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Pairs well with back bacon · Sips, Suds, & Smokes

0:00
> Speaker A>On the next episode of sips, suds and smokes.
0:03
> Speaker B>We're wandering in the canadian desert with Havana Castle with a canadian takeover.
0:09
> Speaker B>This is their house brand, and it's labeled Havana Castle is the name of their cigar brand, which is the name of their cigar shops, which are only in Ontario, Canada.
0:20
> Speaker C>Yeah, it looks like, uh, it's a partnership, a co partnership between the Rozick brothers, Alex and, uh, a lot. And seems like all of their house blends come out of Esteline, Nicaragua, with Papito Gomez being the lead blender. Uh, Alejandro Robinia says he's, uh, one of Cuba's most revered tobacco growers. Uh, made his way into Nicaragua and has been the master blender for Havana castle cigars since its inception.
0:53
> Speaker A>We'll be right back after this break.
1:17
> Speaker A>Brought to you almost live from the dude in the basement studios. Why? Because that's where the good stuff is. It sits suds and smokes with your smoke and host, the good old boy.
1:51
> Speaker A>Hey, man, got a light? It's time for smokes.
1:57
> Speaker B>Welcome to the Smokes episode, folks, where everything in life is worth discussing. Today, I'm your host, good old boy barger. And to my left is good old boy Mike.
2:06
> Speaker D>Hey, it's a boot time. You got to me.
2:09
> Speaker B>In front of me is good old boy Benjamin.
2:12
> Speaker C>You're going to skin that smoke wagon or stand there and bleed.
2:16
> Speaker B>To my right is good old boy Nate.
2:18
> Speaker E>How's it going?
2:19
> Speaker B>Happy new year. Uh, again, fellas, this is our second episode of this new year, 2024.
2:26
> Speaker B>Yeah, that's right. We're the best
2:29
thing on at 02: 00 a.m. Right before budget law with Dewey, Cheatham and Howe. And right after the new hit show barger says the darndest things, it's taking off. We're going to get there, folks. As you know, I hope some of you know our smoke segments are all about cigars and, well, anything that you can smoke.
2:49
thing on at 02: As for today's segment. Drum roll, please.
2:55
thing on at 02: We're wandering in the canadian desert with Havana Castle with a canadian takeover.
3:01
> Speaker D>It's about poutine, isn't it?
3:03
> Speaker B>That's right. So strap on and hang in tight. We're going to have fun today. Please. Don't worry.
3:08
> Speaker D>Strap on.
3:10
> Speaker B>I brought the loop.
3:10
> Speaker D>I hear all the canadian censors. Just go cut them.
3:13
> Speaker B>Right, right here.
3:13
> Speaker C>Here.
3:14
> Speaker B>Right there.
3:15
> Speaker D>Right here.
3:16
> Speaker B>If you miss anything, don't worry. You can download the full episode from anywhere that you view or listen to podcast from.
3:24
> Speaker C>View podcast?
3:25
> Speaker B>Yeah, it's a new thing. They're trying to.
3:27
> Speaker B>It's whatever. But before we dive into the shallow end of the pool, don't forget your helmet and the buddy system. M.
3:33
> Speaker B>Um, where's your buddy?
3:34
> Speaker D>It's about your booty.
3:36
> Speaker C>You have a buddy?
3:37
> Speaker B>It's about your booty.
3:39
> Speaker C>Buddy.
3:39
> Speaker D>It's boot.
3:40
> Speaker B>So if you're a cigar newbie, fret not. We got you covered in our cigar one on one episode where all the cigar speak will be decoded. Just search for sip suds and smokes one on one in that episode and should pop right up in the link. Uh, and you should be able to listen to it. If you can't, then try turning it off and back on again.
3:59
> Speaker B>Uh, but good old boy Benjamin gets the honors of going over our smokes ratings today.
4:04
> Speaker C>So today we'll be smoking and discussing these cigars and rating them with our sip suds and smokes. Smokes rating.
4:10
> Speaker D>We should stand for this.
4:11
> Speaker C>Plus our signature sound. Everyone ready? Will you sing? Uh, me standing in unison.
4:24
> Speaker E>Okay. Be seated.
4:27
> Speaker B>Thank you.
4:28
> Speaker C>Along with the ratings, we also get the smoke sounds. Thank you. Uh, so here are those ratings. Now. Uh, rating one.
4:36
> Speaker C>This sucked even before it was lit.
4:42
> Speaker C>If it gets a two, at least I lit it.
4:47
> Speaker C>A rating of three, I'd smoke this again.
4:54
> Speaker C>Four. How much? You don't for, um, them.
5:02
> Speaker B>Magnificent.
5:04
> Speaker C>And the coup de gras rating number five. Where are they? I need a box.
5:14
> Speaker D>It's about time you bought a box.
5:16
> Speaker C>Oh, you betcha.
5:17
> Speaker B>It's about time. So, before we get into our review, I'm sorry. Of these cigars. Are you sorry? I'm sorry. Are you sorry? Yeah.
5:25
> Speaker B>I want to just, uh, tell you guys I had a really good trip with my wife. We went to Canada.
5:31
> Speaker D>I'm sorry.
5:31
> Speaker B>We went to this little, tiny, podunk ass town called Owen sound.
5:38
> Speaker C>How'd it sound?
5:39
> Speaker B>Owen.
5:43
> Speaker B>Which was a super interesting town, but, uh, next to it was another town, and I done forgot the name.
5:49
> Speaker B>Collingswood.
5:50
> Speaker A>Banned once again.
5:51
> Speaker B>Nope. It's Collingswood. I forgot it, but I remembered it.
5:54
> Speaker B>Got it. So, in Collingswood was a cigar shop called Havana Castle. The cigar shop was really clean and really nice on the inside. And the guy named Denny.
6:05
> Speaker B>Denny Liggins, I think is his name.
6:08
> Speaker C>It's Denny Liggins.
6:09
> Speaker B>Denny Ligands. Yeah.
6:10
> Speaker D>I'm sorry.
