התמלול המלא של Fat Cigars

gauge be in the same category as 60 ring gauge, and they were kind of taking up the category so much so that we finally in 2012 said it's gotta have its own category. 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:47.519 These fast cigars elbowed their way, they took over our category, we had to give them some room of their own. 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:55.680 Yeah, and um we've had we have no trouble filling that category every issue when we uh when we rate them. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:04:57.439 There are just so many of them on the market. 00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:05.040 I mean, you said that would you come out with a new brand, you basically have to have, or most people would have a six by sixty or a fat cigar. 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:06.240 No, no, absolutely. 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:19.759 And it just goes to show how the internet can be misleading because you go in comment sections uh under articles, you look at the comments on Instagram and Facebook. 00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:32.560 When people are talking about cigars on Instagram, online in general, the online vocal majority is always they are always complaining about thick ring gauges. 00:05:32.639 --> 00:05:43.279 Now, if you were to go by the comments you read on Instagram, you think everyone smokes coronas, petite coronas, lanceros, and church's that they only want traditional sizes. 00:05:43.839 --> 00:05:46.800 That is those voices are the loudest online. 00:05:47.120 --> 00:05:58.800 In reality, that doesn't even come close to realistically reflecting the market because you talk to manufacturers and they say the corona, these coronas, I can make them, they won't sell. 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:02.240 Or if they do make a corona, it's my least selling size. 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:11.279 This cigar I'm smoking now, the espesso in the Monte Cristo Nicaragua 1935 anniversary line, it has a very small size called a demi. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:19.439 And it's it's just it's a 46 ring gauge, but it's short and it it's just slightly larger than a corona. 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:29.519 And when you ask Altaris, that that's my favorite size in the line, and it is, of course, the least selling size, and that's true uh across the industry. 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:36.000 So you can't always you can't always go by all the angry, passionate comments you see online. 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:36.720 Right. 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:40.160 Comments aside, these things sell, they sell like crazy. 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:46.639 Talk about the timeline because they weren't part of the cigar world when when I started at the magazine 30 years. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:49.439 Well, they were, but they were they were there as a novelty. 00:06:49.680 --> 00:07:07.600 So I made this timeline a while ago and I started it kind of the the thick ring gauge spark happened in 87 when Honduran brand cubaliados they released a novelty cigar called the General, 18 inches long, 60 ring gauge. 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:11.759 Then uh puros indios came out in 1994. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:20.079 Makers of uh um of uh cubaliados, they came out something the chief, same size as the general, but it was a novelty. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:22.879 And then cigars start getting a little thicker. 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:28.160 1995, JC Newman releases Diamond Crown, everything was 54 ring gauge, right? 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:33.519 Landmark cigar, but the 50 54 does not sound so fat now, but that was very back in the day, sure. 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:34.079 Yep. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:38.399 Then you have Ernesto Perez Carrillo, La Gloria Cubana Serie R. 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:47.839 Two-size line, 52 and 54 ring gauge, not that big, but here's where the major turning point was by my assessment, 2001. 00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:58.879 Because that was when the La Gloria Cubana Serie R was the first major nationally distributed premium cigar brand to release a 6x60 cigar. 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:06.560 When you do 6x60 in in a brand like La Gloria Serie R, that's no longer a novelty. 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:11.759 That is the that marked the normalization of 6x60. 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:16.639 And then more and more, you had 6x60s coming out. 00:08:16.959 --> 00:08:22.000 Um we have uh 2004 Tatuaje with his grand Kohonu. 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:28.800 Uh 2005, curiously named brand called XL for Men by Oliveros. 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:32.000 Now, Oliveros, as that name does not exist anymore. 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:41.200 Um, that's that was the the the old brand name, the old company for uh uh that Rafael Nodal had for his his aging room line. 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:42.159 He was ahead of his time. 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:46.080 Way ahead of his time because XL was not a commercial success. 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:49.679 I think it was it was it was too much for the time. 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:52.559 I mean, he came back with the six by sixty. 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:58.559 Uh 2006, Altaris releases Siri G, St. 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:02.720 Louis Ray, uh 56 ring gauge, 58 ring gauge, and 60. 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:09.360 And I said the G stands for Higante, Gordo, Grande, or any other G word signifying prodigious girth. 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:11.840 Then 2010 comes along. 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:18.720 So the thickest cigar for the longest time in Cuba was 52 ring gauge. 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:23.360 I mean, you had a Salamone that was kind of uh maybe maybe heavier than that. 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:28.399 Uh, you had uh uh maybe a little thicker than that at its widest point, but I'm talking normal cigars. 00:09:28.559 --> 00:09:37.279 You had the Siglo 6, which was the Canyonazo 52 ring gauge, and you had uh any pramide shape, which was 52 ring gauge, and it stayed there for a long time. 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:40.240 In 2010, Cuba gets in on the trend. 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:54.320 They do the Romeo I Julieta wide Churchill 55 ring gauge cigar, and that opened the door for a lot of Cuban cigars because now you have the Siri

