146 Ding Ding Round two!

Episode Summary

Episode 146 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with the hosts putting last week's social media dust-up behind them, thanking the flood of listeners, retailers, brand owners, reps and manufacturers who reached out with support. From there it's a mostly lighthearted catch-up — Halloween with the family (knight costumes from Costco, the "king and his court"), thin trick-or-treat turnout, candy catapults and tube delivery systems, the Halloween short film they produced for the Drew Estate virtual event, and Mike's obsession with recording and reviewing his son's Under Armour Under the Lights football games.

The news block is the meat of the episode. La Flor Dominicana is launching "Gourmet Smoke Session," a series of 16 limited edition cigars (500 each) tied to hybrid online/in-person retailer events run with Jon Carney's Hacking Gourmet and Miami meat purveyor Meat N' Bone, with Litto and Tony Gomez discussing each pairing cigar. General Cigar is shipping the Diesel Whiskey Row Sherry Cask Holiday Edition — a 5x56 Gordo barber pole adding a Connecticut shade wrapper to the original broadleaf, blended by AJ Fernandez, packed 10 to a whiskey-barrel box that doubles as an ashtray at $124.99, limited to 1,000 barrels. The hosts also cover the closing of Imperial Brands' $1.43 billion premium cigar sale, with Gemstone Investment Holding taking Altadis U.S.A. and JR Cigar for $260.3 million and Allied/Instant Alliance handling the rest into 2021 — complete with deferred payments and a long riff about how you write a check that big.

Rounding out the news: Crown Head's Mil Días gets a Marvea Edición Limitada XX (5 1/8 x 42, $8.95, 1,000 boxes of 30), with Jon Huber crediting a Romeo y Julieta Cedros de Luxe gifted by Miguel Schoedel as inspiration; the hosts rave about the Ecuadorian Habano-wrapped Mil Días and note how hard it's been to restock. General Cigar is also reviving the light-up CAO Vision box with a re-blended Cameroon-wrapped cigar, which the hosts care about mostly for the LED humidor itself (and campaign for a solar-powered version). They wrap with Drew Estate's Zoom event recap — Pedro Gomez, Rex Ruffin, Willy Herrera, KD and Oscar — shout-outs to Cigars on the Ave in Winter Park, and Listener of the Week Dan Stanley, who's been knocking out African countries on the download map.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Addressing Last Week's Controversy
   The hosts thank listeners, retailers and industry friends for the outpouring of support after a social media flare-up, and declare the matter closed.
2. 02
   Halloween Recap and the Drew Estate Short Film
   Family costumes, sparse trick-or-treating, candy catapults, and behind the scenes on the Halloween video they shot for the Drew Estate virtual event.
3. 03
   La Flor Dominicana Gourmet Smoke Session
   A 16-cigar limited edition program pairing cigars with chef-curated meal kits via Jon Carney's Hacking Gourmet and Meat N' Bone.
4. 04
   Diesel Whiskey Row Sherry Cask Holiday Edition
   AJ Fernandez's barber pole 5x56 Gordo in a whiskey barrel box with an ashtray lid, $124.99, limited to 1,000 barrels.
5. 05
   Imperial Brands' $1.43 Billion Cigar Sale Closes
   Gemstone takes Altadis U.S.A. and JR Cigar for $260.3 million while the non-U.S. assets, deferred payments and a 2021 completion date get dissected.
6. 06
   Crown Head Mil Días Marvea Edición Limitada XX
   The new 5 1/8 x 42 Marvea, Jon Huber's Cuban inspiration, the blend's components, and why the hosts can't keep Mil Días in stock.
7. 07
   CAO Vision Returns with LED Box
   General Cigar revives the light-up Vision humidor with a re-blended Cameroon-wrapped cigar, and the guys lobby for a solar-powered version.
8. 08
   Drew Estate Zoom Event and Listener of the Week
   Recap of the virtual event with Pedro Gomez, Rex Ruffin, Willy Herrera, KD and Oscar, plus a shout-out to Dan Stanley.

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

uh oh music's fading off oh geez uh oh what's wrong what did you do what did i do Oh, god. It's your fight song, Michael. You're out of your mind. Hold on.

I hope it's picked up on the camera. We're going to have to take this one down, too, huh? It's good intro music when you come walking out. Very aggressive.

Aggressive music, Michael. Ladies and gentlemen, in this corner, weighing in at a bulky 235 pounds, the Polish wonder, the king of all kings, Michael, I'm not gonna take this anymore, Stepan Cash. Welcome to episode 146 of the Sikar Bustler Podcast. You love your job too much.

I do, this is so much fun. I started the introduction. Hey, that's good. You did a good job.

Oh, this is gonna fade off. Hold on, there's a little bit more sound here. I was a little excited. I spoke too fast.

I can cut some of this out. It's a good tempo. It's a good tempo. Great.

Oh, God. Ding, ding! Round two! Oh, you can't play that.

Podcast! You can't play that. I can play that because I fixed it. I did not use any copyrighted material.

Wow, wow. Yes, he has copyrighted that little phrase. That's right. And he is very… Yeah, don't want to mess with him.

Very protective of his… Good for him. As he should be. If I had one sentence that was my claim to fame, I would sue everybody. Intellectual property, man.

There you go, that's what we're looking for, intellectual property. That's it. So, need to address… addressed? Addressed?

Address a couple of things. Well, you know, I mean, listen, it was a long week, I would say, for everybody. Yeah. And I don't really feel like that there really is anything to address in regards from the whole situation, you know, Facebook posts went up, Facebook posts went down, whatever, you know, like, and then, you know, whatever.

I can tell you the one thing that I am extremely grateful for and that's all the positive phone calls that I received, all the text messages, emails, Facebook messages, it was just a huge, I mean, to a point. I mean, it consumed the entire week for the most part, which was, I mean, I never expected that, and I just want to say thank you for everybody who reached out, and even those of you that didn't, but stuck up for us, and I mean, that's really what makes this whole thing amazing, and this is cigar consumers, non-cigar consumers, brand owners, manufacturers, reps, I mean, all, you know, media, maybe. Some media, question mark? Some media.

