It on the next episode of Sip Suds and Smokes. We are doing a takeover episode of 724 cigars. Huge. Thank you. And shout out to Kurt Kindle for supplying the cigars for today's episode. Thank you very much. Thanks, Kurt. We actually myself and, uh, good old boy Benjamin got to meet him. We got a little bit of time to speak with him at the PCA. He was a bit apprehensive at first, but knowing we're fellow bourbon enthusiasts, well, that's a big word. I have a hard time today with
those. He opened up quickly about what he does and why he's passionate about his cigars. He also shared his willett single barrel family estate. Pick with us where was in the middle of that. And it was amazing. There should have been a mass text sent out. Yes. We will be right back after this breakup. Brought to you almost live from the dude in the basement studios. Why? Because that's where the good stuff is. It sips suds and smokes with your smoke and host the good old boy.
Hey, man, got a light? It's time for smokes. Welcome to the Smokes episode, folks, where everything good in life is worth discussing. We'll have a good episode for you guys today about 724 cigars. But first I want to introduce our host, our co host. I'm good old boy Barger. And to my left is good old boy Mike. Am I in microphone left or microphone right? You are never really quite sure. Wherever you want to be my center today. It feels like I'm centered.
I think you need to talk to your hello, everybody. About that. I, uh, know in spite of the injunctions that have been filed on repeated occasions, I'm still here. That's right. And good old boy Nate. What's up? Good to be back. And good old boy Benjamin. Welcome back. Like I never left. Thanks. That's right. I know it's your second episode, so we're glad to have you here and I'm really glad that could you put a lot into these episodes? That's really helpful. So we are
the best thing on at 02:00 a.m. Just before speech therapy with Bobcat Goldwood. And right after Estelle getty presents today's fashion trends. And you put the belt on just like this. Could you imagine watching her on a fashion show? Like, how funny would that be? Pass me some more rum. Right. So this is our Smoke segments here. We talk about cigars and, well, anything that you can smoke. Well, almost anything because we're in Tennessee. Yeah.
But here's what we're going to discuss today. We are doing a takeover episode of 724 cigars. Huge. Thank you. And shout out to Kurt Kindle for supplying the cigars for today's episode. Thank you very much. Thanks, Kurt. We actually, myself and, uh, good old boy Benjamin, got to meet him. We got a little bit of time to speak with him at the PCA. He was a bit apprehensive at first, but knowing we're fellow bourbon enthusiasts, well, that's a big word. I have a hard time today with those.
He opened up quickly about what he does and why he's passionate about his cigars. He also shared his willett single barrel family estate pick with us where was. In the middle of that. And it was amazing, the curtain. He pulled us aside. I was like, you guys like bourbon? I was like, yeah, uh, let's go. Okay. There should have been a mass text sent out. Yeah, well, I don't want to talk about it because these are small things that we do for fun.
Was I in another building? I mean, seriously, was my phone busted? Honestly, we should have got somebody else involved, too, because it was just barger that got to get on know? Well, yeah, but I think Mike was, uh, stuck up the Rocky Patel booth somewhere, probably. But hopefully we'll have him in a future chats episode. So, Kurt, I'll be reaching out for that. Be on the lookout for those episodes. They will be
coming out soon. We're going to do chats episodes where we'll be diving into what makes people tick in the cigar industry. We'll also be blinding them on cigars they may or may not know. I love bicycles. It's going to be fun. And I love blinds. If you guys haven't figured it out, we've done so far two blind tasting episodes, right? Uh, we're at two now, right? We just did ten. Yeah, we did a $5 blind and we did a $10 blind and they
were tons of fun. And I never stay within the budget, but that's another conversation for our lawyers. Okay? So now remember, folks, if you are a cigar newbie, fret not, we got you covered in our Cigar 101 episodes where we will unpack all of the cigar speak will be decoded. Just search for sip, suds and smokes on whatever platform you're using and look up the Cigar 101 episode. And it should pop right up for the link in our show notes. If you can't find it, ask your parents for help.
