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LGP 58 - Asylum Megalophobia
15 Plays3 days ago
This week, we are going XXL for Father's Day.
Tripp and Denis will be joined by Bear Duplisea, and Cigar Coop for a larger than life pairing with the Asylum Megalophobia, followed by Bear's annual Father's Day edition of El Oso Fumar with Tom Lazuka.
This 134x13 monster is the largest ring gauge cigar every released to cigar shops, and we'll be bringing a couple pairings each to see how the beast pairs.
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Transcript
Intro and Cigar Unveiling
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Let's Get Pairing. This is episode number... Uh-oh, I forgot what episode it is. 59. No, 58. 58. 58. And we are smoking an absolute monster. it Like, all all the guys have the biggest ring gauge cigar they have, and this dwarfs all of them.
00:00:17
Speaker
um So we may be making a mistake here, but we committed to it, and so we're going for it. Anyway, grab yourself a normal-sized cigar. Grab yourself a drink. Let's get pairing.
00:00:47
Speaker
ah He escalated, right? He escalated. All right,
Father's Day Celebration and Cigar Cutting
00:00:52
Speaker
guys. Welcome back. ah This is episode number 58 of Let's Comparing. I'm your host, Tripp, here in the Casa de Monte Cristo studio, using my scepter of power.
00:01:00
Speaker
Good point here. As always, is my co-host Dennis in the Dungeon of Death. ah Dennis, how are you this week before we introduce ah the rest of our panel this evening? Hey, brother man. Doing well and a happy Father's Day to you and everybody else on the panel.
00:01:16
Speaker
I think this is an apropos show for such a wonderful holiday. ah Man, I'm excited. I'm terrified to some degree. This is a knife that I'm using to cut my cigar. to give you you an idea of kind of how serious this cigar is going to be for tonight. That was going to be my first question as we're like getting into it here is what everybody used to cut it.
00:01:35
Speaker
ah But first let's go ahead and introduce everybody. First up we have, ah I'm going to call him the guest of honor, Tom Lazuka, the creator of this monstrosity. Yeah, man. Tom, how doing brother? I'm doing fantastic. Happy father's day to everybody who's dads out there. And again, I don't know whose idea this was. I think it's going to hurt a bit, but we're going to get through it boys.
00:01:56
Speaker
um Is this going to be your first time smoking one of these or have you tackled it already?
Meet Tom Lazuka and Cigar History
00:02:01
Speaker
No, I have not tackled this yet. but We messed with it in Honduras, right? because But I never smoked the whole thing. We just were working on... cause We originally were going to put a tip on it.
00:02:15
Speaker
did hear that when was announced. One of those printer tips... three d printer tip And they just, it was either too tight where it would break the wrapper or it just, you know, or it just left space so you couldn't get a draw. So we I took the tips out, but we were hoping to make it nice and easy to...
00:02:36
Speaker
ah smoke it, but we just could not get the engineering right and and get it to seal without using duct tape. ah to to two you know we We could have used some of that NASCAR 500 mile an hour duct tape, I think, and sealed it, but we decided just to just do it and a la carte here, and this is this is where we're at.
00:02:58
Speaker
Smoking it this way is much funnier. so Yeah. Alright, next up, Jay Davis, welcome to Let's Keep Airing. hey Hey, glad to be here. I'm going to try my French knife to see how I can cut this thing today. and Happy Father's Day to all of our fathers.
00:03:15
Speaker
And a shout out to my father-in-law, Alan Cubs, and my son-in-law, Joe Anderson.
00:03:22
Speaker
Nice. Next up, Coop. Welcome back. Hey, guys. Hey, Coop. Always good to see you. and um And I think once we're done with introductions, I'm curious to hear how everybody's lighting this thing.
00:03:36
Speaker
I got something. I think I'm not going to have a problem with that piece. so I couldn't find any quad flames. ah And last up, but of course not least, Barry Plissi.
00:03:48
Speaker
Welcome back. Oh, thank you, Tripp. Thank you. I've i've got the cigar honor. I've got my all my kids. They wanted to see me unwrap this thing. They're sitting over here, too. Yeah, i was I was doing show and tell with the family earlier. Frankie also wanted to see it, too, because she could she was just like, that's a cigar. I don't believe you.
00:04:05
Speaker
And I was like, well, you're going to see later. So we're going to go ahead and just unravel this bad boy right now. i don't Gosh, it's crazy. Um, and I can't, I can't believe that just, Coop just stood idly by while Tom laid out that, that question about who's crazy fucking idea this was and Coop just stayed silent. That's just, that's just terrible. That's just awful. I think I did suggest it, right? But with the funny thing is i got that these Glancero guys aren't going to do it, right?
00:04:35
Speaker
And then on top of that, um, what what was really funny is like, basically I, I got my hands washed of it and you guys had to all those. I mean, yeah I, we We definitely took the bull by the horns, man. We definitely did. So yeah, it's good stuff. But yeah, we're, we're all going to do this together.
First Pairings and Cigar Experience
00:04:51
Speaker
We're all in it together and happy father's day to you, uh, to you blokes out there. this is going to be fun.
00:04:56
Speaker
Uh, I do take part of the blame, I think for this, because I mentioned on, I think it was bears post jokingly suggesting it, uh, and said, why don't we do double shows? Because this is going to be a crazy cigar. And, uh, then all of a sudden it was happening and it was too late to turn back. Right.
00:05:15
Speaker
So let's go ahead and light up. I used a Shun chef's knife, which is a very nice chef's knife to cut the cap off this. It didn't work great, but I kind of ah kind of did a big punch with it.
00:05:27
Speaker
What did everybody else use for the cut? I know, Bear, you had that that massive saber. Well, yeah, i'll I'll show it off here in just a second. But before I do, I have to get a you know have to get the the big cliche bear sulfing.
00:05:42
Speaker
And then, but I do want to shout out Danilo Fallon from Quality Importers who heard about our insanity and was like, man, listen, I don't know how much it's going to help you, but i'll i'll givell I'll help you out here. And he sent me the XI-80. So I don't think it stands a chance, but I'm going to give it a try with that first. And then a shout out to Frankie who got me these amazing ah blades, these kitchen knives.
00:06:09
Speaker
Bears Blades. I love that. Yeah, for great they're awesome, man. yeah so Great choice. um yeah she's Freshly sharpened and a trick that my old general manager, Tracy Spence, taught me about cutting cutting cutting cigars. So we're going to go with that as well.
00:06:24
Speaker
I actually just did... It wasn't the cleanest cup, but used the eighty And I was able to get a nice chunk off of it, the 80 Perfect Kodakia I yeah used. So I may just trim it a bit. I may just trim it a bit. But what was I was really worried about destroying this cigar, and I did i don't think it will.
00:06:40
Speaker
I think the biggest mistake you can make with this cigar is cutting too much off, because then there's no way you'll able to smoke it. That's what I was more worried about cutting. So if I have to adjust it along the way, I can at least. um I do have... Now, I do have...
00:06:54
Speaker
The torch, the blowtorch. yeah but but I use this Les Benet's Lama, and it took a nice, perfect cut off of there. No issues.
00:07:05
Speaker
Nice. And I just went old school Cuban style. I noticed that. um um yeah Which might have been the best way to do it. Yeah, it was clean. You just had to get a nice kind of circle. You could make the circle and just pull it out. It worked fine.
00:07:22
Speaker
And I'm going to try lighting it with our Megalophobia Paleo 4 Flame. That's nice. The official official lighter. So that's what's going to be packaged in in the two-pack, right? this is Yes, comes in the in the box, yes.
00:07:37
Speaker
Sorry, i if we had, we didn't have their, they're in Honduras to be packed, so I didn't have any of them. Totally okay. Yeah, no, we appreciate you giving us the cigars. Tom, are you apologizing to us?
00:07:49
Speaker
He got us the cigar. I know. If anything, he should apologize for giving us the cigars, right? You know, the dry jar is actually pretty good on this, I'm being honest. You know, value-wise, it's also really fantastic, too, when you have, yes, a box only has the two cigars, but to get the lighter with it, it's a really cool thing. It's certainly commemorative and special.
00:08:10
Speaker
It is a limited release. I think it's only 500, if I'm not mistaken, correct? Correct. 250 boxes. fifty bucks 250 boxes, which is awesome. And like a cool piece of history, whether you're into big cigars or small cigars or whatever, I i think it's like a evocative of really cool piece history within the cigar industry.
00:08:27
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you very much. It is. And, and yeah, I'm like, like I said, I don't think any on top of that. I think it's podcast history. I don't think there's been backto- back to back podcasts in the cigar industry done. Maybe, maybe some of the COVID things that we did, but that was probably it.
00:08:43
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's the the the ones that they we did during COVID with developing palettes and then later with Meet the Professor, probably the the other ones that are gonna break it, but backto back to backs. Thanks for being a part of this, Tom.
00:08:57
Speaker
yeah thanks for Thanks for everything helping there. And Jay, thanks for joining the Insanity. And Tripp, thanks for kind of joking around, because I totally just roped you into this one. Yeah, happy to do it. I never thought you Lancero guys would go for this. Here we are. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, right?
00:09:18
Speaker
I will, I will mention for the record, my favorite ring gauge is a Dahlia, which I think is like 43 by six and a quarter, but I'm making an exception tonight. Yeah. I'm kind of in the same camp that Lonsdale is my favorite size. And this is little bit, listen, the dry draw is good on this thing. I've dried. The dry draw is very good.
00:09:40
Speaker
um Yeah, that's it. I was going to bring up... I'm kind of staggered by the construction of this thing. Like, you expect it to look like kind of a mess, being that it's five times the size that it should be as a cigar.
00:09:56
Speaker
But, like, it's it's got, the like, the normal three wraps. Like, the leaves must have been gigantic for this thing. um You know, it's got a nice cap. It's all straight. Like, I'm very impressed, Tom.
00:10:09
Speaker
It's the whole plant at this point, I think. I was blown away at how good they came out. I mean, they look really good. This is a well-constructed cigar. I mean, honestly, yeah.
00:10:22
Speaker
And so Dennis was talking about value. How many... how many ah This is 15 Robustos, is that right? about Roughly, I think, 15. 16 Robustos. You're getting some value, man.
00:10:34
Speaker
eight point three ounces So $10 a Yeah, think about that. So like ah robusto a you know, decent valued is so that's a hundred and sixty dollars normally for sixteenbus those yeah this is a steel Exactly.
Origin Story of the Cigar
00:10:53
Speaker
yeahs That's a real Robusto from CLE right there. Yeah.
00:10:56
Speaker
So, Tom, I have a question for you real quick. Yeah. ah the So what was the response once you started going through the process of making this monstrosity? What was the response of the factory? How did people respond to, like, holy crap, we're doing this? Where is this going to go?
00:11:10
Speaker
I mean, Luis Aguilar, who's been our factory manager through Camacho with Christian's father, He's been with the family for over 40 years. He just looked at me like I was an idiot.
00:11:21
Speaker
ah but You know, that the original, the very first one they rolled, it was funny because, like, there was a woman rolling them, and when she was done, she just kind of held it up and turned her head away, like, in embarrassment.
00:11:36
Speaker
So... ah ah My father-in-law says that's not a cigar. It's an alien from a neighboring galaxy or a dildo from rene for an Amazonian woman from Mars.
00:11:51
Speaker
That's my father-in-law. That's oddly specific as well. and very He always is. Happy Father's Day. Very oddly specific. yeah ah Tom, yeah I remember when you did the 80s. Yeah. I remember you started with the 6x80, and I don't know one of the challenges was getting a leaf that size.
00:12:06
Speaker
how what Now, what what had happened? Obviously, these had to be pretty special leaves to get them this size to roll them. You know, Coop, I truly don't know how they did this. Like, ah I just said I wanted it, you know, because...
00:12:21
Speaker
You know, one of the running jokes with this, and and part of the reason I made it, so when when our friends at Argonosa and Terrence Riley came out with the ten by one hundred i immediately looked at Christian and I said, listen, our 13th anniversary is coming up next year.
00:12:37
Speaker
said, nobody can have a bigger cigar than Asylum. And he's like, I love it. And Terrence, we always joked on the road together. You know, i love Terrence to death. And he was like, Tom, just please just make something bigger and get this over with. So, you know, we named it megalophobia, which means a fear of large things.
00:12:58
Speaker
But the enough is enough is my homage to Mr. Riley. And hopefully they don't go bigger because I told them I will deliver a cigar on a pallet to their booth at the trade show next year. think You're going to do what you have to to stay on top.
00:13:18
Speaker
They're going make a cigar with khakis. And then he has take it home. Then they have to take it home too. so Yeah. Um, um Speaking of that, kind of was the, was the production of this difficult for you? Was there a lot of testing and stuff or was it just kind of the factories made a bunch of giant ring gauge stuff? They just scaled it up and they really did a good job. It it was, and they made them pretty quickly. Like I was surprised because i thought, well, this is, you know, I don't even know if they can make this thing burn. Right. Like didn't, I didn't <unk>t even know if we could complete this project. And, uh, but listen, I, I'm,
00:13:53
Speaker
blown away at the sheen on the wrapper. I mean, it's just really well constructed. I mean, it's a beautiful cigar. It really is. It's crazy. How many yeah i many draw testers were broken during the making of this thing? Well, I think I used draw Rupert Miller, our supply chain manager, was our draw tester.
00:14:14
Speaker
I
00:14:16
Speaker
ah yeah All right, and with that, we're going to get into some pairing. i will kick us off here. um You guys ah um don't feel like you have to do as much as I do. I just tend to do a lot of research so that I have stuff to talk about ah so I can fill up the hour. I don't think it'll be a problem this time, but I still have some stories to tell. So my first...
00:14:38
Speaker
First up, I have a beer from Living House Brewing Company. Living House Beer Company, I guess. Yes, sir. The Living House is in Portland, Oregon. They were founded only in 2022 by a guy named Conrad Andrus and Matt Sandoval. So Matt had worked for a brewery called Modern Times.
00:14:55
Speaker
ah They're pretty well known out of San Diego. He started there the same year they started in 2013. And then in 2017, when they expanded to Portland, he moved up to Portland and managed the the brewery and tap room that they built out up there.
