159 with John Oliva of Fuente and JC Newman Cigars

Episode Summary

Episode 159 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast welcomes back John Oliva, the Florida sales representative for Arturo Fuente and J.C. Newman Cigars, for his second appearance on the show. Before the cigar talk begins, the hosts open with a raw, personal stretch — Mike shares that he had to put his dog down that morning and reflects on why February always seems to be the month he loses people he loves, while the other Mike recounts an absurd saga involving a missing gym shower curtain. It's the kind of unfiltered detour longtime listeners expect from this show.

The heart of the episode is a candid conversation about what a cigar sales rep's job actually looks like. John explains how he followed a rep who had held the same territory for 18 years, why the hiring process at Fuente/J.C. Newman took months, and how he had to prove himself as "the new guy" despite a lifetime around tobacco. He walks through the geography of his enormous Florida territory — from Venice on the west coast to Merritt Island and Cocoa Beach on the east, up through Orlando and Daytona and out across the Panhandle — and the windshield time, emails from deer stands, and roughly 200 stops that come with it. He also talks about why Fuente and J.C. Newman's non-keystone MSRP structure creates pricing headaches for retailers, and the shop confirms it has earned its Arturo Fuente Opus X account back thanks to that working relationship. Along the way John shares his off-season life hunting deer, hogs and coyotes (including night-vision and thermal hunts) on the family's old shade tobacco farm.

The second half turns to the business of surviving 2020. The hosts describe closing their lounge for roughly four months, keeping employees paid, running constant email blasts and promotions, and the mental exhaustion of decision fatigue. John shares what he saw across the state: customers buying boxes they didn't need just to keep their local shop alive, owners using the shutdown to repaint, remodel and expand, and a new appreciation for brick-and-mortar lounges. They also debate whether Zoom events are here to stay and why most of them are boring.

News segments cover Room 101's 11th Anniversary torpedo, the TAA's $50,000 donation to the PCA for state lobbying and questions about the trade show's future, the return of Crowned Heads Juarez Shots for 2021 with a small price bump, and the note that J.C. Newman is one of the few companies not raising prices this year. The episode closes with Super Bowl trivia, a listener-of-the-week shoutout to Gilbert Ortiz, and an invitation to tour the J.C. Newman factory in Tampa.

In This Episode

1. 01
   Personal openers: loss and gym stories
   The hosts open with Mike putting his dog down that morning, February grief, and an absurd gym shower-curtain saga.
2. 02
   John Oliva on being 'the new guy'
   John describes following an 18-year veteran rep, the months-long hiring process, and earning trust shop by shop.
3. 03
   Life on a giant Florida territory
   From Venice to Cocoa Beach to the Panhandle — roughly 200 stops, windshield time, and answering email from a deer stand.
4. 04
   Pricing, margins and the Opus X account
   Why Fuente/J.C. Newman's non-keystone MSRP structure complicates retail pricing, and how the shop regained its Opus X allocation.
5. 05
   Hunting and the family shade tobacco farm
   John's off-season deer, hog and coyote hunting with night vision and thermal on the family's old Connecticut-style shade tobacco property.
6. 06
   How cigar shops survived COVID
   Closed lounges, paying employees, loyal customers buying boxes to keep shops afloat, remodels, and the rise (and limits) of Zoom events.
7. 07
   Industry news roundup
   Room 101 11th Anniversary torpedo, TAA's $50,000 PCA donation and trade show doubts, Crowned Heads Juarez Shots 2021, and J.C. Newman holding prices.
8. 08
   Super Bowl trivia and listener of the week
   A ten-question Super Bowl quiz plus a shoutout to regular listener Gilbert Ortiz and talk of touring the J.C. Newman factory.

Brands & Cigars Discussed

Linked items are in our shop. Mentions without a link aren’t currently stocked or couldn’t be matched with confidence.

Transcript

Hey, welcome to episode 159, Cigar Hustler Podcast, yeah man, what a day, what a day, oh, let's get through the business, yes, go ahead, deliver, you can tell your story, let them know, today's show brought to you by the Octodore by Case Elegance, the team at Case Elegance has spent years meticulously They are actively crafting this humidor to be their largest and best yet, fitting up to 100 cigars. Stilog's humidor features a striking octagon silhouette, posh black piano finish, glass top, turn that all the way down, there we go, glass top, front digital hydrometer, accessories storage drawer, Spanish cedar, magnetic enclosure, and the patent pending hydro system. Case Elegance has undergone extensive research, testing, and customer feedback to solve every shortcoming commonly experienced with other humanors. Clearly recessed into the base is the included patent-pending hydro system, an accurate and low-maintenance cigar humidification system that makes dialing in and maintaining your humidor easy.

Casey Elegance has integrated a front-facing digital hydrometer, offering you peace of mind that your sticks are kept to your desired humidity. Probably store your lighter, cigar cutter, and travel case in the large bottom accessory storage drawer. The stunning octagore is finished in 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 gray finish.

The Octodore by Case Elegance is one of the highest rated and most comprehensive cigar humidors 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. Nice.

" No, no, no, no. It's a wonderful product. Or he starts rattling it off, you know. It would be a dream about the Octodore, not a nightmare, Mike.

Did I say nightmare? I said you just wake up in the middle of the night. Oh. But hey, you know, what the fuck do I know?

So we're not going to smoke. Introduce our guest. Oh, we have a guest. We have a guest.

We have a guest today. Mr. John Oliva of Arturo Fuente Cigars. Thanks for having me out, guys.

It's round two. Three more, you get a sport coat. Yeah, you know, you're on your way. We probably wouldn't have fit, Tim.

Large. That'd be no issue. We just use the same one. This is brand new, just for you.

We got all matching ones, so, you know. Yeah, the master's jacket. Yeah, that's exactly, that was the approach, that was our thought. So, we're not going to smoke these today because we're not going to do the Patreon right after the show, but just to shoot this out there, it looks like we're going to be doing, uh-oh, the Reserva Real Nicaragua.

Yes, supposedly that's number one on Cigar and Spirits magazine. This one might have a crack, Mike. Oh, blame the rep, not me. Yeah, I don't know, you get that one.

Oh. No one respects your abuse anyway. That's true. Nobody does anyway.

So yeah, so we'll have to light that up probably tomorrow. Tomorrow afternoon? Yeah. Yeah, we'll do it tomorrow.

Getting a late start today. Yeah. Well, it's been a bit of a day. It's been a bit of a day.

We'll get this out of the way now. Wow. My dog died today. Yeah.

Tough one. Sorry, I don't have any sound effect for this. It's no fun. It's no fun.

No sound effect that goes with that at all. Yeah, yeah. The really kind of twisted and evil, fucked up part of all of this is that everyone that I love or care about has to die in February. I don't know why.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. The fucking dog held out until February 1. And here we are.

Here you are. Dad's passing. Grandparents passing. The whole gamut.

February is the worst fucking month. Don't love me for about 30 more years at least, please. Yeah. So I just want you to know, if I care and I love about you, you have 28 more days to survive.

So if I make it through the month of February, I'm good till next year. You got another year, yeah. Easy, easy. I'm gonna go home and sit in like a bubble filled room or something.

That's if I love and care about you, Michael. I figured you love and care about me. However, I will say this. Yes.

Um, I saw that another close friend of yours is having a child. Yes. Oh, yes, yes. And you threw the grandpa and Gigi extend their love, and now I feel cheated.

Why? I can't be grandpa for more than one child? No, no, no. What if my own children start having children?

Well, then that's totally different. That's totally different. I accept those terms. That's fine.

But now you're just kind of doling it out like it's like it's- Oh, he's like our adopted Puerto Rican son. Yeah, I understand. I get it. He's been for years.

