A Guardrail Comes to the Underground, Kristoff Cigars 111

Swell AI Transcript: Hitting a Guardrail.output.mp3

00:00 Gary What's better than being abducted by an all-female alien crook that looked like Jessica Alba? And the entire spaceship is one big humidor, smoking underground. Episode… Chinese Guardrail. Gotta light! Hello everybody and welcome to another amazing episode. The heck? The heck? What? Live? Of a smoking underground? The heck? Ah, oh my god. Oh my goodness gracious. Yeah, we had a huge show planned for tonight. Yeah, yeah, we definitely did and I'm gonna say old pitted prunes, he done pitted pruned us.

00:59 Devin Well, it just goes to show you need to eat your prunes with the seeds. I guess so.

01:06 Gary They say seed life, hashtag seed life, I don't know. Anyway, welcome to smoking underground. Today we're doing a live episode. We actually had something really cool planned today, but because we studied the time for about a week now, I wanted to make sure everybody was here and we got to do it. Thank you, John, for motivating me to do it live even though we don't have a guest because I was like, nah, don't do it, screw it.

01:28 Devin And while you're out there for those listening, just let us know what you think of this live.

01:32 Gary Maybe we'll pop up live a little bit more often. Certainly, certainly. Big shout out to everybody in the Archifier Gaming Network Discord who was super interested in today's live show. Today we are smoking a very special non-pitted prune cigar called the Kristoff guard rail. This thing has a big silver band on it. I don't know, can they see or do they just hear us? No, they can see. What you're looking at is what we're looking at, brother. They are right there. And it's got a nice pigtail on it on the end, one of my personal favorites. See that? And then we're going to have a nice little story time from Gary because I think you guys are going to be super interested in this story.

02:18 Devin And I was hoping Jason would be on so that he could actually tell the story of the guard rail and why it exists because I'm sure he has gotten the story firsthand. I have only just got it through various outputs.

02:35 John Are either one of you aware of the background story of the guard rail? If I remember correctly, it has something to do with wrecking a motorcycle. Oh, that's a yes. Yeah. I always love that you ask the question and somebody tells a half-assed story and then you got to, okay, let's repeat part of it. You got to patch it after that, right? Yeah.

02:58 Devin But before we get to the story of the guard rail, there was some news and I can't wait for Jason to be on. He might be here next week, following week. Unfortunately, when you go to an event like PCA with thousands of people and you put them all in a little building in this post-2020 era, certain people come home with little friends that they call the coronavirus. Oh. He made a new friend out there? And he decided he wanted to bring home a few of these little Qbert-looking guys and

03:35 Gary couldn't make the ships. Good reference, by the way, Qbert. I haven't heard that one in a while.

03:41 Devin I've always thought when they show these pictures of the coronavirus things, I picture Qbert all the time. I have for three years. And I hope to have Jason, like I said, Jason on maybe since we're doing the guard rail tonight, he better be throwing us one of these new Nicaraguas, which I may boycott.

04:00 Gary Really? Interesting. And why are you going to do that?

04:03 Devin Because his post from Las Vegas, no pigtail, no shaggy foot, no loose tobacco in the box, the special edition Nicaragua's in a nice, shiny, smooth white box. Oh, really?

04:22 Gary It loses all the romanticism that I get out of having a Kristoff. Interesting. I don't think I've ever thought of a Kristoff like that, John, but I do like where your head's at.

04:33 Devin You know, it's, what do I want to say? It's like buying a Mercedes, but you bought the taxicab version. Do you really want? I love that. That's good stuff. Right? I mean, it's the exact opposite. They try to class up their cigar. No, I want the lower class. I want the nitty gritty. It's like going to a Motley Crue concert and having to wear a tux and be seated at dining tables.

05:03 Gary For those of you in the gaming realm, it's like wanting to play Final Fantasy and choosing

05:09 Devin to play Lost Ark or ArcheAge because it's free to play. You're going to get an MMO, but it's free. So that's what upset me. So Jason, the ball's in your court. You need to come on and defend your cigar.

05:24 Gary Otherwise, you know, I've been pushing to get you back in cigars and more and Vitola. And if you guys classed up your cigar. Oh, I don't know. Stern words from Mr. Viviani. But to continue with what we're doing just a little bit since we are Christoph, Gary, I need to light this thing up.

05:48 John So I need you to tell us about the Christoph Gard rail. It's got an extensive story because of the guard rail. Normally in the cigar industry, you're going to have some type of icon go on in order to name the cigar. And in this particular case, Glenn Case, which is which I've met more than a couple of times and a great dude of Christoph's cigars, very meticulous in his cigar line as well. Famous for his shaggy foot or I'm sorry, not shaggy foot, but covered foot and the pig tail. So the Christoph line is multiple blends. But in this particular case, this goes back to around about 2019, 2020, somewhere along that area right there. And Glenn was actually in Oklahoma and had a and had a motorcycle wreck. OK, so when he did that, of course, you know, he hit a guard rail and and actually messed him messed him up pretty bad. As I was listening to the rep describe it, he says he said at the PCA show itself, he said that they were very scared that Glenn was not going to make it. And as a matter of fact, he literally spent not only eight days in the hospital, but he also spent time in a wheelchair after that and with extensive physical therapy going on to that. So it was a very handy time. And of course, Glenn decided to commemorate that through the cigar itself, calling the guard rail. It is a very extensive. Also, this is a one of a kind type blend made with a one of a one of a kind type tobacco. OK, so your your your external is going to be Brazilian, which I'm a big fan of. I love Brazilian stuff. You like to get Brazilians to from what I do, you know, from what I understand, you know, it's a it's because I'm heavily sedated when I do it. So are the people doing it. Yes, they are.

