165 Ongoing Saga of the Cigar Clubs.....Mike 2 goes Legit! More News then you probably need!!
Episode Summary
Episode 165 of A Cigar Hustler's Podcast is a news-heavy roundtable between the two Mikes, opening with shop banter about their new studio monitor, daylight saving time gripes, and "Mike 2" (Mike Palmer of Florida Cigar Club) successfully landing legitimate press credentials for TPE — which now has him getting invited to industry parties. The guys also share stories about unexpected check-in calls from Erik Espinosa and Matt Booth, and Skip Martin recommending their shop to consumers, reflecting on how much respect they've earned in a small, relationship-driven industry.
The main news segment continues the show's ongoing coverage of the Privada Cigar Club controversy. McCoy Cigars (Dan Thompson) issued a cease and desist letter, claiming Privada has been acting as an unauthorized retailer of McCoy product. The hosts walk through McCoy's brick-and-mortar-only strategy — including ending its relationship with Cigars International to protect B&M price integrity — and debate whether Privada owner Brian DeSandes should simply delist the brand. As a retailer who both sells Privada product and competes with online discounters, the hosts refuse to pick a side but argue that in a small industry, burning bridges travels fast.
Other news covered: the Puro Sabor Nicaraguan cigar festival going virtual with masterclasses and panels via Light 'Em Up World; South Dakota legalizing mail-order cigar shipments in 2022 with age verification and a 4.5% wholesale tax (and the hosts' skepticism about enforcement); Scandinavian Tobacco Group's record 2020 results, boosted by pandemic-driven handmade cigar demand and the Agio acquisition; Foundation Cigar Company's El Güegüense 5 Year Aniversario perfecto in its chest-shaped box; and Ponce Cigar Company, a debut brand from former Corona Cigar employee Frank Vasquez made at MJ Frias in the Dominican Republic.
The biggest release news is RoMa Craft Tobac dropping its entire 2021 calendar: three former European-exclusive Neanderthal sizes (JCF, KFG and the hosts' favorite, the HS) coming stateside, the El Catador de los Petit Gordos sampler debuting at the rescheduled Weasel Fest in Austin on May 29, an Alcancía/Perfecto sampler reissue in June, and 250 boxes each of seven Baka sizes in July. The episode closes with a Florida story about Miami Beach police firing pepper balls at a spring break crowd, listener of the week Mitch Smith, and a tease for the Patreon review of the Viaje Circa 45 No. 3 and its Mexican-wrapped Circa 45 Reserva offshoot.
In This Episode
- 01Press Credentials and Industry RespectMike 2 gets legitimate media credentials for TPE, plus stories about calls from Erik Espinosa, Matt Booth, and Skip Martin recommending the shop.
- 02McCoy Cigars Sends Cease and Desist to Privada Cigar ClubContinuing coverage of the Privada saga as McCoy defends its brick-and-mortar-only distribution model and threatens a lawsuit.
- 03Puro Sabor Goes VirtualThe Nicaraguan Chamber of Tobacco's festival moves online with 11 topics of masterclasses and panels — and the hosts' fatigue with 'innovative' virtual events.
- 04South Dakota Legalizes Mail-Order Cigar ShipmentsNew law allows online and catalog cigar shipments starting next year with age verification, signature requirements, and a 4.5% wholesale tax.
- 05Scandinavian Tobacco Group 2020 EarningsSTG posts record revenue and EBITDA growth driven by pandemic handmade cigar demand and the Agio acquisition, plus a share buyback and dividend.
- 06Foundation El Güegüense 5 Year AniversarioNicholas Melillo's five-year anniversary perfecto with a Corojo 99 wrapper and San Andrés binder, packaged in a chest-shaped box.
- 07RoMa Craft Tobac's Full 2021 Release CalendarNeanderthal JCF, KFG and HS come to the US, plus the El Catador de los Petit Gordos sampler at Weasel Fest and a seven-size Baka run in July.
- 08Ponce Cigar Company Debut and Florida StoryFrank Vasquez launches Ponce out of MJ Frias, followed by Miami Beach police firing pepper balls at a spring break crowd.
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 165 of Cigar Hustler podcast. Is that a screw on me? No, I was adjusting it so that the P is perfectly placed. Oh, now that you can see.
Now I can see it. I'm like, oh, man. Yes, what we're talking about, we bought a monitor that hooks to the camera. Because before we were watching, as we're trying to record, watching on this teeny tiny little screen that's built into the camera, we can't see a thing.
Please, please excuse our bougie-ness. Yes, so now we have this lovely full-size monitor next to the camera where we can see, it's a little distracting, but maybe now we'll look more that direction. Lost in my beauty. Oh, your beauty.
Yes, you're so beautiful, Mike. Thank you. Today's show brought to you by the people, sorry, brought to you by Octodore and the people at Case Elegance. The team at Case Elegance has spent years meticulously crafting the humidor to be their largest and best yet, fitting up to 100 cigars.
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Now, there was something you were going to add, Mike? Please like and subscribe on every platform that you listen to us or watch us on YouTube. We'd greatly appreciate it. The more support we have, the better.
The better we are here to serve you. Yes. Yes, indeed. I do.
Look at that screen all that now. Don't. You can't. You can't look at it.
What do we got up for the Patreon? Today, we are going to review the Viaje regular production Circa 45 line. It's getting a limited edition offshoot and it's wrapped in a dark Mexican. cover leaf called the Circa 45 Reserva.
Circa 45. Wiggy, wiggy. Wiggy, wiggy. We're doing that one today.
So you're going to go ahead and light yours up. I am going to go ahead and light mine up. I will go at halfway, I believe. So, um...
What's going on? How you been? I haven't seen you since... I gotta, you know...
Did I see you Friday? I don't know. Maybe. I don't think I was here Friday.
I can tell you that there's a couple things going on. They tried to cancel Eminem. Did you hear about that? That was pretty funny.
No, but I saw your wife posted something about it, where they tried to cancel his concert. No, it's like they want him out? I don't know. They want him to go out anymore?
Is someone trying to cancel people at this point? I don't know. Oh, is he like Pepe Le Pew? Yeah, he's not like a...
yeah, he's not... yeah. Yosemite Sam? Yeah, you're right.
Yeah, no, it doesn't work that way. He's a person. He's not a cartoon? Yeah, we can't just delete him.
It's ridiculous. Ridiculous. You know what I would like to cancel? Yes.
Is this spring-forward bullshit. Oh, I know. How do we get rid of that? I heard, who was it, what country is it?
I think it's Italy? Yeah. They only do a half hour. I love it.
It's brilliant. So, they're either, I don't believe it's Italy, but anyway, whatever. It's not as bad. Whatever, yeah, yeah, so they're always either a half hour behind us or a half hour ahead of us.
Okay. And they just go, you know. Yeah, whatever, we're on Italian time. C'est la vie?
C'est la vie. In case it's Italy. I'm pretty sure that's French. Is that French?
Yeah. Oh, c'est la vie. Pepe Le Pew. I'm stuck on Pepe Le Pew.
Oh, my goodness. Yeah, I mean, I just can't stand, it fucks me up every time. You know, and no matter who you're talking to, somebody always can't get the hang of it, you know? Okay, if it's really six, is it quarter past eight, or 7:30, or 5:15?
None of that matters to me. And then how many days do you go, well, it's, what is it right now? It's 2:45, so it's really 1:45. I don't waste my time with any of that, but I could tell you that...
Monday's always fucked up. It's always fucked up. That's right, it happens on Saturday, Saturday night into Sunday. I know, but it doesn't matter though, because like, you're not adjusted, so I'm still asleep when I'm supposed to be out the door, the kids are all fucked up, they're sleeping, we gotta go, you know, we wake up, alarms didn't go off for some reason, like, I have no fucking idea.
