"The Crimson Knight Feat. Andrew Drazin." Ep. 38 6/6/26

How many cigars does it take to make a collection? What humidity should you keep your humidor at? Where does the inspiration for the Knights come from? All these questions are answered! It's OGT Cigar Society Night, or should I say Knight? Join Andrew and Eric in lighting up the new African Cameroon Crimson Knight box press and learn about the blend, the story, and more! 

Crimson Knight LINK: https://oakglentobacconist.com/product/ogt-exclusive-crimson-knight-toro-box-press-6x50/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Welcome to OGT Cigars Live Podcast, your neighborhood virtual cigar lounge. Each week we share in the cigar experience with the OGT Cigars community. Join Mallory and I as we explore the world of boutique and unique premium cigars. I'm Eric, founder of Oakland Tobacconist and the OGT Cigar Society. I have a deep passion, and some might say obsession, with cigars and cigar culture. Working as an artistic theater director previously inspires me to infuse entertainment into the craft I love. Learning never stops. And I invite you to follow in our cigar journey.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

I'm Mallory. While I don't ever claim cigar expertise, I've always been a foodie who's obsessed with scent and flavor. I can be counted on to provide bizarre tasting notes, such as the Home Depot Garden Center or Grandma's Basement, which always leads to good conversation. And good conversation is truly my favorite part of enjoying cigars with friends.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Welcome to OGT Cigars Live, where conversation lights up. I had released a video earlier this week about what is a Maduro cigar. What's a Maduro wrapper? What makes it Maduro? This Variety Club drop is five different cigars, but all Maduro wrappers, different varietal seeds. So you can explore the new products, some of the uh tried and true products, sporting a Maduro wrapper and see the different experiences they offer. And now I want to focus on our final one. This is a cigar that is shrouded in mystery and shadow. The opportunity to work with such a prestigious factory, one of the most popular factories in all of Nicaragua. However, unfortunately, the main like condition was we cannot disclose who this is from. I will say the cigar was too good to leave behind. Feel so blessed with working with this factory. We're continually cultivating this relationship with that factory. We have come to nickname the factory, so you're gonna see many others. I hope if this goes the way I plan and hope it does go. We have dubbed it the Shadow Factory. The name, the identity lives in shadow, but I will say this cigar is absolutely superb. This is the first project we are releasing with the Shadow Factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. It is an aged product. It is a 6 by 60 box press figured out that we have come to call Chaos Theory. The whole concept of the butterfly effect, the whole concept of chaos theory, you have this rippling effect. One chance, one small thing happens that extends to so many others. And that's what I really feel with the opportunity to work with this. It maybe starts off small in a smaller project. We're debuting here in the OGT Variety Club, but I have no doubt that this is going to have some lasting rippling effects. Keep your eyes on the horizon. We have amazing cigars and a few spots open for this month's drop, so don't be late to it. Hello everybody, and welcome back to another episode OGT Cigars Live here at the OGT uh studio on the East Coast in somewhat sunny, warm North Carolina. Uh, we're excited for another episode. I am Eric from OGT Cigars, and joining me, special guest once again, my brother Andrew Drazen. All right, it's gonna be a good show tonight. Uh, just like we did with Emerald Knight last month, I figured why not bring on the main artist, uh, the one who came up with the concept art for uh Crimson Night. And this is the OGT Cigar Society evening. So Well, thanks for having me on. Yeah, it's gonna be great. Glad to be here. I think we got some comments coming up, right? We got a read. We do, we do, we do, and it's gonna be great because uh, as a part of the society night, uh, as you guys are joining in, if you are a member, you'll all smoking the same thing together. Yes, we are smoking the Crimson Night Crimson Night Cameroon, which I'm super excited about. Um, as I see comments are dropping down, as always, I will invite you, not only invite, but encourage you, drop down your comments. Uh, let us know your questions, comments, concerns. I'd love to pull them up because the show is always more engaging when you do just that. Indeed. Engage in the show. Sorry for cutting you off all the time. No, it's it's uh working out the kinks and such like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Work in progress. It's gonna be great, though. Uh, and as I see, we got a lot of comments jumping down. Uh, someone named Andrew Drazen dropped a comment saying, uh, hey, who stole my phone? Daniel Frazier is on saying hello. Uh, also saying a little under the weather, so took a night off. Now, that's also the case for Mallory right now. Yeah, that's why I'm filling in. Yeah. Sorry, guys. Well, it's not the only reason. Not the only reason. No, we wanted you on to talk about the art and the concept, but uh yeah, uh, once again, Mallory is kind of feeling a little bit under the weather. Something's going around. Yeah, it definitely sucks. But then you have to hear that, Daniel. You have to wonder like the the Paul Stuak mentality is like, even if you're sick, just smoke through it. Like, yeah, it just clears it all out. Right. Just smoke the sickness out. Where where do you uh land on that? Will you try to smoke through it? Were you uh I've tried and it just made it worse. Remember the Florida trip we took? Oh, yeah, yeah. And I tried to do that, and it just, oh man, that was a that was really bad for me. Yeah, yeah. But but then there's sometimes where like if I feel it coming on, I will smoke through it, and sometimes it will just go away. I mean, there are some concepts of saying that like it actually nicotine and helps in certain things, so it's not true. Uh let's see here. Faceless Orchestra saying, What's up, everyone? I'm having a crimson night and pairing it with a saloon door brewing. Tasty AF peanut butter and chocolate stout. Nice, very, very nice. Um, you you tried after the last pairing concept of Emerald Knight and Guinness, you tried that, didn't you? Yeah, yeah, it was really good. I recommend it. Nice, nice. I want, I don't remember if that was Frasier, Daniel Fraser. Yeah, someone uh recommended it on the last podcast. Yeah. And after I hear that, I was like, I've got to try it. And it worked, yeah, it worked pretty good. There we go. Uh Rob Brown saying, Hey everyone, uh, forgot to bring a Crimson Knight to work, so I'm smoking a double dose. Well, that's not bad either. Yeah, that's not a bad choice. That's still in the running for potentially my cigar of the year. We forgive you, Rob. In fact, if you want, just send them back this way if you feel really bad. Uh, let's see here. RJ saying hello, Andrew and Eric. Looking forward to the show tonight. I'm enjoying an emerald night along with some crystal light ice. It's hot here in Philadelphia. Nice, it's starting to warm up as well. Now, that is going to be a discussion I hope we'll have is Emerald or Crimson. Yes. Because I have my you know. I think that is a great thing. We're gonna have to put it to a vote as as we continue for sure. And these are the only two uh so far, these are only two. Just imagine your decision on five soon. That's right. And having them all side by side is it's killer. Uh, Faceless Orchestra says, Eric, we love your art. It's not my art, it's his art. He's the one that actually made it. So um, I had I basically came up with some ideas and said, Hey, what can we do with this? Um it was a collaboration. Yeah, it's cool it's cohesive, it's cohesive. But uh, what what is I will say the big thing about the art produced uh here at OGT, uh and the art that he produces is none of it is AI, it's all organic on the paper. That's why you'll see some, you know, you may see some problems in it, and you'll be like, oh, why is that line so squiggly, or why is this uh bicep looking square or whatever? Hey, it's just my style, and it is all with pencil and ink. So I had the privilege, and I'm gonna give a shout-out to Wendell Cigar Company in Wendell, North Carolina. They're about 50-55 minutes away from us, and they just opened up a cigar shop. So uh, I believe Jason and Tucker, congrats for you guys opening the shop. It was an awesome reception, but was able to talk with them and they had said they've been following OGT and they were saying that they love the art. And uh, I remember one of them saying it has this concept of almost like tattoo art, which I think is a big influence that you