6:11
> Speaker B>Was the cigar shop manager. Super nice guy. Very hospitable. Took me in the humidor, where I was thoroughly confused. I don't know if any of you have ever been to a humidor, uh, in Canada. Have you been?
6:26
> Speaker E>Nate, it's been a while.
6:28
> Speaker B>So every cigar, even brands that we know and love all have a gray label with white writing on them. Doesn't matter what it is. The actual cigar band is underneath the gray label.
6:45
> Speaker B>And I assume that's to prevent young people to go, oh, that's pretty. I want to buy that.
6:52
> Speaker B>But, uh, it makes everything so confusing.
6:55
> Speaker B>It's like walking into a doctor's office and not knowing what's happening.
7:01
> Speaker B>Yeah, how did I even get to the doctors at that point? And another thing is you can't smoke indoors in Canada, which is horrible.
7:13
> Speaker B>So I'm like, me and my wife, I'm like, oh, I'm going to go to the cigar shop and smoke a cigar and meet some locals and hang out and do the things that I do when we travel. And I got there and I start to pull a cigar out and they're like, whoa, what are you doing? I'm like, uh, I'm going to smoke a cigar.
7:30
> Speaker C>No, you're not.
7:31
> Speaker B>No.
7:33
> Speaker C>How about you don't?
7:34
> Speaker B>He's like, you got to go 30 meters away. And I was poutine with it. I was like, what's a meter? What's a meter?
7:43
> Speaker B>I mean, I didn't have to pay a meter to come in here. I got to go 30 of them away.
7:48
> Speaker B>So anyway, it was a good time. The shop was awesome. Denny was great. Ah, and I had a really good time. We actually pulled some chairs outside and we broke the law where we sat there and smoked cigars. It was great. And I did get to meet some locals, which was awesome.
8:10
> Speaker B>And it was about like that. It was a good time for, um, um, you know, what's interesting about this brand is this is their house, uh, this is their house brand.
8:24
> Speaker B>And it's labeled Havana Castle is the name of their cigar brand, which is the name of their cigar shops, which are only in Ontario, Canada.
8:32
> Speaker C>Yeah, it looks like, uh, it's, ah, a partnership, a co partnership between the Rosic brothers, Alex and, uh, a lot. And seems like all of their house blends, uh, come out of Esteline, Nicaragua, um, with Papito, uh, Gomez being the lead blender. Uh, Alejandro Robinia says, uh, he's, uh, one of Cuba's most revered tobacco growers, made his way into Nicaragua, uh, and has been the master blender for Havana castle cigars since, uh, its inception.
9:09
> Speaker B>So what's interesting and what we're going to find out, folks, about these cigars as we go through them is we're just not even going to mention the binder filler wrapper. Because all the information we have is, they're nicaraguan.
9:21
> Speaker C>They're piros through and through.
9:23
> Speaker B>Piros through and through. So if you're wondering what they are. Binder filler wrapper. For every cigar we're going to talk about is nicaraguan.
9:33
> Speaker C>Looks like a pretty solid, uh, growth, too. It says in 98.
9:39
> Speaker B>Hold on. Filler binder wrapper.
9:42
> Speaker C>Now. That'll. Boy, we're going to change these quick lines.
9:46
> Speaker B>So in my brain, the alphabetical binder filler wrapper is just where my brain goes. Sorry. It's a Kentucky education. You can blame the public educational system for that.
9:55
> Speaker C>But, yes, it started this journey in 1998, uh, producing just under 500 cigars yearly to now. Well over a half a million cigars currently.
10:04
> Speaker B>Yeah.
10:05
> Speaker C>So that's pretty incredible.
10:07
> Speaker B>They had a lot to offer, and we only got four offerings to go over.
10:13
> Speaker E>I do have an interesting thought that just popped in my head. Um, hold. Fine. Well, it's just with the whole nicaraguan puro thought, um, there's not a lot of people who use nicaraguan rapperly for everything. It's really distinct. And especially, like, the people who do it are known for being. Having their own fields and farms, and, um, it sounds like they have their own factory.
10:43
> Speaker B>So from my understanding, they have their own factory and fields, and.
10:49
> Speaker E>Just track with me, and I may be wrong.
10:52
> Speaker E>Theory. You like theory?
10:53
> Speaker B>I love it.
10:54
> Speaker E>But my theory is, I wonder, because I know Canada has such strict laws, I wonder if, for them, they present it as a nicaraguan bureau because they're representing the country of origin where it's being shipped into the country as. And I'm curious if that's it, because I wonder if, for their government, if they started throwing other countries into the mix. Just a thought.
11:16
> Speaker E>Maybe I'm wrong. That's possible because they're normally used to dealing with Cubans.
11:21
> Speaker D>That would be lame.
11:22
> Speaker C>Yeah. Uh, according to Havana Castle, I mean.
11:24
> Speaker D>That'S a very plausible idea. I like your theory.
11:27
> Speaker B>That's a great theory. That's a great theory.
11:29
> Speaker D>And aliens hang out in Saskatchewan, but.
11:33
> Speaker C>According to Havana Castle's website, uh, Papito Gomez, Cuban born, um, but then, um, produced on his own 40 acre plantation dubbed finca la pena, located in chukilas de Baracoa. Um.
11:49
> Speaker B>Love some barbicoa.
11:50
> Speaker C>100%. Um, says that right now, the cigar's quality can still be appreciated in top of the line cohibas esplandidos and Hoya de Monterey double coronas, um, which are internationally renowned for their aroma burn draw. And construction, um, as a mentoring relationship. These specific artisan traits have now been attentively passed down to Gomez through the hands on training and, uh, masterly guidance of Robinia, um, years later in Nicaragua, Papito has grown to similar cult status himself, where he blends and rolls for other world class luxury.
12:23
> Speaker B>Words are hard.
12:25
> Speaker B>All right. So I did try one of the house blend cigars while I was there.
12:30
> Speaker B>That was a cuban seed grown in Nicaragua. They said, you guys didn't get to try them. I got to try it.
12:38
> Speaker C>Thanks a lot.
12:39
> Speaker B>Barter. That's my fault. Uh, 100%, because I'm, um, not paying these canadian prices for these things that I don't know.
