144 News, Mikey gets into yet another scuffle at Universal
Episode Summary
Episode 144 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with the usual long-form banter between Mike Szczepankiewicz and his co-host: Mikey's disastrous four-hour ordeal in the check-in lines at Universal's CityWalk with his family, a bad Stella keg the shop got stuck with during the pandemic shutdown, Friday night sampler-pack events with the Chet and Palmer crew, dive-bar hopping at Bulldogs and Swamp House, Screwball peanut butter whiskey, UFC vs. boxing, and pandemic habits that stuck (hand sanitizer, flushable wipes and a pantry shelf full of toilet paper). They also riff on podcasting advice, being invited onto other shows, and social-media burnout during election season.
The news block is the meat of the episode. Drew Estate's Liga Privada Unico Serie UF-4 returns October 29 as the annual Casa de Montecristo (Countryside, Illinois) exclusive — a 6 x 52 Toro with a Connecticut Habano wrapper, Brazilian binder and Honduran/Nicaraguan filler, based on an original T52 test blend, now moving from butcher-paper bundles to 10-count soft packs with in-person and virtual release events hosted by Jonathan Drew. They then run down the 2020 CRA Freedom Sampler, which includes the Tatuaje Great Pumpkin, a new My Father Le Bijou 1922 box-press Robusto, two possible Arturo Fuente Opus X options (Angel's Share Perfecxion X or Opus X 20 Years Believe), Ashton VSG or San Cristobal, an aged Diamond Crown Maximus, the Padrón Black No. 200, an Oliva Serie V Melanio, an Alec Bradley Mundial and a Rocky Patel ALR Second Edition — and take issue with the sampler being sold exclusively through Holt's, a running joke for the rest of the show.
Additional news: Nicaragua's Puro Sabor 2021 festival is canceled (the second cancellation in three years), Tampa's Cigar Heritage Festival in Ybor City is postponed to March, Illusione's CG:4 Candela lands as a Vault (Meridian, Idaho) exclusive, and Foundation Cigar Company adds two biblically named Perfectos — David (5 x 54, $12) and Goliath (5 x 58, $14) — to the Tabernacle line, made at Tabacalera AJ Fernandez. The hosts close on the biggest story: Arturo Fuente and Padrón are collaborating on a pair of 7 x 50 cigars, with Carlito Fuente Jr. blending one to honor José Orlando Padrón and Jorge Padrón blending one to honor Carlos Fuente Sr., slated to debut at the 2021 PCA trade show and sold as a two-pack with proceeds going to charity.
In This Episode
- 01Mikey vs. Universal OrlandoA four-hour saga of three separate lines, a phantom text message and no dinner at CityWalk with six people in tow.
- 02Shop Talk: Bad Keg, Friday Nights and Loyal RegularsA spoiled Stella keg during the shutdown, how the distributor handled it, and the Friday night sampler-pack events with Chet and Palmer.
- 03Pandemic Habits and Podcast AdviceNew COVID-era routines, social media fatigue during election season, and unsolicited tips for new podcasters and retailers.
- 04Liga Privada Unico Serie UF-4 ReturnsDrew Estate's annual Casa de Montecristo exclusive comes back October 29 in new 10-count soft packs with tiered pre-order and event pricing.
- 05CRA Freedom Sampler 2020The ten-cigar lineup from Tatuaje, My Father, Fuente, Ashton, J.C. Newman, Padrón, Oliva, Alec Bradley and Rocky Patel — sold only through Holt's.
- 06Puro Sabor 2021 Canceled & Cigar Heritage Festival PostponedNicaragua's festival is scrapped again while Tampa's Ybor City event slides to March over permitting and infection rates.
- 07Illusione CG:4 Candela and Foundation's Tabernacle PerfectosAn Idaho-exclusive candela Corona Gorda plus the new David and Goliath Perfectos joining Nick Melillo's Tabernacle line.
- 08Arturo Fuente x Padrón CollaborationCarlito Fuente Jr. and Jorge Padrón each blend a 7 x 50 to honor the other's father, debuting at the 2021 PCA trade show.
Brands & Cigars Discussed
Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.
Transcript
*Country music* Welcome to episode 144 of a Cigar Hustler Podcast, still the number one show on Podbean, Cigar Show. It just goes on and on and on, 144 episodes. Apparently we should write a book. Oh yeah, who told you that?
Well, the number two show wrote a book about how to have a successful podcast. Seems a little odd, since they're not number one. Seems a little odd, since they're not number one, they're number two. But thanks for the advice.
Maybe we should call Mr. Garofalo. Well, at least, you know. We thought we'd write a chapter for your book, 'cause we're the number one show.
At least, you know, everybody else could get some information from that. Everybody but us. Everybody but, no book needed. No book needed here.
Thank you for your time. Michael! Yes. Yes?
It is John Yogerleit's birthday. Oh, he just texted me. Oh, happy birthday to my entire media staff. Your entire marketing?
No, media, not marketing. He's your media staff? He's my media staff. But we are media.
How's that work? He's my media staff. He does all my media graphics work. Ah, very nice.
So we hope you have a nice birthday. Yes, John, happy birthday. Also, I'd like to thank Mr. Mark Gordon for this lovely key lime pie.
Yeah, just the one can, Mark. He got some, don't worry, I shared. Yeah, and you're right, I'm glad you didn't buy me one. It tastes okay.
I like it. It's a little over the top. In the old days, I would have said Bang sent this, and I would have had a nice letter, and maybe a little gift. You're an evil, evil man.
This is an evil, evil man. Yeah, but open the box. Oh, look! They sent me a key lime bag.
Yeah. So. Here we are, Mike. That's very good.
Did you get any more fights at Universal? No fights. We did go again, believe it or not. I don't know how that happened.
You know, I guess I pressed for it when I really shouldn't have. But I still gotta work some kinks out, man. You know, we tried to eat at... Oh, so you asked about the food last time.
You try to eat a twosome. No food? Well, no, there's a line to get into the place to check in, but there's two lines, and one line is not for checking in. So you get in that one line, you're thinking that you're in the line to check in, you're killing 30 minutes.
Everybody's not like, I mean, normally if those long lines, you're like, are you in the line to check in? No. Or are you in the line to eat? No.
And then they go, no, no, I'm in the line to pick up my food. Right. Oh, well, I guess I need to pick up my food. No, so you get to the end of that line, like, oh, no, you got to get in the other line.
The other line. So then you go get in the other line to check in and say it's going to be an hour and a half wait. Like, okay. So wait, you have to wait to find out there's a wait.
Right. So how long is the line to find out you're waiting an hour and a half? About 20, 30 minutes. So it's really a two hour wait.
It's longer than that. So it gets worse. So then you go, so now that you've determined that these are two separate lines, you go after an hour and a half, what? You need to move this way.
No, your whole body, not just your head. It looks like we're out of focus. Ken, it's an autofocus. I don't know.
You look blurry to me over here. Everything looks blurry to me. Okay. Anyway, two hour wait for the line to find out there's an hour and a half.
So yeah, you get to the one line, you go through, you check in, there's an hour and a half. You wait, you know, you go, we went to the parks, you wait an hour and a half to get, you know, you hang out in the parks. And then you go back and... Oh, so there's an option, do they text you or your alarm go off?
They text you. Oh, okay, so you don't have to stand there. And they didn't text us, so we went in, we went to go to the line again, we went through the whole line, they said, yeah, nope, sorry, your table isn't ready yet, you're just gonna have to wait longer. Was there more than four of you?
Yes. Six? Mm-hmm. That creates a problem.
Yeah, so we're like, okay, and now at this point we're getting pretty pissed off. So we're like, fuck it, we're just gonna go leave. Who was the numbers? Who was the five and six?
Just curious. Three kids, one wife. Oh, three kids. I forgot you have the third child now.
And the nanny. But she don't need her own chair. Oh, the nanny. I thought maybe the nanny had a date, and I was like, ooh, and the nanny had a date.
No, you still have to count all of them. Oh. So we give up after about two and a half hours, like, fuck this, we're just going. Just go home.
As we're walking. You could go home and eat and come back in two and a half hours. Yeah, as we're walking, all of a sudden, boom, we get the text. Bring!
Oh, table's ready. So you go back in the line. You go through the line. You go say, hey, you guys text us.
And they said, okay. Oh, we gave it to somebody else. We weren't waiting. No, they said, okay, we need you to go over there.
