"OGT Through The Last 7 Years." Ep. 46 8/15/26

On the eve of our anniversary this month, Eric and Mallory recount OGT Cigars and the Anniversary blends over the last seven years! Join us for a very special show as we look back from the previous Oak Glen Tobacconist Anniversary Cigars to the newest one, the OGT X El Mago Mage!

OGT 7th Anniversary Cigar LINK: https://oakglentobacconist.com/product/ogt-cigars-7th-anniversary-el-mago-mage/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

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_01 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_00 1:02

Welcome to OGT Cigars Live, where conversation lights up. Hello everybody. Welcome back to another episode of OGT Cigars Live Podcast. This is the podcast where we meet every Thursday night to uh enjoy the virtual cigar lounge of OGT Cigars. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. We've got some people jumping on, so we'll make certain we allow time for that. If you're new to the podcast or if you've been watching for some time, for your own information, my name is Eric Drazen from Oakland Tobacconist, and with me tonight my co-host Mallory.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Hi, how's it going?

SPEAKER_00 1:36

We are super excited for tonight's show.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

This is something a long time in the making. Hopefully, we'll get a lot of uh questions and answers to those questions in terms of what is coming this weekend. It is a very big weekend for us.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Very, very big weekend.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Something we look forward to every year. And uh that time is finally now. And so I wanted to kind of spend some time talking a little bit about uh through the years, a look back through the years, some of the projects that have come up, um, some of the uh partnerships we've been able to work to, all those types of things. Now, I also see we've got some comments dropping down, which we love.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Yes, please engage in the comments because it helps us like have have some have some actual conversation and not just us talking. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Exactly. It's a part of being in the lounge, in the cigar lounge. So if you guys have your own comments, if you have your own questions, please drop those down. Mallory and I will do our best to pull those up and answer them.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Um tell us what you're smoking or what you're pairing.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Exactly. Are you enjoying something tonight? How's your week going? How's your weekend going? Yeah. Uh it seems like the weather's actually kind of tamed down a little bit here in North Carolina.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

It's been nice.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

It has been nice. It's still humid, but not crazy, crazy hot. So uh we're gonna go ahead and pull these comments up before we jump into tonight. We've got Nick on saying good evening. So Nick. Glad to have you back. Now that hopefully all the the sickness is is behind everyone at this point. So good to have you back on. Faceless Orchestra is on as well.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

He says, I just received this month's OGT Cigar Society package today. For this evening's show, I decided on the black label Bishop's Blend, uh pairing with Iron Root Republic Republic Promethean Bourbon. Ooh, that was a tongue twister. I got it though.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

That's a long name. Yes, awesome. Well, sounds great. That Bishop's Blend. Uh, I mean, I think it's kind of known at this point. Bishop's Blend is like a personal favorite of mine. In terms of limiteds, and uh, if you guys didn't know, Black Label releases four limiteds throughout the year, basically one each quarter. Um, earlier we had uh the Boondoc, and then we had I mean that was kind of like more the end of last year, but we had macabre and then we had Bishop's Blend, and then we've got another one coming, I believe, in the fall. So something really exciting to look forward to.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

This Bishop's Blend might have been my favorite.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

It's you like the Lancero a lot.

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

And and I normally historically have always gone for Corona Larga, but this year I think I liked the punch of the Robusto more, hence it was in the variety club. I just think it was great. Um, let's see here. We got ESP Chase.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Says good evening. First time here on time, too. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Well, thank you so much for joining us. Uh, and the the invitation is also to you as well. Please drop down your comments any questions about what we're talking about tonight. Welcome to the podcast. Uh, Jason is on.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Hello, Eric and Mallory. Great to see you two. Hi, Jason.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

You two, thanks for joining us tonight. We got Candler on saying happy seven.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Now, just so everyone's aware, that's what we're talking about tonight. The official, official anniversary for Oakland Tobacconists is on the 30th of August. That's when we opened our doors. Um, but we wanted to kind of release, as we do every year, release the cigar so everyone can get it in time to smoke it for the anniversary.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Um, so hence a little bit early. But thank you so much. Uh, Raider Dave is on as well.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

Saying good evening, everyone. I'm very excited for tonight's show. And in honor of it, I decided to light up the OGT green label from I believe 2022. Cheers, guys. That's throwback for sure.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

It is a throwback. That is crazy. I mean, technically, it can be considered our anniversary first anniversary cigar. Yeah. It is so limited and so small, it's hard, like a lot of people don't remember it. So it's kind of a if you know, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Type of situation. But awesome. I hope you enjoy it. And Mike.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

It says, hello, you two. How did the collaboration and blending with Almago come about? Seems like they've been with OGT a short time.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

And that is what we want to talk about tonight. We want to discuss take all questions like that. Um, so with that said, we're gonna be uh enjoying the cigar very quickly here. But in case you haven't been able to see this yet, we want to show you a small video.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

The teaser.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

A small teaser of what is dropping tomorrow. So super excited. Hope you guys enjoy. Take a look at this. Okay, so there you go. This is the cigar that we're smoking tonight. This is the cigar that is celebrating seven years of Oakland Tobacconist. And I want to jump into this, get some flavor notes, and then I want to address Mike's question because we have a lot to talk about tonight, as well as a lot to cover through the years, the previous seven years.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

So um, that is what Mallory and I are each gonna be lighting up tonight. That is our anniversary cigar. This is the Mage made by El Mago Cigars at the NGE factory in Nicaragua. We went with a San Andreas Maduro wrapper, a Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and Nicaraguan filler. So we're gonna go ahead and light this up, cold draw, the whole nine yards, and then we'll kind of get into how this cigar started. So a bit of a cold draw. I get this really like a faint hint of smoke, like like a peaty smoke and almonds.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

I was thinking it's kind of raisin-y actually, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Like I mean, I can kind of see like a sweetness, raisin-y sweetness to it. Uh, really good open draw. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Yeah, something a little bready or something like that, too. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Okay, so let's let's get this lit up. 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 Tobacanist 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, right out the gate. This is this is a strong in-body cigar. Strong in flavor, full flavor, medium plus strength. I don't feel like it's crazy, crazy strong, but its body, its flavor is intense. A lot of intensity in this cigar.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Yeah, there's just a lot to um there's a yeah, there's a lot to unpack at first because I'm like, I'm like, you get a lot of pepper and spice in the retrohale.

