156 Award Winning Podcast!
Episode Summary
Episode 156 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with Mike and Mike celebrating a milestone: Podbean sent them a physical award naming A Cigar Hustler's Podcast the #1 cigar-themed podcast on the platform for 2020. Before getting there, the hosts trade personal stories — a last-minute birthday party scramble, a Cameo video message from Real Housewives of New Jersey's Teresa Giudice that accidentally got discovered early, a new "man purse," and the usual shop banter. The episode is also sponsored by the Octodor deluxe humidor from Case Elegance, which the hosts use to store the cigars they review on the show, and they smoke a CAO Vision (the LED-lit humidor-style box) throughout the episode, saving the full review for the Patreon secret show.
The news block is the meat of this one. The biggest story: Michael Herklots, former VP of Nat Sherman International, and Brendan Scott, former VP/CFO, have formed Ferio Tego, a premium cigar and accessory distribution company that has acquired the Nat Sherman premium cigar brands and their intellectual property from Altria — including Timeless, Metropolitan, Epoca and Ancora — with releases expected back on the market by summer 2021. The hosts walk through the Nat Sherman timeline (founded 1930, acquired by Altria in 2017, shut down in 2020) and speculate about blends, factories, and leftover discounted inventory still sitting with retailers.
Other industry news includes United Cigar Group's annual summertime limited edition — the Foundation Cigar Company Wise Man Maduro Firecracker, a 3 1/2 x 50 with a Mexican San Andrés maduro wrapper and Nicaraguan corojo binder, priced at $7.50 per cigar / $150 per box of 20, shipping in June — plus a history of the Firecracker vitola dating back to the 2007 Don Pepin Garcia Blue Label made for Two Guys Smoke Shop. Fratello has named Zev Kamensky VP of Sales (previously Royal Agio, Drew Estate and Camacho). La Flor Dominicana's Special Football Edition 2021, a 5 1/2 x 63 figurado at $20 per cigar, is coming to Florida retailers because the Super Bowl is in Tampa. The TAA has cancelled its in-person 2021 convention in favor of a virtual meeting on March 23.
The hosts also cover a viral story about an Elmhurst, Illinois cigar shop owner who posted a "Biden voters keep out" sign, weigh in on Florida COVID variant data, shout out listeners of the week Billy Cole and Justin Sobelman, and ask listeners to vote for Cigar Hustler as Best Tobacconist in the Cigar & Tobacco Business Journal awards.
In This Episode
- 01Case Elegance Octodor HumidorThe hosts read the sponsor spot and give real-world feedback on the 100-count octagonal humidor with its front digital hygrometer and patent-pending humidification system.
- 02Birthday Chaos and a Teresa Giudice CameoMike recounts throwing a surprise party at 5 a.m., ordering decorations off Amazon, and accidentally letting his wife discover her Cameo birthday video early — which they play on air.
- 03'Biden Voters Keep Out' Cigar Shop StoryA CBS report about an Elmhurst, Illinois cigar shop owner's political sign sparks a discussion about mixing politics and retail.
- 04Nat Sherman Brands Return via Ferio TegoMichael Herklots and Brendan Scott acquire the Nat Sherman premium cigar brands — Timeless, Metropolitan, Epoca and Ancora — from Altria under their new company Ferio Tego, with a summer 2021 return planned.
- 05Foundation Wise Man Maduro FirecrackerUnited Cigar Group's summertime limited edition from Nick Melillo gets a 3 1/2 x 50 firecracker treatment, plus a look back at the vitola's 2007 origins.
- 06Fratello Names Zev Kamensky VP of SalesOmar de Frias brings on the former Royal Agio, Drew Estate and Camacho sales veteran, and the hosts riff on press-release speak.
- 07La Flor Dominicana Special Football Edition 2021A 5 1/2 x 63 figurado at $20 a stick heads to Florida shops because the Super Bowl is being played in Tampa.
- 08Podbean Award and Listeners of the WeekThe show reveals it was named Podbean's top cigar podcast of 2020, thanks listeners Billy Cole and Justin Sobelman, and asks for votes in the Best Tobacconist awards.
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 156 of a Cigar Hustler podcast 2021. Today's show brought to you by Octador by Case Elegance. Case Elegance, 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.
The Deluxe Humidor features a striking octagon silhouette, posh black piano finish, glass top, front digital hydrometer, accessory storage drawer, Spanish cedar magnetic closure, and the patent pending hydro system. Hydro. Case Elegance has undergone extensive research, testing, and customer feedback to solve every shortcoming commonly experienced with other humidors. Cleverly recessed into the base is the included patent-pending hydro system, an accurate and low-maintenance cigar communication 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 stakes are kept to your desired humidity. Properly store your lighter, cigar cutter, and travel case in this large bottom accessory storage door. The stunning Octador is finished in a lacquered black piano with a slight undertone of black wood grain. The solid metal hardware mirrors the octagonal shape and comes in a modern space grey finish.
The Octador by Case Elegance is one of the highest rated and most comprehensive cigar humidifiers on the market. A striking shape, beautiful finishes, and thoughtful engineering makes this a must-have for any aficionado. com for more information and purchasing. Cigar Elegance, not Case Elegance?
Case Elegance, oh, I'm sorry, Case Elegance. com. I look up at the last second and I flub the line. See, you feel so confident, and then boom.
com for more information and purchasing. And we've been using it to store the cigars for the show, and it's working quite nice. Yeah, quite amazing. It is amazing.
I really love the Digi on the front. It is very nice. I mean, the analog humidor, that doesn't work. It just doesn't work.
It doesn't work. I've had a lot of people inquiring about it and how we like it, where they can get it, that kind of stuff. Are you sure my phone's turned off? Excuse me.
So, my boy Santos is obviously in town. We've got to give him a quick shout out. Yes. Hello, Santos.
He was in yesterday, too. Yeah. He just fed me this gigantic burrito. It was amazing.
Oh. And, you know, it's funny that it takes somebody to come from out of town to show me that there are actually good places to eat here in Deltona. Where did he get that? Fiesta Grande.
No idea where that even is. Me neither. Oh, wait. I think I might have eaten there.
Is it over on 192? I have no idea. He Uber eats it. Oh.
It's like DoorDash. Yeah, yeah. It's quite amazing. This show also brought to you by Uber Eats.
No, it's not. Apparently. So, we got some good reviews from the people on the Patreon, as far as smoking the cigar at the beginning, during the podcast. Yes, yes, we got good feedback from them.
And now that we hold our Patreon cigars in here, I'm going to... Go ahead and grab yours, huh? I'm going to start smoking now. Oh, look at that.
No noise at all. Is that thing open and closed? Yeah, so we're going to review the scene. I'm going to like mine at halftime.
Okay. That's good. I have a lot of talking to go. You do.
You talk a lot. You talk too much. Well, you know, it's my show. It is your show.
This is your show. Pretty much. My wife says I think I do. I think it is.
What the hell? Might as well be. Might as well be. Just make check payable to...
That's right. To me. It doesn't work that way. If you come in on Thursdays, pay cash.
So we're going to review the CAO Vision. Vision. Vision. With the light-up humidor.
Yeah, with the, it's shiny. It's shiny, with an LED, purple or blue LEDs in it. " Well, can't they now? Yeah, I know.
Now you can! Yeah, we do, we sell the box too. Yes. I'd prefer you just bought the cigars.
