Traveler Full Proof, Finally With Backbone

Welcome And Bottle Setup

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Welcome to the Whiskey Chasers, where we talk about our passion for whiskey and its history, either amongst ourselves or while interviewing distilleries. Oh while enjoying a glass. I'm Steve. I'm Nick, and I'm Chris. Please enjoy responsibly while enjoying this week's episode of The Whiskey Chasers.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

We've all had this bottle, just we've had travelers, just not travelers, not the full proof. Foolproof, yes.

SPEAKER_04 0:37

I I honestly didn't know that they did that. It's pretty new, February 26th. So just a few months ago. What's I that was our only critique I remember saying, and I I wasn't the only one that were like maybe more proof, which you actually don't see Buffalo Trace doing that kind of thing, like coming out with something again, but uh with a higher proof, like same name, same everything, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Well, I mean, I guess for Buffalo Trace, you haven't seen it, but like Weller, they do it, uh, they do it for Blantons, they do it for uh benchmark, they do it for 1792.

SPEAKER_04 1:10

Foolproof version of the

What Foolproof Actually Means

SPEAKER_04 1:12

thing, yeah. Yeah, I guess. Yeah, well they're foolproof and blanton straight from the barrel.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

That's the other strange part about this, is they're all coming out around the same proof for the foolproofs for each offering. So, like Weller, uh 1792. Uh I don't know that they do a blanton's foolproof, but like they do straight from the barrel, which yeah, same diff. But that one would be like cast strength, right? Whereas foolproof is very different from cast strength in the sense that it comes out, they bottle it at the same proof point they put it in the barrel. And all the stuff that comes out as foolproof out of Sazrec is all 120. I don't know if you notice this or not. That's all 120 proof. Sorry, I'm just rubbing, I'm rubbing it out, rubbing it out, rubbing it out, rubbing the tobacco out.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

What are we smoking?

SPEAKER_00 1:58

We're gonna smoke some sunbear. Sunbear? There's uh there's the bottle for you, Chris. And if you notice the price tag, it's not a bad price or foolproof.

Chris Stapleton And The Name

SPEAKER_04 2:05

Yeah, that's exciting. I'm gonna pour that in a minute. Really? Sunbear. Um this one's from 2020. Just just gonna be, I mean, just smells great.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

So once I get it rubbed out a little bit, rub it out, and then this is another one of our celebrity bottles. So this is Chris Stapleton, who is a country singer. He started out in bluegrass, though. He did bluegrass for a long time and then switched over to Country. Yeah, so his band was called the Steel Wheels, the Steelers, the Steel Wheels, and they were a pretty awesome bluegrass band. I saw some of his older stuff, his videos, and it's really good stuff, and he he did a lot of the writing, and he was famous for writing in Nashville long before he got famous as a singer. So he's been a songwriter for a long time. He's written songs for George Strait, he's written songs for King Chesney, all those guys. So he's been around a long time, which is amazing. When you hear his voice and you're like, Well, why in the world were you not clearly? Yeah, you can clearly make it just on your voice, and so yeah, he he uh came out though, and it he kind of still came out of nowhere. His album Traveler uh won a Grammy. Oh, that's what this is that's what this name is after. Is oh his album, yeah. I didn't realize it was it was his first like well-known album. It won a Grammy, and it won it in, I want to say it was like 2010. That seems early, maybe 2012. I'll have to look it up. But he was he still there was nothing on the radio, like he was not a well-known person by any means, which the Grammys is a good place to find new music, interestingly.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

The Grammys is one of the last, like uh, you know, I'm doing the air quotes thing, award shows that actually is legit, in my opinion. What do you think, Steve?

SPEAKER_02 3:53

Yeah, I mean, it's good, it's it's music, and it's not based on like radio play or anything like that. I'm not sure what the qualifications are to win like Grammy of the album of the year, country album of the year, but to have that album, and there's been other examples of this where like the album is kind of like an indie album, like nobody really knows about it. It's not popular. You gotta be in on the end, you gotta be kind of in on it.

SPEAKER_04 4:18

But it stays away, it's still kind of shielded from some of the external influences, political and and just uh cultural influences, I feel like. Like, whereas like with the move, some of the movies, like the the uh whatchamacallit, AMC and awards and all that, like those other like awards and globe, yeah. Like the move, like the movies and stuff. I think that that's a little bit more sometimes. You're like, how did they win? How did that movie win? But you're like, it's popular, right? It was popular, yeah. Where I don't feel like music doesn't really get that kind of influence. It's like whether it's whether it's objectively good or not, is what they're gonna go after as far as the award goes. I I it feels that way at least. It feels more of a genuine award show. So winning a Grammy, I think, means a little bit holds a little bit more clout than some of the other awards that's out there, or the other one, Oscars. Oscars is the other one I'm thinking of. Okay, yeah, Oscars, and then there's there's other ones.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

Yeah, Oscars is one of those where you you may not have heard of the people winning it, but they're just super artsy, so like you have to be like a cinephile to really appreciate it and like them. Okay, uh, like there's been a few years of like Oscar winners, and they're like super artsy movies, and so like if you're really into film, you might really understand it and like it, but like an everyday person isn't gonna like love this, right?

SPEAKER_04 5:41

Well, and I guess to like to kind of push my point is I mean, there's a lot of times that even they will say, Well, it won because of this aspect. Yeah, it's like, okay, well, that's good, that's cool, but that's not it's not winning based on its own merits, you know what I mean? It's because it's advantageous here or there, or it's culturally present, or whatever, whatever. But I feel like with music, it's kind of like if it's not good, it's still not gonna win. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 6:05

A little bit more authentic. So Stapleton's been around for forever. I I knew him as a bluegrass singer and then as a songwriter, and then when Traveler came out was the first time he kind of went off on his own, and now he's just taken off.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

Has his voice changed, like his style music with the style.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Like his music has changed with the style, his voice hasn't. I think that the songs that he becomes more known for are the ones where he's really showing off his vocal talent. So, like Tennessee Whiskey or any of those songs, he is showing like his range and he's doing a lot of runs and like really showing off his vocals. Whereas when he was doing more bluegrass, he was showing off his writing, and and he was joining in. There was other people singing, yeah. There was others with him, and everything was trying to harmonize. He was a band aspect versus a solo aspect, and so he was more showing off his writing talents there. Now, if you buy his albums, he's still very much an amazing songwriter.

SPEAKER_04 7:04

His music just seems it sounds more confident, yeah, doesn't it? Yeah, I would say that I think it's probably just because he's on his own. Like as far as singing, he's like on his own.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Interesting.

The Non Drinker Rumor

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Now, the the controversy that I the rumor, I guess, that surrounds this bottle that a lot of Chris Stapleton and whiskey drinker fans had an issue with was that apparently Chris the rumors that Chris Stapleton is not a drinker, right? But then came out with his bottle.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

Well, he also has that song Tennessee Whiskey, though. He's got some songs about drinking. He tried a lot of these.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

So the idea being that a non-drinker came out with a bottle line, is this really his or is this just Buffalo Trace?