have. Yeah, no, that's uh I thank you for that because um I've always been into I've never tattooed, so don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed or anything here, but I've always made found it very fascinating. I love the style traditional tattoo art, yeah, love it. Um, I was a big fan of Inkmasters for a long time watching all that, yeah. Whatever. Nice, but yeah, got you can see it through the influence. Yeah, I I came up with my design for my own tattoo. I do have one tattoo, and I came up with the design, but then had someone do it for me. Awesome. Awesome. So, guys, keep those comments coming down. We're gonna keep pulling them up, but I think we have to light up a cigar. It's it's almost 10 minutes in on a cigar podcast, and we haven't lit it up. So, uh, as I had mentioned, we're lighting up the Crimson Knight for anyone if you've been living under a rock. Uh, the Crimson Knight is the uh most recent OGT Cigar Society drop. Um, it comes from the Valakari factory. Once again, uh, this is I understand is nearly two years of age going on. It's wrapped in an African cameroon wrapper uh with a Nicaraguan binder and filler. What do you get on the nose? Almost hay. Hey? Yeah, earthiness. Yeah. Yep. Earthiness and a bit of almost like a perfume sweetness, too. I don't know what that's weird. Maybe it's something like soap on your hands. Good, good open draw, which is great. Uh, so let's get this lit. Today's cigar is brought to you by the OGT Cigar Society membership. Enjoy a five-pack of premium custom cigars each month at an undeniable price. Join the community and smoke with us on the Oakland Tobacconist YouTube channel as we delve into the rich experience of boutique and craft cigars. You can find out all about the subscription and a whole host of amazing blends by following us on social media. Look for us at Oakland Tobacconist or OGT Cigars. All right, I got mine lit. Uh, Andrew's having a few issues. I tend to turn the flame pretty high up, too high up.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

There's a chat going out of this thing.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

Light his hat on fire. Um, but just got this lit up. The thing that I love about this cigar is so often, and for good reason, but so often in the cigar industry, Cameroon wrappers are paired with more medium body cigars. Now, or I should say medium strength cigars. Now, while I would say this is medium edging to medium plus, it is full body, full flavor in my mind. One of the spiciest Cameroons that I've come across. Yes, yeah. And so that that's where I wanted to come up with, or not come up with, but just the opinions and stuff. Because Cameroon, I think I've only had the AJ Okay, New World Cameroon. So name uh tell me what cigars do you carry in your humidor right now that have honestly? There's not a lot, and that's mostly because I've tried Ecuadorian Cameroon. I mean, I have only one example, it's probably pretty good, but I didn't care for the example I tried. Um, so we only have a few with authentic Cameroon. Now, I can only verify that from what I've talked to the blenders. So I'm taking their word, yeah, and I trust these blenders, so I don't see any reason why not to. Now, have you had a Cameroon that was uh uh Ecuadorian, right? Is that a region where it comes from? Yeah, I had an Ecuadorian Cameroon. Uh, I don't really necessarily want to name the cigar, I just wasn't impressed with it. Okay, it didn't have the inherent like sweetness and savory and earthy element that I like in most Cameroon cigars. Okay. Um, so we have the New World Cameroon by AJ Fernandez. Uh, we have the Hearno Evil by Shafio Cigars, which is an excellent one. And then we also did not in the society, but a custom project was nope rope sweet venom. That was the first Cameroon. Now, all of those really good flavor uh definitely don't come as spicy or as uh aggressive as this one. Yeah, and this one, I think with you asking for a knight that is red in this sense, yeah. I think this fits this cigar perfectly. A hundred percent. Yeah, I'm really happy with how the cigar turned out to fit this the battle cry. Well, and it's funny because I was not looking for the red knight when I found this blend, and I was like, honestly, it just it's so aggressive in the beginning that I'm like it just fits on there. Um, let's pull up some more comments, and then we have a very special announcement to make. Uh, RJ says the Crimson Knight has moved into my number two cigar of the year right now. Well, there you go. All right, awesome. Glad to hear you enjoy it. Uh see onions 1.1 is on saying, hey buddy. Well, thanks for jumping on, man. Uh Daniel Frazier, I still have the Emerald over the Crimson myself. Okay. So we got like one and one here going on. RJ says, I like to smoke a cigar when my nasal passages are wide open when sick. There you go. We did too, didn't we do it on the show where you we did the nasal passage thing? Or was it just Mallory and I that did it on the show? Or did we just hang out and smoke it where you do the tape on your nasal? I think we just hung out and smoked. Yeah, we put the the nasal openers or whatever. Yeah, strip. It's it's interesting. It is. People should give it a try. It is an interesting. Uh, let's see here. Chris is on saying, had to say hi, Eric, but going to have to uh go. Let's go, golden nights. Well, nice, awesome. Thank you for jumping on. Uh, sorry, I meant his art. I knew that. I meant Andrew. Says the faces orchestra. Well, there we go. RJ says, Yeah, all these five cigars are going to be tough to save and arrest and not smoke. Going to have to get past uh that note to remind me. Well, very quickly, I'm gonna take a pause for our special announcement. For tonight's show, just for tonight's show, we have launched the availability of Crimson Night. For all of our uh members, I haven't told anyone else. Um, this is available at OGT Cigars right now. Um, if you want to get maybe another five pack, another 10 pack, it is available in very limited supply, but just as we did with the Emerald Knight, uh, so that way you're not having to not experience the cigars. Pick up another five pack, pick up another 10 pack or even a bundle. It is available tonight with a great, awesome deal. And we're kind of giving a small kickback on the deal as well. So for every five-pack that you guys pick up tonight, uh, you're gonna be entered into a raffle. And so if you get a 10-pack, you get uh three uh raffle tickets. If you pick up a bundle, you get five. We're raffling off two prizes just as a way to say thank you while loading up on Emerald Knight. Uh, I'll show the first one here. Uh, once again, we have the best for last. Like we did uh last one. Uh, we have a beautiful post art of the Crimson Knight. One of you guys are gonna win this, so pick up a five-pack at the very least, and you'll be entered into a raffle. But also just pick it up while it's available. This cigar, there's not a lot of supply. Yeah, and it's tough because you only get five through the society unless you have the you know, the double one. Um, and I smoke through these too fast, so I had a you know, I needed some more to have for the collection. So guys, this is your chance to pick them up. So pick it up, it's available at OGT. And number one prize you will get is the magazine with my brother on the front page for PC. I felt really dumb about now. The reason I'm doing this is uh because I got several requests last time, and even someone reached out and said, Hey, I really want a magazine. Three was it, three pages, four pages. Uh, I think it's like a three, three, four pages, yeah. Of the story of how OGT got started, all of that. Yeah, so I I like I said, uh, I had Andrew volunteered to introduce that because I feel really self-conscious about that. I think it's really silly, but as a joke, even if you want to use it as uh, I don't know, scrap paper to draw on or to draw squiggly lines, uh, we're gonna raffle off one of these very it's weird, but very difficult, hard to get a hold of hard copy of PCA magazine. And you're gonna have to sign it. Yes. Well, we you're gonna sign the poster, and I'm gonna sign the magazine. Uh, once again, every five-pack you pick up enters you into this raffle. And tomorrow everything ships out. So we'll be sending that. Don't sleep on it while Crimson Knight is available. Pick it up. It's an incredible cameroon. So had to mention that. Uh, let's see here. Uh uh, you had a comment about uh Emerald Knight still being his favorite. I'm gonna have to agree with him. And and I want to see what everyone's palettes are. Put that down in the comments because on how spicy this cigar is. You know that I'm not, yeah, I'm not that much of a spicy guy, but you are, and that's why I think you are you're loving the cigar. I I really like it. It just the first part is is my favorite part. It's hard to retrohale this thing sometimes. Now I will say, and then that is something I want to know. So drop down in the comments, guys. What