12:48
> Speaker E>Yeah, sure.
12:49
> Speaker B>And so I bought one.
12:50
> Speaker E>Sure.
12:51
> Speaker B>And it was a great cigar. I enjoyed it. I liked it. I'm not going to go home and smoke them every day. But that cuban seed, one that they have, and I didn't even get the name of it. There's no band on it. It was just a house blend Cigar. There it is.
13:08
> Speaker B>That's it. But it was good. I liked it. So I don't know. We're going to, um.
13:14
> Speaker D>With poutine.
13:15
> Speaker B>Yeah. Listen, did you dip the tip of it in gravy? Listen, when I was in Canada, I ate poutine every meal.
13:22
> Speaker D>I'm sorry.
13:23
> Speaker B>I'm not sorry. It was amazing.
13:25
> Speaker B>Amazing. Welcome back and I hope you enjoyed those commercials, but we are talking about Havana castle cigars out of Ontario, Canada.
13:35
> Speaker B>Um, we want to touch a little bit about house blending cigars. So that's a good conversation that we were having during the break about house blending cigars. About house blend cigars.
13:46
> Speaker B>And kind of what's the steps beside of them and how do we go about them? Because some house blends just, uh, have a shoebox salesman that come in and just are like, I want to blend this for you. And they're like, yes, we want you to blend this for us.
14:01
> Speaker E>Well, the big thing is many retailers, you go into a shop and there's a lot of people who ask about the house blend. And to me, I think of a house blend almost being like a well whiskey. It's kind of that.
14:15
> Speaker E>Like it's a Maduro, it's a habano, it's a Connecticut, and it smokes good. And I know I can come back to it day in, day out consistency.
14:24
> Speaker B>Yeah.
14:24
> Speaker E>When I think of what the consumer would look for, that's what I would think from. So a lot of the shops, it depends on the manufacturer. Um, I would say most house blends are not going to be situations where it's like you're going to the factory and you're picking out the blend, or it's more. So a lot of those are manufacturers say, hey, we've got these ten blends. Here you go. Would you like to pick this? And because of being able to have it all the time, you buy it in larger quantities. So you have that and then you have where people will actually create specific lines with existing brands. But, uh, normally, house cigars to me, are things that should be under that average price right now. They should be$10 or under, and it should be just utility cigar. And most shops, it's a good intro cigar.
15:20
> Speaker E>Most shops who pick it are going to work with a factory that's already producing a lot of cigars. And, um, they have programs.
15:28
> Speaker E>There's usually companies you can trust who are going to put those out for you.
15:33
> Speaker E>Um, and to me, there's a lot of know mike kind of brought that up. I will tell you, there's people who call all the time into my shop who, ah, you know, we've got this company and we're in Miami, and we can sell you these cigars for this much. There are those people out there who are that, like, door to door person. But I would say depends on your retail. You go to South Florida and you might see 20 different house blends in a shop, and they may have something like that. But if you go to a shop and you see two to three or four house blends, to me it should just be a solid standby that you can go to always. And good construction, good burn. They're really just made to be consistent. That's the big thing.
16:12
> Speaker D>Well, I think that usually when I tend to think of things that are house brands, period, be it a cigar or whiskey or wine or anything like that, it's about the margin.
16:25
> Speaker D>They fall in one of two categories, I think, from my perspective. One is that they're there, uh, for people that are not looking for something distinctive in that particular product. Um, so I've been to several cocktail bars, especially, um, that they want to offer a cigar that is their house brand. And so they're not really looking to be a cigar bar.
16:53
> Speaker D>They're looking for it to be a cocktail place that you can purchase a cigar at.
16:57
> Speaker B>Like, oh, let me pair this with this because we can make more money.
17:00
> Speaker D>Right. And so it's really about making sure that someone is there to complete the experience. And not really. I'm going there to have, uh, an amazing crown heads.
17:12
> Speaker D>Uh, uh, Texas rose that I can't get back home. Um, yellow rose. Thank you. Um, but the other category is that, um, it is about margin. And it's about, instead of that margin really going to somebody else, I want to keep that margin in house. And so there are things there for the in house staff to pump, and they're looking for people that are like, you know what?
17:40
> Speaker D>You don't really care. Why don't you start with one of our house cigars?
17:45
> Speaker E>And even like my shop, when we first brought in our first house cigar, and I can tell you this, that barger over here, he took full advantage of this. But we used to run this deal all the time where if you bought any four cigars, yeah, any four cigars in our humidor, didn't matter what it was, you got a house cigar for free. Because we were trying to promote it and we wanted people to know it.
18:05
> Speaker E>But so even with that, a lot of shops do all kinds of different promotions with it, uh, and different things.
18:11
> Speaker E>And yeah, you're right. It's just that thing where it's like if you buy a house cigar from a shop, you should know that you are helping support that shop.
18:21
> Speaker B>So here's why I took advantage of that. And I'm not necessarily taking advantage in a good way, take advantage with the house cigars that you guys provided. I knew that I was going to get a solid construction cigar that I didn't have to think about, and I knew what it was going to be every time. Right? So there was no discerning factors of, well, if I'm not in the mood for this, I'm not in the mood for that. If I'm in the mood to smoke a cigar and I don't know what I want, I'm going to grab a house cigar in my brain, but that's just how I'm wired. So if I've got an excess of these because I went and bought some of the stuff that I wanted to smoke, but didn't know what the exact time or date or whatever my mood was that I wanted to smoke that in, I knew I could rely on that house cigar to go, you know what? It's going to get me in the mood to smoke something. So if I get done with that and I'm like, hey, I still want to smoke another cigar, I'm going to go, what's on my flavor profile right now? What's going to blend well with that? What two cigars that are going to smoke good together. And I would use those cigars for that. But I would also use those cigars to introduce people. So, like, yeah, I would get those cigars for free or whatever by buying cigars, but I would also take them to non cigar smokers and go, you know what? Uh, I don't want to waste 15,$12 on you.
19:49
> Speaker B>Not necessarily you as in, as a person, but if you don't know what you like and you don't know what you want to smoke, I can say, hey, try this.