SPEAKER_02 7:49

But who says he's a non-drinker? Yeah, I don't think he's a non-drinker. Okay. That's not I can't find anything for it or against it. No, not like well, the the stories that I've heard on how this bottle came to be come from Chris Ableton. So, you know, there might be some embellishment there, but it involves him going trying multiple variations. He's usually drinking and has been a big whiskey fan for a long time. He likes Buffalo Trace products, he tends to like higher-proof products. Um, so higher proof things were kind of his jam for a long time. Then when Buffalo Trace approached him and said, Hey, I'd like you to to maybe do this, he said, sure, but it's Buffalo Trace, so they're not gonna come out with a high proof, you know, kind of thing. So they they went back and forth. He tried a bunch of stuff and and sampled it, and they came out with they they came out with Traveler. This bottle came about because after shows and stuff, he'd drink also with them. So the drinking thing seems to be a thing for him. Okay, so it's just a rumor that was it was it seems to be something from something else. Now, maybe he's had alcohol problems in the past and he stopped for a while or whatever. Now he's more more together, but um uh but behind backstage, uh Buffalo Trace was sending him stuff to to sample to maybe expand this line. And so him and his band sat together and tried, you know, four or five different samples that Buffalo Trace gave him of a foolproof. Okay, uh, and this is this is the one that they chose. So uh he did have a part in those it seems like he has a pretty big part in that.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Interesting. Okay, now did

Blend Theories And Mash Bill Talk

SPEAKER_00 9:32

you find out the rough mash bill or the rough blend in here? Because before you say it, yeah, before you say the rough blend, what did we hear or think that Traveler's Whiskey was a blend of when we first had it? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_04 9:47

Well, we originally thought it was a blend of. I can't remember if we ever I mean, I I have a guess now, but I don't know if that's what I said then. Why would it be? What would you what would you say now?

SPEAKER_02 9:55

I'll tell you that we don't really know. So like I don't have like an answer.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

But yeah, as far as their recipes go. Because it's it's supposedly it's not a bourbon, it's an American whiskey. So it's because it's a blend. It's a blend of whiskies.

SPEAKER_04 10:08

I mean, it's always been a little bit more edgy than um their normal mash bill, like Buffalo Trace mash mash bill or blantons and all that stuff. I remember saying something about um Eagle Rare, okay. Bl being blended with something else. Okay. But I don't know. Am I along the lines of what we said originally?

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Maybe. Uh the something else that it's the something else that I remember more than anything else, which was uh possibly Canadian whiskey.

SPEAKER_04 10:39

Oh out of Sazeret.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Yeah, especially at the lower proof, like we we kind of all had this idea that maybe Canadian whiskey was involved because it was so smooth and so sweet.

SPEAKER_04 10:50

I always thought you were talking, I thought you were looking for something specific. Um, but as far as a type of whiskey goes, Canadian, you're thinking Canadian and like a bourbon, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

We we and then it speculated into well, maybe this is caribou crossing blended with a Buffalo Trace product.

SPEAKER_04 11:07

Yeah, well, like kind of like uh Eagle Rare, yes, or the mash bill. Yeah, I now I remember the conversation. I don't know if it's the proof, but I'm not getting as much Canadian as I used to, though. Right, if that's the case, you know what I mean? Because that's why I wasn't thinking of that today when you said that.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

It's not uh sweet, it's not it's not the same. I got to try this one other time. Uh Brendan actually brought it over a couple months ago. Let me try it. I went through a bottle of Traveler's oh gosh, probably in two or three days mowing and and power washing the the backyard in that um the flask cap because it was next to nothing. You chill that thing and it's just easy, easy going, easy drinking. And that's all it was to me. It was just simple, it was just easy get rid of kind of thing. This guy this guy packs a whole nother it's a bit of a punt.

SPEAKER_04 12:01

This guy, this guy packs something else with it. I mean, and maybe if the proof wasn't as high, um maybe I would think it's sweeter, but it's cutting that sweetness in a good way. I like it. Yeah, I mean, I really appreciate it. I to me it's more like an unsweet uh tea, which I uh really appreciate, always have.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

So even more floral. I get floral notes out of it. I get that a lot. Um, the only thing we know about the mash bill is that it is a combination of sazerei products and no natural grain spirits. Did you see what it's rumored? What it's now supposedly narrowed down to? There's rumor of Canadian in it. Um, but other than that, but now it's changed.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Oh, yeah. Have you have you no? So now it's changed. People are no longer thinking it's Canadian as much as an American single malt blend with a whole lot of that. Do you get any of that? It might explain the floral.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

I'm not getting any after it does get floral, like American single malt tends to have some floral in some nodes.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

But I don't know any single malt coming out of the map.

SPEAKER_04 13:06

I mean, if that's the case, sign me up because this is this is pretty good for American single malt blend.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

Uh yeah, I mean, I maybe it's in there. Like, I'm not saying it's not in there at all. Well, but that's not the main thing I think.

SPEAKER_04 13:18

That does bring up an interesting point. Has Buffalo Trace, Sazareg, have they done anything with American single malts? I don't think I can think of nothing big if they have done it.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

I don't I don't know if they've done anything, but I don't think they have.

SPEAKER_04 13:32

If they have, I haven't yeah, haven't heard of anything.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

I mean, I don't know of anything off the top of my head.

SPEAKER_04 13:39

Can we say what the proof point is on this?

SPEAKER_00 13:41

125.

SPEAKER_04 13:42

We're listening. 120. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

So all of Sazreac's foolproof comes out at 120 because foolproof is uh barrel entry. When they bottle it, it's barrel entry proof, is what foolproof means versus cast strength. So Buffalo Tray, Sazerac puts all their stuff in at 120.

SPEAKER_04 13:59

For even for Sazerac, it's I'm surprised I'm saying this, but it's actually drinking hotter than 120. Yeah. In like a good way. It's packing a wallop, which I haven't I've not said that about a Sazerac product in uh ever, maybe. Like I mean, not the not that their products aren't flavorful, they are totally flavorful. But as far as like packing a real like a gut punch, you know what I mean? Like this thing's pretty proofy.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

This thing's got some oof to it. And the fact that we've had two celebrity bottles now that are country singers that both have a backbone to it, I wasn't expecting. Because I view all country singers coming out of Tennessee, all Tennessee whiskey has no backbone. It is just sweet as can be, easy going, easy sipping. This is um the last two we've had is they they're friendly, but they also have a backbone to it that you go, ooh, okay, okay. I might I might need to slow down and and maybe smell the roses a little bit and enjoy this a little.

SPEAKER_04 15:12

So Traveler first came out and it was what 90 proof, yeah. Yep. So did we talk about who who was the idea behind the push? I mean, you said that Chris Stapleson likes proofier stuff, but who decided to make the push for a higher proof product?

