154 Mikey's Top New Cigars for 2020, Uncle Skip Grades Mikey's 2021 Forecast!
Episode Summary
Episode 154 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with Mike and Mike breaking in brand-new studio microphones and mic arms, comparing post-Christmas survival stories, and riffing on the COVID vaccine rollout, Polish Christmas Eve traditions (Vigilia and the opłatek wafer), house-guest etiquette, and the merits of a DoorDash subscription. Along the way they light up a Room 101 11th Anniversary after their intended review cigar mysteriously disappeared from the new Case Elegance Octodore humidor.
The heart of the episode is Mikey's list of the best NEW cigars of 2020 — no repeats from prior years allowed. His dozen picks include the Room 101 11th Anniversary (with blend components Matt Booth still won't disclose), Foundation's David and Goliath, the RoMa Craft Aquitaine EC Gran Perfecto, Aganorsa Leaf Supreme Leaf, Dunbarton's Sobremesa Brulee Blue (and the larger Brulee sizes), Mil Días, Cigar Culture Blend No. 3 (a sleeper Dominican), HVC Hot Cake, the RoMa Craft Baka Jangi in Cameroon corona, Wanderlust Gran Perfecto, Whiskey Rebellion Gran Perfecto, and the shop's own War Bear — which Mikey calls the best cigar he's had, period.
Skip Martin of RoMa Craft Tobac then calls in from Austin. He admits the War Bear Toro was a little underwhelming for him compared to last year's Perfecto (he suspects it needed more rest before shipping), names the Luciano Cigars Privé and an Ezra Zion Lucille as his best new smokes of the year, and explains why Nicaraguan travel is still a nightmare — PCR tests, Nicaraguan government approval, and Avianca refusing to board them in September. He also hands Mikey a D-minus on the shop's 2021 production forecast, warns that Connecticut broadleaf and San Andrés wrapper will both be tight, and gives a candid breakdown of how COVID shifted RoMa Craft's sales mix toward the "big five" online retailers — from roughly 12–13% of revenue to 23–25% — as 50 to 100 brick-and-mortar accounts dropped off. He also teases early work on his 50-year cigar with the Indian head.
The show closes with a short news block (three Tampa smoke shop armed robberies between Dec 16–18, Cuba unifying its currency, J.C. Newman raising 2021 prices, Warhead collector samplers shipping) and Listener of the Week Kevin Beauregard.
In This Episode
- 01New studio gear and post-Christmas debriefMike and Mike dial in new microphones and mic arms while comparing holiday chaos, Polish Christmas Eve traditions, and family visits.
- 02Case Elegance Octodore humidorThe sponsor read for the 100-count octagonal humidor with the patent-pending Hydro System — and the mystery of the cigars that vanished from it.
- 03Vaccine talk and 2020 wrap-up banterA long, unscientific debate about whether to get the COVID vaccine, herd immunity, and what the rollout timeline actually looks like.
- 04Mikey's top new cigars of 2020A dozen picks limited to 2020 releases, from Room 101 11th Anniversary and Sobremesa Brulee Blue to HVC Hot Cake and Cigar Culture Blend No. 3.
- 05The Weasel Fest box and War BearMikey argues the RoMa Craft Gran Perfecto sampler — EC, Wanderlust, Whiskey Rebellion, Neanderthal — is worth several list slots, and names War Bear his cigar of the year.
- 06Skip Martin calls in from AustinThe RoMa Craft co-founder shares his own best new smokes of the year, including Luciano Cigars Privé and Ezra Zion Lucille.
- 07Skip's honest War Bear critique and tobacco outlookSkip says the War Bear Toro was underwhelming versus last year's Perfecto, and warns broadleaf and San Andrés wrapper will be a challenge in 2021.
- 08How COVID reshaped the industry and the 2021 forecast D-minusSkip explains the shift of volume from brick-and-mortar to the big five online retailers, Nicaragua travel restrictions, and why he grades the shop's production forecast poorly.
- 09News and Listener of the WeekThree Tampa smoke shop robberies, Cuba's currency unification, J.C. Newman price increases, and a shout-out to Kevin Beauregard.
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 the cigar hustler podcast 153 my god who would have thought we would have made it this far huh who would have thought who would have thought huh here we are just living our our best life i was talking to somebody about the show yesterday and they're They're like, well, if I want to go back to the beginning, can I listen from the beginning? Sure. We're on episode 153.
You know what's funny is when you step away, you can hear it. Oh, it makes a difference. Yeah, you got to be right on that. Yeah, you have to be in front, but you can go in it.
It still fades. We're learning. We're still learning. Hold on.
We got some new toys. Slowly upgrading here for the listener experience. That sounds a little better. Maybe my headphones are just really loud.
I forget I'm tweaking it, but you got to have that thing pointing towards you a little more. The little boop, boop, boop thing is very low. That's good. Yeah.
You don't want it too high. No, no. You don't want it to spike. Yeah, because then it's annoying.
Right. And it blows up people's speakers. So, yeah. So, hey, we got some new gear.
Yes. But before we get started, Michael, we have a little business to take care of. Oh, excuse me. Yes.
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Okay, we are all dialed in now. We got it all set up. It's all working. I threw some cigars in there that we may or may not smoke.
We're not going to say what they are, but just as a test to see how well it is kept. Start putting our Patreons in there. Yes, that is the plan. Yeah, instead of leaving them out there on the desk where the riffraff just buys them.
Hey, these are sold. Hey, put these aside for me. Put these aside for me. Yeah.
Oh, I need two, please. Don't touch these two. And when you put these aside, that means I'll take them. I can take them?
They both looked at each other. What? Did you take one? I took one.
Oh, they said there was two less. I thought that means, you know, I had none, you had none, they had two. So we both have one. So we won't, we won't, looks like we won't be reviewing- We're not reviewing the Chai Tea.
Chai Tea? Chai Tea, Chai Tea. Chai Tea. Chai Tea.
Chai Tea. Chai Tea. Instead, we will do the 11th anniversary. Room 101, 11th Anniversary, sorry, yes, Mr.
Booth, I do apologize, your dear friend, my dear friend, well, that's a good segue for me, because, you know, getting back to the whole ring around the world thing that we were going to do, yes, we decided that was a lot of work, no, I didn't care about the work, the work didn't bother me, I got it, because you would have just went here, Palmer, send this to people, no, I wouldn't do that, because then they'd never get it, that's true, I, but I would have a lovely ring I would wear around my neck, I got guilted. Oh. And I felt really bad. " He was all in for the trip around the world?
Yeah. Until he realized I was actually gonna do it. Until he realized I was actually gonna do it. Six, eight months 'til he saw it again.
Right. " This is fantastic. Because moving on up. Moving on up.
Trying to see how it looks on camera. You know, yours could go on the other side of you if that would be better for you. I like, I'm good where I'm at. You like them together?
Yeah. Okay, they have this lovely mount system here, or there's one that will screw into the top of the desk. I think the clamps are nice. I think the clamps, too, yes, that's why.
Out of the way. Yes. Out of the way. And that way, if we do need to move them, if we get a different desk or something, well, you got to stay right on this thing, don't you?
