161 Secret Guest, VD updates, How man drug dealers do you really need?
Episode Summary
Episode 161 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast opens with Mike and Mike trading Valentine's Day stories — one host's annual "Dead Dad Day" Jack Daniel's tradition (and the panic of finding the bottle empty), and the other's wild Saturday night at a local bar involving a one-legged man nicknamed "Captain Ahab," multiple alleged drug dealers, a cigar given away (and bitten open), and a $5 offer for his wife. They also tease the Patreon-only segment: a review of the Payback Connecticut and a new recurring bit reading the strangest cigar-related Instagram DMs the hosts receive.
The news block covers the industry's crowded fall calendar. The TAA (Tobacco Association of America) 2021 meeting and convention has been rescheduled from April to October 24–28 at Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, with the virtual meeting still happening March 23. The hosts explain how the TAA works for the roughly 80 retailer and 40 manufacturer members, including the "Dream Machine" group-buy program, and debate whether retailers and manufacturers can realistically afford TAA, PCA and TPE all landing in the same month. They also cover Cuba's government authorizing private work across more than 2,000 activities and what that might (or might not) mean for the Cuban cigar industry and Habanos S.A.
Product news includes Crowned Heads shipping the Le Careme Belicoso Fino 2021 Limited Edition — a 1,000-box run at $11 per cigar, with a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper and Nicaraguan fillers — and Foundation Cigar Company raising prices on the Tabernacle Broadleaf and Tabernacle Havana Seed 142 lines by 25 cents per cigar effective April 1, Nicholas Melillo's first increase since the line debuted in 2016. The hosts run through the new price structure by vitola and argue over the best Tabernacle size (the Havana Seed Lancero gets a strong endorsement).
Rounding out the show: Black Star Line Cigars and Epic Cigars collaborate on a Black History Month cigar sold exclusively through Privada Cigar Club, with a $10,000 scholarship going to a student at the Racine, Wisconsin YMCA; and Pete Johnson of Tatuaje donates $10,000 to the PCA's state advocacy program. That prompts a longer discussion on how underfunded the PCA is and one host's proposal that every manufacturer add ten cents per cigar earmarked for advocacy funding. Listener of the Week goes to Nick Cavallo.
In This Episode
- 01Sponsor: The Octodor by Case EleganceA rundown of the 100-count octagonal humidor with digital hygrometer, Spanish cedar, accessory drawer and patent-pending hydro system.
- 02Valentine's Day recaps and the 'Dead Dad Day' traditionOne host explains his annual Jack Daniel's and cigar salute for his late father, and why he almost skipped it this year.
- 03Bar night gone sideways: Captain Ahab and the drug dealersA long, unfiltered story about a one-legged stranger, a cigar handout, marijuana papers and a $5 proposition.
- 04TAA 2021 rescheduled to OctoberThe Tobacco Association of America moves its convention to October 24–28 at Casa de Campo, plus how the Dream Machine group buy works.
- 05Cuba expands its private sectorCuba authorizes private work in more than 2,000 activities and the hosts speculate on the impact for Cuban tobacco and Habanos S.A.
- 06Crowned Heads Le Careme Belicoso Fino 2021 returnsA 1,000-box limited edition at $11 per cigar with Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, Ecuadorian binder and Nicaraguan filler.
- 07Foundation raises Tabernacle pricesNick Melillo bumps the Tabernacle Broadleaf and Havana Seed 142 lines 25 cents per cigar on April 1, citing Connecticut River Valley tobacco costs.
- 08Black History Month cigar and Pete Johnson's PCA donationBlack Star Line and Epic Cigars partner with Privada Cigar Club on a scholarship cigar, and Tatuaje gives $10,000 to PCA advocacy.
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
Welcome to episode 161, the Cigar Hustler Podcast. Yes. Still the number one rated show on Podbean. Yes.
Cigar related show. We have the trophy. We have the trophy. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike.
Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Squared, Squared. Music play out? I miss Nick Malillo. Haven't heard from that guy.
He did a thing recently. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Squared, Squared. He just did Cigar Noise Boys. He did?
Yes. What the fuck? Well, our problem is we don't Zoom in guests very often. I know.
We could always call him. " We could do a Zoom with him. No fun. But everybody does them now.
doesn't know. I know. That's why we can't do them. Oh, wow.
We're not the same. We're number one. We set the precedence. Yes.
All right. Why is it suddenly dark back here? All right. A little business, and then we'll get on with the show, Michael.
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com for information and purchasing. There you go. Case Elegance. Case Elegance, thank you.
Ta-da. Why don't you go ahead and say what we're going to do on the Patreon today, Michael? Ooh. It's in the Case Elegance Humidor.
What is in the Case Elegance Humidor today? There are numerous cigars in there, but what do we have for that? We are going to review today the Payback Connecticut. Oh!
Mm-hmm. Very excited about this one. I like it. You wanted me to go Robusto.
So I feel like you're sandbagging me a little bit. I feel like you know which one you like, but we'll see, we'll see, we'll see, we'll see. I'm gonna smoke one that the show pays for. I would like to smoke the one I like.
We'll see how that plays out for sure. And wait, before, there's one other thing I want to talk about on the Patreon that I definitely can't talk about here. So, it's like a little segment, and it'll come up from time to time, because it doesn't happen every single, like every week or whatever. But every once in a while, every once in a while, I get the occasional DM.
What's it, Instagram? Somebody slid into your DM? Yeah, somebody slid into my DM. 99% of the times, it's a dude.
JB? And normally, JB? Jeff Borshwitz. No, no.
He wouldn't. I'm very sorry. I don't know what I was doing. I didn't boil hat, which really died.
But normally, you know, people slide in and like some of the shit that's said to me is the weirdest stuff. So I am going to go ahead and reveal some of these on the page. Oh, more than one. Every once in a while.
Yes, yeah. Oh, how many do you have for today? Well, I'm just, we're going to do one at a time. Is that a thing?
Because I get some, probably, very, yeah. You probably get some entertaining ones as well. Oh, yeah. You know, it's like, and there's just such good content there, but I don't want to put somebody on, like, out in the open bus.
No, we won't say the name. Yeah, we won't say the name, and we'll talk about it, and we'll kind of review and like, you know, figure out, like, what would you do? Oh, what is the next move? Yeah, like, where's, like, you know, the catfishes are easy to identify, that's not what I'm talking about here, I'm talking about people that, you know, are asking questions, or it's something cigar related, and it's amazing, it really is amazing, so, I'm gonna share that with them on the Patreon, and I'm looking forward to it.
Oh, good, that's good, that's nice, that's nice. So, Valentine's Day weekend. Yes, happy BD. Not the, not the romantic weekend for you, normally.
No. No. No, you forgot about it, too. No, I didn't.
Oh, no, you saw it. I sent you the message. Once you saw my Facebook post. Well, I was waiting to make sure I was not going to mention it if you didn't mention it.
Oh, it's cool, man. You're all right. I didn't get the DDD for the cigar. DDD?
Yeah. Is that his initials? Dead Dad Day. Oh, jeez.
Fucking abrasive. Holy shit. Wow, that's a little... Yeah.
I know. I don't know. I don't know what to tell you, man. I'm sick and fucking twisted, dude.