08:00 Devin Ironically, when I was listening to the cigar authority this weekend, very similar conversations. Hmm. Yeah, God, I can't. Yeah, I can see. Yeah. OK. Well, we'll stop there. Yeah. Jonathan was talking about what him and his girlfriend have been into lately. And they also mentioned that there is now a new mayor for men.

08:25 John So OK, so the binder for this cigar is a Dominican Republic. Yeah. So the external. Yeah, we got a really it was on the number one cigar podcast. This conversation, I figured it was relevant to ours. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. True. That. So the rapper is Brazilian. Of course, the binder Dominican Republic and the filler Dominican. And get ready. Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe tobacco is a strong tobacco. It's not a it's more of a fuller body tobacco, almost like a leharo, if you will, in a sense of we'll just say on the Dominican side. But it is smokier. So you'll have a little bit more of a smoke coming off the cigar itself with that particular tobacco on the inside. And, John, I don't know what's the what's the price point of this right here?

09:21 Devin Do you have any? I don't have it. Well, actually, I do have it written down in front of me. I figured you did. Unless you and your meticulous self. I was sharing my desk with my girlfriend here. And there we go. There you go. Let's see here. I'm sorry, people, I forgot I have a camera. Christoph Gardware, Gardware. We're smoking the Robusto. Wow. Does that Robusto is like the size of a Toro? Sure is. Right. And then they do offer it in a 660 also. OK.

10:02 John And 979. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 979. So that's that's pretty good for us because the estimated retail price for all these right here over 10 bucks. So, yeah, so you got it's 979 and it doesn't discount at cigars and more. Sometimes I buy, you know, when I did the receipt here, we bought our 10 plus cigars. And normally you get five percent off. Actually, we might have 20 cigars on here. And that one didn't discount. There are certain cigars that cigars and more that are exempt from discount and points. Yeah. So we've got three sizes on this right here. The Robusto, Churchill, Matador, the Matador, normally a thicker type ring gauge, somewhere close by 60 ring gauges by six. And yeah, so we're going to do the Robusto, which is five and a half by 54. The Toro in this size is seven by 50. Right. So it's so it's almost like a Churchill, if you will. So it's or it's actually a Churchill, but they hadn't got a Toro. So your Robusto is like a Toro. That's what I meant. So, sorry. Gary, get the lighten up. I'm going to get it. Hey, Devin, if you will, your your input on the band.

11:20 Gary You beat me. I was literally thinking, I got to start talking. He's got a light. I got to get him in this place. The guard rail is beautiful band right here. It it's got a matte black. It's got kind of a rustic kind of age silver, but it is still metallic. And then the name is in the map and it's sealed in the back. It's pretty standard. It's pretty standard. I would say it fits a good biker feel to it really well, not to mention it being, you know, in the Maduro look and tone and everything like that. The pigtail on mine didn't spin off very well. So I'm not a fan of the good pigtail that doesn't pop off very well. So I had to do a little bit of extra surgery to it. But overall, the original taste of this thing pulling is dark and deep. And I chose a libation to kind of compliment it. That's something a little lighter, lighter hearted.

12:15 John There is a picture of the motorcycle handlebars on the front. There is in in the light, though. I can't tell what that is in the headlight. Looks like it says RC RC. OK. I see our RC. OK. And maybe something like that. OK. OK. All right. I have the image here on my computer in front of me. Hold up. Let's see. Trying to. God, this thing smells good. Wow. This thing's got a good smell to it. Whoa. I'm not too much for smelling cigars in the sense of the direct smoke.

12:57 Devin Very nice, though. It's a compact version of the Christoph logo, maybe. OK. And then it does have Glenn Case's signature above the headlight.

13:09 John Really? OK. All right. OK. Good deal. Yeah.

13:13 Devin Yeah. Something in there. I just didn't know what it was. Yeah, I'm still suffering when I'm using Streamyard, the memory eating problem. So I'm I can't share screens. I'm actually utilizing three different computers right now. You know, I heard of another broadcaster. They had to they just canned it completely because they just got sick of it anyway. So the libation of choice tonight, everybody got me off guard with that one day. Goodness, I'm enjoying a Samuel Adams. Just the haze. Non alcoholic. Well, that's good. It reminds me a lot of a Blue Moon.

13:53 Gary Interesting. The cigar thing offsets the feminism of the Blue Moon. That's going to do a Red Bull and vodka. Well, tonight's libation brought to you by Whiskey Tobacco Fellowship is Kirkland's signature blended scotch whiskey. It is a you can buy it at Costco. It is a wonderfully cheap swill. It has a nice light flavor. If it's all you're drinking tonight, drink that. If you drink anything better before you drink this, you will not want to drink this. OK, so like the purple passion for pre-gaming before you go out to have. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Now we were at we were at Hop City yesterday, the Archifier Gaming Network crew. And we we were drinking beer. We were just fine smoking cigars. And then one of my guys brought out an incredibly expensive wellers and decided to share a little bit with the four of us. And we took out to sip some and everybody's loving it. Just doing and on over it. And then I was like, you know what? I got some of this over here in my flask. So I pull it out and pour it in my glass a little bit. And every even me, I taste it and went. This is absolute trash compared to what I was just sipping. Wow. Like it can taste like complete trash. That's why cheap swill. I'm a swill connoisseur, Gary John. Will connoisseur because I've tried so much of it. I'm trying to find something that is budget friendly. Right. Still good.