" I got advanced notice. Mm-hmm. The other day. Actually, I got a ultrasound video from him.

Oh, well. Yes. Congratulations, Oscar. Oscar and his lovely wife for having a baby.

Yes. True estate. Well, I don't know what to do about that. Don't worry.

None of them listen. You're suspect. I'll tell you. Well, hey, we almost...

I had nothing to do with it, trust me. You know, back in the day, they were going out asking podcast stuff, trying to get advertising, and we were going to fuck with them when they reached out to us. They don't even ask us. Like, we want cash.

How much cash are you going to give us? They never got... Yeah, we asked how much. How much are you willing to pay?

They never got back to us. But they picked up, how about that cigar? Yeah. Cigar prop.

Somebody else, too. Yeah. Everybody. I want to pull all that money for here.

They probably, yeah, or they could have just gave him like cigars or something, who knows. Oh, it could be, I don't know. Hunt's doing, how about that cigar tonight? Oh, yeah, yeah.

I mean, this'll go up tomorrow, so it'll be too late, but Mr. Hunt from FQ is doing, how about that cigar? We'll have to troll a little bit. Oh, I am.

Yeah. I'm gonna ask about the sauce. So, do you want to hear about my gym debauchery bullshit that I gotta deal with? You got a problem at the gym, too?

Yeah, you kind of already know, but I gotta... At the gym? Yeah. So, whenever I go to the gym...

But there's not enough weight on the leg machine? I'm not at that level yet, because thankfully there's two rows. Oh, but, so I go to the gym, and I started doing like swimming at the end, like twice a week. But that's kind of irrelevant.

What I would do at the end of my workout is I'd shower there, and then I'd head into work, right? Now there used to be two curtains. So there was a curtain, there's like this little cubby, go ahead, sorry, you say I always ruin your story. There's this little cubby area, and then this other curtain for the shower.

But for whatever reason, they took all the secondary curtains down, I don't know, the one that's closest to the crowd, to the shower. Oh, so now the little dressing area is gone. So the dressing area is still covered, but there's no additional one for, so like, there's no space, you know what I mean? Oh, so the outside one's still there, and here's your dressing area, then there used to be a curtain, then the shower.

Yeah, so let's say-- So the inside one's covered. Right, so let's say, hypothetically, I mean, as crazy as it may sound, people are, like, I like this one particular shower, right? Sure, yeah. Like, you know, there's something about the pressure, the heat, whatever, you know.

It's your shower, so yeah. Yeah, this is my shower. People have favorite bathroom stalls at work and stuff, too. Right, right, I have a favorite bathroom stall there as well.

And I get pissed if somebody's in there, now that you mentioned it. So, I'm the only person in the shower, right? " Like, I'm going nuts, right? As I'm fucking finishing up or whatever.

So, what I do is, I go and I pick up, I go and buy curtains. I go buy a secondary curtain to put back up. Oh. Figured that that would work, right?

So I put up the curtain, and I leave it there. I'm like, fuck it, it'll be fine. No one's got to fucking touch the curtain. Come back the next day, curtain's gone.

Curtain's fucking gone. Maybe it's a COVID thing or something. No, this was pre-COVID they started taking it down. Right, but you put the second one up.

Oh, pre-COVID they started taking it down. Yeah. Maybe there was a problem with that one getting too wet or something. But there are no secondary, maybe, maybe.

Because the outside one, there's enough space where it's not going to get splashed or something. Maybe there's, like, sex going on or something. Who knows? Maybe it's why the guy was coming in.

Yeah, I mean, listen, there could have scored. You never know, you know, I mean, like I've played with that in my head, too. I'm like, wait a second. I'm like, there are other ones were open.

What the hell was this guy up to? You know, but with that being said, I'm also in favor of this one particular shower. Maybe he was in favor of the one particular shower. So I don't want to draw that conclusion.

Oh, OK, you know, and I've never seen the guy ever since that. So when did this happen? Weeks? Like a week ago.

Maybe two weeks ago. But we had so much good content that I didn't want to read it. But maybe the man hasn't seen you again, or maybe now he's embarrassed, or feels rejected. He didn't seem embarrassed.

Rejected. The only person who seemed embarrassed was the guy who got out of the cold pool and then jumped in the fucking shower. I mean, golly, you know? I don't know.

That's what this podcast is about. This is a real Cigar Podcast. Yeah, real Cigar Podcast. The only Cigar Podcast is not about cigars.

Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. So, that happened. Wow.

That happened. Dog died. Rough couple of died. That's some heavy shit.

I mean, you've obviously had a dog. Have you had a dog die, John? No. No?

No. Holy shit, man. It hits hard. It hits hard, especially with the kids.

I can't believe they wouldn't let you go in. COVID, man. COVID. I mean, it was a vet we don't even normally use and they let us go in.

Well, the regulations are all different. You know what I mean? It depends upon the place and how much of a liberal you are. That's really what it boils down to.

Oh, well, even the one I went to, we had to wait outside and the nurse had come get us. I think they walk through one human at a time. Dogs can go in on and out, but only one set of humans are allowed. And Adrian had to go wait in the car because she didn't stay in for the final thing.

So she said her goodbyes before they brought the medicine in. I made her wait in the car. I gave her a piece of steak. Well, she wouldn't eat anything.

Like, she kept eating. She would throw up. Right. Like, she'd have diarrhea the whole game.

I'm like, man, this is not good. So, I'm like, well, you know, maybe there's a chance that there's just something that they can fix. Yeah. And they're like, hey, got ultrasound.

She's got a tumor in the stomach. I'm like, fuck. Oh. So, we got there, and they're like, well, she's a little hyped up because she's here and stuff, but we don't really see what you said was going on at home.

We're like, well, I don't know what to tell you. I'm going to take her back home. I ever start screaming again. Really?

Because that's what happened. She was just sitting on the couch, and this wasn't the first time, but it had been deteriorating when we were having to pick her up and put her on the couch and pick her up and move her down, and one day she's just sitting there, she just starts yelling, she moved funny or something, and she just starts screaming. Yeah, she tweaked something. " Yeah.

And was that your first dog that you had to put down? The first one I was in there, I've had two others with wife too, but, you know. Not as emotional. " Get the fuck out of here.

Oh yeah, no, I didn't have to stay in for this. You know, I thought that I would be less emotional about it. You know what I mean? But I think that what happened was a few years ago, my wife gave me a pint of her blood, 'cause she's O-negative, I'm O-negative, and now I have those emotions.

Oh, I thought you meant a pint of the dog's blood. No, no, no. That's just a joke. My wife's never given me her blood.

But shit. And then when you see the kids, oh God. He's got low testosterone. Well, that's what it is, the low T and the high estrogen.

Right. One of my sons was a fucking complete mess. We got that new one, right? So Jax was the most emotional about it.

He's older, he's a little more emotional. Yeah, he's a little more attached to the dog. He did ask if there'd be another dog. Can we get another, well, first, can we fix her?

You know, I'm like, we can't fix her, dude. And then he's like, well, can we get another dog? I was like, well, that was the reason why we got the other dog. And we figured that this...

We've had that one for a while. We figured this moment was coming, unfortunately, sooner than later, because the dog's getting older. Right, yeah. We didn't think it would happen this fast, and that she deteriorates so quickly.

Greg is now reflecting on Uggie, because I guess he hasn't been doing well lately. Yeah. But I mean, there's six dogs in this house, we just found out, but the poor thing's tired! You know what the difference is though?

My brother has no kids, right? So that is his kid. Right, right, right, right. That's why he spent the $15,000 on the dogs.