I got nothing. My lighter didn't make the photo. Oh, I forgot about the lighter. I figured you did.
And it's in the liquor. You're right. Yeah, it's a Jack Daniels lighter. Not a big thing.
You know, to be honest, Saturday was kind of a mess for me, if you want me to get into it briefly. No, you can. So, my Saturday was a mess, but a little entertaining. Oh, okay.
I mean, I love my wife to death. She does everything she possibly can to, like, make that day as easy going as possible. So, of course, we went to Universal. So, of course, you know, like we did the whole thing.
Everything worked out. We did like the, we did all the, you know, we did some rides, you know, it was nice. It was really nice. But when I get home, like, I'm tired.
We start to unwind. And then like, you know, she knows that I normally do the Jack Daniels thing. Right. And I'm like, all right, well, I guess I better go fucking do this.
So I go open the cabinet. Do you feel like you have to? Part of me does. Part of me does.
Do you feel like you have to do it and post it or you just need to do it? Or does posting it help you somehow lethargic? I don't know. You know, type of thing it's just like uh i don't know i don't i don't know if i feel like nobody nobody knew this year yeah it didn't seem because i don't really well i don't really go into the details you know like it's more like a it's a for me thing it's right it seems as it's going the details get a little more obscure like the ddd thing this year yeah it's very cryptic yeah last year you did the for the lost so some people would have known that the loss yeah yeah yeah i don't know yeah it's definitely so it's something for me for whatever reason i don't know why but it is it's for me and i'll do it on his birthday too right but his birthday he usually gets that's when he bust out the shivis bottle that he got me so um so yeah so i went to go open the liquor cabin and there's no jack there's no jack so oh i don't know i think that the the manny i think the manny drank he's been drinking it i think the manny drank the jack i think i let him do it and i didn't think about it so then i had to go to the fucking with the little airplane yeah i went to cvs or wherever the fuck and i was like well what am i doing i'm gonna buy a big fucking bottle of It's the shit that I can't stand.
I mean, like, I absolutely hate it. Oh. I didn't know that. It's the worst.
I don't know how anybody drinks Jack Daniels. I don't like Jack Daniels. It's so sour. It's like so tough.
I don't know. It's not for me. So do you drink the whole drink? No, no.
It's usually I pour it, you know, do a little salute. Take a sip. Take the little, you know, and then. Yeah.
I'm done. And then I carry on. Yeah. So I didn't have it.
So I had to go get it, which is kind of like, and it's funny that you ask me the question Do I feel like I have to do it? Because I was going to skip it. I was like, I'm not going to fucking do it this year. It's fine.
And then Brittany looks at me. She's like, well, if you don't do it, are you going to regret it? Yeah. Fuck.
Okay, I'll go. I'll go. It's not like the next year you're like, well, I didn't do it last year. Well, I didn't do it last year.
That's over. Keep the tradition alive. So here I am living the dream. Happy dead, dead day.
She hates it when I say that. She's like, yeah, no kidding. " I'm like, "Well, there's a lot wrong with me. " My mother doesn't love me for that sense.
Yeah, that's for sure. But that doesn't even bother me. It'll only be that day you can celebrate when that happens. " Celebrate good times, Scott.
She's up here right now. She's visiting. Yeah, I remember she called you last week, wanted you to print something or something. Yeah, I just printed it on.
Has she left yet? 'Cause I didn't print that. " There we go. Better get that out of the way.
Is that Greg? Is he a number printer at his house? You know, she doesn't, she doesn't want to get in the way of the loving for Greg. She doesn't want to, you know, so like, yeah.
Yeah, no. Where the hell did she sleep at his house? I have no idea. I have no idea.
I don't know what's going on. He's at capacity. Yeah, he's definitely, he's well past capacity. I feel like he, you know.
Maybe she slept in the shed with the kayaks. I guess there's something about the chaos that goes on in my house that Greg's like, oh yeah? Well, fuck you, check this shit out. And just had to just over top it.
I'm like, yeah. Yeah. 16 dogs, 12 people. Yeah, now I'm down a dog, I'm down a couple people, you know.
Oh, that's right, man. He moved out, so he's not there. Things are, things are stabilizing at my home. Meanwhile, the chaos at Greg's house is just fucking through the roof.
One of the other of you, I guess. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.
So, huh. There you go. Terribly exciting. I want to hear your VD story.
You know, no, no. Well, Valentine's Day wasn't nothing exciting. We, we went to Stonewood and the reservation. I saw that romantic.
The reservation was late. We're fucked, yeah. So we grabbed a seat at the bar. It's so much better.
It's so much better. Yeah, but you know, it's Valentine's Day. Dude, that's not who the fuck we are. " I go, "Well, that's why I love you.
" Right. " Seriously? You didn't have my table either. But the bartender made up for it.
He was very nice. It looked like he was only checking on us. The bar was so much better to eat at, I don't fucking care. I way over-tipped him because he was nice to us.
No, look at you! Dropping the generosity. He was a good guy. His name was Blaze.
Blaze. I wanted to ask him if his parents were fans of American Gladiator back in the '80s. He's about that age. No, Saturday Night is the story, though.
It's hot with the hat on it here. It is. Let freedom ring, Prez. Happy Prez Day for the Prez.
Oh, no kidding. Yeah. A lot of those. Thank you, everybody.
There's a lot of those. I'm going to tell you right now. So what we're talking about is on the Florida Cigar Club page, everybody's doing Happy President's Day and they're doing Mike Palmer posts because he's the president. Blah, blah, blah, blah, but the person who arranged that was actually Sweet Pea.
She, she didn't do the first one. No, she fucking private messaged everybody last week. Oh, did she? Oh, yeah.
Oh, I didn't know that. She said, Hey, for President's Day. Oh, I didn't know that. Oh, yeah.
Oh, well, sweet, but you're so sweet. She's behind all of that. I wonder why. " That was so nice.
Yeah. I wondered what had happened. I wanted to trail everybody. Political satire.
I just did it once. You did it to her. Oh, it was hers? You did it to her.
" All right. I will let that. It's fine. Just put my head on Abraham Lincoln.
It's good to be the president. Yes. It's good to be the president too sometimes, Michael. It's also good to be the president.
Well, it's good to be the king. Anyway, Megan was coming over Saturday, we were going to take her out for her birthday, because apparently her boyfriend screwed up her birthday, so it was raining, what we were going to do is go to Sanford, but it was raining, rain Saturday, so we thought we'd just stay home, so my wife started drinking wine before Megan got there, she got a little to look it up, and then she wanted to go dancing, so they wanted to go to Bulldogs, wanted to go to Bulldogs, never going to Bulldogs again, I mean, last time it was okay, remember last time I was raining, I didn't feel like drinking because I drank Friday, so I wasn't going to drink. Not about, yeah. She was well liquored up before we got there.
So we went to sit on the patio because I wanted to smoke. Yeah. So we sit on the patio. We get out there, there's this drunk old man with one leg.
Oh, man. And then another drunk old man. With two legs. Yeah, he had two legs.
It was a black gentleman. He was a veteran from the army or something. Okay. So him and my wife have this interaction and stuff and Adrian's trying to say she's older than him, which was not even close.
He had her by a good 30 years. But she was deep into her cups. Love it. Love it.
