Smoking With An Avenger

Welcome to another edition of the Cigar Aficionado Podcast. Kier from New York City and the Cigar Aficionado Lounge. We're sitting here with coffee and cigars. I'm joined by Greg Matola, our managing editor. I'm David Savona, the executive editor. And Greg, I want to talk to you because you have a big role in this new issue that's in front of us.

You interviewed our cover subject, Anthony Mackey, who is one of the principals in the upcoming movie Avengers Doomsday. He is Captain America, and you smoked a cigar with Captain America. Tell me, what's it like to hang out with an Avenger and what is Anthony Mackey like?

Well, the first thing I could say is I was hoping after the interview that he'd make me an honorary Avenger. Now he didn't say no, but I haven't heard back yet. I'm actually smoking the cigar right now that I smoked with him, and it's in this issue.

Oh, you smoked that during the interview.

Yes, this very cigar. We both we both smoked the cigar. This uh it's a Corona size from uh Crux. I think it's the uh selection number one. And uh smoking a cigar with Captain America was pretty cool. I mean, he uh he's a fun guy, great sense of humor, has lots to talk about, and he absolutely loves cigars.

This is uh he's not a once-a-monther or a special occasion cigar smoker, he's not even a once-a-weeker. I think this guy smokes or tries to every single day. If he can smoke, he will smoke.

His routine is exercise, coffee, cigars. So he's a lot like me without the exercise. Great. I got it, understood. And that's probably a question that we get more often than any other when we put somebody on the cover. Hey, is that person really a serious cigar smoker? Sounds like Mackie is about as serious as it gets.

Oh, yeah. He's he he does uh he does the cigar tourism. He goes to the Dominican Republic, then to Nicaragua, and he goes specifically to smoke cigars, went to Cuba. Here is a story that did actually didn't make the issue. Let's hear it. And he said when he went, I mean, I mentioned he went to Cuba, but he had this side story that he said when he went that he went to the home of someone who was one of Castro's old rollers of Cohiba.

I think he said the name was Las Sky or Lasquis, some something like that. He wasn't 100% sure. But the way the way he described the experience is really interesting. He said, so he goes to this guy's house, and in his living room, he has a whole wall, like library bookshelves, only it's not books. It's all cigars and tobacco.

And he said, This guy was was growing small patches of tobacco on his property, and he had all these cigars, and he just went through with the guy smoking this cigar from this age, that cigar from that age. And that was like his Cuban cigar education. I said, Wow, that is really a fantastic story.

It's it's great to hear about no pun intended. Well, you're selling it is a great story. He did a fine job on it. It's great to hear about his interest in cigars being so genuine. And you were there for this too. But funny story, we were at the the big smoke in Miami uh not too long ago while while we were uh putting this whole thing together before you had done the interview and before we had scheduled the photo shoot with Mackey.

And that morning I was on the phone with Mackey's publicity team trying to get a date, and they're like, you know, he's spending a lot of time in Canada on shoots, and we'll arrange something. You know, it's gonna be very hard to, you know, uh make this all happen. We were trying to get all the the uh the moving parts together.

And then you and I go to the the big smoke, and someone, I don't know if it was you or somebody else said to me, Hey, Anthony Mackey is at this show. He showed up unannounced as a civilian for lack of a better term, was just walking around grabbing cigars with like everybody else, kind of as off the radar as you can get while being in uh one of the most uh successful movie series in history.

And we got a chance to say a quick hello to him and uh and talk to him at the show. Well, one of the things I was struck about when I met him in person is he doesn't necessarily look the superhero part. He's like not a very he's not a very tall, physically imposing guy, yet he's a superhero.

No, he's not huge, but he's fit. Remember, he has to be in a skin tight outfit.

So I don't like I don't like that sound of that, Greg. I don't like the sound of that at all.

So I mean, all super most superhero outfits are are pretty skin tight. So so you you you there is a certain level of physical fitness and physicality, just you know, your outline, your physique that you just have to have, and he has it. And then, okay, so maybe at first glance, he's not larger than life.

He's not a small guy, but he's not a huge guy. But then you look a little closer and you say, okay, this guy is like what I call military fit. His shoulders are a lot wider than his waist, and he just looks like he can go through basic training. And and you have to be, otherwise, because once you wear that outfit, there is you can augment.

I mean, you remember like the Batman costume, Michael Keaton, Batman, he wasn't that muscular, but you can only hide so much. And the the the guy's in good shape, but he's in he's in great cigar shape, and it shows he's in great cigar shape. You can be in great shape. You can have you can be fit, you can be you can be muscular, you can be strong, you can be fast, and you could still smoke cigars.

So there's hope for me. Is that what you're saying?

