153 Who thinks Mikey has the best ass in the Industry?

Episode Summary

Episode 153 is the Mike and Mike Christmas-week show, opening with a walkthrough of the new sponsor, the Octador humidor by Case Elegance — a 100-count octagonal humidor with a piano-black finish, glass top, front-facing digital hygrometer, patent-pending recessed hydro humidification system and a bottom accessory drawer. The hosts then draw the winner of Mike Szczepankiewicz's school fundraiser raffle, a package of rare personal cigars including the Apollo Danny, Powstanie SBC 16 and SBC 18, a Cro-Mag Connecticut Broadleaf, and the elusive 320 Sycamore Christmas cigar.

The news segment covers Southern Draw's new Manzanita ("little apple") line, made at AJ Fernandez's Nicaraguan factory with a Habano hybrid wrapper, Habano binder and a filler of Pelo de Oro, Corojo 99 and ligero — launched in a 6x52 Toro at $14.99 with Robusto and Gordo to follow in 2021, a charitable tie-in with the First Nations Development Institute, and a name Robert Holt cleared with Robert Caldwell, who already uses Manzanita in The King is Dead. They also cover Jake Wyatt Cigar Co.'s Lithium (Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Dominican binder and filler, 6x50 with covered foot and pigtail cap, $11), and Florida Senator Joe Gruters' SB 334 bill to let municipalities ban smoking on public beaches and parks. Along the way they celebrate Powstanie SBC 18 landing at No. 15 on the Cigar Coop 2020 Cigar of the Year countdown, and note Southern Draw Rose of Sharon Desert Rose at No. 13 and Cohiba Spectre at No. 14.

The centerpiece is a surprise call-in from Ronnie of Secreto Cigar Bar, who had been publicly sparring with the hosts on Facebook. The unfiltered conversation covers trade-show selling and how hard it actually is to move product from a booth, why the cigar business is "never only business," surviving COVID by learning e-commerce from guys like Abe Dababneh and Vince, and a running gag about wrestling, cardio and Ronnie's rich brother. The episode closes with Listener of the Week Dana McCool, holiday wishes, and plans to send the Room 101 ring on a cross-country photo tour.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Sponsor: The Octador by Case Elegance
   A detailed look at the 100-count octagonal humidor with digital hygrometer, recessed hydro humidification system and accessory drawer.
2. 02
   Fundraiser Raffle Drawing
   The hosts draw a winner for a package of rare personal cigars donated to a school fundraiser, including Apollo Danny, SBC 16, SBC 18, Cro-Mag Connecticut Broadleaf and 320 Sycamore.
3. 03
   COVID, Lockdowns and Holiday Plans
   Candid talk about pandemic restrictions, vaccines, shipping delays and running a cigar shop through the end of 2020.
4. 04
   Southern Draw Manzanita Release
   Full breakdown of the new AJ Fernandez-made Manzanita line — blend, sizes, pricing, limited retailer list and the First Nations Development Institute charity component.
5. 05
   Florida Beach Smoking Ban Bill
   Senator Joe Gruters' SB 334 would let Florida counties and cities restrict smoking on public beaches and parks, and the hosts argue cigars get caught in cigarette-driven legislation.
6. 06
   Jake Wyatt Lithium
   The new Ecuadorian Habano-wrapped Lithium with covered foot and pigtail cap, its limited bundle release and planned 2021 PCA full launch.
7. 07
   Cigar Coop 2020 Countdown
   Powstanie SBC 18 lands at No. 15 on Cigar Coop's Cigar of the Year list, with Southern Draw Rose of Sharon Desert Rose at 13.
8. 08
   Ronnie Call-In
   An unscripted, profane and affectionate phone argument turned industry conversation about trade show selling, relationships over transactions and surviving COVID in the cigar business.

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

The End. Welcome to episode 153 of a Cigar Hustler Podcast. Still the number one cigar show on Podbean. Yes.

You have to mention that every week. That's what they do. It's what the professionals do. Oh, you let them know.

This is a Christmas episode. Oh, that's right. Yes. You said you had cigarettes.

No, I don't have anything. That's special. But, But, before we get started, though, we have a little bit of business to take care of, Michael. Yes, yes we do.

You'll probably notice this lovely humidor here on our table. Today's show is brought to you by the Octador by Case Elegance. You should go like this, Michael, you'll be a fan of them. The team at Case Elegance has spent years meticulously crafting this humidor to be their largest and best yet, fitting up to a hundred cigars.

This deluxe humidor features a striking octagon silhouette, posh black piano finish, glass top, It does. Case Elegance has undergone extensive research, testing, and customer feedback to solve many shortcomings commonly experienced with other humidors. True. Cleverly recessed into the base is the included patent-pending hydro system.

You can see here in the video running up to my left. An accurate and low-maintenance cigar immunification system that makes dialing in and maintaining your humidor easy. Case Elegance has integrated a front-facing digital hydrometer, offering you peace of mind that your sticks are kept to the desired humidity. Properly store your lighter, cutter, and travel case in the large bottom accessory storage drawer.

This stunning octagore is finished in a lacquered black piano with a slight undertone of black wood grain. The solid state metal hardware mirrors the octagonal shape and comes in a modern space gray finish. The Octador by Case Elegance is one of the highest rated and most comprehensive cigar humidors on the market. A striking shape, beautiful finish, and thoughtful engineering makes this a must-have for any cigar aficionado.

com for more information and purchasing. Yes, this is a really badass humidor. It is, very cool. It's really, really nice.

We just got it today, so it is adjusting, but it has been seasoned. Yes. The introductory liquid, I can't remember what the liquid is, I'm sorry, has been put into the patent-pending hydro system, which is built into the bottom. It's cool, because it's all flush on the bottom.

All that shows in the video here, that's what I mean, on the side. I just really, really love the fact that it's got a digi on the front. That is nice. Because so many humidors have that analog, and they're so inaccurate.

It's so inaccurate, it's a pain in the butt, it is. So, I mean, you could just look at it, and you will know. And this thing is sharp. If these cigars are...

Uh-oh. And it's got a really tight seal, too. Yes, it does. Yeah.

It's actually a little hard to open. Not badly hard, but it does have a nice ... Oh, that's a strong magnet. Yeah.

It's got magnets up top. This thing is beautiful. It's beautiful. com for more information and to purchase.

You can buy it directly from Case Elegance. Love it. So thank you, Case Elegance, and welcome to the Cigar Hustler Podcast family. We've got to find out if they wholesale too.

Oh, yes, we will find that out. We will make an inquiry and find out. Yeah, absolutely. So, on with the show.

On with the show, here we are. Here we are. Do you have something? What?

I mean, I got a couple little things over here. Oh, please, go right ahead. I was just jumping right into it. I'm just so excited.

You're ready to go into the news already, huh? I know. The papers are here. I just want to start reading.

I feel like, you know, I look at myself on the videos and I'm like, man, you're such a pig. You're a pig. Get your shit together. Oh, you mean with the ashing all over the table?

