Episode 83
Can You Taste Quality in a Cigar? | Box Press Ep. 83
Boveda are those brown 2-way humidity packs you put in a humidor to preserve cigars. When you own a humidor, you need to make sure the cigars inside stay well-humidified or they can be hard to light, burn to too fast or get moldy. With Boveda in your humidor, you'll get better flavor from a cigar. Boveda has been keeping cigars tasting great for more than 25 years.
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00:00 Cold open
04:04 See the 4 test cigars side-by-side
05:15 How to tell a cheaper cigar from a more expensive stick
07:45 Rating cigars, the smell test
08:55 Rating cigars by how they look
10:40 Rating #1 Cigar
10:46 What to look for when you cut a cigar
12:26 Are cigars overpriced?
14:57 Rating #2 Cigar
19:39 Rating #3 Cigar
21:59 How to get cigar taste out of your mouth
27:09 Rating #4 Cigar
31:35 Do more expensive cigars stay lit longer?
32:37 How do you smoke a cigar to taste the most flavors?
46:10 Nate and Rob guess cigar prices
48:08 BIG CIGAR REVEAL—cigar prices and cigar brands
Transcript
- This is a great cigar.
Speaker:Have no idea what it is.
Speaker:Heck, I don't even know what price it is yet.
Speaker:- I don't either.
Speaker:- But I'm-
Speaker:- But if this is the $4.20 cigar.
Speaker:- Ah, we're screwed.
Speaker:- [Nate] Yeah, we're screwed.
Speaker:- We're so screwed.
Speaker:- Because this is delicious.
Speaker:- [Rob] There's a story inside every smoke shop
Speaker:with every cigar, and with every person.
Speaker:Come be a part of the cigar lifestyle at Boveda.
Speaker:This is Box Press.
Speaker:(upbeat music)
Speaker:Welcome to another episode of Box Press.
Speaker:I am your host, Rob Gagner.
Speaker:- And I'm your other host, Nate Beck.
Speaker:- This was something we thought of for quite a while.
Speaker:- [Nate] Yeah.
Speaker:- And we had a hard time figuring out
Speaker:how to do it for a live,
Speaker:so that's why we're pre-recording this.
Speaker:And, overall,
Speaker:I'm like actually most excited about this one.
Speaker:More than anything.
Speaker:- When you came upstairs with this idea
Speaker:and I went, "I'd totally forgotten about it."
Speaker:- Right.
Speaker:- I'm very excited about this,
Speaker:because when we put this together,
Speaker:with this idea,
Speaker:I'm super excited to see if I can actually
Speaker:accomplish what we're gonna do.
Speaker:- Oh, yeah.
Speaker:- Like, if I can hit it,
Speaker:you know, you want to get the overachiever status.
Speaker:- Oh, yeah.
Speaker:No, and then, you're competitive like that too.
Speaker:- But I'm mostly super curious
Speaker:on how this is gonna play out.
Speaker:- [Rob] Oh, absolutely. - Super curious.
Speaker:- Absolutely, well, if you guys are listening, obviously,
Speaker:thank you so much for listening on any podcast platform.
Speaker:We're on Spotify, Apple, you know, all of them.
Speaker:Podbean, we're everywhere.
Speaker:So, if you're there, please like,
Speaker:like and subscribe.
Speaker:I definitely don't say that enough,
Speaker:that's why I choked on saying it.
Speaker:But I'm getting feedback
Speaker:that there's not enough likes and subscriptions
Speaker:for us to kind of get some pathway.
Speaker:Because, let's face it, they're trying to restrict us
Speaker:all the time with our content,
Speaker:because we are quote, unquote,
Speaker:"associated with," you know, "a product that is regulated."
Speaker:So, let's get in there.
Speaker:Go ahead and like and subscribe.
Speaker:We want to, you know, we're doing these every Friday.
Speaker:Whether it's gonna be a Box Press interview
Speaker:with a famous cigar maker.
Speaker:Or whether it's gonna be Nate and I
Speaker:just throwing out some "rando" stuff, like this.
Speaker:- Having some fun.
Speaker:- Yeah, so we're gonna have some fun.
Speaker:If you are listening to us, and you want to see this,
Speaker:you can go over to YouTube.
Speaker:Subscribe to our YouTube channel, it's Boveda Inc.
Speaker:You can see the whole thing.
Speaker:We're gonna have it all here.
Speaker:We should explain what the heck we're doing right now.
Speaker:- Yes.
Speaker:- So, I was thinking, I'm like,
Speaker:can you taste quality in a cigar?
Speaker:- Hmm.
Speaker:- You know,
Speaker:what makes a difference between a $35 cigar
Speaker:and a $5 cigar?
Speaker:- Right.
Speaker:- What, like, could,
Speaker:if I gave those to you, could you even tell?
Speaker:- I'd like to think so.
Speaker:- [Rob] Yeah.
Speaker:And with that big of a difference, you,
Speaker:like, let's go, like, I would take that challenge.
Speaker:I'd put $10 down and be like,
Speaker:I bet you I can tell which one's five bucks
Speaker:and which one's $35.
Speaker:- I think so too.
Speaker:And I think it'd be a much harder
Speaker:difference if you were talking about
Speaker:a $5, a $10, a $15, just like doing smaller increments.
Speaker:That might be trickier.
Speaker:- That's what we're going to do as well.
Speaker:- But we are doing that.
Speaker:- I'm glad you said that because
Speaker:we actually have the prices of these cigars right here.
Speaker:Now, go ahead and show the camera that.
Speaker:So it's, basically, five, ten, 20, and 35.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:this is gonna be hard. - It is.
Speaker:- So, my expectation for this
Speaker:is to figure out, it,
Speaker:here will be my success.
Speaker:I'm gonna set up my success.
Speaker:I get the $5 stick and I get the $35 stick.
Speaker:- Sure. - In the right spot.
Speaker:- Sure.
Speaker:- The middle- - I'm with you on that.
Speaker:- I'm kind of like, whatever. - Yeah.
Speaker:- But if I totally go with a
Speaker:$5 stick in the top two,
Speaker:I am going to erupt with like,
Speaker:"What the heck is going on?"
Speaker:- Because
Speaker:what we have
Speaker:inside this envelope.
Speaker:- [Rob] Is the list. - [Nate] Is the list.
Speaker:- And show them the cigars,
Speaker:because we went to our local retailer and said,
Speaker:"Please do this for us."
Speaker:- As always, we've got Boveda in here.
Speaker:We went to our local retailer, Tobacco Grove.
Speaker:- He unbanded everything.
Speaker:- He unbanded everything.
Speaker:We have four cigars for each of us.
Speaker:- Yep. - We have Cigar #1.
Speaker:Number one.
Speaker:All right?
Speaker:- [Rob] Yeah, show them out, and then,
Speaker:the other thing that I said was,
Speaker:Connecticut, it had to be like all the same wrapper.
Speaker:- Cigar #2.
Speaker:- [Rob] All the same size.
Speaker:- [Nate] Right now we've got,
Speaker:strikingly different sizes, but very similar bands.
Speaker:- Like, ring gauge, I wanted like
Speaker:ring gauge to be about the same.
Speaker:I want, you know-
Speaker:- #3.
Speaker:- As much of it as consistent as possible.
Speaker:- So we've got, I'll see if I can hold these here.
Speaker:We've got these three so far.
Speaker:And then, we've got #4.
Speaker:- [Rob] I mean-
Speaker:- [Nate] Try to get my fat fingers out of there.