15:30 John And I think I've only found two brands so far in blended scotch that I really like. Now in that particular, is that a barbara or whiskey? It's a blended scotch. You said blended scotch too. I didn't know necessarily whether that was a blended scotch.

15:46 Gary I just thought you were talking about blended scotch. No, no, it's actually called Kirkland Signature Blended Scotch Whiskey. The skill distilled and matured in Scotland. You know, it's only 40 percent by volume, so it's 80 proof. So it's pretty low key matured in American oak casks. So it's it's it's pretty low key. It's a nice alternative to 100 pipers. My other swill.

16:10 John You know, what is it about whiskies and scotches and all of that now? And I've noticed that more current than I have in the past, because in the past, it used to be that they would put age on the bottles of 12, 8, 10. And now you don't see that.

16:31 Gary You know, you see that on the good stuff like the average, the other stuff they're producing so much of it, they don't bother with it anymore. Yeah, it's just if you've got an age on a bottle, it's usually a good bottle. OK, OK.

16:46 John Interesting. So what are you thinking so far of the stick, Gary? I'm liking it. I'm like the heck out of it. It's got a it has a good start. It wasn't hardly any spilling. It wasn't hardly any spice at all. Oh, yeah. I mean, none. I mean, smooth, dude, for a nine bucks stick. And I get that out of it. I'm expecting for a nine dollars stick. I'm expecting a pop and then the smooth off because it's wanting all that flavor at first. It's got that. It's got a few full bodied leaves or maybe medium bodied leaves on the inside or maybe a thick wrapper saying, hey, here I am. And no, I'm not getting it at all. And I'm thinking I was actually listening to the rep at the at the show. And and he was saying that the Zimbabwe stuff, he says, you don't you don't just roll that. He said, you've got to do a little. I don't necessarily know what you have to. He said. But it was a challenge to get this to be blended in with everything else needed to be in order to get the flavor it had. So very but I'm very pleased so far. You know, I don't know what the ratio is of Zimbabwe.

18:04 Gary It is. You know what I'd like to try, Gary? You know, what's that? I'd like to try a full Zimbabwe cigar like binder wrapper filler, everything. Just just to know exactly what the tobacco tastes like. You know, like this is Zimbabwe cigar. 100 percent through and through. Right, right. Because you were talking about being pipe esque or, you know, using kind of pipe tobacco. OK. And I can taste it because pipe tobacco has got that kind of not really sweet in the dark range. But it's got that it's got that dark and then mellows out. And the way you really get the flavor to punch you in the face is you got to do multiple puffs at one time. I was doing that while you were talking. I went, I'm just not getting a lot of. Oh, there it is. You know, one of those kind of things.

18:50 John Yeah, yeah, yeah. I almost hit you on the back end. Yeah. Yeah. So. But yeah. So far, good. Good burn. I like the burn ashes a little. It is a little dark, but at the same time, I think the draw is good. Yeah. And I did just like you did. And I'm not sure about John. Johnny, you smoke this yet. You got this. You smoked it early.

19:13 Devin Smoked that. I've smoked about 10, 15 of them. You like it that much? I like I like cigars. I like that. It's a little bit different. All right. Excuse me. I like Christoph cigars. OK. And of course, I like cigars.

19:27 Gary I was like, we know you like cigars. Yeah. Yeah. John hates cigars.

19:31 Devin I really wanted to try this when I first heard about it a year ago. And when it came in, I had to get one of the first and it was good. And I've enjoyed a few of them. I don't know if it's really 10 or 15. I've smoked quite a few of them in that new Esteban Herrera, the Devil's Hand. Two best cigars, I think, that I've that were released within the last six,

19:54 Gary eight months that I've had. See, funny is I didn't catch you to I didn't think of you to put this in a top one for you. I really didn't. For some reason, I just didn't think this was. I don't know if I would say it's a top one for me,

20:07 Devin but we have a limited selection of Christoph's for you. The Woodlawn 685. Oh, yes. That's just a little too much money to smoke all the time. Right. That's a goodie. It's a great cigar. And the Maduro is my favorite and we don't have the Maduro. The Sumatra is a good fallback. We do have the Maduro's in these these like petite Robusto or petite Coronas, which are really nice when it's in the middle of the night. Which are really nice when it's getting to be about four forty five, five o'clock on a Sunday and I'm closing at six. I'll grab one of those maybe. But now I just think of what's available in our Christophe present Christoph's selection at Cigars More 280. The guard rail is just a good fallback. I would I would agree there. I would say the devil's hand from Esteban's better. Really, really. If you guys have that at Mount and give that one a try. Like the Esteban Herrera stuff. Yeah, we're not that fancy there. Well, I don't know. I remember talking to the Esteban rep a couple of years ago. I might actually have been during covid and no, it couldn't have been during covid because I was doing inventory. I was doing inventory over in Trustville. And he was there and he was complaining that we don't move a lot of Esteban's. Yeah. And I kind of said something and he agreed with me because our placement for Esteban Herrera is on the floor and it's just a horrible position to be in. Right. And I do support and I've said for years and I've even talked to Jason. I talked to Jason about it years ago and he kind of agreed with me that we definitely should charge a little bit for shelf placement, kind of like the grocery stores do. Agreed. But also talking to Jonathan Nelson, he goes, no, we won't do that. Right. Very simple. Jason's Christophs get eye level positioning because he's given us money for shelf spacing. Oliva all of a sudden moves to the floor.

