Episode 33 | My Father's The Judge | Berry Mocktail

Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. We are back for another episode of the Sticks and Stones podcast. Sticks and Stones podcast, where we talk about life, we talk about love, and we talk about the brotherhood of the leaf, the premium tobacco product world. So, we are here. I am so happy to be with you guys, so happy to join you. Thank God I'm here for another episode, and what are we doing tonight? So, we are smoking. Now, just so you guys know, this is my third cigar of the day. So, if you want to know what I'm smoking throughout the day, or you know, want to know what I'm drinking for this evening, go to our Instagram page. We've got a reel for the drink that I make that I'm drinking tonight, which is a berry mocktail. So, it's a diet-conscious, non-alcoholic drink. And for this evening, for my third cigar, I will be smoking the My Father's The Judge. One of my top faves, for sure. I had a pretty lengthy meeting today at a coffee shop, and without realizing I was out in the sun for so long. I mean, I am going to feel that tomorrow. I am burnt like a lobster. I don't know why you where you guys are listening from, but here in Texas, uh I think the winter's over. And I know people in the Northeast, you think that you're out of the woods, it's springtime, uh but you're never out until you're fully out. Because I know the Northeast sometimes in 2020 or 2021, it snowed in [ __ ] May. So, praying for all my friends and family up there in Jersey. Hoping that no more snow. Hoping you guys are done. All right, we got a cold draw, let's see. Get a lot of hay on this, actually. So, what you what you smell when you, you know, drive by a farm or whatever, and you smell hay, that's what I'm tasting right now. Let's try the drink. That is a very berry-centric, non-alcoholic, very low in sugar drink. So, if you're if you're trying to quit booze or trying to quit booze for a while, doesn't mean that you have to be boring. You don't have to be boring, guys. We already gave it a snippy snippy. Let's toast this bad boy up. Toast it like a Pop-Tart. Try not to barbecue this thing, guys. Try not to barbecue in it. The more effort you put into the light, guys, the more enjoyable smoke, even smoke, better experience you're going to have. Oh, yeah, babe. It's putting out some smoke. That's for sure. All right. So, let's dig into this masterpiece that we have right here. So, My Father Cigars was built on an immigrant's dream. Company founder Jose Pepin Garcia immigrated from Cuba to the United States in 2002, bringing with him a rare skill, the ability to roll Cuban style cigars that many hadn't seen since before the embargo. He opened a small factory in Miami, Miami's Little Havana. I know that area pretty well. Used to live in Miami. Called El Rey de los Habanos. Success came quickly and he eventually expanded to Nicaragua. His son, Jaime and daughter Janny were both instrumental in growing the company alongside him, which if you guys don't know, My Father's also has a cigar great cigar, Jaime Garcia. We will be We will be toasting that up on the podcast very soon. The Judge line was released in and is packed in boxes featuring lithographic art resurrecting resurrected from 1905. That artwork depicts a dapper man in Victorian era garb, complete with a bow tie, smoking a cigar. The name was inspired by a friend of the Garcia family who is a judge. Interesting. On the blend, this is where the Judge separates itself from its full Nicaraguan puro in every excerpt and everything except the wrapper. So, on the wrapper, it's Ecuadorian Sumatra Oscuro, dark, oily, and semi-oily finish. The binder is Nicaraguan nickel Nicaraguan corojo and criollo. The filler is three garce- three Garcia family farms in Nicaragua. The filler tobaccos are drawn from three distinct growing regions. Jalapa adds natural sweetness and creaminess, which for some reason on on the dry the dry pull, the I got a hay, a lot of hay. Now, the hay is gone. I do I do get creaminess. So, Esteli contributes strength and peppery spice and Namanji rounds out the blend with an earthy, rich profile. Excuse me. The Judge is described as an extension of the My Father brand featuring richer, more full-bodied tobaccos than the original line with the added strength coming from the dual corojo binder and the Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper. Now, for anyone who has been listening to me for any amount of time, you all know that I like strong cigars. I don't see this as a strong cigar. However, someone who doesn't smoke as much as I do may choke on this thing. I don't know. I can only give you my opinion, guys. So, for the vitolas, the line is available in three vitolas. Grand robusto, 5 in by 60, which that's what this is. The toro, 6 in by 56, and the corona gorda at 5 and 5/8 by 46. All box press, which if you've been listening to me for any amount of time, you know that I hate box presses. There's only a few that I will tolerate and they I think they're all in the My Family Cigar family, oddly enough. The Grand Robusto, the one that won Cigar of the Year, thick, heavy, posing, a 90 to 100 minute smoke. The Toro is The flavors transition more clearly