Speaker:- [Rob] Nate, at first, I thought for sure, I was like,
Speaker:"You know, we're gonna have to do this blindfolded."
Speaker:And I actually went on Amazon,
Speaker:and got like, blindfolds, and I was like,
Speaker:"We're gonna do this blindfolded."
Speaker:And then I was like, you know what?
Speaker:After like,
Speaker:talking to Rick and being like,
Speaker:"Could you, can you really tell?"
Speaker:He's like, "No dude, you're gonna be fine."
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:- I'm even looking at the foot of each cigar.
Speaker:- [Rob] It's, yeah.
Speaker:- You know, Because sometimes a cheap cigar, you can tell.
Speaker:- Right.
Speaker:- It's not gonna be as-
Speaker:- Doesn't have a nice spiral.
Speaker:- Yeah, it's not as tight.
Speaker:Like, right now,
Speaker:I'm looking at Cigar #4
Speaker:and comparing it to Cigar #1.
Speaker:They both feel
Speaker:very well constructed.
Speaker:Smooth.
Speaker:#4 is a smoother wrapper.
Speaker:- Dude.
Speaker:- #1 has
Speaker:far more noticeable veins.
Speaker:- We're not here trying to deconstruct a flavor.
Speaker:What we're trying to determine is,
Speaker:with a quality cigar, we know, you gotta probably have,
Speaker:you gotta distinguish between
Speaker:the construction. - [Nate] Yep.
Speaker:- The burn,
Speaker:possibly, like how well does it burn?
Speaker:But then, more importantly, young tobacco,
Speaker:and particularly tobacco that has too much ammonia in it.
Speaker:- So, under-fermented tobacco?
Speaker:- Yeah. - [Nate] Yeah.
Speaker:- Is gonna be harsh. - Yes.
Speaker:- It's harsh, hits you in the back throat.
Speaker:It doesn't have the complexity in flavor.
Speaker:It doesn't have the depth.
Speaker:- Yep.
Speaker:- In complexity, as far as like,
Speaker:the nuanced flavors that you're gonna get.
Speaker:It could be more monotone.
Speaker:- Sure.
Speaker:- Like, maybe, you just get like a,
Speaker:you know, it's consistently the same flavor.
Speaker:- Maybe it has a, you know, an under fermented tobacco
Speaker:might often have like,
Speaker:kind of musty, green, grassy flavors.
Speaker:- Sure.
Speaker:- It might just be nutty,
Speaker:or it might just be slightly sweet.
Speaker:It generally tends to be
Speaker:less complex
Speaker:than cigars that are
Speaker:more expensive.
Speaker:- Right.
Speaker:So, we gotta get into this,
Speaker:and we're gonna use our Boveda cutter.
Speaker:We actually have these up now on the website.
Speaker:The Boveda Double Guillotine Cutter.
Speaker:It's got a Boveda "B" etched in the blade,
Speaker:as well as the Boveda logo.
Speaker:If you want these, you can head over to our website.
Speaker:If you put one in your cart, it's $10.
Speaker:If you put three in your cart, it's $25.
Speaker:So, a little bit of a price break there.
Speaker:- Yep.
Speaker:- Let's get into it.
Speaker:Let's just start with #1.
Speaker:What we're probably gonna do is,
Speaker:you're probably gonna see us, pretty much,
Speaker:get these lit, but then we need to get
Speaker:at least a half inch to these
Speaker:to get the oils warmed up.
Speaker:To get everything going.
Speaker:We are definitely not gonna be critiquing these
Speaker:on the first few puffs.
Speaker:- No.
Speaker:- You, sometimes you can tell quality,
Speaker:but we really want to get into them.
Speaker:- So, first cigar, what do you think,
Speaker:Rob, before you cut it, what do you?
Speaker:- Yeah, I mean we can definitely do that, right?
Speaker:- [Nate] What do you smell?
Speaker:- Oh, shoot.
Speaker:- [Nate] Smells like a cigar. - Oh, you know what I smell?
Speaker:Tobacco.
Speaker:(both laughing)
Speaker:I smell tobacco.
Speaker:- It smells like tobacco.
Speaker:- You know what two, three, and four smell like?
Speaker:Tobacco. - [Nate] Tobacco.
Speaker:- None of these smell different to me.
Speaker:You know, the only cigar- - Oh, that ones a little less-
Speaker:Less aroma in number two.
Speaker:- Oh, this, three was a little bit different.
Speaker:- [Nate] Ooh, sweet's got some,
Speaker:three has some sweetness in there.
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:Four, I can't tell anything.
Speaker:The only time
Speaker:I can really tell is with a brand.
Speaker:I'm not gonna name names, because I don't wanna do that.
Speaker:And, maybe, it's a good thing.
Speaker:- [Nate] Some hay, I get like grassy,
Speaker:you know, like dried hay?
Speaker:- But it's the musty smell.
Speaker:And there's a particular brand that I always am like,
Speaker:"Okay, I can tell when I smell the foot
Speaker:that I probably have that brand."
Speaker:- Do we have- - I don't have that.
Speaker:- Like, #1, I don't really get
Speaker:a whole lot of oiliness to it.
Speaker:We're gonna go full, halfwheel here.
Speaker:- Now, if I'm looking at these,
Speaker:#2 and #4 look more matte.
Speaker:And #1 and #3 look more oily.
Speaker:- And #3, I think, to me, is the oiliest of all of them.
Speaker:Like, it's got the most sheen, at least in my cigar.
Speaker:- Sure.
Speaker:- You know, and Connecticuts don't often have-
Speaker:- [Rob] Look at #1 and #3.
Speaker:- But see, like, that could be just a difference in cigars.
Speaker:You know, in each one-
Speaker:- They're looking pretty, look at my #1
Speaker:look at my one compared to your one.
Speaker:Your #1 is like super veiny. - Yep.
Speaker:- Mine's not. - Same cigar.
Speaker:- So, this is what I'm saying like-
Speaker:- [Nate] Mine is on this side.
Speaker:Rob's is this side, same cigar.
Speaker:You can see a really prominent,
Speaker:I'm gonna guess,
Speaker:vein or a stem on the inside.
Speaker:- Vein, stem is down the middle.
Speaker:- Right, but I'm guessing this might be a stem
Speaker:that's in there, Because there are stems inside cigars.
Speaker:- Oh, yeah, I don't know. - You know what I mean?
Speaker:It's possible, but this has definitely
Speaker:more noticeable veining.
Speaker:Yeah, and this one,
Speaker:you can kind of feel is on the inside.
Speaker:Rob's is pretty consistent.
Speaker:Maybe there's one
Speaker:noticeable vein here, but,
Speaker:same cigar.
Speaker:I'm assuming same box.
Speaker:- Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:- This one's yours. - Yeah, I mean-
Speaker:- All right, we're gonna cut that one.
Speaker:- And the cap on this is really good,
Speaker:but the cap is good on all of these, pretty much,
Speaker:except for, I mean, my #4 cap is a little bit more-
Speaker:- And my #3 is perfect.
Speaker:It's, all of them have-
Speaker:- Yeah, my #3 is amazing. - The wrapper with the applied
Speaker:circle cap on the top.
Speaker:So none of these have that, you know,
Speaker:traditional Cuban style where the cap is,
Speaker:you know, three seams and it's all one piece.
Speaker:- Is this your #4?
Speaker:- This is my #4.
Speaker:- That cap is horrible, it like chipped.
Speaker:- Yep.
Speaker:- [Rob] All right.
Speaker:- So, it's interesting.
Speaker:- It might, that might have given it away, though.
Speaker:- I don't know, we'll see.