But when he left, well, first then a drug dealer came out, obviously drug dealer, with a white guy with dreadlocks. Okay. Ooh. Obviously.
So that you just labeled him the drug dealer. Oh, we found out later. Yeah, he sat down with the one-legged man and told him some marijuana. Oh, okay.
That's not really a drug dealer. I feel like that doesn't qualify. I mean, you know, he's in a bar. There's got to be some coke or something involved.
So, he goes back inside, then these two guys come out, they're almost in a fight, one guy's yelling, don't get in my face, and Aaron goes, just behave over there! Fuck you guys! I'm like, honey, please, they're bigger than me, please. Well, there's two of them, and it turned out one of them was another drug dealer.
So, anyway, then the old man sees me- I see the conflict now. Yes, and the old man, the one-legged man, sees me light up a cigar. He asked me for a cigar. Uh-oh.
So, you know, okay, fine. I had two. Captain Ahab comes on by. I gave him a cigar.
You know, when I- I went after the white whale. I wasn't by any means gonna let him use my cutter, so I put it back in my pocket. Yeah, no shit. He takes it, bites a good inch off the end of it.
Like a boss. Oh, yeah. He's got one leg, for fuck's sake. This guy is a badass.
They need a side to come over and sit with us. Oh, and now you're friends. He thinks I'm dating Megan, and he's got a shot at my wife. He offered me up to five dollars.
Five dollars? Five dollars to let him sleep with my wife. Five dollars. And you turned it down?
That's $5. I'm like, this is a Lincoln, man, come on. Is it a $5 bill, or is it five singles? I don't know.
Yeah. I don't know which way I went. $5. He was complaining that they cut him off at the bar, so he wasn't.
So he was gonna light up his marijuana, so he needed papers. He's asking everybody for papers. So another guy comes out, and he asked that guy for papers. The guy who would lit up a pot, a glass pipe, a few minutes earlier.
Oh. Turns out he's a drug dealer, too. Three drug dealers? No, no, two.
This is the guy from the fight earlier. Okay. He asked that guy for papers, and the guy goes, "Papers? What do you need?
Fake passport? Work permit? " And I'm going, "Oh, maybe I need that guy's number for later. " It's not a country.
I feel like the passport papers would be fucking... Oh, yeah. I'm sure they were not really good quality papers. This is made out of crayon.
I don't... That's not even me in the photo. Yeah, yeah. Look, you're an African lady now.
Don't worry about it. Your name is Tawanda and... You're gonna be fine. It's fine, it works every time.
So, the drug dealer and the one-legged man start arguing. Ooh. Can you start calling the one-legged man Captain Ahab? Okay, Captain Ahab.
Captain Ahab. Well, he had a prosthetic, but still. I was hoping for like a peg leg or something. But I mean, he was trying hard to take my wife either to the bathroom or out to his car or something.
I don't know which one. Wow. He kept apologizing to me as I was going to kick his ass, but evidently she was worth, you know, $5. Did you explain to him that she was with you?
Is there a name that she was with you? Oh, yeah, yeah, Adrian said, no, no, that's my husband, and we just tell her that Megan's our daughter, but he still, he was looking at me, he goes, no offense, honey, but I'd rather have your mother than you, and she goes, please, take her! No offense, honey? No offense at all, take her!
Oh, my goodness. So, when the drug dealer in Ahab started arguing, I told, uh, Megan was not drunk by any means, I said, uh, you watch her, I'm gonna go pay the bill, and we are leaving, this is, this is a time to go now, time to go. Time to go. So, Adrian wanted to go to Hustler.
This Hustler? Yeah, here, here, 'cause it's right down the road, we have to pass it. It's safe here. Yeah, well, yeah, it's safe once I get her here, I figured, that's almost like home.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. But there were no cars out front. Oh. And Megan and I are in the front seat, she's in the back, just yelling that she doesn't have a sunroof in her car, 'cause Megan has a sunroof.
Oh, God. She's all mad, there's no sunroof. " It's closed, look, it's closed, no cards, even Chet's cards, not there, they're closed. The open sign was lit up!
Aw, man! Like, no, no, they forgot to close, they forgot to turn the sign off. How do you not let AD King Palmer roll through here fucking juiced up, man? Come on.
It's not like that hasn't happened. I know, but like, if there's always that opportunity, you have to let it go. Why? There was nobody here!
It doesn't matter, somebody's gotta be here. I mean, it's the day before Valentine's Day, nobody's really out, right? Right. Unless you're a drug dealer, you're available at Bulldog.
Bulldog, it was after 10 o'clock. Yeah, so it's starting to fizzling. It was fizzling here, too, so. Right.
But yeah, that was the, you know, I'm being fogging on my glasses. So that was the extent, huh? That was the excitement, yeah. Yeah, the story took a lot longer to happen than actually I explained it.
I made some notes, I'm going to make sure I didn't miss anything. Oh, yeah, make sure, yeah, I want to make sure that there's full detail here with Captain Ahab. There's, um, no, no, that was it, that was it. The guy came out and lit up his, uh.
Trying to bang your wife. Yeah. So that's it? We're done with Bulldog?
Are you never going back? Never going back, no. " What do you mean, alone? She's telling the guy she's teacher of the year, and to go over to Deltona High School, and her picture's up his own.
Oh, my God. " Yeah, this is my blood type and my horoscope. " As he hops over or hobbles in or something. Hey, where's that teacher of the year?
I got $6 a day. Mm-hmm. Oh, but yeah, that was, that was the excitement. Really gotta love multiple drug dealers in the same location, because that usually doesn't end well.
No, no, when we left, Corn Rolls was filling the jukebox, that's what I call them, well, dreadlocks, whatever you want to call them. That's totally different, totally different, yeah. He was, and he didn't like pajamas, it looked like. That's nice.
Long, white, flowing shirt. Oh, that's so epic. With all the Haitian pajama pant-looking things and sandals of some sort. Oh, just very relaxed.
Oh, very relaxed, yeah, yeah. Taking it easy. With his, I don't know, he had, it wasn't a wallet, it was like this little metal box that was always under his hand and stuff. Oh, yeah, that's where he holds the stuff, that's where his weed was, right, yeah.
But it's just weed. I feel like there's not even a jugular. Who might have had more, I don't know, I mean, it makes it happen. Oh, guess who else I saw there?
Who? You'll never guess. Naya! Really?
Is there a little night at work that used to work here? You're kidding me. " She was hanging out with some friends, I guess. Oh, my.
It was nice to see her. " She said her boyfriend's family's calling them constantly and want to know why there was a wedding and how did they miss it? Oh, that's perfect. So I was asked to stop.
You do a good job. You're an excellent troll, like next level troll. So, yeah, I've gotten her in trouble with his family, so no more of those. She's probably happy to run into me and make me stop.
Well, I'm glad that, I'm glad that the trolling has paid off. Yes. Well, it's working for me anyway. Yeah, it's very nice.
Very nice. Mr. Carney was in town. I guess he's not coming today.
I saw he was at Corona yesterday. Really? That son of a bitch. Yeah.
And we were talking about LFD and you said solve their problem. All they do is grow more tobacco? Yeah? So when he asked for suggestions on how they can make the business better with shipping and all the problems and stuff?