is your favorite? Are you uh Emerald Knight being your favorite or Crimson Knight? Um, for me, I will say Crimson Knight is my favorite out of the two, but I really like Emerald Knight for what it does, and that being it really gives an experience that we have not necessarily had at OGT. The the the Brazilian Habano, it's got some really like interesting transitions, especially for a five by 54 Robusto. It's not a really long cigar, but no, but the flavors on it for me. Um my flavor for when I'm looking for a cigar, it it did hit the marks that I was looking for, especially. I mean, in a early afternoon cigar, that thing's great. It can even go well, coffee, yeah, yeah. Even morning, you know. So yeah, so put your vote down. This is the time to put the vote down. Uh let's see here. David's saying, what about making t-shirts and hoodies? It's in the works. I I have to admit, as much as I like love to chase down and get like the best cigars I can find. Uh our swag game kind of lacks at times. So gotta gotta kind of work on that. But yes, I need to work on that. Uh the stickers, the stickers are really cool. Yeah, at least we do okay with stickers. Uh, we got Sean Hale on saying, What's up, fellas? Hey, I haven't heard Sean. I haven't heard from you in a while. Good to hear from you. Thanks for jumping on. RJ saying t-shirts or hoodies would be really good idea. Yes. I I need to actually like put this in my brain and make sure it happens, and not just be like, that is a good idea, like for sure. Uh, Sean's saying, I'm digging the variety pack. Thank you, uh, brother. Well, no, thank you so much. And uh, as you as I don't know if you saw the beginning video, we're gonna talk more about this variety pack, it's super special this month. Um, it's a banger. Nick says, Yeah, made it at the start. Going to have the society drop after dinner, so looking forward to it. So, since haven't lit up yet, best drink pairing suggestion. What would you, if you have the options available, what would you pair Crimson Knight with? Well, I would suggest because I have with the Guinness. We already talked about that earlier. The Guinness is really good. Um what bourbon would you or what spirit would you say would go well with this? Where my mind's going is is a probably a rum because for the sweetness. Yeah, the rum's gonna bring more sweetness out, it's gonna cut some of that spiciness if you don't necessarily want that. Maybe bring some more maple in the mix of like the savory element that exists here. Yeah, so okay, that's where I would go. But yeah, it I don't drink beer, so that's normally why I don't recommend that. If because I don't know, but Guinness works pretty well. Good old course coors light, you know. Make sure those mountains are blue, guys. There you go. So yeah, in and if you don't have uh if you don't have rum, if you have a scotch or a bourbon that maybe aged in a sherry cask, that might also help as well. Uh Daniel Fraser says a cherry coke zero is what you should pair it with. There you go. He also says a signed copy, of course. Wink. Um RJ says, Can I buy a signed magazine from you? This is the ridiculous thing about it, is that you have to win it. Well, you have to there's so you can't buy I'm not even joking when I'm saying my my own family members, like, can I get a copy? I'm like, no, I don't, I don't really have any. So, and and I can't get a hold of them. Like, I've ever been like, you can read the digital copy, but unfortunately, it's priceless, guys. For one reason or another, it's priceless. I hope I win so I can sell it on eBay. Uh, Raider Dave saying, Eric, this cigar is amazing, very oppressed. I paired it with Andrew's awesome art. It's a great combination. Thank you, Raider Dave. Thanks for jumping on. Uh, I'm gonna pose the same question to you, Raider Dave, since you've got like a library of bourbon. Yeah, out of your library, uh, what have you paired or what would you suggest pairing Crimson Knight with? I would like to know. That would be pretty cool. Uh okay, David says, hands down, Crimson Knight wins. Okay. Okay. Uh Nick says, two-pack ordered. Come on, poster, need to add to the OGT wall. Well, thank you so much, Nick. Yeah, you got three raffle tickets uh to win either either prize. One's really cool and one's another magazine. So you got their magazine. Uh let's see, raffle off your hat. Uh, you won't. I don't know if you'd want this hat. It's it's been through it. It's been through it. Uh, let's see here. I can't pick one or the other. They're two completely different cigars. I enjoy them both. The best way I can do this when when someone asks that, like, which is your favorite? Yeah, is more of like, which do I want more stocks in my humidor? That's like the way I make that decision. It's like, do I want more emerald night in my humidor or want more crimson based on the last couple of months? I think I'm leaning towards crimson night. Emerald for me. Split. Let's hear. Uh, Daniel Fraser says, I picked up a variety sub for this month. It's just way too good to pass up. Thank you so much. It is, and we're gonna get into what makes it so special. Well, and with the price, guys, come on. Like it's it's no joke. You save 20 bucks on this five pack. Yeah, yeah. It's pretty cool. Uh okay, so Nick says, I like Guinness and I've been in a rum mood lately. So awesome. Try them both. Both. Yeah. It's almost the weekend. Uh Mr. P. Henley, small batch for roses, uh, and Barrett's ginger beer. I enjoyed it with a crimson night. First, third with this pair was a rocket ship. Nice. I can see that. That sounds really cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very nice. Now, ice or no ice. Oh, that's true. Watered down or straight. Yeah. Uh, let's see here. Nick says I'll add the magazine to the wall. I mean, yeah, it's up to your discretion. Uh, Raider Dave says, for bourbon, I suggest pairing with a toasted bourbon or toasted process brings out more of the wood sugars in the barrel. The whiskey is typically sweeter. There you go. There you go. There's there's two people that I know like in our immediate community that I've like talked to a lot about stuff like this, and that's whiskey Batman, which is Curtis, and then there's Raider Dave, who like he's sent me pictures. He literally has like a library of bourbons. It's really cool, really cool. And Mr. P. Henley says ice. So there you go, refreshing summertime. Yep, yep. Well, thank you guys. Keep those comments down while it's available. Check out Crimson Knight over at OGT. We have more to talk about, though, uh, because we're talking about the Cameroon cigar that is Crimson Knight, but I have a question for you. This is the second release in this series of five, and Emerald Knight seemed like the art was very well received. What's the pressure like, or what's the challenges like when you're like, okay, I gotta come up with another concept art, maybe to be as good or raise the bar or whatever? Like, what's that process like? Well, I mean, coming out with the Emerald Knight first was more of like you asking for coming up with the idea first, right? Okay. And what these nights are going to pretty much look like throughout. Because each one, you know, so far we've got two of them. Um they're they're in the same realm. Um the trail blazer uh wanted to make him look tired and just kind of like was cool, which was really cool. He's seen some things, yeah. He's seen some things, he's been just roaming the land, he's been going at it all day, you know. Um, and then when you said I wanted one for the battle cry, yeah, and we were going back and forth. You want him aggressive, you want him into like a battle scene almost. Well, like so. We and this is where we it's cohesive. Our collaboration came because it was more of Eric, what are you sort of envisioning with this this pose and this guy, also? And so it wasn't more of scared or like, oh man, the pressure is high. It's more of I got more inspirated after the first one. Okay, because when you told me when you came with this idea at first, I was on board because this is something that I like doing in the first place. It interests me. I like the whole idea of it, and so the second one coming around, it was more inspiration and more of okay, now I can play a little more with it. So it's expanding that world, yeah. Okay, and so expanding it, especially with his pose. Um, I wanted him to be in the midst of it, yeah. And I wanted him as as we're in the midst of this with the pepper, and like, wow, this is a pretty good punch to my you know, my palate and everything. I wanted that same pose on the yeah, and I mean, I think the added touches, one, I really like the the the arrows coming out of them from like every air which way, but it's not stopping the battering right, it just keeps going. Um, I love the flamed eyes as well, just kind of his rage buildup. And I also like the added touch of the mace, and I know we talked a lot about that too. Yeah, but it's just the I don't know. Seeing a knight