So when the dog was messed up before, my brother was a mess, you know, and that was, the dog wasn't, we didn't have a foot in the grave yet, you know? Now we, uh, John's just being really quiet, so I was like, yeah, he's just kind of nodding. No, just, this isn't cigar stuff at all, what have we done with cigars? So, so John tricked me with a Perla Del Mar, but I saw that coming.

You did? I did. You, you partially got it, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. It's cause you're not the first person to pull this trick on me.

We still gotta do this unbanded thing on you, so. " And it's actually a really good cigar. It was good. It was good.

And I'm still smoking it. There you go. The new Corojo wrapper. It's just something new.

You guys know tobacco really well, and I know you definitely lean towards Nicaraguan and just want to have a little fun instead of just handing cigars out. Maybe something that you wouldn't have normally smoked. Oh, this red glow. It looks kind of scary.

That is nice. We got some good ones from you, too, though. We got some upper tier ones. Not because this is good, but like some Casas, Casacubas.

I love the Casacubas. Yeah. What else did you give me? Don Carlos, yeah.

Yeah. That's good. I'll smoke those later. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. So, what happened with you, Michael? Anything fun and exciting? No, no.

It was kind of a quiet week. We took another long walk in the woods type thing. Oh, yeah? Where are you going to bury her?

Is that what you're trying to be? No, no, no, no. Not yet. That's how those stories go.

I think it's where she's burying me is what it is, because this is always her idea. Who has the higher life insurance policy is the real question. Oh, I do. Oh, yeah.

You're out of here. Yeah. She has to die at school. Okay, so does she know how to work this board?

And probably not. No. She can barely work her phone. All right.

So if the time comes and you think that it might be your, you know, she's about to offer you. Yeah, we'll start training Chet. Okay. All right.

" Yeah, can you give me a couple days? Yeah. A couple days, please, honey. I gotta train Chet.

I'll work the work. But you've been out hunting and stuff, and then you went out, you went to a log cabin for a little bit, and like you've been kind of living it up, man. I'm living a little jealous of your life lately. Well, he's single.

That's what it is. Yeah, it's, you know, everyone does different things for vacations, The beach and the theme parks and all that are open all year long, as you know, I know you're a big theme park guy, but you know, people who golf and fish, you can do that stuff pretty much year round, but the hunting season is, you've got like eight weeks to get that in, you know, and then it's gone, so... Oh yeah, I didn't even think about that. Yeah, fortunately, you know, we wrap up our year in December, and there's a little bit of downtime there, and then after that, it's just looking for, you know, weekends to get out, but it's really nice getting up there.

It's the old, the family's old Shade Tobacco Farm up there, so it's a lot of fun. Nice. That's some history. So where were you hunting, deer?

This is deer this time of year. Even with private land, there's still only a season? Oh, yeah. It's a game animal, so it's regulated.

You know, things like hogs and coyotes, they're not regulated, but deer and turkey and things like that, yeah, there's seasons on. Because you've pegged a couple of coyotes as well. There's been a few. There's a lot of coyotes in this area now.

Is there? I heard them yelling the other night from my front porch. Two-legged ones or four-legged ones? Four.

The four-legged coyotes. Not the cougars. There you go. So, but you've got some kind of cool setup, too, because like, the way that you've actually put video up on your Facebook and stuff.

Yeah. Where, you know, you've pegged some things. Oh, yeah. Damn, that was badass.

You know? Yeah, yeah, we hunt at night with night vision and thermal for the coyotes. And between the family property and some other properties we have access to, they're nuisances, you know, the hogs will tear up people's land and if they're, you know, if they're growing, you know, a lot of these guys that own a lot of land, they will lease out rights for hay, you know, and if hogs are out there destroying it, you know, it's affecting their livelihoods. So we have access to quite a few pieces of property and we've got some toys.

Yeah, John's like this quiet badass. You just, you know, you'd never see it coming. You can see him hunting somebody. Yeah.

Like, you know, yeah. Hey, you should come hunting with me. Yeah. Go out over there.

I'm going to need you to run. Right. Come for a walk in the woods. I'm going to get, right?

Come to walk in the woods with me. Oh, I forgot something back at the cabin. I'll be back. I'm going to give you a hundred yards.

I mean, a head start. I mean, I don't know. Just, just go ahead. There may be a knife over there by that tree.

There was a movie about that back in the day. Surviving the game. Was that the name of it? Ice T.

Yeah. Oh, I've seen that one, yeah. But there's one with, uh. Fucking bad ass movie.

What's his name? The karate guy that does the splits. Jean-Claude Van Damme? Yeah, there's a Van Damme one too.

Is there? Yeah. Hard Target or something like that. Oh yeah, and he was the hunted guy?

Yeah, well. I don't know man, Ice-T was a pretty badass. I remember that movie, that's a good movie. They had him run on a treadmill, I was like man, for a hundred bucks I'll run all day on this goddamn treadmill.

He was a homeless guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Little did they know, this fucking guy. Right.

Yeah, but that was, I remember that, that was one of those movies that I'd watch over and over again back in the day. Right. When I was too young to be watching it, I'm sure. whatever fuck it so nice so you're so so okay so now we've certified that you're a badass you hang out late at night and shoot animals i mean it's got to be kind of fucking weird like it's got to mess with your head a little bit like what was that what was that noise or and you don't worry about vision and stuff not at all i mean you know in deer season we're not running that stuff obviously right but no i'm pretty at home out there man i love the outdoors it's uh not much of a TV guy, a movie guy, that kind of stuff.

Could care less about sports. I feel like zombie apocalypse. John may be one of the first phone calls we make. Hey, dude.

All right. Come on. He'll already be set up. He's like, I'm at the camp already.

I'm at the camp. I have the gear. Everybody's sleeping well tonight. I can assure you.

You see something that's kind of scraggling along a hundred yards away. It's like, boom! Oh, John got another one. There he goes.

Didn't even clear the fence. Didn't even clear the fence. So, all right, well, that's pretty much all I have for a quick little wrap-up for me as far as life is concerned. We're only 18 minutes in.

Okay. It only goes a little longer. Um, I, I didn't know if you're going to, were you going to talk about our, uh, our view, our nomination for the tobacco yada yada? Uh, I heard voting was over, but now, now it's in like the final round thing.

Oh, is that what it is now? Because we are on the list. Yes. So the nominations are over.

Here are your nominees. Because I voted yesterday again, because I thought, I saw last week that it was one day, two days, one day, whatever. But we're up against Luxury Cigar Club, so a lot of those guys have... Well, Boss Cigar, he's up too.

Yeah, but they have like a, you know, a big month club list. Oh, you think all those guys are going on the... So let me go to Tobacco Business Awards, and you can vote for us, yeah. Yeah, Tobacco Business Awards, and it's...

We're up for Tobacconist of the Year. Best retailer fucking ever. That's us. And that's all you, man.

I didn't promote that shit at all. You promoted it. Oh, well, that's my job here. You know?

That is my job. You have a great, you know, ability. I started to pull it up because I think last year we did a off-air vote to see how close we'd get to the winner. We did some kind of other one.

Well, no, not that one. There was some group last year that... " Because they just wanted emails. Right.

It's a big trick. But even with Tobacco Business Work, you have to put in your email to register a vote. There's always a catch, Michael. There's always a catch.

Nothing is free. Did you see that the H99s are coming around and stuff? They're doing like these Drew Estate events? Yeah, the first one's actually tonight.

Is it Secreto? No, no. It's somebody in Texas. Where the stars shine bright every night and day?

Right. The cigar, what, Tuesday night cigar movie guys or whatever are promoting it. Oh, my boy Matt Cade. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah. We're gonna do that here.