I mean, it was just, it was, the outpouring of love was just absolutely amazing, and you know, I really am grateful for that, and I really appreciate everything that you guys do for us. Yes, thank you. And, you know, I'll do my best to always keep it 100% here, and not, and always be honest, you know, so, thank you again. Thank you, yes, thank you.

So, no round two for you. Yeah. It ends here, as far as I'm concerned. As far as I'm concerned, I'm not, I still don't see the point.

It's over, Johnny! Yeah. That's it. Sweep the legs, Johnny.

Sweep the legs, Johnny. Sweep the legs. I was referring to Rainbow. Oh.

" Yes. Everything is not Cobra Kai, Michael. I thought it was with you. I thought everything was Cobra Kai with you.

No, it was just the movie. Finale of the movie. The movie ended last week, if everyone saw it, or, well, at least 3,796 people saw it. It was a good movie.

It was. Timed perfectly, right, for Halloween? Well, yes, that was the whole idea of the thing. Is there going to be a Christmas one?

I mean, you've really gotten so much better. Yes, there is actually going to be. Okay, that's excellent. We discussed doing a Christmas one.

Because I'm not going to lie, I mean, just the whole. Chet and Palmer saved Christmas. The video that you did with the wake up, Palmer, let's go, time to hustle. You knocked over the boxes.

You know, you did clip, clip, clip. I mean, you did a remarkable job. You should have done a close-up on a button. I thought it was after the fact.

There's so many things you think of after the fact. Always have to work. I mean, that was amazing. How are you calling me?

How are you calling me? How are you phone call? That was amazing. You know, to be honest, you should give me something from that clip, even if it's just an image of it, and I should put it in the email box as well, so that people can go to it and check it out.

Oh, that thing's over now, though. That was really much. No, but just the kick over of the box and stuff. We'll start working on the next one.

Well, whatever, you know, I just think that... It's over. It's over, Johnny. It's still over, Johnny.

We'll start working on the next one. Cobra Kai. I'm not talking about the movie, I'm talking about the... No, no, I understand, but that was for the Drew Estate event.

Oh, okay. Mmm, it was. Yes, that was for the Drew Estate event. You know what, I didn't even remember, I didn't even see the ad in that.

You didn't watch it to the end? No, I did, but that wasn't... It could be longer to do that part out there than here. Yeah, I could see that.

Yeah. Like, 'cause that part, like, didn't really captivate me. You know, like, the whole, the knock-over... The lead-in's always a big part.

Like, you thought the whole thing through, it was amazing. You knock over the boxes, like... I'm coming, I'm up, I'm up. You never said anything about my guest star, my guest co-star.

Teddy? Yeah. Well, you said something about Teddy. What do you want me to say?

Let's go! She's very excited for you. Well, I had already shot my parts waiting on yours, 'cause actually, I had messaged Chet, too, but he was busy, he wasn't getting back, so then I had both of you preparing one, and because of Baby Teddy, you won. Oh, by a landslide.

He did one where he was brushing his teeth. I saw that. Yeah, that was quite good. Boomer.

He said he did one where he was in the shower until he realized there was a mirror behind him. You could see his ass. He decided not to send that one. Thank God, I didn't have to look at that one.

Definitely should have played that one. The views would have been tremendous. Might have been higher, yeah. No, we're not ready to do any nudity.

No partial nudity for these. Within reason, I mean, geez. It's a PG-13. Yeah, that would be like the old Hill Street Blues where they started showing that one gruff cop's ass in the shower.

I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Yeah, 'cause Hill Street Blues dates me considerably. Like 1960, 1970s. No, that was the 80s, it'd be back in the 80s, probably.

Whew. The 80s. The 80s were good. The 80s were good.

Well, for me, I mean... The 80s were great for me. Before I was born. Yeah, I was born in '84, man.

Oh, I graduated high school in '85. I was one. And look at us now. Here we are.

Look at us now. Just dominating the podcast world. Forrest Gumpin' our way through the cigar industry. Forrest Gumpin' our way through the cigar industry.

Forrest Gumpin' our way through the cigar industry. My nose is really itchy today. Oh, it's a like. It's a damn coronavirus.

Allegedly. There's none of that here. There isn't. There is an uptick, though.

I mean, I don't have any news covering that. I guess I should have. But there's an uptick in the United States. Well, I mean, you think that there would be.

And England is locking down again. Well, England's out of their minds. Well, it's getting colder. They said when it got cold, it was going to happen.

So we're going to lock it down. Look, the randesivir has been proven to be highly effective. What? Randesivir.

What is that? It's the medicine they gave to-- Is that the drug that they gave the president? It's a 45 Savage. Yeah.

It's a 45 Savage. That's what they call Trump. Oh, did they? 45 Savage.

Wasn't the Comet and the... No, no, none of that. None of the bleach. No, no, no.

I mean, so that, you know, there's a lot of hope for that. You know, you're on the brink of a vaccine here. I mean, you've minimized the mortality rate. All right, so we get a spike.

There's still places not open. I know, man. God, those poor people. Okay.

Eww. So. Yeah. Well, how was Halloween?

Halloween was great, man. Other than your costumes were amazing. You like that? That was...

I didn't dress up. Yeah, exactly. You know? That was great, yes.

The king... The king and his court. Well, you know... Sons were the knights and the little princess teddy.

Yeah, well, we like to always do... I'm gonna hold on for this as long as I possibly can, you know? And this might have been the last year, but... Right.

I like the whole family together costume, right? So we have every... The kids are still young enough, you can get away with it. So every year, it has always been like a family.

Right, just this year, you had to... Baby Teddy wasn't... She's not even a year old yet. No.

No, so it was still four last year. Yeah. Man, I don't even remember when it was last year, to be honest. I don't remember anything.

But Power Ranger, you already did that. It wasn't Super Heroes, you already did that. Well, yeah, but we've done like different things of... Oh yeah, no, we did, it was DC.

