Episode 21 | Gurkha Sampler Pack & New Riff Single Barrel

Yo yo yo yo yo, we are back for another episode of the Sticks and Stones podcast. I am your host Angelo and we have our Glen Karen drinking glass. We have a beautiful almost nearly just cracked bottle of New Riff single barrel bourbon. Let me go ahead and Let's pour ourselves a drink here. Give that a little Let that air out a little. And if any any of you guys have come here from the YouTube channel, we just shot a YouTube video. This is what this is all about. It's probably going to be a shorter This is going to be a shorter episode. on the nose that I get like vanilla or caramel. Um, so I am new to Girka cigars. I've only smoked the Fat Boy in one of their I think a 15-year-old aged ones. So I I haven't explored the world of Girka uh very much and I don't usually get sampler packs. So, I was at Pasadena Tobacco and Cigar and the owner there recommended that, you know, I try one of these sampler packs and I jumped in. So, let's see. Let's see what's in this sampler pack. We have the We have the Girka Chateau D Py. Okay, got that. We have the Girka Evil. That's a odd name. We have This is more of a Maduro. This is the Girka Beast. I mean, so far these are pretty evil names. This is the Girka Marqueesa. This is what the beast looks like. Let's see what else is in this sampler pack. The Girka Rogue. and the Girka Castle Hall. So, I am unfamiliar about any of these sticks, but you know what the [ __ ] We'll go for the beast. It's a Maduro. Anybody who's been following these channels of mine of ours, you guys know that I do like my Maduros. Let's Let's give it a snippy snip. Snippy snippy. All right, let's see see if we've had any note changes in the booze. Not really. Yeah, that's good stuff. Going to roll that around the flame. Kind of toast the foot nice and even. Give it one of these actions. Kind of mimics a puff. And we're off. Party started. I mean, right away you can tell this is a good quality cigar. And these are not even my preferred VOA, guys. I mean, you know that I like them 60 ring or 56 58 bare minimum uh to 60 or or better. 60 66 ring. Uh 70 is about my ceiling as far as uh the VLOA is concerned. The diameter of the uh of the stick. I mean, right away you can tell this is a premium cigar. I guess it's like Forest Gump. Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. I mean, so far for my first sampler pack, not too bad. Trying to see if I can get any tasting notes out of this cigar. This bourbon is new riff. New riff single barrel. This is barrelproof. without chill filtration. This is Kentucky Straight Bourbon. It is 111.2 proof, 55.6% alcohol by volume. This was This came out of barrel number 36096, by the way, if anyone was wondering. So, let's see. On the back of the on the back of the of the bottle, it says, "New a new riff on old traditions. Each new riff barrel is singular in personality and flavor, selected for its quality and complexity. bottle that barrelproof and without chill filtration. We preserve the character of the barrel all the way to your glass. A aged at least four years. New riff distilling.com. Good job on this one. New riff. Let's have that there. I don't know why, but I just got like a little bit of movie popcorn there for a minute. I don't know if that's right, I guess. But tasting notes are I guess not right or wrong. It's it's the individual's um guess it's the it's the individual's pallet. This is a really good cigar. Speaking of good cigars and bourbon and everything else, the Premium Cigar Association shows coming up in April in New Orleans and I plan on going. have to make my arrangements and all that, but I will keep you guys posted on that. I can't wait to interview a lot of people there at the show. This is the Girka beast. You know, it's a it's a distinct flavor. It's not like it's it's not a lot of spice or or pepper. I mean, there's a little bit in there, but it's not like overpowering. I mean, it definitely makes you know that it's there. It's not like smooth and creamy like um a shade Connecticut or a habano or anything like that. I'm trying to pull some kind of a toasty note out of this or a tasty note out of this. And I really It's very not strong tobacco, but a strong taste of tobacco if that makes any sense. I mean, so far for a sample pack. This is a pleasant surprise. I think I got to do more sample packs. As you guys might know, I shoot outside of my house. I have like a bayou in the back over here. It sounds like something out of [ __ ] Jurassic Park is about to bust through my gate and eat me. Maybe I'm just saying that because I saw the newest Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park Dominion, I think it's called. Got a a lot of vanilla on that one. Well, Mr. Kirka. This one's a winner. I can't give you guys much