No, not the ashing. I'm just talking about my stuff. This is everything else. Just let it fly everywhere.

So on my Facebook page, I did like this little fundraiser. I didn't want to go crazy. Oh yeah, the fundraiser for your children's school. Yeah, and I didn't want to promote it like nuts.

I didn't want to do it on the podcast and all these other things. But I did want to help my kids out. They were trying to raise money for their school. And you know, normally their school does like this huge fair.

It's a big to-do. We talked about it last year on the show. Yeah, because I've volunteered before. Oh, that's right, you had to work.

Oh, you did the vacuum booth thing with the spray. And I let the kids pick up the money off the ground. Just get some more. And then I've had teachers yelling at us.

Father Pedro was very upset. What are you doing? I'm like, everybody wins here today. Son, stop giving away the farm.

So I obviously couldn't give my time this year. Correct, yes. I helped my boys out, and I did a fundraiser by raising, giving away some of my rare cigars that I have here, so I have a cigar here that I made for the birth of my son, my second son, which I love, Skip hates, but I love the Apollo Danny. It's a very good cigar.

Yeah, I really, it's a, you know, for sure, you know, it's really kind of funny because three of these limiteds in here are Corona Gordas, you know, if that doesn't tell you something about me, right? I put in SBC 16 and SBC 18 as well. Oh, very good. Mm-hmm.

And then we have the Cro-Mag Connecticut Broadleaf. You know, I've only seen one of, one other of those. Yeah. And, uh, the guy at Nickel City was smoking it.

Really? Oh, Tommy? Tommy. So, yeah, so Rosales gave this to me, uh, and I just, you know, I don't know, I just feel like it, it, it, it would be better off in someone else's home.

So I put it in here, and then we have the ever elusive, the 320 Sycamore. Ooh, the Christmas cigar. Yeah, so that was a cigar that I made last year? A year before, I think.

Two years ago. Maybe two years ago. Yeah, I think it was two years ago. Son of a bitch, man, I'm getting old.

And I only made a few of them, so I wanted to incorporate all these and kind of, you know, help my boys raise some money. Yes. So we did that, they met their goals, and I have-- They exceeded the goals, I believe. What?

Oh yeah, they well exceeded the goals. Thank you, everyone. Yes, thank you so much for everybody who helped out, and I'm going to draw the winner right now out of this lovely Powstanie box. Oh, is it fair that you draw the winner?

Would you like to draw the winner? I would like to draw the winner. Okay, you can draw the winner. I will draw the winner.

Now, which one was I supposed to get? No looking. No looking. No looking.

Ooh, hold a hint. Wow, they're very small. Yes, they are small. Okay, I have one.

Okay. Let's see who it is. You want me to read it? Yeah, go ahead.

Alright, and the winner is... Like picking everyone? No, no, the winner is Heather Callahan. Hey!

All right, Heather! Well, hey, Heather, thank you very much for contributing. Yes, thank you if you contact us here at the shop, or through the podcast, or any form of social media. Yeah, I'll reach out to you, or Michael will call.

So thank you very much, thank you everybody for contributing to that, that was a big deal. Do you want to put this in the little bag so you remember? And this year's tough, you know, it's been, no, I'll take care of it. It's, you know...

I'll follow up, Heather, don't worry. Wait a second, you're the one that guarantees stuff on the Patreon, never fucking ships anything. You guarantee it, not me. " That's fine, I gave you the list, and you said you'd take care of it.

Right, I told you that I was going to build a database for you, and I said that last week because you haven't been getting it done. It's very busy, Michael. I'm super busy, super busy, super busy. So, some people have got them, so it's not a complete...

That's true, by default. Not a complete default system. " Hey, did this guy get one? I don't know.

Put that in there. That'll be nice and confusing, too, when we go to follow-up. I don't remember who. Okay.

You're gonna get two, some of you. Yeah, exactly. Just keep your mouth shut. So, let's see what else I got here.

What did you do all weekend? That was important to me. I mean, what did I do this weekend? We had some friends down from North Carolina.

Yeah. And we went and visited them, and they're still way locked down up there. The lockdown up there. They said you get to Florida, it's like COVID does not exist.

Yeah. Yeah. We're totally fine here. It's fine.

It's no big deal. Everybody's got it, or everybody's going to get it, or everybody's had the shot. Well, I mean, I did recently put up a post on Facebook that there's reason to believe that nicotine is actually a blocker for this virus. I believe it is true, not a reason to believe.

I believe it is true. We were discussing that today. I mean, technically, knock on wood, nobody here inside the shop has gotten it. Definitely knock on wood.

We've had some close calls, but that was from outside thing, it wasn't like one of us gave it to somebody else here, it was somebody in their family gave it to somebody, so I'm gonna keep smoking, I might smoke more, probably for the best, so increase the smoking, stay safe, stay safe out there, we're just trying to save lives, you should do a, what would you call it, a, what's the shot called everybody's getting, what are we talking about, not the cure, I don't think you are, but what do they call them? The vaccine! The vaccine sampler! Oh man, it took you a while to get there.

Took you a while to find out, yeah. But I wasn't gonna help you. The vaccine sampler you should do. The vaccine sampler.

All Powstanie and... This will save you. No, no, allegedly. Allegedly.

You can't claim that, in case I'm not going to. But if you jump on my personal Facebook page, the link is up there for the actual research. Right. From the CDC, or was it?

Or FDA? Well, it was copied. I think that there's a government site that grabs all the research, but I think that it's a study that That's going on overseas. Yeah, I think it was.

A European country, not in Asia. Yeah, I think it was France or something. Well, they all smoke cigarettes there, so that's probably it. I don't think a cigarette is as good.

No, because it has all the other companies. Yeah, it's not as natural. So maybe who smokes a lot of cigarettes in Spain? Maybe Spain.

And the vaping, actually. They said that the vaping is possible. The bubble lung, you can't grab a hold. Yeah, no bubble.

No bubble. No bubble lung. Okay, so yeah, that works out. We got no bubbles.

You know, we really pissed off Ronnie, apparently, with a podcast. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, it was really, really pissed. Apparently he has me blocked on social media, the little baby.

He probably has you blocked for the weasel team stuff, as I thought about it. But I think that we should just give him a call real quick. Oh. And we'll see how this goes.

He has no idea we're going to call. Can we hang up on him if he goes long? No, I just, well, maybe we, yeah, we'll have to cut him off, but I mean, I would, you know, what the hell. Because we're already 10 minutes in.

You know, here's the deal. You know, we got to, we really got to kind of lay into him and he was, you know, And he responded on my Facebook page in anger, so I figured, why not give him a shot to really kind of lay into us and… Oh, sure, why not? What the hell? Turnabout's fair play.

Let's see, yeah. That is on, the mic is on. He said that we, you know, nobody watches or listens or anything, and I was like… I don't know, it's the number one show on Podbean for cigars. So, I thought it'd be good.

Let's see if he answers. Oh, it's ringing. Let's see, I'm going to take a sip of my water here. Yeah, you're going to have to need a long finger.