He told this other funny story, and I want to share it now because it was such a good story. It didn't make the final cut because we just didn't have the room. For those who don't know, he's he starts out as Falcon, which is Captain America's sidekick, and then eventually he becomes Captain America, which by the way, is is is comic book correct.

That is how it went. You did your research on this, correct? Well, I'm I'm I'm kind of a uh a closeted comic book, uh comic book.

Wait, are you serious? I did not know this. I'm just learning this now. I've worked for you for 20 years. It's the first I've heard of that.

Really? Emphasis of the word closet. So there's a million Marvel, a million Marvel movies, a lot of shows. I can't keep up with all of them. And there was the show, it was The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. So he told a story about, you know, the MMA fighter Georges Saint Pierre, right? Sure. So he told this really cool story about how he was he was, you know, practicing the choreograph fight scenes with him for the show.

And he said that that while he was doing this, he actually caught a knee to the jaw.

From George Saint Pierre.

From one of the most badass fighters in the history of the sport. How'd that work out? He didn't lose consciousness and he stayed on his feet. And now it's a bad badge of courage for him because he's like, hey, I I got knee in the jaw by George Saint Saint-Pierre and I'm still standing. And and he even said that that Saint Pierre said to him, he said, You know, you you got a pretty good jaw.

So don't get into a fight with Anthony Mackey because he can take your shots.

If that had happened to me, first of all, I'd be unconscious, but if I had survived a shot from George Saint Pierre, that'd be my first story at every cocktail party. That's great. I didn't know that. You know, now I'm thinking back, maybe I shouldn't have left it out. No, it's for it's for the podcast.

That's great. So the cover story on Mackey is the is the anchor for this September-October issue, which is uh now. And there's one just one thing I want to add.

Yeah, you know, Dave, in in doing research for this, I realized that people in the Marvel universe, the Marvel universe likes to smoke. Superheroes like cigars. We've had a lot of people on our cover who are part of the Marvel universe. So we have Mackie now.

We had David Harbour, big cigar smoker, absolutely.

Chris Pratt from uh um from Guardians of the Galaxy.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Big time cigar smoker. Right. Josh Brolin. I mean, he was the original big bad guy, yeah. Right. I forgot about that. Yeah. Lev Schreiber. Oh, the well, yeah. So yeah, he played Sabertooth. Yeah, exactly. Very you're going deep dive here.

And who can forget? I mean, Hugh Jackman, Wolverine.

Well, yeah. Hugh Jackman, very cool. Wolverine uh smoked cigars throughout the comics in the early in the early X-Men movies. Oh, yeah. All of these guys have been cover subjects for us. I mean, the uh Marvel, like I said, the Marvel universe likes to smoke. Even if you don't necessarily see it on screen so much, that's great.

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Use code Aficionado for 10% off your first order. Must be 21 or older to purchase tobacco products. Neptune Cigars. Taste the passion. The Anthony Mackey story is the cover for our September-October issue. Just one of the cool things in this issue. Let's talk about some of the well, let's jump to the cigars in the issue because you and I are both smoking two of the top-rated cigars from the issue.

Of course, we rate cigars in every issue of cigar visionado. And I'm smoking one that's actually the highest rated cigar of the issue, the Tatawai Havana 6 Almorantes, 94 points. And one of the cool things about this very large cigar, which I'm enjoying tremendously, retails for less than $10, $9.60 before taxes.

So not only uh a phenomenal cigar, just a great value from Pete Johnson of Tatawaj, and of course my father who makes a cigar for me.

94 points for that. 94 points for that's like a Churchill size. I mean, that that is a lot of cigar for not a lot of money.

Yeah. And you know we I know we talk about a lot of great cigar for not a lot of money. A lot of great. I know we talk an awful lot about how expensive cigars have become, so it's always really uh refreshing to see a fantastic cigar at a at a bargain price. And you're smoking one that's not terribly expensive either.

This is the crux. I think it it is the I called it the selection number one. I think it's it's the super selection number one, which is kind of like a corona size. 92 points. Um, not the hugest cigar, but really a wonderful. I mean, it's strong in the right places, it's elegant in the right places. Like I said, this is the cigar that I smoked with Captain America.

We both smoked the cigar. Uh 11 bucks, um, you know, still in in that $10 range. But if you are a Corona fan, uh don't sleep on this one.

So you don't spend a lot of money to get a great cigar, and you can find these cigars in our pages. Now, people probably know about the Tata Wahe brand, it's been around for a while. Crux is a brand that is not as famous. Maybe say a couple things about Crux?