22:14 John Right. Right. Right. Correct. Money talks. And cigars on the floor walk. That's right. No, they don't. They just kind of sit there. They just sit there, right? Yeah, that's it.

22:28 Gary They regrow into leaves back into the ground. Also, FYI, this today's episode is brought to you by Vitola Fine Cigars. Yes, it is. SmokingUnderground.com. Dink da ding. Dink da da.

22:45 Devin VitolaFineCigars.com. You can place your order for cigars. That is a real time inventory of cigars and more 280, ironically, and orders more than $50 shipped to you free. I suggest to even, you know, get a lot of people that come in, oh, I drove an hour here. I'm in Coleman or I'm in, you know, they're not that far from the shop. Geez, why do you make this special trip? You know, and because you're not coming in enjoying the lounge, you're coming in and picking up cigars. Maybe you do like the shop, but you can just go ahead and order five cigars. Save yourself gas money that way. Get six cigars in.

23:24 John Well, there's probably a reason for that, John.

23:28 Devin I know there's a reason for that. But sometimes they're bringing that reason with them. Usually they're dropping them off at the summit so they can shop.

23:37 Gary Right, right, right. And John says, keep the ad reads short. Yeah, there you go. There you are. So the subject we wanted to get into besides how great the cigars. And I think, John, this is going to grow on me. And you know how you told me to do the purple people eater with the shirkin? I feel like I want to try this with the shirkin. I know it's hard to do with the pig tail. Oh, good call. But I'd like to try to find a way to do that.

24:07 Devin That would be a tough cigar. Even if even without the pig tail, because you can carefully pop that pig tail off and end up with a kind of a roundish end. Maybe it'd be a shirkin with a slight punch in the middle.

24:19 Gary Right. But if the shape's not, I think, that conducive, because while it's not a soft box press or anything, it's still not a perfectly round cigar. Yeah, I will tell you, the cigar is a little, it's very soft. It's very mushy is not the right word. That's very derogatory towards the cigar. But it's definitely not that tight, compact stuff like you see like an Alfonso or something. It's kind of loose-ish, but that doesn't downgrade any of the quality, I would say.

24:48 John Not mine. Mine's tight. Mine's smoking really fast and I'm actually trying to slow down. I know I'm not slowing down, but. Yeah, mine's got a nice little tightness to it there. It's not bad. Like a twigger. Yeah, yeah.

25:04 Gary So, Gary, this story that you want to tell us, I'd love to hear a good detail of it. A condensed, I should say, a condensed highlight reel of the magic that happened with this story.