00:15:10
Speaker
Uh, Conrad, on the other hand, started out as a bartender at Breakside Brewery, which is in Portland, one of my favorite breweries there, and worked his way up to eventually getting into brewing a little bit.
00:15:21
Speaker
He joined Culmination Brewing in 2015 when they started as their as one of their brewers, ah spent five years there, and then he started working at that Modern Times taproom that I talked about.
00:15:32
Speaker
ah So him and Matt spent about two years brewing together. um Unfortunately, during COVID in 2022, the tap room shut down. ah So these guys bought out the lease, managed to ah somehow, I don't, I don't have any details, but somehow get all the brewing equipment and open up living house brewing. So they, they kind of love their job so much. They didn't want to leave.
00:15:56
Speaker
And they started as a new business. Um, This is their mama Nat check Amber lager living house has a kind of a lot of their main beers are named after members of their family going back.
00:16:10
Speaker
Um, this was a collaboration with great notion brewing who, uh, check previous episodes. Cause I've talked about them a lot before. Um, that is a tribute to Andy Miller. Who's one of their founders, uh, his grandmother, which was named Nat mama Nat.
00:16:28
Speaker
Um, So the beer I'm drinking tonight is their Amber Czech lager. ah And it is, it's, it's beautiful.
00:16:40
Speaker
Like Dennis, look at this thing. So this is a lager brewed with Bohemian and Aseria Pilsner malt with a little bit of Karo Bohemian. I don't know what that is, Dennis.
00:16:52
Speaker
I'm guessing that's a a slightly roasty malt ah for some added dark flavors. Probably more on the, it's like a darker carapils, very likely. but But it's certainly a smaller production thing, which is really cool.
00:17:04
Speaker
And then it is lightly decocted. ah So this should have some richness, some sweetness. All right.
Unique Pairings and Final Thoughts
00:17:10
Speaker
ah Cool, man. And yeah, I'm going to get into it. I'm going to toss it over to Dennis first, and then you can decide who you want to toss it over to while he takes some steps.
00:17:20
Speaker
Oh, man, my face is on fire. My first pairing is a odd dog brewing company, which is my, yeah you know, my little homebrew setup that I have here with my neighbor.
00:17:31
Speaker
um But we've been doing pretty well about producing about 10 gallons of beer every six to eight weeks regularly. We've got six beers on tap right now. Sorry, five. One of which is still a nitro, which is really cool. And this one is not that good.
00:17:44
Speaker
This one is a Mexican fruited pale ale, and it was an experiment that I wanted to try with, um well, I wanted to do something fruited.
00:17:56
Speaker
Fruit is very hard to work with, generally speaking, unless you're using extracts and whatever else. Using fresh fruit is so hard, it gets muddy, it gets hard to transfer, it it gets hard to clarify.
00:18:09
Speaker
This is what it looks like now after you know two weeks on you know on on the ah keg system there, which is fine. We we didn't clear out the pectin. We wanted it to be kind of natural in the sense.
00:18:21
Speaker
But this does have mangoes, this has chilies, I screwed up the recipe completely because I thought I had guajillo chilies at home ready to go. i did not. And so instead I used ancho chilies.
00:18:31
Speaker
And I thought I fixed the recipe and I adjusted it down. And this thing, Tripp, I think... Substituting and any kind of pepper is a very dangerous thing. It's so hard. it But pepper in general is really hard batch to batch because sometimes, you know, when you go to the store and you buy jalapenos whatever else...
00:18:47
Speaker
um One batch will be really spicy. Another batch won't be as spicy. Crop to crop, it changes. And not unlike ah tobacco for cigars. And so, like, I use intro chilies for this.
00:19:00
Speaker
This thing, I think only you and I, Tripp, can consume this beer because it is so spicy. It face-burning, lips on fire. in Back of the throat kind of spice. We talk about like Szechuan peppers and Thai chilies.
00:19:14
Speaker
They have that like you know back of the throat thing going on. This one is, I'm looking at my numbers right now. This one comes in at 7.2%. seven point two percent So it's up there, certainly for a pale ale.
00:19:27
Speaker
And the mango flavor is more like if you've ever had dried mangoes, it's kind of like that. It's not a bright mango flavor you get from like a mango candy. It's more natural mango flavor, if you will. So it's kind of like ah a mango chamoy beer, huh?
00:19:42
Speaker
It is a mango. Yeah, actually, chamoy is a really great, and it's a weird thing to talk about because lot people don't really know that funk that the chamoy has. It's weird. It almost feels like it shouldn't be a thing.
00:19:53
Speaker
It almost feels like it's something's wrong with it unless you know what that's supposed to taste like.
00:20:00
Speaker
Yeah, man. It's wild. I think it's going well the cigar. But again, the cigar is very spicy on my lips as well. I cut it a little bit wider. And so I'm getting a lot of that intensity on the lips when I try to draw from it.
00:20:14
Speaker
Like I was saying, that's the that's the the mistake with this is cut taking off too much cap and then you can't wrap your mouth around it. That's right. I'm using my hand now. All right, Bear, what are you pairing over there in Azel tonight?
00:20:29
Speaker
Well, first of all, I'm kind of insulted that Dennis thinks that only you and him can handle spice. That's true. that was that was That was a little... Oh, Bear, sorry. i I forgot that you were a spice man as well. I completely forgot.
00:20:40
Speaker
It's okay. yeah It's all right. It's all good. It's all good. And I, and i too, like my beer decocted as much as possible. So, ah but I didn't get any beer. But in the spirit of doing crazy things, ah I decided to grab the tequila that I've been drinking lately.
00:20:57
Speaker
i know I'm a big tequila guy, as you guys know. And I think it pairs incredibly well cigars. And the aroma coming off of this megalophobia, is outstanding. I will say that. like it Really? Yeah.
00:21:11
Speaker
It is unbelievable. it is just permeating my my ah my studio. And, I mean, it is fantastic. I haven't gotten a great draw off of it yet. I'm hoping to retro it at some point.
00:21:22
Speaker
But, I mean, the aroma is absolutely beautiful. But what I'm... Agreed. What I'm drinking tonight with my first pairing is a Reposada tequila. i'm Always my go-to. I'm not a big Blanco guy.
00:21:33
Speaker
Anejo, I think, is just a little bit of a trap for most people. But I've got Monique, the spirit of Mexico. 100% Blue Agave tequila.
00:21:44
Speaker
um And really cool. A family-owned company. Started back... I mean, probably... I mean, before what we call the like the tequila boom, this was formed in 2002.
00:21:56
Speaker
This tequila itself has won a silver medal at the World Spirit Awards. um The Anejo has actually won a ah silver as well.
00:22:08
Speaker
But the Blanco, interestingly enough, was the gold medal winner. um So ah that's what I'm going to be drinking tonight. I think it's absolutely fantastic. um They did release a an especial or something that I was like really intrigued by because the cost was actually pretty affordable and i was like oh that sounds interesting and it's a special and the bottle was actually pretty badass too and everything but then I saw that they actually added additional agave to it and it just sounded I don't know.
00:22:38
Speaker
yeah it just sounded like, okay, um i can i can add I can add simple syrup to my cocktail, too. um So I didn't really feel the need to buy the bottle with that. But cheers, gentlemen. That's what I'm going to be drinking for right now.
00:22:52
Speaker
Nice. ah Jay, what do you have up first? Well, I might have a couple teas later, but I started with this Think organic coffee, which has lion's mane and chaga mushrooms.
00:23:08
Speaker
My wife did a cold brew for me and, um, I added just a little bit of heavy whipping cream and a little bit of nutmeg and some ice. Oh
Second Pairings and Flavor Exploration
00:23:16
Speaker
yeah. And thats ah the cigar is not coming off, uh, very spicy to me, but these, uh, the coffee, uh, really is bringing out the flavor.
00:23:27
Speaker
Um, and I've got a couple of retro hails and I like the retro hail. Um, pretty enjoyable. cigar is flaky a little bit, but I've got old jeans on, so I don't care.
00:23:38
Speaker
I mean, and I don't know. i don't know what to expect as far as ash from something this big, right? Like all that weight has to go somewhere. So maybe flaky is is par for the course.
00:23:50
Speaker
We should see who ends up with the largest ash. We should. I will say it is smoking unbelievably slow. This show is going to twice as long as I thought. Yeah. <unk> I have to get off at 5 o'clock in the morning. That's my hard dead stop. All right. We'll see if we make it there. We might at this rate.
00:24:07
Speaker
um Well, Coop, what do you have up first? You know, i made it I made an audible call because as I was smoking this, I hadn't smoked before. i wanted to see what would pair with it. And I actually went back to one of the staples, the Abena soda.
00:24:19
Speaker
ah Oh, yeah. so So this is the this is the Candlewood, and it has those notes of cherry beets and earth, which is perfect with what I'm getting off this cigar right now. It just has a, it really, really pairs well. And I was like, yeah, this this is, this, um I wondered, I didn't even know if I had a one of the Candlewood sodas left. I did.
00:24:37
Speaker
um The only thing is I would advise getting a little more surface area on the draw because otherwise it's, the burn is a little, it's going to go more in the inside. it's going to start burning from the inside more.
00:24:50
Speaker
So I'm definitely trying to get a little more of the cap off as I'm smoking this because you want to get that surface area for sure. Yeah. But I don't want to slice it and and ruin the cap, so I'm kind of going slow with it right now to kind of get a little cap off.
00:25:04
Speaker
um Before we get to Tom, loomis Aaron Loomis has requested a sneak peek of the OnlyFans version of the show. He wants to see someone take a draw, so I'm going to entertain that. Oh, my.
00:25:18
Speaker
There was another... You got to really, like... You got to, like, quadruple puff this thing. I'll give you a full draw, Aaron. Here we go. There we go. That's right.
00:25:30
Speaker
Wow. Actually, that's really... That's a hard draw, by the way. There's so much of volume here on the cigar that to do that draw is really difficult, honestly. Tom, there was a comment. think it was from Keith. He noticed that the band has the Detroit Lions colors on it.
00:25:46
Speaker
ah Yeah. ah There might be a correlation with the Lions. What do they call those? They're... jerseys where they you know they they're not the home or away. the alternate jersey.
00:25:59
Speaker
um Yeah. Where they have some of black in it. Yeah. Yeah. So there there might be a little bit of a playoff with that the Detroit Lions. Yep. But... All right, Tom, what are you pairing tonight?
00:26:14
Speaker
So, you know, tonight, I... Well... It's kind of a weekend where I wasn't sure I was gonna make it to this show today. I started, I was smoking a brisket last night and I laughed because I didn't start it till midnight, so it'd be ready this afternoon. And so I ended up being up at like one o'clock, my girlfriend made me these matcha ball cookies.
00:26:44
Speaker
And I had no idea matcha had caffeine in it. And I ate like four of them. And I was wired at five in the morning. I'm like, I can't go to bed. And then I just kept drinking tequila. And so I was a little shit hammered.
00:26:57
Speaker
Not going to lie. ah Finally they kind of fell asleep around eight o'clock for about two hours and then got back up. So I was ah ah caught a little 45 minute nap this afternoon, got my second wind and I'm ready to go. But so, no, I had a picked up a bottle of this Joseph Magnus Cigar Glen bourbon.
00:27:21
Speaker
And, uh, I had, uh, one drink left, uh, one left in the bottle. So I figured I'll, I'll finish that off to start with the cigar. And then I'm going to transition over to some Don Julio 1942 Bonco.
00:27:35
Speaker
Oh, nice. So that's the, uh, Well, it might have to transition to something else after that bottle's gone. if then How long this show takes. I'm guessing it's going to well.
00:27:50
Speaker
You know, I had to put a ah lot of flame to it, but I'm actually getting a really even burn, a good draw from it right now. So, you know, my little thumb thing worked pretty well. I get a solid draw.
00:28:06
Speaker
I get a nice retro from it. It's mine's actually earning fairly even, um but it's a little flaky for sure. Yeah. i've I've definitely noticed the same. And mine is again.
00:28:18
Speaker
Well, I said even, but it's only the side I can see that side. It's not as even. There we go. ah There's the even side. Yeah. I did touch mine up a couple of times and, but it's tending the whole, yeah you know, like I said, that but we're going to be an hour and it's going feel like we didn't even see.
00:28:35
Speaker
Yeah, ah writer ja was Jay was noting my my empty seltzer water boxes earlier, and that's what I ripped i ripped open. That's going be my ashtray tonight. probably fill one or two of those up.
00:28:47
Speaker
I'm worried I might fill my entire ashtray by the end of the night. Are we under any FCC violations? We're not bound by the FCC. When you open this up, you get a nice codpiece out of this, which is kind of interesting.
00:28:59
Speaker
There you go. Oh, yes. That is a good point. right my wife We can't take you anywhere, Jay Davis. You can't. Just kidding. I was easier when I did when i drank.
00:29:13
Speaker
And to bear from it earlier, really, you ben bear i think mentioned it very well. I'm getting that same really cool room note. It just smells great. yeah really such a roman good you It's so pleasant.
00:29:25
Speaker
And you get a lot of smoke off of it, so it's it's a very pleasant smoke. That's actually what I was going to bring up. What's everybody getting for flavors? for What are your initial impressions now that we've gotten into the first eighth of an inch on a normal cigar?
00:29:39
Speaker
ah This is truly an asylum. And I've mentioned this to Tom in the years past. there My favorite box to open is a solemn 13 because the aromas that come off. And you're getting that dominant cocoa aroma. And I think that's why it's going so well with the coffee.
00:29:55
Speaker
um In a lot of ways, it tastes very similar to the Robusto. They did a good job blending this.
00:30:03
Speaker
I agree. it It's got kind of that. have no idea if there's Corojo in here, but it's got that Corojo-y kind of sweetness. um That like, like you said, Jay, that chocolate note.
00:30:15
Speaker
um There's a little bit of like a sweet leather and sweet earth. There's a lot of sweetness going on in the cigar with just a little bit of spice on the back end.
00:30:25
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. i'm yeah I'm getting those same things. I'm really really picking up, like I said, that leather note, that earth earthy note with with that sweetness on the finish.
00:30:36
Speaker
And i give a little cedar. Some definitely cedar to it, too. Yeah, I was going to say there's a light, yeah, really nice cedar note to it. ah Tommy took the words out of my mouth. i i I'm getting some nice little baking spice on the palate as well. Yeah, yeah I was getting that as well. A little bit of like cinnamon, like ginger almost.