Well, that's great because, you know, as you're doing the Case Elegance commercial, I was lighting my cigar and you couldn't really hear it as much. Oh, that's good, because it's like direct, which I like. See, now this is usually where I turn it up when it looks like this, because this is how the phone calls read on this thing. But this is perfect.
This is where you want to be. Well, it's crisp, it's clear, and it's not going to peak. The only thing we didn't test is playback to see how it sounded. I mean, we sat here with these singing to each other all afternoon.
Hey, it's a process, Mike. You know, we just kind of keep going along here. We'll tweak as we move forward, but now we, you know, now we have some nice mics. So, life is good.
New mics for the mics. Yeah. Well, if you're hearing this podcast, that means that, congratulations, you fucking survived Christmas. Oh, yes.
Right? Yes. I'm not talking Corona, because that's a whole other thing in itself. Yeah.
But the simple aspect of, your in-laws came over, probably, or you went to your in-laws' house, your outlaws came over, the whole gamut. The outlaws. You had the presents, you know, you didn't disappoint your spouse, or your children, or whatever the case may be. Yeah.
And no one stabbed you in your sleep at night in disappointment. So congratulations. You made it. You made it.
To the final level of Corona 2020. Yes. This is the tail end here. I hear at midnight it all just goes away.
And then it's all brand new. Oh. Yes. I've been thinking a lot about that vaccine.
I know that you asked me that question. I think it was last week or two weeks ago. Am I going to get the vaccine? Right, yeah.
And I'm definitely going to do it. Are you? When it becomes available for me. Right.
You know, I'm not, I don't think that, I don't think that if I got Corona that it would affect me, knock on wood. I hope, you know, maybe, you know, I'd lose taste for a day or something like that. Oh, how bad would that be? It comes back.
Does it come back right away or is it only gone for like a day? I think it's a day. Oh, I would try the most spiciest shit on the planet. Ghost peppers.
I saw a video of a guy eating like an onion. Oh, yeah? Like it was an apple. I can't taste anything.
I can't taste anything. Let's do this. I'm going to eat this ghost pepper. I just think that as like a society, it's kind of my job to...
Is there a cost if they decided? I don't know. I have no idea. That would be the only determining factor we're making.
I'm cheap. How much is it, 20 bucks? Fuck you, I'm out. No, 20, okay.
20, you're good. It's like, you know, 100, like, nah. Roll the dice. I feel like the insurance has got to kick in somewhere, as well as some kind of government aid.
You'd think that would make sense. Well, I would imagine the first responders and doctors, there's been no charge yet. But, you know, I saw or read somewhere that they've spent $4 billion on this thing. Yeah, but they're spending, you know.
Somebody's paying for that. Oh, yeah. Well, we always pay, Mike. Oh, that's true.
At the end of the day, we always pay. Because it's all about business. Well, that's the government for you. That's the government.
Oh, no, it's free. Okay. Oh, by the way, your taxes are going up. Right.
So, yeah, I think I'm going to, I'll get it. I think that's the right thing to do as far as society-wise. Think so? Yeah.
See, I don't know. Still, nobody can say what the difference is. I don't like looking through these things. Yeah.
It's okay. It's annoying to me. You'll get used to it. Maybe if I did...
Oh, a little tweaking. Maybe this is a little... But none of you can't hear me. Yeah.
Damn it. I like the fact that you're blocked with it. It's nice. Maybe if I just look, jump in the eye and look through the thing.
There you go. That's perfect. It's like a crosshair. I always say you're both on time anyway.
Oh, my God. What the difference is if you get it? So if you... Even our medical team that we were discussing with at your home this weekend, Don't make him really say what happened.
Okay, if you get it, it's just not as bad. I don't think they even know. Well, you're immune to it. I don't think that's true.
I think so. It's like a 98% immunity or something. Because you still have to wear the mask and the gloves. I think it's just kind of a precaution at that point.
You know what I mean? Then why take it? It's like the first day you get your nuts clipped, you still might want to wrap it up just in case. Well, you know, you know, you don't want to drop that load and, you know, you're pregnant.
I think, Lee, there's a 20 shot, you gotta, you gotta clear the chamber 20 times. You gotta work, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, you gotta work them out. Maybe you gotta clear the chamber a few times before you take the mask off.
Who knows? I mean, everybody's still wearing the mask. Yeah, but you know. I mean, what's, what's the, what's the difference?
It's progress, Mike. Yeah, I know, but they're not saying, okay, uh, normally a vaccine, like if you get the one for, uh, what's one of the ones they give you when you were a child? Like polio? Yeah.
You don't get polio. Right. Or you could still pass it on to somebody else and not know you have it. I think that this would stop you from passing it on.
But they're saying that you won't know, you could be, they don't know, because it's not far enough along, they don't know if you're asymptomatic, but you can still infect other people. All right, but let's say that, let's say they don't know. I'll partake. I'll partake to help figure this shit out.
I'm done. Yeah, so what, are you going to get it and breathe on people and just see? No, I'll just get it. I'll still wear the mask.
I'll still do, I'll still do the appropriate things. That's what I mean. If I'm still wearing the mask and everything, what's sensing... Well, the theory is between the shots and, you know, it generally being around is the whole herd immunity, right?
Right. So you're looking to get the society's whole... Well, no, the herd immunity is if you don't get vaccinated at all and everybody gets it. No, no, it's a combination of the two.
It is. It's true. I can't stand looking through this thing. I love it.
Yeah, because you don't have to with yours because of the way yours is. Well, if you put a board up, we'll re-angle it later. I'm going to tweak this. It's going to snap right off.
It's brand new, and it's gone. And it's gone. Now you're ready. I can see your face a little more.
Yeah, one eye. One eye. One eye still looking through the hole. This is nice.
I'm like, I'm right through the crevice and you're not. It's perfect. I hate you. So what'd you do for Christmas, Michael?
Really, it was kind of a blah Christmas in our house. Really? Yeah, I mean, it was just Adrian and I and Alex, the older child, and, you know. That's really what it was.
I thought you were, I thought, I didn't think you were going to have any kids. Uh, no, well, Alex. Surprise. No, Alex was coming, originally he was coming Christmas Day, and then he was going to have to leave in the afternoon, because he worked the next day.
Ah. So they decided to, his, uh, his work, Enterprise Runner Car, closed early on Christmas Eve, so he came over that night. That's nice. So, I think they closed at two, so, or three or something.
He was at the house by six. Very nice. So, yeah. So, yeah.
It was kind of chill. Yeah. You know, that's the way it's going to be now forever. I mean, we took food over to mom and dad, and they're still on lockdown.
So, you know, we were there maybe 20 minutes, and we wore a mask the entire time. And I wore my mask. It looks like I don't have a mask on. You know, the one with the cigars sticking out.
Yeah. You know, try to make it nice for mom and dad. But I don't think dad knew who we were. I'm serious.
I don't think he knew who these people were. Because when we got there, he went right in his office, which I don't know what he does in there anymore. But he went in his office. And he just sort of stood in the kitchen, like not knowing what was going on.