SPEAKER_00 9:15

Um you also get this like oaky, like uh barrel spice oakyness to it. Um good amount of earth as well.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

I think it's hard for me to pick up on the earth because it feels so like light and clean in the smoke so that it on the palate, so it's like, okay, yeah, I can see it, but it's very, very clean.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

So it's like I always get a little Well, and it's it's also intertwined in something that we Mallory and I immediately enjoyed about El Mago cigars and this like juicy.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Yes, you were saying you keep saying like unctuous or like yes, yeah, but it's it's definitely not drying on the palate at all. And not particularly oily or buttery either, which sometimes I like buttery smoke, you know, but this is definitely um more like very, very clean, yes, and very like fresh.

SPEAKER_00 10:11

It's kind of like that sensation you get all in a lot of like Nicaraguan Corojo 99 tobacco, how it like causes your mouth to celivate, but to have that on a San Andreas, a lot of their Maduros, it's such a signature to El Mago that it's really interesting to find in darker cigars like that.

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Right, right, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yeah, so okay, so in answer of Mike's question, we'll go ahead and pull this up again. Uh, how did the collaboration and blending with Elmago come about? Seems like they've been with uh OGT a short time. In fact, also Daniel, who's been a part of the membership, part of the lounge uh in California as well, had asked, so is this a blend that you found and wanted to release as your membership and as your anniversary cigar, or is this one that you blended? Now, any project that we do, I I'm not I'm not pretentious to say, like, oh yes, I blended this cigar, and that's how it came about. Usually a lot of projects will go is that I'll say, Okay, I'm interested in using this type of tobacco, I'm interested in doing this type of Vitola, and maybe like this type of strength profile, flavor profile. And a lot of times when we do that, uh then we'll go back and forth, okay, let's tweak this, let's tweak that, um, let's change this, or I'll get it sent in various different sizes so that we can kind of be like, okay, we want to lean towards this and that. It is true. El Mago has been somewhat new to uh OGT, but we knew from early on this actually started back on PCA. We tried the Renegade, we tried the Pepe, and I was like, wow, this is this type of impression that like made on me the same way like Stallone did when we first met him.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

In terms of just their artwork, and I know that you love their artwork as well.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Oh, yeah, yeah. No, the whole thing is like their branding is just very on point. Um, yeah, I would say new to OGT, but also kind of has arrived with a bang. So like it's been a very Elmago year so far. It has.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

And that was really too also like how it was received in terms of the community, people enjoying what they're doing. And what really I like about uh what they do is um Nick Fusco at Elmago Cigars has this way of creating really good blends with a lot less like roadblocks that you meet. Oh, well, we can't do this, we can't do that. And a lot of these companies that we will start out with, um, sometimes we don't even have the option to do an exclusive with them or to work an exclusive with them. And sometimes it is just that where someone's like, okay, we do have a blend, but it's not necessarily one we can blend with you. If you're interested in it, then we can give you the exclusivity on it.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Again, this is not the case for this. So this cigar came about because Nick and I had been talking uh back and forth, and even at PCA, he's like, We'll we'll talk further. We want to do something like this. We'll we'll talk further about it. So those talks continued, and we got several different blends. He and I both uh have a really like big enjoyment. We both love Sumatra tobacco. So we got a few iterations of Sumatra as well, and you can see it in their portfolio. He's got like the solstice, the Jaguar, the new uh defender, no, sorry, Ofender. Um he just likes that type of tobacco. I do too. But I feel like for our anniversary cigar, I just I kind of want to lean into what the community enjoys so much. Yes, and that seems to be a quintessential, like, you know, like dig your teeth into fuller body, darker Maduro cigar. And so that's kind of what the mage came about. So we had this, we had gone through several blends several months back, um, and then had it blended. And the thing that really sped up the process that a lot of times you hit these roadblocks on, and you can't get a project like this in time, is the uh artwork as well and the design. And from the day we said, okay, yes, we have found the blend, we want to work with it. He jumped immediately on, okay, I'm gonna send you some rough drafts of the artwork. And so I feel like the artwork actually ended up getting more tweaks than the cigar blended did.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

Yeah, it's well, it's um it really I think is just a matter to of you and him very much like driving on the same wavelength.

SPEAKER_02 14:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

I think there's a lot of like kind of um just unspoken understanding of like this is what we're looking for, and being able to like collaborate with someone who's like that enthusiastic about it is just like it just makes the whole process feel very seamless and very natural and very organic. So, like, yeah, it's this is like a new company to us, but like also it feels very like instantaneous, yeah. We're on the we're in the same zone a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

And I will say some of our our favorite ones, my personal favorite ones, like You're the Naysayer and Midnight Ride. That's all from Stallone cigars. Um, things like uh Bruno the Butcher and stuff like that. These are like relationships we have built, and especially even like with Stulak, we do projects with Stuck, which he doesn't do a lot of projects for a lot of people. He and I kind of had this like understanding in terms of what we're looking for, and it just it cuts to the chase. He he'll tell me like a lot of times, oh well, when you're working with different people, they not always know exactly what they're looking for. I tend to want to partner with people to where I find their strengths.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

And El Mago's strength was instantaneous from their their profile to strength wise, and so it really sped the process up.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

So that's kind of where it began. Let's take some more comments here. We'll we'll we'll talk more about it. Let's see here, Nick.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

From Nick, all right, set up to light up doing the domain attenuation with a straight cut this time and a how do you say that? Jura Jura single malt scotch. Nice, very nice.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

I'm sure that would be a great pairing, very nice.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

And Jason says let up a maroon. Is it maroon by Black Star Line?