Speaker:- It could be your bottom, your $5 stick.
Speaker:- Could be.
Speaker:I sometimes will notice on higher quality,
Speaker:more expensive cigars,
Speaker:that when you make that cut across the top,
Speaker:it's just like glass.
Speaker:You know, it's well packed.
Speaker:You don't get a lot of stems.
Speaker:I always like to tap mine
Speaker:a little bit on something to get the,
Speaker:the gunk out, the extra bits.
Speaker:Should I cold draw?
Speaker:- Oh, yeah.
Speaker:I always forget to do that because, you wanna know why?
Speaker:It doesn't matter if I cold draw or not.
Speaker:I can't taste a difference.
Speaker:- So this ones a nice cold draw.
Speaker:- Is it?
Speaker:I'm gonna do that on the next ones, but-
Speaker:- Like a lot of cigars,
Speaker:there's actually like some sweetness to the tobacco
Speaker:on my lips.
Speaker:Like raisin.
Speaker:- [Rob] Hmm.
Speaker:It's smooth on the first light.
Speaker:- I'm a little nervous.
Speaker:- Nervous?
Speaker:- Not in a bad way, but-
Speaker:- Want me to show you how to smoke a cigar?
Speaker:- Oh, shut, you shut your mouth.
Speaker:- "I'm nervous, I don't know what I'm doing."
Speaker:- Like, nervous excited.
Speaker:- Yeah, like you're-
Speaker:- Like when you're about to get on like a crazy
Speaker:amusement park ride that's gonna drop you 300 feet,
Speaker:you're like, "Let's do this."
Speaker:But then you get up there, and you're like,
Speaker:"Oh, my goodness."
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:I don't know, man, I just don't-
Speaker:How are you-
Speaker:How are you gonna be able to tell
Speaker:the middle ones?
Speaker:#2, #3.
Speaker:#2 and #3
Speaker:are gonna be the hardest, I would think.
Speaker:- I think so too.
Speaker:- At some point,
Speaker:the cigar is just too,
Speaker:like, it's overpriced.
Speaker:Because my point
Speaker:that I feel like I'm getting to is like,
Speaker:around $10 to $15 a cigar.
Speaker:It's like, okay, after that, do you really know?
Speaker:Do you really know?
Speaker:How unique is it going to be?
Speaker:And, maybe, that's the key.
Speaker:Like, okay, when we did the Davidoff $500 cigar,
Speaker:that was totally unique flavors.
Speaker:I've never tasted anything like that.
Speaker:The amount of different flavors that were coming at me.
Speaker:So, yes.
Speaker:- I will say, most
Speaker:cigar review sites
Speaker:will break up a cigar into thirds.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:First third, second third, third third.
Speaker:You know, as the cigar heats up,
Speaker:as those oils and sugars concentrate towards the end,
Speaker:you do get some difference in flavors.
Speaker:I don't notice that as heavily as some other,
Speaker:you know, review sites.
Speaker:But some cigars, right out of the gate,
Speaker:you know, can kind of hit you with some really off flavors.
Speaker:And, you know, so far in this one,
Speaker:we'll have to see how the other three smoke.
Speaker:I'm not getting
Speaker:a lot of off flavor.
Speaker:- This is great. - [Nate] It tastes great.
Speaker:- This is a great cigar.
Speaker:Have no idea what it is.
Speaker:Heck, I don't even know what price it is yet.
Speaker:- I don't either.
Speaker:But if this is the $4.20 cigar.
Speaker:- Ah, we're screwed.
Speaker:- [Nate] Yeah, we're screwed.
Speaker:- We're so screwed.
Speaker:- Because this is delicious
Speaker:so far.
Speaker:- Is it better to like,
Speaker:smoke this one for a little bit
Speaker:and then get the next one lit?
Speaker:I hate relighting sticks, cigars.
Speaker:I hate relighting. - I kind of do too.
Speaker:- But how are you gonna be able to tell like-
Speaker:I wanna be able to be like,
Speaker:"Okay, I think this one's #3 and #4
Speaker:but I don't know which-"
Speaker:- I mean, palate fatigue
Speaker:is a phrase that gets tossed around in tasting anything.
Speaker:It happens when you smell too many bottles of cologne
Speaker:or perfume at the fragrance counter.
Speaker:- Yep.
Speaker:- I feel, personally, pretty confident that I can smoke
Speaker:these four cigars concurrently and taste differences.
Speaker:- Great.
Speaker:- I know we could when we did-
Speaker:- [Rob] The blind.
Speaker:- What, five cigars?
Speaker:That we did with the Cigar University
Speaker:from Luxury Cigar Club.
Speaker:Wasn't it five cigars?
Speaker:- Where we were talking about how
Speaker:wrapper affects the flavor of the cigar.
Speaker:- They were dramatically different.
Speaker:- They were.
Speaker:- Now, it might be more of a challenge
Speaker:where they're all Connecticuts.
Speaker:But I don't think so.
Speaker:- Well, and I didn't- - Let's see.
Speaker:- I don't know, we'll find out.
Speaker:I'm going in on #2.
Speaker:- All right, #1, here.
Speaker:- #2's got a nice cap.
Speaker:- Yeah, mine is really nice on this one.
Speaker:Solid, construction is really good.
Speaker:All of these seem really well constructed.
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:I'm not-
Speaker:- [Nate] All right.
Speaker:Tap here a little bit.
Speaker:- We'll have to do an ASMR of
Speaker:cutting and smoking a cigar
Speaker:for social.
Speaker:(whispering) - We'll talk, just like this.
Speaker:- Hey, you know what?
Speaker:(whispering) - Get the whispering, yeah.
Speaker:- Now I just found a reason to expense an S.T. Dupont.
Speaker:Bing!
Speaker:(both laughing)
Speaker:"Rob, what's this $1,000 lighter charge?"
Speaker:"Oh, that was for the ASMR video that we did."
Speaker:- "The what?"
Speaker:This one's got sort of a, like right out of the gate,
Speaker:like a
Speaker:herbal, almost kind of
Speaker:fresh mint little note in the background.
Speaker:- I'm not getting a good flavor.
Speaker:- What are you tasting, something off?
Speaker:- Yeah. - [Nate] Sour?
Speaker:- No, more like stale marshmallow.
Speaker:- Oh, I can see that, I get that creaminess.
Speaker:That's a good descriptor, stale marshmallow.
Speaker:Because stale marshmallows
Speaker:taste different than fresh marshmallows.
Speaker:- Do they?
Speaker:(Nate mumbling)
Speaker:- [Rob] Anyone got any marshmallows I can try?
Speaker:- Considering I just had a cigar jammed in my mouth,
Speaker:I said stale marshmallows
Speaker:taste different than fresh marshmallows.
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:- Like fresh ones are, like lots of vanilla.
Speaker:- Yeah. - Creamy.
Speaker:And the stale ones, it's muted.
Speaker:- It's like the oxygen has oxidated the marshmallow.
Speaker:- It's for sure that marshmallow quality,
Speaker:that like, vanilla creaminess.
Speaker:- Maybe I am a good taste tester.
Speaker:- [Nate] Ooh.
Speaker:- This one's got some more pepper on the retrohale.
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:- That first one didn't.
Speaker:- The retrohale's nice.
Speaker:- It is. - [Rob] I actually like it.
Speaker:I think maybe it was just like the first light.
Speaker:I had a hard time lighting it anyway,
Speaker:so it might've been kind of smoldering.
Speaker:- You hit the nail on the head with that marshmallow.
Speaker:For sure.