with a mace is rarely like in a somber tone, it's usually in a menacing one, yeah. Um, which I think is really cool. Um yeah, I think it matched up perfectly. Um, I don't necessarily want to pose the question of like which is the favorite art between the two, except I don't I would like to know from the person who made it like out of those two finished product, which one do you like more? Um I it's hard, it's hard to say because each one has its own, in a sense, pose and style, yeah, and they represent two different things. Um but I it's hard. I like the idea of the crimson being in the battle with all the arrows and everything. Because like I when I was you know coming up with the design and everything, it was just him with the mace at first, and I'm like, he's missing something. He needs to be shown that you know, like he's in the midst of it, yeah. And so then I put those arrows in there, and I was like, Oh, that's that's what he needed. And then with the Emerald Knight, I like his armor set and how kind of unproportional he is. Yeah, yeah. Because I don't know. When I look at uh the Emerald Knight, I look at him, he's like I feel like he's short, but but he's you know, he's I don't know. There's just short but reliable, yeah. There you go. Yeah, I mean that's what the art speaks to me in terms of like you were saying, him being tired, being haggard, he's been through a journey himself, but like the the kind of the faithful scout that's always there. Yep, yeah. Whereas uh the Crimson Knight, especially when it came to the cigar, when we were talking about it and when the art was like created, it's like this cigar, you need to know you're smoking a cigar when the cigar lights up, and that's really kind of the movement of the Crimson Knights. Yeah, and I gotta say you were the one that asked for those horns too on its helmet. Because at first you didn't have those, and then you you were like, What if we had it where each one had some horns in there? Yeah, and so then I was like, All right, well, let's put them on the helmet and see how that looks. And and I mean, here's where I I think it could go too far. I don't know, but I get really nerdy and geeked out to where I'm like, okay, what is this story? I even con I was like, maybe I should do short stories of like every single night because of just like I love the concept. But part of the idea with the horns is that I feel like in this order of knights, this group of knights that are this elite like force, um part of them earning their way into the order is they have to quote unquote earn their horns, basically. And each is a different style because they each represent a different part of what they bring, and also a different part of the like tobacco growing process. Um, and so like like I think the Emerald Knight as as shown on his shield kind of represents like the actual tobacco leaf and the concept of that. So it's really cool, really uh expansive. I I'm super excited for this project and uh more exciting things in the works, yes. And you've for the most part completed all the artwork. Yes, they are all five. We've came up with the you know uh the poses, the nights, the colors. Um, but I'm still one of those ones that I'll look I'll look back at them and I go, uh, maybe I'll come up with another pose and another and then give you options. I like giving options. Yeah, well, and and this is I would say this breaks from the mold from a lot of the ways we uh drop cigars in the society, and that being from like, I'll either we'll be blending a cigar with the manufacturer, or we'll get a hold of something really rare and really cool that we're like this is society worthy, and then the concept comes from the cigar. This is a it's a bit off kilter. This is like create finding the cigar to fit the concept, which is not something very common that we do. I mean, the times that we've probably done that is like I would say like a Halloween cigar. Okay, I do know I want it to be like forceful and powerful, right? But in terms of the nights, like as I said, I was not thinking when I first lit this up immediately, like red night, but I was like, this is what this cigar is. Like, that's what the cigar is saying. So it's interesting, yeah. And it's been fun to go through that, you know, trying the cigar to fit the nights and all that stuff, and find which one fits them. And yeah, everything is it's really cool. It's yeah, it's it's a really special process. Uh, Raider Dave is saying, Now, not no, I am not an alcoholic, I just enjoy collecting and trying new whiskey. I mean, I'm right there with you. I mean, I'm not a cigar a holic, but uh it's just like trying new things. Um, so with the part of the society, uh, is always also with education and trying new things. I want to talk a little bit about misconceptions for people along their cigar journey. This is for all of you guys as well. Drop down in the comments. What are some of the biggest misinformation or misconceptions you had at the beginning of your cigar journey? Now, I will say smoking a Cameroon, one of the biggest things for me, and I've mentioned this before, I've talked about this in interviews or or on our podcasts, I didn't have a big circle of friends who are in cigars. So so much of it was like organic, trying to learn as much as I could. And uh part of that was the misconception around tobacco seed varietals. Well, can I say something remote? Yeah, I think it it it's it's cool to see um, you know, growing because when I growing up as 18 in my early 20s and stuff, you're right. There the you don't really have friends that smoke cigars, yeah, unless you start going to a lounge. But by at that time, you're young, and when you enter a lounge with a lot of older guys in there, the most welcoming environment sometimes. At that time, um, I would say OGT lounge in California was the exception. That was an open arms shop that it didn't matter where you came from, you were just welcome. And I think that's also why I got into cigars too, because I saw that side of the lounge. Um but yeah, it back back in that time, it was hard to get information about cigars, it was, and it wasn't something that you had a group of friends that you talked about cigars, yeah. But I've seen a lot, I mean, just because I'm in it with you now, with all of this, I do have friends now that are in cigars, and it's cool to see and come up with oh, all these things that I've heard are kind of you know, where did we get those misconceptions about? You know, like where did we hear this from in the beginning? Yes, and and actually uh on that note, Rob Brown brings up one of the ones that was also mine, and that was the 70-70 rule. Yep. Now, I think it's funny because if not to say he would ever watch this podcast, but if Steve Soccer heard me talking about this now, being like it wasn't easy to get information, he'd probably laugh me out of the room because he comes from the side in like the early mid 90s to where it was like you couldn't find anything on cigars, and you basically just have to trust whatever the salesman is saying that where the cigars from. So then we fast forward to like uh 2015, 2016, and there was information, but it was really only from big like companies, online companies, and then you had smaller companies start to pop up, like Tim Swanson of Cigars Daily, and more readily available. So the 7070 rule was one uh which really I think the reason it's such a bad rule is it that it it creates this sense of panic for people who've never had a humidor before, yeah, because they think, oh my gosh, it's got to be 70 and 70, and I've got to check on it every hour. And I've learned like there's just I don't like my cigars in the 70s. No, it's too high. Yeah, I like them in like the 64, maybe uh 65 range. I I don't know. I I don't like smoking a wet cigar. No, yeah, it dampens the flavor, it does, and then you get I don't know if drop down in the comments if you've noticed this with wet cigars, but it turns into a brick if it's too wet, and coal hardens up, and then you're like you're tapping and you can hear the ding ding ding. It's like, whoa, what happened to this cigar? But I think that's because of the humidity, yeah, yeah. Well, and so kind of on that front, um, but that could be a misconception I have. Well, no, but see, this is a big, very important rule. I would say you need to start at some humidity point, but overall, the environment which you live, whether you're in Arizona where it's crazy dry, you're in the Rockies of high altitude, whether you're in Florida where it's crazy humidified, this is gonna affect where you keep your humidity. Yes. And often than not, you need to start somewhere and then let the tobacco, let the cigars tell you what you need to do. You explaining that, or even there's been many times we'll light up a cigar and you're like, uh, taste over humidified. Yeah. I bet three, four years ago, if someone said that, you'd be like, What do you mean tastes over humidified? But you can start to taste it.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:30