I was Aquaman, because Justice got to pick. He wanted to be Flash. Oh. You weren't the Incredibles last year?

No, I think that was the year prior. The year before? Yeah. So, you know, I always try, like, I just want to hold on to it as long as I can, and just kind of, you know, cherish every moment.

" Your move. Oh, you won't like that Xbox? That's right. Guess what?

No electricity for you. Oh, surprise. So, we'll see how that plays out. But, you know, so Brittany kind of, it was funny that the conversation was, you know, every year the kids get, the boys get to pick, the boys get to pick, I finally have a girl, and she needs to be a princess.

And I was like, well, I mean, that actually could work. Right. You know, like, she could be the princess, you could be the queen. He'll be the queen, you know, I've already earned the name of the king.

It's always good to have been dragons. Well, Costco had the knight's outfit. Oh, okay. I was gonna use the puppy as the dragon.

Oh, man. I was gonna get, you know, a nice little addition there. A dragon shoot for him. I just didn't want, like, because I'm seasoned now as far as trick-or-treating with kids, it's like, you don't want to add additional elements.

It gets so complicated. Oh, I wouldn't have taken the dog with, no. Yeah, just for the photo. Just for the photo.

$35 costume for the photo op, and then get the hell out of here. Eh, you know. Back to work, pal. Get back in your cage.

Sort of like an inflatable T-Rex that we used. Hey, listen, that was money well spent. Somebody brought it up the other day, I can't remember, it was somewhere on social media. Highly entertaining.

Somebody referenced the T-Rex suit. You know, we're just rolling around in the cigar industry, having a good time. Having a good time. You know, the one thing that did kind of suck was that there were a lot of lights out.

Like a lot of lights out for trick-or-treating. For trick-or-treating. We haven't been passed out candy in years, were those people, but we went over to Chet's house, who has quite the extensive display. Yes, he does.

Video, and smoke, and laser beams, and all sorts of things going on. But his neighborhood, it was hardly anybody. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, I mean, like every fifth house, maybe?

Yeah, I would say. And most of those people ended up walking over to Chet's house. I'd say that was about the same for where we were at, probably one out of every five. Did you see online, though, some of the candy distribution systems people were using?

Yes, with the tubes? With the tubes, or I saw one that was a catapult, they had a Target painted on the driveway, stand here, and then they launched it at you. I will tell you this, as well, not only, we didn't get to experience any of those, but I will tell you that we got a lot of full-size candy this time around. Oh, did you?

Which was pretty absurd. " So I guess some people hang on that stimulus check for the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup double pack. Wouldn't have needed as many, I guess, I don't know. - Yeah, that's true.

- We went out of my house. - To try to find some Halloween-themed plates and glasses, cups, that type of stuff. - You can't, when did you go? - Well, we waited until the day before Halloween.

- Yeah. - But I think retail bought light, not expecting much of a Halloween. - That's true, too. I think middle of October, if you didn't have it.

- Oh, yeah, it was gonna be gone, yeah. - Yeah, they're already pushing Christmas. - Target selection for mask and things was way, way down this year. It's like half the space they normally put out to it.

But the night outfits that we got at Costco were pretty good, man. They were. Those were nice. Very excited.

Yes. I love pulling into Costco by myself, fucking listening to WAP with the windows down. Oh, there you go. Oh, you can see, everybody's just kind of looking at me.

It's amazing. Smoking my cigar. You know, everybody, and like the tension when you pull into that parking lot. Like everybody's agitated, you know.

And then here I come. There's some holes in the house. It's amazing. I'm just waiting on you to show.

Yeah, like here I am. Here he is. So yeah, we also stopped by a friend's house and we did, Jack's got to do a scavenger hunt with Justice, which is really cool. That went really well.

So yeah, Halloween in general was pretty good. You know, I wanted to try, I actually tried to do a parlay into the Chet house, but it didn't, I couldn't get it done. Yeah, he said you guys want to do, your brother came over with Alex. Oh, very nice.

Very nice. Wow. That's good. That's good.

You know, other than that, you know, the rest of the week was really just kind of answering a lot of phone calls. Yeah, no shit. Even hours you've got them. They've rolled over.

So, but I'm glad that we're just, you know, we're putting it behind us now. We're moving forward. Moving forward, moving on. Be above it, you know.

It's the right, it's the right thing to do. So, what do you got? I got, I got news. You got news?

I got a lot of news. You got news. The print's gotten bigger. I don't know which one of them.

I mean, the last podcasts, they've really been past an hour. And, you know, we can bring this one down a little bit if we have to. I feel like we've earned it. You think so?

I'm just saying. All right. Well, then let's... Let's watch the time and then the...

It's just in! There it is. It's the news. The news sounds like.

La Flora Dominicana has announced plans for a series of limited edition cigars that will be released as part of a program pairing cigars with... Food! Under the header, Gourmet Smoke Session, I feel that. This has got to be a John Carney idea.

Yeah, I figured it's a Carney thing. Specific details are limited about the cigar aspect of the project, so no info on the cigar, it's just the food. Other than that, it will be a series of 16 cigars of varying blends in sizes, with 500 cigars released for each event. com, his food webpage.

Oh, that's his? That's John? And Meat and Bone, a meat purveyor based in Miami, Florida, Hacking Gourmet is his online show. I believe he does it with Fred Rui and another gentleman, I believe.

Are we doing any of the hacking gourmet events? I think he's done it with Brian, right? Crown Heads? Could be.

I don't watch it. I do see the promotions because of him and Fred. Oh, and by the way, correction with the Arturo Fuente guy, his name was Henry, by the way. Oh, not Hank.

No, I said Alan, I think. Oh, Alan. I was corrected numerous times on that one. His name was Henry.

I was like, I've never met him! We don't fact check. Yeah, we don't fact check. Everything is alleged here on this show.

Alleged. Alleged. Let's see back here. Each event will be a combination of online and in-person.

It will feature a chef-curated meal for meat and bone, while Hacking Gourmet will lead the instruction on how to prepare it. That must be John Carn. That's gotta be John. Participants will order the meal kits prior to the event, which will be shipped in temperature-stable packaging with all the necessary ingredients.