Speaker:- Nice.
Speaker:- Absolutely.
Speaker:- I gotta go back to #1 now.
Speaker:This is gonna be so hard.
Speaker:- So far, I like this one better.
Speaker:- Flavor wise or quality-wise?
Speaker:- Flavor-wise.
Speaker:- Flavor-wise, see, now,
Speaker:that's the problem that I have with that.
Speaker:You know, you really have to think hard of like-
Speaker:- [Nate] Yep.
Speaker:- Do I like this because I like the flavor of it?
Speaker:Or do I, am I saying,
Speaker:"This is a $35 dollars cigar or $5 cigar, and why?"
Speaker:- Well, at the end of the day, what's,
Speaker:what is the one thing that a cigar smoker,
Speaker:a bourbon drinker, a coffee drinker is looking for?
Speaker:Are they, is the first thing flavor?
Speaker:Like, does it taste good?
Speaker:- Yeah, but I'm trying to say like,
Speaker:screw flavor, I wanna know why you're charging $35 for this.
Speaker:- Sure.
Speaker:- Why? - Sure.
Speaker:- What makes that $35?
Speaker:- Because like, this cigar, based on this cigar,
Speaker:just on construction alone,
Speaker:I would say that's a better cigar.
Speaker:- Yeah, see-
Speaker:- At least my, between my two.
Speaker:Smooth, even wrapper, no
Speaker:like, noticeable, distinct veins.
Speaker:This one's super lumpy.
Speaker:- Yeah, but that, my, you're #1 and my #1
Speaker:are night and day difference.
Speaker:- They're night and day different, that's the crazy thing.
Speaker:- Yeah, you're #1 does look not very good.
Speaker:- If I never smoke this cigar again,
Speaker:would I have an off opinion because of the construction?
Speaker:- And I actually like that, because, right now,
Speaker:I like the fact that we have some differences.
Speaker:Had I just, had one of us just done this,
Speaker:it would've been like, "Oh yeah, well I think this is
Speaker:the $5 cigar because of that."
Speaker:- Yes, but yours is pretty perfect.
Speaker:- It's a natural product, so each,
Speaker:vein, stem, whatever, is gonna be different.
Speaker:- All right, you know what this tastes like to me?
Speaker:- What?
Speaker:- A guilty pleasure I have, when I'm road tripping,
Speaker:gas station cappuccinos.
Speaker:- Ah.
Speaker:- This tastes like french vanilla gas station cappuccino.
Speaker:- Really? - Yeah.
Speaker:- In the best way.
Speaker:A weird creaminess that somehow comes about with
Speaker:water frothed with powdered whatever
Speaker:in a machine that almost always overflows your cup.
Speaker:Because you always wanna get your money's worth, you know?
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:- Okay.
Speaker:Just based on the construction alone, this one.
Speaker:- [Rob] #3 is- - #3 is banging.
Speaker:- Pretty banger. - [Nate] Yep.
Speaker:- I mean, that cap is like
Speaker:one, two, three, plus another cap.
Speaker:- [Nate] There's not much on the foot of this one.
Speaker:- [Rob] Ah, wow.
Speaker:It's pretty good.
Speaker:- It's definitely,
Speaker:this one on the foot
Speaker:really has, almost, none of that mustiness.
Speaker:- I get nothing.
Speaker:- Super clean aroma off this cigar.
Speaker:Oh, yeah, see?
Speaker:That.
Speaker:- What's different about that?
Speaker:- Do you see how
Speaker:this one has some more-
Speaker:This one's got some more space between the leaves.
Speaker:You know, you can see where the
Speaker:leaves are kind of all bunched together.
Speaker:Show the people.
Speaker:This one, you can see, there's a little,
Speaker:you can see some distinct spaces
Speaker:between the tobacco leaves. - [Rob] That's #2.
Speaker:- [Nate] That's #2.
Speaker:And then, #3, which I haven't lit yet,
Speaker:it's just very tightly packed.
Speaker:- [Rob] Show them #1, though.
Speaker:- And then, #1, is also,
Speaker:you can see some stems in there.
Speaker:- [Rob] But look at my #1.
Speaker:- [Nate] Yours is much, much better,
Speaker:so let's show Rob's.
Speaker:- That's my #1. - #1.
Speaker:That looks, pretty consistent.
Speaker:- [Rob] It looks really close to my #3.
Speaker:- [Nate] Yes, these two look really close, yup.
Speaker:- [Rob] Oh, you wanna do them together?
Speaker:- [Nate] Yeah, let's show them side by side.
Speaker:#1 and #3.
Speaker:So, #1 and #3.
Speaker:- [Rob] And, you guys, all we're trying to do
Speaker:is figure out which one's 35 bucks and which one's five.
Speaker:And we have no idea.
Speaker:- You know, I said there's, you know, stems in here?
Speaker:In this construction of this cigar,
Speaker:you can see it in the end.
Speaker:- Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
Speaker:- That big lump in there?
Speaker:It's going down through there, but it tastes good.
Speaker:- Ah, yeah.
Speaker:Well and, I've heard
Speaker:that the stems add, you know,
Speaker:a certain amount of flavor as well, right?
Speaker:What are you getting?
Speaker:- You know what this tastes like?
Speaker:- People are gonna think I'm nuts.
Speaker:This tastes like champagne.
Speaker:- Yeah, I think you're nuts.
Speaker:With the flavor tasting.
Speaker:Dude, I do not taste anything.
Speaker:- No, it's bright.
Speaker:It's yeasty, kind of bready, like really good champagne.
Speaker:- Okay, now that you said the yeasty thing,
Speaker:I kind of got that.
Speaker:- Bready. - Yeah.
Speaker:We got the bubbly water to try to help cleanse our palate.
Speaker:You can also use almonds, raw almonds.
Speaker:Not roasted, not salted, just raw almonds.
Speaker:That'll give you, help cleanse your palate.
Speaker:Still water, sparkling water, whatever you want.
Speaker:We're trying to do our best to prevent
Speaker:palate fatigue. - Fatigue.
Speaker:- I almost said
Speaker:the reverse of that.
Speaker:I almost said fatigue palate.
Speaker:- Palate fatigue.
Speaker:(both laughing)
Speaker:- He wants the blue plan black.
Speaker:- Yes.
Speaker:- Blue pen back.
Speaker:- Yes, blue blazer black for you-
Speaker:- Blue blazer black?
Speaker:- For you "Friends" fans out there.
Speaker:This tastes like champagne, it's awesome.
Speaker:Whatever that is, it's great.
Speaker:- Maybe it is a Perdomo Champagne.
Speaker:- Doesn't get enough love, but it's a great cigar.
Speaker:- Shout out to the Perdomos.
Speaker:- [Nate] Really good cigar.
Speaker:- They were so gracious in
Speaker:getting Matt and I into their
Speaker:Miami office
Speaker:spending like,
Speaker:pretty much, a whole day with us.
Speaker:At least past lunch, because we ate lunch there.
Speaker:Then we shot.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:we shot a whole day there.
Speaker:And we shot,
Speaker:he let us see all of the,
Speaker:you know, how they inventory everything,
Speaker:because they were offloading a container
Speaker:and he said, in two days, they were gonna have that
Speaker:container completely shipped out to stores.
Speaker:So ridiculous the operation they got there, so smooth.
Speaker:- I'm gonna go out on a limb and say
Speaker:this, so far, is the,
Speaker:of the three we've started,
Speaker:this is the most expensive one so far.
Speaker:- You got #3 in, oh, okay.