And so if this continues to happen, let's say if you have a desktop humidor and it uh you've had these cigars in there for months and months and months, and it continues to happen, okay, that's the cigars telling you lower the humidity. Yeah. Or if you have a lot of cracking, up the humidity. So so much of it I learned, like, and I've said this before at our in our own humidor here at the shop, as the seasons change, I am constantly changing the humidity because it needs to lower, it needs to hire. So that's why that 70-70 rule is dangerous. I think it's one of those, like I guess, maybe generic, like or like in a sense, a safe bet rule to go by. Sure. Like uh run of the mill, average, yeah, 70 is good. Right. You won't get crucified for recommending that, yeah, but it's technically not right. Right. And I think maybe I mean it could be a good base to go by first, but like you were saying, I I think it just goes with more experience of smoking cigars and how you they you know they are in your home. Yeah. Because your your house changes all the time too. Well, and even with the shop, now I think that the bigger you your humidor, the more forgiving it is. But if you have a humidification system that you're confident with that can bring that humidity in whatever room or space you have relatively quick, there are a lot of times, like even at the shop in Oakland, the door would be open. Someone's like, Oh, do I need to close this? And I'm like, actually, it needs to air out a little bit. Let's leave it open for a minute or two. Because it's the humidity, you're not gonna be in trouble after one hour. Cigars are resilient, a lot more resilient than people think they are. Yeah, but also you want to rotate, you don't want that dead, stagnant, humid air all the time. You need it to rotate. Yeah, uh, we got a few comments here. Let's see here. Ben is saying crimson night, clear winter so far, pairing with a Bunahaven 12-year-old single malt scotch, great pairing. Cameroon wrapper cigars with a sherry aged whiskey, great pairing. Nice, very nice. Living the highlights, yeah. That sounds like a great pairing. Uh, Nick is saying high humidity I found gets squishy and refuse to stay lit. Yes, yes, and sometimes, unfortunately, and this is not just from arriving from shops, but sometimes you'll have cigars that arrive that way. I've even had it uh, and you've even can attest to this when we're uh testing like several samples, and I was feeling it's too humidified. Dry box it for a day, and hopefully that helps. And and if you're lucky, you've shown me the trick of hey, it feels too uh humidified. I'm just gonna set it away, let it rest for maybe while you smoke another one, and then if you go back to it, yeah, you might get lucky and it might that seemed to happen with you last night a little bit, right? Yep, yeah, yeah. Uh let's see here. RJ, when I first got into cigars, I really tried my hardest to keep the 70-70 rule with a desktop humidor, was consistently keeping an eye on it and was just too much maintenance to keep up with. Now I have tuppedors with electric need one winador, and like my cigars 65-ish. Yes, me too. Best move I've made by switching from tuppedors and a winador. You definitely have less finicky aspects to it for sure. And you really got to realize like, is your humidor? Do you want it to be a showpiece? Then go Spanish Cedar. Do you want it to just be the old reliable tuppado's and electric humidifiers are not bad? So yeah. Uh, let's see here. Raider Day, the biggest misconception I learned was not uh true, quick was dark wrapper means strong, light wrapper means light cigar. Yes, that's a good one, too. In fact, we just did a video on that. Yeah, I was gonna mention that too. It was like, oh, uh, or uh it's a Maduro. Oh, that's gonna be too strong. And I can't, you know, I I I'm not in the mood for a Maduro because it'll kick my butt, you know?

SPEAKER_02 38:15

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

Where no, there's plenty of Maduros that do not kick my butt, and then I have a Connecticut that does kick my butt, and it's like, yeah, yeah, big misconception. And actually, my belief um is that the reason we deal with that is the American markets because originally when Maduro's came on scene, they're they're known as a translation ripe and they were sweeter and they're like darker y notes, but not necessarily stronger notes. But as blenders were like craving, uh or at least the consumers were craving stronger cigars in the end of the 90s and 2000s, then they blended them because the Maduro wrapper blends pretty well with strong Lajero tobacco. So then it was like, Oh, you didn't know that darker cigar means stronger. And then people felt like there were being a trick was being pulled when they wouldn't have a stronger cigar in Maduro, so more often than not, it's catered to. Gotcha. It's really interesting. Uh, Nicole says, dry climate here. So I keep my humidor in my bathroom closet. There you go, dark and keeps the humidity a little better. And I use a Boveda packs. I would definitely say that is a tip I would give, and Nicole kind of touched on it. Keep it out of the sun and out of your hottest room in the house. Yes, basically what you want. That you that's a good step there. Um, David's saying, My problem is I bought so many cigars from OGT, I have no more room in my humidor. Gotta smoke them. That doesn't sound like a problem, to be honest. That just sounds like a good time. Um, I will say too, and I know Rob Brown is watching, and he can attest to this. Uh, in the past, what I've done, especially if it's cigars that I'm not necessarily aging, but going through Bovida, like big humidity bags, they do the trick and they're like five bucks. Yeah, I I have uh certain bags of like like keeping some of the nights in, um, some other ones that I'm saving for certain occasions. I'll put them in a bag with its own Bovida pack and I just you know store it away and it and keep it in a nice cool shaded place, you know, not into the sun. It's the way they do it. You you want to hear one of my worst confessions when it comes to cigars? All right. So when I when I really got into cigars when I was like 22, 23, and I actually maybe I was 20. This now, just as a as a as a uh just to throw it out there, this is way before OGT even existed. I didn't know what I was doing. I and I researched this was before I got into humidors. I didn't even know you could age cigars, so I was like, I'll buy a bundle of cigars. This whole bundle costs a whopping 50 bucks. Every cigar is $2.50. This is the high life. And I would throw them in a Ziploc bag, but to humidify it, I would run a paper towel under the faucet and throw it in there and be like, that's good for a month. And uh by the end, like after week three, scraping the mold off. I was just like, wow, cigars tend to have like an odor about them, like after not very good. Don't recommend it. But these are these are the things you just gotta go through trial and error to learn what not to do. Yeah, so yeah, that was not good. Uh okay, Nicole says, not a bad problem to have too many cigars. There you go. David, I have the same problems as Raider Dave. Uh, let's see here. Dapper Prof says they call that the first world problem. Yeah, exactly. And are just saying I'm with you on that. Um, what would you what would you guys say? What is because we talk a lot about like what makes a company boutique cigars? And a lot of the time people say it's production amount, how many cigars they produce, which I don't know. There's a whole we could go on that bunny trail. But how many cigars represents what you could say with confidence, I have a decent cigar collection. Is there a number you could like a minimum number you can attach to that? Is it like one box of cigars equals a good collection? Is it a hundred cigars, 250? And I will answer I will answer this. Uh put this down in the comments, guys. I want to know what what is a respectable number of cigars to say I have a decent collection. I feel like if you have your own like display humador plus a winador, and then maybe some in the box, then you might be collecting. Okay. But is there a number to that? Uh I don't, I don't think there's a number, I think there's just a presentation. A presentation of this is my you know, this is my room where I keep it all. Well, you collect cigars then. All right. Yes, yeah. I for me to answer this question, I would have to go from a consumer standpoint where my mindset was in. And when I had my tower humidor and everything inventoried on my phone, I felt like I was coming close to having a respectable when I was reaching the 800 mark. That's why I was like, I can almost say at this point, like, I have a I have a good collection of cigars. Well, and then I also think it's the mentality of it too, because if you're like constantly looking at what's the new thing coming up, what's what's dropping, you know, checking out different