We're going to do that in February. Yeah, we're going to start promoting it too. So, me, you and Greg are going to be on video again? Yep.

Oh, nice. Good. Well, that's Patreon juice, by the way. Remind me about that.

We'll talk more about that on Patreon. Oh, tomorrow? Yeah, because we're not doing it until tomorrow. Yeah.

But yeah, no, we're going to do the HNN. We're going to promote it in store. I'm going to do online too. Oh, you should let Steve go on the video because that was his idea.

New Steve. Yeah, I mean, you got to give it, you know, it's so funny. It's like, you're doing the event. " You should do photos of the show.

Yeah. Yeah, that's not too bad. So yeah, he fucked up, walked in, got a job. And he's, you know, he's a great addition.

You know, he works perfectly here. Palmer didn't warn him. Yeah, I tried. He hired him without me even seeing him out there.

Or was I out there for the interview? Uh, I don't think you were, I think we introduced you. You came out and said hi, but you weren't there. No, I think it was.

And you asked me if, uh, anything I would ask him or tell him. And I said, yeah, don't, don't do it. Run, run, reconsider your choices. Please, please don't do it.

So, um, he mentioned that they were doing the 899 thing, so we can reset the KD and boom, event. It looks very similar to the last one, from what I've seen. Yeah, well, they've probably refined it. They've gotten better at it.

Now, they did a test run with the yada yada, and we might have Willie Herrera on. Oh! Yeah. But it's all Zoomed again, right?

I've never talked to Willie Herrera. " Oh, that was it. Wow. So it'll be great, a little one-on-one time.

One-on-one? It's like the Brady Bunch screen, the Zoom thing, again. Here's the story of a Drew Bistate. All right, take a break, and we'll get on with the news.

Take a break, and we'll get on with the news. We're at 22 minutes? 22 solid minutes. 30 minute camera.

30 minute camera. You know the rules. He knows the rules. He's been on the show.

He's an avid listener. He's a pro. Yep. He is an avid listener.

So you have to go stop it. I'll go do it right now. All right. All right.

We'll be right back after these messages. Hey, it's Mike Tu. Want to be part of the show? com/theCigarHustlersPodcast.

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Thanks for the support. All right, and we're back, episode 159, part two. All right, so before we kind of get in the news, you've been doing this for a little bit now, right? Now you're a little more seasoned.

I mean, you were kind of a natural when you got into this off the rip, you know? But so how is it now? How's business? And how are things kind of going for you?

It's going really well. You know, I'm still very thankful for the opportunity, but things have gone well. You know, um, I've always known cigars, but was keenly aware that, you know, I was viewed as a new guy and had to learn something entirely new, you know, there's the enjoyment side of cigars and then the business side and dealing with various shops and different personalities. And, you know, you see all kinds out there.

I know you've talked a lot about that before, Mike, but, uh, but no, it's been going really, really well. Um, so when you said you were the new guy, like you felt like, did you feel like you had to earn something? Like, I mean, because you came in here, you were, you looked pretty comfortable. Like, we had no issues having conversations with you.

You know what I mean? No, but, you know, anyone new coming in, this business is all about relationships. You know, the consumer side with shop owners and things like that. Do you do terms?

A little bit of everything. Terms and make a credit card? Right. But no, when you come in, you know, I always feel you've got to prove yourself.

I hold myself to pretty high standard and try to make that come through in the work that I do. Because it's all about service, you know, nothing's given, you know, it doesn't matter who you're repping for, when you come into a shop, you know, there's only so much space, and the true successes come from great relationships, like the one that, you know, all of us here have been able to forge in a very short amount of time, but, you know, some of the things that I deal with are dependent upon those relationships being strong and people believing in what I say. So no matter who I was or who I knew or anything like that, you know, you have to, you know, where the rubber meets the road, you know, talk holds all the crap or paper holds all the crap that you can talk, you know, so you just got to get in and do it. And it's taken, you know, a little bit of time, you know, some things were a little quicker than others, but, but no, that's what I meant by that is, you know, being the new guy, you're, you're a new guy.

The guy I followed did this for 18 years in this territory. Yeah, that's very true. I mean, but like you, when you, I think the first couple of times you came in with Mike, obviously we had a good relationship with him. We still do, but he's not our sales rep anymore.

And, you know, when you kind of came in and you were bullshitting with him and stuff like that, that was kind of seamless. But I know that as good of a, as a rep Mike is, it doesn't matter. There's still going to be some retail shops where you just don't mesh, right? So, um, and I'm sure that you were aware of whatever shops were kind of a struggle for him, I'm sure, did you mend that fence?

Did you, I mean, I'm sure you couldn't with all of them, but like there's, there's definitely a big difference in characteristics from you to him. So I'm sure that you produce more numbers in certain retail shops without him, I would assume. Yeah, there's, you know, Mike and I rode together for like three weeks, you know, the process for me getting the job, I think we might have talked about it when I was on, that was probably two years ago now, right? Around that long.

Yeah, man, time flies, bro. We were downstairs. But, you know, the hiring process to bring me in was pretty long, you know, it was a couple months from the initiation of the process to it being done. It wasn't like, you know, you go in and talk one time and you get it.

But we didn't ride around very long because Mike had his other job and he had to move on, so I didn't have a lot of time with him, there was a lot of areas I went that hit him for the first time. Yeah, three weeks probably isn't even one complete cycle. No, no, there were complete areas that I went to, you know, just blind, but yeah, no, I've been pretty proud, you know, I've been in a couple years now, so the territory's mine, I've kind of put my fingerprint on it, I'd like to think, I've had some time to show people how I work. And again, show people that I do what I say, and I say what I mean, and, you know, there's no...

So you're saying we're going to be an Opus account again. Confirmed. That's it. That was it.

That's what I heard. Yeah. Yeah. We, we did the work and, and, and got it done.

And many thanks, you know, to you and your brother and everyone here for that. Dude, that, I mean, that's a big attestment to you as well, man. You know what I mean? Like every question that we had, you know, because it's cumbersome working with Fuente Neumann in some degrees because not everything's Keystone, right?

Right. Like, they're still kind of the traditional path of your, your, your MSRP. So, you know, when you price stuff, when you kind of standardize everything at a keystone margin and make it all equal, like that brand will suffer because people will come in and they'll say, well, shit, you're a lot higher here than you are anywhere else. Right?

Right. So then nobody buys it. So going back and forth and trying to adjust and hone in on specific things, I mean, that, that's a big testament to you because you had the patience to deal with my shit all the time. I'm like, I know that you sent me the price sheet, and I don't know what the fuck's going on here.

We probably sent it a couple times. But we now have a copy out there that we don't have to bother him. No. Until it gets adjusted.

It's never a bother. This isn't what's on the paper, Jet. What happened? I don't know.

Mikey said do this. There's a new paper. Yeah. But no, just time in the market, getting in front of people.

Right. You know, I cover a pretty big area, so it takes a while to make one lap. How far south do you have to go? Sorry to interrupt.

On the west coast, I go down to basically Venice. They made an adjustment to my territory in December of 2019, so I ended up gaining Orlando, which is nice because now I don't have to drive through that traffic and go from one end of my territory through an area that I don't cover to get to you guys and then Daytona. And now on the east coast, I go down to the Merritt Island, Cocoa Beach area, then all the way up to the line and then all the way out the Panhandle. Panhandle.

Oh, God. That panhandle sucks. That panhandle sucks. The worst drive.

There's nothing out there. There's no easy way to do it. Yeah. It's either you start in Tallahassee and hit everything out.

Right. And then you drive back with nothing. Right. Or you go all the way out to Pensacola and drive all the way out with nothing and then drive back.