SPEAKER_00 15:53

Maroon. Awesome. And let's see here, Daniel.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Uh, how long do these anniversary projects typically take between figuring out what direction you want to go in, aging, etc.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

So I'll maybe I'll do a little bit of like behind the curtain. So a lot of cigars on the market. Um there is there when the cigar is blended and the cigars created, I believe, I mean manufacturers, every manufacturer will have a different answer, but the commonality seems to be around 40 or so days for the cigar to get rolled and rest through what they call the sick phase. And that sick phase is basically you get all your tobaccos together, you roll them, now they're maring together, and it's gonna taste its worst within the first couple of weeks because it's still not completely blended to the point to where it's balanced out. Um a lot of the times they'll be really heavy and strong because it's right out the gate that way. And so after that point, cigars are ready to smoke. I think as Lee Marsh of Stolen Throne told me once that uh makes a lot of sense to me is that sick phase you the cigars don't have to necessarily be aged so quickly in terms of or for sorry for so long if you're using quality aged tobacco. And a lot of the uh manufacturers that we work with are in that vicinity. So it really depends. Now, in the case of, and I know we're gonna like reminisce a little bit, I'm gonna pull up this picture, we'll get back to it. In the case of our very first like actual bigger release that was an aniversario cigar, was this blend uh back in 2023, I believe. This was the OGT uh fourth anniversario by Stallone. This was a blend that Tony came to me and said, Hey, I have this San Andreas, it's really good, it's been aged for two years, and so we felt really special that hey, we get to offer it. So you have those opportunities like that. But then you also had things like last year, uh, our anniversary cigar, which we'll talk about a little bit later down the line, didn't have all that long time to rest either. So it really depends. I will also say I prefer this cigar, I think it's going to age beautifully, but I love its aggressiveness where it's at. And I think that's also something that we were very intentional about of trying to push. So it really depends on the manufacturer.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Yeah, because yeah, like I said, with Tony, it's like something that had been made that he sourced to us as an exclusive. And then there's also the ones where we're developing with someone, or sometimes just aging it in our own humidor for a while. That has happened too. So I would say from our holiday and finish, it's gonna vary pretty wildly because something might be two years in the making, but brand new to us. It is, or it might be like a year or two in the making that we're working with somebody. So I think it it really depends.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

It really does depend. I can say this is this particular cigar, again, we we brought in El Mago and it kind of hit the ground running, and we immediately jumped into hey, we have this idea that we want to work with you on. So this has definitely got uh quite a bit beyond that 45-day mark. Um, but at the same time, we didn't really we were pretty focused this year on like who do we want to work with, who do we want to represent something really uh awesome? And there was another blend that we really, really liked, but I didn't think it had the same gravity as this cigar. Um so very happy with that. Let's see here.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Chris is saying, Will Elmago be making one of the night series?

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Um, currently, no. We've got two more releases to go. One of those releases is exactly what you were just talking about. It's been aging uh in our humidor and will be released later, released later this year. And then uh the other one is currently uh basically in Nicaragua at this point. Uh and this is one like when you see the art, when you when you see the presentation, you'll see exactly why we went with this maker. Um, so we're excited for it. But in terms of the night series, we've got two more to go. Elmago's actually not doing that. We decided to put most of our effort with Elmago into our anniversary cigar. Let's see. Woody Smitty.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Uh extremely excited about the Elmago Collab Gold Society member. I hope it's enough.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Oh, I don't think it will be.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

But you two are sincerely one of my highlights every month with all you put into giving us such great experience. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Yeah, and that's another thing we will say is that sometimes in the past, the green label was like a society exclusive that Stallone Anniversario we didn't put through the membership. The feedback through the years has been like, hey, as a society member, I certainly hope we get your anniversary cigar. So that is definitely security.

SPEAKER_01 20:30

That's what we've listened to for sure on the club.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

Exactly, exactly. So this cigar is our official society release this month, but I will also say it is dropping tomorrow, four o'clock Pacific Standard, which is seven o'clock Eastern Standard. And I would definitely advise like picking up a few extra. Um, if you guys enjoyed our previous anniversary releases, uh, this is very much in that wheelhouse. I I we were smoking it yesterday. I smoked actually two of them back to back. Quality control. Got a quality control.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

Yeah, I gotta check.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

And I was telling Mallory, I was like, you know, out of the releases this year, I think this one is gonna be a hard one to beat. A really hard one to beat.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

I agree. No, we kept like raving about it. We're like watching a movie too. And so usually there's a little bit of distraction, especially for me. Like, and I kept getting distracted by the cigar and not by the movie.

unknown 21:19

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

It was, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

It's utterly amazing. And and the size to six by fifty box press. There's so many things that I've been just transitions too.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Like I haven't we haven't got to the last third, so I'll talk about that one. In the second third, at least for me, you get this like caramely Yeah, same kind of a nuttiness or something, like toffee or toffee.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

That's it. Yeah, definitely on toffee. Let's see you. RJ.