brands and all that, then you're in it, you're in the game. Yes, so and cigars becomes an obsession. It it is, it was a massive obsession, and it was like, yeah, but what about the days that it's like really hot and really too humid? Well, actually, I need this cigar, I need a Perdomo for this, and I need a my father for this, and but so 800 was like bare minimum for me. Um, so I mean, yeah, back in the day, I would just be like, buy a box, buy box, buy box, and just like try to try what I could. Uh, let's see here. David saying, Let's store them at the OGT humidor. There you go. I have some resting for you guys. Uh, Raider Dave says, Eric, I did the same thing in my 20s, but put mine in a freezer. Uh, yeah, that's it, that's an experiment. Yeah, these are like cigarettes. But but Raider Dave, you would be surprised, or maybe you wouldn't, how many people at the shop like I would they Would be like, I need to get a pack, but how should I store them? I'm like, about to explain bovida. I'm like, I'm giving you one, it'll be good for a month. And they're like, in the freezer, right? I'm like, no, don't do that. Don't do that. Uh, okay, so David says 1,000 cigars over 1,000, respectable. I mean, yeah, that makes sense. Because the minute you say, I have a pretty decent, someone in the room is gonna be, actually, I have triple the amount. I have 1100. That hundred goes a long way, right? Uh, Nicole says, Wait, you're not supposed to smoke them? Just kidding. Very seriously, I don't uh like to hoard them too long there for enjoyment. That's also respectable. Yeah, that's something that I have learned in the last year or so. Is well, actually, since October, when I moved and I smoked everything I had, I literally smoked all the stuff that I was saving, all of the all of like the ones that I was like, Oh, I that's from that society, all that society. What was the last cigar you had in California? It was the clown uh clown sarrow. Nice, yep. Um, I had that was my last one that I was saving, but I'm like, well, I'm moving from California, closed chapter, starting a new one. Now it's time to start, you know, collecting different ones. But anyway, um I've learned too that it's like they do lose flavor at a certain point. They do so unless you want to keep them just to keep them, you might lose some of the flavor that you enjoyed when you first smoked it. That is true, that is true. I've had some that really became unsmokable. Yeah, I was really surprised not too long ago. I I gave you I pulled out a Padrone, and you're and disclaimer, you're not supposed to age Padrones. Uh, I just kind of like bought them for occasion and had them tucked away. But they had been resting for about eight years and they actually held up. I it was like my first Padron that I had that was in the high dollar sign. So I was like, wow, this is it. I was impressed with it. I was very impressed. Um, let's see here. Uh RJ says, I don't think a number for me just keep buying cigars. There you go. That's I mean, as a consumer, that's definitely where I was too. Uh, I can recommend Bovida Humidor bags, they are excellent, says Daniel Frazier. I don't overstuff my bags, though. I would say 100 to 150 and maybe rookie numbers for this group. Oh, uh, this is Ben saying this on uh for collectors. Uh yeah, I mean, uh those box humidors. I think I had one of those and it only held like 100 or 150. Yeah, and I had all those, and then I had the bag from your society, and then I, you know, stored the ones that I wanted to keep in that bag, and then my humidor was the ones that I would pick and smoke. Yeah, and I think it's all relative to how often you're smoking cigars, yeah. And so 100 to 150 depends also like on how many you smoke uh per per week or such like that. So that's totally relevant. Yeah, um I know for me when I was like trying to collect them, I was like, this way, if I don't buy a single cigar for the next like three years, I'll at least have one cigar to smoke a day. Like that was my goal. Uh let's hear Rob Brown says, I have a lot of cigars. I don't call them my collection, I call them my stock. So he's in the metality, he's locked in. Call them your babies.

SPEAKER_02 47:11

Oh my babies.

SPEAKER_01 47:12

I have about 1,000 cigars uh in stock. There you go. Nice. Mallory used to call the tower humidor I had the second wife because I was very obsessed with it. Um, okay, so very quickly, I want to cover a bit of news because we got some exciting things to talk about here. Uh, first of which, brand new release just hit OGT and will be shipping out uh as early as Monday. And that is the new Osgener Family Cigars Maracana. Now, this is really special because uh Tim Osgener originally, if people didn't know this, Tim Osgener was the creator of CAO cigars. Everyone knows the name CAO. Uh it was bought out by General, he sold out, and his family he and his family kind of got out of it. But one of their most popular cigars they ever created was the CAO Brazil. Amazing price point, Brazilian rapper, Dark Maduro. It just is kind of like the I don't know, it's kind of like the Honda of cigars, it just always runs. And so uh not crazy expensive, but he kind of became infamous for it. Well, now he's back, he's working uh with Crown Heads, he's got his own brand, and to give an ode to that, he has created a new blend called the Maracana, which is a Brazilian Ariparaca wrapper, and it's made at the My Father factory in Honduras. So Nicaraguan and Honduran binder, Nicaraguan Honduran fillers. Uh, I'm super excited about this. All box press. I smoked it. It's an incredible cigar. As I say, it's shipping out Monday. So it for some reason we had ordered quite a bit, but we only got a small allocation. Um, I think they're like trying to spread the wealth uh because it seems to be gonna be a very popular cigar. So that's really exciting. Yeah. Um, and that drops this Monday. It's it's available right now at OGT. Nice. It is, it just dropped today and it's shipping out as early as Monday. So yeah, check it out. Three different sizes. I recommend checking out the five and a half by 55 box press. That's the size I smoked it in. It was brilliant. Um, another bit of news, uh, and I suppose we should play this for further news. There are thousands of podcasts dedicated to world, national, and even local news. But the best part about sitting at your favorite local lounge is asking that friend what's new with you this week, or what are you smoking? And that's exactly what we want to know. Drop in the comments something notable that happened to you this week. A promotion of work, a cool vacation, or even that new burger joint you tried. We want to know. Get your commenting figures and put it down now. Okay, so full disclosure. I kind of primed the well for this bit of news uh because we're talking a lot about uh humidity and humidity packs. Um, we're all familiar with uh the tried and true, very popular Bovida Cigar Company. Sorry, Bovida Humidity Pack. Humidity company. I love them. This is the like if you don't ever want to worry about humidity, you go with Bovida. I recently saw a small article that came out, and they have a new product out, and it is called The Skipper. Now, this has nothing to do with cigars, but I thought this was really interesting. All of us uh stock our refrigerator as best we can for however you buy a I don't know, a week's supply of groceries, two weeks, a month, whatever. And in every most uh fridge uh refrigerators, they're the drawers, the crisper drawers. You're supposed to throw this skipper bag into that drawer and it keeps all of your perishables, your vegetables, crispy and fresh for that much longer. What? And I want to quote Half-Wheel uh because uh Half Wheel kind of was able to uh speak with the company. And according to the company, it says that uh the company says that the average US household discards roughly $1,600 of fresh produce annually, largely due to spoilage. That waste also contributes to an environmental concern as it emits uh methane to produce uh decomposition. So you throw this in and it creates a longer life for your perishables. Wow. This is really interesting. Yeah. Um, so they're more of trying to help the environment and help the uh waste of food at this point. Saving the cost. Now it doesn't necessarily admit humidity, it basically regulates it and has it stay at a point where I mean I'm assuming it's much like the bovida packs that are already created where you can get different like ratings, but it's basically to uh help moderate the climate within your CRISPR drawer in your refrigerator. Wow, I thought it was really interesting. Gotta try it out. Now, this I also bring this up because this is one of the first new innovations we see from Bovida. One of the most confusing things I will say about Bovida packs in general is that you have to look for the number and the grams, how many grams and what's the percentage on this? We Mallory and I came across a company, and I want to hear everyone's opinion on this because