Everything sets itself now, basically, except your stove and your microwave, everything else. Well, apparently all of them told me to go fuck myself this morning, because none of them went off. I was so happy I slept in Sunday, till I walked out in the kitchen, like, oh, it's only quarter to six, not quarter to seven. boom boom boom i'm tired you know the first you know and i was hung over anyways and i went back to sleep for a couple hours do you know who the first person is that wakes up in my house in the morning the dog nope not the dog teddy nope not teddy you nope i mean running out of people yeah you are jacks or justice jacks jacks so jack's alarm usually gets up wakes up right and he's the first motherfucker up so he's up and he empties the dishwasher oh yeah i love him trained He got him trained.
Right. So he empties the dishwasher, and usually that's the sound that wakes me up. I hear that, eeerr, and then, you know. How does he reach the, is there a ladder in the kitchen?
He gets a stool if he has to. Oh. That's right. What a good boy.
An allowance? You getting paid? Yeah, of course. Of course.
It's not a lot. You like that power, don't you? Just throw a couple books. You like the Wi-Fi?
There you go. Nah, you can't do that, because I'd rather teach him the whole saving thing. Right. I give him like three bucks.
It's not a lot. Ooh. It's not even Chinese. He was at $5.
He was at $5. He lost money? That was an additional chore. He had to scoop the poop, too.
He doesn't like the poop. Don't like the poop. Don't like the dog poop. I'm like, I'll tell you what, I'll take that off.
You had a little less money, though, just so you know. Yeah, I really should have reduced him down to like $1. Because no one likes scooping the poop. Now I have to scoop the poop.
And I feel like I'm well undervalued at $2 a poll, you know? Weekly. Well, you're down a dog, so. No, but, yeah, but, you know, the new puppy?
Yeah, bigger poop. No, no, it's actually smaller poop, but he kind of walks when he poops, so it's additional scooping. Oh, it's not one line. We used to do a glove.
A glove? Like an extra plastic bag? You gonna go and scoop and pick it up? Pick it up, put it in the other bag, put it in there.
I wear a yard-working bag when I knew it. Oh, I just have this awesome-- It's just poop, I mean, you know. No, I don't, yeah. Well, I have this big scoop thing, machine, like, you know.
I mean, like, you know. I'm sure you do, yeah. The claw looks like the claw. No, the claw's stupid.
It's a rake. It's a rake with a metal bin. Oh, that's a lot of work. Oh, it's so much easier.
No, it's easier to just put a glove in your hand and pick it up and put it in. No way. " I'm not for two bucks, I'm not. You get paid less.
Oh. 50. 50? Yeah.
So, you know, that's what's going really on for me is the fact that I hate fucking spring forward. Oh, it's a goddamn mess. So, do you like, do you mind fallback or that when you feel better? Fallback I love.
Oh, so. Let's just continue to fallback every year. Yeah. And eventually, it was Tuesday now, it's Monday.
And then we just get rid of that one leap year. Oh. I feel like it'll all iron out. Oh, it'll work it out somewhere?
Yeah, it's, you know, that whole extra day, whatever. Every year in the fall, we fallback an hour, fallback an hour. In four years, we just don't do leap year. Yeah.
Yeah. It's perfect. Perfect. Sounds very complicated.
Works out. Who knows? Who knows? Who knows at this point?
Actually, you wouldn't have to, you just eliminate leap year, but every 24 years, you lose a day. Perfect. So. I'm fine with that.
I'm totally fine with that. Nobody's going to keep track. That's going to be hard. Somebody, is it 23?
Is it 20? Has it been 25 years? Somebody will keep track. We'll keep an old man in like a dark room by himself with some books.
With a calendar? Yeah. Like a wizard staff. I mean, we don't have technology to handle that sort of thing.
The iPhone cannot handle it. Yeah. Well, it obviously can't fix its alarms. Neither can Alexa.
That whore. 'Cause she's the alarmist for the house. She's like, nah, not today. I'm like, oh, good, thanks.
Thanks so much, Alexa. Oh. Slut. We have, uh, you know, we have lighting stuff hooked to it at the house, so you say, Alexa, turn off living room lamp.
Right. So the light goes off, but she gives you some type of excuse why it's not. Like, the lamp in the living room is not responding or something, but then the light goes off. So my wife, last night, she's like, can't we fix that?
I go, look, she still turns the light off. I'm not going to piss her off and figure out why she can't find out she's pissing out. Alexi, you're stupid. Oh, I've done that before.
Yeah. She talked about it. Oh, man, you've done very nice of you to see me. You've done nice to say that ain't stupid.
And then all of a sudden, all the lights go off. Everything goes off. The air goes up. The heat comes on.
Anything else you have to say, Mike? Technology. Well, it's crazy. I got an email from TPE last week.
Oh, you did. I got an email from TPE. Now, we don't know if we're going yet to TP or not, so I was more curious actually what the ticket was going for to get in because there is a charge. So, as I'm filling it out, name, address, organization, blah, blah, blah, there is a press option.
Oh. So, I went, oh. Excuse me. Excuse me.
I consider myself press. Well, not only do we consider ourselves media and press. Yes, media, yes. Yes, we have been blessed by the coup.
We have the coup blessing. The coup blessing that we are media, yes, yes. So anyway, I hit the press button, whole new media, well it was press, it said press, the whole different set of questions takes me to a whole 'nother screen, so I fill it out, name of the show, have you found yourself in the random field, Instagram feed or something and wanted to know your social media thing, blah, blah, blah, what is your position with the media outlet you're in or something like that, and then it says, you know, that runs through and it goes, charge zero. Oh!
I went, ooh. I like zero. This is the one I want. Zero's a good price.
So, click. And then I get a message that your credentials will be evaluated by, there was a person's name, and then you'll be contacted within a few days or something. Gotta cook this thing. So, a couple of days pass, I get an email, and oh, I got a press pass.
Your media! I'm press. Press. Can you hit one of those funny hat things that say press?
Oh, with a fedora? I got the hat, I'll just stick the card in there. With a press in it? I take my paperwork here with my QR code somewhere in here somewhere, and I'm getting invited to parties, I'm getting emails for parties and things I can go to.
For the press coverage. Yes. Yes. You know what's really kind of funny about you?
So here's what's really funny about you, though, is, you know, you're not the same person on the out in the wild as you are here in the store. No, no, this is my domain. Like, you become very introverted. This is my domain in here.
So out in the wild, you're very quiet. Yes. People are going to be like, uh... Yeah, I'm not going to be chasing people with a pad and a camera, "Mr.
Booth! Mr. Booth! Would you like to give me a quote, Mr.
Booth? " I get Mr. Booth to give you a quote, no problem. Oh, well, that was just a first name that came up, so, I mean, him, I would actually walk up and ask for a quote.
I mean, there are some people I consider, you know, friends that I would actually walk up to. Those are usually the ones I hit up for the cigars. Right. And then, you know, the other ones are, depends on who they're talking to, and waiting, going, I was walked by three or four times, and was looking at my shirt.
Yeah. Do you know who I am? Don't know who I am. Don't know who I am.
Don't know who I am. Don't know who I am. Don't know who I am. Don't know who I am.
Don't know who I am. Don't know who I am. That kind of reminds me of a couple things. Yes.
I got a random phone call today from Eric Espinosa. Oh. Yeah. But there's some gentle rumblings about something.
I don't want to get ahead of myself and talk about it on the podcast. Okay. Yeah. So, you know, mom's the word here.
Right, right, right. But, you know, he called and he checked in. " I was like, you know, everything's cool, man. Thank you so much.
Hung up the phone. I was like, "Damn, man. We've come a long fucking way. " When, you know, there's a handful of guys that I really respect in this industry.
Right. " He definitely qualifies in that realm, like he's a good guy. Yeah, well, I told the story at the Great Smoke two years ago when I was there, I was there with my wife, and he was coming out to go to the men's room, and he passed us waiting in line to get our credentials, and he said hello to me by name. Oh.