That would be so much easier for us. That'd be a lot, you know, yeah, for sure. For sure. But, um, so yeah, I'm excited, I'm gonna light this up, I got a couple, what'd you do, I got to remove the bottom foot band, but I got to keep it here for the weekend, we gotta do our witty banter, yes, banter, okay, so I got a couple things for you, all right, you were asking me some questions, yes, I had to shut you down, I forget, yeah, that's, that's podcast material, Mike, I can't answer these questions, so sorry, I forgot, so, but before I get into that, I will, I got to tell you something, let me tell you something, So, Facebook, they like to do those, you know, back-in-time fucking things.
Oh, the memories. Yeah. And apparently, about nine years ago, nine years ago, I discovered a video on Facebook. And you did a video?
Oh, I did a, I did multiple videos. So, like, I got hit all week with, oh, yeah, dude, it was, look at you with your sound. It was, it was, um, it was cringeworthy. Like the shit, you know, it was this B rated acting, you know, it was just like some of the shit that I did.
And you stared at the camera and I wanted to, I was thinking, man, can I delete this? How do I get this down? Come on down to cigar hustler. Get your cigars.
But then I was like, you know what? If somebody's going to dig deep enough to look it up, fuck it. Let them see how stupid I was. Where was it exactly?
It's on my Facebook page. My profile. Okay, I did that one about the beginning and now, but I took that from your Instagram. Yeah.
Took a long time. I know, you dug deep. I had to go way back. That was like 40, 50 pounds ago.
I mean, look, it's so young. You look like Jack's. I know, it was amazing. I was just so happy.
So young. So young looking. Fresh into the retail industry. Thought there was going to be so much fun.
Cigars. Okay, anyway, your video though. So, do we have it here? Did you see?
No, no, no, I wouldn't. Come on, man. No, you got to earn that. You got to go in and look for it.
It's not just one. No, just one. Oh. It's bad.
Oh, okay. I know how to find it. Like, you can just go look at the videos and be like, holy shit, that was so stupid. Nine years ago.
Yeah. Because when we tried to use your, what was that first video camera thing we had? The GoPro. Yes.
There was videos on that that you guys shot at the very first IPCPR. Oh, yeah. Well, the first, no, the first one that I brought the camera with. It was probably the second or third year.
Oh, yeah. They were terrible. That's hurtful. If I wanted to actually bring a drone and launch it there, that was before everybody- Oh, I wonder if that's allowed.
Probably not. Well, that was before everybody had drones. Oh, now they'd be flying everywhere if they allowed it. Yeah, like zoom.
Surprise, nobody had just one of them little ones. Yeah. You know, if Dojo and Cooper like steal that idea, feel free, gentlemen, you can use that for your footage. You're welcome.
You're welcome. Or Pedro. It's probably Pedro to have one follow him around, Pedro from Georgia States. Yeah.
Oh, come with me. Come with me, follow me, drone. The mayor of Esteli. So, my wife's birthday's coming up, and I'm going to say a couple things here, and they're going to be a little advanced, because her birthday's on Wednesday, and this is released on Tuesday, so, I mean, some of it's- We could hold it a day?
No, no, no, we're going to release it. Is this going to ruin a surprise? If she listened to it, it would, but I don't think she's going to listen to it within that timeframe. Oh, perfect.
So, she's like my wife now, she's not listening. So, we're just going to roll it through. Oh, wait, my wife mentioned she was going to start listening, and I'm rolling through my head going, wait, what? Oh, shit.
Not this one? Yeah, please don't. No. Not that one?
Delete, delete. You know, that's probably a bad idea, honey. You're very busy. Yeah, you know what?
I don't want you to... I don't feel bad that you don't listen at all. You don't have to commit. No, no, you don't have to.
My wife still listens every once in a while, but... Oh, okay. Anyway, go ahead. Sorry.
So I didn't think that she wanted to do anything for her birthday, like a birthday party or anything like that? Oh, so that was a message I got on Saturday. Yeah, so I screwed that up big time. So I realized that it was a big-- So, what time is the party tomorrow, Michael?
I realized that that was-- and at that point, she didn't want to party. Oh yeah, it's too late now, you're getting white people over tomorrow. Yeah. It's very convenient.
So I'm gonna tell you that, holy shit, man, you know, my sister-in-law, Lexi-- Yes. Cupcakes. Fucking-- No cookies. Yeah, so I planned on handling all of this, and then like, everybody just kind of picked up.
" Food, get the food. At this point, I'm like, I'm going to order pizza. If you guys want to do some apps, like, they were the first conversation. Okay.
Right. And then the second conversation, I think, was my brother and Alex. Right. And they're like, you want to do, you know, we want to cook.
Can we, you know, and Alex has been trying to cook for a while, so I'm like... Rice and beans. I'm like, okay, fuck it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, cook, cook, whatever you want.
Greg says she makes excellent rice and beans. There's gonna be like probably 20 plus people, you know, not a big gathering, but I mean, just with immediate family, you hit 20, right? Right, yeah. But yeah, sure, fuck it, okay, I could use the help.
" Whatever you want to do. And the cupcakes were fucking amazing. So, um, but I had no decorations, so like I had, we had the conversation Saturday night, so like I'm on Amazon, I'm like, what can I get here at 4am, right? That'll be here by the next day.
Yeah, I get here 4am tomorrow, right? So I can, so what, so here's my plan. I'm going to wake up, I'm going to go to bed at one, maybe two in the morning, wake up at five, stealthily decorate the house without her waking up. How were you getting decorations by five?
Oh, it worked. They were there. They were there by 6:30. They were there by 6:30.
99. Yeah, exactly. 99 and get it there. 99 all day.
Save my ass. Okay, so I went ahead, I ordered that, and I was like, alright. And like, Sunday's like the major cleaning day. So I'm like, okay, I can stealthily clean the bathrooms.
I can handle all this stuff. I can get everything together. Before she gets out of bed? Oh, yeah.
Is she a late sleeper? No, no, no. So, no, she would get out of bed around 7, 8 o'clock. Gotcha.
So, like, I knew I had, if I got up at 4 or 5. You had a couple hours. Yeah, I could. You didn't get up at 5, did you?
No, I did. Oh, but wait, you're getting ahead of the story. Sorry, I get so excited. I mean, so, you know, my sister-in-law, Mika, lives with us, so she was clutch, too.
She helped with the balloons. I mean, you know, family rallied around me, and I really appreciate that. Oh, isn't that nice? So, I'm like, okay, I'm not going to wake up.
So, is this shit I know in the future to offer to bring the decorations? So I know, no, you'd have to get there so early. I don't sleep. So, I'm like, okay, I know that I have to get up, and I know I'm gonna be fucking exhausted, and I don't want her to hear the alarm.
So here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna sleep with my phone in my hand. Oh, that doesn't, it doesn't work. I had the little, uh...
Would you tape it to your hand? No, like, you know how you have the little poppet socket thing? I stuck that out, I had it on my chest, and I, and I kept it there. Oh.
I fucking kept it there. Wow. So the alarm goes off. So what did you have on vibrate?
No, the alarm goes off and I instantly go to shut it down, right? So I hit it quickly, like three times, just stop, right? Well, if you hit it really quickly, Michael, it's an SOS for 911 and you call the police. So it goes boop, boop, I'm like, no, stop, stop, no, no, no.
So the police never called back, which was nice. Oh, nice. So I lucked out on that. A little disconcerting.
Well, you know, COVID, they're probably, you know, it's really early. You want to go? I don't want to go. What is it?
m.? A domestic violence call on a Sunday? I mean, is it really? Football's not even on yet.