Over where? Into that line. And I looked at this guy like, you're fucking serious? He's like, yeah.
Like, so there's a line. So you had three lines out here. Yeah. Okay.
So we just follow here. Let's recap your line. Okay. You waited in line to turn in your name.
Yeah. Which was the long, wrong line. Wrong line. So you had to go to the other line.
Right. So how long did you wait in the first line? 20 minutes? 20, 30 minutes.
20, 30 minutes to find out you're in the wrong line. Right. Then you get in the right line. 20, 30 minutes to give your name.
Right. And they go, okay, be an hour and a half. Yep. An hour and a half, no table.
No table. Two and a half hours later, you're leaving, your thing goes off, oh, your table is ready. Right. Anybody want to go?
Do you want to go? Yeah, okay, we'll still go. I mean, we were right on the cusp. So then you get back-- God damn it.
Then you get back in line now to get your table. Yeah. Another 20 minutes. Well, you get back in the first line to check in, say, hey, you text me and they said, okay.
Right, right, okay. Yeah. But another 20, 30 minutes through that line to get to the front? Yep.
Or do you walk right? Nope. Because then you're in the actual line you were in the first time. Right.
I'm trying to follow you, I need like the whiteboard with the lines and you're going into the thing. Yeah. Okay, so, then he goes, okay, now we need to go over in this line. What was that line?
That is the line for the person to seat you. There is one person seating everybody. But how long could that line have been? 20 or 30 minutes.
They can't seat people faster? I mean, it's a bottleneck problem, right? You should have more people seating, I mean, like... How long does it take for the walk to eat at the table?
So, it shouldn't take that long. No, two minutes. But, you know, you got to walk up, you got to walk up the stairs, you may have to walk up, there's additional, it's two stories. Oh, where do they take your temperature?
Before you walk into the city walk. Oh, so once you get in, you're already hit, you're blanketed. So. Oh my lord.
Oh yeah. What if you got sick between rides? So we left. So wait, okay, two and a half, plus another half makes three, plus another 20, it's 320.
So you're in almost like at four hours for this dining experience without food. Yeah, so we went to- If they're that slow to seat you, you're going to be waiting for the food. Yeah. The kitchen's backed up.
Right. Sorry, sir, I hope you understand, the kitchen is backed up. Fuck you, I've been sitting in lines for four hours now to get to my goddamn table. I mean, I had already lost my shit prior to that.
So I was, as we were, I was leaving, after he told us that we had to get in this other line, I was like, where are you guys going? I go, I'm getting, I'm not getting in another fucking line, dude. Yeah, I've been four hours to get to this point. He's like, but it's, you have to understand, it's just one person seating everybody.
I understand, and I looked at him. You're furloughing people left and right, bring back another table seater. I said, "I understand that Universal failed. " You know like I'm telling this guy I'm like there's some serious issues here you should ask for a manager I said have no I was I was done the kids are starving we were fucking out of there yeah you tell the kids have a fit just fall down and like this was only supposed to be like a you know maybe you took longer for the meal than you were spent in the park yeah well we spent like an hour and a half in the park if that so like it well you had to spend four and a half hours there it was actual in the park time right the original hour and a half that you wait exactly right so oh my god I'm You know, we have a puppy at home now?
Yes. This is only supposed to be like a... El Chapo. Yes, El Chapo.
We only have like... Is it an L for short, or Chappy? I call him Chapo. Chapo.
It was only supposed to be like a two, maybe three hour ordeal tops, like door to door. Right. Right? Hmm.
So yeah, no, it was not, it was not good. That's a lot of stuff to load up just for an hour and a half. But it's kinda, you know... It's your thing though, yeah.
You get out. I saw in the news they're expanding the park next year. We're going to have a park next year. Are they?
They're building more parks. Yeah, well, they're going to do an epic universe they wanted to build. Yes, that's part of the new one. And the Mysterious Animals, or whatever the hell it's called, that movie, where all the animals are in a suitcase or something.
I didn't see that. Oh, yeah? Mysterious Animals? Yeah, the expansion on the Harry Potter.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Something else. I'm not a big Harry Potter guy, believe it or not. A new kid.
Oh, Mario Kart, the ride. Yeah. And a Mario Land. Oh, that's nice.
They've been threatening that for a while. Well, you know, none of it really excites me, like, I like the roller coasters, I like going to the Rip Ride Rocket, and I like the Hulk and stuff. Don't just make me hurt now. For me, it's more just like, hey, let's get the kids out, and let's go ride some of the kids stuff.
Out of the fresh air. Yeah, you know, like, it's just good, a good, like, getaway thing for, and it's only 20 minutes away from me from my house, so. Right. Wow, it's a whole different show, you take the headphones off.
I'm sure it is. I got something in my eye. It's an entirely different kind of flying, altogether. It's an entirely, nevermind.
No, it's entirely in the show without the headphones, wow. Yeah, so. I'm glad I have headphones. Did you, did you do anything fun?
Uh, let's see what we do Saturday. The Chet and Palmer show was in. We did that Friday night. Was in for a swing again on this Friday.
Yeah, we had a good time. You had the sampler packs. If you missed that, you guys are missing the place to go Friday night. And you had food and stuff.
We had food, we had walking tacos, um. Gave away a bunch of my shit. Gave away a bunch of your shit. Yeah.
Probably a little bit more shit than you think we gave away, but yeah. Sounds about right. You know, I'm used to that. It's kind of hard when you have, like-- It's like a breakage, you know?
Well, you have four or five gifts, and then you sell maybe five or six sampler packs, and go, okay, who's gonna be, who's the one person we don't like that doesn't win? Well, as long as it's Evan. He didn't buy one. Damn it.
Yeah. It would've been funny if he-- Daniel drank water, I kept trying, you need a beer, you had a hard day, you need that beer, Evan. I mean, but that guy supports the shop. He's here every fucking day.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he buys, he'll buy a-- He buys two cigars every day. Because he's here every day, he has now been entitled to the we are going to abuse you to the next level. We had an issue here recently with the Stella cake.
Oh, yeah, yeah. We never really talked about that. Well, there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff that I sort of caught at the tail end when I was going on out there. Sometimes you got to flex on some motherfuckers.
Yeah, but how did that turn out? If we're talking about it on the show now. Because of the pandemic, our bar was closed for a big period of time, and because it was closed, the Stella keg went bad. The Stella keg, we had probably just ordered, or it was close to being ordered, so it was a little over halfway full, maybe three quarters, and...
Still heavy! Still heavy as shit when it has to be moved. " They're like, "Oh, yeah, well, you're gonna have to eat it. There's no...
" And I said, okay, that's fine. You know, not a problem. You're not getting that keg anymore. I'll give that tap to somebody else.
And lo and behold, apparently we got a credit. Oh, look at that. That was all tick. I mean, but why would I continue to do business?
I mean, I could still do business with that company, but I would refine. Like, if they're not going to look out for you, and I understand the whole aspect of, well, they took a hit too. Well, we all took a hit. We all took a hit.
Like the pandemic. We could have split it with you or something, you know. Yeah, like, you know, hey, look. Okay, it's half, half is left, we'll eat the half.
Right, just something, you know. Right, just meet me halfway. So it's a hundred bucks, both of you, both of us eat 50. Right.
Yeah, you know, you sold some of it, there's still some of it left. Well, he's eating 50, you sold some of it, some of it left. Well, I guess they could have split what was left. Or whatever the case may be.
That would have been, everybody takes a hit that way. Right. I'm like, okay. But just to kind of shit all over a small business as like a little guy, it's just like eh, that just rubs me the wrong way as a businessman, like I don't want, I'm not going to continue to promote and build your business, I'll go build somebody else's, somebody who would return the keg if there was an issue, right?
Right. Yeah, so I didn't, I felt like I wasn't, was I angry? No, no, you weren't. I mean, I didn't know that was going on, so when I heard you saying that to our representative that was in the shop, I was like, oh, well, okay.
And our rep's a great guy. He is. He really is. He's been on the show.
He's a top-notch dude. He's been on the show. Like, it wasn't his call, right? No, I did like how afterwards he just stood around for another 30, 45 minutes just chit-chatting.
Nothing about any of the beer, nothing like that. Well, we kind of have that relationship. Well, that's what I'm getting at. He kept the relationship going.
