Mike Tindall & James Haskell: The Ultimate Luxury Guide To Gift Giving at Christmas

0:00Mike Tindall:Do you nick things from the royal family? Have you borrowed bits? I couldn't possibly say. Because I would. I'd be like, go on, give us... Well, I know, when we went there to do the royal pod, you tried to steal stuff. I did, yeah. And Princess Margaret said... Princess Margaret? Princess Margaret? Sorry, sorry. How long ago did you go? Sorry. A long time ago, sorry. We see someone wearing cardigan, like, I need a cardigan. Yeah, I mean, I've never said I need a cardigan, but I can imagine... You should, but you could... No, this is my show, you won't scoff at me. Okay? So I think I'm actually relatively easy to buy for.

0:29I'm a vivacious reader. Are you? Yes. Sorry to sound so surprised. I know you did. Their voice went up for a number of options there. You condescend.

0:40Hello and welcome to The Luxury Dispatch, the podcast that reveals the refined and the rare people, items, and stories that make up the luxury industry. I'm Tom Chamberlain, and today, we find ourselves in that most frantic and festive of seasons, Christmas, a time of generosity, of good cheer, and for many, the annual puzzle of selecting the perfect present. Joining me today are my rested merry gentlemen and podcasting stablemates under the good bad media umbrella, Mike Tindall and James Haskell, both on a mission to seek out guidance on what to give the discerning gearhead this Christmas and perhaps, if we're being honest, to get a few ideas for themselves.

1:16As long as James stays off the naughty list for long enough, that is. Together, we'll be exploring the curiosities, the craftsmanship and clever innovations that make truly exceptional gifts. So, settle in, pour yourself something seasonal, and let's get to the business of gifting brilliantly. Welcome, Mike and James.

1:33Mike Tindall:Hello. How are you? Hello. It's been so long since I was with you yesterday. Yeah, I know. Well, the thing is, is that I am feeling the pressure, because ultimately, usually Alex Payne is here with you two. And he, I believe the whole introduction of Good Bad Rugby is that, you know, Alex trying to hold things together. So, if that is my role, then great. but ultimately we can talk about Alex in this episode because he's not here and ultimately see him as this sort of kind of cipher a kind of a person we can all try and build Christmas around somebody we need to get gifts for that kind of thing so he feels not completely left out but I mean Alex is actually relatively well to do I mean he's slightly behind you he's quite hard to shop for he is very hard to do I believe what did you get him last year?

2:23I believe you got him the good bad rugby book? A box and gin set with Black Eye actually and I thought it was a very considerate gift. He hadn't read the book so that was the first part even though he says he wrote it. I was going to say he wrote the book. And who doesn't want a double gold award winning gin? I mean Alex is the epitome of sartorial elegance but the difficult thing with Alex is most people at Christmas from their grandparents would get maybe a five pound note in a Christmas card. Alex's family gift acres. Yeah. So he gets five or six acres in Dorset or something like that. So he's not that hard done by.

2:56Mike Tindall:I slightly did better than him. He talks a lot about his creative side. So he talks about his wood whittling days when he was at school. Imagine admitting that. Carpentry. So I bought him a wood whittling. But yet he has still yet to produce anything to show for it. So we actually started to think that his whittling is an actual myth. No, but he said that he, it's not even like carpentry, it's he classed himself as an artiste. Does he? Yeah, and that he studied, I think, history of art and art. Look at the egg that he painted in Australia. He's far better at art than we are. He's far better at art, but he prides himself on being a whittler.

3:40So he reckons that's his medium, whittling things out of wood, and that he was going to make some sort of once-in-a-generation piece for us. We've not seen head nor tail of it. so but your gin's gone so who got the right gear so and also he learnt about me during reading the book so I think it's all our perfect gigs yeah we've synergised are you actually do you want a drink yes oh my god thank god yes so I was almost so harsh last time we hung out all together you it was a rake shoot wasn't it and you guys were absolutely hammered at like 10.30 in the morning on old fashion responsibly I think you'll find we did actually have slight old we did have some old fashions at the Fantastic George, George Club.