Yeah, I mean, it's ridiculous. , home invasion. So, boom. I had it under control.
Fixed all that problem. Right. Party went well. Everything went well.
Everybody helped. Fantastic. Now, for her birthday, which is on Wednesday. Oh, yes.
I'm going to give her the, I did like the cameo thing and I have a Teresa Judy, Judy, Judy, no, it's Judy. That was Judy. No, it's Judy. What's his name says Judy on the show.
No, it's Judy. What did you, she correct you from real housewives of New Jersey. She correct you or something. Is there a pre-call?
Brittany has told me it's Judy. Oh, I don't want to, you know, I don't fact check. I just go with it. Just go with what she says.
I believe that she's, I believe that she's a little more versed in that realm. So, so I went to go cameo. DJ. And I ordered that like last week and I'm like, okay, God.
And it's like, there's a seven day window. I'm like, Oh shit. So if that, Oh, so anytime from when you order to the day could happen anywhere. Yeah.
So like that puts me right at the cusp. I'm like, Oh my God, what if it doesn't come in time or whatever? Luckily it came in. Oh, so I'm like, Oh sweet.
This worked out. I can't wait to hear it. Okay. So I want to hear it.
Make sure that it goes out. Okay. So it's not like a phone call. No, it's a video message that you can send email or something.
So I'm like, okay you know and i made like little jokes and i made uh points of the kids and i want to make sure that theresa covered all that right so i'm like okay i gotta hear this video so brenny gets up she goes to take out the kids this is a few days ago before the party oh came that fast yeah she gets up um she goes to take the kids she takes my car to school right right and then because then i take the baby to the gym okay so she goes she's about to leave she gets in her gets in the car The kids are in the car or whatever, and I'm super excited. I'm super excited. I can't fucking wait. I want to hear this so bad.
So I go in and I go to hit play. Shut up. Shut up. Don't ruin my story, Mike.
You fuck up my story all the time. God damn it. This is, this is my life. This is my life.
I want to ruin it for myself. God damn it. yeah okay so i go in and uh you know she she goes she goes and she's in the car and i hit play and i'm looking at theresa and there's no sound there's no sound and i'm like son of a bitch it's broken it's not working it's not working so stop with the soundboard so i hit it again i hit it again i hit it i've hit it three times it's like the same sentence you can go i can read her lips i see what she's saying but i'm like fuck it's broken i don't know what i'm gonna do i'm gonna We got to call Cameo or something like that. I don't know.
We got to call Cameo. " You quickly go, "That's my girlfriend. " Yeah, I'm having an affair. I'm having an affair.
She's being an asshole. So I, you know, I, in good graces, I, you know, I guess she just kind of let it go. I was like, you know what? I don't even want to talk about it.
Let's not have this conversation. So she has let it go since then. But I could not fucking believe. Can you play it here for the show?
Um, I could, yeah, we could attach it. We'll attach it at the, if you want, at the, uh, at the half. Okay. And you can play it.
I'll look it up for you. But son of a bitch, man. Like, and she knew the Christmas present too. Like she solved that.
Like she's been on a roll and then I went and fucking monkey fucked myself with this. son of a bitch, man. Just no, I got no luck right now. Wow.
But it's going to be really cool. It's good she didn't recognize the voice. I think she's going to be very excited. Well, it's not like she said, hey, it's me, Teresa.
She said, hey, Brittany, happy 36, something like that. Oh, she didn't say, oh, because it's a video, so she probably never says who she is. I assume they all know who I am. Do you know who I am?
Do you know? They can see me. I mean, for God's sake. So, fuck.
Yeah, it was rough. It was rough. But hey, I rallied, and I'm looking forward to it, I can't wait to see that she gets it, and she's going to be very excited. Good.
And the party went really well. Good. And all was forgiven. Good.
There you go. You pulled that out of your ass, didn't you? I usually do, though. I mean, that's usually my strategy when it comes to life, right?
Why can't you figure out she wants this stuff beforehand? I'm an idiot. Oh. You know, I don't know, like, the vibe, for whatever reason, the interpretation that I had gotten was, And this is all entirely my mistake is I thought that she wanted, she would have wanted something just, you know, kind of private, intimate, me and her, me and her, me and the kids.
Birthday's always a big deal at your house. Yeah. And that's, and you know, the problem is, you know, who runs the birthdays in my house? Her.
My wife. Yeah, I know. Yes. Not me.
Yes, my wife has dumped it on her once or twice, too. Yeah. Right, exactly. And that's kind of like the going, like everybody does it.
I do it. Hey, my husband's brother's cousin has a birthday coming up. Do you mind setting that up? You want to put that together?
Put that together. But Brittany loves doing it, too. Like that's, you know, that's kind of her thing. But the problem with that is that when it comes to her birthday, I fuck it up.
Right. So, that's my life in a shell for the week, Mike. And it's a good one. It was a doozy.
It was double wham, exhausted. I just had a ton of carbs with Santos. But did you really have a ton of carbs? Yeah, that burrito had to be like 1500 calories.
But it was amazing. All right, hold on. When is her real birthday? January 13th.
Okay, so next year, the weekend before will be what? Everything bumps back? Oh. Everything bumps up or back?
Everything bumps up one. So instead of the 9th, it'll be the 8th or will it be the 10th? For the weekend? Yeah.
It'll be the 9th. Okay. The Saturday will be the 9th. All right.
And we set this for... I think. You know what you need to do is you need to set it for like, It's like the fifth, so that I have time to properly plan it. Who says you're going to be involved?
Okay. Oh, so you're just going to go for brownie points on my wife? No, just take that off your hands, like everything else that you don't like to do anymore. Did you ever see, um, there was a TV show that was awesome, and it had Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, it was on HBO, they were "True Detectives".
Not familiar. Okay, so "True Detectives", so Matthew McConaughey eventually winds up sleeping with Woody Harrelson's wife or girlfriend or whatever. I'm not going to sleep with you, Mike. " And I feel like that's where we're at right now.
You're about to try to cut my grass. I'm not okay with it, Mike. You don't want me to help you out here? Take this off your hands?
No, no, no, no. I could just use the... Every month, I get a reminder that it's time for Greg to do the sales thing or whatever. And you remind him?
Yeah. You can remind me. That's what I'm saying. You don't take the helm, though.
Well, I'll offer. Okay. Okay. All right.
Well, we didn't have quite that excitement into my house. We went to-- I mean, that was excitement. That was back to back. We went to Celery City Saturday night, then we came here Saturday night, we went to dinner and did a little shopping.
Adrienne got her stimulus check, so we had to go, she had to go get a little bit of new clothes. Took me to dinner and then, you know. I did go down to the factory outlets and went to the Nike store. I thought I was getting a deal.
Oh, did you ever get your Merce? No, I ordered that online. I was going to say that too, I forgot, thank you for reminding me, I now am a proud carrier of a man purse. Carries a purse.
Yes. With his, I'm going to get you like a little chapstick to put in there. Perfect. Maybe a little eye makeup.
Some nail polish? Nail polish. Just to clear, just to clear, I mean you are a man for God's sake. Yeah, don't be ridiculous.
Maybe some lotion. You know, the problem with my jeans. Condoms. No, don't do that.
Please, for the love of God. You get home and nose fall out. That's worse than a lady's voice on the car. How the hell's that?
Palmer, Palmer. Yeah. Palmer's fucking with you. No, he's not.
Okay. Yeah, good luck to me convincing that. So, the problem with my jeans is that they're fucking too tight around my thighs. Bigger jeans.