SPEAKER_01 21:41

Hello, Eric and Mallory. It's been a while and I didn't forget about OGT cigars. Just bought a new house. Congratulations. Congratulations. That's awesome. And had to go second shift at my job to train new hires. Hopefully, we'll be back with you guys on Tuesdays and Thursdays soon. Well, we look forward to that. And congratulations on the house.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

Congratulations on the house, and thank you for Anniversary. Um let's see here. Mike, that a uh oh here we go. That Stallone Aniversario cigar was amazing. Yeah, that that's one of those like lives on and so good. Uh Nick.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Need to order more Stallone, keep getting sidetracked by all the other ones coming in or special packs. Yeah, I mean like Stallone is a hardcore staple in our humidor.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

Stallone, I will also say, also a bit of like behind the curtain knowledge. He is the only blender I think that I've worked with that I trust Tony so much. And this was uh which project was this? I want to say this might have been Naysayer, but I told him out the gate, hey, I want this dark Sumatra, I want it with this strength level, blah blah blah blah. And he's like, I know exactly what you want. I have this aged tobacco uh Lejero, so it's gonna have some oomph, but it's not gonna be overly strong. The problem is, in terms of getting it in time and letting it rest and stuff, I cannot send you a sample beforehand. He's one of the few people I was like, just I trust you, you know what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

He just is trustworthy, though. Like so artistic and so like creative. It's just like every time it's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

Yes, amazing stuff. And Candler's right there saying Stallone is a great cigar company. Absolutely. Let's see here.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

Uh Jason's can't wait to order my anniversary pack tomorrow. Also love the artwork. Yeah, it's really cool. They did a great job.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

Yeah, so the thing about Nick, we we met him at PCA, we're smoking his cigars, and I was like, I'll see you the next day after we have a chance to go through them. And we were like, Yep, this is it. We're sold.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

It wasn't even the next day. We went and maybe it was a few course. We went and had the cigars at lunch and then came back the same day. So like we didn't even wait the whole day. We were like, oh, this is that's right, it's a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

Yeah, and and the fact that they're vertically integrated. I mean, of course, they're purchasing tobacco like Mexican Sandres or their Connecticut, because every Nicaraguan company does that. But they grow their own tobacco, um, signature flavor, and part of that conversation was he's like, you know, yeah, let's do a project in the future. And we also have an in-house designer, we have an in-house band maker, so many things that you like you normally have several moving parts, like we got to get this to here and this to where it just completely sped the process up.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

They've streamlined so much so beautifully that like it's like it made it a breeze for sure.

SPEAKER_00 24:21

Yeah, I I love it. So on the label itself, um, we went with a lot of different tweaking of like, okay, should say this, where should this go and this go? Um, but the mage was an ode to El Mago because El Mago is basically the wizard translation. And when I pitched the idea, he's like, Man, we haven't even used that name yet. That's great. And I uh I really think that the green colors, I'm a sucker for when a green color really pops against the orange and a little bit of red, too, as Mallory knows. Um, but you love red. There's multiple things going on at this uh uh label. One of it is on the mage's shoulder, there's a Raven with a newsboy cap. That was actually Nick's input. He's like, I feel like this kind of represents the style of OGT with the newsboy cap.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

And it's just like really thoughtful about what is this gonna look like. You know what I mean? Like, I really appreciate that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Yes. And I think too, this is very much the colors, the aesthetic, the frog, everything is like El Mago and a lot of what we experienced in North Carolina. When you move from California, North Carolina, you're like, there's green everywhere. And so I feel like this really kind of just like infused a lot of this last year for us.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

That's immediately what I thought of like when I when I saw it. So let's see here. Vader Dave.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Uh, this is exactly why I gravitate toward boutique cigars. This type of project would be impossible with a legacy brand. I can't wait to light one up. The green label is smoking beautifully, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

So awesome. And yeah, and I think too, the the longer, I mean, being that we've been in it for seven years, we've started to really lean into those relationships that have a similar vision, that have a high quality in performance of tobacco. And also, like, whenever we begin this project, uh, what I told Nick as well as I'm like at the at the beginning of this, it has to be beneficial for El Mago cigars, it has to be beneficial for OGT cigars. So we don't want to stress anybody out. And a lot of those times, like there are several projects you will see later this year that our Halloween project we started over a year ago.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:25

But we don't want to create this, like, we got to have it next day, and so we kept pushing it back, pushing it back, and so we do have it. In fact, it's been aging for a few months now, and so that's a prime example of like working on the time of the manufacturer and what we were able to do with that. Uh, let's see here.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

Faces orchestra says, Are you still doing a contest after the last night release?

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Yes, yes, we uh we are in some pretty cool plans, I gotta tell you guys. I some new doors that have never been opened to us before in order to make this really, really special. So 100%, we are gonna have a contest of taking everyone taking that snapshot of all five nights will be entered into the contest. We'll have two pretty awesome prizes, so a few winners, maybe three, uh, that we will be shipping to all of our winners. But yes, 100% there is. Um, let's see here. Daniel says, Hell yeah. Awesome. Let's see here.

SPEAKER_01 27:21

Um Templar Knight says, hello, sorry, late in Indiana. Well, welcome.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Thank you for joining us from Indiana. Witty Smitty.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

Uh, green is my second favorite color after Indigo. You guys should do something with indigo either as a theme or a color, just for me. Indigo's a good color, I feel like, and we haven't really done anything in indigo that I can think of.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

We have we should have done an indigo night. That would have been cool. Uh offshoot of it. So uh let's take a few uh look into previous releases. Now, I don't necessarily have a graphic of the green label, OGT green label currently. Um, I'd have to go dig through the archives, but that's what Raider Dave is smoking. That was a like micro, micro small amount that we released to the society, and that was it. Like we had just enough to carry for that. Um, that cigar was gifted to us. We didn't blend it, but we loved it. Um, and so we released that. The following year uh was the Stallone Anniversario that we talked to you about. Now, this is an interesting one because about three or four months, I don't know if any of you guys remember, but there was a cigar that we released with a plain white band from Stallone called the Silver Blaze. That was a really good cigar. That was a really good cigar. People still talk about it. They're like, I need more silver blaze. So both of those blend, I got a call from Tony, like, I don't know, I think it was late or mid-2022, and he says, I have two very special cigars. One's a broadleaf, one's a San Andreas. Both have been aged for almost two years. I didn't want to offer them to anyone else but you. I wanted you to take a look at them. We took them both. We released one as uh air broadleaf wintertime cigar, and then we released this one as our anniversary, and people loved it so much that uh it was one of two cigars that Stallone got uh voted as number one in these uh membership. So beautiful cigar. Yeah, but this one again was very limited numbers. We didn't have enough to do for the society, so that was one of those years people were like, hey, as a member of the society, why don't we get your anniversary cigar? So I was like, Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Had to take the note for sure.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

That's true, that's true. Yeah, okay, Nick.