00:30:53
Speaker
Ginger. Ginger. caner Yeah. yeah um But yeah, I mean, it tastes good. Smells of amazing. Dude, aroma is a great. with Frankie came in here just a minute ago because I'm shameless with the photos.
00:31:08
Speaker
She came and got a picture of me and she's like, oh my God, ah that smells amazing. So... um It's it's it's beautiful. Maybe at least for me, don't know.
00:31:20
Speaker
I can see ginger. It's so funked up that like I think maybe and I've been drinking a lot of different teas lately as well. So maybe I'm kind of leaning on the lavender thing. But um yeah, floral, really nice floral note.
00:31:32
Speaker
The retro that I've I've gotten a little bit of has been very much floral and very pleasant. yeah I'd like to add that this cigar may break another record that, like DiMaggio's hitting streak, I never thought would be broken. Aaron Loomis has told me he's never bought a whole box of cigars.
00:31:51
Speaker
So I don't know if Developing Palaces can review this, but if they do review this, that means they'll buy two boxes. Yeah. Oh. So will this will this be the the unbreakable record of Aaron or Aaron not review this?
00:32:03
Speaker
Unless you are willing to ah lose money on the deal, I don't think there's any chance Aaron is willing to smoke this cigar. ah Maybe unless you pay him. Hey, I will say this. I sell cigars to a lot of reviewers, and monetary issues have never been an issue with Aaron.
00:32:21
Speaker
I'm not saying monetary. I'm saying the size of the cigar. I think you'd have to pay him for him to be willing to smoke this thing. you know they do they but do they Do they review a lot of large gauges? No, they don't.
00:32:34
Speaker
I haven't seen them do many. Some 60s occasionally. I mean, this is they would never have to ever take shit ever again if they did this one. Be like... I'm going to say the flavors are great off this cigar.
00:32:46
Speaker
I mean, honestly, it took a little while for me to get the drawer going. I got the drawer going. The flavors are really, really good off this cigar. The Coop, and you were were and you were worried. Tom, full disclosure, Coop was like worried about having you while we were smoking this. I was like, man, it's all about we're going to have a good time. It's all about celebrating Father's Day. Smoking a cigar.
00:33:06
Speaker
I'm not going to lie. I was worried. I had no idea. i'm hot Right. Like it's just such a monstrosity and you know, the combustion. And and I think, like I said, I I'm just lightly rotating that, that ash off. So it's not super flaky when I just touch it up on and keep it. So I'm just giving a light touch up here and there. So I think that's going to have to continue, but ah again, it's, it's,
00:33:31
Speaker
Burning pretty solid. And like I said, it I like the flavor myself. So I'm, ah this the hat goes off to the to the boys at the factory, Luis Aguilar and our guys in Honduras, because ah they did a
Brewing Processes and Drink Insights
00:33:47
Speaker
fantastic job. You know, this this was a big ask.
00:33:50
Speaker
and No pun intended, right? Yeah. I do have a small thing I point out. I'm getting a runner on mine, but like I said, the draw is perfect, which is surprising, and the flavor is great.
00:34:02
Speaker
So that just may be I'm puffing wrong, and that might correct itself too. I've had some on the the very... but Some very big ring gauge cigars, not not on asylums, um where you know you you you you draw it and the cigar pops and you get that you know something pops in the middle. And i I was really worried about that. I don't see this happening with this cigar at all. It's it's it's it's not going to happen it's because the construction is really good on this cigar. you can you can You could feel it, and i got I have no fear of that happening right now.
00:34:31
Speaker
and I think there's too much tobacco, too, like to be honest. the what's a technical term? I like when I'm smoking a cigar, i like to smell the foot and the aroma coming off of it is just delicious. It really is.
00:34:44
Speaker
I mean, I did not expect this and I'm very impressed with that.
00:34:50
Speaker
Me too. um All right. So for my, my pairing, my living house, mama, Nat, textile, Amber lager, man, I had to read that in reverse. Yeah.
00:35:02
Speaker
um it's going great. Like, as you would expect kind of from this color, there's a significant amount of sweetness to this. It's kind of sweet and roasty with a little bit of that hoppy brightness.
00:35:15
Speaker
um It's kind of shocking that uh if you've seen me talk about great notion before they're they're a very experimental brewer um they're into putting 50 pounds of mangoes in their new sour or their new uh ipa and they're into barreling their stouts for two years with chocolate and banana and peanut butter and ah chocolate brownies and They go over the top with everything. So it's really weird to see like kind of a classic European style that they're in any way involved in.
00:35:50
Speaker
um Even though it is, it is just a collaboration. It's not a ah beer that they brewed, um but it's still kind of impressive that they have that much range because they're, they're typically the way over the top guys that ah go crazy with, with their beers.
00:36:06
Speaker
And to their credit, of course, partially decocted, as you mentioned. Decoction in general is kind of a is really a ah pain of and pain in the ass. from a brewing standpoint at a small scale, but when you bring it up to their scale, I can only imagine how really painful and time-consuming and resource-consuming that is. that you need people to actually focus on doing that, and you're moving hot liquid, which, again, adds a level of of complexity and difficulty and danger as well from a safety standpoint. So kudos to them for that.
00:36:37
Speaker
I did read about it a little bit, and you are typically getting a little bit of caramelization. um which adds to kind of the the roastiness, the sweetness, the whole-bodiedness.
00:36:48
Speaker
um Anyway, what are the rest of you guys, how are your pairings working out so far? Tripped up. This beet juice that's in this soda is just spot on with this.
00:37:00
Speaker
I mean, you just it's spot on with with this profile. It was all I could say. Just compliments and perfect.
00:37:07
Speaker
Yeah, I think for me, the Magnus bourbon is... Definitely got a little cinnamon to it, so and it's a little spice. It's 108 proof, so it's a little hot. So it it actually kind of goes good with the cigar because it's kind of giving it a little more spice to it, and and the sweetness of it really pairs well with the cigar itself.
00:37:36
Speaker
Nice. yeah Yeah, I would think something with a little bit of that spice would work because like we were talking about before, there's not a whole lot of spice in this cigar. Certainly not what I'm used to for most of your cigars, um but I think that kind of comes with the the changing of the blend that happens when you increase the size by 15 times.
00:37:54
Speaker
I would love this as a Lancero. or like little Petit Corona, maybe. A 13 by 38. Maybe a 13 by 34. There you go. The skinny megalophobia.
00:38:07
Speaker
Yeah, could be. Could be, man. And I love that floral quality, too. It it is popping really nicely for me, and I love it. It smells good. It tastes good. I'm still, because it's so large, again, the draw is really hard for me trying to get a ah proper draw, but I'm getting some bits of there, and I'm trying to retrohale it desperately.
00:38:24
Speaker
It's burning well. um I'm down to 11 and a half inches at this point, and my cold brew is pairing very well. I'm very excited about my next pairing, which um is a tea that has some black currants, so it's just's got some sweetness. So I think that's going to really open this flavor up.
00:38:43
Speaker
All Bear, you're up last. Yeah, my tequila is is pairing well. Man, I haven't copped this much on a cigar since I can't even remember when, dude. Like, this is fucking insane.
00:38:56
Speaker
But it's... Just trying to get a drop. But I think I've got it down now. I finally got a good retrohale off of it, and it is... It is really good. My only complaint, guess everyone in the in room knows that I really like a long finish.
00:39:10
Speaker
I mean, obviously it's really short and abbreviated just because you just don't get a lot of that smoke with the the abbreviated draws that we're getting. But man, it, the, it really It really sings. With the pairing, it's going really well.
00:39:22
Speaker
That nice sweetness from the tequila and the blue agave. And it's just is' pairing incredibly well. um And, yeah, i'm i'm I'm a little nervous about my second pairing, but we'll get to that here in a second. but um But this is this is this is going well so far.
00:39:39
Speaker
I'm definitely nervous about my second pairing. I have to open it at all. talk while i while i pour um this one i don't have as much notes on just because it's not uh as close to me living house was a you know a brewery that i went to right after they opened this is a brewery that everybody who's had a craft beer has probably had left hand milk stout this is the peanut butter version of left hand milk stout like left hand was founded in 1993 in colorado with a homebrew kit and a dream
00:40:10
Speaker
um Since then, they've gone to kind of ah not necessarily pioneer, but ah be one of the only real competitors to ah Guinness with the Nitro widgets.
00:40:22
Speaker
So they have a bunch of Nitro beers. There are more Nitro beers on the market these days, um but they started doing it ah back when Guinness was the only company doing it. and but This is their peanut butter milk stout.
00:40:35
Speaker
It is milk stout with peanuts and natural peanut butter flavor, which... It shows chocolate on there. I think that chocolate is just coming from the ah stout rather than the ah any added chocolate, which is a thumbs up for bear.
00:40:51
Speaker
um And it clocks in at a mere stockingly low for a stout, 6.2% ABV. um That's reasonable. And nowadays, yeah. I'm going to see how this is. I've had this beer a long time ago, and I remember it being pretty peanut buttery, which I'm a fiend for peanut butter, and I think it'll work well with that sweetness of this cigar that I was talking about.
00:41:12
Speaker
um Anybody want to go want to go next up? Yeah, go. all right I'm going to a regular of mine. okay so I'm a big fan of loose tea.
00:41:24
Speaker
This is the Harney & Sons. The can says decaf Paris, but this is the regular Paris. um I smoke a lot of cigars with this. It's black tea, vanilla flavor, caramel flavor, of vanilla flakes, natural bergamot oil, blackcurrant flavor.
00:41:39
Speaker
um This and blackcurrant is probably a favorite. My next one will has a little bit more bergamot oil, which is the ah Tower of London. But I just really like A nice natural tea and make in the tea maker and then add ice to it.
00:41:55
Speaker
It has some sweetness to it. It doesn't really have as much of the cocoa notes, but the vanilla and the black currants is bringing out a lot of sweetness in the cigar. I think it's a great pairing.
00:42:05
Speaker
I love the Harning Sun stuff, and i have a tin of the Paris. I typically keep a tin of the Lapisating Suchong, which I'm a huge fan of the smokiness of it. And I got something new today. I think it is called, I want to say Spring Garden.
00:42:21
Speaker
It's a green tea with a couple of other things from Harning Sun. Very excited to try that. smells fantastic. um As much as their Indigo Punch, which is another one of those teas. If you're into tea, check it out.
00:42:33
Speaker
um It's really, really lovely. I've been thinking about this for a while. Sorry, go ahead, Jay. I'd say one that you may want to try that's got a lot of mangoes in is the Karib. That's fantastic. Oh, haven't seen that anywhere.
00:42:45
Speaker
ah The Karib from Harnings Sons. I was afraid to try it because the comments were very all over the board, but that goes really well with the cigar, ah particularly something with Correjo in it or Correjo that has that natural sweetness.
00:43:00
Speaker
So I've been thinking for a long time that we should get Jay on for a tea episode. I would love to, man. I think we need to. You guys need to school me on tea because I think the most exotic tea I've had is like Bigelow. Lipton?
00:43:14
Speaker
no No, slightly more exotic than that, but not by much. Like just the stuff you get everywhere um is as far as I've gotten with anything except green tea.
00:43:25
Speaker
ah So I'm curious to explore it. all right, Tom, do you have another pairing up next? Are you still hanging out with Joseph? I'm still working on my Magnus, but I'm just about out, so I'll get there. It's all right, Tom. We were hard-pounding tequila at 5 o'clock this morning, man. Don't worry. Yeah, we don't blame you. You got to pass, man, for sure.
00:43:49
Speaker
Yeah, it's been a long weekend.
00:43:55
Speaker
All right, Bear, you're up next. Yeah, i've I've featured this before, and i would like I said, i just wanted to go. i mean, we're doing crazy things, so let's fucking do crazy things. So I um had the opportunity to go to Scotland a few years ago.
00:44:08
Speaker
And I brought back a bottle from the Edinburgh Gin Distillery ah there in Edinburgh. And this is their Navy Strength Cannonball Gin.
00:44:19
Speaker
Oh, yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. 57.2% ABV. too. um really i got to be part i got to witness the making of this too I mean, just that the amount of... i mean, if you've been day like whiskey distilleries or even breweries, like the amount of...
00:44:41
Speaker
cleanliness and the amount of like filtration that that goes into it to bring you know liquor out to it's it's its most purest state and everything. i mean This stuff was absolutely gorgeous coming out. and We got some of it straight out of ah straight out of the the still, and that stuff will light like fire, man. i mean It was crazy. but i mean Gin is known for its all its botanicals and stuff like that. Just so to name a few that are ah They use a double amount of juniper, which I'm a big fan of because I love the flavor of juniper and gin.
00:45:13
Speaker
Szechuan peppers, peppercorn. Oh, yeah. Lemon zest, which you can absolutely taste on this on this cannonball gin. It's fantastic. It's very peppery.
00:45:25
Speaker
you all you can You also get, I swear, there's got be some peppermint in it, too. i mean, it is um very, very zesty. And it's it's glorious um and makes a really great cocktail, too. ah But it's ah it's absolutely great straight. And that's how I drink most of my most of my spirits is straight. I don't do even ice or anything like that. I'm just like, you know what? well but's just Let's just go. So I'm pairing that up now. And Cheers, gentlemen.
00:45:55
Speaker
Cheers. You're a man after my own heart. As I go into different bars and things and I see a gin that maybe i haven't had, I'll ask him to to give me a pour and eat. And I always get this look, just this weird, you don't want it in a cocktail, you don't want it in a whatever thing. No, man. yeah I want to taste it. I want to experience what it is for the first time and then I can decide if I want to put it into a cocktail or something else.
00:46:17
Speaker
I usually start off with rocks and olives, but ah a lot of time I'd get it straight anyway. You know, Bear, if you're a big fan of gin and you like junipers, it's hard to get in the U.S. There's a little bit. You could try Geneva, which is sort of a – it's like the grandfather of dry gin.
00:46:34
Speaker
um Or there's a lot of wonderful botanical gins that are being made in New York State. But Geneva, I think, would be right up your palate because you get a lot more the juniper. And if you're ever in in Amsterdam, you can go to the Bowles Museum and try 100 different flavors.
00:46:50
Speaker
Sounds awesome. Sounds fantastic.