in this size. Earth and cedar early, caramel sweetness in the middle, leather and spice building toward the end. Considered by many the most complete version of the blend if you want balance and boldness simultaneously. The Corona Gorda is the slimmest option. The Toro Fino delivers more concentrated flavor with the cleaner edge on the pepper and the sweetness of the wrapper seems more noticeable early. Boxes come in counts of 23, by the way. So, giving you the breakdown on the flavor profile third by third, the first draw reveals bold red pepper spice immediately followed by dark chocolate and earthy tones. So, one of those earthy tones that I picked up was hay. The cigar is full-bodied from the start, yet manages to stay balanced, allowing each flavor to stand out with all without overwhelming the palate. During the second third, the profile simplifies to semi-sweet chocolate up front with plenty of red pepper and mineral notes backing it up. The last third is characterized by earthy notes with a strong espresso bean backup. Some unsweetened cocoa and ever-present pepper spice that fades just slightly. Tasting notes commonly reported across reviews. Dark chocolate or cocoa, espresso, black coffee, cedar and leather, red pepper and black pepper, toasted nuts, walnuts, almonds, these nuts, earth, sweet cream undertones, occasional plum citrus snaps or caramel in the middle. To the accolades, the cigar has had an extraordinary award run. The Grand Robusto was named Cigar Journal's number one cigar of the year of 2017 upon its initial release. The Judge then earned a 98-point rating and the number one cigar of the year for 2024 from Cigar Aficionado. Making Making it the third of the year title for the Garcia family who previously won in 2012 with the Flor de las Antillas. Flor de las Antillas. That's the other box press that I really like. And in 2015 with the My Father's uh Le Bijou 1922. So, the construction uh the build quality is exactly what you'd expect from My Father's. Great draw. It is a great draw. Very even burn line and solid ash that holds close to an inch. The box press guarantees that these high-octane tobacco burns meticulously slow. Look at that the burn, guys. I mean, it's crazy. Originally launched around the $12 to $13 per stick in 2016 post cigar of the year, prices have climbed. So, you're looking roughly at 15 to 20 per stick depending on the vitola and the retailer. With the box discounts available due to demand after the 2024 award, some retailers are experiencing longer than usual back order times. Bottom line, it's a great [ __ ] cigar, guys. Bottom line. So, I'm enjoying that. I'm enjoying this mocktail. I'm enjoying the breeze. It's not too bad. It's not too cold. It's not too hot. It was about 85° today. So, this little bit of breeze, this little chill is very welcomed, very inviting. So, let's talk about life, you know? Life for me is very busy as it always is. Working on Always working on multiple projects, working with multiple clients in multiple businesses. So, always got something going on. I have a family member at Disney right now in Orlando. Um so happy, but also a little jello. I do I do love me some Disney. Picked up a couple gigs for doing business development for a couple different companies in a couple different industries. So, I'm not just doing real estate anymore. I mean, guys, hey, look, hustlers got to hustle. So, you get that paper as quickly and as often as you can. So, you do whatever you got to do to fill that bag, baby. What else? Getting excited for the summer cuz we know that very soon the cold weather is going to be done and over, and then we have another nuisance to worry about, hurricane season. Don't get it twisted, guys. Hurricane season is not just a worry for Florida and Texas anymore. I mean, [ __ ] North Carolina, Jersey gets hurricanes now. It's crazy. So, talking about the judge, and no judgments here, but what do you do when you get ghosted? It might be a friend, it might be a family member, it might be a significant other, boyfriend, girlfriend. I don't know how your marriage is. Maybe maybe it's your marriage. I don't know. I don't know. Like I said, no judgments here. My father's the judge. No judges. No judgments. But, how do you handle ghosting? Because this is the age of the ghost. This is the age of ghosting people. You could have a great relationship with a cousin or a girlfriend, boyfriend, a sibling, a friend, and everything's cool. You know, you guys you guys link up, you guys have a good vibe, you have you know, great family ties or great relationship, great history, great memories, great everything. And out of nowhere they just ghost you. What do you do? How do you react? I would say that's damn near an inch. So, how do you react to that? And I mean, guys, not a sidebar cuz that's what this show is all about. This cigar is phenomenal. I haven't smoked the judge in a good minute, probably cuz it's twenty [ __ ] dollars or somewhere around there. Stick. If you've got got the cash, you got that kind of loot hanging around, and you haven't smoked the judge, give it a shot. I'm not going to discourage you from doing it, that's for sure. So, not judging anybody, you know, what do you do? Oh, I