):
don't. Like, really don't. But, boy, I wish I had
one right now. Like, this isspectacular in just this little
quarter of an inch.

Bam Bam (02:28:59):
It's incredible.

Gizmo (02:29:01):
Senator is holding, quite literally out there for the
listener, it's a stub, and so isBam. I mean, it's less than half
an inch.

Rooster (02:29:09):
At the quarter inch mark, it's a solid 10.

Bam Bam (02:29:12):
If this was the experience from the beginning,
from inception down to this

Gizmo (02:29:15):
point No doubt. Oh.

Bam Bam (02:29:17):
And it's a shame. Man, I'm

Senator (02:29:19):
I'm it's just hard because this was so easy before
where there was nothingmemorable about this cigar. It'd
be so easy to give this a sevenand just say, it was never
offensive. There were some goodqualities about it, but it's
nothing that really impresses orknocks your socks off. It's
nothing worth chasing orpursuing.

Bam Bam (02:29:38):
Until you get to the bloody end.

Senator (02:29:39):
Until you get to this quarter inch.

It's kinda late.

Senator (02:29:40):
I am just it it's Yeah. Very late.

Pagoda (02:29:43):
A lot of people would have put it

Senator (02:29:45):
down by now. It's like operating on True. It's like
operating on rooster time. Yeah.I mean, this is just I'm gonna
round up, and I'm gonna give itan eight.
And the the reason I I justtruly I can't I would not be
able to fill up one hand innaming the number of cigars that
I have gotten down to thispoint.

Gizmo (02:30:06):
I don't know if I've ever seen you get far

Senator (02:30:08):
this far do this. Like, this is not there's no cigar
where you get this far into astick. Your hands are burning
that this is the best part ofthe experience. At that point,
it's starting to get hot. Theflavor's starting to get a

little bottled.

Bam Bam (02:30:22):
Fingers are burning.

Senator (02:30:22):
And, like, it's good enough that you may try to smoke
it, but it's never the starfish.Gets delicious.

Rooster (02:30:28):
Yeah. And you kinda wanna smoke the cigar upside
down.

Bam Bam (02:30:31):
Something

Pagoda (02:30:33):
people do Light

Rooster (02:30:34):
the wrong end first.

Pagoda (02:30:37):
Well, Giz, you should have cut the other end.

Gizmo (02:30:39):
I should have.

Pagoda (02:30:39):
I should that way today. Pick one of the corners.

Bam Bam (02:30:42):
Doesn't work that way, unfortunately. Right?

Senator (02:30:44):
This is ridiculous right now. I just, man, I'm so
sad that they couldn't producethis blend to deliver this
experience all the

Rooster (02:30:52):
way like the media tempo is at the end. They ran
out. It a very short leaf, theyjust put it at the end.

Senator (02:31:02):
Yeah. But the reasons I'll give it an eight, the
construction I thought wasactually excellent. I did not
have any burn issues. The ashheld on. No wrapper issues.
Nothing cracked. All the waythrough I thought it was great.
The combustion for a 58 ringgauge cigar delivered the
experience you expect. I feellike we've had a some bad luck

(02:31:23):
recently with large ring gaugecigars where we've been
complaining that we're notgetting enough combustion. This
definitely delivered that.
There was a point where when weweren't talking as much and all
of us were smoking, the room wasfull of smoke. That's what you
want to

Bam Bam (02:31:36):
see with

Senator (02:31:37):
a 58 ring gauge cigar. The flavor profile, you know,
even the first two thirds, whilemilder than I would normally
pursue, was still very pleasant.I mean, you shouldn't have to
spend $700 to achieve thoseflavor notes. There's no doubt
about that. And the final thirdis when it really finally hit
its stride in just that quarterof an inch.

(02:31:59):
It is spectacular right now, andthat's the only reason that I
rounded up to the eight becausethere is now something memorable
in this cigar.

Bam Bam (02:32:09):
And he's actually using the kung fu fingernail hold
right now.

Senator (02:32:12):
I mean,

Bam Bam (02:32:13):
this That chef has perfected.

Senator (02:32:14):
Crazy.

Bam Bam (02:32:14):
The kung fu grip. It's it's the fingernail grip.