25:18 John Okay. Well, first of all, before I get into that right there, I thought that in this particular instance, this cigar right here, it's still smooth, by the way. I'm thoroughly enjoying this. Being the Zimbabwe on the filler here, I was expecting because it's somewhat of the same region, if you will, sort of the same atmosphere, if you will, and along that area, I thought I was going to get more of a Cameroon type flavor. And I'm not. And I'm very, because Cameroon has a nice little cedar sweetness to it, but it's got a bite. It's got a nice little spice to it. Right. And I'm not getting that. So anyway, I was very surprised in this. This is a good smoke, dude. It's still silk. I've still not got a bite off this. So, dude, this is a. It's a dark silk. It's a very dark silk. Very nice. And this has also got a hint of dark chocolate in it too. I'm tasting that. Yeah, I'm seeing that now. You're right. So very, very tasty, man. So in getting to this right here. So I worked, Vitolla, of course, this past Saturday, right? So we had this guy come in and this gentleman come in. And Asian guy comes in, of course, you know, he's smiling as they all do. And he comes in and he's, you know, sort of pause there at the counter. And I said, yeah, can I help you? You know, and he says, he said, I would, you know, I would like to look around. I said, oh yeah, sure. Go right ahead. So anyway, goes, gives up by three, four sticks, comes back, sits down or pays for him, goes back in the lounge, sits down. But later on he comes in. He comes in from the lounge holding a cigar. And so, well, this is a perfect opportunity because we got, you know, we got West there, our favorite paraplegic. And West there is, is easily befriended by anybody. You know, he's just one of those kind of guys, you know, he's in his wheelchair and dude, I mean, when he starts talking to you, you just want to go, you know, just melt right into him. You know, so anyway, this guy comes in. So, and we just, you know, berate him and welcome and saying, you know, because we could tell the broken English and in next thing, you know, he sits down and he looks up at us. And he says, yeah, he says, I am former CAO rep of Asia. And of course, you know, that perks me up. And I'm like, whoa, this is regional. This is over. This is down under, if you will. You know, so I'm thinking, oh man, this is juice. So anyway, yeah. So he and I gets talking and the, and I really, I had to go to the office. And he was going to be here till tomorrow. I would have liked to have gotten him on today, but I threw him an email. He told me to email him. And I did that Tuesday night and hadn't heard anything from him yet. You didn't do it in Kanji. That's why I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Midnight Express, something like that. So, yeah. So he, he says, Hey man, I, and I asked him, I said, yeah, can you get on the podcast? I'd love to have you on whatever. So anyway, no show. So you got to go with me, but very, very interesting. The particular culture of cigars, cigar smoking over there is unlike over here. Come. Completely. Come on, dude. Okay. So we're just sort of sitting around here, just shooting a bull. And what are we talking about? We're talking about blends. We're talking about flavor. We're talking characteristics. We're talking about basically a conglomerate or a nice montage of the cigar and the, in the history of it and in the making of it. Right over there. No, don't care. Don't give a rip. So he made a point to tell you that they definitely don't talk about that kind of stuff. They don't. They, they could care two cents about where the cigars made, how the cigar tastes, what anything like how it tastes. Wait, wait, wait, how it tastes. No, no, no, no. I don't care how it tastes. Don't care what the flavor is. You give me a brand, a brand. That's what they're looking for. And he made it. He said it himself. You know, I kind of feel kind of weird saying this right here. So, but at the same time, I do have a chip with the Chinese right now, to be honest with you. So, and even he said, he said, if it wasn't for the quote unquote, he said, if it wasn't for the damn Chinaman that would come in here and do what they did, he said it would be a totally different story. And what it is, is he says, you've got all these China businessmen. And he said, they come in and he says, you're looking at the non Cuban. I'm sorry. The non, the non Cuban, if you will, all of that is secondary. They don't care about the cigars. They don't care about the Christophs. They don't care about any of that stuff. They go Cuban. Okay. So you've got this small humidor over here and not to mention there's only, if you will, he says in Singapore, which is where he was from. He says that there are, I think that there are five shops in Singapore. And he says, you are in the, the rate of which all of that's government owned on top of that. It's all government governed, if you will. So all of that is, is you don't do anything without the government's approval and you don't walk here, do here, you know. So he says, you've got just a small place to smoke. A very, very small place, not, not big. And he's looking at the total and, and just the area. If, if any of you have been in the total, the shop area right there, isn't but about, I don't know, maybe 200, 300 square feet, maybe. Okay. Not a lot at all. He said, that's the whole shop. He said, that's, that's what you're looking at. And he says, you've got Cubans and he said, you've got a small area of non Cubans. And he said, when the, when the guys come in there, he said, they want to impress their friends. They want to impress their, their business partners. And he says, they come in and they say, we want a Cuban or Coheba. We want a part of us. We want a Monte Cristo. We want that. And that's, that's what they come in and that's all they do. These guys are paying the minimum, minimum. These guys are paying 500 to 15, sometimes even 5,000 a piece for these things. And I'm like, you gotta be kidding. He says, no. And he said, they will drop it down. He said, they will lay it down. He said, and no big deal. And it's all your big businessmen from China doing this stuff. This is where your big business guys are. Right. And he says, they're all treating this, this, you know, this, this thing. And they want to impress and they want to upstage one another as they go. And he says, as you upstage, the more you go, the more you are. He, he let me see in his, he had a picture of a cigar factory in that area over there that was the king pretty much of that area right there. Five stories tall, five story cigar shop. Okay. And I mean, it was, it was, it was a very small area, but it went up and you could, I mean, it's just quite amazing on the type of a, on the type of lifestyle that they did. I can't do it justice about what he was talking about over there. It's just, it's mind blowing that the kind of stuff that happens over there, as far as the government goes and trying to go through the hoops of trying to open any of that stuff up over there. In the, you could say the, the particular area of a cigar shop over there would be equivalent to one cigar shop in Atlanta. And so that's, that's what you're looking at as far as the equivalency goes. Amazing. Amazing. Again, this is, you know, I can't do it justice and I can't remember everything that he said, but, but the particular culture over there is all this. You don't go in any cigar shop dress like we are now. No shorts. You don't have a collar shirt on. You're going to have a tie. You're going to have a suit. You're going to, in all of that and, and you don't eat and smoke cigars. You don't do that. You, you go to a, you go to a separate place to do what you do, you know, there. Do they even smoke inside the place? They do, but it's very, very, very few. You said there's probably four places and the whole, in that whole area, that state over there that you can smoke. And that's it. And that's terrible. Yeah, it's awful. It's awful, awful, awful. Very governed and, and, and yeah, they don't, they don't like any of that. It's all political. So it's who, it's not what you know. It's who, you know, in order to get stuff done and it's, it's, you know, if you're going to open one of these things up, you better, you better know somebody and pay them off to get it done.

35:48 Gary Yeah. No wonder they have to charge so much for cigars. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's nuts. Yeah. It's, it's man. It's crazy. I just wish he could, I wish he could come on here, man. And your mouth would just say, maybe we can track him down. I mean, this is the internet. If we can get them on string yard here, it doesn't matter. We don't have to worry about international calling. He just has to worry about the Chinese government. Well, yeah. Yeah. My brothers and sisters are the leaf in China. You need to come to America and enjoy stick with us. Yeah. You can just sit back and enjoy, get a good price, have a good drink, have a good conversation. No judgment.