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Uh, mention of the nights. I had an idea. If you ever do minis or like the Halloween special size, you could call the Squires.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

I like that idea.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

That's a really good idea. We were we were throwing the page or like we'd talk the squires, I think would be squire, yeah, like corona sizes.

SPEAKER_00 29:45

Yeah, that'd be really cool.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

That's a really good idea.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

Like it. Let's see here. Jason.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Uh, I still have some what?

SPEAKER_00 29:52

You still have some silver blaze, or or Chris the Iceman, because they might be knocking at your door. They're looking for some. Well, that's awesome. They're probably age beautifully.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Uh, Chris is saying this month's variety pack was killer, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

Thank you. Thank you. I was very excited for it. Uh, almost a complete lineup of Maduros. Uh, that astronomia from Vallicari, that's a that's a killer cigar. We talked about bishops. Um, that one in the middle, deep cover, is really special to me. Um, that is a really good box press torpedo. So super excited, glad you like it. Okay, so before that, Stallone, we had number five. Number five uh anniversary was the Stolen Throne drop.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

The quickest selling out, I think, on our website that has ever happened. I think it's the first time we crashed our website.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

Well, it okay, it didn't crash. I was prepared for that. Okay, but it sold out. I it was the most stressful release we had ever done.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

That's what it was. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

Because we released it, I think, five or six days before we threw our like in-house at the shop party.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

And I had to cut off sales because I was like, we have to have cigars for our party.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

And I was like, what? I made the biggest mistake. Like, there was just not enough cigars. Uh-huh. Um, it was an amazing project. Again, you'll notice that box press. This was something we worked with Lee on, so he blended it for our fifth anniversary. Mallory did a really awesome job on the label. I love the crook of the crown, like ode to it.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

Well, I kind of wanted to yeah, pay homage to Stolen Thrones' existing artwork, which they use a lot of that like vintage, like yes, old style, like woodcut, you know, engraving.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

That artwork's not AI, is it?

SPEAKER_01 31:37

No. No, I I think I got that from a book. Um, and within the public domain, just so I cover my butt legally, but yes, um, and it was really fun. It kind of came together pretty fast, actually. Um, I still that's one of my favorite labels we've ever done. I still love it.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

In terms of, you know, I do too. It's super classy. I I love it. And it's uh in terms of the blend, it was a box press risotto habano. Um, this cigar really interested me because we this was one of those ones we had gone through three different, three or four different blends going through, and I was like, Yeah, I think this box press one is the one. But I was sitting on it for a while. And then I went back like a week or two later, and I was like, man, this is magic. And then by the third time, I was like, this is what we got to do. So we went with a close foot. Um, I think I have three more of those left.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Um, that it's it's one of those historical things, but that was an amazing cigar.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

I think that's an interesting part of the process too that we didn't really talk about earlier when we were saying is that it's it's interesting how some cigars, not even just the anniversary ones, but ones that we've put through the society, the first time you smoke it, you're like, yeah, like this is like like Bruno. I remember the first time we smoked Bruno. I couldn't think about anything else for like days afterwards. And then there's others that are more of a slow burn where you wouldn't initially try it and you're like, yeah. And then it just kind of like keep going back to it.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

Yeah, back to it.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

Yeah, it's like it, it's that it can it gets stuck in your head in a different way. But I think that's interesting too, how like some are like love at first sight and others are a little more of like a gradual.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

And you know, I it's funny you say that because I feel like this year more than ever, there's been a lot more love at first sight cigars. Yeah, like if you look at it, there was Bruno, and then there was Naysayer, and then there was Doctor's Orders 2, and then there was Bleak Midwinter. Like every single one, I'm like, man, this cigar is just on point.

SPEAKER_01 33:26

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

Now, for me personally, for my palette, in the running for like, okay, I think this is one in the running for cigar of the year for me, is Doctor's Orders 2. And then this one is and now I'm like, ooh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

It makes it hard.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

It does. It does. I'm glad it makes it hard. Yeah, you don't you don't want to do it? I mean, I loved Bleak Midwinter as well, but there was something I think for everyone, like every cigar I hope is enjoyed by the society, but there's going to be ones that stand out more than others for a lot of people. So I'm curious to see with you guys right now, as it sits, what has been your favorite society or custom release that we've done so far?

SPEAKER_01 34:06

Or if you've been here with us for any of the anniversaries, yeah. What's been your favorite anniversary? Which one sticks in your mind the most?

SPEAKER_00 34:13

Either or please drop that in the comments. We'd love to pull that up. Let's see here. Mike.

SPEAKER_01 34:18

Uh, besides the great cigars, your anniversary parties were the best. Yeah, we miss we missed the in-person anniversary party for sure. We do. It's really it was really fun.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

Uh let's see here.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Charlie is saying a little off topic. Have you thought about t-shirts with your label artwork? Actually, we have. We have more information coming. More information forthcoming, but soon.

SPEAKER_00 34:42

And I will say that this is our anniversary month. This is our biggest release of August. But each week we have something special. Yes. So last week we had our vault sampler. This week we have our official cigar. Next week we'll have something also very special. So awesome comment. Thank you, Charlie, for putting that down. Witty Smitty.

SPEAKER_01 35:01

The Bruno and Heavy Hitter are my favorites this year. I have one of each left. Nice.

SPEAKER_00 35:05

The Bruno is still that one for you, huh?

SPEAKER_01 35:09

I love it. I love that it's that like really flat box press, too. Like it's a kind of rectangulary short. Yeah, I really like that. And it's still that like black licorice, Earl Gray. Yeah. Like it's so magical.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

That that black licorice, like Anise note, is so prominent. Yes. That I love it.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

It is really good.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

This is here. Chris.