" That was Eric. He knew my name. You're a good guy. Did you see he knew my name?
Yeah. " Yeah, so like, I did the-- I was like, Julian, that's a big deal. When I did the birth reveal for Teddy, he's like, hey, I saw the birth reveal, and I was like, so he's just a good dude, you know what I mean? But it was cool to get that call for like a business transaction, just a follow-up from a guy I respect, and I'm like, son of a bitch, we've come a long way, this is pretty cool.
Matt Booth is now commenting on my non-room 101 post. Guy also calls to check in on me on some things too, you know, hey, just want to follow up. I know, just like the last couple of weeks, I'm like, oh, he just liked that picture, and that's not even one of his cigars. I was like, son of a bitch, you know, Skip recommends me as a retailer.
That's what I, that's what I commented. Oh, yeah, I didn't know what I was like, any questions, am I supposed to follow up with this man now? I don't understand. Everybody was like, yes, you're the hand of the king.
You're the one who's supposed to make sure my name's on the list. I don't even know when we're getting those again. It was just cool because, you know, it's cool to have that interaction with some of these guys, you know, the guys that have been in the industry for a long period of time and like that somewhat mutual respect. You know what I mean?
Like, I would never say that I'm on that, I'm nowhere near on their level, you know? But it is very cool for them to acknowledge me like that and just check in or whatever the case may be, especially from Skip. I mean, Skip is always on that forever. Well, he could have said a number of retailers for that.
Of course. See, I mean, you know, that was awesome. It was a good feeling. I was like, fuck yeah.
Any questions? I'm like, what are you calling me out for? Because I was just letting you know. Like, I don't know?
Just letting you know. You want to know who the fucking best is? That's it. Uncle Skip.
That's right. Very thin, Uncle Skip. Very thin. Very thin.
He was just on the Heckle & Jekyll Show with the little stuffy nose. It's going around. Yeah, well, yeah, he's got a little bit of a cold. It's going around.
The stuffy nose. It's going around in Nicaragua to put you down. Well, yeah. Well, I mean, I had the stuffy nose.
I still have the stuffy nose. It sucks. Right. Your wife told me Teddy's still sick, but she's at school, so she said she's fine.
Yeah, no more tampering. Checking in on my grandchildren. My grandchildren. I mean, she blew us up.
She brought it back from the school. Right. And then the entire house. That's what happens when you have young kids.
Everybody gets cold. My kids call and say, don't come over. Stay away from your grandparents and don't come over. Yeah.
Now it's on its way to Brady. Brady's now got the stuff he knows. So congratulations on officially having another person acknowledge you for being media. An organization.
An organization. You're a big deal. Mike Palmer. Florida Cigar Club.
Just riding the coattails of the king. You're welcome. You know? Thank you, Mike.
Everybody eats, Mike. Everybody eats, God damn it. I just got an extra help me. You sure did.
Will you want some more? You still hungry? You want some more? Here's some more.
Here's some more. Such a kind and noble king. Anything else? Are we ready to start the show?
I feel like we're ready to go, man. I'm a little excited, you know? We're really happy. I feel good about this new screen.
This is good. Yeah, we have to adjust the colors 'em, 'cause I don't feel where that - Oh, sure, it doesn't matter, it's just the fact that we know that we're on the fuckin' - Look how muscly you lookin' at. I know, it's great, I'm lookin' at you. Amazing.
It's amazing. Thank you so much. All right, uh, then, uh, work hard on that. I work hard on everything.
I guess I'll go ahead and hit the news button. Oh, let's go. Cigar Hustler Podcast News! The News.
McAuliffe Cigars has issued a press release announcing it has sent a cease and desist letter to Privada Cigar Club. McAuliffe is claiming Privada Cigar Club has been acting as an unauthorized retailer for products. You're not qualified. You would think that wouldn't be a problem, you know, they're selling my cigars and selling a lot of them, but no, you must stop.
Well, okay, I'll let you tell the story. Okay, McAuliffe Cigars acts to protect brick and mortar authorized dealers, issuing a cease and desist letter to Bravada Cigar Club. McAuliffe Cigars have made a promise to brick and mortar, oh, that's right, they did, a promise to brick and mortar cigar shops across the, across America in their opening strategy letter January 2020. Six months ago, McAuliffe Cigars ended their relationship with online giant cigars in a national order to provide price protection to the B&M partners.
Ah, now it makes more sense. Over the last year and a half, McAuliffe Cigars worked closely with their authorized dealers He created an innovative customer experience, including brick and mortar-owned cigar clubs. In February, McAuliffe Cigars became aware Provada Cigar Club was selling McAuliffe Cigars online directly to customers as an unauthorized retailer. An email was sent to Provada Cigar Club clarifying McAuliffe's business model seeking a private resolution to the issue.
Brian Descend, owner of Provada Cigar Club, declined to meet with McAuliffe Cigars unless his unacceptable conditions were met. Meet these requirements. Unacceptable. Or else.
We aggressively protect our brick-and-mortar authorized dealers. We will not tolerate rogue businesses who try to profit on our brand at the expense of our valued partners. We offered to buy back the McAuliffe product from Provada's unauthorized website seeking a positive resolution. Now we are pursuing a legal solution and Provada Cigar Club will never be an authorized McAuliffe retailer.
We love the family-owned brick-and-mortar retail shops who are the backbone of the industry. We will always act in their best interest, said Dan Thompson, president of McAuliffe Cigars. attorney john m rogers on behalf of michael cigars and andrew transport inc aka bravado club a cease and desist letter today seeking a resolution included in michael's cigar letters the last time offered to buy back the product michael cigars noted a lawsuit is prepared and will be filed the bravado does not cease and desist voluntarily the cease and desist letters available for review on michael's cigar web page i saw the letter i felt no need to read it for this Yeah, it's fine. Ooh, the plot is thickening.
This is the continuing Cigar Hustler Podcast coverage of the Provada Cigar Club. It's heating up. It's heating up, so it's kind of... What are you doing?
You're hitting the button? Oh, God. Just going to the next screen. I've got a very complicated system here with sound drops that I have to work into the show, so I have to rotate them in.
Excuse me. I mean, there's one screen, it's all the music. There's another screen, that's the sound drops, sound effects. Very busy show.
When we have enough money, we'll have a guy for all of that busy money. You just kind of point to him. You know, I'd like to have a guy for that before I'd like to have a guy for this. Make him do both.
Well, no, what I do. We'll tie it in. And then what if he's not looking, and then the moments passed, and you know, then I didn't have Matt Booth saying. You know, why buy stuff from a dick?
Exactly, Matt. I don't understand either. It's true. But that has nothing to do with the story we're talking about.
No, nothing. No, no, no. Because it's-- You got to go to work. Got to go to work, so.
So, um, yeah, I mean, it's kind of crazy that this is going down. Like, I feel like- Yes, so just to catch everybody up, uh, last week, uh, there was, uh, some drama circling around them because they had gotten somebody else's cigars and were selling them, but there was no legal, uh, going on. It was just somebody was complaining that they were doing it. So now it's going to the next level.
Yeah, yeah. So next week, maybe somebody shoot somebody or something, allegedly or something. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. No, but you know, it's-- Shoot away with the cannoli, you know, and then-- It's kind of crazy that, you know, there are specific people, it's like almost there's like a line where people are, some people are on one specific side and other people are on another specific side, right?
Like, you either support this guy or you don't support this guy, you know? Like, I don't really feel a need to draw a line on which side I'm on, right? Well, we don't carry McAuliffe Cigars. No, you're right.
But the other guy's stuff we do. Sure, but that doesn't mean that I'm gonna be on one side of the head. I also carry the other guy's cigars that he's deep discounting. Right, that's what I mean, right.