Drive back, yeah. There's no easy way to do it. Brutal. Yeah.

It's a lot of windshield time. Oh, yeah. But, you know, a lot of our job, probably more of our job, I would say, as far as time consumption, other than the driving and, you know, spending time in shops, A lot of things are done by phone and email and text messages so you get a lot of time in the car to catch up on that and kind of strategize on what you're going to do you know I try to go into a shop updated on where they're at kind of know things that we've discussed I'm a huge note taker write that down we just we just had our we just had our annual reviews and my my territory director Jake Cronin who is a very big help to me and a big Mike's supporter kind of anointed me as the most organized guy on the team and the most effective communicator and sometimes I over-communicate, but I just don't want to leave anything to chance with anybody. I think that's a good thing, man.

You know, I will tell you this, you're probably one of three guys that I could text at any given time and you, you know, you get back to me in a pretty fast fucking fashion, no matter where you're at. Like, or you can say, "Hey, I'm at a shop. " No, it's, uh, sometimes we can't talk, you know, right away, but, uh, but no, even when I was on my, uh, couple week vacation in the woods, I'm answering emails while I'm sitting in a deer stand. He had Verizon install a fucking antenna so he could still get reception.

There's a couple of areas in the property that are low. I get a poor signal, but, uh, but yeah, no, it's, um, That's where all the deer hide. You know, there's no 5g here. No 5g.

Quick, over here. You know, one of the biggest things that I believe in, and I've seen the successes from it, is it's a relationship, and it's a two-way street. I'm huge in my personal life and professional respect. That's one thing that is key for me, whether it's with personal relationships or dealing with people in business, and it's a two-way street, and not everybody understands that.

Right. C. Newman shirt on or a Fuente shirt on, and obviously we're here to do business. Right.

But, you know, we're all human beings and people respond better to respect. Yeah, no shit. And you've been out there, you know, you've seen on the road. Oh, yeah.

I call it getting kicked in the teeth. That's what I call it. Thankfully, most people are great about it. I just try to conduct myself and interact with people the way that I would appreciate, you know, everybody's busy, you know, shop owners out there are trying to earn a living and running their shops and they've got their personal lives and staff issues and inventory issues and financial resources that they have to manage, so there's a lot there and, you know, guys that do what I do for a living for my companies and the other guys out there, you know, they've got a mission too, but, you know, everybody's a human being.

And I've just tried very, very hard, you know, to let everyone know that I appreciate them and most people reciprocate that and, you know, I just think everybody pulling the wagon in the same direction is best, you know, the biggest successes I've seen are where people have kind of gone away from, okay, this guy's here, try to sell me something to, you know, I've developed some great partnerships out there with multiple shops, including this one. And, you know, we had some pretty pointed conversations in the beginning based upon where you guys wanted to be and where you once were under a different system, and, you know, I made a commitment to you guys and just made sure to communicate it while not being, you know, the pushy salesman type, and it worked here, and, you know, unfortunately, it doesn't work everywhere, but, you know, for the most part, it's been, you know, it's been a great ride. It's, you know, it's, it's, it's a job, but it's not, you know, it's a, there's a little more to it than walking into a cigar shop and hanging out for two hours and smoking cigars. I know that's what, you know, everybody thinks it is.

Everybody gets the consumers, man. I'd love to have your job. I smoke cigars all day. And I haven't been home in three weeks, man.

Well, you know, and you know, they don't see the other side where you're dealing with stuff at night. And, uh, I've had the fucking waffles at Hampton Inn for the past month. Right. For fuck's sake.

Yeah. Yeah. It sucks. Yeah.

No, but it's, it's been fantastic, man. It really, really has. And I'm blessed to, you know, have some good tools in my toolbox. I've got two very strong brands, the oldest family owned brands.

Right. Out there. And, you know, I just try to conduct myself in a way that represents them well. Right.

And again, while trying to help me. You gotta get them fucking drunk and get them on the podcast. Yeah. Fuck these guys, you know.

That'd be way better. Get them loose. You don't even like these guys. You know, this is bullshit.

I was like, no, no, no, no, no. I've heard some of those. Yeah. Some of those are good.

But no, it's been good. You know, it's a big adjustment. You know, none of us have offices at the office. You know, we go in there to conduct business.

I feel like you have an office, though. You have an office. Not really. No, the office is probably the front seat of my car.

It's kind of an office. There's a segment somewhere in the office for John. Somewhere there's a place. Without question.

Because he handles some shit there. Right. Yeah, he knows more about what's going on than he delivers the information to the other salespeople. Oh yeah, by the way, without question, so now obviously we have the Super Bowl coming up, right, and that's kind of a big deal.

I believe that the Fuentes or the Newmans or maybe both had a skybox at Raymond James. Do they still have that skybox? The Newmans did. Eric Newman is a huge football guy.

He was a referee. Where can I go? Referee in the Tampa school system for decades, and he gave that up in recent years, but they had a box there forever. I don't know all the details, but the reason we don't have the box has something to do with the Super Bowl, something about the arrangement.

It was like, hey, we've been supporting you all these years, and you've got this big game in town, and you forget who's been supporting you. Yeah, I mean, I haven't had a call back from my tickets. I mean, I've been a season ticket holder for five or six years. That should be worth something.

So you don't even get a call that says you're not getting them? You know, my guy's really good. I got to give it to him. You know, his phone's blowing up, but he's like, hey, you know, we're supposed to do a raffle.

I haven't heard anything yet. I haven't heard anything yet. And he didn't call me back today, so I'm sure that they released names on that raffle. Oh, so they're not going to, like, publicly release the list or something?

No. The game's in just a few days. Yeah, I'm guessing. Well, this is the day that they supposedly released the raffle tickets.

Oh, is it? Just today? Yeah. So, I didn't hear anything.

Maybe there's a secondary list. I mean, that would have softened the blow of the dead dog. I'm just saying, hey, you know, just so you know, I got you tickets, I'm like, fucking awesome. Oh.

Do they, anybody, nobody turns it down though, right? I mean, if they called somebody. I think that people will turn it down because it's too expensive or they don't know how to sell them. So what are they, what are they selling them season ticket holders?

Is it just face value? It's at face value, but what, what is face value for a Super Bowl team? Right, that was the next question. Let's say it's three or four fold of your normal price.

Oh, so there is, so it's not your regular price. Yeah, it can't be, it can't be. I don't know, maybe he sees a ticket there. You know, that just reminded me, I don't know why, of something, but like, I was in like a funk yesterday.

Yeah? So, I go to Costco in Winter Park to go get my fucking propane, because the cheapest propane in town, it's like nine bucks to fill it up, it's amazing. Oh, wow. Yeah.

Unbeknownst to me, I learned this trick, and unfortunately, it's the most expensive propane, because when I went to go in and buy it, They were doing a roadshow for the Traeger grills. Ooh. Oh, I saw. Yeah.

Yeah. It's called a lost leader. Yeah, and it worked. It fucking worked.

Because I've been eyeballing a Traeger forever. Right. For a while now, yeah. And they had one, and it was a thousand bucks for this gigantic- For a grill?

Dude, it's fucking amazing. Does it cook for you? It does cook for you. It better.

You fucking turn it on, you say, set this, set this, and here's- Does it come with meat? No, it doesn't come with meat. they've got that too though they've got that they have they have them probably they have a plan they have a plan a plan so i built a month i built this fucking thing last night and uh you bought one oh yeah yeah i'll put it on the credit card like fuck this greg greg no no i put on my credit card oh oh yeah you guys need a grill here so we need a new sponsor so so my pellet i'm gonna bring my pellet grill it's actually in the car i'm gonna leave it here so that i can smoke here without any well i was gonna give it to drew though i don't know what i'm your old smokers It's downstairs, it used to be. It was, but I took it, I brought it back home, and then I was gonna, I actually, Drew will be hearing this, so, I was gonna give it to Drew, that was my thought, and then I'm like, well, I'll bring it up to the shop.