Why do you insist on wearing the same size clothes? You're a large man now. The waist is fine. Stop.
I'm not muffin topping it. Get the thighs. Get the bigger one. It doesn't work that way, bro.
You know what, the ones I'm on? Elastic. Yeah. Okay, how many squats do you do a week?
They're still elastic. You can get elastic. What are you wearing? Skinny jeans?
So you're going to judge me on my man purse, but you're going to talk to me about your fucking jeggings. I'm trying. They're not that elastic. That's what they are.
And just for the record, I have a pair of those jeggings, god damn it. And it's the same thing. They're still tight. Don't wear the baggies.
No, I prefer to just put everything in the man purse and be on my weight. Wear baggy pants. They are supposed to be baggy. Get bigger baggy.
What do you want, MC Hammer pants? oh get a parachute you walk around as you shuffle around the store I'm bringing back baggy pants skids as long as you keep them up on your ass though hammertime so yeah I'm already a huge fan of the man purse I hope I keep it up why don't you just go with a fanny pack no man that's weird that's where I draw the line You're in a purse. Listen, this is lovely. This is a Nike little bag.
It's a purse. It's a backpack. It's a purse. We've gotten rid of new notes.
We're drinking out of cups. Europeans been doing it for years. No more. Decades, eons.
No more free rides here at Cigar Hustler Podcast. Mm-hmm. I mean, I just went to the cup by myself. Well, your water, 'cause God forbid you-- Because I carry a gallon jug with me everywhere I go.
I do. You want me to pan that in? No, no, it's not necessary. It's embarrassing.
It's embarrassing for you, don't worry. Don't worry, don't worry. It's not embarrassing at all. Don't worry.
Don't scratch the table. Oh, you scratched the table. Yes. This is my friend.
He looks like an old man drinking moonshine on the porch. This is my friend. I carry him everywhere I go. Paul Paul made a special drink he got there on his porch.
He gave him an entire gallon of water a day. I made my medicine. It's amazing. All right, we're in 22 minutes.
We have a lot of news, Michael. We have some international news. We have some Florida news. We have industry news.
We have industry news. Oh. We have show update. We haven't done that in a while.
Oh. Show update. We have listeners of the week. We do listeners.
Listeners. And there's a small surprise at the end. Oh, son of a bitch. Small surprise.
I'm not going to be here for the end. You have to be. I don't want to do it. You have to be.
I don't know if I can handle it. It's been a tough week. I'm a little tired. This will make you weak, Michael.
It's a big deal. Okay. You've been elected Mr. Olympian.
That's not possible. No, it's not. Have you seen the, did you see this year's Mr. Olympia?
He's very thin compared to you, I feel. Oh my God. You kidding me? The guy doesn't have an ounce of body fat on him.
He's just jacked. Well, it's the man bod, or the dad bod. It's not the dad bod. It's the dad bod Olympian.
Oh, okay, good. I'm glad that I qualified. Yes, qualified for that. Okay.
Can you hear the gong? Oh, I need a gong button. You could totally do that. It's a lot harder to program than you think.
I'm sure it is. It is. Still dealing with that. Why don't you work that out?
Please don't hit. God damn it. I didn't try to, I meant to hit the laugh. I wasn't looking, I just blind hit.
But that worked, that worked out well for you. It did, that worked out well. All right, uh, now we're at 24 minutes. We're gonna take a break and then we'll be right back.
Right back. Hey, it's Mike too. Wanna be part of the show? com/theCigarHustlersPodcast.
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Thanks for the support. Yes. Alright, welcome back to episode 156 of a Cigar Hustlers podcast. I'm gonna take that away from you.
I'm gonna take it away from you. You are not. This is mine. You're going to lose it.
All right, Michael's going to play the... So we just attempted to Bluetooth my phone in. We probably should have tested to see if it works. But that's not how we do things.
Now we roll. We just go right in. We just jump. All right, we'll see how this goes.
Let's see. Play from Teresa. Here it is. This might go into a third part, just where a two-part.
Oh, my. Let's see if it plays. Hi, Brittany. I just wanted to wish you a happy 36th birthday.
Let me see. This is booked by your honey, Mike, I heard your favorite housewife, thank you so much, thanks for always loving and supporting me, I heard you love your wine, your kids, Jax and Teddy, and that your husband acts like my brother Joe, very angry all the time, a lot with that one, LOL, so I hope you have the best birthday ever, hope all your birthday wishes come true, make sure you have Have a shot of tequila for me on your birthday, and have the best time ever. Love, love, love. Happy birthday.
I think that's cool. That is neat. That's pretty cool. There you go.
Let's disconnect the Bluetooth so I don't get a... I can just disconnect it from here, dude. Okay, you just do that. Yeah, don't hit the button.
I love it. So, yeah, I'm really excited about it. Hope she likes it. I think she will.
Yeah, probably, I don't know. She didn't say her name. I would thought, for sure, she would say her name. Hey, Carissa.
Now, you know, the way that works, we can put ourselves on there. I've looked before. I feel like we need to. And people can pay us to say stuff.
You know what? You just call us. We'll just do it this way. No, man.
We should do Cameo. I'm down with that. There was some process to getting verified or something. Yeah.
Well, we're a big deal now. We're a big deal. Yeah, we're huge. We're a big deal now.
Global domination. All right. Are we getting on with the news? Prestige, Worldwide, wide, wide.
All right, on with the news, Michael. Oh, my. That's gonna be the new news music. Oh, that's very exciting.
I feel like you should put, uh... A business owner in West Suburban Elmhurst is making things political, and he's not afraid to explain why. He told CBS, this is from CBS, we now get CBS news. Oh, okay, good.
CBS 2 Jerry Ross is right to do, uh, what? It is his right to do what some people say is just plain wrong. He's put a sign in the window of his establishment saying, "I don't want you in the store. I don't want you near me.
" What? I can still hear the music. There you go. He's so rude interrupting.
Anyway, he put a sign in his window that says, "I don't want you in the store. I don't want you near me. " Oh, my. The owner of Cigar House in Elmhurst.
Oh, my. Are we going to do this with that, gentlemen? No. Sean Thompson, owner of the Elmhurst Cigar House, got candid with us.
He's candid with us. He said if you voted for Joe Biden for president, he does not want your business, your cash, or your presence in the store, and he is prepared to suffer the consequences as a formal protest. In downtown Elmhurst, there are many signs, but this one that was put up weeks ago at the Cigar House is starting to draw more attention. Cigar House like H-A-U-S or H-O-U-S-E?
H-O-U-S-E. Oh. " If you go out, it's drawing a lot of attention. I find it really, truly, Paulie.
Pretty much, they would like to stay out and go in. A second woman said, I find it horrible. I find that offensive, the first woman at it. It seems like a lot of women, they don't go in cigar shops usually anyway.
I'm a Trump supporter, so if somebody put Trump supporters stay out, I wouldn't find a very kind of thing to do. 3 stars. Oh, speaking to us from South Florida, Sean Thompson. Oh, he's in South Florida.
Oh, well, Sean, if you're in the area, you'd like to stop in, we'd need a sign. A user suggested this category as a public bathroom on Google. Oh. That's so mean.
" Oh my god, people have put posts of Biden and Kamala Harris all over his Google+ ad. Uh oh. Oh man. "Well, according to experts, there's nothing in the anti-discrimination law, federal, state, or local, that prohibits from expressing your political beliefs, which is obviously what the store is doing," said CBS2 legalist.