4:22I actually stayed for lunch. My friend Paul Doran Jones hoved into view. We carried on with a few old fashions. And then I had to drive to Swindon to speak at a village hotel. Not, well, it's called the village hotel. I had to kind of lie down to regroup my thoughts because by the time I finished lunch, I was unable to speak and articulate. And it was one of those nights where I was like Dick Van Dyke from Mary Poppins. I was presenting the awards. I was DJing and doing 10 minutes of stand-up, whereas he was a chimney sweep a street painter and ran an amusement arcade so I was very much they were getting a pound of flesh and I wasn't presenting myself in the very best way but I regrouped got myself together I had a club sandwich they called it a club sandwich it wasn't and I was back on action and everyone went you've got to dress up really well and then people attended the dinner in football shirts Well you're dressed well now Thank you this is one of your gifts for you for our red shirt We all love dressing gown Mike you didn't come in a dressing gown

5:13Mike Tindall:No so when we did the new and Lingwood shoot down at the George, I went for a slightly different look than the dressing gown. Gents, Christmas, gifts, buying for yourself, saying what you want, buying for other people, how are you with it? Can I surprise you? I'm great at buying things for myself. No, I do find it challenging. I think every year we do a secret Santa and try to look after each other. Michael was very competent in his gift choosing. He bought me some cigar accessories, a cigar holder. What else did you get? A cutter. A cutter. Very nice cutter. As you obviously alluded to, I gave Alex his lovely box set.

5:57Well, book set. Book and gin set. And what did you get?

6:01Mike Tindall:You got me... It was alcohol. Mm, yeah. Which is perfect for you, for honest. I think it was red wine. Might have been. But yeah, I'm not great. Fine. you buying him accessories is quite on brand for you because you are a man who's fond of an accessory you like the details of things don't you? I obviously we will dress like normally it is a jean and t-shirt when I'm at home it's a tracksuit so when I'm going out to something that's smart I quite like if it's a suit then it has I like the accessorizing of it which it just feels that it's sometimes boring being a bloke, like, of what you can do, unless you really get into the Tayloroo side and you go down a different cloth and everything else like that.

6:49Mike Tindall:You know, you can always look the same as the next person. So, you know, little bits of detail are where I try and, you know, obviously when I go out with Zara, we sort of do a little matchy thing around the tie. A tie and a pocket square. I love a pocket square. I love little tie pins, cufflinks, lapel pins, bits and pieces of that. I haven't quite figured out the watch thing, but you said you were going to show me how to do that properly. A pocket watch, yeah. Pocket watches, bits and pieces. That's fine. Are you somebody who, do you kind of, when it comes to accessories, do you hunt them down?

7:20Do you have a place specifically you like to go? Or do you, I mean, is it an antique thing? Is it new stuff? What's your vibe with these things? Because I notice you wear things like the Pelpins. I mean, that's an unusual thing for somebody who genuinely, I mean, I say this with all due respect. That's before someone insults, that's my favorite thing. With all due respect. no offense intended that you said it well I think that's like Ricky

7:42Mike Tindall:that's right Ricky Bobby he's like without due respect you're an asshole just because you've said that you can't say I'm an asshole it's only better by said with love so said with love thanks you self-confessed this isn't your usual thing to be sartorial and dressed up so when you want to as you say when you have to dress up smart you want to get into it how deep do you dive on it? yeah so I wouldn't say, you know, I was looking around and looking at the history of the accessories and everything about that. And most of it comes after wars, right? World War I, World War II is the revolution because during the war, you're basically wearing minimalistic clothes.

8:24Mike Tindall:You're all sort of conformists and everything else. So once a war ends, it gives you the chance to express yourself and people go off in their own different ways. So yeah, there's a bit of the side where I like looking at it. I around cufflinks and history of where those cufflinks come from but at the same time I like my brother will always get me he'll his default because I always say at Christmas just get me some cufflinks get me because you know I like them he'll default to Ted Baker and there are some Ted Baker ones that I like so there's no rhyme or reason to it it's a lot of the time what I wear will be like what tie I've got on does the cufflink match the tie does it match pocket square does it does it all fit in with the kids shoes whatever it might be yeah and you know we've got love affair with shoes but so it's but there's no I wouldn't say there's no deep research that goes into why I've got it I did say that it used to be like a thing to have your teeth on a cuff link your teeth teeth on a cuff cuff link I was watching a video getting that used to be like a thing do you nick things from the royal family have you borrowed bits I couldn't possibly say so I would I'd be like go on give us Well, I know when we went there to do the Royal Pod, you tried to steal stuff.