SPEAKER_02 15:29

So they they agreed on together. Uh so the uh Chris Wheatley is master and stealer there at Tazerac. So the two of them created this, uh Bill Traveler and this one. Um as they were talking back and forth. Um, you know, Chris said he wanted a wanted something maybe a little bit more proofy. He really does have a hand in it, yes, yeah. Like I said, these uh these were sent to him and he would try them after the after a concert and everything. So he had a pretty healthy hand in it. Yeah, I'd say so. Which I really appreciate.

SPEAKER_04 16:03

Everything else was the same, though.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. From what I can tell, I mean, no, you mean the 90 proof in this one? Yeah, no, this is a different blend. Oh, this is a different blend. This is a different blend.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

So maybe the first one was Canadian.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

I was like, that actually, I thought they were both the same blend.

SPEAKER_04 16:21

I do remember now that you brought that up, I do remember being like, this is sweet, and and it has a bit of a ride thing going on, and so no, these are different blends, so that could be part of it.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

I also looked it up. Sazraq does not offer any American single malts, but they do own John Paul, which is the Indian single malt company.

SPEAKER_04 16:43

It's interesting because Sazraq is really big about the recipes, yeah, as is Buffalo Trace, you know, and sticking to it, yeah. So I just wonder what they're blending the they're blending stuff they already make for sure. I just wonder what it is, right? Unfortunately, they won't tell us,

Price Tag And Surprise Value

SPEAKER_04 17:00

yeah. But for the price, I don't know if we've talked about it, but the sticker on the bottle says $34.99. Yeah, $35, this is a heck of a bottle. Probably a hell of a bottle. I mean, if you like not to put it in the same vein, but it's kind of similar. But if you like old tub because it's cheap and it's good and it packs a punch, you know, like a wallop, you know what I mean? This is better, like quality, you know what I mean, and pretty much the same price. I mean, hell, this might even be cheaper than a lot of 35 bucks. It's cheaper than a lot of things. I mean, that that is equivalent to like a $25 bottle back in the day.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

Yeah, that is cheaper than MSRP. Really? MSRP is $39.99, but still.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Under $40, that's a solid deal. Under $40 for a foolproof, I mean, what, you're from Sazraq? You're looking at benchmark?

SPEAKER_04 17:53

I mean, under $40 for a foolproof anything is kind of like probably gonna be good. This is from Sazreck. Yeah, it's good, and it's got a it's a celebrity endorsed bottle, which normally would be like expensive.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

Yeah, just the name alone. You're 80 plus extra.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

Yeah, I'm curious. Do you have any more of your travelers, or did you finish it all? Couldn't tell you.

SPEAKER_04 18:14

You'd have to go out there and look. I have no idea. I could too many bottles to sift through out there. I don't know. Well, damn, Steve. For for people listening, I just filled this, and uh apparently you filled a zippo and had a pyrotechnic almost at my fingers. Yeah, that the whole microphone was. Did you fill the outside of it too? Because no, I just kind of it's got a little bit okay. It's just splooched down a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

It's just yeah, when you fill these zippos, it doesn't take much, yeah. Dabble, do you know? I'll tell you that.

SPEAKER_04 18:47

It's gonna be hot. Put that in your pocket when you're done. Look at that go, man. Look at that flame. That would light a cigar pretty good. Yeah, it lit that pit pipe pretty good. Well, uh she's burning hot. Yeah, she's going now.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

So now that you bring up an interesting point, this is not the same as normal like the original travelers. So this is something different. So, which is fascinating to me in the sense that most people probably look at travelers that tried it and went, I don't know. I don't know if a foolproof would be better. We had hopes that maybe it would, but do I want to spend the money on it? I don't know. We now have maybe the second celebrity-owned or celebrity-endorsed offering that the bottlings that it may change within the bottlings because gypsy did the same. They had the explorer, right? The explorer that was something different. Yeah, whereas now we got travelers where it's like, okay, maybe it might not be the same thing every time, but it will be something plus, possibly something plus every time.

SPEAKER_02 19:48

No, I will say this is not badged. So Weller or uh traveler foolproof will always be this thing, this blend. Okay, and regular traveler will be the 40, uh is what it's called. That one will just be that that blank. I wondered what the different editions are. Yeah, they'll and so they'll come out with new new bottles that'll have a different different thing to it.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

So this is blend number 40 as well. So this is not the same, or they consider the the original blend number 40. The original is blend number 40, and this is just their foolproof, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Okay, so they kept blend number 40 on there though, huh? That's interesting. Yeah, that's what I thought too. And I guess I'm um I'm maybe using the story to come up with this answer because the the story is that they sent him five or six different blends at foolproof, and him and his band sat together and you know decided this is the blend that they like. To me, that would mean that it is a different blend than the original was.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

Because the original, well, I mean, they would just have to up the proof on the original, but why would they send him multiple blends? Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 20:52

Yeah, if it's that might have been one of the blends that they sent him, but so it may or may not be the same blend.

SPEAKER_03 20:59

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 21:00

It just makes sense for it to be the same blend.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

It does make sense to be the same blend. And again, that can be a good thing.

SPEAKER_04 21:05

Especially with the same name, you know. But we're getting different flavors out of this. So very different flavors. And I gotta think that proof isn't the only thing doing that. No, no, because I very I very much. You can look if people want to hold on.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

You can look, I don't know. I also pulled up a little bit about Sunbear while he's looking that up. Yeah, just because I wanted to see. I I'm I'm playing around with the whole AI thing, so I wanted to play around and just see what just see what kind of stuff I could get. Just because we for for another peek behind the curtain, we don't plan the tobacco at all on these episodes. And so uh we come in, Chris doesn't even know usually what we're drinking today, so he'll pick out a tobacco based on kind of a rough idea of what we think it might taste like if we've never had it before, or if we do know what it tastes like, then using that information. So we never I can never do any kind of research on the tobacco end. It's not out there.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Maybe you finished it. This would have been so for our listeners. This would have been oh gosh. We got this uh third year of the club. This bottle. Not this one, not the travel travelers.

SPEAKER_04 22:15

When it came out when it just came out, when it was the big thing, when travelers first came out was a big thing, we got our hands.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

So we got it when it first came out. Tipsi held back a case, maybe a case plus for us of travelers. And I mean, it was the like immediately when it got dropped, he sent me a text about it.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

So it was it was well anticipated. Yeah, I thought it was okay. I wasn't a huge fan thing of the 90 proof, the regular travelers. And I I didn't do any research on it or didn't look anything up about it. I knew it was Chris Stapleton's bottle, and I kind of figured this is a gimmick to get people to buy bottles.

