145 Speak Your Truth

Episode Summary

Episode 145 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast is a departure from the usual review-and-news format. Host Mike Szczepankiewicz uses the full episode to "speak his truth" about a decade of experiences as a small Central Florida retailer competing against a much larger regional chain, and about the industry pile-on directed at RoMa Craft's Skip Martin after a political disagreement went public. Mike is careful to credit the good work Jeff Borysiewicz of Corona Cigars has done for the industry while laying out his own account of what he sees as anti-competitive behavior toward smaller shops.

The story runs chronologically: an early Drew Estate holiday event where Mike says he was told he'd be trespassed if he returned; a massive in-store Jonathan Drew event that he believes cost him access to Drew Estate allocations like the original Herrera Estelí; the loss of his Arturo Fuente OpusX account; and a multi-year back-and-forth with Steve Saka of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust, who told him at an IPCPR show "I'll sell to anybody," then called a week later to cancel the order over Central Florida exclusivity. Mike explains that these experiences are exactly why he created his own brand, Powstanie — he wanted a cigar nobody could take away from him.

Guest Matul Shah calls in to tell his own story. Shah owns Mom Cigars in Scarsdale and Dad Cigar Warehouse in Nanuet, New York, and the Fable Cigars brand (made at the Nica Sueño factory that also produces RoMa Craft and Powstanie). He describes waking up to dozens of missed calls after his Fourth Prime triangle logo was publicly compared on Facebook to an FBI pedophile symbol — despite the two having never met. Shah took the high road, contacted his attorney, and the post came down, but he says the whispers continued. He and Mike also discuss reps who reportedly refuse to visit certain competing shops.

The show closes with a plea to stop picking sides over politics in the cigar business, a lighter news segment covering Jake Wyatt's Lithium, Sinistro's Habano Viaje Maduro at Omerta Cigar Co., new Stinky Ashtray colors, HVC's 2020 Black Friday Corona Gorda, and two new sizes of Southern Draw Jacob's Ladder Brimstone, plus a congratulations to co-host Palmer's wife for passing her principal certification exam.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Why This Episode Is Different
   Mike explains he needs to get a decade of frustration off his chest after Skip Martin's integrity was publicly attacked over a political disagreement.
2. 02
   The Drew Estate Holiday Event and the Trespass Warning
   Mike recounts attending a Corona Cigars Drew Estate event around 2010 and later being told by his rep he'd be trespassed if he showed up again.
3. 03
   The Jonathan Drew In-Store Event and Losing Allocation
   His biggest-ever event with Jonathan Drew was followed by a sudden inability to get Herrera Estelí and other Drew Estate product.
4. 04
   Why Powstanie Was Created
   After losing access to brands he'd built, Mike went to Nicaragua with Skip Martin to make a cigar nobody could take away from him.
5. 05
   The Steve Saka Story
   Saka's 'I'll sell to anybody' line at IPCPR, the cancelled order a week later over Central Florida exclusivity, and the awkward reconciliations that followed.
6. 06
   The OpusX Account and Moving Goalposts
   Mike describes losing his Arturo Fuente OpusX allocation over sales thresholds he believes are applied unevenly.
7. 07
   Guest Call-In: Matul Shah of Fable Cigars
   The Fourth Prime triangle logo controversy, the public accusation, the lawyer's call, and why he never changed the logo.
8. 08
   Cigar News Roundup
   Jake Wyatt's Lithium, Sinistro Habano Viaje Maduro at Omerta, new Stinky Ashtray colors, HVC Black Friday 2020, and Southern Draw Jacob's Ladder Brimstone additions.

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

Hey, welcome to episode 145 of the Cigar Hustle Podcast. This week, it's a little different show. We're talking about some serious topics. There's some things going on in the cigar industry that we all love, and Mikey needed to get some stuff off his chest, so sit back and relax and enjoy the show.

And pay attention to the disclaimer at the end, please, whoever's listening. Thank you. Bye. Hey, welcome to episode 145, as I die, of a Cigar Hustler podcast.

So, breathe, Mike. Breathe. Well, that was probably my breathe, then smoke. This is still the number one cigar show, at least today.

Today, yeah, at least today. On Podbean. So, we're just jumping right into this, huh? But yeah, we're going to get right into some stuff here.

Okay, everybody knows there's been some stuff. There's been a little bit of turmoil going on with a really close personal friend of mine, somebody who I consider family. Oh, that's my friend, too. And, you know, he's your uncle.

My uncle. said one one said skip martin and um you know his integrity was attacked and you know i've seen some vicious memes and i've seen a lot of things going on out there and you know these are terrible and i gotta be honest i don't know how this podcast is gonna go i don't i can tell you that when i this when when this whole thing kind of dropped with uh jeff borchewitz of corona scars you know i've been in my head all week uh just thinking things over and like i could i could see myself You know, I'm not really, I'm not really, I'm not ready to hold hands. I mean, there's a lot of stuff, you know, I don't know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, and you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, I kind of like half wittedly put some notes together and I'm going to do my best to really kind of portray all that. And I know I can count on you to kind of help me carry things along here.

I'm going to need your strength as well. Should we hold hands? I'm not really, I'm not ready to hold hands, I mean, you know, I mean, to be totally honest, like, I'm just a, I'm a ball of, like, emotions, you know what I mean, like, I'm upset, I'm angry, you know, but I'm gonna do my best to kind of table all that stuff and really kind of paint a picture for, you know, what I've experienced over the past 10 years as a retailer from Jeff and kind of give you the opportunity to really make a decision as what you think is... All of you he's heard.

Yeah, you the listeners. Right. 21 gigawatts of ya. Well, before.

Yeah, well, yeah, before this one. To kind of get you, you know, like give you the ability to kind of make your own opinion on things and see, you know, is one person really in it for the greater good of the cigar industry, Or are they really more concerned about their own self-interest? Right? Yes, exactly.

Very well said, Michael. So, I mean, I'm going to have to go, we're going to have to go way back. We're going to have to start. In the way back machine.

Like nine years ago, ten years ago. Put the noise in from. Wayne's World thing. Why not?

Yeah, exactly. Why not like some DeLorean, you know, 88 miles an hour type stuff. Oh, you want a video? I'm really good at inserting green screen things to go the wrong direction.

You can go the wrong direction. You can put our heads on a dock. Oh, that should have been the boat. It's never too late.

It's never too late. My staff's very busy the rest of the week. I only have them for a brief time on Monday mornings. So, I have some notes just so if I, you know, if I go off course just in case.

You shall note. Notes. Yeah. Let me start by saying flat out that I do applaud all the good things that Jeff has done for the cigar industry.

I mean, he has been an avid fighter on many, many fronts for the cigar industry. But again, I kind of backpedal with that statement as well because, you know, the fact of the matter is, is he, you know, is it really done for the greater good of the cigar industry? Is it kind of done solely for his personal interest, right? Now, back in the day, we were a big Drew Estates store, right?

Yeah, every one time. We, there was this group on Facebook, it still exists, it just isn't what it is. I mean, the interwebs always kind of evolve throughout time. And 10 years ago, there was this thing called Katz.

It was really brand new. Storm was one of the first guys on there. Vaughn from Deadwood Tobacco. Storm from Cigars for Warriors.

Storm Bowen, right. This was before Cigars for Warriors was even a thing. Oh, really? Oh, wow.

That is way back. There was a really good guy. His name was Ben Edmondson. He died a few years ago.

Man, I miss that guy. He was just like a, you know, that's the really sad thing about this industry is, you know, So you kind of see people go, and he was next level, he was one of those guys that, you know, he was one of the good ones. So, Katz really kind of brought a lot of people together, you know, the Crab Trees, I learned who they were from, I believe Katz, John Crabtree and Tammy, you know, love them to pieces, they're, you know, they're really close to my heart. Yeah, very nice people.

And one day they had, you know, they were coming up here, Corona does this thing called the Drew Estate, like kind of a Christmas event. Right, yeah. Yeah, they still do that every year. Yeah.

At all their locations. Yeah. And I think that they start at Lake Mary, right? Yeah, and they work their way back there.

So one day, John and Tammy came up on a Thursday, or whatever day it was, maybe Wednesday. I honestly don't remember. And we hung out at my shop, and things went really well, obviously. You know, just got shot the shit, smoked some cigars.

Back then, you know, I wasn't as super busy as I am now, right? Right. So you had time to kill. A little calmer back then.

