Snootchie Bootchies everybody!!! On tonight’s episode we gathered around our microphones and dug deep into the fun and often frustrating career of filmmaker Kevin Smith while sampling the monstrous Chupahopra IPA paired perfectly with the ROMEO cigar by Romeo y Julieta. Let’s get right to it!
THE CIGAR – ROMEO by Romeo y Julieta
The ROMEO is the first cigar chosen for review on the podcast utilizing The Montecristo Social Club’s awesome new Cigar Pairing Guide. Check out THIS POST on our website to read up on how we plan to use this tool over the upcoming months to pair both Montecristo and Romeo y Julieta cigars with a variety of tasty beverages. Now on to tonight’s stogie!
The ROMEO by Romeo y Julieta is covered in a dark Ecuadorian Habano wrapper that immediately grabs your attention. I’ve always stereotyped the Romeo y Julieta lines as fitting primarily into the mild category of cigars but after taking a strong sniff of the wrapper and the well packed foot of this puppy I get the notion that this might be a welcome bolder entry from RyJ. Upon lighting, the cigar showed great construction with a ton of immediate leather and spice. To the Cigar Pairing Guide’s credit, the ROMEO almost immediately started balancing out the powerful IPA we were drinking. We all took notice of how well the stogie and the beer were complimenting each other throughout the night. I was curious to see how someone like Cody, who traditionally gravitates towards lighter strength stogies, would take to this new spin on a classic brand but once the cigar settled down a bit (after the first third) into the medium strength range I believe everyone was in their comfort zone… despite the constipated expression on my face.
THE BEER – CHUPAHOPRA IPA
I’m rather proud of the number of Texas craft beers we’ve showcased on the podcast so far and I’d have to rank the Chupahopra IPA by Twisted X Brewery right up there with the best of the best. While Sierra Nevada’s Torpedo Extra IPA went easy on us with its somewhat subdued hoppiness, the Chupahopra has an “elbow teeth smash vibe going to it” and “kicks you right in the nards” according to our expert panel on the podcast. And, believe it or not, those are great qualities to most of us! This beer took me one step closer to officially proclaiming myself “an IPA guy”. Once the initial blast of bitterness fades away the Chupahopra goes down super smooth and once you reach the middle of the pint glass you’ll be raising your hand to order another round. This would make a fantastic summertime beer and, most importantly, it sticks to my rule of never becoming boring. I’m looking forward to reviewing some other Twisted X offerings as soon as they hit the tap wall at O’briens Irish Pub.
THE FILM – TUSK
(viewed on Amazon Prime)
My life has been intertwined with Kevin Smith’s for a really long time. Granted, he doesn’t know that nor is he even aware of my existence. As a young filmmaker in my early twenties I looked up to Mr. Smith as a cinematic hero right up there with Carpenter and Kubrick. When my independent comedy GRADUATION DAY won the Audience Award at a now defunct film festival* in Las Vegas many moons ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Smith (and his lovely and extremely friendly wife) at a meet & greet thingy.
Kevin Smith couldn’t have been nicer or more engaging and he genuinely seemed interested in my story – probably because it sounded so damn similar to his own just a decade earlier. I had printed out a review of my film that basically called me out for ripping off Smith’s dialogue and style (of which I was completely guilty) and he autographed it with a chuckle and a barrage of questions about my little movie. I left that encounter an even bigger fan and I was sure that the next time we met would be on a red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of the Graduation Day sequel “Coonskin Blues”. Sadly, that sequel never got made and I now find myself a filmmaker without an upcoming film in sight… and I’m somehow once again following in Silent Bob’s footsteps by hosting a podcast with several of my jackass friends. Snoogans.
I thanked Jennifer Schwalbach Smith for making it socially acceptable for hot in-shape women to not only be seen in public with but MARRY big gluttonous lugs like myself and her husband… Security would have a word with me moments after this photo was taken.
I talk about that Las Vegas encounter and what it meant to me on the podcast because I know it plays a part in my own personal experience whenever I watch any new Kevin Smith film. I want to root for the guy because I believe he’s a good guy worth rooting for. And while I’m not a fan of any of his directorial efforts after Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, his first three features will always hold a special place on my dvd shelf. Ok ok my laserdisc shelf, you happy now? I get it, I’m old. So how did The Tuesday Night Cigar Club respond to Smith’s latest celluloid outing TUSK? Wait for it, wait for it…
You’re going to have to listen to the podcast to find out. Look, I’m sorry, but that’s why we record the damn things! And trust me when I say that when the four of us get fired up over a flick like this it really is magical.
Tuttle tells the group his own personal story involving a walrus and a beach ball…
Whether you’re an old school Kevin Smith fan like myself or a newbie who discovered him through his hundreds of podcasts and TV appearances like Tuttle, I think you should give Tusk a viewing if you’re in the mood for something different. It features one hell of a performance by the always eccentrically brilliant Michael Parks and even if you HATE THE FILM you’ll feel like you witnessed a master class in acting put on by one of cinema’s unsung badasses.
Ok now that’s it, I’m really not going to say anything more other than to listen to the damn podcast and be ready to think, to feel, and to love again. And if we do our job correctly you might also need to take a wizz.
* Right before meeting Kevin Smith at the Vegas film festival, Mense and I were interviewed for the TV show Extra by John “Duckie” Cryer. This was right before he had his second creative wind with Two and a Half Men and he was a real cool guy despite the fact that we all kept calling him Duckie.
THE NUB
Any movie that can elicit a heated, loud, passionate, and flat out funny debate is arguably a movie worth watching even if you end up giving it a big thumbs down at the end of the night. At the very least it got you THINKING which is far better than most of the stuff passing for entertainment these days. There I go sounding like an grumpy old bastard again! And if you can pair that movie with a delicious beer like the Chupahopra IPA and a smooth powerful cigar like the ROMEO… you can’t ask for much more than that on any given Tuesday night.
We’ll catch you next time when we review another film, cigar, and beverage.
May the wings of liberty never lose a feather.
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