Cigar Challenges and Mishaps
00:46:55
Speaker
Man, ah somehow we made it through most of the pairing already, which shocking. Dennis, did you talk about what you had up? but I did not. i I was going to talk about mine, but I think it's one of those things that we've we've had it on the show so many times that I'm going to run through it real quick unless anyone wants to ask any yeah fun fun questions, quiz quiz and trivia stuff, but 1759, Arthur Guinness,
00:47:20
Speaker
by arthur guinness You all know what this is. This is the beautiful Guinness Stout, the classic, don't mind the glass. but Fantastic. i had I had some lovely Guinness this afternoon for lunch at a very proper Irish bar down here in South Jersey.
00:47:38
Speaker
And proper to a degree where they actually have, if you ah any of you nerds have kind of gotten down on like the, what were they called, the Jameson dispensers. Do you remember those at all?
00:47:51
Speaker
There's a proper name for it. I forget what they were called, but it was it was kind of like a thing attached to the wall. Oh, that goes upside down with the bottle? Well, you throw you threw your coins in. So when the bar closes, before you go home, if you want another drink, you can throw your coins in, and it'll give you a... It'll dispense one shot of Jameson.
00:48:08
Speaker
Huh. Or whatever whatever whiskey the bar wants to put in there, but classically, it's Jameson. ah These things are super rare. i've been trying to buy one for a bunch of years for my own kind of man cave, if you will, and I haven't been able get one.
00:48:21
Speaker
But... um Yeah, Guinness is is such a weird, interesting, cool thing. I've tried for years now to nail down the Guinness recipe. I know the recipe. I have the recipe, but it's it's so different. right When you make it at home, like anything else, it's so uniquely different and so difficult to nail down that. like there's There's enough nuance to it that you can make it and it will never taste right.
00:48:45
Speaker
I have a question for you, Dennis. Yeah. yeah you might know the answer to this. I used to go, they used to have a brew on the premises place in Chicago where you would make 13 gallons at a time, but we try to make Guinness.
00:48:58
Speaker
And one of the things they said to us is the reason that Guinness is unique is that they take like the bottom 10% of the, of an old mash or whatever you call it. That's basically spoiled. And they use that. Is that an urban legend or is there some accuracy to that? no there, there's some truth to that. So,
00:49:15
Speaker
um In modern times, if you were if you're home brewer and you want to brew a Guinness, generally speaking, to get that funk, what you're using is as acidulated malts. So not the whole malt profile, but some part of it.
00:49:27
Speaker
So the best way, I think, to put it into perspective is if you think of... um Hershey's milk chocolate. Good example. Hershey's milk chocolate has a twang to it that's very different than any other milk chocolate.
00:49:41
Speaker
The reason for that is some of that milk sitting in those vats goes not rancid, not spoiled, but a little funked. And that funked milk goes into the final product. Similarly, Guinness kind of does that same same sort of thing.
00:49:55
Speaker
They add a little funk to it. It gives you that twang. um And again, Guinness, because it's not very high in alcohol, they really have to rest on laurels of the profile of the body and the final brew. So kind of similar to a yogurt with ah like sort of a mother's strain. A little a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. A little bit.
00:50:13
Speaker
You really want to infuse it with something that that's been considered your house strain, if you will.
00:50:21
Speaker
Well, that's similar to, like, at the the the Jim Beam distillery um in that house that's on the property. They actually have the original mother. They have the original mother. It's still i'm still there, like...
00:50:35
Speaker
which is crazy. like And it's really old. I forget how old it is, but <unk>s it's one of those things that you kind of have to wonder, why would someone want to do this? Why would you sit on that for so long? And and it's just part of the family and part of the history and the culture of that final product.
00:50:51
Speaker
Which makes really cool. Yeah, i mean, it goes back to the the the tradition of like infinity soup, right? Yes, yes. Where you know it just they just keep adding water, they keep adding different vegetables over you know years, decades. there's I mean, there's one in... I forgot what country. Dennis but dennis probably knows.
00:51:09
Speaker
But like there's one and in like it's somewhere in Asia where that's been going for like 300 plus or 400 plus years or something. and it's just it's never ending.
00:51:20
Speaker
You know, they just keep adding water, keep adding different stuff to it. And it's, you know, Yeah, it keeps feet you can just keeps feeding folks and everything. <unk> I know that was a big thing in Mongolia, but it's it's probably more like Singapore, closer to Singapore area. I don't know the actual place, but I've heard of it. It's it's certainly growing up. I've heard of about these things.
00:51:42
Speaker
And my family has always said, well, these country folks, they do this thing where they have this vat that just sits and they just add stuff to it. And they take stuff out. And every time they take something out, they add something back. And just keeps going. And that's like the community for a village, for a small group of people, for a small community.
00:51:58
Speaker
That's like the, that's where you go to eat. You know, whatever people put in is what you get. That's kind of cool.
00:52:09
Speaker
Very cool. Did I miss anybody? Nope. so well i had another one. All right. Go ahead, Coop. So um um I paired my next one with something called Wyoming Whiskey. ah This is a whiskey brand out of Wyoming.
00:52:22
Speaker
um i I found this whiskey down at Corona a few years ago, and I ended up picking up a bottle of it. It's it's like it's actually a whiskey I really enjoy.
00:52:33
Speaker
it's got this um It's got this vanilla bean ah flavor to it. um it It is a little strong on the finish is what I'll say. So it has a strong finish and and I don't know if it's the best thing to pair with this cigar, but smaller sips, it will work with that.
00:52:51
Speaker
when when I find that the the cigar actually enhances the whiskey a little more than the whiskey will enhance the cigar in this case. So I'll puff the cigar, then have the whiskey. But the only thing is that that whiskey is going to leave a very strong finish on this. So ah you don't want to keep doing that because it's it's probably going to impede the cigar a bit. but But um not bad.
00:53:10
Speaker
It's not bad. Do you know what the ABV on that whiskey is? ah The ABV, the proof? Yeah. 88. Okay. So it's it's not too high. It's just... it's not too That's why i kind of liked it. Yeah. It's not a high one. Yeah. Yeah. It's not burning too hot or anything.
00:53:27
Speaker
No. when you When you said it was a little hot on the palate, I was wondering because... should have said hot. It lingers on the palate more, yeah. Well, you can kind of get... It's interesting that there is an association with the ABV, but I've had like 115 proof stuff that has like very little heat on the palate, and I've had 80 proof stuff that's like...
00:53:53
Speaker
burning on your palate yeah this is for an 88 proof it's got yeah it's got some intensity to it um without like the alcohol buzz i guess is so to speak you know which is what drew me to this to begin with that's pretty indicative of rice right true dennis where it's like a lower abv but it's yeah like the um but it's just taught rice just tend to tend to have the hot taste to them
00:54:21
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. ah But it's a good it's a good whiskey, and if you have a chance to try it, I i highly recommend it. I'm going to keep an eye out for it Dennis, are you okay over there? I just dropped my cigar. dropped my cigar. it exploded.
00:54:35
Speaker
My carpet caught on fire. but oh God. so I just put it out. And now I have to relight my cigar. so now i'm I'm going full power. oh boy. I'm staying here with this Benzomatic.
00:54:47
Speaker
Moe power, baby. That's way to do it. Wow, look at that. Look at that smoke show. We're getting there. i did get try It's a good time for Tom to say you know that that any damage to any personal property during the filming of this podcast Or during the consumption of this cigar. Or during the consumption of anything is not of direct result or, you know, liable to asylum cigars, CLE, or any other. yes we got a lawyer We got a lawyer here. You can draft something really quick. yeah that's right the discla We needed the disclaimer here. Thank you, Bear. Like you said, it's, again, use that your own risk.
00:55:26
Speaker
yeah I do think you can add a thing that this is the perfect cigar for death row. Just say, I want to smoke one cigar before you electrocute me. Smoke this. My ash is surprisingly firm. i guess some I have some flaking, yes, but surprisingly this is ash is is holding up on me.
00:55:43
Speaker
Mine's holding up too. yes yeah A little flaking, but I would expect that on on something this this big. so I am getting flaking, but I did dry box the last 24 hours, so that may be why. I tapped my ash off.
00:55:56
Speaker
ah because it did start flaking all over the place, which, like I said, but the yeah but size of this thing... so yeah I'm not one of the ones that has a normal-sized cigar, but like the size of this thing, there's a lot of weight of ash once you get to just a quarter of an inch.
00:56:14
Speaker
And I want to reiterate it once again. I think the retro hell in this is fantastic, Tom. Uh, I just had my wife try it and she didn't retro well, but she said that she really liked the flavor, which I didn't normally, normally she doesn't smoke that much. So you have another fan in our house.
00:56:29
Speaker
ah Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. I'm, uh, I'm enjoying the flavor. I think, like I said, the first, I am. Yeah. Uh, the first pairing I did with this Joseph Magnus, um,
00:56:41
Speaker
was really unique because it is 108 proof, but, uh, you know, it's got a light heat to it, but this one is done in, uh, Armagnac, Cognac, and Sherry cast.
00:56:52
Speaker
um So it has like a, a sweetness and, and that really kind of pairs more with the cigar. So, uh, you know, that was a good pairing. Uh, you know I've switched now. I don't have the bottle in front of me, uh, but I'm doing the, uh,
00:57:08
Speaker
Blanco 1942 Don Julio. And I forget there's another name to it, but and the bottle's outside of the cigar room right now. so Delicious is what it's called. Delicious. Yes, it's fantastic. It is. Yeah, it's it's good stuff.
00:57:26
Speaker
my My wonderful girlfriend, Julie, poured me a monster glass. So, you know, I think I'm on my way to... Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly.
00:57:38
Speaker
If you're gonna consume you might as well over consume when it's with this cigar I have to shout out to to bear real quick on bear's parings over the years as we've chatted and and things that he's mentioned that he likes I have went out and i've I've tried to get as many of the things that he's said, hey, this is really cool.
00:57:55
Speaker
I love this with the cigar. I've enjoyed every single thing, every tequila, every whiskey, everything that you've talked about, I've loved. And please give me some so some stuff over the you know next couple hours.
00:58:08
Speaker
Share more with us so that I can go and and have an excuse to spend money. Well, that's humbling, Dennis. Thank you, considering the company I'm in. But yeah, no, I think i think pairing is one of the the fun things that we get to do as cigar smokers.
00:58:24
Speaker
And um you know it's something that I've enjoyed doing with you, the the pair of you guys, for for a long time. you know we We had our own record-breaking show ah many moons ago, yeah where Coop actually went to bed in the middle of it, it woke up, and he was still going.
00:58:42
Speaker
Um, that was pretty epic. i't Um, I don't, um, had to go pick up a moving truck for my son. I remember we had to get up at like three and you guys are still going at it. Yeah. And I don't think, I mean, we weren't even close to done. It's not like we were wrapping up too. Like that was, that was, that was insane, but that was a lot of fun. But, uh, but thank you, uh, Dennis. Uh, I, I, I think it's, I think you just have to, um, for me, when I'm talking, when I think about pairing, I smoke a lot more than I drink.
00:59:13
Speaker
um in terms of like spirits and beers and and things like that. And so um when I look at like beers or I try a beer or a spirit and I look at spirits and the notes and stuff like that, it typically reminds me of a cigar a lot faster than than the other way around.
00:59:33
Speaker
um And that's why that's how I typically kind of kind of went with it when we were doing our shows together. um And it' it's ah it seemed to work out.
00:59:44
Speaker
So, you know, um that's kind of how that's kind of how i I've always kind of gone about my my pairing methodology. Nice.
00:59:55
Speaker
All right. I always like to highlight what folks are smoking while they're watching, and we have a several comments of what people are pairing and smoking tonight. Celano is smoking the Tabernacle, Connecticut 142.
01:00:08
Speaker
He says, incredible stick, and I agree. Great cigar. ah Keith Powers is smoking the God of Fire Anniversario, which was a Father's Day gift. That is quite the Father's Day gift.
01:00:19
Speaker
yeah And Sam Finnell is pairing a Kentucky Mule with a Katie Caddy PR 49. forty nine I looked it up, and that is a cigar. I had to make sure um from Caddy Cigar Company. I am not familiar with that. I'm going have to do some research after the show and and see if see if maybe we need to try some of their stuff.
Asylum Cigars' Legacy and Future Plans
01:00:42
Speaker
I've seen a lot of positive things on social media about those cigars. This is the first I've heard of them, and I tend to be pretty plugged in, ah which which always surprises me.
01:00:55
Speaker
Well, Coop's our encyclopedia. Coop, what do you know? academy i did i was I've heard of it, but I'm not really familiar with it. But I have heard of it. There you go, Sam. You stumped Coop.
01:01:06
Speaker
Damn. but That's impressive. ah Good job, Coop. Good job, Sam, rather. I know I've seen these cigars, and I know... and yeah i just i just Googled the site. Yeah, I've seen these before.
01:01:20
Speaker
they have It's shaped like a cannon, these cigars. Really? It literally has a cannon shape to it. so it's it's a It's kind of like a Figurado. I was going to say kind of like an 11, uh, 11, 18, not quite an 11, 18, because the 11, 18 kind has that hump in the middle.
01:01:36
Speaker
This kind of is a gentle slope is what this is. Careful. Isn't that, isn't that trademarked by Tom? We got to be careful with that 11, 18. Just no, well, that, uh, no, no, no, no. That was, it isn't an 11, 18. It isn't the 11, 18. That was an Aroa, uh, an Aroa thing. You know, we did at Camacho in honor of Christian's mother.
01:01:55
Speaker
Her birthday is, uh, november 18th and that's why we always uh kind of honored christian's mother and up with the uh 1118 and then obviously sold davidoff continued with the camacho 1118 and uh and now we do our own 1118s again so well and uh that brings up just an interesting thing that i saw at the show which is the you have like the asylum collection of 1118s that's coming out right Yes. So we we did the, you know, every year we do an asylum limited edition cigar around July.
01:02:32
Speaker
And, you know, we didn't start till our seventh year. And so a lot of people are like, how do I get one, two, three, four, five and six? And I'm like, well, they don't exist. We didn't do it. So, you know, this year being our 13th year, we you know, July 2nd, we'll be celebrating 13 years in business.