Mom. That's right. Now off to business. Today, our safe word is pompador. Pompadour. Pompadour. So if you guys get a little out of your comfort zone, you can just say pompadour and we may or may not stop. So today, good old boy Mike's gets the honors of going over our smokes ratings today. So take it away, Mike. We'll be smoking and discussing these cigars from 724 and rating them with our sipsuds and smoke smokes rating plus our signature sounds. Here are those ratings
now. Number one, this sucked before it was lit. Smokes rating two, I'd smoke this again. Smokes rating. Number three, move out of the way. I need a box of these. That's a good rating. Love that rating. I'll be down with some boxes. So today our product line is all 724 cigars, which you guys may or may not be experienced with. I, um, have experienced them a little bit in the past, but just started revisiting them and I was pleasantly
surprised. But Benjamin, why don't you tell us a little bit about 724? Yeah. So urban legend has it that 724 cigars was so named because RG. Sullivan, who is the founder of the brand, in 1874, got his start in business with the winnings from a lottery ticket with the numbers 720 and four. However, that's it. Uh,
that is a myth. Writer George Franklin Wiley offered a more plausible explanation in this book, wiley's semicntennial book of Manchester, 1846 to 1896, that Sullivan changed the brand's original name, uh, from New Gold Dust Cigars to 724 Cigars. Uh, new gold dust just sounds fun. Shouldn't that be like this is a WWE character. Yeah. Like, Gold Dust breaks into your room with a chair and, like, cigars, and. You'Re going to smoke this a ring nickname, right. Dr hater on Twitter.
Floor 724 was the address of a factory in Manchester, New Hampshire, at 724 Elm Street. The cigars, which sold for Time, were handmade with Cuban tobacco fillers and sumacha wrappers. The brand was so successful that Sullivan's cigar factory became one of the world's largest manufacturers of handmade cigars.
Didn't we talk about this in another episode, Nate, or might have been Mike, where companies in small towns, uh, and states across America used to grow tobacco and used to manufacture their own states tobacco in. Yeah, yeah, for a long time, especially, I mean, we didn't have the access to a lot of Central American tobacco like we do now. And so a lot of the common man would smoke cigars made right down the street, rolled at their town's little M
factory that they had. And some were big, some were small. Like, Grandma used to roll them down the street. Right. Just like Grandma used to. That man. I, uh, miss Grandma's cigars all the time. So what else about Kurt? Can you tell us? Yeah, so, uh, actually today, Kirty Kendall, uh, the entrepreneur and owner of two New Hampshire cigar stores, uh, has always been an avid antique collector.
So over the years, he's displayed an extensive collection of cola machines, gas pumps, and other artifacts in his retail shop. That'd be fun. And one of his passions was to revive the 724 cigar brand. Uh, so Kendall went ahead and acquired the then defunct trademark and began reproducing the historic cigars that now rank as one of the best boutique cigars on the market. Well, I don't think I was upset by any of
the cigars that we smoked. We actually met Kurt at PCA, which, if you haven't listened to that episode yet, go check it out, because, um, if you're listening on the radio, you're going to have to go online. I'm sorry. Because that was a two hour long episode we did. And we went over 16 or 20 cigars on that episode for sure. It was pretty extensive, but we had a freaking awesome time recording that episode. So, uh, a little bit about Manchester, since I know the town quite well.
So Manchester was a place where the logs would actually float down the river. And a lot of the lumber mills were right there in Manchester. Is that where they have Bonner? Um, so it's very evident when you actually are driving around Manchester itself, you'll see basically the city is kind of right on the river itself. And you'll see a lot of the warehouses where they would actually, uh, store a lot of the wood, um, that they would actually take out of the river.
I think one of the lumber mills is actually still, um, in operation. Um, they don't float the logs down the river anymore. I bet that'd be cool. They've got a great football club, too, right? Yeah. Manchester. Same one. Glory. Glory. Man united. But it's great town. And, uh, I think that there's a lot of, uh, interesting things to do around Manchester. Should definitely check out this, uh, uh, shop, for sure.
So one thing that I wanted to, uh, just talk a little bit about when we met Kurt at the PCA in Vegas, we hit it off, man. It was a good time. He spent some time with us talking about what he liked about the brand. And he just gave you oh, he did give me some willett, and I am super thankful for that. And I'll take a bottle. Yeah, right. Hook, line, and sinker. You had me at willett. Uh, what do you do? Will it?
Well, I think one of the coolest things about meeting Kurt is he definitely embodies that new, uh, generation of cigar smoker, right? Like, he's not the guy that's in the three piece suit with the know and the scarf, uh, hanging around his neck. Like that type of vibe that you think about with cigar smokers. Like, uh, tattoos, beautiful beard, really kind of soft spoken fella. But you could absolutely just pick up on every bit of passion that he had for bringing this brand back and
keeping it historically accurate. And I think that's a huge win. Right. There's so many people out there that just want to create something, um, that only speaks to what they're doing. It's, um, kind of just like a one off experience, um, for them. Right. They're really just trying to create something new that embodies themselves in the cigar market. And he's really tied to that sense of history and bringing that brand back.