9:34Mike Tindall:I did, yeah. And Princess Margaret said... Princess Margaret. Princess Margaret. Sorry, sorry. How long ago did you go? How long ago? Sorry. Sorry. The Princess Royal turned around and said to me, when I tried, I said I'm going to nick a few bits because I had glasses embossed with the logo and there's some nice silver spoons. The logo. The logo. She says we count them in and count them out. We've seen your type coming. So I didn't get away with any of it. I do have one of the King's tie. I did borrow a tie off him. Did you? I did like it a lot. It is in a bag to give back to him. Oh, yeah. I haven't given it back yet.

10:05Or you can take the northern boy out the north,

10:09Mike Tindall:but not the north out the boy. His tie collection is vast. Where's that? I don't think he would... Where are they from? Where does he have them? Hermes or...? I think he would... There are many tailors that he would use. Imagine there's plenty. Yeah. But I think there is a deception around accessories where people think it's the kind of add-on and therefore the more affordable side of things. and to some extent you are buying into something by getting an accessory because you're not necessarily going to the whole hog with a suit. I mean, I know a guy, he's a brigadier in the army and his Christmas treat is to go every year to Paris and get himself a Chavez boutonniere.

10:45So Chavez is the great shirt maker in Paris, probably the best shirt maker in the world. And they do these little boutonnières. Now they're not cheap, but he does, that's how he kind of does it. Once a year. The thing is, is that actually, all these things, especially with accessories, it's all sort of incremental small things that you can do. I don't even go back, yeah. Well, for example, just, you know, you know, color coordination and stuff. Like, so you like your pocket squares and I was talking about this earlier that ultimately you don't necessarily, you don't want to match your tie in your pocket square in terms of patterning.

11:19But if you want to do a color coordination with it, that's great. So small rules like that do, are good. And so, for example, if you know that you have a friend of yours who has a specific tie they like wearing or something, you can always look out for something that is similar and that would be like a nice thing. But for you, I know that, you know, you said you brought them cigar accessories and that's part of the fun with cigars. But do you know, would you know these days, having kind of, you know, been in that habit for a bit, would you know what you would want to buy for Christmas, what your favorite sort of cigars would be for Christmas?

11:51Yes. So I always take a deep dive into anything. So I have very expensive taste in terms of going and diving into, you know, the very best wines, best whiskeys, best coffees, best cigars. When someone says there's the best, I always want to go and try it and sample it. And I do treat myself in that regard. In terms of cigars, yes, I've gone around kind of to houses, tried lots of different things. Yeah, I mean, look, there's obviously, it's like anything. in regard I'm equated to cars you can go down and get your Ferraris get your Lamborghinis but there's there's classic versions of everything there's more that inside people know so Davidoff I in St.

12:33James's I go to all the time I'm friends with Eddie Sahakin who runs Davidoff there and you know he's given me a bit of an education I mean look I'll be honest with you my go-tos would be a Cahiba Robusto or a El Splendido but the Davidoff signature number two very nice a Hoya de Montero for like a day cigar. I really like that. Again, in terms of going and finding an off-piste one that is what the insiders know, perhaps not. But I have very few redeeming features, but one of them is kind of A, self-awareness, but B, kind of the desire to ask other people for help and to go, I don't know it all.

13:08What do you think? And go reach out to people who do know, you know? When you know that there's a habit to be had. Yes. And things come with it, whether it's accessories or the actual product itself, you kind of want to explore what the best means. Yes, that's what I'm here. And I mean, I think, look, you know, especially with cigars, there's excellent accessories to go with cigars. It's part of the fun. Yes, yes. Humidors, you know, you want to go to someone like Ellie Blur. I mean, this marvelous thing behind us here is superb. But the good thing about cigars these days, ultimately, is that the maintenance of it has become less problematic.