SPEAKER_04 22:52

You always got to go into the celebrity bottles with a bit like half a bit of caution, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

Which is interesting because the first one, I think we all came away from the first offering thinking this is a gimmick. Yeah, like this is this is Sazrax gimmick. It's it's okay, it's for what it's a good gimmick. Yeah, for what it was it's good.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

I mean, it was cheap and good. Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Like so to be to be a celebrity endorsed bottle, like it's cheap and good. There's way worse better bottles out there for celebrities than that was and then they came out with this one and I tried it. I was like, oh, Chris and Steve have to try this guy. Like this, this is I don't I don't even know that we can compare this to the original because it's so drastically different. Like every single part of it from flavor to nose to even the the the proof point of drinking it, you feel that in there without it being overwhelming, it's there. Whereas the original travelers travelers was so underwhelming that it was like, oh great, what can I mix with this to make it okay? Yeah, like what can I throw this into?

SPEAKER_04 23:56

It was good on its own, but I do remember thinking this is really like for hot titles.

SPEAKER_00 23:59

Yeah, it's a mixer, like it was very underwhelming by I mean, price-wise, I think it was like what 25?

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Yeah, it was six to nothing.

SPEAKER_04 24:05

Yeah, so that's a perfectly reasonable bottle to mix, right? It was like a hair cheaper

Sun Bear Tobacco Ingredients

SPEAKER_04 24:10

than like Jim Beam white.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

While you were out there, I was looking up stuff about Sunbear, the tobacco we're drinking, we're smoking. So it's uh it's a Virginia, so it's bright and red Virginias with some Oriental, including varieties from Basma and Ismir. I don't know. Basma. Basma? Yeah, those are Orientals. Yeah, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 24:30

And Ismere. And those are from specific times, uh, they're they're aged heirloom varietals. That's what makes that sunbear so amazing.

SPEAKER_02 24:38

Yeah, they're heirloom and the and then the the honey on top of it.

SPEAKER_04 24:42

The honey, and there's a bit of tequila uh in there, elderflower tequila.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, yep, yep. Fancy the light misting of silver tequila and elder flower.

SPEAKER_04 24:51

So you didn't even have to look it up.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

I already knew you just knew it. I just had to say it. This the this one you know quite a bit about. Do you uh do you know where the brave Virginia is pretty sourced from? Uh it's on the box on the tender.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

Yeah, I never expected this. No, I don't think I'm gonna say Virginia. No, Brave Virginia sourced from Canada. Oh, yeah. Okay. That makes sense. What do you mean it makes sense?

SPEAKER_04 25:13

Is it Virginia from Virginia? No, no, no, no. Virginia's a type. That thing gets so that gets mixed up the same way that like trying to think of another instance where that gets mixed up. Copenhagen. Yeah, Copenhagen is not made just like brand. But still, you get what I'm saying? It's so Virginia tobacco is a type of tobacco, not just a place where it's made. I never I've never seen that before. And look when they use those components up, uh, that kind of stuff, when they do that, what makes that small batch and so special tastes when it's gone, it's gone. And a lot of times they'll use it up. And they'll they won't even do a small batch till they get enough of you know, to make it. Is that one? Is that released every year? They do different iterations, okay. But this is the like original that they ever did. Okay. So that's what makes it like, and this is one of 8,000 tens that they made. That's all they made for the whole world.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

What I was just looking up says they make about 10 to 20,000 batches, um, and that come out during the summertime. But I didn't know if it was every summer or if it's it's gotten a lot more um popular since then.

SPEAKER_04 26:15

But and I don't even know if Jeremy Reeves, so Jeremy Reeves, the master blender, cool guy. The honey that's used comes from his bees, his bees in his backyard. Yeah. So it's not like he's got a a ton, yeah, you know. So it's just interesting that the the hand, the little hand-touched quality of certain certain blends. Right. Sometimes you'll get a I I love Cornell and Deal so much, but there are times that they'll come out with a small batch, I'm like, that's not really for me, or special sounding to me, you know. But sometimes it's collected, collectible to be collectible. But a lot of times you just gotta keep your eye on it because sometimes they do come out with a small batch. It's like, that is never gonna be made again. It's never been made before. This is gonna be amazing, you know. And then to get it and seller it, because like I got a ton of that sun bearer sitting right there. There's like at least six six cans there on open. Um and I'm just gonna let that stuff sit and see what time it does, which is exciting. That's what makes that's part of the pipe smoking thing that makes it so fun, is the aging, and it does definitely change with age.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

Yeah, the unfortunate part of it for me is that it it requires you to have a pretty good palate memory because I can't save that open sunbear for another two years and try it against an unopened cellar. Oh, I get you. It's not gonna I can't try them side by side.

SPEAKER_04 27:41

They're gonna keep it's gonna keep aging.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

Exactly. Yeah, so and now air has been introduced, so it's gonna be different, but there's no real way to test that unless you do two batches two years apart and open them at the same time or something like that.

SPEAKER_04 27:56

That's a good topic to bring up on the next um the next one, because talking about palette and memory of tobacco and stuff. Because that is something that some of these master blenders can do, and it's amazing. Like, even they'll be like, Well, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, when I was a kid, I tried this and then they quit making it and I replicated it based on that memory, you know. And a lot of people would try it and be like, Yeah, yeah, that was, you know, that was it, you know, which that's amazing, you know. And a lot of people get to try it for the first time and they'll have an opinion on it one way or the other, but then nostalgia kicks in too. So something that we can talk about on the next one as well. Um, but yeah, I think it's uh to say it's pairing well

Pairing Notes And Proof Punch

SPEAKER_04 28:40

with this, I don't know. I I think it's pairing well with this because any tobacco would do well with this. Yeah, and this is a really good tobacco, yeah. So I'm enjoying the tobacco, I'm enjoying the drink, enjoying them together. I don't know if I made the the the pair of all pairs, but I just think it's going well together. But I also think it wouldn't be hard to pair good tobacco with this. Yeah, I think uh hell, I think Carter Hall would have gone good with this, you know. I I think any any burley blend would go good with this. Yeah, I don't know about English blends.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

Yeah, I was drinking before I started smoking, and so I got I tried it kind of both ways. And uh I would say that the tobacco actually made the the drink a little bit sweeter. I was wondering. Uh, and at the end it might be because of the honey on it or something, or or the tequila, the other flower, the other flower. Um, it does not get more floral, uh, but it does maybe get a little bit sweeter after I started smoking.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

I was wondering if it would make it sweeter, but based off the smell, like it it definitely feels like it would sweeten that up a bit.

unknown 29:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

I don't know that it'll round out anything, just make it sweeter.

SPEAKER_02 29:49

It's a little bit sweeter. Um, it is like you guys have said, it's it's it's punching above its weight. It's a little rough around the edges. Uh, but that's a good thing, but very unexpected from Sazraq.