And we carry the Provada thing when it comes around, whatever it is. So, you know, I will, however, I have no objection to call a fucking foul when I see it on either side. " Well, now that I read the story, I understand McAuliffe's position. Right, here's the logic.
Right, right, we went to such a big deal to make this that, you know, we're cutting CI out, so we only sell the brick and mortars, we are brick and mortar only, so unfortunately you don't have a brick and mortar. Right, and if they reached out, right, you know, we'll buy back the cigars. And they didn't, right, and they didn't address, and Brian didn't address it, he's gotta address it. Or he asked for somebody that says an unreasonable request he made.
Right, just hit the fucking disable button, turn it off, right, you know, okay, no problem, you're right, I'm not, and look, I want to see him succeed, I want to see the guy succeed. Right, could he even go, I mean, let's try to jump in here and help, maybe he could say, let me sell through what I have, and then I'll do it no more. Yeah, but I'm sure he doesn't have a lot of it, and it's not a big deal, you know what I mean? Well, I mean, he's invested money into the product, I mean, who knows what the, you know, they say they're offering to buy back, maybe it's 50 cents on the dollar, maybe.
I don't think so. I'm in the dollar. McAuliffe, that guy's got fucking loot. Yeah, but.
He don't give a shit. Buy a fucking, well, just go pay retail for it, just close it all up. Well, he could do that, I mean, he could just go online and buy it all. As long as the guy doesn't re-up.
Oh, yeah. Well, I guess you got to find out who we got him from. The mystery. Make a little phone call, you know, telling him he can't carry the products no more.
It's a mystery. So, yes, so we will continue to follow this story as it unfolds. The 2021 adventure is going to be the Pravada Club versus the world. That's what it's mapping out to be, you know.
They put out a nice little video last week explaining their support to brick and mortar and how that's the backbone of the industry. Which makes sense. Right, but it turned out to be a commercial for that. Yeah, but a lot of retailers appreciate what they're doing.
I appreciate what they're doing. Sure. I think it's great. We're profiting off them.
We are. So, you know. Yeah. So, a wholesaler and a retailer.
But they should take McAuliffe off. Yes, yes. " Yeah, don't sell my stuff. Yeah, if somebody, you know, it's not like McAuliffe, and I'm not, I'm not, I'm not fucking shitting.
It's not like, you can do without any brand in your store. Sure. You know what I mean? You could just not have it whatsoever.
Right. And you'll still succeed as a retailer. Right. Hey, we run out of stuff here, and if it's on back order, we can switch them to something else.
But there are also brands that we don't fucking carry at all, because I'm just like, hey, you know what? This whole relationship is toxic. It's not working well. I'm sure you work well with other people, but for whatever reason, we can't-- This isn't, this doesn't work here.
We can't fucking get it together. So we're just gonna. I'm a very angry person and I don't like certain people. I don't really think that's the case.
I mean, that was probably me five, five years ago. Oh. Well, okay. Maybe, maybe longer.
Now you're just semi angry. No, you know, it's more just business strategy at this point. It's like, you know what? Fuck it.
That's a nice way to put it. What are you gonna do? Fuck my pots and pans? Only Skip we've been over this.
Yeah, only Skip. Fuck my pots and pans. I need a sound drop from Skip that says, I'm gonna fuck with your pots and pans. I'm gonna fuck with your pots and pans.
Mike, I'm going to fuck with your pots and pans, if I could get that. Oh, I'm sure he'll send you that, no problem. Oh, if you could tell me that, please. Yeah.
Care of. Care of. Just put a Facebook message it to you. So, yeah, you know, so, he can do without the brand.
The brand doesn't want to work with him. There's obviously, you know, it's like oil and water. If that's the case, you know, then okay, let it go. I think now, from what, this is just purely speculation, but he's making a point, people that won't sell to him, he's like, well, you know what, I can still get it.
It seems that's maybe what's going on. Yeah, but you know, how does a law, I mean, I don't know how a lawsuit plays out. What happens there? Do they go to court?
I don't know. Normally, when they send a letter, that's usually the end of it. Hey, yeah, really. I mean, you know, the fact of the, here's the other, the other caveat here is, it's a small industry.
Right. And if you piss off enough people, word travels fast. Oh, sure. So then other people don't want to work with you.
Right. Like, that's a possibility. You could get other stuff. Right.
Taken away. Right. Or not sold down. You know what?
I'm friends with a guy, McAuliffe. So, you know, he asked you to turn it off. He asked you to turn it off. He asked you to turn it off.
That's right. You know, you're not moving that much. This is, well, fuck you, I'll get it anyways. And then they're like.
Call the lawyer guy that McAllister is using. Johnny Cochran? Call Johnny Cochran. Give me Johnny Cochran.
Get Johnny Cochran on the phone. I got to send a letter. Give me Johnny Cochran. Oh, you want 50 bucks?
I'll write you a letter. Doctor says I need a bacchiautomy. Oh, I hate the bacchiautomy. Yeah, I'm serious.
We're at 25 minutes. We got time for another story to read. It's a short story. Pierre Sabor launching virtual festival on March 15th.
I'm so fucking over virtual festivals. The annual festival put on by the Nicaraguan Chamber of Tobacco didn't happen in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is happening in a virtual format. The organization has announced that it will launch a series of virtual events on March 15th that will offer free sessions with experts and Nicaraguan cigar manufacturers. The Nicaraguan Cigar Industry is once again opening the doors of its factories by this time.
In an innovative digital format. Everybody's innovative. I don't know, how could it be any more innovative now? We're making history, Mike.
We've already Zoomed in Microsoft meetings and whatever else. We've done it all. Visitors will be able to virtually join Nicaragua's most important tobacco products and cigar manufacturers. Until somebody can reach through my computer and hand me the cigar, they haven't done anything.
Is that the one that has the big white party? Yes. Wait, Pearls of Boar? Yeah, Pearls of Boar.
Is that the white party? Yes. Or is that the Dominican one? The Dominican one has a white party, but then Polo Sabore had like a knockoff one.
Oh, so I wonder if everybody has to, maybe that's how they do it. They innovate. Everybody's wearing white. Everybody wears white.
The event is being presented by Light 'Em Up World, a European-based digital platform focusing on cigars at S-G-R-O-I. Is that a person? I don't know either. Cigroy?
Cigroy called an ideal partner to launch the host of virtual- Claudio Cigroy? I don't know, there's no first name. Does this mean there's another app I gotta put on my damn phone or computer? One more.
Tell us one more. I'm still talking about this? Download now, log in. Just one more.
Just one more. I just want to see it. I just want to see it. The series of masterclasses, panel discussions, and roundtables will begin on March 15th.
And we'll cover 11 topics ranging from growing tobacco to blending production. Oh. Here's the plan growing, which is we will show it. Okay, long class because it grows slow.
So, there it goes. Well, sessions that focus on technology and innovation in the cigar industry, as well as corporate social responsibilities. All sessions will be moderated and hosted by Reginald Pahork of Light 'Em Up World and Rayad Sagerfeldt to the Leafmaster Dubai. Registration for the events required and is available on Light 'Em Up.
I like the name of the place. Light 'Em Up. Light 'Em Up. Light 'Em Up World's website.
You should say at the end of every meeting. At the end of every meeting we have here? You should say, Light 'Em Up. Light 'Em Up.
Get to work. Yeah. Real quick, I didn't pull the story, but there was some other place offering a class on cigar tasting, but it's a virtual class, so I don't... This tastes really good.
It's a $300 class. Holy... It was $297. American dollars?
Yes. And other than a couple of videos, and I think you get one of them flavor wheels. Look, man. I always thought, well, maybe they send you a bunch of cigars, and they go over them with you, and this one tastes like this, this one tastes like that.
No, no, just a video. It's a video. The death rates are receding. This one I am smoking?
Everything's going in the right direction. This tastes like coffee. This one? Tastes like vanilla.
Please stop being so goddamn innovative. And let us get back to our regular... Get back to Florida? We're all back to normal here.