Right. You know, because he's, you know, he's a representative of this company, but he doesn't make those decisions. Right. So, I mean...
And he sees the potential here. Oh, yeah. Sure. Granted, we're not downtown Disney or anything, but we...
No. We hold our own. We turn booze here. We hold our own.
That's not a big problem. Oh, that Hershey Yingling? Sold the shit out of it all weekend. Yeah, I heard that was good.
There was like eight left. Nice. I didn't like it. Yeah?
Yeah. You're a tough guy. Chet and I bought one, and we saved it to drink after Friday night. You split it?
Like two straws type of the deal? No, no, we both bought a bottle. Well, I bought two bottles. He bought the cigars.
So you kind of like hooked arms and drank it? No, we put it in a glass. And then hooked arms and drank it? But everybody was saying how chocolatey and delicious it was.
It just tasted... It wasn't for you. I don't know. Maybe it had been a long day.
I'd already had four or five cigars and we'd had some rum before we got to the beer because the beer wasn't cold and... I don't know. We were just like, we don't get it. There's no candy bar in this bottle.
Now that you bring that up, that kind of reminds me, this Friday I did try and drink the Casamigos again. Oh, after doing the Michael Jordan? Yeah, after the Sincoro. I'm fucking ruined.
I am so ruined, I couldn't, I had one. Oh. And I was like, hmm. You know who have remodeled again the bar up the street there?
I don't know if you want me to say the name right now. Oh yeah? Like the Black Cat or whatever? Kind of.
That's a very close name. El Gato Negro? Yeah. No, no.
Bulldogs. Bulldogs. Bulldogs. You can say it.
Oh, okay. Well, I mean, they're our competitor. They're remodeled? Yeah.
They're not our competitor. No. That's a totally different animal. I was going to say, you can't smoke inside there now anymore either.
You used to be able to. Right. You used to have big smoke eaters on their ceiling fans. No, now they have an outdoor patio where you can sit and smoke.
Huh. But we just happened to go in there on a whim Saturday night, and the place is bright White and shiny, new furniture, I mean, it was, it was. I feel like you're my dive bar investigator. Oh, my wife, and we were with Megan, we hadn't seen Megan in forever, her and her boyfriend around here, they love dive bars, y'all.
Yeah. But I mean, like, Blackie's over there, I ain't going to that place, I've been warned not to go into Blackie's. My father used to love that place. It looks like a place, yeah, it's where Mike the mailman told me never, never go into that place, never go into that place.
Don't you ever. Yeah, it's usually where I gauge, I ask him if it's something new, and he's like, oh, nope, don't go there. Oh, the mailman. Well, he's been here since it was just called D.
Dizzy D's? No, no, the whole city just had a D. They didn't have the Eltona on it. He's been here forever.
He came with the city. He used to deliver mail to the Indians. He did come with the city. On the oyster beds.
So, I tried watching a boxing fight on Saturday. There's like this big hype about a boxing fight. Yeah. I watched the one fight, like I turned it on and the fight was about to begin, right?
And this kid has, like, he's knocked out 14 people in the first round or whatever, so I'm like, oh, I'll watch this fight, and sure as shit, this guy, this kid just fucking railed this one dude. Pulling it over real quick. Yeah, so he beat the shit out of him, and it was done. And then, but that wasn't the main card, right?
So then they're talking about this main event, and the time suck between that fight ending and then the next fight beginning, I gave up. " I mean, what the hell did they talk about the two hours? Nothing really, it showed them just kind of standing around and shit, and I'm just like, yeah, yeah, like, oh, you know, and this, you know, I don't even remember that. Big fight, big fight coming up, big fight.
Yeah, I'm gonna kick his ass, you know, so... Show him getting weighed in again, quick, cut to the scale cam. Dude, so... Man, I didn't wait for a time, get up there, you got away again, I'm sorry, we need to fill this.
And I know now why boxing isn't, you know, as serious as it used to be, like why nobody talks about it as much, because of that type of shit. Yeah. Like who the fuck wants to sit there for an hour while nothing is going on? It wasn't pay-per-view, I'm guessing.
No, no, no, no. I mean, they only do that for the big name people now because, I mean, think if you paid for that and it's over in 15 minutes or 15 seconds or whatever. I'm okay with that, I'm totally fine. Yeah, I would much prefer, I would rather spend the 60 bucks and not have the time suck and watch some guy just get the shit kicked out of him than to say, than to see an hour of hype build for nothing, right?
So, yeah, it was atrocious. It was absolutely atrocious. What's the, are you okay? No, make sure the ringer was turned off.
Okay. Oh no. So anyway, we started at Swamp House. Yeah, it was a Saturday?
It was Saturday. We started at Swamp House. We were talking about that, and then I deviate, I'm sorry. And then they close, well, at seven o'clock when the sun goes down, you're on the river, and the mosquitoes come out in like swarms.
Yeah, you went to that place that I've, that you said is not gator bites? Well, yeah, Megan's boyfriend that's with us, he's a hunter type of guy, and he's, you know, hunted his fair share of gators legally and illegally, we'll just say maybe. Right. " And I mean, we're all tasting it, and I've, I've had alligator before.
Normally, it's a little chewy or something. It was straight up chicken, it just tastes like chicken. Maybe you got the wrong stuff, because I have had the gator bites there. I have two before, and it was good, because he asked.
And it didn't taste like chicken. But it had a nice sauce, it had a really heavy sauce on it, so I mean, it could have been dog food, and you wouldn't even know the difference at that point. This is pedigree. This is pedigree, so.
So it was bike week, they wanted to go out to Daytona, where they live, and I'm like, I got a little buzz, I am not driving out to Daytona, that's why we ended up- Ah, you were wise and responsible. Yes, well. Well, as soon as we found out, they had screwball. Screwball peanut butter whiskey.
It was a wrap. That's, that's my, that's my favorite. I'm in. And now you have Chet doing it.
Do you have Screwball? Well, he introduced me to it. Ah. I see.
So they ordered shots, you know, and the girl brings it out, the shots. I'm like, you don't shoot Screwball. Right. What are you, animals?
You heathens? I'm sipping mine. Adrian didn't like it, so I drank hers. Give me that Screwball.
Megan didn't like it, I drank hers. And then you loved everybody. I loved it. Oh, God.
This is so amazing. And then we get to, uh, get to Bulldogs. Do you have Screwball? Oh, yes.
Oh, I'm not leaving. Guess who's Ubering? Yep, I get my cigar, can I smoke? On the patio.
I'll be out there, bring my screwball to me, please. Please bring me my screwball. But now on Friday nights, we don't have to go all the way to Jimmy's, unfortunately. Oh, you still have to go to Jimmy's.
Well, we'll have to alternate, because Bulldog's obviously closer to me, Jimmy's closer to Chet, so we'll have to alternate. That makes sense. You guys gotta take turns. It's appropriate.
Alternate back and forth. So let me ask you. Yes. How, I mean, what are we, 10 months into this pandemic?
8 months? Something like that? It was January, so yeah, 10 months? February, I think January we still traveled, so it was like February-ish.
Did we travel in January? We went to Philly. Oh, yeah. So, of all...
I feel April. April was... April's when the shit really hit the fan. Yeah, yeah.
It was kind of March. Oh, I have a brief story, but go ahead. So, of all the, like, things that have happened in your life, I'm sure that you've formed new habits to some degree with this whole thing. Yeah.
I'm sure that you've dabbled in different avenues of whatever the case may be. " Just more hand sanitizer? That's it. Yeah, I mean, you walk into any store, it's right through the door, I always hit it, boom, boom.
Here, as I'm walking around, anytime I pass one, boom, boom. There's one in the car. No TV shows, no health routine. Yeah, but we talked about all the TV shows and stuff, and no, I mean, maybe we eat less.
We keep less groceries in the house, which is weird. Really? Yeah. Interesting.
But 75 pounds of toilet paper. Just in case. Yeah, but yeah, the whole top shelf of the pantry is toilet paper. And you don't want to dabble into that, so you just keep buying more.
Well, you know, every time you, well, you used to be, every time you see one, like, better buy one, women's one, you gotta get that. Yeah, you're that guy, you're the problem. Yeah, I'm that guy, I'm the problem. Exactly.
Oh, we do use flushable wipes. Oh. That's the only way to go. That's a new thing in the house.
Yeah. Is that because of COVID? Well, yeah, because they're for a while. Because you couldn't get them.