Yeah, you get to hang out with people and we were talking about the Drew Estate event over at Corona the next night and you know, I said, oh, I'll go out there and I'll hang out with you guys, you know, it'll be cool. We want more night together and just, you know, kind of bullshit and whatever the case may be. Meet some other people that were coming and stuff like that. I had no children.

I have tons of free time. Yeah, I had no children. Life was good, right? Life's better now.

So I went up there, right? Very dry mouth, very emotional. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I went up there.

No cigar hustler gear, you know, like I'm not that guy, you know what I mean? I'm never gonna fuck in. We don't wear our tags or whatever we call it. When you go to another shop, it's just disrespectful, you know what I mean?

Like, and I'm not that guy. I never have been, I never would be. Whatever it would be, if I walked into a store with my shirt, for whatever reason, if it was a Cigar Hustle shirt that I was wearing, the first thing I'd do is I'd apologize, hey man, I'm really sorry, you know, I didn't, this is what the shirt I was wearing today, whatever the case may be. Right, yeah, like I'm not, you know, I don't know what people are thinking when they do that, like I'm going to take some business or whatever the case may be, or maybe not, man, they're just ignorant to it.

Right. So I went up there and it was, I was in my standard black hooded sweatshirt, right, and Jeff was up. These are standard clothes from the photos I've seen back then, the black hoodie. Yeah, and what's cool about Facebook is it actually has a date so it can tell you when this went down.

So I went there, hung out, Jeff was there, and he didn't say anything to me, I didn't say anything to him, but unbeknownst to me, he was apparently really pissed off that I was there. Oh, so he knew who you were. Yeah. Somebody had to have pointed you out, I'm guessing.

Yeah, I mean, he walked past me a few times, you know. But it didn't say anything to me. I, you know, it wasn't like I was, you know, I don't know. I don't know what the hell.

I don't know why he wouldn't say hi. Right. Right. But he didn't.

And neither did I. But whatever. It was a cool night. We hung out.

I was there for a couple hours, whatever, you know, and then went home. Right. So Saturday, I get a call from my friend, Jason Louie. He was the Drew Estate rep back in the day.

fucking the guy was the one of the best very nice man still my friend to this day yeah he's in my fantasy football league i mean like we still bullshit you know right um and i think that he didn't get a fair shake that's a whole nother story in this industry so he gives me a call and he's like hey man i i'm gonna ash on the floor it's really the ashtray is really far away today i'm gonna be relighting the shit out of this thing because i know i'm gonna be talking a lot Right, anyway, please proceed, didn't mean to interrupt. Please proceed. Please proceed, it's only a one hour show. That's okay, there's nothing wrong with a little break in the monotony of this whole thing, so.

" Because again, you know, the Drew State Christmas party. The next night, right, the progressive thing. " Right. I was like, "Why?

" I'm like, "I'm going to be trespassed? " I'm like, "Okay. " That's okay. Whatever.

So did you go? No, I didn't plan on going. Right. I know you hadn't, but at that point, well, let's go see what happens.

Well, you know, I'm not the same person that I am today as I was back then. Oh, gotcha. You know what I mean? You were calmer back then?

No, I think that, if anything, I was probably easily intimidated. Oh, okay. The industry was still kind of new to me. Right.

I was doing a great job. I was successful in building brands in the store and online. You know, we were making a big splash without question. Well, obviously.

Obviously. Enough to piss off somebody. Enough to piss off Jeff, apparently. Right.

Yeah. I mean, you know, it's funny because there have been plenty of times where I have had smaller conversations with other people or conversations, but never to this level and never have I mentioned the guy, you know, like flat out. No, no, actually, you know, I was a little surprised when you just said his name. But yeah, at this point, I don't care.

Don't care. It's important to kind of speak your truth and really kind of get it out there and let everybody else kind of make their own decisions. I mean, you can tell me to go fuck myself, it's fine. You know, it is what it is.

But, you know, I think that at the end of the day, that's kind of how we got here is that, you know, we let the big guy in the room. Enough people bit their tongue. Right, kind of step on you. Right.

And now here we are dealing with this huge issue. Right. That, you know, hasn't really been resolved. So, that's what I'm saying, you know, like a lot of people kind of chop at the leaves of the situation, but we're gonna pull the root out of this motherfucker.

Oh, here we go. We're going in. So, that was my first kind of interaction with Jeff, right? It's like, okay, so I'm not...

But still, you never actually spoke to him. No. Right. No.

Did you pee on the floor or something at the first night? I didn't pee on the floor. I don't even think I used the bathroom. I know I bought some cigars.

Right. I know that I carry FSG, because I try and support everybody, I try and do the right thing all the time, but sometimes, man, you guys make it fucking hard, I can tell you that much. Now, I had become kind of acquaintances with Jonathan Drew, right? And I say acquaintances because I feel like, you know, John has this great ability to really kind of grab you and make you feel like you're with him.

Right, yeah, I've heard that about him from other people. You know, and it's really kind of captivating him and like the guy is just a powerful guy, right? Like he's just, you just feel like, you know. Very charismatic.

Yeah, absolutely. Hold the crowd well. Yeah, and he has that ability, right? Right.

" Because I always wanted John to do an event here. Well, back then, I mean, he's, you know, Elvis Presley. Right. So, and still to this day, some people, you know.

Consider him Elvis. Right. Only he's alive. Elvis of the cigar industry.

Only he's alive and he's a little bit healthier than Elvis. Right. Okay. " What night?

When are you coming? " I go, "I don't fucking care, man. " So this is the next following year? I mean, this is not, chronologically speaking, this is not like the next day.

Yeah, I'm trying my best to stay in chronological order, but it's not-- Well, I'm just giving them the idea that this, you know, because it was, you know, one night, You went, next night you got trespassed if you show up. It wasn't like I went home. You didn't get the call the next day. Yeah, yeah.

Right, right, okay. Perspective, just trying to give the audience some perspective. So, you know, I mean, I didn't think anything more of it. I'm like, okay, well, Jeff's obviously angry or whatever.

He's angry, I just won't go there. Right, yeah, okay, I'll just stay the fuck. Three stores I can never go to. Right, I'll just stay away.

Right. Why cause trouble? Yeah, you know, I don't want to fuck with this guy. You know what I mean?

Right. Like, who the hell am I? I'm just like this little guy. I'm a small retailer.

He's got a small retailer in Deltona, he's got all these stores through Orlando. Right, big and successful. " Right, whatever you want. And we had already done a great job as far as social media and really kind of learning that whole thing That was a thing when it was really new.

Right. It was probably one of the reasons he wanted to do the event here. Yeah, I mean, we were having huge success with his product and, I mean, a lot of people's product, but, you know, mainly Drew Estate's product. Right.

Right. And, you know, I hung out with him down in South Florida, met him at Kiki Burge's place, you know, rest in peace, Kiki Burge, another great guy that's dead. Kiki. You know.

So, we go to do this event and we fucking kill it, man. It was, to this day, within 10 years of being in this industry, it was still the biggest event I have ever done. Right, yeah. I've heard stories from more than just you and Greg.

Yeah, I mean, the guy just kind of posted up, John just posted behind the counter, you know, there's always the line, it's really kind of funny, really kind of remarkable, because he'll sit there and bullshit with you for like 20-30 minutes and people will wait in one line just to talk to him, but like, he'll remember, which is really kind of crazy. I've heard that about him, right. So, you know, he'll have that conversation, and then he'll say, "Oh, yeah," like he'll remember if he talked with you before, if he had contact with you on Facebook. How'd your dog turn out?

Is your dog okay? I mean, just absolutely insane, you know, very powerful, very captivating, right? Event goes fucking great, right? Jeff catches wind of it, right?

Cool, I'm sure. So, and I'm pretty sure that, you know, I can't, I'm not 100% on this, but I'm pretty sure that Fabian took the fucking hit on this, Which is really kind of fucked up. So, John finds out, so John doesn't realize how close we are, and now we're two counties apart as far as Lake Mary, Corona, which is the furthest location of Corona Cigars. Right, furthest east.

He's in Seminole County, and I'm in Volusia. Right. So, it's a solid 10 miles, maybe more. Yeah, at least.

Something like that. You gotta cross a bridge, there's a water barrier. Yeah, right. You have to speak to Hank when you get off the exit.

I mean, there's a whole process. Hank. Yeah. So...