Oh, write the voicemail. Oh, we were sent a voicemail. Oh, I got a text. Let's see.

I'm working out. Can't talk now. No, no. He already did his cardio this morning.

He says, "Give me a minute, please. " Oh, wow. So busy. Hmm.

I'll give him a minute and then we'll call him back. This weekend was kind of easy for me. My aunt and uncle drove up from Naples and got to hang out. Napleson?

Naples. Oh. Naples and. Oh, it's like, where's Naples in that?

So that was really cool. Oh, somebody from Sweetwater called me. Sweetwater? Oh, to follow up.

Yeah. Very nice. Got to call them back. Yeah, so what else you got going on there, Mikey?

It's kind of a quiet week for us. Mom and Dad are on lockdown for Christmas. Oh, yeah. Are they smokers?

No. You should go bring them cigars. We're going to make a mass food delivery, again, like we did on Thanksgiving, stand outside and wave at them. I mean, that sucks, man.

I know, but it's just so terrible. You know what I mean? Like, this has been a year. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. It's been a fucking year. And I remember when they were talking about it in April, like, pfft. It won't last long.

No, no. Well, I mean, you know, the guy, that one guy was saying that, but, you know, the other guys were like, yeah, you're screwed into this. next year sometimes like wait a second no way i'm saying maybe 22 really yeah but the vaccine's all pumping out and stuff well according to the uh what's he calling back oh no the gentleman we had in this morning i don't see the advantage of the vaccine no i think the vaccine is definitely good but he said he if he gets it he still has to mask up and glove up and wear his moon suit of course well he's in the medical field then why take it like he said well keep him from dying i it yeah yeah i mean or potentially spreading it or you know i mean you know even for guys like us you know we're out even though we are constantly vaccinating ourselves with this fine tobacco right exactly you know you don't want to better take another shot bring it home or anything like that you know god forbid like that's got to be let's say it doesn't affect you but it affects your kid and now you know your kid's on a fucking ventilator or some shit like that i know that that's unlikely But if you can avoid that, like, I don't give a shit. I'll take the shot.

Right. Fuck it. Where do I sign up? I'm probably not.

But, like, I'm not even close to that category. You know what I mean? Yeah, I don't think I qualify. It's like, you know, they're doing 75 plus.

They find out that, you know, we have a built up immunity from cigars. Maybe they want to hurry and give it to us. Oh, yeah. It's true.

Or take some of our blood and make it a vaccine. Take this. Save the world. You're welcome.

Sit there smoking while they're taking your blood. Let me fix that up a little more. Oh, you need a higher dosage? Okay.

Let's get that covered. Let's get that in there. Yeah. Somebody hand me the Neanderthal.

I'll take two HNs. So, yeah. Oh! Ronnie's really putting a damper on the shoulder.

Ooh, I almost forgot. What? Excuse me while I slide over here. Oh.

He's sliding. Sliding. Oh, yes, please put your jewelry. Put your jewelry back on.

I won't be able to put it on with the headphones on. We showed that last week. Did we? Yeah, yeah.

I don't even remember our shows. The episode Brian was here, the Manny. Yes, okay. We did it then.

So, not last week, maybe the week before. So, my brother is very upset about the fact that he has not received the Room 101 ring yet. I've been wearing it around my neck. Whenever I see him, I put it on.

Don't scratch the octavo. By Case Elegance. By Case Elegance. So, what I'm thinking is...

Oh, I didn't notice it was engraved on the inside. Oh, dude, you know, his jewelry is a big deal. It is. S.

tour. Yeah, continental United States tour. World tour might be a little... So, I'm thinking, you know, maybe we send it to Yogi.

We'll call these guys beforehand and make sure that they're down. Send to them, take a picture of it, and then they'll ship it to the next guy. He was out cleaning sidewalks and stuff this morning. You know, the struggle's real.

The struggle's real up there in New York. Well, there's, I mean, I don't know why you'd clean the sidewalks, nobody's allowed out. Bike, bike, the bike route, bike route, whatever it's called, bike path. And, you know, maybe it goes to Illinois, my boy in Illinois is Mr.

Adam. He can hang it from his rear-room mirror in his big truck. S. Maybe Mr.

Walpert can put it in a jet fighter or something. Walpert would be great, you know. Zip around in a jet fighter. Yeah, so like I, you know.

Places that'll be cool. Yeah. I mean, my one concern, I might want to wait until shipping until after Christmas. Oh, yeah, get lost.

Just because, yeah, I don't want it to disappear. I saw a video today, and it was a box on a conveyor belt, and it was going up, but something had hit it, so it starts rolling. Oh, my God. And it's just rolling.

" It's just rolling. So it's not going up or down, it's just rolling on the conveyor belt. It's so bad. All the other boxes have been past it.

Like, I'm sending out orders, and, like, nothing's even getting scanned. " We shipped it a week ago, man. Then it delivers without even still shipping notifications. " Don't even care anymore.

Turn those machines back on. Send it somewhere. Let's go, let's go. So, yeah.

So the batter's on the gun, doesn't matter. Move it through. So the orders are going out. Yes.

Yeah. Has it been a minute? Should we hit 'em again? Hit 'em again.

Let's hit 'em again, and then we'll go on. We'll move on. Yeah, we'll go on to the news. Wow, we're only at 17 minutes.

Yeah. I hate it when you call somebody, they don't answer, and then you don't know if you're supposed to call them, they're supposed to call you. Oh, I don't care. Voicemail again.

All right, Ronnie, you had your chance, bud. Yeah, we were gonna let you lay into us. Okay, now disconnect the cord and we're not accepting the call. The whole shebang.

Oh, man. Don't unhook the cord. " All right. Well, sorry.

" Let's see what he says. " Please, please stand by. He flicked me off. Oh.

" Oh, wow. Well, we'll move on to the good news, then. Can I do it one more time? All right, one more time.

Let's see. Oh, can't take that one. Not you, sorry, not that one. Not available.

It's a little red thing, is that an apple? No, I'll explain. Oh. Two rings, three rings.

I feel like if he-- This is terrible show content, by the way. Okay. Alright, you know what, so here's the deal. deal i mean he he went ahead and he hammered me on facebook i gave him an opportunity to hammer me on the podcast and uh he hammered you i couldn't see any of it i'm locked he just he just couldn't take it it says give me a couple i don't know if we can't go back no we're moving on all right michael i think a congratulations are in order for what you have made number 15 The SBC 18 is number 15 on the Cigar Coop 2020 Cigar of the Year Countdown.

I heard about that. Dun-da-da-da! That's amazing. When a cigar excels in the flavor category, it goes a long way.

This is exactly the case when it comes to the Postagna SBC 18. Mm-hmm. Rapper San Andreas, and he just goes through all that stuff. But congratulations, you made the countdown.

That Coop, he's such a sweet man. The 16 made somebody's last year. Was it his? It might have, I don't know.