SPEAKER_01 35:31

Black Knight and Bruno.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

Nice. Yeah. And actually, I've been getting that a lot. A lot of people, I think, even gravitate towards uh the Onyx Knight over Doctor's Orders 2, which I find fascinating. I mean, I love Onyx Knight. I definitely think it's a take no prisoner cigar. Little a little more forceful, um, but really good cigar. Uh Nick.

SPEAKER_01 35:50

For this year's Nope Ropes first time enjoying Lanceros.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

Okay. Okay, nice.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

That's that's great. Uh let's see here. Jason.

SPEAKER_01 35:58

Did I hear shirts are in the works?

SPEAKER_00 36:00

Perhaps. Perhaps you did. Perhaps. Uh let's see. NC uh cigar.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

Newish OGT member, but just want to say it's been fun with lots of great cigars. Good work. And thanks, guys. Well, thank you for joining. We're so glad you're in society. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 36:15

And and I will also say uh the cigar we're smoking tonight, our anniversary releases, the society releases we're talking about, none of this is possible without you guys. So uh it's incredibly humbling. Thank you guys so much. Uh, because as that's grown, like I said, doors like this have been been open, stuff in the future have been open. Our Halloween release is with a manufacturer we've never done before, and we have been working towards two plus years. Um, and and it's funny because the cigar that we have now was in talks last year, driving across the country. Like part of that was like business calls driving, and I was talking to the blender last year, and he's like, Yeah, I should have samples out to you pretty soon here. That was a year ago. It's crazy. So um, so thank you guys so much.

SPEAKER_01 37:01

Yeah, and I think that in a lot of ways the society is kind of a collaborative thing, too, where it's like we hear it's it's meta, we hear what you're looking for, and you've developed, I think over the years, like an idea of like what the kind of taste is in the society and what everybody wants to see. Yes, and then on top of that, we'll throw in a couple curveballs like a Lancero or a Connecticut. A Connecticut, you know.

SPEAKER_00 37:26

I and I I realize that the Connecticut was definitely a way of like getting a little bit out of the comfort zone, a little bit like shaking it up, shake it up, yeah. And kind of like we were talking last time on the show about like the culinary experience and needing to try different things. Um, so I know it was a very polarizing drop. It's definitely not the norm of what we release, but I think it's a very important one. And it's one that I continue to go back to. It's a fantastic Connecticut, it's a really good Connecticut. Let's see here, Charlie.

SPEAKER_01 37:54

Bleak Midwinter have been my favorite society drops.

SPEAKER_00 37:58

Bleak Midwinter used to not be a society either until people were asking for it as well. So and next year might be the fifth anniversary for it.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

So that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

We'll see. Um, okay, so then last year we had one of the probably the biggest release of the entire year last year, uh, which also was voted as number one, and that was our sixth anniversary, that being Triforium. This cigar is near and dear to my heart. It is everything we were hoping for when we were trying to work with Black Label. Uh, this was a project three plus years in the making. As I just mentioned, uh, the growth of the society and all of your guys' support brought that cigar to life.

SPEAKER_01 38:39

Yeah. Um, and it's I feel like been the dream for you since the jump, I feel like, to do this. So that was yeah, that that that was special.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Like, yeah, yeah, it was and it was really cool to work with James and Angela on that, and just like and that's definitely one that like to do a project like that with as the company as busy they as they are and stuff, like that was a start the process a year in advance, yeah, and then get that going. So, what's crazy too is like uh I I like the comment that Mike had asked of like, hey, El Mago's fairly new to you. Um, I didn't get first samples of Triforium with black label until the PCA show before anniversary last year. And and so again, what happened with this El Mago situation is we started getting in talks with doing something extra special at PCA. And most of those times it's a okay, well, months down the line, we'll figure something out. But it was like, no, no, no, this is the lane we want to be in. Let's let's go for it. Yeah, so that's what kind of sped that process along. Let's see here. Mike.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Uh Triforium, Doctor's orders, and no brope. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 39:52

Yeah, a lot of a lot of love for notebrope tonight, too.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Like a lot of love for it.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

I love the noteprope.

SPEAKER_00 39:58

Um, okay, so let's talk a little bit about a bit of news. Okay. Uh, before we we we go in, we'll we'll talk a little bit about news and then we'll get into the second third of this mage. Um, so really quick, just a few things happening right now in the cigar industry. 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. All right, so we have a new release that just came out uh on also a new company we've been working with, and we've also got something that I wanted to share with you guys that um I found through research and like trying to listen, keep my ear to the ground in terms of podcasts and such like that. So, first off, I want to give a shout out to Lure Cigars for releasing their micro drop of the Fat Matte. Now, Lure Cigars is one of those awesome uh situations because I love their cigars. They also are kind of what connected us to Vallicari, which also first led us to Emerald Knight and Crimson Knight. So everything at Vallicari is really interesting right now. Um, I like their micro drops, their like catch. So this is Lure's Fat Matte. It's a 5x54 uh sun-grown uh Robusto Grande, Nicaraguan filler. And this cigar just freshly dropped. I really like their really like micro drops. They're like their uh Nereus, I believe it was, their uh Wahoo line. We were able to put that in the Variety Club. Um, some interesting stuff.