During the event, a cigar designed to pair with that meal will be revealed and made available for purchase With Lito and Tony Gomez of La Floridomenicana sharing insights as to the cigar. Now that does pick up for some reason. It does. That was selected as a fitting pair for the meal.

A representative from La Floridomenicana told Half Wheel that the cigars, all information from Half Wheel, cigars should be a new blend of new sizes or shapes of an existing blend, but each will feature a tobacco artwork that has been themed for each session. Ooh, like a T-bone. Cigar with a T-bone on it, I guess. Maybe the wrong pictures of John Carney with like tongs and a fork and it's over the grill going, who knows.

I would buy that cigar. I would buy that cigar. I would buy that cigar. I'd buy that for a dollar.

I don't care the price. They mention the price. I'm just saying, I don't care what the price is. If it's got John Carney's mug on it.

Actually there's no mention of the price. Exactly, I'm in. Diesel Whiskey Rose Sherry Cask Holiday Edition heads to stores. Holiday Edition comes with lights?

It's a Diesel Whiskey Roast Sherry Kazzy getting a limited edition Barberpole version for the holidays. Woo! Very festive, a Barberpole. The new cigar is a 5x56 Gordo that adds a Connecticut Shade Wrapper to the original cigar's Connecticut Broadleaf Wrapper, which was developed by Justin Andrews, my friend Justin, of General Cigar Company to add a creaminess to the profile of the cigar.

J. Fernandez and produced at his factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. The original line debuted in June 2019 as a regular production line. It was offered in three sizes: Robusto, Toro, and Gigante.

Gigante. Its creation began out of a partnership between General Cigar and the Rabbit Hole Distilling, which is based in Louisville, Kentucky. The distillery acquired barrels that have previously been used for Pedro Jimenez, 30-year-old Sherry, which were in turn used to finish the company's straight bourbon whiskey for a unique spin on the spirit. Once that project was completed, the barrels were sent to, I always mess up the word, Tablacalera.

What's it? Tablacalera. Tablacalera. J.

Fernandez Cigars. That's like that. E. were the Brazilian.

The tobacco house. Arapica? Arapica? Arapi?

Arapi? Arapi? Arapi? Arapi?

Arapi? Arapi? Arapi? Arapi?

Arapi? Boy, I would not have gotten that. Binder leaf that would undergo an aging process. That binder leaf.

Arapi? Arapi? That binder leaf comes from the country's, we need a Hispanic person on the show just so I can have them say that. You know, I've gotten, you know, that was the other thing that apparently the whole foundation thing is huge.

" You're welcome, Nick. C-O-D. That binder leaf comes from the country's region, what was the focal point of the blend, chosen to undergo the barrel agent process, This is the process to bring these subtle notes of honey, vanilla, and molasses. Once that was complete, the cigars will be produced using Nicaraguan Habano leaves for the filler.

Right here is a picture of the Diesel Whiskey Roe Sherry Cast Holiday Edition comes packed in a barrel, a 10-count branded and bonded tabletop whiskey barrel with a lid that doubles as an ashtray. Oh! 99 before taxes. The project is limited to 1,000 barrels.

Is it sealable? The cigars are currently shipping to retail. Can I fill it with rum? That looks nice.

That looks nice. Lovely. You know, the other thing, you talked about the CRA sampler thing? Yes, several weeks ago, going to Holt Holtz.

Only Holtz. We're getting them. So, I guess, maybe they were- Well, again, all information is from half of you. We don't fact-check.

I don't know, maybe it was exclusively for them at first. Maybe they're getting it first. Maybe they already had it, and now it's- I don't know. I thought the story said.

It is what the story said, Charlie. What happened, Charlie? Tell us. Do you think Charlie watches the show?

No. I bet he watched last week's show. Maybe. Maybe.

It's still funny how nobody else touched that story. Nobody in the industry touched that story at all. I heard that some people talked about it a little bit. I thought Abe talked about it with the...

Oh, no. I did not listen to Abe's show this week. Yeah. Because I was...

I thought you loved him. I do. He's the best. He's the best.

I don't think that it was entirely not spoken about. But, you know, a lot of people, they don't want to talk about it. Don't talk about it. Don't talk about it.

All right. Finally, Michael. Finally. Tell me.

Finally. The Imperial deal closed. Oh. 225 billion sale of premium cigar divisions.

225 billion. Nearly six months of the day, we've been following this show adamantly. Following the show. Following the story.

Yes. You follow our show. We follow that story. Right.

We were adamantly to figure out who was buying this and when it was going to come. We figured it out? Because they were making deposits and making payments and, I mean. Have we cracked the case?

No. We don't know. It's China. Nearly six months of the day after it announced an agreement to sell it.

I would bet if I were to bet. I'm reading the story now, Mike. If I were a betting man. There is a point where you are allowed to comment and actually you are encouraged to comment on the story.

As I actually read the story, it's not when you comment. Okay. I will, for now on, I will point to you. Okay.

All right, perfect. Does that work? I would bet. Oh, are you shutting down now?

This is where you shut down. This is it, your show, go ahead. I'm gonna get the squirt gun. Go ahead, come on, come on, come on.

Nope, I'll do the show for back here. Come on, come on, come on, come on. 43 billion sale of its premium cigar division, or at least most of it anyway. 43 billion.

The deal includes, we all know what the deal includes, we've talked about this for weeks now. They haven't closed the majority of it? They haven't closed it entirely? What does that mean?

Last month after the window on the previously scheduled closing date was expiring? Imperial announced a new closing date. Ah. We've pushed it back?

You push it back because, I mean, they paid like millions of dollars. Millions. The bigger they're in, you know, so. We're not paying yet.

Not a problem, we'll just push it back just enough. Maybe they couldn't get funding or something? Maybe? It's like selling a house.

Right. Paying the loan. You know, the inspection came in, we have some problems. We really want to take a look at what's going on here.