The global analyst, Irv Miller. Miller said the sign is a form of protected speech for the private business owner. You know, what's kind of crazy, though, is how would you know if they voted Biden? I assume he's hoping, well, that's what he said, he hoping that they respect his wishes and don't come in.
Ah. But, as you don't listen when I read these stories, you're not aware of the fact that he said that, so. Whew! Man, that's a big, that's a bold move.
That's a bold move. A little crazy. Crazy. I guess he hopes Biden people don't smoke many cigars.
Crazy times out there. It's tough. It's hard. Michael Jordan said it best, man.
Republicans buy shoes, too. Just saying. Just saying. You don't have to agree with me.
I didn't know where that was going. You don't have to agree with me. I will ring you up. Republicans buy shoes.
You're entitled to your own opinion. All right. Moving on, Michael. That'll be $12.
, have established the... Curious how you're going to say this name. Fierotigo. Fierotigo.
Fierotigo. , a premium cigar and accessory distribution company. Fierotigo will be the name of the company's flagship brand of premium cigars, but perhaps the part that will be most interesting to cigar enthusiasts is that Fierotigo has acquired the brands from Nat Sherman International, along with their respective intellectual property. You know, this is odd.
There was a young lady in here weeks ago that said she worked for Natrium or something and that it wasn't really going away. Huh. She was talking to Evan. When she left, I told Evan, I go, "She's crazy.
" There you go, there's your answer. Maybe she, this must be what she was talking about. Maybe she works for the Herklots. Maybe she works for Fiero Tigo now.
Fiero Tigo. Well, now own and distribute, timeless, metropolitan, Ipaca, Epico, how do you say that one? And Anacora. And Sora.
Ipaca. Ipaca and A-N-C-O-R-A. Ipaca. Among other brands.
The move is a significant one for Herklotz, who has been associated with the Nat Sherman brand since 2011, as it brings the brands he nurtured back under his stewardship. Back. Back. He's back.
Mortimer. Nat Sherman was established in 1930, hadn't been a family-run business until 2017. And Michael Herklotz has been there the whole time. 2017, Atria acquired Nat Sherman, which included both Nat Sherman cigarette and cigar brands in 2019.
Altria, I said that wrong first time, announced it was exploring options for the future of Nat Sherman's Premium Cigar Business, and by exploring they meant closing. At the time they were exploring. They were exploring the closing. It says we're exploring the future of Nat Sherman's Premium Cigar Business, including the sale of the brand.
Oh, they were explaining that. And they couldn't sell it. Herklotz had said plans were underway to sell the brand when the COVID-19 pandemic threw a monkey wrench into those plans. And they said, back it in.
Back it in. By August 2020, Altria had made a decision to shut down Nat Sherman's Premium Cigar Business, including the brand, And it's Nat Sherman Townhouse, which is now the Fuego Tego. Oh, Fiero, they, that's, they, they're in the townhouse? No, no.
Come on. Altria completed the shutdown in 2020, including selling off inventory, and still retained ownership of the brands and its intellectual property. Fiero Tego. From that point, Herc Lotz and Scott worked on a plan.
We have a plan. Yes. Having spent the last nine years developing and building these iconic brands, I'm excited to be able to continue the work with Brandon. I want you to learn the soundboard so well that you add specific sounds for the news that you're going to play that day.
What do you mean? That's what I wanted to do. You want to let individual sounds for your story? " Don't do it.
Oh, good. It's nice and low now. Nice and low. Yeah.
Turn it up? No, don't fix it. We are grateful to Altra for working with us to find a path forward to these brands. I'm extremely excited to work with Michael-- I wonder how much that deal cost.
Well, I'm sure it'll be out eventually. But you know, actually, it was a good thing on his part. Let it go out. Let it die by a pen.
Let it die. And then pick it up for a penny. I mean, but I have questions. I'm just waiting for you to finish the story.
Oh, please go ahead. Well, I mean, so. Fierro Tego, Zone Premium Cigar Line, which will be a limited production line. The acquired brand is expected to return by market by summer 2021.
So, I would assume that they have the blends. Yes. Right. But it's not going to be made at the same factory?
Did they have their own factory? I don't think so. I don't know. It should be.
Do you think it's the same place? I've never heard of a Nat Sherman factory, no. I don't know who originally made their stuff. This is the Nat Sherman factory.
But I would assume, you know, when he, when it finally closed, he had to have had this in mind that there was going to happen. So somebody had to go and go, you know what, get all the blend papers and take them with you. You know, the one thing that sucks though, is they blew all that shit out. It was like, you know, wholesale, like 50%.
Well, you want all new stuff. This is the Fuego Taro. But you're taking on Timeless. Fuego Taro.
Like, let's say they remake Timeless. Right. Which they will. Well, that's what they said.
It's timeless. There's going to be some bleed over time, is my point. It's going to take some time. They said it's going to be out by summer of 2021.
No, it's going to be out, but what I'm saying is, I don't think you're hearing me, Mike. I don't listen to you. That's obvious. What did you say?
I had listeners talk about our whole football thing, and they're like... It's football. I don't listen. I don't know.
It's like watching stuff. Monkey fucking football. Anyway, what were you saying? Please explain again, Michael.
Let me listen. I just think that, you know, like some of those guys that are Nat Sherman, that have been Nat Sherman retailers. Smokers? No.
Oh, Nat Sherman retailers. Yeah. Yes. I thought you were going to listen.
I am. And here you are just interrupting. I'm listening. So.
Oh, sorry, what? The people that are Nat Sherman retailers that loaded up on that product. Yes. May still be having that.
I mean, who knows? Oh, you think they went and bought a bunch of it up? Of course, because it was discounted. Like they were clearing it all out.
Oh, see, when you say clearing out, I was thinking the retailers. No, the wholesalers were. The wholesalers were. He has a purge.
I haven't seen a bunch of ads for it going around or anything. Yeah. Well, you know, I don't know. I wonder how much my friend Abe has.
I should ask him. Call him. No, no. It's not time.
It's Tuesday. We do phone calls on Tuesday. He's a very busy man, Mike. That's why he's the best.
He is the best. The wise man Maduro firecracker slated for June. Yep. That's why not foundation.
Oh. Well, you didn't say- The wise man Maduro firecracker slated for June. In June, United Cigar Group has announced that the Wise Man Maduro Firecracker from Foundation Cigar Company will be the newest addition to its annual Summertime Limited Edition series, like other cigars, and see, there's certain stories that I look for just to get the correct response out of you, like other cigars lying, being released in a compact Vitola, this one measures just three and a half inches long with a 50 ring gauge, it features a Mexican San Andreas Maduro wrapper, a Nicaraguan Corajo binder. Where has Nick been?
Grown in the Jalapa region and Nick... Where is he? Like I said, I think he's on Coop, either he just was or about to be. So maybe explain where he's been.
Oh, maybe he's talking about the firecracker. Maybe. If you would like to come on our show, Nick, and talk about your firecracker. This is a fun project to be part of, said Nick Melillo, a Foundation Cigar Company, via press release.
Fitting the depth of the wise man Maduro into a three and a half inch of Vitola was a challenge, but what a flavor bomb it is. Tough, very tough. 50 per cigar and $150 for a box of 20 cigars. I understand Santos loves Foundation Cigars.
Huge fan. Huge fan. Santos loves Foundation. I think he had a shirt on today that said Foundation Cigars.
You know, like, he's got multiple shirts. Multiple t-shirts. I hear he's getting a tattoo, that's why he's in town. Of Foundation?