SPEAKER_01 41:43

Yeah, really liking it. I feel like they've been more the sleeper for us this year, but they're really like definitely you should check out Lur.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

Yeah, like consistent. And the thing that's really cool is uh the gentleman behind it we had on the show, Lou Cross, is one of the like straightest shooters in the industry. Like, no frills, no uh embellishing any stories. He's like, this is what it is, this is what's so special about it.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

Um so no fish stories from the fish brand.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 42:11

Yeah, I like that. Yeah, thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 42:14

So they're definitely a company we brought on that I've been really happy with. I've really enjoyed. So check out Fat Mat uh if you want to see what kind of their micro drops are at. Um, but really interesting. And I I the reason I wanted to highlight this is because it's a very small boutique brand. Um, but I've seen their growth happen. And a lot of times I I mean I'm always looking at Half-Wheel Daily, um, Cigar Afficionado, I look at a lot. A lot of these news uh websites that are really informative, and I like when I think Half Wheel just put out an article about this two or three days, but I like to highlight those extra because companies like Lure may not get the same exposure. Yeah, so um, this is a really good company. Um, I really like their cigars, so that was really special.

SPEAKER_01 42:57

The indie brand to watch.

SPEAKER_00 42:59

It is, yeah. Yeah, and it's funny to think back, like we were talking about Stolen Throne, like six years ago, they were only like a year or two in, and they were still like, have you heard of Stolen Throne? Well, I don't know. And now to see where they've grown.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:12

So really cool stuff. Um, I keep your eye on lure. And then, secondly, is I Mallory will attest to this. I listen to a lot of cigar podcasts. It's a it's a weekly, it's a bi-daily, whichever you want to call it, thing of a handful of different ones I like to listen to. Now, Cigar Aficionado recently launched a podcast, and um it's not technically the type of podcast I'd always listen to, uh, usually, because it's just it's it's it's a kind of a different realm of the industry, but they had a really special show on. In terms of you guys want to get educated through um kind of hearing about like history, main figures in the industry, and most especially like as these legacies continue, who takes up the torch in those companies. They had a very rare and Special episode I would encourage you guys to take a look at. Uh, that was a podcast from Cigar Fishingado featuring Fuente, Lito Gomez of La Florida Minicana, and George Padrone. All three of them sitting down at the same table. And these are brands that like have massive respect across the industry. For me personally, Padrone continues to be the kind of brand I'm like, if I'm gonna drop money, it would be on a Padron cigar. Yeah. If I'm gonna do something expensive. I think Lito Gomez's story is really awesome because he's kind of that still one of the strongest, fullest bodied like portfolios from the Dominican Republic to hear what he's doing and his son taking up stuff. So if you guys want a little bit of like education, light up a cigar and listen to something really cool, check out that episode in particular. Yeah, I thought it was really cool.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

Yeah, that's really cool. I it's funny because that is kind of what we were talking about, too, is like the direction all the different brands are going too, like one of our last podcasts. So it's kind of cool to like see where that goes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:02

And and especially with the Padron uh line, because it's it's almost all Padron family in its operations.

SPEAKER_01 45:10

It's crazy when you go to the Padron booth at the PCA, everyone's last everybody's name tag says Padron at the end. It's like, well, this is for real.

SPEAKER_00 45:19

Like and it no, it's true. And I and I think uh Padron's heritage um and where the company started is one of the coolest like stories about really starting like at nothing. And Padrones were kind of the cheap, affordable everyday cigar to what it is now. So it's definitely an education. So check it out if you have the opportunity. Okay, a few comments here.

SPEAKER_01 45:42

Rick Balding says I smoked the no broke Maduro yesterday. Love that one. I'm out in Indiana too. Big fan of Elmago. I'm excited to order tomorrow. Awesome. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 45:50

Well, thank you so much. Yeah, yeah. And the I think if you're an Elmago fan as well, as well as the Society drops, you will not be disappointed. Uh Charlie.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

Uh Lure Redfish was glorious.

SPEAKER_00 46:01

That was that was a micro drop. Really, really good. We unfortunately like barely missed it. We brought in Lure just after that. Uh here. Uh Richard.

SPEAKER_01 46:09

Cigar Authority is the best cigar podcast for me.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

It's yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:12

That's the one that I like you to turn on in the car. That's the one I religiously listen to. Sometimes I'm like, it's not that I get burnt out on the cigars or anything. I just am not weirdly, I'm not that much of a podcast listener, but I always love listening to Cigar Authority. I he's great.

SPEAKER_00 46:27

It's yeah, Dave Garoflo's.

SPEAKER_01 46:29

Dave Garofflo's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 46:30

Uh Faceless Orchestra.

SPEAKER_01 46:32

I saw a post about the new box that Domain put out that has a built-in space for a humidity pack. Very cool. Have you seen it?

SPEAKER_00 46:38

Yes. In fact, it's in the current boxes that we have. So you have basically the slide top. I really like the domain like insignia that goes across the cigars. It's like a wood insert. And then where the cigars rest, uh, at the foot, there's a small like channel uh that's cut into the box where a bovida is set. Um it's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 46:57

It's again an situation of domain thinking through every single choice. Yes, like nothing, nothing is frivolous or quickly put together with domain. Everything is so intentional. The the most intentional brand, like I think that we've picked up. It's true. Yeah, it's true.

SPEAKER_00 47:17

I yeah, it's really cool. Uh Raider Dave.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

Yes, that episode was so cool and informative. I watched it twice.

SPEAKER_00 47:23

Nice, nice. Yeah, and they released like a bonus like video of like 20-something minutes specifically highlighting passing the torch. And so, yeah, it was just really cool. Again, is the aficionado podcast is not something I usually listen to, but that really caught my eye. To get those three in one room is is uh like a feat in of itself. So it was really cool. Uh let's see here.

SPEAKER_01 47:45

Smitty is Witty Smith says, Good night, guys. Going to work.

SPEAKER_00 47:48

Okay, thanks for joining us. Thank you for joining us. Uh Mike.

SPEAKER_01 47:51

Padron started with a hammer and $200. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 47:54

Story is amazing. So cool. Amazing that's you here. Out in Indiana, visiting Sun. Great trip so far. Awesome. Hopefully, you smoke something great.

SPEAKER_01 48:01

Very cool.

SPEAKER_00 48:02

Richard.