Speaker:So, the complexity right there
Speaker:and the smoothness of it.
Speaker:I might be with you on that.
Speaker:Son of a gun, maybe this might be easier than I thought.
Speaker:- This is great right outta the gate.
Speaker:Whatever this cigar is,
Speaker:delicious.
Speaker:- Yeah, I don't wanna put this down.
Speaker:- Well let's do
Speaker:a service and go back to #1.
Speaker:- Yeah, so that like sweet,
Speaker:slightly sweet complexity,
Speaker:very rounded, very like,
Speaker:no harshness on number three.
Speaker:- Yeah, so far #3 is
Speaker:top of my list.
Speaker:- I'm not getting the binder and wrapper
Speaker:burning yet on #1, so I gotta work on this.
Speaker:I can totally taste the difference.
Speaker:So, when I'm not getting the binder and the wrapper in it,
Speaker:it is different flavor
Speaker:and I don't know how to explain it.
Speaker:I don't know if it's more harsh.
Speaker:It just seems like it's lacking.
Speaker:Like it's harsh, it's lacking.
Speaker:- [Nate] When you're just getting filler?
Speaker:- Yeah, when you're just getting filler.
Speaker:- Well, because you need that wrapper,
Speaker:especially binder and wrapper, to either,
Speaker:accentuate or mute flavors,
Speaker:depending on how they crafted that cigar.
Speaker:- It's always amazed me how much I'm just like,
Speaker:ugh, I'm just getting filler in this, and I just,
Speaker:I either relight it, you know?
Speaker:Like, knock off all the ash.
Speaker:Try to relight the outer part.
Speaker:Or I do the puff, puff, puff,
Speaker:because I hate relighting cigars.
Speaker:- This one, on mine, Rob, the ash is a little more flaky.
Speaker:Is that like yours too?
Speaker:- Yeah, #1 has always been flaky to me.
Speaker:- And #2,
Speaker:that's a much tighter ash.
Speaker:I don't know if you can see that.
Speaker:This one, stacking dimes.
Speaker:Going back to cigar #1.
Speaker:Not a lot of complexity.
Speaker:- Agreed. - Like it's fairly one note.
Speaker:- But we're not, we're just getting into these.
Speaker:But I would say this,
Speaker:okay, so we're just getting into these.
Speaker:We're about a quarter of an inch into three
Speaker:and the complexity is rather good.
Speaker:And so, if you can think like
Speaker:will that build or will it mellow out?
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:I feel like now that we're, I don't know, what,
Speaker:inch into both of these two cigars?
Speaker:I feel like these two have a similar
Speaker:sensation on the retrohale.
Speaker:This one is also pretty tight.
Speaker:- #3 is still very good.
Speaker:They're all good actually.
Speaker:I mean, none of them are bad.
Speaker:They're just, you can now tell the difference.
Speaker:#1, #2, and #3.
Speaker:- This is outrageous.
Speaker:- If you stick with us to the end,
Speaker:you'll know which three these are,
Speaker:and you can do this yourself.
Speaker:- No, dude, #3 is outrageous.
Speaker:- Really? - Oh, my gosh.
Speaker:You hit it right on the head, Rob.
Speaker:Stale marshmallow.
Speaker:It's there and it's creamy, but it,
Speaker:this is, it's like fresher.
Speaker:- Okay, I just went from #1 to #3
Speaker:and I could tell
Speaker:that #3, that smoothness,
Speaker:and that like rounded out.
Speaker:But then, my brain immediately thinks,
Speaker:"Is that necessarily indicative of quality?"
Speaker:Because if I'm a blender and I want a strong,
Speaker:I don't know, let's just call it cedar note or whatever.
Speaker:- Sure.
Speaker:- You might go that route.
Speaker:You know, you're not looking for smooth roundness.
Speaker:Like I think of like the Davidoff No. 2 Aniversario.
Speaker:So it's like,
Speaker:or "Anniversary," you want that cedar punch to it.
Speaker:- [Nate] Yeah, and that Aniversario No. 2
Speaker:smells and tastes like hay and cedar.
Speaker:I mean, it's got all of that.
Speaker:Creamy, all right, here's #4.
Speaker:- We'll see if we can cut this without hitting all these.
Speaker:- [Nate] Got it.
Speaker:- [Rob] Whoa, I kind of flubbed my cut.
Speaker:Oh, that was a bad cut.
Speaker:- All right, we'll clean up here a little bit.
Speaker:- Whoops.
Speaker:- Look at that, it's kind of angled.
Speaker:- That'll work.
Speaker:- That'll play.
Speaker:- I do that on Torpedoes.
Speaker:- Yeah, the angle cut?
Speaker:- I do the angle cut, works awesome.
Speaker:All right, let's see what we kind of get here on-
Speaker:Oh, not too many.
Speaker:I will often find, Rob,
Speaker:in cigars of higher quality and better construction
Speaker:that when I do this little tap
Speaker:to kind of get little bits of tobacco out,
Speaker:the better the cigar, and often,
Speaker:the more expensive the cigar, not always, but in some,
Speaker:you get very little of that.
Speaker:- [Rob] Interesting.
Speaker:- Like one of my all-time favorite cigars
Speaker:is the Plasencia Alma del Campo.
Speaker:Smooth, round,
Speaker:slightly,
Speaker:like a slight sheen to it.
Speaker:It's my, probably, my favorite cigar to go to.
Speaker:Tap that, and nothing comes out.
Speaker:This one's more like
Speaker:red wine or port, a little more,
Speaker:kind of, syrupy wine quality to it.
Speaker:Whereas #3 was like bright and yeasty.
Speaker:I'm going full nerd here.
Speaker:- I love it, dude, because I'm not getting any of that.
Speaker:I'm like, I just got my eyebrows raised,
Speaker:Because I'm like, "Dang, he can pull that out of there?"
Speaker:- This one's like, yeah, it's like red wine or port.
Speaker:Like a fortified wine.
Speaker:- I've always told like, cigar makers, I'm like,
Speaker:"Yeah if you want anyone to like
Speaker:sample your cigars, send them my way."
Speaker:Now I realize why they haven't ever sent me anything.
Speaker:(both laughing)
Speaker:- That's hilarious.
Speaker:- "We aint sending that guy shit,
Speaker:because he doesn't know how to taste cigars."
Speaker:We did that thing with cigar scents,
Speaker:where like, you know?
Speaker:And didn't you say
Speaker:you were up in the top five?
Speaker:- I came in second. - You came in second?
Speaker:- Uh huh, I was really close.
Speaker:- You should totally get on that panel.
Speaker:- I know, I came in really close.
Speaker:- [Rob] You're good at it.
Speaker:- I just missed one category,
Speaker:that, when I looked back on it, I was like,
Speaker:"Oh I see where I missed it there."
Speaker:Like, I just wasn't
Speaker:paying attention on that
Speaker:sensory note.
Speaker:They're based out of Italy, right?
Speaker:- Yep.
Speaker:- Yep, based out of Italy.
Speaker:They're really great folks.
Speaker:Franca is awesome.
Speaker:So, what we did is, we did sort of a
Speaker:toned down
Speaker:sensory panel on all these different tasting notes
Speaker:that they go through on their more
Speaker:in-depth panel to
Speaker:taste cigars and figure out what they're tasting.
Speaker:To give a more objective
Speaker:tasting experience to other cigar smokers.
Speaker:And we all put in our points,
Speaker:and then, at the end, they revealed who,
Speaker:you know, came in first and where everybody came out.
Speaker:And, of course, I'm competitive and was
Speaker:trying to do a great job, and I came in number two.