Reminds you of your oh, yep. That's happened to me.
Yep. So at this point, this iswhere I would normally say, I
just want to eat the cigarbecause it gets so hard to hold,
but it's so good that you kindof don't want to put it down.
Correct.

Senator (02:32:32):
So there is some merit in this cigar in that the last
third I think very worthwhile. Ijust will always be disappointed
that they couldn't have seenthis all the way through. This
would have been a 10 if thiscould have been our experience
for the entirety of this cigar.

All I have to say, Senator, is that tonight you
showed your heart.

Bam Bam (02:32:56):
He was lying hard tonight. This is

the most sympathetic I've ever seen you.

Gizmo (02:33:06):
So boys, for me, it's also an eight. I was debating
between a seven and an eight,but that last half, especially
the last third pushed me to aneight. There's no question about
that. The construction on minewas great. The combustion was
fantastic the whole way through,which is what you want from a
cigar of this size.
Certainly, the size does factorin here. I will not be

(02:33:27):
purchasing any of these cigars.I will probably not smoke one of
these again unless it's giftedto me in some kind of way. But,
you know, enjoyed the experiencetonight. I enjoyed, you know,
smoking this cigar with youguys.
We had a great conversation. Itwas certainly a robust
conversation tonight. We'retouching like two and a half
hours here. Wow. But, you know,for the experience, it's

(02:33:48):
definitely an eight for me.
The flavor was good, but it wasvery good in the second half of
the cigar. It never touchedgreatness for me. At the end,
maybe it did, you know, gettingdown into that last, you know,
inch or so like Senator justwaxed on. But it never touched
greatness really for me. I Istill think the Bahike 54 is the

(02:34:10):
king of the Bahikes.
I will stand by that until theyrelease another cigar that
changes my mind. But out of thefour, the Bahike 54 is the one.
I wanted more the whole waythrough, certainly for this
price point. And it you know,certainly, if this cigar, we had
to go out and purchase it, wewould have never reviewed it on
this podcast. That never wouldhave happened.
So we're very lucky to have beenable to review it tonight. But

(02:34:31):
at the price point, it's just aridiculous, ridiculous value.
It's unfortunate. But flavorwise, it was a a a good cigar.
It was an eight.
It's still a recommend, but Iwould not encourage any of our
listeners to run out and buythis immediately. It's right
now, it's a good cigar. Just nota great I'm just a

Senator (02:34:52):
can find the last quarter of an inch for $30.

Bam Bam (02:34:54):
Correct. There you go. $27 according to Rooster.

Pagoda (02:34:59):
Alright, Pagoda. You're up. It's a seven for me. I
actually were between a six anda seven. Unfortunately for me,
the construction By the way,overall the

Bam Bam (02:35:10):
Hold on. Their It's course corrected beautifully,
though.

Pagoda (02:35:12):
It did. The few things I do have to mention.

Senator (02:35:15):
His rapper had a huge crack.

Bam Bam (02:35:16):
It's true.

Pagoda (02:35:16):
It's true. My wrapper had a crack. It tunneled a bit.
It did self correct after awhile, but I had to touch it up
quite a bit throughout theprocess. For a $700 cigar, I
don't know whether I wanna bedoing that, number one.
The other thing is the flavorprofile for me was reasonably
mild, although very pleasantbecause it leaves a pleasant,

(02:35:37):
you know, flavor profile in yourpalate, which is something I
really enjoy. There were momentswhich I really enjoyed when, I
think when it came into the lastthird, I felt a little bit, it
got a bit of the, you know, likeI mentioned, the black salt.
It's just something I've grownup with, I can, when I feel
that, I really enjoy that. Buton the other hand, the few

(02:36:00):
merits of the cigar have beenthat the smoke output's been
great. Overall, the feel's beengreat.
You know, you have a cigar likea bahique in your hand, you just
feel better. It's one of thosethings where it makes you feel,
hey, today I'm gonna be smokinga great cigar. This is
fantastic. So there's somethingabout it that does make you feel

(02:36:22):
very good. But in terms of theoverall, even leaving the price
aside, I was thinking, let'sassume it wasn't a Cohiba.
Let's assume it didn't have theprice. I think I'd be closer to
between a six and a seven. Buthaving the good experiences, I
think I'm running it up to aseven.