19:57
> Speaker D>So you're saying your third least favorite cousin that took last piece of bacon, you would give them that cigar?
20:03
> Speaker B>Listen, that bacon was crispy and I really enjoyed it, and they ruined it for me.
20:10
> Speaker B>But no, I could hand that cigar to a cigar newbie and be like, hey, did you like this? Tell me what you didn't like, and that will help me guide someone into something that might better suit their flavor profile. Does that make sense? Yeah, for sure.
20:27
> Speaker C>Thought that's what the swishers were for.
20:29
> Speaker B>Well, just the wood tips. The wood tips.
20:33
> Speaker C>Jazz, black and white.
20:34
> Speaker D>So I'm going to throw out a question, but I don't want you guys to answer it now. I want you to think about it for a bit. Do you think of house blend cigars as being better average or below average in general? So I want you to think about the question. We'll come back around to the question in a bit.
20:50
> Speaker B>Let's get into the first cigar of this line here.
20:53
> Speaker B>We're going to start with the Maduro, all right?
20:56
> Speaker B>And we're going to have Nate tell us all about it.
20:58
> Speaker E>I'm raring to go over.
20:59
> Speaker B>It's all right. Now, I just want to disclose this before we get into this. Um, I was given no information about these cigars. I had to pull everything offline.
21:08
> Speaker D>I'm sorry.
21:09
> Speaker B>From what I could find. From what I could find. And they provide Havana Castle. Thank you so much for providing us with cigars for this. We definitely enjoyed our experience in tasting your cigars.
21:21
> Speaker C>Hey, Jose, here's another one for your collection, eh?
21:25
> Speaker B>Yeah. So thanks for that.
21:31
> Speaker B>Here we go with what little information we have tonight.
21:34
> Speaker E>All righty. So if you want a lot of body from a cigar, you'll find that one of our beloved black Havana castle really fits the bill. It's for the mature smoker who wants more bold and strong taste.
21:48
> Speaker E>The cigar is loaded with earthy characters.
21:53
> Speaker E>Earthy characters. And it provides tons of impressive and pleasurable richness. Designed specifically for full body fans, this popular cigar features a dark, spicy and fragrant wrapper which is ah, a leaf grown from a cuban seed. Its filler origin and binder are nicaragua.
22:14
> Speaker B>Loves them full bodied.
22:16
> Speaker E>Right.
22:17
> Speaker B>Hey, uh, oh, and what were the filler binder wrappers?
22:22
> Speaker E>Nicaragua.
22:23
> Speaker B>That's what the information we have folks. But let's go ahead and rate it guys. What did you think?
22:28
> Speaker D>Um, oh, you want to rate it up front?
22:31
> Speaker B>Yeah, let's rate it up front.
22:32
> Speaker D>Uh, okay.
22:33
> Speaker B>Yeah, it's a, ah, three across the board.
22:37
> Speaker B>Tell me a little bit about what you thought about smoking the cigar, Mike, because I know you've been itching it to Mike phone.
22:43
> Speaker D>No. Uh, so I wrote down nice, um, even burn, easy draw kind, um, of one dimensional, not really that big booming maduro kind um of cocoa apple. Um, uh, some of the other things. Um, sometimes when I pick up the Maduro, I call it the drew effect.
23:09
> Speaker B>Shout out.
23:13
> Speaker D>Um, ah, for sure.
23:15
> Speaker E>Can I get you a beer?
23:16
> Speaker B>Uh, back bacon?
23:17
> Speaker D>Yeah. Um, it's going to come with a lot of presence about it and a lot of flavor. And this just wasn't that. It didn't have that again, that big booming pronounce your presence with authority coming around.
23:31
> Speaker D>Um, I know we're going to talk about this a little bit, but all these sticks were enormous.
23:37
> Speaker D>They were huge, huge ring gauge girth. Yeah. So uh, a lot going on. Um, so if it seemed like uh, we had a lot to write, it's because we had plenty of time with each of these sticks.
23:50
> Speaker B>Yeah, we did. Sure we did. And I'll say this, I mentioned earlier that the house cigar that you guys didn't get to try that I did. Um, it was in the ring gauge that we're used to.
24:04
> Speaker B>Like it was about a 50 ring gauge. And so it was very pleasant for me.
24:10
> Speaker B>But everything in this cigar line is like 55 or higher.
24:17
> Speaker B>It's a workout.
24:20
> Speaker A>I wish to register a complete.
24:22
> Speaker D>Yeah, uh, you had to stare it.
24:26
> Speaker B>Down even for the length. Like it was a robusta length, but it was smoke.
24:32
> Speaker C>Something that's 54 ring.
24:34
> Speaker E>Yeah, well, and like guys, think about that weather we just had last week here in Tennessee. I mean it was cold, we had a bunch of snow. I mean that's Canada all the time.
24:43
> Speaker E>Uh, you want to smoke, sit out there and smoke that.
24:46
> Speaker C>I guess you got to be born into it though.
24:48
> Speaker B>Maybe in my ice fishing tent.
24:51
> Speaker C>Yeah, right. And that's the other thing too, is even like living in that climate, you find ways to survive and they probably are, uh, sitting over an ice hole.
25:02
> Speaker B>Right? Yeah. Uh, for sure.
25:03
> Speaker C>Just having a fish looking for some pipe smoking, a 60 ring gauge with a propane heater. And that's all you got is some poutine?
25:10
> Speaker B>Yeah.
25:11
> Speaker D>Putting some gravy on the ice shack.
25:14
> Speaker B>Yeah, poutine is the jam. I'm just saying.
25:16
> Speaker D>I did find gravy.
25:17
> Speaker C>It's not jam.
25:19
> Speaker B>Well, that's fair. Okay.
25:20
> Speaker D>I did find a little bit more of, uh, some of my notes here. So some of the flavor profile I had was cocoa applewood, a dusty horse blanket. Um, was some of the other, uh, horse blanket.
25:31
> Speaker D>Horse blanket. Oh, yes. No, not strawberry lube.
25:34
> Speaker B>Well, that's the last episode.
25:37
> Speaker C>Drink.