Speaker:- Congrats, man.
Speaker:You deserve it, because you're good at it.
Speaker:I would've been- - [Nate] It was fun.
Speaker:- Had I joined the meeting, I would've been at the bottom.
Speaker:- Sitting outside, in my Adirondack chair,
Speaker:on a Sunday morning, it was great.
Speaker:- That's why I missed it,
Speaker:because I forgot to put it on my calendar.
Speaker:- The time change gave me a little bit of
Speaker:a little bit of a hiccup.
Speaker:No, this is nowhere near #3, right outta the gate.
Speaker:- Nah.
Speaker:- Nowhere near.
Speaker:- And look at, well, look at my burn.
Speaker:I mean I don't know if that's,
Speaker:that could just be me lighting it but-
Speaker:And I wonder, too, like,
Speaker:if it burns, yeah, that's a way uneven burn.
Speaker:Mine's got an uneven-
Speaker:- Just started.
Speaker:All three of the other cigars didn't do that.
Speaker:- Have we found our $5 cigar?
Speaker:Who knows? Stay tuned.
Speaker:- No, this is like a little,
Speaker:it's a little sour.
Speaker:- [Rob] That's not good.
Speaker:Maybe, is that good?
Speaker:- Not terrible sour, but it's different than these three.
Speaker:Acidic would be a word that I might use.
Speaker:- [Rob] Yeah, I guess not bad.
Speaker:- And I generally like acidity in cigars but-
Speaker:- [Rob] Complexity-wise it's not there.
Speaker:- Wow, #1, I went to #1,
Speaker:and it just tastes like stale air.
Speaker:- #1 is just very, sort of, single note.
Speaker:Yeah, this one's, now that we've gotten
Speaker:a little further into it,
Speaker:it's a little musty for me on the retrohale.
Speaker:- [Rob] Yep, I just noticed that as well.
Speaker:And the ash just fell off for me so,
Speaker:I don't know what that means.
Speaker:It literally could mean that it's very
Speaker:aged tobacco.
Speaker:- [Nate] Gotta light #2.
Speaker:I will say, and we've had this conversation with
Speaker:tobacco shop owners and managers.
Speaker:Really high quality,
Speaker:exceptionally crafted cigars
Speaker:will stay lit longer.
Speaker:- I wonder why that is.
Speaker:Is it just because like younger tobacco
Speaker:might have more moisture in it?
Speaker:- [Nate] Maybe, yeah, maybe.
Speaker:- What are we looking at here?
Speaker:What's the science behind that?
Speaker:- [Nate] Like, I know-
Speaker:- [Rob] Better burning tobacco, maybe?
Speaker:- One of the more costly cigars
Speaker:in the market right now is the,
Speaker:the Byron, Atabey, Alfonso.
Speaker:These are $35+ cigars
Speaker:on the regular, right?
Speaker:We got these at Tobacco Grove,
Speaker:one of our local shops here, great shop.
Speaker:And
Speaker:the manager of the shop, Rick, who put this together for us,
Speaker:has said that, I think Byrons,
Speaker:and even some Davidoffs, he's able to set down
Speaker:and 10 minutes later, he comes back,
Speaker:and he can still puff it.
Speaker:- If you guys are out there, I mean this, totally do this.
Speaker:Go to your local shop, try this out.
Speaker:If they're gonna entertain you at all,
Speaker:it's a pretty cool thing for them to do.
Speaker:If you're new to cigars,
Speaker:or you're just getting into it,
Speaker:and you really want to know how to like,
Speaker:taste a cigar and not overheat.
Speaker:Like, most people don't understand,
Speaker:you're managing the cherry, or the fire,
Speaker:the intensity of it.
Speaker:And we learned this trick.
Speaker:It's the 3-3-3 rule.
Speaker:So three second slow draw in,
Speaker:none of this like mad puffer stuff.
Speaker:Just a nice three second pull.
Speaker:Get that, get
Speaker:the red circle all the way around. Still good?
Speaker:- This had no smoke coming off of it.
Speaker:- And it's back?
Speaker:- And it puffed immediately.
Speaker:- #3? - #3.
Speaker:- Who you think is the $35 cigar?
Speaker:- This is, this is my, that's what I'm-
Speaker:- So get that- - This one set.
Speaker:- Get that all the way lit,
Speaker:and then hold it for three seconds,
Speaker:because you're letting that smoke then
Speaker:put oils and sugars into your palate,
Speaker:and then slowly blow it out of a small hole.
Speaker:I typically concentrate it on one of my cheeks, and then
Speaker:I put my tongue on that cheek
Speaker:to see if I can pick up those oils and sugars in my mouth.
Speaker:It's all about just cool smoke
Speaker:to get all the oils and sugars to not burn off
Speaker:before you bring the smoke into your mouth.
Speaker:And then to let it stay in your mouth
Speaker:so it deposits as many oils and sugars
Speaker:as you possibly can, and then blow it out.
Speaker:- Look at that.
Speaker:- [Rob] Amazing.
Speaker:But that was a game changer for me.
Speaker:And, I'll tell you this,
Speaker:if you've never done it before and you struggle,
Speaker:I struggled for the first month doing it
Speaker:and I looked like an idiot.
Speaker:I didn't know how to hold the cigar,
Speaker:like I didn't know how to hold my, puff out my cheeks.
Speaker:I felt like I was gonna swallow it.
Speaker:If you struggle with it, you're doing it right.
Speaker:#2 and #4
Speaker:are tasting really similar to me,
Speaker:except for #4 has more sweetness.
Speaker:It's the only thing I can
Speaker:really say
Speaker:flavor-wise.
Speaker:- I say this a lot when I taste cigars
Speaker:or talk about flavors.
Speaker:When people ask me
Speaker:like, you know, "How do you taste that?"
Speaker:Or, "What, how can I try and taste flavors?"
Speaker:I'll always say, you know,
Speaker:think of foods that it might remind you of.
Speaker:Think of beverages it might remind you of.
Speaker:Think of perfumes or fragrances it might remind you of.
Speaker:This cigar, #3,
Speaker:has flavors like a really good cologne or perfume.
Speaker:Like layers of flavor.
Speaker:Floral.
Speaker:A little bit of cedar, kind of woody note.
Speaker:Creaminess.
Speaker:Look at that, it's just,
Speaker:it's just like perfect.
Speaker:- Any of these cigars, once they're revealed,
Speaker:I'm not knocking the cigar.
Speaker:Right now, I'm just saying,
Speaker:"Boy, I can taste the difference right now
Speaker:between all four of these."
Speaker:I'm having some difficulties between #2 and #4.
Speaker:But if I go from #1 to #3, woo-hoo.
Speaker:And now, that may not have anything to do
Speaker:with the price point or the quality.
Speaker:It might have to do with the tobacco.
Speaker:Like,
Speaker:you know, they just might not be
Speaker:good compliments to each other, right?
Speaker:But #1 seems to be very flat,
Speaker:but as you smoke it, then it kind of picks up
Speaker:its character again. - It does.
Speaker:- And your palate gets used to it.
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:- So there's this like weird effect.
Speaker:- Yeah, that's a great way to put it.
Speaker:- That happens when you're jumping from cigar to cigar.
Speaker:- I'm gonna say I like all four of these cigars.
Speaker:- Go from #1 to #3.
Speaker:See what that does.
Speaker:- All right.
Speaker:- Because now I went back to one, after the almonds,
Speaker:and I still got that weird kind of like, meh flavor.
Speaker:- Yeah.
