[E056] We Finally Gave a Cigar a Perfect Score

We built our own cigar rating system this week and used it for the first time. Five swords, one through five, no half points. By the end of the night, one cigar walked away with a perfect score. Plasencia sent us two boxes to open on camera, each one loaded with a magnetic lid, matching lighter, and cutter. One stayed with the crew, the other went to Eric, who's been running our social media all year and finally got something back for it. From there we worked through what everyone smoked, talked through the price increases hitting some of our go-to sticks like Tatuaje's Monster Series and Black Label's Bishop Blends, and got sidetracked into a long conversation about AI tracking, toll cameras, and how much of your day gets logged without you noticing. Bruce also joins partway through and tells us about his move from Cigar Mojo to Chartwell Cigar Club. Smoke and Steel records every Tuesday night in a garage in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania. Same crew, same cigars, same conversations they were already having before the cameras turned on. Read the full blog post here: https://stogiereview.com/2026/07/22/smoke-and-steel-podcast-056/ 👉 If you enjoy this video, please like, comment, and subscribe for more cigar talk every week. 🔗 Connect With Us:🌐 Website: https://stogiereview.com/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StogieReview/📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stogiereview/💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/8h5tuYaqJV☕ Support us on Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/stogiereview👕 Check out our NEW MERCH: https://www.stickermule.com/stogiereview 📧 Email: Walt@StogieReview.com CHAPTERS0:00 Episode 56 Rolls In Late6:20 Plasencia Surprises Eric With a Box10:45 Bruce Joins and Lights the Farce13:01 What Everybody Picked Up This Week22:03 The Sword Rating System Is Born24:57 Fans of the Week and Growing Numbers29:41 Grading the Don Emmanuel So Far31:25 Monster Series and Bishop Blends Get Pricier36:04 AI Tracking and Toll Road Paranoia48:50 Titans of Tobacco and the UK Tobacco Ban53:31 Walt Lights the Fratello59:40 Bruce Makes the Move to Chartwell1:03:59 The Great Plasencia Burn Debate1:11:01 Rob's Cafe Racer Rebuild1:18:36 An Old Crowned Heads Court Resurfaces1:29:57 Life on the Road and Slowing Down1:43:05 One Year of Smoke and Steel1:46:19 Final Sword Scores of the Night