36:33 Devin Well, what Gary was saying about pricing is something I've alluded to every now and then on here, especially in relation to, I can't think of what I want to use, but with Cuban cigars. So I did a quick look up here about a year ago, half wheeled in an article comparing prices in Spain, right on Cuban cigars. Yeah. So this is mid 2022 to about a year to two years prior. So 2020, maybe even going back to 2018. Cohiba Esposito. Yes. Yeah. It's previously 30, 43, 43 euros, 44 euros. Now, now a year ago they were 96 euros. Cohiba Lanceiros, previously 35 euros, now 71 euros. Right. The Sigalo II, previously 17.4 euros, now 37 euros. You get into the Behake version of the Cohibas, the BHK 52, previously 55 euros, now 118 euros. The 56, previously 69.5 euros, now 166 euros. And keep in mind, I can't think, is the euro roughly a buck 50 now? I think so. Something like that. It's between a dollar 30 and a dollar 45. I don't make that much. So I'm just. And so, and then they got into some of the most popular, the Trinidad Colleccion, a Habanos, Castadilla. I'm sorry with my Spanish. I didn't ever. 300% increase, 75 euro to 300 euro. Cohiba Robusto Reservas, 233% increase, 75 euros to 250 euros. And this, this is Cuban cigars. So if what I mentioned last, in the last episode that just came out that we're now allowed through a certain company, et cetera, you can buy a brand new American car in Cuba. You have to jump through hoops, which to me means we're slowly opening up. So all of a sudden Cuban cigars are going to land in America. They're already massive demand for them with the Chinese. Yeah. Yeah. Now all of a sudden you open it up to Americans. It doesn't matter. None of us are going to be able to afford a Cuban. Even if they do come. The Amani Cristo on on Haydios Churchills up 57, almost 58% from 19 euro to 30 euro. So now about the least expensive thing you're going to deal with here is still 50 or 60 bucks a cigar. And we've had commenters say that, you know, they balk at $10 or more for a cigar.

39:49 John Yeah. Yeah, I bet it is. I, I just ran across some stats over here is fixing the, this fix to blow your fricking mind. Okay. So in the U S market back in 2020, the Cuban cigar sales of the U S market back in 2020 top 531 million. Right.

40:34 Gary So that's okay. And of course they're illegal here. So you can't get them. Right. Well, in China in 20 in 2020, the Chinese, a bono essay, the China, the China's sales back in 2020. Are you ready? Okay. 15 billion. That's stupid. Stupid. That's, that's nuts. That's 15 billion. And I mean, even if we open the borders up over here for four Cubans, we can't touch 15 billion worth. We just, we can't in cigars. No way. That's those cats laying it down, man. Just, just, just killing. And how bonos essay is just racking up. They are just yelling it right now. That's amazing, man. That is amazing. Amazing. Oh, anyway. Kyle in the comments does say, do you like Cubans? Can you actually tell the difference? I've went on the record multiple times in the past. I'm not impressed with Cubans. I've never, I don't seek them out. Matter of fact. And a lot of times when people give me Cubans, I will keep them and give them away. Yeah. Interesting. They just don't impress me. I've never been that, that big on them. I believe part of it is everything from Cuban and is a Cuban puro. And there's just not exciting flavors or the flavors aren't as exciting as what we can get from the manufacturers that are available to us. Now, as telling them apart, we could go into a three hour show to give you a lot of, try and we still can't even guarantee it's correct. Correct. And it's not whether or not there's three lines of dots or four lines of dots on a Cahiba when the lady in Miami on South Beach is selling it to you. Right. You guys, what's your opinion? Answer Kyle's questions there. Go ahead, Dave. So I can't say I've ever had a legit Cuban handed to me. This is a Cuban from Cuba. The only experience that I know that I've had is, and I've told this story before, is from Christian Aroha who says the seed they use to make their Aroha 20th year is Cuban seed. That one is amazing. And I absolutely love it. Now, if all Cubans tasted like that, I'd be a Cuban fanatic. But from the way I've heard people describe them, real ones from this to that, to even Cahiba, Cahiba, the brand makes good sticks. But obviously there's some controversy behind actual Cuban tobacco versus just being the seed and grown. So I can't really have a true opinion on it. And honestly, I think a lot of people can't actually have a good opinion on it either because a lot of people, you don't know if you're getting a real one anymore. I mean, it's just, I don't know. People say, yeah, I had a Cuban. It was excellent. I'm like, do you know you had a Cuban or did somebody just say it was a Cuban and sold it to you? Great point, Dev. So I can't verify with anybody if what they're smoking is actually a Cuban. Now I've met Christian Aroha and that's what he told me about the 20th. So I'm prone to believe him on that. And if there's any, any point, minute point that Cuban tastes somewhat like that, like a puro Cuban, then sure, I'm a big Cuban fanatic, but having no real experience, I couldn't tell you. And I'm okay with not knowing. I'll be completely honest with you. As much as I'd love to be in Cuba, see him at the fields and then see the cigars and go, I'd like to try that. That's probably never going to happen in my lifetime.

44:31 Devin Well, first of all, just to get this out of the way right there, if you ever want to go to Cuba, you let me know. Okay. If you ever want to go, let me know. I got your hookup. Okay. Good to know. So, um, and, and you're in your prime too, because you're single, you know, and you can, you can go over there and experience a very lively time, if you will. Wow. Wow. This show just turned to an old different tone. Yeah. And if you come up missing, nobody's going to notice. Yeah.