01:02:51
Speaker
And so basically what we did is we put two of each of our limited edition cigars in it. So it has two of sevens, two eights, two nines, two tens, two elevens, two twelves.
01:03:04
Speaker
And I only went with one of the new 13 for this year because I wanted a 13 cup box. So I didn't want to throw the comp box off celebrating 13th anniversary.
01:03:15
Speaker
So, ah yeah, so we did it in 1118 and we also did it in the 770. Oh, nice. Okay, cool. i I want to go on a limb here and Coop will back me up on this, although it carries a little bit more weight with me because I'm normally not the big game smoker.
01:03:32
Speaker
that ah The Asylum 7, the year that it came out, it was probably the best, if like maybe like 1B cigar that I smoked all year long.
01:03:47
Speaker
And it is still the finest, in my opinion, Tom, um the finest Asylum that you have ever made. It is immaculate. And it's specifically that Vitola. like i I had the 1118 as well.
01:03:59
Speaker
The 7x70 is absolutely absolutely immaculate, and it is unbelievable. Am I thinking of the wrong cigar? Was that the one that was like seven by seventy box press?
01:04:11
Speaker
No, no, I'm thinking of a different one. Okay. The box for the only box press I've ever done was it was the asylum 13 Nicaragua and we did it for as a TAA exclusive.
01:04:22
Speaker
Okay. That must've been, we did a show on that one and we were like blown away but because we, you know, it was one of those, like, it was like this show where we're like, you know, we'll smoke a giant cigar. It'll be funny. yeah And then suddenly the, the funny cigar is good.
01:04:36
Speaker
Yeah, and you know one of the fun things, like you said, with with the yearly project, and you know I decided to end it and i stop at year 13. So this is the last year of that.
01:04:48
Speaker
But um what we're going to do is kind of gather some data, and we're going to take the one that's most requested and probably turn that into one of our next projects.
01:05:00
Speaker
releases over the next one or two years. it would be permanent line in in the asylum, uh, portfolio. of So bear your dream might come true. We might, yeah and that you know, so far seven is the one that everybody goes back to. And like, uh, we absolutely love that cigar. So, uh,
01:05:19
Speaker
you know As long as we have enough tobacco and recreate the blend, because the ones we did in the thing, we have baked. I had set aside about 1,200 of every one that we made to do this project. Oh, those are original release ones? They're a original release. Wow, that's impressive. Oh, shit.
01:05:37
Speaker
Those have been set aside for seven years, the sevens. So the the ones in those packages, and they'll be out in July, um are seven-year-aged. I mean, they they they they are from 2019.
01:05:52
Speaker
And so, yeah, there's two of each of each year in that. And you know At the end of the day, if people really love it, I think that might be like one of the next kind of premium Asylum releases will be in one of those blends from those limited series.
01:06:12
Speaker
the The last one you did, the 12, is really good. and It's really unique. That cigar is i think it's the most different of all the other ones. um if you just If folks haven't tried the 12, give the 12 a shot because that's a really good one as well.
01:06:28
Speaker
Yeah, thank you, Coop. Thank you. It's funny because people ask, well, what is that one? I said i can't remember the blends on any of them, to tell you the truth. and people ask them like I know one was the 11 was a barber pole, but you know going through them, it's just the years go by. it's like Yeah, this was this was the last one. I remember this is the last one. That's the one where you change from the coffin to the tubes, I believe.
01:06:52
Speaker
Yes. Yes. that was Yeah, that is not the barber pole, but yeah. that Right. It's the one that's in the tube. Yeah. And it had kind of the teal colors with it. yeah Really, really unique flavors up there. mean, it's something haven't had ah seen at all before on an asylum, I'll tell you that. And it's good that's ah It's a really good one as well.
01:07:14
Speaker
And this collection will be available in July, you said, Tom? Yes, we did a limited run at the show and sold out of them. so yeah, they'll be in stores sometime in July.
01:07:25
Speaker
Jay, will you be carrying the collection? I was going to ask the same thing. ah from Maybe it was because my appointment was at 3.52 on the last day. They did not present that to me, ah but it was kind of late.
01:07:38
Speaker
um But maybe I could talk with Hector and see. yeah You know, Jay, can always find a way. yeah I know a guy. I know a cigar that I really liked of yours, but I don't think you made it in a seven by seventy but And I'm not going to say it's better than the style of 7, but the Sensorium, I really enjoy that. Oh, my goodness.
01:07:59
Speaker
And the other size, I think it was a Toro or a 56. I don't remember. But that was really great with that Pinot Lera tobacco. But I don't think you did that in the 70, did you? ah No. was a sixty It was a 60. I did an 1118 and a 60 by 6. That's really good cigar. It didn't sell very well for us, but I enjoyed every one that I smoked and I sold. I i did buy you. Jay, you got me hooked.
01:08:21
Speaker
Jay actually got me hooked on that cigar, and I ended up getting someone I was down there. Yeah. You know, that one, again, we used that Panorino tobacco, um, and the price point was high. You know, I think, but you know what we did, that cigar retailed between 50 and $60 a cigar. Um, you know, it was limited production to 10,000 cigars.
01:08:41
Speaker
Um, and again, it's fantastic. Uh, you know, it's funny cause I've been over the last couple of years since we released that, while we were making that cigar,
01:08:53
Speaker
you know, we had a number of blends we were working on. And one of the blends, and you know, as a group, myself and Christian and Rupert and and the the guys when we were down decided to go with the Sensorian blend.
01:09:06
Speaker
ah But there was another blend that I did, and I kind of just made that my personal cigar. The factory sends me like 800 them at a time. And I literally smoke them at home. They just, there's no band. They're tissue wrapped. It's a 46 by six.
01:09:23
Speaker
My man. And it's an amazing cigar. And, uh, it's a similar blend of sensorium, but it's a little different. We, we've got a little bit of our Colombian tobacco in there. Uh, it gives it a little more sweetness and, uh,
01:09:37
Speaker
You know, as I travel around the country, I hand them out to people and I use them at events. And and so I'm getting a lot of requests to launch that cigar. I've been kind of handing them out for a couple of years.
01:09:48
Speaker
And so that will probably be one of my releases next year. So it's ah it's a similar blend. It's a little different. We just I put some of the Colombian filler in there.
01:10:00
Speaker
And i just love the cigar. I probably smoke five a day of those things just on my own. ah You know, so it's but that it's definitely ah possible release for next year.
01:10:13
Speaker
um awesome and And I'm looking at it. It'll probably be the first time I actually put my actual name on a cigar. You know, it's always been Asylum. I've never used my name or anything like that.
01:10:26
Speaker
But I think with that cigar, it's an important cigar for me that I think is unbelievable. And so it will be... you know, an asylum by Tom Lazuka on that cigar.
01:10:38
Speaker
Wow. I haven't figured out the name. Nice, nice. Yeah, that we're looking at it. Eventually we'll launch it. I'm not sure exactly when, but <unk> hopefully I'll have some next time I see you guys in person. I'll i'll definitely give you one to try and and let me know what you think.
01:10:55
Speaker
Tom, when you go through, when you go, when you travel around so much, like, do you find that more people are, like, more people convert that are not big gauge smokers to smoking your big gauges?
01:11:09
Speaker
Or... the people who are negative Nancy's and don't want to even try the big gauge and are surprised to enjoy some of your smaller gauge cigars and find out how really great they are.
01:11:19
Speaker
Is it pretty even or is it like lopsided to one or the other in terms of like, I guess, it solid conference you could call them it and it's much more lopsided, right? I mean, we, you know, we've talked over the years, right? As Asylum, as a brand,
01:11:35
Speaker
ah You know, we we have the gift of truly being a brand today. You know, we're a worldwide brand in the 80 countries. ah But we're also the curse is people only think of us sometimes as a big ring gauge cigar. So, you know, the big ring gauge, you know, just people don't transition to big ring gauge.
01:11:54
Speaker
You're either a big ring gauge guy. Or, you know, you're you're not switching from Robusto or Toro or ah or a Corona, you know, to a 70, 80 or 90.
01:12:07
Speaker
But, you know, one of the things is a lot of times, you know, when I travel and do events, because we do so well with the big ring gauge, you know, a lot of the stores only carry big ring gauge.
01:12:18
Speaker
And, ah you know, so I tell them, I'm like, listen, you have to bring in a Robusto or the Toro, you know, because I get so many people that come and are like, listen, I've always wanted to try Asylum, but a lot of stores only carry the big ring gauge.
01:12:32
Speaker
And so we're kind of labeled as the big ring gauge. They sell very, very well for us. ah So, you know, I really try and encourage the retailers when I'm doing an in-store event to bring in a box or two of Toros or Robustos because all those guys who are curious, who might not have ever had it, aren't going to smoke a 70s.
01:12:54
Speaker
you know, a or an 80. So, ah you know, when they do that, we sell out of those, the the Toros or Robustos, what we bring in. and And I think we really create new fans that way. And and people understand that we are much more than just a big ring gauge cigar company.
01:13:12
Speaker
I think that's really smart of you. far Yeah. i was just saying the same thing. Because I think there are probably a disproportionate number of people who come in and see all your stuff is six by 67 by 70.
01:13:23
Speaker
And they go, that stuff's too big. I'm not going to try it. They're not going to ask. They're not going to say, Hey, do you have this in a five by 50? Um, so it's really smart of you to be proactive that way. So that for those guys, instead of saying, Hey, I'm just not going to smoke that stuff.
01:13:37
Speaker
Um, they have an option to get them in
Cigar and Alcohol Pairing Discussion
01:13:40
Speaker
the door. Yeah. Their Connecticut's really good. um And I will say that, as you know, I'm a small green gauge smoker, but I think the finest cigar you make in your portfolio, this regular production, and I tell people this all the time, I don't know what it is about that blend, but the 80 by six and the ogre.
01:13:56
Speaker
Yeah. ah That cigar is just phenomenal. But I do like your Connecticut's in the smaller sizes. Those are very nice. And the regular Asylum 13 in the like five by 50, those are really nice cigars.
01:14:09
Speaker
like calmly yeah Tom, the other thing about, you know, what I've talked to a lot of smokers and a lot of newer, older smokers will go to 60 and 70 ringgays because they think they're getting bang for the buck, right? They they are, right? You're getting a good cigar and all that.
01:14:21
Speaker
But what what a lot of them have told me is it gets to a point they it can't pick it up because they don't have the time commitment sometimes to do that. yeah So now offering a Toro or Robusto, that's a great alternative for them to still get that same cigar and in that blend. Thank you.
01:14:38
Speaker
The cigar's taking up your whole face. We can't see you, Cooper. It's blocking the whole frame, Cooper. I have two screens here, so I couldn't see any i was Cooper's like, man, I tell you what, this is just the you know best thing I've ever done.
01:14:55
Speaker
wants everyone to know. ah Hey, Tripp, I do have one more pairing note for you. i decided to try this this Kings County bourbon that's coffee-infused, and I like this, but it doesn't go well with this cigar. In fact, this tells me that I would avoid a Madeira or a Port with this cigar.
01:15:15
Speaker
um ah just It just becomes too sweet. Yeah, so I can see that. I like the teas better and the cold brew is better, but this is this is a great whiskey. I can't, how do you get this right here?
01:15:27
Speaker
That whiskey has kind of like a candy sweetness to it, right? Yeah, but I think the regular whiskey, which has more of a rye bite to it, ah might be a better pairing. The coffee flavor just doesn't work with this because the cigar doesn't have that kind of sweetness.
01:15:41
Speaker
I love the Kings County stuff, and I would love to say that they were at some point more affordable. and Then why do you say that? I bought two bottles, and it was $129, which in today's market... Were they hip flasks?
01:15:54
Speaker
No, it's the regular bottle and the coffee, and they're both 750 milliliters. That's a great deal. That's a so fantastic. and and i bought that at like I bought that at Pogo's, which has probably been cheaper at a Spex or...
01:16:09
Speaker
wines or us or whatever. um But I mean, I drink probably one glass of whiskey a week tops. And I tried the coffee flavor. The coffee flavor is really good with ice cream and a cigar that has some sweetness to it.
01:16:21
Speaker
But it doesn't work with this cigar. In the Tri-State area, I can tell you that price is double. Easy. Wow. Unfortunately. And i I remember when they first launched, I was still living in Brooklyn and and kind of exploring the local scene. And they were so expensive. for Those flasks were going for probably $75 to $80 if you could even get them.
01:16:41
Speaker
Wow. It was wild. Well, I used to drink a lot. And I remember when a handle of Larceny was cheaper than a fifth is right now. So it's been a while. Yeah, i mean, a lot of certainly a lot of spirits have have gone that route.
01:16:57
Speaker
um Rums are getting through that phase now, I think. Culturally, they're getting to a place where they're they're getting more popular now, so you'll see rums for a lot more money. And the glass.
01:17:07
Speaker
And certainly the agricultural stuff is is getting there. My wife brought me the the regular whiskey, so I've got to try a fourth pair of now. There you go. The coffee's not working. Well, I try not to drink that much, and my my wife has given me permission. Shout out to Andrea.
01:17:23
Speaker
Shout out to Andrea. i i think I think it's kind of the conversation about cost is a little indicative to that where we were talking about earlier about really when you when you look at the price tag for these megalophobias, right?
01:17:34
Speaker
You know, $2.50 for two cigars. You know, but we just broke the, we broke the math down. i mean, it it really is, this it really is a steal. Like yeah the, you know, the, ah our group was actually even talking about wholesale costs on other items earlier this week.
01:17:50
Speaker
And I was, I, you know, I felt like the negative answer. I was like, is this wholesale cost? Like, you know, everyone else was like, yeah, this is wholesale costs. And i'm like, um you know, on, on some particular items that we were looking at and it was just, it's, it's unbelievable how ah costs have just costs have gone up considerably.
01:18:06
Speaker
So when you think about this at 125 for, you know, essentially 16 Robustos, you know, it's it's and it's an incredible buy. But I mean, that's, I mean, Tom, that's kind of been, that's kind of been the asylum mantra from for from the get. yeah Like it's just giving really great, really great value, you know, across the board, you know, for, for you know, some pretty pretty phenomenally large cigars.