I heard... Yeah. Well, for the most part. I heard that, you know, they're saying that handshaking's going away.
Like, pfff, okay. Yeah, I let people come in here and then you have to... Are we handshaking, fist pumping? I like to fuck with some people though.
Like Robbie Doyle? Yeah. That guy, he's a firm, aggressive handshaker? Yes.
We can fist bump him now. Oh, I still do the dead fish. Oh, you give him the limp hand? I give him the limp hand.
Oh, that's so epic. I love the limp hand. Today, though, nothing. He has nothing today.
Nothing today. No handshake for you today. No handshake for you today. Because he fist bumped you first and you're contagious.
I was like, oh. Oh, I am. Right. You're really close.
You're less than six feet. That's okay. This could be it for you. This could be it for me.
Okay. We're going to take a break because we're at 29:30. Break time. All right.
We'll be right back after these messages. Hey, it's Mike too. Want to be part of the show? com/thecigarhustlerspodcast.
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Thanks for the support. and we're back uh episode 165 cigar hustler podcast look at that p glass anything isn't that nice that's all right my boy chris baldwin i believe he hooked me up with this that's not the one chet had made no chet made like oh the one with the king king yeah the king all hail me all hail me all hail me yeah all right uh you put up this picture of me on the I can't stand it. I told you to give me a new photo. I thought it was a good photo of you.
I wasn't trying to be mean or anything. I thought it was a nice photo. I don't like it. Take it down.
I told you. Give me a new one. I'll replace it. Take it down and we'll rip the TV off the wall.
Rip the TV off the wall. I didn't pay for it. I didn't pay for it. Oh, you just want me to wreck things now?
You want to go around and wreck them? All you do is give me a new photo. Okay. Because it's a nice thing.
It has pictures of everybody with a little saying on it. And people come in, they're like, "Hey, I want to talk to Big D. " Oh, geez. Slay your own dragon princess or something?
Yeah. Slay your own dragon. And you know what? She's got band-aids on a couple of her fingers.
Looks like she was in a fight. Oh. Just worked out well. What's she doing with the band-aids?
I don't know. Maybe she punched somebody. I didn't ask questions. She took the photo here at the shop and sent it to me.
Okay. We don't come down violence here in the cigar house. You gotta fight a dragon. You fight a dragon, Michael.
Wey Wednesday's five-year anniversario, if you are a cigar company celebrating an anniversary, it most always means a new cigar to commemorate. Wey Wednesday. For Foundation Cigar Company. The Guagganese Foundation.
2020 marked the fifth year since Nicholas Melillo started his own cigar company. Yes. In that short period of time. My good friend, Nick.
It's already been only five years. Yeah. In that short period of time, he became one of the more unique cigar companies, particularly new cigar companies, because of a number of factories. It's a number of factors, sorry.
I feel like he's part Jamaican. It starts and ends with Melillo himself, a former partner at Drew Estate, who spent over a decade overseeing the company's tobacco operations, while it grew to become the largest factory in Nicaragua. Let's take a picture of my credit card and send it to him and say, "Look, just charge it whenever you want. " Anything that Nick has, you'll just say.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. I didn't hit the wrong one. Oh, you just hit the wrong one?
That's good. He spent a decade overseeing... Was he really a partner at Drew Estate or just right there? Yes.
Was he? Yeah. There are other unique aspects, like the company's expansive portfolio, which even includes a line of infused cigars. I'll be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that the company's headquarters is located in a tobacco field in Connecticut.
In the field. Foundation. Foundation. 5th Anniversary Cigar is referenced to its original release, the El Gunzi, or the Wey Wednesday.
The appropriately named El Guigginiz, 5-year Anniversario, is a 4 3/4 by 6 years. Did that come out already? Perfecto. Yeah, it came out with the fuckin' chest and stuff.
No, no, this is a different one. You sure? Yeah, it's a story that just came out this week. I don't know, I feel like that dropped already.
But was it a Perfecto in that one? It was a different box, I think it's a different artwork or something. Oh. Used a Nicaraguan Corojo 999 wrapper over a Mexican San Andres binder and fillers from the Esteli and Jalapa region of Nicaragua.
It's a similar ingredient to a list of the regular Waywindsay, though the cigar uses a Nicaraguan binder. Oh. The Wavewinds A5-Year Inversario comes in one of the more unique cigar boxes you will see. It's shaped like a chest.
Yep. It's been out. Well, it's been out. Fucking months ago.
I'm still waiting on another one for my boy, Steven. Hmm. Yeah. Well, they just released a story again.
Maybe it's a different one. So, is he actually six years now? Yeah, I feel like we're approaching six at this point. Hmm.
Okay. Okay, Fondation. Fondation. Moving on.
Who was that, who was that, Halfwheel? Yeah, it was Halfwheel. Ooh, late to the game, Halfwheel. Apparently.
Mail order shipments of cigars to South Dakota. You know, the story about Provada was only released by Coop. It wasn't on Half Wheel anyway. That Coop, gotta give Coop, he's all over it.
Maybe Half Wheel's taking sides. I don't think so. Allegedly. Allegedly.
Let's see. I think if the check's big enough, I'll take the sides. I don't think Provada Club's paying out at this point. Did I get one of these too?
No, Michael, you did not get one of these too. That's what I should have said. Mail order shipments of cigars to South Dakota will be allowed next year. Next year, the residents of South Dakota will once again be able to purchase cigars from online and catalog retailers.
You really got to work on your soundboard. Have them shipped into this, well, everybody came in early today and it was hard to do, your wife was sitting here. Oh, so sorry for getting here early. Yeah, please don't come in early, I didn't come in earlier.
The bill allows for cigar retailers to ship cigars to consumers in the states, something that is currently not legal. Retailers will be required to perform an age verification, which is a check on UPS. Yeah. Either by asking for a copy of the buyer's indication card, or via an age verification service.
Oh, you can't just check the box though. How could they have stopped them? I don't know. If I sent a package to South Dakota, how are you going to stop that?
I don't know, let's send one and see what happens, because it's not until next year. I don't think I really know anybody in South Dakota. We can Google a name. I'm sure.
Just send a random package. Send a random package. Oh, they'll probably report it. Like that one guy in the Keys.
Oh, they found the marijuana thing that brought the law. Let's see, the package that the cigars are shipped in must state that the package will require a signature of someone at 21 years of age of older, shipping comes with a sustained signature, that's the bloop, just a checkmark. You know, this is the baffling part about the government to me. Oh, you can be fined up with $1,000, first violation, $2,000 for subsequent violations.
5% of the wholesale price with all purchases. Oh, good luck with that. Yeah, now you got to pay something. Okay.
Well, I don't want to ship something. What are you going to do? What the fuck are they going to do? Fuck with my pots and pans!
Hey, you owe us four and a half percent. Hey, fuck you. Okay, don't, you are not allowed to come to South Dakota. Oh, okay.
Maybe South Dakota Marshall Service shows up there. Sir, we're here to collect our 80 cents. That's right. I mean, like, what?
It goes to $500 in airfare to pick up the 80 cents. I mean, I just don't, like, you have data from all of these other states for everything. Like, you can compare and look and analyze and say, "What the fuck are we doing? This doesn't make any sense.
" Dumbest shit on the planet. Like, even if, like, you look at the fucking, like, even with this whole COVID thing, right, fucking, DeSantis, Florida did the, hey, here's what we're gonna do. No, masks are a requirement, county by county, they do whatever the fuck they want, cases are high, they can, they'll control it, right? Oh, did you hear last week?
We're opening up. He gave an executive order, uh, they're doing it in Hillsboro, at least, if you have been fined for a mask violation of your business, they have to give the money back. The, the, Hillsboro County. Hillsboro, yeah.