45:05 John Oh, John for the stab, the final stab and turn. Yeah. You won't come up missing, but, but you might be working in a field somewhere. But, uh, when it comes, when it comes to Cuban is Kyle. Um, I, I, I ride the fence a lot because there is a, uh, there was a time where I, I didn't, I didn't care for Cubans a whole lot. I just didn't. Right. And the main reason was, was the, um, the aura around it, you know, the reputation, oh, I'm Cuban and, uh, you know, I've got a Cuban, I'm smoking a Cuban of all that kind of crap, you know, and to, uh, and to sort of go along John's, uh, sort of, sort of take a book out of John, uh, out of John here. Um, there is a, uh, I'm going to divert just to give you some more of a contrast. Okay. So we got a doctor that comes in, had a doctor that comes in to 80. He used to pull his Porsche Carrera racing right in front of us, right in front of the door, you know, white, um, man sharp man got the big wide tires on ready to go around the track, ready to go sharp. Right. Man, good looking thing. He gets out. And of course, doc Appel basically said, Hey doc, how's it going? Blah, blah, blah. I said, Hey, how you like your car? And he said, I hate it. And I said, really? He said, yes. He said, it rides like a wagon. He said, he said he, he said, you kidneys just, just are, are literally bleeding when you're getting out of this thing. And he says, I think, you know, and, and of course, John can, I think John can verify this, but you know, when you're looking at a race car, you're looking at the race car, you're looking at the race car. You're going to fill every inch of the road. You're you know, and that's what that car is made for. It's not made for touring. It's not made for dinner and all of that kind of stuff. Anyway, all that to say the Cuban looks great. And yeah, and a lot of guys get it because I smoke Cubans and I smoke whatever, you know, yeah. Well, I tell you what, if you drive up at a 20, 23 Bentley, I might be impressed. You know, and even then I'd have to say, you know, where'd you get it? You know, we're not clout chasers around here.

47:23 Gary I mean, the fame of a cigar, the prestige of I got it doesn't mean anything because it's merit, it's meritocracy. So to speak, it's is your stick good? Is it accessible? Can we try it? I mean, that's the real American spirit behind cigar smoking that I think everybody who's truly into the hobby.

47:43 John Very good. So in saying that, OK, I had a good friend of mine, very close to like a brother. He had one of his friends go to the factory. OK, he went to the factory and he had a factory tour and he bought while he was down there. And he asked me while he was down there, he said, hey, he said, what's what's good? So I told him, I said, well, try this, this and this. Next thing you know, he comes back with that particular blend or these particular blends. OK, so I'm just, you know, I'm smoking them. They're good. They are very, very good. And there was about 15 of them and I'm smoking them. They're very good. And then I got down to the part of this D number two. So red band and you look it up on the Internet or whatever. Anyway, and I was in the factory. You know, blow away because the majority of the ones that I've had were fake and you could tell it. Right. So I said, well, just give me some part of this number to see anyway. So he did that. So I got I was down to the last five part of this number twos. I go out here, get on the lawnmower and I was well, that's all I got. So I said, let me go and do that. So I popped that in my mouth, a little up, got on the lawnmower. I started cutting right there. I got on the lawnmower and I started cutting right there. And I guess probably I got about one or two rounds cut right there and I stopped. I said, OK, I'm done. And I said, and I sat, I come back up on my porch and I enjoyed that cigar. That was good. It was very tasty. And I milked those things and I milked them. And to be honest with you, to this day, it tasted like a good, it tasted very, very comparable to an Opus X or a if you and I compromise the Opus X to the Andalusian Bull. Very interesting. Yeah. Very comparable to those two particular blends. Very comparable. And if I didn't know any better, I would say it was even better than those two blends. So but I, you know, in doing that, I said, hey, I don't know what they've done to these right here. But boy, somebody put honey in these things. They were delicious. They were I mean, stupid good. So in saying that, I've had my share of Cubans. And I like I like the fact that it's it's different. Cuba does not mix their stuff. You'll not hear of a Cuban with Dominican. You'll not hear, you know, of it coming out of Cuba being made. You're always going to have a Cuban Puro wrapper, binder and filler. That's always whether it's Maduro, a magical Maduro, Bacoiba or not. It's going to be a Cuban Puro. So I enjoy some of the stuff. It's good, you know, but I like the diversity of the non-Cuban. I love that diversity. And to me, it's the artistic or the artesian way in which they do it. I like the way that the guys proprietors mix their stuff and find different tobaccos to mix and play with it and make it mesh and make it go. And people like Christian Arroa, who literally takes that stuff and runs with it and says, I have a Cuban crab. Man, we got our stuff over here. This just as good. And it is right.

51:24 Gary It's good. I am hooked on the Arroa brand. I remember the first time I had one, it's when I think the dark came out or maybe it was already out and I just saw it. But, oh my goodness gracious. Yes, sir. I was hooked at that point. And I have I have not stopped. It is I'm a big padrone fanatic. Like I really like Padrone. And I got to say, as far as the amount of attention on a particular brand, Arroa has surpassed Padrone in my attention. The amount of attention I've given to this particular brand of cigar.

52:00 John Well, that means John's going to be taping this issue right here. He will be holding it and this will be on file with you saying that.

52:07 Gary Now, don't get me wrong. Padrone is what I grew up with. Padrone is the first cigar I ever had. Love the thing to death. And Padrone and Arroa are the two mainstays of my humidor every single time. There's got to be Padrone's and Arroa's in there. Cool. Cool.

52:26 John Very good. Yeah, I'm a bigger Arroa fan myself. And, you know, I've been to the factory and man, I'm telling you, those guys know how to do it. Right. They know how to do it. So but yeah, Kyle, answer your question. Yeah, it's sort of mixed, to be honest with you. I mean, that's there. They make some great blends. I also like the Cuban heritage. I just love that because it's rooted. It's work. It's hard work. Anytime you get a 1955 Packard down there and it's all original, you know, that to me is just kind of I don't know. That's just kind of cool. And that's I don't know. That's sort of reflective of the of the Cuban heritage down there and what they do.