25:40
> Speaker B>Got him.
25:41
> Speaker B>Buffalo Benjamin, what'd you think about.
25:45
> Speaker C>Know, I think that I'm right in line there with. They.
25:50
> Speaker C>They embody a house smoke to me. They're not super complex. They're not really going to knock you down with really diving deep in with flavor profile notes and those kind of things.
26:00
> Speaker D>Hey, um, I'm a duro.
26:01
> Speaker C>I'm here in the setup shop. Um, your sister's looking pretty good. Not in a negative connotation, but this is a classic yard gar.
26:11
> Speaker B>Right.
26:11
> Speaker C>This is something that you're puffing on while you're out, if you got.
26:19
> Speaker D>What's up, neighbor?
26:20
> Speaker B>Yeah. Hey, ozer.
26:22
> Speaker C>Hey, neighbor.
26:23
> Speaker B>Hey, can I borrow your hose?
26:26
> Speaker C>Uh, but definitely one of those things. Uh, and one of those smokes that.
26:29
> Speaker B>Yes.
26:30
> Speaker C>It had some of those common baseline maduro flavors. Right. Uh, but definitely not going to knock you down with any complexity. Not super strong. Right. It had a bit of body to it, but not overwhelming on the nicotine strength.
26:45
> Speaker B>Um, I thought it was approachable for a Maduro.
26:48
> Speaker B>No, 100%, but it was an intro. Maduro.
26:50
> Speaker B>Maduro, if that makes any sense.
26:52
> Speaker E>Well, and honestly, I was kind of just thinking.
26:55
> Speaker E>Even to me, I was kind of just thinking it's a cigar.
26:59
> Speaker B>Yeah, for sure.
27:00
> Speaker E>To me, it's kind of like the beer world, where if you're into barrel age beers, you're like, oh, my gosh, what people are doing and the depths and all this stuff.
27:11
> Speaker B>If I had that 30 pounds back, I would take it.
27:13
> Speaker E>Right, exactly. But then, don't get me wrong. I ain't harping on Guinness at all. But to me, then you have a guinness.
27:21
> Speaker B>And you're what?
27:23
> Speaker E>I ain't harping on it.
27:25
> Speaker E>Uh, but to me, it's that thing. They're different worlds. They're just totally different worlds. And to me, Guinness is a beer.
27:36
> Speaker B>This is a cigar.
27:42
> Speaker C>Tell us how you really feel. But I think that is the most spot on description.
27:47
> Speaker C>Right. This is a cigar. Right. And not with any negative connotation, but, uh, it's not something that just absolutely blew me away.
27:59
> Speaker B>Right.
27:59
> Speaker C>Uh, but like I said, three across the board, it definitely, um, would get smoked again.
28:04
> Speaker B>So next up, we've got the blue habano, and Mike is going to tell us all about it. Yeah.
28:10
> Speaker D>So the, uh, blue habano. Here's some of the description we have for that. If it's a medium bodied cigar, tends to provide you with the most cigar smoking pleasure, then we recommend our blue series h medium. You'll find that has great depth, and that's, uh, the perfect complement to a good cup of joe in the morning.
28:30
> Speaker D>Since it does have enough richness and dimension to retain its character, even when accompanies by bold food or drink or poutine. Uh, it's a versatile cigar to enjoy with beverages and meals. Thank God this vegemite is not involved.
28:45
> Speaker D>Of course, it's also a great on its own, uh, vegemite.
28:49
> Speaker C>Yikes.
28:50
> Speaker B>Uh.
28:52
> Speaker D>When you actually do get to look at the label, it is blue. Um, definitely blue.
28:57
> Speaker D>It is labeled original series on the cigar itself. Um, I wrote down a classic cabano. Um, mild wood, hints of leather, kind of a whisper of mint.
29:10
> Speaker D>Um, yeah, I just thought it was kind of pretty average, once again, kind of ho hum. Yeah, kind of ho.
29:15
> Speaker D>Um.
29:17
> Speaker B>Um.
29:20
> Speaker D>Somebody walked into Nate shop and said, what's a classic trace taste profile?
29:25
> Speaker B>Boom.
29:25
> Speaker D>There you go.
29:27
> Speaker B>I actually really like this habano. Not going to lie. I thought it was very much a run of the mill habano flavor.
29:35
> Speaker D>Oh, I'm sorry. The binder, filler wrapper is Nick Roguin.
29:39
> Speaker B>Yeah, filler. The filler binder again. Ah. Um, but, yeah, I just thought it was a very approachable habano. Very light, easy on the draw, easy on the smoke. Again with the size. I think if this would have been in, like, the 50 ring gauge category.
29:57
> Speaker D>If it had been smaller, if it.
29:58
> Speaker B>Would have been a smaller ring gauge, I think I would have absolutely been.
30:03
> Speaker D>Toro or a little bit smaller.
30:05
> Speaker B>Yeah, I would have absolutely bought a bunch of these.
30:09
> Speaker D>If Petite Lanceros, he would have bought.
30:11
> Speaker B>A boxero, I'd have bought a box.
30:13
> Speaker C>Nothing about this brand is petite to me, too.
30:17
> Speaker E>Some of that plays into the sizing, kind of plays into the fact of it being a, uh, Maduro, a habano. It's kind of like when you get into that sizing, too. Unless you're really trying to offer something special, like one of the big old LFDs or something.
30:36
> Speaker E>Uh, it's hard to get complexity and flavor when it comes to some of those bigger sizes.
30:41
> Speaker B>Yeah, and it's also hard to get consistency.
30:44
> Speaker B>And that's what I find when I smoke larger ring gauge cigars, is that consistency because you're adding girth and you're making something more visually large that you're just lacking the conventional makeup of a cigar. Like, either your draw is too tight or your draw is too loose. It's really hard to get a good large ring gauge cigar to smoke proper. There are a few brands that do it. Don't get me wrong, there are multiple brands that do it. But for my taste and profile, it's hard to get me on to say, I'm going to smoke this 60 ring gauge and have a good time with it. So, uh, what did you guys think?