Border Guard. Border Guard. So yeah, so you know, so John says, hey, you know, am I really, were we, you know, I guess he reaches out to the people and said, was, you know, Fabian said, were we really close to Corona when we just did this event? And Fabian's like, well, yeah, I mean...

Well, yeah, there's no way Jonathan knows logistically where he is. Right, well, maybe, I don't know, because... I mean, he knows he's in Deltona, but... Because John has always told me to go east as far as business.

Try, as far as being a retailer, he knows for me to, But he would always try and push me to stay away from Jeff. Well, I'm sure. Go east. Go to Daytona.

You're going to go east, right? I'm like, yeah, because I originally wanted to make more than one of these things. Right? Oh, yeah, no, no, there'd be no reason to go the other direction.

Right. So, I don't know, I mean, he had to know somewhat that, you know, he was going to piss off Jeff. He might not have understood how close you are to the Lake Mary location. Right.

So, Herrera Esteli is about to drop, like the original, and it's a dope cigar. I got to try one, you know, I remember meeting John at his office and trying the Feral Pig when it just had FFP, it was a test blend, it was fucking amazing, you know, like that type of shit, it was really cool shit. Herrera Esteli is about to drop, and I'm supposed to get it, and then all of a sudden I don't get it. And I'm like, "What the fuck?

" Like, I'm not selling Liga Privada. Anybody can sell Liga Privada, especially back then. Right. Super easy to sell, without question.

I'm selling fucking Undercrowns. A ton of Undercrowns. Like, I would say more than our favorite retailer, your best retailer, Abe, at the time. Oh!

And that guy is a fucking monster. He's the best. He is the best. Did a big video today.

Did he? You're just swooning over him, man. He's very nice. He really is.

He's very approachable, he's very nice. I always try to give that guy credit. He's the opposite of what we're talking about. In our experiences, yeah, he really is.

Like, when I have ever had an issue, and I had to run something across Abe, Abe instantly picks up the phone and calls me. You know, out of the fucking blue. I mean, that just recently happened. Right.

So, all of a sudden, I'm having an issue getting ahold of the product, and I can't figure out what the fuck's going on, the rest of these, pfff, off the top, but when it goes, you can't really get them. I can't get access to a lot, like everything that I could have access to before is all of a sudden limited. I'm like, what the fuck is going on? Right.

, was very upset about the whole fucking debauchery in the event. Right. And now—go ahead. I was going to say allegedly.

I mean, there's no actual proof. That's what people told me. He's big on saying, you know, well, there's no proof. Well, but see, the problem with what he does and what he did with the whole Skip Martin thing is, like, he takes half-truths, right?

Like, he takes a snippet of an email. That's what I'm saying. I'm not saying what you, by any means, what you said did not happen. Right.

I fully believe what you said happened. Right. I'm just saying what's, you know. Yeah, and that's true.

That's 100% true. I can't, I can't back, I can't back this 100%, right? I can't, I can only tell you exactly what, what has happened to me and, over the course of 10 years, but I'm going to help paint a further picture for you. Don't worry, I'm moving forward.

No, no. So, uh, you know, I'm like, fuck, man. Like, I'm fucking, I'm heartbroken at this point. Like I'm affected, emotionally affected by this.

The fact that I fucking worked my ass off for a few years here, built up this brand, built this brand huge in the store and online and I'm killing it. And then like the spigots kind of turned off. It's like, eh, fuck this guy. I'm like, holy shit.

And this is the problem that a lot of people have when it comes to right wing versus left wing views, right? When you get to an extremity of it's no longer capitalism, it's fucking taking advantage, it's nepotism, and you're stepping on the neck of smaller retailers in your competition because you don't want to see them succeed, it's kind of atrocious, right? So, anyways, moving on. The whole Drew Estate thing really kind of upset me.

It took a while to figure out what the fuck was going on. Along the way, I met Romacraft, I met Skip, I met Mike. Like, you know, and I'd said, you know, I started building their brand in the store, and it started doing really, really well. Right.

And I approached Skip at the time, and Skip's factory wasn't at capacity, right? 2 million. 2 million. Right.

Everybody knows the number. So, you know, everybody does know the number. 2 million cigars. That's it.

That's it. So, you know, I said, hey, so I went down to Nicaragua, and I said, hey, man, I really want to make a cigar. And he's like, sure, no problem. " I made a Habano cigar originally, it was fucking terrible.

And they have great tobacco at the factory. - Right. - It just tasted like Habano. It was Habano wrapper, Habano bind.

Like, I didn't know what the fuck it was doing. " - Right. " - Like this, no, this is a little rough, right? So then I kept refining it, and by the end of the day, I had the Postana cigar.

I had the Habano. No, Mike. Esteban, no. Esteban, no, Mike.

No, that's very stupid. No bueno. No bueno. El estupido.

So, you know, I went down there with the intention of creating something that Jeff couldn't touch. That's why Postana was built. I wanted a cigar because I have already had that experience that, hey, you know. Right.

Somebody took something away that you had no control over. Right. When somebody has that kind of power, it's so easy for them to just rip it right out from you, out from under you no matter how much respect you have now you know i'm gonna i'm gonna continue to say that there's been other incidences as well that's why i'm gonna help paint this full picture right and you let me know when we got to take a break i will because i know we're getting close 22 so jew estate's complete fucking mess i have my own cigar right and i'm fucking happy like i don't even want to sell it i'm not even trying to sell it to anybody right like i wanted something There's nothing in my store that other people couldn't tell me to go fuck myself and hurt me, right? My brother makes the broadleaf, I make the Habano, you know, we do a whole sampler thing, the Habano wins, but not by much.

Broadleaf, you know, like everybody kind of knows that story, right? Right, right. " We carry the cigar, we give it to them, and then we kind of built from there, which, you know, wasn't really what I envisioned, but, hey, I'll fucking take it, man. I'm totally grateful for the opportunity that retailers have provided me in carrying our product.

Right. Now, you fast forward a couple years and there's this guy by the name of Steve Saka. You know who Steve Saka is? He invented cigars, I hear.

I heard, yeah, he did, he did. Him and then Al Gore also created the internet. Right, together. Right.

So, I go to, I'm not wholesaling products, so I'm still a retailer. It was a little retail. I go to the IPCPR at the time, and I go and see Steve Sako, right? And, you know, I'm excited to see that- He's Dunbarton at this time.

Yeah, he's Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust. This is his first IPCPR show representing- Himself. Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust. Gotcha.

He's got the little leather couch, like the little, what is it, the casting couch? So is this what, '14, 2014? I don't know, yeah, probably something like that. Yeah.

So- So, I go to see Steve Saka, and this should be interesting, I'll let you know if our account's closed with him after this whole fuckin' thing. Just so you know, he's backed the other side. I know he has. I know he has.

So... Is this a long story? Should we break here, or break here a couple minutes early? We'll get going, and then we'll break.

I didn't want you to lose your train of thought. That's okay. So, I mean, it's really not that hard for me to continue with the story, because I've fuckin' lived it. Right.

" I'm like, you know, cigar hustler and blah, blah, blah. " Because, you know, if you're a fucking experienced weasel at the IBZBR, you want to smoke the cigars. Oh, yeah. Cigar bank.

Right. Now, Steve didn't have shit. Oh. I could tell you that he had AWS, he had Liga Privadas in his little bin, like some, the L-40s and he had the BA AWSs in there.

I think he maybe in the ECs. And his little... Travel humidor thing. His little sneaky humidor.

Right. So I was eyeballing that shit. Trying to get some cigars. And I'm like, hey, man, you know, interested in carrying your product, really excited about it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

He's like, okay, you know, so what do you think I'm going to do? And I was like, well, you know, I don't want to, you know, I'm not looking to go crazy because you don't have anything for me to try. Right. I want to do kind of like two across the board, you know, wrote down my order, two, two, two, two, two, two, two, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And, you know, give my credit card information, my tobacco license, you know, that's one thing I can kind of really credit to my brother is he's got his shit together. So your brother's in the back, figuring out this is going to come. Right, right. And he's the guy that has all the documentation, right?

Like, oh, you need the tobacco license, boom, reseal, like he's on it, you know? So I'm like, all right, well, this, you know, obviously Steve Sock's a big deal and, you know, we want to carry his product, give it a try, blah, blah, blah. So I do two, two, two, two, two, across the board and Steve's like, hey, all right, you know, I really appreciate you, you know, you taking, you know, I'm giving us a shot, and you know, working things out, I'm gonna put a star on your, your order, I'm like, okay, now I feel special. It's a gold star.