Loyo from Hoyo de Monterey, and these are 55, 56. 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:56.799 Um, there may be one that I don't know if there's one 58. 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:01.039 There's a new one that just came out, but they're in the 55 plus ring gauge. 00:10:01.120 --> 00:10:06.799 So these these really uh fat ring gauges that the trend really started in the US. 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:09.200 You people thought, no, Cuba would never do that. 00:10:09.279 --> 00:10:10.000 They would never do that. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:13.519 They followed European smokers, they don't want that. 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:15.679 Yes, they want that because who's buying these? 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:18.799 I mean, there this is this is where they're sold. 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:21.360 2011 uh Drew Estate. 00:10:21.440 --> 00:10:22.159 Remember the Muat? 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:24.879 Remember, my Uzi weighs a ton. 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:32.080 I think it was a reference to uh 60 Ring Gauge Cigar, I think it was a reference to uh uh hip-hop song. 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:41.279 Then you had Ernesto Perez Carrillo, who I hold uh directly responsible for this, uh what he did in 2001 with La Gloria Cubana when he went out on his own. 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:43.200 He creates the inch. 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:45.840 Tell us about the inch, why it's called the inch. 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:52.000 Well, the inch, uh, for those who know ring gauges, ring gauges are uh yeah, we have one right here. 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:57.919 Yeah, so 64, a 64 ring gauge is one inch in diameter, and this is an inch. 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:04.000 It has a uh uh looks like a ruler uh incorporated into the band, an inch in thickness, and it was a hit. 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:05.679 It was a hit from the beginning. 00:11:06.159 --> 00:11:08.480 That brand goes up to 70 ring gauge. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:14.399 Uh 2013, a brand called Asylum 13. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:20.240 It released a 7x70 and then an 8x80. 00:11:21.440 --> 00:11:25.360 And then you also have room 101, the big payback, which we have here on the table too. 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:31.440 We get into the teens, the 20 teens, and the cigars are just getting fatter and fatter and fatter. 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:44.080 And then in 2016, Cuba produced its first, and to this day, only one commercially uh uh commercially released in a limited capacity Cuban cigar. 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:52.559 It is the Cohiba 50 Anniversario, and that was 60 ring gauge cigar. 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:54.240 It came in a very expensive humidor. 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:56.639 We were there for that unveiling in 2016. 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:00.080 Remember the big big cabinet doors with all the gold leaf in it. 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:00.559 Yeah, sure. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:19.360 You're gonna have a big cabinet to hold such a big cigar, and inside were these 60 ring gauge cohibas, and they didn't hit 60 with it, but they've even gone fat with the Bahike line with the recent introduction of the Bahike 58, which is only available now in the four-pack, but is has been promised as a single release at some point. 00:12:19.759 --> 00:12:24.480 Because that line started, that line started thick 52 was the s the slimmest one. 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:28.720 It's goes 52, 54, 56, and now and now 58. 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:31.360 That brings us to this. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:35.039 Well, yeah, let's talk about these cigars that are on the table. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:36.879 I mean, look at this. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:38.320 This is this is massive. 00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:39.679 This is a an absolutely massive. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:41.360 Well, before we get to that, look at this. 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:44.639 So you look at you look at this, this is a big payback. 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:47.279 And this is 70 ring gauge cigar. 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:49.759 Now, 70 ring gauge is huge. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:51.919 I mean, look at it compared to the 6x60. 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:52.960 It dwarfs it. 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:53.360 Right. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:54.799 But then you look at this. 00:12:57.440 --> 00:13:00.720 Now don't strain your forearm lifting that cigar, Greg. 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:05.440 When it's wrapped, it looks like a Christmas salami. 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:06.320 It looks like a Christmas salami. 