Now that I brought it up to the shop, I'm like, well, maybe we should just stay here. I don't know. If Drew wants it, he can have it. Drew, it's yours.

I like Drew. I'll be coming over for a party. Drew's my friend. I text him, I was like, hey, you know, like, I don't have very many friends, so you need to take the smoke.

So I got a question for you. You wouldn't use it. No, I wouldn't use it. I got a question for you.

hit me. There's been a lot going on in the last year. COVID's obviously changed a lot of things and, uh, you know, business people had to sharpen their stick and kind of shift a little bit. Yeah.

What were the biggest things you guys saw here? I mean, what, what's made, you know, you've had some great successes we discussed earlier over the last year. I mean, what did you guys have to change here? Cause I've seen a lot of things out there, man, man, listen, I mean, dude, last Last year, especially, was the hardest year for us, for me, especially, because I was worried about, one, going fucking bankrupt, right, because the lounge had to be closed.

Two. How long was the lounge closed? It was probably four months or so, I want to say, about that. Yeah.

So cash and carry only, velvet roped off. Yeah. You can look at it and love it, but you can't. This is what it looks like.

Right. Yeah. And then my other concern was how paying the employees, right? And Mike can attest to it, 'cause he was actually in the room when we had the conversation, 'cause I don't, like, I don't keep anything from him, but, you know, my brother and I broke down, like, how long can we pay the employees with having the doors completely closed, and just keep continuing to pay them?

And then when we had employees that got scared or nervous or some shit like that, 'cause we did, we paid them, right? So that was a hard conversation. But the biggest thing for me was the mentality that you had to have was kind of run, right? And that's always what comes back into my head, just run as hard as you can.

And when you get tired, and when you're fatigued, and you're tired of making all these decisions, fucking run harder. And that's what we did. So I did email blasts every other day. We did promotions.

We just, we pushed. We started doing Zoom events with certain cigar people. I mean, that's a, that's a thing. I mean, talk about the zoom.

I don't, I don't think that's going to go away. Uh, you know, hopefully some of this other stuff that brought that, made that a necessity, you know, hopefully isn't around forever, but I think that it probably was a, uh, open people's eyes to a new way of reaching people. Yeah, they, it very well can. The problem is the fall off as like, I would say that 70% of them are fucking boring.

Right? So, you know, you put everybody on like, Hey, so like, you know, So you have to be entertaining, right? You have to engage. You got to ask questions.

You got to, you know, keep everybody involved. And like, that's really hard for a lot of people, especially in this industry, because believe it or not, I know this is going to sound crazy, but a lot of people in the cigar industry and a lot of cigar smokers, a lot of them are introverts, right? A lot of them just needed something to connect to people. And now that they've found that connection, they lack the ability to have carry on that conversation, right?

They're really good with social media because there's no direct interaction. There's like a barrier. Right, right. And you get a minute to think about what you're going to say or a day at some points.

Right. So, you know, like that's, that's kind of the fall off. So the, the segue is as a retailer or, you know, it's easier for some manufacturers and brand owners, but how do you kind of keep it entertaining, right? I mean, there's only so many poop jokes you can hear from Matt Booth, right?

Like it's just, and there's going to be one at the beginning of everything. Right, always won. So yeah, but we figured it the fuck out, it was probably, it was a really good year, I mean, but it took everything that we all had, you know, everything, and there were nights when, you know, it's like, well, what are you gonna do here, what's gonna happen with this, like, I remember sitting on the patio with my wife saying, listen, I don't want to make another fucking decision, like, I, like, I don't know, I don't know how to explain that, you know, but with every decision that I've had, I don't want to make continually, I'm just cooked, man. I don't want, I don't care what we're, you know, as far as home conversations, as far as business conversations, I don't want to, I don't want to make another decision.

You're just tapped out, drained. Yeah. So, but obviously, you know, take a fucking deep breath, you know, you take a swig of some tequila and then you just go fucking back at it, I guess, you know. I think that, you know, shops that were doing well before this, you know, And that success, you know, despite what some people think, you just don't rent a space and put some inventory on the shelves and unlock the door, it doesn't really work that way, it doesn't really work that way, but I think the people that were truly running a business, last year gave those people a few opportunities, you know, one was, you know, to look at their four walls, we were talking out, out front when we were smoking before this about, you know, You know, the shop is an environment.

Shops have the personality, not only of the owners, but of the crowd that's in there. And, you know, every one of them is different. You know, I walk in, you know, with all the different locations, I'm, you know, pushing 200 stops, and they're all different. They all have their crowd.

Yeah. Some of them have the old shag carpets and the brown plaid curtains. I've seen them. Well, I remember talking during COVID to you and your brother, you know, you guys are blessed with a good group of customers and many other shops are out there, I had so many stories out there when shop owners were in that initial fear period, not knowing what tomorrow brought, you know, this kicked off in mid-March, we got pulled off the road effective Monday, March 16th, and, you know, things slowed down initially, you know, people had inventory on the shelves, they didn't know if they wanted to order anything.

They didn't know if they could sell what they had. Right. And one of the coolest things for me was seeing that these shops that are well run, that have a good environment and a very loyal customer base, I heard left and right, you know, their doors were shut and people were coming and buying boxes. Right.

You know, not just one, you know, to get them through, they were coming in and doing it once a week or a couple times a week. And, you know, some of these shop owners are asking the customers, you know, hey, you know, Bill, you know, you've already got three boxes of this, you know, you smoked all those already. And, you know, the response from the customers was, no, I just want to make sure you're going to be here when we come out the other side of this thing. So true.

So, you know, that, that happened first. And then, of course, as things started to relax and people got kind of adjusted to what is hopefully just a temporary norm. And people were able to open back up and let people back into the lounges. I think that, you know, your your retail customer, I think they learn to appreciate the lounges in the stores a whole lot more, and, you know, that was really, really cool to see, and you saw more of that in the shops where that have fostered that kind of an environment over this time, but it's definitely been been a wild year, but, you know, those first couple months were rough.

You know, here in Florida, before it gets hot, you know, there's a reason that a hotel at the beach costs way more than it does in the summer at other times of the year, and that's because that's when everybody wants to come down, and some shops benefit from that tourist traffic more than others, but even those of us that live here are smoking more in those months if you can't smoke outside, or you can't smoke at home, or, you know, you don't smoke in your car, which I don't know anybody that doesn't smoke in their car. Not at this point. Well, yeah. When you are, right.

I know you do. Yeah, if you don't smoke in your car, I start guilting you. I'm like, you really don't want to do that? You sure?

And you call yourself a cigar smoker. Right. So you're on I-4 and you can't fucking move and you're thinking, yeah, I'm good. Right.

You know? Yeah. But no, it's, you know, and then of course people sharpening their stick, right? Making sure their service is on point and the environment's good.

You know, a lot of people took the advantage of the lounge being closed to repaint. some people remodeled i've got a couple people who expanded you doubled down on this whole thing right but uh fusion he's one yeah did he go bigger yeah did he he's in the process yeah yeah d's a great guy yep but um great spot man nice place oh yeah yeah he's he does it right there but um but no people had a chance to do the painting that you can never do because it's inconvenient when you're running a business yeah that's very true that type of thing so So, it was good to see that. It was a very tough year for people, but I think that a lot of shop owners saw what they could do, you know, and that they could survive and thrive. You know, I've had a lot of people are double digit percentage up year over year and, you know, people wanted their cigars and the guys and the ladies that had to work from home, instead of smoking one after work or maybe, you know, just on the weekend, you know, they're able to do it more.