13:39Yes, with the Pavida kind of, yes. Exactly. Whereas before, you'd have to spend, like, you know, ages with sort of distilled water. I mean, it's a night... I mean, I could sort of go and check, but I've got two humidors. I've still got my, because I did a lot, I kind of did a little bit of New World stuff just to see what was going on. And I followed lots of cigar aficionados online. I tried these. So I've got a humidor for them, but I also have a humidor for the good gear, you know, essentially. But I'm always checking them. The other day I sort of went and did my sort of monthly checkup and I had to replace all the sachets and bits and pieces.

14:11I've got for Christmas, I had a couple of DuPont. I've got a DuPont Cohiba lighter. I've got a cigar cutter, which I really, really like. I've just got stuff from Mike. Again, there's lots of things, accessories and bits that go with it, which look on paper in the Instagram world as good bargains, and you get them and they're sort of poorly made. So, you know, it's the same thing actually with coffee. Again, you know, I am a massive coffee nerd. And in terms of going on that, down that route, there are so many accessories and bits you can go with that. You know, whether, you know, a Lamazoc a coffee machine, you know, in terms of V60s, Chemexes, all the different types of coffee, the bits of accessories.

14:48I weigh my coffee every morning. I time it when it pours through. Same thing with cigars. I make sure, you know, that kind of I try to learn about the texture of what they should feel like, how they should be stored, how to cut them. You know, what I sort of got again in terms of whether I like different cuts to them, a V cut versus a punch. I've got a very nice Mont Blanc punch that I really enjoy for cigars. So I think with a lot of this stuff as well, the reason it's priced as it is, the idea behind it is you buy once, you buy forever ideally, or you buy quality. And so what a lot of people do is they kind of go buy mid-range or lower and you end up buying twice because invariably it falls apart.

15:32So I've sort of learned, but you can only do that kind of once. You buy one shirt and then you go again. Next time you're in a position to take another one, you go and do that. You know, with cigars, because of the Chinese market bought up all the, you know, the Cahiba brands, They've set the price point. They've done it. What used to cost a reasonable amount of money is now extortionate. I was in Davidoff last week and I went through to the Humidor and we're going through something and all the prices of all the cohibits were through the roof. So instead of going, right, I'm going to get four or five, I might get a box.

16:03Now you're like, whoa. I'm going to get one. Getting one is quite a bit. Getting one. So I think the thing for people to think about if they're listening about, getting a cigar, just a single stick for somebody, is a real, if they're big, if they like cigars, it's a great present. Because cigars got so prohibitively expensive. And my thing on this, and I don't know if you'll agree with me, is look for... Sure show, I'll do whatever you tell me to. Fine. Look for regionals. Yeah, yeah. Because I think that that's a really interesting one. Because regionals are inherently limited just because they are, just for you, Mike, Cuba liked to basically create cigars that go to a particular market.

16:44So, and they're called regional editions. So there's UK regional, there's a, you know, there's a Spanish regional, there's a Dutch regional, there's the Lebanese or like all sorts of places. Some are slightly broader, sort of Asia Pacific and all these sorts of things. So, but ultimately it means that you can only get them from that particular market. If you're, so if you're there, you can get them. And those are, those are usually very nice and they're not as expensive. Yeah. Well, they can be after a while, but they're not as expensive initially as limited editions, which always come out the gate very expensive.

17:19So the same actually, I mean, I got fascinated with wine. I do stuff with investment stuff with Berry Brothers. I trade stuff. I do different things. I got rolled down the sort of rabbit hole of white burgundy. You know, Poulimor, Chez, all the Merceaux's and that kind of stuff. I really kind of enjoy them. So kind of find stuff that was almost adjacent to it because there was a company that Mike was involved in where the concept behind it was if you have your Chateaubinute, your rosé, the vineyard next door might not be as well known, but it's using similar soil, similar area, same appellation, et cetera.

17:58So without the price and the branding, give it a go because it's kind of adjacent. And that's the same with a few things. It's particularly white burgundy. You're like, right, okay, the Poulet Mont-Prochet is what it is. actually what's around that place? Is there a Merceau that's going to have a similar taste profile? So I kind of look into it. But again, for most of myself, it's like... It's so much, though. I live quite close. Sorry, I live. My in-laws have a place in France that's quite close to the Whispering Angel vineyard. But literally, it's like a tiny little part that separates the two vineyards.