31:36
> Speaker C>Same classic habano. And I've been on the Habano train like we've heard over the last few episodes. Didn't really have the spice punch that I normally enjoy from a habano. This was definitely a little bit more muted, but came through on the retro hell. Uh, but the construction and burn of this was clean. Right. The burn line on this thing was razor sharp.
31:53
> Speaker C>I didn't have any construction issues with it. And I think, uh, it's to be noted that I had that experience with everything in this line, um, for my rating.
32:06
> Speaker B>So we're going to rate that at a three.
32:11
> Speaker B>Yeah. And then, uh, we're going to take a break here. Just a second. And then we're going to have some more fun stories.
32:17
> Speaker D>Yeah, and the answer to that question that I threw out at the tip of this segment.
32:22
> Speaker B>Yeah, we're going to have fun time with that. Enjoy these commercials, folks. Welcome back.
32:27
> Speaker B>And I hope you thoroughly enjoyed those commercials and buy whatever it is they're telling you to buy. But as we are going to continue on, Mike, you asked us a question earlier.
32:38
> Speaker D>Yeah, so the question I threw out at the, uh, tip of the last segment was what underwear we're wearing. No, I know. It's under ruse. I don't know if it's blue or brown ones this week.
32:47
> Speaker B>Superman.
32:47
> Speaker C>I'm a duluth bear naked man myself.
32:50
> Speaker D>Yeah, you look like the guy on the commercial.
32:54
> Speaker B>We're going bear hunting.
32:55
> Speaker C>That's a fat joke. I'll let it slide.
32:57
> Speaker D>Need more beard. Okay.
32:59
> Speaker D>Um, it's just in general, when you think of house blend cigars, do you think that they're above average or average? Or below average? I mean, you have some preconception about that. Just because it falls in that category.
33:14
> Speaker B>So I'll take the lead with this one. And I think that house blends, for me, are just your run of the mill, average cigars. There are very few house blend cigars that I have just been wowed by. And, uh, one of them was out of your shop. Nate. You guys had a house plan that was blended by crownheads, I believe.
33:42
> Speaker E>Well, so that's it gets into a different conversation, right?
33:45
> Speaker B>That's a different conversation, 100%.
33:47
> Speaker E>No, because that's not a house blend. See, like what I was saying in the beginning, this is a crown head cigar. Banned, boxed everything that our brand did exclusively for us.
34:00
> Speaker B>Okay.
34:00
> Speaker E>A house cigar is either, like, we in our shop differentiate a house cigar with a ribbon. Some people ban them, but generally, it's a bundle. Like, you can buy it by a bundle. Normally, people have it in trays, but to me, that's where shop exclusives from brands are a little different because it's still marketing that brand.
34:22
> Speaker B>Correct.
34:22
> Speaker E>This one's all about marketing the shop, correct?
34:25
> Speaker D>Yeah. Which is generally, I think, my predisposition, and I actually have a different answer depending on where I'm at.
34:33
> Speaker E>The problem is, the shop has to matter, because it is that person picking it.
34:38
> Speaker D>Well, so what I was going to be distinctive, though, is that I've had house cigars that are in a cocktail bar, um, as opposed to, uh, house cigars that are in a cigar shop. Um, and even some of the location of those cigar shops had a very different impression for me. Like, the ones that I had, uh, in England were amazing. I mean, some of the house blend cigars that I had in some of the shops in and around London were really, I thought, above average.
35:11
> Speaker B>Really?
35:12
> Speaker D>Yeah. And, you know, when they were kind of pushing them on me, they were like, well, listen, if you buy. I was actually shopping Cubans one day in particular, and, uh, he was like, well, listen, if you buy four of the Cubans, you can have a house cigar. And I'm like, much the same way you were talking about bundling a little bit earlier. And I was like, uh, okay, whatever. And I just kind of dismissed it. But when I actually sat down and smoked it, I was like, wow, I actually like that. And what was funny is I actually like the house cigar better than the Cubans that I bought that day. Um, but I would say, in general, probably, um, uh, if it was a retailer, probably in the US, I would say, you're pushing this on me because you're getting more margin out of that, and I don't know that you're really looking at me and saying this guy is looking for a particular taste profile based on the other things he's asked for in my humidor.
36:09
> Speaker E>Well, the thing I love is we have such a wide variety of smokers now, even sitting here at the table. Yeah, exactly. And I just love that cigars are not necessarily about wealth anymore. And even back in the day, it's funny, I mean, it all translates different with pricing and valuing and all that stuff.
36:28
> Speaker D>So you're saying there's a $50 coffin house blend, right?
36:31
> Speaker E>Probably somewhere. Who knows what's the margin on that?
36:34
> Speaker D>$47.
36:35
> Speaker B>Exactly.
36:36
> Speaker E>I was going to say too, this is another thing I was going to say is what are you going to say?
36:43
> Speaker E>These guys are giving me Nader salad. This is what happens.
36:47
> Speaker B>Uh, tell us how you really yourself.
36:49
> Speaker E>I know, exactly, but I will say too, you really have to just, if it's your local shop and they're your home place, you got to just try it and see if you like it. Because I have people who all the time are skeptical about our house blends.
37:06
> Speaker E>But I'll tell you, in the last at least seven years, we've been carrying house cigars, one of our ones.
37:14
> Speaker E>The other thing I will tell you, um, is it is a bigger commitment for shops because they're normally buying them by at least 1000 cigars at a time.
37:24
> Speaker D>Wow.
37:26
> Speaker E>It is a big commitment usually. But I'll tell you, we usually go through at least for one specific blend. 2000, 3000 a year is what we go through.
37:37
> Speaker E>Uh, and that's our small little shop. And so there is people who move a good amount, but we buy a lot up front, but at the same time we stand by it.
37:47
> Speaker B>You had one house cigar that I cannot remember the name of that you haven't had in a long time.
37:53
> Speaker E>That's because of some factory change ups.
37:56
> Speaker B>But that cigar, I would put that cigar with just about any cigar I could buy. Their humidor. Yeah.
38:04
> Speaker C>So I draw a lot of lines.
38:06
> Speaker D>Above average or below.