So, I had two questions for Steve at the time, because he went out to Half Wheel, and one thing was that he totally gave out his complete blend to Half Wheel, right? Wow. Yeah, which is kind of a bold move, especially at that time. Yeah, kind of unheard of.

" And his answer was great. " That's a good point. Like, that's an honest statement. Right.

So, now, at this point, I'm a little more versed, and I understand tobacco a little bit more. Now, I understand it a little bit, and I still, to this day, understand it a little bit, and I'm not gonna be, by fucking any means, That means one of those douchebags is gonna tell you that I'm a master blender, 'cause I'm not. Right. Without question.

I wouldn't be who I am without having the friends that I have. Surrounded by champions. Surrounded by champions. Yes.

So, I said to him, "Hey look man, I had a question, you know, I looked at your blend and it looks like you have Condega and Plebno Nuevo in this one particular cigar. " Because to me, I've tasted them both separately. Right. And they both taste fuckin' similar.

Right. Like, really close. So why would you put them both in the leaf? And then, you know, that's when I got the Steve Saka of, like, containers of...

Okay, why don't we stop right here, then? They got to come back after the break to defend... Let me just finish this one part. Well, I wanted you to give the answer after the break.

All right, okay. All right, we'll be right back. Hey, it's Mike Tu. Want to be part of the show?

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Hey. Okay, when we left off, you had just sat down with Mr. " Pueblo Nuevo. Pueblo Nuevo.

Yo, this is like NWA, man. What's up, Dre? I got something to say. You know what I'm saying?

No, that's fine. You can say anything you want. It's your show. I mean...

It's actually your show. It will be. It will be tomorrow. So don't close Palmer's show.

It will be tomorrow. " And then that was when you got the kind of Steve Saka, the diatribe, "I don't even know why I'm trying to smoke this. I'm gonna make sense. Of like, hey, you know, well, Condega's in this region, Plano Nuevo's in this region, and like, it was really kind of long, and I'm like, okay.

All right, I feel like we went, I feel like we kind of stepped backwards on that. Like, I like the first answer that you gave me, it felt real, but whatever. So I'm like, okay, cool, man, you know, hey, I hope you have a great show, here's my order. And then Steve says to me, and then Steve looks at me and he says, hey, I just want you to know something before you go.

I said, okay, what's up? " And I kind of laughed. I'm like, okay, okay. Okay, thanks.

And he's like, "No, I want you to understand. " I said, "Yeah, man, I am okay with that, dude. I really appreciate your honesty. " Right.

You know, like that's fucking, because like, ripping the band-aid off of that statement is huge. Right. Like, you know, that's a fucking statement. Right.

You know what I mean? It's not like, hey, you're gonna pussyfoot around and like, I'm not gonna sell this guy because this guy's feelings are gonna be hurt or anything like that, you know, whatever the case may be. Right. And I've actually done that to somebody in the past and I totally fucking regret it.

And I've since made up for that with Cordoba Morales. I thought that's where that was. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Sokka, you know, order's done, we'll go to the show, blah, blah, blah, have a good day, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. " It's probably those same phones we have. It is definitely the same phones, without question, the same phones.

The cordless phones from the '80s. We've replaced the batteries a couple of times, this chug is real in retail. That's right. " And I start laughing.

" I said, you can't sell to me. Why? Okay. You said you can sell to anybody.

And he's like, so at this point. I'm not the star. Yeah, but at this point, my skin is starting to thicken. Right.

Right. I mean, at this point, my skin is starting to thicken where I'm putting the shit on video, which is really crazy. So I say, it is. It really is.

So I said to Steve, you know, I'm like, okay. They'll be playing this in court. He's like, hey, listen, you know, Corona wants exclusivity in Central Florida, and I can't sell to you. I said, okay, man.

That's fine. " You made a business decision, right? Like, you feel that that is the best way to uphold your business, right? And, okay.

Like, I'm not mad. Like, I didn't, you know, whatever. My order was fucking miniscule. It was like, what, 1,500 bucks or some shit?

Two grand? Whatever. If that's how you felt, that's how you felt. " So is this the following year or a couple years?

Yeah, the following year. The following year. The following year, I believe so. Okay.

" Hey, I ain't carrying his shit now. Like, he doesn't want to fuck, he didn't want to do business with me, like, I don't want to do business with him. And like, that was my emotional response, right? And then like, as the week kind of waned, and like, you know, like, the more and more I thought, I'm like, look, man, I ain't here to fucking be emotional, right?

I ain't here, you know, like, if I think he's got a great product, I want people to know that he has a great product, no matter what the fuck I think of Steve, right? Right. Like, cause that's just, there's a huge divide there, like, that doesn't fucking make sense, right? Like, he could be the worst person on the planet, I could say, but you know, he's gonna make a fucking great cigar, and you should probably try it, right?

So, as the week went by, I'm like, you know what, fuck it, I'm gonna, let's go. So, I can fucking grab everybody I can. I ain't fucking going by myself, man. I'm not going, you know, I'm- This has to be almost 2017, I'm thinking.

Probably, yeah. So, I'm bringing a whole fucking squad, right? Who did you take? Uh, at this point, Esteban's son, Victor Nicholas, who was Shogui Cigars at the time.

How many times is 17? Like, I don't know, there was probably five of us. Right. Like, I'm bringing an entourage.

Matt Hunt. Yeah, Matt Hunt. Like, the whole, all of it. Right.

Right? Just so I can feel better about myself, I guess. I don't know. You know, so...

Are you playing the beat at times as you're walking across the scene from the Jets? So we fucking roll up, right? We go in, you know, we had like a coordinated dance as we were arriving. We get there, say, hey Steve, how are you?

Who's in the booth? Corona. Corona's in the booth. Oh.

And Steve looks at me and he says, hey man, I'm really sorry. Can you come back? And I was like, fuck, man. What?

No, no, I was like, yeah, you know, you're, he's like, here's some cigars, you know, you know, and it was very nice. Right. But here we are again with the same scenario, right? Same scenario, right?

Right. And I'm like, okay, man, it's cool, you know, whatever. I understand. Against my initial judgment, you know, I fucking, I sucked it up, I came back, and I'm like, you know what, fuck it, this ain't working.

It ain't gonna happen. Right. You know, it's just not, it's just not the fit. And what's really great about IPCPR for me is I really get a fucking good punch in the fucking face almost annually.

It's the most humbling experience for me. Right. Somebody usually tells me to go fuck myself, and I'm just like, what in the hell am I doing? So that was my present for that year.

So I went home, and then Steve comes up to the shop, and that was when we did the podcast. So whenever that date is. That's like in the 2018. So at this point, Steve and I still aren't, like, we're not on the same level, right?

Right, yeah. I'm telling Palmer, I said, hey, Steve Sokka's coming through. Now, he knows about all this bullshit, and I'm like, Steve Sokka's coming to the shop? Like, we're doing a fucking podcast with Steve.

And this is when we're fucking new. And he's like, and Palmer, you were like... Well, the air conditioner was broke. Both ACs.

We have two ACs here. Right. They're both fucking broken. This room was like a sauna back here.

Right. Right. So Steve Sakas just sweats just a sweat. Imagine putting him in a room.

It was like the middle of the summer. It's like 110 fucking degrees in here. Three guys smoking and no ventilation. It was amazing.

So I'm like, we're doing this shit. Fuck the bullshit. Steve is on the other side here somewhere. Right.

So he comes up and we start talking. " I'm like, "Dude, I don't know, man. I don't know. I had to deal with this shit with Drew Estate.

I've had to deal with this shit with other companies, which is kind of questionable what I'm about to bring up next, I don't know, he's like, look, he gave me like three or four boxes of cigars, I rolled them for a unicorn, two, two unicorns, that cigar has never tasted better, that was an amazing cigar, it really was, on top of the fact that it really is, I think is good tobacco and it tastes really good, I fucking, you know, he gave it to me, so that made it just all the more sweet, you know. " I'm like, "Dude, you're friends with him, ask him. " I wonder if they've had that conversation. " And then I let it go after that.