00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:07.120 That's what I thought it was. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:10.399 When Christian Iroa gave this to me, I thought he was giving me a Christmas salami. 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:12.080 Now, I know you haven't smoked one of those. 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:13.600 No, and I never will. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:24.559 This episode of the Cigar Visionada podcast is brought to you by the Big Smoke Las Vegas, taking place November 6th and 7th. 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:26.399 It's the biggest cigar event of the year. 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:30.720 Two nights of big smoke evenings with the world's most famous cigar stars. 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:35.279 Incredible spirits, food, and music, all in a cigar-friendly atmosphere. 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:41.919 Our cigar seminars include a tasting of the number one cigar of the year and a presentation by superstar Guy Fieti. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:44.000 It's the Big Smoke Las Vegas weekend. 00:13:44.080 --> 00:14:04.399 You can find out all about it at Las Vegas at BigSmoke.com, how long do you think it would take to smoke that cigar if you lit it up and didn't rush the process? 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:08.559 Well, this is a nine by ninety. 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:12.879 It is the Asylum April Fools. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:19.679 And I think this was for this was done for uh, I think uh um The Year of the Dragon. 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:22.320 Wasn't this one of the this may have been one of the New Year's ones. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:23.039 I think it was. 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:27.440 It certainly has has all the all the colors on the band. 00:14:28.480 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00:14:32.639 So you remember we did our at the Big Smoke, we did the seminar on the fat cigars. 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:34.080 Fat cigar panel on the big smoke. 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:38.480 Christian Iroa of CLE Cigars, who um got fame. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:44.240 Uh the the the the famous Iroa family growing Honduran tobacco, and they did Camatra cigars. 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:45.600 Now he's on his own. 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:48.639 And he also produces the Asylum. 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:51.039 So I asked him, I said, Is this a novelty? 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:53.039 Is this just a new version of the novelty? 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:57.679 And he said, No, there is a legitimate market for a cigar like this. 00:14:57.759 --> 00:14:59.279 And I said, Yeah, who's smoking it? 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:00.159 Who's smoking these cigars? 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:02.080 The first thing he said were truck drivers. 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:02.960 That's what he said. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:07.360 People in a long haul, they want to, they have a long time ahead of them, they want to break up the monotony. 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:11.039 Which also brings us to the next question for these huge cigars. 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:11.600 Why? 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:14.639 Is it just the American phenomenon of bigger is better? 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:20.080 I don't think so because thick cigars are you're you're you're seeing them in the Cuban portfolio. 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:21.200 They're smoking them in Europe. 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:24.159 Maybe no one will admit to smoking them in Europe, but they do. 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:28.000 Every year we ask our retailers, why do your customers like these? 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:31.279 We ask manufacturers, why do your customers like these huge cigars? 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:35.759 And the answer we always get is is perceived value. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:37.840 A couple of bucks more, you get this huge cigar. 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:40.960 They think it's just more cigar for their buck, more bang for their buck. 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:44.960 It is more cigar, and it's not typically markedly more expensive. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:54.159 I mean, those big ones are, but if you go up a little bit, if you go from a from a Robusto size at a 50 ring gauge to a six by sixty, you're not looking at a huge upcharge typically. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:56.399 It might be a dollar, it might be fifty cents, etc. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:59.360 So you do get more for your money. 00:15:59.679 --> 00:16:03.120 Do you think you get a better smoking experience for that bigger size? 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:04.480 In my opinion, no. 00:16:04.799 --> 00:16:12.559 Just because opening my mouth that wide for long periods of time, it's just it hurts that it's uncomfortable in my mouth. 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:20.159 Aside from the aesthetics and the and the fact that maybe they're not as comfortable to hold or to smoke, I also think it changes the way a cigar burns. 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:29.519 I I always or often feel that with a thicker cigar, I don't get the same volume of smoke, the same intensity of flavor that I would get in a in a smaller cigar. 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:30.720 This is a different experience. 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:32.879 I think box pressing helps that. 00:16:33.200 --> 00:16:40.080 I think that cigars is that my father, the judge, is it's softly pressed, but it's uh it's box pressed. 