I'm curious. Uh, we came across a company at PCA called Valet that is changing the humidity pack game. And I want to know from you from you and also everyone watching, is it worth it to jump into this? And this company is known as Valet. Now, Valet uh has basically done the same thing, they have humidity packs, they can do uh different percentages. The differences with them is you can either put your company on it to basically advertise for your company, or if you get their stock product, as you see here, it says valet 65% humidity. It also says above it aging. This is bent if you want to age your cigars. If you want, how many cigars does it handle? It shows on the left 25. When do you replace it? Replace after three months. This is all like specific things. Cool concept. My concern though is that depending on where you live and what container is, that three month replacement's not necessarily accurate. However, well, I mean, uh, how long does uh the pro um bovida pack on its uh own last for? Is that also a three-month thing? It's anywhere. I've always gone with the you pick it up and you squeeze it, and if it's still juicy, yeah, you put it back in. If it's hard as a rock, you you replace it. And that's yeah, so that that's kind of a side note, like for what I would always tell people if it feels as the consistency of cardboard, it's time to replace it, basically. Um, but here's an added bonus that Valet has that Bovida doesn't. Let's say I don't necessarily want 65%, I want a higher percentage. Instead of having to look for the number, you look for the color. They have color-coded each particular humidity pack, which I think is a massive step up, step up. Because even if you're online and you're like Amazon or at OGT looking, like, which one do I want? You just look, I want the I got the green one last time. That's the one I'm looking for. It's happened to me when I purchased some. Yeah, I thought I was getting 69s, but I picked them up, I bought them, I got home, I tore them open. I was like, 74. Yeah, shoot. Yes, because it's hard to like figure out all those mechanics when it's just down to one number. Um, the added thing about valet, like I said, you can you can completely customize this all on the back. You can have your logo, you can have QR code for your website, all these types of things. I do like the the how it tells you this is good for 25 sticks. Do they have one for like 50 sticks? Do they have one for a hundred sticks? Like I believe they do, and yeah, it's a bigger gram for it. Yeah, that's cool. And it which is interesting too is like the 72 was designed, it says at the bottom, wood and non-airtight containers in moderate climates because it's 72%, they're allowing leakage, right? So, really, really interesting. Drop your comments down, guys. What do you think about this? Stay with Bovida or check out Valet. I would love to know what your thoughts are. Let's pull out it's always it's always good to have a little bit of competition, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And hear people's opinions on it for sure. RJ says, I will have a 45-minute commute to work when I move and really look forward to smoking cigars on the ride home. There you go. Just smoke on the weekends most of the time. So you have a drive-home cigar. I used to do that when I had a lot of drive time, yeah, for sure. Uh, Rob Brown says, I have a two-hour commute. Cigars make it a lot better. There you go. Perfect. Dapper Prof just lit up this uh uh Cavalier Project Broadleaf. Already a nice cola pepper opening. The Project Broadleaf is, I think, my favorite amongst Cavalier stuff. Um, RJ, yes, it does, even in traffic, calms you down for sure. Uh Fraser says, Wow, I'm lucky I have a five-minute commute myself. There you go. Smoking fast. Yeah. Uh Valet, their packs are great, says Daniel Frazier. Okay, so we've got one vote for them. And the main reason this is like they were awesome people, they seem really cool, but you also have the added like reassurance of Bovida. But at the same time, like, is this not kind of how like boutique and heritage cigars act? Like, you you try something new. I don't know. Interesting. Nicole says, Seems like Bovida has the only thing on the market. So if they can offer a competitive competitive product, then maybe true, as you were saying. Uh my bovida packs and my tuppadors are going to on a close to a year, it's still fresh. Nice. Yeah, and that's that. Um, I in that society bag that I had, I got that Bovida pack probably, you know, I think when I got the bag from you when it was shipped, and yeah, it lasted three years or two years, something like that. Because I know I would never open it. Yeah, I just sealed it and forgot about it. And then I think that's part two. And I'm I won't take the credit for this because a lot of other companies have done this, but that's why we tried to do the foil line bag for the society because they're meant to last very, very long. Forever. Yeah. Nick says yes for valet, try it. Uh, Rob says, I'm pretty happy with Bovida. I'll probably stick with them. Okay. Uh, David says, doesn't try to hurt. And Daniel says it's a personal preference. I use Bovida packs in some and valet packs in others. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 57:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:09

Okay. There you go. Awesome. Okay, so we got also a uh picture to share from our community. Um, but right before we get through that, last bit of news, you guys heard me talking about the OGT Variety Club. This is our pack for this month. You'll notice all five of them are Maduro's. It's a Maduro type of month. Yeah. And it's really cool because we've got a San Andreas in there, we got a Nicaraguan Habano Maduro in there, we've got a Brazilian Madafina in there. But we also have this beautiful looking cigar here. I had mentioned it. More information's coming. This, unfortunately, it kills me that I can't say what factory this is from. But we came across the cigar and we want to cultivate the relationship with this factory. So we've nicknamed it the Shadow Factory, so that if you guys have an opportunity to try this and you enjoy it and you see really what this uh perfecto brings, chaos theory, further releases from Shadow Factory, you'll be able to realize, like, okay, it comes from the same mixer. Now you said uh earlier it had some age on it. Do you know how much age? Not enough to like, I don't really want to say because it wasn't like actually given a number. Yeah, like it's kind of like, well, I think it's this, I think it's that, bubble. And I don't really care to do that type of well. The so I just smoked that today for the first time, and I noticed I don't know, it's it's weird, but I on some cigars you can kind of feel almost or like the oils crystallizing coming to the top on the age of a cigar, and this one definitely had it. I was like, wow, well, and the cello is also darker, yeah. It's it's it's darker. So this is chaos theory is a six by sixty uh box press figurado. I can tell you it is a Maduro from Nicaragua, and it's got Nicaraguan fillers in it, and it's a magical cigar. I really like that shape. I really like that smoking a cigar like that is you don't feel the six by sixty because it's tapered, yeah, it's box pressed. Yeah. Um, so this is debuting in the OGT Variety Club, uh, which is also shipping out Monday. Um, jump on this while you guys have the chance. Um, but I am so excited for the cigar, super cool. Uh, let's see here. Ben says variety pack is full of bangers. Can't wait for my double pack. Well, thank you so much, Ben. Nice. I appreciate the support. And really, I want to I wanted to do this because I mean, yes, the society member membership is where we I think get to have the most creativity and fun for it. But also, I the variety pack was created by request. People wanted to try a bunch of different stuff, but I don't want it to think of just like a boring cigar of the month club where you try different stuff. That's what's so great about your humidor, though. It's not just full of all the you know normal stuff you see in humidors all the time. So you're not gonna get the norm in these variety packs, you're gonna get all the boutique, you know, cigars that you carry, and you get to try them because there's a plenty of cigars that you know you have a big selection, and I do get into the same. Oh, I like these cigars, so I'm gonna stick with them. I'm gonna stick with them. I like their flavor. I like, and then this gives you a chance to try other boutique cigars that you carry. Yeah, because how many like favorite, like I I could definitely say Black Label Trading Company is a favorite of mine. It started with, uh yeah, I guess I'll try it. And but it's not necessarily something in the beginning. I was like, I need to find the cigar and try it. And then it like opened my eyes. I'm like, what else did this this company do? And it also gives you, because you might like a brand, but you may like only you've only