Like, that was a year or two ago. " So, you know, here I am, a small business, and now I'm having experiences where this guy's going out of his way to slow me down, right? Right. We were an Opus X account, for as long as I can fucking remember, there was this really cool guy, an old school rep, and this was before I was here, my brother was, this place couldn't afford anybody, so I had, like the first year or two of us being open, I moved back down to South Florida, and then I would come up every week, just fucking grind man, just sell, just sell, I was building this website, my brother thought I was insane, the whole fucking shebang.

Still the original website. Still the original, to this day, still the original, we're never going to change. Together with bubblegum and duct tape. I can't get shit updated on it, but whatever.

Hey man, Adam Acri says never change it, he's like, I know at this point, it was cumbersome and confusing, and now you can never change it. You can never change it, I know where everything is, it's just click, click, click, bye. And until Adam says, hey, he's ready to make that change, I'm not making the change, god damn it. I don't know where I was going with that.

Oh, it was very hard to put the over 18 thing on the top, or the 21, whatever. The age verification thing. Oh yeah, that was a pain in the ass. So my brother is good friends with the older guy.

I think his name was Alan. I really want to say. And he was like this old school Arturo Fuente account guy. Alan, yeah.

And he could do whatever the fuck he wanted. He was like a ranger, like a military guy. Yeah. And you know, we didn't know what the fuck we were doing.

And my brother's like, hey man, people keep asking me about this Opus X cigar. I don't know what it is, but we should carry it. Can we get that? And this guy was like, yeah.

Yeah, you're an accountant. So like that was the kind of weight this guy had. Right. A few years ago, all of a sudden we don't, you know, I guess we've never really met the numbers to be an Opus X account.

So now we're no longer an Opus X account. Right. So, I mean, it's kind of, that's also kind of ironic that all of a sudden there are these rules that came in and now all of a sudden, boom, we're not. We're not.

Right. Kind of fucking crazy. You know? So, I'm doing everything I can.

John Oliva's an amazing rep. He's, you know, we always had top three. Right, yeah. You know?

Very nice man. Yeah. And we're doing everything we can to boost our sales so that we can reach that Opus X account. I think that if we even reach that number, honestly, it's not going to matter.

We're never going to be an Opus X account again. Well, we've changed the number, guys. We're sorry, but it's gone up just a little bit. Right.

Oh, we just moved the field goal. You know? I mean, I hope that that's not the case with Atreo Fuente. But the really shitty part is that I know that there are exceptions to that rule, they exist, I've seen them, exceptions to every rule, you know, and they don't achieve the numbers that they're supposed to achieve in their Opus X accounts, just like I was, and you know, here I am, once again, dealing with some bullshit that might be related to this whole Jeff hates Mike thing, well, actually, Jeff hates small businesses, as far as cigar retailers that are his competition, right.

We gotta get into some of the little more nitty gritty shit, right? Now, Skip's integrity was attacked as far as, you know, he's made some statements saying, hey, you know, I, uh, every time that Jeff came by, or maybe not even Jeff, some of the guys from Corona or whatever, I know that statements were said that, hey, you know, like, I gotta talk to Cigar Hustle and make sure they're good to, you know, that they're okay before I open you up for a Roma Craft account. Now, I wasn't sitting there at the table, I don't know exactly who was there, but I can tell you this, that once the people left, Skip came right up to me and he said, Hey, I just told them, Hey, look, we're not going to open you up unless Cigar Hustler says it's okay. Skip has never fucking lied to me.

Not once. Not even a single, not even in a joking matter has he fucking lied to me. Like he's always, he's very vocal. He has his own opinions.

I was going to say, the way he is, it just wasn't, wouldn't work for him. Right. So, you know, for, for a snippet of an email of a conversation and back and forth and whatever timeline that happened to say that this is how things went down, of course, Skip is respectful to Jeff. Skip's gonna be respectful to everybody until you give him a reason not to be.

Right. Might need a bigger bottle. And I get that he's emotionally charged, and sometimes he says things that probably shouldn't, as we all do, 'cause we're all fucking human. Nobody's perfect.

Nobody's perfect. But there are some things that you can't really say, and accusations that you can't make towards people that really kind of crosses the line, right? Right. So this is where we make a phone call.

- Just to further kind of back my story here. We pause one moment when we make a phone call. - Please hold. - Oh, you turned up the line.

- You there? - Hello? - Hey. Mattool!

Oh, Jesus Christ, that's so loud. Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Turning him up.

Turning him up turns everything up, I guess. Hey, so, hey, Mattool. How are you? What's up, Mike?

Hey, so, just so that everybody knows who we're talking to, do you want to go ahead and state your name? For the record. And tell everybody who you are exactly, you know, that you're a retailer and a brand owner as well? Of course.

My name is Mattool Shah. I own two cigar shops in New York, one called Mom Cigars in Scarsdale, New York, and one called Dad Cigar Warehouse in Nanuet, New York. I also own a brand called Fable Cigars, and that's made at the New Casuino factory, with the same company that makes all the Robo Craft cigars in New York Cigars. Right.

Powstanie, the best cigar on the planet, right? Yeah, sure about it. Second best, as far as my tools are concerned. Right.

So, you know, obviously we're having a conversation here about Jeff, and, you know, it's really important to me that people kind of understand some of the things that have happened to all of us and some of our experiences that we've had with Jeff and Corona Cigars. So, you know, unfortunately, I hate to kind of drag you into this, but you had a tremendously bad experience with Jeff, is that correct? Yeah, I mean, basically, yes. So, yeah, pretty much I had a bad experience with that.

So, I know that it takes a lot of courage to do what you're doing, man, and, you know, I really, I applaud it and I really appreciate you getting on the show, you know, let me, let me start off by saying that to you. So, what the hell, so, so what went down, man? What, what exactly, what happened? Well, so, I mean, you know, people out there that know my brand, I only make one line of cigars called Fourth Prime.

And the 4th Prime brand, so Fable Cigars has one logo that has like the F and the C that looks like a flame that people kind of associate with, right, our brand with, and then the 4th Prime brand is basically a triangle that I came up with, I actually wanted it to be a P, represent Prime, but in the same time, you know, I didn't want to kind of have it look like other brands that have like a P logo, right. So I laid it on, laid it on its, on its side. Yeah, at that time, Protocol was just coming out, right? Juan Cancel, Cigar.

And you don't want to, you want to kind of different yourself. Yeah, it would have looked like that the other direction. Right. Yeah, so I want, I basically had a whole story made up with a brand of like the sevens, seven different sizes, having to do with sevens.

So I made up, I made, I basically, you know, I graduated in movie visual, visual effects and graphic design. So I pretty much made up a logo that represented that one line, and it was a triangle with seven branches. So, I basically came out with that logo, and that was the logo that represented the fourth prime brand. So, anyways, long story short, you know, Jeff pretty much, one day I wake up, I come to the store, and I get like 30 different missed calls and text messages, you know, phone calls from industry reps.

And they're like, "Hey, did you just see Jeff's personal Facebook page? " For having a logo that's similar to that of a pedophile, and I'm like, what? Wow. And then I went, yeah, and I went and looked, and that's, and lo and behold, he pretty much told every, he basically said, if anybody carries this brand on their shelf, they shouldn't carry it on their shelf, because that one, you know, logo represents, you know, what do you call it, the same symbol on the FBI?

Yeah, the same symbol on the FBI webpage that, you know, represents pedophilia, and I'm like, well, first of all, it's totally different, it's got seven branches, it's, you know, the opposite direction, and it's a triangle, you know, so many different brands have a triangle logo, so what, every single triangle logo out there represents a pedophile, you know, or something like that? Right, so we can't have triangles. Right. So, you know, and then there was, you know, hundreds, if not, you know, so many, like so many different comments on that.

And Skip, Martin, he was one of the guys that was defending me. Right. And he was saying, you know, like, there's so many logos out there. And, you know, tell him the tool that, you know, he's like, first of all, here's the problem, though, right?

I don't even know Jeff. Right. I've never met Jeff. I've never talked to Jeff.

That's what I was going to ask. You had no interaction with him before this. Right. So I've never met him, I've never, you know, had a conversation with him, you know, I've never even ran into him, so for him to kind of, you know, put that out there about someone's brand is one thing, but to put that out there about some person, you know, that, in my opinion, was just, you know, like, straight out, just, like, wrong.

That's some next level shit. " Right. So, and if not, you know, if you still had a doubt, you know, because my reputation in the industry is very good. Yeah, no shit.