If Hillsborough County has fined somebody a business for a mass violation, they have to send it the fuck back. Send them the money back. Yeah, fuckin' A man, like, enough, enough of this shit. So like, you have all this data from Florida, right, and you see that our death ratio is about the same.
It's going down, actually, I read the other day. Well, of course, everything's going down now with vaccinations and all that other shit. Well, we're only tracking live people now, too. Well, that's good.
So, like, you have all this data, right, you would think that it would be easy It's easy to follow suit of whichever one's working, right? Like, if New York was completely shut down and no one died, all right, we know that this is the route that we have to fucking go, right? Well, the problem is they can't 100% shut down anything. Dude, I just saw a video today from the news of fucking downtown New York.
Dead! There's no one there! But dude, there's somebody. Somebody's walking out.
They just didn't take a photo at the right time. It's sort of like them saying you have to wear a mask every time you walk into Target up the street there, and there's still people inside without the mask on. Yeah, I get it, but my point is that, like, if you, they're, you don't have to fucking, you're, you're, you're so behind the times, you're a hundred years behind the times when it comes to, hey, we're gonna open up, we're now gonna accept postage of cigars into this state, and we're gonna charge a tax, like, none of that's gonna work, how are you gonna regulate it? I just wanted, like, I wanted somebody to sit down, how are you gonna regulate that?
If I send something to USPS, how the fuck are you gonna know? Okay, cool. We x-ray all the boxes. So let's just x this and move the fuck on.
I mean, like, you wasted so much time on some dumb bullshit. Like, we got a lot of serious issues that need to be resolved in this country. I don't know what the plan is. Don't get me fucking started.
I just hate that. It's just so stupid. So stupid. So stupid.
Stupid. Stupid. I run South Dakota. We're gonna charge.
Alright, speaking of money, Tell me. Let's see, so with the ongoing coverage of the STG story that we've been following now for two years. Oh. We had a story last week, too.
We've been following this story diligently for two years. Go on. Scandinavian Tobacco Group, the parent company of cigars, international general cigar company, and others, said it met its sales in Ipada. " Targets in 2020.
006 billion in revenue. 826 billion in EBITDA, a form of profit, an increase of 14% compared to 2019, says that the coronavirus COVID-19 epidemic led to an increase in handmade cigar consumption in USA and has also benefited from the integration of Agio Cigars, which was SCG acquired last year. So, the pandemic has helped the cigar industry. Yeah, because people were home, people were bored.
Oh, sure. Well, I mean, you know, if you're at work in the office, you can't smoke at your office, but I can smoke on my patio at home. It's like, "Oh, I can handle this. Oh, I can light a cigar.
I can fucking hammer some shit out. " I can have a couple of drinks. Zoom! It's a Zoom meeting.
Hey guys, how are you? Hey, hey. Fred, I'm going to need you to-- Do you have pants? I don't even wear pants.
Fucking shirt. I don't even wear a shirt with fucking pants. SCG says it expects the increase of sale of handmade cigars due to the COVID-19 pandemic to continue in Q1 and Q2 before normalizing. They're after on a level higher than the pandemic levels.
Yeah. In a challenging year, haven't we delivered a satisfactory financial performance with net sales? But you didn't do anything. The fucking world did something.
Oh, no, it's because they added Agio. I'll go see Agio. Give me a fucking break. The circumstances changed.
We saw solid operation performance across three divisions. Why are you so angry this morning? I don't know. I had a good workout.
That was great. Efficiency initiatives ahead of time. But we also benefited from an increased demand for handmade cigars in USA. You trigger me as what it is.
Genuine team effort. Team effort. Get into anything. Today in a report, the company said that it was interesting in growing its handmade cigar business in North America.
Well, that's good. Said that it was continuously evaluating the potential of further retail expansion. Well, you picked the right time. STG's guidance for 2021 includes organic growth of IBIDA by greater than 7%.
Okay, that's reasonable. 4 per share, in a new share buyback program, which we covered last week, about $600,000,000. SDG completed a share buyback program valued at $300,000,000. 21 gigawatts.
Oh, did I get one of these too? No, you did not get, Mike, you did not own any of the shares. I mean, I'm right here, Mike, you know. I waited too late, it was just throw something.
Just throw something. Hey, so we're crashing in on cigar sales. Yes, you and everybody else, you know. Let's take a picture of my credit card and send it to them.
No. Just charge it whenever you want. Oh, for the stock. You just want to buy it.
Yeah, just charge it whenever they want. Send you stocks. The dollar four share. Yeah, dollar four.
I want a part of that ingenuity. The next story is rather long and lengthy, and I didn't realize that when I started to pull it, so we're going to try to muddle our way through the story. Ooh, let's muddle. Romacraft Tobacco announces a 2021 release calendar.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to pass up on a Roma Craft story, Michael. Yes, indeed. In a move reminiscent of the craft beer industry, Roma Craft Tobacco has shared its entire release calendar for 2021.
S. debut. Next month, three European exclusive sizes for Neanderthal line will be offered to retailers stateside. Oh, yeah, that's good.
Don't we already have these? I don't know what you're talking about. The Neanderthal. You don't say nada.
The Neanderthal JCF, the Neanderthal KFG, and the Neanderthal HS. And that's my shit right there. That HS is money. That's the best Neanderthal, period.
Period. Oh, did I get one of these too? Yeah, yeah, I did. I tried to get them all the time, goddammit.
They're fucking amazing. Let's take a picture of my credit card and send it to them. Oh, they have it. They'll send it to you anytime they want.
Believe me, they know. They hit it. Believe me, they hit that card. No problem.
You are correct, sir. Oh, you are correct, sir. Yes. See, the bulk of the new releases will debut around Weasel Fest 2021, an event originally planned for last year to celebrate the company's 10th anniversary.
Yeah. Due to the pandemic, it's been rescheduled for May 29th in Austin. During the event, the company will offer ticket holders a new sample called El Catador de los Petit Gordos, which will feature four new cigars. Ooh, did I get one of these too?
Not yet you did, Michael, but. I think that with the Weasel Fest, I don't remember what we did. We let them keep our money, right? We let them keep the money, but we took the cigars.
Yeah. So I don't know. I think we still have tickets, but I don't know how that works with the cigars, no, I don't remember what the deal was. I mean, I'm not going to, I saw Mr.
Rosales' house, and I'm staying at somewhere else, I'm not going to go to the hotel, forget it, forget it. Well, wear it too, just so you don't know. No, if I have to jump from house to house, I will. You're on your own, Michael.
What if I bring my wife? That'd be weird. We can't all stay in the same bed. Same room.
That was offered before, and I thought it was weird. It's fine. Let's see, in each sampler will be two of the following: an intemperance... Somebody's got to hold the camera.
Right. That'll probably be Brittany. With the monitor. Oh, she listened to me, too.
You're correct! A. War, an intemperance EC. Peace.
Yeah, so they're all 60, this big 60, short 60 geaches. Whiskey Rebellion 1794, Husband, and a Cro-Mag Mendable. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Let's see, an Aquitaine Mandible and an Anathol C3.
Yeah. What is that? I don't know. Okay.
The release is limited to $1,250 samplers priced at either $100 at pre-purchase or $110 at purchase during the event. Yeah. 5x60 cigars as opposed to the sampler, they will be made available the night prior to Weasel Fest. And they're also going to release the Grand Perfectos later on in the year, some of them, from the original Weasel Fest box.
Skip did say on the Heckle & Jekyll that it is not a definite yet, Because the individual permitting they have to get is up to the city or the county or whatever, and it's just not a state level decision. Yeah, so you got to see where that, how that plays out. In June, RoMa Craft Tobac will offer five of the eight cigars from last year's El Canador De Alcran Perfecto's 10 Anos Sampler. Boom.
Which contained eight different 5x58 Perfectos in individual boxes during the company's virtual trade show. Yeah. Fans of RoMa Craft Tobac's Baca line should mark July on their calendars. The company will offer 250 boxes of each of the seven sizes, five of which have previously not been sent to retailers.