But I think it was 15 on whatever list it was then, too. But his is the first list that's out. Yeah. Yeah, so there's still plenty of time for the other list, for us to make the other list.

Yeah, we probably won't make them though, but hey, you know what? I bet he shows up at least one more. You know, it is kind of cool when it does happen. It's an honor just to be nominated.

You go through and you're like, whatever, I don't care. And then it happens like, all right. Yeah, I won something. So do you get a plaque or something?

I'll call Coop and send me one, yeah. We should get a plaque. I'd like some kind of trophy or something. I would like something.

Participation or something. Do you have maybe a $1,500 ring you could say? Yeah. Do you have a… We could tease Greg with?

A piece of jewelry that I could not give to my brother. That'd be amazing. That would be fun. So, yeah.

So, nothing else happened this weekend or anything? You got any shows coming up? You doing anybody's show? No, not doing any shows.

You know, man, this whole week is, like, it's crazy. You know, you start… For me, I got three major events coming up. You know, Christmas Eve is a big deal. Yeah.

Right. And then you have Christmas Day. Right. It's a baby's birthday.

That's right. So, that's quite the trifecta. The trifecta, I was going to say. Yeah.

The trifecta of things going on. I don't know what's going to happen after that. I want to move her birthday. I might do it in October or July or something.

Her actual birthday is not the 26th, though, is it? It's the 23rd. The 23rd. But everybody will be in town.

Oh, still from Christmas. 24/25, yeah. So just, hey, boom. We'll just move it, yeah.

Yeah. It's not like she's going to notice. No. Until she's in therapy older.

No, but what's really awesome is like, She's really been nailing like the bye, like the bye, she waves her hand. So as you're walking out the door, she always hits you with the bye. So sweet when I start talking. Yeah, it's good stuff, it's good stuff.

I have to carry on my interactions from the other birthday party to see if she still likes me or if she's gonna scream when she sees me again. Because they're towards the end of the birthday party, we were buds. Yeah, no, you know what, it's funny because my aunt and uncle came into town and like when they walked in, she didn't know who they were. " And then she wouldn't go to Greg, she wouldn't go to anybody.

Oh. Well, she doesn't like Greg. That's true. I mean, he doesn't really come around that much anyway, so, you know.

It's very busy, very busy. Super busy, super busy. Yeah. Oh, he's out camping today, apparently.

Or driving back from camping or something. Ooh, living his best life, yeah. Kayaking and camping in the great outdoors. Kayaking, yeah, he's an outdoorsman now.

I'm interested to see how it went, because Chet went and pulled the stakes for the tent, I guess, were downstairs, that he borrowed. So Chet went and put him in the jeep for him Friday night, the jeep's been out front ever since. Ah. He didn't take the steaks.

Mm-hmm, that's gonna be quite a problem. It was very windy last night. What, so maybe they just, a giant sleeping thing or something? Yeah.

I had a bear eat all my garbage this morning. Oh! That sucks. Did you get on video?

No, maybe. I didn't look. I just knew that I was very disappointed when, you know, 'cause like the garbage men, they'll just, it doesn't qualify. Oh, they won't.

Oh, so down by the curb or at the house? Was it down by the curb or at the house? Yeah, it was down by the curb. Oh.

You know, so you take it out late last night. Oh, we always take it out the day of. Yeah, well, I'm not doing that. Hmm.

And that's why I have to suffer here, because this bear went to town on my garbage. Made a mess. So you left it for your wife to clean up? No, no, no, I cleaned it.

Oh. I cleaned it all. But the garbage men just drove by. Well, no, what they do is they-- They're probably going to kick that one over.

We'll say it was a bear. No, so they took out the garbage. Right. Like that was left in the barrels.

Ah. Nothing on the ground. That was probably like half of what was it. Good food, he's got all that good Polish food in your house.

Son of a bitch, I'm gonna fucking put antifreeze all over my garbage. Why don't you just get a cane that locks? Yeah, why don't I just get a shotgun? It's illegal to shoot bears.

I know, I don't understand that. He's joking, he's not shooting the bear. It doesn't make any sense to me. Well, they're endangered, there's not a lot of them.

How are they, they're not endangered? They're not like alligators. They're running these streets here. That's because we have encroached on their natural habitat.

The house has been there for 50 years. Yes, but they're coming from the area where they used to be that somebody has now built on. It's not my problem. Take them back.

It is your problem. It is my problem. That's the sad part. We're getting coyotes here in Delfton.

Ooh, coyotes. That sounds like, you can shoot those, right? Can you shoot those? I think I can shoot coyotes.

Yeah. They take animals. Yeah. They'll come and take a little dog and stuff.

Yeah. That's never good. No. Not as big as you think they are either.

I've seen a couple. No. Live down in Eustace. Looks like big dogs.

I mean, not even a big dog. Like a medium-sized dog. Hmm. But they're very mean.

Chapo hurt his leg. How did Chapo hurt his leg? Playing with the other dogs. So you killed the other two?

So the other two are dead. No. How was the interaction with the three? Are they getting...

Oh, yeah. Everything's all as well. Yeah, they've gotten better. You know, Falcor, the shepherd, is not a big fan still.

But she tries. She's like, I'm trying. And then after a while, it's like, leave me the hell alone, I'm done here, but, you know, I don't know what else, you know, so we're doing what we can, we're just kind of keeping an eye, monitoring it and see how it goes, and if it doesn't go away, we'll have to take them in to the vet. I don't know what you're going to do to them.

Take in the new dog? Yeah. Oh. Oh, for the limb.

It's like a horse, they just got to put it down. That'd be tough. I don't know. I don't know if we're prepared for that.

Ah, dogs, you can have three legs. Oh, you're getting that little wheelchair thing, is it a front or a back? Front. Oh, okay, then you just think about it.

It wouldn't be good. Boom. They kind of hop. Yeah.

All right, we're at 25 minutes, let's take a quick little break here, and then we'll come back and get into the news. All right, sounds good. All right, guys, we'll be right back. All right.

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Welcome back to episode 153 of the Cigar Hustler Podcast, with sound now! So, what were you going to do for this episode? Oh, we were going to talk about what you and I talked about out there. Yeah?

Yeah. Okay. We decided not to. Put the kimbush on it?

Yeah. Okay. For all parties involved. Probably the better decision.

Probably the better decision. All right. I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. You don't know what I'm talking about?

No. The text messages and the internet thing and the photos and still nothing. All right, I'll tell you later. All right, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo!

This just in! This just in. Southern Draw to release Manzanati this weekend. This past weekend they did.

That can't sound right. Manzanati? M-A-N-Z-A-N-I-T-A. Manzanita?

Manzanata. Tomato. Southern Draw, though, so... Southern Draw.

There you go. Southern Draw is celebrating the origins of tobacco as well as the anniversary of the company's co-founder this weekend with the launch of its newest line, Manzanati. Manzanati, Manzanity, Manzan, Manzan, Manzan, Manzanita. We can go with Manzanita.

It's as close as Manzan eating. That's Manzana, right? Manzana. Manzana?