That's all you could find. Yeah. So now you're a flushable wipe house. So now we're a flushable wipe house.
Yeah, they're in every bathroom. My wife loves them. And she used to be like, you know, like she's, I always say, what, did you get shot by a bullet or something? Because she's like wrapping her hand up, you know.
You getting ready for a fight? Yeah, it looks like she's getting ready for a fight or something. I'm like, what are you doing? She goes, I peed.
It's 75 feet of toilet paper? So now the wipes, you know, they're pre-measure, so just bloop, bloop, and you're done. Wow, so it's, they might have cost you more money, but now you're actually saving money long term. Saving money, that's right, because you use less.
Because you're not using 75 pounds of toilet paper. And she doesn't need the three flushes anymore, so we save money in the water. It's just the one, ooh, well it's just double whammy. Thank you, COVID.
That's right, thank you, COVID. Well, I could tell you that for me, I was always kind of like a, I always loved UFC when I was younger. Like, I would watch it a lot, and then I did American Talk Team for a few years and stuff. Yeah, right.
They, I don't know when this started, but there's a UFC fight every Saturday night. Yeah. And it's awesome. Oh, so you watch it every Saturday night.
So every Saturday night, it's always UFC fights. I used to have some friends that used to go to Ale House every Saturday night to watch it. Mm-hmm. I guess they play it there on the big TV.
Yeah, I didn't know that it was to that magnitude. And, like, sometimes it's on ESPN, sometimes it's on ESPN+, and sometimes it's a pay-per-view, but... Oh, not even on the same channel, so you have to find it. Well, yeah, to some degree, you know.
So you're really committed. But it's so enjoyable. Like, I'm so into that now, and that's because of... Oh, now with the testosterone, you're gonna be...
you're gonna randomly grab us and start... Figure four in Chennai as you walk by. We're not there yet, pal. Just relax.
There's only two of us left, so, you know... Please don't leave. No, I just meant we're old and brittle, so. Oh, man.
Yeah, I know. We went over a broken bone list one night, and we're like, hmm, well, we don't have a solid bone between the two of us. Wow. I've never had a broken bone.
Oh, it's not fun. I broke my back four places. Well, you shouldn't have tried to shove your finger in that horse's ass. It wasn't my finger in his ass.
Oh, what was it? I think my ex-wife did. Tried to kill me. Now that we have reflected back on the entire blacked out moment.
That's understandable. I get it. " Well, we renew our lease every year in April. Okay, for the house?
Yeah, for the house. So they sent the letter of intent one day, I sent it back the next day, and then apparently nothing was ever done. There was no new lease was ever sent. Well, they sent me a rent increase the other day.
I went, "Well, what is this? " Well, we never got a signed copy of the lease back, so you've been on month to month since then. With a 15-day notice, the owner can up your rent or something like that. Oh, the property appraisers or the property management company?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, we talk to the owner all the time. I mean, they don't know this, but we talk to the owner all the time. I mean, he's a very nice man.
He loves us. " So, he sends us a check for the seed, whatever, blah, blah, blah. That's cool. Right, right.
That's cool to have that relationship with your landlord. So, I, you know, immediately sent back to her. I go, "Well, look, you sent me the letter on the 10th. " So, we're fine till April.
I feel like at this point, he's just burning money by going to the property management company. He should probably just drop them. You know, I've offered that before, too, because anytime there's a repair, he doesn't use their people because they charge him. " I guess he has two or three houses wrapped up to them, and he doesn't have the same relationship.
He's a mogul. Yeah, he doesn't have the same relationship with everybody, you know, with us. He doesn't, oh, I gotcha. Yeah.
That's understandable. Well, you're a likable guy, Mike. Well, he's been to the house, he's visited twice. He's had dinner, we've drank screwball together.
Well, no, but he invited me to go, oh, you come to my house, he lives in California, you come to my house, you come to California, you'll stay at my house, we'll have milk and breakfast, and I'm like, why don't we have milk? I'll have sex with your wife, you can watch in corner. Not that kind of guy. Very nice man.
He owns a refrigeration company in California. Oh, it's just absolutely dominating life. Yeah. Very nice man from Japan.
Oh, I couldn't have guessed because all of your accents are Chinese. I know, it could have been anything I understand, but you know, that's really tough. So, I can understand him when he calls too, which he probably doesn't get with most people. That's nice.
Right, right. Like, he had to repair the air conditioner. We talked about when the air conditioner was broke. When he called the other day, he needed a photo of the air conditioner for his records.
What did he fix? What'd he fix? I go, well, he put a new motor on. You can see the wires.
I'll take a picture. So along with that end exchange, I go, oh, look, the yard. All the grasses come in. Click, click.
Here's a picture of the green grass. Oh, very pretty. Thank you very much. You come to my house.
You come to my house. I bang your wife. I bang your wife. No.
You what? You see when the Jamaican guy comes to do the repairs. Oh, it's a lot of fun then. Because then I do the Jamaican accent.
All right. We need to take a break. We're almost at 28 minutes here. All right.
All right, guys. We'll be right back. Hey, it's Mike too. Want to be part of the show?
com/thecigarhustlerspodcast. We have tiers starting at just $5 a month. For $10 a month, you get a special show swag, and then you're eligible for the weekly secret show. Secret shows cover in-depth cigar reviews, behind-the-scenes information, and sometimes we just talk shit about people.
Choose which tier works best with your budget and become an official show hustler. Thanks for the support. All right, welcome back. This is episode 144 of a Cigar Hustler podcast.
Oh, before we get started with the news, where are we going Wednesday, Michael? What are we doing Wednesday? Oh, it's so much fun. So apparently all you have to do is heckle the heckle and Jekyll show.
Oh, to get on the show? And you're invited on. So we're going to work on our – There's going to be stuff like I'm going to get – Am I on? Am I on?
Am I on? Am I on? Can you see me? Can you see me?
I hope that refocuses. Okay, whew. Am I on? Can you hear me?
Can you hear me? " I'm sorry. I didn't get that. You broke up on me.
Oh, and then when... Okay, if I raise a finger like this, just talk with no sound. No problem. Oh, that's gonna be amazing.
And then... I love going on other people's shows. If I scratch my forehead, we both jump out of the camera. Yeah.
You know, what's also cool about going on other people's show is, especially guys that, you know, like people that we respect that we've had on our show, or people that we know that are just kind of getting into this. Right. It's like, we are the professionals, Mike. Isn't that funny?
Yeah, sure, we'd love to come on. Oh, sure, we'll come on. Yeah, we'll help you. Do you guys have any tips for us?
Oh, I have a list. Yeah. Let's start by deleting your Facebook. Immediately.
Immediately. Am I on? Am I on? Don't take yourself seriously.
Embrace your mistakes. I think that that's really what people don't understand, right? It's just relax. Yeah.
Just kind of be yourself. It's a stupid little show. When you can relax and be yourself and be honest, there's no bullshit, like, you know. I mean, even Cigar Authority, they're a little too stiff.
They try to sometimes cut up. I haven't listened to it in months, but they try to, but it comes off fake. Yeah, just be honest. Yeah.
Just be yourself. You know, that's why we're the number one podcast. The idiot I am on the show, that's the idiot I am every day. Yeah, he's this idiot.
I'm just that idiot. I feel like you're an amplified idiot sometimes on Facebook, though, like, whew, you go deep. It's very entertaining. You have to entertain me, you have to entertain me.
Unless you're attacking me, then I'm like, hey. You have to entertain, you have to entertain the people. The people. I have noticed, you mentioned Tommy Farrell said he was interested in meeting me.
We've had quite the... Now you guys are friends. Now we're friends on Facebook. Quite the person we've changed.
He's a nice guy. Yeah, from what I know of him. I mean, we've obviously never met. Yeah.
No, he's very cool. I'm sure nobody's looking for me. Some of you might have noticed if you're a Patreon of the show and you've placed orders lately with the shop, you get a little something extra. Oh, 'cause somebody's been handling those orders.
Somebody's been handling those orders. Exactly. That's what has changed. Yeah, I wonder, why did I do this before?
And then I was thinking, "Oh, you're right. " You handle that stuff. Oh, that's right. You know, what's kind of crazy too is like, Tommy's like a newer retailer, and I will be the first to explain to somebody, trying to get into the business, that it is more complicated than they probably anticipate, and financially it's going to take a burden on your capital as well as your time, right?