You said grow more tobacco? No, I set you up, I go, Michael has something, has an idea, then you just gave me the... Because he was talking about shipment, like UPS and... Yeah, but still, I mean, he could have jumped in there with grow more tobacco.
I didn't know what you were doing. He would have understood. You know, I'm tossing the ball right up to you, Michael, you just have to swing. Just swing and hit the ball.
I'm going to text him right now, you son of a bitch, you son... He saved the world from a nuclear disaster in the escape room, and then went to Corona. You're in town? Why not be now?
Or yesterday? Well, I text him. Angry text to John Carney. Fucking come to this area, not say hello.
He could have came to the house. Would have made him a VD, something, I don't know. Valentine's Day steak. On the Traeger.
Just for him. Just for him. Oh, on the trigger. I did, you know, so we had like a little birthday party yesterday.
Oh, whose birthday was it? Hudson's. Oh. Oh, that's all the photos.
Yes, yes. Oh, you know what? My wife was trying to get pictures taken for Valentine's Day. She was going to use your sister-in-law.
Yeah. And I guess it was scheduling problems and stuff. They could never work it out. Oh, that sucks.
Yeah, so she had to go to Plan B. So did you get Valentine's Day pictures? Well, she made a bigger one. It was a picture of us.
There's no pictures really of just her by herself. I've always asked her if she could go, you know, I would like some pictures. Maiden. Is that the answer?
John Carney. He says, yeah, he was hanging out with his girlfriend. That's unacceptable. That's bullshit.
Yeah, I mean, Saka left his wife sitting out there with no air conditioning. Yeah, exactly. For an hour and a half. Yeah, obviously Saka's more committed.
God, ridiculous. She should be committed. One or the other. Yeah.
But anyway, yes. She should be committed. They couldn't schedule any problems or something with all her children and dogs. So that didn't work out.
Yeah, she made me this little, this little book that you can, you know, Walgreens, you can give them a bunch of photos and I make you a little book and stuff. Nice. She did that for me and then they... Oh, that's very thoughtful.
A picture we had of Greg over here that size. Yeah. She made one of those for the wall in the bedroom of me and her. Oh, lovely.
Yeah. Well, I cooked the, I cooked some hot dogs on the Traeger. Oh, they were fucking amazing. Did you meet, probe in the hot dog?
No. No, you don't have to meet, probe the hot dog. How'd you know when they were done? You can look at hot dogs and say they're done.
Did you burn them? You have to burn hot dogs. Yeah, it's hard to burn on the Traeger. Oh.
It just won't allow? I mean, I was cooking at like 400 degrees. I mean, I guess I could have pushed it to like five, but I think they came out. Left them in there a little longer.
They came out great. They came out great. Oh. Loved them.
They're crispy. Valentine's Day, you did hot dogs. Oh, we had a birthday party. Oh, yeah.
Hot dogs for everybody. Yeah. Ah. Mm-hmm.
Is his birthday on Valentine's Day, a little hot dog? It is. Oh. You can't sing, though.
Oh, he was all about it. We sang. Oh, he likes it now? Yeah, yeah, yeah, they had like the fucking crazy, ridiculously expensive candle that like you light and it's like other candles come out.
Oh yeah, yeah, I've seen those. Yeah, it's like a $700 candle. I don't know how much it was, but I'm like, God damn, that's a candle. The thing is so elaborate that the fucking other stuff on the cake, when it broke down and started spinning, like it stopped it from spinning.
So we had to take the other stuff off. It was beautiful. It was very nice. I loved it.
Nice. It was amazing. You want one of those for your birthday next year? Yes.
Yes, I do. But you know what? I'm just going to get you a cupcake, so it'll be way bigger. Perfect.
Yes. That's what we're talking about here. Stick that right on top. Or just a mound of icing, because your favorite part is the icing anyways.
Happy birthday. Right? Right. Right.
Well, we ate up the first half. See, I told you. It's easy to do. I mean, you know, it's just, we're just such professionals at this point.
It's crazy. Just talk a little bullshit, get you up to speed, Captain Ahab taxed him to fuck your wife for five bucks. Captain Ahab at five dollars, didn't want the younger girl, but hey, you know what, it's kind of a compliment, he thought I was with the younger girl instead of the other ones. Yeah, well, but he thought that the younger girl wasn't as attractive.
That is true. That is true. You can't tell him how cool she was. You're so cool.
Yeah, you're just amazing. I probably wouldn't even last two minutes with you. I'm blowing my load right now in my pants. He stood up at one point, because he said he had to go to the bathroom, and he kept talking, and then he kept grabbing himself, and I go, "You know what?
" Before you piss yourself. Before you pee in pants, because there's no leg for it to run down. That's amazing. No leg for the pee to run down.
Yeah. Oh, probably, maybe there's a cylinder in there. Just go. I don't know.
Just, you know? Maybe. I don't know. Angle it right, runs it down.
His wife died of cancer. I mean, we had quite the extensive conversation, yes. And then you're like, "Okay, fuck my wife". Yeah, I don't think so.
Fine. Fine. Let me do the five. Give me the five dollars.
Five dollars. Two minutes? Okay. That's all you get.
Two fifty a minute. Two fifty a minute. Hey, you break that down. Yeah.
It's not bad. Not right at all. All right. Well, hey, we got the news.
Yes. Let's get into some news. We'll take a break here. Well, we got to take a break.
We'll get into some news. I'm very excited. We're at 26 minutes. Okay.
That feels good. Good, no? Oh, you wanna do a story? No, no, yeah, you wanna do a story before?
Oh, you wanna hit it now? Okay. I'm gonna fade it down. And the news!
TA 2021 rescheduled for October 24th to the 28th. Everything's in October. Or are you gonna get invited to the TA this year? We're not invited to the TA.
We're not TA anymore. The 2021 Tobacco Association of America meeting and convention will take place October 24th to 28th at the Casa de Campo Dominican Republic. We should crash. Nobody respects me in this industry, Mike.
We should crash. We should crash. Yeah. Okay.
DA announced the move. Where's that? It's in DR, usually, right? Yeah.
I just said that. I know. That's what I just said. I confirmed.
Let's see. April. It was scheduled for April, but due to the coronavirus, they decided to push it back. The organization made that announcement.
It said it would host a virtual meeting on March 23rd and left open the possibility of rescheduling the in-person event in the fall. Now, the organization says it will keep the virtual event, but add an in-person event in the fall. It's a lot of fall. Wow, it's a lot of fall.
Well, the rates are down. I mean, if you look at the coronavirus, like, our numbers are getting lower and lower. Here in Florida? Yeah.
Well, it's because we're not even counting anymore. Yes, we are. We're totally counting. They don't count here anymore.
No, but what's... Come on, man. We're fucking counting. Somebody put up on Facebook inside the club.
They wanted to know if one of the shops in Tampa was doing a reduced amount of people. Yeah. Like, this is the old west here, man. You can do what you want.
There's no reassurance. No reassurance. Listen, if Skip Martin can survive the fucking coronavirus. If you survived the fucking coronavirus, the odds are pretty good that you can make it.
You know what I'm saying? That's true. That's true. My son's girlfriend had it.
Yeah. She's got kidney problems. She couldn't walk for two days. Oof.
But she's on the tail of it now. She's doing better. Coughing has subsided, and she's doing good. Wait, so she couldn't walk?