SPEAKER_00 30:02

And so do you think that has a lot to do with uh Stapleton being involved? That it kind of uh goes outside the mold that you would expect.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

Yeah, I think having him as a person that is testing these and picking out a favorite, and he was already a high-proof drinker, then to me it kind of makes sense that he would go for something a little bit more punchy.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

Because even Weller foolproof, uh even benchmark foolproof doesn't uh have the same kind of punch, even 1792 foolproof doesn't have the same kind of punch. They're all kind of even keel, well-rounded, uh what you would consider an everyday drinker, no thinker, even at that proof point, it's still easygoing. Like maybe I increased the proof a little bit, but it's not going to create this moment where you're like, whoa, like this, this, this has got some girth to it, you know what I mean? Like, this is this is outside that mold for Sazraq. Like, if they can keep doing stuff like this, I might be on board with Sazrak. Yeah, even more so, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:10

I mean, like, this is this is not normal for we've talked about a proofed up version of uh Saz Rai. They do one now. Do they? Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

I'd be interested in trying that so they have Sazrak uh hundredproof, and then they have Sazrak foolproof, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

So I'm in the minority in this room in that I like Sazrak rye. I do too.

SPEAKER_04 31:31

I always like it, yeah. Yeah, I know I'm a fan. I just want to try it at a higher, it's pretty weak, very easy. It's pretty we call it's why we call baby saz. You know what I mean? It's it's a very easy going rye, but it's not bad for all that. I just wanted to try a beefed up version.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

So they've got the straight rye 90-proof, 100-proof, which is their bottom and bond version. Then they have a foolproof that they just came out with. Did we try the bottom and bond version? I haven't tried either one outside of oh well I don't know if I've tried either one. I feel like Brendan might have brought one over, and I don't remember if it was the Hunterproof or if it was the foolproof. But it was Sazerac Rye Plus, like it it it brought about a sense of this could compete with with other uh basic rides, more serious, yes, yeah. Oh yeah, like we might be wearing black ties to this event kind of thing. Yeah, we're not yet to like the three-piece suit yet, but maybe a black tie. Yeah, yeah. We're not at the tuxedo just

Concerts And What Makes Them Fun

SPEAKER_00 32:36

yet, and that's why like this is like we we can we can hold our own.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

So music-wise, yeah, I'm a huge Chris Stapleton fan, and I've been to a couple of his concerts, so I've seen him live a couple of times. Uh the first time I saw him live, I decided I never have to see him live again. I wasn't no, it's exactly like it sounds on his records. He is he is there is no like backstage workings on like an album of his. His voice on an album is the same as it is on person, which is incredible. True talent. It's very, it's very good. Uh, but he also doesn't go off book very often, so he doesn't change the song at all very much. Okay. Um, and his his band also doesn't change things a lot, so there's not a lot of going off script when you see him live either. Right. So it makes it so if you like Chris Sableton's albums, you really like him live. But if you're looking for a concert experience, it's not necessarily there as much, at least the couple of times that I've seen him. Um, I saw him down at uh River Bend down in Cincinnati, which is a pretty cool venue to see somebody like at his level in that type of music, uh, is a really good spot to go to. But um, do you are you guys concert goers at all?

SPEAKER_04 33:57

Yeah, yeah. I've been to a few actually a concert that made me think of that when you said that was so I saw Michael Boublet back in 2012, maybe. And he was so good live. It was the same. It was like listening to his music on you know on CD. But what made it fun is he's got a really big, I don't I don't know what you'd call it a production, but like like he the way he does the concert, there's a lot of talking in between songs, okay, a lot of joke telling. Uh he has other acts, he'll bring other acts up and and do things, he'll poke poke fun at people, he'll poke fun at himself, and the man dances like in in a in a way that like like jig dances or like like like uh like ballroom dancing, like uh the the one dude from the rat pack would dance, you know what I mean? What's his name? Frank or Dean? Not Dean, uh Sammy Davis. Sammy Davis? Yeah, Sammy Davis Jr. He would kind of dance a little bit, but uh it's kind of that that blues dancing a little bit with a it's very stylish, scary kind of and he would no, he like and he'll get up there and like he'll like slide, do slides and stuff. So, like, not that I ever thought I would like that kind of stuff, but like when you're singing like Frank Sinatra, but you're moving like Gene Kelly, you know what I mean, a little bit. It's kind of like that is cool. So it was more of like it was just as much about the music as it was about the actual like what he was doing and what he was saying in between the songs. That made it kind of cool. Yeah, so and that's one of the bigger, it's probably as far as concerts go, that's probably my favorite one I've been to. And I've been to other ones as well. I've been to some that I'm like, I went to a ludicrous concert one time, but that was an interesting thing, ludicrous, you know what I mean? Not my type of music, and it was a very interesting uh environment for me, but it was an experience, you know what I mean? So I I'm I don't go to concerts, like some people just love concerts, but I think depending on the concert, you know, and again, I don't think I just want to sit there and listen. There might need to be a little bit more. Maybe I do need to be entertained a little bit, and I love Broadway, I love opera, but there's you know, there's more going on than just the singing. So maybe that's I thought I thought that Andre Buccelli concert was good too. Yeah, and he was live, yeah. Yeah, that was a good concert.

SPEAKER_00 36:17

That was around the Olympics, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_04 36:19

Yeah, it was right, yeah, it was right right around the time that he did the Olympics. He flew into Disney. Actually, he flew out after the concert, he flew out to go to the Olympics.

SPEAKER_00 36:27

That's what it was. Okay, yeah. That was good. This may sound weird. I'm not a concert person, that doesn't sound weird at all.

SPEAKER_02 36:34

That fits exactly.

SPEAKER_00 36:35

That actually sounds good, but this might be the weird part. I love live music, like in the back or the venue, like in the background or something. Or do you mean like you listen to live albums? No, I appreciate so I appreciate live music at like venues or like small, like uh, like um fireside kind of deal, like a small venue. Where it's not the focus, but it's in the background. They're the focus, they're the focus, they're the focus, but the entertainment is not the focus. Yeah, it's like a coffee shop, yes. Yeah, like I enjoy like good live music like that. I don't get into or enjoy the the concerts for the what Chris enjoys the entertainment, I guess. Yeah, like Mary does too. Like she loves that like everything was done upright. Like we went to Coldplay, they had all these lights and show all this different. I I just play your music. Like I'd rather get to know you and like sit down in front of you and have you just don't get that with the big the big ones.

SPEAKER_04 37:34

And if you do, it feels like you didn't get your money's worth, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 37:38

But that's the thing. Like, you I mean you talk about the rat pack, and I think of like I think of this sounds weird, maybe. I think of like the old bars that might have been ran by the mob that were the rat pack were involved in and just set they were on a stage and did their stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_04 37:54

Those guys were playing, those are the group, the crowds that they were playing to. Yeah, didn't matter how big they were, they still played to the like 20, 30, 40 people in a restaurant hall, and that's what I enjoy. Like I they just they never played to the crowds like Chris Doug, like those guys are doing now. They never did it.

SPEAKER_00 38:10

I guess I don't I also would rather sit down to listen or watch someone live with a glass, either a cocktail or a glass of whiskey at a table and enjoy it than sitting in the stands.