Maybe there's a leak in the thing. The foundation may be cracked. Yeah. We're looking at your numbers.

We need that termite certificate. Yeah. A new closing date of October 29th. We found some WDOs on the property.

Weapons? Oh, I thought you meant weapons of mass destruction. No. WMDs.

We found some WMDs on the power. 25 billion. The transaction will be divided into two parts. One for the American assets and one for the non-American assets.

Yeah, obviously. That's the bigger one. 3 million. Yeah, so that's just like a little cherry on top of that.

See, for that, they will get Altidish USA. So they get Ryan. Cassidy Montecristo. They get...

Who do we know with Cassidy Montecristo? Shia's not there anymore. He moved. He called me.

Did I tell you he called me? No. Yeah, if he reached out and... We could do so many Listeners of the Week this week, it's crazy.

And JR Cigars, the second largest cigar retailer in the world. 22 billion for the rest of the premium cigar assets included. We're just gonna pay a million here, would you? So here, we'll write you a check for the American part of it right now, for the $200 and something billion, or $200 and something million.

It's only a million. 2 billion later. Right. See, they get, we all know, they get quite the long list.

The sale won't be completed until 2021. Oh, well, we're practically there. We're going to post-date that check and it'll be good in January. Yeah, you know what?

2 sounds great. Would a third-party out-of-state post-dated check work for you? Because I have that now. 670 million.

It will only include the premium cigar operations and Pearl will retain the mass market cigar production facilities. Can you imagine writing a check for like one point? Do you write a check at that point? Of course.

Yeah, absolutely. Like a wire? Oh, that's like a big check. Nah, I wouldn't give it the big one.

I'd give it something small. You're fucking with this thing. There you go! And then the guy like takes a picture of it to try and get it deposited to his account.

Sorry, you have exceeded the deposit amount for today, and for the rest of the year. I think the percentage is that's available immediately. Like, I get a three-day hold when I deposit that check. How soon can I have that?

67 million, so I think maybe he got like 3 million and the other 73 million available in three days. Because I really want to build a vault with gold that I could swim in. So, I just want to know when that cash will be available. I promised my wife I would, uh, make it rain.

Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. 'Cause I got these, these, uh, these air guns that I can fill with dollar bills and I really want to use them. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. Um, the, it'll be deferred for 12 months from today and Imperial was agreed to a six month deferral, uh, which is described as financing.

So they're making six months. I told you there'd be funding involved. There's payments being made. Can you imagine writing that?

Writing that deal? Ugh. What, why don't they start going, you know what, we're not done paying them more. You know, we're going to do a 2% interest rate.

Do you report that to the credit bureau? You're going to have to put some funds down. They deferred the $250 million payment they owed us this month, so... Your credit score is now 7 million.

It's an interest-only payment that balloons in five years. Hey, we can't pay this. Can't pay this now, I'm very sorry. You what?

You've been running the company for five years. Yep, I made a dime. Yep, interest-only, interest-only. Interest-only.

Alright, should be next month, Crown Heads' newest line has only been on shelves for about a month. Oh. But the company already has plans to expand the line. I know, they really fucked us up with that too.

I mean, god damn it. Next month, the company will ship the, which means a thousand days. It does. Yes.

I've heard about that. Next month, the company will ship the Mildias Marva Ediciona Limitada XX. Yeah. It's going to be a big ass box with that name on the side.

A five and an eighth by 42 version of the blend, like other limited crown head cigars, the size has roots in the Pacific Cuban cigar. Yeah. The... It's a great cigar.

The Marvia Edition limited. Well, I haven't had the limited edition. You're supposed to wait till like... Oh, I'm sorry.

Hold on. So excuse me. 95 limited to a thousand boxes of 30 cigars. What?

You can comment now. Oh, that's your point. Okay. So, you know, we put the Mildias in the month club because it was a great cigar.

I thought that, you know, it'd be good to include. And you'd get more. And we got... I was like, I said to Wes, I'm gonna need more of these.

And he's like, yeah, they're coming. Yeah, yeah, man, no problem. Here we are in November. Still no more Mille Diaz.

Well, it takes a thousand days. It takes a thousand days. Well, it's gonna take a thousand days to get here. The seed for the Marvea Si cigar was planted last year when our national sales manager, Miguel Chaudel, gifted me a Romeo and Julia Cedros de Lucia.

Well, I also love Miguel. That's a great guy. Said John Huber. Co-founder of Crown Heads, in a press release, formed my palette that cigar exhibited so much depth and complexity with impeccable...

Impeccable. Oh God. Balanced while a smaller cigar format. Still stands out in my sensory memory.

It's a great cigar. Which began work on a Metal Diaz Marvea even before we began shipping the first Metal Diaz boxes. We need to. Maybe it's only 500 days.

We need to do that. As I knew in my gut that this blend would translate brilliantly into a Marvea Vitola. What does Marvea mean? What?

I don't know. It means net 30 is what it means. It's just terms. Like the rest of the line, it uses an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and fillers from Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Padrú.

The line debuted in mid-September in four regular production, but we are completely out of here. It's a great cigar. Any size, it's a great cigar. I'm not gonna lie.

If you can find the Mildias right now, I highly recommend you go buy it. Because you're gonna love it. Mundo, a Corona Gordo. We only had two sizes here, though, didn't we?

No, we had all four. Did we have all four? Yeah. I think I only got two.

Two. Ah, ah, ah, ah. Double Robusto and the Marvela Edition Limitada XX. I think we had all four.

I don't know. I don't know. 95. Mil Diaz is Spanish for a thousand days.

Yeah, the price is reasonable, man. As we all know. It's a reference that the project took roughly a thousand days between the time Pichardo presented Crown Heads with the original samples to when it was released. Oh.

All right. This is also pictured here. Oh, pictured here. General Cigar Company has announced it is bringing back the CAO Vision.

I'm bringing Vision back. Ooh, that's the box. Cigar dating back. Dude, that's the box that lights up.

Bright white boxes and blue lighting. Oh, that's nice. Are we going to get that? Fuck yeah, I'll buy that thing.