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:42.000 This pressing is a little more severe. 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:48.000 I think because of that, uh it it it it might help how it smokes, concentrates it a bit. 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:53.759 But more more importantly, and you know, box pressing versus non-box pressing is a whole nother subject. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:57.039 But more importantly, I I think it it fits a little better in the mouth. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:16:57.600 It does. 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:08.799 We met with a uh person from the cigar industry not too long ago, and we asked about the phenomenon of big cigars and what goes into making them, and he was rather candid. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:12.880 He said, Well, you don't necessarily use your best tobaccos in the fatter cigars. 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:16.000 No, I think that was true for a certain time. 00:17:16.160 --> 00:17:28.160 I think as the trend was was was starting to build and there was a demand, I think it was all right, we'll make these cigars for this this kind of um uh this kind of marginal crowd. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:32.720 And once that crowd wasn't so small anymore, I think they took it seriously. 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:34.880 And uh, we're smoking the proof right here. 00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:38.319 That was the you're smoking the number one cigar of 2024. 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:41.920 I'm the number two cigar of of of 2024. 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:45.920 That doesn't happen making scraps and using garbage tobacco. 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:46.640 Not at all. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:47.039 You're right. 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:57.599 So the so maybe uh with certain cigar sizes, you're not seeing the best of tobaccos, but when you use great tobacco in great quantities, you get phenomenal results like what we're smoking here. 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:02.160 Now, Greg, novelty is gone, it's part of the market. 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:08.319 We've we've we've seen 60 ring gauge, 70 ring gauge, 90 ring gauge. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:11.759 Uh, there have been some some even bigger sizes. 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:14.240 Where do you think this fat cigar trend goes? 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:16.960 Where do we where do you see it going the next couple of years? 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:22.480 I think I think 60 is probably here to stay. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:29.920 I think seven, I think anything above that, I think 70s, 80s, 90s, I think that I think that stuff levels off. 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:35.920 I still look at this as novelty, even if this is someone's go-to cigar. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:38.000 Um and if it is more power to them. 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:40.640 If that's the cigar you like, that's the cigar you like. 00:18:40.960 --> 00:18:43.440 Did you ever smoke anything this big before? 00:18:43.759 --> 00:18:45.920 Uh you know what I did smoke one time. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:52.480 I smoked the the Fuente Fuente Opus X football cigar, which is it's thick, but it's tapered. 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:55.920 It it's like a football, so that's you you don't have to open your mouth quite as wide. 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:57.599 I felt bad after lighting it up. 00:18:57.680 --> 00:18:58.559 It was a work of art. 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:03.839 I smoked it during uh during a football game uh uh in in my cigar friendly basement. 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:08.640 It was so it was very appropriate to the uh to the moment, but I felt like I was destroying a piece of art. 00:19:08.799 --> 00:19:12.160 And uh, you know, it it it was uh kind of a tough experience. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:13.920 That's that's a lot of cigar to smoke. 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:18.720 It's not often I get a tobacco buzz, but I I have a feeling that if I smoked one of those, I wouldn't. 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:23.200 When Christian was on the panel, he said how many, how many robustos are in there. 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:27.759 I I can't remember off the top of my head, but but there are there are many, many robustos. 00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:30.240 Uh there's that that's how much tobacco is in that. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:33.440 So you know, would you rather have four or five robustos of one of this? 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:35.279 I'd personally pick the Robusto. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:37.119 Well, to each his own. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:40.079 So fat cigars, here to stay. 00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:44.720 Uh for some people it's the it's the it's their favorite thing in the world. 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:47.680 For others, it's uh maybe more like brunch, right, Greg? 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:50.960 Uh 60 ring gauge is uh pretty much as far as I go. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:53.440 Thanks for joining us on the Cigar Vishnu podcast. 00:19:53.519 --> 00:20:00.160 Be sure to subscribe, check us out uh YouTube, Spotify, Apple, and of course the Cigar Vishnuta website. 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:03.119 And come join us again from the Cigar Vishnu Lounge here in New York. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:04.079 See you next time. 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:05.119 Thank you.