I like the branding that he does also, because his labeling is very, um what's the word I'm looking for? It's minute details. It's not flashy. Yeah. Very classic style labeling. And, uh, as we all know, me, I'm a sucker for branding. So if you're consistent in your branding, uh, I'm going to try your cigars. Nate, what do you think?
No, I mean, I agree. And especially we'll get to this, but I think he was super creative for calling a size of the dog walker, because people have always nicknamed short little Smokes the dog walker. But it's cool to actually I've actually in retail before, sold a box specifically because some guy was like, oh, that's great. I like to smoke when I walk my dog, and I want a short amount. And it's like, okay, walk the dog until he does his business, and I can smoke this.
So, if I'm not mistaken, uh, from my conversation with him, I believe that 724, the old brand, was actually coined the phrase the dog walker. I think Kurt takes credit for it. Does he? Yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah, who knows? Good job, Kurt. Cool. It was awesome. So we're going to dive into these cigars pretty shortly. We might take a short break here and talk about our sponsors. Well, we're not going to talk about it. They're going to talk about it to you. So enjoy those.
All right, welcome back from the commercial break. We're going to dive into these we're going to dive into these cigars from 724. The first one up is the Wk series robusto, and Benjamin is going to take it away. Good old boy Benjamin. What you got? Yeah, man. So, uh, this is a limited release, a special series. It's, um, a, uh, series, uh, that's actually really near and dear to Kurt. It's, um, actually, um, in remembrance of his late son, William, the
Wk series. So this is a five x 50 Connecticut with Nicaraguan and Honduras filler, uh, Honduras binder, and an Ecuador Connecticut wrapper. Kurt Kendall actually released these to honor his late son, uh, who passed away in 2011. And as tributes go, a finer cigar could not have been chosen. The 724 Wk stands ready to suit almost anyone's preference linear with smooth and well balanced flavors. I really enjoyed this smoke. Now, that's the one that says in every case on the band, is that right?
It is, yeah. I think that that's their tagline for the brand. Um, and I think that was something that I immediately picked up on, uh, with this brand 724, uh, because the duality immediately spoke to me sure. In every case, meaning, uh, in every opportunity that you have, or in every case that you would need to smoke a cigar, 724 is the brand to do that. Right?
So whether it is sitting around with your buddies doing a podcast, or if you all are sitting around celebrating a birthday or celebrating someone's legacy in life, uh, this is absolutely a smoke that you can just, uh, grab a box and just hand out. Right. You're not going to offend anybody with this smoke. It's very welcoming. Um, for sure. I would almost interject and say that I am interjecting. So I think that in every case is almost an invitation.
I interpret that as an invitation to slow down and to take a second and really focus on the little things in life. Well, that's what a cigar does for you. Right. Like, a cigar is a commitment. You're going to take the time out. Right. Uh, selfish may be the term that kind of comes to mind, but in the best way possible. Sure. You have to commit that time frame like a robusto. This probably took me an hour and a half to
smoke. And so you really, uh, have that time not only to enjoy the cigar and dive into all the nuances, if that's what you want to do, but you also get to enjoy the people around you. You get to have those conversations. Right. And that invitation is not only to the cigar, but the ritual around it. Right. And the camaraderie that comes with, uh, sitting down and sharing a smoke with someone. Yeah. I really commend you on making a Robusto last an hour and a half. I'll take my time, bud.
Uh, so this was, uh, a stick that I had actually last in the product line. And, um, it was, uh, my favorite out of the entire product line. Really? Yeah, it really was. It was very good. It was very well balanced. Um, I thought the construction of it was really, um, spot on and great quality. Good burn line all the way through and through. Um, yeah, I think the only thing I was just like, wow, could I have this in a little bit bigger? It was that good lancero? No, definitely not. Come on.
It comes on a chart. Everything's better in Lancero. I think it sucks. Yeah. Uh, but really great, uh, cigar. Um, I think that if you're looking like I said, this is my favorite of the product line. Um, really solid stick. I have no idea what this costs, but I would say it's probably good bang for Buck. Yeah. His price points are really good. Everything that he sells yeah. Everything is between eight and 15 that he
sells. At least that I've seen. Now, he may have some limited releases that I haven't seen yet that may be a little more expensive, but I would say in every case, it's worth a try. Absolutely. So just to bounce off that, the duality of that in every case is this should be something that I would hope you'd be able to find in every cigar case in humidor that you visit. I think if you're a cigar retailer, this is one of those brands that you should carry. Yeah, I think that's a good thing as
well. And definitely trying to keep things like that in your humidor that you can just split with your friend and say, hey, here's one. I'm going to smoke one. We're going to have a good time, and just take and have a good moment in life together. Um, so what were your tasting notes? Yeah, solid construction on this considerable spice off the light and in the retro hell, uh, this was a medium plus body smoke for me, medium to full strength.