But I still wouldn't fully discourage somebody to do it. You know what I mean? Right. If this is something that they love and they want to do, then, then do it.
But there's definitely a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it, right? So, I don't know. I like Tommy. He's a good guy and I hope to see him succeed.
You know, you said something at the meeting today that I thought was nice, I guess the best way to put it. We were talking about the Friday night things. You wanted to make sure that Chet and I basically weren't getting tired of doing it. That's, that, you know, I could, I could imagine, you know, after six, eight weeks, it'll be, okay, I ain't good, I need a Friday where I'm not entertaining people.
Fatigue. Yeah. Fatigue sets in. Yeah.
You know, I could tell you that I don't post as much on social, like, on social media as much as I used to, as far as- Yeah, I've sort of slacked off a little bit, too. And like, you know, like, I just get bored with it, and, you know, not only that. Yeah, I mean, it's okay, who wouldn't see another picture of me smoking an Espinosa or a Powstanie? And also the political overwhelm that has happened on social media, you know, either you're a Biden supporter or a Trump supporter.
Oh, you have to stay away from that completely. It's just, you know, I don't, or COVID this, like it's all just so fucking draining. Right. That you kind of took the fun out of a lot of social media posts.
So I only, like I try and do stuff now that's a little more fun. I'll still do the occasional cigar post, but like, you know, I did a picture of Baby Terry. That's a nice picture of Baby Teddy and El Chapo, you know, stuff like that. Yeah, it's a nice picture of your wife and Baby Teddy.
Yeah, I saw that. She's much better at it than I am. Oh, yeah. You know, social media.
She's prettier than you are. She is. Both of them. That's why I'm gonna stay the fuck away from my wife.
Alright, I'm with the news. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do, this is it! The sound effects are just so amazing. Top line, top of the line here.
I actually have graphics this week. We're gonna have, whatever we're talking about, there's gonna be a photo. Oh, we're going to use the… We're upscaling. No, I still have not been able to do it yet.
I'm working five days a week here. I mean, it's only so much free time. Oh, well, I'm going to make you do this one. Well, you know, I was going to do it today because I had the extra guy and it wasn't any orders this morning.
Right. So, I got the inventory numbers done. I think there was one order. I did that and I go, okay, I'm going to have a couple hours or I have an hour or something here.
Nope. Doesn't happen. Didn't happen. Well, you showed up early.
Greg showed up early. Everything started shooting. I'm like, oh. Well, I want… We're going to do this one on Premiere.
Do the next one. No. Yeah, do the next one. Give me a week to learn how to do it.
No, because your color fucking, your saturation is driving me nuts on YouTube. Stop being so... You're gonna take the plunge. Don't fucking, don't push it off.
Don't push it off. You gotta face it. Face your fears, Mike. I haven't even opened it up yet.
You said you put it on here. I don't even know where it is. Okay. I mean, I haven't even got to that point yet.
You know what's really amazing? Here's a trick about Macs, about Mac computers. You don't have to know where shit is. All you have to do...
Can I just tell it? All you have to do is do command space, and this little tab pops up in the middle of your computer, and you type whatever the hell you're looking for. I don't even know what it's called, Premiere, Adobe Premiere, Premiere, you can type in Premiere, I bet you it comes up. All right, well, I'll look afterwards.
So, that's why Macs are amazing. Because I have to come in tomorrow morning early to throw the show together, so it gets up. Right, well, you can throw it together, but I'm going to show you how to change the color saturation. Why don't we do it on both?
No. Are you going to be here tomorrow morning at 7? You got that much time on your hands? Are you going to be here tomorrow?
No. I won't be here at 7. You know I won't be here at 7. The show's got to be up.
I'll get phone calls. Yeah. The podcast has to be up. The audio has to be up.
Oh, that's right. Audio's not. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. All right. Drew Estates, Liga Privada, Unico, UF4 returning October 29th. The Liga Privada, Unico, UF4 is back for another limited release.
It's Casa de Monte Cristo, and Countryside Illinois has announced that the 2020 release is set for October 29th. Hmm, so have they done that? I remember them doing it, but I haven't. Since its debut in October of 2010, the cigar has been an annual release from the store coming out just prior to Halloween.
Oh, it has been an annual. It is a 6x52 Toro that uses a Connecticut Habano wrapper, Brazilian binder, and fillers from the Honduras Nicaragua. Drew Estate has privily said that it is based on the original test blend of the Liga Privada T52, though ultimately was not chosen for production. It's also billed as being a stronger than the T-52 blend.
Should we get into the changes to the event that's gonna happen? Yeah, it's okay. It's gonna be pretty much the same. No one's gonna know.
It's fine. We're doing it. We're still doing it. How is the video portion gonna work?
Are we just gonna do our own? I guess, or not. Or not at all. We'll see.
Oh, we still gotta do one. Did you see the Facebook Live from Friday night? We can do it. With poor Keanu out on the street.
Yeah, science man. " Oh, my God. Hold on. That was funny.
Yeah, that was nice. I don't know if I'd do that again, though. I mean... No, we did it once.
I mean... Okay, okay. While the size and blend remain the same as in previous years, the packaging is getting a noticeable update, going to a 10-count soft pack and previously being offered in bundles wrapped in butcher paper. 95.
So it's still going to be in paper. Well, the size of the number being the same as the packaging is getting a noticeable update going to a 10-count soft pack that's previously being wrapped in bundles of butcher paper, so no butcher paper, I guess just bundles, just soft bundles, so they're actually cheap. So instead of paper, they're just going to use paper? No, instead of paper, they're just going to use clear plastic shrink wrap.
Ah, cheaper, it's cheaper. 95, wait, hold on, $199 through a limited amount of packs available pre-order through the store's website currently going. 95. 95.
Yeah. 95. So, but, but wait, there's more! Just 300 bottles have been produced for this year's release.
Casé de Montecrystal will be hosting both an in-event and virtual event for the cigar's release. Well, maybe not the video part, but the former including dinner. Oh, a dinner. Ticket event with a virtual event costing $30, an in-person event priced at $50.
Both tickets include two cigars, which will include the blah blah blah. You know, it sounds like it's a lot of work for not a lot of money. Yes, it does. If it's 10 count packs at $300, I mean, that's an expensive cigar.
$19? Holy shit. 95. 99 or some shit.
99. 95. Right. Damn.
That's a lot of money, $17 a year. But it's still not a lot, you know, like, grand scheme of things. Well, but Michael, here is the cherry on the cake. Tell me.
The virtual event is scheduled to be hosted by Jonathan Drew and Ben Pearson, Drew Estate sales representative in the area. Tickets can be purchased by calling the store. Oh, shit, there was a story on the bottom half of that paper. Too soon.
Oh, man. Got a little excited. My headphones are bothering my ear for some reason. Oh, that's that bug that was in there from last week.
See, it's a completely different show, you take off the headphones. It really is. Oh, it is, isn't it? See?
It's terrible. CRA Freedom Sampler 2020, coming this winter. There'll be a new Cigar Rights of America Freedom Sampler on store shelves before the holiday season. And it will once again feature cigars from 10 of the industry's most recognizable companies, some of which will be new releases.
52 Bellicoso, that we discussed last week. I don't know, this blend using, we already know all that. Are they going to have the Fuente in there? Please don't.
Please don't work. Ahead. Okay. Tell me more about the CRC.
Also coming from the My Father Cigar Factory, it's a new 5x3452 box press Robusto in the My Father La Bajou 1922 line. That's said so nicely. Jenny Garcia told Half Wheel that it features the same blend as the La Bajou 1922 box press Torpedo, which is the only full brand. Arturo Fuente Cigars has two cigars planned for the sampler.
Two. Two. Not one. Though each pack will only contain one of the options.
Those two cigars are Fuente Fuente Opus X Angel's Share, Perfection X, or the Fuente Fuente Opus X 20 Years Believe. There will also be two options coming from Ashton. So here's how they did that last year. As the company will be including either the VSC Torpedo or the San Cristobal Ovation Open.
C. Newman is dipping into the aging room of Tablacaere Fuente Huacia for a selection of aged Diamond Crown Maximus Tour #4. Also joining the sampler will be the Padron Black No. 200.
Ah, that's a good score. A new size that debuted in last year's sampler. Orleva will include a Series V, Melanio Dianda DiDimundabu. Alec Bradley will contribute a Mundial PL 56.