on this one. Wow. I got to tell you, like if if I had my wish list, if if I could put up a lounge of of any kind, I would put up a lounge. I've been thinking about this for a while. So, I would do a lounge that has like a modern a modern look, like a modern feel, you know, like hercuite glass walls for certain areas, hardwood floors, but I would also give it I'd wanted it to have that oldworld vibe, you know, the the highback leather couches and leather armchairs and stuff like that. I would have a full top shelf bar in my lounge. I would have I've seen I saw a a smoke he eating system in Europe that wasn't very loud. Um has a positive air filtration system. So the air is actually being forced through the floor. It's being forced up and there's a system in the ceiling. So it's perforated floor. There's holes in the floor and there's holes in the ceiling and air is being pumped up through the floor and then sucked out of the ceiling. So, it's a constant uh positive um like a positive vacuum pull on the room. And basically what it what it does is it gives you no smoke in the room and it stays quiet. Um, so I would have that filtration system in it so people can talk and you're not bothered by, you know, a motor in in the smoke eating system. So great filtration system, very quiet. I would have new modern type construction with an oldworld feel like an old world vibe. top shelf bar. Have some kind of either hot kitchen in the space to make food products or have a dedicated delivery service or have a my own restaurant next door where the weight staff from next door would just be shuttling over food that you would order. And we would have like a dedicated app, like a dedicated iPad on each table that you could just order whatever you want for food and they bring it right over. Um, and a banging sound system, like a banging entertainment system, automated for the lights and and uh security and audio and video. So, we could watch whatever we want on multiple TVs or everybody can watch something different or we can, you know, host fight nights and stuff like that, big sporting events and all that type stuff. I think that would like that would do it for me. I mean, and obviously have some of the best selection of premium cigars anywhere around. That would be my ultimate cigar lounge if I were to build one myself, which have has always been a plan of mine to build my own lounge and cigar store. And you know, who knows, maybe what we do is we build a really, really nice lounge or steakhouse lounge and film the podcast out of there. Man, that is good stuff. You know what is the purpose of of these beautiful wonderful things? It's to sit back, enjoy some time either by yourself or with some people you really care about, some good friends, family, business associates, whatever. And sit back and cruise, man. Just like enjoy that moment. enjoy life for that moment because these things take time. They take time to smoke. This is not it's not a cigarette where people are smoking a cigarette. You can smoke a cigarette in probably anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes. This takes time. It takes not really patience because you're not it's not an impatient thing where you're lighting up a cigar and you're like, "Oh, I want to really finish this." You don't. You want to you want to linger. You want it to run out as much as possible. You want to run the clock out on this [ __ ] I mean, that's that's the beauty part about these things in in a world today, in a dynamic digital internet of things. Everything is connected to the internet. Everything is so fast and quick. Sometimes you just want to kick back and do nothing for a while and just enjoy some time. Enjoy a nice beverage. Enjoy some good food. I have got no tasting notes on this one, but it's phenomenal. I mean, the draw is great. I mean, it's been sitting in a bag for a while. It's got a little bit little bit of a weird burn, but smoke output. The ash color is great. not super strong. And and that's what I thought Girka was all about. Like, you know, really really heavy, lots of power, you know. It's really not. I don't I don't know if that's because my my pallet has changed. My smoke a lot of cigars on a daily basis and, you know, my my strength tolerance in cigars has changed. But fun fact, if you Google world's most expensive cigars, you'd be surprised on how many on the list are uh are girkas. So, the Girka Royal Cortison is widely considered the most expensive cigar in the world, priced at approximately $1.36 million per cigar. I mean, I'm sure sure they're good, but $1.36 million for one stick. Okay, so iyc.com has a blog article, the world's 10 most expensive cigars. Number one, the Girka Royal Cortisant. Number two is the Mayan Cicars. Priceless piece of history, $57,000. The Grand Habano number