" They have two cars. They don't need two cars. They're just riding out the lease on one of the cars and they're just gonna get rid of it. Right.
So... That makes sense. Yeah, he didn't understand that. He got mad that somebody was selling his car.
And it was at this point, I guess. Tell them it's the communists. Right. It's the Russians.
Right. The Russians are taking your garden. God damn it. Dad.
Who are you? Why are you calling me dad all the time? Yeah. I don't have any kids.
Yeah. So. And then we came to your house for a little baby Teddy's birthday. Yes.
That was a wonderful evening. We had a lot of fun. Oh, yeah. I had, you know, it was nice to see you there.
It was a nice. You got your annual visit now. Right. My annual one-year visit.
Now you're good again until 2021 at the end of the last four days of that year. Yeah. I got time. Right.
Perfect. I got time. Well, no. Now we're the grandparents.
We expect more than to take. Oh, that's right. That's right. You are the grandparents.
Yes. Yes. Gigi got to put the baby down. She was very excited.
Oh, she did. That made Christmas, actually, for her to tell you the truth. Perfect. That works out well.
We're in the market for grandparents. " Well, only one of our boys is dating, and we don't want him to have a baby, so here you go, honey. Have at it. We got home.
" She goes, "Oh, it was great. Anything else you'd like? " I'm just going to say, we're going to need presents all the time. Lots of presents for the program.
I gave the kids money. Well, we'll take money. No, I give it to the kids. Oh, that's fine.
They'll love that. Right. I don't need anything. No, I'm for them.
Right. Yeah. Perfect. Well, before we had the birthday party, it's three days of chaos at my house.
Right. So, Christmas Eve's a big deal. It's called Vigilia. Is that a Polish thing?
It's a Polish thing. It's a whole to-do. So, it's Christmas Eve, you guys think it's Christmas? Polish?
No, so what happens is, like, you're not supposed to eat meat, so we do, like, old school pierogies and shit like that. Oh, that's nice. Isn't there meat in pierogies? No.
It's just a pastry. It's like potatoes or cheese. Ah, yeah, man. So, but what's cool about it, and, you know, the reason why, like, there was a lull in my family where we didn't do it, and I brought it back, and I actually brought it back the year, I did it Christmas Eve, you know, I don't know, four years ago.
Right. And my dad loved it. He died two months later. So that kind of worked out well.
Yeah. But, like, there's this thing called the Oplatic. And it's kind of like this. Sorry, did you say that one more time?
Oplatic. Oplatic? Yeah. So it's like a wafer almost, right?
Like a communion wafer. Correct. Correct. A little cracker.
Yeah, but it's a bigger square. Those things aren't filling at all. No. So you go around and everybody takes a piece of everybody else's.
And then you. Oh, it does not sound COVID. No, it's definitely not CDC guidelines. No, this is not.
And you wish them well into the year and, you know. Oh, it's sort of like the Catholic thing where peace be with you. Yeah, very similar, very similar, but it's a little more direct. But you get a cracker.
Oh, I like that part. Yeah, and Jax was really dialed in. Oh. Oh, yeah.
Yeah, he's like, thank you so much for being a great dad. I was like, Jesus Christ, oh my God, you know, and like he said that, he said, you know. He said that to everybody? No, he said like, you know, thank you so much for being a great mom and thank you for being He's been a great aunt.
And like, ooh. Wow. He had that. A little coaching.
I'll tell you what. Oh, yeah. Blue eyes, sharp blue eyes. He's gonna work the room.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna be paying for abortions.
Oh, jeez. It'll be no time. Or he'll be just Casanova-ing his way through. Not my baby.
I don't know. Jack's your 10. I don't know. I don't know, Dad.
I don't know, Dad. She said she was 12. I didn't know she was 22. Yeah.
Stop banging the teacher, son. God, I needed a ride. So yeah, so we did that, and that's always a big deal, and you know, that went really well, and then, you know, Christmas Day is obviously chaos with kids and stuff like that, but Santa comes and visits on Christmas Eve, each other, oh yes, yes, Santa comes in. Well, I think I was there last year.
Were you? Yeah, yeah, that Santa was, he was quick though, he was in and out. Yeah, yeah, that Santa was in and out, yeah, it was very busy that time of year. Yeah, Santa, this time, this time, Santa was great, he was, but you could tell that, And when Santa, once Santa was there, he was utter panic.
Utter panic in his eyes. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. Not prepared, huh?
He's very busy. He just, yeah, he just, you could tell that. Checking his watch. Yeah, he was, you could see that there was concern about the delivery and how much commitment he had for the day.
Yeah. Because you could tell that, like, there were times where he just kind of froze. Oh. Was that Christmas Day or Christmas Eve?
Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve. So, you know, I helped Santa along, let him know, you know. Right.
Gave him a scotch. Helped distribute the gifts and stuff. And I gave him a box of cigars. Oh!
Yeah, for him and his top elves. Oh, very nice. Yeah, war bears around. Oh.
Gotta take care of Santa. Oh. Gotta really take care of Santa. Gotta really take care of Santa.
So that was really cool. And that went really, really well. Oh, good. You know, so, and then Christmas was great.
You know, we had everybody over, it was nice chaos, you know, it's good stuff. Right. And then we decided to do a triple parlay into Teddy's birthday. And at what age do you have to do her birthday on the actual day?
I think that what's gonna happen- How long can you get away with it? I may move this to like another month. I may do her birthday either like middle of the summer, like a half birthday, or maybe in October, we'll see. " Yeah, something like that, we'll see.
" No, man, you know, I just want it to be significant for her. Well, yeah, you always wonder, people who have birthdays, people who have birthdays around the holidays, how that, you know, car lays. You know, a bunch of presents under the tree, and you just go, well, that one is for your birthday, the one with the blue bow, if it's not in the Christmas paper. That's for you.
That's just for you. But it's what I asked Santa for. Yeah. Well, you know, well, Santa, we talked, we talked it over.
We worked it out with Santa, and he said it's special because it's your birthday. Right. And Christmas. So, I will tell you this, though, with three days of heavy traffic in the house.
Yeah. It was absolute chaos when it comes to, like, okay, let me back that up before I get into it. When I go out to dinner with my wife, and this may sound a little crazy, right? But before we get up from the table, we kind of stack our plates.
We do that. Right? Yeah. You kind of put everything, because you know that somebody's got to pick that shit up.
Somebody's got to clean it up, right? Whether you're paying for the experience or not, it's like, look, I'm going to make your life a little bit easier here. Right, yeah, yeah. You can just scoop all this and be on your merry way, whether it's the busboy or it's going to be the server, whatever, you know, I just want to make sure that it's kind of handled.
Right. I don't understand how that doesn't convey in general to people coming into your house, like, like, just be a little courteous. Right. I think my brother knocked a fucking soda can off on the patio, just left that shit.
I mean, oh, yeah, it was just everywhere. I'm like, OK, that's nice. There was a random fork in the carpet. Like in on the carpet, like where everybody was kind of congregating in the family room.
Oh, I was gonna say, where do you even have carpeting? Yeah, it's just the one little area rug. Throw rug in it, yeah. You know that more than one person saw that fork?