Uh, it mellows out in the second, third, and through the end with some nice leather and wood tones. Uh, but the nuance really came through the retro for me, which was really something, uh, that I enjoy about a cigar to have that kind of consistent, big leathery, woody, almost like coffee like tones through the smoke of the cigar. And then to get some of that nuance. Uh, as you retrohale, uh, it's a nice little
kind of cherry on top. It's a little bit of excitement, uh, that you can expose yourself to as you go through the smoke. Yeah, definitely. I had a little pepper off the light. Like it was kind of dusty and peppery and it actually reminded me of an older Davidoff huh. Which was interesting to me. And it could have just been my setting where I was, but I really got those pepper on the retro and really, I uh, thought after that 1st, 3rd, it just mellowed out nicely to have a good
blend. So what was your rating upon that? That's a three for me all day. All right, so we're going to call it a three. So next up, I had an interesting story to share with you guys. Yeah, go. Because worthy of discussion for sure. So, as, uh, I was driving up to, uh, our, uh, studio for production day, I got caught in a little bit of traffic and I had to weave through some of the neighborhoods that are
around where our studio is. And um, I was driving past the school and there was a sign on the side of the road that said reading Tutor. And then it had a phone number on it. Was it spelled, oh, you got to. Give that phone number to Mike. It was the irony of, uh, the whole thing. I'm like, well, if you can't read, you can't read the sign, man. Seriously. It's like, have you thought about this for a moment? Am I the only one in the room going, uh, hey man, I don't think the sign is going to work.
Well, I do not think it means what you think it means. It was sitting there, I was at a stop sign, I was looking at the sign, I was just laughing my butt off. I mean, it was hilarious. I love those moments of just little irony that you're like, uh, you may want to think about that, right? For sure. So, uh, actually, good old boy mike, you're up next with your, uh, factory 57. Yeah, so, uh, the Factory 57 is a robusto as well. Five x 50 as a
natural. Uh uh, the filler is Honduras, Nicaraguan, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, and a partridge and a pear tree. Uh, the wrapper is high priming triple fermented, not double triple fermented. Nicaraguan, halapa habano. So this is aged for three years, plus an additional six months before shipping. And according to 724 cigar owners, uh, Kurt Kendall, the factory 57 name, refers to the US. Government's official designation of 724 as a licensed and tax manufacturer of premium cigars.
Um, uh, uh, I'm trying to think when I smoked this in the lineup. I guess this was ten minutes ago. No, uh, this was the third I had out of the four. And, um, yeah, uh, I was not very happy with this. Uh, so here are some of my, uh, notes here about the 720, uh, four robusto, uh, tad spicy. Very, um, spicy up front. It was a spice bomb. I got that too. Um, it had a few burn line issues. Just kind of an average draw. Um, I wrote, I'm glad I'm done with this product line.
Well, man, what, did you pull that out of your shoebox humidor? I was not, uh, happy with finishing, uh, things off. I had the opposite on that one. Same. Okay. Oh, man. It was real creamy off the light for me, and had a really good smoke. The burn on the flavor was great. For mine, actually. This cigar was fantastic. It's creamy, it's smooth all the way. The flavors blended really well for me, and I actually paired that with a good rye whiskey, uh, which really helped.
Spice on top, a state that you adhere to consistently. Wasn't the will it but I can't talk about it. But it was actually delicious. And I put even the last half of that ticks up even more spice. Really? Yeah. So for mine, it was just like, oh, you think the spice is mellowing out? Forget it. We're getting more spicy to you. But I will definitely buy the cigar. I wish to register a complaint. Yes. Well, what's your complaint, sir?
I'm sorry, but there is no way this was the same did you put different bands on my cigar? No. Is that it? No, not I don't write down it's a spice bomb unless it is a spice bomb. It was definitely a spice bomb. But see, as we all know at Sipsuds and smokes, mike's opinion is twice as much is not worth anything in this opinion. Benjamin, what do you think of it? Be the, um mean, I hate to jump on the bandwagon here, Mike, but this is absolutely a killer for me. Got him.
I love this smoke. This was a fresh pulled espresso. The crema still on top. Uh, that spice was definitely on the retro. For me, though, it lingered on the palate a bit more, uh, than the Wk series. I would smoke this cigar again and again now. Absolutely. That being said, it could have been the setting for me. This was last night for me. So sitting on the back porch, listening to the crickets, reading a good book, like I was in the right space for this smoke, if you will, we.