01:18:34
Speaker
you know, their the price point is just, is I mean, it's ah it's almost unmatched. I mean, you know, nod to our good friend Terrence about it, but I mean, like, um I mean, the the tobacco is completely different. And and i think I think what you and Christian have been able to do over the years with um being able to uniquely diversify within this segment, which is interesting, um, is, has kind of been really unparalleled. The creativity that you guys have exemplified within this particular segment, like how many, how many far, how many directions can you go exactly other than, other than just making it bigger. Right.
01:19:15
Speaker
Yeah.
Large Ring Gauge Cigar Experiences
01:19:16
Speaker
And you guys have been able to do it. Yeah. We, you know, we've been very fortunate, right? Like, uh, you know, obviously, you know, we started off with the Nicaraguan blends and then moved into our Honduran tobacco. and And, you know, in the most recent years, we've moved into, ah you know, the flavored cigar segment with the cool brew, ah which really was a ah massive hit for us last year.
01:19:44
Speaker
It's our kind of mocha mint. And it's, It has really taken off. And, you know, we make that in a 72 because really nobody makes the flavored savour in the big ring gauge. So we're giving our customers who like big ring gauge as an opportunity if they want something that's, you know, a ah flavored product.
01:20:06
Speaker
And, you know, just like this year, I launched a new one called the split personality, which I really want to try with that left hand peanut butter beard. I bet that would work.
01:20:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to appear, I think, pair amazing with that. And, you know, the split personality is our banana, caramel and almond flavor.
01:20:28
Speaker
And that was really our best launch we've ever had of any product since we started this company. I mean, it it went extremely well at the show.
01:20:41
Speaker
uh people love it the aroma is really really good you know when we were with you know uh you know matt tobacco came by at the show and he uh uh smoked he's like dude it smells like my wife's banana bread that she makes for me and uh he absolutely loved the cigar and uh he really did he told me that a lot yeah so you know i i think uh you know i mean we're the The nice part about Asylum is we can kind of go anywhere with the brand.
01:21:10
Speaker
and And I think we we continue to try and do that and be creative and create new things. And so, you know, I appreciate you guys coming on. And, you know, ah again, Coop, this was 100% your idea. ah to put us through that These guys made it happen, though. These guys Hey, I volunteered.
01:21:32
Speaker
Yeah. and But no, listen, it's awesome. I mean, who would have thought we're all going to be out of here smoking a 134 by 13 cigar on Father's Day, right? I mean, me and Barrett have been doing the Father's Day show, what, is this our fifth year together?
01:21:47
Speaker
Uh, yes. or of year right Yeah. Fifth year. This is our fifth year. Yeah. So, you know, it's always, uh, a treat to kind of wind down the day and, uh, get to spend some time with with, with, with bear. And, and, you know, was great that obviously with, uh, uh, the size of this cigar to be able to, you know, start off with you guys on this show and, uh, we'll be transitioning to, uh, bear show. Uh, you know, uh,
01:22:16
Speaker
Right around the second third, I've been thinking. Like, right as we get to the second third. it been now fair And that will when we may not finish the whole thing. I'm really enjoying this cigar. I mean, I'm i'm not just, you know I'm the big ring gauge guy. I don't know what you guys say, but I'm really enjoying this.
01:22:32
Speaker
I mean, it's... just as It's enjoyable. as they are i mean, yeah, it's a little tough to smoke. I get it, but but I'm yeah enjoying the flavors I'm getting off this. So that's what I was going to say is i'm I'm putting on my critic hat for a moment. i'm going to put on my Aaron Loomis hat, but I'm not going to be as brutal as him.
Cigar Preferences and Recommendations
01:22:45
Speaker
It's very difficult to smoke. Like, you got to take four draws just to get the smoke from here to here. There's a lot of air. A lot of volume in between there. But once you get the smoke, like it is actually really good. It's a fantastic cigar. Puff and rotate it is what I'm trying to do too with this. That's a key thing.
01:23:02
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I'm amazed. Mine is burning extremely well. I can really, I mean, I got to take a hard draw on it. but I get really good smoke from it.
01:23:14
Speaker
You know, it's burning through the center very well. As I go down, I just kind of touch up the end. That's what I'm doing, yeah. and i and You know, I touch up the outside and and just kind of knock that ash off. So I'm not really holding an ash with it, but...
01:23:30
Speaker
It's burning extremely well through the middle. As I'm going, I'm getting a a lot of nutty flavor to it. I'm getting the nutty flavor as well. Yeah, a lot of nutty nuttiness to this cigar.
01:23:43
Speaker
It's been very pleasant to my surprise because, you know, I i make a lot of big ring-age cigars, but, you know, this this one kind of took it to the edge of stupidity. Yeah. ah You know, but I'm actually enjoying the cigar.
01:24:00
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it's ah it it tastes good. Like I said, got to touch it up. It's a little little bit, you got to kind of pull hard. And I think it's a really key to get the entire thing lit evenly. Oh, yeah. ah Off the rip to to get it to smoke well. But my mine is smoking really well. I'm pleasantly surprised at how well this cigar is. yes but Yeah, I am too.
01:24:22
Speaker
People talk a lot about how Churchill's burn cool. This is the coolest burning cigar I've ever had. like It is burning, but like you don't get any heat to the smoke or anything.
01:24:33
Speaker
Yeah, and listen, that is always the debate. you know When I'm on the road, and and you know especially the Lancero guys and the smaller guys, and it's like, listen, The real difference in is combustion rate when you look at big Ringgade cigars. I think they burn cool.
01:24:50
Speaker
You tend to be able to really taste more of the fillers in the cigar where the wrapper's not so dominant all the time because it burns so cool. and And you can't overheat them. you know and you know silent we have you know One of our biggest group of people that smoke are the ah truck drivers.
01:25:11
Speaker
we have a lot of truck drivers that smoke seventies and eighties while they're on the road, because they don't have to keep cutting and relighting. They can focus on the road. They have a cigar for three or four hours while why they're on their drive. And, and, uh, you know, so the, uh, on the road truck drivers have been huge supporters of the asylum brand and they love them because they can smoke it for three or four hours and not be, uh, you know, trying to cut and light while they're driving.
01:25:38
Speaker
Yeah. yeah We have a similar experience at our store. We're right by an airport. So a lot of guys who work out on the tarmac at Love Field, they like them because it stays lit for three or four hours and they can't really go back and carry their, they can't really carry a lighter with them with the things that are dealing with aircrafts. And they smoke a lot of these.
01:25:57
Speaker
Yeah, and Jay, I mean, from the beginning, i mean, Blue Smoke in Dallas has been a huge supporter of Asylum, and and he's always been one of the best big ring gauge it stores in the U.S. I mean, Jay really does sell a lot of our 70s, and and a thank you for that, Jay. Your customers are great. we We appreciate you guys supporting Asylum and what we do, man.
01:26:22
Speaker
I appreciate that. they They love you even though you gave them extra small size shirts at the first event. That was not your fault. Yes, I know, I know. this This cigar is really enjoyable, and I did try the regular Kings County best pairing of the night.
01:26:39
Speaker
The spices brought on a lot of that nuttiness you were talking about. That was by far the best pairing. Nice. All right. so i C. Lano has a question that is very appropriate to what we were just talking about. He says he hasn't smoked many Asylum cigars.
01:26:54
Speaker
He tends to smoke stronger but stronger blends. Do you make anything in the profile that you would recommend he give a try, Tom? the The Asylum 13 Nicaragua, um and you know we make that in a Lancero.
01:27:07
Speaker
We make it a Robusto, which really have a lot of body compared to the 770. the seven seventy s But it's it's a Nicaraguan Piero. It's a dark cabano wrapper. It almost looks Maduro, but it's it's not a Maduro cigar. It's the darkest cabanos that we picked for that cigar with Astellia and Jalapa fillers in it. So it's going to give you some sweetness and richness from it, but it really gives you a little bit of that pepper and spice on the back end.
01:27:36
Speaker
So I would definitely suggest the and the original blend, the Asylum 13 Nicaragua. Or, you know, the pandemoniums are a nice full body blend also. Oh, yeah. That's what i was going suggest. Yeah. and Yeah. They're a little bit, you know, again, we make it the smallest ring gauge we make that in is a 52, but it's a 52 by eight and a half.
01:27:56
Speaker
So, you know, yeah it's a commitment to. Uh, but, uh, and we do it in 60 and 70, but I would recommend the 13 Nicaragua or the, the pandemonium.
01:28:08
Speaker
And Tom, correct me if wrong. i don't know if you make this anymore. And I honestly don't remember if it was CLE or asylum, but the Azurbaque or whatever, that was a really good full body. Azurbaque. Azurbaque, yeah. That is a, uh, it was the CLE blend.
01:28:24
Speaker
where we used the San Andreas Maduro, and we used it. It was a real unique blend. We had Nicaraguan, Honduran, and Peruvian fillers in that cigar. So it's a really unique blend.
01:28:36
Speaker
ah We do make it, but more as a – it's a – how do I want to say it? we We took it out of the regular rotation, but for the customers who want it, it's still – like You can order it.
01:28:51
Speaker
just It's kind of like a pre-order. It takes about 60 days to come in. but So we still make them for for people who want to carry the blend, but we're not focused on that brand per se.
01:29:04
Speaker
They're special order, not regular production. Yes. One of the throwbacks that I love from Asylum that has that strength that he's talking about that I feel like just absolutely kissed the pal with just amazing body and spice. It was really great. was the straight jacket. Yes! Oh, shit. I was just going to talk about the straight jacket, man. God damn. That was an amazing cigar. 2013 or 14, I had my first straight jacket, and I loved those cigars so much.
01:29:34
Speaker
I remember where I had it for the first time. Chattanooga Tweed up. yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's another one that we've kind of, like like I said, it kind of got lost in the mix. um in Again, a fantastic cigar. That is one that I've really considered relaunching.
01:29:52
Speaker
ah We're not making it anymore. Actually, do we do make it, but it's only available in our fresh pack. So we do a 660 Asylum Fresh Pack, and that has the string jacket in it. I think the Corojo, the Connecticut, and...
01:30:13
Speaker
the Nectophilia in there. And that's another good choice. I love that. I love the Nectophilia. It's our all Maduro version. And that's a nice, really rich, full-flavored cigar. I wouldn't say it's strong, you know, body-wise, but it's definitely got full flavor, a really thick smoke that coats your mouth.
01:30:33
Speaker
And that's another one you could try. In the small, we do that Robusto Toro 60 and 70 in the Nectophilia. Tom, you said that's all Maduro, right?
01:30:43
Speaker
It is. Find a wrapper filler. Yeah, it's really good. That's it.
01:30:49
Speaker
Tom, I have a question for you, and you may have told me this years ago. i just don't remember. But why Asylum 13? Why was 13 chosen? ah and the The real reason why Asylum 13 was chosen is because the original name, right before we were about to launch, got disputed, the trademark.
01:31:09
Speaker
And so we said, okay, let's dispute. Let's just go with 13, lucky 13. Uh, ah And so we added the 13 originally when we started the brand, we had another gentleman named Kevin Baxter, who was a part of kind of creating like the asylum premium.
01:31:26
Speaker
And he was a part of the, at the, in the beginning. And he's like, let's do 13. So we, you know, we, we just added the 13 is lucky 13. And it was mostly because we had to react very quickly because we were trying to get ready for PCA in Orlando or RTDA at that time in Orlando. and And so we're like, okay, nobody can dispute a number. So let's go with the number.
01:31:51
Speaker
Nice. Interesting. As long as we're going down the reminiscence world, you had that Asylum 33, which was really good, too. Yeah. and you know, we still make that. That's a private label for Benny's.
01:32:03
Speaker
Oh, wow. In Chicago. So, they you know, it's still available. We turned that into a private label for Benny's. Okay. So it is still available. You just have to get it at a Benny's, one of the liquor stores in the Chicago area.
01:32:15
Speaker
I'm going to ping Nielsen to go get it for us. Yeah. yeah. Yeah. thats ah That was really good. I loved that one. had this That was the one with the silver band on it. yeah Yep. Yep. Yep.
01:32:26
Speaker
With the pyramid and the 33. Yep. Yep. All As we get ready to wrap up the Let's Get Pairing segment of tonight, I want to check in. How's everybody's cigar doing? How are you enjoying the cigars? it's still the Mine's still burning great.
01:32:41
Speaker
I'm what I would call getting into the second, third. I think we're all about there. yeah roughly Roughly speaking, yeah, we're all about there. Yeah, I'm down to eight inches, and I'm having a little bit of a burn problem on about fifth of it, but it the flavor is still fantastic. The retro ale is great.
01:33:05
Speaker
It's very enjoyable. the The nutty flavors are really coming in. Those earthy flavors. I'm still getting those cocoa notes. it's it's It's a solid medium, too. So it's a very approachable cigar.
01:33:16
Speaker
love what i kid listening Yeah, Yeah. The smoke production is is really great, which I love as well.
01:33:25
Speaker
What about a hazelnut skin? Is anybody getting, like, that hazelnut quality to it? Yes, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. i draw That dry nuttiness, yeah. Yes, yeah. Okay. Mm-hmm. because initially for me, it was kind of like this like peanut quality, just lightly roasted peanuts in the beginning. And now that it's developing, I've smoked through it a little bit more.
01:33:42
Speaker
I'm getting more of this, that dry hazelnut, which I really love. And it smells great. Still, it smells fantastic. i had to open all the windows. I stepped away for a moment. You got an alarm going on. here my i had Yeah, my alarm went off. My air quality meter went off. It was pushing 4,000 ppm on the CO2 scale. So I needed to open something to to get the smoke out.
01:34:07
Speaker
Yeah, my house was getting kind of foggy, so we opened some windows. i have the Yeah, I have the iron eyes are going, but I'm probably going to open the bay door. i I have an exhaust fan that's just blasting over there, just sucking all the air out of this room.
01:34:19
Speaker
faster than Did you say bay door? ah Garage bay door, yeah. Oh, okay. garage yeah it's ah it's the ground on your Starship Destroyer. Not on a space station. I understand. No, no, no. The shields would never work for me. No, of course. The shields never that the hills ever work. yeah Exactly, yeah.
01:34:35
Speaker
but Yeah, the aroma is just unbelievable in this cigar. um The flavors so are complex and yeah, ah just this the struggle is just making sure to to get a good drop, but the construction is impeccable.
