Lounge Lizards This Week: Cabaiguan by Tatuaje in Imperiales with G4 Tequila Reposado, Pods 4th anniversary!, Humidity and cold smoking setups, Intruders, Can Nic taste Cuban?, Tariffs, Bans, Timepieces, Stoic, Prison labor.

[El Presidente]

The the Lizards pair Cabaiguan by Tatuaje in Imperiales with G4 Tequila Reposado. The guys toast champagne for the podcast's fourth anniversary, they answer listener emails on humidity and cold weather smoking setups and Gizmo tells a story about intruders in his garage. PLUS: Can Nicaraguan Tobacco Taste Cuban?, Nicaraguan Tariff Threat, More Tobacco Bans in California & Massachusetts & Listener Feedback on: Timepieces, Stoic & Prison Labor Discussions

 

 

[TomsRibs210]

Happy anniversary, Lizards! 

[NYGuido]

Another fantastic episode, guys and happy anniversary! Perhaps for your 5 year anniversary, you’d consider a ticketed live show with admission including one of the cigars your smoking that week and with the proceeds going to a special charity or one of the wonderful people you’ve gotten to know in Cuba. I know plenty of us would love to attend and support whatever cause you all chose. 

@LizardGizmo, as a fellow musician I totally agree with your take on crickets, and I’ve ripped rooms apart looking for them as well. If they’re outside, I’ll let them live—that’s their domain. But if they’re in my house or garage or car, all bets are off, and I’ll kill every single one that I find. 

Excited to try the cigar you smoked, but I couldn’t find that vitola anywhere (though I’m getting a 5 pack of the corona extra to try). Now that you’re working so closely with Small Batch, is there any chance of a collaboration to put together a Lounge Lizards sampler of what you plan to smoke the next month, so we can just grab that and be ready to smoke along with you? Obviously wouldn’t work for Cubans, but I think it would be a hit with a lot of listeners. 

Anyway, thanks as always for the entertainment and education. Long live Lizard Nation!

[DrinkSmokeGolf]

Brilliant plan @NYGuido

Need a small batch Lizard sampler so we can smoke a long. 

@LizardGizmo I’m on the hunt for morning smokes. Can we get everyone’s favorite morning smoke?

Cheers,

Lizard Waylon

[MrBirdman]

Another great podcast Lizards.

[MrBirdman]

18 hours ago, DrinkSmokeGolf said:

Can we get everyone’s favorite morning smoke?

There might be threads about this. My go to used to be Coloniales. While I still smoke them occasionally, they’re absurdly priced now. These days I go with Davidoff Grand Cru No. 2 or No.3, depending on time. They’re not cheap either but can be found discounted sometimes and are still much cheaper than the Cuban alternative, with the added bonus of usually being better. Also, they improve with age for at least 2-3 years. 

[NYGuido]

29 minutes ago, MrBirdman said:

There might be threads about this. My go to used to be Coloniales. While I still smoke them occasionally, they’re absurdly priced now. These days I go with Davidoff Grand Cru No. 2 or No.3, depending on time. They’re not cheap either but can be found discounted sometimes and are still much cheaper than the Cuban alternative, with the added bonus of usually being better. Also, they improve with age for at least 2-3 years. 

Gran Cru No. 3 is a delight, but it officially is discontinued (though still available at some shops).I think it is the best representation of the blend. If I want something even lighter, a Davidoff Signature No. 2 is a creamy way to start the day or a Dunbarton Sobramesa Brûlée. For something longer, the Highclere Castle Churchill is tasty without being too full for the morning.

As for Cubans, I might be strange but I like an early Trinidad Reyes or sometimes an Upmann Connie 1. Sometimes, though, I say "f*** it" and light a D4.

[MrBirdman]

5 minutes ago, NYGuido said:

I might be strange but I like an early Trinidad Reyes

Nothing strange at all, another great morning smoke, though at those prices I’d still spring for the Coloniales. 