Were smoking the same cigar in the same evening. Yeah. Is this a pop up book? Maybe you guys read there was pictures involved. Oh, yeah, I'm sure. Judge me. Yeah, that's fine. I saw the sun. Uh huh. It's trickery. Yeah, that's what it is. Telling you. So let's give that our Sips rating. What do we got here, folks? It's a three for me. We're going to go with three. Yeah, bring me a box path. So I just want to touch base. Nate, good old boy. Nate just had to leave. Um, his wife's car
wouldn't start, so sorry, Nate. You're going to get to miss out, but don't worry. I hope you get the car fixed, though. Car problems are the worst. That's right. But I'll read his cigar. All of Nate's, uh, opinions are really mine, so I get votes. Natal absolutely. Back me up on everything I'm saying. Can we call our lawyer for this one? No. Okay. All right, so good old boy. Eight. Hi, guys. All right. No, I'm just kidding. That was a poor interpretation. Uh, so he had the 724
dog walker. So actually, we had talked about the dog walker earlier and how 724 is the ones that coined the phrase for that can't confirm. But it's a great story, and I enjoy hearing that. So 724 original series dog walker is a four and a quarter by 40 maduro. Its filler is a diverse blend of Nicaraguan, Honduran, Mexican and Colombian long filler. Its binder is Costa Rican, and its wrapper is Brazilian marafina wrapper. So it's actually cedar aged for 120
days to Mellow. It says, on those occasions when the time or weather may be an issue, you may prefer a shorter smoking experience. The dog walker is a perfect size for walking the dog, washing the car, anything that you want it to be. These cigars smoke in a range of 15 to 48 minutes, depending on how you smoke it. Uh, a double bonus of smaller cigars is their price point. So their price points are typically between
five dollars to eight dollars ranges. Now, I don't quite know the price range because I didn't look it up. Um, but I would suggest I think. This was like 499. Yeah, I would say you're in the five to $6 range. Absolutely. Depending on taxes and taxation is theft, but we'll talk about that in another podcast. Um, so the dog walker for me, I had notes on that. Let me pull them up here in my trusty phone. So you missed the cedar age for 120 days? No, I didn't. I said that
this happens every time. You don't listen to me when I talk. Mike, why do we go through this? Rather a gloom over the evening, hasn't it? It's like we're married again. Hold my hand. Yeah, right. Let me follow along. That's right. More rum at the end of the day. That's right. More rum. Um, more rum. Um, so, uh, what I got off that was man, that thing again, just like the factory, um, robusto. This thing was a spice bomb. Yes, sir. It was a flavor bomb. And I really
enjoyed the cigar. I said it mellowed out great. It was bold off the light, but mellows out real quickly. So, like, your first even half of your 1st, 3rd is, like, super spice. And then it just mellows out to blends those three flavors well. And you almost can hit that cedar halfway through that cigar, you can get that cedar taste. What did you think about that? Yeah, the cedar really came through for me. This one had a really nice, uh, almost, uh, kind of like, effervescent, uh, wood to
me. Right. Yeah. Effervescent. Right. You walk into, like, a new cedar barn or something like that. Right. And that almost sweet aroma, uh, but it has that kind of tinge of spice to it hits you. Uh, and this is a first thing in the morning smoke for me. This is that cup of coffee smoke. Perfect time frame. Perfect, uh, size. I do kind of lean into the barger method as far as sizes go. So Lancero right. That 48 ring gauge. Give it to me, baby. So this one fair.
So what would you prefer, Mike? What would you prefer this in? Um, I definitely love the name of this. It really aligns a cigar with an activity. And I think that's what I really loved about this. I had the cigar when we got together for herf, so we were having several cigars. What's a herf? Herf is when we just get together, um, and we bitch about everything. Oh, well, that happens every day. And you guys realize that I'm right about everything. Least opinionated. Yeah. Very humble as
well. But it's interesting. We talk about pairing things, and it's usually paired with a whiskey or, uh, another beverage or sometimes with a food. But I like this idea of pairing an activity with a cigar because it is spot on for the amount of time for me to walk my dog. I have a shih tzu my bad shitsu. Uh, selective hearing. Yeah. Thanks anyway. Um, um, but it aligns definitely with the amount of time usually that I am taking the dog for a walk.
And I just thought that from a marketing perspective, it's a lot easier to do that and saying, Would you like a petite Corona? It's like, I'm into full size Corona. Yeah. Uh, but the thing that I liked about it that particular evening that we got together for the herf is it actually was a good tune up for my palate, uh, because I'd been sampling and drinking a bunch of things through the day, working on completely different episode. And, um, I really had not had a cigar all day.