I think it was awesome. See that? Call him. Whoever's in charge of the CEO, call him.

What are you talking about? The box and the lights returned in an updated design. It will not be the same cigar as the company had re-blended the cigar. The 2020 version of CEO Vision will use a Cameroon wrapper, Ecuadorian Sumatra binder, and fillers from the Esteli.

Who cares about the cigar? It's got an awesome box. Like, the box is cool. Rick Rodriguez, CEO's Blender and Brand Ambassador, has used a Cameroon wrapper.

While they're traveling across the world, visiting cigar shops, and even doing virtual events, as I have been for the last several months, the CAO fans always tell me that CAO Cameroon is one of the absolute best Cameroons on the market. I'll shut up. Rodriguez said via a press release-- You're running out of time, by the way, just for the record. Oh, shit, fire, we have like 30 seconds left here.

Okay, so it's a white box, blue lights, you can see right here in the middle. I'm going to comment on that right after this commercial. Thanks for the support. It made a lot of noise, but now you can do the LEDs and shit.

Yeah, they're LEDs. Blue LEDs on a white box. The box is slanted sides and stuff. Oh, reasonably priced, I'm sure.

As far as the technology is concerned, it's not going to be over the top. Let's see, 50 Churchill Vitola has a... I would love it if it had a flux capacitor on it. Oh, they're just around the outside.

I know. Have you ever seen that box? Just a photo from the story. It's cool, man.

It's cool, man. Yeah, it's very cool. I remember a couple, I remember somebody brought it in for like one of their events, it was like their travel humidor. I'm like, that's pretty dope.

Back in the day. So it's like double A batteries? Yeah. 17, triple A's?

It requires a car battery in order to operate. I'm hoping now that it's like triple A's or something. Solar powered. If it would be solar powered, that would be some Netflix.

I have solar powered lights on my bar in the backyard. I would like solar powered CAO Vision humidors. I have taken screwball bottles, which is a lovely clear bottle with a white label, it's a very pretty bottle, and I have filled them with solar LEDs and then they're hanging from my bar. Oh, that's very lovely.

Oh, they look pretty beautiful. So, you know, you're going to have to reach out to the general and talk to them about that. Maybe you can make that work as far as solar powered CAO vision humidors. Oh, you buy them on Amazon, they're really inexpensive.

But the charger is just on top of the bar, you can't even see it. This past weekend, we did the, or this week, weekend, whatever it was, we did the Drew Estate event, I don't know if anybody saw us on Zoom. That was a lot of fun. Did you even see it on Facebook?

I didn't even see it. I don't know who launched it. No, man, I was at my son's football practice. Right, you were at your son's game.

I started in here for a while, and then, They were interviewing all their employees, Pedro was, so I got kind of bored, and so I went out there and did it away. When I came on, your thing was open, and it was just staring at the sky. Yeah, eventually I came in and shut it, and I didn't want to mess it up, because I was using Greg's account, so it said Greg was in two windows, actually, and I didn't know if I shut it, it would mess it up, so, but at the point, I just, yeah, I just left it. You know, it was, but it was good to see all of them, like, you know, Rex is, you know, he's a good guy, I've known him for.

Rex and I don't know each other at all, and he just completely ignored me when I was out. For a hundred years. Good. Good for him.

I'm glad he did that to you. Did you know who I am? Did you know who I am? Well, you know, a long time ago in a faraway place, Rex was like this clean cut, Ashton rep.

Oh, really? Oh, yeah. It was, you know, his hair was slicked to a point where it was almost a helmet. I mean, it was just, you know, not a single strand was going to move out of that thing.

Oh, that's what he was at night, it looked like. He was sitting on a patio. Well, now he's joined Drew Estate, and now he's, you know, for, like, he went almost to like a, like this homeless look, like his, you know. Oh, so he, it was, it went, it was.

He was a guy-looking guy before with Ashton. Right, and then he went like super intense, and I feel like he's brought it back a little bit, and we're at like a happy medium. Because I don't think he had the big, long beard like he used to years ago. Yeah, no, he's, he's really, I mean, I like, I like what I saw, you know, the level that he's at, I think is perfect for him, you know.

Yeah, he looked like a nice grandfather. Yeah, I mean, you know, I would love for him to be my grandfather. Oh, well, there you go. You know, that'd be great.

I mean, that slot's open. So, Rex, if you want to be my grandfather. Big Willie, my dude, used to work at Anstead Tobacco, South Carolina, I believe. Don't quote me on that, but I think it's South Carolina.

He does live in South Carolina. So, dude, that guy is just fucking so funny. My Puerto Rican stepson, Oscar, was on there. Yeah, Oscar was on there.

I think I talked to him briefly. Asked him briefly. The gentleman who used to have that other line of cigars that was named after golf stuff was on too. Mm-hmm.

I don't remember his name, unfortunately. I apologize. And then KD. KD was on.

Which was dressed. That jacket, I gotta tell you. That's lovely. Jacket and those glasses and big.

No shorts. I mean, no pants. Oh, did he stand up? I missed him.

No, I'm just kidding. I have no idea. Oh. And then, of course, you know, the mayor of Esteli, Pedro.

Pedro. Who was running the show? Oh, yeah. That doesn't surprise me.

No. But, you know, I felt a little overdressed because Pedro was rocking, like, the tank, and he had the lighting with the, you know, his big muscles and stuff. I was like, damn, Pedro, what's up? No, you didn't just strip your shirt off?

I was like, oh, hold on, you know. Hold on. Let me get that. I should have had a Hulk Hogan style.

Yeah. I mean, it would have been strange at my kid's football game. My parents would have probably looked at me. Some of the mothers might have thrown money at you.

Maybe. It's possible. Was your wife there? Nope.

You would have gotten in trouble when you got home. Totally. No shirt. What happened to your shirt?

Sorry. What happened to your shirt, Michael, and football? What do you have no shirt on? Were you at football?

Did you go to football? Did you actually go? You can never do anything. " Yeah, exactly.