Gizmo (02:36:40):
Alright. Chef Ricky.

Senator (02:36:45):
Show your heart.

Gizmo (02:36:48):
Show your heart, chef Ricky.

It was a little too late for an eight. Delivered a
little too late for an eight. SoI'm at a seven here. I thought
Roosters rating was perfect. Ithought we were all going to be
on at sevens.
I can't wait for the freakinglistener emails on this one.
Yeah. You know, the sevenhundred dollars price point is
tough to digest without a doubt.But the flavor profile, while

(02:37:14):
mild for most of the cigar, wasstill enjoyable. I had no
construction issues.
Combustion was phenomenal on mycigar. We've been smoking for
two and a half hours. You know,I put mine down maybe fifteen
minutes ago. That last quarterinch was amazing. And, you know,
I'm going to say that the sizeof the cigar has a lot to do

(02:37:39):
with the flavor that it wasdelivering.
I just think so much tobaccobeing packed into that cigar
that, you know, by the time itgets to a point where you could
actually taste everything thattobacco is delivering, it's
going to be at the very end, youknow, and maybe that is is a
reason not to be smoking cigarsof this size. So I think at the

(02:37:59):
very least for Cohiba, you know,use this as a reason to not make
cigars of this size or anylarger for that matter and stick
to the fifty four is becausethat is a phenomenal experience
and much better. So yeah, Iwould I think seven is good. I
think, you know, if we you know,if we put price pricing into the

(02:38:23):
into the equation here, we'dprobably be a lot lower.

Gizmo (02:38:25):
Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Bam Bam (02:38:26):
So I agree.

Gizmo (02:38:27):
All right,

Bam Bam (02:38:28):
Bam. So, you know, I'm not going to give this cigar the
credit that it deserves from thepoint of view of construction.
It was made very well, like manyother cigars in the Habano's
catalog. The combustion wasgreat, like many other cigars in
Habano's catalog. It'sdisappointing that it took so
much time to get to the point ofreally enjoying the cigar, not

(02:38:52):
factoring in price because thiscigar was gifted to us very
generously.
So I'm not even factoring thatin, but I'm at a firm seven
because of that experience. Itwasn't memorable the first two
thirds until literally, like,everyone in the room said, I got
down to the that last inch. Andas I got deeper and deeper, it
got better and better at thatlast half inch. It's not a mark

(02:39:18):
of an incredible cigar at thatprice point from the point of
view of the retailer. It doesn'tequate.
So I'm at a firm seven.

Gizmo (02:39:25):
Alright. Yeah. That puts the formal lizard rating
tonight, boys, on the CohibaBihike 58 at a 7.3. Yeah. And I
think that's an appropriatescore for the cigar and the
experience we all had tonight.
You know, I do wonder, andsomething that chef Ricky just
said about the size of thecigar. You know, there was the
the real rumor, the truth, thatyears ago Cohiba was trying to

(02:39:49):
you know, Habanos was trying topush out this 58 ring gauge
Cohiba cigar, and they shelvedit because it wasn't delivering
what they expected from theCohiba mark, you know, the
marker. I'm feeling, to yourpoint, Chef Ricky, and I think
what we've just said with the7.3 rating tonight, that we've
reached the point of diminishingreturns here on the size of the

(02:40:12):
cigar. You know, at at a 58 byseven inch cigar, you have put
yourself in a position whereyou're trying to demand more
price for the tobacco, thebigger cigar, reach a market
that likes these size cigars.But at the end of the day, it is
an outlier.
It's different. It's not in linewith what Cohiba is. It's not

(02:40:36):
really in line with what Bijikeis.

Bam Bam (02:40:38):
You have to question, do they are they smoking the
cigar? Are they experiencingwhat we're experiencing? Do they
factor in any of this in theblending decisions?

Pagoda (02:40:47):
Do they come up with the price?

Bam Bam (02:40:48):
Forget about the price, just smoke the cigar and
experience it and understandthat it's that last third that
actually matters in thisparticular cigar.