I take care of people. I always treat people with respect, you know, and I never, you know, I've never had anybody ever had anything wrong or bad to say about me. Right. And that goes, you know, that goes hand in hand with every one of my customers as well as, you know, the industry reps and, you know, industry company owners and stuff like that.

Right. So, for him to do that, it was just, in my opinion, wrong. Fucking... I mean...

" Right. " Right, that's slander. Yeah, luckily the lawyer that I use had actually, you know, known who Jeff is and had represented him before in certain things. So he said, listen, you know, I know Jeff, let me call him and let me tell him to take this, you know, this post down.

Right. And he did that, and within seconds he had to take it down, you know, but then it didn't stop him from, you know, having conversations about it and, you know, have, you know, like, talks about it on other people's phones, you know? So, that's pretty much, you know, where, you know, everything happened with me and him. Right, okay, so, just to get some clarity, you're married, right?

Yeah, I'm married. I have two beautiful boys. You have kids? One six-year-old, one three-year-old, so it's just like that's the other thing, you don't even know that I'm a family man, you don't know anything about me.

So that statement is pretty atrocious for anybody to say about anybody, right? I mean, just to kind of throw it out there, lob it out there like it's fucking nothing, is really kind of unheard of, right? Yeah, absolutely. And listen, if you have an issue with me personally, for whatever reason, call me up and talk to me, and man to man, we can have a human conversation.

But to go and go on your personal forum on a public forum and say something about somebody that you don't even know, that's just in my opinion, you know, like outright wrong. So, you know, and I know that we had, we kind of had a conversation earlier today. I know that you were a little nervous about coming on. You know, you didn't want to really kind of say, speak your whole truth.

And I really do admire you for coming out and saying all those things. Yeah, it wasn't about, it wasn't nervousness. It was just basically, you know, like, we've had these people, like, besides, Jeff was the most public figure. Right.

Figure that kind of went after us with that, you know, with that, with that association. Right. So there's a lot of people with tinfoil hats is what you're saying? Yeah.

There were other people, trolls out there that were like, oh, well, you know, we shouldn't smoke this cigar, blah, blah, blah, this and that. I'm like, listen, if you don't want to smoke it, it's okay, I'll smoke all of them, you know? Right. It's not a, it's not a big problem, but, you know, like, so I, I've had other people come out there and say that and, you know, it just, like, I never changed the logo because that's not what I meant for it.

Right. Right. Never in a million years would you intend it to mean that. No, no.

" Let's look up triangles. What? Yeah, like while running businesses, while having a family with two kids, and trying to create a brand, go out there and search the triangle logo in nature. Even think that, we'll see what a pedophile logos are.

Right. I mean, hey, listen, the Gracie Jiu Jitsu fucking company, their logo's a triangle. I would love for somebody to go call them pedophiles, are you kidding me? Yeah, so.

That shit would hurt! " No, I took a P, you, I took a P and I moved it and I turned it into a shape? Like, come on, man. Okay, well, I don't want to keep you too much longer, I know that you're, you know, you're running the New York, uh, uh, I'm fucking Megalodon over there of the cigar industry, but I did want to, you know, I told you before on the phone privately that I wanted to apologize to you, and I want to publicly apologize to you as well, I really am sorry that when this happened, and when this came out, I wasn't vocal enough to you and to everybody else, and really kind of backed you and protected you, I told you it was fucked up, I told you it was wrong, but you know, I definitely owe you that apology, and I really do, you know, I really am sorry that I didn't do enough for you.

No, I appreciate it, brother. And listen, like I said, at the end of the day, I took the high ground. I didn't, I could have gone, you know, like, you know, I could have gone batshit crazy on the post and said whatever I needed to say, but I didn't. " And he said, "Don't comment anything.

" And right away, within seconds, he had to take it down. Right. And just one more thing before I let you go, just so that people understand, who handles the distribution for your cigar? You do.

No shit, I handle the distribution for your cigar? Son of a bitch! You do. I wish you would sell more.

Wow. God damn it, man. Isn't that crazy? You know, son of a bitch.

Well, hey, I sell a lot in the store. I sell a lot in the store. Well, yeah, that's true. You do sell a lot in the store.

Right. Well, anybody out there, the best cigar that's made, that Mike-- -Represent? -Circic is my brand. -Distribute is my brand, Fable Cigars, not Posagna.

-All right. Well, thank you very much, dude. I appreciate the time, man. Thank you so much for coming on the show.

-Yeah, thanks for the call, guys. -All right, brother. -Bye-bye. -Bye.

-Son of a bitch. -Wow. -I handled the distribution for that cigar. -Oh, it was connected to you.

-Who the fuck was that? -Who the fuck was that? -It's so fucking crazy. You know, what's even kind of crazy is, like, Executive Cigars opened up over in Sanford.

-Correct. -Now, you know, you can vouch for this, right? -Yeah, yeah. Have there been people, sales reps, and brokers that have come to the store and said, "I won't fucking go to that shop"?

Right, they say they can't go. Why the fuck won't they go there? They say it is known that Jeff does not like people to go there. Holy shit.

Industry people to go. So, as a cigar smoker, you'd think that you would want, or even as a small retailer, you'd want access to- And it's not tremendously close. It's a fucking cigar bar. It's probably just as far away as we are.

Like, how are you gonna be gangbusters, like gonna suck the life out of a business? Like, if you do something different, if you're really good at your business, then you wouldn't be worried about competition, right? Correct. I mean, that would make the most sense.

Exactly. Just wanted them to get clarity on that. I mean, I was told that statement last week, so it's not like... I was like, oh, I won't go there.

Yeah. You know. Because I generally ask when they come in. Right.

Hey, do you go to Executive over at Tampa? Hey, check out Executive? No. No, I can't.

Have we ever fucking stopped any retailer from walking in the store? No, I go to Executive. Right. I mean, we went to an Espinosa event there.

Fuck, I went to Jeff's place before I thought it was a problem. Yeah, well, I used to, too. Son of a bitch. Okay, so, all right, so now we have somebody being called a pedophile openly on Facebook that required legal action in purpose to fucking think.

Now, I go on, I make that statement as well, just to kind of make the statement that maybe Skip did say some shit that was, you know, emotionally attached in his post, right? I don't think he made any personal attacks. But did he, right, did he really, was any of it tremendously vicious? No, no, no, no.

Not at all. His comments are more towards the political backer or the political candidate that they backed. He did say one thing about Tanya. He did say one thing about a manager, but none of it was really over the top.

No, no, no, no. Right, nothing. He spoke very highly of them in his original statement. Right, right.

How thrilled he was to get the business originally. Right. Yeah. So the post that I have here is from Tanya, Jeff's wife, and the statement at the end of it is, and referencing, talking to Skip, because Skip's name is attached to the bottom.

This is a direct quote from- Yeah. "And who the hell are you to say people have no integrity because they choose to use their vote differently than you? " Shake my head. Holy fuckin' shit!

So we just tossed the fuckin' pedophile term out to fuckin' everybody who we disagree with now? Is that? Apparently. Because Skip's a family man.

Last time I checked. Yes. He's, you know, he's got three daughters. Oh, he's very open about that.

Yeah, I mean, Fiorella is 80% of his posts. Right, Fiorella does what she wants. Fiorella sits where she wants. Fiorella does what she wants.

Fiorella is inspecting the packages. Right. So, to come out and kind of make that statement about somebody more than once... Right.

is kind of vile. He makes your cigars. Son of a bitch, he does. He comes back to you.

He does make my cigars. We should all just distance ourselves from you, apparently. Maybe you should. Eh.

You know. What the fuck? What are they gonna do, fuck with our pots and pans, Mike? Are they gonna take our microphones?

Right. We're gonna change that to, what are they gonna do, take our microphones? So, I mean, that's pretty much all I gotta say about the whole thing. I don't care about the whole thing.

I mean, I've pretty much covered the majority of it. All right. We need to break again. Are we running close?

I hate to keep doing it. I just want to say that I have officially exercised the demon. This house is clear. So, yeah, we can take a break.

We'll take a break. We'll come back. We'll just wrap things up. Yeah.

You want to do a little news? We can do some light news. We've got to end this on a light note. Oh, well, there you go then.

Okay, we'll do some news then. Okay, we'll be right back. I gotta like you. Hey, it's Mike Toon with the Cigar Hustlers Podcast.

Looking for high quality swag from the show? com/theCigarHustlerPodcast. We have everything from t-shirts and hats to phone cases and beach styles. com/theCigarHustlerPodcast.