Manzana? Yeah. Manzanita. They really need to put a phonetic thing next to these when they do these things.

Manzana. Isn't that like Apple or something? Oh, it is. Little Apple.

Who is the co-founder? I don't even know who's the co-founder of his company. Little Apple. Little Apple is?

Oh. Yeah, Little Apple. Details about the tobacco. Steve Jobs.

I don't think that's him. No? The details about the tobacco in the blend are somewhat limited as the countries of origin aren't being disclosed. Manzanita.

That is apple. It's close to apple. Manzanita. As the countries of origin aren't being disclosed while the...

Manzanita? We'll see. The wrapper is a Habano hybrid leaf, the binder is Habano leaf, and the filler contains Pelo de Oro, Corojo 99, and Legero. It's nothing in Spanish.

According to a press release. He's telling you right now. I don't know what it is. It's made at AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua SA and will be offering in a...

They're offering in a-- But you just said they didn't know where it was from. No, no, they're not giving the origins of the Tamaco. Ah. Not the cigar.

Please, pay attention to the show. I don't know what you're doing. Offering in a 6x52 Toro Vitola for the launch, while a Robusto and Gordo slated to be added in 2021. I'm just over here forest gumping my way through the cigar industry.

Manzanata. Manzanita. Manzanita. You know, he did three live things this weekend.

I should have watched at least one of them. I gotta feel like he'd probably fuck it up too, though, you know, 'cause he's got that southern droll, he's a Monsonita. The company is forecasting annual production for 2021 to be a total of 180,000 cigars divided evenly among the three sizes. The cigar got its name, which means Little Apple.

There you go. There you go. Son of a bitch, I had it. Why, Abdel Fernandez, Rubber Volt, and Cherno, along with the members of their respective teams, were inspecting bales of the Habano hybrid leaves that would be used for the wrapper, The rapper noticed how they had an oily, deep red color.

Oh, very nice. Oh, very nice. Reminiscent of the red bark of a manzanata tree. Oh, they're coming out with like the 9 and the XS?

Will there be a Montanita Pro? We have all who decided to share the history of traditional tobacco in its- Montanita pad? Can you please don't interrupt? I'm trying to interrupt.

I really like interrupting you though. You do. Yeah. Let's see.

Traditional tobacco and its- Montanita. And then we had an epiphany. While working on names for a new cigar release, said Robert Holtz on a press release, some nostalgic names were thrown around, but we saw this leaf. It's deep red color.

Observe the texture. Rolled the, where'd I count it? The Tabacuidos? What's the small cigar?

Tabacuidos. Tabacuidos. Tabacuidos. This is fun.

It's fun. Tabacchiados. Tabacchiados. Tabacchiados.

Ah, and smoked them together. There was a unanimous endorsement that manzanita, mean little apple in Spanish, described the tiny apple-like fruit as perfect. In order to move forward with the name, the Holtz consulted with Robert Caldwell of Caldwell Cigars, who offers a 4x42 petite Corona Vitola called, oh, the same name, in his The King is Dead line. He agreed, and the line was on his way to fruition.

Oh, well, that's nice of him. That was nice of Mr. Holtz. You know what I mean?

No, well, that was nice of Mr. Caldwell. Caldwell, sorry. Both had the same first name.

" Yeah, he could have. I've seen people do that. Oh, yes, I have. In the industry.

You know what? No. That's not gonna happen. Oh, that's a great name.

Here, can you read this cease and desist for me real quick? Oh, yeah. So you might want to change that. " Uh-huh.

" "A little apple has been used by a native population as a tobacco substitute for an additive to wild tobaccos, As well as for food and medicinal purposes for millennia. Having apples in Esteelea is a big deal. Is it? Yeah.

You can't get them? No, it's kind of like, you know, it's like a fruit, I don't know. Like oranges in Florida? No, it's like having, you know, having access to them, it's like, you know, you're bougie.

You're bougie, oh. You're bougie. Skip has apples? Ooh, of course.

Of course, Skip has apples, you know. He just throws them to people. The fans incorporate a respectful interpretation of the native art, while the color scheme is a tribute to Courtney L. Taylor, A long-time financial consultant and friend to Southern Draw, and in particular, a nod to Taylor's cherished university athletic program.

I don't know. Is this in New York? I don't know. Is it the same thing?

The company has also announced- I feel like you've merged two stories. No, no. Okay. The company has also announced a charitable component to the release of the Little Apple.

I'm just going to say Little Apple. As some of the proceeds from the Little Apple will go to the First National Development Institute, An organization endeavored to ensure the substantial economic, spiritual, and cultural well-being of their communities. Southern Draw has chosen for its contributions to go toward the Nourishing Native Foods and Health Initiative, and the company expects to raise a total of $30,000 for the charity in 2021, with hopes to exceed that number at the end of the program. The instant I smoked these tobaccos individually was amazingly satisfying, but the most gratifying aspect of this brand is that it's not just one story, it's a series of stories, said Sharon Holt.

I'm glad I knew Robert's voice, that would've been welcome. Yeah, that would've been super strange. We'll be able to share the sacred, spiritual, and cultural uses of traditional tobacco and support a remarkable Native American charity, while we publicly thank Courtney for, oh, it's a guy, Courtney for his 20 years of professional dedication to our adventures and for his friendship. Courtney, I thought that was a girl.

It's one of those names, like Jamie. It's one of those names, like Jamie. Yeah, it could go either way. You know, what other ones?

There's a couple. Mike. Yeah, Mike. No.

Jamie. I know Jamie, for sure. Jamie. I don't know.

There's other ones. Southern Draw Manzanita is being released this past Saturday via 10 retailers across the country, each of which are receiving 100 boxes each. Oh. We're not on the list.

No, we don't carry it. We don't carry it. Okay, but you could have got it at F&M Cigars, Burn Premium Cigars, Famous Smoke Shop. Oh.

Not Abe, different Famous. You mean Smokin'? Yeah, Smokin', sorry. You've got to take some vitamins before you get on here or something.

Ambassadors Fine Cigars, Atlantic Cigar Company, Casa de Monte Cristo, multiple locations. Heff's Place. Heff. You?

Mishawaka, Indiana. Mishawaka? Mishawaka. I said that one right.

Mishawaka. Scallywag Cigars. Oh, he's a good guy. We like him.

Yeah, yeah. Chris is my friend. Davidus. Davidus?

Davidus Cigars. Davidus. Davidus. And Cigars International, also multiple locations.

99 for a 10-cup box, both before taxes. That's amazing Moving on Manzanita Florida Senator renews a push for beach smoking bans Oh, what? Yes, I knew you'd be sorry about this Well, you know, but, okay I like to smoke on the beach Yeah My wife makes me go to the beach I'm just smoking You know, like I make me a little ashtray in the sand This is one of those regulations where we kind of fucking We get whacked on the head Even though they're not really aiming at you Because it's cigarette people Yeah, because these assholes smoke their pack of cigarettes Filters are everywhere And they throw them on the ground Right And, you know Nobody wants that shit. Nobody wants it anywhere.