SPEAKER_04 38:21

Well, I don't like that at the end you know, yeah, the sitting in the stands.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

I'd rather just sit down at a table and and you guys smoke your pipes while we're listening to some jazz concert. I don't like the grand joy. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:32

I thought that I would hate live music for a long time, and I still isn't still not my favorite thing. The environment matters a lot, and so like here just a few weeks ago was Buckeye Country Fest, and it was at it was at the shoe, yeah. Uh, and the lineup was like amazing for me. There's all of these kind of B tier that are really big, but not on radio, so like Red Clay Strays, Tyler Childers, uh uh uh like Huron, all of these guys that are like those guys are good, they're really good, and but they're not like necessarily popular, which means that everyone that's there knows these people, and like it just sounded like this was gonna be a really cool concert. I have no interest in going to it because it's at the shoe, because the crowd. So, like that's a weird place for a a festival concert like that. It's like the the space matters. Back in 21 when I went out to uh Iowa for that. I went out to Iowa for uh uh Hinterland is what it was called. That was the first time I saw Tyler Shoulders live, and I saw a bunch of other people that I still follow today because of it that I had never heard of before, because I was kind of new to that kind of music at the time. So Marcus King was out there, not Luke Combs, um Luke Brian, Brian, no Brian, not Luke Brian, Lord Brian, Luke, Luke Brian, Luke Brian, not Luke Bryan, not Luke Bryan, Lord Byron, Lord Byron, yeah. Uh it'll come to me in a little bit. Shakespeare. Um, but there's all these guys, and it was just like I was sitting in the grass, there was one tree in this entire thing, and it was blistering hot. So everyone is trying to crowd under this tree to get the just the littlest bit of shade. Um and so like it was it doesn't sound good when you talk about it later on, like the the porter potties were all way too full, like a poop, a poop. Oh like faces we were camping.

SPEAKER_03 40:41

I mean, we were one point it was cool.

SPEAKER_02 40:43

There's a camping involved, also. So we were back in in the middle of the woods camping with it. So like it kind of sucks, but that's what makes it so cool. And it's a lot of fun, yeah. And like everyone around you is experiencing the same kind of suckiness, and so we all are kind of okay with that. We kind of share it, yeah. Yeah, and so it works out. So that was my own that's the the only festival I've ever gone to.

unknown 41:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

Um, I'd like to go to more because that was it was a lot of fun. Since then, I've hit more concerts. So when you're out of Hedgerland, uh Zach Bryan is the guy that I saw.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

Oh, Zach Bryan. Zach Bryant. That's one you couldn't think of.

SPEAKER_02 41:19

Yeah, that was the one I can't think. There's so that's a big deal. But yeah, he's very popular now, and he was like he was well known on YouTube at that point because that's how he got started. Um, he was just a navy kid that just like played his guitar into the camera, and that's how he got going. So he had his first album out, and that was it. And so he was pretty not well known. He wasn't even supposed to be there. Uh Tanya Tucker dropped out. Oh, Tanya Tucker. And so, yeah, so she dropped out Tanya or Tanya? Tanya, it's Tanya Tucker. But uh, I think I think we always call it Tanya. She's an old school, like 80s country singer. Um, so she had she had dropped out, and so he stepped into her place. So we saw him like super early on in his career, and he did it was a really good life. But if you get a chance to go to a concert, Mumford Sons. Oh, Mumford, yeah, yeah. Mumford and Sons puts on an amazing show. They have great music for it. They have great music. But the energy, yeah. The energy is nice, and they've changed throughout time. So, like they started out a little bit more folksy and stuff. There was no drum, no anything, and then they switched and they went and they added the drum set in, and they have a little bit more of a rock feel to them. Now they're back to without that. So when they're at their shows, they have to accommodate both of those styles of music. So, how they did that, we were at the shot here in town down in Columbus. They had the main stage up there, and they had all of that, and it was, you know, really big and cool, and they did a good job. They tell a lot of stories in between shows, in between songs, but they had a secondary stage, and it was over by us, and we didn't know that existed. And it was where they went to play their just acoustic older school stuff. So they moved from there and just ran through the crowds, set up over there and switched venues and kind of changed the entire vibe of the concert and did that, and then they were up and running through the stands and stuff and were going up into the nosebleeds and everything. So you know, all these people that got to, you know, bought the cheap tickets, still got a chance to kind of see these guys and and do stuff with them. So it was a really good show. I I really, really recommend going to see them if you get a chance.

SPEAKER_00 43:35

See, I like their their original trip.

SPEAKER_04 43:38

I like I like them both, but I like the original better.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

Yeah, the original stuff I like a lot. That's how I got it.

SPEAKER_04 43:43

But you never know what they're gonna play because like I went so I saw Iron and Wine. You ever heard of Iron and Wine? I love that band, it's one of my favorite bands. Actually, I saw them at the Kimba, okay. Which you've if you've not gone over there, this was a few years ago, but it was very small, venue, it was very nice. I actually really enjoyed it, and they're all older people. People and they played a lot of songs. They played one or two that I really wanted to hear. But they there was a few that they really didn't play that to me were like my biggest songs from them and probably were their biggest songs. They just did not play them. And uh he played a lot of other songs that I was like, you know, out of all the songs you you make, these are not my favorite, you know what I mean? So, like, do I regret going to the concert? No, but like, was it my favorite because he played songs that I didn't particularly care for? Yeah, you know what I mean? I still like the band, but you just never know what you're gonna get. It's like he's gonna play the songs that I choose, you know.

SPEAKER_03 44:36

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 44:36

He had a they have a lot of songs, they just can only play so many.

SPEAKER_02 44:40

And and timing matters with some of that stuff. So, like Tyler Tilliers when I saw him back then in 21, he got big during COVID. So he became well known during COVID, which means he never got a chance to play live very much. So because it was an older TikTok, like well, it was yeah, it was TikTok. He released an album, you know, all that kind of stuff. So that show that we saw him at was probably his biggest show, like his his largest crowd that he had played at that time, yeah. And he also got sober during that time. So now he's playing for the first time against a really big crowd without his crutch.

SPEAKER_04 45:20

He got sober as a beginning art, like as a as a blooming artist. That's kind of different.

SPEAKER_02 45:25

No, he was now that you're big, are you gonna give up the drugs? Right? Well, that's the thing. He was he had been around for a while, but he got big during COVID. So like he had been around for a long time. So a lot of people knew him as a bit more raunchy, as a bit like his songs had a little bit more of like a sexual undertone, a little bit more of the drugs and alcohol kind of stuff. Um, his last album was like a Christian album. So like he he made the switch throughout all of that, and then he's he released like his Christian album, he released a an instrumental album later on, and then he also and then his newest one that just came out is all over the place. But yeah, so like but so like when we saw him there, was not very impressed. Yeah, uh, like I could tell he he wasn't really into it, he didn't really know what he was how he could do it. He's going, bring back the drugs. What are you doing? Listen, when I I have a pretty controversial opinion about for famous people getting sober, uh they they tend to get worse.

SPEAKER_01 46:26

That's actually when they died, yeah. It's like the drugs were holding them together. It's unfortunate.