Foundation, yeah. The wise man. Oh, did you see Joe Rogan is a big fan of Foundation Cigars. Did you see that on social media?
He held up a box on his show, one of those hand-painted boxes. Did he? Yes. Wow, that's good because, you know, I've seen him smoke some bullshit on that show.
I've had some concerns. I like, he's got a red background. He does. Look at that.
It sort of looks like the wall on a spaceship or something. It does. It's kind of cool looking. I looked for that online.
I can't find it. Yeah, it's probably custom. You know, when you get a hundred million dollar licensing deal. Well, it probably is the wall of a spaceship.
He's like, you know what I need? I want something off of the spaceship. Like a wall of a spaceship behind me, Blake? I would like to integrate that into my wall, so.
Yes. I mean, if we can get Elon Musk on, that'd be great. Oh, he smokes pot all the time. Yeah, that's true.
Yeah, who wants to talk to that guy? I understand that you can hear the battery running in his ass, too, so. The battery? He's a robot.
Oh, oh. He's a robot. I didn't know that. Android.
That's amazing. Android, I'm sure robot's so antiquated. Yeah. It's probably offensive to the Android people.
Is it a Tesla robot? Is he a robot? Is it made by his own company? Or is it Apple?
I think, why would he go Apple? That sounds ridiculous. No, I said it. You said it out loud, my lord.
Pricing $750, $150 for a box of twin cigars, both before taxes. The Wise Man Maduro Firecracker is slated to begin shipping in June. Are we gonna get that? Oh, isn't it an exclusive for, um, what are they called?
Two Guys? No, no, no. The Firecracker series traces its roots back to 2007 and a cigar made for Two Guys Smoke Shopping. The Don Pepin Garcia Blue Label Cigar that measures three inches long with a 50 ring gauge.
But now they're releasing it. Cap was decorated with a long strand of tobacco that resembles a fuse with the release date around July 4th. Aha. And now it's coming.
He originally came out with the fire. Now it's coming to roost. I'm still waiting on my five, my extra five years. Poor Steven.
He's just waiting. Five years. Steven, I'm sorry. As soon as it comes in, I'll get you into the five.
Is it a five year? It's a five, seven year? Well, something. I don't know.
Oh, the... The whole way one save box. Oh, yeah. Oh, with the flaps and the foldy and the other thing, yeah.
The problem is my broker lies to me all the time. " Oh, that's probably how you're not going to get these. Yeah, yeah. Fredo's terrible.
Fredo. All right. Maybe we can get some of these though, Mike. I'm just kidding, Alfredo.
Fratello names Zev Kamensky, VP of Sales. I heard. Zev Kamensky will be the new VP of Sales for Fratello. Hey.
The company owns that Kamensky will formally begin his role on January 11th. Oh, that's today. Congratulations. Did you see his social media posts?
He's weaning himself back into clothing, he said, because he's been sitting around his pajamas since the pandemic started. Oh, Zev or Omar? Zev, no, not Omar. Zev.
Okay. He most recently served as the National Sales Director of Royal Agio Cigars, which was shut down last spring after being acquired by Scandinavian Tobacco Group. Shut it down. That's not a good sign.
Prior to that, Kaminsky worked for Drew Estate and Camacho. There you go. I've known Zev since before I started Fratello, said Omar, founder of Fratello in a press release. You know, he's a rocket scientist.
He really is. His professionalism, work, ethics, and family values fit right into our culture of hard work. I respect his commitment and the reputation he's worked so hard to build. With the hundreds of brands of brick and mortars and consumers he has come across, I can't be any more excited to welcome Zev to our small family.
Omar is also the number one ghost shooter in the industry. You know what a ghost shooter is? No, I don't, Michael. " Oh, he said he was coming on our show two years ago, too.
Oh, he did? Oh, yeah. See, there you go. I didn't even know about that.
Oh, yeah. That's awesome. He was in town, so I reached out to him. I didn't get my cigar at the break.
I'm on my way. He would get that for me as I force that thing open. I got it. I can see.
I can see. CAO Vision. I would like one time, though, for one of these press releases, the guy goes, "We hired him anyway. He's got a terrible reputation.
" You know, yeah, we're really not looking forward to this. We're really not looking forward to this, but I lost a bet and I have to take him out. I had Pittsburgh in the wildcard and you know who wouldn't bet against the Browns at this point I you know if you saw the game I mean it was insane the fucking it was on here when I was working but Browns beat the brakes off of Pittsburgh busy I mean it was embarrassing and then get that line from JT yeah that's a yeah JT put that Facebook oh yeah that's a thing but it's not just his oh I do know it's his I do look forward to when he says it. Because he gets all...
Anybody got any Napa discount coupons or something? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Vince Burgess got the brakes beat off there. I mean, golly.
He doesn't talk like that, but that's the way it sounds like. Yeah. I've seen my boy Morris do it, too. Garrett Morris?
No. The comedian? No. I think he's dead.
Morris Pollard. I don't know. He's a good guy. Please.
But he's a bit of a Saints fan. That's where we kind of, we don't get along so much. As you see, I am a Bucs And through and through at this point in my life, so, my son is definitely a Buffsman. Yeah, sorry, enough about that.
Thank you for the football portion of the show. Jack's is, uh, he's not looking forward to the game. Like, they're gonna beat him. Don't even talk to me if you're gonna say they're not gonna win.
Justice, since you didn't get mentioned in the video, if you'd like to come live at Grandpa Mike's house, that's fine. You can. First of all, I didn't screw Justice. Why do I gotta lose my kid?
He's my guy. That guy's my stud. I would like to go. It's going to be terrible.
It's going to be terrible. It's going to be terrible. Call Papa Mike and Gigi. You're not going to like it.
We'll come get you in the middle of the night. Just, that's the way it works. Nope. Flor de Minicahana.
Domenicahana. Domenicahana. Flor de Minicahana. Flor de Minicahana.
Flor de Minicahana. Flor de Minicahana. Flor de Minicahana. Special Football Edition 2021 to debut this month.
I know. I just got the text. Oh. Don't email.
Text. Apparently that's how it works. No, I got the VI text too. We should be getting the VI.
Who knows? Oh, see, I completely skipped the new Viaje story because I figured we just wanted to get them. " The Super Shots? Yeah.
Oh, I just left the story out because it wouldn't embarrass you. And the Pepper? I emailed them. I responded.
I fucking responded. Special Football Edition 2021 will soon be arriving on the shelves of retailers in Florida. The cigar is a 5 1/2 by 63 Figuarado. It uses an Ecuadorian habanical wrapper with Connecticut-grown tobacco used to create the art and accents.
Underneath those leaves are a Dominican-grown binder and filler, pricing set at $20 per cigar and $200 for a 10-count box. The company launched its special football edition line in 2015, a limited edition release that features a football designed on the cigars and are only released in the states where the Super Bowl is being played. Super Bowls, oh, because they're playing in Tampa this year! Yep.
That's why we're getting them. Yeah, and then why did we have them last year? It was in Miami last year, right? No, I think we got them late last year.
You got them after the fact. No, no, no, no, no, no. Was it in Miami, unless you have no idea? Yeah, I think so.
It seems kind of odd they'd have back-to-back in Florida. Well, originally they didn't have, okay, ooh, this is where I can tell you, I can educate you a little bit on the world of football. They didn't originally, four years ago or five years ago, they didn't originally plan on having the Super Bowl here at Raymond James Stadium. However, what had happened was.
What had happened was. A. would be ready in time to have the Super Bowl. So that was a brand new stadium, and it's beautiful, so because they didn't know that, they had to use a stand-in, and Raymond James Stadium got the nod.