She has kidney problems, so somehow it affected that, and walking was very painful for her for two days. Ah, okay. Something to do with the kidneys and the blood flow. " I get the man called it Zika and I'm dying.
Yeah, this is it, no. Call the attorney. Call the attorney. Get this shit ironed out right away.
Let's see, the TAA is a fairly small group of some of the country's top tobacconists, apparently, not us, about 80 retailers as well as 40 or so manufacturers. We couldn't make it as a retailer or a manufacturer? Nah. Is Skip in the TAA?
Nope. Seriously? Seriously. Is Saka?
I don't know. How about Matt Booth? I don't think so. So who are these 40 manufacturers?
Crux? Crux. I'm trying to name all the people. Maybe Crux.
I don't know. LFD's in there. Like your big wigs. Your Fuentes.
They don't have enough tobacco. How are they in it? LFD. Fuente, Padron.
You know, those guys. They gather annually to discuss issues facing the industry and retailers. They're not big, are they? Tatuaji?
Yeah. Are they? I think that they're pretty big. Bigger than Rogue Half.
They do more than a million cigars? That's a tough question. No, but you know, like do you, but do you categorize them under the my father umbrella? Oh, I don't know.
You know what I mean? Because then my father does a lot. Right. A lot.
But your father, your father's dead, we've established that. He is dead. He's dead. He's dead.
Thanks, Mike. Thanks, Mike. I can always count on you. This annual TA meeting and convention usually consists of two selling events.
First, there's a special event called the Dream Machine, where the TA retailers collectively agree to purchase products through it. Yeah, they all work together. The Dream Machine. I'm going to make this special cigar that you can buy it and, you know, you're going to buy it for me.
No, that's not how that works with the Dream Machine. I think that what happens is like they collectively look to purchase as a whole. Oh, they all get together? And then they reduce the pricing.
All right, all you guys pull your money in. If you hit this number, we'll reduce it. Well, everybody gets a discount. If you, you know, like that's how.
Yeah, nice. All right. We need a break now. We're at 29 minutes and then we will come back and finish the news.
See, that's why I wanted a break before. And then we could have got into the news. Now we're all. You know what?
You're the one that said it's going to go off. That's fine. I want to see it go off. I'm going to be fucking hilarious.
" All right. All right. We'll be right back. Hey, it's Mike too.
Want to be part of the show? com/thecigarhustlerspodcast. We have tiers starting just $5 a month. For $10 a month, you get a special show swag and then you're eligible for the weekly secret show.
Secret shows cover in-depth cigar reviews, behind-the-scenes information, and sometimes, We just talk shit about people. Choose which tier works best with your budget and become an official show hustler. Thanks for the support! Alright, we're back!
Episode 161 of the Cigar Hustler Podcast. Yeah! And now we're already into the news, so we don't need to play the intro again. So you went nuts with the whole, I gotta poop and pee, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, soundboard.
Right. Like, do you have other- Last week. Yeah, I did that last week. And now you haven't hit any buttons yet.
You said that bothers you. When it is the appropriate time for the soundbites I have loaded today, I will play them to go with the stories. Okay, cool. I'm just making sure.
All right. I'm just making sure. I'm gonna get into my- You're gonna get into your- adding the Case Elegant Sumidor? My payback.
Ah. Cuba's expanding private sector industries. Cuba's communist government has authorized the expansion of private industry in most sectors of the country's economy. Does that mean they're not communist?
Who knows? It's a change that was originally approved late August, though was approved by the country's powerful Council of Ministers on Friday. Feel my power. Currently, there are 127 authorized work activities that are allowed to be done by private labor, mostly centers around tourism, like restaurants and renting rooms.
The change will mean that more than 2,000 work activities will now be authorized for private work, of which 124 will be limited. Ooh. The government did not announce which areas will be limited, though AFP indicates that there are likely to be strategic industries like healthcare, defense, and media. Ooh, defense.
Are they allowed to do that? Defense? Are they allowed to have defense? I guess.
Why wouldn't they? I don't know. Well, like, Japan can't have their own army anymore. They can't?
No. Zero? Zero. That's why we have bases there.
That's amazing. I guess we didn't technically beat Cuba. No, yeah, we went away quietly. Yeah.
We agreed to disagree. Everybody just agreed to tell you what, you go back over there, we'll go back over here, we'll put our missiles away, you don't talk to us, we don't talk to you. None of this ever happened. Okay?
There you go. What that means for Cuba's cigar industry remains to be seen. There are examples of private work with Cuba's cigar industry. Some tobacco growers have added Airbnb, like rental rooms to their farms, as well as a sale of cigars that fall outside of the normal distribution channels, which can range from custom rolled cigars to fake versions of Fabano S cigars, S-A cigars.
Fake? Can you buy these things? Yes, Jack, you can buy these things. There it is.
Oh, good old Jack. Habanos SA, the company responsible for marketing and distribution of brands like Ojiba and Monte Cristo in a joint venture between the Cuban government and the Allied Tagar Corporation, which recently bought a 50% stake in Habanos. Can you buy these things? Yes, Jack, you can buy these things.
Which recently bought a 50% stake in Habanos, previously owned by the Imperial brand PFC. D. to give it to you. Yes, yes, Jack.
Please, Jack. Language. Language, Jack. The changes are likely in response to steep declines in Cuba's tourism industry caused by the Trump administration restrictions on America's travel to Cuba and the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
And that's stuff he said on this show, right? No, that was the Patreon. Oh yeah, whatever the case may be. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh yeah, that was here, yeah, yeah. That's our content. That's our content, Jack. Goddammit.
You signed the form. That's it, yeah, you've had, here, sign this waiver. Say, La Creme Bellicoso Finos return for 2021. Can you buy these things?
Yes, Jack, you can. Later this month, Crownheads will ship the La Creme Bellicoso Finos 2021 LE. It will mark the third time in four years there's been a limited release of a La Creme and a Bellicoso size. I ordered them.
Oh, we're getting those? Yeah, I did. Oh, nice. I did.
Pedro wanted them, for sure. And I thought when they came out originally, they were fucking amazing. Oh. Like pussy juice that you needed.
Yeah, exactly. Just like that. Yeah. Just like that.
Let's see. Despite the difference in press, the blend is the same. Yes, Jack, thank you. It uses a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, a record-oriented binder, and fillers from Nicaragua.
Can you buy these things? Yes, apparently here, Jack. You'll be able to get them. Yeah, you can buy them here, Jack.
Don't worry. Jack, please. Just relax. This is the third release for the La Creme Bellicoso Finos and the smallest to date.
Just 1,000 boxes will release four and 25,000 for the 2019 version. There was no 2020 version. Prices had increased from $10 per cigar to $11 per cigar. La Creme Bellicoso Finos 2018 finished second and a half, will stop 25 for 2018.
You know, I'm really looking forward to you getting even better with the soundboard. It's going to be fucking amazing. It's going to be amazing. It's amazing already.
I just, I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to go back. Skip's going to be on next week, whether he wants to or not. With the horrible, that was bad audio, too.
Like, when you go back, it's a little chompy. It wasn't on these glamorous mics and stuff. Right, right. Foundation Cigars increases the prices on Tabernacle lines.