Yes. And I have a list of the five. I'm not going to go ahead and read all of them. Yeah, it's cool.
The Baka Pikmin, the Baka 2, the Baka… I mean, Roller Craft, they just went in and just dropped the bomb. Yes, they did. And I said, here's what we got coming this year. Here's what we got coming.
Everybody's asking, so… Here you go, write that down. There it is. Have a good day. Mark your calendars.
Right. See you later. See you later. That HS, though.
Let me tell you something. That thing drops… I had one yesterday. I don't know what you're talking about. When that thing drops.
No, I didn't. When that thing drops. I took a photo. When that thing drops.
Yeah. , you got to buy them. You have to buy that cigar. You couldn't get it somewhere else.
It's only European only. Oh. You got to know a guy in Europe. And a lot of people know that guy already in Europe.
S. Right. All right. Ponce Cigar Company debuts.
S. too, right? I don't know, I cut the story. I believe Wanderlust is coming.
It was already two pages long. Ooh, Wanderlust is coming. Ponce Cigar Company, a new company from Frank Vasquez, has begun shipping its debut release. Ponce is offered in a single five and a half by 54 Robusto.
Ponce de Leon. Extra size, it uses a Mexican San Andreas wrapper over an American broadleaf binder and fillers from the Villa Gonzales, Dominican Republic, Esteli, Nicaragua, and the USA. 99 per cigar. Oh, 11.
Oh, did I get one of these too? I didn't know. You did not get one. You did not get one.
Well, why didn't I get one? Let's take a picture of my credit card and send it to him and say, look, just charge it. I don't know about that, pal. I don't know about that.
It's being made at MJ Frius Cigar SRL in Dominican Republic and distributed is being done through MJ Frius in the USA. Vasquez said the cigar is already, not Danny, this is a different man, it's Frank. He was, he showed a picture of his, of a banded Voyager. Oh, did he?
Yeah. Oh, I didn't see that. Mm-hmm. So, Drew is being done through, headed to stores in California, Florida, and Illinois, with shipping to New York and North Atlanta.
Ponce. Ponce launch comes after Vasquez spent six years working for Corona Cigar, retail locations in Orlando and Tampa. Ponce. I didn't know if we knew Frank, because he used to work at Corona.
Ponce. But apparently we don't. All right, now we have a Florida story, and we have a listener of the week, and we have 10 minutes. We have a Florida story, which I love.
I love a good Florida story. It must have been a slow week. You know what happened was everybody started staring at their goddamn bank accounts looking for the stimulus and nobody did their jobs. One guy killed his grandfather and cut his ears off, and then during the interview he put the ears on the table.
During the interview. I guess I didn't pat him down correctly or something. No, the ears. Yeah.
I have his ear. You know, imagine being a person that created life, and then that life created life only to end your life. Right. Holy shit.
Maybe he won a grandpa's stimulus check. But that's not the story, though. Police shoot pepper balls to disperse an unruly crowd in Miami Beach as spring break coverage begins in Florida. Yeah, baby.
Spring break! Let's get it. Shoot the bullets in the air. Police of Miami Beach kicked off what expected to be a busy spring break weekend by shooting pepper balls in order to disperse a crowd.
Spring break! Get outta here! Get outta here! Get outta here!
Get outta here, kids! Don't bother me! Police Department tweeted Friday night that two officers were injured and had to be taken to a hospital. Oh, that's never good.
They were released early Saturday but remained off-duty because of their injuries. The police department said in an emailed statement: James Harrison, 19, of Brooklyn was arrested. James Harrison? James Harrison.
Of the Pittsburgh Steelers? I don't know, is he 19? Oh, he's definitely not 19. Broken was arrested on charges of battery on a police officer, resisting an officer with violence, including riot and disorderly conduct.
Harrison shouted obscenities at police officers when they tried to break up a crowd of more than 200 people that was blocking traffic. These damn New Yorkers, they come down here, they think they could do whatever they want, they get all crazy. carrying around open containers. Oh, we're gonna smoke the weed and drink the beer right from the police station.
That's amazing. " According to a police report released Saturday, an officer's body slammed Harrison after Harrison grabbed the front collar of an officer's police vest. Did we get that on video? Katoosh.
Well, yeah, they said, yes. The officer was trying to place the suspect in handcuffs, authorities said. They moved with an attempt to release Harrison's grip, the report said. Stop resisting, James.
On the ground, Harrison started kicking and bracing his body to avoid being put in handcuffs. An officer hit Harrison in the chest while another officer kneed him in the shoulder. Oh, God. Yeah, just don't do the neck, that's bad.
Yeah, no shit. Should be noted that the defendant Harrison's actions made the crowd extremely aggressive toward officers posing a clear threat to their safety due to a large number of an early subject group. Release the pepper guns. The police report said Harrison was taken to jail.
It could be determined, though, online court records said if Harrison had an attorney. Now they can't find him. I like that there is a spring break party and people are going nuts. South Beach resident Kevin Green told the Miami Herald that the confrontation began after a large crowd released 200 people gathered at an intersection to party.
I love that. Hey, let's go stand over there in the street. Yeah, this is a good area. Great idea.
Tell you what, I'd like a beer and a joint, please. I feel like the party starts when somebody rolls out a keg and just parks it in the middle of the intersection. Like, let's leave it here. Welcome to Florida.
People were just having fun, dude, in the general area. It looked like people were doing Snapchat videos. Green said that he then heard the pop, pop, pop of pepper balls being fired. Those can't be pleasant.
Oh, did I get one of these too? I feel like you find one on the soundboard, you just hone in on it, and you use it over and over. If I would have read the story, I would have had pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, let's see, Green said he then heard pops of pepper balls being fired. He took cover behind the police vehicle as the crowd scattered.
I heard a pop, man. A bunch of people started running. Does this guy have long hair? I don't know, he didn't seem as fun.
Is he a tie-dye shirt? Yeah. I was just hanging. He looked like the guy from Fast Times Richmond High.
I was like, whoa, dude. Whoa, dude, this is our time. This is the share of time here, Mr. Hand.
All right, all I'm saying is, all I'm saying is, those weren't Floridians, well one guy was Floridians, one guy's from New York. They're from Spring Breakers, so they're not Florida people, they're Denver, Minnesota. Yeah, you just come to our state and just fuck it up, and they're like, oh yeah, ooh, and then you leave and you're like, Florida's a fucking mess. Right.
Wait a second, you broke our shit. My wife's sister's coming with her kids, and they're like, they're already saying, As soon as we get off that plane, we're ripping these masks off, we're not wearing them for a week. I'm like, whee! That's not the way it works.
It's not exactly how it goes down, just for the record. The record, it's not that open, you know. Yeah, I mean, please wear your mask. Yeah, she wants to have a beer and smoke marijuana in front of the police station, too, maybe, that's a thing here.
I hear there's a party in the intersection. That's what the tourist bureaus now have, big posters of people smoking and drinking in front of the police station. We went down to, like, the Orlando Eye area. Oh, we went to go check out Andretti's for a birthday party.
Your wife was telling me about that, yeah. and fuck me man we will not discuss the way she described no the place was but everywhere in like the tourist area yeah fucking packed oh i mean packed to a point where like you know disney was shut down for two days because they had too many people they were too busy yeah well i mean universal hits capacity all the time so and it's reduced capacity yeah it's like 25 or 35 something like that i'm gonna be cheating that number a little bit if i was i let me tell you something i've gone there a couple times universal there's no way specific days are at 25 i'm like we're fucking two, three, carry the one. Wait a second. It's like 40, 50%.
Everything's a 95 minute wait. I don't know if we're at 25% or not here. It seems a little odd. But they don't have to be.
They can be at 100%. Like DeSantis said, hey, you can open up. Do what you want. I'm having a beer over here at Bike Week, so you guys do what you want.