What does that have to do with the fact that last year they did Miami, and this year they're doing Tampa, according to you? A. Last year, so they did Miami. , and then...
A. stadium's not ready. is not ready. This is where...
I thought you meant well it is ready but they didn't know if it would be ready because it takes like they do it like... I thought you said four years ago. Well they make... Oh they announced it like five years ago.
I'm following now. Handyman I'm sorry man. I'm sorry. I know that he struggles.
He struggles with the football. There's nothing I can do about it. I'm not a fan. I'm not a fan.
I'm trying my best. Well... He's not a fan of movies either. He always says I'm a big fan.
Big fan of movies. Movie sucks. Movie sucks. We're in 20 minutes.
We gotta speed this up. Yeah, we'll just do a third segment. Fuck it. Well, we have to make sure the camera because, you know, they got a red screen last week.
TAA cancels the 2021 meeting, virtual meeting is scheduled. The TAA 2021 meeting convention will be held virtually due to the ongoing coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. The Tobacco Association of America has canceled the planned in-person meeting originally scheduled for April 11th to the 15th at Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic, and instead will hold a virtual meeting on March 23rd, 2021. There it is.
This is the second consecutive year the TA meeting and convention has been canceled and the organization has been forced to hold the virtual meeting. Some hoax, huh? Son of a bitch. Can we go to the virtual meeting?
I'm not a TA member. I have not been invited. I'm not welcomed. Well, there's more information about the meeting, but fuck 'em, we're not in.
Yeah, we're not in. So we're not, but we're not gonna get any. So, no. Whatever, go ahead, keep going.
The new data, data, data from the CDC shows that Florida has nearly half the known cases. Oh, you've legit moved on. Okay. I legitimately moved on.
Okay. New data, data from the CDC shows that Florida has nearly half the known cases in the USA of a mutated and likely more contagious strain of the coronavirus. The news comes as Florida reported nearly 20,000 in a single day on Thursday. Okay, so it's more contagious.
The CDC map shows that Florida has 22, well you have to see, they say we have over half, but there's only 22. So yeah, but okay, but that's... Florida had 22 cases. The variant that emerged in Britain, California is 26.
Colorado has two, and New York and Georgia. So it's more, so what does it mean that it's more contagious? It's more contagious. I don't know.
Okay, so it's more contagious. Is it more deadly? Or is it less deadly? The Florida Department of Health on Thursday reported 19,816 cases on Friday, 7,320 people in Florida were hospitalized with the virus.
Okay. We get it. It's a problem. It's a problem.
Roll out the vaccine faster. How's that sound? You know, some countries don't even have the vaccines yet. Yeah, I don't understand it.
I don't either. I mean, why are we the only people that have it? That seems a little concerning. I don't, yeah.
There's been one doctor that died. Did you see that story? Yeah, I don't believe that shit. I don't think that's linked.
I don't think it's linked to the vaccine. Even if it was. They said it were 5 million people have been given the vaccine. Okay, but you don't want to give somebody something that could kill them.
5 million and one odds. Okay. Roll the dice. Roll the dice.
I don't think that, I honestly don't think that it was tied to that. It just doesn't make sense. I don't know. I'm not a doctor.
No, the autopsy report was not in yet when I read the article. Yeah, I'm not a doctor. I don't know. He got like spots on his hands and feet and he felt fine.
His platelet levels dropped. Yeah, his blood wouldn't... They couldn't get, like, I don't understand that. Couldn't get his red count.
Like, it just doesn't, it just seems very, very strange. I don't know. I don't know. It doesn't seem like it's, how could it be the vaccine?
We have a show update and then with the surprise, we're gonna have to go to a third. Take a break. Oh, man. This show, 156, going to three parts, ladies and gentlemen.
I'm very excited. Here, here's some sound. Yes, they're terribly excited about the three-parter. Thank you.
Thank you, please. Back in your seats. Thank you. All right.
You know, I regret a couple things in life. One is the new soundboard. All right, we're gonna take another break, and then we'll be right back. We're taking the break right now?
We're gonna take a break now. Right now. But then we'll do the show update and the surprise, and then we're done. So it'll be a short third segment.
But it's gonna be a good one. Oh, it's good. It's good. I'm about halfway through the CAO vision.
I just got my lip. I'm making some notes here. All right. We'll be right back.
Hey, it's Mike Toon with my Cigar Hustlers Podcast. Looking for high quality swag from the show? com/cigarhustlerpodcast. We have everything from t-shirts and hats to phone cases and beach styles.
com/cigarhustlerpodcast. The Cigar Hustlers Podcast, get your show swag and become a true hustler. All right, we have a show update, the 2020 show update. We'd like to welcome Chile, Ecuador.
2020 or 2021? 2021, sorry, did I say 2021? Yeah. Maybe I just said it fast like you did last week.
No, I didn't. Two weeks ago. So you admit? Well, no, but I played it for several people, and one said, you said 2020, and the other one goes, no, no, he just really quick said 2021.
Whoever that second person won, you're dead to me, and you're wrong. Anyway, we'd like to welcome Chile. Chile. Ecuador.
Ecuador. Costa Rica. There is one country that's held out in South America, and we will have the entire South America. Who is it?
I don't remember. Oh, here we go. Sorry. We need Guatemala.
I do have that written down. Look at that. Guatemala. And in South...
Let's see. We also need... That's Central... Oh, sorry.
Central America, we need Guatemala. They won't have that little strip that connects Mexico to South America. In South America, we need Bolivia, Paraguay, and Venezuela. Oh, a little more.
So if anybody knows any of those people in those... " Because other than that, it's Africa. I don't think like the inner Congo where we're going to, you know, unless we go, you know, play by the drums and stuff, you know, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, or tick, tick, tick, tick, or whatever that country is that does that. All right, but we have two listeners a week because we both had one.
Did you see the, uh, the Amazon trailer for How to, uh, Coming to America 2? Yes. " Right, yeah. Oh my God.
" That's so funny. I can't wait to see it. Okay. Go ahead.
Your listener of the week. My listener. Is Justin Sobelman. Justin Sobelman.
I wonder if you can still hear that. Yeah, you can probably. Okay. And then my listener of the week.
Yes. Is Mr. Billy Cole. Billy Cole.
Billy just started listening to the podcast and he's listening to the back ones and he said he listened to 145 and he will never go to that blaze again. Hey, you know, the fact of the matter is I appreciate you listening, Billy. And um. Justy Pants, I appreciate you listening.
I was gonna get to those. He's one of the devoted. I was gonna get to that after. Billy deserves his own time, goddammit.
I mean, you wanted to bring him on. I thought you were welcoming mine. I was thanking yours. You know, the fact of the matter is, though, Billy.
I just spoke here. You go ahead. If you ever meet us in person and you ask us about specific episodes, we probably won't remember exactly what we said. Isn't that true?
Yeah, except for 145. That seems to be the only one. 145 seems to stick really well in my mind. But other than that.
Other than that, I'm very sorry. We're at episode 156. Yeah. " He was here not long ago for the first time.
He made a trip here to the shop. Oh, really? Did I see him? No, no, neither one of us were here.
Damn it. Sorry, Billy. But he did have a trailer, so I did arrange for him where he could park with his trailer. Oh.
Oh, he's like a truck driver? No, more like a landscaper, I think. Ah, gotcha, okay. Yeah, yeah.
So he was a local guy. He Google earthed it and saw that, you know, limited parking in the front. Where can I go with my trailer? Atta boy, Billy.