If they would make little ashtrays like I do in the sand, and then you just bury them. Yeah. No, you're not supposed to bury them. Oh, you can't bury the filters.

Don't bury the filters. But the tobacco just leaves. It's just leaves. I think that all the time when I throw it out the window.

It's just leaves. Do you take the band off? Because that's paper. That's paper, it's fine.

Yeah, I always take that. You know, I picked five of them out of the parking lot. It depends on where. Oh, really?

With the little chomper thing, little claws. They had been run over and was mushed. Look like a little brown turds. That happens a lot.

Look like turds everywhere. Oh. Florida State Senator Joe Gruters, from Sarasota, is renewing his fight to allow local municipalities to decide whether they want to ban smoking on their beaches. As this week, he introduced the SB 334 for the upcoming legislative sessions.

Currently, Florida State law says that only the state can ban smoking on beaches. Gruters' bill will change that language. It would authorize counties and municipalities to further restrict smoking within the boundaries of public beaches and public parks. It would also prohibit smoking within all state parks.

Now, if they say it excluded cigars, I'd be in. Oh. Maybe we should contact. Let's call him.

Hook up your phone. Yeah. Hey, Joe. Hey, Joe.

Hey, Joe. How you doing? I just don't think you're, you know. You guys, this is Cigar Hustler Podcast?

Yeah. We need to talk to you about it. We're just smoking leaves. That's three, three, four.

And if we put the leaves with the other leaves, it's fine. It's just more leaves. Yeah, it's just, you know. I don't get mad at the trees.

Actually enrich the soil. Yeah, you're not banning trees. Yeah. Shut down the trees.

The matter has come up in recent years, as in 2017, the Sarasone County smoking ban for beaches was deemed to be unconstitutional. You know what's really cool to me, though? It's like, hey, people are dying. We're, you know, jobs are being lost.

The economy is in who the fuck knows what condition it is at this point. I'm gonna go after cigarettes in the beach. Like, wait, what? How did you get there, dude?

Well, the 2003 state law regarding smoking in restaurants, workplaces, and other indoor areas. I remember that. I was in high school. And that law, it was written that only the state can make laws regarding smoking.

Yes. Gruters tried to pass a similar bill in 2019, and while it was sent to the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee, it never received a vote and was indefinitely postponed, withdrawn from consideration. Womp womp. It passed a change we're going to effect in July 1st of 2021.

The Florida Legislature's 2021 session conveys on March 2nd, probably March 2nd, this guy will be on the phone. Are we boring you? I'm sorry. With this story, yeah, this is ridiculous.

Okay, yeah, so no smoking, he wants to do it, okay. Okay, well, this is the end of the show. Michael needs a nap. Take a break for you to take a nap?

No, I don't need a nap, I'm good. All right. I just want you to talk about something that's a little more interesting than some guy trying to fight for the rights to regulate smoking on beaches. I have one more story.

One more story. Maybe Ronnie will call back. Maybe we'll try Ronnie again, because I didn't start the timer. One more run.

Let's see, Jake Wyatt, Lithium Cigars, Michael. Been looking to kick back after a long day. Some people reach for a cigar and a drink. Yeah, it's true.

Jake White Cigar Company is hoping you reach for lithium. Oh, yeah. The cigar, not the pill. Yeah, well, we did the pre-release for that.

Well, you may be thinking of the medication used for treating psychiatric issues. This lithium is the name of the company's latest line, which received a limited release in November. We had it at the limited release. We did.

Oh, this is one cigar we had before everybody else. Where everybody else? Hey! How did that happen?

Something snuck through somewhere. A couple people like this. It is the 17th line. Oh, we don't have the other 16 though.

Which debuted in February with a handful of lines that featured a number of decorative tobacco flourishes. What's a tobacco flourish? Is that like the little design on the thing? Because they do.

They have little things into the thing. The cigar uses an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper and Dominican binder and fillers. What the company says delivers a medium full flavor profile. " Hmm.

Hmm. Is it infused with lithium, maybe? I don't know. Maybe.

I don't think it is. Let's not say that. Yeah. That's not even alleged.

That's not true, are we? That we lied. That we just lied. " Hey!

Oh, it's so cute! Covered foot and pigtail cap. That's nice. " What do we have around before I try to write?

I don't know. Alright, set at $11 for a cigar, and while the soft launch was offered in bundles, the company will put them in boxes for the full release for the 2021 Premium Cigar Association Convention, a trade show slated to happen in July, the company has thus far only released 200 bundles of the 10 cigars, ooh, we have like half of those I think here, is made at Tabla Calera, JVM in the Dominican Republic. Heading your stride, eh? Well, I haven't been able to say that word in three years, so, you know, now I'm looking at Manzanita, Manzanata.

Manzanita. The apple cigar. Nobody, did, uh, did Coop release any other, uh, ones? There's four, uh, what, did he start at the top and go down, or?

He started at 15, I think he does like, it takes a long time. No, no, I saw 16. I saw a 16. Oh, really?

But then, uh, I think he went like 20 through 15 for the first one. Let's see, what's, uh, ooh, 13. Oh, what's 13? - Oh, what's 13?

- Southern Draw. - Southern Draw, Manzanita? - No, Rose of Sharon, the Desert Rose, Bellicose of Pino. - Oh, that's the new one, the Desert Rose.

- And, yeah. - What else can we get on there as we're filling time? - I don't see. - It could only be three minutes in, I have no idea.

- Number 14, the Cohiba Spectra, yeah, I don't know about that one. - Yeah. - I don't know if I've had that one, though. - I think that was like a really expensive one.

- We have a Listener of the Week, Michael. - We do. - Oh, do you want to keep talking about cigars? Sure, I mean, I don't know.

I have nothing outside. You're so confusing me. You sound like so much fun right now. " I think that's the one that's in the Roomba.

The Spectra? Yeah. Spectrum? Spectrum?

Yeah, it looks like it's in a Roomba. Yeah, it's in a Roomba. " It came out last year at Christmas, I believe. I think so.

Maybe. Very expensive. Yeah. It costs a lot of money.

He was going to give me one to try, but he never did. Never did, I'm still waiting on my psychedelic turtle, that he says there aren't any more, I see people smoking. Oh, it's so funny because you got a healthy dose of stuff, so you better find some more shit to complain about. Hector's mad at me now, we got to write Espinosa.

Oh, really? Yeah. Why? Did you see, he put up something with like a ham radio or something where he's tuning in the dials or something, Uh huh.

And I commented on there, I said, Michael, do you need to have a talk with Hector about how podcasts work again? Oh, I saw that. She did? He goes, really, bro?

I said, I was joking. And he goes, yeah. It's almost Christmas. I go, I love you, Hector.

No, he's not mad at you. No, he's not mad. No, he's not mad. No, he's not mad.

Okay, tell me the Listener of the Week. We're giving Ronnie a few more minutes. Okay, Listener of the Week. Dana McCool!