SPEAKER_01 48:03

Uh, you guys need to pick up a box of the re-released World Strongest by HVC. Uh, he has a follow-up at the bottom there. It says it drops this weekend and we'll be gone real quick real quick. Rainier will be in studio on Saturday. Awesome, very cool. Nice. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:17

HVC is awesome.

SPEAKER_01 48:19

Uh Templar Knight says El Mago looks great. Can't wait.

SPEAKER_00 48:22

Awesome. So, yeah, in the second third, uh, any any flavor change?

SPEAKER_01 48:26

I was saying I got some baking spice. I also got like this very like herbaceous green taste. I say green, and that I know is not the right term in cigar terminology, but fresh, like I can see the herbal aspect. Um it's I realized it's like it's very aptly named the mage, um, because it like has this potion-y like thing going on where you there are a lot of transitions and a lot of flavor notes, and I've caught more tonight, even from last night, where last night I was getting down into the last third, and it was like really this like floral fruity little bit at the end. Yeah, and and whenever I say floral again, I feel like I need to preface that like not popery, but just this like aromatic, you know, sort of aromatic, I would say.

SPEAKER_00 49:23

I get those aromatic notes.

SPEAKER_01 49:25

Like a rose petal or a candied, a candied rose petal.

SPEAKER_00 49:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 49:28

It's what I was getting a little bit at the end there.

SPEAKER_00 49:30

I definitely see it as an aromatic side, um, but also like uh like a barrel stave, like an oaky barrel stave is what I really also get too, to where it leads me to believe like this and a really good like bourbon, yes, it's gonna go well.

SPEAKER_01 49:45

So, yeah, any of those like I get a little bit of fruit or a little bit of herbal or a little bit that oak does ground it. So it doesn't feel it doesn't feel lightweight. I'm noting a lot of light notes, but you're right, there is earthiness or uh oakiness to it.

SPEAKER_00 50:02

And I think a lot of times too, we talk about like treble notes, base notes. This this plays in both fields. You get some treble up front, and then the finish is very base forward, really grounds it kind of like I feel like that Anise did with the the Bruno the Butcher.

SPEAKER_01 50:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:15

In in those aspects.

SPEAKER_01 50:17

Yes, yeah. Um, there's even like a little bit of a gummy candy, definitely some sweetness for sure. Yeah, but like not a cocoa-y, chocolatey sweetness, it's a different kind of sweetness. So I really I dig it. I really love this one.

SPEAKER_00 50:33

Awesome. Yeah, no, it's it's definitely it's it's definitely a complex cigar for sure. Um, okay, and then really quick, we want to highlight a uh photo from the uh um the Discord that was posted by RK9. And this was he recently got his variety pack smoking the deep cover, and I actually like his caption saying very first, that's very strong first impression, lovely spice, and there's something there I can't figure out. Oh, smoke medium, but it has a bit of a heft behind it, sneaky little thing. Um, it definitely is. It's it's like a I wouldn't say it's like full strength, but it's got this kind of like feeling that it is, and it's um a full throttle cigar for when you light it up. Um, thought it was really special. I would say this one and like chaos theory are the ones that are neck and neck for me from the Shadow Factory, but this one is a little more elegant, I feel like, a little more Batua. Um so yeah, had to highlight that from RK9. So we are uh less than 24 hours away from releasing the Mage seventh anniversary from OGT cigars. Um, if once again, as I had mentioned, it drops tomorrow, Friday, August 14th, 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Pacific Standard Time, 7 Eastern Standard. I'm super excited for it. And this way everyone can get a hold of it and then smoke it in time for our anniversary.

SPEAKER_01 51:54

Absolutely. It's gonna be it's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_00 51:57

I uh just think too like the blessing of coming across Elmago in terms of making this happen. Um we've got a lot more big releases coming as well, but I think this one is one of the big highlights. Yes, very impressive.

SPEAKER_01 52:14

Absolute highlight of the year for sure. This is awesome. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:17

Um, but it was kind of cool to go through uh previous years in terms of our releases. What would you say out of the anniversary uh anniversaries before this one? Triforum, Stallone, or Stolen Throne?

SPEAKER_01 52:33

I think the Triforium probably. Triforium is but it's a really hard toss out.

SPEAKER_00 52:38

It is hard.

SPEAKER_01 52:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:39

I will I will say one of the most unique was the Stolen Throne and the fact that it was a bit more medium.

SPEAKER_01 52:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 52:43

Um, which we normally go for a bit heavier, um, but definitely there. Let's see here. Raider Dave.

SPEAKER_01 52:48

I'll be on to get mine. Hopefully the site doesn't crash. Ha ha. I think we're I think we're past that. Fingers crossed. We've gotten a lot better about it.

SPEAKER_00 52:58

I think so.

SPEAKER_01 52:59

But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:00

Well, thank you so much, Raider Dave, and thank you guys so much uh for that. Again, the support is so extremely humbling. And the fact that we're here um seven years.

SPEAKER_01 53:11

Yes, it's crazy to think. It's absolutely crazy.

SPEAKER_00 53:14

It's crazy, but um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:16

More good things to come.

SPEAKER_00 53:17

Exactly. More good things to come. Uh, thank you guys for jumping on Variety. Check us, check out the cigar drop tomorrow night as it happens. Um, but thank you for joining us tonight for the uh virtual cigar lounge. Yeah. Hanging out with us.

SPEAKER_01 53:30

Yeah, thank you so much. Have a good night.

SPEAKER_00 53:32

So next week we'll be back on uh sort of on the eve of the society release and potentially having a special guest on with us as well. So always great to hang out with you guys. I appreciate it. Get ready for tomorrow's drop. Um, super excited to share this with all of you and everyone have a great weekend. And thanks for celebrating with us. Oakland Tobacchinus, seven years.

SPEAKER_01 53:55

Yeah, good night.

SPEAKER_00 53:56

All right, everyone have a great night, and we will.