Gizmo (02:40:56):
Yeah. I

Senator (02:40:56):
mean, I think, you know, if what Gizmo is saying is
is the case, I mean, clearlythey are smoking it, they must
have recognized that this is apretty big departure from

Bam Bam (02:41:06):
Oh, yeah.

Senator (02:41:06):
The Marca and the Bahike line. But for whatever
reason, they decided to justpump this cigar.

Gizmo (02:41:12):
Close enough for them to solve the marketing goals, the
pricing goals that they weretrying to reach with this cigar.

Senator (02:41:20):
I just think on the ring gauge, the thing that's
funny to me, if you think aboutall of us had a transformational
experience in the final quarterof

Bam Bam (02:41:28):
an What

Senator (02:41:30):
happened at that point? The cigar effectively became
like a pyramid or a bellicose.

Gizmo (02:41:34):
That's true.

Senator (02:41:34):
Yeah. I mean, truly, it was like the end of my cigar
had, you know, kind of collapseda little bit in a good way. And
it's like the flavor deliverycould be more concentrated
instead of this giant 58 ringgauge

Bam Bam (02:41:46):
at that I

Senator (02:41:47):
wish they would have made a shorter version of this
that was some kind of pyramid orbellicose. I think would have
delivered a much betterexperience.

Gizmo (02:41:56):
Agreed. Like the Atabae, the prototype that we've all
tasted.

Bam Bam (02:42:01):
Thank you. That is Exactly right.

Gizmo (02:42:02):
In the pipeline for Cohiba, the 59 ring gauge.

Bam Bam (02:42:05):
Delicious from beginning to end.

Gizmo (02:42:06):
It's a great cigar.

Senator (02:42:07):
But exactly that.

Bam Bam (02:42:08):
Yeah. That flavor

has to filter through all of that tobacco.

Gizmo (02:42:12):
Yeah, it's a lot of tobacco there.

Senator (02:42:13):
The last two things I just want to say for the
listener, because there willdefinitely be emails after this
rating. This I think and I youknow, we've debated this before.
I've actually argued with somelizards here who say, Oh, price
shouldn't matter that much inthe rating. I firmly believe
price should matter. This cigaris at such an outrageous price

(02:42:35):
point that I think if any of uswere to just truly factor in
price like we would any cigar,this would be like a three.

Gizmo (02:42:43):
Agreed. I agree. Agreed.

Senator (02:42:44):
So I wanna be clear to the listener that this is the
exception to the rating rule.

Bam Bam (02:42:51):
That's that

Senator (02:42:52):
had we factored in price, there is no cigar in the
world that should be $700. Thiscigar was so far from delivering
an experience that is memorableall the way through that we
would even entertain the thoughtof legitimizing such a stupid
price point. That's not the casehere, so I just wanna take that

(02:43:13):
off the table, and have everylistener hear and understand
that we recognize that this isin no way deserving, even of

Bam Bam (02:43:22):
half of

Senator (02:43:23):
the price of this cigar.

Bam Bam (02:43:24):
That's right.

Rooster (02:43:24):
It's outrageous. I mean, fact that not only is this
a Cohiba, it's their flagshipoff Cohiba brand.

Bam Bam (02:43:31):
That's true. Right now it is.

Gizmo (02:43:33):
This is their highest priced cigar

Bam Bam (02:43:34):
right now.

Rooster (02:43:34):
Is the cigar that, you know, off the Cohiba line. It's
kinda like the Ferrari Yeah. OfItalian car. I mean, it's

Bam Bam (02:43:42):
If if it was a three act play and the first third was
what we experienced in the firsttwo thirds, the second third
Right. Ramped up in richness andbody.

Rooster (02:43:50):
At half of that cigar delivered what the quarter inch
did

Gizmo (02:43:54):
That's it rating would have been much higher.

Bam Bam (02:43:55):
I agree.

Rooster (02:43:56):
And that's even, like, without, you know,

Bam Bam (02:43:58):
considering agree.

Gizmo (02:44:00):
Yeah. Yeah. This being the fifteenth anniversary
celebration of Bajike at thisprice point, at this ring gauge,
it should have been better.

Pagoda (02:44:08):
Mhmm.