Hey! The next governor of the state of Florida. Maybe. Who knows?

Maybe. She's a great friend. She's been a great friend. She's on the city council here in Del Tono.

She is, and she's been a great friend to this store and to me personally for years. Maybe 10 years. Oh. Yeah.

This is a Dana McCool that took on the water company a couple years ago. She did. Paid them with pennies. Paid her with a red rider full of pennies.

That was amazing. That was fun. That's the type of person she is. Made all the news.

Made the news cycle. You don't want to be on Dana's bad side. Nope. Not at all.

She calls me sweetie. As long as she keeps calling me sweetie, I figure I don't know. And like she, you know, before she had breast cancer stuff and when she was a smoker, she was so, she was like so amazing, so generous to everybody. Like, you know, if she had a cigar and you wanted it, you're having it.

You know, here you go. Oh, it's one of one. Here you go. Oh, very nice.

She's that type of person. And she still is. She's still very generous to people. Yeah.

She has a locker here, I believe, still. Yeah. Every once in a while, she has me send some goodies out to some people, too. Oh, that's nice.

Oh, yeah. I don't mean to put her completely on blast, but yeah. Just over I go, never sent me to the guy, never sent me something, but she's a rare breed, you know. She is.

Wish more people were like that. Give me this. I'm gonna call him again. You gonna try again?

This is the red one. Ronnie, this is your final attempt. This is it, Ronnie. It's your last chance.

And then I'm gonna delete you from the weasel group. Kicked out forever. He thinks he has me blocked there so he can do it, but I'll just have Sean or Skip do it. Final attempt.

You know, my father and I were just talking about you. Oh, yeah? Yep. I'm sure you're saying horrible things.

Terrible, terrible things. Well, I mean, just so we can put a few things into perspective. Yeah, go ahead. In our family, like, we hope that you're recording this, because...

You are, you're officially, you're on the podcast right now. As we speak. Mm-hmm. Really, this is the podcast?

This is it. Oh, I can't say what I was going to say, though. Oh, go ahead, man. Oh, go ahead.

Come on. I made fun of you. Let's go. You should have never said that, dude.

I'd rather ruin your podcast. Hey, I don't think you can. You know, I will say this because I hope that you guys don't edit your shit. No, we don't.

No, it's too much work. Go ahead. Go to town. I think you guys are arguably the biggest chihuahuas in the podcast.

Oh, Pop's yelling chihuahua in the background. You guys have a paid podcast where you guys throw shade on people that I haven't heard You heard because you cower and you can't do it in real life on podcasts like right now. Yeah, you're right. We don't call anybody out on this podcast.

We don't call anybody out on this podcast, not at all, not at all. What else you got? Like a CR pile of season assist letters? No.

No. I haven't watched that podcast yet. I can't afford buying it because you guys put out fake news and tell people I'm rich because you guys... No, no.

We said your brother's rich. You guys want people to hate on me and not spend with me because you guys think I'm successful. No. No.

We don't ever want somebody to not spend with you. I spent with you. You have the Czech Rebellion, you have Mike Palmer, you have the new girl. Mike Palmer buys cigars from you.

I bought cigars from you. So you can afford this huge payroll. You've got Instagram. You've got a fucking hashtag that I even use called Cigar Hustler.

Cause you're an amazing man. Hashtags are free. You're an amazing man, Ronnie. And you guys literally say I have money?

No, his brother has money. He got mad because of the whole cardio thing. Dude, but the thing is, it's like, you don't talk about someone-- Why don't you tell him Pops that he could buy you and sell you for free? Now I have to go to another brother.

See, you can't-- see, this is why I can't do podcasts, so this does get edited, right? No, it doesn't. No, no, no, not at all. I don't even know how to do that.

We're not-- yeah. That's Pops and my brother. It's got nothing to do with me still. I'm just Ronnie, dude.

I sell cigars and that's what-- You guys can't, like, go put out fake news about me. You know, some girl's gonna slide in my brother's DM and not know he's married with a kid. Yeah, so don't slide into Ronnie's brother's DM. Is it like homewreckers on the Cigar Hustler podcast?

Well, that is new, but we're open, I mean. The other subject I wanted to talk about, I mean, I don't care if this ends up being podcast-worthy, but, like, you can't talk about somebody doing cardio. Yes? When you can't get to my size if you wanted to.

No, I couldn't. I work out hard to be lean. You do. You're like a rectangle.

I know. I'm a rectangle. Upside-down triangle. Here's what I'm proposing.

Go ahead. Propose. I just had back surgery, as you know. Uh-huh.

I'm going to work it into my regimen. Okay. I'm going to start rolling in a few days. Okay.

You're obviously like a hundred pounds heavier than me. Probably. What do you weigh? How much do you weigh?

I'm 180 right now. Alright, I got you by about 70. So yeah. But it's bulking season.

If I toss you around like a rag doll, then it's like quite embarrassing for you to be like way younger than me. Okay. I'm 49, how old are you? I'm 36, sir.

You wish to wrestle? Right, so 13 years older, if you get tossed around by someone this old, it's bad, right? Yeah. But then if you like, by miracle, like you can win.

Yeah. And you can put me to sleep, like I'm probably gonna put you to sleep. So at the end of the day, if you do that, you just beat up an old man I can't lose. It's a win-win for you.

That's true, it's a win-win. It's a win-win. I would never roll with you, though. You beat up the poor man with the back surgery.

You dick. You know. That's just so not nice. Yeah.

You don't want to help my ego. You just want to hurt me. So you blocked Mike Palmer on Facebook? Yeah, we blocked.

Not on Instagram, though. He's my friend on Facebook. That's what I told him, yeah. I just followed Secreto.

I didn't even know I wasn't following your story. He gives you his money. Just so you know, it's never, you know, Mike made a gay comment the other day. I don't mean gay like it's in the sexual way, I just mean gay in general.

Yes, right. He said something like it's only, it's never only business. Oh, you. Yeah.

No, it's never only business, brother. Never only business. Well, it always, until it's just with someone who's just not a business person. Okay.

So like if they're not in your business type of person. Yeah. It's, that's normal, but when it's just business, it's just business. I just feel like...

" That would be bad. No, but, yeah, but when you use the line, "Hey, it's only business," that means that, you know, it's like, "Hey, fuck you," right? I would rather someone give me a polite reason why they were saying it was only business, because I just don't like that said to me in the sense of, like, if it's business. But I don't really have that said to me.

Like you said, I'm Facebook aggressive. Right. Facebook aggressive. Yeah, I'm not real-life aggressive, just Facebook aggressive.

But it's, but for me, I mean, this whole business, it's, it's not only business. If it was, then I would probably be richer than what I am, right? Like, I mean, I just, I, I like, uh, I'm a big believer in, you know, taking care of people and looking out for them and, you know, fucking, you know, damn the torpedoes. No, I think that's why you and I have always got along.

Like, I mean, there's never been a time, and I even include more, like, no different, but, like, more so in a way for, like, different type of stuff, but you, Abe, there's always guys. I mean, I didn't know what a website was for fucking cigars, you know, outside. a CI. Right.