Like a plastic fork? No, no, it was a metal fork. Metal fork? Oh yeah, no, no, Brian found it later when he stepped on it.
Oh! Oh yeah, he's like, oh! Mr. Barefoot.
The poor man, he's like, oh my God! I need a day off! I can't move my leg! Yeah, so like, but you know that other people saw that and they're like, oh, there's a fork.
Maybe they didn't. I mean, he didn't see it until he stepped on it. There's no fucking way that a group of 20 people didn't see the pork. Or the plate.
I never went in that room. Right. But you know what I'm saying? Yeah.
Like, you know, normally when you leave, you're like, oh. Because there was, you know, a lot of people sitting there because it was cold outside. I'm going to pick up some of my stuff. You know, just like some effort.
Right. Not like us. Maybe one of the children dropped in. The kids aren't eating in there.
No way. Well, maybe that's why he dropped me. He's like, oh shit. I'm out of here.
I'm out of here. Even still. " Oh God, the boss is calling me, the supervisor. Oh, you need to take a call?
No, I just, I'll text her. Oh. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Sorry, he has to text his way.
Make sure mine's not looking for me. Oh, you're in trouble! Yeah, so I don't, I just don't get that. Oh, I do have a text message for my wife.
Oh. Uh-oh. I guess we'll talk about that later. Uh-oh.
I can't see. It's blank. It's blank. Uh-oh.
Well, that didn't last long. Oh, yeah, that's gonna be fun. So, um... Okay.
So, yeah. I just don't, like, I don't understand that. Just, you know, if you go, if you're somebody's house, just, you know... Yeah, I mean, throw away your...
Just pick up a couple... In all fairness, when I left that night, your garbage can was overflowing. Yeah. Because poor Alex pulled it out to put something in it, and stuff started falling everywhere.
Oh boy. But I mean, still, that sort of parlays into what you said anyway. I mean, it's not like it's rocket science to, you know, replace the bag. Right.
Like, oh no, this is full. This is full. Just pile it up on top. Just shove that in there.
It'll be fine. It'll be their problem. Right. We're out of here, so...
Yeah. Yeah. I just threw my stuff away in the garbage can on the patio. That makes sense.
Yeah. Yeah, that one was under-filled. Right. Nobody liked that one.
Because it's kind of a little decorative with a lid, so I think newer people might not know it's actually a garbage can. Right. So, you know. Yeah.
The other new thing that I have in my life. Yes. DoorDash? Oh, you started doing DoorDash?
I've paid for like a monthly subscription. Aw, you bougie mother. It is the most amazing thing on the planet. How much is a monthly subscription?
10 bucks. Oh, that's it. Yeah. 10 bucks and unlimited free delivery.
Unlimited free delivery. Wow. How much is a normal delivery fee? Uh, I don't know.
I know that they charge like, they still charge like a 5% service fee or something like that. Is that considered as a tip? No, you can tip, you obviously tip on top of that. You tip on top of that.
But shit, man, I don't have to leave the house. I just hit the button and it shows up. I mean, out here in Deltona, the DoorDash selections are very limited. It's mostly sub-shops and McDonald's, and it'll be like a 40-minute wait to get McDonald's.
Oh, yeah, no, that's... I mean, I can get there and back faster than that. I don't know, though. There's something about the time commitment, you know, like, that you give up.
I'm not waiting 40 minutes for McDonald's. 40 minutes isn't bad. I mean, maybe... It's McDonald's.
What if it comes in earlier than anticipated? It's called fast food. That's fast. I don't have to leave the house.
Yeah, but McDonald's is a 10-minute drive. You know, so I can tell you that we like, you know, backyard burgers by our house, so that was amazing. Like it just comes back to the house. See, there's a lot more options there in the big city.
Yeah, Tijuana Flats or whatever. Any of that stuff, I don't have to leave the house, just hit the button and it comes. It's amazing. The kids wanted donuts this morning.
I was like, I bet you there's something on here. And sure as shit. Donuts delivered. Boom.
Donuts delivered this morning. Like, no problem. No questions asked. Right?
Donuts and everything? Well, especially in the mornings in my house, it's like, you know, their kids are home right now, so there's utter chaos. Right. You know, there's a lot of stuff going on.
So, hit the button. Donuts are there, you know? And they, you know, they came with like a little free gift. It was very nice.
Right. Do I have your attention? I'm sorry. There's a lot going on here at the shop, apparently, at the moment.
No kidding. No kidding. Do you have anything else before we get into the other stuff? Because we're at 24 minutes.
Yeah, no. We'll review my top 10 cigars. Yes, we're going to do Michael's top 10. New cigars only.
Top 10 Cigars of 2020 for Michael, and then we have the Very Slow News Week. Well, I mean, the Top 10 should cover it pretty well. We have a little bit of news, and then we have a Listener of the Week. Oh, we do.
Oh, yes. And when we cover the Patreon, we'll talk about the five worst cigars of the year. Yes. Very easy.
Very simple. No problem. And we're going to smoke all five of them on the Patreon. No, we're not.
Oh, no. Because we're not going to subject ourselves to cruel and unusual punishment. Never again. Smoke it the one time and then bail.
That's it. All right, guys. We will be right back after these messages. All right, welcome back to episode 153, Cigar Hustler Podcast, oh, this is 154, did I say 153 at the beginning?
That's last week's. It's 154. You embarrass yourself, Mike. I don't care, it's my show, I can do what I want.
It is your show. All right, everybody ready? Oh, I should have put a drum roll in. Okay, now we're going to do Mikey's top 10, is it 10, 12?
You had like 17 or 12? I got a couple on here. I got a couple on here. I got a couple on here.
How many did you do? You're gonna get poopy on some of them. Oh, so it's all, I'll put the honey and roll with that. No, no, no.
Well, we're doing only new cigars this year, right? Yes, just the new. The new, the new cigars. Okay.
All right, Michael, what's your top whatever? So, you don't want them in any particular order, right? Yes, in descending order. Oh, I don't have them in descending order.
You don't, okay, can you, can you glance at your list and then pull what is your favorite? Oh, yeah, he's, okay, yeah, well, I know what that's gonna be, so. What's my favorite, Mike? All right, just go ahead with the list, Michael.
Go ahead. So this is, this is the, arguably top 10, maybe 12, maybe 13, I don't know, these are the top cigars of 2020. For you. For the world.
Oh, for the world. I'm here for the world. We are the world. We are the children.
Alright, Michael, you got your Saber Tooth, which is a very good cigar, by the way. It's one of my favorites currently. The wrapper is really dark on this batch. It's nice.
I thought it looked a little different. I thought the rubber pole looked lighter. Is that what it is? The rest of them is darker?
Yeah, the Habano is really good. I had one yesterday. Alright, Michael, go ahead. Alright, Michael, go ahead.
No particular order. No particular order. Room 101, 11th anniversary. See, now I haven't had that yet.
Okay, we'll just take your word for it. That's a banger. That's a banger. Look at you.
You know, I started seeing banger come up more in, like, somebody smoking a cigar and say, this one's a banger. Well, you know where they... Wait a second. I don't know if they...