think my opinion is if everything is going good and I and I get it. You don't get any closure out of that. And some people need closure. I totally get it. Totally understand. But, if that person just decides to up and ghost you one day, maybe they did you a favor. Ever think of that? Maybe that person did you a solid. Maybe it was the best thing they could have done to your life was ghost you. Maybe look at that as a blessing that yeah, you know, I am a firm believer of everything happens for everything happens for a reason. And there are reasons for people coming in and out of your life. And and adversely or contrarily, you walking in and out of people's lives as well. Because we do it, too. I will say that I'm not a big fan of ghosting people. I can probably count on one hand how many times I've done it. And normally it's just because if you know that person well enough and you know that having a talk with them before you excommunicate them or having that talk with them before you walk out of their life is not going to do you any good. Like it'll it'll actually do worse. It'll be worse than doing any good. That's usually what I do. Former clients, former friends, family members. When you know that person well enough and you know bringing these things up or mentioning these things is just going to be more drama. Then you know what? [ __ ] it. Chuck the deuces. It's It is what it is. Not a big fan of ghosting people. I am a big fan of communicating, talking things through, letting them know this is why. You know, I've given you opportunity after opportunity and doesn't seem to work out. Well, I'm out. You don't need me in your life that bad. It's fair enough to do that for people. When you know you bring that conversation up and it's just going to bring more drama and it's going to bring more argument and it's going to bring more accusations and whatever. I get it. I get the ghosting. A lot of people get ghosted for no reason, no judgment. I don't know why. I guess people feel it's the road less traveled. I I don't know. I don't get it. But just give that a second thought. You know, the next time you have the inclination to ghost somebody that maybe didn't deserve it, right? Maybe that person wasn't a bad person. Maybe that Maybe it was something that you couldn't handle. Maybe you didn't want to be friends. You wanted to be more than friends and that wasn't going to happen. Maybe or you thought you were going to get more business out of that person than you actually did. Instead of, you know, maybe the relationship didn't go the way you planned or didn't go the way you thought or preconceived. Talk it out. You know, give people some closure. And there's some people out there that they just don't need it, they don't care. But again, if you have known each other for long enough, you will know what type of person you're dealing with. That's my thought on ghosting. This cigar, I mean, and my My Father's in in a hole, like they say, the draw is phenomenal. Shout out to the Garcia family, baby. If anybody's going to the PCA in April, I am going to book my tickets this week. If anybody has recommendations on good places to stay and places to hang out and whatever, probably going to come to the I'm going to show up the day before, maybe stay the day after. I have uh never been to New Orleans, so would love to know any good recommendations. Not so sure about the uh about the 90 to 100 minute smoke. Maybe I just puff on these things too damn fast cuz it's like 27 minutes in and I already had to take both wrappers off or both um bands off. Draw is phenomenal. The ash is great. Like I said, to me this is not bold, to others it might be. Smooth though, very, very smooth. I mean, that's kind of what you get across the board with My Father's, very smooth. So you know, guys, I just I want to get to you guys regularly. You know, we we drop a an episode every week and bringing you uh hopefully good entertaining cigar content. You know, if you've got any questions, comments, you guys want me to smoke something, give us a comment. Comment on this podcast, write us, email us. You can hit us up on Instagram, on Facebook. Love bringing you guys content because I love the premium cigar and premium tobacco world. Um So, also we are going to be launching a website specifically for the show. So, if you want to be a guest on the show, there'll be a form on there kind of get a little bit more info on you, I'll give you some info about the program. And if you want to get on here and chop it up with me and talk cigars and life, love, and the pursuit of the leaf, we're going to we're going to be launching that soon. So, that's that's a that's a nice update. Other than that, I am going to finish this beautiful bastard. I'm going to finish drinking my non-alcoholic diet drink, and I will be thinking of content on what to bring you guys next. So, that's it for this episode. I wish you all the very, very best. I hope you have a blessed evening and an even more blessed week. Holy Week is coming, so that's great. That's exciting. Looking forward to doing something on Resurrection Sunday or Easter Sunday. But, with that, everyone stay blessed. And above all else, keep it rolling, baby. Sticks and Stones out.