Gizmo (02:44:08):
Hands down. And and well said senator Mhmm. On the price
factor. I mean, this iscertainly not a cigar that we
purchased. You know, we weregifted these cigars for review.
So factoring that in, I stillthink a 7.3 is a fair score here
for what we experienced in theroom tonight, but the cigar
should have been better. Yeah.

Senator (02:44:27):
Think for the listener, that 7.3 is if we were to put
price aside, our experience wasa 7.3.

Bam Bam (02:44:33):
And we did that.

Senator (02:44:33):
And that is just a mild recommend. Exactly. It tells you
everything

Gizmo (02:44:36):
you to touch over recommend.

Bam Bam (02:44:38):
Exactly. Exactly.

Senator (02:44:39):
It tells you everything you need know about this cigar.

Bam Bam (02:44:40):
It's not

Senator (02:44:41):
a great cigar. It had the tiniest moment of greatness,
and the rest of it wasunderwhelming. Right.

Pagoda (02:44:48):
I'd rather have 30 D4s.

Bam Bam (02:44:52):
And someone mentioned maybe we should age this cigar.
Who knows what the aging processwould have done, but you bring
you Well, fact that the last

Gizmo (02:45:00):
quarter inch was the best part. It shows you that

Bam Bam (02:45:03):
you bringing down the humidity on this

Gizmo (02:45:05):
It helped

Bam Bam (02:45:05):
a the experience was completely different than what I

Gizmo (02:45:07):
had before. It helped a lot. Absolutely. So boys, let's
compare this to the otherCohibas we've done on the pod
before we get out of heretonight. We'll start with the
Cohiba Siglo II scored an eightpoint zero.
The Cohiba Lancero scored a 9.6.The Cohiba Pyramidis Extra
scored a 9.4. Of course, as wementioned, we did the Cohiba
Bihike 54 with Danilo onepisode. We did an interview

(02:45:30):
with him. We did not rate that.
Then we did the Cohiba Siguafive scored a 9.2. New Year's
Eve last year, we did theEsplendidos, which was five
years age, scored a 10, aperfect cigar. And on episode
174, six weeks ago, we did theSiglo six, which scored a nine
point zero. So this at a 7.3 iscertainly the lowest that we

(02:45:54):
have seen from Cohiba on thepodcast tonight. Alright, boys.
A great night tonight. We andcertainly a long episode. We're
almost close to three hours herewith this monster cigar. We went
through a lot of content, a lotof emails. We, of course, have
to thank all of our listenersfor writing us.
We really appreciate it.Congratulations to Lizard Bill

(02:46:14):
again for winning lizard of theweek. We once again have to
thank our friend Danilo, theproduction manager at Cohiba in
Havana

Bam Bam (02:46:23):
We love

Gizmo (02:46:23):
you, Dan. For providing us with these cigars. We really
appreciate it. It's so kind. Andwhat I love about Danilo is he
looks for our honesty.
He's not looking for us to, youknow, wax poetic and and and be
dishonest. He likes the honesty.So I hope he I hope he
appreciates our commentarytonight. And, of course, we have
to thank our sponsor, FabricaFive. They're a great partner to
us.

(02:46:43):
Try some of their cigars. Wereally appreciate you supporting
the people who support us. Onemore time, boys. Let's go
through our ratings tonight. Wehad the eight years aged
Santiago De Cuba rum at a 7.8,the 11 years aged Santiago De
Cuba rum at a nine point zero.
And finally, the Cohiba Bihike58 scored a 7.3. A great night,

(02:47:07):
boys. Great conversation. Wewent through a lot of stuff,
and, we'll see everybody nextweek. Hope you enjoyed this
episode.
Thanks for joining us. You couldfind our merch store and ratings
archive at our brand newwebsite, loungelizardspod.com.
That's loungelizardsp0d.com.Don't forget to leave us a
rating and subscribe on yourfavorite podcast platform. If

(02:47:28):
you have any comments,questions, if you wanna reach
out, say hello, tell us whatyou're smoking, email us.
Hello at loungelizardspod.com.You can also find us on
Instagram at lounge lizards pod.We really appreciate your time,
and we'll, we'll see you nextweek.

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