No, there's a donger. Never mind. Yeah, this one's a banger. I'm like, oh, thanks for listening.
I don't know. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. But I saw that a lot lately. Have you been calling them bangers?
Are you taking credit for the banger? I'm just saying that I've been using that more often. Oh, hot ticket guys call them dongers. That's what I was...
I don't see any dongers. I haven't seen dongers. Oh, no dongers. I've seen banger.
It's a banger. So yeah, I don't know what the wrapper is on the 11th anniversary. It's not undisclosed. Yeah, that makes sense.
What's the filler? Magic. He's not telling anyone. Fairy dust.
Yeah. But it's a really good cigar. What is the binder? I don't know, he won't answer my calls.
Oh, you're talking about my description? Yeah. Still don't know. Yeah, so I put the description.
I asked him what the stuff was, and he wouldn't tell me, so I was like, oh. So as far as the description. I don't know why he's keeping it a secret. He just probably doesn't know.
Oh, Mr. Booth. Oh. All right.
Go ahead. Eleventh anniversary. Mm-hmm. Okay, next.
Now, the Goliath. From Foundation. I didn't have that either, because they came and went so fast. D.
D. Right. Yeah. Wow.
You're gonna name all cigars I haven't had. They make great cigars. And that one was fucking mine. Did you have the David too, or did you just have the David?
I only had one. I only had one of the two. Oh. Well, I hope it was the Goliath.
I'm pretty sure it was the Goliath. I'm thinking it was the David. Was it the David? I think it might have been.
The David or Goliath. One of them is really good. I'm willing to bet that they're the same. Oh.
Yeah, it's just the size. Get Nick on the phone. I don't know. It's a He won't answer your calls, he won't answer your calls, he won't answer your calls.
Look at my list. So, uh, yeah, that, that one's, that was a good, that's a good cigar. All right, and again, one I have not had, so please, continue with more cigars I did not get to smoke. C.
Gran Perfecto. Okay, I have that one, but I haven't smoked one. Fucking amazing. I almost got into that box the other day, and I was like...
I think that's the best one in the box, and I don't have the whole set if I smoke one of them. You got to smoke them. I know. I got more boxes in the back.
I have samplers online. You can get them now. Well, that's right. Now they're available to the general public.
Yeah. Yes. Oh, yeah. Oh, really good.
Very good cigar. All right. If I could have that cigar every day. I smoke the EC Broly Kindness every day.
Right. If I could smoke that Grand Perfecto, I'd be a fucking... Yes. That would happen.
Without question. So, we're the 11th anniversary, the David and/or Goliath. Yes, possibly. Possibly.
Or they could be the same thing. Yep. And the Gran Perfecto EC. Money.
All right. Money cigars. Next. That's three.
Came out of nowhere, beginning of the year. Smoked at a TPE. Aganorsa. Fucking Supreme lead.
Great cigar. Is that the gold? That's the orange. The flat orange.
Oh, the orange. Okay. I believe that one. People gave him shit about the color bands.
I thought it was creative. I think that one I did have. Great cigar. I don't know.
You know what? I don't think I had that one either. Please continue with more cigars. You've been bogarted for yourself.
Well, you're just over here just kind of humming along, smoking your Coraline shit or whatever. I smoke whatever I get my hands on around here. Okay. Yeah, hey, whatever it takes.
Yeah. But I'm telling you, you know, hats off to Terrence. Yes. He's doing good things at Aganorsa.
Oh. I'm excited. They got new shit coming out. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm excited about that too in January. Are we going to get it?
Oh, yeah. Okay. I'm in. Those you ordered.
That email you answered. Yeah, I don't fuck around with that. That guy, he's good at his job. You don't get missed.
Hey, just want to follow back up. Right, right. Okay, cool, thanks. There's this new one, you didn't answer the email.
Oh, well, I'm sorry, please, I would like to get that. Yeah, of course. Of course, of course you will. I put them aside for you.
Yeah, I maxed out your order and you're getting all of it. Thanks, Jeff. All right. He was here not long ago.
Very nice man. Just had a birthday. Yeah, he did. Happy birthday, Mr.
Grover. I don't think he listens to the show. Oh, I know. He's in the car, he's in the car all the time.
Why would he fucking listen to the show? It's a cloud, just hovering. That's how you know it's cold outside. It's cool.
It's not cold. It's like 70 degrees. I put the lovely new filter up in 68. It works now.
Anyway, keep moving now. So we have the Agonorsa, the 11th Anniversary, the David and/or Goliath, and the EC Perfecto. Or not Perfecto. Grand Perfecto.
Grand Perfecto. Grand Perfecto. And the Agonorsa Supreme Leaf. I said that already.
Did you? Yes. Okay. All right.
That's four. Suber Mesa. Yes. Brule Blue.
Oh. Fucking banger. You know, if you mention him on your list, supposedly he puts a link up for your show. Hey, Steve.
Steve. Suber Mesa. Brule Blue. I'll have to put that in the title so that he will link us.
Yeah, but like last time, I mean, we did the whole soccer thing like two weeks ago. And then all of a sudden he comes out of Woodward. Yeah, how come he just all of a sudden, hey, where's the soccer squad video? Where did he go?
Did he go on like a lake? Was he fishing, ice fishing for the past fucking two weeks? I mean, Jesus. It could have been.
I don't know. I don't know. So, yeah. That blue, that's the best one.
Best one. By far. Best one. Please don't blow into the new microphone.
No, I had to. It was a sound effect. Yeah, but. I had to go.
Don't do that. Why not? Because it peaks. I want them to know that it's serious.
Oh, because you blew it. Yeah. All right. Moving on.
Sober Mesa Blue. Moving on. I've lost count now. I think it's six.
The other good cigar that's the Brulee is like that double cologne, that Mac Daddy, the big one, whatever the name of that size is. That's funny, because that's the one we have the most of out there at the moment. I think that's my favorite size. Really?
Oh, yeah. I mean, obviously, aside from the blue one. Right. Obviously.
Mildias. That's a good, now that one I've had plenty of those. It don't matter the size, man. They're all good.
They're all good. Holy. I had the little Marvella or whatever it was. The new LE?
Yeah. They're all gone. No, no. I had one the other day.
Well, yes. We don't have them. I understand. But I had one.
What happened was... And then I had the bigger size. I'm like, you know what? Just as good.
I mean, hats off to whoever had that. Eddie West. Pichardo. Pichardo.
Pichardo. So how am I doing? What am I at? Number one.
Engage. I think that's six so far. I think I had seven. I got Room 101, Goliath.
Room 101, David or Goliath. The AC, the Aganosa, Brule, and Mil Diaz. Mil Diaz, six. That's what I just said, six.
You said seven. I said seven. Six, go on, six. Oh my God.
Cigar culture blend number three. Oh, oh, a newcomer to the show there. Out of nowhere. Out of nowhere.
Knocked it out of the park. Great Dominican cigar. That is a good cigar. That's a cigar that you're going to be, that'll start popping.
It's a sleeper. Yeah, you know, that is a sleeper. You're right. It's a sleeper.