18:35And there's the next one down where you can get... It's basically like three euros a litre or something. That's what I mean. And it's the same thing.

18:42Mike Tindall:Especially something with rose. I think, obviously, with Red, there's obviously older vines, first growth vines and stuff like that, which all the older houses work on. But a lot of what, especially rose, is the storytelling of what the brand is. For sure. You're a big golfer. Yes. And that, speaking of cigars and lighters and cutters and things, I mean, you and I were minor league when it comes to things with accessories. Yes. Because golfing, I mean, that is an absolutely mad business, isn't it? Yeah, it's great because it's crazy because also you have all the accessories, whether that's pitch mark repairers, your T-set, your driver headset, your golf bags, your trolley, your clothing, your footwear, your hats, whatever.

19:34Mike Tindall:but then obviously as well with golf people like to show off where they've been so then it's all about every golf course you top 100 in the world and have you got their logo on your jumper or have you got their logo on or anything like that and so there's like two layers to it there's all there's the gadgets that you can get the range finders you've got a special ball washer haven't you but they just walk around holding the ball cleaning it taxpayers covering it doesn't matter the sort of your swing your swing coaches hack motion, whatever it might be, every gadget under the sun because everyone wants to hit the ball like a golf pro.

20:09Mike Tindall:And yeah, then up to simulators, wherever you want to go, the new putting greens that move. Tell me about, you told me about these putting greens. Tell me about, these are fascinating. Yeah, so it's a new thing now. So they just, they create a putting green that you can pretty much move any area of it. So, and you can create putts. So you can, yeah, You know, I think the more you can just really geek out on golf, you can go to the 10th degree about it. It all comes down to this whole idea of all the gear, no idea. My theory's always been, if you have an idea, why wouldn't you have all the gear?

20:48Yes. I think you sort of, you know, because we do a number of charity days, a number of golf days, a number of shooting days. Mike has an amazing charity shooting day, raises some fantastic amount of money for cure Parkinson's. And normally there's a team of about seven of us ex-professionals. We stay on one stand and we shoot at Flurry, which is multiple clays, 100 clays come out, and we have to shoot them. And sort of all these guys turn up with glasses covering one eye or special gloves. Mouse gloves. What was he called? Michael Jackson. One guy turned up with one glove on. He was instantly in it.

21:26And Michael Jackson was like moonwalking behind him and just getting into it. And so the thing is, the problem is, yes, if you've got some idea, then why not have all the gear? But when you cross over a certain threshold, you better be good to roll with that stuff. See, this is where I won all the best stuff because I'm rubbish at everything. Yes, yes. Do you know what I mean? At least I win at something. Skiing, however, because obviously there's a big sort of safety and also performance issue when it comes to that because you want to get down to the bottom of the run that you're on. as fast as possible well okay fine because you're hardcore in you and we get it you're very alpha male yes well done Michael but you ultimately you know good helmet is probably quite important good skis so that it's I don't ski so this is over to you Michael no

22:19Mike Tindall:good helmet is always is always crucial and how it looks is also depending on whether you're snowboarding or whether you're skiing. Which do you do? I can do both, but it's like... Has snowboard slightly become a bit passe? Yeah, because now everyone who sort of took up snowboarding originally, so you now get a load of 50-year-old men snowboarding down the hill and that just doesn't look cool. It only looks cool when you're between 13 and 25 and you can flip and you can do tricks and it doesn't work when you're a 50-year-old man. So it's normally a burden on people as well. if you're skiing with friends, it's a burden to be on a snowboard.

23:00Mike Tindall:So I'd only snowboard if other people were snowboarding. Got it. Because if you hit a flat spot and everyone has to wait for you as you sort of unclip and walk along to get to the downhill slope again, it is a nightmare. But there are certain places that are made for snowboarding. You know, everything's a chairlift, so you don't have to get a bubble. A bubble on the snowboard is a nightmare. Yeah. So, but yeah, again, it's boots, you know, stroll in Lek or do you go get your first pair of stroll boots which are completely molded and fitted to you? Do you ski? No, but one of the first articles I ever edited for the rake was about Zy skis.