01:34:50
Speaker
You know, we talked about the coolness of the smoke. I mean, i guys, but I mean, i I've, like, touched the, I mean, I'm a centimeter away from the where the ash is, and i can barely feel heat.
01:35:04
Speaker
I mean, this is incredible. yeah and it's There's so much surface area that it that it doesn't need to burn hot. Yeah, I mean, and and it's packed, right? Like, the one thing, that you know,
01:35:16
Speaker
and One of the things with big ring gauge cigars is if you underfill them, they can get soft and burn hot. yeah and yeah oh yeah no yeah Underfilled ounces per
01:35:28
Speaker
you know it is but it's really been much more enjoyable than I thought because this is not something that I would, you know, I make a lot of Big Ring Gage cigars. I don't smoke Big Ring Gage every day. i like 46 to 54 and 60 as my every day.
01:35:45
Speaker
And, you know, I'll enjoy a 70 on occasion, you know, maybe six times a year. Every couple months I'll smoke one. and and But I'm surprisingly enjoying this cigar myself.
01:36:01
Speaker
ah It's kind of shocking just how good it is. like It's a very good cigar, yeah. i don't know i don't think I don't expect a good cigar out of something like this. It's kind of a joke, but at the same time, it's actually good cigar.
01:36:13
Speaker
Great. And that that's the big, I think, um I mean, really, one of the big takeaways for this is when you first look at it, you this is novel. And when you finally in light it and you start smoking it, the novelty changes from just that to so much more where, yeah, this is a cigar. I can smoke this.
01:36:30
Speaker
It's actually smokable, which is really cool. And then the novelty kind of makes sense now because now you're experiencing something a little bit different. And certainly for a lot of us, to your point, Tom, we don't smoke a lot of really large ring gauge cigars, generally speaking.
01:36:44
Speaker
Everyday smokers will smoke something smaller. And... ah This is kind of a cool experience. It's different and it's fun and actually an enjoyable smoke to everyone else's point. I think we all agree.
01:36:55
Speaker
This is a great smoke. Yeah. Thank you, man. I appreciate that. I would buy this. I would buy this again. um i mean, I'd make it and have the commitment. Yeah. mean Finally, a hundred weird dollar cigar where you're getting your values. We need to make t-shirts.
01:37:13
Speaker
we need to make t-shirts Well, not to plug you, Coupa, these are going to be available Blue Smoke of Dallas very soon. Well, we're going to talking, yeah. I want that lighter as well, so yeah, I think I'm going to get us that, yeah.
01:37:26
Speaker
it's ah it's It's very good. Yeah, i think I think we all need to make we need to make T-shirts to commemorate this event too as well, like I survived. all I survived the Father's Day 2025, megalophobia.
01:37:41
Speaker
Yeah, put it aside for me, Jay. definitely want it. It's really good, yeah. Tom, are we the first people in the U.S. to smoke this cigar tonight? There's actually one person that smoked it completely.
01:37:53
Speaker
And, you know, when at the show in Vegas you know or in New Orleans, one of the customers took one home because I had a few samples there. and they're like, yeah Is there any way I could take this home? I've got an employee that loves big ring gauge cigars and I want to take it to him.
01:38:13
Speaker
And I'm like, listen, take it And he texted me. It took him eight hours and 11 minutes to smoke the entire cigar. so He is he is the first one.
01:38:26
Speaker
He's out of a a cigar shop in in Pennsylvania. And yeah, he he was sending me highlights. I think he wanted to quit at like eight six hours.
01:38:40
Speaker
And I'm like, you know, I kept giving him the, you can do it. You know, he continued on and he finished. So, yeah. So he, that that young man was the first one to ah complete the 134 by 13 challenge. So I love it. Oh man. That's awesome. Yeah.
01:39:00
Speaker
Yeah. So, but we are the, you know, that you're the first people I've sent it to. Like I said, this cigar does not come out until july Uh, uh, yeah, I mean, listen, I'm pleasantly surprised because you never know, you know, we, we, we lit them in Honduras, but you know, I wasn't going to sit there and smoke the whole thing. You know, I want to be sure the blend and, you know, we really really modeled this blend after the nine nine.
01:39:27
Speaker
So our April fool's edition, this is basically the, uh, big brother to the nine 90, um There you go. see And Jay Davis has the... yeah ah Which one is it? Is that the... You're the snake there?
01:39:43
Speaker
Yeah. You're the snake. And it looks like Robusto next to this thing. It's crazy how it works. It is wild. It's actually longer than this now. Wow.
01:39:53
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. And you know, like like I said, I was hoping. So but one of the guys watching Keith powers, uh, was talking about what he was pairing is a great friend of mine. and And we hung out all weekend. We had a charity golf outing this weekend.
01:40:08
Speaker
And, uh, so ah Saturday we, we were out all day smoking and drinking and, uh, or Friday, pardon me. And then yesterday was just a a day at the lake and,
01:40:21
Speaker
we smoked and drank all day. And then I smoked meat all night. And, uh, you know, today, you know, fortunate, fortunate enough to have, uh, you know, my, my kids and, and my mother and my sister, my father uh, my girlfriend, Julie, her sister and her mom and dad came over and and some other friends. And so we had a big day at the, at the house today. And we just been, uh, you know, enjoying the day, man. It's been a fantastic day. And, uh,
01:40:50
Speaker
You know, I wouldn't say I would have thought this was going to be a great day a way to end the Father's Day, but fantastic, man. you know, to spend it with you guys. You know, I've known most of you guys for many, many years.
Favorite Drink Pairings and Media Recommendations
01:41:04
Speaker
And, you know, it's just been a fantastic way to kind of relax and kind of wind down the Father's Day festivities and a long weekend with 16 cigars at one time.
01:41:17
Speaker
Yeah, yeah it's it's been great so far. And I say so far because ah we're going to wrap up this show in the next couple minutes, but then we're going be coming back for El Oso Fumar Takes with Bear hosting.
01:41:33
Speaker
um And we're going to try to finish this cigar. So but stay tuned for that. Once we're done here, but now it's time for our, actually, before we get to that, we need to do pairings of the night.
01:41:45
Speaker
What is everybody's pairing of the night? For me, it is this living house mama nut check style, Amber lager. um Just kind of the, that sweetness, that body that this has goes really well with, with the sweetness in the body of this cigar, those nutty flavors, those leathery flavors.
01:42:02
Speaker
ah They just work really well with a beer like this.
01:42:08
Speaker
Yeah, listen, I'll go next. I think, you know, listen, I mostly drink tequila these days. I really don't drink a lot of bourbon anymore. ah but This Joseph Magnus with that Armagnac and Sherry cask and Cognac cask really added a little sweetness to it, a little cinnamon to it. So I think it paired extremely well.
01:42:35
Speaker
You know, it's 108 proof, but it wasn't too hot. You know, it's not too hot. It it definitely has those notes. I really picked up the the Sherry from it. So it really, really ended up ah pairing well with the cigar. I was disappointed i only had one drink left in in the bottle because we kind of finished it off last night.
01:42:57
Speaker
Time for another one. Time to restock. Yes, sir. All right.
01:43:03
Speaker
Bear, what about you? What was your pairing of the night tonight? You know, like Tom, I drink mostly tequila these days when it comes to spirits. um i do have an i do and and I do enjoy bourbon and and other her out spirits as well. but But this Cannonball Gin was epically good.
01:43:21
Speaker
ah I was really, really shocked. I was actually a little worried because this ah this has got some power to It's got some pepper to it. It's got some spice. But it actually balanced really well with the sweetness of the tobacco.
01:43:34
Speaker
I think that, um I think one of the things that we can educate people on, we were talking about some of Tom's stronger cigars a moment ago. And this definitely isn't one of them. So this is a this is a solid medium bodied cigar and the smoke is so cool and everything. And I've been coughing all night, but it's mostly just because the smoke intake trying to get a chow off of it.
01:43:57
Speaker
But it has nothing to do with the strength of this cigar. And there's some delightful sweetness. We talked about baking spices and the leather notes, the nuttiness. Like these are all things that complimented the spiciness of that gin and incredibly well.
01:44:13
Speaker
um So, Dennis, I i ah urge you, if you've got any pepper bombs in your gin locker, ah grab it.
01:44:23
Speaker
I might grab one between shows. Yeah, I was going to say, i think it might I think it might be a pleasant surprise for you. But, yeah, the Cannonball Gin from Edinburgh, the Navy Strength, um just unbelievable, unbelievable pairing.
01:44:39
Speaker
Jay, what about you? Well, and the cold brew was very good, and this regular King's County was very good. um The tea was a little sour on on my tongue because of the spice.
01:44:51
Speaker
I would recommend... to go with maybe a rye or something that's got that spice like Bear mentioned. um And some inside baseball. These were rolled fairly recently, so I think that this cigar, particularly once it gets through a sick period, will be even better and creamier.
01:45:08
Speaker
I'm looking forward to smoking this in about a month or two, and I think that this has just really impressed me with the the flavor it has. It's very similar to the Robusto in the flavor, but I would definitely recommend something with a little bit of heat to it.
01:45:23
Speaker
um I think that that that tends to work a little better with the spices.
01:45:30
Speaker
Nice. Hoop? I'm going to go with that Abina Candlewood Soda. Again, the the beat notes, the births just really complemented this well. It just was a great, great combination here. I wish I had another one. This is my last one um because it's really, really enjoyable.
01:45:49
Speaker
Awesome. Dennis, you are last up before we get on to one for the road. I, you know, were talking about the quality of the cigar, the the profile, which is really nice and nutty and sweet and all these floral qualities that I've gotten that I've really loved.
01:46:02
Speaker
um... um in strange sense of things, I actually started to really enjoy And then again, I should mention this beer is something that I just recently started to taste once it's been ready. haven't really smoked cigars with it. I haven't experimented with it in any way.
01:46:20
Speaker
um And I really love, now that the beer's set for a little bit warmed up, the The mango quality is really coming out nicely. And that spice, that spice is pulling out all those great flavors from the cigar, the sweetness, the done-iness. It's just accentuating it.
01:46:34
Speaker
And I love it. And yes, my face is on fire. I started hiccuping from the capsaicin a little bit because, you know, it's that it's that kind of back of the throat yeah initial heat.
01:46:46
Speaker
It's not that lingering heat you get like with something like a ghost pepper or or Carolina Reaper for that matter. But yeah, man, I think this, this, what did I even call it? I'm trying to remember the name that I called it. Mysterio's X.
01:47:00
Speaker
Mysterio being a luchador and his ex shows up, his new girlfriend's there and she's pissed off and he's like, well, fuck, man, I got to deal with this situation. This is that beer. That was kind of the body and the story of the beer that he wanted to make. And I think it fits so well with this cigar.
01:47:13
Speaker
A little spice, I think, goes a long way. And to Bear's point, that spicy gin, that's awesome, man. um I'm definitely going to look for a gin that kind of fits this. I think right now I'm a little bit low on my library, unfortunately.
01:47:27
Speaker
But we'll get there. And I think, yeah, Spice is going to be the one for me. All right. So now it is time for one for the road. This is the part where we talk about some kind of media that we've consumed recently.
01:47:39
Speaker
um Just kind of a little little recommendation, little shout out we want to give to the audience. I will start. um Anybody who's watched before knows I almost always pick a horror movie.
01:47:53
Speaker
I am a fiend for horror movies. And this week, on Friday the 13th, two days before Father's Day, my son, he comes to me and he says, Daddy, can I watch Scream with my friend?
01:48:09
Speaker
And I was like, hell yes. 100%. Watch it is as many times as you want. He's 12... is he's twelve And he's he's been into like horror video games and stuff like that, but more like, you know, the Kitty Roblox stuff, um Five Nights at Freddy's. He's seen like maybe three horror movies ever. Actually, i think three.
01:48:33
Speaker
Megan, Army of Darkness, and Five Nights at Freddy's. And he decided to watch Scream with his friend. They watched Scream 1 and 2 back-to-back during the day. He loved it all day. He was pausing the movie and coming to me going, I know who the killer is. It's this guy.
01:48:50
Speaker
It was so awesome as a a a horror fiend dad um for him to finally finally like turn over that page into horror. ah It was a really exciting. And then that night we watched just a couple minutes cause he, it was bedtime and, uh, I didn't want to keep him up all night or give him nightmares.
01:49:11
Speaker
Uh, but watched like the first 20 minutes of Friday, the 13th part one, nice, which again, like very close to my heart. Both of those two movies for me scream. I saw it when I was his age.
01:49:22
Speaker
It had just come out. I know I'm younger than most of you. um In 1996, it had just come out on video and ah somebody rented it and I watched it at sleepover with a friend.
01:49:33
Speaker
It scared all of the piss out of me. i could not i like I literally didn't sleep that night. I was sleeping on the couch and I remember all night I was just staring at the door convinced a guy going to come in and stab me.
01:49:45
Speaker
Because the the call comes from inside the house, man. Exactly. That's thing. And I was at somebody else's house, so it was like, you know, i was all weirded out about it. um And then when I was 13, Scream 2 was the first horror movie I ever saw in a movie theater.
01:49:57
Speaker
um So it was ah it was a big week for me. And I thought i was fitting for Father's Day. So check out Scream and Scream 2 again. ah Roll the clock back to the 90s and check them out. They're on HBO ah streaming. So Coop, I'll let you go next.
01:50:15
Speaker
Mine's a music video. Is that okay? It's perfect. yeah Absolutely. So, um you know, my dad, obviously, it's a tough day today for me, but I always try to have the good memories.
01:50:26
Speaker
um And there's a music video that, if you've ever watched the music video, I would tell you, is it might as well have been a snapshot of my dad's days when he was a teenager and in his 20s.
01:50:37
Speaker
And it's Don Henley's The Boys of Summer. all I knew it was going to be that song. What a great video. Everything in the video, the car's angle in there is obviously a big thing. He loved the beach. all that On the back of that you know back of that car, actually, he's on um moving My dad loved that song.
01:50:54
Speaker
ah And I think he got hooked on the song because of the music video when it came out. so um It was a great like therapeutic thing for me to watch and listen to a few times this week. It brought a lot of good memories back. That's amazing.
01:51:07
Speaker
yeah what ah what What a great video, man. but It really is, yeah. And it was him. I can just tell you it was him. People will tell you who grew up with him will say that's him. That was him. you might as well They might as well base it on his life.