So the consumption went up and right, you know, it's a, yeah, I was just curious about, you know, what, you know, what kind of things maybe that you and Greg discovered or had to implement? Never heard of them. Yeah. Oh yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. No, I'm sure you guys have found some things that are going to become a permanent part of your arsenal now. But you know, the scary part is, I don't think that the hard times have really hit us yet.

I think that they're still coming. I really do. And like, I think that the next, maybe closer to the end of this year, or, you know, in the beginning of the next year is when it's gonna really get fucking rough as far as the economy wise and where everybody's kind of at. And you know, you're gonna start seeing some of these debts, these SBA loans have to be cashed in.

I mean, the PPP is one thing, but if you got a loan, you're gonna have to start making payments, you know, and people are gonna be out of jobs and you ain't gonna find fucking jobs. It's gonna be a mess. It's gonna be bad. And it doesn't matter who's in office, personally.

So. Well, you can't go through something like we've gone through, and there's always a delayed effect. Right. But the pendulum swings back one way to the other, right?

So when the times are great, fucking ride it as much as you can, but, you know, hard times are going to come. We've got four minutes left. Four minutes left. You know, if I'm just going to give you hand signals, it's not discreet if you just say what they're going to be.

Well, you can just say, hey, we've got four minutes. Well, I was trying to be discreet and not interrupt the flow of conversation. That's cool. Yeah.

Well, we can jump into one of the news things. We can take a break, and then we'll finish the rest of the news. We don't have to. I mean, the show's good.

Let's get the news. We'll get the news. You're good? Let's ride this out.

Come on, man. I want a solid podcast. Yeah, let's do it. The dog is dead.

Let's do this. Let's take another break, and then we'll come back and do it. All right. Can we do it now?

All right. Yeah. Hey, it's Mike Tuum of Cigar Hustlers Podcast, looking for high-quality swag from the show? com/TheCigarHustlerPodcast, where everything from t-shirts and hats to phone cases and beach styles.

com/TheCigarHustlerPodcast. Get your show swag and become a true hustler. Do you fucking make the same thing over and over again? Well, that's for comedy.

Okay. Oh, for comedy. Room 101 released a new cigar that was approximately named the 10th anniversary of 6x52 Toro made with a Nicaraguan Rosado wrapper, although the rest of the blend was not as close. Wait, that's last year they did that.

Okay. This year they're releasing a second 11th anniversary. A second one? The second one, yes.

Fast forward to July of last year, Room 101 teased to follow up the first cigar named the 11th anniversary, however, it took another four months for the company to release details of the new cigar, which turned out to be a Nicaraguan Puro covered in a Maduro wrapper. I know the factory. Alright, now they're making a 6x54 Torpedo. Really?

Yes. I thought they did that. Is that it then? They just released a story, that's weird.

Is the anniversary a Torpedo? Yeah. I thought it was a new size. Why is it now releasing the story then?

Oh, is that Half-Wheel? Yeah. Fucking Half-Wheel. Damn, Slackin', Slackin'.

All right, how about TAA donates $50,000 to the PCA for state lobbying? Ooh, no shit. It's the second biggest donation ever. Wow.

Tobacco Association of America, a trade organization, made up of around 80 American cigar retailers, donating $50,000 to the PCA in order to help fund the PCA's state lobbying efforts. The PCA would like to thank the TAA. Yeah, no shit. Show support as the industry is facing some of the most egregious, egregious, egregious, egregious.

Thank you. Tax grabs, potential smoking bans in recent history. I don't like big words. Said Scott Pierce, the PCA executive director.

And isn't he the only employee at this point? You know, the real question is, can the PCA fucking survive this? Like, I don't know. I mean, will cigar conventions be the same after that?

I mean, we were already kind of struggling. This might've been the fucking nail in the coffin. Let's see, last year. I hope not.

No, I mean, it's important. I agree. And with any organization, no one's gonna agree with every decision or everything they do, but, you know, that's, you know, they represent the industry, and, you know, it's an important thing. But yeah, the trade show, it's, you know, from what we hear, one's gonna go.

Right. But, you know, who knows what tomorrow brings. 5 million in revenue from that trade show. In 2018, that's what they got.

Oof. So now they're working on a $50,000. They got a $50,000 attaboy. And they're very grateful for that $50,000.

Very grateful. I'm sure they are, because holy shit. Because now Scott gets paid, so, Mr. Pierce.

I don't, if I'm Scott, you have to, you have to, what do you do when you get rid of your pay? I no longer accept pay. I no longer accept pay. I no longer accept pay.

So whenever he gets in trouble, I'm like, what the fuck is this? I got no longer accept pay. I no longer accept pay. So, you know, he'll clock in.

He can't yell at me. What are you doing? You need to fire me? I quit.

I'm working for free. So, okay, well, man, I hope, I hope that PCA figures this out and they can kind of navigate through this, and I hope that the convention still goes down for sure. All right, we have, I have some Super Bowl trivia for you today. Oh, man.

You're a sports fan, John? John already said he doesn't follow normal sports. I'm out. I don't know.

I have a quiz, Mike. The Bucs are in the World Series and the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Super Bowl, right? Yeah, that's exactly it. All right, Michael.

Here's the first question. I'm going to fuck these up. 16 Super Bowls have been played in Florida. What team has won the most Super Bowls in the Sunshine State?

Wait, it's multiple choice. 16. Okay, go ahead. Patriots.

Okay. 49ers. Okay. Steelers.

Okay. Or Colts. I'm going to say Steelers. Steelers.

Boom. Oh, you got that one right. Okay. All right, question two.

How many Super Bowls have been played in the Miami area? Five, seven, nine, or 11? John, feel free to answer if you'd like to. 16 have been played.

I would say nine. Nine. Eh. Twelve.

Twelve. I knew it was high. I figured that the Raymond James and Jacksonville, they don't, they've, I know that there's been one in Jacksonville, there's probably been one or two in Raymond James, so. Oh, I turned the buzzer down.

Yeah, good. All right, what team defeated the Miami Dolphins 38 to 16 in the only Super Bowl in which Dan Marino would play? It was, okay, so here, Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers. Oh, is it just Washington now?

I can't say Redskins anymore. Yeah, it's the Washington... S. News said Redskins.

Hmm. Uh, Chicago Bears or the New York Giants? Heartless bastards. Well, they, okay.

So, they beat the Dolphins 38-16 in a Super Bowl. 49ers. 49ers. I don't know that one.

That's correct! Boom! Look at you. This process of elimination.

Use the test to take the test. What player has scored the most total touchdowns in Super Bowl history? Ooh. Jerry Rice.

Okay. Emmett Smith. Mmm. James White.

Or John Stalsworth? Oh. These are all tough questions. I'm gonna go James White.

Oh. Eh. It was Jerry. Jerry Rice.

Yeah. That sounded too easy. I have to look quickly because it jumps to the next question very fast. Okay.

What quarterback owns the record for the most yards thrown in one Super Bowl with 505 yards? Ben Roethlisberger? Yeah. Tom Brady?

Nope. Nope. Drew Brees, Peyton Manning. Shit, that's tough.

I'm going to go with Drew Brees. Oh, Tom Brady. It was Tom. It was Tom.

You doubted your boy. Yep. Just like I think that they're too obvious. You know, like Jerry Rice was too obvious for me.

I'm like, no, it can't be that one. All right. Roger Staubach won MVP of the Super Bowl when the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Miami Dolphins 24-3. How many yards did he throw for the game?