Speaker:It finishes pretty creamy.
Speaker:- Yeah. - Finish is nice.
Speaker:I like it.
Speaker:Now we're gonna go-
Speaker:- To #3.
Speaker:- To numero
Speaker:3.
Speaker:Well I'm gonna say it, if this is not
Speaker:a $35 cigar- - [Rob] I'm buying it.
Speaker:- It should be.
Speaker:- I'm buying a lot of it.
Speaker:- [Nate] It could be.
Speaker:- I'm buying a box.
Speaker:- I'm buying it, because this is delicious.
Speaker:- "If this is not a $35 cigar, I'm buying a box."
Speaker:- Well, I just did that with one of my
Speaker:blind tasting subscription cigars.
Speaker:- Which one?
Speaker:- Standard & Twain
Speaker:released
Speaker:their Top 5 Blind Tasting
Speaker:Cigars that they rated over the course of the year.
Speaker:And the one that came in at number one
Speaker:is a cigar called, Elenor Rose,
Speaker:from Serino Cigars out of Florida.
Speaker:- Look at that,
Speaker:there couldn't be a better segue right there.
Speaker:- [Nate] What?
Speaker:- Guess what's happening today, Nate?
Speaker:- [Nate] Could it be?
Speaker:- We are dropping the Box Press episode with Serino Cigars.
Speaker:Tony and Carson over at Serino Cigars, that guy.
Speaker:I told him, at the end of that interview, I was like,
Speaker:"Dude, you should have a book, a documentary,
Speaker:something on you."
Speaker:Because it is
Speaker:amazing the stuff that he's done.
Speaker:How he made his first million,
Speaker:to working with Blockbuster, I mean.
Speaker:And then, he admitted, I'm like,
Speaker:"Well, why are you out here still chasing, you know,
Speaker:dollars and cents?"
Speaker:He's like, "Because I like to spend money."
Speaker:So he's like, "I just wasted it all."
Speaker:You know, like, bought lavish things.
Speaker:Lived the high lifestyle.
Speaker:So, really cool story.
Speaker:Head over there and check that out.
Speaker:Serino Cigars.
Speaker:- #2 and #3 are an interesting jump.
Speaker:- [Rob] It's a $10 price difference.
Speaker:- A $10, $8.
Speaker:- [Rob] And if you can't tell, you just wasted $10.
Speaker:$10. - Yep.
Speaker:- $11.75 to $19.95.
Speaker:- You out, and what's gonna be even more despairing
Speaker:is if I get
Speaker:the $20 cigar,
Speaker:and I say, "Oh, that's a $5 stick."
Speaker:And then, the $5 is the $20 cigar.
Speaker:I'd be like, "I just wasted $15."
Speaker:This could go any way right now.
Speaker:I think
Speaker:I'm in agreement with you on
Speaker:#3.
Speaker:I would definitely put that at the top right now.
Speaker:There's nothing that tastes like that.
Speaker:- No, not in this- - [Rob] Nothing.
Speaker:- Not in this circle. - And it's the complexity.
Speaker:It's the smoothness, it's the nuances.
Speaker:- [Nate] This is a banger cigar.
Speaker:I gotta say, kudos to Rick.
Speaker:He picked four really nice cigars.
Speaker:- Right.
Speaker:- And Rick has a really nice palate.
Speaker:Like, shout out to our buddy, Rick.
Speaker:- Dude, it's getting tough now.
Speaker:- [Nate] It is!
Speaker:- Because, I don't know which one
Speaker:I was thinking was #1, the $4.20.
Speaker:- If I'm just going off of my four cigars,
Speaker:and using construction and ash.
Speaker:- [Rob] Yeah?
Speaker:- And, you know, where the flavors lie.
Speaker:I might put cigar #1 at the $4.20 cigar.
Speaker:But yours, construction-wise, is so cleaner.
Speaker:But,
Speaker:I think-
Speaker:- [Rob] Kind of put #2 down there right now.
Speaker:- [Nate] #3 and #4 have, for me, really nice,
Speaker:light gray, super consistent ash rings on it.
Speaker:#1 is still a little flaky.
Speaker:There's a little bit of like, mustiness in the back.
Speaker:I don't dislike it.
Speaker:I think it's really unique.
Speaker:But there's just a little bit of kind of a
Speaker:musty quality in the back of cigar #1.
Speaker:- Dude, when you just smoke cigar #1,
Speaker:it's just clean, consistent, good.
Speaker:It's a good cigar.
Speaker:- Like,
Speaker:you mentioned earlier, Perdomo Champagne.
Speaker:- [Rob] Yeah.
Speaker:- [Nate] Always consistent, clean flavor.
Speaker:Refreshing cigar, almost.
Speaker:Can really smoke it any time of day.
Speaker:- [Rob] Anytime.
Speaker:- I feel like this falls in that category.
Speaker:- Absolutely.
Speaker:You know what cigar smoked this morning?
Speaker:Romeo y Julieta.
Speaker:- [Nate] Julieta. - [Rob] Julieta.
Speaker:- [Nate] Nicaragua? - [Rob] Yeah.
Speaker:The 1875 Nicaragua Connecticut.
Speaker:- [Nate] It's awesome.
Speaker:- Why is that so awesome?
Speaker:- It's so good.
Speaker:- Okay, here's the thing that,
Speaker:the stigma that I have with-
Speaker:- Our bosses love that cigar.
Speaker:- No, they like the H. Upmann one,
Speaker:because the H. Upmann one is the one with the Maduro cap.
Speaker:- Uh huh, but our,
Speaker:Tim Swail, our Senior Vice President of Sales, gave me that
Speaker:Romeo y Julieta Connecticut,
Speaker:and said, "You gotta try this, Nate."
Speaker:And it's delicious. - [Rob] Dude.
Speaker:- It's delicious
Speaker:because it has a very recognizable band.
Speaker:- If you haven't had it,
Speaker:go get it. - Go find it, yeah.
Speaker:Don't sleep on those.
Speaker:- Altadis gets pegged as this like, oh, you know,
Speaker:nothing hot, nothing new, nothing fresh.
Speaker:But, dang, is it consistent.
Speaker:- Consistent. - Dude.
Speaker:You just go and you're like,
Speaker:"Oh, I just want a Romeo y Julieta Nicaraguan Connecticut."
Speaker:"Yeah, I'll take a box of that."
Speaker:I'll take a box of that any day.
Speaker:- I think a good analogy for that is,
Speaker:you compare,
Speaker:and this conversation has been going on for the last,
Speaker:oh, 20 years,
Speaker:the last dozen for sure.
Speaker:Craft beer versus macro beers, you know?
Speaker:Big, you know, Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Coors,
Speaker:Hamm's, Labatt, any of these
Speaker:clear, crisp, clean lagers.
Speaker:Do they have the complexity of some really good
Speaker:micro brews? No.
Speaker:But every time I crack
Speaker:a little stubby bottle of Coors Banquet,
Speaker:it tastes exactly the same.
Speaker:It is refreshing.
Speaker:It's got a slight sweetness.
Speaker:It's crisp, and it's crushable.
Speaker:But you think of an Altadis in comparing that to
Speaker:an Anheuser-Busch.
Speaker:Altadis is a huge company.
Speaker:The level of consistency they're able to achieve,
Speaker:in the amount of cigars they make,
Speaker:versus a small producer, it's exceptional.
Speaker:- And what's interesting is that,
Speaker:it doesn't have like the cachet and the buzz of, possibly,
Speaker:some of the other like smaller producers.
Speaker:- [Nate] Sorry.