53:12 Gary Unfortunately, it's all government ran, you know, you know. So to put a button on all this, Gary, to come back to the guardrail here, I'm at about the two inch mark. And no joke, I just I just had a flavor change that the middle was kind of, yeah, I'm enjoying it. It's good. It's good. It's OK. It's good. It's, you know, back and forth. I just hit this spot right here and it just like opened up to flavors that wow, like really good right here at the end. Now, I have to ask you this, is the is the libation you're having with it, is it mixing well with that? It is not not mixing well. It's a good one. I probably would select something a bit with a bit more spice to it as far as the libation is concerned. But it's not distracting from it. What I like to do is take a little bit of this and then just take a swill, take a swig of this and just kind of let it sit in my mouth and enjoy the flavors and then come back. And now that we're at this point where it's changing a bit, they're going together really well.

54:19 Devin I've always wanted to ask John this. And now before you ask me a question. OK, go ahead. I just want to say this. We're nearing the end of this show and we're live streaming for the first time in four or five months. I would like to set it at the beginning of the show. But let me say it again. Anybody who's watching the show right now who really enjoys the live stream, please comment because we might consider doing more of these. Exactly. I would like a little bit of feedback. What's your question, Gary? John, what is your favorite libation with cigar? Don't say water. Water is my least favorite libation on the planet. My statement on water is I don't care what you tell me about anything else. One hundred percent of people who drink water die. But Gary, I have to believe my favorite libation. My favorite beverage because I really don't drink that much is the Starbucks mocha frappuccino. Very nice. And it's got to be the bottle. I used to bring you one from Starbucks. Totally different experience. It's got to be the little bottle pre-made stuff. Come on. I don't drink that much. And I do find myself when I drink scotches and whiskeys and vodkas and tequilas, I'm almost fighting myself to drink them to go alongside, you know, while I'm having the cigar or anything. So it's almost a distraction from the cigar. I do enjoy these hard Mountain Dews that I pick up when I'm doing audits in Tennessee. But that's no different really than drinking a Mountain Dew with a cigar. And technically, to me, a Mountain Dew doesn't add anything to the cigar. Right. So something that adds and complements a cigar is your fault. Gary is the Starbucks mocha frappuccino.

56:21 Gary All right. And we will be doing in the future. I've been getting up a list from friends and myself and everybody about pairings. And we're going to try to do a whole episode on pairings and like legit, you know, Maduro with this and, you know, Sungrown with that and the alternatives. And, you know, we plan on doing something pretty elaborate with it, but we're just collecting data. So if you've got recommendations, if you've got like, you know, that not a Starbucks, but maybe like a Dunkin Donuts one with this particular stick is better than a Starbucks one with this stick or this whiskey versus this whiskey. If you have a recommendation from personal experience, feel free to email the show and let us know.

57:07 John Tell us what cigar what drink and we might just throw that together. You know, sometimes we're looking for cigars to smoke and tell us what cigars you want us to smoke. Yeah, please. Because I mean, John just gets good. John just gets just his wheels just get the grinding and he goes, OK, all right. All right. What which way do we go?

57:26 Gary Now, I will have a caveat to that is if you've got a cigar that Vitola fine cigars doesn't carry, you mentioned that. But if you have one that's comparable that we do carry, feel free to mention that as well. As more information, the better.

57:42 Devin I'm actually really considering buying some stuff that we don't carry. And doing some samples of that because we can't narrow it down to stuff. I feel that we carry. Right. I mean, we've got to expand a little bit and we can go, hey, wait, we're smoking a Toscano. And we do sell this cigar that might be similar. There's nothing similar to a Toscano because you throw them in your glove box and you just smoke them whenever you want to. They're they're designed to be dry and hard. And that's just the way that cigar is. They don't have to be identified. But that's just the first one that popped in mind that we don't carry. And it's on my list of potential ones to buy for us to smoke and, you know, give you some comments on. You said one night stand.

58:34 John You said Toscano, didn't you, John? I said Toscano. Yeah. Oh, Toscano. OK, I thought you said Cusano. I'm sorry. I've actually had one that a customer brought in and gave me one called the one night stand, which was remarkably good and went really well with rye whiskey, really well with rye whiskey. Yeah, but you're not supposed to let smoke those people smoke in the shop cigars that haven't been purchased. I knew I was coming. I knew that was coming. Oh, what have I told you about having one night stand in the cigar shop? Man, come on, man.

59:14 Devin You don't like it? Fire me. As long as you know where the cameras are. I don't care if you have a one night stand.

59:20 John Oh, there we go. I was trying to get across to you.

59:25 Gary My God. That's good. That's good. Well, we appreciate everybody. Thank you, John. Thank you, Gary. Yes, and y'all as well. Thank you, Mr. Pitted Prunes. I hope you feel better soon and we'll definitely connect again. Remember smoking underground dot com by tola fine cigars. And remember, if you like what you hear, what you see, please drop us a comment, even post show. Go on to the podcast wherever you get podcasts, smoking underground and subscribe. Share it with somebody. And remember, enjoy it. I mean, don't go super cheap. Don't go as expensive. Go what you like. Smoke what you love. Life is short. Do it. Do it, baby. Smoke moss. Smoke moss. Thank you, everybody. We'll be talking to you later and tell a friend about this. There you go. Thanks, everybody. Have a good night. Y'all too.