Cigar Hustlers Podcast, get your show swag and become a true hustler. All right, it's part three of episode 145 of the last show of Cigar Hustle Podcast. So before we end this and we move on to the news, I just want to simply state that, you know, before you jump the gun and you pick a side because somebody agrees with your political views and the other guy doesn't, I mean, maybe it's better off that you just don't fucking pick a side. Just let 'em fucking fight.

Let 'em work out their shit. Politics, politics, everybody lighten up. I mean, holy shit. What the fuck, man?

You know? We'd all be better off if we all kind of work together. There's no need. The economy's in the dumper, there's been a pandemic, I mean, you know.

Cats and dogs need to live together again. Right, no frogs following those guys. You know? I mean, can't we all just get along?

Can't we all just get along? Where's the love? Where's the love, Jeff? Definitely not here.

I can tell you that much. No, not here. But, hey, so there you go. There's my story.

There's 10 years of my life in a fucking nutshell. And you kind of be the judge if you think that things are okay or not okay. I do want to bring up, no one has touched this story except us. I mean, fear.

Well, obviously, he sponsors a couple other podcasts, so they're obviously not going to say anything one way or the other. Well, I think Dojo covered it a little bit, maybe. They made a thread of, like, not to carry Roma anymore. Oh, did they?

Like, I have never gone into a grocery store, looked at a steak and said, "You know what? " Because if he doesn't agree with me, I'm never gonna fucking buy that steak. Like, what the fuck? How did we get here, man?

How the fuck did we get here? I think Coop might cover it. I mean, he's got no... I mean, yes, he's an industry show, and everybody knows who he is, but I don't think he's sponsored by them, though.

Yeah, well... I don't think so. Hey, you know, everybody chooses to live their own path. Is he afraid Jeff will never come on his show again?

The Path of the Righteous is the lonely one, brother. So it's just me and you, buddy. Forrest Gump-ing our way through the cigar industry. Forrest Gump-ing our way through the cigar industry.

Fucking A. And you know what, dude? I wouldn't have it any other way because I'm fucking not kneeling to anybody, ever. That's why I have no sponsors.

Right. Except, bang energy! That's why we have no sponsors. We have no sponsors.

And we're not about to have any anytime soon, I can tell you that much. I have any time soon. Unless there's some brand that wouldn't have any. All right.

Because they're going to take out microphones. All right, let's get to the news. All right, well, there's a couple of things. If you didn't look last week, we did the Heckle & Jekyll Show with Jack and Hector.

We had a really good time. It was a lot of fun. we asked uh oh uh oh all right hold on we got thing to the brain but it's about how to run a cigar yeah yeah how to be a retailer not how to be a podcaster so see what's funny is we don't fact check and i don't fucking i saw the thing i mean it looked like a book cover it's a very nice photo like he was going run a podcast but yeah he just had some guests on that told him how to better his podcast ah he's got a he's got a lovely display I mean, it looks like a game show, it's nice. Yeah, you know, that's, uh, they, uh, other shows, yeah, other, other shows use that same setup, it's a, a podcast service.

Ah. So the graphics in the front, they change, depends on what the show is, so. That's, that's amazing. You know, what was really kind of crazy is like, you know, I thought I got really to kind of, sorry, one thing I forgot to add.

Sure. Is that, you know, like I never heard from John afterwards. D. " Oh, last year you ran into TPE.

Well, this year, January. Oh, yeah, well, I mean, after all this time. " Like, none of that shit. No, nobody's gonna apologize.

Sad. He probably honestly doesn't think about it. Probably not. No.

I wish he did. So, when he, oh, he's not losing sleep because he didn't tell you. Damn it, I really wish he was. Just a little bit.

Like, just give me the one minute. We went to a barn burner one year. Did you talk to them there? Nope.

We have gone to barn smokers. We have. We've gone to all of it. I'm surprised we're allowed to go to those.

Oh, we won't be now. We won't be now. Pictures are at the door. It's our poster.

Do not let these motherfuckers in. All right, we'll do a little bit of news here. Let's pick a couple of good stories. You don't want to talk about Jake White?

We're getting it. Oh, are we? Yeah. Oh, Jake Wyatt Cigar Company releasing lithium in November.

Mm-hmm. That's where our friend... Gerard? Who's the...

No. Jake Wyatt? Oh, I get confused. I was thinking somebody else.

Mm-hmm. The guy used to be at HR. Nope. No, not him.

Not him. Oh, Todd Vance? Yeah, Vance. Mr.

Vance, yes. Yes. Yeah, what the fuck is he rapping? That was one of the stuff that he read off the card for now.

Yeah, I thought it was Jake Wyatt. So it's the whole reason I picked this story. All right. Next month, Jake Wyatt Cigar Company will be doing a limited release of lithium, which We're going to have to start taking now.

Its newest full production line, it features an Ecuadorian Habano Ramper over a Dominican binder and filler, which the company describes as medium, full, and strength. Lithium is being offered in a 6x50 Vitola that the company refers to as Double Robusto, coming with a pigtail cap and a closed foot, with plans for more sizes in the future. Neil Garcia of Jake White Cigar Company said the company is aiming to have a full release ready for the PCA convention trade show in July 2021. I wonder if now we're going to be able to use other people's stories.

I wonder if that'll be stopped. No, you can't stop us. We give you the credit. Oh, it's true.

This is from Half Wheel. The company has produced 200 bundles of 10 cigars for the launch which are being made available to all its authorized retailers and will be priced at $110 a box. The new segment just got really small. Sinestro, Havana, Viaje, Maduro debuting at Omerta Cigar Company.

We like the guys at Omerta. El Merta. Yeah, El Merta's good peeps. Oklahoma.

A new line from Sinostro Cigars, the Habano Viaje Maduro, will debut later this week at El Merta Cigar Company, Oklahoma City. It's crazy to see how that, like, that's where the direction of the industry is going, right? Like, because everybody's now so accessible via the internet and stuff. Yes.

Like, you can make a store exclusive for a particular company, and it should do fairly well, right? Except us. Nobody's gonna touch us with a 10-foot fucking pole after this one. It's being released in a 5x52 Robusto Vitola with a 200 boxes of 10 cigars produced for the debut.

Each box is priced at $90. They need equal size balls that we have. And I don't know, man, we just put some big ones on the table. Well, maybe we get a stinky ashtray gains new colors.

Three stinky ashtray lines will be added a combined of 13 new colors. How exciting. The color options. Did you get to vote like the M&M when we all went for blue?

We all went for blue back in the day. 99. Pastel? Matte black, matte blue, matte brown, matte red, and matte booth.

No. And matte booth. 99. 99.

Wow, so many options. So many places for me to put my passions. That's right, instead of the floor or the table. You know, I have one ashtray at my house that I really love.

Oh, I was going to say, you have one ashtray, it's the building. No, yes, I have one ashtray, it's the building. Um, I have one ashtray that Kelly King made for me. Yes.

It's the unicorn ashtray. Yes, the unicorn ashtray. And you know what, I fucking use that ashtray. Oh, you know what, I have stinkies, several of them.

Everywhere? Well, I have two in the garage and one outside, but it's because one of them, uh, I forget who I got them from, but one came broke, so I, you know, call them and go, look, it came in. And one of the stirrups came off, and they went, you know what, just keep that, we'll send you another one. It's just cheaper to send you another one.

Don't send it back. Maybe we'll get this one, HVC, Black Friday returns for 2020. Ordered. HVC, well, we're not getting that either.

The Black Friday 2020 limited edition will be a Corona Gorda this year. Oh, my favorite. More specifically, that's why he made it. It will be a proper 5x58x46 Corona Gorda.

Totally reminded me of another thing. Spano Cafe wrapper over Corojo 99 and Criolo 98 binders. The company says it went heavier on the tobaccos from a Jalapa region for the binder and the filler. The exception for the filler is the Lajero, which is from Argonosa's Chilamante Farm in Esteli.

Chilamante? I picked this story because of all the big words that I got correct. Mmm. Pricing is set at $750 and will be limited to 500 boxes of 50 cigars.

You know, that's the other thing. " But even though it's hypocritically fucking wrong, right, when you say, hey, this triangle represents something, but that's not what he's all about. Meanwhile, you know, Jeff did a post not too long ago saying, hey, you know, there are people fucking making fun of my Corona truck. Oh, that's right, with the Corona.