He would have sold you out in a heartbeat. Are you kidding me? He wouldn't even have had to wait for her to talk. He would have walked in and...

Oh! I don't know why daddy don't have a shirt. I haven't seen him all night. Yeah, you can't...

Yeah, make me wear a knight of armor and something. I don't even think you can bribe him not to say anything. Well, that would be worse because then he would know he had you. I mean, because I could tell you that there have been, like, surprises and stuff.

I don't remember what they were for, but there was something going on where I was like, hey, we're going to do this special surprise for mommy. Just don't say anything. And, like, it's out the window. So you can't.

It's just not possible, you know. So you've got to keep your shirt on at all times is kind of what I'm saying. Just start taking a tank top with you just in case. In case a Zoom meeting breaks out?

You never know when you might have to flex. You know, I was borderline thinking that I was going to jump to the other ones, the other Zoom meetings that they were doing, but then I was like, I gotta go, so that would have been funny. Hey! Now, I have not watched, because they've been doing it with everybody, I haven't watched anybody else's either, but I mean, is it the same people on every time, or is the Drew State people?

I don't know. I could tell you that. I would assume if it's in Florida, KD's always on. Right, and I could tell you that Willie is very, very charismatic.

Right. Yes. And I could tell you that Pedro's obviously very charismatic. So like, those guys are shoe-ins.

Right. You know, and I feel like Rex is there to make sure everybody's in line. Well, he's the boss. He's the big boss now.

Yeah, he's in charge. I think they've changed his name to Drew Estate. Oh, hi, I'm Drew. Estate.

Estate. So, yeah. Yeah, but it was a good event. From what I understand, yeah, it went really, really well.

I was told people were asking for me because I wasn't here. Yeah, you're, you know, neither was I. I had family business as well as you, but no football game. I had a football game.

Oh. And you know, that's a really, I mean, we're right now we're like in the thick of it as far as football games are concerned for Friday nights, right? But, and I almost came back, like I thought about it, but it just didn't make sense when I got home because it was a, it was like a doubleheader event. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. You know, but. It's quite the drive for you to come back out here. I don't mind doing that, but I'm not going to miss a game.

No, no. You know what I mean? At the end of the day, when he gets older, I want him to say, "You know what? " Yeah, that is nice.

One day he'll look back and he'll remember that you were everything. Yeah, and I recorded everything. I recorded every play, which is really cool. Oh, wow.

" Oh my Lord, really? Oh, yeah, I was like, okay. Okay, now right here, you should have done a little swing back around the inside. No, this is simple fundamental stuff, I'm talking about, you know, if you're the free safety, the guy that you're covering can't get behind you.

I'm like, that's called taking the top off the D, and you can't let that happen. So I'm like, see this? This is where you went wrong here, you know, and like, I dig all that. You're that dad.

I want him to get better. I'm not riding him or anything. I'm like, hey, look. Drop it, give me 20.

You shouldn't have let him take the top off the D. We're going to review a few things here, because I want you to be better at this. I have some game films here, so he set up a little projector, and a shh. Oh, he loves, he loves the fact that I record all of it.

Are you kidding me? Well, he probably watched the whole game. He liked seeing himself, I'm sure. Yeah, we watched both games, actually.

" So we went back and we watched all the plays. You know, if they're like five second plays, and you have it all recorded, it's like, you know. You know, just set it up and record, I mean, take some of our lovely equipment here and just set up and record it. And break it all down.

I think if he showed up with the lights, and the two cameras, I'll come one time and be your sound guy or something, I'll follow him around with a boom mic. Like the NFL has the satellite with the mic on it, you could be sitting at the edge. We need a drone to follow him as he runs across the plane. He can look up and go, as he's running by.

That'd be amazing. Sir, you're going to have to take the drone off the field. Seriously. We're trying to do a game here.

Don't you understand though? I need, I need the game films to go over. I need the content. We need, we need the, the, we need to study the game, so.

Right. Wait till next week. You'll, you'll appreciate it, coach, that I did this. Right.

No, it wouldn't be the coaches. But only the one kid's getting better though. I mean, could you? Oh sure, I'll follow everybody then.

Oh dude, but I'll tell you this, the coaches at this point, like now, you know, they, so they're the same coach, the same team from the last, like, thing that they did. Right. So now, now, now, now we have iPads. " And you can see him pointing to different things.

Oh, he's got plays on there. " Oh, wow. They're not high-tech now. They're not, I mean, and they're, listen, they're blowing people out of the water, man.

It's pretty scary. Is this the school team? No, this is Under Armour's Under the Lights in Winter Park. Oh, Winter Park.

Oh, Spoozy. Spoozy. We were at Winter Park on Saturday. Oh, really?

They had some friends in from out of town and we met them. Oh, you went down there? Did you go see Don? Cigars on the Ave?

Uh, no. I don't know Don personally. We did walk by him twice. How do you not walk in?

Because none of the other people are cigar people. Oh, well. Too bad. So sad.

No. You gotta go into- They had small children with us. You gotta go into cigar- Stardom Young! I'm just kidding.

You gotta go into cigars. Come on, little girls! If you're in Winter Park, you gotta go into cigars on the Ave. I mean, that guy is just such a boss, man.

He's awesome. Well, I've been in there before, but it was not the opportunity for smoking. I'm just going to check in real quick. And where would I smoke?

We were inside restaurants and bars and stuff. Man, whatever. Plus, you got to wear a mask when you're outside. Really?

Yeah. People on the street will wear a mask. Plus, you're walking through, I mean, most of the restaurant seating is outside there still. That's, okay.

I don't know. Outside, as long as you're away from everybody. Well, you're not away from people there. You're not away from people there.

You're passing each other on the street. Okay, yeah, that's true. All right, you're right. Mask it up.

Still, I don't know why they don't run the trains on the weekend. Me neither. You think that would make sense? " No.

No, it doesn't run on weekends. No, it's for work only. What is it, a commuter train? Yeah.

Probably. It's got Wi-Fi, I heard. Oh, does it? Mm-hmm.