tried, or you go, I've tried them all, but I only like this one, so I'm gonna keep smoking it. And then you forget about the other ones, then it comes back around. You go, man, yes, what happened to this cigar? This is great. I forgot all about it. Yes, that happened to me so many times with the brands that I smoke. And it's like, oh, when did they make this one? Oh, they've always had it. I did they shoot. A good example of that in the variety club. A few months ago, we did the Blackworks MBK Habano, and it's very underrated. And everyone's like, Wow, this is an incredible Blackworks cigar. And I'm like, it's one of their originals, yeah. So, um, and the thing I will also say to help infuse the variety pack to be even cooler is you'll notice macabre is in there, and also the new Wahoo from Lure. We specifically at the PCA trade show ordered macabre as well to be put into here because I was like, it's a limited production, I don't want to just throw in any random cigar, even though it's not like necessarily custom blended or anything. I want the variety pack to have that much more of an experience to it. Yeah. So yeah, we just had that lure or the the other one from lure uh a couple days ago. And that's really good. Killer cigar. Really good. Uh so David is saying, I love the shape. Can I buy a five pack? Yes, I will say chaos theory uh will also be available later on. Um, but I wanted all variety club members to have the first chance at this, so they're gonna be able to try it first. Uh jump on the variety club, and you'll also get a crazy good deal on it for sure. Uh, let's see. Uh, Daniel's saying the macabre will make your week. It's life-changing. It's one of BLTC's best. Uh, Nicole says, Yes, I love my variety packs and variety club. Great way to find new favorites. There you go. Most definitely. Rob Brown says, Bova to packs time are dependent on the size and the number of packs you use, how many cigars and the seal on your container? Yes, it's all relevant to whatever that's going on. So, knowing how your humidor seals and such like that, stay away from glass top Spanish humidors. There you go. You know, I don't know about the whole gram thing. Like, is there a certain amount of gram of Boba de Pack that you need for a certain amount of sticks that you have? Is that the kind of calculation that you need to go by? Basically, the the kind of standard size like this, that's uh 62 gram. Yeah, and just like Valet was saying, it's rated for every 25 count of your humidor, regardless if you have cigars in there or not. So if your humidor is rated for 100, you have to have four in there, regardless if five's in there, hundreds in there to maintain the the percentage that they say on that pack. Yeah. So for and oftentimes too, because let's say you season your humidor, it's all ready to go, and you're like, okay, I'm gonna fill it up this 50 count. I would still say, okay, start with 72, because even though you seasoned it, it's still somewhat dry. And then once your cigars go in, everything's regulated. That's when you get to 69. That's when you get to 65 because everything's already controlled there. Um, RJ says that's why boutique cigars are the best. I'm inclined to agree. Uh Nicole says lure is quickly becoming one of my favorite brands. Very good. Bring the lure folks on the show. We actually have, we've had Lou Cross on before. Um, they they are impressing me quite a bit. And I can say, too, for my personal palette, the two lure cigars in this pack are my two favorite that they've done. Yeah, they're great. That brownie trout on the far left is incredible. Um, okay. So lastly, we have a Discord happening, um, which has been a bit more updated. We're getting a bit more active in it. So I'm gonna feature a cigar, a picture from one of our uh group members in the Discord, and that is uh, I believe LCT Chicken. He's got the full lineup of Bleakman winners that he had picked up, but notice the really cool swag that he's got around. He's got OGT stickers, he's got McAuliffe, he's got Mardo, he's got Cigars Daily on the far left, Fox Cigar on the far top left. Just really cool, like guy that's in it. This this guy's in it. A collector. Yeah, super, super cool. Um, and that lineup of Bleakman winners just looks really sharp altogether. So, shout out to him on our Discord. If you guys have any questions about joining the Discord, we can send the invite out. Uh, and you can become part of that. It's definitely a becoming a new place to where we're sending out announcements like automated the minute like Marikana went up for uh sale, we dropped it in the Discord and announced it. So it's a it's a quicker way to learn of what's coming, um, for sure. But yeah, that being said, I think we're coming to the end of the show. Are we? We are. That's a shame. Final thoughts on uh Crimson Night. Anyone in terms of flavor notes or anything? Uh drop in the comments real quick if uh where you're at in the cigar and if you are still getting the heavy spice that you get in the beginning to the the second and the third. Uh drop it down real quick if you guys are still there and all that stuff. Because I'm still getting that spice. It has metaled down, yeah, uh a little bit, but it's still off the retro. Still spicy. I definitely still get it. I think it's it's taking a little bit more of a backseat, but I will also say this is what I like about Cameroon tobacco. Towards the end, I'm getting a really good savory note, like crispy mushroom or something like that. Essentially, I don't profess to know, like, oh, this tobacco has an inherent, but I do pick up on certain patterns, and I do feel like in a lot of Cameroon cigars, you're gonna experience sweetness, some really earthy tones, and some more form of like savory element. Well, before this Cameroon, the last Cameroon that I had was the AJ. Okay, and I paired it with Tumb's. It was a very berry cigar, guys. So I don't recommend pairing your cigars with any Tums. Well, drop in the comments too, guys, real quick before we sign off. What is the craziest pairing that you guys have done with a cigar? Yes, there you go. I actually got I think one of the worst was a guardian of the farm with a Coca-Cola. It did not work really to the point. I mean, I love guardian the farm. I'm everything Agonorsa, and I was like, this is ruining the cigar. I that was that was many years ago. It was crazy. Um, we did have a question here. RJ saying, Yes, can you send the Discord link? I just dropped it in the comments. So there you go. Thank you so much. Check that out. Um, uh David saying he's getting that flavor too. Me too, in terms of the spiciness, not the berry flavor with Tums. No. Okay, all right. Um, yeah, yeah. Eric has really gotten me on the Agonorsa train. It's something that I've been, you know, I've always, you know, on some Agonorsas, especially all the the um, you know, the ones that come from the factory. ProHo 99, yeah, all that stuff. But lately, holy cow, my palate has just been craving agonorsa, especially in the morning, that Connecticut with a cup of coffee. It's hard. Pure almond, pure, you know, just like, yeah, the cream and spice that you get from that cigar is just the signature flavor of Agonorsa. Right. So then when you really get obsessed, which you're basically there, you deep dive and then learn, okay, what else is also technically all Agonorsa tobacco, but blended by someone else? Warped is like that, Viahe is like that, to where you smoke it and you're like, this is an Agonorsa cigar. Because of that sharpness that you get, yeah. Which is yeah, it's crazy because I'll be uh I'll come through the whole day at work or whatever, and then I come home, I'm like, I need that sharpness. Yeah, I need that Agonorsa. Yeah, it's so weird, guys, but it's happening. Uh, let's see here. Nicole says, Sadly, I ruined my Dunbarton tasting night by having heavy flavored garlic and truffle beforehand. Yeah, that could override it for sure. It's worse if you have a beard. It's constantly in the yeah, not the best. Well, guys, we are coming down to the end of the evening. I'm gonna say this one more time. Make certain you check out while it's available, Crimson Night. We've made it available for all of our society members. Pick that up, and every five pack will get you a raffle ticket. And once again, two prizes going out. We are raffling off a signed copy of the Crimson Knight poster and signed copy of the PCA magazine that features my brother Eric Drazen. There you go. So one of you is gonna be really lucky with a poster, and then the other one's gonna get the other prize. But uh, thank you guys so much for jumping on tonight. It's been a fantastic time hanging out. Uh, but yeah, jump on the five pack. If you get a 10 pack or a bundle, you get more raffle tickets. Thank you. Um, but we will see you guys next time. Um, and uh yeah, keep your eyes on the Discord as well as social media. Thanks again, and we'll see you next time on Oakland Tobacconist. Everyone have a great night. Good night.