Because the Corona virus is out, but they're two totally different things. People think the truck's full of Corona virus. Right, so like, it's okay for you to fucking attack this poor fucking retailer, wholesale manufacturer. But it's not okay for somebody to attack you and say that that's funny, so that's kind of ironic.

This is the sixth year that HVC has made a cigar to commemorate the annual post Thanksgiving shopping holiday. Through this year, there are actually two new Black Fridays. 5x50 Firecracker. Oh, for your friends, yeah.

Mr. Garofalo, I've been at the firecracker, the version for the United Cigar Group. Oh, there's a lot of Black Friday stuff here. We don't need to run through with their cigars that they've made out of their entire life.

Southern Draw adds two sizes to Jacob Ladder's Brimstone. Southern Draw. I picked this just so you can say that. A pair of Nuvitolas are being added to Southern Draw's Jacob Ladder Brimstone line this month, one of which is a single store exclusive, but the other will be notable for its distinct size.

Ta-da! That's a store exclusive. Store exclusive. And yet another store exclusive.

That we're not getting. The Nuvitola is the Oblivion, a 5x58 Perfecto that will head to Cigar Federation and comes with an amped-up blend. Jacob Ladder amped up, that's some serious stuff. It's already very strong.

Amped up. You want to do his voice? Southern draw? We have substituted the filler combination, I can't do his voice.

It's too deep. Robert Holt. Robert Holt. The filler combination was stronger than the original Lajero tobacco, truly full-bodied blend.

For those demanding palates, said Ethan Jacob Holt, the namesake of the blend. That's his son, I believe. The son? 95 per five pack, with sales slated to start on Monday, October 19th.

The second new size is the Un Presidente, a nine by 48 gram Corona that is often referred to as the Avatola. Throw the, uh, through, throw the traditional Cuban Avatola as a measured nine and a quarter by 47. While the cigar is scheduled to be released just days before the election, the company's He says it's not a political statement, not a political statement, but simply a coincidence that it is coming out ahead of the vote on the United States' next president, rather than cigars named as a tribute to Cuban cigars of similar sizes. Aha, that's all the news I got.

That's all you got. I would like to congratulate my wife, she just passed her feedly test, she gets to be a principal now. Apparently today they announced it over the intercom when they did the morning announcements, somebody decorated her door, she was given flowers, a cake, I understand there's a parade later in the week, possibly. Oh, a parade?

A parade? Nah. Six feet? Parades are definitely frowned upon them.

Maybe it's not a parade. Maybe it's just a Zoom parade. Yeah. Yes.

That's cool. Some computer screens. So, congratulations, honey. Congratulations.

I'm glad you finally got that behind us. That's a big win. That's a big win for her, yes. That was a tough test.

That was a tough test. And you kept at it. Yes. AD King Palmer.

She came out of the test waving the paper, jumping up and down. up and down and I'm honking the horn. She's going, shh, people inside taking the test. I'm going, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop.

Fuck those people. Fuck those people. You can't pressure just either. So that's awesome.

So we spent the day drinking and carousing with friends at different bars and locations throughout the central Florida area. You're making your way. Well. Well, did you take, you went to Celery City?

Yeah, we went to South Jimmy. South Jimmy. Okay. We came here too.

Okay. And I ended up working. That's why we left. Poor Chet was a little overwhelmed at the time.

Poor Chet. Poor Chetty. Who does Fable Fridays? Fable Fridays.

Happy Friday, Smoke a Fable. Every Friday. Well, this has been a very interesting and enlightening show. We got Halloween coming up.

Our last show ever that we ever do. We got Halloween coming up. Yes, there's a big event here. Oh, we have a Drew Estate event.

Maybe. Maybe not. We have a Drew Estate event this Friday if you want to come on. Maybe not.

The Postana event. Come on. And Fable. Fable Friday event.

You know, there are still some good people at Drew's State. We're gonna carry Roma Craft, Postana, Fable, Guaymaro. There are still some good people at Drew's State. Espinosa, we'll still have that.

Pedro's a great guy. Yes. Yes. The mayor of Esteli.

Mayor of Esteli. He used to make saddles. Yeah. Amongst other things.

I would so like to have a saddle or something that he had made. A Pedro saddle? If I was a big girl. I think it was a different stage in his life.

I don't know the quality of the saddle. So, yeah, I mean, I gotta, we're trying to figure out how to navigate this as far as taking, I mean, I'll be damned if the fucking coronavirus is gonna stop me from fucking taking my kids out on Halloween, so. Uh, right, yeah. Is your, I guess your city's doing it?

Yeah. All cities are doing it, from what I hear. Really? I don't, I don't know what it is, county by county, is it a city?

I don't understand what it is, but. Should be interesting. We will be over in Sanford at the Atwell home, helping them pass out candy and scare children. It's his favorite holiday.

Yeah, I had no idea. Looking around the shop, I had no idea that Chet loved Halloween. Yeah, you really couldn't tell. And this isn't the good stuff.

The werewolf. Yeah, the good stuff was gonna come here, and then all of a sudden it didn't. Uh, right. Well, you should see the smoking lounge he's built.

It's got zombies in it and body parts. See, last night he's smoking with a, holding somebody's arm with a cigar in between somebody else's hand. Jeez. Yes.

Good stuff. Quite the, quite the thing. Well, I'd say let's review The Way Wednesday Five Year, but we don't have any. They're all gone.

You're welcome. Oh, for the Patreon. Yeah. But we got a Patreon coming up.

Oh, think what that's gonna be. Should be good. If this was this, wait till that. So, you can still get in on it.

I tell you what, man, I feel like... $10 a month to get you access to the, uh... The Patreon. sacred shows.

I just got some fucking shit off my chest that's been building all week, so... Thank you for listening. Yes. We appreciate you listening.

It's important to speak your truth. It should be a very... The Rock says it's important to speak your truth. And I just spoke my truth.

Oh, uh... So back to Adrian real quick. She had forgot something and had to go back to the house when we left for the go-take test. As she comes out, I hit on my phone and I start playing Eye of the Tiger.

Yeah. She's walking in the car. We did all the way through. And then we get there and we're a little early, so we're sitting in the car.

And guess what I played right before she gets out of the car? Eye of the Tiger. I am. Oh, Eric Thomas.

That's right. Love that guy. I am the greatest. Powerful, powerful guy.

I told her, I go, that was the difference, honey, because I played Eye of the Tiger, and then I Am, as you got out of the car. D. King Palmer. Well, you're the I Am, but not the Eye of the Tiger.

Right. Well, whatever. All right, this has been episode 145. Yes.

The true shall set you free. Our last show. It's been fun. I've enjoyed doing it.

It's not our last show. They gotta, I mean, there's gotta be, there has to be paperwork. It'll be your last show, not mine. All types of, you gotta call the lawyer, he's gotta send the paperwork.

We can squeeze a couple more in. A gag order, whatever else they're gonna do to ya. A lost episode. No, no, it's gonna go out.

It'll go up tomorrow. Boom. So, they can't stop us from hearing it until somebody hears it. Yeah, it's gonna take a while.

Unless he has any idea that we're doing this today. I don't think he cares. I don't know. We'll see.

We'll find out soon enough. I got in trouble for less. Yeah. We already talked about that before.

It's true. All right, everybody. Thank you. We appreciate you for watching, listening, viewing, whatever you do.

Bye. Okay, this has been episode 145, and now comes the most important part of this week's show. The Cigar Hustlers podcast, its owners, and its sponsors take no responsibility for the opinions or statements made by the talk show host or their guest. Statements or show topics are not necessarily the beliefs of Mike and Mike Productions For the podcast providers, and opinions between talk show hosts may differ.

It is not our intention to libel, incite, or hurt anyone's feelings. We invite you to write the show's host, Mike Szczepankewicz, 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.

Be sure to listen every Tuesday at 10am for all new episodes. Hi, I'm doing, I'm Husto-I-Raw. Yeah, we just don't have to do a single podcast ever again. Perfect.

I'm good, Mike and Mike. How are you guys doing? The Hojo, the... Hojo!

It's the Hojo. Demandre... You didn't even let him fuck it up all the way. That's a sign of a good podcast.

It's going to be like four cigars when I walked in the door. All right, end this.

Show Notes

Speak your truth....

Been a lot of drama in the cigar industry this week...we take a look at some of Mikeys personal experiences with JB from across the river.