And that helped me just kind of set myself into, I really need to smoke through these cigars and pay attention. To what they're going to be. So it was really good, uh, to acclimate my palate. And that was the other thing that I really loved. I agreed that I thought the cedar was, I thought, very, um, present in a lot of the flavor profile of this, but in a good way. I mean, sometimes you can have cedar and it's almost like
rancid. Um, it can actually overwhelm any flavor profile in it, but it was very complementary and I thought it was working well. That was a great stick. Um, um, um, I like this a lot. Yeah. I like this cigar a lot as well. What I like about the size of the cigar is that, like you said, you can use it for multiple things if you just have limited amounts of time. But also, I kind of did this one with dessert. So I was eating double, uh, chocolate ice cream. Yeah. And it was
fantastic. Let's rate this up before we head out here. So, uh, we're going to go three all across the. Board. So we're going to take a quick break for some sponsors and then we'll come back and talk about one of the other cigars that came and maybe some more shenanigans. What kind of dog would you walk this way? Maybe, uh, mastiff, if I had a mastiff. And welcome back to our 724 takeover of Sipsuns and Smokes Smokes episode. I hope you guys are having as much fun as we
are. Thrilled. Uh, we are having so much fun. Uh, well, I have fresh whiskey now in my glass. I will not, sir. This is hot in here. So we went over the dog walker recently and we rated it a three because that cigar is awesome. But what other activities would you guys do with a dog. Walker? Um, I think it's a good, um, if you have to go for a walk, uh, even without an animal. Um. I think it's a good stick to take down to the golf range. Um, that way you take a larger stick and you're hitting
golf balls. You're constantly managing the cigar instead of what you're doing at the range. Well, you might be, um, it's a. Really good slice game you got. Yeah, I do. Thank, um, you look I'm bringing out outside in swing playing back in motion. There's not one golf swing as long as it works for you. He's out there weed whacking mhm. It's not one two. It's one. Two. And we talked about the time commitment thing, right. So wanting to spend that time, maybe you don't want to
spend a lot of time where you're going. Right. Maybe you do just want to kind of hang out long enough to have a short smoke and you've got some other commitments to get to and call. It the break from the in laws. Yeah, like a commute. Like you're going to pick up dinner and coming right back home. Right. If you're smoking in the car, right? Yeah, that's exactly what I had in mind, Mike, where maybe some of those family functions you don't want to spend a lot of time at.
Yeah. You mean like, I've got a timer set on this thing and it's about 45 minutes max and I'm up out of here? That's an interesting question. So do you pick the size of the scar based on when you plan to smoke it, and does it align with that activity? I think we do, because I think, well, there's a difference between us smoking for the show and probably me making those choices when I just have absolutely no agenda. I'm just enjoying a cigar. Wait, there's times you don't have an
agenda? Yeah. Nailed it. Hang on a second. I wish to register a complete I do, yes, again. Uh, but yeah, it just kind of struck me that there are times that even the way that I manage, uh, my tupper doors are generally by size. Like, I have most of the Robustos in one tupper door. I have most of the Toros in another. I have all the Churchills in another. I thought they were alphabetized.
No. Um, so I find myself going, well, I have an hour and a half to kill, I'll take a Churchill, or I only have, like, 30 minutes, and I'll grab a robusto. Um, I know that I tend to pick the size of the stick based on the amount of time that I probably have to work with to try and enjoy that, but at the same time, sometimes, especially people I play golf with, they take the same stick no matter what, um, for 4 hours. And it's like, oh, wow, they're searching for their golf ball. Yeah.
Uh huh. Starting force fires out there. Hey, man, I'm just telling you, we're. Swinging for the trees. I can shoot 108 and smoke four. Sticks while we're here. That's all I care about. Well, now that we're talking about size and we're doing a little bit comparison here, boys, I want to talk about the Churchill. Yes. So this Churchill we got from him was a seven x 50 maduro, and I think that it was fantastic. I typically am not a Churchill guy because that is a
time commitment. It is just as much length as it is girth. Today we're going to be demonstrating how to measure girth. Girth is a very important measurement when determining sizes. First, take your tape measure, place it at the center of the shoulder, bring it down through the crotch and back up again, making sure it's going over the widest part. Well, the filler on this one is a diverse blend of Nicaraguan, Honduran, Mexican,
and Colombian. Long filler. The binder is Costa Rican, and the wrapper is a Brazilian matafina wrapper. And it is also cedar aged for 120 days. So what I want to take a second about is this is almost the same blend as the dog walker. If you guys notice and listen and pay attention to what we say when we talk, correct. It's prickery. It's not. So if anyone out there has had these thoughts, when you get a cigar in a different size, does it taste the same? No. Tell me why. Definitely not. In
this case. And I think part of it might have been just the amount of time and exposure to that filler and binder itself. I have a feeling that you're comparing something between ten to 15 minutes versus something that was an hour. And I just think that, uh, my palate just flat out was worn out and so fatigued after the first third of yeah, really? I was fighting all the way through. Too much spice for you? It was not working for me. Yeah. Well, that's sad. I had a lot of other issues.