Like pussy juice. Yes, Jack, please. Come on. Citing the increased cost of tobacco, Foundation Cigar Company.
Foundation. We ship COD. We ship COD. Has announced that it will increase the price of the Tabernacle Broadleaf And the Tabernacle Havana Seed, 142 lines.
Prices are going up, ladies and gentlemen. On April 1st. Prices are going up. Let's see.
The change works out to an increase of 25 cents per cigar, something that Nicholas Melillo, Foundation founder, said was a very minimal increase when compared to the increased prices of tobacco coming from the Connecticut River Valley. Pay more for your eggs. Oh, no, you can get those free if you work at a tobacco factory. Oh, yeah, that's right.
The one. Yeah, the one. They did it the one time. They don't want to continue to feed you.
Hey, that was just for a present. You wanted more eggs? No, no. Sorry.
His first increase since the original Tabernacle line debuted in 2016 with Malillo telling Halfwheel that he has absorbed the change in raw material costs along the way. However, he noted that it has reached a point where he is forced to increase the retail price. Yeah. It's called inflation.
When you take a lot of money and you dump it into the economy, or take a little bit of the money and dump it into the economy and push it everywhere else, prices go up. That's just fuckin' common sense. Let's see, both lines will share the same price structure, I have a breakdown of all the different prices, that doesn't seem important at this moment, but we're only six minutes in, so we'll go ahead and read it anyway. Yeah, tell me more about it, please.
50. 50. The Tabernacle Broadleaf Havana Seed 142 Robusto is going to be $11. $11 for the Habano?
Broadleaf Havana Seed 142 Robusto. Oh man, I'll tell you what, post onion prices? They're going up. No, I'm just kidding.
They will eventually, but just- Tabernacle Broadleaf Havana Seed Toro, $12. $12. The Tabernacle Broadleaf Havana Seed 142. Can you buy these things?
Yes, Jack. 50. Okay, we get it. You can buy these things.
The Tabernacle Broadleaf Havana Seed Lancero, it's going to be $13. Hold on. And the Torpedo is going to be $11. All right.
So what's your favorite? Do you know which one your favorite cigar is? Out of the Tabernacle? Let's say Tabernacle.
Which one's the banger? I like the Vantasy. I guess the Robusto. The Robusto.
Yes. I'll tell you right now, fucking hands down, the best Tabernacle is the Havana Seed Lanzaro. Really? Fucking banger.
I'm still not a big fan of that one. I like the Torpedoes though. I respect it. I think it doesn't matter on the sides.
If it's a beautiful cigar, it's a beautiful cigar. It's a beautiful cigar, it's a beautiful cigar. Well, they are very beautiful. I'm not here to judge.
He makes a good cigar. You know, whatever size it is. Like pussy juice that you needed. Yeah, exactly.
He needed Nick Malillo to give you. Nick Malillo. Malillo. Malillo.
That's right. See, the Tabernacle Blend features a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, a binder from Mexico, San Andres region, and fillers from Nicaragua in the Jamastran region? Oh, of Honduras, it's in Honduras. The Tabernacle.
Jamastran. Yeah, Jamastran. Is your pickup truck outside? The Jamastran.
The Jamastran. The Tabernacle Havana Seed 142, which was released in 2018, uses a Connecticut drone Havana Seed wrapper while keeping the binder and filler the same, at least on paper. Pricing will not change in the Tabernacle David and Goliath Fatolas nor any of the company's other lines. Those are good too.
They just came out. I mean, they couldn't be. Yeah, you can't juice that. It doesn't make sense.
No. You probably had to incorporate that price point before. Right, in anticipation of the increase and that you're eating it now. Yeah, you would have looked stupid if you increased the price.
Did we already blow through all those again the second time? Yeah. I still didn't have one. I think there might be one that's not registered, like not in inventory.
It's just in the box. Oh. Because I smoked, I think I smoked the Goliath. The David's better.
Oh, is it? Yeah. The David is better. And you know what?
As it should be because, you know, the odds were stacked against him. David won. But fucking David crushed. Sorry.
Spoiler alert. David won. Yeah. Somebody hasn't read that.
Yeah, in case you didn't hear about the whole David and Goliath thing. You haven't read that book. Yeah. Yeah.
Rocks were involved. It was amazing. Slingshot right here. Yeah.
I've seen the movie. Did you? Oh. I didn't read the book.
Was it black and white? No, it was colored. So when it came out, you went to the... No, it's not on TV.
You went to the picture show to see it. You had to crank the little thing with the Nickelodeon, with the... Come on down. With your face up in the thing, and people are going to the picture show.
Throwing the rock. The video happens, then there's captions afterwards. David prepares for... Goliath!
Hey, it's a thing. That was a thing. We're getting just as ridiculous, Michael. Can you buy these things?
Yes, but apparently they are just like the... Like pussy juice thing. That you have to get from Nick Malillo. Are those the only two that you have?
Yeah. Aww. They stuck out. More would have been just silly.
Yeah, but like... We'll have a lot next week. Skip will have his whole light up here on the board of things. On the whole section.
Maybe not Skip, I don't know. I don't want to be sure I can't do it. Yeah, yeah. What's he gonna do?
Fuck with our pots and pans? Remember we established this last week, he is really the only one that can fuck with our pots and pans. You're right, he can fuck with our pots and pans, that's right. So maybe it'll be Casey.
Who knows? Yeah, somebody else. We're not already. Sorry, sorry, Skip.
Sorry, very sorry. Alright, what else you got in the news there, Mikey? This is from Cigar Coop. Ooh.
For the Cigar News, Black Star Cigar Line and Epic Cigars collaborate for a Black History Month Cigar. Can you buy these things? Yes, Jack, we'll get into that in a moment. Black Star Cigar Line and Epic Cigars have announced they are teaming up for a project to support Black History Month.
The cigar is approximately called the Black History Cigar Month Cigar. It's a well-thought original name there, guys. Congratulations. That's nice.
It's a cigar that will be sold exclusively through Provada Cigar Club. Oh, there's those guys. There it is. The Provadas.
Need like a mob music. So can you buy these things? The Provada Cigar Club. You can buy them from the Provada Cigar Club.
As part of the project, Provada Cigar Club will be donating $10,000 to a student to be announced at the Racine, Wisconsin YMCA. I wonder about that one. It's kind of weird. Well, that's cool.
Yeah. Yeah, I like that. The Black History Month Cigars at Nicaraguan, Puro, Ohio. Helping out a kid, man.
And that's good to help out a kid. A metal wrapper is available in one size, a 6x52 Figurado. As for where it has been produced, details are not being disclosed. That's none of your goddamn business.
Need no say? It is in the factory of minding my own goddamn business. Isn't that in how Provada works? I don't normally say where the things are made?
No, no, no, no. No? No. No, it's...
This is how that works. Okay, so they... Oh good, Phil, we're at 11 minutes. So normally what they do is they state...
Much slower. They state... So, like, they'll find cigars from factories, like the Espinosa. Did they say Thai Tea was for Espinosa?
They did. Oh, I thought we just knew. No. Where was the Elmo?
Well, that's the really complicated one, because that was from Caldwell, but Caldwell does the same fucking thing, so they go from another factory. Oh, yeah, they're lost and found. Oh, yeah, I'm getting confused in the lost and found and the provadas. Because it's very similar, but a little different.