Speaker:- What's that?
Speaker:- Got a nice-
Speaker:- [Rob] Picking something up?
Speaker:- Like a nice bright sweetness on this one all of a sudden.
Speaker:I like it.
Speaker:- And that is #2?
Speaker:- [Nate] #2, yeah.
Speaker:Not even gonna try to get rid of this ash.
Speaker:- Oh, man, my #3 went out.
Speaker:- [Nate] Oh, really?
Speaker:- ♪ Wah, wah, wahhh. ♪
Speaker:- #4 just got way peppery.
Speaker:Way more peppery.
Speaker:Oh, but, yeah, there's that sweetness
Speaker:coming in at the back end.
Speaker:I always think in
Speaker:lighter wrappered cigars, Connecticuts,
Speaker:lighter Habanos
Speaker:that pepperiness is like a white pepper.
Speaker:- I'm basically screwed at this point
Speaker:for the bottom three.
Speaker:- [Nate] Oof.
Speaker:- I don't know.
Speaker:- So I think, Rob, on my ashtray,
Speaker:I'm gonna go one, two, three, four.
Speaker:Or, excuse me, most expensive,
Speaker:so cheapest to most expensive.
Speaker:- [Rob] Oh, cheapest on the left?
Speaker:- [Nate] Four dollar here.
Speaker:$11.
Speaker:- [Rob] $20 - [Nate] $20.
Speaker:- [Rob] 35. - [Nate] $35.
Speaker:That's what I'm gonna go, when I get to it.
Speaker:- I'm just gonna close my eyes and set them down.
Speaker:(Rob laughing)
Speaker:At this point.
Speaker:- Just spin it.
Speaker:Spin it.
Speaker:- The other thing that we have, as far as an advantage,
Speaker:we also know
Speaker:Rick's
Speaker:favorites.
Speaker:You know, as far as cigars.
Speaker:Dude is an Atabey Byron whore.
Speaker:- Yes.
Speaker:- I'm like, every time I turn around I'm like,
Speaker:"Dude, you're smoking that at work?"
Speaker:And he's like, "Yeah, I just love it."
Speaker:- Rick doesn't care for the Atabeys.
Speaker:- Oh, he doesn't?
Speaker:- No, he says they give him a headache.
Speaker:- Oh, I didn't know that, I thought he liked Atabeys.
Speaker:- And he loves the Byrons and the Alfonsos.
Speaker:- Well, there you go, it's probably Byron.
Speaker:- So, I'm thinking, that also kind of colored my
Speaker:choice.
Speaker:Now he might not pick based on like his preference.
Speaker:It kind of does for everybody, but-
Speaker:- Boy, I went back to #1
Speaker:and I really got like a grassy
Speaker:flavor out of it.
Speaker:- Man, this is good.
Speaker:#3.
Speaker:It's, you know how sometimes cigars
Speaker:start to get a little softer
Speaker:as you get halfway through?
Speaker:This thing is as firm as when I lit it.
Speaker:- Yeah, surprisingly, you know,
Speaker:all of these,
Speaker:oh, #1 is a little squishy behind there.
Speaker:#2 is not as-
Speaker:- [Nate] #1 is a little softer, #2 is not.
Speaker:- [Rob] That one, you know, that's actually,
Speaker:yeah, #4 is squishy too.
Speaker:- [Nate] #4, like right under the band, is a little soft.
Speaker:- [Rob] So, #4 and #1 are my most squishy,
Speaker:that's a good point, I didn't even think of that.
Speaker:- You know what I mean?
Speaker:- [Rob] But that's a quality thing, right?
Speaker:- Right?
Speaker:- [Rob] So, yeah,
Speaker:if you're paying 35 bucks, you're probably getting the most-
Speaker:- [Nate] This one's a little soft here, but not up here.
Speaker:- [Rob] Really-
Speaker:- [Nate] And this one is still firm.
Speaker:- [Rob] Yeah.
Speaker:- I think I like #4 better than #2.
Speaker:- It's funny, because #2,
Speaker:I had pegged, in the beginning, kind of like meh.
Speaker:But based on like-
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I'm having a hard time between #4 and #2
Speaker:like I did before, but I just switched them
Speaker:in what, I think, is the order.
Speaker:- So, I'm gonna give an initial
Speaker:run at it.
Speaker:And I'm gonna go, like, for me, right now,
Speaker:I'm thinking #1 is the $4.20 cigar.
Speaker:The
Speaker:#2
Speaker:is the $11.75 cigar.
Speaker:#4 is the $19.95 cigar.
Speaker:#3 is the $35 cigar.
Speaker:- Put #1 in your spot then.
Speaker:- So I'm gonna go,
Speaker:I think this is where I'm sitting.
Speaker:Cheapest to most expensive.
Speaker:Or, least expensive to most expensive.
Speaker:- I'm gonna go
Speaker:#4 is $4.20.
Speaker:#1 is $11.75.
Speaker:#2 is $19.95.
Speaker:And #3 is the $35 one. - [Nate] All right.
Speaker:- Ready to cut this thing open?
Speaker:- Yep.
Speaker:- And the nominee
Speaker:for best cigar goes to-
Speaker:- He might, does he have bands in there?
Speaker:- I think so.
Speaker:Did he have bands in here, no?
Speaker:The cheapest cigar
Speaker:is #4, the Perdomo Fresco Connecticut.
Speaker:Yes, I got it!
Speaker:- [Nate] Nice job, buddy.
Speaker:- [Rob] What did you have?
Speaker:- [Nate] I had #1.
Speaker:- [Rob] Okay, so you had #1.
Speaker:Which is the number two expensive.
Speaker:So, it's $11.75 cents.
Speaker:That's the Crux Epicure Robusto Extra.
Speaker:- [Nate] Okay.
Speaker:- [Rob] That is amazing.
Speaker:So, I'm on track.
Speaker:What did you put for number two?
Speaker:- [Nate] For the second most expensive,
Speaker:I said was #2.
Speaker:- [Rob] Okay.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:the #2 is actually the third most expensive.
Speaker:It is the Rocky Patel White Label Robusto.
Speaker:At $19.95.
Speaker:And the third one, or the last, sorry,
Speaker:#3 is the last one.
Speaker:Alfonso by United Cigars, at 35 bucks.
Speaker:♪ I can taste quality in a cigar. ♪
Speaker:- [Nate] Nice work, Rob.
Speaker:(Rob humming)
Speaker:- I'm excited about that because
Speaker:I didn't think I would even get,
Speaker:I was just hoping to get the bottom and the top,
Speaker:but I didn't, like, all of these are good cigars.
Speaker:- [Nate] Yep, all of them.
Speaker:- [Rob] All of them are good cigars.
Speaker:So, hopefully, you guys liked it.
Speaker:It was entertaining.
Speaker:I had fun doing it.
Speaker:Again, like, subscribe.
Speaker:Please let us know you're out there.
Speaker:Follow us.
Speaker:Give us a shout out.
Speaker:If you wanna watch this, head over to YouTube.
Speaker:Watch it on YouTube.
Speaker:Otherwise,
Speaker:you know, as always,
Speaker:head over to Boveda to get your
Speaker:cigar needs to keep those cigars perfectly humidified
Speaker:with consistency every time.
Speaker:- Look at you, man.
Speaker:- Look at you.
Speaker:Look at, I'm so proud right now.
Speaker:- You should be.
Speaker:- I don't know anything about flavors,
Speaker:but, boy, I can tell you if that's a $35 cigar or not.
Speaker:(both laughing)
Speaker:- Yes, awesome.