Well uh made in Nicaragua, small factory. Um, they've they've been around for a few years, uh, but they're they're growing. They are in our tastings more and more. This blend, it's all it's all Nicaraguan cigar except for the the Ecuador wrapper. And Crux tends to really score quite well consistently.

I think it's one of these small brands that you're just gonna see more and more of.

That's great to see. This one's burning beautifully, and as I said, it tastes great. This is uh my second cigar of the day, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. You mentioned small cigar brand. We've got a story in here about one of the smallest cigar factories, maybe on the planet, uh L Teton de Bronze in Miami, specifically the the uh little Havana neighborhood of Miami, done by our associate editor, David Clough.

It's a great story. Um, I think it it shines the spotlight on this on this Miami factory that uh that that really deserves recognition because they make their own cigars and they tend to recruit a lot of rollers that come right from Havana. So everyone has or most of them have this cred. I was at Elaguito for this many years, I was at the Partigus factory for this many years.

But they also have some pretty high profile clients. So they're making cigars for third parties. Uh, I don't want to give away too much of the story. I I I've I referred to this, I've referred to it before as the little factory that could, because it's it's run by the the Kobas family, and Sandy Kobas is really, really passionate.

She is she's all in. It's a great place to visit. It gets tourism, it gets foot traffic because it's in Miami's little Havana area. So you get day trippers who just come in and think, oh, it's nice to pick up a cigar. But then you get the the serious cigar smokers who who know what they do. And if they don't, if they read this issue, uh that they will be acquainted with uh with their operation.

Well, that's a good point because most cigar factories are located, most of the cigars that we smoke and rate are made offshore. They're made in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, and it's they're they're hard to get to. They're located in a free trade zone. You can't necessarily always just drop in.

El Tabrones is right there in Miami, uh, you know, uh tourism central. You can get a great uh Cuban meal down the street, uh, get a cup of Cuban coffee, then go grab a cigar. So if you're in the Miami area, that's a great place to put it on. Oh, definitely go see how cigars are made right up close and personal.

And again, in a very small, I think it was a dozen rollers in the factory. So it's uh it's got a lot of personality and and and a lot of charm and and really uh, I don't know, swinging outside its weight class, very impressive operation.

Now, cigars from that factory, uh they can be a touch more expensive only because it is U.S. labor. We're not the the the price of labor in Nicaragua is less expensive, Honduras less expensive, Dominican Republic is less expensive, plus they grow their own tobacco there, so they don't have the added expense of having to ship in tobacco, so so there's no shipping expenses, and then they don't have to pay the taxes the way we'd have to in the U.S.

So you have to pay shipping, you have to pay taxes, you have to pay U.S. labor. That's reflected in the cost. That being said, their cigars are not as expensive as they could be. But the the the the construction of their cigars is really, really cool. But part of the charm is just going there. Not everyone could get to Nicaragua, not everyone could get to the Dominican Republic, but it's a lot easier to get to Miami.

So I think it's uh if you can't afford leaving the country, it's it's a great little cigar pilgrimage to make.

Yeah, speaking of travel, we try to put travel stories in most issues of the uh of cigar avicionado. We've got a great story by our contributing editor, Larry Olmsted, about traveling around the world and high-end luxury. And also, uh, you know, our good life guide has interesting things. There's a story that I wrote.

Uh, Portugal is one of the hot spots for American travelers now. I was in Portugal early in the year. If you like port like I do, going to Porto is a tremendous trip. Uh, you see the port houses, and there's this incredible hotel uh across the Duaral River in the town of Gaia, overlooking the city of Porto, called the Yatman.

I stayed there for the first time. It's spectacular. It's written about in our good life guide. Every room has a balcony with a little table, a little ashtray. Uh, there's balconies everywhere for you to sit. Uh, you can't really uh eat and smoke, but you could certainly enjoy a cigar after a meal. Again, looking on these beautiful views.

It's a very cigar-friendly kind of place. Uh, and uh, you know, a great cigar and a glass of good port, like a well-aged tawny, is one of the uh one of the absolute pleasures in life. So uh if you get a chance to go to Portugal, check out the Yateman, check out the story on the Yateman and Peace.

The cigar and port pairing, that's that does it for you.

Absolutely. I've got a bit of a sweet tooth. I don't drink port so much during the summer. I did in the summer when I was in Portugal, of course. But when the weather starts to get cold, it's it's just become fall here as we're recording this podcast. Get a little chill in the air, especially later on when you start building fires.

You know, end of a long day, a good uh you know, 40-year-age tawny or a good Ruby port. I don't know. It's uh it's a great uh great nightcap at the end of the day when you when I don't reach for a whiskey.

Look, I agree with you. I like port. The way I see it is I like tawny on its own, but if I'm pairing it with a cigar, I like a Ruby port.