Right. So the pepper creams or whatever that thing is, the creamsicle or whatever that just came out, was that lost and found? I have no fucking idea. It's gotta be lost and found.
Lost and found, because it's also with the swollen cock. Swollen cock, yeah, swollen cock. Are we getting the swollen? Do you have the swollen cock?
The swollen cock has so many sizes. Yes. So I didn't know what size cock do you want. It's a swollen one.
They're all swollen apparently. That's right. Mark's got everything down there at S&M. I think I'm going there Wednesday.
Do you want to go? Do you want to go? I don't know if I can go Wednesday. Well, that's the only day I have off this week here at the shop.
I can tell you right now that we're working on an event May 1st there. I thought you canceled that because Dak did something bad. Yeah, I could never do that. I was just fucking wrong.
Oh, okay. Yeah, I like Dak. All right. He was rooting for the Chiefs.
Oh, he also went to Corona last week. He did? Yes. Then he showed up here.
Whatever Dak wants. With Derek Dukes, the wrestler. Oh, again? Yep.
Oh, wow. They're a traveling pair. That's nice. We should set up a ring for them next time.
Oh, let him wrestle? Ding, ding, ding. Ding, ding, ding. He offered to a chest chop or whatever that move is called when I saw him here.
Oh, yeah? " Yeah, that hurts. Yeah, that doesn't sound fun at all. Your wife put the belt on.
I know, but I don't mean I want you to hit me. Right. Five dollars. " He'd fucking pshh, slap you.
" See, they wanted to focus on the positive message behind the cigar. So that's why they didn't say what was made? Maybe. That's weird.
" Black Star Line, not familiar. Me neither. I've heard of Epic, but not Black Star Line. Yeah.
All right. I think this is a quote from him, but I don't know who he is, so I can't do his voice. I think this is indicative of the culture and people involved in cigars. Cigars unite people.
Take a look at your local cigar shop or online at what folks like Pravada Cigar Club are doing. You will see multiple races and religions joined through passion for cigars. That is true. Oh, no, this is the president of the YMCA, Mr.
Q, I'm not even going to try, Q-A-W-I, Kwame? Q-A-W-I? Mr. Kwai?
Kwai? Yeah. I like Kwame. Where'd you get the M from?
Oh. - No, there's no O either. - No, there's no M. - Yeah.
- Quai. " Eric, Brian and I went back and forth on several rounds of blending to reach the cigar. " - I think that's cool. - Yeah.
- That's good stuff, you know? - I know you like press release people saying what they're doing. What are they doing? Well, yeah, no, normally, but that's not like, but that isn't the same here.
Right. That isn't the same. They're, you know, they're selling cigars, they're gonna, they're raising money, and then they're gonna donate a portion of it to a scholarship. I think that's pretty badass.
Got to give them credit for that. I don't have anything set up. " What are you doing? I have to set up for another story.
Just, just please keep talking. Don't worry about what I'm doing over here. Pay attention to, don't attention to the man behind the garden. You know, that's not like a press release saying, hey, we're so amazing.
This is what we do because we're awesome. You know, they're saying, hey, you know, we put together this cigar, we're going to release it, and we're going to donate a portion of the charity. I'm like, okay, that's cool. All right.
Different, that's a different beast. And to, uh, what's it called when you link two stories together? The, um... Segway?
Thank you. I'll be here all day. Don't worry. Segway into the next story.
I'm on fire today. Premium Cigars Association announced Friday that Pete Johnson, president and founder of Tatuaje Cigars... It's Tatuaje. Also, apparently a member of TAA has donated $10,000 to the PCA state advocacy program to help the brick-and-mortar retailers defend against the onslaught to propose tax hikes in smoking and flavor bans.
All right, so now, okay, so it's quite apparent now that everybody's concerned about the PCA, everybody's giving money. Yeah, second week in a row we've had a story about, apparently $10,000 is the top, or not the top, but that is... Didn't somebody drop 50, like a boss? I thought it was 10.
I thought they dropped 50 last year. He was 50. Yeah, I was like, 50? What the hell did Pete know him with 10?
I don't know. The 50 came from a bigger company, I think. Oh. I don't remember where it was from, though.
He's in TAA, though, you said? He is TAA. Tatuaje. There you go.
Let's see, he wants to personally thank Pete, oh, who wants to personally thank him? I don't know, somebody does. I want to personally, yeah, because he still gets paid. I want to personally thank Pete Johnson, the entire Tatuaje company, for this generous donation to PCA Executive Director.
Yeah, Scott Pierce. We have a small, but dedicated, and incredibly effective staff. They're out asking for the donations. They do small stuff because they let everybody go.
Shit, man. It's just, you know what, I hope they don't go away, but fuck, this is, I mean, if we're at this point where people are just kind of putting money at them. Yep. We're rolling on fumes.
Well, because they, yeah, they had no trade shows, so there was no money. That's the rumor that they might not even... Think about the fucking, the fucking light at the end of the tunnel being the fucking train. " You're going to have PCA, you're going to have fucking TAA, and then you're going to have, what's the other one?
TPE. TPE. I was going to say TAA. If they all drop on the same fucking month, you got to pick one.
Right. You can't do all of them. Right. So, here's the problem.
Let's do TAA. Well, that's what's going to happen with a lot of these 80 top retailers, right? The 80 top retailers are definitely going to do TAA over PCA and TPE. But isn't that a cheaper thing for them to go?
I mean, it's just a bunch of guys sitting in a room smoking cigars. No, they make a lot of big buys at TAA. I understand that, but it's not a huge trade show like PCA and TPE. But the way it's designed, it's kind of like a vacation, you go in, you buy out for the year, you get access to limited cigars that you can't buy without being a TAA member.
But like Twente doesn't send 17 people and all their salesmen. Probably not. That's what I'm saying. It's probably more cost effective.
So I don't think that one would be as a cost outlay as the other two. So when you're deciding what to do, I don't think TAA factors as much as the other two. I think you're totally wrong. I don't.
I know you don't. And I'm going to tell you why. Please. If you have 80 of your top retailers.
Yes. And they're going to go to-- There's only 40. No, there's 40 manufacturers. There's 80 top retailers.
Go ahead and go ahead. Check back here. Come see about me. Let me know if I fucking pay attention to you.
Are you expanding it? I'll wait. I'll wait. It's all good.
Let's see, about 40 retailers and 80 manufacturers, that's right here. You just said it backwards. No, I didn't. You fucking liar.
Give me that paper. No, my paper! Exactly. It's my story.
You get your own information. It's 80 retailers and 40 manufacturers, right? Okay, whatever. So, if 80 of those are your top retailers, and they do a lot of their buying at TAA, why would they go to PCA2?
They're not. Well, okay, but I was looking at it from the manufacturer's side. Okay. If you're gonna do this one, you can do the other ones, but they don't send like a crew of five to the TAA.
No, but if you're gonna, okay, so let's say as a manufacturer you do all three of them, but the majority of your sales come from the TAA, you just fucking wrote the death warrant for- I'm not saying you don't go to the TAA, I'm just saying you can go to that and one of the other two. As a retailer? Yes. No.
Why would you? You just did all your buying. You did all your buying? Oh, so you can still buy, you can buy more than just TAA stuff at TAA.