But what do you think, Benjamin? Well, I'm the same. Ah. Uh, so for this one, for, like, this was something that I would absolutely revisit again in that dog walker size. But the Churchill was a struggle for me. I remember you sent me that picture of you smoking and how much you loved it, and it got me excited to light this thing and go, because we tend to have a little bit of a similar palette. Right. And I got about halfway through it and was like, this guy
is absolutely nuts. There is no way this is what he's talking about. Uh, and for me, I think it was that Cedar Age, for me, definitely took a hold of the dog walker in all the right ways, and it did not do the same in the Churchill. Really, about halfway through this thing, I almost wanted to give up on it. It was solid. It's something that I would smoke again if someone handed it to me. Uh, but this would not be a cigar, uh, that I would look for in a Churchill size. Maybe
in a robousto. Something that's got a little more girth to it, um, but in that Churchill size, man, I was not a fan. Of this cigar, so I actually really enjoyed the Churchill size of this cigar. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I didn't even take notes on literally, it was in an every case moment. Like, I was in the moment with the cigar, and I was sitting in my basement. Many moments. That's right. There were many moments with this cigar. But
you know what? To me, in that moment, it was the experience of the cigar for me. So it wasn't, um aroma. Yeah. Right. You are driving the Indy car. Yeah. Like the Formula One with you. Uh, the Germans. Got to love them. Sorry. Different company, different listen to the PCA episode for that one. You'll get it. Well, I guess the question that pops up for me would be, was this the experience with the cigar, or was there something else happening or something else that you were
doing that, number one, kept you away from taking notes. Right. So thanks for not doing your homework. Yeah. Right. No gummies. Uh, was there something that, uh, was an attribute to that experience that made you enjoy it that much? So, for me, I paired it with a really m malt forward bourbon. And so the spice and the cedar kind of blended with the malt forward bourbon that I had, and it almost turned into, like, a chocolate. It was really weird how
it happened. I don't know that I can replicate it. You could smoke the same cigar and. Drink the same whiskey. Yeah, but I know, but it's all about your headspace, too, man. So it was the experience. Yeah. It's just I had a long, exhausting day at work. I was just ready to just sit down and have a moment to myself. I was the same way when I decided, I was like, Cool. You know what? I really want to go back to this 18 year, four square rum that it's been a long time since I had had it.
And. I'm like that's moved to the back of the shelf in a way in which I really want to come back and enjoy that. I think it'll pair well with, uh, a Churchill. Um, even if between the two of them, one of them has got to be good. Sure. And yeah, then that halfway through the first third of it, I was just running into all kinds of construction problems. Horrible draw. I mean, I was just like, oh, my gosh, I was in dire need of a good ram rod to try and get through this.
We, uh, talk about ram rods. So I was like, I am going to hang tough with this. I was enjoying the rum by then, but I was like, there's got to be something here I'm missing. And about the halfway point, I was like, okay, you know what? This is just not going well and not getting any better, and I hate that. Uh, and I have to say, I gave up on it at that point. I was like, okay, I've had enough of this.