It's something that, you know, it'll slowly make its way through, and people will start talking about it. Damn, this is a really good cigar. It's a really good Dominican. Not one or two, but number three.
Yeah, not one, not two, but three. Not four. It took them 75 blends to get to three, but it's three. Right.
Three. And it's amazing. It's a lovely story. It's a great Dominican cigar.
It has a great flavor profile. I could give two fucks about the story or any of that other stuff. He was hacking through the jungles with his machete man. He came across this magical factory.
Agent came and started talking. He sounded like the teacher at Snoopy as far as his son. I light the thing up. Oh, see, I got the original story.
It's a lovely story. I'm like, this is good. Lovely story. And then Greg got a watered-down version.
By the time he got to you, he was like, they were 75. I smoked the third one. Yeah, this was good. It was really good.
I really liked it. I'm like, okay, cool. All right, that's seven. Seven?
Seven, seven, seven, seven, seven. HVC. Hotcake. Oh.
Great cigar. You're just naming all the new cigars. These are all, well, I mean, if they're new and I like them, I'm going to get them. Well, yes, but I mean, I don't even know we have those anymore.
No, no, I think they're gone. Hotcakes. We got those twice. Great cigar, great price point, great flavor profile.
Yeah. How am I doing? Eight. So far, so good.
I mean, it's a lot better than last year. Last year, it was all your cigars and all Roma Craft cigars. Well, I'm just talking about what's new. Right.
So that has to be, now the qualification every year, that it has to be new. Okay. Okay. Okay, but you're at eight.
Now, how many? Wait, wait. How many do you have on your list? I got a couple backups.
I got... Well, I know there's two that haven't showed up yet. I got 12. Okay.
All right. I know three of them, I think, but go ahead. Baka Jangi. I don't even know what those are.
You've had one. Nope. Yep. You smoked Nick Raterios.
No idea what that was. We had to teach you a lesson on that one. I didn't even fall. He can't do mean.
You did fall for it. No, I didn't. I have the video footage to prove it. You should have gotten somebody else to yell at me besides the guy that likes me that I'm friends with.
No. He's not that guy to get mad. He would have bought a box and told me to smoke them here. Very.
Very. Nick would be that guy. Nick would be that guy. I should have picked one of those other guys that I didn't know.
I haven't heard from him in a while, though. I hope he's okay. He's had a lovely Christmas. I saw the photos and stuff.
He's out. Living his best life, fishing and Christmasing. No complaints there, right? No.
All's well. Bakajangi. Bakajangi. Corona size.
Yes, your favorite size. Cameroon. Fucking money. All right.
Two more. I know what the last two are. But you have three more because you said you had 12. Yeah.
So wait. What are my last three? Well, no, two because you just did Baca. What are my last two?
You just did Baca. What are my last two? Well, there's not been a mention of the War Bear. Obviously.
Obviously. Obviously. Obviously the War Bear is the best cigar I've had, period. Right.
Like, I mean, this is a, for me, that's the best cigar we blended. Right. I'm fucking, I love that cigar. David Caban Blended it.
Yeah, or whatever. Tyler. Yeah. Yeah, Tyler.
Tyler. Tyler. We didn't even make his list. Yeah.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's fucked up. Well, he did just spend a lovely week at Romacraft. His entire list was Romacraft.
He was using Skip shampoo in the unit, like he knows. The guest bathroom shampoo. Oh, yeah? That's what I said.
The shampoo's really good. Yeah, sure it is. And he has that long hair, so it's probably lovely. It's probably why he needs a haircut.
He said he needed a haircut yesterday. Makes sense. I don't think you didn't invite me on your show. Yeah, well, you didn't say, hey, I want to come on your show.
Right. Closed mouth, don't get fed. That's right. A closed mouth, don't get fed.
That's the policy around here. You don't get given anything here. Right, so if you want to go on, you've got to come. Speaking of which, we've got to call Skip.
I told him we were going to call Skip an hour ago. Oh, well, we only have 15 minutes. So what's my other one? I was thinking an SBC, but there was no new SBC this year.
There was no new SBC. No. What other rumorcraft cigar? The Wanderlust, Grand Perfecto, also in the box.
Yeah, also in the box. You didn't like that one? No, no, I haven't smoked that one either. I told you, I can't break up the scent!
Dude, you're missing out. You're missing out. And, you know, my little cherry on top, my other one that I was going to include, obviously you did the War Bear, was the Whiskey Rebellion in that box, too. That whole fucking box.
Wait, Whiskey Rebellion, Grand Perfecto. Oh, oh, in that one, Grand Perfecto, oh, okay. That whole box is amazing. I was thinking Whiskey Row when you said Whiskey Rebellion.
I mean, I could even go Neanderthal. A. I could say seven. Just say the Weasel Fest box.
Right, yeah, and that covers seven. Seven, right? I think there's seven in that box. Maybe eight.
I don't know. I've only opened it once. ESPN 8, the Ocho. Amazing.
I mean, that whole box is, you know, it's true. So Tyler was actually closed with his top cigars. Do you want to call Skip real quick? We only have 10 minutes.
Well, let's call him and get buried. Let's call him on the Patreon. No, let's call him now. Let's have him yell at us.
He was all fired up this morning. I was going to yell at you. We yell at you. Yeah.
Well, while you're getting on the phone, we can talk about the Baca Pygmy. Last year, Roma Craft Tobacco introduced a brand new creation that took its name from... Wow. Ooh, that sounds loud.
Amazing. Cancels your pygmy conversation. Hey, Skip. Hey, Skip.
Hey, Skip. Uncle Skip. What's up, buddy? Hey, how are you doing, Mike?
Good, how are you? Not much, man. How are things out there in Austin? What's your name here in Austin?
It's warm today. It's warm. Yeah. Did you have a nice Christmas?
How was Christmas? Yes. Did you have a nice Christmas? Yeah.
I got a couple of things. Fiorella cleaned up. Oh, yeah. Standard.
Standard. Right. So we were just talking about my top 10 cigars for the year that came out that were new. I mean, you made the list a couple of times.
I'm not going to lie. What do you, what did you smoke this year that you were like, "Wow, this is a really fucking good cigar"? Um, I don't know, I, you know, because of COVID and everything, I didn't really get out to cigar stores a lot this year. Right.
Um, but, uh, so mostly, we just smoked kind of our standard, you know, Padrón, Rimosos, and, um, I think probably the two best cigars that I had this year that I hadn't smoked before Or the Blue Label Luzione. What's it called? Privé? I don't know.
Don't know. It's like a box press, 5x56 or whatever. Okay. Cigars Privé.
Okay. Which is really good. I have to smoke that one. And then, uh, and then I actually smoked an Ezra Zion that I got at Smokers Abbey a couple weeks ago.
Nice. Called the Lucille, which was really good. Wow. Just out of, way out of.
You got it left field. I didn't see it. I mean, you know, I figured the War Bear is probably your favorite cigar this year, but that's okay. We'll just let that slide.
That's no big deal. Yeah. You know, uh, to be completely honest with you, the War Bear, uh, was a little underwhelming. Oh, wow.