38:08
> Speaker C>So for me, I think just like you said, it depends on the shop and it depends on why they are getting their own house blend. Are they looking to just make that margin, which if it is a name brand shop and they are definitely more maybe like whiskey or cocktail focused, uh, in my opinion, run right. I don't think that what they're looking for, there is any type of quality or complexity.
38:30
> Speaker B>These aren't the cigars you're looking for.
38:31
> Speaker C>That's exactly right. Uh, but I draw a lot of lines between the whiskey industry and the premium tobacco industry, because whiskey is my background. And if you trust the palate of the place that you're going, like your local shop where you walk in and are looking for new recommendations, then I think their house blend is something you have to try. This is the single barrel experience of your local tobacco. If they have a solid palate for good smokes, then I think that this is where you're going to find those above average, right, those bang for your buck smokes that get you going that really kind of get your, to barger's point, um, palate set for maybe something that's got a little bit more nuance, a little bit more complexity. But you should expect and enjoy something that that local shop has put together because one, you're going to get the value. Two, you're going to be supporting them directly, right? Because they're going to get the margin on it. And then three, it should be a pretty solid smoke. Like this thing should be something that you come back to and visit time and time again.
39:43
> Speaker B>What I want to tell our listeners is that no matter what your local cigar shop is, if they offer a house blend, try the house blend. When you go in and buy five cigars, a box of cigars, pick up a couple of different of their house blends, check them out. Try it.
40:03
> Speaker B>Don't be afraid of it. Just try it. You don't have to take our word for it, but all I'm saying is just give it a try because you might actually enjoy that cigar as a daily smoke and have a cheaper price point than you would have by going and getting the cohibas or the whatever you want off the shelves that make you feel a status symbol.
40:28
> Speaker E>I know y'all have drank a lot of whiskey, but I know Ben's taken part in a lot of even barrel picks and stuff. But it's like, even with how many no name whiskey, single barrels, random barrel picks have you had that? Uh, are, uh, mind blowing. All of them. It's different. Many similar in a sense where it's.
40:47
> Speaker B>Like, it's funny you bring up whiskeys because when I go to shops now, I used to hunt whiskey, used to try to get all the cool top shelf stuff. Dude, when I go to a shop now, I buy a store pick and I'm out.
40:59
> Speaker C>Store picks are the spice.
41:01
> Speaker B>I buy a store pick and I'm out. Because especially if it's a shop that I go to all the time. And I know the flavor profile of the people that are picking the barrels there. I'm going to pick a store. Pick over anything on the shelf that you're going to tell me, and I'm going to spend twenty dollars to fifty dollars less than anyone's going to spend.
41:20
> Speaker D>I got to send this hole. And we have two more sticks to go over.
41:23
> Speaker D>So let's get to the BK cafe and tell us all the extensive background on this Benjamin.
41:28
> Speaker B>Yeah, tell us all about it.
41:30
> Speaker C>Be prepared. This one's a diatribe of information.
41:33
> Speaker C>Uh, the cigar that we're going to be talking about, or that I have the pleasure of speaking about, uh, is the Havana castle. This, uh, is going to be the white BK cafe 56. Uh, and I'll give you three guesses. The first two don't count. Where do you think these tobaccos are from?
41:50
> Speaker D>Central America?
41:53
> Speaker E>Uh, burger king.
41:55
> Speaker C>The BK lounge. Yeah, 100% have it.
41:57
> Speaker D>Your Tom Horton.
41:58
> Speaker C>Yeah, this is a tim. I'll have a double.
42:01
> Speaker C>Double, eh, but, uh, yeah, this is a nicaraguan puro, the YBK mint. So all nicaraguan puro. Um, they don't have any info online about these. Uh, this, ah, seems to be like a special limited release. Um, that they did. Uh, but the 56 is definitely indication of the ring gauge. It was a 56, uh, roboto size. So a little short. The five, five and a half inch kind, um, of ballpark. Uh, and they are elusive in what they will tell us. Uh, but what I will tell you about this cigar, toasty, creamy, waxy, nutty notes. This thing, uh, was actually probably top two out of the ones that I smoked from, uh, havana castle. Um, but still kind of along that same narrative of just solid. There's not a lot of nuance. There's not a lot of complexity going on here. They are just nice, smooth blends. They are nice cigars. They are very nice. I, uh, feel like they say they're sorry.
43:03
> Speaker B>He's a good guy. Yeah, well, you bet you he's a real good guy.
43:07
> Speaker C>Don't know what you're looking for. Sorry. Have a Havana castle.
43:10
> Speaker B>Yeah. It's interesting listening to you guys talk about these, because I have the exact same experience. They're okay.
43:20
> Speaker B>They're okay. Solid. I wasn't wooed over this cigar, but I wasn't turned off by this cigar either.
43:27
> Speaker C>Fair.
43:28
> Speaker B>And so, um, as a nicaraguan puro, air quotes, we'll figure out. I think that.
43:38
> Speaker B>Listen, if you're in anywhere in Ontario.
43:41
> Speaker C>Canada, they have 22 locations.
43:43
> Speaker B>They have 22 locations in, uh, greater Ontario, Canada. Go to Havana castle. Try these cigars.
43:51
> Speaker C>You're out in berry for the country music festival.
43:53
> Speaker B>Stop in Havana, email us, copy Mike on it, and let us know how you feel.
43:57
> Speaker E>Now, Mike posed a question to us, and I'm going to take it that Mike at this table is the person who smokes most Cubans. On the consistent basis, I'm going to say that, uh, am I wrong?
44:11
> Speaker B>Mr. Deep pockets over there, it doesn't matter.
44:13
> Speaker E>Here's the question. Here's another question to pose. If you were in Canada and you walk into one of their humidors and they have all the Cubans that you can see and find within that same price range, you think you'd want to go with a Havana castle or you think you'd go with a Cuban?
44:32
> Speaker B>So before I let him answer this question, what was interesting about my experience was I went in there looking for cuban cigars. I didn't buy a single cuban cigar.
44:45
> Speaker D>Interesting.
44:46
> Speaker B>The reason I didn't buy a single cuban cigar is because the price point was outrageous on a cuban cigar.