I enjoyed another DRAM of the rum and really kind of called it, and I was like, okay, never, ever again. I had none of those construction issues, but, um, all of the flavor, uh, issues with it, and I think issues is, uh, honestly, maybe a little terse, but it was one of those things, too, right, where this is maduro. I do normally enjoy a Churchill, uh, size or girth. Yeah. Uh, and so I was really excited to smoke this thing, but, yeah, it just kind of fell flat, like, right in the middle, uh,
for me. And, uh, it never really picked back up. It's also one of those smokes that you think that, okay, maybe, uh, there's just a little lull in the middle right. And it's going to kind of pick up back on the end. Right. You're going to get a lot more of that spice that you got out of the dog walker. Uh, you're going to get a little bit more weight out of the smoke. At that point, I did not know it never happened. I did not know they were same binder and filler that
was in the dog walker. I didn't even look at the specs. I just know they were different sizes. So you guys said that binder, filler. And wrapper, same smoke. Yeah. When you guys all said that, I was like, there is no way. Those are just, like, on polar opposites for me. Yeah. Well, I think that in every case, there's a good one for you and a bad one for you, so we'll give it a sips rating of a two. Um, anyway, I, uh, really hate that for both of you that you
had construction problems and then you had spice problems. I would encourage you to revisit it. No, I mean, that's fine. You could say no. I'll try anything twice. Yeah, for sure. And I'm the same way. If I don't like it the first time, change your environment, change what you're doing. It's like the first time. I, uh, some other stuff. More rum? Um oh, yeah. You could get some really good rums with this, for sure. Yeah. So we like to discuss everything good in life here on
this podcast. So how are you guys what are you guys finding good in life at. The moment, other than reading? Uh, tutor? Yeah, the reading, uh, A Totor. It was spelled T-O-O-T-E-R-I was waiting for it to be spelled wrong. Why would somebody know that if they don't know how. To read? Reading is good. Can we start the story now? Yeah. Um, it's really great to enjoy a
brand like this. Uh, I think the one thing that I found myself, uh, when we were making our way through this product line, I don't know how to describe it, other than I just felt like it was, um, very lackluster. Really? Yeah. I don't know. I felt like this was, uh, a manufacturing decision that had been made a long time ago, and then they've just been working their tail off to try and maintain that taste profile for
a long time. And I don't know, I felt like it was just a dwarf or whatever it was originally. And I don't know why I got that. Uh, it's not like I smoked 724s, like, ten years ago, and now I'm smoking them again and going, wow, this is not the same. This was the first time I'd had them, but I don't was it didn't have a lot of wow or pop to it, and I just accepted dog walker. Yeah. Now he's got another cigar that we did not get to try this time, but, um, it's a barber pole, and I believe it's
a Connecticut. And Maduro, if I'm not mistaken, somebody can pull that up while we're talking. Um, that cigar, Nate, um, was actually talking to us about it before he had to leave. Um, he said that's the best cigar they've got in their lines. Huh. And so I'm going to encourage you guys to seek it out and try it. Let's try it and see what happens. A lot of sticks in our lives. I know it we have a lot of cigars in our lives. Oh,
my gosh. But as far as it's for me, as it's concerned, uh, I'm really liking what Kurt's doing. Would you buy a box? I would definitely buy a box. That's the big question. Lay down the big box. 20 sticks of one. Yeah, I would, because I think that worst case scenario, if I didn't have time for a Churchill, I'd cut it into a robusta. That thought crossed
my mind. I was like, well, maybe instead of a Ramrod, I'm just going to cut the Churchill in half and relight it and see if I can resurrect this. I've actually shorter stick. I've had that happen on multiple cigars before that. I have gotten a Churchill. And it has happened to me with. You start smoking it, and you're like, man, this is really not what's up. And then you cut it to a Robusto five by whatever size, and it's just like, man, this is a completely different cigar at
this point. What about you, Ben? What are you enjoying? The wife and I just moved into a new house, moved, uh, out into the country a little bit, so I've got the right atmosphere to enjoy cigars a bit more. Right. The back porch and the starlit skies and the ceiling fan, it just sets. The mood for do your neighbors have all their natural teeth? Yes, actually, uh, we just met a couple of the neighbors, and one of them is a professor, and the other one's a school teacher. Um, 100% 724 is a
brand. That's boxworthy to me. And I would definitely try out Hustler barber pole. Yeah, that Hustler barber pole is going. To be Montefina, ecuadorian, Connecticut. That's what it is. Ecuadorian, Connecticut. All right, so, um, we're going to start wrapping this episode up. That's right. So great stuff today, guys. I'd like to thank our host, good Old boy Mike. Yeah. Thanks for joining us for another exciting episode of Sipsuds
and Smokes. Check out all of our episodes online. I'll ask you to keep on sipping. And good old boy Benjamin. And thanks for having me on the team, guys. Smoke them if you got them. And, uh, for me, good old Boy burger. Keep smoking whatever it is you smoke. I. Support you. Yeah, but would you still cut the Churchill in half? I probably would. You know, cutting a Churchill in a half doesn't make it a Robusto, right? It doesn't matter. That's just, like, your. Opinion, man.
I wish to register a complete yes, I do. We'll talk about it in small group. So it's a group therapy. I don't like Churchills. That's great. Oh, man, if only it were a ah. Uh, man, that cigar would have been awesome in a lancero. You are not taking that from me. No. Oh, my God. You better stop it. Have a good night, folks. Thanks for listening. Cheers. 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.
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