Yeah. You didn't like it, huh? You weren't excited. L.
Uh, I don't know. I'm going to, I'm going to revisit it and see. Um, I didn't like it as much as I liked the Perfecto last year. Really?
I like the Toro better. I think that you've just lost taste and you have coronavirus. I think the Perfecto tasted stronger. Yeah?
Yeah. I preferred the Perfecto also. Okay. Not that the Toro's bad, but I mean.
I love the Toro. I think Toro's the best one so far. Yeah, the Toro had a little bit of a sick taste to it still. I don't know, like it still had some off-gassing or something.
Like, if it was my cigar, I would have probably waited to ship it. Really? So I think it'll get better, but I don't know. It ain't gonna get any stronger.
So I don't know. Okay. So there you go. I don't know.
Not a fan of the War Bear. Out of his own fact. I'm not saying it was bad. Okay.
We made it, but I didn't blend it, so I can't. So what do you think about going back to Esteli? Is that in the works anytime soon, or are you just, what are you doing? Well, we tried to go back in September, and Avianca wouldn't let us on the plane because our test results weren't cleared by the government.
So the way the process works right now is you have to buy the airplane ticket, you have to, three days before the flight, you have to get what I think is called a PCR test, and then you have to email them the results of that within 36 hours of the flight. And then the government in Nicaragua has to review the results and approve you to board the airplane. So you don't really know until you come the day of the flight to board whether the government in Nicaragua has cleared you or not. Are you comfortable going back though?
Yeah, I mean, I think everything seems to be pretty okay in SLE, but especially like me, I don't really go anywhere. Right. It's no better here. I mean I think we understand the whole thing better than we did.
I think my goal is for us to all get vaccines before we go back anyway, so. Right. That makes sense. If that's even possible.
I don't know. We'll see. So what else is going on, buddy? You want to be on the podcast?
Here you are. What you got? He's very funny. I didn't want to be on the podcast.
I want to be on the podcast. I heard you. I said I'd be glad to come on the podcast and let everybody in on the conversation we were having. Oh!
If you want to talk about those things. He's talking about the production list that we sent him. Yeah, he's like, "Our production forecast is a D-". Oh.
That was not thorough enough for him. He was very upset with the letter, the email. Wow. Yeah.
Right? Is that accurate, Skip? Go ahead. Did you just think they didn't order enough, or they ordered wrong, or...?
He's not happy with the performance, the number, how it looked on the email. Oh, the format. It wasn't just how it looked. There's clearly not a lot of thought process that went into it, but whatever.
It was at least one meeting, because I sat in on it, but I didn't talk. Yeah, so... And Greg yelled numbers, and Mikey was on his phone. I don't...
So how do you want me to get better, Skip? Tell me how I can be better for you. Well, I mean, how do you how do you base your forecast? I mean, I know how I do my forecast.
I know I'm going to sell everything I make, so I just decide what I'm going to make. Right? Right. I feel like that's kind of similar.
Okay. Right. Well, I can tell you this. Broadleaf is going to be a challenge this year.
Yeah. San Andreas is going to be a challenge this year. San Andreas too, huh? Holy shit.
Yeah. So, you know, who knows how it's going to go. But fillers are always a challenge now. I mean, it's not hard to find tobacco, it's just hard to find really good tobacco.
Right. Well, we'll see how it all plays out, I guess. See what it is, you know? Yeah, we'll see.
I think, so, you know, there's a lot of new little kind of chinchows or, you know, kind of little no-name factors that have popped up That are competing for tobacco now, and you know, the big guys are producing more, I don't, I don't know that they're selling more, you know, brand name stuff, but I think their production, overall production has gone up because there's a huge demand for, you know, you know, like the Thompsons, famous CI, demand's gone up a lot for those guys, so, Especially during, you know, yeah, yeah, for us, I mean, we know, We normally, like in our first eight, nine years, you know, our first five years wouldn't even sell to those big five guys, but say around 2016, we started selling to Famous, maybe 17, I think we started selling to CI, but it was always, you know, really limited amounts, like if, you know, if you, if, if, if Neanderthals came in, we'll, you know, we'll max you out of, you know, say 10 boxes per invoice or whatever. And so our total sales as a percentage of our revenue, the big five have always been less than 12, 15 percent of our number. Right. With no single place being even when Whiskey Rebellion was a was a private label for Famous.
I think Famous was no more than like six or seven percent of our sales. So this year, though, it's a lot different. You know, there's been probably 50 to 100 accounts that have pretty significantly dropped off because of COVID. Right.
And almost all of that volume was picked up immediately by the Big Five. By online purchases and stuff. Right. So we've gone from, say, 12 or 13 percent to the Big Five to something like 23 to 25 percent.
Right. But, you know, if you think about that, there's people who, you know, there's companies, and I won't say who they are, But there's companies that probably do, normally, 40-50% of their sales to the big guys, if not more, of their name brands, and those guys have probably gone up a lot this year as well, as a percentage, I would assume, they say that the online is like 70% of overall sales, but that includes bundled cigars and private labels and stuff like that. Right. So like, for example, for a given factory, their production may be 80, 90% for CI, for example.
But this year, I think the numbers are a lot bigger for the big five. I agree. What? What are you saying?
What? He's going to say something and I cut him off. No. No, I was agreeing with you.
Very rude, Michael. Very rude. So when we send you the podcast, are you going to listen to this portion yourself, or are you just going to skip right over it? Fast forward through yourself?
Probably not. Is this the Patreon podcast? No, no, no, this is the regular. Oh, you don't send that to me.
Oh, that's true, but you listen to it. I subscribe, yeah. I could put this in your Dropbox, too, if that's the way you would prefer. Yeah, if you'd like that ahead of schedule.
It's only going to be, like, you know. I'm not ahead of schedule, because this will go up tomorrow morning, and I'll edit it tomorrow morning. Right. He tries really hard, Skip, to make sure that you get it as fast as possible.
Yeah. He doesn't want to disappoint you. No, no, don't go, Skip. Don't disappoint you.
I'm always waiting. So, you know, so anyway, I guess the point is, is that this year has been, has changed a lot around the way that the whole industry model works. Right. And not being, not being in Esteli, it's hard for me to kind of convey some of those changes, you know, You know, kind of real time like I normally do.
Right. So it's tough. Yeah, there's definitely a whole paradigm shift without question, you know. I mean, I'm gonna try and, you know, I'll probably circle back to you later on, see what day you're going down or not, but, you know, I'd still want to try and make my trip probably in February, depending and see how that plays out.
You think you'll be able to get the shot by then? I don't know. I think so. I think so.
I thought July was gonna be general public. I don't think I don't think it's gonna be that far out. I think that this they're pumping this fucking thing, right? You know, I guess we'll see.
I think Q1 the majority of people will be covered, so. I don't know, they're only vaccinating something like a half a million people a week, so. Yeah, so how many people are in the US? I don't know, a lot?
320, 329 million. Okay, so half a million a week, divided by seven to carry the one. So it'll be done by the end of next year. Well, I read somewhere that the vaccine is only good for a year.