Mundial. Mundial. I like Mundial. Mundial.
Mundial. Hello. From Rocky Patel. No, sorry.
Limited in Rocky Patel. Oh, he's adding an ALR 2nd Edition Toro to the sampler according to Nish Patel. They just did an event over the executive. Did they?
No Rocky, just Nish and the other one. So, are you done with this? The 10th Cigar, still to be announced, but it will be coming from La Flora Dominicana or Postana Cigars. That's not true.
No, not Postana Cigars. Last year, the company contributed its Andalusian Bull. Well, that's why nobody can get any. The CRA Freedom Sampler 2020 is scheduled to begin shipping between the end of November and early December with a total of 6,000 samplers produced.
This year, they will be available exclusively through Holtz Cigar Company. You can only buy them through Holtz? Yes. The CRA samplers?
That's what it says. Interesting. You were saying something? I mean, well...
Yeah, we're making a cigar sampler, all these people are contributing, but you can only get it at one guy. Okay, all right, so... So if I'm a member of the C-R-A... It doesn't really feel like cigar rights, if you ask me.
Yeah, that's what I mean. It actually kind of feels like... A Holtz exclusive. like socialism to some degree.
You know? It seems a little obnoxious. That's kind of fucked up. So last year they did the C-R-A sampler, and one of those, like you got 10.
We got 10. Yes. And of the 10, one of them had the special Fuente. Ah.
" But apparently it doesn't fucking matter because I won't be getting any. You won't be getting any of it. Oh, Trey, we did have him here last year. We did have him here last year.
Robbie went nuts about the... Oh, yeah. He dug through all the sampler packs looking for the one, and I had no idea it was... " We're running, quickly running out of time.
But that's pretty funny that... So we'll make it a longer show. Just live it up. Just live it up.
It's all good, baby. We only have so much time, Michael. Only so much time in the day. I've got orders piling up out there.
There's products that need to be checked in. Cats and dogs living together. Cats and dogs living together. Frogs falling from the sky.
It's the locusts. Nicaragua's Puro Sabor 2021 canceled. The Nicaraguan Cigar Festival will not take place in 2021. Man, they've really had some rough couple of years here with the Puro Sabor.
The Chamber of Tobacco's, a very long word I can't pronounce, has announced it has canceled this Bureau of Sub-Word 2021. Because of coronavirus. Due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. Our priority is the care we want to give to our people and the factories.
Well, that's not true. Well, I mean, they just can't control it. Who would have visited us for the festival, said Claudio something. Sigroy.
Oh, yeah, Sigroy. Yeah. President of the organization. In a press release, the evolution of COVID-19 is still unpredictable.
So we believe we have made the right decision. That's the best decision. This is the second time in three years the event has been canceled. Oh, really?
2019 version was canceled due to social unrest in the country. Oh, yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's what I just said, man. They've really been kind of taking it on the chin.
How do you say his name again? Sigroy? Sigroy said the organization is planning on having virtual factory tours and classes with its members. Oh, are we a member?
Can I take a virtual tour? No. Can you get me a virtual tour? No.
I'll just watch Uncle Skip cook steak again. That was fun. Did you watch that last night? I watched part of it, yeah.
You know, he could do a regular cooking show. He actually did good, except for the occasional swearing they wouldn't let on TV, but other than that. He did go kind of straight gangster on it, though. Like, he was a little more G'd up than normal.
This guy's hanging out with Lightweight Heavy. Oh, you think so? I think he's hanging out with Lightweight Heavy. " Yeah, I noticed his vernacular was a little more streaked.
A little more urban. A little urban, there you go. Nice word for it, urban, yes. And apparently, it's very important you have the right size tongs.
Really? Yes, he had a problem. He only had the big tongs, and he was having problems with the steak. Well, I'm pretty sure my boy Sean was smoking a Powstanie.
" Yeah. And then Chip's, or Chip. Chip. Is that his doppelganger?
That's his doppelganger. Uncle Skip's phone was not charging, so they had to switch to a different phone. You'd think, with all the technology in that house, that he'd have some kind of wireless charger. Air charging or something.
Where it would just constantly regenerate. Right. But the resolution with Lightweight Heavy's phone was better, I feel, than Skip's. Well, you know, it's Sean's next level, and none of that surprises me, you know?
Oh. But, uh, I was very hungry after I watched that. It did, it, it, it, it, yeah, like, there was a whole process. Yeah.
He called, like, his team, like, Munchitos, or something like that, or something. You gotta have your team on point. It was very entertaining. I thought he did quite, he did an excellent job.
Yeah, it was pretty good. Except I can never afford any of the equipment he was cooking on for the other nets, you know? I was laughing the whole time, man. I thought it was awesome.
Puro Sabore, oh, he even said hi to me, but he said it, like, Mickey, Mickey Peepi or something. Oh, oh, he went-- I got a street name all of a sudden. Oh, that's nice, nice. Because I went and looked at the list, like, okay, there's only, like, ten people looking, like, nope, that had to be me.
That had to be me, Mickey Peepi. Mickey Peepi or something. Puro Sabore typically takes place in late January, is followed by the Dominican Republic's Pro Cigar Festival and the Festival de Habano in Cuba. Neither of those events have announced plans to hold or cancel their events.
Yeah, because they probably won't. You know, the funny part is that, like, Puro Sabor, I feel like, was created to kind of compete against the big one in the DR. Can you think of it? Oh, yes.
Nika Puro? No, wait. Hold on. Pro Cigar.
Pro Cigar. Yeah, so that's the bigger one. That's the bigger one in the big white party and everything. Yeah, so.
That's the one Fred Rui goes to every year. Yeah, but, like, that's a big deal. Yeah. And it's, you know, like, top notch, apparently.
I've never been. Yeah, very, very foo-foo. Very, very bougie. Very foo-foo.
I mean, if Fred Rui is going, it is very foo-foo. Yes. Well, he doesn't come down out of the mountains for just anybody. Exactly.
He doesn't come out of the woods. No. He's been in the woods since, like, December. It's safe there.
He put up the other day, he goes, it's been five days, he goes, I should probably take a shower. So, they've always tried to kind of build this, and they were, you know, the last year I went was probably three or four years ago, maybe. And it seemed like they were starting to kind of gain some steam, like, and then you had the political unrest. Right, and the Rebels, and now the COVID.
And now, yeah, so like it's been pretty rough. Going the way of the PCA. I don't think that'll ever be the case because, you know, I think a lot of times the guys, a lot of, you know, listen, the cigar industry is an egotistical business. So, you know, it's always going to be who can throw the bigger tent.
Yeah, Nicaragua or the Dominican Republic. Well, not even that, even on a sub-level of, you know, the manufacturers in Nika, you know, it's like, well, ours will be bigger, and here's what, you know what I mean, like... No, ours will be bigger. Right, like, that definitely plays into that.
So, I can't see it... Well, if I was in the Dominican Republic, I would certainly have it this year. I can't see it going away. Hand out masks that say pro cigars.
I think the DRs, yeah, I don't think that they're gonna stop it. You know what I mean? Well, the one in Cuba won't, I mean... Yeah, they don't give a shit.
They don't care. Fuck it, you know. All right. The Tampa Heritage Festival has been postponed.
Because they care. That was the last big one in Florida. We thought it might happen. It was in December, but no.
The 2020 edition of the Cigar Heritage Festival, an annual event held in Tampa's Ybor City neighborhood, has been postponed until March. Indefinitely. C. Newman, both of which have their own headquarters.
I'm still reading blank. Go ahead. Tampa's Ybor City. C.
Neumann also operates El Relojo, a fully operational cigar factory, R-E-L-O-J, R-E-L-O-J, factory that produces a number of machine-made cigars, as well as the American, a premium cigar line that uses only American-grown tobacco, as well as American-made boxes and bands. The factory, along with its company's offices, have been undergoing an extensive renovation, and a new museum and factory store just recently opened up to the public. The issue came down to permitting. It's always the government, Michael.
It's always the government. It's due to the pandemic. At the end of the day, there's the governors and there's the governors. And unfortunately, we fall on the latter.
It's permitting process, the two-week intervals, but also take into account the city's current infection rate and other factors. Well, it's only going to carry the one and subtract the dead guy. Pie sign. According to a spokesperson for the city of Tampa, since event had not yet been fully permitted, the feasibility of obtaining a permit became increasingly slim, forcing them to change the change in the day.