44:52
> Speaker C>What is outrageous?
44:54
> Speaker B>I, uh, mean, I'm spending 30 plus on a cuban cigar, and for me, that's outrageous because I'm poor guy over here. Middle class. Let's go.
45:05
> Speaker B>Uh, this is not my forte. And I was going to try to get a couple, see if I could bring them back and smoke them, but I just did not have that luck. But I scored on these savannah castles. I like them better than some of the Cubans that I've smoked. Might go well.
45:23
> Speaker D>Um, my quick notes on this, it was kind of on the BK, uh, cafe 56 woody up front. It stayed, uh, kind of woody. It was evergreen to the midpoint. Good, uh, burn line. Overall construction, actually, that was pretty consistent across most of these sticks. Um, but this was kind of ho hum for me.
45:40
> Speaker B>So what are we going to rate it? We're going to give it a three. You guys are riding the middle ground here, so I want to go over real quick. I purchased one of their other cigars, and it was called the Apache tradition. Um, sorry I didn't get to bring sorry I didn't get to bring some back for you guys because, like, we were talking about price points. Cigars are actually really expensive in canada, and I didn't know that going into canada, because I'd never been. This was my first trip to canada. Never been. And I walked in and was like, oh, my God, I can get the same thing back home for$8. And, uh, why would I spend $18 down here?
46:20
> Speaker C>Did you see the increase in price? Kind of across the board.
46:23
> Speaker B>Everything yeah, everything. Even, like, your fuentes? Just$10 more. Aj Fernandez, everything. $10 more. And I'm like, I know this cigar. I'm not spending this money on this cigar because of this price point. Like, I'm not going to do it. Uh, but this traditione.
46:46
> Speaker C>Let me guess. Nicaraguan.
46:48
> Speaker B>How did you know? How did you know?
46:52
> Speaker B>So let me just explain it. It's not actually a nicaraguan piro. Ooh.
46:57
> Speaker D>Yeah. This is a different wrapper.
46:58
> Speaker B>So this is a dominican binder with a dominican and nicaraguan filler with an ecuadorian Connecticut shade.
47:05
> Speaker D>Which one of these things is not like the other?
47:08
> Speaker B>Which was interesting. This cigar is not my traditional ring size.
47:14
> Speaker B>It was a 60 x cow. It took me 2 hours. I watched a movie. I watched a movie while I was smoking this cigar. The movie got over, and I still had a quarter of a cigar left. I'm like, you go to bed, honey. I'm going to finish the cigar. See you later.
47:30
> Speaker C>Well, at least you finished it, dude.
47:33
> Speaker B>I should have bought more.
47:36
> Speaker B>I know they've been middle of the road for us on this episode here, but this cigar, I would give it a solid 4.54.5 for sure. So, uh, everything good in life is worth discussing.
47:51
> Speaker D>So what's your rating on that?
47:53
> Speaker B>That's, uh, 4.5.
47:54
> Speaker D>Oh, we don't have 4.5.
47:55
> Speaker B>I know. Well, I'm going to give it a four then.
47:58
> Speaker D>I can give it a five.
47:59
> Speaker B>Yeah, we'll give it a five. We'll give you a five on that one, because I enjoyed that cigar 100%. So, pairings.
48:05
> Speaker B>What did you guys go for? Pairings. Start with Nate.
48:10
> Speaker E>Water. I mean, I drink water in cigars a lot. That's, uh, it.
48:13
> Speaker C>Root beer for me.
48:14
> Speaker B>Yeah. Root beer.
48:15
> Speaker D>Sprecker M. Exit strategy.
48:18
> Speaker C>Right.
48:20
> Speaker B>You drink that.
48:22
> Speaker D>How do I finish this and move on?
48:25
> Speaker B>Yeah. They were so big. Yeah.
48:29
> Speaker B>Okay. What did you guys, uh, overall? Love it. Hate it.
48:33
> Speaker D>This is the first time I've really gone through a full product line of a house blend, so I'm glad we did.
48:41
> Speaker B>Yeah, I'm a fan, too. I like them as well, so. Wow, man, this is great stuff. I really appreciate you guys and your time today. I'd like to thank our host, good old boy Mike.
48:51
> Speaker D>Hey, if, uh, you'd like to, uh, learn more about us, uh, check our back catalog out.
48:57
> Speaker D>Enjoy another great episode of Sipsuds and Smokes. I'll ask you to keep on sipping.
49:02
> Speaker B>Good old boy Benjamin.
49:03
> Speaker C>Smoke them if you got them.
49:05
> Speaker B>Eh, good old boy Nate. Keep, uh, it cold. Keep it frost lecture.
49:12
> Speaker D>I'm sorry.
49:13
> Speaker B>And good old boy barger. Oh, thanks, guys. Yeah, thanks. Uh, no, I had a great time with you guys tonight.
49:19
> Speaker B>I would just love for you guys. If you're in Ontario, Canada, go to these locations, talk to them. Um, enjoy these cigars because we had a good time with this.
49:29
> Speaker D>Maybe I can get invited to, like, a poutine tasting.
49:31
> Speaker C>Oh, do they have a poutine festival?
49:33
> Speaker B>No, I'm down.
49:34
> Speaker C>They cover you in gravy.
49:35
> Speaker B>Poutine cigars. You can cover me and gravy. Moose.
49:38
> Speaker D>Moose and gravy. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.
49:42
> Speaker C>Who wants a Molson?
49:44
> Speaker B>All right, man. Well, signing off here. You guys have a good time and keep smoking, whatever it is.
49:50
> Speaker F>We hope you enjoyed this episode. If you're listening to us online, do yourself a favor and tap. Just tap it in the subscribe button.
49:59
> Speaker D>Give it a little tappy. Tap, tap, tap a room.
50:02
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50:45
> Speaker F>Come back, join us for another episode, and keep on sipping.
51:00
> Speaker A>This has been a one tan hand production of sip suds and smokes, a program devoted to the appreciation of some of the finer slices of life. From the dude in the basement studios, your host, the good old boys, will see you all electric high.