I don't know. 19, 219, 319, 419. I think it's got a nine in it. 219.

Something 19. 219. Something 19. Good job, John.

Good job. Oh, 119. 119. Right.

10 states have hosted Super Bowls. Which of the following state has not hosted one? Okay. Go ahead.

Tell me. New Jersey, Michigan, Minnesota, New York. Mmm. I'm going to say Jersey.

New Jersey. Oh, it's New York. Oh, it was New York. Damn, so close.

Right over the river. During Super Bowl 30, let's see, it's 30 VI, 38 halftime show, Janet Jackson famously had a wardrobe malfunction. Justin Timberlake. Who did the New England defeat during that Super Bowl?

Justin Timberlake's not one of the answers. Carolina Panthers? You have St. Louis Rams, Philadelphia Eagles, Carolina Panthers, or Seattle Seahawks.

It's either the St. Louis Rams or the, how am I going to say Rams? Rams? It would be the Panthers.

Oh, it was the Panthers. I knew it. Go with your gut. Never second guess, Michael.

Damn it. Okay, it's question nine. A stunning 29 of the 30 most watched American television broadcasts of all time have been Super Bowls. Based on Nielsen ratings, what is the only non-Super Bowl program to break into the top 30?

, or the final Friends? Oh man, Seinfeld. Nope, it was MASH. I knew that one.

It's the only one I've known. All right. Tenth and final question. Yeah, this is terrible.

How many total game balls are made for the Super Bowl? Ooh, 48, 96, 216, 150. I'm gonna say 96. That's what I'm guessing too.

John, do you want to guess on this last one? 150. 70. Oh, it's 216.

Everybody look. Holy shit. That's why I don't play these games. That's a lot of balls, man.

That's a lot of balls. A lot of bulls. So what did I win? Nothing.

Nothing, Lucas. You got two out of ten correct, Mike. Yeah. Keep practicing.

Thanks for playing, but maybe you need to warm up. The real question is how many sacks is Shaq Barrett going to get against fucking Squiggles, Patrick Mahomes? I don't know who Shaq Barrett is. Yeah.

So, I don't know. Jason Pierre-Paul. There was another quiz, but it had 41 questions. Yeah, we don't wait.

We only got that kind of time. Yeah, that's crazy. That's crazy. Juarez Schatz, retiring for 2021.

Oh, yeah, I ordered some. Did you? I did. That's the first time you're ahead of the story.

Yeah. Good for you. You gotta give it to Wes. Oh, that's right, it's Wes.

Wes is good with that shit. Right, yeah. You know what I mean? You don't answer the email, so he texts you.

He texts me. I didn't answer the text. He fucking followed up. I was like, "I don't know.

" Come on, you want these. I'm sure you want them. I was like, "I'm sure I need a couple. " I heard the podcast.

I have to just keep hounding you. Smallest version of the Crownheads Juarez brand will return for a second release next month. Crown Head says the Juarez Shots will be shipping again next month, now known as Shots 2021. The 4x50 debuted last February in a limited edition extension to the line.

It uses the same blend as a regular Juarez and Mexican San Andres wrapper over in Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and filler from the Dominican Republic of Nicaragua. See, there'll be 500 boxes of 50 cigars. The one difference is the price will increase from 545 to 560. Damn it!

He didn't say anything about the price increase. You tricked me. C. Newman's one of the few companies not doing a price increase.

Wow. It's usually January, everybody fucking kind of hammers it. It's either January or the PCA or the PCA. Yeah.

C. " That's right. We have listener of the week. Oh, yes.

Who is the listener? We discussed this, I believe. We did discuss this. Mr.

Gilbert Ortiz. Heyo! He's a fan of the show, he's a regular here at the shop. He is.

He was here this past weekend for the Agronosa. He sure was. He has his designated seat. Very nice man, yes.

Every time he's here he's in the, you know. He normally comes in with his wife and she normally sits to the left of him if I'm correct. Unless Jesse's here and then all bets are off because Jesse likes to have a little crowd around him. They all move to the end because Jesse likes his seat at the end.

the end yes he does so that's it i shortened up the news i educated him on a glutathione the other day oh jesse i was gonna say gilbert he's a very tiny man yeah it's an antioxidant your body produces it yes i'm not allowed to say where you take it that's right shut the fuck up that's it that's all i got all right well hey john thanks for sitting in john it's always a pleasure i appreciate you hanging out too because i know i was running a little late uh no it's all good it's It's always a good time with you guys, and you're the last stop of the night, so after this, it's hotel bound and hit it again tomorrow. Waffles in the morning, baby. Yeah, that's it. Well, they've kind of closed the buffet anyways.

Oh, yeah, they don't put buffets out at hotels anymore, do they? Yeah, no, it's uh... You know, prices have gone up a little bit, I've noticed too, at least, probably at least the weekends. I tried to, I was booking a hotel for a wife and I'm taking, 'cause Chinese New Year starts this week, actually.

I always, we always go somewhere, so we're just taking a weekend to Tampa. Woo! You gonna go to that Grand Cathedral place? Everybody's talking about it?

So, when we take these trips, she doesn't like me to include cigars. Oh, that sucks. I waste cigars when we go somewhere. Yeah, you're going to Tampa.

Yeah, we're staying to Rocky Point. Cigar City. Yeah, how do you go to Cigar City and not stop at a cigar shop? I'm sure we end up at one, I just can't plan it.

Oh. Oh, look. Oh, look, honey, this will just be a church, we should go in there. Okay, let's go here Sunday morning for church.

Oh, wait, oh my God, it's a cigar store. Oh, it's a cigar place. Oh, my, well, let's sit down. Right, let's have a cigar.

Let's pray a little. Let's pray a little. I feel holy being here. They have leaves.

It looks pretty cool. That's a pretty cool concept. Whoever bought that place, that's pretty badass. Yeah, it's definitely something new and different.

Bring some more cigar smokers in and then hopefully, yeah, do good things. Sweepy has blessed it. She went there this past weekend. Yeah, I know.

I've seen a few posts from a lot of people. She gave it a good review. It looks really cool. I totally want to go.

But now, if I go to Tampa, I have to let John know. C. Newman tour, I was going to say, you guys should come do that, it would be cool to even take the boys to that too, you know, they get a kick out of that, that'd be real cool, I'd love to have you guys over there, I mean, Abe's taking his kids to Padrón, I just saw that, right, so I figured Fuente's better, fuck that, only if Carlito gives a tour, because I think somebody named Padrón did show him around at the Padrón place, yeah, that's usually how it works. It works, especially when your name's Abe.

Abe. That's right, because you know why? He's the best. Yeah, he's just not the greatest.

I'm going to say that every time you fucking throw the best. Oh, look at you! That's right, god damn it. Alright, this has been episode 159.

159. You want to say what cigar we're doing on the Patreon again? Yeah, we're going to do the Romeo y Julieta Reserva Real Nicaragua. Number one on Cigar & Spirit Magazine, I was told.

And you're going to smoke the broken one. Oh, well, yeah. Very excited for you. Alright, John, thank you again for sitting in, buddy.

Thanks for having me. All right, guys. Bye. Bye.

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 "Who's Thoey Raw"? Yeah, we just don't have to do a single podcast ever again. Perfect. I'm good, Mike and Mike.

How are you guys doing? The Hojo Deeb. Hojo! It's the Hojo!

You didn't even let him fuck it up all the way. I couldn't get past Hojo! I don't even have to try it. I'm not even going to try it.

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

It would be like four cigars when I walked in the door. All right, end this.

Show Notes

This week John Oliva sits on with us we get the scoop on Fuente and JC Newman...as well as some Industry news and we see how we'll Mikey does with Super Bowl Trivia!