To March. I'm sure many of our guests are as disappointed as we are, but we had no choice but to move the date, says Nate Morgan of Cigar Air. Move the date. We also felt people might feel more comfortable coming out in the spring once there's a better handle on this virus.
Mmm. If Nate would like to come on the show, we'd be more than happy to speak to you. Come on down, Nate. Come on down.
You're welcome. Apparently you have some free time now until March. Yeah, you got some down time. The event is centered around celebrating Tampa's long history of cigar making, which has earned its nickname of Cigar City.
It features a number of Tampa Bay cigar makers, as well as live music, food trucks, and approximately 150 vendors. There are also a number of events held throughout the weekend at local cigar shops as part of the festivities. The festival is free to the public to attend. You know, the first year, they made you pay.
And now? And then the second year, they made you buy VIP. And now? The festival is free to the public to attend, though there is an option for VIP tickets, which provides access to catered food and drink, as well as a selection of cigars.
It covers a pork sandwich. Well, it's the Fuente. Full pork. You get into the Fuente booth.
Oh. Morgan told Half Wheel that ticket holders can either transfer their tickets to the new event date or request a full refund. He noted that so far, 96% of the ticket holders have opted to keep their tickets for the March event. Morgan added that plans are in the works to get the event back on schedule with the December 2021 festival as well.
Ooh, that means it'll be two of them in 2021. Oh. The event has been operating in its current format since 2015, which it brought back by Cigar City Magazine. You know, it's really kind of funny if you think about it, when we were having conversations about this COVID, you know, March, April-ish, and everything started getting kicked to the end of the year, now we're at the point where it's the end of the year, and shit's getting kicked to next year.
So if things don't get better, they'll just keep kicking it down the road. Yeah, and well, I mean, I don't know if the movie theaters will be able to sustain. They're still open, aren't they? AMC said that they're going bankrupt or something.
Yeah, they are. But, because there's no movies coming out, because they couldn't film the movies either. Yeah, well, they started releasing them on streaming apps. Right, yeah.
Especially Disney. Yeah, well, I'm not paying $30 for fucking Mulan. It's just not happening. See, I have the Disney thing.
Disney Plus. 99 and that's it. Right. I went to watch Mulan and they won another $30.
I'm like, what? You know what? I'll just use my jailed, broken... I mean, no, I won't.
I'll just see it some other way. Yeah, yeah, I'll just watch it on someone else's fire stick. Where somebody's head pops up, or it's in Japanese. That's not gonna happen, because it's not recorded in the movie, dude.
Oh, sorry, they can't record it in the movie, dude. Oh, pirate's off, pirate movie just got an uptick, allegedly, that we don't watch. Yeah, yeah, that doesn't happen. Outstanding citizens.
All right, Illusion, CG for Candela, arrives in the vault. There's a new green Illusion cigar for sale in Idaho. Only Idaho. What a strange place to do a exclusive release.
You are the hoe. We still can't get exclusives, but they are in Idaho. We have exclusives. Candela, formerly called the Illusion Capowitz, Media Candela, 5x5x5x46, Corona Gorda is now for sale at The Vault in Meridian, Idaho, using Nicaraguan Candela wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan filler.
The Vault. This is the third version of the original Corojo wrapper version, but, you know, we can't get it, so we don't care. Foundation. Foundation.
All the reason I picked Foundation Stories. Foundation adding two Perfectos to the Tabernacle line. Oh. Okay, only order one.
See if we get the right one. Next month, Foundation Cigars. Foundation. Is adding two Perfectos to the Tabernacle line.
The line itself, the new Vitolas are biblically themed, David and Goliath. Oh, very nice. David is a 5x54 Perfecto price at $12, where the Goliath is a 5x58 price at $14 per cigar. I would expect that David would be less in price and better in overall taste, and the Goliath would be overpriced and a disappointment.
Well, the cigars are part of the Tabernacle line. You get it? You get what I did there? Yes, I did.
Anyone who has smoked Connecticut cigar brands of old knows the Perfecto is a classic size, says Nicholas Melillo, founder of Foundation. - Foundation! - And a press release. Back in the day, it was the Vitola of choice for connoisseurs.
When it came time to create a line extension to the Tabernacle, the blend in these two sizes could not be ignored, he said. - Cannot be ignored. - The Tabernacle line debuted in 2016, part of the foundation. - Kind of like, foundation!
- Sophomore. - Like a Cigar Houses podcast, can't be ignored. - It uses a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper over Mexican San Andreas blender and fillers from Honduras, Nicaragua. J.
Fernandez, which means - Fernandez! J. later in the year. That's awesome.
Well, like I said, when we deal with Alfredo, who's our sales rep? We have a 50/50 chance of getting that sort of thing. Well, if we want the Davids, order the Goliath. So then we get the Davids.
Order Goliath. Arturo Fuente. Here come my Davids. We're expanding on the story last week about Fuente and Padrón collaborating.
We have more information. Team up. This just in! A terrible team-up.
Arturo Fuente Padrón, two of the cigar industry's biggest names, will be making cigars honor the men who built their respective companies, Carlos Fuente Sr. and Jose Orlando Padrón. The project has been in the works for many years following the passing of Carlos Fuente Sr. and Jose Padrón.
The two sons have been friends for many years, not only through their businesses, but through the work for Cigar Rights of America, which only deals with what? Holtz. Holtz, Cigar Shop. Which is available at Holtz.
I'm really surprised we haven't received some kind of cease and desist at this point. You know what I mean? It's just like, fucking holy shit. Serve as the foundation for this project.
Not the same foundation. It's a totally different foundation. It's no reggae foundation. A cigar for the other patriarch, meaning Carlos Fuente Jr.
made a cigar to honor Jose Padron, and Jose Padron's son made a cigar to honor Carlos Fuente Sr. That's pretty cool. That is kind of cool. That is pretty cool.
Like, I'm really sitting around going, you know what, my dad dead, your dad's dead, let's make a cigar. I bet you they're fucking two stellar cigars. It was a project that evolved out of a number of discussions since their father's passing, but the plan was always-- Hanging out drinking. Let's just do this.
--for one company's greatest cigar to honor the other. That's pretty cool. The plan is for the two cigars, which will both measure 7x50, but they have to be both the same size. Right.
To sell together sometime next year, we'll put it in a two-pack. Smart. Though Padrón told Half Wheel, this is all from our friends at Half Wheel, That a number of the details about the release are still being worked out. Of course.
Well, the question is, who's going to sell it? Holtz! I see what you did there. Thank you.
For now, his mission is creating a cigar worthy of honoring the Fuente name. If you have the Mount Rushmore of cigars, Scarlett Fuente Sr. is on it, said Jorge Padron. I think that's a fair statement.
Comparing the task to preparing to play basketball against Michael Jordan, who evidently makes the best tequila in the world now. He does. It stemmed from a series of ongoing conversations, told Halfway, what better way to celebrate their lives by honoring them with cigars? Ones that show the trust and respect we have for each other, he added.
He added that losing their fathers, both titans of the cigar industry, created further bonding of them over the years as they acknowledged missing two men who were also influential in their lives. Yeah, because there were two parents that actually, like, gave a shit about their kids and their future. I mean, they put in the fucking work. You can't argue that.
The commonalities in how the two men built their businesses, the adversities they faced, and most importantly, the lessons they instilled in their children. It is a friendship and bond that goes so deep, Padrón hesitated to use the word "competitors" to describe the two companies, even though their cigars still sit alongside each other, many of the humanors in the world, and the two companies are often mentioned together when it comes to talking about the top cigar companies in the world, instead he prefers to simply acknowledge that they are both incredible businesses operating within the same industry. I feel like, you know, especially when you're at that level, it's not like it really isn't a competitive feel. You know what I mean?
Like they're people that have been through it for a long period of time together, right? I just want to know who's going to sell it. I just want to know if Padron's going to sell it or Fuente's going to sell it. Like how is that going to play out?
Let's move along with the story here and see what happens, Michael. Okay. What do you say? I have more information.
Ooh, do tell. Okay. They're unveiling the cigar at the 2021 Premium Cigar Association Convention trade show in July. Which may or may not happen, but as of right now, it's still on.
, told Half Wheel late Thursday, if they were still here, I think that both of them would be smiling, seeing this project come together. Smiling. This project is very rewarding for me to do and to show what the industry is all about. The camera's gonna go off in 10 seconds.