Right. Oh, I thought they just had certain things that you're offered there that you can't get if you don't go. But they do have things there that you can only get there. Correct.
Okay. So you're gonna go to that one. Okay. You're definitely gonna go to that one.
I'm following you now. I thought, you know, they all have those special TAA banded cigars. It's all that was bought there. That's the dream machine.
The dream machine is, hey, let's all go in. We're all gonna spend, you know, well, if you get to a million dollars together, then, you know, we'll do 10% off, 20% off. Oh, so then like three or four guys can get together and pull their money in. Ah.
Yeah. So, and these are all the big dogs. Who are we going in with? We're not going.
Want me to call two guys? No, I'm sure they'll be there though. He really likes me. Yeah, I'm sure he does.
He doesn't like me. You know, everybody likes me. I call Abe. Abe will be there.
Abe will go. Yeah, you go Abe. Go with Abe. Oh.
Abe, I carry luggage. I will, you know, whatever. You carry luggage? You son of a bitch.
You didn't see the photos. Every time I go with you, I carry luggage. There's always a photo of me with all the bags. There's a photo of me every year, with me in the mouth.
No, next time I'm going, I'm not taking you, I'm just not even going to tell you, I'm just going to be gone. You can't do that. You can't do that. Why not?
Because somebody's got to run everything else. And you have to tell me you're not going to be here to make sure I'm here. I'm just not going to say anything. I didn't come in today and everybody had a meltdown.
Mm-hmm. All right, back to Mr. Pete Johnson. Pete and Tatuaje's support will be a huge boom for the organization's advocacy efforts in defense of our retail members.
Johnson, who has long been an ardent supporter and advocate for retailers, said he is happy his company can help at this critical time. I know that there are several states where PCA's advocacy work has directly led to premium cigars exemptions to bans and defeated tax increases. Even in the best times, these attacks on the brick and mortar shop is appalling, but during a pandemic, it's just brutal. I hope more of the industry can step up to help in any way that they can, because it's going to take all of us to fight for our industry, said Johnson.
You know what? That's 100% correct. That's totally accurate. John Anderson, president of the PCA board, expressed his gratitude for the support and the effort Johnson puts in for the industry.
I have known Pete for a long time, and this amazing donation is another example of Pete's support for brick-and-mortar and just the type of guy Pete is. So what do you do? The PCA is incredibly appreciative of his journalism. But the reality is that 10 grand doesn't go far.
No. Especially in the world of fucking politics, right? Right, sure. So how do you fix it?
If PCA is fucked, and as of right now, PCA might be fucked, especially if this is the place that we're heading into October. Right. How do you fix it? I don't know.
I think I have an idea. Please. People would like to know. If you fucking went to every manufacturing brand owner and approached them and they all agreed to fucking raise their cigars 10 cents, and took that 10 cents, and wrote a check to fucking PCA, you'd have funding.
So how does that fix it now? Do they sell the cigars before they raise the 10 cents? They go in and they say, hey, listen, I mean, if you started, how quickly would you be able to fund it if you did like a quarterly review, right? Like, and you said, hey, listen, if you guys, if we can get everybody together, then you guys can all charge an additional 10 cents for the PCA.
Right. And that would go into the, you know, the lobbying and all that yada yada bullshit, fucking stopping taxation. Yada yada. Right, the yada yada.
Tea in the bay and all that kind of stuff. Right. If that funded all of it, you can have, you know, payable amounts, you know, Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, and that could fund the PCA. Can we get Greg in here and see what your donation would be?
As a manufacturer? Yes. It'd be like 20 cents, good we don't sell it in there. No, but yeah, I mean, honestly, even if we did it as well, not, you know, I mean, our check would be minuscule.
Well, obviously, compared to like a Fuente check. Yeah, or a Drew Estate check. Oh, yeah. You know, but actually they backed out of PCA, right?
Yes. right? Yes. So did Fuente do it, didn't it?
No, Fuente did not. No, no. But like, you know, you got the, especially the, you know, like you kind of start top down, you focus on the big guys and you work your way throughout them. Right.
Like you'd have funding. Oh, they need to start taking more credit for things that they do. Yeah. Well that, I mean, that's another, a whole other animal.
Like there's no, because I mean, as far as I know, I don't know anything they've directly done. Unless you get ahold of some of these guys that are on the board, you know, and you sit down, And then you have a conversation with them, and then you realize what they've done, yeah. Well, that's what they need to let the public know. Well, they need a guy, like a marketing guy to, you know, update.
Fresh releases. Right, this is going in, this is how much, like it should all be documented, easily accessible. Well, you think it would be, they have to have a budget, I would imagine. Right.
Because it's a non-profit? Yeah, I think so, yeah. So they have to have a budget somewhere, somebody can see. All right, we're at 25 minutes, all I have left is a listener of the week.
Ooh, a listener of the week! Yes. This gentleman that I don't know personally came to Michael, and he said he wants to be the Listener of the Week. He wants to be the Listener of the Week.
So, if you ask, we come through. That's it. Close them out. Don't get fed.
That's why I had to change the board. Okay. Tell me. Listener of the Week is Mr.
Nick Cavallo. Cavallo. Nicholas, thank you very much for listening, and you are Listener of the Week. Yeah, thanks for shouting out or reaching out on the Instagram.
We'll send you no prize and no gift. You get no prize, you just get the the honorable mention. And the ever-popular: "I can't poop! " There you go, Nick, that was real.
Oh, if you didn't poop, you peed. Yeah, so there you go, Nick. You made it. You've arrived.
Can you buy these things? No, Jack, you can't buy that. Please stop asking all the time. Yeah, it's not for sale.
Listener of the Week is not for sale. It's just an honor that we pass on to our listeners. If you would like to buy it from us, we're not opposed to taking money, sir. We're not opposed.
Please, I'm not. Please send $10,000. Oh, that seems to be the going rate. So, yes.
We'll put that towards the podcast taxation and ban on flavored podcast. The ban on flavored podcast. Yes, there's several of them out there. What's that podcast things like?
Well, ours, despair and disappointment. Despair and disappointment. So, we're way past Pedro time, so... We have accomplished the Pedro time.
We're going to wrap this up and move on to the Patreon version of the show. Ooh, the Patreon. So thank you everyone for listening. This has been episode 161.
Like pussy juice. Yes, Jack. Pussy juice, Jack. Thank you very much.
All right, guys. We'll talk to you later. Stay tuned in next week. See who's going to be our next secret guest.
So there you go. Looking forward to it. The Cigar Hustlers podcast, its owners and its sponsors take no responsibility for the opinions We 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-E-Raw. Yeah, we just don't have to do a single, uh, single podcast ever again. Perfect. I'm good, Mike and Mike.
How are you guys doing? - The Hojo de... - Hojo! It's the Hojo!
- De Madre... - He didn't even let him fuck it up all the way. - I can't get past Hojo! - I don't even have to try it.
- He's not even gonna try it. - We're gonna cover a lot of ground here, Mike. - All right. - Try to keep up.
- That's a sign of a good podcast. - It'd be like four cigars when I walked in a door. - All right, end this. We'll be right back.
Show Notes
The boys catch us up on their Valentines day events...MIke 2's wife for $5! and hoe many drug dealers do you really need??