SPEAKER_02 46:33

I'm happy for you. I think that was a right choice, but save back some write some songs beforehand and don't release them. So sober media. I I came up with this too. So but now he has a couple of songs that have become as famous as big songs for live music. Um, and he has this really awesome kind of impromptu improv opening to it every time. So that you'll see on TikTok and stuff all the time of people. Like, so he's he's gotten more comfortable now and he's kind of figured himself out. So I'd like to see him again because of that. Because I'd like I got a bad experience of his live performance. Do you think he's stayed off drugs and stuff? Yes, yep. And so, as far as I know, anyway, and so as far as I know, he's still sober. And I don't know how much of it was drugs versus just booze, booze, yeah. Um, and so I don't know. I don't know what I mean. I I'm sure he did other drugs, but I don't know how much of that was the problem for him, you know.

SPEAKER_04 47:31

It's like depending on the type of drugs. I mean, look at Willie Nelson. That guy smokes marijuana for a body.

SPEAKER_02 47:38

It's been keeping him alive, dude. Although he doesn't smoke anymore.

SPEAKER_01 47:42

Possibly does the drink, apparently.

SPEAKER_02 47:44

He doesn't really know the drink. He does drinks, he does make gummies. Yeah, whatever else. He doesn't smoke it anymore, you know, because his lungs are pretty rough. Which, if you see him play anything now, you you can tell he he can't hold a note at all anymore. He doesn't have the breath ability anymore.

SPEAKER_04 48:01

The thing about it, this is a guy who was writing songs for Patsy Klein and singing on live TV when it was black and white. Yeah, and we're talking about this guy still, yeah. He's clear shaved, but just think about how much that dude's been through in his career to where we are now. It's amazing. What's interesting, if you've ever listened to his son, they sound pretty similar, they sound very similar, and he actually is a very good guitar player, like he's a good singer, but man, that guy can play guitar. Yeah. Holy cow! But traveler, bullproof, back to the bottle.

How We Pack And Smoke Pipes

SPEAKER_00 48:35

This is gonna be another way off topic question, but it kind of goes with this. Uh, speaking of your tobacco, so the audience may not know. We we sit here for like an hour long and talk. How full do you guys fill your your pipes?

SPEAKER_02 48:50

Uh for I feel too full. Okay, I end up like I should be packing half a bowl.

SPEAKER_04 48:56

I always have about a half, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:58

And so because I I don't, I pack a full bowl, and uh, but because I end up wasting a lot, I end up I end up dumping a lot of tobacco, so I need to like go back and like go down though.

SPEAKER_01 49:10

I mean it does change it.

SPEAKER_04 49:12

Okay, so I will say this, and I don't think a lot of people would agree with me, but I've also been doing this for over 20 years, so I think I have I know a little bit, some some some experience. I will say that there are times where you will smoke all the way down to the bottom, depending on the type of tobacco. It's very few and seldom. And I think if you what you need to do is realize that there's a good fourth of your bowl that serves as a sponge and a filter, and it's not meant to be smoked, and it will always taste like junk, like like for the most part, it's gonna taste like crap. Uh, it's not meant to be smoked, and you should be knocking that out of it. But if you're trying to, and a lot of people get frustrated because they try to smoke all the way to the bottom, which you really shouldn't do anyway, because I know they say to break in a pipe, you need to get the bottom chart, the heel, but honestly, that's what causes cracking. And I've never been one to try to break my pipe in with smoking to the bottom every time. And I've asked how many times I've burnt through a pipe. Never, and I've I know guys that just started smoking that burn through pipes, you know. So I think that there's something to be said for trying to keep the bottom where the closest to the air chamber cool and dry if you can, uh but untouched, unsmoked. That's my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 50:31

I usually do leave some of the bottom and and do it. Um, here I think I do too much here just because of time is that you usually get to like um and so I should pack less, but I do agree that I I very, very rarely smoke all the way to the bottom. But if you look at my pipes, Nick, but you don't keep stuff in there, right?

SPEAKER_04 50:51

Oh, you do haven't cleaned it out. Okay, but that's half a bowl there, and actually that's that like a normal day. That's right where it starts getting going good, you know. And then well, I So let me ask is that from a podcast or is that a normal day? Either one. I okay sometimes if I have the time I'll sit and smoke the whole day. What I like about a pipe is I can pick it back up and smoke it again. You know what I mean? Yeah, just lighting it from there? Yeah, lighting it from there. But the the problem is it's good within a day or two. Yeah, I wouldn't wait like forever and do that. The problem is I never get back to it in time, and then I'm usually on to something else. And I also I also have a really hard time packing a half a bowl because I always pack a full bowl. And I pack pretty well, you know. I would if I do say so myself, I'd never have problems. But trying to pack a half bowl is like changing the method of packing, and I think it's I'd probably suffer. My my smoking experience would suffer. So is that even worth the waste of the extra, the potential waste of the extra tobacco? In my opinion, no. I'd rather just load a bowl up and smoke what I smoke, and whatever goes in the trash goes in the trash. I mean, I don't I don't need to smoke the whole thing to get the experience of smoking it. Whether I smoked, it's like a cigar, I I want to smoke a certain amount, but at the end of the day, if I have to throw some out, did it ruin my experience?

unknown 52:03

No.

SPEAKER_04 52:04

You get what I'm saying? Actually, I might ruin my experience if I'm trying to smoke too much of it and I end up smoking too hot and I burn myself. Yeah. So it's for me, it's about the experience, not about the the amount that I ingest, you know. So I'm gonna just I just always smoke, I just pack a full bowl and I smoke what I smoke, and you never know when you're gonna come back to it. Right. You might come back to it later.

SPEAKER_02 52:25

Yeah, for me, I'm because I'm bringing my pipe, I have to I have to knock it out so I can just save it for the next day. When I'm at home, I will do that. I will I will leave a bowl for overnight or something. It doesn't happen very often. I usually don't smoke unless I have time for a full bowl. But if something were to happen or something like that, like now we have a puppy. So now like random little things can happen. And so now, like, now I might need to put down a pipe, but it doesn't happen very often. But I only smoke maybe once, maybe twice a week at home. And so yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:56

And if it was like back in the day when you we could just smoke wherever we wanted because like life was normal, if you ever watch Ben Crosby, like he would literally take a pipe out, puff it, you know, light it and puff it a few times, get to talking and put it away, and then pull it back out and light it a few, you know, and puff it a few times. That's how those guys smoked back then. It was throughout the day. And you might load your bowl up early on in the morning, and then you might not have to load it up again for a while, if if at all. They just smoke it throughout the day.

SPEAKER_02 53:25

I don't think I've ever talked about that. There was a guy that I worked with, and it was down in in Cincinnati, and he was an older gentleman, and he smoked a pipe during his smoke break, which he was the only person I've ever met that smoked a pipe at work. Now, his job didn't, it wasn't like he had like a 15-minute smoke break or something. He could go out for a little bit, he could do things and all that. You know, more of a salary worker kind of guy. But he would leave his pipe packed and put it in its case and then go out, smoke for you know 15 minutes or whatever, and hang out with the smokers and then put it back in the peck and go and then go back out. So he never reloaded his pipe during that time. The pipe was already loaded, just working his way through it. The whole time.