So, like, you have to get revaccinated every year, like the flu shot. Oh, no kidding. That would make sense, I guess. Maybe, yeah.
I mean, if the new strand comes out. Right. Which they're saying is already happening in England anyway. Right.
Yeah, that'll be here in no time. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, me neither. Just trying to get the herd mentality.
Right. Oh, shit. All right, brother. Well, we won't keep you any long.
Thank you for the D-minus on my on my paperwork. And I just want you to know, I appreciate you. I'll try to have more input next time. Yeah, try to punch it up a little for you.
Yeah, well, yeah, we'll I'll make sure that it's better next time. I don't want to disappoint. Well, I mean, you know, based on based on the wrapper, you know, we'll we'll make the production of Habano. Right.
And in terms of LEs or in terms of Broadleaf, I'm not sure, you know, if we're going to be able to pull it off. Okay. We'll figure it out. You'll always just do what you can do, Skip.
Yeah. And I appreciate everything you can do, so. Yeah. Yeah.
So that's not really a plan. That's just a... Right. Yeah.
Suggestions. We'll see what happens. So here are the numbers I need. Well, maybe...
We'll see what we can do. I don't like these. We'll see what we can do. I'll get back to you on that.
That's basically what they do, Mike. They just throw bullshit out there, because I'm going to change it no matter what. Right, exactly. They don't put any...
That was mentioned. They don't put any effort into it. It doesn't matter what I... That was why Michael didn't look up from his phone.
He goes, you know, it's whatever Skip wants to send us is what's going to happen. I'll take 2 million Broadleaf Toros. Yeah, okay, well, here's 50 bucks. Thanks!
Right. What is a cigar we didn't even order? Well, I started working on my 50-year cigar. Did you see that?
Yes, with the Indian head. Yeah, so I need to get back and start procuring tobacco for that. Right. I have a pretty good idea of what I want it to be.
Oh, yeah? Are you going to drop a hint or no? It's going to be amazing, whatever it is. Maybe you can go through that process with him when you come down in March.
That sounds like a plan. March. He's already pushed you back. Okay, all right, I'll see you in March.
I'm thinking about coming in February. Okay, I'll see you in March. Well, Arlington BC expires March 31st, so we have to get back before then. Gotcha.
Oh. Okay. All right. If possible.
We'll make it happen. Yeah. Sounds like a plan. We'll see.
All right, brother. All right, man. Well, I hope you end the year good and have a good start to next year. It's going to be interesting to see how Q1 goes.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Please give my love to the family. I hope you had a Merry Christmas.
Our love to the family. Please give our love to the family. Thank you. And I hope you have a Happy New Year, brother.
Yeah, you guys, too. All right, man. Thanks. All right, bye.
Bye. You really got to get him later in the day. You never heard him that low-key before. Yeah, yeah.
I mean, he's really, he's just kind of chill. Need a coffee or something? I don't know, he's gone. He needs a beer.
Oh, beer. He needs some rum. Is this nap time? I'm going to loosen him up a little.
It's four o'clock. It's 3 o'clock, you know, it's crazy. No, in Texas, it's 3 o'clock. Oh, yeah, it's way early.
Way early, way early. Well, we stopped in the middle of that conversation so that we didn't lose any of it, so the sound carried straight through, but the video, there'll be a little click there. That's okay, nicely done. Is he texting now?
Nope. What did you slapdicks put me on the show for? You assholes. No, that's good.
All right. When you have a guy like Skip on, how do you go to Tyler? Right. I mean, you know.
And Skip asked to be on, Tyler. " Right, well, I guess we don't need to do any of these stories. You'll cover a little bit. Cover a little bit of it.
Come on, bang it up. Okay. Let's go. We'll do one story, and then we'll do the listener of the week.
It's a little Christmas special. Three smoke shops were robbed in three days in the Tampa area, and the Tampa police want our help, Mike. Oh, my goodness. Police say that three Tampa smoke shops have been robbed of their cash and backwood cigars.
Yeah. Backwards. It's smoke shops. I don't think it's actually cigar shops.
Over the course of three days, between December 16th and 18th, three armed robbers have taken place at local three armed robbers. Your glasses are rubbing against the mic. Is that what the noise is? Yes.
I heard that noise, too. I thought it was you. No, it's you. Okay, I will not look at the camera.
Yeah, I'll face the thing. m. , smoke signals on North Florida Avenue was robbed. In the two most recent robberies, the suspects were wearing a construction helmet in the December 18th robbery.
An older model, Red Mercedes, was seen in the area at the time. Detectives are asking for help finding the occupants of the red car to determine if they have any information that could help this case. Detectives are also asking the community to get... That's the soundboard.
It must be the soundboard, which I'll order the new one tonight. Detectives are also asking the community to check if they recognize the man in the surveillance video. No, we can't watch it here. Anyone who may have information can help with this investigation.
Ask to contact Crime Stoppers of Tampa at 800-873-TIPS. All I want to know is where was Pete Hernandez on those evenings? Your suspect. Not in Tampa.
Probably not. I was thinking more like a village people robbing them in a red car. ZZ Top in their red car is pulled up with the village people. Young man, smash a fucking window.
Cuba's getting rid of their money because they're going to one unified thing. The Warhead collector sample started shipping. C. Newman apparently is raising all their prices in 2021.
That's kind of standard. Well, there's only like five companies raising prices. Hmm, interesting. See, I have information about the different things around the world.
We'll get rid of that. Oh, he's just clearing out. out. Fair enough.
Okay, Listener of the Week this week. Yes. Kevin Beauregard. Ooh.
Kevin. Kevin, thank you for listening. He put up a lovely photo. He was smoking and listening, or watching, actually, the show this week.
Last week. I prefer the watch. The watching is nice. You gotta see our faces.
Yes. Our expressions. Lovely faces. So, thank you, Kevin.
We appreciate that. Yes. Did you hear from last week's Listener of the Week? Did she listen?
I don't. I think she listens to, like, she's behind. Oh, she's behind. Oh, so she She doesn't know yet.
I don't think she's aware. I don't know. Exciting for her. When she finally hears it.
Until she gets the hit. That's very nice. Beautiful. All right.
We're going to wrap this up. We've got to move on to the Patreon. For some reason, the staff outside is wanting to know if we're doing the Patreon, so I don't know why. Screw 'em.
We're going to board the door. Board the door. So this has been episode 154, Michael. Not 53, like you said.
154. Have a cigar. How's the podcast? Still the number one cigar show on Podbean.
Please excuse my producer. I've got to look at signing with the new equipment. Yes. Makes sense.
Alright, that's it. We're going to go. See you later, guys. Thanks.
The right, the show's host, Mike Szczepankewicz, with any feedback or suggestions that you have for their shows. These broadcasts are presented and made public as entertainment in the hope that they will be entertaining to the audience. This has been a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, a Mike and Mike production. m.
for all new episodes. Hi, I'm doing, I'm Hustoy 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 gotta 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. It'd be like four cigars when I walked in a door. All right, end this.
Show Notes
Christmas Santa Update! Mikey's top cigars for 2020 and Uncle Skip Grades Mikey's Forecast for 2021!
All this and more on episode 154!!