five, Eljagante, a monumental masterpiece, $185,000. Number four, the Rigidius double corona 51,634. The king of Denmark regal refinement. Girka black dragon limited edition lux,50. The Girka His Majesty's reserve exclusive elegance $750. the Cohibu. The Cohiba Behik. I've actually had that cigar. I've had the original Bik in uh one of my European trips. Not a not a great not a great fan of it. The Fuente Don Oruro anniversario $163. Kohiba Magajestuso Magestus uh at 120. So I think Girka was like three or four on that list. Um let's see. Here's another one by Cigar Country. Let's see. Holt cigars, big fan of Holtz cigars, has a an article from 2020. The most expensive cigars in the world. The most expensive cigars you can buy. Number one, the Arturo Fuente Opus X. I'm a big I'm a big Opus fan. Uh Padron 50th anniversary. Uh I've had it. It's uh it's okay. The David off 702 series is number three. The Ashton ESG. I love the ESG. A lot of people are fanatical over the VSSG. I love the ESG. That's a great stick. Number five, My Father's Limited Edition. Um, and then the most expensive cigars you you can't actually buy. The Mayan cigars 633, the Cohiba Behik at 450. Let's see. Havana House has the 12 most expensive cigars in the world. Number 12, the Monte Cristo 520 cigar, limited edition, 400 per cigar. Kohiba Behik 54, 500 euro. Oh, this is in euros, by the way, or pounds. Pounds British sterling. Uh, the Kohiba 55 anniversario. The Girka, His Majesty's Reserve, 750 per cigar or 15,000 US dollars per box. Uh the Cohiba Behik again, $18,000 per box. Art or Turo Fuente Opus X, uh $30,000 per box. I think that's a little high. It depends. I mean, there's a lot of Opus X's now. I mean, there's like Purple Rain, there's Lost City, there's, you know, bunch of them. Uh, the Girka Black Dragon, $1,150 US each or $23,000 a box. Now, I happen to know there's a cigar shop local here that has the Black Dragon. I don't know if if it's we're talking about the very same thing. This is the the Black Dragon was a limited edition this in 2006. Number five, King of Denmark, 4500 each. Uh, number four, the Regis Double Corona at 52,785, which I'm hoping that's for the box. The Grand Habano number five, Eljigante 185,000. The Mayan cigars at 507,000, and the Girka Royal Cortisan 36 million. So the article says Girkos has featured Girka has featured a few times on this list but none quite reached the price of this stogi the most expensive cigar in the world. The Girka Royal Cortisan is handmade in the Dominican Republic and Honduras using Himalayan tobacco which has been watered with Fiji water. I mean what a marketing what a marketing campaign. The cigar is wrapped in gold leaf and held together with a band that is studded with diamonds. It is then infused with Remy Martin's Black Pearl Lewis the 13th which costs $225,000 a bottle. I have had Louis the 13th. Um not a fan. Uh, the torsoidors who craft these cigars are made to work blindfolded to avoid distraction with only a few select hand rollers permitted to create the cigars. While some of these may be a little out of your price range, we have plenty of top cigars online available for you to buy now. Interesting. But Girka is usually up there in some of the world's most expensive cigars. I mean, water down with Fiji water gold leaf wrapping with diamonds in the band. I mean, that's that's pretty far out there. You know, guys like Larry Ellison and Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos can smoke a cigar like that. That's, you know, that's that's like the the the 1enters of the world, the elite. I don't know, guys. Even if I had that kind of money, I don't think I would spend it on a cigar. I mean, as much as I love cigars, I kind of base my whole world around cigars, but to spend that kind of money on a cigar, I don't think I would. Now, sure, if any one of them dudes wanted to give me one cigar, I'd smoke the [ __ ] out of it, but to go buy one, that's a little crazy. The new rift single barrel, what a what a winner. What a winner. Girka Beast winner. However, I can't pull anything out of it. I've got no tasting notes. Good cigar though. Very good cigar. Highly recommend it. This was a quick episode. I just wanted to try out and break open this sampler pack because I've had it in my car for a while and I'm glad that I did. So, we'll try all of these. I think there's six cigars. So, the beast definitely up there. I wish they made it in a bigger diameter and a bigger ring ring gauge, but you know, however, it is what it is. I will continue to do stuff like this. We'll change it up. We'll change up the format as these things go on. And you know, hopefully it's what you guys like. So, I am out for Sticks and Stones podcast. I wish you all a blessed week ahead and above all else, keep it rolling, baby. I'm out.