I haven't been on it in a year. I live closer to it. " That'd be amazing. I could pick you up at the DeBerry one.

Yeah, that's not far from me. Palmer, come get me. Just add it to the list. I'll just sell my car.

Well, there you go. Who needs it? Who needs it at that point? Yeah, I got a Palmer.

Well, how do you get to the place? Did Brittany drop you off? Yeah, drop me off. You're almost at your dream of a chauffeur at that point.

I just don't want to drive anymore. I just don't want to drive. I just want to sit in the passenger seat. What's up?

Well, we're going to interview a gentleman who does Uber, so maybe you can just work it. Hey, perfect, hey, listen, here's what I need you to do, not clock in on Uber, and take me home. Well, not home, just to the train station. Oh yeah, take me to the train station.

Perfect train station. Is there one close to your house? It was really close to my apartment when I lived there before I bought my house. I was going to say, it's not near your house.

But it's eh. It's the other side of my four. Yeah, it's close to 79. Closer to Greg's house.

It is very close to Greg's house. He should. We should just swap houses. Oh, yeah, that's nice.

Oh yeah, my wife would love that. Oh, the security camera system and the... Yeah, the Bram Stoker's Dracula atmosphere. Right, the lights that come on when you walk in and out of the room.

Welcome to my bordello of blood. Well, that's the voice when you come in the front door. " Come, please, come in. I hope you have brought the cigar.

Those are usually right inside the door in his house. Just saying. Yeah. Alright, that's all I got.

That's it? What about Listener of the Week? I don't have one. Oh, you don't should be a Listener of the Week.

Tell me. Oh, you don't want me to say that. No, okay, maybe you shouldn't. That would be so funny, though.

Man, I mean, we had some... Who's that friend of yours? We'll make him Listener of the Week. The guy who listens all over Africa.

Oh, Dan Stanley? There you go, Dan Stanley! The guy that you kicked... Listener of the Week!

So, you kicked him out of the Florida Cigar Club. You have to tell me when you get deployed, most people do. I don't know. It's not like you look on his Facebook and his title is, or his job is military and overseas.

I mean, I don't know. Ass kicker is what it is. I kicked out somebody's kid one time who got deployed. All they did was tell me and I put him back in.

Oh. And now I recognize his name, so I don't kick him out anymore. Oh, he might deploy. What?

He might be deployed. The kid? Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, you know, because I don't know.

Strict rules. There's 1,500 members. Oh, big uptick on membership in the club. Yeah?

Oh yeah, 35 people this week. Oh, that's good. And I've already got 15 for next week, and it's only Monday. You're a likable guy, Mike.

You're very popular. Somebody mentioned the club by name. That's good. That was good.

Hey. Didn't hurt me at all. Good for me. All right, so Dan Stanley.

Dan Stanley, thank you, Dan, for listening. Listener of the week. Those countries I gave you that we need you to pop in. I mean, he actually, he banged out a lot of the ones in Africa for us.

I know, well, there's just like seven more, I mean. Okay, well, I don't, I don't think he's the point. Can he just get a Jeep and drive around and listen? I mean, he could.

Just drive around and listen. I need one listener and it pops up. Just one. Just get on the plane.

If it has Wi-Fi. That would work too. I don't know if we're ever gonna have guests on the show again. I can't do that much.

Well, it's a pandemic. We could do video interviews. Yeah. We don't do that.

When you're on the show, you gotta come in. That's it. Well, we've had a couple people call in and stuff. Well, people we have called.

That doesn't work well. Even turning up Matul last week, I still felt it was too low. But I had him cranked up all the way. It was good.

It was a good interview and everything, and it sounded better than normal, but there's only so much volume this thing will allow me to do. We're just operating the parameters that we can afford right now. No, I don't think a better, first there is not a better laptop. No, but you need a better soundboard.

Well, this controls the sound when you edit it. Oh, I'm sure there's better software for it. What are we using? GarageBand?

GarageBand. There's like this website that a lot of people use, but you gotta pay them, so we're already paying a website. Get out of town. We already pay for distribution.

Yeah. If people go, "Well, I can't find your podcast," well, then you ain't trying. Well, that's maybe Ronnie Haitian. Well, that wasn't Ronnie, it was somebody else, but I mean, it's harder not to find it.

At this point, if you Google the name, there's like 15 different places that some of them I haven't even heard before. I'll tell you what, I punched it right in on my on my TV at home, Cigar House's podcast on YouTube, I think I had to type in a cigar and boom. Oh, yeah, we come up pretty quick now. I was like, hey, even with the shitty fucking quality picture and the sound that deteriorated the last podcast.

I don't know what happened last week, I'd like to apologize, we lost video and audio at different places. But hey, you put it together. Slap it together with bubble gum and duct tape, that's my line. What am I going to do?

What am I going to do? What am I going to do? What am I going to do? That worked out well.

MacGyver. MacGyver did it all together. Yeah, man. Sometimes you can hear it.

Sometimes you can see it. All right. You can't do both at the same time, apparently. Well, hey.

And I think I have the microphone hooked into the right place on the new camera. You do. You do. I'm going to just say it one more time.

Thank you very much. And I really am grateful for all the positive outreach. All the love and affection, and the support, and the you go boy. Some amazing people.

Yes. I've got some amazing friends, and I'm proud to call all of you my friends, so thank you very much. Oh, all of you. I am.

That's true. And like I said last week, we love all our listeners. We do love all our listeners. Well, thank you, everyone, everyone for listening.

Everyone. All right, guys, that's it. We're going to go. We got another show to do.

All right. Bye. 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 guests. Statements or show topics are not necessarily the beliefs of Mike and Mike Productions or 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 Szczefankewicz, 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-E-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 Deeb. Hojo!

It's the Hojo! Demandre. You didn't even let him fuck it up all the way. I couldn't get past Hojo!

I don't even have to try it. He's not even going to try. 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. It would be like four cigars when I walked in a door. All right, end this.

Show Notes

Nothing to report here...just two guys very please with the Love and support from the pubic and the Cigar Community!

We love all our listeners!