01:51:18
Speaker
That's amazing. I love it. but Jay, I'll put you up next.
01:51:24
Speaker
I just finished watching a show on Netflix called Department Q. which it's actually Scandinavian Noir. It was based on some books and there were some movies done back in 2013 and 2014, which i want to see. But Matthew Goody was in it. He was great in the offer and he was great in the discovery of witches and The reason I liked it is reminded me of the reason I fell in love with Star Trek, even though I'm more of a Doctor Who fan. But it had a great ensemble cast. ah
01:51:57
Speaker
It was really well done. Department Q was very enjoyable. um And you actually liked seven or eight characters in it. It was it was just really well done. It was filmed in Edinburgh, one of my favorite cities.
01:52:10
Speaker
And... it just was well done. And Netflix sometimes has some hit or misses, but department Q is definitely worth watching. Um, fantastic, uh, show really well done. Plus Matthew Goody.
01:52:25
Speaker
Like, can't go wrong. Yeah. He's, he's, he's fantastic. Um, just can't say enough good things about that show. Uh, we just watched another one.
01:52:37
Speaker
What was that called? Andrea? Oh, with, uh, ah with a can't remember what that goes for. Danny Trejo? Machete? No, no. We just we just watched... um Oh, was with Jenna Coleman.
01:52:52
Speaker
ah That was okay. um As far as horror movies, I would definitely recommend to you the whole idea of them calling from the house. That's from a 70s horror film called When the Stranger Calls, which is very good. Great movie. Yeah, man.
01:53:06
Speaker
But I don't think anything will beat the The Exorcist. But I will say this, that in 1981, about a year before my dad died, my parents went saw Alien. And my parents actually came back and said, there's no way you're watching this movie. This movie's scaring us. I think Alien's a close second. But I think The Exorcist has got to be up there.
01:53:25
Speaker
But when A Stranger Calls... It was very Hitchcock-y in the sense that there's not a lot of gore and the suspense that builds. That's a great, great horror film. Wasn't the med tech from The Exorcist... Was it The Exorcist or The Exorcist 2? think it was The Exorcist, the first one. The Exorcist. that One of the med techs ended up being a serial killer.
01:53:47
Speaker
which I mean, it wasn't a serial killer, but he had killed like two or three. So well he claimed that he claimed that he killed a bunch of people and ah he said he killed at least 100 more people and they never like connected.
01:53:59
Speaker
So he got out of prison in 2003. He got those of you that care, but keep an eye out. Well, and just to be clear, the killings happened after the movie.
01:54:11
Speaker
Yes. Like it wasn't like he was an active serial killer that was in a movie. It was a guy that killed couple people later on after he made Including his girlfriend. Yeah. But speaking of alien J, the same thing happened when I was a kid. Um, I mean, i was certainly younger than you were, uh, by a couple years at least.
01:54:28
Speaker
And in the late eighties, I remember I, you know, the alien toys were everywhere and I had wanted to go see the movies. And my dad was like, I didn't sleep for weeks after I saw that movie. There's no way you're ever allowed to watch it.
01:54:43
Speaker
um he it it's It scarred him for decades where he was like you're afraid to watch that movie. yeah Crazy. Alright, Tom, you're up.
01:54:54
Speaker
Yeah, but so for me, like I said, recently I got... And this one i a lot of people watched, but I love Guy Ritchie movies. Yes. Yes.
01:55:05
Speaker
The Guy Ritchie movies are amazing, and so we just obviously finished up Mobland. I think I talked about that last week or week before. I can't remember. Probably two weeks ago, yeah.
01:55:16
Speaker
I think, it you know, those first episodes, it was to kind of developing the story, so it was a little slow, but... you know, I look forward every Sunday night and watching Mobland and I thought but it finished great. I really enjoyed that Mobland series and I just enjoy the guy, Richie, you know, I think Tom Hardy was a great character in that and and you know, Pierce Bronson is out of his mind. and Oh, he's so good in that show. It's unbelievable. Yeah. And Maeve, uh, what's her real name? Uh, Helen Maron is just absolutely a psycho. And, uh, so yeah, i mean, I read it, you know, what the recent things I've watched, uh, you know, obviously land man finished a while ago. I enjoyed that.
01:56:00
Speaker
But I really enjoy the Guy Ritchie stuff, man. Like the rock and roll and lock, stock and barrel. The gentleman. like Did you watch the gentleman TV show that was on Netflix? gentlemen's Yeah. Because the TV show was like even better than the movie.
01:56:14
Speaker
I love the the Guy Ritchie stuff. I know a lot of people kind of... you know The people who do shy away is because they can't understand it with the British accents and things like that. but It's so fast.
01:56:26
Speaker
like It's just fast. It's very quick-witted, too. yeah yeah yeah um I've been a huge fan for a long time. Snatch with Brad and and you know, was it a great movie. Jason Statham's in that. Dude, I mean, I looked forward to the Guy Ritchie stuff, and and I love Mobland. I thought it was awesome, so...
01:56:51
Speaker
Yeah, Mobland was really cool because it was Guy Ritchie doing something that really doesn't feel Guy Ritchie. Like, he's always got these weird, quirky characters. It's never usually dark. It's kind of lighthearted, even though violent things are happening.
01:57:05
Speaker
And Mobland is, like, the opposite of that. Like, real dark. Yeah, they kind of move around, right? Like, it's almost like a Tarantino theme where, you know, they don't know what is happening and things like that. But, yeah, I love Mobland and...
01:57:19
Speaker
Real quick, want to introduce my my son, Nolan. he I got to spend the day with Nolan. And so we've been having a few cigars and just enjoying. So, you know, it's kind of a ah good day when I get, you know, he's away at college most of the time when he's living, he's interning at at Hillsdale this year. So and don't get to see him a lot. So it was nice of be able to spend the day with my youngest.
01:57:42
Speaker
And, uh, So I just want to introduce because we're going to have a cigar on Bear's show together too. so Yeah, man. That rules. Awesome. What a great Father's Day, Tom. Awesome. Yes.
01:57:55
Speaker
That's great. right. Bear, I think you're up next, right? Yeah, ah like, you know, like Coop, Father's Day. This this Father's Day was a little was little um morose and and a little somber for me, just, you know, losing my dad last year. And I knew it was going to be tough. And, you know, being over 40 now, you know, there's the two stereotypes you've got to follow. You either got to get really into, like, Civil War history or you start smoking meats. Got to be one. Tom did earlier today. or I did yesterday. so so um So I've been...
01:58:26
Speaker
consuming a lot of Civil War documentaries um lately, but... um And then I also took in a treat for me that was a throwback that my dad and I watched together, Kirk Douglas and the Indian Fighter, um which is an old classic film and just, um you know...
01:58:43
Speaker
um You know, absolutely not appropriate for 2025, but who cares? Because it's just Kirk Douglas being a badass. So it's awesome. Walter Matthau is a bad guy. Also just, you know, very good.
01:58:56
Speaker
there Yeah, it's just so bizarre seeing him as ah as just ah a rancid dude. But um but for me, I watched it last night. This is that I thought this was unbelievable. ah Because everyone talks about, like, the Brad Pitt, George Clooney chemistry.
01:59:12
Speaker
And then very early in his career, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, you know, with Good Will Hunting and everything like that. just But The Accountant 2 came out, um the you know, the sequel to The Accountant. So Ben Affleck reprises his role as Christian Wolfe, kind of the Asperger's autistic savant um assassin. Yeah.
01:59:32
Speaker
And his brother is Jon Bernthal, who's just an incredible actor as well. And their chemistry in this film is just ah chef's kiss. It's amazing.
01:59:44
Speaker
It's so genuine. It really is. it's it's it's it's very It's very big brother, little brother-like. ah The banter back and forth, the squabbling, the the bickering, the but the ultimate like loyalty to each other is just is is just unbelievable. And they just they pulled it off really well.
02:00:05
Speaker
you know For you know guys that probably didn't know each other until you know five years ago or so, um when they started when they made these couple when they made the first one, they really developed an incredible chemistry. And I was just really, i was really i was really um blown away by it. um So I thought the acting, you know it's an action film, so you're not gonna win any Oscars or anything, unfortunately. But but i think and I think the role specifically is ah by Ben Affleck is is great.
02:00:34
Speaker
And the the square dance scene is absolutely, will have you in stitches ah Ben Affleck just trying to be like being a total square two-stepping on a dance floor is just hilarious. In his New Balance shoes,
02:00:52
Speaker
And like like high-waisted khakis, tucked in shirt is just, it's just comic gold. Like I was just dying and it was it was fantastic. i I really enjoyed the film. That dance scene I think is really on par with Jean-Claude Van Damme's dance scene in, what movie was that?
02:01:09
Speaker
Um... where There were two of them, twins. Was it um ah not Double Team? It was in Double Team, yeah, with Rodman. it was the Oh, God, what was the other one he was in? I know what you're talking about, Dennis. Yeah. yeah yeah Fuck, it's escaping me. that But yeah. Yeah, the two twins, Hong Kong, the whole story. It was that dancing. was It reminded me of that.
02:01:30
Speaker
And I giggled, but I also loved how fun it was. It was just people being people. When you watch a movie with with famous actors, you go, all right, they're going to famous actor shit. And then you watch the scene go, wow, there's just people.
02:01:42
Speaker
And it's great. um So I think that that's, to your point, really wholesome and nice. It brings it back to just reality for us.
02:01:51
Speaker
Indeed. All right, Dennis, you are last up, I believe, with the month of the road. My man, I'm going to go back to a movie that made me very happy in a lot of ways, and certainly as a young man watching Terry Hatcher do a striptease, there are many things to say about this movie, Tango and Cash, 1989's classic classic hit ah which was a much bigger hit than I realized until I got older and like started researching and realized, well, actually, it's pretty cool.
02:02:18
Speaker
um Patrick Swayze was supposed to play the role of Cash in that film, and he said, yeah, we're not going to do it because I got this other movie called Roadhouse I got to do, and he did Roadhouse. And Stallone stepped in and and did a ah great, I think, Ray Cash role for that.
02:02:36
Speaker
Yeah, man. So that movie for me, talking about this cigar, Megalophobia, it's a massive cigar. What's massive about that movie other than crazy 80s action? It's Robert Zdarr.
02:02:49
Speaker
who you may know him, you may not know him, was a mania cop. He was in in a bunch of other films. Robert Zadar had cherubism. And so when you see this guy, he had this massive, if you haven't seen the film, he's a massive jaw, big face, just he was he was a bad guy in the movie.
02:03:06
Speaker
He looked like a bad guy that you would see in a cartoon. yeah That classic caricature of a bad guy. Massive job. Great acting in the film. i think he did a fantastic job. And it it's it's one of those films that for me is is very classic. it's It's something that I've watched as a comfort movie over the years.
02:03:26
Speaker
Highly recommended if you haven't seen Tango and Cash. It's what it's called. Kurt Russell. Sylvester Stallone. And I should mention also the original score completely got thrown out.
02:03:37
Speaker
They hated the producers and the the studio hated the original score. They threw it out. They got none ah ah none other than Faltenmeyer to come in and do it.
02:03:49
Speaker
who did Beverly Hills Cop, he did, what else? Top Gun, couple of other massive scores. So it was a really great- 80s legend, man. 80s music legend. Now he is, right? But he was a guy that was doing stuff in his basement at the time. And they came and said, hey, we're going to do this movie called Beverly Hills Cop.
02:04:07
Speaker
Can you make a a thing for us? And Axel Foley's theme song came out and people were just went nuts.
02:04:15
Speaker
Dennis, that movie was like, and I'm not the biggest movie buff, as Bear will tell you, but I'm a big Stallone buff. And that was a period where Stallone was starting to go into these comedic roles. um He had a couple of others, Stop on My Mom Will Shoot, Oscar. But of the all those, I think Tango and Cash was the best of those comedic roles, in my opinion. Oh, thousand percent, yeah. Yeah, it was the best. I mean, the other ones just weren't good scripts he had or anything on that. And he could do the comedic roles. It's just he didn't have good, that was a good movie.
02:04:41
Speaker
It was a good blend of action and comedy, I think. That's what yeah really worked for them at the time. It kind of was going off the Schwarzenegger formula that he would use for... ah yeah right it wasn't it It wasn't a pure comedy, but it was kind of like though it was kind of like what was doing at that time, too. what is That, and also Jackie Chan at that time, remember, was going into more yeah more comedic roles, more roles really that were more focused on him speaking and interacting rather than just acting and and doing action scenes.
02:05:08
Speaker
Yeah. Very cool. ah that movie always makes me think, I think I've mentioned this before on the show. feel like ah it always makes me think of an arcade game. I played when I was a kid called lucky and wild.
02:05:22
Speaker
Yeah, that was a Tango and Cash arcade game. It was like a complete rip-off. you remember the games where you had like a gun that you would shoot at the screen? It was like one of those, but one dude was driving and had a gun, and the other guy just had a gun. It was like a two-player thing where you have two guns and a steering wheel. It was the weirdest arcade game I ever played, but I remember as soon as I sat down, I was like, this is just Tango and Cash arcade game.
02:05:47
Speaker
Yes, and so I think there's a lore to that where they couldn't actually call it that because of licensing. i Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure it was something where they worked on it and the licensing fell through or some shit like that. Anyway, ah it is time to wrap up the show.
02:06:01
Speaker
Thank you, everybody, for for joining us. Tom, Jay, especially you guys, first appearances on the show. We appreciate you coming to hang out with us and smoke this ridiculous beast of a cigar, Megalophobia.
02:06:17
Speaker
Thank you for having us. Yeah, thank
Episode Conclusion
02:06:20
Speaker
you. but Thanks, Coop, for putting it together without putting it together. you Yeah, Coop. Thank you. Thanks for the guys for putting it together. for not For not taking any of the credit, but where all the credit is in.
02:06:32
Speaker
Exactly. um So that'll wrap it up for Let's Get Pairing. ah Check us out in about 20 minutes on Bear Show, El Osu Fumar Takes. ah where Bear will host us through ah an evening of fun while we finish this cigar.
02:06:47
Speaker
um So thank you, everybody. Have a great and safe week. Dennis, hit him with the catchphrase. I'll click the button and we will be done. Thank you, everybody, for watching and listening. And remember, we want to drink better, but we want to drink less.