Outside of guys like you, Vince, Abe, like I didn't know guys like it really made that big of a difference. Had I not saw you guys doing it, Abe doing it, you know Abe obviously on a big scale like Vince and call you and ask you guys questions, I would have been dead during COVID. Right. I would have had to beg my brother for money.

Yeah, and we don't want that. You know, we don't want that at all. We don't want that at all. I'm going there for Christmas.

Oh. Oh. Yeah. Take him a nice gift.

Are you expecting a nice You know, he's been saying he's gonna buy me something really pretty, but I don't want it, I'd rather have the cash. Maybe a car. He wants to buy me cash, he wants to buy me something. What if he gives you something you can flip?

He would not sell it, that's the thing, he's all strings attached type of person, that's why I'm telling you, he's not like me. Maybe he's getting a nice room 101 ring. I'm gonna buy you that watch, but you gotta wear it every Friday. You know what's really kind of funny is like, I'm looking at, I was looking at your comments, um, As you were, you know, on full on attack for us in the podcast, that I'm like, you know, if anybody actually doesn't know who Ronnie is, they'd be like, holy shit, are you kidding me?

Like, this is... I always wonder like this, like, does someone think when they read that they don't know like in real life, like me and this guy talk a couple days a week. Exactly. When I end it with like, the part about undoing is like, Mike knew the whole time this is just Ronnie.

But you know what's fucked up? Like, you're one of the only guys, and I said this at the show to like probably four or five people, I said, you know, you meet somebody on social media, and you talk to them like, you know, whatever comments, and those guys, when they see each other, they know that that person is genuinely who they talk to on the phone, was genuinely, and they're not gonna veer off that path. So, like, there wasn't, like, seven seconds where we both didn't know, like, if somebody bumped us wrong from another brand, we were probably gonna beat the fuck out of it. Right.

It's like, hey, man, where is it? We knew that, like, we had, like, that kind of relationship where we were fun together. Right. So, I remember, like, when we bet in the booth.

Right. Oh, man. That was too funny. Don't worry about that bet because- Wow.

I forgot about that. Because I thought it was like, uh, yeah, we, Mike, uh, can we tell, can I tell them the story? Go ahead. Go ahead.

Yeah. So, Mike, I looked at him, I'm like, why are these guys not buying your stuff? That's like the easiest sell. I thought they had already bought Roma.

They did not. So these guys are like touching and feeling stuff. I said, I'll tell you what, I bet you a hundred bucks I can close these guys. And it was the worst rude awakening I've ever had in my life.

I'm like, but they buy Roma. I'm like, yeah, yeah, sure. But he had like no idea. I walked up to them, like a car salesman.

I'm like, yeah, so, you know, I have a shop in Detroit. I sell this in California. I'm telling these guys like my life story and a love story at the same time, and they're like iced me, so I just turned around and looked at Mike, saw the cuter version of me, Greg, wearing the same hat, and I handed Mike the 100 and walked away like I was brokenhearted. It was like the saddest thing, I was like, how did that just happen?

Oh yeah. How do you go out with this many girls in life and you score every time and then two boys just piss on you? Yeah, it's like they ran away. Yeah, no, no, it was like, no, I'm not kidding you, like, it was like, and I was like, he sits here in the booth and has to go through that all day?

Fuck. Yeah, fuck that, right? It was terrible. That's why I want to only work with smaller, you know, a smaller number of accounts.

I'm just not, you know what I mean? Like, if you're not interested, it's cool. I'm good, you know? Yeah, but I think people don't understand, like, when they say I want my own cigar brand.

Right. Like, I think they think that you go to the show, you set up a booth, and then people just come in handy. Right, yeah. Not even close.

Not even close, no. No. That's right, when all of our customers end up owning a cigar brand for like three weeks, I almost want them to do it just to learn the lesson. Right, yeah, you should do that, yeah, put all your money in there.

We should actually do like a program where like we just go buy those bundles from wherever place you got those neon tiger crouching dragon, the tiger lily thingy, whatever that, I don't even know what you call that. Carol Bashkin. Carol Bashkin. Carol Bashkin.

Ashkins. So I actually, well, we'll talk about that. Those cigars, I think we should make that like a startup program. Whenever you get those from, we should just tell you, you want your own brand?

We'll just go partners on bands and then let's see how far they go with their brand. Sounds good to me. There you go. I think it's a business model.

I love it. I love it. Well, we're running out of time, but I wanted to call and just tell you that, you know, hey, it's all good. I still love you.

You can berate me all you want any day of the week. So, you know, that's perfectly, I'm perfectly fine with that, and I'm happy. You're welcome on the show anytime, Ronnie. Yeah.

And for the record, ladies and gentlemen, out there in the podcast world, I want you guys to know that although everybody thinks that Matt Booth has the Knights of Death in the game, I'm a guy who likes bigger butts, I'm going Spike Lee. I'm just putting that out there. I appreciate that. Thank you, Baron.

That's very sweet of you, Ronnie. By the way, to end the Ronnie segment. Tell people that I'm actually on this show, because I'm probably, like, prettier than most of the guys you have. Yeah.

Oh, the ratings. Through the roof. It's going to be crazy. Episode 153.

Can't wait. Can't wait. Can't wait. All right, brother.

Well, hey, Merry Christmas to you and your family, okay, brother? You too. Happy New Year, guys. Tell your rich brother we said hello.

And unblock Mike Palmer on Facebook. Okay. All right, bye. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye. There you go. Well, if I understand, it's how you know when you've made it, when Ronnie has blocked you on Facebook. Yeah, well, you have arrived, sir.

I have arrived, apparently. Congratulations. Ronnie, I pissed off Ronnie enough to block you. Oh man, we gotta, I love that guy so much, too much.

Yes, he's funny. All right. All right guys, we're gonna wrap this up. Uh, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays. Happy Hanukkah. Hanukkah just ended, I believe. Oh yeah.

Yes, and happy Kwanzaa to any of our African-American listeners. What's going on too? Everything, what else would I cover? Just covering everything.

Uh, there's, I'm sure there's other things that you've, you've skipped, but. I apologize. Happy Holidays, everybody. All right.

Thanks for listening and, uh, we'll have one more show before the end of the year. Ooh. So we'll see you then. Bye.

Bye. This has been a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, a Mike and Mike production. m. for all new episodes...

Hi, I'm doing... I'm Husto-I-Raw. Yeah, we just don't have to do a single, uh, single podcast ever again. Perfect!

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

It's the Hojo! You didn't even let him fuck it up all the way. I can't get past Hojo! I don't even have to try it, he's not even gonna try it.

We're gonna, we're gonna cover a lot of ground here, Mike. All right. Try to keep up. That's a sign of a good podcast.

Maybe, like, four cigars when I walked in the door. Alright, end this.

Show Notes

Holiday Catch up! Industry News! We have a New Sponsor and its Habibi Time of the Year!!