[NYGuido]

5 minutes ago, NYGuido said:

Gran Cru No. 3 is a delight, but it officially is discontinued (though still available at some shops).I think it is the best representation of the blend. If I want something even lighter, a Davidoff Signature No. 2 is a creamy way to start the day or a Dunbarton Sobramesa Brûlée. For something longer, the Highclere Castle Churchill is tasty without being too full for the morning.

As for Cubans, I might be strange but I like an early Trinidad Reyes or sometimes an Upmann Connie 1. Sometimes, though, I say "f*** it" and light a D4.

Sorry for the F bomb. Ugh. I'm a New Yorker, so profanity is just part of my native language, but I am trying to do better!! 

[NYGuido]

Just now, MrBirdman said:

Nothing strange at all, another great morning smoke, though at those prices I’d still spring for the Coloniales. 

Never had one of those!

[MrBirdman]

8 minutes ago, NYGuido said:

Gran Cru No. 3 is a delight, but it officially is discontinued

Understandable, since its only advantage over the No. 2 was a shorter smoking time (it was only marginally cheaper IIRC). If I have the extra 20 minutes I always go with the No. 2.

[NYGuido]

9 hours ago, MrBirdman said:

Understandable, since its only advantage over the No. 2 was a shorter smoking time (it was only marginally cheaper IIRC). If I have the extra 20 minutes I always go with the No. 2.

One of the staff at my lounge knows I love them and he gifted me a few he had aging for about 5 years. They were spectacular! Trying to convince him to split the rest of that box with me and am offering up a Sir Winnie, a RASS, and a 2019 CoRo. I think he'll bite.

[MrBirdman]

2 minutes ago, NYGuido said:

Never had one of those!

It ain’t morning but all this has inspired me to grab one. I haven’t had any in a long time. Of all the cigars the Habanos rebrand/price hike has made less enjoyable, this may be the hardest hit for me. I smoked 2-3 a week and it’s genuinely less pleasant knowing it’s a $36 cigar (even though I paid less than a third of that).

[NYGuido]

1 minute ago, MrBirdman said:

It ain’t morning but all this has inspired me to grab one. I haven’t had any in a long time. Of all the cigars the Habanos rebrand/price hike has made less enjoyable, this may be the hardest hit for me. I smoked 2-3 a week and it’s genuinely less pleasant knowing it’s a $36 cigar (even though I paid less than a third of that).

That's the Monte 4 for me. Though I just really got into Cubans this spring, so Monte 4s were the only ones I really smoked before then, thanks to some amazing EU colleagues. Now, though, I reach for them less because of how expensive and hard they are to replace. I think I have only 12 left, which makes me so sad.

[MrBirdman]

1 minute ago, NYGuido said:

One of the staff at my lounge knows I love them and he gifted me a few he had aging for about 5 years. They were spectacular! Trying to convince him to split the rest of that box with me and am offering up a Sir Winnie, a RASS, and a 2019 CoRo. I think he'll bite

Yeah it’s a hack I try to let people in on with the Grand Cru No.2’s, they really improve with age. You wouldn’t expect it with how much Davidoff already ages their tobacco. The one caveat is that you have to like the classic Davidoff “mushroominess.” One of those flavors people seem to either love or they don’t. I would only buy the cigar if you do, and aging only helps accentuate it. 

[NYGuido]

14 minutes ago, MrBirdman said:

Yeah it’s a hack I try to let people in on with the Grand Cru No.2’s, they really improve with age. You wouldn’t expect it with how much Davidoff already ages their tobacco. The one caveat is that you have to like the classic Davidoff “mushroominess.” One of those flavors people seem to either love or they don’t. I would only buy the cigar if you do, and aging only helps accentuate it. 

Great to know! I think the No. 3 leans a bit more grass/cream, which I like. And I am obsessed with the Millennium Robusto and am going to try aging a box of those for about 2 years to see what happens. Problem is that I end up smoking about 2-3 of them a week, which gets a bit expensive 🫣

[LizardGizmo]

Great convo guys - and I'm glad the breakfast smoke question prompted a thread with a lot of good answers. I'll pose it to the guys.

I'll also tee up a discussion re: Lizard COTM involvement.