If it was a semi, I would have stood obviously across the street. Now, Justin is obviously my brother-in-law. He's one of the devotees. He's one of the devoted.
He has a Postanya tattoo. Which is now they call them the devote. We call them the devoted. What do they get for having the tattoos?
A box of cigars. I thought he didn't get it because he smokes free cigars at the house. He can have a box of cigars, I don't give a shit. Oh.
He's got to ask me though. So then the only way he'll know that is if he listens to this show. Like, that's what I was really hoping for. Like, so, uh, a few episodes back.
Justin and I are text buddies. Oh, you guys are friends. A few episodes back, I mentioned, or maybe it was the last episode, how my house was in disarray, and I said, I think he said that I said, brother-in-law knocked over the soda can, but I said brother. I did say brother.
Yeah, yeah, you blame it on Greg. Because it was definitely Greg. Right. Without a question.
He denies it, but every time he walks by me, I grab my soda can. Yeah. And he goes, what? I go, you're just going to knock it over?
Yeah, I know what you're going to do. I know how you work. So, Justin thought that I had said brother-in-law. So, you know.
Oh, you said it's the Manny. It's the Manny. So when I had caught wind of this, so he did, yeah, he actually thought that, okay, well, there's several brother-in-laws. The Manny's moved out.
The Manny's gone. What do you do now? Well, the other one moved in. What?
Somebody else moved in? Yeah. Mika? Oh, yeah, yeah.
Well, that would be a nanny, though. Yeah, she'd be a nanny. Oh, good. I'm glad the help level stays the same as your house.
Actually, the help level is an upgrade because the new help bathes the baby. Oh. Oh, yeah, it was the real deal. Manny was very lacking.
Not that man-y-ish. But anyways, I wanted to give, you know, I had caught wind of that. I'd like the revolving door in your house. Dude, it's just Grand Central Station, man.
I don't know what to tell you. I would like to book the guest room for halfway house. You should put like the triangle up for like the, you know, the kid with the, you know, like the sign. Oh, the safe place?
Yeah, that's exactly what our house is. It's a safe place. So, but, you know, so Justin thought that I was talking about him or there was a possibility I was talking about him. And I didn't want to bring it up to him.
I wanted to just kind of release. What other brother-in-laws are there? There's Justin and Bri-Bri, who's the... Nick is the other one who was in town.
He's a younger one. Oh. Oh, and then her other brother, you guys, would be a brother-in-law too. Who?
The young man. Oh, yeah, Ike. Ike, Ike. Yeah, so there, I mean, yeah, there are several.
A whole bunch of. Right. So, I didn't even want to talk to him about it. He brought it up.
I just wanted to bring it up on the podcast So that he'd listen to it, but, uh, Sam, damn, damn it. But, uh, I hope he hears this and, uh, thank you for being a listener. Yes. Listener of the week.
Billy and Justin. Now I'm really nervous about the surprise. Oh, oh God. Now this came to my house because up until this last week, that was the billing address for our podcast.
Yes. So this came last week. " Uh-uh. So I will let you see the letter.
Oh, God. And then I will unwrap the present. You can read it out loud. Dear Mike, congratulations.
Our records indicate that your podcast has been the top cigar podcast for the longest consecutive period in 2020. - Oh! - It is our pleasure to send you the enclosed award and thank you for an excellent job and wish you continued success in 2021. - Isn't that nice?
- Sincerely yours, Shannon Martin of Podbean. - Look at that! - Holy shit, we got a trophy? - We got, well, it's plastic, but yes.
- Who cares? - Still very nice. - That's an acknowledgement. It's better than the fucking cigar people that...
- Read the little thing there at the bottom. - A Cigar Hustlers podcast. Number one cigar themed podcast, Podbean Streaming Service 2020. Isn't that nice?
Son of a bitch. Right. Look at this thing. I was very excited.
You've got to put that somewhere. Put it on top of the Case Elegance Humidor for now. For now. Absolutely.
I'll put that somewhere. Much better than the electronic banner. Or do you remember like the trick one? " Well, that's what I'm talking about.
Yeah. We didn't get shit. By the way, might as well go ahead and mention this. Cigar Tobacco Business Journal is doing awards.
Yeah. And the show cannot, they don't have a category for the show, but I have nominated the shop for Best Tobacconist of 2021. Wow, son of a bitch. Here we are.
So if you'd like to go, there is a link on the Cigar Hustler Facebook page to go and vote for Cigar Hustler to be the top cigar retailer for 2021. Hey, I'll take that too. I'd like to thank Boss Cigars for putting up the post first because that's how I found out. Corinto.
So thank you. Sorry, Corinto. We're coming for you. We're coming.
But Corinto has a nice place. Yes, he does have a nice place. Yes, best of luck to him and no disrespect for being number two. Yeah, I mean, you don't have a podcast where you can't market it and advertise it.
Right. So, you know, I've already put it on Instagram, Facebook, and now the show. So, I'm very sorry, Karin. So, good luck.
So, good luck there, sir. We're rooting for you. We always love a good underdog story. Yes.
So, that is amazing. Isn't that cool? That is absolutely amazing. No, we can frame the letter.
Oh, yeah, cool. I just put it aside. Okay. We got an award.
We got an award. Look at that. Look at that. Top cigar pocket 2021.
Fuck. And now we have like mics and stuff. It's crazy. Imagine what we can do with the good equipment.
Sky is the limit. And red walls. Sky is the limit. So this will wrap up show 156 of the number one cigar theme show on Podbean for 2020.
And it was a damn good show. And it ended well. Ended well. It's nice to be on the top of the heap, Michael.
Yeah, it's good to be number one. It's good to be the king. You know what they say. It's good to be the king.
Now I know how you feel, Michael. Yeah, see, does it feel good? It feels great. It's like you want to take your shoes off, you do whatever you want.
It's amazing. You're the king. Do whatever I want now. Take my shoes off.
Yeah, that's it. You don't have to do these with pants anymore. I should have been wearing pants? Oh, you're not?
I don't wear pants. Oh, okay. So binding, restricting. I feel like they hold me back.
Yeah, yeah, right, exactly. All right, we have to go to the Patreon and we're going to be doing the CAO Illusion. No, Vision. Vision.
I don't know. I looked at it and it said Illusion. Looking forward to the review. All right, we're going to go.
Thanks, everybody. Thank you. Bye. Don't forget to vote.
The beliefs of Mike & Mike Productions, or the podcast providers, and opinions between talk show hosts may differ. It is not our intention to libel, incite, or hurt anyone's feelings. We invite you to write the show's host, Mike Szczevankewicz, with any feedback or suggestions that you have for their shows. These broadcasts are presented and made public as entertainment in the hope that they will be entertaining to the audience.
This has been a Cigar Hustlers Podcast, a Mike and Mike production. m. for all new episodes. Hi, I'm doing-- I'm Husto-I-Raw.
Yeah, we just don't have to do a single podcast ever again. Perfect. I'm good, Mike and Mike. How are you guys doing?
The Hojo, the-- Hojo! It's the Hojo! That's a hojo! You didn't even let him fuck it up all the way.
I couldn't get past hojo! I don't even have to try to hit the record. He's not even going to try. We're going to cover a lot of ground here, Mike.
All right. Try to keep up. That's a sign of a good podcast. You'd be like four cigars when I walked in a door.
All right, end this.
Show Notes
This week Mikey talks to one of the House wife of New Jersey! A long awaited Show Update! and News from Around the World!!