SPEAKER_04 54:12

I've seen guys put corks in, they they make corks, they make some pipes with hats. The big thing is wind caps. You'll see a lot of guys use wind caps just to keep the ash in there if you put it in your pocket. I I think when I get older and I really don't care anymore, and I can do whatever I want because I really don't care anymore, I will just start putting it in my front pocket because I wear a lot of shirts with pockets, and it's probably just gonna go there. And if I pull it out and smoke it, either nobody's gonna say anything because I'm the old guy and it's a pipe, and who who cares? Or they'll say something and I'll probably just look like look them straight in the eye and fart. And then they'll be like, Oh, this guy's he's senile.

SPEAKER_00 54:48

So which do you put down first?

SPEAKER_04 54:49

Do you put the the stem down or do you put the well you'd put the bold first because you don't, yeah, it's the for the weight and everything. But I would probably put a wind cap just because you it might it might be ash might kind of get nasty. That that's my thing. I I probably would put a cap on.

SPEAKER_02 55:04

I don't know anybody that has ever been mad at me for smoking my pipe.

SPEAKER_04 55:08

I you know, I never have either. I get upset every time.

SPEAKER_02 55:10

I will you're using your fuming so bad. I've smoked it in restaurants, like on patios and restaurants. I smoke in patios, I've walked around neighborhoods, and when I walk around a neighborhood smoking my pipe, I get more comments and just chats with people than anytime else. Never negative. It's usually something like, wow, that smells like my grandpa. It's usually something like that. And then we'll talk for a few minutes or whatever with a stranger, especially if you smoke an aromatic. Yeah, especially if it's an aromatic. But yeah, I have never had anybody get upset with me for smoking a pipe. But if you pulled a cigarette out, they probably would, or a cigar for sure, or at least judge you. Yeah, I could I I think that if I was walking around the neighborhood smoking a cigarette, I think people would judge me a little bit. Like there's a there's a judgment around that. Yeah, whereas this, I'm distinguished, so like this, they're not gonna judge me for smoking a pipe and going for a walk, but they would for a cigarette. Cigar, they might be mad because of the smell. Downtown Delaware has a cigar shop, and there are guys sitting outside on that patio smoking cigars, occasionally pipes, but usually cigars, all day, every day. And the town, nobody has ever called for their abolishment, even though they got that right down there, and like the whole downtown smells like cigars because of it.

SPEAKER_04 56:29

That's okay. I think cigars smell good. It's yeah, it's not a bad some people just don't like them. I think they're stinky, but I think they smell good.

SPEAKER_00 56:36

Can we make a pact right now? Then when we all retire, we just meet up at cigar shops. You guys can smoke, we'll drink all day long.

SPEAKER_02 56:44

Just sit there and I make a pact to do that next Tuesday. Yeah, why would we wait until we retire? Why would we wait until we're old? Like, let's just do it now. I want to go there and play Chinese checkers, dude.

SPEAKER_03 56:54

Right.

SPEAKER_02 56:56

It just sounds wonderful. Like, just old, I will spend a lot of time at a cigar shop or something like that. I already do go there a lot, like to work or whatever. Like, if if you work a remote job, it's a great place to go, or like I go there to to work on podcast stuff or whatever else. Yeah, it's a good place to go and work and be out of the house.

SPEAKER_04 57:14

To go there and just watch TV and smoke and smoke.

SPEAKER_02 57:16

Some people go to Panera, I go to a cigar shop. So yeah. I do I go there and read a book. Oh, yeah. All the time. There's spaces for the cigar shops, they are made to lounge, so especially when the weather's an inclement weather.

SPEAKER_00 57:29

You know, speaking of cigar shops, years ago, well, it's two years ago now, we went to uh Luke Bryant's cigar shop down in 38. Oh, yeah. And the reason I bring this up is a shore thing. Yeah, sure something. The reason I bring this up, I feel like I don't know that Luke Bryan has his own whiskey, but I feel like travelers just by the smell alone, I feel like it does uh lend itself to uh pipes and cigars. It's it's a it's a balanced enough, there's there's a hint of sweetness, but not overpowering. Where if you you smoke something sweet, it might go with it. But it also holds its own with whatever you're smoking. I think whiskey in general does that.

SPEAKER_02 58:11

Yeah, I think so too. I think more cigars than pipes, I think. Pipes require like I can smoke a cigar with pretty much any glass of whiskey, and it would probably be a good pairing. But pipes require a little bit more nuance, so there are better versions than others, which there probably is for cigars too, and I just don't know that much about cigars, but not that much though.

SPEAKER_04 58:33

So I've always said this about pipes and cigars, and I I love cigars, and there are variations with cigars. Nick, you've heard me talk about this. There's all there is variations with cigars, but the amount of variation is not anywhere close to pipe tobacco, yeah. Just not the type of leaf that's going in and the blends, the types of leaf that are blended together. At the end of the day, yeah, you have Maduro wrappers and you have sun grown and you have Habano and you have all these different Connecticuts and you have different wrappers and stuff and different fillers and binders. But at the end of the day, it's all cigar leaf. Okay. And with tobacco, it's like it's not actually all Virginia, you know, tobacco. Right. Whereas, like, you know, cigar leaf is cigar leaf. Is uh there are some different kinds, but for the most part, it's not. With pipe tobacco, you have all these different types of tobacco leaf, and then you also have these different processes made with tobacco leaf, like like Parik, Latiquia, Cavendish, things like that. You just don't get that with cigars. And then when you start doing the math on it and you think about the different possible blends and combinations you can do, the math is it's it's it's it's it's astounding how many different types of ways you could smoke pipe tobacco that you could not do with cigar tobacco. At some point, very quickly, you would run out of different combinations. That's it. And then it and then age is age, they both age and then everything else. And then construction is a thing, you know. But with pipes, smoking different pipes, smoke different different ways too. So I just think you get way more variation with pipes, pipe tobacco than you with cigars. And that is goes to your point, Steve, how much harder it is to pair. I mean, but for the for the most part, cigars pretty much like you said, pretty much anything, uh whiskey-wise, and then you know, brandy and things like that. I don't know anybody that really pairs vodka and smoking, or even maybe vodka and smoking. Even gins, you know what I mean? Gins and like tobacco. I'm sure there's pairings, but like not as it's never gonna be as good as a dark liquor, you know.

Wrap Up And Where To Find Us

SPEAKER_02 1:00:33

All right. Well, let's travel on to the next one.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:37

Travel on to the next one. Travel on to the next one. To the next one. It might be darker, but we'll see. It might be darker.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:43

Yes. Until next time. Until next time. Thank you for listening to the podcast. If you want more great content and other perks, be sure to support the show by clicking the link in the show notes. We can be reached on our website, whiskeychasterspot.com, with any ideas for the show. Thanks again.