Interesting. Okay. You the the woodiness of the tawny gets in the way of your cigar, maybe?

I just think there's something so robust about the the Ruby that could say. I tend to smoke, especially at the end of the night after a meal, I'm gonna smoke a a pretty strong cigar. And I think the Ruby just stands up to it better. But tell me, are you when it comes to port, are you and and I don't want to make this whole podcast about port, but now I want a glass of port.

Are are are you like are you a vintage guy? What or is are you only smok are you only drinking vintage ports, or will you drink a non-vintage port?

Oh no, no, I'm not uh the the no, I don't have I I've got some vintage ports that I've um I'm saving for special occasions and I drink on special occasions, but no, I drink uh uh ports of all kinds. So um, and uh, you know, whether it's something simple like uh like an LBV uh that's ready to drink right away or or a good tawny, I'm I'm I'm kind of an all-access port kind of guy.

Yeah. I don't think I drink enough port.

I remember 94 was a pretty uh was uh I don't know if there's any left on the shelves, but but 94 was a really good year for port. Um and and going back to to luxury and travel, there's a great story about if you want, if you have aspirations, you have the time and the money to be a true, true globetrotter, do a trip where you're gonna do, you want to just circumnavigate the entire globe in one trip.

There's uh there's a story in this in this issue about that.

That's certainly a bucket list item. Yeah, it's that's traveling the world in absolute style, and it's uh it's something everyone should aspire to. Other things in the issue, I mean, we've got my favorite cigar, which we have in every issue with interesting personalities. I think the key on this one is uh comedian Bill Burr talks about his favorite cigar.

I smoked a cigar with Burr, and he did something I'd never seen before. He uh, when the cigar got down to about here, he excused himself. Uh we were at Carnegie Club. He ran downstairs and he came back with a gigantic toothpick and he speared the butt of the cigar so he could keep on smoking. And I said, I've never seen that before.

I go, how often do you do that? And he sat there and he smiled, and he goes, Every damn time. He absolutely loves his cigars.

That's a guy who really smokes it to the very, very, very end.

He's not wasting his cigars at all. So how's that crux treating you?

Oh, it's beautiful. It's uh it's a great cigar. Uh, I only have a few of them left, but I I am naturally a corona guy, so I'm always gonna I'm always gonna defer to that. Now the cigar you're smoking is that is the red label, the tatoe red label, which is called the Havana 6. And Tatwa He made that kind of as a surrogate when at the time when when Brad when Brown was just being made in Miami, he decided to make, okay, uh, I I can make a kind of more accessible version and do so in Nicaragua.

So he made a Nicaragua version that that mirrored the Miami made brown label, but uh higher production, less expensive, but obviously, look at the score, not an inferior cigar by by any means.

Of course, like you mentioned before, uh, rolling is much more expensive in Miami than it is in Nicaragua. So, yeah, you're able to get uh very good tobacco at a much lower price. So, what was maybe presented as uh uh a less premium version of a very great brand is really no slouch. Uh, 94 points is a pretty high score from us.

There's a great cigar. Fantastic. And the the Garcias have great tobacco. There's no there's no mystery there.

These are a couple of the high scores. There are more. We don't want to give away the entire issue in this podcast, but uh it's it's it's a very fun issue.

Fun issue, full of great stories. Greg smoking with one of the Avengers. You can't see it here. He's got his shield behind him, uh, signed by Mackey. That's great. I'm joking. There's no shield. Is he gonna give you a shield, Greg? Look, I'm still waiting to be named an honorary Avenger. I'll make you an honorary.

You're a cigar avenger in my book, Greg the Cigar Avenger. So check out the story on Anthony Mackey. Look at all the great cigar ratings in the new issue, September, October. We rate cigars in every issue. Of course, we rate them blind. It's our mandate to find the very best of the market and bring it to you.

And have to say what would go very well with this cigar. We talked about port, but I'm a big whiskey fan. If you're a whiskey fan too, consider going to Whiskey Fest November 20th, the Marriott Marquee in New York City. Uh we're bringing back the seminars. There'll be some 50-year-old, 40-year-old, 30-year-old, absolute treasures from the world of bourbon, scotch, and more.

I'll be up on stage doing that. Hope you can join me. Whiskeyfest.com has all the details. That's W-H-I-S-K-Y. It's from our magazine whiskey advocate. And of course, join us next time on the Cigar Vishnu podcast. You can find us on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, and our website, CigarVishnado.com. Subscribe, don't miss an episode.

I'm David Savona. I'm Greg Matola. We'll see you next time here in the Cigar Vishnu Lounge. I'm not putting this cigar down, it's damn good.

Smoking With An Avenger

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