Yep, you know. Did you see that was a meme going around this weekend? What? Biden saying, if we all behave, he's wearing a mask, Biden is.
If we all behave on the 4th of July, we can start gathering He wants it to be, like, Independence Day or some shit? " Stupid, look at the data! Just look at the data. Nobody dies here anymore.
Yeah, we reduced that number. It's just when they get old eventually. Maybe sun poisoning. You know, I think that things have gone pretty well here.
I gotta give it to the guy. I know I've said it before. Right. Yep.
You know, we were very, very fortunate. Mr. DeSantis, if you're a listener of the Cigar House of Podcasts, if you'd like to call in for the show, we'll give you the back line number. That's a thing they do on radio stations.
Oh, really? There's a back line number? Yes. You have an extra phone number.
Yeah, come on the show. We'll make that the back line number. Yeah, come on on the show. Oh, maybe he will be next week.
You stop in on Bike Week. Grab a couple beers and come on down. Oh, yeah. He was right in town.
Yeah. He's just going to check in. Driving through. Yeah.
Epicenter of the cigar industry. I'll tell you what, he runs the president and he's got my vote. I'm going to tell you right now. How about that?
I mean, if he's going after the people. Everybody in Florida will. He's going after the fucking, the people, the taxers of Hillsborough County saying, hey, no, dude, you can't do it. No, you can't take the money.
Yeah, let's put additional pressure on these businesses. Right. So they opened. It's fine.
All right, we got seven minutes. We got to do a list of another week. Unemployment rate went up like fucking fourfold, though. It sucks.
Oh, we have more people not working? No, we have to pay more money. Somebody's got to pay for all this shit. That's what nobody understands.
It's all I'm going to pay for, it's going to be businesses. All right. Listener of the week is Mr. Mitch Smith.
Thank you, Mr. Smith, for listening. It's not an assumed Mitch, it is really Mitch Smith. It's a real Mitch Smith.
Some on Facebook. He's a new listener on Facebook, yeah. Like I'm engaging. And we already have a listener of the week for the next two weeks, I believe.
Oh, we do have a couple slotted. I like that. You have to get in and do something special now, apparently, so... We're raising the bar here in your house as we get more listeners...
as popularity grows... as the demand continues here in the Lala Swamp of Florida. Right. We're the center of the Lala Swamp, right here.
The epicenter. So again, what is this cigar we're doing today on the Patreon? We are reviewing the Viaje Circa. Circa 45, number 3.
Number 3. Numero 3. Cigar culture number three, too. Where we break, the Patreon, where we break it down for you, and we give you the real deal.
The real deal. As to what's going on. Yes. Okay.
" That's my mama? You know what I'm talking about? Oh, that's the wrong one. You don't change the board, it gets very confusing around here, so, you know.
Oh, yeah, he's really kind of, he's unique. Yeah, he is kind of unique. It's kind of unique. It's very unique.
You've never seen Coming to America? Yes, I've seen Coming to America. Oh, did you see Coming to America 2? I can't wait.
Is it out? It's on Amazon Prime. It is out? Yes.
Oh, yes. I will watch that. Eh. Come on.
It's the second one. Yeah. And they cleaned it up. I mean, it's not an R, it's a PG, too.
Well, you know, in this day and age, that's where you're going to lose all that shit. I do like how they're doing that now, though. Right. On Amazon or HBO Max seems to get all the new movies.
The Justice League coming out this week on HBO Max, the new Justice League. It's like the Winter Soldier thing is dropping on Disney soon. Oh, it's right, and the... The Falcon and the Winter Soldier?
Yeah, the Falcon. The crane! The fucking crane! The crane and the Winter Soldier.
The crane. The duck and the Winter Soldier. Quack, quack. Oh my God, you're so disconnected.
Well, I don't really have... Kids? Disney. Because I don't have kids, but I don't have Disney.
Why not? This is amazing. Maybe you have somebody else at Disney that has kids. Oh, that's not right.
Whatever. You can't do that, Mike. You have to pay. It's only on one TV.
Everybody pays. It's only on one TV. Everybody pays. Everybody pays.
I'm sure they get paid enough. I'm waiting on the guy to up the service because there's some things you got to pay extra for, and I don't want to hit that button and charge him. " His wife goes, "Why did we rent Mulan? " She's going to get a cease and desist order from Disney.
" You're in big trouble, man. man no mulan for you you're out of here pal oh did i get one of these too yes you can watch yeah it cost me 20 bucks i wasn't that interested to watch mulan i was not excited it's like an extra 20 bucks yeah i'm not at a point where i'm gonna pay for a movie to sit down with the kids inside my house to watch the movie right because those fuckers get up and walk away after 10 minutes like we're like i like i gotta peep pause um no i'm not gonna miss anything no that's great but they're not interested. Phone rings. If it isn't fucking FGTV, YouTube, if they're not watching somebody else play video games or some shit, they're not interested.
I don't understand how people watch that. My son used to do that too. Where are you going? Where are you going?
What are you watching? I'm watching this guy play Call of Duty. Why? You have the game.
I just want them to get, I want my kids to get to the level where we can sit down and actually watch movies so I can hit them with, all right, Gladiator. That's like 16 to 18 years old. Godfather. All right, let's, you know, let's watch some shit.
Right. You know? But they ain't fucking there yet. They ain't having it.
I'm sorry. So then I find myself sitting, watching kids' movies. Because I'm watching the damn thing. I'm finished.
I want to know what happens. Right. You get involved in a movie. Thanks, guys.
Now I'm committed. My wife will lose interest in a movie. She goes, this is terrible. We should turn it off and go, I'm kind of invested.
It's a terrible movie. But I got to see what happens. Did they find the girl again at the end or something? They just broke up.
I need to know how it ends. I got to know what happens. So when you commit to a TV show, if the TV show sucks, do you let it go? Yeah.
You do? Oh, well, let me go. Okay. Me too.
Yeah. I'll give it two episodes. That's where I drop a line. I think I'm three.
Yeah. Three's reasonable. And there's some, because, you know, the culture now is binge-watching now. We've got two minutes, so we'll wrap this up.
Binge-watching, you know, and I'll maybe get five seasons in, there may be seven total, and I'll go, you know, this is just going in a better direction. You know what? Fuck it. I don't care how this works out.
They've already jumped the shark, so it's just gonna get worse. You know, the biggest one that I dropped that people look at me like I have six heads? Dexter. You know, I did too.
It's like, dude, you just keep killing people. I didn't watch the final season. Yeah, I'm like, okay, I'm over it. I think I gave up like season three.
I'm like, okay, you keep putting, okay, you kill people. Well, after three, I think for four and five, it was on while I was doing other things for background noise or something. Yeah, the final season, I'm like, I don't really care. Well, it's coming back now.
Oh, yeah, but didn't his sister the killer or something? Well, that's good, you know. Because didn't that guy die of cancer? Keep cleaning up society.
No, I thought he had cancer. No. I think he did. And A-Rod and J-Lo did not break up either.
I mean, that's just all this false. You know, I read yesterday they did. It's false media. Because evidently she's cocoa for cocoa puffs.
She's cocoa? Cucu for cocoa puffs. All right, we're going to wrap it up. We're right on time.
All right, this might have already stopped. We covered a lot of stuff. Covered a lot of territory here. All right, episode 165.
Thank you for listening. We'll be back again next week. Next week. Patreon.
Let's go. Let's go. Say, light 'em up. Light 'em up!
I feel that's taken from somebody else already. All right, guys. Thanks. Bye.
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How are you guys doing? The Hojo Deeb. Hojo! It's the Hojo!
He didn't even let him fuck it up all the way. I could get past Hojo! I don't even have 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 right now. You'd be like four cigars when I walked in the door.
All right, end this.
Show Notes
Privada in hot water again...Mike 2 gets his credentials and industry news