I also mentioned that some proceeds for sale will be donated to charity. We'll have to re-reset, re-reset. We're gonna take a break real quick, we'll be right back. Boom!
Well, I hope we have- I gotta like- Hey, it's Mike Toon with my Cigar Hustlers Podcast, looking for high quality swag from the show? com backslash the Cigar Hustler Podcast. We have everything from t-shirts and hats to phone cases and beach styles. com backslash the Cigar Hustlers Podcast.
Get your show swag and become a true hustler. All right, we're back again. This is episode 144, the number one cigar show on Podbeat. Oh, and it's running late.
It's a Pedro special. That does not write a book. Does not write a book. No book needed.
We were talking about the collaboration between Fuente and Padrón when we left. Let's finish off the story. Let's see. Fuente Jr.
also mentioned that some proceeds of the sale will be donated to charity. Haltz. Padrón is scheduled to be a guest on Meet the Professor, a show co-hosted by Carla Fuentes Jr. this past, this Sunday?
Must be this Sunday because this past Sunday they had my friend Abe on. Honest Abe. Honest Abe. Your best in the business.
Best in the business. Makes the best business. Best in the business. And that's all I got.
That's all you have. Who's your listener of the week? It was our friend John Yoguerle. Oh, I just wanted to bring that up.
Or Mark Gordon for bringing me a keyline bank. Oh, double. Or, that's it. Any show updates?
No, no new countries. We seem to have topped out in the country's selection. So, I mean, you know, we have 95% of the entire world now. Well, you are aggressively pursuing people in various countries.
Well, I feel the areas now that are still open is very little communication ability. And you know I have a set of drums at home that I, every day for the small African nations and I'm getting no answers. No response. And I tick every once in a while up in the air to those people and you know, I've thrown a couple of bottles in the water with notes in them at the beach to get to the Malaysian nations at those little islands or there's hundreds of islands over there with no listeners.
I thought we got Malaysia. Well, there's other islands. More than one? More than one, there's a lot of them there.
Oh, I saw a good movie over the weekend. Yeah, what'd you say? Savages. It's an older movie.
I've seen it before, but I re-watched it. Yeah? Is that the weed one? Yes!
I've seen that. It is. It's a pretty good movie. I thought it was terrible.
Oh, I liked it. I didn't like how the end was kind of weird, but I had forgotten they did that. Well, they do the whole movie, you know, as it starts, the girl's telling the story. She says, "I may or may not be alive at the end.
" Right. Okay. So they get the end. They all three die.
The three main characters die. Right. " And then they rewind everything back to a point where nobody's been shot yet. And then the three of them went to a happy letter after, and they moved to somewhere, that's why I was in Malaysia, and they moved to some little island, and I don't know.
And then life is good. But I like that one actor that was in it from Friday Night Lights. Oh, okay. I don't know his name.
Me neither. But he was in Friday Night Lights. Well, what do we got on the Patreon today? We are doing the new Vega cigar.
The Vega Fina? The Vega Fina from Europe. Oh, a review on that. It was the, uh, got a 90 on some European scale, and it was the number one cigar in Germany or Spain.
Number one? Number one. So they decided... Why are we selling this in America?
Merck. This is what I was told from the Reptas interview the other day. What a country. What a country.
Do you see the voter lines? We got early voters going on? I saw Mr. Terrence Riley was out, Mr.
Terrence Riley, my friend, he was out voting in the dark this morning. And he said total chaos, the lines are forever. Total chaos, yes. I wonder if there's more than one line.
You know what? Screwed up. You gotta get a line to check in. We, every once in a while at the house, get somebody else's mail.
I assume it's someone who either lived in the house before us or something. I got their voter ballot. Oh. I mean, I could easily rip it open and boop, boop.
So did you send it in? No, I tore it up. It's the right thing to do. Send it in.
I tore it up and threw it away. Send it in. I couldn't even pronounce the name on it. So you can show documentation that it's corrupt.
Probably not. I can't even say it funny. Corrupt. You know what?
I also got the neighbors in my mailbox too. Oh, vote for him too. I just opened the mail, well, I got his wife's ballot in my mailbox, because we share the same poll, there's two things there. Every two houses, there's one poll.
So it's flawed, is what you're saying. Yes. I mean, if that happened to me, I got two people's ballots. If you multiply that by number of people in the world.
21 gigawatts? Exactly. 21 gigawatts. It's very bright with all these lights in here.
I love these lights. It's amazing. We shoot the second to last episode of the movie tonight. Oh, very nice.
Yes. The end of the movie that's available on Facebook? Available on pay-per-view? Pay-per-view, yeah.
You can go on Facebook and go to the Cigar Hustler page and hit post. You can watch all seven. Tonight we shoot episode eight. Oh.
And then next week, the final episode is next week when we unveil the killers. Oh. Next week. Killers unveiled.
Next week. I'm going to talk about a couple of things on the Patreon as well with some situations with DBPR and stuff. What's DDPR? That's the Department of Business, which should be interesting, and yeah, it's kind of crazy, it's kind of crazy what's going on around these parts as of late.
You want to update anybody what's going on around here? Or is that not something we're talking about? No, not yet. Until we have everything solidified, we're still working on that.
The patio is moving forward. I grilled the contractor quite extensively on Friday night. Bootsy. Bootsy.
I call him Bootsy. Bootsy. We're closer. Because he wears shorts and boots.
Except on Friday nights, he wears flip-flops. And shorts. And shorts. Terrible tan lines.
Terrible tan lines. From the mid-calf down. Hmm. Yeah, she kept saying how long ago.
Too long. Well, this has happened. No, it doesn't. Just do it.
It'll be this. Nope. It's only taken a year to get it done. You know what, it's a deck, I could build it tomorrow, Steve.
Alright. We don't have the papers. We don't need no papers! Well, we gotta do something else, 'cause we're gonna come back for five minutes after the last break.
Well, hey, it's a little five minute clip. A little extra added footage, a little bonus video. Bonus. Bonus.
Let's do a contest! Why? I don't know. Go ahead.
Nah, we're gonna do a contest. Alright, this has been an episode. I'll do the contest. No, I can't.
It's out there now. I'm very busy writing my book on how to do a successful podcast. By the number one show on Pod B, Mr. Garofalo.
Man, you're just saying. Oh, man. Just saying. No wonder why that guy won't look at me at the PCA.
Until he sees me and slaps me. We need shirts on the back to say the number one cigar podcast to wear to the thing. Number one. What thing?
There's no thing. The things are over. All things canceled. There's no things anywhere.
I forgot. Yeah, let's not make the shirts. Oh, we need-- Let's try and survive these times. I need a vinyl that says number one show.
Number one show. I could do that. So when I'm doing Jack the Heckle Show, it'll be right there. Perfect.
I'm going to talk about my new-- I'd like to plug my new book I'm writing, How to Do a Successful Podcast. Okay, you're being a dead host. By the number one show on Podbean. All right.
Because it was so funny. It was funny. You'd think he would have checked to see if he was the number one show before he decided to-- I'm sure he did. Looked in the wrong place.
All right, guys. This has been episode 144. I am your producer, Mike Too, and this is Michael. It's my world!
Step on Kevich. It is. Getting shots in the pee-pee next week. All right, bye.
A Cigar Hustlers podcast, its owners and its sponsors take no responsibility for the opinions or statements made by the talk show host We invite you to write the show's host, Mike Szczepankiewicz, with any feedback or suggestions that you have for their shows. These broadcasts are presented and made public as entertainment in the hope that they will be entertaining to the audience. This has been a Cigar Hustlers Podcast. A Mike and Mike production.
m. for all new episodes. Hi, I'm doing, I'm Husto-E-Raw. Yeah, we just don't have to do a single, uh, single podcast ever again.
Perfect. I'm good, Mike and Mike. How are you guys doing? The Hojo Deeb.
Hojo! It's the Hojo! He didn't even let him fuck it up all the way. I could get past Hojo!
I don't even have to try it. He's not even going to try it. We're going to cover a lot of ground here, Mike. All right.
Try to keep up. That's a sign of a good podcast. You'd be like four cigars when I walked in a door. All right, end this.
Show Notes
Lots of industry news this week! Events canceled....cigars coming out...and Mikey may not be allowed back to Universal!!